If only we could harness the mental or thinking power of Nigerians today, we could solve the gigantic problems plaguing our nation.
Not by appeals to prejudices, religious, tribal, and class differences, not by lying and hurling insults at each other, but by careful, painstaking, and scholarly thought, combined with wise and timely action, which is how this nation can be rescued, and some semblance of sanity and development restored.
Kindly excuse my asking this question, not in condescension or as patronizing, but as a well-intentioned tool for self-evaluation of what you do with your mind.
The first thing to remember is that where you are today is a function of what you have done and continue to do with your mind. In other words, how you think and what you think about. A solemn question to ask therefore is ‘Can you think, and what do you think about all the time?
The test of individual efficiency and usefulness to society centers on his ability to use his mind, and as mentioned in an earlier blog, the difference between your family doctor and your auto mechanic or security guard lies in their mind.
The future of any nation depends on education and thinking. Yet we have just witnessed a seven-month total shutdown of nearly all tertiary institutions in the country. The aggregate national thinking capacity lost to that shutdown can better be imagined than quantified.
The faculty and students, instead of being engaged in productive thinking, went into survival mode, and because the human mind can be occupied with only one thing at a time, no significant thinking took place. Those were seven months of academic decay and not spent doing much productive thinking and contributing to national development.
For this reason, every well-meaning citizen must now utilize whatever opportunity to strengthen their grip on knowledge and stimulate the mind for thinking, because it is the truth that set people free from ignorance and oppression, and the truth is available only to those who think. It takes thinking to contact the truth, which is why lies, fake news, conspiracy theories, and gaslighting define social media today. People are simply not thinking anymore.
One hardly needs a brain to post on social media these days. One needs only be able to identify a right-pointing arrow that depicts ‘FORWARD.’ Hardly does one even need to know how to read! Pictures, emojis, video clips, etc., and ‘boom’ you could become an influencer!! Most of what is on social media today proves the point that very little thinking is going on not only in Nigeria but in the world today.
However, the moment people begin to spend their time thinking, reading, and studying, instead of er than numbing their minds with social media, they begin to change their destinies by themselves as the mind begins to be productively occupied.
Remember that the mind abhors a vacuum. It can occupy itself with only one thing at a time. As the mind produces thoughts, it has no room for inconsequentials, and whatever the mind thinks about becomes a reality, for as he thinks in his heart (mind) so is he. Proverbs 23:17
No doubt, you can think, therefore please think, and think the right thoughts not only for your benefit but for that of your country. CAN YOU THINK?
James Aremu-Cole
If only we could harness the mental or thinking power of Nigerians today, we could solve the gigantic problems plaguing our nation.
Not by appeals to prejudices, religious, tribal, and class differences, not by lying and hurling insults at each other, but by careful, painstaking, and scholarly thought, combined with wise and timely action, which is how this nation can be rescued, and some semblance of sanity and development restored.
Kindly excuse my asking this question, not in condescension or as patronizing, but as a well-intentioned tool for self-evaluation of what you do with your mind.
The first thing to remember is that where you are today is a function of what you have done and continue to do with your mind. In other words, how you think and what you think about. A solemn question to ask therefore is ‘Can you think, and what do you think about all the time?
The test of individual efficiency and usefulness to society centers on his ability to use his mind, and as mentioned in an earlier blog, the difference between your family doctor and your auto mechanic or security guard lies in their mind.
The future of any nation depends on education and thinking. Yet we have just witnessed a seven-month total shutdown of nearly all tertiary institutions in the country. The aggregate national thinking capacity lost to that shutdown can better be imagined than quantified.
The faculty and students, instead of being engaged in productive thinking, went into survival mode, and because the human mind can be occupied with only one thing at a time, no significant thinking took place. Those were seven months of academic decay and not spent doing much productive thinking and contributing to national development.
For this reason, every well-meaning citizen must now utilize whatever opportunity to strengthen their grip on knowledge and stimulate the mind for thinking, because it is the truth that set people free from ignorance and oppression, and the truth is available only to those who think. It takes thinking to contact the truth, which is why lies, fake news, conspiracy theories, and gaslighting define social media today. People are simply not thinking anymore.
One hardly needs a brain to post on social media these days. One needs only be able to identify a right-pointing arrow that depicts ‘FORWARD.’ Hardly does one even need to know how to read! Pictures, emojis, video clips, etc., and ‘boom’ you could become an influencer!! Most of what is on social media today proves the point that very little thinking is going on not only in Nigeria but in the world today.
However, the moment people begin to spend their time thinking, reading, and studying, instead of er than numbing their minds with social media, they begin to change their destinies by themselves as the mind begins to be productively occupied.
Remember that the mind abhors a vacuum. It can occupy itself with only one thing at a time. As the mind produces thoughts, it has no room for inconsequentials, and whatever the mind thinks about becomes a reality, for as he thinks in his heart (mind) so is he. Proverbs 23:17
No doubt, you can think, therefore please think, and think the right thoughts not only for your benefit but for that of your country.
James Aremu-Cole