Today as a break it would be nice to ask: Did you know that a tribe of Africans called the Yoruba, who were centered in Nigeria but who stretched to Togo and Benin on the coast of West Africa, essentially developed the first computer many thousands of years before Christ? It sounds like something to laugh at, but this is very very true. And it shows how deeply into things ancient peoples were.
This system is called IFA, and is still practiced and used today. It is based on a system of 256 binary codes consisting of 256 combinations of light and dark consisting of 8 figures each, a binary code system, again, of 8 figures containing all whites (O’s) and all black figures (1’s in computer terms) including these, and including every possible combination in-between. There are a total of 256 combinations possible. In other words:
l l
l l
l l
l l
Or a figure of all white sides up, is interpreted as something in this ancient system called “Ogbe Meiji” and it’s contrary, all O’s, is called “Oyekun Meiji”. If you are educated, you probably have heard that computers work on a system of ones and O’S and the difference between them. Between the top and bottom figures there exist 254 other figures, making a total of 256, with different figures of l’s and O’s appearing in every considerable position.
O O
O O
O O
O O
In the ancient world of the Yoruba, these formations, called Odu’s, were considered the basis of all knowledge. Scripture was attached to each one, and oral tradition about legends and prognostications if this one or that one appeared during divination, have been passed down through countless centuries, provably 20,000 years but some scholars think as much as 40,000 years.
We now live in a world where these EXACT AND I DO MEAN EXACT 256 combinations of zeros and ones are the very system that run computers, and computers run the world today. There is absolutely no difference whatsoever. The ancient Yoruba considered each sign to be a form of communication from deity to man to aid him in his quest for wisdom and knowledge, modern man uses them in his quest for knowledge and wisdom in their essential role in running computers, which is the machine that has taken over the world and makes it work and come together.
HOWEVER
Some people consider the computer to be “the beast” warned of in the Christian bible, not Satan, but the Beast 666 warned of in The Revelation of Saint John. I once doubted this until recently, I walked into a large room in a New York building where young people from all over the world were sitting in a lounge area, maybe 30 in number.
I was forced to remember the adventure, ROMANCE, COMMUNICATION, learning of foreign languages, refreshed, sequined life I had in my twenties, and as I gazed at this group of twenty something year olds, I noticed that none of them were looking at each other, none were talking to each other, instead their eyes were glued to their laptops, and their hands were doing that funny circular dance on their mouse pads. I watched for twenty minutes and not one said a word to another. I gave thanks to God that I was born in the 1950’s and was of that age in the 1970’s, before the rise of the personal computer, and definitely mainly the laptop or portable home computer, which I consider to be far more destructive than the desktop.
The computer gives you the power to have the world at your fingertips, and has vast usage in our world, so vast that we would be lost without it. That is why doomsday weapons like the one described in ” One second after” are so frightening and yet so liberating to those of us who believe that a TOTAL change in human consciousness may be inevitable or even desirable. Anyone who wants more information on IFA and on how to contact a priest who can divine with it, should write an e mail to us. Ifa can truly describe the present, past and future of a person, when executed by one of his priests, who are called Babaalawos, which in Yoruba language means “Father of Mystery”.
As I said, I also draw quite a distinction between the desktop and laptop. Being able to carry a computer with you anywhere frightens me. When I looked at what those young people were looking at, most were looking at meaningless pictures of friends and relatives, seemingly. Me in front of the Museum of Moden Art. Mom with Anita. THIS, instead of conversing with the hot man next to her? Or maybe he wasn’t so hot…..