Potoprens, Ayiti ~ Jiyè 2008

Vodou 21 se Vodou 21nyèm syèk

Limanite rive nan tan pwofesi lontan yo te anonse.

Entansifikasyon katastwòf, ni nan lanati, ni nan sosyete moun, ap kreye kondisyon kawo jeneral ki pa kanmarad ak sa moun konn abitye wè epi kenbe anba kontwòl.

Obsèvasyon syantifik onèt konfime sa.

Pwogram sofistike nan gwo konpitè dènye modèl fè pwojeksyon plis kawo toujou nan lane k ap vini yo.

An menm tan, plizanplis moun ap viv yon revèy anndan konsyans yo.

Yo pa satisfè ak sistèm panse konvansyonèl dominan yo ki chita sou materyalis, enterè pèsonèl, laperèz, ak awogans moun sou lanati ak sou lòt moun.

Yo vle viv nan respè ak amoni, ni ak tèt yo, ni ak lòt moun, ni ak lanati, ni ak fòs envizib yo.

Yo toupatou, men yo santi yo izole, yo santi yo pa alèz nan monn modèn nan, yo gen enpresyon tout bagay tèt anba; genyen ki rive panse petèt se yo menm ki tèt anba, petèt yo fou…

Yo gen yon gwo bezwen referans spirityèl, men sistèm relijyon tradisyonèl yo pa reponn konplètman ak swaf spirityèl yo, kit se Krisyanis, Vodou (jan anpil moun pratike l jodi a), Islam, Boudis, Jidayis, Chamanis ou lòt.

Yo bezwen yon sistèm ki ta anbrase tout relijyon sa yo, plis konesans syantifik avanse ki disponib, plis ansyen sajès lontan yo, pandan li ta toujou valorize eksperyans endividyèl chak moun.

An menm tan toujou, Lespri yo ap viv chanjman pa yo tou.

Fòs envizib yo ap reoganize tèt yo pou yon nouvo tan.

Gen sa k te lwen k ap retounen.

Gen sa k te pre ki prale.

Gen sa k ap gradue.

Gen sa k ap double.

Gen sa k ap leve.

Gen sa yo voye al repoze oubyen geri.

Gen sa yo voye vin travay.

Gen sa k ap tann lè yo toujou…

Lespri yo di sa.

Moun ki gen je konfime sa.

Vodou 21, se yon sistèm natirèl konesans ak sajès ki tradui sistèm tradisyon inivèsèl ansyen ansyen yo nan kondisyon, kilti ak langaj 21nyèm syèk la.

Vodou 21 pa sèl non sistèm sa a genyen.

Vodou 21, se yon non ki fasil pou konprann pou moun ki konn Vodou deja, men li ka rele lòt jan pou moun ki gen lòt referans ou preferans kiltirèl.

Pou moun ki chwazi itilize non Vodou 21 pou sistèm sa a, se Vodou Ayisyen tradisyonèl ki sèvi yo langaj ak pèspektiv pou konprann ni e pou esplike li, men lòt moun kapab konprann menm sistèm sa a e esplike li nan nenpòt lòt langaj ak pèspektiv.

Vodou 21 ka adapte ak nenpòt kilti, nenpòt relijyon, nenpòt sosyete nan 21nyèm syèk la.

Vodou 21 pa yon relijyon, li pa gen doktrin, li pa gen òganizasyon iyerachik, li pa chache konvèti pèsonn, li pa pou okenn moun, ni okenn gwoup moun, men li aksesib a tout moun ki santi l anndan konsyans yo, kèlkanswa relijyon yo, nasyonalite yo, kilti yo, lang yo, nivo edikasyon yo, oubyen sitiyasyon sosyo-ekonomik yo.

Vodou 21 chita sou ekpsperyans enteryè ak eksteryè, nan nivo endividyèl e kolektif.

Sèl “Liv Sakre” Vodou 21, se linivè ak tout sa k ladan n, ni vizib ni envizib.

Vodou 21, se maryaj nouvo konsyans moun ak nouvo dispozisyon Lespri nan 21nyèm syèk la.

Vodou 21 poko fin devwale nèt, l ap pwogrese ansanm ak devlopman nouvo konsyans kolektif 21nyèm syèk la.

Vodou 21, se youn nan manifestasyon reyalizasyon pwofesi lontan yo.

Vodou 21 se Vodou 21 Nanchon

Selon tradisyon oral la, se 21 Nanchon Zansèt ki te kreye Vodou Ayisyen.

21 Nanchon sa yo poko fin amonize youn ak lòt.

Vodou 21, se amonizasyon 21 Nanchon.

Lè Lespri 21 Nanchon Zansèt yo amonize, tèt moun ap amonize tou.

Vodou 21, se amonizasyon tèt moun.

Lè tèt moun ap amonize, kè moun ap amonize tou.

Vodou 21, se amonizasyon kè moun.

Vodou 21 se Vodou 21 Jenerasyon

Zansèt Amerendyen lontan nou yo te konn onore 7 jenerasyon pititpitit yo.

Depi yo t ap pran yon desizyon enpòtan ki t ap afekte anviwonman yo, yo te toujou sonje 7 jenerasyon desandan yo ki ta pral vini pi ta.

Akòz kontraksyon tan ak espas nan epòk akselerasyon chanjman konsyans n ap viv la, 7 jenerasyon nan tan lontan koresponn ak 21 jenerasyon nan tan kounye a.

Si nou pran 30 lane pou yon jenerasyon, 7 jenerasyon se 210zan.

Si nou pran antre 21nyèm syèk la, ki se lane 2000, kòm referans, lè nou retounen 210zan ann aryè, n ap rive nan tan lakoloni, kote ansyen sajès yo te anba baboukèt.

Men si nou remonte 21 jenerasyon (630 lane apeprè), n ap rive nan lane 1300 yo, kote Zansèt nou yo t ap viv lib toujou.

Vodou 21 ap pèmèt nou onore e repran kontak ak sajès Zansèt nou yo depi 21 jenerasyon.

Vodou 21 ap pèmèt nou onore e geri jenerasyon kounye a ki se premye jenerasyon 21nyèm syèk la.

Vodou 21 ap pèmèt nou prepare e onore 21 jenerasyon pititpitit nou yo.

Vodou 21 se Vodou 21 rekòt kafe

Pou Pèp Dogon, ann Afrik, moun travèse yon etap aprantisaj ak evolisyon nan lavi yo chak 21 lane.

Premye 21 lane, se epòk timoun.

Kidonk, se lè yon moun rive genyen 21 lane (lakay nou nou di 21 rekòt kafe), yo pa konsidere l kòm timoun ankò.

Men li poko granmoun non plis, li jèn toujou.

Se apre 2 lòt seri 21 lane, egal a 63zan, yon moun kapab di li se yon granmoun nan sosyete Dogon.

Vodou 21, se yon Vodou ki pa timoun ankò, men ki jèn toujou.

Vodou 21, se yon Vodou 21 rekòt kafe.

Vodou 21 gen Vodou 1 ladan n

Youn nan pi gwo ansèyman konesans inivèsèl lontan yo, se lwa inite.

Lwa sa a di linivè soti nan yon sèl enèji.

Rasin Laten mo linivè, “univers” an Franse, se “unus” ki vle di youn (1).

Lwa sa a senbolize ak chif 1.

Tout bagay ki egziste soti nan 1; tout bagay ap retounen nan 1, nan yon lòt nivo konsyans.

Vodou 21 gen Vodou 1 ladan n.

Vodou 21 gen Vodou 2 ladan n

Yon lòt gwo ansèyman konesans inivèsèl lontan, se lwa diyalite/polarite ak kreyasyon nan dimansyon n ap viv.

Lwa sa a di premye manifestasyon kreyasyon se lè 1 bay 2.

2 se Manman ak Papa ki bay enfinite bagay ki egziste.

Ansèyman sa a sovgade nan sistèm Yin-Yang, cho-frèt, dous-anmè, maskilen-feminen, pozitif-negatif, vizib-envizib, makwokòs-mikwokòs, goch-dwat, elatriye…

Lwa sa a senbolize ak chif 2.

Vodou 21 gen Vodou 2 ladan n.

Vodou 21 gen Vodou 3 ladan n

2+1=3

Nan 3 pwent triyang mistik la, yon pwent se pou Papa a (Granmèt la, Lespri), yon lòt pwent se pou Manman an (Latè, lamatyè), dènye pwent lan se pou Pitit la (Moun, Enkanasyon Lespri nan lamatyè).

Chif 3 reprezante esans orijin moun, ki vizib ak envizib alafwa.

Vodou Ayisyen se youn nan tradisyon sou latè ki kenbe konesans chif 3 a.

Se kilti Ayisyen ki gadò li.

Pèp Ayisyen genyen 3 gran branch Zansèt prensipal:

Zansèt Afriken, Zansèt Amerendyen ak Zansèt Ewopeyen.

Egal chif 3 vle di Zansèt tou, pou Ayisyen ak plizyè lòt pèp tou.

Met sou sa: 21nyèm syèk se pòtay 3zyèm milenè.

Vodou 21, se Vodou pòtay 3zyèm milenè.

Vodou 21, se Vodou 3 branch Zansèt.

Vodou 21, se Vodou 3 pwent triyang mistik la.

Vodou 21 gen Vodou 3 ladan n.

Vodou 21 gen Vodou 4 ladan n

4+3=7 (ref. Vodou 3 ak Vodou 7)

4×3=12 (ref. Vodou 3 ak 12 kòm Marasa 21)

Tradisyon Amerendyen kenbe konesans chif 4 la

(4 direksyon kadinal, 4 eleman [tè, dlo, lè, dife], 4 sezon, 4 kadran Wou Medsin nan, elt…)

Yon pati nan konesans sa a prezève nan Vodou Ayisyen tradisyonèl (4 fasad).

Nan Vodou 21, konesans Amerendyen retabli o maksimòm posib.

Vodou 21 gen Vodou 4 ladan n.

Vodou 21 gen Vodou 7 ladan n

7×3=21

4+3=7

Tradisyon Oksidantal Jideyo-Kretyen kenbe konesans chif 7 la

(7 jou kreyasyon nan liv Jenèz Labib la, 7 peche kapito, 7 zanj ak 7 so nan liv Apokalips, 7 nòt mizik, 7 koulè lakansyèl, 7 Mèvèy lemonn, elt…)

Vodou 21 reyentegre konesans oksidantal tradisyonèl anndan l.

Vodou 21 gen Vodou 7 ladan n.

Vodou 21 gen Vodou 10 ladan n

Baz teknoloji 21nyèm syèk se sistèm dijital binè.

Sistèm dijital binè se yon langaj matematik ki eksprime tout bagay ak chif 1 ak 0 sèlman.

Nan 21nyèm syèk, malgre pi fò machin fonksyone nan sistèm dijital binè, yo tradui enfòmasyon yo nan sistèm baz 10 ki itilize tout 10 chif (0 a 9) pou moun kapab konprann.

Vodou 21 anbrase teknoloji ni a baz binè, ki sèvi ak chif 1 ak 0, ni a baz 10.

Vodou 21 gen Vodou 10 ladan n.

Vodou 21 gen Vodou 12 ladan n

3×4+12

10+2=12

12 se imaj simetrik 21.

Se yon miwa ki separe yo.

Nan langaj Vodou, 12 se Marasa 21.

Vodou 21 gen Vodou 12 ladan n.

Vodou 21 se yon sistèm konesans ak sajès entegral endividyèl e kolektif

July 23, 2008: Metro Community College, Omaha, Nebraska:

IMAGINARY FRIENDS FOR REAL
With Rev. Djalòki

Rev. Jean Luc Dessables, also known as Djaloki, discusses 21st Century Vodou in the context of the convergence between Western and Eastern religions, esoterism, shamanism, consciousness studies, postmodern philosophy, quantum physics, integral spirituality and the current global shift of consciousness.

This informal discussion involves the participation of an imaginary invisible being (spirit) representing a shamanic (non-western) spiritual paradigm embracing the following values :

· “Realness” of the invisible world

· Earth as an intentional sentient being

· Matter and visible reality altered by word, intent and other untangible energies

· Non-linear, multi-dimensional, reversible, extensible, compressible time/space

· Interconnectedness between all things

· Permanent presence of mystery

Considerable time allowed for questions and answers. All personal imaginary friends cordially invited!

July 24, 2008: Love’s Jazz and Art Center, Omaha, Nebraska

21ST CENTURY VODOU AND THE GLOBAL SHIFT OF CONSCIOUSNESS
With Rev. Djalòki

Introduction to a few Ayitian Vodou values and principles, presented as possible tools usable by Western individuals, communities and organizations who are expanding – or want to expand – their consciousness beyond the conventional modern Western paradigms. Although this approach includes spiritual considerations, it does not require any religious belief or affiliation in particular, but yes, an open mind, enough to consider that non-physical non-rational parameters can affect our physical condition.

Contact in Omaha: Orenda Fink, orendafink@gmail.com
Booking for North America: Anny Koffler, aakoffler@comcast.net
Blog: http://djaloki.wordpress.com

by Rev. Djalòki(*)

The Concept of Interfaith

In the process of brainstorming on a definition of the concept of Interfaith, members of A World Alliance of Interfaith Clergy (http://www.worldinterfaithclergy.org) and of the New Seminary (http://www.newseminary.org) came up with this temporary definition (communicated by Rev. Norman Wolfe):

Interfaith is a spiritual path to the Divine through seeing and understanding the deeper commonality of all spiritual paths and appreciating the unique contribution each has made. It is through this that we hope to transcend any specific form and gain a direct and rich experience of the Divine that we can bring into our daily living.

I believe this definition gives a good idea of the concept of Interfaith. In the course of the brainstorming however, the short version above evolved to the formulation below, and is still in progress in order to respect and incorporate as many different perspectives and sensibilities as possible:

Interfaith recognizes that the Divine expresses itself through all that inhabits this planet and is experienced in the diversity of their rituals, liturgy and practices. Interfaith is a spiritual path to the Divine of seeing, understanding and experiencing the deeper commonality of all spiritual paths and appreciating the unique contributions each makes to spiritual development. It is by drawing from the richness of rituals and practices of many faiths that we strive to transcend any specific path and gain a rich and direct experience of the Divine, which we can then bring into our daily living.

Three Major Approaches of Interfaith

Interfaith activities, statements or opinions are usually based on one or a combination of the three following approaches (it should be noted that this description is just an attempt of the author to modelize and present the Interfaith approach; it has not been widely shared so far and, as such, has not yet been the object of a wide consensus):

1- Inclusivism: religious tolerance and outreach rooted in a specific religion

This is the approach of the adepts of a specific religion who recognize the validity and truth of other religions for other people. Inclusivist (or Interfaith) groups and movements have been in existence in most of the religions of the world since their inception. It has often traditionally been promoted by the mystics of these religions, and now by more and more religious leaders of all faiths. Many people consider this approach as a prerequisite for world peace.

2- Pluralism: interstitial space and interface between different religions

This approach recognizes the riches and the uniqueness of every religion and spiritual path. It considers them as various pointers to a common objective, which is the union between the human and the Divine. It does not favor any particular religion over the others and focuses on the common ground between them as a foundation to access their potential of complementarity. Some people see it as an extension of the interdenominational and oecumenical approaches; others see it as a postmodernist approach of spirituality.

3- Spirituality beyond religious formal structures

In this approach, the spiritual quest seeks to transcend the socio-cultural, political, historical and organizational aspects of religions. In a sense, it focuses more on the “inter” than on the “faith” of Interfaith. The term Interspirituality is also used for this approach. It usually embraces a holistic body-mind-spirit-universe model and draws from various forms of teaching: religious, mystic, scientific (theoretical and empirical), philosophical, etc. Integral spirituality, which is the Integral Approach (developed by Ken Wilber) applied to spirituality, is an example of this approach of Interfaith.

There are many Interfaith organizations, seminaries and churches in the world today. Many of them are accessible on the Internet (I suggest you search the Web for Interfaith Organization, Interfaith Seminary, Interfaith Church and Interfaith Temple).

The Interfaith Minister

Although the Interfaith approach is not a religion, it is a legally recognized religious denomination in some countries, including the U.S.A. As a result, Interfaith seminaries, temples and churches that are legally registered in the U.S.A. as ordaining organizations can ordain ministers who are entitled to the same legal privileges and responsibilities as ministers of established and recognized religions in that country. Basically, they can legally perform baptisms, weddings and funerals, offer spiritual counseling and perform the usual tasks attributed to ministers in congregations and organizations, including worship services and various rituals as well as chaplaincy. As other ministers in the U.S.A., Interfaith ministers bear the title of Reverend.

Anyone can become an Interfaith minister, with no discrimination based on gender, race, socio-economic status, sexual orientation or religion.

The activities of many Interfaith ministers can be described through the lenses of the three approaches of Interfaith mentioned earlier.

1- “Religious” Interfaith ministers operate from the perspective of a specific religion. Some of them are ordained in their own religion and congregation as well. They promote religious tolerance and inclusivism in their communities.

2- “Pluralist” Interfaith ministers typically serve multicultural-multireligious communities, allowing people of different religions to live and practice their faith, not only side by side, but together in dynamic and interactive ways. There is a growing interest in hiring Interfaith ministers as chaplains in hospitals, nursing homes, the army and in humanitarian actions after large scale disasters involving people of different backgrounds.

3- “Interfaith Ministers of the Third Kind” (in lack of a better terminology) serve as facilitators, mentors and companions for people and groups who, while nurturing a deep reverence for the religions of the world, want to go beyond the conventions of religion in quest of global holistic encompassing paradigms and consciousness.

Interfaith ministers often combine various aspects of these three models in their activities.

In addition to their traditional role as ministers to individuals and communities, I also believe that Interfaith Ministers have the potential to become global spiritual leaders for humanity as a whole, along with others acting as facilitators and/or leaders in global healing, spiritual growth and the conscious evolution of our species.

(*) Reverend Djalòki, also known as Jean Luc Dessables, is an ordained Interfaith minister affiliated to the Interfaith Temple of the New Seminary (www.newseminary.org). His practice includes Paradigm Expansion Coaching (combining elements of Life Coaching, Spiritual Counseling, Shamanic/Vodou teachings and Interactive Guided Imagery), cross-cultural consulting, and international lectures and workshops on the connections between religions (Eastern and Western), Shamanism (including 21st Century Vodou) and advanced science (of consciousness and of matter).

Djalòki is also co-founder of the “N a Sonje” Foundation (http://nasonje.blogspot.com), which aims at healing the historical wounds between the peoples of Africa, Europe and the Americas. He is an associate member of DOA/BN (www.haititravels.org, transformational cultural tourism in Ayiti), and an Interactive Imagery Guide.

His intention is to help create a sustainable multicultural global society showing reverence for the diversity of life and valuing inclusive excellence among people and institutions. He believes that the time has come for the global shift of human consciousness, prophesied by many ancient people, that may mark a major leap of evolution for humanity.

Djalòki is a citizen of the world and of Ayiti (Kreyòl name of Haiti); he lives in Port-au-Prince, Ayiti. He speaks French, Ayitian Kreyòl, English and Spanish.

Read some of Djalòki’s texts on http://djaloki.wordpress.com

This ritual is inspired from various cultures from Africa, the Americas and Europe.

Purpose of the Baby Naming ritual

“The purpose of a blessing ceremony for a newborn is to consciously sanctify the entrance of a soul into the world that this soul might walk through their life remembering their true essence. It is to give thanks for the miracle of new life, to support the mother and father in stepping into parenthood consciously, with love and clarity. It is to acknowledge the sacred role of others in the child’s life, e.g., the grandparents, godparents – as guardians offering unconditional love, acceptance and wisdom to the new generation. Finally, it is to acknowledge and honor the interconnectedness of the child and family with the larger community and even with all creation. It is a ceremony of great celebration, gratitude and joy.”

