Ira Pastor, ideaXme longevity and aging Ambassador and founder of Bioquark, interviews Ósìnàkáchì Ákùmà Kálù, the founder and Chairman of the Transdisciplinary Agora for Future Discussions.

Ira Pastor Comments:

Today we are going to take a little journey across the Atlantic Ocean from where I am located here in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA, to the continent of Africa.

Africa is the world's second largest and second most-populous continent, with 54 countries, covering around 12 million square miles with 1.2 billion people.

Africa has a little over a $2 trillion Nominal GDP and its export portfolio remains predominantly based on raw materials focused on energy, mining, and agriculture.

Little known on the health front, throughout the 20th century, Africa was the source of many "bio"-products and technologies responsible for the growth of the modern pharmaceutical industry as we know it today, from various natural product and ethnobotanical derived pharmaceutical sources, to the origin of the world’s first pregnancy test.

Continuing this theme, we see a lot of novel activities going on in the 21st century in Africa from the world’s first 3D printed inner ear transplant, which occurred in South Africa earlier this year, to the testing of various Ebola antibody products, as well as novel malaria diagnostics development.

However, despite decades of efforts in the areas of both of technology transfer and indigenous innovation (in biotech, as well as man other areas), as well as being a continent paradoxically bustling with an abundance of potential and natural resources, Africa still is often portrayed in the media as a “left behind” continent.

So, today on the show we will be speaking with Ósìnàkáchì Ákùmà Kálù, the founder and Chairman of Transdisciplinary Agora for Future Discussions (TAFFDs), which will be holding its revolutionary International Conference of Techno-Scientific Awareness in Solving 21st Century Problems next month in Kigali, Rwanda, from the 7th-11th of October 2019.

The conference will be taking place at the University of Rwanda, bringing together world renowned industry experts, inventors, policymakers, scholars, futurists and transhumanists, all converging to brainstorm, exhibit innovations, exchange ideas, and provide solutions for a new direction of a technological future for Africa.

Ósìnàkáchì is a strategic planner, team builder, visionary, inspirational speaker and a humanitarian, with degrees in Business Administration (Nigeria), Philosophy (Italy), and Fearism (Nepal).

He's the author of 2 books: Conquering The Beast Fear: A philosophical Cum Psychological Approach and The First Stage of the Fearologist.

On this show Ósìnàkáchì talks about:

His background, where he grew up, and how he became interested in business, philosophy, and fearology. How he became interested in mobilizing the global forces of technology and transhumanism in Africa.

The "hot spots" for technology development today in Africa.

The indigenous property issues related to technology in Africa. We’ll hear about the role of Fearology in Ósìnàkáchì’s life.

We’ll learn about the upcoming TAFFDs conference.

Finally, he tells us who he would like to meet and why!

ideaXme is a global podcast, mentor programme and creator series. Mission: Move the human story forward!™ ideaXme Ltd.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5pl96S_Bu3M&t=1s&fbclid=IwAR2_E-gC5YmcRVA9_5KVPqxtNQG4zOt7VxmqBprsHiU4NoTF31wIds_EE4k

At the end of 2018, you must have evaluated and reevaluated yourself to know your performance appraisal. Since you cannot correct the past but make a new beginning you decided to make a better tomorrow for yourself, thereby saying, in 2019, I will do this and that. A strategic planner ought to have a good To-do list for the year. This list serves as a set-out goal(s). Each of the goals should be guided with policies characterized by cardinal plans. Without that, it will end as a wish.

Now that we have entered the quarter of the year 2019, you ought to know if you are on the right direction. Hence, making a deduction on whatever you do. If you are not doing well, you can restrategize. Although there is no time wallowing in failure, you still have time to succeed perfectly well.
Be guided by time. It is good to make connections but try and maintain your relationship. Do not make too many friends so as not to import those who see your principle or way of life as a pompous character. Those set of people always want you to while away your time in the name of giving them attention.
They don't know that proper attention is given when you have a proper foundation to make ends meet.
You need a supportive friend male and female who share in your positive ideologies.
Be courteous, responsible and responsive in all that you do, knowing fully well that what your critiques and failure are to succeed in the positive direction. The means justifies the end because, as a being in the cosmos, it behooves on you to live and lead your life for tomorrow or repercussion sake.
It is March, where are you matching to in your life? Backward or Forward?

                                                                                            Michael Bassey Eneyo

Introduction

We are in the world where frightening and tension-laden incidents are increasingly threatening the freedom; peace and liberty of humanity in such a way that many individuals have been left in the condition of constant fear because of the uncertainty of safety in their various living communities. In recent times, the most trending news on social media are such that bring the feelings of fear. We’re somewhat witnesses to the frequent broadcast on television and radio on crises in different parts of the world in both local and international communities. Frankly speaking, news headlines on daily bases are not without some incidents of fear. War and rumour of war across the globe are enough to create fear and panic. Terrorists’ activities and their destructive impacts are amongst the emerging factors and incidents of fear in the contemporary society. Apart from this global threat, every society has it peculiar prevalent type of fear, their causes and the season in which such incident(s) is believed to be more rampant than any other period. More often also, many of these incidents are directly caused by human beings. Examples of such fear factors caused by human beings are: war, terrorism, kidnapping, accident, arm robbery, etc, which are often instigated by human desperations to meet up with their daily challenges or the pursuance of their selfish goal. Most of these fears can be eliminated if human beings choose the path of peace, carefulness and love. But there are other incidents of fear that are beyond human ability to fully control or stop from happening. Such incidents are: earthquake, flood, volcanic eruption, death, etc. These are natural phenomena which may occur without man direct interference. The kind of fear these incidents generate cannot be completely overcome. However, it can be managed, subtly controlled or reduced if we inculcate the habit of observing what is going on in our environments and make steps to addressing them. Thus, human being is expected to familiarize himself with the happenings in his environment and also pay attention to seasons of events and try to know the impacts such events can have in the life of the people; thus, knowing the measures to be adopted in addressing them. But then, we must also know that some of these phenomenon cannot be completely overcome. Thus, the belief in the existence of natural disaster as part of human existential challenges can also contribute in eliminating fear; hence, reducing the impact of threat such incidents can cause us.

Another kind of fear is the one caused by certain belief systems or myths of a people. This type of fear is what I called “accident of fear”. This is what R. Michael Fisher refers to as “fear culture”[1]. Accident of fear has varieties, but in this article, we shall be looking at the kind of accident of fear I called “periodic accident of fear”. It is under periodic accident of fear that the phenomena of the “ember” months and the belief that goes with is contextualized, using Nigeria as a mirror.

Thus, in this article, we shall identify “periodic accident of fear” as the ruling fear in the “ember” months within Nigerians context. But then, such fear can be overcome if we should separate myth from reality or superstition from fact. Before we go further, it’s important we make some contextual analysis on the above concepts so as to know their roles in this article. Hence, let me quickly define the above mentioned concepts in order to make our ideation more clearing and appealing. In my book Philosophy of Fear, I argues that fear is said to be accidental if what you’re afraid of is actually not real, but are created by your own imagination [2]. Thus, “Accident of fear” as a kind of fear is founded on the belief in the superstition, falsehood or error which should not be taken as true. In other words, accident of fear is man-made fear either in his attempt to overcome other factors of natural fear or as means to instil the spirit of carefulness as it is common amongst the traditional folk tales and myths of different societies. In the same way, “periodic accident of fear” is the belief that there are certain period or time where certain negative things must necessarily take place more than any other time. According to this belief, such incidents are natural to the period or the time they occur. This notion is what I refers to as “generic fallacy” within Nigeria communities. It is a fallacy because such belief is not always the case in the real sense of it; it is just human creation which has affected the psychics of many individuals negatively, thus, creating unnecessary fear among people. A clear instance of this false belief is captured in the attitude of most Nigerians toward what is tagged “Ember Months”.

The concept of the “Ember Months”

The word “ember” as it is used here is different from the lexical meaning which has to do with a glowing piece of coal or wood from fire[3]. In this context, “ember” is a derivation from the last suffix of the names of three of the four months in the last quarter of the year (September, November and December). October is also included amongst the ember months even though it doesn’t have the prefix “em” added to the suffix “ber” which is generic to all the four months, but for sharing the suffix “ber” ends it a membership of the “ember” school of thought. What then is the philosophy driving the belief in the “ember” months in Nigeria society?

The trending philosophy of the ember months in Nigeria

This article was necessitated after receiving hundreds of well intended messages of prayers from my numerous friends, relatives, colleagues and well wishers on the 1^st September, which is the first day into the “ember” period. Such messages like: “you shall not experience death throughout this ember months”,” blood sucking demon shall not taste your blood in this ember months”, “there shall be no accident on your way as we begin the ember months”, every evil altar raise against you in this ember months shall be destroyed” and many of similar prayers. These were prayers I received wholeheartedly with a faithfully affirmative “amen”, knowing fully that no well intended prayer is useless. Before 1^st September, I had also witnessed many evangelical and ministerial billboards and churches posters along the streets and some members distributing fliers; inviting the general public for the ember months programmes with similar inscriptions as the ones I received through text messages and calls. Putting the inscriptions on these various billboards, fliers and the messages I received together, I realized that the central message was an invitation to re-awaken our consciousness of the ugly experiences people always observed during the period, I also understood that it was an appeal to people to rise up to conquer this fear(s) through the belief in a God who can rescue them from the terror of the devil and the challenges which is believed to be associated with the ember period. Most importantly, I realized that the blame of the ugly and bitter experiences of the ember period were put on evil men/women and their master; Satan, rather than putting it on the desperations and carelessness of the people.

