USA Africa Dialogue Series - BENIN OLOKUN SYMBOLISM AND THE DEPTH OF BEING 2

[This] symbol "Owen Iba Ede Ku" means the sun never misses the day.The symbol [represents the]sun and therefore...Olokun and Osalobua,covering the world with radiant light:Without the sun, there can be no day [ Without day there can be no division into the four parts of the day]

The lines radiating from the center can...be viewed as early morning - sun rays casting shadows or outlines around objects.

The central intersection represents "201 junctions"....The number 201 is traditionally associated with infinity,and the design describes the infinite power of spiritual beings.


                                                                                                                               I ye erhunmwun na tue b ebo okpa yan uri no bie mwen 

                                                                                                                               With this prayer, I salute 201 deities who gave birth to me




I entered into unknowing,
And there I remained unknowing,
Transcending all knowledge.

I entered into unknowing
Yet when I saw myself there
Without knowing where I was
I understood great things;
I shall not say what I felt
For I remained in unknowing
Transcending all knowledge.


That perfect knowledge
Was of peace and holiness
Held at no remove
In profound solitude;
It was something so secret
That I was left stammering
Transcending all knowledge

I was so whelmed,
So absorbed and withdrawn,
That my senses were left
Deprived of all their sensing,
And my spirit was given
An understanding while not understanding,
Transcending all knowledge.

He who truly arrives there
Cuts free from himself;
All that he knew before
Now seems worthless,
And his knowledge so soars
That he is left in unknowing
Transcending all knowledge.

The higher he ascends
The less he understands
Because the cloud is dark
Which lit up the height
Whoever knows this
Remaining always in unknowing
Transcending all knowledge.

This knowledge in unknowing
Is so overwhelming
That wise men disputing it
Can never overthrow it
Whoever knows this
For their knowledge does not reach
To the understanding of not understanding.
Transcending all knowledge.

And he who does arrive
collapses as in sleep,
for all he knew before
now seems a lowly thing,
and so his knowledge grows so deep
that he remains unknowing,
rising beyond all science.

The higher he ascends
the darker is the wood;
it is the shadowy cloud
that clarified the night,
and so the one who understood
remains always unknowing,
rising beyond all science.

This knowledge by unknowing
is such a soaring force
that scholars argue long
but never leave the ground.
Their knowledge always fails the source:
to understand unknowing,
rising beyond all science.

This knowledge is supreme
crossing a blazing height;
though formal reason tries
it crumbles in the dark,
but one who would control the night
by knowledge of unknowing
will rise beyond all science

And this supreme knowledge
Is so exalted
That the power of man or learning
Can grasp it;
He who masters himself
Will,with knowledge in unknowing,
Always be transcending.

And if you should want to hear:
This highest knowledge lies
In the loftiest sense
Of the essence of God;
That is a work of his mercy,
To leave one without understanding,
Transcending all knowledge.




Benin Olokun Aghadhgada image from "Benin Olokun Symbols" by Iro Eweka at The Institute of Benin Studies.

Explanatory text by Iro Eweka in "Benin Olokun Symbols" and Norma Rosen from "Chalk Iconography in Olokun Worship" in African Arts, Vol. 22, No. 3 (May, 1989), pp. 44-53+88:


Benin Olokun devotee's prayer and translation from Norma Rosen, "Chalk Iconography in Olokun Worship".

St.John of the Cross,'Stanzas concerning an ecstasy experienced in high contemplation'


Accessed on 03/07/10 

from

St. John of the Cross: The Collected Works Trs.Kieran Kavanaugh & Otilio Rodriguez, Thomas Nelson & Sons, London, 1964, pp. 718-719 

Interspersed with extract from

St.John of the Cross,'Stanzas concerning an ecstasy experienced in high contemplation'


from To Touch the Sky: Poems of Mystical, Spiritual & Metaphysical Light, 

Translated by Willis Barnstone

Also blogged at Olokun Waters.

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