My Life line by Lovis Kwasi Armah

“Life is vanity and meaningless! And someone has surely played an evil and stupid joke on my by placing me in this world,” thought the man as he tightened the rope. Despite the horror with which he saw the world, he felt something terribly wrong with three groups of people: those that were ignorant that life is an evil and an absurdity; people with dull imagination that enables them to forget the things that gave Buddha no peace -- the inevitability of sickness, old age, and death, which today or tomorrow will destroy all ones hard work and pleasures; and the most pitiful of all being those people who know that life is meaningless, but not having the strength to act rationally -- to end the deception quickly and kill themselves.

The man was well educated, rich and famous and having understood the stupidity of the joke that has been played on him, and understanding that there is nothing that will profit man for all his labor under the sun, and that it is best of all not to exist, He choose to end this stupid joke by suicide. No sweetness of honey could be sweet to him when he could see sickness, old age, and death as a certainty if not near. Scientific and philosophical search for the question, “why should he live, that is to say, what real, permanent result will come out of his illusory transitory life -- what meaning has his finite existence in this infinite world?” has been “Nothing.” And therefore why should he continue to live for nothing? He swung unto the stem of the tree he stood under so that he could tie one end of the rope firmly unto a branch and another to his neck.

At the top of the tree where he got a firm branch that could serve his purpose, he saw some simple laboring folk. Unlike him schooled in rational knowledge, these poor folks depended on faith, he had observed they accept illness and sorrow without any perplexity or opposition, and with a quiet and firm conviction that all is good. He, much educated and therefore wiser has lesser understanding of the meaning of life, and see some evil irony in the fact that people suffer and die, but these folk live and suffer, and they approach death and suffering with tranquility and in most cases Gladly. He wondered what on earth made these people accept illness and sorrow without any perplexity or opposition, and with a quiet and firm conviction that all is good. Such people, lacked all that is supposed to be the only good of life and yet experiencing the greatest Happiness. An unfamiliar voice told him that perhaps before ending it all, he should get closer to these poor folks and inquire the meaning which they attribute life.

“Faith is what makes it possible to live. Every man has come into this world by the will of God. And God has so made man that every man can destroy his life or save it. The aim of man in life is to save his soul, and to save his soul he must live "godly" and to live "godly" he must renounce all the deceitful pleasures of life, must labor, humble himself, suffer, and be merciful,” He learned. He inhaled deeply and reasoned, if he exist, there must be some cause for it, and a cause of causes. And that first cause of all is what men have called "God”. He then admitted that it was his Life which has been evil and an absurdity, not the created human life in general. And that only a Life without hope beyond the grave is truly vanity.

At this the man felt for the first that he could live. He could live knowing that this corruptible shall have put on in-corruption, and this mortal shall have put on immortality, then shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, Death, sickness and old age is swallowed up in victory.” This is my life line and without which I cannot live.

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Written by Lovis Kwasi Armah (MotX Ghana)
Author of The Limit of Human Goodness and The Wisest Man From the East.

Story is based on "A Confession" by Leo Tolstoy(1879)
Photo Credit: brentthewalrus

What destroys Man by Lovis Kwasi Armah

A Military commander came to a peak of an isolated mountain where a wise man lived with few of his followers to enquire on what destroys man. The commander had observed several mighty men defeated by inconsequential things, later in their lives. And therefore he sought to learn from the wise man.

Upon telling the wise man his mission, the wise man said, “You will have to climb this mountain seven times. Take these seven white stones and place one on the base and peak of the mountain each time you arrive at your starting point. Go through a different route each time. Complete this successfully and I will tell you what destroys man.”

The military man considered this an easy task. He had been trained in the jungle and could easily overcome wild animals and any savages.

At the base of the mountain, where all pilgrims kiss the foot of the holy mountain, he placed a white stone and took a route less used. He climbed that side of the mountain with difficulty. His military regalia impeded his movements and slowed him down. At some point he doubted being able to complete the journey.

