Self Initiation into the Universal Ògbóni Philosophy and Spirituality 8: Seeking Meaning in the Terrestrial Journey

 

                       

Introduction

This is the eighth part of a ritual for relating oneself to the foundational spiritual powers and ethical vision of the Earth and humanity centred Yorùbá origin Ògbóni esoteric order.

The ritual is based on an understanding of Ògbóni developed from scholarly research on the esoteric school.

This is the first initiatory text of a new school of Ògbóni I am developing, the Universal Ògbóni Philosophy and Spirituality.

The initiation into this philosophy and spirituality was completed in part 4 of this series.

Here are parts 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7

What follows after part 4 are invocations and meditations complementing the previous parts.

This part is enriched by pictures of Ògbóni art and of Ògbóni philosophers and philosophers of Ògbóni, people whose works are directly and indirectly central for understanding the inspirational power of Ògbóni.

The images come from various sources online. I will provide the credits later. Great thanks to the creators of the images and those who uploaded them.

Ile, Earth, flanked by her children, the human male and female couple

Dialogue on Ògbóni

Seeking Meaning in the Terrestrial Journey

“The Yoruba origin Ògbóni esoteric order is a group of people united in their secret deliberations by their belief in Earth as universal mother.”

“Interesting. Even if their discussions are largely secret one can appreciate their veneration of Earth as an effort to make meaning of terrestrial existence.”

“True. Life on Earth can be seen as brief and puzzling, at times requiring reassurance to persist with.”

“Absolutely. We find ourselves here without any known prior agreement of ours to come here, ignorant of any identity we might have had, any place we might have been in before entry into the Earth, and where we shall go after that. Various answers are provided to these questions, none of definitive value or universally accepted.”

“A perplexing situation indeed.”

“The human being grows in physical and mental powers, reaches a climax in both, though at different times, then descends in strength of those powers, until they break down totally, leading to the person leaving the Earth, the body interred in soil. A distressing prospect, a bird flying swiftly through a lighted room and out again into the dark, the dark of a cold, winter night, as Bede describes human life in his Ecclesiastical History of England.”

“Interestingly, this sensitivity to transience is core to Ògbóni thought. ‘In the light of life being bracketed by the two great immensities of birth and death, how should a person live?,’ is a question that drives their philosophy, as may be deduced particularly from Babatunde Lawal's rich summation "À Yà Gbó, À Yà Tó."

“True?"

“Yes”

“How does their philosophy respond to this question?”

Onile, Owner of Earth and of Ogboni House of Congregation, Symbol of Human Community, in Onile's male and female forms, representing Earth through her children

The Inspiration of the Forest

“It responds by transposing the understanding of nature into the human realm. Ògbóni is the product of a forest civilization, a world surrounded by forest, a society built by shaping space for humanity out of forest space, relating with the forest as a zone from which to win ground and livelihood as well as an immensity that inspires awe.”

“Interesting.”

“Exploring the variety and wonder of the forest, its integration of various forms of existence, the forest came to stand for ‘the universe, inhabited by obscure forces to which the human being stands in a dynamic moral and spiritual relationship and with which his destiny is involved’ as Abiola Irele describes the vision of Ijala, Yoruba hunter’s poetry, in his 'Tradition and the Yoruba Writer.' ”

“An intriguing perspective.”

“Exploring the forest facilitated an appreciation of ‘animal and plant life, of the essence and relationships of growing things and the insights they enable into the secrets of the universe’, as Wole Soyinka sums up on Ijala in Myth, Literature and the African World.”

"Striking"

"Ahmadou Hampate Ba, in "The Living Tradition" published in the UNESCO General History of Africa. Vol.1: Methodology and Pre-History, amplifies this style of understanding with reference to African peoples south of the Sahara, particularly the Bambara, the Fulani and the Dogon:

If an old teacher comes upon an ant-hill during a walk in the bush, this gives him an opportunity for dispensing various kinds of knowledge according to the kind of listeners he has at hand. Either he will speak of the creature itself, the laws governing its life and the class of being it belongs to, or he will give children a lesson in morality by showing them how community life depends on solidarity and forgetfulness of self, or again he may go on to higher things if he feels that his audience can attain to them.

Thus any incident in life, any trivial happening, can always be developed in many ways, can lead to telling a myth, a tale, a legend.

