It’s a puzzle and we must be able to piece the parts
together by our own selves. The knowledge of self is the key to the box in
which our development and evolution is trapped. This is the reason why every
attempt is made to strip the slave of his IDENTITY – language, name, culture,
spirituality, dressing, music, etc. And a new identity stamped on him/her
against their will. Remember Kunta Kinte in the movie ‘Roots’? He was renamed
‘Toby Waller’ which he rejected. He made several attempts to run and when he
was recaptured during the last of his four escape attempts, the slave catchers
gave him a choice: he would be castrated or have his right foot cut off. He
chose to have his foot cut off, and the men cut off the front half of his right
foot. Kunta resigned himself to his fate eventually but never forgot who he was
or where he came from [Wikipedia]. Have you heard of the term ‘drapetomania’
before? Ok, so now you can add a new word to your vocabulary. Drapetomania is simply a mental illness that
caused black slaves to flee captivity. It was described by American physician
Samuel A. Cartwright in 1851. I guess that was what Kunta and many other slaves
who attempted to give their lives more dignity than be wretched subjugated
beings of others suffered from. No, how on earth could they think they deserve
to live free like their masters. It’s unthinkable for him to be self-determined
even now!!!!
I take this excerpt from Wikipedia
“In Diseases and Peculiarities of the Negro Race, Cartwright
points out that the Bible calls for a slave to be submissive to his master, and
by doing so, the slave will have no desire to run away.
If the white man attempts to oppose the Deity's will, by
trying to make the negro anything else than "the submissive
knee-bender" (which the Almighty declared he should be), by trying to
raise him to a level with himself, or by putting himself on an equality with
the negro; or if he abuses the power which God has given him over his
fellow-man, by being cruel to him, or punishing him in anger, or by neglecting
to protect him from the wanton abuses of his fellow-servants and all others, or
by denying him the usual comforts and necessaries of life, the negro will run
away; but if he keeps him in the position that we learn from the Scriptures he
was intended to occupy, that is, the position of submission; and if his master
or overseer be kind and gracious in his hearing towards him, without
condescension, and at the same time ministers to his physical wants, and
protects him from abuses, the negro is spell-bound, and cannot run away.
Cartwright described the disorder – which, he said, was
"unknown to our medical authorities, although its diagnostic symptom, the
absconding from service, is well known to our planters and overseers" – in
a paper delivered before the Medical Association of Louisiana[2]:291 that was
widely reprinted.
He stated that the malady was a consequence of masters who
"made themselves too familiar with [slaves], treating them as
equals".
If treated kindly, well fed and clothed, with fuel enough to
keep a small fire burning all night--separated into families, each family
having its own house--not permitted to run about at night to visit their
neighbors, to receive visits or use intoxicating liquors, and not overworked or
exposed too much to the weather, they are very easily governed--more so than
any other people in the world. If any one or more of them, at any time, are
inclined to raise their heads to a level with their master or overseer,
humanity and their own good requires that they should be punished until they
fall into that submissive state which was intended for them to occupy. They
have only to be kept in that state, and treated like children to prevent and
cure them from running away.”
Is it any wonder that your kind is not in ‘his’-story books
as inventors, innovators, contributors when clearly the colonizers marveled at
the level of advancement as signified by our art works which were all stolen
away when they came to Afrika? The clearing away of these physical evidences of
the works of our forebears will deprive future offsprings of the intelligence,
creativity, ingenuity, inspiration of those who came before them. Recently, the
Malian Islamist insurgents retreating from Timbuktu set fire to a library
containing thousands of priceless historic manuscripts, some of which dated
back to the 13th century. A worker at the library said the manuscripts were
important because they exploded the myth that "black Africa" had only
an oral history. "You just need to look at the manuscripts to realize how
wrong this is." He said only a fraction of the manuscripts have been
digitized. What a loss!!
They succeeded. The average young African man knows nothing
about the exploits of his ancestors. How then can he build on it? All he wants
is entertain and be entertained (Big Brother, Nollywood, Afrika magic, 3D
Games, Football) with endorsements from the industry backed by foreign
organizations. No, they are not inspired to innovate in the field of medicine
or study astronomy even though in Mali, the Dogon tribe knows more about
astronomy than all astronomers of the West put together without using any
‘scientific’ aids. How did they do it? How did they acquire the knowledge then?
How can the future generation harness on this knowledge to build a better
society for themselves? Is it any wonder that the men of note in African
societies – Awolowo, Azikwe, Achebe, Soyinka, Mandela, Sankara, Lumumba – are
those who refused to be defined by ‘external’ factors and refuse to subject
themselves to the ‘God’ of the foreigners? They maintained their authenticity
and cultural heritages; they saw what others did not but kept a simple outlook
to life and were full of passion for their people. I think if an African wants to
don any religious garb it should rightfully be those of his ancestors. He/she
can then go ahead to evolve or discard it after testing it. It is the same with culture and tradition, they should evolve with time and experience of those who engage in them.
