Change

How do you begin to understand the complete level of debasement the human mind can proceed to, as humans we think our brains and our morality go hand in hand and that without our brains we do not have any morality. Most people believe that the higher the level of education a person has the lesser the chances of him being immoral, but experience has shown that in most cases its even the other way round. When trying to understand cognitive psychology I stumbled on the idea that the more educated you are(or enlightened being the case) the more your brain weakens to the concept of morality. In its search for more knowledge the brain seeks activity and any level of lethargy would spark off an irresistible urge to experiment and see where it leads giving it, the brain an excuse to work.

The most accomplished serial killers were renowned doctors and psychologists, people whose everyday life was a quest for more knowledge. Their brains became tired of doing the same thing over and over so it sought out ways of tasking itself, either by producing new hallucinogenic pills or pit there minds against trained detectives(going as far as leaving clues). The world of hacking began as an idle gesture, perversion began as a simple experiment into how the human mind reacts to certain levels of emotions. Looking at things clearly how many ignorant or uneducated fellows even considers the thought of idleness, its impossible for him to fathom because he already lives in a state of perpertual idleness. The hunger for learning breeds and unleashes that part of our brain that craves change, change that is self-created or manipulated.

Thoughts

Wow! its here again, another year is around the corner. I am quite excited about the prospects of a new year but at the same time am sad about the failures and mistakes of the old year. A lot of people might not have any regrets and a lot might have but I fall into the category of those with regrets and they are so many. I have made decisions that not only affected my life negatively but I have also dragged innocent people into the mud with me.

This decisions which I am just begining to acknowledge have led me to resent,hate and even envy. I used to blame everybody apart from myself for the problems that I face. I blamed my dad, my lecturers, my uncles and even sometimes my siblings. I never once looked at myself and think maybe its my fault. In the past I wrote some pieces that blamed my government for my short-comings but is it really there fault, yes I know that there are issues in this country not caused by one person. But lets look at it seriously and closely, I went to the university got a 2.2 is that somebodies fault. Afterall people in the same class as I got an upper, so what's my own excuse.

The reason why am writing this is not because am second guessing my own opinions, no. On the contrary am only looking at things from another perspective, that what if I had done it this way or that way would it have been different. But what's bringing up all this thoughts, its the end of the year. I have come to realise that as humans we wait for a remarkable time characterised by a special event in order to look back at our lives and weigh it. The good book says that on the day of judgement every good deed and every bad one would be weighed and passed through fire, and if it is not consumed by the fire then according to me you have lived a fulfilled life.

I have a thought to myself, can my deeds of the past year pass through the fire and remain unburnt.

WHY?

Why did I go to a university, why are there degrees like second class lower and third class? I really want to know why after five years of intense struggle and hardship, I would be told that I can't apply for a job because I didn't get a second class upper degree or a first class. Why does going to a university in the country of my birth not count? for what purposes where they then created.

Some people would say am just bitter because I didn't get an upper or because I wasn't opportuned to go out to study, it might be true but why shouldn't I feel embittered if my degree was treated like a forged document. Our people in top positions in major companies come out to say nigerian education system is decrepit, why wouldn't it be. After studying there they forget there alma mater and send their kids either to private instituitions or out of the country. I would like to ask my fellow nigerians a question, which schools are the best in the UK or US, private or public? I can proudly answer that it is the public schools. When citizens of this countries graduate they put back into the instituition either by donating or creating things they believe can make the school greater. The oxfords and harvards are they private schools? No they certainly are not. Most of the things that are there now and which make us send our kids and wards there where contributed by alumnis of the school and not by the federal or state government. But can an average nigerian put back into the system that 'made' him, I doubt it.

Why were private instituitions created by churches,muslim societies and individuals, couldn't the amassed wealth be contributed to make the already established schools better. The churches say its to provide and create well rounded and established individuals but can ordinary members even afford the tuition fees, can someone earning N18000 minimum wage with 4 kids afford to pay over N300000 on one child? So what happens then to the other 3. I heard a story of a pastor who was charging his wards for the contribution towards the building of the churches own citadel of learning. Just being an area pastor he asked his members to contribute since this was there own and their children would finally have a chance to go to a private school, oh! how mistaken he was. After the school was completed he decided to send his daughter but what a great shock he had when he found out the amount for the fees, this pastor ended up sending his child to a public university . Some over-fed and fanatical nigerian somewhere would at this point tell me that there are scholarships for ministers and members children. But wait, is the scholarship giving to every member? and also I would like to see 50 members of any church that has benefited. When I say members I don't mean those that drive escalades, I mean those that trek to church on sundays, those that can barely live above $2 everyday. Of what use is an instituition if as a member I don't benefit fadem, I can as well sit at home and pray to my God with my family.

