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December 31, 2005

Nigeria Must be Made a Leader of changes in Africa and the World

by D. Akinsanya Juliuson (Great Britain) --- I strongly believe in President Obasanjo’s promise of shocking the world by handing over power to a leader not a ruler. The Most High will surely bless us with his own servant. Right now, our Leaders must concentrate on making their parties, the parties of economic stability and credibility. Also our economy should be at the heart of Nigeria’s next election.

Even though we are very good at using one case to down good leaders, some people must yet be stopped or prevented from spreading negative messages. It’s obvious that many unpatriotic Nigerians want our economy rendered irrelevant. That shouldn’t prevent us from fighting for our future and the future of our country with pride and dignity. Our country must be made a leader of changes in Africa and the world. Our leaders must learn to campaign about policies not emotion. Nigerian politicians must understand that, Nigerians are dying by the hour. Our leaders must learn to prioritise their workloads and have the fear of God in them. They must learn to campaign about strong economy, better education, first class health services and social justice. Our leaders must be prepared to eliminate fuel poverty. They must be prepared to fund and reform schools and prisons. Serious organized crime agency must be created to combat child trafficking, conspiracy to blackmail, conspiracy to defraud, child prostitution and illegal “NGOs” etc. Many effective agencies should be created in Nigeria i.e Commission for Tribal Equality, Police Complaints Commission etc. Nigerian Police should have “operational independence”. Nigerian government should not be able to instruct the police to arrest or proceed against any individual.

The Nigerian police administration should be controlled by Police Authorities of elected Magistrates, High Court Judges, Senior Lawyers and Senior Civil Servants, and by the role of Justice Administration Minister. An independent authority or agency should be created with the power to investigate Serious Complaints against the police. We must learn not to play politics with people’s lives. Nigeria is one and our leaders must lead by example. It’s very much ok to be passionate about politics, but we must never play politics with people’s lives and the nations economy. We must help our country become a true democracy. Let’s help to raise the standard of living and make Nigerian people happy. Our governors and representatives must appreciate the fact that, they have a duty to serve and represent the interests of their constituents. Nothing that comes from bribery or injustice will last, but the effects of loyalty and love will remain forever. Wealth that has been obtained dishonestly is like a stream that runs full during a thunderstorm, tumbling rocks along as it flows, but then suddenly goes dry. Acts of kindness and charity are as lasting as eternity. Money is a trap for those who are fascinated by it, a trap that every fool falls into. A person who gets rich without sinfully chasing after money is fortunate.

TROUBLES WILL COME BUT ONLY WISDOM WILL LEAD US OUT

Some people are better educated than others. They have attended more classes and passed more exams. Does this mean they are more knowledgeable? Perhaps, in a limited, superficial way. We are all, born blessed with equal access to a universal library full of profound insight and important information. To consult it, we don't have to train our brains; we just have to hear our hearts. Just as a salmon instinctively knows its way back to the spawning ground, our intuition knows its way home to the right answer. Self-discipline is laudable. Self-denial is lamentable. We must understand that, we can't test the depth of the water by putting in our toe. If it looks right and feels right as far as we can tell, let’s go ahead and dive in. We must also remember that, we cannot please most people. Most people would rather lie through their teeth than speak the truth. Live and let live and not waste your entire life trying to solve the problems of this world. The world is divided into two groups...the givers and the takers. Takers rarely give and givers don't usually know when to stop giving. Kind of a handicap? Well! The thing one must be most careful of is people who manage to take the truth and distort it for their own gain. No matter what you say…if it’s not what they want to hear they will twist it...we therefore must be wary of those people. But we must never give up who we are for what people want us to be. People always want others to change but seldom are willing to change themselves. Our leaders need to improve their negotiating skills and techniques and with this insight into the process of negotiation, they will be able to control what is both a complex and sophisticated activity. They need to improve their performance and learn how to identify and focus on key priorities to increase the effectiveness of their team and themselves.

We all know that it is easy to get swept away by political topics of the moment and lose sight of basic issues that underlie politics everywhere. But one thing we must always remember is that, how political authority is constituted can make the difference between plenty and poverty, life and death. Our leaders need to develop a committed government and transform civil and corporate performance through learning invaluable motivation and transformational leadership skills. Negotiating is a key activity – government success or failure can depend on it. By understanding the psychology of negotiation and recognising how to deploy their skills at each stage, our leaders can become effective negotiators, in order to stay in control and be able to focus on not just government but people’s priorities and gain a battery of techniques to give them a better work and life balance. There was a righteous man who abandoned wisdom. He destroyed himself by killing his brother in a fit of anger. Because of that sin, the earth was flooded, but wisdom saved it again. She guided a righteous man in his flimsy wooden boat. Troubles will come and many people will groan. The Lord’s saving power will surely rise on us like the sun. But only wisdom will lead us out.

HOW ABOUT A FUTURE IN WHICH WE HANDLE IT ALL WITH MORE WISDOM?

Anyone who wishes to understand Nigeria must first carry over her concept of Democracy from the political and social field to the cultural….. Everywhere we go we meet people with plenty to say. They make promises and give explanations. They announce and make us all think they must know something. We all know what they say. They say actions speak louder than words. That’s true in one way, yet actions are often surprisingly quiet. We don’t hear them until long after they have happened. And if enough deceptive words are being uttered while the actions are taking place we can be misled. Actions may speak a lot louder than words, but they don't necessarily make any more sense. Just as words can be deceptive, actions can be misleading. We can read the wrong things into them or fail to see what really lies behind them. If we seek true understanding, we must investigate neither words nor actions, but intentions.

We must ask ourselves for honesty. And we must encourage others to be frank about their deepest feelings. It isn't easy, though, to be upfront about a matter that you fear could create disapproval, disagreement, or worse. So what must we do? We should learn to use our eyes, not our ears. Also believe in intuition before passing any judgment. We might never live in a perfect world. There will always be people who want to criticize, compete against – or enter into conflict with each other. There will always be pressure, pain and sadness. There will always be selfishness, greed, ignorance and abuse of power. There will also, always, be earthquakes, floods and fires. Given all this, how can we speak with any hope about a golden age? What can any “new era” have to offer us? How about; “A future in which we handle it all with more wisdom. A time, we make more efforts to understand, to tolerate and to co-operate with our fellow being. An epoch, in which, more of us become inspired, more enlightened and more willing to care and share.” I am very much looking forward to such a change. And, despite all the current evidence to the contrary, I confidently predict that by the grace of the living God, it is on the way.

D.AKINSANYA JULIUSON
Cultural & Public Diplomacy Practitioner and Specialist Investigator

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December 30, 2005

Redirecting the Desire to Make Fantasy Real

by Ozodi Thomas Osuji, Ph.D. (Seatle, Washington) --- All through my life, I have hated and rejected my body and true self, and by extension, hated and rejected all people’s bodies and real selves. I have hated every thing that is real, such as anything that is in body, in matter, space and time. I preferred the abstract and beautiful to the impure but real. I have tried to replace the material with the mental construct of how the world should be.

In the process, I have lived in fantasy land, the world of idealism and imagination. I used my mind to imagine and wish for everything to be better than they are, in fact. I hated the real world and preferred the imaginary ideal world.

I never really did anything to help me adapt to the real world. Make no mistake about it, I understand the real world alright, as in studying science, but, somehow, I did not like that real world and aspired after transcending it. I transcended it in my mind, in imagination, where I preferred to live. I did not like to live in the empirically real world, the messy, imperfect world.

Because I escaped into the world of imagination, I did not do what the real world required of me to adapt to it hence failed in the real world. I failed not because of what other people did to me or did not do to me but because I could not resign myself to the real world.

I have the skills to adapt to the real world…I have as much skills as any political scientist, psychologist and management professional. If I had resigned myself to any of those professions, I would have done well in it. The problem was that none of those professions seemed good enough for me. I preferred the imaginary ideal profession and ideal world, knowing fully well that human beings cannot make fantasy, idealism (such as socialism) real.

So what should I do? I should accept the empirical world. That is, I should accept the scientific method, the most realistic mode of approaching our world. I should accept technology.

In the job place, I should seek out what people desire in the empirical world that I can do and supply it to them. What is that? What is it that enables people to adapt to their real world, not the imaginary world of religion, spirit etc but to the world of the here and now that I can do and supply it to them?

I am in a position to give people psychological science, a field that I believe that I am second to none.


SELF DESTRUCTIVE BEHAVIOR

Sigmund Freud wrote about what he called Thanatos, the desire to kill ones self. Since his postulation was mental and not amenable to empirical verification, it was not accepted.

But I have come to the conclusion that people have a desire to kill themselves. I reached this conclusion by observing my own self destructive acts.

Recently, I found myself ignoring exercising. I used to run, at least, every other day, swim, and weight lift, ride my bicycle and generally engage in all kinds of exercises. I hated to have an extra ounce of weight on my body. But these days, I have stopped exercising; I eat more. I drink too much coffee. I have gained several pounds.

So I got to thinking why I am doing this to me? I came to the conclusion that I am doing these destructive things to me because deep down I want to kill myself? I want to self destroy with caffeine…for caffeine is a stimulant and over stimulates the heart and is correlated with cardiovascular diseases and pancreatic cancer. So, why do I want to kill myself?

I think that I want to kill myself for, as I approached middle age, it became clear to me that I had not achieved my ego ideals and that I was not likely ever going to achieve them.

My ego ideal wanted to be the most important person in whatever I was doing. If it dreamed of politics, it wanted to be the best politician in the world, indeed, the head of the world. If it dreamed scholasticism, it wanted me to be the best scholar in the world.
Well, I am not the best in anything. At my age, I ought to be at the top of my game, but the fact is that I am not at the top in anything.


Since my ego ideal expected me to be at the top of something, I could not really resign myself to being at the bottom of any profession. To avoid being at the bottom of any profession, I dropped out of the usual professions. I did not fit into any real world profession. At this point in time, I am not functioning from the parameters of any one particular profession. As a result, by the world’s standards, I am a failure.

I am not materially rich and I am not socially powerful. I am a nobody in society. I am unimportant.

I believe that as I fail to achieve my ego ideals, life lost its meaning for me. Pursuit of my ego ideals had given my life purpose and meaning, what purpose and meaning there was in it.

I recall myself as a boy. At age twelve, I had set my mind to obtaining a PhD and did so at a relatively young age for an African. My desire to become somebody important motivated me.

I worked in the mental health field and in a few years was the executive director of a very large mental health agency, supervising folks some of whom were older than my own father. Then I felt the job boring, ennui and quit and embarked on a study of the various religions of the world: Hinduism, Buddhism and New Thought Christian churches like Unity and Religious Science. I spent three years in this quest and eventually came to the conclusion that they are useful but not for me.

I am an African and cannot fit myself to Asian or Americans religions. Now what? I was back to square one.

What is missing in my life is something to give my life worth, purpose and meaning. Hitherto, pursuit of ego ideals had given my life pseudo worth, purpose and meaning. But now that I know that ego ideals are fantasy and cannot be realized in the real world, and I seem unable to fit myself to the real world, I seem goalless and stuck.

I believe that it was at this point that I embarked on an unconscious desire to kill myself via over eating and drinking too much coffee (I do not smoke cigarettes and do not do drugs, I drink a beer every once in a blue moon.)


I believe that Freud was right: people reach a point in their lives when they see no point in living and they unconsciously desire to kill themselves. Somehow, they manage to get themselves killed.
Of course, people do all this in an unconscious manner. The average person is, more or less, unconscious of the motives for his behaviors. Africans seem particularly dense in this regard. I am yet to see Africans who take interest in understanding their personal psychology. In fact, they tend to look at me and my efforts to understand us in a psychological manner as if I am insane. When you look at them, what you see are warped and stunted lives, folks living meaningless and purposeless lives, but who do not even think about it. They seem like mere animals eating, defecating and dying without asking why they live. No, my African brothers and sisters do not seem to care to understand why they live and do what they do. Be that as it, they still have death wish and like every one else manage to get themselves killed and die. Some do so by over eating and dying from cardiovascular diseases: heart attack and stroke.

If you over eat and do not exercise and die of heart attack what do you expect? You are the one who killed yourself. Even though your ego would like to see you as a victim unto whom bad things happen, the fact is that you are the one who brought your death to you. You are responsible for what happens to you in your life.


When one fails in actualizing ones ego ideal, one prefers death to living and begins to do those things that would bring about ones death.

One can understand the process and redirect ones life and give ones self a different purpose and meaning.

As I see it, empiricism is the only alternative purpose I see in this world. Understanding things as they are and devising a technology to manipulate the workings of nature seems the only realistic thing to do in this world. Thus, pursuing the sciences and technology seem the best thing to do in this world.

Escaping into ego fantasy aka idealism or sprit fantasy aka religion is unrealistic and a dead end.

Killing ones self, as in suicide, is cowardly. True, life is tough. Courage requires one to accept life on its own terms and make the most of it without illusions that it is going to become heaven on earth.

I believe that there is a life force ala Henri Bergson operative in the universe, what folks call God, but it is impersonal and does not interfere in this world.

As long as we are here on earth, we have to study science and technology and use them to adapt to our world and live up to the maximum it is possible to live in body (maybe 120 years?).

I have no illusion of worth, purpose and meaning, for I do not see self evident worth, purpose and meaning to my life (or to any ones life either).

I do what existentialist thinkers like Jean Paul Sartre urge us to do: posit a purpose that seems meaningful to me and pursue it and do not have the illusion that it is meaningful beyond the meaning I give to it.

In this light, I love and forgive every person in the world because doing so gives my life worth, purpose and meaning, not self evidently and objectively verifiable worth, purpose and meaning but subjective worth, purpose and meaning.



TO JUDGE OTHERS WITH THE EGO IDEAL IS VERY FOOLISH

One posited an ego ideal and that ego ideal invents its ideal standards and one uses them to judge real people. But real people are limited by their body, space and time and cannot ever become ideal persons.

To judge real people, ones self and other people, with ego ideals are, therefore, foolish. It is a waste of time and energy, for it seeks to accomplish the impossible, try to make the imaginary seem real.

Moreover, one is causing ones self, other people, the entities judged with ideal standards, pain.

One is actually playing an imaginary god for one’s ego invents imaginary self and imaginary ideal standards and uses them to judge real people. This behavior is play-acting imaginary god.

Engaging in judgment and other ego behavior does not enable the individual to adapt to the empirical world and does not put food on the table.

FROM EGO TO SPIRIT IDEALISM

One is tempted to go from escape into ego fantasy to escape into spiritual fantasy. Some people escape into religion and its myriad fantasies of God and what the after life is like. The fact is that whereas there is an eternal changeless life force, those on earth cannot explain him. It is a waste of time talking about God, spirit.

One must talk of real psychology, a psychology that understands human beings in the here and now world; a psychology that nevertheless recognizes the reality of God, without pretending to understand him.

Man must recognize the reality of God and bow to him, so as to shrink his ego to normal proportion, but he cannot pretend to understand God.

So what is the right thing to do? We must study real psychology, secular plus some spiritual psychology, and sell that understanding to people, for people need it to adapt to the exigencies of this world.

One should not escape into suiting but unproductive ego idealism or spirit idealism. (Whereas idealistic intellectuals like me escape into philosophy for consolation, the poor masses of urban Nigeria seek solace in Pentecostal religions. These religions essentially are magical thinking and enable poor folk to imagine that if they wished hard and prayed long enough that some god would give them what they want out of life. This is pure wishful thinking. As far as we know, no god gives us what we ask for. See the slum folk live in abject poverty and die from poor nutrition. We cannot change empirical reality by wishing for it to change. Only doing science and technology enable us to wrestle decent living from nature.) One must face the empirical while acknowledging the non empirical without fleeing into magical thinking.


NOT ABUSING UNDERSTANDING OF HUMAN NATURE

I have amazing insight into human nature. I am tempted to abuse this gift of understanding. In fact, in the past I had come close to abusing it.

I believe that if one abuses ones gift that one must pay a heavy price. Consider my troubled relationship with women. Men do abuse women’s vulnerability to seeking love. Women may talk tough but when you get to know them they are different from men. They need love and without it would wither. If a woman is not loved by a man she would do funny things. If you wish to manipulate this reality, you can pretend to love women and they would fall for it. But if you do so, you have toyed with human feelings. This is a crime against knowledge, in religious terms, a sin against the real self (which is love), and a sin against God.

(However, since God does not acknowledge sin, he urges the apparent sinner to stop sinning. To sin is to not love people. To not sin is to love ones self and other people. To love requires forgiving ones mistakes and other people’s mistakes done in the past; and not consciously repeat them; to live a sinless existence is to love all people in the present. It is in forgiving the past and loving in the present that one becomes peaceful and happy. Love and forgiveness of the past is the only way to obtain the gifts of God, peace and happiness.)


I say all these because last week, I received a Christmas Greeting card from Alaska. I used to live in Alaska.

When I divorced, I decided to get out of town for a while and went to Alaska. Without really meaning to be involved in a love affair, somehow, I got involved with a female psychologist. I later found out that she was really, really in love with me. But I was not intent on having a serious relationship and certainly was not invested in another marriage, so I abruptly ended the relationship. I refused to return her phone calls and largely returned to the lower forty eight (states) to avoid encountering her.

Through mutual friends, I do hear about her. The minister of the church that both of us had attended while I lived at Anchorage, Alaska (teaching at the University of Alaska, Anchorage), recently called and gave me a picture of what she is doing with her life. The composite picture that I gathered is that she vowed to not have anything to do with men, ever, again; that she sees all men as exploiters of women’s affection. To her, men use women and abandon them in the lurch and she is going to do without men. Apparently, now she prefers the company of animals to men: she lives with her two dogs, two cats and assorted other animals.

Given what I had heard about her, I was, therefore, surprised that she sent me this cute little Christmas Greeting Card. The talking electronic card contained a dog in a snow bound surrounding, your typical Alaska ambiance during the winter months.

As an introspective type, I wondered about the import of her sending me a Christmas card and the symbolism of a lonely dog in a snowy, god forsaken sub arctic world? What was she trying to tell me?

Psychoanalysis teaches us that our behaviors are metaphors and that most of the things we do are motivated by unknown unconscious forces. We do not always know why we do what we do but there seem deeper reasons why we do what we do.

At the conscious level this woman is sending me a Christmas Greeting Card and that is all there is to it. Case closed.
But life is seldom as simple as that, is it? If life was that simple, it would all be honky dory. So, my mind went to work speculating on the probable meaning of her remembering me during this period of the year.

It is a well known fact that folks tend to want to associate with their loved ones during the Christmas session and that if they do not have close relations that they tend to feel sad.

The Christmas and other holiday periods are the most lonely periods for some folks, and it is said, the time that witnesses the highest depression, even suicide in folks.

Could it be that the lady is lonely and even depressed? Could it be that she is reaching out for love? Could it be that she is attempting to connect with an old flame?

What is the meaning of the dog in the dunes of snow? Could it be saying: see what you did to me, you abandoned me to live like this dog, lonely and lost in the snow of Alaska?

When I first got to Alaska and experienced its cold and lonely six months winter, I developed a habit of buying paintings (first, as an investment, but later as a hobby). One time I went to an Audubon society sell and bought a painting of a dog in a tundra surrounding. The dog seemed so lost and lonely! In fact, that painting, the dog, seemed symbolic of my own sense of been lost and lonely in the snowy world of Alaska. Imagine an American trudging all over Alaska, as I did, renting “bush taxis” (small planes) and flying to practically all the villages in the Lower Kuskokwim delta.

Every once in a while, I looked at that painting of a dog in a tundra setting and told myself that he is me, lonely and lost in the tundra. My God, I was so lonely in Alaska that I went and got two dogs, golden retrievers and black labs, to keep me company.

Could it be that I am merely projecting my own sense of loneliness, symbolized by the picture of a lonely dog, to my ex lady friend? Is it the case that she is not lonely, that I am merely transferring what I see in me to her?

If she is not lonely, how come she has dogs and not human beings as her friends?

Could I be making myself seem very important by imagining that a female doctor would desire me? I have had female clients who told me that certain famous men are in love with them, when those men did not even know that they existed. This is called delusion disorder, erotomanic type. When a person feels worthless and undesirable, she can delude herself into thinking that she is so beautiful that important men desire to have her as their love object. Being found attractive and loveable by important persons, apparently, make ugly duckling feeling persons feel beautiful and attractive?
Could it be that I feel like am not attractive and that I am making myself seem attractive by imaging a successful female professional desiring me? You never know how these things work out.
I have no illusions about who I am. I am one giant nothing. I am an empty vessel that makes a great deal of noise.

Nevertheless, I feel that this woman is seeking love. Unfortunately, I am not able to love her, for my own madness inclines me to be independent. My line of work requires that I be unattached to anybody. I have to be dispassionate and objective; love triangles have a way of contaminating a man’s objectivity in his perception of phenomena.

Life is a bummer, is it not?

In the final analysis, the point is for men never to mess with a woman’s love. You must love a woman but do not feel her to fall in love with you and vamoose, as I did.

If you get a woman to get attached to you and you disappear, you will pay a heavy price, as I am paying. I am always feeling guilty, feeling like I did something terribly wrong, like am evil. I tell you, this is not a pleasant feeling.

You do not want to be in my shoes. To not be in my shoes, please to do toy with women’s desire for genuine love with men.


This year, I resolve to be realistic in my thinking and behavior and to forgive and love all people in a genuine manner.

Ozodi@africainstituteseattle.org
December 29, 2005

Next week I begin my weekly profiling of African countries, my justification for being alive in 2006.

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America Invades Nigeria to Liberate Nigeria’s Oil!

by Paul I. Adujie (New York, United States) --- Ostentatious public pronouncement is the opposite of decorum and diplomatic finesse! But unfortunately, and boisterously, loud public pronouncement has become the mode d'emploi of America’s conduct of relations with Nigeria in recent years.

During this year, 2005, I have had good cause to write several commentaries, amongst which are the following: America, Versus Nigeria: Of Debts, Disintegration & Friendships, With Enemies; America Means Well For Nigeria; Oh Really?

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=+Adujie+America+means+well+for+Nigeria%3F&btnG=Google+Search

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=America%2C+Versus+Nigeria%3A+Of+Debts%2C+Disintegration+%26+Friendships%2C+With+Enemies%3F&btnG=Google+Search

In these public commentaries, I had wondered why the United States resort to public condemnations and admonitions or pure bad-belle motivated reactions, regarding issues Nigeria and Nigeria. Why I wondered, the United States, a country with apparently good, cordial, diplomatic, trade with Nigeria and of course, close personal ties between current presidents of both countries?

During the preceding ten months, America has, in words and actions, portrayed itself, as if hostile to Nigeria’s national interests, including, a demonstration of hostility towards Nigeria’s security and economic interests etc.

Why else, would the United States, a supposedly friendly nation with Nigeria, always find itself, frequently engaged in, the throwing of verbal and undiplomatic projectiles and cudgels at Nigeria? Why do the representatives of the United States frequently display a lack of due care and circumspection regarding their boisterous pronouncements about Nigeria? As when they used bullhorns to announce that Nigeria would disintegrate in 15 years! A prediction, as ominous as it is, has since been updated and upgraded to occur in less that the original 15 years gestation period. And again, it was the US that opposed and created an impasse and the deadlock that eventually truncated Nigeria’s attempt at leading the African Development Bank. It has been the US that has loudly demanded Charles Taylor, a man granted asylum in Nigeria, after due consultation with the US and others, and yet, the US continues to threaten and blackmail Nigeria over Charles Taylor!

First, I strongly believe that Nigerians would in due course, resolve our complex national contradictions amicably and peacefully, even despite the competing and sometimes conflicting interests that are common in multicultural and plural societies, such as Nigeria. We need to do these things for our own good, and not because the US or anyone else say so, demand it or threatens Nigeria.

Secondly, even assuming that there is a great probability of disintegration of Nigeria, or there was a risk of anarchy, or war; How would a public announcement now, by Nigeria’s friend and trading partner, strategic regional partner, the United States, help matters? What sorts of an undermining, and underhand friendships are these from US?

Some have argued that the US means well for Nigeria and so, the US only engaged in altruistic and benevolent public warnings of impending disaster of anarchy, war and disintegration of Nigeria. Or it’s potential. But, what purpose does this tactic serve?

Why would my friend and neighbor put an advert on CNN to announce that my house has a fire-hazard, and proceed to announce to the whole world that me, his friend and neighbor, stands the risk of loss by fire? All these, occurs, before my friend and neighbor speaks to me about the fire-hazard!

Yes! A good friend should warn you about your bad breath, just so, you procure the best mouthwash in the market or preferably, make appointment to see your dentist!

But what good friend puts a paid announcement on Television, Radio and Newspapers to announce his opinion of your oral hygiene status, before he speaks to you about it? Unless of course, your “friend” intended to humiliate and ridicule you!

Whatever happened to the use of government-to-government channels, diplomatic channels and the so-called back-water channels? Why all these destructive glib talking?

What purpose does the US ambassador in Nigeria serve? And the Nigeria’s ambassador in America, what role is left for them? What if phone calls are made to Nigerian leaders?

What if special envoys are sent to Nigeria for the purpose of fact-finding and truth?

Again, our friend, America, has come one more time, with unsolicited public pronouncements which are essentially amounts to offensive and undiplomatic remarks regarding Nigeria’s internal political schisms. And the US has a fair share of challenges imbued in multi-culture and plural societies. Why is America yanking Nigeria’s chains, even as it claims to know the complexities and political dynamics on the ground in Nigeria? Is America looking to push Nigeria over the cliff and precipice? Are they attempting to hurry the predicted disintegration? Are what we are seeing a sort of Blackmail-for-Charles Taylor Program? Why these incendiaries?

Rumor has it. Rumors are rife, and speculations are abundant, that Nigeria’s current president is angling to succeed himself in office as president of Nigeria in 2007. Whereas 2007 completes the second term for President Obasanjo, for which he was duly elected in 2003.

The Constitution of Nigeria specifies term limits for pubic office holders, more specifically, for terms of four years of an upper limit of two terms, for state governors and the president of the federal republic of Nigeria. There are rumors to the effect that, there is a third term agenda in the works. Speculations are rife, speculations which suggests that President Obasanjo has some hand in the agitations for constitutional amendment that will make self-succession possible for current state governors and the president himself.

President Obasanjo has repeatedly, emphatically and categorically denied this or roles in it; that have been ascribed to him. Despite these unsavory rumors, and regardless of the repeated denials of these phantom third term agenda, it is has now come to public knowledge that the United States, the good old United States! is participating in the beer parlor and gambling halls type-rumors about Nigeria’s political future, particularly, the vexatious third term agenda tease! Instead of seeing this as an interference by the US

Some Nigerians seem fixated on extraneous and ancillary matters?

Why would the United States, an assumed friendly country with Nigeria, engage in these public commentaries regarding local political rumor mills in Nigeria? Why would representatives of America announce sets of sanctions against Nigeria, before determining if the rumored self-succession plot in Nigeria is true?

What other countries would the United States visit with such patronizing, paternalistic and condescending attitude? When was the last time, that the US made high level public pronouncements regarding another country, a friendly country, and in reactions to a mere rumor?

Would the United States accept these sorts of attitudes from another country? Would the US accept this from Nigeria for that matter? Why would the US participate in rumor mongering regarding Nigeria’s internal political matters? Is there a disinformation and destabilization process in place against Nigeria?

Are these frequent unfriendly and hostile swipes and snide filled public pronouncements, are these pronouncements against Nigeria, well intentioned to produce a result in Nigeria, results, that are inconsistent with Nigeria’s national interests, which in any events, benefits America?

Some Nigerians seem to desire a rose tinted invasion and occupation of Nigeria by the Americans, or Europeans or the euphemistic and ubiquitous International Community! Upon which America, Europe, the International Community, will install Gani Fawehinmin as president of Nigeria and Wole Soyinka as his vice president and voila! Like magic, good governance will be preordained for Nigeria by the Americans and all Nigerians will be in happiness land, happily ever after! Absolute delusion grandeur!

Some Nigerians are now cavalierly, mentioning their desire for a military coup, they have argued their marginalization to political irrelevance by PDP and by President Obasanjo. They have argued that these painful political irrelevance to which they have been relegated, requires a correction, and only a military intervention, through a coup, could rectify their loss! Some have argued that the PDP and President Obasanjo have touched the untouchables with the president’s aggressively robust reform policies. Some hinge their coup demand on the vigorous pursuits of their kinsmen by the EFCC for their criminalities, all these, despite the cogent, complete, clear and convincing evidence against these monumental pillagers and plunderers!

It might be useful for the Nigerians with these sorts of mindsets, and attitudes of waiting for military coup or foreign invaders and occupiers, to seek personal interviews with Mr. Chalabi and his coalitions of Iraqi Exiles of Iraq first!

While at it, such Nigerians could also take a quick look at Afghanistan, and Haiti, Dominican Republic, countries that were invaded and occupied.

And to glean through Nigeria’s history of military interregnums upon a supposedly brief interventions to set this right! Nigerians must also look at wayward military governance worldwide, and see the clear follies and foibles of military rule.

Countries, whose invasions and occupations were camouflaged as anything but usurpation of political independence and sovereignty.

And to the Nigerians who have been beating the drums of war, anarchy, disintegration etc, while advocating ethnic republics… they must realize the brutalities and the infinite horrors and catastrophes that they unwittingly seek. Nigerians must be alert to avoid walking into a trap and a self-fulfilling degenerative prophecy. Nigerians avoid smokescreens or there will be no winners.

It remains true, as it bears repeating here again, that the best cure for imperfect democracy is, surely more democracy! Nigerians should not truncate our democracy!

Paul I. Adujie

Lawcareer@msn.com

New York, United States

Posted by Administrator at 03:53 PM | Comments (0)

Blaming the North, while Excusing One Another

by Farouk Martins, Omo Aresa --- Nigerians have to learn how to accomplish individual tasks before we can move forward as a Country. By blaming someone else, we relinquish responsibilities and render ourselves helpless waiting for heavens to help us. It is a perfect situation for those who are afraid to compete fairly but comfort self by tagging along.

As this presidency term ends in 2007, politicians are jockeying for leverage, followers and free loaders. They hide behind third term rubbish, the turns of the North, South-east and South-south. Contrary to popular belief, no single region determines the election of the President; it has always been formulated by North-South special interest coalition groups.

What has always worked is where the majority of the regions or zones swayed. It takes astute politicians to accomplish that goal. Indeed, most of our fair elections have not been a landslide. There was always elbow room for backdoor negotiation that finally produced regional Premiers, executive President or Prime Minister. If you have been outwitted and outsmarted, blame yourselves not those who outclassed you.

In the early fifties, it was NEPU in the North that started winning local elections very early in the primaries before the colonial powers started replacing them with Native Authority officials whom Ahmadu Bello later assimilated to form NPC. Awolowo did the same in the West with IPP that was lured away from the NCNC to join AG. In the East, Azikiwe repeated the trend by charming over a seat in his hometown Onitsha and 11 out of 13 seats won in Calabar by independent candidates against NCNC. This power of persuasion, wheeling and dealing if you wish, continued at the federal level later.

Awolowo’s Action Group was the official opposition in almost all parts of Nigeria except the West. It was an accomplishment at its peak. In 1961 AG became the official opposition both in the North after an exhausting campaign that shocked Ahmadu Bello out of complacency canvassing for votes in his backyard since 1959; and also AG became the opposition Party in the East. No matter what you think about Awo, Zik and Bello political expediency or tactics, they united North and South politically. Better than what we have now. Zik was able to work with Aminu Kano, Awo was able to work with Takar. Ironically, Zik’s NPP was later reduced to Imo and Anambra while Awo’s AD was reduced to West in reverse tactics.

By the North, if you mean Fulani, say so, and if you mean Hausa, say it loud. Watch out for these contradictions on the way though. Alhaji Waziri Ibrahim from the North joined forces with Adeniran Ogunsanya, a Zik loyalist to form NPP. He lost control of the Party and Ogunsanya took it to Zik. Waziri later formed GNPP. Alhaji Aminu Kanu the leader of NEPU must also be included; he formed a coalition with Zik. Our political history illustrates a clear picture. Aminu Kanu and Waziri Ibrahim bolted from the interest group in the North. Why is this exaggerated power vested only in Hausa or Fulani and not Middle Belt where most of Nigeria’s leaders hail from? Do not get confused with the wonnabes who were of no use to their base.

If Gowon was installed by the powerful kingmakers, they must be trying to appease some people. If so, I wonder who? Could it be the moderates, Middle Belt, or the Southerners? Under this definition Takar, Danjuma, Babangida, and Abubakar are also anointed by kingmakers. Going by the Southern leaders calculation, North-central anchored executive leadership for 18 years; North-west for 11 years and North-east for 6 years – a total of 35 out of 45 years of Independence. The disparity in the number of years has never been an issue among them except in the Middle Belt or North-central, the longest rulers, while their base cry against domination; playing the blame game.

Gowon, Babangida and Abubakar do not come from an area that is typically referred to as “North”. So which North are we talking about? Does Danjuma, a kingmaker in his own right, belong to that sector? Oh, the conservative North-west. Could they be the same ones that tried or did get Obasanjo to sign a secrete deal in1999? After the election Obasanjo won without the same Sokoto region and in 2003 Buhari lost in Katsina his home State. That did not put a stop to the exaggerated influence of self appointed kingmakers.

I think the South need to find ways of courting North-central by learning how the rest of the North is doing it. They agreed mostly with the South until it came to resource allocation. Yet no power can compete with South-south and North-central coalition. Do they realize their potential power, and if they do what are they waiting for? The old special interest group can not wait. Actually the Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa powers are jittery, though North-central and South-south alliance power is not yet a reality.

The Power of Negotiation
It is true that some in the North had resisted being part of Nigeria in the first place and they were persuaded to stay. Azikiwe and Awolowo’s campaign all over the North helped. The power of Southern (or British) persuasion was strong and effective and the North succumbed to a united Country. That is now being repeated in the South.

In spite of all the skilful and highly educated Nigerians in the South, when it comes to power politics; emotions, ethnicity, greed and selfishness come to play. Why is it so hard to admit this? Political negotiation is almost impossible in the south. For Zik, it was just an uncomfortable endeavor with Awo.

Akintola saw his vindication with Ahmadu Bello, not with the East. He said whatever the East gained from their association with Balewa at the Federal level, he wanted the same. He was able to get the Federal Ministry of Education under Akinjide amongst other positions. If it was not for that move by Akintola, some would say, Yoruba would have lost everything at the federal level.

The fact is many Southerners in sober moments, always think that Northerners are straight forward and easier to deal with. This amounts to nothing but admission of trust. We admit to ourselves that many Southerners in good positions are conceited, arrogant and unapproachable. Those going to Abuja to transact simple business echo the same thing up to today. Of course Southerners have articulated displeasure about federal character and religious fanatics amongst our brothers. But federal character also works for all ethnic minorities.

There are many things we have to learn from our brothers in the North and there are others the Northern brothers have to learn from the South.

The North has never forced anyone from the south to join political association, they earned it. They use the power of persuasion, give up the (finance) money department, and their approachable lure gained support and power. Isn’t it? If the Southern leaders want Presidency, they must convince their Northern brothers by logic and reason, not by threats. Threats and force can only repress behavior temporarily, even against the South.

Indeed, the ethnic masturbation that is growing all over Nigeria these days may make it more difficult to reach out and build bridges across. The way some of these local champions have been touched were by presenting beautiful brides clad in nothing but looted funds. As they saw money bags, they buried their differences; North and South became irrelevant in full view of money bags. This time Presidency is more important?

Look, there must be something about the Fulani or may be the Hausa that we can hardly tell the difference. Yet they remain different and also agree to disagree among one another. When they fight, we do not report it and they hardly report it either. We have to learn something from them as they learn religious tolerance from us.

But the North is as ethnically diverse as the South.

Apart from religion, a great force I admit, the Hausa and the Fulani are not closer or related to one another than Yoruba and Hausa or Igbo and Fulani. Check out the Fulani-Fulbe-Pullo history and compare that with Hausa history. Whatever the case, they have learned how to fight and make up. That is something that needs to spread to the rest of Nigeria. No fair election can be won in our Country based solely on ethnicity.

The Blamers had opportunities
In this day and age, people still lament that it was the British who made our brothers our leaders and after the British left, they already had the system in place against the South.
Of course, Northerners ride on that.

Obasanjo has more time than the gods of Egypt and Greece and could have changed the system. Those from North-central in military uniforms, the Hausa/Fulani wonnabes – Gowon, Babangida and Abubakar - could have changed the system. Ironsi never had enough time but if he had changed the system, the consequences could not have been worse than what befell him and Fajuyi. Azikiwe could have been the Prime Minister by choice but decided to anoint Balewa, by definition he could have been the ruler instead of the kingmaker and change the system. Each of them did not in their wisdom or self interest because it might dislocate the very existence of the Country. So, why play the blame game?

Abiola was told there was no vacancy for Presidency in NPN after relying on earlier agreement when the party was formed. Instead of playing the blame game, he took the bull by the horns. He later changed tactics, made up with his base campaigned all over the Country. He won, only to be denied by a North-central ruler.

It is obvious that no power in this world has monopoly on violence. There is this threat of military might that defeated Biafra. Nobody repelled invasion at Ore but the Yoruba who prevented the overrun of Lagos. Those days are gone forever. The worst is a fight to a stand still with bleeding and waste on both sides. But where has violence ever won the hearts and minds of the oppressed today?

Fear of Neighbors
If the South-south wants to admit it, they feel more secured in an association with the so called conservative or progressive North than with any of the so called conservative or progressive Southerners. History has taught them that they will be cheated whereas they can rely on the promise made to them by whatever we call North. So who are we to blame the Deltans for their association with any ruling power, knowing that they could have been swallowed by their neighbors? They were not particularly happy with the Yoruba in the Western Region or with the Igbo in Biafra.

Both Igbo and Yoruba are quick to point out the length of time these associations existed compared to their association with the North. Whatever the case, if we have been treating our minorities right and realized that the Country did not belong to Yoruba, Igbo and Hausa alone, our situation may have been different.

Oil Resources versus Other State Resources
The mother of our disagreement with the North has to do with crude oil even though not all southern States produce oil. The reason is simple; oil is the main earner of our foreign currency. It has been argued, times without number that if the oil was abundantly located in the North, there would be no more Nigeria. Well, well, well I don’t know about that.

All these hard work by all our founding fathers can be torpedoed by this curse brought to us by crude oil? As we approach 2007, every Nigerian must ask him/herself if s/he would vote for a candidate who promised to let each state keep all its resources. Seriously, I do not think a single candidate would say that.

However, if we want to resolve our problem, every state has to produce oil (impossibility) or every state has to depend on its alternate recourses. Every part of Nigeria does not produce oil in commercial quantities but we all enjoy its receipts in the name of federation. No matter what, we can not be equally endowed. The solution about how to redistribute our income has to be first negotiated between our minorities in the South-south and North-central before it is introduced to the rest of Nigeria for general endorsement. Yes, endorsement.

Farouk Martins, Omo Aresa

faroukomartins@netscape.net

Posted by Administrator at 03:25 PM | Comments (2)

Obasanjo and Third Termism

by Peter C. Eze --- There is a popular saying that evil that men do lives after them.He who lives by the sword dies by the sword. For a brief historical analysis, Obasanjo replaced Col. Benjamin Adekunle at the tail end of the Nigerian/Biafran civil war and became lucky that the war ended in his sectorial command.

Though not through his military bravado, but he thinks otherwise. He has been bathing in the dream that he defeated the Igbos. Already, the yoruba tribe had been accepted as a junior partner in the administration of Nigeria due to the part they played in consolidation of Nigerian leadership to the northern oligarchy. The northern military establishment brought Obasanjo and made him representative of the yoruba nation in the share of the spoil of the war effort. Hence his second- in command position to Murtala Mohammed after the change of baton with Yakubu Gowon.

When Mohammed was paid back on his attrocious behavior and his devilish activities in Asaba during that genocidal war agaist Ndigbo, on February 13, 1976, again the northern military establishment felt that they should make him (Obasanjo) the titular head of state ( to keep the yorubas as the junior partner) who can only act when the defacto military leader Yar' dua, ordered him to do so. Then on October 1, 1979, an opportunity came for him to escape being murdered by the untrained, uneducated and corruption infested northern military, he quickly handed over to Shehu Shagari.He had no choice or else he would have been finished.As a trade off, he was allowed to take home his own share of the loot from UPE contract of 1976, the contract from the laying of oil pipes from Port harcourt and Warri to the northern Nigeria including the establishment of oil refinery in Kaduna, to operate his farm at Otta. As is usual to the corrupt leaders of Nigeria, he stayed on the back ground and pretended as if he had Nigeria's interest at heart by his utterances. It is factual that Nigerian leaders when out of power pretended through their utterances to be interested in the Nigerian unity, while when in power resorted to policies and programes to disunite and dismember Nigeria.See Babangida and IOC and Buhari and his war against Igbos (his W.A. I )

In 1995, the then Nigerian despot, Sani Abacha roped him and nailed him in the gulag somewhere in Yola.He survived it, but has not forgotten it. In 1998, Babangida and the then northern military establishment felt that Obasanjo who had been their errand boy from 1969 through 1979 and moreover the yoruba as their junior partner, he would be made president to hold forth for them (northerns) to calm down the frail Nigerians nervers emanated from the annulment of the late Abiola's presidential victory of June 12, 1993. On May 29, 1999

Sani Abacha resurrected from dead and another emperor and despot was created in Nigeria's leadership.

With the help of the United States and Britain, the so called Nigerian army was weeded of the northern islamic coupists and the sun was set in northern Nigeria's leadership monopoly . The demolition of the northern Nigeria military monopolistic tendencies on military, economic and political sphere of Nigeria had begun.

As the northern Nigeria's imperial coats were being dismantled from the corruption hangers at Aso Rock and beyound, the yorubas were putting theirs back on the thesame hangers of military, security, economic and political land scape of Nigeria. Hence the yorubanization of Nigeria has begun.

Obasanjo has now tasted the real power. As the coast is very clear for him by the exit of the islamic dominated military coupists, he now assumes God and plays God in Nigeria. He is now more catholic than the Pope.

He now determines who lives and who dies in Nigeria.With the collaboration of the Nigerian military based on his bribery strategy, his executive corruption and intimidation of members of the Nigerian National Assembly, his flooding of his tribes men and women in the security department of the Nigerian nation, his executive support and sheltering of criminal and murderous governors, his and his kin folks control of the Nigeria's oil wealth, his divide and rule tactics of the various Nigeria's tribes, his establishment of Chris Uba and co to rubbish on Ndigbo, his demolition and control of the party formed while he was in Abacha gulag, the death of prominent Nigerians just for the control of power, the use of EFCC to hound his prominent political opponents or any prominent Nigerian who criticized his despotism, his marginalization of real Nigerians and his empowerment of Nigeria's crooks and criminals, his use of Nigeria's police, SSS, Nigerian army to abuse and

maim Nigerian citizens, his use of executive power to corrupt Nigerian democracy, his obssesion for corruption, intimidation, abuse, crudity, irascibility, his financial and political empowerment of the unmerited Nigerian's political and economic criminals that surround him as advisers and political contractors, those who tend to cry more than the bereaves, those who are the drummers of his third termism are all the reasons for his continuation beyond 2007. It is true that there are reforms going on now, but why were the reforms not carried out from May 29, 1999 through may 28, 2003? Among his retinue of Ministers, advisers and board appointees, the only visible and practical performers are, Dr. Ngozi Okonji Iweala, Dr. Dora Akunyiri, Prof. Charles Soludo, Dr. Obeageli Ezekwesili, Mr. Ernest Ndukwu of the NCC and the mobile phone fame, Mallam El Rufai is just in Abuja fighting Ndigbo and their hard earned properties.

Obasanjo has committed too much attrocities against Nigeria and Nigerians and will be scared his pant off living in Nigeria without power.His cronies are equally scared of being hounded or getting a pay back from their corruption,moral and political attrocities against Nigeria and Nigerians from another leader.. Does one wonder why in a country that sells 2.5 million barrel of oil daily @ consistent average of $50 a barrel, has no functional electricity, no tarred roads, no running water, no functional or standard tertiary institutions, no good medical facilities for common headache, no functional airline, a country where members of the military and police are daily looting the banks, robbing and killing innocent citizens, a nation where a prominent minister and political leaders would be murdered in cold blood, the accused would be appointed senator or political adviser to the president, and every politician in Nigeria drives Suv (sport utility vehicle) build sky scrapers, every governor in Nigeria has houses in USA, Britain and other western countries. Every president, governors, ministers and state commissioners, special advisers, advisers, members of the national and state assembly, politicians military and police in Nigeria have accounts in foreign banks worth billions of dollars. Obasanjo is so corrupt that he dwarfed Abacha, Babangida, Atiku and Abdul Salami Abubakar.

He is afraid of retributive justice, otherwise at 70, and 11 years in the nations leadership chair, what else does he need when even in those 11 years he could offer nothing to Nigeria and Nigerians.Nigerians should see his third term ambition not in the sense of Nigeria's political interest, but purely for personal security concern. The third term or continuity would offer him and his cronies a reprieve from the national punishment for their attrocities and or perhaps send him to his grave rather than live to withness his retribution from another president.He has effectively paid Abacha back in his own coins, and Nigerians well known for revenge politics, he will equally get his own pay back by who ever succeeds him. It doesn't matter whether his successor is his son or daughter, he certainly will be paid according to his sin which is grave.

By Peter Chidi Eze

pceze@academicplanet.com

Posted by Administrator at 03:14 PM | Comments (3)

Who is afraid of Solarin…eh sorry Soyinka, Fawehinmi, Achebe?

by Chibuzo Onubogu (USA) --- Dear Dr. Femi Osofisan, sorry I had to borrow the title of your book. I did it because I hold it in the very highest esteem. At least I substituted Tai with Wole Gani Chinua; yea I put them together to form a threesome. If I am not mistaken, there is a saying that reminds us that good things come in threes. The calibre of men I used to replace Solarin ought to prove my sincere intentions Dr Osofisan. I really
never read the book but I saw enough of it to believe it’s a good one.

I do believe it’s a book of virtues, the virtues of a truly great Nigerian by the name of Dr. Tai Solarin. Did Dr. Tai compromise his virtues towards the end? I have heard people say that, but only history vindicates the just. By the way Dr. Osofisan, I was introduced to your book by another Nigerian whom I believe is also aspiring to be great… Reuben Abati. Abati you said? Yes the one and the same. You see Reuben and I graduated from UNICAL the same year. Reuben was a Theater Arts student and I studied Philosophy. I used to go to the small amphitheater any night I could just to watch Reuben
perform, and perform he did. Reuben could have been the Nigerian version of Denzel Washington, but I guess he chose a higher calling. I am sorry folks I didn’t mean to deviate so much from my real purpose. I had to talk about Reuben, for he was truly a great thespian.

Today my fellow Nigerians, the threesome I mentioned above and a few others like Abubakar Umar, Muhammad Buhari, and Balarabe Musa are Nigeria’s conscience, but I will only concentrate my commentary
on the “three wise men”. While cronies and hangers on like Fani- Kayode, Afe Babalola, and Alex Akinyele are busy singing the praises about a most corrupt and downright atrocious administration, these three wise men and their compatriots are putting their lives and reputations on the line for the people. The truly amazing thing is whether the Nigerian suffering masses know who is on their side. The country has become so downright corrupt that people now choose to sing
praises and worship their tormentors rather than those trying to liberate them. Venomous attacks have been put out by Obasanjo’s hatchet men on those who dared speak the truth about the real situation in Nigeria.

Let us begin with Chinua Achebe’s refusal of the so called national award, his commentary and the subsequent reply by one of Obasanjo’s cronies’ sorry “adviser”. Chinua said, and I quote “Nigeria's
condition today under your watch is ... too dangerous for silence. I must register my disappointment and protest by declining to accept the high honour awarded me in the 2004 Honours List” What could be further from the truth? If there is any reasonable Nigerian who believes this to be an affront on the Nigerian government I would like to know. The key word here being, “reasonable”. As a student of philosophy I encountered the word reason many a time. It was considered by a vast majority of philosophers as one of the most reliable ways of acquiring knowledge. Its also is a requirement one needs in other to properly discern and comment on issues and opinions presented by others.

Wole Soyinka said “I'm not setting out to die for any abstruse concept, especially an artificial concept like Nigeria”. Is Nigeria worth dying for? “When such a representative section of the nation comes together I do not blame the government for believing there is a formidable challenge being mounted to its waywardness," Turning to the future, he said on a personal note he most feared senility, but would not be drawn on the future of Nigeria's democracy. I never
allow myself to be hopeful or pessimistic;” I take Nigeria as an on-going project.” He accused members of Nigeria's ruling People's Democratic Party of wanting to manipulate elections to transform Nigeria's political landscape into a "one-party democracy."

According to Gani Fawehinmi, “We are not heading anywhere. We have no destination in this respect. We are moving backwards. We are taking false and faulty steps backwards, rickety steps indeed. February 25
2005, was a very sad day in the history of Nigeria. The President acted as a dictator, and not as an elected democrat. He assembled 400 men and women, all of them nominated, but not a single one elected. In
charging them with the responsibility of finding solutions to the problems of the country, he made some heretical statements.” On the open letter Gani wrote Obasanjo he asked “Why did she go for abdominoplasty (popularly called tummy tuck)? Why should a 60-year-old woman consider that the next option? Isn’t there something conceited about it all? All these questions hung in the air, begging for answers, even as we sympathised with the President. Yes, for once,
we were all united by grief, arising from Stella’s death and the Belleview plane crash, at few hours interval of each other. And like I said in this column last Saturday, it sort of elicited a kinship feeling in all Nigerians. We shared one another’s pains, anguish, sorrow, and were like one indivisible entity. It was a good demonstration of national cohesion, which has eluded us for 45 years.

These are some of the excerpts of statements made by these three men of wisdom, honour and integrity… Wole Soyinka, Gani Fawehinmi, Chinua Achebe. Are there any lies here presented? These are the facts my people, raw unadulterated facts. Could we question Wole’s credibility? Was he unreasonable in his remarks? Would an honourable man like Chinua Achebe not have a reason to reject a national honour? How can Gani Fawehinmi Nigeria’s only true freedom fighter be off the mark?

What Femi Fani- Kayode said was nothing short of silly and ignorant about Chinua Achebe. A man of impeccable character and demeanour who had spent his entire life being more Igbo/Nigerian/African than most of his peers: a man whose works of literature has had more profound impact on the entire black race. According to Chief Femi Fani-Kayode, after discussing with President Olusegun Obasanjo; the government stated that "if you feel that your country does not deserve to honour you, then we believe you certainly do not deserve your country.” Fani-Kayode in the statement stated that: "I discussed its (Achebe's letter) contents with the President yesterday (Tuesday) and our response is as follows: Our response is that his position as regards the state of affairs in his native land and his rejection of the great honour done to him by the Nigerian people is regrettable. It is not a slap in the face of the Nigerian government or Mr. President, but rather it is a slap in the face of the Nigerian people. I really felt like slapping somebody after I read the reply. What slap on the people of Nigeria? What a travesty? Fani Kayode and Obasanjo, how will history judge you? To whom much is given, much is expected. Nigeria was given to you to deliver it from its evils but you have failed and continue to fail.

