The Secret Black Hole of Religion

“How can you tell me Christianity is the one and true religion, when it is one of the religions with a dark past? Do not think I do not know what I’m talking about. I have done my homework by reading and studying much about what I’m talking about. If you doubt me, you can do your own research to confirm what I know already (well…that’s if you have the patience to read books. I know most people don’t read that is why they perish for lack of knowledge). The Christian religion is the most fragmented and divisive in the world. Christianity, compared to other religions in the world, has the bloodiest history in the history of mankind. It has destroyed so many lives and invaded so many lands in the name of Jesus. The name of the first slave ship that brought Africans from the Motherland to the Americas was called “Jesus.”

You tell me Christianity is the truest religion there is but let’s break things down here. How can you tell me the Christian faith is true when it has so many denominations, and these denominations can’t even agree with each other? This is just crazy. Under the Christian umbrella, you have the Catholic church, the Protestant church, the Anglican church, the Baptist church, the Methodist church, the Lutheran church, the Mormon church, the Eastern Orthodoxy church, the Nestorian church, the Coptic Catholic church, the Apostolic church, the Presbyterian church, the Paulist church, the Episcopalian church, the Anabaptist church, and so on. Gosh…I can go on and on. It’s just crazy. Now, according to the Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, there exist roughly 43,000 Christian denominations worldwide in 2012. That is up from 500 in 1800 and 39,000 in 2008 and this number is expected to grow to 55,000 by 2025. Hmmn…this means Christianity will continue only continue to divide more and more.

Currently, Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary estimates that a new Christian denomination is formed every 10.5 hours, or 2.3 denominations a day. God is not a God of division and confusion, but of unity and oneness. For a religion, which claims a divine origin, to have so many denominations or “duplicates” of itself does “not” stand on a solid rock. Something is definitely wrong wrong such religion. Just think about it. How can a religion which is true so many denominations like this? Trust me, the truth does not have duplicates to it. The truth is always one and original. Anything that is true cannot have carbon copies of it. The fact that the Christian faith has so many denominations like this means it CANNOT be a true religion. It is a false religion. Even Islam has divisions of its own too. There is Sunni Islam, Shia Islam, Sufi Islam, Ahmadiyya Islam, Ibadi Islam, Qurani Islam, Yazdani Islam, and so on. Islam is not as divided as Christianity, but division, nonetheless, is division. Division is division, and there is nothing good about it. In Heaven, there is no such thing as division. What replaces division in Heaven is unity. It is only on Earth that such nonsense division exists.

Okay, back to Christianity now. Next, how can you tell me the Christian faith is true when its holy book, the Bible, has so many versions to it? I mean, how can a holy book, which is claimed to originate from God, have so many versions? Does that make sense? There are so many Biblical versions and they are all different and conflict with one another. When it comes to different Bibles, there is the King James Bible, Amplified Bible, Good News Bible, Coverdale Bible, Mormon Bible, International Standard Version Bible, Lamsa Bible, and the list goes on and on. Once again, this is just crazy. According to my research, which can be confirmed, there are hundreds of different translations of the Bible. Now, this is super crazy. Hundreds of translations of one holy book? Wow…it doesn’t make sense at all. All the Christian denominations have a particular Bible that they read. Catholics have their own Bible. Protestants have their own Bible. Mormons have their own Bible. It’s just crazy.

Other weird things about Christianity is the number of Christian churches worldwide, which to me, seems like money-making, private enterprises. What I mean is that the Catholic church – which is the first and oldest church – is the global headquarters of all churches, while other church denominations are like “subsidiaries” scattered across the planet to generate greater profit. Think about it. If a business/company wants to compete globally, reach out to the global target audience (customers), and market its product to generate greater profit, what do you think that company, which does not have foreign offices must do? Of course, it needs to open up foreign based offices, factories, and businesses to do that. This is what companies like Apple does in China. Apple and Nike products are made in China, rather than America.

What the church did many centuries ago is what big corporations are doing today. Apple success can be attributed to the church. When it comes to “expanding business interests” and winning souls or winning “customers,” the church is number one. Okay, the church, from the very beginning (just in case you didn’t know) is a business. I’ve done my research on this. Based on my research, I discovered there are more than 3.7 million Christian congregational churches (businesses/branches) in the world. WOW. We are talking about 3.7 million churches in the world. That’s huge. One has to wonder if these churches are “really” in the business of “winning souls for Christ,” or “accumulating more cash.” When you dig deep into the dark history of Christianity, you’ll figure out the answer in a flash. I mean people really need to start thinking outside the box.

