“The most authentic thing about us is our capacity to create, to overcome, to endure, to transform, to love and to be greater than our suffering.” Ben Okri.
The hidden abilities of a person should never be underestimated. There is a beautiful saying that goes, “we can count the apples in a tree, but we cannot count the trees in an apple.”
The only person who can evaluate the potentiality or abundance of opportunities is the creator.
Ben Okri is a Nigerian poet and novelist, the winner of the Booker prize, whose work explores postmodern ideologies. He has been compared favorably to great writers Salman Rushdie and Gabriel Garcia Marquez as one of the most prolific African authors of the postmodern and postcolonial traditions.
Everything in existence was created by God out of nothingness. The Latin name for it is ‘Creatio ex-nihilo’ (creation from nothing).
Humans have been given the chance to participate in the creation process (procreation). Since it is a blessing, humans must use it wisely. Human beings can overcome troubles and sufferings by exercising patience and love, as well as overcoming obstacles with endurance.
It is at this time that the results of the HSLC and HSSLC are announced. The students last year couldn't attend physical classes due to Covid-19, so online learning was a brand new experience for them.
Students, parents, and teachers, however, have overcome all obstacles gradually, and now we can celebrate our students' achievements. Besides them, all their friends and well-wishers are also celebrating. Clearly, endurance is evident.
The Booker prize-winning creative poet writes his own life experiences like fiction. In his second year of life, his father moved to the United Kingdom, which gave him the opportunity to study there.
He later returned to his home country. Furthermore, at the age of 14, he was rejected from a physics program at an American university because of his youth and lack of qualifications, but then he had a revelation that poetry was his calling.
He started writing when he was very young. The 21-year-old Okri published his first novel at the age of 21, Flowers and Shadows, launching his career as a writer. Between 1983 and 1986, he edited West Africa magazine's poetry section.
In 1991, the 32-year-old author became the youngest ever to win the Booker Prize for Fiction for his novel, The Famished Road.
Early on in his writing career, he did not have a proper publisher. In his first attempt at writing articles about social and political issues, he was unable to find a publisher. Afterward, he wrote short stories based on the articles, and some of them were published in women's magazines and evening newspapers
Thus, he emerged from nothingness. Lived in a world filled with harsh realities. His characters have been given a postmodern and realistic touch, and consequently, he has become a prolific author.
Among the major influences on Okri's writing are the philosophical texts on his father's bookshelves. As well, Okri was influenced by his people's oral tradition, especially by his mother's storytelling: "If my mother wanted to make a point, she would tell me a story rather than correct me."
As humans, we have been given the ability to forgive and forget by the creator. It is also true that a desert father, Abba Antonios states this in a different manner: “ If we remember our sins, God will forget them, and if we forget our sins, God will remember them.” This will give us new and nice insight.
Human beings are mortal, delicate, and we need to be aware of our fragility. It is only through continuous and constant grace that we can reach the perfection that God expects from us.
Suffering is part of the human experience. According to the Christian perspective, only through suffering can every human being be purified of their divine nature. It was considered by the church fathers that suffering was a method of purification.
Here Ben Okri reminded us that every human being has an abundant capacity to exercise creativity, overcome mental and physical barriers, be persistent and to sustain themselves, transform negativity into positivity for the sake of others, and love unconditionally like God the creator to overcome suffering. In order to promote the mantra, ‘ Loko Samantha sukhino bhavanto’
Have a blessed day
God bless you all.
Fr. Dr. PS Varghese
Principal
MGM College, Dimapur
psvargheseachen@gmail.com