Dark boeld

I am still skeptical about posting this, but I'll go on with it anyway. It is the first song I am going to admit to fully writing and it came in a dream. Yeah, in a dream, whether you believe it or not. My concern with sharing this song is that even though it captures a reality I have been through, it doesn't represent anything I believe in.It is intended to be one of those black, acid rock songs, and I hope my music skills develop well enough for me to read it someday before I die... . Here goes..

Your light darkens my day

When I see your smile, gloom drowns my heart

You've chained me to your way

You started this fire that burns me from within

Oh, how can I escape

The best thing that turned my world to gray

My reflexes worn out

You make me loathe every inch of life

You have trapped me

You have made my essence sore

My inklings betray me

What I had was what you bore

And nothing can save me

Nothing can piece back what you tore

I have lost the last drop of blood

Only tears run through my veins now

Dust clouds and sulfuric winds 

Is all I have come to know

Salvation seems nearer

It comes in chariots of death

How can this be hope

When it brings more pain than I have ever seen

And how can this be love

When it messes everything I have ever enjoyed

It was all good at the beginning 

Life was beautiful as the sun

You started out slowly

Wiping the surface of me clean of innocence

Now I'm stuck in a pit

Constantly sinking in its mud floor

My spirit has been made poor

Lacking any virtues to hold on to

You have ensnared me

You have made my essence sore

My inklings betray me

What I had was what you bore

And nothing can save me

Nothing can piece back what you tore

I have lost the last drop of blood

Only tears run through my veins now

Dust clouds and sulfuric winds 

Is all I have come to know

Salvation seems nearer

It comes in chariots of death

How can this be hope

When it brings more pain than I have ever seen

And how can this be love

When it messes everything I have ever enjoyed

I just made this last part up... if you feel like this ever, i'll be happy to share how I came out of this.

Read at your own risk

I caught an impression, half an inkling it was, a little larger than a speck of thought.

No it was slightly bigger than a hunch, yes it must have been some ginormous idea, an astronomic epiphany maybe.

Okay, I exaggerate. My words were hitting the ceiling of the universe already. I have out-scaled the essence of measure itself.

I will be calm and remain so. I shall appeal to the quintessence of modesty now. Stay humble dear self.

In all honesty it would have been worth dismissing this thought in the first place. A fart could weigh more on a scale of sensibility. My mind could have been up to no good when I thought about it.

But the truth in all honesty is that I felt like I hit gold when it first came to me. And I felt my ego buffed in the afterthought. Yes it was certainly something of sorts that could as well amount to nothing.

I know I should probably stop swinging my psyche in opposing directions. I am fittingly aware of the effects of frictional thoughts. I should perhaps disclose this thought and leave the judgment of it to beings outside myself.

Therein lies the disappointment. I don’t remember the details of that thought. It was almost as if my mind spat it out the second it was spotted, refusing to be associated with anything that constituted its semblance.

Maybe it’ll come back in the next dream. Or the next fart, or the next spittle…who knows? And when it does, I’ll have the confidence to justify making you read all these words.

For now I've got nothing, and I’m not making any promises. Be kind and unread what I have written as true as they are. Let these words go to waste, make room for them in your trash can.

These words say a lot about me, I know. I stop some conversations as soon as I utter their opening lines. And it pisses people off sometimes. Yet I am not the one to apologize for who I am.

The only explanation to that is that some thoughts take flight before they crystallize in my head. They are short ropes that I have not found use for. My mind discards them but the trash can is somewhere in my head. And I think it mixes up with some pretty nice and beautiful thoughts I've had and messes them up in the process.

Why bother then? Why go all out and even write this and share it with people when most of the stuff I've written may not be shared with anyone ever... I should probably stop this right now...

The Ultimate Pursuit...

It was desire that brought me here, the foot of the greatest pursuit. Everything I relished made this navigation clearer.  At first I was seeking myself, until it all lead to the end of me. There my creator was waiting to tell me that the end of me was not the end of ends. There was more to behold if only I journeyed beyond myself.

