KENEZIAN MEDITATIONS ON STAYING ALIVE BY EACH INDIVIDUAL IS A COMPULSORY SERVICE

In English UK

My dear fellow human beings, have you ever realised that our individual gestation and birth is not optional. From the moment of conception in our mother’s womb till our burial is a compulsory race we run every second of everyday of our span of existence in this mundane world without any options. May be that is why each of us really cries at birth but keep quiet at the final cessation of each individual life, which we call death. Our eyes are never satisfied by seeing new things nor our ears tired of hearing hourly or daily news all our lifespan….Can anyone born of a woman, of whatever race, creed or social stats do any of these and survive ?? …

·        Refuse to breathe in nature’s fuel and live without inhaling oxygen and exhaling carbon dioxide for more than 5 minutes

·        Refuse to drink in nature’s clean water or other alternatives for  more than 5 days only

·        Exist without ingesting any natural fruits, leaves and roots or other food supplements for 5 weeks

·        Deny oneself of periodical relaxation, night sleep or other rest periods for 5 months

·        Refuse to perspire, spit out saliva or urinate when nature decrees so for more than 24 hours

·        Control anal excretion of waste products without needing a laxative for more than 72 hours 
Finally, who can consciously withhold the eyelids from blinking for more than 30 seconds

The list is inexhaustible, but these examples are enough to convince even the atheist, if one really exists, of Creation.

Being born into this world and fighting to stay alive is a compulsory injunction as the Almighty Creator  decrees so;

“Onye gbube achara  onye gbube; Onye akpona ibeya  Onye ikoli” is an Igbo warrior’s song that literally means  “Let each person zealously cut grass in the field during manual labour; Let no one call the other  a prisoner” “Oke eweghi akwu, uzu enweghi akwu, uwa bu olili, onye norisia onaa ba”, meaning “The rat does not own the palm nuts, the squirrel doesn’t either, the world is an excursion, after we visit and stay awhile, we shall all go.” Who really knows what follows this conscripted military service as it were, where do we go next, is it to rest or to graduate into another compulsory life?

Dr J. K.Danmbaezue, a.k.a Rev. Prof. J. J. Kenez needs answers.

WHAT WAS THE GENESIS OF THIS WILD RUMINATION BY THIS INQUISITIVE THEOSOPHIST

In my voracious reading sprees as an inquisitive adolescent, the first person I came across that asked a similar question was the biblical legendary Job, I think. So, be patient with me as I ransack my medulla oblongata for veritable reorientation of the genesis of this my soliloquy.

Job 3:20 ¶ Wherefore is light given to him that is in misery, and life unto the bitter in soul;

Job 6:11 What is my strength, that I should hope? and what is mine end, that I should prolong my life?

Job 7:7 ¶ O remember that my life is wind: mine eye shall no more see good. {shall...: Heb. shall not return} {see: to see, that is, to enjoy}

Job 7:15 So that my soul chooseth strangling, and death rather than my life. {life: Heb. bones}

Job 9:21 Though I were perfect, yet would I not know my soul: I would despise my life.

Job 10:1 ¶ My soul is weary of my life; I will leave my complaint upon myself; I will speak in the bitterness of my soul. {weary...: or, cut off while I live}

 Job 10:12 Thou hast granted me life and favour, and thy visitation hath preserved my spirit.

Job 12:10 In whose hand is the soul of every living thing, and the breath of all mankind. {soul: or, life} {all...: Heb. all flesh of man}

Job 13:14 Wherefore do I take my flesh in my teeth, and put my life in mine hand?

Job 24:22 He draweth also the mighty with his power: he riseth up, and no man is sure of life. {no...: or, he trusteth not his own life}

Job 33:4 The Spirit of God hath made me, and the breath of the Almighty hath given me life.

Job 33:18 He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from perishing by the sword. {from perishing: Heb. from passing}

Job 33:20 So that his life abhorreth bread, and his soul dainty meat. {dainty...: Heb. meat of desire}

  Job 33:22 Yea, his soul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers.

