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Travel / Re: Why Don't Africans Spend Their Holidays More In Africa by beneli(m): 5:11pm On Feb 17, 2010
AjanleKoko:

Nice one Beneli. Your adventures are fascinating.
I'm hoping this year to drive down to Ghana from Lagos, and see how that works out.
Would not mind a few tips though.

I don't think the journey from Lagos to Ghana (Accra) is complicated. It wasn't when i did my own West Africa adventure which was in the late 90's. Then i had gone by public transport without any defined route in mind, which made the discoveries even more exciting. I just had the final destination (which was Banjul) in mind and wanted to travel the longer route, so attached myself to other travellers from city to city-I really doubt you'd want to do that, unless of course you're as madly adventurous as i am!

1 Like

Travel / Re: Why Don't Africans Spend Their Holidays More In Africa by beneli(m): 4:37pm On Feb 17, 2010
Dis Guy:


The very first question should be why don't Africans go on holiday- they go mainly for shopping, and family visit in other countries.

I think Dis Guy has a point here! Another point, i guess, is that people don't actually know what we have in our back yard. We are not very good at selling our tourist attractions so it doesn't really sound cool to say you spent your holiday in Ouagadougou. Coming back from Paris sounds a lot cooler!

But, honestly though, we need to begin exploring our backyards. There are a lot of interesting experiences that could be had, if one isn't too taken to the whole luxury thing. I did a land (and rail) journey across West Africa once. It took me through Benin, Togo and then Burkina Faso, Mali, Senegal and then ending up in Gambia.  I had wanted to follow the trail of the river Niger and had fantasies of going up to it's source (they say it starts in the Futta Djallon mountains somewhere between Senegal and Gambia). Unfortunately, it wasn't all pleasant. There was a lot of unsavoury encounters with immigration officials that wanted to be 'bribed' in order to let me through, even though i held an ECOWAS passport; emotionally draining encounters with young Nigerians enroute to a place they called Las Palmas, from where they planned to eventually enter Europe and sob stories from the half-crazed bunch stranded in places with names like Tambacounda, after they had been repatriated from Europe and were now feeling too ashamed to make the journey homewards. There was also the whole getting to experience first hand what our cousins in ECOWAS think of us-they don't think very highly of us because of the reputation we have for fraud, drug dealing etc.

In spite of the negatives, it was still an experience richer than i have ever had visiting the concrete jungles of New York, Berlin or Moscow; or even visiting half forgotten Orthodox churches clustering around the black sea in eastern europe and middle Asia. I will make that West Africa journey again one day. This time i will ferry up to Cape Verde for the 'Latin America' experience it supposedly offers in our backyard.

Africans don't spend their holidays more in Africa because a lot of us don't know that, in spite of her troubles, Africa is still the most naturally beautiful continent.  I don't mind being called prejudiced for the bolded part of my statement-not at all!

4 Likes

Religion / The Ritual Of Sacrifice-the First Religion by beneli(m): 9:27pm On Feb 05, 2010
Ever since man succumbed to the desires of the flesh and lost the purity of his first estate, he has been trying to reconnect with God. And through religious rituals he has been sowing metaphorical leaves in order to cover his ‘unclothedness’.

The truth that seems to elude us; however is that we can never really apprehend God through our blemished rituals, which are only corrupted shadows of the truth and yet the redemption process-revealed through the Christ-was itself based on the ritual of sacrifice.

Interestingly that ritual, which was first of all demonstrated allegorically in the ‘garden of Eden’, has been coated in a mystery that eludes rationalization. The bible actually recognizes this and describes it as ‘foolishness to the Greeks and a stumbling block to the Jews’ (1 Cor 1:22-23)

Here is my formulation, using the limiting medium of words:

From my hiding place

I hear the voice-
‘unclothedness
is not covered
by the coat Adam makes with blemished hands
From the leaves of figs

Only the lambs’ skin covers the man’

Apokalupsis-

‘Blood
In paradise
following the fall
it was necessary

That the lamb
be sacrificed
to make atonement
for the man’s sin-

his hands work not accepted at all…’

I hear the voice
And come forth
in my fallen state

I understand now the meaning of grace

And rise
through faith
To embrace the Christ

The lamb has paid the price.


The question for discussion: Did God give man religion in the 'Garden of Eden' after man lost the ability to walk with Him without the need for symbols and metaphors, or is it man that first created religion(s)?
Politics / Re: Akunyili Rebuffs Pdp, Says "i Cannot Withdraw My Memo" by beneli(m): 2:14pm On Feb 05, 2010
mikeansy:

Our Government is useless because we are a useless people in a useless country.

The above, i am not proud to say, pretty much sums up everything!
Religion / Re: Indaba, My Children - God's "origin" And The Sacred Tree Of Life. by beneli(m): 5:26pm On Feb 02, 2010
Deep Sight:

Essentially iwe may say -

Eternal Time = Self Existent continuum

Self Existence = I am that I am.

I am that I am = God.

I would rather say 'Eternal Time' is contained in the Self-Existent Continuum but, on it's own, does not equate to the great 'I am that i am'.

Eternity-and it's product time-is one of the few thing that we can almost understand within that complexity that we try to define as the Self-Existent continuum. We understand eternity in relation to time; be it the absence or constance of time, or whatever term that may excite our intellect at any given time! Eternity will always be defined in relation to 'time' because we know not better. But saying that 'time' itself is God, is rather inaccurate IMO. That was what i noticed, insinuated in the poem.

If Time were God, then anything can happen given enough 'time'. This would be the materialists' argument. They would argue that given enough time, that which we call 'nothingness' gives birth to existence. And with 'time', existence gives birth to 'consciousness' and the complex materail 'life' forms that we have come to know.

No, i think that the great 'I am that i am' is much more than a function of time',  'timelessness' or 'eternal time'. Time is not sentient. Time is not conscious of me. It is i, that is conscious of time. My consciousness is a product of something else that is contained in that self-existent continuum, other than time-something else that is sentient and which is conscious of me. 'I' may be temporarily boundaried by time, yet 'I' is not contained by it.

