Page 12 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 32

Community
also the Sacred Breath that gives life and
animates the human person and every other
thing that exists in our known planet. But
what this means is that Ubuntu or let me
say “Umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu”, which
means “I am because you are” does not exist
as a life philosophy only in the relationship
between humans and fellow humans but
also in the relationship between humans and
nature.
Take this simple example for instance, it is
the carbon dioxide that humans and animals
eject that plants take in to create food and
then give off the oxygen we breathe in for
life. That interconnection alone creates a
deep meaning to the concept of Ubuntu
among humans and Ubuntu among humans
and nature and it is sacred. This inner
gratitude and connection to the sacredness
and the sanctity of the Breath of Life in each
and everything that exists is what creates the
foundation for African Spirituality. It is what
informed ancient Africans when to plant their
crops, how to plant them, and how to harvest
and store crops both for food and medicine.
It is this Knowledge System (African
Spirituality) that teaches them how to relate
to natural phenomena like rain, lightning,
a flood from a river that has overrun its
banks, how to build their homes, and what
shapes and patterns are allowed for the free
movement of Air/Breath, what to do when
the animals in the community are dying for
no clear reason, etc. Spirituality to them was
a wholeness of knowledge made available to
them within the time frame of their existence
and beyond and how this knowledge system
intertwines in every aspect of their lives, be
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it agriculture, architecture, medicine, family
life, sex, animal husbandry, knowledge
creation and sharing, etc.
It is also true that even though in the physical
interpretation of things, man cannot do
without nature but nature can do without
man, however, the Ubuntu reality between
man and nature cannot be overemphasized
and should be upheld at every point. But this
awe for the sanctity of life and the sacredness
of BEING and the Ubuntu between humans
and nature is what the European invaders
destroyed when they came to the continent.
They love and embrace fear, death,
destruction, and control, and thus anything
that carries life in it and can stop their mad
rage for control is destroyed. Killed. They
have no respect for life and the sacredness
of things, people, and places. Gripped by an
unholy fear of annihilation of their race, they
make a mockery of anything that does not
look like them. And this is not some made-up
thought, it’s where the concept of racism and
white supremacy came from.
It is true that Ubuntu loosely translates to
mean ‘I am because we are”, but I think
the opposite is also true. “I am not because
we are not.” This other side of Ubuntu is
one of the very deep issues that all Africans
across the globe are going through at various
levels of their lives. What I am because of
the input of all of us is great, but we also
need to pay attention to what we are unable
to manifest because some among us just do
not want to rise to the occasion. So, we fail
by disassociation instead of succeeding by
Ubuntu. We need to correct this.