New Directions

Volume 8 | Issue 1 Article 8

10-1-1980

Essay Reflections On Traditional AfricanCosmologySulayman Nyang

Follow this and additional works at: http://dh.howard.edu/newdirections

This Article is brought to you for free and open access by Digital Howard @ Howard University. It has been accepted for inclusion in New Directions byan authorized administrator of Digital Howard @ Howard University. For more information, please contact lopez.matthews@howard.edu.

Recommended CitationNyang, Sulayman (1980) "Essay Reflections On Traditional African Cosmology," New Directions: Vol. 8: Iss. 1, Article 8.Available at: http://dh.howard.edu/newdirections/vol8/iss1/8

fected by a respected Black studiesdepartment.

Faculty members who recognized aneed for gearing education to the kind ofstudent served, according to Mingle, werealso those most supportive of Black stu-dents. While faculty members who em-phasized educational "universalism" and"professional neutrality" usually meant bythat emphasis that they only found Blackstudents equal when they came to col-lege with the same preparation and near-ly the same characteristics as traditionalwhite students.

28 An active supporter held particularisticvalues about the application of admis-sions and performance criteria, viewedthe long-term impact of blacks on high-er education inpositive terms,preferreda separate institutional structure forblack programs, and held liberal (oractivist) views about the role of col-leges in solving problems of racialinjustice ....When faculty believe that black stu-dents should meet the same "stand-ards" as whites this tends to be trans-lated into an unwillingness to altertraditional teaching styles or supportinstitutional changes. (M ing Ie, pp. 211-213,1978)Even if Black students overcome the

occasional ideological differences whichinterfere with faculty rapport and makespecial efforts to communicate, they mayrun into disappointments. The facultymember may tum out to be, even withgood intentions, ill at ease and relativelyunresponsive.

In this case as before, the presence ofBlack faculty can be crucial in supportinga more equitable distribution of Black'students. Black faculty in all departments,as well as in Black studies programs canprovide the interracial communicationand positive environment that would helpthe white faculty to become moreresponsive.

More important sti II, the behavior of allfaculty in providing special and informalaccess to students should be consideredan affirmative action domain. In the dis-tribution of research and assistantship,faculty members traditionally functionaccording to personal preference andrapport with students. While reliance offaculty preference need not, and prob-ably should not, be treated, resultingselection practices should be carefullysurveyed. Without some kind of account-ability, an essential avenue for Black stu-dent redistribution will remain fore-closed.

The value of such accountability canbe particularly important for Black gradu-

NEW DIRECTIONS OCTOBER 1980

ate student mobility to faculty positions.References and recommendations fromindividual faculty to other faculty are alsopersonal in nature, but the process is sys-tematic. Professors promote the studentsthey know best and have worked with themost. Unfortunately, Black graduate stu-dents are overwhelmingly excluded fromthese close contacts.Conclusion

Higher education involves a process ofprofessionalization in which largely non-professional values seNe to legitimizeprofessional ones and to socialize stu-dents into the educational system. Blackstudents' prior socialization makes themparticularly vulnerable to faculty norms.

