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The Akan Concept of the Soul

by Sam K. Akesson
AN'S STRUGGLE to understand himself is universal. From primitive man to modem man, from ancient civilization to our modern rocketry, man has attempted to explore the mystery of the " self " within him, aware that the physical-substance does not explain his mysterious essence. Science has practically brought nature under man's control by penetrating into the many mysteries of his physical being; yet, despite the advances science has made, it has not in any way been able to say what the soul is. Surgeons can draw blood from many parts of the body, but no surgeon has made a soul bleed or heard it expostulate, as Dante has. Physicists have devised formulae for the vast and for the infinitesmal, able to harness nuclear energy and to measure the weight of an atom, but they have not attempted, as Plato has, to formulate or probe the indwelling spirit. The quest for the soul will probably never come into the province of science. The answers of Christian theology, as of other religions, are enshrined in mystery. Christian theology has refined man's ideas of pagan antiquity, especially in its notions of the effects upon' the soul of sin and its consequences ; but the mystery still remains, for the Christian explanation of the soul docs not say exactly what the ' 'personality " of the soul is. The old primitive belief that a soul has the personality of its owner, but can be separated from the body (as experienced in a dream), and that it is indestructible and survives and lives on forever when the organs of the body no longer function, is still a view widely, if not universally, held. This study intends to present the concept of the soul as propounded by the Akans of Ghana and to show the influence of this concept on the life and thought of the Akan peoples. The belief in immortality, in the soul's survival after death, is a concept Akans do not repudiate. It is natural for the Akan to hold the concept because the belief in immortality has its very origin in the word the Akan uses for soul. The Akan term for soul, KRA or OKRA (meaning " goodbye ") reflects the origin of the concept. Leaving aside for the moment the Akan idea that the souls of new-born children are either emanations of ancestral souls or reincarnated former lives, I would like us to examine further the connotations of the " goodbye " which attend the Akan word KRA for the soul of man. According to the Akan, the soul (KRA or OKRA) of a man existed with Nyame, God, long before it became incarnated. This soul may be the soul or the spirit of a kinsman or ymiftimy* of another person, but one who belongs to the same tribe. In the past, marriage was strictly endogamous among Akans; therefore, if a child did not resemble somebody who died in the kinship group, that child might be regarded as a reincarnate of the husband's (the father's) kinship group. (My oldest daughter, for example,

