Today 18th of September makes it a year the book CONQUERING THE BEAST FEAR: A Philosophical Cum Psychological Approach was launched. I am still grateful to those whom through their selfless sacrifice(s) the book is now on the level it is. I can not easily forget in a very special way the pains Ms. Carol Dilgard went through to make sure the book came to be. To the Penlords and my wonderful friends who planned for the launch I say, you are indeed the best. I can't forget the technical advices of "The World Fearlessness Movement" and "The Fearism Study Center", especially the encouragement of Prof(s). R. Michael Fisher and Desh Subba.
I still recall my statements during my welcome address speech and those of my fellow Penlords..below are some of the presentations.
A WELCOME ADDRESS BY KALU OSINAKACHI AKUMA AT THE BOOK LAUNCH CEREMONEY OF “CONQUERING THE BEAST FEAR: A PHILOSOPHICAL CUM PSYCHOLOGICAL APPROACH” ON SUNDAY 18TH SEPTEMBER 2016 AT DIVINE MERCY HALL ST. JOHN’S CATHOLIC CHURCH, RUMUOKWURUSHI PORT HARCOURT RIVER STATE, NIGERIA.
The Chairman, Chief launcher and his Co-launchers, Royal Father and Mother of the day, Reverend Fathers and Reverend Sisters, Representatives of Organizations and Associations, the Seminarians, the Penlords, Distinguished guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, good day.
It is with great pleasure, that I welcome you all here this afternoon, on this book launch ceremony of “Conquering the Beast Fear: a philosophical cum psychological approach”. I am humbled and happy by the presence of people from all walks of life who are here today to answer my first academic calling bell irrespective of other activities of yours. My sincere gratitude goes to Ms Carol Dilgard who played a major role in bringing this work to this state, nevertheless, I will not forget those who stood beside me during the dark stage of this book publication and so, my special thanks goes to the Almighty God who made this day possible in many ways. This is no wonder that Ludwig Wittgenstein poignantly assert that, “Knowledge is in the end based on acknowledgement” and so, as a corollary to this, William Arthur Ward summed it up all when he said, “Feeling gratitude and not expressing it, is like wrapping a present and not given it”.
Today is conspicuously engraved in my memory. Nevertheless, it would be cancerous if we continue to live with this academic derogatory and pejorative impression that, “our present society especially the youth are allergic to reading books to enrich their knowledge; instead they only study for academic pursuit or job training which its end boils down to making money”. This is the time to debunk this erroneous impression, held by many especially our parents who never attended their secondary and higher education during the time of excess electronics or computer gadgets. By honoring this invitation, irrespective of your tight schedules and programs and also grabbing your own copy and reading it as well is a way forward in demystifying this impression. Without being carried away by the euphoria of the day, I wish to with boundless enthusiasm express the gratitude of my family to you all.
Since the publishing of this book recently, I have received mails from readers especially scholars from far and near who worked on it making sure that it is presentable to the reading public. Whatever aspect of live you find yourself, I welcome your personal views with an open mind, as no one has a monopoly of knowledge not to talk of an academic infant like me.
For those who may have been waiting to criticize, I implore them to understand that there is need to distinguish between emotions from reality and focus on the message and not the messenger. To such persons, I wish to remind them that whatever is worth doing is worth doing well.
There is another dimension to curious mind; some may have wondered or are wondering what gave me the audacity to write a book about fear or why I chose no other topic other than fear. My response to such questions may not be farfetched, because, the fear which is virtually a universal problem may possibly be residing in some even as you are listening to me.
Psychiatrists, pastors, counselors, spiritual elders and philosophers affirms that the general level of fear among people is on the increase and for me; it seems it cuts across all walks of life and all kinds of people. Speaking on this, some students are beginning to dread school exams; graduates develop cold palms and feet before they face interview; mothers afraid of going into the labour room (as some even die before getting in), old people terrified by insecurity (thinking about the safety of their children and grand children) and loneliness, some are even afraid of doing good, lecturers afraid of doing the right thing, some pastors of souls! Afraid of teaching the truth but prefer to conform to the standard of the world so as not to lose members, high-flying executives at the peak of their professional careers give in to stress and tension over fears of rivalry and competition.
Thus, this piece of work which is a combination of philosophical, psychological and little biblical insight provides one with different therapeutic approaches, is a dues ex machine one can adopt against one’s psychological problems which fear must have instilled such as; emotional imbalance, Low Self-Esteem, High Blood Pressure, etc and after which, it equip one with self-knowledge, belief in oneself and efficiency. Nevertheless, this book would bring to the door post of every reader, how dangerous fear is and how chaotic it is to ones rationality. In other words, fear would always place one in what he or she may think is an escape route in ones emotive life without taking cognizance of how damaging it is to one’s potentials.
