Questions About a Post-Coronavirus Future : Ògbóni Philosophy and Spirituality and the CoronavirusPandemic

[Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju]

                                                                                      

                                                                         

                                                          Questions About a Post-Coronavirus Future 

                                         Ògbóni Philosophy and Spirituality and the CoronavirusPandemic

                                                                                   

                                                                

   Edan ògbóni , Ògbóni symbolic form and spirit vessel, representing the unity of men and women as children of Ile, Earth

 

                                                                 Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

 

As a philosophy and spirituality dedicated to Earth and the fraternity of men and women as children of Earth, Ògbóni philosophy and spirituality should be able to provide a vantage point from which to give comfort and philosophical guidance in this time of historic trial, what is in effect a third world war, fought, not between humans and humans but between humans and the Coronavirus, an organism pursuing the impulse to live,   but whose life is destruction to humans.

The virus, all organisms, all living and non-living things, are part of our home orbiting the star vital to life on Earth. The virus and humanity are therefore aspects of Ile, Earth, consisting of non-human and human nature, and all made possible by these natural forms, including the creations of the bipedal denizens of Earth, one of whom is composing this piece.

Adapting New York governor Andrew Cuomo’s April 1, 2020 address, what may we learn from this transformative experience? What insights may we gain into the unity of humanity celebrated by Ògbóni and demonstrated by this pandemic?

What may we learn from the global interconnectivity painfully dramatized by  the spread of the virus from Asia to North America, to Europe, Africa and other continents?

What insights may we reach through the global cooperation necessitated to fight something that does not discriminate between Blacks, Caucasians, Asians and other races, between the wealthy and the poor, the famous or relatively unknown, striking indiscriminately at the root of the tree of individual life?

What new orientations may we develop in the light of a power, invisible unless under a microscope, devastating the most economically and militarily powerful nations of the world, the best organised societies?

What new understanding could we gain in relation to global struggles for power, what new sensitivities to the amount of resources spent on developing ever more powerful weapons, yet finding ourselves with few defences against and no cure for the horrifying effects of something so small we cannot see it without unaided eyes?

We can boast of weapons that can devastate entire cities, traversing continents to deliver death to millions, poisoning the environment for generations to come, yet we don’t have enough nose masks to protect us from this microscopic creature, the Coronavirus.

Our weapons can wipe out nations from the face of the Earth, but we do not have enough test kits in any nation on Earth to find out all who are infected by this elementary life form.

The challenge of migration from poorer to richer nations was central to the global agenda before the emergence of this horror. What will this evil harvest of humanity mean for future immigration policies as countries seek to reinvigorate their populations after this terrible shock?

Wealth distribution, wealth accumulation, what new awareness could we develop about these variables in the light of this earthquake?

Shall we rethink the idea of a global military in relation to national militaries?

Shall we work together to address universal health care and universal economic well-being?

Some leaders refused to develop their nations’ heath care systems, relying on their easy access to the facilities of better organised countries.

These short-sighted people are now trapped within the medical systems they refused to invest in.  The countries they used to escape to have closed their air spaces in self-protection against the spread of the virus.

Will these people be thereby enlightened about the mutuality of effects of national development for all citizens?

The price is high but we may go through this horror as through an alchemical process, as the brass goes through fire at the hands of the akedanwaiye, the Ògbóni metal smith, burning open our blocked vision, as the Ògbóni smith refines brass in fire, invoking into it a creative force, the power of Earth as universal mother, leading us to our destiny as custodians of Earth and humanity, seeing beyond the limitations of tribal nationalities, narrow individualistic and cliquish affiliations, into a fraternal, global and cosmic vision.  

These reflections come from the Universal Ògbóni Philosophy and Spirituality, a development from the Yorùbá origin Ògbóni esoteric order.

Ògbóni is  a unique response to humanity’s relationship with Earth, humanity’s primal mother, and a veneration of Earth as embodied by men and women.

Universal Ògbóni Philosophy and Spirituality is a development of the insights of classical Ògbóni, in a manner that makes these insights available to everyone, as opposed to the strict secrecy of classical Ògbóni.

