GBAWONIYI ADEBOLU FATUNMISE AND AWO FALOKUN FATUNMBI PART I

April 21, 2001 at the African Culture Center, Atlanta, Georgia

LECTURE BY

Falokun: Im going to start by asking a question, I believe its an important question. Somebody tell me what were up to with Ifa, whats the point? What is it were really doing? Does anyone have an opinion on that? Audience: To make a connection with nature. Falokun: Okay, thats good and its not wrong, and what I want to do is talk about what Ifa says its up to. Heres what I want to do, this is my agenda, this is the point of the day, I want to give you a cultural and spiritual context about how to study Ifa, how to learn, how to proceed, and how to get better at it. In some ways its really ridiculous having me teach in Babas presence, because in my lifetime I will never know as much as he does. Hopefully what I can do for him and you and all of us is share some of my experience on how you bridge the cultural gap so we can all end up on the same page and move forward. I have been trying to bridge that gap for the last twenty years. Hopefully you can learn from my mistakes and not have to go through the trial and error process that I went through. So heres the first thing I want to say. In Africa if you ask any elder a question they wont give you an opinion. Theyll recite Odu (sacred scripture), theyll recite proverbs, they share the wisdom of the ancestors, then they might comment on that as it relates to your specific concern. In America everyone has an opinion about everything and thats kind of what were brought up to learn and believe. But Ifa has very specific things to say about what its up to. The first thing it says is you come to earth to develop good character. The word for good character is iwa-pele. Are

you with me? What the heck does iwa-pele really mean? Most Yoruba religious words are elisions of sentences shortened to form a word embracing a concept. Iwa-pele is an elision of I wa ope ile, I come to greet the earth. There is a whole worldview implied by the notion that this is our job as human beings to come and greet the earth. You greet something when you are in relationship with it. So greeting the earth means we have a relationship with the earth and there is something mutually beneficial in that relationship. The first thing Ifa is about is greeting the earth with good character. Ifa is also about making the earth a better place when we pass on, than it was when we arrived. Creating aye rere, creating a good place to live or literally good earth. Aye meaning; earth, re, meaning; good, rere meaning; good-good implying absolutely good. Are you with me? We come to earth to develop good character and to make the earth a better place. Now a key to making the earth a better place is a fundamental belief called atunwa. In Ifa atunwa is the Ifa concept of reincarnation. Wa means; come, atun, means; again, I come back to earth again. In terms of the popular notion of reincarnation Ifa is significantly different from Middle Eastern religions. We believe that coming to earth is a good thing and we do not try and free ourselves from the cycle. Coming to earth is a good thing and we do it repeatedly. We also believe that you reincarnate within your family lineage. We reincarnate in either the family lineage of your father or mother. Reincarnation through your family lineage means that to make the earth a good place is to make the earth a good place for you and your offspring to return to. There is a Yoruba proverb that says essentially that if you continuously piss in your drinking water it becomes unfit to drink. Ifa knows this because Africans live close to their natural environment and theyre smart enough to figure that out. Here in American we piss in our drinking water more than any other culture in the history of life on the planet. Were not smart enough to figure out that doesnt work and now we cant understand why we have to buy water from a