And just when about giving up, he saw a fellow pilgrim ahead who seemed to move quite easily. The commander called out to him; he wanted to learn his secret. But the other pilgrim kept moving and refused to be engaged in any conversation. This action appeared rude to the commander. Being a man of no restraint, He schemed to show that he commandeered a whole army. He moved his eyes around searchingly for a creeping plant to pull down the rude pilgrim. His thoughts fixed on doing harm seemed to have made him forget his tiredness. He moved ahead and even the pilgrim to be pulled down could not be found. Nevertheless, He planned to repay him some other time.

But the commander found him sooner than he anticipated. It was at the seventh and last round, it was a descent, and the commander had used the steep side of the mountain. He was in a hurry to finish this pilgrimage that he was yet to make full sense of. The commander saw him when running down. The man pointed down the path and the commander interpreted his facial expression as someone in need of help. The commander thought that it was a good time to repay him, he avoided him and moved on. But that side of the mountain had caved in and so it was a warning to the commander. Descending down and with unclear view, the commander fell into the cave, and broke his legs and arms and sustained several injuries.

Later when he was rescued and regained strength, the wise man asked him, “What do you think nearly destroyed you?” The military Commander pointed to the other pilgrim, whom he had learnt at this time is dumb. But the wise man disagreed and said, “Man is destroyed from within; and not from outside. It was when within your heart, you became poisoned with hate, anger and envy that all your faculties worked for your destruction. This is what destroys a man. Watch over your heart with all diligence, for from it flow the springs of life or death.”

Written by Lovis Kwasi Armah (MotX Ghana)
Author of The Limit of Human Goodness and The Wisest Man From the East.

The Other Temples by Lovis Kwasi Armah

One day, a priest argued that a religious life demanded three tenets: one lives for others; one lives for what is eternal; and one lives for something bigger and better. Based on this, the priest challenged his congregants to form groups and exemplify these three tenets through the act of giving. There will be dedication, and the best gift that exemplify these tenets should cause a rainbow to appear in the sky during prayer session.

There were three of such group that were formed. Though coincidental, each group independently came to the decision that to build a temple for worship in villages with poor folks is the surest way to satisfy these three tenets. They discussed with their priest who loved their ideas and encouraged them. Gladly, they each produced ambitious and grand designs in building the best to ‘the glory of God.’

 The appointed day, when the groups will dedicate and unveil their gift, finally came. The first and second group, each, took the whole congregation to their respective villages. And though, each temple was beautifully built and marvelously decorated, they were no flush of rainbow when prayers were said.

The priest and his members drove to the village of the third group. While on a dam that granted access to the village, they saw multiple lightening in the clear sky. After the dam, they saw a series of wells with women and children happily filling their jars with water and here too, they saw lightening and they observed that the lightening seemed to increase each time a water fills a jar. When they drove a bit further, they saw newly-built-hut homes and places made for animals of all kinds to drink water, and here too they saw lightening.

They finally arrived at the premises that hosted the temple. To the surprise of the congregation, the temple was built with cheap bamboo tree and roofed with grasses and had an un-tiled floor.

The disappointed priest and the congregation decided to offer a quick prayer and leave the place – to them, even a glamorously built temple did not evoke rainbow, how much more a cheaply built one? But before the start of the prayer, every eye gathered could see a clearly drawn rainbow. There was no doubt that this was the accepted gift, so the priest called the leader of the group to explain what had accounted for their accepted gift.

The group leader started, “when we located this village, there was a dam-less river that one needed to cross- there were no motor able roads. The dam-less river, their only water source, was constantly dirtied by the road-users and rendered undrinkable. People around the village lived in slums not fit for animals.”

 “It then occurred to us that: if God is spirit and dwells in a bodily temple which is within man, will he deserve any better gift than improving the lot of any potential dwelling of his? We decided the best to do was to dam the river, provide drinkable water for the people and the animals and shelter for those that lived in slums- and after this was done, the rest is what we built the temple with,” the group leader continued. Just then, there was showers of rainfall.

The priest and his congregation then understood that: God sought not splendor of dwelling, but good deeds done for ‘one of the least.’ – those who are hungry or thirsty or a stranger or naked or sick or in prison.’ They prayed for forgiveness and asked the other groups to go and sell every item incurred in their expensive temples and take care of ‘the other temples.’

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Written by Lovis Kwasi Armah (MotX Ghana)
Author of The Limit of Human Goodness and The Wisest Man From the East.