DEPARTMENT OF PHILOSOPHY AND RELIGION
EBONYI STATE UNIVERSITY, ABAKALIKI
Abstract
Man is a product of design and every design
has a designer and every designer has a reason for making his or its design.
Man was brought into existence by the Supreme Being who created the entire
world and every being in it. Thus man is purpose –oriented being and to
discover, pursue and achieve his purpose in life has been his burning desire.
The purpose of this work is to let man know that his success or failure in his
efforts to achieve his purpose in life depends on values he has adopted and
carried a long his life journey. These values influence his thoughts, actions,
habits, character and finally destiny. His destiny is a summary of what he has
become in life –a success or failure. The significance of this work is that it
will help anybody who is desirous to live a life of purpose to examine his or
her values with a view to adopting ones that are relevant to attainment of
purposes he or she is pursuing. Luckily for man, the ladder of success with four
rugs: commonsense, rationality, knowledge and wisdom is his for the asking.
Given the nature of the topic, methods of analysis, criticism and prescription
have been adopted in order to leave no relevant stone to the issue
unturned.
Introduction
Man’s
knowledge about the world, himself and his place in the world is limited due to
his nature. He arrives in the world unaware of the world, himself and his
mission in it and remains in that state until he becomes aware of himself and
the world. As he becomes aware of himself, his burning desire has been to find
out the purpose of his mission in the world and to achieve that purpose.
Experience the great teacher, has been informing him about the world, himself,
his purpose and resources at his disposal which he can use to achieve his
purpose no matter what it is.
So
far; man despite his limited knowledge about himself and the world, he is quite
sure of these truths. First, he never brought himself into existence. Second,
he is not in the world by accident but by the intention of his Creator- the
Supreme Being. Third, as a being of intention of his Creator, he is purpose-
oriented being- a being designed to live his life on purpose. According to
human nature, confirmed by common sense,
rationality, knowledge and wisdom through the mouthpiece of humanity – Socrates
the great philosopher of all ages –the chief purpose or goal of life is
happiness, and the only path that leads to this goal is virtue” paraphrased by
(Omoregbe, 2003:93). In support of this view of Socrates on happiness,
Aristotle, according to Uduma O. Uduma, holds that “happiness is “highest
good”. Happiness alone is sought only for its own sake” (2000:273). So
happiness is the ultimate purpose and every other purpose pursued by man is
seen as a means to attain happiness.
Even God’s two injunctions to man: To keep human
stream running from generation to generation and to maintain an atmosphere of
peace, harmony, progress and development are two fundamental tasks man is
facing in the world with a view to attaining the ultimate goal – happiness. So
it is obvious that for man to live well, deliver his services and attain his
ultimate goal in life, he has to live a life of purpose. Now the question is
what way of living should man adopt in order to make a success story of his life?
This question brings about the need for man to think of kinds of values he
should adopt to guide him in his purpose –oriented activities so as to avoid
distractions that have destroyed dreams, energies, times and opportunities of
their victims. No wonder Socrates a friend of humanity says: “Unexamined life
is not worth living”.
In
this work the aim is, since man is living in a society full of values – ideas,
dreams, things, events and relationships highly regarded, to help him to see
that it is better for him to examine these values and adopt the ones that will
help him to achieve his particular and ultimate goals in life. For, it is one
thing to have a goal, and another thing to have relevant values that can lead
to its attainment.
Explanation of terms
Man: Man as a term has other synonyms such as mankind and humanity. Each
of them is used to describe entire humans or human beings. But when the term
man is used with either an indefinite article ‘a’ or a definite article ‘the’
it refers to males of human beings while woman with article or no article
refers to females of human beings.
Man is a being among other beings created by the
Supreme Being – the Almighty God. God is the Supreme Architect in terms of
construction of this wonderful edifice called the universe; the Supreme Artist
in terms of beautifying every aspect of the universe and every natural thing in
it; the Supreme Manager in terms of managing the affairs of the universe such
that there is no loophole anywhere in it; the Supreme Lover in terms of
continuous flowing of His streams of love, kindness, mercy, , compassion, care, etc
to all His created beings. For instance, despite man’s frequent transgressions
right from the Garden of Eden which made him, according to the Bible, to regret
to have created man, He never withdraws any of His gifts of resources to man
from him. He even sent His only son in terms of uprightness Jesus Christ to
come into the world and re-emphasise in practical ways to man what his human
nature has been continuously asking him to observe at all times and in all
situations which are: Love your neighbour as you love yourself and treat others
as you would like them treat you. The only thing God did as regards man’s
disobedience to Him was that He ordered the first human parents –Adam and Eve-
to live the rest of their lives in the world on the fruits of their sweats from
generation to generation (Genesis 3:16-19).
Man is a highly valued being by his Creator; for he is
the only being among other beings that is bearing the image and likeness of
their Creator. This image and likeness of the Creator man is bearing appears in
the form of rationality. Rationality has
given man an edge ever other beings. Due to this outstanding gift, man has
succeeded in subduing, dominating and controlling the rest of beings as each of
them surrenders to his will. In support of this view about man, Habu Dawaki
says:
Man is the
only thinking animal other animals don’t go to school, they don’t invent, carry
out researches, build hospitals, police
stations, plan coups, organize elections, dance, celebrate birthdays, honour
their outstanding citizens or bury their dead. These and many more are all
products of thoughts (2005:81- Shake Hands).
Despite
these wonderful things man has done in the world through creative ingenuity in
arts, sciences and social realm which has enabled him to bend the nature to do
his will, man is yet to bend or control himself. His failure to do that has
made him a paradoxical being. A being who is purpose –oriented and yet often
found loafing about; a being who loves and as well hates; who builds
and as well destroys; who craves to
become an asset in the world and yet always found in the realm of liability;
who desires to be among great minds who discuss ideas and yet he is always found among people who discuss events and
gossip about people; who is aware that
thinking is a ladder that leads to success avenue and yet always found
displaying passions; who desires that his life be guided by positive values and
yet he is often found in the school of negative thoughts that result in
negative values; etc.
No wonder Cicero a man of great thought says: “man is
his own worst enemy” (Dawaki, 2005:152- there is …). That is to say man may have other enemies
such as ignorance, hatred, fear, doubt, poverty, laziness, superstition,
procrastination, corruption, imitation, inferiority, etc, but the worst of all
is he. This is because it is him who opens the door for these wreckers of his
thoughts, actions, habits, characters and destines to enter his house and
perform their works. So everyman is the architect of his own fortune or
misfortune.
Life: What the term life means and connotes is understood in several
senses. First, it is seen as ability to function and grow in a manner which
distinguishes animate beings such as humans, animals, birds plants and so on from dead ones and from
inanimate beings such as rocks, soils, metals, etc; second, it is seen as
living things; third, it is seen as a state of being alive as a human being; fourth it is seen as
qualities; events and experiences that characterize existence as a human being; fourth,
it is seen as qualities, events and experiences that characterizes existence as
a human being; fifth it is understood as a period between birth
and death, a period between birth and
the present, a period between the
present and death; sixth, it is understood
as pleasure, business and social activities in the world.
