By Zulumathabo Zulu © 2015
Dimakatso Discourse – Part 1
Enter Dimakatso discourse with the creator. She comes from a rural town. She finds herself in the dazzling street lights of the Gauteng metropolis. She is trying to cut her teeth in the military sector as a soldier. The military organization is a highly stratified society and in many ways sexist and racist. This is a military organization during the pre-1994 political dispensation. As a Black woman, her challenge is to overcome the systemic barriers of gender and race in order to make her mark. Dimakatso decides that in order to make her mark, she needs some design improvements from her creator. This conversation with the creator is already in progress:
The Creator: What exactly is the problem?
Dimakatso: Your Holiness! I hereby bow before you to motivate my request. Thank you for granting me this opportunity to address you. I am a woman in a patriarchal society. As if that is not bad enough, I am also a Black woman in a society that is fixated with racial ethnicity.
The Creator: Are you suggesting that as a creator I made a mistake by giving you a Black skin colour and somehow you are disadvantaged as a result of my design decisions?
Dimakatso: The Black skin colour is beautiful and as a matter of fact I am proud of my Blackness. I wouldn’t trade this for another colour. Nonetheless, even though I have an equal opportunity like other humans to architect my own destiny, there are these systemic variables that are outside my control. I am constrained by social constructs that are designed by man to frustrate my ability as a human to be the master of my own destiny. I want to change that and for that I need the ability to transcend these variables.
The Creator: What are these systemic variables that are preventing you from getting ahead?
Dimakatso: The social construct of gender is one variable that I have no control over. It is the chauvinist society that constrains me as a woman through the mechanisms that stream my role in society. Race is another variable that I have no control over. Another variable is the lack of economic access to the opportunity to become the architect of my own fortune. The objective existence of these constructs of race, gender and lack of access is disempowering to say the least.
The Creator: How can I help?
Dimakatso: I need some transcendental powers to overcome the triangular challenge of these social constructs.
The Creator: Others are struggling with the same challenges and many have managed to make a breakthrough on their own efforts which means that given enough effort, time and the right mindset you can also overcome your constraints. Why do you want to be treated differently?
Dimakatso: I don’t want to be treated any better than others. It would be unfair to receive a preferential treatment while others have overcome the same barriers on their own efforts without assistance from the creator. I respect that and salute those exceptional individuals.
The Creator (interjecting): Moreover, if others are able to do it on their own and you are not then by assisting you I would be promoting mediocrity. I can’t promote mediocre performance. You have to demonstrate through your exceptional performance that you have what it takes to defeat those barriers you are talking about and it’s only when you demonstrate a flawless execution with respect to your efforts that I can perhaps consider intervention in the exceptional case where the problem might be a design shortcoming. You have to demonstrate a design flaw.
Dimakatso: When the great mongoose approached you, you gave her a molecular ability to transcend a snake bite. Definitely these are design improvements that imparted transcendental powers and gave the mongoose a survival advantage. I could use some of those transcendental powers.
The Creator: You are not facing a risk of a venomous bite as a result of your gender, race and lack of access, are you? Why should I treat your case as an urgent matter?
Dimakatso: I am not in an immediate danger of that. However, I need a change in my brain chemistry. I need to enhance my serotonin levels so that I can command mood stabilization when tested beyond measure. I think I have a good mindset in terms of not allowing adversity to cloud my judgement but my lower levels of serotonin pose a real danger with respect to my ability to transcend and think correctly about adversity.
The Creator: You are a very wise woman. I agree that no matter how good is your mindset, if the serotonin levels are low then you are at risk of being degraded by adversity which can inhibit a survival maximizing behaviour. From now on, I will enhance your raphe nuclei neurons so that the flow of 5-HT is increased. Despite the intensity of adversity that befalls you, you will always maintain a level headed mindset with an ability to recover from setback.
Afterwards
After her conversation with the creator, Dimakatso entered the military academy with a more robust mindset. Her sleep patterns improved tremendously since the pineal gland which manufactures melatonin for inducing sleep also functioned in a more robust fashion. Melatonin levels require high levels of serotonin as a precondition. If the individual gets enough sunlight which induces more serotonin then it means that they will have better sleep patterns.