Our political class has been in existence for over 40 years and as they leave are grooming there children to take over, they have masterminded the notion that a local degree is as good as first school leaving certificate(Pry 6). So its off to harvard with their kids and when they return the job is only a phone call away. How long can we continue like this, how long are we going to be the worm eating off the leaves of our country. How can a senator whose children aren't studying in Nigeria care about what happens to the educational system, its impossible. They say where a mans treasures are there his heart is, so as they amass wealth and put it in foreign banks and as they send their childrens abroad, tell me where there hearts would be.

Our system isn't dying because of some spiritual hocos pocos, it is dying because of individuals. Individuals that hide behind churches and mosques, that hide behind the house of assembly these are the enemies of our future.

WHO ARE YOU?

We are now youths, way past the periods when we will wait for milk from our mothers and spoon fed by our fathers. We have grown past the stage where we can hide behind ignorance and say I don't know what is happening or say how is an election conducted. We can now see with our own eyes how our elders have dealt with situations and choose if we will deal the same way clearly knowing the outcome. As youths do we say we don't know why we are used for things like rigging, kidnapping and even militancy. No we can't deny the fact, it is glaring that our strength is our greatest asset. But of what use is this strength to an ignoble youth.

We are allowing ourselves to be deceived and spoon fed the same way we were treated as toddlers. We say we are the leaders of tomorrow, true, indeed we are, just the same way our present leaders were youths once. A group of people would arise and say "youths don't let them steal your franchise it is your right". But they forget to include that after this don't become like they that were before you or for them to say try to remember where you are coming from. The average Nigerian youth wants to become wealthy and amass wealth at whatever cost especially if he is able to enter the political race, and once in, instantly forgets he had been disenfranchised once before. We say our leaders are bad and corrupt, they have to go, we can't continue like this. But when they eventually leave and we get there, do we deal the same way we have been meted or do we say despite all I am here with a mandate and I most answer to the people that voted me.

Let us put our actions and words in a safety deposit box, in a part of our brain that would not be eaten by despondence or the termites of corruption. So that when we grow old we would remember all we said and did and through that be different from the generation of decadence.

We have been called on by a generation that has been in power for over 20years and still can't get it right, leaders and elders to heed the clarion call to fuel our desires and hearts because they know that's what we want to hear, while behind us they sneer and giggle like babies because they know they have us fooled. Some of us are enriched and we say yes I have arrived not realising that our arriving is to the demise of our so called beloved nation. Because of the morsel we are given we become dilettante not realising there is a bigger chunk hidden away.

How long would we be youths, have we stopped to think? Very soon we will have to step up and lay claim. But how would we lay this claim, would we lay claim to the national cake as our family birthright or lay claim to credibility and stand for a better NIGERIA shouting the slogan ALUTA CONTINUA, VICTORIA ASCERTA

Serving God or going through the motion

I woke up this morning with a single thought that i was going to no matter what try to serve God, and see how it turns out. Why did i think of such a thing you might ask since its kind of a common thing to want to serve God. The truth is it isn't common to want to serve God because serving God is different from the religion. The bible says if we serve God and seek His kingdom first every other thing shall be added unto us, so you see i really want the other things just like most people too. But there is this nagging thought i have always had which is i think we are serving God selfishly, serving Him for our own personal gains and missing the entire point of the "seek ye first the kingdom of God". I think the idea is for us to focus on eternity instead of the things that christianity provides because in most cases after the other things come people forget and return to their life outside Christ. Of course we are always blessed but what are this blessings for? are they for our personal fulfilment or to show forth His power and glory and eventually win more souls for Him. The bible says "where your treasure lies there your heart will be"   If we are indeed seeking the kingdom of God why then do we seek so much physical security, if the point is get to heaven as soon as possible. The truth is our treasures are here on earth so we fear to leave them behind, if we are truly seeking the kingdom are we not supposed to rejoice when the time of death comes; why then do we despair?. The fear of dying for many is the beginning of wisdom, its not like they fear the death itself what they fear is giving account of how the other things added unto them were used. So my question today is how did you use yours, are you satisfied it is being used for the right purpose and adequately too. But before you answer remember this words "LOVE YOUR NEIGHBOUR AS YOU LOVE YOURSELF AND LOVE THE LORD YOUR GOD WITH ALL YOUR HEART" and please don't be self-righteous about your answer. I am asking myself the same question.

