For decades I have greatly admired the life and work of Archbishop Desmond Tutu, but the only blog post I have made primarily about him was seven years ago on April 30, 2014 (see here). It was from him that I first learned about ubuntu, a beautiful word/concept.
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| Image with this online article about ubuntu |
The Meaning of Ubuntu
Two American men published a
book in 2010 with a one-word title: Ubuntu! On the second page, they
explain the meaning of ubuntu as the
ancient African philosophy that draws on the fact that we are one human family. We are brothers and sisters, traveling this earth together. When one man [or woman] is poorly fed, all are malnourished. When one is abused, we all feel the pain. When a child suffers, the tears wash over us all. By recognizing the humanity of one another, we recognize our unbreakable bond—our unbreakable link to the whole of humanity.
“I am because we are” is a
popular brief definition of ubuntu. As Wikipedia correctly says, in a
more philosophical sense ubuntu means “the belief in a universal bond of
sharing that connects all humanity.”
(Interestingly,
Ubuntu is now the name of a PC operating system, which is said to bring the
spirit of ubuntu to the world of computers. A while back I created a
Google alert for ubuntu, and there were far, far more links to the
Ubuntu OS than to the African philosophy of ubuntu.)
Tutu’s Emphasis on Ubuntu
Ubuntu is a basic
principle that has been long practiced by Desmond Tutu, born in 1931 in the
Union of South Africa. Before he was 30, he was ordained as an Anglican priest.
In 1984 he was awarded the Nobel Peace Prize.
After Tutu had served 12 years
as the Anglican Archbishop of Cape Town, in 1994 Nelson Mandela, the newly
elected South African president, appointed him as the head of the Truth and
Reconciliation Commission. Here was his great opportunity to put ubuntu into
practice—and he did.**
A TED talk back in
2013 pointed out that ubuntu “became known in the West largely through
the writings of Desmond Tutu.” That marvelous concept has also become more
widely known in the West because of his children and grandchildren.
Here is the link to a
95-second explanation of ubuntu by Mpho Tutu, the daughter of Desmond
Tutu, who is also an Episcopal priest.
And Mungi Ngomane, Archbishop Tutu’s granddaughter and Mpho’s niece, is the author of a delightful 2020 book entitled Everyday Ubuntu: Living Better Together, the African Way.
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| From https://mungingomane.co/ |
It is significant that President
Mandela sought to create a peaceful society in South Africa by appointing a Truth
and Reconciliation Commission.
There could have been great
bloodshed and ongoing animosities. But, based on the concept of ubuntu,
he (and Archbishop Tutu) emphasized both truth and reconciliation. Reconciliation
between the minority Whites and the majority who were Black, could not be
achieved without attention to truth.
In his new (2021) book Desmond
Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa's Confessor, Michael J. Battle
refers to “Tutu’s beautiful concept of ubuntu theology” (p. 9).
The first book by Battle, an Episcopal
theologian born in 1963, is titled Reconciliation: The Ubuntu Theology of
Desmond Tutu (1997, 2009). In the racially and politically divided nation
of South Africa, Tutu strove valiantly for reconciliation. But he also
emphasized the importance of truth.
“Truth-telling
is the path to healing, Tutu tells U.S. audience” is the title of an online article posted in April 2002. That is even more important to recognize now in
this racially and politically divided nation of ours.
There cannot be political reconciliation
as long as the Big Lie about the 2020 election continues to be spouted and
supported.
There cannot be racial
reconciliation as long as the Whites in the U.S. cannot understand and affirm
that Black Lives Matter.
Implementing the beautiful
concept of ubuntu could help mightily in creating a just and peaceful society.
On the back cover of Mungi Ngoname’s book, which I highly
recommend, are these memorable words:
By embracing ubuntu, we live in hope of overcoming divisions and becoming stronger together in a world where the wise build bridges.
_____
**
Click here to see/read “Ubuntu—The African
Concept The World Really Needs Right Now,” a 7/7/20 article about ubuntu
as practiced by both Mandela and Tutu.
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The first comments received this morning were from local Thinking Friend Joseph Ndifor, who is from Cameroon:
ReplyDelete"Not different from John Donne's poem, 'For Whom the Bell Tolls.' It was from that poem that Ernest Hemingway later wrote the novel, 'For Whom the Bell Tolls.' Emeka Ojukwu's book, 'Because I'm Involved' also got inspiration from Donne's poem. Which is to say the concept of Ubuntu is universal."
