A gentleman who read my blog titled ” A Summary of the Rastafari Movement” asked me to clarify the term Overstanding. “Overstanding” is a play on words like many other words in the Rastafari Language. These play on words originated as a symbol of separation from the Western ideology and as well as a continual (I-tinual) remembrance of the struggle for emancipation.
It is overstood that when one communicates, they are communicating an idea to another individual. Ideas are created by men thus the idea cannot be superior to its creator; similarly to the concept (I-cept) held by the Islamic ideology that man cannot be God because God created man.
The Rastafari philosophy asserts that every man woman and child are equal (hence the term InI) therefore the individual who is receiving the information is equal to the communicator of the information and superior to the idea being communicated. That being said, one should not “understand” or stand under an idea; when they absorb and correctly perceive an idea they “Overstand” it.
If any one else has any more questions pertaining to the Livity of Rastafari just drop me a line.
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May 5, 2008 at 6:17 pm
daniel
This sounds disrespectful. Can you help organize awareness of this event on other Rasta blogs?
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October 26, 2008 at 9:14 am
Bella
N the mon he siad to the elder….
“Give thanks, my lord, I feel blessed to have been here n to have met with the bredrens, next year I try n come back….”
N the senior said to the youth….
“My child, why go back, when u can go forward???…”
Let I n I give thanks to the almighty, to di messengers, for enlighting blessed people, n allowing I n I to see things clear. For the blessed one who has seen the light threw rastafarI there is no going back again, we move forward, rogether. I n I overstand that we need to find means n ways to move away from Babyloon, go forward in livity, n find the true rythm of the heart, which we find in all our motherland, blessed Ithiopia. Repatriation is a must – no matter the couler of mon – skin, we are all ONE people, cjildren of Jah, n we all come from blessed Ithiopia, di tru Israel. Unity is a must. Love over hate, life over death. Love to all followers of the Holy Emmanuel I, Selassie I, Jah Rastafar I. Bless di page, spread the word everytime. Guidance n protection always!
March 8, 2009 at 10:05 pm
shagulla
give tanks, I overstand the reasoning. May JAH be with you.
May 22, 2009 at 3:05 pm
david
Why do rasta say i and i?
September 12, 2009 at 5:42 pm
Amin
“Rastas say that Jah, in the form of the Holy Spirit (incarnate), lives within the human, and for this reason they often refer to themselves as “I and I”. Furthermore, “I and I” is used instead of “We”, and is used in this way to emphasise the equality between all people, in the recognition that the Holy Spirit within us all makes us essentially one and the same.” (This has been quoted from http://www.wikipedia.org/)
September 14, 2009 at 12:31 am
angmang
Rastafari scholar E. E. Cashmore:
“I and I is an expression to totalize the concept of oneness, the oneness of two persons. So God is within all of us and we’re one people in fact. The bond of Ras Tafari is the bond of God, of man. But man itself needs a head and the head of man is His Imperial Majesty Haile Selassie I (always pronounced as the letter ‘I,’ never as the number one or ‘the first’) of Ethiopia.”
January 27, 2010 at 1:11 am
max
epistemology Look up epistemology at Dictionary.com
“theory of knowledge,” 1856, coined by Scot. philosopher James F. Ferrier (1808-64) from Gk. episteme “knowledge,” from Ionic Gk. epistasthai “know how to do, understand,” lit. “overstand,” from epi- “over, near” + histasthai “to stand.” The scientific (as opposed to philosophical) study of the roots and paths of knowledge is epistemics (1969).
March 30, 2010 at 8:19 pm
ras p tafari
further to add to the I reasoning about the word over stand, It must be noted that I and I used the word over stand as oppose to understand because the prefix under means under. Hence if I am taught something I would say I over stand because I grasp a new idea. Knowledge makes I higher while ignorance make I lower in I consciousness. There are many errors in the English language also Rasta language about the higher self and so the use of positive word sounds is the essence distinction as Rastas.
March 11, 2011 at 7:50 am
JenR
Thanks for the explanation! A contestant on American Idol, Naima, said “overstood” and people thought she misspoke, so it is good to have it explained.