WHAT IS UBUNTU "I am because you are"

             Ubuntu is a word with a profound spiritual and social meaning in the Southern African culture and everyday life. Originally a Zulu and Xhosa term it means  “I am because you are” and also “I am because we are.”

          The Westerners in their effort to intellectualize “Ubuntu” associate it with social conscience, empathy and compassion, kindness and a sense of community bonding. For the Africans is not a philosophical concept or an ethical doctrine that can be perceived with the mind. It is a way of “being” a state of cosmic consciousness that interconnects the individual with her/his inner-self and all the existing beings in the universe.
       
          “Ubuntu” as a way of life illustrates not a Pollyannalike happy-go-lucky, flower-power approach but the collective responsibility of the entire society and each individual for every deed that takes place in the world. It also reminds us that others are simply mirrors of who we really are.

         Finally "Ubuntu’s" essence is the invisible kinship (among us), either we are aware of it or not.“Ubuntu” still unknown to the “out of Africa” world has a direct analogy with most esoteric approaches, religious faiths and pagan traditions. So the same way we use greetings as Namaste, Peace, Shalom, Shalamalekum, Grüss Gott, Servus or Aloha (in its original meaning), we can now greet people by just saying “Ubuntu.”

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6YswUI-yqXo
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ODQ4WiDsEBQ
* the above videos are not my property. They are taken from the Youtube and they are related to the subject of Ubuntu

THE FIFTH DIMENSION

 My name is Yeørgo Constantin Awgérnos. I've been writing diaries and journals since February 14th, 1975. I always kept them private but lately I realized that some of my thoughts and experiences could be shared with other people around the globe.

          I perceive the Internet as a Fifth Dimension expanding beyond physical boundaries. It links individuals from different parts of the planet, transmits information at the press of a button, connects and befriends people who never met in person, creates communities of like-minded individuals and revolutionizes the way we communicate with each other; even the way we meet our date-mates. As towns and cities around the world become simply dots on a map, the Internet becomes a connecting network, an energy field invisible to the eye but present in every aspect of our life.

         People born in the eighties and beyond, (what is called Y-generation) tend to take the online world for granted. I have lived a part of my life, so far, in the pre-Internet era, so, like my other contemporaries I can appreciate the enormity of the transformation that this Fifth Dimension has brought: a new world with less privacy, increasing access, a world where there is no place to hide for long, a source of unlimited information available at someone's fingertips.

         For over 36 years I kept notes frequently, mostly observations about myself and the world around me. I shared them only with a few close friends. Now I would like to connect with people beyond my familiar realm, so I decided to establish this public journal.

         I hope that this blog will connect me with the most remote outposts of the world, proving that the end of the earth is actually nearer than we may guess. I have discovered that often we can find proximity in distant corners of the planet and recognize remoteness inside our own skin. But this is another story.

         YEØRGO BLOG and its twin essay-blog “Ubuntu Civilization" represent an initiative not just for worldwide social awareness but for a new aspect of personal understanding of life and the universe. Such a leap forward and upward begins with small steps before a critical mass creates a momentum. I hope that this blog, which is not more than a drop in the ocean, contributes even by a tiny percentage to the progression of the human condition.

 

http://www.ubuntucivilization.com/