Thanks for your comments, Joseph. It was good to hear from you again.
DeleteYes, the basic idea of “ubuntu” may well be in Donne's "poem" and Hemingway's novel. (I didn't know anything about Ojukwu or his book.) And the concept of "ubuntu" may be nearly universal. But what makes it noteworthy in South Africa is the way it was put into practice by Mandela and Tutu more than in most countries of the world at any time before (in modern times) or since.
Then about 7 a.m. I received the following comments from local Thinking Friend George Melby:
ReplyDelete"Good morning, Leroy!
"Soooooo ENJOYED (and learned from) your blog this morning regarding UBUNTU! Wow, if everyone practiced this, we would almost live in a utopia 🙂!"
Thanks, George.
DeleteYes, that is the problem: it is certainly a lot easier to write/talk about "ubuntu" than it is to put it into practice.
Two minutes later I received an email from Thinking Friend Marilyn Peot. It began,
ReplyDelete"Wonderful. In so few words we have direction...and a promise of hope."
And then these comments from Thinking Friend Eric Dollard in Chicago:
ReplyDelete"South Africa was fortunate when apartheid ended to have been led by two giants of ubuntu, Mandela and Tutu. Right now at the Illinois Holocaust Museum in Skokie, there is a special exhibit on the life of Mandela, which runs through September. We hope to see it this summer when the Covid threat has subsided.
"Judy, when she was teaching, had a travelling dolls project. One of her students sent a doll to Bishop Tutu and he returned the doll with a very touching and kind message. He is a great man; a giant in our time."
Eric, you and especially your wife seem to have been blessed with opportunities to have contact with outstanding people. Last time you shared about hearing Jane Goodall speak and Judy having a personal chat with her, and then today you tell of Judy receiving a touching and kind message from Archbishop Tutu. I am happy that you have had such opportunities and appreciate you sharing them with me and other readers of this blog.
DeleteHere are outstanding comments just received from local Thinking Friend Vern Barnet (who likely had not yet seen Joseph's comments above).
ReplyDelete"The beautiful photo and your account of ubuntu suggests how much of a sense of community we in the West have lost.. Alarming are the studies cited by David Brooks in the NYTimes yesterday which show we are a nation not of community but of two camps, one ready to use violence against the other.
"One is hard pressed to find equivalents in the West. John Donne's famous 'XVII Meditation,' which contains the famous lines, 'No man is an island . . . . Never send to know for whom the bell tolls; it tolls for thee,' often extracted and printed as if it were a poem (which it is not), is one example.
"I prefer the words of William James inscribed above the elevators at the Harvard building named for him: 'The community stagnates without the impulse of the individual. The impulse dies away without the sympathy of the community.' And we may recall the words of Martin Luther King, Jr: 'We are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality, tied in a single garment of destiny. Whatever affects one directly, affects all indirectly.'
"And Hebrew scripture, Deut. 6.11, can be paraphrased: 'We drink from wells we did not dig; we are warmed by fires we did not kindle, we enjoy fruit from trees we did not plant, we have the joy of cities we did not build.' And the notion of hospitality, so central to the Benedictines and others, arises from the passage in Matthew 25 which Jesus summarizes as 'Whenever you did one of these things to someone overlooked or ignored, that was me--you did it to me.'
"One reason I am a liturgical Christian is that the Eucharist embodies this insight, that the community is the body of Christ. St Paul, in 1 Cor 12 explicates the body of Christ composed of different members.
"The value of Ubuntu is both in the beautiful idea itself but also that it can help us recover and reclaim those fragments of insight in our own tradition that have been neglected and even denied."
Thanks so much, Vern, for these outstanding comments. I have a note reminding me when I send the next email to all my Thinking Friends to be sure to encourage them to read your comments here.
DeleteWhat an encouraging and uplifting Blog Leroy!
ReplyDeleteWhy don't you send your entire Blog to All of congress, All of the News Media and All of the Organizations that are supposedly trying to bring our country back Together.
Maybe something like this that worked in our Lifetime will touch the Hearts&Minds of enough people that receive this, that it WILL Hopefully make a difference.
My Prayer is that this message will get well circulated and put into practice.
