*Reflections Without Mirror — Niyi Aborisade*
*We shall meet again if we are related. Part 1*
” *The fact is, when men carry the same ideals within them, nothing can isolate them- neither prison walls nor the sod of cemeteries. For a single spirit , a single idea , a single conscience, a single dignity sustains them all”- Fidel Castro.*
When we were admitted to schools , we automatically made new friends, we just discovered that we were naturally attracted to some people and we became friends , some we cannot be friends for whatever reasons as we cannot blend together. Along the journey, we dropped some friends or some friends dropped us even without quarrelling at all. Some repeated the class, some left the school and some died; Some we sticked together throughout, from primary school to secondary school for the 5 years sojourn. Some, we continued our friendship after the school, some we proceeded to the same University , some we met in the Universities, some we lost contact and found ourselves again and sometimes we grow out of friendship. I have thought over it over and over again and that prompted me to think about the composition of man. In this piece the word ‘man’ includes ‘woman’. What is man; what is human relationship and how do we maintain our relationship? I am now delving into serious controversial matter of the constitution of human beings. I invite all the readers to contribute because I do not know it all and I will not pretend to know it all. What I am putting down are my own reflections of who I think we are and how we can sustain our relationship. If some of my exegesis are wrong or does not conform with yours, please send me a rejoinder and I will publish it. I will try as much as possible to avoid religion and will be more philosophical in my approach to this matter. It is however difficult not to start with our belief/faith because it is the starting point that can illuminate the subject matter of the discussion.
We were taught that man is made up of (1) Spirit (2) Soul and (3) Body . Some argue that it is only 2, i.e(Soul and body) but I believe it is 3. It is a settled matter of course that animals have only soul and body and they are not spirit beings. Human beings are therefore different from animals in that Man have spirit. We learnt at the elementary stage of our lives that God is a spirit and in those days at the primary school level , we used to recite’ catechism ‘ in yoruba language then “( *Emi ni Olorun bi emi ko ti le ri ni sugbon Oun ri mi, O mo oun gbogbo , o si le se oun gbogbo.* ) God is a Spirit, though I cannot see him but he sees me, he knows everything and he can do all things’. Therefore since majority of us believes in God and accepted that we are created in the image of God, we can agree that we possess the spirit as well but animals were not created in his image.
The spirit is the spiritual connection with our creator according to our belief. It is eternal. Sometimes it is difficult to differentiate between spirit and soul and people use it interchangeably but both Christians and Moslems believes in the Tripartite of man ‘Spirit , Soul and Body’. Arabic word for spirit is ‘Ruh and for the soul is is Nafs’. Hebrew word for ‘Spirit’ is Ruach and for the ‘Soul’ is Nephesh. The bipartite believes only in 2 that is ‘soul’ and ‘body’. Yoruba believes in the 3 and the word for the 3 are 1. ‘Emi ( spirit) 2 Okan (Soul, mind, heart).3.Ara (body) yoruba also use spirit and soul interchangeably.
Therefore for the sake of argument, I do not propose to deal with number one in order to avoid religious controversies. We can learn that in our place of worship.
I will confine myself to the realm of ‘soul and body’, the realm of soul is where we have love, affection, anger hatred, kindness , wickedness, conscience ( knowledge of good and evil) etc. It is one of the most significant aspects of man. Man is a living soul. It doesn’t matter which religion you belong to or even if you don’t believe in anything , those things were present with you . The soul exists independently , for example a man can be locked up in prison but can travel anywhere in his mind , you can not lock up his mind, he can dream of anything; he can think of anything and he can be a king in his own mind even though a slave in the Palace. The only place that a man is genuinely free is his mind. (Soul). Some clever or advanced people can however imprison the mind of others through what they teach them , or by another diabolical means. So why the soul controls the body, the body can also control the soul through what we see, hear, smell or feel. For example,Kim Jong Un, the leader of North Korea has never been to Africa and never participated in slavery or colonoalism but the Western media had created in our mind hatred for him because of what we are reading about him. They said he is evil and we believed he is evil, though he has never done any evil against us and so they are using media to control our mind and they can make us hate or like whoever they wished. The soul can manipulate the body and the body can manipulate the soul. The body cannot exist independently as a man without soul is dead. The soul also needs the body to functions and carry out its objectives. The harmony between the soul and the body is critical for development of man. However, many times the body and soul are on war path, the soul and body at times behave like deadly foes joined together by the supreme power but they must forget their hatred in order to reach perfection. The soul may be giving instructions to the body and the body is refusing the instruction. As a single young man, I met a woman inside the bus many years ago and my mind was after her , my mind was telling me to chat her up but I was unable to speak. My mouth failed to carry out the instruction given by my mind, my friend, ‘Tunde’ was there on that day and he knew, so he told me ‘ my friend speak out, open your mouth ‘ I did not until I alighted from the bus and missed the opportunity. So many of us are passing through that stages in our day today activities. The frictions between the body and soul is not that bad sometimes and could be helpful particularly for those who thinks negatively . A man who has the ability to train his mind and tame his body will go far in life and will be able to overcome many temptations of life.
Thus when a man finds a woman or a woman finds a man, they say they are ‘soulmates’ because their soul are knitted together and then they can give their body to each other in the real sense. It is believed generally that the soul inhabits the body but perhaps it is the other way round and it is the body that inhabits the soul. Body we can see of course but we cannot see soul.
Many people that we have never seen or met, we maintain relationship with them in the realm of souls and that is why when Anthony Joshua was beaten in the heavy weight boxing sports , many people were crying because though they have never met him physically and are not related to him by blood, yet, they are connected with him through the realm of soul and they were greatly affected by his loss because they have trained their souls to love him and their body gave way to tears when he lost the belt.
Many of us who are Awoist had never met him physically when he was alive but we were connected to him through our souls and so we loved him, we believed in him , we extol his virtues and politically we want to be like him. This is the realm of souls and if we can subject our body to be controlled by our soul then we will have his discipline and behave like him. However, if we operate only in the realm of souls and failed to discipline our body then it will be a mere wish and we will only pay lip services to him. Many politicians who claimed to be Awoist today cannot maintain his discipline as they failed to discipline both their souls and body, they only operates within the realm of their untrained souls and cannot subject their body to what the soul is dictating to them and so they failed to achieve the potentials and the value that Awo stands for. *Shakespeare declared that ” more honour should be given to a man who conquered his desire than a man who conquered his enemy”* . A man who can discipline his soul can to a larger extent discipline his body. A pure soul seeks to bring its impure body to its own purity. The greatest enemy of mankind is the impure desire and unless he conquers that desire, it may lead to his destruction.
When the late Cuban president ( Fidel Castro) stated that “when men carry the same idea within them, nothing can isolate them …… he was speaking of relationships that transcends the physical, he was referring to the relationship between the revolutionaries all over the world as they operates within the realm of the souls and the same goes to the reactionaries too.
I was once a boy scout and now I understand the meaning of one the songs we used to sing as a boy scout . “A scout is a friend to all and a brother to every other scouts, no matter to what country, class or creed the other may belong “. This is meant to be the relationship between all scouts in the world and that can only be achieved through the meeting of the souls, for the same rules and laws bind them together. It also goes to say that all souls are equal. During the years of Apartheid in South Africa , Nigeria supported the emancipation of our black brethren and though we had never met Mandela in person we were connected to him and other freedom fighters through the realm of Souls and considered them as our brothers.
The Nigerian politicians who are plundering and pillaging this country are connected through the realm of the souls.. to be continued
Niyi Aborisade is a lawyer, a Human Right Activists and an Historian.
niyi@oasolicitors.co.uk
