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Published: March 21st 2016
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So I grabbed two mini buses to a bigger bus station and found me a bus headed straight to Shashamane…This 500 acres is the sacred home for Rastafarians that His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I gave for all those who wish to repatriate. I don’t want to get into too much detail here because I could go on for daaaaays about the history of this religion and all the weird ties that make it seem pretty legit. Buuuuuut as most religions come to the same deep understanding in their own certain way, it was very interesting to see how super devout Rastas handled the “new Jerusalem.” I got off the bus with no idea of where to stay as the Lonely Planet chapters I purchased online did not include this town…and as it turns out, there is a town called Shashamane as well as the ghetto about 4 km away where the Rasta refuge is located, also called Shashamane. So I got a tuk tuk and asked to go to a cheaper place and was pointed in the direction of this weird looking church thingy so I said no please take me to the Zion Train Lodge. It was the only
sign for lodging that I saw on the way in. Low and behold this was the best place ever…seriously…Here I met a fella from France who was finishing up a 40 day stint in Ethiopia. He was in India studying deep Hinduism and became a babbi/priest/monk thingy. The very serious ones who only wear a loin cloth, let their hair grow, and cover themselves with ashes all day every day to signify the illusion that this reality creates and how the body isn’t really a thing to be considered. Did that for seven years….seven…He for some reason decided to stop following the death cycle and join the living again and it just so happens that Jesus (the guy from that one book) is the example on how to live the good/proper/correct life. Aaaaaand Rastafarianism has some other special features about it that vibe with his eastern studies. Sooooo he got baptized in the Ethiopian Orthodox Christian church and then subsequently in the Niabingi order of Rastafarianism. He was there for this purpose and to reaffirm his beliefs about the path he had chosen. I don’t know why I was there but it turns out that the majority of peeps in
Ethiopia are super religious in very serious ways…like I saw one lady with a rosary tattoo on her chin line….serious stuff…There are a bunch of different religions to be seen at their fullest and finest and I found out that I was there to learn more about one I had seemingly unknowingly been following for a while (if one could say that). I read something like 5 or 6 books while I was there and went out seeking words of wisdom from a few people who had repatriated over the last 40 years but I still found the family, who’s place I was staying at, to be the finest living example of how to actually Rastafari….Ras Alex also happens to have the longest dreadlocks of this area which reach the floor and half way up his back again….woa. His wife and two children also have dreadlocks, the kids since birth. And just for more coolness the French guy, the boy, and myself all share the same name……woa. But these people lived a very clean and healthy lifestyle according to their religious beliefs and it was really nice to see super religious people being the example in which it is written in their holy scriptures. Another interesting point to point out is that apparently I showed up at a weird time. I got there and the family was like “what are you doing here?” and I was like….idk….got space for my tent? They said yes of course but their point was that the town was under a curfew and under civil distress. A certain ethnic group was killing another group or something maybe political, maybe religious, but the police were not letting people on the streets past 7pm. Soooooo I showed up when everyone was getting the F out of dodge…oops! We never did really get a full account of what was happening, but we all survived lol. And I still had an amazing time conversing and succinctly coming to conclusions about many deep questions and I really enjoyed figuring out the answers of how to live a meaningful life in some kind of “correct” way. The “should” part of how to life. I really enjoyed that this repatriated family (from France via the Caribbean) was so open to sharing their life with me for a short time and opening their home to me/us (we ate supper in their home every night). And some other weird timing things went down too. There was a German film director who made a movie called “Barefoot Rasta.” Sort of a documentary about this guy who one day decided to follow Rastafarianism and he spent some time in Shashamane to develop his new being. It was a terrible movie and we were all shocked that this director was making a mockery out of a religion etc etc etc…don’t want to get into too much detail here, but this was a stupid film that had nothing to do with the religion and actually we all agreed there was no common theme or message in the end. So it was a stupid movie by a stupid guy who stupidly stupided some stupid stuff….stoopid. Anyways….I had an amazing time there. Such a spiritual place. Especially with everything going on. Remember, this place is in the heart of the ghetto…people have been in poverty for a long time there and just recently things started to get violent. Odd for what is supposed to be a place of peace but when you see the differences within one religion and how no one is working together it is pretty sad to understand that there is all this bad all around all the time and still try to see the good in everything. I could go on for a looooong time about my experiences here but none were really physical. Ie, things to see, places to go, food to eat….it was a place where you go to reach a higher level of understanding and striving for a sense of peace. I also appreciate the warning signs of what was to come. Leaving Zion and heading back into Babylon is exactly what you shouldn’t do and it was exactly what I was about to do….man…conceptual feelings are hard to grasp with words…oh well….on to the next one!!!! Heading to Egypt in a few days….back to Addis for a quick view of big city life and with the warning from my French friend in my head; once a higher spiritual level is obtained, there will be a mighty test immediately after. I have only thought of it the other way around…from the absolutely terrible shit comes the higher enlightenment, but he was saying just be careful of going back into the fire! Might get burned!!!!! *warning heeded* ps, I will talk to anyone more about my time here and recommendations about it when prompted! Just ask J
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