I just stumbled on this which harmonises with your theory, that people just have to develop that special bent/talent/ shortcoming :https://www.facebook.com/groups/MichioKakuGroup/permalink/2654124214866003/
Here it says so, in black and white: All kids are born geniuses, everybody is a genius
Frank Zappa is also a genius
Gato Barbieri: Viva Emiliano Zapata
Oluwatoyin, check this out ( he's not even the grand wizard of Sweden
--On Sun, 17 May 2020 at 15:18, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com> wrote:great thanks, Cornelius.apologies for this late response.i was simply responding to those who preferred to focus on Adepoju is not a genius' or 'who is Adepoju to presume to guide people on how to become geniuses' instead of them to focus on the substantive subject.As for the Harvard, MIT speech, at times one needs to so motivate oneself and declare oneself publicly particularly when people are imputing such low level motives as visa seeking in the face of a grand vision.all the besttoyingreat thankstoyin--On Sun, 10 May 2020 at 22:17, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com> wrote:Oluwatoyin,
This was Marley: " Don't let them fool you, or even try to school you"
We hear this kind of open talk (just babble) almost everywhere:
" My Ph.D. is bigger than yours",
"Moi-même? "
"Yes! And my IQ leaves Einstein far behind!" etc etc.
Here are The Last Poets, jiving again, telling it like it is:
"Niggers talk about the mind
Talk about: My mind is stronger than yours
"I got that bitch's mind uptight!"
Niggers don't know a damn thing about the mind
Or they'd be right."
Since such are your goals – as you have outlined them to us, it's up to you how you understand or want to apply Proverbs 3: 5 which advises: "Trust in the Lord with all your heart and do not rely on your own cleverness "
Otherwise, all of what you say sounds good to me.
Unfortunately, there are those who could smirk, and take the summing up in your last paragraph
"In other words, I am laying the foundations in building the equivalent of my own Harvard, my own MIT, my own Oxford etc, and possibly raising the framework of global education to a level higher than those institutions have achieved, not trying to find my way to those places."
as a posture of challenge, that your intentions had better not be announced before their accomplishment.
This is supposed to be useful : Adages of imam Ali (puh) in manners of speech and silence
I can think of a similar episode in the history of Islam: three years after the prophet of Islam, salallahu alaihi wa salaam got his first intimations of prophethood, he received this instruction:
"And warn thy nearest kinsmen: And lower thy wing to the believers who follow thee."
"When this command came down, the Messenger of God invited the descendants of Abdul-Muttalib (they were forty men) to a banquet which contained little amounts of food and milk. They ate and drank until they became full. Then the Messenger spoke, saying: "O children of Abdul-Muttalib, by God, I do not know any young man from among the Arabs who has ever brought to his people better than I brought you. I brought to you the goodness of the world and of the Hereafter, and God has commanded me to invite you to it. Who among you is willing to be my minister in this mission, and he will be my brother, my executor, and my successor?"
None of them responded but Ali who was the youngest among them. He stood up and said: "Messenger of God, I will be your minister in this mission."
The Prophet repeated his invitation, but none responded except Ali who repeated his words. The Prophet put his hand on the neck of Ali and said:
"This is my brother and my executor, and my successor. Listen to him and obey him"
They laughed, saying to Abu Talib: "He ordered you to listen to your son and obey him"
(p 63 of "The Brother of the Prophet Mohammad" by Mohammad Jawad Chirri)
Ali was thirteen years old then, humble, dignified and serious.
