Onuorah Nchedo

Chapter 3:4 High Lonesome: A Spiritual Crisis This chapter would shed light on why our quest for true belonging require that we brave some serious wilderness. Music like all art, gives pain and our most wrenching emotions voice, language and form. So it can be recognized and shared. The magic of high lonesome sound is the magic of all art. The ability to both capture our pain and deliver us from it at the same time. Cynicism and distrust has a stronghold on our hearts. And rather than continuing to move towards a vision of shared power among people, we're witnessing a backslide to a vision of power that is the key to autocrat's power over people. "Spirituality is recognising and celebrating that we're all inextricably connected to each other by a power greater than all of us, and our connection to that power and to one another is grounded in love and compassion..." Addressing this crisis will require a tremendous amount of courage. For the moment, most of us are e...

Chapter 2: The Quest for True Belonging We all crave and need true belonging in our lives. We want to be a part of something, but we need it to be real, not conditional or fake. "Belonging is the innate human desire to be part of something larger than us, because this yearning is so primal, we often try to acquire it by fitting in and by seeking approval, which are not only substitute for belonging, but often helps barriers to it". When I read the above paragraph, it struck me and made absolute sense instantly. The more you try to fit in the more you do not actually belong, True belonging only happens when we are true to ourselves. Presenting ourselves out there just the way we are... Once we belong thoroughly to ourselves and believe thoroughly in ourselves, true belonging is ours. Belonging to ourselves means being called to stand alone, to brave the wilderness of uncertainty, vulnerability and criticism. - The Wilderness Belonging so fully to yourself that you're willi...

Chapter 1: Everywhere and Nowhere "You are only free when you realize you belong no place, you belong every place, no place at all. The price is high, The reward is great." - Maya Angelou I think you should read the statement above again and this time slowly. You'll agree with me that "belonging" feels great and being told that "not belonging" is freedom is rather ridiculous.  Until you realize it is alright to be comfortable in your uniqueness, you really can't be free. You'll always try to be who or what you are not, it took me so many years to come to realize this. The most difficult job on earth is to be yourself in a world that is constantly trying to change you. For the most part of my life, I was always trying to be someone else just to fit in but this only made fitting in more difficult for me. I wasn't confident in my actual personality. Growing up, I was really dealt with especially by my mum because she always wondered what kind ...