Words are like Fiery Darts

With the recent happenings around the world, the Trump saga, refugee matters and so on, the speech I gave around this time last year, during the Toastmasters International Speech contest came to mind. The title of my speech was “Words are Like Fiery Darts“. It won the Club contest and I gave the same speech during the Area Contest were I came second. The speech was about how the words of a lady I met, during a period of self discovery, impacted my life. It also shed light on the importance of watching the words we use when interacting with others.

The speech started with a quote and went thus:

Words are like fiery darts covered in an invisible agent that reveals its nature on absorption in the mind of the receiver. The true nature of the released agent is reflected in the state of the recipient. This is either a state of contraction (feeling of worthlessness) or a state of expansion (passion for life).  – Ade

Mr. Chair, fellow Toastmasters and most welcomed guests.

How many of you know someone or have heard of someone who was crushed by the misuse of spoken or written words? Many have been bullied and some have committed suicide due to wrong choice of words directed at them. We’ve heard of the case of Amanda Todd the young bright girl who committed suicide due to bullying on the internet. We have also seen people in this century who have changed our world through their words. For example Martin Luther King  who said “I have a dream” and by those words changed the landscape of America, or Steve Jobs who said “Design is not just what it looks like and feels like, design is how it works” and he revolutionized our world with Apple.

To put some perspective on how powerful words can be in shaping our lives, I would like to share this abridged email message with you.

Email sent on December 28, 2013

Hello, it was a pleasure meeting you during your visit to Vancouver on Dec 9, 2013. I know you meet quite a number of people and will definitely not remember me.

The reason for my contacting you is to ask for your advice on how to overcome some challenges I am facing. I am a very shy and introverted person and I do not enjoy being in the midst of a crowd. Can work on my own but when it comes to expressing myself among strangers my natural self-kicks in. I shy away from situations that bring focus or attention on me.

 I have been working on this but cannot seem to overcome the challenge. Now thinking of joining the Toastmasters or participating in the Dale Carnegie Course. I am not sure if such secular organizations are useful but I just want to break out of this limiting natural shyness of mine. Just even thinking about doing this gives me the fright.

By the way, I even dread organizing public birthday parties for my daughter. I prefer having the party with her, my wife and myself rather than having other people around for the party.

 I am not sure if you have come across an issue as mine and I was wondering about the advise you gave or how such people overcame this situation.

 Sorry for disturbing you but I just feel safe reaching out to you.

 End of email.

Would you be surprised if I told you it was I who sent that email on Dec. 28, 2013? Yes, that was me after I met Isabel Allum on the night of Dec. 9, 2013. How many of you know Isabel Allum? How many of you know Justin Bieber? Isabel is someone you might call a Prophetess, if you are a christian. This is someone who has the gift of revelation and can declare the potentials in an individual.

When Justin was still about 10 years old and his single mum was living on food stamp; Isabel used to tell Justin and the mum that Justin would become great in the artistic world and that they would travel far and wide. The mum held on to those words but when she shared those words with others on the food stamp line; they mocked her for believing such words. Fast forward few years and we all know the rest of the story.

Most of you do not know Isabel Allum. When I met Isabel she told me certain things I already knew and some things that seem way out of reach and I felt like the young lion cub who lost his mother and was raised by Mama sheep. All along the cub thought he was a sheep until he heard the majestic roar of the lion king and something in him awakened. Isabel awakened something in me but there was this gap between where I was and the potential. I was hoping that she would tell me what to do. Though I wasn’t sure she would reply my email but she did. Her reply, I believe, was golden. I read:

“Hi Ade, Ivan (this is her husband) is a strong introvert and used to be like you. He however has learned to be an extrovert in order to fulfill his destiny. He can function in both settings now. Blessings! Isabel”

Though the response was not much, for me that was all I needed to know. That it was truly possible for one to move from this state of shyness to another state. Come January 2014, I stepped into my first Toastmaster Club and the rest is now history.

Words are powerful and can change the cause of a life or a nation for that matter. Each one of us carries a weapon in our tongue which can build or destroy.

Fellow Toastmasters, I would like to encourage us to leave everyone we meet with an impression of increase. Though we might not have the gift of Isabel but we have our voice to speak good things to people; the uplifting words we say might be that catalyst that will propel someone to greatness.

