ABSTRACT

This ESSAY aims at capturing your possible reality. But before we come to you, let’s briefly survey the story of a 67-year-old man who in the course of his life had submitted 365 job applications without getting employed for once. His 366th attempt paid off, but at age 67. Despite his credentials, super intelligence, skills, gifts, and talents, he couldn’t as much as get a job until he was 67 years old. He barely survived on menial jobs, moving from one failed business to the other.

There’s this other one; a 35-year-old virgin, demon-possessed, unable to attract men despite her beauty and virtue. Her situation was bad, so bad that seducers didn’t consider her a good enough victim for their seduction, usage, and rubbishing. I’m talking about a lady with beauty that can send shivers of insecurity down the nerves of goddesses. Yet, no single man would look her way. Even when she managed to become a wife, becoming a mother was no easy task.

The good thing about the lady and gentleman above is that they conquered those situations in due course, after they got to learn about the realities of THIS WORLD: the PHYSICAL WORLD (THIS SIDE), and the SPIRITUAL WORLD (THE OTHER SIDE). There’s basically a co-existence of every single individual on BOTH SIDES. But not everyone is aware, arguably. It was the knowledge of this reality that served as a blueprint for them to navigate their ways out of WOES - to BLESSEDNESS. You will get to read their full story later in this ESSAY. For now, let’s return the focus to YOU!

You have a smooth journey going on THIS SIDE; and on THE OTHER SIDE too, supposedly. You have no idea about the other side. Your consciousness of reality centers on this side alone, very oblivious of the fact that movement on this side occurs simultaneously with movement on the other side. More so, HAPPENINGS on this side are determined by GOINGS on the other side. As it turns out, huge mountain-walls await you at some point on the other side. So, as you journey along, basking in your usual groove on this side, you get to the mountain-walls on the other side. TROUBLE!

Suddenly, everything on this side comes to a halt: begins to slowly dwindle, depreciating to nothing: whatever that NOTHING might be for you. You notice a sudden stagnancy that doesn’t exactly look like it at that initial stage. But it soon becomes clear and you quickly perceive that something is not right. What then follows is a gradual loss of peace, a gradual loss of joy, of high-spiritedness; all of which afforded you a jolly life – until TROUBLE CAME!

You are ignorant. You do not know that HAPPENINGS on this side are determined by GOINGS on the other side. Therefore, as you journey along freely and simultaneously on both sides, you get to the huge mountain-walls on the other side and there’s a COLLISION! Suddenly on this side, everything comes to a standstill: a pause, a sudden regression that slowly widens the gap between you and your goals, your pursuits, destiny attainment, EVERYTHING!

A new form of life introduces itself to you: a mediocre life, a life of pettiness, stagnancy, a merry-go-round, emptiness, nuisance, a life of irrelevance: one you hate to embrace! You try not to embrace it. But it’s no use! The more you try not to, the more you sink into it. It is like a GOOD DREAM that turns into a BLOODY NIGHTMARE! You freak out, and all that is within you starts to run helter-skelter – while you actually remain stuck at one spot irredeemably, OR NOT.

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INTRODUCTION

The huge mountain-walls on the other side are massive limiting forces that stamp down progress on this side. Its existence/source is usually unknown. Its discovery depends largely on the measures employed to unravel certain mysteries behind bad situations that plague people on this side. The unraveling process is as taxing as it is demanding. It is onerous, it is worrisome, suppressing, deadening, and so suffocating! Not many people survive it: NO WONDER!

Those walls are responsible for DISORDERS on this side: ceaseless SUNSHINE in WET SEASONS, constant RAINFALL in DRY SEASONS, replacement of BRIGHT MORNINGS with DARK NIGHTS. Dark nights becoming darker, darker, and darker. Where does one go from here? No more easy-goings, no soft works, no more jolliness. Is this DOOMSDAY? There’s hardship, confusion, desperation, and all manner of negativities that make life one hell of a LIVING HELL!

