How does this relate with the Yoruba Odù Ifá?
The first law of thermodynamics. It states that "energy can neither be created nor destroyed, but can only be transformed from one form to the other".
This is a law of physics. Many of us respect physics because physics has given us several products with which we live life more easily.
The relevance and importance of physics is therefore undeniable. But physics itself is a product of man's study of his environment and as such it is based on natural existing laws of the universe.
Physics didn't create anything, physicists simply found out observable patterns in the universe and then erected structures around those immutable patterns or laws in order to alter its movement, characteristic or form to create something else. What they have simply done is transform existing energy from one form to another.
The same applies to every human invention. Humans simply erect structures around existing energy patterns to create tools and new possibilities.
Back to the beginning:
If energy can neither be created nor destroyed, then there is one thing that is constant in existence - it is energy.
Considering that the Yoruba people are the first full human species to walk this earth, confirmed from an Harvard University DNA survey, what did this earliest humans realize or observe as the self existing energy?
It is simple logic to agree that the earliest Yorubas know of this energy because they were able to invent things necessary for their survival. Some of the things they were able to invent were clothing, agricultural equipments, medicine, transportation means like boats, musical instruments like drums, housing, calendar, to mention a few.
All these wouldn't be possible if the early Yoruba people didn't know, observe, relate with and learn to tap into the existing energy in order to create new possibilities for their survival just as physics helps us to do today.
What then does/did the Yoruba people call that self-existing energy?
It is called Odù Ifá. The 256 Odus of Ifá to the Yorubas are the only constant thing in existence. It is from it that all things existing came to be.
It is from this knowledge of the Odu Ifá that the Yoruba creates, and where necessary, alters life around them.
The medicine of the Yoruba for instance is based on Odù Ifá:
Odù Ifá being the portal through which everything that is in existence came to be helps the Yoruba in identifying the origin of a problem and through that are able to correct several things that are out of place in their health.
This is why you will see in Yoruba Ifá practice that Babaláwos chant Ifá verses that relate to the origin of the problems that they are about to solve.
In one of the Yoruba treatments of cough for instance, the knowledge of the ingredients - Bitter Kola, Salt and palm oil - used in this particular treatment is gotten from an Odù Ifá. The bitter Kola is ground into powder and poured on the Ifá divination tray. Ejiogbe marking is made on it, thereafter, salt is sprinkled on the Ejiogbe marks then the relevant Ifá verse is chanted on it. It is the Ifá verse that tells the story of how cough became a manifested entity in the known world. After the Ifá verse is chanted, the powder is poured inside palm oil. The cough solution is ready.
The universal secrets of the Yoruba are contained in Ifá. Ifá is simply the knowledge that brought forth all things in existence. This is why the Yoruba seems to have charms that they can use to manipulate natural order. Some people do not believe this, while those who know better know that this is real.
What we need now are Yorubas who have this secret and are enlightened enough to know how these knowledge can be used to catapult the Yoruba people to global relevance.
Those that are adepts in the secrets of the universal energies are called Babaláwo.
Just like there is no physicist that knows all the secrets of the universe or physician that knows all the secrets of all ailments in the universe, there is no Babaláwo that knows all the secrets of the universe and answers to all problems. They need themselves to work together.
Just as scientists are known to work together, so do Babaláwos work together.
But it is time now for Babaláwos and Scientists to begin to work together to advance human possibilities even to greater level.
Ọmọlúwàbí, Iṣẹ́ yá.
Copyrights: © Ayobami Ogedengbe 2021
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