I Don't Need Any Religion, I Am A Mythologist - Wole Soyinka

Category:  Nigeria News



Nobel Laureate winner Professor Wole Soyinka has said he doesn’t have need for any religion.

He described himself as a mythologist, an expert in the study of myth (a traditional story, especially one concerning the early history of a people or explaining a natural or social phenomenon, and typically involving supernatural beings or events).

In a public presentation of his two-volume collection of essays on Sunday, the Nobel laureate
explained though he doesn’t worship deities.

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He however ‘considers them as creatively real’ thus, serving as his companions in his journey; in both the real and the imaginative world.

According to Soyinka: “Do I really need one (religion)? I have never felt I needed one.

“I am a mythologist. I believe that people have a right and cannot help creating mythologies around themselves, around their experiences about what they project from the inner recesses of their minds as answers to questions.

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“And so I find nothing wrong with utilizing mythologies as part and parcel of my creative warehouse.

“But religion? No I don’t worship any deity. But I consider deities as creatively real and therefore my companions in my journey in both the real world and the imaginative world.”