INU
CONCEPTIONS OF INWARDNESS IN CLASSICAL YORUBA AND ORISA THOUGHT
Toyin Adepoju
What is mental perception?What is the scope of mentation in classical Yoruba epistemology and conception of the self ? All perception can be described to be mental because it is processed through the mind.In speaking of mental perception,therefore,is one referring to the perception of visual phenomena objectively accessible to the physical eye or to a metaphorical use of the term as represented by imagination,in which you 'see' things with the 'eye'of one's mind,or are is one referring to psychic perception in which one perceives aspects of physical phenomena which are not ordinarily visible because they are not in themselves physical,such as an aura or energy emanated by physical forms, or are is one referring to the perception of non-physical phenomena,such as disembodied spirits,or to rpe perception in an abstract sense,as the perception of an idea?
This list of possible conceptions of vision is related to Babatunde Lawal's presentation of a comprehensive understanding of classical Yoruba conceptions of vision as unifying visual perception,intellectual perception,imaginative perception and psychic perception and action in terms of the concept of Oju Inu:
"As with other aspects of Yoruba culture, the eyeball is thought to have two aspects, an outer layer called oju ode (literally, external eye) or oju lasan (literally, naked eye), which has to do with normal, quotidian vision, and an inner one called oju inu (literally, internal eye) or oju okan (literally, mind's eye). The latter is associated with memory, intention, intuition, insight, thinking, imagination, critical analysis, visual cognition, dreams, trances, prophecy, hypnotism, empathy, telepathy, divination, healing, benevolence, malevolence, extrasensory perception, and witchcraft, among others. For the Yoruba, these two layers of the eye combine to determine iworan, the specular gaze of an individual."
Àwòrán: Representing the Self and Its Metaphysical Other in Yoruba Art Author(s): Babatunde Lawal Source: The Art Bulletin, Vol. 83, No. 3 (Sep., 2001), pp. 498-526. 516.
Lawal's description of this concept is corroborated by the significance of the eye in classical Yoruba sculpture in which the bulging eyes in Yoruba sculpture as representing the presence of an extra-physical vision, a level of perception that goes beyond what is generally accessible to physical sight and penetrates to hidden, spiritual levels of existence (I cant get my hand on the relevant references right now).
This understanding of Oju inu is also substantiated by an analysis of the semantics,the possibilities of meaning, of the concept of "inu" in relation to classical Yoruba/Orisa epistemology and understanding of the self.Within this philosophy,the concept of "inu",translatable as "inside", "inwardness",implies a range of meanings, from the physical to the abstract.In its physical sense it denotes the interior of an object.This could refer to the interior of a house,thus one could state "inu ile", "inside or interior of the house"
Taking further this literal understanding of the concept of "inu",I will elaborate later,perhaps in another post, on the metaphorical and metaphysical possibilities of the understanding of the interior of a structure in terms of pot symbolism in Yoruba thought in comparison with the metaphorical and metaphysical understanding of the significance of the interior of a house in the philosophy of the Chinese thinker Lao Tzu .
In its abstract sense,the concept of "inu" indicates the inner,hidden level of a form, a state or process of perception or of being. This abstract level of interpretation is represented by the term "oju inu" meaning "inner or inward eye".Lawal describes this term as used in contrast to "oju lasan'" which means the ordinary eye, "lasan" indicating a basic state, "lasan" meaning "only",also used to mean "basic".In being used in relation to sight, "lasan" in "Oju Lasan" refers to the basic capacities of the eye,which is to perceive objectively visible physical phenomena.The concept of an inner,hidden level of vision represented by "Oju Inu",therefore, refers to the ability to perceive more than the physical sight makes possible.
To better understand the concept of "inu" translatable as "inside", "inner", "inward",particularly as it is developed in terms of classical Yoruba thought, it is particularly useful to relate it to its use in the conception of the self represented by the concepts of "Ori" and "Ori Inu".The word ''Ori' means head.It may also be used to refer to the immaterial personality,the spirit that is understood as being the nucleus of the self and the embodiment of the individual's potential, a self that predates the birth of the individual on earth and outlives the death of the body.(I will give some fascinating references on this in another post perhaps when I represent this summation as an elaboration of my essay that prompted this discussion).
The specific manner of referring to this invisible self is described by Lawal as the concept of 'Ori Inu' meaning, 'inner or inward head'.The conception of inwardness in the concept of Ori Inu does not imply a physical inwardness,such as that represented by the brain,but an abstract inwardness,a spiritual personality.
This 'inner head',being a spiritual entity that derives from the creator of the universe and is the source of the individual's capacities and possibilities may be related to powers possessed by the spirit self but not ordinarily accessible to the individual.One of these powers could be described as an awareness of the individual's possibilities in terms of relationships between past,present and future within the context framed by the influences on the person's life.It might be this level of awareness represented by the Ori Inu that makes the invocation of the Ori Inu a central feature of Ifa divination,as described by Wande Abimbola and my Ifa teacher Joseph Ohomina enabling the Ori to communicate its wishes and insights through communication with the Odu Ifa,as manifested in the patterns formed by the divinatory instruments when cast by the babalawo. This could be seen as leading to the notion described by Abimbola that no Orisa can bless a person without the consent of their Ori.
On that account,the conception of Ori Inu gives credence to Lawal's description of Oju Inu as being the capacity for a range of perceptive capacities as these demonstrate the individual's possibilities, ranging from imagination to creative thinking and psychic perception.
The analysis unifies the concepts of " inu", "inwardnes" in classical Yoruba thought with respect to the head and the eye.
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