Segundo eslabón: Procesamiento de productos lácteos

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body. And, the physical body cannot even penetrate the spiritual realm without transforming itself to a spiritual body or form. However, a thorough reflection on this belief brings about the question: does man have two bodies? If yes, what explanation do the Igbo give to it? In regards to these, the Igbo used to say that, “mmadụ chukwu kere dị ụdị abụọ man as created by God is dual by nature.” This as it is, has raised much dust amongst people, even amongst the Western philosophers. Thus, John Locke, the founder of the British Empiricist tradition, was the initiator of this argument where he adopted the body as the essential part of man. Contradicting Locke’s view, Rene Descartes influenced by Plato, introduced and argued that human being is dual by nature. Though, this caused controversy and unresolved problem amongst people.

Distinct from this, the Igbo used analysis that is similar to Aristotle’s hylemorphic theory of matter and form or potency and act to explain the identity of man. They believed that both elements are essential to each other though more priority is given to the spiritual body. Hence, the visible body died at death while the spiritual body goes back to the realm of the dead to reincarnate back to earth etc.

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Thus, the visible and invisible realms are contiguous with one another. Hence existence continues ad-infinitum. For the Igbo, the two worlds are populated by people. Thus, the invisible world is the abode of all the spiritual beings including the ancestors. It manifests and projects itself in the visible world. Ikenga Metu however confirms this in somewhat more vivid picture:

The abode of the good spirits of the dead ala mmuo, is a carbon copy of the abode of the living. The two differ only in that one is visible and the other invisible. A geographical map of the land of the living would represent the spirit land in every particular; every town, village and homestead would be situated exactly where it is in the land of the living.

Elsewhere, Ikenga Metu seems to have found a plausible explanation for such an attitude when he expatiates that: “the pattern of organization of the spirit world varies with each cultural group, just as their ecology and social organization is known to many.

In fact, the organization of the spirit world of most groups often reflects their ecology and social organization simply because it is designed to explain them.”⁴ As a matter of fact, the point of distinction between the two worlds is that of visibility. So it is a question of two worlds in one: the visible and invisible.

Actually for the Igbo people, the visible and invisible realms exit. Apart from the distinction of the visibility and invisibility between them, they are yet seen to be one, they are one in the sense that they are contiguous. They interrelate with one another.

Emphasizing on this, J.O. Ohajuobodo observes that, “there is no vivid demarcation since both of them constitute a cosmic unity and are thought of not as two independent and opposing worlds but as two dimensions of one and the same reality.”⁵ Thus, their relationship is characterized by interdependent. Nothing happens in the visible spheres that do not have its root in the spiritual world, because, it is the ontological foundation of the sensuous world. Confirming this, C. Obiego says, “The invisible realm is the

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counterpart of the visible. It is symbolized or manifested by the visible and the concrete phenomena and objects of nature. It presses hard upon the visible. One speaks of the other; and the Igbo ‘see’ that invisible universe when they look at or feel the visible and tangible work.”⁶ In consonance with this, Francis Arinze confirms that the Igbo person

“does not think of life as possible without due attention being paid to the invisible high powers.”⁷ Moving a little further, he aptly says, “the spirit world ụwa mmụọ” is as real to him as the dry December ground or the July soil on which he walks. The Igbo is no maternalist.”⁸ They know quite well that man after leaving here (the visible world of man) is going straight to the next world to start living original life. Hence the saying,

“ụwa abụghị ebe obibi the visible world is not a dwelling place,” anyị bịara abịa, anyi ga alaghachi ebe anyị siri bịa we are visitors on earth and will definitely go back to where we came from.”⁹ The abstract and perceptible realms in the thought of this group of people are taken to be distinct from each other but in the real sense they are one.

However, the important point here is that, the Igbo understands only very well, how this same world could be both immanent and transcendent at the same time. For them, there are two existing worlds, which are really not divided from one another. They are really the replica of one another. They are so contiguous and contemporaneous to each other that they literally co-penetrate themselves.

When man dies according to the Igbo, his spirit decamps and journey straight to the spirit world to continue his existence with his ancestors. This however involves existence with the family, kindred, village, clan and others. Every traditional Igbo aspires to penetrate the spirit world to gain adequate knowledge of the ancestral world, hence they believed the inhabitants of the spirit world are more powerful than those of the visible world and, depending on their disposition towards human being, they can equally bring good or evil on man either to foster his life or hinder it, give success or distance between the two worlds. J.C.U. Aguwa cautiously explains, “the Igbo people entertain certain ambivalence as regards the distance between these worlds.

Igbo folklore depicts a large volume of space between the two with the legendary number seven. It is said that the Igbo travel from one world to the other, crosses “seven

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deserts and seven seas ikpa/Agụ asaa na iyii asaa. It is the idea of an immense span of space.”¹⁰ He goes further to add that, “the vision of a dichotomized and well distance cosmos however, is blurred by other human experiences. There is the immediacy and force that characterize man’s experiences of the other world… The interactions between the two worlds are so enormous that the boundaries could be said to overlap.”¹¹

In summary on this, the Igbo believe that there is life after death. They believed that human beings do have a double status which is unique among all creatures of the world. Human beigns on the one hand, are under the class of animal, they fall within the category of high class animals. Hence they are formed out of long slow evolutionary process. They are also among the beings that constitute part of the continuous realm of nature. Death for the Igbo is not the end of human life. There is yet life beyond the earthly life. They believe that when man dies, his spirit departs to the spirit world to join the ancestors. Thus, Jacobs explained this when he said that, “the belief that those who depart from this earth continue in existence elsewhere and are actively in touch with those who are still here on earth is seen in certain cult.”¹² Just like animals, men are mortal, they are made up of the dust of the earth and are destined to return to that dust. Men have a normal life span today, in our seventies or in our eighties or at most our nineties, we shall die, and this living body, then lifeless and cold, will begin to disintegrate and return to the dust of the earth. Supporting the truth about this, Anedo says: “For the Igbo people, what survives after death, is the spirit. They regard this as the real person himself, or a mirror of shadow “onyinyo” and this “onyinyo” is liable to God alone.”¹³

Explaining more, he said we (the Igbo) are part of nature, in a quite precise sense we transcended nature. For we, are possessed of reason which is the power to contemplate and understand including our own nature, from an intellectual vantage point outside it. The journey to the spirit world in some cases, is believed to be so long.

“The disseminated spirit looks like the shadow cast by the person on a sunny day during his time.”¹⁴ On leaving the body, the spirit hangs around the home stead for a few days,

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visiting for the last time, the places he used to be frequenting when he was alive. Soon after burial, he sets out for the ancestral spirit land where he will live permanently as ancestors and then, keeps on reincarnating to earth as a new born baby etc.