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is believed to have the characteristics of my paternal aunt.) Whatever line the soul may have come from, that soul existed with Nyame, God, and the day a person is bora is the day on which he takes upon himself the human frame in order to make his existence real in the physical world of man. According to Christaller "when he [the soul] is thus dismissed in heaven, he takes with him his errand, Lc. his destination or future fate is fixed beforehand; from this the nam< KRA or OKRA seems to be drawn. In life the KRA is considered partly as a separate being, distinct from the person, who protects him (ME KRA DI MAKYI), gives him good or bad advice, causes his undertakings to prosper or slights and neglects him and, therefore, in the case of prosperity, receives thanks and thank-offerings like a fetish. When the person is about to die, the KRA leaves him gradually, before he breathes his last, but may be called or drawn back. When he has entirely left (whereby the person dies), he is no more called KRA, but SESA or OSAMANG."1 In whatever way the concept might be explained, the general belief is that the soul is not the body one sees ; it is a separate entity whose anatomical pnthrnnffrnrnt the Akan is not definite nor is he clear in his mind what the anatomy of the soul is. The best the Akan can say is that the soul permeates the system as if it were a drink of whisky.1 The soul is a stuff of some kind ; it is in the blood ; in the breath ; in the hair; in the finger and toe dippings ; it is in every part of the human body. To the Akan the soul is a life-force which animates the body; it is that which makes man a living person. If an Akan baby starts to yawn, his mother makes a funny, glottal sound to attract the soul to stay. Sometimes the mother gently covers the gaping mouth of the baby to keep the soul from taking its leave. Shouts are never allowed where children are resting. Shouts are believed to scare away or make the souls of children flee. Though the KRA is invisible, it is known through the activities of the living person. The nature of the soul is determined by the character and the actions of the living person. Maxims such as ME KRA NNYE, which literally means " I have a bad soul " ( l a m not lucky), or ME KRA AYEW ME HO, meaning " my soul has fled away from me " when one becomes petrified with fear, are indications of the activities of the soul at such times. The label by which Nyame knows the living Akan is the natal name the person bears. A natal """" is, therefore, the secret name an Akan would, in the past, not divulge to anyone. Since the soul of the living Akan existed with Nyame long before it became incarnated and since God is bis father, for in the Akan concept of humanity it is only a father who gives names to children, the living Akan has the personality, the substance of Nyame's immortality. The Akan proverb NIPA NYINA YE YAME MMA OBI NYE ASASE BA meaning " All men are Onyame's offspring; no one is the offspring Dictionary of the ASANTE and FANTI Language by the late Rev. J. G. Christaller (Second Edition). 1 William Howells, The Heathens.
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of earth " or NYAME NWU NA M'AWU or NYAME BEWU NA MA WU meaning " If God could die, I would die,"1 is a justification of the nature of immortality the Akan believes in. Dream-life may be said to be a contribution to the concept of the immortality Akans hold. Dead friends and relatives reappear to the Akan in dreams. In his dream-life the Akan holds conversation with his dead relative but " this conception of a posthumous life to the experiences of dreams "' is only additional fart to make the primary factor, the " goodbye " conceptthe pre-existence conceptmore positive, more real and meaningful. Days are not only a measure of time by which Akans arc able to reckon weeks into months and months into years. They are not only the means by which the Akan determines his age, but they are like gateways or entrances through which the soul of the Akan takes his place in the arena of the living people. Each day has, therefore, a specific name for the Akan according to the day on which he entered the world through birth. As already indicated, that name is not only secret but is also sacred, for it is the nam* the Akan worships ; it is the name by which the Akan is known to Nyame and the gods, the tutelar deities. In the past, when Christianity was first introduced in Ghana, candidates for baptism were given names from the Bible. Those names were names by which pastors and members of the Christian community called the people. Many Akan Christians, in these days, prefer to go by their clan names, last names. The natal name an Akan bears is bis godly or religious name, so to speak. The natal name carries similar meaning as the name a Christian may bear. There arc seven souls (or natal names) corresponding to the seven days of the week. Like the names in the Bible, each natal name has a strong appellation or honorific I was born on Thursday. My natal name is YAO (YAW) or KWAW and I am a child of Jupiter (THOR, JOVE). My honorific is ABERAW which signifies STRENGTH. I cite below the table of natal names and their significance in Akan life and thought :'
Day English Sunday Monday Tuesday Akan Kwasida Dwoda Benada Malt Kwasi Kwadwo Kwabem Kwaku Yao(Yw) Kofi Kwame Natal Name Ftmal* Akosua Adwoa Abena Akua Yaa Afua Ama Tutelar Awusi Awa Abena (ben) Aku (Okuning) Aberaw An Amen Honorific Akan Strut (under) the tun peace fire or heat fame strength growth Most ancient (seasoned) ** Child of

Classic Senst Sun ennon Man (war) Mercury woden) Jupiter (Thor)G|ve) Venus (Freya) Saturn (Amon of Egypt)

Wednesday Wukuda Thursday Friday Saturday Yaoda Fida Memenda

J. B. Danquah, The Akan Doctrine of God. William Howells, The Heathens. 1 J. B. Danquah, The Akan Doctrine of God.
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There is more to the natal means than one might imagine Each of the natal day names has its own attribute or secret name. The Akan is addressed on the talking drums or on the horns during religious ceremonies by his secret name and not his clan name or surname. My surname is AKA which the missionary who baptized me when I was an infant unfortunately Anglicized into Akesson. The suffix " son " indicates that I am the son of AKA- At a religious ceremony I would not be addressed as AKA, for that is the name created for me by the living. I would be addressed by my secret name YAO

