Becoming Genius : Seminar on Cultivating Genius through an Individual/Interpersonal Paradigm of Human Development Inspired by the Work of Omnivorous Scholar Toyin Falola
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems
Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge
Would you like to be a genius?
Would you like to cultivate a level of achievement that can go a long way to shaping humanity?
Would you like to actualize a degree of creative power that surprises even you?
The origin of the term 'genius' is 'indwelling spirit of a person or a place.'
Everyone embodies such a spirit but it is stifled by conformity to society.
The Yoruba concept of ase and the Igbo ike postulate that each person embodies a unique creative potential.
Would you like to discover yours?
A general view of genius is that it emerges miraculously.
The example of Toyin Falola, a scholar, writer, interpersonal builder and institution creator of unprecedented combination of individual/interpersonal achievement, makes it clear that genius can be cultivated.
We shall examine the intersection between Falola's example and those of other creatives across time and space, from Setilu, described as the founder of the multidisciplinary Yoruba Ifa knowledge system, to the Arab philosopher and doctor Ibn Sina, from Aristotle, founder of the disciplinary organization of Western scholarship, to Leonardo da Vinci, magically unique artist and scientist, from Wole Soyinka, great imaginative and spiritual writer, to Albert Einstein, who reconfigured humanity's understanding of space, time and energy, to such figures of contemporary culture as Tim Berners- Lee, founder of the underlying system of the Web, to Bill Gates, creator of Microsoft, one of the most globally impactful companies in history, Mark Zuckerbeg, founder of Facebook, the world's most successful social media platform, and Elon Musk, founder of Space-X and Tesla Motors, pioneer in space travel, electric cars and other technologies shaping humanity's future.
Falola is what I describe as a systematic genius, a genius whose achievements are reached through the cultivation of a particular lifestyle, a consistent development of orientations and habits that results in genius.
Falola's creative development is centred in the correlative development of self and others.
This seminar will introduce you to the manner in which Falola develops himself and how he develops others and invite you to reflect on how you can apply these observations to yourself.
You will be presented with ideas on how to understand yourself and your environment, and work with this understanding in enhancing personal and interpersonal creativity.
This understanding is crystallized through my study of Toyin Falola, ongoing since 2018, and integrating my decades long explorations of various streams of knowledge.
I have not needed input from Falola nor am I consulting or working with him on this project because the relevant information is in the public domain, only it is inadequately understood by many. Falola is also hyper-sensitive to the possibility of being seen as self celebrating and so might not be completely comfortable with such a project.
The project has to be done anyway, so we may take better advantage of this unique example of creativity.
I have studied Falola's CV and been following his development since I began close study of him in 2018. I have read a cross-section of his work, examined some of the studies of that work and written and published on various aspects of his productivity. I have spoken with him on a number of occasions. I have compared what I have learnt with what I know of other creatives and filtered what I have understood through the intimacy represented by my own efforts at self actualization.
A pattern of orientation and action emerges for me through these engagements. It is that pattern I wish to share with you.
We shall examine how to apply this knowledge in your own life.
All who are interested should contact me using this email address.
I am working on deciding the cost and length of time of the seminar and look forward to exploring these parameters with interested participants.
Some might want to take the seminar as part of a group or in a private one-on-one session, or both, at different times.
Group participation enables sharing ideas with various people.
Some people might find a one-on-one session particularly congenial for closer examination of their individual needs.
The seminar will employ Whatsapp, for smaller groups and one-on-one sessions and Zoom for larger groups.
I am an Independent Scholar part of whose work is centred in the comparative exploration of diverse approaches to knowledge.
My latest project in the development of systems of knowledge is the ongoing construction of a philosophy and spirituality inspired by the Yoruba origin Ogboni esoteric order, accessible through the compilation " My Journey in Developing Universal Ogboni Philosophy and Spirituality, a New School of the Ogboni Esoteric Order."
My work across various disciplines, employing varied expressive forms, may be reached through my central website Compcros.
Salimonu Kadiri
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Ämne: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Becoming Genius : Seminar on Cultivating Genius through an Individual/Interpersonal Paradigm of Human Development Inspired by the Work of Omnivorous Scholar Toyin Falola
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Cornelius Hamelberg
Great, greater, very great, greatest. Birds of the same feather flock together. True or false? Toyin and Oluwatoyin together, why not?
Both are Nigerians and both are intellectuals, unlike Jesus’s disciples Peter and his brother Andrew who were mere fishermen -
until Jesus taught them to be “fishers of men” and indeed they, later on, became great apostles.
Personally, I think that you are being a little too harsh, arrogant and disdainful of the very talented being in our midst as
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju. In like manner the Jews rejected Jesus, they said, “You’re not Him!” So what if Professor
Chicken Wings wants to run a course on “Falolaism” and charges $100 for every twenty minutes, can he be legally prevented
from doing so? And what if (and this is a question for the theology department of the new religion) what if Bishop Eagle Feathers
wants to proselytise Oga Falola as the Messiah or as the Mahdi of musicology (Peace be upon him), should the Bishop be
arrested along with all of his apostles and praise singers? In my opinion, apart from performing miracles such as transforming
darkness into light, the geniuses could be working towards this.
Whilst you are busy with your mega-genius I’m still wrestling ( but not in the mud) with this question asked by Einstein:
"A question that sometimes drives me hazy: Am I or are the others crazy?"
