Ifa Then and Now!. philip neimark

they were re-enforcing what they KNEW they could do! They were taking the occasional perfection and reinforcing it until it became repetitive. It wasn’t dependent on their reading, or being told how to execute the dive or the toss, it was based on the body/mind memory of having performed them. In other words, it wasn’t the words, it was the energy reality of their bodies and minds.

      Because this concept may be slightly esoteric to a ten year old, I explained it to Dashiel in a different way:

      “Do you remember when you couldn’t swallow vitamins or pills?” I asked.

      He nodded.

      “Well, ” I went on, “it was because you believed you couldn’t. That they would get stuck in your throat, that you would choke or throw up. And what happened?”

      Sheepishly, he answered “They got stuck, and I did throw up.”

      ” And now, ” I went on, ” since we spent that night insisting you swallow a teeny vitamin, what happens now?”

      “I swallow them without chocking, and I swallow big ones too!,” he answered.

      The reason I explained to him was because now he KNEW he could. He had experienced the energy of swallowing, and could repeat and expand on it.

      “And, ” I finished, ” Stephanie (the girl he used to believe he couldn’t beat) is just another pill. You know you have the strokes, the game, but for some reason you think Stephanie is the one pill that will still choke you. You must rely on knowing, and you will win.

      So, ultimately, being a Tennis Dad gave me greater insight than being a Babalawo. It allowed me to understand ” How It Works!”

      It Works because we Know it will. Because we have been there, done it, and because we know that we are not bound by language, words, or items. In our knowing, we can logically substitute items for what is available, and use the language and words we are most comfortable with. For it is our knowing ( not our believing) that joins the energies together to accomplish the goal we have set.

      It is critical to note that one of the operable tenets of Western religion is that much of what it offers is said to be “unknowable.” Acceptance of that will severely diminish your abilities. It is also worth noting that, ultimately, the con man, or charlatan, can never truly accomplish anything.for, at their core, they know, they do not know.

      The thrust of initiation and the training that follows it is to see that the Priest begins to know . To structure their training so that they are not the slaves to others words, implements or methodologies, but rather empowered by eternal Truths and their experience of them. At the Ifa Foundation we have developed a teaching method that allows the initiate to know. From there, all things are reality.