Wednesday 22 August 2012

On The Path Of Winners By Bayo Ogunmupe Profile of the Double Winner


On The Path Of Winners
By Bayo Ogunmupe
Profile of the Double Winner
WHAT is a winner? Most of us identify a winner as one who has it all-good looks, talent, wealth, power and popularity. However, this article will show us that it’s not the externals that  make people winners, but the attitudes, values and qualities within, that determines success. Here, we shall demonstrate how we can gain what it takes to excel in every human endeavour.
  Real winners know that we get ahead, not just by looking out for Number One and working against others, but working with them. Here we shall show our teeming job-seekers and Olympic stars that winning can  be more rewarding, meaningful and easier than we ever dreamed. We just summed up the meaning of winning. But what about Double Win? We will discuss double win, many people look at it with suspicion. How can both sides win? Isn’t life a game of winners and losers? But I don't think it is a winner takes all world. Though the win-lose approach has been around before Jesus was born, there is yet another-way. It is called win-win, the Double Win. And it works.
  The old laws of winning, is but a simple matter of the survival of the fittest. For every winner there must be a loser. To win means you must have both money and influence. The concepts of winning and serving are incompatible with modern-day realities. Slogans like,” Winning isn’t everything; it is the only thing,” are juvenile locker room mania. For some however, winning is just getting through the week without getting killed. You earn your money, take what is left after tax and try to find pleasure on the weekends. Winning is simply surviving in this terrible world.
  All of this is a reflection of the dominant view point on winning and success in our culture. This philosophy says power is god and competition and comparison are its prophets.
  The extreme popularity of this view of winning can be labeled simply win-lose system of success. To the victors belong the spoils, the headlines and the prestige. But this win-lose approach breeds the concept of invidious comparisons, of titles and postures.
  Indeed, the idea of being Numero uno is attractive. So is the idea of success. Given the choice, anyone would rather succeed than fail. In defence of success stories, they contain a great deal of sense, and the practical realism that help you take greater responsibility for your own actions. Those of us who seek to tell people how to succeed believe there is a lot to be said exhorting you to take charge of your life and making personal decisions, instead of you just floating with the tide like a victim or at best as a disinterested life spectator.
  The win-lose world is obsolete. While corporate managers are guided by an ethic of competition, of winning the game of product marketing, heroes by contrast are driven by an ethic of creation, creating gadgets to relieve man of the pains of living. This creates more tolerance for risk-taking, this greater innovation, greater persistence for tangible goals ahead. Therefore the idea of the Double Win is a concept that is long overdue. Just what then is Double Win? Briefly, it is if I help you win, I win, too. This means, by helping others get what they want, you win also. For the true winners in life get what they want by helping others get what they want. In Double Win, independence is replaced by interdependence. We must face the fact that as individuals, we are a vital but single organs of a larger body of human beings that inhabit this planet. There are too many people, too few resources and too delicate a balance between nature and technology, to produce winners in isolation today. As individuals in today’s world, we cannot succeed or survive for long without others.
  Thus, let us be all we can be. But competition isn’t the problem. Competition, be it in the marketplace, polling station or at the playground, sharpens skills, exposes shoddy efforts, stands guard against gorging and greed and motivates us to be the best we can be. What is missing in today’s win-lose society is the spirit of cooperation and creativity and the feeling of the importance of helping everyone develop his great human potential.
  A brief look at history shows the Olympic Games were founded on “the be all you can be” principle, not “get all the Gold you can.” The first Olympiad was held in 776 B.C. The first personalities we know as winners were the athletes who won victories in these games. Recognizing the unity of spirit, nature, body, and mind, the Greeks created the Olympiad in celebration of the harmony of the cosmos. They saw the Games as much more than mere athletic competition. Their Olympic athletes were trained by coaches, scholars, physicians and clergy, not only in sports but in religion, the arts, politics philosophy and music. Athletics were just one form of Olympic competition. There were also, musical, theatrical and artistic events to regale the public and for the participants – means of expressing individual and team excellence. The ancient Olympics flourished until Rome conquered Greece in 146 B.C. Roman indifference and corruption led to the abolishment of the Games in 393 A.D.
  When Baron Pierre de Coubertin mooted reviving the Olympics in Athens in 1896, he was inspired by the original principles that had fostered the Games in the first place: the value of the whole man, spirit body and mind; the belief in individual freedom and merit; consciousness of our collective responsibility to each other; and an acceptance of our democratic right to participate in public affairs.
  Our champion this week is Billings learned Hand (1872-1961) the American jurist whose tough and profound mind, philosophical skepticism and faith in the United States were employed throughout his record tenure as federal judge (52 years from April 1909, until his death in 1961). Though never a justice of the U.S. Supreme Court, he is considered to have been a greater judge than all but a few of those who have sat on the highest U.S. Court.
  At Harvard, Hand studied philosophy under William James, Josiah Royce and George Santayana. He then studied law. Thereafter he practiced law at Albany and New York City. In 1909 he was appointed a federal judge in New York. In 1924 he was elevated to the United States Court of Appeals in New York, Connecticut and Vermont. From 1939, he served as chief judge. He sat in many cases after his official retirement in 1951.