There is no doubt that these senses in which life is
conceived will help an objective and critical inquirer to understand and
appreciate the real meaning of life. But in this work the sense in which life
is seen as qualities, events and experiences which characterize existence as a
human being is its focus. This is because such qualities, events and
experiences combine to define man and as well assist him in his efforts to achieve
his ultimate goal which is happiness. Happiness is a feeling of self-
fulfillment arising from a person’s successful attainment of his or her
personal and collective needs.
Purpose: Purpose as a word has other synonyms such as aim,
intention, target, object, end, determination, destination etc and they are
exchangeable with one another. Purpose means what a person wants to do; get or
be. As well it means an ability to form plans and carry them out. For example,
these hypocritical persons- Okoro Balogun
Usman is working to build united Nigeria where the joy or pain of one is the
joy or pain of all Nigerians. Eze Oladikpo
Sani wants to be a great farmer. Okoye Dalandi Kein’s plan is to become
anything- no target. So purpose in life is what one has chosen or resolved to
pursue, live for and die for. For a man to achieve his purpose in life as the
world is full of distractions here and there, he has to cultivate a certain
attitude and maintain it with a view to attaining the purpose.
Values: The term values, refers to things, which may be
abstract or material, seen as having qualities that are very useful, important
or worthwhile. In other words, values may be in form of ideas, principles,
positions, jobs, power, knowledge, properties, character, behaviour, ways of
life, etc; highly esteemed and treasured so much by people because of their
inestimable worthiness to them in their spheres of life. Values could be means
such as principles; beliefs, determination, dedication, diligence, education, money, friendship, statements,
structures, infrastructures, food,
health, advice, books, building materials, associations, governing
bodies, etc, used by people to achieve their individual or collective purposes.
Or they could be ends or goals people want to achieve such as peace of mind,
happiness, house, wealth, a just society, a successful life etc.
In his bid to throw more light on what value means and
connotes, Jim Rohn who says:” The major value in life is not what you get. The
major value is what you become” (2005: 211 –There is …). That is to say
properties – material or non –material –one has acquired could be seen as a
value but what matters is what one has become as a result of the acquired properties
is what matters. For example, Adolf
Hitler, one time president of Germany, seized power and thus presided over the
affairs of his country. But as a result of his abuse of that power which led to
the destruction of uncountable number of lives and properties during the Second
World War he has become a reference point in history of anything wrong with
human beings.
Whereas Thomas Jefferson, one time American president,
in position of power to preside over the affairs of his country, made an
immortal statement that has earned him a
place in history and a membership in the school of all ages. In his words:
We hold these truths to be self –evident, that all men
are created equal, that they are
endowed by their Creator with inalienable Rights, that among these are Life,
Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. That to secure these rights, Governments are
instituted. Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, that
whenever any form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the
Right of the People to alter or abolish it, and to institute new Government
(MCMichael, 1974:468).
It
is obvious to great minds who discuss ideas that Jefferson was the mother of
universally accepted political system called democracy. Democracy, product of
human nature, was popularized with a standard definition by another great mind
Abraham Lincoln, one time American president. In total agreement with his
predecessor – Thomas Jefferson’s views on human nature and government, Lincoln
defines democracy as” … government of the people, by the people, for the people”
(Mc Michael, 1974:1746).
Habu Dawalu in his own contribution towards
explanation of meaning and roles of values to man says:
In life
people do what they value and value what they do. Values are personal beliefs
that propel us to action or to a particular kind of behaviour and life style.
Values are emotional anchors that determine where we go; the things we do and
the company we keep. Values
determine our interest, our preferences, our commitment, the things we respect
and the principle we adhere to. Values clarify purpose, they enable us to see
things worth living and dying for (2005: 211 –There is place …).
It
is obvious that no man is destitute of values as value of all values is life.
Life itself in the region of success flowers in happiness to the bearer, who
thanks his Creator, shakes hands with himself and with those men and women who
helped him to achieve his purpose. While life in the region of failure radiates
sadness to the bearer who blames Satan (a make -believe), his real or false enemies
and competitors who have blocked his way and thus made him to fail in life.
Values and their Roles in Man’s Life
Our
understanding of meaning of values and their relevance to man in his efforts to
accomplish a goal he has set for himself, has left us with an obvious
impression that values have important roles to play in man’s attainment of success or failure in life. For this reason,
values appear in two ways: positive values and negative values. The former lead
their observers to Success Avenue; while the latter lead their observers to Failure
Avenue. As it is, let us begin with an explanation of roles of positive values
in man’s quest to make a success story of his life.
Positive values: Positive
values are many but only ten will be discussed. First is life of purpose. Human
society is full of values but the value of all values is life; it is as well
full of distractions, setbacks and problems. Therefore, for anybody to succeed
in his field of endeavour, he must set up a goal, treasure it and focus his
attention on it and pursue it single –mindedly. It is only when he remains
totally committed to it that he can become free from any distraction, setback
or problem. Once he pursues his goal in that attitude, his success as regards
attainment of his goal is already a foregone conclusion. In agreement with this
view on how to succeed in realizing one’s goal, O. A Battisto, says; “If you want to be successful, it is simple:
know what you are doing, love what you are doing and believe in what you are doing”, (Dawaki, 2005: 209 –Shake Hands ….).
In addition, since man is a social being who lives in
the midst of others, interacts with others and seeks their support concerning attainment of his goal, his
goal must be in harmony with common goals in a society. Whatever goal a man is
working to achieve must contribute towards creating and maintaining atmosphere
of peace, harmony, security, progress and development which are among the
elements of common goods. It is when his goal is supportive of the common goods
that it can be described as positive.
Second is education. Education as a value, is training
meant to prepare its recipients to acquire knowledge and develop skills and use
them to attain their individual and collective goals which they have set up for
themselves. Education becomes a positive value if knowledge acquired by its recipients
helps them to understand that they are social beings who live and interact with
their follow human beings. To understand that most of their needs can only be attained
successfully through the helping hands of others. To understand and appreciate
the importance of moral principles such as, love your neighbour as you love
yourself; treat others as you will like them to treat you; united we stand, divided
we fall; what belongs to all must be shared by all; man is what he thinks about
at times; law should be no respecter of persons; recognition and respect for
the dignity of human life, etc. Also moral virtues such as love, truth,
justice, honesty, sincerity, patience, commitment, perseverance,
compassion, sympathy, kindness,
gratitude and so on.
These moral principles and virtues are essential
blocks required to build a successful personality and a progressive society.
