UBUNTU
The philosophy of Ubuntu derives from
a Nguni word, ubuntu meaning “the
quality of being human.” Ubuntu
manifests itself through various human
acts, clearly visible in social, political,
and economic situations, as well as
among family. According to
sociolinguist Buntu Mfenyana, it “runs
through the veins of all Africans, is
embodied in the oft-repeated: “Ubuntu
ngumtu ngabanye abantu” (“A person is
a person through other people”). This
African proverb reveals a world view
that we owe our selfhood to others,
that we are first and foremost social
beings, that, if you will, no man/woman
is an island, or as the African would
have it, “One finger cannot pick up a
grain.” Ubuntu is, at the same time, a
deeply personal philosophy that calls on
us to mirror our humanity for each
other. To the observer, ubuntu can be
seen and felt in the spirit of willing
participation, unquestioning
cooperation, warmth, openness, and
personal dignity demonstrated by the
indigenous black population. From the
cradle, every black child inculcates
these qualities so that by the time
adulthood is reached, the ubuntu
philosophy has become a way of being.
The principles of ubuntu must be
applied to the new generation of our
children to not just pursue the Western
dream but to use collective gifts for the
community. We can achieve this even
in:
A world where one government
(Philippines) placed the following
advertisement in Fortune
magazine: “To attract companies
like yours ... we have felled
mountains, razed jungles, filled
swamps, moved rivers, relocated
towns . . . all to make it easier for
you and your business to do
business here.”
A world where worldwide forests
and wildlife are being
exterminated to make room for
businesses, as well as for 1.3
billion cattle, 1.8 billion sheep and
goats, 0.9 billion pigs and 17.2
billion chickens (whose numbers
have doubled in the last decade).
A world where in 1992, 2 billion
people live in countries with an
average annual per capita income
of $400, 2.6 billion reached $1,600
and only 830 million have an
average of $22,000.
A world where 40 percent of the
world’s population lives in poverty
and suffers from malnutrition,
while people in my country spend
15 billion dollars per year on
losing weight, and an extra 22
billion on beauty aids.
A world where, in 1992, Michael
Jordan earned $20 million to
promote Nike shoes — that’s more
money in endorsements than the
entire annual payroll of all the
Indonesian factories that make the
shoes.
“What is this world coming to?” is a
question on everyone’s lips. It is a
question unworthy of the church.
Will God’s chosen instrument, the
African-American church, bring Christ
to this coming world through the
philosophy of ubuntu?
Will the church direct the minds and
hearts of the people of this new world
to the truth?
I think it’s awful that that word
“Christian” is now so greasy from
everyone fingering it that it has become
slippery and slimy until one hesitates to
pick it up.
Global outreaches like Habitat for
Humanity and hospices in urban areas
such as Detroit, Chicago and Atlanta
have understood and practiced the
philosophy of Ubuntu. Ministry in a
postmodern, pluralistic world must
bring together the opposites; it must
embrace and bridge a world that is
homeless and well-housed, a world that
is both dying and healthy, a world that
is both fiction and fact, a world that is
obese and anorexic at the same time.
A journalist was assigned the Lebanon
beat. Walking through the bombed-out
streets of Beirut one day, he heard
some beautiful music coming from a
doorway. He wandered over to where
the music was being played and there
saw a lad playing a flute. The music
was beautiful, but the flute was the
weirdest looking instrument he had
ever seen. He got as close as he could
properly get when the lad stopped
playing, smiled and handed him the
instrument. It was not until he picked
up the flute did the journalist
understand. For what this young
Lebanese boy had done was to find in
some field a discarded rifle, re-bore
holes in the barrel of that rifle and
transform a gun into a flute.
When those belonging to the African
Diasporas begin to practice Ubuntu we
can be like that Lebanese boy in
making transforming destructive
weapons into peaceful instruments.
When the church builds bridges that
bring the ends together, it makes
music. Which will it be? What will the
future hold? Instruments of destruction
or instruments of healing? Bows or
Harps? Guns or Flutes?
