The foundation of the Igbo worldview, thoughts,philosophy,and religion is embodied in the idea of Chineke.
The current phase we are in is the dualistic state . This is the state of existence where things exist in twos. But the state that we are coming from is the monolithic state . In this realm , all things are one. All movement has reached a complete equilibrium,and there is no beginning or end, and no time or space . Just a single infinite auricle that is existence itself.
Now within this single auricle was Chi and Eke , two forces that existed in complete unity and came together to form the monolithic state. Chi was one of the forces and it is male. The second was Eke which was female .
One day, Chi began to create a home for himself, which was called the upright house (Ụlọ kwụ ọ̄tọ́) ,all four walls structure with a pillar chamber in the center that was said to be of absolute geometric perfection. The structure itself was a source of great mystery because Chi would enter in with his back facing the door and exit with his back facing the door; and refused to disclose what was going on inside the chamber , because he was working on a secrete experiment.
Now , Eke began to feel lonely, her husband was preoccupied, and what was once one in their marriage was now drifting apart as he began taking on activities of his own. Eke began to weave a ball of cotton to take up her time, but whatever Chi was doing in the chamber was more interesting to her . So one day, Eke had a plan . When Chi was gone, Eke was going to sneak inside of that chamber and see what going on. She waited and waited and finally she had the opportunity to sneak in when her husband was missing. Eke slowly approached the door , che called “ ọnụ ụzọ ebere “ she grabbed the doorknob, opened it and suddenly there was a loud explosion. A great fire shot out from the door , slamming her to the ground .
Chi came home to see the door opened , the inside of his chamber exposed and at the footsteps of the the upright house , his wife Eke lied there dead . Chi approached her , got on his knees, held her in the arms and began to cry . Covering her on a seemingly endless floor of water , which we call “oshimmiri “ or the source water . Overcome by grief, Chi stood , entered the upright house, closed the door and decided to never emerge to the outside world again. Locking himself inside of the chamber he built to spend the rest of his days .
In Igbo worldview,when you bury something, it resurrects . So, outside of his pillar chamber , something interesting started happening. Eke , his wife, who had passed away from the great explosion , began resurrecting as “Ala” what we called the earth itself, buried in his funeral shroud of tears . And from her , a lot of what we called the universe, would come together and rise out of her resurrection. Sun, moon , stars and all the other components of our universe , each of them having their own unique story. While this universe was created , Chi plays an active role by initiating many of the processes that got things started and got things going.