Receivers of educational training on morality who strictly observe these moral
principles and virtues in theory and practice and thus allow them to inform
their thoughts, actions, habits and characters are abound to reach their chosen
destination in life. Such people will see the need to become assets to themselves
and to others, the need to help others to help themselves, to become problem
–solves, to raise their voice of protest
in the scene of injustice, to see the joys or pains of others as their own joys
or pains and to work for the reality of universal brotherhood. No wonder a
great philosopher of all times, Plato emphasising on the inestimable values of
education, says: “No man should bring children into the world who is unwilling
to persevere to the end in there nurture and education” (Ocho, 2005:20). In
agreement with Plato on the importance of education, Lawrence Office Ocho,
says:
Education is
central to human survival, growth and development …. It is education that makes
man a moral agent capable of living in society. Without morality man cannot
live in society or in communities. Morality is therefore, he most important aim
of education because it determines how man will relate to one another, what
should be regarded as sacred, and rights, privileges, duties, norms and
expectations (2005:120).
Thus
education as a positive value through moral instructions helps its recipients
to understand themselves and their potentials which give them self –confidence,
help them discover a purpose, focus on that purpose and continue striving until
it is achieved.
Third is character. Character as a value is mental or
moral qualities that make a person, group, country, etc, different from others.
It is a moral strength. It is a report card of a person’s mental or moral
activities in the world. Character is the only property a person has which is
not man’s property. This is because the owner does not have the power to give
it to another person or any person has the power to take it away from the
owner. Also character is the only property a person who has completed his or
her life- journey and travels to the Great Beyond carries along to present
before is Creator the Supreme Being.
Character is seen as positive value if it contains
reports that are in harmony God’s will. For a person to obey God’s will, he
must live a life of purpose since every man is purpose –oriented being. He must
love others as he loves himself; treats other as he will like them to treat
him; works for peace, harmony, security, progress and development in the world;
lays good examples for others to emulate; lives an exemplary life; sows seeds
of kindness and compassion; helps people to discover their purposes in life;
see their potentials and how to develop them; becomes a house to the homeless;
light to those in darkness; hope to those who have given up the battle of life.
A man of good character is a role model, a beacon light, a ladder of success,
etc. in the world. Habu Dawaki, in
support of this view about character, cited someone who says: “When wealth is
lost nothing is lost. When health is lost something is lost. When character is
lot, all is lost” (2005: 96-97 Shake Hands …). Lost of character in this sense,
does not mean that the bearer is not in possession of it. What it means is that
reports in the person’s character are negative to the extent that he or she
feels ashamed to be associated with it. Such a person is a disappointment his Maker
and black sheep to humanity and a misery to himself.
Fourth is craving. Craving as a value is a strong
desire for something, to become something, to achieve something. A strong
desire for something arouses creative thought in a person, helps him to see his
resources both dormant and active, expands his vision and makes him remain
focused, determined, courageous, diligent and consistent no matter problems and
setbacks he encounters in the process to get what he is pursuing knowing quiet
well that one day rain of success will still fall on him. For example, Abraham
Lincoln due to his strong desire to be in a position of power in order to stop
slavery and encourage right of freedom
to all Americans especially black Americans who have suffered slavery for many
centuries and also build a kind of
America Thomas Jefferson visualized where citizens are treated equally and
supported to enjoy inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness, he suffered more their eighteen
failures in social, economic and political spheres. But he remained committed to his goal and
finally became an American president through successful election and used the
power gained with the support of others to achieve his goal. Now America is a
reference point in anything democratic, progressive and developing in the world.
Fifth is resource. Resource as a value refers to a
thing or things –material and human –which can be turned to for help, support,
advice or consolation when needed usually during a time of sudden emergencies.
When a person is pursuing a goal he has set for himself, from past experiences
he is likely to encounter complications, obstacles, unexpected disruptions,
etc, which appear to block his way. In anticipation of such circumstances, he
needs to be well equipped with resources such as creative mind, critical
thinking, calm nerves, sound reasoning, advice of a good friend, services of an
expert, patience, faith, hope, etc, in order to solve problems and overcome the
setbacks whenever they arise and continue on the course of his purpose. Of all
these resources, creative mind is the mother and coordinator of other resources
in terms of helping man to solve his problems. No man can ever attain his goal
without the support of creative mind. Creativity is a key needed to open a door
to the realm of resources and make good use of any of the resources. In support
of this Habu Dawake says:
The functioning mind is what gives a man a place of
relevance and worth on this planet called earth. Without the mind, a
man is
grounded. To be mentally frozen is to be totally
useless and worthless. A man’s destiny can never be separated from his
thoughts. The size of your thinking
determines how far you go in life (2005;8 -82- Shake Hands …).
So,
it is obvious that nobody can dream of a goal, discover it, pursue it with
religious zeal and finally achieve it without the support of sound and creative
mind. It is a wind one needs to fly to anywhere in the world.
Sixth is health. Health is a condition of a person’s
mind and body. It is ability of a person’s mind and body to function
effectively and efficiently. Simply put, it is a condition of being well and
free from diseases and sickness. Health as a value is highly esteemed and
treasured. Hence a desire to be healthy
is a strong and over ruling hand in the life of every man.
Health is first among the rungs on the ladder of
success. For it is a healthy man can be aware of himself, thinks of his needs,
draws a plan on how to attain his needs, works according to his plan, remains
focused and active on his duty post.; not minding some distractions and
setbacks and continues with that
attitude until his needs are attained. So, it is obvious that no person can
think of a goal let alone achieve it unless he is healthy. For it is only when
he is healthy that he can resist successfully anything that attempts to hinder effective
and efficient functioning of mind or
body.
Good, effective and efficient management of one’s mind
and body is what results in good health which is an asset a person needs among
other vital values to succeed in life. For him to make a success story of the
management of his mind and body he has to understand and appreciate the nature
of his mind and body. The act will enable him to know things-material and
abstract- needed to maintain them and things to avoid. As experience has shown,
for a person to maintain a healthy mind he has to feed his mind with positive
ingredients such as feelings of love, self –confidence, comfort, faith, hope,
work, rest, etc. This state of his mind will enable the mind, being a driver,
to drive his body well. About his body,
he needs foods that contain adequate not less or excess –minerals and vitamins
and also clean environment free from ants, mosquitoes, cockroaches, rats,
lizards, etc. It is failure to observe these things that lead people to suffer
diseases such as cancer, heart disease, diabetes, kidney diseases, headache,
malaria, stroke, blindness, etc.
Seventh is attitude. Attitude is way of thinking or
behaving towards any aspect of life be it a person, a thing, an event, an idea,
a purpose, A work, etc. For a person to succeed or to fail in achieving his
purpose in any field of human endeavour developing knowledge and skills
relevant to attainment of it, pursuing it with religious zeal, remaining
determined, focused, devoted, active, diligent, courageous and single minded,
certainly he will achieve his goal at the appropriate time.
