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JAB's Chair Dedication Speech (Part II) |
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As opposed African Tradition whereby God is the foundational base, for the Ancient Greeks it was man-centeredness. Since Greece was the starting point of Western civilization and since the Renaissance was about the rebirth of ancient classics, man-centeredness in the 16th century, exploded into a host of "self" related words.
Examples include individualist, individualism, and the "7H" ("h" for Homo, meaning man) words -- humanitarian, humanism, humanist, human, humane, humanity, and humanities. The "charity" concept inside the word humanity clearly shows a distinction between African and European concepts.
In African Tradition, charity means the oneness of all within the context of showing love to one's fellows. By contrast, in the Western world, charity is typically thought of as members of the audience giving the benefit of the doubt to questionable statements of the speaker. For Ancient Africans, Spiritual Feelings were adjacent to the soul (i.e. human's image of God); Psychical Feelings (dealing with emotions) were adjacent to spiritual feelings; and Physical Feelings were adjacent to psychical feelings and in contact with the material world.
The Renaissance created "self" or man-centered words relating to interpersonal relationships were of a psychical feeling nature. Two representative words characterizing psychical feelings are "sympathy" (feeling sorry about the pain and suffering of another) and "empathy" (either putting oneself in another's position so as to gain an idea of how another is feeling or "feeling things together").
Note that psychical associations with another do not involve the intertwining of the people involved; that the veil placed between the people involved is a choice directed toward certain people and not others; and that whatever is felt is not only an acquired preference but derives from a place outside one's real self.
The crucial point is that although in psychical associations there may be a bond or two of connection, there remain gaping holes of separation. These holes display as communication problems between men/men, women/women, men/women, doctor/attorney, and cultures/nations. To rise above these communication problems is to relate through spiritual feelings, as occurs between mother and body.
A representative word for Afrocentric spiritual feelings is "compassion" whereby you become one with the pain and suffering of another to the extent of feeling compelled to immediately do something to cure it, to relieve it, or to release it. The intertwine of becoming one with another is so much a part of African Tradition that the motto of its sense of community is: "Because we are, therefore I am."
In my teaching and mentoring interactions with "bad dudes" of the inner city, it is evident they are disconnected from both psychical feelings and spiritual feelings. However, with Black American youth, there is no point in trying to relate to and/or to guide them from the level of psychical feelings because they cannot conceive of "psychical intimacy." Rather, "the glue" holding the sense of community "togetherness" can only come through spiritual feelings because the Afrocentric considered them as a "natural synthesis."
For non-Black people desiring to relate to Black people, establishing intimacy through spiritual feelings is the only way. This approach begins by having recognition of, respect for, and an appreciation concerning the Substance within every member of the fellowship to the point of feeling harmony and unity.
To conclude, my purpose in life is to contribute to: (1) gathering Ancient African history, African American history, and lifeskills so as to put the essential pieces into some understandable order; (2) to somehow introduce or reintroduce to Black youth the African Tradition as the foundation for their success; (3) to give Black people back their stolen history in order to assist in reconnecting with their roots; (4) to provide lifeskills concepts for practical problem-solving; and (5) to aid cross-cultural communications.
website: jablifeskills.com
Joseph A. Bailey, II, M.D.
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