ON NEO-IFAISM: A TREATISE FOR RATIONAL RE-IMAGINATION
By Orobola Ayobami Olofinko
Mythologies are a profound fountain of inspiration, a Pierian Spring for fecund creativity and a didactic force of checks and balances for moral edification. However, no religious or spiritual form supersedes the mythological genrefication; every mythology, religio-spiritual, is an effortful invention of humans to rationalize an obscure world, a communicative conduit fashioned to transit from what is known to what is unknown. Faults and all, it's a testament to the immense creative prowess of the human mind—continuously boundless in scope. With the attainment of the contemporary level of enlightenment borne of rigorous, accumulated scientific investigations and forward-going technological advancements, the modern human is better positioned for rational intellection of the world around him/her and beyond. Thus, a full-blown intelligent mind of this age cognises with full-bore cerebral clarity, drawing a clear boundary between myths and factual reality. When fairy tales are beginning to be taken hook, line and sinker and given apodictic status as the ultimate truth by adults to the point of fighting progressive, intellectual dissension tooth and nail, then such adults have descended from the rank of mature and rational human intellect to the realm of children nay primitives with unformed, delusive minds stuffed on dangerous dark-age gatekeep-ism. Ifá, the traditional divination system of the Yorùbá people, that found its way into the Americas and the Caribbean through the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade, is a corpus of 256 sacred verses known as the Odù. Each Odù—a receptacle of stories, songs, proverbs and teachings—guides individual believers and the community of yore in decision-making, spiritual growth and life's challenges. This divination is performed by the diviner, known as the Babaláwo or Ìyánífá using the Ọ̀pẹ̀lẹ̀, the casting chain and Ikin, palm nuts. Each Odù is based on a binary coding system, following patterns of duality represented by open (0) and close (1) marks. Derived from the combination of two sets of 16 primary Odù, a total of 256 combinations is formed in an encyclopedic carve of sophisticated depth. An orally forged and transmitted bequest whose primary authorship is solely credited to Ọ̀rúnmìlà—though a more logical conclusion would be one of contributory accretion across the millennium—a human figure of Yorùbá antiquity, sagely endowed, who became deified as the Òrìṣà of wisdom, knowledge and creativity. In this behemothic archive, the cosmology, philo-spirituality and moral lore of Yorùbá richness extend with allegorical vastness, constituting the original wellspring of the poetic, literary, historical, medical, philosophical, and scientific heritage of the Yorùbá race whose position is firmly balanced amongst the starry civilizations of the human species. A Muse of profound overwhelm whose touch transmutes the mind into the sphere of sublime manifestations. Over the centuries, tons of quality scholarly research has been influenced by its breath, prominent is the 1983 inaugural lecture delivered by Professor Olu Longe at the University of Ibadan titled "Ifá Divination and Computer Science". The distinguished Nigerian computer scientist, in his lecture, explored the parallels between the binary system in Ifá and modern computer science. His work brought to light the computational value of the binary system on which Ifá is based, highlighting the sophisticated mathematical structures inherent in African traditional knowledge systems. Following this trajectory, Dr Túndé Adégbọlá, a language technologist who was exposed to Ifá as a sixteen-year-old boy, has delivered thought-provoking expositions on the inherent scientific and technological values in Ifá. Late Professor Sophie Olúwọlé, in her book Ọ̀rúnmìlà and Socrates—an intellectual gem in the realm of comparative philosophy—explored both the mythical and realistic facts of the being of the Ifá demiurge. Wándé Abímbọ́lá, a Babaláwo and Professor of Yorùbá Language and Literature in his stellar publications capture the literary and poetic beauty of Ifá in riveting showcases. Ayọ̀ Sàlámì delights the curious mind with his rounded Ifá writings of supernal grade. Earlier, an American, William Bascom, bitten by the Ifá bug through his association with Maupoil—that foremost scholar of African Studies in the United States, himself publishing a compelling work on Ifá for Dahomey previously in 1943—who awakened in him such unrelenting interest in Yorùbá and Ifá, consequently pursuing his Ph.D. with extensive