The world is changing and most of the lies our religious and political leaders have been feeding us with are coming to light. Thinking outside the box will not kill you. Thinking outside the box is rational, logical, and sensible. If the Creator never wanted you to think, you wouldn’t have a mind to think and calculate things. The fact that the Creator gave you a mind to think with, means you are allowed to think for yourself and not let corrupt authority control your thinking for you. If you must know, “all” religions, not just Christianity alone, have dark histories to them. All religions are divisive. All religions wage wars and shed blood to grow and expand themselves, which is quite logical, considering the fact that no thinking human would embrace anything new outside of his or her conscious circumference. But does it really make sense to impose religion by force, which is what most of the Abrahamic religions – Judaism, Christianity, and Islam – has done for millennia? These three religions have caused so much wars, death, and destruction on Earth beyond measure. The destruction caused by these religions continue up to this day. It has not stopped, and may never stop, until people wake the hell up. Hundreds of millions of lives have been wasted because of these three religions.

If it is true that these religions are from God, would God really want to spread religions by force? Is it necessary? Wouldn’t God want people to accept a religion naturally, rather than forcefully? What happened to free will? How can God give man free will and at the same time act like a dictator by literally “forcing” a religion down our throats? I hope I’m making sense here. You cannot give people a choice and deny them that choice by imposing your “own” choice on them. It does mean any sense at all. God does not operate that way. Why aren’t people thinking? Like I said, there is nothing wrong with thinking outside the box. Religion does not permit free thinking. This is a FACT. But must a person live his or her entire life not thinking outside of the box for once? Most educated people cannot fight or free themselves from the mental chains of religion. It has a strong hold on them. As far as I’m concerned, any doctrine, or philosophy, or religion which prohibits free thinking cannot be from a pious God. It must be from the devil. Belief systems, centered around ignorant and blind obedience without questioning authority, is based on mental slavery.

Yes. That is what religion is all about. It was created by a few elite people to mentally enslave the minds of people. Physical slavery is bad, but mental slavery is much worse. When someone has control of your mind, you become a property, a slave of that person. The only way to free your mind from religion is to learn to think outside of the box. The best religion is not religion itself, but love. Loving one another like yourself is the best way to live. There is no contradiction about it. Love does not contradict itself. Love is what it is. God is not concerned about religion because God never gave religion to man. Instead, man gave religion to man. Evil men created it to control the sheep (the masses). After death, God will not be concerned about what religion someone practiced. A clean mind, clean heart, and clean hands is what God will look at. Religion is irrelevant to God because it is man made. Wake up, humanity. Free your mind. You are created to live free, not in chains. Wake up, people.

By Adebisi Atitebi

Adebisi Atitebi., based in the United States, is a writer, poet, philosopher, and historian. A ardent truth seeker, Adebisi studies and writes about global politics, esotericism, conspiracy theories, history, and religion.

Reclaiming the African Dream: Call to the Committed African

The redemption of Africa remains with Africans. Africa can no longer continue heaping piles of blame upon colonialism. It is a case closed. Period. Despite the imperialistic injustices suffered at the hands of the Europeans, we must move on. Charting the way forward is what should disturb us. Reducing unemployment rates, alleviating poverty, acquiring technology that will help treat diseases and investment in African man power is what any sane and committed African needs to worry about. It is imperative to find better ways to improve on modes of governance and establishment of firm institutions that outlast leaders. In other words, passing on of a better world to the future generation is the most persistent thing that should tickle any committed African. But how do we do it without sounding abstract? How can it be done practically so that the common citizen who bears the greatest brunt of incompetent governance, wretched indigence and suffering the most treatable of maladies benefit and live a better life

Here is my two cent worth. First, there must be a commitment by everyone to make him/herself better with whatever we have at our disposal. Whether it is farming, teaching, rearing livestock, writing, acting or just offering advice; it is fundamental to have something that keeps us busy. It is from a started project that an individual may solicit for help which mostly is always financial and at other times, social or even emotional. Back in the rural areas, it is being done with women forming farming groups to help them improve on their farming methods. Young men and women who have not had the chance to join institutions of higher learning are constantly forming groups and writing numerous letters to both governmental and non-governmental offices asking for funds to support their nascent ventures. That is the way forward. I am speaking from the Kenyan context though it resonates well with most African nations. These ventures will help in the reduction of poverty and dependence that is known to drag back most African families.

