HUMAN
PERSONALITY
The human person in the
African traditional thought is a member of the universe. The human person is a
major existent in the entire cosmos. He/she is the link between the spiritual
and the material world. This human person is a complementary composite of
diverse parts of which of which an immaterial substance (soul or spirit/mind)
and a substance (body) are the most outstanding units.[1]
The human personality
is a very complex structure whose operation can be understood in terms of the
power and the interactions of both the spirit and the material substances. The
powers of these two components of the human person give rise to the basic
natural placement of the human person. With them the three aspects of the human
person are realized: the transcendental, the communal and the individual.[2]
These contribute to constitute personal identity, which is always in need of
perfectibility.[3]
Sequel to the above, a
better explanation of the human person will be made under two zones namely: the
first; which is the internal and which has the features of the body, mind and
soul, and the second; which is the external and which is the socio-communal
perspective that expresses the internal.
The body is the visible
part of the human person which perishes and becomes earth at death.[4]
This body is not a pure spirit but a corporeal being. The person in this
context is embodied. He has a body. He is not a spirit or a disembodied
invisible being. The body is composed of flesh, bone and blood. It can be
perceived through the senses.[5] By
not being a spirit pure and simple, he is a human being. As such, he is not an
extraordinary being, with spectacular identity of supra natural constitution
and power.[6]
And he is not an invisible element that can perform the supernatural actions
that the spirits perform. He is ordinary like all other beings that are sand
and ashes. By being a body, the human person is limited, fragile, contingent
and merely human. Thus, the conclusion becomes that part of the essence of the
human person is the human body.
This material aspect of
the human person is so important that it is valued and respected. Much care is
taken to preserve it and promote its health, since death to it means an end to
its existence in the present world.[7]
The spiritual element
of the human person is basically two namely: the soul and the mind. The soul is
used interchangeably with “spirit”. The spirit is another aspect of the human
person which is the spiritual, the invisible and the determinant of
ontological-transcendental being and the functioning of the human person. The
spirit is thus the indestructible immortal element that leaves the body at
death.
There is this belief
that the spirit survives after the death of a person and it supra empirical.
Africans believe that it is the spirit that has travelled at death to the land of
the spirit to sojourn with the ancestors. The spirit is the life giving force
of the human person. That is why when it leaves the body, the death of the
human person is said to have occurred leaving the body in a state of
lifelessness, corruption and disintegration of the human person. Without the
spirit, the human person is a mere body, a non-living body. The spirit at death
departs into separate existence in the spiritual realm and at the same time may
reincarnate and is born into life again.[8]
Another component of
the spiritual element of the human person is the mind. The mind is the human
person’s faculty of intellection or rational operations around which such
activities as thinking or thought, knowledge, understanding, memory and will
revolve.[9] It
is the capacity possessed by individuals to think or the outcome of the
exercise of the capacity to think.[10]
The human mind has a more superior position over the body even if it can be
incorporated. It is the very center of the human person as in it is the flow of
consciousness and actions of the person. Interestingly, Africans believe that
the mind is not a substance or an entity that constitutes part of the natural
make-up of each human person.[11]
The accurate functioning of the mind gives the clear understanding that man is
a rational being.
Despite the different
substances that define the human person, the African believe that the human
person is one. The human person can never be conceptualized in a fragmented
mode but it is a complementary unit that forms a whole. Hence, the totality of
the human personality is involved in the execution of the basic human acts that
emanated from these substances.
Another composite of
the human person that is more of external is the social nature of the human
person. Africans see the human person as a being with others. The first contact
one has with reality is human contact. This is expressed in the family and soon
in the community. The community consciousness resounded to constitute the
backdrop of a person’s realization of his consciousness as a person, distinct
but already immersed in one’s community. Hence, the identity of a person is
constituted by the community.[12]
The human person does not have the definition of self outside the community. To
be a person is to be a being with others. Thus, though a person is a distinct
individual, he/she is a member society of the society. Finally, the human
person is internally composed of the spiritual and material element. These two
elements interact to define the human person. Externally, the human person is a
being with others.
