Can you suggest any references?
I have found this after a quick Google search:
I could not find anything more definite and even JSTOR proved elusive on the subject but I found 'The Freedmen and the Slaves of God' where William Linn Westermann explores the relationship of Paul's in I Corinthians 7
:
'For the slave who is called in the Lord is a freed- man of the Lord. Likewise the free man who is called is the slave of Christ. You have been bought for a price; be not slaves of men. Let each man, brothers, remain [in paramone] beside God in that status in which he was called'.
to the practice in Paul's time in which a slave could be sold to a Greek deity by their owner as a means of granting freedom to the slave.
Slavery may best characterized in terms of the quality of life involved.
What is at stake in the Osu concept was not so much the idea of being bonded to a deity. Spiritual disciplines often involve such bonds, including, I expect, that of the priest in Igbo society.
In fact, the process of induction or initiation into a spiritual discipline could be described as one of dedicating the initiate to a power larger than is conventionally accessible, that anchors or empowers that discipline.
That power is then expected to work in relation to that person even outside the context of their own conscious will. The drive generated by such a dedication could be so compelling that the individual could feel that they were a vehicle for a force they don't fully understand, they cant break away from or can break away from only with difficulty.
At the conclusion of his autobiography, the great occultist Aleister Crowley declares 'The word I uttered at my first initiation, 'Perdurabo' still echoes in eternity. I shall endure unto the end.'
The problem with the osu dedication was the way they were conceived of and treated by other Igbos. The routes that led to being osu that were not honourable also did not help. It seems the embattled person had a second chance at life in society but at a high price.
I see both the dedication of the osu to deity and their victimized status as having deep potential for spirituality.
The dedication itself implies a connection to the divine on behalf of the community. Their victimisation by that same community evokes the idea of sacrifice. The resonance of a Christ like image begins to emerge. The osu could be seen as embodying service to the community and their fate as demonstrating the limitations of perceptions that bedevil human communities. The osu becomes a 'wounded healer' to use the title of Henri Nouwen's book.
One can construct a meditation and a ritual to utilize these ideas. The esoteric order of the Golden Dawn used similar ideas in conflating Christ and Osiris. The immortal scenes in which the blind Neo surrenders himself to the Matrix in Matrix Revolutions tread similar lines.
It is possible to create an imaginative point of focus for these ideas, perhaps in terms of the persona of a sequence of osu figures, representing perhaps the first osu, representing the Beginning, the last osu at the end of time, representing the Culmination, and, in between, the osu who embodies the beginning of the Denigration, the period of victimization, and another who represents the Restoration, the period of return to or of claiming of the creative potential of osu, which is now understood as a concept anyone may identify with, not an ethnic centred caste system.
One could construct invocations meant to give voice to both the aspirations and the suffering of the osu across generations, inviting them to empower the devotee in their goal of self and social transformation through dedication to deity
One can even construct a body or college of osu who embody, in various ways, the qualities of being osu, and who watch over all osu and all beings from their place beyond space and time where they ascended to after death, and even create images and locations for them.
They can be depicted as guiding others on what is now known as the Osu Path, of dedication to deity as manifest in the various permutations of existence, from the elements manifest in the moisture in air to the fire in the sun and in electricity, possibilities beyond the dedication to powers manifest in the elemental natural forms understood as manifestations of the divine in classical Igbo society.
By the time one adds to this construct rituals, prayers and other practices from classical Igbo religion, the system is up and running.
The fictive character of the imaginative form serves to embody realities of history and to channel spiritual forces to the degree that such channeling is possible.
One will not need blind faith. All one needs is imaginative participation.
thanks
toyin
On Thu, Mar 28, 2013 at 5:49 PM, Emeagwali, Gloria (History) <emeagwali@mail.ccsu.edu> wrote:
I am in the process of constructing an Osu Spirituality and Osu PhilosophyMay I humbly suggest that you look also at 'the slaves of the God' concept and practice in ancient Egypt-
> in the context of Osu Studies based on this understanding of the potential
> of the second, revisionary definition.
in the context of comparative studies. I have noticed some similarities in the relationship to the priests.
