The three Yoruba terms for destiny, how destiny is received, and the sustained scholarly argument over whether Yoruba destiny is fatalistic, with the case that it is negotiable rather than fixed.
The Yorùbá wey dem quote, the proverbs, oríkì, ẹsẹ Ifá, word list headwords, Odù names and citations dey exactly as the corpus record dem, for every language.
Yoruba thought biliv say pesin dey come dis world wit destiny wey dem collect for ọ̀run bifor dem bon am. Di kweshon wey don engage Yoruba philosophers for fifty years na wetin follow from dat one. If dem don fix your portion bifor dem bon you and you no fit rimemba wetin e be, you really dey free? You dey responsible for wetin you do? Effort get any meaning at all? Di ansa wey di tradition get, wey dey inside wetin dem dey practice insted of to state am as one thesis, na say destiny dey real, e dey matta wel-wel, and pesin fit stil negotiate am, and big part of wetin Yoruba religious and ethical practice dey do na dat negotiation.
Dis one no be di same tin as predestination and e no be di same tin as free will, and dis file spend most of e length dey show why, bikos di two Western position wey dey misdescribe am.
English word "destiny" pack one set of Yoruba terms wey dey do difren-difren work togeda.
Àyànmọ́. Dem form am from yàn, to choose, and mọ́, wey carry di sense of to fix or attach somtin to pesin. Idowu explain am as wetin dem attach to pesin . Di term dey call destiny somtin wey dem don attach, seal, and wey be pesin own.
Kádàrá. Dem dey use am wel-wel for lot or fate. Pipul generally biliv say na borrow dem borrow di word from Arabic qadar, wey be di Islamic term for divine decree, wey enta Yoruba thru di long time wey Muslims don dey for northern Yoruba towns. Confidence: medium on top di etymology, wey plenti pipul report but wey dis corpus neva verify against specialist source on top Yoruba loanwords. Dis point matta, bikos if kádàrá na loanword, den som of di fatalistic meaning wey di word carry for modern Yoruba fit be somtin wey follow am enta insted of somtin wey dey inside di older stratum from beginin.
Ìpín. From pín, to divide, to share. Ìpín na pesin portion, pesin share, wetin dem share give pesin . For di three, na dis one least dey theological and na im most concrete pass. E dey call destiny quantity wey dem share, just as dem dey share portion of meat or land.
Ìpín na stil di term wey dey inside Ọ̀rúnmìlà's praise name Ẹlẹ́rìí Ìpín, witness to di portion, wey be di title wey Ifá authority stand on top .
Idowu account, wey pipul dey cite pass, talk say pesin dey receive destiny for one out of three ways :
Àkúnlẹ̀yàn, from kúnlẹ̀, to kneel down, and yàn, to choose: wetin pesin kneel down choose.
Àkúnlẹ̀gbà, from kúnlẹ̀ and gbà, to receive: wetin pesin kneel down collect.
Àyànmọ́: wetin dem attach to pesin.
Di difrens between di first two dey do serious philosophical work and summary dey usually miss am. For àkúnlẹ̀yàn di pesin na di chooser and na dem get di initiative. For àkúnlẹ̀gbà di pesin na di recipient and di initiative dey anoda place. Di fact say di tradition keep di two, without resolving dem, na proof say Yoruba thought no take one single settled line on how much of your portion you select.
Put dis one beside di Àjàlá account, where pesin pick head from storehouse of heads wey dia quality difren scatter without knowing which one be which, and den cross di water of forgetfulness . Real choice dey dia, and na choice wey pesin make blind, and pesin kom forget am aftawuds. Dat structure no be predestination, bikos nobody decree your lot for you, and e no be free will, bikos you no get any information. E near lottery wey na you draw di ticket by yourself, wey be clear position and no be confused one.
Serious body of scholarship dey read Yoruba destiny as fatalism or hard determinism, and pesin must to face dat reading insted of to just wave am komot.
E. Bọlaji Idowu argue say Yoruba pipul dey, as e talk am, incurably fatalistic for dia belief about orí and destiny, say di important episode for pesin life don already dey chosen and sealed and e dey very hard to change dem, and dat na why Yoruba pipul no be autonomous agents for di way dem dey explain wetin dey happen to dem .
E. O. Oduwole bring out di fullest philosophical case for fatalism inside one 1996 paper. Im position na say according to Yoruba account, everybody biography don already dey written bifor dem arrive, say wetin pesin dey do na to fulfill dat tin insted of free will, and say di so-called act of choice wen pesin dey acquire orí no really be choice at all since dem make am under condition wey di chooser no fit control . Im sharpest move touch di remedies. Wen pesin learn thru Ifá say dem choose badly and den struggle to alter am, Oduwole argue say di struggle sef dey part of wetin dem fate, so all di whole apparatus of sacrifice and effort na way to fulfill destiny insted of to change am . She stil argue say fatalism get ethical benefit: e dey komot di temptation to explain misfortune wit human wickedness .
