By Douglas Anele

As individuals we live in a social world which makes sense to us, and we rely on our ideas through consensus with those around us. The worldviews we create are existential maps which fulfil their psychological functions by orienting us properly in the world. Throughout human history, none of such maps that evolved in different societies has ever been entirely right or completely off the mark. Rather, each has been enough of an approximation in the explanation of phenomena to serve the purpose of living. According to Fromm, “only to the degree that the practice of life is freed from its contradictions and its irrationality can the map correspond to reality”.

Aside from these general considerations, psychologists have analysed individuals from the dimension of personality or character. Sigmund Freud, originator of psychoanalysis, dissected the psychological architecture of humans from the perspective of instinctive drives (id), the ego and the superego. E. J. Eysenck did the same thing from the prism of introversion–extraversion dichotomy, although he posited that both labels denote ideal types in-between which characters of individuals can be slotted.

From laid stress on individual character structure, that is, the specific form in which human energy is shaped by the dynamic adaptation of human needs to the particular mode of existence of a given society. For any individual, personal character blends with social character, the latter understood as core elements of the character structure of most members of a group which results from the basic experiences and mode of life common to that very group. Hence, an individual is constituted by the dynamic interaction between inherited traits, personal and social character.

It is within the backdrop of the foregoing that a critical engagement with our topic, “The Individual in Peace and Unity through Service”, shall proceed. As we have seen, it is virtually impossible to offer an exhaustive definition of an individual human being in a single proposition or two. Nevertheless, a human being can be characterised biologically and psychically.

At the biological level, our species is a featherless biped with the most advanced brain in the world. Psychically, humans manifest qualities such as self-awareness, selflessness or self-transcendence, curiosity, rationality, imagination, intuition, awareness of death, emotions of love, joy, kindness, courage, and the opposites of these qualities. The dominant character structure of an individual determines the constellation of traits he or she will manifest from moment to moment.

Thus, to be at peace with oneself, certain character traits are necessary. Still using Fromm’s theory as a guide, and being conscious of the limitations of classifying human beings with rigid categories, we can distinguish between the “having mode” and the “being mode”. The “having mode” is characterised by selfishness, acquisitiveness, possessiveness and worship of private property, whereas in the mode or state of “being” loving, sharing and giving are fundamental.

From the foregoing, it can inferred that in the having mode, an individual cannot really be at peace and unity with himself or with those around him because of pathological desire to have and to consume. This is not to say that all having is bad. In order to survive and grow, a human being needs food, shelter, clothing, education, good health and the tools necessary for productive work. This form of existential having is a rationally directed need in the quest for survival.

It is not in conflict with the being mode, since it is for the satisfaction of basic needs. An individual dominated by the having mentality will hardly experience peace and unity in himself; moreover, on their own the material possessions he craves for cannot give him real satisfaction, fulfillment and happiness even after getting them.

And his selfishness will alienate him from those he comes in contact with. Consequently, in the having mode an individual will not be motivated to provide service to the community for nothing, due to his unwillingness to forgo immediate reward for service rendered.

Clearly, members of the ruling elite in Nigeria operate mostly in the having mode, judging by mind-blowing levels of corruption and abuse of power in the country. Religious leaders, especially pastors of the noisy, new-fangled, Pentecostal churches, are also neck-deep in crass materialism and primitive accumulation.

However, great mystics like Meister Erkhart, Baruch Spinoza, and masters of Eastern mysticism have warned humanity about the spiritually deadening effects of primitive accumulation: they insist that abolition of ego-centeredness is the gateway to true spirituality. Genuine self-love, which is the psychological foundation for loving others, is at the heart of the golden rule which says: “Do unto others as you would have them do unto you”.

It is also a precondition for selfless service. Selfless service, that is, provision of service without thinking of self, is absent in the mental geography of leading members of the ruling and business elite in Nigeria. Furthermore, apart from corruption and worship of material things and power, the monster of increasing poverty in the midst of abundance captures the dilemma of contemporary societies, particularly developing countries.

The number of multi-billionaires and multi-millionaires is increasing yearly in most countries, as attested to by Forbes magazine’s annual publication which contains a list of the richest men and women in the world.

Yet, billions of people worldwide are living in chronic poverty, relentlessly dehumanised by hunger, diseases, destitution, oppression and premature death. Hence, there is need to sanitise the dominant moral ecology of the world.

A moral revolution anchored on the categorical imperative of selfless service to humanity is an urgent desideratum. In spite of their weaknesses, Mahatma Gandhi, Mother Theresa, Nelson Mandela, Tai Solarin and other spiritually-enlightened individuals should serve as role models particularly for the youths, because of the selfless service they rendered to humanity.

To be concluded next week.