By: Most Rev Prof Godfrey Onah (Catholic Bishop of Nsukka)
lgbo culture is undergoing rapid and profound transformation. I am
however not too sure that this transformation is for the better. Our culture is
not only about mmonwu and our colourful dresses. It is not only about our
funeral rites and marriage ceremonies (already deformed beyond recognition in
many parts of Igboland). It is not only about our beautiful, vibrant dances and
appetizing dishes. Our culture is also about the way we grow our crops and
preserve our food; the way we organize our social life and manage tension. Our
culture is also about the way we educate our children. Our culture is,
especially, about the values we cherish and how we transmit them to future
generations. Our culture is what we make of all with which God has endowed us;
what we make of our nature as humans within our particular environment and
history as a people. What we are is God’s gift to us. What we become is our
gratitude to God and our contribution to humanity. Who will ask questions about
which values in our culture are real values and which are only apparent?
Intellectuals. Who will ask questions about how to preserve, purify and
transmit our real values in a fast changing society? Intellectuals. Who will
imagine better ways of doing old things? Intellectuals. Who are those
day-dreamers who will invent things which others have so far thought
impossible, discover vaccines for apparently incurable diseases, solve life
riddles considered insoluble? Intellectuals. Who are those who will find
natural solutions to those natural problems which our people have up till now
attributed to ogwu and amosu? Intellectuals. Who will figure out a system of
social organization adapted to our circumstances, which will increase public
participation in governance, restore social and political power to our women,
check corruption and foster peace and security? Intellectuals. If all these are
not development, Ladies and Gentlemen, I do not know what else is.
Intellectuals have done and continue to do these things elsewhere. There is no
reason to suppose they cannot do them here. No one is suggesting that
intellectuals or intellectualism alone can solve all the problems of humanity
or lead our people to the “promised land.” But without their input, we can only
get worse, not better. The intellectual, of course, needs the hands of the
labourer and the technician, the funds of the businessman, the decisional power
of the politician, the prayer and admonitions of the priest, the support of
all. Otu aka adighi eke ngwugwu (no one can wrap a parcel with only one hand).
No intellectual among us should think that he or she can make it alone. In our present circumstances, with the paucity of means and the indifference (sometimes outright hostility) of governments, the intellectuals need to work together if they hope to achieve anything and walk together if they wish to get anywhere. This does not mean that they have to agree on every issue. In fact, unanimity among intellectuals is suspect. I agree with Richard Hofstadter when he says: “The criticism of other intellectuals is, after all, one of the most important functions of the intellectual, and he customarily performs it with vivacity. We may hope, but we can hardly expect, that he will also do it with charity, grace, and precision. Because it is the business of intellectuals to be diverse and contrary-minded, we must accept the risk that at times they will be merely quarrelsome.”
Furthermore it is not really the mere increase in the number of intellectuals in lgboland that will promote development in the area, but rather the creation of an atmosphere, a mentality, that encourages the intellectual vocation for those who wish to undertake it and takes seriously the questions intellectuals ask as well as the answers they proffer. This, as I have noted earlier, is what I mean by intellectualism. A favourable attitude to intellectualism in Igboland will make it touch and possibly rub off on the various facets of life in our area, leaving some of its fragrance.
With the alarming increase in superstition and religious sentimentalism among our people, Christians as well as traditional religionists, we need religious intellectualism to help believers separate the grains from the chaff in their religious belief and practice. The distinction often made between faith and reason could lead to distortions. Human beings are religious beings only because and so long as they are rational beings. Faith is a rational act and cannot be required of irrational beings. To believe is to accept that someone or something has meaning or makes sense, even though one may not be able to explain how. “It is wrong,” says Okere, “not realize to what extent true religion is essentially a matter of the mind. After all the very first commandment says that we should worship God with all our heart and all our mind… The most profound and sincere homage we can pay to God and to religion is the homage of our African mind. It ought to be noted that the heart in Hebrew thought (as in most ancient traditions) is not the seat of sentiments but of knowledge and moral judgment.
