Some of you may recognize the title of this article. It is the title of a song by Sly and the Family Stone, one of his many, many hits back in the 60’s and 70’s. I grew up in the Bay Area, Sly’s music was and is unique, a sound of his own! The music of the 60’s and 70’s was not just music, as the Ojay’s said, there was a message in the music! Well, Sly was putting a message in his music too! This is what we as Black people did, “everybody talking about heaven ain’t going there; swing low sweet chariot coming to take me home.” Do you get the message?
Who is Sly thanking for letting him be his self again? We are taught that we are, “other than ourselves,” or “other than self.” We are asked the question, “who is yourself?” We are not ourselves, we are other than self! What? How can you be yourself eating the wrong food? How can you be yourself obese weighing 400 pounds? How can you be yourself, sick, with diabetes, cancer, and high blood pressure? Let’s not talk about how alcohol and drugs alter us.
Sly mentioned not just being “myself,” but again! This means that at one time he was himself. Wow! What was he then? When was this? What food is he eating now, that is making him “other than himself?” What spiritual food are we eating? What mental food are we eating? What moral food are we eating? What physical food are we eating? We are eating daily! I am writing a report entitled, “You Are What You Eat.” Look, if you feed on lies, falsehoods, fairy tales, and make believe, you become what you eat! If on the other hand you feed on truth, universal law and actual facts, you also become what you eat! However, one will make you “other than yourself,” whereas the other will make you yourself, again! Sly was on to something. But what happens when we mix truth with falsehood?
Sly recognized that he could not become himself without help. He is giving thanks to one greater than himself that helped him become himself again! That’s heavy! What is self? According to this dictionary, self is the total essential or particular being of a person; the essential qualities distinguishing one person from another; one’s consciousness of one’s own being. I remember it being the essence or nature of the individual. We were told to “accept your own and be yourself” again.
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