Prof. Gloria Emeagwali
Axum
Ethiopia
________________________________________
From: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com [usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com] On Behalf Of OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU [tvade3@gmail.com]
Sent: Thursday, March 28, 2013 12:54 PM
To: usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com
Subject: Re: USA Africa Dialogue Series - Henry Louis Gates is Wrong about African Involvement in the Slave Trade
The Alusi of the Cambridge Museum of Archeology and Anthropology
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
I just returned from a brief visit to the Cambridge Museum of Archeology and Anthropology.
I was taking break from work and as I walked past the museum, noticing the compelling image of an exotic looking but brightly attractive artifact on the signboard, I said to myself 'Why not'?
Awesome experience. Pictures can never replicate such an experience.
Walking into a holy of holies peopled by ancient human creations.
The descriptions of the images attached to the displays is superb, informative, mellifluous.
I was struck to see a powerful Benin bronze bust labeled as 'Looted Art from Benin' or something along those lines, with a description of the object as looted when British soldiers raided Benin and took the bust from its shrine. I was struck by the honesty of the descendants of the looted object.
What is making me write this account is my encounter with two sculptures from Igboland, two images of alusi or spirits, a man and a woman.
They both radiate a sense of uncompromising power in the massive cubed forms of their thick necks, legs and middle, their compressed faces which are far from cheerful and suggest people with whom you must know your business when dealing with and who will not compromise unless in carefully circumscribed situations.
Their hands are fused to their bodies, their wrists and fingers seared to their waists, de-emphasising closeness to human form as they stand flanking each other in a stance that dominates the space they both occupy even though they are both not large figures and one can hold them in one's hand.
How did Achebe put it ? "A man runs from the persecution of his fellows to the grove of an alusi and cries "Save me o spirit! I will be your osu!"
These figures certainly suggest a power that could inspire such a declaration in their quietly but eloquently formidable stance reinforced by the blocks and sharp planes that constitute their forms.
'As the number of alusi grew and their rituals more elaborate,and in the light of the dangers of any mistakes in the rituals which could have serious negative consequences, it was required for an army of assistants to help the priests So, the osu class was formed' goes what is another account of the routes to being osu.
These figures certainly look as if you would not want to offend them by doing their rituals the wrong way.
An interesting coincidence that I am exploring the possibility of a modern Osu spirituality and the next day I go and see alusi statues without intending to. Threads of synchronicity, of intertwined volition shaping unanticipated events in space and time?
The concentrated power of the figures, in relation to my basic exposure to what they represent, led me to raise my hands in honorific salutation to them before I left the museum.
Can they accept osu/priest dedication even from within the glass of the display case of the Cambridge Museum of Anthology and Archeology? Will they accept me? Should one not know who is who and what is what before one dedicates oneself? These figures look as if one needs to know who and what they are before one starts a relationship with them.
thanks
toyin.
....
On Thu, Mar 28, 2013 at 11:23 AM, OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <tvade3@gmail.com<mailto:tvade3@gmail.com>> wrote:
Thanks Chidi.
These questions sum up the paradox, the pathos and the tragedy of the Osu problem in its intersection with the development of Igbo religious and general social culture.
I will be back as soon as possible to respond to your questions.
Toyin
On Thu, Mar 28, 2013 at 8:51 AM, Chidi Anthony Opara <chidi.opara@gmail.com<mailto:chidi.opara@gmail.com>> wrote:
"The broadly understood definition in Igbo history is that of a person
bonded to a deity and whose humanity is thereby compromised and
contaminated, making them dangerous to relate with as part of normal
society and unfit for leadership within the larger society where they
were seen as inferior to the diala or freeborn Igbo. They were
understood as slaves of deity because they could not be free of their
denigrative social status transmitted across generations."
-------Toyin Adepoju.
Toyin,
Questions:
(1) Can servants of gods in Igboland be regarded as contaminated/
compromised humanity?
(2) Can Chukwu's(God's) representatives on earth; amadioha and others
condone being served by contaminated/compromised humanity?
(3)What are the manifestations of this Contamination(curse) in the
Igbo belief system?
(4) How are these manifestations handled?
(5) Are these manifestations part of the hallmarks of the Osu agbaras?
CAO.