This is just an illustration of the age thing, illusions of age, too young etc
Eddie Palmieri: My spiritual Indian
--On Sun, 10 May 2020 at 14:01, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com> wrote:great thanks, Cornelius.God bless you for your indefatigable defense of Adepoju.My broader destination is that of building a system of knowledge, a body of ideas and a method of human development, based on the research and publications i have been engaged in across various disciplines.My engagement with Falola Studies constitutes an aspect of this system.i am building an educational system combining the equivalents of the German concept of 'bildung', self cultivation, and the university, while drawing on Yoruba and Igbo concepts of creative potential, ase and ike, respectively.The 'is Adepoju a genius or not' is a digression that has no little or no relevance to the vision of harnessing the insights that may emerge in studying the incontrovertible genius of Toyin Falola as a nexus for a body of ideas and a set of techniques for maximizing human potential.I shall be rolling out an entire course of study on Falola's work, be inviting people to a seminar on self actualization through the study and adaptation of the mysticism of Nimi Wariboko, inviting people to participate in online and perhaps offline studies in the theory and practice of various classical African systems of thought- Ifa, Ogboni, Benin Olokun, Igbo Uli, Akan Adinkra, and perhaps more, in addition to Hindu Srividya on which I am developing a project.I aspire for my work to be compared with existing institutional systems in terms of creative power, not to seek integration into those systems. The system I am developing could even be superior to what obtains in those places and in the entire Western dominated global educational system.In other words, I am laying the foundations in building the equivalent of my own Harvard, my own MIT, my own Oxford etc, and possibly raising the framework of global education to a level higher than those institutions have achieved, not trying to find my way to those places.Great thankstoyin--On Sat, 9 May 2020 at 16:50, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com> wrote:Michael Afolayan's assessment, " In fairness to Toyin Adepoju, he is smart and has the potential to be great… if he applies wisdom and hard work, the latter of which I see in him quite often, he could attain the greatness of Soyinka and the indefatigable intellectual productivity and smartness of Falola" then breaks off at the perennial Nigerian age question – we know that geniuses peak at around nineteen years of age ( whereas some Nigerians at 47 years of age still think that they are teenagers aligned with 50% of the Nigerian population or 205 Million who are currently under the age of 30. That must have something to do with their thinking. Jimi Hendrix died at the age of 27 after less than three years in the studio, Jesus of Nazareth was probably crucified when he was 30 years old, Alexander the Great passed away at 33 years of age, Bob Marley at 35 years of age, Malcolm X and Martin Luther King Jr. assassinated before they were 40 years old, the Prophet of Islam – salallahu alaihi wa salaam started his prophetic career at 40 years of age and blessed the Hereafter at 63 years of age. The Prophet Moses at 120 years of age, his brother Aron passed away before him at 123 years of age. That's some perspective on age. I hope that Oluwatoyin lives to be one hundred and twenty years of age….
If, ages ago there was one Oluwatoyin Adepoju, PhD candidate in the comparative literature program at University College ..then you (plural) are now going overboard with these kinds of sorrowful speculations. For a surety, like many others before him, including those who at their point of entry were less qualified than Oluwatoyin, if Oluwatoyin were to be keen on emigrating to the US or to Canada, based on their meritocracy entry requirements I doubt that he would have to resort to the kind of subterfuge that you are remotely suggesting. Furthermore, to up the ante, he has the special interests that he could further over there where there is an uninterrupted supply of the electric current, so that he does not have to do his research by candlelight (like some other unfortunate Lagosians)
Are there no good-hearted, philanthropic, fellow countrymen over there who could even sponsor him, could sponsor such promise and such talent on the way to securing a brilliant future – assuming that that's what he wants, a brilliant future?
Song number nine: Long time gone
Some peace and quiet: Chopin
On Sat, 9 May 2020 at 16:00, OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com> wrote:Alagba MOA, My response encapsulated the reason why. This is a spin off of the American capitalist system.
I call it the American Cogito:
I am because the American system says so.
Many want to validate their nation's standards and their very being with the authoritative American equivalent. The American standard is the Gold Standard.
OAA
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------From: 'Michael Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>Date: 09/05/2020 14:38 (GMT+00:00)Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Becoming Genius :SeminaronCultivating Genius through an Individual/Interpersonal ParadigmofHumanDevelopment Inspired by the Work of Omnivorous Scholar Toyin Falola
Alagba OAA, ulterior motives can't explain off Ken's concern: "what are we supposed to be gaining by labeling so and so a genius? there's only loss, only the relatively unpleasantness of dividing humanity into superior and...of course...inferior"; and neither would it address his overarching lamentation on the cheating on humanity by so doing: "... a genius wouldn't do that, would she?" And my responses would be easy: we gain nothing - absolutely nothing; and s/he would not; but if she does, she ceases to be who she purports to be.
You see, the call to intellection does not give room for self-glorification. When one of our own once placed himself at the pinnacle of intellectualism, claiming to have invented the fastest known computer (name withheld just not to mess with a good name), the tower of fakery fell to its foundations by simple investigative journalism. Loud barrels often expose themselves to undue attention and are held in suspense of emptiness because an edifice built on the strength of the spittle would crumble under the mere drizzling of the dew. Those are not my words; they belong to our ancestors.
MOA
===On Saturday, May 9, 2020, 1:44:35 AM MDT, OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com> wrote:
Ken:
It matters if people are planning to go to the US and are eyeing the specially gifted visa option. Its a bit like academics being ranked into tenure/non tenure track as indicators of superior and inferior classes.
Over the years I have grown skeptical of these American notorieties.
1. Non tenure track academics have the whole world as their playing field in my own estimation. What a particular institution wants to monopolise is given to whomever the academic feels is most deserving ( a la carte) of their efforts. A first rate academic does not need to be housed in a particular institution to prove their mettle in today's world ( Chomsky will still be Chomsky whether or not he is housed in MIT). I think this is what Toyin Adepoju is trying to say indirectly ( which is valid) but he needs a lot more work done to attract the type of recognition he craves.