Pipul dey often put Wande Abimbola for dis camp bikos of im statement say once pesin don choose destiny wen dem select orí, e almost impossible to change am for earth, and say indeed di gods no dey in position to change pesin destiny . Balogun argue, correctly, say to read Abimbola as fatalist on top dis basis na mistake, bikos for oda places Abimbola emphasize wel-wel say ẹbọ and ẹsẹ fit change di outcome of bad orí and say for Yoruba thought dem dey hold pipul responsible for wetin dem do by dia own voluntary actions .
Di fatalist reading get one strong evidence wey dey support am, wey be proverb wey di tradition dey use for hopeless cases.
Orí burúkú kì í gbọ́ ọṣẹ.
Orí burúkú (bad head, bad destiny) kì í (no dey habitually) gbọ́ (hear, respond to, absorb di effect of) ọṣẹ (soap).
"Bad orí no fit wash clean wit soap." Na Idowu report am and Balogun quote am ; as dis corpus render am here from attested Yoruba. Confidence: medium on top di tonal marking.
Translator: Ìpilẹ̀ṣẹ̀ editorial rendering, unreviewed
Gbọ́ its direct meaning na to hear, and the idiom say make substance hear treatment na standard Yoruba way to talk say e dey respond to treatment. The metaphor dey domestic and no get any mystery: person wash head with soap, and head wey get this kain problem no dey clean. The force na resignation, and the fatalist dem get right to am. Wetin person must notice na the register. Na wetin person dey talk when dem don try everything, no be statement of general doctrine, and Balogun argument na precisely say the fatalist dem don carry the language of last resort wey the tradition get and make am the tradition basic position .
The counter-argument, wey be the majority position now among Yoruba philosophers, na say Yoruba destiny na soft-deterministic: real causes wey come before, real freedom, and real responsibility. Oladele Abiodun Balogun 2007 paper na the most complete statement on this, and this account follow am .
The argument dey run on the practices. If destiny no fit change at all, then the whole structure of Yoruba religious life no go get point, and Yoruba people go know. The structure dey, e elaborate, e cost money, and people wey no be fools dey take am serious. The sources mention four mechanisms wey person fit take change am.
Ẹbọ, sacrifice. Wetin Ifá dey normally bring out na prescription. The premise of the prescription na say the outcome never set yet. Balogun quote the formula wey dey recur across the corpus:
Rírú ẹbọ ni í gbe ni, àìrú kì í gbe ẹnìyàn.
Rírú ẹbọ (to offer sacrifice) ni í gbe ni (na wetin dey support person, dey lift person, dey carry person). Àìrú (say person no offer) kì í gbe ẹnìyàn (no dey support person).
"To offer sacrifice dey support person; say person fail to offer no dey support." Quoted inside Balogun 2007, p. 126, wey im English be "making of sacrifice favours one than its utter refusal"; the smoother rendering wey dey above na from this corpus . Confidence: medium on the tonal marking.
Translator: Ìpilẹ̀ṣẹ̀ editorial rendering, unreviewed
The construction na contrastive pair with the same verb, gbe, for the positive and negative, wey in Yoruba be rhetorical form of near-proof. Balogun published English dey awkward, and e make sense to show the awkwardness rather than hide am, because e dey reveal say gbe no get clean English equivalent. Gbe here na to carry, to lift, to back, to make prosper. No be "to favour", wey dey suggest arbitrary preference, and no be "to reward", wey dey suggest desert. Sacrifice dey carry person.
Ẹsẹ, effort. Kola Abimbola add ẹsẹ as fourth element of the person alongside ara, ẹ̀mí and orí. Literally leg, for the context of personhood e mean strife, hard work, struggle . E introduce the principle say the potential inside your orí must be actualised by your own exertion. Good orí without ẹsẹ no dey produce anything. Ẹsẹ na catalyst, no be supplement .
Ìwà, character. Character dey alter destiny for both directions. Person wey no get patience, inside the tradition image, dey run faster pass their own orí and go lose im support; idle mind dey spoil destiny wey for prosper . The reciprocity dey stated directly inside the proverb pairing orí and ìwà, treated inside the ìwà file.
External interference. Destiny fit spoil from outside, by àjẹ́ and by hostile working. Na this mechanism dem dey mostly sensationalise the sources for, and dem handle am inside the file on misfortune. Why e dey relevant here na structural: destiny wey another party fit interfere with by definition no be something wey dem seal.
The concept wey dissolve the apparent contradiction na àfọwọ́fá, from fi ọwọ́ fà, to draw with person own hand: the problem wey person don bring on oneself .
Yoruba explanation of misfortune dey sort causes into two bins. Some outcomes na àfọwọ́fá, traceable to the person own action, located inside the natural order, empirically observable, and grounds for blame and punishment. Others pass the person, and those ones dey referred to orí. Balogun formulation na say soft determinism here mean to hold person responsible for actions wey dem deliberately perform while dem dey attribute to their orí those ones wey their causes transcend them .
