This essay on our relationship to our environment reinforces the general perspective of traditional Oriental medicines that health cannot be maintained without a correct attitude and behavior. Practitioners of Ifa in the new World may have to adapt its teachings to present conditions, just as Tibetan medicine has had to adapt to treat Tibetans living in India, or Westerners living in the United States. What follows is the perspective of a Babalawo and an Iyaorisha who have found beekeeping to be one path with many benefits for themselves and others.
L.B. Grotte, M.D.
Offerings to the Earth
Fasuyi Fatunmise
Beekeeping as an Offering to the Earth
Despite the great fortune and the unusual number of blessings which most of us enjoy, there is no evidence to suggest that our place on the Earth should be regarded as an entitlement. Even though we rarely question the stability of our surroundings, the mere fact that we have the good fortune to end up in such circumstances does not represent any guarantee or obligation from the universe that we will continue to exist as individuals or as a species.
Life on Earth is precarious; not only are there many hazards and dangers to life and health, but even those factors that normally support life can destroy it in seconds: we may develop a fatal response to a properly prescribed medicine; we may drown in a bowl of soup; or we may choke on a delicious meal. I am sure you can think of many other examples.
Normally we passively accept the illusion that we are insulated from our environment and from social chaos, so surprise and frustration are the usual response when natural upheavals toss us out of our complacency or even out of this life. Long periods of relative stability allows us to think of natural disasters and the vast forces of nature made manifest as unusual events, rather than the constant presence that they actually are.
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