All effort to alleviate afflictions on this side caused by the WALLS on the other side mostly proves futile. Instead, it seems to breed more afflictions. Nothing works anymore! Life is sour! In fact, all has come to an end! The next to follow should be death in whatever form it is manifested: spiritual, mental, eventually physical. But NO! there’s this mystifying signal that calls to itself from somewhere, some sort of safe haven: “come to Me; I will give you rest,” it APPEALS.

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YOU

You are planted on this side like every other creation. Depending on your allotted FATE, you could either be of a noble or ignoble line. You could have it going easy, you could have it going a little rough. Whatever the case, the good thing is that LIFE IS WORTH LIVING. So you advance from one point in life to the other, flexing your life as much as you can. Whatever you want, you can reach out and get it without difficulty; or just little difficulty that counts for no labor.

Even if life isn’t smooth for you, it’s not rough enough to knock you down. You still manage to steady things; though with too much energy exerted. You are hopeful for a better tomorrow. It is that hope that gives you the strength to keep going. You push on with a determination to win. Your efforts yield results, though they might be so little to show for your great input. But half bread is better than none, isn’t it? Of course; yes! until there’s no half bread ANYMORE!

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THE OTHER SIDE

The other side is the ULTIMATE SIDE. It is elusive, subtle, and spooky. It usually finds a way to establish its consciousness in people’s minds, hinting on the reality of its existence. It could be via impressions, dreams, trances, etc. Some people get the hint. Some don’t. Some even consider it a mirage, a myth that is common among fools. The sad truth, however, is that ‘not even such disregard of the existence of the other side; stops it from determining the happenings on this side.’

It is responsible for the abundance many enjoy on the side, the growth, progress, achievements, etc. It is also responsible for the ADVERSITIES on this side: plagues, ugly circumstances, even death! Short and simple, the other side controls this side. Hence, for anything to occur on this side, it must first of all occur on the other side. So, in a situation where there are walls on the other side to thwart movement over there, automatically, movement on this side is equally thwarted!

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THE MOUNTAIN-WALLS

For whatever reason, due to whatever factor, huge mountain-walls [could] emerge on your path as you journey on the other side. It is usually massive! Horrible! Frightening! 10 times mightier than the walls of Jericho! The mighty walls of Jericho were built to stop armies of nations from invading Jericho. But these massive, horrible, frightening mountain-walls are 10 times mightier; and aren’t built to stop armies of any nation. THEY ARE BUILT TO STOP YOU! Yes, YOU!

The walls are lined up one after another; with fairly short distances separating one from another. Also, the walls become shorter as its line goes – until the last wall, the shortest of all; and then an open space comes into sight (like it was before the walls surfaced in the first place; like it originally was). There’s then a bright welcoming light – GLORY: your goals, achievements, destiny, everything, which the walls emerged TO KEEP YOU SEPARATED FROM, POSSIBLY.

The first wall stands high and large with no end to its widths and no sight of its tip. It grows into the cloud, attempting to mask that welcoming light: that GLORY. But little rays of that light somehow manage to beam scantily through the wall, calling strongly to its source. It bears the aura of paradise, a place to be! to be inhabited by whosoever trails the light rays to its source: a seeming HEAVEN. It wants you to track it down, which wasn’t supposed to be a BIG DEAL.

But somehow, for some reason, there are multiple lined-up mountain-walls right there to stop you from tracking down the light rays to its source; or at least give you a HARD RUN if you’re anything of CONQUEROR. Having collided with the first wall on the other side, life becomes stationary on this side. To move on, you have to get past that first wall. You have no idea how. You don’t even know there’s a second wall, a third, fourth, and so on. You are in for HARD TIMES!

