For the longest time, I have had this internal conversation with myself about destiny and the law of attraction.

I have always believed that destiny means going through the path specifically designed for us and ultimately arriiving at the destination specifically designed for us also, all happening in their due time. Like Que Sera Sera (what will be will be). But I didn't know about the law of attraction until recently.

I learned about the Law of attraction first by listening to Earl Nightingale break down Napoleon Hill's book, think and grow rich. Then I stumbled upon the law of attraction again in the book The Secret by Rhonda Byrne.

My later knowledge of Law of attraction raised a conflict within me about which one of them reigns supreme. Both of them are opposing ideologies or schools of thought.

DESTINY

I had believed wholeheartedly about destiny, because yeah, that's where our life's path and trajectory have been encoded and come what may, they should be fulfilled. This thought gave me a little comfort in the days when my life was moving slowly. On the days nothing seemed to be working, I found comfort in Que Sera Sera. If there is one thing a struggling man needs so badly, it is hope and the belief in destiny gave me that hope.

Well, how did I know that I had a worthwhile destiny that needed fulfiling. How did I know that I wasn't already fulfilling my destiny by being and remaining mediocre? How did I know that I was anything special that made the slow days hurt and feel like I wasn't going anywhere?

These are valid questions that would burst any egotistical bubbles. But I believe inside these questions are the answers they seek.

I wouldn't feel hurt on those slow days if within me there wasn't a fire that was already burning and needed fuel to burn brighter.
I wouldnt chase personal growth and excellence and then be disappointed when I fail. If I didn't have a worthwhile destiny that needed fulfiling, I would feel right at home in mediocrity, without complains.

If I wasn't anything special, friends, old and young wouldn't always come to me for counsel. They see something in me, just like I seen in myself.

These were my bags of hope that I carried everywhere. These bags gave me assurance that one day, soon, regardless of how slow my journey towards my perceived destination of success, that I was going to get there eventually. Que Sera Sera.

LAW OF ATTRACTION

I was on YouTube one night, researching something pertaining to the things I wanted to implement on my farm when I stumbled upon Earl Nightingale rendering of Napoleon Hills book think and grow rich. Hmmmm. This was the beginning of a series of new questions and internal conflict within me.

The law of attraction says that through your daily actions and routines, that you are either attracting or dismissing the life you want/don't want. What a man thinket, he will become. This means that destiny isn't passive, you have to be an active contributor to the manifestation of your destiny daily. And according to the law of attraction, these contribution are mostly mental and in little ways physical.

Hmmm.

So, this means that all my failures and frustrations have been my fault. That I have been attracting them to myself all these while. This means that I have not been doing enough to dispel negativity and attract positivity into my life through my daily mental imaging and actions.

Well, I am not too arrogant to not accept my faults when I'm faced with a much superior argument. I thought the law of attraction made sense because even though it required lots of mental input, the physical input was equally important to see the required manifestation. Its like prayers. Unless you are solely looking for a miracle, you don't just pray and fold your hands. You pray and then you work.

The law of attraction gives you the mental framework and the willing spirit to go about your goal in such a way that all doubts are removed from your mind and ultimately your life. It makes the soil fertile for cultivation.

After I had consumed Napoleon Hill's Think and grow rich and then Rhonda Byrne's the secret and then Psycho cybernetics, I learned that the power of the mind can be cultivated through repeating specific actions then harnessed towards a worthwhile goal. It is ritualistic.

I put it to the test and even though I tried the pricinples to the best of my abilities, I failed. I failed to manifest all that I wanted. But the law of attraction didn't fail.

I failed to remain in the mental framework required to see my assignment to the end. I gave in to life's frustrations and allowed them throw me off balance and once I went off balance, I found it difficult to find my way back in. But before I went off balance, some things that I had written about and mentalized daily manifested but my main mental focus at the time, the bulk of why I was mentalizing, didn't manifest. It did, for a while but fell through.

My endeavor didn't fall through because I stopped mentalizing, but things started happening that were out of my control, before long, everything went to hell.