(or YAW) and its appropriate attribute PEREKO, "The Aggressor" or " Eager for War ". A natal name is the name with which an Akan comes into the world from the spirit-world of Nyarne. It is the name which belongs to the soul of the Akan. It is the name with which the soul of the Akan could be conjured or harmed by his enemy. The following is the list of the attributes: 1. Sunday child KWASI is known as BODUA, " Tail of the Beast." 2. Monday child KWADWO is known as OKOTO, " Suppliant." 3. Tuesday child KWABENA is known as OGYAM, " The Compassionate." 4. Wednesday child KWAKU is known as NTONI, " Champion " or " Vicarious Hero ". 5. Thursday child YAW is known as PEREKO, " The Aggressor " or " Eager for War." 6. Friday child KOFI is known as OKYIN, " Wanderer." 7. Saturday child KWAME is known as ATOAPOMA, " Ever-Ready Shooter " and also OTUNANKADURO, " Maker of Serpent's Antidote." The fact of immortality, as the evidence of Akan religion shows, is well established in the relationship between each natal day name (each soul) and its corresponding deity. The incapriciousness and the constancy of the cycle of the days of the week may have contributed to the knowledge of which Akans are aware that death is not a complete but a temporary annihilation or cessation of life. We have seen that there are seven human souls in the Akan world for either sex. We have also seen that the souls of new-born children are largely those of the ancestral souls. In other words, souls are emanations of dead kinsmen or those souls themselves reincarnated. " But", as Emile Durkheim has stated, " in order that they may either reincarnate themselves, or periodically give off new emanations, they must have survived their first holders." We would surmise, therefore, that Akans explain the existence of the living by postulating the theory of the survival of the dead. Since there are seven souls for each group of sex, Akan God does not appear to be able to create additional souls out of nothing.

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Ridiculous as this may seem, does it not indicate a completion of creation which the Bible story of Creation affirms ? Almost every creature repeats itself in one way or the other. In the animal world each species either repeats itself or becomes extinct through some natural catastrophy or through uncontrolled hunting (of game animals) for human consumption. In the plant world each species of plant repeats itself. Akans who are born into the Akan world can only be those who have existed before; "they are new forms of those who have been."* Put briefly, the belief in the immortality of the soul, as is held by Akans, explains a major factor in Akan life; it is the concept which explains the perpetuity of the clan, the tribe. Individuals may die, but that does not affect the group; the clan lives o n ; it survives death. Death, to the Akan, is incapable of making void the existence of the Akan clan, for " though the group may not be immortal in the absolute sense of the word, still it is true that it endures longer than the individuals and that it is born and incarnated afresh in each new generation."7 According to the Akan all AKRA, souls, are equal in quality, in substance, and in form for all AKRA come from one source, NYAME. But when the KRA enters the world of the living he assumes a physical and social role appropriate for him in the Akan tribal or clan hierarchy. That KRA could be NANA, PROGENITOR or grandfather. Since there is a hierarchy in Akan life, it is obvious that all Akra are not equal in status. Akans, therefore, distinguish between two sorts of souls, namely, the souls of those of the ancestors and those AKRA of individuals who may die without ascending to the throne created for the post of NANA. These latter souls compose the active body of the clan, the tribe in the life and history of Akan peoples. The souls of Nananom, ancestors, survive death; they live on forever for they are uncreated. They do not perish for they live in the shrines (clan-ttools). The living Akan serve them with food and drink and worship them. According to the doctrine of the Akan, each soul upon departing from the living, Le. upon death, returns to God by whose permission he came to live among the living. In other words, each Akan soul goes back to the source from which he came, but not all souls live on forever after they have thus reported themselves to Nyame. A maternal cousin of mine died about ten years ago. He left behind him three children (sons) and nephews and nieces in the maternal line, but never have I seen any of them offering him a drink of wine. My cousin did not rise to the office of Nana; therefore, since he is not remembered by the living he is extinct, Akans make their supplications to the spirit of ancestors; those souls who held positions in the hierarchy of Akan life. The following pattern of Akan prayer explains more fully what I have indicated above :

* EmQe Durkheim, Elementary Forms of Religious Life. 'Ibid.

THB AKAN CONCEPT OF THE SOUL " Twaduampong Kwame, Begye nsa nom. Nananom nsamanfo, Mommegye nsa nom. Asase Yaa, Begye nsa nom, etc., etc." " God on whom men lean And do not fall; Whose day is Saturday, Receive this wine and drink. Spirits of the ancestors, Receive this wine and drink. Spirit of the Earth goddess. Receive this wine and drink, etc., etc."

