Omoluabi: Self Actualization and Communal Responsibility
In contrast to previous lectures throughout this semester, this particular presentation began with an African folklore. It centered on a character named Iwa, who was not only a beautiful woman, but hailed from a powerful pedigree. She was the daughter of the god of patience, Suru, who in turn was the first son of the supreme deity. Perhaps searching for a spouse of equal standing as her commanding family, Iwa was married to Orunmila, the god of wisdom. Iwa was a good and faithful wife, promising that she would not leave unless he began to stress her. Orunmila swore that he would never cause his beautiful wife any stress, but as their marriage progressed, he went back on his word, and Iwa left. Soon after she was gone, Orunmila’s fortune began to dwindle, and he visited various priests and priestess in order to solve his problem. All of them told him that he would have to make a sacrifice. Orunmila did as he was told, and soon after, his beautiful wife Iwa returned to him. In the tale, Iwa represented one’s character, and the lesson learned from the story is that if you lose your character, you will lose everything, with the journey to getting it back being not half as easy as it was to lose it.
The story of Iwa and Orunmila opened up the lecture for a discussion on the ancient applications of morality. Egyptian texts such as the Ma’at and the instructions of Ptahhotep acted as the moral compass for citizens of the ancient civilizations, giving readers a defined set of rules to follow, as well as providing daily anecdotes for the everyday problem.
While the lecture did not bring forth any unique concepts, the way in which the material was presented was the most engaging given of the class thus far. The drummer beating throughout the duration of the story helped pull me into the fabric of the folktale, coloring the world of Iwa so that it became easier to pull the lesson from the story.
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