  Because Supreme Court justices disqualified themselves, Hand’s court rendered the final decision (1945) in a major antitrust suit against the Aluminum Company of America, a.k.a the Alcoa case. After a trial lasting four years, Hand wrote for the Court an opinion rejecting the “rule of reason” that the Supreme Court had applied in antitrust cases since 1911. He ruled that evidence of greed or lust for power was inessential; monopoly itself was unlawful, even though it might result from otherwise unobjectionable business practices. In his view “Congress did not condone good trusts and condemn bad ones; it forbade all.”
  In 1950, Hand sustained the conviction of 11 American Communist Party leaders on Smith Act charges of conspiracy to teach and advocate the overthrow of the government. His reasoning was adopted by Chief Justice Fred Vinson when the Supreme Court also upheld the convictions. In a later case, (Yates v. U.S., 1957) the Supreme Court under Chief Justice Earl Warren considerably restricted the application of the Smith Act. A collection of Hand’s papers was edited as The Spirit of Liberty (1952) by Irving Dillard. Hershel Shanks selected 43 opinions of Hand for The Art and Craft of Judging (1968).

Saturday 11 August 2012

IMRAN: CIVILISATION CYCLES By Bayo Robiu Ogunmupe Part One: Prologue


IMRAN: CIVILISATION CYCLES
By Bayo Robiu Ogunmupe
Part One: Prologue
IMRAN is the concept by Muslim scholars meaning civilization cycles. It arose after Satan cast doubts on Allah’s sovereignty when he (satan) a renegade spirit son of God succeeded in influencing Adam and Awawu to rebel against Allah’s rulership.
  That rebellion constituted a challenge to God’s sovereignty. The purpose of this essay is to answer the questions: why did civilization cycles occur? Which of the civilizations are we concerned with and what can we do to restore Allah}s rulership?
  “Allah himself has firmly established his throne in the very heavens, and over everything his own kingship has held dominion” – Zeburrah 103:19. With those words the psalmist – King Dauda of ancient Israel, pointed to the fundamental concept of rulership, Allah being the creator, is rightfully the sovereign ruler of the universe. Of course, for a ruler to rule, there must be subjects.
 Thus, Allah exercised his dominion over spirit creatures whom he brought to existence – like the angelic hosts. Far down the stream of time, prophets have given glimpse of the heavenly scene for eons, Allah, presided as Lord over his immense and orderly family of spirit sons, who served as ministers doing his will. – Zeburrah 103: 20-21.
  Eventually, Allah extended his rulership by bringing into existence the vast universe, including the earth. To an observer from earth, the heavenly bodies operate with such order and precision that they seem to need no one to guide or govern them, yet the Zeburrah declared, “Allah himself commanded, and they were created. And he keeps them standing forever, to time indefinite. A regulation, he has given, and it will not pass away, “Zeburrah 148: 5-6. As ever, Allah has been exercising his power in directing, regulating and governing the spirit realm and the physical universe.
  With the creation of the first human pair, Allah exercised his power in yet another way. Besides providing humans with everything they needed, Allah granted them dominion over the earth – that was a delegation of authority. Thus, it is clear that not only is Allah’s rulership benevolent, it also accords its subjects honour and dignity. As long as Adam and Awawu submitted themselves to Allah’s sovereignty, they had the prospect of living forever in an earthly paradise home.
  What can we conclude from all of this? First, Allah has always been exercising his authority over all his creation. Second, God’s rulership is benevolent and dignifying. Finally, our obeying and supporting Allah’s rulership will result in eternal blessings. It is no wonder that King Dauda of ancient Israel was moved to say; “yours, O Allah are the greatness and the mightiness and the beauty and the excellence and the dignity; for everything in the heavens and in the earth is yours. Yours is the kingdom O Allah, the one also lifting yourself up as head over all – 1 Chronicles 29:11.
  Why a Kingdom of God?
  Since Allah the universe sovereign has always been exercising his power and mightiness, why is there a need for the kingdom of God?
  A sovereign generally exercises his authority through an agency that is placed over his subjects. The Kingdom of God therefore, is an expression or exercise of Allah’s universal sovereign towards his creatures, a means or an agency used by him to carry out his rulership.
  Allah has expressed his sovereignty in different ways at different tunes. He instituted a new expression  of his power to respond to a new development when a renegade spirit son of God, satan succeeded in influencing Adam and Awawu to rebel against Allah’s rulership.
  That rebellion was a challenge to Allah’s sovereignty in what way? By telling Awawu that she “positively would not die,” if she ate the forbidden fruit, satan insinuated that Allah was untruthful, thus untrustworthy, satan further told Awawu:
  “God knows that in the very day of your eating from it your eyes are bound to be like God, knowing good and bad!!! Satan was suggesting that Adam and Awawu could do better by ignoring God’s command and going their independent way, what would Allah do to crush that challenge?
  The familiar response to such like challenges was that rather than ignoring the matter, usually a sovereign would render judgement against the rebels declaring them guilty of treason. Then the ruler might empower someone to subdue the rebel forces and restore peace. Similarly Allah showed that he was in full control of the situation when he took immediate action and pronounced judgement upon the rebels. He pronounced Adam and Awawu unworthy of the gift of everlasting life, and He drove them out of the garden of Eden.
  In sentencing satan, Allah revealed a new expression of his power, a means by which he would restore peace and order to his realm. To satan God said: “I shall put enmity between you and the woman and between your seed and her seed. He will bruise you in the head and you will bruise him in the heel,” thus Allah revealed that it was his purpose to empower a “seed” to crush satan and his forces and to prove the rightfulness of His sovereignty – Zeburrah 2: 7-9, 110: 1-2.