Every phenomenon one encounters can be traced back to the forces from which it issued and suggest the mysteries of the unity of life, which is entirely animated by Se, the primordial sacred Force, itself an aspect of God the Creator.

“Magnificent. Particularly in an agrarian and hunting civilization as the Yoruba and those other African societies you referenced were for a long time. But with the eventual development of high levels of urbanization, do such ideas have practical value?"

Susanne Wenger, Ogboni philosopher

Image Above

Susanne Wenger, Ogboni philosopher, as described in part 2 of this series.

“Earth existed before the orisa, and the Ògbóni cult before kingship.”-Peter Morton-Williams, “The Yoruba Ogboni Cult in Oyo”.

“Here I am, one with the water: I think and feel like the river, my blood flows like the river, to the rhythm of its waves, otherwise the trees and the animals would not be such allies.

I am here in the trees, in the river, in my creative phase, not only when I am here physically but forever-even when I happen to be travelling-hidden beyond time and suffering, in the spiritual entities, which, because they are real in many ways, present ever new features.

I feel sheltered by them-in them-because I am so very fond of trees and running water-and all the gods of the world are trees and animals long, long before they entrusted their sacrosanct magnificence to a human figure.”

Susanne Wenger in Adunni: A Portrait of Susanne Wenger by Rolf Brockman and Gerd Hotter

From the Forest to the City

“They do. The forest is then transposed in terms of the everyday world, the cosmos constituted by the office and the school, the crossing of traffic lights and the buying of food in the market, the movements in space and the navigations of individual and social reality that constitute the modern world.”

“How is that possible?”

“One thinker puts it this way. ‘People walk through the forest. They see leaves, trees, insects, sometimes a small animal, perhaps a snake. They see many things. But they see little. They hear many forest sounds. But they hear little.”

“Rich.”

“ 'In the universe there are so many signs', this thinker continues. 'A few we understand, the way farmers know what clouds mean, and fishermen understand the stars. But most signs mean nothing to us because we aren’t prepared to understand them,' spoken by the healer Damfo in Ayi Kwei Armah’s The Healers, which Armah described to me in an email as adapted from ideas from the Akan of Ghana, a civilization emerging from forest like the Yoruba of Nigeria and neighboring countries.”

“Really? So, how does this style of thinking move from signs in nature to signs in social life?”

“This understanding of learning is based on the view that the experiential context of human life, a context that is both human and non-human, continuously provides opportunities for learning.”

“That makes sense. Please continue.”

“Good. This style of thinking sees these human life situations as embodying possibilities of interpretation through which people shape their lives.”

“Okay.”

“This relevance emerges at various levels of inclusiveness, from signs that enable one cross the street safely to the personal significance of particular spatial and social contexts to aspects of the life of the individual or group that indicate the general orientation of that social entity.”

“Hmmm…”

“Within this perspective of active learning, human life is seen as a theatre of understanding where the self is developed.”

“Intriguing. So, how is this development described as taking place?”

“The self is seen as growing through interpreting its experiences as demonstrations of the working out in the phenomenal universe of the metaphysical structure and dynamism of the cosmos.”

"Really?"

"Yes"

“Bold. But what are the specific contexts in which this working out takes place?”

“In the psychological, social and material frameworks of human existence.”

“Truly?”

“Yes. These are seen as learning situations through which the individual is presented with challenges that facilitate their perception of themselves and the universe.”

“Interesting.”

“Through such sensitivity, they are better positioned to self consciously work towards an understanding of self and cosmos that is more self consciously realized and accurate than derivative and illusory.”

Sculptural complex centred in the human male and female couple, central symbols of humanity in Ogboni iconography, its visual symbolism

Ògbóni Magic of Earth and the Quest for Meaning

“Challenging. Potentially inspiring. But how does this relate to the general correlation of Ògbóni with magical powers? What role have such philosophies to do with the more immediate concerns of magic?”

“Ògbóni magic is focused on making life meaningful through relationship with Earth.”

“How does that work?”

“The power of Earth as mother is called upon to strengthen and guide the Ògbóni initiate on their journey.”

“How is this done?”

“Through veneration of the great mother, Ile, Earth, through spending time in her company in inspiring natural locations, through forms and images representing her, calling her power into such forms, filtering that potency into the human being, to act as conduits of her immense presence, images known traditionally as edan ògbóni as well as those visual evocations referring directly to Ile."

