Toyin Falola
Individuality and the Universe
A dance can tell a story, just as it can reveal a metaphysics. The combination is what Qudus Onikeku has accomplished. The organic foundation of the universe is laid by the coordinated interconnectivity of interstellar systems, with each bearer of specific energies mandated to come together for the collective advancement of the world of the seen and the unseen. Nature emphasizes harmony and places it beyond the individuation of efforts, regardless of motivation. A careful examination of the operations of universal systems will reveal the underlying significance of coordination and cooperation. It is generally accepted that the laws of nature should work together to produce stellar results, so that the universe will function effectively and efficiently. The fact remains that the limitations of individualism are underscored by nature’s awareness that separation, isolation, and insularity would produce dangerous results that can alter the functionality of the larger body of existing praxis.
The knowledge that Elédùmarè, central in Yoruba spiritual systems, accords specific strength, action, and mandate to bodies, with each expected to understand their systems and explore them collaboratively for the universe’s good, offers a practical model. This programming appears at the most critical level, not unconnected to the complex layers of universal energies, systems, and institutions. The human body system exemplifies this, with a central operating system functioning through organs that work independently to achieve a typical result.
The eye is a different organ whose responsibility is to view items in the external environment of the human world, including the outer body parts themselves. The head, the ears, the nose, the mouth, the lower body region, the legs, and the other observable organs of the body each have specific functions. This is also true of the internal organs that are not readily accessible to human vision but perform essential functions that enable the human body and its undertakings to function as intended. All these are independently implanted as biological properties are revealed in the boundaries that are instituted there. Beyond this, the collective human body from one individual to another has its irreconcilable strengths and weaknesses, responsibilities and expectations that are to be collaborated, combined, and merged for the benefit of humankind; otherwise, they would achieve less admirable results that do not provide the quality of results befitting of a civilized, progressive, and prospective universe.
Regrettably, the individualism of these organs, at the human or societal level, has invited unwholesome damage to humanity, and this portends greater danger for future generations. The proportion of damage that the world experiences now find strength in what has been done earlier because humans began to imagine themselves as the center of the universe, a thought that inevitably shifted their sense of collaboration to a more insular and removed mindset, which is producing a bad framework for the development of the world. Ifá reminds us that such a dance has been experienced earlier, in the primordial beginning, when Elédùmarè assigned responsibility to a group of supernatural beings.
Having prepared the universal systems, Elédùmarè therefore creates certain bodies of energy that serve as an arrowhead for the management of these signs, enhancing orderliness and organization across the various planetary systems. It should be emphasized that the Supreme Being, Elédùmarè, is already aware that the operation of the systems that are already in the universe requires the coordination and collaboration of these energies so that they would have a desirable product in the long run. Rather than become isolated under the unguarded impression that individual energies can centrally control the actions and reactions in the universe, it is therefore assumed that they would be required to collaborate; otherwise, the impending results would be devastating and scandalous.
Thus, Elédùmarè gave orders mandating that each of these bodies of energy be planet-bound so that they would fulfill the responsibilities assigned to them. Amongst them, specific forces became utterly disrespectful of this basic arrangement, believing they could assume the responsibility without coordination or collaboration. Elédùmrè, being the most Supreme, understood the imperatives of cooperation and division of labor and responsibility, and that is the basic reason for the designation of these responsibilities to the energies. The supernatural beings, the Òrìsà, however, became consumed by their greed and the conviction that they could function without some other members. They left the feminine energy, Òsun, who Elédùmarè has bestowed an essentially applicable property without which many things will not function.
The supernatural beings began to make frantic efforts in the hope that they would convert the energies into the desirable results which Elédùmarè already bestowed on them. They started frantically without success. Many of them became agitated and restless, especially after a prolonged process of futile engagements and attempts. They were insistent; they continued exerting their energies in the hope of achieving the expected ends, but it did not come to fruition because they had isolated an integral part of their emissary, hoping to accomplish anything meaningful without incorporating it. They left Òsun behind, not knowing that Òsun energies are indisputable and indispensable.
They erroneously believed that they alone could perform the necessary operations to keep the universe functioning effectively, without including an essential component of supernatural energy. The disappointment was magnified by the inaccurate assumption that they have already accepted that they remain the model of supernatural essence and that the universe was established because of their own significance. They were mesmerized and had to return to Elédùmarè. They were reminded that nature operates collaboratively, with energies working together to achieve great results. They are reminded that the belief that they alone hold the power to make things happen is itself dangerous to the effective organization of the universe. Without consultation and collaboration, these things would not work in the ways they are bound to, just as the analogy of the human body indicates.
Ifá, therefore, continues to remind us that the fury of nature is buried in the anthropomorphic arrogance of humans, which has produced an unhealthy separation and individuation of their engagements, to the extent that they think some group can be isolated and even marginalized. Just as the earlier supernatural beings and energies could not immediately understand that by their exclusion of the Òsun energy, they were inviting havoc on themselves, the current power mongers in the world today have invited the fury of nature by taking unilateral decisions and actions on the world in the belief that others matter less. They do not practically understand that the ongoing predicament humans now encounter stems from abandonment and detachment brought into existence by some.
An influential minority undermines a vital majority, and decisions that affect all are made by some groups at the expense of others. Now we see the crude fury of Oya in tornadoes and volcanic tremors; we see the fury of Òsun in floods and climate problems; we know the anger of the Oluigbo in the decimation of herbal properties that would have otherwise been used for the transformation of human health.
We have created various international organizations but have yet to address international concerns. We have established global institutions, but never have they been able to address global problems. This is underscored by the inherent arrogance of a self-serving mentality that underlies their making. If that continues, Ifá speaks the language of the Òrìsà that the world is going to remain a theater of chaos, where disruption and destruction are rife.