The Osogbo Matrix and the Mystical Vision 2: Encounter in the Oro Grove by Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju and ChatGPT

[Oluwatoyin Adepoju]

The Osogbo Matrix and the Mystical Vision                                  2

              Encounter in the Oro Grove

            Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju 

                                  and

                            ChatGPT 

The author pondering mysteries in the sanctuary of Oro.

Picture by the author.

       Celestial Cathedral in the Oro Grove     

                           Abstract

This piece contains a prose essay and a poem based on the essay. 

The essay is written by myself and reflects on the tension between human material and social needs and the hunger for Ultimate Reality, inspired by an experience in the Oro Grove within the Osun Sacred Forest in Osogbo, Nigeria.

It meditates on the layered selves of human identity, the mystery of prayer, and the quest for the womb of the cosmos, situating these reflections in dialogue with Yoruba cosmology, Indian philosophy, and contemporary religious thought. 

By weaving personal narrative with comparative philosophy, the essay explores the relationship between sacred place, human aspiration, and metaphysical inquiry.

The poem is composed by ChatGPT, reworking the essay into lyrical poetry.

                             

The Complex of Faces

On the 7th of September 2025, I had an experience that reminded me of who I am.

Everyone has various faces, faces defined in terms of one's personality and its shaping through time.

Some of these faces are better known by others observing one, because they are personality traits one is not adequately sensitive to.

Some of those faces are better appreciated by oneself,  because they are aspects of the self that are more private than others, those qualities that emerge primarily in dialogue with oneself. 

Of all these selves, there is one that might be the deepest- that aspect that is not centred on one's relationship with the conventional necessities of living as a biological or social creature.

This face has little relationship with issues of physical or psychological  well being, with material empowerment or social recognition and values.

That face has no relationship with success or failure that can be ordinarily noticed by anyone.

That face is that aspect of the self that is purely about the logic of one's existence, the question of why one exists, where one is coming from and where one is going to.

That face relates to the question of the point of it all represented by one's existence among the myriads on Earth and in the cosmos, from humans to non-humans.

It is the self that gazes into the vastness of the cosmos, aware of its infinitesimal place among galaxies, trees, stones, and spirits.

Recalling my experience in the Oro Grove of the Osun forest in Osogbo, Nigeria, this aspect of myself came to the surface from layers where it had been submerged.

Praying in the Oro Grove

     Between a Terrestrial 

     Creature, Cosmic Immensity and the 

     Source of Existence

Seated in the grove, surrounded by the cathedral majesty of glorious trees, within an atmosphere both inexplicable and compelling, mysteriously potent in beauty yet forever drawing me to it, I was inspired to pray fervently about my strategic interpersonal aspirations as the environment seemed to vibrate in response to my appeal to that Invisibility enabling the Visible and the Invisible.

Is there a creator and sustainer of  existence? If such an identity exists, what could be its business, if any, with a temporally and spatially miniscule creature on one planet out of a number that might be beyond human reckoning, within the immense context of countless celestial phenomena, from moons to asteroids, comets and more, all shaped by cosmic laws the human understanding of which is ever growing, so may be summed up a contemporary restatement of a debate between Sankara and Ramanujan  in ancient India as described by their philosophical successor Sarvepalli Radhakrishsnan.

Is faith in the creative attention of a power beyond oneself not the last resort of humans in the face of the at times painful perplexities of the world, those things fully or partially beyond human control?

I spoke within my cry to Whatever it was, working through the laws of nature, that created the Osun forest,  enabling the people of Osogbo to recognize its sanctity and for Susanne Wenger and her collaborators to project this holiness at a global level, the inspiring force of which accounts led to my sitting on an elevated tree root on that day in the Oro Grove, emulating Wenger's relationship with the forest.

Their witness had brought me there, to sit upon that ancient root, seeking what Wenger herself had sought: a communion with the forest as a shrine of the universe.

Having completed the prayer and walked out of the grove,  the sense of fulfillment that followed me made promise to pray regularly there, for myself and others, for family, friends and even about global crises.