 Job 33:28 He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and his life shall see the light. {He...: or, He hath delivered my soul, etc, and my life}

Job 36:6 He preserveth not the life of the wicked: but giveth right to the poor. {poor: or, afflicted}

 Job 36:14 They die in youth, and their life is among the unclean. {They...: Heb. Their soul dieth} {unclean: or, sodomites}

Job 38:39 Wilt thou hunt the prey for the lion? or fill the appetite of the young lions, {the appetite: Heb. the life}

I am not a fanatic of the legends the Israelites formulated after arrogating to themselves, THE CHOSEN PEOPLE, then their Moses introduced the first bifurcation of humanity into CLEAN and UNCLEAN CHILDREN OF THE SAME God of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Wait a minute, are we sure they accept the same God created us in the first place. Then, they gave us THE GENTILES the compilation of their copyrighted fables, legends, doctrines and dogmas.

And to date, most of us swallow them. But as an honest student, I cannot deny them their intelligence in providing us BOOKS OF WISDOM. I READ, CRAM, INGEST, AND REGURGITATE THOSE THAT APPEAL TO ME. Do I have an option? What other ethnic group has dared provide ALTERNATIVES without fighting crusades or jihads, the fallouts of which were the Two World Wars and currently SELECTED ETHNIC CLEANSING going on all over our so called GLOBAL VILLAGE. See what the same God's People are doing to the Palestinians,their ancestral blood brother, IS THAT HOW TO DEMONSTRATE BEING CHOSEN BY GOD, TELL ME.

NON-STOP HUMAN MACHINES WE CANNOT CONTROL

With the current fund of scientific knowledge, we now realise that once the heartbeat starts, its regularity may increase or reduce but can never be stopped. In fact, it is the fluctuations in heart that we call pulse rate that the sphygmanometer reads and thus its study and expertise feeds most cardiologists. Same goes for other divinely ordained functions we perform, awake of asleep; namely BREATHING, EXCRETION, GROWTH, HEARTBEAT, IRRITABILITY, MOVEMENT, NUTRUITION and SEXUAL REPRODUCTION which is optional.

Can we opt out? If you can, what are you waiting for? Or else tell us what you are afraid of all these years you have been sorrowing, failing and passing tests of survival?. Is it suicide, you fear? So, my dear brothers and sisters, join me as I scan my medulla oblongata for answers from all fields of knowledge and human endeavours.

IS LIFE REALLY NOT A FORCE SERVICE IMPOSED BY THE CREATOR THAT ALL HUMANS HAVE NO OPTIONS BUT TO LIVE

 

CONSIDER THESE SUPERNATURAL MACHINES THAT WORK NON-STOP TO ENSURE WE DO NOT DISOBEY

1.  THE HEART BEAT, which informs a woman that she is truly pregnant, starts in the embryo. The early formation of the heart begins in the pharyngeal, or throat, region. The first visible indication of the embryonic heart occurs in the undifferentiated mesoderm, the middle of the three primary layers in the embryo, as a thickening of invading cells. An endocardial (lining) tube of flattened cells subsequently forms and continues to differentiate until a young tube with forked anterior and posterior ends arises. As differentiation and growth progress, this primitive tube begins to fold upon itself, and constrictions along its length produce four primary chambers. These are called, from posterior to anterior, the sinus venosus, atrium, ventricle, and truncus arteriosus. The characteristic bending of the tube causes the ventricle to swing first to the right and then behind the atrium, the truncus coming to lie between the sideways dilations of the atrium. It is during this stage of development and growth that the first pulsations of heart activity begin. Regular beating of the heart , which continues intermittently till death is achieved as a result of the inherent rhythmicity of cardiac muscle; no nerves are located within the heart itself, and no outside regulatory mechanisms are necessary to stimulate the muscle to contract rhythmically. That these rhythmic contractions originate in the cardiac muscle can be substantiated by observing cardiac development in the embryo; cardiac pulsations begin before adequate development of nerve fibres. In addition, it can be demonstrated in the laboratory that even fragments of cardiac muscle in tissue culture continue to contract rhythmically. Furthermore, there is no gradation in degree of contraction of the muscle fibres of the heart, as would be expected if they were primarily under nervous control.