“Edan Ògbóni?”

Onile, feminine, tenderly holding her breasts, evoking her maternal, nurturing capacities, yet demonstrating masculine qualities, suggested by the beard, indicating strength and occult power

The Universal Resonance of Ògbóni Ritual Art

“Yes, often magnificent works of art. What is known as edan ògbóni, or other depictions of Ile, however, may be expanded in the light of the universal resonance of Ògbóni, coming into being at the emergence of matter and energy, waiting through the aeons for recognition through the development of consciousness, now known to us through this name, Ògbóni, a name resonating with other recognitions across time and space."

"Intriguing."

"The identification of edan ògbóni and of other evocations of Ile, as a material embodiment of the presence of she, our mother, the Earth, may also be adapted to various evocations, outside the Ògbóni or even Yoruba or African contexts, of the one on whom we tread, who holds us aloft in space, who nourishes us in rain, through earth, water, air and fire, the celestial configuration that is terra firma, ‘vibrations from the deep,’ Earth, Ogere, the great pot that rolls on and on without breaking, vagina of abundant pubic hair that suffocates like dry yam in the throat, who enables our existence in this place beneath the stars, the reference to the stars adapting J.R.R. Tolkien’s celebration of her many forms in The Lord of the Rings,complementing the previous salutations drawn from Babatunde Lawal’s The Gelede Spectacle.”

Image Above

Collage by myself depicting Wole Soyinka, philosopher of Ogboni, as described in part 2 of this series, in dialogue with “Shrine Set,” a multi-media sculpture by philosopher of Ogboni, Bruce Onobrakpeya.

“[Celebrating deity and]animal and plant life…the essence and relationships of growing things and the insights of man into the secrets of the universe.”

From Wole Soyinka, Myth, Literature and the African World.

Between Classical and Post-Classical Ògbóni

“Interesting. But the ideas you presented earlier are essentially intellectual. Yet you are now combining the intellectual with the spiritual.”

“Which comes first, the pot or the space inside it?” asks Susanne Wenger, in A Life with the Gods in their Yoruba Homeland. “Which is prior, relationship with the patient immensity of earth, adapting Soyinka's words on cosmic immensity in Myth, or efforts to think through how to live from day to day on this globe in the course of a lifespan and the several lifespans of various generations?”

“Hmmm…”

“The origins of the relationships between Ògbóni philosophy, Ògbóni spirituality, Ògbóni ritual and Ògbóni art are lost in the roots of time.”

“Really?”

“Yes. The best one can do now is build on the ancient foundations.”

“Interesting. How much of what you have told me is your own building on those foundations and how much represents the views of that foundation as you understand them?”

“That Ògbóni venerate Earth is known to scholars of Ògbóni. The symbolism of edanand art of Onile has also been studied. I examine the implications of Ògbóni philosophy in its intrinsic character, in its self contained nature, without reference to ideas drawn from other contexts.

I then build upon these intrinsic values in developing a philosophy of relationships between nature and humanity. I do this by constellating ideas from various philosophies and religious and scientific cosmologies and their artistic and technological correlates.

I unify these ideas around conceptions drawn from classical Ògbóni philosophy. I conclude by demonstrating the convergence of these varied but complementary perspectives in the intersection of ideas of cosmic energy in Yoruba and Hindu thought, as I did in my essay “Ogboni: From Myth to Physics: Yoruba Esotericism at the Intersection of Disciplines.”

“Interesting. What do you call this style of Ògbóni you are developing?’

“I call it the Universal Ògbóni Philosophy and Spirituality.”

“Why ‘universal’?”

“Universal because it organizes a global constellation of ideas, some of which are briefly presented here, around Ògbóni and its roots in classical Yoruba philosophy and spirituality.”

Edan ogboni, the human male and female couple, as embodiment of Ile, Earth, Universal Mother

Becoming Onile

From the Intrinsic to the Universal

"Intriguing. Such a vast scope of ideas, from the kneeling figure of Onile in her glorious nakedness to wandering around the cosmos, seeking its secrets."

"Of course. Onile embraces all. Is she not the globe enabling our material existence, the central existence we know, facilitating our journeys seeking understanding?"