2. When it comes to the specially gifted visa ( which may or may not be part of Toyin Adepoju's motivation, that is also an American notoriety for causing brain haemmhorages in other nations to help develop America. A disingenuous man power theft if you will ( only partially paid for in remuneration differentials which represents only a fraction of the cultural capital loss to victim nations) which should be discouraged.
OAA
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------From: "Harrow, Kenneth" <harrow@msu.edu>Date: 09/05/2020 03:33 (GMT+00:00)Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Becoming Genius :SeminaronCultivating Genius through an Individual/Interpersonal ParadigmofHumanDevelopment Inspired by the Work of Omnivorous Scholar Toyin Falola
i like your posting a lot, michael. but i'd go one step further, to ask, what are we supposed to be gaining by labeling so and so a genius? there's only loss, only the relatively unpleasantness of dividing humanity into superior and...of course...inferior. a genius wouldn't want to do that, would she?
ken
kenneth harrow
professor emeritus
dept of english
michigan state university
517 803-8839
From: 'Michael Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Sent: Friday, May 8, 2020 1:54 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Becoming Genius : SeminaronCultivating Genius through an Individual/Interpersonal Paradigm ofHumanDevelopment Inspired by the Work of Omnivorous Scholar Toyin Falola"But in the world of intellect, intelligence,philosophy, theology, science,mathematics and Afro- Asian Studies-who does this? Who says this?" (GE)
I wish Glory had added "the world of politics" to these worlds she problematized here, I would have quickly raised up my hand and declared, "Yes, I know two: one still living, one dead. The one living just asked us to drink and inject ourselves with lethal house-cleaning chemicals to prevent and cure viruses, while the other one would be the late Idi Amin Dada." They declared themselves geniuses while the likes of Chomsky, Einstein, and the great statistician, Bill James, would cringe at the mere mention of the "g" word in their ears.
In fairness to Toyin Adepoju, he is smart and has the potential to be great, although not in my wildest dream would I say he could be as smart as Jesus or as wise as Bhudda, Plato, Aristotle, etc. I believe if he applies wisdom and hard work, the latter of which I see in him quite often, he could attain the greatness of Soyinka and and the indefatigable intellectual productivity and smartness of Falola. The only small problem is that by the current age of Toyin Adepoju, Soyinka had published extensively, and Falola had had scores of books and academic journals to his credit. Therefore, if Toyin Adepoju would endeavor to match these two men's achievements, he would have to double, triple, or quadruple-up his intellectual intensity and do so within the four walls of standard academia. A citizen soldier can never attain the rank of a military general; you join the army, the navy or the air force to attain that status. And even when all that is done, as Soyinka once said in his critique of the extremism in the negritude movement of the 1970s, "A tiger does not have to boast of its tigritude." The unquestionable geniuses of chanters in the guild of hunters among the Yoruba would always reject the title of genius with swift immediacy when their counterparts identify them as such in the course of verbal performance and exchanges called "Ìjáálá." The Yoruba phrases "gbígbón bi ifa" and/or "mímòràn bí òpèlè" are the closest renditions of the word "genius" of the English language. Praise them with those locutions and you would see those genius hunter-chanters chant back in quick protest:
I am a year old dog,I am yet to know the art of hunting;I am a ram born this past year,I am yet to have the dewlap.
Don't make a mistake of whom those folks are: these are the best of the bests, the superlative oral performers among griots who, with just one bowl of the palm-wine, could literally (and figuratively) chant until tomorrow, as Karin Barber borrowed from them in her book. They are geniuses that have broadened the horizon of indigenous epistemology without ever stepping into the four walls of the Western citadel of learning. Not only would they not call themselves by that sacred title, they would protest being recognized as such. That, in my book, is called humility, a quality that actually makes them geniuses!
MOA
On Friday, May 8, 2020, 8:10:58 AM MDT, Gloria Emeagwali <gloria.emeagwali@gmail.com> wrote:
What elixir of audacity didToyin Adepoju consume theselast two weeks?
Here is a forthcoming workshopthat may or may not be relevantto this present topic:
Caravans of Gold In Medieval
West Africa Virtual Workshop,sponsored by the SmithsonianInstitute/Howard University
May 28, 3.30p - 6.00pA man may declare himself as genius; until the world declares him as such he is not.
These series of seminars may be what solidifies Toyin Adepoju's reputation as genius, until he delivers them successfully he just isnt there yet. If people regard Toyin Adepoju as genius then there wont be this controversy. Im perfectly happy to say that Toyin Adepoju like anyone else is capable of being a genius.