'I', like that which it mirrors, is not 'time'.
Foreign Affairs / Re: Is African Unity Necessary For The Total Liberation Of Black Africa? by beneli(m): 12:05pm On Feb 02, 2010
Negro_Ntns:

1. So our philosophies reside in these old beliefs that our fore fathers practiced. Our redemption is in them.

Much as one can argue that the ‘ancients’ in the different cultures of mankind where in some ways ‘repositories of wisdom’, a lot of the stuff that they espoused-truth be told-were based on ignorance.  So I don’t quite agree with you that our ‘redemption’ lies in the beliefs that our forefathers practiced.

Negro_Ntns:

2. It should be one that is distinctly African but not a runaway from a global understanding. In other words, it would have interface points between our definitions of social order and that of the western world. 

I can see where you are coming from. And it’s quite interesting.  However, it’s the practicality of it all that i am really struggling to grasp, especially as it relates to the technological advancement of our people, which i think was the gist of Chiweizu’s argument. I agree, for instance, that there is need to tweak up the syllabi (or is it syllabuses) in our various academic institutions to reflect a bit of afro-centric ideologies and that sort of thing, but quite honestly, what really needs to be done is to provide our people access to very good education.

The way I see things, is that we can’t at this point in history, with all the information exploding onto us, go around trying to re-invent the wheel. Our direction should be for us to understand how the wheel works, improve on it, where necessary, and then use its principles to make other things. In other words our ‘redemption’-if we want to use such a word-is our proper education.

The greatest stumbling block that we have in Africa is ignorance.
Religion / Re: Indaba, My Children - God's "origin" And The Sacred Tree Of Life. by beneli(m): 11:03am On Feb 02, 2010
Deep Sight:

Thanks again, Beneli - great comments again.

But don't you think there is a difference between eternal time (no beginning and no end) - thus timeless in effect - and finite time (as we know it) in the material realm?

Because i think the description in the poem of time -

Is sufficient to suggest eternal and not finite time - and Eternal Time (without a beginning) surely refers to the transcendental.

In other words we are actually talking about a timeless state (seeming contradiction acknowledged: insufficiency of words).

I supppose one has to concede that for want of a better description, the transcendental state of timelessness could be referred to as 'eternal time'!
Foreign Affairs / Re: Is African Unity Necessary For The Total Liberation Of Black Africa? by beneli(m): 5:25pm On Feb 01, 2010
Negro_Ntns:

In order to find progress and unity, to become a world power, we must adapt western education. . .we need to mold it. . .to fit in with our philosophy. It will not look anything like we have now but it will be something that is effective, productive and efficieent for the Black race.

I am just curious about some things you raise in your post, Negro_Ntns:

1. What is 'our' philosophy that you mention?
2. What will this adapted education that we need, look like?

@ Question asked in the title of the post-African Unity is not necessary for the total liberation of 'black' Africa. Chinweizu makes his point very clearly and articulately. Though I am a bit sceptical about his obsession with Arab domination, which seems to border on the paranoid, i agree with him that, as a people, we have run out of excuses for our underdevelopment: waiting for a US of Africa to happen before we are 'liberated', is definitely not one of the most responsible ones!
Religion / Re: Indaba, My Children - God's "origin" And The Sacred Tree Of Life. by beneli(m): 3:56pm On Feb 01, 2010
In this poem, that which the author calls 'Time' is like the primordial substrate of creation. From the authors perspective 'time' is self-existent (something i know from previous discussions that you agree with) and-one can almost infer-is one of the building 'blocks', so to speak, of the essence that s/he conceptualises as God-

'Nothingness had been floating
For no one knows how long
Upon the invisible waters of time –'

In my mind’s eye, 'transcendental reality' is outside of Time. In other words, 'Time' does not exist in the abode of the gods. So i do not quite agree with the author when he/she describes that which was created for the 'pleasure' of man, as though it were 'god' itself-

'That mighty River with
Neither source nor mouth,
Which was –
Which is
And which shall ever be'

But it is not very difficult to see why we are seduced into adorning Time with the halo of divinity.

‘Time’-like other created ‘particles’- is almost 'god' to man on this realm of ‘living’ that we inhabit. On this realm, bordered as it is by the materialists ‘heaven’, Life cannot exist, without the essence we call ‘Time’: here man is really ‘nothing’ without it; so one can then almost sympathise with the author when s/he states-

'And as a result of this strangest mating
Of Time and Nothingness –
A most tiny invisible spark
Of Living Fire was born '

Having said that, it's still beautiful.
Religion / Re: Indaba, My Children - God's "origin" And The Sacred Tree Of Life. by beneli(m): 2:00pm On Feb 01, 2010
The poem is interesting.

The 'god' conceptualised in it, cannot, however, be accepted as the 'God' that we know as the uncreated creator. I think that the poem tries to describe the 'beginning' of the 'process' through which space, time, matter and energy were born. In other words it describes the 'big bang' in beautiful words, but doesn't quite describe 'God'. It can, of course, open up windows of further discussion about how sentient the 'universe' is and whether there is a lot more to 'dark matter and dark energy' than meets the telescopes!

'And as a result of this strangest mating
Of Time and Nothingness –
A most tiny invisible spark
Of Living Fire was born

This tiny Living Spark could think
And grew conscious of it’s lonely state –

“I exist – I am what I AM!” –
Health / Re: Generalized Anxiety Disorder And Depersonalisation by beneli(m): 1:16pm On Feb 01, 2010
sd-6:

Alright house, doctors, psychiatrists, psychologists and medical professionals
i'd like to get your take take on issues concerning generalised anxiety disorder and depersonalisation phenomenon.
i actually have been having these disturbances and i think i'll really like to hear your analysis of what this is all about so that i can know how others feel about this. the depersonalisation stuff is just like feeling that u're outside your body and yet u're not. so basically this triggers some kind of anxiety and on it goes. sometimes i get to think that this is fatal but my doc says its not and i believe that cuz am really getting better now. am on medications. i've been ill(gastrointestinal and abdominal breathing problems) for alot of while then so i thought it could be malaria or anything. i went for tests scans and nothing except the typhoid and malaria and ucler kind of problems. the scan even talked of gastritis. but i did the H.pylori test and it came negative. sometimes its like bitter taste in the mouth, sometimes i feel a choking sensation in the throat sometimes its like a lump in the throat. other times my muscle aches then my legs and feet get cold and the feet feels very light like there is no blood there. all these trigger some panic attacks but later i got the diagnosis as i have had some severe phsychological stress. now am on drugs and getting better. so plz the professionals what do u think of this?
comments appreciated.

I am not quite sure what 'comments' you are expecting here, but i will just give an overview of the phenomena you are experiencing.

