A PROFESSORIAL
DISSERTATION BY DR JIDEOFO KENECHUKWU DANMBAEZUE ON THE URGENT NEED FOR A GLOBAL SPIRITUAL ORIENTATION -FELLOWSHIP NOT RELIGION, FOR A LASTING GLOBAL PEACE IN OUR GLOBAL VILLAGE
A PROFESSORIAL ABSTRACT
ONE WORLD RELIGION IS POSSIBLE SAYS DR JIDEOFO
KENECHUKWU DANMBAEZUE BECAUSE ALL HUMANS COME FROM THE SAME CREATOR’S FACTORY.
We are all his sons and daughters, with same blood
chemistry, similar genetical classifications, varied facial differentiations,
but, we have same anatomy and physiology and we mate and produce human babies
alike! Laughter, crying and singing are international languages. Anger, fear,
hatred, depression and sorrow are human emotions that have no boundaries.
Conception, gestation and birth are exactly the same as well modalities of
dying due to accidents, diseases or old age. What else does any intelligent
being need to prove that all humans are equal at birth, but differentiations
arise due to parentage, geographical locations, education and inherited or
achieved social statuses occasioned by opportunities each one experiences in
both clement or unfavourable internal and external environments? Interracial
squabbles are man-made! The non-partisan events we organise like the World Cups
and Beauty Pageants confirm we are children of one Father and so could live
amicably. Scientific discoveries and inventions all of us use passionately
prove that all mankind can live in peace. Let us eschew ethnocentric bias,
prejudice and parochialism. The multiplication of faiths, denominations and
churches are the handiwork of the evil one. Let us wake from centuries of
hypnotic enslavement and justify our claim to the appellation: HOMO SAPIENS
SAPIENTIS! Therefore, what we need is to go back and imitate Enoch, the first
human that was taken up to be with the Creator lest he be corrupted by other
immoral peers of his time!
DR
KENEZ HAPPY FAMILY GREETINGS TO ALL HUMANITY WHO ARE CITIZENS OF THE GLOBAL
VILLAGE WE NOW LIVE IN THANKS TO SCIENCE!
ENGLISH
Greetings to Rational Beings of this computer age! By having a website you are now recognised and respected as a Citizen of the Global Village. You are no more a racist, a chauvinist nor a parochial religionist. You are a special son or daughter of the Almighty Creator who has given us the macrocosms and microcosms to share. Let us live in peace like we ought to, equal heirs to the benefits we derive from being HOMO SAPIENS! Please visithttp//www.happyfamilynetwork.hpage.com for the scientific creed and international educational guidelines and youth rearing practices that can make us ONE HUMAN FAMILY living in ONE CREATED UNIVERSE as children of ONE ALMIGHTY CREATOR.
FRENCH
Salutations à des êtres rationnels de cette ère de l'informatique! En ayant un site web vous sont désormais reconnus et respectés en tant que citoyen du village global. Vous n'êtes pas plus raciste,chauvine, ni une un religieux paroissial. Vous êtes un fils ou une fillespéciale du Créateur Tout-Puissant qui nous a donné le macrocosme et le microcosme de partager. Laissez-nous vivre en paix comme nous devrions, héritiers égal aux avantages que nous tirons de se HOMO SAPIENS! S'il vous plaît visitez
http / /www.happyfamilynetwork.hpage.com pour la croyance scientifique et directives internationales et les pratiques éducatives des jeunesd'élevage qui peuvent nous faire une famille vivant humain dans ununivers créé que les enfants d'un Créateur Tout-Puissant.
GERMAN
Grüße an Rational Wesen dieser Computer-Zeitalter! Durch eineWebsite, die Sie jetzt anerkannt und respektiert als Citizen of theGlobal Village. Sie sind nicht mehr ein Rassist, ein Chauvinist noch eine engstirnige Glaubensgenossen. Sie sind eine spezielle Sohn oder die Tochter des allmächtigen Schöpfers, der uns gegeben hat,der Makrokosmos und Mikrokosmos zu teilen. Lasst uns in Friedenleben wie wir sollten, gleich Erben, um die Vorteile wir aus Homosapiens! Bitte besuchen Sie
http / /www.happyfamilynetwork.hpage.com für die wissenschaftlicheCredo und internationalen Bildungs-Richtlinien und JugendErziehungsmethoden, die uns eine menschliche Familie lebt in ONEgeschaffene Universum als Kinder eines allmächtigen Schöpferskann.