(Rev. Miranda Holden, Director, The Interfaith Seminary UK)

Outline

1. Preparation
2. Opening
3. Welcoming the new soul
4. Family Lineage
5. Naming, life song and presentation to the four directions
6. Godparents pledge
7. Bitter and Sweet experiences
8. Family and friends blessings
9. Final blessing and closing

1.  Preparation

• If possible, the mother will have watched her dreams, intuitions and synchronicities during her pregnancy to choose and/or receive directly from the soul of the future born her name and life song. The life song will be sung often to the baby, especially in important occasions like birth, naming ceremony, birthdays, and to mark moments of great emotions, joyful or sad. It will be taught to the child when she can talk. If she wishes, it will become her power song, which she can use to remember and connect with her Higher Self anytime she wants, during her whole life. Relatives and friends can also sing it for her when they feel she needs it and she cannot sing it herself, as in the case of serious illness, depression, or coma. If possible, it will be sung before, during and after her death too.
• Other names can be given by the parents.
• The parents prepare a list of all their respective parents and direct ancestors that they can come with. The “perfect” list would include the names of all their ancestors up to the seventh generation back in time (252 names total, including the parents). This list should be kept and given to the child later, when appropriate, e.g. as part of the naming ritual certificate. In this naming ritual, up to three generations are verbally named (14 names).
• The minister and the parents prepare a naming ritual certificate, if desired.
• The minister prepares a small spoon, or other instrument, and 2 small bowls with a little bit of liquid in them, one bitter or sour (bitter herb tea or unsweetened lemon juice) and one sweet (sugar cane syrup, honey, maple syrup, or sweetened water).
• The minister prepares words of opening (informal), final blessing and closing.
• The godmother(s) and godfather(s) prepare brief words of welcome, pledge and blessings for the baby. Several godmothers and godfathers may be chosen. The Elno Micmac people of Quebec, Canada give 12 godparents of each gender who can act as surrogate parents for the child. Orphanhood is an unknown concept in such a society…
• The godparents may also prepare meaningful gifts for the baby; ideally long lasting things that will symbolically encapsulate the naming ceremony.
• The baby’s relatives and friends prepare words of blessings.
• This ritual is preferably private and intimate, with only relatives and close friends, in order to avoid the interference of unknown foreign energy with the still fragile and unnamed baby and to create a pure loving and protecting circle around her.
• The mother teaches the baby’s life song to the relatives and close friends who will attend the ritual.
• The minister and the parents prepare the music and songs for the ritual.
• The minister cleanses him or herself and cleanses the space of the ritual prior to the event.
• The ritual should not exceed 20 minutes. More than that would be too long for the baby.

2.  Opening

This is not a pompous ceremony, but an intimate family celebration. The style and energy are kept simple and warm from opening to closure. As an opening, the minister may give a reminder of the purpose of the ritual, and name the parents of the baby.

3.  Welcoming the new soul

Minister gives words of welcome to the new soul, e.g.:

It is a great joy for us to welcome this new soul among us. We are honored and grateful to have been chosen to guide her in her entry on this plane of existence. We lovingly accept her within our community and are making way for her energy and gifts to beautifully complement ours.

(Modify at will or add any appropriate inspired words)

4.  Family Lineage

Baby’s mother (holding the baby): My whole genetic lineage has found a new body and a new life to manifest its beauty on the visible plane. The newborn of my flesh is carrying the imprint and the power of my ancestors, those alive, those we remember and those we have forgotten. Some of those most recently born in a human body were: (If the parents have not been named at the opening, the mother should start by giving her name, and then she may give the names of her parents and grandparents, as well as any other direct ancestor of hers that is still alive, or that she wishes to name).

May you keep your ancestral connection strong and make it harmoniously serve the higher purpose of your soul, your lineage and the universe, in love, light, peace and beauty.

Baby’s father (holding the baby): My whole genetic lineage has found a new body and a new life to manifest its beauty on the visible plane. The newborn of my seed is carrying the imprint and the power of my ancestors, those alive, those we remember and those we have forgotten. Some of those most recently born in a human body were: (If the parents have not been named at the opening, the father should start by giving his name, and then he may give the names of his parents and grandparents, as well as any other direct ancestor of his that is still alive, or that he wishes to name).

May you keep your ancestral connection strong and make it harmoniously serve the higher purpose of your soul, your lineage and the universe, in love, light, peace and beauty.

5.  Naming, life song and presentation to the four directions

The parents hold the baby.

Minister (addressing everybody): Please invite and hold in your minds and hearts your highest and purest intentions, thoughts and feelings for the baby, while the father is formulating her name(s) and we are singing her life song to the four directions of the universe.

Let us all face east, from where comes the light of life and awareness, the place of intent, breath and birth. (Or any other brief words the minister wants to say about the East.)

Everyone faces east.

The parents raise the baby to the East.

The minister raises her hands in a blessing gesture toward the baby and mentally sends blessings to her.

Baby’s father:            To the guardians of the East, I present my daughter (or son) ______________ (baby’s complete names).

Parents lower the baby, but keep holding her, facing east.

The minister drops her hands.

Everybody sings the baby’s life song.

Minister: Let us face south, from where comes the strength of life and knowledge, the place of will, fire and growth. (Or any other brief words the minister wants to say about the South.)

Repeat the same procedure as for the East, and then again for the West and the North.

Suggested words said by the minister for these directions:

Minister: Let us face west, from where comes the maturity of life and wisdom, the place of balance, water and transformation.

Minister: Let us face north, from where comes the shadow of life and encompassing understanding, the place of peace, earth and death.

After the baby’s life song has been sung to the North, the minister invites people to go back to their seats and asks the godparents to approach the baby, held by one or both parents.

6. Godparents pledge

The Godparents offer their gifts, if any, explain the meaning of the gifts and say their brief words of welcome, pledge and blessing for the baby.

Depending on the time flow of the ritual and the number of godparents, this part may be shortened by skipping either the gift giving or the words, and by having only one pair of godparents representing the rest of them. The intention is to keep the ritual length under 20 minutes.

7.  Bitter and Sweet experiences

This part may also be skipped if there is not enough time.

The minister uses either her finger, or a small spoon or other instrument if more appropriate, to take some of the bitter or sour liquid, and places a drop of it on the baby’s lips.

Minister: ___________ (baby’s name), on this material plane, many of us experience life in a dualistic way. Some experiences are bitter, or sour. They are represented by this herb tea (or lemon juice). We pray that such experiences will be minimal in your life and that you will quickly learn the lessons they are meant to teach you.

The minister does the same with the sweet liquid.

Minister: ___________ (baby’s name), this sugar cane syrup (or maple syrup, or honey…) represents the sweet experiences of life. We pray that your life will be rich in happiness and plentiful in sweet teachings and blessings.

8.  Family and friends blessings

According to time availability, this part may be shortened, or even skipped altogether.

Family and friends share the words of blessings they have prepared.

Music and songs can be performed.

9.  Final blessing and closing

The minister says the blessing and closing she has prepared.

Everybody sings the baby’s life song (suggested 3 times if it is not a long song).

The ritual is concluded.

• This ritual is inspired from various tribal age group systems and rites of passage, particularly from the Dogon of Mali in West Africa and the Tzutujil Maya of Guatemala in Central America, as well as initiation rituals of the Western esoteric tradition.
• The Age of Maturity is a social group of the following age system, based on a twenty-one year cycle:

• The applicants to this ritual are women and men in their early forties.
• The officiant Minister is preferably someone who has previously been through this initiation, ideally an elder, sixty-three years old or more.
• Members of the audience, called “the witnesses”, represent all age groups in the applicants’ community.
• Content’s details of some elements of the ritual may be designed and adjusted according to the place, the community and the people’s preferences and sensibilities. This ritual can be made to last from a few minutes to several hours, especially by playing with the intervention of community members and the community celebration.

Purpose of this ritual

Commitment of the applicants to serve their community as best as they can and to grow in general knowledge, wisdom and spiritual craftsmanship, as the community recognizes them as mature adults.

Outline of the ritual

1. Preparation
2. Opening
3. Trial of the applicants as accomplished Young Adults
4. Commitment of the applicants
5. Community recognition of the applicants as Mature Adults
6. Minister’s address
7. Silent meditation
8. Possible interventions by community members
9. Final Blessing and closing of the formal initiation
10. Community celebration

1. Preparation

Applicants:

-      Personal cleansing and purification

-      Fast, sexual abstinence and silence prior to the ritual

-      Personal review of one’s life so far and meditation on the new phase ahead

Community:

-      Preparation of a special piece of clothing, jewelry, insignia or object as gift for each applicant and a short text explaining the symbolism of the gift

-      Identification of the individuals who will present the gifts to each applicant during the ritual

-      Preparation of possible interventions during the ritual (witness accounts, reflections, poems, music, songs, dances, sketches, films, slide shows, etc.)

-      Preparation of the community celebration (may be as simple as a drink and a round of hugs, or as complex as a big event with various activities, feast and party).

Minister and helpers:

-      Identification or appointment of helpers and Council of Elders

-      Identification of possible sanctions against abusive critics

-      Identification of applicants and listing of their names

-      Preparation of the certificates for each applicant

-      Preparation of relevant opening invocation and final blessing

-      Choice of symbolic objects (candles, artifacts, clothing, etc.)

-      Choice of music tracks and/or chants

-      Preparation of Minister’s address

-      Personal cleansing and purification

-      Cleansing and energizing of the space just before the ritual

-      Preparing and conducting the ritual (the applicants’ name list and their number are kept with a pen by Helper 1 during the ritual and the certificates are kept by Helper 2)

2. Opening

A special place is reserved for the applicants, where they can be seen by the witnesses (the audience).

The witnesses take their place first,

then the Minister and helpers,

then the Council of Elders,

and finally the applicants, in an orderly fashion, guided by a helper.

Greetings from the Minister who also presents the purpose of the ritual.

The Minister reads the opening invocation (e.g. formulation of pure intention, acknowledgement of the Divine Presence, invitation to the ancestors and guardian spirits of the community and its members, prayer for spiritual assistance and positive energy).

Music and chanting appropriate to the theme of initiation to adult maturity.

3. Trial of the applicants as accomplished Young Adults

Minister: Our community is in need of more mature adults, women and men of leadership whom we can trust and we can lean on. They must already be masters in their personal fields and committed to offer their abilities to serve our community. They must also be committed to continuous growth in knowledge, wisdom and spiritual craftsmanship. In exchange, we, as a community, will recognize them and we will honor them.

Helper 1 (with the list of names): We have here ­­­ x  (number of applicants) young adults candidates to adult maturity, but they have not yet been tested on their skills, their achievements and their merit as supposedly accomplished young adults, which is what they claim to be.

Minister: To be called to service as a mature adult represents a great responsibility, for the well-being of our whole community will depend on it. One must pass the test of eligibility through the review of one’s past deeds, words and thoughts as a young adult… Dear applicants, you are brave to be willing to be evaluated in truth and humility. We will now proceed to the fist part of the test. You will focus your awareness inward and you will ask your memory to review your life as a young adult, focusing on what you have thought, said and done. Then you will ask your inner conscience to assess if you are eligible to adult maturity, or if you need more time to make amends or to work on something particular on yourself. Note that you are not asked to be perfect in your eyes. We all have our flaws and our shadows. However, there is a minimal mental, emotional and spiritual development, as well as a sense of responsibility you must have attained before you can be considered as mature adults. Your inner conscience knows and will tell you. You have one minute for this part of the test.

One minute of silence while the applicants are questioning their inner conscience.

Minister: Dear applicants, if any of you has received the message from his or her inner conscience that he or she is not ready yet for adult maturity, please leave this room right now. You will be allowed to apply again, at any time this initiation is performed in the future. Our community greatly appreciates and honors your courage and honesty. We still love you as young adults.

Moment to allow the applicants who want to leave to proceed.

Helper 1 (with the name list) strikes the names of the applicants who leave.

Minister: Dear applicants, you must now pass the second part of this test. The members of our community, present or represented here today, have watched you and lived with you during your years as young adults. It is their time now to say if they feel they can trust you as mature adults. If any member of any age group in the community voices a concern about your eligibility to adult maturity, the Council of Elders may still allow you to be initiated, if they unanimously judge it appropriate. If not, you will be asked to leave the room and your case will later be examined by the Council, which will decide if you can apply next time this initiation is performed. Abusive critics who will have prevented someone from going through this initiation without reasonable motives will be sanctioned. (The Minister may tell what the sanctions against abusive critics are.)  Dear applicants, stand up and face the community… Now, if anyone in the community, present or represented here today, believes that one or several applicants are not ready to be considered as mature adult, please say it now. If the reason of your concern is not appropriate to be revealed in public, just mention the name of the applicant without revealing the reason. You will be asked to justify your motives later, before the Council of Elders.

A few moments to allow concerns to be voiced and the concerned applicants to leave the space, except if the Council of Elders unanimously allows them to stay.

Helper 1 (with the name list) strikes the names of the applicants who leave.

Minister: Dear applicants, you have passed the test of your own conscience and of our community. You are now eligible to be considered mature adults. You may sit down.

4. Commitment of the applicants

Minister: As mature adults, a lot will be asked of you by the community. You are expected to step up into the roles of leadership that fit your abilities as the needs emerge. Your commitment to serve will be crucial for the well-being of our people and our planet. You are the heart that gives the community its basic strength. Your are the vital link between our Elders, who are the guardians of our memory, and our Youth, who are the seeds of our hopes. It is your duty to honor and respect everyone, in all age groups. You are also expected to continuously learn and expand your consciousness, your self-awareness, your specific skills, your general knowledge and your abilities for compassion and spiritual craftsmanship.

Helper 1 (with the list of names): Applicant __________ (name of first applicant on the list that is not struck), please stand up.

The applicant stands up.

Helper 1: Do you commit to live as a mature adult, as best as you can, in honor and respect for yourself, for our community and for all beings and things manifest?

Applicant (loudly enough so all witnesses can hear): Yes, I do.

Helper 1: Please sit down.

Helper 1 goes through the same procedure with all the applicants whose names are not struck on the list.

5. Community recognition of the applicants as Mature Adults

A helper guides the applicants into a central location where they face the audience.

Helper 2 (with the certificates) explains that each applicant will receive a gift from the community symbolizing his or her adult maturity and a certificate issued by the Council of Elders. The gift may be a special piece of clothing, jewelry, insignia or another object. Then Helper 2 reads the text of the certificate without naming any specific applicant, except if there is only one applicant.

Helper 1 (with the names) invites the witness with the gift for the first applicant on the list to come in the center, to read or explain the symbolic meaning of the gift, and to offer it to the applicant in the name of the community.

Helper 2 gives the certificate to the applicant and hugs him or her.

The witnesses may applaud.

The same procedure is done with all the applicants.

A helper guides the applicants back to their seats. Meanwhile, there may be music or chanting by the audience.

6. Minister’s address

7. Silent meditation (a few minutes)

8. Possible interventions by community members

As prepared by the community.

9. Final Blessing and closing of the formal initiation

The Minister reads the final blessing (e.g. gratitude for the success of the ritual, blessing for the applicants, for the helpers, for the audience, for the rest of the community that is not present, release of the spiritual entities invited at the opening invocation, reconnection with mundane life).

Festive music.

Applicants, now recognized as mature adults, leave first,

then the Council of Elders,

then the Minister and helpers,

then the audience.

10. Community celebration

As prepared by the community.

by Djalòki Jean Luc Dessables and Anne Presuel-Moreno 

TNS2008 – Assignment April 2007

“The separation of the two — matter and spirit — is an abstraction. The ground is always one.”

- David Bohm (1917-1992), Quantum Physicist.

Table of Contents

o      Why a Paper on Quantum Physics?

o      What is Quantum Physics and What It Is Not?

o      Basic Principles and Laws of Quantum Physics

o      Metaphysical Questions Suggested by Quantum Physics

o      What Would An Interfaith Minister Do?

o      APPENDIX I: A Brief History of Quantum Physics

o      APPENDIX II: Additional Information from Experts in the Quantum Field

Why a Paper on Quantum Physics?

As apprentice interfaith ministers, it is incumbent on us to explore and embrace systems that speak to the existential mysteries of the human experience.  Some of these systems are defined as religions, others as philosophies, ideologies, worldvisions, cultures or paradigms, others still as theories, hypotheses and sciences.  Along with Christianity, Buddhism, Gnosticism and Shamanism, we study Freudian and Jungian psychology, as well as modern psycho-synthesis, because they all have something to say about the beauty and complexities of metaphysical aspects of the human experience, each from a different perspective.

Quantum physics, one of the most advanced branches of modern science thus far, has introduced new ways of understanding ideas such as the role of consciousness in the material world, remote influence across space and time, or the intrinsic fabric of time, space and matter, which have traditionally been considered as part of the territory of religion or philosophy, but not science.  Although quantum physicists do not claim to have answers to metaphysical questions, their theoretical formulas and experimental findings seem to bring new perspectives to these questions and serve as invaluable inspirations for modern philosophers, theologians and spiritual seekers.  More and more modern interfaith ministers and counselors may find themselves interacting with clients or colleagues who refer to quantum physics in their spiritual quest and understanding of life.  For this reason, we believe that a basic understanding of quantum physics is relevant within the education of a modern interfaith minister.

In this paper, we are not studying the complex mathematical formulae of quantum physics.  We seek simply to define the basic relevant vocabulary and the corresponding concepts in order that we may look at the metaphysical questions that might appropriately be generated as we consider these concepts.

What is Quantum Physics, and What It Is Not?

Quantum physics is the branch of physics that focuses on the subatomic world, which is the foundation of our material world.  The word quantum (plural form: quanta) comes from Latin, and means a given quantity of something.  In the case of quantum physics (or quantum mechanics), it means more specifically the smallest possible amount of something. Scientists have discovered that by breaking down atoms into their subatomic constituents and trying to break these down into their own sub-constituents, they reached a level of particles that could not be further broken down, but rather transformed into pure immaterial energy.  In other terms, these unbreakable particles are the quanta of matter (smallest possible amounts of matter) and are now called quantum particles.  Furthermore, experiments showed that some physical properties of these particles did not vary on a continuum, but that the particles jumped from one given state to another one without passing by the intermediate states (electrical charge, potential energy, spin, polarization…). These properties were also called quantum properties, to express the fact that they can only take specific discrete states and jump from one to the other without going through a continuous variation.

A common misconception about quantum physics is that it is based on theoretical hypotheses that have not been experimentally proven, and that classical Newtonian physics is still the best scientific system to describe reality.  The truth is that classical Newtonian physics only accurately predicts natural phenomena at the level of the human scale, but it is incorrect and useless at the subatomic level or with very high speeds, close to the speed of light, where the Theory of Relativity must be used.  Only quantum physics so far has been able to correctly describe and predict natural phenomena at the subatomic level.  It should also be noted that the laws of quantum physics coincide with those of Newtonian physics at the human scale and with the Theory of Relativity at light speed.  In addition, the quantum theories have properly predicted laboratory experiments, including many that Newtonian physics fails to predict (at the subatomic level), while not one experiment has contradicted quantum theories.  In other words, quantum physics appears to be the best scientific system so far to describe our physical world.

A common difficulty that non-scientists often have with quantum physics, apart from its cryptic formulae, is that some of its core laws and principles are completely counter-intuitive and seem to defy normal common sense.  This “quantum weirdness” (an expression used by quantum physicists themselves!) only manifests at the subatomic level and not at the human scale of common perception.  These counter-intuitive laws are absolutely necessary and desirable at the subatomic levels, because without them, atoms and molecules, which form the foundation of our material world, could not exist in a stable state. The common model of solid electrons revolving around solid nuclei has in fact been obsolete since the first quarter of the 20th century, when quantum physics showed that what we call subatomic particles are really not material particles at all – in truth, they appear to behave as particles in certain situations, and as waves in others.  To think of them either as particles (like a solid object with a given mass, position and momentum at a given time), or as waves (like a sound or ripples in water with a given frequency and amplitude at a given place and time), is incorrect and leads to incorrect predictions.  Although they behave sometimes like particles and sometimes like waves, they are neither.  What they really are has not yet been defined by quantum physics, or by any other science so far.