Ember months are always believed as the period in the year where different rituals, sacrifices, festivals, spiritual rites, etc, are performed for appeasement of some gods and deities. The sacrifice that demands spilling of blood whether human or animal blood is often called rituals [4] This is always done to appeal to the gods of the land for a particular favour or to appease the gods for the misdeed(s) of the people or of a person. It is a strong belief among people including Christians and other religious that people ought to be very prayerful during ember months in order to break any forms of satanic covenant(s) that was made against them for the period. During this period also, there’s always “full load” of religious activities in churches and prayer houses as people pray against the spirit of death, spirit of accident, spirit of sickness, spirit of bad luck and other forms of bad spirits. Also, many prayers have been channelled to rebuking every kind of demon on assignment to execute any of these ugly incidents. In short, it is a period in which expectancy of bad incidents is at its maximum horizon, thus, increasing our fear(s).

Separating myth from reality

This article is not targeting at negating completely the philosophy or the belief characterizing the ember months, rather, it is an attempt to refute the exaggeration of attributing every of the ill of the period to demon, Satan or evil people as if ember months is a period dedicated to the devil, without looking at the desperations in the part of human beings to fulfil all his budget before the end of the year. In as much as I don’t deny the existence of some supernatural powers and principalities with their corresponding influences on the affairs of men, I do not agree with the belief that ember months are always characterized with ugly incidents caused by demons. This work shall therefore separate the myth and the fallacious notion about the ember months from the fact or reality surrounding the period. This separation I believe shall help us go about our normal businesses throughout the period with care and caution. We need to separate the myth that demons is always at work during the ember months, that demons have positioned themselves in strategic junctions to collect human blood by causing accidents on the road. We must conquer the myths that ember months is the only time the ritualists have kept to appease their gods and deities; using human beings as sacrificial lambs. We must separate the actual state of affairs of the period from the belief that satanic manipulations are always at work in our society during the ember months. These are the main trusts of this article, which I think is timely and demanding.

The myth

Myth is a story or an idea that is believed by the people but then, not true [5]. Such story may be the one that was told in an ancient culture to explain a practice, belief, or natural occurrence [6]. Thus, myth is a folklore genre consisting narratives that play a fundamental role in society, such as foundational tales [7] Using the above definition as a mirror, we can argue authoritatively that the over emphasized threat of death, accidents misfortune as the effects of the activities of spiritual interference in the affairs of men during the ember months is mythologically conceived and such belief ought to be refuted. Empirically speaking, there is never a period of a year that has ever been celebrated as death and problems-free period than will justify one to think that death or misfortune in any other time of the is caused by some demonic forces. It is therefore counterproductive to raise the feelings of fear when there’s actually nothing to be worried about.

The facts and realities of the ember months

The main reason for the seemingly increase in the mortality rate during the ember months is not mainly as the result of certain spiritual manipulations by some gods or deities as it is often alleged, neither is it because of the activities of the ritualists. Rather, it is as a result of desperations on the part of the people in trying to meet up with their financial challenges before the end of the year: this is what many pastors, preachers, teachers of times and seasons have failed to tell us about the ember months. Since the beginning of the ember months marks the beginning of the end of the last quarter of the year, it is pertinent that people will work even harder to put finishing touches in their projects for the year and it is logically true to say that, it is a period in which people check their scorecards to know if their outlined plans have been achieved or not. It is always a period of stock taking and account balancing. Ember month is a period of business and self evaluations; those in business must take stock to know if their business is growing or not; if they make profit or loss. People want to know if their budget for the year is deliciously executed. It is the period where many financial institutions, both public and private are rounding up their financial year and as such; all debts are expected to be paid to ensure that account book and the transaction thereto is in order. So it is always a challenging period to those indebted to these institutions. Parents must pay their wards school fees; prepare them to return to school. It is also a period that many people struggle to complete their project before crossing to another project year, this is predicated on the tradition of people making budget and drawing of proposal in the beginning of the year for what they wish to achieve before the year is ended.

The fact is that people are always desperate to accomplish their given budgeted projects before the end of the year. The pressures which many people found themselves during this period are capable of changing their psychics and then alter their senses of reasoning and behaviours, and this can affect their lives in a more devastating way such that it can lead to death. Since the ember months are made up of the last quarter of the year, it is always a period of clashed programmes and activities. In Nigeria, ember months always come with its unique fanfare, variety of feasting and other kinds of celebrations in the families, communities as well as in the states. For example, Calabar Carnival that is always celebrated from every 1^st December to the end of the year demands so much financial involvements from those who may desire to have a full dose of the period. Many families and communities always fix their get together during this period. Everyone wants to travel home to reunite with their love ones. Many marriages are fixed for this period; all sorts of social anniversaries, end of the year parties, visits to friends, welcoming loved ones for a holiday, etc, are the common experiences of the period. Another demanding celebration among Christians at the last month of the ember is Christmas celebration. Here, parents, whether poor or rich are expected to buy Christmas wears for the children, the husband must buy for the wife, while wife must visit her parents with gifts. Earnestly speaking, ember month is a month of huge spending.

From the above, we can see why there are always so much desperations; everybody wants to meet up with the fanfare and the obligations of the period and nobody wants to be left out. And the result of these desperations is displayed in the careless driving by commercial drivers, absence mindedness of other commuters as well as roughness exhibited by different road users while applying the road; all in the name of meeting up with the demands of the season. The end product of this is an increase in road accidents and death. We need not to work in medical laboratory to know that too much of thinking can lead to High Blood Pressure and can affect our brain as well. We must not be medical practitioners to know that commercial drivers who overwork and deny themselves rest and sleep are bound to sleep while on steering (car steers well). We must not wait for a nurse to tell us that our failure to eat well just because we want to meet up with some financial commitments can make us collapse. We all know if we overwork ourselves without corresponding medical attentions, we can die at anytime. Many people because of the desperation to travel home, they don’t care about servicing their cars before embarking on the journey. For those who do, they often be in a hurry to move without test-running the vehicle before putting it on a far distance journey. All these are parts of the carelessness associated with the ember period. These and many more are the real causes of high mortality rate during the ember months and not the devil as we believe it to be. More often, during this time a lot of people only think about money and forget about their health. Human desperations during ember months have caused more death within the period than what demons may believe to have caused, but this is the truth that many have refused to know.

Conclusion

To overcome the fear of ember months therefore, we must shift the focus away from demons to human beings. We must not blame the ritualists, rather, we should blame ourselves for setting a goal that is difficult to achieve to ourselves. We can overcome the fear of the ember months if we stop wasting our time in church to rebuke Satan, but use such precious time to face our challenges even as we call on God to go stand by us. The fear and tension of the ember months can be overcome if we choose to be careful in all our dealings during the period, knowing fully that others will continue with their lives of desperations. Fear will depart from us if we pay attention to our health, knowing that the demands of the season might make us work more than needed.

*Don't drink too much.

*Don't drive carelessly.

*Don't set a goal that is difficult to achieve within a short time.

*Plan your life within your income.

*Always make sure you keep to the rules.

With these, you will be able to overcome the fear of the ember months.

 Endnotes

Ancient Sacrifices and Rituals in Nigerian Culture, informationparlour.com.

Eneyo, Michael. Philosophy of fear: A Move to Overcoming Negative Fear, Xlibris Publication, USA, 2018.

Eneyo, Michael. Philosophy of Unity: Love as an Ultimate Unifier, Nigeria, unpublished Book, 2018.

Fisher, Michael & Desh Subba. Philosophy of Fearism: A Eest-West Dialogue, Xlibris Publication, USA. 2016.

Fisher, R.” ‘Fear’ Studies, 12 Years Later: Progress and Barriers”. Technical Paper No.74, In Search of Fearlessness Research Institute, 2018.

Jeremy. “ Alternative Mythologies-The Efik Religion”. jeremyvarner.com. 7 Oct 2014

Kalu, Osinakachi. Conquering The Beast Fear, CreateSpace Publishers, 2016.

Introduction

We are living in a world where even though we tend to run away from natural-fear(s)[1], the society creates fear(s) for us directly or indirectly (artificial-fear(s)[2]). To this fact Desh Subba stated it clear that, “life is directed, conducted and controlled by fear,” which though does not presuppose that one should subscribe to fear but serves as a clarion call for us to raise eyebrow on this phenomenon fear.