Depersonalisation phenomena can occur outside of an anxiety disorder, as a 'normal' physiological response to stress, whether acute or prolonged. On it's own, or even with its twin-derealisation,which is when the individual feels slightly detached from what is going on around them-it doesn't really need treatment. The understanding that it can occur 'normally', in most cases is enough to make it gradually wane in both its intensity and frequency.It can also be part of the experiences following sleep deprivation; fasting; physical or emotional trauma; use of certain drugs, including caffeine, alcohol and other psychostimulants; or it can be part of other illnesses associated with panic attacks (see below).

The other symptoms that you have described  (‘gastrointestinal/abdominal and breathing problems’,  ‘a choking sensation in the throat sometimes, like a lump in the throat, muscle aches, legs and feet getting cold and feet feeling very light 'like there is no blood there') are in keeping with Panic attacks.

Panic attacks can exist on their own or be part of a complex of other disorders, like Social Phobia (the fear of being in social situations/extreme shyness), Agoraphobia (the fear of being in place from where you can’t escape), Generalised Anxiety Disorder (free floating ‘panic attacks’, with no clear precipitants) etc. What a lot of people don’t know is that Panic attacks and the anxiety spectrum disorders are very common. Unfortunately they are regularly misdiagnosed as malaria, typhoid fever or given other types of external attributions such as spiritual attacks, witchcraft etc.

Ideally the treatment of choice would be Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). Your therapist would help you recognise these symptoms and explain how they come about from a physiological perspective and then gradually help you to find better ways of distracting your thoughts from engaging in the catastrophic mode that leads to the symptoms. In the short term medication helps but it doesn’t deal with the cognitive issues that needs to be sorted out.

If the symptoms are associated with Depression as it occasionally does, then Imipramine and other such Tricyclic antidepressant would not be out of order. Unfortunately the better recommended antidepressants such as the so-called Selective Serotonin Reuptake Inhibitors (SSRI’s) would be a lot more expensive than Imipramine, which is not the first drug choice in countries where the drugs are heavily subsidised by the government.

So having said all this, what you should be looking for, if you can afford it and if your 'illness' is not too debilitating, is somebody (a trained psychologist or a Psychiatrist) who can offer you a short course of Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT). CBT-of about 12-16 sessions- would give you longer lasting benefits and also equip you with the coping mechanisms that you need to deal with the experiences, were the symptoms to resurface in the future.

I hope that my ramblings have been useful to you.

1 Like

Career / Re: Medical Doctors' Forum: Let Us Know You! by beneli(m): 11:41am On Jan 30, 2010
gmyguy:

hello, senior colleagues, i just inducted from Ibadan, and am due for internship, please can you help a young colleague out with information, thank you, God bless

What information do you want?
Health / Re: Evil Nurses & Doctors In Nigerian Public Hospitals by beneli(m): 11:23pm On Jan 28, 2010
What stops aggrieved health service-users in Nigeria from getting legal advice and going down the route of suing? 

The above is an honest question, which i ask, because i think that people should quit complaining and do something about the situation. I might be sounding harsh, but the fact is, even if we can complain until the 'cows come home', nothing will change unless the service-users (i.e. the patients) make the health professionals (i.e the doctors and nurses) know that they can-and wil-be sued for clinical negligence, improper conduct etc, if they fail to provide the service they are being paid to provide.

I have practiced in Nigeria and currently practice in the UK. While in Nigeria, i am sure that i would have stepped up my level of delivery a notch higher if i knew that somebody would sue me for phucking up (excuse my latin)!

But you know what? though i wasn't as insensistive as some of the cases described in this thread, if i will be honest, i wasn't really that bothered to brush up on my knowledge etc, because there was no motivation to do so. So in the course of my short practice there, i gradually slid down the slippery slopes of quackery!

Here in the UK, i have to keep abreast of what's happening around me, because if something goes wrong, some smart lawyer is going to get another of my colleagues to ask me some very very serious questions. So i am consciuos of how i treat my patients and what i say to them. Basically i am forced-or encouraged, if you prefer-to be a nice person and a good doctor to my patients. I don't want to be sued, even if i do pay a lot of money to be insured against bad practice!

What i am trying to say is that we allow things to fester in Nigeria because of too much complaining and too little action.

As long as the doctors and nurses in Nigeria are not properly paid; as long as the overall health infrastracture continues to collapse around us all; i doubt that anything is going to change that much in the kind of service you get. So instead of waiting for the doctors to change their attitudes or the government to start spending more on health, the service users could at least take their lives into their hands and sue whomever needs to be sued, whenver they phuck up (pardon my latin again)!.

That's what i would do, if i wasn't a doctor!

1 Like

Religion / Re: My Rational Case For The Existence Of God. by beneli(m): 1:59pm On Jan 28, 2010
Chrisbenogor:

Its silly because the assumption is that you are only honest when you come to the conclusion they want you to come to.

What is that conclusion?
Politics / Re: Suicidal Man Holds Officials Hostage In Lagos by beneli(m): 12:02pm On Jan 28, 2010
Kx:

Can a constitutional lawyer shed light on this pls?

How true is this statement from a police chief?

I am not a constitutional lawyer, but one thing i can say is that this gentleman's self-harming behaviour is psychosis driven. If we are talking about any 'rights' here, what the poor fellow has, is the right to be treated and not to kill himself.
Religion / Re: Reincarnation - Deepsight, Let's Talk Here by beneli(m): 11:47am On Jan 27, 2010
Deep Sight:

I do pray it’s not time wasted.

I couldn't help smiling when i read the above.

At the risk of digressing from the topic, can i just say that that, which you state as your prayer, should be the prayer of us all who engage in these discussions of what constitutes 'truth' and/or 'reality'! But the way i see it; if my worldview, concerning God and the path of salvation which He has revealed to man, is a lie in the eternal scheme of things, then i lose nothing. If, however, it is a shadow of the 'truth' then i gain everything!

But on the topic of reincarnation: though the concept makes some sense-evidenced by the fact that a lot of 'reasonable' people believe in it-i am not very convinced that it was part of the message that the Christ was trying to reveal to man about the eternal truths. None of the scriptures quoted can really stand up to very serious and laboured scrutiny. But then, that's just my laymans opinion.
Religion / Re: My Rational Case For The Existence Of God. by beneli(m): 6:21pm On Jan 26, 2010
^^^

That gravity thing sef get as ee be.

