THE AFRICAN ANSWER TO
THE QUESTION OF ULTIMATE REALITY:
THE VITAL FORCE.
Sahaya G. Selvam
0. INTRODUCTION
Simply put, the fundamental question in philosophy is, what is the ultimate reality?
The Eastern religions, the earliest sources in the known human history to answer this question, were mystical in their approach. They gave different names to this “ultimate reality which underlies and unifies the multiple things of events” of the universe. The Chinese called it Tao, the Hindus, Brahman and the Buddhists called it Dhamma.
Judaism might have been the first well-known religion to give a personal dimension to this ultimate reality, though without giving a definite name. They calledHim, YHWH, the God of Abraham, Isaac and Joseph. Later Christianity would be born out of the fact that this “God” would even take a human form.
The early Greek philosophers of the Ionian school were too concerned with the material cosmos and they began their philosophical search with the question: What is the world stuff? Their earnest search would sow the seeds for the later distinct sciences of Physics, Metaphysics, Mathematics, Biology, psychology etc. This distinction was unfortunate because the human understanding of the Ultimate reality while becoming microscopic it also became very fragmented. In a sense, Modern physics has impersonalized the Ultimate reality as Energy (E=MC2).
Today there is a rediscovery of the unity of the task of different branches of human knowledge. Scholars are recognizing the importance of inter-disciplinary and inter-cultural approach to answering the question of the Ultimate reality. Africaas a continent having become conscious of itself, its common history, its shared world view has began to offer to the rest of the world its own contribution in the understanding of the Ultimate reality.
Very simply stated, to the African wisdom the Ultimate reality is the VITAL FORCE. The whole African World-view can be interpreted and understood in terms of this Vital Force. This is what I intend to do, though very briefly, in this section.
I rely heavily on the recent scholarship that has emerged in the continent itself on this topic. (See especially, Laurenti Magesa, African Religion: The Moral Traditions of Abundant Life, Nairobi, Pauline Publications Africa, 1998; Martin Nkafu Nkemnkia, African Vitalogy: A Step Forward in African Thinking, Nairobi: Pauline Publications Africa, 1999)
1. HIERARCHY OF VITAL FORCE (BEING)
The Western Metaphysics speaks about a hierarchy of Being. Though Mbiti himself would, rather thoughtlessly, subscribe to this idea in the African thought we cannot speak of a abstract Being but only of a concrete Vital Force. Tempels had made such a distinction and comparison between Being and Vital Force. (See p.44 of Tempels as cited in Martin N. Nkemnkia p.166) Tempels claims that in African concept Being cannot be separated from the force as the Western mind does. Being is abstract, static; Force is dynamic. “Force is the nature of being, force is being, being is force.”
Having said that we can speak of hierarchy of realities in terms of the Vital Force in the African thought:
i. God : The ultimate explanation of the genesis and sustenance of the Vital Force
ii. Spirits : They are either created by God (superhuman beings), or made up of the spirits of men who died long ago. They are somehow mediators of the Vital Force between God and Man.
iii. Man : Human beings who are alive and those unborn
iv. Animals and plants or the remainder of biological life
v. Phenomena & objects without biological life. These though apparently do not possess the Vital Force, for example the sun and rain, they sustain and enhance the Vital Force.
Having listed the above elements of the hierarchy, we must immediately add that these realities are not strictly compartmentalized as in the Western mind. The animate world influences the inanimate, and the Spiritual world influences the human world. In fact, there are no boundaries.
Let us then begin our consideration with the phenomenal world that includes all that exists.
2. THE WORLD
2.1. THE LIVING WORLD
The African attitude to nature aims at “living in a relationship of mutual obligation with nature”. In contrast to the western world view which systematizes and labels, distinguishing the animate from the inanimate, the physical from the metaphysical, the sacred from the secular, the natural from the supernatural – to the African world view these are meaningless. Hence, supernatural powers can influence the natural order. So the African interprets the world in theological terms rather than in scientific. This, however, does not mean that the African has no interest whatsoever in natural causes. He knows that without rain plants would not grow. However, he is able to recognize supernatural powers beyond the phenomenal world at work in the arrival of seasonal rains. The influence of the supernatural in nature is relative to the complexity of the phenomenon. Finally, the universe is for the African a living universe, and he is part of it. How did this world come to be?
