Published: Sun 2nd April 2023
The Breath of Creation
by Dalian Adofo
‘God’ is Breath, the air we take in every second!
This firm conclusion was finalised in my mind whilst being cooled by a tropical breeze at 4am in Accra, Ghana when a conversation with friends inevitably touched on the age-old question – what was/is this thing we call ‘God’?
It had been been a hypothesis swirling around in my mind since my last conversation with Chwukunyere Kamalu, Ph D, a few years back on one of our LIVE shows, Dogon Cosmology, where we covered amongst others topics, African sacred concepts that converged soundly with certain Western Scientific theories and Natural cycles . One of those discussed was the reference to the egg of creation axiom amongst the Dogon that correlates with nine months of human pregnancy.
My challenge to the group was if any of us could hold our breath past 44 minutes to ascertain if we’d be alive thereafter or even if it was possible. That it would be a ‘true miracle’ if it could be done by simultaneously invoking the name or title of what we considered the ‘most high’ to ‘save us’…. Of course, neither was, nor will ever, be possible.
If we don’t sustain our connection to this immaterial force every second, the likelihood of staying alive becomes equally slim. Perhaps because it’s one of the functions we take for granted as we perform it so frequently and effortlessly, we grow to undervalue its importance and do not appreciate its vital role – which is to keep us alive, no other force. Prove me wrong.
This gentle essence we call air, which when concentrated in motion is a force we call wind. Wind as an expression also has the potential to destroy when it is concentrated in typhoons, tornadoes or other natural phenomena. In its varied forms it reminds us of another sacred African concept – that of duality, it maintains life inasmuch it can also take it.
When we take in its nourishment, in return we also release what no longer serves us back into the ether where it gives the gift of life to other creations, reflecting another sacred African principle – UBUNTU – how interconnected and interdependent all is.
This mutual exchange serves a necessary transformative function in our lives and philosophically reminds of a core Cosmic Principle – as we are given so must we give, for harmony, balance and continuity to prevail. When we meditate on its significance further, we will come to realise that we have a direct connection to the source that sustains life, in fact we exist solely as that source, so it is us at our very core!
The Nuer people of Ethiopia across to the Sudan express this divine relationship best in the Ancestral wisdom where it states that ‘When we die, our bodies are committed to the Earth whilst our breath returns to Kuoth (the Creator)’. As evident, we are our breaths, not separate from what we also call the air or wind and so by extension, we are also ‘God’.
The Ancestors knew, so should we today. It works with us, through us and for us, because it is us.
Learn to work with its flow, harness the elements.
Written by Dalian Adofo
Ancestral Voices Co-founder
