In my exploration of spiritual/religious guidance with the inferior emotion of hatred I had a question about what a native African view might be. I was especially interested in the traditional view, that which preceded the introduction of Christianity or Islam. An internet search brought me to the Ifá teachings of the Yorùbá people in West Africa, in the area of Nigeria and surrounding modern countries. Some quick preliminary studies indicated a rich tradition of practical codes of living which is still practiced not only in Africa but with the diaspora composed of descendants of kidnapped Yorùbá who arrived as slaves to countries such as the United States, Cuba, Trinidad, Brazil, Grenada, and other countries in the Caribbean and South America in the 19th century. It seems somewhat my responsibility to learn more about at least something about the native African religions, traditions which may have been snuffed out, possibly from ancestors of mine, as my paternal line goes back to at least to the very 1800s in Virginia.
So I downloaded a book entitled Ifá, A Forest of Mystery, by Nicholaj de Mattos Frisvold and began reading it with great interest. I found myself correlating some of my current thoughts and spiritual leanings with many pages of this book. Further research led me to a Facebook page assigned to this book from 2017. Below are quotes, teachings on the destructive nature of warring, and the importance of belonging to a group from a past wise men from Ifá:
One who guards against treachery is not
overly fearful.
After all, when honey bees are finished,
they leave a honeycomb in the house.
But when soldier ants are finished,
they leave devastation.
This was the teaching of Ifá for the people of
earth and the inhabitants" of heaven
When they were warring with each other."
- Iretesa
"Orunmila says there should be a gathering together like trees do to form a forest.
I say there should be a gathering together
We find monkeys in groups
We find wild pigs in groups
We don't even find "one who keeps silent"
walking alone
Nor do we find the greedy one walking alone
Ifa says we should gather together and not
walk alone."
- Oyeku Meji
The author of the book equates the “most intimate resonance” with the Western philosopher Boethius (c. 475 – 526). Anicius Manlius Severinus Boethius, commonly known as Boethius who was a Roman senator, consul, magister officiorum, historian, and philosopher of the Early Middle Ages. He was a central figure in the translation of the Greek classics into Latin, a precursor to the Scholastic movement, and, along with Cassiodorus, one of the two leading Christian scholars of the 6th century.
To get a flavor of the philosophy of Boethius here are some selected quotes, which are said to parallel Ifá teachings.
“Wretched men cringe before tyrants who have no power, the victims of their trivial hopes and fears. They do not realise that anger is hopeless, fear is pointless and desire, all a delusion. He whose heart is fickle is not his own master, has thrown away his shield, deserted his post, and he forges the links of the chain that holds him.”
— Boethius
“Balance out the good things and the bad that have happened in your life and you will have to acknowledge that you are still way ahead. You are unhappy because you have lost those things in which you took pleasure? But you can also take comfort in the likelihood that what is now making you miserable will also pass away.”
— Boethius
“And it is because you don't know the end and purpose of things that you think the wicked and the criminal have power and happiness.”
— Boethius
“One's virtue is all that one truly has, because it is not imperiled by the vicissitudes of fortune.”
— Boethius
And:
“...far as possible, join faith to reason.”
— Boethius
From de Mattos Frisvold;
“Boethius, like Plato, holds that what is perfect, and what is good, and what is beautiful, is not solely a quality of God, but it is to all effects the godhead [divinity, conceptions of God]. This means that fate is seen as something good, perfect and beautiful, but it is our choices that drive us towards it or away from it. In other words, no person is allotted a bad fate; rather, a bad fate is brought into effect by our choices.”
‘The most important feature of Yorùbá ethics is not obedience, disobedience, reward or punishment. It is Ìwà (character).’
“...as one Ifá proverb states: If you have money, But if you do not have good character, The money belongs to somebody else.”
“...so Ifá can be an elision of iré fa, ‘the art of attracting good fortune’ or even ‘the art of bending fortune in your favour.’ No matter how we choose to interpret the word, Ifá is concerned with how we attract good fortune, therefore it is from this premise that I understand it to be a living and oracular philosophy that teaches us how we can bring what is good and fortunate into our lives.”
“We should note that Ifá realises that creation, the Great Design, is just as it is supposed to be, and when we enter into condemnation, dogmatise and exercise moral denigration we are displaying a lack of understanding based upon a distorted perception of the matter at hand.”
“Ifá is disclosed through philosophical axioms encoded in songs, verses and proverbs that make part of the corpus of odù, which we can define as ‘words from the womb of creation.’
And on the theme of hatred, in Ifá teachings, from de Mattos Frisvold:
“This is a complex odù that speaks of the consequences of being subject to hostility and of how bitterness can fill our heart with vengeance, hatred and mischievousness. Ìká speaks about the very premise for the existence of wickedness lying in a negative use of personal power. This makes us attract a type of spirit known as alújonù, meaning ‘to beat what is dwelling within,’ whose presence manifests in emotional sickness and the presence of self-generated ‘demonic’ forms that encourage hostility. These spirits are attracted by the sensation of fear that compels us to perform wicked acts; acting in this way we invite them into our soul, which they start to torment. Scapegoating and blaming indicates the presence of these ghostly spirits. When someone is deliberately engaging in gossip, cursing and plotting the demise of others, the negative presence of Ìká is full blown.”
“Ìká is the odù in which Ọbalúwayé brings the hot and fiery winds of disease. It is here that the vengeful aspects of the powers of Ògún and Ṣàngó are unleashed. It is not an energy dealing with justice, but vengeance and retribution, rooted in a misconceived need to protect one’s soul and self. Many stories tell of how the òrìṣà expressed this quality, but we always learn that their attitude only led to sorrow and disgrace. Ìká is like preparing poison for your enemies – and friends – and consuming this poison yourself in an attempt to take down your detractor. Ìwà (character) is crucial here, so attention to developing good character and orí is what balances these forces and brings forth their benign rays.”
“Wickedness brings more wickedness and to take delight in it excludes good fortune from your life. This is due to the principle of increase, so prominent in Ifá; you attract what you are, and the types of energies prominent in your life will multiply. So, the same energy that breeds discord and wickedness is a vibration that increases fear and confusion.”
“One proverb says: ‘Ifá does not recognize king or beggar, as the machete does not recognize its maker.’ It is about being aware of the energies at play so that we can avoid judgment, regret and hatred. If we assess a situation properly, we will understand how to conduct ourselves, so that harmony can reign.”
Not surprisingly one fines great wisdom in these teachings of Ifá. One can only imagine what of these teachings may have been passed on by word of mouth with the early American slaves who were from this region of Africa.
A question comes to my mind, if these teachings have had an influence on the modern American culture which we live in?
And of hatred “Ìká is like preparing poison for your enemies – and friends – and consuming this poison yourself in an attempt to take down your detractor.” “Wickedness brings more wickedness and to take delight in it excludes good fortune from your life.”
In relating this to my unfortunate cousin lost in hatred, hatred perhaps of the very culture capable of such Ifá wisdom, it would seem even more of a tragedy in the end. Would he have acknowledged these teachings with an open mind, open enough for possible transformation, even on a very small scale, and realize he was truly the one drinking poison? Perhaps not.
This exercise has been beneficial for me however. It has illuminated my understanding, and I found a fertile field of thought in Ifá, where I least expected it.
10th Posting, February 17, 2023.