Oju

Inu

Penetration of Being in Classical Yoruba Epistemology


Oluwatoyin Vincent Adepoju

Compcros
Comparative Cognitive Processes and Systems
Exploring Every Corner of the Cosmos in Search of Knowledge


Igba Iwa, the Calabash of Existence.

It is constituted by a relationship between an unseen interior and a dazzling surface.

The surface is visually compelling in its inscription with a variety of figural and abstract forms
as the interior remains hidden.

The figural forms suggest the specific character of existent entities,
represented here by their material appearance.

The abstract forms evoke methods of developing, organizing and depicting knowledge.

The unseen interior suggests the compelling force of the drive
to see beyond the obvious character of reality to its hidden depths.

The golden radiance of its surface dramatizes the beauty, delight, the priceless character and
timeless power represented by existence and the understanding of its nature.

The relationship between the unseen interior and complexly beautiful surface
evokes the relationship between exteriority and interiority of being
in constituting the totality of existence
and the aspiration to encompass this totality
in terms of the integrative perception suggested by the sphericality of the calabash
and the motif of intersecting, holistically configured bands and triangles
prominent on its surface.

Oju inu
The inner eye

Oju inu
The inward eye

Oju inu
Inward perception

Oju inu
Penetrative visuality

Oju inu
Penetrative perception

Oju inu
Perceptual penetration

Oju inu
Perception beyond the corporeal

Oju inu
Perceptual penetralia

Oju inu
Perception beyond the surface

Oju inu
Seeing beyond the surface

Oju inu
The interiority that sees beyond what the eyes can see

Oju inu
The perceptual movement beyond the platform of the basic

Oju inu
Perceptual continuum

Oju inu
Perceptual continuum beyond corporeality

Oju inu
Perceptual penetration of being

Oju inu
The eye looking inward to the self and inward into the depths of that which is
outward, beyond the self

Oju inu
The eye of being


Inspirational Text

Babatunde Lawal, Representing the Self and its Metaphysical Other in Yoruba
Art, The Art Bulletin, Vol.83, No. 3 (Sept., 2001), pp. 498-526. 516-517.