By Anote Ajeluorou
Man has always been swayed
one way or the other in search of what of the divine light and universal truth
should be. But on the path of this search is strewn many thorns that have
pierced him deeply to his own ruin. Religion that purports to hold the truth
has not helped matters as man has variously interpreted it to fit his own
selfish means thus subverting the very truth that ought to set man free from
errors. The result is a world mired in chaos, as men set up different standards
of behaviour at variance with the divine order.
How can man be brought back to his senses to
see that all religions urge the way to the same ideal: Truth? How can man
ensure harmony in a world made chaotic by his own actions or inactions? What is
man’s true source of wisdom and how can he acquire it? These are some of the
concerns of a new, inspirational book written by Charles Ayodeji Dada, The SAGE: Unto Thee Is Granted (Pyramid
Unit Publishers, Lagos; 2013).
Indeed, Dada’s The SAGE points the way for erring mankind, who has irretrievably
gone astray in pursuit of self. Dada avoids the usual path of being preachy,
but charts a seemingly poetic means to call man’s attention to that which he
desires most but seeks wrongly. Man’s ultimate quest for life after life is
self-affirming in his religious zeal to please a Higher Being. But how has man
gone about this quest and what harm hasn’t he contracted for himself and his
fellow man in the process? How then can man avoid the pitfalls that readily
dodge his footsteps in his quest?
Using the evocative, poetic rendition, Dada
approaches his subject by asking for divine inspiration, not unlike the
biblical prophets or poetic muse, so he could tell his truth infallibly, ‘To
point the way towards The Light’ for his fellow man. And, as he remarks before
Book One, ‘Before the beginning was the Truth’, which the poetic persona, the
Sage is made to experience the depths of suffering and torment before arriving
at the seat of wisdom from which he draws to teach and guide those around him
to the Light or divine gardens,
‘To write of pain/You will experience pain!.../To
write of hunger/You must know hunger!/Deeply, you will experience its ache!/To
write of poverty/You will languish within it!’
The
SAGE is couched in most part in devotee/teacher relationship, with the
teacher dishing out nuggets of wisdom to the pupils or devotees. And so when a
devotee asks, ‘…in what measures should we give of the TRUTH?’ in ‘A Useful
Admonition’, The Sage responds, ‘Without compromise! Unsparing, undiluted and
pungent!/Naked and plain./In other words-/In its most concentrated form!’
‘Footprints’ also paints a vivid picture of
how the world now works in relation to religious practices and other customs by
men in which the world goes one way because it is hip to do so whereas it is
actually on the wrong spiritual path, with the conclusion, ‘…hundreds of years
of history have irrefutably proven…/that the majority have always gone stray!’
No other piece than ‘Of the conflict’ perhaps
better illustrates the central theme of The
SAGE, where religious conflict, as currently ongoing in most part of the
world, is causing schisms among people who ought to live in harmony. But the
perceived differences among the world’s religions have pitched neighbor against
neighbor so much so that everyone wants to go their separate ways with his
followers. But when the people and even their leaders are required to choose
between religion and truth, they quickly settle for truth irrespective of their
religious affiliations. This prompts the Sage to say to the hypocritical religious
leaders, ‘You leaders recognise the Truth as One in time and space, yet decide to confine yourselves to rigid
pockets of religion!’
Also for the author, it’s the inability of
man to develop his spiritual self and preferring instead to concentrate on developing
the intellect that have caused man the greatest grief; it’s what has distanced
man from recognising the Truth. This intellectual development, the author
argues, has negatively interfered with man’s spiritual quest, as he sees
everything in the prism of intellect, which is usually in direct conflict with
the spiritual.
The Sage laments in response to a question,
“It’s the same fruit that man still eats today which separates him from the
Light!/...Developing only the
intellect whilst ignoring the intuition and the promptings of the spirit!’ Even
a professor, stuffed full with intellectualizing, mocks the existence of God!
Book Two of The SAGE is rendered in more prosaic language than Book One, but
continues on the same strain of illuminating the mind of man on the need to
seek after divine Truth. In this section also, the author is more direct in
urging man to devote himself to godly service, as there is yet a life after
this earthly one, where man is required to perfect his ways before he breathes
his last. The first piece, ‘Noah’s Ark’ of a young man ringing the bell of the
kingdom of God and asking people to repent sums up the urgency of the end times
and the need for man to mind his ways so he would be on the same wave-length
with his Creator. The Sage sums it up thus, ‘So was Noah considered a lunatic…
until the rains came pouring down!’
A more vivid example is where a man’s earthly
sojourn and his actions are played back to him in a video in what the author
considers the last judgment in the piece titled ‘The great beyond and the
playback’: ‘There were several instances in which many, who had been considered
pious by their fellow men on earth, flung themselves unto the screen in a bid
to hide their activities from the onlookers.’ He says, ‘There was absolutely no
human spirit that had a suitable defence. This
was self testifying against self! This in fact was the judgment! The many
spirits watched the replay of their lives could intuitively perceive whether or
not they were worthy… to enter the luminous gardens!’
Doubtless, Dada’s The SAGE is a fascinating book to read; it forces the reader to
reflect on his own life and examine where he is in relation to big spiritual
questions of the day. Although it’s a book that deals in the realm of religion,
it’s done with a philosophic touch that looks at the man’s life through a
mirror the Sage holds up for him. While not being preachy, Dada makes salient
statements about the condition of man, especially these days of religious
strife and untruths raging all over the world. It’s only by knowing what the
truth is that man can ultimately be set free, as the Nazarene once admonished.
Too often, religion has been used as a tool in the hands of ‘intellectualizing’
man to cause woes to his fellow man. But the truth religion has so easily spun,
according to the author, will eventually be the healing balm to man.
The
SAGE is an urgent call to man to come to his senses in these times of grave
religious intolerance and chaos.