The faculty, on the other hand, are notsufficiently sensitive to their vulnerabil ity.Their insensitivity across departmentslargely corresponds to their departments'or disciplines' remoteness from the his-torical interest of Blacks generally. As aresult, Black student distribution amongmajor fields of study has scarcelychanged in spite of a decade of majorupheavals in higher education. The mostcritical result is that the number of Blackcollege students nearly tripled in the1970s. But the career options availableto them are only slightly more diverse andmore equitable than those available toBlack college graduates of the lastgeneration. 0Lorenzo Morris is senior fellow with the Institutefor the Study of Educational Policy, HowardUniversity.REFERENCESAstin, Alexander. "The Myth of Equal Access in Pub-lic Higher Education," A paper from the SouthernEducation Foundation, July 1975.Astin, Helen and Cross, Patricia. Characteristics ofEntering Black Freshmen in Predominantly Black andPredominantly White Institutions: A Normative Re-port. Higher Education Research Institute (November1977)Habermas, Jurgen. "Technology and Science as'Ideology'," in Toward a Rational Society. Boston:Beacon Press, 1970.Ladd, Everett and Lipset. Seymour. The DividedAcademy. New York:W.W. Norton, 1975.Melone, Frances R. "The Relationship Between Par-ticipation in Mathematics at the High School Leveland Entry Into Quantitative Fields-Results from theNational Longitudinal Study," Bulletin, National Cen-ter for Education Statistics (August 23, 1979)Mingle, James. "Faculty and Departmental Responseto Increased Black Student Enrollmenl." Journal ofHigher Education 49(1978): 201-216National Center for Educational Statistics. The Condi-tion of Education. 1978 edition Washington, D.C.:Government Printing Office, 1978.Regents of the University of California v. Bakke, 18Cal. 3d 34, 553 p. 2d 1152, 132 Cal. Rptr. 680(1976),cert. granted, 429 U.S. 1090(1977)Thomas, Gail. Equality of Representation of Race andSex Group in Higher Education. Baltimore: JohnsHopkins University Center for Social Organizationof Schools, June 1978.Weidman, John C. "Nonintellective UndergraduateSocialization in Academic Departments," Journal ofHigher Education 50(1979): 48-62.

THf ARTS

EssayReflections on'Iraditional AfricanCosmologyBy Sulayman S. Nyang

Africa was, and still is, rich incosmological ideas. Though the diversityof Africa's religious and cosmologicalheritage has been little known outside ofthe continent, the intensive researchers ofAfricanists around the world, and thegrowing global interest in the Africanworld have combined to draw attention towhat could be Africa's spiritual gift tohumanity. This gift is less understood bymany Africans, even much less by thegreater majority of non-Africans.

Africa's traditional cosmology is diverse,but behind this diversity lies the core ofshared beliefs which spread across thecontinent. I This essay does not plan tobring out the differences; rather, it seeksto construct a framework of analysis outof the body of ideas that researchers in thefield have agreed upon as the commonelements in the various cosmologicalsystems among Africa's numerous ethnicgroups.

I. The Traditional African Conceptionof Man

In the cosmological world of traditionalAfrican man, certain ideas have alwaysheld sway over men's minds. The ideas ofa diety who rules over creation was'accepted by many, if not most Africanpeoples. In fact, African pioneers in thefield of traditional African religion,including Professor John Mbiti, havenoted that this African knowledge of Godis expressed in proverbs, short statements,prayers, names, stories, myths andreligious ceremonies."

Mbiti believes that a careful examinationof these sources of African religiousbeliefs would bring out the unity indiversity which characterizes thetraditional African world of religion. He

makes his point in the following passage:"It is remarkable that in spite of greatdistances separating the peoples of oneregion from those of another, there aresufficient elements of belief whichmake it possible for us to discussAfrican concepts of God as a unityand on a continental scale. "3

This Divine Creator is usually pictured asthe Lord and Maker of mankind. In thenumerous myths of African peoples, suchas those of the Yoruba, the Ashanti andthe Dogon, in the beginning, God wasvery close to mankind; but later as aresult of man's provocation, error or folly,God withdrew and so man forfeited hisprivileges and benefits to be in closeproximity to his Creator.

All these mythological ideas, from whichwe deduct the African conception of Godand his relations to mankind, do help usin understanding the traditional African'sdefinition of self vis-a-vis the SupremeBeing. Judging from the accounts providedin the writings of students of Africanreligion, there is a close and intimaterelationship between man and theSupreme Being. According to this view,man is more than a spectator on the stageof life. Though he is a creature who iscircumscribed within the parameters setby the spiritual ancestors and the evilspirits, man still exercises his own will onboth the material and spiritual worlds. Forman to function effectively in thematerial world, he must indeed learn topursue his human needs and personalinterests without antagonizing thespiritual forces above.

Man in traditional African cosmology iscaught in a matrix of spiritualrelationships. There is the unbreakableties to the Supreme Being, who createdthe earth and everything therein far manand his progeny. These ties areunbreakable because man's existence isontologically dependent upon his Creator,

Man also has to maintain correctrelationship with the lesser entitieswithin the spiritual kingdom. Hisday-to-day activities are not only designedto harmonize his relationship, rirh thedivinities and the departed ancestors, buthey are also motivated by the fear thatbad relations with these spiritual f0ICe5

could certainly endanger the life andsafety of his community.

