Polyrhythmicity : Foundations of African Philosophy 9781905068197

Citation preview

Polyrhythmicity Foundations of African Philosophy

Published by Adonis & Abbey Publishers Ltd P.O. Box 43418 London SE11 4XZ http://www.adonis-abbey.com

First Edition January 2006

Copyright © Kofi Kissi Dompere

British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library

ISBN 0-905068-18-2 (paperback) 0-905068-19-0 (Cloth)

The moral right of the author has been asserted

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted at any time or by any means without the prior permission of the publisher

Cover Design: MegaGraphix

Printed and bound in Great Britain by Lightning Source UK Ltd.

Polyrhythmicity Foundations of African Philosophy

By Kofi Kissi Dompere

DEDICATION There is an increasing demand in Africa The demand is placed on The African youth of today and tomorrow. A distinct objective of unity In cognition and socio-political organization Definds the circumference of this demand. The satisfaction of the demand requires a thinking society A thinking society with cognitive independence In thought, reasoning and practice of ideas. Such independence requires a directing hand That points to the objective of new Africa With an unshakable conviction for African unity, In that in the principle of unity shall Africa find Her strength, creativity, emancipation and progress In the fields of knowledge creation and use. This principle must not be compromised in any form. Indivisibility it is. The keeping of its wholeness must it be. This is the demand on African youth of today and tomorrow As intellectual rebels To whom this book is dedicated; And also to other intellectuals who seek New path of global cognition and paradigm of thinking, And to the African philosophers Who are gone, who are here, and those that are coming. Finally to the Creative Force, Spirit Force and Light Force The Trinity who holds the key To unknown knowledge and hence human ignorance

iv

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The growth and development of the diameter of individual cognition arise from the perception of individual and collective exigencies. This diameter and perceptions that shape it not only define the circumference of one’s vision but are always influenced either negatively or positively by the impacts of social infrastructure, institutions that define limitations of reasoning, global events and the dominant socio-scientific ideology that has taken hold of the society with recognition that the universe is the knowledge laboratory for democratic participation. My cognitive diameter is not and cannot be an exception. Its basic foundation has been laid down and shaped by African cognitive tradition and, my primary and secondary education in Ghana to which I am grateful. The lengthening or shortening of this diameter that affects the circumference of my vision was motivated by my tertiary education in United States of America to which I am also grateful. The diameter has been refined in length by my professional experience at Temple University, Howard University and professional conferences to which I am again grateful. I wish to express my thanks to all my friends who, one way or the other, have given me encouragements and emotional support. I am grateful to Professor Molife Kete Asante of Temple University for comments on the initial draft. I express my gratitude to Ms. Semenawit Ghebruwubet for her encouragement and support during periods of intense pressure. Special thanks to Ms Modupe Fadope for editorial suggestions on the first draft. I am also thankful for all the editorial suggestions from Adonis and Abbey Publishers on the final document. Controversial ideas and termnologies are intentional and intentionally directed to restructure the paradigm of African thinking system that affects African behavior in the decision-choice space. I accept all responsibilities for errors that may logically arise.

v

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Acknowledgements ....................................................................................... v Preamble ......................................................................................................... x Preface.......................................................................................................... xiii Chapter 1: 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5

HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLYRHYTHMICITY....................1 Some Motivational Background ........................................... 1 Historical Roots of Anti-African Ideology .......................... 4 Formal Education as an Instrument of Anti-african Propaganda ........................................................................... 12 African Choice-decision behavior and the Eurocentric Paradigm of Thinking..................................... 18 Conditions for new Intellectual Directions ....................... 19

Chapter 2:

POLYRHYTHMICITY: PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS ..................................................................33 2.1 The Africentric Essence........................................................ 34 2.2 Duality, Polarity, Cosmology and Africentric Essence ................................................................................... 36 2.2.1 Duality and Existence..................................................... 37 2.2.2 Relationality, Unity and Transformational Dynamics ......................................................................... 42 2.2.3 Tension, Motion and Change ........................................ 45 2.2.4 Unity, Oneness, Duality and Polarity .......................... 47 2.3 Some Africentric Reflections and Examples ..................... 51 2.3.1 Unity, Polarity, Duality and Funtummerekuenkyemmereku................................................................ 54 2.3.2 Unity, Duality and the Anoma-Kokone-Kone Problem ............................................................................ 55 2.3.3 Duality, Polarity and the Asantrofi-Anoma Problem ............................................................................ 57

vi

Table of Contents

2.3.4

Conjectural Solutions to the Asantrofi-Anoma, Anoma-kokone-kone Problems: The SankofaAnoma Resolution .......................................................... 61 2.4 The Epistemic Scheme of the Principles of Duality, Opposites and Polarity in Transformations...................... 65 2.5 The Trinity and the Logic of Creation ............................... 73 Chapter 3: AFRICENTRICITY...............................................................82 3.1 Africentricity and African Nationalism............................. 83 3.2 Foundations of Africentricity: Core Concepts and Paradigms.............................................................................. 94 3.2.1 Concerning Existence ..................................................... 96 3.2.2 Concerning Humans ...................................................... 96 3.2.3 Concerning Society, Nation and State.......................... 99 3.3 Some Implication of the Core Concepts of Africentricity for Reasons and Practice ........................... 100 Chapter 4: THE AFRICAN PERSONALITY .....................................109 4.1 African Personality: The Concept and Characteristics..................................................................... 112 4.2 Characteristics of African Personality and Social Practice ................................................................................. 115 4.3 African Personality and African Nationalism ................ 122 4.4 African Leadership and African Personality .................. 128 Chapter 5:

AFRICENTRICITY AND THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES (NGUZO SABA)........................................139 5.1 The Principle of Umoja (Unity) and Africentricity ........ 142 5.2 The Principle of Kujichagulia (Self-determination) and Africentricity................................................................ 148 5.3 The Principle of UJIMAA (Collective Work and Responsibility) and Africentricity .................................... 156

vii

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

5.4 The Principle of UJAMAA (Cooperative Economics) and Africentricity................................................................ 159 5.5 The Principle of NIA (Purpose) and Africentricity........ 165 5.6 The Principle of KUUMBA (Creativity) and Africentricity ....................................................................... 169 5.7 The Principle of IMANI (Faith) and Africentricity ........ 173 Chapter 6:

POLYRHYTHMICS: THE LOGIC OF POLYRHYTHMICITY.......................................................182 6.1 A Reflection on General Logic .......................................... 183 6.2 The Grammar of Polyrhythmics....................................... 186 6.2.1 The Building Blocks of Polyrhythmics....................... 186 6.3 Axioms, Postulates, Principles and Laws........................ 190 6.3.1 Kheperian Postulates.................................................... 190 6.3.2 Axioms of Khepera ....................................................... 191 6.3.3 Nkrumaist Postulates ................................................... 192 6.3.4 Dogon-Pharaonic Principles........................................ 193 6.3.5 The Law of motion, conversion and transformations: ............................................................ 193 6.4 Categories of Reality .......................................................... 195 6.5 Polarity, Duality, Unity and Rhythms ............................. 200 6.6 Relationality, Opposites, Conflicts, Energy and Selfmotion .................................................................................. 209 6.7 Universal Creation, Transformations and Categorial Conversions......................................................................... 211 6.7.1 Nominalism, the Process of Creation and Reality.... 212 6.7.2 Constructionism, Process of Creation and Categorial Conversion.................................................. 216 6.7.3 Reductionism, Process of Creation and Categorial Conversion.................................................. 217 6.7.4 Quality, Quantity, Time and Categories.................... 218

viii

Table of Contents

6.7.5 6.7.6

Nothingness, Infinity and Universal Creation and Permanency of the Universal Order................... 223 A Diagram of the Cognitive Path of the Logic of Polyrhythmics ............................................................... 225