How many adult Nigerians regurgitate ‘amalgamation’ as a
word without a clue as to the full implications to their very existence even
after 100 years of its creation? How many parents know not to mention their
children – the younger generations? We live in dreamland encouraged by
religious books so we never get to face the reality of our lives even as we
daily experience it. As at today, a person from one ethnic region distrusts and
suspects the other and will only be comfortable to have a person from same region
in same cabinet or office. Even in offices, people are selected for work based on
religious affiliations so there can be loyalty and ease, merit is not a factor to be
seriously considered except for jobs which demand high level of skills (in some
cases). Yet many religious leaders and followers do not see the quandary that
the continued existence of the regions in the unhealthy alliance portends for
the future. Many are praying and fasting for the country not to ‘break up’ even
if that is what will bring about some measure of peace to the different regions
and among them. We only know how to ‘pray’, we know not how to identify the
root causes of our problems and stay long enough with finding realistic and
practical long term solutions to them. National conference is one such solution that if the people take and run with it sincerely will bring about a better relationship among the regions whatever the outcomes.But of course the internal and external handlers
who gain from the situation will not desire for regions to pursue
self-determination. How long shall we act against our own best interest and in
the interest of others (strangers)?
Because we hate our own selves and love others, it’s called living at
odds with self.
We are too far gone – heaven-conscious while living
hellishly on earth and while religious leaders pile up earthly materials and
preach prosperity. We can’t see that even though a few of us may seem to have
‘just enough’, our collective lives (yes, we are not isolated beings) are not
progressive but the ones who have determined our fate clearly prosper their
citizens (which is why we do all manner of tricks even walk the scorching deserts
and suffer humiliations to reach their shores and still work as slaves - will it ever end?) because
they are fewer and automatically (due to the many superiority campaigns and
strategies) occupy the forefront of all events on earth (in terms of discovery
and innovation). Their own ancestors have laid the foundation for it to be so
by trampling on ours. It’s just plain stupid to continue to regurgitate the
same old stuff year in year out which did not help in the past.
I am not ‘God’ but yes I am a part of God however you
perceive that. I am connected to the universal spirit. I speak forth as such. I create with my mind. I am rational and
loving (oh how I love people especially the resilient people of Afrika who have
had to endure all manner of evil and wickedness to them), realistic and
attentive to my surroundings and goings-on. I live consciously.
We must evolve our spirituality from the confinement it
currently is. I learnt that religion is belief in someone else’ experience
while spirituality is having your own experience for and in yourself. We have
long held on to the beliefs of our haters/enemies (the real ones) and despised
our own.
I am not to be feared, distrusted or hated (for that is the
automatic/robotic reaction that my religious folks will immediately take) for
this writings. It is time to STOP and THINK. It is time to PAUSE and GAUGE what
has been communicated. It's time to FEEL (again). No, it’s not time to react knee-jerkily as a programmed
(which is what religion does to the mind) robot hating those they ought to love
and loving those they ought to despise and in fact licking their boots, arses
and the grounds they walk. It is time to put beliefs in context of own
existence and not some faraway lands (like Cinderalla stories). It’s time to
grow up and drop the fables and stories told to us as children to keep our
imaginations running.
“When I was a child, I spoke like a child, I thought like a
child and I reasoned as a child. But when I grew up, I put away childish
things”- 1 Cor 13:11. The question is 'how many 'grown up' African folks have
really put away childish things and move on to maturity?" How many of us
can solve the puzzle of life by without resorting to “it’s all a mystery – the
ways of God – and no man can know it”. How many of us will question mystery seeing
that many things which were mysteries some decades ago are now clearly understood
and embraced. May we learn!!
A friend shared a picture of a man being burnt in Kenya for
stealing 20 Kenyan Shillings and concluded that we are inferior and can’t think
as Africans. He asserted that since this jungle justice mentality is what we
all seem to exhibit across different African societies and that was the way we
were wired (by ‘God’ as told to me by a colleague). He asked “why does life
mean nothing to Black Africans?” I answered “life becomes meaningless both
personally and collectively when one does not KNOW WHO THEY ARE and the value on self (self-esteem). Life is the
only sacred thing but now it is sacrificed for money (a lifeless creation of
men, which many Africans have no idea how and when it came about and the purpose
it was meant to achieve) in order to teach the person a lesson. But what the
perpetrators failed to do is ask the question “Since we have been killing
people via this method, how has the crime reduced? Or is it increasing?” Did
they bother to check cause and effect? In that same society dwell rich
individuals and families whose wealth is the accumulation citizens (which the burnt
man and those who killed him are part of) should have had access to but which
they don’t. The ‘rich’ man has merely aggregated the collective benefits for
himself and family alone. These people do not stop to think “why is the
situation like this?” What is responsible for this man thinking that only by
stealing can he make a living? Why does the ‘rich’ man feel the need to steal
public funds to the detriment of his other fellow citizens? Their minds have
become trapped to the level of only ‘survival’ which is basic animalistic
(check out Abraham Maslow’s ‘Hierarchy of needs’). We never hear of any case
where corrupt politicians are burnt alive. Why? No, not that I condone mob
justice, and no, I never condone theft or justify it but in an unbalanced
society where individuals steal billions of naira walk flamboyantly on the
street (with armed guards of course – thinking citizens should know by), it is
wrong to burn someone alive for stealing (mostly out of hunger). It’s a
different case when the person kills another in the process of the theft. Also
recently a Nigerian man was mob-murdered in Goa, India. So, it’s not peculiar
to Africa only.