End of speech.

Epilogue

It was Steve Jobs who said: “You can’t connect the dots looking forward you can only connect them looking backwards“. This is true in my case. When I look back at where I was at that moment in time and through the meeting with Isabel and her simple reply to my “cry” I can see how powerful inspired human words can shape the direction of a life.

The very fact that you are reading these words is a testament of this fact and I hope you would in your own way empower everyone you meet for you never know that might be the seed that blossoms in the life of that person.

See you at the mountain top!
Ade

P.S. Comment below if you have been impacted either by written or spoken words that has, in one way or the other, shaped who you are becoming.

P.P.S. Want support in discovering and building your dreams?

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The Subjective Prejudice of over 200 years!

I recently saw an article about a comment made against USA First Lady, Michele Obama. The sad truth is that this type of attitude or behavior will continue because some people are moved to act out the subjective pattern lodged in their subconscious mind without knowing what they are doing or why they are doing it.

What do I mean by this? You see, we have to go back to the slave trade of over 200 years to have a better insight of the happenings that we see in our world today. Some might say – “but slavery was abolished several years ago”. Yes, but the subjective pattern set in motion still operates like an invisible “operating system” in the soul of humanity.

That is the real damage done to this race…the act had to be justified during the period of the trade. They could not have kept the trade going on for more than two centuries without a very strong emotional propaganda to justify the act. This thought process mixed with feelings of prejudice is still lodged in the soul of mankind. Pause and think about it for a moment; the dastardly trade did not go on for two years or a decade but for over 200 years!

No wonder, those without “understanding” of the workings of the mind act out “like a good actor or actress” the script lodged “deep” in the subconscious mind. They are unconsciously compelled; they are nothing more than puppets pulled by the string of the race mind. Like grooves formed in a record plate, this deep-seated ideology in their consciousness emerges when stimulated by an outside stimuli. The world sees their true nature as shown in the unwarranted tirade against the First Lady of America.

What is the way forward?

So, how does a person of African descent navigate this treacherous “race mind” field? The subjective prejudice field. First, I believe we should STOP referring to ourselves as Blacks…for me I have stopped referring to myself by this word and I correct anybody that refers to me, using a color that I AM not, to describe me. This might seem irrelevant or trivial to the uninitiated. But, as a student of the mind, one has to be conscious of what one is consenting to or agreeing to – I’ll talk more about this at a later time. To overcome an ideology of a subjective nature you have to deal with it subjectively. One has to have an understanding of the workings of the mind both on a spiritual and psychological perspective.

Honestly, someone of African heritage without a deep and constant growth in his or her awareness of the laws of the mind is doing a disservice to themselves. That person will be buffeted here and there by the race mind. You see the race mind that was set in motion during the slavery period operates like an invisible law. It would subjugate a person without understanding to act according to this pattern. The lighter skin person might feel he or she is superior whilst the darker skin person might also unconsciously feel inferior or think the pigment of his skin determines how high he or she can progress in life.

My Observation – Subjective Prejudice

In few conversations I had with some people of African lineage I hear such statements that place the other group on a higher pedestal without them knowing that they are calling into motion the Law of Life that says “Unto him that hath shall be given, and from him that hath not shall be taken away that which he hath”. No wonder their life depicts misery and hopelessness. Some do this unconsciously and do not know they are selling their birthright and by law get what they sow.

Let me share with you the operation of this law by this story told by Neville. This is a true life story about an event that happened sometime in 1953. It was about a man of African descent. I left, as is, the word Negro in the story  but I believe this word should be eliminated from the dictionary because it is laced in prejudice:

A few years ago in this city I was giving a series of lectures down near that lake – I can’t even recall the name of the lake but it was Parkview Manor was the place where I spoke. In that audience was a gentleman who sought an audience before the meeting. And we went across the street into the little park there, and he said to me that he had an insoluble problem. I said, “There is no such thing as an insoluble problem.” But, he said, “you do not know my problem. It’s not a state of health, I assure you; it is look at the skin that I wear”. I said, “What’s wrong with it; it looks lovely to me”. He said, “Look at the pigment of my skin. I, by the accident of birth, am now discriminated against. The opportunities for progress in this world are denied me just because of the accident of birth that I was born a colored man.