 Another thing is to constantly put our leaders to account. Especially political leaders because it is them who influence most of the destinies of their nations. Shooting of people demonstrating for their rights as happened in South Africa of platinum miners should be loudly condemned. Massacring of thirty four people should not be allowed in Africa at this age especially when it is done by law enforcement agencies in a country with a vibrant democracy as South Africa. This also goes to the CCM party in Tanzania where police beat up a journalist and ended up dropping tear-gas canister killing him in the most heartless technique ever witnessed. In other words, the electorate of Tanzania cannot allow CCM to continue with this pointless hegemony and must vote out Jakaya Kikwete and his team that embodies such cruelty. Right here at home, the Tana massacres should have prompted the Police Commissioner who is also serving illegally under the constitution to resign. It is the responsibility of the state to protect its citizens because we pay tax. Condemnation of such atrocities should be loud and made known to the government that the denizens are not pleased.

 Where is the soul of a nation when people are killed up to fifty two and no serious demonstrations take place to express the outrage? Then the killers get more emboldened and set ablaze more houses and another bloodletting follows and we sit back and assume nothing is happening at all. Does it not prick you? Are you not disturbed or is it just normal? After all its just news, so what. Is that how you quip? Down in South Africa when miners were massacred a section of the populace went into demonstrations and their government and the world got the message loud and clear: We Are Fed Up With the Killings! Even in the Arab world it is now possible after the success of the Arab Spring. In a nutshell, everyone must get into the frontlines in ensuring our leaders are accountable for what they do. Telling me you do not love politics does not help the situation but what are you doing with what you love to make the country better?

Third and the most crucial of all is the use technology to help ourselves. Generation Y have a chance to reclaim the glory of Africa using technology being the most tech-savvy of all the existing generations. The young men in the Arab nations especially Tunisia and Egypt used it in order to ouster their dictators. Why not other African countries? Coming up with helpful innovations that help make things better is the hallmark of being counted in this information age. Look at what M-Pesa has done in the money transfer. Young innovators are busy developing various mobile applications that target the common citizens in order to improve lives. Young people are running online companies and getting self employed hence demystifying the notion that one must get formal employment after school. That is the best way to go. And for those who have learned the ropes, pass the baton to others. Spread the word.

 Lastly, it is the participation of the middle class in the politics of the day. Why are our middle class especially in Kenya taking a distance from the political scene? Or do they want to put the lower class to the fate of Sisyphus who was condemned by the gods to roll a rock to the top only for the rock to roll back. Then Sisyphus would repeat the same process. Is that the fate the middle class want by standing at the periphery then expect the lower class to transform leaders overnight? From solid to liquid. Instantly. No. It cannot happen that way. They should begin dirtying their hands too. Nations like Egypt and Tunisia succeeded in the revolution because the educated masses that mostly constitute the middle class joined in the struggle for a better a nation. And that is what should be replicated in other African nations. Only then negative ethnicity and rampant graft will decline. Only then will that average citizen who survives on less than a dollar have an improved life of feeding him/herself.

About the Author

Amol Awuor is a young Poet, Short Story Writer, Critic and Freelance Analyst of various issues affecting the global society. He can be reached at brunologix.89@gmail.com

He also runs a blog http://sikuzijazo.blogspot.com

Nairobi, Kenya

This article is part of the ‘What is the way for Africa?’ Series you can contribute by sending your article to granddebate@gmail.com

Revelations of Divine Love: Lets Read Together

God, of your goodness give me yourself,

for you are enough for me,
and I can ask for nothing which is less

which can pay you full worship.
And if I ask anything which is less,

always I am in want,
but only in you do I have everything.”

**************

A prayer by Julian of Norwich

****************

Notwithstanding the verifiability or validity of the Revelations of Divine as scripted by Julian Norwich, this review will solely concentrate on the author’s intention within the framework of Catholic Studies and will not critique the concept of ‘Divine Revelations’ in general. My sole aim of writing this textual review is to present to my readers, the spiritual gems contained in the book (with regard to divine love), knowing pretty well that some readers may hold belief systems different from mine. Even so, my responsibility to share, as a writer, does not end with my knowledge and belief systems. As a writer and a freethinker, I’m forfeit to share what I consider to be of supreme importance with my readers regardless of race, creed, or political affiliations – with the primary desire of also giving them the chance to sample the knowledge that have been left before us by earlier generations. Nonetheless, readers are free to disagree or agree with the contentions of the Catholic Church and the convictions spurred here in the form of revelations.

Revelations of Divine Love

All hearts and minds orient towards God. This orientation manifests as desire, passion, or a strong yearning for the fulfillment of an interior life; the spiritual being. Sometimes, this desire is considered as an intellectual search for truth, or our heart’s longing for embrace and beauty. Other times, it is what Julian of Norwich called “the wound of an earnest longing for God” (Julian of Norwich 4).  Desire helps us to investigate a self transcending process towards fulfillment. This process unfolds over time and pictures people in a constant strive and steady movement to seek the infinite truth and be in union with love. The Revelations of Divine Love shown to a ‘simple, uneducated creature’ in the year of our Lord 1373, on the eighth day of May, charts a clear path from desire to fulfillment. While the showings are revealed; the author draws salient meanings and uses these directions to map the all encompassing theme of God’s compassionate love for all as manifested through the passions of Jesus Christ. This paper will rely on the itinerary of showings as a guide for understanding the meaning, how they build the path from desire to fulfillment, and argue that this orientation makes the writings a yardstick for leading a contemplative life.