Basic Principles and Laws of Quantum Physics

Wave/Particle Duality

A visual example of a propagating wave is given by the expanding concentric circles of ripples in water.  Waves are also observed in sound, light and a vibrating guitar string.  The mechanics of waves obey to the classic laws of electro-magnetism.  A wave is described by its frequency and amplitude; it does not have a mass, a “position” or a momentum.  On the other hand, a “normal” particle is a physical body whose mechanics obey to the classic Newtonian laws of physics.  It can be described by its mass, location and movement.  Quantum particles (subatomic) are neither waves nor “normal” particles.  However, in a given situation they behave either as one or the other.  They are seen as bodies that can possess the properties of either waves or particles at any given time, but never both at the same time.  This is called the wave/particle duality.  Their mechanics obey to the laws of quantum physics, which usually deliver results in the form of probabilities.

Heisenberg Principle of Uncertainty

In order to see objects around us, we need some light projected on these objects and reflected to our eyes.  Bats (and radars) send radio or sonic waves and read their reflections coming back to them after having bounced on the objects around.  In other terms, to perceive or measure something, we need to bombard that thing with some kind of energy, usually photons of light, which comes back to us to be read.  At the human scale, photons are so subtle, practically with no mass, that they do not modify the initial state of the object we are seeing or measuring.  At the subatomic level, things are different.  The energy (equivalent of mass) of a photon is comparable to, or immensely greater than, the energy (mass) of other quantum particles.  When an electron, cruising in a certain direction at a certain speed, is hit by just one photon of light, its direction and speed are modified as a result of the collision. If the photon was part of a measuring process attempting to determine the position and momentum of the electron, the result will be distorted.  The Heisenberg Principle of Uncertainty states that it is impossible to know the position and the momentum of a quantum particle at a given time, with accuracy.  It provides us with a formula that connects the accuracy of the position and the accuracy of the momentum in a manner that the higher one is, the lower the other one will be.

Entanglement

When a breakable (non-quantum) particle is broken into its quantum constituent particles, these latter move away from each other but at the same time remain intimately and instantaneously connected.  Any modification applied to the physical parameters of one of them instantaneously modifies the parameters of the other(s), whatever the distance between them, even if they are at opposite ends of the galaxy.  Such particles are said to be entangled.  This experiment contradicts the classic theory according to which nothing can go faster than the speed of light, even information.  Scientists do not understand where, how and through which medium the entangled particles communicate to each other.  However, this factual law is being effectively applied in technology, as in the MRI, in laser technology and recently in quantum computers.

The Copenhagen Interpretation (The Observer Effect)

This is probably the most counter-intuitive phenomenon discovered, experimented and proved by quantum physics.  In some specific experiments, like in the one called the two-slits experiment, quantum particles behave differently according to whether they are being observed or not.  When not observed, they behave like material particles, but as soon as they are observed, they behave like waves for the exact portion of space and time in which they are observed, only to come back to a behavior of particle right after or beyond the observation.  The most commonly accepted interpretation of this phenomenon is that consciousness interacts with quantum particles and influences their behavior.  One explanation of this phenomenon is that reality is a big system from which no sub-system can be completely isolated, in particular the people making the experiment or an observer.  It is called the Copenhagen Interpretation of Quantum Physics, introduced by Bohr and Heisenberg.  This phenomenon, reconfirmed many times by experiments world-wide, contradicts much of our common knowledge about matter, reality and consciousness.  Simply formulated, it states that consciousness can modify matter with no intermediate material intervention.  It should be noted that, to this day, some scientists do not accept that interpretation.

Metaphysical Questions Suggested by Quantum Physics

Remote Communication and Inter-connectedness:

The phenomenon of entanglement is heavy in metaphysical possible considerations.  The Theory of Relativity has demonstrated that space and time are not as linear and immutable as a non-informed rationalist mind would tend to believe.  Quantum physics opens the scopes of possibilities even further by suggesting that the apparent distances in space or time exist only in one perspective but not in other ones.  Recent experiments have shown reversed causality phenomena, where an effect happens before its cause, even at the human scale.  As early as 1927, the physicist Niels Bohr offered the theory that all matter is part of one greater whole that ensures consistent inter-connection, echoing many spiritual teachers and prophets past and present. 

Question we can ask:

Are distance phenomena such as extra-sensory perceptions, remote healing and shamanic work, manifestations of quantum phenomena at the human scale level?

One underlying source of energy:

Some scientists talk about an implicate order, unified field, single superfield, quantum field, quantum vacuum or zero-point field that possibly informs all things manifest, the ultimate “soup” from where everything originates and to where everything returns.  In this field must be the root potential that causes observable manifestations to form into particles or into waves.  This field is currently beyond the grasp of observation or formulation, although several theories are attempting to capture it, thus bringing modern science closer and closer to age old spiritual wisdoms like Taoism, Buddhism, Shamanism and Wicca.

Question we can ask:

Could trances, astral travels, shamanic journeys and mystic experiences represent ventures in the underlying Quantum Field?

The Role of Consciousness:

A great number of experiments have exposed the fact that human consciousness can directly influence matter.  Quantum physicists have suggested that it is the explanation behind the Observer Effect, in which the outcome of an experiment depends on whether the experiment was observed (or not) and the manner or even attitude in which the observation took place.  It has been since correctly argued that the influence of the observation does not necessarily involve human consciousness, because the observer effect is registered even with pure machine observation.  However, consciousness is still invoked by many quantum physicists to explain aspects of the “quantum weirdness” and the hypothetical processes of manifestation from the underlying unified energy field to the observable realm of things.

Questions we can ask:

Could the Placebo effect, magic, miracles, successful prayers, affirmations, rituals and

visualizations, shamanic healing, be manifestations of the role of consciousness in quantum

systems?

Could the Law of Attraction (“That which is like unto itself is drawn”) presented in the film “The Secret”, the ancient Hermetic laws of correspondence (“As above, so below; as below, so above”), and resonance (“Like vibration attracts like vibration”) be applications of the role of consciousness in quantum systems?

Are particles conscious?

What Would An Interfaith Minister Do?

Since the divide between science and religion in the Western world at the time of the Renaissance, the territories of physics and metaphysics have been completely separate, driven by independent concerns and objectives.  With quantum physics venturing into territories traditionally reserved for metaphysics, and proving itself to be so efficient in describing our world, the gap between science and spirituality seems to be narrowing once again.

As interfaith ministers engaged in nurturing what unites all humans while honoring their diversity, we hold a privileged perspective and a special responsibility in the debates between different worldviews, including the one between science and religion.  At the present time, quantum physics is probably one of the most valuable assets humanity has for the reconciliation of these two important human areas of concern.  Misconceptions and intentional distortions over quantum physics continue to abound, creating confusion and further divide.  As possible mediators and counselors, we will want to keep ourselves informed of what is true, what is possible, what is speculative and what is false about quantum physics, at least at a basic level of knowledge.  And if we are daring enough to adventure beyond the superficial level, we may have the honor and privilege to serve as interpreters and teachers for our fellow non-scientists, as we have attempted to do in the above discourse.

APPENDIX I

A Brief History of Quantum Physics

1801: The British Thomas Young shows with the double-slit experiment that light is composed of waves that can create interference patterns between themselves.  This momentarily settles the question whether light was created by waves or by particles.

1824: The German Gustav Kirchhoff shows that when an object is heated to a high temperature, it emits light on precise discrete wavelengths, not on a continuum.  In 1862 Kirchhoff coins the term “Black-Body Radiation.”

1900: The German Max Planck develops formulas that predict the discrete phenomenon of Black-Body radiation.  The terms “quantum” (plural “quanta”) and “quantization” begin to be used for these phenomena.  Today, Max Planck is considered the father of Quantum Physics.

1905: The German Albert Einstein applies Planck’s formulas to the photoelectric effect previously studied by the Hungarian Philipp Lenard, and suggests that light is formed by quantum particles later called “photons” (1926), reawakening the question about the nature of light that the works of Young had apparently solved.

1913: The Danish Niels Bohr suggests a quantized model of the atom, where electrons travel on specific orbits and can jump from one to another if sufficient energy is supplied.

1924: The French Louis de Broglie expands the notion of wave-particle dualism and develops formulas allowing to treat any subatomic particle as a wave of energy.  His theory will be experimentally proven in the second half of the 20th century.

1925: The German Max Born develops the formulas of Matrix Mechanics with Werner Heisenberg and coins the term Quantum Mechanics.

1926: The German Erwin Schrödinger publishes the paper known as the Schrödinger Wave Equation, which gives a statistical relation between the parameters of a Quantum System.

1927: The German Werner Heisenberg proves that it is impossible to measure both the position and the momentum (direction and speed) of a particle with complete accuracy.  A statistical relation between the two, known as the Heisenberg Principle of Uncertainty, forces the precision of the measurement of one of these two parameters to decrease when the other one increases.

That same year, Heisenberg and Niels Bohr publish the Copenhagen Interpretation, which is a set of philosophical comments on the implications of the laws of Quantum Physics.  Basically, the Copenhagen Interpretation suggests that matter and reality are not as rock solid as our senses lead us to believe; natural phenomena cannot be completely described and predicted, they can only be approached with probabilities.  The Copenhagen Interpretation also states that what the formulas describe is not the real state of a system, but only what humans can know about that system.

1935: Einstein, Podolsky and Rosen publish the EPR thought experiment (or EPR Paradox), which attempts to show that Quantum Physics is incorrect because its principle theoretically implies absurd situations like remote influence, called “spooky action at a distance,” to oppose the Copenhagen Interpretation.

1965: The Irish John Stewart Bell establishes the Bell’s Theorem, which proves the reality of remote influence by showing contradictions created by the use of “local realism” as in the EPR Paradox.  The concept of non-locality becomes a major aspect of Quantum Physics.

1981: The French Alain Aspect experimentally confirms Bell’s theorem, turning the EPR Paradox into the very demonstration of remote influence, now known as “entanglement.”

1990’s: The laws of Quantum Physics are largely applied to technology (MRI, laser technology, transistors, computers).

Planck, Einstein, Bohr, de Broglie, Born, Schrödinger and Heisenberg all won a Nobel Prize in Physics.

APPENDIX II

Additional Information from Experts in the Quantum Field

Henry Strapp on http://www.alchemylab.com/Quantum_Will.htm writing about Eugene P. Wigner (1902-1995, Hungarian Quantum Physicist and Physics Nobel Prize winner):

Wigner (1961): “the laws of quantum mechanics cannot be formulated … without recourse to the concept of consciousness.”

Ref:

Wigner, E. (1961) “The probability of the existence of a self-reproducing unit,” in The Logic of Personal Knowledge ed. M. Polyani (London: Routledge & Paul) pp. 231-238.

David Pratt on http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/dp5/jse.htm writing about David Bohm (1917-1992, American Quantum Physicist):

[...] He argues that consciousness is rooted deep in the implicate order, and is therefore present to some degree in all material forms. He suggests that there may be an infinite series of implicate orders, each having both a matter aspect and a consciousness aspect: “Everything material is also mental and everything mental is also material, but there are many more infinitely subtle levels of matter than we are aware of.” (Weber, 1990, p. 151) The concept of the implicate domain could be seen as an extended form of materialism, but, he says, “It could equally well be called idealism, spirit, consciousness. The separation of the two — matter and spirit — is an abstraction. The ground is always one.” (Weber, 1990, p. 101)

Ref:

- Bohm, D. (1984). Causality and Chance in Modern Physics. London: Routledge & Kegan Paul. First published in 1957.

- Bohm, D. & Hiley, B.J. (1993). The Undivided Universe: An ontological interpretation of quantum theory. London and New York: Routledge.

- Bohm, D. & Peat, F.D. (1989). Science, Order & Creativity. London: Routledge.

- Weber, R. (1990). Dialogues with Scientists and Sages: The Search for Unity. London: Arkana.

Honor and Respect to you!

As I was meditating on various ways to approach the subject of interfaith in my sermon, I heard two things, in very different situations, which I would like to share today. The first one is something my sister told me on the phone from Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, where she just moved a few days ago. The second one I heard on the news on an international radio station, about something that just happened between North and South Korea.

I gave a title to each of these little stories. The first story is titled:

The fresh yoghurt inside the container

My sister and I were talking about the different calendar and time system that is used in Ethiopia. While the year 2007 is reaching its end on the Gregorian calendar, it is the beginning of the year 2000 in the Ethiopian calendar.

Commenting on the coexistence of the two calendars in the country, my sister said: “It is sometimes confusing to read the expiration date on the yoghurt containers”. I went on envisioning a container with a 7-year-old expiration date with perfectly fresh yoghurt inside. But if someone does not go past the difference between the Gregorian and the Ethiopian calendars, or is not willing to test the yoghurt itself, they will mistakenly believe that they cannot consume it. As a matter of fact, all the yoghurt sold in the shop is fresh and good for consumption, in spite of the various expiration dates, including those that look outdated.

I see the image of the fresh yoghurt inside the container with an apparently expired date as a metaphor of the interfaith approach. The different calendar systems represent the different cultures and faiths among people around the world. The expiration dates are the different languages, customs and rituals among people of various faiths. The fresh yoghurt, tasty and healthy when consumed, is we humans, in need of recognition, appreciation and deep relationships. Although all yoghurts are not identical, they are all ready to be consumed and to nourish their consumer. And although the container and the expiration date within a given calendar system are necessary to ensure the good state of the yoghurt, the consumers have to reach beyond them in order to access the yoghurt itself, especially if their own calendar is different. Similarly, we need our culture, our language and our faith to function properly, but if we want to connect and engage with people of different cultures and faiths, we need to go past the external differences that make us mistakenly believe other people are incompatible with us, or unfit to engage in relationships with us. People of different cultures and faiths are fresh yoghurt inside containers with expiration dates expressed in different calendars. We need the yoghurt to nourish us and the interfaith approach is one that will give us access to it.

The title of my second little story is:

The train between North and South Korea

As I was listening to the news on an international radio station, I heard that a railroad had been opened between North and South Korea. The speaker explained that a regular freight service was already in operation between the two countries, ending a period of fifty-six years of complete separation during which South Korea had been functioning like an island, with no land communication with any other country of the continent it is a part of. The speaker also added that it was the first step toward the potential reestablishment of peaceful relationships between the two countries.

Here is another image for an aspect of the interfaith approach. People from different cultures and faiths are often like North and South Korea, coexisting shoulder-to-shoulder and unable or unwilling to engage in relationships for whatever reasons. Fear, ignorance, arrogance, greed, selfishness, prejudice, chauvinism, thirst for power or other separating feelings and attitudes prevent us from reaching out to our neighbors of different cultures and faiths, thus maintaining us isolated from the riches we can share with each other and from the wonders of the world in general.

In order to engage in mutually enriching exchanges, we must open our personal border and establish a railroad with regular freight service. In other words, we must engage in interfaith approaches and establish connections with people of different cultural and spiritual backgrounds through respectful dialogue and sharing. This means being willing to drive our trains to their territory and allow them to drive their trains to our territory. Chances are we will remember that we were all Koreans from the beginning, or fresh yoghurt for that matter.

The “Inter” of Interfaith

In the two little stories symbolizing the interfaith approach, the “faith” part of interfaith is represented respectively by the calendar system in the case of the yoghurt and by the Northern or Southern geographic position in the case of the two Koreas. In both cases, the interfaith approach, which is a movement of outreach, involves stepping out of one’s faith and crossing over the possible obstacles of the other’s faith. Interfaith is an attempt to establish ways of connection and communication between cultures and faiths. The cultures and faiths have been in existence for a long time. What is somewhat newer in this approach is about the “Inter” of Interfaith.

In my dictionary:

Inter (as a prefix) =
1. With each other, together
2. Mutual, mutually
3. Between or among the units signified
4. Occurring or situated between

The first two meanings of the “Inter” of interfaith evoke the fresh yoghurt that we can all recognize in each other and share together, while the two last ones evoke the railroads that we need to build between each others in order to have access to our respective yoghurts.

The importance of the “inter” of interfaith may remind us that interfaith is not just about faith. Interfaith is also about being intercultural, interlinguistic, international, interpretation, interchange, intertwining, interlacing, interconnectedness, intercommunication, even internet… All these words carry a notion of relationships, which are a faculty and a need all humans have in common.

The dictionary also provides a definition of “inter” as a verb:
To place a corpse in a grave or tomb, typically with funeral rites…

which may raise the question whether we need to throw away our faith and bury it if we want to be interfaith…

This is perhaps a theme for another sermon, but at least, we can say that on one hand a sincere interfaith approach may lead to challenge or bypass specific traditions that promote separateness or contempt toward other cultures and faiths, while, on the other hand, a solid grounding in one’s traditional teachings and values is often the best starting point for an interfaith outreach, because of the striking convergence of the underlying principles behind all the great cultural and spiritual traditions of the world. And besides, one’s faith would still be needed in order to define the funeral rites…

The Vietnamese Zen Master and peace activist Thich Nhat Hanh has founded the Order of Interbeing. Let us listen to his words:

When we look at a sheet of paper, the sheet of paper is part of our perception. Your mind is in here and mine is also. You cannot point out one thing that is not here – time, space, the Earth, the rain, the minerals in the soil, the sunshine, the cloud, the river, the heat. Everything coexists with this sheet of paper. That is why I think the word “inter-be” should be in the dictionary. “To be” is to inter-be. You cannot just be by yourself alone. You have to inter-be with every other thing. This sheet of paper is, because everything else is.
(Thich Nhat Hanh, from “The Heart of Understanding: Commentaries on the Prajnaparamita Heart Sutra”, 1988.)

Yoghurt and railroads in old and new faiths

In the modern Western culture, honesty and loyalty in one-to-one relationships (romantic, family, friends) are highly valued. A huge number of books, films, musics, web sites, seminars, therapy sessions, artwork, rituals and prayers focus mainly on how to create and maintain deep healthy fulfilling relationships with people around us, including those we have chosen and that we like as well as those we have not chosen and that we may not like.

Opening as many efficient railroads as possible between our own equivalents of North and South Koreas is considered paramount to integral balance and wellbeing. In spite of the feeling that modern society at large may not be completely manifesting this ideal yet, a huge amount of energy, focus and resources is dedicated to the healing of the pathological patterns preventing more symbolical railroads to be opened. I personally believe that more and more people in the modern Western world aspire to reach out and establish more respectful and loving relationships with others, even people of different faiths. One may believe that this new tendency is rooted in the traditional value of relationships in the Western culture.

Most African and Afro-Creole cultures value the concept of Ubuntu, though not under the same name. Often defined as the traditional African belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity, Ubuntu is the Bantu concept of the deep connectedness and relationship between Muntu (humans) as foundational to their essence: “I belong, therefore I exist”.  In this paradigm, humankind is seen as a unified primordial and generative entity of which individual humans are particular manifestations, while in the European paradigm, the individual human is the defining unit of humankind, which is seen as the collection of all individuals.

The African Ubuntu encompasses both the fresh yoghurt inside the container and the train between North and South Korea. It is an interfaith concept that has been ingrained in African religions almost forever. It is available and accessible to anyone, even non-Africans, who want to build railroads to transport yoghurt containers or, in other words, to engage in global interfaith relationships.

In the religion of Rastafari, the pronouns “we”, “us”, “you and me”, and sometimes even “I”, are replaced with the expression “I and I”, which expresses the unique Divine essence at the core of any (dignified) human being. The “I” is the fresh yoghurt inside the container, related to another “I” through the little word “and”, which is the train between North and South Korea. This very young religion, rooted in old African, Jewish and early Christian traditions, as well as modern Caribbean culture, is manifesting this deep interfaith concept in the everyday language of its adepts. Designed and primarily acting as a movement for the liberation and progress of the Black people, Rastafari is articulated around universal concepts of broad kinship, the Divine within and life’s positive energy. Many globally conscious non-African people feel its intercultural appeal and embrace it to manifest their ideal of international respect, justice and peace through the recognition of the sacred energy of I and I.

