Connect with us

Features

PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY

Philosophy is the chief cornerstone in the foundation of “The Five Major Pieces to the Life Puzzle.” A major factor in determining how our lives turn out is the way we choose to think. Everything that goes on inside the human mind in the form of thoughts, ideas and information forms our personal philosophy. Our philosophy then influences our habits and behavior, and this is really where it all begins.

OUR PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY: HOW FORMED

Our personal philosophy comes from what we knowand from the process of how we cameto know all that we currently know. Throughout our lives we receive input from a multitude of sources. What we know comes from school, friends, associates, media influences, home, the streets; it comes from books and the process of reading; and it comes from listening and observing. The sources of knowledge and information that have contributed to the formation of our current philosophy are virtually unlimited. As adults all of the new information that comes our way is examined through the filter of our personal philosophy. Those concepts that seem to agree with the conclusions we have already reached are added to our storehouse of knowledge and serve to reinforce our current thinking. Those ideas that seem to contradict our beliefs are usually quickly rejected.

We are constantly in the process of checking our preexisting beliefs for accuracy or confirmation in the light of new information. As we blend the new with the old, the result is either the strengthening of our past beliefs or the broadening of our current philosophy in light of new and valuable information about life and people.

Advertisement

The same beliefs that form our personal philosophy also determine our value systems. Our beliefs led us to make certain decisions about what is valuable to us as human beings. As the day goes by, we choose to dowhatever we think is valuable.

We all have our own ideas about the things that affect our lives based on the information we have gathered over the years. Each of us has a personal view about government, education, the economy, our employer and a host of other issues. What we thinkabout these issues adds to our emerging philosophy and causes us to reach certain conclusions about life and how it operates. These conclusions then lead us to make specific value judgments, which determine how we will act on any given day and in any given circumstance. “We have all made and will continue to make decisions based upon what we think is valuable. Whether the decisions we are making will lead us toward inevitable success or unavoidable failure depends on the information we have gathered over the years to form our personal philosophy.”

PERSONAL PHILOSOPHY: THE SET OF THE SAIL

Jim Rohn believes that in the process of living, the winds of circumstance blow on us all in an unending flow that touches each of our lives.

Advertisement

We have all experienced the blowing winds of disappointment, despair and heartbreak. Why then, would each of us, in our own individual ship of life, all beginning at the same point, with the same intended destination in mind, arrive at such different places at the end of the journey? Have we not all sailed on the same sea? Have we not all been blown by the same winds of circumstance and buffeted by the same turbulent storms of discontent?

What guides us to different destinations in life is determined by the way we have chosen to set our sail, Rohn would emphasize.“The way that each of us thinksmakes the major difference in where each of us arrives. The major difference is not circumstance; the majordifference is the set of the sail.”

The same circumstances happen to us all. We all have those moments when, in spite of our best plans and efforts, things justseem to fall apart. Challenging circumstances are not events reserved for the poor, the uneducated or the destitute. The rich andthe poor have children who get into trouble. The rich andthe poor have marital problems. The rich andthe poor have the same challenges that can lead to financial ruin and personal despair. “In the final analysis, it is not what happensthat determines the quality of our lives, it is what we choose to dowhen we have struggled to set the sail and then discover, after all of our efforts, that the wind has changed direction.”

When the winds change, wemust change. We must struggle to our feet once more and reset the sail in the manner that will steer us toward the destination of our own of our own deliberate choosing. The set of the sail, how we thinkand how we respond, has a far greater capacity to destroy our lives than any challenges we face. “How quickly and responsibly we react to adversity is far more important than the adversity itself.” Once we discipline ourselves to understand this, we will finally and willingly conclude that the great challenge of life is to control the process of our own thinking.

Advertisement

Learning to reset the sail with the changing winds rather than permitting ourselves to be blown in a direction we did not purposely choose requires the development of a whole new discipline. It involves going to work on establishing a powerful, personal philosophy that will help to influence in a positive way all that we do and all that we think and decide. If we can succeed in this worthy endeavor, the result will be a change in the course of our income, bank account, lifestyle and relationships, and in how we feel about the things of value as well as the times of challenge. If we can alter the way we perceive, judge and decide upon the main issues of life, then we can dramatically change our lives.

“The greatest influence on what we decide to do with tomorrow’s opportunity is not going to be circumstance, but rather what and how we think.” What we think, and the conclusions we reach regarding life’s challenges, is going to be the sum total of what Rohn seems to be pontificating.

The learning process plays a major role in determining our personal philosophy. Over the years we have all managed to gather up considerable knowledge. We cannot live without the information that surrounds us making an impact on how we think. The human mind is continually taking pictures and recording the sights and sounds around us. Every experience is etched into the neurons of the brain. Every word, every song, every television program, every conversation, and every book has made an electrical or chemical imprint on our mental computers. Each emotion, each thought, each activity in which we have been engaged has created a new circuit in the brain, which is linked to all of the others circuits that already existed. All that has touched our lives has been indelibly recorded, and all that we now are is the result of an accumulation of input which is intricately connected by a delicate combination of chemical and electrical impulses stored in the three-pound brain. All that has ever happened in and around us is now this uniqueness we call SELFthe individual human being.