bottle. I could get on a rant about this so dont let me get sidetracked. It doesnt take a lot to figure out this doesnt work. The other thing is we believe as we come back through reincarnation we have a specific destiny. Destiny in Yoruba is ayanmo. That would translate as my ancestral tree, I think. Ayan is a tree, mo is my. People always want to know what is my destiny. Its real simple. Ifa says ayanmo ni iwa-pele, iwapele ni ayanmo; destiny is good character, good character is destiny. If you are ever not sure what to do, do the right thing, do the moral thing, do the honest thing, do the elevated thing and you will do the right thing, absolutely. You do not come to earth to make it a better place to beat up your loved ones. You do not come to earth to make it a better place to deal drugs. I am belaboring an obvious point. Im going to tell a story about myself. When I went to Africa for the first time in 1989 there was very little Ifa practice in the United States. There was Orisa, but not Ifa. I was told they were going to test me before they initiated me, so I read everything written in English on Ifa at the time and had the silly mistaken notion that I knew something. I was in Africa for less than an hour when I realized the little kids knew more than I could every hope? Who did I think I was, and please God dont let them test me. Do you understand? The thing that was most profoundly revealing to me, and the thing that I did not understand from any of the books that I read, and still havent seen written about is the fact that Ifa is taught through the sanctification of the extended family. What does that mean? Sanctification means deification, or making sacred the extended family. It means everybody in the village has a job, everybody receives spiritual training in relationship to that job, everybody gets training to advance to the next job and next job is incumbent on age and maturity. Ifa is a mystery school and the school is the family. The school is not some monastery up on the hill, it isnt some secret place under a cave, its not someplace where you read a book and get a certificate. Ile awo ni ile; the mystery school is the family. It is the structure of the family that is important and eternal, not the people who fill each position at any given

moment. There is a position in the extended family in babas hometown of Ile Ife called the Araba of Ile Ife. That is a position within the extended family. That title has existed for thousands and thousands of years. The faces who fill that position change every thirty forty years, maybe. The body who sits in that seat is different every few decades, but the chair, the seat, the position, the job remains the same as does the qualifications for holding that job, as does the expectation for what you do in that job as does the responsibilities that come with that job. Let me give you one small example. Three years ago I became a grandfather. I told people in America I became a grandfather and people said; yeah, okay, whatever. For those of you who have child you know the moment your child is born your life changed forever. You can think of things that happened to you before you had a child but you cant feel what it felt like not being responsible for a child. That changes your life forever. It changes again when you become a grandparent. You start thinking about legacy, the future and leaving your good name to future generations. That perspective clicks into your brain and you are forever changed. Thats called; a rite of passage, you become an older person. In American it was no big deal. I hadnt told anyone in Africa I was grandfather. The minute I arrived in Ode Remo they treated me like babagba not baba, grandfather not father. Baba Fatunmise will tell you, there is a difference from the way you treat baba and the way you treat babagba. When you are a grandparent you eat first, you sit first, people give you a chair, and you have certain responsibilities and privileges. Fatunmise: Just to confirm what baba is saying, when you get to Nigeria when you meet my dad or something like that you call me baba you will call my dad babagba, by that we mean an older one. Falokun: Thank you baba, there is a reason for that I will get to later. I want you to get the big picture. One of the easiest

things to understand in terms of the sanctification of the extended family is that the family comes together to help everyone go through rites of passage. When everybody is born in the Fatunmise compound in Ile Ife they have a naming ceremony for the baby called esentaye, meaning the foot touches the earth. Every baby is given a ritual in which they are introduced to the basic foods of the Yoruba diet; palm oil, water, cola nut, pepper, honey, salt. They invoke Eji-Ogbe the first Odu of Odu Ifa (Sacred Scripture). Eji-Ogbe speaks of perfect alignment with the head and the heart, perfect alignment with destiny. The baby starts life with an invocation of its highest destiny, thats as good as it gets. The entire family comes together to invoke that. Divination is done to see what that childs destiny looks like, then that baby is tracked in that direction. Esu Yemi where did you grow up? Esu Yemi: Memphis, Tennessee. Falokun: Can you imagine what it would be like if everyone in Memphis, Tennessee knew that you had a destiny to be an Ifa priest? Every time you did something inconsistent with that you get your little butt smacked. Every time anybody could do anything helpful for that they would bring it to you to encourage that. Its called nurturing children. We do that in Western culture really poorly. Its no mystery. Think about it. If the essence of African spirituality is the sanctification of the extended family, what did slavery do? It destroyed the family. It not only destroyed the family, it tore apart the heart and soul of the African worldview. Thats a wound that is as deep as it gets. It isnt near about getting fixed. Ifa says; if your life gets better, my life gets better, if you suffer, I suffer. If it isnt fixed for African American families, it isnt fixed for white folks either. Until we come together for that and collectively atone for that its going to be wound that festers and gets worse. Just get, with no negative judgment, families are broken in America. Its called dysfunction in the world of psychology. Families are broken. Unfortunately baba, bless his heart, when he first came to American he