SPANISH
Saludos a los seres racionales de esta era de la informática! Al tener un sitio web que está ahora reconocida y respetada como un ciudadano de la Aldea Global. Tú no eres más racista, chovinista, niun religioso parroquial. Usted es un hijo o una hija especial del Creador Todopoderoso, que nos ha dado el macrocosmos y elmicrocosmos de compartir. Vivamos en paz, como debemos,herederos igual a los beneficios que se derivan de ser homo sapiens! Por favor, visite
http / /www.happyfamilynetwork.hpage.com para el credo científico ydirectrices internacionales y las prácticas educativas de jóvenes de crianza que nos puede hacer vivir UNA FAMILIA HUMANA en un universo creado como hijos del Creador Todopoderoso.
ENGLISH
Greetings to Rational Beings of this computer age! By having a website you are now recognised and respected as a Citizen of the Global Village. You are no more a racist, a chauvinist nor a parochial religionist. You are a special son or daughter of the Almighty Creator who has given us the macrocosms and microcosms to share. Let us live in peace like we ought to, equal heirs to the benefits we derive from being HOMO SAPIENS! Please visithttp//www.happyfamilynetwork.hpage.com for the scientific creed and international educational guidelines and youth rearing practices that can make us ONE HUMAN FAMILY living in ONE CREATED UNIVERSE as children of ONE ALMIGHTY CREATOR.
FRENCH
Salutations à des êtres rationnels de cette ère de l'informatique! En ayant un site web vous sont désormais reconnus et respectés en tant que citoyen du village global. Vous n'êtes pas plus raciste,chauvine, ni une un religieux paroissial. Vous êtes un fils ou une fillespéciale du Créateur Tout-Puissant qui nous a donné le macrocosme et le microcosme de partager. Laissez-nous vivre en paix comme nous devrions, héritiers égal aux avantages que nous tirons de se HOMO SAPIENS! S'il vous plaît visitez
http / /www.happyfamilynetwork.hpage.com pour la croyance scientifique et directives internationales et les pratiques éducatives des jeunesd'élevage qui peuvent nous faire une famille vivant humain dans ununivers créé que les enfants d'un Créateur Tout-Puissant.
GERMAN
Grüße an Rational Wesen dieser Computer-Zeitalter! Durch eineWebsite, die Sie jetzt anerkannt und respektiert als Citizen of theGlobal Village. Sie sind nicht mehr ein Rassist, ein Chauvinist noch eine engstirnige Glaubensgenossen. Sie sind eine spezielle Sohn oder die Tochter des allmächtigen Schöpfers, der uns gegeben hat,der Makrokosmos und Mikrokosmos zu teilen. Lasst uns in Friedenleben wie wir sollten, gleich Erben, um die Vorteile wir aus Homosapiens! Bitte besuchen Sie
http / /www.happyfamilynetwork.hpage.com für die wissenschaftlicheCredo und internationalen Bildungs-Richtlinien und JugendErziehungsmethoden, die uns eine menschliche Familie lebt in ONEgeschaffene Universum als Kinder eines allmächtigen Schöpferskann.
SPANISH
Saludos a los seres racionales de esta era de la informática! Al tener un sitio web que está ahora reconocida y respetada como un ciudadano de la Aldea Global. Tú no eres más racista, chovinista, niun religioso parroquial. Usted es un hijo o una hija especial del Creador Todopoderoso, que nos ha dado el macrocosmos y elmicrocosmos de compartir. Vivamos en paz, como debemos,herederos igual a los beneficios que se derivan de ser homo sapiens! Por favor, visite
http / /www.happyfamilynetwork.hpage.com para el credo científico ydirectrices internacionales y las prácticas educativas de jóvenes de crianza que nos puede hacer vivir UNA FAMILIA HUMANA en un universo creado como hijos del Creador Todopoderoso.