Chapter 7: REDIVIVA AFRICANA....................................................232 7.1 Philosophical Beginnings: The Creation and “What There is”............................................................................... 233 7.2 A Simple Reflection on the Growth of Philosophy........ 238 7.3 Polyrhythmicity, Polyrhythmycs and Hermeneutics of General Philosophy........................................................ 245 References.................................................................................................. 256 Name Index................................................................................................ 276 Subject Index............................................................................................. 279

ix

PREAMBLE Hail United States of Africa Hail United States of Africa – free! Hail Motherland most bright, divinely fair! State in perfect sisterhood united, Born of truth; mighty thou shalt ever be. Hail! Sweet land of our fatherʹs noble kin! Let joy within thy bounds be ever known; Friend of all the wandering poor, and helpless, thou, Light to all, such as freedomʹs reigns within. From Liberiaʹs peaceful Western Coast To the foaming Cape at the Southern end Thereʹs but one law and sentiment sublime, One flag, and its emblem of which we boast The Nigerians are all united now, Sierra Leone and the Gold Coast too. Gambia, Senegal, not divided. But in one union happily bow. The treason of the centuries is dead, All alien whites are forever gone; The glad home of Sheba is once more free, As oʹer the world the Blackman raised his head… Over in Grand Mother Mozambique, The pretty Union Flag floats in the air, She is sister to good Somaliland, Smiling with the children of Dahomey… There is no state left out of the Union – The East, West, North, South, including central,

x

Preamble

Are in the nation, strong forever, Over Blacks in glorious dominion. Hail! United States of Africa – free! Country of the brave Black manʹs liberty; State of greater nationhood thou hast now, A new life for the race is just begun. -Marcus Garvey, Atlanta, Georgia, USA, 1927

Nkrumah Never Dies Brothers! Brothers! Brothers! Where have you all gone to? Where have you all gone to? I want to know where! I have to know where! How can I live without thee! Would I live or just survive? Would my life be in an empty vacuum? I canʹt understand this situation! I need you, I need you, I need you all! I woke up early one morning ten years ago, And I found Fanon was nowhere to be found It was another dawn, and Lumumba was gone; I listened to the caged bird sing The true song of the people, The song of Malcolm. In no time of the caged bird lost its beak And the divine song ended. I searched for help, for truth, for reality, And I found that the greatest was still around Singing the song of truth. That dawn was his time; He left and here I am empty. xi

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

Will this loneliness leave me alone? Not until I reinforce the cause, The cause for freedom, The cause for equality, The cause for dignity, And to sum up all the causes, the cause of humanity. He is gone. Yes, he is, ʺPhysicallyʺ speaking! His soul is not, His song is not His blues is not, His message is not, His weapon is not, His ideology is not, And his departure will produce Many more of him in the years to come! And overall Kwame Nkrumah never dies. - Najib Peregrino Brimah, April 27, 1972

xii

PREFACE

The works on African philosophy [5c] [11c] [22d] [154], have not been fully connected to Africaʹs antiquity [8b] [10b] [10g] [20b] in order to provide a foundational unity for further intellectual refinement. For example, humanism, Nkrumahʹs concept of categorial conversion, and African conceptions of duality, polarity, unity, continual creation and democratic ideals must be shown their African-centered origins. In other words, there are logical gaps that require the development of foundational unity from the available data with judicious interpretation and restructuring in order to define parameters of African intellectual unity that will allow these gaps to be closed. The task is to establish cognitive unity and continuity on the basis of which other branches of knowledge can be analyzed and refined for social application. This book, therefore, is an attempt to initiate a self-contained philosophical foundation for African intellectual unity that is required to support African cultural unity, African personality, humanism and the creation of Greater Africa, a super state, without which the known and unknown African traditional greatness will lie dormant in ancient monuments. Furthermore the African cognitive contributions to the global intellectual heritage will lie hidden in other cognitive systems that have appropriated the Africaʹs intellectual and conceptual foundations. Without Africaʹs philosophical foundation, intellectual unity and cognitive continuity, the complete emancipation of Africa will be a mere fiction where social development will also be a mere mimicking of intellectual faults of other nations. A case is made in this book for African cognitive unity or unity of reasoning methods through the development of a logical system of interrelated ideas that are African-centered. This system of ideas and perceptive interpretations is referred to as Africentricity and its philosophical foundation that projects African thought as polyrhythmicity. We shall reserve the term polyrhythmics to refer to the study of methodological and epistemic problems of polyrhythmicity and Africentricity.

xiii

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

The book is structured into seven chapters. Chapter 1 deals with the need for the construction of an integrated Africentric philosophical system through historical reflections of the problem of the African essence. It also deals with how the answers to the problem demand a cognitive structuring with continuity to Africaʹs antiquity. Chapter 2 introduces African traditional conceptual foundation in terms of critical reflections that I have entitled polyrhythmicity. This conceptual foundation discusses the thought, the philosophical ideas and the basic reasoning building blocks of the cosmological structure that establish the Africentric essence. The concepts of category, duality, relationality, polarity, unity, dialectics and categorial conversion and others are introduced to reconstruct and explain the African idea of never-ending process of creation in order to examine ʺwhat there isʺ and its knowability, and ʺwhat would beʺ and its attainability. It must be pointed out that the concepts of duality, polarity, relationality, opposites, unity and dialectics have long existed in African conceptual and philosophical system thousands of years before the rise of Western and Eastern conceptual and philosophical systems [10b -10e] [10g-10h] [75]. For example dialectics as an ancient method of reasoning is discussed by Hegel [69b]. One may also refer to Kant in his works [10g] [77b]. Another example is the principles of opposites in quantityquality relational systems in creation. The conceptual system provides an explanatory framework for simultaneous existence of monotheism and polytheism and how they have given rise to certain conceptual systems of theology and philosophy. This conceptual system, it is argued, must be linked to the African personality formation in order to define new possibilities of current African social formation and democratic ideals that have always been important elements of Africentric state craft. The development of polyrhythmicity may also be viewed as raising questions about certain philosophical and religious claims of originality and sources that are often encountered in Western intellectual discussions and circles without any reference to its African foundations and roots. Chapter 2 is followed by Chapter 3 under the heading of Africentricity. It is a development of an edifice of Africentric thinking system which is needed to support the appropriate development of the African personality in choice-decision space. In this Chapter the philosophical building blocks and the nature of analysis and synthesis are drawn from those established in Chapter 2. Chapter 4 analyzes the xiv

Preface

past and present characteristics of African personality and supporting philosophies as well as the extent to which different non-African thinking systems have redirected the traditional African personality away from its natural path of development. The present collective African personality has been dislocated, and this has led to lack of critical thinking, intellectual mimicry and subservient behavior, it is argued. It thus needs a radical restructuring to reestablish the characteristics that are truly African in actualizing the potentials in the future possibilities. The manner in which such restructuring must occur is presented in terms of cognitive algorithms. The chapter links the defining characteristics of true African personality to its Africentric conceptual foundations discussed in Chapter 3 and to the historical necessity presented in Chapter 1. Chapter 5 deals with the connections among Africentricity, polyrhythmicity and Nguzo Saba (Seven Principles) [78a] that allow a link between theory and social practice. Here the philosophical contents of Nguzo Saba are relationally detailed and structured as the Africentric guide to behavior in the social choice-decision space for explicit understanding by the general African population and the leadership. Chapter 6, entitled “Polyrhythmics“, deals with extended discussions on principles and rules of reasoning with concepts leading to conclusions in polyrhythmicity and Africentricity. In other words it shows how thought develops in polyrhythmicity and Africentricity. Polyrhythmics is thus the science of reasoning in the conceptual system of polyrhythmicity and Africentricity where the subject matter of discussion is how thought emerges out of perception through logical arrangements of perceived elements of reality. Chapter 7 shows the African conceptual system as critical foundation for other conceptual systems. It demonstrates how different branches of philosophical methods, analysis and synthesis emerged out of African conceptual foundations with conclusions. The chapter is developed under the heading, “Rediviva Africana“. The book, therefore, puts forward certain philosophical principles and conceptual ideas that constitute the foundation of African essence and collective consciousness that must be cognizant of global race antagonism and race consciousness. Space, resource, time and place have not allowed me to develop in full some of the pertinent ideas and concepts and how others, seemingly, unrelated philosophical systems have generously benefited (see for example [13, pp. 375-452] [39, pp. xv

