DESTINY; THE THOUGHT OF HUMAN RACE AND THE REALITY IN IFA

“she is an old wife that wats her weird.”-----Dictionary of proverbs

INTRODUCTION

The thoughts of The Yoruba race is that the world is a market place, but the kind of business transaction we came to perform in the world individually and collectively remains a mystery that could only be explained by The Source of Existence through its Divine medium. The reality of humanity's mission on earth is encoded in the mystery of destiny, but not many understand its significance because of shared ignorance and religious dogmatism. To understand one’s mission on earth is the supreme key that opens one to the mystical kingdom of living a fulfilled life as a king in one’s heart as ordained by God. Hence, the popular saying “Man know thyself” which will lead us to the question of what destiny is all about and its reality in IFA.

DESTINY AND THE THOUGHTS OF THE HUMAN RACE.

The concept of destiny, which is alternatively regarded as ‘fate’ has been one of the most controversial subject matter among diverse groups of people. Many believe in the cause of destiny, while many are against it, believing that we are the architect of our own good and bad experience in life. Wikipedia sees it “as a predetermined cause of events. It may be conceived as a predetermined future, whether in general or of an individual.” The Great Divine Holy Order of the third Era, Iponri Lagos (2011), sees it as “the divine work or task mission that a soul must perform in his earthly sojourn. This is what man establishes for himself before coming to the earth and stamped in the heavenly throne for execution to the glory of God.” This definition shows that destiny is heavenly manipulation and not subjected to earthly wishes. To many Christians, destiny is good and favorable experience of life, relying on the biblical verse that says, “I alone know the plans I have for you, plans to bring you prosperity and not disaster, and plans to bring about the future you hope for.” (JEREMIAH 29:11). While many Muslims align with the Quranic explanation of destiny when it opines that “whatever of good reaches you,is from Allah, but whatever evil befalls you, is from yourself.” (Quran 4:79) The above Christianic and Islamic explanation sees destiny as whatever that favors humanity, while those that is not favorable are not part, which is nothing but fallacy. It is important that we appreciate that God allows some things that seems evil to us to happen that his name may be glorify through such occurrences. Hindu spiritual leader once postulated that “Our destiny determines who we are, what we achieve, what we suffer, what we feel. Everything happens according to our destiny. We can't escape from what we have to face in life, no matter how hard we try to escape.” This view shows that human destiny is all encompassing, as we are the ones that categorized everything as evil, while good and evil are relative.

THE REALITY IN IFA.

IFA is not just the truth, but it mirrors the reality of human experience on earth, which constitutes what is referred to as destiny. The Yoruba race of the ancient time knows about the potency of destiny, and that necessitate the reason they make inquiry and research into the destiny of a new born baby, which is called “Akosejaye”. This is done to ascertain the mission of this new soul and what may be detrimental to accomplish this mission. It is important we know that destiny cannot be eradicated or suppressed, but it can be delayed or amended by God, due to human actions or attack by adversaries. It is in the reality of Orunmila capacity to mediate on ones behalf for amendment of destiny and not change that necessitate his appellation as The Mender of unfortunate's destiny (Atu ori eni ti o sunwon se). The verses of IFA that Ayo Salami quoted from Wande Abimbola reveals the reality of human destiny on earth, but we are all just striving when it asserts the following;

"Had it been that all dead Beings were buried in coffins, Iroko trees in the forests would have gone into extinction.

Cast divination for Hundred of Beings,

Hundred of Beings were coming from the city of heaven to the Earth

Had it been that all dead Beings were buried in coffins Iroko trees in the forests would have gone into extinction

Cast divination for ‘struggling and striving’

Struggling and striving were coming from heaven to earth

We are only struggling

 All of us

We are striving

Those that are destined to be exceedingly rich are not many

We are only struggling

 All of us

We are only striving

Not all of us are destined to have good woman as wives" etc.

 CONCLUSION

The desire of man to amass every earthly things caused us to see destiny through the lenses of what is good to us alone, forgetting that what seems right to us could be wrong to God and vice versa. Having critically explained destiny in a precise and concise manner, it is the belief of the writer that he had succeeded in enlightening the potential readers that destiny is heavenly ordained, and it can only be mended, and not changed, just as it can only be delayed, but cannot be denied.