Jill Rees: Welcome Press

Although largely dismissed in the UK, Descartes’ main arguments, the argument of duality, that the spiritual can affect the physical, is one of the mainstays of Western thought and is the skeleton of western science, considered to be the ultimate in logical and scientific thinking since Aristotle laid the ground rule that ‘A thing cannot be both A and not A. This is in contrast to eastern philosophy. In Chinese thinking, Daoism says that all things are one, and the eastern philosophy constantly seeks consensus. Life is the important thing, the totality of a man’s life and what he leaves behind him is his judge, community and harmony are the aim of society.

Contemporary thinkers tend to suggest that this western commitment to dualism is the cause of most of our evils and our problems. It leads us to use competition against the common good, to accept personal ambition above social needs, to destroy our environment and wider concerns for short term comforts and pleasures. Descartes believed, like the Bible, that animals were automata, subservient to whatever uses we wished to put them to, and that the human being was the primary and superior entity on this planet. Our carelessness about other creatures is now leading to mass extinctions caused by man’s usurping of the natural environment. Once the eco-cycle is destroyed, humankind may well follow the species we have chased into oblivion.

Nevertheless, determining to follow the dualistic way of thinking has enabled us to take ideas apart, into the thesis and hypothesis, in order to investigate them systematically. This has led to our being able to devise engineering and electronic materials and environments which enable us to cure disease, to travel by air, use the binary systems of computers, as well as submission of animals and the sublimating of our natural feelings and needs to growth and profit. We are increasingly able to understand scientifically this world we inhabit, and use our scientific knowledge to change our lives for the better in many cases. We have become like gods, with an understanding of good and evil, and able to perform miracles.

It has also led to racism, to nationalism, to shooting from the hip, imperialism and using each other to our own purpose, to materialism, to believing that everything will be alright if we confess on our death bed. We believe that God is ‘out there’ and will save us, no matter how we behave now. We hope for a heaven, as well as this earth, and that there will be somewhere for us to go once we have destroyed this planet. We think God will repair it again after we have broken it.

In the west everything is in tension and is adversarial. We lack the idea that life works as a harmony, with everything which exists serving a purpose in its own way. Today, a friend was explaining to me about the different tribes and peoples of Nigeria. He said some were known for their intellectual strength and for valuing education, another for their famous business acumen, and a third for their social outlook and caring attitudes. My reaction was how well these suit each other, they must make up the wonderful society that is Nigeria, but he went on to say how each thinks it is the best, and the most worthy to run the nation, and so are always in conflict, sometimes at war. In the UK too, we have always had the different peoples, the English, Welsh, Irish and Scottish, who were adversaries for so long. But it is peace and working in respect and in unity that makes us strong.

A saying from the East says:

"Cherry, plum, peach and damson blossoms all have their own qualities, and they manifest the three properties of life without changing their character." Each one of us contributes our own unique qualities through the role we play in society. The cherry flower is renowned for its beauty; many people enjoy seeing the cherry blossoms in the spring. The plum blooms in late winter,while other flowers usually bloom in the spring, and it, too, is known for its beauty. According to an old Chinese tradition, peaches are said to bring longevity and ward off evil. The damson flower’s appearance is different from the others, but it is associated with assiduousness and perseverance. Each of these flowers is unique, it is an example of how each human being is unique. In the same way, the differences between individuals and groups of people can be seen as complementary, rather than in conflict. By working and living together we can create a holistic and healthy society in which everyone can be happy.

The African philosopher Maulana Karenga created the philosophy of Kawaida, which is intended to be an ongoing understanding of African thought, in which culture is the central concern, what it is to be and to feel both African and human in the fullest sense. It means using one’s sense of self to establish wholesome, genuinely African, harmonious communities of culture which can function within Africa and the international scene. Usually based on the narrative ancient histories and wisdoms of the various African peoples, it seeks to bring all cultures together into a comprehensively holistic way of life and way of communication. It is a liberation from colonialism, and also an escape from conflict. Kawaida follows from ancient African philosophy, which had more of the oriental idea of the unity of nature and less of the European dualism, and which exists now in the stories and songs of traditional communities still remaining in the rural areas.

The academic rigour of the Ibo, the business acumen of the Yoruba and the social sensitivity of the Hausa, along with the other 316 peoples currently inhabiting this vast land of Nigeria, even making use maybe of a touch of British strategic planning from the intimate links many Nigerians have with the UK, can all come together with the common desire to from one great nation. The precision and analytical skills of Cartesian dualism can be coupled with the quest for harmony within society and in this way enable human life to continue to develop, but in a way which fits with our environment and which is sustainable. That sense of place, of our surroundings and of the truth about our current state, is the realism which will enable Nigeria to become a beacon of harmony and happiness for the rest of Africa and eventually the entire world.

‘United we are strong’, we say, ‘divided we fall’. Usually that’s about football, but I think it applies to everything!

©Jill Rees

20 May 2008

1,112 words

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Tags: Africa, east and west, environment, Kawaida, Nigeria, Philosophy