THE FIRST WALL

The first wall is the highest, widest, and largest of all the walls. It’s the firmest, strongest, most deeply rooted, DESIGNED TO LET NO ONE GET PAST IT. It is monstrous, devilish, exuding an evil aura from its rough surface. It has thorns littered all over, making it hard to make contact with it. When one gets really close, it becomes like an actual mountain, not just a wall that bears the resemblance of a mountain. There’s seemingly no way through it. DEAD END!

It is such a gigantic wall, responsible for the truncation of many destinies, the doom of many souls, the tearing apart of many families, the mediocrity of many persons, the destruction of many lives. It is usually a collision with this wall that awakens people’s consciousness to the REALITY OF THE OTHER SIDE. Upon that collision, one certainly needs to GET PAST that wall if he/she MUST AMOUNT TO ANYTHING ON THIS SIDE. But hey, that’s only THE BEGINNING.

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OTHER WALLS

Other walls serve as backups: the first is backed up by the second, the second is backed up by the third, and so on. But that doesn’t make them any less limiting! In fact, subsequent walls are designed to usually want to prove their worth by stopping what previous walls could not stop. So, if you manage to get past the first wall, the second is more likely to GIVE YOU A HARD RUN! If you get past the second, the third is more likely there to make sure you GO NO FURTHER!

If you make it through the third, you still have the fourth to battle with, then the fifth, sixth, and so on. There are no soft spots on these walls for you to break your way through. No openings, no tunnels, no form of linkage of one side of the wall to the other. IT’S A REAL DEAD END. It is even pointless to think about getting past the other walls when it is almost impossible to get past the first. Thankfully, it is only ALMOST IMPOSSIBLE to get past it, not IMPOSSIBLE!

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YOU (ON THIS SIDE)

You know that point in life where it seems like the heavens are closed over you? where nothing seems to be working? where it’s more like “you against the world?” where you feel like a ghost among the living? or buried alive? I’m talking about that point where nothing makes sense anymore; where making a headway becomes a myth to you but very much a reality to everyone else: that point where everything goes anticlockwise and you’re close to GOING NUTS!

The near-success syndromes, failures, efforts in futility, complications here and there, the reoccurrences, confusion, a thousand problems with no handy solutions, no helper(s), you keep going down with no one to pull you up. You keep on falling, no one can hear you calling. You’re the least favored, unqualified for anything, hardly noticed for good, etc. Desperation sets in; you start to count on the exaggerations of motivational speakers to be your SAVING GRACE!

You begin to get familiar with phrases like: “winners never quit, and quitters never win.” Or like: “believe in yourself enough to never give up on you!” Or “what you don’t stop will stop you.” There are so many of them. These words have a way of keeping you on your feet as you strive to rise above your current crises. Determination, perseverance, optimism, positive-mindedness, affirmative confessions, etc., become the key components that define your existence.

All these happen on this side, very visible to observers, most of which can’t exactly fathom the events of your life at that point. Nevertheless, they watch out for what unfolds. You could even be written off on account of the doom that seems to have swallowed you up. What the eye sees when they behold you is a struggler, a failure in the making, a wounded Lazarus that’s only deserving of crumbs from the rich man’s table. What you’ve become is simple: INCONSEQUENTIAL.

You can blame this on your background, your state, country, and even the world. You can blame people; blame yourself or whatever conceivable factors. Oh yes, blames may tend to lighten you up a bit and all, but it gets nowhere close to ridding you of your demons. You know why? because all measures employed to tackle the problem centers on this side. The disorder on this side is only a CONSEQUENCE of a COLLISION; a terrible collision; on THE OTHER SIDE.

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YOU (ON THE OTHER SIDE)

While that is happening on this side, there you are on the other side, face against the infinitely high, wide, mountain-wall (the first). You have no idea what it is and why it is there. All you know is that you’re supposed to be on a journey. You can’t seem to understand how your path crossed the mountain-wall. You can’t even seem to figure out how to get past it. Is it even possible to get past it? How? You are not exactly aware of what is going on. It’s all DREAMY to you.