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The soul of the individual non-Nana is not mentioned in the prayer. In supporting the importance of the immortality of the ancestors, Emilie Durkheim writes that the ancestors " are the only ones whose immortality is necessary to explain the permanence of the group; for it is upon them, and upon them alone, that it is incumbent to assure the perpetuity of the clan, for every conception is their wort" 8 Emile Durkheim goes on to say that " in this connection, the others have no part to play. So souls are not said to be immortal except in so far as this immortality is useful in rendering intelligible the continuity of the collective life."* This is the extent to which Akan sociological aspect of the soul can go. We will now try to eraminf. another important feature of the soul, namely, the conscious and the subconscious personality aspects. In our examination of the Akan concept of immortality we saw that in Akan theology the soul has some of the spiritual substance of the Supreme Being, Nyame, for the word KRA which connotes " goodbye " has its origin in the pre-existence concept the Akan has of the soul. Since Nyame is perfect, the perfection of the soul before entering into the material world, through birth, is well established. The following Akan expression establishes the fact of God's perfection : ODOMANKOMA BOO ADEE NO, ABOO NO KRONKRON KRONKRON By translation this means "The Creator (God) created the "thing" holy (perfect)." The inference is that because Nyame is himself perfect, he could not create anything imperfect. The " thing " to which the Maxim refers is the KRA, the soul. The Akan concept of man seems to run parallel to the Hebrew conception of man, namely, that " God breathed into the nostrils of man and man became a living soul." What seems to be obscure in the Akan concept of T"" is the origin of the human body into which the Okra enters. In the Hebrew account of creation it is clearly stated in Genesis 2 : 7 that God made man out of clay. In other words, the origin of the human body is accounted for even though it is not accepted as scientific fact It does seem, however, that the world of the ancestors has all the Emile Durkheim, Elementary Forms of Religious Life. 'Ibid.
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bodies of dead kinsmen and the soul of the Akan who is given permission by Nyame enters into one of those bodies to reappear or take his abode among the living. Whatever way one may explain the origin of the Akan concept of the human body, one thing is dear. Like the Hebrews, Akans postulate that man is composed of three elements : the HONAM (the body), the SUNSUM (the spirit, personality, the ego), and the KRA (or OKRA), the soul. Of the trichotomy the first is most distinguishable, namely, the body. But the distinction between the KRA and the SUNSUM is not quite clear nor is it easy to follow. The origin and meaning of the Soul is well established in the connotations of " goodbye " for the KRA's departure from Nyame. That the KRA is closely bound to the human body and that it is ordinarily a prisoner there in the body but at the same time is profoundly distinct from it since it can enjoy a large degree of independence, is what Akans believe. But when we come to examine the activities of the KRA and the SUNSUM there we find Akans using the two terms interchangeably and synonymously. However, the following hypothesis throws some light on the distinction between the life-soul (the KRA) and the personality-soul (the SUNSUM) in the minds of Akans. We stated earlier that the KRA is closely connected with the parts of the organs of the body especially the blood. This is true of the Akans of Ghana who inherit through the matrilineal line and therefore belong to the ABUSUA or the blood-clanthe vessel of the KRA. With this assumption, there is found a distinction between the KRA and the SUNSUM. The latter seems to be a functional element after the KRA has taken its residence in man. The Sunsum, in a sense, belongs to or exists in the material world and it become a functional part of man only when man has become a living soul. Sunsum is therefore a conscious counterpart of the soul of the Akan. KRA is worshipped; is given offerings. Among some of the Akan tribes each person has an altar for his KRA. Sunsum is not worshipped. Sunsum is that part of the Akan which fights the evils which try to contaminate the KRA. Sunsum tries to conquer the weaknesses to which the Akan is exposed. This, as Dr. Danquah observes, leads "to the Akan postulate of the Okara as standing over and other than the Sunsum, the one in the spiritual world ready to enter the personality for heightened mental action, the other, (Sunsum) in the material world, charged with the duty of preparing for the entry of the OkaraTo the Akan, then, Sunsum is a form of consciousness or embodies one, but it is very partial and inadequate expression of the full capacities of the Okara who, or which, remains beneath or above the gates of consciousness ever waiting for the door to be opened for entry."" In his description of the Sunsum, Dr. Busia writes, " A man's Sumsum is his ego, his personality, his distinctive charactera father transmits his Sunsum to the child; this is what moulds the child's personality and dispositionthe Sunsum (is) the personal power, the cast of countenance, or
10