In reply to Gani’s poignant and most astute questions and statement on the issue of why Stella Obasanjo did not need the procedure that led to her death, Information Minister Chief Alex Akinyele accused Gani of being wicked and inhuman, adding: “You talk with discretion. You talk with understanding. You talk with maturity. You talk with a sense of responsibility. This is a fellow human being like you. What has General Obasanjo done to deserve this at this particular time of his life? It is very, very unfair. It makes me sick… I dissociate myself very, very seriously from what Gani has done, and for once in my life, I’m ashamed of him.”

Haba Alex! Who wants to associate with you? I believe if the devil were to become Nigeria’s president today you would love to be in his cabinet. Do you have principles Alex? Have you ever in your life fought for or defended any just cause? I think that if one would write a pictorial dictionary and need the proper and exact picture for the word crony, you would fit it to the tee. Why didn’t you ask your Baba, how come we can’t have facilities and hospitals that can cater for its people? As a so called Regional power, Nigerians ought not to be dying like flies for “ailments and conditions that rarely kill people other places. Never speak ill of the dead? That to me should not apply in Nigeria, a denizen of thieves and to use the words of the great Fela Anikulapo-Kuti, “authority stealers”.

All the attacks that have been levelled on these Nigerians of good intentions have been nothing short of mind boggling and befuddling, hence my question; who is afraid of SoyinkaFahehinmiAchebe? Only in a
country like Nigeria where the truth is acid and poison will the real motives of such men of high class ever be questioned.

Chibuzo Onubogu writes from the USA

Posted by Administrator at 02:21 PM | Comments (0)

It's a Poor Country: Isn't it?

by Chibuzo Onubogu (USA) --- This was the question I was asked when I was introduced as a Nigerian to a Brazilian that I had a chat with while attending a friend’s party. What began as a very honest and harmless exchange of hellos turned into one person being defensive and the other party trying his utmost best to apologize. Was I shocked? No! But I felt very awkward, betrayed and dumbfounded.

A Brazilian had described my beloved country as being poor. At that point, I had feeling in my gut that made me want to throw up in disgust, but should I blame him? No! I know exactly where the blame
lies. It’s not from the listing that has put Nigeria as one of the poorest countries in the world. It can’t be. That listing has nothing to do with greed, corruption, nepotism, tribalism, roguery, pilferage,
pen pushing robbery, official misconduct, maladministration, brigandage and outright stealing of funds by administration after administration that have misruled Nigeria since independence including the present band of thieves in power.

Nigeria did not fight for self rule, but in a certain sense it did, but no blood was shed. Nigerian independence was handed over to the people on a platter of crude oil, scores of many known mineral resources and a very vibrant agro-economy that could have been feeding the entire sub-Saharan Africa without sweat. No! These solid foundations were not enough; instead the country has gradually found itself continually riding that train into the group of chronically diseased countries without hope, remedy or redemption.

Nigeria is now purely a consumer nation with no manufacturing or industrial infrastructure, an unreliable and sick power supply system, a near non existent supply of water, an education system that has gone from one of the best to a laughing stock. I have a B.A. degree obtained from the University of Calabar in 1985 which I will not trade for anything. Today, degrees awarded by Nigerian Universities are seen being as worthless as the paper it’s printed on.
Nigerian streets are littered with able-bodied beggars who have resorted to a once dehumanized lifestyle as a means of livelihood. Armed robbery another byproduct of hunger poverty and hopelessness is rife and rampant with the majority of the robbers now being unemployed
graduates who in turn recruit undergraduates who see their future as bleak and doomed. Today, the infamous advanced fee fraud or 419 is what Nigeria is known for. No not for our fantastic feats in sports: Not for producing many of the most brilliant minds of the 20th century, but for the art of cheating people out of their wealth and inheritance. You cannot travel anywhere in the world with a Nigerian passport without being watched like a hawk, with the watchers expecting you to do something criminal or dangerous just for the mere fact that you are a Nigerian. What happened to Cocoa production? Whither palm oil, groundnuts, and cotton. What became of columbite, bauxite, tin, gold, and manganese? Who killed rubber, soy, iroko,
mahogany, obeche? There is a long list of items and products like the ones I mentioned above which I learned in elementary and secondary school Geography where Nigeria was always at least one of the top 20
producers in the world. I am being very generous and conservative when I say top 20. In fact, damn it being conservative. Nigeria was number one in at least three of the items mentioned above. I remember columbite, cocoa and palm oil. Which ones do you remember? It’s like

Nigeria and its citizens have been in a trance hoodwinked by the criminals who have caused and are still causing a serious injury to a once promising nation. Giant of Africa has now become dwarf of Africa. Nigeria is now the 2nd poorest country in the world, and the 2nd most corrupt country in the world. We have arrived. Is this the potential that we supposedly had? Not really. Nigerians through their
corruption, greed, avarice and selfishness have wrought their wickedness on their own nation. I always compare what these cowardly crooks have done and continue to do to the equivalence of having a child, and anytime the child is hungry instead of feeding him/her you eat some of the food and throw the rest in the garbage. This is how Nigeria’s ruling class have masterminded their ultimate goal: making poverty endemic and pandemic. Poverty is now their best tool for oppression, intimidation, political assassinations, election fraud and malpractice. The people after being made poor can now go out and
participate in criminal activity without regard to their lives, and other people’s lives and safety.

Sadly enough, the tools of success were in place prior to independence and shortly after it. The current decay in infrastructure and the general dirty outlook of the country was not so during the colonial days. I remember in 1972 when I went to Lagos (the then proud capital of Nigeria) for the first, the images of very beautiful roads, clean street is still burned in my memory. I was only 9 years old the civil war had just ended. I loved Lagos. Trips to Taqua Bay, Tinubu Square, Bar Beach and Tafawa Balewa Square left an indelible mark in my memory. Even when I made my second trip to Lagos in 1977, The National Theater, and the National Stadium were colossal edifices which made me proud of being Nigerian. As a young child I did not know any other country but Nigeria, and I developed a deep love for it. Despite losing 3 of my older brothers during and after the civil war I still felt no remorse and loved being a Nigerian. That is why it pains me that the crooks, criminals and brigands have continued to pilfer, rob and pillage the country without check.

Colonization, Segregation, Enslavement, and Apartheid were methods that the Europeans used to subjugate, maltreat and dehumanize Africans in the continent and in Diaspora. These were cruel and inhuman methods of treatments which need be belittled, but the Europeans left Nigeria 42 years ago. I know that current Western
Powers led by the United States try to topple governments in the developing world that they disagree with, especially nations with vast crude oil deposits and Nigeria happens to fall into that group.
It is still my contention that Nigeria still has the manpower, the brains, and the natural resources to develop the very basic needs of the people. Yet, today many people want to blame the west for all our
problems. The Western World cannot stop the building of good roads, water and power supply. They cannot stop provision of good education, healthcare and housing. One thing I know for sure is that the average
Nigerian is not lazy, and would not want a welfare state. I believe that the Nigerian that has not been led into quick and easy acquisition of wealth still will rather be provided with good paying job. This Nigerian will want this good job, and will want to have adequate supply of electricity, and needs to get steady supply potable water. This Nigerian will like to drive on a good road if he\she has a car, will like his/her children to have a good education. This Nigerian would like affordable housing. This Nigerian
will like appropriate and properly and duly elected representatives to speak for him/her. This Nigerian wants to elect and not select leaders who have the interest of the people at heart. This Nigerian would love to go sleep at night and not worry if he is going to get attacked by robbers. I have lived in the United States for the past 17 years. Though I am a US citizen, I am still a Nigerian at heart. Crimes are committed in the United States on higher degree than there will ever be in Nigeria. For some reason people are more afraid of crimes being committed on them in Nigeria than in the US. For example, you can take your family on a driving trip from lets say from New York City to Washington DC, (which is about250 miles) leave your house any hour of the day without fear of an accident or getting attacked by armed robbers and safely get there in 3 to 6 hours depending on your speed or if you have small children. Comparatively speaking, a family trip that starts in Enugu and terminates in Lagos which is of equal or less distance will only be done during the day and you will be doing it with fear at certain points of your journey. You will want to make sure you get to Lagos before it gets too dark.
During the journey you will not only be afraid of armed robbers, but you will be leery of the Police too. The journey may take you twice the amount of time. (You hear people arguing that Police in America
are racist, but I think they are in the minority). In Nigeria every policeman is a potential treat to civilian life and property. The other factor is the roads. Nigerian roads are death traps not so with
roads in the US. Comparing the United States and Nigeria is the proverbial apples and oranges comparison. They do not have equal power neither do they have equal strength, but I am willing to bet
anything on it that based on shear size and space, that Nigeria may have more natural resources than the US. Let us refer to the old world geography, US has coal, so does Nigeria. The US has crude oil, so does Nigeria. In this case Nigeria’s crude is the Brent kind, the highest quality crude. The US has cotton, so did Nigeria. The US has beef so does Nigeria. Here, once again my intention is not to compare the US and Nigeria, but remember the old saying “to whom much is given much is expected”. The expectations were once great on Nigeria. The Nigerian citizens and the rest of the world are waiting in anticipation for the potential to show signs of actualizing and materializing.

Another byproduct of the mess created in Nigeria is that Nigeria has millions in “exile” all over the western world and beyond. Conservatively speaking I know this for a fact, that no fewer than 80% of Nigerians I have spoken to no longer want to live in these foreign lands that they find themselves, but are forced to because to them there is no hope for “their stupid country”. Some people have gone to the extent of denying being Nigerians due to the shame and
insults that come with it. So many have died trying to escape from Nigeria; many more are trying to get out to anywhere else they can find to go. Countries grow through emigration and immigration not migration. One thing I have noticed is that the Nigerians in exile are gradually producing a generation of children that may not want to have anything to do with their parents’ country of birth. Many of these children due to no fault of their own cannot speak their parents’ native language or languages. These parents think it’s cool that their children can only speak English. Life in America and all these other foreign countries are good, but nothing is better than home. As the old saying goes “East, West, North, and South home is
still the best place to be .I will share with you three stories or instances of the exiled Nigerians and their disillusionment with Nigeria. Their disappointment comes with Nigeria’s hopeless and
rudderless direction, it sometimes makes them feel so apathetic to the point of loathing and despising that which they love so much. Here are the examples; these were actual situations I witnessed;
At a christening ceremony in New Jersey (USA) in the year 2001, a certain Nigerian made a statement which I particularly took offense to. He said and I quote “the best thing for Nigeria is someone to throw an atom bomb and wipe the entire country out including my relatives there” Harsh words! There, he was saying these brutal things with feeling of being lost and betrayed. Stranded in a country he doesn’t completely call home and not being able to go to his own and call it home. What a shame. I vehemently disagreed with the guy calling him names, and we argued about it. I told him how unpatriotic and mean spirited it was to speak such words about his birth country. Destroy his relatives too! Haba, my brother that is too much I said but, he stood to his gun feeling very unmoved about his stance.

On another occasion in Raleigh, North Carolina USA, a Nigerian, feeling so hurt about the demise of his beloved country wished that the white colonial masters never left. He went on to state instances of how things were when we were being colonized and how it turned out since the white people left. The man was willing to forego the lack of dignity that colonization was all about, the mere inhumanity of it,
just for things to work. Like good roads, good education, electricity and water. Once again I disagreed with this fellow, and it got to the point that we were not on speaking terms for a long time. The sad thing about it was that I had known him since my secondary school days in Nigeria. Another equally bad thing about it is that we both hail from the same hometown.

Another situation occurred in the same city of Raleigh, NC where another man called for the American invasion of Nigeria like they did Afghanistan and Iraq. For the Americans to come take over Nigeria and
rule it like a colony. It would not bother him one bit he said, just for things to work like jobs, electricity, water supply, good roads, good schools and affordable housing. People it seems are not asking
for too much, they are not asking to be president, governor or to own several cars, or several mansions. They just want the basics, water, electricity, jobs, roads, and education.

In other words the blame placed on the Western World for Nigeria’s continued problems is not a lie but it can be avoided. For example, Can the Nigerian ruling class and its cronies ask all the oil companies to shut their production until they meet the demands of
the Delta people?( where most of the oil come from). Would this be a far fetched demand? After all, the oil production does no good to the peoples of the areas where the oil is being drilled. Can the government stop raising the price of petrol? Nigeria still imports petrol and petroleum products despite having 4 refineries that I know of. Nigeria’s abundant liquefied natural gas is still being laid to waste. Nigeria is still the second poorest nation in the world in spite of its all resources. The issues raised above are two key issues that the government that truly cares for its people ought to tackle. Will they? The answer is an emphatic NO. The reason is that the “leaders” are benefiting more from the mismanagement of Nigeria and its resources than they ever will if things are done right. Until Nigerians demand for a real change in leadership then it will continue to be business as usual with one crooked group handing over
to the other.

I have heard too much noise made about sanitizing the polity. It’s just too much grammar without much action. I will tell you how to begin; First step is to bar anyone who attained the rank of major in the Nigerian Army or its equivalence in the Air Force and Navy from participating in any political endeavor. Let them remain military professionals. The retired ones should stay retired. I am not an advocate of non inclusion, but the only way to allow these military
people to participate in governance or civilian leadership, is for all their training manuals to get burnt or dropped in the ocean. Whatever they are being taught has nothing to do with civility. The entire culture of the Nigerian military needs to be revamped
and completely overhauled. I can speak on military culture not as an expert but as one who has participated in it. I spent 8 years in the US Navy, 5years of which was active duty, and 3 years being an inactive reserve. I went to boot camp in February of 1995 and was out of boot camp sometime in April. I don’t want to belabour you with my military service but I needed to make sure that people understand that
I walked the walk so I can talk the talk. I am delving into this area because I know that members of Nigerian military of yesterday and today are very unruly, untrained, and corrupt and morally bankrupt. Alas! How can they be trusted to lead? I remember an incident occurred when I was still an impressionable kid which left a lasting mark on the image I had and still do of the Nigerian Military. In 1980 while attending elementary school in Onitsha, I had occasion to stay with my cousin who was a sergeant in the Nigerian Army. I was just a 17 year old kid and I knew what place I was. A military barracks or Cantonment. All I did was go to school and come back. I never even went to their provision stores on base, or their mammy market. Pretty much, I went to school came back and stayed indoors until my cousin returned. One evening I was on my way back from school when I was confronted by one of the military guys, can’t remember his rank it might have been corporal or lance. He asked me
where I was going, I told him that I was coming from school and that I going to my cousin’s place in the barracks. The man grabbed me and started hitting me. He asked me to get off the base that I did not belong there. We were halfway to the gate when fortunately the RSM (Regimental Sergeant Major) whom I had met a couple of times earlier because he had come to see my cousin in his flat intervened. He asked the corporal what he was doing (I think the corporal had been drinking on duty) and he said he was escorting a suspected criminal off the base. The RSM told him that I was not a criminal and that he should refrain from hitting me He also informed the gate guards on duty to make sure that nobody touches me any further. He also told them that he aware of my staying in the barracks with my cousin. I don’t want to make this too much of a personal tale. This type of unruly behavior is not common with the NCOs only. The lack of discipline is very much embedded in the officer corps too. Because
of the very flawed system of man know man that most these galoots get in the military they think they are above the law. Many of them are children of those already serving, another chunk are relatives of some
sort. The rest join on the recommendation of all kinds of godfathers. I have no bitterness towards the Nigerian military it’s just that I don’t think that the doctrine being taught is relevant anymore. There is an urgent need for a change so that military folks
whether active or retired or whatever can adapt to being part of the civil society. The way Nigeria is being run today is a classic example. We have an ex military Head of State masquerading as a civilian president, still deeply entrenched in his military style behavior and too thick headed to adapt to civility. His tendencies have rather hindered than help democracy grow, but he is too rigid and too militarized to understand what he is supposed to do as a civilian.

In the US, retired Generals and their like have been and continue to strive for the presidency and other offices, because they are taught that there is a time to kill and a time to protect. The Nigerian military doctrine I believe is all about killing. I doubt if they have anything about protecting the people in there.

In Nigeria there have been numerous cases where military personnel will run afoul of the law and the police dare not touch them or it leads to mayhem. Instances are abound where military men have laid siege at a police barracks or stations just because the police arrested one of them or their children for a legally legitimate reason. In Lagos, all uniformed men get on buses and never pay a kobo, acting as if it is some sort of right, as if they never get paid like most other workers do. The Nigerian military need to start training more than soldiers. They need to diversify. The US military train both their officers and NCOs to be Artisans, leaders, workers,
technicians, farmers, salespeople, bankers, telecom and IT specialists so that at the end of their career they can join the civil society without much need for adjustment. While still serving in the US NAVY, stationed in San Diego California I witnessed something that may be hard to envision in a Nigerian situation. The FBI (Federal Bureau of Investigation) which is an equivalent of Nigeria’s CID needed to make an arrest of a member of the US Marines stationed on this same base. This Marine had gone out and committed
all kinds of offences and the FBI had tracked him to this particular military base. What they did was they contacted the local police and told them of their intentions. The local police in turn informed the base military police; the three groups joined together and made the arrest on base. In all the time when I was growing up in Nigeria, I never heard of the police having any success in attempts at arresting military persons or even their dependants on base. There were always scuffles between these two uniformed groups.

There can never be a serious sanitizing of the polity that will not involve the restructuring and overhauling of the Nigerian police. Personally I believe that this is the most important event that can
reshape Nigeria’s history. The role that an effective police plays in a society cannot be oversimplified. If we had effective policing the excesses of the military will be kept in check. Aha! Where have I heard this before? Circa 1986; the man who said it was Alozie Ogugbuaja, the one time Police Public Relations officer in Lagos state. The man was almost killed by Babangida and his boys for making that statement. Luckily for him, the Sunday morning grenade under his
car would not explode. Would the deaths of Dele Giwa, Bola Ige, and Marshall Harry et al still be considered mysteries? The death of John F Kennedy, which till today is still seen as mystery has all kinds of
fingers pointing in different directions. Its then up to you to follow which direction you want to though as we all know the truth lies somewhere in between. That Kennedy’s death still spawns a lot of tales, fables, and conspiracies shows that some top official was
involved somehow. The Police are not 100% effective and efficient in developed countries. In Nigeria the ineffectiveness and inefficiency of the police cannot be calculated percentage wise. As a citizen if you lodge a complaint you never know how the case may turn out. In most cases the depth of ones pocket is the determinant of who gets justice. In the cases mentioned above the only reason the truth is not
coming out is that the murders can be traced directly to the person in power at the time it was done, be it Obasanjo or Babangida. A truly restructured Nigerian Police will make sure that the electorate will vote without hindrance. They are not forced to shoot and kill their own brothers and sisters for not voting for the party in power. An effective police will curtail the rampant occurrence of hard crimes especially, armed robbery, but more often than not the police are found to be involved in the robberies. All the hoopla and noise about foreign investors will never come to fruition unless adequate security is provided. The internal affairs of any nation can never be properly managed without effective policing. The Police if effectively restructured ands organized can arrest anyone who has committed any crime without fear or favor. In countries where policing is effective cases never really die completely that’s why in those countries criminals are apprehended 20, 30, or even 40-years after they thought they had beaten the crime.

Sanitizing the polity involves rejecting politicians who have the penchant for embezzlement. People should make sure they never get elected again. They must watch that they never find their way back into positions where they are wont to steal again. How about the show of how insensitive and insolent our present selected president Obasanjo is, in his attempt to appoint a man who forged his certificate to head some government owned and controlled Education review board. What a shame! The case of Obasanjo and his Presidency is purely one of whom much was given and has ended up being the most atrocious thing Nigerians have ever done. Obasanjo, “to whom much is given much is expected” So much was given to you and the returns
have been the utmost disgusting form of disappointment.The emperor has no clothes on, but nobody dare tell him for fear of being marked for public ridicule and removal.

Two years after you became president, I met your daughter Iyabo at a function organized by a friend in Durham NC, USA. The guests present were ready to fry and roast her for being your daughter. Like a loyal
daughter she was defending you, acting like a little Chihuahua dog trying to prove its mettle. She was getting angry just like you talking about your sacrifices, but she was overmatched. Your negatives
were getting too much after just 2 yearsin office. I was the only one who thought maybe you still deserved a chance, but all that came to naught. You continued to wallow in stupidity and mediocrity, then there was the assassination of Bola Ige a man you called brother
and friend, your Attorney General, you did nothing. Then you had your landslide selection, the attempted coup in Anambra, and then a coup in Plateau. You continued on your slide down to the road of infamy and
dubiousness. Then you started your new witch hunting, eliminating those who no longer kowtowed to your emperor behavior. Most of these people realized how naked the emperor was and dared laugh at him. You then got religion and found corruption as your witch hunting tool and went after these people. Alas Mr. President, corruption cannot fight itself. You are corrupt so is your Vice and all those who surround
you. The entire Nigerian National assembly is corrupt. That puny little scallywag called Chris Uba is back in Anambra desecrating my state at your wishing. Why did you have to bring him bag Baba Sege? Now Bayelsa governor has become your whipping boy. Did you say or
do anything about James Ibori… the crook. So what or who exactly are you fighting? You can’t be fighting IBB, because I think you are either afraid of him or maybe he knows you too much. The whole thing with Abacha is a ruse since you are allowing his family to keep some of the money they stole. So tell me who is the war against?

There cannot be an effective fight against corruption as long you are involved in it so please stop fooling the people. When you are done with your second term, (that is if you will not try to stay longer) if you leave, the polity would have received a boost in its sanitizing effort. If Atiku succeeds you, it will continue to smell. If Babangida finds himself in there the smell will be even worse than it was when you were there. All the talk about the polity being corrupt would not have been so had Nigerians allowed their true saviors to stay in power just a bit longer. I have no sympathy for all those political cronies and hangers on whether dead or alive,who selfishly dealt a deadly blow to Nigeria’s chance at getting rid of
corruption by helping remove the Buhari/Idiagbon government. By all means they were harsh, but that was what Nigeria needed at the time. Instead a plague was unleshed on the people with the regimes of Babangida, Abacha, and now Obasanjo, three men with sadistic intentions that have no interest in making Nigeria great. For those of you who think that the short-lived government of Buhari/Idiagbon did not have an impact on the Nigerian psyche, take a trip back to memory lane if you were there, and tell me what you would rather have. If you love corruption, I know how you will lean. If you love dirty streets and discordance, I know who you will choose. What if you want Nigeria’s name to be dragged in the mud all over the world, your choice is clear. So Nigerians, whether you see it or not that was your chance to take a path towards nation building.

The Nigerian mess did not begin in one day. It has roots. It has history. Let’s stop all the talking and start real action. A country that posseses what Nigeria has cannot be in any terms called poor.

Chibuzo Onubogu writes from the USA

Posted by Administrator at 01:38 PM | Comments (0)

December 27, 2005

Garbage Removal is President Obasanjo’s Job!

by Paul I. Adujie (New York, United States) --- Recently, I read a beautiful opinion piece written by Mr. Uche Nworah. This is not a rejoinder to that article of his, but instead, his article constitutes a reference point for this.

Mr. Nworah wrote eloquently about the negative impact of garbage and erosion on the good people of Aba, Aba, in case you did not know, is a major city in Abia state, and beyond Abia state, Aba is actually renowned, as a major commercial nerve center for the entire Eastern region, south of Onitsha, and Aba, it must be added, is a major metropolis in Abia state currently presided over by PDP enfant terrible, Governor Orji Kalu, my former school mate.

Aba has rich culture, and the people in Aba have strong work ethic and extraordinary business acumen! But Aba has also suffered historical neglect beyond wanton!

Unfortunately, Aba as bad, as its luck has been with utter neglect of garbage removal and disposal, outrageous environmental degradation, through the scourge of urban erosion, Aba sadly, is in “good” with Onitsha in garbage and erosion gully crises.

Aba is in the unsavory company of our megalopolis of Lagos, Lagos has enough filth and erosion combined with flooding to stop the flow of the Atlantic Ocean! Lagos, is sadly, not remarkably different from the plight of Benin City in these categories of the most garbage filled streets, erosion gullies and urban decay. And the same can be said of our sister city of Kano.

I think garbage removal is the most elemental form of governmental functions. And I think the responsibility to remove garbage falls squarely, on the shoulders of municipal authorities, or local government councils, as municipal authorities are known in Nigeria, in most parts of the world, it is beyond dispute, as to whose responsibility it is, to gather, remove and haul garbage. It is clearly so, in most parts of the world that I have traveled, including Nigeria.

But why do we have garbage encroachments in most major cities in Nigeria?
Why is garbage collection, garbage removal, such, clearly elemental public hygiene, is seemingly regarded as unimportant by municipal authorities in Nigeriaa? What can the states do about the invasion of our public space by unchecked growth of garbage in public, which is so unseemly?


Why, am I, talking about garbage here? Please do not dismiss this as just rubbish! Or garbage talk; It is actually more than a story about filth and pollution in Nigerian cities and towns.

I am really not interested in a single story about garbage collection, garbage removal and disposal, as I am interested in the attitude that has become pervasive among too many Nigerians. This attitude that I here talk about, has to do with apparent misunderstanding of the duties and functions of our different strata of government in our democratic Nigeria.

In a federal structure, there is of course the central government at the federal level, then, there is the state governments and the most basic strata of government with the most basic functions, the strata of government that has the closest contacts and dealings with the average citizen in a huge federation such as ours….in the municipal or local government authorities of our 774 local government areas, or LGAs, as we fondly call them in Nigeria. Why is it more sexy, or fashionable, to attack the president but, OK to ignore the failings, ineptitudes and thievery of the governors and councilors, Senators, House of Rep members and House of assembly members?

Why are too many Nigerians uninterested in the push and pull of democracy? Why are many Nigerians not concerned with the call and response of participatory democracy? Why are so many Nigerians infinitely unmoved by the ineffectiveness of state governments and municipal governments or local government authorities?

Why is it that we are not vigorous and robust, in our pursuit of accountability and transparency at state and local levels of governments in Nigeria?

When will the majority of Nigerian citizens, wake up and realize that democracy is not a spectator sports? When will some us, wake up to the duty, responsibility, and corresponding obligations on the parts of citizens and government and vice versa?


Why is it that some Nigerians tend to or seem to ignore or even condone the abuse and misuse of power right in their backyard? Why is it that citizens of Edo state are not protesting the high crime rate of robberies and general insecurity in Benin City? Where my niece, Mrs. Ogbu, informed me that her husband can no longer travel with his mobile telephone as nobody does that anymore for fear of being attacked and robbed of the mobile telephone! What is a mobile phone if you cannot be mobile with it? If you cannot take your mobile phone with you, what the heck is the use?

Why is it, that Governor Kalu Orji is frequently visiting the United States to tout himself as a presidential candidate, when the local government council in Aba, Governor Orji’s domain, cannot remove garbage from the streets of Aba? Why is it, that Governor Orji has support for his Sun newspapers and Slok Airlines, when erosion has taken over major roads in Aba, roads that are municipal or local government roads and NOT federal roads!
How does Governor Kalu Orji, alias “blabber-mouth” plan to be a good president? When he currently presides, over a state, his small domain, where garbage collection, removal and disposal is not tackled by the local government or municipal authorities, and the state government of Governor blabber-mouth does nothing?

I suppose that most Nigerians have during the military government administrations in Nigeria, has gotten Nigerians accustomed to expecting a unitary form of government actions, in a purely federal setting and systems! For decades, Nigerians expected and received federally mandated rules and command-performance of military administrators and so, we now expect the same in a democratic civilian government in a federal system?
This complete misunderstanding, misperception and even ignorance, probably explains why the federal government of President Obasanjo is blamed by so many Nigerians for matters and issues that are clearly state matters, that are clearly local government or municipal province and exclusive preserves, even mundane municipal issues such as garbage collection, garbage haul and disposal.

Little wonder then, that so many Nigerians are unwilling or unaware, that they ought to hold their governors’ feet to the fire for local issues, and further hold the feet of their local government councilors and ward members and local council chairpersons accountable for the existence or provision of local public infrastructures and social amenities, instead, we have Nigerians always accusing the federal government, when in fact, the issue is just a mere failure on the part of a local government or a state authority to live to its bidding and responsibility.

There is therefore and urgent need for a national enlightenment, a national re-orientation and focus on the duties, rights, share power, exclusive powers, current powers, responsibilities, corresponding obligations, both on the parts of the citizens and our governments at all levels. Nigerians must also begin to understand the importance of volunteer efforts, such volunteer efforts are frequently necessary as additional or even independent component of efforts by governments at all levels, even here in the United States. Efforts independent of governments or complementary of governments are a common feature of public social intercourse in America and Europe.

Example of these, that Nigerians are familiar with are, the Red Cross and Doctors Without Borders, there are Non-Governmental Organizations, NGOs, Support Groups of various types.

It bears repeating here, that Nigerians must learn and accept participatory democracy. It is assuredly not a spectator sports, there is no room for “sidon look!”

When Nigerians learn to imbibe the ideals and tenets of participatory democracy, imbued in the thorough understanding of the constitutional arrangements for our federal system as laid down in our constitutional framework, many Nigerians will cease to blame rainfalls and sun shines or cloudy days on President Obasanjo! And whoever becomes a president in Nigeria thereafter.

I have wondered why, there were no public demonstrations urging the Houses of Assemblies in Bayelsa and Plateau to impeach Alamieseigha and Dariye respectively!

I have equally wondered why laudable efforts by our current federal government never met with thunderous and uproarious applauses, from our citizens at home and abroad, praise from our citizens in the nook and crannies of our dear fatherland.

But the same docile, quiet or seeming comatose public, are assumed to be irritated, when the EFCC and other federal agencies do their work? Even when EFCC doing its work actually means the pushing the hitherto inactive hands, of members of Houses of Assemblies in Yenagoa and Jos; Pushing of the hands to perform duties that are clearly specified in our federal constitution in the first place! Duties that were neglected by them!

Constitutional duties which these Houses of Assemblies ought to have performed months or years prior to the so-called pressure or the push of their hands by the EFCC and other federal apparatuses. What is a responsible federal government to do? Let criminals and fugitives remain governors and ridicule their state and all Nigerians worldwide? I am an advocate of due process and the rule of law. I am a literal sucker for letting our system work and be fine-tuned. I am a strong believer in making imperfect democracy perfect with more practice of democracy.

I am quick to say, do not truncate the process, never truncate the institutions.

But what do you do, when some states rush to create new local government areas and councils, contrary to the provisions of our federal constitution 1999? What should a responsible federal government do in the wake some governors in Nigeria, literally holding guns to our head in hostage-taking like crisis?

Should Nigeria allow hostage takers and hijackers and child molesters walk free in our land? all in the name of the fine ideals and tenets of due process and the rule of law?
Acute infection requires aggressive and rigorous regimen of treatment or therapy!
Alamiesiegha and Dariye in engaging in criminal activities, in engaging in gross misconduct and subsequently becoming fugitive of the law, they shredded our constitution, our laws and our shared sense of common decency.

Alamie and Dariye sneered at us all, sneered repeatedly at the constitutions and rules! What is a responsible government to do in the face of thieving governors making the front page of The New York Times and cover stories repeatedly on the BBC worldwide?

And when Houses of Assemblies are quick to impeach deputies of governors, not for public good or purpose, but because there are schisms and chasms between governors and their deputies and House of Assemblies Speakers, as we have witnessed in many states in Nigeria since 1999.

Whereas, state Houses of Assemblies have been asleep at the wheel, in the face of impeachable offenses, including being fugitive on the lam from the law, by Alamie and Dariye etc Why do these states and citizens of these states stand aside and look,? And then, when there are federal interventions, as when Dariye looked the other way, when anarchy reigned in Plateau state and innocent citizens were slaughtered endlessly? When event reached a tipping point and precipice of anarchy and lawlessness, the federal government declared a state of emergency in Plateau state, after duly consulting the relevant opinion and community leaders.

Some still criticized the declaration of emergency in Plateau state as a constitution aberration, which they considered unacceptable! These same persons omitted to call Daryie to order, before matters in Plateau state degenerated to lowest levels, and he was more interested in his foreign personal bank account in England!

We must balance our national interests, even if, delicately, due process, rule of law and national self-preservation. We must act when exigent circumstance requires it! We must protect Nigeria in the face of the imbecilic onslaught brought on by Alamie and Dariye.


Nigerians must hold political leaders’ feet to the fire, make office-holders become accountable and transparent, make them become good listeners, make them responsive and compel them to practice good governance, this must not be limited to the presidency!
Make your ward representatives, your councilors, your local government chairpersons, you House of Assembly members and your governors and federal legislators in the House of Representatives and Senate, accountable and transparent, make them become good listeners, make them responsive and compel them to practice good governance.

Nigerians must urgently become engaged in learning how the system work, learn and grasp our individual and collective roles as specified in our constitution… of our rights, our duties, our responsibilities and our equally important obligations! Nigerians must play our required roles for Nigeria’s progress, development and greatness.

By Paul I. Adujie
Lawcareer@msn.com
New York, United States

Posted by Administrator at 12:32 PM | Comments (1)

Politicians should Write Blueprints of what they Plan to do for Nigeria

by Ozodi Thomas Osuji, Ph.D. (Seatle, Washington) --- I have been pondering the fact that our political leaders seem to seek political offices for personal purposes, to use them to seem important and or steal from the public.

To prevent politicians from using public office for personal purposes, we ought to do certain things, including requiring all those who want to seek public office, from city council to the presidency, to write a booklet, of no more than 200 pages, in which they delineate exactly what they plan to do in office and how they plan go about doing so.

The political economy has many areas; political aspirants should tell us what they plan to do in most areas of it. The candidate for public office should tell us what is his economic plan for the level of governance he wants to participate in? What is his educational plan, his industrial plan, his agricultural plan, in short, what he is going to do in most areas of the political economy? The aspirant ought to delineate his plan, his visions and goals for the country; their costs and how exactly he intends to get the money to finance them. He ought to give us time lines when each of his goals would be accomplished.


Taking the time to write ones goals and objectives down on paper and publishing them helps the public to know what the political aspirant wants to accomplish for them. Moreover, this also enables the public to hold him responsible and accountable for accomplishing them.

In subsequent reelection bids, the public would then say to the politician: this is what you said that you were going to do for us, and this is actually what you did for us, so we think that you are a good or bad leader and reelect or reject the politician accordingly.


I am really sick and tired of Nigerian politicians seeking public office, not because of what they want to do for Nigeria but because of psychological reasons. It is obvious that most of what passes for politicians in Nigeria feel inadequate and seek high political office to give them compensatory sense of adequacy. They seek office as a means of attaining prestige. Office is restitutory for their underlying sense of inferiority.

One should not seek public office as therapy for ones psychological deficit. One should seek public office because of what one wants to do for the people.


Consider Governor Orji Kalu. His performance as the governor of Abia state is abysmal. One cannot honestly see anything worthwhile that the man has done for his people. The man cannot even pave the streets of Aba and Umuahia. Yet this man wants to be given the opportunity to become the next president of Nigeria. So why should he be the president of Nigeria? He tells us that it is because it is Igbos turn to rule Nigeria and that he is “the most qualified Igbo to rule Nigeria”. In other words, he wants us to elect him because he is an Igbo not because of what he plans to do for us.

Actually, Mr. Kalu probably wants us to elect him to give him the opportunity to steal more money from Nigeria and for him to export that money to the West. The man probably assumes that we are all imbeciles and cannot read between the lines. Apparently, the man assumes that we should offer him an opportunity to be a political 419 criminal at the national level.

(If you come close enough to the man and assess him, you recognize what a nincompoop he is; he lacks political gravitas; the man is probably mentally challenged, and is emotionally crippled. Yet this nothingness of a being wants to rule Nigeria, what travesty!)


In conclusion, I am recommending that as a matter of public policy, Nigeria require all aspirants to political office in the country, at all levels, to first write a blueprint that tells us what they plan to do for us.

Any literate man can write, edit and publish such a booklet within a month. Therefore, it is not asking too much to require those planning to rule us to write down on paper what they plan to do for us.

What do you think about this suggestion?


Ozodi@africainstituteseattle.org

Posted by Administrator at 12:24 PM | Comments (0)

Insanity Results from Searching for Worth, Meaning, and Purpose in the Wrong Places

by Ozodi Thomas Osuji, Ph.D. (Seatle, Washington) --- INTRODUCTION: The American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual (1994) has done an excellent job describing the various mental disorders. However, it did so without describing the causes of those disorders.

Whereas, official Psychiatry is hesitant delineating the causal factors in mental disorders, Physiological Psychiatry seems to give the impression that these mental disorders are caused by biological factors. See Schizophrenia: Dopamine causal hypothesis; bipolar affective disorder: norepinephrine causal hypothesis; depression: serotonin causal hypothesis; anxiety: GABA causal hypothesis.
Clearly, there seem putative biochemical correlations with the various mental disorders. However, this situation does not necessarily prove that mental disorders are caused by disordered biochemical states. The identified biochemical disorders may only predispose persons to think in a manner that leads to mental disorders? At any rate, most of the phamacotherapeutic regime predicated on the assumptions that mental disorders are caused by chemical imbalances do not seem to heal mental disorders. Perhaps, it is time we sought different understanding of the etiology and healing of mental disorders?

HYPOTHESIS

In this paper, I offer a hypothesis that mental disorders are caused by individuals’ search for worth, meaning and purpose, in a world that, apparently, lack in worth, meaning and purpose?
Our world, as existential thinkers like Sartre, Camus, Jasper and Heidegger pointed out, seem to have no apparent meaning and purpose to it. Human life on earth seems worthless, meaningless and purposeless.
The individual’s body is food for worms, William Shakespeare observed in Hamlet. We are born and will die and rot. We seem the play things of nature. Virus, bacteria, fungi destroy human bodies, as they destroy other biological forms. Earthquakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, floods, hurricanes, tornadoes, draughts, and other natural disasters destroy human life, as if human beings have no value. Other human beings if they so choose can kill the individual as he can kill them.
All said, empirical evidence indicates that human life does not seem to have any apparent worth. We are born and must die and become manure that fertilizes plants. There does not seem any meaning and purpose to our lives other than our desire to live, to survive, and survive for what we do not know. Any serious observer of the human condition cannot fail but conclude that human beings are not special in the eyes of nature. In so far that human beings seem to have worth, it is self conferred and that worth seem made up, fictional and not real for if the individual has real worth, how come microorganisms make a meal of his body?
My thesis is that the mentally ill to be person is generally a very perceptive child and perceives that as persons that human beings do not seem to have any empirical worth and that their lives are meaningless and purposeless. I believe that this perception is reached before adolescence.
Perceiving himself and other people as worthless and believing that his life and other people’s lives are meaningless and purposeless, the mentally ill to child refuses to accept his obviously accurate assessment of human existence on planet earth. In place of worthlessness, meaninglessness and purposeless, he posits their alternatives: worth, meaning and purpose. Where he perceives a worthless self he posits an ideal self.
The abstract and mentally constructed ideal self and ideal everything is designed to give the sensitive individual personal worth and give his life on earth meaning and purpose.
Having postulated an ideal self concept, and its image form, ideal self image (human beings seem to think in concepts and images), the individual feels an obsessive compulsive pressure to attain that imaginary self.
In pursuing his impossible goal, he feels like his life has worth, meaning and purpose. But the price he pays for his imaginary worth, meaning and purpose is that he literally becomes a slave to the pursuit of his ego ideals and ideals of who other people should be and what the world ought to become.
If he were to stop seeking to actualize his ego ideals, his life would suddenly lack in worth, meaning and purpose. Cessation of the pursuit of the ideals would bring to the fore what was denied and repressed into the individual’s unconscious: the awareness that his life has no worth, meaning and purpose.
The awareness of his existential worthlessness, meaninglessness and purposelessness may stimulate existential depression in such a person. To avoid awareness of the ugly realities of his being, he may use his imagination to invent even a more grandiose sense of worth, meaning and purpose for himself. He may posit a very seeming important self and pursue it. In the process, he may experience schizophrenia, or delusion disorder or manic depression (bipolar affective disorder).

SELF CONSCIOUSNESS

Mental disorder is unified. The pursuit of worth, meaning and purpose are unified and where one is pursued the others are pursued. Indeed, such seeing different phenomenon as self consciousness is part of the individual’s efforts to seem worthwhile. Self consciousness emanates from an effort to have other people accept the false ideal, superior self as who one is, and awareness that it is not who one is in fact and that as such other people could appreciate that fact. Self consciousness is rooted in the misguided effort to get other people to validate the individual’s imaginary worthy self. If the individual did not have a desire for a special separated self, he would not be self conscious.
The mentally ill acutely perceives the worthlessness, meaninglessness and purposelessness of being as a separated human being housed in body that will die and struggles to give himself mentally constructed fictional worth, meaning and purpose. His goals cannot be attained in the empirical world since they are fictions and imaginary. A pure mental construct of reality cannot be attained in the world of space, time and matter.

THEISM AND ATHEISM

The mentally ill has two options: give up his pursuit of fictional worth, meaning and purpose and accept that he is living a worthless, meaningless and purposeless existence or somehow convince himself that there is worth, meaning and purpose outside this world.
The atheist accepts that he is living a worthless, meaningless and purposeless existence and accommodates himself to that reality without illusions that he has worth or that his life has meaning and purpose; he is just like any other animal life, and when he dies his body rots and becomes fertilizer for other animal lives.
The religionist gives himself faith in what he believes is a better self, a self that lies outside the reality of space, time and matter, the world of spirit; he believes in God and after death existence. The religionist believes that God is beyond space, time and matter and, as such, is permanent, changeless and unified; he believes that in the world of God all beings are the same and equal and as immortal as God, their creator; such beliefs, apparently, gives the religionist worth, meaning and purpose.
Worth, meaning and purpose cannot inhere in the human body. Just thinking about what people do with their bodies, eat, defecate, have sex etc makes the sensitive person want to vomit. The human body at best will live a hundred and twenty years and die and smell to high heaven; as such, it cannot have worth, meaning and purpose. Worth, meaning and purpose, if they exist, must be outside body.

NORMALCY

The normal person is, more or less, like a satisfied animal; he seems not capable of appreciating the worthlessness, meaninglessness and purposelessness of being. This observation gave R.D Laing (1965) the impression that psychotics are higher evolved persons than normal persons. Laing believed that the psychotic was akin to mystics. In his view, normal persons adjusted themselves to what seemed to him pathological human conditions.
Laing tended to romanticize mental disorders. The relevant point, however, is that normal persons do not seem acutely aware of the valuelessness, meaningless and purposelessness of being and therefore do not use their imaginations to construct imaginary worth, meaning and purpose for themselves. Indeed, some normal persons are even convinced that their bodies have worth. Some women, for example, take pride in their sexual organs and sexual activities; activities that give such sensitive souls as St Paul the impression that only lower human being could engage in them. As Paul saw it, the things of flesh ought to be repulsive to highly evolved human beings.
Normal human beings enjoy their food whereas the sensitive mind wonders why he must kill animals and tree and eat them to stay alive, to survive to become food for other forms of life.
Life on earth is a vicious struggle by animals to survive, in the struggle, the stronger eat the weak. And what do they live for?

SANITY
Suppose the neurotic and or psychotic person who pursues imaginary worth, meaning and purpose accepts the reality that his self has no worth, meaning and purpose, what would happen?
He would be freed from his psychological compulsions to seem what he is not. He would feel emptied of all illusions of worth, meaning and purpose. Devoid of the false baggage of personal value, meaning and purpose, he would feel able to live and do whatever he is able to-do with his life, provided that his goals are doable and are within the realities of space, time, matter and energy.
Matter, space and time limit what human beings can or cannot do. If they limit themselves to what is doable in space and time, they are realistic; if they dream of doing what those physical realities cannot accommodate, they are idealistic and bound to fail in achieving their goals.
Instead of wishing for abstract states that would never come into being, the realistic individual uses his thinking to understand how the empirical world works and studies science and devices technology to cope with the exigencies of his empirical world. He does not escape into idealistic, abstract make belief worlds that will never come into being.
The realistic individual sees his ego, his sense of separated self, the I, as an illusion since it is bound to disappear with the death of his body. The self seem a product of experience in body and dies with the body.
The disappearance of the ego false self, however, does not mean that there is not a permanent life force operative in the universe. What seems to live outside body and survive the demise of the human body is life itself. Hinduism and Buddhism construe life as undifferentiated self; one self that is simultaneously infinite selves.
Obviously life, at least in human beings, does think and behave. There is no reason to believe that thinking and behavior would end after physical death.

HINDUISM’S DREAM ANALOGY

When the individual gives up all the illusions of the ego, he appreciates that our life on earth is like a life in a dream. Dream activities seem real to dreamers but when they wake up they realize that what is done in dreams have not been done in the real world. Human egos and bodies are dream figures and their activities on earth are dream activities, Hinduism tells us.
The realistic individual learns to overlook what is done in dreams; to overlook is to forgive the seeming evil all people committed.
What are done in dreams is neither good nor bad, therefore, they ought to be overlooked, forgiven.
The forgiving person walks this world peacefully and happily. He is always smiling and laughing, for, to him, life on earth and what we do on earth seem mirthful, humorous. Just think of people having sex and see how ridiculous they seem. A realistic approach to this world must elicit laughter rather than seriousness. Life on earth is a comedy (and a tragedy if you take it seriously, as neurotics and psychotics do).

INFERIROITY AND SUPERIORITY

Alfred Adler (1911) pointed out that some children feel intensely inferior and compensate with pursuit of fictional superiority. He speculated that biological and social deficits predispose such children to feel inordinately inadequate and hate and reject their bodies and attempt to restitute with imaginary, all powerful, superior selves.
Adler did not convince us what the biological deficits are, but there is no doubt that he made an accurate observation that some people feel inferior and compensates with pursuit of false superiority. He called such persons neurotic (contemporary psychiatry has differentiated Adler’s global neurotic into the various nosological categories in psychiatric diagnostic manuals).
Karen Horney replaced Adler’s terms with her own. Where Adler employed superiority she employed ideal. To Horney, the neurotic hates and rejects his real self and seeks to become an ideal self. The ideal self is a mental construct and is not the real self. To Horney, the neurotic attempts to actualize the imaginary, the ideal self. As such, he is trying to translate fantasy into reality.
The neurotic is very proud to be his ideal self. The ideal self is his handiwork, his idol and he is proud of it and defends it. Alas, he is proud of an illusory, non-existent self; he uses the various ego defense mechanisms to defend an illusory, non-existent self, hence he is insane.
Helen Schulman (1976) gives the writings of Adler and Horney a spiritual coloration. She calls psychoanalysis’ neurotic the ego; in her psycho-spiritual system, the ego seeks to realize itself. Since the ego was invented by thinking, the mind, it is not real and cannot be actualized in the real world. Schuman urges people to give up pursuit of the ego and embrace their real self, a self she, along with Hinduism and Buddhism, believes is undifferentiated self.

INSANITY

The insane person, be he neurotic or psychotic, hates and rejects his real self and seeks to become an idealized superior self. His real self comprises of his body and ego; he believes that that real self, body and its I, the ego, is worthless, meaningless and purposeless.
The insane person rejects the real self and its real world and postulates an alternative ideal self and ideal world and pursues them. In seeking to realize his imaginary ideal states he obtains fictional worth, meaning and purpose. He is pursuing the imaginary and therefore cannot attain them hence he is insane.
Insanity is seeking to make the unreal real, seeking to make the ego ideal real when it cannot be real.
Sanity lies in relinquishing pursuit of the false ideal self-concept, false ideal self-image and false ideal personality and accepting the truth of human existence on earth, imperfection.
Buddhism helps us understand how the false can be given up and replaced with the real self. Let us, therefore, explore the nature of Buddhism.


BUDDHISM AND THE PSYCHOLOGY OF NO-SEPARATED SELF

Buddhism, properly considered, is not only a religion but a psychology, a science of thinking and behaving that realistically acknowledges God but does not make much ado about him.
In Buddhism’s meditation, the goal is to attain no-separated self. On earth, each of us believes that he has a separated self and acts as such. The separated self, the self concept, the self image, the human personality, Buddhism wants to get rid of.
Buddhism believes that the separated self is not real, that it is a chimera, a smokescreen hiding our real self, which it believes is unified life. The goal of Buddhism is to eliminate the separated self so as to experience the real self.
In meditation, the individual is encouraged to give up his attachment to his separated self concept…the separated self is always conceptual. He actively negates the separated self concept that he is consciously aware of. He denies that he is his self concept, self image and personality. He denies that the thinking of his separated ego self is his real thinking. He negates all conceptual thinking. Every thought that enters his mind is seen as part of ego thinking, hence not his real thinking and denied as true. Neti, Neti, not this, not this, he tells himself (Hinduism does the same).
The goal is to deny the reality of the conceptual self and its conceptual thinking. It is hoped that at some point the individual attains inner silence. As it were, his mind is emptied of all ego separated thinking. He is now like a void, a blank slate, wiped clean of all earthly thinking.
It is said that when the individual attains this state of emptiness, void, no self, no conceptual thinking, that he may escape from the temporal world and enter into what Buddha called Nirvana (Zen Buddhism calls it Satori and Hinduism calls it Samadhi). In that state, the individual is no longer aware of his self as a separated self but knows himself as part of one unified self/one unified life, an undifferentiated life.
In unified state, the individual is not this or that person, not this or that animal, not this or that thing; he is nothing, no thing in particular. Since no-thing is everything, the individual is part of everything. He is part of one universal life.
In unified life, there is no you and I, no seer and seen, no subject and object.
However, there is still some individuality in the universal self. It is one self that is simultaneously infinite selves. All the infinite selves know themselves as part of the one self and as in it, as it is in them; they are in each other.
There is no space or gap between one self and another self, all are joined, connected and unified.
All selves share one self; all share one thinking and share one mind.
In unified self is perfect peace and happiness, bliss really. Conflict can only arise where there is separated selves, where there is disharmony.

THINKING AND BEHAVING FROM THE REAL SELF

Clearly, the goal of Buddhism is to eliminate the separated self and attain unified self. In the unified self is said to be peace and joy.
Buddhists try not to think and speak from their separated ego selves. Of course, like all human beings, they are living out of their separated selves and think and act from them. To be on planet earth, a separated place, the individual must have a separated self housed in body. But Buddhists try to rise above that separated self.
Buddhists believe that the separated self is not who they are; they believe that the separated self is a false self and that whatever it says is, ip so facto, false. They, therefore, try very hard not to think, talk and behave from the separated self. Instead of saying anything that comes to their mind, they pause and wonder whether the thought is ego related and if the answer is yes they keep quiet and do not say it. They smile and talk less.
The Buddhist tendency to try not to speak from the ego, the separated self, is probably why Oriental persons, by and large, tend to operate at a higher intellectual level than other groups of human beings.

Thinking requires that there be a thinker, a separated self that does the thinking. If you there is no separated self, there would be no thinker.
When people die, their separated selves die and there are no more selves in them that think, hence their thinking ceases.
Without thinking, the world ceases to exist for the dead. Hinduism and Buddhism extrapolates from this reality that our world is like a dream and that those in it think in a certain manner. When they awaken from that dream, they no longer think in the manner they did while they were dreaming. The world they had seen while in dream ceases being. They awaken to a different self and a different world. They awaken to unified self and unified world with unified thinking, a mode of thinking that those in our world cannot understand.
Those in the unified mode of existence do not know that our separated mode of existence exists. God as God, unified self, does not know that our world exists. The son of God, as his father created him, unified with God and all his brothers, Christ, does not know that our world exists.
It is only when the son of God sleeps and dreams that he is who he is not, special separated self who created himself, created his father and brothers that he sees himself in the perceptual world, a false world. Of course, in reality he did not create himself or his brothers or his father; God created him.
Our illusion is the belief that we created ourselves, when, in fact we are created by God; the whole produced the part; the part did not produce the whole. As long as the son of God sleeps and dreams that he is separated from his father and brothers and is in the world of space, time and matter, his father enters his dream as the Holy Spirit and guides him towards real self realization, teaches him to remember his real self, unified self. He teaches him how to do so, through forgiveness and love.
In meditation, when the individual tunes out our world, our world literally no longer exists for him; he escaped to a unified world that does not understand that our world exists. The vibrational energy of the unified world is higher than the speed of light, the most our world’s vibrations, speed, and movement can attain.