Events that pertain to this side are very clear to you. I mean, it’s not hard to tell when you’re fast slipping into a sphere of losers. If this fact seems to elude your realization, many around you will bring it to your notice. But it’s not the same with events that pertain to the other side. You can spend a lifetime without coming to the awareness of GOINGS on the other side, or that it calls the shots for this side. It is this ignorance that at times accounts for the ruin of many souls.

To be at par with goings on the other side, there has to be a connection between you on this side and you on the other side. That you journey simultaneously on both sides doesn’t imply that there’s absolute harmony between you on both sides. The simultaneous journey is more of a SUPERNATURAL ORDER. Whether or not there’s a connection between you on both sides, you journey on. But you see the connection part? It’s not exactly ORDERED. It is WORKED OUT!

The means by which this connection is brought about are diverse. Could be the FAST-LANE APPROACH; could be the NARROW PATH APPROACH. Both have their implications, demands, sacrifices, benefits, etc. While one is satisfyingly fast, seemingly easy, and elusively detrimental, the other is considerably slow, somewhat difficult, but detriment-free. Depending on what rocks your boat, you could embrace any of these means to aid a connection between you on this side and you on the other side. Only then can you stand a chance with the mountain-walls: YOUR ADVERSITY!

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ADVERSITY

“Life is full of ups and downs”, so they say. You are at a point where you have rephrased that statement thus: “life is full of downs and downs.” This is clearly beyond you. If you must GO FURTHER, you most certainly need the aiding of a HIGHER POWER: a power that connects you on both sides, AFFORDING YOU ON THIS SIDE AN INSIGHT INTO GOINGS ON THE OTHER SIDE that account for your distressing experiences on this side. A HEADWAY AT LAST?

Imagine a nightmare of you, aimlessly searching for a possible path through high monstrous walls, endless in length and breadth? That’s you on this side connecting with you on the other side; catching a glimpse of the root of the prevailing issues on this side. Little by little, you become more aware of your situation, you get a full picture of the problem: that things are quite bad, much worse than you thought they were. Far WORSE. In fact, the WORST OF ALL!

With the aid of higher powers, you become more enlightened, gaining valuable knowledge of the other side and your reality therein: its blessedness and your chances to share in that blessedness, its damnations and your vulnerability to it. Its wealth, riches, glory, etc., all of which you stand a great chance with. Then its pit holes, counter-forces, and several anguishes, all of which you are vulnerable to. In the event of adversities, it’s only a case of ANGUISHES – LIKE YOURS.

As your enlightenment process continues, you learn how to maneuver along successfully: how to face the terror that comes by night, or the arrows that fly by day, or the mountain-walls! You learn how to create cracks on the walls with mere words, acts, etc., how to meander through the thorns by following a BLUEPRINT of that realm, which ultimately compromises the wall, eventually resulting in its total collapse. YOU SEE HOW ENLIGHTENED YOU HAVE BECOME?

But make no mistake to think it’s an “easy come easy go” affair where you just connect to the you on the other side and simply take down devilish walls of such magnitude. Depending on the gravity of your allotted appointment on this side, it could take much or less learning, much or less seeking, much or less digging, perseverance, consistency, and much or less of everything that doesn’t come cheap! (though very much within reach; all thanks to HIGHER POWER).

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THE HIGHER POWER

Though the 5th century Greeks did not regard the gods as all-powerful, they did believe that the gods would protect them and reveal the future. As a result, annual festivals were held in Greek cities to honor those gods. That was an acknowledgment of the supremacy of higher powers. All over the world, different faiths have emerged, their sole aim being to bridge the gap between you and the higher powers, between you on this side and you on the other side.

Different diabolical means have also emerged to supposedly serve the same purpose. When the events of your life lead you to seek aid from a higher power, it beholds on you to cling onto one of these FAITHS or MEANS. Your choice here could depend on how informed you are (even in your ignorance), your exposure, association, and circumstances; whether unforeseen or preordained. This is usually a crossroad: you either climb up the ladder or go down the drain.