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

309 – 379] [75]. Given all these analytic and synthetic developments, I hope that the ideas, concepts and discussions in this book will inspire the unbelievers towards rethinking about the existence of African philosophical traditions, boost the energy and perseverance of the choir towards increasing research activities in unanswered questions and conceptual doubtfulness, heighten the constructive criticisms of adversaries for cognitive enhancement, and bring together the forces of African ingenuity, humanism and optimism. The discussions in this volume provide foundations to reconstruct African-centered theories of ethics, responsibility, justice, obligation and others through the use of the concepts of polarity, duality, unity, dialectics, categorial conversion, relationality and rhythms. Generally the book points the debate on African philosophy to the conceptual system of African antiquity and cognitive traditions with logical links to the thinking systems of the whole of the Nile Valley and the rest of Africa for intellectual continuity and unity. It is the only way that is meaningful and creative to reconstruct Africaʹs philosophical tradition in these modern times. This direction will put the current research on a proper footing in judicious utilization of all the available data as they relate to Africentric cognition and thinking. Diopʹs work is to restore African history and its role in evolution of the history of global civilization by reconstruction from Africentic interpretation of the accumulated facts and events from continental Africa and her relationship with non-African world. The goal is the establishment of African cultural unity. This work of critical restoration of African glory , cultural unity and historical continuity is further enhanced by the works of Ben-Jochannan [13] Massey [93a-93d] and Ashby [10c-10d]. The work in this volume is on the same path to restore African cognitive unity and philosophical tradition from an Africentric interpretation of conceptual facts as history presents to us in order to reconstruct Africaʹs required intellectual continuity and cognitive unity for further research and enhancement . In these contemporary conditions of Africa, the tasks of establishing African cultural unity and cognitive unity in support of African unity require that we move our philosophical research on the path where we are able to create continuity and unity of African cognition from its historical roots of antiquity in the Nile Valley. The African philosophical and cognitive traditions have their roots and fruits in Kamitic cognition which has its roots and fruits in African xvi

Preface

conceptual system from which a unified African thought system must be reconstructed and refined as a philosophical unity. The success of this endeavor requires an intellectual army whose minds are completely decolonized and liberated from the intellectual colonies of the Western world. This position points us to research activities whose central questions must be raised and related to African-centeredness. The research on different cognitive traditions must always be referenced African-centeredness in order to maintain the African cognitive unity and tradition. At this juncture an isomorphic statement to that of Diop [36] is in order. The current African situation, modern history and future possibilities require us to tackle and solve the problem of African cognitive unity at all levels of human activities where such cognitive unity has continuity from antiquity and African ancient civilizations including the whole of The Nile Valley. The task is daunting but it must be done and at no other time but our own and now. We have to circumvent the accusation levied against us by Attoh Ahuma who remarked that:: As a people, we have ceased to be a THINKING NATION. Our forebears, with all their limitations and disadvantages, had occasion to originate ideas and contrive in their own order. They sowed incorruptible thought-seeds, and we are reaping a rich harvest today, though, for the most part, we are scarcely conscious of the debt we owe them. Western education or civilization undiluted, unsifted, has more or less enervated our minds and made them passive and catholic. Our national life is semi-paralyzed; our mental machinery dislocated, the inevitable consequence being, speaking generally, the resultant production of a Race of men and women who think too little and talk too much. But neither garrulity nor loquacity forms an indispensable element in the constitution of a state or nation. [2, p172] Failure to tackle this problem is unacceptable. However if we fail, our generation will enter into history as an unthinking generation who out of historical ignorance and external intimidation abandoned our historic role and duty to ensure African cognitive unity and the continuity of the African creativity in support of African cultural unity from which a new political unity is to be crafted. The success of this xvii

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

intellectual task is that which will define our greatness as a continuity of our ancestral greatness. Here the following statement of Isaka Seme is powerfully instructive. The ancestral greatness, the unimpaired genius and the recuperative power of the race, its irrepressibility which assures its permanence, constitute the Africanʹs greatest source of inspiration. He has refused to camp for ever on the borders of the industrial world; having learnt that knowledge is power, he is educating his children [130d, p265] The driving force of discussions in this volume in addition to those mentioned previously is designing a framework based on our ancestral conceptual continuity to tackle and solve the needed African cognitive unity within which discussions on African philosophy must take place. African philosophy divorced from the foundation of Africaʹs conceptual antiquity is rootless and hence a mere mimicry as well as mechanical in structure. Let us put our minds together and take counsel from Diop, Nkrumah, Seme, Ahuma, James, Woodson and others and go to work. Let our criticisms be constructive, creative and innovative. Let our point of conceptual reference be African centered and let us always not lose sight of the conceptual unity that we seek in other to present African philosophy. Our generation must confront and take on this task and solve it in order to ensure rediviva Africana.

xviii

1 HISTORICAL REFLECTIONS FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF POLYRHYTHMICITY

The complete emancipation of Africa is a duty and responsibility of all Africans. The success of the emancipation is rooted in African unity, African nationalism, African personality, and the supporting thinking system. Together they define the path of optimal strategic behavior. The thinking system will establish Africaʹs diameter of knowledge and reasoning which in turn will define Africaʹs circumference of internal and external decision behavior. The emphasis, however, is on African unity as the transformation vehicle to transport the Africans to the destination of complete emancipation. The bringing into being of African unity would provide the vehicle for charting the course of complete emancipation of all Africans. As a vehicle of socioeconomic transformations, African unity is a revolution in thought. It is also a revolution in action space in its practice. The thought and action constituting the needed strategy of Africaʹs collective behavior must be organized from the factual materials emerging out of internal and external experiences of all Africans irrespective of the place of birth and residence to provide a unity of action. Attention must be paid to the concept of all Africans. It is used here and in my subsequent discussions to connote geography, demography, race, common destiny, and cultural unity. It includes the African descendants found anywhere on the globe.

1.1

Some Motivational Background

The organization of internal and external experiences of Africans into a logically useful order of understanding requires a rational construct of an African-centered thinking system. In fact it demands a

1

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

logical filling of ideas based on African traditions into coherent system of theories about society and its continual transformation. The importance and the need of such a thinking system are not new to me. I learnt them from my experiences in growing up as a child in Nkrumahʹs Ghana and a period of Africaʹs decolonization movement. What is new to me is the recognition of the urgency to add my voice to the small set of true Pan-Africanists seeking African-centered understanding of global events of recent past, unfolding present and evolving future. This urgency did not occur to me until I joined the faculty of Howard University in Washington, D.C. It was reinforced by my working visits and experiences in Brazil, the Caribbean, and several African states. At Howard University, one quickly become face to face with the problem of African intellectual crises and ideological bankruptcy at all levels of educational enterprise including the curricula, students, faculty, administrative and supporting staff. The ideological bankruptcy is reflected in expressions of negative social attitude toward the uplift of our people, as well as in the attitude toward one another. Going home from work with a dome of pain hanging over my head as to the future of the race was a norm rather than an exception. For a period of time one finds out that he or she could barely get a peaceful sleep in the nights as one reflects on the conditions of our people. Intellectual blindness and lack of basic philosophical understanding regarding the role of education in a peopleʹs struggle seem to be the norm among the African Faculty at Howard University Community. These are also true and perhaps more intense in universities and institutions of learning on the continent of Africa [155]. Education has been severed from the roots of liberation and critical thinking. It has been downgraded to training simply to follow what others have done and will do. The intellectual bankruptcy forces the administrators and managers of governmental systems to be guided by the nature of the training process to practice principles of follow-others. The intellectual bankruptcy in the race is directly transmitted to the students who acquired some skills by rote learning without the development of a creative thinking system that allows one to examine and question the logical validity and usefulness of the skills that are being acquired. In other words, the African students and the members of the faculty in the global system of institutions of learning are held in 2

Historical Reflections for the Development of Polyrhythmicity

bondage by our own training. The technology and psychology of education are used to create an environment of learning that produces a people who cease to be a thinking race in a way whereby our racial life is globally paralyzed and our cognitive machine is seriously dislodged. Exceptions may, however, be made, but I am interested in the norm and not the exception. The exceptions were due to heroic actions on the part of the individuals like Paul Robertson [129b], Frederic Douglass [8b, p637-640], Marcus Garvey [59] and many others that were able to break away from the intellectual tyranny of the indoctrination of the established institutions of learning. These individuals were able to see the logical flaws between what was being taught and their experiences and factual correctness of our racial history. They found problems with the content of the material that is used to instruct and mold. Invariably, these individuals sought knowledge outside the established institutions of learning. The works of African scholars such as Anta Diop [36-37], Woodson [152], Nkrumah [105,106, 109], Abraham [1], Padmore [126], Ben-Jochannan [13-4], DuBois [45-49], Fanon [53-55], Karenga [78b], Molefi Asante [8] and others stand out. Through the peopleʹs choice actions and thinking patterns as one may observe at Howard University, coupled with my knowledge of colonial schools in African states, one may come to examine the behavior and style of leaders in African communities in the Americas, the Caribbean and Europe. One may also scrutinize the modern African leaders and style of leadership in all areas of human endeavor in Africa itself. Furthermore one may examine the collective behavior of the African masses wherever possible in every place where the Africans have come to concentrate. One may become convinced that besides belonging to the same racial stock, the Africans are linked by a common cognitive element which reflects to a greater degree the African community at large. The common cognitive element is that the thinking system that we as Africans have acquired collectively in these modern times is out of line completely with our being Africans. The formal institutions of learning that instruct us, the content of instructional curriculum and methods of delivery have established a small knowledge diameter that is under the control of the external world in such a way that it limits the circumference of our vision and understanding of our true interest. As such, our actions, decisions, and behavior are directed not toward emancipation, redemption and 3

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

welfare improvement of the race, but rather toward hastening the disintegration and collapse of the African essence. Our racial life thus requires restructuring on the basis of new thinking and philosophy of education that will define a longer and continually changing diameter that is under Africaʹs control in accordance with changing global events to establish an alternative path to our existence, socioeconomic development and a larger circumference of Africaʹs vision. We must understand that the knowledge diameter that is under external control not only limits our circumference of vision but the content of the circle contains anti-African ideology that we have come to accept and practice in our social and intellectual life ( see also discussions in 43d).

1.2

Historical Roots of Anti-African Ideology

Through the acquired thinking system that is filled with negation of African history, experience and culture as well as being produced by institutions of learning which are not of the African creation, the African has learnt to operate by the principle of least resistance. The thinking system that the African has acquired fails to instruct him or her that emancipation and social progress when they occur are not simply gifts of nature, but victories inscribed in battles against social and natural odds. The same thinking system fails to instruct him or her that to emancipate and make progress, people must work; they must strive and toil; they must tame elements; they must combat the environment; they must recast relevant institutions on the basis of their culture and experience; they must also subdue circumstances; and that all this must be done for their progress, welfare and dignity but not for others. And importantly, we, at all times, must be equipped with a correct and relevant thinking system. The thinking system must serve our interest, without which the vision and progress for Africans will be mere casualties of the thought process. So far we have failed miserably to understand that knowledge without a right social ideology is dangerous and a right social ideology without knowledge is a disaster. The length of this social knowledge is the knowledge diameter that defines the circumference of our actions and behavior in the circle of ideology that contains the content of our essence and the vision of our social progress. The length of the knowledge diameter must not be left to the control of Africaʹs predators. It must be controlled by us, Africans. 4

Historical Reflections for the Development of Polyrhythmicity

It must be drummed continuously into the minds of all Africans and their descendants that the greatest atrocities committed against humanity in intensity and scope that we can recall in modern history of human existence was by Europeans and against Africa and Africans. This continuous echo from the ancestral drumming that haunts us in the nights and days cannot stop here because we must reflect on the plight of the American Natives and the Australian Aborigines in terms of wickedness, terrorism, and orgy of crimes against humanity committed by Europe and Europeans. The African continent (historically called Ethiopia, Alkebu-lan, Egypt and many other names to indicate the land of the Black Race) and its people are of special global significance in terms of the beginning of human race, common intellectual heritage and history of humanity. These facts must instruct us about interpretations and usefulness of contemporary Africaʹs global relations [39] [40]. The African continent and its people have provided the organizational foundation for modern world civilization in many different aspects including morality, high culture, science, theology, theory of being and others (see [8b] [13][36] [39]). This African foundation has been a general fountain of wisdom for Judaism, Christianity, Islam, among others [10b] [10c] [10d] [10e] [10g] [30]. On the basis of this general fountain of wisdom distorted branches of the Africentric system of ideas have emerged, renamed, appropriated and claimed to have nothing to do with Africans. To intentionally deny the Africentric source of Judaism, Christianity and Islam, the European and Arab predators, particularly the Europeans, pursued viciously a systematically orchestrated negation of African history, culture, scientific accomplishments, philosophy and their continuities after their successful invasion and occupation, by destroying or removing important artifact as well as rewriting African history with intentional distortions and disinformation.[8b] [13-14] [36] [39][47][150b]. The first casualties during periods of predatory occupation by people with either different or similar culture are intellectual honesty, scientific truth and factual correctness of historical realities. These casualties occurred in the African continent at an amazing speed through efforts designed to promote anti-African and racist ideology for bigotry. The greatest myths took place in the subject areas of social sciences, religion, cognitive science, and genetics. The established institutions of learning and research in the predatorsʹ home countries 5

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

became the mechanism for creating the vicious mythical system against Africa and her people. At the same time, the established institutions of learning in colonial and occupied Africa also became a powerful mechanism for propagating the vicious myths, intellectual dishonesty and outright lies which were then fed into the brains of some African children until they lost their African identity and became ʺEurocentrically educatedʺ adults who believed unshakably and still believe in these myths as cognitive edification of life. Among such vicious myths in historic accounts, we find for example, Bovillʹs statement: According to as-Sadi the Kingdom of Ghana was of considerable age, having had twenty-two kings before Hifra and as many after. The ruling dynasty was white, but the people were black Mandingo [21] also [13, p. xiii]. Bovillʹs statement is to affirm European bigotry and racism in that the respectable Kingdom could not have been built by Black Mandingos. What a distortion of history, a bizarre thinking and travesty of logic! The Africans could not create a kingdom and had to wait for a great white hope to mysteriously emerge to establish the kingdom and the dynasty. From where did the White ruling dynasty emerge among the Black Mandingos or was the ruling dynasty White Mandingos? Such racial bigotry was and is still reinforced and promoted in institutions of learning and research by some Western scholars where every attempt is made and whenever possible to Caucasianize North Africa, particularly Ancient Egypt without any logical explanation or historic example to ontologically affirm the factual correctness of the historic myths. In the same mythical tradition they reject the historic reality that the Northern Mediterranean was populated by Africans (Ethiopians) from 7000 BC and even more. The same bigotry, intellectual distortions and racial spin on facts continue to the present day where the whole of North Africa (Southern Mediterranean) is classified as Middle East. The fact remains that the present-day ʺEgyptʺ, one time called, the United Arab Republic was non-existent until the European imperialists made it up thousands of years after the High Cultures of African civilization in the Nile Valley and extensions with the accompanying demographic evolution.

6

Historical Reflections for the Development of Polyrhythmicity

And yet institutions of learning in the predatorsʹ countries and Africa itself are led to teach predatory ideology and intellectual rubbish that Africans have evolved no culture of high order and that everything of great historical achievement and significance on the African continent is attributed to some White group or extraterrestrial bodies. The fact remains that the Western culture and its civilization are children of African civilization and culture [10b] [10c] [10d] [13] [14] [22b] [36] [39] [93a-d]. This fact that was easily accepted by Southern Europe is very hard to swallow by the contemporary Western imperialist predators. What is true of social knowledge is placed in the barrels of guns. This racial bigotry through distortions of African historical realities is again reinforced by teachings in institutions of learning that there is a continent called Europe. This claim of Europe as a continent is more of a geographical fiction than Melville Herskovitsʹ characterization of Africa [95, p. 43]. It is precisely these kinds of teaching of anti-African ideology with cognitive venom that allow African scholars such as Mazrui, in a process of criticizing Nkrumah, to even suggest that …a case can certainly be made for the thesis that North Africa was in a sense an extension of Southern Europe for a long time and if the connection with Europe was to an extent broken with the advent of Islam it was only to turn North Africa into a Western extension of the Arabian peninsula and Fertile Crescent rather than a northern continuation of the area south of the Sahara [95, p. 44]. What a geographical absurdity, historical idiocy, and cultural preposterousness is this thesis induced by an ʺAfrican educationʺ that has become a perfect mechanism to externally control the African, so that he or she becomes a champion in promoting his or her oppression and oppressor. The contemporary African intellectuals and the ones to come must avoid the educational traps that forces then to operate in the zone of cognitive imbecility. The fact is that the Northern Mediterranean, current Southern Europe, was an extension of Africa and not otherwise. In view of this, it is useful and instructionally interesting to examine the statement of Christopher Dawson about Europe. We are so accustomed to base our view of the world and our whole conception of history on the idea of Europe that it is 7

