S4 Ep. 262 The Library And I: Rediscovering A Sanctuary Of Books

SPEAKER_00: Good morning, good afternoon, good evening, good everything. Wherever you are, yes, this very moment on the surface of the earth, seeing me and listening to me. How are you? I will always start with that. I am not being rhetorical now, but the truth is, I care. We care in this space. I always say it because it's the truth. Part of the reasons why we're here, or one vital reason is because you're there listening and always, you know, expecting. Your expectation creates this anticipation in us to come uh with amazing content for you. Yep, I'm fine, I'm good. It's been a season of uh so many goods. Yes. I guess you're seeing where I am today. Uh what's going to be the title of this episode? You're wondering, right? Okay, I'll tell you. Yep, the library and I. You know, before coming on set, I was brooding like, how do I begin this conversation? Where do I start from? What are the elements and all of that? And what came to me was we are creatures of habits. Man is a creature of habit. Mankind, you know, we we there's this thing about us, we create habits, and these habits end up shaping our lives. One of it is communication. Communication, yes. What differentiates human beings from animals? One key factor is communication, talking, and somewhat this communication transcends. If you understand what I mean by that, it goes through times, it goes through generations, it goes through one community and the other, that there's something it brings us together, it fosters socializing. We see in ourselves, that there's one thing it does, it creates a memory. Have you ever asked yourself this question? Certain things you you you you ran into, you came to realize how, who did what at one time, that you will agree with me, that information was stored somewhere. And you, by the reason of your, should I say, search, quest, and all that, you came upon it. One of such technologies, in my opinion, that has kept man forever ahead is the library or the library as you want to call it. Yep. So I was discussing with someone the other day, and we're talking about the digital world and how the digital world is growing and all that. And I said to him, I believe strongly the number of information or amount of information, if you want to call it that, in terms of quantity or uh yeah, qualifying it on the internet, the digital world cannot be compared to the amount of information stored in libraries across the world, the storage center. I, you know, growing up, we read about the library of uh Alexander or Alexandria in Egypt, one of the best or highest ranking libraries ever. And it was destroyed from what we were made to understand. But when you walk into a library, what hits you? Books, right? Books. The library is like a sanctuary of books, or it's a sanctuary of books. And these books carry voices, they carry information, they carry what I call it, thoughts that transcends time, generations, and all of that. But you know one thing I've come to realize a good number of us have lost touch with the library. Yeah, we spend so much time uh on the internet, you know, sit in front of a system and consuming uh digital content and all of that. But you can't compare that with walking into a physical library. So once there was a time in my life, I lived in Europe for a while, you know, Milan to be precise. And there's this place in Milan called Duomo. Uh Duomo is the Duomo is simply, if you translate it, church, you know, Warmore. Yeah, do or Walmore, do, church of God or something. I'm not into interpretations now. And around there, you find something so fascinating. Library. If you go to Europe or even America, you see their libraries are humongous. You know, the way the books are arranged, they are appealing, they call you. But there's something I realize, you know, walking around, the exercise, the mental discipline to take a walk from your house to the library, because yes, those uh climbs you have trains and walkways that would help you navigate and all that. So walking from your house to the library alone, a form of exercise. You go into the library, you pick a book, another form of exercise. You open the pages of the book, another form of exercise. So there is this countless exercise going on all around you, your thoughts, your body, your uh motor neurons, your uh what do you call it, your central nervous system, your motor neurons, everything working. There's this energy it brings, but ultimately you move out of your house. You exercise it, mental capacity is building, your muscles are working, muscle memory, and what have you. But in this part of the climb, as in in Africa, in Nigeria, I'm in Nigeria obviously, I've realized that the culture of library, if I use that, is fast becoming a thing of the past. A lot of us don't even know what libraries look like anymore. I'm not talking about the books you stacked in your personal space. Okay, good. Those can be called your collections. But the library, the warehouse, the sanctuary of books, that as you come in, wow, it hits you. So I had this conversation with someone once on the show, and she was talking about how she appreciates reading. She's not so much of the digital uh croona, if you want to use that. She's the old school. She likes touching her books and she opens it, the smell from the book and the interaction and all that. That is what you experience when you walk into a library. Honestly, that is what you experience. And we are fast forgetting that culture. And that's what I came to do on the show today. To remind you, remind me, remind us the power within the library. There's so much. Everything done on earth by humans somehow has been documented. And that documentary or that story or whatever, it goes beyond the digital universe. It is in the physical space, the library. So what do we call it old school? Really? It never goes old. So you come to see that when you walk into the library, what you see, the books, the voices, you encounter, the persona. It's amazing. Now you remember that story. Yes, I'm going to tell you that story about Jesus when he went into the temple and he picked up what? The scroll. Yes, he picked up the scroll and he opened the scroll and he read something. And he said, This is written about me. I have come to fulfill the volume of the books. So imagine when you walk into a library, what you're going to see, what you're going to experience, the stories, the voices, the possibilities, people's, should I say, experiences that have been documented, curated, put together, articulated, that when you pick those materials, you also not just experiencing it, you will become it. I mean, it fuels you, it empowers you, and you move on. Ah, yes, that is the beauty of the library. And again, you know another thing about the library? The discipline of the library, it teaches you excellence. There's something about the library when you come in. What is that? Silence. Silence. So when you walk into the library, the silence of the library speaks to you. That's the beautiful thing. And also you encounter people like minds. You encounter individuals. You encounter, yes, people who are also in that area. That's what I came to do on the show today. What are you doing with your time? Have you visited any library recently? Yeah, I understand. You have some uh personal collections and all. I do, I understand. But what I'm asking is, have you visited any in your city? Have you? Where you reside, the city where you reside. And you ask, we don't have libraries or whatever. You can start one. Mm-hmm. You can. This is what I came to do on the show today to tell you about the library, the power of the library. What recites in the library? Books. There's something about books. When you pick up a book, when you open a book, your ignorance leaves you. Yes, when you pick up a book and you open it, answers are made available. When you pick up a book and you open it, your mind is enlightened. A lot of ignorance that we see is because we have not opened the book. We have not walked into a library. A lot of ignorance that we see all around us is because we've not walked into a library. So what are you doing today? Or what will one of your bucket lists, what will it be to visit a library? Yep. I encourage I mean, I encourage you as I encourage myself, I challenge you. There's this saying that if you want to hide something from a black man, put it in the book. Is that true? Well, we can challenge that thinking. So, guys, that's what we came to do on the show today. Yep, the library and I. It's a sanctuary, it's a safe haven, it's a place where you can become a place of possibilities. Yep, you have materials to deal with in this space. All right, guys. You know how we do it on the show. This is the space where we come in to lean on one another's experience to forge a positive path. It's amazing, guys. We always come in here to bring, to give you uh an experience, unforgettable experience. All right, guys, I have to run now so that I could go get ready for another juicy uh episode. Uh-huh. Before I leave you, are you following us? We are available on all the social media platforms. Yes. You can find us on Snapchat. No, sorry, not Snapchat. You can find us on LinkedIn, Facebook, uh, Instagram. We have a YouTube channel also. Go ahead. Subscribe. Have you? Go ahead and subscribe. Let's build this community together. Let's build this space together. Let's build this energy together. All right, then I have to run now to go get ready for another amazing episode. Till I come your way again. My name is Amakri. Amakri is away. Bye for now.