A Personal Reflection on Why They Stopped Speaking About Spiritual Matters
I grew up around elders who carried a world inside them but rarely opened their mouths to speak it.
Whenever spiritual topics came up, they would go quiet, look away, or change the subject completely.
For years, I wondered why.
Why did they guard their spiritual stories so tightly?
Why did they act like their own traditions were shameful or dangerous?
Why did they whisper instead of teach?
As I grew older and started searching for the truth myself, I realized something painful and profound:
Their silence was not because they lacked knowledge.
Their silence was because history took away their voice.
Here’s what I discovered, and why most elders stayed quiet for so long.
🕯️ 1. They Carry The Trauma of a Generation That Was Punished for Believing What They Knew
Many of our grandparents lived through times when African spirituality was treated as a crime.
Literally.
In Nigeria, for example, the 1916 Witchcraft Ordinance and later the 1958 update banned traditional divination, healing, and invocation.
People were arrested or shamed simply for practicing their ancestral spirituality.
My grandmother once told me: “We learned to pray silently so nobody would accuse us.”
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⛪ 2. They Were Taught to Be Ashamed of Their Own Spiritual Identity
Missionaries did not just bring religion; they brought judgment.
From the late 1800s to the mid-1900s, they ran intense campaigns against African spiritual systems.
In Eastern Nigeria, the Church Missionary Society launched an “Anti-Pagan Campaign” in 1920.
Shrines were torn down.
Symbols were burned.
Children were punished for speaking about ancestors.
So our elders learned something heartbreaking:
To be accepted, you must hide who you spiritually are.
No wonder they rarely speak.
They were told that silence equals holiness.
🧘🏾♂️ 3. They Lost Their Schools of Spiritual Training
Before colonization, African spirituality was passed through:
- initiation
- storytelling
- apprenticeship
- communal ceremonies
But all of this collapsed when Western education replaced traditional education.
Professor John Mbiti wrote that colonial schooling “displaced African systems of spiritual knowledge transfer.”
So our elders became the last generation who still knew the rituals but had no one to pass them to.
And when knowledge has nowhere to go, it hides in silence.
🔒 4. Some Knowledge Was Always Meant to Be Protected — Not Thrown Carelessly Into the World
One thing I’ve learned: in African spirituality, not everything is meant to be said out loud.
Some knowledge is sacred, Some is restricted and others must be given only to the right person at the right time.
Many elders fear that:
- the younger generation will mock what they don’t understand
- the sacred will be commercialized
- powerful knowledge will be misused
- spiritual secrets will be tossed around online
So they protect what they know the only way they can by holding it quietly. Silence becomes guardianship.
Unlock Your Adventure: Irresistible Low Fare Travel Deals Inside!👁🗨 5. They Fear Rejection from Their Own Children
In many African households, one child is Christian, another is Muslim, another is spiritual.
Elders don’t want to offend anyone.
They don’t want to create conflict.
They don’t want to be labeled evil inside their own family.
So they choose peace over explanation.
Silence over argument.
Love over debate.
I’ve seen it in my own family.
An elder opens their mouth to talk about tradition… then pauses, sighs, and says nothing.
Not because they don’t want to speak but because they don’t want to be judged.
🌍 6. Modern Life Pulled Us Away From the Places Where Spirituality Lived
Spirituality used to be learned by:
- sitting beside the elders
- attending festivals
- watching rituals
- participating in community rites
But urban life changed everything.
UNESCO reports that urbanization between 1960–2000 weakened traditional oral transmission.
People moved from villages to cities.
Houses became fenced and individualized.
Communities scattered.
The places where spirituality lived became far away…. so the voices that carried them grew quieter.
🧬 7. Their Silence Is a Result of Everything They Survived, Not a Lack of Wisdom
They aren’t silent because they forgot.
They’re silent because:
- history punished them
- religion confused them
- culture shamed them
- society mocked them
- modern life distracted us
- the sacred must be protected
- and pain is easier to hold quietly
Their silence is a story.
A warning.
A wound.
A memory.
A shield.
And sometimes…their silence is an invitation for us to seek, ask, and listen with respect.
🌺 Closing Personal Reflection
The older generation may never fully say everything they know.
But if you approach them with humility, without judgment, many of them will open their hearts.
Because deep down, they want us to carry the torch forward.
They want us to know where we came from.
They want us to heal the spiritual line that was broken long before we were born.
Their silence is not the end of the story ……….it is the beginning of our search.
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