This understanding of the triangularmatrix of relationships between theindividual and his community, on thehand, and the spiritual kingdom, on eother, puts a premium on good behaviand obedience to communal customs

practices. This sense of obedience andharmony hinges upon man's realizationthat the universe is a religious one, andeverything within it dances to a cosmicmusic whose tunes and rhythm echo thewords of the spiritual forces.

In other words, African traditional manlearns to be obedient and religious at alltimes, simply because he knows that thecosmic order abhors those who disrespectreligious commands and rituals. Life,according to this traditional African man,is a constant dialogue with the sacred, andeach passing moment demands utmostdevotion to the spiritual forces above, andto the words of religious communicationissuing from their invisible lips. It isbecause of this constant dialogue with thespiritual world around him that thetraditional African man conceives himselfas the centerpiece of creation. John Mbiticaptures this aspect of traditional Africa'sontology when he writes:

".... African ontology is basicallyanthropocentric; man is at the verycentre of existence, and Africanpeoples see everything else in itsrelation to this central position ofman. God is the explanation of man'sorigin and sustenance; it is as if Godexists for the sake of man. The spiritsare ontologically in the mode betweenGod and man; they describe orexplain the destiny of man afterphysical life. "4

This African conception of theHomo/Deus relationship is radicallydifferent from the orthodox Semiticbeliefs wherein man is generally lookedupon as an abject sinner who mustsubmit to God in order to deserve hismercy in the hereafter. In fact, somesegments within the Abraharnic traditionconfidently believe that man is createdonly to serve God, and his acts ofdisobedience and unrighteousness willinevitably land him into hell.

Another point that deserves someemphasis here is the fact that traditionalAfrican man sees the universe as ahierarchy of vital forces, and man is thatforce which links the inanimate objects tothe, orld of spiritual forces above him.This aspect of the traditional Africanconception of man makes man both amanipulator of spiritual power and arsrget of such power. Because of thisunderstanding of reality, the traditionalAirican' view of man, especially asdJ2.racterized in Bantu philosophy, has:3e:e.n described as vitalistic; that is, it is

upon the belief that life is a vital- • and that the human being is only a

point on the cosmic circle of life. VIncentulago wri es:The common factor which explains thesolidarity -clan or tribe is not at allsimple. It is not the life of the senses,nor the life of tbougbL _ieithet is it lifein the multicolored diversity we find innewspapers or in the modem novel Itis life as it has been derived andreceived from the soun:e of ~ rer", asit turns toward power, is seized by itand seizes it. This life is not desuoy.by death, although death mll) sabieit to a change of condition. -

This understanding of man, as describedby Mulago, is very much related to FatherTemples' formulations in his BantuPhilosophy. In this widely quoted butcontroversial work, Father Temples triedto give philosophical hearing to whatseems to him as the simple and naturalBantu understanding of reality and theSupreme Being. He identifies the supremevalue in African thought as vital force andhe claims that the end of the whole rangeof African man's activities is "to acquirelife, strength or vital force, to live strongly,that they are to make life stronger, or toassume that force shall remainperpetually in one's posterity'"

Mulago, in a paper for a consultationconference of Christian theologians in1966, took the same line of reasoning asFather Temples. He contended that "Forthe Bantu, living is existence incommunity; it is participation in thesacred life (and all life is sacred) of theancestors; it is an extension of the life ofone's forefathers, and a preparation forone's own life to be carried on in one'sdescendants."?

29

Mulago's statement is generally acceptedby students of African traditional religionas a standard belief among Africans. It ishowever, worthwhile to point out thatMulago's article has improved uponFather Temples' work. It added to theunderstanding of the Bantu view of manwith this explanation: "The Bantu view oflife may be seen in two ways: first, as acommunity of blood (the main primaryfactor); and secondly, as a community ofproperty (the concomitant factor whichmakes life possible.]'"