couldnt understand broken families because they are so fixed in Africa he thought hed arrived in lala land. He thought what is this? Am I right? Fatumise: Yes. Falokun: Unless youve seen a fully functional extended family, its really difficult for an American to understand what it looks like. I have to say and this is a judgment, it is my perception that southern African American families have retained some of the elements of the African extended family better than in other areas of the country. Its not like we dont know, but really seeing it in a religious context fully is something that is worth the trip to Africa. I hope that I am not offending anyone. We are talking about stuff that is not often discussed cross-culturally, Im going to make mistakes, work with me. You have a naming ceremony, you figure out where the baby is tracked. If the baby tracked for Ifa and is born in the family of Ogun worshippers, he goes and lives with an Ifa family. No big deal, the Ifa family lives across the street from the Ogun family. Its not like theyre sending him to another part of the world. All the kids play together all day anyway. Its just a difference of where he hangs out during the day. The family is the school. The family is the training center. Are you with me? Osuntokun you looked puzzled. Osuntokun: No, Im just amazed. Falokun: So at puberty you figure out what it means to be a man, you figure out what it means to be a woman. There is a ritual around your first menstrual cycle. If you think about what a trauma that was, imagine what it would be like to have that happen in a ritual context where you are taught the secrets of womanhood by older women. Perhaps you can imagine that may have been a better way to deal with the transition. In terms of the mans rite of passage, the biggest thing I deal with as an awo (diviner) is the issue of adult men acting

as children; in other words children in adult male bodies. Men who never figured out what it meant to grow up, men who never had the guidance of elder fathers. Africans have fixed that, they dont have that problem. The next biggest wound in America among men is the fatherless son and its the hardest thing to fix. There is no such thing as an orphan in African because everybody your parents age is baba or iya (father or mother). The major problem we deal with, as a culture in terms of psychic wounding is a non-existent problem in Africa. They have figure something out. We need to pay attention. The next rite of passage is marriage; the whole family comes together to sanction a relationship. Heres the African courtship ritual, young women prove they are fertile. Once they have done that the father of the baby has an obligation to marry the mother. Do you catch my drift? If two people make a baby they get married. Fatunmise: You dont have to get pregnant, maybe you have a friend and you want to get married, but once you get married you must take care of the children. Falokun: Once you make a woman pregnant you are the father and the husband and the entire community insists on it. There are no single mothers. One of the responsibilities of Ifa in Africa is to make sure single women have the option of having children and are connected with a family that provides food. Ifa priests will have primary relationships like marriages in this country. They may also have arranged marriages with single women who want to have children. They never enter an arranged marriage unless they have the resources to feed the children. You go to the Ifa priest because it is assumed the Ifa priest will arrange this in a way that is morally appropriate. That gets all confused in this culture and the concept of polygamy in America is fooling around as much as you can without your wife finding out. That isnt it. Fatunmise: In this country people come to me who dont know what their work is to do, because they dont have

