African Beliefs: Letting Go Of What Holds Us Back

Africa is a land that has the most raw materials, arable land, and future business opportunities. The things that plague Africa, are things that plague the people and not nature. The richest parts of the continent have the most strife, and the common people, who just want to enjoy their God-given rights, pay the heaviest price. Geopolitical unrest and the improper use of natural resources has caused starvation, disease, and lost generations. We need to look at the values and beliefs that have enabled the outside: colonialists, religious extremists, and corporate interests, to destabilize an otherwise promising continent. This is not to say that there were never any problems originating from within Africa, but it is to say that those problems, and all others, have been accentuated or weaponized by those who want the resources for close to nothing. 

We need to start believing in the power of competence over the power of corruption. Many Africans believe, wrongly, that prosperity comes from corruption and that one needs to be corrupt in some way or another in order to climb the ladder. The fact that people believe this is understandable because corruption is rampant, but it does not change the truth. Prosperous nations have little corruption at the bottom to mid-levels of the social pyramid. Most of the corruption they possess, if present, is at the upper ends of the pyramid, that being a few of your politicians, finance people, the clergy, media, scientists, and academia. The upper levels of society are where propaganda can originate and thrive. Africa needs to also rely on competence and not qualifications because qualifications can be faked, but competence cannot. If we ensured that competence, and not qualifications, was the litmus test for promotion, we would progress. We would have less corruption because justly earned profits and growth would lead to more competence. 

We need to sort out our religious beliefs because they are holding us back. We need to stop believing in polytheism, black magic, and false prophets. Cultures with multiple gods fall, nine times out of ten, and those that don’t are very poor. The divided focus that comes from believing in multiple gods causes people to trade their actual resources for spiritual ones. I do believe that the spiritual is more important than the physical, but the physical is proximal. It is the only access that we have to anything spiritual, because we have to do something in the physical to influence the spiritual. Polytheistic societies demand too much from their people, leaving them unable to live productive lives. They see a spirit behind every action and a god behind every phenomenon. This allows them to neglect taking responsibility for their actions. They live an unexamined life that goes through one god after another in search of the one that will finally give them a breakthrough. Africa has also seen the church through the lense of their ancient religions. This has caused them to listen to false prophets who have convinced them that God wants something tangible from them. Bargaining is definitely something that has resulted in Africans trading physical money or resources for a breakthrough in the spiritual realm. God, according to the Bible, does not require a physical item, He requires obedience. Even sacrifices were replaced by Jesus Christ. We, like Abraham, do not need to sacrifice our sons; God provided the sacrifice. 

We need to stop believing that leaders are descended from the gods. We need to know that our leaders can be wrong and that we should not follow blindly. We have to stop electing people that turn around and steal from us. People that make deals that keep the people poor while enriching the few. I am not advocating for mutiny or unrest, or any form of anarchy because that also brings depravity. I am advocating for peaceful nation building. An Africa where the people have the opportunity to work and be compensated for their work. A place where they are free to dream, irrespective of the system of governance. Closing the gap between the rich and the poor through policy will not work, because the gap is not created by the rich, but by a myriad of reasons. The main thing we have to do is reward competence, prevent corruption, and help those that are left behind. We cannot keep falling prey to those who want us to destroy the little that we have in order for them to liberate us. We have to be industrious and grow through integrity. We have to believe in simple basic truths and not complex religions that leave us confused. We need to be one people within every country and cooperate with other nations in securing peace.  

Africa needs to embrace productivity, integrity, and monotheistic spirituality. We need to understand, once and for all, the relationship between the physical and the spiritual. We need to know that life is to be lived and that we can accomplish so much more when we put our minds to something good. There is so much hope for the future, but only if we let go of what has held us back. We must let go of bewitching each other, appeasing multiple gods, believing in false prophets, buying stolen goods, and believing that corruption is a catalyst for prosperity. We can do more if we stop closing our eyes while others clean us out. We have all the potential, we need to stop fighting amongst ourselves and with others. Let us embrace a free market system with the right dose of social programs. Not a communist system with a few powerful people doing the trading.