Who you are is in you. Living outside yourself isn’t normal. It means you are a queer person. It means that your life is devoid of meaning. For such a person, life is meaningless. It can be painful when one feels fulfilled outside but not spiritually fulfilled. An unreal person loves noisy world. He reinforces himself by the comments people make about him in the social world where what they say may not be inspired by the gospel values. Such people are happy when they make negative comments to discourage their opponents, especially those who are not on the same wavelength as them. They say unhygienic things to attract attention. They are always overdressed for any gathering. Their method of processing what people say is from a negative channel. They are not happy until they make others unhappy. They are always on rampage to create disorder where people gather to make decision for the sustainable development of their community or society. Outside Robert Greene’s 48 laws of power, the rationale behind their bizarre behaviours and actions is not known.
May be it is lack of awareness of the inner self. Once we lack knowledge of our inner self, we lose focus. We cannot be happy when we look for happiness outside Jesus values. You cannot find happiness through a change of location. It is the inner self that brings peace.Man must examine the painful experience of life and rediscover himself. The inner self must be intact. The Greek thinker and philosopher, Socrates warned that: “the unexamined life is not worth-living”. Another great writer says “the greatest tragedy is not death, but living a life without a purpose”. We live as if we are alone but the only one capable of changing the world is the one inspired by good values. Former American president, Ronald Reagan once said: “we are too great to limit ourselves to small dreams” we must not allow our little ways of reasoning to deceive us. Man thinks in two polarities because one-sided way of thinking is jaundiced. Our thoughts must be influenced by the spiritual.
The social should not dominate the spiritual otherwise, man experiences alienation of self. Self alienation is very disastrous to man’s growth. Many people do not want to look at their past to draw lessons from it. They are afraid of what they might discover. A German theologian, Dietrich Bonhoffer says, “I find it cowardly to look at the past rationally”. Is it because what I find makes me feel bad about myself? But proper examination of my past can lead to selfdiscovery and self- growth. Instead of using people to build up our ego, we should have confidence in ourselves and rebuild the self shattered by our refusal to consult with our inner self. There is no way we can find happiness outside ourselves. The inner self is the effective means of doing things in the right way. We cannot be effective when we destabilize things, when we create confusion or divide the society into two so that we can be a leader of one part.
Of course that is negative leadership. Politicians should be aware of this. Helen Keller says: “Alone we can do so little, together we can do so much”. Unity is strength. Great leaders are team leaders that create team climate where others can succeed. When there is success in a group, People celebrate. We cannot boast that we are educated unless it is acknowledged and recognized by the people. Education without the development of the inner self is a theory. Theory has no place in the social world and in particular the Christian world unless it is practiced. Awareness of the inner self and the world leads to understanding each other, including our enemies. We must comfort ourselves and ask why we run away from what we think frightens us in people? We must reflect on this question if we want to grow and contribute meaningfully in the society.
It is wrong to think of a new location by forming your own group where you can be happy because you have perspective. Our way of seeing things can bring sanity into our lives. This makes us acceptable to the community instead of leaving ourselves to cling to few individuals who are not prepared to see reason in a positive way but only in their myopic way. We should be in touch with our neglected self and grow so that we can accept ourselves and others. The world of negative minds should not be our world. We are not born to discourage people or plot against people. We are born to work together and change the world around us.
• Very Rev. Monsignor Livinus Ukah is a Catholic Priest, Author of several books and Social Justice Advocate.
