The Essential Teachings of Confucius

“I Kong”
The Kongs are a diverse family who have traversed the entire globe, mixed and intermingled freely increasing our talent pool, expanded our perspectives, and enriched our collective contribution to humanity along the way.

I can sing you a song—music flows through my veins as naturally as blood. If you wish to sample my wares, just search “I Kong”. Music has been my way of speaking truth to the world, of connecting with people. And I’m not the only Kong who found expression through music. Our cousin Leslie Kong was an early producer with Bob Marley, helping to shape the sound that would eventually carry the message of reggae and Rastafari to the world.

But my cousin Basil was always the thinker, the seeker, the professor and philosopher, the one who couldn’t rest until he understood not just what things are, but why they are and what they mean. I think he came by it honestly through all these generations of Kong family lineage. When you have Confucius as your ancestor, when that philosophical DNA has been passed down, it’s bound to express itself. In Basil, it found perhaps its most articulate modern voice.

I am a Rastaman living in the hills of Jamaica. My spiritual home is in the traditions of Rastafari, with its emphasis on natural living, on resistance to oppression, on the divinity within all people, on the power of music and herb to open consciousness. Some might think this puts me at odds with Confucianism, that these are incompatible worldviews. But I’ve found the opposite to be true. The Rastafari emphasis on “I and I”—the recognition that we are all connected, that the divine spark exists in each person, that what I do to others I do to myself—resonates deeply with Confucian ideas, about the interconnectedness of all people, about our responsibility to each another.

Walk good, my family and friends. This is how we say it in Jamaica—not “goodbye” or “farewell,” but “walk good.” Walk with intention. Walk with awareness. Walk with care for others. Walk the path that leads to your own flourishing and the flourishing of all of mankind.