Tag Archives: spirituality

spiritualMaturity

PRESSING FORWARD WITH A MATURE UNDERSTANDING OF SPIRITUAL REALITIES:

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Having a Spiritual Comprehension and Appreciation of the Orisa. The relation of Olódùmarè with the Orisa.

Aboru Aboye. Ogbo ato asure iworiwofun. Àse.
The law of creation is one of progress, development, expansion and unfoldment. We cannot remain stagnant in our spiritual unfoldment neither can we be satisfied with an undeveloped and immature understanding of spiritual realities. We have to grow. We have to progress. We need a fresh vision for our times just like the ancients had a corresponding vision for their own times. We cannot live by the vision of the ancients because their vision was intended for them and not for us. We need to have a vision of our own that meets our needs in the today and now.
By vision I mean a clear, satisfying, harmonious and accurate understanding of things. We must acquire a satisfying, inspiring, healthy and lofty comprehension of spiritual matters. We cannot remain locked in the past understanding of the ancients because as wonderful, knowledgeable and venerable as the ancients were they did not know it all. They expressed divine realities according to the historical reality of their times, according to their needs and according to their particular individual and collective level of intellectual and spiritual development and capacity. They understood divine realties according to their individual and collective capacity which were at different and various levels of development and understanding. The ancients opened the door for us to enter the spiritual realities. They left it to us to enter and to continue to grow, to develop the tradition, to make new discoveries and to acquire a better understanding of things. They had a glimpse of divine realities and took in as much as they were able and needed according to their circumstances, needs and aspirations. The ancients had exceptional understanding of many things in part and in part they held views that quite honestly were just superstitious or based on misunderstanding, fear of the unknown and/or lack of clarity.  They were at the beginning of making an effort to understand the things they had perceived and experienced. They did not have an accurate or complete understanding of things in regard to all the things they spiritually perceived and experienced.
We cannot fault them because they simply were where they were in their individual and collective capacities. They were learning, and each individual according to his personal interest and effort was going through the stages of spiritual growth beginning from spiritual infancy and working their way to spiritual adulthood or maturity. The life of the ancients was not as comfortable as our lives are today. They had to struggle to make a living and survive in ways that perhaps we could never be able to relate to. They faced many challenges, difficulties and problems greater than the ones we experience in modern times. So we have to value the efforts of the ancients in preserving the heritage of orisa spirituality and we must value the compendium of spiritual data that they compiled and communicated via oral transmission and via the method of spiritual rites of empowerment. We are also indebted to the ancients for preserving the diverse àse of the orisa so that we might derive benefit, power, healing, illumination and uplift by receiving these àse orisa to complement our ori through the divinely sanctioned initiatory processes. The ancients made their initial spiritual discoveries and communicated to us their understanding of these realities per the individual and collective capacities of the times and per the stage of spiritual unfoldment that they had until then acquired.
Tradition is a living reality based on discovery, experience and observation. Tradition must grow, evolve and renew [refresh] itself to accommodate itself to the present times. We must continue our spiritual work and investigations where the ancients left off. The ancients did not intend for us to receive their outlook and to etch them in stone as something not subject to subsequent investigation, study, development and adjustment. What they gave us was simply a starting point that they intended us to continue to develop and bring to maturity, greater efficiency and clarity.
There has been research, study, practice, new discoveries, new applications, development of more accurate understandings and progress in all areas of knowledge like math, art, science, medicine, physiology, neurology, anthropology, archeology, carpentry, architecture, agriculture, technology, psychology etc. etc.
The only area of knowledge that has not kept pace with the other sciences or fields of knowledge is spiritual science. Spiritual science has lagged behind the other sciences. But why? Simply because there is little interest in studying, developing and practicing divine spirituality which is the supreme or perfecting science. Divine spirituality is about self-improvement, and to be painfully honest people are reluctant to pursue the path of self-improvement, self-correction and spiritual refinement. Isese or divine tradition is a sacred science that is subject to study, development and the acquiring of clearer understanding of spiritual realities and practical applications like all other sciences, but there has to be a personal interest in this special field of knowledge. No field of knowledge develops by itself. They are developed by interested, observative, studious, clear-headed and practical people. Theory and practice must be one in regards to Ifá-Orisa spirituality or Ifá spiritual science.
ifa

