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What does UBUNTU Mean in African Philosophy?

UBUNTU is an African Philosophy of the fundamental principles of a society, where when executed, social problems will be reduced.

By MuangakiliPublished 3 years ago 8 min read
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What does UBUNTU Mean in African Philosophy?
Photo by Hu Chen on Unsplash

UBUNTU is an African word that originated from Nguni and Bantu tribes. The sounds and letters of Ubuntu don’t do it justice, as the philosophy and concepts behind the word Ubuntu are multifaced like a Russian doll.

As an IT graduate, the word Ubuntu was first introduced to me as an Operating System, for a moment I thought “Why would someone use such an ugly name for an operating system?”.

Little did I know there was a meaning behind it. It was later that when I was trying to install Ubuntu and went to their website to find out that it was an African word, with the snippet of the meaning of Ubuntu.

“They say that if a butterfly flaps its wings in the Amazonian rain forest, it can change the weather half a world away ~Chaos theory.

What it means is that everything that happens in this moment is an accumulation of everything that’s come before it. Every breath. Every thought. There is no innocent action. Some actions end up having the force of a tempest. Their impact cannot be missed. Others are the blink of an eye. Passing by unnoticed. Perhaps only God knows which is which.

All I know today is that you can think that what you’ve done is only the flap of a butterfly wing, when it’s really a thunderclap. And both can result in a hurricane.”

― Catherine McKenzie, Fractured

What Does Ubuntu Mean?

In short, Ubuntu means, that a single person is the reflection of his or her society.

In quantum mechanics, the electron can sometimes behave as a wave or particle. The wave represents the surrounding society and the particle represents the individual in that society.

Ubuntu means, a person is a consequence of his surrounding, socially and environmentally.

The philosophy and concepts behind Ubuntu are, every person’s habits are the result of their society. And that the core value of Ubuntu is to embrace your community as yourself.

An English person would speak English and behave like an Englishman, a Chinese person would speak Chinese and behaves like Chinese, and so is Russian, Japanese, Italian, and so on. But if I took an Asian baby and raise them exclusively in Africa, they would speak and behave like an African.

Ubuntu is a principle, a principle on how things are interconnected and related to one another. In its depths, it does not only apply to the social structure, but it reflects everywhere.

It is clear that by polluting our environment we are facing the consequences of global warming, and that people get sick as a result of their environment.

The concept of Ubuntu is not exclusive to Africans, but it exists in many other cultures around the world. The fact that almost every human would agree that selfishness is a disease that suffocates a thriving society.

The Concept and Values of Ubuntu

I am the kind of person who enjoys reading, it is not just reading, but the curiosity to know, the thirst for the truth. Each and every one of us have thirst for truth, it is a fire that will consume every knowledge that comes into its way until it is satisfied.

The ethical concept of Oneness was introduced to me by the author Jon Peniel, with his one and only book called The Lost Teaching of Atlantis &The Children of The Law of One. I came across this book while I was looking for more information about the legendary sunken continent of Atlantis.

The author talks about many philosophical things, but what struck me the most were two factors, the first being that human suffering is the result of ‘selfish-separate-self’, and the second factor is that we are ‘All One’.

Oneness and We Are One are the concept and values that circle around most spiritual communities, though the principle of oneness’ significance is known, the challenge comes when one wants to apply these principles.

According to Christianity, The second revered command that Jesus gave their disciples is:

“Treat your neighbors as you like to be treated”

Again there are so many Spiritual and Religious communities around the world, but human suffering has never slowed down. And that’s where the concepts of Ubuntu would step in.

When you think you have conquered poverty, loneliness hits you. When we think we have conquered starvation, diseases slap right at our face. When we think we have mastered physical labor, obesity touches the road.

There is suffering everywhere in such a way that, we have become accustomed to the state of suffering, we have embraced it to the point of not even knowing we are suffering anymore.

The African Ethical Concept of Ubuntu

Oneness is the fact that everything, whether you agree or not is interconnected in one way or another, that, everything is recycled from something else, this is clear because we can see Covid-19 started in China, but ended up spreading all over the world. It signifies that ‘no man is an island’ and the idea that we are separate from other people is a temporary illusion.

Ubuntu, however, is the embracing of oneness. According to my findings, this concept still echoes in the majority of African communities. There is a saying that it takes a village to raise a child. This means, though a child might be yours, they will still pick up good and bad habits from your neighbors, in the end, the child is not really ‘Yours but belongs to the society.

So then, the fact that there are crimes in society, it is the fault of that society as a whole, as a person would steal, kill, or become a prostitute just because there are ‘unattended issues’. Maybe these criminals faced a hard time in their life, or their parents died when they were young, and society didn’t pay attention to that. wherein the end the society breeds these criminals.

There is a Swahili saying “Mtu ni Watu” literal translation: A Person is People, this means that an individual cannot exists without the service of others, one may argue that well, I can just live off the land by myself, that is partially true, because even your very existence is the result of the interaction of the society, your mother and father had to meet for you to come into existence, and maybe when you are old you will need medical attention and other social services from other people.

Would the Concepts of Ubuntu Benefit Society?

The answer is yes only if it is embraced and applied on an individual level, like love, no one can force you to love someone else, but you can do it on your own volition. Ubuntu is a way of living, by understanding and accepting that you as an individual, is a reflection of your community, and by improving yourself you are also improving your community, it may not be apparent but it will reflect back to you in a long term.

Growing up as a Christian, combining with my understanding and experience of the African lifestyle. I can now tell you for sure, Christ was not just teaching people an ‘empty love’, or ‘passive goodness’. But I believe he was teaching people a principle of creating a Heaven on earth, that by treating another human being the way we like to be treated, it will reflect back on us, and multiply.

Integrating Ubuntu principles and moralities in your lifestyle

Everything must be practiced first before, you prove to yourself that it works. So here are some of the Ubuntu ethics that you can use.

Make it your daily mantra. By first embracing the idea that you are the reflection of your society. When you wake up in the morning you can take a minute or two to reflect on the idea that you are the reflection of your society.

See circumstances from a different perspective. So whenever you face a social challenge, try to see things beyond yourself, see yourself as your society, maybe you will see your problems as a social problem and not personal problems, and if it is so, it will easily be solved by a group of people instead of you trying to solve everything by yourself.

Face challenges as if you are from both sides. When someone is being rude to you, instead of reacting to the situation, you could see it from their point of view, then maybe you will understand the situation clear rather than remain in the victim mode.

Raising compassion, next time you see a homeless, ask yourself, how does this reflect on me? How does it impact me? and if it was someone related to you how would you have dealt with the situation?

The philosophy of Ubuntu is broad, it is like opening a door to a new world, where you just entered and have an entire lifetime to explore. By embracing humanity and oneness through the values and concepts of Ubuntu will benefit society and an individual not only to solve many social problems but also to get over our emotional traumas.

By embracing the values and concepts of Ubuntu, a society would invent something by seeing the holistic points of view, they would consider the impact these new inventions would bring on our environment, social and health.

by Muang'Akili

humanity
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About the Creator

Muangakili

It is loud and clear that there are too many cracks in the Matrix, A whole lot of information is leaking. stay tuned. https://solo.to/muangakili

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