The spiritual creed of the Rastafarians (Rastas) of Jamaica have, over the past four decades become a very visible symbol of black cultural struggle for identity and unity internationally by virtue of world renown Rasta Reggae musicians such as Burning Spear, Culture, Bob Marley and the Wailers and many others.
Jah Rastafari - Visions of Faith is an analysis of the phenomenon of Rasta by a Jamaican Rastaman; its birth as a reaction to black racial oppression and the search for a viable avenue for its adherents to reconnect back to an African spiritual perspective.
Taking into account the widely held misconceptions about Rastas and the sometimes negative connation associated with the movement, the author dissects the rationale for accepting the emperor Haille Selassie I of Ethiopia as God incarnate and the prevailing ideology of Judeo/Christian biblical philosophy as a means to solidify faith. The emphasis here is to see the dynamics of Rasta as an offshoot of much older African/Jamaican spiritual systems, directly influenced by an African spiritual heritage stemming back many thousands of years into the past.

This thesis delves extensively into areas of interest to all Rastas such as Conspiracy Theories, Racism as a tool of social control and it's psychologically effects upon black and white populations; social and 'spiritual engineering' by the establishment of church and state; the Mind Control Programs of the Babylon System and the coming establishment of a fascistic New World Order by the Euro/American white supremacist Illuminati organization. All these things are crucial elements in Rasta philosophy including the vibrant international Rasta Reggae music.

These ideas have always been central to Rasta and elucidate a clear and conscious paradigm of Rasta philosophy from the very beginning of the movement and expanding the frontiers of pertinent knowledge beyond the existing formula of the creed.
The argument here is aimed at an imperative shift towards a more holistic vision of Rasta faith, taking its rightful place in the centre of progressive human consciousness as a powerful, positive evolutionary force.
This evolutionary force is designed to liberate the minds of human beings from the shackles of ignorance and illusion thus elevating the soul towards its highest goal; the joyous communion with Jah Rastafari, the Supreme, Eternal, Formless Potency of All Being.

Selected exerts from
Jah Rastafari - Visions of Faith

“We have come to slay false Gods and serpents”
- Songs of the Rasta Fire Warriors -

Rastafari is a human, spiritual scientific system which forms the basis for complete realization of the nature of illusion, reality and complete consciousness of the Supreme Creative energy of all that is, the Divine Potency of All-Being, Jah Rastafari. Rasta will not be classified by the standards of Babylon, which is the illusory nature of all things.
No one can become a Rasta since we are all essentially Rasta in origin, before the beginning of creation, no matter what colour skin we wear, no matter our background, our religious practices, or our philosophical leanings. Man or woman, boy or girl, African or European, Jew or Gentile, Apache or Sioux, Chinese, Japanese or Indian, we are all truly Rasta in origin.

It just so happens that by the divine laws of providence, the Revelation of Jah Rastafari in this present time and space has been born through the suffering of black Jamaican people by way of human slavery, which the Babylon System of white supremacy/oppression imposed on Black Africans for four hundred years. Within the Holy Bible we can find that people of the Jewish faith who when confronted with the oppressive nature of human slavery, called upon the power of their God to deliver them and indeed according to biblical scriptures, their God manifested the necessary tools in form of miracles, prophets and messiahs to deliver them from their troubles.
Whatever the truth of that may be, in like manner, which can be attested to historically, we as Rastas and Jamaicans, throughout our suffering and tribulations have always sought to reconnect to the divine principle that gave life and form to all that exist.
From the horrors of our suffering we stretched forth our desperate hands. From the midst of the raging inferno of oppression we called out for deliverance, when our spirits were almost broken, when our hearts were almost shattered, when our minds were almost overwhelmed, when all hope was almost gone, we cried out unto the only power that was greater than the lash of the whip, that was greater than the heavy burden of the cutting chains around our feet, the power that was greater than the bullet of the gun, the unimaginable, unformed power within our brutalized minds and incredibly, miraculously, even without our full comprehension, like the most beautiful, delicate and precious flower unfolding, The Divine Power and Potency of The Mighty Deliverer, Our Supreme Emancipator, Our Perfect Compassion, Jah Rastafari was born into our hearts and minds, breaking the whip and shattering the chains of our oppression. It was then as a people, we rose, unbowed by the powers of evil. It was then our healing truly began. And slowly we started to remember ourselves as the Sublime Potency began the work of physical, spiritual, and mental emancipation of us as a people, within the minds of the few who readily chanted the Songs of Redemption. Jah Rastafari resurrected the dying minds of our people from the grave of illusion.

The Golden Path of Jah Rastafari:

The seed bears the fruit and the fruit bears the seed, eat of the Formless Tree of Life oh, powerful seer of the Great Mystery.

~

Do you not feel the aching sadness of all flesh, oh sleeping child of Lions?
How can there be joy in your heart now, when all that live is suffering?
Will you alone sit in Eternal splendour and watch the whole world die?
Feel you not the pain of the earth, oh wondrous child of light?
Listen then to the Wisdom of the Rastaman
And hear the sound of the Kette Drum calling.

~

Rasta must bear the Great Burden with gladness, so that the whole world will be free.

~

Rasta lives to uplift humanity. Rasta lives to glorify Jah Rastafari. In doing either of these, one does both.

~

The nature of the real is informed by the limitedness of human definition. We wouldn't know real if it walked up to us and punched us in our faces. Real, as human beings understand it, is a matter of opinion and interpretation.
Taking care to measure each word and the nature of their meaning: Can something be real and not exist? Think about this one carefully, (though not too much), gauge your answer.

~

According to Babylonian philosophers, by definition, we are conceptual beings living conceptual lives in a conceptual world governed by conceptual laws. How then can we define reality if our knowledge of reality is but a concept of our conceptual minds?

Livity

As Rasta, Livity is the very essence of our being and is inseparable from our thoughts and actions in the world. It begins from the moment of birth to the moment of our death and indeed, even after we leave the world, Livity still operates in our being. Each and every action we perform dictates our understanding of Livity. It’s the foundation for relationships we develop with those around us, from our home to the wider community and the world.

The natural law of ONE LOVE

As a Rasta the primary prerequisite to true understanding is knowledge of the one law from which all laws stem, that is the Law of ONE LOVE.
Without this primary law, nothing that exists could possibly exist as it is.