THE EGO IS FULL OF FALSE OPINIONS

The ego self is flippant and has superficial understanding of things. Any one who talks out of his ego generally is glib and not deep. Africans, for example, by and large, talk mostly from their ego selves. Because they live mostly from their shallow ego selves their actions generally do not exhibit much thought. They speak whatever comes to their minds and do not pause to ask whether they are speaking from the ego or from their real selves.
As Horney pointed out, the neurotic ego is almost always proud. Whoever speaks and behaves from his ego self is almost always a proud person. Proud persons are almost always childish persons.
Whatever is said from pride standpoint is seldom the truth. To search and know the truth, even empirical truth, the individual must relinquish his ego and its false pride.

The separated self, the ego is full of opinions about everything. It readily proffers opinions on every topic, whether it knows what it is talking about or not is bedsides the point. It just wants to have opinions on things.
The ego has opinion on which the individual is, who other people are, what things in nature are and what life is all about. None of these opinions accurately represent the truth of anything.
The fact is that the individual (as an ego, a separated self) does not know who he is, does not know who other people are and does not know what anything means. Opinions are not facts, particularly, if they are based on lack of empirical study of the nature of things.
On the other hand, when a person learns to speak and act less from his ego stand point, he tends to be less opinionated. Unfortunately, the individual may not want to be less opinionated, for it would seem that if he has no opinions he does not exist.
What actually makes the ego feel that it exists is that it has opinions on everything in its world. If it did not have those opinions, it would not exist, as it, in fact, does not exist.
Wanting to seem to exist, the separated self feels compelled to have opinions, even if they are false. (Having no opinions gives the individual peace and happiness.)
The ego is full of itself. The person who is mindful that he is not an ego tends not to be full of himself; he tends to be less opinionated.
The realistic individual accepts that he does not know who he is, who other people are and what anything means. Therefore, instead of proffering an empty opinion, he keeps quite.
This helps account for Buddhists tendency to just keep quiet rather than talk too much and be opinionated. Orientals, Buddhists tend to be less opinionated, whereas egotistical Africans are full of opinions, false views of reality.
The prideful egotists talks to make noise; he expresses opinions so that he may seem to exist when, in fact, the ego does not exist and his opinions are false.
It is generally better if the individual kept quite rather than open his mouth and talked rubbish.


THE EGO IS VERY JUDGMENTAL

The separated self, the ego is very judgmental. It posits an ideal ego and from its standpoint, judges reality: the constructor of the ego, the individual, is now judged by his ego; the son of God, the inventor of the ego false self, judges himself through the standpoint of his ego ideal; the ego judges the individual, other people and everything it sees.
All the ego’s judgments are based on its understanding of what is ideal. The ego’s ideal is a mental construct, a conceptual idea and not rooted in the world of empirical reality. The ego identifying person uses his merely abstract, mental constructs of how human beings and things ought to be to judge actual human beings and things.
Obviously, ego judgmental behavior is a mistake, for reality does not fit the fictions invented by the ego mind.
Judgments produce enormous pain and suffering for the judge and those judged. To judge is really to attack the person or thing being judged, it is to say that it ought not to be the way it is and ought to become different, become as the judge, the ego ideal thinks that it ought to become.
To judge is to seek to destroy what is judged and make it become as the judge wants it to become. To judge is to play god and want reality to be as one wish it be.
In Helen Schucman’s terms, to judge is to attack the Son of God, ones real self and other people. Whoever attacks the son has attacked the father. To judge people as not good enough relative to ones ego ideal, is to Judge God as not good enough relative to ones ego ideal.
To judge is to attempt to replace reality, God, ones real self, things, with ones idea of how reality ought to become. The ego declared war on reality, war on how things are and wants to convert them how it wants them to become: ego ideals.
To judge is to declare war on the person and or thing judged, hence to inflict pain on him. The judgmental ego is at war with reality, with God and his children and is inflicting pain on them.
It follows that to stop inflicting pain on people one must stop judging them as either good or bad relative to ones ego ideals. One must stop ones war on oneself. Judgment saps people’s energy and tires them.
If one stopped all judgment, one would become peaceful, relaxed and happy. One also makes those one do not judge, other people, peaceful and happy, for one is no longer attacking and inflicting pain on them.

To not judge, one must detach from the ego and identify with a non judgmental self, the unified self.
Buddhists struggle to detach from the ego and are usually less judgmental human beings. They are not attacking reality, they are not inflicting pain on themselves and their fellow human beings hence they tend to be more at peace with their world. Buddhist cultures are most peaceful and loving cultures on earth.
It seems that Buddhism and its aims are conducive to making human beings more peaceful and happy. The pursuit of no-separated self seem the best path to attaining inner and outer peace and happiness.


HOW BUDDHISM CAME ABOUT, GAUTAMA BUDDHA

There are many stories of how Buddhism came about. These are exactly that, stories and mythologies. One is not interested in myths but in facts.
What I will do is extrapolate from the myths surrounding Buddha the truth about him. There was a man called Gautama Sakayamuni. He was from the middle class. He was married and had a son. He was given to introspection and philosophical reflection. He wondered what life was all about. Apparently, he could not quite figure life out and left his home to go search for the truth.
He wandered about and joined many Hindu sects to learn about the truth. He listened to many Sadhus, Hindu holy men, teach their variations of Hinduism. He tried several paths to the truth and found no answer to his question.
Frustrated, he attempted Raja Yoga., meditation. (Hinduism has much Yoga, such as Jnana, Bhakti, Raja, Karma, and Tantra, see Patanjali’s Yogas.) He sat under a Bo tree and told himself that he is going to stop thinking and just sit there until he gets answers to his questions or else that he would not get up. He decided to sit there and, if need be, die rather than get up and live without knowing why he is living. He went for broke.
Until a person unequivocally throws himself one hundred percent to doing something, he tends not to succeed at doing it. People claim to seek unity with God, but want to retain their separated egos. It is only the few who extinguish their separated selves and do not want anything to do with it and its world, our world, that experience unified state, aka God.
In his meditative state, he was given many reasons why he should live in this world. The ego provides him, as it provides all of us, reasons why we should live on earth. The usual reasons are presented: Sex, there are many nubile damsels that the young man could have sex with. But Buddha said nope to that, for he recognized that sex is a ridiculous activity, a desire that when it seizes one, one pursues it as if ones life depends on it, but after ejaculation one asks: what was that all about? Sex is an irritant to the thoughtful man, an addiction that ought to be overcome, rather than given in to.
How about power and wealth? Those are ephemeral and transitory. The rich and powerful of today are not remembered a thousand years from today.
The young Gautama was not impressed by women’s bodies, wealth and power. The man was tempted by Maya, Mara, and the force that makes this world desirable to us and maintains our stay in this world and did not succumb to it.
Five hundred years later, another young man, Emmanuel Ben Joseph, whom the Greeks called Jesus the Christ, was similarly tested and, he, too, refused to give in to the temptations of the ego and flesh. It seems that those who want to overcome the ego and its world of flesh must be tempted in assorted ways; only the few with the courage to not give in to temptation to be separated ego self succeed.
Buddha refused to bite and take the bait to live as a separated ego, to live a meaningless and purposeless existence on earth, a life, as Shakespeare’s Macbeth discovered, full of sound and fury but signifying nothing. We are, indeed, like actors on a stage enacting weird scripts, pursuing false worth, meaning and purpose but in the end as another Shakespearean Character, Hamlet, observed, food for worms.
(At age nine, I concluded that my life, your life, our lives on earth, is worthless, meaningless and purposeless. Like other thoughtful players in this insane drama, I sought to make it worthwhile, meaningful and purposeful by pursuing the path of understanding, Jnana yoga, science and philosophy.)
Buddha just sat there, cross legged, not eating, not drinking, not talking to any one, and willing to die if he is not shown the truth of human existence.
If you are falling off a cliff and desire to live, you will be afraid of death; but if you do not care to live, you would joyfully fall to your death or land on your feet. Gautama embraced death and did not care for meaningless ego living.
At some point, he escaped from our ego separated awareness and entered nirvana, to unified life. Nirvana is total bliss. He lived in total bliss, peace and happiness with his face shinning with the light of peace (what some people call aura, the bliss reflected on the face of those who have relinquished the ego and its turmoil and attained eternal oneness with all being).
In Nirvana, Samadhi and Satori and mystical union, one has a choice to make: to keep being in it; in which case ones body would drop dead, or to return to ones body and use that body to teach other people that there is another mode of living that is peaceful and happy.
Buddha opted to return to his body, to the ego and to this world and subsequently use them to teach human beings how to live in peace.

THE FOUR NOBLE TRUTHS AND THE PATH TO THEM

Buddha taught his followers that we live on earth because we DESIRE to live separated lives. Life on earth is due to desire for separation.
Separation has a goal: to go make the separated self seem real. What is real is our unified self, but we want to go make its opposite, separated self, seem real.
In Hindu terms, we cast a magical spell, Maya, on us and seem to sleep and in sleep, dream see a separated world.
This world, the material universe, is a product of our desire for separation. That desire, separation, led to the formation of space, time and matter, all to make our seeming separated selves real to us. In space and time, each of us houses himself in body and sees gap between him and others and takes time before he reaches other people. Separation seems real to us, but is so because we want it to be real; what we desire and believe is possible is what we see in our world; wishing and believing produces what is seen.
As long as we desire separated selves, Buddha says that we must SUFER. For one thing, to make separated self seem possible, we housed ourselves in bodies; body is vulnerable and prone to pain. Those who live in body must experience pain; to be pained is to suffer. Therefore, to live on earth is to suffer.
We suffer because we are living as the opposite of our real selves. Our real selves are unified and we prefer to live as separated selves.
In effect, we attacked our true self, unified self, holy self; we attacked reality and seem to split it into fragments and each fragment, each of us, thinks him self separated from other fragments. As Helen Schucman wrote in her Christological rendition of Buddhism and Hinduism, A Course in miracles, we attacked union, which is what religions call God; we attacked God and see ourselves as separated from him. The part (human beings) sees itself separated from the whole (God).
That attack on our whole self inflicts pain and suffering on us. To live on earth is to inflict pain and suffering on ones self.
To live on earth is to desire separation from God, which is to suffer. Gautama recognized that to eliminate suffering that one must give up its source.
Desire for separated self is the cause of suffering; therefore, give up desire for separated self and you return to unified self, in which there is no suffering.
But if one gave up the separated self, one would return to living in total formlessness, spirit, hence exit this world.
We do not want to give up our separated ego selves, die and leave this world. Okay, Buddha said to us: go ahead and desire the things of this world but do so with detachment. See the ego and its entire world as transitory and ephemeral; desire them but recognize that they come and go and are not permanent.
What is permanent and changeless is the real self, the unified spirit self. As long as we live on earth, in the world of separation, space, time and matter we must have some desire, for separated self and its world, for it is desire to live here that keeps us here.
Okay, go ahead and have desire to be a separated human being, but use your separated self to care for all separated selves, for they are literally part of our one unified self.
Aware of our true self as unified self, that other people share our self, Buddha taught compassion, love and forgiveness for all human beings.

THE CONDITIONS FOR PEACE AND HAPPINESS

Do you want to be peaceful and happy? If yes, Buddha asks you to forgive and love all the people; indeed, to love all the animals and trees. Why do so?
One life manifests in all biological life forms. We are all, literally, one life and what we do to others we do to ourselves.
Giving is receiving. Since other people are you, what you do to them you do to yourself, what you give to other people you give to yourself.
In our world, we believe that we are separated into discrete selves. In that world, other people are more likely to do to you as you do to them. If you love other people, hence join them and in so doing give them peace and joy, they would love you and in so doing give you peace and joy.
Peace and joy inheres only in union, in joining with all people. On the other hand, if you hate other people, give them tension; they will hate you and give you tension.
Buddha taught the four noble truths and the eight paths to them. To live on earth is to suffer; suffering is caused by desire to live as separated ego selves; to eliminate suffering, one must stop desiring separated existence and since that is impossible if one still wants to live in this world, one must desire things with detachment, desire them but do not feel disappointed if you do not get them, and if you get them do not feel disappointed when they leave you.
One must live the truth of oneness: forgive and love all; one must talk the truth at all times and refuse to give in to talking from the ego and its prideful lies (calculated to make one seem important).
The Buddha taught people to live a highly compassionate, social serving existence; a compassionate person is a person who identifies with human suffering, albeit self induced; he is generally a moral person. Buddhists tend to be very moral human beings.

Buddha set up monasteries where monks lived and meditated, so as to attain their real selves hence experience peace and happiness. He urged his monks to be detached from the things of this world, to dress in simple robes and work and beg for their food (begging humiliates the prideful ego and makes one feel humble, a precondition for experiencing unified life).
Buddha lived to old age, eighty. His disciples continued his teaching and spread from his native northern India to other parts of Asia.
As they spread out to other lands, their teachings took on the coloration of the local cultures they were living in. In Tibet, for example, certain already existing Tibetan views on God entered Buddhism. In China and later Japan, the people’s marshal spirit entered Buddhism to form Cheng, Zen Buddhism and its upshot, Samurai.
Religion, sooner or latter is corrupted and bastardized by the surrounding culture it operates in; religions fit what people want them to become. Generally, only a few persons truly understand the true import of religion, our efforts to reconnect to our source, to the source we seem separated from.

Buddhism is religion, philosophy and psychology in one piece. An American poet and clinical psychologist, Helen Schucman resurrected the true teachings of Buddha and cast it in Christological language, a form that she hopes would appeal to apostate Christians who could not accept traditional Christianity but could accept Buddhism, if cast in the Christian language that they are used to. (I studied Hinduism and Buddhism and fell in love with them. Later, my attention was drawn to Helen Schucman’s book and I read it. I marveled at her ability to translate what Hinduism and Buddhism had taught me into Christian terms. She was probably one of the best religious thinkers of the twentieth century.)


My own function is to cast Buddhism in prose and in non-religious language. I hope that in doing so, it would appeal to scientists.
Ultimately, the end of all teachers of union is the same. No matter what form the teaching takes, the goal is to help people eliminate their attachment to the separated self and live through their real self, unified self. When people live out of their real unified self, they tend to experience peace and happiness.
We cannot live as unified self while on earth, a separated place, but we can approximate it. To the extent that we approximate it, we live in peace and joy.
To the extent that a human being sees that separated self is an illusion and gives it up and live out of his true self, unified self, he tends to be happy and peaceful. Therefore, we must find a way to teach the psychology of no separated self.

CONCLUSION

Human beings suffer because they have the illusion that they have separated ego selves and live out of them. Each of them posits a special separated self, an important (and in neurosis and psychosis, superior) separated self.
They pursue a chimera that does not even exist, or that seems to exist only in a dream setting.
In awake state, what exists is our joined and unified self, God and Christ, one self with infinites parts, all of whom are it and it is all of them. In unified state, the individual is calm, quiet, peaceful, happy, non judgmental, non critical, not proud, forgiving and loving.
If somehow the individual convinces himself that his separated special self is an illusion, a dream self that seems real while he dreams but is not real when he wakens, he saves himself a lot of mental and emotional upsets. If one has no self, one would not be prone to feeling fear, anger, depression, paranoia, and other mental and emotional upsets. If one has no separated self, one would not be defensive, for there would be no self to defend.
Only the false self needs to be defended to seem real; the real self, unified self is inclusive of everything and everything does not need to defend itself from other things for nothing is an other from it.
Such a person would not experience anger, for there is no other person to attack and make him feel angry; he would not experience fear for there is no self to be fearful. He would be calm at most times.
Pursuit of the ideal self is escape from reality. It is childish refusal to deal with reality as it is. Such a person concentrates on becoming the imaginary self that he has no time to deal with the exigencies of the real world he finds himself in. He finds the real world unpalatable and negates it and escapes into fantasyland. In his idealism, he is a king and shapes the world to fit his wishes, but in the real world, he is a pauper.
The dreamy, idealist does deal with the exigencies of the real world. In the meantime, he is poor. If only he stopped idealizing and dealt with reality as it is he would be able to figure out what his interests and aptitudes are and what skill sets the job market requires, train for them and make a decent living in the temporal universe.
Having escape from the real world, he generally wounds up depending on other people to support him. In the West, he goes on public assistance, in societies with extended families; he depends on his family members, his wife and children to support him. He sits around wasting his mental energies wishing for how things ought to become rather than dealing with them as they really are.
Insanity lies in believing that one has a separated special self, a self concept, self image and personality one made for ones self and for other people and attempt to become it. Sanity lies in accepting the truth that the separated self, ordinary or superior, does not exist, is a figure in the dream of life on earth, and accepting the truth of our unified self. We all share one life, a life that is formless, unified, the same and equal everywhere and eternal.
Do you want to live a peaceful and happy life? If you relinquish your presumed separated self special, superior and accept equal, same unified self; do not give in to the temptation to speak or behave from separated self; always strive to do what serves social interest, to forgive and love all human beings, you would be peaceful and happy.
I cannot speak for you or any other human being. I can only speak for me for I am only responsible for my thinking and behaviors.
While in college, I accepted that my body and ego were worthless, meaningless and purposeless. I considered myself an existentialist thinker ala my then hero, Jean Paul Sartre. But latter in life, I learned that whereas my earthly body and its ego activities are still worthless, meaningless and purposeless that our unified spirit self has real worth, meaning and purpose.
I strive to live out of my unified self. Of course, I have an ego separated self, a prideful self, but I know it for what it is, a false self and try to over come it through love for our shared one self. To the extent that I succeed, which is seldom the case, I feel peace and joy that, as St Paul observed, passes human ego understanding.
Find out for yourself whether this is the truth or not. You do not have to believe anything on faith; just practice egoless living, forgiving, loving and social service and see whether you would not experience peace, happiness and material abundance in your sojourn on earth.


ozodi@africainstituteseattle.org

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December 26, 2005

The Emperor has shown his Nakedness, Again

by Chibuzo Onubogu (USA) --- Haba Obasanjo! what a buffoon you are and will continue to be. In your eternal wisdom or lack of it you summed up the cause of the crash of Sosoliso 1145 as corruption. It’s obvious that you have no inkling about what you are doing as president of Nigeria. What a shame that a country with greatness written all over it continues to wallow in mediocrity due to the fact that we have continued to produce village idiots as our leaders.

From Gowon, to Obasanjo, to Shagari, Babangida to Abacha to Abubakir, and now you again Obasanjo. Isn’t it time you ex- military retarded morons realized you are not fit to rear cattle not to
talk of being presidents of a country with such promises yet unfulfilled? Take stock, for if you have any sense of nationalism or patriotism you would stop seeking public office. Your mark has been total unequivocal F in all subjects presented. Obasanjo we have heard enough of your stupid corruption banter, for in the land of the corrupt you are king. The fact that you have done absolutely nothing to wage a war (like Buhari and Idiagbon did) clearly shows that you
are either the most corrupt or a bungling nincompoop unfit to lead. I guess its today trend all over. The world today is full of mediocre leaders in office and I guess that’s why you fit right in.

When you mentioned corruption, whose corruption are we talking about? The Federal Government of Nigeria, The Rivers State Government, The Private Sector, The Airline Industry, The Fire Service, The Health Department, Emergency Services, NEPA, Sosoliso Airlines, The Police? The entire Nigerian Populace? Who Mr. Obasanjo do you mean is corrupt? The fact that you narrowed it down to the Airline Industry and or Sosoliso Airlines, shows, that once again you have no concept of what the big picture entails and never will. That is what I mean by lack of leadership. Check out the list I have above and it shows you who is culpable.

Plane crashes happen everywhere, but in some other country other than Nigeria the entire crew and passengers may not burn the way they did. The Bellevue crash though not less devastating may have been unsalvageable given how remote of a village it occurred in. For it to happen in Kaduna and then Port Harcourt with no visible Fire Service or Emergency Services shows the full extent of your “CORRUPTION”.
Cities the size of Port Harcourt and Kaduna do need serviceable Fire and Emergency Services. Please never again say that New York City is richer than Nigeria. Where do you get such warped logic from? New York City probably generates and manages its budget and revenue better. New York City is definitely more accountable to the people it serves than you and your predecessors have ever been, so enough of the misinformation. Nigeria has more resources, more manpower and more
land than New York City so what is your point. If you and the past counterparts had not led porously corrupt and morally bankrupt governments then there would be accountability. We would not have an abundance of bogus millionaires whose wealth cannot be traced to
any inheritance or hard work.

Why would Mr. Okemini watch his own daughter die in that Aircraft fire without any attempt at putting it out? Why would Mrs. Ezue’s husband die and also lose his watch to a heartless thief who dared steal in such a condition? Or could it be that it was stolen by security operatives at the airport? Governor Odili, with all the wealth generated by oil in your state what real viable tangible projects have been accomplished after being in office for 6 years. I do not believe that the only crooked governors are Dariye and Alams. I also do not think Tafa Balogun is the worst ever IG. Is Fabian Osuji the only minister who dipped his hands in the ministry money? Did Chris Ngige rig himself into o office? What did Audu Ogbeh
do? Why is Atiku suddenly a misfit? The pattern and trend of selective punishment is glaringly obvious. So who are you really fooling with your corruption fight?

Being a Nigerian must either be a curse, a burden, or a misfortune. If not why would the Fire Service in Port Harcourt not have water to at least pretend that they were putting out the Aircraft fire? It would also amount to the highest level of incompetence if cities
like Calabar, and Lagos all “SORROUNDED” by water would have any kind of disasters that is fire related and don’t have the capacity to fight it. Let’s take a trip down memory lane Mr. President and recall the Ikeja cantonment incident. How time flies? I am sure this is a blur in your memory now. The bombs exploding in Army Barracks and the subsequent mass confusion and mayhem that followed also shows a country with absolutely no leadership. People panicked and died needlessly because there were no plans of emergency or evacuation. If the Nigerian leaders ever cared of its citizenry, I am sure that by now since that was the first time it ever occurred there would be training geared towards the civilian populace to avoid such a situation happening again. I would love to see such a plan if it exists. I am willing to bet that there is none. Instead, I am sure that we will continue with our off the cuff type of approach to everything. Just like when we woke up one morning and suddenly decided
we wanted to host the World Cup. Laughable! Our President in his infinite wisdom supported such a dumb move, formed a committee people collected all kinds of pays(because I know it was not done for free),
nothing in Nigeria is ever done with a patriotic fervour, then poof one day they idiots packed up and went home. The timing was wrong I think they said. The question is why would the Nigerian ruling class care? You are never elected into office by the people so why be accountable to them. Such responsible leadership and governance is only shown in situations where elections are actually contested and won. Typical example is in America today where Emperor/ King George
has continued his tyrannical/ oppressive and autocratic leadership knowing fully well he rigged himself into office twice. So Baba Sege, carry on you are in good company. The only thing I don’t ever want
to hear from either Obasanjo or Bush is their Religious bullshit because neither of them believe in God. Back to the corruption issue, I would love to see a new approach to your fight. Probe your self first for all you did from 1976 to 1979, and then give up all your illegal acquisitions that you have currently amassed. Then and only then will whatever you are doing make any sense. Other than that you have amounted to nothing but a toothless bulldog, barking profusely after nothing.

Once again, on the wealth, revenue and money issue, yes we have/ had money and continue to do so. Crude prices have been at an all time high, prices at the pump continue to soar. Since we decided to abandon all other forms of revenue and bury our heads in oil maybe we will not make as much. Since corruption and bunkering and payoffs take a giant toll we continue to manage our resources the same way. I t cannot be enough for a country growing in leaps and bounds in population. Oddly enough, Nigeria has more minerals per square inch than most other countries of the world. We have abundant farmlands rivers and oceans. In the 20th century, we have produced and continue to produce the most brilliant minds comparative to any country in the world yet we cannot get anything going. As long as we continue to bog ourselves down with trivial issues like Tribe and Religion we will continue to be bottom feeders. We need true unblemished and patriotic leadership. Let us stop all this nonsense about what divides and dwell on what makes us work, there and then will we achieve any meaningful goals in leadership. If we continue to
produce non nationalist, unpatriotic, parochial leaders we will continue to be doomed. If we are truly fighting corruption let us go all the way. Let us stop picking and choosing and stop all the grandstanding.

Chibuzo Onubogu writes from the USA

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My Very First Niece: Adieu Chidera Alexandria Nnaji

by Vincent Ikenna Ogbudibe --- Very few people realize that the death of a child is NOT in accordance to God’s NORMAL scheme of things. It is unnatural. God did not mean for a child to go first. A niece buries the uncle or aunt. Not the uncle or aunt buries the niece.

Most people do NOT experience the pain and devastation of the death of a child especially in an air crash like that of the Sosoliso flight 1145 of 10/12 2005. And I truly hope no uncle or aunt will ever feel the death of their niece because they do not deserve it.

The pain and devastation are indescribable … and single persons – and even parents – will never feel this devastation until they experience losing a child themselves.

If you love your child, the death of your child is more painful than the death of any of your loved ones, including one’s own parents. And because of this devastation, I do not wish this pain even to my enemies.

Being the first grandchild of her two surviving grandmas, Chidera’s birth on the 16th day of April 1993 at Aba made her a very special baby to all of us who were privileged to have our first niece, and expectedly she had no option than to grow up in an environment filled with so much love and admiration that we made a news item of her every development – from the appearance of her first milk tooth, through her first day at Early Learning School Aba to sometime in 2002 when she took charge and began to make the news herself.

Cee-mum (as we fondly called her) had on her own initiative written a letter to the Executive Governor of Abia state to complain about the state of the access road to her school with emphasis on its potential threat to her parents’ cars. This ‘naïve’ but bold effort (albeit beyond most expectations) got the attention of the governor who had responded by an official visit to her school to personally acknowledge receipt of the letter and in the process, commend both the parents and teachers for their ability to elicit such courage and environmental awareness in a nine-year old as it were then. The Governor hitherto pledged to fix the road and promptly went ahead to do so to put smiles on the faces of the Early Learning School community and every other user of that road.

I have felt the pain of the loss of a grandfather; have felt the pain of the death of a beloved uncle, and felt the death of my father, even though I was younger. I know how it feels. I experienced it. It is painful, looking at those old kind folks who were your icons; who took care of you; showered you love; went through all kinds of sacrifices and left enormous goodwill to take you through for years and years in the thorny path of life, until one day the child stood on one’s own two feet, and then … there they are, these loved ones, helpless and lifeless in front of you.

My wife, Adanna, describes the death of her father as a deep stab, like a bullet in the heart that pierces the body deeply. The deaths of my grandfather, of my uncle and my father were like Ada’s Father’s death, deep, painful, sad … Then, the pain and sadness are gone. They remain a fond memory of the good things we did together.

Our deaths as uncles and aunts would be something like this. Mostly the fond memories of things we did together; and that as uncles and aunts and as a family, we did what we had to do.

Without sounding to pessimistic and pretending to be too old, I can say that we as parents have become older, and we lived our lives. It is now our Children’s turn to live theirs and hope, as parents, we are doing most of what we have to do as God wishes us.

When we return to our Creator, it is okay because we lived our lives … we have fulfilled our lives.

I am particularly happy that Chidera’s parents, Ngozi and Ossy, would be consoled by the very fact that they did their utmost best for ‘Cee-mum’. I still recall vividly, fond memories of their shared laughter and expressions of love, care and concern, most especially in the last couple of months spanning her exam preparations and subsequent successful admission to Loyola Jesuit College Abuja – the very best school of international standard that Nigeria has to offer.

I had sat with them to do last minute revisions at home in Abuja a day to the post entrance interview and remember very well how I extracted a promise from Chidera afterwards at the dining table and in front of my kids, to pass the interview and set a good example for her cousins and twin siblings to emulate. Needless to say she kept that promise and remained their role model as we would expect, and I am glad I told her that in front of them when we last visited her at school.

Cee-mum’s death — the death of any child — is the death of an unfulfilled life.

The pain of a child’s death is not as deep as a bullet inside you, but many, many knife wounds. One knife stab in the heart; another piercing stab next to the first one; a stab in the stomach, another in the back; another stab in the middle of the chest, another in the back, and another in the stomach, and more and more stabs, until there is nothing left of you to stab and pierce. With each knife stab, a little of your life is gone. The promise of things to come is gone. It is deep, painful, and it hurts beyond any words of description.

The longer a child is with his or her family, the more painful his or her departure becomes. The death of a child like Chidera is even more hurtful because Cee-mum at 12 was not a new born baby, an innocent child who could not communicate, like her photograph with ‘grandma egg’ ( a name she coined for my mum who had formed a habit of visiting her each time with a boiled egg) when she was 2. Nor, was she a six-year old whose life experiences were not yet informed whose death as a toddler would be more painful to the parents when she was a baby of 2.

Cee-mum’s death is even more painful because as a secondary school student of LJC, we could talk to her; and we could exchange ideas because she is more academically exposed and opportune than we were at 12. She could sustain intellectual and contemporary discussions and share the Internet age experiences which her parents and I never experienced at that same age , but she did and could describe to us.

She was almost a teenager, but in our eyes she was still our baby; a part of us that was beginning to become separated and was developing a mind of her own, but nevertheless a piece of us.

We looked at her and saw in her an image of ourselves and unfortunately all the star and leadership qualities in her which became apparent as she grew are now all gone.

We saw her, saw her mental capabilities, saw her physical attributes as a beautiful young girl standing at almost five feet, ten inches at just over 12, and was proud of her in spite of her naivety and her mistakes. And as parents, we always forgave the mistakes of our child when the child was alive. Now that she is gone, we do not remember her mistakes, but dwell on the mistakes we made to her.

To know that she and other innocent kids died in such a heart wrecking air crash in front of their respective families who had come to welcome them on their very first college holidays has crushed us completely beyond any words of understanding because she is now gone. Her death and the harrowing experience of moving from morgue to morgue trying to identify her remains from other charred bodies makes life even more incomprehensible, especially remembering that her other uncle, Nnamdi, even expressed thoughts of picking her up to spend sometime with us at Abuja before her return to the east for the Christmas holidays. As mortals, we reasoned it would be too selfish to deny the parents her very first college holiday, besides Chidera must have been eager to relay her experiences to Toby and Tossy, more so she had left other friends and family members including Ossy’s mum at Aba behind to go to LJC and that meant higher expectations and anxiety to re-unite with them as soon as possible

Gone, are all the things we as a family could have done together. Gone are the things Cee-mum could have done, and the achievements Cee-mum could have made for us as a family, for his Mother, Father, Brother and Sister, and most of all, for herself.

I will never wish – and again I say it – this pain and devastation to my own enemy, if I have any, because the words “devastation” and “pain” have no meaning … absolutely no meaning … until one feels the death of one’s own very first niece.

How do I explain her departure to her cousins; Ugo, Ujunwa, Yadilichukwu, Chisom, Kamsiyochi, Kelechi, Chidubem, Kachisizam and little Nnamdi Nwosu or begin to wipe away the memory of this horrible nightmare from her twin siblings, Toby and Tossy who had gone with their parents to receive her at the airport as a prelude to the many stories they were anxious to hear about life at the college only to be so disappointed by the turn out of events.

How will ‘grandma egg’ react when her uncle Uche returns to Calgary to break this terrible news? Will ‘grandma egg’ still trust Ifeoma when she finds out that she was part of the conspiracy to temporarily blank her out of the news of the loss?

And while Cee-mum s’ loved ones that she left behind are aware that she belongs to God, and that God has decided to take her back, the realization that perhaps we, as family, did not take enough care of her is a lingering thought that haunts us. It is this thought of perhaps of this failure to God, to Cee-mum, and to us, especially the feeling of my failure to her as her uncle, that is crushing me.

Imagine if your child left and went to God before she lived her life, like Chidera did. The imagination of losing a child – and thank God, it is only a imagination – will give any parent a much higher appreciation of the existence of that child … to be more forgiving to the child, and to appreciate, and to openly love the child even more. Imagining is good for one’s soul, before – God forbid – it actually happens, as it happened to us.

It will truly make a relative feel that a child is given by God for the family to take care of, to love above all things in existence, and not to take for granted.

Take good care of your child.

If not … God will take the child away from you, and you will feel the pain of failure to your child; the failure to yourselves which we are feeling, and the pain of so many stab wounds which continue and continue to hurt, and hurt, until the day we enter our graves.

My dear Cee-mum, your death is NOT the price of brilliance, and I promise on behalf of all your uncles and aunts to take better care of you if we get a second chance. We never realized that life is so short.

Adieu Nwa-di-ala m
Adieu Chidera Alexandria Nnaji
Adieu My Very First Niece

Arc. Vincent Ikenna Ogbudibe, Jr. (Uncle)
For and on behalf of the maternal relatives

Forwarded by Uche Nworah

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December 22, 2005

“This Animal Called Man”

by Peter Opara --- The above is the title of a book by Olusegun Obasanjo. I read papers, articles and books on Nigeria, and have written some myself – articles and books on Nigeria. I, however, have not read any books by Obasanjo, including the one with the title above said to have been written soon after his escape from the depth of desolation.

Now, strike that off; I read Obasanjo’s “Nzeogwu”, wherein he shared with readers, rather generously, his friendship with the late Major Chukwuma Kaduna Nzeogwu.

Reading “Nzeogwu” by Obasanjo was a journey of regrets for the sole reason that it took this bosom friend of Major Nzeogwu, Obasanjo, 20 years – 1966-1986 - to write to tell Nigerians and the world in this book, that the coup in which his bosom friend Nzeogwu was a key participant was not an Igbo coup.

I have not read “My Command” – the other book by Obasanjo, in which it is said, he celebrated himself and his “war exploits” – British Harold Wilson’s war exploits, that is. Yet at a reading of my 1996 book – Understanding the Nigerian Nation Tribes – why they boil - a gentleman not favorably disposed towards me, stemming from what he had heard was contained in my book, accused me of “plagiarism”.

According to the gentleman, my book “sounded” like Obasanjo’s “My Command” - some passages in my book, he meant. Trust me, I stayed on this gentleman for evidence. He had none.

Once, soon after his plagiarism allegation, Osinubi, towards whom I bear neither ill will nor animosity, took to his heels upon sighting me approaching him for, you guessed it - evidence.

Now - “This Animal Called Man”, an ironic book that says more than any can say about the author.

No doubt, Obasanjo had time to ponder and meditate on the title of this book and its content, so as to effectively convey to readers from experience, acts and facts of “man’s inhumanity to man” and man’s indignity to man – the gist of the book, as I understand it.

Obasanjo is certainly qualified to educate his readers about both sides of the divide – the receiving end of man’s inhumanity to man and the giving end of man’s inhumanity to man and man’s indignity to man.

Obasanjo is also in position to educate readers, if he were to do a sequel to his “This Animal Called Man” – on how sweet or how bitter are acts of man’s inhumanity to man and man’s indignity to man. Obasanjo is indeed qualified to educate on how sweet or how bitter are acts sadism and sadomasochism.

Long prior to reporting to a desolate prison cell, reportedly morose and disoriented, Obasanjo had in the 70s during his first reign, sanctioned a Robin Island….say Alcatraz type prison for “criminals”.

Obasanjo’s corollary prison to the Alcatraz was also surrounded by water. The difference though was that Obasanjo’s Alcatraz was surrounded by water infested by poisonous reptiles that struck at any moving object, especially objects with flesh. The water was infested with snakes. While some escaped New York’s Alcatraz alive, escaping Obasanjo’s Alcatraz was a duel with poisonous snakes – man’s inhumanity to man.

It was during the same 70s reign that Obasanjo demolished Fela Anikulapo-Kuti’s abode, and in the process, threw Fela’s mother, the celebrated Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti out the window, resulting in a disability that eventually led to her death – man’s inhumanity to man…woman.

Obasanjo had the destruction of Fela’s abode and the incapacitation of Fela’s mother investigated. When the investigation was over, he blamed the incident on “Unknown Soldiers” – man’s indignity to man.

“Unknown Soldiers”, such a reference rings a bell today. Highway robbers are often unknown, just as are soldiers that beat, shoot and burn people and property.

When Dikibo was assassinated, Obasanjo appeared on national television and announced that armed robbers were the perpetrators. That meant that “unknown” persons killed Dikibo – man’s indignity to man.

Fast forward to recent times – 1999 to present and consider activities in Nigeria that are directly connected to Obasanjo and his reign, even not including the resurrection and dredging up of rather dormant sundry inter ethnic animosities that have led to persistent inter ethnic conflagrations since 1999.

Check these out - Obasanjo liquidated Odi; Obasanjo liquidated Zaki Biam; Obasanjo incinerated Anambara; Obasanjo has laid constant siege on and around Igbo land – with sss, police, soldiers and thugs cultured and nurtured in Aso Rock – man’s inhumanity to man.

Aso Rock, Obasanjo’s abode is referred to as “nest of killers” by none other than the Laureate Wole Soyinka, for the reason that the rampant political assassinations in Nigeria are easily traceable to Aso Rock. Wole Soyinka was warned to “watch his back” by Obasanjo – man’s indignity to man.

Nigerian SSS that is beholden to Obasanjo, once sent the Igbo leader Ikemba Odumegwu-Ojukwu one-way ticket to Abuja, which Odumegwu-Ojukwu deemed one-way ticket to Obasanjo’s land of no return – man’s indignity to man.

Today, the author of “This Animal Called Man” – Obasanjo has been meting sundry indignities to every man, woman and child that comes his way. Obasanjo’s current prominent victim is Abubakar Atiku – his vice.

Atiku is now at the receiving end of Obasanjo’s inhumanity and indignity for the sole reason that they differ on some note worthy political issues – this time Obasanjo perpetuation in power.

Now, something I hate to do – placing the US side by side with Nigeria in a way to compare both. Once, nearly 30-years ago – comparing Nigeria with America was okay, but not any more for the british cage called Nigeria and its peoples have lost all pretences to an entity that means well for itself and its peoples. But here I go.

George Herbert Walker Bush competed against Ronald Wilson Reagan for the presidency in the Republican Party. Both men never saw eye to eye on issues. Bush is a liberal Republican. Reagan was a fiery conservative Republican. Bush at the time described Reagan’s economic plan as “voodoo economics”. When Reagan emerged winner of the Republican ticket, he chose Bush as his running mate, and upon winning the presidency the duo had the proverbial marriage made in heaven. In that marriage Bush exercised the essential mark of his heritage – loyalty, and the Reagan/Bush presidency lasted for all of eight years.

If “This Animal Called Man” existed around and about the White House, none saw it. Who can say the same about any seat of power in Africa? Aso Rock, nko?

In Africa animals abound in the form of man. In Nigeria in particular, Obasanjo cannot seem to mete enough indignity to Atiku; he cannot seem to show enough pepper to Atiku – as Nigerians say. Obasanjo cannot deal enough with Atiku – still as Nigerians say. Lest all forget, the “deal” and “pepper” meted to Atiku today have been the lot of all of the peoples of Nigerian nations under Obasanjo.

Yet what blatant indignity could be meted to a man of such high socio-political echelon, as to deny him a choice whatsoever of who his closest aide should be! This animal called man!

I do not know the man Atiku except from all I have read about him as beneficiary of the late Y’ardua political machine. I did not know Y’ardua either. But for all that can be said about and against Atiku, it seems to me that disloyalty is not one of them, at least going back to 1999 and about only a few months ago. The grouse among Atiku’s fellow northerners had been that hitherto, he had supported everything Obasanjo – his boss – which is to be expected.
And, as some surmise it, Atiku daring to make Obasanjo plead for his support, in his - Obasanjo second term run, Atiku is to endure man’s indignity to man – the mother of all abuse – that of no choice whatsoever of who seats next to him even in his official car!

All manner of thoughts have gone through my head upon acquainting myself with Atiku’s current travails under Obasanjo, as to choices left for Atiku, as a man imbued with some pride. Choices such as resigning, or simply having aliens invade Aso Rock and chase Obasanjo away! Would not peoples of Nigerian nations rejoice at such prospect?

Yet, would Obasanjo could look to the US, a country to which he trots every chance he gets and borrow a leaf different from that known and exhibited by “This Animal Called Man” often in Africa and let Atiku be, and by extension, let peoples of Nigerian nations be in peace and plenty as they have been endowed by the Almighty.

Let it be said that there could be no worse man’s inhumanity to man and man’s indignity to man that could be meted to peoples of Nigerian nations than Obasanjo staying one day longer in the office to which he 419ed himself nearly four years ago.

But who expects “This Animal Called Man” to listen?

Peter Opara is a communications consultant and author of Understanding the Nigerian Nation Tribes – Why they Boil.

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Science and Technology of Thinking and Behavior: Focus on Paranoia (Part 2)

by Ozodi Thomas Osuji, Ph.D. (Seatle, Washington) --- The goal of this paper, inter alia, is to help heal the brother; I enjoy the flashes of brilliance that his writing exhibits but do not like his underlying paranoia. That underlying disorder makes him quarrel with just about everybody, to the point where he hides from people, thinking that they are out to kill him.

One hears that he sought police protection, a doing that would play into his paranoid grandiosity: for one must be important for the police to be protecting one individually. Nobody wants to harm him. He ought to join all people and work for their mutual good, rather than always trying to pull them down; he must give up his perverse paranoid interest in pulling people down and develop the healthy trait of accentuating only the good in people.)

A STORY OF CREATION/METHOLOGY

I believe that every human being must have a story of creation, albeit a mythology. We do ask questions such as: how did we come into being? In as much as we ask such questions, an answer must be attempted.
Science provides an answer in the area of energy and matter. I am talking about the Big Bang hypothesis that claims that fifteen billion years ago, all matter was in a ball the size of an atom, called state of Presingularity and that this ball shattered and threw its contents out and in nanoseconds space and time were invented and subsequently particles came into being, out of nowhere, and that these particles, in time, combined to form atoms and in time atoms differentiated into the 104 elements we have on the current Chemical table and that the elements formed molecules that in time produced the stars and planets and eventually biological life forms and ultimately human beings. The Big Bang story is a fascinating imaginative fairy tale. We work with it in the area of physical science but we do not have any illusions that it is the truth. It is simply a mythology that seems to answer our question of how matter came into being.
We also need a story on how we, as human beings, came into being. We have Charles Darwin’s views on how animals evolved. Interesting hypothesis, that. However, it does not explain how the sense of I, the self came into being.
No one knows how the self came into being. Neuroscientists claim that the self is epiphenomenal, that is, a product of the configuration of atoms in our brains, the result of the dance of electrical ions in our nervous system. Oh, really? Let us amuse ourselves differently.
There are millions of stories on how people came into being. Indeed, every human group had its own story, and every individual has his own twist on his group’s story of creation, all of them false. These stories, false as they are, respond to our need to understand our origin.
As the world moves towards one universal culture, clearly, all the particularistic stories of creation will die and a universal story of creation will replace them. (See Joseph Campbell, The Power of Myth.)
The story of creation in the Christian bible, the story of Adam and Eve is obviously not true and, as far as, such stories go is not particularly interesting, certainly not as interesting as the Igbo story of creation.
In as much as we need a story of creation and past ones seem not to satisfy us, consider this story of creation; it is not the truth, but it approximates the truth. I will merely summarize it here for I have elaborated on it elsewhere.
There is God. God is one. God is everything and everything is God. God is everywhere and everywhere is in God.
God extended his one self into other selves. He gave all of his self to each of his extended selves. All of God is in each of his extension; aka the son of God. The Son of God is in God and in other extensions of God, other children of God.
God is in us and we are in God and in each other. There is no space or gap between us and God and each of us and the rest of us. Where God ends and his son begin is nowhere. We are all joined as one self, the one self of God. We all share the one self of God; we all share the one mind of God.
God is creative and created us; he gave us, his creations, his creative ability and we do create, like God. We create with the creative power of God in us, not with our own powers. As it were, we co-create with God.
God and his children are infinite in numbers.
God has always existed. God has no beginning and no end. There was never a time when there was no God.
Since each Son of God is an extension of God, therefore, each Son of God has existed for as long as God has existed.
Yet God created his children; they did not create God and themselves. Though all creation is changeless, permanent and eternal yet God created them all.
The difference between the Son of God and God is that God created him and he did not create God.

The Son of God resented the fact that God created him, pretty much as adolescents on earth resent being the children of their parents and want to reverse the process and be their parents’ parents. We wanted to create God, create ourselves and create each other.
In other words, we wanted to kill God and become God, chase God out of his creatorship throne and usurp it and sit there. (All these are metaphors, so do not get carried away and think that we are talking literal truth here; enjoy the metaphor, they actually approximate the truth but are not the truth.)
We cannot create God and ourselves. But the wish to do so was so strong that we cast a magical spell, what Hinduism calls Maya, on ourselves, and seems to have gone to sleep. In our sleep, we dream that we are the author of reality, that we created God, each other and ourselves. We invented our separated self-concepts, our egos, our self-images, and our personalities. Our personalities are replacement selves; we use them to substitute the selves God created us as. God created us as unified with him, a unified self; we seem to have destroyed that holy self and invented separated selves housed in bodies for us. On earth, in the dream of specialness and separation, we see ourselves as in bodies and separated from each other.

Our world is the opposite of heaven: separation is the opposite of union, time is the opposite of eternity, change is the opposite of changelessness; mortality is the opposite of immortality, hate is the opposite of love etc.
We are on earth to oppose heaven’s will. God wills union and we wish separation; God wills sameness and equality and we wish differences and inequality. What we wish we saw in dreams. (See Helen Schucman, A Course in Miracles. Also see M. The Gospel of Ramakrishna.)
(The paranoid person wishes that he were superior to other persons, acts as such, and seems so in his dream world, hence the paranoid personalities called Adolph Hitler, Joseph Stalin, Idi Amin seemed like superior persons, when, in fact, they felt inferior; in truth they are the same and equal with all people).
Each of us wishes to seem superior to other persons and invents situations that would make him seem so. The paranoid personality invented an inferior body for himself, feels inferior and compensates with a superior feeling self-concept. We have seen how he goes about feeling superior to other people when, in fact, he is not superior to any one. Hitler and the Nazis felt superior to other people, when, in fact, they were not. They felt superior to Jews, and killed Jews. They felt superior to Slavic people and killed them. People do act on their insane ideas.
The paranoid Igbo brother in naija-politics feels superior to other persons and acts as such. He sets himself up as god and from that imaginary standpoint criticizes every person. He satisfies his desire for superiority by making other people’s lives very miserable. Of course, he is not superior to any one; he is merely dreaming superiority.
But make no mistake about it: people act on their wishes. Thus, the brother acts on his delusion of superiority and does not want to see himself as the same and equal with other members of the forum. He is capable of doing harm to other people. In pursuit of his fictional superiority, he can hurt, even kill people. One must, therefore, keep studied eyes on him. Paranoid persons do kill people, so he must be watched and if he acts out arrest and place him in a psychiatric hospital.

In my experience, Igbos tend to fancy themselves smarter than other Nigerian groups. They behave as such. But in truth, they are just like other Nigerian groups. The Igbo sense of superiority is delusional sense of superiority. No ethnic group is superior to others, just as no race is superior to others. But like deluded paranoid persons, Igbos tend to think that just because they want to seem superior to others, that other Nigerian groups should accept their delusion and see them as their superiors.
In terms of material culture, most other Nigerian groups are, in fact, more developed than Igbos. The Hausa, Fulani, Yoruba and Edo are certainly more developed than Igbos in terms of socio cultural structures.
The relevant point here is that Igbos tend to deceive themselves into believing that they are superior to other Nigerian groups when, in fact, they are not so.
What the individual and group needs to do is relinquish his/their sense of superiority and come to see himself/themselves as the same and equal with all people.
To the extent that a human being accepts his sameness and equality with all people, and behaves as such, he unifies with all people.
In union with all people, the individual attains inner peace and joy.
I must confess, however, that the temptation to seem superior to other people is not easily relinquished, even by those of us who know the truth of human equality. I still find myself wishing to seem superior to other people, if not in my conscious life, but in my dreams at night. Consider the following dream that I had two days ago.

DREAM AND DREAM INTERPRETATION

Sigmund Freud attempted to understand people’s dreams. As he saw it, in their daily lives, people seem to behave in a very rational manner, but that they are not really rational. He believes that people’s dreams give us an opportunity to really understand what is in their minds. (He also employed other means to get to understand the real person; he believed that we tend to repress our true wishes into the unconscious mind and that if only we can reach that level of our mind that we would get to see what is hidden there; thus, in therapy sessions, he had his clients lay on a couch and speak without checking to make sense of what they said; they were to say whatever comes to their mind, uncensored; they were not to block their thinking, free associate, to not try to make them rational and just to let them come out, flow; the idea was for them to bring what was repressed into their unconscious to the conscious mind; to dreg it out, catharsis, and Freud would then analyze it. Freud believed that people wished to have sex with both men and women and are polymorphous sexual perverse and hid this socially unacceptable idea in their unconscious; that, in fact, they want to have sex with their parents but hid such wishes in their unconscious mind; this is the so-called oedipal complex. See Freud, Dream Interpretation.)
Freud believed that in dreams we gratify what we wish that we could not gratify in conscious living; society prevents us from doing many things, we internalized social norms as our superego and that checks our Id wishes and the ego balances the two wishes. In dreams, we gratify our day time wishes that we could not gratify lest society punish us. To Freud, dreams are the royal road to the unconscious.
Other psychoanalysts also employed Dream analysis to understand the true individual. Adler, Jung and others explored dreams.
I believe that dreams are useful for the individual to understand his real wishes and real self. However, I do not believe that other people can accurately interpret the individual’s dreams, for dreams are highly specific and particular to the individual; there are no universally accepted dream interpretations.

My wife’s alarm clock went off at 7AM and woke us up. I went back to sleep. I dreamed. In this dream, I and other members of my family were walking along our suburban street. I looked back and saw what, as kids at Lagos, we used to call agwuepo, a shit carrier. During my youth at Lagos folks had tins in out houses into which they defecated. Once or twice a week, “shit carrier” would come to their house, pour their shit into a large tin and carried it off, usually on their heads. If you were walking down the streets at night, you would likely see the shit carrier doing his job and, as would be expected, spreading the smell of shit with him.
The shit carriers wore rags over their face, perhaps to cover their noses and breathe less of the feces they were carrying and to disguise their identity, so that no one knew who they were. Their covered feces and the shit they were carrying made them look scary to little boys and we fled from them. (We used to think that they could kidnap and put us in the tin of shit on their heads and go throw us away.)
Shit-carriers were low in the social pecking order and were dreaded by us kids. No one wanted to be an agwuepo. That is to say that folks wanted to be superior to them.

