Self Knowledge

Without self-knowledge, without understanding the working and functions of her machine, umNtu cannot be free. He cannot govern himself and he will always remain enslaved believing he is free.

"While you need to think of getting up and going somewhere, you need not think of the details of the muscular activities involved in getting up itself. They are taken care of for you. When you sing, dance, write, etc., you can become aware of the fact that some part of your activities is performed without conscious effort", says Gogo Thando.

Now, this dualization of your being into two fundamental sets of functions is the central theme of 'Self Knowledge' kwaNtu.

One part of your being is concerned with activities that you have to direct, while the other deals with activities that occur without your attention to them.

Let us for now label them "willed," and "automatic" respectively. UmNtu is the harmony between these realities within the context of all existence.

AbaNtu believes that great performers make poor teachers. Yet, you might be surprised to know that you could not give an accurate description of how you walk or articulate the words that you speak, etc. You fail for the same reasons that most great performers do as teachers. The performance of the tasks in question is carried out without· your attention, and awareness of the intricate details involved. You direct your attention to the desired result and the other part of your being unattended takes care of the execution.

IsiNtu teaches that there is a part in our lives that IS taking care of our breathing, exchanging oxygen for carbon dioxide in our blood, and circulating the latter through every cell in our bodies. This reality of our being also shuts down the part of us that automatically directs activities, in order for us to experience more freedom and energy to do some major repairs while we sleep- among many other very complicated things.

There exists a vast difference in the knowledge and capabilities between the two parts of our being. While the willing part of our being has to be instructed and is no better in its performance than the quality of the material taught to it, the automatic part of being is directed by an omniscient factor, -let's realize that it is directed by the formation of the physical part of our being the very moment that our ancestor sperm and egg came together.

What if the willing part of our being, instead of learning from the ignorant will of others, learned from the all-knowing being that directs the automation within us? I.e., instead of the "limited in knowledge" learning from the "unlimited in knowledge," it instead learned from the omniscient?

The answers to these questions provide full insight into the nature of our ancestral being, the cultures we have produced, and the shaping forces of our epistemologies, and explain the causes of the problems besetting abaNtu, and will also show, definitively, the way we towards their solutions.

It is sufficient to say for now that according to the baNtu spiritual tradition, the automation within us is in touch with all functions in the world and is capable of manipulating them.

There are three kinds of people in the world. One type inclines toward relying on the willing part of the being for survival and flourishment, the second on the all-knowing intelligence its automation, and the third on, an equilibrium of both parts of the being. In fact, all cultures fall into one of these categories. AbaNtu were an equilibrium! As Mkhulu Mokoena says, "Once you deal with the consciousness of the African, the African will unite without you telling them they have to unite."

Camagwini! Thokozani! Lesedi! Ndauwe! Pula!