OAA
OAA
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------From: Gloria Emeagwali <gloria.emeagwali@gmail.com>Date: 08/05/2020 12:22 (GMT+00:00)Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Becoming Genius : SeminaronCultivating Genius through an Individual/Interpersonal Paradigm ofHumanDevelopment Inspired by the Work of Omnivorous Scholar Toyin Falola
Muhammad Ali, the King of
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rope - a- dope, declared himselfthe Greatest, a few decades ago.Few challenged his audacity becauseof the sector he was in- sports andentertainment. Showmanshipwas an anticipated variable, grantedthat he was indeed one of theworld's greatest boxers - and byhis critique of Uncle Sam's VietnamWar endeared himself to many.
But in the world of intellect, intelligence,philosophy, theology, science,mathematics and Afro- Asian Studies-who does this? Who says this?
Which of the known geniusesin the world ever declared himselfor herself a genius?
Imhotep the true originator of theHippocratic oath, about twothousand five hundred years beforeHippocrates, who visited thetemples in honor of Imhotep - thegreat pyramid builder, medical expertand mathematician?
Susruta, the great surgeon andpioneer in plastic surgeryand rhinoplasty?
Leonardo da Vinci?
Einstein?
A true genius is one who is aware ofhis/her limitations. The deeperyou plunge into a subject, the greateryour realization of your limitations.In fact a true genius may not evencare to be called one, for that veryreason.If you see someonethumping his chest,and bragging about his geniuscapabilities, pinch yourself.
Most likely he is not, but then again,Toyin Adepoju disappeared fortwo weeks, without a trace.Who knows what fountainof wisdom he drank from, whatmountain of intellectual endurancehe climbed and what elixir of
Sent from my iPhone
On May 7, 2020, at 9:09 PM, 'Michael Afolayan' via USA Africa Dialogue Series <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com> wrote:
Toyin Adepoju wrote, among other things:
"I have a very high opinion of my creative abilities."
"I would be foolish not to given my level of investment in those abilities , including and going far beyond intellectual and academic exposure, and what I achieve with those abilities, achievements open to assessment by all."
"If I were to describe myself as a genius, I would be justified in doing that given the quality, volume and consistency of my work."
"I have done things not done in the centuries of existence of the systems of knowledge I engage with.
"Ifa, Ogboni, Olokun, I have introduced profoundly creative, new orientations to these systems."
"I am one of the most broadly multi-cultural writers in history, covering Africa, the West and Asia."
The kind of people I aspire to be like are the greatest in history, from Jesus to Buddha, from Plato to Aristotle, to Soyinka, to Falola, and many more."
(Emphases, mine)
===Really, Toyin? Wow!
MOA
On Thursday, May 7, 2020, 5:12:03 PM MDT, OLAYINKA AGBETUYI <yagbetuyi@hotmail.com> wrote:
Indeed, Toyin Adepoju. I have used collaborative learning in my classroom for years and my students taught me features of knowledge in which they are more knowledgeable than I am like computing in which I am a relative nerd.
I happily learn from them.
OAA
Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.
-------- Original message --------From: Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com>Date: 07/05/2020 23:09 (GMT+00:00)To: usaafricadialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Becoming Genius : Seminar onCultivating Genius through an Individual/Interpersonal Paradigm of HumanDevelopment Inspired by the Work of Omnivorous Scholar Toyin Falola
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I shall be using this powerful piece from Gloria in my next version of this initiative, giving her credit for the formulation-
'equating himself with his master and transforming himself into both shepherd and sheep, guru and apprentice, hunter and hound,simultaneously.'
This is sublime.
Gloria has inadvertently summed up most succinctly and electrifyingly a model of learning in which there is no absolute master, no overarching teacher but only kinds of mastership, within horizontal rather than vertical flows of knowledge, since the teacher may become the student and the student the teacher.
Falola is a great scholar and memorable writer but that does not mean he cannot learn from Adepoju. Adepoju has lot to learn from Falola but that does not mean he is going to adapt Falola's strategies in all particulars.
Falola is far better known than Adepoju but there are circles where Falola's name might not ring a bell while that of Adepoju would.
My next formulation of this initiative, constructed before reading those inspired words by Gloria, places side by side my own kind of creativity and that of Falola's as two contrastive but complementary forms, representing two polarities evident in the history of creativity, of institutions and of development in general.
I describe mine as combustive and recreative while that of Falola is igniting and expansive.
but if i discuss my own creativity as recreative in terms of my development of new approaches to cognitive systems what about Falola's projection of the necessity of epistemic plurality and his exploring its possibilities in his work, is that not recreative?
