Exploring Nimi Wariboko

  Inspired by the excitingly meticulous course descriptions of the school of Embodied Philosophy on Facebook, delivering online courses on the theories and practices of Asian philosophies and spiritualities, I am considering designing a course on the theory and practice of Kalabari/Pentecostal philosophy of Nimi Wariboko. He has created a superb interpretation of the relationship between human potential and human achievement using the philosophy and spirituality of his native Kalabari in Nigeria's Niger Delta in harmony with Pentecostal thought and practices. A very powerful and potentially very practical structure of ideas. Ideas that can be shown to unify a broad range of conceptions and practices in various philosophies and spiritualities across space and time, from Africa to Asia and the West and even in contemporary scientific cosmology, correlations I make, with meticulous references, in my essay written to be considered for submission in a forthcoming book on Wariboko ...

  Summary A person wakes up to find themself lost in a forest. A passing person offers help. In the middle of this life in which we find ourselves, I woke up to find myself lost in a terrible forest. No way out. Thinking about it now, my blood boils with the old fear. I tried to find my way back to where I might have been coming from, but the road behind me, slim but visible amidst the tangled trees, was blocked by a famished looking creature, its jaws dripping saliva, a terrifying jackal. I raced in terror to my right, almost running into the dreadful arms of another creature, its roar almost knocking me senseless, a lion, majestic and fearsome. I stumbled to my left in dismay, only to be stopped by a terrible stench oozing from that region, from something hidden in the depths of the wildwood, something scratching the earth ferociously as it feasted. At that point, I was alive but like one dead, my heartbeat suspended, my nerves numb with fear. Suddenly, someone passed by,...

  Summary A person wakes up to find themself lost in a forest. A passing person offers help. Rescuer and rescued commence the journey out of the place. As we moved on, the light of day began to dim, and so did my courage. Creatures were retiring to rest, yet I was compelled to labour to get out of this horror in which I found myself. Even the stars would journey with the night and return home at break of day, but where would I be when the sun set? Still trying to climb a mountain I never knew about till today? “How did I get into this problem?” I asked Wariboko. “You were asleep. Sleepwalking, you wandered. You are now awake” he responded. “Really?” I wondered aloud. “In fact, you can’t really return to your old home”, my guide said. “That home, as you knew it, does not exist anymore. In climbing that mountain, you come closer to what you have long sought, like a snake shedding its skin, you become something different yet still yourself, as you approach that home where all th...