As it is observed, hard work, determination, dedication,
discipline, patience, persistence, follow feelings, etc, are among the elements
that constitute positive attitude. But
among them the heart beat is hard work. Through hard work, a person discovers
his potentials that have been lying dormant, obtains knowledge and skills and
becomes aware of how to use them to achieve his goal. Unlike manna that falls
from heaven, attainment of any purpose in the world cannot be wished but worked
into existence, Habu Dawaki throwing more light in this says:
Hard work promotes and
opens doors of favour Hard work means total
commitment to the dreams and goals you set for yourself. Those who are totally committed see
work as a hobby. Hard work has never run out of fashion but
laziness does (2005:32- There is ….).
So
an extent a person reaches on the ladder of success in his chosen field of
endeavour, depends on his attitude to work if he has resolved to work hard and
observed it in practice surely an attainment of his goal is a foregone
conclusion.
Eight is time. Life is a big project and to achieve
its purpose is what every man is pursuing with religious zeal. In man’s
blueprint concerning how to achieve the purpose of his life project time is an
invaluable value. Whether a person will
succeed or fail in his attempts to attain his goal depends on how he uses his
time. Time is a network of all the seconds, minutes, hours, days, weeks, months
and years of the past, present and future. Sixty seconds is equal to a minute,
sixty minutes is equal to an hour, twenty –four hours is equal to one day,
seven days is equal to a week, four weeks is equal to one month and twelve
months is equal to one year. All these segments of time count very much as they
are interconnected. To utilize even a second very well or waste it equally
affects a minute and the rest positively or negatively.
Everything about man’s life in the world is under the
influence of time. As person appears in
the world through birth, his or her life span a period he or she will live on
earth as a human being before his departure to the great beyond is already
determined depending on his character. So, he has a time to live his life and
time to leave the world, time to make his own contribution toward keeping human
stream running, time to plant a seed and to reap its fruit, time to go to
school and to graduate, time to work and to rest, etc. To make good and wise
use of one’s time puts one on a vantage position to become an asset in the
world and to be worthy of mention among people and to waste one time is to become a liability and to be treated as a
reject among his fellows. In support of this Habu Dawaki says:
The wise use of your time can earn you
respect, dignity, and honour. You can enjoy good health, have friends and build
health relationships…. Through the proper use of time you can acquire wealth,
become more knowledgeable, better skilled and increase your value. Don’t waste it as it is suicidal.
You can’t build an enduring legacy without it … those who kill time, abort
destinies and that are a tragedy. Time is more than money. Time is life. Use it
wisely don’t waste it 2005; 122- there is …).
Dawaki’s
view about time is shared by Jim Rohn when he says: “time is more valuable than
money. You can get more money but you cannot get more time (Dawaki, 2005:122 –There is …). It is obvious
that time is to man what air is to life.
No life can exist without air and no man can make it in life without wise use
of his time. Also, time like a law is no respecter of persons; it does not wait
for anybody; and once it is gone it cannot be recalled, once it is wasted it
cannot be restored. Like life, time has no duplicate, once it is lost it is
last forever. So since man is in the queue of death in the world and his days
are numbered, the earlier he makes maximum and wise use of his time, better
opportunity he will have to fulfill his purpose in life.
Ninth is thinking: Thinking is a tool placed in man’s
hand by his Creator with which to use and manage his life affairs in the world.
It is a key he needs to open the door of gold mines of resources God provided
in the world. Thinking is a bridge between the world of ideas and the world of
materials. Everything in the material world first existed in the world of ideas
before thinking enabled it to appear in a concrete form in the world of matter.
Thinking is God’s image and likeness man is bearing.
If for any reason a person allows his thinking to remain dormant, the difference
between him and a beast is like the difference between six and half a dozen,
difference in name but the same in substance. It is
thinking that gives man an age over other beings. Man is a being of
possibilities always dreaming and working to actualize his future
self-projections. Without exercise of the faculty of thinking, man’s presence
in the world is as good as his absence as his thinking usually determines his
actions, his actions cultivate his habits, his habits mould his character and
his character shapes his destiny.
Wonderful things man has introduced in the world are
due to positive exercise of his thinking facility. Due to thinking, man is the
only being that improves on his living conditions. He is the only being that
builds schools where his young species are prepared to face challenges of life;
builds hospitals where his fellows that fall sick are treated; builds
communication facilities like radio, phone, internet, etc, that have reduced
the world to global village; builds a world where peace, harmony, justice,
progress and development are reigning; build farms that produce food
ingredients that sustain life. Buddah in agreement with this, says: “We are
what we think. All that we are arises with our thoughts. With our thoughts we
make our world”. In support of Buddah’s view Dawaki says:” Good thinkers are
problem solvers. They think in terms of
upgrading lives, helping others, and making this world a better place to live”(2005:117).
It is obvious that to think positively is to live and to avoid it is to die.
Tenth is fear of God. Fear of God means loyalty and
respect to God; it means absolute submission to the will of God it means to worship God, to live and die for him. Fear of God –the Supreme Being – who
created everything including man in the world is vale of all values. It is a value that gives meaning and purpose
to other values and guides them to attain their respective purposes.
To live in fear of God; to be loyal and respectful to
him to submit to his will; to worship, live and die for Him. In summary, it
means to love others as we love ourselves and to treat others as we will like
them to treat us. This message pasted everywhere in the world and popularized
by Holy Books especially the Bible is what living in fear of God means and
connotes in all its ramifications. This is a message our human nature has been
telling us every time and every where. Jesus Christ and other great minds in
human flesh came into the world solely to emphasise on the importance of this
absolute value. It is abuse of this value has dehumanized the face of humanity
and the world and makes the world to look like hell. If mankind make this value
their way of life by allowing it to inform their thoughts, determine their
actions and formulate their individual and collective goals in life, they will
be agreeably surprised to notice that earth is a part of heaven.
Negative
Values: Man is a being of
contradictions as he craves to live well, comfortable and happy in he world and
at the same time entrains thoughts and engages in activities that make him to
live miserable, uncomfortable and sad in the world. Man is a being who loves
and as well hates, builds and as well destroys, seeks to acquire knowledge and
as well hugs ignorance, signs treaties for peace and as well campaigns for war, admires beauty and
as well creates room for ugliness, craves for good health and as well
entertains negative thoughts that make him suffer diabetes and kidney diseases,
etc. These contradictions have made him to engage in and treasure negative
values.
