STANLEY OBI

Ghanaian Actress, Nadia Buari Has An Interesting Story For You All

2014-09-08T07:36:00.000-07:00

Ghanaian actress and actor Jim Iyke’s lover, Nadia Buari shared a story on how many compete with others and at the end of the day, miss their own destined path in life. She gave a typical example of her experience while jogging. “I was jogging one day and I noticed a person in front of me, about 1/4 of mile. I could tell he was running a little slower than me and I thought, good, I shall try to catch him. I had about a mile to go my path before i needed to turn off. So I started running faster and faster. Every block, I was gaining on him just a little bit. After just a few minutes I was only about 100 yards behind him, so I really picked up the pace and pushed myself. U would have thought I was running in the last leg of London Olympic competition. I was determined to catch him. Finally, I did it! I caught and passed him by” She said she felt good passing him by, but she didn’t realize she had passed missed her way “On the inside I felt so good. “I beat him” of course, he didn’t even know we were racing. After I passed him, I realized I had been so focused on competing against him that I had missed my turn. I had gone nearly six blocks past it. I had to turn around and go all back. Isn’t that what happens in life when we focus on competing with co- workers, neighbors, friends, family, trying to outdo them or trying to prove that we are more successful or more important? We spend our time and energy running after them and we miss out on our own paths to our God given destinies” “The problem with unhealthy competition is that it’s a never ending cycle. There will always be somebody ahead of you, someone with better job, nicer car, more money in the bank, more education, a prettier wife, a more handsome husband, better behaved children, etc. But realize that “you can be the best that you can be, you are not competing with no one.” The actress said some people often pay attention to the way some other persons look, what they wear or what they have without figuring out what God has for them “Some people are insecure because they pay too much attention to what others are doing, where others are going, wearing & driving. Take what God has given you, the height, weight & personality. Dress well & wear it proudly! You will be blessed by it. Stays focused and live a healthy life. There’s no competition in DESTINY.. Run your own RACE and wish others WELL” she said.

Sepp Blatter confirms he will run for FIFA presidency

2014-09-08T07:21:00.000-07:00

MANCHESTER -- Sepp Blatter has confirmed he will stand for re-election as FIFA president as he hopes to serve a fifth term. - Platini backs Russia and Qatar World Cups - Blatter: Russia 2018 not in doubt - Blatter suggests U.S. could host 2026 World Cup The 78-year-old, who was first elected in 1998, is serving his fourth term and was elected unopposed in 2011 after his rival Mohamed Bin Hammam withdrew. While he said then that would be his last term as president, he has reconsidered and said in a video interview broadcast at the Soccerex Convention in Manchester: "I will be ready. I will be a candidate to stand for fifth term as president. My mission is not finished." "I will make an official declaration definitely in September now when we have the Executive Committee [meeting on Sept. 25-26]. I will inform the Executive Committee. It's a question of respect also to say then to the football family: 'Yes I will be ready. I will be a candidate.' "I got [from] the last congress in Sao Paulo not only the impression but the support of the majority, a huge majority, of national associations asking: 'Please go on, be our president also in future.'" Michel Platini has already said he will not challenge Blatter and will instead run for re-election as UEFA president. Blatter added: "I was not surprised because in private conversations I have had with Michel Platini before during and after the World Cup he has confirmed he would not be a candidate ... but there will be someone who will be contesting you." Former FIFA executive Jerome Champagne confirmed his intention to stand for the presidency earlier this year. The Frenchman, 56, had told AP: "I will continue defending my ideas. I'm not stopping, because we need a debate. In a democratic system we need more than one candidate and I hope more than two candidates, because we need different points of views and we need two different options given to the voters."

MY REFLECTION

2014-09-07T02:48:00.000-07:00

In Christ, we are freed. we gained our salvation and redemption. Christ is the representation of divine freedom. St. Proclus of Constantnople in his homily even noted that with Virgin Mary and most especially with Jesus, Eve's and Adam's faults are taken away and forgiven, as such the fault of humanity is forgiven which is symbolically shown through baptism. In baptism, we are dead to sin and our past faults are taken away and we become a new and freed people. We are now called to live a new life, thus old things have passed away and we are drawn into the wonderful light of Christ's salvation. Remember always that old things belong to the old and we should not combine old things with new things otherwise there would be a complication and worst personality. As a Christian, we receive the call to love even our enemy and that lies the difference between old life and new life. Also our life should be modeled on Christ since he is the high priest who takes cognizance of our human weakness. There is always an elongated struggle and conflict between our old self and our new self. The old self represents the carnality of one's living while the new self transcends to our spiritual communion with God. The old self cannot be happy to see a person transcends its jurisdiction and so it acts constantly on the real self (spiritual self) to draw it back. It is always the case that if one succumbs to the distractions from old self, then it will be dominant in one's life such that he forgets all about spiritual life. Such person will take glory always with mundane existence and his spiritual life will degenerate to religiosity-attending religious activities because of mundane pleasures( maybe for pretense, social pleasure and to fulfill a duty). In such moments, we degenerate to life of happiness through material things and from fleeting realities. New life is contrary to such mundane pleasure. it is manifested through love of God and love of our neighbor. Love according to its usage here signifies ability to sacrifice our life for God and for our neighbor without seeking reward or pay-back of any kind be it in kind or in cash. The underlying principle of christian morality is love. Reading through the scripture shows that other virtues and gifts affirm their existence in love without which our christian existence is regarded as false. (cf 1cor 13:1-13, James 2:14-26) Love is faith in action. The new life as Jesus preached began with love and culminated in love by sacrificing himself for our sake. New life consists in love because it is a driving force that aid us in acquiring other virtues. A pertinent question which is relevant in our modern time is "can humanity love?" Love is a divine and a transcendental reality and it is obvious that as long as we are in realm of finitude, the question of love becomes an illusion. This is clearly shown in the human language of love. In its analytical level, it is simply a mundane love which is an attraction to pleasurable situations. it may sound contradictory to talk about new life with an ungraspable supernatural reality which is love and as such some people may argue that new life which is characterized by love cannot be attained. We always participate in divine realities. Therefore, our human love is only a shadow of the divine love. Those who live by flesh does not participate fully in divine love because they have no grace in them. God can always bestow his grace of God which is realized through contemplation which is enough for us to have a share in the love of God. The character of grace-filled love (divine love) is the necessity to distinguish it with lust, selfishness, worldly passion and pretense. Hence new life (righteousness and perfection) has no partnership with old life(sin or imperfection). It is always of a pure and absolute calculation. It is either one or the other and not both the mixture of the two. In fact, not to identify ourself with one is dangerous, samely, to be in the realm of both righteousness and in sin is more suicidal and dangerous. The scripture explicated on this issue, thus "but because you are lukewarm, neither hot or cold, I am going to spit you out of my mouth (Rev 3.16). Thus Origen in his treatise on Prayer writes "we must understand this about the kingdom of God-as there is no partnership between righteousness and iniquity, no fellowship of light with darkness, no accord of Christ with Belial, so the kingdom of sin cannot co-exist with the kingdom of God. If we have God reign over us, then, sin must have not reign on our mortal body." What then can we say about the weakness and frailty of human nature in the sinful world? Even though we are in the world, we are not of the world. The world is characterized with certain "ages" which connotes negativity and which frequently exposes one into serious danger of sin. Just as the early Christian family seriously suffered persecution which is external in nature, the modern christian family is now suffering an internal persecution which is embedded in joining the evil society if one cannot beat them(world). The persecution is seriously embedded in the age which we find ourselves and it is a gradual process which tend to yield much result. The temptation of participating in action because it is legalized by conventional agreement by majority of people who are driven by Satan. it is always the case that Satan would send his agents to flock inside the world with the sole intention of deceiving and corrupting the world. Thus, we should always be conscious of evil-oriented and evil possessed people who tend to disrupt our virtues to follow the world's phenomenous characters. (cf mtt16:21-28, mk 8:31-9:1,lk 9:22-27, Revelation 17 TOPIC: SILENCE Silence is a tool which connects one's spiritual life with divine life. Silence is good, it makes one to do all positive things. It also makes one to be filled with knowledge and allows one to listen attentively to divine beings(God and his angels). It is noted that listening more is an imperative instead of talking more. Too much speeches makes one inferior. Also, an empty vessel makes the most noise. Lengthy words would make people bored to listen to one's speech. Speak once and do not deride yourself in only repetition. Act more than you speak. Do not speak more than necessary. At the same time, where one is ignorant, one becomes silent. Do not spend time in saying unserious things(jokes), so that your serious words will not be trampled upon. The fruit of the mouth provides a good meal, but the soul of the treacherous feeds on violence. A guard on the mouth makes life secure, whoever talks too much is lost.(pr 13:3), watch kept over mouth and tongue, keeps the watcher safe from disaster (proverb 21:23), so make a door and a bolt for your mouth, as you lock up your silver and gold, so make balances and scales for your mouth. Take care not to err with your tongue and fall victim to one lying in wait (sirach 28:25-26). Someone who does not trip up in speech has reached perfection and is able to keep the whole body on a tight rein....so the tongue is only a tiny part of the body, but its boasts are great. (James 3:2-12). A flood of words is never without fault; whoever controls the lips is wise (prover 10:19). Death and life are in the gift of the tongue, those who indulge it must eat the fruit it yields. (proverb 18:21). Be steady in your convictions, and be a person of your word. Be quick to listen, and deliberate in giving an answer. If you understand the matter, give your neighbour an answer, if not, keep your hand over your mouth. Both honour and disgrace come from talking.... (sirach 5:9-15), Blessed is anyone who has not sinned in speech (sirach 14:1). If you have been foolish enough to fly into a passion and now have second thoughts, lay your hand on your lips. (prover30:32). They well wait on my silences and pay attention when I speak; if I speak at some length, they will lay their hand on their lips(gesture indicating silence caused by astonishment, or confusion or admiration). Everyone should be quick to listen but slow to speak and slow to human anger (James 1:19). Speaking much makes one powerless. Silence is therefore a powerful tool that will make you unstoppable and full of insight. silence would even help one to keep guard on even what One wished to say.

I AM BACK: a reflection- on the importance of integral humanity

2014-05-23T08:00:00.000-07:00

1.0 INTRODUCTION The concept of “going back” signifies retreating oneself. Allusions could be made to the scripture where Jesus withdrew to a lonely place to communicate with God. (cf. Mt 14:23) Certain questions become very pertinent in the course of this reflection. To say “I am back”, connotes a place- place of happiness, place of love, place of spiritual life, place of sadness, place of holiness, place of sin, a place of pleasure, place of learning pastoral and missionary spirit and zeal, a place of wisdom and intellectual activities. It is to be noted that ‘a place’ has a relative influence on specific individuals. This signifies that certain individuals would even be corrupt and unholy at the spiritual and calm environment, inversely, people could be even holier in the most corrupt places-take Ajegunle as a case study. 2.0 THE CONCEPT OF ‘PLACE’ The concept of place denotes space which correlates with time. At this juncture, we are dealing with three ambiguous concepts which include place, space and time. In the world of philosophy, certain difficulties are noted in the discourse of time, space and place. Space-time relationship is concerned with the issues surrounding ontology (the study of being as being) and epistemology (theory of knowledge). It forms a central idea for the early analytic philosophy. The philosophy of space and time has an ancient probably Greek thought. Plato, in the Timaeus, conceived time with the period of motion of heavenly bodies and space as that in which things come to be. Aristotle in Book IV of his Physics defined time as the number of change with respect to before and after and the PLACE of an object as the innermost motionless boundary of that which surrounds it. St. Augustine in his book XI of Confessions, would ask, ‘what then is time? If no one asks me, I know not’. Unlike the ancient Greek Philosophers who view the universe as possessing an infinite past with no beginning, the medieval developed the concept of the universe having a finite past with a beginning. I would at this point let me be slow in recounting the opinions of philosophers on time, space and place but Immanuel Kant is mostly influential on this issue in his book “critique of pure reason”. He describes time as an a priori notion, together with space, and as such they allow us to comprehend the sense experience. They are not substance according to Kant but they structure our experience. God as well cannot be defined in space and time. They are only categories to understand our being. From the foregoing, a place could be easily said to be a point in a space which exist in time. Otherwise stated, a place is reduced to a mere spatial concept. It would mean ‘a location in space’. Anaximander would conceive “Place” as prior to all things. This follows from the assertion that ‘to be is to be in place’. Such thought seems to be flawed, because “place” would not exist if it is not in place. For Descartes, Space is occupied by extensional entity (Res extensia) and as such place is viewed as an extensional entity. For Philo, the term “place” has 3 meanings, one physical and two theological, but we are interested on the third definition which denotes place as God himself. God Himself is called a place, by reason of His containing things, and being contained by nothing whatever…for He is that which He Himself has occupied, and naught encloses Him but Himself. Certain places are sacred. Places are sometimes referred as a “dwelling” (Deut 33:27). With this, we replace ‘place’ with ‘dwelling’ because dwelling connotes “home” and sacred places. Certain question would simply arise to clarify our notion of ‘dwelling’. For Heidegger, we build because we dwell, we do not dwell because we have built. Certain questions become an imperative and significant, “what is the relationship between ourselves and our places, particularly our built places? How do our places show us for what we are? And how do we show them for what they are? 3.0 MY MISSION AT THIS PLACE Another complement to the assertion “I am back” is simply “for what?” Put simply, what am I here for? Just I have said, the concept of dwelling signifies rationality. Therefore, for a rational man, he reasons out his activities. As a matter of speculation, I believe that our focus of coming here is generally to become a Catholic Priest. Priesthood is all our secondary reasons at least. What really inspired you to come back here on 8th day of October, 2012. The answer which is very objective-considering other vocations, is all about integral humanity. Hans- Georg Gadamer is with an opinion that “no one speaks from nowhere”. This implies that one’s actions and probably thoughts are always contextual. We are simply influenced by the place we live. The environment modes human integrity. We are in God-Place because he created the earth and as such we are godly and should be influenced by godly qualities. Specifically, we arrive here to dwell or live at a certain location called St. Gabriel Spiritual Year seminary. Do you think your existence here is by chance or spontaneous? What do you think? Do you think we are here only to fold our hands probably ‘praying’ even when we are sometimes not deeply communicating with God? Or do you think we are here to learn sociable qualities, maybe to meet people and chat away our time? Maybe we are all here to learn how to learn leadership skills and probably how to arrange our parishes as Parish Priests even at the expense of our personal encounter. These are all one-sided and unbalanced aspect of living and would mean nothing to our existence. Integrity in human actions is as a result of the components of human being. Man is a component of body, soul and spirit. Certain scholars and anthropologists would limit it to body and spirit, while certain theologians and seminary Formators would include ‘pastoral zeal’ as integrated aspect of man (seminarian and priests). 4.0 INTEGRAL HUMANITY It should noted here that at the inception of the modern epoch in history, there is a paradigm shift from theocentric notion of man to anthropocentric notion of man. Therefore, man is studied from the point of view of man. He is the terminus ad quem and terminus ad quo. For modernity and some part of contemporary scholars, they insist that humanity characterised man’s existence on earth. Man’s actions are distinguished psychologically into three aspects of life, id, ego and super-ego. This is otherwise noted as three level of existence. Aristotle also pointed 3 levels of human existence, they are appetitive (nutritional), sensitive and rational modes of living. Aristotle who informed Aquinas defined an organism as a unity and not as a divided being. For Aristotle, there existed three levels. Nutritional level was mainly possessed by plants. It was the driving force for growth, namely, what led a seed, a potential matter, to reach its actualised form as a full-grown tree. Without the dynamic, directing and guiding force of the nutritive soul, the existence of a being may not be possible. The second stage is the “sensitive level”. This force is inherent in animals which are conscious of their surroundings, an ability that plants lack. Animals have sensation and even feelings due to their more developed form of the soul. The third and final stage is the “rational soul”. This is unique to humans as they have the ability to think and reason and to gain abstract knowledge. All of this is denied to animals and plants and gives humans the power for logical reasoning, creative thinking and imagination. In epistemology, there remains a tension between rationalism and empiricism, thus creating a distinction between rational man-soul and the empirical man-the body. In the study of man, Aquinas established the fact of unity in human nature. Thus, it is a call for human integration. Accordingly, there is no matterless form or formless matter. Human integrity consists of intentionality (concept in phenomenology). It is therefore a situation where one consciously exhibits the characters of his composition in a balanced and consistent way. Here, the emphasis is on intentionality. As such, it is prerogative to human beings. The full awareness of our personality acting is very important and crucial in building an integral life. 5.0 FOUR ASPECTS OF HUMAN FORMATION The four aspects of formation as emphasised in the seminary are acronymised with SHAP. They are as follows: Spiritual formation, human formation, academic formation and pastoral formation. Across the seminaries in the world, some limited it to three while others four. In St. Paul’s seminary Ukpor, they have them as Learning, Holiness and skills (LHS). They omitted the pastoral aspect of formation probably because it is still a junior seminary. Virtually all the senior seminaries imbibe the four aspects of formation as the key to human integrity. For secular life, two basic aspect of life is an imperative. They are spiritual and human formation. Therefore, we combine transcendental life with immanent life. 5.1 SPIRITUAL INTEGRITY Our spiritual integrity is seen from the perspective of our life in Christ. Jesus Christ is our role model and we ought to be like him. St. Paul in his epistles clearly elucidated on this spiritual integrity (cf. Rom 8:1-13, Rom. 12:1-2, Eph 4:17-32). Simply put, it is our personal relationship with Jesus. This particular encounter is real and deep otherwise, it is pseudo-encounter. All our life should be modelled towards Christ who loves us. Dallas Willard writes that “spiritual formation for the Christian basically refers to the Spirit-driven process of forming the inner world of human self in such a way that it becomes like the inner being of Christ himself.” He went forward to distinguished three different meanings or moments of spiritual formation. First, identifying certain activities as ‘spiritual’ work or exercise, one can think of spiritual formation as training in these special spiritual activities. This is a large part of what is found in many cases to mean “priestly formation” or the spiritual formation of the priest, as spoken in Catholic literature. Secondly, spiritual formation may be thought of as the shaping of the inner life, the spirit, or the spiritual side of the human being. The formation of the heart or will of individual, along with the emotions and intellect, is therefore the primary focus, regardless of what practices may or may not be involved. What is formed is explicitly the spiritual dimension of the self. Thirdly, spiritual formation may be thought of as a shaping by the spirit or by the spiritual realm, and by the Holy Spirit and other spiritual agencies involved in the kingdom of God especially the word of God. Spiritual life consists of life of holiness. It really counts on our efforts to be holy. Holiness is realised in our humanism. Therefore, they are two faces of a coin. This informed the book of C. P. Varkey which he entitled Be human, be holy. 5.2 HUMAN FORMATION Fr. Brian has as the topic of one of his article to be “it’s better to be human than ‘holy’”. As noted by the diocese of superior, the basic principle of human formation constitutes a bridge and not an obstacle for others in their meeting with Jesus Christ the Redeemer of the human race. The human formation of candidates for the priesthood aims to prepare them to be apt instruments of Christ’s grace. It does so by fostering the growth of a man who can be described in these ways: • A free person • A person of solid moral character with a finely developed moral conscience • A prudent and discerning man • A man of communion, truthfulness, humility, integrity, affability, generosity, kindness, and prudence. • A good communicator • A person of affective maturity, good self-knowledge, self discipline and self mastery including emotional self-control • A man who respects, cares for, and has vigilance over his body • A man who relates well with others in a positive manner and the ability to get along with others and work with them in the community. • A good steward of material possessions, and capacity to receive and integrate constructive criticism • A man who can take on the role of public person 5.3 ACADEMIC FORMATION Wisdom and understanding are gifts of the Holy Spirit. Before now, the academic life is not taken so serious in the formation of priests because it is misconceived to be worldly and mundane. But now it is taken as a strongest tool to combat the present complicated conditions of the world. Academic formation initiates a lifelong search for a deeper understanding of divine mysteries, an understanding that enriches the faith not only of the priest, but of the community he serves. A priest must be able to relate the intellectual heritage of Catholic teaching and tradition to the concrete situations of the people they are serving. This signifies that intellectual life is one the basic formation in the seminary. Since, priests represent the universal church, they are called to be effective preachers and teachers, understand the laws and regulations that bind the community together, be skilled in various techniques and theories of pastoral care and counselling, possess an understanding of leadership theory and practice and be sensitive to the catechetical concerns present in their communities. It is worthy to note that the intellectual life go a long way to inform or influence the pastoral zeal or care of a priest. 5.4 PASTORAL FORMATION The concept of ‘pastoral’ is derived from Latin word ‘pastores’ which simply mean ‘shepherd’. This is an extra formation which subjective to the life of priest. It is aimed towards developing within each seminarian the ability and heart of “true shepherd of souls”. This development calls for the priest’s personal commitment to develop the knowledge and skills to teach and preach well, to celebrate the sacraments both properly and prayerfully, and to respond to people’s needs as well as to take initiatives in the community that holy leadership requires. The US Conference of Catholic Bishops has written: Ministry is the task and responsibility of all baptised members, and not the sole possession of one part of the church. The reality, the tensions, and the opportunities of the “one and many”, operate also in the mystery of the church and her life and mission. The Church expresses its one ministry in a multiplicity of ministries. In that context, a primary responsibility of the priest is to call forth leadership from that community. The priest encourages, enables, and supports the laity in offering their gifts or charisms in service to others. In the wide sense, pastoral formation coincides with spiritual formation; it is formation for an ever greater identification with person of Christ. In the strict sense, pastoral formation develops by means of specific theological discipline and a practical internship. (Ratio Fundamentalis Institutionis Diaconorum Permanentium). Practical internship should be provided for each candidate to permit him to meet in the field what he has learned in his study. It must be gradual, tailored to the individual and under continual supervision. Such formation gives aspirants to become familiar with pastoral needs of their parish community and to assist the pastor in his endeavour to service his people through the ministries of charity, word and sacrament. 6.0 EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION The wholeness of a person aspiring to priesthood requires integration of the afore-mentioned virtues. It is an imperative to note that all these goods do create an exhaustive list of all the values of human wholeness especially in seminarian and priests, but the above formations are basic goods because they are irreducible to any other value. For one to disregard one at the altar of the other is to ascertain an incomplete personality. Integral humanity consists in having as whole these four qualities at the same level. In the qualification of human beings, certain aspect of their lives in one way or the other portrays dominance in one attitude, thereby recessing the others. As a human being, we do not need those who are highly spiritual but do not relate well with other people and vice versa. Finally, the formation in the seminary is entire and as such needs a calm attitude and happy minds to receive and internalize such formation. As we have commenced the year of our spiritual formation, which includes other formation, we call for the zeal and spirit of fraternal solidarity to envelop us and help us to succeed in St. Gabriel spiritual year on this 2012/2013 academic year. God bless us all. Amen. Obi, Stanley Kenechi

Life Experience

2014-04-01T22:55:00.000-07:00

We have all come to the understanding that we play a very big role in whatever happens to us. But while you may seem so exemplary in your actions, there are some random traits you might exhibit sometimes or rather unknowingly that can put anybody off instantly. This leads to questions like: • I did all I could, can’t figure out why it did not work. • They never said anything, they just cut me off. • I was better than the others, but I can’t tell why I was not selected. • I know what I am doing, but I am not a success. The list is endless, but those are for illustration so you will know where I am headed. So now I have taken my time, after careful observations of a population of individuals, and below are some handpicked trait some of us possess and exhibit and they are definitely stumbling blocks towards our respective aspirations. you can find others for yourself. THE ISLAND MAN Chances are you might have come across this trait in others, but I bet that you are also guilty. Do you think that you know it all and nobody’s opinion count, or you feel you can do it on your own? Well here is a simple analogy, that earpiece and phone you use in blocking the world out by listening to music was not even built by a person. So, while I really respect people who stand out from others, it is cool sometimes if you can come out and know what others think, feel and see about a particular idea that you have, I bet that you will be so amazed to see brilliance in diversity coming to play. When people notice this in you, they naturally gravitate away, some might even call you proud or a snub (obviously, that’s how they really act) and most times, they would never say this to your face but they would spread this around, and end up breaking down the wall of people around you, and since you want to stand alone, you definitely, will be alone now, MR. LONER! Learn to say hi, how you doing, good morning … even to complete strangers, you might end up meeting up with them up ahead and always ask questions or you might make a bomb in ignorance and obliterate yourself! THE UNGRATEFUL OGRE You are so guilty of this that you are yet to say thank you to MR. PRECIOUS for this article (okay! Just kidding). You are still guilty because you are yet to show appreciation to that caller, for food, for clothe… even to GOD. I want you to understand that anything a person does for or to you, they have actually gone out of their own way and comfort zone just to put smile on your face, and since you cannot pay back, I do not know why a simple THANK YOU from you is like beating a dead horse to gallop. If you show appreciation, you sure will get another, for crying out loud, if you know how your parents, friends, relatives… hustle from day to day, then the next time you get your allowance, gifts, school fees… you will shout a very big THANK YOU! See this illustration, and say if it is fair. You give a fellow a gift of cash or anything and they just receive it from you as if it is their God-given birthright and to add salt to injury, the fellow did not even act or say anything appreciative. I believe really, that on that spot you will make a mental note never to help or show favour to such a person {do not say I am wrong now}. Well, that is how others feel when you act as if it is your RIGHT to receive without you been appreciative. Now wonder how many doors might have been closed to you just because you overlooked this minor act of been appreciative before. Learn to show appreciation for simple things, that way you build your reputation and the esteem of the giver. So are you in a relationship? Be appreciative, to your parents always say thank you, even to your friend and strangers for any good they do to you. Even to kids too, show appreciation and let them learn that golden virtue! THE TALKING ROBOT Talking is very necessary, especially here where we promote communication and togetherness, but been a talkative is a very big NO! And I will personally give you a thousand yards! {I am serious!}. Once you are tagged a talkative, Every dick and harry automatically sees you as a whistleblower, a plague, an attention seeker, an impolite fellow... and a non-secretive person, that alone is a bad attribute. SELF-DESTRUCTIVE! No one will ever want you to catch a glimpse of their business, be a witness to any action they carry out… just because you cannot keep your lips together. The picture they will create of you is that of the exhaust pipe of a heavy duty truck emitting lead into the environment, polluting the atmosphere and killing people gradually. Why not learn to be observant, think deep even before making a sentence and stop taking justice into your mouth. As at now, you are the Judas of the lot, and no one will ever want you in their business, because they do not trust you enough not to blow out to the world, their innermost plan! RISKOPHOBIC {forgive me, just playing with words!} You are so scared of taking risks that you take the very option of folding your hands and thinking all will fall into place. Now that is RISKY! Why are you scared of taking risk when life itself is compounded with risk; every day you breath in dead cells, you board a vehicle and you do not know if the driver is sober or drunk, you put all your fortune in bank even when you cannot tell when they will fold up… every day you live with the risk of living or dying, a massive gamble, now tell me, what is more risky? You just have to be daring and do not be scared of the outcome of any POSITIVE actions you take. How can you know what is behind the door without having it opened? So do not bother about failing because there is no better experience than failing and rising again to succeed. Christopher Columbus must have been tagged a fool for daring to take the RISKY venture of circumnavigating the earth, but today he is known for discovering AMERICA, a name to reckon with when you mention world power. “Google” out Thomas Edison, Michael Faraday and others and see that risky ventures brings the best results, because it is for the strong-willed. Forget what anyone will say and focus on accomplishing and setting milestones in ventures that ordinary people will tag risky. But be wise, the outcome must be positive in the long run before you engage in it, not like jumping into a volcano just to show how daring you are! PUTTING GOD LAST I intentionally put this last, because it’s what most of us do, including me! But frankly it is the truth; some of us have even forgotten his existence. To show how predictable we all are: We woke up this morning, did a couple of push-ups, off to the bathroom and out, make and dress-up and after eating set out into the world. And if something good comes out that day, some will remember to say THANK GOD, and if otherwise {all actions coming in the negative}, we all say GOD WHY? Do you know that sleeping and waking in its own sense is a MIRACLE, and the coolest part is that you are a beneficiary every day. If you think it is your doing, then please tell me how, because when I sleep, I can equate it with dying: because it is a state when I cannot tell what happens around, you can pinch or slap me and I will not budge… and what if the inevitable happens, like my heart stopping, am been attacked, can i even defend myself? I am open to all freethinkers, naturalists and spiritualists. But we all know the truth even if we try to conceal it that there is an OMNIPRESENCE AND OMNISCIENCE GOD. But at least, let us learn to walk in his principles, as he supersedes all, watches, cares… and protect us all. Always show him respect and always seek his guidance. Nothing is by chance; air, ocean… even life. There is a loving father behind it all and learning to acknowledge him will go a long way to rid you of many dramas in any facet of life you find yourself. "LEARN TO VALUE THE LITTLE YOU HAVE, FOR DILIGENCE IN YOUR LITTLE SERVICE, MAKE YOU A BETTER PERSON!" for more articles click the link to our page, and discover why you can rise from the dungeon of life; also do not forget to like our facebook page. IRIAEVHO PRECIOUS YOU INITIATIVE!

The nature of Ecclesiastical Law

2014-03-16T15:24:00.001-07:00

1.0 INTRODUCTION The term “ecclesiastical law” can be used interchangeably with canon law or Church law. It is simply the body of codified laws governing the affairs of the Church. The nature of “law” in itself is presupposed in canon law. Otherwise stated, canon law can be understood in respect to law itself especially on the side of being a guiding principle. This work is simply a critical approach to Thomistic definition of ecclesiastical law from the perspectives of seeing law as “ordinance of reason” which is aimed at “common good”. 2.0 THOMISTIC DEFINITION OF LAW Thomas Aquinas in his treatise on law defined law as something pertaining to reason. For Aquinas, reason is the first principle of human acts. He went further in saying that law is ordained to the common good, which is made either by the whole people or to a public personage who has the care of the whole people, since in all other matters the directing of anything to the end concerns him to whom the end belongs. Finally, law is promulgated for law to obtain its force. In a simple sentence, law as Aquinas puts it, is an ordinance if reason for the common good, made by him who has care of the community, and promulgated. 3.0 IS ECCLESIASTICAL LAW AN ORDINANCE OF REASON ALONE? The ecclesiastical nature of law cannot admit reason alone whether practical or theoretical. Reason is a logical interpretation of phenomenon to ascertain its correctness, veracity and application. Reasoning is the faculty of human mind and it is prerogative to man. Man’s reasoning is limited since he is a finite being. Reason alone cannot lead one to things beyond his immediate nature, thus, the best may not be achieved. Since reason has no objective of realities, therefore, we recourse to faith to illuminate “reason”. In matters of ecclesiastical law, “reason” alone is not sufficient; it must be illuminated by faith so that it will take account of revealed truth. Ecclesiastical law is therefore an ordinance of reason illuminated by faith (faith seeking understanding). Faith is an imperative in ecclesiastical matters because it involves our relationship with God who cannot deceive us. It was after Peter’s confession of faith, that he was made the chief shepherd of the Church. (Unitatis redintegratio 2) 4.0 IS ECCLESIASTICAL LAW MADE STRICTLY FOR THE COMMON GOOD The norms which are dictated by reason are for common good. As Thomas explained in his book summa theologica that every law is ordained to the common good. He arrived at the conclusion following the fact that the purpose of law is to order things to their proper ends because he saw the state as a “perfect society”. This thought was expressed in Aristotle work on politics. In such a state, if law establishes the order of the community, then the task of justice is to preserve that ‘order’. These thoughts might not be plausible if it is defined in respect to ecclesiastical settings. When talking about ecclesiastical law, then we refer immediately to law which has its authority in the Church. Therefore, since law is not an ordinance of reason alone, thus it is not strictly for common good. The Church is not ordered as “purely human society”, and is not from the common good. The Church and its authority (together with their product-law) comes from will of Christ and does not arise from the need of the common good. The ends of the Church transcend the ends of justice. Law for Aquinas does not take account of individuals and their positions in life. The ecclesiastical law also advocate for individual or single persons. The ecclesiastical law is not out for the salvation of community in abstract but salvation of each and every persons (can 1752). For the reason of the salvation of the individual souls, dispensation becomes a complementary aspect of law, which is not the case in secular law. In a nutshell, the ultimate end of ecclesiastical law is necessarily for religious values and not just order which is preserved by justice for the common good. Religious values are sought best by individual persons. 5.0 EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION From the gatherings so far, Aquinas’ pitfall is noticed because of the period which he was writing. In his work on law, ecclesiastical law is only foreshadowed and not actually visualised. His writing deals particularly on civil arrangement of the state as was influenced by Aristotle. Ecclesiastical law, being the matter at hand, is conceived as coming from God through the Church’s authority, thus its ends is not mere obedience for order but for salvation of soul. Pauline writings threats law as something which cannot justify our existence as children of God but it is through faith that we are justified. (cf Roms 3:28, Gal 2:16)

Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation: A summary

2014-03-16T15:19:00.003-07:00

1.0 INTRODUCTION The Vatican II Council in general tried to achieve freedom in the act of faith. Thus, faith is the free gift of God and we respond freely to that gift. It is also geared towards rebuilding the Christian unity and for world peace thus the technical term ‘aggiornamento’ is used to refer to the character of the council. The Vatican Council, in its Dogmatic Constitution on Divine Revelation reaffirms the various elements of doctrine of revelation as proposed by earlier councils and in earlier official papal documents. There are mainly three points in the discussion, which includes the nature of tradition-the relation of Scripture and tradition as against protestant’s sola scriptura, the nature of inerrancy and the historicity of the Gospels. There is a stress on Christ as the full revelation of the Father. 2.0 AN OVERVIEW SUMMMARY OF DEI VERBUM The whole Dogmatic Constitution is summed up in the following decrees of the council that ‘the divinely revealed realities, which are contained and presented in the text of Sacred Scripture, have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit…. They have God as their author and have been handed on as such to the Church itself. To compose the sacred books, God chose certain men who, all the while he employed them in this task, made full use of their powers and faculties.” At the same time, the Council Fathers stressed that “she has always regarded and continues to regard the Scripture taken together with Sacred Tradition, as the supreme rule of her faith. For since they are inspired by God and committed to writing once and for all time, they present God’s own word in an unalterable form and they make the voice of the Holy Spirit sound again and again in the words of the prophets and apostles.” This Constitution on revelation because of its nature needs a detailed summary according to chapters drawn from the document. This will inevitably help in explicating the theological implication found therein so that it will be appreciated more especially in the modern use of the word ‘revelation’, and thus creating an atmosphere of understanding the concept of ‘prima scriptura’ as transcending beyond ‘sola scriptura’ generally held by protestants. It is worthy o note here that the council intends to follow in the footsteps of Trent and Vatican I in presenting the true doctrine about revelation and its transmission. 3.0 DIVINE REVELATION ITSELF This is the chapter one of the constitution and it is aimed at defining divine revelation. It views divine revelation as God’s self-communication, a loving and totally gratuitous invitation to enter a dialogue of friendship. This revelation takes place by words and by action, both of which are connected. While the actions or deeds reinforce the doctrine, the words proclaim or lighten on the mystery contained in deeds. In Christ, such mediation and connections are fully realised for he is the word made flesh. He is the fullness of revelation. The mystery of revelation is seen in the context of history of salvation. For his love of humanity, he manifested himself to Adam and Eve, our first parents. After their fall, he continues to lift humanity up into the hope of salvation made from Abraham through Moses and the prophets. Thus at the fullness of time, God sent his son born of woman to redeem man. God spoke to us by his son in these last days. God sent Jesus to teach men the way of the father. Thus he said ‘to see me is to see the father’. Christ revealed everything about the father, thus the salvation economy will never be superseded and no new public revelation is to be expected before the return of Christ. Our response to this revelation is total, an act of faith which requires God’s grace to assist and move him through the interior help of the Holy Spirit. Vatican I gave a related definition of faith. If unfolded it means, if God speaks a truth, faith requires intellectual belief. If He makes a promise faith requires confidence. If He gives a command, faith requires obedience . All is to be done in love. God can be known from created world by the natural light of human reason. 4.0 THE TRANSMISSION OF DIVINE REVELATION Christ commanded the Apostles to preach the Gospel to all, which was done faithfully by the apostles in oral preaching and by examples and the institutions they established. For the sake of continuity of the Gospel, the Apostles left Bishop as their successors giving them their teaching office. A caveat is always noted here that they should hold on to the tradition which they received either by mouth or by letter and pass it on as they received it. By the assistance of the Holy Spirit, the church continues to advance with apostolic tradition both with the word, the contemplation of the word and study of those who believe pondering them in our heart. The sayings of the holy Fathers attest to the presence of this tradition. It is through tradition that the canon of the Scripture is made known to the Church. The Sacred Scripture and the Sacred Tradition are connected because they come from the same source and have the same goal. While sacred scripture is the word of God written in two testaments which has God as its author. Sacred Tradition is the word of God passed on to us in various forms: liturgy, prayers and the teachings of the Apostles and their successors. Although the Church authentically interprets the word of God, the teaching office is not above the word of God but serves it, teaching only what has been handed on, listens to it devoutly, guarding it scrupulously and explaining it faithfully in accord with a divine commission and the help of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the Sacred Scripture, the Sacred Tradition and the Magisterium are related such that one cannot stand without the other especially in the salvation of soul. 5.0 SACRD SCRIPTURE: ITS DIVINE INSPIRATION AND ITS INTERPRETATION It is in this article that the core message of the document is found noting disparages by certain scholars about inspiration. The books of the Scripture have been written down under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. The Scripture writers retain their human intelligence and knowledge, but in a special way their human characteristics their limitation not excluded, were used to deliver God’s message faithfully without error. The fact of no error in the Scripture does not apply to scientific or historical accuracy but in the sense of man’s salvation as it relates to faith and morals. In interpretation of the Scripture, one must take note that there is one chief Author, the Holy Spirit, so for all the Scripture one part cannot contradict another. Also, there is also a consideration of the tradition of the whole church and the analogy of faith, such that any interpretation is false if it is to clash with the implication of the Church. Furthermore, interpretation requires depth knowledge of the historical analysis, literary analysis, human science and understanding the purpose the text served to the initial or first audience. 6.0 THE OLD TESTAMENT This chapter of the document tried to review the character of the Old Testament in economy of salvation. The plan of salvation of man began in the Old Testament. It is in fact the preparatory ground for the coming of Christ, the redeemer of all. The Testament provides an understanding of God and man and make clear to all men how a just and merciful God deals with mankind. God is both the author of the Old and New Testament. He arranged everything so that the New Testament would lie hidden in the Old and the Old would open up the New. The New Testaments show in full the completion of the Old Testament in the activity of Christ. 7.0 THE NEW TESTAMENT The New Testament is considered as the fullness of time because Christ who is the word became flesh and dwelt among us. Christ established on Earth the Kingdom of God, revealed his Father and himself by words and actions, by his death, resurrection and ascension and sending forth the Holy Spirit. The four Gospels are the foremost teachings in Scripture. They contain the foundation of our faith. It provides the framework for the Church. They show in depth the Christian moral standard. It contains the story of salvation and the revealed truths about God and Jesus. 8.0 SACRED SCRIPTURE IN THE LIFE OF THE CHURCH The document once more emphasised the importance of the Sacred Scripture in the life of the church. It is in fact seen in relation to the Eucharist. It holds that the Scriptures along with sacred tradition is the supreme rule of faith. All preaching, just as the Church itself, should be nourished and guided by the Scripture. The Christian faithful must have a true and profound knowledge of the Scripture. Thus Septuagint has been the Church’s own biblical translation, also the Latin vulgate is held in high regard in the Church. This call for the knowledge of the Scripture by the council fathers made it possible for translations to be made in various languages translated from vulgate. This document gives affirmation to ecumenical bible that is bible which the whole denomination translated together and used by all. Adequate care should be taken so that it contains the essential character of the original text. The Church promotes the study of the Holy Fathers of the East and West so that there would be more profound understanding of the scriptures. The exegetics should help to make the Scripture fruitful by providing correct interpretation from the scripture and the magisterium. The Scripture is the soul of theology, so the Clerics should emerge themselves in studying the Scripture in order to have adequate ground on catechesis, pastoral preaching and Christian instruction. They should be constant in reading the Scripture because ignorance of the Scripture is ignorance of Christ. It is the function of the Bishop to see that the study of the Sacred Book should more and more fill the hearts of men just as by frequent Holy communion grows the life of souls. 9.0 THE RECEPTION OF THE DOCUMENT TO DIFFERENT SCHOOLS OF THEOLOGICAL LEARNING In the contemporary theology, four basic approaches are identifiable: objective and cognitive aspect of revelation, subjective and personalist aspect, synthesis views and feminist views. The objective and cognitive view of revelation tries to underline the objective character of revelation and assent aspect of faith. For them, God reveals himself through those mighty acts by which divine sovereignty over history is expressed (Protestant’s theologians). Also in this view, the catholic theologians are with the view that God is revealed in history but the word of God in both Old and New Testaments is necessary to illuminate the revelatory character of those historical events. Liberation theology is with the view that God is revealed in historical praxis of liberation of the poor and the oppressed. On the contrary, the subjective view of revelation has it that revelation happens when we are opened to authentic human existence and when we begin to respond closely to the word of God. Certain view championed by Avery Dulles tried to mediate the two afore-mentioned opposing views that revelation is a disciplined response that unfolds under the aegis of faith within a community and a tradition. The feminist view of revelation tried to consider the androcentric and patriarchal character of the biblical texts, of the cultures that produced them and the kind of interpretation that have been given them in subsequent centuries. While some emphasised the ignorance of women’s contribution on the bible, others had the view that women occupied a symbolic place in the Scripture. 10. EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION Our experience of God is always mediated. This means that all revelation is mysterious, sacramental or symbolic in character. God, the invisible One, is known always and only through what is visible. Insofar as any visible reality contains and communicates the presence of God, it can be called a mystery. Christ, therefore, is the great mystery. The Church, too, is a mystery. God remains hidden and disclosed. A balance theology of revelation has to avoid extremes of Modernism and extrinsicism. Revelation has its origin and foundation outside the human subject, but if it happens at all, it happens within the consciousness of human subject. Revelation is available in principle to everyone because all are called to salvation but salvation is impossible without faith. Faith, in turn, is impossible without revelation. Finally, revelation is closed only in the sense that the Christ-event has already happened. Revelation continues in that God is a living God and remains available to us. But God will not fundamentally alter nor revoke the self-communication that has already occurred in Christ. Claims of private revelation are not binding on anyone other than the person or persons to whom the revelation is given, even if the revelation or apparition has been approved by the Church.

2014-03-16T15:15:00.001-07:00

MY PERSONAL TIME TABLE RISING ________ 4.30am Morning devotion/ Rosary______ 4.30-4.45am Bathe ______________ 4.50-5.05am Dressing up ______________ 5.12am Morning prayer (others) ___________ 5.20am Breakfast and function_________7.30-8.15am Preparation of lectures ____ 8.15-8.20am Lectures ________________ 8.30-1.10pm Mid-day prayer_______________ 1.20pm Lunch ______________________1.35-1.55pm Afternoon devotion/ Rosary______1.55-2.15pm Siesta______________________2.15-3.45pm Studies/ cramin ________________3.45-5.15pm Labour _____________ 4.00-5.15pm Games ________________ 5.15-6.00pm Bathe _______________________6.00-6.17pm Private Rosary in the Chapel_____6.30-6.45pm Common Prayer________________6.45-7.30pm Supper________________________7.30-7.45pm Charistmatic prayer ________ 7.45-8.00pm Night prayer_________________8.00-8.30pm Night studies________________8.30-11.15pm Missal reading/ Rosary_______11.15-11.35pm Lights out___________________11.40pm Writing and reading my journal___3.45-4.00pm Singing_____________________4.00-5.00pm Studies_____________________5.00-6.10pm Bathe_____________________6.10-6.25pm Other programmes follow as usual NOTABLES (SUNDAY AND SOLEMNITY) All programmes of Saturday except Breakfast ________________9.15-9.30am Charismatic prayer________9.30-10.30am Clean-up in my room/works of mercy: 10.30-12.15am Bathe_____________________12.15-12.30pm Evening bathe_____________6.00-6.15pm Common prayer at chapel______6.30pm NB: ON WEDNESDAY, THURSDAY, THERE WILL BE CONFERENCES AT 6.00PM. ON FRIDAY AFTER NIGHT PRAYER, I HAVE LEGION OF MARY PRAYER SESSION STUDY TIME TABLE Sunday afternoon: Pre-Study Fundamental moral theology: 5.00-6.00pm Night studies: Pre study of missiology: 8.30-9.30pm Pre study of Canon Law: 9.30-10.30pm Pre study of church history: 10.30-11.30pm General revision on patrology: 11.30-12.00am Monday break: General revision on liturgy: 11.00-11.30am Afternoon: pre study of Greek: 3.45-4.45pm Post study of fundamental moral theology: 4.45-5.15pm General revision on cathecatics: 10.15-10.45pm General revision on ATR: 10.45-11.15pm General revision on scripture: 11.15-11.45pm General revision on psychology: 11.45pm-12.15am REMAINING TANSIOLOGY AND PATROLOGY. NOTABLES (TUESDAY) Every programmes remain the same except: Rising_________________________5.00am Morning devotion/Rosary________5.00-5.20am Bathe and wash up_____________5.20-5.45am Meditation at chapel___________5.45-6.00am House community morning prayer_6.00-7.30am Bathe___________________5.15-5.35pm Meditation at the chapel_________5.35-6.00pm Private Compline________________8.15pm Other programmes follows as usual NOTABLES (SATURDAY) Rising ________________________5.30am Morning devotion /Rosary_______5.30-5.50am Bathe ______________________5.50-6.10am Meditation at the chapel_____6.15-6.30am Common prayer____________6.30-8.30am Breakfast/function__________8.30-9.30am Labour ___________________9.30-11.30am Bathe_____________________11.30-11.45am Free time/rest/computer______11.45-12.30am Meditation at chapel_______12.30-12.45pm sext _____________________12.45-1.05pm lunch ___________________1.05-1.30pm afternoon devotion/rosary____1.30-1.50pm siesta ___________________1.50-3.45pm

THE POWER OF THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION

2014-03-15T06:36:00.001-07:00

INTRODUCTION The dead man came out, his feet and hands bound with strips of material, and a cloth over his face. Jesus said to them, “Unbind him, and Let him go free.” (John 11:44). This is an injunction or a command given by the one who is superior and the effect is seen immediately as the victim receives his freedom. The work of redemption accomplished by God is the work of setting the captivated man free. Man is bound with sinful material and the rotten linen of iniquity blurs his sight. Thus, his mission as a prophet is captured in the Bible, “the spirit of God is upon me, He has sent me to bring the good news to the afflicted... to proclaim liberty to captives....” (Isaiah 61:1-2, Luke 4: 18-19). This is the mission of the Messiah- to set people free and reconcile man to God. (Matthew 11:4-5). The redemptive work of God is the work of reconciliation. (Ephesian 1:4). The lost of the beatific vision of God in Genesis 3:24 by man is the essence of the reconciliatory figure. He is the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the root of David. (Revelation 5:5). He was crushed for our sins. He was sacrificed, and with his blood, he bought people for God of every race, language, people and nation. (Revelation 5:9). This article is aimed at exposing the power of the reconciliatory activities which was done by the Son, initiated by the Father, and continued by Holy Spirit. This reconciliation is what man sought for. It is to behold the beatific vision of God once again. Freedom from sin which necessitates our salvation is the immediate character of spiritual emancipation or liberation THE REDEMPTIVE WORK OF GOD (REDEMPTORIS MISSIO DEI) The salvation history of man accounts for several historical strategies undergone for the work of redemption to be accomplished. The human economy began at the episode after the fall of man. The Lord God said to the snake, “because you have done this, accursed be you of all animals wild and tame... I shall put enmity between you and the woman, between her offspring and your offspring; he shall bruise your head and you shall bruise his heel.” (Genesis 3:14-15). It is only man who can restore what he has damaged but such level of damage could not be restored by man alone. God knows that even when multitude of human beings are sacrificed it cannot bring about this reconciliation. Man, being at the centre of God’s creation, is very dear to God. (Genesis 1:27). The scripture affirms to this that God made man little less than a god, .... (psalm 8:4-6). Therefore, God’s redemptive mission is seen clearly as he inserts himself in human history to redeem man from shackles of the Satan. He sought once more to recreate man by aiding man to regain reconciliation. St. Augustine had a similar view that God who created you without you cannot save you without you. God became man in the person of Jesus Christ in order to reconcile man to God. Jesus is the first born of the new creation (Colosian 1:15-20). Just as all die in Adam, so in Christ all will brought to life (1 Corinthian 15:22). The prophesy about a Messiah was fulfilled in the birth of Jesus. The summit of this redemptive prophesies is seen in his passion, death and resurrection. He teaches man that in the cross we are saved. If you suffer for bearing Christ’s name, blessed are you, for on you rests the spirit of God (1 Peter 4:14). Anyone who does not take his cross and follow in my footsteps is not worthy of me (Matthew 10:33). The ‘cross’ becomes the sign of reconciliation and pardon. The thief on the right-side of Jesus on crucifixion amidst the pain of the cross, acknowledged his sin and he was admitted to heaven. Jesus said to him, “today, you will be with me in paradise.” (Luke 23:43). After the resurrection, Jesus promised them the Holy Spirit. The Father and the Son sent the Holy Spirit. He ordered them not to leave Jerusalem but wait for what the Father had promised (Acts 1:4). The activities of the Holy Spirit were seen even before the advent of Jesus in preparing the coming of the concrete redemptive or reconciliatory figure. After the ascension of Jesus, the Holy Spirit was sent so that man might continue the mission of Father and the Son. At this juncture, the mission of God-reconciliatory work, returned to the concrete physical man but through the inspirational character of the Holy Spirit. Selected Men were given authority to reconcile men to God and this authority was handed over to our present period. (John 20:22-23). We understand this redemption more through the Holy Spirit. THE PSYCHOLOGY OF RECONCILIATION To restore peace of mind in the behaviour and emotion, an order is to be restored and therefore man is well again. St. Paul illustrated in the scripture about how peace is observed in one body if the members (part) of the body are in an established order. The eye cannot do without the hand and so with the feet. There is no schism in the body. If one part suffers, the whole body is in total disorder. (1Corinthian 12:12-26). There is harmony existing in a body that has united members. The psychology in reconciliation lies on the fact that man is made whole once again. There is a distilled characteristic joy experienced by man at the moment of peace and reconciliation. He understands that he is free. Freedom of heart, body and soul encourages an adequate atmosphere for growth. He applies and understands the basic human freedom and right from where he moves about without fear. There is a considerable disbalance in human system owing to the fact of conflict. Shaver and O’Connnor identified 3 categories of successful managing of problem of disorder. They are attacking the problem, rethinking the problem and accepting the problem thereby lessening the physical effects of the problem. Those are ways of reconciling the self with the disordered self. Reconciliation is important to restore the inner unity in man. FORGIVENESS AND RECONCILIATION It is to be noted essentially that there is no separation or opposition between reconciliation and forgiveness. Also the two cannot be identified with each other. Instead, they have close links whereby they integrate and complement each other. The concept of reconciliation is deeper than forgiveness. In fact, Beverly Daniel Tantum had an extreme view that “forgiveness” by itself does not lead to reconciliation. Most times, those people whom we have forgiven still have a distant heart from us. There is no wholeness found. We see ourselves making decision not to associate ourselves with that person again even though we are in good terms. When we talk about reconciliation, we are by definition talking about individuals or groups who intend by choice or necessity to remain in relationship with one another. Accordingly, Dr. Martin Luther King once talked about “inescapable network of mutuality” where true reconciliation cannot occur without joint participation. It is “to forge a common destiny out of an often troubled past”-this is reconciliation. As against forgiveness which might not necessarily involve friendly atmosphere, reconciliation restores to harmony to one’s friendly relationship. The salient point here is that “there is in existence a friendly bond between the parties”. THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION-HEALING The sacrament of reconciliation is summed up in conversion from sin and moving towards God. We gain our freedom, when we are converted. The sacrament of penance together with the sacrament of the anointing of the sick are called sacrament of healing. This sacrament is called the sacrament of conversion because it presents Jesus’ call to conversion, the first step in returning to the Father. (CCC. 1423). In baptism, man is received into the new life of Christ but still our presence in the world subject man to certain suffering, illness and death. (2Corinthians 5:1). This new life brought by baptism can be set back and even lost by sin. The sacrament of healing helps man to regain the friendly relationship with God. Sacrament of reconciliation imparts to the sinner the love of God who reconciles. It is two dimensional-reconciling to God (2 Cor 5:18-20) and reconciling to your brother. (Mat. 5:24). The sacrament of reconciliation raises sinners up, giving them the courage to call God, ABBA FATHER. He, who sins, creates a gap between himself and God. He sets himself against the love of God. The sacrament of reconciliation is an imperative to re-establish the friendship and love of God. The sinner accepts that he has done something evil and begs for forgiveness and makes resolutions not to go back to the sin again. THE POWER OF THE SACRAMENT OF RECONCILIATION The power of sacrament of reconciliation lies within the scope of redemption of man. The sacrament was instituted by Christ to aid man to realise this redemption through the mystery of communion with God who is love. Christ is present in the sacraments because in them Christ himself is at work. It is Christ who administers this sacrament. Christ is also above the sacraments, he can act outside his instituted sacraments such that when the component matter is destroyed, God is not destroyed. The sacrament of reconciliation has the power of making whole. The fact of sin creates an impaired or wounded character to our nature. Our person remains incomplete in sin. Like physical sickness, sin impairs the functioning of a particular spiritual part of man. The resultant effect is disorganised and chaotic situation in the spirit of man. The illustration of Paul in his letter of the Corinthian (1 Cor. 12:12-26) shows a clear fact of such inharmonious existence of the whole therefore limiting the complete existence of the body. We are healed by our belief in this sacrament. Christ during his life on Earth associated himself with sinners with the aim of healing their spiritual ailments. Jesus said that he came for sinners and not for the righteous. Jesus heals both our physical and spiritual sickness and urges us to go and avoid sinning again. (John 8:11, 5:14). Christ’s presence heals. His presence in the sacrament of reconciliation through his priest heals our souls from eternal damnation. By his blood, we are healed. We obtain freedom through the power of the sacrament of reconciliation. Sin alienates us from God. Whenever we sin, we are bound with the dirty linens of sin. Sin enslaves our souls. Thus, if we remain in sin, we become the slave of that sin. So long as one remains in sin, one is incapable of meriting even works which are good in themselves. Those goods are worthless because they cannot revive. In sin, we lost our freedom and friendship with God. We restore such friendship and freedom through the power conferred by this sacrament. The power of reconciliation cancels the effect of sin. One regains not only state of grace but also the entire store of merit which he had before his sin. The story of Joshua the high priest explicated how sin could restrain our freedom. (Zech 3: 1-7). The shackles of sin can only be delivered by the sacrament of reconciliation-the sign of repentance. Christ sets to bring about the freedom of all persons. He gave a mandate to the disciples to be a sign of reconciliation to all men. (John 20:22-23). The service of freedom is the service of turning towards good and shunning sin. It is a metanoic experience of being obedient to the pattern of life and teaching to which Christ died for. (Rom 6:15-19). We have to surrender ourselves to uprightness which is to result in freedom and sanctification. He who sin against God wrong his own soul, all they that hate God love death. The sacrament of reconciliation has the power of love. Love covers multitude of sin. (Proverb 10:12). Sacrament of reconciliation is established because of the love of God. The primordial reason reconciliating the fallen world to God is on the basis of his love for mankind. God so love the world that he sent his only begotten son to die for us. (John 3:16). The power of love manifests the activities of Christ on earth. The interior loving relationship is restored. Sin creates a hateful relationship with God. The power of love brought about by the sacrament of reconciliation is necessary to create joy and happiness in the penitent. The story of the prodigal son in gospel of Luke (Luke15:11-31) expressed the type of joy and happiness experience by the father about the conversion of his son. The son was able to find the love of the father. The love which is characterised in man with the image of God is absolutely found in our soul. The power of this sacrament is not about rehashing our sins. It is about bringing joy to God and to the heavenly beings and then by letting him bring to an end our own spiritual isolation. The salvific mission of God is shown in the divine incarnation. The salvation brought by Christ is general and as such sacrament of reconciliation sought to accomplish our personal salvation. The power of sacrament of reconciliation lies on character of salvation which it offers to the personal life of people. There is an eschatological implication drawn from the sacrament of reconciliation. The New Testament points out obviously about the gift of salvation as experienced in reconciliation with God and the forgiveness of our sins. (Luke 24:46-48). St Paul reiterates this same theme of reconciliation to the Churches of his time. (2Cor 5:14-21). The character of salvation is the saving of the soul from sin and its consequences. It leads to deliverance or redemption from sin and its effects. The sacrament of reconciliation confers salvation to a soul through the merits of the life, death and resurrection of Christ, which in the context of salvation is referred to as the atonement. This salvation is equated with the transcendent, eschatological fulfilment of human existence in a life freed from sin, finitude and mortality and united with the triune God. THE VOCATION TO RECONCILE MEN TO GOD The completion of the reconciliation of man with God is fully seen in the paschal mystery. Man has a vocation of applying this reconciliation in a most personal way. This vocation rests on the entire man who through their life makes the kingdom of God realizable. In a particular sense, the reconciliation is for man, by man and in man. Thus, man seeks his salvation with fear and trembling. On another note, Christ entrusted to his apostles the ministry of reconciliation. (John 20-23). This injunction of Christ was transferred to their successors. By the virtue of ordination, a priest is another Christ who sought to accomplish the work of God. He forgives all sins “in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Spirit. Forgiveness of sins brings reconciliation with God, but also with the Church. (CCC. 1462). Priests must encourage the faithful to come to the sacrament of reconciliation. Priest fulfils the ministry of the Good Shepherd whenever he is celebrating this sacrament because he seek the lost sheep, binds up wounds, awaits the prodigal son and welcomes him on his return. EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION Reconciliation has physical, psychological and spiritual effect on a person. In times of separation and opposition, one tends to suffer incompleteness. He continues to suffer an uncharacteristic illness until he is made whole again. There is an overwhelming joy of unity experienced by such a person. In spiritual realm, reconciliation is related to one’s reunion with the internal resident spirit in our life. The resident spirit is the Holy Spirit. Whenever another form of spirit occupies that position, one is totally alienated from himself. The breathe of God which was given to man is essentially the governing spirit of our existence such that if replaced by another thing will definitely cause unrest in the spiritual build up of a person. St. Paul alludes to it that our body is the temple of God. God lives in our body such that when we engage in activities that are not according to our calling, it brings about inadequacies in the workings of our system which will lead to death. In reconciliation, we reject the intruding spirit by having remorse for our sins and making a firm resolution not to go back to it. The sanctity of the body is restored and thus salvation is made present to us. It is in such situation of reuniting with Christ that salvation is ensured. Nonetheless, man actualises his final salvation when he attains the ultimate goal of seeing God.

my reflection

2013-12-01T08:03:00.003-08:00

FINNIS ON NATURAL LAW

2012-05-01T02:20:00.001-07:00

I. INTRODUCTION John Finnis’ Natural Law and Natural Rights, first published in 1980, has sparked a debate that has lasted for nearly a quarter of a century. Finnis, a professor of jurisprudence at Oxford, has managed to revivify the discussion on natural law with what is being called a new natural law theory. Natural Law and Natural Rights was intended to be more of an introduction to the theory than anything else. In fact, Finnis admits that ‘countless relevant matters’ are only discussed briefly or not discussed at all. As Finnis puts it, “My hope is that a re-presentation and development of many elements of the ‘classical’ or ‘mainstream’ theories of natural law, by way of an argument on the merits (as lawyers say), will be found useful by those who want to understand the history of the idea as well as by those interested in forming or reforming their own view of the merits.” 2. DEFINITION OF NATURAL LAW Broadly speaking, a natural law theory seeks to articulate a true understanding of human beings, and their moral worth. Natural law is concerned with the freedom of individuals to choose correctly and wrongly, as well as with the common good, which is enhanced by both individual initiative and enterprise within a community. Certain aspects of Finnis’ theory, in particular his theories of the basic human goods and the requirements of practical reasonableness have been important catalysts for the extensive discussion his theory has generated. Before entering further into this paper, it is imperative to clarify what Finnis in particular means by “natural law.” There are lots of different theories on natural law, but for the purpose of this paper I will use Finnis’ definition of a natural law theory. He is primarily concerned with natural law as a type of moral theory, not as a type of legal theory, although natural law moral theory has implications for legal theory down the line. As a moral theory, a natural law approach emphasizes that all human beings have the capacity to understand certain basic moral obligations. In broad outline, a natural law theory of morality says that the basic aspects of morality must be able to be understood by everyone, no matter what their race, creed, color or culture. In addition, the basic requirements of morality must also apply to everyone regardless of race, creed, color, or culture. Finnis’ definition of natural law entails the following requirements: First, he requires “a set of basic practical principles which indicate the basic forms of human flourishing as goods to be pursued and realized, and which are in one way or another used by everyone who considers what to do, however unsound his conclusions.” What this requirement basically means is that a natural law theory must have the intent of outlining things that are good, and that it should encourage people to realize that the goods are in fact good and that they should participate in them to the extent possible. The set of principles allows one to consider how to participate in the basic goods. Second, Finnis also requires “a set of basic methodological requirements of practical reasonableness (itself one of the basic forms of human flourishing) which distinguish sound from unsound practical thinking and which, when all brought to bear, provide the criteria for distinguishing between acts that (always or in particular circumstances) are reasonable-all-things-considered (and not merely relative-to-a-particular-purpose) and acts that are unreasonable-all-things-considered, i.e. between ways of acting that are morally right and morally wrong.” According to Finnis, what he calls practical reasonableness is the part of the natural law theory that helps one to distinguish right from wrong. In other words, the basic practical principles are what help one actualize the basic goods and practical reasonableness is what tells one which acts are valid participations in one or more of the basic goods. Third, taken together, the understanding of the basic goods and of the nature of practical reasonableness can enable one to formulate “a set of general moral standards.” Because they are “general moral standards,” they have to apply, in some sense, to everyone. The point of a natural law theory, in other words, is to help all people understand what they morally ought or ought not to do. However, this does not mean that a natural law theory is blind to the possibility of difference or disagreement, for three reasons. First, within the frame of the requirements of natural law there is room for flexibility in the ways of pursuing the basic human goods. Second, natural law theorists, including Finnis, are aware that people can reason in a morally unsound way. Third, Finnis expects there to be some level of disagreement about hard questions of morality. In other words, natural law theory is not a computer program in which moral questions are entered, definite answers are outputted, and people fall into line like numbers on a spreadsheet. Natural law theory offers a way of making decisions about how to go about living one’s life, given certain assumptions about what all human beings need to live their lives well. 3.0 FINNIS’ THEORY Basic human goods are what orient a natural law theory of morality. They are aspects of basic human flourishing. Finnis’ list of the basic human goods is as follows: Life When Finnis speaks of the basic human good of life, he refers to the universal drive for self-preservation. “The term ‘life’ here signifies every aspect of the vitality (vita, life) which puts a human being in good shape for self-determination.” Knowledge When Finnis discusses the good of knowledge, and he does so quite extensively, he speaks of knowledge for knowledge’s own sake and not as a means to some other end. When one recognizes knowledge as a good to be pursued, then he or she is acknowledging that it is good to find out the truth and that muddle and ignorance are bad. Finnis justifies the good of knowledge and the need to pursue it is self-evident. According to Finnis, “[the good of knowledge] cannot be demonstrated, but equally it needs no demonstration.” It is important to point out that when Finnis speaks of knowledge as self-evident, he is not referring to it as being innate. Finnis solidifies his point about the self-evidence of the proposition that truth is a good to be pursued by providing the example of someone questioning the good of knowledge. Play Finnis acknowledges play as one of the basic human goods. Play is the act of engaging in performances “which have no point beyond the performance itself, enjoyed for its own sake.” According to Finnis, play can be overlooked by some, but it is an irreducible element in human culture. “An element of play can enter into any human activity…”, but Finnis states that there are some activities that are pure play and that because of this; play is a value of its own. Aesthetic Experience The fourth basic human good is aesthetic experience. Aesthetic experience is the realization and appreciation of beauty in many different things. One need not be the creator of the beauty, the beauty can be found in play, music, art, nature, or even in the pursuit of knowledge. Aesthetic experience can manifest itself in many forms of play as well as in nature, but it does not require one’s own action. Sociability (friendship) The fifth value is recognized as friendship. The good of friendship requires that one act for the sake of one’s friend’s well-being. According to Finnis, “community is a form of unifying relationship between human beings.” These unifying relationships are realized through four orders of community, the most important of which is the ‘unity of common action.’ This unity is developed by one committing to find his/her self-fulfillment by helping other members of his/her community find their self-fulfillment with participation in the basic goods. Practical Reasonableness Practical Reasonableness is “the basic good of being able to bring one’s own intelligence to bear effectively… on the problems of choosing one’s actions and life-style and shaping one’s own character.” The role of this good is quite complex because practical reasonableness is both a basic good and the way in which we ought to pursue the basic goods. Finnis saw the complexity of this good as warranting its own section, so is the case in Finnis’ book and so will be the case in this paper. For this reason, practical reasonableness will be discussed more in depth in a later section. Religion The basic good which Finnis refers to as religion is in regards to the concern for the order of the cosmos. Finnis is not referring to any particular religion at this point. Nor is he saying that one can grasp the truths of particular religions only with reason. Finnis would say that one needs ‘faith,’ for example, not just reason, to grasp the truths of Roman Catholicism. What can be said about the basic goods? Goods are for all people and they can be realized by all people who take into consideration what is right and wrong to do. One can enter this consideration regardless of culture. Finnis contends that the contents of his list of basic human values are self-evident. Finnis supports this thought by alluding to Aquinas’ theory that basic human goods are indemonstrabilia or not capable of being demonstrated. Thus the good of the pursuit of knowledge cannot be demonstrated but by the same token it does not require any demonstration. All of the seven basic human goods are equally fundamental. Each of the goods is equally self-evident. Also, according to Finnis, “none can be analytically reduced to being merely an aspect of the other, or to being merely instrumental in the pursuit of any of the others.” It is the nature of each of the seven basic goods to be capable of being referred to as the most important at different points in time. “But one’s reason for choosing are reasons that properly relate to one’s temperament, upbringing, capacities, and opportunities, not to differences of rank of intrinsic value between the basic goods.” It is necessary at this point, after the extensive list of basic human goods, that I emphasize Finnis’ claim that his identification of the contents of this list does not depend on any moral judgment. In other words, Finnis claims that recognition of these basic goods does not yet generate any moral rules. What generates a moral rule are the requirements of practical reasonableness applied to the basic goods, guiding us with respect to how we should participate in the basic human goods. 4.0 REQUIREMENTS OF PRACTICAL REASONABLENESS The requirements of practical reasonableness express the method of working out Finnis’ natural law. Those requirements “concern fullness of well-being (in the measure in which any one person can enjoy such fullness of well-being in the circumstances of his lifetime).” In other words, practical reasonableness deals with what morally ought or ought not to be done in the pursuit of the other basic human goods. The first requirement of practical reasonableness is to formulate a rational plan of life, which requires looking at the activities of a life holistically in order not to favor one basic good over another. This requirement operates as a harmonizing of commitments. Finnis acknowledges that a rational life plan will focus on some goods more than others, but he requires that we not use this as a reason to deny any of the basic goods. Finnis here is not implying that we must have the perfect life with the perfect balance to participate in all the basic human goods. No, Finnis does not require each of us to be the ideal college applicant with all the right extracurricular activities. Finnis’ requirements of practical reasonableness instead call for one to remain open to the value of all the basic goods, no matter what the focus of one’s rational plan for life. According to Finnis’ second requirement, “there must be no leaving out of account, or arbitrary discounting or exaggeration, of any of the basic human goods.” Finnis acknowledges that any coherent plan of life will involve some partiality to a basic good, but there are certain requirements that determine whether that partiality is either rational or irrational. What makes the commitment to one good over another rational is if the commitment is reached based on “one’s capacities, circumstances, and even of one’s tastes.” However, such a commitment would be unreasonable if it is either based on some devaluation of a basic human good or if too much value is given to ‘instrumental goods’ such as wealth, opportunity, reputation, or pleasure. The third requirement follows along the lines of the Golden Rule: “Do to others what you would have them do to you.” The essence of this requirement is that one should not participate in the denial that another’s rational life is truly good. This requirement assumes that self-preference will lead you not to be completely concerned with another’s survival, knowledge, creativity, or pursuit of any of the other basic goods, but one must not discount another’s pursuits as not truly good. Finnis puts the fourth and fifth requirements of practical reasonableness together because they both relate to each other and to the requirement of a coherent plan for life. The fourth requirement is that of detachment. In Finnis’ theory, one must have a certain detachment from his projects that he takes on in his life. This detachment is necessary in order to remain “sufficiently open to all the basic forms of good.” The fifth requirement is actually a call not to drop one’s commitments lightly. Finnis argues that if one was to adopt an attitude of apathy toward his commitment, then he would not really be participating in the basic human goods. The sixth requirement essentially states that one should bring about good in the world. It is part of this requirement that one is to be efficient in his actions in trying to carry out the basic goods. The sixth requirement ties in deeply with some of the other requirements of practical reason. “The first, second, and third requirements require that in seeking to maximize the satisfaction of preference one should discount the preferences of, for example, sadists (who follow the impulses of the moment, and/or do not respect the value of life, and/or do not universalize their principles of action with impartiality).” Finnis says that, the first, third, and as you will see very shortly, the seventh and eight requirements insist that any projects involving “killings, frauds, manipulation of personality, etc” must be excluded from a cost benefit analysis. Finnis claims that because of these requirements utilitarianism and consequentionalism are both irrational; in his view, the “methodological injunction to maximize good is irrational.” Finnis claims this irrationality because no common denominator of ‘basic human end’ can be determined. “Only an inhumane fanatic thinks that man is made to flourish in only one way or for only one purpose.” In other words, there are too many combinations of basic goods to formulate a common denominator of a goal present in all humans. Because utilitarianism and other forms of consequentialism require such a common denominator as a fundamental basis of their approaches to moral questions, they are ultimately untenable. The seventh requirement is one that has several formulations which involve respect for every basic value in every act. The first formulation of this requirement is that one should not carry out an act which is acting directly against one or more of the basic goods. Finnis justifies this requirement by stating that, “Once we have excluded consequentionalist reasoning, with its humanly understandable but in truth naively arbitrary limitation of focus to the purported calculus ‘one life versus many’, the seventh requirement is self-evident.” What Finnis is saying is that once one gets rid of the idea of a common denominator being present, for instance that any situation in which one life sacrificed could save many, then one ought not come to the decision that the preservation of life is greater than the good of not killing someone without a reasonably fair cause. However, it must not go unsaid that to choose an act that indirectly damages a basic good as a result of an act that directly or indirectly enhances some basic good is not morally unacceptable to Finnis The eighth requirement of practical reason serves as the basis for “our concrete moral responsibilities, obligations, and duties.” This requirement is that of favoring the common good of one’s communities. Throughout Finnis’s book, he understands the common good as a “set of conditions which enable the members of a community to attain for themselves reasonable objectives, or to realize reasonably for themselves the value(s), for the sake of which they have reason to collaborate with each other (positively and/or negatively) in a community” In other words, to participate in the common good is to realize what would enhance the participation in goods of both your neighbor and of yourself. The final requirement is that which “one should not do what one judges or thinks or ‘feels’-all-in-all should not be done.” Therefore, practical reasonableness requires that one act in accordance with one’s conscience. For Finnis, the end product of the preceding nine requirements of practical reasonableness is morality. “Suffice it to say here that each of the requirements can be thought of as a mode of moral judgments or responsibility.” “Thus, speaking very summarily, we could say that the requirements to which we now turn express the ‘natural law method’ of working out the (moral) ‘natural law’ from the first (pre-moral) ‘principles of natural law’.” Thus Finnis’ practical reasonableness is concerned with what morally ought or ought not to be done. Do we need a separate theory of human nature that supports natural law theory? Yes and no. Finnis states that “the criterion of conformity with our contrariety to human nature is reasonableness.” So, while Finnis notes the need for a philosophy of nature, he insists that reasonableness controls how one participates in human nature. On the one hand, Finnis thinks it would be a good idea to have a full-blown theory of human nature. On the other however, he doesn’t believe anything in natural law theory turns on it. What does the work in Finnis’ theory is his theory of practical reasonableness.