Now back to my dream. I was walking on an American middle class suburban street and looked behind me and saw the shit carrier coming towards us. I ran to the bank of the street to avoid contact with him. The other members of my family did not make much ado about him, they just stepped aside, as he walked pass them, indeed, my wife even said hi to him. (The dream has relevance for me, not other people.) We continued on our walk. Then I looked behind me, again. I saw another shit carrier coming towards us. Again, I jumped to the side of the street. The shit career followed me to where I jumped to. Somehow I got home and was lying on a humongous bed, a bed that could contain the entire family of five (husband, wife and three children). We were all lying comfortable on the bed when I noticed that the shit carrier was lying with us, right in our middle. I freaked out and jumped up, wondering what in the world the man was doing on my bed?
He got up with me and went to the refrigerator and came up with fruit cocktails in small plastic cuts and began handing them out to the members of the family. I was aghast; thinking that the man must have contaminated our refrigerator by touching it and certainly the fruit cocktails was filled germs? I was not going to eat what the man touched. In the meantime, other members of the family accepted the cocktails from him and ate them and thanked him graciously for preparing such a delicious meal for them.
My face was all contorted as the man handed me a cup filled with cocktail of grapes and other fruit goodies. I was thinking of a polite way to refuse it, and not to eat it. At that point, I woke up, aware of the cocktail in my hand. I looked at the clock and it was exactly 7:15 AM. That is, the sleep and dream took place within an interval of fifteen minutes.
The dream was very vivid in my mind, so I went to a room we converted into our office and sat in front of a computer and typed it.
After typing it verbatim, I began to wonder what it meant. Here is the thought that came to my mind. The shit career represents lower class persons, that is, inferior persons. I was running from the low class shit carrier. I did not want to have anything to-do with him. I wanted to be superior to him. I had no respect for him.
The significance of this dream is that despite my conscious acceptance of my sameness and equality with all people that at the unconscious level that I feel superior to some people, the shit carrier of this world. Shit carriers symbolize poor people. I wanted to seem superior to poor people.
I kept reflecting on the import of the dream and the obvious hit me. I talk about equality but, in truth, avoid the poor. Generally, if a person is not well read, I tended to avoid him.
What is the point? The point is that at the unconscious level, I still had the wish to be superior to other people. Consciously, I do not want to be superior to other people, but unconsciously the wish is still there.
In my dream, my wish was satisfied for me, for dreams provide us opportunity to satisfy our wishes that we cannot gratify in wake life.
The salience of the dream is that I still had work to do; I still must work to see every person as the same and equal with me.
The dream teaches me that we are all a family, that shit carrier are part of my family…he was laying in the same bed with my family and eating with us, so he is symbolically my family member and I must treat him as such, for all people are children of one family, God’s unified family.
On a different note, the dream means that it is very difficult for people to accept their sameness and equality. I found it difficult to accept the shit carrier as my equal and family member.

The paranoid personality finds it almost impossible to see himself as the same and equal with all people. Can you imagine our Internet paranoid Igbo character accepting that he is the same as other people? The man has the illusion that he is better than other people.
A few minutes again, I minimized my typing and read his posting on the forum and, as usual, he sounded pedantic, convoluted and superior, all in a childish effort to seem erudite and superior to other people.
This man admires the achievers of this world and has contempt for the losers of this world. His talk is replete with admiration for the powerful men and women of the world and disrespect for poor people. No, this man would rather die than accept his equality with poor folks. (See Adorno et al, The Authoritarian Personality.)
The point is that it is difficult to give up the wish for superiority. Even when one has consciously done so, as I have done, unconsciously, one still wants to be superior to other people.
The mentally ill wants to seem superior to other people; paranoid persons, in particular, want to seem superior to other people.
Mental illness lies in the wish to seem superior to other people, to disobey God’s will that we are the same and equal and remake us in such a manner that one is now superior to other people.
If you can get the paranoid person and other mentally ill persons to give up their not so secret wish for superiority and accept sameness and equality, you are on the way to healing them.
If a person sees all people as the same as him, loves and forgives all and serves all in some form, he is as mentally healthy as is possible in this world.
Nobody here on earth, the world of forms, can be totally mentally healthy, for to be in body is to have interfered with reality.
Our reality is spirit, not body. Body is means of seeming different and separated from other people. That is to say that to be in body at all is to be insane. The most that one can do is using ones body to love other people in bodies. When one uses ones body to love other people in bodies one approximates normalcy, normal insanity, and not mental health. One attains what Bahaullah called the lesser peace, what Ramakrishna called ego love and what our poetess, Helen Schucman calls happy dream, gate of heaven and real world.

COGNITIVE BEHAVIOR THERAPY

I believe that it is possible to understand how people think and where there is thinking disorders change them. Thinking tends to be reflected in behavior. Where there are thinking disorders there are behavior disorders. Therefore, we must correct our thinking disorders and behavior disorders.
Cognitive behavior therapists like Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck attempt to teach their clients how to reconstruct and reorient their problematic thinking and behavior. Ellis, for example, tells his clients that it is not what happens in the world that makes them depressed, anxious or angry (or any other emotional upset) but how they interpret it. As he sees it, one can choose to interpret the same event in such a manner that it depresses one or makes one happy.
Let say that a white man called a black man nigger. The black man may feel offended by it and feel angry. He may then fight the white man. On the other hand, he may choose to see the name caller as not worth responding to. Indeed, he may even pity him, from the understanding that mature persons do not put people down, but find ways to elevate them.
The point is that whether one feels anxious, angry or sad is up to one. One can respond to the same situation differently. Therefore, one is responsible for how one feels and acts.
Ellis built his therapy on Epictetus’ philosophy. Epectatus was a Roman stoic thinker, a slave who found a way to be happy despite being a slave. He did not feel diminished by his low social status. Obviously, any human being could rationalize whatever he wants to rationalize. If a woman is a prostitute, she can tell herself that she is making a living out of it and not feel degraded by her profession. Be that as it may, it is probably better not to be a prostitute, since as a prostitute, one is likely to be infected by diseases and die from them. Ellis is therefore not a very profound philosopher for his ideas could lead to tolerating abuses by other people. If you slap someone, you inflicted pain on him and ought to not do so. Because you did so, that person may choose to forgive you. I will forgive you but insist that you do not repeat the offensive action again. If you do, I want you arrested and jailed and while in jail re-socialized, so that you learn to help and love rather than inflict pain on other people.
My approach to cognitive behavior therapy is different from what Western therapists like Ellis and Beck do.
I teach people to think and behave differently. In this paper, I have pointed out how paranoid persons think and behave. I have pointed out how they need to think and behave differently. They think in terms of inferiority and superiority; they can learn to think in terms of sameness, equality, love and forgiveness.
This type of change in thinking and behaving tends to lead to healing mental disorders. Try it and find out whether it is therapeutic or not. See all people as the same and equal with you, forgive and love all people and find a way to work for our common good and see whether you would not feel peaceful and happy. We do not need to argue, for the taste of the pudding lays in the tasting, try it and find out for you.

SHRINKING THE EGO THROUGH PRAYER AND MEDITATION

Many therapists do not want to work with paranoid persons; they throw their hands up and think it hopeless trying to help paranoid persons. The reason for this is that of all the people who come to therapy, paranoids are the most difficult to help. They are difficult to help because they desire to retain their separated ego selves. Paranoids desire to seem important persons and do not want to let go of their big selves. On the other hand, the business of psychotherapy is to shrink the big ego self to normal size. That is why they call therapists shrinks: they really aim at shrinking people’s swollen egos down to manageable size.
The person who does not want his ego shrunk to rational size obviously is not going to come to shrinks…paranoids seldom come to therapists, unless forced… and are not going to benefit from therapy. Indeed, paranoids come to therapy hoping to strengthen their big egos and when they learn that the therapist aims otherwise, they get scared and quit coming. They leave and go retain their big ego selves. Unbeknown to them, as long as they maintain their big ego selves, they will live in pain and suffer.
The problem of man is that he believes that he has a separated special self. I will put it bluntly to you. Man does not have a separated special self. The separated special, that is, superior self, is an illusion; it is a self that exists as in a dream but, in fact, does not exist. What exists in truth is the unified self.
There is one God, if you do not like the word God, then say one life, for God is life.
That one God, one life, extended himself to each of us and we are united with him and with each other. Our true state is formless spirit; we are unified spirit. This is a fact, not conjecture.
We desired to seem separated from our real self and went into a dream where we dream as separated selves housed in bodies and each seeming separated self seeks specialness and importance.
The paranoid person seeks specialness and separated from God and other people to go seem special and superior. On earth, in the dream, he strives to seem self created and creator of God and all people; he struggles to be important. All these strivings are part of his delusion, and that is why they call it delusional disorder, he wants to believe in what is not true as true. He is unified with all and he wants to seem separated from all; he is the same and equal with all and he wants to seem different and superior to all; he is created by God and he wants to seem self created; in a word, he is deluded, insane. It is because he is insane that he needs healing, although he does not know it.
Healing for the paranoid, as it is for all human beings, is to relinquish the paranoid’s outward movement, ego, and return to the inward process and rediscover his true self, unified same and equal self.
Meditation is the best way to reconnect to ones real self. I practice Buddhist meditation, every day, for one hour, at least. I recommend it for you. However, you can practice any kind of meditation, Hindu, Zen etc that you like. The name does not matter, what matters is that you know what meditation is trying to accomplish and do it consciously.
Meditation is aimed at eliminating your separated special self. That is correct, meditation aims at destroying what you currently call your self concept, self image and personality and replacing them with your real self.
Twenty five hundred years ago, Gautama Buddha recognized that what human beings call their self concepts, self images and personalities seem to exist but, in fact, do not exist. This is literal not figurative. What we call our selves are dream figures, not real selves. The human personality is a pipe dream, a smoke that does not exist and only seems to exist in a dream setting, Maya. It seems to exist for those who want it to exist and defend it (with what psychoanalysts call ego defense mechanisms, such as, repression, suppression, denial, dissociation, projection, displacement, rationalization, intellectualization, sublimation, reaction formation, avoidance, fantasy, minimizing, acting out, fear, anger, pride, shame, paranoia, depression, hallucination etc). People have non-existent selves that are housed in bodies and defend them and their defense makes them seem real. Withdraw the defense and those selves are non-existent.
Do you want to find out that your so-called ego self is not real? Then try meditation. In meditation, you consciously deny the existence of your ego. You tell yourself that the self you know is not real, is a fiction. You tell yourself that what the self you know thinks is not true, is as false as itself. Thus, you negate all your conceptual thinking. You say, in Hindu terms, neti, neti, not this, not this. You deny the truth of whatever the empirical self tells you. You deny the empirical self itself. You deny knowing anything. You firmly tell yourself that you do not know anything. You then ask to be told who you are, who other people are and what things mean. Your superficial ego rushes in and tries to tell you who you are and what things are. Neuroscience, the latest ego noise, tells you that you are a product of the dance of atoms. But firmly reject whatever the empirical self tells you are the truth and try to be quiet.
In effect, you destroy your empirical self and its world. You, in Buddhist terms, aim at having no separated self. If you can truly aim at this and keep denying the reality of your ego self, you will get to a point where you attain inner silence, peace, bliss (for peace is synonymous with joy).
You feel like you do not exist. You are not any particular thing; you are NOTHING. Nothing is everything! You are part of everything.
If you continue with self negation, you literally rise above our empirical world and enter a world where all are the same and equal, where there is no you and I, no seer and seen, no subject and object. In Buddhist term, this is called Nirvana (Zen calls it Satori and Hinduism calls it Samadhi). It is a world of one unified light, a continuous light that begins nowhere and ends nowhere. All beings are part of that eternal light. It is formless, it is spirit, and it is permanent and changeless. What am I talking about? It can not be described in human terms, it is ineffable.
But to attain knowledge of our real self, unified self, one must give up the false ego self one made to replace it with. One must give up identification with the separated, special ego self. One must give up the human personality. One must give up ones self concept and self image. One must give up the substitute self one identifies with and come to ones God as he created one, unified and holy.
Our true identity is a holy self, that is, a unified self, what Christians call the Christ and Hindus call Atman and Buddhists call Buddha self. Call it what you like, it has no name, it just is.
To attain awareness of the real self, one must overcome the false ego self one currently identifies with. Additionally, as Buddha taught, one must have compassion for all sentient beings and as Brother Jesus the Christ taught, one must forgive and love all human beings and as the last of the prophets, Mohammed taught, one must submit to God; one must have no other God but Allah.
Forgive, love all and then come to our God in meditation and behold that God is real. God is the only reality that exists, all else is noise.
What is salient is that the individual, and for our present purposes, the paranoid person must give up his cherished special separated self and its facial intellect.
The Igbo chap that makes a whole lot of noise at naijapolitics forum must seek his true self. If I were him, I would do so under some religious forum. It really does not matter what religion one accepts; all religions are paths to God: Hinduism, Buddhism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, New Age Christianity such as propagated by Unity Church and A Course in Miracles, they are all useful in enabling the individual to shrink his swollen ego and return to the awareness of his real self, unified spirit self.
But the brother is lost in ego superficial reasoning and embraces the flippant ideas propagated by childish scientists that there is no God. He quickly tells you that there is no God and that he does not accept any religion. Indeed, he has a condescending attitude towards religionists; it is as if they are not rational enough and cannot cope with the exigencies of life without seeking protection from an illusion called God.
We have heard that one before. The character called Sigmund Freud wrote a book called the Future of an Illusion in which he claimed that religionists are like children seeking a powerful father figure to protect them in our precarious world. To him, God is a fiction and belief in him is neurotic (in as much as neurosis is belief in what is not true as true). Poor Freud, he knew so much that he was addicted to a mood altering drug, cocaine, and could not overcome his anxiety and his numerous phobias. The man talked shop about anxiety neurosis and yet could not overcome his various fears and actually had to be blind folded to be dragged out of Vienna before the murderous Nazis got to his flippant ego.
The paranoid person is totally identified with his spurious ego and its intellect and finds it difficult to relinquish it and explore other ways of knowing. But to heal his paranoia, he must give up his ego; he must voluntarily not identify with the ego; he must stop trusting the separated special self and trust in God, (God as God, the transcendent God is not in this world, but an aspect of God, the immanent God, the Holy Spirit is in this world) his unified real self.
Meditation is the quickest way of attaining awareness of the real self, the unified self (hence Hinduism called Raja Yoga, the royal yoga…the other Yogas: Jnana, the path of the intellect; Bhakti Yoga, the path of worship; Karma yoga, the path of public service; Tantra yoga, the path of sensual pleasure etc ultimately lead to real self realization but take longer to do so; meditation, raja yoga is the quickest path to real self realization, to awareness of the reality of God).

Prayer and meditation are indispensable in any effort to know the truth of who we are. One must constantly pray to God to guide one, to lead one on the path of righteousness (forgiveness, love, social service etc what Buddha called the eight noble paths…recall that Buddha talked about how all life is suffering, how suffering is caused by our desire to live ego separated life, how suffering is overcome when we stop desiring ego separated self, when we give up attachment to the ego and are detached to the egos world and its ephemeral things; how we must live a moral life, always speaking the truth, not harming other people, not stealing, and having compassion for all people).
Yes, one must pray for the Holy Spirit’s guidance and relinquish the counsel of the ego self.

Prayer is talking to God. Meditation is listing to God. One must talk and listen to God hence both prayer and meditation is crucial in all efforts to know who we truly are.
Western psychotherapy generally does not include prayer and other religious practices. However, it is gradually coming around to embracing meditation. In time, it would overcome its present adolescent stage of evolution and become adult. As an adult profession, it would encourage a return to religion, and return to prayer and meditation as a means of knowing who we truly are.
In the meantime, the paranoid personality is full of him self; his ego is swollen up and he finds it difficult to pray to God. He sees himself as in competition with God. God, he thinks, is his rival for power. He wants to eliminate God and replace him and become the creator of himself, creator of other people and creator of the world. The paranoid is on a power trip. That is why he is deluded.
His delusion disorder is healed when he stops the childishness of trying to replace his father, God, and accept him as his creator.
One must accept God as ones creator and pray to him and ask him for guidance in everything one does. Before one makes any decision, one must pause and go inwards, pray and ask God’s Holy Spirit to guide one. Invariably, God asks one to act out of forgiveness, love and public service. Whatever one does out of love cannot be totally wrong.
The paranoid probably will not give up his egotism in this life time. But if he learns that the ego is his problem and makes some effort to be egoless, he will benefit.
To the extent that the individual thinks and behaves egolessly, he feels peaceful and happy.
Peace and joy are the gifts of God, are reward for being ones real self, while still in the world of forms, bodies, space and time.
Our paranoid friends must learn to start working on their swollen egos and start giving their false selves up; they must give up their self concepts, self images and personalities; they must give up the masks of specialness that they wear, so as to see their true self, a unified spirit self, a loving and forgiving, hence peaceful and happy self.
In the meantime, paranoids live a tumultuous existence, almost always alienating those around them and experiencing social conflicts everywhere they go. Sadly, they do not recognize that it is they themselves that generate their conflicts by attaching to the ego self.
To be identified with the ego self is to live in hell, a hell of ones making. To be released from the ego jail house, one must jettison the ego and embrace ones real self, the unified self, the holy self, the Christ self, the Atman self, the Buddha self, the Chi self. In the Chi self lay peace, happiness and material abundance.

CONCLUSION

My experience as a human being and from working in the mental health field leads me to conclude that people, by and large, think and behave in a manner that is not always conducive to mental health. Biological and social factors contribute to the manner people think. We need to address those. However, we also need to teach these people how to think and behave in such a manner that they are at peace with their world.
People need to see all people as the same and equal; they need to love and forgive all people; they need to find out what they like doing and good at doing and do it for all of society.
Do all these and I am convinced that you would be peaceful and happy. Peace and happiness are the indices of mental health.
I have elaborated the ideas summarized in this paper in my book, Real Self Psychology. If you are interested in this manner of thinking and behaving, you may want to take look at that book.

*This has been a year during which I introduced myself to folks. Next year, I will focus on politics; each week I will do a write up on the political economy of an African country.
Have a Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year by Thinking and Behaving Differently: from Ego to Christ Thinking and Behaving patterns.

Ozodi@africainstituteseattle.org

December 20, 2005

FOR FURTHER READING

Adler, Alfred (1999) The Neurotic Constitution. New York: International Library of Psychology, Routledge.

Allport, Gordon. (1961) Pattern and Growth in Personality. New York: John Holt, Rinehart.

American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, (1994) Washington, DC. American Psychiatric Press.

Ansbacher, H.L. (1985) The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler. New York: Harper Torch Books.

Ayer, A.J. (1968) The Origins of Pragmatism. London: Macmillan.

Beck, Aaron (1990) Cognitive Therapy for Personality Disorders. New York: Guilford Press.

Camus, Albert, (2003) The Stranger. New York: Sparks Publishing Group.

Ellis, Albert (2004) Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. New York: Prometheus Book Publishers.

Eriksson, Erik (1993) Childhood and Society. New York: W.W. Norton.

Freud, Anna. (1936) The Ego and its Mechanisms of Defense. Amazon.com

Freud, Sigmund (1961) The Life and Works of Sigmund Freud, Ed Ernest Jones. New York: Lionel Trilling and Steven.

Fromm, Eric (1947) Escape from Freedom. New York: Routledge.

Horney, Karen (1991) Neurosis and Human Growth. New York: W.W. Norton.

Jung, Carl G. Basic Writings of C.G. Jung. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Kelly, George. (1955) The Psychology of Personal Constructs. New York: W.W. Norton.

Laing, R.D. (1960) The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness. New York: Penguin.
(1961) Self and Others. New York: Penguin.
(1964) The Politics of Experience and the Bird of Paradise. New York: Penguin.

Maslow, Abraham. (1998) Maslow on Management. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

(1970) Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper.

Meissner, William W. (1994) Psychotherapy and the Paranoid Process. New York: Aronson, Jason Publishers.

Pierce, C. S. (1955) Philosophical Writings of Pierce, Ed Buchier, J. New York: Dover.

Popper, Karl. (1963) Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge. London: Routledge. and Kegan Paul.

Rogers, Carl. (1951) Client Centered Therapy. New York: Houghton Mifflin and Co.

Ross, Elizabeth Kubla. (1969) On Death and Dying. Amazon.com

Sartre, Jean Paul. (2003) The Philosophy of Jean Paul Sartre. New York: Knopf Publishing Group.

Schopenhauer, Arthur. (1995) The World as Will and Idea. London: Everyman.

Schucman, Helen (1976) A Course in Miracles. Tiburon, CA: Foundation for Inner Peace.

Shapiro, David (1999) Autonomy and the Rigid Character. New York: Basic Books.
----------------- (1999) Neurotic Styles. New York: Basic Books.

Skinner, B.F. (2002) Beyond Freedom and Dignity. New York: Hackett Publishing.

Sullivan, Harry Stack. (1953) The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry. New York: W.W. Norton.

Swanson, David et al. (1970) The Paranoid. Boston: Houghlin, Mifflin.

Tzas, Thomas. (1961) The Myth of Mental Illness. Amazon.com

Underhill, Evelyn. (1911) Mysticism. New York: Dutton.

Vaihinger, H. (1935) The Philosophy of “As If.” London: Kegan Paul Publishers

Wittgenstein, L. (1969) Zettel. Oxford Blackwell.

Zimbado, Phillip. (1986) Shyness. Jove Publications.

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Science and Technology of Thinking and Behavior: Focus on Paranoia (Part 1)

by Ozodi Thomas Osuji, Ph.D. (Seatle, Washington) --- INTRODUCTION: Psychology began with the noble intention of understanding how human beings think and behave. Unfortunately, it seems to have lost its way. One no longer knows what the business of psychology is.

What do contemporary psychologists do, anyway? The discipline now seems lost in scholasticism and, therefore, seem irrelevant to actual human beings efforts to understand and change their thinking and behavior.
The real business of psychology is to strive to understand how human beings think and behave. Psychology is the science of thinking and behavior.
Having understood how people, in fact, think and behave and appreciated self defeating thinking and behaving patterns, psychology ought to design a technology for helping people think and behave in the most adaptive manner.
Thinking and behavior have an aim, to enable the individual to adapt to the exigencies of his world, his physical and social environment. Psychology ought to enable people adapt to their world.
In this paper, I attempt a science and technology of thinking and behavior that seems realistic to the actual human beings I see in my world, not the fictional human beings studied by academic psychology.
Real psychology must be realistic and show people how to adapt to their environment and make material living in their world. Psychology should not dwell on esoteric concepts that have no relevance to the real world people live in.
Real human beings find themselves on planet earth. As Alfred Adler observed, they find it difficult to adapt to the exigencies of their world. Some are particularly challenged by the exigencies of their world. All of them, and some of them more so, hate their bodies and what they call themselves. They reject themselves. All human beings reject their real selves. (These seem like dogmatic assertions; they call for you to disprove them?)
Using their thinking and imagination, they invent alternative selves and bodies. They invent ideal selves and ideal bodies. They invent superior selves and bodies.
The ideal, superior self is purely mental and imaginary. It cannot be attained in the empirical world. Nevertheless, since it seems better than the actual imperfect body and self the individual has, he prefers it to his actual self. He embarks on a mission of trying to become his imaginary ideal superior self. Most of his activities are directed towards actualizing his imaginary ideal self (and the ideal other selves, ideal social institutions and ideal world of that ideal self).
Pursuit of the ideal superior self is an escape from reality. It is a waste of mental energy. A mental model of which one ought to become cannot be realized in the empirical world where matter and energy limits what human beings can and cannot do. Space, time and matter set limits as to what real human beings can do. We cannot fly unless we have wings.

FALSE PURPOSE AND MEANING

Impossible of attainment, yet the individual pursues his ego ideal. He does so because his ego ideal appears to be what gives his life meaning and purpose. The effort to attain his imaginary fantasy self, fantasy other people and fantasy social institutions is what gives him (neurotic) direction in his life.
If the idealist stopped seeking to attain his imaginary ideal self, the fiction of superior self, life would suddenly become ennui for him. The individual would not know what to do with his life if he did not pursue some sort of ideals.
Yet pursuit of ideals, ego ideals and or spirit ideals (as in religion) is a waste of time and effort, for nothing pursued that is not rooted in the reality of space, time and matter will be realized by human beings.

THE MISSION OF SCIENCE

Science is that endeavor which attempts to understand empirical reality, as it is, not as it should be. In the area of human beings, science attempts to understand how real human beings think and behave. It does so objectively; it describes how actual people think and behave not how they should think and behave.
Science does not indulge in value judgments, and does not moralize that this or that behavior is better than others; it merely describes how people think and behave.
However, since some thinking and behaving patterns are clearly more adaptive to the exigencies of the environment, science recommends them, not from a moral point of view, but from a dispassionate assessment of what is more useful and productive. In this light, science of thinking and behavior shows human beings the pattern of thinking and behaving that are more likely to enable them get what they want out of their lives.

All human beings think idealistically but some more so than others. All that we can do is understand and redirect human beings’ idealistic thinking and behaviors; we cannot eliminate them.
Escape into idealism, be it in philosophy, religion or politics, is a waste of time. The science of psychology must focus on the science and technology of thinking and behavior.

PARANOID THINKING AND BEHAVIOR CONSIDERED

In the last year, I participated in several Internet news groups. What became obvious to me is that some of the Igbo participants exhibit paranoid traits and don’t even know it.
I am motivated to help these people. I will, therefore, focus on paranoia, and show how such persons think and behave and then point out alternative patterns of thinking and behaving.
The terms persona and paranoia derive from Greek. (See Meissner, 1980) In ancient Greece, actors wore masks to hide their true identity, as they enacted plays on the theatre. They enacted real people’s personalities and behaviors, people who might be in the audience, and, therefore, thought it prudent to hide their identity, as they pointed out the not always healthy behavior patterns of their fellow citizens of Athens. Paranoia is Greek for denying ones real self and identifying with a different self. To the Greeks, to be insane is to deny ones true self and act as if one is a different self, apparently, a self that one considers a better self than ones real self.
The pioneers of psychology borrowed Greek and Latin terms. Persona, mask, was transformed into personality. The idea is that the human personality is a mask that the individual wears and that it merely hides his true self. Personality is an act, not reality. Each human being, as it were, hides his true self and learns those behavior patterns that his society would approve. In relating to other people, he presents a personality (which is the same as self concept and self image) to them to approve, a self image that he thinks that they would approve. The individual masks his real self and presents a socially approvable self to people to relate to in his social interactions.
Who the individual’s real self is, is not shown to other people. Indeed, the individual may not even know who his real self is. (My dear reader, do you know who your real self is? Are you just your body and or your personality? If not, who are you?)
Carl G. Jung observed that beneath the persona (lity) is another human being. Jung considered the real self that is hidden by the mask of personality a spiritual being. (See Jung, 1963)

Whereas all human beings, to certain degrees, wear masks, personas, have personalities, to be paranoid means that the individual has taken the phenomenon of personality to its logical conclusion. The normal person wears a personality and presents it to other people to approve but suspects that he is not his personality. On the other hand, the paranoid person thinks that he is his personality. The paranoid person, in effect, has taken the tree for the forest. He, like all people, has a cherished persona that he wears in society and wants other people to see him as that personality. At some point, he thinks that he is the persona he pretends to be.
The paranoid person now believes that he is the ideal self, ideal self concept and ideal self image, ideal personality that he wants to be but is not, in fact. He wants other people to see him as he wants to be seen, as the ideal, superior self he wants to be but, in fact, is not. He has completely denied his real self and identified with a false ideal self and wants other people to collude with him and validate that false self as his real self. He wants society to confirm his false self as his real self.
If the paranoid person is seen as the ideal self, the persona, the important mask, he feels good, if not, he feels upset. His real self feels inadequate and inferior. He rejects that real self and compensates with a pretended superior self. He wants other people to see him as a superior self. If they see him as a superior self, he feels okay, if not, he feels upset. His affect is a yoyo, up and down, depending on how he perceives other people as treating him. He is angry at those he perceives as not colluding with him and seeing him as a very important, superior self and anxious from anticipation of being degraded by other people. He closely scrutinizes other people’s behaviors and if they seem to be demeaning, humiliating, insulting, belittling, in a word, not recognizing his ideal self concept, ideal self image, high and mighty personality, he feels angry at them. His anger is an attempt to get people to see him as he wants to be seen: a very important, exalted and dignified self.
The paranoid person is generally very stiff, inflexible and humorless, all in an effort to seem very respectful and dignified. Important people, he thinks, do not crack jokes and do not laugh; only unimportant fools and clowns do so, so he is almost always serious and proper in demeanor.

ETIOLOGY OF PARANOIA

Paranoia is caused by a confluence of biological and social factors. Paranoids invariably inherited biological constitutions that make them feel weak and inadequate to the challenges of existence in our impersonal world.
As Alfred Adler (1911) pointed out, up to a point, all human beings feel inadequate. Paranoid persons tend to feel more inadequate than the average person. Obviously, biological factors contribute to the genesis of paranoia.
Sociological factors also play a role in the causation of paranoia. Consider Igbo society. Igbo society is very competitive. (See Victor Uchendu, the Igbos of South East Nigeria.) All children are told to compete and those who are more able to compete are positively rewarded. Those less able to compete are generally not positively reinforced. In fact, Igbos either ignore losers or makes fun of them. A non-competitive Igbo boy is called negative names and rejected by his cohorts. In time, he feels socially ostracized and marginalized.
Igbo society must be among the most competitive societies in the world. It is an achievement oriented society. Nothing is given to the individual by ascription; he has to earn whatever is socially valued. Achieve and you are a somebody, fail and you are a nobody.
Carl Rogers (1951) would say that this society is a neurotic society and that it is bound to produce many neurotic children. As Rogers sees it, children who are raised by conditionally accepting parents and society tend to become neurotic, that is, they tend to posit ideal selves that they think that society would approve and strive to become them and reject their real selves ala Karen Horney. (Horney, 1999)
On the other hand, Rogers thinks that a society that positively and unconditionally accepts all children as good is more likely to produce healthy self accepting children.
We do not need to quibble about facts. Igbo society is pathological. It accepts children conditionally. It, therefore, disposes those children who are less able to compete to fear failing. Some of such children, therefore, posit ideal selves that would like to become very important persons, indeed, superior persons, and present such false selves to other people to relate to.
In Igbo society, many adults behave as if they are the imaginary important, superior selves that they would like to be but that they are not, in fact. They spend an awful amount of mental energy defending the false, imaginary ideal and all powerful self that they imagine themselves to be that they are not. This social pretense is carried over to all aspects of their behaviors.
One such Igbo chap on Naija politics strives to seem the most intelligent person on the forum. He writes in convoluted, hiflutin and pedantic language that is calculated to make him seem like he is a genius. If his overly rational but superficial analysis is applauded by others, he feels fine, but if you dared point out that he is an emperor without clothes, he flies off the handle. He is almost always responding with anger and rage at those who dared point out that he is talking rubbish. Moreover, he seems to take particular joy in putting other people down, finding fault with them showing them as not perfect. This man spends his time and energy looking into other people’s backgrounds, with the intention of finding something negative in their history that he could use to show them up as not perfect human beings. He investigates where people went to school or not, what kind of education they have or do not have, all with the intention of making them seem unimportant. He is the only one that is entitled to be important, his paranoid thinking believes. Apparently, he satisfies his desire to seem superior to other people by making other people seem inferior to him. This is a cardinal trait of suspicious paranoid characters. Simply stated, this man is trying to become his imaginary ideal, superior self. He has paranoid personality disorder.
I believe that competitive Igbo society exacerbates whatever biological variable this paranoid Igbo man inherited that disposed him to paranoid thinking and behavior. Biosocial factors play roles in the etiology of paranoia.
(This paper is written for the average reader; therefore, it does not overly employ technical terms. If the reader wants technical understanding of paranoia, I refer him to David Swanson et al, The Paranoid; William Meissner, The Paranoid Process, and Psychotherapy for the Paranoid process; David Shapiro, Autonomy and the Rigid Character; and, of course, the purely descriptive DSM IV.)

LEVELS OF PARANOIA

There are many levels of paranoia: Schizophrenia, Paranoid Type; Delusion Disorder; and Paranoid Personality Disorder.
Briefly, in schizophrenia, the individual is psychotic; that is, he has delusions (believes in what is not true as true) and hallucinations (in any of the five senses… auditory, visual, olfactory, tactile and touch). Schizophrenia is every person’s idea of mental illness. It occurs in less than one percent of the human population. Within this small fraction of people, there are many subtypes of schizophrenia: paranoid, organic, disorganized, catatonic, simple, undifferentiated, residual etc. They are within the purview of psychiatrists, for they are generally managed with neuroleptic medications (such as Zyprexa, Risperdal, Seraquel, Geodon, and some of the older psychotropic medications like Thorazine, Prolixine, Navane, Millaril etc.) These people hear voices and see what is not seen by other people and generally have bizarre delusions, such as see themselves as god etc. For all practical purposes, they cannot operate in normal society. They are either at psychiatric hospitals or walk the streets as the insane persons folks see eating out of garbage cans. No one has figured out a way to heal them yet.
Delusion disorder means that the person believes what is not true as true. In delusion disorder there is no hallucination, just systematized delusions. (I call this disorder half psychosis, half insanity, for in complete insanity there is both delusion and hallucination, as in schizophrenia and in some severe Bipolar Affective Disorder.)
Generally, the deluded person has systematized delusions in some areas of his intellectual functioning but not in other areas. For example, he may believe that his wife wants to poison him with her food and not eat it, and still function appropriately in other areas of his social life. Genuine delusion disorder is very rare. I have seen less than ten patients with delusion disorder in twenty two years of working in the mental health field.
There are five types of delusion disorder: grandiose, persecutory, erotomanic, jealous, and somatic. Briefly, in grandiose type, the person believes that what is not true is true, for example, that he is the richest man in his world, or that he is the most intelligent man in the world, when he is not. In persecutory type, the person believes that someone or some people are out to kill him and hides from them, when those people do not have such intentions. In erotomanic type, usually more common in women, a woman believes that a famous man is in love with her and sometimes stalks him. She may believe that she is married to Jesus or any other socially important person. (Apparently, such beliefs make an inferior feeling person feel vicariously important). In jealous type, the person feels that his spouse or girl friend is cheating on him and follows her around, trying to catch her cheating on him; he generally misinterprets her behaviors and physically and or verbally abuses her. Many of the men involved in domestic violence actually have delusional jealousy. In somatic type, the person believes that she has a sickness that the medical profession is unable to figure out yet, and goes from doctor to doctor seeking treatment. (Apparently, this belief is a rationalization for her failure when she expects to be a success but fails.)
Paranoid personality disorder is characterized by desire to seem very important and superior to other people, accompanied with inner sense of inferiority and inadequacy. The paranoid personality feels inordinately inferior to other people and restitutes with desire for superiority. He posits a mask of superiority and acts as if he is that superior persona. The Igbo chap on naija politics obviously feels inferior and acts as if he is superior to other people. Although he is above average in intelligence, he is not gifted. But he presents himself as a superior intellect. He is not aware that a superior mind is not just claimed but seen by other people. In the political forum we read what each other write and most folks can easily make out those with superior minds. This Igbo brother is certainly not seen as particularly bright, pretended brilliance. He feels an inner compulsion to seem a gifted mind.
The paranoid personality wants to seem superior and for other people to see him as superior. Because of his desire for superiority, he fears been seen as inferior. Thus, he is very sensitive to being demeaned, belittled, humiliated, disgraced, degraded, criticized etc. Behavior by other people that give him the impression that he is treated in an undignified manner makes his false pride feel attacked and he reacts with anger.
He is always accusing other people of treating him, as if he is a nobody. Since other people did not treat him as such, they resent him accusing them of doing what they did not do and become angry at him. Thus, he stimulates attack on him by his accusatory behaviors. The subsequent attack from other people reinforces his hitherto belief that other people are hostile towards him. (He is hostile towards other people and projects his hostility out and sees a hostile world.)This phenomenon is called paranoid self fulfilling prophesy, he believes that people are hostile towards him, attacks them and they react in a hostile manner to him, making his belief seem true. What he does not realize is the role he plays in getting people to react negatively towards him.
The paranoid personality’s intellect is otherwise in tact. He may be a medical doctor, engineer, physicist or president of his country. Whereas his intellect seems in tact, his disordered personality disturbs his interpersonal relationships but does not affect his intellectual functioning.
He tends to over employ certain ego defense mechanisms, such as denial, projection, rationalization, intellectualization and dissociation. In the process, he comes across as rational The said Igbo chap on naija-politics appears intellectual, except that his intellect is really shallow; he is unable to nuance thinking and behaviors, he appreciates only the superficial, the seeming rational.
As Psychoanalysts tell us, behind rationality is irrationality. The paranoid personality is not a genuine intellectual, he is a wannbe intellectual.

For some reasons, there seems a higher incidence of paranoid personality among Igbos. I have pondered this issue and came to the conclusion that biosocial factors play a role in its genesis. I speculated that inherited biological constitution and Igbo competitive society play roles in producing Igbo paranoid personalities.
In most human populations, generally, less than one percent has paranoid personality, but in Igbo society that percentage is more like five. (The number of Igbo Schizophrenics appears to be the same as elsewhere in the world; the number of Igbo delusion disordered persons appear slightly higher than in other populations. It would be fascinating to perform a thorough epidemiological study to verify what my anecdotal observation suggests.)

THINKING AND BEHAVIOR IN PARANOIA

Paranoid thinking is probably the easiest thing in the world to understand. Unfortunately, the paranoid does not want to understand and or change his thinking and behaving patterns. He derives secondary gains from his thinking and behavior; he feels godlike from imagining himself superior to other people.
It is very difficult to heal paranoia. In fact, many psychotherapists don’t even bother taking paranoids as patients/clients. They see them as not likely to benefit from talk therapy and do not want to waste their time on those who do not want to change.
If a paranoid client walks into a therapist’s office and he administers psychological tests (MMPI, WAIS etc) and does verbal mental status examination, he easily diagnose him. That is the easy part. The difficult part is how to help him change.
The chances are that the paranoid client is more likely to have contempt for the therapist, and see him as naïve. He sees himself as superior to other people and sees the therapist as inferior to him, so how can the inferior therapist help him?
Factor in the paranoid’s lack of trust in other people’s good intentions and his belief that the therapist is not his friend and is not out to help him, you see an interesting dynamics developing. He is skeptical of the therapist’s good intentions and, in fact, doubts his knowledge. (The paranoid Igbo chap on naija politics doubted my knowledge and went as far as checking my credentials to see if I even went to school. His goal was to undermine my credibility so that he did not have to listen to me. That way, he retained his obvious mental disorder. Just about every person in the forum knows that he is a sick man. He is the only person who does not know that he is sick. Paranoids generally do not have insight into their problems.)
Whereas, therapists tend to give up on paranoid persons, they nevertheless understand their thinking and behaving patterns. Let us, therefore, explore paranoid thinking and behaving patterns and see whether they can be changed.
The paranoid person thinks that he is inferior. Talk to a paranoid person for an hour and you sense his deep rooted sense of inferiority and inadequacy. He generally tries, albeit futilely to deny his self assessment and tries to seem superior; indeed, he tends to project out what he sees in himself to others; thus, he sees others who seem inferior etc.
It is correct that all human beings, in degrees, feel inferior. The relevant point is the paranoid’s excessively sense of inferiority. He needs to stop worrying about other people’s inferiority and first accept his own sense of inferiority and address it squarely. He needs to understand why he feels inferior and compensates with superiority. He is the subject to be analyzed and healed. He should not divert attention from himself by focusing on other people’s minor sense of inferiority.
So why does the paranoid person feel inferior? There are combinations of causal factors in his feeling: biological and sociological.
Each individual is unique and, as such, inherited a unique biological constitution. We therefore need to explore whatever medical disorders the paranoid person inherited that exacerbated his or her sense of inferiority. Any number of medical disorders could make the individual feel unable to meet the challenges of his society hence increase his sense of inferiority.
Inferiority feeling does not have to lead to paranoia, if it is accepted and not denied. If a child feels inferior and his parents love him, in an unconditional positive manner, he is not going to develop paranoia. For example, I was born with spondylolysis and Mitral Valve Prolapse. Both medical disorders made me feel inferior. But my mother loved me in an unconditionally positive manner. My mother is a saint among women. Her love for her children was total. Surrendered by love, I trusted the people around me despite feeling inferior. Now, suppose that I was not loved in an unconditional manner, I can see myself feeling as paranoid as the said Igbo chap.
The paranoid person must explore why he feels inordinately inferior. In my experience, biological and sociological factors are implicated in the etiology of most mental disorders.
Different biological disorders can dispose different children to feel inferior Vis a Vis their environment. The individual therefore needs to understand what particular medical disorders run in his family that tends to make them feel inordinately inferior. Having done that, he needs to understand his family and society’s pattern of raising children. If it is conditional and competitive, he needs to explore the role of these in the origin of his self hatred, self rejection and aspiration after an imaginary ideal superior self.

FROM IDEALISTIC TO REALISTIC THINKING AND BEHAVIOR

The paranoid person tends to think idealistically. He rejected his real self and real every thing and posited an ideal self and ideal every thing and wants to become these ideal fictions. He posited a perfect ideal self and wants to become that perfect person. He wants other people to become perfect selves he made for them. Indeed, he wants the world to change and become the perfect ideal he wants it to become. All these are fantasies and are not going to happen. Fantasies or not, pursuing them makes him feel like he is powerful, like he created himself and created the world he wants to change and fit his self image.
Having explored the biosocial factors playing a role in his paranoia, he has to resolve to think realistically, not idealistically.
Generally, the individual does to other people what he does to himself? The paranoid person hates and rejects his body and self. He generalizes and hates and rejects other people’s real bodies and self. He wants to change himself; so he wants to change other people; he wants to become perfect, so he wants to make other people perfect; he wants ideal social institutions, so he wants society to have ideal social institutions; he wants an ideal world.

GIVING UP PARANOID JUDMENT AND CRITICISMS

The paranoid person posits an ideal self and uses that ideal fictional self and its ideal standards to judge real human beings. He uses the ideal standards of his false self to judge his real self, other people’s real selves and reality in general.
Since he is judging the real with an imaginary ideal standard, it is inevitable that he finds nobody good enough. He is always criticizing other people, pointing out their faults. The said Igbo chap is always pointing out other people’s faults. Nothing other people do or do not do is ever good enough for him. This is because he is looking at them from the perspective of an ideal standard.
(If a normal person reads this paper, for example, he would appreciate my effort to help; but the paranoid brother would be more invested in showing to the world that I do not know what I am talking about; his whole reason for being seems to be to show that people are imperfect, hence inferior to him. Of course, people are imperfect, I do not know much.)
Having appreciated paranoid thinking processes, we then show to the paranoid person how to stop wanting to seem ideal, superior and perfect.
The crux of his problem is his desire to seem better than other people. He must be taught to accept our human sameness and equality and give up the neurotic/psychotic desire to seem better than other people.

In eternity as in time, in heaven and on earth, all human beings are the same and equal. Let me repeat the obvious: we, man, woman and child are the same and coequal. No one is superior to other people. No amount of effort on any ones part can make him or her superior to other people.
Racist whites (usually paranoid personalities) tried very hard to seem superior to other races. The fact is that white folks are exactly the same as black and brown folks.
The paranoid person wants to seem superior to other people. He cannot gratify that wish in the world of reality, for the impossible cannot be gratified. In fact, if he believes that he is superior to other people and no longer merely wishes it, he has gone from neurosis, paranoid personality, to psychosis: delusion and or schizophrenia.
If he is fairly intelligent, the paranoid person is tempted to see himself as mentally superior to other people. He is not so. Although different people test out with different IQ levels, yet they are all the same and equal. The mentally retarded person with IQ lower than 70 is the same as the gifted person with IQ over 132.
(The said Igbo chap fancies himself mentally superior to others in the forum. His IQ is probably no more than 120, that is, he is above average but not in the superior range (over 132). How do I know this fact? He does not exhibit that subtle understanding of phenomenon found in the truly intelligent; he tends to be rationalistic and not understanding of true phenomenon. For example, recently, he has taken to saying that his fellow forumites feel inferior and act like they are superior. His observation is, of course, true. But what a truly bright person would do is try to understand why the people do so and try to help them out rather than seize it as an opportunity to desecrate them. The truly intelligent person wants to help suffering humanity, as Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Ramakrishna, Bahaullah and other religious geniuses did. The superficially intelligent use their shabby perception of phenomenon to destroy, rather than help.)
The paranoid person posits a self concept, and its pictorial form, the self image, and a personality that wants to seem superior to other people. He struggles mightily to become that seeming superior self.
It is the pursuit of the fictional superior self that produces his paranoia. He must, therefore, desist from seeking to become that false superior self and accept our sameness and equality.
This is obvious enough to normal persons. But the paranoid person does not want to give up his desired superior self. Indeed, if he gave it up, he might find his life suddenly meaningless and purposeless, for it is pursuit of the chimera of superior self and superior world that gave his life direction, movement and pseudo purpose. If he gave up seeking to be better than other people, he might experience the underlying depression that paranoid grandiosity is masking.
(Meissner, in The Paranoid Process, contends that paranoid persons are depressed persons, that they have low self esteem and use their grandiose self concept to mask their underlying depressed self view. In Psychotherapy and the Paranoid Process, Meissner argues that the paranoid’s grandiose self image must be given up and for him to accept his underlying depressed self opinion, and eventually work through his existential depression and come to accept the human reality of powerlessness. Meissner recommends that this process be aided by a competent therapist, for if the paranoid’s ego compensations are attacked and decompensated when he is not ready to recompensate at a normal level, he might experience transient psychosis where he goes from merely wishing to be godlike to believing that he is actually god, from garden variety neurosis to psychosis.)
The paranoid child is very perceptive and accurately appreciated the human condition as filled with pain and suffering. He hated and rejected that pain and suffering filled life. Instead of accepting that reality and making the most of it, he rejected it and used his imagination to invent an alternative reality, an ideal reality and wants to become it.
In therapy the paranoid must be helped to let go his ideal reality and embrace empirical reality. The truth is that all of us are imperfect and that we must still be loved and respected despite our imperfection. We must have the courage to accept and love our imperfect real selves. It is actually cowardly to reject the real, just because it is imperfect and seek to become the imaginary ideal.
The self rejecting paranoid person is a cowardly person; the truly courageous person accepts imperfect human beings, as they are. He loves people as they are, imperfect.
Mental health lies in ability to look ones self in the mirror, see ones imperfect self, ones weak body and still accept it as it is, not as it could become, perfect.
The paranoid rejected his real body and real self and wants to become an idealized body and self. That is not going to happen. He is wasting his time and giving himself unnecessary anxiety (from not attaining his ideal self).
He must let go of the desire to be an ideal self and accept who he is, in fact, an imperfect, ordinary human being.
Alas, he does not want to be an imperfect, ordinary human being. In fact, his delusions are efforts to convince him that he is a perfect, superior self.
Let us revisit the symptoms of paranoia and see how they exhibit his desire for superiority. Grandiosity: it is an effort to seem superior; persecution, it is an effort to seem superior, for one must be very important for others to exist to persecute one, one must be the numero uno for the entire police force of the land to have nothing better to do than try to kill one; one must be very important for ones wife to want to poison one, simply stated, persecution complex is an attempt to seem a special self; jealously, here the person wants to control the spouse. Control is power; so jealously really is paranoid desire for superiority. Erotomania, here a woman thinks that important persons are in love with her when they are not or that she is married to important person when that is not the case. What is going on here is that she feels inferior and attaching herself to seeming important persons makes her seem important; if she did not want to be superior, she would not struggle to seem married to god. Somatic type, here the person claims to have mysterious illness and uses it as an excuse to go from doctor to doctor; what she is doing is deriving a sense of superiority through illness and having doctors pay attention to her. I must say, however, that where there is hypochondrias there is always some unknown biological disorder.
Paranoid personality lacks trust in other people, is suspicious and fears being belittled. He does not trust on a higher power to protect him, he is the higher power who ought to protect him. In the real world, he is not that powerful, for he is not God. What is going on here is fear of being inferior, which really is desire for superiority. Simply stated, it is desire for superiority that is at the root of paranoia.

Every thing that the paranoid personality does is motivated by his fear of inferiority and desire for superiority. He is afraid of sameness and equality and wants to seem special. He must learn to accept our sameness and equality. He must give up his neurotic/psychotic wish for the impossible, superiority, to become possible.
The creations of God are inherently equal and there is nothing any human being can do to make any person superior to other people. The head of state is the same as the garbage collector. In fact, the garbage collector may even be more crucial for our survival than the idle politician. Consider, if the garbage collector did not collect our wastes, we would die from it. Politicians, particularly the African brand who do nothing for their people, are in the language of paranoia, inferior to garbage collectors. (In the language of mental health, every person is the same, there is no inferior or superior person; inferiority and superiority are delusions, false beliefs.)
Lest I appear overly optimistic and naïve, let me stress that it is very difficult to get the paranoid person to give up his desire for superiority and fear of inferiority. As far as I know, very few therapists (?) have ever succeeded in persuading paranoid persons to give up their delusions of superiority.
The mad man, apparently, prefers to walk the streets isolated from other human beings, rather than accept relating to other people. This is because he is unwilling to do what relationship requires: see all persons as the same and coequal with him. In his psychotic delusions, he imagines himself superior to other people. Since he is not so, other people leave him to live in his fantasy world. Thus, he pays the price of desiring specialness by being alone in the world.
To avoid being lonely, he must give up his desired special self and accept our equal self.

Paranoia is a result of certain thinking and behaving patterns: the desire for a special self. To heal paranoia, the paranoid person must learn to think and behave differently; to see him self as the same and equal to all people and to behave accordingly. He must resist the temptation to seem better than other people.
Any moment a human being yields to the temptation, which is always there, to think and behave as if he is superior to other people, he has disconnected himself to other people, in religious language, he has sinned.

In my experience, no one can heal paranoia unless we factor in the spiritual element. In fact, I think that the reason secular therapists have no track record of healing paranoia is that they took God out of the equation.
I think that paranoia arose from the individual’s efforts to take God out of his life, his rejection that God created him and that he did not create himself. His delusional efforts to seem special are really childish efforts to seem self created, beginning with his invention of the ideal self concept and its self image.
To heal paranoia, I believe that we need spirituality. I think that combined secular and spiritual psychology can heal paranoia and other mental illnesses.
Therefore, I will share with you my metaphysics. Do with it what you lay. It is not the only approach to God there is; there are infinite approaches to God, but this is the approach that makes sense to me.
Ultimately, my goal is not to get lost in theological disputations, but to enable the paranoid person to accept that he is not the author of reality, that God is. He must bow to his creator, God. He did not create himself, other people and the world, as his ego would like to believe. He must relinquish the wish to create himself and the world and accept the reality that a higher power created him and the world.

MEDICAL TREATMENT

Whereas mental health professionals do treat schizophrenia, paranoid type with the various neuroleptic medications and those medications appear to reduce hallucinations but not eliminate them (these medications, apparently, reduce the levels of the neurotransmitter, dopamine, in the central nervous system and somehow that reduces hallucinations), persons with paranoid personality disorder are generally not treated with medications.
Personality, normal and abnormal, is a systemic response to the environment; it is how the individual, his body included, responds to his world. It is, therefore, not just a product of biological disorders, although medical disorders contribute to it in as much as they play a role in the individual feeling inferior relative to our tough physical environment. Paranoid personality disorder, as well as other personality disorders are not medical issues and are not treated with medication.
However, every now and then, the paranoid person does feel anxious. His anxiety is probably psychological in nature, not medical. He posits and pursues a grandiose goal that he is never going to achieve. In the meantime, he struggles mightily to attain his goals and fears not attaining them. The fear of not becoming his ideal perfect self and not attaining whatever other big goals he set for himself produces anxiety for him.
Because he feels anxious, some medical doctors are tempted to give him some of the anti anxiety medications (such as valium, Librium, Xanax, Ativan etc). These may temporarily reduce his anxiety. But these medications have adverse side effects and are very physiologically and psychologically addictive; folks go through severe withdrawal symptoms trying to quit them, including experiencing visual and tactile hallucination and heart palpitations. It is, therefore, not a good idea to give paranoid personalities medications.
What is therapeutic for paranoid personalities, as well as other disordered personalities, is for them to change the pattern of their thinking and behavior; to cognitive restructure their mind through cognitive behavior therapy. The paranoid personality needs to give up his desire to be superior and stop acting as if he is superior to any one else. He needs to accept our sameness, equality and unified nature and work for our common interest. In Adlerian fashion, these persons need to dedicate themselves to serving social interest…Adler believed that serving social interest is the best therapy for neurosis, and, by generalization psychosis.
The paranoid Igbo brother in naijapolitics does not need medications; he just needs to change his pattern of thinking and behaving; he needs to accept all people as like him and work to uplift all people rather than try to destroy them through his tendency of trying to humiliate people, so as to feel superior to them…psychoanalytically, he feels humiliated by life and, therefore, wants to do unto other people what was done to him, to humiliate others; he feels belittled by life and wants to belittle other people etc. Now he must work to make life joyous for all people, if he is to heal his apparent paranoid personality disorder; if he heals his disorder, his obvious bright mind could be put to productive use for all Nigerians.

