How Orisa Lifestyle Affirms Masculine Leadership

There is a difference between a teacher, a mentor and a leader. Teachers provide instruction on how to learn. Mentors are guides, who show you the way inward. Leaders are the embodiment of vision; they reveal the future and your place in it.

If there is just one thing that I cherish about Yoruba culture, it's the overabundance of men who teach, mentor and lead. Nothing touchy-feely. Nothing warm and fuzzy. Just masculinity in all its glory.

Nowadays, I find myself reflecting more and more on my experience with great men, like
Babalade Olamina, Imodoye Shabazz and others. Their generosity, coupled with an astounding intellectual capacity, has made it possible for younger men, like me, to make sense of the madness that is European and African, modern and traditional, physical and metaphysical.

When it comes to his destiny, man should negotiate but he should not compromise. The endurance of OrisaLifestyle is all the evidence you need. The Yoruba remain the Yoruba, in spite of relentless incursions from Christianity, Islam and modernization, precisely because the Yoruba do not compromise. Instead, they absorb those forces that threaten to destroy them.

I call out to every Black man today. I urge you to embolden your brothers. I wish to affirm your OBLIGATIONS to uphold the tradition. I seek to remind you that the Agbole belongs to your fathers and must be handed down to your sons.

What is the Agbole? It is the original family house, where your lineage's ancestral promise was made. The Agbole represents your family's commitment to uphold certain principles and practices in an effort to help bring about the Good Condition.

There is no shame in rulership and governance. Do not hesitate to make your deepest values clear to the entire world. Like Bob Marley sang, I'm a rebel, a soul rebel! I'm a conqueror! Soul adventurer!

Live the medicine!!!
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Obafemi Origunwa, MA | ObafemiO.com
#LivetheMedicine