2.2. COSMOGENESIS
The African immediately recognizes God as the Creator of the universe and of man. Myths regarding the how God created the universe and man, is found in every African society. Let us list here certain common characteristics of these Creation myths.
i. God created everything out of nothing.
ii. Man is the summit of God’s Creation.
iii. Woman is created as a companion to man. In some myths, there are more than one couple in the beginning. By the intermarriage between their children the humankind multiplies.
iv. There is always an explanation for the coming of Death, and Evil in the world. And this is mostly because of the fault (The Fall) of man. This also relates to a break in the close relationship between God and man.
3. GOD: THE OWNER OF THE VITAL FORCE
In Africa we see the concept of God in its spontaneous, phenomenological and Primal form. In this context, the existence of God is just taken for granted. No one tries to prove His existence. In fact there is no need for proofs. Let us now consider His attributes.
The term for God in many African traditions is identified with the terms for sky, thunder, rainfall, lightening etc. Very often He “resides” in high unreachable mountains. These signify a transcendent, almighty and theophaneous God. God’s omnipotence is particularly recognized in the powers of nature.
Yet God is immanent. He seems to be close to men, particularly before the fall as expressed in many creation myth. He is omnipresent. God’s omnipresence, for instance, is expressed beautifully in the Twi verse,
“Lift the stone and you will find me
Cleave the wood and I am there.”
God is particularly close to the people through the lesser divinities. This belief in lesser divinities cannot justify our labeling African theism as polytheistic, because these lesser Gods are only intermediaries between man and the one God.
As said before, God is the Creator. He is self-existent and pre-eminent.
God is omniscient. Thus he has the highest possible position of honour and respect. Because wisdom commands great respect in African societies.
God’s Governing Work: God is also often regarded as King, Ruler, Lord, Master and Judge. Of course, these concepts exist in societies which are familiar with kingship or chiefdom. In some societies, the concept of theocracy does exist. They consider, though in a simple form, their human rulers to be in a sense sacral representatives of God ruling over men. Hence disobedience or dishonour to their leaders could earn the punishment from God himself.
God is also conceived as merciful, kind and as the comforter. Most African people seem to believe in the will of God, which governs the universe and the fortunes of mankind. So He is a provident God. The sun, rain, fertility (of men, cattle and fields) health of humans are the ways God expresses his providence. He supplies the needs of his creatures.
Thus God as the creator is the owner and originator of the Vital Force and He sustains the Vital Force on the earth through his providence.
People communicate with God through sacrifice and prayer. The African people have strong sense of prayer. They pray at all times and particularly at the important occasions. Their prayers are very simple, straightforward and spontaneous. Their prayer recognizes the working of the Supreme being in nature. They particularly relate to God through intermediaries.
4. THE MEDIATORS OF THE VITAL FORCE
It is widespread feeling among many African people that man should not or cannot approach God alone or directly. Just as children approach their father through the mother. Hence the need for mediation. There are a several intermediary persons who mediate the Vital Force from God to man. Let us consider them in two brief sections -the spiritual intermediaries and the human intermediaries.
4.1. SPIRITUAL MEDIATORS
Mbiti would hold that the spiritual world of African peoples is very densely populated with Spiritual beings, Spirits and the living dead. Evidently these occupy a prominent place in the belief system of the African people.
The spirits in general belong to the ontological mode of existence between God and man. They are two categories of spiritual beings -those which were created as such, and those which were once human beings (the living-dead). Let us list the three major spiritual beings.
i. DIVINITIES – GOD’S ASSOCIATES
They are thought to be created by God, in the ontological category of the spirits (Mbiti). Through them God manifests himself (according to the Abosom of Ashanti.) There are divinities of war, of small pox, of harvest, of health and healing, of the weather, of the lake, of cattle etc. In some societies, these are considered ministers of God (according to the Chagga). For others, they are personified natural forces like earth, rainbow, mist, rain etc.
ii. SPIRITS
The spirits are in between the divinities and the living-dead. The living-dead, may by and by, get lost from the memory of the people and may then they fall into this category. These spirits are believed to cause bad effects and Good effects. And they need to be appeased.
iii. THE LIVING-DEAD
The Living-dead are somewhere in between the world of the spirits and the world of the humans. We shall discuss about them in detail in a different section, in relation to the African understanding of death and immortality.