This article is a fearological reflection on the notion of ember months (September, October, November and December) especially in Nigeria where some religious sect uses it to induce non-personal fear, interpersonal fear[3] and inculcation of fear culture on people’s way of living within this period. It aims at uncovering how the notion of ember month affects the psychic conditioning of the people so as to defear folks suffering from the emotion (fear) especially within the Christians denomination.

Explication of Terms

Defearing: To defear is to make one fear free. Just like deconstruction. The concept “defearing” is a composition of two terms ‘de’ and ‘fear’. De which is derived from the Latin preposition de^-(meaning undoing, reversal or removing) and fear (an anxious feeling).

Ember month: The last quarter of the year ending with the suffix ‘ember’ like September, October, November, December.

During ember month there is always this tendency for people to strive towards achieving more success so as to beat financial constraint so as to celebrate Christmas in a luxurious way. For while everybody are struggling, the religious people are not left out. Everyone wants to mark this celebration by showing his people that he/she is not wasting time in the city or place of work (this is peculiar to those who live in the cities (mobility of labour) and migrants) who visit the village occasionally.

The religious sects especially the occasional churches that springs up like supermarket with the inscription “worship with us” on their sign post normally come up with fliers, banner and texts inviting people to programs titled “operation fight those fight against you,” ‘cancelling every spirit of ember,’ “blood sucking demons of ember month will not see me”, ‘my blood will be bitter for any ember month demon’, “my head will not be used for any sacrifice in this ember month”.

Some of those captions raise a question in the mind of any critical minded person; are there spirits meant to work only on ember month? Why should these programs come up now? Are there demons that operate only in ember month? Or is it the actual time for the religious program to be profitable?

These programs come up as a result of praying for people not to be use as rituals during this period. People sow seeds to the men of God even when they have little to live on but instead of receiving message of peace and love which serve as an antidotes for fear so as to toe that path of fearlessness, they receive messages that is characterized by fear which will make many to even receive the Saviour in anxiety and pain. In all honesty, the type of messages or preaching’s given by some pastors makes people to live in fear of the neighbor and above all seeing the good in people to be bad. By doing so, they kill the “I-thou” relationship preached by Jesus Christ, Martin Buber and Emmanuel Levinas.

The information they are inundated with are often projected in the dream. And as such, the dreamer begins to capitalize on his/her dream. In some cases the one shares the dream(s) with the so called men of God who create more confusion by creating more fear(s) that ends up in what I call fear-societal-disintegration[4].

Fear leads to societal disintegration because it is contagious. If someone becomes afraid of something, this fear has a tendency to spread to others, who in turn spread it further.[5] It is very easy to spread because humanity is confronted by powerful destructive forces that threaten our everyday existence. In this ember –fear, there is always two predominant fears that make people grieve or act as cowards without calling to mind that fear could also be a sale tool especially in fear cultured society.

• Fear of Death

It is truism that death is inevitable. Every human person should strive towards accomplishing the existential calling (purpose) than wasting time trying to be like Mr. this or that. Protecting the self and achieving nothing can even make one to do anything humanly possible to be.

Although life is the chief value, the interestingness of life is that which is successful. By that I mean in the sense of achieving your purpose. Fear of death during ember month comes as a result of non-personal fear; fear that comes from a particular person, individual or private situation,[6] (it is created) intra-personal fear; fear that occurs within the individual mind or self like failure, inadequacy, impropriety,[7] resulting from cultured fear conditioned by religious leaders and get quick money syndrome.

Thus, understanding what one wants, setting up strategic goals, and working towards it religiously in the spirit of fearlessness will be a way of being alleviated from this ideological mishap. It is pertinent to note that the ember months are like other months. Seeing it as different from other months or characterized by some sort of evil happening is a category mistake. Hence, people needs to own up to responsibilities as we recall the words of Augustine which says, “pray as if everything depend on God and work as if everything depend on you”. You will live better fearless than in fear. Life is more than fear, for fear is part of life consciousness. It is a cosmic force that helps in awaking consciousness in humans. Paying attention to some of these fear symptoms which as a result of wrong approach to reality (FMS- Fear Management System) can lead to what R. M. Fisher calls a kind of building fear-identity[8]. This is why he (Fisher) encourages us to pay more attention to fearlessness which will help us to be more responsible in decision making so as to conduct our affairs properly.

[1] Fear posed to humans by natural occurrences e.g natural deserters

[2] Fear that comes from human inventions either ideologically or otherwise

[3]For non-personal fear and interpersonal fear, A philosophical cum psychological Approach, (port Harcourt: EY&SONS, 2016), P.g23-26

[4] Confusion in the society which is as a result of fear

[5]S. Lars, philosophy of fear, (London: reaction books ltd), 2008, P.11

[6] K.A. Osinakachi conquering the beast fear, P.23

[7] K.A. Osinakachi P.25

[8] R. Michael Fisher, Ethical Referent to Fearology, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KE6TGirOIc

In my up coming book, An Invitation to Fearism: A Contemporary Philosophy, I am going to handle some critical issues like where fear as a being is. Most people sees fear as an EMOTION while others sees it as a STATE. There is always this question as a fearologist, is fear in man or outside man? For while many psychologist argue that fear is inherent in man, philosophers who think that man is also an emotive being and that since fear is an emotion, fear is ipso facto part of man's emotive composition? However, I continually disagree with this position. This is because, the perceptive nature of man and his ability to grapple with things around his environment makes him to perceive fear from the environment. Perception here means existential copying of an event or thing (fear factors) either through thinking or empirical grappling. When these are copied to the mind it becomes induced and now be in a state called fear.

Greetings great scholars!

Sequel to my upcoming book which will kickoff properly next month ending (An Invitation to Fearism: A Contemporary Philosophy), I wish to inform you all that all your ideas would be represented in the book. Thus, I would like to get the following from you:

1. A good picture
2. Good bio data with dates. Intellectual influence, and motivation should be stated.
3. List of books published.
4. Background to each book
5. Summary of each book
6. If the book is written in local language as the original name is given, let it be translated.
7. Names of all articles that are emotive, especially with fear related concepts should be sent.

If you have any fearological ideology, theory or principle send it in.

5. Fear related poems are equally welcomed for fearological analysis.
6. Any fear motivated novel should be summarized. If possible, the plot should be sent.

The email is osinakachikaluakuma@gmail.com

Yesterday I closed my account in buying R. Michael Fishers World Fearlessness Teaching in 21st.....

I have most of his articles too.

I know this is a huge task but we can do it.

Am expecting much from all scholars here. We must work hard to properly situate and fix Fearism in the philosophical milieu.

Thanks

Osinakachi Akuma Kalu

Have a Splendid Weekend

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FEAROLOGICAL POINTERS TO GOD’S EXISTENCE

“The place of fear in our existential struggle is a pointer to a Supreme being”—Osinakachi Akuma Kalu

5.1 Introduction

Right from the origin of intellectual enterprise, especially from written history, there has been always this curiosity to speculate on the primary sources of all things. This search which started in the earliest times of human intellectual activity and which received different notions culminated in the medieval era when the primary sources or the primordial force of all things was understood and interpreted as “God”. Theocentricism was the dominant throughout that period.

​            Between the late 14th and early 15th century, the Renaissance emerged, and so there was a sudden transition from “theocentricism” to humanism: then emerged later was the modern era when the existence of the medieval “God” was questioned with a flurry of refutations.

​            Hence, while this write-up does not join issues with any of the mainline traditional God-talk arguments, it charts a new course by trying to demonstrate that the emotive tendency of man is a pointer to God’s existence. This is what is called fearological pointers to God’s existence.

​            Nevertheless, this argument which in not inductive but deductive, is written based on the validity of the arguments; and not based on the soundness of the argument or the truth of its proposition.

According to this argument, since the reality of fear in man is inevitable, and he strives towards perfection and sustainability of himself and the universe; then there must have been the existence of an absolute being who orders all things emotively, which is called God.

5.2 Fearological Pointer to God’s Existence 1

The human being (in contradistinction to other persons- robot or algorithms) as a rational being is capable of doing anything within his reach for self preservation. This tendency continues to the point that even the Seven Wonders of the World no longer beat the imagination of the civilized unless those who have not witnessed the “techno-scientific surprise packs”, which is as a result of the reality of the time, that is, the “age-of-minutest-techno-wonder”.

​            A critical examination of this human tendency concludes that it is as a result of ‘fear’. This is because; it is fear which spurs man’s intentional strivings or desiring. And so, this striving gears one towards self and societal preservation. However, since the creative cum domineering nature of man makes him to sometimes take things to their extreme such as the construction of bombs, missiles, acids and other weapons of mass destruction, fear now spurs man to produce defensive tools and methods as well as offensive tools.

​            Therefore, this sense of protecting and improving on life with regards to self-preservation is a pointer that there must be an absolute being who must have instilled this emotive feeling in man for the preservation of humanity (even though they use it maliciously) and its sustainability. This absolute being is called God.

