Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju,
Coming in the wake of this little discussion, I'm really impressed by what you say in "My Journey in Developing Universal Ògbóni Philosophy and Spirituality, a New School of the Ògbóni Esoteric Order."
The neo-movements are usually viewed with some excitement by those who hunger and thirst for righteousness sake over here in the Wild West and at the same time, such movements are often viewed with suspicion, if not trepidation, by the traditionalists.
Neo-Sufism for example, invites a certain critical degree of distrust, even when it claims roots and silsilas that go all the way back to Rasulullah, sallallahu alaihi wa sallam, or Uwais al-Qarani, or Khidr .
Some of the so called neo-esoteric orders find fertile soil for growth and expansion, even financial rewards in the usually desperate and therefore more gullible West that's constantly in search of ways to escape the materialism, the anxiety, the ennui, the lack of a raison d'être, the lack of vision, absence of a sense of higher purpose for mortal man's existence that they say characterises life in what they experience as spiritual wastelands.
"Spiritual advisors and gurus to guide your every move
Instant inner peace and every step you take has got to be approved."
Understandably, some of the neo-movements are often an instant success for those in need of "spiritual therapy", especially when such Neo-movements proselytise in the language that the West understands, the language of Freud and Jung and modern psychology. The more exotic and foreign the neo-movement, the more magnetic the attraction to those who are often searching for something radically different, something like the God that the New Age Culture and the New Age Movements have taught them to believe, lives inside of themselves as their Super-Self.
All the Neo-movement needs is a charismatic leader that knows how to rap , for example, like Rajneesh . He knew what to say - he gave people what they were looking for. He answered the question asked by the Lotos-Eaters: "Why should life, all labour be?"
People are not necessarily looking for tapasya – at least, not as the goal but hopefully as a means to a certain end, in tune with psychological hedonism, the end being the bliss of Samadhi, and in these stressful, uncertain Coronavirus days, some of the beautiful big booty that can still be found down here on earth, in Rof Medol Dally Kimoko sings about " toto exotique", a foretaste of the Heavenly Booty waiting in paradise. I
People are looking for a piece of heaven right here on earth
Dear Toyin, one is tempted to ask that which you will have to clarify, anyway:
To what extent does your" New School of the Ogboni Esoteric Order" depart from what you obviously see as "The Old School of the Ogboni Esoteric Order"?
Are we to understand that you the New Ogboni Grandmaster / Guru have just founded a New Order of the Ogboni, Neo-Ogbonism , and if so does the difference or departure from the old school consist in a new set of practices or is more intellectual( and academic, your own personal illuminations, mostly a new approach in understanding and throwing more light on the esoteric Ogboni mysteries and secrets to which you are privy?
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Questions About a Post-Coronavirus Future
Ògbóni Philosophy and Spirituality and the CoronavirusPandemic
Edan ògbóni , Ògbóni symbolic form and spirit vessel, representing the unity of men and women as children of Ile, Earth
Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju
As a philosophy and spirituality dedicated to Earth and the fraternity of men and women as children of Earth, Ògbóni philosophy and spirituality should be able to provide a vantage point from which to give comfort and philosophical guidance in this time of historic trial, what is in effect a third world war, fought, not between humans and humans but between humans and the Coronavirus, an organism pursuing the impulse to live, but whose life is destruction to humans.
The virus, all organisms, all living and non-living things, are part of our home orbiting the star vital to life on Earth. The virus and humanity are therefore aspects of Ile, Earth, consisting of non-human and human nature, and all made possible by these natural forms, including the creations of the bipedal denizens of Earth, one of whom is composing this piece.
Adapting New York governor Andrew Cuomo's April 1, 2020 address, what may we learn from this transformative experience? What insights may we gain into the unity of humanity celebrated by Ògbóni and demonstrated by this pandemic?
What may we learn from the global interconnectivity painfully dramatized by the spread of the virus from Asia to North America, to Europe, Africa and other continents?
What insights may we reach through the global cooperation necessitated to fight something that does not discriminate between Blacks, Caucasians, Asians and other races, between the wealthy and the poor, the famous or relatively unknown, striking indiscriminately at the root of the tree of individual life?
What new orientations may we develop in the light of a power, invisible unless under a microscope, devastating the most economically and militarily powerful nations of the world, the best organised societies?
What new understanding could we gain in relation to global struggles for power, what new sensitivities to the amount of resources spent on developing ever more powerful weapons, yet finding ourselves with few defences against and no cure for the horrifying effects of something so small we cannot see it without unaided eyes?
We can boast of weapons that can devastate entire cities, traversing continents to deliver death to millions, poisoning the environment for generations to come, yet we don't have enough nose masks to protect us from this microscopic creature, the Coronavirus.
Our weapons can wipe out nations from the face of the Earth, but we do not have enough test kits in any nation on Earth to find out all who are infected by this elementary life form.
The challenge of migration from poorer to richer nations was central to the global agenda before the emergence of this horror. What will this evil harvest of humanity mean for future immigration policies as countries seek to reinvigorate their populations after this terrible shock?
Wealth distribution, wealth accumulation, what new awareness could we develop about these variables in the light of this earthquake?
Shall we rethink the idea of a global military in relation to national militaries?
Shall we work together to address universal health care and universal economic well-being?
Some leaders refused to develop their nations' heath care systems, relying on their easy access to the facilities of better organised countries.
These short-sighted people are now trapped within the medical systems they refused to invest in. The countries they used to escape to have closed their air spaces in self-protection against the spread of the virus.
Will these people be thereby enlightened about the mutuality of effects of national development for all citizens?
The price is high but we may go through this horror as through an alchemical process, as the brass goes through fire at the hands of the akedanwaiye, the Ògbóni metal smith, burning open our blocked vision, as the Ògbóni smith refines brass in fire, invoking into it a creative force, the power of Earth as universal mother, leading us to our destiny as custodians of Earth and humanity, seeing beyond the limitations of tribal nationalities, narrow individualistic and cliquish affiliations, into a fraternal, global and cosmic vision.
These reflections come from the Universal Ògbóni Philosophy and Spirituality, a development from the Yorùbá origin Ògbóni esoteric order.
Ògbóni is a unique response to humanity's relationship with Earth, humanity's primal mother, and a veneration of Earth as embodied by men and women.
Universal Ògbóni Philosophy and Spirituality is a development of the insights of classical Ògbóni, in a manner that makes these insights available to everyone, as opposed to the strict secrecy of classical Ògbóni.
To learn more about this new orientation inspired by Ògbóni, you may see "My Journey in Developing Universal Ògbóni Philosophy and Spirituality, a New School of the Ògbóni Esoteric Order.
As well as
The Universal Ogboni Fraternity Facebook page
The Universal Ogboni Fraternity Facebook group
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Listserv moderated by Toyin Falola, University of Texas at Austin
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