This view of man is a fairly adequateassessment of what the majority oftraditional African religionists wouldaccept. It does not only shov thaz eAfrican believes in the sacredperpetuation of the powers of pn:1C:!:<~1Ein his line of descent, but it alsoarticulates the universal African ....•'-".-> ...•.that all the non-human elemeazs c;nature (trees, animals and n- :u::E;gE3:

beings) are the extensions and means oflife of those to whom they belong. ThisAfrican view of life is the basis for theAfrican fear of impotency among men andbarrenness among women. Such humanmishaps and existential woes areconstrued by the traditional African as thesevering of the chain linking the livingand the dead. In the view of traditionalAfrican man, the link between theancestors and their present successors onearth comes from the unity of blood andthe common life which circulates in theveins of all the members of the

30 community 9

In addition to the points mentionedabove, one should also take note ofJanheinz Iahn's efforts to reconstructBantu philosophy In his interesting book,MUNTU, [ahn identified three elementswhich he felt are basic to African thought.The first and second of these basicelements in his list are similar to whatwas already leamed from Father Templesand Mulago. Iahn's contribution to theunderstanding of the traditional Africanview of life and of man's role in theprocess of vital participation is the claimthat one of the touchstones of traditionalAfrican culture is the "magic power of theword." Writing on this aspect of Jahn'sformulation of Bantu thought, ClaudeWauthier says:

[ahii equates this (the word) withNommo of Dogon Cosmogony, whichis 'word, water, seed and blood' all atonce, according to Ogotemeli, the sagewhom Griaule questioned. In Africanmetaphysics, as [ahn explains them,'all transformations, creation andprocreation is made by the word',which is also the life force andcontrolled only by the Muntu. 10

The truth about this formulation of [ahnis not widely disputed, for as Wauthierhimself, noted, the word is all powerful inAfrica. Indeed, we can also add that thetraditional African religionists did notonly take works seriously, but they alsosaw language both as the badge of man'sspiritual superiority over the non-humanelements in the universe, and as hisshibboleth at the spiritual gates of theSupreme Being's invisible Kingdom.

This traditional African view of themagical power of words is evident in themany references by scholars to theAfrican's use of incantations in hisday-to-day living. This belief in themagical power of words gave rise tospecialization in the execution offunctions in many traditional Africansocieties. The caste system, for example,emerged in certain societies in AfricaNEW DIRECTIONS OCTOBER 1980

simply because the African people feltthat such a division of labor could bringabout good relationship with the spiritualworld, and that human elements sochosen for such functions could executetheir delicate and sensitive tasks withoutendangering the lives of others in thecommunity

Hampate Ba, in commenting on thenature of African arts, has argued that theAfrican conception of art will not beintelligible to a person who is secularisticin his understanding of reality, for such anart is inspired by a world-view that is allembracing.

He further contends that in the old Africa,"Every act and every gesture wereconsidered to bring into play the invisibleforces of life. According to the tradition ofthe Bambara people of Mali, these forcesare the multiple aspects of SE,or GreatCreative Power, which is itself an aspectof the Supreme being Known as MaaNgala." II

To return to Iahn's formulations of Bantuphilosophy, we can now conclude withhim that in African thought in generaland Bantu thought in particular, "God iseither a creator, a planner; or he is auniversal begetter, the pure force ofprecreation, the primal phallus of aspermatic religion, as Sartre affirms, or heis, as the philosophy itself would suggest,Ntu itself, and that would mean: thatbeing which is at once force and mother,unseparated and undivided, sleepingprimal force, yet without nommo,without 'life'''. 12

II. The African View of Man's Destiny

In the traditional African man'sontological system, the human being isgiven a definite destiny Though thedetails about nature of this destiny varyfrom group to group, the fact remains thatin old Africa, man was viewed as a cosmictraveler who is destined to cross theequator of death. This boundary linebetween the living and the departed iswhat gives meaning to life itself, for, justlike the equator, it serves as ademarcation line between two inseparableportions of total reality This is to say,death in view of old Africa is "not theultimate reality but life itself. At death,the individual dissolves into collectiveimmortality of the living-dead, that is,proclaims the great solidarity of life." 13

For the traditional African religionist,death is the process and the condition bywhich the physical body of man isdisintegrated. Itis also the fragmentationof the unity of life: body and spirit.