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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI
Great, greater, very great, greatest. Birds of the same feather flock together. True or false? Toyin and Oluwatoyin together, why not?
Both are Nigerians and both are intellectuals, unlike Jesus’s disciples Peter and his brother Andrew who were mere fishermen -
until Jesus taught them to be “fishers of men” and indeed they, later on, became great apostles.
Personally, I think that you are being a little too harsh, arrogant and disdainful of the very talented being in our midst as
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju. In like manner the Jews rejected Jesus, they said, “You’re not Him!” So what if Professor
Chicken Wings wants to run a course on “Falolaism” and charges $100 for every twenty minutes, can he be legally prevented
from doing so? And what if (and this is a question for the theology department of the new religion) what if Bishop Eagle Feathers
wants to proselytise Oga Falola as the Messiah or as the Mahdi of musicology (Peace be upon him), should the Bishop be
arrested along with all of his apostles and praise singers? In my opinion, apart from performing miracles such as transforming
darkness into light, the geniuses could be working towards this.
Whilst you are busy with your mega-genius I’m still wrestling ( but not in the mud) with this question asked by Einstein:
"A question that sometimes drives me hazy: Am I or are the others crazy?"
On Tuesday, 5 May 2020 15:57:35 UTC+2, ogunlakaiye wrote:
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Cornelius Hamelberg
Lord Agbetuyi,
Please permit my little ramble.
We are in essential agreement about your paragraph one. There are serious problems with your paragraph two. Toyin as intellectually curious and inquisitive (investigative?) as he is, has every right to discover anew….
Someone cannot claim to be a great teacher and yet cannot claim to have any disciples or a large following. For instance, the simplest way of bringing a schizophrenic or one possessed by an evil spirit/inferiority complex/ superiority complex or what’s called “a Messiah complex “ , one who actually believes that he is Jesus or the Messiah, the easiest way of bringing him safely down back to earth is to ask him, “ OK Mr. Messiah, so you are Jesus but where are your disciples?”
In the case of Sabbatai Zevi of Izmir who had a large following, when he finally got to the court of the Sultan in Istanbul which is in Turkey, the Sultan thus greeted him welcome: “ OK Mr Messiah, now that you are finally here, I only have one thing to say to you : Either you accept Islam, or I execute you! “
To the dismay of his disciples, Sabbatai Zevi accepted Islam. It was explained by some of his most faithful disciples that in accordance with some fanciful Kabbalistic doctrine, he has to accept Islam in order to travel to the very depths of hell, to redeem some sparks down there.
More seriously, this is the opening paragraph of Pirkei Avot- Ethics of the Fathers :
“Moses received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua; Joshua to the elders; the elders to the prophets; and the prophets handed it down to the men of the Great Assembly. They said three things: Be deliberate in judgment, raise up many disciples, and make a fence around the Torah.”
Rabbi Akiva had many disciples
The exhortation to “raise up many disciples” testifies to the importance of knowledge, or right knowledge and of the teacher. By way of analogy, I daresay that Professor Toyin Falola having raised and still raising “many disciples” and his unofficial appointment of Moses Ochonu as his crown prince is also testimony to his status as a teacher, professor, and a professional dispenser of light.
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju is one of Professor Falola’s admirers. We have among many others. Count me in and that makes at least two – and let me hasten to add that I am no historian (by any stretch of the imagination - the sometimes-self- aggrandising imagination), but I am also a humble admirer of his literary output (including Etches On Fresh Waters). Where am I going with all this?
A very long time ago, Job - the proverbially most patient one says in Book of Job 19:25, “But I know that my Redeemer lives, and the last on earth, He will endure”
Today, there are believers who say from their own hearts and not necessarily quoting Job, they say with some confidence, “My Redeemer liveth!” – and by “Redeemer” they mean Jesus, . We cannot disprove their sincerity or their faith in who or what they believe is the source of their sustenance.
Today, there are the genius Nigerian mega pastors who are not holding seminars on how to become a genius, or how to produce mere electricity or how to construct a spacecraft that can transport you all the way to Mars or beyond Mars or how to walk on water, they are going several steps further than that: They are teaching, preaching, holding seminars and workshops on How to go to Heaven!
Not only Nigerian pastors are doing that – in Sweden for example we have someone I have met several times and had lots of cups of coffee and long chats with him, his name is Christer Roshamn – nice guy, very effective in his preaching, even uses music to communicate what he feels….
So – what’s wrong if our gifted Brother Oluwtoyin Vincent Adepoju – a student of Oga Falola’s research methods etc. wants to spread the light, wants to use his role model Oga Falola or indeed Abiola Irele or William Shakespeare or Spinoza or the Chair of Poetry at Oxford or Vincent Van Gogh or our Brer Kperogi as the illustrious means or vehicle how to get there?
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
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Gloria Emeagwali
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Gloria Emeagwali
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Gloria Emeagwali
On May 6, 2020, at 8:40 AM, Gloria Emeagwali <gloria.e...@gmail.com> wrote:
But you are missing one point,
OLAYINKA AGBETUYI
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Cornelius Hamelberg
Oluwatotyin Vincent Adepoju,
Here’s the message from Eric Bibb: Don't let nobody bring drag your spirit down
My mother had a yearly almanac of some Biblical scenes and a message that was supposed to go home: God first, family second. I forget what came third.
I know that I shouldn’t ask this, but what’s more important, Ifa or Falola? Unfair question?
