By Fr Pat Amobi Chukwuma
The great German philosopher Martin Heidegger (1889 – 1976) posited that he was thrown into the world without being consulted. The German term for thrown is ‘geworfen.’ According to Heidegger what is thrown stays there (Dasein). I object. If you throw a stone into any area, it remains there, because it is a non-living thing.
On the other hand the human being is classified among the living things. Does he stay where he is thrown into? This is both philosophical and theological question. I have many questions to ask Heidegger when we meet on the resurrection day. Perhaps he was also thrown into heaven or hell without his consent.
A bastard stubborn boy in my vicinity was scolded for his unruly behaviour. He boldly asserted, “O kwa anoro m onwe m eje muo m.” The translation is that he was in peace somewhere and he was conceived and brought into this world. This implies that he is not to be blamed for his bad attitudes. In other words the mother and the anonymous father are responsible for whatever he does. Why did they not seek his consent before his conception and birth?
Few days ago, I attended the Vigil Mass of my former faithful parishioner somewhere. As I was sweating and waiting for the time to clog, one familiar woman, now a mother of three children joyfully ran and embraced me. She was happy to see me again after many years I left their parish. After exchanging pleasantries, she began to narrate to me the ordeals in both her paternal and marital families. It was a long sad story.
To cut it short, she regretted that she just saw herself in this wretched world. Tearfully, she stated that if she were consulted, she would not have consented coming into this world full of sufferings. Pitifully I consoled her and prayerfully promised her that brighter days are ahead.
If I had opened to her my own litany of woes, she would have shut up. Every individual has his or her own cross to bear. This world is not a bed of roses since the unfortunate fall of our first ancestors (Adam and Eve) from grace to grass. They were expelled from the Garden of Happiness into the Bush of Hardship. A poor man was crying that he had no shoes until he met another man without legs.
He was compelled by unseen forces to shut up. Then the amputated man was complaining bitterly over his lame condition until he saw a complete blind man. He was emotionally moved to say, “Thank God that I am not blind.” Later, the blind man was wailing over his condition until he heard mourners conveying the corpse of their young breadwinner to the graveyard for burial and he shouted, “Oh, thanks to God that I am not dead!”
When a baby is born, the first activity it performs is crying. This natal cry is very essential because the world is immersed in tears. I still remember how I cried profusely immediately I left my mother’s comfortable womb at Jos Central Maternity. My parents and the medical personnel on duty were wondering.
I was born on April fool’s day. Therefore my cry was very significant. There was a baby who refused to cry after birth despite the beating the nurses gave it. Eventually, the baby was named Akpunwa (baby with stone heart). All those babies who cried at birth stool have sand hearts (Ajanwa).
If you maintain that you were not consulted before your conception and birth, where were you before then? This is a hard nut to crack. Do we have two worlds? The famous philosopher called Plato posits the theory of the World of Ideas. He believes every human being pre-existed there before coming into this physical world. If such a world exists, then consciousness is absent there.
According to Plato the world of ideas is a spiritual realm which exists beyond the physical realm. He calls the spiritual realm the Realm of Forms. For him, the physical realm is only a shadow or image of the true reality of the Realm of Forms. This theory is philosophical and not theological. It is the philosophic and personal opinion of Plato which has gone viral.
Suppose the theory of pre-existence is real, would you have consented being conceived and given birth into this world? Personally I would have chosen who and who to be my parents and the country to belong. On one hand, nature made good choice of my lovely parents. On the other hand, it failed woefully in making me a citizen of Nigeria. The country I would have belonged to is confidential. If there is reincarnation, I will happily belong there.
As Christians we can assert that each individual pre-existed in the mind of God before conception and birth. The Church teaches that human life begins at conception when it was being fashioned in secret by the sexual act of our parents. A man produces sperm which fertilizes the egg in the woman’s ovary which naturally is transferred into the womb for stages of development until birth.
It is God who gives life to the fertilized egg or eggs by implanting the soul in it or in them as in the case of twins. Therefore, God is the sole giver of life. We owe our existence to Him. He needs not to seek our consent before creating us. Do you seek the consent of a vehicle before purchasing it? Does one consult shirt or trouser before wearing it? Do you consult the fruits on a tree before plucking them?
Saint Augustine maintains that God created us without our cooperation, but he cannot save us without our cooperation. He created us in his image and likeness. Our parents are just instruments of our actualization. We were nowhere for either God or our parents to consult us to seek our consent of being born or not born.
Above all, God needs not to consult us before our conception and birth because he is the Superior Being. The magnitude of God’s love brought us into existence. He endowed us with freedom of will. Once we attain the age of reason, we are responsible for whatever we do, whether good or bad. We have to make choice between good or evil. Neither God nor our parents are to blame for our wrong choices. Our parents can only be blamed if they failed to nurture us on the way of righteousness.
The month of my Nativity which is April draws to a close. It was full of hot weather and sweat. I still remember what my immediate junior sister inscribed on the door of our kitchen when the two of us were living with our paternal grandmother: “No Sweat, No Sweet.” After the fall of the first man and the first lady, God commanded Adam that he must sweat before he can eat.
To Eve God stipulated that she must give birth to her child in pains. Therefore, sweat and pains are part and parcel of adopted humanity. After pains comes joy. May the month of May bring us joyful tidings. May the renewed hardship we encounter presently in Nigeria, translate to renewed glory!