The most rational way to
inculcate love, justice and peace among all men and women in the world is to
jettison man-made doctrines and dogmas invented and patented by any and every
religious leader. The Creator did not need artificial compilations for any and
every creature he made. He is omnipotent as well as omniscient, so he embedded
all the rules each creature needed to serve him, live a good life and be in
good terms with all other creatures on his planets. The scriptures assert that
everything created was/is good!
Man has created nothing. No
angel or demon can create. No one can stop or change the destiny the Creator
has for each being living in this world. Man has only been uncovering the
secrets locked in the created universe and misappropriated the praise and
honour due to the creator. That is why whatever man has invented is misused
sooner than later. Man kills whatever it did not create and as the law of
compensation demands, man has always paid with gradual or sudden death through
internal dissatisfaction with the self, emotional depression, ethnic jealousies
and mass homicide that resulted and still results in political or religious
genocide, fratricidal and international wars.
Check the history of mankind
from the creation story in scriptures of all religions and show me any that had
no religio-political undertone? Inter-religious harmony could have been
instituted centuries ago since all cultures had legends similar to the one man,
Enoch, who pleased the Creator so well, that he was translated to enjoy eternal
bliss in fellowship with the Supreme Being. There is no scripture in the world
that does not accept that there is only one Supreme Creator of all that exists.
The only difference is that some explain away polytheism as if God has an
administrative structure similar to our mundane ways of ruling ourselves. There
are really no pagans in this world! Replace their many gods and spirits with
angels and prophets, you will notice for the first time that you have the same
result; One God, One Created Universe and therefore One Human Family.
We are all his sons and
daughters, though with varied facial differentiations, but, we have the same
anatomy and physiology with same blood chemistry, similar genetic
classifications and finally we mate and produce human babies alike! Laughter,
crying and singing are international languages. Anger, fear, hatred, depression
and sorrow are human emotions that have no boundaries. Conception, gestation
and birth are exactly the same as well as the modalities of dying due to
accidents, diseases or old age. What else does any intelligent being need to
prove that all humans are equal at birth, but differentiations arise due to
parentage, geographical locations, education and inherited or achieved social
statuses occasioned by opportunities each one experiences in both clement or
unfavourable internal and external environments?
Interracial squabbles are
man-made! The non-partisan events we organise like the World Cups and Beauty
Pageants confirm we are children of one Father and so could live amicably.
Scientific discoveries and inventions, like the cellular phones, the variety of
computers and the Internet all of us use passionately prove that all mankind
can live in peace. Let us eschew ethnocentric bias, religious bigotry, social
prejudice and parochialism. The multiplication of faiths, denominations and
churches are the handiwork of the evil one. Let us wake from centuries of
hypnotic enslavement and justify our claim to the appellation: HOMO SAPIENS
SAPIENTIS!
Therefore, what we need is to go back and imitate Enoch, the first human
that was taken up to be with the Creator lest he be corrupted by other immoral
peers of his time! The following affirmative statements dictated by the Holy
Spirit of the Creator to his vessel, Rev. Prof. J. J. Kenez is all that we
need. If you want to join us, read and evaluate the universality of each line.
Query any that you find obscure. Meditate on each sentence. Analyse each
paragraph or stanza. If you are still interested after two weeks of a
speculative study of them then you can apply to be a bond-fide member of ISM.
Then you can append; FRCC to your name in all our correspondences
Rev. Prof. J. J. Kenez, D. Sc.,
Humble Vessel of the Holy Spirit of the Creator
Email: saintkenez@yahoo.co.uk
Website: www.happyfamilynetwork.hpage.com
Rev. Prof. J. J. Kenez, D. Sc.,
Humble Vessel of the Holy Spirit of the Creator
Email: saintkenez@yahoo.co.uk
Website: www.happyfamilynetwork.hpage.com
WHY NOT JOIN US
AS CITIZENS OF THE GLOBAL VILLAGE THAT OUR WORLD HAS TURNED INTO?
