Ubuntu is very difficult to render into a Western language... It is to say, 'My humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in what is yours.'
Interpretation
Ubuntu expresses the interconnectedness of humanity, highlighting that our personal identities are linked to others.
The concept of Ubuntu, as articulated by Desmond Tutu, emphasizes the idea that an individual's humanity is intertwined with the humanity of others. It suggests that we are not isolated beings but rather part of a larger community, where our well-being and identity are dependent on the well-being and identities of those around us. This philosophy challenges individualism and promotes a sense of collective responsibility and compassion.
In practice
During a community meeting, to emphasize the importance of collaboration and support, one might say, 'As Desmond Tutu said, 'My humanity is caught up, is inextricably bound up, in what is yours.'
The fossil reserves that have already been discovered exceed what can ever be safely used. Yet companies spend half a trillion dollars each year searching for more fuel. They should redirect this money toward developing clean energy solutions
As much as the world has an instinct for evil and is a breeding ground for genocide, holocaust, slavery, racism, war, oppression, and injustice, the world has an even greateer instinct for goodness, rebirth, mercy, beauty, truth, freedom and love.
When the missionaries came to Africa they had the Bible and we had the land. They said 'Let us pray.' We closed our eyes. When we opened them we had the Bible and they had the land.
Children are a wonderful gift. They have an extraordinary capacity to see into the heart of things and to expose sham and humbug for what they are.
Religion is like a knife: you can either use it to cut bread, or stick in someone's back.
Gaza is going to test who believes in the worth of human beings.
But there are all different kinds of freedom, and the kind that is most precious you will not hear much talked about in the great outside world of winning and achieving and displaying.
Freedom to many means immediate betterment, as if by magic. Unless I can meet at least some of these aspirations, my support will wane and my head will roll just as surely as the tickbird follows the rhino.
We can only learn to know ourselves and do what we can - namely, surrender our will and fulfill God's will in us.
The reason why we want to remember an image varies: because we simply 'love it,' or dislike it so intensely that it becomes compulsive, or because it has made us realize something about ourselves, or has brought about some slight change in us. Perhaps the reader can recall some image, after the seeing of which he has never been quite the same.
The idea that women are innately gentle is a fantasy, and a historically recent one. Kali, the Hindu goddess of destruction, is depicted as wreathed in male human skulls; the cruel entertainments of the Romans drew audiences as female as they were male; Boudicca led her British troops bloodily into battle.
Godliness is more easily feigned in words than in actions
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