Continued...

Posted by Administrator at 02:13 PM | Comments (0)

December 18, 2005

What would Nigerians Change if we had the Freedom to Change Anything? (Part 1)

by D. Akinsanya Juliuson (Great Britain) --- What would we change if we could alter anything we wanted to? I am sure the list is long but here is a list that is longer still. It is the list of factors we would not touch. There are plenty of things that we love, just the way they are. They do not always demand as much of our attention but they make life special and satisfying. Right now, they deserve to be recognized and celebrated. Not only are they noticeable, they represent the tools by which we can bring about the adjustments that we yearn for in our country. The key to greater comfort lies entirely in making more of what we are already grateful for.

Many people love to talk but they do not much care to listen. They like to dream but resent waking up. They are keen to bring about change but happy to leave things just as they are. We all fail to see 'the other side' of certain arguments... and processes. We all have selective memories and carefully edited ideas about what our future and the future of our country holds. We are all a little insensitive. We all sometimes say one thing and do another. We all make mistakes. With this in mind, let us look at our big issue this now. It involves a need to communicate clearly with someone or some persons we dislike or disapprove.

Let us all learn to make allowances but not make a fool of urselves.
Before we judge a person, we should first walk a mile in their shoes. We know this... but for all that, we strive to be wise and sympathetic, to show intelligence and understanding, we find it easy to take one look at someone and say 'Honestly! What a fool.’ Of course, sometimes, the assessment is appropriate. However, a little extra tolerance sometimes will help to heal many counter-productive rifts. In life, we must learn to be flexible in our dealings with others. At the same time, be determined in sticking to our own plans and beliefs. Especially, when we have already made a decision that is worth staying with. Who makes the rules? Who says whether they can be broken? Who runs this planet? Whoever it is... it is not you or I... and nor is it anyone else we know! That is a point worth keeping in mind now as we assess what is or is not possible... or permissible. Let us be aware too, that most of Nigeria’s most potentially explosive problems have, somewhere near their epicenter, a communication failure of some kind. Let us be more willing to talk and listen. Despite recent and current difficulties in our country, we could yet manage to attain a very profitable form of progress.

OUR CONFIDENCE IN THE NIGERIAN POLICE FORCE

Policing affects us all. We rely on the police for our safety and have increasingly high expectations of the service. Nigerian Police are expected to tackle local, national and organised crime as and when they arise. Nigerian Police (Not the UK Metropolitan Police or government) should be committed to meeting these expectations with integrity and professionalism. The federal government must make sure that the Nigerian Police salaries are paid and nothing is owed. Our government should be able to deliver the commitments through clearer and stronger arrangements by holding the Nigerian Police and other responsible agencies to account for their performance in tackling crime and ensuring community and national safety. A requirement on the Nigerian Police and other agencies to work directly with local people to identify the problems that are most important to them –
giving people real opportunities to have a say in local policing priorities AND Introduction of a new mechanism to trigger a response by the police and other responsible agencies to particular or persistent local and national problems of crime or organised crime (e.g. 419, Child trafficking and prostitution, Blackmail, Conspiracy to Defraud, Conspiracy to blackmail, murder by any means, conspiracy to commit murder etc).

A particular role within local councils for advocates to support the Nigerian public and ensure their voice is heard on community matters or safety issues. Nigerian government should be committed to the public by believing that Nigerian citizens should be and feel safer in their homes and communities. Also, the public should be clear about the level of service they can expect from their local police by understanding that the police cannot do everything themselves, but know what to do if the standard of service the public receive does not come up to scratch. The public should be treated better as victims or witnesses to crimes, and have greater confidence in the Nigerian Police. The public should also be able to have confidence in that, the Nigerian police force and other agencies are working on their behalf in keeping their communities safe and are aware of and satisfied with their overall performance in doing so. The public should also be made aware of the part they can play in keeping themselves, their families and their communities safe. Nigerians should be treated professionally, fairly, and with respect and integrity by the police and know how to complain if this is not the case, and see a police service which is truly and honestly representative of the community it serves. A sense of duty is a laudable thing. It takes a special and God-fearing person to give their all, even when they feel they have nothing left to give. However, when we go the extra mile for people we care for, a profession we cherish or a cause we support, are we truly making a futile gesture? Is the universe laughing as it watches us struggle to do the right thing? It can seem that way at times. Effort made out of a sense of sincere generosity and duty is never wasted.

BE NOT PURSE-PROUD NOR VAIN-GLORIOUS IN THE MIDST OF YOUR FORTUNE

Wisdom governs structure. If something has a framework, a border, a plan, or a clearly defined outline, it is “wisdom.” I am easily able to see the difference between substance and style, plot and padding. The facts and the basic building blocks. However, that does not mean that I am only ever interested in the practical. This is the more reason why I pray that life brings the beginning of a great adventure involving much change in the fabric and colour of our daily routine in Nigeria. In addition, for God our creator to make our beloved nation, a nation no longer deserted. Here is the greatest single problem and danger facing our country. The big challenge and threat, the gap in wealth and health that separates rich and poor. This growing divide between wealth and poverty, between opportunity
and misery, is both a challenge to our compassion and a source of
instability. We must confront it. Our leaders must do something about it.

We need seasoned, experienced, charismatic, understanding, and compassionate leaders in Nigeria. Leaders blessed with big ideas. Nigerian leaders should be able to link ideas into action and power. We need leaders who are consummate listeners and synthesizers of ideas. Nigerian leaders should be able to win the respect of intelligent people and the affection of youths, earn the appreciation of honest critics and endure the betrayal of false friends, they must be able to find the best in others, work towards making Nigeria the most productive garden of peace and appreciate the contributions of our past leaders and heroes. Nigeria currently lack inspirational leadership, good management and politically, one of our problems is that, we always think we know so much and yet in reality we understand precious little, this unnerves me and makes me feel insecure, that I find myself unable to bear the thought that, we might be living in a world that makes no sense. Thus, we make it make sense and persuade ourselves that we can see rhyme and reason in the silliest situations. For a while, funny enough we always maintain the comforting illusion but eventually it falls apart and
such times, we grow much closer to the truth. It is very sad that the only people who know all the right answers are the ones who are asking all the wrong questions. Why can we not live our highest vision and reignite ourselves? In Nigeria, we have some people who know how to make things look good and have natural talent for positive presentation. Sometimes though, they end up using that to fool themselves! My only prayer is for God to bring a rethink, followed by a great relief.

D.AKINSANYA JULIUSON
Cultural & Public Diplomacy Practitioner and Specialist Investigator

Posted by Administrator at 04:18 PM | Comments (0)

Innocent Doctor Found Guilty Because of his Race and Nationality

by Ikechukwu Anakwenze (Los Angeles, California) --- You might have heard of this case by now, but incase you haven't, it is about the Seattle OBGYN Dr Charles Momah. Despite the overwhelming evidence proving Dr Momah's innocence, he was found guilty of rape a month ago. This issue is a matter of race and cultural bias, as opposed to the facts presented in the court case.

I am writing this letter on behalf of my uncle; Dr Charles Momah. His case has been locally and national publicized over the last two years, an unfortunately the media and general public have been given a thoroughly biased and untrue depiction of this extremely kind, amiable and gentle man. I lived with Dr Momah for two years while attending college in Seattle. In my years with him I witnessed a caring and compassionate individual, whose kindness made him what he was; a great doctor. Like many doctors, Dr Momah worked extremely hard to become a successful medical practitioner, however unlike many doctors, he has also had to overcome cultural and racial discrimination that is sometimes characteristic of a successful black
(Nigerian) man who is over-weight and talks with an accent. In no way shape or form am I pulling out the race card, I am simply speaking the facts that need to be addressed.

I followed this trail from the very beginning, to the recent verdict that was read on November 16th, and I must say I am truly shocked and appalled by the extremely unjust nature of this case. This is a classic case of profound racial bias and cultural discrimination that has gone out of hand. I respect the legal system, but call into question the foul testimonies given by numerous conniving women. I also don’t think that; given the outrageous circumstances in this case, it is unreasonable to believe that an “all white jury” precluded him from getting a fair trial. I have witnessed my
uncle cater to numerous patients in a compassionate professional manner. Without an iota of doubt, all the ridiculous claims pertaining to Dr Momah are absolutely false. I am not saying this simply because I am his nephew, I am saying this because I know Dr Momah personally to be a man off utmost character. His kindness has been exploited by deceitful people driven by hatred and greed for insurance settlement money. As valuable as excellent medical care is, it is unfortunate that we have unethical lawyers and dubious individuals who prevent competent physicians from catering to the
general public.

While other respectable physicians are spending thanksgiving with their friends and family, Dr Momah is serving time in King County jail. He is absolutely innocent. Once again, Dr Charles Momah is innocent of the charges brought against him. The verdict read on the November 16th was incredibly outrageous, and it has been nothing short of a disgrace to our legal system thus far. I implore that those involved the sentencing, set aside and prejudices that have already complicated this matter enough. I would be attending the sentencing in a few months, and anticipate that the wolves and
leaches would also be present.

Ike Anakwenze
ikeconnect@hotmail.com

Posted by Administrator at 06:16 AM | Comments (2)

December 17, 2005

Baba Iyabo and the Forty Thieves

by Farouk Martins, Omo Aresa --- Baba Iyabo, excuse me I mean, Ali Baba surely made enemies out of the forty thieves. If it was not for them, he would still be a modest farmer at Ota – siddon dey look. He would still be the philosopher farmer with constructive criticism that got him jailed and almost cost him his life. But for the forty thieves, he would still be in prison. He has since claimed - there is no sacred cow. Even more daring is his statement that if he got concrete evidence and refused to probe one of the forty thieves – no be him papa born am. Kai!

So it may not be far fetched to expect so much from him but we expect too much. He can not possibly take on the whole forty thieves and all their cohorts at the same time. Baba Iyabo has been blamed for everything that moves or stagnant under the sun. This is the price you pay when you retain the lion share of the oil receipts at the Federal level. If each Local and State Government relies on its own products and services, would there be no blame for the Federal Government or Baba Iyabo? I doubt it, may be less.

As for everything that moves, it is all tokunbos from okada, cars, trucks to air planes. Most of them are not well maintained. Nigeria has no maintenance mentality and we pay dearly with our lives on a daily basis on our roads, water and air space. Unfortunately, our poor innocent children through no fault of theirs also paid with their lives. You never know who is next. We also blame Baba Iyabo for all the used “goods” and substandard materials shipped from overseas and dumped on our shore as landfill.

Where are local and individual responsibilities? In return Baba Iyabo blames corruption. For everything? The maintenance industry is yet to be exploited in Nigeria. It is a lucrative venture that has very few patrons. The responsibility lies with each and every one of us. To be more specific, it starts from home. During my visits to many villages all over Nigeria, I was impressed with how clean the home surroundings were. People made use of that long broom very early in the morning before leaving home. There is enough blame to go round because we all depend on the oil money to do everything for us while the forty thieves circulate it only among themselves.

The forty thieves and their cohorts have now seized on the Third Term Agenda of Baba’s praise singers who would like to remain in the corridor of power for ever. Shamefully, the Student body, NANS has joined the praise singers. The forty thieves are recruiting left, right, front and center with the hope that only they can stop Baba Iyabo. While some may join the forty thieves because of 2007, the whole mess created may overshadow the anti corruption war. Eventually, I do expect Baba to resist any temptation to stay beyond his term unless he wants to mar his beloved reputation or pander to Neocolonialists.

No matter what we think about Baba Iyabo, fair minded people would tell you that he has never been a greedy man. He is arrogant we may say, because he always say he is the first Nigerian to do this and the first African to do that. That has more to do with his humble beginning than anything else. We have to remember that he was the Minister of Works under Gowon, a place most of the forty thieves made a killing. Not Obasanjo. He was a head of State after Murtala Muhammed and all they could come up with is that he diverted some of Operation Feed the Nation equipments to himself? He also stole some of the money the forty thieves gave to finance his campaign because he was broke?

He watched his subordinates spend money he could have stolen if he wanted and then he declared that who ever invested in him might as well consider their investment lost. Whose money was it anyway? They should have known that this man is a stubborn Nigerian who thinks he is more Nigerian than anyone else. Indeed, he wears it on his shoulder. He is ready to crucify a Yoruba man to prove his point. That is why he got a few votes during the 1999 election. It was even suggested that one of his wives did not vote for him in his village.

During the 1999 election, there were two Yoruba candidates because Abiola had been denied the mandate given to him across Nigeria in a free and fair election. The forty thieves decided to back Baba Iyabo. Most of the Progressives wanted Falaye, or as some would like to put it, the Yoruba candidate. Who in Nigeria did not know the backers of Obasanjo during that election?

Mr. Nigeria knew all along what he wanted to do. Why anyone would think that he would suddenly change and dance to their music is beyond me. A man who is ready to ignore his own people would dare anyone, sorry, almost anyone. Those who did not vote with the Progressive then became highly disappointed. But who could they have voted for? Falaye, a man they considered a Yoruba candidate?

Obasanjo first warning to the forty thieves was to appoint non-sponsored people from the North Central. The immediate cry was that it must not be done at the expense of the North, as if they represented the interest of the North. Middle Belt was not part of the North? What followed were the cries of marginalization from every part of the Country. Even more disturbing to those who rejected Falaye was that Obasanjo would appoint anything, not to talk about anyone from the West. He was elected to punish them for voting against him, not reward any one of them. The Yoruba wondered about what it was Obasanjo did for them to generate so much noise as if they were not part of Nigeria condemned to perpetual opposition before and after Independence.

Even Danjuma has his good use. How else could Obansanjo have retired all those military politicians without him? If Falaye or Bola Ige were the President, neither could have gotten away with that master stroke against power brokers. These forty thieves and their cohort who represent no part of the Country but their individual pockets are out to derail the war on corruption. Some of us still cry that Baba Iyabo must eradicate all the forty thieves and their cohorts. Who has ever succeeded for this length of time without being overthrown?

What we are witnessing these days is the real Obasanjo as we all knew him. A man dedicated to a cause which some of us may not agree with. Indeed, I have my own personal grudge against Baba Iyabo. I think he has been selective in his pursuit of justice. Does that word SELECTIVE ring a bell? I am talking about reading his own meaning to the judgment of the Supreme Court by denying Lagos State its share of money. I’m afraid he may not relinquish Ikoyi to the land owners since eminent domain no longer applies. I have to praise the guts of the Chief Justice Uwais who condemned this Government for selectively obeying Supreme Court judgments in a democracy.

However, pointing accusing hand at Obasanjo in the war against corruption for selecting the forty thieves is disappointing, to say the least. How can we sincerely clean up Nigeria when we refuse to credit those who have made some impact, no matter how little we think? I become weary when people start saying – I support him but not the way he is being selective. They have also picked on my man, Nuhu Ribadu about some mistress he has somewhere. I do not care. That is a clever distraction.

Again as I repeated many times before, Nigeria is not the place to espouse the notion that only those with clean hands should seek equity. Everyone is welcomed to seek equity as in justice – efulefu, devils, angels, vagabonds, 419ers, pastors, alhajis, police, soldiers, boma boys, prostitutes, etc reveal those you know. There is a place for you in heaven with as many wives or husbands as you desire, if you can only tell us your partners in crime against Nigeria. A frivolous allegation will fall on its face. Most Nigerians can read between the lines. We were not fooled when they tried to rope in Tam West or Solarin.

When Mrs. Oby Ezekwelisi, a formidable lady and presidential material first sounded the alarm that Governors were diverting local government allocations, she was challenged to a fist fight as if they did not know what she was talking about. Baba Iyabo kept quiet.

As Alamco was impeached and arrested, for some reasons, I was sad. It was not because I supported Alamco but because it had to get to that stage. This is a man who was released on bail with certain conditions after allegation of violating British law. He has since used looted hard currency in millions to dig himself further into trouble. Yet he has supporters in high places including intellectuals! Who did they blame? Ali Baba, eh, Baba Iyabo.

Why? These are folks who rightly think they have been marginalized in Nigeria but lost the fact that nobody should throw water into a basket. Granted that Nigerian Government has not done enough in the South-south, how can anyone feel the impact of whatever is done if all the money is taken out of the Country by the same people we trust to develop our backyards? Therefore, it is not unreasonable to postulate that if the money was channeled into development, there would be less anger and a little more to show and tell.

It will be hard for fair minded people to justify the military invasion of Odi, Zaki Biam, Warri or police action in Enugu and Yenagoa. Obasanjo also ordered “Shoot to Kill” against the Odua Peoples Congress in Lagos. Nigerians please do not be fooled; the people who are pushing Obasanjo and claiming these could not have happened during the time of Babagida or Abacha are now looking for strange bed fellows to discredit him. The irony fell on General Malu the invader who became the invaded.

I will not deny Obasanjo’s military instinct; that is his background. But for a long time his reason for inaction against Ethnic violence in his first term was blamed on repressed anger during past military period. Actually, Abacha gave birth to OPC. We have to be mindful of this military tendency and keep constructive pressure on him, not blame him for everything under the sun. Yes, uneasy lays the head that wears the crown. We detest Abacha who became immunized to critics, with the rational that no matter what, damned!

The Igbo have reasons for their anger against Obasanjo after they have been left out of favor since the war. They lost a great deal of business and properties all over Nigeria and were rejected even by their own considered kin, the Egbema and Ndoki in Delta states. Moreover, they voted for Obasanjo in1999 for reasons some Yoruba thought were selfish. However, Baba Iyabo, Mr. Nigeria was proud of his Igbo associates. He made a point to visit the relatives of Nzeogwu, one of the leaders of the first Nigerian coup to the dismay of some Nigerians. It brought back memories that he might have been part of the plot against the Nigerian elites that were murdered in cold blood.

What started as a noble cause turned into hate because it was bloody against those even Obasanjo admired - Ahmadu Bello, Ademulegun, Akintola, Ironsi, Fajuyi, Banjo, Issac Boro etc who paid with their lives. There was no love lost between Obasanjo and Ojukwu; and Soyinka who saw hell and came back – all for the sake of the principle of self determination. Before the first coup, Obasanjo was out of the Country and could not have dislocated the power sharing between the Igbo and Hausa/Fulani from which Akintola sought Yoruba’s share. The Hausa and the Fulani fight all the time but it is not reported. They also know how to make with any other Ethnic group.

The cold blooded massacre of poor civilians in revenge did not bring back any loved ones and remained the root of Igbo distrust of any Nigerian President who is not of Igbo extraction. Hard as it is, we have to forgive one another, may be not forget, if we want to move on. Anger can destroy self if not positively directed. Baba Iyabo has appointed Igbo as any other Nigerians to positions some considered “reserved”. Yet he has not made many more friends among Igbo. If there is any lesson to be learned about banking on Ethnic leader, learn that she/he can be chosen by outsiders.

We have to understand that when people form opinion against Baba Iyabo, it goes beyond the surface. It is deep rooted. That could be the reason some people see this war against corruption as selective. Others would like to make it Ethnic, yet Obasanjo feels well grounded among all Ethnic groups. He knows Yoruba are Yoruba’s greatest critics.

The third term agenda, contrary to what others would want us believe did not originate from Baba Iyabo. It came from praise singers who can not imagine themselves out of power. The strange bed fellows have now seized the opportunity to use it to unite themselves in spite of their wide disagreement on issues. The only advantage for Obasanjo and may be the reason he has not been denying it vigorously lately, may have to do with the fear of being a lame duck.

Farouk Martins, Omo Aresa
faroukomartins@netscape.net

Posted by Administrator at 03:41 PM | Comments (1)

Do American Liberals have a Death Wish?

by Ozodi Thomas Osuji, Ph.D. (Seatle, Washington) --- Given the current behavior of Liberals, one wonders whether they have developed a death wish. Do they want to marginalize themselves; indeed, do they want an end to liberalism? I do not know. One thing that I do know is that their current stance on many social issues indicates a wish to not be taken seriously as a political party.

The liberal wing of American politics has done the country a lot of good for one to stand by and witness it self destroy. One must, therefore, speak out, perchance the party changes its ways, and makes itself once more relevant in American politics. Think about Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Harry Truman, and Lyndon Barnes Johnson and the great good they did for America. What would America be without FDR’s New Deal legislations that radically altered the economy, from government’s lack of involvement in the welfare of the people to the present social compact whereby we all agree that Cain’s question: “Am I my brothers’ keeper”, must be answered in the affirmative. Think about LBJ’s great society programs that improved the lives of many poor minority persons, and certainly facilitated their entrance into mainstream American politics. Think about Harry Truman’s executive order that ended racial segregation in the military and the good it has done America. Yes, liberals have done America a lot of good that one wished they survived.
One wished that America’s two party systems survived. We need our two mainstream parties, one to the right of the center, and the other to the left of the center of the political spectrum. Both parties essentially accepted the underlying premises of the American polity: democracy and free enterprise economy. It is politically healthy for liberals to seek to have government be used for programs that served the people, particularly the poor and for conservatives, who understand the dangers of big government, to resist them and make sure that the government does not become so large that it begins to tell the people what to do.
John Locke’s wisdom that the best government is a limited one is balanced by John Maynard Keynes’ economic wisdom that sometimes we need to use the instrument of government to make sure that the seeming built in cycles of boom and bust in capitalist economies are ameliorated. The two parties, conservatives and liberals, balanced each other out, and the result is the excellent government we have had in this country.
Sometimes we need government intervention in, and regulation of, the economy, but realistic conservatives ascertain that the government does not go too far least it destroys the goose that lays the golden eggs. Liberals can get so carried away by their do good thinking that they want to use the government to solve just about every ill that dogs mankind, unaware of the consequences of what they are doing, enlarging the government to a point that it becomes monolithic and overbearing and begins to tell the people how to live their lives.
Think of the USSR’s government and its total control of society, all in the name of serving the people’s welfare, and how it became authoritarian and totalitarian, and, worse, killed the incentive for people to work hard and in the process essentially destroyed the Russian economy.
The free enterprise system, as envisaged by Adam Smith, has its built-in flaws and needs to be corrected by Keynesian thinking, but we must make sure that we do not go too far and over regulate the economy, and or take too much money out of the hands of hardworking people through taxes, that they no longer have the incentive to work hard. In short, America benefited from the struggles of the liberal and conservative wings of its system maintaining parties.
The thinking of liberals today suggests that they have decided to take themselves away from playing significant role in American politics. Perhaps, they have decided to exit American politics, and or be replaced by another party?
Our Anglo-Saxon tradition somehow works in such a way that two strong political parties exist in the land. This is certainly the way it is in Britain, Australia, New Zealand, and Canada, and until recently the United States of America. When one of the mainstream parties decides to die, it is replaced by the emergence of another, to maintain the traditional two-party system.
In Britain, the Liberal Party essentially marginalized itself and was replaced by the Labor Party, so that Britain continues to have two strong political parties, labor and Conservative. In the recent past, it was Liberal and Conservative Parties that competed to rule Britain.
In America, we had the Federalists and the anti Federalists factions, and later the Tories and Whigs, and much later the Democrats and Republicans. We have always managed to have two parties, and as one ruling party chooses to bow out, another replaces it. America has not been like continental European countries with their multiparty systems. Our traditional stability, among other factors, lies in our wise choice for two political parties, both of whom are system supportive. One of our parties always leans to the left and the other to the right. The weaknesses of continental Europe, inter alia, are attributable to their multi party system. Many political parties weaken the country so much so that occasional dictators were needed to restore some sort of stability in their polities.
Nature abhors power vacuum. If indeed the American Democratic Party has decided to destroy itself, the polity will spring forth another mainstream political party to replace it. But, in the meantime, one cannot help but ask why this otherwise acceptable political party is doing what guarantees its demise? Why are democrats indulging in social policies that alienate the American people?
Has the Democratic Party forgotten that political parties exist to articulate the wishes of the people, to compete for the right to win elections and translate public opinion into public policies? In a democratic polity, political parties do not tell the people what they should do, but do for them what they want done.
The American people do not want God removed from their social discourse, they do not want abortion on demand, and they do not want legalization of homosexuality. Yet the Democratic Party seems bent on forcing American people to accept these values.
America is a Christian nation. That is a fact and is not up for debate. However, our Founding fathers appreciated what happens in theocratic states and decided to separate church from state. They did not want to destroy religion but to make sure that secular rulers are not beholden to any particular religious sect.
If we are intellectually honest, we accept that we do not know what God is, or is not. All we know is that at a deeper level we feel that there is God.
History teaches us that sometimes some deluded individual has interpretations of what God is, or is not, and is motivated to superimpose his interpretations on the rest of society. Our founding fathers realistically appreciated that religion ought to be an individual thing, that no one ought to have others views of God imposed on him. Therefore, our founding fathers correctly insisted that religion had to be separated from the state. They wanted to leave individuals the freedom to gravitate to whatever interpretation of God makes sense to them, not the one that a state religion told them is true.
We witnessed the horrors of the Spanish inquisition and other Roman Catholic atrocities, such as making Galileo recant his scientific discoveries; we witnessed what the Church of England did to those who did not accept Oliver Cromwell’s particular view of God. Today, we witness what apparently deluded Islamic mullahs did in Afghanistan, Iran and other places in the Muslim world.
Today’s liberals consider themselves so smart that like the fool, they know that there is no God. With little scientific understanding, they are convinced that God does not exist. They see belief in God as superstitious and want to eradicate it from our society. They want our society to remove all symbols of God from its public institutions. They have joined forces with the godless ACLU and other knows it all organizations to remove God from American society.
Given man’s sinful nature, he needs moral agents to continue to teach him to behave morally. Indeed, it is doubtful that a human civilization can exist without religion?
The question is not whether there should be religion or not, but to make sure that our efforts to reconnect to our source is as rational as is possible. But liberals want to remove all signs of religion from America. They want to do so even though over 90% of Americans say that they believe in God. Apparently, these liberals believe that they know more than religious Americans do and want to impose their deemed better understanding of the nature of phenomena on all Americans. In so doing, they have become dictators and want to ram their godlessness on a godly people.
If democracy means government by the majority of the people, liberals who want to impose their godlessness on Americans are not democrats. One cannot see why less than ten percent of the people should be making policies for the 90% of the people who believe in God.
Abortion is another area where liberals want to impose their views on Americans. History teaches us that no matter what we do some women would become pregnant and want to get rid of their pregnancies. Whereas the best policy is to encourage those women to carry their pregnancy to term, and if they do not want their children, give them up for abortion, the reality of human fickleness is that some women seek abortion. Okay, abortion is a reality of life, so make it available for those who want it. Roe Versus Wade is a necessary evil. We do not need to go back to the past when women who wanted abortion resorted to back alley quack doctors to satisfy their wishes.
Nevertheless, to abort a child is to kill a child. A society that accepts the killing of children simply because some women do not want them is devaluing life. If abortion on demand is accepted, sooner or later, we must so devalue life that we shall have eugenic social policies. It should be remembered that the founders of the Planned Parenthood movement were not only eugenics but wanted to prevent poor persons, particularly minority persons from having children. These people were not always the angels they made themselves out to be. They may be nihilists.
Empirical observation indicates that certain persons are unproductive elements in society. The mentally ill and the developmentally delayed are examples. If life is to be preserved on the basis of pragmatism, as abortion choosing feminism teaches, it follows that we should exterminate the unproductive elements of society? These people are kept alive because society values all lives; they are kept alive through the support of normal persons’ taxes, taxes they themselves do not pay.
If abortion on demand or so-called women’s right to choose becomes cavalierly accepted, the next logical argument is to destroy those we do not want in society, those who do not contribute to the economy and who must be supported by the tax payers. Therefore, to avert cheapening human life, every rational society discourages abortion as much as is possible, while understanding that some form of it will always exist.
Realism teaches us that man is not an angel, and is not going to become perfect in the near future. So, rational persons tolerate some abortion but not make it an admired social policy.
What do the Democrats do? They jump in bed with death seeking radical feminists who teach abortion on demand, and want society to make abortion very easy. They accept the dangerous hypothesis of a woman’s right to choose what to do with her body. True, we all must choose what to do with our bodies, but if what you do with your body entails killing another human being; your right must be limited by society. When behavior has negative consequences for other human beings, we all must intervene to make sure that it is prosocial, not antisocial.
Some abortion must be allowed, such as when a woman’s life is in danger, and when pregnancy is as a result of rape, but reason teaches that in other instances society ought to discourage abortion, so as to preserve the sanctity of human life.
The Republican Party wisely adopts this benign neglect policy towards abortion. The party looks the other way as abortion bent women get what they want. But the Democratic Party chooses to forsake reason and mouth the death welcoming logic of radical feminists who want women to kill their children on demand.
These feminists are unaware that the logical consequences of their choice are the killing of women themselves. Just look at what is happening in China. Male dominated society and logic teaches that men will always dominate society because stronger animals always dominate weak ones, generally prefer male to female children. Developments in ultra sound technology have made it possible to ascertain the gender of the child in the womb, and if the choice is what child to abort, the chances are that it would be the female child. It is already happening in China and could happen here. If we are still an adult reasoning society, we understand why society prefers boys to girls: in times of war, and war is always a part of human society, we need strong men to defend society.
The other perplexing policy choice of Democrats is their support of legalization of homosexuality and the oxymoronic concept of same sex marriage.
It is true that throughout the animal kingdom there are always those animals that prefer sex with their gender. Probably about one to two percent of the human population has always been homosexual, two percent pedophiles, two percent psychotic, two percent developmentally delayed, and two percent antisocial. In every large population, deviance from the norm exists in the order of one to two percent.
There seems nothing we can do to change reality. We cannot wish homosexuality away just as we cannot wish criminals, pedophiles and the mentally ill away. We have to live with these deviant persons. We have to tolerate them, but toleration is not approval. Toleration does not mean that we should normalize deviancy, as the homosexual lobby would have us do. These people would like nothing better than for normal society to approve their self-destructive lifestyle, thereby making us party to it. They are seeking assisted suicide and some of us refuse to help them do so, though they are free to destroy themselves by themselves.
The main argument of the homosexual lobby is that they are the way they are as a result of biological determinism. By the same token, criminals are probably determined by their biology?
If it can be demonstrated that there are genes disposing to antisocial personality disorder, should we therefore legalize criminality?
There is putative biological factor in the etiology of the major mental disorders (schizophrenia, Delusional Disorder, Bipolar Affective Disorder, Depression etc.). Should we, therefore, stop seeking a cure for these mental disorders and simply say that because nature predisposes persons to disordered thinking, and to hallucinate in one or more of the five senses that they should be accepted as normal?
Why don’t we permit known schizophrenics and or deluded persons to become our political leaders? Why decry an Adolf Hitler who obviously had delusional disorder, grandiose type, being in politics? Why not tolerate deluded politicians who believe that we ought to kill our enemies even if those enemies are the product of their overheated imaginations?
If we put away political correctness, it is obvious that intelligence is largely inherited. We know that about two percent of the population of all races tends to have superior IQ (over 132), two percent tends to have inferior IQ (under 70) and that the rest of us have average intelligence (IQ 100-110, with some being above average, IQ between 120-130). Since about two percent of the population inherited inferior intelligence should we then stop making efforts to improve their lives and simply accept them as they are?
Research will soon show that some people are born with preference for sex with children. Yes, there are adult men who want to have sex with six-year-old children. Satan’s revered priest, Paul Shanely, wrote articles arguing that adult men should have sex with six year old or even younger boys. The North American Adult-boy Association devotes itself to seeking civil rights for adult men to have sex with one-year old children.
Whereas rational adults want to protect children, cowardly ones want to have sex with them. If you must have sex, why not do so with fellow adults and obtain their permission rather than from children whom you can intimidate into doing whatever you want them to do for you? Cowardice is afoot in the land, and these contemptible and dastardly people who ought to be shot on the spot now ask for their civil rights to inflict pain on children.
Since it can be proved that pedophiles are predisposed to be so by their genes, should society approve it? Why not? If we are going to approve homosexuality on the basis of its biological causation, why not approve other odious behaviors that are possibly determined by individuals’ biological constitution?
Just thinking about what homosexuals do makes the average male want to throw up. It takes some sort of inherited predisposition for a man to overcome what is otherwise a shameful act, and ask another man to insert his penis into his anus and mouth and call that absurd activity enjoyable. Obviously nature made the penis to go into the vagina, not the anus or mouth. (Homosexuals do not want the public to know what they do, to prevent public disgust at them; therefore, we must let the public know what these creatures do.)
Odious as homosexuality is, experience teaches us that we are not going to wish it away. In fact, if you oppose it, its practitioners are more likely to engage in it. They would do so as an act of defiance.
God’s children are a defiant lot and would defy whatever you tell them not to do. They would do so if only to tell you that you cannot make them behave in a certain manner, hence have power over them. They want to seem like they have power, and control and can do whatever they feel like doing. Indeed, some have argued that the world itself began as an act of defiance of God and is maintained by continuing defiance of God.
Rational persons, therefore, desist from telling other human beings what to do; they do not preach against homosexuality, they simply ignore it. If folks want to desecrate themselves, that is their prerogative, provided they take the consequences of their actions. Placing ones penis into feces is likely to lead to infection with bacteria, virus and fungus. Homosexuals tend to incur sexual and other diseases at a greater rate than heterosexuals. This is not including the fact that their sexual practices so widen their anuses that in their old age they practically have feces drooping out of their bowels. Many of them have to wear diapers.
There is a price to be paid for childish oppositional defiant behavior. If in your effort to seem powerful and in control of your body and what you do with it you defy nature, you must pay a price. Homosexuals pay a terrible price for their childish behavior and one does not worry about it. Adult reasoning tells one that all of us must take the consequences of our behaviors, so one does not loose sleep if one sees decrepit old homosexuals.
So you want to be homosexual? Be my guest and do as you please, provided you do not do what you do in my presence? Rational persons adopt a live and let live policy without supporting homosexuals’ self-destructive life style.
The Democratic Party forsakes prudence and wants to pass laws to legalize every absurd life style they see. They want to legalize so-called same sex marriage. They know that over 70% of Americans do not approve of homosexuality but they want to ram down our throats their absurd friend’s insistence on ramming things down people’s throats. They want to convert all of us to the wish of normalizing deviancy. Indeed, one of these days they would want us to see deviancy as normalcy. (Just wait and see; if homosexuality is legalized, the very next day the battle would be to legalize pedophilia. When societies begin to decay, they do so quickly.)
The homosexual lobby argues that homosexuality is a civil rights issue. They equate their struggle with black Americans struggle for civil rights. They point out that if left alone that white Americans would not have permitted whites and blacks to intermingle, that it took laws that did not respect racist whites’ desires to give blacks civil liberties. Even the devil Bible quotes scripture to make its case.
There is a difference between civil rights for blacks and civil rights for homosexuals, pedophiles, criminals and other antisocial persons. Blackness is a biological state. As far as one knows, no one chooses his race?
Homosexuality is a behavior. Individuals can choose their behaviors. Homosexuals can choose not to do the disgusting thing they do. Of course, they have a right to choose to do what they do but they do not have a right to ask us to approve it. If they want to destroy themselves, the universe permits that, but they do not have a right to ask us to be a party to their assisted suicide.
While we are on the subject of the similarity of black civil rights and so-called homosexual civil rights, let us point out that Africans loathe homosexuality. They consider it insulting and degrading to equate their struggle to be free men with homosexuals’ struggle to be perverted men.
In traditionally African societies, people did not approve homosexuality. Yes, there were homosexuals and other deviants in Africa but what happened was that these creatures were told to leave their villages and never to return. They were ostracized and banished for life. Those who engaged in incest were literally banished. (Ah, soon, there will be a battle cry by the decadent to legalize incest. Why not? Every thing that occurs is natural, as Homosexuality occurs and is natural, incest occurs and is natural, and so it must be legalized. As Dostoyeski said in Brothers Karamazov, once we remove God from social discourse, every behavior is permissible.)
Please take note of what is going on in the World Anglican Church. African Anglicans adamantly opposed the consecration of same sex marriages. Indeed, they have influenced the kicking out of the American Episcopal Church from the Anglican community for elevating a gay bishop, Robinson, to that high position. American Episcopalians have desecrated the Church of Christ, and Africans want them out or they go form their own Church of Christ. Let narcissistic gay Americans Episcopalians go worship their bodies, their craven idols, and leave other Christians to worship the God of the Bibles that tells us that a man should not lay with another man (Leviticus, 18:22).
Finally, there is considerable historical evidence that when homosexuality is permitted into the open that society degenerates and dies. Greek civilization died when it permitted the two percent perverted men in it to desecrate boys. Roman civilization died when it permitted the likes of Nero to abuse boys. All things being equal, Western civilization will die if it permits the legalization of the abusive behavior called homosexuality.
We must remember that great empires come and go and are replaced by others. Already China and other Asiatic peoples are poised to replace us, and would gladly do so if we permit our society to degenerate and collapse.
One is simply baffled why Democrats support every thing that is decadent and repulsive? Why do these so-called liberals depart from the struggle to improve every one lives to destroying people’s lives?
Democrats have gone sentimental and no longer appreciate the evil nature of human beings. They have bought the sentimental claptrap of academic professors who teach that human beings are good by nature and, as such, ought to be treated with kid gloves. History teaches us that men do prey on other men. In the state of nature, Thomas Hobbes hypothesized that life was nasty, brutish and short because all preyed on all. In the real world of international politics, nations prey on other nations. Therefore, adult reason teaches us to always be prepared for other nations attack on us. We must always try to balance power with whoever has power to defeat us.
As John Stuart Mill pointed out in On Liberty, our liberties are safeguarded by our eternal vigilance, and by military strength. Become weak and other nations would chew you up.
If American had not developed a strong military, the slaves of communism would today be governing us; America would be another republic in Russia’s empire of slaves. And if we do not continue to make our military second to none in the world, China and other Asiatics would gladly take our country over. In the face of this historical reality, Democrats want to weaken our military.
One watched John Kerry talk nonsense about withdrawing our troops from the Middle East. If we did not fight Arab Muslim terrorists in their lands, we would have to fight them on American streets. As a matter of fact, President Bush has not gone far enough in trying to counter Muslim terrorists. He ought to insist on change of regimes in all Middle Eastern lands. He ought to insist that their governments be elected in a democratic manner because history teaches us that elected governments who have to obtain their people’s periodic approval in order to stay in office hesitate to go to wars or support terrorists. It is autocrats that go to war at their whims.
I suggest that the United States government adopt a policy of not recognizing unelected governments worldwide. We can relate to these non-democratic governments through our embassies but they should never be permitted to talk to our elected officials like the president and congressmen. Oriental despots and their minions can talk to our appointed officials like the Secretary of state and his deputation in other countries, ambassadors, but not to our democratically elected officials.
We also ought to get the United Nations to change its charter and require only elected governments to have membership in the United Nations.
These very simple measures could get most of the oriental despots to suddenly become democratic and, as such, pose less threat to America.
The primary function of government is to protect the people from each other, and from external others. We must, therefore, have a strong military and fight wars that protect our liberties.
Give the military whatever it wants, if you want your liberty, but the Democrats want to destroy the military just as they want to destroy every value Americans cherish.
I do not know why Democrats are bent on self-destruction and the destruction of America along with it. What I do know is that if the Democratic Party continues on the path it is on, it will be marginalized and become irrelevant in American politics. The Republican Party would become the dominant party, and, perhaps, in time a new Social Democratic Party would rise to replace what has increasingly become a moribund Democratic party.
Perhaps it is time for the Democratic Party to go? But if it wants to survive, it must restructure itself and stop espousing destructive social policies.

Ozodi@africainstituteseattle.org

December 13, 2005

Posted by Administrator at 03:10 PM | Comments (0)

December 13, 2005

Nigeria - Wake Up: An Opinion on Recent Plane Crashes

by Emmanuel Egwuagu --- Questions to Nigerians: are you all blind to see what is happening? Within the space of two months, there have been three plane crashes involving airline providers that do not include Virgin Nigeria !!! Ironic!! So, Virgin Local is now the safest airline in Nigeria......Yeah Right!!!!

Virgin has withdrawn direct flights to Port Harcourt. So, we can only get direct flights to Lagos and Abuja on their so called Virgin Nigeria International. Now, for me to travel to another city like Port Harcourt, I will have to book another flight "Virgin Nigeria Local" at an additional cost?

Sorry, this is all about money and we Nigerians are too thick to see how they manupulate us. Who owns Virgin Nigeria? Who are the investors?

It is monopoly, as they know we are the most frequent travellers in the whole world. So they take advantage of our stupid, ignorant, greedy nature to feed their dreams.

Wake up Nigeria, wake to the reality of life and stop the western world and those nigerian government theives from selling the country.

Posted by Administrator at 05:38 AM | Comments (3)

The Nature of Sanity and Insanity (Part 2)

by Ozodi Thomas Osuji (Seatle, Washington) --- Come to your creator as he created you, not as you made you. Give up the self you made to replace the self he created you as. Come home to what Buddha called selflessness. (A better name for it is no-separated self, for you still have a self, a unified Christ self.)

TWO JOURNEYS: OUTWARDS AND INWARDS

Let me rephrase what I have said above. We all undertake two journeys, the first an ego based, outwards, separating journey; the other, a Christ based, homewards bound, unifying journey.
During the first journey, we separate from God, from our true self and from other people and come to the world and look after our self’ interests. This is earthly man. This journey is directed by the ego, by self interests.
During the second journey, we let go of the ego and trust in the Holy Spirit to direct us. The Holy Spirit directs the journey homewards, to our real home and real self, the unified Christ.
During the ego directed journey, ones ego is swollen and one feels in charge of ones life. One pays the price of feeling fear, anxiety, anger, hate, hostility, grievance, revenge, lack of love, lack of peace, having personality disorder, shame, pride, humiliation, belittlement, avoidance, all in a futile effort to keep the big ego. In extreme cases, one experiences depression, paranoia, mania, schizophrenia and so on.
During the homewards bound journey, the journey inwards, love and the Holy Spirit guides one and one does not feel any of the noxious effects of the outward bound journey. One is in peace and loves all people and is always happy.


FORGIVENESS

Forgiveness is overlooking the world one sees (a world one, along with other people, invented). One gives up ones ego ideals, ones plans to improve the self and world one made so as to seem all powerful from doing so. One overlooks all the hurts one had felt that made one feel angry. One loves all people, not their egos and bodies, but the spirit of Christ, union, in them. One does not judge people’s ego/body behaviors as good or bad, for those behaviors are by definition insane, since they are based on the ego and the ego is insane. What is done in insanity is neither good nor bad; what needs to be done is over look them, forgive them, to see what is truly good, unified spirit.


THE PURSUIT OF IDEALISM, FANTASY

In the past one sought an ideal ego, ideal other people, ideal social institutions, and ideal world. These ideals are not going to come about. The ideal is mentalistic, an idea, a concept, a cognition devoid of physical properties.
Ideals exist apart of matter but real human beings live in bodies, matter; their bodies limit what they do.
In our imaginations, fantasy, we do everything, including flying. In imagination, ones weak body becomes strong and one does what one could not do in the physical world: such as excel in sports and work. Idealism is a waste of time and energy, for what is idealized and desired will not come into being.
The pursuit of ego idealism is really an escape into fantasy. One negates the world of realism and lives in fantasy. One is not doing what the real world asks of one to adapt to it. Neurotics and psychotics are usually unproductive people; indeed, the psychotic is not even able to support himself materially and others have to feed him. Still, it is true that these people did not like the world they saw and want to negate it. Negation of the world is cowardly and escapist. The courageous thing to do is to understand the self that one does not like. We must study the ego in as objective a manner as is possible, that is, study the science of psychology. We must then design a technology of thinking, mind, (Cognitive Behavior Therapy) that enables the individual to properly adapt to the exigencies of this world rather than escape from it.

JUDGMENTALNESS

Having posited his ideal mentalistic yardsticks, the idealist uses them to judge real human beings’ behaviors. He is always judgmental of himself and other people.
In doing so, he makes life miserable for himself and other people, those he judges. Judgment of the physically real with the imaginary ideal is actually an insane behavior, for it merely makes ones self and other people miserable without improving any ones life. Life on earth is not going to become art; reality is not going to be fiction, for earthly reality is circumscribed by matter, space and time.
The neurotic and psychotic mind comes up with ideals. Even though the ideal self is not real, the neurotic identifies with it and from its standpoint talks and behaves. The proud identify with a proud self and try to talk as if they are their superior proud self. They feel angry when their proud self is humiliated; they feel fearful when others threaten their ideal self. That is, the ideal self, though mentalistic, is of the mind, if believed and acted on, seems real to one and elicits all the affects in one.
If one identifies with the false, one feels as the false would when attacked: fearful, angry, sad, paranoid, hateful etc.
It is the false ideal self that feels all those upsets, the real self does not know fear, pride, shame, anger etc.
Reality is not wished, it is what it is, spirit. We wish for an alternative to it, a purely mental alternative.
Thinking, mind, can wish whatever it wants and pursue them and they seem real to it. We defend what we desire and in doing so they seem real to us.
We use matter, body to defend the idea of having a self concept, a separated special self and that makes it seem real to us. We use space, time and matter, all illusions to make these separated selves seem real and they seem real to us. We dream them but they are not real.


IN DREAMS WHAT WE WISH THAT CANNOT BE FULFILLED IN REALITY ARE GRATIFIED


In our daily lives, we are limited by the reality of physical and social laws. We cannot fly unless we have wings. We cannot do all sorts of things. At night we sleep and dream and in our dreams do most of the things we wished to do during day time that we could not do. Dreams offer us opportunity to fulfill our childish, impossible wishes, to make reality of what we want it.
In reality, we are unified and were created by God; in dreams, on earth, we seem separated and self created. Once I had a dream with Jesus in it. In it, I made Jesus tell me to go write my own book on metaphysics, that is, I made him fulfill what I wish to do, write a book on metaphysics. I used Jesus to tell me to do what my ego wants to do.
What my ego wants to do, replace Jesus, if given to the Holy Spirit, can be done, not in a competitive manner but in a cooperative manner, for Jesus needs to be replaced, Bhakti religion need to be replaced with Jnana thinking.
The world is wish fulfillment, we wished to destroy God, union and replace it with separation. We seem to have destroyed union and live individuated lives. We seem to have destroyed Christ and replaced him with the ego.


EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS TO THE INDIVIDUAL IS HIS WISH FULFIMENT

Every thing that happens to the individual is his wish fulfillment. Everything happens to one exactly as one wish it, for the world is a dream in which our wishes seem realized for us. If you wish to have sex with others, you will do so in your dream. If you wish to be poor, you will be poor (for poverty makes your ego seem real to you). If you wish to be discriminated by your white brothers, you will be discriminated and discrimination makes your ego seem real to you and makes you feel justified anger and attack them and they defend themselves.
Ego wishes and dreams on earth can be understood and replaced. They can be replaced with unified wishes, still wishes hence a dream, and dreamed of.
In Holy Spirit directed wishes and dreams, one forgives and loves all people. One brings union to separation, heaven to earth, love to hate. A place where love is brought in becomes a holy place.
One is still in the world of wishes and dreams but because ones wishes now approximate heaven’s purpose of union, one is peaceful and happy.
Ones hitherto wishes for poverty and experience of poverty made ones ego seem real to one; now that one does not wish to be an ego and wish an abundant self, one would no longer be poor or suffer. This is so because if one forgives and loves all people, they forgive and love one and make ones living peaceful, happy. People who feel loved by one feel peaceful and happy around one and will reciprocate the favor; some will do their best to help one, such as open the doors of opportunity to one. Love opens doors to wealth.

The world is our individual and collective wishes represented in dreams. Nothing can happen to the individual outside his wishes (thinking) and dreams where those wishes are fulfilled.
One may deny that one wishes for what happens to one, but reality is what it is. I, for example, wished for white America to abuse me and I got what I wished. Those white Americans who wish to abuse blacks abused me.
No one is guilty for I got what I asked for. Now I wish to be loved. I love and forgive all people and they love and forgive me and make live abundant for me.
When I was a kid, I used to wish that I had a body that no bullet could destroy. I would then single handedly take over the government and transform it into doing what I thought was good for the country (mostly socialist ideals). This is fantasy. It is not going to happen, for empirically, bullets do destroy bodies; there is nowhere in history where bodies are not destroyed by bullets. History, reality, is not going to make an exception for me.
I wished to transform Africa into a modern society. That is not going to happen. Africa will evolve gradually and in the next couple of centuries catch up with other continents. Africans must learn to walk before they can run; they are not going to be at Western levels of scientific and technological attainments without first developing the educational and other infrastructures that are necessary for doing so.

Actually, my failure in life is attributable to my pursuing ideals. I do not pursue the real and did not do what is doable in the world of matter, space and time. I rejected the real and quested after the imaginary. I rejected my body, matter, space and time and sought the ideal, the mentalistic alternative to the real, that which is not going to come into being.
First, I dwelled on ego ideals and later on spiritual ideals. Both ego and spiritual ideals are concepts, mental constructs and will not occur in space, time and matter. Therefore, seeking ego and spirit ideals are ways of guaranteeing ones failure on earth.
I do not like any job in the real world; I do not even want to work within the parameters of known organizational bureaucracies. For example, I could not work for the United Nations for I did not want to operate under its political culture where the powerful nations tell the weak ones what to do. To pay my bills, I take dead end jobs; hence do not make good income.
Once you reach a fork in the road and reject the ego and its world, you cannot go back and embrace it. You have already rejected it. You may doodle and dream for a better world, fantasy, idealism, and waste your time. What you need to do is seek spiritual realism, not spiritual idealism.
Spiritual realism is not wished for; spirit is there and if you do what you must do to experience it, you experience it. If you meet spirit’s conditions, forgive and love all people, you experience it.
You did not make the spiritual world, God created it. How you experience it is beyond your ego understanding.