"So, for you, Ògbóni imagery integrates all these associations you have worked out?"

"Of course."

The Self as Ilédi, Ògbóni Ritual Space

"Beyond Ògbóni ritual, do you see any practical application of these ideas?"

"Certainly."

"How?"

"The human being may assume the quietly contemplative, inward looking stance of Onile demonstrated in Ògbóni art."

"Truly?'

"Yes. A contemplative stance evocative of the silence of earth, luminous within an inward darkness, alive with fires of material transformations, of life giving nourishings, yet quiet and still in her form as Earth on which we walk, the humble but potent soil constituting the immense majesty that is the solidity of the terrestrial globe."

"Intriguing."

Onile and the Ultimate Secret

"You assume that stance in silence. The silence at the centre of which throbs the ultimate secret, the secret at the centre of all secrets, the secret that can be told, can be described, but can only be understood by each in their own way. The secret that may be evoked by the thumb hidden within the fist of Onile, the open secret that unveils itself only with daily, reverential attention to its glowing core."

"Wow. What could that secret be?"

"Look outside yourself. Look inside yourself. Who is the person looking? The answer to that question is the secret."

" But who I am, who anyone is, is no secret."

"Really?"

"Sure. I am a person born at such and such a time, bearing such a such a name, having particular parents, journeying a particular path through life which can be traced by others with enough information, a person composed of a particular collection of qualities, attitudes, styles of seeing things and of behaviour."

"Underneath that person you know yourself to be, there is someone else."

"Really? Who could that be?"

"Someone who enables the existence of the person who bears your name, your history and your personality."

"Hmmm."

"That foundational identity is your awareness of yourself. That core through which you know yourself as different from other people and other things, from the objects around you, from the trees in the street and from your friends."

"Self consciousness?"

"Yes"

"But self consciousness is a fundamental quality in the more highly developed animate creatures. Is there anything secret about it?"

"How well do we understand it? A rock, a luminous rock upon which the world of the individual is built, but what are the foundations of this rock?"

"Can there be anything beyond that foundation?"

" Various schools of thought claim there is."

"How may one investigate that claim?"

"Through the potent silence of Onile. Looking within in silence. Listening. Distinguishing between the various voices clamouring for attention in the mind, the streams of ideas, images and emotions intersecting within it."

Image Above

Denis Williams, philosopher of Ogboni, as described in part 2 of this series, first presenter of the symbol complex I name the Ogboni cosmogram, signifying humanity within its terrestrial and cosmic context.

“…in the Yoruba Ogboni cult, lIle-the Earth Principle-is localised, buried in the inner sanctuary, indwelling in such substances as chalk, mud, camwood, charcoal and the skulls of various animal sacrifices.

These are the ultimate determinants of the sanctification of the shrine[ symbolizing] the four elements in the Ogboni system-Olorun [Owner of Orun, the zone of ultimate origins, symbolized by the sky in its seeming infinity, depth and translucent beauty], Ille (Earth), blood (judgement),and human being, respectively represented by powdered chalk, pure black mud from the river, powdered camwood, and powdered charcoal collected from fires on which food has been cooked for members of the cult. These substances are gathered together in four calabashes previously used by members.”

From Denis Williams, “The Iconology of the Yoruba Edan Ogboni”

"Hmmm."

"Within that silence may be found great peace and inspiration and better understanding of the various layers that make up oneself, various strata akin to the various layers of soil of earth."

"Interesting metaphor. You think, then, that beneath all the other layers of the self, its influence perhaps suffusing those layers like the earth's gravity emanates from its core, pulling everything on its surface inward and thereby keeping those forms on its surface from flying off into space, that there is an unperceived core to the self, like the earth's molten core?"

"I identify with the idea. Why is the wall constituted by awareness of oneself opaque? Why can we not go beyond that rock of awareness on which all our awareness rests?"

"Why go to all that trouble? Why not simply accept the fact of self awareness and proceed from there?"

"We are homo sapiens sapiens. The one who knows. Who knows that he knows. Who is capable of examining his own knowing. Cogito ergo sum, 'I think, therefore I am' French philosopher Rene Descartes insightfully put it on resolving to uncover the foundations of knowledge. Underlying thought is something more primal than thought. We should investigate that. The Cartesian cogito our starting point.”