IFÁ TRUTH FOR TODAY: SUPPRESSED SPIRITUALITY CAN CAUSE DEPRESSION AND MENTAL-EMOTIONAL DISHARMONY

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Ogbo Ato Asure Iworiwofun
In life sometimes we all experience sufferings, dissatisfaction, sorrows and inner turmoil of all sorts and for different reasons. This is something that we all experience. But there is a dissatisfaction, a sorrow, a prolonged sadness and an experience of inner turmoil that is a sign of inner growth! I am fully aware that what you have just considered is something that is counter-intuitive, but it is a fact and true.
The experience of dissatisfaction, sorrow, depression, melancholy and/or inner turmoil can be a positive development in ones life. Experiencing dissatisfaction, sorrow, depression, melancholy or inner turmoil does not always mean that things are wrong. One can in fact experience these things as a sign of growth and as a sign of needed growth, spiritual space and expansion. Let me explain.
There are experiences of dissatisfaction, sorrow, inner turmoil, restlessness and even periods of sadness/depression that are a product of spiritual growth. That’s right! They are called growing pains.
We are know what a snail is. A snail lives in a shell. When the snail grows too large to fit its shell, it begins to feel uncomfortable, uneasy, congested, dissatisfied and unhappy. Buy why? Because it has grown! To be more accurate it has outgrown its shell, and what is needs to do is to move out of it and find one that is larger enough to accommodate its growth and development. The smaller shell was okay when it was compatible with and suitable for the previous developmental growth level of the snail, but now it has grown, it has developed and matured.
So you might be thinking: “What does all this snail and shell talk have anything to do with me?”
Well it has everything to do with you. Not all sufferings in life arise because of something wrong we have done or because something is wrong with us per say etc… There are certain kinds of turmoil, suffering, pain and discomfort that are in fact signs of progress and which are indicators of our need to move on with our spiritual life. It’s time to move out of the shadow of others peoples opinions, expectations, approval or disapproval. There is a need to commit to our own chosen and intelligently selected spiritual path.  There is a need to move out of spiritual-moral and ideological ambiguity, unclarity and haziness. There is a need to acknowledge, define and embrace our spiritual calling. We must bring out, cultivate and manifest our interior spiritual gifts, powers, enlarged intelligence and abilities which have been deliberately or inadvertently ignored, suppressed or repressed. When we deliberately or inadvertently suppress, ignore or repress our interiors powers, faculties, spiritual affinities, longings, peculiar spiritual aspirations and desires we will experience pain, turmoil, discomfort, sadness and depression. When we, out of fear or concern for the approval, disapproval or opinions of  others we decide to halt our progress and we decide to hide our true convictions we will invariably experience inner turmoil, depression, sadness and dissatisfaction.
This is where honesty and courage come in. Your life is your own. Why are you trying to gain the approval of others in regard to your own chosen spiritual path? Why should you care if other disapprove of your chosen spiritual path and conviction? Why are you living your life to maintain appearances and to satisfy the opinions and supposed conclusions of others when you are supposed to be living to satisfy and please your own inner sense of truth and honesty. Why are you waiting for others to accept you or to give you permission to pursue what you know is right for YOU?! Why are you looking over your shoulder, looking to the left and right, worrying and fretting over others who add nothing to your life and trying to squeeze your enlarged and expanded vision of life into the small shell that others are living in?! Why are trying to hide who you are and what you really believe in?! Why should you be made to feel ashamed because of pursuing your honest and beneficial convictions and belief?! We do not have to apologize to anyone or explain ourselves to anyone for being devotees of Ifá and devotees of the Irunmole-Orisa! Be courageous, be brave and be true to yourself!
When we have grown morally, intellectually and spiritually this shows that we have outgrown the small, petty, disjointed, unsatisfying, naive beliefs, practices and conceptions that we previously might of had. We need to embrace a larger view of life, we need to confidently, without shame and without regret to courageously define who we are, what we really believe and what we will practice. We need to move out of the small shell and into the larger shell of actuality instead of trying to stubbornly or inadvertently remain in a small one which cannot accommodate us any longer. The small shell is suffocating and injuring us! These growing pains are signs of growth and are indicators that it’s time to let go of the small shell of the past and move on.
When we do not live according to our present callings, inner gifts, honest spiritual likings and affinities we will experience aches, pains, sufferings, turmoil, sadness and depression. This is nature’s law! When we go against our inner urge of truthful and honest affinity we will experience suffering, melancholy, dissatisfaction and depression. We must courageously and independently decide to be true to our own inner self, then these pains and sufferings will begin to wane and disappear, and peace, happiness, harmony, contentment and fulfillment will replace them. You cannot live to satisfy the opinions, convictions or path of others! Until we begin to live accordingly, this ache, sorrow, sadness and turmoil will be with us. We cannot hold back the law of growth and progress. We can no longer live in the past. We can no longer force ourselves to live in the small and inadequate shell of immature, naive and unsatisfactory spiritualities and conceptions.
We have to move forward and begin to live our own true and honest life independently of whether others agree with us or not, or whether they approve of us or not. We must actualize our own spiritual reality. We have studied. We have researched. We have searched our hearts honestly. We have tasted and experienced. We have discovered our true power, identity, path and affinity. So now it is time to take the higher road and commit ourselves to our peculiar power, path and affinity. Otherwise we will continue to feel the unease, anxiety and dissatisfaction that comes from the need to move forward and to enter new terrain in our lives.
We can no longer live off the old and stale bread of memories of our past spiritual infancy. We have grown and it’s time to eat real food and drink refreshing water, it’s time to live and embrace our newer and much more evolved understanding of life. We must be true to who we are today and what we honestly believe today! We cannot suppress our inner affinities, callings and powers anymore for anyone, anybody or any reason. Like the earthbound caterpillar which enters the chrysalis and emerges as a sky bound butterfly, so must we endure the transformation process and then we must emerge different from where we begin and from what we were! We need to step out and begin to practically live and cultivate our present, new and transformed personal convictions without regard to the thoughts and/or opinions of others. A butterfly cannot ever become a caterpillar again. That would be a big step back! A butterfly would be foolish to try to force itself to go back to its caterpillar and/or cocoon stage! Like the butterfly we have broken out of the chrysalis (cocoon). Like the snail we have outgrown our shell! We have outgrown our shell. Like the caterpillar that has entered the cocoon, has exited and has experienced transformation into a butterfly so have we. We cannot go back to the caterpillar or cocoon stage. We cannot live or wait for the approval of others!
Courage, strong determination and honesty are all that is needed. The disapproval of others cannot hinder our choice, our growth and mature decision to embrace the truth as it honestly appears within our hearts. The moment we take our first real and practical step out of our old ‘shell’ and continue walking into the new, improved and enlarge one, in that singular moment we will begin to experience relief, joy, emotional-mental-spiritual harmony/health and empowerment. In that moment the built up strain, stress, depression and turmoil will begin to wane and lose its grip until it  dissipates and evaporates all together; and in its place will be found joy, satisfaction, delight, relief and renewed enthusiasm and optimism.