Julian begins her showings with the longing of being under divine influence; the desire to be enveloped by God’s grace that she may feel the “the three graces of God’s gift” more intensely. At the heart of this showing is the desire to suffer with Jesus just like Mary Magdalene has suffered with him. She wished she’d been there at the Passion of the Lord, that she may receive God’s grace. The three graces; “the first was vivid perception of Christ’s Passion, the second was bodily sickness and the third was for God to give me three wounds” (Julian of Norwich 3-4). On Christ’s passion, she intimates that even though she possessed true faith, she longed she longed to be shown in flesh and suffer bodily just like the Savior has suffered. She longed to feel the true pain that Christ’s friends had felt.  For then, if her soul would leave her body, she would be saved and completely trustful of the Lord. It is only then that “a truer perception of Christ’s Passion” could be realized (Julian of Norwich 3-4). In the same vein, Julian desired the gift of contrition or the gift or bodily sickness.  She stated, “And I wanted this bodily sickness to be to the death, so that I might in that sickness receive all the rites of Holy Church, that I might myself believe I was dying and that everyone who saw me might believe the same, for I wanted no hopes of fleshly or earthly life” (Julian of Norwich 4).

In a characteristic ghostly echo that her showings exude, this gift of contrition or bodily sickness was desired so that the body and soul may experience all kinds of torments before she died. The fulfillment of this longing is that she hoped bodily sickness would be of benefit as she had a deep longing to be with her God (Julian of Norwich 4). In the same vein, she wrote of the third gift as, “I conceived a great longing, praying our Lord God that he would grant me three wounds in my lifetime: that is to say, the wound of contrition, the wound of compassion and the wound of an earnest longing for God” (Julian of Norwich 4).

She asked for the first two wounds with reservation, but the “wound of longing for God” was asked without reservation. This is because the third wound forms the foundation of all the other showings and desires. To continually long for God is the ultimate desire and the root of all spiritual fulfillment. This is also the foundation block for a contemplative life.

Of profound importance is the revelation of faith. Detailed in Chapter 4 of the long text, Julian presents the showings of Christ’s healing and the desire to be promoted to heaven’s bliss. Weighed down by bodily sickness and having received the rites of the holy church, Julian thought that the end was near. Even though she was just 30 years, she trusted God’s mercy and grieved not of the impending death for nothing could be compared with bliss that awaited her in heaven. The parish priest was sent to be present at her passing and she brought with him a crucifix. He said, “I have brought you the image of your Maker and Savior. When she turned her eyes to the crucifix, the room darkened and the only image before her eyes was the crucifix, then:

I suddenly saw the red blood trickling down from under the crown of thorns, hot and fresh and very plentiful, as though it were the moment of his Passion when the crown of thorns was thrust on to his blessed head, he who was both God and man, the same who suffered for me like that. I believed truly and strongly that it was he himself who showed me this, without any intermediary. And as part of the same showing the Trinity suddenly filled my heart with the greatest joy. And I understood that in heaven it will be like that for ever for those who come there. For the Trinity is God, God is the Trinity; the Trinity is our maker and protector, the Trinity is our dear friend for ever, our everlasting joy and bliss, through our Lord Jesus Christ. And this was shown in the first revelation, and in all of them; for it seems to me that where Jesus is spoken of, the Holy Trinity is to be understood. And I said, ‘Benedicite domine!’ (Julian of Norwich 46).

Essentially, Julian describes the bleeding of the crucifix before her physical eyes. The depth of the detail is concrete and portrays the revelation’s sense-based physicality. The sensuality of the description is evidence of the immediacy of Christ’s hospitality. By rescuing Julian at the point of her death, the revelation is testament of Christ’s willingness to always welcome believers to the intimacy of heaven. Even though Julian acknowledges the intensity of the showing and our inability to constantly hold the vision, she draws meanings to the effect that it is possible through faith to catch a glimpse of the awaited fulfillment.

