Introduction
We are living in a world where even though we
tend to run away from natural-fear(s)[1],
the society create fear(s) for us directly or indirectly (artificial-fear(s)[2]).
To this fact Desh Subba stated it clear that, “life is directed, conducted and
controlled by fear,” which though does not presuppose that one should subscribe
to fear but serves as a clarion call for us to raise eyebrow on this phenomenon
fear.
This article is a fearological reflection on
the notion of ember months (September, October, November and December)
especially in Nigeria where some religious sect uses it to induce non-personal
fear, interpersonal fear[3]
and inculcation of fear culture on people’s way of living within this period.
It aims at uncovering how the notion of ember month affects the psychic
conditioning of the people so as to defear
folks suffering from the emotion (fear) especially within the Christians denomination.
Explication of Terms
Defearing: To defear is to make one
fear free. Just like deconstruction. The concept “defearing” is a composition
of two terms ‘de’ and ‘fear’. De which is derived from the
Latin preposition de-(meaning
undoing, reversal or removing) and fear (an anxious feeling).
Ember month: The last quarter of the
year ending with the suffix ‘ember’ like September, October, November,
December.
During ember month there is always this
tendency for people to strive towards achieving more success so as to beat
financial constraint so as to celebrate Christmas in a luxurious way. For while
everybody are struggling, the religious people are not left out. Everyone wants
to mark this celebration by showing his people that he/she is not wasting time
in the city or place of work (this is peculiar to those who live in the cities
(mobility of labour) and migrants) who visit the village occasionally.
The religious sects especially the occasional
churches that springs up like supermarket with the inscription “worship with
us” on their sign post normally come up with fliers, banner and texts inviting
people to programs titled “operation fight those fight against you,”
‘cancelling every spirit of ember,’ “blood sucking demons of ember month will
not see me”, ‘my blood will be bitter for any ember month demon’, “my head will
not be used for any sacrifice in this ember month”.
Some of those captions raise a question in
the mind of any critical minded person; are there spirits meant to work only on
ember month? Why should these programs come up now? Are there demons that
operate only in ember month? Or is it the actual time for the religious program
to be profitable?
These programs come up as a result of praying
for people not to be use as rituals during this period. People sow seeds to the
men of God even when they have little to live on but instead of receiving
message of peace and love which serve as an antidotes for fear so as to toe
that path of fearlessness, they receive messages that is characterized by fear
which will make many to even receive the Saviour in anxiety and pain. In all
honesty, the type of messages or preaching’s given by some pastors makes people
to live in fear of the neighbor and above all seeing the good in people to be
bad. By doing so, they kill the “I-thou” relationship preached by Jesus Christ,
Martin Buber and Emmanuel Levinas.
The information they are inundated with are
often projected in the dream. And as such, the dreamer begins to capitalize on
his/her dream. In some cases the one shares the dream(s) with the so called men
of God who create more confusion by creating more fear(s) that ends up in what
I call fear-societal-disintegration[4].
Fear leads to societal disintegration because
it is contagious. If someone becomes afraid of something, this fear has a
tendency to spread to others, who in turn spread it further.[5]
It is very easy to spread because humanity is confronted by powerful
destructive forces that threaten our everyday existence. In this ember –fear,
there is always two predominant fears that make people grieve or act as cowards
without calling to mind that fear could also be a sale tool especially in fear
cultured society.
Ø Fear of Death
It is truism that death is inevitable. Every
human person should strive towards accomplishing the existential calling (purpose)
than wasting time trying to be like Mr. this or that. Protecting the self and achieving
nothing can even make one to do anything humanly possible to be.
Although life is the chief value, the
interestingness of life is that which is successful. By that I mean in the
sense of achieving your purpose. Fear of death during ember month comes as a
result of non-personal fear; fear that comes from a particular person,
individual or private situation,[6]
(it is created) intra-personal fear; fear that occurs within the individual
mind or self like failure, inadequacy, impropriety,[7]
resulting from cultured fear conditioned by religious leaders and get quick
money syndrome.
Thus, understanding what one wants, setting
up strategic goals, and working towards it religiously in the spirit of
fearlessness will be a way of being alleviated from this ideological mishap. It
is pertinent to note that the ember months are like other months. Seeing it as
different from other months or characterized by some sort of evil happening is
a category mistake. Hence, people needs to own up to responsibilities as we
recall the words of Augustine which says, “pray as if everything depend on God
and work as if everything depend on you”. You will live better fearless than in
fear. Life is more than fear, for fear is part of life consciousness. It is a
cosmic force that helps in awaking consciousness in humans. Paying attention to
some of these fear symptoms which as a result of wrong approach to reality (FMS-
Fear Management System) can lead to what R. M. Fisher calls a kind of building
fear-identity[8].
This is why he (Fisher) encourages us to pay more attention to fearlessness
which will help us to be more responsible in decision making so as to conduct
our affairs properly.
[1] Fear posed to humans by natural
occurrences e.g natural deserters
[2] Fear that comes from human inventions
either ideologically or otherwise
[3]For non-personal fear and
interpersonal fear, A philosophical cum psychological Approach, (port Harcourt:
EY&SONS, 2016), P.g23-26
[4] Confusion in the society which is as
a result of fear
[5]S. Lars, philosophy of fear, (London:
reaction books ltd), 2008, P.11
[6] K.A. Osinakachi conquering the beast
fear, P.23
[7] K.A. Osinakachi P.25
[8] R.
Michael Fisher, Ethical Referent to
Fearology, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0KE6TGirOIc
