Ubuntu as an African Spiritual Philosophy and Practice

Ubuntu as an African Spiritual Philosophy and Practice

Ubuntu is an African philosophy associated with the isiXhosa expression ‘umntu ngumntu ngabantu’ – or ‘a person is a person through other people’, or ‘I am because we are’ or ‘I am because you are’. We all belong to the same field of energy and consciousness. The community is the transmitting and transmuting power, either in bloodline relationships of by a sense of belonging. Individuation can only take place through community-based maturation. These principles form the base of many community-oriented practices in Southern Africa and in particular in South Africa.
The practice of this philosophy will be illustrated by three examples: Ubuntu and Family Constellations or the Zulu tradition of community healing; Ubuntu as the basis of the South African NGO Gift of the Givers, created through the mediation of a Turkish mystic; Ubuntu and cultural diplomacy and their contribution to resolving the conflict in Ukraine.