On my side, there’s this balance scale on which my ignorance far outweighs what I think I know.
For me too you could ask, poetry or music and the answer would be both, they are in fact, inseparably linked, like the Holy Trinity….
Your interlocutors probably have in mind inspirational courses such as Following Steve Jobs or they are being short-sighted about the possibilities offered by the advanced technologies in this our digital age and distance learning in which you can sit in Boston Massachusetts and learn how to play African guitar
What will be the nice price?
But for the constant lack of electricity in Lagos, I would suggest that the Forum arrange the occasional webinar so that the great debaters – including the guardians of Her Majesty’s Glorious English can debate live and direct with the vermin or the Russian speakers from the Kremlin (smile). Bring it on. In that regard Malcolm X at the Oxford Union Debate is inspirational.
“While preachers preach of evil fates
Teachers teach that knowledge waits
Can lead to hundred-dollar plates
Goodness hides behind its gates
But even the president of the United States
Sometimes must have to stand naked” ( It’s alright Ma)
Just like death and who’s next, “The rifleman's stalking the sick and the lame, preacher man seeks the same, who'll get there first is uncertain.” (Jokerman)
Whilst the mega pastors are busy preaching about the ultimate rewards that await us in heaven and how they themselves are going to get there by hook or by crook or by book, the book in question being The Holy Bible - and dear Oluwatoyin, whilst some of us are investing so much time energy effort in book-learning or to acquire the skills to pay the bills, in this song by Joni Mitchell, featuring Seal, the questions is asked, “the world is at your feet, but what about your heart?”
Study, study, study, study, the tables turned and for Rumi the story began with Rumi's first meeting with Shams Tabrizi
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Emeagwali, Gloria (History)
Prof. of History/African Studies, CCSU
africahistory.net; gloriaemeagwali.com
Recipient of the 2014 Distinguished Research
Excellence Award, Univ. of Texas at Austin;
2019 Distinguished Africanist Award
New York African Studies Association
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Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Becoming Genius : Seminar onCultivating Genius through an Individual/Interpersonal Paradigm of HumanDevelopment Inspired by the Work of Omnivorous Scholar Toyin Falola
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Cornelius Hamelberg
Gloria in Excelsis Emeagwali,
Oluwatoyin Adepoju could argue,
“Which laws of discipleship are you talking about?”
How did it end?
First of all, I have not been on any “intellectual travel”, unless of course, you want to refer to my train journey from Mumbai to Delhi as that because I travelled with a Parsi who told me all sorts of things.
The company that we keep is very important. Ram Dass says that if the Buddha is one’s psychiatrist/ therapist, at the end of the” treatment” one should be enlightened.
This thing about “shepherd and sheep, guru and apprentice, hunter and hound, simultaneously”, of course, your background is the academy – about love, Rumi has these lines:
“I have lived on the lip
of insanity, wanting to know reasons,
knocking on a door. It opens.
I've been knocking from the inside”
Rumi penned these lines: starting with “ One went to the door of the Beloved and knocked.”
A man can only speak from his own personal experience. So, here we go again. Toyin has been long at it: For example, here .
It must have been a sufficiently poetic moment with Jesus and his disciples at the mountain of the transfiguration. There’s the unity of purpose expressed by Jesus when he says, “ I and My Father are One “ and then there’s the physicality of Jesus saying, “Anyone who has seen me has seen The Father” for which the enraged Pharisees probably wanted to stone Jesus for blasphemy , in the same way that you now want to stone Brother Toyin Adepoju, metaphorically speaking you want to steak him at the stake, although he has not said; “ I and Professor Toyin Falola are one” or “ Anyone who has seen me has seen Professor Toyin Falola” – in which case - if he said that you must understand that Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju has probably entered the “Agemo phase”
In Siddha Yoga there is a method of doing this and it’s known as Guru Bhava (Installing the Guru) to the extent that at some time - and this was way back in 1976, I started walking like Baba Muktananda. Some outsiders (outside my body) must have thought that I was putting it on, but I wasn’t – the only thing and thank God, I didn’t go and sit on Baba’s throne.
So, imagine if Adepoju were to install Falola his Guru in like manner and all of Falola’s awesome mental powers were to flow through Adepoju! Sure, he would start having ideas (shmile) that he was Adepoju-Falola and set off by air to occupy the Frances Sanger Mossiker Chair in the Humanities at the University of Texas at Austin.