> On Wed, Mar 27, 2013 at 4:16 PM, OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <tva...@gmail.com<mailto:tva...@gmail.com>>wrote:On 27 Mar, 17:20, OLUWATOYIN ADEPOJU <tva...@gmail.com<mailto:tva...@gmail.com>> wrote:
> *RESPOSTED WITH AN ADDITION*
>
> Chidi,
>
> My broda,
>
> The evidence is clear from which ever angle-
>
> *What is Osu?*
>
> The broadly understood definition in Igbo history is that of a person
> bonded to a deity and whose humanity is thereby compromised and
> contaminated, making them dangerous to relate with as part of normal
> society and unfit for leadership within the larger society where they were
> seen as inferior to the diala or freeborn Igbo. They were understood as
> slaves of deity beacuse they could not be free of their denigrative social
> status transmitted across generations.
>
> The correlation of priesthood and being osu as a counter to the slave
> notion does not work for the general understanding of osu in Igbo history.
>
> The osu performed rituals functions but still suffered the stigma of being
> seen as people performing those functions more as bonds people than as free
> people. A people negatively contaminated by the mode of their dedication
> to deity.
>
> It would be boring for me to start listing the summations supporting and
> developing this understanding and explanations of it by the classical
> authorities on Igbo culture- M. C. Echeruo, Elisabeth Isichei etc etc.
>
> Anyone who wants that can see the texts provided or linked so far, such as
> the thorough "Appraising the Osu caste System in Igboland" * *by Francis
> Onwubuariri who examines carefully the paradoxical integration of sacred
> dedication and service and denigration of their humanity that marks the
> dominant Igbo understanding of osu within verifiable Igbo history till
> date.
>
> Even Leith-Ross whom Nwakanma favors describes the deep scorn in which they
> were held as far as the 1930s when she did her research.
>
> *What is the Revisionist Understanding of Osu? *
>
> The revisionist understanding of osu tries to reinterpret the osu
> phenomenon as having its origins in the positive sacralisation of the osu
> but as distorted into negative meanings through pressures from within and
> beyond Igbo culture.
>
> This revisionist understanding has some evidence to back it up and enjoys
> some support but is not widely accepted among Ndigbo.
>
> Everything on osu can be contained within these two summations.
>
> Everything written by you, Nwankanma, Victor Dike, M. O. Ene, Nwosu,
> Leith-Ross etc can belongs to one of these two categories or embraces both
> of them.
>
> I am pleased to examine any evidence contrary to this summation.
>
> *What Way Forward?*
>
> One approach is to emphasize one of these definitions and work with them.
>
> I have described how people are doing this.
>
> I am interested in developing the second definition. I realise the evidence
> for it is not conclusive even though it is highly suggestive.
>
> It has potential, however, as an imaginative focus. Religions are often
> based on an imaginative focus, the validation of which is not based on
> correspondence to historical reality.
>
> I am in the process of constructing an Osu Spirituality and Osu Philosophy
> in the context of Osu Studies based on this understanding of the potential
> of the second, revisionary definition.
>
> *Osu and Monasticism*
>
> Some investigators insist on the Osu system as being originally a monastic
> system.
>
> Some questions could be relevant in relation to this-
>
> 1. *Volition*- monastic orders in the major monastic traditions represented
> by Christianity, Buddhism and the hermit communities of Hinduism are
> constituted by people who enter purely through their own volition, with the
> exception of the old habit of choosing some Tibetan Buddhist leaders
> through selection in childhood.
>
> To what degree was the osu membership and purported monasticism understood
> to be voluntary?
>
> The question of volition is central beceause it bears centrally on
> motivation. Without the commitment that comes from freedom of choice, how
> will the monk take advantage of the social restrictions that shape their
> lives, taking these restrictions as opportunities for growth rather than
> impediments to a full social life?
>
> Does the mindset of osu in the past and present suggest such a sensitivity
> to the value of their social isolation as an opportunity for dedication to
> pursuits removed from immersion in society or has such a mindset been
> obliterated by the brutal discrimination they have suffered over the
> centuries?
>
> 2.* Impact*- In the monastic and hermit traditions mentioned earlier, a
> good number of the greatest achievements of the related religions
> emerged from their monastic and hermit communities and were rightly
> recognised.
>
> The Hindu hermits who composed the foundational Hindu work, the *Upanishads*,
> Buddha's years in the forest, the monastic community he founded, the
> monastic communities of the various Buddhist schools, from the Hinayana to
> the Mahayana, from Zen to Tibetan Buddhism and in the Christian tradition,
> names of great hermits or monks resonate as the core of the Buddhist and
> Christian achievement-
> Bodhidharma<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bodhidharma>in Zen Buddhism,
> Milarepa <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Milarepa> in Tibetan Buddhism,
> Nagarjuna <http://plato.stanford.edu/entries/nagarjuna/> in the Mahdyamika
> school; St. Antony of Egypt <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anthony_the_Great>,
> foundational to the Christian hermit tradition, St. Francis of
> Assisi<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Francis_of_Assisi>and the
> Franciscans,Thomas
> Merton <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Merton>, the Trappist monk, all
> these and very many more are immortalized through texts and practices
> flowing from them.