Respectfully Submitted,
John(Tim)Carr
I was memorably exposed to the concept of ubuntu through the choir piece by Mark Hayes. About a half-dozen years ago my wife, the Reverend Candy Burch Wilson, as director of the Community Chorus in Polk County, NC, selected the piece for presentation.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Vern who pointed out how the hearing of ubuntu in the thought of Mandela and Tutu might “help us recover and reclaim those fragments of insight in our own tradition that have been neglected and even denied." I tried to express this in the last line of my “Song of Justice (for Martin)”: When we become help through each other, then with one voice we sing!
Ubuntu, cosmic justice, true relationship, tsedek/tsedekah, recognition of the interdependence of all, is the ideal we pursue. As Justice Ginsburg affirmed “Justice, justice shall you pursue” [‘Tsedek, tsedek tirdof’; Deut. 16:20]
May it become increasingly so!
Shalom, Dick
This article made me think of two prominent quotes, one from Hillary Clinton, and the other from Margaret Thatcher.
ReplyDeleteClinton said, "It takes a village to raise a child." Supposedly this is an African proverb, but when I tried to verify it, I found this instead (nobody knows): https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2016/07/30/487925796/it-takes-a-village-to-determine-the-origins-of-an-african-proverb
Thatcher was (mostly) on the other side of the debate, "They are casting their problems at society. And, you know, there's no such thing as society. There are individual men and women and there are families. And no government can do anything except through people, and people must look after themselves first. It is our duty to look after ourselves and then, also, to look after our neighbours." – in an interview in Women's Own in 1987. See link: https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2013/apr/08/margaret-thatcher-quotes
I fear a lot of the world still agrees with Thatcher's "...and people must look after themselves first." Corona Virus and Global Warming are trying to teach us otherwise. Where would we be if all the essential workers looked after themselves first? Ubuntu sounds like a reminder that the "Me First" of the libertarian nihilism of this world is ultimately not a winning game plan.
This morning Thinking Friend Kevin Heifner in Arkansas posted the following comments on Facebook (where I had posted a link to this blog article yesterday):
ReplyDelete"My only comment to your blog from this week is that I agree with your words and assessment. What a wonderful description of this concept. Thanks for taking the time to write something positive and helpful."
Thanks for your comments, Kevin. However, the lingering problem is how to put that beautiful concept into practice. Writing about it was fairly easy and quite enjoyable; implementing it myself and motivating others to do so also is considerably more difficult.
DeleteYesterday, Ed Costin, a Facebook friend who is from my hometown in northwest Missouri and who now works in multimedia in California, posted the following lengthy and meaty comments:
ReplyDelete"I wonder if you’ve considered Jared Diamond’s, 'Guns, Germs, and Steel,' regarding the concept of 'Ubuntu?' Diamond argues that it is the disparity in the amount and abundance of natural resources, the differences in weather and geography, and the presence of naturally occurring disease that determines the relative growth and development of any given civilization.
"For example, in South Africa, where Desmond Tutu lived, the natives depended on food that occurred naturally, like fruits and berries, and this, along with the availability of natural resources upon which technology might be built (e.g. metals, mining, and metallurgy), and the ability of the soil, vegetation, and climate to sustain things like agriculture and infrastructure development, that were the key factors which led to the relative success (or lack thereof) of their population. These were limited and/or different than, say, Europe, where the rates of technological growth between the cultures is stark.
"South Africans depend on food sources like the fruits from trees that may only occur once a year, or the hunting of native animals, as the thick jungle continent made trade within the country much more difficult to carry out than, say, the Europeans and North Africans (i.e. the Egyptians), whose soil, temperature, and availability of proper climate allowed the development of agriculture, which created a paradigm shift in how populations were able to build and sustain growth. Grain like wheat (which the Europeans had access to and the climate for) grows in great abundance, and the grain can be stored over long periods of time, ensuring that a successful fall harvest will carry the food supply through the coming winter, thus ensuring a steady population growth. Not so with the fruits and berries the South Africans relied on, which rot after a short time. Even though the winters weren’t harsh, the climate, soil, and native vegetation didn’t allow the development of agriculture to provide vast stores of food supply for their population.
"I would suggest that it is this difference in the ability of the population to grow and sustain itself around which the concept of 'Ubuntu' grew, not some inherent, altruistic concept that these particular people somehow exhibited that is somehow 'above and beyond' the compassion of other people. In short, they shared because their very survival depended on it. In Europe, it was the strong, the oppressive, the dominant who controlled, because there was an abundance of resources, and instead of the entire population being dependent upon one another for survival, there was so much excess, it was the dominant who rose up to take control of those excess resources, and wa-lah, we have the arrival of 'wealth' to humankind!
