Thursday, March 06, 2008

Introspection – The Fear of Self?

According my Google search, introspection could be defined as “self-observation of one's thoughts and feelings”, “is a technique of self-observation”, “a process of inward attention or reflection, so as to examine the contents of the mind”, etc. The underlying concept though, is that introspection is about taking an inventory of self.

I am not a psychologist, so if I get some of the concepts wrong in this reflection, I am welcoming those who are experts in the field of psychology to help out by correcting me. In the end, my objective is for all us to grow and learn.

What has prompted me to write on this piece is my observation of the way most Tanzanians, including my very own relatives, tends to attribute their issues and problems to some external factors. Hardly do you come across a person who is willing and humbly ready to take ownership of their state of affairs. Everyone is just almost always on the lookout for that mchawi out there.

Unfortunately, our political leaders are not exempted. I have hardly come across an African leader who is ready to take an inventory of Africans’ own doing. You are more than likely to hear the old and tired rhetoric, such as how badly the white folks are exploiting Africa and how Africa could have been developed if it wasn’t for colonialism. You know the usual junk that flows, like river Nile, from the mouths of the so-called African leaders.

Well, I know that colonialism wasn’t the best thing that happened to Africa. But that Africans are not the only people that were colonized. History attests to that. I also think that it is crazy to blame the West for exploitation of Africa, while the same Africans are exploiting each other. So I threw this challenge out - to what extent should we blame Africa’s problems to external factors and to what degree should we attribute the Continent’s woes to self-destruction?

Guess what? No one has ever given me a response to that.

And I am not surprised. That is because responding to that question requires self introspection. Not in Ghana, not in Zambia, not in Tanzania, would you find a typical African willing to take a closer look inside. And that is where the biggest Africa’s problems lie. We are very afraid of ourselves, because what we see inside is not pretty. So we find a comfort zone is singing the same old songs.

But let me just speak to my peeps – Tanzanians.

Shifting or projecting of our problems to external factors diminishes a sense of personal responsibility. And I am not crazy for saying that. The fact that our president would proudly regard his trips abroad as a success simply because he secured some donor funds proves my point. The beggar’s mentality, which I have address in this very blog, is just an outcome of lack of self introspection and a sense of personal responsibility. If the government is not setting up realistic goals on when to end donor dependency, that tells a lot about our character and the desire for personal responsibility. It is very sad that we derive more satisfaction from what others do for us than the best we can do for ourselves.

Lack of introspection has also made Tanzanians reactive. I stand to be corrected, but I don’t see any indication that Tanzanians are proactive. That is because lack of introspection leads to a victim mentality. The victim mentality makes one feel that whatever happens to them is attributed to someone or something out there and not self. The worst part is that the victim mentality does not encourage the assumption of a leadership position. You can never be a leader (in politics, science, sports, etc) if all you do is wait for something bad to happen to you (giving you a reason to throw a pity party) or something good to be handed to you (giving you a reason to feel accepted).

Because Tanzanians, and most Africans for that matter, tend to glorify the victim mentality, it has become very difficult to identify and focus on their unique strengths and potential. You know what? Everyone faces obstacles and opposition. The world is a competitive place. Nothing comes for free and only those determined enough gets the prize. Most winners, however, focus on their strength while minimizing their weaknesses. The reality is that you can never fully identify and exploit your strength if you don’t know who you are. And discovering self requires plenty of introspection.

At the very end of the day, lack of self introspection brings down a very damning outcome, and that is lack of development. And this is not only at a national level, but also on a personal level. Progress and development requires adaptation to changing environment and boldly taking a lead in setting the future trends. Taking those steps is impossible if you think that your circumstance is controlled by someone else.

See, what introspection does is to give us an opportunity to connect our failures or success to our mindset, attitudes, strategies, tactics, tendencies, etc. All successful people do that. I know that most Tanzanians are quick to conclude, typically without concrete evidence or wrong political ideas, that problems in Bongoland are attributed to some evil wazungu. That is not entirely true. I think we should all look inside before we step out looking for that mchawi, because our enemy in most cases is ourselves.

How big is the problem of lack of introspection in Tanzania? It is humongous. Just read
this article .

