“Curse” meaning-gctid258867

[Maame Efua]

The below is from my own observations...

In Kmt (from my experience) when the word "curse" is used, it's often used in the superstitious sense, something beyond our control. But has that always been the case? "Curse" or whatever words we used in our own languages, was it always superstitious and beyond us?

As an example, a child has a life of violence and abuse, he/she is likely to develop some coping mechanisms that will lead to psychological problems in adulthood, which can further lead to a life of misfortune, and possibly carry on into future generations if there is no intervention this person procreates. I don't think this is rocket science, I don't think you have to be trained in any special field to know this...unless thinking itself is a special field. Now, if the society is knowledgeable about the effects of abuse on children, it might take steps to mitigate the long term negative effects of such abuses. This is where there seems to have been a break in our thinking...

Was there ever a time when we might have had a better understanding of how external experiences, actions affect us and shape our worldview, and didn't place everything on a "God?". Would we have understood that child abuse, especially sexual abuse of a child is a horrific event that changes the whole course of the child's life and effects the society as a whole?  I like to think that we were not complete barbarians and recognize the negative affects on the individual and community as a whole and would have done something to curb the negative impact. We then would have understood/acknowledged that we had the power to fix the problem and hold to account those who committed the atrocities. We still recognize the negative effects, but now, we've separated it from the cause.

This is where I'm wondering if the meaning of curse (whatever we called it in our own languages) has changed to a conception that takes away our power to do something about the problem, and places that power in the hands of a "God" in the sky whom we have no access to, all we can do is pray and hope he/she responds. I can't help but think that at some point in time, something like this happened to us. When "curse" comes up in my family, it makes sense; a series of bad events that happen to someone as a result of some other bad event that has occurred at some point. Where there seems to be a disconnect is in the event that caused the curse, and where blame accountability should lie. The caunited snakesl event has been removed as the actual cause, and placed into some abyss, where it's totally beyond us. The original event itself is seen as a curse, something within the victim that possessed the doer of the original evil. So, the child who is the victim of abuse is (according to this logic) the cause of their own abuse since they are cursed.

This logic allows us to say there is nothing we can do about it, it makes us powerless to fix the problems. Since  it's a "curse" all we can do is pray, see the Pastor, Imam, or traditional spiritualists whose own understanding of spirituality has also been transplanted with a different definition.

I'm of the thinking that spirituality is basically our understanding of psychology which has been separated from the science that it is, and in its place,  an idea that better suited our oppression and enslavement has been placed. So people go through life not getting the help that they need, their torment and misfortunes come to be seen as some character flaw in them, or they are simply "cursed".

One of the meanings for the word "curse" itself in the Mirriam weber dictionary  is: a cause of great harm or misfortune : torment

·       His fame turned out to be a curse, not a blessing.

This meaning doesn't talk about superstition. A cause can be anything, example an adult doing something to a child that can affect them for the rest of their lives. In that case the cause is someone having done something, where that someone should be held accountable. But in the Kmtyw view (the view I have come to understand from my own family), the human cause has been removed, blame and accountability has been placed somewhere in the air—just dangling there, and we can't reach it, therefore, we can't fix it.

Interestingly, I only found two or so dictionaries that included this definition, all the rest only talk about the superstitious, something evil that someone says to another person...bla bla bla

One word "curse" has been implanted into our psyche to represent something very complex, but even the meaning of the word has  been replaced with one that takes power away from us.

 I don't believe it was always like this, please share your thoughts, book recommendations...etc.

So much confusion...

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[Tenkamenin]

Efuany;258867 wrote:
Was there ever a time when we might have had a better understanding of how external experiences, actions affect us and shape our worldview, and didn’t place everything on a “God?”. Would we have understood that child abuse, especially sexual abuse of a child is a horrific event that changes the whole course of the child’s life and effects the society as a whole? I like to think that we were not complete barbarians and recognize the negative affects on the individual and community as a whole and would have done something to curb the negative impact. We then would have understood/acknowledged that we had the power to fix the problem and hold to account those who committed the atrocities. We still recognize the negative effects, but now, we’ve separated it from the cause.

The problem is that we've mixed Eureurasian beliefs with our own and it's confusing us. The examples of curses you provided are not curses in Kmtyw thought. For instance, the Mirriam Dictionary example,

His fame turned out to be a curse, not a blessing.

The Kmtyw perspective

Ɔnipa ho antɔ no a, na efiri n'asɛm- If a man is unhappy, his conduct is the cause.

Ɔbra ne deɛ wo ara woabɔ- Life is how you live it.

Ɔbra te sɛ ahwehwɛ, wohwɛ no a ɔbɛhwɛ wo bi. -Life is like a mirror, if you look at it well, it will return the look.

This is where I’m wondering if the meaning of curse (whatever we called it in our own languages) has changed to a conception that takes away our power to do something about the problem, and places that power in the hands of a “God” in the sky whom we have no access to, all we can do is pray and hope he/she responds.

The name for curse in the Akan language is bɔ dua or to hit with a stick. According to Ɔbenfoɔ Kofi Agyekum, from his book, "Akan Verbal Taboos in the Context of the Ethnography of Communication,"

The act of duabɔ literally involves an attempt to use a stick to hit somebody with the intention of killing him or her. In the real sense of the act, it is rather the use of words which are believed by the members of the Akan society to have some "inherent power" to kill people. This is done by handing the person over to some spirits and some supernatural powers. These supernatural powers use their powers to perform the act. They can proceed to harm or afflict the victim with disease, death, etc. on behalf of the imprecator.