DISCUSION

All human beings have mental illness, for to be human is to be mentally ill. A human being and ip so facto denied his real self and identified with a false self hence is living a false existence. Whoever denies his true self is mentally ill.
Psychiatry correctly diagnoses people as having this or that mental disorder. Most of the Diagnoses in the American Psychiatric Association’s Diagnostic and Statistical Manual are true mental states and ought to be treated. What is wrong is that the West does in lieu of treatment of mental disorders.
In this world, we all rejected our true self and live as false selves. We live in a collective illusion, Maya. Those who live within the context of the collective dream are said to be normal.
At this moment, about 90% of the people are normal, about 2% have psychoses (schizophrenia, delusional Disorder, Bipolar affective disorder etc), 6% has personality disorders and 2% has mental retardations (IQ under 70).
That is to say that most human beings are normal, and are operating within normal insanity. Abnormal persons, in addition to undergoing our collective ego dream, undertake individualistic dreams that are outside the norm. Like every human being on earth, they denied their real self and identified with a false separated ego self. For some reasons, their ego selves are unable to adapt to the realities of this world. They, therefore, reject them. They then invent different separated selves, egos, ones that are outside the orbit of what society calls the normal self.
The abnormal person wants to use his new self to replace his normal self. Thus, he has two levels of insanity: the normal insanity he shares with all people on earth and a secondary insanity (neurosis and or psychosis), he shares with no one. Such persons substitute the false self they individually invented for the normal self we collectively invented. They then want everybody to accept their secondary replacement self as their true identity. They struggle mightily to get themselves and other people to accept their secondary ideal, powerful and perfect self as their true self. They struggle to get society to approve their false secondary self as their true self. They want to make the unreal real; make an illusion real.
Neurosis is the effort to make an unreal self real. Psychosis is the belief that the false self is already a true self. The insane person believes that his false self, the self he wishes to be, the ideal, powerful and superior self is real and defends it. He avoids living in proximity with other people, lives isolated existence and wanders the streets and byways of this world, alone, just so that he convinces himself that he is his wished for ideal, perfect self.
The insane person avoids other people, so as to gratify his wish for a delusion to be true. In isolation, the untrue is made to seem true. In the collectivity, even here on earth, only what the group agrees upon as true is true. Since the group does not agree that the man who sees himself as better than other people is so, they reject him, and wishing to retain his illusion of specialness, he leaves the group and wanders the byways of this world, living in his own world, talking to himself and seeing what is not seen by other people.

SELF CONSCIOUSNESS

Human beings are self consciousness. Indeed, some claim that self consciousness is what separates human beings from other biological organisms. (How do we know that other animals are not self conscious?)
Some human beings are extremely self conscious. They feel like other people are always looking at them, evaluating them, seeing whether they are good or not. (This may be called ideas of self reference and centrality. See Swanson et al, The Paranoid; William Meissner, Paranoid Process, Psychotherapy for Paranoid Process.)
Shy persons are generally self conscious. Self consciousness is associated with anxiety. Why so? The self conscious person posits a self he wants to become, usually an ideal self concept and ideal self image. He then wonders if other people see him as he wants to be seen, as ideal (superior and perfect). He fears that other people may see through his mask, and see him for what he is, not ideal. Anxiety derives in fear of not being seen as the ideal perfect self he wants to become.
The ideal self is a false self, it is not who the individual is, in fact. Only the false separated self can be self conscious. In fact, self consciousness is a futile effort to make the false separated self real. Thinking that other people are always looking and examining the separated self makes the separated self seem real in its awareness.
Human beings feel self conscious because they want to be their ideal separated selves. To the extent a person does not identify with the separated special self, he does not feel inordinately self conscious. (See Burke, Cosmic Consciousness.)
The separated self is the self consciousness self; the real self is not self conscious. The real self knows itself to be unified with other selves and does not know other people as apart from it. Since other people are part of one, they cannot be looking at one and evaluating one as either good or bad. It is the false self concept that feels evaluated by other separated selves and feels anxious, fearful etc.


MENTAL ILLNESS IS SEPARATION FROM OTHER PEOPLE; MENTAL HEALTH IS UNION WITH OTHER PEOPLE

On earth, we have all separated from the collectivity, known by religions as God. If we had not separated from the whole we would not be on earth. We came to earth to seem separated from the whole and from the other parts of that whole. We invented space, time and matter to make separation seem real. Each of us is in a body and body gives him a sense of boundary from other people; body makes separation seem real to the individual. Space between people and the time it takes to reach people make separation seem real. We live in a world of separation.
Those who live in the world of separation, by definition, have denied the truth. The truth is eternal union. The truth is union of all things.
Actually, the individual has no choice but to accept union, for it is the truth. You deliberately denied the truth and decide when you will accept it. I cannot tell you when you will accept it, for every child of God has the freedom to decide when to accept truth, indeed, he has already decided when to accept it. My function as a dibia is to remind you of the truth, not to force it on you.

Eventually, we must all return to union. We must all return to love. We must all return to God. We must all jettison our false separated self concepts and embrace our real self, the unified self. When we jettison the false separated self housed in body and embrace the unified self we become mentally healthy.
In unified state, we think as unified self, not as separated self. Unified self is spirit and cannot be in body. While in body, forms, we can, however, choose to approximate unified self by forgiving and loving every person on earth.
Forgiveness, as brother Jesus taught us, brings us closer to our real self, and as Sister Helen Schucman taught us, in her metaphor galore manner, brings us to the gate of heaven. Forgiveness gives us a happy dream and makes us live as close to the real self and real world as is possible. Forgiveness brings us close to heaven that we might as well be said to be living in heaven, the real world.
In our present world, there are levels of separation and pursuit of specialness. As noted, all of us are separated and pursue specialness. The majority of us are normal separated persons, or as I call it, normal insane persons. A handful of the people, no more than two percent of the population, are abnormal insane persons (Psychotics). A few more are neurotics and or personality disordered persons.
Schizophrenia, Delusion disorder, Mania, depression, anxiety disorders, personality disorders are more intense means of separation. These people invented more disordered special selves; they want to be perfect selves and since that cannot be possible, even on earth, for we are all the same and equal, in eternity and on earth, they separated from even the normal insane world and live in their own more insane world.
All mental illness, normal or abnormal, is pursuit of special self via separation. All mentally ill people desire superior selves and separate from other people, so as to go maintain their false superior selves. They would rather be alone, and keep their false big self than return to other people and accept our equal unified self.
(RD Laing made psychotics out as mystics and Thomas Tzas denied the reality of mental illness. Both were right and wrong; the mentally ill rejected the extant world and replaced it with his own inventions and defends that world, an illusion. It is an illusion for it is defended with fear. The real is not defended with fear and anger. Thomas Tzas is wrong in saying that mental illness is a myth; people do have mental illness and need to be healed, not through medications but through changing their thinking patterns.)
Mental disorder derives from efforts to have a false perfect self. To be mentally healthy, the individual must give up the wish that led to his mental illness. He must relinquish the desire for a special self and must stop the desire for separation. He must accept that God created him and that he did not create himself. He must give up his childish separated self, the self he invented to replace the self God created for him, the holy, unified self. He must give up the separated self concept and its self image; he must give up his ego and personality and accept the Christ self.

While still in the world of space, time and matter, it is impossible to entirely give up the separated special self and still live in this world. This world is a place of separation and specialness and those who live here must have separated selves. The most that one can do is have a normal special separated self, that is, attain normal state, normal insanity.
If you think that you have a separated self, as you must do if you are on earth, and then use it to love all people. When one uses ones ego, false as the ego may be, to love other egos, one is normal. One feels some peace and happiness. One attains what Bahaullah called the less peace. One is at the gate of heaven (Dante’s purgatory).
The lesser peace is not the same as what the Iranian mystic called the greater peace. The greater people lie only in heaven, in the totally unified world of spirit. There are no forms in heaven, so that is out of the question in the world of the here and now.
We are currently in form and that is okay. Just use your form, use your ego and body to love other children of God who also believe that they are in forms.
This means changing your pattern of thinking, from desiring special separated self to desiring unified equal self. It means stopping the defense of a special superior self. It means defending the unified, same and equal self. You give up defending your wished for ego ideal and now defend our equal self.
Though in reality, truth does not need defense to be true, but in as much as you denied it and defend the false, you must change and now defend the truth. You must defend your real self, our unified equal self.
At all times, you must see yourself as equal with all people and defend that fact, rather than defend the illusion of your superior separate self. When you consistently defend union, equality and work for our mutual common interests, have what Adler called social interests; when you forgive, love and serve all humanity, you would experience peace and happiness. If in addition, you practice meditation, you would experience what Helen Schucman called Holy Instant, what I have been calling unified state. This experience is a bit of heaven while one is still on earth. Brother Jesus called it bringing the kingdom of God, the kingdom of peace and happiness to the world of space, time and matter.
I am your ancient brother, Thomas, who has returned to teach a skeptical world that God really exists. To understand skeptical persons, he himself was a skeptical person. If you think that you are a doubting person, I am the most doubting person on earth. I considered any non-scientific notion idiocy. Then I practiced forgiveness and love and meditated and experienced a world that no one can explain to you.
Forgive and love all, affirm our sameness and equality, work for social interest and then see whether your life would not be more peaceful and happy.

CONCLUSION

Western psychiatry correctly defines mental disorders but does not understand their true causes and their true cures. Whereas neuroscience is correct in studying the biological correlations in mental disorders, the cure for mental disorders does not lie in ingesting medications.
If you have mental disorders, by all means take the medications your psychiatrist prescribes for you. You temporarily need them. When a person is in intense anxiety, he probably needs his anxiolytics to calm his over heated nervous system down; when a person is in florid mania, he probably needs his lithium to calm down his excited nerves; when a person is schizophrenic and talking to himself, he probably needs his neuroleptic medications to reduce the voices he hears; when a person is depressed, has beat himself down through depressive thinking, and no longer finds interests in the activities of daily living, such as work, schooling and play, his body is probably producing less serotonin and he probably needs his serotonin reuptake blockers to feel good for a while.
After the body has been calmed, someone ought to teach the mentally ill person to correct his thinking pattern, to go from special separated to equal unified thinking and behaving.
Mental health lies in changing ones thinking and behaving patterns. Cognitive behavior therapy seems the best means for curing mental disorders. Medications are, at best, adjunct therapy.
In the final analysis, mental disorder is thinking and behavior that says that one is special and separated from the whole, God and other parts of the whole, people; mental health is thinking and behavior that affirms our union and equality.
This is not how Western psychiatry conceptualizes mental disorder, but it is how mental disorder is. Psychiatry will, in time, come around to accepting it, for truth cannot be denied forever.
As I see it, the mentally ill person confronted a self and world that he judges as meaningless and purposeless. He does not like the world his eyes show him. He rejects the self and world and invents an alternative self and world and defends them and tries to make them real in his awareness. His new self and world are not real, they are illusions. They have to be defended to seem real. He fears their demise. Escape into ego idealism is not the solution to the problems of this world. What needs to be done is to scientifically study the self. We must cool headedly study the separated self, how it came into being and its nature.
In this paper, I have begun the effort to understand the separated self and how it thinks. I have posited that our real self is unified self and that unified self is spirit, not matter. I pointed out that in this world unified self thinks in social interest lines, it works for common good. I know that my thesis is difficult for the scientifically trained to accept. Let us then call it heuristic and study it. Of course, we must also study the biology, chemistry and physics of thinking and behavior.


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FOR FURTHER READING



Adler, Alfred (1999) The Neurotic Constitution. New York: International Library of Psychology, Routledge.

Allport, Gordon. (1961) Pattern and Growth in Personality. New York: John Holt, Rinehart.

American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, (1994) Washington, DC. American Psychiatric Press.

Ansbacher, H.L. (1985) The Individual Psychology of Alfred Adler. New York: Harper Torch Books.

Ayer, A.J. (1968) The Origins of Pragmatism. London: Macmillan.

Beck, Aaron (1990) Cognitive Therapy for Personality Disorders. New York: Guilford Press.

Camus, Albert, (2003) The Stranger. New York: Sparks Publishing Group.

Ellis, Albert (2004) Rational Emotive Behavior Therapy. New York: Prometheus Book Publishers.

Eriksson, Erik (1993) Childhood and Society. New York: W.W. Norton.

Freud, Anna. (1936) The Ego and its Mechanisms of Defense. Amazon.com

Freud, Sigmund (1961) The Life and Works of Sigmund Freud, Ed Ernest Jones. New York: Lionel Trilling and Steven.

Fromm, Eric (1947) Escape from Freedom. New York: Routledge.

Horney, Karen (1991) Neurosis and Human Growth. New York: W.W. Norton.

Jung, Carl G. Basic Writings of C.G. Jung. Princeton, New Jersey: Princeton University Press.

Kelly, George. (1955) The Psychology of Personal Constructs. New York: W.W. Norton.

Laing, R.D. (1960) The Divided Self: An Existential Study in Sanity and Madness. New York: Penguin.
(1961) Self and Others. New York: Penguin.
(1964) The Politics of Experience and the Bird of Paradise. New York: Penguin.

Maslow, Abraham. (1998) Maslow on Management. New York: John Wiley and Sons.

(1970) Motivation and Personality. New York: Harper.

Meissner, William W. (1994) Psychotherapy and the Paranoid Process. New York: Aronson, Jason Publishers.

Pierce, C. S. (1955) Philosophical Writings of Pierce, Ed Buchier, J. New York: Dover.

Popper, Karl. (1963) Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge. London: Routledge. and Kegan Paul.

Rogers, Carl. (1951) Client Centered Therapy. New York: Houghton Mifflin and Co.

Ross, Elizabeth Kubla. (1969) On Death and Dying. Amazon.com

Sartre, Jean Paul. (2003) The Philosophy of Jean Paul Sartre. New York: Knopf Publishing Group.

Schopenhauer, Arthur. (1995) The World as Will and Idea. London: Everyman.

Schucman, Helen (1976) A Course in Miracles. Tiburon, CA: Foundation for Inner Peace.

Shapiro, David (1999) Autonomy and the Rigid Character. New York: Basic Books.
----------------- (1999) Neurotic Styles. New York: Basic Books.

Skinner, B.F. (2002) Beyond Freedom and Dignity. New York: Hackett Publishing.


Sullivan, Harry Stack. (1953) The Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry. New York: W.W. Norton.

Swanson, David et al. (1970) The Paranoid. Boston: Houghlin, Mifflin.

Tzas, Thomas. (1961) The Myth of Mental Illness. Amazon.com

Underhill, Evelyn. (1911) Mysticism. New York: Dutton.

Vaihinger, H. (1935) The Philosophy of “As If.” London: Kegan Paul Publishers

Wittgenstein, L. (1969) Zettel. Oxford Blackwell.

Zimbado, Phillip. (1986) Shyness. Jove Publications.

Ozodi@africainstituteseattle.org
December 12, 2005

The ideas in this paper are elaborated on in my book: Real Self Psychology.

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The Nature of Sanity and Insanity (Part 1)

by Ozodi Thomas Osuji (Seatle, Washington) --- The mentally ill hate what is: hate their real selves and society and replace them with their own self invented ideas of what should be, their ideal selves, ideal other people, ideal social institutions and ideal world. (See Karen Horney’s Neurosis and Human Growth.) They invent alternative selves, alternative society, alternative everything and try very hard to make their alternative reality, mere mental constructs hence fantasies, come into being. Their alternative reality is an illusion and is not going to come into being. Their alternative reality is mentalistic, a product of thinking. Mental constructs cannot be used to replace reality.

Reality is rooted in the laws of space, time and matter. Reality cannot be replaced with that which is only a product of mentation. What the mind invents is abstract. In mental abstractions, we can see things in perfect and ideal states. Mental perfections cannot replace the imperfections of the world of matter.
In the meantime, mentally ill persons struggle, mightily, to make their cognitions seem real. They employ the various ego defenses that psychoanalysts (see Anna Freud, The Ego and its Mechanisms of Defense) talked about to defend their imaginary reality. Mental illness results from misguided efforts to make the imaginary constructs of the mind seem real. Mental illness results from misguided efforts to substitute reality with the individual’s wished ideal reality. Alas, no matter how much the individual tries to make his ideal self and ideal world real by rigidly defending them, they are not going to become real. Illusions cannot replace reality.
There are reasons why the mentally ill reject reality and strive to replace it with fantasy. The mentally ill person did not wake up one fine morning and say to himself that he is going to hate and reject himself, other people and the world and replace them with his own wished self and world. He did what he did for a reason. The mission of science is to find out why he did so. In as much as science studies things as they are, not things as we want them to be, and there are always people who, for some reasons, reject the real world and seek an idealized world it behooves science to find out why they do so and to design a technology, in this case, a cognitive behavior technology to help them correct their mistakes in thinking.
The real mission of the mental health profession ought to be figuring out why the mentally ill hated and rejected what is and quest for what could become that will not come into being and helping them give up their idealism, their wishes for fantasy to replace reality. The Mental Health profession ought to help the mentally ill give up their wishes to make illusions real and instead learn to accept reality as it is, imperfect.
The problem of mental health is mental and must be addressed at the mental level. Cognitive reorientation, that is, changing the individual’s habitual thinking pattern, is the proper role of the mental health profession. Of course, biological and sociological factors play roles in disposing the individual to certain thinking patterns and we ought to understand these factors and correct them. Where there is mental disorder there always are biological and sociological disorders.
Mental illness, though rooted in problematic biological and sociological disorders, is healed at the mental level. Learning how to think differently, how to think realistically is what cures mental illness.
Mental health lies in having no illusions about ones self, other people, social institutions and the world; it means not struggling to defend the unreal, illusions, so as to make them seem real; it means accepting reality as it is.

THE SELF CONCEPT, SELF IMAGE AND MENTAL DISORDER

Perhaps, it takes many characteristics to be a human being. But one undeniable characteristic of human beings is their belief that they have selves. Each human being has a self concept, an idea of who he thinks that he is. That idea of self generally is that he is separated from other selves. Each human being sees himself as a separated, individuated self living in space, time and matter (body).
No human being is aware of having a self before age two? Typically, the idea of the self is known by age six.
It seems that upon birth on earth, each human child experiences his inherited biological constitution and social givens in a certain manner. Apparently, his biological and social experiences combine to give him an idea of who he thinks that he is. By age six, generally, the child has a sense of self in place.
George Kelly (Psychology as Personal Construct) tells us that each of us is responsible for constructing his self concept. As he sees it, each human child is like an engineer and takes his biological and social experiences and uses them to construct a self for himself. The self, according to Kelly, is a personal construct.
I believe that Kelly is right. I constructed my self concept, using my inherited biological datum and social experience to do so. I believe that each human child is the one who constructed his self concept. I believe that he did so building on his inherited biological and social experiences. Biological and social factors, therefore, influence the self the child constructed.
Alfred Adler (The Neurotic Constitution) pointed out that each human child experiences the human condition as painful. (There are children born without the capacity for pain, who have CIPA, congenital insensitivity to pain with anhidrosis. These children tend to die early, for not feeling pain, they tend not to anticipate what could hurt them hence get injured, and usually die from injuries. Pain has survival value: it enables us to anticipate what could hurt us hence avoid it, and in doing so survive.)
As Adler sees it, each child experiences his physical environment, and sometimes his social environment, as adverse to his survival. He feels his life threatened and feels powerless to do what it takes to adapt to his world. He develops an initial sense of deficit. But, sooner or latter, the child recognizes that he cannot accept a sense of deficit because if he were to do so he would die.
The environment is tough. To survive in it, one must strive to be strong. Nature seems impersonal and does not care for human beings survival. At this very moment virus, bacteria, fungi and other microorganisms are trying to feed on our bodies and our immune systems are trying to destroy them. Simply stated, nature attacks the human child and he feels threatened and inadequate. He reacts with initial sense of being attacked and is defensive (hence all human beings have some paranoia in them).
Adler hypothesizes that the human child feels inferior vis a vis his environment, and that since it takes power to survive the exigencies of the environment, tries to convince himself that he is superior to his environment, other people included.
The human child feels inferior and compensates with superiority, Adler postulates. He feels attacked and compensates with self defense.
The child who experiences more than average level of attack, may be due to inherited organic deficits, develops what Adler calls neurotic constitution. Such a child posits a fictional superior self and tries to “Act as if” he is that fictional superior self.
As Adler sees it, the neurotic is a human being who hates and rejects his real self and posits an alternative unreal self, a superior self and acts as if he is that superior self. He uses the various ego defenses described by psychoanalysts to defend his imaginary superior self.
The neurotic is a person who has rejected his real self and attempted to replace it with a false superior self and wants that false superior self to be real. He defends the false superior self. He wants people around him to collude with him and tell him that he is the imaginary superior self he wants to become. If they collude with him and validate his imaginary superior self, he gets along with them, if they do not confirm his imaginary superior self, as whom he is, in fact, he feels threatened, anxious and angry. Thus, the neurotic engages in a neurotic dance with other people, asking them to validate his false superior self.
To Adler, neurosis and psychosis is the wish to become a false fictional superior self. Sanity is being ones real self.
Adler sees the real self as a loving and socially caring self. The healthy person, Adler thinks, serves social interests, that is, works for the common good of all mankind.
Karen Horney (Neurosis and Human Growth) essentially rephrased Adlerian psychology. Her causal analysis, however, is strictly sociological, hence deficient, for man is both a biological and sociological phenomenon.
As Horney sees it, the human child could be hated and rejected by what Harry Stack Sullivan (Interpersonal Theory of Psychiatry) called his “significant others” (parents, siblings, peers, teachers etc). The child, recognizing that he needed to survive and that only the adults in his life would make that possible, resolves to do what they ask of him, for them to provide for him.
As Horney sees it, neurosis comes into being when the significant others of a child expect him to live up to high standards, that he could not, before they accept him. The child, wanting to be accepted, fears not being accepted. To be socially approved and accepted, the child, therefore, rejects his real self and posits an alternative ideal self, the self that seems to be like the self his society would accept. Subsequent to positing the ideal self, the neurotic child pursues becoming it, with the hope that he if he succeeds that he would be socially accepted hence provided for and survives.
The neurotic child is afraid of not becoming his idealized social self. He experiences what Horney called Basic Anxiety, from his fears of not living up to his ideal self.
To avert making children neurotic, Carl Rogers’ (Client Centered Therapy) advices parents to love and accept their children in an unconditionally positive manner. As he sees it, doing so would dispose children not to hate and reject their real selves and help them accept their real selves hence become normal in their growth.
In sum, it seems that the neurotic hates and rejects his real self and aspires after becoming a different self, an ideal, superior and powerful self. He takes pride in his ideal self and is ashamed of being his real self. He struggles to actualize his ideal self. This is in contradiction to normal Growth. The normal person tries to, in Abraham Maslow’s terms, actualize his real self, not his imaginary ideal self. The attempt to actualize the fictional self is what neurosis and or its more severe form, psychosis is.
Since the ideal self is a mental construct, it really cannot be actualized in the real world of matter, space and time. The purely mental cannot exist in the empirical world. If one wishes that one could fly, ideal self, one is not going to fly in the real world, for in the real world the laws of physics operate. One cannot fly unless one understands and follows the laws of aeronautics.
Simply stated, the neurotic’s wishes for an ideal self, ideal other people, ideal social institutions and ideal world is not going to be gratified, for what he wishes for are mental constructs, which are not possible in the physical and social world. Thus, the neurotic is bound to be frustrated from not realizing his wishes. He feels anxious from failure to realize his wishes (has neurotic anxiety).
To free him from neurosis and its anxiety, Horney recommends that the neurotic give up his quest for an idealized self and accept his real self. As she sees it, the healthy person tries to actualize his real self. Neurotics try to actualize their false ideal self. Neurotic pattern of growth is self defeating, for the wish to realize an imaginary ideal self is not going to happen.
The problem with Horney’s thesis is that she did not tell us what the real self is. However, it should be noted that she died a sudden death and probably would have eventually grappled with what constituted the real self. Towards the end of her life, like Eric Fromm, she flirted with Zen Buddhism. Perhaps, if she had pursued that line of inquiry, she probably would have learned to meditate and in meditation let go of her self concept and experienced what Gautama Buddha called no separated self, or undifferentiated self, or life. Nirvana (unified self) is experienced when the individual lets go of his separated self construct, the ego. In unified life, the individual feels the peace and joy that Saint Paul says, passes human (ego) understanding.
Neither Adler nor Horney told us what the real self is. Carl G. Jung intimated that the real self is spirit. He made incursions into Oriental religions and philosophy. On the whole, Jung contributed useful insights into the human psyche. He helped us understand the nature of individuation and the various types of individual personalities (personas, masks worn to adapt to the exigencies of life on earth), such as introversion and extraversion. (In Horney’s terms, moving away from other people, moving towards other people.) Jung’s ideas on the collective unconscious are fascinating but not proven as true.

Behaviorists like Watson, Pavlov, Skinner, Bandura, Milligram, Zimbardo, Seligman etc tell us that the human personality is learned. B.F. Skinner went as far as to boast (Walden Two) that if given a bunch of children that through his behavior technology, operant and classical conditioning, he could train them to become whatever he wants them to become.
Behaviorists descended on our schools, prisons etc and tried to modify people’s personalities and behaviors. Needless to say that they had not one single instance of success. To the best of my knowledge, behaviorism has not transformed one single anti-social personality into a pro-social person.
Philip Zimbardo wrote on how shyness was learned but had no track record of making the shy person outgoing. (Jerome Kagan thinks that shyness and temperament, in general, is inherited, that is, is biological.)
Obviously, we do learn many things. Without social learning there probably would be no need for schools. But to say that all that we are is a product of learning seems infantile reductionism.
What is the self in us that does the learning that behaviorists talk about? Who is learning what? Who is positively or negatively reinforcing whom? Who is doing the behavior modification?
Clearly, there seems a life force, ala Henry Bergson (Creative Evolution), in us that takes our social and biological experiences and combine them into our personalities, our habitual patterns of responding to stimuli from our environment.

Behaviorism had told us that psychoanalysis was not able to change people; it, too, is not able to change people. So observers were back to the drawing board.
Observers took a look at the possible biological etiology of human personality. We are now in the era of neuroscience.
Neuroscience believes that human thinking and behavior is epiphenomenal, is a product of the activities of neurons in our central nervous system: brain and spine. It studies the nature and behavior of nerves. It claims that biochemical imbalances in the nervous system are largely responsible for mental disorders. Schizophrenia, it reduces to problematic dopamine; mania, it reduces to problematic excitatory neurotransmitters like norepinephrine; depression it reduces to low serotonin; anxiety, it reduces to low GABA. It then designs medications to correct the assumed biochemical imbalances it thinks that it has identified. Thus, these days, patients’ bodies are filled with psychotropic medications.

LIFE FORCE

Clearly, biology and social factors play some role in the genesis of mental disorders. Biosocial factors, however, are building blocks employed by an unknown life force to construct a self concept for the individual. An unknown life force in the child uses the givens of his body and social experience to construct a self concept for him. When the self concept is constructed, that life force images it. The self concept is seen in image form, hence the self image.
Each human being has a self concept and a self image. The self concept/self image is the same as personality and ego. The self concept is constructed during the first twelve years of the child’s existence.
There is a life force that we come to the world with. That life force is originally undifferentiated, but in the temporal universe is differentiated into each of us. That life force individuates into each of us. It then uses the biological constitution that it is born into and its childhood social experiences to construct a separated, individuated self concept/self image for each of us.
Once the separated, individuated self concept/self image is constructed, the human child identifies with it.
The human child is the constructor of his separated self concept and, as such, is very proud of what he constructed. The self concept is his idol. He made his self concept and takes pride in his invention. He wants his separated self concept to survive and defends it with the various ego defense mechanisms.




UNIFIED AND SEPARATED SELF

The separated self is a false self. It is an illusion. The self we know ourselves as, our individuated self is unreal. Unreal or not, we want it to be real. We defend it. Defense of it makes it seem real in our awareness.
That which must be defended to seem real is obviously not real. If the separated self concept is not defended it dies. That is correct, if one did not defend ones self concept and the body that houses it, it dies.
That which dies, is changeable, obviously cannot be real; it is at best an illusion, a temporary reality. The separated self concept is an illusion, a dream self. When it is not defended, it disappears. (Only that which does not change, that which is permanent is real.)
There is an undifferentiated life, real self, in us. That life force seeks separated existence and in space, time and matter seems separated and defends itself.
In meditation, as Buddha recognized 2500 years ago, one can consciously decide not to defend the separated self. One voluntarily lets go of ones self concept, self image, personality, ego. One tells ones self that one is not ones self concept, not ones self image, not ones personality, not ones ego, not ones body. One lets go of the self one is aware of. As it were, one consciously accepts the death of the self concept and the conceptual world.
When the conceptual self and its world are let go, one experiences ones self as part of a universal self: one life that is simultaneously all lives.
There is a real self, a formless, non material, aka spirit self. That real self is eternal, immortal, all knowing, changeless, permanent, same and equal and is everywhere.
That undifferentiated, unified self cannot be understood with the categories of the differentiated, separated self.
Our extant world is a separated place, with separated selves, you and I, seer and seen, subject and object, and a world of language.
In the unified world, there is no you and I, no seer and seen, no subjected and object. The unified world is ineffable; it is beyond the categories of matter, space and time.

In our extant world, each of us has a separated self concept. That self concept is imaged: human beings think in concepts and images.
The separated self is housed in a vulnerable material medium, body. It sees itself in space, time and matter. It sees things trying to eradicate its puny life (virus, bacteria, fungus; people who attack it). The separated self feels constantly attacked and constantly defends its self. Without defense, it would not survive in this world of mutual attack.
Each person has a separated self concept/self image that he is defending. All separated selves are false, unreal. All separated selves are illusions. In Hindu categories, all separated selves are dream selves.
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INSANITY DEFINED

Insanity is the construction of a false, separated self housed in body and efforts to make that false self seem real.
The insane person is trying to make an unreal self become real. He constructed a fictional superior, ideal self and wants to make it real, via defending it and asking other people to acknowledge it.
The mad person is in a loosing struggle to deny his reality, unified self, and replaces it with a false reality of his making, separated self and has it become real.
Sanity lays in giving up the separated self, giving up the illusory self, giving up ones self concept, self image, ego and personality and accepting ones real self, the undifferentiated unified self.
Give up the self you made to replace the real self nature (and nature’s God) made you as. If you can do so, you become sane.
Sanity lies in having no separated self concept/self image, no self you are defending. What is real does not require defense to make it seem real. Only the unreal requires defense to make it seem real.
Unified self does not need defense to be real. All you have to do is give up defending your separated ideal self and you experience your real self.
But as long as you identify with the separated self and defend it, you cannot experience your unified real self.
Alas, if you stopped defending your separated self, as this world sees it, you would die, and return to the unified world.
Obviously, you do not want to die to this world yet. You still want to live in this world. Therefore, you must have some defenses to live in this world. You must, at least, have defense of your body to live in this world. If you did not defend your body with food, medications, clothing and shelter you would die within minutes. If you did not wear clothes in Alaska’s minus 70 degrees Fahrenheit, you would die within minutes. Our physical bodies require defense to exist.
The separated self is an imaginary self; it does not exist in reality. You can remove the psychological defense mechanisms with which you defend it. If you can do so for an hour, you would escape from this world and return to the undifferentiated unified world, a world of harmony, peace and joy.
The real world is a world where there is no separated self, a world where there is only one self, one self that is simultaneously infinite selves.

One is not asking you to give up all defenses and die. One is not a nihilist who negates this world. We are here to live and ought to live until at least a hundred and twenty years (the current outer limits of how long we can survive in human body before the body, like all mechanical contraptions, wears down).
What one is asking you to do is to examine your self concept and decide not to defend it, at least sometimes, and see if you would not experience a different self.
Insanity lies in constructing an imaginary, fictional separated, superior and ideal self, identifying with it and defending it.
Sanity lies in giving up the imaginary fictional self, and in not defending it. Defenselessness is sanity.
To be sane is to have no separated self that one is defending; to be insane is to have a fictional separated self that one is defending.

The separated self is a mental construct, a construct mediated by body and social experience. In as much as the self is a mental construct, it can only be understood through mental activities. One can think about the self, understand and change it. One can change ones pattern of thinking and relating to other people.
When cognition is reconstructed and reoriented (ala Albert Ellis and Aaron Beck), when the self concept is reconceptualized from separated to unified (ala Helen Schucman) though still conceptual and defended, one is normal.
The neurotic defends a wished for false separated self; the psychotic not only defends a false superior self but believes it to be real. The normal person defends a false self but one that, in Adlerian terms, is used to serve social interest.
The normal person has an ego and uses that ego to help other egos. He uses a false self to serve all false selves in his community. Because he puts his imaginary self to social use, it is normal.
When one wants to be totally healthy, sane, one must give up all self concepts and self images, give up the ego self and personality housed in body and escape to unified spirit self. (This is accomplished in what Orientals call Samadhi, Nirvana, and Satori; what Christian mystics call mystical union with God. See William James, Varieties of Religious Experience and Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism.)

Normal mental health lies in shrinking ones swollen ego self to a minimal self concept. To attain complete mental health, one must completely give up ones self concept/self image, ego, personality. When the conceptual self and the body that houses it is voluntarily relinquished, one attains awareness of being part of unified self, aka Christ self, Buddha self, atman self.

THE WORLD OF OPPOSITION, A WORLD WHERE WHATEVER IS MUST BE OPPOSED BY WHATEVER COULD BE

The neurotic and or psychotic person saw the exigencies of this world, and does not like what he saw. He hated and rejected the world as is. He then uses his thinking, aka mind, to construct an alternative ideal, perfect self and tries to become that strictly imaginary mental self.
The ideal self is a replacement self, a substitute self. It is used to replace the real self. (The so-called normal self is also a replacement self; it is used to replace the unified spirit self.)
We came to the world by rejecting our real self, which is not material. The world began in opposition. The part opposed the whole; the son of God opposed his father.
In the world, just as we rejected and opposed God, we reject and oppose whatever self we made for ourselves. All that exists must constantly be replaced.
We came here in opposition to union, and must oppose whatever we made. We oppose our separated normal selves with our separated ideal selves, normal self with neurotic and neurotic with psychotic selves.
Ours is a world made in opposition and must oppose everything in it; a world made out of defiance of union and must defy everything in it. People invented heterosexuality to procreate with, and now defy it with uncreative homosexuality.

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A CAUSAL LOOK AT SOME MENTAL DISORDERS

A neurotic is a person who feels inferior and wishes to seem superior to other people. He invents a self concept and self image that wishes to be superior to his environment. He compulsively wants to become that fictional superior self. Sometimes, he lives a lie by presenting himself as a superior person. As it were, he has an obsessive compulsion to be superior, to be who he is, in fact, not.
The neurotic invents a superior self and identifies with it and talks and acts from that imaginary person’s stand point.
The neurotic wants to be an imaginary important, ideal self. He takes pride in that imaginary perfect self. He is proud to be a fictional, mythical self and is prone to shame feeling. He is anxious, fearful, given to depression and paranoia.
However, the neurotic is still able to test reality. He knows that he is not his imaginary important self. Though he desperately wishes to be important and superior to other people, he knows that he is just like every body else. He is unhappy with his real self, his ordinary human being-ness and hankers after a picture of himself that seems perfect in his imagination. Thus he lives a life of perpetual discontent, for he is always comparing himself and those around him to an ideal and perfect self/world that no human being could ever become and is dissatisfied with his truth, and other people’s imperfect reality. In Henry Thoreau’s terms, the neurotic lives a life of quiet desperation; he is unable to accept his imperfect reality (Vis a Vis his imaginary perfect self) and is unable to become his wished for impossible perfect self. (See David Shapiro, Neurotic Styles, also Autonomy and the Rigid Character.)
The psychotic, unlike the neurotic, not only wishes for an ideal, perfect self but thinks that he has already become it. For any number of reasons, the psychotic to be child does not like who he is; he hates and rejects his body and real self. He uses his imagination and thinking to invent an imaginary ideal and perfect self. This process begins right from birth and is complete by age thirteen. He identifies with his ideal perfect self. He thinks and behaves as if he is the fantasized ideal self he wished to be but is not in fact. That is, he has lost ability to test reality. He now takes fantasy as reality. He has escaped from our shared world and is now living in his own world. People around him notice the gradual slip into fantasyland and judge him insane.
Let me give you an example. A nineteen years old college sophomore began telling those around him that he is God. They laughed and said to him: “Get out of here, man; you are old John, not no God”. He persisted on being seen as God and his peers began to make fun of him, and say to him, “Yoo, god”. This making fun of him infuriated him and he began to quarrel with them. Eventually, his issues came to the attention of his parents, who took him to the nearest psychiatric hospital. Diagnosis: Schizophrenia, paranoid type. Why so? It is because he feels like he is god, but he is not god. He has delusion of grandeur, that is, sees himself as god. He also heard voices telling him that he is God (auditory hallucination).
The man feels that he is god when he is not god. In other words, he believes what is not true as true (this is delusional mental status).
The more critical question is why he believes what is not true as true.
The answer is that he did so because he felt weak and inferior and restitutes with a desire to be powerful. God is the most important inventions in the world, so he identifies with it and in so doing felt like he was powerful. He has now gratified his desire to be somebody very important, albeit it imaginarily.
The young man is a black man in America. His racist society tells him that he is inferior, a lie. This socially induced sense of inferiority interacted with whatever biological predispositions made him feel inadequate to produce a feeling that he is an inferior person. Like all human beings, he does not like to be inferior, so he restitutes with an imaginary superior self, hence has a delusional important self.
In psychosis, the individual sees himself as who he is not, and does not know that he has done so. He presents himself as a very important person, god, and expects other people to see him as such. He is not god hence has delusion.
The neurotic, too, wishes to be all powerful, a god, but knows that he is not all powerful and is not god. So, he is able to distinguish between reality and his wishes for reality to be changed and make him all powerful. Since he still hankers after an imaginary all powerful self, even though he is not it, he is constantly anxious, from not becoming that all powerful self.
The neurotic has anxiety; the psychotic has transcended anxiety by making a leap of faith, believing in the unreal as real, seeing himself as all powerful when he is eating from garbage cans.
A manic depressive person, in florid stages of his mental illness, will believe that he is the most powerful man in the world, the richest man in the world, the most beautiful woman on earth (even though he is poor and penniless and she is, as the world judges these things, ugly).
In psychosis, the individual takes the wished for ideal self as the real self and since he is not the ideal self he is insane. A grossly fat and ugly woman who sees herself as the most beautiful woman on earth, a Cleopatra, obviously, is not testing reality well. She is deluded, as in mania (bipolar affective disorder).

The mentally ill thinks and behaves in a manner that is not congruent with empirical reality. It is his thinking and behavior that is problematic. He thinks and acts in a disordered manner. Therefore, to heal him, he must be persuaded to think in a realistic and ordered manner. He has to change his thinking patterns. He has to change his behaving patterns. His thinking must be in alignment with empirical reality.
Mental disorder is exactly that, mental, that is, thinking disorder. Mental health is exactly that, well ordered thinking, thinking that is in alignment with empirical reality.
The neurotic wishes to be perfect and ideal. He is not perfect and ideal. If he accepts that he is ordinary, like every one else, and gives up hankering after perfection, his thinking and behavior would be in alignment with reality. He must stop asking people to validate his imaginary wished for ideal self. He must want them to validate his real self, a self that is the same and equal with all selves.
The psychotic must stop thinking that he is all powerful; he must accept that he is not god, not the richest man on earth and not the most beautiful woman on earth. He must accept his reality as a powerless, ordinary human being and give up the quest of perfection.
Mental health lies in thinking in alignment with empirical reality, whereas mental illness lies in thinking in non-alignment with reality. Therefore, to heal the mentally ill, we have to teach them to think and act differently. Mental health professionals must aim at correcting peoples disordered cognitions.
This is not to say that there are no biological correlations with mental status. When a person thinks that he is god, when he is not, he is thinking falsely. He uses his thinking to excite his body into producing, say, dopamine (as in schizophrenia), or producing norepinephrine (as in mania). Conversely, when a person thinks that he is not good enough; his thinking causes his body to reduce its production of serotonin. If a person wishes that he was very important and fears not becoming so, his thinking produce the physiological state seen in fear and anxiety (less GBA and more excitatory neuro chemicals like acetylcholine).
There seem biochemical imbalances in mental disorders but psychiatrists tend to place the cat before the horse. The biochemical imbalances are probably produced by disordered thinking, not the other way around.
Of course, some persons may have inherited certain types of bodies that dispose them to certain biochemical traits conducive in mental disorders.

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ANXIETY AND AVOIDANT PERSONALITY EXPLAINED

If, as a six year child, I was psychologically assessed, I would probably have been assessed as having separation anxiety (I felt anxious at school and wanted to go home and be with familiar persons, my parents and siblings), and as a teenager, as having avoidant personality with oppositional defiance.
I was shy. I felt that I was not good enough. I felt that if other children came close to me that they would see that I was not good enough and, as such, reject me. To avoid being rejected, I kept to myself.
In social isolation, I imagined myself the important person I wished to become. I feared not becoming the important person I wanted to become.
Shy and introspective as I was, if any one dared tell me what to do, I would ask him who the hell he thought he was? I resented any one telling me what to do. This would make me oppositional defiant.
As a thirteen year old secondary school boy, if some one had given me a complete psychological battery, the assessment would have read, I think: Axis 1: Social Anxiety; Axis 11: Rule out avoidant personality and oppositional defiant personality; Axis 111: Rule out medical issues like Spondilolysis, physical allergy etc; Axis 1V: psychosocial stressors, fear of social rejection; Axis V: highest level of social functioning, good. Intelligence: superior. (On the WISC or WAIS, IQ over 132 is considered superior.)

In ordinary language, avoidant personality is called shyness. This person feels that as he is, he is not good enough. He feels that other people would reject him if they came close enough to him to get to know him. He is operating under the social reality whereby we tend to reject people who are not good enough and accept people who seem good enough (as defined by society). His assessment of social reality is realistic; hence he is neurotic and not psychotic.
The avoidant person, while fearing social rejection, secretly wishes that he were a superior person. In Adlerian terms, he rejects his presumed inferior self and juxtaposes a fictional superior (in Horney’s terms, ideal) person. He wants to accept himself as an ideal, superior and perfect self. He wants other people to accept him as an ideal superior self.
His fear of social rejection is not really motivated by fear of the rejection of his real self but fear of rejection of his imaginary ideal self. The fear of social rejection is rooted in fear of rejection of the ideal, perfect superior self.
The shy child’s social withdrawal is motivated by effort to preserve the ideal self for he knows that the ideal self is false and that other people would see it as false.


EQUALITY IS NECESSARY FOR GOOD RELATIONSHIPS

To relate to other people, one must be the same and equal with them. Any time one wishes for special, superior, ideal, perfect self, one has interfered with good relationship. If you want to be superior to other people, you cannot relate well to them.
The only way to relate well with other people is to accept the truth of your and their perfect equality.
The avoidant personality does not want to accept the truth of our equality; he wants the illusion of his personal superiority to seem true; and since it is not going to be true in the empirical world, he avoids people and in social withdrawal retains the illusion that he is better than other people.
What is the cure for avoidant personality disorder? Is it giving such persons anxiolytic medications, as our confused Western psychiatrists do? Medications, of course, have temporary calming effect. If you are fearful and anxious and take any of the anti anxiety medications, you feel calm (and get addicted to them and when you try to withdraw from them experience visual and tactile hallucination).
The individual does not need medications. What he needs is change in his thinking and behaving patterns. He has to give up the wish to seem special and superior to other people; he has to accept all human beings perfect sameness and equality. He has to accept the equality of all races, black, white and oriental, the equality of the two genders, man and woman and the equality of adults and children.
We are the same and equal. Any time the idea of inequality enters ones mind, one has escaped from truth and is now temporarily insane.
Sanity lies in accepting truth and operating from its parameters. We are all the same and equal and whoever relates to other people as if they are the same and equal with him is operating from the standpoint of truth hence is sane.

All mental and personality disorders are efforts to make a false special self seem true, to make an illusion seem real. Let us briefly look at the various personality disorders.
The paranoid personality wants to seem superior to other people and see them as not accepting his imaginary superiority hence sees people demeaning him…this person is close to delusional disorder, a psychosis. He must relinquish his wish for superiority and accept our equality.
The schizoid personality withdraws from people and in his social isolation believes that he is special. He is close to schizophrenia and needs to see himself as the same and equal with all people and go relate to them.
The schizotypal personality gratifies her wish for superiority by believing in weird matters, such as claiming to have sixth sense etc; her oddity and eccentricity is really an effort to seem superior to other people; she is close to schizophrenia.
The narcissistic personality fancies himself special and worthy of other people’s admiration and often exploits people and uses them to get what he wants without caring for them. His illusory superiority must be given up. He is close to mania.
The histrionic woman fancies herself beautiful and worthy of other peoples admiration. Her histrionic, dramatic behaviors are quest for superiority and specialness. She is close to mania.
The antisocial personality fancies himself better than other people and from that erroneous standpoint steals and does other antisocial things and does not feel remorseful for his criminal activities (the narcissistic cum antisocial slave master so felt superior to blacks that he justified using them and did not feel remorseful or guilty for his iniquitous behaviors). This person is a psychopath.
The borderline personality gratifies her wish for superiority and specialness through getting other people to take care of her. She refused to grow up and become an adult. In the adult world one must give love to get love from those one gave it. She is close to mania.
The obsessive-compulsive personality gratifies his wish for specialness by seeking perfection and fearing being imperfect. He is close to having anxiety disorder (Neurosis).
The dependent personality gratifies his wish for specialness by having other people take care of him. (This is a neurosis)
The avoidant personality gratifies his wish for specialness by fearing and separating from other people. Some have social phobia. This is a neurosis.
The passive aggressive personality gratifies his desire for specialness by not asserting himself, by permitting others to walk all over him, feeling like a good boy, read, superior boy, then feeling angry at them when they go too far. (This is a neurosis.)

All mental disorders, be they psychosis, neurosis and personality disorders, are rooted in peoples wish for specialness, superiority and separation from other people, in a misguided effort to retain the imagined ideal self. If people changed their thinking, from desiring superiority and specialness to desiring sameness and equality and working for social interest, ala Adler, they tend to become normal persons.
Schizophrenia, mania, delusional disorder, depression and the other psychoses are maneuvers to separate from people and in isolation manage to retain the illusion that one has a special, superior self.
If you change people’s thinking and behavior (through cognitive behavior therapy), from wishing specialness to wishing sameness and equality and union, you heal them. The insane person thinks and behaves in a disordered manner and can learn to think and behave in a well ordered manner, in a manner congruent with the reality of the empirical environment. When he does so, he is mentally sane.
We are all the same and equal; whoever sees him self as the same and equal with all people and serves all people is mentally healthy.

THE METAPHYICAL DIMENSION OF MENTAL ILLNESS: SEPARATION IN PURSUIT OF SPECIALNESS

Neuroscience has the delusion that mental health can be reduced to biochemical balances; it sees thinking as epiphenomenal, as a product of the configurations of particles, atoms and elements in our brains. Where there is chemical imbalance, mental disorder supposedly results.
The amazing part is that no one has dared tell these reductionisms that it is only a fool who says that there is no God.
We may not know what God is but to dismiss him and see people as only their bodies is arrant nonsense.
People kept quiet as Soviet era psychiatrists used their pseudo scientific views to abuse those who opposed the evil empire; today, people keep quiet as know nothing American psychiatrists abuse people with their so-called psychotropic medications.
Man is more than his body. He is spirit having physical experience. Therefore, he cannot be healed by merely focusing on his body. We must address his mind, his psyche, his thinking and behavior.

A STORY OF CREATION

No one on earth can explain God aka spirit in human language. Speech came into being to adapt to the world of separation, space and time.
The world of separation is the world of you and I, seer and seen, subject and object. Language and perception are adaptive to the world of separation. Language is not needed in the world of unified spirit.
In Spirit, literally, there is only one self, God. That one self has infinite selves, all of whom are it. There is one God who manifests in infinite us. God is all of us and all of us are God. But each of us is not all of God. Please note the difference, before you go psychotic and call yourself God. You are a part of God but not all of God, for God is all of us.
The whole is in all the parts and the parts are in the whole and in each other but the part is not the whole.
In as much as we need a story of creation, a mythology as to how we came into being; consider this mythology, it is not the truth but it approximates the truth.