  That “seed” is Prophet Isa, along with a distinct group of associate rulers. Together they form Allah’s messianic kingdom. This is also known as the period of the mahdi. Isa shall return as the Madhi. All of this, however, was not revealed immediately. In fact, the outworking of the first prophecy remained a “sacred secret” which had been kept in silence for long lasting times. For centuries the faithful longed for the time when the sacred would be revealed to fulfill the first prophecy in vindication of Allah’s power.
  As time went by, Allah progressively made known aspects of the sacred secret of the kingdom of Allah. Among those to whom Allah revealed the secret was Ibrahim, the man who was called Allah’s friend. Allah promised Ibrahim that he would raise a great nation out of him. Later God told Ibrahim, “kings will come out of you,” and by means of your seed all nations of the earth will certainly bless themselves.”
 By Ibrahim’s time, there had already been human attempts at rulership and domination. For example concerning Nimrod, the great-grandson of Nuhu, Injill says: “he made the start in becoming a mighty one in the earth. He displayed himself a mighty hunter in opposition to Allah.” Clearly, Nimrod and other self appointed rulers were puppets in satan’s hands. They and their supporters become part of satan’s seed.
  In spite of satan’s efforts to produce human rulers, Allah’s purpose moves forward. Through Ibrahim’s grandson; “the scepter will not turn aside from Judah, neither the commander’s staff from between his feet, until the Mahdi comes; and to him the obedience of the peoples will belong.”
  The term Shiloh or Mahdi means: “He whose it is; he to whom it belong.” Thus, these prophetic words indicated that there would come one who had the legal right to receive the scepter and rulership over the peoples or all mankind!
  Of the descendants of Judah, the first one to be chosen by Allah to be king over his people was the shepherd Dauda son of Jesse. Despite his sins and errors, Dauda found his favour with Allah – because of his loyalty to Allah’s sovereignty. According to Edenic prophecy, Allah made a covenant with Dauda, saying! “I shall certainly establish the throne of his kingdom firmly to time indefinite.” That covenant made clear that the promised kingdom “seed” would in time come through the line of Dauda.
  With Dauda started the dynasty of kings who were anointed with holy oil by the high priest. These kings were anointed ones or messiahs, they stood on Allah’s throne and ruled as kings of Allah in Jerusalem. Thus, the kingdom of Judah, represented God’s kingdom.
  When the king and the people submitted to Allah’s power they enjoyed His protection and blessing. The reign of Suleman was a time of peace and prosperity beyond compare, providing a glimpse of Aljanah, the rule of God’s kingdom. Sadly other kings in the line of Dauda failed and the people fell into idolatry and immorality. Finally, Allah allowed the kingdom to be destroyed by the Babylonians in 607 BC. Thus, that was how God made a ruin of Dauda’s dynasty. “As for this also, it will certainly become us one’s until he comes who has the legal right, and I must give it to him – “Ezekiel 21: 26-27. Those words indicate that the “seed” the one who had the right was yet to come.
  In 2BC angel Jubril told Maryam of Galilee that she will bear a son whose name shall be Isa the Redeemer. Later the Greeks called Isa by the name of Jesus. To Isa the son of Maryam, God will give the “throne of Dauda his father, and he will rule as king over the house of Yakub forever, and there will be no end of his kingdom” – Luke 1: 31-33.
  At last, the time of revealing the sacred secret is near. The promised “seed” was soon to appear. Maryam’s son, whose kingdom there will be no end, is the same person as the messiah, Islam’s Mahdi, the second coming of Jesus Christ. He would be bruised in the heel by satan. But the Mahdi will bruise satan’s head, putting him and his cohorts out of action. Isa would bear witness to Aljanah and Vindicate Allah’s sovereignty.
Civilization Cycles
Part Two: Civilisations
  It has been revealed that there shall be seven cycles of Civilisations before the appearance of the Mahdi. These cycles of civilization of false religion began with Egypt, followed by Assyria and Babylon, others which followed are Persian, Greek, Roman and the present Anglo American civilization.
Egyptian Civilisation
  Egypt is the world’s oldest Continuous Civilisation. It is the world’s first civilization. About 2925 BC, Upper and Lower Egypt were united by King Menes. This unification started an unbroken line of native rulers that lasted 3000 years. Egyptian history is divided into Old, Middle and New Kingdoms – Spanning 31 dynasties and lasting to 332 BC.
  The pyramids date from the Old Kingdom; the cult of Osiers and the refinement of sculpture from the middle kingdom, the era of empire and the Exodus of the Jews from the New Kingdom.
  The Assyrians invaded Egypt in the 7th century and the Persians established a dynasty in 525 BC. The invasion by Alexander the Great in 332 inaugurated the Ptolemaic Period when Egyptian rulers remained firmly planted in the Hellenic world. The city of Alexander, founded by Alexander developed into a centre of Hellenism and Semite learning, was soon to become a focal point of the highest development of Greek Scholarship and Science.
  The Romans held from 30 BC to AD 395. Thereafter, it was administratively placed under the control of Constantinople, the capital of the East Roman Empire; later known as the Byzantive Empire. The Byzantine control of Egypt ended in 642 AD when its forces evacuated Egypt after three years of armed conflict with invading Arabs. Within a century, Egypt was transformed into an Arabic speaking state with Islam as its dominated religion.