J. B. Danquah : Akan Doctrine of God.

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personality of man." In Akan psychology, therefore, the life-soul comes from the Abusua, the blood-dan of the maternal ancestors of the Akan and the personality-soul, the Sunsum, from the father. Rattray defines the Akan personality-soul in these words : the Sunsum is " that spiritual element in a man or woman upon which depends not life, Le. breath, for that is the KRAbut that force, personal magnetism, character, personality, power, soul, call it what you will, upon which depend health, wealth, worldly power, success in any venture, in fact, everything that makes life worth living."11 The following Akan expressions throw more light on what Akans conceive to be the Sunsum, the personality-soul. If a person has a " strong personality " the Akan says : " NE SUNSUM YE DURU " mining his personality-soul is heavy or " NE SUNSUM YE DEN " meaning his personality-soul is strong. The feeble, frail physique of a person is an indication of a weak KRA but not a weak personality-soul. The well being of the Akan depends, to a large extent, on the right relationship between the KRA, the life-soul, and the SUNSUM, the personality-soul. If there is a conflict between the two, in other words, if the equilibrium is disturbed as a result of a sinful act or wrong-doing, the life-soul may decide to evacuate its casket. I have known some Akans who have withered or pined away because of a disturbed conscience. A little worry, some mental disturbance is sure to make the Akan become ill. The awareness the Akan has of the purity of the KRA makes him become sensitive to wrong-doing. Dr. Debrunner has concluded that " anger, bitterness, and resentment against others, especially if allowed to rankle without finding speech, are commonly recognized causes of illness. It is believed to be hopeless to expect health in the presence of rancorous thoughts. That some consciences are tenderer than others is expressed by saying that if a man has a good KRA and he disgraces it, he often dies."" I propose now to make a comparison among the three spiritual entities in the Akan world of thought. It is interesting to note that Akans confine the KRA only to human beings. Animals have organs like men; they have blood ; they breathe ; and in many respects they act as human beings ; yet, Akans do not ascribe souls to animals. These attributes, personality-soul and life-soul, belong to the realm of human beings only. But, as we shall presently see, animals have SASA and the SASA concept is shared by man also. ' Sasa ", writes Rattray, " is the invisible spiritual power of a person or nnimnl^ which disturbs the mind of the living, or works a spell or mischief upon them, so that they suffer in various ways. Persons who are always taking life have to be particularly careful to guard against Sasa influence, and it is among them that its action is mainly seen, e.g. among executioners, hunters, butchers and, as a later developmentamong sawyerswho cut down the great forest trees (believed to be abodes of spirits)."" What the psychologist Rattray : Ashanti, p. 46. Dr. Debrunaer, Witchcraft in Ghana. 11 Rattray : Ashanti.
u 11

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would label as remorse which might make a murderer confess to the crime he committed the Akan would attribute a similar effect to the influence of the Sasa spirit of the murdered. The Sasa of a deceased person is that part of his spirit which is conscious of the cause or nature of his death. As I have already mentioned, the Sasa spirit is hostile to the living, and until the appropriate medicine or fetish has been applied, the Sasa of the deceased is believed to haunt this " enemy ", the murderer. As a matter of fact, Sasa has no form like a ghost-soul which we shall presently examine. Sasa causes the remorse which comes upon the person who shed the blood of his neighbour or killed the big wild game, namely, the Elephant, the Bongo, the Lion or the Leopard, or felled the great forest tree, e.g., the Odum or Odii tree which is believed to be the abode of a tutelar deity. It is the source of the uncanny feeling which incapacitates the executioner, the murderer, or the hunter. The feeling brings dread in its train and very often makes one collapse or makes one go made, or commit suicide. The Akan expression, NE SASA ANNYA NO, meaning, literally, " his revengeful spirit has got him or his Sasa has rendered him weak ", describes the inability of the " enemy " to exert himself on account of the strange atmosphere the Sasa spirit has produced. We have examined this part of the Akan concept of the spirit in order to show the importance of the KRA concept which is the property of man alone. In our discussion of the Akan concept of man we saw that Akans believe that man has a triple nature. In life, an Akan is Kra (soul), Sunsum (personality-soul), and Honam (die body). Upon deadi when the Kra becomes disincarnated the Akan becomes Osamang with ethereal body. The three aspects, namely, Kra, Sunsum, and Osamang of man have slight shades of difference. In the first, the life-force, Kra, returns to Nyame from whence it come as soon as man ceases to breathe. Kra is not like the Sunsum, the personality-soul which, though residing in the body may leave at will and have independent experience in free space as in dream-adventures. The life-soul doss not seem to have influence over other souls as the Sunsum. In its terrestrial life the main function of the KRA is to animate man to function and to enable him to accomplish his daily tasks. Since the vegetative organism of man is the garb for the KRA, the KRA is the great reservoir of itrength, the life-principle which makes the body capable of casting a shadow upon the reflection of the sun, the moon, or a light. The KRA, therefore, makes the individuality of the Akan recognizable; hence, it is forbidden to tread upon, or to hit, or to harm or disturb the shadow of the Akan. A shadow is not a reflection of the human frame but is Sunsum, a spirit, and therefore has the senses and is susceptible to pain. The Sunsum, the duplicate of the body of the Akan, ceases to be a shadow when the vegetative organism cease to function. The Sunsum then becomes actualized through the ethereal body, the ghost-body. Upon the death of the Akan, the Sunsum does no longer depend upon the body for its existence. A ghost-soul is therefore the Sunsum with an ethereal body; it is believed to be the exact form of the human'body of the deceased. Put briefly, Osamang is an aparidon, a spectre, and is a name used for the activities of the dead but not the' Jiving person.

