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Mwe – from Me to We

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With the moving of the Spirit, it’s inherent to our being, for where the Spirit abides there’s always unity

-Dr Barbara Holmes

One common theme that runs through my writings is the oneness of it all.  A second is how limiting the English language is, working against the creation – the perpetuation – the growth of – the unbounded set that is our world.  Today’s post follows those two throughlines.  Enjoy.

I was born and grew up in Tanzania, East Africa.  I also was schooled in an International School in my primary and secondary education.  From that comes the feeling of coming home in Foli – life dancing (Foli is the Malinke word describing that all is movement – kinetic energy – from the Baro tribe), Ubuntu (in you I see me), in greeting Shikamoo/Marahaba or Sawubona.  In that spirit I share the concept of Mupasi, extending and reinforcing from anthropocentric eye to community beyond. 

Mupasi is an African description of the spirit that dwells within all of us – individual, but also communal. As Kuzipa Nalmaba says, “Mupasi is understood as cosmic spirit, the axis of the universe apprehended as an organic whole. The web of life was brought into being, is sustained by, and inhabited by Mupasi.”  It is that voice that weaves all our lives (sentient and non) into an inseparable bond, making reailty one whole, giving kinship to all of us. The Anthropocene is let go so we experience the warm embrace of the Biocene.  We are at home once more.

The concept of Mupasi is universal as we quickly travel through other cultures to more familiar Western thought.  We find it in the idea of chi (qi) which will be familiar to those who engage in practices such as yoga, tai chi, qigong, and accupuncture.  The Egyptians call this  Ma’at, and Hindus call it prana.  In the Roman Catholic faith we have the concept of God being one, yet also 3-in-1, of which one persona is spirit.  

36“Teacher,* which commandment in the law is the greatest?”

37j He said to him,* “You shall love the Lord, your God, with all your heart, with all your soul, and with all your mind.

38This is the greatest and the first commandment.

39k The second is like it:* You shall love your neighbor as yourself.

matthew 22:36-39

In the context of our current exploration these words of loving our neighbors resonate. Being relational is not just a little anecdote or possibility.

Welcome to LOVE.  Welcome to the Biocene.

Some further readings in no particular order that you may be interested in if you enjoyed the above: