The Wilderness of the Mind of Man Part 2

In many African traditions, history is passed on through an oral tradition: storytelling. Stories, poetry and songs tell of the feats of history, or convey the values of the people. West African storytellers go by many names: griots, jali, jeli, guewel, gawlo, gnawi, igawen… according to their language, tribe and tradition. These historians and storytellers inherit their role within a family and must learn a wealth of traditional songs without error, becoming walking libraries of history for their people. They also make songs about current events and gossip and even provide some comic relief.

I’m no griot, clearly, but maybe I can still pass on some African history using my version of the oral tradition. Here I’ll continue to read from The Wilderness of the Mind of Man, a deeply philosophical text from Ancient Africa. Last time the story ended in a barren land where our Brothers were building structures and making roads that led to nothing but confusion. Let’s continue the story…

Transcript:

I saw men with Charts and tools in their hands moving about in anxious circles, searching and digging the earth; and I questioned them, and they answered: “We search for the Lost Land of Knowledge”; and those who delved in the earth replied: “We dig for the Well of Truth.”

It seemed, perhaps, that those Brothers were seeking the same thing I sought, and I made myself one of their group to aid them in their task. Yet after many days, I saw that our work was vain: it made nothing but deep worn tracks and pits into which men strayed and stumbled, and from which they escaped with pain and labor, and many did not escape at all.

I quit this profitless toil, and said, I will seek a guide, a Man of Wisdom: there must be such: that will point the way to the Lost Land. Then I saw a House of dark Red stone, and a Man arrayed in a Crimson Robe who stood guard at its door. The Man held a staff of that sacred wood which my Lost Brothers call Authority; and raised it high as I spoke to him and told him of my need. He smiled, and said: “Have hope, my son! Behold you have found your guide, for I hold the pass to the Lost Land of Knowledge, and I guard the Well of Truth.”

He placed a Crimson Veil on my head, and led me into the house, and down a Steep stairway deep into the bowels of the earth: and we came into a vast cavern where shadows clustered thickly, and the ground underfoot was a disgusting tangle overgrown with pale lichens and evil weeds. “This is the Land of Knowledge,” said my guide, “and there lies the Well of Truth.”

I waded through the dark tangle, and drank of the Pool that I found in its midst; but the water was foul with mud and slime, and my thirst was not assuaged.

Then the VOICE of my unseen Father spoke clearly in my ear: “Seek with Strong Heart, and seize with Strong Hand my son,” it said: and I rose up and went forth from the House of Red, and set my face towards the Desert.

Hunger, and thirst, and wariness assailed me as I quested; and I looked for a strong and kindly hand to aid me on my way; and I came to a House of rich Purple Stone and craved help of the Man that guarded its door. The Man was clad in a Purple Robe and held on high a tall staff of Authority. “You are wise to have sought my aid,” he replied, “for I am the Guardian of Truth and Knowledge.”

He wrapped me round with a purple veil, and led me to the door of a dark vault: then pointed forward with his staff and commanded my movements, saying: “Take seven steps forward, then backward take three. Take seven steps to your right hand and bow at each step you take. The Gates of Knowledge are low, very low, so bow deeply, very deeply. Retrace your steps again, and do as you did before, then take four steps backward, and kneel on the floor.”

I did as he commanded, then rose and gazed around; and I saw, though dimly through my Veil, a vast space surrounded by trees. The ground was bright with gorgeous flowers, and a sparkling fountain played before me. I rushed to the fountain, and drank a great draught of its waters; then knew that the draught was not water, but warm spice-charged wine. I cast the veil from my head, and looked about me again; I saw that the lawn and the flowers and the trees were nothing but painted pictures.

Then I remembered my Father’s commands and the Garden and the Pool and the trees and the fruit; and I went out from the House of Purple and faced the Desert alone.

The Wilderness of the Mind of Man Part 1

African wisdom is ancient and all people of African descent have rich histories. I use Histories, plural, because Africa is a continent containing many different peoples. There are many peoples, many tribes or clans, many different cultures and religions, even different physical features of the people of Africa. Belief systems and religions vary, traditions, norms, hierarchies all differ. We are a myriad people. Many people in the African diaspora, the African descendants, scattered around the world through various routes – a large portion of which includes the trans-Atlantic slave trade, may not find it easy to trace your roots to one country or tribe. But that does not take away from the ability to see the obvious, we are all family.

In this sense I want to share a story containing ancient African wisdom. It comes from a book called The Sayings of the Ancient One by P.G. Bowen (click here for a link to get the book from Amazon). This book is a translation of a small portion of ancient mystic writings in the Isinzu language, an archaic form of Bantu from which many modern African languages and dialects were derived… in other words, it’s old; thousands of years BCE before Socrates, Aristotle, or any of the European philosophies were born.

The story is translated to older sounding English with a lot of “thou” and “thy.” I’ll read the story, but I’m going to cut out the “thou” and “thy” for my own sanity’s sake and translate those parts into modern English. As such, I would certainly advise that you go out and read originals on your own… make your own interpretations.

Transcript:

The words of The Ancient One to the Neophytes, in the Hidden Temple of the Hidden Sun. Spoken in the Thirteenth Moon of the Seventh Circle of the Sun in Seventy and Seventh Generation of The Builders.

The Ancient One said:

There are three questions that the MANY ask, but only FEW can answer. They are:

Where do you come from?

What are you doing here?

Where are you going from here?

Life asks those questions, but only LIFE can answer them, for WISDOM and LIFE are two names for one thing. “What are you?” Man asks LIFE.

LIFE answers: “I am all you know. I am all that you have known, but think you have forgotten. I am all that you have yet to learn. Without me you do not exist because I am your SELF.”

Take heed to my story O Learners, for it is your own. I know its beginning, its middle, and its end; but you only know its middle, and that but dimly; therefore take heed and learn.

In youth I dwelt in a Garden with Brothers whose faces mirrored my own, sheltered by the love of a FATHER whose form we never saw; and we knew no strife, nor grief, nor pain, nor any Desire of Man. We walked and played by the shores of a Pool whose waters gleam like crystal, and are cold as the eternal snows that crown the Mighty Mountains. When weary we slept amidst groves of trees with feathery boughs, and soft, shining leaves, and golden fruit that the Pool reflects in beauty that makes Beauty dim.

But my Brothers and I did not perceive those glories, for we were the Garden and its Beauty. We saw not the trees, for we needed no shade. We saw no fruit, for we did not hunger. We saw not the Pool for we did not thirst. We knew not the Garden, for we craved no possessions. We were the Garden, and the Pool, and the fruit, and the trees; and they were ourselves.

But the VOICE of our unseen Father reached my ear one day, and said: “My son, you are the Garden and you are yourself, but you don’t know the one or the other. Before you can know yourself, you must make yourself Lord of the Garden; but before you become its Lord, you must make the Garden complete. There lies a Desert beyond our Home encircling it round about, that you must seize with your Strong Hand, and conquer and make your own. There lies a Pool in its burning sands, that you must seek with your Strong Heart; and when you have found, and conquered you will reign as Lord of this Kingdom.”

I went forth into the Desert, and wandered there a weary while; and learned hunger, and thirst, and pain, and forgot that peace which was once mine. The Land was an Evil Wilderness; and yet it was filled with men; and I knew them to be my Brothers, wandering Sons of the Garden. I looked on those Brothers with wonder, for they seemed blind to their sorrows: they strove not to quit that barren land, but bound themselves closely to it, piling up mighty works, building cities, and cutting roads, till all was one vast maze. Yet, of the roads they made, not one ran straight to any end, but turned and turned again, reaching no goal but Confusion.