He said to me in the proverbial thunderous voice, “I am with you”. No doubt that was the voice of truth because it carried with it an essence consistent with everything that has been tested to be true and wise. I might struggle with describing this essence but I perceptively consider it accurate and complete in its depiction as truth; not the expression but the essence itself, or maybe both but more of the latter. My emphasis on essence is not injudicious, neither is it immaterial. For the unique make-up of everything that is subject to principles recognize and communicate (without inhibition) with the truth. Whether its actions are considered consistent with what it identifies as truth is beside the point, but I digress.

It was in that truth that a realization crystallized in my faculties that the line extended to Him, just where the end of me became clear. My creator, my source, the giver of life was the one beyond me, right where I was brought to my end. Suddenly there was more to seek, more to desire, more to venture, more to me. How did I become conscious of all these things you ask? I’ll attempt the most sensible answer, but I have to warn that it is unswerving from my initial discourse.

I was made aware of all the quests possible to me and I was made to taste of all the rivers of desire. As I journeyed in desire, I was made all the more empty by it, plagued by the default insatiability of man. I was journeying with men who had not only exhausted their desires but had a weight of years on their shoulders. They said to me, “… the real thrill is in the intensity of the desire; what makes it worth it is what we give up in the pursuit”. It was almost as if there were two balancing sides that measured the worth of our desires. On one side is the constant memory of what was lost in the pursuit, an endearing spuriousness of regrets balanced by the delight of a gratified desire on the other side.

And so on I went along the streams of desire which led to a sea where all pleasures wind up, the fate of men’s desires. This place had men who had pursued and conquered holding their trophies high for all others to see. A place of glittering commonness where men are told by what they have sought and got, wished and acquired, craved and consumed, conceived and executed. This place seemed glaringly glorious at first glance but I looked again and found that though it was the biggest pursuit for those men, none of them wanted to stay there once they got there. That place was only as appealing as the aspiration for it. Men wanted more. Some thought that the ultimate pursuit would be ruling that place and by implication owning the trophies of all other men, yet there was no place for two kings.

I stopped there and searched myself again, hoping that I might come in contact with the true origin of all my desires. And there I gained some measure of clarity. Like most men I was mistaken, I had missed the fundamental direction in my pursuit. My mistake was that I needed more, wanted more than me but instead of looking beyond myself, I chased my own cravings. In all honesty, that was just filling a black hole with all I have, knowing fully well that I would not be satisfied without it being completely filled.

My only recourse is to seek more than myself. I need to pick the other end of the line and journey towards my creator. In this I have found the ultimate pursuit. For my Creator is an endless line. Even if I had forever to infinity and beyond to pursue the end of Him, I will not reach the end of that rope. There will be more to relish, more unending pleasures to explore. The best part is that I don't have to wait to reach the end of myself to pick up the other end of the line, and that is what I am doing now. Seeking God, delighting myself in Him and enjoying the endless pleasures made possible by His true nature as God.

RUBY GYANG PERFORMS ''7 SECONDS'' WITH YOUSSOUR NDOUR

This is one of the most surprising things that has happened to me this year. Just yesterday, I was surfing the internet, on a monday (don't judge me) and I came across a video of Dido performing 7 seconds with Youssour Ndour  at a Live 8 event (The biggest African artiste as of now-yeah, big deal!). I was thrilled beyond measure. This was at Hyde Park in London. As I just finished, I saw another video of ND and the amazing Neneh Cherry at Africa Live roll back Malaria event in Geneva. Tracy Chapman is on that list as well and permit me to add the most recent addition to that amazing list world changers- Ruby Gyang. She performed the same song with ND in Lagos at the Etisalat Price For Literature. It was such a delight to open the link she sent me on G+. Yes she was amazing, yes she killed it, now go watch the video for yourself!

Fish in the gutter!

Originally written August of 2013...date may not apply.

 

That said, I actually saw this live! Fish in a gutter. I am no gadget freak, I would have had the proper camera to give you a picture. As though that wasn't enough, I saw some guys fishing in the gutter in Lekki!!!! I kid you not! As I was passing by the road I saw them with fishing lines and there was this big open drainage they were dipping it in. And I know that out of the 160 million Nigerians there are, only about 5 fish for fun, 3 others that fish for their families only but the rest of them sell them to the rest of us. Unless you live in Nigeria, you won't understand why you need the best of luck in the next fish you eat, just in case you get chosen by the wrong fish (you know how the fish in the market on the tray gives you goo-goo eyes? Word of advice, do not give in next time.).

