An understanding of spirituality

 Some scientists view Africa as the mother continent of the entire world's people. Africa has a very rich heritage of what previous generations of African people thought, did, experienced and passed on to their children. However, this heritage is not uniform. Mbiti (1991:4-10) describes the heritage under the following three headings: firstly, historical heritage - where he describes African life in general; secondly, the cultural heritage - the way people act and live as well as their physical and intellectual achievements; and thirdly, he refers to religious heritage. He indicates that religious heritage may also be viewed as culture. According to the researcher, these three distinctions are so closely related that it can be captured under the umbrella term spirituality. Spirituality is not always religious but is always concerned with the quest for meaning of life. When such a quest involves an explicit reference to God or the Divine, then that spirituality is religious (Amanze 2011 ; Wellman, Perkins & Wellman 2009:1):

'Spirituality' then is not defined by an explicit set of religious beliefs or practices. On the contrary, spirituality does not need religion at all to define itself … Spirituality, therefore, is more about how people identify themselves, how they view the world, interact with others, and make decisions.

Thinking about spirituality in Africa, this understanding of spirituality is most applicable, as it complements the holistic African worldview.

According to this understanding, Africa is a continent with a vast plethora of spiritualities - some of which originated on African soil and others developed through contact with people from other countries and continents. It needs to be stressed that there is not just one single African spirituality, although many of the characteristics of the African spiritualities are alike, but it may have different interpretations. It is in this regard that Nürnberger (2007) states:

Religions are not a fixed and watertight systems of meaning, but subject to internal change and external impact. Moreover, if genuine, they respond to changing needs and perceptions of reality. Religious assumptions are always in historical flux, integrating elements from outside, reacting to new experiences, producing new intuitions. What matters in particular cases is not the ostensibly 'original' form of an African spirituality, which may or may not have been practised centuries ago, but its present, living form. (p. 35)

An important remark to frame this article is defining who is considered African. Is it defined by geography (the continent)? Alternatively, is it defined by skin colour, or what criteria is used to define an African? Within this article, an African will be defined in terms of spirituality according to the understanding of Wellman et al. (2009:1) as indicated above. Therefore, it needs to be noticed that, in discussing Africa's spiritual phenomena today, we need to be aware of and distinguish between: (1) the original traditionalist religion; (2) the impact of Christianity; (3) the impact of modernity; and (4) the current postmodern culture. Although original African traditionalism is rarely found today, together with the impact of Christianity, it still influences the worldview of many Africans, for example over 12 000 young Africans participated in initiation schools in Mpumalanga province in South Africa during 2018. Most African people are somewhere on the way to modernity in tandem with large-scale urbanisation. Especially young (African) people in the cities have largely become part of the global modern-postmodern African culture. The same is largely true for the political and economic elites. Aware of these distinctions that need to be made, this article will mostly attend to the original traditionalist beliefs that still affect the African families. Equally important, an influence on African families, covered in this article in a bird eye view is the impact of modernisation and post modernisation or globalisation.

 

Africa's spiritual phenomena: A description

Introduction

Africa spirituality can be described or understood from the following characteristics: beliefs, practices, ceremonies and festivals, religious objects and places, values and norms as well as religious officials and leaders (Mbiti 1991). Amanze (2011:13) says:

African spirituality as [is] a scenario of tension between local and foreign forces utilizing spiritual means in order to try and resolve that tension. African spirituality in this case is not a fixed collection of spiritual means which might be labelled specifically African. Many such spiritual means are imported intercontinentally from outside Africa from such world religions as Christianity and Islam. All in all … in principle African spirituality is a political scenario devoid of specific cultural content.

Although spirituality in Africa may be viewed as a political scenario, Africa Traditional Religion (ATR) and spirituality are very much intertwined. Tshaka (2016:95) even argues that Africa is a creation of the West. Mbiti (1991:17-19) describes ATR as incorrectly called 'ancestor worship', 'superstition', 'animism' or 'paganism', 'magic' or 'fetish'. However, there are different opinions on this from other African scholars such as Amanze (2011), arguing that the spirits of the ancestors freely interact with the living; Nürnberger (2007) who describes the importance and embeddedness of ancestor veneration in African spirituality; Turaki (2001) who describes the uniqueness of Christ; and Bediako (1995) describing Christianity in Africa and from an African perspective. Although there are no sacred writings on ATR, it is recognisable in almost every aspect of the life in Africa. Mbiti (1991:20-30) indicates that it is found in rituals, ceremonies and festivals of Africans, in shrines, sacred places and religious objects, in art and symbols, music and dance, proverbs, riddles and sayings, names of people and places, myths and legends, beliefs and customs - indeed in every aspect of life. Amanze (2011:1) describes the 'six marks of authentic spirituality namely: contemplative awareness, effective action in the world, emphasis on community, a disposition to openness, non-dualistic thinking, and discernment', indicating that African spirituality adheres to these six marks. The article use these six marks to describe Africa's traditional spiritual phenomena and indicating the influence on African families.