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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 1:30 AM EST
>Message-id:
>
>By the way Mr. Grisso, I can certainly understand how many of the popular
>books on the religion would give your friend a headache.
>
>:)
I think I know what you mean. His objection to
Awo Falokun was that the latter gave an analytic gloss
to the religion that isn't there in the
tradition, so he was in effect putting words in
its mouth, so to say. I understand what
he means, but I have to confess that Awo
Falokun helped me a lot, precisely because he put
an analytical frame around the religion that you don't
easily get in the pure oral tradition. Once you
realize that the truths of the religion are very slippery,
and resistant to pure intellectualization, you can use the
appropriate grain of salt. But I imagine for someone
who has a complete and complex grasp of those truths,
the oversimplifications necessary for the purpose of putting things down
in a book can give one, well, a
headache... But in all fairness to Falokun, he
helped me achieve some level of understanding with the religion
that was very slow in coming the traditional way.
But then again, maybe I'm completely fooled
and don't even know it...
Btw, this brings to mind a movie I once
saw. I think the name was "Clearcut",
a sort of (North American) Indian "Deliverance".
In it, the main white character is made,
in a very horrific way, to hold a mirror
up to himself, and to cut through thick layers
of self-delusion. It's a reminder
that the spiritual journey to one's center can
be a very painful thing. But I leave that
aside, as the point I want to make is
rather this: There is this one scene where he
is having a conversation with an Indian holy man,
except that he doesn't appear very "holy",
or even sophisticated, and the white man has only
just met him. Anyway, this white man has
read a lot of books about the Indians, and
he thinks therefore he knows a lot about the Indians,
and which "tribe" does this, and which
"tribe" does that, and how they are all
vastly different, etc. So when the holy man
says something about some spiritual practice or other, the
white man refuses to believe him and further presumes to
correct him by telling him that that is found only
among the "Ojibwa." Asked how does he know
that, he says "I read about it in
a book." So the holy man snorts, "you
white men and your books!" Then he reaches casually
into his medicine bag, pulls out a live,
wriggling snake, evidently a poisonous one to judge by
the white man's reaction, puts its head
into his mouth and bites it off, just like
that. "That, he says, is Indian
oral traditon!" The moral: well, books are
great, but we shouldn't confuse them with
the reality that they purport to describe.
I am sure, btw, that you are not in
need of that particular lesson, but there may be
others on the list who need such a reminder.
Maybe even myself. :)
>Baba Eyiogbe
>
Peace,
Grisso
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