Contemplating a Course in the Theory and Practice of Kalabari/Pentecostal Philosophy of Nimi Wariboko

 Inspired by the excitingly meticulous course descriptions of the school of Embodied Philosophy on Facebook, delivering online courses on the theories and practices of Asian philosophies and spiritualities, I am considering designing a course on the theory and practice of Kalabari/Pentecostal philosophy of Nimi Wariboko.

He has created a superb interpretation of the relationship between human potential and human achievement using the philosophy and spirituality of his native Kalabari in Nigeria's Niger Delta in harmony with Pentecostal thought and practices.

A very powerful and potentially very practical structure of ideas.

Ideas that can be shown to unify a broad range of conceptions and practices in various philosophies and spiritualities across space and time, from Africa to Asia and the West and even in contemporary scientific cosmology, correlations I make, with meticulous references, in my essay written to be considered for submission in a forthcoming book on Wariboko organised and edited by the omnivorous scholar Toyin Falola.

Nimi Wariboko in dialogue with Adinkra symbols from the Akan and Gyaman of Ghana.

Symbol at bottom is He Won Hye, “The Unburnable” or “That Which Cannot be Burnt”, its form evocative of a sliver of light between two embryos, themselves alcoved within a soaring structure seemingly poised for flight , symbolising the dynamic timelessness of the self, which projects itself from to lifetime to lifetime through the portals of birth and death, a continuity, however, not suggestive of mere repetition, but of the opportunity to grow into a range of knowledge and skill through experience, a wisdom and active capacity evoked by the range of ideas evoked by the symbolism of Adinkra .

The middle right symbol is Epa, is understood as representing captivity, as a stylised depiction of a pair of handcuffs. I am adapting that idea of captivity to represent not only a material bondage but any form of bondage that prevents the complete actualisation of the self, the fulfillment of the full potential of the self as realised in the intersection between the material self and the kra, the inner self that predates birth and outlives death.

For me, therefore, the symbol of captivity also embodies the conception of freedom from captivity. The aerodynamic styling of the design evokes ideas of flight, of unfettered freedom yet directed by disciplined intelligence.

One could thus see each tip of the two quadrilaterals as representing a vertex, a dimensional interface, evoking conjunction between human consciousness and the coordinates that constitute the framework of the universe.

Within this perspective, the space between the two quadrilaterals is a non-dimensional space into which the would be inter-dimensional voyager projects themselves mentally.

The consequent alignment of the coordinates of consciousness with the points of each quadrilateral, simultaneous with the positioning within the null space of the centre between the quadrilaterals, may thus be seen as facilitating a cancelling out of what the Akan understood as Nsanmo, the state of being that makes possible perceivable existence.

Could the consistent contemplation of the symbol in the light of these ideas not lead to a dissociation of consciousness creating a space between the boundaries of dream, vision and ordinary alertness, enabling a participation in modes of being that are otherwise sensed but not experienced directly.

May the use of this symbol not go hand in hand with mathematical procedures through which the initiate calculates relative positions in relation to the dimensional interfaces through which they wish to travel, points of intersection of lines that converge at points constituting the constellation of particular dimensional coordinates?