Be-ing: From Afrikan Cosmology of the Bantu Kongo

[Olùkọ́ Ọbádélé]

Be-ing: From Afrikan Cosmology of the Bantu Kongo

kala/ba muntu- be a human being a helpful human being
kala/ba n'kisi a kanda- be the community's medicine
kala/ba nkasi a kanda- be the community's leader
kala/ba nganga- be a specialist, true knower, master, a doer
kala/ba n'kingu a kanda- be the principle of the community
kala/ba kimpa mu bimpa- be a system within systems
kala/ba diela mu bimpa muntu- be wise and sensible to human systems
kala/ba kala i sa vo n'zimi ye n'kwiki- be alive, be(coal fighter), i.e extinguisher, and a lighter
kala/ba mfumu ye nganga-be a leader and specialist
kala/ba lembazau kia kanda- be the strongest of the comunity
kala/ba n'kongo ye n'konguludia kanda- be a mukongo and judge of the community

humble thanks to DOCTOR KIMBWANDENDE KIA BUNSEKI FU KIAU FROM HIS GREAT WORK AFRICAN COSMOLOGY OF THE BANTU-KONGO

[Olùkọ́ Ọbádélé]

"The African sees his world as a unified world where every action is understood in terms of collective effort; everything is shared collectively in the process of life and change. The individual, the living sun (one in the collection of the community's suns) is understood as being sick, when he/she runs out of the wheel of the community suns. His world is basically a humanistic world. He believes that things exist that human knowledge cannot explain.
The Westerner, on the contrary, sees his world as divided and competitive. People are seen as separated entities whose actions are their own. The Westerner believes that people fail to succeed because they are unfit. His world is basically a mechanical world where nothing can be explained apart from his tools.
Africans live in a collective system with close family ties. The land, the source of everything to sustain life, is a collective ownership. The Westerner, on the contrary, lives in a very individualistic system where family ties are easily broken. Everything is individually owned; even children, between parents, are objects of controversy.
...The African therapist conducts therapy publicly outside or inside the house, but always in the presence of family members and close friends. The Western therapist talks of private sessions. An African therapist will not use the word private in any situation related to health, for the individual is not an isolated 'thing'; he is like a spoke in the social wheel. To heal an individual is to heal the whole wheel, the whole society and vice versa. The African therapist takes time with his patient, becoming one with him within the social wheel. The Western therapist is in rush; he does not have anything to share with the patient. From time to time he glances at the clock. The African does not worry about time, for his main concern is the patient with whom he shares the pain."

-Kimbwandende Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau

[Olùkọ́ Ọbádélé]

"The presence of a female in the community is the symbol of continuity of life in that community, and on the contrary, her absence is the symbol of its end. The feminine is life in and around us."

Kongo (Afrikan) Proverb

[Olùkọ́ Ọbádélé]

"A community without youth has no future. But in order to insure a positive future, the community and all its members must take on the full responsibility for 'initiating' (educating) its youth...as to their social, cultural, economic, and political responsibilities, be they communal, national, or international."

K. Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau and A.M. Lukondo-Wamba's
Kindezi: The Kongo Art of Babysitting

[Olùkọ́ Ọbádélé]

"[W]hen the core of a body is oppressed, destroyed, polluted, corrupted, or raped, be it biological, societal, institutional or national, the body that envelopes it is itself dead. The path that leads towards it...is also wiped out. People become helpless. They lose their self-healing power and their order-giver-stimulus. In this situation the body cannot be healed unless the 'primitive' state of the core is restored. To do so is a process of cleansing its core, i.e., 'depolluting' it....a process of digging out the junk that prevents access to the core of the inner power."

Kimbwandende Kia Bunseki Fu-Kiau
African Cosmology of the Bantu-Kongo: Principles of Life & Living