CREATIVITY

“There are things that are known, and things that are unknown, and in between there are doors…”

-          William Blake

            Have you ever wondered if you could know everything you knew or if you could remember everything you knew? Truthfully, no matter how sharp a man’s mind is, I think he can never know all that he knows neither can he remember all that he knows nor effectively and exhaustively utilize all that he knows.

One question, perhaps an unasked question, has been left unanswered: if a man can never know all that he knows, then what does he know?

            What is the measure of our knowledge? Is it measured in the amount of things we know (in the realm of the sub-conscious); or in the amount of things we remember we know (in the realm of a weak mind); or is it measured in the amount of things that we know we know (in the realm of the conscious)?

            The human mind is the deepest vortex ‘known’ to man – sucking anything, everything and sometimes things outside everything that comes its way. It combines this nature with being ruminant – rehashing things that come its way. Notably, of these two aspects of its nature, man has no control over the former, but to a large extent has control over the latter.

I think that an effective understanding of this control is the unit of measurement for knowledge.

Now, only a trained mind can remember all that he (epignosis) knows, but when he does not know all that he knows, he can only remember all that he knows he knows. Hence, no matter how hard a man tries to work at remembering all that he ‘knows’, he would always fail.

Following this laid down premise, how then do we know all that we know?

Our sub-conscious is like a strong tide banging against the walls we’ve built within, walls of emotion, values, religion, superfluous activities, the quest for survival and relevance and the strongest of them all; education. These walls were, albeit most times unintentional, built by the society and world we live in, imposed on us from birth, caging our minds from truly living. Thus, realizing that all that we know is hidden in the titanic bank of our sub-conscious, how then do we empty, or perhaps a better word; enjoy, this vast vortex of knowledge?

What is the link between the sub-conscious and the conscious?

Liberty.

The mind needs to be free from its caging walls, perhaps just to hear the silence in the world and the intellectual orchestra in the mind.

The world has fed us a great lie, or so I thought. You do not need to train the mind; you need to free the mind. For training only enhances remembrance which we’ve discovered is just a futile attempt to get that which you do not know you know. Let the mind be at peace with itself – allowing it to roam to every nook and cranny of its entire being – bringing to fore all that it knows and does not know it knows. At that precise moment, the mind holds the power which has been indiscriminately assigned or ascribed to knowledge, fake knowledge.

The process of giving power to the mind is contemplation; one of the easiest tasks in life, yet it has become the hardest. For those walls built within have supressed our mind, hence, creating an atmosphere where we constantly struggle against all the noise in the world, clawing against the walls it forms in our minds.

Occasionally, we get successful at supressing those walls, and then the flow of our sub-conscious spills over. And sometimes we aren’t strong enough but the tide of our sub-conscious becomes so strong it spills over. At these times, we come up with something special, innovative if you like. We, at these times, are described as being creative, but I say it is just unknown knowledge splashed upon reality.

What then is creativity?

Creativity is when we go beyond what we know we know. Beyond where our conscious is totally and completely enmeshed with our sub-conscious, lies creativity, a modicum of divinity - a shore to which no man, acclaimed or proclaimed intelligent, has ever reached unaided.

A question then arises; how?

Alas, I cannot escape, I refer back to my previous insinuation; ‘or so I thought’. Freedom or liberty is not free, especially when you are not born with it, but then are we ever born with it? If we have to struggle or fight to be free, especially a struggle of a kind I am about to put forward, can we say we are truly free, freedom being total escape from fetters, encumbrances, laws and bondages that deter you from doing whatever in whatever way? If freedom was feasible in its entirety, then the human mind might attain perfection. But since perfection isn’t a human possibility and all we can do is try, we cannot totally free the mind, we can only try. And by trying, we train ourselves to suppress all encumbrances that hold the mind captive.

Therefore, we should train the mind to be free, not train the mind to remember, for we know not what we know. The more we desire to know, the more we need to release our mind from whatever hold may keep it from getting to that which we do not know.

But when do we stop craving, wanting, desiring? Do we stop when satisfaction is infinite? Or do we still crave for more – something beyond the ephemeral state of our wanton pleasure – a taste of divinity?

‘There are things that are known and things that are unknown’ and between there are doors (the known known and the unknown known). But to really reach the unknown is what I call creativity.

