Ana as the Earliest Concept of Supreme God the Creator and Ume as his Spirit Manifest -By Maazi Christopher Aniedobe

Odinani ndi Igbo

Humana, humanity, humans are all words derived from two Igbo words .. ume and ana. Ume means breath. Ume Ana means breath of Ana.

Human beings are breath of the Ana in autochthonous Igbo theology. Ana is the goddess of creation whose creative energy … ume is believed to consist of chi na eke … and the unity of chi (male) and eke (female) is carried in the life giving breath of Ana.

Ana, the goddess of the Earth is the earliest known concept of Chukwu … the Supreme being.

Latter day theological refinements separate Ana as the father of life and ume as the spirit of the father and the creative energy that dwells in the father… by which he commands be and all things become.

When thou sendest forth thy spirit, they are created and thou renews the face of the earth. Psalm 104.

Later day refinements also teach that in the purest of wombs, the father breathed his spirit and became man-God called Jesus … and lived and died on earth after shedding his own blood to seal a new covenant of redemption with humanity.

In Christian theology, that ume .. the spirit that dwells in Christ, is the same in all proportions as the spirit that dwells in the Father and this gave rise to the teaching of the Holy Trinity … the three persons in one God.

“I and the Father are one. If you have seen me, you have seen the Father.” Jesus Christ.

Don’t take my word for it. The Igbo go back to the dawn of creation and speak the original language of mankind. You will find footprints of Igbo language in the world’s languages.

Here is one example germane to what I just said and believe me, you won’t find this in any textbook.

I just told you that humana is derived from ume ana.

What do you think they call air systems .. umeatics.

What do you think the call the science of breathing … umenology.

Exactly. Because they don’t write Igbo quite the way we do, umeastics is written as pneumatics and umenology is written as pneumonology or pulmonology. Don’t let writing conventions throw you off.

You would have to be wilfully blind to not see ume .. breath in umeana .. humana or pneumatics. ..

You would also be willfully blind to not tie it to the story of creation … in the Biblical book of Je na isi isi meaning Go to the beginning. They spell it as Genesis.

In Genesis, God, Ana, breathed (ume) on clay and it became umeana or humana.

Now to completely mesmerize about ancient Igbo theology in relation to mma ana meaning in Igbo … beauty of Ana from where the word man was derived.

Now pause for one moment to think about the theological concept of mma Ana (man). In one sense, it speaks to man as created in the beauty and likeness of Ana. In another sense, it speaks to mma Ana ( man) as the apogee of creation.

Ana created mma Ana (man) by means of his life-giving Spirit … his breath … Ume … by breathing unto clay … and humans became ume Ana … breath of Ana.

In animals, Ume is carried in the lungs.

Guess what they call ngugu by those who write Igbo differently?

Ngugu in Igbo is same as lungu or lung in English.

Just lucky coincidences? If the morphological, idiomatic, and theological convergences all seem like a stroke of creative genius … continue in willful denial.

You have to be in denial to not situate Igbo language way back in time.

Or to not see footprints of ancient Igbo theology in the widely accepted story of creationism and modern theology.

Now, how can you see Igbo theology and Igbo language way back in time and not see that the Igbo were before Adam?

Either that or you should appreciate that the story of Adam is really about an Igbo man called Adaamu .. which means in Igbo .. I have fallen (from grace).

Maazi Christopher Aniedobe