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

hard for us to realize what the nature of that idea is. Europe is not a natural unity, like Australia or Africa; it is the result of a long process of historical evolution and spiritual development. From the geographical point of view Europe is simply the north-western promulgation of Asia, and possesses less physical unity than India or China or Siberia; anthropologically it is a medley of races, and the European type of man represents a social rather than a racial identity. And even in culture, the unity of Europe is not of the foundation and starting-point of European history, but the ultimate and unattained goal, towards which it has striven for more than a thousand years. [13, p.29] or [35b, p.25] And yet, the ideology of anti-Africanism and its teachings through subject areas like geography, history, psychology, economics, philosophy and sociology were and are reinforced by European religious perversions of the Ankh, Christ and Trinity where the Ankh takes on the character of the Cross. Here, bigotry, racism, slavery, oppression, and racial terrorism were justified by Divinity through religion and false interpretations of scriptures which were fed to the African people both at home and abroad. The theatre of religious perversion opens up with the mythical story of Adam and Eve and a specific mythical drama in the Torah (the Old Testament of the Christian Bible) about Noah and the Flood, and then degenerates into an Ananse (spider) story about Ham (one of Noahʹs sons) where Hamʹs ancestral tree was ʺcursed by Godʺ (some God!). And through a logical absurdity, the Ananse story turned into an Ogyata (lion) story where by a biblically mythical transformation, Canaan turned Black and became the father of Blacks (the Africans). This theatre of European religious perversion became the theatre of African tragedy that was promoted through institutions of learning and research and practiced to justify slavery, subjugation and exploitation of Africans in the pretext of divine claims of bringing civilization and Christianity to the Africans. The Africans who passed through the colonial educational system came to learn these as facts about themselves and their nature in terms of the Divine creation. By this wicked racial myth, the rabbinical scholars actively drew the following extra mythical interpretation.

8

Historical Reflections for the Development of Polyrhythmicity

Now I cannot beget the fourth son whose children I would have ordered to serve you and your brothers! Therefore it must be Canaan, your first born, whom they enslave. And since you have disabled me…doing ugly things in blackness of night, Canaanʹs children shall be born ugly and black! Moreover, because you twisted your head around to see my nakedness, your grandchildrenʹs hair shall be twisted into kinks, and their eyes red; again because your lips jested at my misfortune, theirs shall swell; and because you neglected my naked-ness, they shall go naked, and their male members shall be shamefully elongated! Men of this race are called Negroes, their fore-father Canaan commanded them to love theft and fornication, to be banded together in hatred of their masters and never to tell the truth. [64a, p.121][13, p.599]. Through such religious perversions, the Africans (Blacks, the Negroes, Bantu, or whatever term you prefer) became the scorn of people of Christian faith and objects of active recruitments to join the ranks of the European civilization as tamed wild people to serve as slaves to the Europeans by divine ordinance. And not only that, the Africans were also subjected by Jews and Moslems to live in accordance to ʺJehovahʹs condemnationʺ that the Africans will be perpetual servants to others till the end of the world. No amount of Christian, Islamic and Judaic prayers, repentance, and atonement will save the African. This is further illustrated by Graves and Patiʹs statement: …[that] Negroes are doomed to serve men of lighter color was a view gratefully borrowed by Christians in the Middle Ages; a severe shortage of cheap manual labor caused by the plague made the reinstitution of slavery attractive. [13, p. 604]. The same kind of social ideology with an intellectual and religious rubbish of an Ogyata (lion) story finds expression in a European Jewish traveler, Benjamin of Tudela who wrote: There is a people …who work, like animals, eat of the herbs that grow on the banks of the Nile and in their fields. They go about naked and have not the intelligence of ordinary men. They cohabit with their sisters and anyone they can find…They

9

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

are taken as slaves and sold in Egypt and neighboring countries. These sons of Ham are black slaves [13, p. 605]. All these elements of anti-African ideology were and are still actively being promoted as well as passed on directly and indirectly through institutions of learning by the people of European stock (Christians and Jews alike) and fed into the minds of Africans, Europeans and other people of European colonies through education and training. The manner in which these religious perversions are taught has gone through continual evolution where the message is repackaged in many different ways to fit the changing times and the rise of African consciousness relative to the evolving global events. The process has been to shape the African mind through these institutions of learning and worship to accept his or her oppression and oppressors as divinely induced and that the destiny of Africans has been placed in the hands of the European predators through divination. On the part of the Europeans, the anti-African ideology induced a process where the European predators can mythically find divine blessing and justification for their orgy of violence and crimes against humanity (slavery and mass killing of indigenous people wherever they have entered). The grand objective of anti-African ideology and its fabrication was and is still to distort the space of the common intellectual heritage of humanity to which Africa has generously contributed. The process of intellectual fact reversals reached its zenith where the Europeans (now characterized as Western people) adulterated the African Trinity, ʺKABA-RAʺ, the ʺCreative, Spiritual, and Light Forcesʺ [58b] which is also alternatively represented by the African icon ʺFather, Mother and Childʺ by replacing the Mother with Holy Ghost and the Child by Son, and thus doing away completely with the female side of spirituality, divinity and creation in other to attain the masculine concept of ʺThe Father, Son, and Holy Ghostʺ. As if this was not enough, the Europeans elevated themselves to the position of God through the process where the Father, Son and Holy Ghost are conceived and asserted to be one and the same in unity. Jesus the Son, by logical extension, is God. Jesus and his lieutenants (angels) are then represented in the images of White people. These mythical ideas were promoted through the institutions of learning, research and God studies. The African symbol, Ankh that represents life was restructured to be a cross that represents suffering and death. By the principle of duality the Ankh and Cross just like life 10

Historical Reflections for the Development of Polyrhythmicity

and death are dualities in unity (see Chapter 2 of this Volume). In all these analyses we must keep in mind that philosophy and religion cannot and must not be separate artificially on the road to social truth and knowledge especially in the ancient, medieval and parts of modern intellectual histography. The irony is that the members of the African clergy or the Negro preachers, as they are called, acquire this thinking system, which is supported by the Holy Books that have been presented to them by the predators and destroyers of Africa, as God-given (God is white?) through Divine revelations that constitute the Divine Master Plan in which the African (the Negro), no matter where he or she resides, is conceptualized to be in perpetual bondage. The members of the African intelligentsia and the clergy promoted, and still promote vigorously, this anti-African ideology against themselves and the African people. They condemn to hell those Africans that offer the traditional rituals of libation as prayer, those who offer an Africancentered intellectual outlook that undermines the religious power base for rent seeking; and Africans like Marcus Garvey, Nkrumah, Malcolm X, Lumumba and others who saw and exposed the European edifice of treachery, lies and deceit. By establishing the knowledge diameter, the predators have defined the circumference of Africaʹs internal and external life. By accepting the knowledge diameter we have accepted the circumference of our nature as defined by the predators and the content of the circle as true about Africaʹs nature as externally imposed. At this moment in time, as you read this book and as we struggle to free ourselves and our people from the yoke of European intellectual deceptions and tyranny, the images of white Jesus, Moses and angels with the supporting thinking system are being vigorously promoted by the African preachers without the mentioning of the true nature of Mary and Jesus on the African continent and to the African people globally. The African preachers, whether in the Americas, Africa, Europe and Caribbean or in any other part of the world, fail to understand that the Africans and their descendants need less and less of the European mythical representation of God, and more and more of true African characterization of the Creator. In a sense, we have to reclaim our African past with the continuity to the present and a linkage to the future as is represented by a philosophical bird, the Sankofa (see Chapter 2 of this book for discussions on the Sankofa philosophical problem). 11