To learn more about this new orientation inspired by Ògbóni, you may see “My Journey in Developing Universal Ògbóni  Philosophy and Spirituality, a New School of the Ògbóni  Esoteric Order.

 As well as 

The Universal Ogboni Fraternity Facebook page 

The Universal Ogboni Fraternity Facebook group

 

 

 

 

[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju, 

Coming in the wake of this little discussion, I’m really impressed by what you say  in “My Journey in Developing Universal Ògbóni  Philosophy and Spirituality, a New School of the Ògbóni  Esoteric Order.”

The neo-movements are usually viewed with some excitement by those who hunger and thirst for righteousness sake over here in the Wild West and at the same time, such movements are often viewed with suspicion, if not trepidation, by the traditionalists.

Neo-Sufism  for example, invites a certain critical degree of distrust, even when it claims roots and silsilas that go all the way back to Rasulullah, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, or Uwais al-Qarani, or Khidr .

 Some of the  so called neo-esoteric orders find fertile soil for growth and expansion, even financial rewards in the usually  desperate and therefore more gullible West that’s constantly in search of ways to escape the materialism, the anxiety, the ennui, the lack of a raison d'être, the lack of vision, absence of a sense of higher purpose for mortal man’s  existence that they say characterises life in what they experience as spiritual wastelands.

“Spiritual advisors and gurus to guide your every move

Instant inner peace and every step you take has got to be approved.”

Understandably, some of  the neo-movements are often an instant success for those in need of “spiritual therapy”, especially when such Neo-movements proselytise in the language that the West understands, the language of Freud and Jung and modern psychology. The more exotic and foreign the neo-movement, the more magnetic the attraction to those who are often searching for something radically different, something like the God that the New Age Culture and the  New Age Movements have taught them to believe, lives inside of themselves as their Super-Self.

All the Neo-movement needs is a charismatic leader that knows how to rap , for example, like Rajneesh . He knew what to say  - he gave people what they were looking for. He answered the question asked by the Lotos-Eaters: “Why should life, all labour be?”

People are not necessarily  looking for tapasya – at least, not as the goal but hopefully as a means to a certain end, in tune with psychological hedonism, the end being the bliss of Samadhi, and in these stressful, uncertain Coronavirus days,  some of the beautiful big booty that can still be found  down here on earth,  in Rof Medol Dally Kimoko sings about “ toto exotique”, a foretaste of the  Heavenly Booty waiting in paradise. I

People are looking for a piece of heaven right here on earth

Dear Toyin, one is tempted to ask that which you will have to clarify, anyway:

To what extent does your” New School of the Ogboni Esoteric Order” depart from what you obviously see as “The Old School of the Ogboni Esoteric Order”?

 Are we to understand that you the New Ogboni Grandmaster / Guru  have just founded a New Order of the Ogboni, Neo-Ogbonism , and if so does the difference or departure from the old school  consist in a new set of practices or is  more intellectual(  and academic, your own personal illuminations, mostly a new approach in understanding and throwing more light on the esoteric Ogboni mysteries and secrets to which you are privy?

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Dear Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju,

I am not easily impressed ( I have my own great favourites) and I must confess that I’m really impressed by what you say at the tail-end of this your submission, in “My Journey in Developing Universal Ògbóni  Philosophy and Spirituality, a New School of the Ògbóni  Esoteric Order.”

If a Nigerian pastor such as Chris Oyakhilome, an exponent of “ I am the way the truth and the life” is a big success in the UK, then  I suppose that someone like you as an exponent of the New Order could  awaken some considerable interest  in the Ogboni  and do for the Ogboni what  Swami Vivekananda and  Swami Yogananda have done for Hinduism, in the West.

One is tempted to ask that which you will have to clarify, anyway:

To what extent does the ” New School of the Ogboni Esoteric Order” depart from what must obviously be   “The Old School of the Ogboni Esoteric Order”?