It is clear that we are have lost our humanity, lost our way,
our minds wander in circles literally. We have broken the laws of nature and nature
in turn has broken us. Until we gain knowledge and love of self (missing very
much because many of us still think we are Europeans, Americans, Chinese,
anything but Africans (true blooded and most don’t even know what it means to
be an African)), we will remain disillusioned, disoriented and desperate. We
must teach these things to ourselves instead of regurgitating words that are
not to our interest. We must utilize technology to educate our youths on self
and kind and for them to not see one another as the enemy. We must reprogram
the codes for healthy selves and relationships among us. We must dump every
codes and structures that aren’t healthy and beneficial to us. We must learn to
use technology for this purpose. Instead of the many billboards advertising one
material product or the other, they could be used to communicate rich
historical truths and facts that is capable of jolting the individual of from
the unconscious state into the ‘ah ah’ moments – moments when the pieces fall
into place and the eye open wide. We must learn to accept ourselves, honor ourselves,
be ourselves, express ourselves, and believe in ourselves. We must also learn
to see ourselves as brothers and sisters. For who among those who torched the
thief would do the same thing to their own brother. But it is possible because there
is disconnection among the people. These are the keys to unlocking our spiritual
power and reaching our full potential. Not the routine mouthing of prayers to a
God we know not about and who doesn’t even seem to acknowledge us or care much
for our plight. There is power in self-knowledge which is lacking in our
society hence the chaos and disorder as witnessed daily.
A friend expressed that without religion as we currently
practice it, our collective lives will even be more miserable. He reckoned that
the presence of this invisible leash (which religion is) could unleash on a
society especially a place like Nigeria where the law enforcement is poor
untold evil in the land (as though we are not in hell already). He also asked
what he was to do if a witch appears in his dreams if there was no Jesus to
call on. He said he realized that there
was no real alternative to replace the convictions he has in the saving power
of his Jesus which is why he still maintained his faith even though he is aware
of the inconsistencies within the scriptures. My response to this will be that
who is a witch and why will he be after his life. I was once called a witch
(link to article: http://womanwithadifference.blogspot.com/2012/08/my-faith-my-story.html)
and I also know that when we focus on fear, you only see fear. It’s like the
law of seed and harvest. Instead of believing in witches (being after one’s
life) why not focus your energy and time on building self on truth. Why not discover the inherent powers in own
self that is able to ward off evil in whatever form it may present itself. It
is clear this individual is only sticking to the faith based on fear. And that’s
exactly the mechanism of the religions – drive fear deep into the hearts so much
that the thought of even leaving the religion is considered heretical and
severe punishments can be meted on such person by ‘God’. Like I mentioned
earlier, many reputable Africans are those who have nothing to do with these
foreign religions but have developed high spirituality through a deep knowledge
of self, culture, history and tradition. I hope we can abandon fear for it has
been limiting us and is still is. The fear of hell, losing job, death, being alone,
etc.
I wrote this in one night. I couldn’t sleep. Hopefully this
will illuminate the heart of fellow brothers and sisters to seek light, truth –
with eventual freedom.
May 2014 be more liberating and rewarding (no, I don’t mean
physical prosperity). Prosperity and abundance come from freedom to be, feel,
live and express creatively. Abundance comes from healthy relationships (which
is lacking even in religious houses because motives are wrong ). Prosperity has
been turned on its head by religious colonizers (neo mostly) to mean only
material gains which is merely creations of some ‘free’ people somewhere on
this SAME PLANET EARTH. How much does one NEED materially anyway? Accumulations
of materials to no end is a sign of internal emptiness and void.
Light, love and truth!!! `
QUOTES
"We understand that we cannot live in the past! But we
also understand that the past lives within us." - Australian Aborigine
Proverb
“When there is no enemy within, the enemy outside cannot
hurt us” – African Proverb
"Emancipate yourselves from mental slavery, none but ourselves can free our minds. Have no fear..." - Bob Marley
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