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

1.3

Formal Education as an Instrument of Anti-african Propaganda

The institutions of formal educational process were set up by the colonizers to generate anti-African thinking, European superiority, undermine the traditional African institutions and entrenched culture. It was a bold and successful action to redefine the knowledge diameter, the vision circumference and the content of the circle of the Africans. The operations of the predators’ educational set-up was enforced by violence and terror. The content of the formal education, instead of teaching thinking, as the traditional learning process was, merely shrunk the knowledge diameter as befitting the diabolical activities of the predators, redefined the circumference of Africaʹs vision and established the content and scope of Africaʹs nature and essence that supported their oppressive endeavor. It is precisely the ancestral critical understanding of the role played by the colonial institutions of formal education in shifting the paradigm of African culture that forced some traditional African parents to refuse to send their children to colonial schools. Some African parents still have important reservations about the intrinsic value of modern education to teach thinking that promotes the true African essence Education presented and still presents a dilemma. The more formal education the African children had, the more useless and greater destructive a force they became to their communities as well as their traditions and culture, while they simultaneously grew to become more useful adults to the predators of Africa. The African trained in the formal institution of learning with European educational philosophy and imperial paradigm without restructuring has learned through the institutions of learning that God is a White man; that Africans were discovered by the white man without which their existence was void and illusory; and that their ancestral ways of life were satanic, primitive, uncivilized and full of evil, which reflect the biblical myths of Canaan and Lucifer; and that the only way to salvation of Africans is the Whitemanʹs way of life and culture that will guarantee them the path to the Divine Kingdom. The African children are not made aware or taught in their schools about the crimes that Europeans committed against humanity, such as the atrocities of Belgians in the Congo [71a] or the complete annihilation of the natives of the Caribbean, or the wickedness against the Africans they captured or bought and enslaved 12

Historical Reflections for the Development of Polyrhythmicity

in the Americas, or the mass killing of the American and Australian natives all in the name of Christianity, the White manʹs God system, and culture that they have established for ideological and mind control. The religious perversions and distorted history, coupled with Afri phobia on the part of Europeans, are reinforced and supported by Eurocentrically racist interpretation of archaeological discoveries on the continent of Africa and other areas of the world where the African (the original person) has been. The racist interpretations of archaeological writings on the African landscapes are exemplified by the works of M.D.W. Jeffreys through his theory of Caucasianization of Africa. He states: Africa is thus today accepted by many scientists as the cradle of the human species. Thus, in Africa, from the Old Stone Age to modern time, Modern man is the tool maker. Nowhere is the Negro, unlike the Bushman Associated with any of these Stone Age cultures. ([13, p. 64] or [76a]) The archaeological discoveries provided the factual materials as historical realities about Africa and her people (Blacks). The Eurocentrically racist interpretations of these facts as they whiten them out Caucasianize the African foundations of the world civilization. The more archaeological discoveries are unearthed, the greater the intensity of the Western Afriphobia, and the more vicious do their racist myths become against Africans and their descendants. This Western Afriphobia and racist myths provide a lead for other races to follow. The interpretations of the archaeological discoveries are distorted, given ideological spin, racist undertone and disseminated to Africans and others through the institutions of learning. The distorted information is swallowed verbatim without critical examination and without thinking by both Africans and non-Africans. It is taken to be God-given truth. The organizational complexities of Africaʹs national life, sources and directions of demographic evolution, complex forms of civilization, administration, and management of the unity of civil and non-civil societies are not only overlooked, but are discounted as trivial by European predators even though they stole and copied generously, some of these findings. There are few Westerners who may escape this criticism. An example is Thomas Hodgkin, who, upon reflecting on demographic evolution of West Africa, wrote: 13

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

If, therefore, we wish to understand the national movements that have emerged in Africa – and have reached their most mature and advanced stage in West Africa - we have to begin by trying to rid our minds of the European preconceptions that influence our thinking on this subject. This is not easy, since most of the available material on African affairs is presented from a European standpoint – either by imperial historians (who are interested in the record of European penetration into Africa), or by colonial administrators (who are interested in the pattern of instructions imposed by European governments upon African Societies), or by anthropologists (who are often though not always, mainly, interested in the forms of social organizations surviving in the simplest African communities, considered in isolation from political developments in the world around them). We shall probably have to wait a little while for the real history of Africa to be written by African scholars for an African reading public. [71b, p. 169 –170] also [13, p. 59] It may be immediately pointed out that examples of the writings of African scholars as mentioned by Thomas Hodgkin are Ben-Jochannan [14] [15], Anta Diop [36] [38] [39], DuBois [45] [46] and others [1] [10b – 10e] [153a]. Equally as well is Sir Hugh Clifford, (a Governer of British Colony of Gold Coast) whose statement, even though it has its underlying preconception, has a kernel of truth. Writing on the cultural, political and organizational landscape of West Africa and other parts of Africa he states about one of the African Kings that: Much the most notable achievement that can be placed to his credit in his invention, without the assistance of extraneous influence, of the democratic system of government and State socialism, which are the basic principles upon which his tribal policy is founded. Recent innovations, as I have indicated, tend seriously to undermine this system; and it is interesting to note that while European political theorists are apparently working their way back to a state of things closely resembling that which the TWI-speaking peoples long ago evolved for themselves, the latter are displaying an inclination to discard them as an immediate and inevitable accomplishment of their 14

Historical Reflections for the Development of Polyrhythmicity

first real and solid advance towards a higher standard of civilization. [13, pp. 59 – 60] We must point out that the works of Gerald Massey are an impressive intellectual contribution in understanding the African essence and Africaʹs contribution not only to our global intellectual heritage but to the basic foundation of this global intellectual heritage and the civilization that it has endangered [93a-93d]. We have presented some examples of the intellectual workings of the Europeans in relation to Africa and her children. All these Eurocentric myths, deceptions, disinformation and misinformation about race, history, culture, civilization, the first man, genetic differences, cognitive abilities, and many others have been insidiously organized by the Europeans into a system of ideas that guides human action and behavior in the choice-decision space. The system of ideas composing of lies and twisted truths of scientific and non-scientific nature are promoted actively through institutions of learning with certification, approval and rewards. Higher certificates and greater rewards are given to those who mimic and parrot the best without cognitive questioning in order to join the club of European propagandist. The African who decides to join the club of European intellectual traditions stops to think outside the parameters of the established Eurocentric thinking system and to believe in everything that it stands for. In fact his or her knowledge diameter is strictly defined, his or her vision circumference is prescribed and his or her essence is artificially made. In other words this type of educated African works with knowledge diameter as prescribed by the European education; fills his or her essence with the content of anti-Africanism of the circle by emptying his or her true African essence and finally acts and behaves in accordance with the indirectly prescribed circumference of social action. This is particularly damaging in the social sciences where subjectivity and preconceptions play a critical role in knowledge creation and interpretation. And those Africans like Anta Diop [36] [39], Ben-Jochannan [13] [14], Marcus Garvey [59], Abraham [1], Ani [5b], Woodson [152] and Cress Welsing [149] who seek alternative understanding from African traditions are considered to be radical extremists and intellectual outcasts by both European and corrupted African intellectuals.

