From the Civil Rights Era
In order to understand what made me become a philosopher, it’s necessary to explain the path I took to my current position. I came to philosophy from African traditional religion where I became a priest by way of the Black American Yoruba movement of the 1960’s. This was a lesser known but important facet of the Black American Civil Rights struggle. To better understand the Black American Yoruba Movement, we have to compare it to better known groups of that era like the NAACP, SCLC, The Nation of Islam and the Black Panther Party for example. During the Civil Rights Era, the foregoing groups focused on things like civil rights, political activism, monotheistic religion and revolutionary activism as vehicles for Black American liberation; by contrast, the Black American Yoruba movement focused upon reacquiring traditional African culture as a vehicle for Black American liberation during the Civil Rights Era. This included the adoption of African traditional religion, language and attire for example. Given the current explosion of interest in African traditional religion among Black Americans today, it’s worth noting that the Black American Yoruba movement pioneered such practices during the Civil Rights era.
Nothing is Higher Than the Truth
After joining the Black American Yoruba movement in my hometown of Gary, Indiana in 1971, I would eventually enter the priesthood program offered at the time by the African Theological Arch-ministry then based at Oyotunji village near Sheldon, SC in 1974. I did my novice and advanced studies from 1974 to 1979. After graduating in 1979, I left Oyotunji but continued to do independent research to deepen my understanding of man and his world with particular emphasis on decoding the Black Experience in America. Among the most important things I learned over the ensuing decades was that all human institutions are subject to corruption and moral decay over time which allows them to be used as instruments of evil. Since this includes both religion and science, I learned that nothing is higher than the Truth.
The Fall of Man is Ongoing
I also acquired a deeper understanding of the Fall of Man and its true significance in human life. Most people are familiar with the Fall of Man as taught in Christian theology for example. In this doctrine Adam and Eve, the first man and woman, are cast out of the Garden of Eden, or the earthly paradise, because they committed the original sin—eating the forbidden fruit which was said to give them knowledge of good and evil. Therefore according to this doctrine, God cursed Adam and Eve and all subsequent generations of humans to live a life of misery and suffering on earth until such time as God would relieve them of their suffering.
Though most people look at the Fall of Man as a past event that occurred at the dawn of human history, I learned that not only is the Fall of Man an on-going phenomenon that continues up to the present day, but also that the main reason humans continue to fall rather than rise on earth is their lack of understanding when it comes to good and evil. This is essentially about man’s eternal struggle against the Devil and it appears that the Devil has managed to fool most of the people all of the time and he has done this for thousands of years and counting. In other words, the Devil has been quite successful in out-foxing and hoodwinking the vast majority of people into doing his bidding, with many not even being aware they’ve been deceived; this ensures that humanity will continue to fall rather than rise just as it also ensures that the Devil will continue his strangle-hold on the destiny of the human race.
Weaponized institutions
Since the devil is indeed a liar, he works primarily through deception and manipulation. This means that all human creations and institutions, including religion and science, can be weaponized and used against us. Things have gone so badly for mankind over the last two thousand years in particular, that today the vast majority of people have things completely wrong yet don’t even realize it!
We Are Easy to Deceive and Quick to Deceive Ourselves
This led me to a more realistic view of our species and our predicament here on earth. I realized that not only are we humans deeply flawed, but we’re also easy to deceive and quick to deceive ourselves. Therefore, one of our greatest flaws as humans is our fallibility which means we make mistakes and this never changes. However, making mistakes isn’t the problem because it’s also the principal way we learn and grow as humans. On the other hand, how we deal with being wrong or making mistakes is the real problem because the human race can only rise when enough people to make a difference realizes man’s mistakes and is willing to correct themselves.
Typically, the inclination among most humans is to deny or block out our mistakes as though they don’t exist or don’t mean anything. This is often the easiest thing for people to do because we’ve been largely taught to see man and our beliefs in a glorious light. This has led to the phenomenon where people adamantly refuse to realize that their beliefs, whether religious or secular not only can be wrong but often are! While it’s certainly fashionable to exhibit iron-clad faith in what we’ve been taught, it’s also a recipe for disaster over time. This also explains why mankind continues to fall rather than rise to this very day. Such transgressions usually catch up with us over the long haul but people rarely if ever see the consequences coming.
An Authentic African American Philosophical System
Once I realized that much of what we’ve been taught is wrong, it was clear to me that among the most important things for us to do as humans is to correct ourselves before it’s too late. The foregoing realizations led to the development of Correctionism as an authentic African American philosophical system. Correctionism, though rooted in the African American Experience is a timeless, universal philosophy that can be helpful to anyone today seeking a better understanding of the world and mankind.
From my current vantage point, when I looked back upon the known history of man, over the last several thousand years up to and including the present, I found that the greatest mistakes and crimes of the past were often perpetrated by the most religious people. Things have changed today but not necessarily for the better because the greatest mistakes and crimes of the current era are now often perpetrated by the most scientific people. This kind of corruption, moral decadence and criminality in respected institutions like religion and science is a recurring pattern throughout the last several thousand years of human history up to and including the present.
This was very challenging for me as a priest because the foregoing brutal realities prove beyond all reasonable doubt that neither religion nor science offers an effective remedy for human evil and ignorance. I also learned that evil and ignorance go hand in hand because ignorance is the greatest enabler of evil among men.
The Twin Scourges of Human Evil and Ignorance
I therefore became a philosopher because I realized that no human institution addresses the twin scourges of human evil and ignorance as effectively as philosophy because what’s needed most in the world today is for more people to realize that they’ve been deceived and to correct themselves before it’s too late. Therefore, the most pressing problem for mankind in this day and age is that the vast majority of people today are totally deceived and manipulated by the doctoring of their most influential and cherished beliefs, yet they don’t even realize it! To make matters even worse for our species, even if you tell the average person the Truth, they will adamantly refuse to believe it. For the average person today, being wrong is not even an option! The utter foolishness and danger of this kind of thinking is lost on the vast majority of people living today!
Regardless of one’s ethnic background, the brutal reality for mankind is that the only way out of our current dire predicament is for more people to question things; and this can only occur if we elevate our level of awareness and performance as individuals and as a species.