Adversities stare you right in the face! The clock is ticking! You’re RUNNING LATE IN LIFE! There’s no time for frivolities, religiosity, lackadaisicalness, and dulling. “If you’re going to shoot, shoot! don’t talk!” And “whatever is worth doing; is worth doing well.” Going for the kill is worth doing. It is your lot on earth. But the mountain-walls wouldn’t let you; except you’re aided by a higher power, a potent One, with track records: capable of melting mountains like wax, dividing seas, cutting bars of iron in asunder! etc. You know powers like that? Or would you have me point you to one?

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DEFEAT

The sad part is that many people monkey around, sitting on the fence, neither here nor there. Such an approach only keeps the you on this side perpetually alienated to the you on the other side. On this side, you suffer for what you can’t explain. On the other side, you wander about aimlessly. Mere determination can’t seem to pave a path for you. You go back and forth, tossed here and there, no headway. It gets tiring. At a point, you THROW IN THE TOWEL. It is finished!

You accept mediocrity, pettiness, last place, and all forms of SMALLNESS. You become an object of ridicule, to only serve as a lesson to others. Meanwhile, on the other side, you have conceded to the wall, wandering aimlessly about it and eventually pitching a tent right there before it. You have been conquered by the wall, conquered by whatever factors birthed the walls, conquered by WHOEVER may have been responsible for the walls; be it enemies, haters, “village people”, family, friends, the devil himself, or EVEN YOU! Lol. You really didn’t think it could be YOU?

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VICTORY

Depending on what FAITH or MEANS you employ to tackle your adversity, total victory (or what looks like victory) could be secured. TOTAL VICTORY is when you break through the first wall, break through the second wall, and keep breaking through subsequent walls until you get to the source of those light rays that beamed across the first wall, calling strongly to its source. Finally tracking it down only means you made it across the walls, aided by a higher power.

On the flip side, WHAT LOOKS LIKE VICTORY is not TOTAL VICTORY. It is a TEMPORARY VICTORY. Perhaps you had employed a WEAK MEANS to tackle your adversity; so you get a HALF BAKED VICTORY. You will still have to give it another shot if you’re aiming for TOTAL VICTORY. That’s a merry-go-round; if you ask me. Why not go for the big kill at once? I don’t know how rich you are in knowledge of higher powers and their potency. But here’s one I know: JESUS!

Remember the WOMAN WITH THE ISSUE OF BLOOD in the bible? On THIS SIDE, she was doomed health-wise. On THE OTHER SIDE, one can’t really tell what occurred; perhaps MOUNTAIN-WALLS she couldn’t get through. But having somehow learned of the REALITY OF THE OTHER SIDE (and her possible reality therein), most certainly from her hearings about this JESUS and His doings/sayings, she took bold steps towards employing that higher power to combat her adversity. Hers was a case of “instant turnaround” as you already know. Now, that’s HIGHER POWER!

You know about JOSEPH, son of JACOB, who was gifted a coat of MANY COLORS by his dad – a thing that didn’t go down well with his brothers. The lad connected with the HIM ON THE OTHER SIDE early enough to sight his DESTINED GLORY. But his own brothers became MOUNTAIN-WALLS on his way. He was stuck for thirteen years, keeping in contact with the “him on the other side,” by staying in touch with this higher power, this JESUS, this GOD! Things turned around after thirteen years of strong adversity, and the victory he secured STILL BEAMS OF GLORY TILL THIS DAY.

Jesus Himself, when it seemed like mankind had lost out on how to secure total victory over their ultimate adversity (the devil), also faced adversity in his bid to afford mankind that victory. That victory could only come by Him: a higher power: THE HIGHEST POWER. Even his own adversity; THE HIGHEST ADVERSITY, couldn’t stop Him because the existence of the so-called “highest adversity” depends on this Jesus: this highest power. How strong is your adversity?