The Syllogistic Demonstration

• The human person has the self-consciousness of his emotive feeling of fear.
• His emotive feeling of fear spurs him to self and societal preservation and sustainability: which cannot be non-teleological. The teleology of the emotive feeling of fear of the human person must be ordered by an absolute Being.
• Therefore, this absolute Being is called God.

5.2 Fearological Pointer to God’s Existence 2

Osinakachi sat circumspectly under the mango tree in a pensive reflective mode with eyes blood shot and head bowed down when SirPeter Aloh entered. He looked up and queried SirPeter, “Do you think that emotive reactions like fear in man necessarily point to the existence of a creator and sustainer of the universe otherwise known as God”.

“Oh! How awkward.” SirPeter relaxedly sitting down in the bench near him replied. “Such discussion existed only in the middle ages when the Concept God was needed to make meaning in the universe, today with speedy techno scientific realities like artificial intelligence and robotics, some of which have godlike powers, such discussion seem obsolete.” “Aha, tell him” Augustus jumped out of nowhere interrupting the discussion, “Since three days and three nights, this man has not slept, not eaten and that’s why his eyes are red bloodshot all under the pretence that he is cogitating and ruminating vigorously to show a fearological pointer to God’s existence.”

“Anyways” SirPeter continued ignoring Augustus’ interruption, “Osi, you seem to have the plenipotence of redirecting our world to view things from new length. Last time in your book, “Conquering the Beast Fear: A Philosophical cum Psychological Approach, you argued tenaciously that fear can be totally exterminated from someone’s life, which in turn raised new dust in that direction.”

“But that’s not just my point SirPeter. My point is, any man who refuses to acknowledge that fear in most circumstances is not positive but negative is on the fast lane to mediocrity; human beings are naturally ingrained with the instinct to survive and our survival are largely based on our mind and thought processes. And when such mind and thought processes are overburdened by fear our survival seems compromised.” Osinakachi corrected.

“But fear is a sign of weakness, a cousin of purposelessness and an opposition to risk taking necessary for our survival”, Augustus interjected.

“Well let me disambiguate your mind in that regard, Fear is a serious pointer that one is alive, every living human being is afraid of something and all men certainly are afraid of death. Desh Subba, my mentor will rightly assert that ‘Life is controlled and driven by fear’ said Osinakachi.

“People like my own mentors Prof. Yuval Harari and Ray Kurzweil’s, the co founder and chancellor of Singularity university and some others in the Calisco company in the Silicon Valley California are not afraid of death, they believed and are working assiduously to conquer and bridge death and I totally support and agree to the plausibility of their cause.” Augustus asserted.

“Man and his stupidity, almost always faithful to his nature, given a chance, he almost become a wolf to fellow man, stealing, coveting, lying, fooling around, being hypocritical, gluttonous, stingy, selfish and fearful. It is only under the cloak and aegis of civility and modernization that man hides and pretends that he is not what he is, so anyone telling you he is not afraid of death is merely exhibiting his hypocrisy.” Osinakachi explained.

“I think I agree with Osi, one of my mentors Mahatma Gandhi would assert the centrality of death by admonishing us ‘To live as if we are going to die tomorrow.’ Like Gandhi, Martin Luther King Jr., subscribe to the idea that, ‘there is a kind of neurotic fear of death in every man because it is inevitable. It is a democracy for all of the people, not an aristocracy for some of the people. Kings die, beggars die, young men die and old men die...and anyone who has not discovered a cause to die for is unprepared to live.’

“Enough of quoting your mentors SirPeter, let Osi, tell us how fearological pointer to God’s existence equate with his above position?”, Augustus cheeped in a lighthearted manner.

“Augustus, I know you have a talent for destructive criticism when it comes to most of the medieval notions surrounding God’s existence, while having an irresistible and inseparable attachment to new techno scientific realities since after reading Yuval Harari’s books, Homo Deus: A Brief History of Tomorrow and Sapiens: A Brief History of Mankind, but you have to calm down let us hear him out and judge him based on the soundness and validity of his arguments.” SirPeter said.

“But that’s exactly my point, any prove of God’s existence or pointer as he puts it is bound to be a regurgitation of falsehood.” Augustus replied.

“Yet we can still hear him out, and know the veritable verity of the validity of his arguments.” SirPeter said. “Over to you Osi, tell us where your God’s existence and its fear pointer tallies here” SirPeter added.

“You see my dear friends” Osinakachi began, “as I said before, my mentor Desh Subba will say that ‘Life is controlled by fear’ and because of this man’s whole life seems like an illusion, he’s always unsatisfied with his present condition and uncertain of tomorrow. This breeds in him a fear in different guises: boredom, pain, dissatisfaction, disaster, crises, and desires which he can never satisfy.”

“Because of this man seeks more money, more activities, more honours, more entertainments, more sex, more distractions, more noise etc., but this fear of uncertainty still remains. But when we turn deep within, we find out that the cause of this fear is the deep gulf between our finite body and our infinite mind which wants to possess all that’s true, good and beautiful, but our finite body falls short in that regard, a sure proof that fear lies in the heart of the fearful and not in the object of fear.”

“Yet our infinite mind tells that this fear of disorder, crisis, pains, sufferings, failures, and unhappiness is definitive pointer that our mind needs peace and serenity that’s devoid of all that. What we find in this world is counterfeit peace. Earthly peace is mingled with conflict, earthly serenity is mingled with distraction, and earthly happiness is mingled with pain. Every effort we make to evade conflict and crisis has proven impossible and difficult to materialize, yet our mind is convinced that absolute peace and serenity that is devoid of any atom of fear of uncertainty is possible.

“This absolute peace of the mind that is devoid of fear necessarily points that there is a Being who can bring about this absolute peace that can satisfy the infinite human mind. This being that can bring about the peace and bliss of the mind and tranquillity of the soul we call God, hence St. Augustine said, ‘Our Souls are restless until they rest in God’.”

You can formally represent the argument as follows:

• In life we find dissatisfaction with the present situation of things which makes us afraid of the uncertainty of the next moment.
• Because of this we seek more activities, money, sex, distraction etc., which still fail to satisfy us and put to rest the turmoil in our mind.
• An introspective analysis of this fear in our mind reveals a deep gulf between our finite body which is ladened with dissatisfaction and limitation and our infinite mind which believes overcoming them to achieve bliss peace of mind and tranquillity of the soul that is devoid of any recurrence of fear is possible.
• This insatiable quest for the absolute peace of mind, devoid of fear necessary point that there is a Being who embodies absolute peace and serenity of mind that can satisfy the human mind. This Being is what all people speak of as God.

Silence…

“You seem to have indulge this your proof or rather pointer to God’s existence beyond the acceptability of modern science as a matter of patriotism to your Christian religion, have you not heard of the drugs used to induce happiness, controlling and manipulating the amount and quantity of happiness that one can and wants to have.” Augustus scoffed.

“I am a psychologist and I am abreast with the developments in the emotive area of human development and I know what you are talking about but the problem of the scientists you mentioned is that he equates mere hilarity with the peace and serenity of the soul devoid of fear that I am talking about. Even with all manipulations of the human hormones with those drugs, it does not eliminate fear from the mind and heart of such an individual.” Osinakachi answered with a grimace.

“Well if you look at it from a theist’s scope, you will quite agree with him.” SirPeter chattered.

“But I am a theist and I do not quite agree with the reasons he gave for supporting his conclusion, even though the conclusion may not necessarily be false. Remember Anselm’s ontological proof of God’s existence based on the concept of God’s perfection and unsurpassable greatness was criticized by his fellow monk Guanilo based on faulty premises.” Augustus contended.

“Not wishing to enter into the nitty-gritty of logic, I would say that Osi’s argument may not be deductively valid or sound but it is an inductively strong and cogent argument and I think that’s why he chose his terms carefully, instead of using ‘fearological proof of God’s existence’, he used ‘fearological pointer to God’s existence’”

5.4 Criticism of the Fearological Pointer to God’s Existence by Augustus Chukwu

For all the noise made out of desperation by the likes of theocentric obsessed scholars like Augustine, Aquinas, and Anselm to prove the existence of an infinite, non-material, non-physical and non-human God with finite human categories only produced a picture of a sheer intellectual monstrosity and caricature.

Modern thinkers who have applied intellectual maturity and prudence have respectfully avoided, ignored or suspended this argument, to at least save us the intellectual energy of focusing on more pressing and relevant contemporary existential concerns.

Unfortunately, there appears to still be those who are persistent in resurrecting age old irrelevant discussions that barely qualify to be reckoned with the costly adjective: “intellectual” owing to its dogmatic underpinnings and its non-relevance to contemporary exigencies and concerns.

An intellectual response to this glorified outdated 12^th century mediaevalist dogma not only insults the productive time and intellectual effort put in reeling it out but at best shows the untenability, illogicality, irrationality and irrelevance of this argument.