15

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

The corrupted African intellectuals fail to understand that education is about emancipation as such its content can be a facilitator or an impediment to progressive actions by its mere influence on thinking that relates information and knowledge on one hand and action to choose and decide on the social space on the other hand. The European intellectual enterprise is about improving European cognition relative to European socioeconomic progress and culture through its direction to research, problem identification, problem solving and knowledge accumulation that impinge on European life and welfare. The African intellectual effort must be directed toward African cognition relative to Africaʹs socioeconomic progress and culture by dealing with pressing needs of African people and not otherwise, if the product of education is to enhance African social life and welfare. The reason behind this is simple. Education by improving human cognition and expanding the space of reason calls for an analysis of its content and process, to examine how it relates to the social relevance of the learner and the society that he or she belongs and thus to see how it fits into culture and its progress. The objective of the analysis is thus to ascertain the possible impact of education on human experience, culture and trajectory of history. As such education, by affecting human cognition, can come to define either negatively or positively the history of human decision-choice process depending on the content and its delivering system. The point we want to bring to the doorsteps of the African mind, no matter how painful it may be, is that Africans and their descendents are facing crisis in our current thinking system. The thinking system that the Africans now hold collectively and individually as has been produced by bankrupt institutions of learning is inimical to the African survival, liberty, development and progress. In fact, it undermines the values of African democratic traditions, state craft and good governance. This thinking system that our people acquire through formal and informal education that is overwhelmed with Eurocentric social content without critical examination is infested with the cancerous virus of anti-African ideology that has generated an intellectually acquired immune deficiency syndrome from the consumption of the content of colonial education. It deprives the African of the essence of his or her humanity and Africanity. It renders him or her to a circle of subservience to the joy of Africaʹs predators, and contrary to every true account and factual correctness of the 16

Historical Reflections for the Development of Polyrhythmicity

known human history. It has become a fertile ground for incestuous breeding of subservient minds as well as mutation of anti-African ideology that Africans and their descendents promote against themselves and in favor of their predators. The African institutions of instuction, learning and research that house the Eurocentric system of thinking have dangerous levels of accumulation of combustible materials of anti-African ideology and imperialist propaganda that have turned these institutions into instruments of miseducation for mass destruction of African culture, personality and essence. When these combustible materials of antiAfrican ideoligy and imperialist propaganda ignite they will bust into unquencheable flames that will not only completely incinerate the African creative mind into non-salvageable ashes but will completely destroy Africa as history reveals. The Eurocentric thinking system that has been acquired and the manner in which it is acquired without critical thinking by Africans has created in the formally educated African a schizophrenic personality. This personality has a trademark, made in the West and is known in African circles as the “been-to’s“. Its behavioral effect is daunting in that on the road to social truth, therefore, there arises in the African mind a clear cognitive impediment that prevents him or her from elevating himself or herself to a higher cognitive plain as in African traditions and antiquity, even if the attainment of this higher cognitive plain has been made possible by his or her oppressive conditions and necessary from the standpoint of general understanding of conditions of human freedom and emancipation. The system of views, European deceptions, false conceptions of God, dis-information, mis-information, propaganda and many others, constituting the Eurocentric paradigm of social reasoning about Africa and control of Africans, has also become the African paradigm of thinking that externally controls his or her cognitive activities in the choice-decision space of all social endeavors. This Eurocentric paradigm of thinking constitutes the most important mental barrier to Africaʹs emancipation, freedom and socioeconomic development because it renders the ʺeducated Africanʺ as a partner to Africaʹs predators and a hopeless liability to his community, people, and race simply through choices and decisions that are made as a result of non-African-centered education. The important outcome of such an education process is that instead of the external conditions of Africa indicating the reasons for change and the internal conditions of Africa 17

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

forming the basis of change, a reversal process has occurred. The internal conditions of African societies have been demoted in such a way that they now indicate the reasons for externally controlled change while the external conditions of Africa have been elevated to form the basis of Africaʹs change that is externally controlled. This situation has produced a dependency syndrome where Africaʹs national life is externally controlled by the imperial predators for their diabolical activities.

1.4

African Choice-decision behavior and the Eurocentric Paradigm of Thinking

The nature of the effects of the Eurocentric paradigm of social thinking on the African may be seen on many levels. At the level of African observation of social facts and history this Eurocentric paradigm presents itself as a deception and false interpretation of facts and history about Africa. At the level of critically African theoretical and philosophical constructs this Eurocentric paradigm of our social world presents itself as mimicking of false generalizations of historic particularities and distorted explanation of facts about Africaʹs experience with Europe, Americas and the World. At the level of African spirituality this Eurocentric paradigm presents itself as a fabrication of a false conception of God which Africans must follow. At the level of Africaʹs emancipation in general, the Eurocentric paradigm presents itself as impediments and restraint on Africaʹs creativity without social innovations and inventions that are landmarks of African traditions. At the level of Africaʹs development, the Eurocentric paradigm presents itself as a dependency syndrome where the Africans look for solutions to Africaʹs problems from outside themselves. The African forgets the ancestral proverbial wisdom that it is only the fool who looks for the dung where the cow never browses. Alternatively viewed, the African thinking machine has been dislocated by years of mimicking Eurocentric paradigm on the account of humans, their origins, their spiritual selves, their cognition, history, civilization and progress. Hence most ʺeducatedʺ Africans passing through institutions of learning in Africa and the homelands of Africaʹs predators emerge without a clear conception of Africaʹs present global difficulties as well as the present status of the race. The African education acquired through the Eurocentric spectacle, instead of 18

Historical Reflections for the Development of Polyrhythmicity

arming the Africans with logical tools to liberate themselves and their people from oppressive forces, has degenerated into a powerful controlling mechanical edifice for the demise and destruction of themselves, their people and the civilization that has been handed over to us by the ancestors from the primeval times. Education, instead of becoming a unifying force, has become a separating force of the educated from African masses and culture. The educated Africans on the average have lost their foresight for planning to emancipate and protect their land, their people and to improve the lives for African children now and tomorrow. They fail to understand that the basic factor that can ensure Africaʹs freedom resides in African consciousness and Africentric thinking. The current African cognitive machine is in dislocation. The dislocation of the African cognitive machine through a powerful process of mis-education has led to a situation where the educated African does not fully understand or comprehend that emancipation of any lasting nature and of a considerable and historical significance of either a race or a people is unattainable without the preparation and organization of internal forces into a program of thought and a framework of decision-choice action. Such preparation calls for assembling positive elements of African culture that are in opposition to those of the predators and arranging them into a new regime of decision philosophy and action for choice and its implementation (see also [1][27, p.39][106]). Africans must understand that to emancipate Africa from the imperialist and neocolonialist predators, and to build a new and greater Africa that connects to her past greatness and future prosperity, the intellectual instruments provided by the predators through their established institutions of learning are almost in all cases ineffective and useless for the task at hand. It is a logical flaw to think that one can successfully wage a liberation war against the same predators who equipped you with mental munitions of cognitive battles without radically and logically redesigning, reshaping and restructuring them into an ideological system that will reveal correctly the African conditions as well as yielding principles that will dialectically turn the tides of history in favor of Africaʹs emancipation. In this respect and for the job at hand the African institutions of learning and research must go through radical restructuring in terms of curricula and philosophy of education. The education authorities must understand this cardinal 19

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

element of the emancipating role of the institutions of learning. Such understanding will allow a logical redesigning of our education institutions to reconnect the subject contents and teaching with African culture and correct African history where the European negation of African intellectual accomplishments is corrected with full force. This simple fact about African institutions of learning is even acknowledged by an American educator named Eicher [155, p.27-36]. Specifically, Eicher states in page 27 that African education is intimately linked with the international aid and education industry, and that the donor/client relationship has inhibited the development of African institutions and the capacity of Africans to develop educational policies which are socially relevant and financially feasible, for the last quarter of this century. It will be no longer necessary for an educated African to ask a question in the process of imparting knowledge to Africans, ʺWhat have Africans done?ʺ What Africans have done, if the African scholar or educator reads carefully, he or she will find to be abundantly written on the vast landscape of Africa and in the museums of the homelands of Africaʹs predators. Africa has accomplished a lot and has made substantial contribution to the common intellectual heritage of the world [8b] [10c] [10d] [13] [36] [38] [39] [75] 93a-d] [144b]. However, to the minds of mis-educated Africans, Africa has done nothing worthwhile to study, teach and research. This has become a mindset in curriculum development in African Institutions of learning. To the minds of these educated Africans the African has not done much, cannot do much and will not do much from within except with outside help. What a traversty of history, misconception and shame! The same intellectual subservience has led some ʺeducated Africansʺ to argue that there is nothing like African philosophy (examine the debate for yourself [5d] [29g] [71c] [77a] [80] [95] [138a] [144a] [154]). In other words, Africans have never created philosophy, these so-called educated Africans contend, in support of the predatorsʹ position. This basic cognitive ignorance on the part of the ʺeducated Africansʺ is not only amplified by trying to be what they are not and refusing to be what they are, but is also carried over to their views on African-centered education. All these elements of doubt regarding African intellectual history constitute cognitive crises that we think 20

Historical Reflections for the Development of Polyrhythmicity

characterize current African way of doing things in the sense of always seeking approval from the imperialist predators who are currently working hard to keep Africa exploited. One may be sure that the greatest critics of the ideas advanced in this volume will be African scholars and we welcome them.

