Reincarnation

REINCARNATION IN TRADITIONAL AFRICAN RELIGION: THE IGBO OF NIGERIA

       Even before the white men came with the Christian religion and Western civilization, our great grandfathers in Igbo land (in Nigeria, West Africa) knew about reincarnation, which they call in local language, “Ilo uwa”  (a return to the world). They knew and also believed in life beyond which they call ”Ala –muo” . by “ala- muo”,  they mean the inner realms not just the fairyland of folkstories. It is at “ala muo” that they imagine their noble ancestors to be living and interceding for them before “chi-na-eke” (the God that creates) and ”ofo-na ogu”  (Gods operating force) that balance things in nature including the yearly climate conditions vital for their agriculture. It is at the same “ala muo” they believe their dead relations to be residing after physical death and from there would reincarnate probably to those that were their kin in their past life.

         In Igbo land, our fore fathers knowledge of life beyond the present one on earth is well understood to be transmigration of human souls through the seven worlds of being. In Igbo land, when a good child or wife does quite a  good turn to an old father or mother: the elderly ones are heard making such comments as” Ezi Nwam/ nwunyem, igakwa abu nwam/nwunyem, uwam uwa asaa” – meaning “ my good child/ Wife, you will continue to be my child/wife in my seven worlds of being”. This is an indication that our great Igbo ancestors knew and believed in the doctrine of seven rounds and seven races in the evolutionary cycles of mankind, which theosophical teacher, Dr. G de Purucker, gave a deep account of in his fundamentals of the Esoteric philosophy page 252.

        The Igbos conviction on the actual process by which man reincarnates varies. Some hold that man reincarnates with his former body and all its characteristics, of height, strength, and complexion, while many are convinced that at death our bodies lies there food for worms; only the deathless spirit of God in the man would reincarnate. The same group holds further that merits and demerits in one’s former life would determine one’s parentage on reincarnation in a new infant body capable of growing and unfolding to adult body. This latter opinion is the one held by the majority of the Igbo people.

      There are many apparent factors that convince the Igbos in their belief in reincarnations. The reappearance of bodily marks of deceased persons on the body of new born baby is one basis for the Igbos belief in reincarnation. In the circumstance of mentally ill people who were violent in a past life and were constrained wearing handcuffs of ankle restraint for a long time before they died: it is believed that the scar of the wound caused by the handcuffs does appear on the wrist or ankle of some of them upon their reincarnation. It is same with those unfortunate people who perish by fire in a traumatic accident: the scars of burns appear on the body of  some such cases upon reincarnation. When marks such as have been pointed out  appear on the body of an infant in whose family somebody in the past had such a handcuff or died in a fiery accident:  no further proof will be needed to accept that the  deceased has come back.

Unexpected fears and phobia do exist in people, especially irrational fears related to fire, water, and sometimes noise. There are men who dread to associate closely with women and vice-versa. The Igbos believe that such unexpected fears are caused by the pains felt by men who died in a fire, falling from heights, or who died in the hands of a very wicked woman, or an unscrupulous man in their former incarnation. They  hold that noise which may recall disaster in previous lives caused by drowning falls, crashes, or death on the battlefield, can cause such unexplained fears.

      The occurrence of a child prodigy is called, “Ebibi- uwa”, in Igbo language, meaning  Nature’s imprint.  Those born with their pre-incarnation intellectual and physical abilities are seen as yet another proof for the Igbos belief in reincarnation.  In Umuahia South Local Government in Abia State, Nigeria, there lived a renowned traditional medicine man called Nna-na Mgborogwu.  Nna-na Mgborogwu was very famous in the early 1950’s. There was the story told by the elderly then that Nna-nna Mgborogwu was an exceptional human being. At age seven, he went to the bush behind their house and collected herbs which he compounded with other things and used the resultants medicine to cure his father’s uncle from the dreaded disease tuberculosis.

Tuberculosis at that time was considered such a terrible threat to others in the village, that the poor sufferers were ostracized from their own homes to a hut in the bush where such an unfortunate sufferer would be left to die. This young medicine man’s cure of his own uncle was like an advertisement for what was to be his mission in his present life time. People started approaching his parents with different health problems which this little boy efficiently managed.  He did bnot go to school because he started the work of traditional medicine man at a very early age. Nna-na Mgborogwu is an example of a man who points one’s mind  to the possibility of him beinf a reincarnation of a forefather of his family-  “Nna-nna”- (forefather),    “Mgborogwu” – (medicinal roots).  When put together it gives the understanding, “ our  forefather who was medicinal root himself”  or knows all about roots for healing.

Names such as those mentioned below are very common in Igboland. They are a true indication of the Igbos belief in reincarnation. “Nna nna- the father of his children: Nne nna – the mother of his father: Nne-ji - my brother or sister: Nna -ji – my half-brother/sister: and Nwa-nne daa- the brother or sister of my mother.  None of these names is repeated in the family because they specify the ancestors. Relations in this life pay the child the same high respect they were accustomed to pay to the deceased grandparent or relation of their father. Some people in Igboland are bearing their pre-incarnation names and are enjoying the high level of respect due to a grandfather/mother.

Despite the strong influence of Christianity in Igbo cultures and traditions, reincarnation has remained a heart belief of the Igbos which the orthodox religion has found hard to abolish.  Before the conveyors of Christian faith. The Igbo already had their own well established and complex religion which was indirectly Theocentric, a sequel to the order of worship. Reincarnation itself is not a virtually conspicuous tradition that attracts outright condemnation or attack from the preacher of Christian faith in Nigeria. Nor does such a belief pose any threat or danger to it, like some barbaric customs of ancient times, e.g twin killing, human sacrifice, etc. which attracted much concern in Nigeria and thankfully were stopped by the authorities.