4.2. HUMAN INTERMEDIARIES
Besides the Spiritual mediators of the Life Force we can also speak of intermediaries who are human. We list below some of these intermediary roles. They do not necessarily refer to distinct persons as such but only to roles that may be even played one or two persons. These distinct roles are recognisable in most traditional African societies.
i. PRIESTS
They are normally, formally trained and commissioned, they may be male or female – hereditary or otherwise. They offer sacrifices, prayers etc. They conduct both public and private rites and ceremonies. They advice the people; sometimes even perform judicial and political functions. (Christ as Priest?)
ii. SEERS
Their main duties are to act as ritual elders, give advice on religious matters (to predict the right time for performing a particular ceremony etc.). Above all, they receive message from God or Spirits and communicate to the people.
iii. DIVINERS AND MEDICINE MEN
Among different people, these diviners and medicine men have different functions. They could perform the function of the priest or seer also. Diviners, by throwing bones or whatever, try to achieve a supernatural understanding of situations and events.
iv. RAINMAKERS
Whether they are agriculturists or pastoralist, the entire livelihood of the Traditional African people depends on rain. Hence timely good rain is considered a blessing from God. And a delay in rain causes a lot of anxiety, perhaps the Spirits are displeased and therefore the need to appease them. Rainmakers play an important role in performing rituals and sacrifices to make or stop a prolonged rain.
By the way, priest, seer, diviner, medicine man and rainmaker need not necessarily be different persons. The same person could perform all these functions.
v. KINGS
Wherever there exists kingship or chiefdom, they are looked at as both political heads and sacred personages. And the king could be a intermediary between God and men.
vi. ELDERS
Elders also play the intermediary function in a number of societies, particularly in societies where there are no formal priests. (Akamba, Gikuyu, Ila, Nandi et al) The role of the Elders particularly consists in teaching and seeing the continuation of traditions that uphold the existence of the Vital Force in a society.
5. MAN, THE BEST FORM OF VITAL FORCE ON EARTH
Man is understood as the subject of history. And it is man who matters.
“I call upon Gold, it answers not;
I call upon drapery, it answers not;
It is man who counts” (Twi proverb)
There is something spiritual about man. When understanding the nature of man, the people manifest a sign of mystery, expressed so aptly in the Twi proverbs:
“Man is no palm nut, self contained
The spirit of man is without boundaries”.
This is the basis of African humanism.
Man is literally a family tree, a single branching organism whose existence is continuous through time, whose roots though out of sight below the earth, may spread further and wider than all the visible limbs below. So even death does not put a full stop to this spreading of the organism. (Taylor)
5.1. MAN IS AN EMBODIED VITAL FORCE
(This section has to be properly edited to mean that the spirit is the vital force- Selvam)
The African world-view accepts the existence of a spiritual aspect in human beings that survives death. Moreover, the African people accept that the body and spirit are distinct while being a united whole. That is, the Africans are not materialists who claim that the body is the only reality though they do give due importance to the body. They are not pure spiritualists who claim that the spirit is the only important aspect of human reality, though they do place a lot of importance on the spiritual aspect. Therefore we can claim that the African world-view is a holistic worldview that recognises and affirms the dual aspects of human reality without though leading to a dualism.
Let me elaborate this position by picking up certain evidences from the African culture:
a. Celebration of Human life: Evidence for affirmation of the Human Body
It will be no cause for racism if I may say that the Black race is physically stronger than most other races on the face of the earth. This has occurred due to a process of natural selection and mutation caused by the tough geographical conditions, presence of various diseases and the continued shortage in food availability in the continent of Africa. The African peoples are proud of their physical bodies and celebrate life with the body.
Elaborate eating and drinking, the enjoyable singing and dancing, the enduring physical labour including walking long distances and the assertion of sex are all part of African way of life. And all these activities not only express the social aspect of human existence but above all, its bodily aspect. The African people perform these activities ritualistically and spontaneously, without any guilt of exaggerations. Thus they affirm the body.
b. Recognition of the Human Spirit
The celebration of the human body in no way makes the African people materialists. (Like the Epicureans of the West or the Charvakas of the East, who did not believe in the existence of the spiritual aspect of humans.) The African people affirm that human is an embodied spirit.
All African people have a way of relating to God and the World of the spirits. Sacrifices and Prayers (the latter so well developed in peoples like the Rendille of Kenya) affirm the fact that humans have to go beyond their physical existence because in them there is a spiritual aspect that makes them transcend all that is physical.