Why in the world would the Tanzanian government be offended by the delay of donor funds? When was the last time beggars had any rights? That, amigo, underscores the fact that we can’t even be ashamed. Shame, of course, comes when we can look at ourselves and know that we messed up. When we justify shameful things, we are either stupid, insensitive, or we are just not from this world.

May be self introspection is also a sign of intelligence. If that is the case, then, oh well.
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Photo Credit: Mjengwa

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

Forwarded by Mchangiaji,

Metty, I would not have agreed more on this article, and to me on personal note, you are starting addressing the issues affecting Tanzanians on a very high level.

I am forwarding this article just to compliment on what you had written.

THE AFRIKAN MIND NEED TO BE DETOXED MORE SO THAN OUR BODY!!!


By Chief Elder Osiris

Beloved, any and everything Black so call Afrikans say and believe, is not of value to the so call Black Afrikans and this statement is proved to be Divinely True, based on the fact that Afrika is not Afrika any more and the Black so call Afrikans are not ourselves any more, as well, because if the so call Black Afrikans were able to See ourselves, then Afrika would not be in its present condition and the Black so call Afrikans would not be the Religious fanatics and Political Infants that we are today, which is a people that is afraid to show anger toward those that have caused the Black World to be a world absent of their original Mind and now claim to be Loving everybody except each other, a sign of a people whose Mind is totally diseased and is in need of being Detoxed, cleansed from the Lies and deceit the Black so call Afrikans express toward people with a history of causing Black people to live with a unhealthy Mind today.

A diseased Mind will cause a people that are victims of brutal oppression and evil injustice, to just be satisfied to just survive in Life, never to have a yearning to be Free to Live in Peace among themselves and to experience the Divinity in Joy, not Happiness, because a Fool can experience Happiness, but not Joy, because Joy is the product of a Mind operating in Harmony, Order, And Balance, the attributes of Divinity, and only an unhealthy Minded so call Black Afrikan People, yearn to just survive in Life and not to experience the Divine True Meaning of Life, such a People are in need of a mind Detoxification, before the demand for self respect is enforced in Life and in this case, the Black so call Afrikan Life.


When a people who are in total blinding deceiving light, ( Knowledge ) a deceptive light that prevent you from Seeing clearly the error of your ways, attitude, and behavior, in a self critical state of Honesty, then such People most certainly will not take to kindly to others of the same Geno-Phenotype, pointing out what has been ignored by those same people, as being the self antagonizing Spiritual expression, that keep the Afrikan People in the present condition we now find ourselves in, when it come to the Black Life Living condition, it being a condition of injustice and disrespect, made to be depended upon other, than the Black Afrikan Self.

Such is an accurate description of the Afrikans condition and position in the world today and such an Afrikan Mental State, which allow the Afrikan present expression of Attitude and Behavior in the world today, does in fact signify that such a Mind set that is in a caste of belief that allow the Black Afrikan to wear the image of being a people in a psychotic state, which is a sign of a Mind operating in an Unhealthy Mental State, then it is important and obvious that the Black Afrikan, is in need of a Mental Detoxification.

The problem with Black so call Afrikans, is that we pay way to much Time and attention to what we are putting into our Body and no Time to what is being placed in our Mind, and it is the Mind that guide the Body, meaning we are what we Think.

The Mind of the Afrikan, makes no different where we are located, is a Mind that is in need of being detoxified from the way we have been conditioned to believe about The Divine ( God ) Essence, Universe, and out Black Selves, because the way we now conduct our Lives, such is Proof beyond a doubt, that it is not of any benefit to the Black Nation, proof of what I am sharing with you is Divinely True, then Run, Run, Run and fetch your Mirror and observe a Mental Disease Black Afrikan Nation, a Nation that no longer Know Whom they are and do not Want to Know who we are, a People made to be Mentally blind by a False and Deceiving Light, masquerading as the reveler of Truth, about all that is now being told to the Black so call Afrikans, done so by a people responsible for shining that Light of deceit upon a corrupted so call Black Afrikan Mind..

