Academic theologians identify two distinct manifestations of religious traditions, called Dogmatism and Gnosticism. Dogmatism is any religious tradition based on a set doctrine of beliefs. Gnosticism is any religious tradition based on a particular way of looking at the world. An example of Dogma is the belief that a person can only find salvation if they accept Jesus as their savior. An example of a Gnostic world view is the idea that humans can communicate directly with Spirit.

Within virtually all religious traditions there is a polarity between the Dogmatic tendencies of doctrine and the Gnostic tendencies that generate prophetic vision. The popular religions of Judaism, Christianity and Islam are all based on the Gnostic visions of their founding prophet. Once those visions become solidified, the Gnostic component is replaced by a Dogmatic interpretation of the original vision. Some theologians argue that Dogma fails to place visionary experience in an ongoing historical context so the original meaning of the vision is lost. Other theologians argue that Dogma is an expression of transcendent truth and has no need for further interpretation. Dogma tends to be supported by religions leaders who believe they have the one and only valid interpretation of Dogmatic "truth". The Gnostic world view tends to be supported by those religious leaders who have been touched by Spirit and who have a desire to guide others towards a re-creation of similar experience.

Ifa/Orisa worship in Nigeria is primarily Gnostic. Ifa/Orisa in the Diaspora is primarily dogmatic. The prevalence of dogmatic inclinations within the Western expression of our tradition affects both belief and the structure of our congregations or ile. Dogmatic belief is reflected in the endless arguments over which lineage performs rituals and initiations in the "correct" way. These arguments are based on the absurd notion that certain individuals are privy to the Will and Intention of God and all the manifestation of God that find expression through Spirit or Orisa. I call this an absurd notion because it is in contradiction to a fundamental assertion of the Ifa Gnostic perspective. Our sacred liturgy is based on Odu Ifa and within the corpus of our oral scripture there is not one single expression of God's Will. There are no temples to Olodumare, there are no invocations to Olodumare and there are no initiations to Olodumare because our ancestors were very clear that Source is beyond knowing. Odu Ifa is based on practical, pragmatic, observation of behavior and behavior in relationship to the re-occurring cycles of Nature. The structure of each Odu is to identify a particular behavior and to describe the consequences of that behavior. Odu are observational life lessons. No where in our Oral scripture is there a litany of mandatory beliefs based on arbitrary assumptions concerning God's Will. I have seen no Odu originating in Africa that claim women are inferior to men, that Spirits hates homosexuals and that one ethnic group is blessed by God more than another.

Any Ifa/Orisa elder in any Ile who sets up a dogmatic structure of belief does so in contradiction to the fundamental premise of the tradition itself. In traditional Yoruba culture anyone who claims to know the Will of God would be described as Ori Buruku, meaning "one who has an evil mind" or "one who possesses consciousness in opposition to life." In English we would simply refer to this level of arrogance as hypocrisy.

I have written a number of books and articles on the theology of Ifa/Orisa as it was taught to me by my elders in Ode Remo. Sadly a significant number of people have read my books and gone into the world looking for Ifa/Orisa community only to be disappointed by the dysfunction they have discovered posing as Ifa/Orisa extended family. The situation is both disheartening and understandable. Ifa/Orisa is based on the sanctification of the extended family. The Gnostic process of seeing the world is a part of the home training that is an integral part of life in traditional Yoruba families.
Slavery destroyed the African extended family in the Diaspora. In the years following emancipation anyone who embraced traditional African forms of spirituality placed their survival at risk. The displacement of Lucumi and Santeria from Cuba to New York and Florida following the Cuban Revolution generated a renewed interest in ancestral forms of religious discipline that were lost during the middle crossing. The problems for those who were interested in reclaiming the spiritual traditions of Africa were both limited access to information and a lack of understanding of the role and function of the family in spiritual development.