To all my readers, I say to you be inspired by the positive values of this work and have yourselves challenged as you read through the pages and chapters of this work till the end.
I welcome you all ones again to this noble occasion and wish you all a happy stay and the best of luck in all your endeavours. Be equipped on how to overcome The Beast Fear.
I sincerely thank you all,
Osinakachi Akuma Kalu
THE MAN OSINAKACHI AND FEAR
By Chukwu Augustus Ugochukwu
Motivational/Inspirational Speaker(Pen-Lord)
It was a cool tranquil evening, with the sun just about setting and the gentle breeze rustled the leaves producing an undisturbing sound just suitable for a quiet introspection. He sat under one of his favourite trees in his compound facing the white blank sheet of paper on the wooden table with the ball pen partially buried with his lips in quiet contemplation.
The serenity of the environment, even though aided his meditation was surely not the reflection of his inner disposure as he struggled with his inner ranglings of thought caught in between motivation and demotivation, hope and uncertainty, faith and doubt, keen zest and apathy. These sent a feeling of a string throb to hisheart, a palpitating feeling that left him more weakened than strengthened. He hadn’t actually written before though he was enthusiastic about his ideas, yet he was unsure of whether they would sell, though the inferiority complex mixed with the sense of uncertainty sent frightening signals, yet somewhere in the secret recess of his heart there was this unwavering belief that the book would surely be a great success if it ever saw the light of the day.
At first he seem daunted by a chain of inexorable vicissitudes, ranging from unavailability and shortage of research materials, which the lack of needed books, poor internet connections and the perpetual darkness occasioned by the lack of or if you like the retrogressive power supply. More like a self inflicted endemic disease that has contributively added to the economic quagmire-recession –his country, albeit knowingly, but somehow unconsciouslyfound itself caused by the dead minds that rear its affairs amongst a host of other foundational issues to personal challenging issues.
This was the challenging situation Osinakachi found himself as he embarked on the task and uncertain voyage of militating against fear which has been unarguably one of the greatest and oldest enemies of man. Yet Osinakchi marched on with a fervent hope of triumph which has revealed its glory this day in the book: Conquering the Beast Fear, indeed the title of this book completes the story of how fear was won in him and will be hopefully in you.
One of the greatest challenge unarguably faced by man is the beast and enemy called fear. Indeed, this phenomenon if allowed to objectivise it for the moment has been man greatest undoing in his quest for successful breakthroughs and self fulfilment. This is so true because, the moment man sets worthy task for himself or is faced with an unnerving situation that needs remedy, enfeebling his feelings of doubt, uncertainty, or the lack of willpower usually creeps in, sending the signals of worry, anger and fear in us. This majorly is the underlying cause of failure in man. But thanks to God who has endowed man with the power to overcome whatever challenge he is faced with on earth which he can only do by overcoming himself (overcoming the passions, lusts, weaknesses and yes! The fear within him)for by doing this, man becomes ever powerful strong, indomitable, and indestructible. By achieving this feat Man becomes God.
Throughout written and unwritten history, Man’s spirit has proven to be ever fervent, resilient and triumphant in facing whatever challenge he is faced. The vicious and virulent ailment that looked to puff off humanity from the face of the earth at different stages of man’s history in the world, man has somehow or the other defeated these, man has constantly overcame the apocalyptic war that have threatened his corporate existence, emerging ever united. Indeed man has always surpassed the problems that have engulfed him. Fear therefore in this scenario is not an exception.
Many works, papers, books, journals, articles, have indeed been written on the subject matter: Fear but here is perhaps not the most popular, or bestselling but an exceptional book that nips in the bud the problem of fear in man. This book will definitely make not only for an interesting but an educative and revealing read. For in his bid to write this book the man Osinakachi, first overcame his own fears that threatened to militate against his own dreams and vision of militating against the fears in you. Having successfully conquered this enemy as evidenced in the successful production of this book, he therefore stand in a right position to lead us through this book in our quest to conquer the beast: Fear and as a learned philosopher, he did this by applying philosophical cum psychological approaches as a means of solving this monstrous problem.
