Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Cheikh Anta Diop

Dear Oluwatoyin,

Thirsty man and hungry for knowledge ( By the way, last night I
dreamt that Basher al-Assad and I had been captured and were being
held in captivity.... long dream)

As you say " There's too much at stake" : Comparative Cognitive
Processes and Systems
"Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge"

As for me, I'm still at the very periphery of the beginning, will soon
be in kindergarten...

Consider this line from page one of Martin Buber's "The Way of Man":

"Finally he asked : How are to understand that God , the all-knowing
said to Adam: Where art thou?"

( Cat Stevens//Yusuf Islam, nice guy, I attended some of his classes
at 146 Park Road, London,some time ago and he's a good Islamic teacher
but he too in one of his televised interviews betrayed the same kind
of fundamental misunderstanding of Torah – in his case he expressed
the conviction that (Heaven forbid) the Torah had been changed or
corrupted because according to his Islamic understanding the
Omniscient could not possibly ask or have asked a question such as "
Where art thou?".

Since then it's possible that Cat has come to a better understanding
– as explained here on pages one --- onwards....

http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&tbo=d&sclient=psy-ab&q=Martin+Buber+:+The+Way+of+Man+&oq=Martin+Buber+:+The+Way+of+Man+&gs_l=hp.3..0j0i7j0j0i30.2474.20256.0.20654.36.31.1.4.4.1.405.3289.22j5j2j1j1.31.0.les%3B..0.0...1c.1.sVGWQBc_BjM&pbx=1&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.1355534169,d.bGE&fp=da51af1112b196c&bpcl=40096503&biw=1024&bih=614

I have great respect for you Toyin Adepoju – you should have heard me
blowing your trumpet yesterday - but I'll explain when we meet, God
willing later this year. I'm free to roll in any direction at a
moment's notice to the East - the Middle East or the West but have
to spend some time in London before I take off on a long journey ----
As Ambrose Adekoya Campbell croons, "London is the place for
me" ( Part 3)

http://www.google.co.uk/#q=Ambrose+Adekoya+Campbell+:+London+is+the+place+for+me++%28+Part+3%29&hl=en&tbo=d&source=lnms&tbm=vid&sa=X&ei=hErjUPftJoOn4gTCm4HoCw&sqi=2&ved=0CAoQ_AUoAA&bav=on.2,or.r_gc.r_pw.r_qf.&bvm=bv.1355534169,d.bGE&fp=3c718fb4f51e84cb&bpcl=40096503&biw=1024&bih=614

This knowing and not knowing business - which title would you prefer:
Oga or Mazi or Mwalimu
(from the Arabic root Alim which means scholar/scientist) Professor or
Algaba Adepoju ?

From my humble point of view 1000 Ph.Ds. is not much closer to
infinity than just one or even one half of a quarter of the knowledge
stored in the colonial archives of the British Museum.....

It's strange that you should ask me,"What made you mention
witchcraft?"

May I please, politely remind you that there's reason to believe that
investigating Witchcraft is one of your major concerns. If you don't
believe me, just take a look at this :

http://groups.google.com/group/usaafricadialogue/search?q=Toyin+Adepoju++-+witchcraft&start=0&

You're not the only one that's ambitious Toyin. My new resolution is
summarized in one word : Devekut :

https://www.google.se/search?q=Devekut+&ie=utf-8&oe=utf-8&aq=t&rls=org.mozilla:en-US:official&client=firefox-a

After I get "The Naipaul in us" off my chest, you won't be hearing
much from me in this forum, for a while...

A Happy New year to you Toyin and I wish you all the gifts that the
three wise men and the three wise women may bring to thee..

