Excerpts from a Prolific Thinker

In a kingdom, far far away, during one of the king’s banquet, a sponge and a net found themselves in a fierce rhetoric contest. Arguing on apparently different grounds but with similar weapons. Hoping to be consecrated by the king, playing an informal referee role, arbitrating on matters arising from the heated debate. Standing from his chair in an extravagant arm gesture, Sponge begins his declamation. “I am a Sponge. Here for you, to absorb all that is passing by, from water to hardened dirt, I endeavor to take it, absorb as much as possible, and keep it close. Offering a benevolent shelter to all, regardless of their nature and intentions. I will keep the good soap as carefully as the dirty water. What a friend I can be, for all that are looking for attention, care and kind arms. How useful am I when you just need something to absorb the excess, the unwanted and the unusual.” His voice lowers, the spark in his eyes seems to dim, he continues, gazing into space. “But as...

  Finding one’s purpose is the key to self-realization If you are anything like the millions of people searching on the internet for self-development topics, you might have come across web pages and articles related to Purpose , Passion , or Vision as these are the 11 th most researched topics in that area. Originating from the 14 th century, “purpose” – from Anglo-French purpos , Old French porpos "an aim, intention" (12 th century), and from porposer "to put forth” – is generally defined as something set up as an object or end to be attained: an intention. Though its appearance in our modern vocabulary is relatively old, the twenty-first century has sparked a keen interest in the importance of purpose in one’s life. Robert Byrne famously stated that “the purpose of life is a life of purpose”, as an author and Chess master who pursued his passion until his late 70s, the key message was that a life with a clear goal is the essence of a life worth living. We a...

Funny how we get so caught up in our expectations, towards ourselves, others,  the world,  life. We erect them as standards to be met, promises to be fulfilled, goals to be achieved. On what basis? On previously agreed standards, normal/regular/expected course of action? “Expected”. Again, we project on the future, what it should hold as a customer who would have paid for a product online and thinking (rightfully?) that the goods paid for, will arrive when it is supposed to, with the quality and colour portrayed on the website. But life has no customers! It gives no promises! Frustrations in such a world become a waste of time. 24 hours in a day, 365 days (or so) in a year. Not one more minute. And yet we so often take our time for granted while on the other hand expecting so much from it. Most of us are born and grow up within an ecosystem where rules, standards and the interpretation of reality offer predictability and indications on what to expect. Waking up in the morning,...

  Young, fragile, plagued by complex challenges and yet full of passion and energy. The African continent is often defined in similar terms than its large youth. If history attests that the oldest known human skeleton was found in Eastern Africa, there seems to be a gap in data and historical research between the estimated living period of Lucy, 4.2 million years ago, and history of the continent as it unfolded thereafter. When it comes to Africa, there seems to be less interest about its past and long history than its future, expected growth and upcoming challenges. There seems to be so much more to be done than already achieved, so many needs and so little resources. Needless to say that Africa holds huge proportion of natural resources. 30 per cent of the world’s mineral reserves, 8 per cent of the world’s natural gas, 12 per cent of the world’s oil reserves, 40 per cent of the world’s gold, up to 90 per cent of its chromium and platinum as well as the largest reserves of cobalt...

  When moving between cities and regions in Africa, you leave tarmac (and sometimes dust) to meet the prominent nature, a green decor that imposes itself to the few who dare confronting it. A luxurious nature that can only partially be grasped, even by the most famous painters, from Van Gogh to South African John Pemba. The natural rhythms of Africa’s rural areas seem to be altered over time by the penetration of the urban way of life. Traditional houses are progressively transforming, with cement and steel rooftops being marks of an unstoppable evolution towards modernity, if one subscribes to the dichotomic comparison between tradition and modernity. In actual fact, tradition and modernity remain intertwined in the wooden boutiques selling essential staples from local produce to telecommunication recharge cards, even deep in the dense forests. City dwellers bring their gadgets and services in response to emerging business opportunities. Mechanics are now established across the ...

  “The independence was barely two years old when the death knell for the African family” [1] Decottignies (1965). A few years ago, I remember being a young University student in Sociology in Paris, avid to understand my own continent and choosing, as naturally as it seemed to me, the “African family” as the subject of my assignment in my “Sociology of Family” class. Drawing by Linca Nikwigize   Check other arts pieces here  Natural. Or so did I believe. I thought I would be able to find ample and rich content on the “African family”, just like there is a rich body of work and analysis on other regions. Now, don’t get me wrong, I was (and still am) conscious that Africa is far from being a unique sociological entity. I was aware that what some would dare calling a country, Africa, was much more than the monolithic block that they envisioned. I understood that each region, each country and each Province holds a different arrangement of cultural, social, political and ec...

What is sense? What makes sense? How to make sense of something one hardly understands? The term “making” itself should orient the thinker into the process of manufacturing, creation. Sense does not appear, it is made, an intelligible and subjective arrangement of facts, occurrences, observations, knowledge and/or exposure which manage to create the precious and sought-after “sense”. Intelligible, at least, to the one confirming holding it. How do we create an intelligible thread between mere facts, occurrences, happenings and the theoretical framework in which our minds has been conditioned? Do we genuinely try and understand the what, the why and the so what of our daily encounters or do we, effortlessly, or with laziness, park each of them in the closest closet (or so de we assess) which will be given the arduous task of defining it? What happens when we try to make sense of the senseless and random occurrences. As Rolf Dobelli puts it, “the human brain seeks...