esentaye. If you are born in African you have esentaye. Esentaye means your future, what is your astrology, what you bring from heaven. For example one of our family members had an esentaye for ibeji (twins). So they are told what they will do and even though they are twins youd be surprised, they are told different things. So you support them that way. While we are doing it their behavior confirms it; one is crying one is quiet, one is rebellious. There is one particular odu, when a child is born, if Eji-Ogbe comes to them, that person is going to make it in life no matter what. But if the odu says he is going to be a robber, we do things to make sure they do the right thing in life. If it says they are going to become a chief they become a chief. The odu of Ofundagbe, means that child is going to be a thief, we start the ebo immediately for that child to reverse that tendency to be a thief. I just wanted to support what baba said. Falokun: You can see the consequence of this. If you have people who are born and raised and die with no spiritual guidance and youve got kids now killing each other and being reborn with that karma from a previous life. We have a serious problem on our hands spiritually that cant even begin to be addressed without taking into consideration some of these issues related to rites of passage. The ancestors are coming back and they are not happy. The problem is going to get progressively worse unless the issue of creating healthy extended family is addressed. Thats true for all cultures in American. Then you go from puberty rite to marriage, then somewhere along the line, theres no set time for this, and you get initiated into orisa. In this country everyone wants to know whose on your head, whats your personality who is your orisa. That doesnt matter so much in Africa. You get initiated into the family orisa, because the family orisa is the corner stone of the family trade. No matter who guides your ori (consciousness) if your family are blacksmiths you receive Ogun. No matter who guides your ori if your family are wood carvers you receive Sango. If you are a cloth maker you get initiated into Osun. If you are an herbalist you receive

Osanyin. If youre a farmer you receive oko. If youre a market woman you receive Oya. Youre orisa is not so much your consciousness as it is your job. In Africa you would not buy a knife from someone who was not an Ogun priest because an Ogun priest knows the prayers to make the knife work right. Even the Christians and Muslims in Nigeria will not buy a knife from someone who is not a priest of Ogun. Its a trade skill. Get this; in the human context people get this confused, Im off on a rant, I want to straighten this out. There is a relationship between orisa and Ifa. Heres what it is; Ifa is a generalist we have the big view we have a little piece of everything, not because were better people but because we have good memories. The Orisas are the specialists. They become experts in different fields. Here is the important thing to understand Ile ate, meaning; the village is a mat, there is no such things as the big chief who is in charge of everything all the time. The chief at any given moment is the person in charge of what youre doing in that moment. Is that correct baba? Fatunmise: Oh yes. Falokun: I may walk through the village and look like a big Ifa priest and people will greet me and treat me like a chief, but when I go into Ogboni the Obatalas are the chiefs and I prostrate to them because we are doing Obatala business. If I need a need a knife the Ogun priest is the chief. The Araba of Ode Remo is the senior priest in the village, when his older sister comes into the house we all bow. It is about age and maturity. It has nothing to do with Ifa titles it has to do with respect for age. Right? Fatunmise: Right. Falokun: This is all based on the notion that age brings wisdom, right. Based on the notion that people older than you have been trained longer so they know more. After you have been initiated into a trade skill, in babas example he has been initiated into six or seven trade skills so he is a generalist and

a specialist, that makes him a big chief and a wise man and we are blessed to have him here. Then you become an elder, meaning a grandparent, then you sit on the elders council which is called different things in different places, Iya mi, Ogboni, awoni, emese, and so on. If you are a grandparent you are able to make communal decisions and solve communal disputes. The last rite of passage is your crossing over. You need to know that all Ifa funerals involve levitating the dead three days after they die so they can communicate and give their last will and testament. In Western culture there is a popular religion built around the notion that this only happened once in human history, but in Africa this happens every day. You need to get that it is a major cultural denigration and suppression of the real truth of the matter to believe this only happened once in human history. I see you didnt understand me, so I will repeat it. I am about to say something extremely controversial. Baba, correct me if I am wrong. In all Ifa funerals, the last rite of passage crossing over, three days after the awo (priest) dies his body his re-animated so he can talk to the family and give his last will and testimony. This is true for every awo who dies. Christianity created a religion based on the belief that this only happened once in the history of life on earth. I am telling you were baba lives it happens every time an awo dies. Are you with me? Fatunmise: We use obesilo (herbal medicine) and in three days they will get up and tell you everything they see in heaven. Falokun: Heres my point. We have been lied to about African spirituality and this is one of the more flagrant lies. Part of the denigration of African spirituality is to make sure no one figures out what happened to our lord and savior wasnt so special in the context of African culture. If you look at the fertile crescent (middle east) you will see that it is clearly a part of Africa.