            Nevertheless, for the sake of putting to rest this obsessive mediaevalist exuberance in my friend and brother and to further discourage such unproductive and retrogressive thinking in the 21^st century existentially-trouble laden age of ours I deem it wise to reply this sorry-argument with the following reasons which I wish to put forward, which are:

1. The argument’s inferential deductions are uncalled for
2. The argument in its sequential arrangement is logically incoherent

• The argument appeals to shallow thinking

1. The argument is of no relevance to contemporary concerns.

Having outlined these points allow me to thematically buttress them in this way:

1. That the Argument’s Inferential Deductions are Called for:

It is important to begin by stressing that most of the assumptions upon which these arguments are founded are false.

Assumptions raised in the Proof of God’s Existence 1

In his first version of the fearological pointer to God’s existence, the writer made some terribly troubling assumptions that need to be addressed promptly. The claim that man is capable of doing anything to preserve his existence is a universally agreeable truth that I subscribe to. However, the assumption that self preservation is caused by fear is only a partial truth considering the perspective from which life and the self is conceived. Life in itself as a given is good, beautiful, and meaningful and so also is the being that possesses it. Therefore the being who has life cherishes it in itself for this very reasons. When these values of goodness, purpose are threatened, life appears not be beautiful anymore and so becomes worthless for the possessing being – this results leads to suicide. It is when these values that define are threatened or absent that the possessor develops fear, a feeling that results from the absence of courage. Such that it is the sense of losing these values that causes fear. And so I think it is safe to say that every being seeks to preserve these values in creating, crafting and innovating products so as to preserve life and in extension preserve these values that give happiness. This I think is the case with human nature and not necessarily because we are afraid. Self preservation is therefore an endeavor to preserve the meaningful, good, and beautiful so as to secure happiness and not the fear of death.

This takes us to the next assumption that presumes that it is fear that spurs intentional strivings and desiring in man. This again is false assumption.

All acts of intentionality, striving and desiring are acts of the will that proceed from the faculty of the intellect. This means that for anything to be strived after it has to be knowable, and if it is knowable, then it is true (its existence is true), if it is true, then it is good and if good, it is beautiful at least ontologically or metaphysically speaking. It is when the intellect judges a thing based on its working categories as good that it is seen as beautiful it is then that the will is teleologically attracted to choose it, desire it and strive for it. The will desires it because the intellect has judged it as true, good and beautiful. It is therefore correct to say that the object of the intellect is truth and that of the will is that which is good. Therefore what motivates the will, desires or striving is goodness or beauty and not a negative emotion as fear. Something is judged by the intellect as good and beautiful when it is knowable, or intelligible and it is such when it is meaningful and having or serving a particular end/purpose. Truth is served by the principle of sufficient reason and the principle of goodness is finality, end or purpose.

Furthermore, the assumption that whatever that is in man must have been put there by a higher being is bespeaks of an immature, mediaevalist mindset that is governed or operated based on only a necessary causality or in strict teleological terms and this is what has informed the assumption that there must be an absolute being that has put a natural absence of courage in man – fear. I define fear simply as the absence of the feeling of courage and this feeling is a consequence of purely existential factors that have come into play. Again fear could be defined as the result of the activities of chemical reactions in one’s body throwing up certain enzymes, bile that are not favourable and healthy enough to energise a living body psychologically into carrying out a particular act. When the mind judges a situation a person wants to engage in as unhealthy or unfavorable it encourages or dissuades by the kind of enzymes or chemicals that the body produces and this just the bare fact of human nature which has no necessary spiritual connection.

Assumptions raised in the Proof of God’s Existence 2

In the second version of the fearological proof of God’s existence, I thank the author for the conversational mode which he arranged it and for anticipating some of my objections and answering it albeit unsatisfactorily. However, the author quoting his mentor Desh Subba made a presumptive and delusive claim that life is controlled and driven by fear. This assumption raises fear to the status of a negative indispensable spring board upon which life is centered. It presents fear as the single motivating factor that drives all living things towards a teleological end.

I however, think this assumption is not thoroughly thought through and this renders it baseless. This is because rather than fear being what controls life, I think the search for purpose and meaning is what primordially motivates life. And this is because purpose makes life in itself worthwhile and livable, purpose gives meaning to life. It is safe therefore to say that it is in the face of the apparent loss of meaning or the palpable absence of purpose that anxiety arises making life itself frustrating. When purpose is discovered meaning is restored to life and this is manifested existentially in the form of hope which informs courage an antithesis of fear.

When fear is presented as the single and major motivating factor of life it presents life and existence itself as negative. But metaphysically, Being (existence) in itself is good and is in itself motivated by good which presents itself as beautiful because it is known as true.

Moving on to his next deduction which claims that the search for an infinite reality points to the necessary existence of an infinite and absolute being called God.

This assumption I think is unfounded, unwarranted and practically uncalled for. The existence of fear is an existential emotive factor that is occasioned when a living being is faced with the facticity of his existence or experience – absurdity. When a person lacks the knowledge or requisite education to confront this absurdity it results into fear.

The real existential lacuna is the one created by man’s apparent longing and search for meaning – purpose and the experience of the facticity of absurdity. This fact is what creates anxiety and frustration. The reality of the myriad of infinite powers – infinite blissful peace of mind is what gives men hope. Also the reality of his apparent successes in overcoming the mental beast fear and his successes recorded in existential strides spurs a vivid conviction in him that there is nothing he cannot overcome with the right knowledge. This reveals the power of man and therefore becomes a pointer to the fact of man’s existence: a pointer to the fact that Man is God.

The argument that the possibility and search for an infinite blissful peace points to the fact of a divine infinite being called God is uncalled for, this is because there is no necessary connection between a rational possibility in existence and an irrational possibility outside existence. No necessary connection between a possible infinite blissful peace of mind and an infinite God. Such rational possibility can equally lead to postulating the infinity of man. Which is a more plausible deduction than that of an infinite God.

1. The Argument in its Sequential Arrangement is Logically Incoherent:

If am to logically judge Osinakachi's fearological pointer argument to God’s existence, I would say that it is at best an inductively weak and dissuasive argument and at worst a syllogistically invalid and unsound argument that is devoid of any trace of logical reasoning. Allow me to demonstrate this by analyzing his argument from the two basic logical perspectives of deductive syllogism and inferential induction.

I would like to stress the point that I am not oblivious of the escapist caveats and clauses the writer put in place to cover the palpable weakness, disuasiveness, and unsoundness of his argument and to avoid incisive criticisms as this. The writer stresses the claim that his argument is not a logically sound one but a valid one. This claim forces a rational mind to wonder what criteria he used in judging between a valid and an invalid argument considering the fact that most of his assumptions are premised on false illusions.

Again the writer puts an argumentative proviso stating that his argument is a deductive syllogism and not an inductive argument. A closer look at his arguments shows glaringly that there appears to be an improper assessment of his own reasoning method as I think his argument appears to be more of a weakly constructed inductive argument than a deductive syllogism. This is because following the proper rules of syllogism these arguments appear to be far removed from the modalities of valid, sound and true syllogism. This is because as we shall see later, he repeatedly committed the fallacy of four terms quatermnioterminorum in the two arguments. He would have been safe had he deftly crafted an inductive argument with intelligent logical escape routes.

           Allow me therefore to demonstrate the falsity of his argument by analysing and exploring how false these arguments are even in the case of adopting any of the two logical perspectives of deductive syllogism and inferential induction.

As an inductive reasoning this argument is essentially faulty, because of the following reasons.

First is the unreliability and uncertainty of inductive approach which essentially deals with the probability rather than certainty. Inductive reasoning checks the strength of an argument based on its degree of tenability or the degree of the truth value of its premises.

The arguments hold that the fear culture created by the deep gulf found in existential expectations points to a God that possesses such infinite nature that is capable of assuaging such infinite tastes. But this is not true. Having established the unsustainability of the underpinning assumptions e.g the falsity of the claim that life is controlled by fear , that there is a difference between the finite self and the infinite mind, which I refuted by explaining that the gulf created by existential expectations results in absurdity rather than fear. Again having showed the indemonstrability of proving non-human entity with human categories. ^[1]

It is therefore safe to say a fortiori that inductively the premises presented are too weak to stand for a strongly cogent conclusion or to be appreciated by human reason.

Again this argument analysed with Hume’s fork stands no chance. For Hume our belief in cause and effect relationship between events is not based on reason but a consequence of custom or habit. Hume notes that relations of ideas can be used only to prove other relations of ideas and mean nothing outside of the context of how they relate to other and therefore tell us nothing about the world. So for this reason relations of ideas cannot be used to prove matters of fact. A critical analysis of Osinakachi’s Fear-God analysis proves it to be a mere shallow belief and analysing it from the two-pronged perspectives of Hume’s fork which denies the relational and factual necessity of cause-effect relationships between matters of the world facts and non-application of ideas outside their contexts of relations in order to prove matters of fact Osinakachi’s fear pointer to God’s existence can easily be dislodged.

To properly understand and analyse his argument let me for the sake of convenience and brevity succinctly represent the argument this way.

