Mo

Iwa Fun Oniwa

Individuality of Being in Classical Yoruba Ontology


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, symbolising the unity of matter and spirit in its conjunction of
two calabashes, the beauty of symmetry, colour and designs on the calabashes evoking the beauty of
existence



Mo iwa fun oniwa
I grant existence in respect of the existent

Mo fun iwa ni oniwa
I acknowledge the qualities of existence as manifest by the existent

Mo iwa fun oniwa
I salute your unique configuration in the constellation of being

Mo fun iwa ni oniwa
I grant to you what is uniquely yours in the panorama of existence

Mo iwa fun oniwa
I give to the existent their due in the matrix of being/all/existence

Mo fun iwa ni oniwa
I give to you your due within the matrix of existence

Mo iwa fun oniwa
I acknowledge your distinctive identity within the expanse of being

Mo fun iwa ni oniwa
I salute your unique identity as a manifestation of being

Mo iwa fun oniwa
I recognize your intrinsic orientation within the constellations of existence

Mo fun iwa ni oniwa
I salute the unique matrix of possibility that you are within the field of being

within

Igba Iwa
the calabash of totality
the constellation of infinity
the awesome concavity
the womb of all

Inspirational Texts

On Iwa

Rowland Abiodun, The Future of African Art Studies, : An African Perspective,
African Art Studies: The State of the Discipline. Washington: The Smithsonian,
1987.63-89.

Olabiyi Babalola Yai, Review of Yoruba: Nine Centuries of African Art and Thought
by Henry John Drewal; John Pemberton; Rowland Abiodun; Allen Wardwell.
African Arts, Vol. 25, No. 1 (Jan., 1992), 20+22+24+26+29.
On Igba Iwa
Babatunde Lawal, Ejiwapo : The Dialectics of Twoness in Yoruba Art and
Thought, African Arts, Vol. 41. No. 1, Representations of Twins in African Art
(Spring, 2008) 24-39.