How to F.L.O.W.W. With Life

In my thirty years of living, I have been privy to a few revelations. To help me remember these revelations, I try to come up with a few acronyms that encapsulate the central theme of the idea. A few of these acronyms are 1) h.e.A.R.T (Human Expressive Act of Radical Transformation – see new book The BAKALA of North America for details), 2) Thinking C.A.A.P. (Creative Application of African Philosophy), and 3) S.E.X. (Sacred Expressive eXperiences).

At the core of each of these acronyms is the idea that imagination and creativity is at the heart of being human. To be human is to be on an unending quest to discover new satisfying dimensions for being human. Imagination is your fuel on this expedition. We are dual citizens of the infinite universe, as we are not only citizens of the earth, but citizens of the stars. Creativity is our passport between these two realms. Creativity is the ability to swim across the ocean of consciousness to the edge of eternity, record what one witnesses upon its shores, and translate one’s inspiration into experience here on earth.

I translate inspiration into experience by way of emceeing, poetry and music production. These forms of expression are the vessels I board to voyage the roaring water waves of the river time. There is an important component to all of these forms of expression and that is the harmonic flow by which the expression takes form. The definition of the word flow is to move or circulate as a liquid; to issue forth. An extended definition is to glide along or sound smoothly. The flow is more pronounced and essential to poetry and emceeing. Each word must balance itself as it surfs the cosmic sound waves of eternity. It must navigate the rhythms without obstruction and interference.

How beautiful the poem or song is depends on how well the ideas flow in the expression. A master heARTist can weave concepts together in such an eloquent way that they create webs of symbolism that touches every dimension of life. The heARTist helps us to know life to the highest degree and introduces us to new satisfying dimensions for being human.

To know life is to F.L.O.W.W. with life. As you get older you come to the realization that it is best to flow harmonically with the universe than to fight against it. As the Bakala (African-American) proverb states, “Your arms are too short to box with God.” In my revelation on the flow of life, I realized that one can’t F.L.O.W.W. without possessing the following characteristics:

FIRE: Fire is interpreted in two ways here. In African philosophy, fire is symbolic for intelligent thought or divine creative energy. Ideas are forged in the mind (the hearth) by means of fire. It is analogous to the craft of metallurgy. Secondly, fire is symbolic of passion and desire. Passion is the fuel that gets us up out of bed in the morning to do that which we love. I argue that you cannot FLOWW with life unless you are passionate about something and are actively engaged with your passions: constantly fueling it with new ideas and vision. Passion/fire pushes you to forever reach higher echelons of awareness and achievement. It is the divine creative energy that guides ideas into form or experience here on earth. Fire is the shaping agent of ideas. Fire lights our paths as we walk forward into the dark, unknown road towards the future. The arts are where we train to become Firemen. Unlike in common experience, firemen do not put out fires: they ignite them. For us, the heARTists, we are ARTsonists: we intentionally set fires (inspiration) and dance inside fire’s eternal flames. The heARTist is isolated in the forests of the mind and goes through IGNITIATION in which s/he learns the art of having S.E.X. (Sacred Expressive eXperiences).

LOVE: Love is the binding force of life that keeps all things together. Love is a pure emotion that guides our creative endeavors. Love is the vessel that carries the soul to the banks of the shores of the lake of meaning. Love forges human relationships. Love is the sacrifice one makes to witness the bloom of another spirit being. Another way to put it, the act of selfless-service (sacrifice) is the work exerted so that another spirit being can reach its full potential. You cannot FLOWW with life absent of love. Hate causes disharmonies in the human personality and is the primary weapon of the syndrome of foolishness. When you learn to love, you clear space in which to receive abundance.

OPENESS: In order to receive this abundance, in order to take advantage of the fertility of the universe, you have to be OPEN to receive it. Certain emotions or activities block the passage of certain blessings. A lack of trust, if not in our fellow man or of the universe, doesn’t allow us to see the infinite possibilities of life. Our job as human beings, as children and citizens of the stars, is to assist nature in bringing things into being in a manner that is conducive to life. Dogma is a prison of the mind. It narrows our vision and our notions of what’s possible. A man must stand upright, walk the horizontal plane of earth and travel along the superhighway of wisdom to discover strategies in which to wage war on the syndrome of foolishness. A part of the process is to have an open mind and an open heart. If these two things are kept open, the universe will always have a ready channel for energy/inspiration/blessings to flow.

WITTINESS: Wittiness is associated with the ability to associate words or concepts that are not usually connected in a manner that produces an amusing surprise. This is the creative application of ideas in everyday life. Implied in its meaning is a sense of humor. To be human is to have a sense of humor. To be witty is to look at adversity in the eye and smile. It is the life sign that the heart is open and working at optimal efficiency. If you cannot find moments in life to laugh and have fun, then you are inviting negative energy to possess your body and cause your health to deteriorate. Laughter lessens the blows of adversity and allows us to take life in stride and to meet head on the one thousand and one challenges of life. To be witty is to have a certain jubilant personality; a certain dynamism that always finds the silver lining in all situations. This gift of gab allows us to creatively weave ideas together in a manner that not only helps to unveil life’s mysteries, but makes life more beautiful in the process.

WISDOM: Life is an unending stream of mysteries that arms itself with dual weapons of opposites, whose unceasing battles will rage until everything flows together into one eternal river. The battles of the dual weapons of life affect all phenomena and cause the one thousand and one challenges of life. The major weapons of life are Wisdom and Foolishness. Man is characterized by his dual hunger. Hunger is a force that compels the spirit being to move forward and know life. Man has a lesser hunger and a greater hunger. The lesser hunger deals with the needs and wants of life on earth. This hunger can be satisfied with material things. By contrast, the greater hunger concerns the meaning of life and can only be satisfied by wisdom. Foolishness exploits our lesser hunger by making us violate the bounders that define the appetites on earth. Wisdom is the knowledge one gains from consistently meeting the one thousand and one challenges of life. Wisdom enhances one’s ability to tower over difficulty, unveil life’s mysteries, and celebrate life’s beauties. Wisdom fertilizes your seeds of greatness and is your greatest weapon against the force of conflict we call foolishness.

We must be fluid as we traverse the river time: not only in our expression but in our thinking. To realize the promise of being human you have to learn how to F.L.O.W.W. with life and not swim against its current. By igniting your inner fire, you begin to develop an insatiable love of life that is open and honest and allows abundance to be poured from the heavens without measure. It is our wittiness that translates inspiration into experience and allows us to take advantage of the fertility of the earth. Flowing through life is more than the continued flow of existence uninhibited by conflict. It is the finding of joy in the challenges. When you find the blessings in adversity, you collect new power tools of being for storage in your bag of wisdom, to meet head on the one thousand and one challenges of life. In the words of Bruce Lee, “Be like water my friend.” Learn how to F.L.O.W.W.

Asar Imhotep is a philosopher, activist, poet and founder of the MOCHA-Versity Institute of Philosophy and Research. He is the author of the book Esodus: Internal Reflections and Conversations with the Sun and the upcoming title The Bakala of North America: The Living Suns of Vitality. You can visit his website at www.asarimhotep.com. He can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it