September/October 2003 Spirituality
Sobonfu Somé on Spirit, Community and Indigenous African Wisdom

by Adelia Kehoe

Q: Sobonfu, you have written books and conducted many workshops bringing the values of your people to this country. Let’s talk for a moment about who your people are.

A: I’m a member of the Dagara tribe from the tiny country of Burkina Faso, formerly Upper Volta in West Africa. It’s one of the poorest countries economically but extremely rich culturally and spiritually. The name Burkina Faso means "Land of the Ancestors’ and we’re renowned throughout Africa for the arts, a flourishing film industry and for the spiritual traditions still thriving there.

Q: What are your intentions in bringing the wisdom of your elders to this country?

A: My deepest wish is to bring values that will be of help to people. We all need community and ritual just like we need air. Without community we become isolated and lose our sense of being in the world and without ritual, our lives become fragmented. We lose our way. Both ritual and community keep us in touch with the reason we are in this life, our life purpose.

My name, Sobonfu, means ‘Keeper of Ritual." That is my purpose in this life.

Q: ‘Community’ and ‘ritual’ definitely touch some chord in our Western psyche, but you seem to have grown up in a world where community is the basic context for all of your thinking and actions.
You describe community as "an environment where you can find a home in each other’s heart and soul." Some people get nervous at that, fearing that their individuality may be violated. We see ourselves in recovery from dysfunctional family life; we worry about codependence…

A: It is this fear that often gets in the way of people in the West having that support that they dream of and need so badly. Both family and community, are meant to support us and yet often fall short.

Q: The word "ritual’ also seems to mean different things to different people. What you mean by ritual?

A: The elements of ritual allows us to connect with the self, the community, and the natural forces around us. In ritual we call in spirit to show us obstacles that we cannot see because of our limitations as human beings. Rituals help us to remove blocks standing between us and our true spirit and other spirits.

Ritual has to start with the setting of the intention, and with a group of committed people who want the greatest good to happen. And that’s the basic connection between the two: community is essential for effective ritual, and ritual is essential for a healthy community.

Q: How do you see the role of spirit in our life?

A: Spirit is the life force, a helpful presence in our lives, guiding us, protecting us and keeping us healthy. Spirit brings sacredness in our life, and those in the spirit realm love to partake in rituals with us. Whether you call them angels, saints, ancestors, spirit beings… most of us are familiar with the idea that there is great love and wisdom available to us.

When we don't have spirituality in our religion, we often make others feel bad for not being a part of our religion, because we are afraid of losing our faith in that religion. It has been said that spirituality is for those who have been to hell and know better, and religion is for those who are afraid of going to hell.

Sobonfu Somé is the author of Falling out of Grace: Meditations on Loss, Healing and Wisdom and teaches of indigenous African wisdom. She will be at Lost Valley Educational Center near Eugene September 19-21 to present a weekend workshop entitled "Ritual and Community: Toward a new Ecology of Relating to Each Other". Sobonfu can be reached at 916-446-5536 or www.sobonfu.com. Contact Lost Valley at 541-937-8298 or dkehoe@teleport.com.