"So, perhaps you would want to rephrase Descartes words as, 'I reflect, I ponder, I engage my awareness, therefore I am aware that I am'? "

"Exactly. I want to mediate between Hindu philosopher Ramana Maharshi as described in Paul Brunton's A Search in Secret India, Descartes in his Meditations and Armah in The Healers."

"How do these influences on your thinking relate to Ògbóni?"

"I am operating between thought as affirmation of existence, as asserted by Descartes."

"Okay..."

"Between that affirmation and the various constituents of the mind that thought enables, as depicted by Armah."

"Okay..."

"Between all these and the foundation of thought, self awareness"

"Okay..."

"Searching beyond this foundation, penetrating beyond the luminous rock, beyond the radiant wall enclosing the fire of self awareness...seeking for the source of that which enables us, as urged by Maharshi.”

"Interesting.”

"Probing beyond the fire of consciousness akin to the transformative flames from which emerge the charcoal dust of the Ògbóni ritual structure, the radiance of white light evoked by the powdered chalk in the Ògbóni configuration, animating the union of water and solids that is my body, akin to the mixture of water and earth of the mud of the Ògbóni constellation, empowered by the nourishing fluid of blood, symbolized in the Ògbóni system by red camwood dust."

"Beautiful."

Edan ogboni

"I am thus an Ilédi Ògbóni, an Ògbóni ritual space, the human expression of the Ògbóni consecrations of space in terms of the union of humanity and earth, of human cultural forms and the great mother who predates and possibly outlives humanity, within an existence that evokes the question, within this sphere of action across space and time, is there an ultimate foundation, an ultimate nexus of possibility within which all being converges, a question seeming to recede infinitely the farther the human being grows, flakes of white falling to earth evoking both mystery and beauty, completing the Ògbóni configuration in terms of the whiteness of chalk standing for what Ògbóni initiate Susanne Wenger describes as Axiom Paradoxon, Beginning and Consequence,[1] Olodumare, the ultimacy which is yet embodied by Earth, Ìyá Àgbà, the venerable aged woman surrounded by her four calabashes of chalk, camwood, charcoal and mud in her home under the earth?[2]"

"Really?"

" Truly. Replacing the blood and flesh of the animals sacrificed and buried in the Ilédi and around which are placed the chalk, charcoal, camwood and mud are my own body and blood.

The life force released by those sacrifices, enhancing and diffusing the presence of the cosmic force of àse, in the Ògbóni ritual, becomes my own life force, even more potent in being embodied in my living form, activated and directed by my thought."

"Striking. I see though, that, your adaptation of Ògbóni ideas in the meditation you have just described interprets a contemplative practice that is not originally Ògbóni in Ògbóni terms."

"True."

Ogboni rattle

The Self as Onile

"That meditation may be described as particularly close to Hindu and Buddhist strategies in relation to Yoga as it suffuses both religions. That inward gaze on the self is employed without identification with any religious figure or further symbolism and at times it is. Are you able to take this adaptation further, bringing it closer to a version of the actual practice of embedding objects in the soil to represent Ile, Earth, in Ògbóni ritual?"

"Certainly."

"How?"

"A further development of the idea of the human being as an Ilédi. Identification of self, not only with symbolic transpositions of Ilédi ritual space, but in terms of Ilé, as she is visualized in Ògbóni art."

"Interesting. How would you do that?"

"I am adapting to my Ògbóni practice a meditation technique known in Western magic as the 'Assumption of God Form' and in Hinduism and Buddhism as 'Deity Yoga'. "

"Okay. Is it related to the understanding of Yoga as meaning 'union'?”

"Yes. Union with a deity, in this sense. One imagines oneself as united with the deity so as to facilitate the deeper integration of self with what the deity represents and perhaps one day experience the deity."

Image Above

Ulli Beier, philosopher of Ogboni, as described in part 2 of this series.

“I had never seen anything like it,a magnificent Ògbóni brass figure about some 30 cm long. [ I ] had no idea what it meant or where it came from but was overwhelmed by a feeling of awe as I held in my hand the heavy object, emanating so much power and ancient wisdom.”

Ulli Beier, “In a Colonial University” ( Iwalewa Haus, University of Bayreuth, 1993, 1-24.6).

