- Sep 11, 2009
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- carpenter, anthropologist, teacher. Right now I te
many folks are confused about darkness and light, which came first, is darkness evil, etc. It is just as frustrating for me to see people present darkness as something mysterious, as black magick, etc, as it is for me to see people portray darkness as something scary or evil. Especially from people who should know better, like adepts of Afrikan spirituality. In the Diaspora, followers of Afrikan based "religions" like Santeria or even Lucumi for instance, portray darkeness as something fearful. They have let Christian notions pollute the theology. For instance, they will consider Udu Oyeku as "bad." But there are no "bad" Odu. If Oyeku comes up in ire, how can it be bad? Ogbe, the first Odu is light, expansnsive ase. Oyeku is dark, contractive ase. This is not a dichotomy of good and evil. I asked awo Falokun about light and dark and he related it in this way: Do we consider the polarity of gravity and electromagnetism as a dichotomy of good and evil? Electromagnetism generates energy in the universe and gravity generates form. without energy there is no life. without form there is no structure.
I have conceptualized it in two differing aspects. one, the idea of darkness and light in the visible realm as positive-negative; expansion-contraction; white orisha-ajoogun; irunmole on the right irunmole on the left, etc. where there is a division. but then at the level of the totality of all there is, i think it is irrelevant. but there is the idea in odu of light coming out of darkness?
At the level of the visible worlds, we have the reality that nothing in the universe (energy) is created or destroyed, merely transformed. this is the idea of the conservation of matter as expressed in Einstein’s famous theory. Of course, Afrikans already knew this for thousands of years. As Falokun put it, "... the idea that Africans had sophisticated science long before western culture gives folks in the west a headache and is way too traumatic to even consider. unfortunately, that does not make it untrue."
So within creation, we have a dichotomy of light and dark, positive-negative, gravity - electromagnetism. But at the level of the totality of all that is, we have darkness.
We have had discussions on many threads on the question of light coming from dark, or dark from light (the chicken and the egg). As far as Yoruba and Yoruba based religions - which means all Afrikan religions - light came out of dark. In other words, the Python, the feminine. It is in Odu. Olodumare gives birth to the universe. The meaning of "Olodumare has been discussed. It is "Spirit of the Womb of the Rainbow." The rainbow being the Python. Obviously a womb is a dark place. Ain't no light in there. In Odu also is reference to "oyigiyigi" another name for Ela. Ela is the manifestation of the ase of creation. Oyigiyigi means, "the eternal stone of creation."
Odu follow the cycle of birth, death, transformation and rebirth. Birth and rebirth happen in light. Death and transformation happen in dark. The whole point of any spiritual path is transformation, because transformation leads to sipritual growth. Darkness is feared because transformation occurs in darkness and dealing with transformation requires courage, the ase of Sango.
Most religions (especially Christianity) are based on the idea that conformity is more important than courage. They go so far as to demonize courage. In demonizing the left hand path, they teach you to avoid transformation. Thus you see Christians stuck where they are. They are saved by Jesus and they are told that that is the pinnacle of spiritual evolution. If you avoid the dark, you cannot complete the cycle that is represented by the uroboros.
ase
I have conceptualized it in two differing aspects. one, the idea of darkness and light in the visible realm as positive-negative; expansion-contraction; white orisha-ajoogun; irunmole on the right irunmole on the left, etc. where there is a division. but then at the level of the totality of all there is, i think it is irrelevant. but there is the idea in odu of light coming out of darkness?
At the level of the visible worlds, we have the reality that nothing in the universe (energy) is created or destroyed, merely transformed. this is the idea of the conservation of matter as expressed in Einstein’s famous theory. Of course, Afrikans already knew this for thousands of years. As Falokun put it, "... the idea that Africans had sophisticated science long before western culture gives folks in the west a headache and is way too traumatic to even consider. unfortunately, that does not make it untrue."
So within creation, we have a dichotomy of light and dark, positive-negative, gravity - electromagnetism. But at the level of the totality of all that is, we have darkness.
We have had discussions on many threads on the question of light coming from dark, or dark from light (the chicken and the egg). As far as Yoruba and Yoruba based religions - which means all Afrikan religions - light came out of dark. In other words, the Python, the feminine. It is in Odu. Olodumare gives birth to the universe. The meaning of "Olodumare has been discussed. It is "Spirit of the Womb of the Rainbow." The rainbow being the Python. Obviously a womb is a dark place. Ain't no light in there. In Odu also is reference to "oyigiyigi" another name for Ela. Ela is the manifestation of the ase of creation. Oyigiyigi means, "the eternal stone of creation."
Odu follow the cycle of birth, death, transformation and rebirth. Birth and rebirth happen in light. Death and transformation happen in dark. The whole point of any spiritual path is transformation, because transformation leads to sipritual growth. Darkness is feared because transformation occurs in darkness and dealing with transformation requires courage, the ase of Sango.
Most religions (especially Christianity) are based on the idea that conformity is more important than courage. They go so far as to demonize courage. In demonizing the left hand path, they teach you to avoid transformation. Thus you see Christians stuck where they are. They are saved by Jesus and they are told that that is the pinnacle of spiritual evolution. If you avoid the dark, you cannot complete the cycle that is represented by the uroboros.
ase
