This past week I began reading God has a Dream: A Vision of Hope for Our Time by Desmond Tutu. Of the many beautiful images Tutu offers us in his wonderfully accessible and yet poignant way is the notion of "ubuntu". "You know when ubuntu is there, and it is obvious when it is absent. It has to do with what it means to be truly human, to know that we are bound up with others in the bundle of life." (p.26)
We live with the false belief that we are independent. "The 'self-made' man or woman is really an impossibility." (p.25) We pride ourselves on self sufficiency. The power and autonomy of the individual denies our true self. Tutu points out that at the heart of creation is to be in relationship. We are made to live in community, not in isolation. He shares the African idiom, "A person is a person through other persons." (p.25)
We need to remind ourselves of this essential truth that to be truly and fully human is to be in intimate and life giving relationship with others. We at times are so scared of being seen as overly dependent that we miss the life giving truth of interdependence. Tutu writes, "The world is going to have to learn the fundamental lesson that we are made for harmony, for interdependence. If we are ever truly to prosper, it will only be together." (p.28)
All for one and one for all! (Tutu didn't say that.)
Peace,
Paul+