Sincerely,

http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/corneliushamelberg/
















On Jan 1, 5:08 am, OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <tva...@gmail.com> wrote:
> Thanks, Cornelius.
>
> Just  seeing this.
>
> On the knowing or not knowing issue.
>
> There is too much at stake. There is therefore no room for false dignity.
>
> As it is,  I know  I am not educated.
>
> I need education.
>
> I am hungry.
>
> Moving:
>
> "That was my own reaction when you asked " Have you read Diop?" I wondered,
> " What kind of question is that? Next he'll be asking me " Have you been
> circumcised?"
>
> By the way, circumcision might not be as taken for granted as you might
> assume. Some people see it as a  form of cruelty and denial of the right of
> the male child who is not in a position  to  give informed consent.
>
> "What made you mention witchcraft?  Very interested in your take on that.
>
> Thanks for the film. It was fun.
>
> I had to go that Stockholm site and was again challenged:
>
> [image: Inline image 1]
>
> I need to live in a place like that Oxford bookshop. Nothing less than such
> a thing will do.
>
> Thanks for the evocation of the starry spaces within which the flame burns
> and the soul is luminous, pulled forth to the cosmic centre.
>
> God bless you and yours and all the best for a great new year for you all.
>
> Looking  forward to meeting.
>
> Toyin
>
> On Mon, Dec 31, 2012 at 9:17 AM, Cornelius Hamelberg <
>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> corneliushamelb...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > Dear Oluwatoyin Adepoju;
>
> > What a very nice guy you have turned out to be ! I say that because I
> > had thought that you were going to lambast me for asking a Cambridge
> > man an such an impertinent question: " What else are you not familiar
> > with?"
>
> > That was my own reaction when you asked " Have you read Diop?"
> > I wondered, " What kind of question is that? Next he'll be asking me "
> > Have you been circumcised?"
>
> > Well, a mortal man cannot know everything and when I go to the main
> > public library that's when I feel really little, small and mortal,
> > suffer a little anguish and panic  looking at the shelves and then I
> > hear "Time's winged chariot hurrying near" and know that it is not
> > possible for a mortal to read all those books, not even if he lived as
> > long as Methuselah.
>
> >http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stockholm_Public_Library
>
> > For twenty three years I lived a five minute walk from there and spent
> > considerable spare time there.
>
> > Same feeling every time I glance at a title on one of my shelves "
> > 1001 Books you must read before you die – Ed. Peter Boxall"
>
> > You know as well as I do that there are Mw-alim-isismus who you simply
> > cannot ask that kind of question and not expect some whiplash. Could
> > even make you a permanent enemy. That's the sort of question reserved
> > mostly for The Omniscient  - only HE can ask that kind of question.
> > You hear some heavy Ogun thunder & behold  the  naked wonder of sky
> > cracking with lightning  from East to West and next thing you hear the
> > voice of thunder:  " Oluwatoyin ! Who told you that you are  naked?
> > Have you been eating from the tree which I commanded you not to eat?"
>
> > Fact is we would all like to obtain the secret of eternal life if we
> > could. That would be real knowledge, wouldn't it?
>
> > I'm sure that the beginning of this video will bring a smile to Oga
> > Falola himself  ( "One day for Africa"):
>
> >http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jvLWF0hxoow
>
> > As I heard one of the greatest contemporary Talmud scholars say here
> > in Stockholm
>
> >  - his exact words : "We all came from Africa"
>
> > So about knowledge I guess we've got to get our priorities right.
> > Quoting the Igbo's Bible, " For what shall it profit a man, if he
> > shall gain the whole world, and lose his own soul?"
>
> > As for me, I'm a softy. I was mostly brought up by my beloved Yoruba
> > grandmother and she too knew many of the psalms of David by heart and
> > used to quote him profusely. Cleanliness was a major concern.
>
> > About Cheikh Anta and all that  you take a look at the continent and
> > you see spiritual warfare going on  - the battle for the souls of
> > Africans   and now it's mostly a proselytizing battle between
> > Missionary Christianity and al-Islam. The cultural unity is under
> > threat and may be subsumed by one or the other, peacefully or by force
> > of arms.
>
> > The continent has lost its unity of spiritual identity – assuming that
> > there was ever such a unity.
>
> >  I believe  that one of your contributions could be in unearthing this
> > thing known as
> > " witchcraft"  - demonised by both Islam and Christianity  - just as
> > Judaism is also distrustful of all spirituality from the East:
>
> >http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&tbo=d&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=F...
>
> > God willing, I look forward to meeting you in the UK this coming