Now, I can delude myself to think that it was my fault that everything went the way it did, that I didn't try hard enough to remain in the mental framework required. I can equally delude myself into thinking that it wasn't my fault that I did all I could to succeed, that things that happened were totally out my control. Whatever I tell myself long enough I am bound to believe it ultimately.

But what I can not delude myself into thinking that this is how people in advanced societies made their mark. I can't delude myself into thinking that this was how they built their enterprises and their society at large. The government had a say, they would have had to. Because after God is government.

THE ROLE OF GOVERNMENT

I have come to reqlize that government seem to control both our destinies and whatever it is we can manifest and attract into our lives.
Practically, one cannot outmaneuver the frameworks of society. One person may, but a good number of people cannot and in this case, the law of average wins.

The government provides the convenient frameworks that not only allow us to have lofty dreams, but also the capacity to achieve those dreams.

Provision of Social amenities (water, electricity good roads, security, basic education etc), social and economic policies that would encourage individual and societal growth and then large scale investment in the education and technology sector that would motivate and also rewards innovations.

These practical steps would provide the breeding ground for destinies to be fulfilled. And quite sincerely, there wouldn't be any need trying to manifest or attract anything. Instead of trying to attract things from nothing, I would be required by my job or business or whatever venture that pays me, to have strong work ethics. My work ethics would become the grounding and rituals that would take me to the next levels of my endeavor.

This is why people migrate from less advanced societies to the more advanced nations of the world and make tremendous personal progress. Academically and financially.

THE NIGERIAN REALITY

Basic education and the institution of skilled labor programs have been left in the hands of private individuals.
Generation and distribution of electricity, provision of water, security and general human capacity building are all government responsibilities that have been abandoned by the government and the private citizens have been forced to provide for themselves.

The individual resources that are supposed to go into growth and expansion are otherwise channeled into survival. Maslows hierarchy of needs comes to mind.

Society building is a deliberate action that starts from the head (government). When the citizens are strategically groomed to fill up certain societal institutions whose collective purpose are to drive the growth and advancement of the society, every hand automatically gets on deck. Government set up institutions of government, institutions of government are geared towards making governing seemless, faceless and automatic. Government also train citizens on how to run these institutions. This is how it ought to be.

Only the government has the resources and subsequent authority to amalgamate all the individual human potential existent within its sovereignty, into one formidable resource, strictly for the development and advancement of the people and lands within its borders.

Just like in cultivation of crop, the work is seen in the ultimate sprouting of seeds by the many crops that have been planted. Who would blame the vegetables that managed to sproute amongst weeds that it didn't blossom like its mates in the well weeded gardens?

There is a popular statement on the Internet today that "geography is destiny". This means that you are either blessed or cursed as a result of the geographical location you were born in. When you think about it, the location in itself isn't the crux of the matter but the inhabitants of the location. Swap the decision makers of Europe with those of Africa and few years down the line, Africa would become of current European standards and Europe would become of current African standards.

Napoleon Hill talks about the mastermind group in Think and Grow rich. A group of likeminds who come together to bond over the many ways they could successfully drive their ideas to an ultimate completion. The only thriving mastermind group in a country like Nigeria is the political elite. Every other mastermind group have been forced to japa(migrate) to better run countries.

Over the years, I have been a business owner, an employer, an employee, a trader, a farmer, a gym coach, a freelance writer, a bouncer and a cab driver. The whole 9 yards. I have been all I can be, to the best of my ability.

I have done everything I think I can to achieve success but when I make an audit into my life, I see that my success and eventual manifestation of my destiny will only come against all odds. Because the odds aren't favorable to those who are looking to blossom here in Nigeria.

The current Nigerian society is designed to keep people in a loop of constant struggle. Then the strugglers turn around and think it is their fault that they are struggling and begin to apply all kinds of band aids to ease their situations.

After God is government. The government determines whether or not we are able to fulfil our destinies, because it is within the government that laws are made, laws are interpreted and laws are executed. These laws and the actions that exist within them become either tools for our individual and societal growth or individual and societal struggles.