It does not end here. The individual must also have good recovery from setback. When befallen by adverse conditions, they can’t be brooding over that. They must shake off negative mood states because failure to do so will trigger another neurotransmitter known as epinephrine which blocks the molecular action of serotonin. This is where mindset is critical to a positive mood state.
Boosted by these new improvements in her brain chemistry, Dimakatso was ready to face the world like a victor and not a victim.
To be continued…
Madisebo University 
I have just read a dramatic piece of Dimakatso Discourse once, for the second time and for the third time. With the Creator having 8 turns and Dimakatso 7 turns, it is interesting how at the start of the dialogue God`s lines of response are so short than those of Dimakatso. This tells me that Dimakatso has a serious problem indeed. None the less, I wish that the Creator had advised outsiders what are the sources of serotonin. I want to believe that the dramatic technique used to put forth the problem that most people have means it is urgent that readers of this article should identify what causes the problems they have, or maybe to scream when one has a problem and don’t understand what hold him/her back. I still have to check what is RAPHE NUCLEI NEURONS.
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Your commentary is appreciated. The interesting thing about the creator is the direct response to the specificity of the problem. In this way, the response of the creator is refreshing.
If you read newspapers and try to use that as a way of understanding the real sentiment of the people it becomes an exercise in futility. This is because a newspaper is a political mouthpiece and only gives us a politically correct view. The newspaper does this because it has to worry about the readers, the advertisers and the ruling powers.
The creator does not have those constraints and so it is refreshing to hear the perspective of the creator.
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Dolly thank you for your thoughtful feedback and I couldn’t agree more. The interesting fact about the creator is that she is more concerned with the design functionality because she does not want a design flaw to hamper the survival producing efforts of the organism. This is due to the fact that a design flaw is beyond the power of the organism to rectify. The creator needs to intervene at that point if there is a design flaw as was the case with Dimakatso because she was suffering from low levels of serotonin in spite of her good faith attempts with regards to a positive mindset. In other words, design is a platform upon which an organism can render a productive performance in the theater of life.
As to the cause of serotonin; serotonin cannot be consumed directly. Serotonin requires an amino acid tryptophan in order be converted into 5-HT which in turn gets synthesized into serotonin. Tryptophan is available in foods like sesame seeds, milk and other carbohydrates and meats like duck to name a few. Serotonin couldn’t be consumed directly because it would not cross the BBB system (blood brain barrier) however tryptophan can cross the BBB system. Mabele and thepe are excellent sources of tryptophan. That’s why Sesotho axiom says “Mabele dithabisa dihoho” or “Mabele mabeleha Batho”.
Caffeine must be avoided since it lowers Serotonin levels.
Good luck with reading more about serotonin.
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This is an interesting piece of work. I am inspired. I would like to know, what boosts serotonin?
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Boosting Serotonin Levels
A number of studies have shown that there is a causal relationship between serotonin levels and mood indicating that a positive mood was associated with higher levels of serotonin. This makes sense because negative mood results in the increase of epinephrine (a stress hormone) which in turn blocks the molecular action of serotonin. This means that negative mood decreases the levels of serotonin. Thus one has to find ingenious ways of staying positive in the face of stressful situations.
The book The Sacred Knowledge of the Desert: African Philosophical Transcendence can prove to be a productive tool in this regard. The book is designed to enhance a positive mood drawing from the experiences of a desert flower that is able to stay positive in spite of the harsh and inhospitable conditions. Here is a quote from The Desert Corolla from the book:
Despite a low rainfall
Despite a dehydrated ground
Despite sun rays that kill
She rises from the waterless
Unimpeded by soil eroded
The brilliant petals uncorroded
Positive mood also requires a positive environment. This means one must ensure that environmental factors like polymorphisms of social relationships are nurturing and supportive. Being in a stressful relationship is toxic for one’s well-being.
You must also watch for food which may reduce serotonin levels. The colour of your clothes and environment also has an impact on your serotonin levels.
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All parts are inspirational. The 3rd uplifted my spirit the most. Ke a leboga. PULA 🌧️🌻
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Mohlomphehi e motle! Your positive feedback is appreciated and well received by me. The sentiment is mutual. My African spiritual batteries are recharged everytime I read Dimakatso even though I am the author. It is the cosmic work of the ancestors.
Siyabonga ka khulu! Thokoza Makhosi!
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