Ethics and Behavior expected of all Ifa and Orisa followers and priests
Below are the 8 traits that every follower and priest of the Ifa and Orisa tradition must incorporate into their daily lives and hold as his/her foundation of ethics. These are the code of ethics that all must imbibe and pass on to their godchildren, biological children, family members, extended family, temple members, community, etc. These are the character traits that support every individual in achieving his/her destiny and also affects positively the destinies of others around him/her. To not imbibe these traits is to place oneself off the path of achieving one’s destiny.
1. Truthfulness: the ability to speak all those words which after being verified are found to be as they were spoken.
2. Honesty: the ability to do things with sincerity of purpose, without cheating or hidden agendas, lies or deceit. Doing things with purity of purpose without blemish.
3. Benevolence: the ability to act generously and with the desire to do good at all times without any selfish consideration.
4. Understanding: the ability to know and appreciate how others feel under any circumstance or to be able to know the details of how something occurred in any situation. The ability to put other’s feelings into consideration at any given time or circumstance.
5. Hopefulness: the ability to know and be certain that what one is seeking, as long as it is reasonable, will come to pass. The belief that tomorrow will be better than today and that yesterday was not as good as or will be as rewarding as today.
6. Patience: the ability and willingness to wait or defer gratification or a result. The ability to wait something out and possibly experience pain, suffering, irritation, grief, etc in the process of waiting. Not forcing something to occur but doing one’s work and allowing the work to bring about fruits at its appropriate time.
7. Dedication: the ability to be totally devoted to any course without looking back. Being able to give oneself completely to a cause, belief, or project after deliberating fully before starting.
8. Humility: the ability and willingness to express a moderate opinion or view of one’s abilities, virtues, or worth.
Apart from the 8 character traits all followers and priests are expected to display in their everyday lives, the following are the 8 character traits that all followers and priests must avoid displaying. The following 8 traits are what destroys a person’s destiny and affects negatively the destinies of others.
1. Anger: This is a bitter and violent feeling against others and/or what they represent. This is a negative and unproductive feeling against other people based on real or imaginary reasons.
2. Hatred: Having a great dislike for others and/or what they represent. It is a very bad or unpleasant dislike for others.
3. Envy: The inability or refusal to accept another person’s good fortune or success. It is the feeling of discontent at other people’s luck or success.
4. Wickedness: The art of thinking, speaking and doing evil and/or wicked things against other people based on real or imaginary reasons.
5. Pride: This is a vain or personal dignity. This is an exaggerated feeling of pleasure and subjective satisfaction at one’s possessions or achievements often times at the expense of other people’s feelings or disposition.
6. Intolerance: This is the inability or refusal to bear or endure other people or certain situations or attitudes. It is the unwillingness to allow others to air their views or express their feelings in any way and/or on any issue because of those views or feelings being different from one’s own views or opinions.
7. Selfishness: The thinking and planning of one’s own personal pleasure, satisfaction, achievement, aspiration, etc without any consideration for other people.
8. Greed: The desire for all the good things of life for oneself often at the expense of others. It is the desire to convert what belongs to many to one’s own alone without any consideration for the feelings or needs of the others.