> > year . I'm sure that things would happen then.
>
> > Sincerely,
>
> >http://www.thelocal.se/blogs/corneliushamelberg/
>
> > On Dec 31, 2:31 am, OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <tva...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > Thanks, Cornelius.
>
> > > 'I find it incredible that you are not familiar withCheikh Anta
> > > Diop.<
> >http://www.google.co.uk/#hl=en&tbo=d&output=search&sclient=psy-ab&q=C...>
> > > What
> > > and who else are you not familiar with? And mind you, reading his stuff
> > is
> > > more important than reading some of the cockroach houses that others have
> > > written about him or built around him. So you had better get started.'
>
> > > Truth to tell, bro, there is much I am not familiar with.
>
> > > That is why I am keen to know what I need to know.
>
> > > Beautiful-'reading his stuff is more important than reading some of the
> > > cockroach houses that others have written about him or built around him'.
> > > *
> > > *
> > > Thanks for addressing this-
>
> > > " You are puzzled by how little influence Cheikh Anta Diop seems to have
> > > had in the English speaking world and of course  he continues to be
> > better
> > > known in Francophone Africa and Diaspora.
> > > *
> > > *
> > > Of course it's because he wrote in French and about an area that has
> > little
> > > to do with British history and as to his methods which are still in
> > dispute
> > > I intuit that once again it is the rigidity or simplicity of the logical
> > > positive approach, in contrast with the flowery kinds of French /
> > > continental philosophy we are treated to by the French speaking world  –
> > > which does not mean to say that Cheikh Anta Diop did not have an
> > extremely
> > > tough time in getting his thesis approved as PH.D. material – it is now
> > > popularly believed that the reluctance in acknowledging his contribution
> > to
> > > original knowledge was due to Euro-centric racism"
> > > *
> > > *
> > > When I first entered the Blackwell bookshop in
> > > Oxford<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blackwell_UK>,the sight hit
> > > me hard, like a blow in the solar plexus. "Has my youth been wasted?!"
> > was
> > > the question that flashed through my mind.
>
> > > This kind of sight, for example, of that bookshop, convinces me I really
> > > need an education and need to find one that will maximise me:
>
> > > [image: Inline image 1]
>
> > > It is vital to be exposed to the universe of knowledge in which what
> > > one knows is an island.
>
> > > So, thanks, Cornelius, and thank you very much for the links on your
> > blog.
> > > I clicked on those links and had to gape in wonder at luminaries like
> > > Falola, Appiah, Harrow, like a child finding himself in a
> > > vast cathedral and wondering how he could ever belong within such
> > > a magnificent wonder.
>
> > > Particularly memorable
> > > <http://www.princeton.edu/admission/whatsdistinctive/facultyprofiles/a..
> > .>from
> > > the Google Appiah search you led me on .
>
> > > Unforgettable-
>
> > > "There's the poetry of several spiritual traditions about God being a
> > > treasure that the seeker must find or a mystery that the seeker must
> > solve.
> > > Some traditions say that He is to be found in the heart of the seeker,
> > some
> > > others say that He is closer than the jugular vein of the believer and
> > then
> > > there's the whole cosmos out there, the starry dynamo of the cosmos &
> > > galaxies also to be found inside – and to be found more plentifully in
> > > material time out there."
> > > ....
> > > Thought about these things some more as I skimmed this morning's Dagens
> > > Nyheter which reports that Higgs'
> > > particle<
> >http://www.google.com/search?tbo=d&sclient=psy-ab&q=Higgs'+particle&o...>
> > > is
> > > the greatest find out there, this year.
>
> > > ...
>
> > > Finding Higgs' particle is slightly different from digging in the bowels
> > of
> > > history, although the motivation is the same: " Seek and ye shall find" I
> > > guess that that's what Cheikh Anta Diop did, with the tools available to
> > > him – and one of those tools is the imagination's capacity for the
> > > interpretation of the material evidence and the more mystical elements –
> > > including language communications.
>
> > > ...
> > > How far can we test the limits of rationality without talking about
> > > miracles?
>
> > > Fantastic:
>
> > > 'If we examine the matter even more deeply and discover that the very
> > core
> > > of the human project as understood by our civilisation and its history,
> > the
> > > philosophical discourse has itself been severed, and in its place a
> > > deliberate set of pseudo-sciences which stand in for critical thought ,
> > > assuring that those who desire to think will not challenge the moral
> > > foundations of the society but simply while away their time in
> > meaningless
> > > debates, about linguistics, literary textual post-mortems,, and
> > > hermeneutics....;
> > > from the introduction of Shaykh
>
> ...
>
> read more »
>
>  image.jpeg
> 2201KViewDownload

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