2.  RESPIRATION, in air-breathing vertebrates, either of the two large organs of respiration located in the chest cavity and responsible for adding oxygen to and removing carbon dioxide from the blood is the most easily observed sign that we are alive. In humans each lung is encased in a thin membranous sac called the pleura, and each is connected with the trachea (windpipe) by its main bronchus (large air passageway) and with the heart by the pulmonary arteries. The lungs are soft, light, spongy, elastic organs that normally, after birth, always contain some air. If healthy, they will float in water and crackle when squeezed; diseased lungs sink. Each lung is divided into lobes separated from one another by a tissue fissure. The right lung has three major lobes; the left lung, which is slightly smaller because of the asymmetrical placement of the heart, has two lobes. Internally, each lobe further subdivides into hundreds of lobules. Each lobule contains a bronchiole and affiliated branches, a thin wall, and clusters of alveoli. In addition to respiratory activities, the lungs perform other bodily functions. Through them, water, alcohol, and pharmacologic agents can be absorbed and excreted. Normally, almost a quart of water is exhaled daily; anaesthetic gases such as ether and nitrous oxide can be absorbed and removed by the lungs. The lung is also a true metabolic organ. It is involved in the synthesis, storage, transformation, and degradation of a variety of substances, including pulmonary surfactant, fibrin, and other functionally diverse molecules (i.e., histamine, angiotensin, and prostaglandins).

3.  HORMONES are the Creator’s disciplinary officers that work round the clock in our short span of existence. A hormone is an organic substance secreted by plants and animals that functions in the regulation of physiological activities and in maintaining homeostasis. Hormones carry out their functions by evoking responses from specific organs or tissues that are adapted to react to minute quantities of them. The classical view of hormones is that they are transmitted to their targets in the bloodstream after discharge from the glands that secrete them. This mode of discharge (directly into the bloodstream) is called endocrine secretion. The meaning of the term hormone has been extended beyond the original definition of a blood-borne secretion, however, to include similar regulatory substances that are distributed by diffusion across cell membranes instead of by a blood system. Our hormones affect every part of our body from our ability to conceive to where we put fat on, so when they go haywire, they can cause big problems Hormones control everything from where you gain weight to how you feel. They're chemical messengers that help your body work and are involved in absolutely everything we do, whether we realise it or not. Whatever your age or life stage, hormones are very much part of who you are, so learning to keep them in check is vital to your wellbeing.

4.  HUMAN NERVOUS SYSTEM is the primary ICT in our bodies that conducts stimuli from sensory receptors to the brain and spinal cord and that conducts impulses back to other parts of the body. As with other higher vertebrates, the human nervous system has two main parts: the central nervous system (the brain and spinal cord) and the peripheral nervous system (the nerves that carry impulses to and from the central nervous system). In humans the brain is especially large and well developed. Almost all nerve cells, or neurons, are generated during prenatal life, and in most cases they are not replaced by new neurons thereafter. Morphologically, the nervous system first appears about 18 days after conception, with the genesis of a neural plate. Functionally, it appears with the first sign of a reflex activity during the second prenatal month, when stimulation by touch of the upper lip evokes a withdrawal response of the head. Many reflexes of the head, trunk, and extremities can be elicited in the third month. During its development the nervous system undergoes remarkable changes to attain its complex organization. In order to produce the estimated 1 trillion neurons present in the mature brain, an average of 2.5 million neurons must be generated per minute during the entire prenatal life. This includes the formation of neuronal circuits comprising 100 trillion synapses, as each potential neuron is ultimately connected with either a selected set of other neurons or specific targets such as sensory endings. Moreover, synaptic connections with other neurons are made at precise locations on the cell membranes of target neurons. The totality of these events is not thought to be the exclusive product of the genetic code, for there are simply not enough genes to account for such complexity. Rather, the differentiation and subsequent development of embryonic cells into mature neurons and glial cells are achieved by two sets of influences: (1) specific subsets of genes and (2) environmental stimuli from within and outside the embryo. Genetic influences are critical to the development of the nervous system in ordered and temporally timed sequences. Cell differentiation, for example, depends on a series of signals that regulate transcription, the process in which deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA) molecules give rise to ribonucleic acid (RNA) molecules, which in turn express the genetic messages that control cellular activity. Environmental influences derived from the embryo itself include cellular signals that consist of diffusible molecular factors (see below Neuronal development). External environmental factors include nutrition, sensory experience, social interaction, and even learning. All of these are essential for the proper differentiation of individual neurons and for fine-tuning the details of synaptic connections. Thus, the nervous system requires continuous stimulation over an entire lifetime in order to sustain functional activity.

A TYPICAL SOCRATIC EPILOGUE BY DR KENEZ OF BIAFRA

DECLINE IN SOCIAL ETHICS IS THE CRUX OF MORAL DEPRAVITY SINCE THE BIAFRAN WAR ENDED

Double-faced Christians and Muslims now abound everywhere; they worship Satan at night and come to mosques / churches on Fridays / Sundays! This lifestyle has eroded the credentials of our forebears! There is now, an urgent need to redeem our children from these nefarious practices! We must revert to the legacies of our renowned grandfathers, improve on it and bequeath the next generation a better religious legacy than we had! 

