Of Clerics and Congregants in Today's World: The Confluence of Ironies
By Taiye Olaniyi
God, the Creator of everything in His created creation was, is, and shall continue to abound in His towering glory beyond any human imaginations in past times and present continuous.
In man's human and natural environment wherein man is duty-bound to be dictated to and influenced by natural laws which are no respecters of any human beings, then a man in his myopic and expanse of imaginations started attributing benevolence and malevolence phenomena to certain experiences.
Man's interplay with the biotic and abiotic environment either makes him a puppet of fate and what is considered as incapacitation and misfortunes or, in his advancements of thoughts graduate to problem-solving and solutions induced attributes.
From the previous concept of environmental determinism, through trials and errors, and from earlier primitive and paganistic thinking thoughts, the man had and still is been able to mold his environment to suit his fancies and vogue.
On an individual and collective basis, several meanings, interpretations, and misinterpretations are sought and doled out according to dictates, dictations, and dispositions of who, where, when, what and how.
On an individual basis, the solutions to human problems in the environment where one is domiciled or aspire to be, become the object and subject of the search within and outside of self.
In this regard, the spiritual aspect of the search for solutions to the problems of life is either confronted frontally by the individual or through fellow human beings regarded as having spiritual power beyond what one could personally cope with.
Though God still is regarded as having the most superior power(Omnipotence) beyond any mortal being ever created in His creation everywhere,(Omnipresence), only this One and only God is (Omniscient) as such is all-knowing far beyond any mortal being.
This our Omniscient God in time past and now has been using us all, Man, mortal beings at different stages, and dimensions as channels for the manifestations of His divinity.
Many who had been imparted with what in mystical parlance is regarded as the "The Greater Light", the Light of Illumination, had and are sharing thoughts, words, and actions to add their light unto those groping in the darkness of the mundane world, the world of ignorance.
The Prophets of God, His Messengers, the Avatars, and the Ancestral Personages have their lives of illumination recorded in sacred books in archives, the scriptural writings, and other means of transmission of their revelations from generations to generations.
No matter how old their testaments and testimonials, those of us of new-age could humbly appreciate, adopt and adapt their teachings to the modern-day conglomerate of humankind.
We now have hierarchies of clerics we equally revere as men of God trying to shepherd their flocks, prophesying, and performing miracles in the lives of their followers.
They serve as living reminders of the good works of the prophets of old, preach the sermon of divine light and purity of life that every individual needs to imbibe.
But today, as their sermon emphasizes the need to daily live a religious life, we all, both the clerics and congregants are pretentious, are divided into devotees, living in self-deceit, pretentious and murderers of the same humanity that only God the Almighty created for His purpose and for only His glory.
The question then is, what is the purpose of your individual life as a creature of God in God's creation?
Of what meaning and significance is the idea of, " The Fatherhood of God and Brotherhood of Man." Think About It.
A Muslim mystic once advised, "Worship not the tombs of holy men but do their works and thou will be saved."
Jesus the Christ similarly intoned, "Matthew 7:21 Parallel Verses [⇓ See commentary ⇓]
Matthew 7:21, NIV: "Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but only the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven." Think About It.
Is it also not a truism Master Jesus, the Teacher of Light's admonition to you and I that:"In the same way, let your light shine before others, that they may see your good deeds and glorify your Father in heaven."
We all are entrusted with Divine Light and whether religious or irreligious, clerics or mere congregants we must let this Light of Illumination glow in all our thoughts, words and actions.
God Bless Nigeria.
Taiye Olaniyi, a retired postman writes from Lagos