More than a quarter of a century ago, when I was still trying to understand how the ancient African philosophy of Ifa worked, I came across a very old book that had been published in the late 1880’s. It had been written by an Englishman who had taken several trips to Africa. And it contained the following observation:

“The native is not unintelligent, he is simply uneducated. So, if after working as a porter for several weeks of a hunting exhibition; were we to leave one of our rifles he would be quite intelligent enough to use it. He would pick it up, point it at the animal or enemy, pull the trigger, and achieve the desired results. Yet, if you asked him “what killed the animal,” he would reply “the loud noise and the puff of smoke!”

Having no scientific background or education, the native would have no understanding of gun powder, propulsion, the ball (prior to bullets) that traveled so fast it could not be seen etc. He would, from his paradigm, hear the explosion, observe the smoke that rose from the rifle, and see the animal fall wounded or dead. Later, while butchering the animal, he might observe the small metal ball in the wound…but he would assume this was part of the magical process of the loud noise and the puff of smoke.

For too many people, the Philosophy of Ifa is understood in those terms. Buttressed by thousands of years of Western religious insistence that “religion could not be understood”, but simply must be believed, they would ascribe the logical understanding of energy, the precise methods of working with that energy and the subsequent results to a “loud noise and a puff of smoke!”

You might ask: “what does it matter, the results are the same even if you think a Disney Caricature called Sango was so pleased that you offered “him” a rooster, that “he” personally intervened in your life to create positive results?” Well, the results are NOT the same.

First, without understanding and logic there is no personal growth. Second, without growth there is no genuine personal empowerment. Third, when the gun isn’t left loaded, when you pick it up and point it at your animal or enemy and pull the trigger, NOTHING WILL HAPPEN!

Ifa, as a living philosophy, adapts and morphs into the energy necessary to reflect the technology and culture we live in. For those who are still picking up a muzzle loading rifle, and hoping that it is loaded, they are missing the energy of Ifa which has become a laser like smart bomb in comparison!

That is what the Ifa Foundation teaches. That is what you must learn if you are to get out of the 15th century and cope successfully with the 21st Century.

Blessings