If you are concerned that our children need fresh religious air that suits this global village and that posterity deserves a better lifestyle devoid of wearing masks of deceit, pretences, subterfuges, ‘holier-than-thou’ attitudes, then join us in the sanitation exercise. Your offspring will remain forever grateful that a select group of enlightened ‘Homo sapiens sapientis’ took the bull by the horns to avert the perilous moral decadence that is steadily turning all of us into unabashed hypocrites, unrepentant fanatics and deluded mystics. You are welcome! 

Culture is a summation of ethnocentric survival strategies that each sub-unit of humanity had developed over the centuries, institutionalized and passed on to their descendants. The sons and daughters of the Almighty Creator have ignored their ONE CULTURE; which is OBEDIENCE TO ALL THE NATURAL LAWS as ONE WORLD RELIGION.

That is what we desperately need today just we use cellular phones and the Internet without killing anyone. Respect for and obedience to all the laws of nature is the key for a peaceful world with beautiful people living, loving and sharing the Creator's benefits as equal heirs to his blissful global world that we now share amicably thanks to scientists who have uncovered his designs for our mutual existence. LET US LIVE IN PEACE! This is the ‘One Global Religion’ that humanity needs now for ‘One Peaceful Global Village! Here I rest my case/pen!

You are welcome to “Let us reason together” as Isaiah, the prophet invited his kinsmen many centuries ago or sit on the fence and die unenlightened by genuine Aristotelian-Kantian combine of deductive and inductive logic, aided by current fund of science knowledge and enquiry to unravel the fables and legends that are now labelled as theology! There is nothing theological about an accumulation of guesswork done by primitive men! They are simply a collection of puerile belief in man-made doctrines, dogmas and rituals that is steadily pushing the humane race to annihilation. Here, I rest my objective of penning this protracted but comprehensive diatribe. Call it heresy, if you like. I do not care a dime. Truth is supreme! Truth is Life, my people declare!

FROM YOUR CHIEF SERVANT OF THE HOLY SPIRIT OF THE ALMIGHTY CREATOR;

Dr Jideofo Kenechukwu Danmbaezue, D.Sc.

a.k.a Rev. Prof. J. J. Kenez,

AGUNABU UMUELECHI BIAFRA

Here, I rest my objective of penning this protracted but comprehensive diatribe. Call it heresy, if you like. I do not care a dime. Truth is supreme! Truth is Life, my people declare!

That is another conundrum;

 WHAT IS TRUTH ?

A PRAGMATIC ATTEMPT AT DEFINING TRUTH BY A PRACTISING CLINICAL PSYCHOLOGIST AS WELL AS A MODERN THEOSOPHIST;

Dr Jideofo Kenechukwu Danmbaezue, D.Sc.

Every branch of knowledge comes under classical philosophy, the king of all studies whether scientific or not. That is why Ph. D. is regarded and is the summit of academic ascent. Other doctorate degrees build on this base, like D.Litt. and D.Sc., which are post-doctoral degrees obtained only by exceptional students who major in advanced researches in the specialised fields. All knowledge comes under the scrutiny of Philosophy. To appreciate my dissertation, therefore, we must established baselines for what we can and should accept as truth for the citizens of this global village our world has turned into!

The meaning of truth has been explained by some philosophers as relating to objects or visible realities; namely Socrates, Plato, Aristotle, Dewey and Descartes. These were the front liners in the realism, pragmatism, existentialism, for they raised and gave us insight into the question: 

WHAT IS TRUTH? 

They tried to answer; can truth be known with certainty without subjective colorinations by individuals? How do we know that we actually know anything, in other words; what is reality?

Because of these types of questions, great thinkers try to decipher the nature of reality. Reality as we have earlier stated can be subjective or objective. Here, we are concerned with the reality that cuts across intellectual pursuits, academic excellence and international boundaries! Can reality be practically and conceptually perceived?

