Wisdom versus results
Too many individuals fail to understand how the various aspects of Ifa really work!
Ifa is not an assembly line factory where trained mechanics create the items for fulfilling the orders on Health, Love, and Prosperity etc. Yet, if you really examined the way you look at how these issues are solved by your local Priest, you’d find that’s pretty much how you view it. “Heck, he or she is initiated, they learned the mechanics of how it works. They can take care of me.”
Well, it’s not about mechanics. It’s about Wisdom, Knowledge, World View and Character…because triangulating energy with the major energies of the Universe we refer to as Orisa, is NOT a mechanical process. It is an emotional/energy process!
The proper analogy might well be the difference between someone that paints using number paintings for their colors and lines, and a great artist whose colors, strokes and composition all flow from a lifetime of experience, knowledge, technique and feelings. The result of both is a painting. One, however, will enrich and bring joy and positive feelings to all that look upon it, while the other, at best, will simply decorate a wall.
One is a mechanical approach. One is an energy approach.
To the extent that young priests, Babalawo and Iyanifa are even taught the mechanics, there remains years of work, dedication, wisdom and experience before they can properly use their brush and stop following preproscibed lines and shapes.
The hardest challenge we face at the Foundation is to keep our initiates from using their mechanics to “yes & no” their way through life. To show them that while “number paintings” are better than no art at all, they fall far short of what the philosophy offers. Far short of what they are capable of doing. Far short of the very best interests of the client.
Priesthood carries with it tremendous power. It also carries tremendous responsibility. A great part of that responsibility is your commitment and obligation to continue to grow, continue to acquire wisdom, continue to amass knowledge…and perhaps most critically, to continue to use the tools of divination and Orisa to examine and improve your own life and character!
In a society that worships youth, that desires something new and different, the understanding of how to select and benefit from Ifa is not easy. In Ifa age may indicate wisdom, but youth, in terms of years initiated, precludes it.
As a devotee, priest or simply a client you must recognize the rules and the process. You must avail yourself of the best it has to offer, not the quick fixes that only postpones, and often, exacerbates the real problem.
Only wisdom in your choice and wisdom in the Priest you select can achieve that
Blessings,
Oluwo Philip Neimark
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