OSINAKACHI KALU AKUMA: ONE OF THE PHENOMENAL PEOPLE I KNOW
By Sir Peter Aloh
An Emerging Philosophical Scientist (Pen-Lord)
Having spent what seemed like endless ages, clicking at my keyboard, typing and deleting yet staring at a vacant screen, because the appropriate wordsto describe this beingsimply refused to come. I decided to take the risk in exploring the great enigmatic creature whose essence and existence is to WRITEin my confused state, Iendeavour in so less a measure to explain and appreciate this young man Osinakachi Kalu Akuma who has offered us a new dimension in the quest of conquering the beast fear which has constantly gripped our lives, rendering us nearly impotent in carrying out our day to day activities and caged us in the labyrinth of failure. It is my prayer that God will render me less worthy of this noble cause of explaining the goodwill of this being whose goodness is stretched beyond the limits of any academic words.
Dear friends gathered here with me,trying to talk about Osi personality here today, is like putting small flowers on an orchard. It could be unnoticed, for that came naturally with the abundance of fruit trees everywhere, yet, it could still, silently, add to its flourishing beauty. I must admit here, my fear in this: the subject could run into a book (and we’ve to gather again to launch it) if everything about him is to be said. Above all, I suspect myself of lacking the eminence and vigour to give a rigorous treat to this towering author, whose creativity has succeeded in crowning him as one of the most exciting writers of his generation. If you're expecting a scholarly approach to this, I'm afraid, I may let you down. This is because, I’m neither an expert in literature nor in psychology and so I get easily dazzled by the big terminologies contained. And so, far from presentinga scholarly treatise on him, I have resorted to letting my emotive callings to lead me to whichever direction it deemsfit. Although that does not mean I should be exonerated if I fail to at least make a serious attempt in explaining this ‘enigma’ before me. Not at all. I'm not even afraid to fail neither am I bordered by its weight because it wouldn't make any sense if I do. If you know this character's role in the academic world well enough, you'd know that the sealing gates of his successes had been thrown open to me and in its wake, had bounded the possibilities of failure within my grasp, if not entire annihilation. My presentation about him might lack this titillating sense of immortality, but since when do I start needing my poormode of communication to celebrate an academic god whose sanctuary is the library and whose totems are ink and writing sheet? I'm doing more than just presentation here dear listener, I'm celebrating with ovation, pomp and cannons, one of the loveliest of God's creatures.
There are myriad of testimonies to pour out, about the existence of this being whose inimitable and glorious friendship I’ve experienced for years. This being whose nomenclature reads Osinakachi Kalu Akuma remains credible evidence to the extraordinariness of men, in the most positive ways. Rooted in his person are the choicest seeds of human magnificence, brilliance, decency and goodness. It is without doubt that he oozes out such qualities ceaselessly. Hence the production of this marvellous piece of academic research we all gather here to launch today.Sprouting from this God givenaction are the marvels your person has continued to bless our lives with. How God could make such a 'perfect' human is an enigma that has ever stayed with me.
At some points when I've taken time to ponder on how he got this far, despite the turbulences and storms that have confronted the ship of his existential reality, I've always come to discover that it has been you who has held firmly the rudder of your ship of life and not just waiting for the storm to pass by, you were able to dance in the storm of life.In your relationship with others, the peopleI was able to interview all have one answer-“Osinakachi isa quintessential friend, a humorous guy, counsellor philanthropist,problem solver and a mobile library!
He makes generosity selfless, and forgiveness appear so simple. Candidly, the way you are made and the way you function that make these virtues so simple for you are puzzles that have not stopped craving for urgent solution in my head. And so, with my passion for philosophy of science I think I have to go beyond questioning your essence and existence, to dissect you in a laboratory to find out, soon enough if there’s any extra thing infused in you by the creator.Indeed,words are feeble currency when it is a question of explaining reality- the way things are and so what I know about Osinakachi goes beyond the power of words to portray.
But beyond all that, the saying still remains true that the work of the scholars is to think what thrills the imagination, the works of the readers is to imagine the imaginations of the scholars and I am one among many who have sucked from the breast of this sage, both by reading his book and articles and by belonging to his Facebook group called IQUISM to graze from his pasture of supple green leaves of prodigies of learning and the wise words of philosophy, psychology, business ethics and management and even upgrade my spirituality.This group builds bridges across various continents, shares knowledge, provoke new revelations, resolves dilemma and spurs constructive change.
I seriously lack words to adequately express my astonishment with regard to this great writing that I can judge to be so close to perfection in ingenuity and wisdom. In one word, I will say he/she who has this book has indeed gotten ammunition for exterminating fears out of his/her life.
Replies
People usually commend it. But from the authors point of view, I think the book is just a preface to better fearological orientation.
I still have alot to offer to my readers and the academic world at large.
My personal challenge is how to root Fearology as an academic discipline down and to make 'us' known..
#Marketing strategies
#Situating our audience..
Kalu,
Those are impressive endorsements. Congratulations. Now after a year of your book being out there, what would you say are some major things you have learned from people's reactions to you and your book?