Hart's conception of law

2012-05-01T01:33:00.001-07:00

1.0 INTRODUCTION One important refrain that underlines Hart’s legal theory theory is his contention that rule rather than command theory, is the key to the science of jurisprudence. The command theory identified only one form of rule, namely the primary rules of obligation, which are insufficient to engineer the transition from a pre-legal society to a legal society. A municipal legal society demands a more sophiscated legal system that mere rules of obligation. Based on this, Hart tries to build a legal system that is based on the combined system of primary and secondary rules. In his opinion, what legitimize power are the rules of recognition, change and adjudication. These rectify the deficiencies of the primary rules of obligation. Thus, the place of rules and the role they play in fostering a sound legal system cannot be over-emphasised. 2.0 HART’S CONCEPTION OF LAW In the first place, law is aan affair of rules and so we can say what law is, by saying what rules are. In this regard Njoku writes that, ‘Hart asserts that investigation about law via rules is, the most portable way of three starting points’ but then Hart isolates rules from social habits to which they could be mistaken. For although both social habits and rules regulate behaviour, Hart states in his essay the ascription of rights and responsibilities, that ‘legal concepts are not reducible to extra-legal concept. That they need contextual understanding’. Rules are better understood from the point of view from which they emerge, apart from the external aspect which rules share with social habits there is also the internal aspect of rules. This aspect may be illustrated with the rules of a game, the rules of the point of view of those who are playing game, as against those who are watching the game. Thus, a closer look discloses that the basic element of rules is the fact they are normative, general, standard of behaviour. So when Hart talks about the internal aspect of which characterizes a rule as against the external aspect which it shares with social habit, the normative of the rule comes to the fore. When we consider his argument on legislation, the continuity of the authority to make laws possessed by a succession of different legislators, and the persistence of law long after their maker and those who rendered him habitual obedience have perished, the idea of the generality of the rule comes to the fore. 3.0 PRIMARY AND SECONDARY RULES: THE MAKING OF A LEGAL SYSTEM Hart characterised law as a union of two types of rule, namely, primary rules of obligation and secondary rules of recognition. He opined that these types of rule are indispensable for the making of an effective municipal legal system. He noted that the command theory identified only the primary rules of obligation (rules that require human beings to do or abstain from certain actions whether they wish to or not), which is defective for obvious reasons. Hart remarked that under such a regime of rules, human society exists in a primitive or pre-legal society, what we will describe as a legal state of nature. According to Njoku ‘the operation of rules in this type of society is laden with difficulty.’ As H.L.A Hart himself noted, it iss plain that only a small community closely knit by ties of kinship, common sentiment and belief and placed in a stable envirionment could live by such a regime of unofficial rules. In other conditions such a simple form of social control must prove defective. The second defect is the static character of primary rules, that is, its inflexibility. In this regard, Hart remarked that there will be no means, in such a society, of deliberately adapting the rules to changing circumstances; either by eliminating old ones or introducing new ons. For again, the possibility of doing this presupposes the existence of rules of a different type from the primary rules of obligation by which alone the soeity lives. Thus, we see here that these primary rules suffer from the defect of being static or inflexible. Thirdly, the system of primary rules of obligation lacks final and authoritative special agency for punishments for violations of rules, a defect, which Hart identified as “the inefficiency of the diffuse social pressure bby which the rules are maintained.” Hart maintains that “the remedy for each of these main defects in this simplest form of social structure consists in augmenting the primary rules of obligation with the secondary rules which are rules of a different kind” According to Hart, the introduction of a remedy for each of these defects may be considered as a step from the pre-legal into the legal world. And all the three remedies together convert the regime of primary rules into what is indisputably a legal system. These rules Hart refers to as secondary rules and they include the rules of recognition, change and adjudication. The rule of recognition remedies the uncertainty of the regime of primary rules of obligation by specifying some feature or features possession of which by a suggested rule is taken as a conclusive affirmative indication that it is a rule of the group to be supported by the social pressure it exerts. Hart noted that the existence of this rule in different groups might take different forms. In many early societies, it might just take the form of a list or text of the rules documented and to which reference can be constantly made, as authoritative text for code of conduct in such a society. It is not just the reduction to writing that really matters here, what is crucial is the acknowledgement of reference to the writing or inscription as authoritative as the proper way of disposing of doubts as to the existence of the rule. Thus where there is this kind of rule. There is a very simple form of secondary rule for the conclusive identification of the primary rules of obligation. The mode of for the articulation and reference to this rule in more advanced in more advanced societies can be more complex than those in the less advanced ones. There will always be a connection between the rules of recognition and that of change, “for where the former exists the latter will necessarily incorporate a reference to legislation as an identifying feature of rules, though it need not refer to all the details of procedure involved in legislation. 4.0 PERSPECTIVE WITH REGARD TO RULES With regard to the question of perspectives in rules, Hart argues that there are two perspectives; the internal and the external aspects of rules. By the internal point of view is meant the use of unstated rules of recognition by court and others. Those who use the rules this way manifest their acceptance of these rules as guiding rules and with it goes a special vocabulary e.g it is law that… this form of statement hart refers to as statement from internal point of view because it manifests the internal point of view and is naturally used by one who, accepting the rules of recognition and without stating the fact that it is accepted, applies the rule in recognizing some particular rule of the system as valid. In contrast to the above are what hart calls external statements. These are the naturlal language of an external observer of the system who without himself accepting its rules of recognition states the fact that others accept it. This distinction is very important because if the community is only made up of people who look at the law only from the external point of view, a legal community cannot be extablished. 5.0 VALIDITY AND EFFICACY OF RULES Following the above distinction between internal and external points of view is Hart’s distinction between validty and efficacy as essential features of laws produced by legislator, and not of laws produced by scientists. On this Hart opines, “if the use of an accepted rule of recognition in making inter statements is understood and carefully distinguished from an external statement of fact, that the rule is accepted, many obscurities concerning the notion of legal validity will disappear.” This is because the word valid is often times applied to unstated but applied rules of recognition. Thus, we simply say that a rule is valid when it satisfies all the criteria provided by the rule of recognition. Connected with the issue of the validity of a rule, is the case of the efficacy of the rule. By efficacy here is meant that a rule of law which requires certain behaviour is obeyed more often than not. It is plain that there is no necessary connection between the va;idity of any particular rule and its efficacy. Unless the rule of recognition of the system includes among its criteria, as some do, the provision that no rule is to count as a rule of the system if it has long ceased to be efficacious. In explaining of the unconnected nature of validity and efficacy, we still note that, that a law is valid is no guarantee that it will be efficacious and that it is inefficacious is no proof that it is invalid. On this Hart writes, One who makes an internal statement concerning the validity of a particular rule of a system may be said to presuppose the truth of the external statement of the fact that the system is generally efficacious. For the normal use of internal statement is in such a context of general efficacy. It would however be wrong to say that statements of validity mean that the system is generally efficacious. Thus, the combination of both internal (validity) and the external (efficacy) points of view will make for a sound practice of the rule and the existence of a sound legal system. 6.0 THE PLACE OF MORALS IN FOUNDING RULES With regard to the place of morals in founding rules in Hart, it is the candid view of F.O.C Njoku that there exists a relationship between them, but that “the bone of contention between law and morality is how their relationship is to be conceived.” This is the fact because for Hart both law and morals are social phenomena used for the social control of behaviour. Hart in this regard follows the tradition of a necessary separation of law and morality. But he does not deny the minimal content which they both share as normative systems. He also accepts the fact of the role of morality in founding of law in hard or borderline cases, where law runs out in the face of application and interpretation. And as such moments the judge might allow his moral conviction come to bear in his legal judgement. But Hart also tries to warn the this relationship must not be over exaggerated, for the fact that they are both used as instruments of social control suggests “that law is best understood as a branch of morality or justice and that its congruence with the principles of morality or justice rather than its incorporation of order and threats as its essence.” Furthermore, Hart argues that there are different types of relation between law and morals. As such what is important is to distinguish some of the ways different things may be meant by the assertion or denial that law and morals are related. But he clearly emphasizes the basic that law, to some extent, has its roots in morals. Thus Hart opines, “it cannot seriously be disputed that the development of law, at all times and places has in fact been profoundly influenced both by the conventional morality and ideals of a particular social group and also by forms of enlightened moral criticism urged by individuals whose moral horizon has transcended the morality currently accepted.” But for the case that there must be some conformity between law and morals, Hart argues that this must not be the case. In line with the above, Hart goes ahead to emphasis the minimum content which law and morals share. As such the connection here between natural facts and content as well as legal and moral rules is based on a kind of purposive causality, i.e a kind od causality deliberately directed to a purpose or end. And these can be represented in the following areas: Human vulnerability, approximate equality; limited altruism; limited resources; limited understanding and strength of will, at these points morals and laws share a minimum content. But Hart’s conclusion in this regard is that morals have a place in founding of rules, but then rules should not be reduced to morals. 7.0 CONCLUSION On the issue of morality and law Hart advises that we take a wider perspective of the law. Thus he asserts, “A concept of law which allows the invalidity of law to be distinguished from its immorality, enables us to see the complexity and variety of these separate issues, whereas a narrow concept of law which denies legal validity to iniquitous rules may blind us all.”

Ayer's criticism of metaphysics

2012-05-01T01:25:00.001-07:00

1.0 INTRODUCTION Reading through his work, ‘Language, Truth and Logic’ Ayer represented in full the views of logical positivism. Although Ayer's views changed considerably after the 1930s, becoming more moderate and increasingly subtle, he remained loyal to empiricism, convinced that all knowledge of the world derives from sense experience and that nothing in experience justifies a belief in God or in any other extravagant metaphysical entity. The obvious fact seen in his book that ‘no statement which refers to a reality transcending the limits of all possible sense experience can possibly have any literal significance’ is a disparagement of metaphysics. Therefore, in this brief work, it is geared towards analysing some of his logical criticisms of metaphysics. 2.0 DISTORTION OF THE CONCEPT OF METAPHYSICS Before I continue with this work, I wish to specify clearly that Ayer’s criticism of metaphysics could have arisen from the essential misrepresentation of the concept of metaphysics by the pyrrhonian scepticism. As a matter of fact, Aristotle used the name ‘first philosophy’ but in the course of arranging Aristotle works, Andronicus Rhodes used the name metaphysics (μεταϕυσικα) to indicate that these works come ‘after’ the chapters on physics. It was at this point that the concept of metaphysics was disfigured and even criticised especially by empiricism and other related schools of empiricism. This is because metaphysics was misinterpreted as only related with mysticism, obscurity, transcendental and spiritual. Some thinkers like Parfit Derek, David Hume, and Immanuel Kant followed with such misconstrued concept of metaphysics. 3.0 AYER’S CRITICISM OF METAPHYSICS It is an imperative to state that Ayer has a mission of evicting or eliminating metaphysics from philosophy by demonstrating that metaphysics is meaningless. Ayer began his criticism of the metaphysical thesis that it affords us knowledge of a reality transcending the world of science and common sense. He continued to argue that the metaphysicians began their enquiries with the evidence of his senses. And if so, what valid process of reasoning can possibly lead him to the conception of a transcendent reality. It is on this that it is established that from empirical premises nothing whatsoever concerning the properties, or even the existence of anything super-empirical can legitimately be inferred. For Ayer, we need only to formulate the criterion which enables us to test whether a sentence expresses a genuine proposition about a matter of fact, and then point out that the sentences under consideration fail to satisfy it. We can achieve this basically by following steps noted at the next paragraph. There should be a formulation of criterion in somewhat vague terms, and then give the explanations which are necessary to render it precise. The criterion which we use to test the genuineness of apparent statements of fact is the criterion of verifiability. This is to say that a sentence is factually significant to any given person, if, and only if, he knows how to verify the proposition which it purports to express. If, on the other hand, the putative (general accepted) proposition is of such a character that the assumption of its truth, or falsehood, is consistent with any assumption whatsoever concerning the nature of his future experience, then, as far as he is concerned, it is, if not a tautology, a mere pseudo-proposition. The sentence expressing it may be emotionally significant to him; but it is not literally significant. To have a full detail of the criterion of verifiability and adoption of this procedure, it is necessary to draw to draw a distinction between practical verifiability and verifiability in principle. A relational conclusion is made that proposition is verifiable in principle, if not in practice, and is accordingly significant. On the other hand, such a metaphysical pseudo-proposition as ‘the absolute enters into, but is itself incapable of, evolution and progress,’ is not even in principle verifiable. One cannot conceive of an observation which would enable one to determine whether the Absolute did, or did not, enter into evolution or progress. A further distinction which we must make is the distinction between the ‘strong’ and the ‘weak’ sense of the term ‘verifiable’. A proposition is said to be verifiable, in the strong sense of the term, if, and only if, its truth could be conclusively established in experience. On the other, in the weak sense, the experience renders it probable. Adopting the conclusive verifiability as our criterion of significance, we are logically obliged to treat general propositions of law in the same as we treat statements of metaphysician. In face of this difficulty, some positivists have adopted the course of saying that these general propositions are indeed a piece of nonsense. Indeed, it is my contention that no proposition, other than a tautology, can possibly be anything more than a probable hypothesis. And if this is correct, the principle that a sentence can be factually significant only if it expresses what is conclusively verifiable is self-stultifying as a criterion of significance. Those who adopt this course assume that, although no finite series of observations is ever sufficient to establish the truth of a hypothesis beyond all possibility of doubt. We seem to fall back on the weaker sense of verification. We say that the question that must be asked about any putative statement of fact is not, would any observations make its truth or falsehood logically certain but simple. The criterion seems liberal enough. In contrast to the principle of conclusive verifiability, it clearly does not deny significance to general propositions or to propositions about the past. It rules out certain formulations that ‘the world of sense experience was altogether unreal’. Consequently any system that condemns the sensible world as a world of mere appearances, as opposed to reality, is saying something which, according to our criterion of significance, is literally nonsensical. Ayer would have it that metaphysicians are attracted much to a priori propositions on account of its certainty and they owe their certainty to the fact they are tautologies. Metaphysical sentence is that which purports to express a genuine proposition, but does, in fact, express neither a tautology nor an empirical hypothesis. And as tautologies and empirical hypotheses form the entire class of significant propositions, we are justified that all metaphysical assertions are nonsensical. Apart from metaphysics not following to the criterion of meaning, metaphysics can also be nonsensical in this approach. The use of the term ‘substance’ provides us with a good example of the way in which metaphysics mostly comes to be written. Now, there cannot in our language, refer to the sensible properties of a thing without introducing a word or a phrase which appears to stand for the thing itself as opposed to anything which may be said about it. Therefore, the metaphysical statement that ‘to every name a single real entity must correspond ‘does not follow’ because it is necessary to distinguish logically between thing itself and any, or all, of its sensible properties. They employ the term to refer to the thing itself. Logical analysis shows that what makes these ‘appearances’ the ‘appearances of’ the same thing is not their relationship to an entity other than themselves, but their relationship to one another. 4.0 CONCLUSION Ayer’s work was definitive in criticizing metaphysics as not foundational in reality. The metaphysician has no intention of writing nonsense. He lapses into it through being deceived by grammar, or through commiting errors of reasoning, such as that which leads to the view that the sensible world is unreal.

Semantic Tradition

2012-05-01T01:20:00.001-07:00

1.0 INTRODUCTION At the mention of the word “semantic”, our mind tends to focus on the philosophy of language. Although “semantics” is a concept in philosophy of language but it has a connotative relationship with the theory of mind, since language is a faculty of the mind. Accordingly, philosophy of language thus mingles with the philosophy of mind, since it needs an account of what it is in our understanding that enables us to use language. Semantics on its own is the study of meaning of words, and the relation of signs to the objects to which the signs are applicable. This brief write-up is my concern to identify the historical epoch of the semantic tradition, thus identifying its meaning and relevance in solving the problems associated with the mind. 2.0 SEMANTIC TRADITION: HISTORY AND MEANING Alberto Coffa in his book, The Semantic Tradition from Kant to Carnap, identified semantic tradition as an early nineteenth century current through its incarnation in the work of the Vienna circle. Semantic tradition with other two currents-positivism and Kantianism are different currents that are distinguished by their attitudes toward the a priori. It is an imperative to note here that both epistemic and linguistic problems sprang up from mental issues. Therefore the semantic tradition is the tradition that is characterised by a particular concern for meaning which accepts the a priori while rejecting Kant’s explanation of how a priori knowledge is possible. While the logical positivism denies that there were a priori truths, Kantianism would explain the a priori using “pure intuition and constitutive power of the mind.” A priori is a concept in the theories of knowledge and mind, which cannot be derived from experience, but which are presupposed in any mode of thought about the world; time, substance, causation, number and self. It is pursued for its own sake. It is obviously the central theme in Kant’s critique of pure reason. Thus, a priori knowledge is consequentially derived from pure intuition and constitutive power of the mind. Semantic tradition rejected pure intuition and constitutive power of mind as the source of a priori knowledge. It is on this regard that semantic tradition forms an aspect of philosophy of mind because it possesses a lot of critical view about pure intuition and constitutive power of the mind as a source of a priori knowledge. SEMANTIC TRADITION VIS-À-VIS ITS REJECTION OF PURE INTUITION AND THE CONSTITUTIVE POWER OF THE MIND. David Hodgson sees the nature of mind as an abstract noun referring collectively to each person’s mental events, or, on the other hand referring to the subject of such mental events. Thus, pure intuition is an approach to a priori concept as the constructive mental activity of human. Mathematics which consists of abstract phenomenon does not consist of analytic activities, instead, logic and mathematics are the application of internally consistent methods to realise more complex mental constructs. In the philosophy of Kant, pure intuition is one of the basic cognitive faculties equivalent to what might loosely be called perception. Kant held that our mind casts all our external intuitions in the form of space and all our internal intuitions (memory, thought) in the form of time. In semantic tradition, of which logical positivism derives its root, pure intuition and constitutive power of mind receives their obvious criticisms. Fichte, who is one of the first German idealists, argued that the categories of the mind such as cause and effect, could not be used to give us knowledge about the noumenal world. Kant contradicts his own rule for limiting the use of the categories of our judgements about the object of sense experience when he says that the thing-in-itself is the cause of our sensations. The German idealists generally wish to transform Kant’s theory into the theory that every object is a product of the mind. Furthermore, John Mill and Bentham both rejected the role of rational intuition in our quest for knowledge instead; they refined techniques for sorting and assessing sense experiences. Logical positivists of which Comte and Rudolf Carnap are among, generally played down intuition, thus applauding the character of experience in forming knowledge. CONCLUSION Just as Descartes initiated mind and body problem and was responded by Kant’s critical philosophy of synthetic a priori, semantic tradition became a reaction to Kant’s transcendental idealism. In Kant’s transcendental idealism, he identified the mind as constitutive phenomenon in building our knowledge.

