What is Ubuntu?

                  

                     The word Ubuntu (pron Ouboûntou) is originally Zulu and Xhosa and has a wide spectrum of related meanings: Ubuntu means social conscience, enlightened compassion and "human interconnectedness." Ubuntu is referred to the invisible connection between every living being. It is the thread that connects every each of us, either we realize it or not.

                      In Taoist, Buddhist, and New Age practices, in all religions and pantheistic pagan beliefs there is a major emphasis that not only humans but all beings are interconnected. However our physical senses give us the illusion of form and consequently the sense of separateness between each other. They use different language and different ways to emphasize this common thread that unites us all. Southern Africans describe this common link between beings as Ubuntu. In extension Ubuntu is an analogy of what the Indians call  "Namaste." 

                      In other parts of Africa Ubuntu means kindness, humanism, while for other Africans Ubuntu is perceived as the analogy of what the Chinese mystics call Qi, the simplest form of energy that exists in the universe.

                      In Zimbabwe the main ethnic group the Shonas have their own corresponding term" Ún'hu’. In the Western part of Zimbabwe the Matabele ethnic group (who are to the Zulus what the Flemish are to the Dutch) also use the word "Ubuntu."

                   

                     Regardless of the wording or the pronunciation, the word has a cosmic meaning and in later years has been used more frequently in Africa and around the world. When Nelson Mandela was asked about the meaning of this mystic for the non-Africans word he responded: (I watched the interview in YouTube so I don't give it word by word but I just present what the South African leader articulated, by using my own words.) "Ubuntu is many meanings wrapped in one word, but I will give you a  simple, real life example: when I was young and I was traveling through South African villages, locals came to offer me water, food and hospitality without even asking them. This is one aspect of the spirit of Ubuntu."

       The legendary Liberian Peace Activist and African Women's emancipation crusader Leymah Gbowee gave another version of the same word "I am who I am because of who we all of us are." Madonna has produced a video named "I am because we are" referring to the concept of Ubuntu. There is a video clip with ex-president Bill Clinton giving an interview about “I am because we are.”
                   I would personally call Ubuntu a "A collective I"

          

                   I would also describe Ubuntu as the opposite of the “me-me-me mentality.” A very common, very popular way of living that is considered by many the right and only way to be. While Ubuntu represents universality and inclusiveness, “me” in reality is not a form of identity; it is an illusion of self-ness, self-protection and individuality. To a greater extend it is a self-imposed ghetto.

                   The greater the “me” the denser and higher the walls of the me-prison. "Me" also is a form of mental opium. "Me" feeds itself, and we need to increase the dosage. The difference is that a drug-addict is aware of his substance dependency while a Me-junkie considers his/her Me-dependency as a natural way of living. We actually may find many people who are proud of their me-ness.

Georg Konstantin Awgérinos