All who are dedicated to the
enthronement of Global Peace among all human beings on planet earth by finding
lasting solutions to the variety of inhumane relationships among nations and
social classes brought about by inter-religious bigotry and strife are
designated; CITIZENS OF THEGLOBAL VILLAGE. Every professional can easily
assimilate all that the Holy Spirit has been teaching us about ONE ALMIGHTY
CREATOR, ONE CREATED UNIVERSE AND THEREFORE, ONE HUMAN FAMILY that should have
only ONE WORLD RELIGION that can usher in A LASTING PEACE TO OUR GLOBAL
VILLAGE.
We must rediscover the
saintly/religious lifestyle of Patriarch Enoch that was narrated in Chapter 5
of Genesis and re-introduce Obedience to All Natural Laws as the only veritable
option that can guarantee ONE WORLD RELIGION. Double-faced Christians/Muslims
exist who worship Satan at night and still come to churches/mosques in
daylight! 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 now have!
Religious symbols have been borrowed
across cultures and religious boundaries for centuries that they rarely mean
same things to a variety of fanatical followers or worshippers of the plethora
of religions and denominations in our present world. How do we penetrate
centuries of historical distortions of the originals to define the pristine
truths from nature that were established by our Creator so that we can arrive
at the most objective version that is egalitarian and applicable in all
cultures, time and clime for world peace? Or, put in another fashion, how can
we be certain that the doctrines and dogmas we hold on to today were/are not
merely fake theories from the past? In short, how do we sift truth from
beliefs, myths, legends and/or fables forged and fabricated by sages of old;
demagogues whose objectives were merely manipulating the masses of their
generation into reverencing and/or obeying them sheepishly? This is the task
before all of us. It is the only way to arrive at ONE WORLD RELIGION.
Is it not cynical that each nation
had prayers said for its soldiers before each battle during the world wars,
crusades and jihads? WERE THEY PRAYING TO THE SAME GOD? Religion is politics,
but many uninformed adherents are hoodwinked into believing that “God” is their
President General. He was/is the supreme dictator and priests and imams were
only human administrators. In the current craze for wealth engaged in by fake
pastors, evangelists and overseers, exploitation in religion wears different
gowns; church/mosque levies, pilgrimages, compulsory offertory collections,
harvest and bazaars. To date, centuries after some colonised nations have won
pseudo-political independence; none is independent of religious domination by
their erstwhile religio-political masters. The wonder of it all it that the
above-underlined scenario is what has been happening and will continue to
happen in churches/mosques all over Africa “world without end! Amen!” The
congregation is short-changed by their wry religious leaders who wine, dine and
womanise while they go a-borrowing to take care of their children’s health,
education and other familial duties unaided by any one!
The most rational way to inculcate
love, justice and peace among all men and women in the world is to jettison
man-made doctrines and dogmas invented and patented by any and every religious
leader. The Creator did not need artificial compilations for any and every
creature he made. He is omnipotent as well as omniscient, so he embedded all
the rules each creature needed to serve him, live a good life and be in good
terms with all other creatures on his planets. The scriptures assert that
everything created was/is good! There is nothing man has created. No angel or
demon can create. No one can stop or change the destiny the Creator has for
each being living in this world. Man has only been uncovering the secrets
locked in the created universe and misappropriated the praise and honour due to
the creator. That is why whatever man has invented is misused sooner than
later. Man kills whatever it did not create and as the law of compensation
demands, man has always paid with gradual or sudden death through internal
dissatisfaction with the self, emotional depression, ethnic jealousies and mass
homicide that resulted and still results in political or religious genocide,
fratricidal and international wars. Check the history of mankind from the
creation story in scriptures of all religions and show me any that had no
religio-political undertone? Inter-religious harmony could have been instituted
centuries ago since all cultures had legends similar to the one man, Enoch, who
pleased the Creator so well, that he was translated to enjoy eternal bliss in
fellowship with the Supreme Being. There is no scripture in the world that does
not accept that there is only one Supreme Creator of all that exists. The only
difference is that some explain away polytheism as if God has an administrative
structure similar to our mundane ways of ruling ourselves. There are really no
pagans in this world! Replace their many gods and spirits with angels and
prophets, you will notice for the first time that you have the same result; One
God, One Created Universe and therefore One Human Family.