It is that false Light ( Knowledge ) that entice Black People to deny the Divine Truth and to embrace the Profane Truth and it is that Profanity that bring such a trauma to the Mind of Black People, so much so, until we now live a Life in constant denial and is in over aggressive depression, a sure sign of Mental unhealthiness, which have Black people not desiring to be a Divine people any more, Black people even deny that such a Life way of living has never been lived upon this planet by their Ancient First Way Ancestors and the reason we now question our First Way of Living, is because the Black Mind has been conditioned to believe that living a Divine ( Perfect ) Life on this planet is not possible, not that our Ancient First Way Ancestors taught us such Lies, but because such lies come from the Religious Doctrine of Lucifer, they who now are responsible for the Mental affliction that is now common among the Black Nation, we wearing a Mind totally infested with the Lies of our oppressors, Lies told to us about everything we now believe about our Black Life, which is a sign of a Disease Mind in need of being Detoxed.

The Toxin is the oppressors Religion, their System of Governing, and their method of deceit, which has so damaged the Mind we Black Folks now wear, until it is very obvious that we Black folks need to be spending more Time on Detoxing the Black Mind instead of our Body, because a Healthy Divine Mind, produce a Healthy Divine body way of Living, Yet it is the Black Divine Mind that now live in captivity, no longer having a relationship with the Body of the Black so call Afrikan.

Willie Lynch knew what had happen to the Mind of the Black Afrikan in America, here by way of the Middle Passage, as well as of all Afrikans whom they had Mentally contaminated with their Lies, which are infested in their Religion, the institution used to cause Mental illness to come into the Lives of Black so call Afrikans.

You see Beloved, when someone is successful in gaining control of your Mind, you cease to be your original self, you become the tool and property of the Mind Manipulators, and in our case, they being the Jewish /Euro, and Arab people, a people that succeeded in conquering the Mind of Black People and did infect it with a disease of Belief and to believe and not Know, is to Know not the quality of your Lineage, yet the evidence you now carry, is that which can not intelligently be denied, your Blackness, your Melanin content full of your Ancient First Way Ancestors DNA, something that can not be denied and now, all others are now claiming to be a part of it, as you Black People being content to be Blind of yourselves, what pitiful easy to be tricked Black so call Afrikans we have become, all dressed up in our diseased Mind, and the condition of Afrika and the Life of the Black so call Afrikans are there to serve as undeniable Divine Truth about our Black so call Afrikan Selves, operating with a diseased Mind.

Willie Lynch knew what had happen to you, they knew that they had been successful in making a Black Divine Being into becoming a Human Being of a lower Mental Level than they are, and now they were qualified to predict the Spirit ( attitudinal Behavior ) of Black Folks everywhere, because they had created an environment that reflect the Mind of Lucifer and such an environment breed the continuation of a Mental diseased Black People and not until that Black Mind experience a Divine Spiritual Detoxification, Lucifer will remain in charge of how we are to act and behave in their environment, and now, the Black world is under the influence of Lucifer Environment, wherever we are on this planet today.

Detox your Mind Black People and experience your gratitude for your Divinity and not until then, will you be ably to change the Black Status in the World Today.

No, Obama will not be able to do it in the way you want him to but he will in the way you need him to and that is not to be able to deliver to you the change you want hin to.

The Politics Of America Will not be able to do It, and White Folks Religion Will not do It, Only The Coming Back Into Possession Of Your Divine Mind, Will Cause You To Be Qualified and will prompt you to do the necessary things that will cause you to Experience your Natural Born Divinity, Afrika being back into the possession of the Afrikans and the Black Nation experiencing the strength of our Unity,

Only An Afrikan Fool Would be In Opposition To such A beginning, Once Again For Afrika and The Black Afrikan Nation, In Afrika !!!

Here Is Lovingly Thinking Of you

Hoteph
Osiris
Chief Elder
The First Way Institute Of Black ( Afrikan ) Mysticism/Repatriat ion/Reparation
Copyright@2008

blackstone said...

Uhuru,
I recommened the book Africa Works: Disorder as Political Intrument because it specifically talks about this issue of casuality in Africa. In the West politicians are held institutioanlly and politically accountable for what they do, the same can not be said for Sub Saharan Africa. But it works both ways, sometimes African politicians are held accountable for things beyond their control like droughts or illness. Yet liek you said they tend to resort to the notion of external causality. Blaming all issues on colonialism, capitalism, imperialism, the World Bank, globalization, etc.

Are these valid reasons for Africa's woes. Yes, they are. But these are things that are not inevitable and Africans can get rid of if they challenge these systems instead of being complicit.

Its a very dangerous way of thinking and culture.