From the above understanding one canconcur with Mbiti's thesis that, "Death isconceived of as a departure and not acomplete annihilation of a person. Hemoves on to join the company of thedeparted, and the only major change is thedecay of the physical body, but the spiritmoves on to another state of existence." 14

This passing away of the soul from thephysical world of man (or Muntu, toborrow a Bantu term), to the spiritualkingdom of the unseen, is a very complexand paradoxical matter. Indeed, it hasgiven rise to different myths about itsorigins and significance.

E. G. Parrinder, for example, has writtenin connection with the soul and itsdestiny, that "the complexity of Africanideas is so great that some peoples havebeliefs in at least five distinguishablepowers in man".'>

Though Parrinder fails to list the fivepowers in man, we have reamed fromFather Temples that "the dead live on in adiminished condition of life, as lessenedlife forces, while retaining their higher,strengthening fathering life force."!" Thisis to say that the departed, by goingthrough the individualized agony of death,have gained in deeper knowledge of themystery and the process of vitalparticipation in the universe.

This paradoxical understanding of deathhas led many African peoples to explaindeath as the result of four causes. Themost commonly cited is magic, sorceryand witchcraft. This cause is viewed bymost Africans as a very dangerous one, forvictims of such evil practices may turnout to be wandering ghosts whose soulswill not be at rest.

The second is the curse. Many Africansocieties teach their new members that apowerful curse brings immediate death tothe accursed. Such a fate is widely fearedin African traditional societies, and everyprecaution is usually taken not to violatetaboos, customs and traditions.

The third is the living-dead. These'departed souls may be dissatisfied withthe life and activities of their survivors onearth and so decide to tell them to changetheir ways by visiting them withcalamities. (There is little evidence thatliving-dead actually cause death.)

The fourth is God. This category is notrigid, however. The traditional Africanmay accept God as the ultimate cause ofdeath, but to satisfy his psychological andemotional needs, he still would insist onintermediate cause of death.

These four causes of death together could

81 _

affect the destiny of man, which in theevent of death would remain unfulfilled, Itis this fear of one's post mortem lot thatdrives many an African into the arms ofthe diviners and magicians. Thesemediators between fragile and vulnerablemen and the spiritual powers arepractitioners of great knowledge in themystical arts and their ability to allay thefears of their clients and to subdue theirreal or imagined targets, has contributed agreat deal to African social stability in thepast. These qualities have also guaranteedthe peaceful passage of man from therealm of humanness to the world ofspirits.

III. African Understandingof History

It has been said by John Mbiti thatAfrican ontology is a religious one andthat "the key to our understanding of thebasic religious and philosophical concepts,is the African concept of time." He wenton to argue that "according to traditionalAfrican concepts, time is atwo-dimensional phenomenon, with along past, a present and virtually nofuture." 17

These formulations of Mbiti have givencurrency to the view that, to the oldAfrica, history consists of two parts,namely the Sasa and the Zamani. Theformer is composed of all the eventswhich in Western or linear concept oftime would be considered as the future.This concept, in the writings of Mbiti, istaken as that dimension which embracesall events that are about to occur or are inthe process of occurring or have recentlyoccurred. It is also understood as the mostmeaningful period of the individual.

The latter, on the other hand, is describedby Mbiti as the macro-time whichembraces all the past events that link thebeginning of things to the presentunfoldment of events in the universe. Inhis view Zamani is more than the past, itis, as he suggests "the graveyard of rime."Zamani, therefore, is not only the periodof termination, but also the period ofmyth.

The conceptual scheme of Mbiti doeshelp one understand the particularisms ofAfrican thought, but it certainly, ill notbe the last point in the debate over theAfrican concept of history.