In the Kreyòl language of Ayiti, the word Moun, usually – and incompletely – translated by “a person”, probably derives from Muntu, a Bantu word with which it shares a similar meaning. Muntu describes a dignified human being (manifesting Ubuntu), incarnate or not, exuding and honoring Divine Oneness manifest in all things visible and invisible. In Ayiti, real Moun are known to relate to each other with honor and respect. The fresh yoghurt in the container and the train between North and South Korea are described in proverbs such as:

- Tout Moun se Moun, commonly translated by “All People are Human Beings”, but meaning more precisely “Because of the spiritual essence of all people (the fresh yoghurt), there can be no secondary human”;
- Vwazinaj se Fanmi, or “Neighbors are Relatives”, meaning, “There is a natural relationship and strong ties of solidarity between neighbors” (the train).

Visitors to Ayiti are often struck by the sense of community and relationships among people, as well as by the enthusiastic welcome offered to strangers, even by people living in economically impoverished conditions. Some visitors have said that their heart and mind have been opened to a greater awareness and acceptance for different people after having spent just a couple days in Ayiti.

In the language of the Lakota Sioux, Mitakuye Oyasin stands for “All my Relations”, or “We are all related”. It is a profound prayer of oneness and harmony with all forms of life. Mitakuye Oyasin honors the sacredness of each person’s individual spiritual path and acknowledges the sacredness of all life (human, animal, plant, planet earth…) It recognizes the already existing network of intimate interrelationships between all living beings and invites humans to honor them in total awareness and deep reverence. Here again, both the fresh yoghurt inside the container and the train between North and South Korea are immensely valued. The seeds of interfaith are strong in the Native American culture, as manifest in the common practice of adoption of people of other nations and the prophecies announcing the rise of the Rainbow tribe composed of people coming from the four corners of the world.

The Indian greeting Namaste and the reverential bow accompanying it literally means, “I bow before you”. The message it carries translates into “The Divine in me meets the Divine in you”. One could also add, “Through the Divine within, we are connected. In the Divine, we are one.” Originally used by Hindus and Buddhists, Namaste is now widely used in Asia, Europe and North America, by people of all faiths, embracing its full meaning. It is a simple yet powerful way to acknowledge the fresh yoghurt inside the container and to manifest the intention to establish a railroad between North and South Korea. It is also a beautiful way to bring the old seeds of global interfaith, which has been a part of the human soul forever, though dormant sometimes, into the expanding awareness of our eternal unity.

Send your train and look at the yoghurt inside the container

I would like to conclude with a brief reflection on the etymological meaning of the word “respect”.

This word derives from the Latin roots Re and Spectare. Re means, “again”, Spectare means, “to look”. So “respect” means, “look again”. In other words, when you just look at the date on the yoghurt container, you are not respecting the yoghurt inside yet. Only when you send your train on the railroad across the border and past the container to take a second and deeper look at the yoghurt itself, may you realize that it is fresh.

Next time you see a strange-looking expiration date, or strange-looking people, or an adept of a strange-looking faith, I invite you to remember the fresh yoghurt inside the container and the train between North and South Korea. I invite you to look again at each other, to respect and connect with each other. I invite you to Inter-be with each other.

I bow in reverence to you.
~Djalòki~

Honor and Respect.

  This article is a contribution to the efforts of information and education of the general public already undertaken by others about the Vodou worldview. Vodou can be described as an ancestral religion practiced today by more than a hundred million people in Africa and in the Americas. I will briefly present some of the basic tenets of the Vodou worldview and the history of its demonization by religious and political European powers of the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. I will also suggest that Vodou holds the potential for reconciliation between the great revealed Western and Eastern religions, advanced modern science and the Shamanic/animistic worldview.

The word Vodou is derived from the Fon language, which took it from the Ewe language, both of which are spoken in West Africa (Benin, Togo and Ghana). The word means “invisible life force,” usually transcribed as “spirit.” The Ayitian (or Haitian) Kreyòl spelling and pronunciation (Vodou) is widely used in the academic community. The word Voodoo, best known in the North American mainstream consciousness, often refers to a distorted image of this spiritual system. This image was created by the demonization campaign against Vodou and maintained by the media and the Hollywood film industry. Variant spellings are also used: Vodun and its own variants (Vodoun, Voudoun, Voudon, Voudo…), Vaudou (French spelling), Vudu (Ewe and Spanish spelling).

Vodou 101: Elements of the animistic worldview

On the details of the observable practice, there are differences between Vodou in Benin (where it is the official national religion), in Ayiti(*) and in Louisiana. Nonetheless, the underlying worldview remains the same. This is not unlike the observable differences between the various denominations of the Abrahamic religions (Judaism, Christianity and Islam), which share similar views on God, Heaven and Hell, the world, human beings and sin. Furthermore, the Vodou paradigm is also similar to others that are not usually described by the word Vodou, namely the animistic and Shamanic worldviews.

Here is an overview of some of the basic principles of Vodou, rooted in the animistic worldview:

- the Divine source is the originator of the invisible world and the visible world, and the rules that govern them;

- everything that exists in the visible world has its essence in the invisible world, hence the term “animism”, used in Western languages to describe the belief system in which plants, animals and minerals can have a soul or a consciousness;

- the invisible world is as real as the visible world (if not “more real”) and also more expansive;

- the invisible and visible worlds are in constant interaction;

- in the invisible world everything is connected to everything else;

- everything, visible or invisible has its own specific “power,” or energy;

- birth is a transfer from the invisible world to the visible world;

- death is a transfer from the visible world to the invisible world;

- human beings can consciously and unconsciously operate in both the visible and invisible worlds;

- just as visible entities, invisible entities are creatures of the Divine; they are called spirits;

- spirits can bring vision, knowledge, healing and power to human beings;

- like visible entities, spirits may be unhealthy (ill, wounded, disempowered or temporary lost from the Divine order);

- like visible entities, unhealthy spirits are potentially dangerous for human beings;

- some spirits are so powerful in energy that they may be dangerous for human beings even when they are healthy;

- human beings can communicate with spirits under Divine rules and help channel their powers to and from the visible world;

- human beings can access and influence the invisible world through visible means, and the visible world through invisible means; these practices constitute what is called magic;

- deceased people are spirits called ancestors; they are closer to human beings than other spirits and can serve as intermediaries between the latter two;

- human beings have free will, they can choose to act for healing, balance and order, or for destruction, and with respect or arrogance;

- every act is returned multifold by the universe, human beings are accountable for their own acts;

- human beings evolve through acts of respect and compassion for everything that exists, healing and reverence for the Divine and the Divine’s creations.

The animistic worldview is probably at the root of the most ancient religions of humanity. It is the backbone of the Native Shamanic cultures of the past and the present, from the Tungus of Siberia, through the Aborigines of Australia, the Ainou of Japan, the Norse, the Wiccan and the Pagans of Europe, the Akan and the Zulu of Africa, to the Algonquins, the Maya, the Neo-Pagans and the Creoles of the Americas to name just a few. Vodou, of course and its cousins that are practiced by various people of African descent in the Americas (Santería, Lukumi, Candomblé, Umbanda…) are animistic in essence. The African form of Vodou (without syncretization with European or Native American elements) is considered to be ten thousand years old.

The Legacy of the Roman Empire

In Europe, the leadership of the Christian Church and of the Roman Empire combined their powers relatively quickly in the 4^th century. Constantine I, known as the first Christian Roman emperor (306-337), convoked the Council of Nicea in 325, which established the doctrine of the Church that was to be adopted by the whole of Christendom. St Siricius was the first bishop of Rome to bear the titles of Pope (384-399) and Pontifex Maximus, long before the Holy See was established in Rome. These titles and functions of the bishop of Rome became a tradition still observed today. In 391, Emperor Theodosius I declared Christianity as the only legitimate imperial religion, ending state support for the traditional Roman religion. In 392 he prohibited the practice of Pagan religions. He is now remembered for having initiated the official state repressive campaign against Pagans and heretics. Combining their respective strengths, the Church and the Empire became a powerful ruling institution that gradually gained control over politics, religion, sciences, finances and social life around the Mediterranean Sea.

After the fall of the Western Empire in the 5^th century, the Roman Church maintained its political, financial and moral power. During the era of the Germanic Holy Roman Empire (800-1806), the Holy Emperor was crowned by the Pope. During the Middle Ages, the Church launched the Crusades, also called Holy Wars, against the Muslims. Pope Innocent III introduced the Inquisition initially against the heretics, those who did not abide by the Church’s doctrine, including Christians, but also animistic peoples of Europe. Traditional women healers, the Witches, were targeted, who the Inquisition accused of being Devil worshippers. These allegations against Pagans and Witches were imprinted in the mainstream consciousness and still are today to some extent… The Inquisition was also used against the Jews of Europe and the first Renaissance scientists who were challenging the models of the cosmos, the earth and the human body dictated by the Church.

In 1492, Christopher Columbus was officially mandated by the Pope and sponsored by the Spanish Catholic King Ferdinand and Queen Isabella to conquer new lands for Spain, gain new souls to Christianity and come back with gold. He established the first permanent European settlement of the New World on the island of Ayiti(*) inhabited by several million people, mainly Taino. The combination of extremely harsh forced labor, tortures, murders, epidemics, as well as despair driven suicide, lead to the decimation of the Native people of Ayiti in a few years.

In the 1540’s, the Dominican priest Bartolomé de las Casas denounced the ill treatment given to the Taino by the Spanish. He undertook the task of convincing the political and religious powers in Europe that African people were more fit to hard labor than the Natives of Ayiti, and that their enslavement would be justified if it meant that they would be evangelized and redeemed. The timing seemed perfect and the idea germinated.

Origins of the demonization campaign against African culture and spirituality

The trans-Atlantic slave trade and the slave-based production in the Caribbean were becoming the most profitable activities ever conducted by the Europeans. The colonial society became prosperous beyond hopes. That new prosperity was the engine of the economic expansion that pulled Europe out of the Middle Ages through the Renaissance and later to the “Siècle des Lumières” (18^th century Age of Enlightenment) of the wealthy kingdoms of Western Europe. In order to be practiced openly, the enslavement of Africans had to be morally justified to the European public opinion. To that effect, most of the vilifying stories and attitudes previously used against the Pagans, the Witches and the Jews were adjusted to fit the Africans. Renaissance artists like Michelangelo were commissioned by the Church to replace the numerous images of the Black Madonna and child with white ones in Western Europe (Black Madonna images are still common today in Eastern Europe).

From the 1700’s, the biblical story of Noah and the curse of his grandson Canaan, son of Ham (Genesis 9:18-27), began to be used to explain that Black people were cursed by God and bound to be the slaves of other people. The old stories against Witches and Jews and that of Noah were intertwined and fit together to work against the Africans, whose spirituality came to be seen as a collection of superstitious evil practices in the European public opinion.

In the colonies, a complete dualistic paradigm was created and imprinted in the public consciousness, based on the simple underlying concept that whatever comes from, or can be connected to Europe is pure, superior and godly (the color white, Caucasian skin color and anatomical features, European languages including Latin, Spanish, French and English, Christianity, the Church, the Western culture, wealth, European political powers and their representatives, slave owners, the urban way of life, the power of domination…) Vice-versa, whatever can be connected to Africa is inferior, immoral, superstitious or evil (the color black, Negroid skin color and anatomical features, Kreyòl and African languages, animistic cultures, the tribal way of life, poverty, African drumming and dancing, the African cultures and spiritualities, herbal remedies, ancestor worship, spirits, magic, psychic phenomena and extrasensory perception, resistance against slavery, strong emotional ties within extended families and communities, life close to nature, Vodou…)

Crack down on Ayitian Vodou

Extensive publications have described the continuous attempts of the Church to destroy Vodou in Ayiti, both psychologically and physically, peaking in several successive “anti-superstition crusades”. These include the one waged under the first US military occupation of Ayiti (1915-1934) and the infamous campaign of the “Rejetés” in the 1940’s, with its spectacular public burning of Vodou temples and sacred objects and trees, reminiscent of the Autodafés of the Inquisition.

The situation remains basically unchanged today. Though the Catholic Church has apparently stopped to try openly to eradicate Vodou from Ayiti, the dualistic paradigm still underlies the attitude and discourse of its representatives. As in any “low intensity warfare”, the manipulation of the public consciousness and opinion has been a crucial weapon and quite efficient, both inside and outside Ayiti. US-based evangelical churches are now taking the lead in this operation they call a spiritual war. The godly-Church-versus-satanic-Vodou paradigm is sponsored and relayed by schools, Sunday schools, aid and development organizations, private corporations, books and magazines, radio, TV, Internet, movies, and the press. It is ingrained within the popular language and culture. Misinformed educators, parents, writers, scholars, artists, journalists, priests, pastors, preachers, missionaries, religious and lay people become agents of the misinformation campaign, often unintentionally.

It is undeniable that mistakes, ill-intentioned practices and crimes have been and are being perpetrated under the name of Vodou, just as has happened in the name of Christianity, Islam, democracy, charity and science. It would not come to mind to try to eliminate these human systems though, if one had not nourished an irrational fear against them. Besides, an open-minded look at Vodou, as taught to and practiced by millions of decent good-hearted honest intelligent people, might bring some light to its potential for healing and reconciliation between systems that have traditionally been at odds, or at least apparently.

Christianity, Shamanism, Hinduism, Quantum Physics and Vodou

At first sight, Christianity in North America looks shockingly different from Christianity in Ethiopia, in Greece, or in Brazil. The beliefs and lifestyle of an American Christian may even be closer to those of an American Vodouist than to those of a Brazilian Christian. This occurs as religions evolve, adapting to the cultures of their adepts. In order to analyze a religion from a global perspective, one should first try to strip that religion from its cultural clothing and look at its core precepts, to the extent that this is theoretically possible.

All over the world, Christianity is known for its message of obedience to the Divine, love for one’s fellow human beings, and the story of Jesus as the ultimate example to be followed. According to Vodou practitioners and initiates, this message is in concordance with the Vodou precepts of respect for the Divine and for all the Divine’s creations, including human people. Furthermore, several of the main socio-spiritual functions of Manbo and Oungan (Vodou priestess and priests), such as communicating with spirits, spiritual teachings in parables and spiritual healing, are reported to be performed by Jesus in the Bible. Although only a thorough study would give a more precise evaluation, it seems fair to say that at the core, Christianity and Vodou point to similar precepts of knowledge and ethics.

Vodou contains many elements of Shamanism. When Manbo and Oungan meet Shamans from other places, they often understand each other even if they don’t speak the same language. That is the reason why some of the Taino traditions were so easily incorporated into Ayitian Vodou, to the extent that it is sometimes difficult to identify in Ayitian Vodou today what comes from Africa and what comes from pre-colonial America. So, it seems also fair to say that Vodou is a particular form of Shamanism expressed in one particular culture.

Similarly, a comparison has been made between Vodou and Hinduism, or the Eastern worldview in general. The deities or spirits representing different aspects of the Divine, the relationships with ancestors and other spirits, the accountability of human beings for their deeds and the universe’s response to them, the power of intent, thought and word over material reality, the important influence of intangible energy on the material plane are all elements present in both Vodou and Hinduism. Here again, when stripped of their respective cultural packages, Hinduism and Vodou describe similar worldviews.

There is growing academic interest for the possible links between quantum phenomena and events that are expected and observed in Vodou settings, although they are apparently inexplicable by traditional Western science. What quantum physicists call the “quantum weirdness” theoretically applies only at the subatomic scale, but Vodou phenomena like apparent remote perception and influence, or the apparent influence of human intention on tangible external events, strongly suggest that quantum phenomena also occur at the human scale, and that the knowledge taught in Vodou allows people to harness some of them. This may also be true of other spiritual traditions, including Christianity, but what is interesting with Vodou is the frequency and intensity of those phenomena on one hand, and the fact that the system is not based on any required creed or faith on the other hand. These phenomena are observed, and may be experienced, by non-practitioners as well.

Could it be that quantum physics, a science at the edge of advanced modern Western knowledge has the possibility to rationally validate and allow Westerners to understand Vodou, regarded as somewhat opposed to science and knowledge in the Cartesian Western paradigm? It is too early to answer this question with certainty, but it is fair to say that the worldview suggested by quantum physics, and so different from the traditional Western worldview, is strikingly congruent with the Vodou worldview. This also suggests that Manbo, Oungan and Shamans all over the world may have known how to access the quantum field with their mind for millennia, this very quantum field that top level modern scientists are still trying to access with subatomic particle accelerators and computers. The quantum field is also known as implicate order of causation, unified field, single superfield, quantum vacuum, or zero-point field.

­Vodou 901: The seeds of the future Theory of Everything?

From its origins possibly rooted in the most ancient human religion, through and despite the demonization campaign organized by the Western powers of the Middle Ages, Vodou has not only survived the Empire, but holds the potential of the great reconciliation and reconnection between the cultures of the East, the West and the South, between science and religion, between ancient ancestral wisdom and advanced modern knowledge. It may be holding the seeds of the Theory of Everything sought by researchers since the philosophers of the Antiquity, to modern thinkers like Albert Einstein, Brian Greene and many holding a holistic vision of life and the universe.

If truth will set us free, we will all remain in bondage until Vodou regains its place of credibility and respectability among the great systems of human knowledge. If we want to leave a decent world for the great-grandchildren of our great-grandchildren to live in, we urgently need to reach out to each other, beyond our idiosyncrasies, our religions and our politics. We must garner all possible wisdom available to human beings in order to operate the shift that will allow us to survive the self-destructive process we have put in motion. For that matter, Vodou may have some vital insights to offer.

________________________________

Djalòki J.L.B. Dessables is a cross-cultural consultant, paradigm shift coach, engineer and apprentice interfaith minister – ordination June 2008 – from Ayiti(*) (Haiti). Both Christian and Vodou traditions are strongly practiced in different parts of his extended family. He believes that the time has come for the shift of global human consciousness prophesied by many ancient peoples. His intention, through his consulting, coaching, workshops and lectures, is to help create a sustainable multicultural global society showing reverence for the diversity of life and valuing inclusive excellence among people and institutions. He has been giving international lectures and workshops on the Vodou worldview and the current global shift of consciousness. Djalòki lives in Port-au-Prince, Ayiti.

Note:

(*) Ayiti: Pronounced AH-EE-TEE. Correct spelling and pronunciation of “Haiti” in the Kreyòl language. It is also one of the original names of the island currently known as Hispaniola and comprising the countries of Ayiti (Haiti) and the Dominican Republic. The Kreyòl spelling is used in this text to avoid the energy of hate suggested by the spelling and pronunciation of “Haiti” in English. The author also uses a free spelling for the derivative Ayitian, for “Haitian” (Ayisyen in Kreyòl).

Bibliography

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- Carey, David Jr. Our Elders Teach Us. Maya-Kaqchiquel Historical Perspectives. The University of Alabama Press 2001.

- Colón, Cristóbal. Diario de a Bordo. Edición de Luis Arranz Márquez. Dastin Historia 2000.

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- Cosentino, Donald J., Editor. Sacred Arts of Haitian Vodou. UCLA Fowler Museum of Cultural History, Regents of the University of California 1995.