Among these negative values are: First is a
purposeless life. A purposeless life as a negative value is a life without a
purpose. This means that the bearer of that life has nothing worthwhile he or
she intends to do, to get, to be, to contribute, etc. The person has allowed his creative thinking or rationality to
remain dormant and prefers to live on his animalistic instincts. Living only on
his instincts, he has joined the club of animals, birds and ants even though he
is still wearing the clothe of human flesh. Like animals, birds and ants, he lives
his life to day as it was lived yesterday, a month, a year, twenty years, etc,
ago. He eats food, drinks water, drinks alcohol, smokes cigarette, gossips
about people, sleeps, shouts, smiles, cries, etc and beyond these natural
instincts and the likes he does nothing. His contribution remains his daily
output which is what he produces in the toilet. Such a person has abandoned his
purpose of life as a human being and now living a life of an animal. He or she
is a disappointment to God, a disgrace to humanity, a distraction to animals
and the worst among his enemies.
Second is ignorance. Ignorance is lack of knowledge or
information about something. An ignorant person may not know where is coming
from, where he is and where he is going in life. He may not be aware of
himself, his place in life, his potentials, his purpose in life and let a lone
how to live his life well in the world. An ignorant person is bound to fail in
whatever field of life he finds himself. An Ignorant person does not know what
life is let a lone how to manage it well. He does not know the roles of moral
principles such as love, truth, honesty, respect, fellow feelings, compassion,
patience, perseverance, etc, and let alone to observe them. For that he does
not know how to live well with others. Of all the urges of human nature, the
one he observes is self–interest. But
due to his Ignorance of human nature, he mishandles his self– interest and it
thus degenerates to selfishness which wrecks his life and makes him feel
ashamed of what he is in the world.
Throwing
more light on the danger of ignorance, Socrates, according to Habu Dawaki,
says: “There is only one good that is knowledge and one evil that is ignorance”
(2005:51-There is place…). For Confucian “Ignorance is the night of the mind,
but a night without moon or star “
(2005:133-there is…). According to Joseph I. Omoregbe, Socrates.
“… believed that ignorance was the cause of wrong
doing, for no man in his view who
really knows what is wrong would do it. Wickedness is due to ignorance’s; if a
man knows what is right he would do it, and if he knows what is evil he would
refrain from it, for no one ever does evil knowingly 2003:93).
Habu
Dawaki is of the view that ignorance is the genesis of most of problems people
are suffering in life. It has made its victims to suffer various predicaments
such as deformity, impotence, senselessness, liability, misery, pains, shame,
poverty, embarrassment, reject, etc. In his words:
To
be uninformed is to be deformed. Ignorance is very expensive. It makes man impotent, senseless and
liabilities (Sic). The destiny of Mr. Ignorant
is poverty, shame, reproach, pain, embarrassment and irrelevance. It is impossible to be senseless and be attractive
and useful at the same time (2005:150 – Shake Hands….).
Therefore,
ignorance as a negative value, is a disease in matters of sustenance, hatred in
action, an embarrassment in a social gathering, a setback in matters of
development, a poverty in material acquisition, roadblock in human relations,
mouthpiece in school of gossip, a mother in the realm of wizards and
witchcrafts, a prison without walls, darkness in the realm of knowledge, etc. To register in the school of ignorance is to
say good bye to peace of mind, confidence, progress and development in the
world.
Third is bad character. As already explained,
character is mental or moral qualities that distinguish a person, a group, a
nation, etc, from others. It is a moral strength. It is a report card of a
person’s mental or moral activities. As a value, character is described as bad
if its moral qualities instead of being virtuous become vicious, harmful,
destructive, retrogressive, etc. It is seen as bad when the bearer’s behaviour
becomes a reference point in anything wrong with man, a roadblock to
development, a malice to humanity, discouragement to others, a wrecker of
people’s lives, homes and destinies and spreader of corruption.
Bad character is cultivated when the bearers ignore
moral standards and values in preference to expedience and convenience, easy
and shout way to success, dividends of corruption, ill-gotten wealth, etc. They
are ever ready to engage in any kind of corrupt acts provided they achieve the
selfish ends they are pursuing. It is for this reason that moral vices such as
crime, lying, stealing, cheating, dishonesty, injustice, fraudulence,
deception, blackmail, embezzlement of public funds, robbery, examination
malpractices, are gradually becoming common practice. In support of this view Habu
Dawaki says:
Weakness
of character more than anything else has been responsible for our woes. It is impossible to build a great society
without values. It is disastrous when wrong thinking shape
both the virtues and failings of men. Take for example, the cancer of self-centredness, the virus of mediocrity and the culture of corruption that has
invaded and eaten deep into every fabric of our lives be it business, industry, politics, family
… government and sadly even in our mosques and churches (2005:94-Shake
Hands …).
Bad
thoughts lead to bad actions; bad actions lead to bad habits; bad habits lead
to bad characters, and bad character lead to collapsed destines and their victims
will pass through this world unnoticed by the present and future generations.
Fourth is negative craving. Craving as a value is a
strong desire by a person for something, to acquire something, to become
something or somebody. The desire is so strong to the extent that the person
sees what he is desiring to get or to become as a goal for one to concentrate
on a what one has decided to acquire, get or become provided that is good to
him and to others in the long run.
Craving is seen as negative value when the thing one
is struggling to achieve is harmful to him and to others. Man is a social
being, a being who lives with others. For that reason, any action of his which
promotes or demotes his interest equally promotes or demotes the interest of
others. Because many people due to ignorance and shortsightedness they look for
easy ways and shortcuts to achieve their goals in life. Such negative craving
has made some people steal others’ properties, embezzle public funds, corner
for their private use what belongs to all, engage in manufacturing fake drugs,
sell countermined food ingredients, rig election, rob people of their lives and
properties, destroys characters, homes and destines of a thousand and one
people.
Negative craving as a value does appear in several
forms. When a man ignores the demands of his health because of what he values
so much like smoking cigarette and Indian helm which makes a victim to live a
spent life, taking food that contains excess sugar, etc, such a man has engaged
in pleasure that does not lead to a greater one, instead a greater harm. When a
man, because of the important role money plays in solving some problems, seeks
a means to acquire money at the expense of other people’s interest and
disrespect to moral values, he is an obstacle to progress. In the long run he
would regret what he has done as he has earned for himself, peoples’ hatred,
for himself a bad name and for himself a place in the dustbin of history. When
a student, for example, has preferred a school of gossip where people are
discussed; preferred watching televisions 24 hours where films of all types
including blue film are shown; preferred engaging in examination malpractices
of all sorts, etc, to reading his or her books – treasury of ideas-which will
help him or her to acquire knowledge about issues in his or her course, he or
she is already registered member in the school of failure. When a politician
desirous to find himself in a seat power, rigs election results and thus finds
himself in the seat of power. Then uses the opportunity to embezzle public
funds; shows disrespect to the laws of the country; converts some public
properties to his private realm; influences peoples’ appointments in the basis
of candidacy instead of merit and competence; ignores pursuit of common goods
in preference to personal and ethnic goods, such a politician will be ashamed
of his place in history. For he has become a disappointment to God, a point of
reference in anything wrong with humanity, a disgrace to his family, a misery
to himself and a virus to all those who encouraged him to act the way he did.