Although I believe that Mbiti has done agood job in pointing out to the ternworld-in a language it can underscanthe intellectual and religious fruits ill

African's non-literate sages of yesteryI also think J.N.K. Mugambi was correct:when he wrote in 1974, that Mbiti's

linguistic basis for his conclusions on theabsence of indefinite future in Africanthought is too simplistic. Indeed, muchresearch needs to be done on the matter,but we can agree here that Mugambi isquite correct in saying that: "To assertthat Africans do not conceive of a futurebeyond two years - is to imply in thesame assertion that Africans do not haveany traditional means or principles bywhich they ensure a perpetuation of theircommunities." 18

After presenting Mbiti's interpretation ofthe African conception of history, let meoffer briefly an alternative conceptualscheme while drawing on the samefindings of Mbiti and others in the field.

As suggested in our discussion on thenature of African traditional man, theAfrican's view of the destiny of man isthat of a gradual and peaceful transitionfrom the human world to the spiritualworld.

In my view the key concept in traditionalAfrican thought is the cosmicschizophrenic tendencies of man. By this Imean that traditional African man seeshimself as a citizen of three differentworlds at the same time. This is to saythat he lives in (a) the world of concretereality, (b) the world of social values, and(c) the world of ineffable self-conscious.

The first world is that of man, trees, stars,inanimate objects and phenomena. Thesecond is that of values governing themental and spiritual processes of manand his community. The third is that ofunreachable and inexpressible spiritualpowers.

When analyzed carefully, the beliefs andthought patterns of the traditional Africanman could be fitted into the three majorontological categories. The tendency ofthe students of African religions to assertthat Africans do not worship one God isdue to this cosmic schizophrenic behaviorinman.

In the African concept, traditional manplaces the High God in the world ofineffable self-conscious. Though heshuttles between this particular world andthe other two, his ontological makeupseems to incline him more to the realmsof concrete reality and social values:respectively.This is to say that traditionalAirican man's view of history is differentimm that of the ascetic religious

'nons of the East, where man:ciliJUIlces this earthly life and devotes hisenrire life and being to the world of

e self-conscious.

~ _\lrican view is also different from

the Western scientific view which focusesalmost completely on the world ofconcrete reality. The Westem view itshould be added, is based on the dynamicsof matter; its conception of time andhistory is bound to be affected by thechanging paradigms in the scientificcommunity of the West. As long as theWestern man hankers after the mysteriesof matter, his concept of time will beunilinear. In other words, the conceptionof time of a human group is determinedmore by the ontological focus of itsmembers (that is, which of the threeworlds they wish to choose) and less byan inherent racial or geographical factor.

The ontological focus of activities is thecause and the effect of the series ofpreferences associated with a particularsociety. A society conceives time in themanner of old Africa because in such asociety the ontological focus is on theworld of social values. This world, whichis the sum of values governing themeanings, and interrelationships betweenontological units, is paramount in Africanthought because all the other worlds ofwhich man is a citizen are subject to theworld of social values.

To put this another way, I would say thatin traditional African thought, the needfor harmony between man and God, manand man, and man and the non-humanelements in the universe has led to anontological emphasis on the world ofsocial values. As a result of such anover-emphasis, traditional Africa heldsupreme the traditions of the ancients(ancestors). It is this over-emphasis on thesources of traditions and customs thatmisled Mbiti to deny the African a senseof indefinite future.

Contrary to Mbiti, I would argue thatAfrican traditional man indeed has asense of the definite future, but mar hisontological focus has been, not inrevolutionizing the physical landscapearound him, but on sociali.zing the Ile\ -members of society to anncipasuccessful accession to farherhoodis a few years hence) and ~memory of past event, This !,_r.-;;.,.. .~rr;-

of the African response ill

challenge put premium Oil -=-e j" - .:..

facilities of the mindThis ontological respoase, ---"'-.other thing, is respcnsiale - :s:African's late adoprionMazrui calls "the re.::krli~~ d.intellectual COnseIT·-;

31

32

yet earned first class degrees from majorWestem universities, where thegreat-grandchildren of European literateshad failed to make a better performance.

These African success stories arecategorical denials of the racial inferiorityusually associated with Africa's children.

My view is that the traditional African'sconception of history, and his continent'smaterial underdevelopment were theeffects of his ontological response ratherthan the confirmations of his geneticdeficiency.