Remember the 67-year-old man at the beginning who couldn’t get a job after submitting 365 applications? Also remember the 35-year-old demon possessed lady who couldn’t attract men despite her beauty? If not for this JESUS, that would have been their doom. As promised, here’s a brief elaboration of their story: HOW THEY CONQUERED.

After years of back-and-forth, they came to the consciousness of THE OTHER SIDE, how it is responsible for their calamity on THIS SIDE. They sought more enlightenment about such things and got to learn of how “the kingdom of God suffereth violence, and how the violent takes it by force.” So they launched into WARFARE! To be rest assured of victory, they sought the aid of a higher power, the highest power: Jesus. That’s how they stood a chance with victory.

As they engaged warfare on this side, several pictures can be painted of what may have happened on the other side. It could be that they were determinedly throwing hard fearless punches at the walls, breaking their way through, one after another. They could have opted to climb over the walls one after the other. It could have been anything at all. But you know what was overly obvious? It was THEIR ACTIVITIES ON THIS SIDE: lengthy prayers, fasting, sacrifices, commitment to the higher power, commitment to the course of that power: FAITH, etc. At the end, they came out victorious, with VALID STORIES TO TELL. Stories that touch the heart, stories that uplift the soul, that enlighten, edify.

So, as you also draw strength from this power, you gather the right weapons with which to crack down the monstrous walls. You load up your rifle in readiness to take headshots at it. You OBSERVE THE WAYS, NORMS, and COURSES of this highest power, thus getting its FULL BACKING. Then it’s only a matter of time before the walls come crashing like humpty-dumpty until the glory comes into sight. The process may have been more like A LONG WALK TO FREEDOM. It may also have been otherwise. But does that really matter? It’s freedom at last, glory, victory, TOTAL VICTORY.

CONCLUSION

They that trust in the LORD shall be as mount Zion, which cannot be removed but abides forever. They shall mount up with wings as eagles; they shall run and not be weary; they shall walk and not faint; their paths are as a shining light that shines more and more unto the perfect day. Keep that in mind. And in your days of adversity, remember that weeping may endure for a night; but joy comes in the morning. There’s always a light at the end of the tunnel.

All you need do is keep pressing, press hard. I trust that by now you already know what role the higher power plays in all this; so I need not reiterate on this whole ESSAY. The IMAGERY herein may relatively reflect your immediate reality on THIS SIDE, as well as give you ideas of what could be your immediate reality on the OTHER SIDE. Whatever angle it approaches you from, the point is that IT CALLS YOUR ATTENTION TO SOMETHING; something serious, something you might want to GIVE ATTENTION TO. On the flip side, this may only have been a GOOD READ. Good all the same.

But if you find anything about this imagery relative, this piece may just have just been a ROADMAP for you! You never can tell. Aristotle would have you understand that “ALL MEN BY NATURE DESIRE TO KNOW.” Channel your natural QUEST FOR KNOWLEDGE in this direction too. See what you can dig up. I mean, I may only have succeeded in scratching the surface here. You never know what your findings might be. ENOUGH SAID!

I, therefore, draw the curtains on this note: the BAD SITUATIONS you find yourself in life may not necessarily be intended for your suffering; as you may like to think sometimes. It could be that you're being afforded a story to tell, a lesson to teach, a sermon to preach, etc. Rather than just being told/taught/given that story/lesson/sermon to relay to the world (whatever that world might be for you), you're made to go through it firsthand: a FIRST CLASS experience.

That EXPERIENCE counts for the DEPTH that'll someday hold the world SPELLBOUND to your ideas, works, creations, etc. Cherish that experience: you'll have to give account of it someday, whether to a big audience or just a small circle. That account has to be RICH, DEEP, RELATABLE enough, etc., to cheer, edify, and strengthen others that may at the time be plagued with BAD SITUATIONS. That ACCOUNT has to be HELPFUL, an account like this one: MY ACCOUNT.

Jezuzboi©