 Are we to understand that you have founded or intend to found a New Order of the Ogboni, and if so,  does the difference or departure from the old school consist in a new set of practices or is it more of the intellectual  and the academic, your own personal illuminations and  mostly a new approach in understanding and throwing more light on the esoteric Ogboni mysteries and secrets to which you are privy? You have not made that clear. Are you talking about a new school for the study of the Ogboni Esoteric Order?

Knowing next to nothing about the Ogboni, maybe, I shouldn’t be the one asking any questions about what the “New School of the Ogboni Esoteric Order” could possibly be.

I am of course curious, and I should say it’s a healthy curiosity about the air of mystery around the Ogboni and the Arochukwu Society…

 It’s the term “New” that I find fascinating. I would find it equally fascinating if some other scholar were to announce a “ New Arochukwu Society” for  example or a New “Nematollahi Gonabadi Sufi Order”.

I am not speculating when I say that the neo-movements are usually viewed with some excitement by those who hunger and thirst for righteousness sake over here in the West and at the same time, such movements are often viewed with suspicion, if not trepidation, by the traditionalists. For example, in order to become the Master of any of the Great Sufi traditions one would have to be a very advanced/ accomplished adept and of course appointed by the Pir.

Neo-Sufism  for example, invites a certain critical degree of distrust, even when it claims roots and silsilas that go all the way back to Rasulullah, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, or Uwais al-Qarani, or Khidr .

 Some of the  so-called neo-esoteric orders find fertile soil for growth and expansion, even financial reward in the usually  desperate and therefore more gullible West that’s constantly in search of ways to escape the  alleged materialism, anxiety, angst , ennui, lack of a raison d'être, lack of vision and the absence of a sense of higher purpose for mortal man’s  existence that they say characterises life in what they sadly experience as spiritual wastelands.

“Spiritual advisors and gurus to guide your every move

Instant inner peace and every step you take has got to be approved.”

Understandably, some of  the neo-movements are often an instant success for those in need of “spiritual therapy”, especially when such Neo-movements proselytise in the language that the West understands, the language of modern psychology, of Freud and Jung and Joseph Campbell. The more exotic and foreign the neo-movement is, the more magnetic the attraction to those who are often searching for something radically different, something like the God that the New Age Culture and the  New Age Movements have taught them to believe, lives inside of themselves as their Super-Self, the Super Ego…

All the Neo-movement needs is a charismatic leader  or chairman that knows how to rap, for example, like Rajneesh . He knew what to say  - he gave people what they were looking for. He answered the question asked by the Lotos-Eaters: “Why should life, all labour be?”

People are not necessarily  looking for tapasya – at least, not as the goal but hopefully as a means to a certain end, in tune with psychological hedonism, the end being the bliss of Samadhi, and  even in these stressful, uncertain Coronavirus times,  some of the beautiful big booty that can still be found  down here on planet earth as a foretaste of the  Heavenly Booty waiting to be enjoyed in paradise

Rightly or wrongly, people are looking for a piece of heaven right here on earth 

On Thu, 2 Apr 2020 at 17:48, Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju <toyin....@gmail.com> wrote:

--

[Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju]

thanks Cornelius.

Apologies for just seeing this.

Am I founding a new philosophy and spirituality of Ogboni or a new Ogboni Order with its own philosophy and spirituality?

I am developing a new philosophy and spirituality of Ogboni.

 An Order might imply a physical group, which I am not motivated to pursue  beyond a Facebook group. 

I am likely to move towards focusing on the idea of a philosophy and spirituality rather than an Order.

My approach is an individualistic one, which, however,  does not preclude group based developments which other enthusiasts of these ideas are free to pursue. 

What I am developing is based on the central Ogboni philosophy of reverence for Earth and for men and women as children and embodiments  of Earth.

This idea is actualised in Ogboni art of edan, a sculpture of a man and a woman, often linked by a chain, and Ogboni art of Onile, a visual characterisation of a quality of Ile, Earth, as owner of the Earth, of land and of the Ogboni iledi, the sacred Ogboni meeting house understood as a microcosm of community.