I first heard about  that there were 3 fish in our own gutter, and the last time I checked, the guard (aboki) ate 2 of them. Now I haven’t seen any fish in my own gutter but I have heard splashes in the night. I remember staking out to catch a glimpse of the weird ones once but after about 20mins of inhaling the gutter smell, I gave up on the lead.

Sometime last month while taking a shortcut out of my street, I saw schools of fishlings and fish swimming in a gutter nearby. They were hanging out in dozens according to their age I presumed, each in their own school grade. When I spoke to someone about it, he said that a lot of people fish in the gutters of Jakande as well. There’s a hazy memory in my head that could confirm that because I can’t quite remember at this point whether or not I saw them at Jakande or imagined those ones. I didn’t think much about it until I saw 3 more fish in a gutter by Lekki roundabout.

The most logical explanation to why that is possible is that the fish were carried in the ocean surge and previous floods. That could be the actual fish themselves or their eggs, you decide. I didn’t read up on this so feel free to look it up and challenge my notions.

This experience led me to write a book, my first. I have written a few, but I am guilty of uncompleted books written on my phone, my many journals or even my email draft. Their spirits often haunt me in my sleep. Hopefully this one will give me the confidence to finish the others so they can all rest in one piece. This book is about the important lessons that  I am learning as an entrepreneur and focuses on how I am able to adapt as an entrepreneur in Nigeria.

+

Rude Awakening

What if civilization was once an idea, the most widespread idea with a lot of people making it work?

Here is what I learned over the weekend- that I am capable of starting up an idea that big and making it work. The best way I can explain the Innovative Leadership Seminar by Brian Tracy is as 'that experience that will make me overhaul my bio'. This weekend was the Proverbial 'it'.

I made the decision to go see Brian Tracy the second I saw the ad on someone's dp (talk about instant judgment calls).There and then I was clear what I wanted to achieve at the seminar:

     -Learn something new that would impact my life

     -Get an autograph from Brian Tracy

     -Take a picture with Brian Tracy

One of the most important things I learned is that every average individual gets at least 4 new ideas that could change their lives every year. The difference between wealthy people and others is this-

 "The most successful people constantly think about the things they want and how to get it and they constantly act on it". BT

Another important lesson I learned about priorities-

"Identify daily, the task that has the biggest consequences (or impact or value) and focus on it 100% until you complete it, before starting other activities. "

To practice it everyday-

"Always write down your goals and ask yourself-which of these tasks, if completed will make the greatest contribution in my organization/life and focus on it first"

Ever had so many ideas that they seem to cloud your mind and you don't know which one to go for first? This should help:

1. Make a list of 10 of your best ideas

2.Rewrite them out according to their level of impact

3. Pick the first 2 and write down another list of 10 things it will take to achieve them

4. Focus on doing those things from now on 80%

Trust me these principles are working for me. I am going to be sharing a lot more over the next following days...

The priceless pix with Brian Tracy. Photo Credit- LWI

Justice Vs Political Correctness?!

Courtesy cartoonmovement.com

Is there any difference between Al Mustapha's case and George Zimmerman's? Of course they are from different worlds but I believe there is no Justice without righteousness. 

I will recommend Justice as humanity's greatest need and Political correctness as a social need. But who am I to compare both when they have been let down by the powers that be?  

I will rather compare Rationality Vs Truth in this case as the most recent happenings suggest, as opposed to Justice and Political Correctness. But before I move on, I must say that Political correctness has turned out to be the new Justice.

Now as we proceed, you will observe that the humanity that has kept us, well, human over our existence has been guilty of making the truth negotiable and the facts that point to reality, subjective. And subjectivity has been our greatest hindsight. Here I find myself suggesting that truth and reality are at war when the real truth is that both have been subjugated by us.

I twist words and weave concepts, but stay with me a while let us unravel some real truth together. One thing we cannot negotiate is that the truth that we hide will continue to cry out until righteousness is regained, we will not find justice. 

But in the end words remain words and our thoughts, only thoughts until we are bold enough to apply wisdom and understanding to our thoughts and action to our words. My only action now will be to remove the veil in your eyes so you can see that the real truth is that it is only righteousness that can bring about justice and justice, political correctness.