MILLENNIUM DEVELOPMENT GOALS; A REALITY OR AN ILLUSION FOR NIGERIA

From the beginning of time, men have always had goals to guide them, that it almost became impossible to complete a task or a list of tasks without having a goal or a set of goals leading their way like a guiding light in the dark.  Each goal, being well-tailored to fit peculiar circumstances and situations, is most often than not designed to fit into a big picture. Like a new born babe, whose ultimate aim is to move, would set goals or perhaps have goals set for him by his parents, with each circumstance a goal is born in order to achieve an ultimate aim. A baby would drag himself on the floor in order to move; slowly he learns how to crawl and then walking becomes another goal for him. Eventually, after so many falls he can walk. Sooner or later, running becomes another goal because he wants to move faster. At the end of the process, movement is achieved. In this light, the international community through the United Nations in September 2000, decided to establish a set of goals in order to achieve a common aim – to encourage development by improving social and economic conditions in the world's poorest countries. These goals were regarded as the Millennium Development Goals and they were to be achieved by the year 2015.

There are eight goals to be achieved by 2015 and they are; to eradicate extreme poverty and hunger, achieve universal primary education, promote gender equality and empower women, reduce child mortality, improve maternal health, combat HIV/AIDS, malaria and other diseases, ensure environmental sustainability and to develop a global partnership for development. It was the presumption that if these goals were strictly adhered to and achieved, poverty and under-development would eventually be a thing of the past. However, the dream of the international community has not come to reality as there are still a lot of difficult challenges to be overcome, especially in African countries and countries in Western Asia, Eastern Europe and Central Asia.

Nigeria – Africa’s most populated country, with a population of over one hundred and fifty million, is endowed with great human and natural resources. This, however, has not reflected in our implementation of the Millennium Development Goals. We are one of the countries that are lagging behind in successfully implementing the Millennium Development Goals. Despite the fact that we earn more than three hundred billion dollars from oil revenue, we still remain one of the poorest nations in the world. Checking recent statistics it would be seen that the previous statement is not untrue, for 92% of the population of Nigeria live under two dollars a day while 71% of the population live under one dollar a day. Furthermore, by 2008, the major source for drinking and cooking for 28.4% of Nigerians is a bore-hole hand pump. 97% of Hausa girls between the ages of 17 and 22 from poor homes have fewer than two years of education. Only 25 seats in the national parliament are held by women while 333 seats are held by men. 64.5% of girls between the ages of 15 and 22 did not use condoms in their last sexual encounter. As of 2008, 66.8% of children under the age of 5 did not use the appropriate anti-malarial drugs when they were treated for fever. Finally, only 13% of terrestrial and marine areas are protected. Obviously, Nigeria is woefully behind in achieving the United Nations Millennium Development Goals and achieving these goals could seem like an illusion for Nigeria. However, a great lesson about life is that there are always different sides to a story.

The difference between reality and illusion is perception. Hence, can one really say that because Nigeria has been unsuccessful in implementing the United Nations Millennium Development Goals; it is an illusion for us to implement them? No, I beg to disagree; for a man’s perception of a thing forms his reality. I believe that the United Nations Millennium Development Goals are achievable and could be a reality, if only we all believe it is. A bible quote says ‘As a man thinketh in his heart, so is he’. I believe this statement to be a fact because to achieve a thing it must firstly be conceived in the mind. Yes, the government have their own fault, but they cannot do it alone. From believing, we as Nigerians should go a step further by showing our dear country that we love her. We should participate in our own governance by voting wisely. We can help keep our environment clean by picking up our own trash. Respecting each other, avoiding any form of discrimination, enlightening our neighbours and taking care of the needy amongst us; are little virtues that could help make the United Nations Millennium Development Goals a reality. Little virtues, they say, make a great impact.

I conclude by stating that whether in reality or illusion, we, Nigerians, make our own future, therefore, our answer is literally in our own hands.

At the Edge

                                                       I.             

O Romeo

Though death is a mirage you live in;

Have you no ears?

The Old Cathedral bell rings

St. Sango in his holy shrine

Calls for reunion

Oya,

How come a goddess

Sleeps in beauty?

Juliet,

How long shall you continue to cry?

You only write an epitaph for his ears.

                                                    II.             

‘Meet me, Montague

At the Edge…

Where the world ends’

‘Pade mi

Ololufe mi

Nibi opin aye’

                                                 III.             

Disappointment;

Stains both faces

Romeo and Oya are missing.

Could it be fate?

Or my imaginative mind?

Is loss a seed for love?

The fragrance of love

Tearing down walls –

Reason and compatibility

At the Edge…

Where the world ends

Come and be amazed –

The final encore; Sango and Juliet kiss…

Three Words

Three words:

                        ‘I love you’

                                    A knee-buckling sensation

                                                More about your beauty than you

                        ‘I miss(ed) you’

                                    Forever isn’t ‘till death do us part’

                                                And death is often misunderstood

                                                            It is the absence of life: in me, you or us

                        ‘I hate you’

                                    The Present: A thin line 

                                                  between yesterday and the morrow; hate and love

                                                            Life: a compendium of transient moments;

                                                                        Held in place by the fetters of time

Three words:

                       ‘You are history’