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Date: 05 Sep 2000 00:00:00 GMT
Subject: Re: What Ifa says
Subject: Re: What Ifa says
>From: "Baba Eyiogbe" eyiogbe@orishanet.com
>Date: 9/5/00 1:17 AM EST
>Message-id:
>
>
>>
>> As a diviner myself, I understand exactly what you mean. I use the Oracle
>of
>> Tehuti, not Ifa, for my divination work. There are no set verses with
>which to
>> amaze and regale one's clients, but lots of stories from one's own life
>> experience to draw upon in attempting to interpret what the Oracle says...
>
>In the context of Ifa, one can use personal experience with the way the Odu
>tends to unfold to give strength to one's grasp of the Ese Ifa. To give an
>example: Let's say you get seen with Ifa and the sign Baba Irete Meji comes
>up. In my response to your post on human sacrifice I told you the principle
>Ese or verse for this sign, which I won't repeat here for the sake of
>brevity.
>OK. Then you go to your job where you are trapped and are being treated
>poorly like a slave where you find you are facing the very real and palpable
>threat of being fired soon. And at that moment you are living from paycheck
>to paycheck.
>These events as they unfolded for you personally would give you a much
>deeper insight into the nature of Baba Irete Meyi than you would have if you
>merely memorized the verse. And if you were a Babalawo you would then be
>able to impart the truths of this sign in a much stronger and effective
>manner.
Exactly. That's exactly what I meant. I am told that Orunmila shares rulership of my head, and I have been invited to consecrate myself accordingly. But when I saw how many verses a babalawo must learn, and in a language that I do not now command, my sense was that I would have to serve Orunmila in some other way. I have never been good with rote learning. On the other hand, a babalawo who doesn't know his ese by rote, moreover can deliver them in song, is not going to have too many clients I don't think. But I agree completely that the rote is merely aid, essential for an oral tradition, but not the essence of what it's all about.
>> My illustrious babalawo instructor once told me that those books, and some
>by
>> other popular authors as well, "gave him a headache". Iwa pele, like many
>other
>> spiritual concepts, like Love and Truth and even Joy, have many layers of
>> meaning, most of which, while not defying understanding, certainly defy
>precise
>> characterization.
>
>And even more than that. Iwa pele consists of two words: iwa (existence,
>character or nature) and pele (calm).
One does not fail to see the alternative translation of "inner peace".
As I also mentioned in my other
>response to you, proper iwa or nature is different for different people.
>What is best for you is not necessarily best for me and vice versa.
Agreed.
And iwa
>pele is certainly not an excuse to become sanctimonious. That shows a
>fundamental lack of grasp of Ifa.
I think I know what you mean. I sometimes rail against "pious know-nothings" who go to church once a week on Sundays and think that being strait-laced and "goody-two-shoes" (is that the expression?) is the way to "salvation". They do not realize that one's relation with God, the orisha, and the ancestors is a 24/7 affair, which means that all life functions, including all those that would be considered unfit for a house of worship are regulated by the relevant deities. But since your ultimate "house of worship" is actually the skin you are in, in a sense you are always in church. So, if most of what you do is not "pious", and could never be, then piety cannot be what is per se pleasing to the gods. I think that what is termed an "anthropomorphic" depiction of the gods, which has them indulging human-like passions, is a better model for us to use as we seek to perfect our own spirits, than the one-dimensional, and ultimately false, model put out by or adhered to by "pious know-nothings" spouting nonsense about "One God" religion. Sometimes god would rather you shake your booty, tell an off-color joke, sing a good (not pious, mind) song, make beautiful music, etc.. In fact, indulging artistic passions, and perfecting artistic expression is a surer path to wherever God resides than listening to two-hour sermons every Sunday, or reciting endless "Hail Mary's". Just my opinion, but I'm probably preaching to the converted.