Critically analyse the administration of Yar'adua and Goodluck Ebele Jonathan

2012-05-01T00:28:00.001-07:00

1.0 INTRODUCTION Political philosophy tends to extricate different dimensions of ruling and administration in a state. Man is said to be a political being, thus he seeks various ways to organise his state. Broadly speaking, one may be characterised as political all those practices and institutions that are concerned with government. Samely, polictical philosophy as distinct from the study of political and administrative organisation, is more theoretical and normative than descriptive. It is relaed to general philosophy and is itself subject of social anthropology, sociology and the sociology of knowledge. Unlike the characters of political philosophy, a study of administrative strategies of any organisation involves essentially description. The object of this essay is to analyse and describe how the administrations Yaradua and Goodluck were able to reflect the theoretical political system of democracy in Nigeria. Before, proceeding to this aim, I wish to describe the political system of Nigeria. 2.0 POLITICAL SYSTEM IN NIGERIA It is essential to state that the political life of state controls other sectors of that state. Therefore, it is the function of the administrative force of a state to dictate the efficiency of economic, security, education and religious situation of the state. They pass bills and decree on how the state should be organise. This modern system of democracy in Nigeria has a recent origin. It merely started with the general election of 1999, with Nigeria practicing federal system of Government. This federal system in Nigeria is governed in accordance with the provisions of a constitution. The most recent came into being in May, 1999 when the then out-going military head of state, General Abdulsalamin Abubakar promulgated a decree recognising the new body of laws as the country’s supreme document. Significantly, the constitution affirms that Nigeeria is one indivisible and indissoluble sovereign state whose constituent units are bound together by a federal arrangement. It provides for a presidential system of government in which there is an executive, a legislature and a judiciary, with each acting as a check and balance on the powers of the other two arms. The constitution further provides for the operation of three tiers of government, at the federal, state and local levels. These provisions are binding on all authorities and persons through-out the federation. 2.1 THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT 2.1.1 THE FEDERAL EXECUTIVE At the federal level, the Government is headed by an elected President. As provided for by the constitution, the president is the Head of State, the Chief Executive of the Federation as well as the commander in chief of the Armed forces. He is also the head of the executive arm in the tripartite. The office of the president is a concentration of considerable powers and a repository of vast responsibilities. As Head of State, the President is the ceremonial head of the Nigerian government. As the chief executive, he/she bears ultimate responsibility for the smooth and effective running of government on day to day basis and must accept the ultimate blame for any failures that may occur therein. As commander in chief of the Armed Forces, he/she is responsible for how those forces are organised, trained and equipped and is accountable for how they are deployed to ward off external aggression and guarantee internal security. As the position is paramount in the making of foreign policy, he/she is also the country’s chief diplomat. Furthermore, although not explicitly specified in the constitution, the president must share responsibility with the national Assembly in the making of laws for good governance of the Federation and the public looks up to him as the leading formulator and expounder of public opinion in the country. In the same way, the public looks up to him/her as the overall manager of the nation’s economy, in which capacity he may claim credit in times of prosperity but must surely suffer unsparing criticism for any failures of economic performance. The president is not a member of the National Assembly but may attend to deliver lectures on what is obtainable in the nation including fiscal measures, or to make such statements on the policy of government. The president appoints ministers after due screening and confirmation of the list of nomenees by the Senate. He is enjoined by the constitution to appoint his ministers from all the 36 states of the federation. The president and his ministers constitute the Federal Executive council, with the president as the chairman. The body initiates the policies and programmes of the Federal Government and ensures that they are properly implemented after they may have been passed into law by the legislature 2.1.2 THE FEDERAL LEGISLATURE The highest law making body of the federation is the National Assembly. The Assembly is made up of upper house known as Senate and a lower house known as the house of Representative. The senate is headed by a senate president who is supported by a deputy senate president. It consists of three members from each state of the federation and one member from the federal capital territory. Thus the senate has a total of 109members. The House of Representative is presided over by speaker of House supported by Deputy speaker. The National Assembly has responsibility for making laws for the good governance of federation. Each of the house of Assembly is made up of several specialised commitees whose work focus on aspect of national life. All members of the Assembly in accordance with the constitution are required to sit for a minmum of 181 days in a year. The power of the National Assembly to make laws is exercise through bills passed by both the senate and the House of Representatives and assent by the president. A bill may originate from either house of assembly but cannot become law until it has been passed by both house and assented to by the president. When a bill from the assembly is presented to the president for his assent, the constitution stipulates that the president shall within 30days thereafter, signify that his assents or withholds his assent and the bill is again passed by two-thirds majority in each house, such a bill becomes a law, requiring no further presidential assents. 2.1.3 THE JUDICIARY While the legislature is responsible for making laws and the executive is charged with the implementation of such law, thejudiciary is responsible for the interpretation of the law in accordance with the provisions of the constitution. In line with the doctrine of separation of powers, which is a cardinal feature of a democratic system, the Nigerian Constitution guarantees the independence of judiciary. The constitution provides for Federal and State Courts, as well as Election Tribunals. At the apex of the judiciary is the Supreme Court. The Chief Justice of Nigeria, the President of the Court of Appeal, the chief Judge of the Federal High Court and chief judge high court of the Federal Territory, Abuja are all appointed by the president on the advice of the National Judicial Council subject to the consent of the Senate. The President also appoints the Grand Kadi of the sharia Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja and the President of the Customary Court of Appeal of the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja. All other judicial appointments to the Federal courts are made by the President on the advice of the National Judicial Council. 2.2 THE STATE GOVERNMENT Each of the 36states that make up the Nigerian Federation is administered by a Chief Executive. The Chief Executive is the Governor of the state and is elected like the president to a four year term office in the 1st instance. The Governor is empowered to appoint commissioners and advisers and to assign responsibilities to them. The governor, Deputy Governor and Commissioners constitute the state Executive Council. They cannot be members of the State House of Assembly. The State house of Assembly is the unicameral legislature for the State. It comprise of representatives from all the local government areas within the State, it exercises identical functions with those of the National Assembly at the state level. It makes law fr the good governance of the State, and acts as a check and balance on the powers and actions of the State’s Chief Executive. The governors appoint the Chief Judges of the States, the Grand Kadi of the Sharia Court of Appeal and the President of Customary Court of Appeal, in those States where those courts exist, on the advice of the national judicial council and the State House of Assembly. 2.3 THE LOCAL GOVERNMENT The local government is the third tier of the administrative structure in Nigeria structure in Nigeria. There are 774 local government areas in the country. The functions of local Governments as spelt in the constitution are as follows: a. Consideration and making of recommendations to the State commission on economic planning or any similar body on economic development of the State, particularly in so far as the area of authority of the Council and of the State are affected. b. Collection of rates, and radio and television licences. c. Establishment and maintenance of cemeteries, burial grounds and homes for destitute or infirm. d. Licensing of bicycles, trucks, (other mechanically propelled trucks), canoes, wheel barrows and carts, e. Establishment, maintenance and regulation of markets, motor parks and public conveniences. f. Construction and maintenance of roads, streets, drains and other public highways, parks, open spaces or such public facilities as may be prescribed from time to time by the House of Assembly of a state. g. Registration of birth, deaths and marriages. h. Assessment of privately owned houses or tenements for the purpose of levying such rates as may be prescribed by the House of Assembly of a State. i. Naming of roads and streets and numbering of houses. Etc The local government council comprises of the chairman who is the chief executive of the LGA and other elected members who are referred to as councillors. The chairman is normally elected, but can, under special circumstances, also be appointed. He/she supervises the activities of the local government and presides over all meetings of the council. All members are enjoined by law to meet the aspirations of the people who elect them. A local government council is the pivot of socio-economic planning and development in its area of authority. Being also the tier of government closest to the people, it is considered a most important facilitator of economic and social development at the grass root. On this juncture, it is pertinent to go into the main topic of discussion-examinig the administration of Presidents Yaradua and Goodluck from various perspectives by noting firstly the biographies of this two personalities in Nigerian government. 3.0 BIOGRAPHIES OF PRESIDENT YARADUA AND GOODLUCK JONATHAN 3.1 BIOGRAPHY OF UMAR MUSA YAR’ADUA Umaru Musa Yar’adua was born in Katsina Town, Katsina State in 1951 into a family active in Nigerian political and military affairs. He started his primary education at Rafukka Primary School, Katsina in 1958. He left Rafukka for Dutsinma Boarding Primary School in 1962 from where he completed his primary education in 1964. Umaru Yar’Adua was at Government College, Keffi in present-day Nasarawa State for his secondary education from 1965-1969. He then moved to the famous Barewa College Zaria for his Higher School Certificate from 1970-1971. For his university education, Yar’Adua attended the Ahmadu Bello University (ABU) Zaria from 1972-1975 where he obtained the B.Sc Education/Chemistry. He returned to the same University from 1978-1980 for his M.Sc Degree in Analytical Chemistry. Umaru Yar’Adua working career began at the Holy Child College, Lagos for the mandatory one year National Youth Service Corps (NYSC) between 1975 and 1976. He was a Lecturer at the Katsina College of Arts, Science and Technology, Zaria between 1976 and 1979. He moved to Katsina Polytechnic, also as a Lecturer in 1979 and was there until 1983 when he left the public service. At the inception of General Abdulsalam Abubakar’s transition in 1998, Yar’Adua founded the K34 political association which later teemed up to form the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP). He contested and won election as Governor of Katsina State in 1999 and was re-elected in 2003. Governor Yar’Adua is best remembered as the first Governor to publicly declare his assets and has promised to do same again at the end of his tenure. During his tenure as Governor, the state passed through an unprecedented development, culminating into profoundly transformation of the educational and health institutions, provision of rural and urban roads, electrification, water supply and agriculture. In the year 2000, he became the fifth northern Nigerian state governor to adopt sharia, or Islamic law. Yar’Adua primary health care delivery system and primary education policies became models. On 16th and 17th December 2006, Yar'Adua was chosen as the presidential candidate of the ruling PDP for the April 2007 election, receiving 3,024 votes from party delegates; his closest rival, Rochas Okorocha, received 372 votes. Shortly after winning the nomination, Yar'Adua chose Good luck Jonathan, governor of Bayelsa State, as his vice-presidential candidate. In the presidential election, held on 21st April 2007, Yar'Adua won with 70% of the vote (24.6 million votes) according to official results released on 23 April. After the election, Yar'Adua proposed a government of national unity. In late June 2007, two opposition parties, the ANPP and the Progressive Peoples Alliance (PPA), agreed to join Yar’Adua government... On 28 June 2007, Yar'Adua publicly revealed his declaration of assets from May (becoming the first Nigerian Leader to do so), according to which he had ₦856,452,892 (US$5.8 million) in assets, ₦19 million ($0.1 million) of which belonged to his wife. He also had ₦88,793,269.77 ($0.5 million) in liabilities. This disclosure, which fulfilled a pre-election promise he made. In 2007 Yar'Adua, who suffered from a kidney condition, challenged his critics to a game of squash in an endeavor to end speculations about his health. On 6th March 2007 he was flown to Germany for medical reasons. President Yar'Adua left Nigeria on 23rd November 2009, and was reported to be receiving medical treatment at a clinic in Saudi Arabia. On 24 February 2010, Yar'Adua returned to Abuja. His state of health was unclear, but there was speculation that he was still on a life support machine. Various political and religious figures in Nigeria had visited him during his illness saying he would make a recovery. Yar'Adua died on 5th May, 2010 at the Aso Rock presidential villa. An Islamic burial took place on 6th May 2010 in his hometown. The Federal Government of Nigeria declared a seven-day mourning period. Yar’Adua married to Hajia Turai Umaru Yar’Adua of Katsina in 1975; they had seven children (five daughters and two sons). Their daughter Zainab is married to Kebbi State governor Usman Saidu Nasamu Dakingari.another daughter Nafisat is married to Bauchi State governor Isa Yuguda. Yar'Adua was married to Hauwa Umar Radda as a second wife. 3.2 BIOGRAPHY OF GOODLUCK JONATHAN Dr. Goodluck Ebele Jonathan, Grand Commander of the Order of the Niger (GCFR), was born to a humble Niger Delta family of canoe makers on November 20th, 1957 in Otuoke Young Goodluck Jonathan began his primary education at St Stephen’s Primary School (now State School, Otuoke) and later moved to St Michael’s Primary School, Oloibiri, where he completed his elementary education in 1969, at the age of 12. His leadership traits began to come up for reckoning in the course of his secondary school days. In 1973, while in form three, he was appointed class prefect and Secretary of the Food Committee, an administrative body of hostel masters and senior students. He occupied that position up to form five. On completion of his secondary education, he worked as a Preventive Officer with the Nigerian Customs Service for two years. In 1977, he secured admission into the Department of Zoology, a pioneer student of the newly established University of Port Harcourt. He graduated with Second Class Upper honours in 1981. As a corps member, Goodluck served Nigeria as a classroom teacher at Iresi, a community in Oyo State, now in Osun State. At the end of the NYSC programmed in 1982, he took up appointment as a classroom teacher under the auspices of the Rivers State Civil Service Commission. Following his exceptional performance at the interview, he was promptly upgraded to the rank of Science Inspector of Education in the Ministry of Education. In 1985 and 1995 he studied for his Master’s and PhD degrees in Hydrobiology and Fisheries Biology, and Zoology respectively from the same University He ventured into politics and at the dawn of the Fourth Republic, Dr Jonathan pitched tent with the Peoples Democratic Party, PDP, and emerged as the running mate to the party’s gubernatorial flag-bearer, Chief Diepreye Alamieyeseigha. The duo emerged triumphant at the polls in the 1999 governorship election, and so Dr Goodluck Ebele Jonathan stepped into office as the first Deputy Governor of Bayelsa State. After a successful tenure, Dr. Jonathan repeated the feat where he led Chief D.S.P. Alamieyeseigha Campaign machinery popularly called ALAMCO. The duo won the gubernatorial elections again, in 2003. And Goodluck Jonathan is thus, serving as a Deputy Governor for a second tenure, not until his boss was impeached on corruption charges. Dr Jonathan took over as governor and two years later he was busy preparing for re -election to his first full term as substantive governor of Bayelsa state, when the people democratic party (PDP), nominated him as running mate to the Presidential candidate, He and Alhaji Umaru Musa Yar’Adua were elected in April and inaugurated on May 29th, 2007, as Nigeria’s Vice President. After taking office, Yar'Adua publicly declared his assets, and on 8th August 2007, Jonathan also did so .According to Jonathan, as of 30th May 2007 he had a total of 295,304,420 naira ($8,569,662.40) in assets. President Umaru Yar'Adua left Nigeria on 23rd November 2009 for medical treatment. He did not provide for anyone to assume his duties. On 13th January 2010, a federal court handed Vice-President Jonathan the power to carry out state affairs in the president's continued absence. On 22nd January 2010, the Supreme Court of Nigeria ruled that the Federal Ministries had 14 days to decide on a resolution about whether President Yar'Adua "is incapable of discharging the functions of his office". On 9th February 2010, the Senate determined that presidential power should be transmitted to the Vice President. He was appointed to serve as Acting President, with all the accompanying powers, until when and if Yar'Adua returned to full health. Precisely on February 9th, 2010, Dr. Jonathan assumed office as Nigeria’s Acting President by virtue of a National Assembly resolution empowering him as Acting President, following President Yar’Adua long absence for medical attention in Saudi Arabia. He became officially the President of Nigeria May 6th; 2010.This comes as the country prepares to bury its former leader Umaru Yar’Adua who died on 5th of May 2010, after a prolonged illness. 4.0 CRITICAL EXAMINATION INTO THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF PRESIDENTS YAR’ADUA AND GOODLUCK EBELE JONATHAN To make a successful examination into the administration of these personalities in the executive government will not be an easy task at all. It will involve essentially knowing their aspirations and then knowing fully what they are able to accomplish in their tenure in office basing on different sector of development. I will therefore compare the two administrations and then note specifically some criticisms arising to their government. It should be noted clearly that this work is under the scope of Nigeria’s political system. This is to say that this work will specify in philosophical way how they were able to fit into our political system. 4.1 PRESIDENT MUSA YAR’ADUA’S ADMINISTRATION Yar’adua took over from Obasanjo under the platform of people’s democratic party (PDP). It was rumoured then that it was the wish of Obasanjo to be succeeded by such an ill-willed and ill-health president so that he (Obasanjo) will find it easy to control the federal Government from behind as the god-father. In certain aspect, it seems that they are correct to their criticisms especially on the side of the ill-health reason because Yar’adua could not complete his tenure in the office; he died before he could complete his tenure. On another note, Yar’adua tried to define his ambition in the office. Thus he brought into view the 7 point agenda which is aimed to change almost all the sector of the country. The 7 point agenda of Yar’adua are as follows: Energy, security, wealth creation, Education, Land Reform, mass transit, and Niger Delta. The demands of this ambition are significant such that it will go a long way to boost the development of the nation. To accomplish these important ideals, certain precedential conditions are much necessary. The paramount respect and obedience to law, order, established regulations and procedure are very important and crucial to achieve enumerated points.Also the issue of planning well is also necessary for achieving the said goal. It is said that “he who fails to plan, plan to fail”, therefore, it becomes a way to make our goals to be achieved in little or no time. Good leaders who are patriotic and hardworking are also a tool of achieving this wonderful aim, thus, electoral reform is necessary of producing a good leaders. The question is whether Yar’adua was able to accomplish the mission of his 7 points agenda which purported. It is worthy of note here that guideline of achievements is contained in this 7 points agenda and it will be good to explain briefly these agendas his. 4.1.1 THE SEVEN POINT AGENDA OF PRESIDENT YAR’ADUA a. POWER AND ENERGY – The infrastructural reforms in this critical sector through the development of sufficient and adequate power supply will be to ensure Nigeria’s ability to develop as a modern economy and an industrial nation by the year 2015. b. FOOD SECURITY – This reform is primarily agrarian based. The emphasis on the development of modern technology, research, financial injection into research, production and development of agricultural inputs will revolutionalize the agricultural sector leading to a 5 – 10 fold increase in yield and production. This will result in massive domestic and commercial outputs and technological knowledge transfer to farmers. c. WEALTH CREATION – By virtue of its reliance on revenue from non-renewal oil, Nigeria has yet to develop industrially. This reform is focused on wealth creation through diversified production especially in the agricultural and solid mineral sector. This requires Nigerians to choose to work, as hard work by all is required to achieve this reform. d. TRANSPORT SECTOR – The transportation sector in Nigeria with its poor roads networks is an inefficient means of mass transit of people and goods. With a goal of a modernized industrialized Nigeria, it is mandatory that Nigeria develops its transport sector. The PDP government has already started this process by the ongoing rehabilitation and modernization of the railway. While the reforms might take some time to take effect, it is a need that must be addressed. e. LAND REFORMS – While hundreds of billions of dollars have been lost through unused government-owned landed asset, changes in the land laws and the emergence of land reforms will optimize Nigeria’s growth through the release of lands for commercialized farming and other large scale business by the private sector. The final result will ensure improvements and boosts to the production and wealth creation initiatives. f. SECURITY – An unfriendly security climate precludes both external and internal investment into the nation. Thus, security will be seen as not only a constitutional requirement but also as a necessary infrastructure for the development of a modern Nigerian economy. With its particular needs, the Niger Delta security issue will be the primary focus, marshaled not with physical policing or military security, but through honest and accurate dialogue between the people and the Federal Government. g. EDUCATION – The two-fold reforms in the educational sector will ensure firstly the minimum acceptable international standards of education for all. With that achieved, a strategic educational development plan will ensure excellence in both the tutoring and learning of skills in science and technology by students who will be seen as the future innovators and industrialists of Nigeria. This reform will be achieved through massive injection into the Education sector. 4.1.2 ASSET DECLARATION Mr. Yar’adua became the first Nigerian Head of State to declare his assets. It was commendable and one or two State governors emulated his path by declaring their own assets as well. But Nigerians are skeptical of these politicians’ bogus asset declarations because they have some unspecified foreign and local accounts opened in the names of their family members, associates and offshore corporations in which they wired looted, public money. In the case of Mr. Yar’Adua, contracts had gone to companies with links to his family’s vast businesses during his three-year tenure as Nigerian president and seven years as Katsina State governor. Yar'Adua publicly revealed his declaration of assets from May, according to which he had ₦856,452,892 (US$5.8 million) in assets, ₦19 million ($0.1 million) of which belonged to his wife. He also had ₦88,793,269.77 ($0.5 million) in liabilities. This disclosure, which fulfilled a pre-election promise he made. Yar’adua seems not to have achieved his plans and proposals because of his poor health conditions and then his sudden death. We will surely discuss in later section certain flaws that arose from his government, especially with his 7 points agenda. 4.1.3 YAR‟ADUA AND THE WAR AGAINST CORRUPTION: A NEW DAWN OR BUSINESS AS USUAL? The election of President Umaru Musa Yar‟Adua raised hopes that the war against corruption would be re-energized and strengthened. The President himself promised to take the fight against corruption to a new height, vowing to run a “clean government‟ based on the “rule of law‟: “If the federal Government is to take action against any person for any act of corruption which has been determined, without doubt, the government will act….As it stands, I assure you that the federal Government has zero tolerance for corruption. But also in the process, the rule of law and due process must be followed”. Similarly, while receiving the visiting World Bank Vice-President for Africa, Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, the President assured the world that he will not seek to instrumentalize the anti-corruption agencies. In his words: “I have given all the institutions a free hand. I have told them I won’t interfere, because I am strongly in support of the fight against corruption. No hurdle has been put on their paths. The only thing I have made very clear is that they must follow the rule of law and due process”. To what extent were these promises kept? How did the anti-corruption war fare under Yar‟Adua? Did specific improvements occur? If not, what challenges were encountered? The above were some of the questions we put before our respondents during interviews. The more widely held view was that the Yar‟Adua administration presided over a dramatic lull in the tempo of Nigeria‟s anti-corruption campaign. This view is voiced by many donor organizations, Nigerian civil society groups, including Transparency in Nigeria, the local arm of the global anti-corruption watchdog and highly placed sources in government, including some within the anti-corruption agencies. For example, Titi Ogunye of the Civil Liberties Organization, was of the opinion that: “Events since May 2007, particularly recent events relating to the EFCC, indicate that the fledging anti-corruption crusade handed over to the Yar‟Adua administration is facing a reversal of the worst kind. The challenge before the Nigerian people is to resist this subversion and build ownership around the anti-corruption effort”. In a similar tone, one senior civil servant in the Presidency, described the President‟s frequent talk about „human rights‟ as a smoke screen for protecting some of the President’s friends, especially the former governors, who are guilty of corruption. There are at least three main reasons for this pessimistic view of Nigeria’s anti-corruption campaign under the Yar’Adua administration. The first one was the perception that prosecutions of top public officials, like the implementation of several other government policies, were stalling after Yar’Adua took over. It was in this light that President Yar’Adua was derisively nick-named baba-go-slow by sections of the Nigerian press. The second was the feeling that some ex-public officials accused of corruption by the EFCC, especially the former governors who played key roles in the election of President Yar‟Adua, were been shielded from justice under the pretext of following the „Rule of Law‟. The third major source of concern was the fact that, some anti-corruption crusaders (such as Nuhu Rubadu, the former chairman of the EFCC and Malam Nasir El-Rufai, former Minister of the Federal Capital) have been purged from their positions. 4.1.4 FOOD SECURITY Being an agricultural inclined person, Yar’adua wished in a possible to create a situation where the country would feed themselves from our agricultural products. He posited that the only challenge of this aim is food poisoning caused essentially from global warming and green house gases. It is a case where acidic carbon will make its way to the ground waters and irrigation waters thus increasing in higher level the acidic content of the land which will surely affect the products. To combat against food poisonings especially that arising from global village, in his statement to the high-level conference on world food security, he proposed that Nigeria is also set to mitigate global warming effects through aforestation & reforestation, Integrated Water Management and the promotion of biofuels using jatropha and Cassava as feedstock. Nigeria is currently the World’s largest producer of cassava. (about 50 million tons was produced in 2007 and moving to 60mt in 2009). The promotion of Jatropha plantations is partly due to the need to use up the over 3 million hectares of degraded non-arable land in the Sudano Sahelian areas of the Country and its income generating capability for the rural poor especially women. Using cassava as a feedstock is part of the strategy to sustain its increased local production without jeopardizing cassava food production as over 1 million additional hectares will be open, cultivated and dedicated as cassava for ethanol. If that is to be achieved in Nigeria agriculture then the story food poison from imported foods will be reduced because there is so much to be harvest in Nigerian’s farm to feed the nation. 4.2 PRESIDENT GOODLUCK JONATHAN’S ADMINISTRATION Goodluck Jonathan succeeded Musa Yar’adua as the president of federal republic of Nigeria under the platform of PDP. It became very important Goodluck to prove himself in his administration as he is the first south-east to become the head of state since Ironsi. In his inaugural address on the occasion of his swearing in as President, Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of Nigeria on May 29, 2011, he enumerated his strategies of administration. Below are some of his exact words culled from his inaugural speech. a. Today, our unity is firm, and our purpose is strong. Our determination unshakable. Together, we will unite our nation and improve the living standards of all our peoples whether in the North or in the South; in the East or in the West. Our decade of development has begun. The march is on. The day of transformation begins today. We will not allow anyone exploit differences in creed or tongue, to set us one against another. b. The moment is right. The signs are heart- warming. We are ready to take off on the path of sustained growth and economic development. In our economic strategy, there will be appropriate policy support to the real sector of the economy, so that Small and Medium Enterprises may thrive. Nigeria is blessed with enormous natural wealth, and my Administration will continue to encourage locally owned enterprises to take advantage of our resources in growing the domestic economy. A robust private sector is vital to providing jobs for our rapidly expanding population. But this must be a collaborative effort. c. We must form technical and financial partnerships with global businesses and organizations. We live in an age where no country can survive on its own; countries depend on each other for economic well- being. Nigeria is no different. Returns on investment in Nigeria remain among the highest in the world. We will continue to welcome sustainable investment in our economy. d. Over the next four years, attention will be focused on rebuilding our infrastructure. We will create greater access to quality education and improved health care delivery. We will pay special attention to the agricultural sector, to enable it play its role of ensuring food security and massive job creation for our people. The creation of the Nigerian Sovereign Investment Authority will immensely contribute to strengthening our fiscal framework, by institutionalizing savings of our commodity-related revenues. With this mechanism in place, we will avoid the boom and bust cycles, and mitigate our exposure to oil price volatility. The lesson we have learnt is that the resolution of the Niger Delta issue is crucial for the health of the nation’s economy. In the interest of justice, equity and national unity, we shall actively promote the development of the region. I believe that peace is a necessary condition for development. Fellow citizens, in every decision, I shall always place the common good before all else. The bane of corruption shall be met by the overwhelming force of our collective determination, to rid our nation of this scourge. The fight against corruption is a war in which we must all enlist, so that the limited resources of this nation will be used for the growth of our commonwealth. 31. I am confident that we have every reason to look to the future with hope. We owe ourselves and posterity the duty of making this country respectable in the comity of nations. 4.2.1 SECURITY Goodluck Jonathan’s aspiration for the country’s security was stated in his speech made at the UN 66th general assembly. The meeting was preceded by the bombing of UN House at Abuja, and with that spirit he is particularly thinking on the necessary tool to combat security in Nigeria State and the World in general. According to him, “the world of the 21st century in which we live is becoming more precarious, unprecedented and more dangerous perhaps more than any other times in history. The increasing use of terror as a form of political actions posses serious threat to international peace and security. Terror infringes on the fundamental human right to live and to live in safety of fear.” In the same speech, he gave veritable strategies of fighting terrorism in Nigeria of which he has started implementing already. He noted that terrorism acts is very crucial to resolve terrorism issues and will go a long way to appropriate national strategies and corroborate even more closely with international communities to fight the menace of insecurity. He also noted that Nigeria has sign into law “terrorism bill 2011 and antimony laundering provision amendment act” on 3rd June 2011. The new laws are not only to outline measures to combat terrorism but also to prohibit the financing of terrorism and laundering of the proceeds of crime. Nigeria is also working closely with UN counter terrorism implementation task force and other friendly bodies to strengthen our mechanism to combat crimes. As a quick resolution to fight crime, the UN terrorism implementation task force launched its project in Abuja on November 2011. They seek to embark on preventing conflict and countering the appeal of terrorism through education, dialogue and mediation. Also preventive diplomacy is another to avoid insecurity situations. Jonathan looked with stern repudiations to trading of small arms and light weapons. The fact that such trade would increase highly, the situations of insecurity in the country. He retracted the act of 2006 to sanction people who engage in such actions. On December 31, 2011, Goodluck made a declaration of a state of emergency in certain part of the federation in order to restore public order, peace and security in the federation. Following 25th madalla bombing and other security threats in many northern part of Nigeria probably by the sect Boko haram. The sectarian crises in the north has gradually evolved into terrorist activities in different parts of the country with attendant negative consequencies on our national security. Goodluck tends to have responded adequately by constituting Presidential Committee under the chairmanship of Ambassador Usman Gaji Galtimari, to ascertain the immediate and remote causes of the crises. With the ongoing search for necessary solution to this problem, the president consequently took a decisive measures necessary to restore normalcy in the country especially within the affected communities. Therefore, he declared state of emergency on those areas following the provisions of section 305 (1) of the constitution. He went on to order the closure of the land borders contiguous to the affected local government areas so as to control incidences of cross boarder terrorist activities as terrorists have taken advantage of the present situation to strike at targets in Nigeria and retreat beyond the reach of our law enforcement personnel. Despite all these measure taken by Jonathan, it is a fact that insecurity persists in the country with the obvious infliction of pain by the notorious sect called Boko Haram. Their nefarious and heinous acts are seen now and then in the country at every corner of the country. The federal government has not up till today decided on a nice strategy to disarm this particular set of groups. Has Goodluck failed in security sector? That is what we will see in the next section. 4.2.2 ECONOMY UNDER JONATHAN’S ADMINISTRATION One of the most critical economic manifestation in Jonathan’s administration is seen in the deregulation of the downstream sector. The broadcast of Goodluck Jonatthan on 7th January portrays his ambition to stabilize the economic system by the deregulation of the downstream petroleum sector. Briefly, his speech is mainly geared to reviving our economic system thus he said “either we deregulate and survive economically, or we continue with a subsidy regime that will continue to undermine our economy and potential for growth, and face serious consequences.” He went on to explain that the subject of deregulation is not new, we have been grappling with it for more than two decades. Previous administrations tinkered with the pump price of petroleum products, and were unable to effect complete deregulation of the downstream sector. This approach has not worked. If it did, we would not be here talking about deregulation today. I understand fully well that deregulation is not a magic formula that will address every economic challenge, but it provides a good entry point for transforming the economy, and for ensuring transparency and competitiveness in the oil industry, which is the mainstay of our economy. The deregulation of the petroleum sector is a necessary step that we had to take. Should we continue to do things the same way, and face more serious economic challenges? Or deregulate, endure the initial discomfort and reap better benefits later? The discontinuation of fuel subsidy is because it poses a huge financial burden on the government, disproportionately benefits the wealthy, encourages inefficiency, corruption and divesion of scare public resources away from investment in critical infrastructure. Subsidy removal would save additional resources for programmes targeted at mitigating poverty and spurring economic growth. Accordingly, the money realized from it would be used in a special way to build new private refineries. Such deregulation of the downstream sector as claimed the Federal government would lead to rapid private sector investment in refineries and petro-chemicals, which will generate millions of jobs and increased prosperity for Nigerians. The total projected subsidy reinvestible fund per annum is N1.134trillion based on average crude oil price of $90 per barrel. Out of this, N478.49billion accrues to Federal Government, N41.03 billion to state government, 203.23billion to local government, 9.86billion to the Federal capital territory and 31.37billion as transfers to derivation and ecology, development of natural resources and stabilization funds. 4.2.3 EDUCATION IN GOODLUCK’S ADMINISTRATION Vincent Ehiabhi reported in the daily times that Jonathan promises education for all youths. As a scholar and doctorate holder, Jonathan has insisted in many of his policy to implement for education of the future leaders. Presisdent Goodluck has pledged to make education accessible to all youths, as part of the government’s policy on human capital development. He made this known on 14th april, 2012 at the convocation ceremony of the Federal University of Technology, Minna Niger State, where he was represente by the Minister of Education, Prof Ruqayyatu Rufai. Accordingly, human development through education is regarded highly as a way to improve lot of the people of Nigeria. He said “let me point out that our administration is committed to improving education, to ensure appropriate human capital development in Nigeria. 5.0 CRITICISMS OF THE ADMINISTRATIONS OF THESE PRESIDENTS As much as one tries to impress certain people, he must in a way be unsatisfied by another people. With that in mind, Yar’adua and Jonathan would not have impress everybody despite their enthusiasm to work for the benefit of their country. It is on this note I wish to state clearly the area they seem not have measured up in their administration, hoping that someday , something will be done to give a maximum result. 5.1 CRITICISMS OF YAR’ADUA’S GOVERNMENT It was stipulated by critics that Yar’adua did not care best about the value of naira and as such the value of naira has degenerated to N163 to a dollar. One will be forced to ask if Yar’adua is really aware about the situation at hand. It is an obvious fact that the value of the naira affects willy-nilly the well being of the people. His administration was labeled by Sam Nda-Isaiah as a situation no electric supply, no portable water, no health care system, collapsed education system and total insecurity of life and property, worsening poverty level. In his inaugural speech, He listed the seven critical areas his administration would tackle as power and energy, food security and agriculture, wealth creation and employment, mass transportation, land reforms, security, Niger Delta and qualitative and functional education. The president was confident that his administration would adequately address these key sectors and by so doing jump-start an economy capable of making Nigeria one of the world’s 20 developed economies in 2020. However, a critical assessment of the performance of Yar’Adua’s administration in the past one and half years shows that he has failed to implement his seven- point agenda. For instance, the president had said it loud and clear that he would declare a state of emergency on the problematic energy sector in order to tackle the problem of erratic electricity supply in Nigeria. He identified epileptic power supply as one of the strongest variables among the factors slowing down the nation’s economic progress. According to him, the power sector is characterized by low generating capacity relative to installed capacity. The president promised to put in place the necessary machinery that would move power generation from its level in June 2007 which was below 4,000 megawatts to 10,000 megawatts in December 2007. He was confident that through the concerted efforts of his administration, power generation would be further increased to 30,000 megawatts by 2011 and 50,000 by 2015. When the president realized that his administration could not actualize its first target of increasing power to 10,000 megawatts by December 2007, he had to establish an 11- member Presidential Committee for the Accelerated Expansion of Nigeria’s power infrastructure. He challenged the committee to deliver within 18 months the 6,000 additional megawatts targeted under the National Integrated Power Project, NIPP, as well as add an extra 11,000 megawatts of power generation capacity by 2011 through diverse sources. Although the committee has submitted its report to the president, the situation on ground does not give hope that the 6,000 additional megawatts target is achievable. This is because; there has not been significant improvement in power supply. Yinka Odumakin, publicity secretary of Afenifere told Newswatch that the inability of Yar’Adua to effectively declare state of emergency in the energy sector was a clear indication that his seven-point agenda was a mere slogan. “President Yar’Adua has been long on promises but very short on delivery. In terms of food security and agriculture, the Yar’Adua administration has equally not lived up to expectation. Due to the lip service paid to the agricultural sector by the Yar’Adua administration, food prices have gone beyond the reach of many Nigerians. The situation has been worsened because of the current global food crisis. Sayyadi Abba Ruma, minister of agriculture and water resources, said recently that about 65 percent of Nigerians are food insecure. This is because a substantial number of the Nigerian people earn below the one dollar benchmark stipulated in the hunger index of the Food and Agriculture Organisation, FAO. The efforts of the present administration to ameliorate the problems faced by Nigerians as a result of food shortages through the release of 66,000 metric tonnes of food items from the strategic grains reserves did not yield the desired result. This was because the process of obtaining the allocation paper from the federal ministry of agriculture, Abuja was abused. Newswatch learnt that the release/process of the grains was hijacked by contractors who bought in bulk and rather than sell to the ordinary Nigerians, sold to the breweries or agro-allied industries. Simeon Ehui, head economist and sector leader, sustainable development of the World Bank in Nigeria, recently painted a grim picture of the current level of hunger in Nigeria. “There is of course hunger. But I will not dramatize it in a way that people are dying. We are not at that level yet. There is concern that price rise is making some people poor. There is no question about that.” He, however, believes that since Nigeria is rich in natural resources, rich in expertise and rich in knowledge, the problem of food insecurity could be effectively tackled, if the Yar’Adua administration adopts the right policies. The president appears to have realised that his efforts so far have not boosted food production. This was why he said recently that his government now intends to actualize food security through the utilization of the National Resources Development Account to boost domestic production of food crops and development of agro-allied industries. The president has equally not matched words with action in the area of providing efficient transport infrastructure in line with his seven-point agenda. The transportation system, including road, marine, rail and air are in disastrous conditions. Although it is commendable that Yar’Adua listed the transportation sector as part of his seven-point agenda, so far no concrete steps have been taken by his administration to make a difference in this important sector. The conditions of the nation’s major roads are deplorable. Many sections of the roads have been cut off and commuters spend hours and days on the bad roads with huge costs to the economy and vehicles alike. The situation has become alarming in recent times because the two major roads linking the West to the East and the North to the South are in very bad shape. Consequently, there is always a traffic gridlock on the Benin-Ore road because of its deplorable condition. When Diezani Alison-Madueke assumed office as minister of transportation last year, she visited the bad portion of the Benin-Ore road and was at a loss why such a major trunk road in the country was allowed to degenerate to that degree. But more than one year after her lamentations, President Yar’Adua’s administration has become guilty of the same offence - neglect. It has not done much to improve on the decayed roadinfrastructure inherited from its predecessor. Eze Benett Elenda, traditional ruler of Ohiaocha Arocont kingdom in Abia State, advised the Yar’Adua administration to move beyond making declaratory statements by aggressively implementing the transportation policy that would create a modern and efficient inter-modal transportation system for the country. He suggested that he should also revive the railways and give desired attention to the inland waterways and air transport. In consonance with the goals and targets of the Millennium Development Goals, MDGs, Yar’Adua also adopted wealth creation, job creation and qualitative education as part of his seven-point agenda. However, one and half years after he adopted the blueprint, the country has not made much progress in these areas. For instance, despite Yar’Adua’s avowed commitment to job creation and employment, the number of unemployed graduates is still on the increase. In terms of wealth creation, the poverty index has gone up. Odumakin, spokesman of Afenifere, told Newswatch that Yar’Adua’s promise of making Nigeria one of the world’s twenty largest economies by 2020 is a mere wish. According to him, his seven-point agenda is deficient in terms of concrete actions for a better and prosperous Nigeria. “The indices of getting there are not on ground. An average growth rate of less than seven percent, is a far cry from the needed annual growth rate for a country aspiring to compete among the top league of twenty largest economies. At the moment, the standard of living of most Nigerians remains painfully low,” he said. President Yar’Adua appropriately made education as an item in his seven-point agenda. The huge challenges facing the nation in that sector justify putting education in the priority list by the present administration. However, beyond the proclamations made by the president on assumption of office, not much of policy articulation has been done. The sector is, in fact a disaster waiting to happen because of poor quality of education and inability of government to adequately fund education. Uchendu Obinna, a seasoned educationist, told Newswatch that it was necessary for government to ensure that public schools are adequately funded to ensure qualitative education for the majority of Nigerian children. He advised Yar’Adua to implement his policy on education by not leaving the sector in the hands of some amorphous private sector in making policy choices on education. The government should be guided by the principle of social justice. “To price education beyond the reach of the children of the poor is a terrible injustice and it is antithetical to the provisions of the Chapter II of the 1999 Constitution,” he said. As regards, land reforms, Yar’Adua appears not to have the political will to address the controversial issue. Nothing has happened regarding this issue. “President Yar’Adua’s seven-point agenda, which is based on the commitment of the ruling political party manifesto to continue and strengthen economic reforms, does not meet the requirements for a clearly defined shared vision of the country of tomorrow for these reasons: it lacks specifications of the structural transformations to be undertaken and it is limited to seven priorities.” The report faulted the duplication of visions and agenda on the country by successive regimes which it said had not helped the development of the country. “Generally, it seems that each administration wants to redefine its own vision of the future of Nigeria, and not as building blocks towards a common vision,” the APRM stated. The body, however, said that Nigeria has the potential to occupy leading positions in the continent and even in the world but could only do so if it has visionary and transformative leadership at all levels of the society. The group advised the Yar’Adua administration to be more committed towards taking a comprehensive strategy for achieving set goals. To say that Yar’Adua has failed to live up to expectation is to put it mildly. Both Yar’Adua and the PDP have failed woefully,” he said Agbaje said he was not surprised that Yar’Adua has not delivered on promise because he took over power without the knowledge of what to do. “It is only in our own part of the country that an unhealthy mind can lead a sick nation. How can a sick president administer a sick nation?,” Pat Utomi, presidential candidate of the African Democratic Congress, ADC, in the 2007 polls also believes that Yar’Adua has failed to deliver because he was not prepared for power when it was dropped on his laps. This led to his lack of a clear cut agenda for solving Nigeria’s problems. Utomi said that based on the fact that Yar’Adua has not actualized any aspect of his seven-point agenda, it was clear he was handed over challenges he did not prepare for at all and has, therefore, found himself in a trap. “The gentleman got himself in a trap. This is basically why he has no focus. We all have different styles on how to get ourselves out of traps. I don’t know whether his style is to keep lip service, watching things.” Rotimi Akeredolu, SAN, president of the Nigerian Bar Association, NBA, also condemned the president’s recent decision to administer oath of secrecy to his aides. “Oath of secrecy is inimical to transparency. Lack of transparency breeds corruption. The administrations of oath put in question the anti-corruption stance of the federal government,” Akeredolu said. 5.2 CRITICISMS OF GOODLUCK’S ADMINISTRATIONS The on-going administration of Goodluck has received a lot of criticisms especially on the bases of security and economy although one may not criticize him enough because he is still in office of transformation of the country’s situation. One of his policy of transforming the nation’s economy through removal of the fuel subsidy crop up certain fear in the mind of the people. People would have it as their way of embezzling the public fund since our nation is surrounded by corruptive governments. Also such policy was criticize because of the inability of the government to keep in place certain infracstructure that will help reduce the pleas of the masses. On the second note, the president is labeled as incompetent because of his inability to handle Boko haram situations. The book continues to rampage the country’s infractructure and even the lives of people. He has not once tried to arrest the situation but keep on assuring us of better security while we continue to die in the hands of our fellow countrymen. This also gave rise of seeking for disintegration so that we will be safe as whom we are. 6.0 CONCLUSION Nigereia as it stands now is still under-developed because of the bane of corruption that is incessant and in ascending order. Apart from our leader, the necessary tool to upgrade our human abilities is mental re-cultivation of our abilities to stay without corruption especially as it regards to funds. Accordingly, Mr Ugo Ughaerumba would suggest that to combat this evil menace in our country, the leaders should be up and doing to lessen the level of poverty, unemployment and generate adequate usable energy in Nigeria. Finally, Musa Yar’adua and Goodluck tried and still trying to set a standard but they should be more concern on how to make a favourable decision both on short and long term bases.

story that touches the heart.

2012-03-23T17:21:00.001-07:00

The Best Gift I Ever Received

Somewhere before I've heard the saying, "The best gift parents can ever give to their children is to love each other." I've had the pleasure of witnessing the truth of this statement for over 40 years. From as far back as I can remember my Mom and Dad were a team. A great partnership. They were more than just a partnership. It was as if they were one person. They could drive us kids crazy sometimes, because they were always together "against us." (Okay, so it just seemed like that).

They were really just together in their love "for us", making sure their brood understood the difference between right and wrong and the foundational principles of honesty, trustworthiness, and respect.) Sure, they argued (although, not that much), but there was never any doubt in our minds that any disagreements would be worked through and resolved. Most of my friends, unfortunately, didn't feel that same sense of security when their folks argued.

Mom and Dad began their married life poor, but they worked hard and, over the years, built a very successful business. They each had their strengths and weaknesses, but the way they worked together, you never saw the weaknesses, just the strengths. Dad was the outgoing, more public person with whom people met and right away fell in love. Everyone knew Dad! Then, when they got to meet Mom, they felt the exact same way about her as well. Mom, although not at all shy, was more comfortable being the person behind the scenes. More detail oriented, she ran the books and, according to Dad, was the one who "really made the business work."

I remember one night at dinner asking Dad how much money he made. (Doesn't every teenager want to know!) Dad simply replied, "I don't know, Mama handles all that." I looked at Mom and asked, "Is that true? Dad really doesn't know how much money he makes?" She replied, "Yes, he never has known, and he never asks." All three of us kids looked at Dad for an explanation. His approach was a simple one. "If we want to buy something and Mama says we can afford it, we can afford it."

For my mom and dad, marriage was never a 50/50 arrangement. It was 100/100 - each totally devoted to the happiness of the other. And, because of that, they each received even more joy than they gave. Dad once told me that "true love is when you actually care more about the other person - you love that person more - than you do yourself."

One of my greatest lessons from Mom was the time I told her, as a boy in my mid-teens, that even after I got married one day, she'd always be my favorite girl. Immediately - in a kind but definitely serious manner - she said, "No I won't be. When you get married your wife will be the most important person in your life, and that includes Daddy and me." The biggest lesson about love and marriage that my mom and dad taught us kids was on how to talk "about" your spouse. Have you ever heard husbands and wives, when speaking to others, make unkind remarks about their spouses? It's one of those things people just seem to do. Sure, they're "only kidding," or maybe they are not. But words matter. And words teach, whether positively
and negatively.

You would never hear such a thing from my mom and dad. Dad always speaks of Mom in the most complimentary, glowing terms. As does she of him. This lesson made such an impression on me, I still remember when I was age twelve and we were getting carpet installed in our home. The crew boss was one of those stereotypical beer guzzling, hard-living guys, who would have probably belonged to Ralph Kramden's Raccoon Lodge from the old Honeymooner's TV show. For lunch, my folks bought pizza for the crew. Dad went to talk with the boss about the job. I was around the corner listening.

The boss said, "This is an expensive job. Women will really spend your money, won't they?" Dad responded, "Well, I'll tell you, when they were right there with you before you had any money, it's a pleasure to do anything for them you possibly can." This wasn't the answer the carpet installer expected to hear. He was looking for negative banter about wives which, to him, was natural. He tried again: "But, gee, they'll really play off that and spend all they can, won't they?" Dad replied, as I knew he would, "Hey, when they're the reason you're successful, you want them to do the things they enjoy. There's no greater pleasure." Strike two. The crew boss tried one more time, "And they'll take that as far as they can, huh?" Dad responded, "She's the best thing that ever happened to me. I'd do anything to make her happy."

I was trying not to laugh. I knew he wanted Dad to give in just a little bit and say, "Yeah, I guess that's true." But it wouldn't happen... not in a million years! Finally, the installer gave up and went back to work, probably shaking his head in bewilderment.

Witnessing my dad in that moment taught me more about loving and respecting your wife than anything he could ever have told me about the subject. Mom and Dad are now retired and enjoying their life together, just hanging out, reading, and visiting their children and grandchildren. They recently celebrated their 43rd wedding anniversary. They still hold hands, and they are more in love than ever. Throughout the years, whenever Mom would remind me that I should be looking to get married, I'd say, "Ma, I have plenty of time." She'd jokingly reply that I don't have "that" much time. My Dad would then look at me in that wisdom-filled, city streets bred way of his and say, "Hey, you take all the time you need. If you marry someone just half the woman your mother is, you'll have a great life."

I should only be so lucky.

Marriage.

“When I got home that night as my wife served dinner, I held her hand and said, I’ve got something to tell you. She sat down and ate quietly. Again I observed the hurt in her eyes.

Suddenly I didn’t know how to open my mouth. But I had to let her know what I was thinking. I want a divorce. I raised the topic calmly. She didn’t seem to be annoyed by my words, instead she asked me softly, why?

I avoided her question. This made her angry. She threw away the chopsticks and shouted at me, you are not a man! That night, we didn’t talk to each other. She was weeping. I knew she wanted to find out what had happened to our marriage. But I could hardly give her a satisfactory answer; she had lost my heart to Jane. I didn’t love her anymore. I just pitied her!

With a deep sense of guilt, I drafted a divorce agreement which stated that she could own our house, our car, and 30% stake of my company. She glanced at it and then tore it into pieces. The woman who had spent ten years of her life with me had become a stranger. I felt sorry for her wasted time, resources and energy but I could not take back what I had said for I loved Jane so dearly. Finally she cried loudly in front of me, which was what I had expected to see. To me her cry was actually a kind of release. The idea of divorce which had obsessed me for several weeks seemed to be firmer and clearer now.

The next day, I came back home very late and found her writing something at the table. I didn’t have supper but went straight to sleep and fell asleep very fast because I was tired after an eventful day with Jane. When I woke up, she was still there at the table writing. I just did not care so I turned over and was asleep again.

In the morning she presented her divorce conditions: she didn’t want anything from me, but needed a month’s notice before the divorce. She requested that in that one month we both struggle to live as normal a life as possible. Her reasons were simple: our son had his exams in a month’s time and she didn’t want to disrupt him with our broken marriage.

This was agreeable to me. But she had something more, she asked me to recall how I had carried her into out bridal room on our wedding day. She requested that every day for the month’s duration I carry her out of our bedroom to the front door ever morning. I thought she was going crazy. Just to make our last days together bearable I accepted her odd request.

I told Jane about my wife’s divorce conditions. . She laughed loudly and thought it was absurd. No matter what tricks she applies, she has to face the divorce, she said scornfully.

My wife and I hadn’t had any body contact since my divorce intention was explicitly expressed. So when I carried her out on the first day, we both appeared clumsy. Our son clapped behind us, daddy is holding mommy in his arms. His words brought me a sense of pain. From the bedroom to the sitting room, then to the door, I walked over ten meters with her in my arms. She closed her eyes and said softly; don’t tell our son about the divorce. I nodded, feeling somewhat upset. I put her down outside the door. She went to wait for the bus to work. I drove alone to the office.

On the second day, both of us acted much more easily. She leaned on my chest. I could smell the fragrance of her blouse. I realized that I hadn’t looked at this woman carefully for a long time. I realized she was not young any more. There were fine wrinkles on her face, her hair was graying! Our marriage had taken its toll on her. For a minute I wondered what I had done to her.

On the fourth day, when I lifted her up, I felt a sense of intimacy returning. This was the woman who had given ten years of her life to me. On the fifth and sixth day, I realized that our sense of intimacy was growing again. I didn’t tell Jane about this. It became easier to carry her as the month slipped by. Perhaps the everyday workout made me stronger.

She was choosing what to wear one morning. She tried on quite a few dresses but could not find a suitable one. Then she sighed, all my dresses have grown bigger. I suddenly realized that she had grown so thin, that was the reason why I could carry her more easily.

Suddenly it hit me… she had buried so much pain and bitterness in her heart. Subconsciously I reached out and touched her head.

Our son came in at the moment and said, Dad, it’s time to carry mom out. To him, seeing his father carrying his mother out had become an essential part of his life. My wife gestured to our son to come closer and hugged him tightly. I turned my face away because I was afraid I might change my mind at this last minute. I then held her in my arms, walking from the bedroom, through the sitting room, to the hallway. Her hand surrounded my neck softly and naturally. I held her body tightly; it was just like our wedding day.

But her much lighter weight made me sad. On the last day, when I held her in my arms I could hardly move a step. Our son had gone to school. I held her tightly and said, I hadn’t noticed that our life lacked intimacy. I drove to office…. jumped out of the car swiftly without locking the door. I was afraid any delay would make me change my mind…I walked upstairs. Jane opened the door and I said to her, Sorry, Jane, I do not want the divorce anymore.

She looked at me, astonished, and then touched my forehead. Do you have a fever? She said. I moved her hand off my head. Sorry, Jane, I said, I won’t divorce. My marriage life was boring probably because she and I didn’t value the details of our lives, not because we didn’t love each other anymore. Now I realize that since I carried her into my home on our wedding day I am supposed to hold her until death do us apart. Jane seemed to suddenly wake up. She gave me a loud slap and then slammed the door and burst into tears. I walked downstairs and drove away. At the floral shop on the way, I ordered a bouquet of flowers for my wife. The salesgirl asked me what to write on the card. I smiled and wrote, I’ll carry you out every morning until death do us apart.

That evening I arrived home, flowers in my hands, a smile on my face, I run up stairs, only to find my wife in the bed - dead. My wife had been fighting CANCER for months and I was so busy with Jane to even notice. She knew that she would die soon and she wanted to save me from the whatever negative reaction from our son, in case we push through with the divorce.— At least, in the eyes of our son—- I’m a loving husband….

The small details of your lives are what really matter in a relationship. It is not the mansion, the car, property, the money in the bank. These create an environment conducive for happiness but cannot give happiness in themselves.

So find time to be your spouse’s friend and do those little things for each other that build intimacy. Do have a real happy marriage!

Why do you hold on so strongly to this life?
Why do you fear so much of death?
To live is to only dream about the meeting;
To die is to meet the Beloved in seven heavens;
I'm a lover of my God;
Let this lover be disgraceful, crazy, absentminded;
Someone sober will worry about things going badly;
Let the lover be..
~Rumi.

Once there was a rich man who bought two beautiful birds as pets for his garden. The birds were some of the most beautiful birds he had ever seen. He gave the precious birds to his gardener to be trained.

Many days passed away and one day the gardener informed the rich man that though one of the birds was flying beautifully, soaring high in the sky, the other bird had not moved from its branch since the day it had arrived.

The rich man called in healers and magicians from all over the country, to tend to the bird, but no one could make the bird fly. Then the rich man thought to himself, “May be I need someone more familiar with the countryside to understand the nature of this problem.” So he called out to his gardener, “Go and get a villager.”

In the morning, the rich man was thrilled to see the bird soaring high above the garden.

Then the rich man asked the villager, “How did you make the bird fly?”

With his head bowed, the villager said to the rich man, ” It was very easy, sir. I simply cut the branch where the bird was sitting.”

We are all made to fly– to realize our incredible potential as human beings. But instead of doing that, we sit on our branches, clinging to the things that are familiar to us. The possibilities are endless, but for most of us, they remain undiscovered. We conform to the familiar, the comfortable, the mundane. So for the most part, our lives are mediocre instead of exciting, thrilling and fulfilling. So let us destroy the branch of fear we cling to and free ourselves to the glory of flight !!! *

Twenty years from now you will be more disappointed by the things that you didn't do than by the ones you did do. So throw off the bowlines. Sail away from the safe harbor. Catch the trade winds in your sails. Explore. Dream. Discover. - Mark Twain

The Tea Cup
There was a couple who used to go to England to shop in the beautiful stores. They both liked antiques and pottery and especially teacups. This was their twenty-fifth wedding anniversary.

One day in this beautiful shop they saw a beautiful teacup.They said, "May we see that? We've never seen one quite so beautiful."