IN I S M OR KENEZIANISM, WE DO NOT HOLD BRIEFS FOR THOSE WHO SPEAK FROM BOTH SIDES OF THEIR MOUTH OR WITH THEIR TONGUES IN THEIR CHEEKS! WE BLURT IT OUT AS IT IS. FOR US TRUTH IS A GENUINE AND TRANSPARENT REPRESENTATION OF EVENTS AS THEY OCCURRED OR OF FACTS AS THE CREATOR HAS MADE THEM. TRUTH IS NAKED. ANYWHERE YOU FIND IT WEARING PANTS, BRA, LIPSTICK OR SUNSHADE, REJECT IT FOR IT HAS CEASED TO BE TRUTH! TRUTH IS INNOCENT AND GUILTLESS. IT IS ALWAYS A NEWBORN BABY FROM THE CREATOR.  
   

Human knowledge is based upon the truth of things, facts, visible realities and evidence that mortal men observe in the created universe. To know the truth implies the knowledge, comprehension or understanding of reality. Knowledge or truth that arise from such sources as common sense, honest observation, right reasoning and practical experience are referred to and respected as scientific! That is our concern in this dissertation that will integrate all shades of opinion under normal temperature and pressure. Other sources like authority, tradition, intuition and revelation belong to another realm of knowledge where belief and faith reign supreme. This brand of knowledge has eternally been the conundrum the breeds disagreements, socio-centric nepotism, apartheid policies, racial inequalities in creed, politics and religion.

Following the practical or observable aspects of reality; Socrates, who incidentally was the first victim of holding on to the truth, with his students; Plato, Aristotle and some others maintained that truth was/is objective or that it is concerned with things in practical life. The greatest philosopher that gave us the genesis of true knowledge and thereby established the accurate definition of truth, was Rene Descartes who gave us the axiom “COGITO, EGO SUM’ literally meaning; “I DOUBT, THEREFORE I AM”; or “I know from my ability to doubt, that at least I exist” This is what is known as truth correspondence between what is said and what one says about it!

Prior to Descartes ultimate work on Epistemology, Aristotle had described truth in his Metaphysics thus: Truth consists in saying or affirming of being: that it is, and non-being, that it is not. This was also the views held by Parmenides and Protogoras. “All things are true in as much as they are”, and, “That is true which is in reality as it is seen by the one perceiving it” are other ways early philosophers described reality. The correspondence theory of Augustine of Hippo summarised the point by stating that the nature of the truth consists in the conformity of thing with the intellect. Thomas Aquinas later opined that, truth is the correspondence of the intellect with the extra-mental object or particular entity. This he called ontological or existential truth, which pragmatic, verifiable and subjective in that it is experienced and verifiable.

Those of us who belong to pragmatic and existential schools of thought agree, accept and affirm that truth being the formulation of experience is certain of popularity since in the final analysis; truth is always economical, convenient and successful in practice. It saves time and money as it insists on the cash-value of an idea. The pragmatist examines the fruits, consequences and facts of truth. It is expedient in the way of our thinking... In the case of the rational enterprise we are here concerned with, its rational coherence or consistency occurs when it agrees with the system of concept and relations already accepted as true by philosophers, natural scientists and computer-age students.

WHAT IS THE NATURE OF REALITY?

Some early thinkers claimed that our human world was/is divided into two realities:

·                     The world of visible data, visible objects and objective facts  based upon the theory of their independence from the perceiving individual, and

·                     The world of intuitions or perceived reality based on the theory that reality is internal, subjective and personal.

The world of objective fact exists independent of the knower! A fact exists and is not worried or affected by its being known that is to say a reality remains in its form, existence and essence, whether we know it or not. It is there in creation. We can find it if we want. It is for us to discover it, if we can. Whether we discover it or not, it does not cease to exist or be what it is.

Realists metamorphose into disciples of I S M since

 Reality is something out there, obeying the laws of creation, regardless of our approval and belief. Research is the main tool for natural scientists. He collects data, analyses them employing both deductive and inductive reasoning. A realist recognises that facts are obstinate. We cannot wish facts away! They always refuse to quit. If one thrusts one’s finger into a flame it will burn. If one eats rotten food, he is sure of having a running stomach that needs medical intervention. The treatment is not dependent of the social status of the patient! Water gives life but can also kill when taken more than the lungs can cope with. Water does not pity a drowning man; tall or short, rich or poor, male or female, young or aged. If you do not know how to float you die inside too much water! That is the nature of objects in the world, regardless of who knows or is ignorant of them.