From the revelation, Julian provides an additional description and meanings. She said:

Then he brought our blessed Lady into my mind. I saw her spiritually in bodily likeness, a meek and simple maid, young – little more than a child, of the same bodily form as when she conceived. God also showed me part of the wisdom and truth of her soul, so that I understood with what reverence she beheld her God and Maker, and how reverently she marveled that he chose to be born of her, a simple creature of his own making. And this wisdom and faithfulness, knowing as she did the greatness of her Maker and the littleness of her who was made, moved her to say very humbly to Gabriel, ‘Behold, the handmaid of the Lord.’ (Julian of Norwich 46)

The blessed Lady and the bleeding of crucifix present clear revelations of faith and a believers desire to enrich her soul with truth, wisdom, and faithfulness and reap everlasting joy and bliss from the Trinity; Maker and Eternal Protector. The revelation of the blessed Lady is a teaching in love. The vision captures Lady Mary blessed with wisdom and integrity. The vision shows the awe and high regard blessed Lady; who is poor, simple, and small bestowed to her Maker who is limitless, all good, all strong, and complete. The meaning being projected here is that her clear view of God earned has made her complete even if she is but simple. Thus, to those desirous of a contemplative life; humility earns fulfillment, and grace has the ability of giving the true believer goodness and strength far above other creators.

The goodness of God and the fulfillment in doing what is good is also captured by the revelations. The showing of the hazel nut symbolizes the tender and comforting enfolding of spiritual love. The meaning of the hazel nut is thus explained as;

‘What can this be?’  … ‘It is all that is made.’ I wondered how it could last, for it was so small I thought it might suddenly have disappeared. And the answer in my mind was, ‘It lasts and will last for ever because God loves it; and everything exists in the same way by the love of God.’ In this little thing I saw three properties: the first is that God made it, the second is that God loves it, the third is that God cares for it. But what the maker, the carer and the lover really is to me, I cannot tell; for until I become one substance with him, I can never have complete rest or true happiness; that is to say, until I am so bound to him that there is no created thing between my God and me (Julian of Norwich 47).

This desire to attain oneness with God infiltrates every revelation, every meaning of the showings. It depicts not only the undying longing but also the fulfillment of that longing. This is because no soul can rest until through God’s love they receive everything that they desire; it is only then that a soul can receive spiritual rest. Based on the revelation she teaches that there is need to gain knowledge on the “littleness of created beings” as path towards getting complete knowledge and possession of God. She also shows that it is of great pleasure to Lord God, when simple souls seek it in a plain way for it is the natural nature of souls to seek goodness from the Holy Ghost. It is only through such a path that God may restores by the blessed Passion and cares with blessed love.

In addition, the revelations of three nothings provide a clear commentary on leading a completive life. She reiterates:

Of these nothings this was the first I was shown, and all men and women who wish to lead the contemplative life need to have knowledge of it: they should choose to set at nothing everything that is made so as to have the love of God who is unmade. This is why those who choose to occupy themselves with earthly business and are always pursuing worldly success have nothing here of God in their hearts and souls: because they love and seek their rest in this little thing there is no rest, and know nothing of God, who is almighty, all wise and all good, for he is true rest. God wishes to be known, and is pleased that we should rest in him; for all that is below him does nothing to satisfy us. And this is why, until all that is made seems as nothing, no soul can be at rest. When a soul sets all at nothing for love, to have him who is everything that is good, then it is able to receive spiritual rest (Julian of Norwich 8).

Prayer is an important element of our desire to seek God and the fulfillment of being in oneness with the source of love. In essence, all the showings are prayers and they are mainly concerned with how prayer can be utilized to achieve oneness with love. Chapter 19 of the short text and Chapters 41 and 43 of the long text comprehensively deals with the subject of prayer. She provides three specific teachings about prayer:

‘I am the foundation of your prayers: first it is my will that you should have something, and then I make you desire it, and then I make you pray for it; and if you pray, then how could it be that you should not have what you pray for?’ And thus in his first statement, along with the three which follow, our good Lord shows us something immensely helpful. Where he begins by saying, ‘If you pray for it’, there he reveals the very great joy and unending reward that our prayer will receive from him. And where he says next, ‘Then how could it be that you should not have what you pray for?’ there he gives a serious rebuke, because we do not as strongly as we should (Julian of Norwich 28-29).

These instructions confirm that Christ requires Christians to engage in prayer and trust in their prayers. This is because, it is not ours but God’s will that we should pray. Prayer pleases God on one hand and humbles, calms, and gives man pleasure on the other hand. Thus, in prayer there is both desire and fulfillment. For instance;

Prayer gives man pleasure in himself, and makes him calm and humble, where before he was contentious and troubled. Prayer unites the soul to God; for though the soul is always like God in nature and substance, yet because of sin on man’s part, it is often in a state which is unlike God. Prayer makes the soul like God; when the soul wills what God wills, it is then in a state like God, as it is like God in nature (Julian of Norwich 29).

