Balogun Ojetade - Surviving the Urban Apocalypse: A Guide for Afrikan Warriors

I hope you dont think you awakened to an Apocalypse caused by a crazy cop and did not realize it until you picked up this book.

While The End has not come just yet, it IS imminent. Thankfully, you have a little time to prepare.

Why did you tell that story, then? you ask, frowning. To trick us?

Nope.

I used a fiction intertwined with non-fiction throughout this book because Im Afrikan.

Stop scratching your head in confusion and read on:

Fiction is More Powerful than Non-Fiction

I know you dont like to hear this, but its true.

I know, I knowyou are proud of your collection of hundreds of non-fiction books works by Dr. Yosef Ben-Jochannan , Frantz Fanon, Dr. Chancellor Williams, Dr. Frances Cress Welsing, Dr/ John Henrik Clarke and Mwalimi K. Bomani Baruti and you should be. But how many works of fiction do you own? How many works of fiction have you read?

NOT your childrenYOU?

Not many, I reckon and THAT is not goodESPECIALLY if you call yourself a Warrior.

Youre not alone in this serious deficit in your training, though. Talk to most conscious people and we are intelligent and very well read. Most of us can quote the Destruction of Black Civilization from cover-to-cover. I have read everything from Soledad Brother to Flash of the Spirit . My shelves, too, are filled with great works of nonfiction.

I love to read nonfiction. Hell, I have even written a few popular ones . You have probably read them.

However, I also love to read and write fiction.

After nearly fifty years of voracious reading and after nearly three decades of studying the workings of the brain and the mind, I have come to the realization that fiction is a more powerful tool for learning and delivering truth; for shaping opinions and for affecting change than nonfiction .

Recently, I asked one of my conscious friends why out of over a thousand books he owns not one is a work of fiction and why he doesnt allow his children to read fiction.

His answer?

All that Star Wars , Dungeons & Dragons , Steamfunk shit aint real, bruh. I keeps it real , sonfor myself and definitely for my seeds (children). I got no interest in those escapist hobbies, yo.

Sadly, many Black people particularly those who consider themselves to be conscious feel that Science Fiction, Fantasy and role-playing games are pointless; useless; a waste of time; and maybe even harmful.

But theyre wrong.

My time spent playing role-playing games, reading comic books and storytelling during my childhood and teen years were crucial, formative experiences that were as real and memorable as my time spent running track, competing in the Academic Olympics or grappling on the sparring mat.

Of course, when I talk about reading fiction, I mean fiction written by, for and about people of Afrikan descent.

Once an event has passed into memory, it is the feeling of accomplishment, reward, mutual achievement and victory that is important. HOW I feel these feelings is irrelevant. The triggering event does not matter.

To fully understand this, lets examine what the brain is and how it functions a bit deeper:

The Human Brain is the Most Complex Entity in the Known Universe

Our brains are organs of staggering complexity, having approximately 100,000 miles of capillariesand they can grow more. Your brain has 100,000,000,000 (100 billion) cells. It also has 100,000,000,000,000 (100 trillion) to 500,000,000,000,000 (500 trillion) connections between those cells and no matter where you are at in your own brains development, you do not even use a fraction of 1% of your brains capacity.

Your Non-Conscious Thinking is 5 Times Stronger than Your Conscious Thinking

Your brain thinks in six different areas AT THE SAME TIME. You have six parallel processes going on at once. Only ONE of these is your conscious process. The other areas of your brain are not accessible by your conscious brain. You have a different set of neurons that comprise your conscious thinking and you cannot directly access your non-conscious thoughts.

You have a powerful friend or foe in your non-conscious brain. It is 5/6 of your thinking power. Because you cannot directly control or access your non-conscious brain, you have to work at some techniques that will help you control it.