Dr. Segun Gbadegesin’s Lecture
“Omoluabi”: Self-Actualization and Communal Responsibility
Sept.30th, 2010
Dr.Gbadegesin started his lecture on Sept. 30th, 2010 by paying homage to his ancestors and to God (in prayer) and he called this “IJUBA”. Immediately I knew that this lecture would be somewhat religious and it would explain the origins of African and Ancient Egyptian mythology. He spoke about the TOCHAN drum as being the hub of African and Egyptian culture because its mobilized the people in times of war, and brought them together in other times in order for elders to pass knowledge to their younger generations.
He explained the story of Iwa; who was the goddess of character and the wife of the god Orunmilla, who was the god of wisdom. Iwa did everything for Orunmilla as the story goes, and Orunmilla often mistreated and took for granted, all Iwa would do. So she left him to return to her family, and it wasn’t long before all the fortune and nice things Orunmilla had (because of Iwa) began to perish. He soon learned that without Iwa (and what she represented) he was nothing.
Looking back into the story the characters are but foils for what they represent in real life. The ultimate moral being that one can have wisdom but without good character nothing will last.
He came to the end of his lecture by comparing and contrasting the similarities of Ancient Egypt and Africa to the innovations of the rest of the world’s civilizations of the time. And it can be seen that most successful civilizations after the downfall of Africa (due to slavery and greed) modeled their ideas and philosophies in old African thought.
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