This new initiative differs from the older school/s by its total openness in contrast to the almost totally esoteric  character of older Ogboni and by its engagement with a broad range of knowledge, seeking a universal scope exploring the human journey across the Earth and the cosmos. 

This new approach also operates in relation to the esoteric, but in the understanding that the essence of the esoteric, corresponding to the Yoruba concept awo, is not in anything created or can be created by humanity.

The esoteric, in this context, is understood as centred  in nature, which, adapting the words of Ogboni philosopher Susanne Wenger, lies open without declaring itself.

All that humanity has been able to do or can do in spiritual contexts is try to understand nature, encoding the insights they gain and the methods they use in pursuing those insights in terms of the esoteric.

My approach dispenses with human made restrictions, encouraging one to approach the esoteric without any barriers except those created by nature herself.

Its also true, though, that one may choose to keep to oneself certain things one discovers in such investigations, on account of its sensitivity, to help manage insights that could prove disturbing for other people, among other reasons, but such decisions are an individual choice, not mandated in connection with access to the ideas I share, though I would encourage discretion in the management of knowledge of spiritual issues, on account of the difference between some of such insights and reality as conventionally understood.

This unconventional awareness could involve companionship and dialogue with invisible entities, communication with physical but inanimate forms of being, a sensitivity to realms of value different from the conventional, motion of consciousness without physical motion, among other possibilities.

The focus, however, is not in the pursuit of such immediate expansions of consciousness, as they may be described, but the exploration of ultimate meaning, within which context those immediate expansions of consciousness would be a by product or a means to exploring the  question of the ultimate value of existence.

Not much is publicly known about Ogboni. The scholarly articles that are my primary access to this information say little about their ritual and give only basic but rich information about their philosophy and art although the art is richly visible through a Google search.

Out of this basic material I am building something by exploring the implications of what is publicly known.

I am doing my own direct explorations, though, beginning with Ogboni on Facebook. I shall also interact with Ogboni members physically in Nigeria.

This form of Ogboni, Universal Ogboni Philosophy and Spirituality,  develops the little though richly significant info publicly known  about Ogboni, developing the implications of those insights, in dialogue with Yoruba philosophy, spirituality and art and in relation to a global network of ideas.

This form of Ogboni is open while recognising the esoteric in nature, is rooted in classical Ogboni while moving beyond that base into explicit dialogue with Yoruba thought, intersecting parallels with African and non-African bodies of knowledge across the humanities and the sciences. 

In an era of increasing ecological sensitivity, of recognising correlations between humanity and Earth, of awareness of the feminine and the masculine as partners in the terrestrial journey, of awakening to the wonder, mystery and power of nature, central values of Ogboni, voices demonstrating the ancient ancestry of African sensitivities to these insights must also be heard, powerfully.

Ogboni is eminent among such voices, a precursor to ecofeminism, neo-Paganism, modern Western witchcraft, among other newer approaches to perspectives primal to humanity from Africa to Asia to Europe and more.

thanks

toyin

 

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Dear Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju,

I must confess that I should have read your post a few more times even at the expense of extending the delay. But here goes, and my apologies for only getting back to you five days later. ( Just imagine, the Unbelieving Thomases have been waiting for The Second Coming of Jesus for over two thousand years now, and if you ask them how soon should he be expected to re-appear, you will be told  that, “ With the Lord a day is like a thousand years, and a thousand years are like a day.” That should also come in handy when explaining to some of the sceptics that “The Almighty made the heaven and the earth, the sea and all that is in them, in six days, and He rested on the seventh day. Therefore, the Lord blessed the Sabbath day and sanctified it.“ ( Shemot / Exodus 20: 11).

 What are the Ogboni’s ideas about space and time I wonder. Every time you use the word cosmos, I imagine that I am a tiny particle  – like a droplet entertaining big ideas about the milky way  , like the poetic E = mc2, something beyond my conceptual grasp.

When it comes to patience as a virtue, who can outmatch the Azanians standing in those serpentine queues, to cast their first ballot, having waited for over 400 years to do so?

