Trading and religion have always been aligned together in the history of the world, and especially on the African continent.
Wole SoyinkaRead
Don't take shadows too seriously. Reality is your only safety. Continue to reject illusion.
Interpretation
The quote advises not to be overly concerned with misconceptions or illusory perceptions, emphasizing the importance of facing reality.
Wole Soyinka's quote suggests that one should not be misled by false appearances or fears, which he refers to as 'shadows'. Instead, he stresses that embracing and accepting reality is essential for personal safety and well-being. The call to 'reject illusion' underscores the necessity of seeing the world as it truly is, rather than getting caught up in misleading notions that can distort our understanding and lead to misplaced fears.
In practice
In a discussion about facing fears, this quote can remind us to focus on what is real.
Trading and religion have always been aligned together in the history of the world, and especially on the African continent.
A war, with its attendant human suffering, must, when that evil is unavoidable, be made to fragment more than buildings: It must shatter the foundations of thought and re-create. Only in this way does every individual share in the cataclysm and understand the purpose of sacrifice.
Rwanda, which is one of the younger independent states in Africa, must be regarded as a model of how great human trauma can be transformed to commence true reconstruction of people. Human trauma can lead to stunted growth and mass withdrawal.
I have a kind of magnetic attraction to situations of violence.
Art is solace; art is vision, and when I pick up a literary work, I am a consumer of literature for its own sake.
I'm an Afro-realist. I take what comes, and I do my best to affect what is unacceptable in society.
I came to terms with not fitting in a long time ago. I never really fitted in. I don't want to fit in. And now people are buying into that.
The carrying power of a bridge is not the average strength of the pillars, but the strength of the weakest pillar. I have always believed that you do not measure the health of a society by GNP but by the condition of its worst off.
Agitators are a set of interfering, meddling people, who come down to some perfectly contented class of the community and sow the seeds of discontent amongst them. That is the reason why agitators are so absolutely necessary. Without them, in our incomplete state, there would be no advance towards civilization.
Freedom is always and exclusively freedom for the one who thinks differently.
Our religions will never at any time take root; the ancient wisdom of the human race will not be supplanted by the events in Galilee. On the contrary, Indian wisdom flows back to Europe, and will produce a fundamental change in our knowledge and thought.
Look, you know i don't wanna come on ungrateful, but that warren report, you know as well as me, just didn't make it. You know, like they might as well have asked some banana salesman from des moines, who was up in toronto on the big day, if he saw anyone around looking suspicious/.
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