DEATH
AND AFTER LIFE
Is there life after
death? In what form will the existence afterlife be like? Is there an
afterlife? Contrary to the popular view that the end of life is death, Africans
believe and affirm that the end of death is life.[13]
Two facts are very central to the philosophy of death and after-life in Africa
namely: death and reincarnation. While death is the end of the life on earth
and a beginning of another life in the land of the spirits, reincarnation is a
passage from the spirit-world to this present world.[14]
With regard to the
survival of the human person after death, Africans maintain that this continued
existence is imaginable only as a totality. For them, the soul or spirit is not
only immaterial but a reflection of the totality of the human person as it survives
after death, such that this spiritualized body must have its faculties and the
capacity to perform its operation freely intact. This is why the spirit goes to
the land of the living dead or land of the spirits and can be omnipresent, at
the same time, as situations require.[15]
Africans firmly believe
in the notion of the sacredness of the human person; for the human body is capable
of continued existence after death in the land of the living dead or land of
the spirits. The physical decay of the body is a consequence of the
corporeality of the human body but the real body which is the spirit continues
its existence after death and constitutes an integral part of the totality that
is evident in its reappearance as corporeal spirits, as re-personated or
reincarnated bodies.[16]
The idea of
reincarnation offers us more understanding of the African conceptualization of
death and afterlife. Reincarnation involves a return, after death, of a human
person to continue his or her earthly existence. The belief is that this
reincarnated person is coming back to complete the mission he or she was
assigned by the Supreme Being. In most cases, the reincarnated person shows
concrete signs of his or her former person. This is significant in the bodily
marks, discernable character and personality traits and the ability even to
remember events of the previous life.
The question of death
and afterlife concerns the idea of immortality of the human person. To arrive
at an explanation of this idea, Africans strongly believe that the earthly
existence is not the only existence there is. They believe that after the life
on earth through the occurrence of death, another life begins in the land of
the spirits. Interestingly, Africans metaphysics maintains that the life after
death is of two folds namely: the life of the ancestors and the life of the
reincarnated human person into lower animals. While the life of the ancestors
is a reward for the goodness of one’s life on earth, the other is a punishment
for the evil life lived on earth. Hence, although death is a painful reality,
it is a link for the life on earth and life beyond: the afterlife.
ANCESTORS
Ancestors are the
living dead. The life of the ancestors is the continuation of life after death
and is succinctly explains the African belief in the idea of immortality. One
becomes an ancestor immediately after death if and only if he live a very good
life on earth; for while the evil me will reincarnate into lower animals at
death as a punishment, one becomes an ancestor as a reward of the goodness of
his life on earth.
The ancestors live in
the land of the spirits or the ancestral world. From here they care for their
families still living here on earth. And from here too they reincarnate.[17]
Ancestral spirits exist in big number and play important roles of protecting
and caring for their kith and kin. The idea of an eternal transcendent space is
co-joined with the idea of corporeality to arrive at an idea of the living
dead, land of the spirits or the ancestors.[18]
The respect and values given to the ancestors gave rise to ancestral worship.
Ancestral worship which
is reverence granted to deceased relatives who are believed to have become
powerful spiritual beings or, less frequently, to have attained the status of
gods. It is based on the belief that ancestors are active members of the society
and are still interested I the affairs of their living relatives.[19]
Hence, the Igbo man pours wine of oblation to the ancestral spirits every morning;
in thanksgiving for the life and in petition for more favours.
The cult of ancestors
is common among the Africans. Ancestors are believed to wield great authority,
having special powers to influence the course of events or to control the
well-being of their living relatives. Protection of the family is one of their
main concerns. They are considered intermediaries between the supreme god, or
the gods, and the people, and can communicate with the living through dreams
and by possession. The attitude towards them is one of mixed fear and
reverence. If neglected, the ancestors may cause disease and other misfortunes.
