Ed Skopal: A Quest for Rastafarian Wisdom

Reflection on Ed Skopal

Ed Skopal is a former Virginia Tech graduate who chose not to conform to the western society’s definition of success. He felt that America was “dying” because they forgot their instruction to live in this world. While Skopal abandoned America’s view on success he went on to a different ideology, a Rastafarian one. He began by meeting with some of the key players in the Rastafarian religion such as Ras Touzal Jah whose quotes were, “Only our heart can change the nation”. “Love stricken blind to see”, “If the person has a shack and if you do not have a shack to give him leave him alone.” During his talk he made reference to Babylon a generous amount of time, but did not elaborate on what Babylon is/was

“Possessions are called possessions because they possess you,” and “Knowing is nothing experiences is what you gain.” Ed Skopal is not the first Caucasian dread head I have seen, but he is the first one that I have witnessed who has called himself a Rastafarian, and the first I have seen to proudly say he has submitted himself to that ideology.
I viewed Ed Skopal as an unorthodox Rastafarian or “Rastas.” The Rastas that I am familiar with are those who do not believe in vanity, those who eat ital foods (strict herbs, vegetable and fruit diet) because they believe their body is their temple, and that meat will destroy their flesh. I am not sure how Skopal selling his possessions and becoming homeless is part of the Rastafarian ideology. I know that Skopal repeated that, “he was in no position to convert us to Rastafarian values,” but given his presentation, even if he was going to attempt to convert us it would have been an inadequate attempted. He tells us that he does not want to be a servant to the American “standards”, but he is contradicting himself because he has enslaved himself to the Rastafarian way of

Those who are uneducated in what exactly the Rastafarian lifestyle contains may think that Rastafarians are people who have dreads, people who only wear pan-Africanism colors, and people who inhale narcotics while listening to reggae music. True Rastafarians are those who follow the doctrine of Haile Selassie I, even though Haile Selassie I never regarded himself as a god, nor did he adhere to the Rastafari lifestyle. Marcus Garvey is the one people are holding responsible with the adaption of Rastas regarding Selassie as a god. I was also surprise that Skopal only mentioned Ethiopia but once or twice when, Ethiopia is the foundation of the Rastafari ideology. Rastafari’s believe that Hallie Selassie I was the second coming of my Christian savior