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Why Do We Call Ori? Pt III
The Law of Dynamic Expansion

November 2018

Homage To The One Who Sends and to those who are sent! Homage to Orisa and Egun!

Ifokanbale Omo Orisa! Peace of Mind from Olodumare Children of Orisa!

Ire ati Ayo!
Good Tidings and Joyfulness!

I honor your gods, I drink from your wells, I bring an undefended heart to our meeting place. I have no cherished outcomes, I will not negotiate by withholding, and I am not subject to disappointment. I am here! And They are all here with me! Ase! Ase! Ase!

Lord of my Ancestors, I have no knowledge except that which is given to me through inspiration, that which is sent to me by way of an angel, and that which I am blessed to acquire by way of some discipline. I thank you for guiding my words, my thoughts, and my actions so that all that I say and do may serve to point the seekers in the right direction. Ase! Ase! Ase!

Consider for a moment the nature of your consciousness. Who does not have that sense that there is more to what you see in the mirror than what you see in the mirror? You perceive a presence as you look into your face. You try to look behind your eyes but you soon realize that the presence that you sense is not there. You realize that the presence that you sense is even aware of you looking into the mirror trying to find it. That presence is even aware of your thoughts as you stand there looking for it. And, if you stop for a moment, right there in that realization and focus, not on the image in the mirror, nor on the figure looking at the image in the mirror, and not even on the one thinking about searching in the mirror, but for a moment become one with that sense of ‘awareness’ of it all, one with the ‘Awareness’ itself. There, in that moment you will touch the essence of your true self, pure consciousness, sentience.

Consider the following sequence in the process of creation:

  • The ASE (the energetic essence of the darkness from which all things come) becomes self-aware, a SEE (Sentient Energetic Entity) and Infinite Consciousness is manifested (Omniscience, Olodumare).
  • From Olodumare’s determination to experience the fullness the Realm of Infinite Possibility (the ASE), Infinite Creative Potential (Omnipotence, Olofi-dumare) comes forth from the Womb (the ASE).
  • In establishing the laws to manage this Infinite Creative Potential Olodumare, (Olu-Ori, the Owner of Ori and Lord of Consciousness) mandates dynamic expansion as one of the laws. The Law of Dynamic Expansion is designed to regulate the existence of everything, including consciousness. Consciousness must expand into the fullness of the Realm of Infinite Possiibility.
  • Infinite Consciousness is therefore expressed through a multiplicity of forms and a Divine Share of Infinite Consciousness (Kadara) is apportioned to every created thing, animate and inanimate, visible and invisible, some receiving more, some less, but all receiving a portion (Omnipresence).
  • Some people might call the Kadara, the Divine Share of Infinite Consciousness allotted to each human being, the soul. This soul is also a Sentient Energetic Entity, just like its Source because it is an extension, an expression of its Source. Therefore, in Ifa we would refer to this ‘soul’ as Ori, the Spiritual Ori (The Awareness).
  • This ‘soul’ or Spiritual Ori does not come into the world, the L’oja. It is an eternal divine essence. Instead, Spiritual Ori chooses an avatar to experience the material world. An avatar is a manifestation of a deity or released soul in bodily form on earth, an incarnate divine teacher, an incarnation, embodiment, or manifestation of a person or idea. The Ori that is chosen in the Land of Ajala is the physical Ori or Avatar of the Spiritual Ori.
  • The physical Ori begins the process of maturation in accordance with the Law of Dynamic Expansion the moment it attaches to the physical body, even in the womb.
  • Inspiration, insight, guidance, wisdom, and Ase (Spiritual Power) flow from the Infinite Consciousness, to the Spiritual Ori, to the physical Ori.
  • The energetic vibrations of our experiences in the L’oja, our intentions, our hopes and desires, our declarations and our prayers all travel (or vibrate) from our physical Ori, to our Spiritual Ori, to Infinite Consciousness fueling the process of Dynamic Expansion.

Ori inu wa maba tode je!
May our Spiritual Ori not be in conflict with our physical Ori!

Spiritual Ori is always communicating with us, sending us guidance and assistance in the form of feelings and emotions, ideas and creative flashes, hints and synchronistic signs, and of course, through Ifa Divination. Spiritual Ori never abandons its responsibility for the Avatar because the Avatar is Spiritual Ori’s link to this world and its vehicle of experience. However, we too often forget that we are not the Avatar but the eternal sentient essence that chose to experience the world through the Avatar for the purpose of following the Law of Dynamic Expansion.

As we stated in Part II of this series of Posts, “To call can also mean to ‘call to mind’, to turn our attention in the direction of someone, or something, present or not present, manifested, or immaterial.”

Physical Ori is lost in the L’oja without its energetic connection to Spiritual Ori. It becomes a victim of the hypnosis of social conditioning and premature cognitive commitments. It becomes trapped in a world of illusions and tricks, like a rocket without a guidance system, or at best, a flawed and limited one, lost in space. When we make the pronouncement, ‘Ori mi, mo pe e!’ (My Ori, I call you!), we are consciously turning our attention to our guidance system and true self. In that moment, the Avatar realizes that it lacks the wisdom to navigate the L’oja without the resources of its higher and true self. It is also in that moment that the Avatar slips free of the gravity, the pull of the L’oja, sees through the illusions and deceptions of the L’oja mindset, and unlocks its Ogun Ibi (Birthright).

Each morning that you and I are blessed to wake up, we have been given a gift, a responsibility, and authority. The gift of life, the responsibility of expansion of our consciousness for the benefit of self and others, and the authority to walk in this world, the L’oja, without fear of living or of dying because the Avatar is an expression, an extension of a much higher spiritual energy vibration and is therefore beyond death in any real sense. We are Spiritual Beings having a physical experience in what only appears to be a material world.

A topic for another day!

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Modupe!

I hope you will reflect on this message and share your comments and questions with me for our future Posts on this and other topics.

Aajiirebi! May the Unblemished Cloth of Orunmila Continue to cloth us with the Wisdom Of the Here and the Hereafter!

Ase! Ase! Ase!

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Ki Olodumare, Orisa, ati Egun fifun e ni Itona, Imoye, ati Opo Ire!

My Olodumare, Orisa, and Ancestors bestow on you Guidance, Wisdom, and Abundant Blessings!

 

  A Service of Ile Awo Orisa since 2001 Last Revised February 18, 2019