We are born and with our birth a
gathering of souls take hold of our body and watch the world through the
senses. We feel alive, because we are born into a world of mystery. Curious we
rise up and we walk, exploring the worlds of body and soul. As we walk the
world, explore it – the question of ‘who am I” and “why am I here” tend to
surface as the mind starts to provoke the soul with a particular spirit – it is
the spirit of the hunter and the hero. It is a call to find our Self and our
purpose. It is a call to Fate and Fortune. In our curiosity we ask then to show
themselves – but it is not so easy, because they are cosmic oils and scents – a
compass of rewards and lessons, that guides us in mysterious ways towards our
happy destiny.
As we walk the world, some of us
get lost in various ways and some mistake their true station for specters and phantasms
in alien deserts. Yet others believe that we all can, by the power of ambition,
stretch out and be like our fellow beings in so far as social statues and prominence
is concerned. The democratic lie wants us to be the same – and not blessed
uniquely as we are.
The social order seeks to
establish – order – if there is too much variety of nature and aspiration
between its actors it will be hopeless to restrain by law and punitive action
the natural inclination of people. We turn conformed and our many beautiful birds
are quenched in the machine of conformity. The spirit of the hunter dies in the
alleys of ambition and greed as heroes cease to believe in themselves and
accept any unhappy fate as their lot.
Restrictive democracies - that
dress the clothes of socialism and common good - works like pesticides, it
makes what it wants poisonous and kills of the rest…
This makes it difficult for the
hero, the hunter and the saint to rise, grow and discover it self, and in place
of self discovery we are graciously gifted with mental illness and afflictions
of the soul – and we turn to the labyrinths of our sick psyche to find affirmations
of our worth and our debilities turns into labels of identity as we move on and
try to find exactly what we aspire towards.
How different is it not in
traditional societies, where an infant is subject for divination to establish
what Fate holds and to give recommendations of how a given individual should
act and not act, in order to gain fullness and happiness in life? Because, life
is a journey – but why should we walk it without waymarks of any sort? This is
not determinism, because any Fate is a happy one – it is just the route towards
it that is different – because we are different. Unfortunately in our modern world these waymarks are not available, nor accepted - because they are a part of an arcane superstition.
To enjoy life as a journey is important,
because this approach leads to growth and maturity – and in this we find the particular
constant reconstruction of self that makes us find our oasis. Ifá teaches that when we are born, we
are born as curious and immature souls, sensitive bodies taken in with the
human condition. Ifá also says this
is just the beginning and through initiation and avoidance of èèwò - what is forbidden and harmful -
renewal is constantly occurring. Life is a dance between destruction of self
and its recreation. Life and becoming is about constant transformation and metamorphosis
towards excellence. In Ifá this is
called iwá pèlè, good character and
for Plato this was arête, seen as good
character being constructed by accumulating virtue. Because if no other
waymarks are available, building good character is bound to show the way
towards goodness and true Self.
Life is a journey and its
blessings and lessons provide constant food for contemplation so we can constantly
recreate ourselves, as the following verse from the èsè Ifá Ogbèatè says:
Njé bí a bá tè mi
N ó tún’ra mi te
Èèwò ti a ba ka fún mi
N ó gbó
Titè l’a te mi
N yòó tún’ra mi te
In Karenga’s translation:
Now, if I have been made,
I should reconstruct myself
The forbidden things which are
Enumerated for me
I will comply with
For I have been made
And I must also remake myself
So, there is no such thing as
fatalism, there is no doom, there is no such thing as accepting an unhappy Fate
as true. It is only opportunity upon opportunity to recreate ourselves… Ire O!