1ST KEY
‘By night on my bed I sought him whom my soul
loves: I sought him but found him not.’
Song of Songs 3:1
OBJECTIVITY
The latin maxim ‘Vide, quare, dubita’ is the epigraph to the
book 'SIXTY-SIX SONGS' which in English translates to ‘ Find, question, doubt’.
This aphorism which foreshadows the Journey through the book enshrines the
principle of objectivity as a means to knowing the Truth embedded in the myth
of the Journey of the Scribe. Because the way to the Grove is mostly traveled
at night , every invited Sojourner must cast off the cloak of subjectivity
represented by myopia, intolerance, narrow thinking which limits the vision and
obscures the course and instead adorn the garb of objectivity through which
facts are sifted through the sieve of Reason to arrive at a clear substrate of
Truth whose tincture fills the psyche with Light. The sage sang of this gracious anointing thus:
I say a
prayer
For the
piper
In the
crack
In whose
note will lay the tincture for our trial
Nuclei(Kingbird, Tyrranus
vociferans)
Thus, upon attaining an Objective Mind which searches
into the deep things of being, a Sojourner of Light, like Rene Descartes of
Methodic Doubt, will be able to come to the ultimate realization of Truth, akin
to the Descartian epiphany in the expression ‘I think therefore I am’ and
become free as it was foretold of old that ‘Truth shall set you free’. The finality of Truth, as the destination of
the Sojourner, is candidly put in the wisdom of the sage in the song that says:
Before the
beginning
Of origin
Africa was the reason
That gave
meaning to a measureless nothing
Nebula ( Hummingbird, Calothorax
Lucifer)
2ND KEY
FAITH:
‘Behold, you are fair, my love:
behold, you are fair, you have dove’s eyes’
Song of Songs 1:15
The significance of faith in the Journey of the Scribe
cannot be overstated. This is because man as a spiritual being cannot attain
divine knowledge by means of physical intimation alone on the reason of
inadequacy of the five senses to represent reality. The sage sang of the gift
of faith in the rhapsody that goes:
I was waiting
For fame
To gild a name
When I found
faith
Cobalt(Night-hawk, Chordeiles
minor)
We all are aware of the Appearance/Reality Paradox which
discountenances the five senses claim to Ultimate Reality and pushes the
argument further to metaphysical comprehension of matter. It is this
preternatural ability of man to know through his sixth sense that I term faith.
This faith is needed in divining the path of Light amongst many planes claiming
to be the way. The sage musing on this guiding light sang:
Be my compass
When I traverse
To know the truth
In intricate route
Lux
( Starling, Lamprotornis nitens)
The faith, likened to a compass, is the innate direction
given to the Sojourner in earnest search which manifests in various forms and
disguises but known by heart and conviction as if marked with red, seen with
the Inner Eyes, that is the dove’s eyes of the endued. The sage sang:
Angels are
All around
Showing the signs
Disguised in dreams and divine designs
Silhouette ( Veery, Catharus
furescens)
Just as it is with the belief in angels so is it with
this knowledge of the Map to Africa.
It is known only by call, heard from within, an invitation to the Banquet of
Light in the Grove of Gold high up yonder. The sage rhapsodized:
When the rosy evening
Is deep and ethereal
I
will conjoin with the call
Heard in the deep of heart
Helix (Acadian Flycatcher, Empidonax
virescens)
3RD KEY
PATIENCE:
‘You
that dwell in the gardens, the companions listen for your voice: let me hear it’.
Song of Songs 8:13
Another important factor in the Journey of the Scribe is
a virtue called Patience. Because anticipation is a natural component of every
journey a Sojourner is ever anxious to hear the word that gives go ahead to the
flight. It is of this primal urge that the sage sang:
I
feel the fervor
Of
your obstinate longing
And the
anxious waiting
For
the spring flowers to spring out in color
Diffraction ( Linnet, Carduelis
cannabina)
This urge, however, must be restrained and
curtailed with the virtue of patience which consists in having faith in the
testimony of old that is replete in immanent Nature which the sage sang of in
the 5th stanza of the 60th Song thus:
It is coming
Here to be
In its glowing garment of gold
And magical sight of old
Sunset (Golden Eagle, Aquila
chrysaetos)
Believing firmly and resolutely in the promise of Light,
aided with diligent search imbues the Sojourner with the prized virtue of
Patience which comforts through the trials of the long road to the Grove,
steeling the will to drive further and farther till the path leads to the
meadow by the rivers of water which flows into the Grove of Gold. Urging faith
in this rapturous promise the sage sang in the last stanza of the 1st
Song:
Follow me
To the grandeur of gray
Listen to me
Let
love take us away
Purl (Grey Heron, Ardea cinerea)
4TH KEY
CONSTANCY
‘I will rise now
and go about the city in the streets, and in the squares will I seek him whom
my soul loves…’
Song of Songs 3:2
The fourth and final key lies in constancy. The constancy
must cut across categories in the Journey of the Scribe-in the search, in
prayers, in sacrifices, in zealousness and in steadfastness to the course. A
Sojourner like the beacon of birds, the Star, must be constant in the
earnestness to know because the path does not allow ambivalence or insincerity
of call or purpose. Of constancy the sage sang:
Be my
watch
When I search
To find
the food
In
ultimate good
Lux (supra).
Hence it behooves on all willing to tread this valiant
path to brace up for adventure and discovery as I lead you through the Spheres
of Light leading to the great Grove of Gold at the West.
Reading this gives me hope that Nigeria,and indeed the African continent, has hope. Hope is kept alive in us, the youths. May the spring of enlightenment continue to flow in you,Wale!
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