When we act upon deeply feeling a
sense of being connected to others by
our common humanity, when we truly
regard self and other as one, when we
cherish human dignity, all of our
relationships and the level of our
behaviors and actions are raised to a
higher plane. When we understand and
practice Ubuntu we will realize that
each has vital role to play, which must
be held in balance, no one dominating
the other. We must “Break the walls
down. Build the body up. Bring the
people together.”www.huffpost.com
a Nguni word, ubuntu meaning “the
quality of being human.” Ubuntu
manifests itself through various human
acts, clearly visible in social, political,
and economic situations, as well as
among family. According to
sociolinguist Buntu Mfenyana, it “runs
through the veins of all Africans, is
embodied in the oft-repeated: “Ubuntu
ngumtu ngabanye abantu” (“A person is
a person through other people”). This
African proverb reveals a world view
that we owe our selfhood to others,
that we are first and foremost social
beings, that, if you will, no man/woman
is an island, or as the African would
have it, “One finger cannot pick up a
grain.” Ubuntu is, at the same time, a
deeply personal philosophy that calls on
us to mirror our humanity for each
other. To the observer, ubuntu can be
seen and felt in the spirit of willing
participation, unquestioning
cooperation, warmth, openness, and
personal dignity demonstrated by the
indigenous black population. From the
cradle, every black child inculcates
these qualities so that by the time
adulthood is reached, the ubuntu
philosophy has become a way of being.
The principles of ubuntu must be
applied to the new generation of our
children to not just pursue the Western
dream but to use collective gifts for the
community. We can achieve this even
in:
A world where one government
(Philippines) placed the following
advertisement in Fortune
magazine: “To attract companies
like yours ... we have felled
mountains, razed jungles, filled
swamps, moved rivers, relocated
towns . . . all to make it easier for
you and your business to do
business here.”
A world where worldwide forests
and wildlife are being
exterminated to make room for
businesses, as well as for 1.3
billion cattle, 1.8 billion sheep and
goats, 0.9 billion pigs and 17.2
billion chickens (whose numbers
have doubled in the last decade).
A world where in 1992, 2 billion
people live in countries with an
average annual per capita income
of $400, 2.6 billion reached $1,600
and only 830 million have an
average of $22,000.
A world where 40 percent of the
world’s population lives in poverty
and suffers from malnutrition,
while people in my country spend
15 billion dollars per year on
losing weight, and an extra 22
billion on beauty aids.
A world where, in 1992, Michael
Jordan earned $20 million to
promote Nike shoes — that’s more
money in endorsements than the
entire annual payroll of all the
Indonesian factories that make the
shoes.
“What is this world coming to?” is a
question on everyone’s lips. It is a
question unworthy of the church.
Will God’s chosen instrument, the
African-American church, bring Christ
to this coming world through the
philosophy of ubuntu?
Will the church direct the minds and
hearts of the people of this new world
to the truth?
I think it’s awful that that word
“Christian” is now so greasy from
everyone fingering it that it has become
slippery and slimy until one hesitates to
pick it up.
Global outreaches like Habitat for
Humanity and hospices in urban areas
such as Detroit, Chicago and Atlanta
have understood and practiced the
philosophy of Ubuntu. Ministry in a
postmodern, pluralistic world must
bring together the opposites; it must
embrace and bridge a world that is
homeless and well-housed, a world that
is both dying and healthy, a world that
is both fiction and fact, a world that is
obese and anorexic at the same time.
A journalist was assigned the Lebanon
beat. Walking through the bombed-out
streets of Beirut one day, he heard
some beautiful music coming from a
doorway. He wandered over to where
the music was being played and there
saw a lad playing a flute. The music
was beautiful, but the flute was the
weirdest looking instrument he had
ever seen. He got as close as he could
properly get when the lad stopped
playing, smiled and handed him the
instrument. It was not until he picked
up the flute did the journalist
understand. For what this young
Lebanese boy had done was to find in
some field a discarded rifle, re-bore
holes in the barrel of that rifle and
transform a gun into a flute.
When those belonging to the African
Diasporas begin to practice Ubuntu we
can be like that Lebanese boy in
making transforming destructive
weapons into peaceful instruments.
When the church builds bridges that
bring the ends together, it makes
music. Which will it be? What will the
future hold? Instruments of destruction
or instruments of healing? Bows or
Harps? Guns or Flutes?
When we act upon deeply feeling a
sense of being connected to others by
our common humanity, when we truly
regard self and other as one, when we
cherish human dignity, all of our
relationships and the level of our
behaviors and actions are raised to a
higher plane. When we understand and
practice Ubuntu we will realize that
each has vital role to play, which must
be held in balance, no one dominating
the other. We must “Break the walls
down. Build the body up. Bring the
people together.”www.huffpost.com
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