THE HUMAN BEING IN ELEME CULTURE AND TRADITION;

A PEEP INTO ELEME METAPHYSICS

By Godspower Atonsemi Igwe

INTRODUCTION: THE CONCEPT, HUMAN BEING

To evolve a concept about human being will tantamount to delving into an

absolutely impossible pulse that has set the world’s intellectual enterprise in a

long-drawn academic, cultural, religious and ideological debate. The fact being

that human being (interchangeably used as man, for this purpose) is a

profound dynamism with loads of problems never conceivable, nor defeated

by any strata of endeavours.

From the above, one may suggest that we can only attempt at any meaningful

conception of man from a particularistic point of view, hence, giving to man a

foundation from our own particular domain. For this reason, Emeka George

Ekwuru opines in his Basic Introductory Themes and Issues in Philosophical

Anthropology that “for proper orientation in recognition of the spiritual

depth of human reality, the human and social sciences must have to rely on

the philosophy of man to provide them with the needed metaphysical

foundation...”1

This paper sets to inform us on the traditional or cultural notion around

which the local people of Eleme in Southern Nigeria understand human being.

We may be right to view it as Eleme Cultural and Philosophical Anthropology; it

is a brief on the concept of human being (man) in Eleme culture amidst the

plurality of concepts savoured by various shades of the human community and

civilizations.

1. ELEME CULTURAL AND TRADITIONAL BELIEFS: AN INSIGHT

According to a source, the traditional belief of Eleme people, South-South of

the River Niger, is ancestral worship. There are four prime principalities that

are relevant to the worship- God, who created everything and is known as

Obari. Next is Nkiken, the earth spirit that provides sustenance for humans,

beasts and plants. The other is Ejin-the spirits of all who have lived and died.

The last one is Ejor, the deities that act as agents to Obari. In the text, Eleme

Traditons, Chief O.O. Ngofa narrates, “Eleme tradition believes in the

existence of God as the supreme spirit..., everything happening to man is

supposed to have come from God..., God, Obari is believed to be towering so

high above all humans, that we cannot reach him except either through the

spirits (ancestors) or more directly through one of the deities”.2

The foregoing citation pictures very practically the basis upon which the

ordinary Eleme person conceives the human being, namely, from a traditional

and metaphysical perspective.

We can reliably infer that any notion about man in Eleme culture derives

chiefly from the idea of God.

2. DEFINITIONS AND NUANCES TO THE UNDERSTANDING OF

HUMAN BEING

A definition of human being is not in itself a claim to holistic understanding,

or, to say the least, comprehend the gamut of human being. But some

acceptable and specific mention shall be made to portray the objective of this

paper. Battista Mondin avers, “Man is a living being.”3 This definition surely

depicts that the human being shares some semblance of endowments with

other live creatures like apes, fishes in water, vegetable, plants and all that. But

the Encyclopaedia Britannica would throw more light in defining human being

as, “a culture-bearing primate that is anatomically similar and related to

other great apes, but is distinguished by a more highly developed brain and

resultant capacity for articulate speech and abstract reasoning. Human

beings display a marked erectness of body carriage that frees the hands for

use as manipulative members”.4 Value is further added to the above from the

Merriam-Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus which sees human being from a

Christian science perspective as, “the compound idea of finite spirit: the

spiritual image and likeness of God; the full representation of man”.

[Cf: Merriam Webster’s Dictionary and Thesaurus]

3. HUMAN BEING IN ELEME TRADITIONAL CONCEPT

Human being, `nyie`, in the Eleme traditional and cultural concept

is a vast, mysterious and prestigious phenomenon, and possesses

various attributes that likens man to a kind of “other god”.

Eleme cultural milieu views human being as an embodiment of

body, soul and spirit. Ngofa, in his book, cited earlier, posits that,

“all human souls are believed to dwell in Etaobari, waiting their

time to reincarnate.”5 This reference positions a human being as

so sacred a creature that defies all technological, scientific,

intellectual and cultural probes of whatever dimension.

The human being can only be comprehended in the light of the

semblance shared with God- an extension of God, an image of

God, Imago Dei, a dependant on God, a rational and superlative

creature of God which finds fulfilment and actuation in same God.

The human being, after a short stay in this world of ours, shall

return (die) to God’s abode, Etaobari, from whence it came by

birth at the first place.

4. EVALUATION AND CONCLUSION

A common conceptual analysis agreeable by humanity is that the

notion of human being enjoys diverse epochal explanations and

understanding by various thinkers, civilization, people and culture,

yet with a meeting point, namely, that man (human being) is a

myriad of problems and possibilities for himself and even the wisest

of any known creature. Eleme people, South-South of Nigeria’s Delta,

have the concept that human beings are sacred, particular and

immediate extension of God.

In the human being is the fullness of vital force, which is responsible

for dynamism, activity, responsibility, reverence and piety, and

various rational and intellectual escapades. Human beings are

conceived of, as incarnates of God, who came to earth by birth, and

at death, would consequently return to that same God, in whose

image they were created.

Any attempt at reducing human beings to mere creatures on the

same pedestals with other living things is rejected in its entirety.

We may conclusively be right to judge that the Eleme people hold a

strong metaphysical concept about the reality called Human Being.

REFERENCES

1.Emeka,George Ekwuru. Basic Introductory Themes and Issues in Philosophical

Anthropology, Owerri: Living Resources, 2010, p.4

2.Ngofa,O.O. Eleme: Rescue Publications, 1994, p.96

3.Mondin Battista. Philosophical Anthropology, Rome: Urbaniana University Press,

1985, p.49

4.”human being (Homo Sapiens)”. Encyclopaedia Britannica, Encyclopaedia

Student and Home Edition, Chicago: Encyclopaedia Britannica, 2010

5.Ngofa, ibid.

Godspower Atonsemi Igwe, writes from the School of Post-Graduates Studies,

Faculty of Humanities, Imo State University, IMSU, Owerri. [Tel: 07036247417, gpflow@gmail.com]