African people have always believed in the existence of the spirit in every individual human being that continues to exist after death. The spirits of the dead are still close to the physically living. The spirits are in a way living and with personal identity. They are the “living-dead”! They continue to influence the world of the living.
c. The Dead Body is still personal: Evidence for Unity
Most African peoples have a deep respect not only for the spirit but also for the body of the dead person. The dead body without the spirit still demands our respect, because it is a human body! In some African languages the dead body is still referred using a personal pronoun and not a pronoun proper to inanimate things. (E.g. Kiswahili: Wamemleta Maiti)
Even peoples that dispose the dead body in the bush, like the Karamojongs of Uganda, do so not due to lack of respect for the dead body just because it is no more animate, but because of an exaggerated respect that becomes fear!
Most African peoples have also very elaborate, detailed and meticulously carried out funeral rites. The rites often express the social dimension of the peoples. But they also bring out a basic respect for the dead body, a respect that is due to the individual person. This is also seen in the custom of burying the dead close to the homestead and sometimes even inside the house. Sometimes the dead person is buried with ornaments, food and drink. The dead person is somehow still associated with the body. He continues to possess a form of existence that can influence the material world. The dead body is still personal. Therefore, it was not only the spirit that gave identity is that person but his/her body also gives personal and human identity.
d. Understanding of Health and Medicine
The field of African understanding of health and medicine is really a “mystery” not only to the outsiders, but even to many Africans especially those with “a-little-education.” To all who accept the Western Mechanistic world-view unquestionably, the world of African Medicine is not a mystery (that would entail a basic respect) but is just stupid and beyond reason. I find it difficult to subscribe to this easy position.
It is not my aim to go into details regarding African concept of health and medicine but simply to show that the African understanding of health and medicine is a powerful evidence for the unity of body and spirit. When someone is sick the sickness always has a reason. But this reason is not always physical. The sickness may have physical symptoms but its origin can be psychological, social and moral.
This is why an African is not satisfied with the medicine that is given to him rather coldly by the Western doctor. (Even those educated in the western world-view are no exception to this!) So he/she goes to the traditional medicine man, and rightly so. The medicine man deducing from the symptoms, or just guessing from the background of the sick person, or often using his para-psychological powers is able to locate the cause of the sickness that often lies beyond the physical realm. It may be social (breaking of a relationship, building of enmity,) psychological (mental disturbances and exaggerated fears and worries,) and moral (breaking of a taboo that actually infringes into the social order and produces shame in the individual.)
Having spotted the cause the medicine man may proceed on to offer solutions that are also beyond the physical. He himself may perform rituals or request the patient and his family to undertake certain rituals that are heavily symbolic and catering to the psychological and spiritual realms of the human person. Seen from a mechanistic worldview this may seem just non-sensical. Even the medicine man may not have readymade metaphysical explanations for all his medicines, rituals and procedures. Because he has been only given the wisdom of the ages. In any case, the fact is that African traditional medicine affirms that human is a unity of body, mind and spirit.
I believe that it is the duty of academic philosophy to understand and frame explanation-systems to these phenomena. Isn’t philosophy not wisdom itself but only love of wisdom!
What we have tried to do is to show that the African worldview is not spiritualistic because Africans celebrate the human body. It is not materialistic because the people do firmly accept that humans have a spiritual aspect, which also exists in the world of the living-dead after death. In the relationship of the body and spirit there is no trace of dichotomy but only a deep unity, that is especially seen in the attitude towards the dead body and to health and medicine. The body-spirit unity is not to be considered in terms of superiority-inferiority but as distinction in unity. In the world of the living, the body and spirit are distinct and different aspects in human beings but having a deep unity. Thus the Human being is an embodied Spirit.
5.2. THE INDIVIDUAL SHARES IN THE VITAL FORCE WITH THE OTHER
The sense of community is evidently very strong in the African world-view. The African social philosophy can be summed up in Mbiti’s famous dictum: “I am because we are, and since we are therefore I am”. Members of the society are expected to live and act in such a way as to promote the well being of the society, which in turn preserves the vital force. A person who defies this is a curse to the society. In other words, the individual shares in the Vital Force only in a society and through a particular society, which could mean a family, clan and tribe.
The society is often governed by a well-developed political system. Some societies have kings or chiefs. Others have council of elders (like Kikuyu). These systems ensure social order, and welfare of all. They ensure that everyone respects the Vital Force in the society and participates in it, each one according to his/her role in the society.
Families are large and extended. That is, two or more brothers establish families in one homestead or close to one another. Family also includes, the living-dead and the unborn too, who are still in “the loins of the living’. Polygamous system makes family even larger.