Isn't the understanding of 'gravity' itself, changing these days. Recently i heard that gravity may be mediated by something they call 'graviton's'-some form of elementary particles. The concept of 'gravitons' surely didn't exist in the days when we used to cram Nelson and Parker and then look for A-level physics concepts to also cram!. My point is that science only makes observations, but doesn't really explain the true nature of things.

We lack the capacity, as humans, to know the 'true' nature of things IMO. We can only explain things in terms of our own experiences and body of 'knowledge' available to us at any given time.

In church this sunday gone, the pastor was asking what people thought was the most profound question of all. He concluded that the answer is 'who am i?'.I think that people who hold the superficial belief that God does not exist, have not asked themselves that most profound of questions. I think anybody who is honest enough to ask themselves that question and is honest enough to begin the search for the answer will not be too quick to dismiss the fact that there is more to life than this that we see and feel around us.

So to make a rational case for the existence of God, i honestly think that one needs to have answered the simplest, yet most profound question(s) of all: who am i? what is the true nature of man? If we can answer these questions then-and only then-will we be able to apprehend God; until then we only dance around in shadows of half-truths and veiled ignorance.

I think that 'wisdom' in all this, is found when we have the humility to aknowledge that we really know nothing, and that all we are doing is really grope around in the darkness.
Career / Re: Medical Doctors' Forum: Let Us Know You! by beneli(m): 5:17pm On Jan 26, 2010
@Allycat,

Thanks for your response.

Sorry to hear about your colleague that got killed in a RTA. I thought i heard that okada's had been banned in Lagos already, or did i hear incorrectly?

The involvement of their private sector in Postgraduate training is quite an interesting concept. I wonder how they are able to ensure that standards in training are complied with-not that government hospitals are any better, if one were to take the Nigerian experience as an example. What i mean is that the private sector would be more tempted to be guided by mercantile interests, as opposed to real training needs. Anyways, one thing that can be said of the Indians, is that they do take postgraduate training and specialisation very very seriously, and it seems to be paying off for them. In an ideal world there should be a natural-or something almost natural-progression from Internship/house job to specialist training. The bottleneck that exist in Nigeria that makes a lot of people end their training immediately after Medical school is not a very healthy thing for our health sector!

Thanks again and hope you find a new 'help' soon!
Politics / Re: Chinua Achebe - What Nigeria Means To Me by beneli(m): 3:33pm On Jan 23, 2010
mikeansy:

Nigeria is a child. Gifted, enormously talented, prodigiously endowed and incredibly wayward.

mikeansy:

Nigeria needs help. Nigerians have their work cut out for them – to coax this unruly child along the path of useful creative development. We are the parents of Nigeria, not vice versa. A generation will come, if we do our work patiently and well – and given luck – a generation that will call Nigeria father or mother. But not yet.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/books/2010/jan/23/chinua-achebe-nigeria-childhood
Religion / Re: Drawing God And Heaven by beneli(m): 10:36am On Jan 23, 2010
Cyberfreak:

It would be far, far better if a similar image is shown to all the people, because;
1. It would be easier to believe that it was actually God that appeared to the people since who they saw was similar and this similarity could lead to some people seeing sense in what you said and going ahead to accept christianity.
2. There is more chance that people would take your claims serious and not fall into bouts of laughter after hearing about your 'visions' of a multiracial and multifaced and multiple identity disorder 'god'.

I know you were not looking for any answers but i will try to give you one all the same. Such a God, as the one, you would have concieved' would then not be God but just another man made falliable creation.

Mind you, people have tried to box God into one form or the other, trying to make Him into becoming more 'reasonable' and thus 'believable' or culturally acceptable. That's why there have been different icons, images and myths accross the millenia all trying to represent God in ways that man is capable of connecting with. Perhaps, in that, one can say that the different religions of man have created their own images of God in order to understand Him or appropriate Him better.

But God is not limited by man's conceptualisations of Him. He exists in spite of what man makes of Him.

Man, with our puny and falliable capacity to concieve of concepts that exist outside of our dimension, is not even able to wrap our heads around such extradimensional creations of God as 'timelessness' and 'nothingness', how much more will we be able to apprehend the entity that made these things. So it's not difficult to understand the dilemma of those who would rather not believe in Him. That is the path of least resistance.

It's God's prerogative to reveal Himself to man in ways that man can understand. He may choose to reveal Himself as the soothing voice in the wind; or as the burning bush that refuses to burn; He may reveal Himself as man or as an unseen spirit that comforts; He may decide to be a God that shows mercy or one that rains down retribution.

'God is not physically tangible, so can reveal himself to any one who so desires in anyway He so desires'.
Religion / Re: Drawing God And Heaven by beneli(m): 10:02am On Jan 23, 2010
seeklove:

The above is really very weird. So God can reveal Himself as the devil? So he can appear to someone as Hitler? He can appear as Nero, or momy-water?
]
If that's the interpretation that rocks your boat, then i don't know what to say!

seeklove:

Do you people think enough about what you write before you write it. Religious fanaticism is bad.
Ignorance is, indeed, even worse.
Religion / Re: Questions For Christians by beneli(m): 10:44pm On Jan 22, 2010
mazaje:

Can you point to the existence of any god that is independent of manmade stories, cultural mythologies, and societal acceptance?
Yes i can.

But then the subjective reality that I would point to is outside of your cognitive abilities to appreciate, anyway, so we’d end up where we started off! This is not meant as an insult by the way. It is a 'fact' that some scientists argue, stating that belief in God is an evolutionary function of the brain and not anything really that special. They say that those of us, who have religious experiences, have parts of our frontal and temporal regions slightly over stimulated! 

But the question was actually about why YOU, Mazaje, persist in your unbelief, in spite of the fact that YOU have no evidence for the Non existence of God.

mazaje:

What are the inconsistencies?
Here are some. Matter cannot spring out of nothingness. Dust can never ever give rise to life even if you give it 5 billion years to do so!  Human consciousness is not explained by biochemistry etc etc. Yet you still hold on to your clearly ridiculous dogmas that somebody less cultured would cast vituperative aspersions on!

mazaje:

The moment you point to the existence of any god that is independent of manmade stories, cultural myths written by men about different deities and societal influence then I might begin to consider you as some one that has an idea of he is talking about. . . .
My friend, I have an idea of what I am talking about, alright. It’s you who needs a bit more cognitive stimulation, in the neurophysiological sense of the words, to get the hang of what I am on about. Otherwise it will continue to elude you!
Religion / Re: Questions For Christians by beneli(m): 4:50pm On Jan 22, 2010
mazaje:

I am really interested in understanding how belief persists and how believers surmount inconsistencies in their beliefs. 

