Misfortune as Father of Superstition

"I was lonely in the midst of people, thought so much that I took ill. It was a life that had no substance in it, completely vacuous in the present and in the future. I began to ask introspective questions, making attributions to spiritual diabolism. Misfortune is the the father of superstition. My woes must be spiritual, I concluded.
          The spiritual churches I visited varied and amplified my confusion. I was lost in the labyrinth of prophetic declarations. At one place, I was told that Ekwueme had spiritually sealed my destiny; at another, that there was an ancestral curse upon me. A third said my paternal uncle had shot down my star spiritually. Prayer after prayer. Fasting and seed-sowing, yet nothing changed in my life. A fellow prescribed yet another spiritual house. 'It's the final bus stop; stubborn shackles are loosened there by our father in the Lord.' My spiritual shackles appeared to have been forged with something stronger than iron since there was no breakthrough after a visit to that church. All I wanted was a change in my circumstances, a better job to enable me rent my own abode, and pursue higher education. So, I could not understand why God would not look into my petitions, ordinary as they were. I had now become extremely despondent; my mind had reached a critical state of despair. Finally, I was fed up, and gave up on spiritual solutions."

Immanuel James, 2014, 66-67

Under Bridge