Still on the curve of truth, I just want to add that way back then the Kundalini was not awakened - some people see some light and hear some music ,travel through a little bit of space and think that they’re enlightened, , it was a year later after I visited the Vajreshwari Temple that later that night, Kundalini was unmistakably awakened ( with full force)
A disciple “equating himself with his master” is a perennial problem everywhere when people start getting too big for their boots/booty/ illusions of grandeur, but surely with all the evidence available to us on the table, our Oluwatoyin is not even close to being guilty of such a thing. True, he did make an announcement which on second thoughts he hastily withdrew shortly after his name’s sake Professor Toyin Falola accidentally posted the scam letter inviting Oluwatoyin to receive an Honorary Doctorate from the University of Oxford which I thought at the time was calculated to put Oluwatoyin in his place, to show Oluwatoyin that he had not really quite got there yet Baba Kadiri his ancient antagonist adding fuel to the fire did not spare any sarcasm or satire on the theme of “how to get plenty of money without working for it” and that “ the proprietor of Seminar on Cultivating genius wants to teach me how to get to the top of the palm-tree without climbing from the bottom”. The scam invitation to dear Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju coming on the heels of Prof Wole Soyinka and Prof Toyin Falola each being awarded an Honorary D.Litt, I thought that this would be followed by a joint invitation inviting the trinity of Soyinka ( the Father) Falola ( the son) and Adepoju ( the holy spirit of Yoruba Ifa ) for an Honorary Doctor of Divinity, probably at Yale or Princeton. Fact is you don’t award yourself a Professorship – you are awarded one, unless of course, you are Professor Griff or Professor Longhair
In my own lifetime there was this type of problem posed by Bubba Free John who was once a disciple to Baba Muktananda but later on declared his independence, elevated himself to a position of alleged attainment higher that was supposed to be higher than that of his master and in addition to that he violated another understanding / unspoken rule by revealing that which had hitherto been concealed even in Baba Muaktanada’s very detailed spiritual autobiography Chitshakti Vilas/ Play of Consciousness, which I’m sure Oluwatoyin has read. Bubba Free John had made certain obscene allegations against the Kundalini Goddess (which I cannot repeat here.) Baba who was very devoted to his own Guru Bhagawan Nityananda. ,of course, reprimanded Bubba Free John / Franklin Jones : One does not set one’s self up, over one’s own Guru. The other controversy was about whether the journey ends at the sahasrara chakra or if after ascending beyond the sahasrara chakra the kundalini then returns to repose at the Heart Chakra as its final destination and seat of being, so to speak: AS you yourself asked, “How did it end? “Indeed, how does it end?
This kind of problem usually arises when the Pir, Sadguru, Guru, Qutb, a King, transits to the Hereafter without having named a successor in the case of His Holiness the Pope we have to wait for the White Smoke…
BTW, there’s no denying his aptitude and with just a little bit of charisma, just like the Niger pastors Toyin could set himself up as a Guru of the Ifa/ Ogboni emissary to the West and make a lot of money, easy access to beautiful big booty, and enjoy a meteoric rise to stardom just like Greta Thunberg
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Ämne: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Becoming Genius : Seminar on Cultivating Genius through an Individual/Interpersonal Paradigm of Human Development Inspired by the Work of Omnivorous Scholar Toyin Falola
OLAYINKA AGBETUYI
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Cornelius Hamelberg
Baba Kadiri,
Re- You say that you are “not aware of anytime that Toyin Falola, professor of history, claimed to be a great teacher and much less claiming to have disciples and a large following as if he were a religious leader. Even if Professor Falola had, in private discursion disclosed to Cornelius about his desire to have Moses Ochonu as his successor, it would be unfair or perhaps unethical to disclose that in this connection”
Why do you have to be so pedantic? Or is fastidious a better word? Professor Falola did not himself claim to be a great teacher or historian, neither did Hugh Trevor-Roper, but that does not disqualify public adulation, the Ubuntu definition of who they are in terms of discipleship or any number of Mister and Miss Follow-Follow or that Falolaism is a new word in the Oxford Dictionary. Isn’t that what this new book is all about?
Oga Falola made certain definitive statements a few years ago about the new crop of Nigerian historians and he spoke (wrote) so positively about Moses Ochonu that since then I (Cornelius) am in no doubt that Ochonu is his crown prince. Of course, he did not write it in stone.
In this post written on Nigeria’s Impudence Day in 2017, Oga Falola recounts an amicable meeting with Toyin Adepoju : WE are to normally assume ( I assume) that since then the brotherhood/ relationship between them had grown from strength to strength and to the point where Adepoju was feeling confident enough to propose the genius training.
What I can’t understand is your venom. Isn’t this forum supposed to be a fraternity, a brotherhood of Pan- Africanists instead of a brood of vipers in which some holier-than- thou and not so clever think that they are better than others, just because some of us originated in the swamp?
Bro Oluwatoyin made a proposal which he has since modified, and all you can think of is what he said before and not what he has since amended HERE. – in which he explains that” Falola knows nothing about the project, on account of the need to keep the project independent of the figure who inspired it.”
Is it illegal for anyone to have “Proposed Paid Seminars on the Creative Style and Work of Baba Kadiri or indeed to write a conscientious or even malicious review of Baba Kperogi’s Notes from over the Atlantic?
BTW; about the latter I would take my inspiration from Mark Steyn
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Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
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Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
I shall be using this powerful piece from Gloria in my next version of this initiative, giving her credit for the formulation-
'equating himself with his master and transforming himself into both shepherd and sheep, guru and apprentice, hunter and hound,simultaneously.'
This is sublime.
Gloria has inadvertently summed up most succinctly and electrifyingly a model of learning in which there is no absolute master, no overarching teacher but only kinds of mastership, within horizontal rather than vertical flows of knowledge, since the teacher may become the student and the student the teacher.
Falola is a great scholar and memorable writer but that does not mean he cannot learn from Adepoju. Adepoju has lot to learn from Falola but that does not mean he is going to adapt Falola's strategies in all particulars.
Falola is far better known than Adepoju but there are circles where Falola's name might not ring a bell while that of Adepoju would.
My next formulation of this initiative, constructed before reading those inspired words by Gloria, places side by side my own kind of creativity and that of Falola's as two contrastive but complementary forms, representing two polarities evident in the history of creativity, of institutions and of development in general.