I, too, am interested in how 'unbelievers', whatever they are, persist in their unbelief.
The inconsistencies in the materialists worldview, to which a lot of 'unbelievers' like Mazaje subscribe, also puzzles me! Is it likely that it is just human nature?

Mazaje, as a representative of this unfortunate group of beings, perhaps you will be kind enough to give us a bit of insight into how you persist in your unbelief.
Religion / Re: Drawing God And Heaven by beneli(m): 4:39pm On Jan 22, 2010
Cyberfreak:

Where are the christians that usually claim to have see god? They should please come to this thread to compare and contrast the god they saw with this girl's god.

Is this response, below, good enough for you?
Mavenb0x:

God speaks to man in a way that he can understand. He is not physically tangible, but he can reveal himself to any one who so desires in anyway he so desires; the same way mazaje can choose the words with which he wants to convey his expression. If the girl says that is how she saw God, I cannot tell maybe she is lying or she speaks the truth. This is because the way God reveals himself to her (or not) is her business, and God's business. And if she is lying, how does that affect my own faith? Even if someone says God appeared to him in the form of a black man, how does it affect my salvation? undecided undecided undecided

One thing that non-Christians never realize is that walking with God is a personal thing. As Jesus asked Peter when he wasn't minding his business but trying to evaluate another person's revelational walk with God, "Wetin konsain you?"

Joh 21:22 Jesus said to him, If I want him to stay (survive, live) until I come, what is that to you? [What concern is it of yours?] You follow Me!
Career / Re: Medical Doctors' Forum: Let Us Know You! by beneli(m): 6:27pm On Jan 18, 2010
daguru:

I made a seemingly crazy decision early last year.I am still wondering if i made the right call (Plz be patient and read thru my story.It spans the last 6 yrs of my life

Some Background Info
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Always wanted to be an engineer. This dream spanned my whole primary school days ranging from Automobile Engineering to Chemical, then Electrical, then Systems Engineering and Finally Electrical Electronics Engineering.

Ive never been a book worm but never had issues with school work. Came first in class from primary 1 till ss3 (plz dont doubt me).I only studied when it was time for exams but played like hell in between.

A wrong turn
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I am the second son.My dad always wanted my elder bro to become a doc. So he spent a lot on his personal education so he could secure admission to study medicine preferably at the University of Ibadan. After the fourth jamb with my bro never scoring above a 250 (in those days cut of marks for medicine was like 290), there was a lot of unhappiness in the house.

Ma bro felt ma dad hated him so much so he RAN AWAY FROM HOME FOR CLOSE TO A YEAR.

This was in 2002.I was in ss3 and was getting ready to write jamb.(Already had A's and B's in GCE i wrote in ss2). One evening my dad had a heart attack after hearing reports of what his first son had become outside of home. That when i felt this strong need to do something about the situation.

My Bro finally came back home with some elders to reconcile with ma dad. It turned out that the bone of contention between them was TO OR NOT TO BECOME A DOCTOR.

Thats when i stepped out and offered to drop my dreams of becoming an engineer for medicine. My reasoning then was that IF ALL MEDICINE REQUIRES WAS SOMEONE GOOD AT STUDING AND PASSING EXAMS THEN I AM UP TO THE TASK.

Ive always hated biology cuz i felt it was not enough of a mental challenge compared to physics, chemistry and further mathematics. So had to buy mordern biology and study it cover to cover. (THIS WAS MY FIRST REAL ACADEMIC CHALLENGE,  having just 1 month to master a subject i had a huge distaste for)

WROTE JAMB AND SCORED 286. I HAVE NEVER SEEN MY DAD HAPPIER. From then on, he treated me like a king. His health rapidly improved. I felt i made the right choice.

I made merit list at the University of Ibadan while my bro got admitted to study materials and metallurgical engineering at FUTO.


AN UNFORTUNATE INCIDENT
====================
On my way to admission clearance i was involved in a fatal Road Traffic Accident on Lagos Ibadan ExpressWay. People died but i survived not without spending the next six months at UCH, Had a plastic surgery for my face and Metal Implants to fix my 2 thighs.
Had to defer my admission so lost one year.

On the brighter side, this gave me the opportunity to study first hand the profession i was about to go into.
TOO BAD, ALL I OBSERVED WAS EVERYTHING I DIDNT WANT FOR MYSELF.

During a cons ward round, my consultant Mr Omololu, realising i was soon to jion the ranks as a medical student asked me why i wanted to become a doctor.
I cant remember my response but he ended it was with a sarcastic remark about me wanting to sacrifice the next 15 years of my life without knowing why.

HIS REMARK CHANGED EVERYTHING. From that moment i hated thinking of my self as a doctor. This made me think seriously about hatching an escape plan.

NO GOING BACK
===============
I resumed UI as a 100 level student whose sole aim for the year is to leave medical school at all cost. This made me register all the maths courses engineering students take (1st year medical students don't take any maths course). I found out that i needed to make a firstclass in my 100 level to stand a chance of being accepted into the faculty of technology. So i studied hard to to achieve that

One morning, after a lecture, my name was announced on the PA that my attention was needed at UCH (thats where the faculty HQ is located). On getting there i was asked to see the faculty officer.
He looked at me with a lot of anger in his eyes (After throwing my course form at me). He thought i made a mistake by including maths courses on my course form.

when i explained that it was intentional and that i didn't want to study medicine anymore, He thought i was joking. He finally told that ONCE A PERSON BECOMES A MEDICAL STUDENT AT UCH, ITS EITHER HE PASSES OUT OR FAILS OUT. and that what i am trying to do is so strange that no room has been built for that possibility in the college system.

he ended with saying that there is nothing he can do for me in that regard that i have not choice but to cancel the registered maths course.

After days of depression, i decided to TIPEX it off my course form without removing it at maths department. I returned it back to him and i had outsmarted an old baurocratic system.


