#2788: On Vodou's role: Bebe Pierre-Louis replies to Antoine

[Robert Corbett <bcorbett@netcom.com>]

From:Moibibi@aol.com

Antoine, after reading your post, I came to the conclusion that we don't 
diverge on many points. If you felt some sarcasm in my previous post, it was 
not meant that way.

You would like to know the role Vodoun plays into:
" and what role does Vodou play to either a) cultivate them (fear is 
conducive to
religion... you'd better believe it !); b) to defend itself against in an
effort to maintain the authenticity of its teachings and brand of 
spirituality.

If one looks at what is required for a spiritual movement to be considered a 
religion, Vodoun does qualify. Nevertheless, it is very different from all 
other religions generally called  "revealed" in  respect that it is an 
initiatic religion. Revealed religions operate with a book written by an 
individual or a small group of people who have had a divine revelation which 
everybody has to live by (Bible, Koran). Initiatic religions, on the 
opposite,  allow each individual to have his own revelation through dreams, 
initations, through lwa who come and talk to them, etc. Hence, he/she may 
develop his/her strategy for his/her own life. Based on such concepts, Vodoun 
is liberating contrarily to other revealed religions who induce fears of 
eternal damnation, blind beliefs in mysteries, etc. Initiation doesn't 
abolish fears but  it show the initiates how to conquer them (fear from 
people, superstitions, spirits or any threatening situation, among others).

I don't believe that fear should be the condition sine qua non of any 
religion. I believe that humanity is basically good and that Christianity has 
introduced a basic perversion through its teachings. I refuse the idea that 
all of us are born guilty (born with an original sin that we should all 
redeem), I prefer to have been born a Ti lezanj and you better believe it. I 
don't believe in one revelation that should be good for the whole humanity, I 
prefer my Ancestors and my personal Lwas to guide me through life, defending 
my best interest. I find them closer to me than our Gran Met yet I am 
grateful to him for having created them.

You find: "deeply troubling, such as the attribution of every personal
misfortune to a spiritual cause.  More than that, I also believe that this
is counterproductive to our human development. "

If you are still troubled by that, it is probably because you haven't yet  
read the site I referred you to, in its section "Herbs and Energies",  "nanm" 
or soul. I couldn't explain it any better. When a Vodouist is struck by ill 
fortune, he/she knows that it has to do with a temporary disequilibrium that 
could become permanent if not quickly restored.  The immediate reaction is to 
consult his/her own spirits or a Hougan/Mambo if he/she isn't initiated.  It 
differs from the Christians who pray to obtain grace and delivrance from 
above, who haven't learned to look for solution within him/herself.  I don't 
deny that many non-initiated persons can be victim of another person's 
malevolence, but it's another story and it's not the object of this 
discussion.

- Do I see a common thread between the Saints and the Lwas?

Of course, yes. Christianity has started as a very syncretistic religion. Its 
origins are so diverse that our African "traditions" should not be 
disregarded in it, but in reality, they are. 

- Just a few weeks ago,  I saw a documentary on TV about some studies 
conducted in Africa  based on checking the DNA of some tribes - among them 
the Lemba - to verify if their claims of being Jews, of Cohen descent, were 
true. I was amazed to realize that the standard for those tests were taken in 
Israël ! I could not help wondering who came first the hen or the egg?

To return to the point, let's say that each one of us has to search for what 
will make us feel good about ourselves.  If religion is our problem, we 
should get into it, work, search, ask and eventually get initiated, if we 
ever feel the call for it.  Nobody has ever taught us anything to make us 
feel proud of who we are. In school, I remember learning that Mackandal was a 
terrible sorcerer, criminal as well as Boukman and Dessalines. Later I 
learned that they were our liberators! Often times as innocent babies, we are 
baptized Catholic, for our good. Yet,  as we become adults, we should start 
searching who we really are, to which society we really belong. Only then, 
can we acquire dignity. I think our society is full of deeply ingrained 
complexes which are often confused with dignity, quality suited to inspire 
respect.

As far as health is concerned, you may be surprised to hear that the hounfò 
have been recognized long ago to be a place where western medicine should 
learn basic skills. Dr. Kline who built our psychiatric clinic at the General 
Hospital, Nathan Kline, founder of the Smith-Kline and French (SKF)  
pharmaceuticals lectured for years about that after having stayed some time 
in Haiti.

I can recall also my own experience when I was invited by Profamil to  spend 
a day in Petit Goave where a hounfò was receiving instructors to  teach about 
SIDA and venereal diseases "to poor illiterate Vodouists".  I was told by the 
instructors that they could not believe how easy it was. They had tried to do 
the same thing  in many Protestant congregations and  a lot of Catholic 
gatherings. According to them, in those places, the message never seemed to 
pass. People were embarrassed, some assistants covered their ears, others 
blushed, there was no questions and the quasi totality of the people didn't 
get it. They also told me that it was a totally different surrounding in 
hounfò where there was never enough space to receive everybody that wanted to 
hear, also where there were questions, intelligent questions and 
participation of the public. People there, weren't ashamed of speaking about 
their experience of seeing people dying of SIDA., nor of their concerns for 
the outcome of so many orphans, etc.  The instructors were also saying how 
surprised they were to realize how much the Vodouists knew about the subject..

What I am telling you is easy to verify, just contact any instructor at 
Profamil. Max Beauvoir organized those instructive days and  he was  the only 
one to write to Jesse Helms on that question.

If I continue, the post may never be posted, let's call it quit for now.

Bébé Pierre Louis

P.S.: 
1) bitter plants are only used to lower fevers, never for diabetes.
2) No indictment to missionaries on my part, just an expression of strong 
disapproval!  What I said, was just common talk among Vodouist "andewò", I 
have heard it for at least 20 years. I have seen it myself on the road to 
Tomazo, a very nice sacred bassin,  by a secular tree, where all Vodouists 
used to have their devotions who has become totally polluted.