Kenezians and natural scientists know that Metaphysics is concerned with the study of reality which is perceived differently by the idealists, realists, pragmatists and existentialists. Philosophers discuss the nature of the existence of reality, the beings we share the universe with, the mortal man and his destiny, the natural and supernatural entities he theorises of, and the purpose of all the other living and non-living things he observes competing with him in the eternal survival of the fittest till his time on planet expires! Positivism is a claim that scientific laws and facts control physical, human behaviour, actions and emotions. Positivism ended the dogmatism and negativism of religionists and the assumptions and speculations of philosophy. Once you accept this ‘modus operandi’ you have arrived and you are welcome to the base of INTEGRATIONAL SPIRITAN MOVEMENT. It is the tool for globalisation of the true allegiance, loyalty and worship of the Almighty Creator of us all!

WHAT IS THE NATURE OF IDEALISM?

The idealist believes that man is a composite of mind and body, though with different capacities and functions. He has never seen the mind but knows from his daily feelings, verbalisations and thought that he possesses a spiritual aspect. Thus he regards himself as a part of the supreme or eternal spirit. He believes he has freewill and is determined to challenge the forces of nature. This explains the Kantian notion that man is both free and determined. He is deemed free because of his free will to make decisions responsibly but determined because he is a natural being who must obey the natural law, hence the conception of positivism or logical positivism.

If man is a child of God, then he definitely is part of God due to the possession of the dual gifts of soul or mind, the idealist argues. Therefore, idealists argue that the child or pupil of religion ought to be educated to fulfil his spiritual elements. The child should be educated to be properly integrated spiritually and corporeally to appreciate his invisible and visible nature. He must be educated to realise that the universe has a meaning and purpose. This knowledge is believed by the idealist to be innate in man. The role of the teacher is to pull out knowledge or ideas already contained within the individual.  Idealists eventually metamorphose into religionists, unfortunately many become fanatics.

The idealist teacher has the function of inculcating in all members of a community the notion of respecting one’s family, town,

or nation. According to Kristnamurti, education is to understand the adequate meaning of life through critical education that creates self-knowledge which is awareness of the total psychological process.  With the acquisition of self-knowledge, one understands the futility of egoism, selfishness, violence, efficiency, etc promoted by modern technical education; hence the right type of education properly integrates both the educator and the educand into accepting the norms and mores of the community, thereby cultivating high values.

Realism, on the other hand, can be grouped into rational, hence its forms of the classical and religious perspective and scientific or pragmatist realism. The religious or scholastic Thomist and the classical realism follow the foot-step of Aristotle, though the

Religious realism embraces Aquinas’s view. Thomas Aquinas, a Catholic theologian synthesized and adopted the Aristotelian philosophy to the Christian doctrines. The classical and the scholastic/religious realist agree that the material world exists independent of man’s approval or disapproval.

Scholasticism, the Christian philosophy begun by Augustine of Africa reached its popularity through Aquinas’ philosophical contribution. While Augustine adopted the Platonic view of the usage of ideas, Aquinas followed the Aristotelian view of science. The aim of Scholasticism was to harmonize faith with reason. Thus, it rationalised the Christian teaching through the scholastic method which consisted of stating

·                     the position of proposition;

·                     the refutation of any contrary view or thesis to the proposition,

·                     The proof of the accepted proposition; (iv) and the analysis or refutation of any objection to the advanced proof.

Scholasticism prevailed in the European Universities in the Middle Ages until the advent of modern philosophy which emphasised rationally, experience and analysis to be-little or dwarf faith and critical dogmatism. The scholasticism agreed that God created material things and supernatural entities in an orderly and harmonious manner yet it maintains that reason and experience induced man to know that the spiritual element of man’s nature was superior to matter. It employed reason and experience to synthesize faith and not to contradict it. The scholastic philosophy supported the view that man, though immortal, was free and responsible for his actions, hence children should be educated to be intellectually well-balanced persons as against those who are simple well-adjusted to the physical and social environment. ¹⁰ This notion is Greek and Roman whereby moral, intellectual and physical elements are co-ordinated to form an educand who is intelligent, wise, courageous, temperate and responsible in discharging his duties as a citizen.

The scientific or natural realism of F. Bacon, J. Locke, D. Hume, B. Russell and A. North Whitehead, contributed to the development of scientific knowledge through the positivism or logical positivism in 19^th century. The scientific realism argues that the mission of philosophy is to co-ordinate the concepts and discoveries of sciences. It holds that the universe is not permanent and that change is real in observing the natural law which is constant and unchanging.