Fifth is abuse of resources. Resources as a value,
refers to a thing or things-material and human- a person, a group of persons, a
country, etc, can turn to for help, support, advice or consolation when needed
especially in a situation of emergency. For example, things such as capitals,
funs, income, money, property, reserve, supplies, wealth, constitution, moral
principles, patience, hard work, fear of God, courage, creative thinking,
ingenuity, quick-wit, initiative, instrumentality, books, experts, friends,
people, etc. No one can set up a goal and succeed in attaining it without a
helping hand of any of these resources mentioned. Among these resources the
first rung on the ladder to success avenue is creative thinking. Creative
thinking is a key to open the door of the house of resources in the world.
Everybody has this key but to use it and use it well depends in him or her.
Shakespeare is at home with this view when he says: “it is thinking that makes
a man “, and William James when he says: “ you are what you think about most of
the time “ (Dawaki, 2005 :74, 81 – Shake Hands…..).
While
Habu Dawaki in agreement with the views of these great scholars says: “Your
thoughts determine your beliefs, your beliefs control your attitudes, your
attitudes expose your decisions, which ultimately determine your destiny” (2005
: 73 – Shake Hands…).
Analogically
speaking, man as an organism is made up of many parts among which is a creative
thinking (mind) which is the head. It controls and co-ordinates other parts in
their respective and collective functions towards their general well-being. As
it is, what affects the head positively or negatively equally affects others
the same.
So, creative thinking as a co-co-coordinator of other
resources, if it degenerates to negative thinking, other resources will be
affected too. A victim through the exercise
of negative thinking will begin to abuse and waste other resources. He will see
himself as self-sufficient as such does not need help of others. He will change
his friends to his enemies and call them wizards and witchcrafts. His capital,
funds, income and money, will become a consumable bread and not bakery – a
place where bread is produced. He will see observance of moral of values such
as love, truth, honesty, compassion, kindness, etc, as a waste of time and go
on to satisfy his selfish interests. He will ignore the view held by Theodore
Parker that “The books which help you most are those which make you to think
“(Adinnu, 2003 : 8) and use books to decorate his seating room. He reads only
those that discuss events, gossip about people and expose small talks and
strictly avoid those that discuss ideas, great minds andtheir activities. He will
ignore the view that man is a social being who interacts with others and need
their helping hands in solving his problems and goes a head to build fence
between him and others and thus lives a lonely life. A lonely life for man is a
prison without oxygen and hydrogen. It is wasted and lost life.
Sixth is negligence of health. Health as a value
refers to person’s condition of mind and body. A person is said to be healthy
when the systems of his mind and body function effectively and efficiently. He
is said to be sick when the opposite is the case with his mind and body
systems.
Health is a value highly esteemed and treasured by
people. But due to ignorance, haste and shortsightedness some people forget
that wealth of all wealth is health. Health is sustenance of life. It is person
who is healthy can live, pursue, attain and render services expected of him in
life. According to someone cited by Habu Dawaki,, hammering on the importance
of health\ says: “When wealth is lost nothing is lost. When health is lost something
is lost. When character is lost all is lost” (2005: 96-97-Shake Hands….). The
person is right to say that when character is lost all is lost. This is because
it is like a bank where saving from wealth and health are kept for security
reasons. Character is a report card where everything man thinks about, does and
attains is recorded and it is the only property he leaves the world with as he
heads to the Great Beyond.
But
after character, is health in the order of importance. It is a health person
that is at home in the world. It is a healthy person can discover his
potentials, can work to harness, enhance and creatively use them to achieve his
goals in his fields of endeavor. It is a health person will interact with his
fellow human beings and exchange services with them. Health increases a his
interest in life and sickness reduces it. The more he is sick, the less his
interest in life.
Some people in haste to accumulate much wealth have
neglected their health. Some of them who are in business enterprises focus
their attention on making money and do not have time and interest to go and
check their blood pressure to know whether it is high or low; To check their
body system through test to know whether there is any foreign body. Some due to
the same reason do not have time to eat food at the appropriate time and in the
clean environment, rest and sleep at the right time. Health is seriously
neglected and that is why hospitals are full of patients suffering myriad of
avoidable sicknesses and diseases.
Seventh is abuse of attitude. As already stated,
attitude is a way of thinking or behaving towards any aspect of life be it a
person, a thing, an event, a position, an idea, a principle, relationship,
leadership, work, reading, business, etc. Success or failure, progress or
retrogress of any person in his or her field of endeavor depends on his or her
attitude. Throwing more light on attitude, A.G. Oyesiji says: “Your world is
what you make it, whatever you create in your personal world. Attitude is the
sum total of one’s acceptance, values and beliefs. To succeed, you must include
in your attitude the belief that it is possible” (2000: 14.), and to fail you
must include the belief that it is impossible.
When attitude becomes “foresight in the field of one’s
endeavor, morally right in choice of purpose, a focus on the chosen purpose,
creative thought in arranging materials, determination in the face of problems,
patience in working and waiting for the prolonged time of the expected fruits,
kindness and consideration in dealing with others in matters that affect
attainment of one’s goal, etc, one’s success is already foregone conclusion.
But if one’s attitude is abused, distorted and negatively influenced, one
attitude becomes a shortsightedness in one’s chosen field of endeavor, morally
wrong in choice of purpose, emotional display in arranging one resources,
impatience in working and waiting for
the prolonged time of the expected fruits, wickedness and inconsideration in dealing
with others in matters that affect attainment of one’s goal, etc, one’s failure
is as real and obvious as after day comes night, after rain comes sunshine.
So, abuse of one’s attitude, badly affects one’s
thoughts, actions, habits, character and finally destiny. It leads one to
experience predicaments in everything one does and finally failure. A person
who has included in his attitude, blackmailing of others, finding faults in
others, gossiping about them, blaming
God who created him, accusing his parents for giving birth to him in a poor
family and so on, hardly knows that what he says about others gives a true
picture of what he is right from inside to outside. A person of positive
attitude sees a good man in a bad man, a man in a boy, etc. while a person of
negative attitude sees a bad man in a good man, a dictator in a statesman,
poverty in wealth, hell in heaven, failure in success, a lazy-born in a hard
working person, hatred in love, falsehood in truth, etc. A person of positive
or negative attitude is what he thinks about at all time.
Eight is waste of time. Time as a value, is already
seen as a period measured in units such as seconds, minutes, hours, weeks,
months and years. In other words time refers to all the years of the past, present
and future. Man knowing quite well that his life span is limited, he has been
conscious to base every work of his on time frame. Thus he maps time to prepare
for future work, time to work and time to retire from his work and rest. Man by
being time conscious, enables him set up a goal at the right time, focuses on
it and pursues it with religious zeal so as to achieve his goal at appropriate
time. He adopts this attitude about time knowing quiet well that loss of some
other values such as money, wealth, moral principles, training, minerals,
power, etc, is not beyond recall, once the person in question is determined to
do so. But the loss of time is lost forever. Yesterday has come and gone with
its 24 hours and never to be recalled back.
