We often hear Orisa practitioner talking as if everything that happens in their lives and what they do character wise is the direct result of the Orisa they were initiated into. This has a pious ring to it, implying that we are always living as an embodiment of these Orisa with a sensitive awareness of their control over our lives.
I find problems with this view of I am Omo Ogun hence I need gin, I am Omo Sango, which explains my temperament. However I cannot help but wonder how much involvement do these Orisa have in our lives. Do they control our characters and shapes our personality? Are they responsible for our good and bad behaviors?
My own experiences have challenged me to question how I relates to the events in my lives as regards to a particular Orisa that crowns my head. I’ve encountered a lot of failure and frustration in my life. I have done a lot of things a divinity won't do. The question now is would Orunmila lie? would Obatala steal? Would Sango forgives? E.t.c Because in as much as they are a divinity, we have to also relate to the fact it is human that becomes Orisa.
All of the convince me to think that often times as a practitioner, we do try to exemplifies our character flaw or greatness to a particular Orisa that crown our head because we need an unquestionable source to hide our character traits under.
I personally believe we are who we before or after intiation, until you embrace the concept of initiation as a process of rebirth and not power proclamation, until we let ourselves loose and allow the Orisa to penetrate our coreness, that is when any Orisa can influence our life.
We are dealing with a spirit that looks inward rather than outwards. So if a particular Orisa is responsible for anyone behavior, for someone like me who wears the crown of 4 different Orisa, I must indeed have a great personality disorder.
I refuse to believe Ogun is responsible for anyone alcoholism or Sango for anyone's temperament. Ogun is no going to end up with liver or kidney problem nor Sango behind bars for uncontrolled angered. We are responsible for each attributes or personalty of any Orisa we choose to be identified with or portrayed.
I think it is the other way around Iyalaje Olorisa Elebuibon! We are the ones who involve the Orisa in our lives whether for good or bad. Even if we try to emulate (match) what we perceive to be the characteristics of Orisa, we do it for the good or the bad based on our perceptions and then we have to look within ourselves to see what kind of Ori we have and if it need plenty work or not. Just saying that people can become fanatical, dogmatic and overly religious when it comes to the invisible forces of which we really have no real comprehension. It is the same way in which we see GOD (OLODUMARE) in the personification of a human being and then we proceed to give this unknowable energy a GENDER.
ReplyDeleteI am ashamed to be found replying to very old blogs, but hey, I just discovered them and though old....they still hold the truth that birthed them on day1. lol.
ReplyDeleteIyalaje, Mo juba Awo o!
Omoluabi is a universal principle but exists in varieties of shades colored by distinct cultural values. At the minimum it calls for awareness and at the peak it becomes Orisa-like. Inbetween the two extremes all possibilities of humanity is encountered. In his/her ascent up the scale of knowledge and enlightenement, the Ogun devotee that bathes in gin today will someday discover a more exalting attribute of Ogun far more valuable than gin...and it would be time to acquire that attribute and advance up the ladder of exaltation.
An Omoluabi is not complete in a day, it takes cycles.
Ire o! Ee pe fun wa!