Broadly analyzed, prayer is therefore a communication on how our lives can journey to God or from God. It expresses our nature and our relationship with God, our oneness with the Son, and the reward or prayer is fulfillment through the Holy Spirit.

In conclusion, Julian succeeds in presenting love as the mystery in divine showings. Love is the radiation in every revelation. Love is not only the primal desire, but spiritual fulfillment too. Love is light and it attracts the searching soul to the manifested truth which is God. In the same vein, love is an aid for understanding reality and the relationships between different creations of the divine. In the book, Jesus is therefore a manifestation of divine love and through prayer; love binds the believer to God. The mystery is that once one desires to know the meaning of Lord’s meaning in the revelations, the progress towards learning the right love is satisfaction in itself.  Therefore, through divine love one can be absorbed in God to achieve fulfillment. Divine love surpasses the mere desire of getting to heaven; it is a gift of fulfillment in communion with God.

As shown in the analysis, desire is the light of the human spirit. Once the light of desire begins to burn, the journey towards the mystery of God begins. As Julian suggests, “the wound of an earnest longing for God” is the spark that lights and holds spiritual desire over lifetimes. Thus, the fulfillment of desire encompasses prayer, divine grace, joy, delight, comfort, strength, faith, hope, and the all-encompassing compassion and love.  A rare circumstance where the revelation and the implied meanings are both presented, the Revelations of Divine Love therefore offers beads of instruction that touch on every topic of importance to modern Christian living. By presenting specific ways through which a single soul can journey and be in communion with good Lord God, it is a valuable yardstick that can be exploited by anybody intent on leading a contemplative life.

Notes

The book reviewed is ‘Revelations of Divine Love’ by Julian Norwich; one of the principal classic texts in Catholic Studies. The book is freely available in many sites. Just Google and download. You can also read the circumstances under which the revelations were written.

Richard

My Life, Religion, and Other Things

The sages have died with their words frozen like molten lava hugging the mountain side. The brightness of their wisdom shines but the slippery rock is a curse to the feeble-limbed. The spiritual way is clogged by religious dogmas and cults trace the vague fences of veneration. I was once a pious child, following in the footsteps of my Christian parents. I did my Catechism but fell afoul with ‘Who created me’ answers because of their inadequacy to capture my young mind. But parents are angels, second-hand gods with arms that guide like the meandering banks of a river – and so I did my Baptism and the Priest shot me a “Richard”, then Confirmation and the Bishop christened me ‘Maccarius’ among a plethora of ancient names parried about to be clasped. I comfortably became a black missionary mirror, albeit a minor.

My African roots, as regards religion were not as strong as I would have liked at the time of birth and subsequent indoctrination into Christianity – I was but less that a decade old. But the ancestors blessed my birth, and made me an African by default: a soul; a gentle soul hidden beneath the great cloud of consciousness. My African name is ‘Oduor’ loosely translating to a boy born in the wee hours of the night (around 4.00 A.M in the morning). African names have actual meanings. I became a Christian, yes. But my seriousness with the church ended with the rituals. Well meaning rituals meant to captivate my ‘savage soul’ to serenity and obedience. Yet though the spears thrown at Catholicism have risen into the stationary phase, a clear mind may view its dogma’s as intimately closer to the primitive religion of the ancients. But if one has to uproot the monster, one has to appreciate that what Christians perceive as the Holy Book did pass through the editing hands of the Council of Bishops.

I was very different from your average 15 year old boy growing up in the village. By 16 years I had read the Holy Bible from cover to cover and developed the canny ability of knowing exactly where a verse fell. To this day, I maintain a reasonable textual mind picture of the Bible. You’d also find me with a book on religious philosophy. One of the oldest books that I keep even to this day is ‘A Short Defense of Religion’; a controversial pro-anti religion philosophical treatise that opened my eyes to the beauty of knowledge at a very early age. At that age, my mind began its comparative analyses of fundamental religious problems and the tendencies of modern science. I wallowed into criticism, and new criticism, Kantism and New-Kantism.

I began my walk with phenomenal writers such as Hume, Stuart, Mill, Auguste, Compte, and Locke. Du-Bois Reymond reminded me that ‘we are ignorant and shall remain ignorant” (Ignoramus et ignorabimus). Spencer came forth with agnostic positivism and tried to separate it from agnosticism, in as much as he affirmed the reality of the unknowable or in other words affirming ‘the existence of what nobody can know’. This was a far cry from what the early church had held: Gnosticism. Too bad I also disregarded Thomas Aquina’s Ecclesiastes pounding of “seek not the things that are too high for thee” in Summa Theologica.

