Michael Battle

Ubuntu and Contemplation: How an Indigenous African Philosophy Maps Our Spiritual Path to Global Community - Presented by Michael Battle

An online Zoom Workshop

Cost: $50

Saturday, May 13, 2023

8:30 – 11:30 am Mountain Time

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Registration for this event is managed by Contemplative Outreach of Chicago

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Emerging from the ancient cultural traditions of sub-Saharan Africa, the deeply communitarian philosophy known as Ubuntu challenges Western habits of mind in ways that complement and complete the experience of contemplation. In this workshop, we hope to bring together people from diverse backgrounds who share an interest in contemplation. Together we will learn about Ubuntu as we pray through, think about and practice how to release the natural unity the Holy Spirit constantly offers the world. Grasping the message of Ubuntu is a big step toward the ability to love our neighbors as ourselves.

The workshop is sponsored by Contemplative Outreach chapters in Chicago, Atlanta, Colorado, and Maryland/Washington DC. and New York, along with Metanoia Journey (Austin) and Closer Than Breath.

Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me

by Michael Battle

Since we started talking about this workshop, many people have asked, “So, what is Ubuntu, exactly?” The following paragraphs come from Michael Battle’s 2009 book, Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me. We hope that these excerpts can begin to build an appreciation for Ubuntu, and that you will choose to join us on May 13 to learn more.

Ubuntu is an African concept of personhood in which the identity of the self is understood to be formed interdependently through community. This is a difficult worldview for many Westerners who tend to understand self as over and against others or as in competition with others…

Ubuntu is the interdependence of persons for the exercise, development, and fulfillment of their potential to be both individuals and community... On a social scale, Ubuntu implies more than just a nonracial, non-sexist, and non-exploitative society. Rather it is a touchstone by which the quality of a society has to be continually tested, no matter what ideology is reigning. Ubuntu must be incorporated not only in the society of the future but also in the process of the struggle toward that future…

So, while Ubuntu may have an unfamiliar sound to Western ears, probing its deeper meanings promises to help (us) understand five important points:

1. Self-identity is not optimally formed through competition.
2. Community is elusive and requires skill to see it.
3. Ubuntu expands our horizons.
4. Ubuntu deepens our spirituality.
5. The development of a "communal self" requires practice…

Rather than reinforcing competitive ways of knowing self, Ubuntu offers a way of discovering self-identity through interdependence. As such, it is possible to argue that my very salvation is dependent on yours - radical stuff for Western ears to hear, yet vital to the survival of the earth…

Ubuntu teaches us that the only true way to know self is in community…In our individual consciousness we cannot see ourselves as primarily white people, black people, Irish people, women, men, low income, gay, conservative. Ubuntu reorients our vision. In our individual consciousness, we must learn to see self in the other -- the greatest other being God. When we go into our closets and pray alone, we do not talk to ourselves -- we would truly be crazy then -- no, we acknowledge a community already present with us. We acknowledge a relatedness that only some have eyes to see. Our relatedness is in Christ.

(The book Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me is available directly from Michael Battle’s website or from Amazon and other booksellers.)

About Michael Battle

The Very Rev. Michael Battle, Ph.D. is a featured keynote speaker and leader of many clergy and lay retreats. Some readers may remember his very inspiring workshop from January 2022, Releasing an Enslaved Spirit. He is the Herbert Thompson Professor of Church and Society and Director of the Desmond Tutu Center at General Theological Seminary in New York. Through his PeaceBattle Institute, he works on subjects of diversity, spirituality, prayer, race and reconciliation. He has also served as chaplain to Archbishop Desmond Tutu, Congressman John Lewis, the Episcopal House of Bishops and, in 2008, was chaplain to the global Lambeth Conference of Anglican Bishops.

Michael has published eleven books, including Ubuntu: I in You and You in Me (2009) and his latest: Desmond Tutu: A Spiritual Biography of South Africa’s Confessor. He has an undergraduate degree from Duke University, received his master’s of Divinity from Princeton Theological Seminary, a master’s of Sacred Theology from Yale University and a Ph.D. in theology and ethics, also from Duke University. He was ordained a priest by Archbishop Tutu in 1993.
Click here to read more on Michael Battle’s website.

Registration Note: Registration for this event is managed by Contemplative Outreach of Chicago. The Register button below will take you to their registration page.

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