A head shaped gear clock [1]sits
facing me on the desk wall of my study (Cover Photo). I didn’t buy it very
cheap (by my standard) but far more than the cost of purchase is the lesson I
have been taught by it. Through it I have understood more the collegial motive
of history, the deep meaning of work, the consequences of time and the
supremacy factor of the head.
‘Ise l’aago n se ku’ [2]sounds
very derogatory. The seeming boring cyclic monotony of each constituent gear of
my clock produces an integral system working in synchrony and contributing integrally
to the gradual movements of the ‘minute
hand’ of the clock, which also as a consequence bears a correspondence to
the movements of the ‘hour hand’ of
the clock. This hourly movement creates milestones, from the first hour, to the
second, to the third, fourth, fifth etc.; and something amazing results:
Infinity is a factor that shows
how little man is in control because it cannot be arrived at. Something is
always ahead of time, of laws, of space, of anything quantifiable; and this is what
gives the continuum and eternal impression to life. Of such becomes the meek
who inherit the earth[3]
. But how arrive at infinity? It is through love. Love is infinity, it is the end of laws, even that
regulating the workings of my head shaped
gear clock. How? Because this love is a verb and verb is an action word, an
action word that often gives the impression of suffering and hardship to our
ignorant mind and lazy being, yet of such is what love consist of, right since
the reversal of the fall[4].
‘Ise laago n se ku’.Bunkum. Work is
not a curse, it is divine.
No work is meaningless however
boring once it is fostered by love. We contribute to the positive operation of
the cosmos which is forever expanding, lo
ba tan[5].
Not that anyone can halt the positivity of life, but the wonder and delight is
that we are allowed to contribute our parts to this divine work, this opus Dei[6],
in time and in eternity. ’ He who does not gather with me scatters’[7].
Work is fun when it is meaningful, that
is, when it fostered by love and faith.
Seeing life within this positive
perspective is a metanoia, that which is often referred to as conversion. Its
credit has often been given to the heart but it really finds its source from
the head. Also, when we give credit to seeing , it is often not as to the
physical eyes but the locus within the head which fosters truth, reason,
awareness, wisdom, intellect and the
birth of the know often referred to as the sixth sense.
‘Apa l’ara’[8],
yes; but even more: ’Opolo l’ara’ [9]or
better still, ‘Ori l’ara’[10].
The world has realised that the workings of our civilisation is borne of the
head. We are justified by faith[11].
There is a shift from the dominance of manual labour to what is widely referred
to as the ‘Knowledge Economy’ and ‘Intellectual Capital’. ‘Ogbon ju agbara lo’[12].
The work of the hand often has an origin from the head, and the more that heads
are purified, the easier it becomes for hands to work, such that, even in our
present civilisation, it is knowledge and creativity within the STEM
applications (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) that drive our
growth.
‘Ori[13]
l’a ba bo t’aa ba f’orisa sile’[14].
What is head? Some say it is the residence of the soul, some say it is the seat
of memory, for some it is the abode of the mind, reason and intellect. When Ori is purified it becomes easier for it
to be restful within the responsibilities of its cosmological and universal
obligation in relation to its destiny. The events and chances of life within
the confines of space and time, becomes a response in the serendipitous
servitude of the head.
U
But in what does the purifying of
the head consist of? In its attempt some have manipulate natural forces and have
twisted other men’s fates and auras in the quest towards finding an
ameliorating short path of purifying the head, many of these ‘get lucky’ attempts
only serve to worsen matters. The last state often becomes worse than the
first. O ba gbe je f’ori.[15]
‘Olowo ori mi’ is a Yoruba woman’s palliative qualification of an
aggrieved husband. This is a natural reference to the dowry that was paid by
him for her betrothal, but literarily this statement translates as ‘The man who pays to acquire my head’. A
hard saying for our modern mind on the one hand, but an eternal reality whose
meaning has been tarnished and its obligation diminished on the other hand.
Biblically, a man is he who moves
and goes on to join himself to a woman[16].
This dynamism is an intricate factor of the constitution of manhood. There becomes
an interlocking of purpose of which the woman’s destiny is in direct consonance
with the man’s, beginning from an act as simple as dowry payment, a gesture of
love which bounds the man into the head position so that the family can ’move’
collegially.
For a man, dowry is a sign of future
responsibility and deeply speaking a gesture made from the position of loving servitude.
On the woman’s part it is the condition of meekness and respect. A woman who rebels
and would rather move first puts the whole family into jeopardy because this
runs contrary to the divine ordering of cosmological objectives. Leading is
service, it is movement and it is a man’s cosmological objective to initiate
this . But do men really serve or lord?
Our varied endeavours at movement
reaches culmination upon the headship of God. Ultimately there is an emergence
of only one head; a two headed emergence becomes a monstrous entity borne out
of rebellion. God is one.
You have to pay a price to
integrate something. God’s price and dowry for humanity is the covenant of
mercy culminating in the person of Christ who is the sole link between God and
humanity and who has married humanity through the shedding of his blood which is
his dowry of our betrothal. Christ, as the bridegroom and head has an
obligation to move, love and serve us; we as the spouse of betrothal have an
obligation to be meek and trusting.
The cost of leadership is ultimately
in service and letting go, and the more that man’s head is purified the more
that he aligns with his destiny, and what is the summit of this purification of
man? It is Christ, the only Mediator between God and man; he is the only person
with the capability of aligning man’s destiny to truth. Jesu, a tun ori eni ti ko sunwon se[17].
And how did he do it? Through work, service and sacrifice, the summit of which was
on Calvary and the sight of Infinity appeared at his resurrection.
But how purify the head, you ask?
Do not complicate your life through a manipulation of human and creative
factors in the quest of aligning Ori
with destiny. The one Supreme sacrifice of Christ on Calvary, glorified in
eternity on the third day, has caused a marriage of time with eternity for us, and
has been brought forward in time such that, in order that the whole history of
man and creation, regarding what was, what is and what will be, finds a confluence
in time and present within what is called the Eucharist[18].
It is the only means, the holy grail of our survival which is borne of what we
celebrate today.
We live for the love of something
happening now, because life has been made as a positive continuum, and eternity
is now. Christ is raised. He alone has the capability to purify this head
without any negative consequence of growth.
Here ends for a while my write-up
on purity.
.
[1]
This clock, pictured, has a gear shaped mechanism that drives the hour and
minute hands. I got it from Amazon.
[2] A
Yoruba word literally meaning: ‘Clock works till death’; used derogatorily at
the meaninglessness of toil and labour.
[3]
Mathew 5:5
[4]
The fall of Adam and Eve
[5] A Yoruba
depiction of ‘Full stop’.
[6]
Latin for God’s work
[7]
Mathew 12:30
[8]
Yoruba: ‘Hand is a kin’
[9]
Yoruba: ’Brain is a kin’
[10]
Yoruba: ‘Head is a kin’
[11]
Romans 3:28
[12]
Yoruba: ‘Wisdom exceeds strength’
[13] Yoruba:
Head
[14]
Yoruba philosophical saying: An admonition to worship the head rather than
gods.
[15]
Yoruba: Be patient for your head.
[16]
Genesis 2: 24
[17]
Yoruba: Jesus who reforms the head gone astray.
[18]
Eucharist is the true body and blood of Jesus Christ, together with His soul
and divinity, under the appearance of bread and wine. It is derived from the
Sacrifice of Mass.