  Later, Egypt became part of the Umayyad and Abbasid caliphates, subsequently; it became the centre of the Fatimid caliphate in AD 969. In 1171 it returned to the Abbasid caliphate.
  The Mamluks gained ascendancy after the collapse of the Abbasids in 1250. The Mamluks were soldiers, they were slaves of non-Arab and non-Muslims origin who had been used to augment the armies of the Arab world. They established a dynasty in Egypt that lasted until 1517 and made Egypt the Centre of the Eastern zone of the Arabic speaking world. Then, the Arabisation of Egypt was complete.
  In 1517, Turkey annexed Egypt into the Ottoman Empire and was ruled as its province from Istinbul. The decline of Egypt invited a French invasion in 1798, it lasted a few years but brought Egypt into European politics. Thereafter, Mohammed Ali, an Albanian created a dynasty and an empire but under Ottoman control. His monetary greed and expansionism and those of his successors left Egypt in debt to the British, who occupied the country in 1882 during a civil strife.
  Like Nigeria, Egypt became a British Protectorate in 1914, and received nominal independence in 1922, when a constitutional monarchy was established. A coup in 1952 brought Gambal Abdel Nasser to power. Nasser was the first native Egyptian ruler in 2000 years. He fought two failed wars against Israel: in 1956 and 1967. His successor: Anwar Sadat reversed Nasser’s socialism, attacked Israel: in 1973, he gained a foothold in the Sinai. He was assassinated in 1981. Hosni Mubarak who followed Sadat regained sovereignty over the Sinai Peninsula in 1982 which had been lost to Israel in 1967. Mubarak continued Sadat’s policy of close ties with the United States, with Egypt joining the US led coalition against Iraq in the 1991 Persian Gulf War. Mubarak was re-elected in 1987, 1993 and 1999. President Mohammed Morsi replaced Mubarak in 2012.
The Assyrian Civilization
  Assyria was the second cycle of civilization after Egypt. It started as a Kingdom in northern Mesopotamia, it became the centre of one of the great empires of the ancient middle east. It was located in what is now northern Iraq and South eastern Turkey.
  Assyria was a dependency of Babylonia and later of the Mitanni Kingdom during the second millennium BC. It emerged as an independent state in the 14th century BC and subsequently became a major power in Mesopotamia Armenia and northern Syria.
  Assyrian power declined after the death of Tukulte Ninurtal in 1208 BC. It was restored briefly in the 11th century BC by Tiglath Pileserl later, both Assyria and its rivals were preoccupied with the incursions of the semi nomadic Aramaeans, Assyrian kings began a new period of expansion in the 9th century BC and from the eight to the late 7th century BC a series of strong Assyrian Kings – among the Tiglathe Pileser III, Saergon 11, Sennachrib and Earhaddon – United most of the Middle East from Egypt to the Persia under Assyrian rule.
  The last great Assyrian was Ashurbanipal, but his last years and the period following his death in 627BC are obscure. The Assyrian state was finally destroyed by a Chaldean – Median coalition in 612-609 BC. Famous for their cruelty and fighting prowess, the Assyrians were also monumental builders as shown by archaeological sites as Nineveh, Asher and Nimrod.
3rd Civilization: Babylon
  Babylon is the third world. Empire of false religion; following the flood of Nuhu’s day, false religion began at Babel, later known as Babylon.
  The city of Babylon was taken by the Persians under Cyrus the Great in 539 BC. Today, Babylon is an uninhabited ruin, Nimrod started Babylon as an Empire. It was later ruled by Balthazar.
  An ancient cuneiform inscription reads: “Altogether there are in Babylon 53 temples of the chief gods, 55 chapels of Marduk, 300 chapels for the earthly deities, 600 for the heavenly deities, 180 altars for the goddess Ishtar 180 other altars for different gods.” – Quoted from The Bible as History (New York 1964) w. Keller, P. 301.
  The civilization of Egypt, Persia, and Greece felt the influence of the Babylonian religion: from The Religion of Babylonia and Assyria (Boston) 1898 by M. Jastrow.
  Babylon was the capital of the Chaldian Kingdom which grew to the Babylonia Empire in the 7th and 6th centuries BC. Then it was at the height of its splendor. Its extensive runs on the Euphrates River about 55 miles south of Baghdad lie in the modern state of Iraq.
  After the fall of the third dynasty of Ur where Babylon was a provincial centre became the nucleus of a kingdom established in 1894 BC by the Amorite king Sumuabum, whose successor consolidated its status.
  The sixth and best known of the Amorite dynasts – Hammurabi 1792 – 50 BC raised Babylon to the capital of a kingdom comprising southern Mesopotamia and part of Assyria in northern Iraq. Henceforth it became the main political, commercial and administrative centre of Babylonia, while its wealth and prestige made it a target for foreign conquerors. In 1570 BC the city passed into the control of Kassites who established a dynasty lasting more than four centuries.
Babylon
  Later in this period, Babylon becomes a literary and religious centre, the prestige of which was reflected in the elevation of Marduk, its chief god to supremacy in Mesopotamia. In 1234 Tukulte Ninurta of Assyria took Babylon, though subsequently the Kassite dynasty itself reasserted itself until 1158 when city was sacked by the Elamites.
