Fayomi: I think divination gets rid of the guessing game of deciphering the source of feelings. Without a STRONG egun relationship in which there is clear communication I would only feel safe seeking clarification through four cowrie.
Folake: I think if one can generate feelings outside of their 5 senses then I believe the feelings came from Egun. But it you have to tap into how it smell, taste, look like, how it sound, and what it felt like, then I believe it was personal experiences.
Ifagbemi: another way we can look at it is to understand that ori is connected (and can be conditioned) to personal experiences. and just because you create certain personal experiences or habits or have experienced some sort of action from a particular cause does not make it right or supreme nor godly.
it's unfortunate that some believe that their personal experiences are truth to everyone else. in example lets say that when i was in the streets my personal experience was not to trust anyone-period. imagine if i held on to that personal experience and someone was interested in ifa today and i'm on some automatic suspect type thinking and neglect the opportunity to help someone -claiming that my "ori" ain't feeling that individual. well it's because of my personal experience that i may have created the arena of mistrust. we should never exempt ourselves when trying to define the source of a problem or issue.
and as soon as that person makes a honest mistake or something that i disagree with "personally", i mark that off as a "sign" that my "ori" was right, and "iba se ori" in all my self imposed righteousness. ifa teaches that everyone is good and bless until proven otherwise. we must believe that we are truly under the protection of ifa by way of Olodumare, by forces seen and unseen; ase.
egungun are reverenced elevated ancestors in ara orun, they are beyond personal experience and beyond earthly influential elements. when connecting to the egun we are reaching to a high realm of understanding beyond our own; understanding that personal experiences may have altered how we view people, a certain people and the world around us. this is the reason why we must be careful in the way that we relate to the world and the people around us.
to take it further we are even able to link to the iponri of egungun or a specific egun. this is to say (tapping more on to what Iya Malikah discovery...) that we are even able to link to a higher existence of egun in ara orun. egun have experienced the world as we know it and entered the realm of the ancestors - if connected with egun, they can guide us from a broader perspective and properly deliver us the message(s) need for us to move forward in life. if guided by ori, and ori is conditioned to a specific reality, we will soon find out in life that not everyone in the world or around us is in sync with our reality or adhere to our personal truth. this is also the way that we isolate ourselves in set circles claiming that, "it's only certain people that I sync with" - which tends to justify our lack of ori tutu or iwa pele to those outside of our own little worlds / circles. while it is true that spiritually we connect to certain individuals, taking this reality out of context, or placing it in a specific context, can lead us to self righteousness or to the belief that the world must conform to our personal reality and or conditions.
i hope this helps - hit me if my thoughts are not clear or if you care to expound on this any further.
gbogbo ire and may the egun continue to guide us all. ori ire,
Ifagbemi
(Originally a post from eOsw (egbe Ogun si wa) from a study on Inner Peace, by Awo Falokun Fatunmbi)
to add this is with the exception of linking ori to iponri or enikeji as some would say. from my studies this is the path to centering ori or what we define as ori ire.
ReplyDeleteire,
Fagbemi