Proof of God’s Existence 2

P1: Dissatisfaction causes fear

P2: We seek more activities to assuage dissatisfaction

P3: Fear shows gulf between finite self realities and infinite mind possibilities

P4: The search for absolute peace shows the existence of an absolute being

Conclusion: Therefore that absolute being is God

Granted that dissatisfaction causes anxiety which may lead to fear and that often times it is the case that most humans seek to assuage the dissatisfaction by engaging in more activities (even though some seek to achieve peace by engaging in less e.g. Buddhists).

First, the search or longing for absolute peace does not necessarily lead to the existence of an absolute being as there is no relational idea running on the same plain of thought. Therefore following the weakness of these assumptions, I think these premises don’t stand a good chance of defending his conclusions that there is an absolute being and that it is God.

Again as a syllogistic argument this argument falls terribly short of the basic structures of a traditional/modern syllogism. This is because a look at the five premises outlined shows that the argument commits the fallacy of four terms - quaternioterminorum. This fallacy occurs when an argument has four or more terms instead of the normal three terms characteristic of a syllogism. By doing this the fourth term automatically invalidates the argument. At a closer look at the argument it can discovered that it contains seven terms namely; dissatisfaction, fear, finite self realities, infinite mind possibilities, absolute peace, absolute being – God. This proliferation of terms certainly banalises and trivialises the whole argument turning it into more of a namby-pamby sort of discourse that is insipid, weak, and indecisive. Logically, therefore it is safe to say that this is no argument in the first place.

Still from a logical perspective, let me go on further to analyse the validity of his syllogism in the first argument. This is Osinakachi's argument as presented by him:

The human person has the self-consciousness of his emotive feeling of fear.

• His emotive feeling of fear spurs him to self and societal preservation and sustainability: which cannot be non-teleological. The teleology of the emotive feeling of fear of the human person must be ordered by an absolute Being.
• Therefore, this absolute Being is called God.

For the purpose of analysis the argument can be succinctly represented thus:

P1: Man is aware of his Fear

P2: Fear Spurs Self preservation

P3: Fear is caused by an Absolute Being

Conclusion: That Absolute Being is called God

A close analysis of this argument shows that it is simply a mockery of traditional syllogism which deals with only three terms and three premises of major, minor and middle. In this version Osinakachi's argument presents five terms in man, fear, self-preservation, absolute being, and God and so naughtily and egregiously repeats the fallacy of four terms quaternioterminorum which makes it unfit to be called a syllogism in the first place. Perhaps he should go back and learn his elementary logic before thinking of engaging in the futile intellectual voyage of proving God’s existence or perhaps also God’s existence cannot be proved through something as negative as fear in the first place.

The Argument Appeals to Shallow Thinking:

Furthermore, I think that this argument appeals to shallow thinking in the sense that considering the brazen logical fallacies committed and dictated here and there, it actually shows that the writer like Aquinas was more interested in concocting a shallow proof of God’s existence that is half hazard without putting in the scholarly and dutiful art of painstaking thinking and logical articulation. At best the writer can only be excused of any academic or intellectual blunder only in the case he admits that the fear-God argument is simply a non-rational proof or pointer to God’s existence and should be categorised under personal religious experiences of some sort. However, to this I would simply do Hume the honours of replying such claim in his words “if we take in our hand any volume: of divinity or school metaphysics, for instance let us ask, does it contain any abstract reasoning concerning quantity or number? No. Does it contain any experimental reasoning concerning matter of fact and existence? No. Commit it then to the flames: for it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.”^[2]

Well there you are, Hume suggests the burning of this sort of intellectual work. Now whilst I, out of friendship loyalty cannot advocate for the burning of a friend’s work, but those weren’t my words but Hume’s, who then am I?

1. iv) The Argument is of no Relevance to Contemporary Concerns: Finally, in a time when the world is faced with a whole lot of existential concerns like the three greatest threats facing humanity in the 21^st century are: Climate change, the threat of nuclear war and the dangers posed by artificial intelligence. The least vibrant intellectual minds like Osinakachi can do is to proffer possible solutions to these through his study and understanding of fear. Let’s say if I may suggest,‘A fearological investigation into the realities and dangers of Artificial intelligence’ I think this is better than wasting time, energy and intellectual vibrations on a dark age old medievalist failed project of the proof of God’s existence. It is at best the show of academic naivety and trite traditionalism. It will be well if my friend invested more of his academic time in relevant contemporary issues.

N/B: The opinions of the writer as expressed on this topic does not in any way reflect his original religious views but is simply an intellectual exercise made for the improvement of human knowledge and to bring about balanced perspectives on the issue in review.

Augustus Chukwu U. - (An Inspirational philosopher, political analyst, futurist)

5.5 Conclusion

The fearological pointer to God’s existence like initially hinted is not a proof of God’s existence but a means of showing that fear may serve as an indication that a Supreme Being exists who created and sustains the universe. I thank Augustus Chukwu for the criticisms offered to this argument and I challenge other scholars to react to this argument either for or against.

[1]This meaning that relations of ideas can only be used to prove other relations of ideas existing in the same categories and mean nothing outside of the context of how they relate to each other and therefore tells us nothing about the world. The unnecessary adoption of a nonhuman infinite concept or theory of God has no necessary connection to the finite, physical, and human categories and so serves no purpose in worldly affairs.

[2] D. Hume, An Enquiry Concerning Human Understanding p.166

3.2 Brief Journey into Fearology

1. MICHAEL FISHER

                               Founder of The Fearology Institute    

         DESH SUBBA

The Founder of Fearism Study Center

Since the origin of academic enterprise, for while people of different epoch look at reality from different perspective, the reality of fear was paid little or no attention. There has not been any branch or field of thought that studied about the reality of fear holistically. And so most persons have misconceptions about the events of life which in recent time, some critical minded persons have taken it upon them to rationalized and scientifically demonstrate the need for understanding the reality of fear. This act or scientific demonstration is fearology. In the words of Fisher, “fearology is the transdisciplinary study of the relationship of fear and life (could include other beings including non-living)- usually, refers to human experience but does not have to be restricted”[1]

Hence, fearology is the art or science of critical analysis of the connection of fear and that which is. This is to say that there is always a link between an object or subject and that which fear. This link always has a gap for decision making. And so, in this gap is our ability to manage our fear positively or negatively. The objects of fear are those things which posses fear while the subjects of fear are fear mongers[2]. It is important to note that, groups can also pose fear which leads to tension, conflict and at times terrorism. These states of being can metamorphose into fear culture/ climax. And so, those who critically examines analyze and treat or rehabilitate group(s) of people who fear – fearer are fearologists.

In recent time the greatest fearologists are R. Michael Fisher from Canada, Desh Subba from Dharan Nepal, the fearologist of literature Rana Kafle from India and their disciple Osinakachi Akuma Kalu. For them scientists, futurists, psychologists, doctors or physiologist cannot give a good account of fear connection because they study fear in part and not as a whole. Hence, such an investigation leads one to fallacy of composition[3]. This is why all must tend towards the fearologist for a better analysis of fear and how it affects the human person and the society at large.

Fear is not just an ordinary emotion. The place of fear in human existence is inseparable and thus as important as life. Building on this backdrop, it should be given a proper attention. This is why Michael Fisher studied it for close to 40 year and Desh Subba for close to 25years. For Fisher, fear is what we ought to get rid of by being fearless. This is to say that, it is only on the level of fearlessness can one live to the fullness of his being. On the other hand, Desh Subba understands fear to be a motivator, that which direct and control human actions. For him, fear is both positive and negative but the positive outweighs the negative. This is why he believes that fear drives development and sustains reality.

In the understanding of Pooja Soni an Indian born researcher on Consciousness, fear is like a form of defense mechanism, this she began by looking at fear as part of emotion that cannot but exist without “simulatively” reacting towards something. Hence, she asserts in a descriptive form that, “an emotion is how an entity is present in a vicinity of a particular stimulus or how it escapes from that vicinity of the stimulus. Every entity strives to increase its presence in relation to other entities. And so the purpose of experiencing fear is to protect the self from potential danger”[4] . As a way of not mixing two concept, she explained further saying, “anxiety is when the self is still in anticipation of being subjected to a potential danger while fear is the ability to flee from the vicinity of the stimulu”[5]. Soni’s distinction between fear and anxiety is fearologically not the case. Fearologically speaking, not all fear leads to anxiety. This is because some scenario that creates fear often leads to development. One who is in a state of anxiety may not clearly give account of what led to it but one in a state of fear can to an extent.

For Zeeshan Hussain a Xinjiang Medical University trained medical doctor, "fear is nothing but man-made limits. I personally believe we can conquer anything as long as we are willing to rise above the limits we have limited ourselves to. Fear can do no harm unless we let it do otherwise. A strong determination and commitment can make impossible, possible. The best way to get rid of phobia is to expose oneself to it more often and by doing so there is no doubt that one day we will be no more afraid to it, because frequent exposure will make us used to it”[6]. He also pointed out the importance of fear management in the field of medicine stressing that, such practice is definitely pivotal for patients’ recuperation. Fear management should be practiced. Guess what, we prescribe antidepressant for patients the night before planned for surgery the following day. If we could lessen or totally kill fear in patients, outcomes of Surgery are also positive and it does help in swift recovery. Sometimes anxiety and fear are used interchangeably but I personally think, it is fear not anxiety. For example, a patient came to me a couple of days ago with immense fear of his brain been atrophied. Actually, this patient was young and someone had told him that he had accident years back and if such trauma happens, it definitely brings brain atrophy. It might be true but not in every single case. This patient was this worried because he was afraid, that I advised him to see a psychiatrist.