A BIG SHOCKER
===============
i finished 100 level with a 6.7 CGPA.(UI uses a 7 point grade system) and scoring overall highest in 2 of the 3 maths courses. I hurriedly purchased the change of course form, filled it then took me it to see the HOD of Elect/Elect. He was more fatherly than expected. He understood my reasons for wanting to leave medical school. After taking me to see the dean, they both agreed to and signed me into Elect/Elect. I WAS OVERJOYED.

Then i went back to see the faculty officer so they sign me out of medicine. He was shocked at my stubbornness. He told me it was beyond him and if i only had a chance if had the BACKING OF THE PROVOST.

I SPENT THE NEXT ONE MONTH TRYING TO GET THE ATTENTION OF THE PROVOST. Everyday i spent no less than 5 hours in his secretary's office waitng to for my turn to see him. He was either out of the country or having long meetings with important people. I wrote countless letters which i droped with his driver and secretary but none got to hime.

I finnaly got my chance. He impatiently listened to me for 5mins.Thank God for his secretary who intervened when he thot i was wasting his time.

HE TOLD ME WHAT I WAS ABOUT TO DO WAS STRANGE. He couldn't understand why i was throwing away what Old men and Women come to him to lobby for (to get their kids into med school). he asked if my parents were aware of what i was trying to do. My answer was no.

His conclusion was that hje would only give it a serious thot when i bring my father to come see him (VERY VERY IMPOSSIBLE).

Didnt have the strenght to continue the fight so i backed down

A FRUSTRATED MEDICAL STUDENT
==========================
I resumed pre-clinicals a frustrated guy. Nothing made sense to me. Never went for dissections, Physio or BIC practicals.
I soon stopped attending lectures. After woefully failing 2 class test, coupled with the ridicule from my mates about my academic abilities, i decided to buckle up.
I never went to classes. All i did was study hard for upcoming test. with this strategy i was able to score highest in some tests

THE EXIT PLAN
=============
Most of u would have been wondering why i didn't write another jamb. I couldnt cuz i was pretty sure no one would sponsor my education if i tried anything like that. Everyone i talked to couldn't understand y i wanted to leave med school. all they did was paint pictures of how comfortable i would be after graduations. I knew how untrue this was.

So to leave medical school i had to
a) Become financially independent ,  This was no easy task. I Fell in love with IT along the way but couldnt raise funds to go to NIIT. Had to learn the hard way by self study. I currently have a CCNP)

B) Figure out how to deal with all the hell my dad would bring my way.

FINAL MOVE
==============
Soon it was time for mb part 1. I studied half hardheartedly for it. Did the written papers quite well but failed to show up for my viva voce (Oral Exams).
3 wks later, college of medicine wrote to me asking me to explain withing 1 wk why i didnt show up for my Orals. The also sent a copy if it to my dad (listed as my Next of Kin). Unfortunately my dad go his before i got mine. ALL HELL WAS LET LOOSE.

WOULDN'T WANT TO TALK ABOUT ALL THE HELL I WENT THRU. But i stood by my decision.

CONCLUSION
=============
Currently freelancing with my IT skills. Brings in enough mONEY for my fee, food accommodation, education etc. (But sometimes i still wished i had someone to fall back on when tins gets difficult financially.

Ironically, I switched to psychology after i was thrown out of med school. Also studying to become a chartered accountant (Writing ACCA and CIMA).

EVERY MORNING I WAKE UP WONDERING IF I MADE THE RIGHT DECISION.


I have read your write-up.

If it gives you any consolation, I know a lot of doctors, who have graduated and still wonder whether they made the right decision!

One of my friends, who graduated as one of the best in his year, abandoned the profession after his house job and now works as a manager in one multinational firm that has nothing to do with Medicine, somewhere in Ireland.

To say whether you have made the right decision or not, is something that only you will have to answer, with time. People can only give their own subjective opinions, so I will give you mine.

I think that it is very important that you pursue a career pathway that your heart resonates with. If your heart is not in Medicine, then my good man, you would have only ended up very frustrated in it. Another friend of mine, who like your self was into the whole Mathematics and Engineering stuff (by our class 4 he had already Aced physics and mathematics in the GCE and was making model aeroplanes), is now an obese, beer-drinking  Aba doctor practicing ‘paraquackery’ with minimal enthusiasm!

He too had been literarily coerced into Medicine, as his parents wanted him to become a Doctor, in spite, of what he really wanted to do with his life (he wanted to become an aeronautical engineer). So, the obedient son he was, he became a Doctor. Albeit a very sad and unfulfilled one with not a lot going for him, except the money which he makes that hardly gives him much pleasure.

The truth is that the story of parents trying to live out their own dreams and aspirations through the lives of their children is one that repeats itself in the lives of professionals and none professionals, in villages, towns, hamlets and cities all over the world. So if it gives you any consolation, you are not alone in some of your experiences. What is most important though is what people do with their lives, in spite of these experiences.

Some people subsequently live their lives blaming their parents and these experiences for everything that goes wrong in their lives, insidiously internalizing a belief that they are failures in life and then living out that self-fulfilling prophecy. While others become gripped with an anger that subsequently inspires them to succeed against odds that appear in the paths of their lives, after they have broken free from the hold of their parents.

The bottom line in all this is this: it is what becomes of your life, subsequently, that will give the final verdict about whether you have made the right decision or not. In other words, you, and your actions alone, will decide if you have made the right decision.

A word of advice though. Please try not to dissipipate yourself in too many things. Be clear what it is you really want to do with your life and focus on it. In your post you started off being interested in Engineering. Now you are studying Psychology and you also want to become a chartered accountant, while freelancing with IT skills. So my good man, the key word should be for you to ‘focus’, listen to your heart and then pursue what it tells you.

All the best

1 Like

Career / Re: Medical Doctors' Forum: Let Us Know You! by beneli(m): 6:11pm On Jan 15, 2010
Anchuna:

To all doctors in the house: Since 1994 I have been suffering from malaria parasite; for 16yrs now, it has been my greatest problem and it is really killing. Anytime I go to the hospital, malaria parasite is always diagnosed and malaria drugs always prescribed but after taking those drugs my condition still remain the same, I still feel sick with malaria; body pain, muscle ache, body weakness etc. My concern is, why are those drugs not working for me, why should I be treated and barely a week later still be diagnosed with MP. I have taken all sorts of drugs prescribed by doctors but to no avail. The sickness from this malaria parasite is affecting my productivity at work, my studies, my everything. Please, doctors try and help me, save life.