We are all his sons and daughters, with same blood chemistry, similar
genetical classifications, varied facial differentiations, but, we have same
anatomy and physiology and we mate and produce human babies alike! Laughter,
crying and singing are international languages. Anger, fear, hatred, depression
and sorrow are human emotions that have no boundaries. Conception, gestation
and birth are exactly the same as well modalities of dying due to accidents,
diseases or old age. What else does any intelligent being need to prove that
all humans are equal at birth, but differentiations arise due to parentage,
geographical locations, education and inherited or achieved social statuses
occasioned by opportunities each one experiences in both clement or
unfavourable internal and external environments? Interracial squabbles are
man-made! The non-partisan events we organise like the World Cups and Beauty
Pageants confirm we are children of one Father and so could live amicably.
Scientific discoveries and inventions all of us use passionately prove that all
mankind can live in peace. Let us eschew ethnocentric bias, prejudice and
parochialism. The multiplication of faiths, denominations and churches are the
handiwork of the evil one. Let us wake from centuries of hypnotic enslavement
and justify our claim to the appellation: HOMO SAPIENS SAPIENTIS! Therefore,
what we need is to go back and imitate Enoch, the first human that was taken up
to be with the Creator lest he be corrupted by other immoral peers of his time!
“Freedom of Religion is the right
of a person to form personal religious beliefs according to his or her own
conscience and to give public expression to these beliefs in worship and
teaching, restricted only by the requirements of public order. Religious
liberty differs from toleration in that toleration presupposes preferential
treatment of a particular creed by the state because it is an established
church or, in some cases, is the predominant religion of the population.
To achieve worldwide religious freedom
may seem impossible or sound like a mirage, but not to this astute thinker,
this writer who has been under its theocratic enslavement for half-a-century.
His answer is worth experimenting with after you have read;
·
THE KENEZIAN CREED,
·
DR KENEZ LETTER TO EDUCATIONISTS,
·
THE PRINCIPLES OF KENEZIANISM,
·
A CROSS-CULTURAL HARMONISATION OF CHILD-REARING
PRACTICES,
·
THE INTERNATIONAL MANIFESTO OF INTEGRATIONAL
SPIRITAN MOVEMENT and finally
·
THE ANIMATOR’S UNIVERSAL PRAYER?
After you have meditated on their
contents, the formula for how ONE WORLD RELIGION can materialise is crystal
clear to all rational human beings. We must first of take stock of the
numerical strength of the plethora of factions in the major world religions for
now and evaluate how counter-productive the multiplicity of religious
organisations has demoralised and scandalised the youth.
It is hoped that the few Rational
Sons and Daughters of the Almighty Creator who are now CITIZENS OF OUR GLOBAL
VILLAGE WILL FIND THE GLOBAL RELIGION FOR A PERMANENT WORLD PEACE! CAN YOU
ASSIST US PROPAGATE THIS NOVEL FELLOWSHIP OF ALL NATURAL SCIENTISTS RELYING ON
THE EVIDENT TRUTHS FROM NATURAL LAWS AND UNADULTERATED THEOSOPHY!
VISIT
MY OTHER HEAVILY LOADED WEBSITE
https://sites.google.com/site/sanitationforglobalpeace/home
The subtitles for the second, the
third & the sixth in case they are difficult to find are;
Dr Jideofo Kenechukwu Danmbaeze
a.k.a.Rev. Prof. J. J. Kenez,
The Humble Vessel of the Holy
Spirit of the Creator of the Universe.
Consultant
Clinical Psychologist & Existential Family Therapist,
Emails: saintkenez@yahoo.co.uk or agunabu1948@gmail.com
Emails: saintkenez@yahoo.co.uk or agunabu1948@gmail.com
IGBO INDIGENOUS POLITICAL
STRUCTURE
WHAT EARLY WHITE SOCIOLOGISTS SAY ABOUT IBO GOVERNMENT
Details of
traditional Igbo government and social structure varied from place to place
throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but its characteristic
nature remained the same. The basic unit of Igbo life was the village group,
and the most universal institution was the role of the family head. This was
usually the oldest man of the oldest surviving generation. His role primarily
involved settling family disputes, and because he controlled the channel of
communication with the all-important ancestors, he commanded great respect and
reverence. In some areas the government of chiefs and elders was composed of a
governing age grade, in others the council of elders was made up of the oldest
members of particular families.
