BEYOND RELIGION AND CULTURE: Spiritual Musings 4

1. "Spiritual relationship is far more precious than physical. Physical relationship divorced from spiritual is body without soul," Mahatma Gandhi

2. "A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual doom....Our scientific power has outru

n our spiritual power. We have guided missiles and misguided men," Martin Luther King, Jr.

3. "Just as a candle cannot burn without fire, men cannot live without a spiritual life," Buddha

4. "The fact that I can plant a seed and it becomes a flower, share a bit of knowledge and it becomes another's, smile at someone and receive a smile in return, are to me continual spiritual exercises," Leo Buscaglia

Spiritual Musings One: Those who can help, pls, help! Create jobs for our teeming jobless masses. Why should a few oligarchs masquerading themselves as democrats be the majority's problem, and are far from being the solution? Is it not important to put our people where they are supposed to be, than where penury has made them to be?

Spiritual Musings Two: Nature misdirected the ocean surge ravaging most parts of our country. This has only brought wailings and winkings, hassles and harangue without a benefit to our people, and our people are not joyous. We next need ocean surge that will destroy corruption, mercilessness, extra-judicial killings, mediocre, ineptitude... We next need ocean surge that will cleanse the land, and not this that hates the property of our people who are already impoverished.

Spiritual Musings Three: Do not mind how strong any man might postulate to be, there comes a mood when every man cries for his woman, and can go as far as kneeling down for her. Does every man not kneel down for his woman knowingly or unknowingly?

Spiritual Musings Four: Many Christians believe in their pastors, rather than in their bible. Many Muslims believe in their Imams, rather than in their Koran. Many want better wives and husbands, when they have not made theirselves marriageble materials. Some want a God fearing person, but what parameter is used in measuring a God fearing person? Do some people not fall in bed, and call it falling in love?

Spiritual Musings Five: Much ignorance we mistakenly characterised as CIVILISATION has ruined our once revered marriage/world with a lot of blueprint & theorem introduced in them. We are just selfish to nature. Is it not selfishness to train that person in school bcs of the sole aim that the person will marry you latter? This is fad in our society today. Some would want to, or kill the person in the event there is disappointment. What shows you love this person you want dead bcs of marriage? Why not leave something you love to go? Just like parents would let the girl-child they trained and love to marry.

Spiritual Musings Six: "All religions including the received Christian and Islamic religions and African indigenous religions acknowledge the need for prayers in the life of the individual, the community and the nation... Nigerians did not hear of God & prayer from the white missionaries or their Arab counterparts. Our forebears had been praying & worshipping their God on the terms they knew best before the unwarranted incursion of these intruders. Yet after praying for good crop yield, they go to the farm & till the soil. They work & pray. But today, Nigerians literally depend on prayers that only prayer controls their lives. They pray to God to heal them of headache, malaria & cough..." [Excerpted by Odimegwu Onwumere from Robert Obioha's Column, Friday Sun, Oct. 12, 2012, Pg 19].

Spiritual Musings Seven: "I am who I am. Many people are trying to run away from who they are. They are running away from who their parents are, from the heritage that is theirs. I embrace my heritage, where I'm coming from, the language they speak, the values they uphold like honesty, selflessness, uprightness, self-pride, truth & communal spirit... That is my package; I embrace traditional values... What some people are running away from; what they are calling too archaic, I go towards it... What the West gave us that we are trying to run toward, that all of us are trying to adopt, has its own values, advantages & disadvantages... What we inherited from our forefathers, ancestors are values & advantages. As somebody who has been exposed to the two, I should be a perfect agent & know the one that is superior"-(Excerpted by Odimegwu Onwumere from Friday Sun, Oct. 12, 2012, interview by (Musician) Segun Akinlolu known as Beautiful Nubia).

Spiritual Musings Eight: The poet does not read, the poet only meditate with books, because reading is spiritual to the poet.

Oct. 15, 2012.


Odimegwu Onwumere, Poet/Author, Media/Writing Consultant and Motivator, is the Coordinator, Concerned Non-Indigenes In Rivers State (CONIRIV); and Founder, Poet Against Child Abuse (PACA), Rivers State, Nigeria.