Question: 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.An Interview with Sobonfu Somé
By Adelia Kehoe
Question: 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.
Answer: I’m a member of the Dagara tribe from West Africa. I grew up traditionally in a tiny village in the tiny country of Burkina Faso (formerly Upper Volta). 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 the spiritual traditions still thriving there.
Q: What are your intentions in bringing the wisdom of your elders to this country?
A: Well, my intention is certainly not to colonize or create a dogma. Having lived both in the West and in Africa, I know that these two worlds have much to offer each other.
My deepest wish is to bring values that will be of help to people. There are certain things, for instance, that we all need as people in the world. 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 when we lose touch with the reason we are in this life, our life purpose.
Q: In your tradition, how and when do you find out what your life purpose is?
A: It is not something someone hands to you or decides for you. You are born with it. It is unique to you. You decided on it before you were born. We have a tradition among the Dagara: before you arrive, your family members and tribal elders pray and listen carefully to find out who you are and what you are coming to earth to do. Then they assign you a name, based on your purpose. My name, Sobonfu, means “Keeper of Ritual.” That is my purpose in this life.
Q: You mentioned community and ritual. These are popular words today; they definitely touch some chord in our Western psyche. Just the word “community” evokes a deep longing in many people, but you seem to have grown up in a world where community is the basic context for all of your thinking and actions. I hear it woven through all of your stories, this delicious feeling of connection and support, and I have experienced a taste of it in rituals with you.
You have written that community is “where a group of people are empowered…to be themselves, carry out their purpose, and use their power responsibly.” Yet you also 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.
Q: The word “ritual” also seems to mean different things to different people. What do you mean by ritual?
A: A ritual is a ceremony in which we call in spirit to come and be the driver, the overseer of our activities. Ritual is to the soul what food is to our physical body. 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, our true spirit, and other spirits.
You don’t do a ritual just for the sake of doing a ritual. Ritual begins with a purpose and the preparation of the sacred space, then the calling in of spirit with an invocation. It 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.
Spirits are always present at rituals. Without them, the ritual becomes meaningless. We often live in beautiful homes, but without rituals our lives are empty.
Q: Do you think that Westerners can do rituals from Africa right here in the West?
A: For many years I have taught and done rituals with people both in America and in Europe. There is no doubt in my mind that westerners are able to do rituals. Of course, the rituals from Africa often come to give a helping hand and to inspire people to dig out their own rituals from their ancestors, their own spiritual connections.
Q: I know you get asked a lot about the difference between spirituality and religion…
A: Yes, this question always makes me laugh because spirituality is in religion! Spirituality is communing with spirit, others, and ourselves.
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.
Q: How do you see the role of spirit in our lives?
A: Spirit is the life force, a helpful presence in our lives. It helps the individual and collective effort, guiding us, protecting us, and keeping us healthy. Spirit brings sacredness into our lives. 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.
Q: How do the Dagara incorporate the earth and nature in their spirituality?
A: It goes without saying that Nature and earth are a natural part of our well being and spiritual life. For us, everything affects everything else. In the Dagara tradition, Nature and earth are the highest consciousness, humans are at the bottom of the ladder, the little brothers and sisters of the family.
Q: (Do your workshops) address spirit allies and ancestors?
A: How could a workshop on spirit and community be done without addressing the role of spirit allies and ancestors? It would be like trying to make apple pie without apples!
Q: You seldom talk about dreams, and yet people are often intrigued by the way you work with dreams in your workshops. It reminds me of the Jungian idea that not paying attention to our dreams is like not opening our mail. We miss vital information. Would you say something about dreams and the way you work with them?
A: Dreams operate at many levels. A dream may be personal or collective; it may be prophetic or merely informative;a it may indicate a need for a certain action. You have to figure out which it is, learn to distinguish.
It doesn’t work to try to analyze dreams because the symbols mean different things to different people. (Anyway, in my tradition, analyzing something creates a barrier to understanding it!) You have to dance with it, to let it unfold.
We each have our own personal dream language. Pay attention to the streams within your dreams, to the landscape, to the road they take. Learn your own language. Look at what’s happened four weeks back and four weeks forward to see what that image represents for you.
When I teach, it’s important to hear peoples’ dreams because taken together they give us a sense of the landscape we’re navigating. This is an example of looking at the collective aspect of the dreams.
An interview by Adelia Kehoe, of Lost Valley Oregon, dkehoe@earthlink.net
Sobonfu Somé led a workshop on Grieving March 24-26. Click for further info.