As the lady handed it to them, suddenly the teacup spoke. "You don't understand," it said. "I haven't always been a teacup.

There was a time when I was red and I was clay. My master took me and rolled me and patted me over and over and I yelled out, "let me alone", but he only smiled, "Not yet."

"Then I was placed on a spinning wheel," the teacup said, "and suddenly I was spun around and around and around.Stop it! I'm getting dizzy! I screamed. But the master only nodded and said, 'Not yet.'

Then he put me in the oven. I never felt such heat. I wondered why he wanted to burn me, and I yelled and knocked at the door. I could see him through the opening and I could read his lips as He shook his head, 'Not yet.'

Finally the door opened, he put me on the shelf, and I began to cool. 'There, that's better,' I said. And he brushed and painted me all over. The fumes were horrible. I thought I would gag. 'Stop it, stop it!' I cried. He only nodded, 'Not yet.'

Then suddenly he put me back into the oven, not like the first one. This was twice as hot and I knew I would suffocate. I begged. I pleaded. I screamed. I cried. All the time I could see him through the opening nodding his head saying, 'Not yet.'

Then I knew there wasn't any hope. I would never make it. I was ready to give up. But the door opened and he took me out and placed me on the shelf. One hour later he handed me a mirror and said, 'Look at yourself.And I did. I said, 'That's not me; that couldn't be me. It's beautiful. I'm beautiful.'

'I want you to remember, then,' he said, 'I know it hurts to be rolled and patted, but if I had left you alone, you'd have dried up.

I know it made you dizzy to spin around on the wheel, but if I had stopped, you would have crumbled. I knew it hurt and was hot and disagreeable in the oven, but if I hadn't put you there, you would have cracked.

I know the fumes were bad when I brushed and painted you all over, but if I hadn't done that, you never would have hardened; you would not have had any color in your life. And if I hadn't put you back in that second oven,you wouldn't survive for very long because the hardness would not have held. Now you are a finished product. You are what I had in mind when I first began with you.

:: Moral Of The Story ::

God knows what He's doing (for all of us). He is the Potter, and we are His clay. He will mold us and make us, so that we may be made into a flawless piece of work to fulfill His good, pleasing, and perfect will.

No temptation has seized you except what is common to man. And God is faithful; he will not tempt you beyond what you can bear; but with the temptation also make a way to escape, that you may be able to bear it.
Dedicated to all the parents out there . . .

Pencil: I'm sorry

Eraser: For what? You didn't do anything wrong.

Pencil: I'm sorry cos you get hurt bcos of me. Whenever I made a mistake, you're always there to erase it. But as you make my mistakes vanish, you lose a part of yourself. You get smaller and smaller each time.

Eraser: That's true. But I don't really mind. You see, I was made to do this. I was made to help you whenever you do something wrong. Even though one day, I know I'll be gone and you'll replace me with a new one, I'm actually happy with my job. So please, stop worrying. I hate seeing you sad. :)

I found this conversation between the pencil and the eraser very inspirational.

Parents are like the eraser whereas their children are the pencil. They're always there for their children, cleaning up their mistakes. Sometimes along the way... they get hurt, and become smaller (older, and eventually pass on).

Though their children will eventually find someone new (spouse), but parents are still happy with what they do for their children, and will always hate seeing their precious ones worrying, or sad.

"All my life, I've been the pencil.. And it pains me to see the eraser that is my parents getting worn out (older) each day.

For I know that one day, all that I'm left with would be eraser shavings and memories of what I used to have..."

what is phenomenology, its subject matter and the two main currents

2012-03-23T17:19:00.000-07:00

1.0 INTRODUCTION:
The reality of the concept of phenomenology could be traced etymologically from its component Greek words-“phenomenon” and “logos” which means the study of phenomena: appearances of things, or things as they appear in our experience, or the ways we experience things, thus the meanings things have in our experience. It is a branch of philosophy that occupied the mind of 20th century philosopher, beginning with Edmund Husserl. Certain elements of its existence could be seen at the works of philosophers before Husserl but in a mild and insignificant sense. Stephen Hicks writes that to understand phenomenology, one must identify its roots in the philosophy of Immanuel Kant. In his the Critique of Pure Reason, Kant distinguished between "phenomenon", and "noumena".
2.0 WHAT IS PHENOMENOLOGY?
Phenomenology is the primary objective of which is the direct investigation and description of phenomena as consciously experienced, without theories about their causal explanation and as free as possible from unexamined preconceptions and presuppositions. The knowledge of Phenomenology could be described as the science of experienced things ranging from seeing, hearing, touching, believing, remembering, wishing, deciding, imagining, feeling, judging and evaluating things. It is a description of the givens of immediate experience. It is an attempt to capture experience in process as lived, through descriptive analysis. It studies how things appear to consciousness or are given in experience, and not how they are in themselves, even if it is known that the given contains more than or is different from what is presented. For instance, assault victims may experience fear for months or years after the assault, even when no apparent danger exists. What does this fear mean? Where does it come from? How is it experienced? The answers bring us closer to the phenomenon that is lived. It is as well a method of knowing that "beginning with the things themselves, that tries to find a 'first opening' on the world free of our perceptions and interpretations, together with a methodology for reducing the interference of our preconceptions”. Accordingly, in the phenomenological tradition, phenomenology is given a much wider range, addressing the meaning things have in our experience, notably, the significance of objects, events, tools, the flow of time, the self, and others, as these things arise and are experienced in our “life-world”. Classical phenomenologists practiced some three distinguishable methods. Firstly we describe a type of experience just as we find it in our own past experience. Thus, Husserl and Merleau-Ponty spoke of pure description of lived experience. Secondly, we interpret a type of experience by relating it to relevant features of context. In this vein, Heidegger and his followers spoke of hermeneutics, the art of interpretation in context, especially social and linguistic context. Thirdly, we analyze the form of a type of experience. In the end, all the classical phenomenologists practiced analysis of experience, factoring out notable features for further elaboration.
3.0 THE SUBJECT OF PHENOMENOLOGY
Conscious experience is the starting point of phenomenology, but experience shades off into less overtly conscious phenomena. As Husserl and others stressed, we are only vaguely aware of things in the margin or periphery of attention, and we are only implicitly aware of the wider horizon of things in the world around us. Moreover, as Heidegger stressed, in practical activities like walking along, or hammering a nail, or speaking our native tongue, we are not explicitly conscious of our habitual patterns of action. We should allow, then, that the domain of phenomenology, our own experience spreads out from conscious experience into semi-conscious and even unconscious mental activity, along with relevant background conditions implicitly invoked in our experience. In his Logical Investigations, Husserl outlined a complex system of philosophy, moving from logic to philosophy of language, to ontology, to a phenomenological theory of intentionality, and finally to a phenomenological theory of knowledge. He focused squarely on phenomenology itself. Husserl defined phenomenology as “the science of the essence of consciousness”, centered on the defining trait of intentionality, and approached explicitly “in the first person”. In this spirit, we may say phenomenology is the study of consciousness.
4.0 MAIN CURRENTS OF PHENOMENOLOGY:
Certain conflicts arise from the field of phenomenology. This conflict gave rise to certain current in phenomenology. According to the demands of the assignment, I would immediately illustrate briefly the main current therein.
4.1 Transcendental Phenomenology:
The mind of proposing this current was to make some key elaborations to distinguish between the act of consciousness and the phenomena at which it is directed. Husserl in a later period concentrated more on the ideal, essential structures of consciousness. As he wanted to exclude any hypothesis on the existence of external objects, he introduced the method of phenomenological reduction to eliminate them. What was left over was the pure transcendental ego, as opposed to the concrete empirical ego. Now Transcendental Phenomenology is the study of the essential structures that are left in pure consciousness. Husserl described phenomenology as the rigorous science of all conceivable transcendental phenomena. All knowledge should be based on absolutely certain insights. The task of transcendental phenomenology is describing the lived world from the viewpoint of a detached observer.
4.2 Existential Phenomenology:
Existential phenomenology differs from transcendental phenomenology by its rejection of the transcendental ego. Merleau-Ponty objects to the ego's transcendence of the world, which for Husserl leaves the world spread out and completely transparent before the conscious. Existential phenomenology insists that the observer cannot separate himself from the world. Existential phenomenologists followed out more rigorously the implications of the doctrine of intentionality of consciousness. Since consciousness is always consciousness of…, the world is not only the correlate of consciousness but that without which there would be no consciousness. Heidegger thinks of a conscious being as always already in the world. Transcendence is maintained in existential phenomenology to the extent that the method of phenomenology must take a presuppositionless starting point - transcending claims about the world arising from, for example, natural or scientific attitudes or theories of the ontological nature of the world.
5.0 HUSSERL ON TRANSCENDENTAL SUBJECTIVITY VIS-À-VIS THE PROBLEM HE CREATED
Husserl, in his doctrine of transcendental subjectivity adopts a self-reflective method as a basic phenomenological method. This reflects that subjectivity is antecedent to all objective reality. Just like descartes’ methodic doubt, Husserl established the doctrine of epoche arriving at the pure and transcendental ego. Transcendental subjectivity is a goal of transcendental reduction otherwise noted as epoche. Thus, the pure Ego and its cognitions are the realms of transcendental subjectivity incepted many philosophical problems. It is very crucial to note clearly the problems surrounded by this doctrine of Husserl.
Husserl’s concept of transcendental subjectivity unfolds another aspect of unknown and unfamiliar transcendental ontology. Thus, his talk on transcendental being becomes very unclear, vague and ambiguous.
Husserl in his attempt to establish the ground for transcendental phenomenology, created two irreducible distinction between the realms of natural world and the realm of transcendental world. Describing these two ontological realms, the natural world depends ontologically to the transcendental world. He fall into the problem of reversing his epistemological theories into an ontological mode.
6.0 CONCLUSION
Phenomenology has had a pervasive influence on 20th-century thought. Certain philosophers like Martin Heidegger, Jean Paul Sartre and Merleau-Ponty contributed immensely on the discourse of phenomenology. Phenomenology also has a very contrasting nature with positivism and empiricism even though there are few similarities. Phenomenology does not restrict these data to the range of sense experience but admits on equal terms such non-sensory data as relations and values, as long as they present themselves intuitively.
BIBLIOGRAPHY
Microsoft ® Encarta ® 2009. © 1993-2008 Microsoft Corporation. All rights reserved.
Hick, S. Understanding Postmodernism: Skepticism and Socialism from Rousseau to Foucault,( Tempe, AZ: Scholargy)
Rollinger, Robin (1999), Husserl's Position in the School of Brentano, Dordrecht / Boston / London: Kluwer
Husserl, Edmund. The Crisis of the European Sciences and Transcendental Phenomenology. Evanston: Northwestern University Press, 1970,
Dreyfus, H., with Hall, H. (eds.), 1982, Husserl, Intentionality and Cognitive Science. Cambridge, Massachusetts: MIT Press
Heidegger, M. (1982 ). The basic problems of phe-nomenology (A. Hofstadter, Trans.) Blooming-ton, IN: Indiana University Press.
Heidegger, M. (1996). Being and time (J. Stam-baugh, Trans). Albany, NY: State University of
New York Press.
Hurley, S. L. (1998). Consciousness in action. Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press.
Hurley, S. L., & No ¨e, A. (2003 ). Neural plasticity and consciousness. Biology and Philosophy, 18, 13 1–168.
Husserl, E. (1970). The Crisis of European Sciencesand Transcendental Phenomenology (D. Carr, Trans.). Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
Husserl, E. 1973 . Zur Ph ¨anomenologie der Intersub-jektivit ¨at, Dreiter Teil: 192 9–1935 . Husserliana (Vol. 15 ). The Hague: Martinus Nijhoff.
Husserl, E. (1975 ). Experience and judgment (J. S. Churchill, Trans.) Evanston, IL: Northwestern University Press.
MLA Style: "Phenomenology." Encyclopædia Britannica. Encyclopaedia Britannica Student and Home Edition. Chicago: Encyclopædia Britannica, 2010.
Husserl, E. (1989). Ideas pertaining to a pure phe-nomenology and to a phenomenological philoso-phy, second book (R. Rojcewicz & A. Schuwer, Trans). Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publish-ers.
Husserl, E. (1991). On the phenomenology of the consciousness of internal time (1893 –1917) (J. B. Brough, Trans.) Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers.
Husserl, E. (2000). Logical investigations I–II (J. N. Findley, Trans.). London: Routledge Press.

chapter 2

2012-03-20T16:54:00.002-07:00

CHAPTER TWO
2.0. LITERATURE REVIEW
The history of natural law is a tale of the search of mankind for absolute justice. Natural law has appeared in some form or other, as an expression of the search for an ideal higher than positive law.1With changing social and political conditions, the notions about natural law have changed. Natural law has been the chief though not the only way to formulate ideals and aspirations of various people and generations with reference to the principal moving forces of the time.
To accommodate the modern humanistic legal formulations, John Finnis brought into view the new natural law theory. This would inevitably condemn certain theoretical assertions of the traditional natural lawyers but incorporates certain views of modern legal humanistic thinkers. In the course of this review, it would obviously reflect the works of ancient natural law theorists and more appropriately works that responded to John Finnis’ Natural law and Natural right.
In his book, Nicomachaen Ethics, Aristotle carried on in the tradition of his two great predecessors. Aristotle acknowledges the fact that law and justice would be as the result of convention. But besides this legal or conventional justice, Aristotle insisted that there is a natural justice which everywhere has the same force and does not depend on our accepting it.2 He noted on this fact that:
Of political justice part is natural, part legal, natural, that which everywhere has the same force and does not exist by people's thinking this or that; legal, that which is originally indifferent, but when it has been laid down is not indifferent.3
He also taught that laws arising from certain actions like spite, shamelessness, envy, and adultery, theft, murder are bad in themselves (naturally bad).4
As well, Aristotle sees reason as the ideal law of human conduct. A virtuous man is a man who is always guided by ‘rule of reason’. In explicating the role of reason in the reality of law, he noted that:
There is a natural law or justice that everywhere possesses the same authority and is no mere matter of opinion, [sic, but] that is discovered by the use of reason.5
The fact of reason in law (natural) shows its supremacy in a good state, thus law is not an unfortunate necessity.
Aristotle holds forth the fact that"there is in nature a common principle of the just and unjust that all people in some way divine [i.e., discern], even if they have no association or commerce with each other."6
Apparently, the reality of naturalism in Aristotolian’s legal theory stems from his teleological approach to nature.Every art and every inquiry, and similarly every action and pursuit, is thought to aim at some good; and for this reason the good has rightlybeen declared to be that at which all things aim.7

St. Thomas Aquinas, a Significant Christian Theologian, developed an ethical system based upon nature. In his book, Summa Theologica, Aquinas described natural law as a moral code existing within the purpose of nature, created by God. His treatises on law can be summarized as thus:
i. Natural law is contained in the essence of all created things.
ii. God created humans with a capacity to know or learn what that law is.
iii. All things have a natural purpose and are ‘good’ when they follow or fulfill it.

He formulated a classical approach in explaining law. In his definition, he conceives law as nothing else but a dictate of practical reason emanating from the ruler who governs a perfect community.8 The central ideais that the grace of God was held not to conflict with or abolishman’s nature, but to perfect it, and in this way a Christianized version of natural law could be seen to continue or bring to fruitionthe natural law tradition. Aquinas modified Aristotle’s teleologicalperspective so that man’s end was not only to live socially and seekknowledge, but to live in a Christian community in which onewould come to know, and presumable adore, God. Mostimportantly, however, he described orders of law, eternal, divine, natural and human law, which purported to show the way in whichhuman reason was able to appreciate what was good and godly –according to Aquinas, man, by his reason, was able to participatein the moral order of nature designed by God.9
Natural law itself is related with eternal law because it is a participation of the eternal law. Thus Aquinas would state categorically that:
The function of the natural law, is nothing else than an imprint on us of the Divine light. It is therefore evident that the natural law is nothing else than the rational creature's participation of the eternallaw. Everyact of reason and will in us is based on that which is according to nature, as stated above: for every act of reasoning is based on principles that are known naturally, and every act of appetite in respect of the means is derived from the naturalappetite in respect of the last end. Accordingly the first direction of our acts to their end, must need be in virtue of the natural law.10
For Aquinas, the natural law is same for all men. This, obviously bring into view the objective character of natural law. Natural law belongs to those things to which a man is inclined naturally: and among these which are proper to man is reason. In speculative aspect of reason, which concerns itself with necessary things, truth is the same in all men though is not known by all, both as to principles and conclusions. On the other hand, for practical reason, neither is the truth or rectitude the same for all, but, where it is the same, is it equally known by all.
Consequently we must say that the natural law, as to general principles, is the same for all, both as to rectitude and as to knowledge. But as to certain matters of detail, which are conclusions, as it were, of those general principles, it is the same for all in the majority of cases, both as to rectitude and as to knowledge; and yet in some few cases it may fail, both as to rectitude, by reason of certain obstacles and as to knowledge, since in some the reason is perverted by passion, or evil habit, or an evil disposition of nature; thus formerly, theft, although it is expressly contrary to the natural law, was not considered wrong among the Germans, as Julius Caesar relates.11
On another note, Aquinas argued fervently that the natural law dates from the creation of the rational creature. It does not vary according to time, but remains unchangeable.
There is shift from the classical natural law as perceived by the Greek philosophers. The tenets of utilitarianisms brought the wide range of workability of law. They dwell much on the activities of the courts to count as law. Jeremy Bentham defines law as “an assemblage of signs declarative of a volition conceived or adopted by the sovereign in a state.12 Laws are real entities that make an empirical impression on the mind.13As one might suppose, much of the literature in this domain of the philosophy of law has been given over to attempts to define mediating positions between these “extremes” between natural law and positive law. Two such mediating views are articulated by Hart and Dworkins.
In his book, The Concept of Law, Hart does not seek to defend a narrow, partisan tradition, but rather departs from Austin’s version of positivism by undertaking a broad re-examination of the fundamental questions of jurisprudence, clarifying them and securing their importance.14This work is an analysis of the relation between law, coercion, and morality. It is an attempt to clarify the question of whether all laws may be properly conceptualized as coercive orders or as moral commands. Hart says that there is no logical connection between law and coercion or between law and morality. According to Hart, there is no necessary logical connection between the content of law and morality, and that the existence of legal rights and duties may be devoid of any moral justification.15Thus, his interpretation of the relation between law and morality defers from that of Ronald Dworkin, who suggests that every legal action has a moral dimension.
Hart’s analysis of the concept of law is based on several interrelated ideas.16 He maintains that a legal system, in contrast to a set of unrelated laws, consists of a union of primary rules of obligation and secondary rules. The most important secondary rule, which Hart calls “the rule of recognition,” specifies the criteria for identifying a law within the system. Example is the United States Constitution. Other secondary rules specify how primary rules are changed or modified and when primary rules have been violated.
Furthermore, in distinguishing primary rules of obligation from secondary rules, Hart takes the position that there is at least one type of law that imposes an obligation. This type tells citizens that they must not do this or must do that. Raising the crucial question of what an obligation with respect to legal rules means, Hart rejects the idea that to say that law imposes an obligation is merely to assert a prediction. Nor does he accept the view that laws imposing an obligation are simply coercive orders. Hart attempts to provide a general analysis of obligation in terms of social pressure. He sees this analysis as clearly distinguishing his view from those of Austin and other positivists.
Finally, in order to understand secondary and primary rules and the obligation the law imposes, Hart insists that the point of view of people who follow and apply the law must be considered. In particular, he emphasizes the importance of an internal point of view of the law.That is, the point of view of those who operate withinthe law rather than of external observers of the law. So, according to Hart, a legal theorist who wishesto understand a legal system must view the legal system from the point of view of an actor in the system. In Wittgenstein’s categories, perhaps, we might say that Hart views the legal system as a “form of life,” rather than merely as a formal system. How then, one might inquire, do Hart’s notions of “law” and “legal system” impact the crucial issue of judicial interpretation? Clearly, he has moved away from a strict legal formalism, the view that legal interpretation is always simply the straightforward application of a legal rule to a case. Hart does believe that there are instances where this formalist approach is appropriate, but he denies that it always is. Sometimes the judge must exercise discretion, and a mechanical application of rule to case is impossible.
Note the difficulty which this issue poses for a legal positivist who is equally displeased with a natural law form of “legal foundations” and the extreme position of rule scepticism (the notion that judges always have wide discretion and that the application of rules to cases plays no significant role in judicial decision).
Professor Ronald Dworkin has presented a fascinating critical tool in philosophy of law for critiquing legal positivism. Against Hart, Dworkin maintains that even in unclear cases there is always one correct decision, although what this decision might be is unknown. In addition, Dworkin argues that a judge’s decision in unclear cases is characteristically determined, and should be, entirely by principles specifying rights and entitlements. In his book, Law’s Empire, he describes principles as “a standard that is to be observed, not because it will advance or secure an economic, political, or social situation deemed desirable, but because it is a requirement of justice or fairness or some other dimension of morality”.17 He argues that the difference between “principles” and “rules” is “logical” and related to the fact that principles (not rules) differ in their “weightiness” but not always recognizable from their form. Although “principles” are sometimes well-established for example, by judicial precedent, at times they do not become established until there is adjudication of “hard cases”. Yet these principles become really the justification of decisions in cases, which in turn become rules of law .18
Although Dworkin defends his concept of “legal principles” with explicit intent and systematic vigour in “The Model of Rules,” the nature and subtlety of his position emerges more clearly from his more popular article “On Not Prosecuting Civil Disobedience”. For our purposes here, however, the foregoing summary of Dworkin’s position will suffice. It would appear that the net effect of Dworkin’s firm opposition to legal positivism is a kind of conundrum for philosophy of law. On the one hand, Dworkin is able to demonstrate that the “rules” approach of H.L.A. Hart to “certifying” valid positive law does not account for the presence of “principles” within jurisprudence. Indeed, it does appear that “principles” in fact play a role in some judges arriving at decisions, interpreting their reasoning, and justifying their claims.
How then does Hart’s position respond to Dworkin’s challenge? We must recall that Hart sees law as an institution within a larger social system. It is a form of rule-making, rule-applying, and rule-enforcing behaviour. Theserules do indeed have connection to morality, both in origin, on occasion and in interpretation, as well as in applicationand enforcement. This overlapping of differing kinds of rules, in this case moral ones and legal ones, does not imply the dependence of one upon the other in any “ultimate” sense, any more than other social rules like “rules of etiquette” might be. What alternative, then, does Hart offer for explaining the “foundations” of law? Hart introduced the notion of “rules of recognition”.19
In his more mature thought, Hart has broadened his concept of “rules” applied by judges in their decisions to embrace “legal standards”. Although Hart now believes that these legal standards constrain a judge’s decision in unclear cases, he maintains that there may be alternative decisions in such cases that are equally justified in terms of these standards. In Dworkin’s view, Hart’s position remains truncated and unsatisfying.
Immediate contemporary issues come to mind about how natural law can be conceived. Professor William R. Long, in his article “contemporary issues: John Finnis”, commended the work of John Finnis who has singlehandedly tried to resurrect the natural law tradition in moral philosophy and law.20 He tries to offer a “neo-Aquinian” natural law philosophy which does not presuppose a divine being. It is an imperative to state clearly that the essence of law is to satisfy the quest of the human good.
The theory may be briefly state as follows: all rational agents set out to preserve or obtain things they perceive to be good for themselves. We need therefore to exercise practical reason to obtain that good at any one time. Those seven goods can be further clarified into three substantive and four reflexive goods.
It is worthy of note that Finnis’ legal theory is derivative of his moral theory. Law enters into the picture as a way of effecting the realisation of the basic goods. Therefore, on his theory of law, Finnis followed of the track of Aquinas. This signifies that laws should reflect the basic goods and flow from the principles of practical reasonableness. He seemingly makes common cause with people who are not theists today but want to ground their legal theory either in “eternal principles” or “basic principles”. Therefore, it goes a long way to invalidate the positivist’s view of ‘separation of law and morality.
William Long was able to detect certain complexities in the purview of its subject matter. There is a fact that people, who believe in natural law, throw around the word “moral” all the time. It folds back to basic goods, but it is a ‘crutch word’ used a lot to help the natural law philosophers to walk, but not useful for those who are seemingly limbs intact.
One difficulty which is deposited in Finnis’ work is whether the theory really reflects the rough and tumble of legislation, on the one hand, and whether it tries to “explain too much”. Would we easily explain law necessary by viewing it as an instrumental reality as it achieves the aim of separating law from morals? 21
Normative jurisprudence seeks to understand the moral basis for the law. They seek to shape and influence law. Arthur Ripstein, in his article Normative and Analytic Jurisprudence, considers fervently ‘what law is’ and ‘what law ought to be’ in the first part of his essay. He thereafter, considers two alternative ways of understanding how morality could be more closely integrated with law.22
Arthur Ripstein turns to John Austin distinctions of Normative and Analytic jurisprudence. As Austin conceives the distinction;
Analytical jurisprudence is the study of the concept or nature of law, considered in its most general and abstract level. Normative jurisprudence works with the already determined concept of law, and asks what the law should be, considering whether particular areas of law or doctrine are as they should be.23
The fact that the questions concern the structure of a legal system enters the analysis only indirectly, by way of structural concerns about the ability of ordinary citizens to know what the law requires in particular circumstances, or the competence of officials such as police officers and courts to bring moral factors to bear on particular cases.
Apart from Dworkin’s view that we cannot know what the law requires in a particular case without considering what it ought to be, morality is taken to be normatively defensible in more or less the terms on which it presents itself. The morality of interpersonal interaction includes such familiar requirements which include taking care not to injure other people, keeping off their property, honouring your contracts, and avoiding self-dealing while administering the affairs of others, as well as making up any wrongs you have committed.
On the traditional natural law view, positive law serves to make these familiar requirements sufficiently determinate and impartial in their application, so that they can in fact provide adequate guidance to action.24 For the natural law tradition which is clearly seen in Aristotle, Aquinas and Finnis, the basic negative prohibitions of law and morality are generated in relation to the goods most basic to practical reason.
Finally, the natural law view of normative jurisprudence rejects each of the Austinian residues; it found that morality is fundamentally rule-governed. For Arthur, without institutions, charged with applying familiar legal concepts, people could not live together on morally acceptable terms, because morality’s demands would be indeterminate, and each would have no choice but to do what seemed right in his or her eyes.
REFERENCES
1. W. Friedmann, Legal Theory, (Columbia university Press: New York) 5thed; 1967. P.95.
2. Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics in the Basic works of Aristotle, ed. R. Mckeon. (New York: Random House, 1941), p. 1014.
3. Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics in the Basic works of Aristotle, ed. R. Mckeon. (New York: Random House, 1941), p. 1014.
4. Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics in the Basic works of Aristotle, ed. R. Mckeon. (New York: Random House, 1941).
5. Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics in the Basic works of Aristotle, ed. R. Mckeon. (New York: Random House, 1941), 1193-94, p. 865.
6. Aristotle, Rhetorics in the Basic works of Aristotle,ed. R. Mckeon (New York: Random House, 1941), p. 1370.
7. Aristotle, Nichomachean Ethics in the Basic works of Aristotle, ed. R. Mckeon. (New York: Random House, 1941), p. 935.
8. T. Aquinas, Summa Theologica (Second and Revised Edition, 1920
Literally translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Provinceonline edition), I-II, q. 91. a. 1.
9. S. Guest et al., Jurisprudence and Legal Theory (London: University of London Press, 2004), pp. 65-66.
10. T. Aquinas, Summa Theologica (Second and Revised Edition, 1920
Literally translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Provinceonline edition), I-II, q. 94.
11. T. Aquinas, Summa Theologica (Second and Revised Edition, 1920
Literally translated by Fathers of the English Dominican Provinceonline edition) I-II, q. 94. a. 4.
12 H.L.A. Hart, Essay on Bentham’s Jurisprudence and Political Theory (New York: Clarendon press Oxford, 1982), p.110.
13. J.M. Finnis, Natural Law and Natural Rights (Oxford: Clarendon press, 1980), p. 4.
14. I. H. Peak,Jr: “Dworkin and Hart on the law: A Polanyian reconsideration,” in M. K. Baird & R. M. Baird (Eds.), Morality, Justice and the Law (Prometheus Books in Amherst, N.Y., 2007), p. 23.
15. H.L.A. Hart, The Concept of Law (Oxford: Clarendon press, 1994), p. 268.
16. H.L.A. Hart, The Concept of Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961), pp. 77ff.
17. R. Dworkin, Law’s Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986), p. 153.
18. R. Dworkin, Law’s Empire (Cambridge, MA: Harvard University Press, 1986), p. 157.
19. H.L.A. Hart, The Concept of Law (Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1961), p. 94.
20.W. R. Long: Contemporary issues, John Finnis (11th April 2004). http://www.drbilllong.com/Jurisprudence/Finnis.html. (access 26. 02. 2012).
21. W. R. Long: Contemporary issues, John Finnis (11th April 2004). http://www.drbilllong.com/Jurisprudence/Finnis.html. (access 26. 02. 2012).
22. A. Ripstein: Normative and Analytic Jurisprudence.http://ivr-enc.info/index.Php?title=Normative_and_Analytic Jurisprudence. (access 28. 02. 2012).
23. A. Ripstein: Normative and Analytic Jurisprudence.http://ivr-enc.info/index.Php?title=Normative_and_Analytic Jurisprudence. (access 28. 02. 2012).
24. A. Ripstein: Normative and Analytic Jurisprudence.http://ivr- enc.info/index.Php?title=Normative_and_Analytic Jurisprudence. (access 28. 02. 2012).

general introduction

2011-12-16T02:46:00.000-08:00

TABLE OF CONTENTS
TITLE PAGE-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
APPROVAL--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
CERTIFICATION--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
DEDICATION------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
TABLE OF CONTENTS--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
ABSTRACT----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER ONE
1.0 GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF STUDY-----------------------------------------------------------------
1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM----------------------------------------------------------
1.3 THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY--------------------------------------------------------------
1.4 THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY-----------------------------------------------------------------
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY----------------------------------------------------------------
1.6 METHODOLOGY-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
REFERENCES-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

2.0 CHAPTER TWO
2.1 LITERATURE REVIEW----------------------------------------------------------------------------
REFERENCES--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER THREE
3.0 THE NEW PHILOSOPHICAL JURISPRUDENCE OF JOHN FINNIS-------------------
3.1 A BRIEF BIOGRAPHY OF JOHN MITCHELL FINNIS--------------------------------------
3.2 JOHN FINNIS NEW APPROACH TO NATURAL LAW--------------------------------------
3.3 THE BASIC FORMS OF GOOD ACCORDING TO JOHN FINNIS------------------------
3.4 THE BASIC REQUIREMENTS OF PRACTICAL REASONABLENESS-----------------------
3.5 OTHER FORMS OF GOODS----------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.6 ELEMENTS OF NATURAL LAW----------------------------------------------------------------------
3.7 THE SUBORDINATE CONCERN OF NATURAL LAW----------------------------------------
3.7.1 UNJUST LAWS---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
3.7.2 PRAGMATIC RELEVANCE OF NATURAL LAW (LEGAL VALIDITY) ---------------------
3.8 NATURE, REASON, GOD AS REGARDS TO HUMAN EXISTENCE---------------------
3.9 THE TEN COMMANDMENTS--------------------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER FOUR
4.0 THE ANALYTIC APPROACH-----------------------------------------------------------------------
4.1 THE CONCEPT OF POSITIVE LAWS-------------------------------------------------------------
4.2 LEGAL VALIDITY OF POSITIVE LAWS---------------------------------------------------------
4.3 FINNIS’ NOTION OF POSITIVE LAWS-------------------------------------------------------------
4.4 THE ELEMENTS OF POSITIVE LAWS------------------------------------------------------------
4.5 OBLIGATORY FORCE AND AUTHORITY OF POSTIVE LAW----------------------------
4.6 MISCONCEPTIONS IN THE QUESTION OF POSITIVE LAW--------------------------------
4.7 RULE OF LAW AND CONSTITUTIONS------------------------------------------------------------

CHAPTER FIVE
5.0 SYNTHETICAL APPROACH AND CONCLUSION-----------------------------------------------
5.1 FINNIS SYNTHESIS---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.2 CRITIQUE OF NATURAL LAW----------------------------------------------------------------------
5.3 EVALUATION-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
5.4 CONCLUSION----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

ABSTRACT
John Finnis, in his work Natural Law and Natural Rights initiated once more the colossal debate on natural law, thus rejuvenating such discussion under a framework of a new natural law theory. The most demanding critical views of natural law are those conceived by the legal positivists such as Jeremy Bentham, John Austin, H.L.A. Hart, Joseph Raz and Lon Fuller. John Finnis made a pertinent opinion vis-à-vis the similarities between natural law and positive law. In this work, The Philosophical Analysis of Natural Law in John Finnis, it is an effort to bring about a systematic examination into the nature of natural law to re-assure its authenticity in our different particular laws. This, I would achieve mainly by considering the two major aspects of Jurisprudence-analytical and philosophical, thereby creating a very synthetic philosophical grounds to accept the influence of natural law on positive laws otherwise called particular laws.

CHAPTER ONE
GENERAL INTRODUCTION
1.1 BACKGROUND OF THE STUDY
A fundamental question concerning the existence of natural law as seen in John Finnis’ work goes thus ‘how, then, is there to be a general descriptive theory of these varying particulars?’.1The quest into the nature of law is as old as western philosophy itself.2 Until around 17 century, one kind of legal theory was mostly taken into consideration. This legal theory was that the law must be comprehended as a practical application of morality. The fact that natural law does not solely ends on practical morality as was reduced by the legal positivists. John finis emphasises that the natural law is continuous with general moral or ethical philosophy, thus extending to political philosophy and jurisprudence.3

The discourse about natural law started specifically with Plato, although certain traces of thoughts were found in the philosophical writings of pre-platonic period. The ancient period discourse on natural law explained basically in the light of reason and revelation from gods reflecting morality as their resultant character. Cicero would contend that there is a true law, namely, reason which is in accordance with nature, applies to all men and is unchangeable. Thus, the commands of this law summons men to the performance of their duties; and its prohibitions would restrain them from doing what is wrong.4 He supplemented his former thoughts by saying:
but there will be one law, eternal and unchangeable, binding at all times upon all peoples; and there will be, as it were one common master and ruler of men, namely, God who is the author of this law, its interpreter and sponsor.5

Just as John Finnis seeks for the general descriptive theory underlying the particular laws, the concept of natural law evolves from the quest for the leading empires of ancient times to seek for an answer to how ought a man to live probably in our common nature. This is because particular cultures cannot effectively bring about unitive aspect of these empires. Therefore, natural law has a binding character to all human beings irrespective of their originality and desires.

Far from regarding law as a sanction, natural law as conceived by Aristotle has teleological approaches. It is geared towards attaining the good (eudemonia-happiness), which cannot be realised in the finite state. Thus Aquinas appropriated and modified Aristotle teleological perspective so that man’s end was not only to live socially and seek knowledge, but to live in a Christian community in which one would come and presumable adore, God.6 Most importantly he described orders of law, eternal, divine, natural and human law. Law arises from man’s participation, via his reason in the divine wisdom of God. Particular law are otherwise a deductive conclusion from general precepts of natural law. JohnFinnis reiterateson the afore mentioned view that “ the principles of natural law explain the obligatory laws of positive laws”.7 it can also be said that not all positive laws are deduced and derived from natural law. Therefore, whence are these positive laws which are morally appalling, since natural law is morally inclined?

Considering thisparadigm shift from theocentical view to the modern humanistic approaches, human per say are strongly asserted as the ultimate realisation for social principle governing the recent society. It is then an obvious case that law are made not as deductive conclusion from natural law but obviously arise from man’s misconstrued nature which is limited and changing.

