'Embrace, Engage, Educate, Enlighten, Empower'

By The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan | Last updated: Jan 5, 2016 - 8:52:48 AM

Accept the Challenge To Become God and Acquire Power

Editor’s note: The following article contains edited excerpts from a special “fireside chat” on Thursday, December 10, 2015 in Chicago between the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan, Chicago State University President Wayne Watson, Ronald “Kweisi” Harris, director of the Chicago State African-American Male Resource Center and students and leaders at Chicago State University and affiliated with TEMBO, Teaching & Educating Men of Black Origin, a male development organization. To order this timely message now available in its entirety, which includes a Q&A session afterwards, please visit store.finalcall.com or call 1.866.602.1230, ext. 200. In an intimate but powerful meeting, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan sat down with a small group, encouraging Black students and their mentors to use their gifts, their talents and their intellect to uplift their fallen people and the world.

The gathering at the official residence of the outgoing president of Chicago State University, Dr. Wayne Watson, was not a major public speech but an intimate, personal and “fireside chat.” Dr. Watson, who co-hosted the evening with Ronald “Kweisi” Harris, director of the Chicago State African American Male Resource Center and the group TEMBO, a male development and leadership group.

Men of Chicago’s TEMBO organization enjoy historic night.

“So often we say, ‘God I wish I had met Paul Robeson. What would I have said to him? What would I have heard him say? Would it not have been just a remarkable experience to be in the presence of Marcus Garvey, W.E.B. DuBois, of Frederick Douglass, of the Hon. Elijah Muhammad, of Martin Luther King, Malcolm X, Thurgood Marshall? Guess what? We are there, we are in the presence of a man who has that impact, not just us personally, not just our community but on our world and most importantly on the future,” said longtime educator Dr. Watson in presenting the Minister to his students. Dr. Watson said over a 50 year relationship Min. Farrakhan added to his life and his mission. “Whatever I think is important I share with my students,” said Dr. Watson.

He presented Min. Farrakhan with a “challenge coin,” a specially minted coin exchanged among highly placed individuals, such as President Obama and the director of the CIA, that coincides with a significant work to be done. The challenge is for you to continue to engage, embrace, educate, enlighten and most importantly to empower our people with your education message, Dr. Watson told the Nation of Islam minister. I accept the challenge, said Min. Farrakhan. The coin was created for Chicago St. and has only been presented to seven people, said Dr. Watson.

“Kweisi” Harris saluted the Minister and thanked him on behalf of the 30-35 young men present. TEMBO means ‘elephant’ in Kiswahili and stands for Teaching Educating Men of Black Origin. He presented the Minister with a coffee table book filled with mementos, letters and photos created by the young men of TEMBO and dedicated to “a man who ceased to be silent in a world perpetuating anti-Blackness.”

Min. Farrakhan thanked the group and the college president for hosting and honoring him. Then in an inspired message, he used the five cardinal virtues of the university—engage, embrace. educate, enlighten and empower—to encourage the young men to go forward and oppose the evils of oppression, White supremacy and the mindset of Black inferiority. Your potential is to grow into God, he said. The young men of TEMBO also presented the Minister with one of their signature green sweaters in a show of appreciation.

Bismillah ir-Rahman ir-Rahim
IN THE NAME OF ALLAH, THE BENEFICENT, THE MERCIFUL.

I bear witness to the Oneness of God, and the Oneness of His Prophetic Community, and the Oneness of all His scriptures that He has revealed to every prophet for every nation that existed in the past, and now in the present. The Aim of God is to make humanity one: With all its diversity, and the beauty in that diversity, The Creator desires to set up a government of peace where all on this planet will be able to live together in peace. Such a government could not come into existence until the end of a season given to wickedness and injustice to rule.

Young man listens intently.

All of our struggles, as Black people, have been against the evil of oppression, the evil of White supremacy that created in us a mindset of “Black inferiority.” So we have been chosen by God after 460 years of being in the furnace of affliction, to do a marvelous service for God and for humanity. Because you have a heart that is not, evil in its root—we do evil, but we are not evil by nature.

We are evil by circumstances that were beyond our control. But no matter how evilly we have been mistreated, we have never turned against the country in which we live; no matter how evil and horrific our oppression has been, yet we can open our hearts and our hand to the children of our former slave masters.

You are very, very unique. You’re not “natural,” you are supernatural. “Natural people” do to others what is done to them, but supernatural people rise above the nature (that is our base nature) to a higher nature to do good to those who do evil; to bless those that curse us. Now, this is really the teachings of Christ: Very difficult to live, very easy to say. But if we can rise above the natural inclination to respond to evil by evil, respond to hate by hate, respond to the injustice of our oppressors by getting into a position to do injustice to others ... You are not that kind of people. And because you are not, you are the only ones—I want you to pay attention to this carefully—who can give to others what The Constitution promised, but it could never give. “Life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness” is as natural as God Himself, but it takes someone with The Mind and Spirit and Nature of God to act like that; that no human being should be deprived of what God intended that human being to have, no human being should live under oppression. And because we have lived under that all our lives, God has chosen us to purify us from the dross of colonial mentality, slave mentality, Black inferiority, and make us a nation of Gods.