·                     The natural realist believes that the existence of the invisible realities is unreal and the invisible entities cannot be proved empirically because they cannot be experienced.

·                     The scientific realist argues that man is basically biological and he does not have free will, hence the Kantian or Marxian view that man is casually determined by his physical and social environment and nature.

·                     The realists especially the classical and the religious ones think that man and the world, as creatures of God should be directed towards the transcendent cause, hence education prepares the individual for life after death but on the other hand, education for the pragmatist is not a preparation for life but life itself.

·                     The pragmatist sees reality as the interaction of the human being with his environment and that is why reality is regarded as the sum total of what we experience since what cannot be experienced is unreal for the pragmatist.

·                     The pragmatist maintains that it is the individual who creates his own reality which is subject to change. The existentialist also perceives reality as something personally experienced and lived without pretences. Individuals, according to this view, ought to interpret reality freely and responsibly.

2.         Epistemology: Theory of Knowledge:

One is curious to know oneself and the world. Knowledge in opposing belief, ignorance and opinion, is a result of adequate information from many sources, namely, human experience, reason, revelation, authority and intuition. What one knows must have three elements or factors, namely, it must be truthful, observable with reason and there must be evidence for what we know.

 Man wants to know in order to dispel his ignorance and fears of the surroundings. Knowledge establishes facts of realities. It purges the human mind from superstitious beliefs, wrong assumptions, theories, issued, in order to establish the truth about things and claims.

Epistemology raises question about the origins, nature and the scope of human knowledge. Some of its objectives include investigating whether knowledge is probable or whether some knowledge is certain. It wants to find out how we obtain “knowledge” from the surroundings; “discover” knowledge or “invent” it? Is all knowledge of equal value or not? And how are we sure of our answer? Are there one or more methods of knowing? Is it possible that one should know something in its entirety?

Epistemology argues that man acquires knowledge about reality, no matter, the imperfections in the human understanding. This claim challenges the views of the sceptics in the Middle Ages who maintained that the knowledge of an object was impossible. However, man cannot boast of knowing and comprehending an object in its entirety. At least, we must assert that man has a partial knowledge of his own existence and the existence of other material objects. If he acknowledges that he is or exists, he must recognize that some other existent being both visible and invisible are or exist. Some sources of knowledge include empirical, rational, authoritative, intuitive and revealed sources.

i.          Empirical or scientific knowledge:

To know something entails to be acquainted with the object. To know in Latin is “scientia” from “scire”, from where science derives its claim of validity. There are three processes in knowledge – the individual or the subject, the object to be known and mental act that establishes a relationship between the subject and the known object.

The empirical knowledge is acquired through the sense perception. The experience of the subject plays a great role in that the investigator collects data, sees the materials, manipulates them, observes and makes experiments to verify his results. There is no authority except facts which can be obtained by observation. The empiricist or scientist believes that nothing is in the mind what is has not been perceived” “nihill est in intellect non fuerit in sensu”, hence the Lockean view of “tabula rasa” – the clean blank of the human mind at birth. Thus, all deductions are made from facts

Empirical knowledge does not operate through the sense perception alone-it believes in doing, in action for practical result. It supports the Chinese proverb that states “that what I say I remember, what I hear, if forget, what I do, I understand.” This is graphically put: “one showing is worth a hundred sayings.

This type of knowledge is promoted by scientists and philosophers. Such thinkers include Aristotle (384-322 BC), John Locke (1632-1704), Herberb Spencer (1820-1903) – the English evolutionist who believes that empirical knowledge is the most valuable and worthier than the other sources of knowledge. Other notable supporters of empiricism include: Francis Fenelon (1561-1715), John Amon Comenius (1592-1670), Francis Bacon (1561-1626), and Roger Bacon (1214-1670). Francis Bacon supported the use of scientific method in establishing rational knowledge. This method destroys what he called the idols of the mind, namely, the idols of the tribe, cave, market place and theatre.