There is God. God is spirit. God is everywhere and everywhere is him. God extends his one self into many selves. Each of us is an extension of God.
Since God is extending his already existing self into each of us, it follows that each of us has existed for as long as God existed, which is forever.
Yet God created each of us. In creation, God gave all of himself to his son, to each of us. God gave all of himself to you. He remains as God and yet is you.
God extended himself to you and me. He is in you and me. God is in us and we are in him and in each other.
There is no space or gap between God and his children and between his children. We all literally share one self, the self of God and share one mind, the mind of God.
God is eternal, changeless and permanent. As parts of him, we are eternal, changeless and permanent.
God is all knowing. As parts of him, we are all knowing.
In God, all are joined together as one self and one mind.
Only the non material can join. The physical must be separated, at least in appearance, not reality. God is spirit, that is, non material. His creations, as part of him, you and me, in our true self are spirit and not material.
Only the same and equal can join. Though God created his children, he is the same and equal with all of them, as they are the same and equal with him and with each other.
If you like the word heaven, use it and say that in heaven there is perfect union, sameness and equality.
While in eternal sameness, equality and union, (heaven) the idea of heaven’s opposite entered our thinking, mind.
What is, union, produced the idea of its opposite, separation. Equality produced the idea of inequality. Sameness produced the ideal of its opposite, differences. Eternity produced the idea of its opposite, time, immortality produced its opposite the idea of mortality and changelessness produced its opposed change.
In heaven, we are perfectly unified, the same and equal. The idea of separation, differences and inequality entered our minds.
We pursued it. We sought separation, differences and inequality. Another way of putting this idea is that God created us and that we did not create God or ourselves. The idea of creating God and ourselves entered our minds. It is impossible for the part to create the whole, for the child to be his father’s father or his own father.
What cannot happen in reality can be dreamed of? We, therefore, seemed to go to sleep and dream a world that is the opposite of God’s world. In Hindu categories, we cast a magical spell, Maya, on us and seem to go to sleep and in our sleep dream that we are separated from God and from each other and that we created ourselves.
Another way of putting it is that the son seems to have killed his father and usurped his throne. Yet another way of putting it is that the son has chased his father out of his throne and is sitting on it.
We entered the zone of illusions, Maya. In that dream world, our wishes seem gratified. We set it up in such a manner that our wishes for specialness are gratified.
We broke eternal union into fragments (Big Bang) and each fragment of God split off from him and from each other, not in reality but in illusion. In reality, we remain unified, we remain as God created us, but in our present awareness, we seem separated from God and from each other.
We separated from God and each other. The invention of separation is what science means by Big Bang, the invention of space, time and matter.
Space preceded time by nanoseconds and time preceded matter (particles, atoms) by nanoseconds.
The moment space came into being, it was logically inevitable for time to come into being, for now it takes time to traverse the distance between two selves; space time inevitably produced matter and energy (it takes energy, effort to go from one self to another, one point to another in space; energy and matter are the same).
In time, we perfected matter into biological forms and housed ourselves in it. All these took millions of years to accomplish.
We are now in the world of space, time and matter; we seem housed in bodies. Bodies give us the impression that we are separated from each other, just as space and time also give us the illusion of separation.
Separation is an illusion and an illusion must end, bodies must die. Thus, those who seem to live in body must die.
We are, as it were, born, to die. The moment a child is born on earth he starts dying. Death is the opposite of eternity. We came here to experience the opposite of immortality, to be mortal and die, we must. In truth, in unified spirit we do not die. But in illusion, in our world we do die. In realty, we are not born and do not die, but in illusion we are born and do die.
On earth, each of us uses his physical and social experiences to construct a separated self concept for himself, for other people and for everything he sees. We live in a conceptual world.
Concepts are not permanent and always change. So our self concepts are always changing. In one moment we feel inferior to others, in another moment we feel superior to them.
We chose bodies, space and time that enable us to invent our desired self concepts. For example, I chose a very vulnerable body. Feeling easily hurt, I formed a self concept that I am vulnerable. I formed an avoidant self concept, an avoidant personality.
You chose the body you are born in and chose your social experiences and combined both to form your self concept and personality.
We think in ideas and images. Thus we form concepts of who we are and image them. Each of us has a self concept and a self image.
The self concept, self image is the individual’s personality. The self concept, self image, personality, is an ego self, it is a self that sees itself as separated from God and other people. On earth, in the dream, Maya, each of us has a separated self concept.
The separated self concept, your personality, is a dream figure, a self you employ in dreaming, in being on earth. The self concept, self image, personality, ego is not real; it is a false dream self. We defend it and in defending it make it seem real to us. Defense makes the unreal seem real to us.
Upon birth on earth, each human child uses his chosen body and social experiences to form a self concept, self image, personality and ego and uses the various ego defense mechanisms to defend it. Defending it makes it seem real to him. He does so for a hundred or so years and his body seems to die and decompose. He leaves his body, for he was never in his body.
He returns to the world in different bodies and in different circumstances. You may call this reincarnation, but since one is never born or dies one really has not reincarnated, all that one did is sleep and dream several times.
In the dream, one forgets ones true identity, unified spirit. One sets the terms of ones remembering of ones true self. The dreamer writes his dream script and enacts it out.
Each of us decides when he is going to wake up and the manner he is going to wake up. There are no accidents in God’s world.
For example, I chose a very sensitive body. That body made it impossible for me to adapt to this world. I failed to adapt to this world. Having failed, I began to wonder what to do with myself. Kill myself and get it over with or explore the possibility of another world? I threw myself first into Western philosophy, then psychology and, finally, into the study of comparative religions, particularly Hinduism and Buddhism. At some point, I took Buddha’s teaching seriously and did what he asked us to do.
Buddha asks us to let go of our identification with body and ego. He tells us to relinquish the ego self. In meditation one consciously accepts that one is not ones ego, separated self, self image, personality, body. If one is none of these things, then who is one? The ego, the earthly intellect rushes in to suggest answers as to who one is. Buddha said: ignore the suggestions of the ego, they are mere noise, the chattering of a fool, just try to keep quiet and the answer will come to you; if you are a sincere seeker after the truth and do what the truth requires of you: forgive, love and have compassion for all people, it will eventually come to you.
Stop all ego intellectual thinking. If, in fact, you can stop thinking, which requires that you give up wishing to be this or that, and be silent for one hour, you would escape from this world. Suddenly, you leave your body and disappear into a world of no forms, no bodies, no you and I, just one self that is simultaneously all selves. There is no space, time and matter in the world of spirit; it is a world of oneness, literally, not figuratively. There is still a you and I but each of us simultaneously knows himself to be all of us and as part of God.
After you experience oneness, you return to the world of separation. If you stayed in the world of unified spirit, as people consider these things, you would drop off your body, die. But you cannot be permitted to stay in eternal union, while some folks are still dreaming that they are separated. So you voluntarily return to our world. You come back and teach the lesson of our unified nature in your own way. Perchance, the manner you teach it will appeal to a few persons out there and they will take the message seriously and try to experience union.
There are as many teachers of union, teachers of love, and teachers of God as those who have experienced union. Jesus, Buddha, Mohammed, Bahaullah, Ramakrishna being a few of them. Each teacher teaches the same truth: union, and forgiveness as a means to it. But each teacher teaches that truth in his own manner and, as such, appeals to certain persons, but not to all persons.
Jesus, for example, appeals to poetic and worshipful persons, those Hinduism call Bhakti. Jesus could never appeal to rational, philosophical persons. Buddha and his rationalism reach thinkers, what Hinduism calls Jnana. (See Patanjali’s Yogas: Jnana, Bhakti, Karma, Raja, Tantra etc).
All those who have experienced union become what Buddhism calls Buddhavista, that is, enlightened persons, avatars, come back to teach the eternal gospel that God created us unified and that we are always as God created us, unified, though we dream that we are separated. (Helen Schucman taught that message in a combined Bhakti and psychological manner. She tells her students, as she called what in old fashioned religion was called followers that we are unified and in union are innocent, guiltless and sinless; that we only seem to do bad things in separation, in dreams of separation and that what is done in dreams has not been done, hence we are still innocent. We must learn to forgive each other and stop trying to punish each other.)
I teach the gospel of union, the gospel of truth in my own way and if you choose to learn it in the manner only I teach it (philosophical, psychological) you will learn from me. But if you have decided to learn it from other folks, so it is for you.
Actually, you made the choice of how you are going to learn about your truth before you were even born on earth. You have already decided when you will learn the truth, today or a thousand years from today.
My function is not to force feed you the truth but simply to restate what Aldus Huxley called the perennial wisdom of mankind in my own inarticulate way and leave it to you to decide to pay attention to it or not. As noted, you have already decided when to learn and practice it, and like the prodigal son return home, reawaken to your real self, the unified self, the Christ. (In time, those who will meet will meet, and those who will not meet will not meet. Although in eternity we are the same, in time we are different. We have different, unique personalities, different dreams. Those whose dreams, personalities will appeal to each other will meet and learn from each other and move on, or stay together.)

To come to God, you must be God like. God is union. Union is love. To come to God you must seek union with all people. Since love is the glue which glues people together, to come to God, you must love all people.
God created love and uses it to join all his children to him; we invented fear and use it to separate from each other.
In our world, we attack one another. We hurt one another. I have hurt you. You have hurt me. Our mutual inclination is to bear grievances and seek revenge against those who hurt us.
As a black man, nothing would give my ego more perverted satisfaction than to enslave white people, so that they feel what it feels like to be slaves and discriminated against. But who are white people? In time, they seem separated from me, a black man. In reality, we are unified and what I do to them I do to me. We are merely in dreams in which one is white today and black tomorrow; the slave master today is the slave tomorrow. Therefore, there is no use punishing any one, for one merely punishes ones self, if not now, in the future.
The best thing to do is to overlook the hurt other people inflicted on one. In doing so, one overlooks the hurt one inflicted on other people.
To forgive is to overlook the past. To forgive is to see what is done on earth as if they were done in a dream and overlook them. To forgive is to recognize that what was dome on earth was done in a dream and, as such, has not been done. The person who enslaved you, or raped you, did so in a dream and, as such, has not done so in fact. Nothing has happened to you in reality.
Moreover, it is your dream and you actually made what happened to you to happen to you. Nothing can happen to a son of God without him wishing to experience it. There in lies the justice of God. If what one did not want to experience could happen to one, then the universe and its God, temporal and permanent, is unfair.
Forgive and love all people, and then meditate. Give up all wishes to be a separated self, give up your ego, give up your self concept, give up your self image, give up your personality, and give up thinking in concepts. Then sit quietly for one hour.
Do this every day. Choose a convenient time and sit quietly for one hour. Stop thinking in ego terms. Return your mind to God, return your self to God; accept the self God created you as, unified self, not the self you made yourself as, separated self. Stay quiet. Have an open mind, be a void. Do not accept your ego’s efforts to write another fairy tale in your mind about the nature of reality. Read this material but forget it, for it is not the truth. The truth is beyond what any one can write or talk about.
I must warn you that if, indeed, you take what is being said here seriously, please find yourself a spiritual guide. I had a Hindu Swami as my guide. You need someone to guide you. Why so? If you truly forgave and loved people and tried meditation, you would have experiences that could result in psychosis in you. How so?
Now listen, my boy. Your separated self and body are false; they are illusions. They do not exist. If you enter into meditation, you would experience your self concept die. This is literal, your personality will seem to die and you would seem to have no self. This is the most terrifying experience you will ever go through on earth. We do not like to die to our separated selves and will make insane efforts to seem to have them.
To re-convince yourself that you have a separated self, you may invent a different self for you, a more outrageous self, like the psychotic’s self. You go from merely wishing for a big self, as neurotics do, and believe that you have a big self, as psychotics do.
In clinical language, you would experience ego decompensation (your normal ego defenses….repression, denial, suppression, displacement, dissociation, projection, rationalization, reaction formation, sublimation, avoidance, fantasy, intellectualization, fear, anger, paranoia, pride, shame etc will fail) and you try to recompensate with a grandiose ego….employ psychotic defenses like delusion and hallucination. You can make your false ego seem to talk and see things, hence hallucinate; the mad man made his delusional self seem to talk and see things, to make it seem real in his awareness. In short, you could experience transient psychosis.
To avoid this from happening, you need a person who knows about God to guide you. I do not mean a regular corner store minister, for those are practical idiots and know nothing about the God they talk much about. They are egotists. I am talking about a relatively egoless person. A Hindu or Buddhist priest (Swami, Roshi) is probably your best bet.

In meditation, you experience your self concept and self image dissolve and illusions play themselves out in your mind. In my own case, I had what people call out of body experiences; literally, see myself outside my body. I saw myself fly to a point of light, through a dark medium etc. All these are illusions for there is no place to fly to. The real experience is simply disappearing into unified self that I cannot describe.
Without making much ado about it, there is a different self, a unified self, and a different world, a unified world. Call it what you like, it is nameless, for names apply to the world of separation and multiplicity. To go there, you must die to the self and world you know, the world of separated self living in space, time and matter.
(The ego and its world are not left by physically killing your self. Suicide is not an option. If you kill yourself, all that would happen is that you would come back to try again, until you get it right: live as unified self via forgiveness and love. The ego and its world are left by overcoming them via learning to love at all times.)
In the meantime, learn to see all people as related to you, forgive and love them all. Learn that you are joined with all selves. The payoff of forgiveness and love is peace and happiness. Forgiveness and love rewards us with internal peace.
Peace is the definition of joy and both go together. Peace and joy are the best rearwards one can ever get on this earth. Forgive and love and your earthly dream becomes like a happy dream. As it were, you would be at the gate of heaven, but not inside it, for you are still in form and heaven requires that you be formless. Forgive and love and you would approximate your real self, unified spirit self, that you might as well be said to be living out of your real self and is in the real world (hence real self living, of real self psychology and real self fellowship).

Continued....

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December 11, 2005

Be a Miller President Obasanjo, but Grind not the Faces of the Poor

by D. Akinsanya Juliuson (Great Britain) --- If Nigerian government cannot help Nigerians in need, it’s as sure as hell that, they cannot save the few who are rich. You just can’t impose leadership from the top.

You’ve got to take the people with you. Real people! Leadership involves being able to dialogue and or negotiate, being transparent, being willing to listen, being able to forgive and more importantly being able to change people’s minds in a positive way. In any sector, people give you permission to lead them. But we must always remember
that leading them is not our divine right. If people see you have honesty, integrity and drive. That you are compassionate, understanding and can deliver a clear vision that includes them, they surely will follow you.

If you have to resort to being forceful, I think you really have to question your leadership. We must let our decisions be driven by the needs of our people and not by our processes and ignorance – we must change them if necessary. More than anything else now, Nigerians crave for freedom from an oppressive situation. This is not directly caused by a person or, despite what we (Nigerians) think, by a particular set of circumstances. Our involvement with a particular set-up is making us feel ever more uncomfortable, but the way to put everything right does not necessarily involve making a clean break from the past or digging an escape tunnel to freedom. All we need to stand proud, tall and successful in Nigeria is God, faith in ourselves and what we believe in, from that, the rest will come
naturally. But how powerless are we? I believe that, rather depends on how we want to see our country’s situation. Really, we are not so much prisoners as passengers. I believe we are in a seat, not in a cell. We are on a bus, not in a jail or house arrest. We are being taken somewhere. We might feel that it is not a destination of our own choosing – or that we have no alternative other than to go along with the ride.

When we reach an indisputable dead end, we will then be presented with an encouraging new idea to follow instead. At some point in our past, I believe we opted for this expedition. So instead of growing resentful, let’s pray to God, have faith and relax. We might find that, with the power of the Almighty God, something quite amazing becomes possible before we know it. I personally believe in the future of our country and I strongly believe the time has come for God to show us why He is the architect of the universe. Let’s look
up to Him, He will surely deliver us.

WILL THE LAST SANE PERSON TO LEAVE THE MADHOUSE PLEASE TURN OUT THE LIGHTS?

We face a situation now that some people wouldn’t want anything to do with. We have seen certain people struggle and fail to sort out a particular mess or scrub a particular floor. They probably have given up. Are we getting ready to do the same? There seem to be many good reasons why we might as well do. There’s, though, one overriding reason not to. For that reason alone, we have to do what we can to protect the bit of bedlam that is not yet completely crazy. In this country of ours, some people love to construct complicated arguments and convoluted explanations. They like to make things so difficult and involved, even when kids are eating from the dustbins and adults have to sell their children for prostitution. They like to have plenty of good reasons why problems can’t be solved or wounds cannot be healed. They like to talk, but they don’t much like to listen. They like to nurse grudges, but they don’t seem quite so inclined to forgive.

That’s the way of the world, but it doesn’t have to be our world. All that’s needed in our country today is a little understanding, a little willingness to put the past behind us, a little willingness to tell our president that Nigerians are suffering and starving, a little willingness to tell our president that, life is not what he thinks it is with ordinary Nigerians, a little willingness to learn from the best, a little willingness to make people happy not suffer….and then a little sweet simplicity. Mud sticks. That’s why
we have to be so careful about how and where we throw it. Reputations take years to build and minutes to ruin. Mistakes are all too easy to make, and the devils own job to rectify. I mention all this because, as we know, times in our country are tricky. A lot of impassioned statements and a lot of mistakes are being made by our leaders. It is easy to get swept away by a tide of enthusiasm that is actually washing us towards an inappropriate shore.

A little forethought, a little careful consideration, a little openness to a more positive possibility could yet allow us, specially our leaders to see a far better way to proceed on national matters. We might not yet realise it, but we are having a big effect on a lot of people and nations. Other nations and leaders are taking us very seriously. They might not be responding in precisely the same way we wish they would. But they are certainly not ignoring us. Because we are so caught up in the drama of our own psychological warfare, we are not aware of this. Let’s stand back, just for one moment and see how others might have being perceiving us. Then we’ll be able to make sure that all our words and deeds bring about the reaction we need them to have, rather than provoking a response that merely makes life more complicated…. especially for the poor Nigerian souls that are
suffering in silence.

LET’S MAKE NIGERIA AN OPPORTUNITY SOCIETY

The study of politics is the study of influence and the influential. A political system is a pattern of human relationships that involves control, influence power or authority. We surely won’t solve all the world’s problems by studying for a politics degree, but we will understand them better and understanding is the first step to solution. I have come to realise that politics are too serious a matter to be left to the politicians. Winston Churchill once said that, “politics are almost as exciting as war and quite as dangerous”.

In war you can only be killed once, but in politics many times. Politics is war without bloodshed, while war is politics with bloodshed. Nigerians who are too clever to engage in the art of diplomacy are punished by being governed by mobs. Politics is the art of the impossible. It consists of choosing between the disastrous and the unpalatable. It consists in knowing precisely when it is wise and necessary to hit your opponent slightly below the belt. Like Abraham Lincoln once said; nearly all men can stand adversity, but if you want to test a man’s character, give him power. That said. Progressive party rarely fail, not because they are too good, but because they are very compassionate and understanding.

Only progressive politics can defeat tribalism. Our leaders must avoid playing the tribal card in Nigerian politics. And they must
understand that the future of our country requires restless courage,
honesty, understanding and good leadership. I surely believe that our
country is not in decline, but we must also be well prepared to work with other nations. Our leaders must learn how to win people’s trust and also understand that life is tough for Nigerians. Nigeria, I believe is not on her way down and does not need the ruling class as we (Nigerians) are the ruling people. Let’s work together and make Nigeria an opportunity society.

HE WHO REFUSES TO BE A GOOD EXAMPLE, WILL HAVE TO BE A TERRIBLE WARNING

I don’t especially like to think the unthinkable. I far prefer to deal with what I know to be real and relevant. When I hear people suggesting impossible ideas, I feel affronted. I wonder how on earth they can entertain such silly notions, far less announce them. We are who we are. We have every right to be very proud of this. But are we all we can be? In what way are we (Nigerians) compromising the integrity of our own identity – or selling ourselves short – or doing WE a disservice? In life we need to watch what we say – for our words might come back to haunt us. People have long memories and a tendency to be judgemental. They do not make much allowance for the way in which moods, situations and priorities can naturally alter over time.

Nor do they much appreciate irony or indelicacy or phraseology that is chosen more for impact than for meaning. We need to learn how to rehearse sentences in our mind before we speak them out loud. And if in doubt, let’s remember that, kind words melt hearts and harsh ones harden them. We must always know that people can easily tell a great deal about a society by the way they treat their elderly, senior, leaders and prisoners. He, who refuses to be a good example, will have to be a terrible warning to others. Integrity, though, is not something you attain; it is something you aspire to. No matter how good, honest or sincere a person becomes, there is always room for improvement. A lifetime is not enough for us to learn all there is
to learn about how to be a better person. Some people, sensing this, decide not to bother. Others fool themselves into thinking that they are as wise, kind and right as it is possible to be. To note an inner fault and feel keen to fix it is to have a reason to be proud of one….not ashamed.

D.AKINSANYA JULIUSON
Cultural & Public Diplomacy Practitioner and Specialist Investigator

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Mallam Nuhu Ribadu: Nigeria’s Weapons of Mass Destruction, Against Corruption!

by Paul I. Adujie (New York, United States) --- This is to congratulate Mallam Nuhu “WMD” Ribadu and his staff at the Economic and Financial Crimes Commission for the big victory scored in the investigation of the fallen and disgraced former governor of Bayelsa state.

The excellence in their effectiveness is shining for the whole world to see. EFCC has now established a precedent in the annals of anti corruption war in Nigeria. The scandal, that was DSP Alamieyesiegha venture into public office in Nigeria, has not been brought to an inglorious end.

Alamie’s fetid and ignominious conducts, his blatant and brazen violations of Nigerian laws and other laws, have not come to an inglorious end.

Mallam Nuhu WMD Ribadu deserves our thunderous applause, for their meticulous investigations, for their tenacities of purpose, for their sustained and focused pursuit of corrupt public officials. EFCC deserves our praises and commendations for being spotless and unblemished in their commitment and dedication to the eradication and elimination of corruption from Nigeria’s landscape.

As many of us know, Nigeria is diamond in the rough, a jewel waiting to be polished and shined to its sparkling and dazzling best shine. Corruption has for far too long, prevented Nigeria from fulfilling our national purpose, and from meeting our attainable developmental goals. Corruption has thwarted and stunted our march to greatness as an advanced nation with bountiful human and material resources

Nigeria is now at the twilight and dawn of great new beginning. Nigeria is now at the threshold of a full recovery from decades of decadence and neglect.

Nigeria is in the presence of rebirth and renaissance!

The anti corruption train has since left the proverbial station, it has demolished a stumbling block to the development of Ijawland and Bayelsa state, other obstacles to development in other parts of Nigeria still remains, but I have it on good authority, that the impediment and obstacle to development of Plateau state also known as Joshua Chibi Dariye, the fugitive governor is also soon to be an ex-governor lacking constitutional immunity, and in the words of Police Commissioner for Bayelsa state Mr. Hafiz Ringim and the EFCC spokesman Mr. Osita Nwajah, DSP Alamie is now an ordinary citizen without the protection of the immunity clause as provided in the Constitution of Nigeria 1999. Alamie has several cases against him; everyone wants him, the EFCC, Nigeria Police, London Police, Immigrations and Customs etc.

DSP Alamie’s disgraceful reign has finally come to an end. His flagrant thumping of his nose at our national laws, and in some respect, international laws, has finally crested. DSP Alamie has been an ill-wind, and he blew no good toward Ijawland, Bayelsa or Nigeria. Alamie’s malevolent wind has finally run out of his odious gases!

DSP Alamie was a monumental embarrassment to all Nigerians! What manner of chief security of a state was this? A man who was himself a fugitive of the law, who then seeks to enforce the law in his domain? How would he have had to treat a fleeing felon in Bayelsa, when he was himself a fleeing felon and fugitive? Alamies was on the lam himself! Those who come to equity, it is often said, must come with clean hands!

How could a state governor call himself or be called by others, “His Excellency”? What is excellent in being a fugitive? Who would anyone obey the laws in Bayelsa, when the governor himself was an outlaw? When he was himself a fugitive from the law? When he was a felon on the lam?

With the likes of DSP Alamie and Josh Dariye in powerful position, there was continued bastardization of our public space. There was the appearance of looming lawlessness and anarchy. What else would anyone call it? How else would anyone describe fugitive governors presiding over law abiding citizens, who are expected to continue to observe our laws and rules? How could morality, decency and good behavior be enforced or even expected from the average citizen, while the presiding officers of states, are the epitome and pillar of lawlessness and most immoral egregious behaviors?

“His Excellency” became a misapplication of term, when used in reference to DSP Alamie, and his counterpart clone, fugitive Josh Chibi Dariye.

I congratulate the Chairman of the EFCC, Mallam Nuhu Ribadu and his staff for a job well done on DSP Alamie, and for all the other wonderful jobs that the EFCC has done in the past, and of course, the many more that the EFCC are doing even as I write.

Here is calling on the honorable members of Plateau state house of assembly, it is time to impeach your infant terrible fugitive Dariye! Dariye will make good company for the sexy woe-man DSP Alamie in the same prison cell, whether as prisoners in Nigeria or in England. The time to impeach Josh Chibi Dariye is nigh!

The people and the leaders in Ijawland, the people and leaders of Bayelsa state have set a wonderfully spectacular precedent for our public officials. The word is out. The world now knows that Nigeria has zero tolerance for inappropriate, illegal and criminal behaviors by public officials! Nigeria’s reforms are proceeding in earnest

All roads now lead to Plateau state, fish out fugitive Josh Chibi Dariye!

By Paul I. Adujie

Lawcareer@msn.com

New York, United States

Posted by Administrator at 07:29 PM | Comments (1)

Ijawland’s Early Christmas Gift to Nigeria from Bayelsa State!

by Paul I. Adujie (New York, United States) --- Exhilarating! Thrilling! And Invigorating! Are the adjectives that best describes the delightful news of the impeachment of DSP Alamieseigha, the fugitive and former governor of Bayelsa state in Nigeria! Good riddance to bad rubbish!

DSP Alams was a colossal embarrassment to Nigeria, to the decent people of Ijawland, Bayelsa and all of us! His putrid and filthy corrupt ways has finally ended his foray into Nigeria’s public life and thus, a precedent has been set!

Here is calling the Honorable Members of Plateau state house of assembly, they too, should shoo fugitive Joshua Chibi Dariye who in circumstances similar to DSP Alams, also jumped bail in London while facing similar criminal charges as DSP Alams.

A call should now go out to Nigerians and people of the world, to participate, support and encourage the audacious war against corruption that is being fought by the indomitable President Obasanjo. The time to sit and do nothing is past. Democracy is not a spectator sport. Riding Nigeria of corruption is not a spectator sport either.

The political leaders of Ijawland and Bayelsa state have just demonstrated commitment to Nigeria’s democracy and Nigeria’s progress. Ijawland and Bayelsa have now set a spectacular precedent for all Nigerians. The anti corruption train has since left the station.

Next stop Plateau state, then Edo state etc! The impeachment train is coming to a stop near you! Watch out! President Obasanjo is making believers out of those doubters and those who have been sitting on the fence regarding reform efforts in Nigeria

More thunderous applause the government of President Obasanjo and his anti corruption drive. We must now become more focused and more engaged. We must now join in these reforms and progressive efforts for the advancement of Nigeria. Nigeria’s development and greatness depends on all of us.

The message should now be loud and clear, there is a new dawn and it is a new day in Nigeria!

I could not have asked for a better Christmas present from Santa Claus! And I am sure majority of Nigerians world wide share my feelings on this.

God Bless Ijawland God Bless Bayelsa! God Bless Nigeria

Paul I. Adujie

Lawcareer@msn.com

New York, United States

Posted by Administrator at 07:22 PM | Comments (2)

December 06, 2005

Poem: To Whom it May Concern

by Nick Ifeanyi Malu (New York, New York) ---

To Whom It May Concern

Who are you?
People of color.
Faded...
Negros,Blacks,African-American.
People of no color
colorless...
A faithful name ,fearful and chilling.
Millions born out of wedlock.
In a free world where free air are sold.
Swarming with exiles and refugees
Exiled to the first world ,America this.
The haves and the havenots
From the distant past,Africa.
A stranger to our root,
The second colonization.
Here ,our young smoke pot,crack heads.
Kidnappers let loose
Anarchy in my 'hood.
Factory of crises, gangsters hold sway
Killin' with impunity.
Lil' kids smoke like devil
Living in hellish hole
eyes sunken,brain damaged
heart as hard as the Brooklyn bridge steel.
The center of our bondage.
Who are you?


Nick Ifeanyi Malu
NY, New york
U.S.A

Posted by Administrator at 11:01 AM | Comments (0)

The Role of Fear in the Genesis and Nature of Government: An Essay on Political Philosophy (Part 2)

by Ozodi Thomas Osuji, Ph.D. (Seatle, washington) ---The balance of this paper would address itself to how to live as Christ self and form social institutions that serve Christ’s purpose of love for all humanity.

FORGIVENESS AS THE MEANING OF LOVE

As Thomas Hobbes observed, and as our empirical experience verifies, people do harm one another. You do harm other people and they do harm you. The world is a place of mutual attack. Each of us is, in Adam Smith’s terms (see his Wealth of Nations, 38) pursuing his self interests, and in doing so, often steps on other people’s feet. We do hurtful things to each other.
In a world where all attack and hurt one another, the apparent rational thing to do is to defend ones self. We all do defend ourselves.
At the individual level, we defend ourselves and at the social level, we employ governments to defend us collectively (at least, to defend those in our group, our nation).
The world is a place of attack and defense. Make no mistake about it, if you did not defend yourself, you would be killed. At this very moment, virus, bacteria and fungus are attacking you, trying to make your body their meal, and you are defending yourself through your immune system by killing them. You defend your body through eating food, taking medications, wearing clothes and living in shelters. Just about every thing we do on earth is motivated by self defense. (Can you think of something you do that is not meant to defend your separated self housed in body?)
To live in body is to perpetually feel attacked and to defend ones self. Defense makes living in body, in separation, possible.
Defense makes separation (ego) seems real. If one did not defend ones ego and its body, the body would die and the ego would return to an undifferentiated state. As noted, we are afraid of harm and death and afraid of returning to undifferentiated self. We came to this world to seem separated from the whole, aka God and from one another. The world is a place of separation.
Space, time and matter are means of making our separation from one another seem real to us. I live here and you live there. There is space between us; it takes time for each of us to reach the other; we live in bodies. This is our current reality.
(What seems real is not necessarily real. Space, time and matter are illusions; they, in fact, do not exist; they seem to exist in a dream world, but not in the real world created by God. The world created by God is a unified world, which, by definition, is a non-material but spiritual world. However, in this paper, we do not need to worry about the non reality of matter. We shall assume that matter, space and time are real. When you have unified spirit experience, you would know that matter is a fiction and do not need any one else to convince you of your reality, but until you do, we shall assume the reality of matter. You do not need to be taken to a world you are not yet capable of understanding; it is enough to ask you to accept the possible reality of spirit.)
People, particularly sadists, do harm other people. To survive in body, you must defend your self against sadistic people. If you fail to defend yourself, you could be enslaved. Make no mistake about it; if black people did not struggle to be free, white people would enslave them, now, not tomorrow.
The human ego is an evil thing; there is no mistake about that. One must not have illusions about human beings, they are, in their ego states, very evil. They will kill you and urinate on your grave (assuming that they buried you at all). As Arthur Schopenhauer (see his World as Idea and Will, 29) observed, man is a mistake that ought not to have been made. It seems the universe would have been better off without human beings.
Be that as it may, we have human beings living on planet earth and the real question is what to do about them. If you kill them off, say with atomic weapons, they would simply re-evolve on earth and continue their history of mutual oppression and abuse. Thus, killing them off is not the real solution to the problem of man.
The real question is whether it is possible to change human thinking and behavior? As people think, so they act. Human beings are cognitive, mentational and ideational creatures. They do think and behave as they think. If they think hateful thoughts, they act hatefully; if they think loving thoughts, they act lovingly.
Loving thoughts are unifying thoughts, whereas hateful thoughts are separating thoughts. Can we teach people to think and act lovingly? Can we teach those who see themselves attacked by others to love one another?
To love, one must have a different frame of reference, a different conceptualization of what it means to love.
Forgiveness is the real meaning of love. Let us explore this concept for a little while.
Consider black-white relationship. White folks did enslave black folks. Every thing in me, my ego, wants to fight back. My ego would like nothing better than an opportunity to enslave white folks.
My ego-mind bears grievances and seeks revenge for whatever is done to it, that it considers wrong. As I see it, white folks had no business enslaving black folks, so I seek revenge.
And make no mistake about it, where there is a will there is a way. If black folks determine to seek revenge for the ills they suffered in the hands of white folks, they will eventually find a way to accomplish their objective. If you are impressed by the present lopsided balance of power in favor of whites, let me quickly disabuse you with historical facts.
In history, empires come and empires go. Nothing in this world is more predictable than the fact that all empires built by man must collapse. Although those in power tend to have the delusion that they are invincible, as, apparently, the leaders of America feel, the fact of history is that we live in a world of constant change. (The world of God is changeless; its opposite, our world is changeable.)
Whatever goes up must eventually come down. At one time, Rome ruled the known world. (See Gibbons, The Decline and fall of the Roman Empire, 41) The leaders of Rome considered their Germanic neighbors as primitive and used them as slaves, as white Americans currently consider Africans as primitive and use them as slaves. But guess who sacked the Roman Empire? The so-called barbarian Germans destroyed the mighty Roman Empire. The Roman Empire became so decadent that its Patricians refused to fight and recruited German barbarians to fight for them. Eventually, the barbarians took over the empire.
Does history repeat itself? White America is currently on the same path as Rome. It does not take too much political perspicacity to know that the white population is increasingly effete; in fact, most of them could become homosexual. (Homosexuality, apparently, is Westerners latest method of exercising their defiance of God. Human beings came to the world in defiance/opposition of their creator and must necessarily find ways to be defiant/oppose whatever is; the absurdity of homosexuality being one such means. In the world, people feel an urge to defy/oppose everything, including defy nature, for they came here to oppose their father’s will and must oppose their own will; they made heterosexual sex as a means of procreating themselves and now oppose it with the insanity of so-called homosexuality. Ones Machiavellian thinking would encourage homosexuality in the West, it as a means of weakening it.)
The American army is increasingly composed of the poor, blacks and other minorities. Rich white folks like George Walker Bush serve their military time in rear battalions. Poor black folks like Collin Powell serve their military duties at the war front. Warrior skills are gained at the battle front, not in club med rear brigades.
Where are Egypt, Persia, Greece, Rome, the Soviet Union, Britain and France, once mighty empires? They are now in the dustbin of history. Do not weep for fallen empires, for they were all unjust. The evil must fall for civilization to progress to better ends. Such is life, Ces’t la vies!
Are you over impressed by America’s military might, her possession of nuclear weapons? Let us see what history teaches us. Throughout history, a group initially invents a weapon and it confers an advantage to them. That group, generally, exercises power over its neighbors. In time, however, the very weapon that gave a group military advantage is produced by other groups. The playing fields are equalized. When this happens, power is rebalanced, often to the advantage of those who, hitherto, were suppressed.
America was the first country to explode nuclear weapons. That gave it military advantage. The Russians struggled to equalize the playing fields. In time, nuclear technology will spread to all parts of the world. There is nothing any one can do to stop this spreading. The genie is out of the bottle and cannot be rebottled.
All things being constant, it is in America’s self/national interests to try to stop the spread of nuclear technology. America knows that it would lose the current advantage it has were other nations to have weapons of mass destruction. Moreover, her sole superpower status offers her the right to be a bully, to terrorize the world.
America’s foreign policy has become: do as America says or else you are removed from power. We just witnessed George Bush give Saddam Hussein of Iraq an ultimatum to vacate power or else. Obviously, Bush’s behavior was very degrading and I assure you that every one took note of that unmitigated arrogance. Folks would not want to suffer the fate of Iraq, now a testing ground for the latest American weapons. Who cares if Iraqis are killed? In real politics, as Henry Kissinger would say, sentiments have no place. Just kill Arabs, that is all there is to it. The world is an amoral place and if you have the power, you ought to stick it to the weak, the power intoxicated real politics’ “Neocons” surrounding Mr. Bush, tell us.
All over the world, folks have taken note of America’s intolerable hubris and are quietly working to develop nuclear weapons, so as to checkmate America, if only to reduce her swollen head. If history is our guide, by the end of this century, many nations would have access to nuclear technology.
We all know who folks are arching to use those weapons on: Americans. Unless we change the pattern of international politics, I suspect that in a century or so American cities would become the testing grounds for other group’s makeshift nuclear devices. When that happens, another human empire expires. Such is life.
Nevertheless, some of us do not accept the inevitability of history repeating itself. We work to change the pattern of human thinking and behaving. Besides, one really loves individual Americans, white and black. We so love them that we must tell them what is good for them, for, in their misguided arrogance, they have forgotten what is good for them.
If history is our guide, power changes hand. We are already witnessing the passing of economic power to the Asians.
Economic power tends to go with political power. China is going to be an important player in world politics. We, therefore, cannot allow ourselves to be intimidated by America’s current stupendous power. We must emphasize the truth and only the truth and may God help all of us.
The truth is that America’s power is not going to protect her when the chicken comes home to roost, when those she alienated, the army of the weak, find courage and leadership to fight back. When external others begin to explode their bombs in America, those oppressed and abused in internal America will rise up and tear the empire sown from the inside. This is what happened in Rome.
When external others attack the empire, as they eventually will, America’s domestic slaves, like the slaves in the Roman Empire, will join battle with them and the empire implodes from the inside.
When the bullets begin to fly, America will realize that she really does not have too many admirers out there. She has alienated too many people. People smile for her because they are aware that she is currently too powerful, but when her power is challenged by a credible external power, such as emergent China, the suppressed minorities in America will, no doubt, suddenly find courage to vent their suppressed rage at their oppressors. (At present, for example, African Americans displace their anger at their white masters by abusing their spouses and children and killing each other, but when they find the courage to stand up to their abusers and stop killing themselves in senseless drive by killing, well, history would change.)
We cannot delude ourselves into believing that those Americans oppress and abuse should not seek revenge at Americans. They can and, as a matter of fact, will do so, unless we change the parameters of international politics. To avert the inevitable, we must transform politics from the politics of grievance and revenge to the politics of forgiveness.
I know that as a twenty something young man with a doctorate degree but experiencing discrimination in America, I was capable of pulling the trigger to destroy America. And I would not have felt an iota of guilt. To me, then, destroying America was like getting rid of a pestilence that ravaged the world. America seemed like cancer to be exorcised from the human body (politics).


The new paradigm of politics that would save all of us is one that insists on forgiveness of the past. We must forgive what was done to us in the past. This includes at the individual and collective level. All of us, individuals and groups, have done awful things in the past. No one has a squeaky clean past. Africans did enslave their own people. Africans, in fact, so enjoyed selling their own people that it took European intervention for them to stop oppressing and abusing their own people. Simply stated, there are no innocent persons in this world.
Because, in time, we are all guilty, although in eternity we remain guiltless, no one really has a right to point accusatory fingers at other people. If one points two accusatory fingers at others, three point right back at one.
If Africans accuse whites of enslaving them, they must also accuse themselves of enslaving themselves. Dwelling on past injustices done to one is, therefore, not a useful thing to do. If one accuses others of abusing one in the past, they can equally accuse one of abusing them in the past.
(What can black people remember doing wrong to white people, you ask? Okay, have you studied the personality of Africans? If Africans were ahead of whites in material culture, given Africans brutality to one another…see their leaders take the money that are supposed to be used to develop their people and redirect them to themselves and could care less for their fellow Africans…given Africans self centeredness, they would have abused whites more than whites abused them. This is a fact, not a conjecture. Africans are some of the world’s most brutal people. I know my people, trust me.)
Since none of us is innocent in the past, we must, therefore, overlook our mutual past. Forgiveness means overlooking peoples past behavior.
Forgiveness means loving people in the present despite the evils that they did in the past. If people did not brutalize each other in the past, there would be no need for forgiveness. We all abused each other in the past. We all therefore, as Jesus Christ recognized, need to forgive each other. To forgive each other’s past is to love each other. In a world of mutual attacks, forgiveness is the true meaning of love.

Forgiveness is not a luxury the victim exercises; it is not a charity conferred on evil others. We tend to feel smug, superior, that we forgive others, morally inferior persons, who sinned against us. There are no true victims in this world. Consider the slave. He is not really a victim. It is his fear of harm and death that led him to tolerate others abuse. True, his abusers were sadistic but he had to be masochistic to permit them to abuse him. He is not a victim, for he could have challenged the oppressors and, if necessary, die fighting for his liberty, rather than tolerate abuse. No one can oppress a man who is willing to die at any moment. No one can oppress a warrior who looks you in the face and says: go ahead and kill me but I will not accept servitude to you. It is fear of pain and death that disposes human beings to tolerate other human beings abuse. If you want to be a free man, you must overcome the fear that bounds you to slavery.
Nothing can happen to human beings unless they tolerate it. In fact, nothing can happen to human beings unless their personalities invite it. I will give you a personal example. As a child I was stubborn and willful and do not take marching others from any one. Contemporary psychiatry probably would have diagnosed me as an oppositional defiant child. As a child, if you dared tell me what to-do, I would slap your face, and it did not matter that you were bigger than me.
(These days, America’s establishmentarian psychiatrists, always out to get people to not rock the boat, to tow the line and conform to American society’s increasingly decadent values; consider some children as having oppostional defiant disorder, ODD. These teenage rebels, who, generally, are responsible for changing society, are filled with stimulant medications like Ritalin, even psychotropic/neuroleptic medications like Zyprexa, Risperdal, Seroquel, Geodon, Lithium, Depakote, Tegretol, Valium, Librium, etc in a misguided effort to numb them and get them to conform to the values of a dying empire. These medications have terrible side effects and actually do not heal any of the mental disorders they supposedly heal. America is destroying her people with quack medications. This house has fallen; it must be replaced with a better one: a love based civilization. In case you have not grasped it yet, my efforts at a political philosophy has a mission: to replace the West’s
ego/hate based civilization with a Christ/love based civilization. If this seems grandiose and not doable, hang around and witness the power of love over hate.)
When I came to America and a racist white police officer tried to harass me, I was so outraged that I insisted that he be fired from his job. And I did not care whether I was killed or not. You cannot intimidate me by pointing a gun at me, for I would automatically tell you to go ahead and shoot me. I grew up during the Nigerian civil war. Nigerian fighter plans flew at roof top level spreading bullets at whatever moved. My senor brother, Eugene, was killed and my mother, Teresa, was wounded during such raids. Upon perceiving approaching jet fighters, people scampered into hiding places. Without thinking about it, I said: bring it on, kill me, right now, but I would not hide, just so I preserve my worthless life. Thus, I walked about, as folks hid all over the place. Folks would, in fact, try pulling me into taking cover and I would say: to hell with that and went about the business of living. I had a fatalistic view that if a bullet was meant for me that it would get me,
no matter what I did, and that, therefore, there was no use hiding from anything. I have never seen any need to defend my body and ego, for even as a child under age twelve, I grasped that my body is eventual food for worms and, as such, is valueless. I do not have to protect the worthless. The valuable, our souls, do not need protection, for the real needs no defense.
The relevant variable here is my stubborn personality. How do you think that that stubborn personality would fare in slavish America? You guessed it. I found it difficult to adjust to America’s school and work organizations. I resisted being told what to do. Thus, when I say that I was unable to obtain a reasonable job after graduate school that must be qualified with the statement that my personality played a role in my fate. If I was a compliant chap who did what his bosses told him to do, I would have fitted right into America’s slavish society?
America gave me every opportunity to succeed within its cultural parameters but my personality dictated that I be an outsider in America. My personality, therefore, played a role in what I used to call my marginalization in America. I bear responsibility for what I got out of life; I am not a victim of circumstances. If anything is to be blamed for my fate, it is my personality, but since I like that personality, no one is to be blamed.
If any human being objectively examines his life, he would find out that his personality, along with the circumstances he found himself, played a role in what he gets out of life. No one is a total victim of circumstances. We all play roles in what happens to us, at least, in how we experience what happens to us. Racism is real in America; make no mistake about it, but ones personality plays a role in how it affects one.
We live in a general system where everything affects everything else; we all mutually affect each other; no one is a total victim of other persons.

THE SELF CONCEPT, SELF IMAGE AND PERSONALITY

Upon birth on earth, the child’s inherited biological datum and his social experiences interact to form a personality for him. By age six, the typical human children has formed a self concept and allied self image. (See George Kelly, Personality as a Personal Construct, 42, also see Alfred Adler, 43, Karen Horney, 44, and Carl Jung’s 20, B.F. Skinner, 45, Laswell, 46, and other writings on the etiology of personality.)
We develop ideas of who we think that we are and picture those ideas in images. Human beings think in ideas and in images.
We have concepts and images of ourselves, other people and the world. Once the self concept is set, certainly by early adolescent, age 13, it is difficult to change it. Subsequently, the individual thinks and behaves according to his self concept, self image, his ego and personality.
My willful and oppositional defiant self concept/self image was in place when I started elementary school at age six. No one dared tell me what to do. On the other hand, I saw other kids cheerfully doing what our teachers told them to do. At age nine, a teacher flogged me and I practically destroyed the entire school, for, to me, how dare he flog me? In Alfred Adler’s categories, I felt superior to the teacher and could not accept an inferior him flogging me.
You got the picture. Ones personality plays a role in what happens to one in ones life. However, it must be observed that the etiology of the human personality is not yet fully understood. Psychoanalysts speculated on end about it, behaviorists reduced it to social learning and contemporary neuroscientists believe that it is biochemical in origin. All these observers have useful insights into the human personality; nevertheless, no one has yet understood the genesis of human personality.
My own predilection is that there is a life force, ala Henry Bergson (47) that takes our biological and social experiences and uses both of them as building blocks to construct our personalities for us.
Each of us has a unique personality. Once formed, personality shapes our future. As the German writer, Novalis, observed, character is fate (the external environment held constant).

If none of us is a victim, it follows that all of us have done things to other people that need to be overlooked and forgiven. I must forgive other people what I see them do to me that I consider not right. By the same token, other people must forgive me what I did to them that they construe as not right. In other words, we must forgive each other.
Forgiveness is not a frivolous thing; it confers rewards on the forgiving person. When one forgives other people, one feels peaceful and happy.
Do you want to feel peaceful and joyous? If affirmative, then forgive those who you believe wronged you in the past. Forgive all the people that wronged you. Forgive the whole world for the wrong it did to you.
If you can honestly forgive the entire world, you would have loved the entire world. You would feel very peaceful and happy.
Forgiveness is a means of receiving the gifts of God: peace and happiness. There is no other way known to man for receiving the gifts of God, other than forgiveness, which is the true meaning of love.
Jesus taught: love God and other people; forgive your enemies, turn the other cheek to be slapped by them when one is slapped. Consider the example of the adulterous woman. Jesus said that she be forgiven. Moses, the Old Testament, taught punishment for our sins and Jesus, the New Testament, taught forgiveness for our sins. (See the Four Gospels in the Christian Bible. Pay particular attention to the Sermon on the Mount, in the Gospels according to Mathew and Luke, 48.)
Jesus taught the need to forgive other people before we pray to God. God does hear all our prayers and, in fact, have already answered all of them because he knows what we, his children, need, peace and joy, before we ask for them. But to receive the things of God, already given, we must obey God’s will: love, that is, forgive one another.
No one comes close to God without first forgiving all his brothers. As long as there is a human being that you have not forgiven, one person for whom you bear grievance and seek vengeance and punishment, you cannot see the face of Christ, your true face, and certainly cannot come to his father.
Jesus walked his talk and forgave those who destroyed his physical body, for they knew not what they were doing. The world believed that they could kill the immortal son of God; all they could do is destroy his body and ego, but his real self, unified spirit, Christ, lives for ever and ever with his father and all his brothers.


You may have studied science and believe the spurious and flippant notion that there is no other life outside our empirical world. I understand your skepticism and even cynicism. I, too, read our philosophy but, in time, learned that there is more to life than is taught in our ego based philosophy (and if you insist on the difference, natural science).
Forgive every person who has done you wrong, that is, love every person, and see whether you would not experience another world. The taste of the pudding is in the tasting. Forgive, that is, love, and see whether God is real or is a fiction.
But until you forgive God’s son for what you see him do in his dream, this world, that, in fact, he has not done while awake in spirit, please do not expect to experience God.
God is love. To come to love/God, you must love/be godlike, unified. To love is to forgive. To come to God you must be a loving and forgiving person.
Until you meet the conditions of God and his heaven, you cannot enter heaven. At the moment, you are in exile from heaven, our real home. You are the prodigal son that our brother Jesus talked about. To return home, you must acknowledge your mistakes, your separation and unloving behaviors and correct them by loving all people.
That is correct; you must make amends for your sins. We are not talking some new age “salvation is cheap stuff” here. We are talking reality. To be saved, you must be a forgiving and loving person. I mean totally forgiving. You cannot have an iota of an unforgiving thought and behavior and be saved.
Salvation, redemption and deliverance require that you be a totally forgiving person, that is, that you totally love all people. You must undo what you did.

STORY OF CREATION: A USEFUL MYTHOLOGY

God created a loving you. This means that God created a unified world. You and I chose to split that world, to fragmentalize heaven’s union, not in truth, but in our awareness. We separated from God and from each other.
We exploded in a Big Bang and each split off to his separate ways. We invent space, time and matter and each unit of life, a fragment of God, split apart from others. We then wander the world we made as separated, special persons.
We have been separating from each other since the Big Bang. Whenever we meet, we reattack each other, feel pain and or anticipate pain from each others attack and move away from each other. Whites attack blacks and blacks move away from them. Blacks attack each other and move away from each other. Human beings move away from each other. This is the world of separation. It is the world we invented, not the world God created.
God created a unified world. Return to the world God created. If you love and forgive all people, yourself included, you have returned to the world of union, for love is union. Love and you are back in God.
This is not some kind of game, we are talking here. Get up today and resolve to love and forgive every person in your world. Think loving thoughts and forgive whoever did something wrong to you, and this includes your slave master and your rapist (if you are a woman). There is no exception to God’s law.
God does not make compromises, so don’t even bother trying to ask him to love you until you have lived up to the terms of the covenant, contract, that he signed with us, when we separated from him, that we must forgive each other, that is, reunify with each other, before he unifies with us.
God is love and love is forgiveness. To obey God’s law, love, you must love all his creation.
God is in all his creation. If you love God’s creation, you love God. As long as there is one child of God that you do not love, that you bear grudges against, that you want punished, you do not love God. (God is not fragmented, he is whole, and so you must love all of him, all people, to love him.)

Love and forgive all and suddenly you escape from this world into the unified world of spirit. That world is in effable. It is beyond speech. Ego reasoning, in Kantian categories (see Critique of Pure Reason, 49), cannot understand the world of God. The world of God cannot be described by human language or with concepts and images, for concepts and images apply only to the world of space and time, the separated world.
The world of God is the world of union, a world where there are infinite persons, all of whom are one person, a world of one self that is simultaneously all selves.
One God is all of us, literally, not figuratively. God is all of us and all of us are God. But each of us alone is not all of God, for God is in all of us. God is everywhere and is everywhere.
God is in us and we are in God. There is no space between God and us. There is no gap between one child of God and others. We are all, literally, one self, or, if you like, we all share one self and one mind, the self and mind of God. There is no other in God. There is no you and I, no seer and seen, no subject and object in God, in heaven.
God created us unified, that is, holy. We separated from him and from each other, that is, we became unholy. To experience God, we must return to holiness, that is, we must return to union. To do so, we must love and forgive one another.
Forgiveness brings us to the gate of heaven. Love takes us back into heaven. Love and forgive and then see what happens. We do not need to debate with you as to whether the truth is the truth or not.
A childish physical scientist who refuses to forgive and love, to experience God, tells the world that there is no God. Poor idiot, he is part of God and God is part of him. In denying God, he is merely denying his real self. He is saying that he is metaphorically dead.
He needs to die to the self he made for himself, the ego, the self he made to separate with and be rebirth in the self God created him as, the unified self. When he loves and forgives all and experiences a holy instant, union while still in time, he would stop the idiocy that there is no God.
God exists. All else is noise. We are in God; we are part of God. As it were, we cast a magical spell, what Orientals call Maya, on our selves and seem to go to sleep, and in our sleep, dream that we are separated from God and from each other. (See The Gospel of Ramakrishna, 47, as well as the Veda: Ramayana, Mahabharata, Bagavad Gita, Upanishad.)
According to Hinduism (see Vedas, Bagavad Gita, and Upanishads) the world is a sleep-dream place, an illusion. In truth, we are always in God. All we need to do to verify the reality of union, God, is do what God asks us to do: love and forgive ourselves. But we prefer separation; attack makes separation possible. We prefer to hate each other rather than to love each other.
Our world is a place of separation. Very few persons are ready to relinquish separation and reawaken in the world of union.
Temporary separation is permitted. God tells his son to go ahead and sleep and dream, but asks him to make his sleep-dream pleasant by forgiving and loving his fellow dreamers.

GOD THE FATHER, GOD THE SON, GOD THE HOLY SPIRIT AND THE EGO


To make his sons’ sleep-dream happy, God entered their dream world and is in them as the Holy Spirit. As the Holy Spirit, the immanent God (while remaining transcendent of the world) God urges us to love one another. The Holy Spirit, the God in us, teaches us to forgive one another.
In heaven, God is originally in two selves: God the father and God the son. God is the whole; the son of God is the parts of God. We are collectively God the Son. Each of us is part of God the Son. God the son can be called the Christ, so each of us is part of the Christ.
God the Son wishes for specialness and seems to have separated from God the father to go gratify his wishes for self creation. Actually, God the Son cannot separate from his father, but in his awareness he seems to have separated from his father and brothers.
When God the Son seems to have separated from God the father, God the father created God the Holy Spirit and entered his separated son’s mind.
In the temporal universe, there now seem three Gods, the Holy Trinity: God the father, God the son and God the Holy Spirit. Thus, in each of us are three selves: God the father, wholeness, God the son, part of God, ones true self, and God the Holy Spirit.
Each of us denied his true self, Christ, union, and identifies with a false separated self, the ego. We now think as the ego. God the Holy Spirit enters our mind and tries to get us to think as God and his Son, Christ, our true self, thinks.
If you like, we have four sides to us: God the father, God the Son, God the Holy Spirit and the ego. The ego is our dream self, the dream figure. In reality, the ego does not exist, it is false. But for our present purposes, the ego seems to exist, for it is the self you and I identify with. If you are reading this material, you are in ego state, for only the ego can read, conceptualize and image things; God and his Son, Christ, do not read things, they know things.
(By the way, all these talk of God the father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit and the ego are metaphors, figures of speech, they are not real; they are poor concepts that we employ to try to explain what no human being on earth can explain. God cannot be explained by any human being, certainly not by me. God, however, can be experienced. God is known only through experience. As already observed, to experience, hence know, God, you have to meet the conditions for doing so, forgive and love all creation.)

Forgiveness and love overlooks the separated world and what is done in it. When the temporal world is overlooked, the ego and its world are overcome and one experiences the unified world of God. This is a fact, not a conjecture. But since we value the ego and world we made, God accommodates us. He, in effect, tells his children to go ahead and live in the world they invented. He tells us that if we want to experience some peace and joy, not the total bliss of heaven, oneness, that we must forgive and love our fellow sleepers and dreamers.
Please note the phrase: “must forgive and love”. You must forgive and love all people, if you want to experience peace and happiness. You do have a choice not to forgive and love all people but you must pay a price for your unforgiving thinking and behaving: you must live in conflict and be unhappy. You cannot eat your cake and still have it.
A world that approximates the will of God is a loving and forgiving world. Therefore, we must love and forgive one another. If we want a Christ like world, we must love each other.

