Divine Energy Made Manifest (DEMM)
“Footprints in the Air”
by
Baba Dr. Wade Ifágbemì Sàngódáre Nobles
In this series, I am intentionally exploring the idea of Divine Energy Made Manifest (DEEM) with or against (1) Its Introduction; (2) Astral Energy; (3) African Epistemic Reflections (4) the Energetics of Black identity and African consciousness; (5) Quantum Reality, (6) Epigenetics, and (7) Footprints in the Air Going Forward.
Messaging or revelations from the Ancestors is always profound and mysterious. Two profound revelations were delivered to Black psychologists by the Ancestors. We be African or we not be and We are divine energy being manifested. On one occasion, the Ancestors took control of Dr. Asa G. Hilliard’s mouth (ABPsi National Convention, Pre-conference African Psychology Institute, 1995) and Asa mis-spoke Shakespeare’s “To Be or Not to Be, that is the question” and instead Asa said, “To Be African or Not To Be.”
Then at the 5th Annual African psychology conference at FAMU in 2015 which was dedicated to honoring and interrogating my body of research and scholarship, my intellectual twin, Dr. Na’im Akbar, introduced me by giving a kind of poetic sonnet by saying, Out there in California, “Wade and dem” founded a Black family R&D Think Tank and “Wade and dem” created the HAWK Federation; and “Wade and dem” implemented the “Healer Women fighting Disease HIV Aids prevention program, and “Wade and dem” embraced the corporate motto, “Service through Science;” and “Wade and dem” did this and “Wade and dem” did that. Na’im went on and on talking about “Wade and dem.” In my mind, I thought Na’im’s southern tongue was saying “dem” instead of “them.” Then I remembered, as a child, old folks saying, dem chilrn makin too much noise or y’all go tell dem folks I’m fixin to come or dem kids been workn on that junky car all night long. If I may call it, “Na’imspeaK,” Na’im’s tongue had helped me to understand (hear) that the old ones were constantly letting us know that we were in our everyday walk-around selves divine. In hearing Naim and all those old folks say dem, my heart now heard “deem” instead of dem and Na’im had unknowingly defined our collective determination as Divine Energy Made Manifest (DEEM).
The metaphor "Footprints in the air" is intentional. DEMM aligned with African cosmology clearly recognizes that the unseen forces, energies, or influences that are intangible, invisible, or transcendent, while leaving no visible mark, do affect reality and shape existence.
As follow up (circa 2015), I formally introduced the concept of DEMM, as part of my broader attempt to understand African spirit(ness), particularly in how spirit manifests across generations. Later I (Nobles, W. Wade & Baleka, Siphiwe, 2022) also asserted DEMM in relation to the transgenerational transmission of trauma and spirit damage repair within the African world (“Transgenerational Epigenetic Effects of Slavery and Divine Energy Made Manifest). In both contributions, I wanted to gain a deeper understanding of spirit as an ongoing, all inclusive, dynamic force and to know how spirit contributes to the collective functioning of people of African ancestry. This is still my intellectual quest. Divine Energy Made Manifest (DEMM) asserts that “Beings” are manifestations of divine energy (DEMM). As a critical and crucial paradigm shifting from Western thought DEMM as proposed is a revolutionary concept for understanding the human experience as an expression of divine energy in the material world.
DEMM is offered as a transformative concept for understanding the spirit(ness) and cultural unity of African-ascended peoples. The realms of reality in traditional African cultures offer a multifaceted understanding of existence, one that incorporates realms of reality. In many ways, epigenetics provides a modern parallel to this worldview, offering a biological explanation for the intergenerational transmission of experiences. The idea of DEMM being the hidden footprint in the air should be the source of Zaya discourse.
The metaphor “Footprints in the air” is intentional. DEMM aligned with African cosmology clearly recognizes that the unseen forces, energies, or influences that are intangible, invisible, or transcendent, while leaving no visible mark, do affect reality and shape existence. “Footprints in the air” signifies DEMM’s spirit defined and spirit driven journey that has enduring impact as the presence of ancestral wisdom which ripples through both the material and immaterial worlds continuing to guide and shape future generations, even though it is not always concretely visible. By understanding ourselves as Divine Energy Made Manifest, we embrace a worldview that honors both our material existence and our spirit(ness) origins, while recognizing the profound, quantum-like entanglement that connects us even between realms of reality. Metaphorically, DEMM as “footprints in the air” is an attempt to illustrate how the visible materiality, i.e., footprint, can travel on or through the immateriality, i.e. air. Implicitly in the metaphor of “Footprints in the air” is the idea of walking where there is no ground or traction. Walking on the air is impossible. The visible is, in effect, an illusion and what is real is that which is invisible.