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- http://www.theoryofeverything.net/

Preamble

•       Sèvitè-Andezo (a symbolic code name) was a devoted Ayitian Vodou and baptized Catholic practitioner. As this Memorial Service is being written in his honor, about a year after his passing in 2007, the Catholic Church in Ayiti still refuses to offer complete funeral rites to some of its members because of their responsibilities and functions under their family Vodou traditions. Sèvitè-Andezo was one of them.
•       This Interfaith Service may not actually be performed yet in the current dynamics between the Catholic Church and the Vodou community in Ayiti, but it is written in the hope that it will indeed be performed one day, in peace, mutual respect and solidarity between these two important spiritual traditions of the Ayitian people, for Sèvitè-Andezo or anyone else.
•       This Memorial Service is co-presided by 3 officiating Ministers: a Vodou Manbo (or Vodou “Priestess”, necessarily a woman, as long as Roman Catholic Priests are exclusively males), a Catholic Priest (preferably Roman Catholic, since it was the denomination of Sèvitè-Andezo’s Christian faith), and an Interfaith Minister (female or male), who is also the overall coordinator of the whole event (this role can be delegated if desired).
•       In this ceremony, the deceased person (Sèvitè-Andezo) is called: “the Remembered”.
•       This service is performed preferably after all the classic funeral Vodou rites have been performed for the Remembered, typically the Desounen (Spirit Liberation, performed within the few hours or days after the passing, especially important for a Vodou Initiate) and the Wete Mò Anba Dlo (Removing the Dead from under the Water, performed at least a year and a day after the passing).
•       The Vodou rite that most closely approaches the concept of a modern Memorial service is possibly the Manje Mò, or “Feeding of the Dead”, performed periodically after the “Removing of the Dead from under the Water”.
•       The Order of Christian Funerals prescribes 3 consecutive funeral rites: the Vigil, or Wake Service, the Funeral Liturgy, including or not including a Funeral Mass with Eucharist, and the Rite of Committal. The Catholic Memorial Service is basically the Funeral Liturgy adapted to the fact that the body of the deceased is not present.
•       This service contains elements of Vodou rites, mainly the Manje Mò, of the Catholic Funeral Liturgy, as well as Interfaith elements to create a cooperative and cohesive flow.
•       It is a public ceremony performed in the presence of the Remembered’s relatives, community and friends. It is open to the greater public as well.
•       For the purpose of this assignment, the service has been kept simple, focusing on the eulogy, but a much extended version may include full Catholic and Vodou ceremonies, with church choir and musical band, Vodou Sosyete (Society of Vodou Initiates, musicians, singers and dancers), drawings of Vèvè (Vodou sacred designs), family Vodou spirit flags and calling of family spirits into the body of the Vodou Initiates, plus slide shows and videos films…

Preparation

•       The family of the Remembered prepares the songs and texts of the service in close collaboration with the three officiating Ministers; typically appropriate Vodou and Catholic songs.
•       Each of the three officiating Ministers prepare their ritualistic tools and material (including water and containers, candles, Easter candle, incense, scriptures…)
•       The three officiating Ministers prepare their words of welcome and explanation of the purpose of this service from their perspective (the short texts given here are suggestions), as well as their homily (Catholic Priest), public address (Manbo) and Eulogy (Interfaith Minister). The Eulogy included here is particular to the author of this service. It can be replaced by another one written by the officiating Interfaith Minister.
•       The three officiating Ministers get prepared for all their interventions during the service.
•       Relatives and friends prepare short stories or quotes about the life of the Remembered.
•       The family gathers pictures of the Remembered if available (including funny or silly ones), symbolic objects (awards, diplomas, letters) and belongings, as well as possible ritualistic or sacred objects used by the Remembered. A Memorial Book with the Remembered’s pictures may be created in advance.
•       The family prepares flowers.
•       The family prepares the food for the Remembered, the ancestors and the community under the supervision of the Manbo. Before the service begins, the food is disposed on a table in a private room only accessible to people authorized by the Manbo or the family elder or leader. Because of the length of time between the moment the food is ready and the moment it is going to be actually served, there should only be food that can bear to wait a couple hours before being consumed. Dispositions can be taken to keep dishes warm if needed.
•       If the Vodou Wete Mò Anba Dlo ceremony has been performed for the Remembered, the Manbo takes care of and places the Govi (ritual clay jar containing the spirit of the Remembered) on the table with the food, if it is considered appropriate.
•       The main color used for clothing is white, associated with death both in Vodou and the Catholic Church.
•       Young relatives of the Remembered are chosen to be ushers and trained under the supervision of the three officiating Ministers, and/or a chosen adult.
•       The three Ministers and the family prepare the space and dispose all the objects needed for the service. The flowers, pictures and belongings of the Remembered may be placed on an altar, or harmoniously disposed around the space.
•       The three officiating Ministers get together in private to pray together for a few minutes. Then they take a moment of silence to prepare themselves emotionally and spiritually for the service.
•       Before the service begins, there is simultaneous soft Vodou drumming and Gregorian chants, tentatively in rhythmic sync.

Outline of the ceremony

•       Opening
•       Catholic Ritual
•       Vodou Ritual
•       Interfaith Eulogy
•       Silence
•       Remembrances
•       Joint Benediction
•       Sharing of the Food
•       Dismissal

Opening

Words of Welcome and Purpose of this Memorial

Interfaith Minister: Greetings! My name is ________________ (Name of the Interfaith Minister). I am an Interfaith Minister. It is a great honor for me to be with you here today.  We are gathered in peace, love, respect and solidarity with Sèvitè-Andezo’s family and friends to commemorate his life among us, to pray for him and share food with his spirit, and to show our continuous support to his close ones. This particular Memorial Service honors Sèvitè-Andezo’s spiritual path, which he has walked with sincere devotion through his Christian faith as a baptized member of the Catholic Church and in utmost and dutiful respect for his Ancestors through his family Vodou traditional practice. Some people believe and profess that Christianity and Vodou are mutually exclusive.  This mistaken belief is often based on conceptions and interpretations dating from the times of slavery, when the people and institutions benefiting from that system had interests in demonizing the culture and spirituality of the African people in order to justify their enslavement and to disempower them with the belief that they were naturally doomed. In reality, the basic tenets of both Vodou and Catholicism are not only compatible but also very similar, only expressed in different cultures and languages. Both teach love and respect for the Divine, for our fellow humans and for the manifest creation. Their similarities go much deeper than this, but it is not the purpose of today’s service to compare them. Today, we are compassionately honoring them together, as expressed by the Vodou drumming and the Gregorian chanting you heard before we started, and by the respectful and friendly collaboration between Manbo ________________ (name of the Vodou Manbo), initiated Priestess of the Ayitian Vodou Tradition and Father _______________________ (name of the Catholic Priest), ordained Priest of the Roman Catholic Church, who are co-presiding this ceremony along with myself. This service is inspired by the life of Sèvitè-Andezo who showed us that harmony and unity can be found and manifest between Vodou and Catholicism.

Catholic Priest: Greetings! I am honored to have been entrusted with the task of leading the Catholic part of this Interfaith Memorial Service. As a baptized and faithful Christian, Sèvitè-Andezo is entitled to receive a Catholic funeral service, not as a privilege, but as his canonical right (canons 1176; 1183,1). I am the one feeling privileged to serve in this moment, as the Church is playing its part in the healing process of this God’s cherished community.

From the Catholic perspective, the purpose of this service is triple:

1- For the Remembered, we are going to pray, asking God to have mercy for his soul.

2- For his close ones still living, we are offering our support and compassion.

3- For his community, we recognize and pay respect to the other spiritual traditions that contribute to sustain people’s spirits within their traditional culture, and were important spiritual elements of Sèvitè-Andezo’s life as a whole.

Vodou Manbo: Honor and respect to you all, and utmost honor and respect to our brother, the late Sèvitè-Andezo, to whom we are grateful for this reunion today. To some uninformed eyes, this meeting of Catholicism with Vodou may look like a first time, and in a sense it is, but for those who have known Sèvitè-Andezo well, it is just a public expression of a fundamental aspect of who he was for his whole life, and he was certainly not the only or last one under the sun… Our culture values community and sharing. Today we are sharing common intentions, energy and food with the spirit of Sèvitè-Andezo and his community without restriction. In some foreign literature, Vodou has been described as “a cult of the dead”, which, from our language, would be better translated as “rites of honor for the ancestors”. Today, we are honoring our dear Sèvitè-Andezo, not only through our memories of his physical life among us, but also through sharing the vital energy of our food with his living spirit, who is among us right now, though invisible to most of our human eyes.

Program of the service

Interfaith Minister: Presents the program of the service

Catholic Ritual (to be revised and adjusted by the Catholic Priest, if needed)

Main symbols used: a cross, an Easter candle, Holy Water and incense

Introductory Rites

•       Opening song
•       Priest sprinkles Holy Water on the altar and the other objects of the Remembered, and on the audience as well
•       Prayer

Liturgy of the Word

•       Reading
•       Responsorial Psalm
•       Gospel
•       Homily
•       General Intercessions

Liturgy of the Eucharist

•       Eucharistic Prayer
•       Lord’s Prayer
•       Communion
•       Communion song

Final Commendation

•       Prayer
•       Incensing altar, other objects of the Remembered, and audience
•       Song of Farewell
•       Prayer of Commendation

Vodou Ritual (to be revised and adjusted by the Vodou Manbo, if needed)

Opening

Candle lighting, libations, ritual greetings (including the 4 cardinal directions and all family spirits and ancestors), opening invocations and songs.

Offerings

•       Legba (Spirit of the highways, crossroads and gates): In place of the traditional calabash with food placed in a street crossroad, a plate with some of the food is taken away from the table and kept in a safe place. After the service is over, it should be returned to nature, either directly, or by being given to animals, or first composted and later returned to earth.
•       Sèvitè-Andezo: Prayers, music (mostly drumming) and songs for the Remembered while his spirit is invited to consume the invisible part of the food disposed on the table in the private room. Nobody is allowed in the room during this part or the following one.
•       All the other ancestor spirits of the family are then invited by the Manbo to partake in the spiritual part of the food.

Address

The Manbo addresses the spirit of the Remembered, his relatives and the audience, providing explanations on the ritual and the symbols used.

Interfaith Eulogy

Interfaith Minister: Today, my heart is full with strong emotions of different natures. As much as I know that death is an integral part of life, I do feel the void that Sèvitè-Andezo left when his body ceased to be animated by his soul. I share the feeling of loss along with his loved ones. Many of them are here today. Many others are not here physically with us, but we are connected to them through our bond with Sèvitè-Andezo and through this ceremony, remembering his life among us on the visible plane and honoring his spirit who is still among us on the invisible plane. By all accounts Sèvitè-Andezo was a beloved and revered elder in his community, known for his moderation, morals and wisdom.  He was a reference and a pillar for many, relatives and neighbors alike, regardless of their socio-economic status, their political opinion or their religious beliefs. Although his death concluded a full and well conducted life at the very respectable age of 93, it was a great loss for the whole community.

As most Ayitians, Sèvitè-Andezo lived in the middle of a cultural crossroad, between the strong Vodou traditions that represented the deep roots connecting him with the ancient wisdom of his African ancestors, and his firm Catholic faith, through which he expressed the spiritual aspects of his daily life in the modern Western world. In some sense, and please forgive me for this simplification, Sèvitè-Andezo was connected with the past and with Africa through Vodou and anchored in the present and in the Western world through his Catholic practice. These two essential aspects of Sèvitè-Andezo’s life are represented here today. In addition to that, what I see here is a glimpse of a nascent future when a global compassionate human community has come to harmonize its ancient and modern spiritual wisdoms, when adepts of Vodou and Christianity can openly live, collaborate, share and have fun together without having to hide or finger-point anything, when honest people of indigenous cultures can proudly and properly honor their ancestors in the presence of their Christian Church leaders, as we are doing it today for Sèvitè-Andezo.

In the name of Sèvitè-Andezo, I wish to compliment and manifest the utmost respect for Father ________________ (name of the Catholic Priest) who has accepted to represent the Catholic Church in this Interfaith Memorial Service. In my inner vision, I can see the smile on Sèvitè-Andezo’s face, and in my outer vision, I can see the smiles on the faces of his loved ones present here with us. Dear Father ________________ (name of the Catholic Priest), your presence and office in this Interfaith Service today brings deep meaning and healing to the memory of Sèvitè-Andezo, for his family and his community, but also for the whole Ayitian nation, which has been suffering from her inner schisms for much too long and is craving for healing, notably through inner mending and unification. Through this ceremony, we are making a promise to Sèvitè-Andezo. We are engaging ourselves on the way of honor and respect for the spiritual legacy he left as a whole for his children, the way of compassion and mutual reverence between the Vodou and Christian traditions. It is my hope and my prayer that we all will honor our promise to Sèvitè-Andezo from now on.

Sèvitè-Andezo was a guardian of the Vodou traditions of his family. He had dedicated his life to the service of the family spirits and ancestors. He lived on the family sacred land dedicated to them. But his particular service was not only concerned with family matters. As a high dignitary of the family “Rara”, he engaged in various works of spiritual nature, including balancing and healing that affected people and areas much beyond his own family and community. A “Rara” is a group of musicians, singers, dancers initiated in the Vodou mysteries, who go out in the streets during a period of about forty days per year, to cleanse, purify and energetically “repair” the invisible pathways and crossroads used by the Spirits but polluted by human impure thoughts, words and behaviors throughout the year.  They also perform other spiritual and social functions.  People go far from their homes to join the Rara and dance and sing with them in the streets.  It is a spectacular and powerful event when it happens, and it has many healing effects, both at the individual and the collective levels, on the tangible and intangible planes alike.  My friend Elizabeth McAlister, PhD, professor of Religion at Wesleyan University, wrote “Rara! Vodou, Power and Performance in Haiti and its Diaspora”; she also published a couple CD of Ayitian Rara music.  Leyogàn (Léogâne in French), which is Sèvitè-Andezo’s hometown, is also the cradle and the Mecca of Rara in Ayiti. Ayiti is the only nation in the world to have Rara. With honor and respect, I salute the several members of Sèvitè-Andezo’s Rara present with us today. Thank you for keeping our great tradition alive!

Dear Manbo ___________________ (name of the Vodou Manbo), under your magnificent leadership, the spirit of Sèvitè-Andezo has been fed in total freedom, dignity and peace. His gratefulness and that of his community for you is limitless. Sèvitè-Andezo was of those who did not hide their attachment to their family traditions, despite the high social risks such an attitude entails in Ayiti. For that reason, the present Interfaith ceremony was impossible to hold at the time of his passing. But for the same reason, for his honesty and pride, we are now holding this Interfaith Memorial with you as a co-officiant. My hope is that his children, and their descendants will find the strength within themselves and the proper conditions around them to keep the flame burning high, and to proudly carry on their family Vodou traditions in total freedom, dignity and peace. I do not doubt that the spirit of Sèvitè-Andezo will keep accompanying you and inspiring you in your crucial spiritual and cultural responsibilities.

Both Father ________________ (name of the Catholic Priest) and Manbo ___________________ (name of the Vodou Manbo) have made it clear that this service is as much for Sèvitè-Andezo as for his loved ones, his relatives and his community. Through you all who have been close to him and who still have fresh memories of him, some of which you are going to share in a little while, I feel that I am still connected with Sèvitè-Andezo. You are the carriers of his legacy and you represent that legacy today before the rest of the world. You have gone through suffering, humiliations and abuses, but you have showed how resilient and tenacious you can be. Please accept my best thoughts of support, solidarity and compassion that I offer to you in utmost honor and respect. May you be inspired and empowered by Sèvitè-Andezo’s spirit throughout many generations to come, and may you inspire other communities in search of healing, strength and wisdom.

And to you, my dear Sèvitè-Andezo, no words can accurately express the feelings of esteem and admiration I have for you. To my eyes you have crystallized major aspects of the Interfaith approach in daily life, under adverse conditions, which is one of the great immediate challenges faced by the Ayitian people and humanity at large today. I pray that we take up the challenge and grow in compassion, solidarity, respect and wisdom in continuation of the example you gave us with your life, so your spirit may be at peace. I also pray that you keep inspiring me and guiding me throughout my Interfaith Ministry, as you did while I was crafting this Memorial Service for you. May you be granted the best of the best in whatever awaits you in the realms of the afterlife.

Dear sisters and brothers, let us observe a few moments of silence to meditate on the reasons of our gathering today.

Silence

Remembrances

Relatives and friends of the Remembered share the stories and quotes of remembrances that they have prepared.

Joint Benediction

The three officiating Ministers together: May Sèvitè-Andezo’s spirit be blessed and lovingly received by the Divine Source. May his family and community carry on his best positive spiritual legacy. May we all present here today be embraced and blessed by the Divine Light, now and when it is our time to leave this visible plane.

Catholic Priest: Amen!

Audience: Amen!

Vodou Manbo: Ayibobo!

Audience: Ayibobo!

Interfaith Minister: Amen! Ayibobo! (or any other expression judged appropriate)

Audience: Amen! Ayibobo!

Sharing of the Food

The Manbo removes the Govi from the table in the room, if it had been put there, and places it in a safe place. She explains that now that the Remembered and all his family ancestors have consumed the invisible part of the food offerings, the visible part is going to be shared among the living.

The food is then served to the people present, starting with the family of the Remembered, children being first. Ideally, everyone present should at least receive something, even little.

Dismissal

If there were flowers, they are given to family members to take home.

Each of the three officiating Ministers may say a word of closing/dismissal, if it is felt appropriate.

The food offerings for Legba are taken care of as planned.

End of the Memorial Service.

Pandan m te nan gwo lotel DoubleTree, nan vil Omaha, Nebraska, mwen we yo gen yon sona pou kliyan yo. Se yon chanm yo chofe a blok pou fe ou sue, yon fason pou elimine toksin ki anndan san ou ak ko ou, epi yon fason pou detann ou, pou lache stres ki akimile anndan sistem ou. Se yon ansyen tradisyon Zanset Amerendyen nou yo te konn fe pou rezon spirityel, pou pirifikasyon, pwoteksyon ak tretman mistik. Yo te konn fe li nan No Ewop tou. Met sou sa, pou mwen se yon remed kont fredi k ap eseye kale m, men mwen pa vle kite l genyen. Monche, m deside m pral fe yon ti kout sona, pou m remete chale anndan mwel zo m ki t ap komanse fe fresko.

Le m paret sou pot sona a, m we gen moun anndan deja. Chanm nan yon ti jan piti. M pat vle al deranje moun yo. M deside ret tann yon ti moman pou m we si yo pa ta soti. M tou pwofite li pankat ki sou bo pot sona a, sou deyo. Le m di deyo a, se pa nan lari, se sou bo yon pisin fenmen, anndan lotel la. Pankat la ekri an wouj sou fon blan. Sa m li a yon ti jan fe ke m sote. Se avetisman pou tout danje sona a genyen ladan n. Yo di ou konsa:

Pa rete anndan sona a pou kont ou !

Pa kite timoun antre san paran yo pa akonpaye yo.

Pa rete anndan an pou plis pase 15 minit ! Genyen yon revey k ap sonnen apre 15 minit pou fe ou konnen.

Pa rete anndan an si ou komanse santi youn nan bagay sa yo :

- tet fe mal

- vetij

- anvi vomi

- vomisman

- nen k ap koule san

Le m li sa a, m komanse gen dout. Sanble se pa ti chale k ap toufe moun anndan an. M renmen chale se vre, men m pat vin nan peyi blan pou yo kwit mwen ! Se yon ti sona m bezwen pou fe m sonje plaj piblik Karyes pou yon ti moman. M pat vin ba yo kadav ko m pou yo fe chabon ave l… Le neg ki te anndan an soti ato, mwen komanse frikawout tout bon. Misye se yon gwo Meriken byen gra. Figi l te wouj kou yon tomat, telman l ap sue, ou gen enpresyon se anba yon gwo lapli li te ye anndan an, epi l ap soufle tankou si li te fek monte Mon Karate, aloske se chita l te chita pandan tout tan sa a…

Monche m kalkile, m kalkile, m kalkileeeeeeeeeee… Ale, pa ale ? Ale, pa ale ? M di tet mwen : “Si gwo Meriken an te siviv, m dwe kapab fe l tou !” Egal m deside m ap antre, men m tou pare pou m kouri soti kou m komanse santi san m ap bouyi anndan venn mwen. M retire rad sou mwen, sel yon bout pantalon m kenbe sou mwen. M ranmase kouraj mwen, m pran yon gwo respirasyon, epi m antre.

