KI REVIEW

I offer shiatsu along with a ki energy health evaluation, supported by basic macrobiotic dietary and way of life guidance, in Fairfield, CT, and Manhattan. I also offer classes in Five Transformations theory and Nine Star Ki, from my personal viewpoint. For further information, please contact me at Tel: 203-254-1795.

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Bob Marley, 1 Water ☵

(2.6.1945, Nine Mile, Saint Ann Parish, Jamaica – 5.11.1981)

Bob Marley Comes Alive in This Collection of Interviews With the People Who Knew Him Best, by Toure, The New York Times, July 11, 2017

This profile is from a review of a new book on Marley, by Roger Steffens, called “So Much Things To Say (The Oral History of Bob Marley).

Water flows to the lowest level

In reading numerous Water people profiles, a theme of helping those in need appears. Pope Francis (b. 12.17.1936, Buenos Aires, Argentina) is the most famous example with the emphasis in his teachings, in aiding the poor. Under Angela Merkel’s (b. 7.17.1954, Hamburg, West Germany) leadership, more than one million refugees have been accepted into Germany. The economist Jeffrey Sachs (b. 11.5.1954, Detroit, MI) has done much research in helping end extreme poverty and hunger, especially in Africa, and the economist, Esther Duflo (b. 10.25.1972, Paris, France), also. It appears that Marley shares the same spirit:

‘… Marley became a star through years of painstaking work, and when he got money he was exceedingly generous, a one-man welfare department. “There were people who would be on a regular thing,” says his former business manager Colin Leslie. “They come every month, in the understanding they were getting the money. … I had to make sure there was a float of funds to make sure that people would be fed. There were those who depended on hot meals from Bob.” Some say Marley supported 4,000 people, but Leslie thinks it was more.’

‘Someone who appears to speak for the people. It’s in his music, his life story, his worldview and the way he carries himself — he seems like an extension of the people and their leader. His music does not come across as a commercial gesture because it’s as if he’s on the public stage to speak for his constituents and give voice to their feelings and their needs. He seems like a sort of Cultural Senator, a man who represents his people — who vote for him with their dollars and their love. No music star in the Western world has ever been a more powerful Cultural Senator on the global stage than Nesta Robert Marley.’

‘As the New York Times pop music critic Jon Pareles once wrote: “Bob Marley became the voice of third-world pain and resistance, the sufferer in the concrete jungle who would not be denied forever. Outsiders everywhere heard Marley as their own champion.” When fans see you as their champion, you become an important part of their lives.’

These quotes on Marley remind me of the first few lines of chapter 8 of the Daodejing:

A man of the superior type resembles water,

Whose goodness lies in benefiting all things without contention,

And staying in places detested by the masses.

This makes him closely akin to Tao.

The goodness of his abode is its low location.

The goodness of his heart is its cavern-like hollowness.

Benevolence is the goodness of his offerings.

Sincerity is the goodness of his speech.

(Henry Wei translation; The Guiding Light of Lao Tzu)

Water keeps flowing forward

‘In “War” Marley declares war on racism, and you get the sense that he does not mean war in a purely symbolic way. In “Redemption Song” he challenges us to respond to the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Malcolm X — “How long shall they kill our prophets, while we stand aside and look?” In “Them Belly Full (but We Hungry)” he criticizes the class system in Jamaica. In “Zimbabwe” he calls for liberating Africa’s nations. In “Burnin’ and Lootin’” he refers to violent resistance. Marley was speaking for the downtrodden and urging oppressed people throughout the African diaspora to revolt by any means necessary.’

By any means necessary? In this quote, it would appear to me there is a divergence with the spirit of the Tao, for in the following line of the above quote, by the same translator, it says:

‘The goodness of his rule means peace’.

Marley’s musical legacy appears to be one of peaceful rejoice, but to me, there is a non-violent aspect of Water that converges to a point with Marley’s thoughts on resistance, and it is, that in times of difficulty, like the constant forward flow of water in a river, we respond by continually moving forward, and confront issues. Maintain pressure, but peacefully. The best approach might be to find a way around a problem, and Water consciousness always finds an opening. Or over time, and it sometimes takes a long, long time, water gradually wears away at that which stands in its path, and/or with its gathering power, in this case represented by the power of numbers of followers or supporters, submerges it. One of the criticisms of those who help the needy is, as said in the first quote, people become dependent (“people who would be on a regular thing”). It seems to me this concept applies to the needy too; along with the assistance, ultimately, they have to do all they can personally, to move forward, out of poverty.

Things mix in water

‘Still, young Marley was neglected. “He was like the ugly duckling,” Bunny Wailer remembers. “There were many nights of cold ground for his bed and rock stone for his pillow.” He was also a social outcast. “Whites thought of him as a black child; blacks, critical of mixed-race children, taunted him as ‘the little yellow boy,’” Steffens says. “For Bob, his color seemed to be an impediment wherever he turned, causing him to turn inward, a solitary soul relying on his own inner strengths.”’

“… many nights of cold ground for his bed and rock stone for his pillow …”: He knows poverty, first hand. “… mixed-race children …”: The thought occurred that a mixed race child as a general understanding, carries the energy of Water, since things mix in water, and sadly, in many countries where there is a predominant race, the mixed-race child is considered from a status view, as the lowest, which again corresponds, albeit negatively, with Water. “… causing him to turn inward, a solitary soul relying on his own inner strengths.”: An interesting quote to me, because it highlights a quality of Water we see in the image of the Water I Ching trigram. The outer yin lines suggest a person who is outwardly gentle, however, the inner yang line suggests inner strength, a person with character and guts.

Water’s bounty

‘we learn that Marley’s favorite meal was Irish moss, a form of seaweed.’

“… a form of seaweed.”: His Water nature is energized by food from the sea.

The kidneys store Jing

‘One of Marley’s many girlfriends, Esther Anderson, says the root of “I Shot the Sheriff” lay in their relationship: “It’s about birth control. Bob was always after me to ‘breed’ and have a baby with him. He kept asking me why after I’d been with him for a month already I hadn’t got pregnant yet.

“… Bob was always after me to ‘breed’ and have a baby with him.”: According to classical Chinese medicine, the Water organs, the kidneys, store Jing, the substance which is the source of reproduction, development, and maturation. I have collected a number of examples of those born in a 1 Water year whose life has some connection with sex and reproduction. In regards the sexual abuse in the Catholic church, Pope John Paul 11 (5.18.1920, Wadowice, Poland – 4.2.2005), 8 Soil, tended, like a negative expression of Soil, to cover over things, by not confronting this issue. However, he was followed by two popes born in a 1 Water year; Pope Benedict XV1 (b. 4.16.1927, Marktl, Germany), and Pope Francis. I’m suggesting that energetically speaking they came along at this time to resolve this most serious problem. Sandra Fluke (b. 4.17.1981, Saxton, PA), 1 Water, gained national attention regarding political issues pertaining to medical insurance coverage of birth control, and politician, Wendy Davis (b. 5.16.1963), also 1 Water, gained national attention when she held an eleven-hour-long filibuster (which must have seriously tested her own bladder energy) “to block Senate Bill 5, a measure which included more restrictive abortion regulations for Texas” (Wikipedia). Bob’s response seems to simply highlight this inherent quality of Water, that transmits in us, this universal desire to reproduce.