Africa and the Power of the Mind

AFRICA AND THE POWER OF THE MIND

Enoch O. OLAOYE

“If you want to hide something from the black man, put it in a book…”

The above saying elicits feelings of shame and inferiority in some people, feelings of pathos in others and even anger at the import of the statement.

What comes readily to mind when one hears this kind of saying is the idea that Africans do not read or are somewhat averse to the idea of learning by books.

There is yet a more subtle dilemma than the above which has plagued the African man for centuries and that shall be the focus of this paper.

The problem in my opinion is not so much the absence of the reading culture in the African setting as it is the reason for the absence of the reading culture in the first place.

Why don’t we read? This is a question that should plague every enlightened mind. Why is it that we are not as developed in philosophical issues as many other parts of the world? We know of Greek philosophy, western philosophy, Chinese, Asian and even Indian philosophy but we don’t have any African philosophy.

A simplistic answer may be that it is because we don’t read in the first place, but again there was some form of philosophy before writing came.

Philosophy has been passed down by oral means and indeed in Africa there are a lot of orally transmitted cultural perceptions and sayings but that apparently has still not solved the problem.

Why would I want to read if I am not looking for any information? This may give us some form of insight into the problem. Stories and moral lessons are passed down from generation to generation but something that cannot be passed down effectively without documentation is the underlying philosophy or the mental disposition of a man. The disposition or life long philosophy generally can only be got by reading many books from the same authors and very importantly the biography or autobiography of the person in question.

In my opinion, the real problem is that we don’t think a lot in the African setting. Anyone who doubts the gods is removed from the scene with such gusto as to deter any intending followers. Nobody has to explain anything, we just take things the way they are. We believe everything hook, line and sinker without asking more than a few questions if any in the first place. If we change our set of beliefs we resume the new set of beliefs with the same mind disposition as the former; that of a non-questioning, overly submissive mindset.

In a few cases, one enlightened mind delivers a lethal stab at the existing belief system and manages to succeed at converting a substantial amount of people but again that enlightened mind becomes venerated and