Despite the fact that man is aware of the nature and
value of time, he still thinks and acts in a way that wastes his time, wrecks
his resources, his values and finally his purpose. There are several ways a man
has wasted and still wasting his time knowingly or unknowingly. Among them are,
first, his continuous remembrance and discussion of losses and injuries of the
past instead of closing the gaps in his life that lead to such losses and
injuries. Second, living his life in the present as it was lived in the past
because he is afraid of change. Courtesy of rationality and craving for
improved living conditions, one day he will go back to start afresh. Third,
procrastination which is a thief of time, he has included it in his attitude.
For that he leaves till tomorrow what he can do today. A person he can pay
condolence visit today, a book he can read today, phone call he can make at
this moment, he postpones till tomorrow. This because of television he is watching,
because of the small talks he is the co-coordinator, because he has lost his
strength and zeal due to excess alcoholic drinks, praise singing and
blackmailing for his friends and enemies. Fourth, his continuous drifting
movement in life because he does not have a purpose he is pursuing, has made
him not to know when to sleep or when to
wake up; when to work or when to rest; when to talk or when to keep quiet; when
to think or react with voice filled with emotions.
These among other things he does have made him waste
his time. To waste one’s time is to destroy one’s life. For experience has
shown, those who waste their time because of their ignorance of its value are
victims of distractions and procrastination who hardly live a life of purpose.
Even when they try to set a purpose for themselves they hardly achieve it since
they have not left the school of time waste. To live the school will help them,
according to Cheserfield, to “Know the true value of time; snatch, seize and
enjoy every moment of it. No idleness, no laziness, no procrastination; never
put off till tomorrow what you can do today” (Adinnu, 2003:88). Their ignorance
of the nature of time has made them not to understand that an hour begins from
seconds to minutes and to an hour. So seconds and minutes count let alone
hours. For one to waste one’s seconds,
affects one’s minutes, hours, days, weeks, months, years and finally one’s life
span.
Ninth is bad leadership. Leadership as value, as
already stated, is an exercise of authority or power in controlling and
managing people’s affairs with a view to enhancing, improving, promoting,
advancing and preserving their well-being. A leader is a person who is in a
position of authority to guide people on how to carry on in life in order to
achieve their individual and collective aims. He is expected to be a role mode
in theory and practice, to show light for people to find their way. His first
and last project is to create an atmosphere of peace, harmony, security, law
and order, progress and development for people to live in and work for the
attainment of the goals of their well-being. His people’s joys or pains are his
too. A person in that position who works for their attainment is a good leader.
While a bad leader is a leader who feels that he is in
a position of power primarily to promote his personal interests and secondarily
to promote people’s interests. But knowing the nature of man as a being of
insatiable needs, he can hardly satisfy his personal needs let alone his
subjects’ needs. More often than not his subjects depend on crumbs that fall
from his dinning table for their living. A bad leader is a great setback to his
people in areas of progress and development. A leader as a man in authority
seen as a role model, little and average minds see him as god for that imitate
his thoughts, actions and even mannerisms not minding whether they are positive
or negative. Only the great minds have the courage to question his thoughts and
actions that create problem to the people not minding his threats to their
lives.
Concerning a bad leader, A.G. Oyesiji says:
A negative leader
is a tyrant, an autocrat. He is sometimes a bully. He does not care for the progress
of the people surrounding him except those who worship him as god. He enjoys
being defied and likes to see himself as a tin-god. Most negative leaders are
greedy and selfish. They discriminate against races, religions, nationalities,
ethic, cities, colour , ideologies history and are always despotic. They are
noted for hatred, wickedness, uncooperativeness, insincerity, dishonesty and sometimes
irresponsible (2000: 148)
It
is obvious that actions of bad leaders are obstacles to life, peace, security,
progress and development in any where they are in the world. They have made
many people to commit suicide and some to wish they had died a stillbirth. They
have destroyed millions of lives, caused wars and crises, insecurity of lives
and properties, retrogress and under development in all spheres of human
existence. Bad leadership is a hell in the world.
Tenth is bad thinking. Thinking as already indicated
is one of God’s endowments to man. It is the image and likeness of God he is
the only being bearing it in the world. Man is equally endowed with a free-will
by his Creator, which means even though he is created and sent to the world to
live, he is not there to act as a slave to anybody, anything and even to his Creator.
He is free to think his own thought, dream his own reams, sets up his goal,
determines the colour of his life, etc. But, although he has free-will to
choose how to live his life, he must comply with natural laws governing his
human nature. His activities that comply with laws of nature are positive and
attract gains and joys to him while those that do not attract punishment of
pains, miseries and sufferings.
Bad thinking is a great disaster any
person can inflict on himself or others. Bad thinking has made its perpetrators
to block their own way to success, destroy people’s opportunities, and wreck
their lives, homes, properties and destinies. It is the genesis of everything
wrong with man. It is the cause of hatred, injustice, dishonesty, murder,
quarrels, violence, segregation, suppression, oppression, dictatorship, wars,
poverty, backwardness, laziness and hell in the world. Bad thinking makes its
perpetrator a living dead and its victim to wish he or she had died a stillbirth.
Herod a bad thinker and king during the time Jesus was born eliminated all the
children born at that time in order to kill baby Jesus. He killed his wife and
his son as he doubted their support for his kingship Adolf Hitler afflicted on
humanity the second world war which destroyed millions of lives and a legion of
properties. Mobute Sese Seko, as a bad thinker and president of his country
Congo was richer than his country at the expense of citizens of his country
whom he made victims of underserved poverty. Bad thinking destroys fortunes and
promotes misfortunes.
Eleventh is abuse of God’s will. God is the Supreme Being
who created the entire world and every being in it. He is the Supreme Value
–the Value of all values. The first and last aim of man is to live and die according
to His will in the world. His will to mankind is for them to love their fellow
human beings as they love themselves; to treat others as they will like others
to treat them; to keep human stream running from generation to generation and
to live co-operative life in an atmosphere of peace, harmony, progress and
development. This is what God’s will to man means and connotes in all its
ramifications.
To abuse the God’s will by any man begins when he is
ignorant of who, whom, what, where, why and how he is and how to use what he
has to achieve the purpose of his life. Being ignorant of these relevant
aspects of his life he often hates his fellow human beings and treats them as
rejects. He often finds himself entertaining thoughts and engaging in activities
that dehumanized the face of the world and thus cause wars, crises, retrogress
and under development in human societies.