  Babylon’s acknowledged political supremacy is shown by the fact that the dynasty of Nebuchadnezzar (1124-30) made it their capital although they did not originate there. This dynasty endured for more than a century.
  Just before 1000BC, pressure from Arameans of Northern Syria brought dislocation inside Babylon. From then to the fall of Assyria in the 7th century BC, there was a continual struggle between Aramacous, Chaldeans and Assyrians for the control of the city. Finally, disorders persuaded Sennachrib (704-681 BC) that peaceful control of Babylon was impossible and in 689 he ordered the destruction of the city, but it fell to Assyria in 648 BC.
  Under Cyrus, the Persians took Babylon in 539 BC. But in 331 Babylon surrendered to Alexander the Great who confirmed its privileges and sought to make it his capital. In 323 Alexander died in the palace of Nebuchadnezzar. After a power struggle among Alexander’s generals, Babylon passed to the Seleucid dynasty in 312. The city lost its prestige by the building of a new capital in Seleucid on the Tigris River.
Persian Empire and Civilization 490-450 BC
  Persia is the kingdom of Iran in southwestern Asia. Persia is its ancient name when it was an empire embracing the Greek city states. However, a series of wars broke out between the Greek city states and Persia over a period of almost fifty years 492-449 BC.
  The fighting was most intense during two invasions that Persia launched against mainland Greece between 490 and 479 BC. Although the Persian Empire was at its peak, the collective defense mounted by the Greeks overcame seemingly impossible odds and even succeeded in liberating Greeks city-states on the fringe of Persia itself. The Greek triumph ensured the survival of Greek culture and political structures long after the demise of the Persian Empire.
  In the generation before 522 BC, the Persia kings Cyrus and Cambyses extended their rule from the Indus River valley to the Aegean Sea. After the defeat of the Lydian King Croesus in 546, the Persians gradually conquered the small Greek city states along the Anatolian coast. In 522 Darius came to power and set about consolidating and strengthening the Persia Empire.
  In 500, the Greeks again rebelled against Persia. This uprising known as the Lonian Revolt, (500-494 BC), failed but its consequences for the Greeks were momentous. In 490, a Persia army of 25000 men landed unopposed on the plain of Marathon, and then Athenians appealed to Sparta to join against the invaders. But the Spartans were detained by a festival. However, Athenians won a decisive battle at Marathon.
  After their defeat, the Persian went home to return 10 years later, led by Darius successor, Xeroxes. A league against Persia was formed by the Greeks in 481. According to Herodotus, the Persian army number in the millions, making it unwieldy. The Spartan general Leonidas dispatched his main army to safety but fought to the death at Thermyopylae with the Spartan and Thespian soldiers who remained to fight Persia.
  Although Xeroxes returned to Persia, his army remained in Greece, Persia was finally expelled after the battle of Palataca in 479 BC. The Persian navy was defeated in Mycelex. Although the battles of Palataca and Mycelex ended the Persian control of Greece, fighting continued between them for 30 years more. Led by the Athenians, the newly formed Delian league went on to free the other Greek city states and in 449 BC the peace of Callias finally ended hostilities between Greece and Persia.
The Greek Civilization
  In many respects, ancient Greece was the mother of Western Civilization. Its achievements were remarkable and its legacy in the arts and sciences incalculable. But Greece began badly, for the Bronze Age History (3000-1200BC) of Greece is trivial beside that of the great empires of Mesopotamia and Egypt.
  About 2000 BC, an Aegean Civilization known as Minoan developed on the Island of Crete. The Minoans were literate, urban and into maritime trade. Natural disasters and conquests terminated the Minoan civilization in about 1400BC.
  Indo-Europeans started entering Greece in about 2000 BC. The resulting Mycenaean civilization from about 1600 BC was heavily influenced by Crete. In 1200BC the Dorians, an Indo-European people invaded Greece precipitating a dark age. By 750 BC Classical Greece began to emerge from a loose composite of city states heavily involved in maritime trade and a devotion to art, literature, politics and philosophy. This remarkable Greek civilization reached its zenith in the 5th century BC after repelling the Persian invasions in Greco – Persian wars.
  In 338BC, Philip II of Macedon took over the Greek city states. Thereafter, Greece enjoyed immortality as its culture was spread by Philip’s son Alexander the Great throughout his vast empire. The Romans conquered the Greek city states during 205-146 BC.
  The Barbarians reduced Greece further during the late Roman Empire but Greeks culture and language survived. Through the efforts of the Greek Orthodox Church, in the 5th and 7th century AD Greeks were converted to Christianity. The crusaders sacked Constantinople in 1204 but by 1453 Greece had fallen to the Ottoman Turks.
  However, Greek independence was recognized in 1832, Otto 1 ascended the Greek throne in 1833. Driven to exile in 1862, Otto was replaced by George 1. Instability marked much of 20th century government but it survives today as a member of the European Union.
The Roman Empire
  The ancient state that centered on the city of Rome started as a republic in 509 BC. The empire was established in 27BC. The final eclipse of the empire in the West occurred in the 5th century AD. Roman Empire in the East was known as the Byzantine Empire.
  The early Roman Republic was between 509 to 264 BC and the regal period was between 753 to 509 BC, Rome had been a republic founded in 753 BC, the republic had begun in 5709 BC following the overthrow in a popular uprising of Luscious Tarquinius, the last of Rome’s seven Kings.