To elaborate on the point that Dr I has made in his post above, there can be different reasons for your experiences:

1. You don’t have malaria and you are continuously misdiagnosed.

People can be carriers of the malaria parasite without necessarily being sick of it. Such people would probably test positive on the blood smear, and even if they are treated with anti-malarials may still continue to test positive. In such a scenario, the individual may be suffering from something else and don’t get the necessary intervention they need simply because it is assumed that they suffer from malaria after carrying out a quick malaria parasite blood smear, without checking for other things. That’s why Dr I’ advise to get properly investigated is the ideal thing to do.

2. You may actually have malaria.

This is not unlikely given that Malaria is prevalent in Nigeria; the only problem here though is that an attack is not likely to last for 16 years! So it could be that you actually do get adequately treated, but you still get re-infected with the illness because of constant exposures to the parasites. People become exposed to the malaria parasite when they live near water logged areas and other places where the parasite can breed as in dirty gutters etc. Another option may be that you sometimes don’t access the right drugs. If it’s the first scenario (i.e. you do get adequately treated), then you will need to find ways of preventing re-infection. Some things you could do include buying a mosquito net, ensuring that the gutters around you are not stagnant or, if you can, leaving the area! The latter obviously would be rather dramatic. An easier solution would be to see your local doctor for advice on how to prevent re-infection.

3. I wouldn’t want to go down a third route, but what the heck!

The things that you have described like muscle weakness, body pains etc, that have lead to loss of productivity and a general deterioration in your overall level of functioning, may be symptoms of emotional exhaustion, something i may want to call a somatoform disorder http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Somatoform_disorder. Of course that diagnosis needs to be made by somebody knowledgeable about those types of illnesses and would be ruled out if you have fever in addition to those symptoms, so you may need to stick with points 1 and 2 afterall!

All the best
Career / Re: Medical Doctors' Forum: Let Us Know You! by beneli(m): 6:28pm On Jan 13, 2010
allycat:

Now back to my hobby horse, Private Medical practice in Nigeria. I have just spent the last 2 weeks in India on a visit to an Indian hospital. I accompanied an ill relative and this visit reinforces what I have always felt about PP in medicine. It is our only saviour. On the street the hospital is there are over20 hospitals all privately owned and the average hospital reminds me of Eko hospital or Havana, about 4 storeys each. This does not include clinics which are smaller. They all have patients and because of competition are affordable to their country men. The doctors work hard. Typically surgery starts at 6.30 am and they close at 7pm with a break of about 3 hours for lunch. Cos I am a colleague they were glad to discuss their system with me and everything they said made it apparent that we need to look more at private practice. The issue of Nigerians depending on Government to run hospitals where a grade level 12 officer that never smelt the gates of medical school decides which equipment you have doesn't occur. I tell you that if more doctors in nija go into pp to give quality service and are ready to work hard and not cut corners you wont believe how much advances we will make. Right now its 8pm and I am in the hospitals library which will dust some teaching hospitals departmental libraries in Nija hands down.

India, like play like play, has grown into a very hot health tourism destination. Even people from the UK now go there as health tourists! Of course one of the attractions for people here is that they're offered 'good quality' care for a fraction of the price they would have been offered the same intervention by a private sector provider here. So they must be doing something right! I wonder what it is that they are doing right that we need to copy?

Allycat, since you dey ground there-even if for a few more day, make you give us your thoughts/observations! I am particularly interested in how they ensure quality clinical standards are met (is there any government parastatal tasked with ensuring that standards are met?-i mean do they actually enforce things and not just exist on paper?; is there a workable partnership between the private hospitals and the teaching hospitals, especially with regards to research and training or do the private hospials do their own things?). I am also curious about how developed their health insurance industry is.

I hope your relative gets well quickly though.
Religion / Re: The Mottled History Of Reason by beneli(m): 7:44pm On Jan 10, 2010
Deep Sight:

It is not fair to say this.

You know very well that Christian faith extends to far more than the apocalypse or after-life: for these basic concepts are shared by most religions – Islam is even recorded to state that it is Isa (Jesus) who shall come again to judge the world.

Cardinally, Christian faith requires a BELIEF that Jesus of Nazareth’s DEATH ON THE CROSS serves as spiritual remission of sins.

It is very difficult to accept this in view of the fact that there is not a single Christian who has bought into that belief that can be said to be “free” from sin – they continue, predictably, in sin, and are judged accordingly on the “last day” which makes one wonder what the point of the sacrifice was, since all remain to be judged by their “sins” – just as was the case before the sacrifice.

Anyhow, the real reason I doubt that Christian faith springs from intuition is this – how come it is that 99% of Christians are people brought up in Christian homes? (Ditto for all religions).

If it was by intuition, Christians would be evenly scattered across the globe: unless you want to suggest to me that the intuition of people in southern Nigeria is better than that of Malaysians, for example.

This alone shows that what people are BROUGHT UP TO BELIEVE more often than not determines their “faith” and not intuition.


Very valid points you've raised. Apologies Pastor Aio, if it comes across that we are distracting from the gist of this post.

I think that there is a difference however between 'Christian faith' and faith as a Christian. While your point is relevant when discussing the doctrines of Christianity, it misses the point in the latter. There are over 2 billion adherents of the ‘Christian faith’, but of these very few actually exercise ‘faith’ as described in Hebrews 11.1, which is not about ‘doctrines’. I think that that ‘faith’ is about a way of living in spite of the doctrines.

In my understanding of that verse, ‘faith’, should transcend doctrine. It is an ongoing thing, a journey of revelations-if you prefer-towards a better connection with God. In that context you can then understand why it is written that it was by 'faith' that Abel offered a better sacrifice to God than his brother Cain, through which he obtained the testimony that he is 'righteous' (Hebrews 11.4)

Doctrines, however, are legalistic religious interpretations of the letters. The interpretations change with the politics of the times because most are based on superficial readings and cultural values. So, a Church in middle England, for instance, will have different interpretation of the gospels to a Church in rural South America. That’s not what the Christ was about. And that’s why he didn’t get along with the legalistic Pharisees; even though they were scholars of the letters, their interpretations of these letters were embellished by interpretations based on their own traditional values.