As
a result of abuse of God’s will, he applies and gets admitted and registered in
the school of make-believe. In that school given his excellent performance in
his courses such as superstition, mystery, assumption, belief, etc, he sees
himself as a tin-god initiating and co-coordinating actions of satans, wizards
and witchcrafts which are the graduates of his school. Such a man very much
concerned with these activities has no time to listen to his conscience, a true
God’s representative which is meant to guide him on what he is to do because it
is good and what he is to avoid because it is bad. This failure to listen to
his conscience has made him to abuse God’s will and thus destroy the purpose of
his life- journey in the world.
Comments
The
analysis of a being called man, his desires and living conditions in the world
has shown among other things that man is not in the world by accident but by
intention of his Creator . Man, being sent into the world by his Creator, it
means that he has a purpose to fulfill. For him to be satisfied with himself
and with his Creator he has to discover his purpose, identify himself with it,
draw a plan on how to achieve it, cultivate attitude relevant to its
attainment, focus his attention on it, think about it always and work
continuously with a view to achieving it.
As a person, who does not know where he is coming
from, will not know where he is, let alone where he is going. Man is already
aware that he is a being of another Being sent to the world to fulfill a
certain purpose. This purpose that man has come to achieve, according to
Socrates, is happiness. Happiness is a feeling of pleasure, contentment,
satisfaction, etc, resulting from successful fulfillment of certain task or
tasks. Man’s fundamental tasks, according to human nature supported by the Holy
Books are first, to keep the human stream running from generation to generation
and second, to create and maintain an atmosphere of peace, harmony, security,
progress and development. Successful
fulfillment of these tasks by anybody will result in the attainment of his or
her chief goal in life –happiness.
Experience has shown that for anybody to succeed in
achieving his particular or overall goal of life he or she has to be guided by
certain values. Man as a social being, who interacts with others and needs
their support to succeed in what he is pursuing, he must observe moral values
such as love, truth, justice, honesty, mercy, fellow feeling, compassion, trust,
integrity, patience, hope, etc. Strict observance of these values will help him
to live in peace, harmony and co-operation with his fellows whom certainly he
needs their help and they two need his too. He needs also to observe mental
values such as acquisition of knowledge and its right application which is
wisdom, dreaming, creative thinking, foresight, time, consciousness,
punctuality, becoming a success already in mind, sound mind, being at home with
ideas, etc. whatever man becomes in the mental or physical world he first of
all becomes that in the mental realm of ideas, that is, mind. Also he needs to
esteem highly material values such as food, clothing, housing, job, equipments,
money, books, communication, tools, etc. as they are necessities in his general
health.
For man to thrive in his filed of endeavour he needs
food to sustain his existence, clothing and housing for security and
protection, he needs job to provide the preceding needs and help others as a
social being. Books are a custody of ideas of great minds and other values and
they help anybody who seeks their
support to interact with great minds who will help him to discover seeds of
greatness in him. Books also serve as a bridge between the past, the present
and the future. Money is a very important resource in achieving some of man’s
needs. But money no matter its role in the realm of success should be seen and
treated as a means and never as an end. Anybody who treats money as an end and
worships it is bound to engage in corrupt acts which will damage his image
among his fellow human beings.
So for a man to succeed he has to know that he is the
architect of his own success or failure, his own fortune or misfortune. It is
left for him to choose to succeed or to fail. If chooses to succeed, he has to estimate, internalize and make his
way of living those positive values listed in the preceding part of this work such as love, truth,
honesty, trust, sincerity, compassion, mercy, kindness, purpose-oriented life,
knowledge, education, good health, creative thinking, patience, hope,
perseverance, punctuality, resources, God’s will, etc. His strict observance of
these positive values by anybody will ensure that his or her name is in the
list of successful people in the world. But if he chooses to observe the
negative values such as hatred, lie, dishonesty, wickedness, ignorance, abuse
of his resources, abuse of God’s will, laziness, idleness, blackmailing,
gossip, procrastination, purposeless life, shortcuts to success, crimes,
corruption, shortsightedness, selfishness, greediness, easy life, blaming of
others, fear, lack of self confidence, worship of money, etc, his name is
already in the list of failures in the world. So it is left for him to choose
to make or to mar his life- journey.
Conclusion
It
is obvious that among the existing beings in the world man is the most favoured
being. This is because he is the only being wearing the robe of image and
likeness of the Creator of the world and every being in it. While he shares
with other animals the gift of instincts which help them to sustain their
existence in the world, man equally has another gift –rationality which other
animals do not have. This rationality being the image and likeness of the
creator in him has given him an edge over other beings.
While other animals which depend on instinct alone
live a fixated life –living their life today as it was lived in the past, man
due to this special gift has been innovative in his living conditions in the
world. He has used it to discover his purpose in life –happiness, to discover
ways of living necessary to realize it. Through it, man has discovered that all
the resources he needs to live well and successfully are at his disposal. So it
is left for him to make good use of them and succeed or bad use of them and
fail.
It is clear that success in life is not something to
be wished into existence but something to be worked for. For that man has to
adopt positive values which experience has confirmed as necessities which must
be strictly observed by anybody who wants to succeed in life. He has to avoid
negative values which lead man to the avenue of failure. Success produced by
positive values is ever lasting while success produced by negative values is a
failure in disguise which the person concerned will feel ashamed to be
associated with.
From experience strict observance of these positives
values such as life of purpose, education, health, morality, etc, is very hard
due to social contaminations and distractions. But a man of principle who has
chosen a positive goal to live and die for must surely overpower them and reach
his destination. While negative values which emphasize short cuts to success such as
cornering what belongs to all, stealing,
robbery, blackmail, corruption, etc, are easy to be observed. But they are wreckers
of lives and destroyers of destinies. So adopt positive values and succeed in
your chosen field of endeavour or adopt negative values and become a reference
point in matters of failure. Happiness which is the chief goal of life, is not
something to be had on a platter of gold nor a manna to fall from heaven but
rather a fruit of man’s sweats to be had through strict observance of positive
values in all spheres of life.
Reference
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Austin (2003), Pearls of Inspiration, Lagos: Climax Publications Limited.
Dawaki,
Habu (2005), Shake Hands with Destiny, Nigeria: A Publication of Destiny Foundation.
Dawaki,
Habu (2005), There is a Place called TOMORROW, Nigeria: A Publication of Destiny Foundation.
Dyesiji,
A.G. (2000), How to succeed in life, Ibadan: Ago Publishing Company Limited.
MeMichael,
George (1974), Anthology of American
literature Vol. 1, NewYork: Macmillian Publishing
Co. Inc.
Omoregbe,
Joseph I. (2003), Knowing Philosophy, Lagos: Joja Educational Research and Publishers Ltd.
Ocho,
Lawrence O. (2005), Issues and Concerns in Education and life, Enugu: Institute
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O. Uduma (2000), The Fundamentals of Philosophy Abakaliki: WillyRose Apple Seed, Publishing Coy.