1.2 STATEMENT OF THE PROBLEM
The inception of natural law as was formerly discussed was to seek “how ought a man should live in our common nature?” This law which is basically concerned with moral principle have objective and universal validity. The question is, can natural law be said to be valid in its objectivity and universality? This would immediately lead us to ask a very fundamental question about the reality of natural law as was conceived in classical form with its theocratic metaphysical setting. If the natural law is based on human nature, how could we, from what human nature is, derive an imperative as to how man ought to behave?
The existence of natural right as an offshoot of natural law has been defined by many natural lawyers. The quest into natural right would present us with certain fundamental questions about natural law. What is the nature of natural right? Is it a right which stands above the ordinary laws of the land and which is antecedent to the political society itself? Can we successively create a dichotomy between the laws of nature with the thoughts of our consciences? If there are no dichotomies, then, we can easily infer that that particular law are related to natural laws in certain respect.
However, other problems bothering the subject matter of our discussions read thus:
1. ‘Nature’ has been interpreted differently by different scholars. The meaning of nature has no unanimous conception. Can there be a case where moral law of human nature is knowable by natural human reason?
2. Even if we have certain natural propensities, are we justified in claiming that those propensities or tendencies should be developed? On what grounds do we justify, for example, that we ought to choose the good?
3. Some proponents of natural law theory do not consent to the fact that God is the originator of natural law as in the case of the Ten Commandments. How then do we create both logical and concrete connection between natural law, God and Reason? This will enable us to justify the existence of the Ten Commandments as a moral principle guiding the universe (natural law).
4. Just as Julius Stone would question, are natural lawyers entitled to claim that what they assert as self-evident must be recognised as self-evident to all?
5. Also, should law as a factual phenomenon, be treated without regard to its metaphysical constituents?
The task of enhancing and analysing the concept of natural law seems difficult because of the imminent subjectivity blurring the contemporary man. This subjective mind seems to relegate natural law to the background, thus proposing a foundationless positive law (without any foundation on natural law). What would be our fate in legalising same sex marriage and abortion as against the dictate of natural principles?
1.3 THE PURPOSE OF THE STUDY
The aim and purpose of this study is necessitated by the fact of moral scepticism and legal relativism. The present societal adoption of law is probably not because of need or teleological relevance. The objective and universality of natural law and its direct relationship with the positive law count as my purpose of this work. Certain particular laws are without justice; therefore it is worthwhile to reinstate the influence of natural law on various laws. This would resuscitate the moral decadence posed by such legislature of immoral laws. This is the reason why I chose to expose the dialectical approach seeking a synthesis of these extreme views-natural law and positive laws. This is to seek an immediate elimination of differences found between moral validity and legal validity of laws.
1.4 THE SCOPE OF THE STUDY
This study lies within the purview of John Finnis legal philosophy as enhanced in his work Natural Law and Natural Rights. It also makes allusions to a wide range of other philosophical theories of law in order to support my propositions.
1.5 SIGNIFICANCE OF THE STUDY
This work is really a unique one that delves into the relevance of natural law into the present human society. It is no doubt that many bills are being passed into law, which are mostly considered as an immoral law basing on moral judgements. The importance of this study lies on creating a united and universal atmosphere which has both legal and moral validity. Thus, the significance of researching on this topic is to reinstate the fact that laws are for the development of those subject to that law. Otherwise stated, laws are made for man, and not man for laws. If laws become immoral and unjust, thus does not seek any higher good, then, such laws should be properly taken care of.
In view of the foregoing, it is very important for this work to make an issuance of mediation between natural law (law as it ought to be), and positive law (law as it is).
1.6 METHODOLOGY
This research work was successfully done hinging on these three methods: analysis, dialectics and exposition. Other methodologies could be seen though in a recessive manner. It was given expository approach by making a description on the legal views of John Finnis, thus examining closely into the concept of natural law as was used by John Finnis, thereby, making dialectical implication of natural law with particular law drawing a significant synthesis that would aid in improving the existence of man.

REFERENCES
1. J.M. Finnis, Natural Law and Natural Rights, (Oxford: Clarendon press, 1980), P. 4.
2. J. Omeregbe, An Introduction to Philosophical Jurisprudence, (Joja Educational Research and Publishers Limited, 2007), P. 23.
3. J.M. Finnis, Natural Law and Natural Rights, (Oxford: Clarendon press, 1980), P. 23.
4. Cicero, Republic, quoted by J. Omeregbe, (Joja Educational Research and Publishers Limited, 2007), P. 8.
5. Cicero, Republic, quoted by J. Omeregbe, (Joja Educational Research and Publishers Limited, 2007), P. 9.
6. Jurisprudence and legal theory, P. 65.
7. J.M. Finnis, Natural Law and Natural Rights, (Oxford: Clarendon press, 1980), 23-24.

prayers

2011-10-17T17:33:00.000-07:00

PRAYER BEFORE ATTENDING LECTURES
Come, Holy Spirit, Divine Creator, and true source of light and fountain of wisdom! Pour forth your brilliance upon my dense intellect, dissipate the darkness which covers me, that of sin and of ignorance.
Grant me a penetrating mind to understand, a retentive memory, method and ease in learning, the lucidity to comprehend, and abundant grace in expressing myself. Guide the beginning of my work, direct its progress, and bring it to successful completion. This I ask through Jesus Christ, true God and true man, living and reigning with you and the Father, forever and ever. Amen.

PRAYER BEFORE MY AFTERNOON AND NIGHT STUDIES
Holy Spirit, Giver of all good gifts, enter into my mind and heart. Give me the gift of knowledge and the grace to use it wisely. Help me in all my endeavors. Give me perseverance and fortitude. Help my memory, that I may remember what I learn and recall it when necessary. Guide me in the classroom. You, who are the Way, the Truth, and the Life, let me not be deceived by false teaching. Our Lady of Good Studies, pray for me.
O Mary, Mother of fair love, of fear, of knowledge, and of holy hope, by whose loving care and intercession many, otherwise poor in intellect, have wonderfully advanced in knowledge and in holiness, thee do I choose as the guide and patroness of my studies; and I humbly implore, through the deep tenderness of thy maternal love, and especially through that eternal Wisdom who deigned to take from thee our flesh and who gifted thee beyond all the saints with heavenly light, that thou wouldst obtain for me by thy intercession the grace of the Holy Spirit that I may be able to grasp with strong intellect, retain in memory, proclaim by word and deed, and teach others all things which bring honor to thee and to thy Son, and which for me and for others are salutary for eternal life. Amen.

PRAYER BEFORE MY SIESTA AND MY NIGHT SLEEP
Jesus Christ my God, I adore you and thank you for all the graces you have given me this day. I offer you my sleep and all the moments of this night, and I ask you to keep me from sin. I put myself within your sacred side and under the mantle of our Lady. Let your holy angels stand about me and keep me in peace. And let your blessing be upon me. Amen.

PRAYER FOR THE SICK
Father of goodness and love; hear our prayers for the sick members of our community and for all who are in need. Amid mental and physical suffering may they find consolation in your healing presence. Show your mercy as you close wounds, cure illness, make broken bodies whole and free downcast spirits. May these special people find lasting health and deliverance, and so join us in thanking you for all your gifts. We ask this through the Lord Jesus who healed those who believed. Amen

SUNDAY PRAYER FOR THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED
O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech Thee by the Precious Blood, which Thy divine Son Jesus shed in the Garden, deliver the souls in purgatory, and especially that one which is the most forsaken of all, and bring it into Thy glory, where it may praise and bless Thee for ever. Amen.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Eternal Rest.

MONDAY PRAYER FOR THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED
O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech Thee by the Precious Blood which Thy divine Son Jesus shed in His cruel scourging, deliver the souls in purgatory, and among them all, especially that soul which is nearest to its entrance into Thy glory, that it may soon begin to praise and bless Thee forever. Amen.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Eternal Rest.

TUESDAY PRAYER FOR THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED
O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech Thee by the Precious Blood of Thy divine Son Jesus that was shed in His bitter crowning with thorns, deliver the souls in purgatory, and among them all, particularly that soul which is in the greatest need of our prayers, in order that it may not long be delayed in praising Thee in Thy glory and blessing Thee forever. Amen.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Eternal Rest,

WEDNESDAY PRAYER FOR THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED
O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech Thee by the Precious Blood of Thy divine Son Jesus that was shed in the streets of Jerusalem whilst He carried on His sacred shoulders the heavy burden of the Cross, deliver the souls in purgatory and especially that one which is richest in merits in Thy sight, so that, having soon attained the high place in glory to which it is destined, it may praise Thee triumphantly and bless Thee forever. Amen.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Eternal Rest

THURSDAY PRAYER FOR THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED
O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech Thee by the Precious Body and Blood of Thy divine Son Jesus, which He Himself on the night before His Passion gave as meat and drink to His beloved Apostles and bequeathed to His Holy Church to be the perpetual Sacrifice and life-giving nourishment of His faithful people, deliver the souls in purgatory, but most of all, that soul which was most devoted to this Mystery of infinite love, in order that it may praise Thee therefor, together with Thy divine Son and the Holy Spirit in Thy glory forever. Amen.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Eternal Rest.

FRIDAY PRAYER FOR THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED
O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech Thee by the Precious Blood which Jesus Thy divine Son did shed this day upon the tree of the Cross, especially from His sacred Hands and Feet, deliver the souls in purgatory, and particularly that soul for whom I am most bound to pray, in order that I may not be the cause which hinders Thee from admitting it quickly to the possession of Thy glory where it may praise Thee and bless Thee for evermore. Amen.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Eternal Rest.

SATURDAY PRAYER FOR THE FAITHFUL DEPARTED
O Lord God omnipotent, I beseech Thee by the Precious Blood which gushed forth from the sacred Side of Thy divine Son Jesus in the presence and to the great sorrow of His most holy Mother, deliver the souls in purgatory and among them all especially that soul which has been most devout to this noble Lady, that it may come quickly into Thy glory, there to praise Thee in her, and her in Thee through all the ages. Amen.
Our Father, Hail Mary, Eternal Rest.

DAILY OFFERING
O Jesus, through the immaculate heart of Mary, I offer you my prayers, works, joys and sufferings of this day in union with the holy sacrifice of the Mass throughout the world. I offer them for all the intentions of your sacred heart: the salvation of souls, reparation for sin, the reunion of all Christians. I offer them for the intentions of our bishops and of all the apostles of prayer, and in particular for those recommended by our Holy Father this month. Amen.

OR

God the Father, I thank Thee for creating me. God the Son, I thank Thee for redeeming me. God the Holy Ghost, I thank Thee for sanctifying me; infuse into my thoughts, words and actions Thy grace, so that they may be supernaturally pleasing to Thee and supernaturally rewarding to me, forever. O Blessed Trinity, abundantly assist me in becoming that which Thou intended me to become when Thou created me, for in that perfection I will give Thee the glory Thou desirest of me, and in that perfection I will find my greatest joy in heaven. Amen.
PRAYER FOR PEACE BY POPE JOHN PAUL II
O God, Creator of the universe, who extends your paternal concern over every creature and guides the events of history in the goal of salvation, we acknowledge your fatherly love when you break the resistance of mankind and, in a world torn by strife and discord, you make us ready for reconciliation. Renew for us the wonders of your mercy: send forth your Spirit that He may work in the intimacy of hearts, that enemies may begin to dialogue, that adversaries may shake hands and peoples may encounter one another in harmony. May all commit themselves to the sincere search for true peace which will extinguish all arguments, for charity which overcomes hatred, for pardon which disarms revenge.Amen.

PRAYER FOR THE CHURCH
Hail Mary... (three times)

Hail, Holy Queen,...

V. Pray for us, O Holy Mother of God!
R. That we may be made worthy of the promises of Christ.

Let Us Pray. -
O God!
our refuge and our strength, look down with favor on Thy people who cry to Thee; and through the intercession of the glorious and Immaculate Virgin Mary, Mother of God, of Saint Joseph her Spouse, of Thy blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and of all the Saints, in mercy and goodness hear our prayers for the conversion of sinners, and for the liberty and exaltation of our holy Mother the Church through the same Christ our Lord.

Amen.

Holy Michael Archangel,
defend us in the hour of conflict;
be our safeguard against the wickedness
and snares of the devil. -
May God restrain him,
we humbly pray;
and do thou,
O Prince of the heavenly host,
by the power of God thrust Satan down to hell,
and with him the other wicked spirits,
who wander through the world for the ruin of souls.
Amen.

V. Sacred Heart of Jesus,
R. Have mercy on us.

V. Sacred Heart of Jesus,
R. Have mercy on us.

V. Sacred Heart of Jesus,
R. Have mercy on us.
PRAYER FOR TRAVELLERS
O God, Who did cause the children of Israel to traverse the Red Sea dry shod; Thou Who did point out by a star to the Magi the road that led them to Thee; grant us we beseech Thee, a prosperous journey and propitious weather; so that, under the guidance of Thy holy angels we may safely reach that journey's end, and later the haven of eternal salvation.
Hear, O Lord, the prayers of Thy servants. Bless their journeying. Thou who art everywhere present, shower everywhere upon them the effects of Thy mercy; so that, insured by Thy protection against all dangers, they may return to offer Thee their thanksgiving through Christ our Lord. Amen.

0PRAYER FOR PARENTS
O merciful Lord God, Thou hast commanded and enjoined me to honor my father and mother, and Thou Thyself hast shown even until death humble obedience to Thy Father. From the depth of my soul I fervently beseech Thee, O gracious Jesus Christ, my God, hear my prayer and have mercy upon my parents, who have given birth to me and are bringing me up in Thy grace and love. Protect them from all evil, harm and sickness; grant them health, and mercifully pour forth Thy bountiful blessings upon them. Bless their efforts and deeds; have mercy on them according to Thy great mercy, that faithfully serving Thee, through them I also may be worthy to praise and serve Thee. Amen.
Our Father, Who art in heaven, bless my father and mother, my guardians, and those who are in authority over me, for their love and tender care for me, and the benefits I receive at their hands. Help me, I pray Thee, to be respectful and obedient to them in all matters according to Thy will; and give me Thy grace to perform all my duties carefully and faithfully, to avoid undesirable company and influence, and resist all temptation that may come my way; that I may live a sober, righteous and godly life, ever praising Thee and glorifying Thy Holy Name. Amen.

PRAYER FOR THE UNBORN
Lord Jesus,
You who faithfully visit and fulfill with your Presence the Church and the history of men; You who in the miraculous Sacrament of your Body and Blood render us participants in divine Life and allow us a foretaste of the joy of eternal Life; We adore and bless you. Prostrated before You, source and lover of Life, truly present and alive among us, we beg you. Reawaken in us respect for every unborn life, make us capable of seeing in the fruit of the maternal womb the miraculous work of the Creator, open our hearts to generously welcoming every child that comes into life.
Bless all families, sanctify the union of spouses, render fruitful their love. Accompany the choices of legislative assemblies with the light of your Spirit, so that peoples and nations may recognize and respect the sacred nature of life, of every human life. Guide the work of scientists and doctors, so that all progress contributes to the integral well-being of the person, and no one endures suppression or injustice. Give creative charity to administrators and economists, so they may realize and promote sufficient conditions so that young families can serenely embrace the birth of new children. Console the married couples who suffer because they are unable to have children and in Your goodness provide for them. Teach us all to care for orphaned or abandoned children, so they may experience the warmth of your Charity, the consolation of your divine Heart. Together with Mary, Your Mother, the great believer, in whose womb you took on our human nature, we wait to receive from You, our Only True Good and Savior, the strength to love and serve life, in anticipation of living forever in You, in communion with the Blessed Trinity.

A PRAYER AFTER MASS
Lord Jesus Christ, take all my freedom, my memory, my understanding, and my will. All that I have and cherish you have given me. I surrender it all to be guided by Your will. Your grace and Your love are enough for me. Give me these, Lord Jesus, and I ask for nothing more. Amen.

PRAYER FOR MY FAMILY
Lord, I surrender to you my family. Lord Jesus, I pray for my parents. Though you blessed them abundantly, today they are in need of your help. Give my parents joy and strength. Fill them with your strengthening presence. Lord, give them real thirst and hunger for the Holy Spirit and for the Word of God. Give them health in spirit, soul and body.
Even though they may feel that all the trouble they took for their children are being wasted, help them to see the great reward waiting for them in Heaven. Help my parents to forgive themselves and forgive everyone else.
Even though as parents they may have failed to fulfill their duties, Lord, set them free from sadness and sorrow, regrets and sense of guilt. Jesus fills them with your Holy Spirit. Thank you Jesus. Amen

OR

Lord God, from You every family in heaven and on earth takes its name. Father, You are love and life. Through Your Son, Jesus Christ, born of woman, and through the Holy Spirit, the fountain of divine charity, grant that every family on earth may become for each successive generation a true shrine of life and love. Grant that Your grace may guide the thoughts and actions of husbands and wives for the good of their families and of all the families in the world. Grant that the young may find in the family solid support for their human dignity and for their growth in truth and love. Grant that love, strengthened by the grace of the sacrament of marriage, may prove mightier than all the weaknesses and trials through which our families sometimes pass. Through the intercession of the Holy Family of Nazareth, grant that the Church may fruitfully carry out her worldwide mission in the family and through the family. We ask this of You, Who is life, truth, and love with the Son and the Holy Spirit. Amen.

O Dear Jesus, I humbly implore You to grant Your special graces to our family. May our home be the shrine of peace, purity, love, labor and faith. I beg You, dear Jesus, to protect and Bless all of us, absent and present, living and dead. O Mary Mother of Jesus, and our Mother, pray to Jesus for our family, for all the families of the world, to guard the cradle of the newborn, the schools of the young and their vocations; Blessed Saint Joseph, holy guardian of Jesus and Mary, assist us by your prayers in all our necessities of life. Ask of Jesus that special grace which He granted to you, to watch over our home at the pillow of the sick and dying, so that with Mary and with you, heaven may find our family unbroken in the Sacred Heart of Jesus. Amen.

PRAYER FOR OUR LOVED ONES AND HOMES
Kind Father, I thank you for my home where loved ones dwell and to which my fondest memories now turn. I praise you for the family love and peace and cheer which follow me and comfort me in strange and distant places. I am grateful for all things we share in common: the worthy lessons we learn, the hardships and grief we sometimes bear, the tasks and pleasures which bind us closer to each other, and the abiding affection and heartfelt prayers which still keep our spirits one in you.
Shelter my home, O God, and all my dear ones there. Make me strong, unselfish, and brave to defend and protect them. Send down Your peace to every family on earth, and grant an abundance of grace to them so that in doing Your will they may merit the joys of eternal salvation. Amen.

FOR OUR FAMILIES
O God, in the beginning you brought together man and woman in holy marriage that they might share Your work of creation and bring enriching life to one another. We commend to Your constant care the homes where Your people dwell. Knit together in growing affection those who have been made one flesh so that their love may never fail. Turn the hearts of parents to their children and children to their parents. Take away the roots of bitterness, vanity, and self-seeking that bring dissension where family peace should reign. Inspire them, rather, with loyalty, faith, and sacrifice, that in all the changes and circumstances of life they may stand strongly together in mutual service and love.
We ask this through Jesus Christ, our Lord, Who grew within the family of Nazareth, Who loved the Church as His beloved spouse, and gave Himself up for her. Amen.

PRAYER TO ST JUDE
Most holy apostle, St. Jude, faithful servant and friend of Jesus, the Church honors and invokes you universally, as the patron of hopeless cases, of things almost despaired of. Pray for me, I am so helpless and alone. Make use I implore you, of that particular privilege given to you, to bring visible and speedy help where help is almost despaired of. Come to my assistance in this great need that I may receive the consolation and help of heaven in all my necessities, tribulations, and sufferings, particularly - (here make your request) that I may praise God with you and all the elect forever.
I promise, O blessed St. Jude, to be ever mindful of this great favor, to always honor you as my special and powerful patron, and to gratefully encourage devotion to you.
Amen.

PRAYER FOR DAILY CONVERSION
O God our father, as we thank for the grace bestowed on us too be your own children. We continue to ask you to sustain us in the light of your grace. Sometimes, we are weighed down with certain imitation of role played by the evil and malicious generation. Without your intervention, the tempting glories of this evil world may elude our faith. I pray earnestly for daily renewal of faith in you. Since we are living amidst the world characterized by evil desires, I ask you for a firm desire to know your love without fear. Bring about my daily conversion with usual and constant personal encounter with Jesus, as a God, a father, a brother and as a friend. Such that my life would be a total repulsion to the present moral misdemeanors in the world. Finally, as we are struggling to reach Heaven, help us to attain your glory in Heaven overlooking our shortcomings. We ask this through Christ our Lord. Amen.

PRAYER FOR THOSE WHO ARE PERSECUTED IN THE CAUSE OF RIGHT
Eternal father, this mundane world is against those who run for the cause of right. Come and be with them all so that they would not be lessened in courage in propagating the eternal truth. The world has been antagonistic to truth and the truth bearer. Be of courage and benefit to those who in their aspect of their calling dedicated themselves in proclaiming truth and promoting the cause of right. So that at the end the world would be converted to the acceptance of the everlasting light and eternal truth. We make our prayer through Christ our lord, amen

PRAYER TO LIVE A CHASTE LIFE
Lord God, we live in an age when sexuality is trivialized and when covenants are broken routinely. We are bombarded with cultural insensitivity for the sacredness of life and what was once considered perverted is now common place and accepted. Please help me increase my sensitivity to the Truth of Your commandments and show me where I need to amend my attitudes and my actions. Forgive me my failures in this area and strengthen me to live a chaste life. Free me from the bondage of my passions and make me the master of my inclinations. Heal me of past hurts and the impact of erroneous instruction and guide my relationships in purity, fidelity and love. Thank you. Amen.

FOR MY PERSONAL RELATIONSHIP WITH GOD
My God, my savior and my lord, I Stanley Obi humbly beseech thee to use me as an instrument of your love. I cannot stay in this world without your warmth and intimate care and love. I beg you O my lovely friend to allow me share in the divine atmosphere. Let me encounter you more as a friend and a brother so that I would be so much willing to do your will amidst the tribulations of this world. I love to be with you, lord. I love to encounter your deepest impact in my life. I love to know you as much as you know me. I love to remain constantly with you in the holy Eucharist and in my fellow brethren. I love to associate with your love and I love to be directed with your holy hands. Make me to be holy, make me to be a saint, make me to be in love. Finally, help to arrive at your heavenly kingdom with the millions of angels to praise and worship you unending. Amen.

FOR THOSE WHO DO GOOD TO ME
O Lord and Father of the universe, protect and guide and reward increasingly those who do good to me much especially those who do it because of the faith they have in your son, Jesus Christ. Continue to reward them with your love and sacrament so that they will not experience lack in their endeavors. We make this prayer through Jesus Christ our lord. Amen.

A PRAYER FOR PRIESTS AND BISHOPS
O God, who hast appointed Thine only-begotten Son to be the eternal High Priest for the glory of Thy Majesty and the salvation of mankind; grant that they whom He hath chosen to be His ministers and the stewards of His mysteries, may be found faithful in the fulfillment of the ministry which they have received, through the same Christ Our Lord. Amen

PRAYER FOR A CHASTE LIFE
Eternal father, I thank you for the gift of my vocation t0 the sacred priesthood. You have called me to share in this mystery of the Blessed Trinity through your beloved son Jesus Christ. It is a great privilege and not a right. As you prepare me through my formators to answer your call, I need the gift of purity. This will enable me to deepen my love and reverence for the sacred priesthood and the holy Eucharist. Teach me the meaning of celibacy. Chastity is the ingredient of celibacy. May it give meaning to my vocation and to my life, as I participate in the mystery of salvation of souls. Train me and school me in celibacy and chastity. Help me to overcome the temptations that militate against these virtues. May I not as a seminarian or as a priest ascend your altar or minister in your name unworthily. Through your graces and the prayers of our blessed mother the Virgin Mary and mother of perpetual help, I will always be conscious of the importance of chastity in my life and in vocation to the priesthood. Amen

PRAYER FOR MY DAILY EXERCISE AND LABOUR
God the creator of the universe, it is in your wisdom that you mandated man to go into the world and then conquer the earth. Man appropriates the earth for his own good and for yur glory. With that in mind, I call upon your name at this very moment in which I wish to embark on my daily exercise and labor. This would enable me to keep my health very fit in worshipping you and organize the environment to provide a superb and conducive environment to worship you. May this exercise or labor bring glory to your name and peace, harmony and blessing to humanity. Help me to do it with joy and peace without hurting other people and myself. So that in working and exercising myself, I would proclaim your wonderful name and your gospel to humanity. In the end, we would reach that Heaven which you prepared for us your beloved. We ask this throuth Christ our lord. Amen

PRAYER BEFORE ANY CHARITY WORK
Eternal father, may this charity work which I wish to embark now be for the greater glory of your name. may I receive your blessing from such works. Let it not be redundant but be for the sanctification of our souls and glorification of your holy name. Forgive my sins through it so that I would meet you in that heavenly Jerusalem at the last day. Amen.

AT THE END OF EVERY PRAYER
Through the intercession of our blessed virgin Mary, the mother of the savior , may this prayer be taken consideration.. pray for us so that I would become holy. Amen.

MY PRAYER TIME TABE
Short meditation---------------------------------------------------5.20am
Morning Prayer and mass----------------------------------------5.30am
Prayer before attending my lectures----------------------------7.50am
Afternoon particular examen-----------------------------------12.35pm
Sext------------------------------------------------------------------12.45pm
Short prayer before my siesta------------------------------------1.50pm
Short prayer before my evening studies-------------------------3.15pm
Short prayer before my evening exercise-----------------------4.45pm
Evening particular examen----------------------------------------6.00pm
Vespers---------------------------------------------------------------6.15pm
Compline-------------------------------------------------------------8.15pm
Short prayer before the night studies-----------------------------8.50pm
Daily reflection, meditation and contemplation-----------------11.00pm

MY STUDIES TIME TABLE

DAYS/TIME 3.30pm 9.00pm
MONDAY Topics in metaphysics Phenomenology, existentialism and hermeneutics
TUESDAY Phenomenology, existentialism and hermeneutics Project
WEDNESDAY Philosophy of science Epistemology
THURSDAY Epistemology Early contemporary philosophy
FRIDAY Early contemporary philosophy Philosophy of science
SATURDAY Games/computer knowledge Project/ free night

SUNDAY General studies Topics in metaphysics

MORNING AFTERNOON NIGHT
MONDAY Morning offering, prayer for the dead. For the sick and travellers For my daily conversion
TUESDAY Morning offering, prayer for the dead For the ministers of the gospel of Christ. For my family and family peace
WEDNESDAY Morning offering, prayer for the dead For those who are persecuted in the cause of right For the conversion of our sinful life
THURSDAY Morning offering, prayer for the dead For world peace and renewal of morals in the world For those who demand my prayer for their own petitions
FRIDAY Morning offering, prayer for the dead For the church of Christ on Earth For my parents
SATURDAY Morning offering, prayer for the dead For various occupations For those who do good to me
SUNDAY Morning offering, prayer for the dead For our country Nigeria For my personal relationship with God

लुके दुबे'स मुशिकल LYRICS

2011-10-09T09:04:00.000-07:00

Lyrics to Affirmative Action:
From where I stand
I can see the world
Getting smaller and smaller
And there'll be no place
For people like you Georgie
Who still live in the past
When you couldn't do things
For yourself, you blamed it on apartheid
You blamed it on the government and everybody
Now is the time to prove yourself
If you think affirmative action
Is the way out... no way... no way.

Constitution can be changed
From time to time,
But that does not mean that
You don't need no education

We are tired of people who
Think that affirmative action is the way out
And, is another way of putting puppets

Where they don't belong

I'm so sorry Georgie
But the only way to get our economy
Strong, is to have
An educated nation
And if you think affirmative action
Is the way out... no way... no way.

Chorus

Education is still the key
Even though we have Affirmative action.

Chorus till fade.

Lyrics to Back To My Roots:
I and my go to a naughty party one day
Them said it' s gonna be irie there
But when I and my go to a naughty party
I and I was disappointed yeah
All we could hear there was their crackadoo
All we could hear there was their
Shoobee doobee yeah
And the music they played there
Was not good for a rasta man yeah
It was not good for a Jah man

Chorus: (x3)
I' m going back to my roots yeah yeah
Reggae music is all that I need

All we could hear there was their crackadoo
All we could hear there was their
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/
Shoobee doobee yeah
And the music they played there
Was not good for a rasta man
It was not good for a Jah man

Chorus: (x2)

Reggae is mine reggae is mine yeah yeah
Reggae is mine yeah yeah yeah yeah yeah
(fade)

Chorus till fade

Lyrics to Big Boys Don't Cry:
If we both believe in Reincarnation,
Maybe we will have a
Chance in the next life.
You felt something for me
And I was so deeply in love with you.
But we both said nothing
Till we ran out of time
Sometimes I cry,
I said I cry
And it's not because of the pain I feel inside
And it's not because of the hurt I feel inside
But I cry,
I said I cry
Sometimes I cry

And I remember the days
When love was so far away from me,
The only time I knew about love was
When mommy and daddy told me they loved me,
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/
And I Didn't know that today it would be
Me having got to say I love you
But I remember that

Chorus
Big boys don't cry
And sometimes
I cry
I said I cry.

And it's not because of the pain I feel inside
And it's not because of the hurt I feel inside
But I cry

I see your beautiful face
Everytime I close my eyes,
You reach out for me I reach out for you
But in real life we cannot meet Oh!!!!!
That is why I cry,
I said I cry
And it's not because of the pain I feel inside
And it's not because of the hurt I feel inside
But I cry

And I remember the days
When love was so far away from me,
The only time I heard about love was
When mommy and daddy told me they loved me,
And I didn't know that today it would be
Me having got to say I love you,
But I remember that

Chorus till fade...
born to suffer

the better of the people
we depending on
with the thoughts of the children
if they teach them right
we gonna have a brighter future
if they teach them wrong
we gonna have nothing in the world
if they grow up without their parent
whose gonna tell them this is right
if they grow up without their parent
whose gonna tell this is wrong

without their mother
children suffering
without their father
children suffering
without their parent's help

BORN TO SUFFER

you gonna watch out my son
if your mother doen't care for you
you gonna watch out my son
if your father doesn't care for you
why should all of this
he's gonna attack you
take it different girl
take it for reason girl

if they grow up without their parent
whose gonna tell this is right
if they grow up without their parent
whose gonna tell them this is wrong

Lyrics to Can't Blame You:
Trying so hard not to cry
Since they say man ain't supposed to cry
But these tears keep running from my eyes
I remember the day I came to the city.
My children were crying
My wife was crying
She's gonna lose me
To the girls in the city
To make her feel alright I
said it's impossible
But I was wrong

Chorus:
Can't blame you when you're going
This is something you've got to do
You've got to go ho ho.
You've been keeping me here all these years as your private lover
Letters came from home
But I never answered

'Till today when I got this letter
From my little daughter saying
"Missing you daddy."
It's time to go.

Chorus:
Can't blame you (as above)

See me now, see me no more
I heard that whistle blow
I knew it's time to go
Sitting here in this train
Going so fast past the trees
I'm thinking of words to apologize
'Cause sorry ain't enough

Chorus:
Can't blame you (till fade)

Lyrics to Crazy World:
So far so good we still living today
But we don't know what tomorrow brings
In this crazy world
People dying like flies every day
You read about it in the news
But you don't believe it
You'll only know about it
When the man in the long black coat
Knocks on your door
'Cause you're his next victim
As you are living in this

Chorus:
Living in, living in this crazy world (x4)

Leaders starting wars every time they want
Some for their rights,
Some for fun and their own glory letting people die for the wrong that they do
Oh it's painful come on now little boy
Say your prayers before you sleep
Little boy went down on his knees
And he said:
"Oh Lord Now I lay me down to sleep
I pray the Lord my soul to keep
And if I die before I wake
I pray the Lord my soul to take."

'Cause he's living in this crazy world
Oh Lord
Chorus till fade

Lyrics to Crime And Corruption:
Is it the bodyguards around you
Is it the high walls where you live
Or is it the men with the guns around you
Twenty four hours a day
That make you ignore the crying of the people
Farmers get killed everyday
And you say it is not that bad
Policemen get killed everyday
And you say it is not that bad
Maybe if you see it through the eyes
Of the victims
You will join us and fight this

Chorus:
Crime and corruption

Do you ever worry
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/
About your house being broken into
Do you ever worry
About your car being taken away from you
In broad daylight
Down highway 54
Do you ever worry
About your wife becoming
The woman in black
Do you ever worry
About leaving home and
Coming back in a coffin
With a bullet through your head
So join us and fight this

Chorus:
Crime and corruption

Lyrics to Crying Games:
Show me yours
I' ll show you mine
Maybe mine is bigger than yours
Maybe mine goes deeper than yours
That is why I cry the most
I played your game
But I didn' t know the rules
Everytime we' ve played
You' d come out a winner
Now I' ve learned to play the game
And I will never cry again

Chorus:
These crying games, we play
It' s your turn to cry

They say the winner takes it all
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/
But in my case, the winner didn' t
Take the pain
In my case the winner didn' t
Take the hurt
That is why I cry the most
I played your game
But I didn' t know the rules
Everytime we' ve played
You' d come out a winner
Now I' ve learned to play the game
And I will never lose again

Chorus:
These crying games, we play
It' s your turn to cry

Lyrics to Different Colours People:
Breaking those barriers
All over the world
Was not an easy thing
Yesterday your mouth was shut yeah
Couldn' t make a sound eh boy
But it' s such a good feeling today
When I can hear them from
Across the ocean singing this song
That the whole world should be singing
All the time

Chorus: (x3)
We' re...
Different colours / one people
Different colours / one people

Hey you government
Never try to seperate the people
Hey you politician
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/
Never try to seperate the people

They were created in the image of God
And who are you to seperate them
Bible says, he made man in his image
But it didn' t say black or white
Look at me you see BLACK
I look at you I see WHITE
Now is the time to kick that away
And join me in my song

Chorus: (x3)

Hey you politician
Never seperate the people here
Hey you man hey you man
Never try to seperate the people

Some were from America
We were from South Africa
Some were from Japan
We were from China
Some were from Australia
We were from the U.K.
Some were from Zimbabwe
We were from Ghana
Some were from Jamaica
We were from Russia
Some were from Aha-ha-ha
We were from Uhu-hu-hu

Chorus till fade

Ding Ding Licky Licky Licky Bong
It seems like it only happened yesterday
now that I think about it
tears cannot bring you joy
but joy can bring you tears
even though I cry today
I will not hide it
It is for a different reason - joy
that is why I'll shout it out
for the world to hear
I say hello, hello happiness
Oh Jah, thank you
for another day, I say

Chorus
Ding ding licky licky licky bong (x3)

another tear drop falls
but I don't care
I took a wrong turn in life before
but I've paid my dues
objects in the rear view mirror
they appear closer than they are
if you don't talk the talk
don't walk the walk
if you won't please, don't tease
another lesson learned
I'm gonna shout it out again
hello, hello happiness
Oh God, thank you
for another chance
there is no future in the past
so shout it out...
divorce party, divorce party
It is not the 4th of July
but we're celebrating Mr BB and Mrs BB have decided to call it a day
after so many years, living together
they have called us here today
to witness what they call freedom from each other
they've been living in style, they wanna end it in style
they wanna end it with a bang.

chorus
divorce party, divorce party

we see them now
in the middle of the room
holding glasses so high
they not renewing their sacred vows, not at all
but they're telling everybody
what they didn't like about each other
one says, do you remember that day I said that
do you remember that day (x2) you did that
I hope our paths will never meet again

Lyrics to Don't Cry:
Everytime I say I wanna go
I can tell you gonna cry
Everytime I say I wanna go
I can tell you gonna cry
Thinking of the lonely nights
( when I' m not there )
Thinking of the days
( when I' ve gone )
Thousands of people
Wanna see me
Millions are waiting
For the message
Billions are dying
For the message
I am going round the world
Spreading the message
I am going round the world
Spreading the word
Don' t cry baby, don' t cry

Chorus:
Don' t cry

They wanna hear me saying!
Ayobayo
They wanna hear me hear me say
I' ve got you babe
They wanna hear me sayin
Together as one
They wanna hear me say
I' m a slave
Lyrics to Prisoner:
Somebody told me about it
When I was still a little boy
He said to me, crime does not pay
He said to me, education is the key, yeah
As a little boy I thought I knew
What I was doing, yeah man
But today here I am in jail

Chorus:
I' m a prisoner (x3)

I looked all around me
But to see nothing
but four grey walls staring at me
the policeman said to me, son
They won' t build no schools anymore
All they' ll build will be prison, prison (x3)

'cos today, yeah

Chorus:
I am a prisoner (x2) I' m a prisoner
Dear lord

I asked the policeman and said
How much must I pay for my freedom?
He said to me, son
They won' t build no schools anymore
They won' t build no hospitals (x2)
All they' ll build will be prison, prison (x4)

Chorus till fade

Lyrics to House Of Exile:
Freedom fighter standing on a mountain
In a foreign country
Trying to send a message
To his people, back in the ghetto
He had a home one time
Love of a girl
But he left that behind
Oh yes I can hear him clearly as he whispers in the air
His voice came out loud and clear
All he asked for was a prayer and as he turns to walk away he said

Chorus:
I'm still here in the house of exile
For the love of the nation

Sun went down on the mountain
Birds flew back to their hiding places
Leaving him standing there like a telephone pole
In the still of the night
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/
You and I dream
Dreaming of Romeo Juliet
All he dreams about is the freedom of the nation
When every man will be equal In the eyes of the law
As he closes his eyes
For the last time he said again

Chorus till fade

Lyrics to I've Got You Babe:
I have gone right round the world
Trying to find a women
A women that' ll understand me (x2)
All the women I had before
Never understood me

Now that I' ve found you baby
I ain' t gonna look no further (x3)

It' s so nice when you' re there
So nice so nice
I love you I love you I love you I love you I love you

I' ve got you babe to make me feel alright (x3)
I' ve got you babe to make me feel alright (x3)

Baby you know how much I need you baby
Please never leave me baby
Never leave me ooh...
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/

ayo ayo
ayo ayo (x7)
You know baby my life depends on you
You are my future you are everything I got
Please baby please baby yeah...

