Ase, Esu and Consciousness: Yoruba Philosophy and the Interpretation of Reality; A Very Short Reflection
Oluwatoyin Adepoju
Ase, Esu and Consciousness
Yoruba Philosophy and the Interpretation of Reality
A Very Short Reflection
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju exploring a sacred grove in Ariye, near Ijebu Ode
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
Compcros
Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems
Abstract
An exploration of the concept of ase from Yoruba origin Orisa cosmology in relation to the intellectual and spiritual implications of the idea, with a focus on consciousness and the embodiment of these conceptions in the image of the orisa or deity Esu. The essay concludes with a personal experience dramatizing the questions the essay examines.
All pictures are by me.
Two Major Schools of Yoruba Origin Cosmology
There are two major cosmological schools in the Yoruba origin Orisa body of knowledge, the unifying system of classical Yoruba thought.
In the understanding and practice of Orisa thought, these streams are not divided and the authors I will reference who emphasize one or the other also reference the other orientation in completing the picture introduced by the orientation they emphasize.
These divergent but ultimately complementary modes of emphasis are useful however in clarifying the distinctive character of each approach.
The Mythic, Narrative and Humanoid
The first is mythic, narrative and humanoid, interpreting the universe in terms of divinities described in human terms though representing powers beyond the scope of humans in narratives and visual depictions
My best exposure to this style of thinking is Bolaji Idowu's Olodumare: God in Yoruba Belief.
Works by scholars like Idowu, a Methodist minister, who might not be believers in or practitioners of the spirituality they so astutely describe may be understood as participants, even strategic participants, in the development of the theology and philosophy of such spiritualities, on account of the quality of their work, even more so when their productions are landmarks in the development of a written tradition in what had been a purely oral tradition.
Within the humanization of divinity represented by a scheme such as Idowu describes, these divinities are associated with cosmic processes and structure, their humanized depiction bringing the cosmos within the compass of conventional human understanding even aasthe vastness of range implied by the cosmos and by the Earth as a theatre of both the intelligible and mysterious is maintained.
This approach may be understood as the most widespread form of religious theology globally.
The Abstract Focus on Energy or Life Force
The other approach to Orisha cosmology is abstract while the previous one is concrete. It is abstract beceause it's focus is not on deities, not on individualized identities, not on personalities, however powerful or expansive, not on humanized entities but on the idea of a pervasive life force enabling creativity and change, known as ase.
The closest this idea comes to the humanized approach of the other concrete perspective, is in the belief that this force issues from Olodumare, the creator of the universe and that it is particularly embodied by the deity Esu.
Those ideas represent bridges between this abstract idea and the mythic, narrativising and humanizing cosmology.
The description of ase in relation to Esu is presented by Idowu in Olodumare.
The best fundamental description of the ase concept known to me, however, is Rowland Abiodun, John Pemberton III and Henry John Drewal 's Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought where there is no reference to deity connections in their discussion of ase in the first chapter.
Babatunde Lawal, whose work is complementary to that of Abiodun, a major figure in ase studies, like Abiodun's work complements his, also does not make deity connections in his discussion of ase possibly in "Divinity, Creativity and Humsnoty in Yoruba Aesthetics".
The second richest and most expansive discussion of ase known to me are two articles by Abiodun, integrated as one chapter in his Yoruba Art and Language:, Seeking the African in African Art, where both the more abstract depictions of the ase idea and the Esu connection are developed.
Ase and Consciousness
The ase idea may be seen as fascinating beceause it suggests a theory of consciousness, of awareness of self and environment, linking this with phenomena beyond the scope of the human mind, generating a perspective on the unity of the cosmos and the relationship of that unity to consciousness, an approach correlative with schools of thought from other continents and cultures, which, in turn, may suggest how the ase idea may be further explored and developed.
A conscious entity is acted upon by its environment and acts upon that environment, natural, interpersonal or humanly created.
That interactive process, enabled by the presence of consciousness, is what enables the dynamism and ultimate unpredictability of human history, an idea that may be deduced from the ase concept 's depiction of creativity and change as a primary possibility of consciousness, an idea that may be used as a springboard of thought, a launching pad for exploration, rather than as a dogmatic idea which religious respondents may adopt.
The ase concept may therefore be adapted in purely secular terms, as an emphasis on consciousness as a defining quality of the world and the universe, without reference to the unprovable idea of its ultimate source.
All human experience may therefore be explored in terms of relationships between the human person and their environment- the environment represented by the human body, nature beyond the body, other people and the human made environment, from material structures to technological forms.
Historiographic Implications of Ase Theory
Is this not a description of how history has often been written, an idea here presented from the perspective of Orisa thought, a perspective facilitating appreciation of the possibilities of that body of ideas and its intersections with others across the world?
Ase and the Multifarious Implications of Consciousness
May the ase idea not also be explored in terms of examination of the character of consciousness, its location in the human being, its enablement by biology and its relationship to life and to ideas of spirit?
May the idea not be explored in terms of its description as leading back to an ultimate source? Can these ideas be examined in a manner leading to a definite understanding of their factuality or are such conceptions beyond human capacity to conclusively examine?
Even if these ideas may or may not be open to conclusive analysis, can they be approached in contemplative terms, trying through reflection, intuition or even prayer to reach what is described as the ultimate source of the possibilities represented by ase.
May it be approached in intellectual as well as contemplative or even supplicatory terms, various ways of approaching and adapting ideas which are ultimately grounded in spiritual beliefs?
