When Jesus said to his listeners “Blessed are the poor in spirit, for theirs is the kingdom of heaven”, he was spot on. It must be made clear, however, that he meant spiritual poverty. This is the recognition that an individual has less or zero spiritual values and makes an effort to acquire some. Mental poverty on the other hand, is having part of one’s ‘brains’ locked on a bad experience in the past that makes that individual want to spread the effects of his /her experience to anybody. Woe unto such people for their hell starts here and now. For people in senior positions however, this kind of poverty makes them hate the advancement or promotion of their juniors. Such people believe every other person should suffer what they suffered in the past. A senior manager or officer will almost make it impossible for a junior to get promoted because something that is locked away in his/her brain tells him/her, “that person has not suffered like you did” so they expend resources and energy explaining why so and so does not deserve promotion or better pay. Unhappy are such people for they suffer more than the people they attempt to hurt. Mental poverty has diverse Implications that it makes men with beautiful, respectable and dignified wives go to filthy brothels for prostitutes under the cover of darkness. It is only a craving stored in these peoples’ brains stemming from a feeling of inadequacy from the past that will drive a powerful 4x4 at home, leave behind a dignified wife at home and are chauffeured in a hired battered car to a brothel for a “cash for flesh” vendor. People suffering from mental poverty want everyone to know that they have out-lived the stage of want by making a big show of whatever they have; they buy new suits and put them on with trademark labels hanging on the lapels or sleeves so everyone can know they have new clothes. When the traffic flow is slow, such people will hoot for as long as they can, for everyone to know that they can now drive! People mainly begin to live under the yoke of “visibility” through shiny and big things such as big wristwatches, big cars, shiny cell phones, big shiny earrings and big radios, which they blast at consternation of their neighbours. The sense of inadequacy stamped on these people’s brains demands for big things as if to erase the void in their past. It is the feeling of inadequacy in the past that drives an individual to build an over a dozen roomed house for a residence, and not rationale. Such a person will go to a bar and buy booze for whoever is there, but will not give alms to a beggar on the roadside and or on the veranda of the bar because he/she wants more people to know he/she has escaped poverty. Mental poverty makes people bitter and venomous. No amount of success will erase the bitterness and want brewing inside these people. They will begrudge the success and achievement of others in comparison to their huge success. This denies these people the opportunity to enjoy and cherish their achievements, which compounds their misery cycle. Its effects go as far as enlarging the part of brain that remembers the bitter past to eclipse that, which processes current information. People even forget that they are important and at times honourable members of society because their brains are locked in the past. How else does an important member of society behave in a funny way by abusing children? Mental poverty makes people feel inadequate and bleach pigments from their faces, so that their appearance resembles a filled Fanta Orange bottle on top of a Coca cola bottle. Such people have cravings stored in part of their brains that constantly reminds them that they are inadequate. Therefore, they pull out mirrors in public transport vehicles to check whether their bleaches have gotten any better since they last checked themselves, preen their wigs and prattle as if to announce their presence. Such people put on white leather shoes as to announce that unlike in the past they are now clean and can keep their shoes clean. The paradox is that ‘some’ sufferers of mental poverty are men and women with material wealth. This does not mean that rich men do not live decent and modest life. Mental poverty does not need government programs like EDPRS to be eradicated, but like spiritual poverty needs confession and forgiveness. Try prayers and if you do not heal, consult a qualified Psychiatrist. Contact: ekaba2002@yahoo.com