"If there is no excess gain, there is nothing to accumulate and build up, therefore, no concept of 'power' over others simply by holding the resources upon which their survival depends. Peasants in Europe were slaves because the people who 'owned' them had access to all the food and resources. It wasn’t a matter of building for the common good of survival anymore, it was a matter of, 'I’ve got it, you don’t, so be my slave if you want some.'
[Ed Costin's comments continued]
ReplyDelete"What reinforces this concept for me is the fact that you can find examples all over the world, not just Africa. In fact, you can pretty much trace the British colonization of native populations throughout the world to examples of the technologically superior Europeans easily conquering Native Americans, Pacific Islanders, South Africans, Australians, and others, due to their inability to compete with the technology and resources of 'the white man.' Not to mention the disease the Europeans spread to these distant parts of the world, many for which the native populations had absolutely no antibodies or immunity, thus further facilitating their demise by the outside conquerors.
In short, I would posit that it is the struggle for survival against the outside forces of the world that create unity and cohesion within any social group. Small towns love to brag on their so-called 'small town hospitality,' which is based on the premise that they all stick together because they’ve bonded together to protect themselves against 'the city folk,' a.k.a., the 'outsiders.' It’s a common characteristic in any group of people, whether it be a sports team or a business rival or another country. But when the requirement for infallible support for one another for the dependence of survival falls away, and one or a small group of individuals gains a great enough amount of resources for themselves that they no longer rely on the others for their individual survival, that spirit of 'Ubuntu' is lost forever to the spirit of, 'MINE, IT’S ALL MINE!!!'
"I’ve noticed this term before in some of your other writing, and I enjoyed the article very much. This story reminds me of Margaret Mead’s work with native Pacific Island populations, where the society was indeed built around unity and the common good, but which (of course) were completely unexposed to Western civilization or technology, as known to Americans at that time in the 1920s-30s. But all that unity and spirit of 'Ubuntu' was lost once technology from the “civilized world” slowly began to creep in and transform the very nature of how this population had survived for hundreds (or thousands) of years.
"The concept itself is indeed beautiful, the people expected to carry it out in America 2021? Not so much."
Ed, thanks so much for your lengthy, thoughtful, and thought-provoking comments.
DeleteAlthough I know about Diamond's important book, unfortunately I have not read it carefully and did not think about it in relation to "ubuntu."
What you wrote about the nature of South African society in the past is accurate, I think, and thus your point that "ubuntu" is far more likely to be able to be practiced in such societies is well taken.
The same is largely true, I think, for Native Americans of the past--and I have seen some of the same memes used for "ubuntu" also used for Native Americans. Much of the Native American wisdom that is highly touted by some is practicable only in small homogeneous societies, those that are exactly opposite from the huge, diverse society of the U.S. now.
Still, the beautiful "ubuntu" concept was definitely a part of the South Africa post-apartheid situation in the 1980s and '90s. It can also be seen in the growing emphasis in this country (and elsewhere) on restorative justice.
I don't assume that "ubuntu" will be, or can be, widely practiced In the industrialized countries of the world soon--or maybe not ever. But I do think it is a beautiful concept that needs to be understood and intentionally practiced by people of good will as much as possible.
Brief, important comments by Thinking Friend Truett Baker in Arizona:
ReplyDelete"Thanks Leroy. I had not heard of the 'ubuntu' concept before. It is beautiful and so needed in our world. Jesus taught this idea long before it was rediscovered in ubuntu. We are a long way from reconciliation in this country and only a miracle from God can make it possible. Thanks again for a thoughtful and inspiring blog.
Thanks for commenting, Truett. Yes, I firmly believe the idea of "ubuntu" was in the teaching of Jesus and practiced by the first Christian community of faith. I would like to have said more about that in the blog article.
DeleteAnd here are comments from Thinking Friend Virginia Belk in New Mexico:
ReplyDelete"Thank you for this! When the late Mr. Bailey and I went to China the first time, the theme of the conference in which we participated had the theme: We have but one Globe. The international group toured several of the reforestation/regreening projects in various climates found in China. That theme and the activities emphasized the need for taking care of the earth; Ubuntu encompasses the same idea of interrelatedness and interdependence. We truly are all in this together. I understand we only have about four more years to correct the problem of global warming; I wonder if we have even that much time to heal the the international problems of prejudice, ethnocentrism, poverty, and many forms of illness."