Delightful dialectics demonstrating the ultimate inadequacy of categories in configuring such protean manifestations as human creativity, like the Greek god Proteus changing shape to various forms as you try to grab him or the Yoruba Eshu, so tall he cannot look into the cooking pot, so large the veranda and the room are too small for him but who is at home in a groundnut shell, as the Ifa poem puts it about that embodiment of the impossible-to-pin-down dynamism of ase, Yoruba cosmology's understanding of creative potential inhering in all forms of being, in a manner unique to each existent [ Yoruba : Five Centuries of African Art and Thought, ed. Drewal et al and complemented by Achebe on the Igbo ike in 'The Igbo World and its Art' ]
What led me to these formulations?
In the effort to move my seminar advertising to Facebook, I concluded that most people in my Facebook friends list are not likely to know about Falola. Even Soyinka, who has been around for much longer, is he not better known as an activist? How many who know about him have read up to three of his greatest works?
But Falola's creativity demonstrates principles of universal value which everyone should know about and adapt to themselves.
But a good no of people in my Facebook list know about the iconoclastic Adepoju, the constructor of a new school of Ogboni esotericism without being a member of any conventional Ogboni school, the person advancing unusual views on Ifa, writing about various kinds of things, from the erotic to the arcane.
So, I chose to use myself as a demonstration of one kind of creativity, and from that platform, introduce Falola as representing another kind of creativity and in order to highlight the universal values being addressed through these explorations of kinds of creativity I use iconic, archetypal, elemental symbols, characterizing mine as the creativity of fire in its wild and potentially enriching force and that of Falola as the creativity of air in its pervasive, universally penetrating and indispensably nourishing presence.
So, I am adapting Gloria's lines to indicate one may admire a great example of creativity but also understand it as taking root from a similar fountain as one's own kind of creativity, unique in itself and irreplaceable by any other, while open to complementation by that of others, judiciously adapted, and from this recognition, work out how to make the most of others' examples like others could also take advantage of the inspiration radiating from one's own example.
Everything is Buddha, declares one view of Buddhism. Why polish the mirror of the mind in order to see more clearly your Buddha nature when the person polishing and the mirror itself are Buddha?
Simply let the Buddha you are shine forth, so may be interpreted a Zen Buddhist story from Paul Reps' Zen Flesh, Zen Bones.
thanks
On Thu, 7 May 2020 at 22:53, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin.adepoju@gmail.com> wrote:
Great thanks, Cornelius.
You are doing great things for me.
Your descriptions of spirituality are also deeply moving.
I'm puzzled about these nay saying responses.
Are we to forever rest on descriptions of the likes of Leonardo da Vinci or Albert Einstein in descriptions of genius?
Falola's example is more relevant to the average person than those two figures, for example, they being arch individualists while Falola combines the individualistic and the communal.
Some people are so twisted up about Adepoju's self assessment.
I have a very high opinion of my creative abilities.
I would be foolish not to given my level of investment in those abilities , including and going far beyond intellectual and academic exposure, and what I achieve with those abilities, achievements open to assessment by all.
If I were to describe myself as a genius, I would be justified in doing that given the quality, volume and consistency of my work.
I have done things not done in the centuries of existence of the systems of knowledge I engage with.
Ifa, Ogboni, Olokun, I have introduced profoundly creative, new orientations to these systems.
I am one of the most broadly multi-cultural writers in history, covering Africa, the West and Asia.
The kind of people I aspire to be like are the greatest in history, from Jesus to Buddha, from Plato to Aristotle, to Soyinka, to Falola, and many more.
In making progress in that journey, should I not be able to recognize, to some degree, my own progress?
If anyone disagrees with Adepoju's self classification as a genius, and you wish to declare your stance, make the effort to state why you disagree, stating your definition of genius and why you think Adepoju's work does not fall within that category, giving examples from that work.
If you do that, I will respond.
If you dont I will not respond.
I am not interested in arm wrestling with anybody.
In presenting my seminar, I shall be integrating my own creative strategies with those of Falola.
I am privy to Falola's creativity as an external observer but privy to my own creativity from within my own inwardness.
In discussing how to access one's indwelling spirit, whose experience can I best draw on, if not mine?
At the same time, one needs to learn from a person like Falola how to harness and direct one's creative fires, he being a master of order, of planning, of institutional organisation, of interpersonal development, a balance to the often solitary journey required to engage one's deepest self.
I am prepared to discuss these issues at the level of serious discourse, of self knowledge, of knowledge of others, of how to assess oneself in relation to various heights of achievement and of how to motivate oneself through examples of great achievers.