So you see what I mean about the family being a mystery school, do you get the concept? Okay, so now what we need to talk about is the brass tacks of how you put it together on a daily basis. Here is why we need to look at that. Can we all agree without going into detail that families in American are in deep doodoo? We can agree to that. Dysfunction is rampant. Can we agree this might be the result of a tactic of divide and conquer by the ruling class. Can we go that far? Okay good. Heres the only question you need to ask yourself as Ifa worshipers or potential Ifa worshippers; what are you willing to do to fix the family? Everything else is irrelevant. If you arent willing to do much to fix the family, youre not doing Ifa, your wasting my time, go somewhere else. I am here to tell you that what it takes is more than any of you can imagine. It isnt a picnic, it isnt a free ride, it isnt easy. But were going to get a concept of what it is so we can all agree about what were up to and so we can all agree about what it is were trying to create. Here is the first and foremost rule, if you get this you will be well on your way. I have known Baba for ten or twelve years. I have never asked him; how are you doing? Never. The reason Ive never asked him is because its not my business. Hes the teacher, Im the student. Have I asked you how you are doing even in causal conversation, have I? Fatunmise: No. Falokun: It is rude to ask an elder how they are doing. Are you from the south? Student: Yes Falokun: Does your family have the rule that kids dont speak to an adult unless they are spoken to first? Student: Indirectly. Falokun: You are aware of the concept.

Student: Yes. Falokun: It is a fundamental concept, down south the old folks say this is a racehorse conversation no jackass allowed. Why do they do that? Most Americans say; I dont get it. Heres why Ifa says sotito, sododo. Fatunmise: Osa tura. Falokun: Thank you baba. If I say baba how are you doing, because he is an Ifa priest he has to tell me the truth. So then he tells me his problem, what in the heck am I going to do to fix it? I dont want to know. If you can fix it, dont ask. This is true even if they are in pain and suffering. The family is a school with different jobs; it isnt my job to fix the problem of an elder. Thats his babas job. If his baba didnt do his job it isnt my problem. Do you understand? Now if he asks me for help, Im there. But it has to be on his terms. That is very alien for our cultural orientation. The whole culture is orientated towards trying to get teenagers to buy tennis shoes, the concept that teenagers can have opinions that adults kunle (bow) to is the norm here. But look at it from the other way around okay. What would you think if someone from Ile Ife who had never been to a Western school came to America and decided they wanted to be a brain surgeon and walked into the hospital and interrupted the brain surgeon while they were doing an operation and said; show me how to do this. We would think the person was whacked. Yet as Americans we go to Africa, we go to the Araba of Ile Ife and we say; show me about this Ifa deal, show me some of this stuff, this looks good. No. Im going to tell you a big secret, a big secret that is worth a lot of money. Ive made four trips to Africa and Ive written three books. Thats a lot of information based on four trips. People to this day accuse me of making the stuff up, they believe I couldnt have possible learned all that. Baba did I get some of it right? Fatunmise: Oh yes.

Falokun: Heres how I did it. The first day I was there I figured out the family was the school and that the eight year olds teach the six year olds and the ten year olds teach the eight year olds, the twelve olds teach the ten year olds and I figured out that I was in diapers. I was thirty-eight years old and in diapers. I spent my first drip in African talking to the nine year olds. I spent my second trip to Africa talking to the twelve year olds. I spent my third trip to Africa talking to the teenagers. After I did that at the end of my last trip the old folks in Ode Remo said next time you come you can talk to us. It took more than twelve years to get to that point. Osuntokun: I thought I was going to go to Africa and take my notebook and sit down with the elders. Falokun: It will never happen on your first trip. Im giving you an important secret; go with a bag of balloons and talk with the kids. Baba, am I lying? Fatunmise: No. Falokun: If the old folks do talk to you, youre not going to understand what theyre talking about. Student: I want to take a tape recorder. Falokun: I did the same thing. I went to babas family with my tape recorder. I talked with babas elders, every question I asked they recited Odu and I didnt understand the Odu. I was thinking I could read this in Bascom, come on guys talk to me. Heres my point, Ive known Baba for ten or twelve years and he started answering my questions maybe three or four years ago. Is that right? Fatunmise: Thank you, that is right. Each time he would ask me I would say you are not old enough to know that.

