Africa has been held captive by old, colonial software which has kept the continent punching miserably below its weight in the hierarchy of global economics and politics. To change the narrative of ‘colonization of the being,’ Africa needs to rebuild its “infrastructure of mind,” populated by new, independent think-beings capable of executing a fundamental reprogramming of Africa’s systems, beliefs and governing traditions.
To be independent means YOU are in control of YOU. For Africa, the independence of mind, of thinking critically, not the mineral resources, is the greatest asset needed for growth and development, says Dr. Graham Hart, a development strategist.
The great thing with independence is that it’s a personal thing. Independent people also know while they are interdependent, that they are also (usually) a part of a team. That what they do has impact and influence on others for good and for bad. But knowing and feeling your independence is your own journey; inside the battleground of your own mind nobody can help you but yourself.
To be independent is to question everything, not necessarily out loud, but question the assumptions, question the conclusion. Question the question.
Think critically, but don’t be critical, don’t become that “negative person.” When something is said, develop the instinct to start asking questions, whether internally or publicly. Why would they say that? What is the data and the emotion that surrounds that statement? Is it accurate?
In the end you might end up agreeing with an argument anyway, just as you would have if you hadn’t asked questions. But now you are prepared to defend that position, you can make additional educated guesses and informed decisions in your business or personal life. But most importantly: you know you were thinking independently.
Throughout the centuries, there were people who took first steps down new roads and survived, armed with nothing but their own vision and conviction.
Humans come to the earth unarmed; the brain is their only weapon.
The brain is an organ, a physical place, where the mind resides.
The mind is the manifestations of thought, perception, emotion, determination, memory and imagination. Oftentimes, mind is used to refer to the thought processes of reason.
Every human creation is distinct, and needs to express that distinction. The form of a creation must follow its function; the structure of a creation is the key to its beauty; new methods of creating demand new forms. New forms evoke strong passions.
People tend to hate great passion, any distinction, and are unrelenting at assaulting strong convictions, or will, onto submission to uniformity or conformity with the popular track. And, the SELF needs to be defended from such assault.
Conformity is a type of social influence involving a change in belief or behavior in order to fit in with a group. Group aggression, or pressure, may take the forms of bullying, persuasion, teasing, criticism, and so on, and this is also known as majority influence.
When societal, or group, pressure is at work, anyone and everyone is right, so long as it is not yourself, particularly when your conviction runs contrary to the popular view.
The guiding question would be: why does the number of those others, take the place of truth? And, why is truth made a matter of arithmetic – and only of addition at that?
Studies suggest that the humankind comes in two broad categories: the co-creator and the second-hander. The second-handers form a majority of the population, especially in Africa, and consciously or inadvertently put pressure on the co-creator to conform to mainstreamed “thought processes of reason.” In that process, certain teachings and beliefs have become traditional liners or definers of altruism, goodness, and love.
In countering such narrative, it is worth recognizing that no human can give the other the capacity to think. Yet, that capacity is our only means of survival.
The basic need of the co-creator is independence. The reasoning mind cannot work optimally under any form of compulsion or tradition.
To the co-creator, all relations with humans are secondary.
On the other hand, the basic need of the second-hander is to secure his or her ties with humans in order to be fed. He or she places relations first. He or she deceitfully declares that human exist in order to serve others. He or she preaches altruism.
Altruism is the doctrine which demands that humans live for others and place others above themselves. No human can live for another. He or she cannot share his or her spirit just as he or she cannot share the body.
But the second-hander has used altruism as a weapon of exploitation and reversed the base of mankind’s moral principles.
Humans have been taught every precept that destroys the co-creator. Humans have been taught dependence as a virtue.
The human who attempts to live for others is a dependent. He or she is a parasite in motive and makes parasites of those he or she serves. The relationship produces nothing but mutual corruption.
It is impossible in concept. The nearest approach to it in reality – the human who lives for others – is the slave.
If physical slavery is repulsive, how much more repulsive is the concept of servility of the spirit?
The conquered slave has a vestige of honour. He or she has the merit of having resisted and of considering his or her condition evil. But the human who enslaves himself or herself voluntarily in the name of “love” is the basest of creatures. He or she degrades the dignity of humans and degrades the conception of love. But this is the essence of altruism.
Humans have been taught that the highest virtue is not to achieve, but to give. Yet, one cannot give that which has not been created. Creation comes before distribution – or there will be nothing to distribute.
The need of the co-creator ought to come before the need of any possible beneficiary. Yet, we are taught to admire the second-hander, who dispenses gifts he or she has not produced, above the human who made the gifts possible. We praise an act of charity. We shrug at an act of real creation or achievement.
Humans have been taught that their first concern is to relieve the suffering of others. But, suffering is a disease. Should one come upon it, one tries to give relief and assistance. To make that the highest test of virtue is to make suffering the most important part of life. Then, humans must wish to see others suffer – in order that he or she may be virtuous. Such is the nature of altruism.
The co-creator is not concerned with disease, but with life. Yet the work of co-creators have eliminated one form of disease after another, in the human body and spirit, and brought more relief from suffering than any altruist could ever conceive.
Humans have taught that it is a virtue to agree with others. But, the co-creator is the human who disagrees.
Humans have been taught that it is a virtue to swim with the current. But the co-creator is the human who goes against the current.
Humans have been taught that it is a virtue to stand together. But, the co-creator is the human who stands alone – as the eagle.
Humans have been taught that the ego is the synonym of evil, and selflessness the ideal of virtue. But the co-creator is the egoist in the absolute sense, and the selfless man is the one who does not think, feel, judge or act. These are functions of the self.
Degrees of ability vary, but the basic principles remain the same: the degree of the human’s independence, initiative and personal love for his or her work determines his/her talent as a worker, and worth as a human.
Independence is the only gauge of human virtue and value – what a human is and makes of him or herself, not what he or she has or hasn’t done for others. After all, the human being has both an essence of, and existence in, life to fulfill.
The first right on earth is the right of the ego. The human’s first duty is to him or herself. His or her moral law is never to place his or her prime goal within the persons of others.
A human think and works alone. A human cannot rob, exploit or rule – alone. Robbery, exploitation and ruling presuppose victims. They imply dependence. They are the province of second-handers.
No one wants to be (and no one wants you to be) “that person” — the one who thinks they’re above and beyond everyone else simply because they’re different, or always doubting and confronting others. Don’t be that person. Be you, but be independent of other influences.
Civilization is the progress towards a society of privacy. The savage’s whole existence is public, ruled by the laws of his or her tribe. Civilization is the process of setting the human free from humans.
Perhaps, not in an absolute sense…
Besides, and most profoundly, the system which spins off the leadership misfits which litter the landscape of Africa, must be feeding from the continent’s army of second-handers, as installed by the Global North, and needs reprogramming.