Creating Deity

"Interesting. A version of the Yoruba expression, 'Eniyan o si, imale [or orisa] ko si', translated by Adeleke Adeeko in a discussion on his Facebook wall as 'No humanity, no orisa [ deities]'."

"Exactly. Soyinka represents the same idea in his poem the Seven Signposts of Existence in A Credo of Being and Nothingnessas 'Without the knowing of divinity by man, can deity survive?' "

"Beautifully put. Karin Barber describes an aspect of the practical demonstration of this philosophy in terms of the use of language in 'How Man Makes God in West Africa: Yoruba Attitudes Towards the Orisa.’”

“Precisely. Barber’s observations are reinforced by Rowland Abíọ́dún’s Yoruba Art and Language, on language and being in Yoruba visual and verbal art.”

"Beautiful. I expect these are the same orientations explored through ritual by Susanne Wenger in A Life with the Gods?"

"Of course. They also resonate with Nimi Wariboko on the making and unmaking of deity in the related Kalabari spirituality in his The Split God: Pentecostalism and Critical Theory."

"Interesting. Are these not similar to practices of making and umaking deity Chinua Achebe imaginatively explores in the Igbo context in his novel Arrow of God? "

"They are. Whatever the mode of existence of deity might be, it has to be recognized and integrated within human interpretation to make meaning for people."

"What of the idea of creating deity?"

"Of course. Some spiritualities, African and Western esoteric systems, for example, understand that the human being can create deities."

"Why create deities instead of relying on oneself?"

“ In such contexts, the deity may be seen as an amplification of

human potential, like computers and forms of artificial intelligence. They could also be understood as integrations of human and extra-human possibility shaped into particular forms by human creativity."

Image Above

Collage by myself showing Wole Soyinka, philosopher of Ogboni, as described in part 2 of this series, in dialogue with ""In the Beginning" top and “Our Journey" centre, art by Obiora Udechukwu evoking cosmic birth and progression, incidentally correlative with Soyinka’s insights into what he names the Abyss of Transition, the transformative process between terrestrial life, transition from that life and rebirth into it, a passage both mysterious and illuminating, correlative with Ogboni conceptions of existence in terms of a spiral of recreation in terms of motion between dimensions of possibility within terrestrial life and between birth, death and rebirth

Becoming Deity

"How do you adapt these ideas in the Ògbóni meditation you are describing?"

"Does Ile, Earth, exist? Yes. Can the Earth be personified? Yes. Is the Earth conscious and open to communication with humans? It is, in terms of entities centred in particular locations, invisible but whose presence could be palpable in the atmosphere.

As for the Earth as a whole, a unification of diverse possibilities, I don’t know if the Earth is conscious and open to communication with humans, but I find the idea inspiring and thus am inspired to adapt it within a meditation based on Ògbóni symbolism."

"How do you do that?"

" I imagine my favourite image of Ile, elegant, quietly explicit in erotic terms, evoking wild but controlled power through the horns rising from her head."

"Okay"

"I imagine her in front of me in the crouching pose of the sculpture. I take in her contemplative gaze, her alert calm."

"Hmmmm"

"After some time in that fellowship, I imagine her within me, pulsating within my body, her head within my head, her chest within my chest, her legs within mine."

" Hmmmm"

" I maintain that visualization in a relaxed manner, without struggling to recall all the details of her figure."

"Intriguing."

"I then relax even more and stop trying to recall the figure, satisfied that the image of unity with the figure of Ile is established in my mind."

" Interesting."

"I remain in silence in that relaxed state."

"What has been your experience with this meditation?"

" A sense of calm. Of inward concentration. Possibly contributing to expansion of ideas in my work on Ògbóni."

"Do you expect more?”

" Not sure. The meditation can be elaborated upon in various ways that could contribute to more vivid outcomes but taking it slowly might help with better understanding of its effect on one's mind."

"Thanks for the discussion"

"You are welcome."

[1] In her review of Harold Coulander’s Tales of Yorùbá Gods and Heroes

[2] The image of Odu/Iya Agaba and her four calabashes comes from an ese ifá, a story from the Yorùbá origin Ifá system of knowledge that correlates the two Yorùbá institutions of Ògbóni and Ifá through parallels in symbolism between the story and the Ògbóni cosmogram.

Ogboni philosopher, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju, in reflection in nature space

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