Building on their shoulder (Desh and Fisher), I realized that none of them are wrong in their understanding of fear. However, for me, fear is like a pointer. It serves as a universal harmony which direct things positively or negative. Ones management of his /her fear aids development or destruction of the self, Other[7], society or the universe at large. This is because, a state of fear effects the psychic conditioning of the emotive man who is a rational being. As an emotive being, no one can claim not to have an iota of fear. It requires nothing but existential suspension to be in a state of courage or bravery which is not the absence of fear but a way of being in another mood or state.

Having experienced so much fear in the face of danger and challenges of life, I took it upon myself to help people who are in the same shoe with me to overcome their fears. As a result of this, I started by trying to understand what fear really is by buying books, researching, reading, discussing and writing about fear. During my reflection and meditation period, I always try to make connections, linking what I have studied with the reality of my time especially concretizing it based on my worldview.

​            This desire, led me into writing about fear. The first set of books I read was How to Overcome Fear by Er M. K Guputa, Culture of Fear by Furedi, Fear and Trembling by Soren Kierkegaard and virtually all the encyclopaedias that contain any material on fear. These works influenced my notion about fear as something ipso facto bad.

​            This influence was reflected in my first book: Conquering the Beast Fear: A Philosophical cum Psychological Approach and some of my articles and poems. This is because the definition of fear by most of the encyclopaedia as a negative emotion or as an unpleasant feeling makes it impossible for one to conclude that fear has any positive dimension. Hence, any researcher making use of them is likely to see fear as something BAD, DANGEROUS etc.

A clearer understanding of fear came after reading the work of Lars Svendsen’s Philosophy of Fear, where he quoted Francis Bacon’s saying, “Dolendi modus, timendi non item” meaning “to suffering there is limit, to fearing, none”. He went further to write that “…a creature without the capacity to feel fear will have a worse chance of surviving and procreating. It is obvious that fear can often be a great assistance to us.”

In reaction to this book, I wrote so many articles trying to prove that such conception of fear by Lars Svendsen is mistaken until I met Desh Subba, a fearologist. With several academic discussions on fear with Desh Subba coupled with my intellectual ruminations on fear especially after reading his book, Philosophy of Fearism: Life is Conducted, Directed and Controlled by Fear, a scale literally fell off my eyes as it happened to Jeremy Bentham, the utilitarian philosopher after reading David Hume the thorough going empiricist, and my perception of fear was shifted. This book made me to understand that the place of fear in man’s existential struggle was pivotal and so cannot be conquered but controlled or credibly managed. This is because the opposite of fear being courage does not connote the absence of fear as Nelson Mandela opined.

​            In my quest to deepen my knowledge of the phenomenon fear and how it can be controlled or managed, I enrolled into the Fearism Study Centre Dharan Nepal, under the aegis of Desh Subba. After a period of fearological voyage, I became the coordinator of the fearism movement in Africa under the direction of Desh Subba.

Owing to my relationship with my master, Desh Subba, he introduced me to another fearological elder whose work is technical in the person of R. Michael Fisher. This man is one of the intellectuals I respect. He has written over hundred articles on fear with over eighty technical papers.

​            Fisher who wrote his doctoral dissertation on Fear introduced me to his World Fearlessness Movement and I became a major contributor to the body. I see him as a father and he relates to me as a friend and academic contemporary. Building on this backdrop, he always sends me works to study so as to improve myself in that field.

As a result of our constant effort to give fearology a sure foundation in our time, we normally discuss on how to bring this noble intention of ours to fruition. Owing to the growth of our lexicon, some terms like “defearing”, “fearontic”, “feraontology”, “fearological Exhortation”, “defearologize” etc., which I coined are being worked upon for inclusion in the dictionary.

Whatever I am in the fearological milieu is because I rested on the shoulders of two great men, R. Michael Fisher and Desh Subba. Thus, as the first stage of my fearological career emerges after my program with the Fearism Study Centre, Nepal. My studies in this institute has made me see the “centrality” of fear in our lives and has led me equally to see fear as a pointer to the existence of a Supreme Being who is the creator and sustainer of the universe. Thus, I have learned, that though fear can be dangerous to humanity be delimiting people from achieving their potentials, yet at the same time, fear has contributed so much in the development of man by instilling in him constantly the need of self preservation which in my opinion is the driving force of civilization.

3.3 My Own Definition of Fear after Contact with Desh and Fisher

After my perception of fear has been modified by my meeting and reading the works of the fearological elders, I began the search for my own definition of fear. With the publication of my first article in the World Fearlessness Movement blog, I made my intention known which prompted Michael Fisher to write,

The ever energetic Kalu is at it again, and I look forward to seeing what his results are from this piece of research. I have long 'played' (seriously) with the problematics of how human beings "define," "conceptualize," and "operationalize" something called "fear" (by any other name, and, I am using English here because it is the only language I speak and know of, while admitting it is horribly biased from a global perspective of multiple languages, cultures and ways of knowing). I have published already on this search of mine, which is never ending. One thing I have mind-shifted on over the years is to focus less on the question "What is fear?" (as the only way to search for a definition or description, with a tendency toward only a rational-minded and logical deductive approach) to the question I find more fruitful "How do we best know fear?" (this latter, emphasizing an epistemic-based approach)--of course, both questions are useful for inquiry, and maybe there are even better questions to ask--that is what philosophers tend to always search for, and less a search for "the" answer per se. Kalu, in my view, has taken two avenues of expression and good research attitude in this study of his: (1) "creative definitions or descriptions" - yes, we really need to be creative with this and, (2) his title "Search for a Tentative Definition of Fear" -- I love this open-minded approach! Good for you, Kalu.”

In my first publication, I defined fear as, “the state for which someone is calculating so as to agree with what he or she thinks is positive and sidelines what he or she thinks is negative[8]”. This calculation can lead to miscalculation because the presence of fear will not allow the mind to uncover the bumps of the situation at stake due to the presence of unpleasant emotions caused by fear. The unpleasant nature of an emotion creates confusion in a person. Fear can never be a happy companion for most of the moments of our lives because the beast is wicked.

However, after meeting with Subba and Fisher, this my perception of fear changed. Hence, I define fear as an emotive process that exists between an object and a subject, which influences the subject’s decision either to improve, remain stagnant or degenerate in existence.

In this definition, it is important to explain the key terms used in it for a better comprehension of the definition:

Emotive Process- this is a process that is characterized by emotion; an operation that affects the mental content. Fear sends signals through this emotive process, which in turn affect the decision someone makes.

Object and a Subject- The object is “being”- concrete or imagined (whatever thought of) that makes one afraid. On the other hand, the Subject of fear is the one who is affected by objects of fear.

Improve – The human person tends towards self preservation when in the face of fear. This makes him to gear towards preserving or improving his existence, thereby working hard to not just to prevent the perceived danger that may occur, but equally working hard to improve on what is.

Remain Stagnate- For while fear helps man to improve in his existence, it also makes him helpless before danger (concrete or imagined). Putting him in a confused state, that makes him to remain in a particular state of existence. Thereby, making him to degenerate, because an unimproved existence cannot match with or survive in a world that gears towards improvement of existence.

[1] R. M. Fisher and S, Desh, Philosophy of Fearism- A First East – West Dialogue, UK, Xlibris,2016,p.158

[2] One who is involved habitually, consciously or unconsciously, in the act of perpetrating fear unnecessarily, cf., R. M. Fisher and S, Desh, Philosophy of Fearism- A First East – West Dialogue, p.156

[3] Fallacy of Composition simply means using an aspect of reality to make a general judgment.

[4] A discussion on fear and anxiety with an India female researcher and writer on consciousness. Cf., https://m.facebook/Pooja.Soni.

[5] Ibid

[6] A LinkedIn chat with Dr. Zeeshan Hussain on “Fear”, https://ng.linkedIn.com/feed/, Retrieved 1/26/2018

[7] Other from the existentialists views point. It means humans living with one in the society or the world

[8] Osinakachi Akuma Kalu, Conquering The Beast Fear: A Philosophical Cum Psychological Approach, Port Harcourt, EJ&Sons Publishers, 2016, p.22-23

Introduction

Right from the origin of intellectual enterprise, especially from written history, there has been always this curiosity to speculate on the primary sources of all things. This search which started in the earliest times of human intellectual activity and which received different notions culminated in the medieval era when the primary sources or the primordial force of all things was understood and interpreted as “God”[1]. Theocentrism or divinism was the dominant throughout that period.

