A Letter to Africa About Africa

CHAPTER 3 - PRESUPPOSITIONS OF THE AFRICAN WORLD VIEW

There are many things this worldview presupposes. I will list some of the ones I am aware of.

A. Life is cyclical. (See diagram on previous page.)
1. Half of life is visible and the other is invisible and mysterious.
2. There are two spheres of existence—one is physical and the other is spiritual.
3. There are two temporary places—the womb and this world.
4. There is one place of residence—the afterlife or spirit life.

B. There are two gates to transition between the two spheres: the woman--her womb leads from spirit life to the physical life, and death--leads from physical life back to spirit life and the place of residence. The understanding of two gates leads to many rites and rituals dealing with both gates.

1 At the first gate, pregnancy and birth, we have taboos and customs such as:
a Dietary taboos. (Each tribe has its own set of taboos.)
b “Kuputa dimi,” which literally means, “to cover the pregnancy”. (No one is allowed to talk about the pregnancy until the ceremony of Kuputa dimi is done at around four months.)
c Sterility and impotency are curses because pregnancy is impossible because the gate is closed.

2 At the second gate, death, there are many rituals, depending on the status of the person and the manner of his/her death.
a The status could be an ordinary person, a king, a chief, a twin, a fool, a childless person, a leper, and an epileptic.
b The manner of death that would require special rituals could be suicide, a pregnant woman, and a baby dying in childbirth, a miscarriage.

C. Because of these beliefs, the logical conclusion is that there is reincarnation.
1 Those who have died may come back and every birth is someone coming back.
2 That is why we don’t have family names; we use the names of the people who are reincarnated. The same names are used over and over.
3 The means of determining the person who is being reincarnated are usually dreams and visions by family members during the pregnancy.
4 When the dreams or visions do not show clearly the right identity of the one being reincarnated, people consult the diviners.

D. In our world there is interaction between the two spheres of existence—spiritual and physical.

1 The spiritual beings possess omnipotence, omnipresence, and omniscience.
2 The physical beings are dependent on, and subject to the spiritual beings.
3 The spiritual beings are the source of everything good or evil that happens in the physical sphere (i.e. health or disease, accidents, fertility or sterility, blessings or curses, success or failure)

E. There is intercommunication between the two spheres, the main means being dreams, visions, and signs.

1 Dreams, visions, signs, and the use of mediums/ diviners (comparable with the prophets in Scripture) are a means for the spiritual to communicate with the physical.
2 Invocation, sacrifices, prayers, and consultation with the mediums/ diviners are the acts of the physical communicating with the spiritual.
3 There are good mediums who intervene on behalf of the humans: Diviners (bilumbu or ba bwanavidye), Healers (Bangaga), Priests (Bitobo).
4 There are evil mediums: Witches (Bamfwishi) with ability to communicate with evil spirits to harm humans.

F. Harmony must be maintained among the living ones and the dead ones. Everyone is required to fulfill certain responsibilities in order to maintain harmony.

1 Honor—never let a family member or spiritual being be dishonored.
2 Solidarity—assist each other in any event.
3 Sharing—property, position and benefits.
4 Preservation of ancestral heritage—land, power and traditions—they are not negotiable.

This is the worldview that rules the lives of most of Africa. This is what I was taught as I grew up. This teaching is mostly informal. Family and friends lay it down in our subconscious while we are still infants, and it is reinforced daily. We take it in with our mother’s milk.