  Thereafter, the Romans elected two consuls annually to act as magistrate in place of a king. These consuls were usually generals tasks it was to lead Rome’s armies in war. In times of military emergency when unity of command was necessary, Rome appointed a dictator, in place of the consuls. The dictator however, cannot hold supreme military command for longer than six months. The Senate served as an advisory council for both magistrates and dictators.
  In 451BC Rome reserved its first written law code, inscribed upon 121 bronze tablets and publicity displayed in the Forum.
  During the 6th century BC Rome became the largest Latin city, owing to the achievements of its Etruscan overloads, Rome became the master of the Latins in 338 BC, by 275 BC Rome had become master of all Italy. Soon Rome’s success led it into conflict with Carthage, in North Africa.
  The ensuing battles known as Punic Wars spanned the years 264-146 BC. Two great military geniuses were among the leaders in these wars. Hannibal led the Carthaginuan forces from 220 to 200 BC when he was defeated by the Roman Commander Scipio Africanus Elder. The Romans occupied Carthage, they destroyed it completely in 146.
  The defeat of this powerful rival made Rome master of the entire Mediterranean area. To the east, the Romans defeated Syria, Macedonia, Greece and Egypt all of which had until then destroyed the Achaean League and burned Corinth in 146 BC. Then, the Romans organized the conquered people into provinces – under the control of appointed governors. They also stationed troops in each province.
  Unrest and civil war in Rome fueled by inequality created by slavery marked the transition of Rome from republic to an empire. Notable figures in the civil wars included Gaius Marius a military leader who was elected consul seven times and Sulla, an army officer. The civil wars encompassed the careers of Pompey, Orator Cicero and Julius Caesar, who was later elected dictator of Rome.
  After Caesar’s assassination in 44 BC, the triumvirate of Mark Antony, Lepidus and Octavian, Caesar”s nephew, ruled. Not long after, Octavian went to war against Antony and after his victory at Actium in 31 BC, he was crowned Rome’s first emperor, Augustus. His reign, from 27 BC to AD 14 was distinguished by stability and peace.
  Augustus established a form of government known as a principate – a cross between republicanism and monarchy. The senate still functioned, though Augustus as prince, or first citizen ruled unrestrained by any one. Under Augustus, prosperity returned to Rome and the emperor came to be looked upon as a god. Thereafter all good emperors were worshipped as gods-after death. Among the beloved rulers of Rome were Hadrian-reigned 98-117, 117-138, Antoninus Pius 138-161, and Marcus Aurelius 161-180. Decadent, cruel men also rose to power. Caligula and Nero were so loathed that their reigns were struck from the official Roman records.
  It was during the rule of Tiberuis 14-39 AD that Jesus Christ was crucified. Thereafter, Christians were tolerated, but often tortured or killed until the reign of Constantine 1, 312-237 AD. In 313 an edict of tolerance for all religious was issued and from AD 320, Christianity was favoured by the Roman State.
  But the empire was dying. The last Constantine’s line Theodosius 1 AD 379-395 was the last emperor to rule over a unified Roman Empire. When Theodosius died in 395 Rome split into Eastern and Western Empires.
  The West was shaken in 410 when the city of Rome was sacked by the northern. Roman fall was completed in 476 when Odoacer deposed the last Roman emperor Romulus Augudtulus. The east continued as the Byzantine Empire through the European Middle Ages.
The Anglo American Civilization
Seventh Civilization
  The civilization by the name of Anglo American is not restricted to the cultural entities of the United States whose folkways have been those of northern Europe. Anglo American civilization comprises the United States and Canada, the United Kingdom and the commonwealth and the states of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO).
  The expressions Anglo has come to signify a white, of British descent, English speaking, North American and European as distinct from other groups. Thus, the Anglo American civilization is the present power structure in the world where the United States and its allied have become the dominant power in the world today.
  So, I wish to give the historical reasons why the folkways of Britain and the United States have become dominant in the modern world. The United Kingdom (UK) entered World War II in 1939 and battled German and Japanese forces in Europe, Africa and Asia. After the war the Irish Free state became the republic of Ireland and left the Commonwealth. India also gained independence thereafter.
  During the 20th century, UK underwent a quiet revolution with the advent of the Labour Party and the creation of a welfare state, the first Labour premier was Ramsay Mac Donald in 1924m and in the 1945 election, Labour Party, espousing a socialist platform, won an overwhelming majority in parliament and at once embarked on a nationalization programme.
  The state acquired the Bank of England, the coal mines, inland mass transport, aviation, gas and electricity. It put through a cradle-to grave social insurance plan and set up a National Health Service to provide free medical care. Subsequent conservative governments denationalized some sectors but the basic welfare state remained.
  In 1973, Britain joined the European Economic Community, now part of the European Union, however, Conservative Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher sponsored many changes in the 1980s that favoured private enterprise and discouraged governmental introduced Constitutional reforms which established regional governments in Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
  The Japanese attack on Pearls Harbour brought the US into World War II on the side of Britain, and the Soviet Union against Germany, Japan and Italy. After victory was achieved in 1945, the US experienced three decades of economic prosperity. The Allied Victory in 1945 left the US the leader of the western world. Subsequently, it got embroiled in 40-year-long rivalry with the Soviet Union that became known as the Cold War, in 1949, it formed the North Atlantic Treaty Organization so as to counter the Soviet Military presence in Eastern Europe and Korea.
