THE WISDOM OF THE ANCESTORS: INVOCATION, OFFERINGS, AND OBEISANCE
Before religion was invented the word “God” did not exist. Nevertheless, a vibrant innate spirituality flourished that connected the ancestors to the ubiquitous Lord of creation. The Tree of Life stands in the garden of immortality giving life to all relative phenomenon. The health of the tree is related to the sap (xylem), which transfers the minerals, hormones, and water up from the bottom of the tree. Spirituality is the fragrance of the sap of the Tree of eternal life. Spirituality flourishes in a society in proportion to the sap drawn from the Tree of Life; the sap maintains and sustains every aspect of the Tree of Life.
In antiquity, our ancestors lived in synchrony with the omnipresent spirit. Their wisdom was total, it encompassed the knowledge of how to water the root of the Tree of Life which maintained their connection with the life-giving sap. Our African forefathers established a tradition of invocation, offerings, and making libations in memory of those to whom they were eternally connected. This offering to God in humility not only reflects an innate sensitivity to the ubiquitous spirit, but is demonstrative of the knowledge of the laws of nature responsible for symmetry, balance, and manifestation of desire. Pre-missionary Africa knew that physical life and spiritual life were inextricable. Not surprisingly, down the corridor of time, we see this same knowledge of invocation offerings and obeisance. For example, (1) In the Hebrew Torah, in the 14th chapter of Genesis, the high priest of Elyon, Melech-Tzadik, offers bread and wine to his God for a blessing. (2) The central act of the Catholic liturgy the Mass is a “communion” when the Priest offers bread and wine on the alter embellished with flowers, water, and a white handkerchief. Afterward, owing to their belief in the “transubstantiation” the offerings are eaten by the parishioners as the actual body and blood of Christ. (3) The Shankaracharya tradition of northern India offers, fruit, flowers, rice, fire, coconut, incense, water, ghee, and other items on an alter that afterward are consumed by the devotees. In these examples, the vestiges of ancient spiritual practices of our forefathers are clearly evident. With the long march of time, however, spirituality was replaced by religion taught in ecclesial institutions (Church) with theology and patriarchal authority.
Ostensibly, the purpose of religion is to bind the believer back to the sap of the Tree of Life; as long as the branches are saturated with the life-giving sap, its spiritual life (fruitfulness) is ensured. If, however, the branches lose their connection to the root system, the strength of the sap drawn from the main trunk will cease and the branches will die. This is precisely the case today with religion; the branches are atrophied, left dry without the life-giving sap. Consequently, religion today is found in form only and like a body without a life-giving spirit, it is only a corpse! The death of the tree could have been averted if the main trunk was continuously preserved by acts of invocation, offering, and obeisance.
The worship of our ancestors was once considered primitive, backward, and idolatrous, but now modern science has validated the mystical intuition of our forefathers. When understood from a 21st-century scientific perspective, Invocation offerings and libation activate the laws of nature. The Lord of creation maintains every level of creation, and is not restricted to any category of space and time; the Lord is omnipresent. Newton’s third law of physics states,” if an object A exerts a force on object B, then object B must exert a force of equal magnitude and opposite direction back to object A”. This law represents a certain symmetry in nature; forces always occur in pairs, and one body cannot exert a force on another without the experience of a force itself. For example, a swimmer pushed against the pool wall and accelerated in the direction opposite of his push. In response, the wall exerted an equal and opposite force back on the swimmer. From Newton’s 3rd law of physics, we can state without equivocating that the laws of Physics support and reinforce the practice of invocation, offerings, and libations.
Finally, the definition of the word Holy is “set-apart”. There are holy tongues like Lashon Ha Kodesh in the Hebrew language that is used for auspicious occasions, prayer, and rites of passage. In the East, Sanskrit is an ancient holy, name/form language. During the invocation, the mechanics by which the awareness is taken into deep levels during the offerings lie in the ability to pronounce the holy words of the specific invocation while engaging in the movement of the offering. The harmony between these acts directs the mind toward the Lord and links the individual with the Masters of the tradition who realized the oneness with God and gave the knowledge of this eternal oneness to them. In the 21st century, invocation, offerings, and obeisance are efficacious spiritual technology. During the invocation, the air is sanctified and surcharged with the sublime quality of bliss, the invocation, or the articulation of sacred sounds while making an offering in a deferential and respectful posture is an act of watering the root system of the Tree of Life. The ceremony of the offering creates harmony between thought, speech, and action which complements the intellect, ego, and senses. As this harmony increases, deeper levels of silence are fathomed while maintaining activity; being able to maintain awareness of deep inner silence along with the thought, speech, and action is a direct means of developing a perpetual communion with God. Going forward, to enjoy the fruit you must water the root of the Tree of Life by engaging the ancient spirituality technology of Invocation, Offerings, and Obeisance; daily practice will cultivate God-consciousness, and ensure that your life is lived in concert with the ubiquitous Lord of Creation.
Dr. Yisrael offers individualized instruction in his Self-Reflection Technique (SRT) and or Hebrew crash reading course. Interested parties should indicate in the provided spaces below.