Left to right, Ronald ‘Kweisi’ Harris, director of the Chicago State African-American Male Resource Center, the Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan and Dr. Wayne Watson, President of Chicago State University.

“Now wait a minute, just a minute, Mr. Farrakhan: I just wanted to get a degree. I mean, I didn’t ask to be made into a ‘God’, I just want to make my way in the world.” Sorry: Your destiny is bigger than that. How could you be made in “the image,” in “the likeness” of God, and not have the potential to be like your Creator? Think about it. The scripture teaches (Psalms 82:6), “Ye are all Gods, children of the Most High God.” The enemy knew this of us, so he wanted to make us into himself so that God would not recognize us as His Own.

So now, what is required? I think it’s right that we should accept this challenge: The “Five E’s” that make up the mission, vision and values of Chicago State University’s for their students, “Embrace, Engage, Educate, Enlighten and Empower.”

‘Embrace and Engage’ The God, The Knowledge of Self and Your Destiny

Let us begin with the first “E,” “Embrace.” “What” will you embrace? “Who” will you embrace? The first embrace should be to embrace Him Who gave you all that you have, and that’s The Creator. When you can embrace Him, meaning, as Jesus put it so beautifully, “To love Him with all your heart, soul, mind and strength”: That doesn’t leave anything for anyone else; you’ve given Him all. But Jesus didn’t stop there; he said, “And the second commandment is that you love your brother like you love yourself.” (Mark 12:30-31)

Now if you will embrace God, and embrace The Knowledge that will make you into God—and embrace your destiny, which is to help God build a kingdom where justice flows down the mountain like a river, and righteousness like a mighty stream: “Destiny” is not for you to come out of Chicago State and look to the White man for a job. Sorry. We come out of here to create jobs for ourselves and for our people.

The second “E” is “Engage.” To engage ... To engage “who”? For what purpose? “To engage” is really to make a commitment to something. You, as a student, and I as a student, have to engage in the pursuit of knowledge. And once you start on the road to access knowledge, you never come back home—because the path of The Acquisition of Knowledge is as infinite as Knowledge is. So in the Holy Qur’an, study these words in Surah 31 (“Luqman”), verse 27: And if all the trees in the earth were pens, and the sea with seven more seas added to it (were ink), the words of Allah would not be exhausted. Surely Allah is Mighty, Wise.

Students of TEMBO present Min. Farrakhan with a sweater with the group’s logo.

Everything that Allah (God) created is a word: So how many “words” do you know? How “engaged” are we in the pursuit of what is in this Universe for us not only to learn, but to master the laws that govern creation? You’ve got to be engaged to do that; and, you had to have embraced The God Who gave your life purpose.

Now, you may say, “I want to be a great engineer. “I’m mastering computer technology.” “I’m a historian.”—yes, all of those disciplines are “stepping stones.” You are bigger than that. And any “guidance counselor” that will tell you what you cannot achieve: You need to leave that counselor alone, because that counselor needs counseling. Because, you could not be made in “the image and likeness of God” and run into something that you did not have the potential to master, if you embrace and engage, and make a commitment to mastering.

‘Education’ coupled with humility causes the ‘I’ to become ‘We’/‘Us’

Once a student is “embraced” and “engaged,” you can then educate that student—the third “E.” The word “education” comes from a Latin main word -duco / -ducare, which means “to lead,” and the Latin prefix e- meaning “out front.” So when one is “educated”: They are led out from ignorance into knowledge, from darkness into light, from weakness into strength, from powerlessness into power. Real “education” gives you the tools to master any circumstance that will come up in your life as an impediment to your advancement.

So seek education, or knowledge, from the cradle to the grave ... and if you live 1,000 years, you’ll never learn all that’s in this universe to learn. One of the pre-requisites to “learning” is having a humble heart and a humble mind. Because education, from the Western [perspective], makes you ego drunk (you walk around arrogant, looking down on others less fortunate); the “I” is always present (“I did! I will! I have accomplished!”). And the “I” in us, they call it “the ego.” That’s The God in you. But are not He Who can say “I,” only God can use the independent pronoun “I” and make it stick! He can do anything He Wills to do because He has The Knowledge and The Power to do it. You don’t have that, neither do I. Jesus said it best: “I can of myself do nothing.” (Book of John, Chapter 5)

So as you go out from this great institution, you have to put this “ego thing” down, and realize that the “I” of you is a complement to the “I” of the brother that sits next to you. Then these two “I’s,” working together, become “Us,” “We.” And it is only We who can accomplish the Great Will of God. I can’t do it by myself, because I only have my gift. But you have yours ... and your duty is to discover your gift, and develop your gift, and give it back to God for His Glory.