There seems to be a deliberate attempt by many of our people today to exclude the mind and the heart entirely from religion. This “mindless” and “heartless” religion of fear and superstition, of crowds and noises, of casting and binding, degrades religion, breeds fanatics, impoverishes and anesthetizes the people, enriches some ministers, and keeps our land underdeveloped. We need religious intellectualism as a matter of urgency.
Similarly, we need to inject sufficient doses of intellectualism into our political class and business community. We have so far had too many instances of half-educated persons and even stark illiterates “representing” us at the various levels and arms of government. Some of them, not content with enriching themselves and their political cronies alone, work against the interests of the people as well. Granted that this may be a question of moral probity and not just an intellectual issue, nevertheless, in the fight against moral decadence, intellectual education is a better ally than ignorance.
No intellectual among us should think that he or she can make it alone. In our present circumstances, with the paucity of means and the indifference (sometimes outright hostility) of governments, the intellectuals need to work together if they hope to achieve anything and walk together if they wish to get anywhere. This does not mean that they have to agree on every issue. In fact, unanimity among intellectuals is suspect. I agree with Richard Hofstadter when he says: “The criticism of other intellectuals is, after all, one of the most important functions of the intellectual, and he customarily performs it with vivacity. We may hope, but we can hardly expect, that he will also do it with charity, grace, and precision. Because it is the business of intellectuals to be diverse and contrary-minded, we must accept the risk that at times they will be merely quarrelsome.”
Furthermore it is not really the mere increase in the number of intellectuals in lgboland that will promote development in the area, but rather the creation of an atmosphere, a mentality, that encourages the intellectual vocation for those who wish to undertake it and takes seriously the questions intellectuals ask as well as the answers they proffer. This, as I have noted earlier, is what I mean by intellectualism. A favourable attitude to intellectualism in Igboland will make it touch and possibly rub off on the various facets of life in our area, leaving some of its fragrance.
With the alarming increase in superstition and religious sentimentalism among our people, Christians as well as traditional religionists, we need religious intellectualism to help believers separate the grains from the chaff in their religious belief and practice. The distinction often made between faith and reason could lead to distortions. Human beings are religious beings only because and so long as they are rational beings. Faith is a rational act and cannot be required of irrational beings. To believe is to accept that someone or something has meaning or makes sense, even though one may not be able to explain how. “It is wrong,” says Okere, “not realize to what extent true religion is essentially a matter of the mind. After all the very first commandment says that we should worship God with all our heart and all our mind… The most profound and sincere homage we can pay to God and to religion is the homage of our African mind. It ought to be noted that the heart in Hebrew thought (as in most ancient traditions) is not the seat of sentiments but of knowledge and moral judgment.
There seems to be a deliberate attempt by many of our people today to exclude the mind and the heart entirely from religion. This “mindless” and “heartless” religion of fear and superstition, of crowds and noises, of casting and binding, degrades religion, breeds fanatics, impoverishes and anesthetizes the people, enriches some ministers, and keeps our land underdeveloped. We need religious intellectualism as a matter of urgency.
Similarly, we need to inject sufficient doses of intellectualism into our political class and business community. We have so far had too many instances of half-educated persons and even stark illiterates “representing” us at the various levels and arms of government. Some of them, not content with enriching themselves and their political cronies alone, work against the interests of the people as well. Granted that this may be a question of moral probity and not just an intellectual issue, nevertheless, in the fight against moral decadence, intellectual education is a better ally than ignorance.
Aside from the issue of development, for our survival in Nigeria today,
we, Ndigbo, need to pay more attention to the cultivation of the intellect than
we are doing at the moment. We owe it to ourselves and to the rest of Nigeria.
We have the brains. We have the institutions. What is holding us back? What do
we lack? Not the money, but the will. The will to stop being slaves in our own
land and become masters of our destiny. The will to glorify God and enrich
humanity with our best asset. The will to start proclaiming our worth and stop
bemoaning our woes. The will to set high goals for ourselves and transform them
quickly into new starting points. The will to use the divine power in us to
subdue the earth rather than worship some of its intimidating features. The
will to collaborate with God and make his image in us shine in all its
splendour. The cultivation of the intellect is therefore not optional for
Ndigbo, and those who are already .engaged in it should realize that they are
pursuing a noble vocation.
Thank you for your patience!
No comments:
Post a Comment