Premye bagay mwen santi, se fredi. M di tet mwen: “Atansyon ! Se ka yon pyej. Petet se chale a ki si telman fo, sevo m gen tan varye, li pran chale a pou fredi !” M gade ko m, m fwote men m, mwen manyen djwed mwen yo pou we si yo pa gen tan fonn. M we tout bagay anplas, epi m kontinye santi ti fredi toujou. M sonje nan kou fizik mwen te aprann van cho monte, van fret desann. M di tet mwen: “Siman se paske mwen ate, mwen pa nan kouran cho a. Se pou m monte sou dezyem ban ki pi anle a pou m ka pran chale a. Kidonk mwen monte sou ban anle a, m chita, m ap tann chale a. M chita, m chita, m chita, m chita… M poko janm pran ankenn chale. Le m voye je m gade, m we gen yon temomet anndan sona a. M gade tanperati a, li di 34 Degre Selsiyis (egal 93 Farenayit). Sa poko chale pou mwen ditou ! Lari Nouyok Siti konn pi cho pase sa, ale we pou Potoprens oswa Dakar !… Se nan sona m vini, se pa yon vyann mwen te retire nan frize vin mete deyo pou glas li ka fonn. Bouton temosta ki kontwole tanperati a sou deyo. M soti, m al gade li. M we li sou 8. M vire l sou 10, ki se maksimom li ka rive. Men fo m di ou, m komanse move. M santi non selman pankat la te twonpe m, men m preske regret mwen te mete nan tet mwen sona se yon gwo zafe.

M antre anndan anko, m al chita anle a, m ap suiv temomet la, epi kounye la a m ap tann vre chale a. Temomet la fe yon ti monte jis 40 Degre Selsiyis (104 Farenayit), epi l ret kanpe la ! M preske pa menm santi diferans la sou po m. Se le sa a revey la sonnen. M retounen mete l pou yon lot 15 minit anko. Aaa, bobin ! Revey la sonnen anko. M rebalanse l pou 15 minit anko. Monche, jis kounye la a, pandan m ap pale ave ou, m pa janm santi pyes chale menm menm menm menm menm. Kanta pou sue a, ou met bliye sa ! Se nan chanm mwen m oblije remonte al pran yon beny dlo cho, byen move.

Pa janm pale m de sona nan lotel DoubleTree anko!

April 2004; Ayiti’s Independence Bicentennial Year

Partially published in the Black Arts Quarterly, Winter 2005 issue : http://www.stanford.edu/group/CBPA/BAQ.html

downloadable PDF version: http://www.stanford.edu/group/CBPA/BAQwinter05.pdf

Available at http://djaloki.wordpress.com/2008/04/08/the-postmodern-ayiti/ and http://djaloki.blog.com/78539/

(For words in italics, refer to the glossary at the end of the text.)

A – First Word

A.1- A historical window of opportunity

Ayiti may be facing one of her most decisive historical windows of opportunity to heal, grow and shine since her independence in 1804. The current tensions and confusion – in April 2004 -, both in Ayiti and in the world, hold a tremendous potential for change. There is fear and anger in the air and in many hearts. The status quo has been challenged.  Depending on our individual and collective choices, we may sink into that fear and anger and eventually almost institutionalize the rampant cultural apartheid of our society, leading to a temporary false peace and order preceding the explosion of the social volcano, with all the violence and horror that will accompany it.  This first (and worst) case scenario is the one we will spontaneously create unless we make conscious mature choices intended to avoid it. It is the direction we are already following right now.

Nevertheless, we can still choose to take advantage of this time of necessary reaction and change to awaken to solidarity, pacification and healing which will bring that long dreamed of unity and magnificence of the Ayitian People reconciled with themselves and the external world. This best-case scenario requires difficult choices and deep changes in some of our attitudes and behaviors. At the collective level, we have not made those choices yet, but some people are already making them at the individual level.

A.2- No quick fix

Ayitian society is obviously suffering from a multiple fracture. Worse: the several parts forming Ayitian society may not have yet been unified as a Nation. They were certainly not unified during the Independence war, although they were allied. But they quickly re-severed themselves from each other soon after 1804. The social gap has been widening exponentially for the last few decades, to a point of acute tension, ripe for implosion.

As this essay will demonstrate, the current efforts being made, mainly addressing the political and economical aspects of the multiple fracture, have been proven and will continue to prove ineffective, or at best incomplete to put the unrealized Ayitian Nation on the road to unification and reconciliation with herself and the rest of the world. The political actors and experts in “development” are busy addressing the short-term emergencies and the terrible symptoms of our social dis-ease. There is nothing wrong with this, and someone should take care of these burning and painful issues, but this shouldn’t prevent the rest of us from remaining aware of the need for deep rebalancing and reprogramming: a thorough healing process that won’t be triggered by any quick fix type of approach. And then, potential actors and experts in “development” should remain aware that by addressing symptoms, as they have done and are continuing to do in Ayiti, although out of necessity and often the only thing they can do, these actions sometimes only worsen the dis-ease and push possible healing further into the distant future.

B – REMEMBRANCE: AYITI BORN WOUNDED, FRAGMENTED, OSTRACIZED

B.1- A fragmented society since its origins

For three centuries in St-Domingue (Ayiti’s French colonial name), four centuries in the rest of the Americas, the slave-driven colonial society thrived and flourished.

For the European People and their heirs, it was the most profitable form of business and economy ever known up to the present. It propelled Europe from the Middle Ages, through the Renaissance, to the Industrial Age. In North America, it allowed the creation and swift expansion of the powerful United States. Most of the richest and most powerful countries of the 21st century are former colonial powers of the slavery days.

For the Amerindians and African People and their heirs, it is still the most horrific catastrophe of all times remembered: two continents subject to genocide, deportation, torture, humiliation, and bondage during generations and generations. It abruptly brought Africa and the Americas from abundance and magnificence to the status of despoiled victims. It has been declared the biggest (in scale) crime against Humanity. Most of the so-called “Third World” countries are former colonies of the slavery days.

Since the early days in St-Domingue, the status, prerogatives and duty of an individual were clear from birth to death: one was either a Black (or Mulatto) Slave, or a White Kolon (actual or potential Slave “owner”). Soon, a new class of people arose: the Afranchi, or freed Slaves, mostly Mulattoes, often children of Black Slave women raped by their White male “owners”. The Kolon would sometimes emancipate their Mulatto children, while they continued raping the mothers, still kept in slavery.

So, during the colonial era in St-Domingue, the Kolon were White and rich, remembered Nantes, La Rochelle and Paris, spoke French at home and were raised and lived by a European worldview and paradigm, including Christianity. On the other hand, the Slaves were Black or Mulatto, had no or few possessions, remembered Guinea, Dahomey and Ayiti Kiskeya, spoke Creole and lived by an Afro-Amerindian worldview and paradigm, namely: Vodou. For the Afranchi, social ascension and success was directly and proportionally dependant on their ability to erase or hide the visible cultural marks of Africa within them and replace or cover them with European manners, “memories” and values. The more White, rich, French and Christian they managed to appear, the more social rewards they would receive. Those who were lucky enough to be sent to France to be further educated were the most fortunate. They came back as almost accomplished French citizens; the lighter their skin, the more complete the transformation.

B.2-  Cultural Apartheid 

One of the strongest and most resilient values of the colonial system was the system of cultural apartheid establishing a vertical moral hierarchy that defined the worth of individuals in society and in God’s eyes. From the evil Bosal (untamed, un-baptized, newly arrived African Slave, close to the beast and Black Satan), to the good Kolon (close to the White male God), going through all the intermediate strata, the closer to the top, the better in moral terms, hence the prouder. In other terms, the closer to the bottom, the more shameful.

This cultural apartheid was, and still is to a great extent, collectively and publicly accepted as righteous. It was the politically correct social structure. It is important for the reader to understand that, at the individual level, even the Slaves of the bottom of the scale accepted it, once they had been broken. Those who did not accept the hierarchy were unlikely to survive the breaking process. The boldness and impudence expressed by the most rebellious ones was often, and still is, a distorted manifestation of their acceptance of the inferiority that they were trying to hide. It was, and is, rarely an expression of freedom from the conditioning of the colonial system, as if they were saying: “I know I am inferior to you, but by impressing and scaring you, I will eventually make you believe otherwise”. The great majority of the Slaves and the Afranchi were thus in a condition of extreme self-hatred, with disdain for their peers or “inferiors”, and with admiration/resentment for their “superiors”, especially the Kolon.

This does not mean that all Slaves were completely broken and accepted the moral hierarchy with no sense of inner freedom, self-esteem and dignity. This is proved by the countless numbers that tried escape again and again (despite incredibly brutal treatments reserved for “runaways”), until they went to swell the ranks of the resistant Mawon, rebuilding humane communities outside of the colonial system where respect was a key value, and preferring to die rather than going back to slavery.

B.3- The endemic schizophrenic double personality of the Slave

Most Slaves and Afranchi had to manufacture an artificial personality to be able to survive in the colonial society. The personality that they had to adopt in public produced two main psychological problems:

• it was intrinsically unhealthy because it forced admiration for the otherwise abhorred oppressive Master,
• it came in strong value conflict with the real inner personality of the Slave; many of the core values of the superimposed personality came in direct opposition to Afro-Amerindian values that were part of the core personality of the Slave.

The obedient, well tamed Slave had to be distrustful of his peers, servile to his oppressor, unattached to his loved ones (who could get sold separately at any time), willing to suffer physical and psychological abuse for no reason, accept meaningless names which changed with every new Master, could not be in touch with nature as he wanted and needed, could not speak his Ancestors language or even honor them properly, could not send his children to initiation rites to have them learn the traditional ways, arts and secrets, could not live in a tribal environment, could not honor the Spirits, had to look like a good Christian, etc. All those constraints collided violently with their precise opposite within the Afro-Amerindian self of the Slave.

The result was the emergence of a double personality: the Slave self, more or less obedient or rebellious and the Afro-Amerindian self, completely unadapted to the colonial society. This latter self had to retreat into a mental hiding place, away from the official life of the Slave, creating a double fracture:

• The individual inner fracture between the Slave self and the Afro-Amerindian self, each with their own different paradigms (double personality),
• The social outer fracture between the Slave, unable to become fully Europeanized (hence socially correct), and the rest of society, notably all its European aspects, and the European-minded individuals (schizophrenia).

That is the origin of the psychosocial mawonaj of the individuals forced to survive in an oppressive and culturally foreign society. Initially, it was aimed at producing a minimal social functionability for Slaves in an enemy system to which they could not or would not comply completely, and that they could not destroy. It later produced the underground, informal and “unformalizable” Ayitian culture, invisible and inaccessible from the official social system based on modern western (foreign?) values. In a social system supposedly formed and run by Ayitians, with Ayitians and for Ayitians, it looks like a systematically self-sabotaging mentality with lots of counterproductive aspects.

We will come back to this, later in this essay. What we want to stress here is the double fracture, already existing at the individual level, within the Slave psyche: the 2 antagonistic personalities (double personality), one of these being considered antisocial (schizophrenia) and gone into mental hiding. These two individual fractures are at the root of the collective multiple fractures of the Ayitian society.

B.4- Back to Africa in the Caribbean

In Ayiti, physical mawonaj and resistance can be traced back to the very beginning of slavery itself. It is reported that some Africans brought to the island as Slaves in the early 1500’s went directly into hiding in the mountains. There, they certainly met with Taino People, themselves in hiding too, survivors of the forced labor and genocide perpetrated by the Spanish. From the Spanish Masters to the French Masters, more and more Africans were brought in, and many Creole Slaves were born in the plantations. Many of them were able to reach the mountains where they joined Mawon camps and communities. The first generations of Mawon had received a friendly welcome from the Taino already living there. From the Taino, the African and Creole Mawon learned how to survive in their new environment, partly unknown to them, but also partly familiar due to the similarities with the fauna, flora and climate in some places in Africa. In the camps, the Mawon recreated communities with African values. Humans, families, tribes, trees, rivers, birds, snakes, fire, water, wind, earth, drums, Ancestors and Spirits recovered their legitimate place within a rebalanced Afro-Amerindian world that made sense and was fit for its new home. The future Ayitian Mawon culture and social substructure, Afro-Amerindian in essence, was in gestation.

Down in the plains, the colony flourished so much that loads and loads of additional “Ebony”, fresh from Africa, was brought in. In the last fifty years before the revolution, more Africans were brought to St-Domingue than during the three preceding centuries altogether! In this case, it is correct to say that the population, which launched and won the revolution, and then created a new Nation, was culturally African (composed of African born people and re-Africanized Mawons), with elements of Amerindian and Creole Slave cultures.

B.5- The alliance of the Negroes and the Mulattoes

The Afranchi, mostly Mulattoes, were not Slaves. Neither were they Slave Masters in the full sense, although several of them owned a few Slaves. Despite their relative freedom, they were still marked with the moral (and pigmentary) stains of their origins. The White Kolon looked down at them with little difference from the way they looked at Slaves. In addition, the Afranchi did not have much decision-making or political power in the colonial society.

When the Slave revolt turned into a war for independence, many Mulattoes joined the side of the Slaves, with the obvious, logical and understandable intention of getting rid of the social and political domination of the Kolon and the French metropolitan colonial administration. The population who went to the battlefield was roughly composed (in decreasing numerical order) of:

• Africans
• Creoles (lots of them with the double personality psyche)
• Mawons (culturally Afro-Amerindian)
• Mulattoes (lots of them culturally Europeans) 

The Independence war was won by an alliance of several very different Nations, with very different cultural backgrounds, but the alliance was effective and its unbelievable success inspired our national motto: “Union creates strength”.

B.6- Independence: What Nation? Whose state?

The heat and excitation of the war had occulted a strong heritage of the colonial era: the cultural apartheid system in which the different coexisting Nations were strictly classified on a vertical ladder. Those on the top of the ladder were the minority, but their values were indeed chosen to establish the basis of the new society. That’s how Ayiti ended up with a western model of state governance, a western legal model, a western economic model, a western religion, a western language and, most notably, a western education system ensuring the perennity of the whole system for generations to come. It is a miracle, or an abnormality, that the name chosen for the newborn state was not western as well. The state system was, in most aspects, the direct heir of the colonial system, designed to promote the prosperity of the western-minded minority and keep the Afro-Amerindian majority in bondage and labor.

The Ayitian state quickly became the first enemy of the Ayitian People, who went back into hiding, physically and psychologically. The andeyò country was created. Viewed from andeyò, the state and the elite living “inside” it were of a foreign culture and spoke a foreign language: the language of the “Kolon”. This state has since been the ideal tool for foreign imperialistic powers to keep the Ayitian People under control and neo-colonial rule.

C – HERE AND NOW: COMPLEXES AND DYSFUNCTIONAL RELATIONSHIPS

C.1- 2004: a 200-year-old dysfunctional family relationship

For the last two centuries, we have been trying to heal from our historical scars and create a prosperous Nation, against the will of the powerful at home and abroad. We have not achieved that goal so far. We have not even been able to liberate ourselves from the colonial cultural apartheid system, despite our political independence from the colonial power.

The upper classes of society continue to think, live and educate their children in a western fashion, oriented toward Paris and New York. The lower classes raise their children in an Afro-Amerindian fashion rooted in Ouidah and Yagwana, and the middle classes are selling off body and soul to uproot their children out of the andeyò hell to replant them into the Brooklyn heaven, via the Port-au-Prince purgatory. Any resemblance to the “Kolon”, the Slaves and the Afranchi may be purely fortuitous…

We are like a peculiar dysfunctional family. The western-minded father sees himself as the paragon of perfection, thinks he is intrinsically and morally superior, acts with arrogance and paternalism, and keeps and manages 90% of the resources and means of production of the household. When he needs to take a break, he goes to Miami, where his cousins are.

The Afro-Amerindian minded mother has a double life. She really lives in the backyard, where she tries desperately to survive on the meagre garden she is maintaining. She does not understand the father’s language or logic, but she needs to go inside the house to exchange products she grows in the backyard for goods the father brings in from outside the homestead. The house is a foreign world to which she has to adapt whenever she goes in there. Every rule in the house is set by the father. Most important communications are made in his language. It is usually considered improper to speak the mother’s language, or use her natural medicines, inside the house. Everybody must dress, eat, pray, sing, talk and behave as the father does. The mother feels very uncomfortable and helpless inside. She goes there only when it is necessary for survival, or when the father summons her in. She is not allowed to leave the homestead. When she needs to take a break, she plays her drums in the backyard and travels in Spirit to Guinea, where her Ancestors are.

The child, born in the house, is a little confused. She was raised by the mother in the backyard, but she was schooled in the house, where she could observe the father and learn some of his language and ways. At school, she was taught to be ashamed of the mother and to idealize the father and identify with him. She dreams of becoming just as he is and of being able to do everything the way he does them. She learns by mimicking and tries hard to copy the father in every detail. When she does not understand or cannot afford the father’s ways, she fakes them, even against her own well-being and health. She is in awe of the father, but resents his arrogance and indifference. She thinks she is intrinsically and morally inferior, but tries to hide it by being bold and impudent. She would like to be allowed to use all the facilities of the house, but the father lets her only have access to a limited number of them. She rarely takes a break. She would like to join her sister in Little Haiti in Miami, Florida and stay there forever, but she has not managed to get the authorization to leave the homestead yet. Meanwhile, she sometimes joins the mother in the backyard, awaiting better days.

C.2- A question of relationships

The fracture of the Ayitian society is essentially a cultural one. It is exacerbated by cultural apartheid in which Euro-North American is good and Afro-Amerindian is bad (or evil). The famous “Question of Color” is a direct historical corollary of this system. It is not basic to the social gap in Ayiti and, after hundreds of generations and the cultural conversion-ascension of several Black people, it is slowly beginning to be challenged. However, the essential problem remains unaltered.
I am now ready to present a thesis that may shock more than a few and that, if proven true, will require a thorough rethinking and redesigning of the “development” strategies in Ayiti.

The economical gap is not essential to the social fracture in Ayiti! It is a symptom of the system of cultural apartheid.   Better said: it is the result of the material sanctions of cultural apartheid. Fluency in the Euro-North American culture is materially rewarded in the Ayitian society, while Afro-Amerindian behavior is materially punished. Besides that, a bourgeois, francophone and culturally a westerner, may be broke, but he will remain high on the social ladder and he will keep many of his privileges (even if his skin is black). On the other hand, a peasant (with black or light skin) or a inner-city youth, undereducated in western standards and hardly able to speak French, may win the lottery, but social privileges reserved to the upper class will remain impossible or difficult for him to get. The wall between the two is a result of their cultural differences, their different languages and their different native communities.

In Ayiti, the common schisms (racism, classism, sexism), although present and strong, are surpassed by the “culturocism”, or cultural apartheid. Countless development projects, systemic reforms, financial aid plans and, most of all, the schooling system, are designed and applied from a Euro-North American cultural perspective and often contribute to worsen the unbalance and injustice. Schools basically teach Afro-Amerindian Ayitian kids to be ashamed of their origins, their parents and their culture, to repress their native cultural habits and to fake fluency and ease in a foreign oppressive system with more or less efficiency, while leaving them absolutely ignorant and unprepared in their own culture and environment.

During the last few decades, even taking in account the different embargoes and aid suspensions, Ayiti has seen the flow of financial aid significantly grow. In the same period, the gap between the Haves (mostly Euro-North American minded) and the Have-nots has widened in even larger proportions. It just does not work because the root of the problem is not addressed. It is not a question of money; it is a question of relationships to start with, and then a question of education (not only in western terms).

C.3- The peaceful way

The Revolution of 1804 was violent and bloody. Perhaps, there was no other way because everybody’s position was fixed, irrevocable and irreconcilable:

• Liberty or Death for the Slaves and their allies;
• Restoration of the Slave-fuelled colony at all costs for the Kolon.

Circumstances and Spirits had to choose a winner and a loser, but peace was no longer a possibility.