I describe mine as combustive and recreative while that of Falola is igniting and expansive.
but if i discuss my own creativity as recreative in terms of my development of new approaches to cognitive systems what about Falola's projection of the necessity of epistemic plurality and his exploring its possibilities in his work, is that not recreative?
Delightful dialectics demonstrating the ultimate inadequacy of categories in configuring such protean manifestations as human creativity, like the Greek god Proteus changing shape to various forms as you try to grab him or the Yoruba Eshu, so tall he cannot look into the cooking pot, so large the veranda and the room are too small for him but who is at home in a groundnut shell, as the Ifa poem puts it about that embodiment of the impossible-to-pin-down dynamism of ase, Yoruba cosmology's understanding of creative potential inhering in all forms of being, in a manner unique to each existent [ Yoruba : Five Centuries of African Art and Thought, ed. Drewal et al and complemented by Achebe on the Igbo ike in 'The Igbo World and its Art' ]
What led me to these formulations?
In the effort to move my seminar advertising to Facebook, I concluded that most people in my Facebook friends list are not likely to know about Falola. Even Soyinka, who has been around for much longer, is he not better known as an activist? How many who know about him have read up to three of his greatest works?
But Falola's creativity demonstrates principles of universal value which everyone should know about and adapt to themselves.
But a good no of people in my Facebook list know about the iconoclastic Adepoju, the constructor of a new school of Ogboni esotericism without being a member of any conventional Ogboni school, the person advancing unusual views on Ifa, writing about various kinds of things, from the erotic to the arcane.
So, I chose to use myself as a demonstration of one kind of creativity, and from that platform, introduce Falola as representing another kind of creativity and in order to highlight the universal values being addressed through these explorations of kinds of creativity I use iconic, archetypal, elemental symbols, characterizing mine as the creativity of fire in its wild and potentially enriching force and that of Falola as the creativity of air in its pervasive, universally penetrating and indispensably nourishing presence.
So, I am adapting Gloria's lines to indicate one may admire a great example of creativity but also understand it as taking root from a similar fountain as one's own kind of creativity, unique in itself and irreplaceable by any other, while open to complementation by that of others, judiciously adapted, and from this recognition, work out how to make the most of others' examples like others could also take advantage of the inspiration radiating from one's own example.
Everything is Buddha, declares one view of Buddhism. Why polish the mirror of the mind in order to see more clearly your Buddha nature when the person polishing and the mirror itself are Buddha?
Simply let the Buddha you are shine forth, so may be interpreted a Zen Buddhist story from Paul Reps' Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.
thanks
OLAYINKA AGBETUYI
This message is eligible for Automatic Cleanup! (
I shall be using this powerful piece from Gloria in my next version of this initiative, giving her credit for the formulation-
'equating himself with his master and transforming himself into both shepherd and sheep, guru and apprentice, hunter and hound,simultaneously.'
This is sublime.
Gloria has inadvertently summed up most succinctly and electrifyingly a model of learning in which there is no absolute master, no overarching teacher but only kinds of mastership, within horizontal rather than vertical flows of knowledge, since the teacher may become the student and the student the teacher.
Falola is a great scholar and memorable writer but that does not mean he cannot learn from Adepoju. Adepoju has lot to learn from Falola but that does not mean he is going to adapt Falola's strategies in all particulars.
Falola is far better known than Adepoju but there are circles where Falola's name might not ring a bell while that of Adepoju would.
My next formulation of this initiative, constructed before reading those inspired words by Gloria, places side by side my own kind of creativity and that of Falola's as two contrastive but complementary forms, representing two polarities evident in the history of creativity, of institutions and of development in general.
I describe mine as combustive and recreative while that of Falola is igniting and expansive.
but if i discuss my own creativity as recreative in terms of my development of new approaches to cognitive systems what about Falola's projection of the necessity of epistemic plurality and his exploring its possibilities in his work, is that not recreative?
Delightful dialectics demonstrating the ultimate inadequacy of categories in configuring such protean manifestations as human creativity, like the Greek god Proteus changing shape to various forms as you try to grab him or the Yoruba Eshu, so tall he cannot look into the cooking pot, so large the veranda and the room are too small for him but who is at home in a groundnut shell, as the Ifa poem puts it about that embodiment of the impossible-to-pin-down dynamism of ase, Yoruba cosmology's understanding of creative potential inhering in all forms of being, in a manner unique to each existent [ Yoruba : Five Centuries of African Art and Thought, ed. Drewal et al and complemented by Achebe on the Igbo ike in 'The Igbo World and its Art' ]
What led me to these formulations?
In the effort to move my seminar advertising to Facebook, I concluded that most people in my Facebook friends list are not likely to know about Falola. Even Soyinka, who has been around for much longer, is he not better known as an activist? How many who know about him have read up to three of his greatest works?
But Falola's creativity demonstrates principles of universal value which everyone should know about and adapt to themselves.
But a good no of people in my Facebook list know about the iconoclastic Adepoju, the constructor of a new school of Ogboni esotericism without being a member of any conventional Ogboni school, the person advancing unusual views on Ifa, writing about various kinds of things, from the erotic to the arcane.
So, I chose to use myself as a demonstration of one kind of creativity, and from that platform, introduce Falola as representing another kind of creativity and in order to highlight the universal values being addressed through these explorations of kinds of creativity I use iconic, archetypal, elemental symbols, characterizing mine as the creativity of fire in its wild and potentially enriching force and that of Falola as the creativity of air in its pervasive, universally penetrating and indispensably nourishing presence.