Any discourse that is not at that level will not attract my attention.
thanks
toyin
On Thu, 7 May 2020 at 01:19, Cornelius Hamelberg <corneliushamelberg@gmail.com> wrote:
AMENDED:
Baba Kadiri,
Re- You say that you are "not aware of anytime that Toyin Falola, professor of history, claimed to be a great teacher and much less claiming to have disciples and a large following as if he were a religious leader. Even if Professor Falola had, in private discursion disclosed to Cornelius about his desire to have Moses Ochonu as his successor, it would be unfair or perhaps unethical to disclose that in this connection"
Why do you have to be so pedantic? Or is fastidious a better word? Professor Falola did not himself claim to be a great teacher or historian, neither did Hugh Trevor-Roper, but that does not disqualify public adulation, the Ubuntu definition of who they are in terms of discipleship or any number of Mister and Miss Follow-Follow or that Falolaism is a new word in the Oxford Dictionary. Isn't that what this new book is all about?
Oga Falola made certain definitive statements a few years ago about the new crop of Nigerian historians and he spoke (wrote) so positively about Moses Ochonu that since then I (Cornelius) am in no doubt that Ochonu is his crown prince. Of course, he did not write it in stone.
In this post written on Nigeria's Impudence Day in 2017, Oga Falola recounts an amicable meeting with Toyin Adepoju : WE are to normally assume ( I assume) that since then the brotherhood/ relationship between them had grown from strength to strength and to the point where Adepoju was feeling confident enough to propose the genius training.
What I can't understand is your venom. Isn't this forum supposed to be a fraternity, a brotherhood of Pan- Africanists instead of a brood of vipers in which some holier-than- thou and not so clever think that they are better than others, just because some of us originated in the swamp?
Bro Oluwatoyin made a proposal which he has since modified, and all you can think of is what he said before and not what he has since amended HERE. – in which he explains that" Falola knows nothing about the project, on account of the need to keep the project independent of the figure who inspired it."
Is it illegal for anyone to have "Proposed Paid Seminars on the Creative Style and Work of Baba Kadiri or indeed to write a conscientious or even malicious review of Baba Kperogi's Notes from over the Atlantic?
BTW; about the latter I would take my inspiration from Mark Steyn
On Wednesday, 6 May 2020 23:12:53 UTC+2, ogunlakaiye wrote:Wow Cornelius, this one is like a bat, which can neither be classified as a mouse nor as a bird. Responding to Olayinka, you wrote, "There are serious problems with your paragraph two. Yoyin as intellectually curious and inquisitive (investigative?) as he is, has every right to discover anew….." You omitted, either intentionally or mistakenly, to support your submission in that part with what paragraph two contains. However, here follows what your referenced paragraph two contains, "What I dislike is if he (Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju) is doing work on the intellectual property of others e. g. Ogboni, and using cunny, cunny method to say it's different universal Ogboni by trying to turn Black into white because the latter scenario is similar to plagiarism and changing the paragraphing to delude the unwary." Are you Cornelius saying that the intellectually curious and inquisitive Mr. Adepoju has the right to discover anew the Ogboni cult which has been in practice for centuries in Yorubaland and is still being practised today? It is like someone coming to discover anew Ògún, the muse of creativity, deity of metallurgy and patron of blacksmith. I beg to dis-concur."Someone cannot claim to be a great teacher and yet cannot claim to have any disciples or a large following - Cornelius Hamelberg. Who is this someone that claims to be a great teacher but cannot claim to have any disciples or a large following, I wondered as Cornelius danced along far away from the centre of the music. Later he solved the riddle for me thus, "By way of analogy, I daresay that Professor Toyin Falola having raised and still raising *many disciples* and his unofficial appointment of Moses Ochonu as his crown prince is also testimony to his status as a teacher, professor, and a professional dispenser of light." I am not aware of anytime that Toyin Falola, professor of history, claimed to be a great teacher and much less claiming to have disciples and a large following as if he were a religious leader. Even if Professor Falola had, in private discursion disclosed to Cornelius about his desire to have Moses Ochonu as his successor, it would be unfair or perhaps unethical to disclose that in this connection. "Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju is one of Professor Falola's admirers," says Cornelius Hamelberg. Suddenly, Mr. Adepoju was relegated from a follower and a disciple to ordinary admirer just like anyone of us that have read most of the books authored or co-authored by Professor Falola. Does being an admirer of the learned professor license anyone to exploit his name for pecuniary gains with a dubious seminar of how to become a genius. Professor Toyin Falola has never claimed to be a genius and it sounds fraudulent for someone who is not an acclaimed genius to tout self as a maker of geniuses in exchange for money. If that is not 419, what else is? This case reminds me about some parts of Moses Ochonu's post on this forum, Saturday, 16 December 2017, in which he wrote, "I want to argue that we Nigerians may be the most intellectually gullible people on earth. That may be an exaggeration, but we tend to be drawn to bombastic, self-promoting persons and are thus easy prey for fraudulent claimants to academic genius. We also hunger for heroes, making it possible for dubious persons to fulfil that longing for us."S. Kadiri
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Ämne: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Becoming Genius : Seminar on Cultivating Genius through an Individual/Interpersonal Paradigm of Human Development Inspired by the Work of Omnivorous Scholar Toyin FalolaWow.