The task of creating healthy extended families based on the African model is a challenge. The healing required to re-establish healthy extended families as institutions of spiritual training is no small matter. Dysfunction breeds addiction and violence, and these patterns of behavior can become solidified to the point where they are accepted as "normal". The problems faced by anyone initiated into Ifa/Orisa who is interested in starting an ile (congregation) are immense. The problem is aggravated by the tendency to travel to Africa for initiation, then return home with limited access to elders who can provide training and who can help stabilize the model of the healthy extended family that is the foundation of Ifa/Orisa worship in traditional Yoruba culture. The problem is aggravated by the fact that many of our elders who live in Africa do not have enough experience with the problems of dysfunction found in the Diaspora to enable them to provide effective guidance. In my opinion, based on my experience, this is a serious problem that is given far too little attention as part of the theological dialogue in our growing communities. I am writing this article as a preliminary discussion, with the hope of putting some of the issues on the table for further discussions and analyses.

Volumes could and should be written about the assault on the stability of working class families deliberately initiated by the economic elite. For the purpose of this article I want to side step that discussion and identify what I see as the most common family dysfunction in the Diasporas as it relates to Ifa/Orisa worship and that is the dysfunction caused by Dogma and ridged belief in sanctity of elders.
Dogma sustains itself by building community among people who share a common world view. The splintering of the Christian Church into hundred of denominations is based on the human desire to build community based on commonly held views.

Surrounding yourself with people who share your world view is psychologically safe while not necessarily conducive to spiritual growth. There is, in such an environment, no threat to deeply held beliefs, there is no fear of being pushed to change, and there is no motivation to embrace difficult and challenging social issues.
Once a social concern has been reduced to a tenant of Dogma and once that Dogma is associated with God's Will, all discussion within the common community comes to a halt. If you believer God created women as inferior to men then there is no reason to discuss gender equality. If you believe homosexuals are evil because God forbids same gender relationships there is no motivation to rise above homophobia. If you believe God gave certain people dark skin as punishment for ancestral sins there is no motivation to eliminate institutional racism. If you believe Islam is a terrorist religion there is no motivation to examine religious intolerance.

The most common form of Ifa/Orisa dogma in the Diaspora is the notion that if you know how to perform the proper rituals, Spirit will give you whatever want, whenever you want it. In this particular paradigm there is no correlation between what you want and what you need. Gaining power to fulfill your desires and manifest your fantasies requires no critical self-examination and requires no spiritual growth. The Ile or extended family organized around this expression of dogmatic belief can only sustain itself by perpetuating the idea that the elder of the family is an all powerful priest who has the ase to manifest your heart's desire.

In my experience, there are two recruitment pitches for those who embrace the all powerful dogmatic approach to Ifa/Orisa worship; one is based on fear and the other is based on smothering you in kindness. To hook someone into participation in an extended family through the use of fear is typically unimaginative. I have seen over and over again the same three paper tigers raise their imaginary head in the form of three very specific alleged manifestations of Odu. They are the 'you have "evil" ancestors and need elekes for protection'; 'you are being hexed by a "dark skinned woman" and you need warriors for your protection (in some cases the remedy is Palo)'; and the 'you are sick and will die if you don't receive Orisa' senario. I call these paper tiger Odu because they provide an irrelevant solution to a non-existent problem. Once an omo passes through the fear syndrome, if they are still interested in being a part of the extended family. further study only happens in exchange for either very large sums of money or sexual favors.

The other come-on is to smoother the prospective student with kindness, maybe even buy them gifts, and provide some of the necessities of life. Once the person who is generally in need of love and affection experiences a sense of belonging, they are suddenly and unexpectedly accused of some minor offense, usually related to "disrespecting" an elder. As a result of this imagined offense the prospective student becomes the butt end of abuse from other members of the extended family and the abuse is tolerated because the victim of the abuse falsely assumes that if they correct their behavior they will once again experience the love and support that initially attracted them to the extended family.

In both these scenarios the real agenda is the deification of the elder. When a member of a community is deified, the purpose of the community is to fulfill the needs and desires of the elder. This allows the elder to make constant critical judgments about others without every dealing with their own internal contradictions. From a Gnostic point of view none of this has anything at all to do with spiritual growth.