  In defence of South Korea, the US engaged in war in Korea between 1950 and 1953. The war spread to Vietnam in 1955-75. However, the US involvement in Korea and Vietnam was accompanied by the Watergate Scandal which forced the resignation of US President Richard Nixon in 1974.
  The US resumed its anticommunist foreign policy under President Ronald Reagan (1981-89) whose administration saw to the break-up of the Soviet Union in 1991, thus making the United States the world’s only super power. The US prepared during Bill Clinton’s term 1993 – 2001 with its first budget surplus in 30 years.
  In 2001 the September 11 attacks against the US killed more than 3000 people and raised the specter of international terrorism. This led George Bush Jnr later in the year to topple the Taliban government in Afghanistan which was harbouring the mastermind of the attacks, Osama bin Ladin. The administration also overthrew the Iraqi regime of Saddam Hussein in 2003. George Walker Bush was re-elected in 2004, narrowly defeating Democratic challenger John Kerry.
  The Anglo American new world order came into being after the Soviet Union was dissolved in 1991. The status of this alliance was enhanced by its success in gaining the support of the United Nations to push Iraqi forces out of Kuwait during the First Persian Gulf War. The US also led the world Second Persian Gulf War in 2003. The participation of NATO members states in the US led war in Iraq is the apogee of the Anglo American civilization. Thus, this is the seventh and last civilization of the Mahdi while the Christians are looking for the second coming of Jesus Christ who will launch his millennium, his 1000 year rule which shall be the beginning of God’s kingdom.
Civilization Cycles
Part Three: Epilogue
  The subject of this dissertation is Imran which means civilization cycles. In the prologue we were able to answer the question: why did civilization cycles occur? In part two, we were able to identify the civilizations in question.
  The aim of this Epilogue therefore, is to chart the course to the restoration of Allah’s sovereignty. The Mahdi is seen as a restorer of power and religious purity in Islam. At this period of human history therefore, we are to expect the emergence of the Mahdi. Many self styled Mahdis have emerged in the past. One was Ubayd Allah, founder of the Fatigued dynasty in Islam. Another is Muhammad Ibn Tumart, the founder of the Almohad Movement in Morocco in the 12th century AD and Muhammad Ahmad, the Mahdi of the Sudan who in 1881 revolted against Egyptian control of the Sudan.
 Also, Ghulam Ahmad claimed to be a Mahdi. He was born in India in 1839. He died in 1908. He founded the Ahmadiyah Movement in Islam. Ghulam’s teachings were incorporated in the beliefs of the Ahmadiyah. Ghulams teachings and practices as espoused by the Ahmadiyah Movement has had a great influenced in the proselytisation of Islam in Nigeria. The Ahmadiyah established the first non-Christian educational institutions in Nigeria and in Southern Nigeria in particular.
  In the 1550s, Nostradamus, a Christian seer predicted the emergence of an anti-Christ during the first half of the 21st century. It may well be that the quest to scuttle this is why the US has engaged in the destruction of the Taliban regime in Afghanistan, Saddam Hussein in Iraq and a possible incursion to Iran later on. To my mind, this antichrist may well be Islam’s Mahdi.
  Notwithstanding, Christians are also expecting the second coming of Jesus Christ around this time. At all events, the best Muslims can do to prepare the way for the Mahdi is to transform the Organization of Islamic Conference (OIC) to the Islamic Treaty Organization (ITO) to contain aggression against member states. The ITO will provide a bulwark against external intervention in the affairs of Muslims.
  Since OIC was founded in Saudi Arabia in 1971 with the aims of promoting Islamic solidarity, prosperity and the promotion of Islamic education, its transformation would provide safe landing for the Mahdi, the restorer of paradise on earth. The rule of the Mahdi is Islam’s counterpoise to the second coming of Jesus Christ and his millennial rule.
Notes on the Author
Ogunmupe, Chief Bayo Robiu, journalist, historian and columnist, was born in Abope, Osun State on 18 April, 1948. He was educated at the International School, Ibadan; the Universities of Ibadan and Geneva, and the London School of Economics, UK.
  Ogunmupe taught History and English at Oranyan Grammar School, Oyo, Lautai High School, Gumel, Jigawa and Okebadan High School, Ibadan.
  As a journalist, he was Political Editor, Daily Sketch, Features Editor, Nigerian Tribune, Ibadan. He was copy editor and columnist on the Daily Champion, Newswatch, Daily Independent and The Guardian, Lagos.
  He also consults for the University of Ilorin, Nigeria.
  Ogunmupe holds the Chieftaincy title of Akede Adini of Ilasamaja, Lagos, Nigeria.
  He is married with children.
remained firmly planted in the Hellenic world. T

On The Path Of Winners By Bayo Ogunmupe Using Intuition To Create Wealth


On The Path Of Winners
By Bayo Ogunmupe

Using Intuition To Create Wealth

AN actress known to me, who was also a dancer and journalist, became discouraged after years of rejections and occasional unsatisfactory roles.
  She got married, gave up performing for her first child.
  Midway through the pregnancy she had a dream. A winding staircase led down to a cellar where two women were tied to chairs, unable to move or call for rescue. The actress untied them and asked who they were. One said she was an actress. The other was a nurse. Helping the women to their feet, she led them upstairs into the main house.
