“Our greatest struggle is against our own weaknesses”
- Amilcar Cabral
Inspired by the Kairos Document of apartheid South Africa, The Kairas Initiative is a call to discerning Black Men of conscious that are looking to claim their life’s destiny, embody their ancestral tradition of unparalleled leadership, and contribute to the legacy of Black manhood.
Written in 1985, the South African, “Kairos Document” was an attempt to utilize prophetic theology as a means to inspire the ecumenical Christian community of South African churches to embrace a new approach to the political justification of apartheid. Several churches had proved themselves irreverent to and in many cases supportive of the routine violence and institution oppression experienced by South Africans of color.
The term “Kairos” was deemed appropriate because of its unique awareness of a non-European approach to time, to Divinity, and the collaborative process of healing trauma. Each of these aspects is equally appropriate to the current and urgent state of African peoples and cultures worldwide, perhaps most especially the unique status of Black Americans within the wealthiest country on the Earth.
Answering the call of the Kairas Initiative requires a certain amount of risk. For the purposes of this work, risk entails redefining the conceptual standards upon which we engage the world around us as Black men. With such a risk comes the possibility of gaining deeper meaning and greater understanding of ourselves and our role in this life. As a whole, we must choose to either take chances and create opportunities for happiness and fulfillment that, in the end, far outweigh whatever realities appear to prevent our quest for meaning, or resign to the societal condemnation that has been institutionally prescribed.
Through a knowledge of self, the Kairas Initiative aims to expose the unconscious motivators of our ingrained behaviors that limit our awareness prevent us from fulfilling our roles as sons, brothers, fathers, marital partners and beloved friends. in spiritual leadership within these identities. By cleansing our hearts and minds of residual, toxic stress we are cleansing our awareness, and by cleansing we are are healing trauma experiences that prevent us from living our best life.
Written in 1985, the South African, “Kairos Document” was an attempt to utilize prophetic theology as a means to inspire the ecumenical Christian community of South African churches to embrace a new approach to the political justification of apartheid. Several churches had proved themselves irreverent to and in many cases supportive of the routine violence and institution oppression experienced by South Africans of color.
The term “Kairos” was deemed appropriate because of its unique awareness of a non-European approach to time, to Divinity, and the collaborative process of healing trauma. Each of these aspects is equally appropriate to the current and urgent state of African peoples and cultures worldwide, perhaps most especially the unique status of Black Americans within the wealthiest country on the Earth.
Answering the call of the Kairas Initiative requires a certain amount of risk. For the purposes of this work, risk entails redefining the conceptual standards upon which we engage the world around us as Black men. With such a risk comes the possibility of gaining deeper meaning and greater understanding of ourselves and our role in this life. As a whole, we must choose to either take chances and create opportunities for happiness and fulfillment that, in the end, far outweigh whatever realities appear to prevent our quest for meaning, or resign to the societal condemnation that has been institutionally prescribed.
Through a knowledge of self, the Kairas Initiative aims to expose the unconscious motivators of our ingrained behaviors that limit our awareness prevent us from fulfilling our roles as sons, brothers, fathers, marital partners and beloved friends. in spiritual leadership within these identities. By cleansing our hearts and minds of residual, toxic stress we are cleansing our awareness, and by cleansing we are are healing trauma experiences that prevent us from living our best life.
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"The time has come. The moment of truth has arrived.... this is the KAIROS, the moment of grace and opportunity, the favourable time in which God issues a challenge to decisive action."
- The Kairos Document, 1985 
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“The timeless in you is aware of life's timelessness. And knows that yesterday is but today's memory and tomorrow is today's dream.” - Khalil Gibran, The Prophet Time is commonly understood as a linear chronology of past, present, and future. The ancient Greeks described time in two different ways, both as Chronos and Kairos. Chronos acknowledges a linear sense of time (i.e. the past, present, and future), whereas Kairos denotes a cyclical sense of time that experientially transcends the chronological perception of time.
kairosWithin the Kairos or Kairotic cycle, memories of the past and projections of the future remain in perpetual movement, while a watchful awareness remains present amongst the thoughts, emotions, and sensations of one’s memories and projections. This Kairotic Cycle is what Eckhart Tolle refers to as The Power of Now.
Paradoxically moving yet unmoved, the watchful awareness of the Kairotic Cycle holds the transformative power to heal matters of the spirit and psyche, while also addressing critical matters of collective society. By healing the individual, we heal the collective. Yet Black Men are constantly faced with a unique traumas, and a unique set of healing modalities to address the issues at hand. kairasThe Greek concept of Kairos comes from the Egyptian concept of Ka-ir-Ras. The Egyptian ‘Ka’ was considered the soul’s breath, or life force energy, that doubled one’s physical presence and carried on the legacy of one’s actions from one life to the next. The Egyptian ‘Ir’ was considered the the soul’s vision, or eye, which acknowledged the duty or destiny ordained by the soul. The Egyptian ‘Ras’ connotes a raising up or spiritual elevation that requires the need to suspend or to negate dysfunctional behaviors that stem from traumatic experiences.
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