            Between the late 14^th and early 15^th century, the Renaissance[2] emerged, and so there was a sudden transition from “divinism” to humanism: then emerged later was the modern era when the existence of the medieval “God” was questioned with a flurry of refutations.

            Hence, while this write-up does not join issues with any of the mainline traditional God-talk arguments, it charts a new course by trying to demonstrate that the emotive tendency of man is a pointer to God’s existence. This is what is called fearological  pointer to God’s existence.

            Nevertheless, this argument which in not inductive but deductive, is written based on the validity of the arguments; and not based on the soundness of the argument or the truth of its proposition.

Definition

According to this argument, since the reality of fear in man is inevitable, and he strives towards perfection and sustainability of himself and the universe; then there must have be the existence of an absolute being who orders all things emotively, which is called God[3].

The Argument

The human being (in contradistinction to other persons- robot or algorithms)[4] as a rational being is capable of doing anything within his reach for self preservation. This tendency continues to the point that even the Seven Wonders of the World no longer beat the imagination of the civilized unless those who have not witnessed the “techno-scientific surprise packs”, which is as a result of the reality of the time, that is, the “age-of-minutest-techno-wonder”.

            A critical examination of this human tendency concludes that it is as a result of ‘fear’[5]. This is because; it is fear which spurs man’s intentionality’s, strivings or desiring[6]. And so, this striving gears towards self and societal preservation. However, since the creative cum domineering nature of man makes him to sometimes take things  to their extremity, such as construction of bombs, missiles, acids and other weapons of mass destruction, fear now spurs man to produce defensive tools and methods as well as offensive tools; which is motivated by fear.

            Therefore, this sense of protecting and improving on life with regards to self-preservation is a pointer that there must be an absolute being who must have instilled this emotive feeling in man for the preservation of humanity (even though they use it maliciously) and its sustainability. This absolute being is called God.

The Syllogistic Demonstration

The human person has the self-consciousness of his emotive feeling of fear.

His emotive feeling of fear spurs him to self and societal preservation and sustainability: which cannot be non-teleological. The teleology of the emotive feeling of fear of the human person must be ordered by an absolute Being.

Therefore, this absolute Being is called God.

Authors Interview

https://independentauthora.wixsite.com/authorspotlight/single-post/2017/10/18/Author-Kalu-Osinakachi

FEAR: A SOCIAL MALADY (THE NIGERIAN EXPERIENCE)

“Fear defeats more people than any other one thing in the world”

Ralph Waldo Emerson

1.0     INTRODUCTION

We are living in a society where the human person is discouraged day in day out, either because of what is happening around him/her or what he/she must have heard. What engineers these discouragements is nothing other than fear which is virtually a universal phenomenon. As that which discourages, it is a vice, is not just a vice but a social vice. It is important to note that, there is nothing in life that is as dangerous as a social vice. This is because, everyone is a target. Fear cuts across all works of life and strata of the society. As it stretches its ambient, it maladies towers. It starts by manipulating one person which is a tool to reach out to the society at large. This is because reality is interconnected. It begins by projecting or entering into one person (microcosm) from where it extends to others in the society (macrocosm). These influences permeate the life of the people through adaptation and environmental influence. And so, it spreads, affecting people as an individual, groups and gradually the society at large. When such a vice (s) through a person begins to permeate gradually till virtually every human person sees such an act as a comfort zone, it becomes (a) Social malady (ies).

As a result of these, this write-up attempts to x-ray some of the various ways the phenomenon fear has permeated the sphere of Nigerian social polity, causing a defeatist mentality that has held most Nigerian citizens spellbound to mediocrity in their quest to achieve their purpose in life and provide a way out.

2.0     Definition Of Term

• Fear

According to Philip Holder, a specialist in Therapeutic Hypnosis, “fear is an unpleasant, sometimes strong emotion caused by the anticipation of ‘loss’ it may be loss of face (disease or danger to the body) or it may be loss of face (damage to the ego, pride or image).”

• Societal Malady

According to Encarta Dictionary, malady is a situation or condition that is problematic and so requires a remedy. So, talking about fear as a social malady, it means that fear is a problem in the society that requires remedy.

Societal Fears in Nigeria

In Nigeria, there are four common ways fear has grinded the engine of both the individual and national development, they are:

3.1   Fear Of 419

According to the Online Urban Dictionary, the name “419” is derived from the section of the Nigerian law that Con Artistry and Fraud comes under”. It is the act of duping or scamming someone by working on the person psych either physically or via social media. It is very unfortunate when some persons, sees being stupid, scamming or ever cunning as being smart or wise. These same sets of people also call those who had compassion on them before falling victim of their surreptitious agenda, “Mugu”, and “brainless” people. As a result of these, people are afraid even to help people who are genuinely in trouble.

3.1 Fear of Telling the Truth

We are living in a society where injustice of man to man have shut many out from the bounty of God’s creation due to the mixing and mincing of truth with falsehood. This mixing is either for profit maximization or to escape corporal punishment. It is quit shocking sometimes when even those we expect to voice the truth refrains from it. One may ask, “What is the reason behind this?” It may be because, everyone wants to arrive", which is guided by the Machiavellian principle which I interprets as “any way is the way and no way is a model”. This principle is applicable in virtually every sectors of life today.

3.4 Fear of Kidnapping

The issue of kidnapping is becoming unbecoming.  The number of people kidnapped daily now is about to equate the death rate in our society. Having said this, it is pertinent to point out that the way some rich people flamboyantly parade themselves especially in Nigeria is not satisfying when juxtaposed with the life of the Europeans / Americans who are wealthy. With such attitude, some rich people easily expose themselves to kidnapping. Most rich people find it difficult to help people or donate privately but derive joy in expending huge sums of money in public shows and festivities not knowing it is a process of giving an official invitation or signal to kidnappers.

However, people are often afraid of being kidnapped because of the ransom demanded and oftentimes death which occur as a result of the kidnap either because of change of environment which is not proper to some or some act which appears to be kidnapping that ends up to be abduction for ritual act  or because of power tussle. Thus, this very act put the society in a state of not knowing when to trust people, most especially when it calls for emergency. People hardly answer calls, and pay little or no attention to what the call is all about especially when it demands leaving home at night. This fear of being kidnapped has led many not to know who is who in the society and to an extent have restricted people's movement, as some road is being tagged “kidnapping path”.

3.5. Fear of Death (Thanatophobia)

“Death terrorizes us not because it is painful but because we are unwilling to lose our human consciousness permanently” says Prof.Emeka George Ekwuru. Among everything the human person fears, death remain the worst of it all. Most persons find it difficult, even when the reality of death keeps drawing closer with- and through the daily happenings of life. When we listen to radio, television, read magazines, newspaper and write ups or social-medias, one is filled with fear of the numerous and countless death recorded everyday. Most people due to fear and in their bid to protect their life, has sown their soul to the devil, thereby killing their friends and well wishers in the name of changing or expanding their life span. This same fear has led many to join occultism or cultism and these have led to series of shedding of blood in the quest to protective life.

To combat fear of death, what is needed is carefulness in dealing with people and objects that may cause harm or death not fear of them for the fearful man dies many times before his actual death. As my contemporary Sirpeter Aloh whowill emphasize following Heidegger “the knowledge of the fact that man is a being unto death will make one live better and more fulfilled as a being unto life.”

4.0  Fear as a Social Malady: A Way Out

Fear, is a societal problem. The problem and disorder it had caused the human person can never be over emphasized. But there is a way out of this monster, a way to conquer it. Paramount among it is to develop the opposing virtue— courage. Another is by being careful. Living in a society where people give wrong address, phone contact and above all claim what they are not, calls for carefulness and not fearfulness.

Fear of telling the truth is never a way forward because it has led many to live in imprisonment, early graves, unstable homes, broken friendships etc. “Before speaking, consult your inner barometer, and resist the temptation to tell people only what they want to hear” says Wayne Dyer. And so, it is pertinent for all in the society to learn how to tell the truth as it is for a better, trust worthy and happy society.  To combat fear of death, what is needed is carefulness in dealing with people and objects that may cause harm or death not fear of them, and to operate with the belief that death is due for all men. As Khalil Gibran would say, “Fear not the spectre of death whose greatness will not approved of your littleness.” No less true is what my contemporary Sirpeter Aloh who emphasize following Heidegger said “the knowledge of the fact that man is a being unto death will make one live better and more fulfilled as a being unto life.”

5.0 CONCLUSION

Our society needs not a prophet to tell us how chaotic fear is. Individually and collectively, we know that as a result of fear which leads heartbreak/heart attack many have gone. Fear of losing property or becoming poor has lead to community conflicts, killing and shedding of blood.

Thus, it is pertinent that we rise collectively and say No! To this social malady whose mission is to drive and deny us our joy and connectivity, individually and collectively and so as John Kennedy would say, when faced with societal problems, “let us never negotiate out of fear. but let us never fear to negotiate.”

Conquering%20the%20Beast%20Fear%20A%20Philosophical%20Cum%20Psychological%20Approach.pdf