The Odu with which a person comes to the
>world defines their true nature or traits which they must follow if they are
>to succeed in life. That Odu also gives warning of the things that could
>bring disaster down upon them. Often those two are tightly interwoven. Two
>edges of the same sword so to speak. To give an example (perhaps somewhat of
>an extreme one): In the Odu Odi Ogunda the person is told that they must use
>their head as well as they move their hiney, to put it bluntly. It is also
>one of the principle Odus in which Eshu acts. Now for this person, their iwa
>or proper nature may seem downright devilish to many and that person will
>thrive on chaos. And that person would be, how do I say this, very sexual in
>nature. But this is by and large proper for them, within reason. If they
>acted too much differently they would only find suffering and failure as
>they went through their lives undoing themselves. But Ifa warns them that
>they must use their head with the same alacrity with which they use their
>er... bottom. And by following this advice they will achieve their *own* iwa
>pele that applies to their Odu. In this sense, iwa pele is not a single way
>of acting but the way in which one fulfills the best part of their destiny
>or Odu. It is more a living one's Odu or nature in a steadfast and
>implacable manner and not to be buffeted about by even the most seemingly
>adverse of circumstances and will certainly come out ahead in the end game.
>But that iwa pele will be different for each person according to their Odu,
>sometimes vastly different. Again what is iwa pele for the rattlesnake
>(biting with poison) will not be iwa pele for the sheep (eating grass) or
>vice versa. No matter what prevailing social circumstances of the times may
>proscribe. Or one's own idealized concepts of what a spiritual person should
>act or be like for that matter. Actually it is those ideals that are more a
>product of colonialism than any you might find in the Ese Ifa.
>
>And that is one of the things that truly separates Ifa from many other
>sytems in my perhaps not so humble opinion.
Very insightful, but I disagree by a shade or two. One's nature, as revealed by one's odu, sets up the emotional dramas in one's life that define the learning experiences that we encounter. If one's nature is to be a coward, then that person will continually be faced with challenges that require him to stand firm and face possibly frightening consequences. When he does, he realizes that they are not so frightening after all, that it was really an illusion, a mirage put there only to test you, and that iwa pele, in the sense of inner peace in the face of even the greatest challenges, allows one to prevail. So to have cowardice as part of one's nature is not an invitation to live life a coward, it is to learn that all fear is illusion that can be conquered. Take now the opposite. Suppose one's nature is to be cruel, arrogant, and a bully. The concept of iwa pele does not imply for such a person that they must indulge these tendencies. It is rather for them to find that point of balance, of inner and outer harmony, where warriorhood finds noble expression. So they may beat up on other, weaker people, they may disdain them, they may talk loudly and self-approvingly of "survival of the fittest", "the law of the jungle", etc. But for their iwa pele to be redeemed - and that possibility is there for the greatest rogues among us - they will have to have their noses rubbed in it. How that happens is up to the gods. One of their victims, perhaps the aforementioned coward, may suddenly find courage and deliver a humiliating beating. Or he may come up against an even bigger bully, and find out what it's like to take the medicine they are more accustomed to dishing out. They may have their heart broken by a wisp of a girl who is more impressed by a gentle, yet strong, iwa pele, than by the arrogance of the bully, however much it masquerades as strength or accomplishment. However the gods set it up, they will provide opportunity for redemption, whether for the cowardly or the arrogant. For at the end of it all, I think we are all put here simply to Love one another, in the truest spiritual sense of the term. Our "nature", as gifted to us at birth and reflected in our odu, will have elements that pull us away from that, but the pursuit of iwa pele, not to be confused with piety or any such one-dimensional view of the matter, will help us back to that place, literally and by definition, of unshakeable inner peace. To find the latter, one must necessarily cultivate "good character", again not in any one-dimensional, goody-two-shoes sort of way, suggesting therefore the usual translation for iwa pele of "good character".
Just my opinion. It is informed only in part by what I have learnt from the Yoruba. Rather it is based on universals, and the understanding I've gleaned about some of these issues from many different traditions, and the particular way in which I've synthesized them in my own mind. I'm not trying to be more Yoruba than the Yoruba in disagreeing, if only by a few shades, with a Yoruba priest (I presume, obviously) about a Yoruba concept. Let me apologize in advance if I give that impression.
>Once more in hope that you will find this of some small use to you...
>
Thank you for an insightful post. Very stimulating.
>Iboru, Iboya, Iboshishe,
>
>Baba Eyiogbe
>
Peace,
Grisso
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