You must forgive me since there’s much that you say, that I don’t fully understand, because you are   so neat, so rich and compact – e.g. “The esoteric, in this context, is understood as centred in nature, which, adapting the words of Ogboni philosopher Susanne Wenger, lies open without declaring itself.”  You seem to be hinting at transcendence here.

Re- “the central Ogboni philosophy of reverence for Earth and for men and women as children and embodiments of Earth.”  Reverence for life has a universal appeal and if found in Jainism, Hinduism, and Buddhism, for example.

Re – what you say further, that “a visual characterisation of a quality of Ile, Earth, as owner of the Earth, of land and of the Ogboni iledi, the sacred Ogboni meeting house understood as a microcosm of community.” – I suppose a microcosm of the global community? The mere idea of “ownership of the earth” implies some ecological concerns that should attract people like Greta Thunberg and other Environmentalists to the cause - the ecological cause of tikkun olam. “ Owner of the earth”  is of course God and the way you have expressed it, albeit, so very so briefly, raises the question implied in the many variations of the perception that the Earth does not belong to human beings; human beings belong to the earth ( You could try preaching that idea to the Dar al-Islam  Palestinians who feel that Umar Ibn Khattab gave the Holy Land to Hamas  and their descendants.)

 But, first things first dear Oluwatoyin, in these Coronavirus days, I for one feel that I’m in a Mississippi situation because  there’s no telling who will be next, and when  - how suddenly any of us will be translated into the  big booty pastures of The  Hereafter; so the question is, do the Ogboni offer “salvation “and “Redemption”? Do the Ogboni have words and concepts such as “holy”, “holiness” “God” “Karma”, “Sin” “life after death”, “Eternal life”, “Heaven and Hell”, “Houris”, “The Day of Judgment” in their vocabulary?

Yesu Christu

A short note on humility

Most Recent Research Confirms the Shroud of Turin is the Burial Cloth of Jesus

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[Gloria Emeagwali]

We are all looking forward to Toyin Adepoju’s responses to the questions posed by Cornelius the Wise. Toyin has the floor. I  shall check to see if he has responded.

My little comment is related to the very informative video  link on the Shroud of Turin  entitled “Most recent research  ......”  and provided  by Cornelius.  It sparked my curiosity    -  and I immediately went to “google scholar” to get a range of academic discussions on the issue. 

I confined myself to 2019 and 2020 publications, that included those of Kearse; Borrini and

Garlaschelli; Fanti and Malti; and Atkins et al. and several more.I  learnt for the first time that there is such a thing called Shroud Studies and  that Shroud Studies includes scholars from a range of fields - from forensic science to history and archeology, radiation physics, clinical anatomy, genomics and many more.  Conclusion of some of these scholars?

1. The shroud dates to 1260- 1390

     not the anticipated first century AD.

    (Borrini/ Garlaschelli). 

2.  May not be  inscribed with exclusively human blood (Kearse 2020). Disputed by Rucker and Antonacci.

3.  That the marks on the shroud are not consistent with the blood clots, and that the blood marks were  printed

on the shroud later than the body image (Fanti and Malti 2020).

A lot more.

I plan to get a copy of Fanti and Malti‘s text. CRC Press, 2020 because it seems to have one of the most comprehensive multi disciplinary accounts, to date, and  a spectacular review of scholarly research in the field - that may well be useful for  secular topics and what I am really interested in. Stay tuned. 

Cornelius, the Wise  you almost ruined my day.

GE

africahistory.net

                                                                

<Figure 8 edit.jpg>

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[OLAYINKA AGBETUYI]

GE

The Turin Shroud phenomenon first surfaced in the early 90s and it was laid to rest then that carbon dating fixed its origin to the 13 th century.  So it has nothing to do with Jesus Christ.

With Toyin Adepoju he lost me the moment he said he could communicate with trees but did not show how?  In the same breath he accuses Ogboni of undue secrecy which his method does not partake in.

OAA

Sent from my Samsung Galaxy smartphone.