‘Enlighten and Empower’: The sure test that comes with having knowledge, authority

The next “E” is “Enlighten.” En + lighten [en- meaning “to cause to be in (a state)”; lighten, “to give light to; illuminate”]. So that means that every dark corner of your mind will be filled with The Light of Knowledge. And there is always a “dark side” to every human being as there is a dark side to the moon....

Dr. Wayne Watson, president of Chicago State University presents Min. Farrakhan with a “challenge coin,” a specially made coin exchanged among highly placed individuals, such as President Obama and the director of the CIA.

And the White man always wants to go around to see “what’s on the dark side?” He sets up spying, snooping—always looking for the darkness of the next man, so that through that darkness he can control you. “Darkness” is immorality, and vice, and corruption, and these are the things that will take away your “enlightenment,” dis-engage you, and cause your embrace to be weakened.

Then after a student has been embraced, engaged, educated and enlightened, the last “E” is that they then be empowered.

“Empower”... “God” means “Force and Power.” So when one is “empowered,” that person is ready to be tried, tested, because “power” does corrupt. When one has “power,” watch everyone that has authority; study people in authority: A lot of them are very sick individuals; because “the lust for power” is a desire to use what you know to make someone else bow to you. You want to feel that you are “better,” you are “bigger,” you are “stronger,” “more intelligent” (“I have power”). You just lost it—because you created nothing. So when God gives you the right to be in author-ity over what you were not “The Author” of, then humbling yourself will help you to use power to better yourself, and to better others and to empower others, because “the ego” is submerged.

***

And when we are enlightened, when we are empowered, then the question you have to ask yourself: “What will we do with it?” Will we be like the White man who enslaved us? Will we set up a business, and treat those who help us less than we should—because we are “empowered” now? See, this is the sickness of power in the hands of those who are arrogant. I thank my dear and beloved brother and friend, CSU President Dr. Wayne Watson, for giving to me this challenge to educate, to enlighten, to empower, to engage, and to embrace. I accept that challenge, because that is The Mission that God gave to my Teacher, the Most Honorable Elijah Muhammad.

And guess what? When I would go to visit my Teacher, when he was among us, he would say words like this: “I saw a man climbing up a mountain, late in the evening, carrying a heavy load. And he said, ‘When will my help come?’ ”—and I wondered why he would say that, because he said it three or four times. When I’m sitting at the table, he’d just look at me: “I saw a man climbing up a mountain late in the evening, carrying a heavy load; and he asked a question, ‘WHEN WILL MY HELP COME?’ And finally, he said: ‘Hosanna! Hosanna! My Help is come!”—and he said, “The Angels came and bore that man away over the dashing foam.” Everybody needs a helper. ... Dr. Watson could not make this great university better without help. My Teacher was waiting for me to arrive at the level of consciousness that I would take off of his shoulder the heavy load that he was carrying, and help him in his Mission.

And what is his Mission? The Resurrection of The Black Man and Woman of America and the world.

‘Keys to unlock your inherent power’: Knowing how to use what you know to heal conditions, fulfill desires

Whether you know it or not, this knowledge that you have received cannot resurrect you. In other words, not to be insulting: What you “know” is valuable only if you know how to use what you know to get where you are going, and get the fulfillment of your desires. Getting knowledge and getting an “A” or a “B,” or “C,” or whatever you get (“Oh, I got a 4.0 average!”)—that’s great; we applaud that, for that says you learned something. But the real test is not in the classroom, baby: The real test is what you can do with what you’ve learned to change that world that you were birthed in, that is rotten as hell. And that is big ... .

You can’t do it by yourself, but each of us has that responsibility; and it will come to you. Those of you [pursing higher degrees], who are working on a “Bachelors,” then going on to your “Masters”: God Willing, you will go on to your Doctorate—but with an inability to heal what you’re the “doctor” of.

Dear Students: There are “keys” that unlock wisdom, and these schools don’t give you “the keys”. They give you a knowledge, but the key to make it work for you? White folk don’t give that to you. And that’s why they hope that you will come out of here and work for them. But when you have The Key to unlock The Power that is inherent in what you know, then you can become “a healer.” If your doctorate is in “Sociology,” then heal the social condition. If your doctorate is in “Economics”: The world is in bad shape economically. Well, you’re a doctor of economics? Then heal the economic condition of your people. Nobody does that ...

Don’t get carried away with “the degree,” get carried away with finding the key to unlock the power of your degree; that you will become a master. Not a “B.S.-er”, but a Master. May God bless all of you to attain the goals for which you strive.

***

Again, I thank my brother, Dr. Watson, for the greatest gift he could give me tonight: Is a chance to talk to you. I could not ask for a greater gift, because I am an old man now, going out of the world. You are young men and women, who are rising in the world. So I am blessed if I can put a word in your ear that will stimulate greater consciousness, greater growth, greater discipline, greater awareness of the reality of the problems that we face, not only now but when you get out of college or university.

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