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But considering the existence of the spirits ascribe to them not only ethereal bodies, which was visible to the living when they accounts for the reason why food and drink

of the ancestors, it appears Akans but the exact corporeal structure were in the material world. This are offered to them;

In his account of the ancestors, Dr. Danquah writes : " it is upon the standard of morality set by the manner of life of the good spirit, called Nana, that members of his family and his descendants look for guidance in that moral life. It is also to this spirit that offerings are made, for whom purification ceremonies are performed, to whom prayers are directed, librations poured and maflhcd yams offered." Wcsterman describes ancestor worship in the following way: " not only do those who have died live again; they live together as they did here, and so the whole community is guaranteed survival in death, as are individuals who make it up. Much more than this, however, ancestor worship puts before the people the importance of their community lifeit makes them fed that their ancestors are interested in them, and in what they are each doing to maintain the village; it presents them with a means of feeling the importance of responsibility and the goodwill of each man for th; common weaL"1' The belief in the materiality of the ghost-soul is evident in the conscious awareness of the physical activities the living Akan has of the departed. It is gratifying to note that the disembodied soul is not ostracised from nor forgotten by the society to which he belonged when he was in the material world nor is he regarded as alien in his new sphere of existence. The departed is a citizen of the new world, the ghost-world, as well as the old, the world of the living Akans. He is believed to have knowledge of his past and of his descendants, for he benefits from their ministrations. This pervades the popular thought of the Akans. In the preceding discussion, it was shown that Akans appear to be clear in distinguishing between the KRA, the life-soul and the ghost-soul, Osamang. The KRA is the impersonal, vital basis of life which comes directly from Nyame and which retraces its steps back to God when it is disembodied. When the KRA becomes liberated from the body, the Sunsum, the personality-soul or the spirit, the duplicate of the animated body, becomes a personal factor actualized in the material body of which he was the shadow at one time. The Sunsum thus becomes Osamang, a ghost-soul. It enjoys two powers, namely, bodily (material) and ethereal (inmateriaT) powers. It enjoys, noi partially, but the whole of th'e mental faculties with which the living person is endowed. In that capacity the Sunsum is less substantial and less strictly subject to limitations of time and space. The Akan word OSAMANG is descriptive of th: privileged powers which death grants the ghost-soul of the deceased Akan. Tht root word SA means " to run after " ; the suffix MANG means " the body of inhabitants of a country united under the same governu

Westennan : The African Today and Tomorrow.

