Virtually all of us have grown up with a Western mentality. Even if we were not born and raised in the Western culture, we have been immersed in the basic Western concept that Religion and Science are separate and distinct entities. Either stated, or implied, the message from Temple, to Mosque to Church has always been: "You can be either Spiritual or Temporal.you cannot be both!"

With that single false premise, generation upon generation of whole human beings, have been sliced down the middle of their inherent energy matrix, leaving two unstable halves, each desperately seeking the total answer to their needs with only 50% of their capacity!

This was not the World the ancient wise men and women of the Yoruba culture saw and explored. They, correctly, saw the universe, and our relationship to it, in the totality of the creation itself. In its inherent construction lay its inherent logic.

Yet the West, for a host of reasons sought to separate the Universe into two parts.the temporal and spiritual. The Cartesians (flag bearers for "science") went further and attempted to break every part down to a series of smaller parts, all of which they could rearrange to their desires. This lead to modern Science and its approach to medicine, where we treat the small part we have identified as causing illness, rather than the imbalance of the whole that permitted the illness to occur. The fatal flaw in this thinking lay in the reality that the specific illness "cured" would only be replaced by another "specific" illness if the overall balance of the individual were not addressed.

Equally devastating, was the adoption of this separation by those who attempted to restore Ifa through their Diasporic experience. Modeling their resurrected roots through the Western example of separation of the temporal and spiritual (the Catholicism of their slave masters), they concluded that the ability to shift energy must be "Divinely directed" either through the Creative force itself or Its' semi-godlike emissaries (Orisa the modeled after their masters Catholic Saints).

This is not some theoretical concept. It is the root cause why most of you attempting to practice Ifa, or seeking greater logic and consistency than you found in Santeria/Lucumi, fail to achieve the consistent results you desire! In Ifa, regardless of whether your Babalawo was initiated in Ile Ife, or New York City, you are probably only playing with half a deck..in Santeria/Lucumi you are playing with half a deck divided into four different sets of rules and languages! Either way, it requires a full deck to properly play the game!

The thrust of the Ifa Foundation has been to reunite these two areas back to the single, powerful, whole they were intended to be. Using the best of the technological/scientific/cultural reality we live in combined with the most precise awareness/sensitivity/use of the powerful Natural energies of the Universe, we are able to make this perfect ancient philosophy Powerful and Meaningful to 21st century Westerners. For, it is only when the two sides work in partnership, rather than competition, that our Destinies' can be fulfilled. Ifa has always been clear, even if practioners were not, that it required the best efforts of your temporal side combined with your best efforts spiritually to achieve your goals.

Recently a wonderful individual from New York, who has attended our Workshops, showed what happens when you don't. During three consecutive readings (Divinations) over a period of months, he was told that he needed to seek new employment. Indeed, the readings suggested that it would be quite easy for him that the job would "come to his verandah." He chose to interpret this to mean he didn't have to go out and look for a job! Somehow, it would "magically" come to him. Well, last week he found out he was losing his current job.yet he had not mailed out a single resume, answered a single ad! He had chosen, incorrectly, to believe that because Divination said it would come to him, that he didn't have to use his best temporal efforts. That's what that separation does to you.

Years ago, in one of our early Workshops, I used the analogy of someone coming for a reading to see about a new job they were seeking. The reading indicated they would get the job, and that a Rooster needed to be offered to Ogun. A couple of days later the gentlemen called to tell me what a terrible Babalawo I was. He hadn't gotten the job. Frankly, I was a little confused. "What happened?" I asked. "Well, " he replied, " I got to the interview 15 minutes late. Then they told me the job started at 8AM. I told them I was used to starting at 9AM. Then the guy asked me about my last job and I told him ' I'm suing those S.O.B/'s'."

Well, we could have offered an entire barnyard and he still wouldn't have gotten the job!

He wanted to believe the reading was absolute.well; it is, IF you use both sides of your energy matrix.

Orunmila might tell you that you can be successful on your date with a new guy or girl.but if you don't bath, brush your teeth, dress nicely and behave nicely, it won't happen!

Unless, and until, you are able to discard your unexamined views on the separation of mind and spirit, you will remain crippled in every sense of the word. When you do discard this, when you begin to see the Universe with the clarity and entirety of the ancient wise men and women of the Yoruba culture, you will be empowered beyond your wildest beliefs.