Spirituality and Balance
Spirituality With or Without the Use of Blood
Having traversed various realms in spirituality and philosophy, I have become circumspect about spirituality.
This means I take spirituality with a pinch of salt, even though I identify deeply with it.
Spirituality can work.
I have proved that for myself to the point where I now conclude that seeking spiritual experiences and power is not a challenge for me but managing the day to day life of a conventional human being addressing successfully the fundamental human need to operate successfully in society is my greater challenge.
No matter how wonderful spiritual achievements may be they can't replace but only complement basic orientations accessible to everyone- discipline, consistency, imagination, vision, love, patience, tact, logical thinking, among others, nor can they supersede the achievements represented by making meaning out of one's life in the daily round of living in society.
These reflections emerge in the course of the claim that blood, with particular reference to animal sacrifice, is indispensable to spiritual insight and power.
As a person who believes it is barbaric to kill animals since they are obviously sentient, and share much of human qualities, such as a love of life and the building of family bonds, and has explored various spiritualities and philosophies, in theory and practice, across Africa, Asia and the West and got satisfactory results without killing anything, I disagree.
If we refer to travelling to a different dimension through the aid of a center of power in a forest, interacting physically with others in that dimension, and, on completion, finding oneself back in one's house from where one began the journey, as is claimed for aje or witches in Nigeria, I have experienced that without sacrificing anything except my time and energy.
If we are referring to being in a very serious accident and surviving it by closing your eyes before the accident and opening them to find yourself somewhere else uninjured, after the accident, I have experienced that without any effort apart from closing my eyes in meditation.
If we are referring to being able to merge one's spatial location with that of a spiritually powerful tree so that even though one is in one's house one experiences the location of the tree at the same time, I have experienced that using nothing but visualizing and contemplating the tree.
If we are referring to communicating with a tree and getting in response what I expect is a message from that tree, I have experienced that using nothing more than concentrating on the tree and sending it a telepathic message.
If we are referring to cultivating the power of what is known in Yoruba as oju inu, the inward eye with which one can perceive spiritual energy, I have cultivated through through contemplating the beauty of trees, particularly trees strong in such energy.
If we refer to closing your eyes and seeing the sun at night I have been there through meditation and chanting.
If we refer to travelling to a different dimension through the aid of a center of power in a forest, interacting physically with others in that dimension, and, on completion, finding oneself back in one's house from where one began the journey, as is claimed for aje or witches in Nigeria, I have experienced that without sacrificing anything except my time and energy.
If we are referring to being in a very serious accident and surviving it by closing your eyes before the accident and opening them to find yourself somewhere else uninjured, after the accident, I have experienced that without any effort apart from closing my eyes in meditation.
If we are referring to being able to merge one's spatial location with that of a spiritually powerful tree so that even though one is in one's house one experiences the location of the tree at the same time, I have experienced that using nothing but visualizing and contemplating the tree.
If we are referring to communicating with a tree and getting in response what I expect is a message from that tree, I have experienced that using nothing more than concentrating on the tree and sending it a telepathic message.
If we are referring to cultivating the power of what is known in Yoruba as oju inu, the inward eye with which one can perceive spiritual energy, I have cultivated through through contemplating the beauty of trees, particularly trees strong in such energy.
If we refer to closing your eyes and seeing the sun at night I have been there through meditation and chanting.
If we are referring to knowing the future in a manner unexplainable in terms of conventional logic, I have experienced that without even seeking it.
If we are referring to invoking Yoruba orisa or deities and getting almost instant results, I have experienced that through visualization and verbal invocation.
If we are referring to having a spirit companion whom you can feel accompanying you everywhere, I have been there through daily invocation and meditation.
In fact, it came to a point where I have had to tone down my spiritual activities so I could function normally in the world, yet I am a vegetarian who does not kill animals for any reason except self preservation, such as with mosquitoes, and do my spiritual work largely as a Do It Yourself initiative from books and personal experimentation.
There is great power in and existing in relation to the human being which can be harnessed through the disciplined use of the mind, through supplication and through companionship with nature, a sublime teacher.
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