Uphill idealist

So far I have stumbled, read, and been found by the word "ubuntu" four times in the last couple of months. If you've been following my blog lately, you'll remember the other references, but for the sake of keeping count here's the full list. 1. Ubuntu is referenced in Krista Tippet's book, 'Speaking of faith' as the true definition of humanity. It's a wonderful long short book that the book club I attend picked up in September and are just about to finish now. As you can guess, the long-six-chapters-in-240-pages are full of wonderful ideas discussing "Why religion matters - and how to think about it.". 2. When reading 'I'm proud of you' , by Tim Madigan, I was taken aback in the very first chapter as Mr. Fred Rogers describing Ubuntu as the existence of true humanity as me with you. In his point of view, we can only be made complete in our interaction and working along side of others. 3. While walking out of my office last we...

Image found @ Rantings of a Creole Princess I've completed to excellent and very different books in the last week. One is 'Speaking of Faith' by Krista Tippett and the other (which I started and finished on Sunday) is 'I'm proud of you' by Tim Madigan. I first came across the word: ubuntu in Tippet's book where she explains it from South African friends perspective as suggesting " HUMANITY : Ubuntu says - I am through you and you are through me. To the extent that I'm estranged from another person, I am less than human." ( Tippet pg 182). In Madigan's book, he defines Ubuntu as: "I am because we are... my identity is such that it includes you. I would be a very different person without you." (Madigan, pg 7) There is the idea of "No man or woman is an island.", in the philosophy of ubuntu - but there is more going on with the word than saying we are not solitary. Ubuntu reflects the balance of relationships within...