Titles
that the men earned played a major part in the Ibo society. There was a
hierarchy of ascending titles that were to be taken in order, accompanied by an
ascending scale of payments. The system acted as a simple form of social
security, in that those who acquired titles paid a particular fee, and then
were entitled to share in the payments of those who later acquired titles. Men
who were going to acquire a title had to go through intense rituals. This
symbolized respect as well as success.
A
political institution that was widespread around the Ibo tribe was that of the
age-grade. Every age-grade was responsible for specific areas of community
service. This often promoted rivalry between the groups of age-grade. This was
actually a valuable instrument of social control, in that in order to preserve
the good name of their age-group, its members became involved in disciplining
and restraining those who tended to cause trouble within the community. Secret
societies around the Ibo villages were also an instrument of social control. The
members of the secret society would appear at night, masked, in the disguise of
supernatural beings. Any offenders in the community would be denounced. The
unknown origin of the members and their supernatural aura (distinctive
atmosphere) meant that this whole performance was taken with great seriousness.
Government (in this paragraph and the
next one)
Usually, the kinds of decisions that
had to be made in traditional Igbo societies were either judicial or connected
with relations with other groups. In a judicial case, it was the responsibility
of the lineage head to try to settle the matter before bringing it to the
elders, who would hear the case in public. A decision that affected the whole
town, such as the declaration of war, would generally be put to all the free
adult males of the town. The nature of these institutions was extremely
flexible - for example, a man who had proven his skills at war in the past
might be selected to lead the people through this time of crisis, yet would be
expected to relinquish this leadership once the time of crisis was past. If the
facts of a case were unclear, then in some instances the Igbo would turn to an
oracle or to divination.
Igboland possessed a regional network
of oracles, such as the Agbala of Awku, or the Ibibi
Ukpabe at Arochukwu. These oracles claimed to ascertain the truth of
every matter, and were dependent on visitors from every part of Igboland. They
rested on deliberate deception and were extremely expensive, far beyond the
reach of the poor. However, their good reputation did depend on the fairness of
their judgements, which kept their tendency for exploitation in check.
Perhaps it was the small scale of
their political institutions that made Igboland such a good example of what a
democracy should be. Some of the first European visitors to this region were
struck by the extent to which democracy was truly practiced. A combination of
popular participation and real respect for those with ability and experience,
led to the smooth running of political institutions.
On a smaller scale, Igbo families
generally lived in compounds, each a small segment of the village group. The
head of the compound was usually the oldest male and within each compound were
clusters of huts belonging to different domestic groups. The head of each
domestic group is responsible for its members. In Igbo society, seniority by
age regulated social placement. Married life was the normal condition for
adults, and polygamy for the men was the ideal - in fact it acted as an
important indication of status. Wives were ranked according to the order in
which they married the common husband. Another important feature of Igbo
kinship apart from the precedence given to the male, is the idea of seniority
by birth. The first male and female children of the domestic group,
irrespective of the ranking of their mothers, were given special status, and
occupied very important and responsible social positions in the family.
One of the most important
distinctions the Igbo make in their status system is that between Diala and
non-Diala. The Diala is a freeborn, a full
citizen, whose status at birth is symbolized by the burial of his umbilical
cord, preferably at the foot of an oil palm tree. A Diala is
free to attempt to gain a title, the only barrier to social climbing being the
membership fees that these institutions demand. In contrast, the Ohu was
a slave who had very few rights. However, these slaves were more often as not
absorbed into the lineage of the master they served, becoming their companions and
often marrying their daughters. An Osu was a cult-slave; they
were a people hated and despised , and to refer to a Diala or
an Ohu as an Osu was the gravest of insults.
The Osu system of slavery originated from the Owerri-Okigwi
region. The Diala belief is that the Osu are
descended from a people who, at the recommendation of a diviner, were dedicated
to a deity, in order that they may become his servitor. A particular village,
lineage or individual that had been experiencing illness or misfortune would
“dedicate” this slave to the deity, in the belief that the slave would then
carry out the sins of the dedicator. The Osu were feared and
hated because they reminded the Diala of their guilt. Unlike
slaves, they could not be absorbed into their master’s lineage; on the other
hand, they were protected by their deity from being sold or killed. The
cult-slave status of the Osu was legally abolished by the
Eastern Nigerian Government in 1956.