  The dream became confused after that, and she woke up. Later that night, she fell asleep again and this time dreamed that she was starring in a Nollywood show. The performance was a wild success. Thinking about her dreams, she realized that, as happy as she was in her marriage, there were parts of her that she had not been expressing and that needed to be expressed. The performer in her and the healer were kept tied up in her subconscious, unable to find expression.
  Thus, the task for most of us is to discover the true dimensions of who we are and then to allow that identity to surface. Only in that way can we discover what we want out of life.
  How do you go about discovering why you want to be rich? The simple answer is to ask. Ask yourself, ask the dreamer in you what he really wants out of life. Frequently, the first realizations you have concern what you don't want. You may have assumed, right through law school, and the call to the bar, that you wanted to be a corporate lawyer, just like your dad. But then when it seems absurdly late to change your mind, you realize that was your dad’s dream, not yours, and that you will never be happy in that line of work.
  However, if you have difficulty discovering what you want to achieve in life, it might be because of your cynical upbringing. Many people have negative conditioning to overcome. Who do you think you are? This question is basic because you can never hit any higher than you aim, and you can never achieve more than you aspire to. In order to be a success, I had to change my belief patterns, particularly what I believe about myself. I changed careers, I switched from the civil service to the private sector, moved from teaching to journalism and publishing. Finally, I came to realize that I am my own mentor, that I am able to achieve any world I want.
  Many executives, because of negative conditioning from parents and guardians, hold themselves back from success and promotion. As children they were told: “Half a loaf is better than nothing.” They were told: “Money is not important.” They were told: “Be realistic, don't expect too much.” This attitude and the feeling that there is something morally admirable about poverty, have a way of hanging on in the mind of the public. Really it is not money but the obsession with money and greed for money that is harmful.
  However, the most common reason executives hold themselves back from becoming greater successes is the idea that they didn't really deserve great success.
  You should ask yourself if you fall into this category. Recently, I was counseling a young but retired civil servant who was starting his own business. The concept: a business centre cum cyber cafĂ© looked promising and yet he could not get it off the gorund. Upon investigation, I got the strong feeling that this ulama had taken a vow of poverty as a monk in a previous life. I know that sounds bizarre in business, but that was his demeanor. He agreed with me that a vow of poverty was not appropriate for an entrepreneur. I then wrote for him an affirmation for wealth. After formally renouncing poverty, he then recited my wealth affirmation. Whether his troubles stemmed from a pessimistic and superstitious view of life, isn’t important. The major issue was that after the wealth affirmation the effect was dramatic. The obstacle in his venture disappeared and now he is a tremendous success.
  If people are not satisfied with their prospects, they should change their careers. Reality is created by thought, and it can be altered by thought. It is my view that what you think about and hold in your heart will sooner or later manifest in reality. Thus, the level of success you are now enjoying is a manifestation of your vision of the past. Before you increase your income, you must enlarge your imagination. Success has to do with permitting yourself to succeed. Affirmations are not wishful thinking. Affirm your own greatness and you will be great in the end. Another way to get yourself psyched for success is to find role models. Each profession has its own heroes. Find one from your profession. Look the part, feel the part. Act the part and soon you will get the part. This kind of rehearsal for success really helps to create the reality you seek. As it says in the Bible, “As a man soweth, so shall he also reap.”
  Our champion for today is John Foster Dulles, the U.S. secretary of state (1953-59) under President Dwight David Eisenhower. He was the architect of the major elements of the U.S. foreign policy in the Cold War with the Soviet Union after world War II. Dulles was one of five children of Allen Macy and Edith (Foster) Dulles. Born in February 1808 in Washington DC, his maternal grandfather was John Watson Foster who served as secretary of state under President Benjamin Harrison. Robert Lansing Dulles, his uncle by marriage was secretary of state in the cabinet of President Woodrow Wilson.
  Dulles was educated at Watertown, New York where his father served as Presbyterian minister. A brilliant student, he attended Princeton and George Washington universities and the Sorbonne, France. In 1911, he entered the New York law firm of Sullivan and Cromwell, specializing in international law. By 1927 he was head of the firm.
  But Dulles, who never lost sight of his goal of becoming secretary of state, actually entered diplomacy in 1907 when, aged 19, he accompanied his grandfather John Foster to the second international Peace Conference at the Hague. He became President Woodrow Wilson’s legal adviser at 30, serving in the war reparations commission after World War I.
  In World War II, Dulles helped prepare the United Nations Charter in Washington DC. President Harry Truman appointed him negotiator of the treaty ending World War II with Japan in 1951. Emboldened by his achievements, Dulles viewed his appointment as secretary of state by President Eisenhower in 1953 as a mandate to originate foreign policy which was normally the domain of the President. He initiated the South East Asia Treaty Organisation (SEATO) pact that united eight nations in 1954, filling the gap left by NATO. He restored Austria to its pre 1938 frontiers in 1955.
  Three factors influenced Dulles’ foreign policy: His great detestation of communism due to his religious faith; his powerful personality which leads public opinion rather than follow it and his strong belief in the value of treaties. He was the originator of Brinkmanship doctrine in diplomacy. He died of cancer a month after he resigned as secretary of state in 1959.

A CREED TO LIVE BY

Don't undermine your worth by comparing yourself with others. It is because we are different that each of us are special. Don'...