What Operating System are You Running?: Deconstructing Religious vs. Afro-Spiritual Consciousness
For many of us born into colonized lands and minds, religion was the first language we were given to understand the Divine. We were taught that God was separate from us—watching, judging, rewarding, punishing. Our sense of worth was tied to obedience. Our purpose, bound to suffering. Our identity, defined by sin.
But long before conquest and conversion, our ancestors held a different knowing—a consciousness rooted not in fear, but in harmony. Not in hierarchy, but in wholeness. This was not religion as we know it today. It was a spiritual consciousness born from direct relationship with the Earth, the cosmos, the ancestors, and the Source that animates all things.
I write this piece not to shame, but to question origin and intention. Religious consciousness and African spiritual consciousness are NOT two paths to the same destination—they were birthed from entirely different cosmologies. One controls. The other liberates. One asks you to bow. The other reminds you to rise.
Who created us?
Religious Consciousness:
A male God figure, external to creation, who lives in the “Heavens” and operates through commandment, judgment, and punishment. Disobedience leads to divine wrath.
→ Example: The image of God as a bearded man on a throne, distant from humanity, handing down laws through prophets.
African Spiritual Consciousness:
A non-gendered, boundless divine intelligence that desired to experience and know itself, so it fragmented into infinite expressions—each part containing the whole. The Divine is not separate from us; it is us.
→ Example: In Yoruba cosmology, Olodumare is the Source, and Orishas are its emanations—just as we are. Similar is the Igbo cosmology, where Chukwu is the source and Agbaras are its emanations. There is no “other”—only different vibrations of the same Source.
Where do we all come from?
Religious Consciousness:
The story of Adam and Eve defines human origin. Woman is secondary—created from man—and humanity is seen as inherently flawed from the beginning.
→ Example: The doctrine of original sin begins with Eve’s “disobedience” and shapes generations of shame and subservience.
African Spiritual Consciousness:
We are eternal spirit beings who have incarnated through many lifetimes across different planes of existence. Our souls come from celestial realms, the ancestors, the stars.
→ Example: The Dogon of Mali speak of their star ancestors from Sirius; the Igbos also attribute their origin from the stars with a saying “Mmuo bi n’eluigwe”—the spirit descends from the celestial realms and returns after its earthly mission is complete.
Identity
Religious Consciousness:
The self is inherently sinful and must constantly seek redemption through external authority. Worth is earned through obedience.
→ Example: Baptism is seen as a cleansing from sin at birth—implying guilt from inception.
African Spiritual Consciousness:
The self is sacred. We are individuated expressions of Divine consciousness. What we do, say, and think ripples through the entire cosmos.
→ Example: Ubuntu: “I am because we are.” Our being is communal, interconnected, and divine by nature.
When we die, where do we go?
Religious Consciousness:
One life. One judgment. One eternal destination: heaven if you're saved, hell if you're not.
→ Example: Fear-based narratives around death often discourage exploration of the afterlife beyond “saved” or “damned.”
African Spiritual Consciousness:
Death is a transition—not an end. The spirit returns to the ancestral realm to continue evolving. One may reincarnate or become an elevated ancestor (if one has lived in divine alignment).
→ Example: Funeral rites in many African traditions aren’t final goodbyes—they are welcome ceremonies into the ancestral world.
Moral Compass
Religious Consciousness:
Morality is dictated by written commandments, fear of punishment, and reward in the afterlife.
→ Example: “Thou shalt not…”—morality is externalized and policed.
African Spiritual Consciousness:
Morality is rooted in balance and reciprocity—living in right relationship with self, others, Earth, and Spirit. e.g The Laws of Ma’at provide guidance on truth, justice, order, reciprocity, harmony, balance, and righteousness.
→ Example: Breaking moral order disturbs spiritual balance—not just personally but cosmically.
What is our Purpose?
Religious Consciousness:
Life is a test. The ultimate goal is to please God and escape hell. Personal joy or deeper knowing of the self is secondary.
→ Example: Asceticism and self-denial are praised to prove loyalty to God.
African Spiritual Consciousness:
Life is a sacred journey of remembering who you are: a divine being. Self-realization leads to self-actualization—living purposefully in service to community and cosmic harmony.
→ Example: Becoming an ancestor is the highest honor—it means you lived a life of wisdom, healing, and impact.
Accountability
Religious Consciousness:
Sins can be erased through prayer, confession, or belief in a savior. Accountability is mediated by a priest, prophet, or divine judge.
→ Example: Absolution through confession may absolve one spiritually, but not always morally or karmically.
African Spiritual Consciousness:
Nothing disappears. Every action carries spiritual consequence. You are responsible for clearing the karma you create. Healing and restitution are part of the path.
→ Example: Ancestral rituals, libations, and offerings are not “guilt payments”—they restore balance where harm was caused.
Spiritual Supremacy
Religious Consciousness:
“My religion is the only path to God.” All others are false or demonic.
→ Example: Evangelical missions that demonize indigenous practices under the label of “witchcraft.”
African Spiritual Consciousness:
All roads lead to the Divine. Every tradition holds a piece of the whole. Connection is personal, intuitive, and multilayered.
→ Example: An African traditionalist might pray with kola nut, dance, chant, meditate, consult divination—all forms are sacred.
Connection to Nature
Religious Consciousness:
Nature is subjugated—man was given “dominion” over the Earth. The Earth is a resource to be used, not honored.
→ Example: The destruction of sacred groves, rivers, and animals in the name of “civilizing” missions.
African Spiritual Consciousness:
We are nature. Nature is not a backdrop to life—it is life. Every tree, river, rock, and creature is alive with spirit.
→ Example: In many traditions, rivers are mothers, mountains are guardians, animals are messengers—Earth is sacred.
Role of Women
Religious Consciousness:
Woman is secondary—formed from man’s rib, blamed for the fall of humanity, and assigned a lifelong role of submission. Her worth is often tied to her ability to birth children, serve men, and remain modest and silent. Leadership roles in religious institutions are mostly reserved for men.
→ Example: In many churches, women are not permitted to preach, lead, or hold spiritual authority. Their spiritual intuition is seen as inferior or even dangerous.
African Spiritual Consciousness:
Woman is sacred. She is a portal—birther of worlds, dreams, and generations. Her womb is both literal and spiritual: a vessel of creation and divine power. Women are priestesses, seers, medicine holders, midwives of both life and spirit. They walk between realms through their intuition and are entrusted with maintaining the harmony of the cosmos through ritual, rhythm, and wisdom.
→ Example: In many African traditions, female spiritual leaders (like the Yoruba Iyalorisha, Igbo Umu Ada, or Dagara kontomblé women, Kemetic High Priestesses) hold revered positions as custodians of moral and spiritual balance.
Conclusion
We must ask ourselves: What kind of God have we been taught to fear? And who benefits when we forget that we, too, are divine?
African spiritual consciousness invites us into remembrance of our origin—not of dogma, but of dignity. It doesn’t require intermediaries to speak to God, because it knows God lives within all things. It doesn’t shame the body or the feminine, because it sees the sacred in all forms. It doesn’t promise a reward after death for a life of spiritual submission—it demands that you live fully now, in alignment with divine order.
To walk the path of African spiritual consciousness is not to reject God. It is to return to God—through nature, through truth, through the ancestors, and ultimately through yourself.
And in that return, we are no longer sinners begging for forgiveness, but souls remembering we are part of an infinite, living, breathing, sacred whole.