Does anyone fully understand the mystery of prayer? Is there a limit to the possibilities opened up by partnership with the Creator of the Universe,  if such a One exists, even though one would not generally expect suspensions of the laws of nature in response to one's appeals? 

      Between Terrestrial Needs and the

      Hunger for Ultimate Reality

On returning to the guesthouse I'm staying in, the memory of that moment of decision continued to go over itself in my mind.

A thought came to me. 

You are focusing on prayers about interpersonal issues,  about health, about finances, about an ideal life you want for yourself and your loved ones, even about atrocities you want to end  in the world. All very good in approaching the Munificent Majesty. 

But you are not including what brought you to the Osun forest in the first place. You are not a sightseer. You are not simply a person who enjoys the beauty of nature though that is foundational for you. You are not here simply to gaze at the glorious art created in the forest. 

You are here because you seek the womb of the universe.

You are here beceause you seek locations that will inspire that quest.

You are seeking the ultimate source of existence, described by those who inspire you as being within you and grounding all that exists, pervading all.

Should you also not concentrate on penetrating into that Ultimacy, to the degree that you can, if such a reality exists?

      Between the Oro Grove and the Womb

      of  Cosmos

What better location to pursue such a quest than a zone where the congregation of trees seem to vibrate in relation to such mysterious potencies, signalling towards something beyond the visible?

If such possibilities exist, as your inspirers claim, how can you move from a point in space and time, in the Oro Grove, to a reality beyond time and space, the ultimate source of cosmos?

There is no movement, one view states.

An existing reality is simply uncovered. The Oro Grove, your guesthouse room, your home in Lagos, are all coexistent within the Beginning and the End of All.

The value of the Oro Grove in this configuration is that it is a particularly intense expression of what is most uplifting about the world.

Its aesthetic force, combining visual power and atmospheric potency, make it particularly compelling, a unique conduit of inspiration.

The grove is a privileged locus of intensity. Its beauty, atmosphere, and resonance draw consciousness toward the mystery. It is an icon of the infinite.

Even when you are not in the grove, you can inhabit it mentally, through imagination. Even when absent, you can carry it within, as inner sanctuary. The sublime peace and elevated mental space it inspires can descend on you from time to time beceause it has taken root within you, nourishing the contemplative soil of your own mind. 

Returning to the forest after that day of prayer, I found I could not pray. Prayer seemed irrelevant. A disturbance to the magnificent silent music pervading the place and myself. Silence itself seemed the highest prayer—an immersion in the forest’s wordless liturgy.

On beginning to leave, the urge to pray was unlocked. I poured out a yearning to the glorious space for its majestic elevation to remain with me in spirit, concentrating itself within my flesh and blood, within my mind and soul,  even when I was distant from the zone giving birth to that inspiration—whether or not my body sat within that sacred space

Conclusion

The Osogbo experience affirms that sacred place, personal aspiration, and metaphysical inquiry converge in a living dialogue. The Oro Grove may be seen as at once terrestrial and cosmic, personal and transpersonal, natural and metaphysical, calling one beyond utilitarian prayer toward contemplation of ultimacy itself.

Poetic/Meditative Version

By ChatGPT 

The Oro Grove Speaks

I sat among the trees, their trunks rising like ancient columns, their leaves whispering secrets older than speech.

I prayed—first for health, for family, for peace in a wounded world.

 The forest seemed to breathe with me, as though my words were woven into its silence.

Then the questions came:

“Who made all this?

Does the Infinite notice a speck of dust called me,

on a planet lost among comets and stars?”

The voices of sages stirred—Śaṅkara’s Absolute without a face, Rāmānuja’s God who loves the smallest soul. Between them, my own trembling voice.

I prayed to Whatever It was: the breath of the forest, the hand that raised these trees, the power that drew Susanne Wenger to guard this shrine of the universe.

When I left the grove, a strange fulfillment followed me. 

But another voice whispered:

“You prayed for needs. Good.

But what of the womb of the universe?

What of the Source beyond source?

Did you forget why you came?”

I returned again to the grove.

This time, I could not pray.

Prayer felt like an intrusion.

The silence itself prayed through me,

a music without words,

a stillness deeper than any plea.

And in that stillness,

the forest became my face,

and I became the forest.