I' ve got you babe to make me feel alright (x3)
I' ve got you babe to make me feel alright (x3)

Lyrics to God Bless The Women:
In the middle of the night I heard her pray so bitterly
And so softly yeah...
She prayed for her children
She prayed for their education,
Then she prayed for the man
That left her with her children.
We, praise heroes everyday
But there are those that we forget To praise
The women of this world.
They don't run from anything
They stand and fight for what's right

Chorus
Oh oh oh...
God bless the women

Even when times are so hard
They are so cool, calm and collected.
They don't run from anything,
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/
They stand and fight
For what is right

They do not run from responsibilities
They stand and fight for what Is right

Chorus till fade...

Lyrics to Oh My Son (I'm Sorry):
Oh my son, I am sorry about what happened
Many years ago
Me and your mother had trouble all the time
We could not stay together any more
The last solution was getting divorced
I know what that means to your life
I can hear you crying
From a million miles away
Calling "Daddy" but there 's no answer

But deep down in me I know the reason why
'cos the blood that runs in you
Is the same as the blood in me
I mean the blood, the blood that runs in you
Is the same as the blood in me

Oh my son I' m sorry
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/
Oh my son I' m sorry
Oh my son I' m sorry

I can hear you crying
From a million miles away
Calling "Daddy" but there 's no answer
But deep down in me I know the reason why
'cos the blood that runs in you
Is the same as the blood in me
I mean the blood, the blood that runs in you
Is the same as the blood in me

'cos the blood that runs in you
Is the same as the blood in me
I say the blood, the blood that runs in you
(fade)

Lyrics to Dracula:
You gonna try and hide
In the dark corners
Of the night
But he' s gonna get you
'Cause he' s not human at all
He' s Dracula ha, ha, ha, ha

Chorus:
Dracula, Dracula (x2)

During the day he' s my friend
But when the night falls
He' s no friend of mine
During the day he' s my friend
But when the night falls
He' s nobody friend
His eyes shine wild with fire
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/
His heart is cold as ice
I am scared of him
He lives on human blood
He feeds on human flesh
Stay away he' s got no mercy
No mercy at all
He' s Dracula

Chorus:

Not everything that glitters is gold
Ye man yes I say man
Don' t trust no one
Don' t even trust yourself
A' me a' go say now
He' s got the sweetest words
You' ve ever heard
He talks like a new state president
Telling people
What he' s gonna do for them yeah!
He walks like a human being
He eats like everybody does yeah!
But deep down in his heart
He knows he' s bad news yeah!
His eyes shine wild with fire
His heart is as cold as ice
No mercy at all Dracula
Dracula

Chorus:

A'him a' go round lamping the children
A'him a' go round lamping the creation yeah
I' and I' gotta yete wata me yeye cousa dem
Lamp l'Me Tart him gawn
Lyrics to Don't Cry:
Everytime I say I wanna go
I can tell you gonna cry
Everytime I say I wanna go
I can tell you gonna cry
Thinking of the lonely nights
( when I' m not there )
Thinking of the days
( when I' ve gone )
Thousands of people
Wanna see me
Millions are waiting
For the message
Billions are dying
For the message
I am going round the world
Spreading the message
I am going round the world
Spreading the word
Don' t cry baby, don' t cry
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/

Chorus:
Don' t cry

They wanna hear me saying!
Ayobayo
They wanna hear me hear me say
I' ve got you babe
They wanna hear me sayin
Together as one
They wanna hear me say
I' m a slave
Lyrics to False Prophets:
We see them every day
Movin' up and down
Holding their bibles in their hands yeah
Going to church every Sunday
Telling people they' re Christians yeah
Ye man, we read in the Bible
And overstand
It' s telling us of all the false prophets
When the Messiah' s
Gonna come down here
Dem a gonna say these words
Jesus I wanna be like you

Chorus:
False prophets lies and elution

A dem a go around
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/
Lamping da creation yeah
I and I no like da Babylon style
I and I no like da Babylon style
'Causa dem a go around lampin' Jah creation
Dem a go around telling dem lies
Jesus I wanna be like you

Chorus:
False prophets lies and elution

Lyrics to Feel Irie:
How long shall you carry
That burden on your shoulders?
How long shall those tears
Keep rolling down
Your beautiful face?
We all have troubles
Now and again, know what I'm saying?

No matter how hard we try,
Trouble will find us one way or another.
People had trouble since the pope
Was an alter boy
People had worries from when the
Dead sea was only critical.
Hear those drums rolling
Listen to those guitars skanking
Yeah... Put a smile on your face
Don't let the troubles get you down,
Let me tell you how we feel...
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/

We feel irie
Do you feel like we do

No man can hide from his fears
Since they are part of him
They'll always know where to find him,
Come on and walk tall and
Keep your head high

I tell you again and again
Put a smile on your face,
Don't let the troubles
Get you down

Chorus till fade

Lyrics to Fugitive:
I' ve been sitting here for many days now
They' ve been looking for me for many days too
From where I' m sitting
I can see their angry faces
It' s only a matter of time
They' ll be on to me
The sirens, helicopters and tings
The bloodhounds are on my tail, Oh God
Just in minutes
They' ll be tearing me apart
If I don' t do now
What I' ve been doing all my life
I' ll be running...all my life

Chorus:
I' m the running man
The fugitive

Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/

Seeking political asylum is not easy down here/FONT>
My father had friends in high places
And in low places too
Everytime we asked him to stop running
We would say
"Leave all to me, I' ll make it right"
Today he' s gone, I' m still running
Coyotes and vultures closing in on me
I take it a warning
I' ll be running
I' ll be running
'Cause I can

Chorus till fade

Lyrics to Fugitive:
I' ve been sitting here for many days now
They' ve been looking for me for many days too
From where I' m sitting
I can see their angry faces
It' s only a matter of time
They' ll be on to me
The sirens, helicopters and tings
The bloodhounds are on my tail, Oh God
Just in minutes
They' ll be tearing me apart
If I don' t do now
What I' ve been doing all my life
I' ll be running...all my life

Chorus:
I' m the running man
The fugitive

Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/

Seeking political asylum is not easy down here/FONT>
My father had friends in high places
And in low places too
Everytime we asked him to stop running
We would say
"Leave all to me, I' ll make it right"
Today he' s gone, I' m still running
Coyotes and vultures closing in on me
I take it a warning
I' ll be running
I' ll be running
'Cause I can

Chorus till fade
Lyrics to Good Girl:
When you were a little girl
I had dreams and I had plans for you
As a single father I knew
There was gonna be turbulance
Along the way
I did not know that so soon
I' d have to stand on the side
Watch you go through life
Without my guidance you see
I wanted to be there when you cry
I wanted to be there when you smile
I wanted to be there when you play
I wanted to be there all your life
I would say it' s wrong
She' d say it' s right
Words got spoken since
I live in a glass house
I didn' t want no stones to be thrown
I didn' t want no blows to be thrown
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/
But I would hate to see my...

Chorus:
Good girl go bad
Good girl go bad

The games we played
The rhymes you taught me
Everything we did together
Those were the best days of my life
I will always remember
The little girl you were once
I wanted to be there when you cry
I wanted to be there when you smile
I wanted to be there when you play
I wanted to be there all your life
I would say it' s right
She' d say it' s wrong
I would say it' s wrong
She' d say it' s right
Words got spoken since
I live in a glass house
I didn' t want no stones to be thrown
I didn' t want no blows to be thrown
But I would hate to see my...

Chorus:
Good girl go bad
Good girl go bad
Lyrics to Good Things:
There will be a time in your life
When you' ll need me the most
But I won' t be there
There will be a time in your life
When you won' t need me at all
I won' t be there
But while I' ve got the chance
I' m gonna tell you what I know
About this world we' re living in
It may seem so beautiful
From where you are
It may look so innocent
In your eyes
But let me tell you
It' s not a bed of roses

Chorus: (x3)
Good things come to those
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/
Who got out and made them happen
They don' t come to those who wait

I can sit here and teach you
Every trick in the book
But at the end of the day
It is your life

Chorus: (x3)
Good things come to those
Who got out and made them happen
They don' t come to those who wait

You don' t have to worry
The future is in your hands

till fade
Lyrics to Group Areas Act:
If I'm dreaming don't wake me up if it's a lie don't tell me the truth
Chorus

'Cause what the truth will do, it's gonna hurt my heart
Being in the darkness for so long now
Mr. President, did I hear you well Last night on TV
You said:
The group areas act is going Apartheid is going (x2)

Ina me eye me sight the future so bright
I mean I my eyes
I see the future so bright

When the blackie manna coming together
With the whitey manna (x2)
Whitey manna coming together with the blackman

Chorus:
If I'm dreaming
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/

Gazing at my crystal ball I see the future so bright
The fighting's gonna stop now
We'll forgive and forget I know Mr. President
You can't please everyone
But everybody liked it
When you said

Group areas act is going
Apartheid is going (x2)

Chorus:
If I'm dreaming (till fade)

Lyrics to Guns & Roses:
I don' t know why

I keep believing

That one day, they' ll bring us together

When they' ve shown
In more ways than one

That all they care about is the dollar

You belong to the one political party

I belong to the one musical party

Our differences are worlds apart

Just like guns and roses

Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/
If we don' t take control

Of the situation

We' ll stay forever in this ya commotion

Chorus: (x3)

These guns and the roses

That we' ve got to live with

How can five years of power

Destroy a lifetime of

Togetherness

One time we were judged

By the colour of our skins

Now we are judged

By the colour of our flags

Let us unite

Against being divided

You belong to the one political party

I belong to the one musical party

Let us take control of the situation

Otherwise we' ll be trapped in this

Chorus: till fade
Do you see the smiles on their faces
after you have done what you do best
do you see satisfaction on their faces
after you have blessed themw ith your gift
you don't think iit's much
but to them it means the world
they wake up in the morning and wish you were there
don't have to lie to gain their trust
you have never won a Nobel prize
they have never seen you on the TV
your little contribution makes their lives a little bit better every day

chorus
you're a hero, you're a hero

big it up, big it up
for the fireman
big it up, big it up
for the street cleaners
big it up for the man ad the woman who take care of abandonded children
big it up, big it up
for the grandmothers
who are left to take care of the children
big it up, big it up Wo!!
Lyrics to Hold On:
I knew exactly
What you were going through
It's just that I didn't have the right
To discuss your problems I saw you struggling
For our education I saw you struggling to get us clothes to wear mama
This man you got married to is dead alive
Over the years I asked myself
Many questions Is he my real dad or
Was I adopted mama I know it's difficult for you mama
But hold on I am a little grown up now

Oh Ho

Chorus:
Hold on just a little bit longer now (x4)

You were a laughing stock in the community
The press didn't rest
Makin' news out of you mama
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/
Now is the time to show them that he who laughs last laughs the best, that's the way it is (x2)

Chorus:
Hold on just a little bit longer now

I know it's not easy for you mama but your tears will turn to laughter now that I"m a grown up mama

Chorus till fade
How Will I Know lyric
There’s lady that I love so much
She’s always on my mind, night and day
But people told me she’s in love
with another guy in town
this really makes me so sad
I’m confused, I don’t know what to do about it
How will I know if she loves me
I’m confused
How will I know if she loves me
Does she really care for me
How will I know if she loves me
I’m confused
I’ve tried to get her off my mind
But the love that she gives to me
draws me near each time i go
I’ve tried to get her off my mind
But the love she gives to me, it is so strong
Each time when we were together
She use to tell me that I’m the only guy
I have given myself to this woman
Now I’m so confused
'cause people told me she’s in love
With another guy in town
This really makes me so sad
I’m confused
What am I going to do about it?
Oh Gawd
Does she really care for me?
How will I know if she loves me
How will I know if she loves me
I wanna know oh baby yeah
How will I know if she loves me
You know she’s the only person i can depend on
How will I know if she loves me
Does she really care for me
I need her by my side
How will I know if she loves me
I wanna know oh baby yea
How will I know if she loves me [till fade]
Lyrics to Hungry Free Man:
Look in the eyes of the
Homeless man
Tell me what you see
In the eyes of a jobless man
Tell me what you see
What about the eyes
Of a prisoner
What do you see
Now you' ve seen it all
It is time to make up your mind
Don' t try to hide it
'Cause I can see it all
In your face yeah
It the same questions
That I ask myself every time
To be or not to be

Chorus: (x3)
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/
Do you wanna be
A well fed slave or a hungry free man

What is the point in being free
When you can' t get no job
What is the point in being free
When you can' t get food
What is the point in going out to work
When others can get for free
What is the point in being free
When you don' t have no home
Now you' ve heard it all
It is time to make up
Your own mind
To be or not to be
Oh ho ho ho

Chorus:
Do you wanna be
A well fed slave or a hungry free man
till fade

Lyrics to I Want To Know What Love Is:
I' ve got to take a little time
A little time to think things over
I' d better read between the lines
In case I need it when I' m older

This big mountain I must climb
Ohh feels like the world upon my shoulders
Through the crowds I see love shine
It keeps me warm as life grows colder

In my life, there's been heartache and pain
I don' t know, if I can face it again
I can' t stop now
I' ve travelled so far
To change this lonely life

Chorus:
I want to know what love is
Reggae can show me
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/
I want to feel what love is
Reggae can show me

I' m going to take a little time
A little time to look around me
I' ve got nowhere left to hide
It looks like reggae has finally found me

In my life, there's been heartache and pain
I don' t know, if I can face it again
Can' t stop now
I' ve travelled so far
To change this lonely life

Chorus:
I want to know what love is
Reggae can show me
I want to feel what love is
Reggae can show me

till fade

Lyrics to Is This Freedom:
She got outside one morning
To see what' s going on
'Cause she heard all the noises
In the night, It' s a celebration
Even though she was old and grey
It didn' t mean she was deaf and dumb
She looks one look at the man
Throws her hands in the air
And said God help us all
Too much power in one mans hands
Is dangerous
She has never tasted freedom
And all the things
We take for granted
Then she looked at me and said
Son, Is this the end of our suffering?

Chorus:
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/
Is this freedom?
Is this freedom?

We have just witnessed the
Change of power from one fool
And liar to another
Our lives on the line again
She had lived through the wars
She didn' t wanna go through it all again
She has seen injustice
She has seen corruption
She has seen racism
And any other kind of suffering
You can think about
Then she said to me
Son, Is this the end of suffering?

Chorus till fade

Lyrics to Is This The Way:
Is this the way
You want it to be
Is this the way
It' s gonna be (x2)

Oh my God Oh my God
What we gonna do
In this world
In this world we live in (x2)

I see these men
Everyday at the corner
Of Queens and Commissioner
Begging for a dollar everyday
Begging for a dime everyday

Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/
Trying to make a living
Out there
But it' s so hard (x2)

Chorus: (x2)
Begging for a dollar
Begging for a dime

One of them
Swallowed his pride
His broken pride
And came to me he said
I quit, I give up
Life is a game
What are the rules
What did I do to deserve this
Begging for a dollar everyday
Begging for a dime everyday
Trying to make a living
Out there

Chorus: til fade
Begging for a dollar
Begging for a dime
Oh-oh-oh
Begging for a dollar/dime

Lyrics to Kiss No Frog:
She wanted to be
Like her mother in many ways
The way she walks
The way she smiles
Over and above all
The way she brushes her hair back
She heard it all being said to her
Saw it all happening in her life
Like every woman
She' s been trapped in this
Fairy tale
Find a frog, kiss it,
And hope it would turn
Into a handsome prince
How many frogs has she kissed
In her life?
None of them turned into
A handsome prince
The little girl made a decision
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/
In her life ohh
And she promised to keep it

Chorus:
I'm gonna kiss no frog

Everything went
The way she wanted
Every dream was what she wanted
But when it came to finding someone
To spend her life with
Same old story

Find a frog, kiss it
And hope it' ll turn into a prince ohh
Better to be alone and happy
Than being with someone
And be unhappy
All your life

Chorus:
I'm gonna kiss no frog
till fade
Lyrics to Johnny:
Johnny was a good boy
According to his mother
But when she wasn' t looking yeah
Johnny became a bad boy
He got into drugs yeah
Oh poor Johnny
One day he double-crossed
And it cost him his life
She couldn' t believe it
When she saw him lying
On the ground
In a pool of blood yeah
Her only son
Her only hope yeah!!
Oh Johnny
With her hands above her head
She cried Johnny Johnny
How can you do something
Like that to me Oh she cried
Lyrics www.allthelyrics.com/lyrics/lucky_dube/
And said

Chorus:
Oh Johnny you broke my heart
Oh Johnny you made me cry

Her only hope her only boy
Lying on the ground
In a pool of blood
She said Johnny remember
How I raised you boy?
You could have been a doctor
You could have been a teacher
Oh Johnny
With her hands above her head
She cried Johnny
How can you do something
Like this to me
She said I took you
To the best schools
In the country boy
Spent my last dime on you
Johnny
Thought you would be
My shoulder
To cry on Johnny

Her only boy her only son
Lying on the ground
In a pool of blood
She couldn' t hold back
Her tears
Oh Johnny
With her hands above her head
She cried Johnny Johnny
How can you do something
Like that to me
Oh she cried

Chorus till fade

Personal Stories of People Having Sex for the first time

2011-10-09T09:00:00.000-07:00

Personal Stories of People Having Sex for the first time
Ashley Mae
I always told my self that I either wanted to wait till I was married or had been in a long committed relationship before I had sex. I've only had two boyfriends in my life, one of them lasted 2 weeks and the other that I am currently still in has only been 35 days. I had never done anything further then making out and knew I wouldn't go any further till later in the relationship, but I guess I changed my mind.

He's always making me feel good about myself, I trust him completely so I thought I would return the favor. We always go partying/drinking on weekends and we went to a pitt (out door) party and I decided the night before I wanted to pleasure him for once. After a while of drinking him and I went to his truck, we started making out pretty hardcore then we went into the back seat and continued to makeout. Our hands got a little adventurous and I realised he had a boner. I was his 4th girlfriend (where as he would be my first official boyfriend) so I was a little nervous about what I wanted to do and how to go about doing it. I told him to sit back and relaxe so I could please him and I performed oral. I felt better when he confessed that none of his ex's had done that for him. We started getting a little hot and steamy until his brother knocked on the window saying that It was time to go..I went to his house.

We continued what we were doing in the guest bedroom downstairs until I brought up the courage and gathered my thoughts and asked him "Do you want to be my first". He stopped everything and looked at me asking if it's what I wanted. We continued and I asked him if he had a condom, once again he completely stop and said No. Apparently his ex girlfriend was the one to supply everything, so we scattered around the house looking for a condom.. so such luck. He hugged me and said if I was okay with it he would just control himself and pull out. I wasn't so sure about it but like I said, I trust(ed) him 100%.

As it was happening it hurt alot..sharp pains would shoot up into my stomach and between my legs. He would stop and ask if I was okay, he was sincerely worried about me, he wiped the tears from my eyes. I was happy but before either of us could "finish" he stopped because he had a cramp. We cuddled but I was a little upset at how much it hurt and that I gave into temptation after 35 days. I could still feel the pain and the next day I was sore, It hurt to sit up straight and to cross my legs, I later looked at the bed and I saw there was some blood on the sheet and on my underwear (I knew it wasn't my period cause I got it the week before).. So, It explained why it hurt so much..I was/am too embarrassed to tell my boyfriend though.

Kenneth
I'm a 23 year old guy, and i was dating my ex girl who was 16 then and i was 19 years old. We'd known each other for two years, and she was still a virgin and we'd both agreed to have sex when she was 18. We used to kiss and perform oral sex but stops before things went far.
One day she came to visit my me in house, and she was 17 by then. We started kissing and do what we usually, then i told her i cannot wait anylonger but she was so reluctant. Then i accused her of not loving me, because i've been so patient and went on telling her that i am a guy and i've needs. Then i got angry, but she told to get a condom. Then i went to a nearby store and bought a pack of condoms. I began to touch her down there, n tried to stick my finger in her vagina but she screemed. I stopped, then tored 1 condon and put it on.
I'd see the look on her face and the sadness, like i was letting her do something she didn't want or ready to do. I never seemed to care thou cos i never wanted her to change her mind. I immediately wore the condom and stick my penis in, all i'd see was the tears on her face, i went on and on but she never seemed to enjoy then i stopped and told her to dress up and she did. Since then things went bad, and i lost interest on her. She'd call wanting to see me and i'd tell her that i'm not around and i wont be for the whole week.
Then one day i told i called her and told her that we can't continue since i'd found my soulmate. I know it's cold and heartless, and believe you me. I regret evry bit of it. I haven't seen her in 2 years, but i heard that she's now involved with a church man and she's engaged. I'm in a relationship, but it's not really going well. If only i'd reverse the time and support her, and respect her decision things were gonna be different now. I really regret ever forcing her into something she wasn't prepared to do. I cant even forgive myself because, i played her but in the meantime i also think she led me on by allowing me to touch her all over her body. My advise to other guys is that please respect yo women and their decisios, they really deserve that. It's never too late to have sex, if you say you love her, then act like you do and respect her if she's not ready to have sex.

Jen
You know, If you knew me you'd never thought I'd be the one to lose my virginity before I was married. I'm the most, shy, quiet and reserved girl ever.

I am 17. My boyfriend 18. We've been together for 4 months now. The night of our 3 month anniversary I stayed at his. After hours of movies and cuddling he picked me up and took me to his room and sat me on his bed. It was rather cute. He sat next to me and told me he loved me and asked if i'd like to take the next step. I agreed, as I had been waiting for this for a long time.

I was a virgin. He wasn't. But, I couldn't think of anyone else who i'd rather lose it to. I was kind of nervous at first, as he knew what he was doing, but I had no clue.

He sat me on his lap and asked me if I was sure before proceeding to unbutton my shirt and softly kiss me. I wrapped my arms around him and he pulled me closer, and slipped his hands down the front of my jeans. He was so gentle and was constantly asking if I was okay. I was loving every second of it.

After a while, he laid me back and slid off my jeans. Then took off his own. He pushed my underwear to the side and gently pushed in. And yes, we used protection. It hurt a little at first, but I totally ignored it. We moved from his room, to the bathroom and then back again. We both finished and ended up falling asleep together.

It was the most exciting thing I have done in my life. I will never regret it. The fact that my boyfriend cared more about my pleasure then his own meant a lot to me, You don't find a lot of guys like that. And to lose it to someone I truly love is the greatest of all.
Mira
I remember my first time like it was yesterday. It was back in December of 2009. I was 15 and the person i was with was 17. We were only together for about 2 months, but i known him for about 2-3 years so i was sure i could trust him. I've always been the type of girl who believes your first time should be with someone you truly love, and special. But it all happened so fast.

My best friend came to pick me up to take me to my boyfriend's house. Her significant other was also there. We started out watching a movie in his living room with all the lights off, like a regular movie night. Then it slowly turned into way more then i planned. My best friends boyfriend took off his shirt and they cuddled on the floor under some blankets. Here i am, the youngest of them all with no way out. My boyfriend then picked me up and carried me to his room. He laid me on his bed and turned the lights off and began to kiss me. He took off my jeans, then the rest of my clothes and began to go down on me. It wasn't long, i could tell he just did it to make it seem like he cared, but now i realize he didn’t, he just wanted to please himself more then anything.

After he went down on me he quickly removed all of his clothes and put on a condom. Still i lay there, stiff, speechless. In my head I'm nervous and afraid and was NOT at all ready. But i couldn’t speak a word, i just went along with it all, trusting him fully. He at least tried to lighten up my nerves, he jokingly said "assume the position" as he was about to enter me. I tensed up, resisting him inside, but then i gave in and was about to let him enter. So many thoughts running through my head, how it was too soon, i wasn't ready. I looked out the window and closed my eyes bracing myself for any pain. As he went inside i felt slight pain and pinching. I felt nothing extremely good, just thrusting. It lasted about 20 minutes. His mom came home and we all left. A week after we had sex again, but still nothing mind blowing. Then the problems occur.

Near the end of December he told me he wanted to take a break because he heard "rumors". Which i believed like an idiot. There were no rumors, he just wanted the fastest way out without it being obvious. He told me he didn’t want to break up because he needed me. So we didn’t talk a few weeks, when he finally talked to me he said we need to break up until he trusted me again. Months passed and nothing. Even after all that reassuring me we'd get back together, nothing. And there she was, another girl he was talking to...

Fast forward to now. He led me on from December all through July. It was ridiculous. He's still with the same girl and they're engaged and have a baby on the way. I don’t talk to him anymore at all, but i will never forget all what he put me through. He ruined my plans for a first time for me, and also my future. I wanted to lose it to someone i'd be with a lifetime. I've met and been with a great guy for over a year now. Now im 17 and my current boyfriend is 19 and he's the one who's been here for me, he's the one who deserved to be my first. He is truly amazing and he deserved my virginity. I honestly know and feel this is the guy i'll be with all my life, and become my future husband. But because of my mistake and not speaking up, i feel like i have nothing special to give him. Even though i was young and didn’t know better, i'll always blame myself. And even though it's been over a year ago, i'll never forget those months of pain and regret.
Rachel
My first time was with my boyfriend of 9 months. We were both 16, and we loved each other so much. We talked about having sex before, and we both thought we were ready, so we decided that if the chance came up, we would do it.
One night I went over his house to hang out. His mom left the house to go out, so we were home alone. We started kissing and making out on the couch, and he put his hand up my skirt, and i had my hand on his crotch. We were getting really into it, so I asked if he wanted to, and he said yes. We got a condom out of my purse and he put it on. We could not believe that we were going to do it.
We went up to his room, because I wanted to loose my virginity in his bed, because i was comfortable there. I went on his bed, and he took off my underwear. We started kissing again, and hugging. I laid back and he got on top of me, and he entered me. It only lasted a couple of minutes, because it really really hurt. Afterwards, we got up and hugged each other. We started to cry, because we finally made love, and we loved each other so much.
I love my boyfriend so much, and I know that I want to spend the rest of my life with him. Me and him are closer than ever, and sex just made us more comfortable than ever. I am glad that I waited to have sex with him. I love him.
Amanda
My first time was when I was 15, and it was 2 days before my and my first serious boyfriend's 6 months. My boyfriend (Dylan) at the time we're completely head over heels for each other, we had talked about raising a family and basically spending the rest of our lives together.
Well, the night it happened we were in his bedroom, just watching television. We had discussed whether or not we wanted to have sex beforehand, so we had condoms in case things went to far. While we were watching television, he tapped my shoulder and told me that he was in love with me. He then kissed me and things got more intimate and we had sex.
It didn't hurt like I was expecting it too, it was actually quite pleasant. The night ended well and we stayed together for about 6 more months.
We parted ways 2 weeks before our anniversary. It was heartbreaking for both of us, but we both knew that neither one of us seemed happy in the relationship anymore, so it was for the best.
We are both still amazing friends, like we were for 3 years beforehand. I can honestly say, I don't regret it. I was a teenager in love, and I still love Dylan, I'm just happy I lost my virginity to a guy that I can always trust, will always be there for me, and someone who I love, even though we aren't together.

My advice; there is no set time, age, place, or anything when you'll be ready to lose your virginity. When it's time, you'll know because you know won't have any regret with it.
Danielle
I was 15 when i lost my virginity, he was my first proper boyfriend and i would of classed him as my first love, but obviously i was wrong.
We were dating for only a few weeks, i used to go round to his house all the time and we used to kiss, that was all but things got a bit hot and heavy as the night went on, i didn't know deep down whether i was ready or not but i went ahead with it anyway.. so as we go into his bed it wasnt long before he put on a condom and i must admit it really really hurt me...after a while i told him to stop as it was hurting me too much.
Days later he told me we should try again but i told him i didnt want to, i want to wait a bit longer till the next time....shortly after i found out he was sleeping with other girls, i actually thought he loved me and would wait for me..clearly not.
I will never understand why boys cheat on girls, if you're not happy with the person your with, why hurt them and destroy their heart?! break up with them before you cause them pain...
I'm 17 now and i've had a relationship since but it didnt last long as similar thing happened although i am much more matured now and know where i stand with boys.. must admit i am very very picky about boys now due to whats happened with me in my past.. i think that is why i am so reserved:)
So to all the girls out there, make so you're ready and feel comfortable before you do anything, never pressure yourself into something you dont wanna do. that was my mistake. Dont feel like cause your friends are doing it, you have to do it. Do it cause YOU want to.x
Kendal
The first time I had sex wasn’t perfect. A week before, me and my boyfriend decided we would wait and have sex on December 28th (our anniversary). We were both virgins and weren't experienced. We had done things before this like fool around and we've both started masturbating at a young age. He was 16 and I was 14, and I loved him. I knew he loved me because at the time I was going through hard times with my depression and getting off drugs (weed). He was very supportive and that’s when I knew I wanted him to be my first.
My parents left to go shopping and he came inside and we went to my room. It was March 13th, 2011. We made out for awhile, but then we fooled around. We did new stuff none of us has ever done and everything was perfect. Then he asked me if I wanted to make love with him. It was the cutest thing ever. We had been dating 3 months at the time and I knew I didn’t want to wait any longer. I told him yes and we did. It lasted a few minuets and none of us finished because we didn’t have a condom. For me, it didn’t hurt. It felt really really really amazing. So perfect. I didn’t even feel it go in because we had so much lube.
After we laid together and talked. He told me he was mine forever and he`ll never leave my side. He told me he loved me more then anyone in the world. By writing this, I know I love him more then anything. If I could take anything back, it would be the timing. I wish we would of waited. But I will never regret who I did it with.
Me and Glenn (my boyfriend) have been together for almost 6 months now. I really hope we last forever. Its not just sex for us. Or trying something new. Its love were making.
Kathleen
My first time was with my first serious boyfriend, we had been together for around 5 months. It was definitely awkward, quite funny, but very sweet, it didn't hurt, and I have never regretted it. We were together for around 2 years in total. Our relationship ended mutually, we just grew apart. We are still friends. :) Not all relationships are bad when you're young.
Jenna
So as a 21 yr old woman, who has never had a boyfriend, i was beginning to think i would never be comfortable with men. For me it was beginning to seem like i was going backwards with guys, and i'd always thought i'd be in a stable relationship before i did anything. So here enter's what's his name, a random 26 yr old guy, who's 'into' me, or atleast into getting into my pants. tuesday i meet him at a bar, wednesday he takes me out to dinner. he's not fantastic looking, he's not charming, and he's not really my type, but he is a nice guy who tells me he likes the way i look. I know anything he says might not be the truth, but at that point i didn't care.
so friday rolls around and i meet up with him at a friends place, he's drunk and i've also had a few. The conversation gets a little vulgar and i leave the room, he follows me into the bedroom and at this point i tell him i feel like i've been leading him on. to my suprise he wants to talk to me, i tell him i'm a virgin and he says thats ok i'll 'teach you'. when he said that i was so unhappy with the way it sounded, and with what i was about to do that i left the room and cried. after i calmed down i went back to the bedroom and talked to him again, he said 'what do you want, it's just sex'. again to my suprise i didn't run out of the room, i realised that it was just sex, and something that i thought was a big deal, my virginity, began to get smaller and smaller. i told him that i wouldn't touch him without a condom on, he wrapped it up, told me to control myself onto him. in the beginning it hurt a bit, but after that it became a lot of fun. this experience was only possible because of the way I felt, it shouldn't matter who the guy is, or what he says, YOU have to be comfortable with yourself. I was never pressured to lose it, and i'm proud of the way i did. even if i never see him again, i have learned from that experience, it has allowed me to be more comfortable with myself, and to grow as a young woman.
Tracey
Truthfully, I never thought I would loose my virginity at such a tender age. I had always agreed with my friends and made a promise to wait till the evening of our weddings.. the so called HONEYMOON.
So I met this guy named Ryan at a Christmas party. We started talking and less than a month we were dating. It was really great at first because we used to talk and cuddle but not to the extremities. Within three weeks we were getting more deeper then one night when I was sleeping at my place, he called in the middle of the night telling me that he wanted to make love to me. At first I just thought he was just trying to hear what I would say but in the end I noticed he was serious. I then had to come to terms with myself about the issue so after some serious consideration, I said to myself I was not ready so I'll wait till my wedding day.
Then it so happened on his birthday I went to meet him and give him a gift I had bought to say happy birthday. He said he wanted to spend the day with me and to me that wasn't a problem so I spent it with him. It started with what had become a routine when we were together then out of a sudden he took out a packet of condoms.. I told him I wasn't ready but he pleaded till I gave up. It was painful and because I wasn't ready I was left with a lot of guilt to the extent that it still haunts me up to this day.
My lesson and what I would like to tell you is make sure you are ready, if not stand your ground and say NO! It's hard I know but the aftermath is much enjoyable than to loose it without being ready. Secondly, be sure to have think through it because this is one of your big decisions in life and you wouldn't want to regret it for the rest of your life. Thirdly, make sure if you don't want it you avoid places where you will be left in compromising positions that you can't say no and if you are ready make sure you have preplanned for the event to avoid unwanted pregnancies. As for me and Ryan (not his actual name) we are still dating though I no longer feel the same way towards him because he just wasn't patient with me.

Rylie
My first time was with my boyfriend of almost two years. We were very much in love and we had been talking about taking this next step in our relationship for a long time, but we could never find the right place or time to be alone. But, one day, we were hanging out at his house, watching TV and we started making out. We got very into it and he told me that his dad was sleeping and he had condoms, if we wanted to. In that moment, I told him yes, I did. So he went to get the condoms and as I sat there waiting for him, I had these mixed emotions. I was happy that I was finally going to experience this wonderful act of love with someone I loved and knew cared and respected me, but I was also really scared. I mean, I could get pregnant or something. I also felt, in a way, that I was letting down my family, being raised in a Catholic background, premarital sex is frowned upon. And by the time he came back from his room with the condoms, I was letting my fears get the best of me. But, he sat down on the couch and we continued to make out. He asked me, "Are you sure?" and I looked straight in his eyes and I had this gut feeling that it was exactly what I wanted and I wouldn't want it with anyone else.
He went in his guest bedroom because it was the closest room to his living room and we began kissing. We undressed each other and got in bed together. I have admit, it was very painful. I did not bleed, like some do though. Because we have such a comfortable relationship, I was able to communicate with him how it was hurtful and he offered to stop, but I told him it was fine. Of course he went slow for me though. I did not orgasm, but he did (I didn't expect to though). After that, we layed naked together for about 20 minutes and talked about it. For me, losing my virginity, was an amazing and comfortable experience. There was no awkwardness and no regrets after. Losing your virginity is not a race, my boyfriend and I were both 16 when we lost it together, but it is not something that can be rushed. When you love someone and with someone you know truly respects you, then losing your virginity will be a meaningful and special experience, like it should be.
Erica and A.J
I'm seventeen and I didn't lose my virginity til a little while ago. It was to my boyfriend and this is how it happened. So, we met one time when I was hanging out with some of my friends. He and I clicked immediately and he was, and still is, different than other guys I've dated. The way he hugs me, and later kissed me was, different. For once I didn't feel like he just wanted sex. He is a little bit older than me and more experienced sexually and never pressured me to do anything. He always stopped when I asked him to. We had been dating six months when we hung out. He kissed me all over and asked me to give him my virginity. He tried but it hurt so bad I asked him to stop. He did. I apologized and he told me I had nothing to be sorry about. We kissed and hugged some more. He told me he wanted to make love to me so bad but I wasn't ready.

The day before Valentine's day, I saw him again. He picked me up from school during a break and we went to his house. He took me to his room and kissed and hugged me some more. He started to undress me and I didn't stop him. He pulled the covers over and I got in his bed. He got on top of me and kissed all over me again. When he tried to get inside of me again it hurt but I didn't stop him this time. After a while it didn't hurt anymore, I actually started to enjoy it. I'm so glad I waited for somebody who actually had feelings for me and I for him. We are still together. :)
Callie
Me and my boyfriend have been together for 6 months. We love each other more than anything. I am 14 and he's 15. On our 6th month, we began to fool around in his bed. We started just by making out. I took his shirt off, and then he took mine off. He started kissing me in a way that made me wana get it over with, and have sex. because i loved him. But we both decided before that neither of us had any intentions to have sex until we've been together a year or so.