Propitiation, supplication, prayer, and sacrifice are various ways in which the
living can communicate with their ancestors. Ancestor worship is a strong
indication of the value placed on the household and of the strong ties that
exist between the past and the present.
With this value of the
ancestors, the African is specially trilled to become an ancestor. Hence, every
normal Igbo longs to join the ancestral world after his life to commune with
his forbears in a happy continued existence.[20]
AFRICAN
TRADITIONAL RELIGION
The African traditional
religion finds its expression in the belief on the existence of hierarchy of
spirits in the entire universe. There are mainly three groups of spirits
namely: the Supreme Being (God), the lesser spirits (small gods) and the spirit
of the ancestors. It is in their relationship with these spirits that the true
nature of African traditional religion manifests.
Africans recognize a
supreme being/deity (Chukwu in Igbo, Olodumare in Yoruba), which can be
approached personally and through innumerable lesser deities and through the
instrumentality of numerous sacred objects.[21]
This Supreme Being is taken as the greatest spirit who manifests his power
through a pantheon of gods: below these are lesser spirits with animate trees,
animals or charms.[22]
The attachment to the
supernatural defined as religion is expressed in sacrifice, ritual, prayer and
other forms of worship and celebration. There is a progression from symbol to
ritual. Hence, the religious symbols and objects range from the animate to the
inanimate, from plants and animals to mountains and seas; from bush and trees
to fish and reptiles; from weird to the most sublime ate.[23]
The Supreme Being is
seen as the all-powerful and the creator of the universe. He accounts for the
origin and the end of all creatures. Hence, fervent worship is given to it for
favours and in thanksgiving for favours received. The practical and concrete
preoccupation with the activities of the life of human beings is the concern of
the gods. In fact, the gods constitute the font of the resolution of problems,
conflicts and the continued administration of communal life.[24]
More so, there is this
belief that these gods carry the face of persons in the sense of being the
expressions of the human desires: peace and security, family, fertility, wealth
and long life, strength and progeny. These are symbolized in the different
lesser gods in African religion such as the god of fertility, god of thunder,
god of wealth etc. they all have different functions and people call on them
for those functions.
African traditional
religion recognizes the role and place of the chief priest or priestess. This
group of people are specially chosen by the gods from birth for the service at
the shrine. They play the role of the intermediary between the people and the
gods. This brings about the respect and honour given to this people especially
in the utmost acceptance of whatever they say that comes from the gods.
Religion in the
traditional African society places more respect on things related to it. Hence
the attitude of sacredness is attached to religion and all matters related to
it.
AFRICAN
COSMOLOGY
What is the universe
made up of? What definitive components make-up the entire universe in African
thought? The world for the African philosopher is more than the material world.
World which means “Uwa” in Igbo culture is taken to be the sum of existence,
from God to inanimate beings of the cosmos. The world includes all reality
ranging from animate and inanimate, visible and invisible.[25]
Thus, the cosmos is not just the physical world but also includes the spiritual
world.
Africans see existence
as partly physical and partly spiritual. And there is an interrelationship of
both the sensible and the non-sensible world. The sensible world is the
physical world and perceptible world inhabited by human beings, animals, plants
and inanimate things. The non-sensible part of reality is the non-perceptible
and spiritual world. Unlike some non-African of these two aspects of reality,
Africans construe the two aspects of reality as interlocking and having a
continuous and reciprocal influence on each other.[26]
This is clearly expressed in African ontology.
African ontology
recognizes a hierarchy of beings and by extension a hierarchy of realities. The
Supreme Being occupies the apex of the ontological hierarchy, followed by a
multiplicity of gods or deities and then an array of ancestral spirits. These
spiritual beings occupy the spiritual realm of reality and as such are not
visible or perceptible to the senses. On the other hand, human beings and other
physical creatures occupy the natural physical and visible world.[27]
African cosmology has
it that the spiritual entities are invisible but that does not negate their
reality; for they are considered to be real, if not more real that the entities
that can be directly understood empirically. This is the case because Africans
believe that the physical reality is dependent on the spiritual world for its
meaning and sustenance.[28]
However, Africans do
not because of the dependence of the physical world on the spiritual world
consider the physical world less real or inferior to the spiritual world.