Downloaded and Edited by:
Dr
Jideofo Kenechukwu Danmbaezue, D.Sc.
AGUNABU UMUELECHI BIAFRA
WHAT EARLY WHITE SOCIOLOGISTS SAY ABOUT IBO GOVERNMENT
ReplyDeleteDetails of traditional Igbo government and social structure varied from place to place throughout the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, but its characteristic nature remained the same. The basic unit of Igbo life was the village group, and the most universal institution was the role of the family head. This was usually the oldest man of the oldest surviving generation. His role primarily involved settling family disputes, and because he controlled the channel of communication with the all-important ancestors, he commanded great respect and reverence. In some areas the government of chiefs and elders was composed of a governing age grade, in others the council of elders was made up of the oldest members of particular families.
Titles that the men earned played a major part in the Ibo society. There was a hierarchy of ascending titles that were to be taken in order, accompanied by an ascending scale of payments. The system acted as a simple form of social security, in that those who acquired titles paid a particular fee, and then were entitled to share in the payments of those who later acquired titles. Men who were going to acquire a title had to go through intense rituals. This symbolized respect as well as success.
A political institution that was widespread around the Ibo tribe was that of the age-grade. Every age-grade was responsible for specific areas of community service. This often promoted rivalry between the groups of age-grade. This was actually a valuable instrument of social control, in that in order to preserve the good name of their age-group, its members became involved in disciplining and restraining those who tended to cause trouble within the community. Secret societies around the Ibo villages were also an instrument of social control. The members of the secret society would appear at night, masked, in the disguise of supernatural beings. Any offenders in the community would be denounced. The unknown origin of the members and their supernatural aura (distinctive atmosphere) meant that this whole performance was taken with great seriousness.
ReplyDeleteHOLD IT THERE AND ADD THESE ONES AS WELL.....
Government (in this paragraph and the next one)
Usually, the kinds of decisions that had to be made in traditional Igbo societies were either judicial or connected with relations with other groups. In a judicial case, it was the responsibility of the lineage head to try to settle the matter before bringing it to the elders, who would hear the case in public. A decision that affected the whole town, such as the declaration of war, would generally be put to all the free adult males of the town. The nature of these institutions was extremely flexible - for example, a man who had proven his skills at war in the past might be selected to lead the people through this time of crisis, yet would be expected to relinquish this leadership once the time of crisis was past. If the facts of a case were unclear, then in some instances the Igbo would turn to an oracle or to divination.
IS THIS NOT DEMOCRACY ? ? ?, INVENTED BY OUR WISE ANCESTORS ! !
WHY DO WHITES THINK THEY ALONE KNOW DEMOCRACY ? ? ?
Current day Christians are satisfied with repeating doctrines and dogmas they crammed as children when their brains were BLANK SLATES and missionaries brainwashed their parents! Many christians of today are half-baked, half-educated, half-civilised and half-christianised or else tell me why they cannot ask relevant questions as illiterate villagers did/do!
ReplyDeleteROMAN CATHOLICISM IS A UNIVERSAL FANATICISM
The Term “MOTHER OF GOD” is not only childish but the most heretical and heinous phrase in all the prayers of the Adulterated Pauline and Romanticised Catholic Church exported to all nations worldwide, for it is not only blasphemous, idolatrous and sacrilegious BUT UTTERLY INFANTILE, PUERILE, NON-SENSICAL and PSYCHOPATHOLOGICAL!
THE ONLY CORRECT PHRASEOLOGY EVERYONE CAN EASILY ACCEPT IS; “THE MOTHER OF THE SON OF THE GOD OF ABRAHAM, ISAAC AND JACOB” OR BRIEFLY, “THE EARTHLY MOTHER OF JESUS OF NAZARETH”
Says:
The Revolutionary Professor of Theosophy; J. J. Kenez, D.Sc.
The Humble Vessel of the Holy Spirit of the Almighty Creator of the Entire Universe.
On Sunday 10/03/2013 @ 17:35:39HRS GMT; the Eve of His 65th Birthday