Duality of Self and Gods
Most indigenous African religions have a dualistic concept of the person. In the Igbo language, a person is said to be composed of a body and a soul. In the Yoruba language, however, there seems to be a tripartite concept: in addition to body and soul, there is said to exist a spirit or an ori, an independent entity which mediates or otherwise interacts between the body and the soul.
Some religious systems have a specific devil-like figure (e.g. Ekwensu) who is believed to be the opposite of God.
Read more about this topic: Traditional African Religion
Famous quotes containing the word gods:
“I was glad to have got out of the towns, where I am wont to feel unspeakably mean and disgraced,to have left behind me for a season the bar-rooms of Massachusetts, where the full-grown are not weaned from savage and filthy habits,still sucking a cigar. My spirits rose in proportion to the outward dreariness. The towns needed to be ventilated. The gods would be pleased to see some pure flames from their altars. They are not to be appeased with cigar-smoke.”
—Henry David Thoreau (18171862)