WE DO NOT NEED TO CHANGE OUR SOCIAL INSTITUTIONS BUT WE MUST CHANGE OUR THINKING AND BEHAVIORS

We do not need to change the forms of our governments and social institutions; what we need to do is put them to different purposes. The structure of the American government, for example, is good enough. Just use that government to teach forgiveness and love. Use the instruments of government to love all people. (Where governments are not democratic, of course, we must make them democratic.)
What we must do is change our behaviors, from anti social to pro-social. If a criminal does something wrong, it is his ego and body that did so. His ego is his sleeping, dreaming self, not his true self, the Christ. Arrest, try and put him in jail. While in jail, teach him forgiveness and love. If we kill him, as our ego wants to do, all we accomplished is guarantee that he would come back to the world to continue his evil ways. But, if while in jail, we teach him to love and work for our common interests, while we may not entirely succeed, we would guarantee that he would come back a better self than he is in the current lifetime.
(We do have several dreams; if you like, reincarnations, but none of the selves in the dream is the real self; the real son of God is always in God, while dreaming that he is born on earth; in truth, he is not born and does not die; he only seems born and dies in dreams; dream birth and death are not real.)
By teaching and practicing love and forgincveness we find healing, peace and happiness.
A Christ based world is a forgiving and loving world. The institutions of the world would remain as they are, or changed, if they are not democratic, but they would be put to different uses, to love and forgiveness. Let us see how that would work in reality.


On September 11, 2001, Moslem Arab terrorists attacked Americans. They randomly destroyed property and killed several thousand Americans.
Americans are human beings, that is, they identify with the separated self, the ego housed in body, other wise they would not be in this world, this dream. As egotists, Americans were outraged that some one dared come into their house and attack them.
The ego always seeks grievance and revenge. Grievance, defense and punishment maintain the ego’s world. In this ego mood, Americans sought revenge and went to war and quickly dispatched the Talibans in Afghanistan. That being not enough to assuage their anger at the Arab Moslem world, they attacked Iraq and disposed of its criminal leader, Saddam Hussein.
Now the fun part begins. Europeans have attacked and defeated Arabs. So what do you think is in the Arab’s mind? Remember that we live in a separated world, a world where there are groups of egos. What do you think the Arab mind is thinking?
Think, God gave you a mind to think with. The Arab mind, like the American mind, identifies with the separated self, the ego, otherwise he, too, would not be in this world.
The ego feels pride and shame. (Christ does not feel pride, shame or fear; he only feels love.)
The ego is the desire by the Son of God to kill his father and replace him as the creator of the world. The Son of God wished to kill his father or create his father, create his self and create his brothers. He could not satisfy these insane wishes, for the son cannot be his own father, so he went to sleep and in his dream, dreams that he is his own creator and the creator of everything in the universe. He is deluded, of course, for in reality God is the creator of everything. Each of us invented a self concept for ourselves, and for other people, as symbol of our imaginary self creation.
For our present purposes, to identify with the ego is to desire power, hence to be subject to feeling humiliated when one is shown as powerless. The American ego has humiliated the Arab ego. The Arab ego feels shamed.
What does the ego do when it is belittled and shamed? If it has the ability to fight back, it fights back, right away. But if it is weak, it bites its tongue, bides its time and waits for an opportunity to fight back, to humiliate those who humiliated it.
Arabs cannot really fight back at this time, for the power of the West is too much for them to handle. But make no mistake about it; they are going to fight back. This whole century is going to witness on going wars between the Christian West and the Moslem East. The Crusades has restarted where it stopped in the thirteenth century. The Christian European and the Arab Moslem has been at war for hundreds of years and that war merely resumed and will last for a few more centuries. George Bush cannot finish what he started.

Prior to attacking Americans, Arabs believed that Americans and Westerners hurt their interest, for example, by supporting Israel. However, the issue of Israel is merely a tip of the iceberg. These two cultures resent each other; each wants to finish off the other and impose its world view on the rest of the world. The Arabs want to arabicize the world and Americans want to Americanize the world; the battle of two sets of egos is joined.
When two elephants fight the grass suffers. The rest of the world will suffer from the titanic war ensuing before our very eyes. In our mysterious world, however, out of bad good comes. As the West and East finish each other up, other civilizations will emerge. Africa gained independence when Europe self destruct during the Second World War.
Africa will emerge truly independent when the West and Arabs, the two groups that traditionally humiliated Africans by enslaving them, self destroy. The real politician in me, therefore, encourages Europeans and Arabs to fight, so that I might pick their pieces. But the Christ in me, my loving side, knows that there is a better way to handle the situation.


ALTERNATIVE FOREIGN POLICY

It is not necessary to say that Arabs are right or wrong or that Americans are right or wrong. Both were right and wrong. What is salient is that America could have chosen to respond differently to Arab attack. America is obviously more powerful than the rag tagged Arab army. As the stronger of the two, America could have chosen to forgive Arab attackers. This does not mean tolerating and or condoning terrorist attacks. It means removing the Talibans, even removing Saddam Hussein from power (through diplomatic means).
The difference is the purpose of the attack on the Arab world. If you go to the Arab world to help them become democratic, they would appreciate you. If you do something with love and forgiveness, not punishment, in your mind, you would be appreciated. But the fact is that America went into the Arab world to punish Arabs, to teach them a lesson as to who is the stronger boy in the school yard. They will teach them a lesson all right. But as these things always turn out, those who set out to teach learns have lessons to learn.
By the time this war is over, America would have squandered most of her resources in a senseless war, while her competitors, China etc, devote their resources to economic development.
It is not necessary to dwell on what America should have done in the past. What is relevant is what America does today.
The past is over with and is gone. The future is a hope; the only real time is today, this moment.
What should America be doing now? America is now in the Arab world. It is too late for America to cut and run. She must stay where she is and help bring about capitalism and democracy in the Arab world. It must help Arabs elect their leaders, as folks now do in the West.
Elected governments have too many checks and balances to easily go to war. Of course, they do go to war, after all we saw George Bush the allegedly moronic president manipulate Americans to lead them into a war of choice.

International politics must be reframed to one whereby nations forgive and love one another. In practical terms, this means working for our common global interests. The world has really become a global village and what happens in one part of it affects all parts of it. We can no longer ignore other people’s plights.
In the new world order, real politics means helping Africans learn democratic government and manage themselves right; it means helping Americans learn to love and forgive one another, for if they fail to-do so, their country may implode from within and explode from outside.
We need a Christ based Government where the apparatus of the state is used to care for all people, to teach love and forgiveness. It means providing education, at all levels, to all young persons; it means working for an economy that provides jobs to all people, a mixed capitalist-socialite economy. It means teaching the criminal elements in our midst how to care for all people, rather than harm all people. (One is sufficiently trained in biology to know that there are putative genetic elements in human behavior. Criminals probably inherited certain genetic disposition that makes it easy for them to steal and kill without feeling remorseful and guilty? Otherwise, how can these people be as amoral and predatory animals? Reason immediately tells a rational person that serving social interests is what is good for the individual, so how can criminals do the dastardly things they do without worrying about the consequences of their actions?)
Biology not withstanding, human beings do think and can change their patterns of thinking and behaving. If the individual indulged in criminal thinking, he can change and think in pro-social terms, and seek ways to care for all people. He may not turn out a saint, a mother Teresa, but he could become more human than be animalistic.

THE FALACY OF EGO IDEALISM

One is not naive to think in terms of making the world over into a perfect place. Idealism is of the ego. It is the ego that wishes to transform the self, other selves and the world into an idealistic place. What this type of grandiose idealism means is that the ego is seeking absolute power. The idealistic egotist is seeking power to change himself, change other people and change social institutions. If he ever gets power, he is very likely to use it destructively, to get the world to kowtow to his egoistic wishes.
We witnessed what fascist and socialist idealists did in Germany and Russia respectively; they murdered those whose ideas of life were not congruent with theirs. One is not, therefore, enamored with the fantasy that human beings can be made over into angels. We are depraved creatures and will only gradually improve our lives.
Of course, in every generation, a few persons will do what it takes to make the transition to Christ like living, but the many will behave like egotists. The run of the mill human being seeks ways to satisfy his self interests, preferably in cooperation with other people, but if needs be, at the expense of social interests. In so doing, the ordinary person necessarily generates social conflicts and needing conflict resolution.
Government must exist to resolve our on-going conflicts. The world is not going to change tomorrow and attain purgatory status. It will take thousands of years before the mass of the people attains Christ like living.

No one can change other people. Each child of God has freedom to do as he likes. God is absolute freedom and since each of his children is part of him, they have freedom to do whatever they like. (Except the freedom to permanently change themselves into separated selves; they may only dream of separation but they cannot make separation real and permanent; if separation were ever to become real, all of existence would self destroy. God and his real children desire to live and do not want to self destroy, so they cannot permit separation to exist. Nothing can exist in a separated world. Existence requires union, albeit hidden union. Even the material universe is unified by super strings that are invisible to the physical eyes.)
God gives freedom to all his children. His children have the freedom to sleep and dream that they are who they are not, separated selves housed in bodies. In reality, they are unified spirit self, outside matter.
God permits the world of dreams to exist and there is nothing any of us can do about it. You cannot prevent other people from sleeping and dreaming. All that you can do is understood that you yourself are asleep and dreaming. You can study the pattern of your sleep-dream and strive to correct it. This means that you can study your personal psychology, personality, self concept and self image and work on improving them.
The individual’s sole task is to understand his own personality, that is, the structure of his ego, the manner he separates from other people and work at improving it. The goal is for the individual to use his personality and body to move towards other people, rather than away from them. The realistic ego learns to love and forgive all people; to use his specific personality and body to teach love and forgiveness.
No one can change his body and ego (although that may be made possible in the future by genetic science and engineering), but he can use them to communicate love. For example, I am still as stubborn as a mule. You cannot tell me what to do, for, before you are done telling me what to do, I am already asking you who you think that you are telling me what to do with my freaking life. Even God himself cannot tell me what to do. How about Jesus Christ? Who the hell is he? Jesus is just another son of God, albeit one that discovered a way to return to our shared home, to union. Good for him.
Thomas, a Jnana (philosophical) yogi, will find his homewards journey on rational grounds, not Jesus Bhakti (poetic and worshipful) terms. Of course, he could use the assist of Brother Jesus and all the other teachers of union, teachers of love and teachers of God, including Gautama Buddha, his favorite teacher.
The salient point is that it is not for the individual to change other people. His primary function is to find out what the truth is and live it.
The truth is love and love is attained through forgiveness. Love and forgive all people. That is all that is asked of each of us.
Having become loving and forgiving, the individual models it and, hopefully, other people learn from his example. If they do, like him, they experience the peace and joy that, as Saint Paul said, passes human, ego, understanding.


CONCLUSION

This paper hypothesized that governments have their origin in human beings tendency to feel fearful. It complements and reinforces Thomas Hobbes contention that government has its genesis in human insecurity.
The article stressed the need to redirect the purpose of government. Whatever are the reasons why human beings established governments, governments can redirect their functions, by seeing themselves as instruments for helping people to becoming their brothers keepers, loving and forgiving one another. Governments do not have to do so as communists and socialists tried to do, by killing people. They should do so by having those in government: politicians and bureaucrats use their public offices to work for the common good.
Finally, before the individual does any thing, he ought to stop and asks: why am I doing this? If the objective is to serve the public, ones action cannot be that wrong. Whatever is done out of love and forgiveness, although sometimes misguided, since the ego can define love inappropriately, cannot be all wrong. Whatever is motivated by love and forgiveness serves a better public good than whatever is done for selfish purposes.



____________________________
REFERENCES


1. Karl Popper, Conjectures and Refutations: The Growth of Scientific Knowledge. London: Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1963.
2. Thomas Hobbes, Leviathan. New York: Broadview Press, 2002.
3. John Locke, Two Treaties on Government. New York: Nuvision
Publications, 2004.
4. Jean Jacque, Rousseau Social Contract. New York: Dover Publications,
2004.
5. Charles Montesquieu, Spirit of Laws. Berkeley: University of California Press, 2004.
6. Madison, Hamilton and Jay, The Federalist Papers. New York: Penguin Classics, 2004.
7. John Stuart Mill, On Liberty. New Heaven, Con.: Yale University Press, 2003. Principles of Political Economy. New York: Prometheus, 2003.
8. Sigmund Freud, Civilization and Its Discontents, in The Life and Works of Sigmund Freud, Ed. Ernest Jones. New York: Lionel Trilling and Steven, 1961.
9. Konrad Lorenz, On Aggression. New York: Harvest Books.
10. Abraham Maslow, Maslow on Management. New York: John Wiley and Sons, 1998.
11. See, Somalia: Country Studies; Federal Research Division, Library of Congress, Washington, DC.
12. Isaac Marks, Living with Fear: Understanding and Coping with Anxiety. New York: McGraw Hill Publishing Co. 2001.
13. For information on Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis, CIPA, and painlessness hence fearlessness, see textbooks on neurology.
14. Jeremy Bentham, The Economic Writings of Jeremy Bentham, New York: Routledge, 2003.
15. Ernest Becker, Denial of Death. New York: The Free Press, 1973.
16. Sigmund Freud The Future of an Illusion.1927. New York: Prometheus Books, 1990.
17. Karl Marx, The Communist Manifesto. New York: Nuvision Publications, 2003.
18. Horace, Ovid and Virgil, see their literary works, including Virgil’s Aeneid, Ovid’s Metamorphosis and Horace (Quintus Flaccus) Odes. See The Life of Horace, Translated by Alexander Thomson and Thomas Forester.
19. Zeno, Seneca, Cicero, Marcus Aurelius, Pliny, the Younger, The Philosophy of Stoicism, Epicure, see Gibbons, The Decline and fall of the Roman Empire. New York: Random House, 2003.
20. Carl G. Jung The Collected Works of Carl G. Jung
21. There are numerous books on Terrorism, for a sample see Mark Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God.
22. Rene Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy. 1642.
23. David Hume, An Inquiry Concerning Human Understanding. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
24. George Berkeley, Dialogues. In The Works of George Berkeley, Edited by A. A. Luce and T. E. Jessop. London: Thomas Nelson and sons, 1957.
25. Samuel Huntington, The Clash of Civilizations. Foreign Affairs, summer 1993 v72, n3 p22 (28).
26. Francis Fukayama, The End of History. In The National Interest, summer, 1989, pp 3-18.
27. Eric Fromm, Escape from Freedom. New York: Morrow/Avon, 1994. Man for Himself. New York: Routlege, 1999. Anatomy of Human Destructiveness. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1972. The Art of Loving.
28. Helen Schucman, A Course in Miracles, Tiburon, California: Foundation for Inner Peace, 1976.
29. Arthur Schopenhauer, The World as Will and Idea. 1844.
30. George F. Hegel, Phenomenology of Spirit, 1807.
31. Frederick Nietzsche, Thus Spoke Zarathustra. 1885.
32. Blasé Pascal, Pensees.
33. Benedict Spinoza, Ethics. In Collected Works of Spinoza. Ed. Edwin Curley. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 1985.
34. Gottfried Wilhelm Leibnitz, Discourse on Metaphysics.
35. Voltaire, Candide 1759.
36. Dante, Inferno, Divine Comedy.
37. M. The Gospel of Ramakrishna. New York: Vedanta Society, 1947.
38. Adam Smith, The Wealth of Nations. New York: Penguin Group, 2004.
39. William James, Varieties of Religious Experience. In The Works of William James, Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1975.
40. Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism. 1910.
41. Edward Gibbons, The Decline and fall of The Roman Empire. New York: Random House, 2003.
42. George Kelly, Psychology of Personal Constructs. New York: W. W. Norton, 1955.
43. Alfred Adler, The Neurotic Constitution. in Collected Clinical Works of Alfred Adler. Ed Henry Stein. San Francisco, California: Alfred Adler Institute, 2003.
44. Karen Horney, Neurosis and Human Growth. New York: W. W. Norton, 1991.
45. B.F. Skinner, Beyond Freedom and Dignity. New York: Hackett Publishing, 2002.
46. Harold Laswell, Psychopathology and Politics. New York: Textbook Publishers, 2003. Politics: Who Gets What, When and How. New York: Peter Smith Publisher, 1990.
47. Henry Bergson, Creative Evolution. Translation by Arthur Mitchell. New York: Henry Holt and Company, 1911.
48. New Testament, Bible.
49. Immanuel Kant, Critique of Pure Reason. Trans. Werner Pluhar. Indianapolis: Hackett, 1996.
50. American Psychiatric Association, Diagnostic and Statistical Manual. Washington, DC. APA Press, 9004.
51. Adolf Hitler, Mein Kampf. New York: CPA Books, 2002.
52. Thomas Paine, Common Sense. New York: Broadway Press, 2004.
53. Plato, Republic in the Complete Works, Ed. John M. Cooper and D.S. Hutchinson, 1997.
54. Aristotle, The Complete Works of Aristotle, Ed. Jonathan Barnes. Princeton: Princeton University Press, 2000.
55. Edmund Burke, Reflections on the French Revolution, 1790.
56. William James, Pragmatism. Cambridge, Mass.: Harvard University Press, 1979.
57. Karl Von Clausewitz, On War. New York: Penguin Classic Library, 2004.
58. Niccolo Machiavelli, The Prince, New York: Sagebrush Educational Resources, 2004.

Ozodi@africainstituteseattle.org

(206) 464-9004

December 5, 2005

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The Role of Fear in the Genesis and Nature of Government: An Essay on Political Philosophy (Part 1)

by Ozodi Thomas Osuji, Ph.D. (Seatle, Washington) --- Political science seems non-theoretical. The discipline describes people’s political behaviors without striving to understand why they behave as they do. Apparently, there is a belief that speculation regarding why people do what they do leads to nowhere and, anyhow, is best left to psychologists to worry about?

Let psychologists engage in their favorite pastime of reductionism: reducing complex human behavior to unproven causal hypotheses. Psychology has had a field day reducing people’s behavior to this or that reasons, most of which turns out conjectural.

Psychoanalysis had its id origin of behavior, Behaviorism had its every behavior is learned, and Neuroscience has its every behavior is a product of biochemical balance or lack of it in people’s central nervous system. All these are conjectures that, in time, are given up as evidence indicates that we really do not know why we do what we do.

Political scientists describe what people do in the political arena and leave it at that. Apparently, it is believed that leaving the field to mere description of political phenomenon makes it a science?

What is science? Are science mere description of phenomena and or Karl Popper’s (1) definition of the scientific method, only? Shouldn’t science try to explain what it describes?

In so far that political science has a causal theory of political behavior, it includes Thomas Hobbes’ speculations on the reasons why people formed government?
Thomas Hobbes, in his seminal book, Leviathan, (2) attempted to explain the origin of government. Obviously, governments had existed before the seventeenth century when Hobbes wrote his book but, apparently, he felt a need to provide justification for the existence of government. As it were, he wanted to provide people with a rationale for accepting government as a necessary part of the social world.
In a nutshell, Hobbes pointed out that in what he called State of Nature, a pre-government society, people were in competition for access to the scarce resources provided by the environment. As he saw it, the powerful got more than the weak. Since it takes labor to wrest sustenance from nature, in his view, some of the powerful prevailed on the weak to work for them. Thus, everywhere, the strongest used the weak to work the land and lived in pleasure, while the weak lived in penury. The weak, in turn, often banded together and fought with the powerful. The result was that everywhere there was war. In this perpetual state of war, life became “nasty brutish and short”. The strong enslaved the weak today and the weak killed the strong tomorrow. All people, therefore, lived in perpetual insecurity; people were not sure whether they would live to see another day.
In order to reduce their insecurity, the people banded together and elected rulers from among them to rule them. They invented the Leviathan, government, to make laws that all of them were to obey or else be punished.
Obedience of laws made by the monarch led to peace and personal security in society. People began to respect each others rights (personal and property) or else they were arrested, judged and punished. Those who disobeyed the laws of the land were sent to jail or even killed, as in capital punishment.
As Hobbes sees it, it is the presence of the Leviathan, kings and governments that led to the existence of personal security in society. Without government and the hangman threatening to arrest, try, jailing and or killing law breakers, human beings would not respect each other’s rights. Slavery and other forms of social injustices would exist. Without government, all would be chaos, anarchy and insecurity. In his view, therefore, we need government.
It appears that Hobbes favored autocratic monarchs? Other political observers, such as John Locke (3), Jean Jacque Rousseau (4) Montesquieu (5), Madison, Hamilton and Jay (6), John Stuart Mill (7) have shown how to have a government that is not authoritarian. For our present purposes, the salient point is that Hobbes saw the origin of government in human beings’ desire for personal and social security; in other words, that he had a causal speculation, a rarity in political science, on why people do what they do.
Clearly, human beings need government if there is to be any kind of civilization. Given what we know about human nature (on aggression and territoriality, see Freud, 8, Lorenz 9), without government and laws, it is doubtful that people can have security. And without social security, people’s energies and time would be so devoted to seeking ways to survive that they probably would have less time devoted to economically productive work. As Abraham Maslow (10) indicated, it is doubtful that people can engage in actualizing their potentials in scientific and technological endeavors unless they first have security for their lives. If in doubt, look at situations where law and order has broken down and see what happened? In Somalia (11), for example, there has not been a functioning government for a period of twenty years and just about all economically productive activity has ceased. People devote most of their time and energy figuring out ways to physically survive the attack of
their next door neighbors. As a result, poverty reins in Somalia and similar anarchic situations.
Without a government passing laws that protected people in a polity, the people would probably devolve into anarchy and pillage each other’s properties. Bands of people would war with each other and total chaos would rein. The people would kill themselves like people swap flies. Life span would be less than a few decades. Clearly, we need laws, and government to implement them, if we are to have any kind of social harmony, peace, security, and material civilization. Hobbes, one thinks, had a useful causal hypothesis regarding the origin of governments. In the final analysis, we may not yet understand why there is government, but in so far that reason is our guide, Hobbes’ speculation seems relevant.

FEAR DEFINED

One does not think that Hobbes went far enough in explicating the possible genesis of government. While accepting his thesis, in this paper, I will argue that the deeper explanation of why we need governments is human tendency to fear.
Fear (see Isaac Marks, 12) is not an end, but a means to an end. The end is survival of the animal organism. Fear is a means to surviving the impersonal exigencies of planet earth. Fear alerts people to actual and or anticipated danger to their physical and or psychological integrity. Fear compels people to take measures to defend and protect themselves from threats to their biological existence.
Fear is a biological and involuntary mechanism built into human beings to compel them to run from danger and obtain security, or, if their past experiences tell them that they can stay and fight back, to fight whatever threatens their existence. In fear, animals, human beings included, undergo biochemical reactions in their bodies: adrenalin and other excitatory neurochemicals are poured out and these stimulate most of the organs of the body to work faster. The lung works fast dragging in more oxygen into the body. The heart pounds rapidly, carrying blood, oxygen and nutrition to all parts of the body. The body releases stored sugar and blood carries it to all parts of the body, giving them energy to flee or fight whatever is threatening their lives. The nervous system works very fast carrying messages from all parts of the body to the central nervous system (spine, brain), where they are interpreted and feedback sent to other parts of the body, instructing them on how to
respond to the perceived danger to the individual’s existence.
If the individual’s past experience, stored in his brain cells (neurons), tells him that he does not stand a chance in defeating the current threat to his existence, he is told to run from the perceived danger; conversely, if his past experience tells him that he is able to overcome the present danger, he is instructed to stay and fight back. These decisions and reactions are made in a split second; in fact, they seem made involuntarily, for the individual does not first pause to think about what he has to do but just does certain things, when his life is threatened. A gunman points a gun at you and you run away or, if you cannot do so, stay and beg for him not to kill you and perhaps do whatever he asks you to do; a car comes close to you and you jump away.
The purpose of fear is animal survival; people do whatever they do out of fear to survive physically and psychological as separated, biological organisms.
Fear mobilizes the individual’s whole physical and psychological energies and compels him to do what he must do to defend his existence when that existence is threatened. Without fear signaling to people that there is danger to their lives and compelling people to do certain things, involuntarily, since those activities are biologically mediated, it is doubtful that animals, human beings included, would survive in their present environment.
The environment is full of threats to animals’ existence and animals must have a ready (best inbuilt) mechanism for alerting them to danger and compelling them to take survival measures, if they are to survive in their environment. Fear is a crucial means for human and all animals’ survival on planet earth.
Assuming the absence of fear, it is doubtful that animals would live long. In fact, some human children are born without a tendency to feeling pain (see CIPA, Congenital Insensitivity to Pain with Anhidrosis, 13), hence fear, for fear is a response to pain, and generally do not live long. They do not learn from experience that certain things could harm them; they, therefore, do not anticipate what could harm them and do not take appropriate measures to protect themselves and generally die from injuries. They seldom live to be twenty years old.
Those who are ashamed that human beings have a proclivity to fear, and want to eliminate fear, ought to think about this reality. Without fear, human beings probably would not survive as biological organisms. If so, the desire for fearlessness amounts to nihilistic desire to end biological forms of life! If other forms of existence, say, spirit, exist, perhaps, it is useful to end biological life forms? But if no other forms of life exist, apart from biological forms, perhaps it is not wise to give up fear and hence die out? One must be careful for what one wishes; those who wish for fearless existence may not like what follows, if their wishes are gratified: their personal physical and psychological demise.

Speculations on fearlessness aside, extant human beings, as we know them to be, are fearful animals. It is because they are fearful that they feel insecure. It is because of their fearfulness and consequent insecurity that they need government.
The thesis of this paper is that if human beings were not prone to fear, they would not need governments; they feel insecure because they are fearful and, therefore, need governments to reduce the threats that arouse fear and insecurity in their lives.

FEAR AND GOVERNMENT

Why do human beings feel fear? They feel fear because they have an awareness of having a separated and individuated self housed in vulnerable bodies. Body is very vulnerable and prone to been hurt and eventually to been destroyed. Human beings do feel pained when their bodies are hurt. Ultimately, they will die. Give or take, a hundred and twenty years and a human being dies.
As utilitarian philosophers (Mill, Bentham, 14) tell us, and our own experiences verify, human beings do not like pain and do not seem to like to die. Human beings fear pain and death. (See Ernest Becker, The Denial of Death, 15.)
Perhaps, the greatest fear people have is the fear of the demise of their separated ego selves. People fear oblivion and finitude. Atheistic thinkers tell us that it is in their efforts to avert future finitude that human beings conjectured after death existences. As it were, the various religions of mankind came up with illusions of post death lives as a way of enabling men to tolerate their inevitable physical death. (See Sigmund Freud, The Future of an Illusion 16) In this sense, religion and its concepts of after death world are like drugs, opium; Karl Marx (17) called it, that temporarily enable people to forget the terrible end that waits all of them in time. Freud, In the Future of an Illusion, having told the reader the functions of religion, all neurotic, that is, false, urges people to grow up and embrace the reality of death. People should give up their hankering for non-existent after death lives and, like courageous persons, accept their tragic nature.
Do all you can do to make your life as pleasant as is possible, for tomorrow you will die? Seize the day, Carpe Diem, Horace (18) said. Also see Zeno, Seneca, Cicero, and Marcus Aurelius on the philosophy of stoicism and epicure (19). Don’t cry over spilled milk, for there is nothing you can do about it. Life is a tragic and comic thing, yet is worth living, stoicism teaches.
Clearly, human beings have fear of the demise of their individuated ego selves. They seem to fear return to undifferentiated state. Vaguely, human beings sense that their individuated lives emanated from an undifferentiated state. In that undifferentiated state, they fear loss of their individuation. (See the writings of Carl G. Jung, 20) Apparently, human beings want to have individuated, separated selves and fear their loss.
As long as people have separated selves and wish for those selves to live and fear their end, they would experience fear; and as long as human beings live in bodies that can be hurt they will feel fear of hurt.


Human beings are aware that each of them could inflict pain and death on other human beings. If you choose to do so, you can kill any human being close to you. In turn, other human beings, if they choose to do so, can kill you.
The fact that human beings could harm and or kill each other; the fact that human beings want to live at all costs; the fact that human beings fear death led to a situation where the sadistic elements undertake to oppress the masochistic element in society.
The slave master, for example, knows that the slave, like himself, wants to live, at all costs. Thus, he uses terror to intimidate the slave into accepting his wishes and work for him, for free. The slave master was the original terrorist. (For a useful definition of terrorism, see Juergensmeyer, Terror in the Mind of God, 21.) He knew that human beings are prone to pain and fear and that if you do not hesitate in using coercion to get people to do as you want, and that if you do not mind killing people to get what you want, that people would do what you asked them to do.
White slave masters in America were essentially terrorists. Americans celebrate their slave owning leaders, but actually celebrate terrorists. Thomas Jefferson, George Washington, James Madison etc used force and intimidation to get African slaves to do their wishes or else the slaves were tortured and or killed. They manipulated the slave’s human tendency to pain and fear of pain and used it to enslave some human beings. These people intimidated folks into doing what they did not want to do, be slaves for other people. They were no different from today’s terrorists who use fear and intimidation to achieve political objectives.
White American slave masters were aware that black folks, like white folks, and human beings everywhere, fear pain and death, and used terror to intimidate them into becoming slaves for them or else they were beaten up, inflicted pain on (which they did not want to experience) and, ultimately, killed (they did not want to die).
Unfortunate as their fate was, slaves contributed to it. They feared pain and death and wanted to live as separated selves in vulnerable bodies. Their desire for separated existence led slaves to tolerate other human beings oppression and abuse of them. If the slave did not fear pain and death and stood up and fought for his personal liberty, nobody would have enslaved him. It is fear of harm and death that led the slave to accept his masochistic relationship with the sadistic slave master. (See Descartes, Meditations on First Philosophy, 22, and Eric Fromm, Escape from Freedom, Man for Himself, The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness. 27.)
The slave master himself is very much afraid of pain and death. In fact, it is his acute awareness of pain and death and desire to live in bodies that led him to seek ways to use other people to make his life tolerable.
(On September 11, 2001, Arab Moslem terrorists attacked the world trade center at New York. One beheld folks scampering for their lives. The super rich, the whites who oppress the working classes, ran like rats looking for burrows to hide their oppressive lives in. Their behavior showed that they are as fearful as those minority persons they oppress. The events of September 11, 2001 ought to help the woefully fearful African Americans to realize that their masters are as fearful as themselves. This realization ought to enable them to do unto their masters as their masters did to them. With sufficient exercise of unsentimental brutality against their present oppressors, African Americans would liberate themselves from their current pathetic second class situation.)

For our present purposes, the relevant point is that both the sadist, the slave master, and the masochist, the slave, are afraid of harm and death. Both are operating under the same human tendency to fear harm and death. If the slave did not have fear of pain and death, the slave master, sadist, would not have been able to enslave him.
Everywhere in the world, people are able to oppress and abuse people because of human tendency to fear of pain and death.

Aware of the vulnerability of their lives, human beings formed governments to protect them. Clearly, given our fears, we will always need governments.
Governments, specifically, leaders, aware of the reasons behind the need for governments, human fear of harm and death, are tempted to oppress and abuse the people. As it were, governments say: you need me because you are a bloody coward who is afraid of pain and death; you gave me weapons to kill those who are out to kill you because you are afraid of harm and death; you made me your killer for you; you made me a murderer so that you may live secure life, I will, therefore, oppress and abuse you, for transforming me into a murderer for your safety. As it were, leaders, governments, are angry at those they govern, for transforming them into murderers who kill criminals so that they obtain their phantom security.
Thus, everywhere in the world, governments, political leaders oppress and abuse the people they are hired and paid to protect. (A minor aspect of this phenomenon is our ambivalent relationships with policemen. We hired them to protect our lives and properties. We like the fact that they defend us. We authorized them to kill criminals on our behalf. But because they can kill other human beings, we have contempt for them. All over the world, adolescents, teenagers, even the most law abiding ones, have total contempt for cops. This is probably because they vaguely know that cops are hired killers. Hired killers are not exactly any one ones ideal human being. Cops, in turn, have contempt for those who hired them to kill on their behalf. They resent being made over into murderers for peoples safety. Cops are the world’s greatest liars. They are ready to say or do anything, including planting evidence on people, to justify arresting and or killing them; many of them are, in
fact, outright sociopaths. Psychological, that is, personality, testing, suggests that anti social personality types tend to make better policemen. It figures: it takes a thief to catch a thief.)

If the people did not have fear of harm and death, they would not have governments; they would not delegate the power and authority to protect them to rulers, to those they made murderers for them. (Political leaders, the military, police, judges, and prison officials are given the power to become murderers for society. As it were, society empowers them to sentence criminals to death and carry this onerous chore out for the protection of the people.
There is no getting around the truth: the people made some of the people legal murderers, they authorized some persons to murder those who threaten their lives. For their safety, human beings transformed some of their people into killers of other human beings. This is weird, to say the least. Weird or not, such is our social reality.)

We have governments because we are prone to fear. Governments know this fact and are tempted to oppress and abuse us. As long as people are prone to fear of harm and death, their governments may oppress them. Consider Americans. They run around the world calling themselves free men. They claim that their country is the land of the free and brave. But a few months in America and you learn that white Americans live in total fear of harm and death. These people live in fear and elected their governments to protect them. Their governments, aware of the basis of their legitimacy, the people’s fearfulness, subject Americans to abuse. The white American is actually a slave, but he may not know it. He does not even have the minimal freedom enjoyed by those he considers primitive persons.
The relative freedom that this observer enjoys in his native Alaigbo is no where to be found in North America. He concluded that Americans, white and black, are glorified slaves. They are not the liberators of mankind, they pretend to be; they are to be liberated by those of us who know what true liberty (within the context of human society, love and laws) means.


THE ARAB MOSLEM TERRORIST HAS CHANGED THE EQUATION


Americans, indeed, Westerners in general, seem to operate with the assumption that human beings are motivated by fear of pain and death. They seem to assume that human beings are a cowardly bunch who, when threatened, would grovel for their life. They seem to assume that with sufficient coercion and willingness to mercilessly employ it, that they could control human beings and get them to do whatever they want them to do.
White men, as this African observer sees them, seem to have total contempt for human beings, including for themselves. (If you are a Freudian psychoanalyst, this self contempt may be unconscious. Unconscious or not, this lack of respect for humanity probably accounts for the horrendous things these people do to their fellow human beings. Loving persons would not, for example, enslave other human beings. The slave master probably hates himself and projects his self hatred to other people, those he enslaves. I cannot see how an intelligent and loving person can enslave other human beings. Pure reason leads intelligent persons to appreciate the human condition as one of suffering and disposes them to help alleviate that suffering, as my hero, Buddha did, rather than exploit it, as psychopathic slave masters did.)
Furthermore, white men know that their history is a history of terrorism, of using force to intimidate the people into doing as told. What were Europeans kings, princes, dukes, earls, counts, marquis but gangsters who used killing to intimidate their people into obeying them? The so-called divinely appointed rulers of Europe were collectively as intelligent as today’s morons. What they had in super abundance was sadistic ability to kill whoever opposed them. The European power base was intimidation of the masses.

The Arab Moslem terrorist has changed the equation for Westerners. The Moslem terrorist is willing to wrap bombs on his body and go blow himself up, along with the death of other people. His goal, of course, is the familiar terrorist goal: to kill randomly and thereby generate fear of harm and death in the people, with the hope that this would intimidate them to do as he wants them to do, in this case, get America and the West to change their policies towards the Middle East.
We are not interested in the good or bad of the Moslem terrorist’s goals. Good or bad, at any rate, is a moral, not a scientific discourse. Science looks at facts, as they are, and leaves judgment to decision makers.
The relevant proposition one is addressing is the fact that the Arab has shown that he can defy fear of pain and death and blow himself up, for a political objective. As long as he is willing to kill himself and kill other people along with him, he has brought into being what Americans did not expect from people.
Americans assume that people are cowards and want to live so much so that they would be begging for every opportunity to live. They assume that all human beings are like themselves, folks who so want to live that they are afraid of pain and death and willingly allow their government to oppress them. Americans permit their governments to oppress them so as give them an opportunity to live, to be oppressed some more. The American’s life is weird: he begs his government to help him live and knows fully well that the government oppresses him so, in effect, he is begging to be oppressed by his weird government. If one must live, one ought to live freely, but not abused by governments.
Further, American rulers assume that all human beings are like their African slaves, who were so afraid of pain and death and so desirous of living that they permitted themselves to be enslaved and abused. African Americans were oppressed in every manner is humanly possible and accepted it, rather than fight back and, if necessary, die fighting rather than live as intimidated slaves.
Americans now have to contend with Arab Moslem terrorists, those who are not afraid of death. This is an equation their narcissistic and sadistic mentality did not prepare them to cope with.
The entrance of the Moslem terrorist into America has spelled the death of America, as is currently organized. The America that will survive Arab terrorism will be a different America, a more Godly America.
In the meantime, it is only a matter of time before Arab terrorists begin immolating themselves in American cities, dragging Americans along with them to death. Given Americans fear of pain and death, they would panic and, like chicken with its head cut off, run to safety. Alas, there is no safe place for sadistic persons.
Seeing Americans run on September 11, 2001, finally exposed their fearfulness. Why not stay and deal with danger and, like men, die rather than flee? That did it for me and for those Africans who were tempted to fear American power. The people are clay footed cowards. They are terrorists who use military weapons to intimidate people, those who can be intimidated, those who fear harm and death. (I do not believe that American rulers have fully appreciated the psychological import of September 11; it shattered their supposed superiority and invincibility. They are now seen as chicken, as cowards who run when bullets fly. Their nuclear weapons do not impress any one. Human beings do not respect those who run from danger, as folks did in New York. I am yet to recover the contempt I felt for the Americans I saw fleeing like a whole bunch of rats. Stay and fight, superman. It is cowardly to stay in safe bunkers and from their lunch missiles at innocent Arab children in Bagdad.
Courageous soldiers fight amano-amano, hand to hand, and die on their feet, they do not indiscriminately and cowardly kill their enemies from afar, as American high tech weapons do.)
Just as they can intimidate other people, other people can intimidate them. The trick of their game is exposed, the game is up, and they are about to be checkmated.


THE METAPHYSICS OF TRANSCENDING OF FEAR

As Arab terrorists, and before them, Japanese kamikaze pilots, have shown, a human being can transcend fear of pain and death. Arab terrorists believe that they are going to a better world when they leave this one. It is not relevant to know whether the proposed paradise the terrorists are going to is real or not. What is germane is that they believe in its reality. Human beings generally behave on the basis of their beliefs.
The lesson is that it seems necessary to have belief in an alternative life before one gives up living in the present form of life.

To transcend fear of harm and death, it helps if the individual decides that his separated self, the ego, is an illusion, a chimera, a dream self that does not, in fact, exist, or seems to exist only in a dream setting.
He must relinquish his wish for a separated self housed in a body. He must desist from seeing himself as a body.
If he truly does not identify with his body, what hurts his body and or destroys his body would not concern him, much.
He must give up all efforts to defend and protect his body (food, clothes, and houses, everything we do on earth are done in defense of body and the separated self concept it houses). The ego/body must be given up and not defended, if the individual is to overcome his fear of pain and death.
When the separated self and the body that houses it are given up, the individual experiences himself as part of an undifferentiated, unified self.
Only spirit can be everywhere and be many and still be unified. Matter, space and time separate things. Spirit is unified. To be unified, all things must be the same and equal. Unified spirit must be the same and equal everywhere.
That which is everywhere must be eternal and immortal. Unified spirit is eternal and immortal. Spirit is changeless and permanent.
That which is the same everywhere must know it as such; spirit knows itself as the same; there is nothing that is not already part of itself for it to know.
Spirit is one and simultaneously infinite in numbers.

As long as the individual identifies with his separated self housed in body, he must be prone to fear and must defend himself; but the moment he gives up his identification with the ego and its body and identifies with a unified spirit self, he is no longer amenable to fear. Of course, he would still feel pain but if he focuses his mind on eternal spirit, real or not, he will overcome the tendency to do things out of fear. In this new state, no human being can terrorize him.
If people overcome their fear of harm and death, no one can oppress and abuse them, no government can tell them what to do.
Governments currently tell people what to do because they are bloody cowards who are afraid of harm and death. As long as human beings are prone to fear of harm and death they must have oppressive governments.
If people truly desire a less oppressive government, they must become less fearful and more willing to die for their liberty. (See David Hume, 23, George Berkeley, 24, John Stuart Mill, On Liberty, 7.)


MOVING AWAY FROM AND MOVING BACK TO HOLISM

Human beings undertake two types of movements: moving away from wholeness, aka God. This movement is also called separating movement. The other type of movement is moving back towards holism, back to union, back to what religionists call God.
America and other human civilizations are moving towards separation, to illusion, to deep sleep and, as such, are fascinated by space, time and matter (material monism) and not interested by idealistic monism/solipsism.



FRANCIS FUKAYAMA’S END OF HISTORY REVISITED


With the collapse of the former Soviet Union in 1991, it appeared like the ideological struggle between capitalism and socialism, liberal democracy and autocratic totalitarianism, had come to an abrupt end. It appeared that the West, read America, had won and their opponents, the socialist world, were defeated. The world now seemed America’s oyster; the delusion of Pax Americana began in earnest.
That delusion prevailed during the early 1990s and was shattered with the events of September 11.
Samuel Huntington’s little book, the Clash of Civilizations (25), brought to an end the illusion that the only competing ideologies in the world were capitalism and socialism. There are religious world views, which, in fact, anteceded political and economic ideologies and are probably more portent than political ideologies. People tend to define themselves by their religions more than they do by their politics.
Poor Mr. Fukayama (26) and his pandering to the emergent so-called sole superpower, the world Hegemon who tells every body what to do. Didn’t Mr. Fakuyama study the crusades, the Christian struggle to retake the Holy land from the Moslems? Since he was a product of America’s non educative schooling, could it be that Mr. Fukayama was not exposed to the religious struggles between Moslems and Christians?


The more portent struggle going on in our world is the struggle by the fearful and the less fearful, masochists and sadists. (See Eric Fromm, Art of Love. 27)
Clearly, as long as people are subject to fear and fear pain and death, governments will intimidate them into obedience. But those who have overcome fear of harm and death are not amenable to control by the terrorists in governments.
Fearless Arab terrorists are about to confront fearful Westerners. That is the war that is about to ensue in the world. The sadistic goon squad armies of the West are about to confront the armies of religious zealots.
This is the Armageddon the Bible talked about. The fearless, who, ip so factor, must be rooted in God, are bound to win this struggle.
When the fearless wins, a new type of civilization downs, a civilization that, for lack of a better name, we might call Christ based civilization. This new civilization is not based on fear and intimidation but on love and charity.
This type of civilization is not known to Western thinking. Christians call it the dawn of New Jerusalem or New Israel; others call it by different name. Helen Schucman (28) intimated this new world. It is a world where finally the will of God is done; a world where the children of God stopped doing their own wishes and did their father’s will. They and their father are one and their father’s will is their real will. In obeying their father’s will, they are really obeying their own real will. Their father’s will is that their nature is love. Love is union. To obey God’s will is to love all creation and to unify with all creation. When people love one another, they are doing the will of their father, which is their own real will, for in reality, they are unified with all people.
The kingdom of God, love, union, will come to earth and replace the kingdom of man, separation and hate. Love and union will replace hate and division. In a loving and unifying world, peace and happiness reins. (For a more philosophical rendition of philosophical idealism see Arthur Schopenhauer, World as Will and idea, 29; George Berkeley’s Dialogues, 24, provided a definition of solipsistic philosophy.)


THE TWO TRENDS CANNOT BE USED TO JUDGE ONE ANOTHER

The two trends, moving away from holism and moving towards holism, to ego and to Christ, to earth and to heaven, cannot be used to judge one another. Each has its own standards, they are mutually exclusionary.
Spirit is different from matter; you cannot use spirit to judge matter or matter to judge spirit. Spirit actually does not understand what matter does and matter does not understand spirit.
Therefore, one cannot judge man from the perspective of spirit. One can only have compassion for those enchanted by matter and moving towards it. A person moving towards spirit is not judgmental; he has made one judgment, the judgment that the world is nothing and does not pursue it; actually, he just overlooks the world of space, time and matter, to experience the unified world of spirit.
This does not mean that he has escaped from this world. In fact, he does not negate the world; he merely places the world in proper perspective. He still studies science and technology and uses its findings to improve life on earth for those who live on earth, those who believe that they are separated selves living in bodies. He uses his own ego and body to communicate love with other people, those, who like him, believe that they live in bodies.
Everything in the material world can be used to love people. Whatever is used to love the children of God is made Holy, actually not quite holy, for holiness exists only in spirit; earthly things can only be made to approximate holiness. Holiness is always there, for we remain whole, unified, as God created us, while dreaming that we are separated.
We remain unified spirit, while dreaming that we are separated selves housed in bodies. We live in the presence of love while dreaming that we are hated by each other and by God.
Remove the blocks to love and know that you always live in the presence of love, for love is all there is in the universe. Remove the veil masking love and know that all is love in the world.
Overlook people’s hatreds and know that all people are loving people; even their attacks on you are calls for love, when they feel unloved by you. Their attacks are calls for you to help them learn the meaning of love, and in so doing, learn the meaning of love yourself. When you forgive their attacks and love them, you affirm your union with them, in spirit, in Christ.
The payoff of forgiveness is that you feel peaceful and joyous. Return to love, to union via forgiveness and experience salvation. To be in sin is to be separated from other people; to be saved is to be unified with other people. Union, that is, love is salvation, and healing.


CHRIST BASED NEW WORLD ORDER
(A replacement of the current ego based western world order.)


I have presented a thesis that the presence of fear in human nature necessitates government. If you can refute this thesis, you do so. However, I do not think that you can succeed. At best, you can say that it is reductionistic, that human beings are too complex for their behavior to be reduced to one single motive. You are probably right in saying so.
I have also said that fear is a means and not an end. The end is the preservation of a separated and individuated self. Fear alerts the individual to threats to his individuated self and compels him to take measures to protect himself. Fear, therefore, is a mechanism for defending the separated self. The separated self is the end, the goal, and fear is the means to it. If you can, refute this thesis, you do so. I do not think that you can succeed. But go ahead and try, anyway. What you can do is tell us that the alternative to separated self, unified self, is not self evident. I used to be of that frame of mind.
In the past, I simply told religionists that they merely conceptualized an opposite of our world and claimed that it existed, when, in fact, they did not have evidence that it exists. One can perceive separation and conceptualize its opposite, union; see differences and conceptualize its opposite, sameness; see human inequality and conceptualize its opposite, equality; see space and time and can conceptualize its opposite, eternal present; in other words, one can perceive what exists in our temporal universe and conceptualize their opposite and take that putatively imaginary opposite as real.
We live in a world of change and imagine an alternative to it that is changeless and permanent; we live in a world of matter and can conceptualize its opposite, the world of spirit. We see an imperfect world and can imagine its perfect opposite. In other words, one can say that heaven is a delusion and a hallucination.
This was my cavalier approach to religionists and their seeming imaginary claims that a spiritual world exists. In fact, I went further; I believed that believing in God is synonymous with being psychotic (psychosis is characterized by the presence of delusions and hallucinations in any of the five senses: auditory, visual, tactile, olfactory and feeling). I simply had no use for religious persons.
William James (see Varieties of Religious Experience, 39, also see Evelyn Underhill, Mysticism, 40) talked about a certain type of experience that ego based reasoning cannot explain. When you experience it, you no longer would ask for evidence for God’s existence.
There is another world, a world of unified spirit. That world is not our known material world. However, we are in this present world, a world of space, time and matter, a world of separated selves. I am here and you are over there; there is space between us. We live in bodies, and for all intents and purposes are different. (Background reading of the following observers may be useful in understanding my thesis: Hegel, 30, Nietzsche, 31, Pascal, 32, Spinoza, 33, Leibnitz 34, Voltaire, 35, Dante, 36, Ramakrishna, 37, Adam Smith, 38, Bergson, 47, Kant, 49, Plato, 53, Aristotle, 54, Edmund Burke, 55, William James, 56, Von Clausewitz, 57, Machiavelli, 58 and Hitler, 51, the Christian Bible, 48.)

SOME METAPHYSICS

We live in a world of opposites, a world where everything opposes everything else. The world began by the wish for separation; separation opposes union; given its origin in opposition, everything in the world opposes everything else. There is life and death, light and darkness, good and bad. It is a world of pairs of opposites.
As the world sees these things, some persons are black and others are white, some are tall and others short, some are beautiful and others ugly. These differences do not exist in the world of spirit; there, all are the same, equal and are one. But we are not aware of the world of unified spirit; we are aware of the world of separated selves housed in different bodies.
The real question facing us, as long as we think that we are on earth, is how we are going to make our world a bit more like the unified world of God? How do we get our separated world to resemble the unified world of God?
Obviously, only the non-material, the spiritual, can unify. That which is in body, space and time can only separate, for space, time and matter were designed to separate with and exist to maintain separation. In body, we cannot unify, literally. In body, we are literally separated, so how can we figuratively unify? This is the real question facing us.
We can transform our world to what Helen Schucman, in her metaphysical poem, A Course in Miracles, called a borderland between heaven and earth, Dante’s purgatory.( See Dante, Divine Comedy, Inferno, 36). Schucman is chucking full of metaphors: she also called that world happy dream, gate of heaven, real world etc.
Call it what you like, what is important is what we are trying to accomplish. We are trying to bring about a world where human thinking and behavior approximates the thinking and behavior of those in spirit. Clearly, while in bodies we cannot think and behave like spirit (spirit is limitless; body is a limit).
Our separated world can remain separated but we can think and behave differently. The nineteenth century Indian saint, Ramakrishna (see the Gospel of Ramakrishna. 37) talked about using our egos to love other egos. In the same light, Helen Schucman talked about using what we made to separate with to unify with, what we made to hate with to love with. We made the ego and the body that houses it to separate with and she talked about redirecting their purpose, from being means of separation to being means of union. To her, what matters is the purpose to which something is put to. If your purpose is to love other people, that is, to unify with them, she said that your behavior is now redirected towards God.
Whatever is used to love with is purified and made holy, made whole. If one seeks only self interests and ignores common interests, one lives for the ego, hence is unholy, but if one works for public interests, one now lives for unified self, which in its individuated form can be called the Christ self, one is now holy.
Separation, like fear, is a means to an end and not an end in itself. We separate for a reason. Helen Schucman observes that the goal of separation is a special self. The special self is the self that desires to create its creator, create itself and create its siblings. In her thinking, the son of God desired to kill his father and usurp his creatorship throne. His goal is to become the creator of reality; he did not want to be created but to be the creator. God created him and he resented that fact and wanted to create himself. Of course, the son cannot be the father of his father, nor can he father himself. We cannot create God and ourselves. Still, the wish for self creation was so strong that we fantasized doing so.
Our world, Schucman thinks, came into being to enable us to seem to have separated from God and now created ourselves. As it were, our world is a dream where the created children of God now seem to have created themselves, created their father and created everything. We are now the author of reality. Of course, in reality, we are not the author of reality. God is still the author of reality; we merely dream that we are the author of reality.
The world is a dream, an illusion, a hallucination and delusion where what is not real is taken as real. The children of God, as it were, are temporarily insane. (Wouldn’t you say that this world is an insane place?)

Posted by Administrator at 10:32 AM | Comments (0)