>
> Is there any evidence in Igbo history of particular developments in
> spirituality emanating from a monastic or hermit class, particularly as
> represented by the osu?
>
> If such evidence existed, could it have been so thoroughly obliterated?
>
> Even in largely oral societies, great spiritual heroes have been
> remembered, to a degree. The Ashanti have Okomfo
> Anokye<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Okomfo_Anokye>, the Shilluk have
> Nyikang<http://books.google.co.uk/books?id=c3qViJNsNRsC&pg=PA105&lpg=PA105&dq...>,
> the Sonjo have Khambageu<http://www.mythologydictionary.com/khambageu-mythology.html>,
> the Benin have extensive oral histories describing spiritual heroes, the
> Yoruba have people like Timehin, the man who is described as founding
> Osogbo after an encounter with the spirit of the Osun river, among other
> examples.
>
> If Ndigbo really had a monastic institution, are there any references in
> their traditions to the heroes of these institutions? Would all reference
> to them have been destroyed?
>
> These are suggestions of questions to ask in relation to claims about the
> osu as these claims relate to larger questions in Igbo history and culture.
>
> Even if no evidence or inconclusive evidence is found in the affirmative in
> relation to these questions, that might not invalidate the claims being
> made about the positive origins of the osu system. It might simply suggest
> the information is lost or diluted.
>
> thanks
> toyin *
> *
>
To post to this group, send an email to USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com<mailto:USAAfricaDialogue@googlegroups.com>>
>
>
>
>
>
>
> > Chidi,
>
> > My broda,
>
> > The evidence is clear from which ever angle-
>
> > *What is Osu?*
>
> > The broadly understood definition in Igbo history is that of a person
> > bonded to a deity and whose humanity is thereby compromised and
> > contaminated, making them dangerous to relate with as part of normal
> > society and unfit for leadership within the larger society where they were
> > seen as inferior to the diala or freeborn Igbo. They were understood as
> > slaves of deity beacuse they could not be free of their denigrative social
> > status transmitted across generations.
>
> > The correlation of priesthood and being osu as a counter to the slave
> > notion does not work for the general understanding of osu in Igbo history.
>
> > The osu performed rituals functions but still suffered the stigma of
> > being seen as people performing those functions more as bonds people than
> > as free people. A people negatively contaminated by the mode of their
> > dedication to deity.
>
> > It would be boring for me to start listing the summations supporting and
> > developing this understanding and explanations of it by the classical
> > authorities on Igbo culture- M. C. Echeruo, Elisabeth Isichei etc etc.
>
> > Anyone who wants that can see the texts provided or linked so far, such
> > as the thorough "Appraising the Osu caste System in Igboland" * *by
> > Francis Onwubuariri who examines carefully the paradoxical integration of
> > sacred dedication and service and denigration of their humanity that marks
> > the dominant Igbo understanding of osu within verifiable Igbo history till
> > date.
>
> > Even Leith-Ross whom Nwakanma favors describes the deep scorn in which
> > they were held as far as the 1930s when she did her research.
>
> > *What is the Revisionist Understanding of Osu? *
>
> > The revisionist understanding of osu tries to reinterpret the osu
> > phenomenon as having its origins in the positive sacralisation of the osu
> > but as distorted into negative meanings through pressures from within and
> > beyond Igbo culture.
>
> > This revisionist understanding has some evidence to back it up and enjoys
> > some support but is not widely accepted among Ndigbo.
>
> > Everything on osu can be contained within these two summations.
>
> > Everything written by you, Nwankanma, Victor Dike, M. O. Ene, Nwosu,
> > Leith-Ross etc can belongs to one of these two categories or embraces both
> > of them.
>
> > *What Way Forward?*
>
> > One approach is to emphasize one of these definitions and work with
> > them.
>
> > I have described how people are doing this.
>
> > I am interested in developing the second definition. I realise the
> > evidence for it is not
>
> ...
>
> read more »
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