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Date: 16/04/2020 23:08 (GMT+00:00)

To: usaafric...@googlegroups.com

Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Questions About a Post-Coronavirus Future : Ògbóni Philosophy and Spirituality and the CoronavirusPandemic

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We are all looking forward to Toyin Adepoju’s responses to the questions posed by Cornelius the Wise. Toyin has the floor. I  shall check to see if he has responded.

My little comment is related to the very informative video  link on the Shroud of Turin  entitled “Most recent research  ......”  and provided  by Cornelius.  It sparked my curiosity    -  and I immediately went to “google scholar” to get a range of academic discussions on the issue. 

I confined myself to 2019 and 2020 publications, that included those of Kearse; Borrini and

Garlaschelli; Fanti and Malti; and Atkins et al. and several more.I  learnt for the first time that there is such a thing called Shroud Studies and  that Shroud Studies includes scholars from a range of fields - from forensic science to history and archeology, radiation physics, clinical anatomy, genomics and many more.  Conclusion of some of these scholars?

1. The shroud dates to 1260- 1390

     not the anticipated first century AD.

    (Borrini/ Garlaschelli). 

2.  May not be  inscribed with exclusively human blood (Kearse 2020). Disputed by Rucker and Antonacci.

3.  That the marks on the shroud are not consistent with the blood clots, and that the blood marks were  printed

on the shroud later than the body image (Fanti and Malti 2020).

A lot more.

I plan to get a copy of Fanti and Malti‘s text. CRC Press, 2020 because it seems to have one of the most comprehensive multi disciplinary accounts, to date, and  a spectacular review of scholarly research in the field - that may well be useful for  secular topics and what I am really interested in. Stay tuned. 

Cornelius, the Wise  you almost ruined my day.

GE

africahistory.net

                                                                

<Figure 8 edit.jpg>

To view this discussion on the web visit https://groups.google.com/d/msgid/usaafricadialogue/CAC50OP9%3D7eunsv6j_0q2UUW6ejHrJeqsCC1TH0j2kEBW-owj1g%40mail.gmail.com.

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[Cornelius Hamelberg]

Gloria in Excelsis Omega-wali,

The next time I must tell you a little about “wise”. If music be the food then here’s Joe & Ella

What Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju is doing is miraculous. He is opening up new vistas of the Ogboni and that is pioneering work that is commendable. A question that I did not ask that I’d like to ask him here is, “ to what extent does he think that he can successfully develop “a new philosophy and spirituality of Ogboni”, if he has not been initiated into all the nooks and crannies of what I suppose remains for him, the hidden teachings – since he has not travelled deep within.  I’m sure that he is delighted with the question, but for me it’s a fair, critical question that I would ask anyone who e.g. had not practised Sufism (under a competent teacher, and nevertheless went about with his business of “developing a new philosophy and spirituality of Sufism”. That would be tantamount to loving Cameroonian big booty theoretically….

 For the rest, many thanks. All the positive information that the Vatican, in particular, has amassed so far has been subject to intense scientific scrutiny resulting in the verdict that the Shroud of Turin is a doubtful piece of evidence that does not pass the litmus test. Which means that that’s not the face of Jesus of Nazareth either.  For the time being, it will remain a mystery that could be confirmed or clarified when Jesus returns. Some of the other sceptics say that it could be a” forgery”, just like The Gospel of Barnabas (which Muslims like to quote). That it is a forgery is proved beyond any reasonable doubt in The Gospel of Barnabas by David Sox

Whilst still on the topic of thanking me for almost ruining your day ( I wish I had) let me say it’s a good time to ruin your day  and for a sensitive soul like you to  even suffer some goose pimples or  stigmata because this evening the start of the eighth and final day of the Jewish Passover (when the sun went down this evening) coincides with what  The Eastern Orthodox Christians observe as Good Friday, further details in this calendar  

You may forget about the shroud for the time being and think about this instead:

Miracles of the holy fire in the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem

Check it out: Holy Fire, Jerusalem 2019

The miracle will probably be repeated this year too.

 Are you impervious to miracles?

 

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