Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me

I’ve been reading theologian Michael Battle's book Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me. Battle is the former dean of Virginia Theological Seminary and now serves as theologian of the Cathedral Center of St. Paul in Los Angeles. He’ll be in Fayetteville next February 20-21 when we host the Arkansas Episcopal Diocesan Convention. Battle was ordained by Archbishop Desmond Tutu and lived and worked for two years with Tutu in South Africa.

Ubuntu is an African expression of personhood – I in You and You in Me. It is an understanding that our humanity is formed in community; we are fundamentally interdependent. Desmond Tutu says: "A person with Ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belong to a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed."

Battle hopes that the African concept of Ubuntu might help heal some of the systemic weaknesses of our western culture. He cites a study that says that 90 percent of all families watch TV after dinner. He speaks of certain activities as having "thresholds." "The threshold to TV is low, and so you move across that threshold easily. The rewards from that are also low. It is well established through research that when people get up from two hours of watching television, they don't feel well. They feel worse than they did at the beginning. So low thresholds produce low rewards."

Battle invites us to practice "focal things." Focal things have high thresholds, and high rewards. Preparing a meal; being honest; reading poetry; playing the guitar; exercising regularly; writing letters; playing tennis, hiking and fly fishing, and celebrating the Eucharist. "A focal thing is something that has a commanding presence, engages your body and mind and engages you with others. ...A focal thing is not at the mercy of how you feel at the moment. You are committed because of your love." We build community through our commitment to participating in focal things with others.

Part of the meaning of Ubuntu is one's passion for the well-being of the other. Russian theologian Nicholas Berdyaev stayed up all night worrying about the concept of heaven. He wondered how could he die and then go to heaven, where all of his desires would be fulfilled, and yet still be conscious of someone in hell? "How could he still be in heaven knowing someone else was weeping and gnashing their teeth forever? Ubuntu means that no one could be in heaven as long as some of us suffer. An injury to one of us is an injury to all.”

Battle says that we in the west have been socialized to make the adjudicating reality "Me." Decartes said, "I think; therefore I am." In the west, we emphasize our difference, our individual consciousness. Doing so locks in and limits our world view, according to Battle. Individualism tends to create competitive tribalism rather than community.

Ubuntu is an expression of the Christian understanding of ultimate reality: God as Trinity. Human beings are created in the image of God. We are essentially communal creatures. We are fulfilled in the fulfillment of others.

Battle offers Ubuntu as our entrance into the "mystery of being one and many, without lessening either." Embracing Ubuntu might offer us a way to create mutuality and peace in our lives and in a world that is growing more and more interdependent.