Life as I see it

lifeasiseeitlekealder

2nd

edition with 2 bonus chapters!

lifeasiseeitlekealder

Pilgrimage The soul's pictorial journey through life's difficulties, complexities and imperfections.

minding your business A very practical guide to building and managing an enterprise.

Touches parts many books cannot reach!

You'll recommend this book to others.

leKe alder

Conversations of a 21st century saint

R

Pilgrimage Leke Alder

a business conceptualization kit for entrepreneurs

lekealder 080808 Leke Alder's first novel.

A political thriller with a peculiar twist.

life as I see it. Copyright Š 2006, 2008 by Leke Alder. All rights reserved. Published by Alder Media.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owner.

Request to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to: Alder Media 1 Ajose Adeogun Street, (by Ligali Ayorinde Street) Victoria Island, Lagos, Nigeria +234 (01) 270-5408/9 Second edition.

All photographs Š Leke Alder except Leke Alder portraits by Seyi Body-Lawson life as I see it ISBN: 978 077 560 9 Leke Alder will like to hear from you: leke@lekealder.com www.lekealder.com

Essence 45 on power & human natu re 49 letter to olu (1) 51 give me my paid vacati on 53 work 56 in search o f happiness 58 economics & time 64 30 oc 67

Preface to the 2nd edition

2

Proems [po etry in pros e] Guilty! 99 African Child 101 Soul Mood 103 The Eyes ha ve it 105 The Dome 1 07 Twinkle 109

Poems (1) 69 Primordial S oup Dark secre ts The glow

contents

Pleased to meet you 3 Methodious/Cyborg 4

the 5ft 4 ½�

tall busines s philosop Poems (2) hy 71 75 It's not her!

on money & purpose 5 victoria's secret 7

Holes in th

paradox complex 10

for the one

8 mile 14 samson's riddle 20 prepared to pay the pri ce

Exoskeleton 111 Madam Nob ody 113

? 22

Bonfire of the vanities 25 the power of a woman 27 journey to the abyss 29 on becoming an entrepre neur 34 giving 38 the dark side 41 it's up to all of us 43

Hollow 84 hero 86 letter to olu

e heart

s we lost 8

(2) 90 Sonshine 9 6

1

Bonus Chapters The man with the

missing years 11 6 Some happiness ... 119

Preface to the 2nd edition It is amazing what a simple book can do.

And it is amazing what words can do.

Indeed, a word fitly spoken is like apples of gold in pictures of silver.

For the many mails received and all the souls touched For the many lives inspired and the questions of the heart answered For the young who have read And the old who have acknowledged For those who bought for many And all the sparks that flew I am, indeed, a humbled man.

I will keep on writing, and my words will mould a nation.

My words will build dreams and inspire the Next.

My words will heal and my words will illuminate‌ I am, Yours sincerely, The Grateful Man.

21May07

pleased to meet you!

My name is Leke Alder.

I am a seeker of the unknown.

I work as a consultant at an eponymous company called Alder Consulting, an ideas, strategy and brand consulting firm.

I have not always been a consultant. I was a lawyer. Well, you could say I have always been a consultant!

I have the privilege of working with people I love: men and women of character and virtue. Talented, intelligent, dedicated, passionate and full of faith. I'm a blessed man.

I have also had the fortune of taking a life journey with a lovely woman, my wife Lola, and we sired 2 wonderful kids.

I love wisdom and I seek to understand fundamental models of human existence, relationships and interactions.

However, my greatest thrill in life comes from my knowledge of God through Jesus Christ. He's made all the difference in my life and I am so so grateful.

My name is Leke Alder and I'm pleased to meet you.

21Oct06

life as i see it leke alder 3

I am gifted in many directions. I write stories, plays and poetry. I draw, I paint. I design buildings, interiors, furniture, software, products, graphics and I am a keen photographer. You could call me a polymath.

I seek to paint life with light To adopt darkness as a paint brush And co-opt light into an unholy truce with darkness.

Methodious Cyborg

I seek to capture the essence of being To expose the raw feelings of nativity

I have a self portrait, made as it were from images and viewpoints.

the fragility of character

It is an emblematic complexity full of shards of shades of truth.

with excess profundity.

A darkling of light.

I desire to capture the fleeting To some I am a hardworking machine

in a frame by frame of time

a creature without a soul.

To express the depths of the Unseen And the banality of human nature.

To others I am a visioneer A creature with an inner eye.

I am an imageneer a keen developer of ideas

And yet some see me as a spiritual essence a member of a mystic Order.

I have discovered my joy.

Yet others relate to me as a piece of cerebral equipment

Photography is my passion fruit

a dry fig without need of sap.

a gifting compensation for my loss as an artist.

My health could no longer hold

I am a dark enigma life as i see it leke alder 4

Life is a huge canvas

a creator of the vivid

a grey matter full of shadows.

Against the fumes from paint.

of instant hues and greys.

I seek to persuade compassion with meditative compost.

I seek you as my Guest And this much I guarantee You will see with your mind And depart exhilarated.

And yet I am corporeal.

My name is Leke Alder. I am no cyborg.

05May05

on money 01 & purpose I have always wondered about this animal called life, especially success. I wonder about the purpose of our existence, our perambulations and titillations.

We tend to equate our work with life and our measure of success with our earnings. We rate people based on the metrics of their pocket even when there is a knife in that pocket and it is stained with blood. As long as they have

There is something twisted about money. It is the currency of life no doubt, but is it life?

I believe that money is a means and not an end, and when money becomes an end, you transform. At best, money is a coma, not a full stop. If you think otherwise, you'll have poverty of spirit and a deformed soul.

Don't get me wrong, money IS important but you must be large hearted, being rich towards others. This is the ultimate determinant of wealth. History will not remember you for the amount of money you have. It is the size of your contribution - intellectual, political, social - that history remembers. History has selective amnesia.

life as i see it leke alder 5

shekels they are special and we accord them expensive privileges.

The Writer of history demands that we live a selfless life full of

It's amazing that history will not remember Bill Gates for being the

contributions. History only recognises men of purpose: those with

richest man in the world. His place in history seems cemented for

purposeful contributions.

his philanthropy. He's being described increasingly as the man with the largest foundation in the world and not the man with the

We get into petty jealousy because we've not been able to define

largest stock options.

a purpose for our existence. 'My Mercedes is bigger than yours'; 'my children attend better schools than yours'; 'my lair is swankier than yours'; 'my wife is prettier than yours'; 'my coffin is more gilded than yours'; 'my grave is deeper than yours'‌ It never ends, does it? It will never be enough. The man with one plane envies the man with 2 Lear jets. Even my probate lawyer is meaner than yours. Talk about life after death!

There must be a reason why some people are more blessed than

Someone asked me at lunch yesterday afternoon about what I'll like to be remembered for. Now that's quite some thought!

others and it can't be for the purpose of oppressing the lesser blessed.

I define success as the fulfilment of purpose. It is the only definition that I find accommodative of the success of Paul the Apostle, Julius Caesar, Henry Ford and other great men in history.

Or else Mother Theresa was a woeful failure. How come nobody ever names their child Judas? He made a lot of money, was politically connected and made valuable investment in real estate. Judas was a failure because of a lack of understanding. life as i see it leke alder 6

You cannot truly be successful in life without purpose. A failed purpose is a tragic life.

And if success is the fulfilment of purpose then you can't really measure your success until you're near the grave, geriatically or paediatrically. (Alexander the Great died very young).

4am,13May05

lifeasiseeitlekealder

I SBN 978077560 - 9 9 780007 756094