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Jenseitsvorstellungen der Afrikaner (Dagara)

... schrieb am 26. Februar 2002 um 12:43 Uhr (799x gelesen):

Hallo Jenseitsinteressierte

Ich habe vor einiger Zeit von Malidoma Somé das Buch 'Vom Geist Afrikas' gelesen.

Zum Thema Jenseitsvorstellung, Lebensplan und -aufgabe, Beziehung zu den Ahnen,... gibt es sehr interessante Parallelen und auch Abweichungen zur Arbeit/Forschung von Peter & Team.



Falls es interessiert, hier ein paar Links:

-www.malidoma.com
-http://www.wiseincouncil.com/malidomaindex.html
-http://www.context.org/ICLIB/IC34/Some.htm
-http://www.leit-bild.de/wisdomofafrica.html


Und hier ein paar Textbeispiele (Hauptmerkmal der Spiritualität des Dagarastammes ist die lebendige Verbindung zu den Ahnen(jenseitige Seelenfamilie?, Haus?)):


1.Remembering Our Purpose
an interview with Malidoma Somé, by Sarah van Gelder

Sarah: Can you tell me something about the way children are brought up in your culture?

Malidoma: First of all, children are looked upon as mature people who are in a state of physical adjustment.

Normally, six or 12 weeks into pregnancy there is a ritual that is lead by a group of advisors who get together with the pregnant woman. The purpose of the ritual is to inquire about the identity of the soul who is waiting to be born. Those attending ask the baby: "Who are you? What are you coming here for? What can we do for you, as people who have already arrived?"

Normally, the mother takes on a very shrill, thin voice, known as the spirit voice, to respond to these questions. Based on the answers they get, they design a name for the baby.

At birth, the newborn's first cry is taken very seriously. It is not considered a cry; it's looked at as a signal that the new soul has finally arrived and is crying out to see if there are other souls. And for that reason, those attending the birth bring in other children who are supposed to scream back at the crying newborn.

It's very common to find a mother at night who hasn't seen her 8-month-old baby for the past day. She doesn't know where he is; she just knows he's somewhere in one of the many houses and she knows he's safe. And, more often than not, there's another child who stays with that mother while her own child is gone somewhere. This is a very common practice in the villages; it gives the child a very broad sense of belonging.

So children grow up very, very aware of what a village is about; everybody chips in to help raise the child. It's very rare that a child feels isolated or develops psychological problems; everyone is very aware of where he or she belongs.

Sarah: You mentioned earlier the initiation process. Why is this so important?

Malidoma: Growth itself makes one forget about who one is. So initiation is something that is designed to help one remember one's origin and the very purpose of one's occurrence on this side of reality - that is to say, why one was born. This is why initiation is especially magical.

So a person who is not initiated is considered a child, no matter how old that person is, because that person will not be able to recall his or her purpose. Without initiation, the bridge between youth and adulthood can never be crossed, and a person's heart is open to anything - to being shot down by any kind of energy going around. In the village, to not be initiated is to be a non-person.

Sarah: Can you say more about the sense of interconnectedness that exists in your village?

Malidoma: When you live as one family for a long time, you come to feel that there is a kind of connection between individuals that is not just physical or parental or relational, but is a connection at the level of soul.

When I go home, things get pointed out to me about myself that I thought were totally hidden. But the elders, through their divinational process, can point to things that I did that require me to go through a cleansing ritual. And this tells me that when people are linked together at that level, geography is no longer an issue.

What's good about this is that the individual never feels isolated from the rest of the community. And nobody is higher than anybody else, so there is no class.

There is something very interesting about a classless society; it's one that allows itself to be lead by the spirit. There is a greater tendency to assist those who are older and slower, and it prevents people from feeling cut off or left out or off track.

One of the things that I have been able to communicate to my elders that has lead to a great deal of disgust on their part, is the fact that there are homeless people in this country. To them it is impossible that somebody could be homeless. They're surprised and appalled because they don't understand what happens when the meaning of community is not carried out.


2.from The Healing Wisdom of Africa by Malidoma Somé

The Dagara creation story says that the planet we are on is a frozen extension of a much brighter and more harmonious spiritual world. If we don't maintain this world, something will happen to the Other World. Our relationship with the Spirit World is a two-way stream, and we need to fine-tune and maintain the lines of communication between the two worlds...The Dagara people understand that the spirit that animates each one of us in our life can be reborn, and that the purpose of this reincarnation is to try once again to fix this world. And this is why when we come here we are not at peace until we find ourselves useful, wanted, and needed. We do not come to this world on vacation. We come here for service, and we have to remember what that service is. The nature of our service--our purpose--was configured already in the Spirit World before we came here. Community is the mirror that allows us to see our purpose, and the school where we first learn the meaning of service.

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