This resolve wetin look like inconsistency. The tradition talk say destiny no fit alter and e also talk say destiny fit alter, and both dey true for different things. Ordinary life, including everything wey person for reasonably don do otherwise, na àfọwọ́fá territory and fully subject to responsibility. Destiny language dey reserved for the residue: the baffling, the untoward, the pattern wey dey persist after dem don try everything wey reasonable. As Balogun put am, the Yoruba dey fall back on fatalism when the effort to rectify bad destiny don turn to nothing .
Read this way, orí buruku kì í gbọ́ ọṣẹ no be the tradition theory of life. Na wetin the tradition dey talk at the end of long and failed attempt to change something, wey be roughly wetin any tradition dey talk at that point.
The strongest single argument inside the paper na one wey Balogun talk say all previous participants miss, and e worth stating precisely. Orí dey limited to material success. Wealth, prosperity, professional success, the general fortune of life. Orí no get anything to do with moral character, and Balogun claim na say nowhere inside the Ifá corpus, inside ìjálá, inside ìwì, inside egúngún or inside ẹsà egúngún dem talk say moral character fit be predetermined by person earlier choice of orí .
If dat one stand, di debate about fatalism come almost scatter finish. Di area where destiny dey work and di area where moral responsibility dey work na different areas. Person fit pick poor hand for wealth, but dat one no mean say dem pick any hand at all for honesty, generosity, or wickedness. Nobody dey destined to be bad person. Character na purely your own hand e dey, and na dat exact reason make Yoruba ethics put all im weight for ìwà and e no put anything for destiny.
Dis claim na argument from silence over one very big oral corpus, and argument from silence over oral corpora no dey ever conclusive. Even at dat, e still match di whole shape of Yoruba ethical practice, wey dey praise and blame people for character straight without any excuse, and e no dey ever excuse bad character say person pick bad head.
Ifá na di information infrastructure of di whole arrangement, and wetin e dey do dey follow from di water of forgetfulness. You choose, and you forget. Everything wey follow after dat one dey rely on dat gap.
Because you no know your ìpín, you fit spend your life dey pursue wetin dem no destine you for, and Gbadegesin note say failure na di result of dat kind effort . Di problem of diagnosis come real true-true and introspection no fit solve am. Divination na di technology to solve am: Ọ̀rúnmìlà witness di choice, so Ifá fit reveal am.
Wetin Ifá dey bring out usually no be prediction. Na diagnosis plus prescription: dis na wetin dey happen, dis na wetin to sacrifice, dis na wetin to avoid, dis na di way. Dat na di form of system wey believe say things fit still change. Culture wey genuinely fatalistic no go need prescription, na forecast only dem go need, and wetin Ifá dey bring out na overwhelmingly prescription. Di procedural shape of di divination system itself come dey among di better evidence against di fatalist reading of di culture wey build am.
Two comparison to hold clear for mind, wey dem expand for di comparative file.
E no be Calvinist predestination. For predestination, na God get di decree, dem no dey consult di person, di result dey touch eternal salvation, and nothing wey di person do fit change am. For di Yoruba account, di person kneel down choose or receive, wetin dey inside touch life for ayé instead of condition after death, and person fit work on am through ẹbọ, ẹsẹ and ìwà.
E no be Greek moira. Greek fate na something wey dem impose from outside, e no dey knowable in a way wey make effort to run from am turn to di exact way e take happen, and e dey characteristically ironic: Oedipus fulfill di oracle as e dey run from am. Dem dey consult Yoruba divination make dem fit take action, and to act on am dey work. Oyèláràn put di contrast directly: unlike Greco-Roman fate wey person no fit change and wey dey externalised, Yoruba ìpín fit still change through conscious action, and individuals fit keep, improve or spoil their destiny through observance, hard work and awareness .
E no still be libertarian free will. Dem don genuinely settle something before you reach here, e dey limit wetin dey available to you, and you no know wetin e be. Di Yoruba position hold real constraint and real agency together at di same time, wey be wetin soft determinism mean and na why Balogun use dat label.
Character as the whole content of Yoruba ethics, iwa pele and iwa rere, the identity of character with beauty, patience as the source of character, and an ethical system grounded in consequence and community rather than divine command.
What ebo does inside the system's own logic, its dependence on divination, the range from daily offering to symbolic substitution, and why the missionary reading of it as appeasement was wrong.
The four-day week and the ritual calendar, how a Yoruba diagnosis of a problem actually proceeds, and an accurate account of aje, women's spiritual authority and the Gelede response.
How Yoruba philosophical concepts map and fail to map onto Greek, Christian, Islamic and modern Western categories, and what goes wrong when the translation is made anyway.
An analysis of human destiny in Yoruba metaphysics, examining the tripartite taxonomy of destiny, the role of human striving and moral character, and how self-inflicted ruin complicates fatalism.
Ara, emi, ori, okan and ojiji, the disagreement among scholars about how many elements there are, why "soul" fits none of them, and what Yoruba rebirth and ancestorhood actually claim.