AN AFRICAN MIND

© Adeolu Emmanuel Adesanya

A typical African mind and ideas that emanates from it, can easily be characterised by traditional misgivings, cultural biasedness, and spiritual insecurities.

All humans are born with a clean, pure and blank mind. We then go through life having various images projected into us – via visual, audio, and sensory. Most of these images comes with “don’ts” rather than “dos”, and this is the beginning of a life full of insecurities, fears and mistrust.

I remembered days that were full of fright, and nights that were full of nightmares. Banana trucks are meeting place for witches, the crossroads is the restaurant for the spirit, and if the mosques don’t wake you up with a bang, the street “woli” will make you jump out of bed with his gong.

They always preach about the same thing. About bile, hatred, and fear – devastating and life altering types. About a baby born with a mission to bankrupt his parents, about a dementia woman who is being punished for sucking the blood of youngsters. They filled our mornings with prophesy, and we spend the rest of the day looking for clues of its fulfilment. At times, we helped the gods to do their jobs, hence the vicious cycle of blood, tears, and piercing screams.

For almost a decade, I rarely have dreams that involves scenes from the screen, horrors from the streets, and fears from the scriptures. Suddenly, nature is as beautiful, as it is as divine. The shadows made by the trees are beautiful, the vast body waters are awesome and peaceful, and babies symbolises the image of purity and innocence.

All religions have one thing in common – GOD IS LOVE. This should be the beginning and end of all sermons. We shouldn’t live a life full of fears and condemnation, we should love God, and love people around us, just like we love ourselves.