After an hour or so, we were both naked and i was laying on top of him, moving slowly up and down his body, we were kissing passionately when i felt him enter me. Neither of us meant for it to happen, but we allowed it to anyway. I began to get a little rough and go faster and faster on top of him but I pulled him out of me when i realized he wasn’t even wearing a condom!

For my first time, I really regret what I allowed to happen. We weren’t protected after allllll the times we've talked about how contraceptives were a MUST . I felt so used by the person i loved and I actually cried because I regretted what happened. But I realize that he didn't use me, it was an accident. If anyone's, it was mine for moving up on him with my naked body.

Nothing about it was special. He didn't tell me that he loved me, and the whole time I was thinking what a mistake it was, when I should've been thinking about how much i loved him.

My advice is to wait....... even with the person you might think you love more than anything.
Maya
The first time with my boyfriend was wonderful. We were both virgins and I did not feel any pressure. We both felt like it was ready to happen as we has been going out for 2 years. We, of course, used condoms and the whole thing went about so naturally. There was no awkwardness, no embarrassment, and definitely no regrets. We are very much in love with each other and sexual intercourse was another step in our wonderful relationship.

My advice for people who are looking to have sex for the first time is that make sure you will have absolutely no regrets afterwards. Make sure it will be someone who will be gentle, and slow, and kind. It takes communication to have sex. Make sure your partner knows what you want. Contraception is a must!
Abi
Well....i was only 13 when i lost my virginity but i was going out with a boy who was 15 and yes we're not together anymore. He went on holiday for a week and i didnt see him so we planned that when he got back i would go to his house, we talked about having sex before but never planned it.

So i went to his house and we sat on his bed and started making out, he pulled a condom out of his pocket and said, ''only if your ready babe' i replied yes i am..as i thought he was the one i wanted to loose it with. His fingers went up my skirt and later on he put it in and yes it hurt ALOT at first but you get use to it. The condom snapped and he got another one and i said no can we try another time? he said sure anything for you.

That night I went home and cried my self to sleep, the next day at school my friends knew somthing was wrong so i told them...they couldnt believe what id done and now they dont talk to. As for my boyfriend he didnt get in touch with me for the next few days and when i saw him he broke up with me.

So..my advise is dont have sex at the age of 13 unless your really ready and like the person, but as a result of loosing your virginity you may loose your friends. Also if you do have sex make sure you use protection.

DIALOGUE ABOUT ULTIMATE REALITY AND GOD. (ISSUE IN PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION)

2011-10-05T10:07:00.000-07:00

DIALOGUE ABOUT ULTIMATE REALITY AND GOD. (ISSUE IN PHILOSOPHY OF RELIGION)

Mario Francis: Don't we think that 'Ultimate Reality' (the One) of the speculative philosophy is somehow different from 'Christian God'? 08 September, 2011.

Obi K Stanley: You look philosophical in your approach so far; let me start with your recent post. Ultimate reality is a reality above every others and that is in relation to Supreme Being. You can argue against my view. But remember that talks about God are matters of speculation. Do you believe? 08 September, 2011.

Mario Francis: ... could it be said that a thing which is in relation to a thing is identical with that which it is in relation with?? Doesn't your sense of relation suggest a sense of uniqueness and identity? For you said "Ultimate reality is in relation to supreme being"..... Remember, by the very fact that i am related to a thing means that i am different from that thing..... All the same, you made a nice attempt, but you still have the opportunity to clear yourself. 08 September, 2011.

Obi K Stanley: Is that not contradictory to say that what is in relation is different. 'Relation' as one of the categories of Aristotle is an attribute of a being. Ultimate reality is thus a concomitant attribute of a supreme being. Therefore, ultimate reality is with God. Think about that and accept the matter with me. 09 September, 2011.

Mario Francis: hey..., it has not reach the point of accept boy!!! What is contradictory in saying that relation suggests difference (when we say difference we mean that which is in identity with itself). By the mere fact that you are related to any person, says your mother, is a pure indication that you are not that person but a being in yourself.... Furthermore you said that the ultimate reality is with God... don't you think that which is with God is not God, for a thing which is with a thing cannot at the same time be that which it is with... i can't really say who is contradicting issues here.... the preposition which you used here even affirms the difference am referring to..... Now.. it may interest you to move further, because a step further may help us resolve a lot... "Is the ultimate reality God or is the ultimate reality with God?" 09 September, 2011.

Obi K Stanley: good comment Francis, can God be noticed or felt with the sense organ. We talk about the attribute of God as something flowing from God itself. If we end in saying that ultimate reality is not God then what is God. Could God be limited or fading reality? Something that flows from something shows forth that thing. For instance we talk about white chalk; the whiteness is a substantial quality. Without the whiteness that chalk cannot be recognize. You know without the ultimate reality, there is no God. Therefore, ultimate reality is God. This is because it amounts the substantial quality of God. Think about the substantial quality of man and thus without it, is man a man? That is same with God, such that relatedness of something to a being cannot show difference but it shows a close unity between such realities. Therefore ultimate reality is with God and it is God. 14 September, 2011.

Mario Francis: 1st....Everything that exist could be said that it has a being (Hegel)... But the distinctions found in things are from God (Aquinas) 2nd...in line with Hegel, one could say that color is a being as being, as such and in itself. 3rd...Nevertheless, it, in the metaphysical division of being, is not a substance as u said but an accident existing in its existential modality (mode)... 4th.... In line with the above, it then follows that every attribute that exists must be considered first as a being in itself before it could be considered in its division. 5th..... Therefore, God is and the ultimate reality is as well as beings in themselves for everything, as one of the transcendental property of being, is in UNITY with itself. 6th...... Consequently, it could be too absurd to conceive that without the ultimate reality, there is no God, for the fact a being last a property or part of it does not make it not be what it is. for a property does not determine the BEINGNESS of a being to which it is attached, rather things (beings) which are superior to others CONTAINS IMMINENTLY and TRANSCENDS EMINENTLY to beings inferior to them in the existential-metaphysical plain (either vertical or horizontal). 7th, the philosopher, if everything exists first in unity in itself, it then follows that the ultimate reality as a property has its own proper existence, as so is God. 8th..... just as we cannot have a soulless man or a bodiless man, so also one would say that the soul and the body are beings in themselves and exists in themselves before the union called man. 9th..... just as this substances cannot be called man, in that same vein, the ultimate reality cannot be God for it is only a property as you said. 10th.... But having disagreed with you that it is God, what can i say to your proposition that it is with God? From the above, i will conclude by saying that that which is a property of a thing is not that thing, but yet i could not be said, at the same time that it is not with that, for somel properties though exists in themselves and is in unity with themselves, but at the same time exist in and with that to which it is attached to. 11th....The ultimate reality is with God as a property, participates on God as a creature of God, but is not God. 16 September, 2011.

Obi k Stanley: good! good! good! I would rather start off with your statement about man as a composite of matter and form(soul and body). Man is and should involve form and matter, for without them man cannot be defined. In same circle, God cannot be defined as God without the ultimate reality. Ultimate reality is not a mere property. It is an eternal truth or principal that governs the universe. What could be eternal truth, governing the universe? Is it not God?
Could unity results to absurdity? Some things always unite to form a single being. Am not in doubt if ultimate reality is a being as being when talked about irrespective of God. Just as you talk about 'form'(soul) as a being irrespective of the composite Man. Could the form (soul) be ordinary property of man?
God in itself is absolutely a simple being because there could be no separation in the attributes in God. Unlike man who will separate the form from the matter in death, God in itself has no separate identity outside His attributes. Therefore ultimate reality cannot be figured out as different from God.
The usage of that word ' with' signify that God cannot be referred as God without such united, transcendental, wherewithal attributes. It is and will still be with God. Thanks as i look forward for a further criticism.19 September, 2011.

“Slave and Master Morality

2011-06-04T19:35:00.000-07:00

” by Friedrich
Nietzsche

About the author. . . . Friedrich Nietzsche’s (1844-1900) intuitive and visceral
rejection of the economics, politics, and science of European civilization
in the 19th century led him to predict, “There will be wars such as
there have never been on earth before.” His dominant aphoristic style of
writing and his insistence of truth as convenient fiction, or irrefutable error,
have puzzled philosophers who think in traditional ways. Nietzsche seeks
to undermine the traditional quest of philosophy as recounted by Russell
and, instead, seeks to reveal the objects of philosophy (truth, reality, and
value) to be based on the “Will to Power.”
About the work. . . . In Beyond Good and Evil1 Nietzsche detects two
types of morality mixed not only in higher civilization but also in the
psychology of the individual. Master-morality values power, nobility, and
independence: it stands “beyond good and evil.” Slave-morality values
sympathy, kindness, and humility and is regarded by Nietzsche as “herdmorality.”
The history of society, Nietzsche believes, is the conflict between
these two outlooks: the herd attempts to impose its values universally
but the noble master transcends their “mediocrity.”
1. Friedrich Nietzsche. Beyond Good and Evil. Trans. by Helen Zimmern (1909-1913),
257-261.
1
“Slave and Master Morality” by Friedrich Nietzsche
From the reading. . .
“Every elevation of the type man, has hitherto been the work of an
aristocratic society and so. . . requiring slavery in one form or another.”
Ideas of Interest from Beyond Good
and Evil
1. How does Nietzsche explain the origins of society? What are the essential
characteristics of a healthy society?
2. Nietzsche states that a consequence of the “Will to Power” is the exploitation
of man by man, and this exploitation is the essence of life.
What does he mean by this statement? Is exploitation a basic biological
function of living things?
3. What does Nietzsche mean when he says that the noble type of man
is “beyond good and evil” and is a creator of values?
4. Explain in some detail the differences among the master-morality and
the slave-morality. Are these concepts useful in the analysis of interpersonal
dynamics?
5. According to Nietzsche, what are the origins of “good” and “evil”?
6. Explain Nietzsche’s insight into the psychology of vanity. Why is
vanity essential to the slave-morality? How does it relate to the individual’s
need for approval? Is Nietzsche noting that the vanity of
an individual is a direct consequence of the individual’s own sense of
inferiority?
2 Reading For Philosophical Inquiry: A Brief Introduction
“Slave and Master Morality” by Friedrich Nietzsche
The Reading Selection from Beyond
Good and Evil
[Origin of Aristocracy]
257. Every elevation of the type “man,” has hitherto been the work of an
aristocratic society and so it will always be—a society believing in a long
scale of gradations of rank and differences of worth among human beings,
and requiring slavery in some form or other. Without the pathos of distance,
such as grows out of the incarnated difference of classes, out of the
constant out-looking and down-looking of the ruling caste on subordinates
and instruments, and out of their equally constant practice of obeying and
commanding, of keeping down and keeping at a distance—that other more
mysterious pathos could never have arisen, the longing for an ever new
widening of distance within the soul itself, the formation of ever higher,
rarer, further, more extended, more comprehensive states, in short, just the
elevation of the type “man,” the continued “self-surmounting of man,” to
use a moral formula in a supermoral sense.
To be sure, one must not resign oneself to any humanitarian illusions about
the history of the origin of an aristocratic society (that is to say, of the preliminary
condition for the elevation of the type “man”): the truth is hard.
Let us acknowledge unprejudicedly how every higher civilization hitherto
has originated! Men with a still natural nature, barbarians in every terrible
sense of the word, men of prey, still in possession of unbroken strength
of will and desire for power, threw themselves upon weaker, more moral,
more peaceful races (perhaps trading or cattle-rearing communities), or
upon old mellow civilizations in which the final vital force was flickering
out in brilliant fireworks of wit and depravity. At the commencement, the
noble caste was always the barbarian caste: their superiority did not consist
first of all in their physical, but in their psychical power—they were
more complete men (which at every point also implies the same as “more
complete beasts”).
[Higher Class of Being]
258. Corruption—as the indication that anarchy threatens to break out
among the instincts, and that the foundation of the emotions, called “life,”
Reading For Philosophical Inquiry: A Brief Introduction 3
“Slave and Master Morality” by Friedrich Nietzsche
is convulsed—is something radically different according to the organization
in which it manifests itself. When, for instance, an aristocracy like
that of France at the beginning of the Revolution, flung away its privileges
with sublime disgust and sacrificed itself to an excess of its moral
sentiments, it was corruption:—it was really only the closing act of the
corruption which had existed for centuries, by virtue of which that aristocracy
had abdicated step by step its lordly prerogatives and lowered itself to
a function of royalty (in the end even to its decoration and parade-dress).
The essential thing, however, in a good and healthy aristocracy is that it
should not regard itself as a function either of the kingship or the commonwealth,
but as the significance highest justification thereof—that it should
therefore accept with a good conscience the sacrifice of a legion of individuals,
who, for its sake, must be suppressed and reduced to imperfect
men, to slaves and instruments. Its fundamental belief must be precisely
that society is not allowed to exist for its own sake, but only as a foundation
and scaffolding, by means of which a select class of beings may
be able to elevate themselves to their higher duties, and in general to a
higher existence: like those sun-seeking climbing plants in Java—they are
called Sipo Matador,—which encircle an oak so long and so often with
their arms, until at last, high above it, but supported by it, they can unfold
their tops in the open light, and exhibit their happiness.
[Life Denial]
259. To refrain mutually from injury, from violence, from exploitation,
and put one’s will on a par with that of others: this may result in a certain
rough sense in good conduct among individuals when the necessary
conditions are given (namely, the actual similarity of the individuals in
amount of force and degree of worth, and their co-relation within one organization).
As soon, however, as one wished to take this principle more
generally, and if possible even as the fundamental principle of society, it
would immediately disclose what it really is—namely, aWill to the denial
of life, a principle of dissolution and decay.
Here one must think profoundly to the very basis and resist all sentimental
weakness: life itself is essentially appropriation, injury, conquest of
the strange and weak, suppression, severity, obtrusion of peculiar forms,
incorporation, and at the least, putting it mildest, exploitation;—but why
should one for ever use precisely these words on which for ages a disparaging
purpose has been stamped?
4 Reading For Philosophical Inquiry: A Brief Introduction
“Slave and Master Morality” by Friedrich Nietzsche
Even the organization within which, as was previously supposed, the individuals
treat each other as equal—it takes place in every healthy aristocracy—
must itself, if it be a living and not a dying organization, do all that
towards other bodies, which the individuals within it refrain from doing to
each other it will have to be the incarnated Will to Power, it will endeavour
to grow, to gain ground, attract to itself and acquire ascendancy—not
owing to any morality or immorality, but because it lives, and because
life is precisely Will to Power. On no point, however, is the ordinary consciousness
of Europeans more unwilling to be corrected than on this matter,
people now rave everywhere, even under the guise of science, about
coming conditions of society in which “the exploiting character” is to be
absent—that sounds to my ears as if they promised to invent a mode of life
which should refrain from all organic functions.
From the reading. . .
“The noble type of man regards himself as a determiner of values;
he does not require to be approved of. . . he is a creator of values.”
“Exploitation” does not belong to a depraved, or imperfect and primitive
society it belongs to the nature of the living being as a primary organic
function, it is a consequence of the intrinsic Will to Power, which is precisely
the Will to Life—Granting that as a theory this is a novelty—as
a reality it is the fundamental fact of all history let us be so far honest
towards ourselves!
[Master Morality]
260. In a tour through the many finer and coarser moralities which have
hitherto prevailed or still prevail on the earth, I found certain traits recurring
regularly together, and connected with one another, until finally two
primary types revealed themselves to me, and a radical distinction was
brought to light.
There is master-morality and slave-morality,—I would at once add, however,
that in all higher and mixed civilizations, there are also attempts at the
reconciliation of the two moralities, but one finds still oftener the confusion
and mutual misunderstanding of them, indeed sometimes their close
juxtaposition—even in the same man, within one soul. The distinctions of
Reading For Philosophical Inquiry: A Brief Introduction 5
“Slave and Master Morality” by Friedrich Nietzsche
moral values have either originated in a ruling caste, pleasantly conscious
of being different from the ruled—or among the ruled class, the slaves and
dependents of all sorts.
In the first case, when it is the rulers who determine the conception “good,”
it is the exalted, proud disposition which is regarded as the distinguishing
feature, and that which determines the order of rank. The noble type of
man separates from himself the beings in whom the opposite of this exalted,
proud disposition displays itself he despises them. Let it at once be
noted that in this first kind of morality the antithesis “good” and “bad”
means practically the same as “noble” and “despicable”,—the antithesis
“good” and “evil” is of a different origin. The cowardly, the timid, the insignificant,
and those thinking merely of narrow utility are despised; moreover,
also, the distrustful, with their constrained glances, the self-abasing,
the dog-like kind of men who let themselves be abused, the mendicant flatterers,
and above all the liars:—it is a fundamental belief of all aristocrats
that the common people are untruthful. “We truthful ones”—the nobility
in ancient Greece called themselves.
It is obvious that everywhere the designations of moral value were at first
applied to men; and were only derivatively and at a later period applied
to actions; it is a gross mistake, therefore, when historians of morals start
with questions like, “Why have sympathetic actions been praised?” The
noble type of man regards himself as a determiner of values; he does not
require to be approved of; he passes the judgment: What is injurious to
me is injurious in itself; he knows that it is he himself only who confers
honour on things; he is a creator of values. He honours whatever he recognizes
in himself: such morality equals self-glorification. In the foreground
there is the feeling of plenitude, of power, which seeks to overflow, the
happiness of high tension, the consciousness of a wealth which would fain
give and bestow:—the noble man also helps the unfortunate, but not—or
scarcely—out of pity, but rather from an impulse generated by the superabundance
of power. The noble man honours in himself the powerful one,
him also who has power over himself, who knows how to speak and how
to keep silence, who takes pleasure in subjecting himself to severity and
hardness, and has reverence for all that is severe and hard. “Wotan placed a
hard heart in my breast,” says an old Scandinavian Saga: it is thus rightly
expressed from the soul of a proud Viking. Such a type of man is even
proud of not being made for sympathy; the hero of the Saga therefore adds
warningly: “He who has not a hard heart when young, will never have
one.” The noble and brave who think thus are the furthest removed from
the morality which sees precisely in sympathy, or in acting for the good of
6 Reading For Philosophical Inquiry: A Brief Introduction
“Slave and Master Morality” by Friedrich Nietzsche
others, or in dèintèressement, the characteristic of the moral; faith in oneself,
pride in oneself, a radical enmity and irony towards “selflessness,”
belong as definitely to noble morality, as do a careless scorn and precaution
in presence of sympathy and the “warm heart.”
It is the powerful who know how to honour, it is their art, their domain for
invention. The profound reverence for age and for tradition—all law rests
on this double reverence,— the belief and prejudice in favour of ancestors
and unfavourable to newcomers, is typical in the morality of the powerful;
and if, reversely, men of “modern ideas” believe almost instinctively in
“progress” and the “future,” and are more and more lacking in respect
for old age, the ignoble origin of these “ideas” has complacently betrayed
itself thereby.
A morality of the ruling class, however, is more especially foreign and irritating
to present-day taste in the sternness of its principle that one has
duties only to one’s equals; that one may act towards beings of a lower
rank, towards all that is foreign, just as seems good to one, or “as the heart
desires,” and in any case “beyond good and evil”: it is here that sympathy
and similar sentiments can have a place. The ability and obligation to exercise
prolonged gratitude and prolonged revenge—both only within the
circle of equals,—artfulness in retaliation, refinement of the idea in friendship,
a certain necessity to have enemies (as outlets for the emotions of
envy, quarrelsomeness, arrogance—in fact, in order to be a good friend):
all these are typical characteristics of the noble morality, which, as has
been pointed out, is not the morality of “modern ideas,” and is therefore at
present difficult to realize, and also to unearth and disclose.
[Slave Morality]
It is otherwise with the second type of morality, slave-morality. Supposing
that the abused, the oppressed, the suffering, the unemancipated, the
weary, and those uncertain of themselves should moralize, what will be
the common element in their moral estimates? Probably a pessimistic suspicion
with regard to the entire situation of man will find expression, perhaps
a condemnation of man, together with his situation. The slave has an
unfavourable eye for the virtues of the powerful; he has a skepticism and
distrust, a refinement of distrust of everything “good” that is there honoured—
he would fain persuade himself that the very happiness there is
not genuine. On the other hand, those qualities which serve to alleviate the
existence of sufferers are brought into prominence and flooded with light;
Reading For Philosophical Inquiry: A Brief Introduction 7
“Slave and Master Morality” by Friedrich Nietzsche
it is here that sympathy, the kind, helping hand, the warm heart, patience,
diligence, humility, and friendliness attain to honour; for here these are the
most useful qualities, and almost the only means of supporting the burden
of existence. Slave-morality is essentially the morality of utility.
Here is the seat of the origin of the famous antithesis “good” and “evil”:—power
and dangerousness are assumed to reside in the evil, a certain dreadfulness,
subtlety, and strength, which do not admit of being despised. According to
slave-morality, therefore, the “evil” man arouses fear; according to mastermorality,
it is precisely the “good” man who arouses fear and seeks to
arouse it, while the bad man is regarded as the despicable being.
The contrast attains its maximum when, in accordance with the logical
consequences of slave-morality, a shade of depreciation—it may be slight
and well-intentioned—at last attaches itself to the “good” man of this
morality; because, according to the servile mode of thought, the good man
must in any case be the safe man: he is good-natured, easily deceived, perhaps
a little stupid, un bonhomme. Everywhere that slave-morality gains
the ascendancy, language shows a tendency to approximate the significations
of the words “good” and “stupid.”
[Creation of Values]
A last fundamental difference: the desire for freedom, the instinct for happiness
and the refinements of the feeling of liberty belong as necessarily
to slave-morals and morality, as artifice and enthusiasm in reverence and
devotion are the regular symptoms of an aristocratic mode of thinking and
estimating.— Hence we can understand without further detail why love as
a passion—it is our European specialty—must absolutely be of noble origin;
as is well known, its invention is due to the Provencal poet-cavaliers,
those brilliant, ingenious men of the “gai saber,” to whom Europe owes so
much, and almost owes itself.
261. Vanity is one of the things which are perhaps most difficult for a noble
man to understand: he will be tempted to deny it, where another kind
of man thinks he sees it self-evidently. The problem for him is to represent
to his mind beings who seek to arouse a good opinion of themselves
which they themselves do not possess—and consequently also do not “deserve,”—
and who yet believe in this good opinion afterwards. This seems
to him on the one hand such bad taste and so self-disrespectful, and on
the other hand so grotesquely unreasonable, that he would like to consider
8 Reading For Philosophical Inquiry: A Brief Introduction
“Slave and Master Morality” by Friedrich Nietzsche
vanity an exception, and is doubtful about it in most cases when it is spoken
of.
He will say, for instance: “I may be mistaken about my value, and on the
other hand may nevertheless demand that my value should be acknowledged
by others precisely as I rate it:—that, however, is not vanity (but
self-conceit, or, in most cases, that which is called ‘humility,’ and also
‘modesty’).” Or he will even say: “For many reasons I can delight in the
good opinion of others, perhaps because I love and honour them, and rejoice
in all their joys, perhaps also because their good opinion endorses
and strengthens my belief in my own good opinion, perhaps because the
good opinion of others, even in cases where I do not share it, is useful to
me, or gives promise of usefulness:—all this, however, is not vanity.”
The man of noble character must first bring it home forcibly to his mind,
especially with the aid of history, that, from time immemorial, in all social
strata in any way dependent, the ordinary man was only that which he
passed for:—not being at all accustomed to fix values, he did not assign
even to himself any other value than that which his master assigned to him
(it is the peculiar right of masters to create values).
It may be looked upon as the result of an extraordinary atavism, that the
ordinary man, even at present, is still always waiting for an opinion about
himself, and then instinctively submitting himself to it; yet by no means
only to a “good” opinion, but also to a bad and unjust one (think, for
instance, of the greater part of the self-appreciations and self-depreciations
which believing women learn from their confessors, and which in general
the believing Christian learns from his Church).
From the reading. . .
“Everywhere slave-morality gains ascendancy, language shows a
tendency to approximate the meanings of the words ‘good’ and
‘stupid.’”
In fact, conformably to the slow rise of the democratic social order (and
its cause, the blending of the blood of masters and slaves), the originally
noble and rare impulse of the masters to assign a value to themselves and
to “think well” of themselves, will now be more and more encouraged
and extended; but it has at all times an older, ampler, and more radically
ingrained propensity opposed to it—and in the phenomenon of “vanity”
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“Slave and Master Morality” by Friedrich Nietzsche
this older propensity overmasters the younger. The vain person rejoices
over every good opinion which he hears about himself (quite apart from
the point of view of its usefulness, and equally regardless of its truth or
falsehood), just as he suffers from every bad opinion: for he subjects himself
to both, he feels himself subjected to both, by that oldest instinct of
subjection which breaks forth in him.
It is “the slave” in the vain man’s blood, the remains of the slave’s craftiness—
and how much of the “slave” is still left in woman, for instance!—which
seeks to seduce to good opinions of itself; it is the slave, too, who immediately
afterwards falls prostrate himself before these opinions, as though
he had not called them forth.—And to repeat it again: vanity is an atavism.
The University of Bonn, the Rhine, Library of Congress
Related Ideas
Friedrich Nietzsche (http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nietzsche/). Stanford
Encyclopedia of Philosophy. An excellent first resource for discovering
Nietzsche’s life and writings.
“The Perspectives of Nietzsche” (http://www.pitt.edu/~wbcurry/nietzsche.html).
An accessible introduction to some main concepts of Nietzsche’s philosophy
by Bill Curry.
10 Reading For Philosophical Inquiry: A Brief Introduction
“Slave and Master Morality” by Friedrich Nietzsche
From the reading. . .
“. . . it is the peculiar right of masters to create values.”
Topics Worth Investigating
1. Compare Nietzsche’s view of life as the “Will to Power” with Glaucon’s
account in Plato’s “The Ring of Gyges.” Do both accounts presuppose
a state of nature prior to the development of society? How
would social contract theory regard the so-called “master-morality”?
2. Nietzsche scholar Walter Kaufmann suggests that master-morality is
revealed in the Iliad, and the slave-morality is indicated by the New
Testament. Characterize the main ethical suppositions of both of these
works. Does your characterization support Kaufmann’s observation?
3. Compare Nietzsche’s concept of the “Will to Power” with Alfred
Adler’s insight that Nietzsche’s “Will to Power” is not essential to
human nature, but is, in fact, a neurotic pattern of behavior based on
a “fictional goal” created by the individual in order to cope with the
demands of society.
4. Explain Nietzsche’s observation that love as passion is of noble or
master origin. The origin Nietzsche cites is the “gai saber,” the “gay
science,” of the medieval troubadour. What does he mean when he
asserts Europe almost “owes itself” to these poet-cavaliers?
5. Compare Nietzsche’s notion of “will to power” with C. G. Jung’s insight:
“Where love rules, there is no will to power, and where power
predominates, love is lacking. The one is the shadow of the other.”2
2. C. G. Jung, On the Psychology of the Unconscious in Collected Papers. 1917.
Reading For Philosophical Inquiry: A Brief Introduction 11
“Slave and Master Morality” by Friedrich Nietzsche
Index
democracy, 9
emotion
passion, 11
good, 6
happiness, 8
Iliad, 11
Kaufmann, Walter, 11
law
political, 7
master-morality, 5
morals
master-morality, 7
slave-morality, 7
Nietzsche, Friedrich, 1
Will to Power, 11
Ring of Gyges, Myth of, 11
slave-morality, 11
slavery, 3
social contract, 11
sympathy
principle of, 7
truth
Nietzsche, 1
utility
Nietzsche, 8
vanity, 2, 8
Will to Power, 5
12 Reading For Philosophical Inquiry: A Brief Introduction

DAVID HUME ON MIRACLE

2011-05-22T09:41:00.000-07:00

INTRODUCTION
At the inception of the Renaissance period, there was a sudden shift to anthropomorphic questionings towards reality. At the death of William of Ockham, there was a general questionings into the matters concerning God. There is a general enthronement of humanism, which tends to bring man at the center of universe. The medieval period were occupied mostly in the talk about God, giving necessary proofs in the defense of the Roman Catholic Church doctrines. The issues of miracle would no doubt also claim to show the evidence that God also intended to show people about the existence of the Messiah. (cf John 20:30).
The philosopher David Hume in his own time questioned the validity of miracle. At the same time, scientists generally dismiss the possibility of miracle occurring. They believed that the regularity, order, and balance of the laws of nature would be disturbed if miracles are realities.
On the contrary perspective, some people would obviously believe in miracle because they see it as “an event caused by supernatural being, which runs contrary to expected modes of behavior or laws of nature (it contravenes the normal system of things). C. Stephen Evans would say that since God is the sustainer of all things, this must mean that God is always involved with and inside his creation.
On this juncture, I would like to briefly delineate Aquinas notion of miracle for us to understand fully the arguments of Hume in relation with Arch-bishop Tillotson critique on the real presence.

THOMAS AQUINAS ON MIRACLE
Aquinas in his discussion in “the harmony of faith and reason” argued that the Christians do not believe foolishly the religious claims that cannot be established by reason. The evidence of the claims about miracle is based on the fact that those who have told us of them performed miracles. Miracles according to Aquinas give evidence that those who perform them have access to supernatural powers because they “are works that surpass the ability of all nature”. Aquinas’ view is such that the evidence of the miracles was given by the apostles who were eye-witnesses to it and as well performed miracles.
Thomas Aquinas had offered a similar definition of a miracle to that of Hume, defining it as, 'those things which are done by Divine power apart from the order generally followed in things'. However, he actually differed from the latter Humean definition as he said miracles were also:
• 'Those events in which something is done by God which nature could never do.'
• 'Events in which God does something which nature can do, but not in that order.'
• 'When God does what is usually done by the working of nature, but without the operation of the principles of nature.'
What is noticeable about Aquinas' understanding of miracles is that he allowed for the possibility of miracles to occur within the 'system' of 'natural activity' (something Hume's definition would leave out). Aquinas also allowed for the possibility that God's activity with the natural realm, may be part of the normal order of things. However, this begs the question; if God is acting within the normal order of things, how do we know when (or if) a miracle has occurred?

HUME’S ARGUMENTS AGAINST MIRACLE
Hume defines miracle as a transgression of a law of nature by a particular volition of the Deity or by the interposition of some invisible agent. The above definition nonetheless portrays some contrariness of miracle to natural course of things. Thus, any event which adequately happens in relation to natural course of things could not be described as miracle. Hume tried to create a link between the concepts of laws of nature with uniform human experience. Therefore, in the state of nature, events related to human experience enjoys the highest degree of certainty. Hume strongly believes that no proof is more veritable than that of collective human experience.
Hume drew another line of argument in supposing that no personal experience is sufficient to establish the certainty of miracle. The greater the miracle seems to be, it opens itself more to be rejected. The fact of miracle has no foundation in reality and thus it does not exist. According to Hume, no matter how strong the evidence for a specific miracle may be, it will always be more rational to reject the miracle than to believe in it.
Hume noted that there are two factors to assess in deciding whether to believe any given piece of testimony: the reliability of the witness and the probability of that to which they testify.
The testimony of a witness that is both honest and a good judge of that to which they testify is worth much. The testimony of a witness who is either dishonest or not in a position to know that to which they testify is worth little. The reliability of the witness is therefore something that is to be taken into account in deciding whether to believe anything on the basis of testimony.
The probability of that to which they testify, however, is also relevant. If a witness testifies to sighting a flying pig then it is more likely that their testimony is false than that their testimony is true, even if they are a reliable witness. The reliability required of a witness in order for his testimony to justify belief in that to which he testifies increases as the probability of that to which he testifies decreases.

Hume would progress in his argument to associate the evidence (false ) for miracle with people whose education, learning and good sense are questionable and thus end up in providing illusionary effect on reality. Some religion would use these unusual metaphysical concepts to trill people in believing in such religion. This, Hume considers as deception. Among civilized people, the notion of miracle is not conceived. It only prevails among ignorant and barbarous nations. There are many religions in existence which teach contradictory doctrines, they use miracle to support their contrary claims and doctrines. Hume sees it as a matter of deception.Hume sketches some accounts of purported miracles outside of the canonical Christian scriptures—two cures ascribed to Vespasian, one Catholic miracle reported to have been worked at Saragossa, and some cures ascribed to the influence of the tomb of the Jansenist Abbe Paris in the early 1700s—and suggests that their affidavits are in various respects as good as one could wish for. Hume clearly expects his Protestant readers to reject these stories with disdain. He leaves unstated the obvious conclusion: by parity, his readers should also reject the miracles of the New Testament.
Setting Protestants and Catholics by the ears over the miracles of later ecclesiastical history was an old game by Hume's time, and a small industry had grown up on the Protestant side providing criteria for sifting the genuine apostolic miracles from their Catholic counterfeits. Hume's contemporary critics rose to the challenge and argued vigorously that his descriptions of the alleged “miracles,” Pagan, Catholic, and Jansenist, distorted the historical sources and were hopelessly one sided
All attempts to draw an evidential parallel between the miracles of the New Testament and the miracle stories of later ecclesiastical history are therefore dubious. There are simply more resources for explaining how the ecclesiastical stories, which were promoted to an established and favorably disposed audience, could have arisen and been believed without there being any truth to the reports.
Hume’s conclusion is not that miracles do not happen. Rather, his conclusion is that no evidence is sufficient to establish that a miracle has occurred, that even if a miracle has occurred we ought not to believe in it.
CRITICISM OF HUME’S NOTION OF MIRACLE
Hume's argument seems quite formidable- but it's not without its problems. Whenever someone asks if miracles are probable (or believable) they are really asking if there is a God, and that is the crux of the problem. Hume at the start of his inquiry dismisses God as a criterion for support. Hume says we should judge miracles only on the basis of natural evidence - what we find occurring in nature as repeatable. The less common an instance, the less rational it is to believe.
If one assumes that nature is the standard for judging the reasonableness of an event occurring, then Hume may have a point. But by assuming this, one assumes there is no God that rules over nature. What he does is in effect is beg the question.
The belief in miracles is not illogical at all. Hume has made an argument that starts with a denial of a God who can work outside nature, then he goes on to argue that it is unreasonable to believe in violating nature's laws because it is unusual. But, we have seen that both counts of this argument are flawed
The other problem with Hume's argument is it is so sweeping in scope; it proves too much. According to Hume, any event that would be considered singular in nature (unrepeatable) is by definition irrational to hold. Yet, this cannot be. Take for example the creation of the universe. The universe began to exist or it has existed for infinity. Now, an infinitely existing universe is illogical. However, Hume would state that a universe that had a beginning is also illogical. Thus we are left with a quandary of only two choices available to us, neither being reasonable by Hume's standards. Yet the universe is here and it is in time! It did have a beginning. Therefore, Hume must be wrong.
Norman Geisler notes that Hume's argument fails because it "equates quantity of evidence and probability. It says, in effect, that we should always believe what is the most probable. What Hume seems to overlook is that wise people base their beliefs on facts, not simply on odds. Sometime the 'odds' against an event are high (based on past observation), but the evidence for the event is otherwise very good (based on current observation or reliable testimony). Hume's argument confuses quantity of evidence with quality of evidence. Evidence should be weighed, not added."
It is an obvious fact that Hume ignores two main cases in his arguments: the first person of experience of claimed miracle and the miracles for which the evidence is not the testimony of witnesses alone, but a continuing object or phenomenon. However, the strength of the objection in the former is diminished by the need to rely on subjective experience and interpretation, which is very unreliable and open to bias and illusion and is unacceptable by itself in scientific investigation. The strength of objection in the latter is also diminished if it is merely relying on a lack of a natural explanation; such an argument commits the informal logical fallacy of argument from ignorance, as no actual explanation of alleged miracle is provided.
Some writers, such as R.F. Holland, have argued that Hume’s definition of Miracle need not to be accepted, and that an event need not violate a natural law in order to be accounted miraculous. Consequently certain critics such as George Campbell argued that Hume’s argument is circular. That is, he rests his case against belief in miracles upon the claim that laws of nature are supported by exceptionless testimony, but testimony can only be accounted exceptionless if we discount the occurrence of miracle.
CONCLUSION
It is very crucial to state that Hume’s empirical statements on miracle are not without fault. He seems not to be universal in his line of thought. In as much he is an atheist, how could he convince those who believe in God about such universal fact? Hume would use some derogatory words on the religion, saying that they are enthusiast and thereby deceiving people. The fact of miracle is about personal experience with the supernatural being.