This is What We Are!

About the Book

The book is an attempt to describe the origin, constitution and destiny of Man. Using what the Ancients told us as a starting point, a brief genesis of the Universe and Man is given. The Universe is shown to be triune, comprising a Body, a Mind or Soul, and a ruling Spirit. Man, being a miniature Universe, is also shown to be triune and composed of a Body, a Mind or Soul, and an indwelling ruling Spirit. Teh book goes on to show that Man is animal by his body and human by his Mind, Soul or Self: an organizing intelligencec, This is waht we are!: partly animal (by the Body) and partly human (by the Mind, Soul or Self); hence the portrayal of man as Centaur, whose human torso is inseparably joined to its euine lower part.

The fact that Man is partly animal and partly human leads us to the acceptance of our Nature, of how and what we are. Our Spirit or "Father" made us teh way we are, and this is perfect. Thus, the human Nature needs no ammendment. With the acceptance of our Nature, as we are, the Mind realizes that its true mission in the Body is to work closely with the indwelling Spirit, with a view to obtaining the latter's maximal growth. Optimal growth of the Spirit is the sole objective of evolution and the Mind, as husbandman of the Body, is expected to contribute positively to the achievement of the growth. The Mind as an organizing intelligence acts, through the Body and with the help of the Spirit, on the outside world. This process has beocome almost automatic and the Mind has been deluded into believing that it can of itself, do anything; forgetting that it is actually the Spirit that does everything, through the Mind and the Body. the book goes on to show that the Paradise that Man once enjoyed can only be regained by a re-orientation of the Mind towrds the Spirit within. The search of the Self, the I, is for the Spirit within and not for some fictitious "Higher Self". How can the Self search for itself? Who will do the searching? No. The search is done by the Self and for the Spirit within. This search for the Spirit is indeed true religion: a return to the source.

About the Author

Emmanuel K. Anizoba: A Biographical Note

Born in 1945, Emmanuel K. Anizoba was brought up in a Christian family with a strong Polytheistic ancestry, in Umubele village of the blacksmith town Awka, Anambra State, Nigeria. Being the son of a government teacher, he accompanied his father during the latter's movements from one school to another and attended government primary schools at Ajali, Awka and Afikpo. A very turbulent youth, he attended secondary school at Okongwu Memorial Grammar School Nnewi (1960-63) and Igwebuike Grammar School Awka (1964). Having performed poorly at the end of his secondary school career (bagged a grade 3 school leaving certificate!), he entered the civil service in 1965 at Enugu as a finance clerk from where he joined the Biafran army (July 1967 - January 1970).

In June 1970, his eldest sister invited him to Geneva, Switzerland, to study French in order to gain admission to study economics at the University of Fribourg. At Fribourg, he got a Licence es Sciences Economiques et Sociales in 1976 and in 1979 he got a PhD in Econometrics. He was on the Dean's list at the University of Fribourg and was appointed Teaching Assistant to the Econometrics Chair. In 1980 he left Switzerland for Nigeria, where he continued his brief teaching career at the University of Port Harcourt.

He joined the African Development Bank (AfDB) in 1981 as a Statistician Economist. At the AfDB he managed the Loan Accounting & Financial Statistics Division (1996 - 2001) before being appointed Advisor to AfDB's Financial Controller in 2002.

Emmanuel K. Anizoba will retire from the AfDB in April 2005, when he will be sixty years old. He intends to settle in his Umubele village Awka home, where efforts are underway to revive the polytheistic and living tradition of his ancestors. He is married and has five children.