Once upon a time, there lived Kwuku Ananse and his family in a small village near a deep river. Ananse was a successful farmer and a linguist of the chief of the village. He commanded respect among the elders of the village. In spite of all these, he was not satisfied. He wanted to become the wisest man in the village and eventually the chief.

At long last the idea of the wisdom pot was hatched. One afternoon, when all the inhabitants of the village had gone to their farms Ananse got a small black pot and started collecting wisdom. There was only one person he couldn’t deprive of wisdom and that was his son Ntikumah. In fact, ever since his father’s countenance changed, Ntikumah’s eyes were glued to him. He followed him secretly wherever he went. He knew his father was up to something sinister.

One Saturday morning, Ananse took a quick look around, and satisfied that there was no one around, he got his climbing gear ready, and started climbing with the pot in front of him. He was full of great expectations. “To be the only wise man in the village…that would be so great…” he mused. The pot on his stomach hampered climbing, yet he struggled fruitlessly to climb.

Ntikumah was beginning to enjoy his father’s frustration. “Father put the pot behind you” Ntikumah finally shouted. Imagine Ananse’s shock. He turned around quickly and saw his son Ntikumah and wondered what he was doing there. He saw the wisdom in his son’s advice, but Ananse’s humiliation at having been outwitted was so great that he dropped the pot and it fell on a big rock in the river and broke into pieces scattering the wisdom all over the world.

Stories, like the Ananse story above, are the cornerstone of the oral tradition in primal religions. These stories are narrated from one generation to the next to explain the nature of God, man’s existence, and the world at large. They are similar to the parables taught by Jesus in the New Testament or the stories of the old testament.

Orality is one of the trademarks of primal religions. The stories themselves make it easy to understand the spiritual and moral lessons that are intended by them. Rather than try to explain what God is in literal terms, stories are woven with the use of nature and animals to show what God is like. Orality also preserves the intent of the lessons. The written word is often taken literally and the essence of its meaning in lost in the lines. This is best seen in the translation of the stories of the Bible. In most Christian faiths, they are taken literally and their meaning is often overlooked. In doing this much of its significance is also lost.

In primal cultures, the tribe is central to the individual’s identity. However, the tribe in this sense extends beyond the individual human beings. It is everything in the ecosystem of the group. It is all of nature, animals, and objects, animate and inanimate, in addition to the people. As such, great emphasis is placed on the existence of Spirit in everything. Everything has its place and value in the tribe. Everyone is taught to honor everything within the tribe, as well as the tribal entity.

As I was reading Huston Smith’s The World Religions, I was struck by the concept of everywhen, the eternal now. It seems the Aborigines believe that they can become their archetypal heroes, or gods, in every moment. They can, of course, embody this god for continuous moment and, as a result, merge with it.

You may see some similarities between the concepts of primal religion and “New Age” philosophies. That is no accident. Many people, in an effort to get to the Truth, adopted the ideas and traditions in primal religions. However, practitioners of primal religions caution that adaption of these traditions dilute the true meaning of these “religions” and infatuation with the ideals and innocence of them belittle them.

Throughout the Year of Prayer, I seek to understand the underlying similarities among spiritual traditions. Already, I am finding some common threads. I invite you to share any of your experiences with these traditions.

In Spirit,
Nneka