Falokun: Do you get my point on that? Before that I would ask a question and Baba would say; oh thats a secret Ifa something. I thought if I hear the secret Ifa something answer one more time Im going to scream. But I realized . . . Osuntokun: You dont climb the tree from the top down. Falokun: Exactly, you have to climb the tree from the bottom up. Lets review, Esu Yemi, repeat everything Ive said for the brother who just came in. Give him the short version. Esu Yemi: Talk to the kids first. Falokun: Let me review, the family is the school, awo ile, the mystery school of Ifa is the extended family and the sanctification of everybody in the family. Everybody in the family has a job that is more or less related to some form of initiation, as you get older your job changes, you get a new initiation, you learn more, and you have more responsibilities. As adults we go to Africa, we want to be treated as adults, but in the context of the mystery school we are children. Are you with me on that? Here is the problem you are having I believe, you have to help me because its the first time Ive been here. Thats the model baba is working from. That is not the model that anyone here fully understands so you are missing each other in terms of communication. I am going to give you some guidelines on how to communicate with Baba. Here is the first and most important thing, dont ask Baba how hes doing, dont do that ever. If he looks sad, angry or annoyed, how he is doing is none of your business. It never ever will be. He has elders back home, thats the way it works. So even though hes not going to be offended if you say how are you doing as a greeting, but if you really ask the question how are doing expecting an answer he is not going to be a happy camper. He is a proper Yoruba man; he is not going to tell you hes not a happy camper. He is just going to avoid your question. Lets stop wasting time over that one. If he is

doing poorly and needs your help he will tell you. You need to really, really get it. In babas uncles house, there are ninety eight children living in the house. Six wives, all his uncles, it would be total chaos if it were not for that rule. What happens is the oldest mother and the oldest father get up in the morning and walk the square courtyard and ask everyone in the house, did you sleep well, do you have food, do you have something to do today? Every time you meet an older person in Africa they are going to ask you those same questions. The expectation is that you will answer them honestly. Because of the way the system works, if you say; I didnt get anything to eat, they will make sure you get food on the table. You wont know how it got there, it isnt any of your business. Grandma and Grandpa are respected as the voices of authority, they find out who has extra food and make sure it gets to you. You cant ask grandma if she needs food because you have no authority to fix the problem. One day I was walking through Ode Remo like a complete knuckle headed idiot when I realized no one else was outside because it was too hot. I started to get sick. By the time I got home a box of medicine was sitting on the front porch waiting for me. No one even asked me how I was doing. Someone saw me and the word got home before I did. We dont stand up in school tell the teacher well the test was too hard ask some easy questions. We know you cant do that. But because Ifa is teaching you how to live life everybody in American thinks they are an authority and an expert. Get it? How old are you? Student: Thirty one. Falokun: I know what its like to be thirty-one, Im fifty-four youve got no clue. Thats why I can have an opinion about whats going on in your life, but you cant have an opinion about whats going on in my life. Until you get that, nothing here is going to work, were all going to be playing at doing Ifa. Those of you who read Iwa-pele might remember I interviewed