Thinking Friend Glen Davis served as a missionary for 15 years working with the Korean Christian Church in Japan and then served 18 years as a mission executive in the Presbyterian Church in Canada. Here are brief comments and stories by Glen.
ReplyDelete"I had two blessed opportunities to meet Desmond Tutu and have written brief stories of those interactions, which I am attaching here.
"Desmond truly incarnated Ubuntu and put it into practice for the benefit of the whole world. I thank God for him!"
Here are those two stories.
"In the days of apartheid in South Africa, I was privileged to visit Johannesburg to meet with church leaders to see if there was any practical way our church in Canada could stand with them in their struggle for justice. I asked my host in the Council of Churches if there was any possibility of meeting with Bishop Desmond Tutu. She called back and said the only time he had was after he finished leading morning prayer in the cathedral.
"At 8:00 o’clock the next morning I joined the small group of worshippers for prayer, and then went up to meet Bishop Tutu. He told me to call him Desmond and invited me to walk with him to where his car was parked. We sat in the car for about 30 minutes. He told me of the struggles of his people and of his dream for peace with justice. I asked him what kept him going in that exhausting struggle. He looked me in the eye and said, 'When God grabs you by the scruff of the neck, he doesn’t let go!' Then he laughed that infectious laugh for which he was known all over the world, started the car and was about to leave.
"As I was getting out of the car I noticed that a group of women who ran the small shops on the street had gathered on the sidewalk. They had recognized the bishop and called their friends. 'It’s Papa Tutu!' they shouted. More women came and then they started to ululate in that high pitched song of welcome and celebration. When Desmond saw them he turned off the engine, exited his car and greeted each one of those women, clasping their hands and offering them a blessing. Almost reluctantly he got back into the car and drove off to another day of obedience to that God who had grabbed him by the scruff of the neck.
[Glen's second story]
ReplyDelete"The only other chance I had to meet Desmond was during a visit he made to Toronto a few years later. I was part of a group of hosts from Canadian churches who were helping with his schedule. One day after a powerful, uplifting, challenging address to a packed audience in St. Michael’s cathedral, he had some time before his next event and asked to go for a walk. We took him down to the shore of Lake Ontario. With disbelief he said, 'You call this a lake? It looks more like an ocean. I can’t even see the other side!'
"As we chatted, I asked him a question that had come up during the general assembly of our church. The assembly had been debating sending a letter to the government of Canada seeking sanctions against South Africa. One of the commissioners had scoffed and said, 'What’s the use of sending letters to governments? They don’t do any good.'
"So, I said to Desmond, 'We try to stand with you. We want to make a difference. We pray, we send money and we write letters. But do they do any good?'
"Desmond looked out over that vast body of water. Then he bent down and scooped up a handful of water. As the water trickled from his hands, he said, 'What is this great Lake Ontario made up of? Nothing but drops of water. Millions and millions of drops of water. And every letter you write, every dollar you give, every prayer you pray for justice are just drops of water. But when they are joined with millions of other drops from all over the world, do you know what’s going to happen?' He paused, and with a twinkle in his eye he thundered out these words, 'Here’s what’s going to happen, "Justice will roll down like waters, and righteousness like an ever-flowing stream!"’ (Amos 5:24) Then he turned from the lake, let go that infectious laugh of his, and headed back to work.
"It is that kind of indomitable hope, and confident vision that kept him working for the day when God’s will would be done on earth as it is in heaven. Desmond never quit. Nor should we."
Glen, thanks so much for sharing your stories about Archbishop Tutu. Of all my Thinking Friends you may well be the only one who ever met him in person, and I appreciate you making your stories available for others to read.
DeleteLast night, local Thinking Friend Bill Ryan sent me an email with these welcomed words:
ReplyDelete"Thanks for this, Leroy. Although I did not hear this word when I was in West Africa, it was a key word frequently spoken during my time at Eastern Mennonite University, among participants who had worked in South Africa and as well as in mediation classes. It's a wonderful concept."
Thanks for these words, Bill. Yes, "ubuntu" seems to be mostly emphasized by the Bantu peoples who have been and are mostly in the southern half of Asia. I was happy, but not surprised, to hear that it was often spoken at EMU.
DeleteThank God for the Mandelas and Tutus of the world who practise Ubuntu. Would that there would be more of them! The concept of Ubuntu reminds me a lot of the beatific vision of Shalom in Isaiah, and the counter-cultural teaching and practise of Jesus of loving one's enemies.
ReplyDelete