How we use all of this information and the way in which we assemble the knowledge we have gathered forms our personal philosophy. The problem is that much of the information we have gathered has resulted in erroneous conclusions about life that can actually block the achievement of our goals. The only way to eliminate these mental barriers is to review, reline and revise our personal philosophy.

Advertisement

Rohn advises that the best way to establish a new and powerful personal philosophy is to begin with an objective review of the conclusions we have drawn about life. Any conclusion that is not working forus may actually be working againstus.

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Features

 The sins of Sodom and Gomorrah

• In modern-day Sodom, both the good and the bad co-exist
• In modern-day Sodom, both the good and the bad co-exist

The biblical Sodom and Gomorrah typified sin in its raw, carnal and abominable form.

Sin was widespread and so deep-rooted that the Lord could not find even 10 righteous men in the twin city.

If He found at least 10, Sodom and Gomorrah would have been saved from the blazing fire that turned the entire city into ashes; courtesy of God’s anger and fury.

Sodom and Gomorrah was quite forgotten since the days of Noah until a slum developed in the Odododiodio constituency of the Greater Accra Re­gion of the Republic of Ghana. It was not named Sodom and Gomorrah out of whim. Some say it is the cradle of sin, another birthplace of the seeds of transgression.

Advertisement

Others beg to differ

Whatever it is, in modern-day Sodom, both the good and the bad co-exist. There are good, righteous, hardworking fellows earning a decent living but have to pass each night in Sodom because foxes have holes and birds have nests but the son of man has nowhere to lay his head.

In Sodom and Gomorrah today, you’d find civil servants, reverend ministers, businessmen, aspiring politicians, technocrats, polytechnic students and managing directors. You’ll also find robbers, prostitutes, graded pimps, sodomists, small-time pickpockets, magicians, boxers and kpalogo dancers. So you’ll find both good and bad people.

History has always repeated itself. The current Sodom and Gomorrah was burnt down recently but not completely. Certainly, more than 10 righteous folks were found there. So some areas were spared.

Advertisement

The problem now is that, there are plans to resettle residents of the infamous twin city, and one of the reasons is that, the place is so filthy and disease-ridden so much that the continued human existence is deemed not in the interest of any­body.

A new settlement is what the gov­ernment sees as ideal for these peo­ple, more so when the name Sodom and Gomorrah is nothing complimen­tary as a name.

The residents, however, say that they love the place. Their hearts and souls are enshrined in Sodom and Gomorrah, so they won’t move, bull­dozer or not.

The situation recalls the one similar to the people of Tema Mahean who lived at the site where Meridian Hotel is located. To get the site for the hotel, the Nkrumah government had to resettle the indigenes who were rather unwilling.

Advertisement

A bulldozer was brought in to do the job, and the people still feel bitter about it. Their collective soul was uprooted and of course, they left a curse, as some people say. The Meridian Hotel and its present state, similar to a bomb-ridden edifice, may be a living testimony of the bitter­ness of the people.

But the difference between the Tema and Sodom variants – the Tema case was that of an ancestral home with its shrine and roots. Sodom and Gomorrah is a slum that has devel­oped over the years, and you’d find people of various nationalities there. They include Burkinabes, Nigeriens, Ivorians. Some are perchers; others appear and disappear as and when they deem fit.

“It would be a mistake for this government to send us away after we’ve voted for Kufuor for positive change”, one resident has said. “We cannot be sent away like animals.

They must give us time to decide. We support the government, so the government must not go against our wishes and make us miserable”.

Advertisement

Another resident I had a chat with said the government should think about places like Ashaiman (pronounced by many ‘Ashiaman’), because the sins of Sodom and Go­morrah are nothing to be compared to the abominations of Ashaiman.

“I’ve stayed at Ashaiman before and I know the difference. In Ashi­aman you can find every type of criminal. Sodom and Gomorrah is not a crime haven, as others think. It is a residential area for the poor. And if poverty can be said to be a crime, then we are criminals. Otherwise, we are like anybody else,” he said.

The mention of Ashaiman was in­triguing. Ashaiman, also called Hanoi, may be one of the infamous crime cities in West Africa, sharing the infa­my with places like Brooklyn, Harlem and Manhattan in the United States.

But those who live in Ashaiman have very favourable comments about the place. They admit that criminals live there. But the good thing about it is that they don’t commit their crimes in Ashaiman. They go out to sin and come back to roost quietly. After all the township is full of poor people you cannot steal from, they contend.

Advertisement

Yeah, Sodom and Gomorrah is once again about to be obliterated from the surface of the earth. Personally, I do not like the name, and it both­ers me. At any rate, I believe that if the people are going to be resettled, it should be done benevolently and what should precede it is education.

They must be told why it is neces­sary to resettle them. And in reset­tling them, they should be comfort­able – electricity, water, playground for the kids and recreational centres, etc. They must leave smiling, not grumbling and leaving curses behind.

