‘‘Writers are shapers of life; they are the wheels controlling what direction our minds travel to and how far the journey goes. They are the gods that determine what creed or rituals befitting for shaping the extent of our realization of truth.’’

History serves as a palpable proof of man’s insatiable desire for wrong doings, this was revealed in wars and the ubiquitous pride of individuals and nations who boasted of the knowledge and weaponry they had amassed to destroy other races, people and nations they considered as threats to their economy, ideologies or conceived power. This is not just historical but equally present in the world right now. This thirst for malevolence is not and should not be conceived only in the tussle between world powers, it is very much present in our individual lives and interactions with one another on a daily basis.

In a world where so much is preached about love and the need for unity, it is also a world plagued with so much hate, separation, poverty, corruption, diseases and death. We’ve become reactionary to these problems and fail to understand why they happen, or our contributions to these ills and why the drive for lasting peace or love is delusive by the day. It is because man (generically) does not know who he really is and how he is to behave; it is because man understands himself only based on what he sees. It is because man is not awakened to realize his real self beyond his ties to the material; it is because man can never be good outside the spirit.

It is however clear that there is something invincible binding the entire human race, whether it is believed as true or not. There is an invincible tie binding us all to a collective experience of all the happenings in the world, and this connectedness affects our relationship with one another and all life forms present in the universe. Man is affected by his environment as much as environment is shaped by man’s actions and inactions. If there is a clear basis for such understanding, it is therefore necessary to strive in knowing how to bring about balance and lasting peace in the world.

But pathetically, a spiritually unconscious man is trying so hard to bring peace to a spiritually unconscious world.  The world’s drive in bringing about harmony has been somewhat disruptive in its approach to solving one problem to the other. This will equally create other problems that will need other disruptive ideas to solve it, and on and on it goes. This will never bring about any sustainable solution to the dissonance we experience today. To soundly understand who we are, we must first understand the primal nature of ourselves. Are we just what we see or is there something more to us? How do we build a collective consciousness in love that seeks the good of all? It doesn’t happen by just preaching about love or by trying to be good, it happens only when there is an awakening in our consciousness and in the realization of the essence of our beings. We have come to accept that love is the most powerful force in the universe, yet fail to give or experience this love in all situations in our interactions with people. We choose those we love and those we don’t and further create separation amongst each other, whereas this love force we all experience should have been an indicator to our desire for what is good and how much we all long for a touch of love and kindness.

As a literary artist, I have experienced the power of literature and the decisive role it plays in building sound knowledge of diverse human experiences. Literatures have been very compelling and powerful means in shaping how people think, and literatures are written by men and women awakened at different levels of self realization either in good or bad; and these literatures have been resources for human knowledge and reasoning. With such level of influence, it isn’t surprising therefore of how ideologies have shaped people, nations and how the world is structured today. This reveals the enormous power man has in contributing to every activity in the world. Every idea, belief, systems is always shaped by a person whether it is written or unwritten.

The world’s quest for knowledge has become increasingly voracious and the availability of myriad information in different fields of study has rather left many more confused than enlightened. Imagine if we had a world of spiritually awakened minds who shape thoughts, experiences and knowledge based on truth, imagine the beauty of diversity which invariable brings us all to one truth we know as love. This will further drive and deepen our consciousness in what is true, in what is of value and of utmost benefit to all.

So, for us to have conscious literatures, we must first have conscious people who will in turn write conscious literatures. And to be spiritually conscious takes a grave and honest seeking of truth, the source energy of the universe or God. Nobody truly becomes awakened without earnestly seeking. Whatever form of literature, be it prose, poetry or drama, fiction or nonfiction, it must always seek to express the universality of truth hidden in love and oneness of all.

Literature should be beyond the mere intelligent collection of words, ideas or facts to create fun or meaning, it should be conscious, decisive and intently created to transform its readers for good. Writers are shapers of life; they are the wheels controlling what direction our minds travel to and how far the journey goes. They are the gods that determine what creed or rituals befitting for shaping the extent of our realization of truth.