I bathed with Reason, glorying in the fact that man’s knowledge is derived from phenomena and sat on the rocks of Science because physical, experimental, empiric science relies greatly on the principles of reason. Science introduced me to the principle of causality and crowned me a free man.

I’m a sucker for information, yet that does not imply that I condone insensible barrage or cock my ears to illogisms. The truth is that I’m always impatient with stupidity, and may take active step to close such a tap – as soon and vile inconsistencies begin to trickle. But one who hunts never stops until the hunted is found. My inquiries into the fundamental problems did not stop with the Bible; I took an interest in Judaism, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism knowing quite well that they represent the mainstream paths of organized religion. To this day I read the Holy Bible, the Koran, and the Bhagavad Gita, in addition to countless documents of religious significance such as the Satanic Bible, the Kolbrins, hundreds of esoteric and occult publications, ancient religions, papal publications, incisive Islam scholars such as Sayyid Qutb, as well as Upadeśāmrta and Śiksāstaka and what they have to say about Krsna.

You may not call me a Christian, Muslim, Buddhist, Judaist or any other religion that exists in the planet. I’d prefer you call me none – for I am but an aspiring sage with a torch in a dark forest searching for a lost sewing needle with nothing but a candle. As my years grow, my torch has been getting brighter and brighter and my walk sure-footed. I see the black for what it is and refuse to place neatly pressed white garments on mud.

You will not call me a self confessed atheist either, because I’m not one. I view atheism as a form of intellectual laziness: an inability to pierce the membrane of obfuscation.  For me knowledge remains an endless ocean, so vast and wide, so deep that the destination –though shining like the morning star – still lies far ahead. I glory in my journeys and I have no desire of reaching the end. But along the way, I have developed an understanding: a secret that has been kept from the eyes of those who seek not. These secrets that dot my path are my signposts to full illumination.

Each day, I’d put stacks of newly acquired knowledge on the old heap, until a time reached when I had to dig the very roots of these bodies. Naturally, I retreated into my self; for that is the only way a man can judge all that he imbibes. The self holds the searing blade of judgment. The Self, also analogized as Soul, is the essence of Being. The self is the ‘I’ and in there lies the fabric of meaning. Cleaned of influences, except the very cardinal guideposts that a man can use to judge his surroundings, the self holds the key to unraveling the mystery of human existence. Then, I realized that the world is a sphere of symbols and every symbol radiates differently.  Symbols rule the world. Symbols rule your mind. Symbols are the slaver’s tool for mental indoctrination. Learn the symbols. Dig their roots with the intense concentration that a squirrel invests in digging the cassava. I will talk about this comprehensively in a later writing.

Do I believe in God? Does God exist? Well, that’s already one too many questions for such a short piece of jumbled snippets me. One thing that I know, though yet to prove empirically is that there exists as a source of Light and that source is God. Anybody who seeks spiritualism knows that even the most brutalized and savage man practices certain identifiable moral and ‘religious’ ideas with regard to the beyond. Even the most stationary beings in the greatest cauldron of civilization draw certain remnants of instruction from a Source. These elements point to a source of eternal energy, albeit without the twisted strands of religiosity that has muddled the Way ever since its ejection from the tormenting womb of existence.

This Source is not necessarily the Christian God, the Muslim Allah or Yahweh – for these bodies of knowledge are incomplete mere specks of the full illumination of the Supreme. Unfortunately, these bodies have human stains and these stains are black blots on the purity of the Supreme. I firmly hold this view because I am a free thinker, but one with a purpose. This Supreme is not necessarily as being as espoused by my Christian brothers. My God is nothing but a Super Soul just like my Gita says. My God is one, just as the Koran says, but rather than being a slave, I’m but a fragment of the Super Soul. I have a little God in me, for it is through that channel that the pure energies of existence flow effortlessly from the full, to the fraction. I would have written my conception of God at length but I have to talk about other things as well.

I draw inspiration from the world. I draw inspiration from me; from my perception of the world; from my contemplations. One of the biggest living influences in my way of thinking remains Professor Noam Chomsky (Massachusetts Institute of Technology). In him I find the meaning of meanings and the door knob of analytical philosophy. Recently a worthy friend, Dr. Shujaat, told me that my poetry is different, that my poetry has the potential to inspire change in the world. Now that was a noble gesture. Not that I don’t hold my writings in high esteem, far from it. Poetry is the language of gods. My activist stands have recently been upped by Dr. Claudette Carr (University of London), another incisive intellectual that draws me to her works principally because of the wealth of technicality. A Zimbabwean poet; Tendai Tagarira, now in exile, for being too critical of Mugabe’s regime is a new acquaintance that is proving to be a ‘brother in the fight’ as well. I have never met these individuals personally, but the world has since become a ‘global village’ and we sip from the same pot of knowledge.

