Abstract

The spirits have a pervasive influence in the life of an African. In the African cosmology, the Supreme Being comes first and then the lesser spirits. These spirits interact with and are at the service of humans. The Supreme Being is the creator in the Christian sense and the other spirits are his messengers. These other spirits are graded and differentiated according to their role and importance. The African has a strong belief in the unobservable reality and every happening is believed to have a metaphysical explanation. In general, life without the spirit and their forces, for an African, is unimaginable. The study explains African understanding of the spirit, kinds of spirit and their role in the life of the African.