Despite much confusion and cosmetic talk of development, democracy, rule of law, human rights, disarming and non-violence, the current situation in Ayiti is similar in many aspects to that of the late 1700’s. More than a few are preparing for the final bloody confrontation between classes, with the secret hope that their own class will be the chosen winner. Pernicious fear and anger are building up.
There is an obvious need for deep transformation in the Ayitian society. Another revolution is on its way, whether we like it or not, and however foreign powers try to postpone it. It is a vital necessity and it will happen, eventually. The question is not about how to avoid it. The question is: “Can Ayiti make her new revolution (relatively) peacefully?”

And the answer is: Yes!
With conditions.

As exposed earlier, the root of social tension in Ayiti is not the economic disparity between classes, although the acuteness of that disparity reinforces and complicates the tension. The primary cause of the tension is the unbalance created by cultural apartheid expressed through destructive (and self-destructive) class behaviors. The upper classes and the whole state formal structure function in an arrogant paternalistic way that is humiliating and demeaning to the other classes. The lower classes function in an outsider underground and fiercely resistant way that scares and irritates the upper class. The middle classes function in one way or another, depending on who is watching, trying to become (or to be taken for) upper class, but nurturing a love-hate relationship toward that class. The middle and lower classes suffer from a severe complex of inferiority. The relationships between classes are basically marked by distrust, deceit, mystification and, above all, profound misunderstanding.

Nevertheless, the class dynamics in Ayiti, although multifaceted, are not very difficult to understand for someone willing to embrace the different viewpoints. Unfortunately, the leaders, thinkers and the elite, almost all exclusively thinking and operating within a modern western (Euro-North American) paradigm, seem to have failed in efficiently interpreting the indicators of acute widening of the social fracture. The Ancients taught that what counts is not what is being done; the intention behind what is being done is what ultimately counts. Your true deep inner intention (sometimes not clearly conscious) will determine the orientation and result of your deeds. Only an analysis of intentions will shed light on behaviors and situations we want to understand and transform.

Let me suggest a very simple scenario of intentions that may help one understand social dynamics in Ayiti, maybe from an unusual perspective. This over-simplified model should not, of course, be taken too literally. It is just a tool, hopefully helpful though incomplete, to be used for a first analysis.

The modern western-minded upper class is bothered by the harassment and impudence of the other classes. Its intention is to stop being harassed and targeted. To achieve that, it tries to put as much separation and distance between itself and the other classes as possible.

The Creole and Afro-Amerindian middle and lower classes feel disrespected, disdained and rejected by the upper class. Their intention is to get acknowledgement and respect from the upper class. To achieve that, they annoy, pressure and eventually threaten the upper class to force it into acts of sharing, not primarily for the material benefits but for the psycho-emotional ones. They evidently need to get and stay physically close to the upper class.

So, the more the lower side is trying to force the upper side to share, the less the upper side will actually want to share, and the more it will want to mark the separation. This will cause more pressure from the lower side, which will lead to an increased repression and self-protection from the upper side, etc. It looks like a vicious circle, a “Catch 22″ situation.

But it is not.
There is an exit.

It should be said, at this point that we are aware that such generalized statements about vague groups of people don’t do complete justice to the real situation in that they don’t apply to countless individuals within the mentioned groups. There are many Ayitians, and maybe a few institutions, which are not under the spells of their class pathologies and are able to reach out of their class ghettoes. Many of those people have been instrumental in limiting the increase of the social gap and in decreasing the risks and occurrence of violence. If their examples are promoted and widely followed, systemically and systematically, we may perhaps reverse the current trend and actually progress toward reconciliation and healing.

C.4- “Bay kou bliye; pote mak sonje!”

The One who hits forgets; the One who carries the scar remembers! -Ayitian proverb
The conflictive class dynamic in Ayiti is a historical legacy, and except for maybe a few months before (and perhaps a few months after as well) the day of Independence, power as always been the domain of the same western-minded upper class, be it political, economic, social, religious, military, linguistic, legal, or educational. It is hence the responsibility of the upper class, from its position of power, to make the first move heading out of the vicious circle, intended at bridging the gap by behaving in a less arrogant fashion. The difficulty resides in the fact that the superiority complex underlying the arrogance has become so ingrained in the self-righteous western worldview and education that we are often not even aware of our arrogant behaviors, while they are observed and felt, remembered and resented by the people they affect.

I purposefully say “we” because a great number of Ayitians, although not identifying themselves as “upper class” people, will have more than occasional arrogant behavior with other people they view (or want to make feel) as “inferior”. If social power is the privilege of the upper class on the collective level, arrogant behavior is not exclusive to that class on the individual level.  Although I do suggest that the upper class as a group should let go of its arrogance if we want to see a social change in Ayiti, I do not ignore the arrogance frequently showed by people from lower classes in presence of people from even lower classes than them.  At the individual level, virtually every Ayitian is concerned.

C.5- The pacification and defragmentation spiral

Let us consider this little piece of wisdom about power, respect and arrogance, borrowed from the Traditional Way of the Ginen.

“Power gives you choice.
You choose to use your power with respect or with arrogance.
 
If you choose respect,
respect brings forth relationships.
Relationships bring forth knowledge.
Knowledge brings forth inner power (non apparent) and appreciation.
This power is yours to choose how to use it,
but appreciation usually brings forth more respect.
And if you keep choosing respect,
you are on the Way of the Inner Power,
or the ascending Spiral of the Fran Ginen toward Oneness.
 
If you choose arrogance instead,
arrogance brings forth separation.
Separation brings forth ignorance.
Ignorance brings forth fear.
Fear brings forth more separation and violence.
Violence brings forth outer power (apparent).
Outer power usually brings forth more arrogance.
And if you keep choosing arrogance,
you are on the Way of the Outer Power,
or the descending Spiral of Fragmentation toward Chaos.”

Respect calls forth Respect. Anyone who has spent a few days in Ayiti knows that the defiant, sometimes aggressive look on the face of Ayitian People in the streets, loaded with 500 years of abuse, oppression, rape, deceit and exploitation, will often easily fade in a matter of minutes to be replaced by a large sincere smile, after a warm greeting and a few words or signs of care and respect. And the vicious circle is broken. This does not mean that the wounds are healed. It will take much more than that, but the healing process is launched and it will feed itself in an accelerated fashion.

Of course, it is not always that easy in reality. There are risks, but that is the cost of the reversing of the current trend, if we want to launch a pacification and defragmentation process. Others would call those risks “collaterals”… One should start by transforming already existing close relationships, not so charged in potential violent conflict, but in a state of unbalance. New relationships should be started with the new awareness of potential arrogance and with respect for non-western paradigms.
In brief, if we want to achieve our peaceful revolution, it is required from each of us that we hunt down the arrogance in our thoughts, words and actions, and replace it with respect. We are all concerned, but the more privileged or powerful we are in society, the more responsibility we bear in transforming our behaviors, especially in relationships where expressions of the Western culture are interacting with expressions of the Afro-Amerindian culture, or with the Creole alienated Slave culture.

D – THE DREAM: A BICULTURAL POST-MODERN AYITI RECONCILED WITH HERSELF AND WITH THE WORLD

D.1- The bilingual/bicultural post-modern society

If a common view of an ideal Ayiti can be shared by almost everyone, once enough individuals are able to hold the vision as the ultimate goal of all their endeavors, we can legitimately hope that the vision will materially manifest and establish itself against any obstacle and difficulty. That is how our Ancestors made the modern Ayiti in 1804, and that is how we will make the post-modern Ayiti, starting from 2004, if we decide so. And our inner light will shine once again for the great grand children of our great grand children.

Let us envision a healthy Ayiti, healed, reintegrated, reconciled with all parts and all aspects of herself, with all Nations and with the respectful states of the world; a powerful unified Ayiti with her inner native potential strengths and beauties fully developed. I suggest that our post-modern Ayiti is bilingual and bicultural. All post-modern Ayitians are fluent in the two languages (Ayitian Creole and French) and in the two cultural systems (Euro-North American, i.e. Western, and Afro-Amerindian, i.e. Primordial), but everyone is rooted in his own community cultural system and a Master in it. Individuals and groups are healthy, free from complexes or lack of self-esteem. There is a systemic equal respect and admiration for the two systems, notably in the educational programs and of course in the state structure. These two cultural systems peacefully cohabit within the society without any moral classification imposing a vertical hierarchy between them. Both systems have their own areas of relevance and competence and are accessible to all Ayitians, although most citizens are rooted in one of the two systems, by origin, by personal history, by choice, or otherwise. In some social spaces, public or private, the two systems intersect and interact, but in other social areas, one system is predominant while the other is intentionally and consciously limited or kept away.

The educational system is based on a set of positive values taken from both systems. All children are raised in a perfect bilingualism, but can choose at some point to specialize more and deepen their expertise in Ayitian Creole or in French.

D.2- Primordial + Modern = Post-modern

We call “Primordial” the Afro-Amerindian creolophone system, and “Modern” the Euro-North American francophone one. The Post-modern Ayiti is the harmonious complementary connection and interaction between the Primordial Ayiti and the Modern Ayiti. Let us look at some of the functions, aspects and strengths of the two systems and their conjunction.

 
D.3- Four national post-modern values

The core value system in the unified post-modern Ayiti is different from the one in the fragmented modern Ayiti. Here is a suggestion of four core values among those underlying the post-modern way of thinking and behaving.
The first three values are rooted in the Primordial culture. The fourth is inspired from the Ecological movement of the modern Western culture. These four values have guided the elaboration of this essay since its first paragraph. They can serve to test and evaluate the relevance and appropriateness of projects, programs or interventions allegedly intended at improving the well-being of the Ayitian People, as offered by NGO’s, churches, armies, international institutions, aid and cooperation agencies, organizations, private businesses, political parties, individuals, laws and regulations, etc.

D.3.1- Respect

In Ayiti, paying respect is a sine qua non prerequisite condition to any efficient endeavour, especially in human relationships. The Primordial conception of Respect seems to be slightly different from the Western one. In Primordial terms, Respect means fusion, “walking in the same shoes”, closeness, acceptance, embrace, connectedness and, most of all, sharing. Translated into Western terms, it is perhaps more akin to “Love” than to the English term “Respect”. It does not convey ideas of vital space, distance (leaving the other in peace, or alone), or fear.
Even in English or in French the etymological meaning of “re-spect” is “to look again”, from “re”: again, and “spectare” (from “specere”): to look at. Respect implies an intentional movement toward what is being looked at, in order to look again, better and deeper. Respect means to hold judgement until a better knowledge and understanding is established. It means a willingness to change one’s previous, and maybe prejudiced, opinion on someone or something. Respect is often the beginning of a new relationship and the guarantee of its continuation.
In the Primordial Ayiti, as well as in the Post-modern Ayiti, Respect guides relationships with everything:

• With Humans (individuals, communities, Nations, different genders, Elders, children, foreigners, different religions, handicapped people, different people, etc.);
• With Nature (the Earth, animals, plants, natural cycles and processes, ecosystems, the cosmos, etc.);
• With Spirits (spiritual laws, the Lwa, Ancestors, the Dead, unborn people, energies, the Spoken Word, etc.)

The Western aspect of Respect implying cautious humility is applied to the unknown. “Sa ou pa konnen pi gran pase w.” (What you do not know is greater than you are. – Ayitian proverb).
Directly out of the Respect value, comes the rule of no harm to what is not harming. Which implies to refrain from any attempts to destroy, deform, change, or even “develop”, “help”, or “convert”, without request, what comes from a different perspective. The other side of the coin is the right to be different and to remain undisturbed in one’s customs, the right to define dignity and success in one’s own terms.

D.3.2- Balance

Balance is one of the main driving forces of the universe. It is the underlying concept behind the human values of Justice and Peace. It is also the first principle in dealing with duality. It eventually brings about dynamic equilibrium between opposed or complementary forces (Life and Death, hot and cold, sweet and bitter, water and fire, woman and man, day and night, unification and fragmentation, Primordial and Western, The Yin and Yang of the Tao from China…)
Balance is also the underlying principle behind the Primordial sustainable economy and development. An important Primordial energy management tool is derived from the value of Balance. The Creole word for it is bòne to which the closest term in English is probably “binding”, conveying both the meanings of tying up and confining, or restricting. It is applied with great proficiency to energies, processes or mechanisms lacking self-regulation, with a tendency to reach extremes and to become harmful if they are left unattended. When the art of bòne is well mastered, it allows dealing with potentially destructive forces and channelling them in a constructive fashion. The result is that such destructive forces need not to be completely rejected, which proves impossible in lots of cases anyway, and the value of Respect is fully honored.

D.3.3- Relationships

In Ayiti, even presently, virtually nothing meaningful can be achieved with people without a manifest intention of a long-term respectful balanced relationship. The Afro-Amerindian Ayitians are described by modern psychologists as “people oriented people”, as opposed to “things oriented people” from other cultures. In a sincere relationship, the health of the relationship itself counts more than its tangible outcome. However, sound long-term tangible outcomes are only achievable through sincere relationships. The essential difference between the Post-modern Ayiti and the Modern one is that, in the former, intra-social intercultural relationships are healed, sustainable, harmonious and productive, in an inter-dependant collaborative fashion.
This value is at the root of all processes of social inclusion and integration. It is a primary factor in public security matters.  Relationships should be maintained and nurtured even with undesirable or disruptive elements of the society. Without relationships, there can be no respect – hence no dignity, hence no balance and no justice – and social peace is in jeopardy.
The Relationship value is also concerned with interactions with non-human elements of the environment, like animals, plants, minerals and subtle energies, including an important category: the Ancestors. In the Primordial worldview, we are all related, and we could gain great advantages in remaining wholly related in the post-modern worldview as well.

D.3.4- Think globally, act locally

Borrowed from the ecological “Green” Western movement, this value is crucial for the sustainability and efficiency of all our endeavors. Another big difference between the Modern and Post-modern Ayiti is that in the latter, thought processes are reconnected with planetary and cosmic contexts, while actions are firmly anchored in the reality of their local human scale environment.
A Ayitian post-modern variant of this value is “Community thinking, individual commitment to action”. This attitude draws from both Primordial and Western abilities. The community or collective thinking is typically Primordial. Modern Western-minded people sometimes have trouble understanding it. They may not even suspect its existence in human communities or Nations. From a Modern Western perspective, collective thinking seems to be akin to the way ants, bees, sheep herds and flocks of birds function. From the Primordial perspective though, it is just one attribute of the egregor (or group Spirit) of a collectivity, with its own personality, processes, logic, consciousness and intentions, sometimes different from those of any individual in that collectivity. Most Ayitians are functionally familiar with collective Spirits.
The “individual commitment to action” complements collective thinking by integrating the “power of One”. It is driven by an acute individual awareness in which Modern Western-minded people often excel, and that many Ayitians could develop with much benefit. It must be firmly bòne (bound) though to counter its natural tendency to produce selfishness and eventually arrogance.

E – LAST WORD

The suffering of Ayiti and her apparent inability to take care of herself come partly from deep historical wounds and ills, both both in Ayiti and elsewhere in the world, that have never been attended. Profound healing treatments are necessary. These treatments, and the sustainability of their results, will require drastic changes in attitudes and behaviors from Ayitians and from foreigners who claim they want to help.
A lot of energy has been spent to appoint very western-minded and sometimes arrogant individuals at the reins of our Nation, with the “help” of completely western and extremely arrogant, though clumsy, foreign military forces. The most genuine and altruistic efforts of those individuals and forces may give a temporary impression of control and improvement, but they are unlikely to launch the necessary peaceful revolution of the intercultural conciliation and mutual respect which is perhaps the only sustainable option for the Ayitian Nation, and for Humanity. But it would presently be very difficult and quite unwise to expect a movement in that direction with the current actors in (or fighting for) power, in the forefront or in the background. The system of cultural apartheid, establishing a moral hierarchy between the modern western paradigm and the primordial paradigm is what we have to change, at all levels of society. Let us not fool ourselves by hoping that this change will happen with a few cosmetic adjustments in the political arena, enforcing our (western-oriented) laws, and building a few roads, schools and hospitals. We will just be covering up the mouth of the volcano for a while, only to postpone an ever more violent eruption a few years down the road… Unless the commonly shared irritation and indignation caused by the attitude of the foreign military power, familiarly reminding us of some abhorred arrogant imperialistic colonization and occupation, force us to unite once again, this time for cultural survival, freedom and dignity.
We are all concerned, from the top to the bottom of our present society. Down with the arrogance of our condescending western mind, and up with the dignity of our zombified mind! Peacefully, but firmly and steadily. And the more socially privileged (i.e. the more modern western our social image is), the more responsibility to make the first moves. We can and must create a mature bilingual bicultural post-modern Ayiti free from cultural apartheid and where not only human rights of individuals are respected (from a multicultural point of view, not only from a western one), but also community and Nation rights.

As long as she is kept fragmented, Ayiti will remain a “problem” in a world dominated by the modern western culture and in process of globalization. When she starts healing though, she will reveal herself as a key actor and facilitator in the healing of Humanity and the world, in desperate need of sustainable respectful balanced intercultural relationships… or war.
 
GLOSSARY

For most Ayitian words, the Creole spelling has been chosen in the text.
The glossary gives the French and English translations, or closest equivalents, when available. In some cases, an explanation is added.

Afranchi – Fr: Affranchi - Eng: emancipated Slave

andeyò – Fr: en-dehors – Eng: outside – Used to design rural areas and the people living there, considered as being outside of the Western World.

Ayibobo! - Expression used in Vodou ceremonies (Rada rite) to express complete agreement and utmost respect, sometimes translated into “Amen!” or “Alleluia!”

Ayiti – Fr: Haïti – Eng: Haiti

Ayitian – Fr: Haïtien – Eng: Haitian –  “Free spelling” of the derivatives of “Haiti” following its native Creole spelling: Ayiti

bòne – Fr: borner – Eng: to bind

Bosal – Fr: Bossale – In the colonial vocabulary: unbaptized, untamed, rebellious Slave; the very “lowest” and “worst” individual in society.
- In the modern Ayitian vocabulary: an individual with no or very little apparent Western culture; considered potentially anti-social and violent.
- In the post-modern Ayitian vocabulary: a rebellious Primordial individual committed to “Liberty or Death” in the (neo-) colonial society.
 
Boujwa – Fr & Eng: Bourgeois – In Ayiti, Bourgeois refers to the upper class, not to the middle class as in France, in the 18th century.

bouziye – Fr: bousillée – A traditional construction technique for rural houses using dirt on the walls; from the old obsolete French definition, not the modern one available in a recent French dictionary.

cheve grenn – Fr: cheveux crépus – Eng: frizzed or kinky hair, typically black People’s hair.

Dawome – Fr & Eng: Dahomey – Historical West African kingdom; the cradle of Vodou in Africa; one Vodou rite among others in Ayiti.

Fran Ginen – A Human Being who has attained the ultimate stage of spiritual realization.

Ginen – Fr: Guinée – Eng: Guinea – West African country where many Slaves were taken to be sold in St-Domingue (the name of Ayiti during the colony).
- In Vodou: African Spirit.
- According to context, may convey an idea of purity.

Kiskeya – Fr & Eng: Quisqueya – One of the Taino names of the island also named Ayiti, sometimes called Hispaniola by Europeans. Two countries are presently sharing space on the island: Ayiti and the Dominican Republic.

Kolon – Fr: Colon – Eng: Slave Master – In the modern vocabulary: anyone with an exploitative, abusive, arrogant, racist or paternalistic attitude, especially toward lower or middle class Ayitians.

Kreyòl – Fr: Créole – Eng: Creole – In the colonial vocabulary: born in the islands, referring to people, language, Spirits or else.
- In the modern Ayitian vocabulary: the Ayitian language; anything, or anyone typically Ayitian.
- In the post-modern vocabulary: something or someone of mixed origins, from Europe, Africa and the Americas, more specifically someone in a state of confusion due to a double personality syndrome.