So, I am adapting Gloria's lines to indicate one may admire a great example of creativity but also understand it as taking root from a similar fountain as one's own kind of creativity, unique in itself and irreplaceable by any other, while open to complementation by that of others, judiciously adapted, and from this recognition, work out how to make the most of others' examples like others could also take advantage of the inspiration radiating from one's own example.
Everything is Buddha, declares one view of Buddhism. Why polish the mirror of the mind in order to see more clearly your Buddha nature when the person polishing and the mirror itself are Buddha?
Simply let the Buddha you are shine forth, so may be interpreted a Zen Buddhist story from Paul Reps' Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.
thanks
Michael Afolayan
Cornelius Hamelberg
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju,
God dae.
The Almighty is on the side of fair play, equity, perseverance, justice. Forget about anyone who would spit at you.
I also have a very high opinion of your creative abilities in the areas that you have shown us thus far. I totally agree with your subjective and objective assessments. Pray. Go ahead.
The Lord is my Shepherd, I shall not want.
Bitachon.
Be confident.
Here’s another genius that I admire in quite another area.
Most unfortunately, your interlocutors do not breathe a word about your higher, praiseworthy intention of spreading the light.
But, let’s get down to brass tacks and let’s take the bull by the horns, as the Fulani herdsman would say, in perfect Fulani…
Since he cannot be accused of being “coy”, or indifferent, I think that your namesake (Professor Toyin Falola) is either being unnecessarily ambivalent or is being diplomatically extra-cautious considering that as the moderator cum proprietor-in-chief of this discussion series he is the one who knows exactly what’s going on, exactly which post are allowed to surface and those that we shall never see; since it’s his precious name and reputation that various interlocutors say is at stake, the question remains, why has he not intervened on this issue up till now – when it’s the advertisement and potential misuse or misappropriation of his name and his genius – some say for monetary gain/ your financial success that is at the centre of the storm ?
Perhaps, it’s because you have “explained that Falola knows nothing about the project, on account of the need to keep the project independent of the figure who inspired it.” – perhaps that’s enough cause for him to want to interfere one way or the other. Who knows, he is possibly enjoying the back and forth , softly chuckling to himself, and this could go on indefinitely, unless of course someone could step outta line and commit the fatal error of what he could perceive as ( God forbid) some miscreant attempting to drag his good name in the mud at which point you could be sure he will intervene, maybe viciously with his axe and thus lay the whole issue to rest as some of the interlocutors set t to work – get busy picking up the broken pieces, the debris, as the wind cries Mary
One can only speculate that another possible reason for Professor Falola’s non-intervention - especially an intervention of support and encouragement could be that he does not want to be thought of as promoting himself, his name, his brand, his genius, through Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju. But who knows what’s in store for you, maybe brilliant future and every great man has had to encounter and overcome or bypass, circumvent some great or little hindrance, setback, frustration, the prophet of Islam, salallahu alaihi wa salaam is no exception…
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Gloria Emeagwali
On May 7, 2020, at 9:09 PM, 'Michael Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com> wrote:
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Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
Thanks, to, to Olayinka for his sensitivity to the dynamism of the teacher/learner dialectic.
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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI
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Cornelius Hamelberg
There’s someone who was so smart that he said there was a time when nothing existed. Well, even a crazy fool can say that…
There’s a question for the geniuses to answer, it’s from The Quran. The first time that I read that far, I was struck and had to stop and ponder. Here’s the question:
“Say: Have ye thought: If (all) your water were to disappear into the earth, who then could bring you gushing water?” (Surah Al-Mulk ayat 30)
To pick up on Gloria in Excelsis Emeagwali’s trajectory, who invented the wheel? What about the circle? Why is the world not flat?
Lest we forget, there are Nigerian Geniuses and Nigerian Inventors. Even in a semiliterate society, one has to hesitate in order to not decorate every Nigerian praise-singer, scientist, medical doctor, philosopher, professor, associate professor, writer, poet, journalist, with the title genius, in the normal sense of the word when it is not meant as a mere compliment or as a poetic description of the unfathomable ( God is the greatest genius )
Concerning any big bugger post-colonial nuisance who brags about the English Language as the greatest treasure or source of income - and looks down on those who don’t know what time it is in English, the way that he knows what time it is, I’d just like to say that when you consider the circumstances and his motivation for acquiring English as a language, I admire Georg Henrik von Wright more than I admire the controversial Joseph Conrad who never did quite overcome his problems with English propositions ( but does that matter awfully?) And does it matter terribly if Grigori Perelman or the President of Poland or China does not speak great English or does not pronounce 419 like Mahatma Gandhi or Sir Winston Churchill?
# Boasting is actually not forbidden and this boast (a simple statement of fact) by Imam Ali - alaihi salaam in Nahjul Balagha (The Peak of Eloquence) still makes me smile.