Ase and Non-Human Forms
Expanding the fascination and ideational scope of the idea is the belief that ase extends beyond consciousness but may also be understood as a form of energy, a power activated and focused by ritual action, projecting a sense of awe in sites of concentrated ritual activity, according to Abiodun.
He relates this to the understanding of energy as complementary to the conventional, visible, three dimensions of a material form, including works of art.
Critically Examining the Ase Concept Relation to Forms of Sensory Perception and Intersubjectivity
Is such an idea open to critical examination?
I think it is, but such a process takes one into an aspect of Yoruba epistemology moving from sensory perception to the extra sensory, as may be inferrred from Lawal on this epistemology in "Aworan: Representing the Metaphysical Other in Yoruba Art ".
Ritual spaces may be perceived as developing unusual atmospheres distinguishing them from other kinds of environments, suggesting that human thought and associated actions can generate an atmosphere in an environment conducive to further thought and action along the lines that generated that atmosphere, a familiar phenomenon which may be intersubjectively observed.
Such environments may also be akin to some natural spaces which inspire awe, a sense of the sublime and uncanny which includes but go beyond their physical qualities.
Is this what Abiodun is referring to as expressions of ase, going by the examples he gives in his articles and book on the subject?
Conjunctions with other bodies of thought come to mind- German philosopher Immanuel Kant on the Sublime, German philosopher Rudolph Otto on the numinous, Austrian philosopher and Orisha theologian Susanne Wenger on the non-material aesthetic force of nature in the Yoruba context as described in Ulli Beier's The Return of the Gods: The Sacred Art of Susanne Wenger.
Aesthetics and Creativity, the Osogbo Encounter
Olujide Francis Adesina and Baale Esu Afolabi Esuleke's sculptures stood on the table in my room at the Osogbo Staff Club in my last visit to Osogbo in July 2025.
They were images of Oduduwa, the progenitor of the Yoruba, of Obatala, the shaper of children in the womb, both figures described as actually historical leaders of political factions strategic to shaping Yoruba history who were eventually deified, along with figurines of Yoruba spiritual leaders, babalawo, adepts in the esoteric knowledge of Ifa, the multi-disciplinary system that is the most developed Yoruba knowledge platform.
Dialogue Between Modern Forms of Classical Yoruba Art by Osogbo Artists Olujide Francis Adesina and Baale Esu Afolabi Esuleke and Modern Technology in My Lagos Apartment
They began to seemingly shimmer as I looked at them, a configuration of meaning forming around them, as they seemed to embody the vision and progression of two authors on Yoruba history whose work inspires me- Akinwunmi Ogundiran and Toyin Falola, authors who foreground the idea of cognitive development, of cosmological, mythic, spiritual and philosophical systems, expressed in verbal and visual art as strategic expressions of a peoples' efforts to make sense of existence and a lens through which to interpret their experiences and depict their aspirations.
The sculptures, embodying those spiritual and philosophical imperatives, came to represent for me the creative power of the human mind, reshaping secular history as myth, as religious history, giving birth to the intangible in the tangible.
"Should I extend my stay in Osogbo", I asked myself, "immersing myself within the mysteriously beauty of the Osun forest while reflecting on those ideas?"
Those were my thoughts as my favourite grove in the forest rose in my mind's eye, a magical region shimmering with the sense of something beyond sight but almost palpable to the senses, a hidden glory the radiance of which spilled out through the vegetative network, a sense of dimensions folded within the visible dimension that may have led to this section of the forest being designated as particularly sacred in the first place.
"Standing inside that enchanting constellation of trees, would those ideas about intersections of art and history not be further catalyzed by that numinous atmosphere?" I reasoned.
I eventually chose to return that morning to Lagos in the name of duties back home but that inspirational moment haunts me. Should I have taken advantage of what might have been a revelatory encounter, a moment in time and space when unusual understanding might have unfolded?
Ironically, even within the distance of space and time, I continue to gain inspiration from the experience.
I visualize that moment of unanticipated welling of insight in relation to the figurines, and ideas crystallize, such ideas being contrbutory to this essay.
Visualising that scene in my temporary room in Osogbo from the distance of Lagos, that coruscation of meaning around the sculptures is increasingly translated by my mind into interpretive possibilities, which have contributed to the theoretical core of this essay.
Could ase theory help in interpreting this creative experience?
Did I stumble into an intersection of the evocative force of art, in dialogue with the imaginative and idea generating power of the mind, within the context of an inspiring environment, Osogbo, the sacred forest of which crystallize for me the recreative powers demonstrated by Yoruba history, represented by Osogbo, in the intertwining of forest and community, spirituality and human creativity, exemplifying an approach to Yoruba history dramatized by Ogundiran and Falola, yet, ultimately deriving from the pre-historic ancientness of the forest, existing before the emergence of Osogbo, and ultimately transcending the city as an exemplification of humanity, cocooned in powers that predate and transcend humanity- nature and her evocation of that which enables and yet goes beyond humanity- nature and the question of the ultimate realities enabling nature- cosmic chance or cosmic intelligence?
Conclusion
Osogbo exemplifies the power of place as a nexus of historical memory, spiritual force, and artistic expression, reinforcing Yoruba philosophy’s deep engagement with nature, the human mind, and the cosmos.
This reflection suggests that ase, Esu, and consciousness together offer a rich, multifaceted framework for understanding reality—inviting ongoing intellectual and contemplative exploration into the ultimate mysteries underlying existence: cosmic chance or cosmic intelligence.