In the African society, though the dominance of the society over the individual is great, the individual does not altogether lose his significance. Though the individual believes, “I am because we are…” , there is evidently an aspect of dialectics between the society and the individual. The society rejoices when an individual is born. It gathers around him in the important moments of his life – birth, initiation, marriage and death.
5.3. DEATH AND THE CONTINUATION OF THE VITAL FORCE (Immortality)
The concept of Vital Force and its continuation is more explicit in the African concept of Death and After-life. Let us consider a typical myth about the origin of Death, which can help us understand the African concept of death.
THE MAASAI MYTH ABOUT THE ORIGIN OF DEATH
In the beginning there was no death. This is the story of how death came into the world.
There was once a man known as Leeyio who was the first man that Niteru-kop brought to earth. Naiteru-Kop then called Leeyio and said to him: “When a man dies and you dispose of the corpse, you must remember to say, `man die and come back again, moon die, and remain away’.
Many months elapsed before anyone died. When, in the end, a neighbour’s child did die, Leeyio was summoned to dispose of the body. When he took the corpse outside, he made a mistake and said: “Moon die and come back again, man die and stay away.” So after that no man survived death.
A few more months elapsed, and Leeyio’s own child went missing. So the father took the corpse outside and said: “Moon die and remain away, man die and come back again.” On hearing this Naiteru-kop said to Leeyio: “You are too late now for, through your own mistake, death was born the day when your neighbour’s child died.” So that is how death came about, and that is why up to this day when a man dies he does not return, but when the moon dies, it always comes back again. (Naomi Naomi Kipury, Oral Literature of the Maasai (Nairobi: Heinemann Educational Books, 1983), p.27.)
MEANING OF THE MYTH.
This myth is an attempt to explain the origin of a most intriguing eventuality, death. The story implies that the first man was granted a password by which to avert death. Perhaps, it was more due to malice, because it was his neighbour’s child who died first. And he had reversed the formula. But when his own child did die, he said the formula as it was taught to him. But then it was too late. Death became a perennial phenomenon.
The myth clearly brings out the following truths:
1. The myth presupposes that it was God who created man. Naiteru-kop had put Leeyio (the first man) on the earth. This belief is basic to many cultures, particularly the African Traditions
2. There was no death in the beginning. However, the myth sounds illogical when it says that the neighbour’s child did die. Inconsistencies are not alien to myths, however perhaps if the man were to say the formula properly, the child would have survived or come back to life.
3. It was the fault of man that brought death into the world.
This is parallel to the creation story and the origin of death according to the Book of Genesis. In the creation story according to the Bible death came into the world as a result of the fall of the first man – Adam.
THE MEANING OF DEATH.
This myth seems to betray a sort of an unbelief in an after-life, because the attitude towards death is totally negative. But we do know that the Africans, including the Maasai believe in the existence of the ancestors. Therefore perhaps the myth only expresses the first thought on the phase of death. The hope that one would exist in an another form even after his death only arises at a second thought.
This only brings out that the attitude of the people of Africa towards death, by and large, is very much mixed. “Death is not Good; it is not bad” , says Sage Okemba Simiyu Chaungo. (H. Odera Oruka, Sage Philosophy, Nairobi: African Centre for Technology Studies, 1991, p.112.) Furthermore, Sage Oruka Rang’inyu would say, “…some people have to die in order that others can live. It is because death removes some people that those who are spared have enough food to live on,…. Therefore death is not bad.” However, most African societies believe that “after the physical death man continues to exist in the spirit world….” John S. Mbiti, “The Heritage of Traditional Religions”, in David B. Barrett, et al (ed.), Kenya Churches Handbook (Kisumu: Evangel Publishing House, 1973., p.292)
(In any case, the attitude of the Maasai towards death and the dead is mysterious. They never bury the dead. Traditionally they only disposed of them in the bush. This was also because of their attitude towards the earth. For them, the earth is sacred and vital. Being pastoral people, they depend very much on the earth for the grass to feed their cattle. Hence destruction of the earth would mean destruction of their own livelihood. Therefore they do not dig the ground. For the same reason, they do not dig wells for water. )
In conclusion to this section we may say that in the African thought, death is understood as the inevitable. It stands between the world of humans and the world of spirits, between the visible and the invisible expressions of the Vital Force. Death is something that concerns everyone, partly because sooner or later everyone personally faces it, and partly because it brings loss and sorrow to the whole community.
