Vodou Culture 101: Tests and Trials

There is pain and there is pain, for the same reason that the soreness of going to the gym is different than a toothache from a cavity that has reached the nerve.

The analogy holds for the concept of tests and trials in vodou culture. The discomfort or even pain that come from tests and trials is very much like going to the gym, a pain which is temporary and exists because you are getting better at something. A surprising number of people, however, prefer the long term small ache of a cavity, which blossoms into incredible pain at some later date. They tolerate their problems because fixing them is too much pain now.

They don’t like pain, you see, and going to the gym hurts more now than the cavity does. Facing a test or trial hurts more now than a life lived denying change as hard as they can. They are surprised when the cavity reaches a nerve, when the choice to try and avoid facing tests and trials festers into blinding pain.

There are several schools of thought on this sort of thing in US majority culture, but a common theme is the idea that good things happen to good people and bad things happen to bad people—this is another consequence of the good versus evil plot arc in Abrahamic religions. It’s worth mentioning that there are some sects in Christianity which give lip service to embracing trials, but in my experience, it is very much both lip service and the minority view. Generally, the thought is that if you’re experiencing problems, you did something bad and are something bad.

Vodou cultures have the concept of consequences, but not of good and evil people. It is possible that you’re experiencing a bit of suffering because you did something, but even in the case of consequences, you have an opportunity to learn. Tests and trials sent by the divine or spirits are also an opportunity to learn. If you’re stubborn, they’re a reoccurring opportunity to learn.

There is a difference between the two, but it takes an experienced or observant person to tell the difference. For most people, it just feels like pain.

One of the lessons to be learned is that there is pain and pain, and your experience in life depends on your understanding that trading inconvenience, discomfort, or even pain for wisdom is a pretty easy exchange, compared to the alternative. There is no particular pressure to learn this or any other lesson: you’ll be back as many times as you need to.

In vodou, a priest or spiritual worker is here to patch you up and help you find the shortcut to mastering the lesson. We minimize long term pain, but it does involve a little short term pain. The messages we give you usually don’t start by making you happy.

I’d rather not take the same lesson life after life, but you do you.