Anytime we try to destroy any human person or being, we are indirectly working towards our own destruction on the premise that we are the parts that make up the whole. — Michael Eneyo
There is no better time for a comprehensive work like PHILOSOPHY OF UNITY: LOVE AS AN ULTIMATE UNIFIER, written by Michael Eneyo to come forward for public assessment and then utility than now. This is because as the world moves into globalism and the integration of peoples, cultures, economies, and civilizations, it is pertinent to re-think the underlining philosophy that can make this process sustainable. This is what Michael Eneyo has done within the pages of this book. The Philosophy of Unity is a move to bridge the gap of fragmentations, disharmony, and dichotomizing tendencies that characterize human living in the modern world, which has consequently led to conflicts, crisis, and wars in most parts of the world. At the base of all these crises is a wrong understanding of how the world really works, distinct from what appears to us. According to Michael Eneyo, the fragmentations we see in the Universe is nothing but an illusion because in reality “everything is naturally connected to everything else” and this connectedness of all beings calls for a new approach of viewing and interpreting the world and its multiplicity in an integrated manner.
This entails that we need to re-examine our cosmology and cosmogony in such a way that opposites, contraries and the ‘other’ are recognized and accommodated in a complementary framework as different from the current oppositional and bifurcated perspectives.
Therefore, to heal the divisions, disunity, and brokenness in the world, we need a philosophy of Unity that recognizes our diversities and uniqueness, in ways that will promote our individual identities. This means that such a philosophy must recognize the unifying bond that connects all beings in the Universe. In this work, Michael Eneyo identifies this ‘unifying bond’ as love, which he called the ultimate unifier and connector. Though, he (Eneyo) identified other connectors like culture, sport, human being, religion etc. I agree with this view because at the foundation of all religious systems and philosophy, is the message of love as the mechanism for curing humanity of the illusion of ‘absolute separation’ that is making our world more fragmented.
In addition, Michael Eneyo works out the methodological horizon upon which we can position the philosophy of unity as a veritable tool in addressing the brokenness of our world. I agree with him on this and accept the fact that complementarity is the way to go, in the building of an inclusive world order, where all units or categories of beings form the building blocks not the other way round.
Furthermore, what then is holding human beings from intrinsic organic unity? Eneyo recognizes fear as that singular property that is an impediment to inclusive unity. Fear in the real sense of the word is at the heart of all human actions and inactions. In espousing fear as an impediment to inclusive unity, Eneyo (p. 105) submits thus:
The fear of how bad some people may treat us if we get close to them. Thefear of what we know about certain communities. Fear of attack from people we feel are lawless. Fear of disappointment and betrayal, etc, can affect the way we relate with others, thus, causing factions and disunity between and amongst people.
From the above, it is very clear how fear contributes to disunity, which has resulted in the promotion of the idea of “the nearer the safer”. Consequently, people are hiding under the cacophony of tribalism, nationalism, and ideology to fight the other, whom they are afraid of. Therefore, Eneyo articulates how we can surmount these challenges in addressing the question of disunity.

Independent Researcher/Principal Consultant Phronosis Services Limited Lagos, Nigeria.
Also, from an ontological plain, Eneyo identified the mistreatment or misunderstanding of being in the history of human thought as responsible for the pending or perceived disunity in being. In the history of human thought, most especially in the West, there is a tendency of reducing reality to pair of opposite propositions. The school of thought that exhibits this locus is dualism. Dualism sees reality as constructed in dual opposite poles like black/white, hot/ cold, man/woman, etc. which is extrapolated into human societies and living. It has created a world of binary opposition with a system of logic that supports it – the Law of Excluded Middle wherein, of two possibilities, in one instance, only one is true and the other false, is the foundation upon which binary opposition thrives. This way of looking at ontology is problematic and a bane of unity. Therefore, to reconstruct a new paradigm of viewing reality we need to articulate a new ontological horizon that integrates and not dichotomize being. In achieving the foregoing, Eneyo articulates the ontology that can support the philosophy of unity.
However, on a critical note, Eneyo brought fresh insight into the discourse of human unity and globalization. His philosophy provides the needed impetus that can drive a globalizing world that is based on the imperatives of shared prosperity, inclusive development, environmental sustainability, brotherhood, and healing. This philosophy is needed if humanity must make the necessary sacrifice for a more inclusive and a just world order. Eneyo’s contribution is what we can use to remaining a new future for posterity and preservation of the world for more human progress. Fundamentally, what Eneyo has done in this work is capable of re-engineering a new way of looking at humans living in the world.
Finally, the work is a synthesis of intellectual voices and traditions from almost all parts of the world. We see Western, African and Eastern voices resonating throughout the work. This complementary approach to me goes to show that, Eneyo s exemplified philosophy is a reflection of the way he writes and lives. I see this work as filling that gap that is needed in the pursuit of a more united, integrated and inclusive world for everyone, no matter the ethnicity or race, religion or nationality, ideology or association; we may appear different but we are one in our common humanity.
GABRIEL ASUQUO
Independent Researcher/Principal Consultant Phronosis Services Limited Lagos, Nigeria.