Superstition and how it holds us back

How do myths and unsupported beliefs begin? Well, I don't know. But I will take a wild guess. Chance and coincidences.

Among the Meru people, if you are walking on a road and see a black animal cross ahead of you, you need to turn back and use another route. Or if it's raining and you go out in red clothing, you will be struck by lightning.

Oh yes, go back now before you die

So, how did my community come up with these superstitions? I don't know. I have a hunch. One day, someone walked out in red clothes during a thunderstorm and they were struck by lightning. The following day, someone else wanted to go out. The village elders warned him not to go out in red attire during a thunderstorm. Well, he did not listen, and unfortunately, was also struck by lightning.

And thus grew the superstition. This is the same with most of our beliefs. They make sense to us because we have believed them for so long. Some seem natural. We have always known them. Our parents always shared some of them with us. Like the fact that money is evil; that you have to finish university to be successful.

So to progress, we need to break the chains of our undue beliefs. We need to face them and then go beyond them. Beyond them, perhaps we will discover a land of great promise, a land beyond our fears.

Comments

Opportunities and challenges presented by the AfCFTA

President Kenyatta joined other African heads of state on March 21 in signing the #AfCFTA. What does this mean for Kenya? It means that Kenya's goods and services could have a broader market to sell to. It also means that locally made goods and services will face increased competition from similar products in the African market, especially if other countries have a comparative advantage. What is the projected net effect of these two sides of trade? Well, it's difficult to predict. It depends on which goods are on the schedule of reduction of tariffs both for other countries and Kenya. Pres. Kenyatta signs the AfCFTA Image courtesy of PSCU Looking at other similar regional pacts such as North America's #NAFTA or the EU, we can see that trade between countries increases many fold. But as in the case of Mexico which saw the bankrupting of peasant farmers due to cheap corn and other agricultural produce from subsidized American farms, the aggregate effect might be po...

Day 2: To Bali, New Year's Eve

We spent most of new year's eve in transit. We left Ibis Styles Hotel at 10.30am, got to Jakarta international airport, got our tickets to Denpasar (in Bali) and left for Bali about 2.30pm (about 30mins late due to air traffic density at the airport) In transit at Jakarta Airport domestic departures; after check-in on the way to Denpasar Photobombed by Tom Hilde and Tom Jones We arrived in Denpasar around 7pm, where we met with Sunday who had arranged our transportation to Ubud. It took us the next hour and a half weaving through ever narrowing roadways towards Ubud, which is our home for the next six days. The driving in Bali immediately reminded me of Nairobi. Traffic wasn’t too bad, but driving a car involved checking both sides of the mirror because scooters, mopeds and motorbikes weave in and out of lanes at breakneck speed, with little warning or caution. Further, while passing huge vehicles like buses and lorries, our drive honked twice to let the other car know...

No one knows what it's all about

We are all in a rat race, whose beginning we do not comprehend, and whose end we cannot fathom. Therefore, in typical human fashion, we have invented systems that keep us sane, as we try to figure out what it's all about. We invented religions, economic systems, socio-cultural systems, political systems and so on, all to make meaning out of our lonely and short existence. But all this has fallen short of fulfilling us. We know we are on a journey, but don't know a journey to where. We do not know how we will know once we get there. Is it possible that the destination is behind us, but we have not recognized it? "Preposterous," we think to ourselves. Aren't we higher beings able to shape our own paths? Would we not know where our paths are headed? History does not agree. Every system that has been built seems to have been the ultimate one. Political & economic systems have struggled to lay claim to the title of the "best" and most "sustainabl...

Munene, the journey...

Search This Blog