That's a fine one Cornelius.
Thanks
toyin
On Tue, 5 May 2020 at 23:59, Cornelius Hamelberg <cornelius...@gmail.com> wrote:
Lord Agbetuyi,
Please permit my little ramble.
We are in essential agreement about your paragraph one. There are serious problems with your paragraph two. Toyin as intellectually curious and inquisitive (investigative?) as he is, has every right to discover anew….
Someone cannot claim to be a great teacher and yet cannot claim to have any disciples or a large following. For instance, the simplest way of bringing a schizophrenic or one possessed by an evil spirit/inferiority complex/ superiority complex or what's called "a Messiah complex " , one who actually believes that he is Jesus or the Messiah, the easiest way of bringing him safely down back to earth is to ask him, " OK Mr. Messiah, so you are Jesus but where are your disciples?"
In the case of Sabbatai Zevi of Izmir who had a large following, when he finally got to the court of the Sultan in Istanbul which is in Turkey, the Sultan thus greeted him welcome: " OK Mr Messiah, now that you are finally here, I only have one thing to say to you : Either you accept Islam, or I execute you! "
To the dismay of his disciples, Sabbatai Zevi accepted Islam. It was explained by some of his most faithful disciples that in accordance with some fanciful Kabbalistic doctrine, he has to accept Islam in order to travel to the very depths of hell, to redeem some sparks down there.
More seriously, this is the opening paragraph of Pirkei Avot- Ethics of the Fathers :
"Moses received the Torah from Sinai and transmitted it to Joshua; Joshua to the elders; the elders to the prophets; and the prophets handed it down to the men of the Great Assembly. They said three things: Be deliberate in judgment, raise up many disciples, and make a fence around the Torah."
Rabbi Akiva had many disciples
The exhortation to "raise up many disciples" testifies to the importance of knowledge, or right knowledge and of the teacher. By way of analogy, I daresay that Professor Toyin Falola having raised and still raising "many disciples" and his unofficial appointment of Moses Ochonu as his crown prince is also testimony to his status as a teacher, professor, and a professional dispenser of light.
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju is one of Professor Falola's admirers. We have among many others. Count me in and that makes at least two – and let me hasten to add that I am no historian (by any stretch of the imagination - the sometimes-self- aggrandising imagination), but I am also a humble admirer of his literary output (including Etches On Fresh Waters). Where am I going with all this?
A very long time ago, Job - the proverbially most patient one says in Book of Job 19:25, "But I know that my Redeemer lives, and the last on earth, He will endure"
Today, there are believers who say from their own hearts and not necessarily quoting Job, they say with some confidence, "My Redeemer liveth!" – and by "Redeemer" they mean Jesus, . We cannot disprove their sincerity or their faith in who or what they believe is the source of their sustenance.
Today, there are the genius Nigerian mega pastors who are not holding seminars on how to become a genius, or how to produce mere electricity or how to construct a spacecraft that can transport you all the way to Mars or beyond Mars or how to walk on water, they are going several steps further than that: They are teaching, preaching, holding seminars and workshops on How to go to Heaven!
Not only Nigerian pastors are doing that – in Sweden for example we have someone I have met several times and had lots of cups of coffee and long chats with him, his name is Christer Roshamn – nice guy, very effective in his preaching, even uses music to communicate what he feels….
So – what's wrong if our gifted Brother Oluwtoyin Vincent Adepoju – a student of Oga Falola's research methods etc. wants to spread the light, wants to use his role model Oga Falola or indeed Abiola Irele or William Shakespeare or Spinoza or the Chair of Poetry at Oxford or Vincent Van Gogh or our Brer Kperogi as the illustrious means or vehicle how to get there?
On Tuesday, 5 May 2020 19:06:12 UTC+2, Cornelius Hamelberg wrote:Great, greater, very great, greatest. Birds of the same feather flock together. True or false? Toyin and Oluwatoyin together, why not?
Both are Nigerians and both are intellectuals, unlike Jesus's disciples Peter and his brother Andrew who were mere fishermen -
until Jesus taught them to be "fishers of men" and indeed they, later on, became great apostles.
Personally, I think that you are being a little too harsh, arrogant and disdainful of the very talented being in our midst as
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju. In like manner the Jews rejected Jesus, they said, "You're not Him!" So what if Professor
Chicken Wings wants to run a course on "Falolaism" and charges $100 for every twenty minutes, can he be legally prevented
from doing so? And what if (and this is a question for the theology department of the new religion) what if Bishop Eagle Feathers
wants to proselytise Oga Falola as the Messiah or as the Mahdi of musicology (Peace be upon him), should the Bishop be
arrested along with all of his apostles and praise singers? In my opinion, apart from performing miracles such as transforming
darkness into light, the geniuses could be working towards this.