I have other influences. The patience and love from my family, the intimacy of true love: honeybunch, the verve of Hisia Zangu Family members and strings, ‘the four beads that form the secret necklace’ (they know themselves), and the hundreds of people I talk with, chat with, discuss with everyday. It is from these beautiful flowers of humanity that my poetry sprouts. Surely “the bond that links your true family is not one of blood, but of respect and joy in other’s life. Rarely do members of one family grow up under the same roof.” A quote from ‘Illusions’.

Well, I’m no big shot. I’m just 28 years old and my best still hangs ahead of me. I’m a writer, but it’s my ‘other’ profession. It doesn’t ‘put food on my table’ so to speak, but I have an oath with literature; with poetry and literary criticism, though I have never been in a Literature class. I’ve never been in a Philosophy class as well. All my writings are products of personal study and imagination. I hold my imagination dear and just like D.G James in ‘Skepticism and Poetry’ I believe that “the vitality and energies of the imagination do not operate at will; they are fountains, not machinery”.

How do I know so many things? Some friends ask me. I’m a research guy so I read virtually everything that has been published; a good number of books and journals every week. From genetic engineering to business design systems, from ordinal regressions to climate change and global warming, from East Asian studies to neocolonialism in Latin America, from African culture and symbolism and canonization in modern African literature to heteroskedasticity in STATA, from cultural imperialism to nanotechnology, from Darwinism to religion. Such reading means that I find links between bodies of knowledge quite easily. Understanding, even the most complex of texts, has become rather easy. I encourage all my friends to read a ton of books every day. Books are the only miracles that the world needs.

The world is a funny place. We’ll continue with our search, trying to unravel the past. To quote Billy Bryson’s ‘A Short History of Nearly Everything’ out of context, “the fact is, we don’t know. Don’t have any idea. We don’t know when we started doing many of the things we’ve done. We don’t know what we are doing right now or how our present actions will affect the future. What we do know is that there is only one planet to do it on, and only one species of being capable of making a considered difference. Edward O. Wilson expressed it with unimprobable brevity in ‘The Diversity of Life’ “one planet, one experiment.”

Have we succeeded in unraveling everything we need to know? Not really. “We are at the beginning of it all. The trick, of course, is to make sure we never find the end,” Bryson said. The journey is the reward, not the destination. There is no destination in life. Death is the end of searching, not the destination.

So why do I have to write these long discussions?

Let me write my life while I live.

And always remember,

“The world is your exercise book, the pages on which you do your sums. It is not reality, although you can express reality there if you wish. You are also free to write nonsense or lies, or to tear the pages.”

Richard M. Oduor a.ka. Richie Maccs

On the Philosophy of Nothingness

Under shades of mounting dialectic claims,

Irresolute pricks punch holes of absurdity,

And like tinctures on white planes,

Draw me hesitantly to Permenides study.

 

Instinctually, I watch sketches of illusions

And clouds of emptiness where ‘nothing’ inhabits.

Is my future nothing; mere delusions?

Is imbroglio the preserve of hermits?

 

Is it foolish that to the study of nothing, I endeavor?

I labor, for my past is a cemetery of experiences;

Mundane somethings that rob me of the fervor

Of pure thought and a discourse with virginal essences.

 

I think of nothing, but being conscious of something,

I refuse ‘nothingness’ a name and think not at all.

A prelude to fatuity maybe, or a trifling

That my experiences have been eaten by time’s fall.

 

But why should there be something rather than nothing?

Is nothing an object of thought or void’s wails?

Is nothing a figure of speech or existence’s clothing?

Is it a bong in silence’s backyard or Infinite’s trails?

 

I shed off the linguistic strings of ‘nothing’ being ‘lack’,

And bounce on philosophia’s springs and ask ‘not-being’

To light the blurring shades of history’s back,

While evading Monist’s distractions of probable beings.

 

Poor of a single plenum on which a cartographer’s skill

May be twisted to chart a map of knowledge on nothing,

I accept the multiplicity of plenums and shrill

As Leucippus postulates dangle on fraying strings.

 

Nature abhors a vacuum, we assume

And tire to mark motion and change in space:

A void is the twin sister of a vacuum

And all join hands peacefully in existence’s lace.

 

Casually, ‘nothing’ lolls in reality’s attic,

Existing as an independent plenum,

Weaved deftly in the intricate fabric

Of all that there is; change, motion, or datum.

 

Thence, God knowing all in advance,

Mould something from nothingness;

A circular argument in philosophia’s parlance,

But a logical absurdity that basks by the door of madness.

 

Richard Copyright 2012.