Archive for March, 2006

Our Red Earth Observations On Internet Exploiters Of American Indian Spirituality

Published by Jonathan 2 years, 4 months ago in State of the world. 0 Comments

If you have an interest in “spirituality” our culture has taken on board from other cultures…

Here’s a site that expresses disdain at white-man’s use of spirituality apparently belonging to Native Americans. I will be exploring this issue in full shortly as I feel this is a lot to speak to in the issues that are being illustrated by this web page. Follow the link below to check it out. I will also post another link to another energised statement from some people who consider themselves to be representatives of the Lakota nation.

Our Red Earth Observations On Internet Exploiters Of American Indian Spirituality

Our Red Earth Observations On Internet Exploiters

Of American Indian Spirituality
Death Among Us:
Encountering Internet Exploiters Of American Indian Spirituality

One global bank account…

Published by Jonathan 2 years, 4 months ago in Writings from other authors. 0 Comments

Well… here’s an interesting thought. It was in response to someone else quoting (apparently—but not something I have confirmed) the following from the Bible:

Act 2:43 And fear came on every soul. And many wonders and miracles took place through the apostles.
Act 2:44 And all who believed were together and had all things common.
Act 2:45 And they sold their possessions and goods and distributed them to all, according as anyone had need.
Act 2:46 And continuing with one accord in the temple, and breaking bread from house to house, they shared food with gladness and simplicity of heart,
Act 2:47 praising God and having favor with all the people. And the Lord added to the church daily those who were being saved.

Here is the interesting comment I mentioned…

Release groups got busted · TorrentFreak, torrents and more
By Mike on 01.29.06 12:26 pm

what if everyone did that? everyone in the world decided to put all their money on a shared bank account. you put all the money you earn into the one account - everyone does. and you take what you need. Realisticly there would be more than enough for everyone. no one would need to starve ever again. There would be no rich no poor! but we all know that in the real world it could never work cos we are all greedy bastards and you could be damn sure that everyone would take a lot more than they ever put in. just a thought.

Ubuntu (ideology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Published by Jonathan 2 years, 4 months ago in Perspectives on the Collective Dream - The World and Sites worth checking out. 0 Comments

Ubuntu (ideology) - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Ubuntu

Here is Ubuntu as defined in the Wikipedia:

Ubuntu (ideology)
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Ubuntu (IPA: /ùbúntú/) is a sub-Saharan African ethic or ideology focusing on people’s allegiances and relations with each other. The word has its origin in the Bantu languages of Southern Africa. Ubuntu is seen as a traditional African concept.

A rough translation in English could be “humanity towards others,” or “I am because we are,” or “A person ‘becomes human’ through other persons”, or also, “A person is a person because of other persons”. Another translation could be: “The belief in a universal bond of sharing that connects all humanity.” [1].

An attempt at a longer definition has been made by Archbishop Desmond Tutu:

A person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.

Ubuntu is seen as one of the founding principles of the new republic of South Africa, and is connected to the idea of an African Renaissance. In the political sphere, the concept of ubuntu is used to emphasise the need for unity or consensus in decision-making, as well as the need for a suitably humanitarian ethic to inform those decisions.

Louw (1998) suggests that the concept of ubuntu defines the individual in terms of their several relationships with others, and stresses the importance of ubuntu as a religious concept, stating that while the Zulu maxim umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu (”a person is a person through other persons”) may have no apparent religious connotations in the context of Western society, in an African context it suggests that the person one is to become by behaving with humanity is an ancestor worthy of respect or veneration. Those who uphold the principle of ubuntu throughout their lives will, in death, achieve a unity with those still living.

Ubuntu: An African Assessment of the Religious Other

Published by Jonathan 2 years, 4 months ago in Perspectives on the Collective Dream - The World and Sites worth checking out. 0 Comments

Hi recently came across the word “Ubuntu” whilst exploring options for running my computers on free opensource linux based operating systems. There is a linux distribution called Ubuntu which I will be trying out. Anyway… I liked the sound of what this Zulu word “Ubuntu” refers to. Below is a small snippet from one site on this topic (I will post another next):

20th WCP: Ubuntu: An African Assessment of the Religious Other
(1) Ubuntu and religion

Ubuntu (a Zulu word) serves as the spiritual foundation of African societies. It is a unifying vision or world view enshrined in the Zulu maxim umuntu ngumuntu ngabantu, i.e. “a person is a person through other persons” (Shutte, 1993:46). At bottom, this traditional African aphorism articulates a basic respect and compassion for others. It can be interpreted as both a factual description and a rule of conduct or social ethic. It both describes human being as “being-with-others” and prescribes what “being-with-others” should be all about. As such, Ubuntu adds a distinctly African flavour and momentum to a decolonized assessment of the religious other. In fact, the various overlaps between such an assessment and the African way of life as described/prescribed by Ubuntu, make this assessment nothing but an enactment of the African Ubuntu.

The first important overlap between Ubuntu and a decolonized assessment of the religious other, has to do with a fundamental presupposition of this assessment, viz. a respect for the other as a religious other. While Western Humanism tends to underestimate or even deny the importance of religious beliefs, Ubuntu or African Humanism is resiliently religious (Prinsloo, 1995:4). For the Westerner, the maxim “A person is a person through other persons” has no obvious religious connotations. He/she will probably interpret it as nothing but a general appeal to treat others with respect and decency. However, in African tradition this maxim has a deeply religious meaning. The person one is to become “through other persons” is, ultimately, an ancestor. And, by the same token, these “other persons” include ancestors. Ancestors are extended family. Dying is an ultimate homecoming. Not only the living must therefore share with and care for each other, but the living and the dead depend on each other (Van Niekerk, 1994:2; Ndaba, 1994:13-14).