The Negative Lesson

I gave an interview recently on vodou, to testify about Papa. One of the topics we covered is the negative lesson, otherwise known as the divine saying no or “oh shit, that childhood/experience/relationship.”

One of my primary criticisms of Christianity, and I have no problem criticizing Christianity, is that all too often it greets the negative lesson as a judgement on you, not an opportunity for growth (and frankly, a reason to be glad.) This is because often, Christianity assumes that the pleasant is good, the unpleasant is evil, and that if god loves you, your life will be full of pleasantness.

Vodou is, as Papa likes to remind us, a warrior tradition—vodou embraces the negative lesson, hardships of all kinds, and things that we don’t enjoy, because all of these things are like forging a sword. Hardship burns away weakness, attachment, confusion, and entrapment in the same pattern of mistakes.

It is one of my favorite things about vodou: vodou is a healing tradition, but not a healing tradition in which you sit around and contemplate your navel for healing. You go to war for it, and the healing you get is permanent, even across incarnations. This is a tradition for people who don’t want to repeat their mistakes, who are sick of their bad patterns and willing to do whatever they need to so that they don’t stagnate into their death with the same problems they had to start.

We also don’t believe in blame, shame, or the idea that you’re owed anything, which are all traps for the unwary and ways that we end up in the same situations over and over.

If you’re tired of your problems and not afraid to fight for your freedom, vodou is absolutely for you.