Whilst you are busy with your mega-genius I'm still wrestling ( but not in the mud) with this question asked by Einstein:
"A question that sometimes drives me hazy: Am I or are the others crazy?"
On Tuesday, 5 May 2020 15:57:35 UTC+2, ogunlakaiye wrote:On Wednesday, 19 September 2018, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju, posted on this forum what he titled, Scholarship in a World of Poor Electricity : The Nigerian Example. In view of Adepoju's claim to metaphysical power to make people become geniuses, I hereby reproduce the afore-mentioned post of his in full.
I have been struggling for days in my home in Lagos with trying to meet externally created and self-generated deadlines on a number of essays.But there has been a blackout of electricity in our neighbourhood for days.I have to fall back on prints of essays since access to electronic copies of essays is challenged by poor electricity. How are Nigerian Scholars coping? This situation has not changed for decades. It is horrible. Is it possible to do ones best in such an environment as a Scholar or other creative who requires electricity? May God help Nigeria, Black people and Africa.Toyin
If naked person promises to make clothes for one to wear, is it not appropriate to ask why the person self is naked? An educated genius that cannot generate and distribute electricity is to me a genius in parasitism. Towards the end of April 2020, the power generation in Nigeria, a country of 200 million people, dropped down to 2, 900 Megawatts. https://guardian.ng/news/nigeria-records-electricity-grid-collapse/
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Ämne: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Becoming Genius : Seminar on Cultivating Genius through an Individual/Interpersonal Paradigm of Human Development Inspired by the Work of Omnivorous Scholar Toyin FalolaBecoming Genius
Seminar on Cultivating Genius through an Individual/Interpersonal Paradigm of Human Development
Inspired by the Work of Omnivorous Scholar Toyin Falola
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems
Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge
Would you like to be a genius?
Would you like to cultivate a level of achievement that can go a long way to shaping humanity?
Would you like to actualize a degree of creative power that surprises even you?
The origin of the term 'genius' is 'indwelling spirit of a person or a place.'
Everyone embodies such a spirit but it is stifled by conformity to society.
The Yoruba concept of ase and the Igbo ike postulate that each person embodies a unique creative potential.
Would you like to discover yours?
A general view of genius is that it emerges miraculously.
The example of Toyin Falola, a scholar, writer, interpersonal builder and institution creator of unprecedented combination of individual/interpersonal achievement, makes it clear that genius can be cultivated.
We shall examine the intersection between Falola's example and those of other creatives across time and space, from Setilu, described as the founder of the multidisciplinary Yoruba Ifa knowledge system, to the Arab philosopher and doctor Ibn Sina, from Aristotle, founder of the disciplinary organization of Western scholarship, to Leonardo da Vinci, magically unique artist and scientist, from Wole Soyinka, great imaginative and spiritual writer, to Albert Einstein, who reconfigured humanity's understanding of space, time and energy, to such figures of contemporary culture as Tim Berners- Lee, founder of the underlying system of the Web, to Bill Gates, creator of Microsoft, one of the most globally impactful companies in history, Mark Zuckerbeg, founder of Facebook, the world's most successful social media platform, and Elon Musk, founder of Space-X and Tesla Motors, pioneer in space travel, electric cars and other technologies shaping humanity's future.
Falola is what I describe as a systematic genius, a genius whose achievements are reached through the cultivation of a particular lifestyle, a consistent development of orientations and habits that results in genius.
Falola's creative development is centred in the correlative development of self and others.
This seminar will introduce you to the manner in which Falola develops himself and how he develops others and invite you to reflect on how you can apply these observations to yourself.
You will be presented with ideas on how to understand yourself and your environment, and work with this understanding in enhancing personal and interpersonal creativity.
This understanding is crystallized through my study of Toyin Falola, ongoing since 2018, and integrating my decades long explorations of various streams of knowledge.
I have not needed input from Falola nor am I consulting or working with him on this project because the relevant information is in the public domain, only it is inadequately understood by many. Falola is also hyper-sensitive to the possibility of being seen as self celebrating and so might not be completely comfortable with such a project.
The project has to be done anyway, so we may take better advantage of this unique example of creativity.
I have studied Falola's CV and been following his development since I began close study of him in 2018. I have read a cross-section of his work, examined some of the studies of that work and written and published on various aspects of his productivity. I have spoken with him on a number of occasions. I have compared what I have learnt with what I know of other creatives and filtered what I have understood through the intimacy represented by my own efforts at self actualization.
A pattern of orientation and action emerges for me through these engagements. It is that pattern I wish to share with you.
We shall examine how to apply this knowledge in your own life.
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