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!
In Part I of this series of Posts, I stated that, “Religion is defined as the belief in and worship of a supernatural or superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods. The purpose of any and all religions is to point the devotees in the direction of realizing the nature of this supernatural or superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods. And to understand how we are connected to, bound to, this ‘God(s)’.” You might find it helpful to reread Part I to recall some of the other things that were stated.
Another important thing to remember about religion is that it is a system of belief and can be cultural (indicative of an entire culture or society), institutional (adhered to by members of a certain group within or between certain cultures), or personal (an individual set of practices that is unique to the particular person). The really important thing is that regardless of the nature or expanse of the religion, it is nonetheless, a system of belief. The key word here being, ‘belief’. Many people would choose to argue this next point but neither science nor religion can categorically state what is ‘The Absolute Truth’ about the nature of Creation, the existence and nature of a Creator, or of our place in Creation or our relationship to the Creative Force(s) that accounts for existence.
Truth is defined as, ‘the quality or state of being true’ (he had to accept the truth of her accusation), or ‘that which is true or in accordance with fact or reality’ (she found out the truth about him), or ‘a fact or belief that is accepted as true’ (the emergence of scientific truths). Therefore, with regard to religion, the fundamental question is not ‘What is The Truth?’ but ‘What do you choose to believe or accept as The Truth?’ And that is the reason I stated that, “The purpose of any and all religions is to point the devotees in the direction of realizing the nature of this supernatural or superhuman controlling power, especially a personal God or gods. And to understand how we are connected to, bound to, this ‘God(s)’.” And, “The purpose of any and all religions is to provoke inquiry into the true nature of things and especially into our own true nature.” Not just inquiry, but Self-Inquiry!
In the Ifa Spiritual Tradition we say, ‘In the beginning there was nothing but the Ase, the Black Energetic Material of the darkness from which all things come, the Realm of Infinite Possibility. And, the first thing to emerge from this Realm of Infinite Possibility was sentience, that is, the Ase became Self-Aware. We call this sentient nature of the Ase, Olodumare. And in realizing that the Ase was the all-pervading reality, Olodumare determined the idea of experiencing the fullness of the Realm of Infinite Possibility. That determined idea provoked the Creative impulse, which we call Olofi-dumare, the creative aspect of the Ase. We, you and I, are manifestations of that creative impulse and all that has been created is created from, of, and within the Ase because there is nothing else, nothing exists ‘outside’ the Ase. Nothing is separate or apart from the Ase! It is the All-Pervading, All-Inclusive Realm of Infinite Possibility.'
It is this understanding that establishes the notions of interrelatedness, interconnectedness, and interdependence that underlies Ifa and actually all indigenous spiritual traditions. Every microbe, every insect, every plant, every tree, every four-legged, and every two-legged, including we humans are from and of the same material (Ase) and of the same Source (The Ase). It should be clear then, that in the historical evolution of the world’s religions, some very important understandings have been lost. Hence, we see so much hatred, prejudice, avarice, divisiveness, bigotry, and ruthlessness in the world today, and the destruction, devastation, of all aspects of environment and the creatures of Mother Earth. All while the religions of the world and their devotees claim to have and preach ‘The Truth’. These ideas are for your reflection. You may choose to believe them as ‘truth’, or you may choose to consider their significance as metaphors and analogies. The ability to choose what you believe to be true is one of your great gifts and no one should try to constrain your choice. I am herein offering you food for thought!
What is it about you and me that we experience as permanent, and eternal, and unchanging; that which remains as a witness after all of the ever-changing and impermanent aspects of our sense of self is stripped away? From day to day, from month to month, from year to year we look in the mirror and see changes in our bodies. Yet when we say or think ‘I’, the ‘I’ feels the same, unchanging. Our experiences accumulate, our memory of some aspects of our lives change, our beliefs change, our goals change, our relations to people change, our food, clothing, and activity preferences change. Yet, throughout all of these changes, there is that aspect of ourselves that we experience as unchanging, the ‘I’. Every creature comes into the world with the same name, ‘I’, that identifies us as members of a singularity – the state, fact, quality, or condition of being singular, of and from a single source, a single source with infinite values (or expressions). Every creature, regardless of its degree of sentience, has this sense of ‘I’, even within the forming of groups or communities.
For you and me, that sense of ‘I’, and our level of sentience compels us to seek a knowledge and understanding of the nature of creation, the nature of the Creative Force and Source underlying creation, and our nature and place within the Universal Community of Created Things. It is this wisdom that a religion should be pointing us towards. Unless we are completely blinded or overcome by the Hypnosis of Social Conditioning, we each have a sense that there is more than one aspect or experience of ‘I’. There is the experience of ‘I’ as an identity that is separate from all of the other ‘I’s in our world. But, when we turn down the volume of the world and turn up the volume of our ‘inner silence’ we become aware of a unifying sense of ‘I’, one that connects us to everyone and everything else in the Universal Community of Created Things. The world pulls us to pay attention to and to believe that the conditioned ‘I’, the ‘i’dentity to which we have been conditioned, is our only and ‘true’ self. Silent self-inquiry enables us to realize, to experience, the unconditioned ‘I’, the eternal, primordial, pervasive self that is rooted in and one with the Sentience of the First, the One, the Original, the Eternal, the Creator, the Source, the All-Powerful, Omnipresent ‘I Am, That I Am!’
Yes, religion can be a profoundly useful launching pad for this journey of remembrance. But first we must realize and remember the purpose of religion and that religion is not an end in and of itself. ‘Having’ religion is not enough, just like having a goal is not enough unless you pursue it with patient perseverance and determination.
To be continued!
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!