In light of the above, I would nowconclude that the traditional Africanman's concept of time is three-dimensional. This is to say that he be-lieves in a past, a present and a future. Yet,in conceding this point, I need to add thatthe matter does not end with the three-dimensionality of time. The nature ofsuch a conception needs further explora-tion; but because I do not have enoughtime nor space.to explore these frontiersof African thought, I find it appropriate tomalze two observations concerning itsnature.

First, it should be pointed out that theconcept of unilinearity of time, as devel-oped in Western history, is based on an il-lusion, which is detectable so long as manchases after the mirage of materiality.This illusion becomes exposed the mo-ment the ontological response of a societyshifts its focus from excessive love for ma-teriality to excessive love for the socialvalues and relationships between man andsociety.

To put this philosophical point overwhich African man differs substantiallywith his Western counterpart, in anotherway,I would like to argue that, whereasthe Western theory of historical unilinear-ity is inspired by the matrix of causes andeffects that govern the world of concretereality, the African's conception of time isguided by his excessive concern for com-munal harmony in rituals, deeds andthoughts.

The idea of unilinearity of history is in-spired by,and based on, the intercoursebetween the various elements in thehierarchy of ontological units in the uni-verse. These two visions of history andlife are very different indeed, and only afool will absolutize the concept of un-ilinearity as developed out of one experi-ence, and then try to impose it on the restof mankind.

In summarizing the foregoing discussion,I think it is worth noting that the Afri-can's concept of the triangular relation-

NEW DIRECTIONS OCTOBER 1980

ship between God, man and the non-human elements in the universe, is thekey to the understanding of traditionalAfrican philosophy. This view not onlysheds light on the self-image of Africanman, but also provides an intellectualmap of the metaphysical world of the tra-ditional African man.

Another conclusion to be drawn from theforegoing is that traditional African mansees himself as a party to an ontologicaland cosmological partnership and becauseof this understanding of his life on earth,he always sees harmony as the best formof human expression. To the traditionalAfrican man, life is chaotic so long asman's links with God and others in exist-ence are shattered. Because of this fear ofbreaking the ontological bonds, traditionalAfrican man always prefers harmony andsocial order. 0

Sulayman Nyang. Ph.D., is an associate professorof government and public administration, AfricanStudies Center, Howard University

REFERENCESI [ohnS. Mbi ti, Concepts of God in Africa (NewYork: Pareger, 1970).2 Mbiti, African Religions and Philosophy (GardenCity, New York: Doubleday & Co., Inc., 1970 edn.)p. 38; E. Bolaji Idowu, African Traditional Religion,(Mary Knoll, New York: Orbis Books, 1972), p. 85.3 Mbiti, Op Cit., p. 38.4 Ibid, p. 119., Vincent Mulago, "Vital Participation" in KwesiDickson and Paul Ellingworth, Biblical Revelationand African Beliefs, (Mary Knoll, New York: OrbisBooks, 1969)p. 138." Quoted by E. A. Adeolu Adegobola in his "TheTheological Basis of Ethics," in Kwesi Dickson andPaul Ellingworth, Op Cit., p. 117.7 Vincent Mulago, Op Cit., p. 139.8 lbid., p. 140.'I Ibid, p. 143.10 Claude Wauthier, The Literature and Thought ofModem Africa (New York: Preaeger Publishers,1967)p. 172.II See Amadou Hampate Ba, "African Art, wherethe hands have Ears," The UNESCO Courier, Feb-ruary, 1971,p. 12.12 See his Muntu -An Outline of the New AfricanCulture, translated by Marjorie Greene (New York:Grove Press Inc., 1961)p. 105.13 K. C. Anyanwu, "African Religion as ExperiencedReality," Thought and Practice, (The journal of thePhilosophical Association of Kenya), Vol. 2, No.2,1975, p. 156.14 john S. Mbiti, Op Cit., p. 205is See E. G. Parrinder, African Traditional Religions,(3rd edn.l, New York: Harper & Row Publishers,1970), p. 134.", This is a restatement of his position as presentedby [anheinz [ahn in his Muntu, p. 106.17 Mbiti, Op Cit., p. 21.18 See his "The African Experience of God,"Thought and Practice (a journal of the KenyanPhilosophical Society), Vol. No.1, 1974, p. 21.