The Ethos in African tradition refers to the spiritual feeling Substance (defined as the Spirit of God in any of God's creations) and its trademark feature is a sense of belonging. This results from a commonality in heritage, experiences, and culture.
"Special minds" were created in many African American slaves from the shattering of their ethos and world viewâ€"the two foundational stones in the structure of a "We" society. This story began with the onset of the few people, constituting the earliest African culture, agreeing on the rules of "how we ought to live" (C. Williams, Destruction of Black Civilization p 26, 175; Gyekye, African Philosophical Thought p 194; Diop in Asante, African Intellectual p 207). Through trial and error they perfected their folkways (non-moral customs) and mores (moral customs).
Folkways are the rules covering customary ways of thinking, of experiencing emotional attitudes, of expressing verbally and non-verbally, and of behaving. By lacking moral overtones, folkways, in contrast to mores, were (and are) not considered vital to the welfare of the group. Typically they arose (and arise) from the pursuit of pleasure and the avoidance of painâ€"the two non-spiritual fundamental guides of human nature. Within these limitations, habits are acquired and imitated by others and retained as long as they provide satisfaction and pleasure. Mores are expressed in Manners (spiritual feeling interconnections displayed by caring).
When the folkways and particularly the mores were harmonized into a mutual support and everything related to them worked well together with force, efficiency (done quickly, smoothly, and without wasted time or energy), and effectiveness (able to cause the desired result because it was in the flow of the natural), the early African group had harmony and unityâ€"i.e. an ethos. In other words, they had a power conspicuous in some one direction, as occurs with group prayer.
Thereafter, African children and those children's children were socialized in the cultural patterns of the group so that each individual knew how to act and what to believe. As a result, the entire group was in harmonyâ€"at least to a degree that "We" members could live more or less peacefully with each other. When all these consistent characteristics were collected and synthesized over time into harmony and unity, the Greeks termed it ethos. To them, ethos represented moral character, a person's nature, or one's dispositionâ€"meaning the underlying and distinctive character or spirit of a people, a group, or a culture.
The ethos of a group is seldom recognized by the "We" members of that group. Nevertheless, knowing, accepting, and following the rules of one's people is how ethos is cultivated and the people's psychological responses and automatic reactions are how ethos is expressed. As small groups of early Africans migrated away from the original village group they kept this same ethos and no doubt added whatever helped them stay bound together as a "We" group. Each member knew any choice one made took form in actions invariably having a ripple effect throughout the communal ethos. Hence, individually chosen acts entailed responsibility and accountability to elders to ensure the entire group benefited. By conforming, the individual avoided punishment and stayed subordinate to a communally shared code of morals.
When Africans were brought to the Americas as slaves, the ethos of each was shattered. They had no one to whom they could turn for help. Lacking experience in being an isolated individual, there was total inner emptiness from a lack of a sense of belonging. No longer was there any accountability to their ancestors or to the gods because the slaves believed both groups had deserted them. Furthermore, they lost the five fundamentals that bind together the selfhoodâ€"a sense of stability, safety, security, sureness, and strength. A loss of ethos constituted a mindset characterized by Spiritual painâ€"an interruption of the flow of love coming in to and going out of each slave. Nothing can relieve spiritual pain except the resumption of the flow of love. Since this never occurred, their minds were on a special plane of anguish and agony existence.
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Joseph A. Bailey, II, M.D.
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