In the African thinking in general, while the death of a old-aged person is taken as natural, a premature untimely death of a person raises many an eye-brow.. Many questions arise: Why this person and not the other man, why at this time and not another time? Who/What is the cause of this untimely death? In these situations, magic, sorcery and witchcraft would be attributed as the cause of death. This could mean that someone has caused this person’s death, or the living dead have been offended or God himself has punished this person.
There is an extreme form of reverence, or even fear among the people towards the dead. Even those who dispose of their dying into the bush like the Karamajongs, do so out of utmost reverence or fear.
LIFE HEREAFTER
All African people believe in life after. That is, man continues to live on even after his death in another form. Perhaps he lives around his homestead or in the skies. Some societies do believe in reincarnation, ie. the person being reborn, and belief in transmigration too does exist, that is the person being born in form of another animal or bird. However, what is strong among all people is the belief in the living-dead who are considered the ancestors.
5.4. CONCEPT OF ANCESTRY
The cult of the dead should not be equated with the cult of the ancestors. To die does not automatically imply becoming an ancestor. According to Nyamiti, the idea of Ancestor includes the following dimensions.
i. Kinship : consanguineous or non-consanguineous between the ancestor/ancestress and his/her earthly kin. In many cases the ancestor is the source of life for his/her relatives.
ii. Superhuman or Sacral status of the ancestor, which is believed to be acquired through death.
iii. Mediation between the Supreme being and the earthly kin.
iv. Exemplarity of behaviour in community
v. Right to regular or frequent sacred encounter with earthly relatives through prayer and ritual offering. These are called LIBATION. Libation consists of prolonged ritual acts, and water or some alcoholic beverage being the prime matter.
The family ancestors are called upon at the important moments of life – mainly at birth, puberty, marriage and death. The communion between the living and the ancestors is also expressed even in day to day prayers – prayer for the sick, prayer at delivery, prayer for cattle, daily prayers etc.
6. ETHICS: TO PRESERVE AND ENSURE THE FLOW OF VITAL FORCE
We have already spoken about the individual’s responsibility towards the society. An immoral act also is understood only in relation to one, contributing or not to the well being of the society. Hence these incur immediate punishment from the elders, or punishment from God himself, the sustainer of the universe and its inhabitants and who expects his creatures to maintain good relationship with one another.
VALUES
What does the Homo Africanus seek as values in human existence? By and large, African people don’t believe in sanctions after death. (Cf. The African Mind, vol.1 No.1, 1989. ed. L.Njinya – Muyinya, p.38). All sanctions take place on earth, during one’s life time. There are primarily three categories of goods, or in other words, Values that African people seek through God’s favour.
i. The goods of Fortune : God enriches the good man and brings success to all his enterprises.
ii. The goods of person : God provides the good man with good health, honour and long life.
iii. The Goods of offspring : The good man dies leaving many children.
IMMORALITY
An immoral act that which severs the flow of the Vital Force. Among the Yoruba people, for instance, the word “Ese” indicates what is an immoral act. Sin, according to them, is to appropriate the way of an evil power. According to Idowu, An immoral act is that which produces evil as its consequence. Immortality or Sin does not exist apart from a doer.
However, most African languages do have a word for taboo, that is, an act that is forbidden, or things not to be done. This covers a whole range of acts of breach of ritual and moral laws. According to Parrinder, (West African Religion, p.211), “The taboos largely indicate what morality is in West Africa.” But I find it difficult to concede to this. Moral norms cannot be identified with taboos alone or vice versa. Some taboos may not have any moral connotation at all. When a child asks, why he should not do a particular act, all that he gets as an answer is that it is a taboo, and further he may be forbidden to break a taboo by creating a fear of punishment.
CONCLUSION
Thus as said in the Introduction the whole of African thought could be interpreted in terms of the importance it places on the Vital Force. That is why, Nkemnkia rightly christened the African thought as “African Vitalogy.” This is precisely the unique contribution of Africa in answering the question of the World-stuff.
These notes are sketchy presentation by a non-African. It is the task of the African students to develop this further into a system in the line of Magesa and Nkemnkia.
REFERENCES
Magesa, Laurenti, African Religion: The Moral Traditions of Abundant Life.Nairobi: Pauline Publications, 1997
Mbiti, John S. African Religions and Philosophy, Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers, 1969
Nkemnkia, Martin Nkafu, African Vitalogy : A Step Forward in African Thinking. Nairobi: Paulines Publications, 1999.