This article was first published on Saturday May5, 2001

Advertisement
Continue Reading

Features

A focus on Asanteman Finland

Today, I continue my narration of personalities or institutions and their accomplishments as members of the Ghanaian Diaspora in Finland with a focus on the Asanteman Finland association.

The Asanteman association in Finland has chalked significant accomplishments and successes which must be made known to the public. 

Formation

Before the current Asanteman Finland association was formed a few years ago, there existed the Asanteman Kuo Finland, which was established in early 2004 and registered at the Patent Registry in Helsinki in 2006.

Advertisement

The idea to form such an association came about following the desire of some Ghanaians from the Asante ethnic group to come together with the aim of supporting each other, and to ensure unity among its members and with others in the Finnish society.

Their first meeting was in the home of Mr Kwabena Nyamaa (nicknamed Blower), who later was appointed as the Abusuapanin (head of family) of the group. Unfortunately, this first group collapsed, but a new association was formed.

Structure and hierarchy

The Asanteman Finland has a unique structure of organisation. It operates the usual structure for organisations but also adopts the traditional Asante/Akan style of hierarchical structure in the same ways as how an Asante/Akan community or society is usually organised in Ghana.

Thus, the Asanteman Finland has a president, secretary, organising secretary, etc., who are each elected and run the day to day affairs of the association as the executive group.

Advertisement

This runs alongside the traditional leadership structure of the Chief, Queen-mother, Kurontihene, Abusuapanin, etc., details of which I will focus in my subsequent descriptions of the leadership structure of the Asanteman association (in terms of both the traditional hierarchy and the more formal, executive body style).

Projects and achievements

The Asanteman association has a number of projects they have engaged in to support people and other groups or institutions. In 2007, the old association donated digital blood pressure monitors to some hospitals in Ghana.

In 2011, the group supported the Akomadan Hospital by renovating part of the hospital’s building with roofing sheets. Also, in 2014 the association supported the Jachie Training Center for physically-challenged people, renovating their facilities. Members also donated hospital equipment to Assin Fosu, Mampongten, Agona Asamang, etc., as well as financial support to a hole-in-heart patient.

Advertisement

The new Asanteman association has also made considerable contributions. In 2021/2022, during the COVID-19 period, the group sent support to Ghana. Again, the association is cooperating with the larger group, Asanteman Europe, and the members are in the process of contributing towards the rehabilitation of the Okomfo Anokye Teaching Hospital in Kumasi, Ghana.

Role in the Ghanaian community in Finland

The Asanteman plays a prominent role in the Ghanaian community in Finland. The association was the first to be formed after the Ghana Union Finland. It is thus a pioneer in that sense of an association representing a Ghanaian ethnic group.

The association helps or gives support to its members who are bereaved as a way to commiserate with them and to help them organise the funeral. They arrange counselling and educative sessions to the youth such as to teach them the adowa dance and other traditional values.

Advertisement

It also engages in conflict resolution in other to maintain unity and peace in the group. The group also mobilises their members for various activities that help in integration efforts. For example, the leaders mobilise the other members, including the women in activities such as cooking together, sharing information and learning things from each other.

The Asanteman also collaborates with the Ghana Union Finland, an association for Ghanaian migrants in Finland whose aims include bringing together all Ghanaian migrants resident in Finland and promoting cultural activities in Finland for better intercultural and multicultural understanding.

Displaying a rich culture

When it comes to displaying part of a Ghanaian culture, the Asanteman is unmatchable, so to speak. Other groups representing the Brong Ahafo, Gadangbe, Mfantseman, Eastern Region, and Nzema all endeavour to portray the culture and values of their ethnic origins, but it can be said that the Asanteman remain the pioneer and tops in showcasing their rich culture of the Asante heritage.

Advertisement

They take a prominent position in enacting a “royal entry” at events organised by the Ghana Union Finland and other groups, where they display colourful kente attire adorned with ornaments, amidst traditional drumming and adowa dance.

Collaborations with other African groups in Finland, alliances abroad

The Asanteman collaborates with groups such as the Igbo association in Finland and other African nationalities at their events, where Asanteman Finland showcases the Asante/Ghanaian culture.

They are a prominent member of the Asanteman Europe, an umbrella association that seeks to bring together all Asanteman associations abroad. Asanteman Finland also collaborates with individual such associations in other European countries. Thank you!

GHANA MATTERS column appears fortnightly. Written in simple, layman’s terms, it concentrates on matters about Ghana and beyond. It focuses on everyday life issues relating to the social, cultural, economic, religious, political, health, sports, youth, gender, etc. It strives to remind us all that Ghana comes first. The column also takes a candid look at the meanings and repercussions of our actions, especially those things we take for granted or even ignore. There are key Ghanaian values we should uphold rather than disregard with impunity. We should not overlook the obvious. We need to search for the hidden or deeply embedded values and try to project them.

Advertisement

With Dr Perpetual Crentsil

perpetual.crentsil@yahoo.com

Continue Reading
Advertisement

Trending