Our inner wisdom is a super power that helps guide us towards a world we want to live in, in a way that affirms life. As amazing as it is, connecting to this part of ourselves can also be difficult in a world organized under a logic that prioritizes having over being. At times, listening to our inner wisdom can feel like trying to swim upstream or against a current, especially if you feel alone in doing so. 

Lagos, 1444 can be usefully thought of as the place where the systemic disconnection from our inner wisdom began. According to Zuara’s description, those men responsible for the partition of Africans were confused about what to do. Instead of choosing to follow their inner-wisdom, they chose to follow the logic of individual gain. They weren’t the first Europeans to facilitate enslavement, brutality, horror, or pursue individual gain at the expense of others. However, the choices made by these specific Europeans in this specific place and time had implications similar choices made at previous times did not. Because this specific form of slavery was racial and occurred during a major social and economic crisis in Europe, it became a building block of a new economy and world.