Odinani: The Igbo Religion

[Onyiiboy]

Odinani_The_Igbo_Religion_eBook.pdf - 0.52MB

"Our objective is to explain Ödïnanï, the Igbo religion. Since the subject uses terms such as religion, God, Gods, Spirit, Spirits, universe, man, etc., it will be helpful to state what we understand by these terms. It is dishonest for me to ask someone whether he believes in “God” without first telling him what the word “God” stands for. To assume that he should know, since it is “common knowledge”, is bigotry on my part. The fellow will put me in a tight corner if he has the intelligence to ask me for a definition of my “God”, in order to help him decide whether he believes or not in the thing defined.

Religion is the science that relates man to God and the universe around him. As a science, it is a systematically organized body of knowledge about man, the universe and God. Religion teaches us that God is either manifest or unmanifest. The unmanifest God is the Godhead or Infinite Space, from which the manifest and creative God emerges to give itself a body that we call the universe. The unmanifest Godhead is the Infinite Space in which we live and move and have our being. The manifest God is Cosmic or Universal Spirit, manifesting in all and through all as a ceaseless unerring intelligence. The universe is the body of this manifest God.

And what is Spirit? Spirit is Breath or Wind, as we may easily verify by consulting Strong’s Hebrew and Greek Dictionaries. In Hebrew Spirit is given by Neshamah or Ruach and both denote Breath or Wind. In Greek equally, Spirit is given by Pneuma denoting Breath or Wind again.

The unmanifest Godhead is the Infinite Space in which we live and move and have our being. It is the Unknown God of the Bible described in the book of Acts 17:23-28. Religion is able to make statements about the unmanifest Godhead through deductions that derive from the study of the manifest creative God.

Since Spirit means Breath or Wind, we may agree that:

1. Its domain is the whole of Space
2. Its acts are seen and felt, but It is invisible;

3. It is neither female nor male;

4. It moves without feet and grasps without a hand.

The manifest God or Spirit is the great river that links the universe to its source in the unmanifest God or Godhead. The Godhead is the source of all that is manifest. The Spirit or manifest God is the agency through which manifestation is effected. The manifest God is the only Son of the Godhead. All things were made by this manifest God; and without It was not any thing made that was made. It is the Word of St. John’s Gospel (John 1:1-4, 9).

Some of my readers accuse me of borrowing heavily from Christianity and of providing little or no documented local evidence to back my assertions concerning Ödïnanï. I reply that research has shown that Christianity is Ödïnanï – disfigured and varnished. This is the modus operandi of Christianity: the torching of the library of Alexandria, the razing of Pagan temples, etc., were all intended to mask the origins of the doctrines presented by ascendant Christianity as divine revelation. Having discovered what Christianity did to Ödïnanï and how it happened, polemics on the issue would be futile. By carefully removing the varnish and interpolations that Christianity has used to mask its parenthood, I am able to recuperate the beautiful, rational and robust cult of my Igbo ancestors – Ödïnanï.

The Godhead is the container and Source of all. God or Spirit is the Power that unfolds the inaccessible contents of the Godhead into what we call a manifested universe of creatures. Religion is the science that teaches man about himself, about the universe of which he is a part, and about the manifest God which links everything to its source in the Godhead. Recall that religion comes from re ligio, which means to tie back to a source or to yoke. Worship of God describes the ways we choose to commune with the manifest God and, through It, with the Godhead – the Source. Men worship God in diverse, but equivalent, ways. The God is the same – Spirit, Mmöö – but the rituals or methods for approaching It differ. We may now understand the stupidity of the dichotomy: ndï üka (Christians) and ndï ö-gö mmöö (spirit worshipers). Whatever the religion, we are all ndï ö-gö mmöö or spirit worshipers.

What we call religions are actually different, but equivalent, methods of expressing the same science – Religion. It is thus improper and misleading to talk about religions: Christian religion, Moslem religion, Hindu religion, and what not. These are cults at best, but not religions. Religion is a science, not sciences.

Continuing our clarification process the following is a brief description of the levels of Being from the Godhead to the universe of forms. We provide here the basics for the understanding of Pagan philosophy, which is at the foundation of Christian religious thought...."