Empirical knowledge supports the acquisition of concrete, practical, vocational skills, mathematical, philosophy, pure sciences, language for communications for diplomatic reasons, concrete study of history, politics, etc. for their benefits and not for literacy and artistic reasons as in the classical periods. It pays little attention to arts, music and literature as it criticises dogmatic, authoritarian teaching and doctrines as they cannot be demonstrated practically. Empirical education emphasizes doing, action and production of material goods through technology in science. It pays little attention to higher values geared towards spiritual development and that is one of the reasons why it is suspicious to the Christian idealists.

ii.         Rational knowledge

This type of knowledge is acquired by the use of reason through the agency of human intellect. Some philosophers claim that rational knowledge is superior to the sensory knowledge in that rational knowledge establishes truth of the facts which are more tenable and ever constant as evidenced in mathematics. Its superiority over empirical knowledge is based on the view that scientific knowledge is in constant change. However, the rationalist does not ignore that the sensory knowledge is the raw material for intellectual activity. For the rationalist, senses give partial knowledge. The propounders of rational knowledge include Plato, Socrates, Rene Descartes, George Berkeley, etc. rational knowledge promotes mathematics, philosophy and critical studies.

Rational knowledge can be classified into three major parts: the principle of exclude middle; the principle of non-contradiction and the principle of identity. The principle of excluded middle states that one whole cannot be put into fraction and still exists properly. No statement can be half true or false. It is either true or false. The principle of non-contradiction maintains that a thing cannot be that thing and the opposite at the same time. For instance, Angelina is a woman; she is just a woman and can never be a man. The principle of identity claims that one thing is one and not more than one at the same time. If something is true or false, it is true or false. Thus, we can vividly and logically assert that all men are mortal and Joseph is a man and conclude that Joseph who is a man is mortal.

CRITICAL THINKING AND SCIENTIFIC METHOD:

Scientific or empirical method is a child of critical thinking which is one of the aims of philosophy and proper method of tackling issues in human life. What does critical thinking mean? It is a process by which one constructively gives a close examination, re-examination or reappraisal of the theorems, opinions, ideas, issues, methods, etc which are adopted by people in society. It is not a mere criticism for the sake of criticising issues and opinions. Critical thinking is done on good faith to erase misconceptions and confusions. It clarifies misunderstanding. Once a free individual understands an issue, he or she is in the position to evaluate matters for the purposes of establishing the truth concerning situations.

Critical thinking creates initiative and independence of the person to refrain from dancing to the tune of the crowd or what an existentialist thinker - Karl Jaspers called the ‘Herd’. Opinions and concepts should be subjected to constant re-examination and analysis in order to be permanent and unchangeable. Things and values do change; reality changes. It is the duty of a critical thinker who must be responsible to effect a positive change for prosperity.

 Some examples of proofs arising from critical approach are witnessed in logic which is used to clarify concepts. It is the law governing conclusions or rational or intellectual proofs that are valid.

i.    if we establish that all living creatures are mortal as first premise and establish

that Okonkwo is a living creature as the second premise. The conclusion is that Okonkwo is mortal.

ii. Have you ever seen a mouse sucking like lambs and puppies? Have you seen a

mouse laying eggs? No. But a mouse gives birth to young ones just as sheep and dogs. All animals that bear young mammals feed their babies with the mother’s milk. Though we have never seen a baby mouse do so only because mice may be shy of humans when they suckle their young ones.

Scientific method is interested in the investigation of things and establishment of new facts, truth of reality or existence. Scientific method is empirical and not speculative philosophy in that the scientific method collects facts or data, observes and probes into them and presents result which must be tested and subjected to verification before establishing them as valid, constant and absolute. This method is open to every person to test and prove or disprove the result. It rejects all assumptions and presumptions.

However, its result though acceptable to be absolute for a particular time, but it is still provisional because it is subject to change with time if a new result is reached with new instruments and invention challenge and disprove the old ones. Thus, the scientific method like philosophy is not dogmatic.

From what we have stated above, it means that proofs and verification are tools in philosophy. Proofs are used by intellect in proving theoretical and mathematical problems to establish knowledge or truth about reality or existence whilek verification uses data, observation and experiments to do the same. Proofs and verification are based on ontology or metaphysics-the knowledge of something in existence. We realise that ontology is the science or knowledge of being, the knowledge which is derived from critical thinking about the natural phenomena. This is established with the use of the principle of cause and effect understood through critical thinking. With rational knowledge, one arrives at adequate conclusions with the help of accurate principles.

LIKE I SAID AT THE BEGINNING OF THIS SECTION, THIS IS JUST AN ATTEMPT BY A CLINICIAN; NO ONE HAS EVER GIVEN A UNIVERSALLY ACCEPTED DEFINITION!