Opportunities for advancement in every field, neighborhoods that I would like to live in and raise a family I couldn’t move in, where I would like to open up a business I couldn’t move into that area.”

Then I told him my own personal experience that I came to this country. Well, I didn’t have that problem but I was a foreigner in the midst of all Americans. I didn’t find it difficult. “Yet”, as he reminded me, “but that’s not my problem, Neville. Others have come here speaking with an accent, but they haven’t my skin, and I was born an American”.

Then I told him an experience of mine in New York City. If I were called upon to name a man that I would consider my teacher, I would name Abdullah. I studied with that gentleman for five years. He had the same color skin, the same pigment as this gentleman. He would never allow anyone to refer to him as a colored man. He was very proud of being a Negro didn’t want any modification of what God had made him. He turned to me and he said, “Have you ever seen a picture of the Sphinx?” I said, “Yes”. He said, “It embodies the four fixed quarters of the universe. You have the lion, the eagle the bull and man. And here is man that is the head. The crown of that creature called the Sphinx, which still defies man’s knowledge to unriddle it, was crowned with a human head. And look carefully at the head, Neville, and you will see whoever modeled that head must have been a Negro. Whoever modeled it had the face of a Negro and if that still defies man’s ability to unravel it, I am very proud that I am a Negro.” I have seen scientists, doctors, lawyers, bankers, from every walk of life seek an audience with old Abdullah. Everyone who came thought themselves honored to be admitted to his home and to receive an interview. If he was ever invited out, and he was, he was always the honored guest.

He said, “Neville, you must first start with self. Find self, don’t be ashamed ever of the being who you are. Discover it and start the changing of that self”. Well, I told this gentleman exactly what Abdullah had taught me. That there was no cause outside of the arrangement of his own mind.

If he was discriminated against, it was not because of the pigment of his skin, though he showed me signs as large as all outdoors denying him access to a certain area. The sign is there only because in the minds of some men such patterns are formed and they draw unto themselves what now they would condemn; that there is no power outside the mind of man to do anything to man, and he by the arrangement of his own mind, by consenting to these restrictions in his cradle and being conditioned slowly through his youth, waking into manhood believing himself set upon would have to be set upon, but “no man cometh unto me save I call him”. So then someone comes to condemn or to praise. They couldn’t come unless I call them. Not a man called Neville, but that secret being that is not called Neville. The secret being that is the sum total of all of my beliefs , all of the things that I consent to, that form a pattern of structure, that secret being draws unto itself things in harmony with itself. Well, that man went away and wrestled with himself.

He couldn’t believe everything I told him, not that night, but last Sunday morning in the lobby, he came forward and we renewed the friendship. He took me next door to show me the fruit of this teaching. He said, “Neville, it took me almost three years to really overcome that fixed idea that I, by the accident of birth, would be a secondary citizen, but I overcame it. Now here is my office on Wilshire Boulevard. I picked this one not because it was the only one offered; four equally wonderful spots were offered me. I took this one because it had greater telephone facilities, but the others were equally good. Now here is my office.

Now you couldn’t judge my income from this office, lovely as it is. Everything is nice about it, but, Neville, this year I will net a quarter of a million dollars”. Well in America that is still a fabulous sum of money. It would be staggering in any other part of the world, but even in fabulous America a man to net a quarter of a million is really up in the very highest of brackets. And that was the man that a few years ago told me the whole vast world was against him by reason of the accident of birth.

He knows now he is what he is by virtue of the state of consciousness with which he is identified, and the choice is his to go back to the restrictions of his childhood when he believed the story or to continue in the freedom that he has found.”

Time to Awake from the Subjective Prejudice

Just like the law of gravity, it does not matter whether one agrees with the law or not. It supports those who obey it and punishes those who disobey it. Period! I am proud to be an African. I look forward to the day when this race would once again stand tall and not be mocked due to some past subjective prejudice. This would not come easy unless victory is first won internally and then projected externally.

It is time to wake up and shake off these subjective shackles. Take your rightful position if you are not already doing it. If you are already doing it, kudos to you, now step up the game. Lift another up, in your minds eye, that is struggling in this area and by so doing you are indirectly lifting yourself to a higher plane.

To your awakening.
Ade

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