research in Yorùbáland, culminating in the publication, in 1969, of Divination: Communications between Gods and Men. Many more notable works on Ifá suffuse the scholarly realm, commanding the vanguard as the most researched Indigenous African knowledge system. Now, it's the 21st century, the age of knowledge breakthrough and demystification where valuable cultural assets are dissected, developed and utilized for humankind's benefit. Ifá, with all its promise of scientific and technological values, cannot afford to be locked any longer behind the doors of irrational mysticality and misguided, myopic gatekeep-ism, an illogical pose that continues to rob the African race of monumental contribution to humanity's advancement. The science and medicine variously touted in the century-old scholarship on Ifá tire of inertness with its habitual company of delightful self-glorification but want for transcendence into the realm of experimental investigation—the bedrock of scientific progress. With the quantum of intellectual projections, it has become imperatively overdue to have such bodies as the Mathematical Society of Ifá, an academic body seeing to the development of the mathematical aspects of Ifá, its practical use and relevance to the application of technological systems such that innovative algorithmic approaches are engineered and deployed in the development of modern computer and AI technology. The Institute of Ifá Research and Development, an academic authority exploring the medical, scientific, philosophical, historical, and literary assets of Ifá for modern practical applications, birthing new thinkings that influence the world. The Literary Club of Ifá or Ifá Literary Society, an avant-garde society of creatives who are reimagining and adapting the literature of Ifá, producing sterling opuses influenced by its exceptionally rich depth such as the expansion of the original 256 codes into multiples of infinitude as seen in the recent creative endeavours of Mọyọ̀ Òkédìjí—a Professor of Art and Art History—in extending Ifá's phenomenal corpus into self-replicating multiplicity as a progressive time-bound reality's wisdom repository. These developments have attained their fullness of time with no bigoted small-mindedness capable of emasculating its seed. It is the Neo-Ifaism that interests rational thinkers and creative humanists like myself who are drawn, irresistibly, to this prodigious gem of Yorùbá ancestral wealth, interacting and reproducing it in the most optimum fashion. Therefore, to this Ifá Tuntun I subscribe and its passionate promulgation, not the mumbo-jumbo of mysticism and its unyielding blood-demanding practice that hasn't taken our society beyond the doldrums of self-imposed stagnancy and the dank halls of primitivism. Greatness lies not in grandiose claims but in effective practicality. If we say Ifá has all that we say it has, but cannot demonstrate them on the stage of practical applicability, then it is nought but buffoonish ejaculations of empty self-importance, a trait of non-serious folks who have no place at the table of great achievers. But, I believe this not of us; our ancestral bequests of ingenious dimensions are too much proof to the contrary—our inherent greatness, all there is to do is to key into its high frequency. The advancement of human civilization is not achieved by obscurantist esoterism but by the concerted sharing of progressive assets from diverse cultures. In this regard, Ifá long consigned to the shrine of religious practice, demanding sacrifices of all kinds whilst neglecting other aspects with more far-reaching potential, must evolve. The priority of research and development must take the front row, transforming it into a full-fledged, practicable knowledge system capable of influencing technological innovations, cultivating new thinking, and helping to solve humanity's challenges. It is, then, only timely for this engendering as humanity enters its phase of technological explosion—an era of blazing promise. Shall we allow ourselves to be left behind another age with nothing to contribute but a mammoth consumption appetite that celebrates us as the world's favourite dumpsite? Wisdom is not cast in stone but fluid with the progress of the times. No society progresses by remaining stuck in its old ways. Progress is constant and rationality is the wheel upon which meaningful progress is assured. — Orobola Ayobami Olofinko #ifa #neoifaism #mysticism #africantraditionalreligion #indigenousknowledge #indigenousknowledgesystems #yorubaculture #yorubatradition #yoruba #YorubaHeritage #africa
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