How important is Knowledge of Kmtyw Languages to Kmtyw Spiritual Systems?
Mbote
I would say it is of the utmost importance. As Ankh Mi Ra states in Let The Ancestors Speak, "You must understand Mdw Ntr to understand Kmtyw Spirituality, and you must understand Kmtyw Spirituality to understand Mdw Ntr!"
But equal to learning the language, you have to learn the Nza (Cosmology) of a people if you plan to attempt to understand ritual and the spiritual system of that group (Nza-Kongo for instance).
Your cosmology determines your anthropology, your anthropology determines your social policy. Cosmology is the heart of all people and to try and understand Kmtyw people without understanding the "Great Belief" (as Credo Mutwa calls it), you are wasting your time.
But as Fu-Kiau notes, languages are the code to knot and unknot meaning. Without initiation into the philosophy of the people, expressed within the language, you can't get too far.
I feel that it's essential to speak the language of the ethnic group in which the spirituality is cradled. So I have to "find" the time to do it myself and lead by example. Right now I feel like a bystander because I can't understand the songs, have to have someone translate for me when I have a reading, have no idea what is going on in the rituals. Right now everything to me feels like I'm barred from really communicating with spirit unless I have an intermediate and that's not a good feeling.
@Beninoise, have you made the time to learn?
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QuoteObadele Kambon;30260 wrote: How important is Knowledge of Kmtyw Languages to Kmtyw Spiritual Systems?
The knowledge is embedded in the language. The language holds the cultural orientation and deep understanding of how a people relate to the world around them through their own lens. Language conveys meaning and continuity with our ancestors. Language allows to to be the center of your own reality and in it you find the power to define your our solutions to your problems.
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Power is the ability to define reality and to have other people respond to your definition as if it were their own. - Dr. Wade Nobles
QuoteObadele Kambon;30260 wrote: How important is Knowledge of Kmtyw Languages to Kmtyw Spiritual Systems?
Very, very important. They go hand in hand. The language unlocks and reveals deeper insight of the Kmtyw Ancestral Spiritual Science.
KNOWing is better than beLIEving.
QuoteObadele Kambon;30260 wrote: How important is Knowledge of Kmtyw Languages to Kmtyw Spiritual Systems?
In the true sense it is very important, it is essential. I lament that some of our people would wrongly equate 'Knowledge of' to 'Speaking a'.
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One cannot reKmtywize without speaking Kmtyw