Lwa – Fr: Loa – Spirits, archetypal energies. 

Mawon – Fr: Marron – Eng: Maroon – In the colonial vocabulary: “run-away” Slave.
- In the Modern Ayitian vocabulary: individual with double personality trying to hide his illicit activities and his lack of skills in the Western World, and secretly sabotaging the social order; considered harmful for society.
- In the Primordial Ayitian vocabulary: an individual forced to hide for his security and survival.
- In the Post-modern Ayitian vocabulary: a freedom fighter able to operate successfully within the neo-colonial society without getting caught by the oppressive system.
 
Mawonaj – Fr: Marronnage – Eng: Marooning, going into hiding; the condition (or art) of the “Mawon”.
 
Medsen fèy – Fr: Médecin-feuilles, guérisseur – Eng: Herbal healer (“Bush Doctor” or “Witch Doctor”), traditional healer using natural remedies.

Ouidah (see Wida)

plasaj – Fr: plaçage – The condition of a life partner not officially married; concubinage.
 
plase – Fr: plassé/e – The life partner not officially married; concubine.
 
tafya – Fr: tafia, eau de vie de canne à sucre – Eng: Sugar cane aqua vitae; rhum lightening.
 
Vodou – Fr: Vaudou – Eng: Voodoo – The Creole spelling marks the differentiation from the Hollywood negative and sensationalistic version of Voodoo. Vodou is sometimes spelled Vodoun to better respect the African pronunciation.
 
Wida – Fr & Eng: Ouidah (sometimes Wydah or Whydah in Eng.) – A city in Dahomey.
 
Yagwana – Fr & Eng: Yaguana – The capital city of the Xaragua, one of the 5 Taino kingdoms of the island of Kiskeya when the Europeans arrived in the 15th century. The name of the town of Leogane is derived from Yagwana, and Leogane is located near or on the ancient site of Yagwana.
 
Completed in Port-au-Prince, on the 104th day of the Independence Bicentennial Year of Ayiti,
and the 47th day of foreign military occupation,
April 13, 2004.
 
~ Djalòki ~ 

“In the abundance of water the fool is thirsty” – Bob Marley -

“We are all related” – Primordial Word of Wisdom – 

Djalòki N.J.L.B. Dessables is a post-modern seeker of ancient wisdom integrating his multicultural Ayitian roots (African, Native, European) and translating primordial vision and spirituality into today’s context with the intention to help create a sustainable multicultural post-modern society in balance with herself, Nature and the Cosmos, and practicing reverence for the unity of Life by respecting its manifest diversity.  He is a member of DOA/BN (www.haititravels.org, raising cross-cultural awareness and respect), co-founder of the “N a Sonje/We Will Remember” Foundation (reawakening and re-enacting the memory of historical cultures around the Atlantic Ocean), co-founder of “Chimen Memwa/Memory Lane” (an alternative historical/cultural radio show in Ayiti) and founder of “21 Jenerasyon/21 Generations” (international public speaking on cross-cultural and cross-spiritual awareness and respect).

(cliquez ici pour la version française)

There is a Natural Mystique blowing through the air.

If you listen carefully now, you will hear.

This could be the first trumpet,

might as well be the last.

Many more will have to suffer,

many more will have to die.

Don’t ask me why.

Things are not the way they used to be.

I won’t tell no lie.

- Bob Marley – “Natural Mystic”, 1977

Like so many people, I have felt the impact of the September 11, 2001 events in the USA on a very personal level. As well as for a lot of people, those events have forced me to reflect and search for inspiration for the deep causes and possible consequences. But my thoughts and inspirations apparently don’t lead me on the same path as most people, at least for what the little I understand that comes from the media. These thoughts are what I want to share here.

The Western World

 My name is Djalòki. I am from Ayiti, i.e. I am Haitian. Although my culture is significantly marked by European culture, which is one of its 3 main roots, I am not, culturally speaking, a Westerner. There are 2 other important branches in my culture, one is rooted in my African ancestors, and the other comes from the Original Peoples of the So-Called Americas (incorrectly referred to as Indian). These roots can be called primordial or indigenous. My primordial cultural roots are more dominant than my European one in terms of my mental paradigms and perceptions of the “objective” reality. Even at the genetic level, the characteristics derived from my family’s European gene pool does not, by any standard, make me European. This, though, doesn’t prevent me from feeling close to my western cousins. And I must admit that my current life style is very influenced by the Western World, more by adaptation to a dominant system in which I want to survive, than by deliberate choice. I also recognize that I benefit, to a limited amount, from some of the effects and products of western technology. Therefore, as long as I haven’t completely forsaken it, I will take partial responsibility in the destruction and evil created by that technology.

 When I use the word Westerner, though, I am referring to people, communities and institutions who consider themselves modern and civilized, or who would like to become as such, and who think and act accordingly, be them from Europe, North America, Latin America, Africa, Asia or else.

 In order to be able to share my reflections about the September 11, 2001 events, I need to present a few aspects, specific to my primordial cultural roots – hence non western – that constitute the foundations of these reflections. For this, I allow the primordial aspects of my global culture to flow to the forefront of my consciousness, while the western paradigm remains dormant in the background, just animated enough to enable me to use a vocabulary understandable by the Westerners. From this point on, my primordial soul will be predominant in my words.

The Invisibles

 We have learned from our Elders, who themselves learned from our Ancestors, that the Divine Source created several worlds connected with each other. From our human perspective there is the visible world, where Humans consciously dwell and the invisible world, where Ancestors and Spirits dwell, as well as to where Humans make frequent incursions, usually unconsciously. Without getting into a detailed description of the Spirits, let us say for the moment, that they roughly correspond, in western words, to immaterial energies whose effects can be perceived by Humans at the physical, emotional, mental or psychic level, such as moods, archetypes or natural forces.

 The visible world and the invisible one are in very close relationship. In particular, everything that exists and happens in the visible is intimately linked to its counterpart in the invisible. But the invisible is much bigger and much more diverse than the visible. Still from our perspective, the very Divine Source appears to belong to the invisible world. For the simplicity of this text, and except when elsewhere indicated, we will call “The Invisibles” all the Beings of the invisible world, including the Divine Source.

The Principle of Balance

 According to our Elders, one of the main principles of Creation is the Principle of Balance (or Equilibrium). It is a very elaborate principle that we are not going to explain here in details; we will content ourselves with the reader’s intuitive notion of it. All the aspects of Creation are dedicated to functioning according to this principle.

 A peculiarity for Humans is Free Will, which allows them, apparently, to deliberately ignore this principle, but this sets a series of reactions in motion in order to reestablish the laws of the Principle of Balance. Usually, Humans and communities who know and understand this principle take great care to respect it and apply it in every aspect of their lives. All of Creation as a whole follows the Principle. Since Humans only have the capacity to consider a limited number of aspects at the same time in order to comprehend and apply it, a simple and frequent approach is to consider the balance between 2 aspects of Creation, for example between the visible and the invisible worlds. The Primordial people are meticulous managers of this balance determining the way they interact with their environment at all levels, from astronomical sciences, of which some of the Primordial Peoples are experts, to handicrafts, including an array of traditional sciences specializing in the balance at the planetary level (minerals, plants, animals and Humans), at the Nations and Peoples level (tribes and clans, families, other various organizations, production activities, leisure, education, health, rituals, etc.), at the individual level, etc…

Primordial invisible accounting

 Several technologies are used by Primordial people to manage the balance between the visible and the invisible depending on the nature and the cause of the potential imbalance. For example, when an action exclusively relates to the visible realm, one must deliberately invite the invisible to participate with it in order to reestablish balance

 One way to proceed with this invitation is to make a sacrifice. I am referring here to the primary meaning of the term “sacrifice”: an offering to a deity; in other words, an offering to the Invisibles. In several western languages, the term “sacrifice” comes from 2 Latin roots: sacer (= sacred) and facere (= to make). The term “sacred” means related to the Divine, therefore the etymological meaning of “sacrifice” refers to that which makes related to the Divine; in other words: that relates (a visible/profane act) to the Invisibles. If we combine our 2 definitions, we can say that a sacrifice is an offering that relates a profane act to the Invisibles. It is a way to bring back balance to this act.

 No mention has been made yet of the meaning of sacrifice suggesting privations or the loss of a valuable resource – including the life of a Human or an animal – in exchange of an eventual benefit. A sacrifice can be an invocation, a prayer, a gift in nature, a ritual, or a ceremony. It is a supplementary act that consecrates the profane act therefore rebalancing it. Before drinking, we pour a few drops on the floor for our Ancestors. Before eating, we ask the Invisibles to bless and charge our food with vital energy. Before addressing an audience, we greet the Invisibles with honor and respect. Before planting, we ask the Invisibles to assist us and guide our actions. Before gathering, we thank the Invisibles for allowing us to use the healing power of a plant for our own balance. Before moving somewhere, we invite the Invisibles to go before us and then to cohabit with us. Before traveling, we ask for permission and protection, etc. As a rule, before using the resources of our environment, we make an offering to the Invisibles and ask them to consecrate our profane act.

The invisible external debt

 As long as sacrifices are made, the balance between the visible and the invisible is maintained. In the case of forgetfulness or negligence, an action is thus undertaken in the visible without its invisible counterpart. This creates an imbalance and those responsible are accountable until reconciliation is made. This can be considered as an invisible debt that the people responsible owe to the Invisibles. The more collective the roles of those people, the more the debt will be shared by the community as a whole. Individuals can be held accountable for a debt incurred by others, but it is no less real

Pain

 Shamans are familiar with the invisible world. They go there easily, at will. One of the main functions of shamans in primordial societies is to watch over the balance between the visible and the invisible and to help the community in reestablishing balance when it drifts away. When the invisible external debt of the community piles up, shamans perceive the need for rebalancing. At their instigation and under their supervision, sacrifices are made, but at this stage, small or daily sacrifices, appropriate at the individual level, are not enough any more to pay the collective external debt whose interests, in a sense, have accumulated. Healing rituals are then necessary. And sometimes, pain is inevitable. Pain has a unique capacity to create a thirst for the Divine, not only deep within our psyche, but also at the conscious level. This forces us to call with acute intent and awareness upon the Invisibles for help. It is the strength of this intent that can counterbalance the volume of the debt incurred. A simple mechanical gesture, without any personal investment would not do for that circumstance, even as impressive and majestic as it could be. In this sense, pain is sometimes a form of sacrifice in itself, according to the meaning: relation to the Invisibles. An interesting subject to investigate would be the obsession of the Westerners to try to eliminate pain in their life. But this is not our current purpose.

 Even at this level, a painful sacrifice doesn’t necessarily mean bloodshed or loss of life. Nevertheless, the qualities and the functions of the blood can powerfully enhance the effects of the sacrificial pain. We are reaching a stage here that may be delicate and difficult. It requires a great deal of open mindedness from Westerners, perhaps even some humility, to put aside cultural concepts they have about blood, for a moment. Do not misunderstand me: I won’t presume I can help you completely understand, let alone accept, the primordial concepts on blood in just a few words. I am only suggesting you realize that your concepts are specific to your culture, which is relatively young. It might be good to approach what I am saying here, not only with your rational intellect, but also with your faculty of direct intuitive perception, more akin to emotion than to pure thought.

 A lot of us, non-Westerners, know from our Ancestors, who themselves know it from the Invisibles, that blood is the main physical vehicle of the human soul. I will not try to prove this affirmation. You may consider it or discard it as you see appropriate, but know that more than a few non-Western scientists and sages understand this as a truth. Knowing this, you can have an idea of the importance that the presence of blood may have in an activity designed to invoke the Invisibles and to communicate with them.

Invoicing and payment of debts

 If the shamans do not do their job, or if the community doesn’t listen to them, or worse, if there aren’t any more shamans in the community, then sacrifices are overlooked and omitted, and the invisible debt accumulates even more. One day the Invisibles will ask for a settlement, in other words, the creditors will send the invoice.

 To communicate with us, the Invisibles address the part of us that is in closer contact with them, our superconscious mind that, paradoxically, operates in close collaboration with our subconscious mind, and uses a very similar language. Our subconscious mind plays the double role of messenger and translator between our superconscious mind and the Invisibles on one hand and our conscious mind on the other hand. The language of the subconscious mind is expressed in symbolic, analogical and multidimensional images, as one can observe in dreams, but this is not about dreams. In order to tell us that it has received an invoice for unpaid overdue external transactions, our subconscious mind will create a situation that represents the debt (the sacrifice) asked by the Invisibles, symbolically, analogically and multidimensional. Although it will be a very real situation, it will serve as an image, likely reduced, of the final sacrifice. As the debt is a collective one, that image will have to be public, accessible to everyone. It may be very interesting, for Westerners who know how and enjoy interpreting dreams at the individual level, to analyze the great events of the public life of their community with the same methods they use for individual dreams.

 After the invoice has been received, the community will still have the opportunity, if it understands the message, to take back responsibility of its debt and to reconcile it by intentionally making the required sacrifices. These will probably be very painful indeed, but there is a relative flexibility in the choice of the nature and the expression of that pain, with the effect of limiting “losses”. Most of all, this allows the community to prepare itself psychologically for these sacrifices, in order to make them consciously, in complete awareness, while recognizing its entire responsibility. The greatest value is then drawn from these sacrifices and used to maximum “profitability” so that an eventual bankruptcy may be avoided.

 Now, if, after having overlooked the trivial daily sacrifices, after having snubbed the shamans’ warnings, and after having ignored or misinterpreted the message of the Invisible through its subconscious mind, this community doesn’t pay its debt still, then the creditors simply collect for themselves without any other civilities. In other words, the sacrifice is made without the community having intentionally decided or planned it. It is imposed with or without consent. At this stage, the payment modalities are not negotiable anymore. Chances are this sacrifice will not only be extremely painful, but eventually lethal for the debtor community, especially if this community is found nonsolvent. In which case the only offering capable to match the required amount is the very soul of the community. That soul has to be returned to the invisible world where it came from and from where it has been disconnected from for too long due to the negligence of its human guardians.

The invisible external debt of the modern Western World

 Approximately ten thousand years ago, the cultural Ancestors of the modern Westerners gradually abandoned the primordial vision in order to “civilize” themselves. A new culture was born, very different from all others on Earth. Among other peculiarities, it was loosing touch with the Invisibles, and didn’t take care of the balance in Creation anymore, not even the most crucial balance between the invisible and the visible. Contact was totally severed at the community level during the Renaissance, when religion gave way to science, which progressively gained control of the affairs of society. This leads us to a first observation.

First observation: The Western World has been overlooking the visible/invisible balance for a long time.

 The primary notion of the sacrifice, namely: an offering done to the Invisibles to consecrate a profane action is pushed back into the dark secret dungeons of the truncated Western World’s memory. I use the term truncated because Westerners categorize everything that precedes the oldest writings of their Ancestors under the term “prehistory” and because the average person, generally, has a very erroneous idea of prehistory. He/she usually thinks that all prehistoric Humans were mentally inferior. He/she is not taught (or doesn’t remember) that we, Human Beings, have been living on Earth the way we are now in our current mental development ten times longer than the age of western civilization. According to modern western science many of these 100,000 year old prehistoric Humans, classified Homo Sapiens, were likely more intelligent than the average person, by even his/her own criteria. I recognize, though, that many scholars have a better knowledge of their distant past than the average person. Nevertheless, I don’t hear them asking the question why, if their Ancestors were as intellectually equipped as they (western scholars) are, they existed for so long without “civilizing” themselves, but managed to maintain balance all around them and why, once “civilized”, they managed to proceed to destroy the balance of so many forms of life in so little time.

 It is true that sacrifice is not a civilized technology…

 It is also true that shamans only existed among prehistoric Peoples, or slightly more “evolved” contemporary peoples…

 Because of its short memory, the Western World confuses its own Ancestors – who were brilliant astronomers, surgeons, sociologists and theologians – with rough filthy primates. According to this thinking no forefather or foremother prior to – or even contemporary of – Ur and Babylon has anything of value to teach to an average Westerner, except to feed his/her curiosity about inferior practices considered superstitious (by the way, superstition = belief in the power of invisible forces…). More observations:

Second observation: The Western World hasn’t practiced conscious community sacrifices for a long time.

 Third observation: The Western World hasn’t listened to its shamans for a long time.

 (Fortunately shamans haven’t completely disappeared yet).

 The first 3 observations lead us to think that the invisible external debt of the Western World may have been accumulating for hundreds or even thousands of years without being balanced in the invisible.

 And what is that debt anyway?

 The answer is simple and yet dreadful at the same time: The debt is made up of everything Westerners have taken for their own benefit, all the imbalance they have produced, everything they have destroyed, directly or indirectly, during several millennia of brutal exploitation, blind expansion and voracious development. Now we can formulate a fourth observation.

Fourth observation: The invisible external debt of the Western World is gigantic.

 A review of these 4 observations immediately makes us think of a possible invoice issuing from the Invisibles. The invoice is received and translated by the collective subconscious mind. The message could be expressed in the form of a public event that would symbolically, or in a reduced fashion, represent the sacrifice that is expected from the Western World. A painful event that would force Westerners to turn to their God, and at the same time show them the offerings necessary to reconcile their debt. Simply speaking it would be a catastrophe or a tragedy that would strike simultaneously their deep collective psyche and their material wealth.

The Tragedy

 What if September 11 was a call from the Invisibles?

 What if Bin Laden, the Talibans, the Muslim extremists, the terrorists, the CIA, the Israeli Palestinian conflict, the fraudulent election of “W”, the World Trade Center towers, the Pentagon, and all the elements of the tragedy were nothing but instruments used by the collective western subconscious mind, as theater decor, or even better, as in a dream, to notify the collective conscious mind that an invoice has been sent by the Invisibles?

 What if this tragedy, so traumatizing and destructive, was only a reduced image, only a little scratch in comparison to what is maybe in store for the Western World, if this one doesn’t react appropriately and quick enough?

The sacrifice

 But is the Western World ready to wake up right now? Is it ready to make the sacrifice on its own or is it just going to wait for the Invisibles to collect on the debt themselves?

 And by the way, what is this sacrifice required from the Westerners anyway?

 The answer is on the same level as the one about the nature of the debt: simple and dreadful. What is asked from the Western World is to make a radical change of habits and attitudes that violate the Principle of Balance as well as offerings heavy in cost.

 The habits and attitudes to change, although innumerable to list, are not difficult to identify (without pre-established order): chronic arrogance, exploitation without scruples, deification of profit and money, expansionism, materialism, consumerism, institutional lies and hypocrisy, racism, sexism, classism, obscurantism, imperialism, commoditization of land, of space, of food, of clothing, of health, of education, of security, of solidarity, of dignity, of the sacred, of life, non respect for natural laws, for cycles, for equilibriums, for Humans, for communities, for the Elders, for the Ancestors, for the Spirits, etc…

 Let it be clear that I don’t have the intention to ignore the numerous actions deeply marked with respect, beauty and grandeur undertaken by generations of Westerners. But, my sense is that the real ultimate consequence of the action of the Western World, as a whole, on our planet, is all but respectful, beautiful and grand.

 The offerings too are easy to identify. Should the Western world desire to make amends, it will have to give up – and do without, in the future – the “benefits” of its nonsacred technology: mass production, materials that can’t be recycled as fast as they are produced, nonrenewable energies, nonsustainable gadgets, machines, products and processes that disturb the environment and the health of all kinds of species (vegetal, animal, Human) in their manufacturing, their use, or their disposal, etc.

 Yes, as it could have been expected, the price is as overwhelming as the debt. Is the Western World willing, and ready to pay it?

 If it doesn’t pay, then the Invisibles might just be coming to take their dues themselves. Chances are the debtor won’t be solvent, causing bankruptcy requiring total extinction (the soul returning) and the outstanding debt collected from the nonwestern world, which, once again, will pay the balance for our Western sisters and brothers.

~ Djalòki ~

 (co-translated with Tant Ka)

 Port-au-Prince, Ayiti – November 2001