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David spills the beans on his little childhood secret

Your Life Manual:
Practical Steps to Genuine Happiness

Described and discussed in Your Life Manual: Practical Steps to Genuine Happiness,
here is a brief outline of the ancient African philosophy of "Ubuntu" (pronounced "oo-boon-too").

About Ubuntu:

Ghandi, was once asked what he thought of Western Civilization. He replied: "I think it would be a good idea." The meaning of the word ubuntu is so far reaching, it could form the moral compass for us in the West to revolutionize our civilization in a way that even Ghandi would approve.

Long before European settlers spread into the area around the southern edge of Africa, a proud nation of black people called the Xhosa lived there.

These people were considered to be savages by many of the settlers, but they had a highly developed social structure based on traditional values, which had evolved over thousands of years.

You know when ubuntu is there, and it is obvious when it is absent. It has to do with what it means to be truly human, to know that you are bound up with others in the bundle of life.

- Archbishop Desmond Tutu
“God Has A Dream” © 2004 Published by Doubleday

The foundation of this structure was embodied in the single word: ubuntu—a word with no English equivalent. One definition is: a person is a person through other persons.

The South African Nobel Laureate Archbishop Desmond Tutu, an extraordinary man of Xhosa descent, has described the meaning of ubuntu in a few of his books.

…It is the essence of being human. It speaks of the fact that my humanity is caught up and is inextricably bound up in yours. I am human because I belong. It speaks about wholeness, it speaks about compassion. A person with ubuntu is welcoming, hospitable, warm and generous, willing to share. Such people are open and available to others, willing to be vulnerable, affirming of others, do not feel threatened that others are able and good, for they have a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that they belong in a greater whole. They know that they are diminished when others are humiliated, diminished when others are oppressed, diminished when others are treated as if they were less than who they are. The quality of ubuntu gives people resilience, enabling them to survive and emerge still human despite all efforts to dehumanise them.

- Archbishop Desmond Tutu
“God Has A Dream” © 2004 Published by Doubleday

More and more, we are discovering that everyone and everything is interconnected. What hurts you hurts me. What heals you heals me.

It is obvious that our attitudes and emotions have an effect on those around us. Similarly, feelings of wellbeing or despair in a group (or community, or nation) permeate through the members of the group.

The consideration of others used to play a much larger part in human interaction in earlier times. In recent times however, human interaction has been based on individual needs, achievements and desires.

This more self-centered approach to life and decision-making has undoubtedly produced more wealth and power for some, but the cost to humanity, the poor, and to the planet has been huge.

For more on Ubuntu, visit the Downloads Page to read the article
Ubuntu From Chaos: Lessons from an African Tradition
A philosophical look at the development of society's code
of conduct contrasted agains the tradition of Ubuntu.

An article by David Ambrose published in Synchronicity Magazine December-January 2007

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