He said, “The flood water flows down from me and the bird cannot fly up to me.” ( Sermon 3 (the Sermon of ash-Shiqshiqiyah)
Some peace and quiet: Chopin
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Michael Afolayan
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Harrow, Kenneth
kenneth harrow
professor emeritus
dept of english
michigan state university
Sent: Thursday, May 7, 2020 11:39 PM
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Harrow, Kenneth
kenneth harrow
professor emeritus
dept of english
michigan state university
Sent: Friday, May 8, 2020 1:54 PM
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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI
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Emeagwali, Gloria (History)
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Michael Afolayan
OLAYINKA AGBETUYI
OLAYINKA AGBETUYI
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Cornelius Hamelberg
Michael Afolayan’s assessment, ” In fairness to Toyin Adepoju, he is smart and has the potential to be great… if he applies wisdom and hard work, the latter of which I see in him quite often, he could attain the greatness of Soyinka and the indefatigable intellectual productivity and smartness of Falola” then breaks off at the perennial Nigerian age question – we know that geniuses peak at around nineteen years of age ( whereas some Nigerians at 47 years of age still think that they are teenagers aligned with 50% of the Nigerian population or 205 Million who are currently under the age of 30. That must have something to do with their thinking. Jimi Hendrix died at the age of 27 after less than three years in the studio, Jesus of Nazareth was probably crucified when he was 30 years old, Alexander the Great passed away at 33 years of age, Bob Marley at 35 years of age, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated before they were 40 years old, the Prophet of Islam – salallahu alaihi wa salaam started his prophetic career at 40 years of age and blessed the Hereafter at 63 years of age. The Prophet Moses at 120 years of age, his brother Aron passed away before him at 123 years of age. That’s some perspective on age. I hope that Oluwatoyin lives to be one hundred and twenty years of age….
If, ages ago there was one Oluwatoyin Adepoju, PhD candidate in the comparative literature program at University College ..then you (plural) are now going overboard with these kinds of sorrowful speculations. For a surety, like many others before him, including those who at their point of entry were less qualified than Oluwatoyin, if Oluwatoyin were to be keen on emigrating to the US or to Canada, based on their meritocracy entry requirements I doubt that he would have to resort to the kind of subterfuge that you are remotely suggesting. Furthermore, to up the ante, he has the special interests that he could further over there where there is an uninterrupted supply of the electric current, so that he does not have to do his research by candlelight (like some other unfortunate Lagosians)
Are there no good-hearted, philanthropic, fellow countrymen over there who could even sponsor him, could sponsor such promise and such talent on the way to securing a brilliant future – assuming that that’s what he wants, a brilliant future?
Song number nine: Long time gone
Some peace and quiet: Chopin
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Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
Gloria Emeagwali
Gloria Emeagwali
great thanks, Cornelius.God bless you for your indefatigable defense of Adepoju.My broader destination is that of building a system of knowledge, a body of ideas and a method of human development, based on the research and publications i have been engaged in across various disciplines.My engagement with Falola Studies constitutes an aspect of this system.i am building an educational system combining the equivalents of the German concept of 'bildung', self cultivation, and the university, while drawing on Yoruba and Igbo concepts of creative potential, ase and ike, respectively.The 'is Adepoju a genius or not' is a digression that has no little or no relevance to the vision of harnessing the insights that may emerge in studying the incontrovertible genius of Toyin Falola as a nexus for a body of ideas and a set of techniques for maximizing human potential.I shall be rolling out an entire course of study on Falola's work, be inviting people to a seminar on self actualization through the study and adaptation of the mysticism of Nimi Wariboko, inviting people to participate in online and perhaps offline studies in the theory and practice of various classical African systems of thought- Ifa, Ogboni, Benin Olokun, Igbo Uli, Akan Adinkra, and perhaps more, in addition to Hindu Srividya on which I am developing a project.I aspire for my work to be compared with existing institutional systems in terms of creative power, not to seek integration into those systems. The system I am developing could even be superior to what obtains in those places and in the entire Western dominated global educational system.In other words, I am laying the foundations in building the equivalent of my own Harvard, my own MIT, my own Oxford etc, and possibly raising the framework of global education to a level higher than those institutions have achieved, not trying to find my way to those places.Great thankstoyin
On Sat, 9 May 2020 at 16:50, Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:
Michael Afolayan’s assessment, ” In fairness to Toyin Adepoju, he is smart and has the potential to be great… if he applies wisdom and hard work, the latter of which I see in him quite often, he could attain the greatness of Soyinka and the indefatigable intellectual productivity and smartness of Falola” then breaks off at the perennial Nigerian age question – we know that geniuses peak at around nineteen years of age ( whereas some Nigerians at 47 years of age still think that they are teenagers aligned with 50% of the Nigerian population or 205 Million who are currently under the age of 30. That must have something to do with their thinking. Jimi Hendrix died at the age of 27 after less than three years in the studio, Jesus of Nazareth was probably crucified when he was 30 years old, Alexander the Great passed away at 33 years of age, Bob Marley at 35 years of age, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated before they were 40 years old, the Prophet of Islam – salallahu alaihi wa salaam started his prophetic career at 40 years of age and blessed the Hereafter at 63 years of age. The Prophet Moses at 120 years of age, his brother Aron passed away before him at 123 years of age. That’s some perspective on age. I hope that Oluwatoyin lives to be one hundred and twenty years of age….
