Belonging and Spiritual Awareness

Rev. Celeste's guest is Reverend Elzia Sekou, the Senior Minister at Centers for Spiritual Living Denver, Colorado. Elzia serves as the lead application engineer at LTCI Partners, LLC, focusing on IT strategy, process improvements, and system transformation. Elzia serves on National Financial Partners' Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Belonging Advisory Board and is the co-leader of the Black Professionals Business Resource Group. He is a former college professor, past chair of Cultural Diversity and Human Relations commission for the city of Lakewood, Colorado, a special focus young adult minister at Mile High Church and was formerly an Islamic Imam. He is an avid student of ancient wisdom traditions focusing on ancient wisdom, Kemet, Islam and the Dao. He has lived in five states and Australia giving him a unique perspective on relationship building and cultural differences.

Being an engineer gives him a systematic approach to trying to understand some of the spiritual principles. He is curious and trying to solve the mystery. He looks at spirituality as putting the pieces of the puzzle together to see the whole picture.

Elzia has been involved in diversity for a long time in corporate America. There are now metrics showing progress with the intention of creating a culture of belonging.

Elzia's  journey to becoming an Imam came when in college he worked with the incarcerated in prisons in Florida. Though confined, he supported them in having a relationship with God. Elzia grew up in the 60's when the Black Panthers were around. Reading Malcolm X and Claude Brown elevated his consciousness about Black evolution. He was also influenced by John Henry Clark, Ivan Van Sertema and Dr. Joseph Ben-Jaciman.

A workshop presenter at "Celebrating Our Soul", Elzia shared the roots of Science of Mind being in the idea of oneness and mentalism as referenced in the Kybalion with Egyptian gods like Thoth (Djehuty) and Greek gods like Hermes. Ancient wisdom teaches the law of correspondence. In these ancient wisdom teachings of African spirituality, we regain a sense of multiple dimensions of existence.

Elzia's mystical moment goes back to his mother's transition when he was six years old. She gave him a dog before she died, and that dog was with him through the end of high school, meeting him at school at walking him home. He felt his mother through a palpable connection.

Elzia wants young people to know spirituality as an active life experience.

Catch Rev. Elzia online at New Thought Media Network (www.ntmedia.org)