my elder in the back of the book. I said; okay chief this is your chance to talk to a lot of people in America, bring it on. He started shaking his finger meaning; this is important so listen. You tell them in America when they see something back to call it black and when they see something red to call it red. Im thinking what the heck does that mean? Then he said for you, when you treat me like your real father things will go well for you. That was it. What was he saying? Call black, black and red, red, a fundamental principal of Ifa, heres what it means if your muffler is broken on your car, you can change the carburetor fifty times and the mufflers still broken. You cant fix a problem until you accurately identify it. If you can properly identify your problems you dont need elders. Well welcome you as the second coming. If I know what it means to be thirty-one you have two choices; you ask me for my guidance about being thirty-one, or you can reinvent the wheel. Your choice, I dont care either way. Until we get on the same page, we are not going to be moving forward. Im a grandfather, baba isnt, one day he might ask me what thats like. There is little else I can tell him. I can share what it feels like, beyond that he is the teacher I am the student. He gets to decide when I am ready to know something based on his perception of how I have progressed with what I do know and whether or not my iwa pele is good enough to use the information in a responsible way. Is that right? Fatunmise: You are right. Falokun: If I am a knuckle headed idiot, hes not going to teach me anything. It would be irresponsible. Get this; because of Hollywood and movies like Angels heart, the Devils Advocate and all those voodoo pins in the dolls movies, many people believe that Ifa is about getting the power to hurt people, getting the power to get what you want, doing juju, doing magic. We were woken up this morning before we got out of bed by somebody who had a problem and believed baba

could fix it because he knows juju. The problem was a day late. We dont do magic. We access the maximum potential of human consciousness. Which looks magical to people who have never done it. That power and that magic are only effective in a communal context. The new age movement has created a syndrome I call guru of the week. People go from one thing to another looking for power, hoping it will fix their lives, never understanding that power is a function of community, it always has been it always will be. Any power you can gain on your own without it being a part of a communal context will be one degree off when you start and fifty miles out in left field at the end of the day. Do you understand what I am saying? You will think you understand something, you will be just a little bit off and unless and elder is around to whack you in the head with a stick when you mess up, youll end up out in lala land thinking youre some kind of evolved spiritual being doing nothing but creating spiritual mess. Have you ever cleaned up somebodys spiritual mess who thought they were doing good? Fatunmise: Oh, oh yes. Falokun: All right. It happens in a communal context. Any prayer I can say by myself will have a certain amount of juice. But any prayer he and I say together will not be twice as strong it will be four times as strong. If you come into the mix its not three times as strong its twelve times as strong. But it is only strong if we are all on the same page. With twelve people in a room even the bible says you can move mountains. Why is that? Because the world is created by sound, the power of the word affects reality. Thats the truth of the matter, thats the universe we live in. But if you have twelve people in a room praying and eight of them are trying to heal somebody and two of them are thinking why is Falokun in charge and one of them is thinking Im late for my dentist appointment, you arent doing anything. Those three people will completely disrupt the work of the other nine. The only way you can get on the same page is if you trust each other. If

you dont trust, youre still a good person, just go somewhere else. You will never make progress, this wont work, and youre wasting your time. That doesnt mean baba is always right. That doesnt mean he wont piss you off. But if we cant get on the same page with regard to what were up to nothing will ever work. If you have an issue with Baba ask his permission to discuss it. He might not want to talk to you about it at that moment. Thats his prerogative. Hes the professor youre the student. He and I have disagreed. I said I want to discuss this with you in the presence of an elder. It took me six months to arrange the meeting, once we had the meeting we resolved the problem in a couple of minutes. Why did I go through all that effort? To preserve the structure of the family. My choice was to fix the problem, not say I disagree, Im out of here. Thats the syndrome we have here in America. People in America are constantly arguing over who knows the most about Ifa. Nobody here in America, including me, knows enough to have that argument. We are all too ignorant to have that conversation. It is a nonsensical argument. So why do people go there? People disagree with Baba and they run off and start their own church. There are at least a dozen congregations in America founded on the principal that Falokun is a doody head. Why do people do that? They do that to do what I call; deify their problems. Ifa says the ori (consciousness) that leaves in the morning is not the same ori that returns home at night. The circle in Ifa is a picture of consciousness. The old folks in Africa when they say think, they dont point to their head they point to their heart, the unity of consciousness is the unity of the head and the heart. Your heart is your ori inu your head is your ori, when those two are in alignment you have a chance of calling black, black and red, red. Have you ever seen a person in fight walking backwards saying Im going to kick your butt? Not convincing. Standing still saying Im going to kick your butt starts to be believable. The same thing is true of life. (Part II coming soon)