The talisman and appreciation – the nudge

There was a man in the Igbo kingdom who wanted to go for a wrestling match, one similar to the Chinese judo. So he went to confide with a Dibia (a chief priest) on how well he can be victorious in the match. The dibia listened to him and carved a black cat, a “talisman” made of wood and gave it to the wrestler. The dibia informed him more about the cat, the characteristics and physiology of the cat; that a cat never lands on its back. In that, he tried to impress the characteristics of the cat into the wresters mind so as to enable the wrestler incorporate the physiology of the cat in fighting.
Then all the time the wrester goes for a match, he becomes victorious. During any of his match when he thinks of the cat, that “a cat never lands on its back,” he becomes transformed psychologically and physically and he garners more energy and more skills to win the match.
We humans are not created to be perfect. We all harbor a degree of doubt. We sometimes lack the ability to be self-disciplined. But a nudge in the form of an artifact, a mentor, or book, or an idea, helps individuals in navigating through difficulties. Some might be against this notion of things, that they say this is Idolatry or polytheist. That having a black cat as a model to behavior is idolatry. Idolatry is when we worship or give much appreciation to a deity or an artifact, image, without understanding and imbibing its true essential properties in ourselves and actions. Idolatry is simply an idea of false worship. And I’d say that all cultures and traditions have always being guilty of that.
When people worship a God of Abraham or Ismail, and they go around killing innocent souls without redress, I’d say that that is idolatry. One is worshiping a God that hasn’t fully impressed his characteristics upon oneself. Or a person who hasn’t understood the whole measure of the God he/she worships, becomes at least false worshipper, because God is worshipped in spirit and in truth. Emmanuel K Anizoba, the author of "Odinani’’, accounted in this book that
"no talisman, no matter how elaborate it may be, can bring you anything
if, from the start, you lack the firm will and the ardent desire to
succeed. The talisman simply helps you to keep the mind on the object
of your desire, to conserve a strong will and your faith in yourself. But
he who carries a talisman without understanding its meaning and goal
is like a child holding a book on nuclear physics.’’
A talisman is device in the form of carving, painting, picture, that serves as an aid in reminding and educating an individual or a society about those physical, psychological, spiritual components, that aids in the growth and development of an individual or a society. A talisman can be anything or a person people look up to for inspiration and courage. A talisman helps in attaining the ideals of libertarian paternalism of which Thaler, the nobel laureate in economic science, advocated in his book ‘’the nudge.’’ He writes that the nudge serves as an encouragement, or let us say an incentive to do the right thing and get the best rewards, without coercion from the government.
When a soldier is on the battlefield, loosing grounds on enemy lines, and he sits behind a protective cover, he opens a pendant and sees a small picture of his wife and children. In that moment he rises up with full strength and inspiration, causes a retreat of the approaching opponents, making him garner enough time for back-up. Seeing that picture acted as a moral boost, a talisman, a crutch, a nudge in the effort of the soldier.
A talisman in some cultures are prayed to or revered so much that the people offer sacrifice to them for their needs. Sometimes we appreciate the fact that they’re intermediaries to where want to go. Before we see the President of a country we go through some procedures or persons. We appreciate the fact that they are some people whom are closer to the President that can easily relay our request. It is so for self-discovery and passing challenges. We appreciate those that have passed similar hurdles, and maybe in watching a video of that person, reading a biography or a seeing a picture, we become more equipped with tools on reaching our destination.
Africans understood early on that humans are being fashioned by images and sensory impression. That we tend to think more through our visual interpretations. That what we see around us acts as buffer to our attitudinal make-up. That’s why they tended to represent goodwill by instituting crafts, made of different materials of clay, iron, bronze, to represent deities, that acts as saints to the African people, so when they kneel or sit before them in meditations, they could easily register into their psychological makeup, the significance and moral essence of those crafts.
Those crafts where created to embody not just the person, but the moral significance of that person or deity. But overtime, through weakness and selfishness of man it has been abused and degraded.

• Update #1 - Isolating into selfhood. March 21, 2021

  We forget the power of isolation. Our present world is being bombarded with rapid informations, transformations, and constant activities to engage ourselves with. But, it'll …

  ---