So when I say that ‘faith’ is ‘nous’-ish, the faith I am talking about has little to do with ‘doctrines’ but more to do with transcendental ‘knowledge’.
Religion / Re: The Mottled History Of Reason by beneli(m): 3:43pm On Jan 10, 2010
Deep Sight:

The problem really is as indicated in your excellent write-up: faith has taken the place of the Nous for many people and faith itself is not to be equated with intuition necessarily; for faith very often indicates a slavish adherence to dogmas or ideas set forth by others: in which circumstances the faculty of intuition may be said to be dead.

Very informative write-up, pastor.

Regarding the issue of 'faith' and it's relationship with the 'Nous', i would suggest that some peoples 'faith' would actually equate more to the 'Nous', and not to the 'slavish adherence to dogmas or ideas set forth by others' that you mention, Deepsight.

Is 'faith', in Christian doctrines, for instance, not more about 'intuitively' apprehending the spiritual and the eternal? The definition given in Hebrews 11:1(NLT) of it being 'the confident assurance that what we hope for is going to happen. The evidence of things we cannot yet see', sounds 'reasonably' 'Nous'-ish to me. But then that's my interpretation of the meaning of 'faith'.
Religion / Re: Life Out Of Dust-the ‘miracle’ Of ‘evolution’ by beneli(m): 1:11am On Jan 07, 2010
mazaje:


My atheistic assertion is as simple and it is as follows it is the disbelieve in the existence in the gods of religion because they are man made. . . .

The ‘gods of religion’ you say. The fact that you are always qualifying these ‘gods’ (gods of religion, man made etc) suggests to me that you probably want to tell us some thing about the gods you DO believe in. Perhaps you believe in ‘gods’ that are not ‘man made’ or ‘of religions’? Is that what you are trying to tell us? Why not come out and say it!


mazaje:

I believe that his point is very valid.
 
Your prerogative, my dear friend. I don’t agree with you though.

mazaje:

When Christians get cut up and are unable to defend their assertions they begin to re-define who their god is or throw the allegory or literal card. People are now saying that some of the miracles attributed to jesus are not to be taken literally but are mere allegorical narratives. . . How long will these hide and sick continue?. . . .Various stories like the story of Johna and the whale, and many other stuff are now said to be allegorical narratives. . . .Why should people not read the bible literally?. . . .Why are Christians that accept the literal meaning of the bible wrong? So an all knowing and all good deity who is alleged to want every body to get to know him and his wishes inspired men to write words that can not be agreed upon by simple reading?   

When you say ‘Christians’ remember that you are talking about 2 billion odd people world wide!  The scriptures mean different things to different people. The unifying thing that binds ‘Christians’ together is the belief in the Christ as an incarnation of God on earth through whom salvation is open to all men. Different Christian sects-different individuals within these sects- have different interpretations of the gospels, so saying that ‘Christians re-define who their god is’ , is inaccurate.

mazaje:

And the mathematics or statistics that says life came from a supernatural process is what?

My good friend, mathematics and statistics are tools of the scientific process. It’s the bread and butter of the naturalist scientists and the atheists. The onus is on them to use their tools to prove their assertions not on the Theists. Those that believe in God use faith, something that is completely alien to the word view of the ‘naturalists’.

mazaje:

The are odds stacked against birds coming to life fully formed from the uttering of words from and undetected deity as toneyb has said but theist can go ahead believing it all the want despite all the odds stacked against it. . . .

That’s why we believe in miracles!

In my worldview, for instance, the world is alive with the symphony of miracles! I see and experience them regularly! A miracle, in case you were wondering, is when natural processes are circumvented due to divine intervention. So when the odds are stacked up against you, my unbelieving friend, try calling on God, He may actually show you mercy and head your ungrateful call!
Religion / Re: Life Out Of Dust-the ‘miracle’ Of ‘evolution’ by beneli(m): 10:59pm On Jan 06, 2010
Much as toneyb asks some very interesting questions regarding his interpretation of Christian beliefs, I think that using these questions as a front to avoid the topic in hand is, shall we say, rather disingenuous. Must all atheists really go down that route when cornered with the improbabilities of their assertions?

First we read of how Mr. Dawkins admitted that abiogenesis is improbable (perhaps not in those exact words) and then went ahead to give his own interpretation of what a God must be able to do or not do, as if anybody asked him!

At the risk of derailing this thread, let me just say that a lot of the things written in the holy books (the bible for instance) should not be read literarily. When you do so, you lose the meaning. A lot of atheists started on the path of losing their ‘religion’ simply because they were not able to grasp the deeper meanings of the religions they professed, and thus left believing in superficialities and misconceptions that have very little to do with the religions they so like to criticize.

But that’s not the issue here. The issue here is not about biblical metaphors and misunderstood meanings. The issue is about whether life came out of dust as a random process. Mathematics (or statistics, if you will) says it’s improbable.

So, the gist here is that for life to come out of dust, something out of the ordinary has to happen. Deists (or Theists, whatever) argue that what happened is that God intervened in natural processes for man to appear. Atheists can go on believing that it was all by chance in spite of the odds stacked against it!

PS: Thanks Viaro for the input about the source of what Mr Dawkins said (or did not say)!
Religion / Re: Life Out Of Dust-the ‘miracle’ Of ‘evolution’ by beneli(m): 5:45pm On Jan 04, 2010
ancel:

JeSoul, how u dey today? Happy New Year, dear wink

Beneli, I think Deists are examples of theists (who are exclusive to atheists), just like Christians are examples of theists. But then, you can be a Christian and a Deist at once, cos Deists believe in God on the basis of reason (not revelation) and Christians believe in God on the basis of revelation. I guess maybe you do the two? cool

I don't like to be 'boxed in' as Jesoul suggested.

So if there is an umbrella term for people who believe in God, then that's what i should be using instead of 'deism'. I try to make an argument for the existence of God against His non existence. 'Atheism' should not segregate. It's either God exists or He doesn't. The nature of that God is left to the different interpretations of the individual that believe in Him, subject to their own exposure; culture; traditions and yes, revelation. The 'atheist' ideally should not busy themselves with arguing about His nature as they don't even accept that He exists!

With regards to the place of 'reason' and 'revelation', I would say that there is a limit to what reason can do for us in our attempts to walk with God. Revelation plays a great role as well; but i think the starting point is 'Faith'. Without 'faith' its impossible to even start on the journey. So for me it has been first of all faith, then came revelation and then reason. People should sort out issues of their faith first. Revelation will come to those who are earnest and honest.

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