Rather, the two realms are believed to be equally real.
Finally, the two realms are believed to
constitute a continuum, with the possibility of the spiritual entities and at
least some of the physical entities, especially human beings, migrating at will
between the physical and the spiritual realms. Based on their belief in the
afterlife, Africans maintain that the spiritual world especially the ancestral
world is made of people who just migrate from the physical world to the
spiritual due to d
[1]
Innocent I. Asouzu, the Method and
Principles of Contemporary Reflection in and beyond African Philosophy, (Calabar:
University of Calabar Press, 2004), p.148.
[2]
Anthony Chukwuemeka Okonkwo SDB, Destined Beyond, (Nigeria: Don Bosco
Publications, 2010), p.66.
[3]
Pantaleon Iroegbu, Metaphysics: The Kpim
of Philosophy, (Owerri, International Universities Press LTD, 1995), P.80.
[4]
T. Uzodimma Nwala, Igbo philosophy, Third Edition, (New York: Triatlantic Books Ltd.
2010), p.58.
[5]
Innocent I. Asouzu (ed), Philosophy and
Logic Today, (Calabar: University of Calabar Press, 2002). P.211.
[6]
Pantheon Iroegbu, op. cit., p.352.
[7]
Ibid
[8]
T. Uzodimma Nwala, op, cit., p.58.
[9]
Innocent I. Asouzu, The Method and
Principles of Complementary Reflection in and beyond African philosophy, op.
cit., p.150.
[10]
Kwassi Wiredu, The AkanConcept of Mind,
(Ibadan: Journal of Humanistic Studies, No.3, 1983), p.120.
[11]
Adebola B. Ekanola, “Metaphysical Issues in African Philosophy” in Olusegu
Oladipo (ed), Core issues in African philosophy, ( Ibadan: Hope Publication
Ltd, 2006), p.80.
[12]
Pantheon Iroegbu, op. cit., p.355.
[13]
Alabi S. Yekini, “African Metaphysics”in Innocent I. Asouzu (ed), Philosophy
and Logic Today, (Calabar: University of Calabar Press, 2002), p.215.
[14]
Pantheon Iroegbu, op. cit., p.312.
[15]
Innocent I. Asouzu, The Method and
Principles of Complementary Reflection in and beyond African philosophy, op.
cit., p.168.
[16]
Ibid.
[17]
Pantheon Iroegbu, op. cit., p.341.
[18]
Innocent I. Asouzu, The Method and
Principles of Complementary Reflection in and beyond African philosophy, op.
cit., p.168.
[19]
Saliba, John A. “Ancestor worship”. Microsoft
Encarta 2009 [DVD]. Redmond, WA: Microsoft corporation, 2008.
[20]
Pantheon Iroegbu, op. cit., p.341.
[21]
Innocent I. Asouzu, The Method and
Principles of Complementary Reflection in and beyond African philosophy, op.
cit., p.177.
[22]
Alabi S. Yekini, op. cit., p.212.
[23]
Innocent I. Asouzu, The Method and
Principles of Complementary Reflection in and beyond African philosophy, op.
cit., p.176.
[24]
Pantheon Iroegbu, op. cit., p.296.
[25]
Pantheon Iroegbu, op. cit., p.339.
[26]
Chinua Achebe, “Chi in Igbo Cosmology” in Emmanuel Chukwudi Eze (ed), African philosophy: An Anthology (Massachusetts:
Blackwell Publishers, 1998, p.67-73.
[27]
Adebola B. Ekanola, op. cit., p.76.
[28]
Oladipo, “Metaphysics, Religion and Yoruba Traditional Thought” (Indian Journal
of Philosophical Research, Vol. VII. No. 2, Jan- April, 1990. P.69.