If a person who is hooked into a dogmatic Ifa/Orisa family realizes the limitations of the dogmatic world view and either challenges the elder or decides to leave, that person is shunned, maligned, denigrated and general treated with contempt. Because we live in a culture based on greed, there is widespread acceptance of the notion that it is acceptable to trash anyone who disagrees with our world view. It is the predominance of this world view that sustains the indignities that are common on many popular talk shows. This dogmatic world view is consistent with the principals of a Western consumer-based culture but is not necessarily consistent with the traditional Africa understanding of Ifa/Orisa. Because most Ifa/Orisa worshippers in the Diaspora have been conditioned by the divide and conquer strategy of the economic elite, it is difficult to understand and appreciate to what extent the Ifa/Orisa community has been co-opted by unhealthy dogma. We are cursed by a lack of perspective.

The Gnostic world view teaches us that everyone can learn live in harmony with Spirit. Learning to live in harmony with Spirit brings a blessing of happiness and a profound sense of unconditional love (Ifefe). The only way to give and receive unconditional love is to be encouraged to access the strength and courage needed to make daily critical self-evaluation a part of our spiritual discipline. The Gnostic world view encourages the individual right of freedom of expression and has no tolerance for shunning, banning, gossip, and personal denigration of any kind. The Gnostic world view sees creative human expression as a manifestation of Divine Spirit and does nothing to suppress the desire for self-discovery.

The consequence of the Gnostic world view is the desire to protect and encourage those who are weaker and less experienced. That is why the Gnostic Ifa/Orisa extended family is based on the notion that you are a mentor to everyone younger than you and you are mentored by everyone older than you. In an environments where we are encouraged to grow and learn there is no need for violence to be used as a tool to suppress threatening ideas. There is no need to hex someone who does not share your world view. There is no need to hex someone who will not support you in the process of self-gratification of all your wants and desires.

Gnostic Ifa/Orisa is based on communication with Spirit through the observation of the manifestation of Spirit in Nature. Our ancestors have told us consistently that observation of Nature is unyielding in its expression of transcendent wisdom. Our Ifa/Orisa ancestors have told us that to love is a natural instinct; to care for others is a natural instinct; to be creative in the world is a natural instinct; to be yourself and to have a sense of individuality separate from others is a right given to us by the Creator in the form of individual destiny; to question and disagree when you sense there is something wrong is the ancestral basis for developing wisdom; to defend yourself against abuse, including the abuse that comes from misguided and misdirected elders is a natural instinct; to want peace in our families and in our communities rather than gossip and denigration, is a natural instinct that should encouraged by those who claim to embrace Ifa/Orisa. The desire to plant food, fish, hunt and walk in Nature is a natural instinct. The world belongs to each one of us equally and not to those who claim ownership of it. Ifa/Orisa as it exists in the Diaspora is one of many models for living in the world and can and should evolve into whatever we want it to be as a path of liberation from those problems that are unique to our historical and social dilemma. The only path towards maturity and wisdom is a path that allows healthy debate and dialogue without a fear of loss of community access. Using the threat of banishment as a tool to enforce dogmatic thinking is spiritual death, and live spelled backwards is evil.

When it comes to following the guidance of elders who believe they are beyond criticism and who have no need to explain their actions, I say this; do not follow the river into the abyss, make your way to shore and walk away from the madness. There is a river that leads to Ile Orun and that river begins and ends at a place called ori inu the inner self. If I need to diminish you in any way to sustain my own belief in self and world then how insecure and flimsy has my belief become. Any truth from Spirit informs how we see our self and does so beyond the influence of the opinion of others. The Gnostic view is about finding our inner light and letting the light shine in the world as a beacon of inspiration and not as a tool of domination and control. As a student of Ifa, I aspire to know the Spirit of Ela and the word 'Ela' means 'I am the light.' I can never know Ela by embracing a set doctrine, I can only know Ela by becoming the light.

Ire
Awo Falokun Fatunmbi