Self-control

Today I added a new meaning of sin to my vocabulary. This new diction indicates that sin means no-control; no-control is the absence of self-control. What is self-control? It's the ability to take charge of all our emotions and in most cases for utmost fulfillment channel it towards something else more of like transfer of aggression. Most people think being able to control one area of our life is self-control, but no it is more than that it is being in-charge of every area even into finances. Self-control doesn't only involve a Christian life or sex but it covers areas of our lives we don't even consider controlling, for example we need control in our jobs, our finances and our school work. Excesses they say is a poison, in our lives sometimes we get to a point where we are faced with temptations that have nothing to do with sex or a spiritual growth but temptations none the less. We may be faced with the desire to get extra funds and even in some cases spend beyond our income; a man without control in his financial life may end up in serious debt. Sometimes people mistake contentment with self-control, they are two different words, whereas contentment means satisfaction self-control means to wait and hope for a better time. Often time's lack of self-control brings regrets and not just to a Christian but also to non-believers, but it is much more important though for Christians for without it backsliding is inevitable.

Sanctification

Being a Christian is one of the hardest things a man can endeavor to be, it is like beginning a new book after years of literary drought. It's like listening to a new genre of music that we aren't used to, it at first sounds lucid then after paying more attention we might begin to enjoy. As a Christian one has to throw away earthly desires and feelings to receive the call of the most high, many a times we try to achieve or reach fulfillments on our own without seeking for the help of the God. Talking with a student of mine today I realized that the hardest battle to fight in this new lifestyle is the battle of the flesh, our flesh is so weak that when we die it goes back into d ground instead of ascending. I know that many Christians out there have the same deep thoughts of their religion as I {I believe Christianity is more of a way of life than a religion} and seek for a way to live a normal life and also be a believer. Even this is possible but our desires make it extremely difficult, desires I believe are hormones which are produced at different spots in the body before they are transported to where they take effect. Even as Christians we do not have control over these hormones but we do have control over one thing which is our mind. The mind or brain controls all the activities of the body including hormonal activity, the hormones would be released or produced notwithstanding the fact that one is a believer in a need-to-be-produced-situation. For instance whilst I was still dating I decided to get more devoted and in the quest I learnt that having a romantic relationship even without sex is still a sin, so I decided that I would tell my then g/f that there should be no more contacts between us. At first she laughed in my face but later decided to agree, I made one mistake though the mistake that many a believer have likewise made which is forgetting to include no visitation in the deal. At first I thought I could do it, so on I went deciding not to kiss then no body contact but all this failed after about 3weeks. WHY? Because I forgot to involve God in my schedules. These same desires still plague me today so much more than before but each time even after I fall into sin I still ask God to sanctify me because without sanctification there is no grace to sin no more. With sanctification there comes a hatred for sin and control of the mind which will in-turn control the hormones, but please make no mistake even if you control your mind without sanctification all that is zilch u achieve nothing because sanctification is by the grace of God and without the grace we can't even begin to live right. A sanctified believer is on the way to being a Christian (Christ-like). Now after d desires comes thoughts which should come first but I believe that the desires are the ones that fuel the thoughts before the deed is carried out, they say without a thought there is no action and the bible says "as a man thinketh in his heart so is he" and also "out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh". Hormones which so far I have being refereeing to as desires before starting are triggered by a thought and also ends with a thought before the actual action. So as old Christians and new believers alongside our prayers for this and that let us chip in a prayer for sanctification, for without sanctification our bodies (flesh) would continue to rule our spirits.