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ment, a nation, tribe, people or state."" The name OSAMANG could be understood as the person from the body of inhabitants who run after the violator of the customs. The prefix " 0 " is the third person singular in the Akan grammar. The ghost-souls or the spirits of the dead watch the affairs of the state with keen eyes, and it is well known that they do not let a member of a community who may break a taboo go unpunished. Literally speaking, Osamang runs after those who violate the customs laid down by the ancestors. Dr. Danquah's description of the Akans' conception of ASAMAN (HADES) clarifies in detail the state of the Nether-world, the nature of its citizens, and the extent of their influence. " Death ", writes Dr. Danquah, " is a painful process of transition from an unhappy material world to a spiritual ghostly world called ASAMAN (HADES); equally unhappy, but where the unhappiness is rendered tolerable by the enhanced freedom of thought and power. In Asaman there is the self-same monarchy that a man was subject to when clad in his mortal self, and a person dies only to find his immortal self in the clutches of those judges and magistrates whose successors had judged and ruled him when clothed in that outer garment of the soul. It is easy, according to Akan belief, for the spirit of a dead person to demand the presence of a living person in Asasam for the settlement of an outstanding controversy between them ; it is easy, in due season, for spirits to materialize and communicate with their living relations in either a bodily form or in an invisible but audible spiritual phenomenon . The spirits of the dead have powers over the will and thoughts of the living (ateasefo), and they can either direct a living person to mischief, prevent a living person from doing mischief, or guard the footsteps of a living relation from falling into impending danger."" The traditional concept of the soul as the supernatural part of man is widely held by men of almost every religion. What is peculiar to the Akan concept is the transition which the soul, the KRA, undergoes to become a ghost-soul and still continues to give guidance to the ATEASEFO, the living, in the new capacity, the ethereal form, he assumes. The introduction of the trichotomy of human personality into Honam (body), Sunsum (spirit), and KRA (life-soul) makes the Akan concept a sound theological if not scientific theory. Despite its corporeality, the ghost-soul is capable of displaying vanishing feats according to the Akan belief. This requires further examination. In life, the KRA clads itself with the earthly garment, the body. Without the vegetative organism, the KRA does not exist. In life, therefore, the lifesoul uses the body for its activities; hence, it is a distinct entity, separate from the body. But upon the death of the Akan the KRA discards the veil 'J. G. Christaller, Dictionary of ASANTI and FANTI LANGUAGE, Second Edition. " Dr. Danquah, The Gold Coast Akan.

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and the Sunsum, the shadow, which is a reflection of the body in life, replaces it. This Sunsum, the ghost-soul, does not inhabit the body, is not a separate entity distinct from the body as the KRA, but has a dualistic personality, a two-fold entity, namely ethereal and corporeal. In other words, the dualism of man, physical and spiritual, does not break down at death. The Akan is still a dual personality : body and soul (with the spirit as the " child " of the soul in life) and ghost-spirit at death. Upon the death of the Akan the body ceases to be the veil of the soul; the body becomes energized with ethereal substance capable of making its entrance into or exit from closid doors. Is this awareness Akans have of the ghost-soul not a projection of their own imagination motivated by the impressions made on them by the dead while in the flesh ? The fact that the dead appears to his relations in the consanguine group and to those who knew him intimately is, to me, an indication that the whole phenomenon of the soul's becoming ethereal substance with a corporeal body is a projection made possible by the impressions the dead made on the living. The life span is three score and ten ; therefore, human beings live a long time. In the orbit of man's life, the combination of the qualities of character and mind, the personality, does not cease to make itself felt by impressing upon the sympathies of those of his equals and those relations of his with whom he shares traditional beliefs. The constancy of man's relationship with friends and relatives make the latter adapt themselves to his familiar formthey may either love or hate him according to how his disposition may be. Death suddenly breaks the relationship and makes the effect on bis circle not merely a sorrowful one but a real psychological amputation. The family, the clan, the whole group loses the protection it enjoyed and the security it got from the deceased kin. The Akan expression : ODUPON ATUTU meaning "The great tree is fallen" is descriptive of the feeling of hopelessness and loss which the death of the Akan brings upon the people. The elaborate and lengthy funeral ceremony prolongs the feeling of bereavement preoccupying the bereaved with the one who has disappeared. This preoccupation so works upon the imagination of the bereaved that the bereaved feel the disembodied presence. " The body ", writes Howell, " no matter how beautifully it might be mummified, is no real comfort; what we have lost is the person himself. It is practically beyond belief that anything so alive as his personality, so highly organized, so valuable to us, perhaps so learned or so gifted, has in a moment disintegrated. Somehow it must still exist, as it was. We abhor to think otherwise."17

William Howell, The Heathens, pp. 146 - 147.