Ubuntu: I Am Because We Are
In 1999 Desmond Tutu wrote, No Future Without Forgiveness, which among other big ideas included the African philsophy of Ubuntu. Loosely translated it means, I am because we are. Ubuntu isn’t talked about much anymore but it still perfectly portrays the roots of connection and belonging.
Ubuntu is an ideal for life in community. It’s about togetherness and the idea that, ultimately, we’re all connected; that our growth and progress are connected to the growth and progress of others. It welcomes differing opinions, backgrounds, and upbringings because in the friction of these differences we grow and become richer for them.
Tutu wrote,
We need other human beings for us to learn how to be human, for none of us comes fully formed into the world. We would not know how to talk, to walk, to think, to eat as human beings unless we learned how to do these things from other human beings. For us, the solitary human being is a contradiction in terms.
Ubuntu is the essence of being human. It speaks of how my humanity is caught up and bound up inextricably with yours. It says, not as Descartes did, “I think, therefore I am” but rather, “I am because I belong.” I need other human beings in order to be human. The completely self-sufficient human being is subhuman. I can be me only if you are fully you. I am because we are, for we are made for togetherness, for family. We are made for complementarity. We are created for a delicate network of relationships, of interdependence with our fellow human beings, with the rest of creation.
I have gifts that you don’t have, and you have gifts that I don’t have. We are different in order to know our need of each other. To be human is to be dependent.
Our search for stronger connections in our lives and in our world requires a rediscovery, not a new invention. By drawing upon this ancient, intuitive wisdom we bridge our differences and come together in celebration of our sacred humanity and all it means. honor the principle that all living things are interdependent and inseparable parts of a larger whole.