How do people become evil? Prople become evil by losing balance, they become evil by veering off the narrow path. The narrow path is represented by adherence to the golden rule 'Do unto others what you want others to do unto you'. Be fair in your dealings with others. In other words 'Be rational'.
Every original human culture has a theology with stories that mention the entity representing balance and rationality. That entity in Yoruba theology is Esu, the Igbos call it Ekwensu which obviously is referring to thesame original entity known to a common ancestor group to both the Yoruba and Igbo ethnic groups. The theology of all human cultures mention thesame entity, not as an opposer of God but as a faithful servant and connection between man and God.
Esu is the force of balance that you need to remain rational. Esu is depicted as Onile orita in Yoruba, he who lives at the junction. We are always at junctions. Yes or No. Right or Left, wrong or right and etc. This makes Esu a very important orisa. The image of Esu is carved at the edge of an Ifa divination tray as the connection between the physical and spiritual plane.
Each of the 256 odu ifa has its own peculiar Esu. Everything is a balancing act and it is with Esu that we achieve balance. If we lose balance, Esu will also be the one to laugh us to scorn. A rational person has Esu as his or her ally while an irrational person will be tormented by Esu.
So, Esu is not the Biblical satan. The Biblical Satan who is an opposer or opponent of God, does not occur in original Earth theologies or spiritual practices. It is a perversion that occurs only in Abrahamic theologies.
Our ancestors named children after Esu, changed their names to a name that glorifies Esu. There was a prominent Oba Alaketu whose name was Esu. There were many people named Esu in Yoruba land before the incursion of Christianity and Islam. The descendants of those people are now gradually changing their names as a result of the kind of society we now live in.
As explained above, it can be seen that Esu in our theology is not evil, it represents balance, contemplation and etc. It is totally different from the concept of Satan. An orisa like Ogun represents courage, prosperity inducing innovation and etc. Osun is fertility, Obatala is good governance, Oya is division and etc. Most of which are also evident in lower animals but Esu is what makes us a higher specie since it helps us to be rational. Animals do not need as much as humans to be rational. They depend more on raw instincts.
So when Christians and Muslims say Esu is Satan, tell them Esu is not Satan. No Satan in normal human theologies.