If, ages ago there was one Oluwatoyin Adepoju, PhD candidate in the comparative literature program at University College ..then you (plural) are now going overboard with these kinds of sorrowful speculations. For a surety, like many others before him, including those who at their point of entry were less qualified than Oluwatoyin, if Oluwatoyin were to be keen on emigrating to the US or to Canada, based on their meritocracy entry requirements I doubt that he would have to resort to the kind of subterfuge that you are remotely suggesting. Furthermore, to up the ante, he has the special interests that he could further over there where there is an uninterrupted supply of the electric current, so that he does not have to do his research by candlelight (like some other unfortunate Lagosians)
Are there no good-hearted, philanthropic, fellow countrymen over there who could even sponsor him, could sponsor such promise and such talent on the way to securing a brilliant future – assuming that that’s what he wants, a brilliant future?
Song number nine: Long time gone
Some peace and quiet: Chopin
On Sat, 9 May 2020 at 16:00, OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagb...@hotmail.com> wrote:
Alagba MOA, My response encapsulated the reason why. This is a spin off of the American capitalist system.
I call it the American Cogito:
I am because the American system says so.
Many want to validate their nation's standards and their very being with the authoritative American equivalent. The American standard is the Gold Standard.
OAA
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------From: 'Michael Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>Date: 09/05/2020 14:38 (GMT+00:00)Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Becoming Genius :SeminaronCultivating Genius through an Individual/Interpersonal ParadigmofHumanDevelopment Inspired by the Work of Omnivorous Scholar Toyin Falola
Alagba OAA, ulterior motives can't explain off Ken's concern: "what are we supposed to be gaining by labeling so and so a genius? there's only loss, only the relatively unpleasantness of dividing humanity into superior and...of course...inferior"; and neither would it address his overarching lamentation on the cheating on humanity by so doing: "... a genius wouldn't do that, would she?" And my responses would be easy: we gain nothing - absolutely nothing; and s/he would not; but if she does, she ceases to be who she purports to be.
You see, the call to intellection does not give room for self-glorification. When one of our own once placed himself at the pinnacle of intellectualism, claiming to have invented the fastest known computer (name withheld just not to mess with a good name), the tower of fakery fell to its foundations by simple investigative journalism. Loud barrels often expose themselves to undue attention and are held in suspense of emptiness because an edifice built on the strength of the spittle would crumble under the mere drizzling of the dew. Those are not my words; they belong to our ancestors.
MOA
===
Harrow, Kenneth
kenneth harrow
professor emeritus
dept of english
michigan state university
Sent: Sunday, May 10, 2020 11:11 AM
To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com <usaafric...@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Becoming Genius :SeminaronCultivating Genius through an Individual/Interpersonal ParadigmofHumanDevelopment Inspired by the Work of Omnivorous Scholar Toyin Falola
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Cornelius Hamelberg
Oluwatoyin,
This was Marley: ” Don't let them fool you, or even try to school you”
We hear this kind of open talk (just babble) almost everywhere:
” My Ph.D. is bigger than yours”,
“Moi-même? “
“Yes! And my IQ leaves Einstein far behind!” etc etc.
Here are The Last Poets, jiving again, telling it like it is:
“Niggers talk about the mind
Talk about: My mind is stronger than yours
"I got that bitch's mind uptight!"
Niggers don't know a damn thing about the mind
Or they'd be right.”
Since such are your goals – as you have outlined them to us, it’s up to you how you understand or want to apply Proverbs 3: 5 which advises: “Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own cleverness “
Otherwise, all of what you say sounds good to me.
Unfortunately, there are those who could smirk, and take the summing up in your last paragraph
“In other words, I am laying the foundations in building the equivalent of my own Harvard, my own MIT, my own Oxford etc, and possibly raising the framework of global education to a level higher than those institutions have achieved, not trying to find my way to those places.”
as a posture of challenge, that your intentions had better not be announced before their accomplishment.
This is supposed to be useful : Adages of imam Ali (puh) in manners of speech and silence
I can think of a similar episode in the history of Islam: three years after the prophet of Islam, salallahu alaihi wa salaam got his first intimations of prophethood, he received this instruction:
“And warn thy nearest kinsmen: And lower thy wing to the believers who follow thee.”
“When this command came down, the Messenger of God invited the descendants of Abdul-Muttalib (they were forty men) to a banquet which contained little amounts of food and milk. They ate and drank until they became full. Then the Messenger spoke, saying: “O children of Abdul-Muttalib, by God, I do not know any young man from among the Arabs who has ever brought to his people better than I brought you. I brought to you the goodness of the world and of the Hereafter, and God has commanded me to invite you to it. Who among you is willing to be my minister in this mission, and he will be my brother, my executor, and my successor?”
None of them responded but Ali who was the youngest among them. He stood up and said: “Messenger of God, I will be your minister in this mission.”
The Prophet repeated his invitation, but none responded except Ali who repeated his words. The Prophet put his hand on the neck of Ali and said:
“This is my brother and my executor, and my successor. Listen to him and obey him”
They laughed, saying to Abu Talib: “He ordered you to listen to your son and obey him”
(p 63 of “The Brother of the Prophet Mohammad” by Mohammad Jawad Chirri)
Ali was thirteen years old then, humble, dignified and serious.
This is just an illustration of the age thing, illusions of age, too young etc
Eddie Palmieri: My spiritual Indian
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Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
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Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
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OLAYINKA AGBETUYI
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Cornelius Hamelberg
https://www.facebook.com/groups/MichioKakuGroup/permalink/2654124214866003/
Here it says so, in black and white: All kids are born geniuses, everybody is a genius
Frank Zappa is also a genius
Gato Barbieri: Viva Emiliano Zapata
Oluwatoyin, check this out ( he’s not even the grand wizard of Sweden
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Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
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