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Yuruda Destiny

The document discusses Yoruba beliefs about destiny and free will, including the concept of ori which is the bearer of a person's destiny chosen in the prenatal realm of Orun. It also examines the story of three friends and their choices of ori, with one friend consulting divination priests first and getting better guidance. The relationship between destiny, free will, fatalism and causal determinism is explored.

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72 views20 pages

Yuruda Destiny

The document discusses Yoruba beliefs about destiny and free will, including the concept of ori which is the bearer of a person's destiny chosen in the prenatal realm of Orun. It also examines the story of three friends and their choices of ori, with one friend consulting divination priests first and getting better guidance. The relationship between destiny, free will, fatalism and causal determinism is explored.

Uploaded by

jihote8998
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
We take content rights seriously. If you suspect this is your content, claim it here.
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Download as PPTX, PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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DESTINY AND THE YORUBA

I) Premortal Existence
II) Destiny
III) Fatalism
IV) Free Will
THE YURUBA
• Yoruba refers to a group of
ancient cultures linked by a
common language and belief
system. Yorubaland, the
traditional cultural region of the
Yoruba people, spanned parts of
what is now Nigeria, Benin, and
Togo.
BACKGROUND
• https://mass.pbslearningmedia.org/resource/sj14-soc-yorubarel/yoruba-relig
ion-of-southwestern-nigeria/
THE ODU
CORPUS
The Odu is a collection of verses
constituting the Yoruba divination
system.
THE OGEBEGUNDA
• Ori – the bearer of a person’s
destiny.
• The Ori is prenatally chosen in
Orun (heaven).
• The Ori once chosen is
irrevocable.
• ‘Ori’ means head.
(Mind/Soul/Personality –
• De Anima
THE OGEBEGUNDA
Three friends: Oriseeku, Orileemere,
and Afuwape
Obatala had finished molding their
physical bodies.
They were ready to go to the house of
Ajala – the heavenly potter or ori,
where they would choose their ori.
They were told to go directly to the
house of Ajala by their friends.
• Oriseeku and Orileemere go directly to the
house of Ajala and make their choice.

• They both choose badly and were never


successful in life. Each got stuck with their
decision until the end of their life.

• Alfuwape saw his father first and met with a


group of divination priests. They told
Afuwape to perform a sacrifice so that he
could get a good Ori. Ori makes the sacrifice
and heads to the house of Ajala.
THE HOUSE OF AJALA
THE HOUSE OF AJALA
• Alfuwape controlled or chose his own
destiny or fortune.
• Preexistence has been invoked to account
for why we know what we should not
know, and to account for the unevenly
distributed pain and suffering that are
humanity's common lot. The idea
suggests a reason for uncannily
instantaneous bonds between friends and
between lovers, and many philosophers
AKUNLEYAN have found in premortality the
precondition for a genuinely free will.
“that which one kneels down to choose”
The human entity chooses a destiny.
The emphasis is on choice.
PRE-MORTAL EXISTENCE IN THE WEST
• Philosophers from Plato through
Leibniz and Kant to J. E. M.
McTaggart, thinkers in Jewish and
Christian traditions, and poets
from the seventeenth century to
Robert Frost have propounded a
transcendent realm peopled by the
souls of humans yet unborn.
WESTERN THEOLOGY
MORAL EVILS NATURAL EVILS
THE FALL OF MAN
THE PROBLEM
OF CHOICE
Did Alfuwape make a choice?
CLUES…
• Choice presupposes freedom, information, and genuine alternatives.
• None of these conditions are present in the case of “choice” of destiny.
Why?
FATALISM
FATALISM
• Any view according to which
human beings are powerless to do
anything other than what they
actually do. Included in this is the
belief that humans have no power
to influence the future or indeed
the outcome of their own actions.
FATALISM
• One such view is theological
fatalism, according to which free
will is incompatible with the
existence of an omniscient God
who has foreknowledge of all
future events.
FATALISM
• A second such view is logical
fatalism, according to which
propositions about the future
which we take to currently be
either true or false can only be
true or false if future events are
already determined.
CAUSAL
DETERMINISM
Everything that happens or exists is
caused by antecedent conditions.

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