        The doctrine of reincarnation has been firmly impressed into the psyche of the Igbos despite the acceptance of Christianity by many people because of the persistence of traditional religion amongst the Igbo. Even when there is a measure of adherence to Christian doctrine, certain evidence of reincarnation forces many contemporary Nigerian Christians to think twice about what the Church tells them, and may lead them back  to the traditions of their forefathers.

Among the Yoruba of Nigeria this process is understood in the restricted sense of an ancestor’s okan or “heart-soul” seeking manifestation amongst his own descendants. It is not clear how the “emin” or spiritual body” relates to the process, though it is commonly regarded by the Yoruba as the ultimate seat of life.  In nupe (Nigeria) tradition, it is the kuci or “personal soul” which is said to animate the child of descendants at birth. The kucit is thought to return to soko(God) for a defined period before incarnating, ant the Nupe tribesmen illustrate the inevitability of the process of rebirth by comparing the journey of the kuci after death  to the path of a stone throw in the air: sooner or later it has land somewhere! The rayi or “life essence” is said to be reabsorbed at death into the ongoing process of creation, and to give life to the reincarnating entity without actually entering into the physical body. The Illa moza or “vital breath” is believed to animate the body in terms similar to Biblical myths.

As each day brings challenges which have been roughhewn by our past experiences which,  with the passage of years molds and refines character, so reincarnation has been pictured in many religious traditions as nature’s way of bringing the spiritual essence at the heart of every being to greater self- consciousness through the fires of material experience. The cleansing  and refining of the inner nature in man through myriads lives lies as a spiritual necessity at the center of some African traditions regarding reincarnation. This is especially so among the Akan people of Ghana who speak of rebirth as essential so that each individual can reach his or her full potential for compassion:

       

          It is like a man who dips a bucket in a deep well. The weight of the bucket when lifted up from the well would tell whether it is full of water or not. If it is felt to be light and not full, down goes back the bucket until the weight assures the man the bucket is full. So is the soul’s coming forth and going back into the source. He is not lifted up and taken into service with the source until his bucket of nkrabea (individual essence or destiby conferred by Nyankopan, an aspect of God) is completely filled with good until the destiny of the soul is fully realized. And then it is a glad homegoing for the fully intergrated soul. The return of a soul to earth iws not therefore like a condemned criminal to be hanged, but more like a little child ready to learn more and to do better,- the Akan Doctrine of God, p. 81

Like a golden thread hidden in the coarse fabric of human experience, the reality of man’s inner spiritual nature proclaimed by the ancient wisdom can be found in religious philosophies the world over, If one but  searches diligently. The secret teachings concerning the ebb and flow of spiritual manifestation in matter, once whispered in the halls of the mystery schools of Asia,Europe and the Americans. Find their echo in the elder’s hushed chanting by the nickering firelight at an initiation ceremony somewhere in deepest Africa.

Irrespective of applicable cultural synthesis, the questions of the origin (arche), purpose (telos) and destiny of man remain a perennial problem for renewed anthropo-metaphysical theorizing in al traditions of philosophy. Such interrogatives as who man? To where is he tending? What happens after life? Are sufficiently puzzling to the mind and provide a proper substrate for rigorous conjectures. Any proper engagement with such issues of “being and becoming” must of necessity reconnect with a peoples’ worldview (weltanchaung), concerning the after-life existence and conditions, some cultures, religions and strictly  philosophical system, regard reincarnation as unquestionable. Creationism, evolutionism, thermodynamics and parallel claims of death and eschatology drawing from differing inspirations have emerged either as counter-points or attempts at rational supports. The precisely Igbo “metaphysics of reincarnation” is presented in the form of a possible return to earthly existence after death through the claimed ontological device of “Ilo uwa” or “Ogbanje”. This thesis defends points of views critical of reincarnation in general, especially the Igbo constructions of same. Beginning with a description of the relevant indices of the Igbo worldview, this work will be engaged at two different levels: phenomenological and symbolic (semantic, semiotic and ontology). Notwithstanding any volume of structured criticism against “Ilo uwa” and “Ogbanje”, the Igbo is quite reluctant to change his ideas of these. Indeed, there is a remarkable resilience in favour of those pare- metaphysical claims. This is not surprising given that beliefs are generally not susceptible to easy deconstruction and as such would require a whole restructuring of a people’s most fundamental grounds of existence: a re-think or collapse of their ancestry of metaphysics, epistemology, ethics and indeed, life. Races are understandably reluctant to embark on such revisions which will pass judgment on their antiquity and identity. This work is projected to clarify the grounds of the belief in reincarnation by digging into the metaphysical supports for the possibility or otherwise of the claims instead of reclining merely on the popular inductive material evidence. It employs the method of hermeneutics on its wider dimensions of dialectics, criticism, analysis and phenomenology. In all, this work finds that “Ilo uwa” and “Ogbanje” are Igbo paradigms of reincarnation. It further finds that reincarnation (Ilo uwa and / Ogbanje) is not a free conclusion of those popular  metaphysical foundations Western or African but a  truth of Igbo religious faith coached  in mythological forms and types. What is more, it is validly sustainable within the dynamics and pragmatics Igbo worldview precisely as a metaphor for imperfections and longing and defensible variously as a paranormal, symbolic and alternate reality.

REFERENCES

Metaphysics of reincarnation: Being and becoming in Igbo philosophy

Reincarnation in Igbo belief system: The Paradox- Obiakor Ethel Ebere.