The Initiate's Mirror

The life and wisdom of my Master astounded me from the first few words he spoke to me. Five years ago I traveled halfway across the country to study with a man whose writings had impressed me so much that they made little else important. A week or two prior to my trek to meet and study under Master Naba Lamoussa Morodenibig, I called The Earth Center with cold feet. I had begun to toss around reasons why perhaps I should not go, and I called, not really knowing what I would ask or say, but perhaps looking for validation to postpone or put off my plans. I had called The Earth Center many times before and spoken with Herpwi (First generation initiates), but that day Master Naba answered. He announced that I had reached The Earth Center and greeted me. His accent amused me because it sounded Chinese and I knew he was not. Our conversation was very short, I was calling aimlessly, so I appreciated it being brief. In hindsight, I would not have wanted to waste any more of his valuable time. I asked him some silly question about whether I should come to join the upcoming classes or wait for the next. Like many actions we regret, I have tried to push it out of my memory. His short response was, "Any effort towards growth is better than none at all." I was speechless. My shame sank through my body and warmed my feet just as quick as his answer was given. I thanked him and told him I would see him in two weeks. 

My first visit to The Earth Center added to my amazement. I arrived early one day and knocked lightly, excited but nervous to meet this spiritual master who's spiritual and philosophical writings stood head and shoulders above other spiritual writings I had been exposed to. Master Naba's humility from our phone conversation was contagious and with my feelings of humility and nervousness combined, my knock was barely audible in the twenty-seven hundred square foot loft that The Earth Center occupied. Having walked about an hour from my cousin's home I took a monk's seated position right outside the door. I had sat for about thirty minutes or so, excited for where my choices had taken my destiny when a man walked up and unlocked the door. He asked, "Are you here for The Earth Center?" Yes, I replied. I stayed seated as he went inside. A few seconds later, from inside the door I had barely knocked on came another man I faintly recognised from the older Rising Firefly publications. Herpw Bikbaye invited me in and led me through the open loft space to the back offices from where there's no way he could have heard my knock. We casually walked past a man who was humbly sleeping on a pallet on the floor. That's Master Naba I exclaimed, almost forgetting that he was asleep. I had raised him to a level so high in my mind due to the profundity of his work -- which I had barely chipped the surface of -- that this was very surprising. I'm not certain of what I expected to see. I remember telling Herpw when we finally made it to the back after his polite attempts at keeping me quiet, that I expected to see him living very luxuriously or at least far away from the realities of "regular" people as seen in many other Spiritual leaders. He laughed; he knew that this was only the beginning for me. 

It was the beginning, and I would learn more practical knowledge in the next five years than I had in the first twenty-three years of my life, many times over. Perhaps the same could be said for just the first five classes. The two experiences above are examples of two lessons that are at the foundation of a spiritual life: hard work and humility. 

"Many people all around the world pray and do purifications daily; that is nothing," Master Naba explained to his initiates. A spiritual life is about honesty in facing and struggling through the challenges we are presented everyday. "The situation of the person in initiation is not necessarily enviable; all of his/her human qualities: his persistence, courage, etc. are constantly challenged." I valued the decision Master Naba led me towards on that first phone conversation, everyday when I would leave his presence. I valued the shame his words put inside me. Today, I value the fact that I never turned away from such a gift even when I would be up at night faced with those challenges an initiate goes through; faced with being exposed to myself by a Spiritual Master who seemed to know me better than I know myself. 

The Spiritual Master is the mirror of the initiate; it is his responsibility to expose the initiate to himself/herself, and Master Naba did not take his responsibilities lightly. I watched in many classes as students and guests whose emotions had escalated would be exposed to themselves with just a simple series of questions calmly posed by Master Naba. This giant mirror caused many to leave class and not return; it caused many to form excuses for avoiding Master Naba's assistance in their lives and caused a few to even leave in tears. These people were not running from Master Naba, who would never raise his voice or take an aggressive or antagonistic tone, but instead from themselves and from the shame the reflection caused. 

I was fortunate to view my own reflection in this powerful Mirror and to learn from this extraordinary Spiritual Master, even to be disciplined by this father who was so much more than a father to me. I value those five years of pain, suffering, struggling and breakthroughs which that Mirror provided to my life. I value the path it has put me on and the potential it has built for my life. He did not leave me or any other initiate room for mediocrity. This clear Mirror always kept us humble and motivated us toward the hard work that the challenge in every step down the spiritual path demands. 

One day, he met my aunt when we had traveled to my home town. She had tried to sing my praises, "Isn't he great?" she asked. "Who... him... this one? This one is not great... no". My aunt looked shocked, even offended. In my circle of relatives, friends, etc. I was always known as a "good kid", even if it was just for my success at manipulating situations. He continued, "No he is not great at all, but he is learning. Maybe he is great by certain standards, but he is setting new standards for himself. Maybe you see him as great because you see him as a mother sees a son. I am his teacher; I am trying to help him improve; I see the things he needs to work on. He is not great, no." As simple as he put it, her feelings, already offended, had stood in the way of her full comprehension. 

However, this story shows what Master Naba brought to the United States, to the diaspora and to the world. Humanity works on a certain standard to judge its intellectual progression, an individual's quality and its spiritual power. These standards have been set by colonial culture and religious values, yet these cultures and religions have been destroying the world for the last two thousand years. The traditions of Africa have been discounted and remained unheard for so long that even Africans born on the African continent have become disconnected from the influential standards for which pre-colonial Africa (Kemet/Merita) was famous throughout the entire world. Master Naba returned those standards to the entire world once again. He reintroduced the Divine Code of Human Behavior and realigned those who listened with the long, arduous path that leads towards the World of the Gods, the path that leads towards a human's perfection. About time. Today that path has been corrupted by overly generous spiritual guides who claim no one is perfect, preaching forgiveness, faith, and other disempowering concepts to the initiate who seeks spiritual evolution. Master Naba has raised the bar; it will take our humility and hard work to clear it. 

Master Naba was unique. In his circle of traditional high priests, he was the only one who was interested in learning colonial languages. Most Dogon Spiritual Masters are content spending their time in their village, affecting the many initiates whom they will train, and providing mirrors for the village. They will be able to survey and affect existence from their humble homes with the traditional "spiritual technologies". But Master Naba was different. At least three of the thirteen languages he spoke were colonial, and this gave him an opportunity to enter colonial territories and interact with the new breeds of humans like us who no longer know what it means or feels like to live in nature. We who no longer understand that we are nature, and everything we do affects its entire web. We who have become distracted and dislodged from our place in the universe by politicians who wish to dictate an unnatural place for us in their political systems. He observed this new world, and his understanding of both worlds made him an honest bridge for us to cross over to truly human values. 

I had wished many times for a Spiritual Master who would assist me on my path, but never did I imagine I would meet such a Master. Now I have watched the end of Master Naba's short yet incredibly accomplished life, and I am taught again by him just how precious life on Earth is. I will work to follow his example and take full advantage of my time here as my Master did. I and all of his students must now work to repay our ancestors with our successes for the opportunity they have given us by allowing us to live so closely to this man. We are left with a clear mission and a clear way to repay the soul of Master Naba by continuing the mission he started. I pray that his ancestors and the Gods are satisfied with his work and he gets to where we are all wishing to go, to the World of the Gods.