Let's Go Crazy

Bi iwin bi idin
like madness, like maggots
Cast divination for Sango 
Who was asked to offer his pants and his scarf 
He refused 
Orisa possessed Sango 
When Sango was returning from the farm 
He started acting crazily 
When he arrived at Orunmila's house 
Orunmila said they should carry Sango 
And place him on top of a mortar 
And use three roosters as atonement to Ifa on Sango's behalf 
Soon after, Sango's face calmed down 
He was then carried back home 
People observed that Sango climbed on top of the mortar 
The drum of Sango started to make the sound: 
Bi iwin bi idin
like madness, like maggots
- Holy Odu IrosunIwori

Insanity is the loss of connection to reality. If you have ever encountered someone who has gone insane, you know that everyone involved suffers. But what about collective insanity? What happens when groups of people, or entire nations slip into the darkness of lunacy? We look upon the history of the world and recount the episodes of genocide committed at Wounded Knee, in Rwanda and inner city America but we fail to appreciate the depth of suffering that people have endured as a result of insanity.

Today, Africans across America own 1/2 of 1% of American wealth, which is exactly what we owned at Emancipation. That is evidence of collective insanity. Today, Africans in America make up only 12% of the National population, generate wealth estimated to make us the 9th wealthiest nation on earth. Yet and still, we make up 50% of all people incarcerated in the USA. That is evidence of collective insanity. Now, as Orisa Lifestyle is growing in the African American community, it has become cliche for some to claim that Ifa will mend our broken world. Consequently, our people are scrambling all over the globe to spend vast sums of money to be initiated, under the pretense that they will be instantly introduced to their destinies and magically saved. That is evidence of collective insanity.

Divination and sacrifice only set the stage for divine intervention. If you refuse to change the way you think, feel, speak and behave, no amount of ritual and ceremony will improve your lot in life. Here, it is important to specify that the change I speak of cannot be glossed over with more cliches, like iwa pele or iwa rere. No! The change I am speaking of is to change our agreements in such a way that we make decisions that increase the collective vitality, prosperity and sustainability of Africans in America. More precisely, I am referring to 16 Agreements of Orisa Lifestyle, which will transform us from a unruly crowds into well-organized communities, who own, control and direct the resources in our local environments. This is what it means to live the medicine. Learn more at www.OrisaLifestyle.com/volunteer.

---