1.5

Conditions for new Intellectual Directions

Confronted with this problem of cognitive crises among most European-trained Africans, we sought help from the members of PanAfrican intellectual movement and traditions to assess their reflections and understanding of the problem. We examined critically the works of Pan-African nationalists ranging from nineteenth to the twentieth century. We then divided the works into three separate but overlapping generations. The works of the last half of the nineteenth century included those of Blyden of the Caribbean [19]; Cromwell of the United States of America; Mensah Sarbah, Casely Hayford, Attoh Ahuma, Esuman-Gwira Sekyi of Gold Coast (Ghana); Bandele Omoniyi and Mojola Agbebi of Nigeria; Orishatuke Faduma of Sierra Leone; Kojo Tovalou Houenou of Dahomey (Benin); Lamine Gueye and Lamine Senghor of Senegal; Isaka Seme and M.S. Molema of South Africa; and many other relevant individuals whose names are not mentioned. We traveled through the relevant works of the first half of the twentieth century during the search process. We consulted the works of Marcus Garvey, Frantz Fanon, C.L.R. James, George Padmore, Eric Williams and others in the Caribbean; W.E.B. DuBois, Carter G. Woodson, Chancellor Williams, Malcolm X, and others in the United States of America; Cheikh Anta Diop of Senegal; J.S. Mbiti of Uganda; Amilcar Cabral of Guinea Bissau and Cape Verde; Julius Kambarage Nyerere of Tanzania; Jomo Kenyatta and Thomas Joseph Mboya of Kenya; Sekou Toure of Guinea; Haile Selassie of Ethiopia; D. Olugboji, Adegoke Adelabu, Nnamdi Azikiwe and others of Nigeria; Dunduzu Kaluli and Kenneth Kaunda of Zambia; Nelson Mandela and Steven Biko of South Africa, Kwame Nkrumah, W.E. Abraham and others of Ghana; and many others in the African world whose works seemed relevant to the question of African emancipation. Our understanding of these writers and practitioners led us to examine the works of African nationalists of the second half of the 21

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

twentieth century. Of course some of the intellectual works overlap with periods. We examined the current works of Samir Amin of Egypt; Josef Ben-Jochannan of Ethiopia; L. Keita of Sierra Leone; Van Sertima of Guyana; Harold Cruse, Maulana Karenga, Molefi Kete Asante, Asa G. Hilliard, Frances Cress Welsing, John Henrik Clarke, Marimba Ani and others of the U.S.A.; E. Mbuyinga of Cameroon; Ayodele Langley of Gambia; Ablede Glover, Kwame Gyekye and others in Ghana; Ali Mazrui of Kenya and many other relevant works of philosophy and social sciences that relate to the current struggles of the African people. There are many other works that we consulted. The list and treatment are both extensive and intensive. Additionally, our voluntary work as a radio producer and host of programs of African Rhythms and Extensions, and the World Rhythms on WPFW 89.3 FM Radio in Washington, D.C. offered us extensive interaction with people outside the Howard University community. We were forced to focus on relevant questions as we journeyed through jungles of ideas in search of answers to questions regarding a correct thinking system for Africans. One quickly becomes convinced that the intellectual works of all these ancestors on whose shoulders we stand have a unity of ideas as well as a unity of purpose. The unity of ideas suggests that Europeans have arrogated to themselves the right to dominate and to be obeyed by non-Europeans. This arrogation has been given a divine dimension through the documentation and teaching of the concept of a false God, maintained by institutions of learning and research, and backed by violence wherever and whenever possible in the name of the same God. Democracy, Christianity and violence couched under just wars have become ideologically united and intellectually maintained. The violence in the name of an ideology of God has now been extended to ideologies of democracy, regime change, weapons of mass destructions, human rights and others. The Africans, particularly, have been singled out not only for domination but for abuses under the pretext of Christianization and civilization with new extensions to good governance and development. We came to understand that in the period from catch-and-sell of Africans to the middle of the first half of the twentieth century, this European hegemony was maintained by brutish force, for example, the actions of King Leopold in Congo [71a], the Boers of South Africa and the British in Zimbabwe where the Africansʹ lands were confiscated with force and repression. This 22

Historical Reflections for the Development of Polyrhythmicity

dominance by force was weakened by the tide of history in Europe itself owing to internal contradictions in the relationships among the European imperial powers and tribal wars in Europe. The rise of German military power shifted the balance of power in Europe and the European imperial system. It became an important destabilizing force and threat in Europe. This German factor as a threat of the European imperial system redirected French and British attentions, as well as military and economic resources away from their political and oppressive activities in occupied lands toward dealing with the threat in Europe. We would like to refer to this as the German factor in decolonization and independence movements. Almost simultaneously nationalist consciousness in territories occupied by Europeans gained momentum with an increasing degree of agitation and resistance. We would like to refer to this as the nationalist factor in the decolonization movement. This nationalist factor in addition to the German factor weakened the imperial grip on the social and political fabrics of the European colonies as well as their ability to effectively monitor and suppress the decolonization movements. The political decolonization movement and the improvement in nationalist consciousness grew in momentum and intensity as the crisis in Europeansʹ imperialist relationships with each other grew acute. This led to the two imperialist wars often referred to as the First and Second World Wars. With Europeʹs military and economic machinery laid in ruins, the United States of America was able to rise almost instantaneously to military and economic prominence and embarked on the road to dominance as the leader of imperial West with the aim to take over the British position. Emerging simultaneously to power was the Soviet Union whose presence added a new and important dimension to the evolving global power struggle for dominance. The geopolitical environment was such that Western Europe was forced to direct her efforts and a greater portion of her attention inward to reconstruct and deal with an increasing Soviet global power. With the increasing Soviet power and her moral commitment to support decolonization as well as to promote the international socialist agenda, the nature of the question faced by the European imperial powers about their colonial holdings changed radically. The question faced by imperial Europe and the United States of America after the imperialist war of 1945 was no longer how to maintain colonies and prevent decolonization and political independence. Rather, since 23

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

decolonization and national independence movements could not be stopped the essential question shifted to how to manipulate the movements of political independence into the creation of neocolonial states where the resources of these countries would still be siphoned to Europe and the United States of America to basically finance their strategies of dominance. The set of strategies was to create conditions where the colonial territories acquired new status as territories under the sphere of imperial influence where the cost of maintaining the imperial influence is paid by the territories (see the extensive discussions in Chapter 6 of the companion volume[44b]). The change in the nature of the question has become necessary by historical forces of geopolitical enlightenment and structural shifts in global power distribution and direction of resource flows in support of imperial interest and national character. To succeed in creating the neocolonial states, the strategy of intellectual control was brought to operational prominence. The process was to refine and improve the crude and blatantly racist Eurocentric system of thinking that we have discussed earlier so as to make it palatable and acceptable to the neocolonial subjects. In other words, to create a neocolonial intellectual tradition in previously subjugated areas without the use of physical force and without direct occupation wherever and whenever possible. This strategy of intellectual colonization was vigorously pursued in Africa and the Caribbean with alarming success. The same strategy of controlling behavior, decisions and choices regarding progress to liberty by means of intellectual colonialism and servitude has been successful to a greater degree in controlling the Africans and their descendants in the United States of America and adjacent countries such as Brazil. The process works through changing the individual and collective perceptions about social realities through powerful instruments of institutions of education and training. It has been tested and proven to be the most effective way to maintain control over a people. It works like automatic controllers in mechanistic systems. Carter G. Woodson summarizes the process in the following powerful statement attributed to him: If you control a manʹs thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. When you determine what a man shall think you do not have to concern yourself about what he will do. If you make a man feel inferior, you do not have to compel him to 24

Historical Reflections for the Development of Polyrhythmicity

accept an inferior status, he will seek it himself. If you make a man think that he is justly an outcast, you do not have to order him to the back door. He will go without being told; and if there is no back door, his very nature will demand one. This statement is followed up by another powerful statement by Woodson: …the Negroʹs mind has been brought under the control of his oppressor. The problem of holding the Negro down, therefore, is easily solved. When you control a manʹs thinking you do not have to worry about his actions. You do not have to tell him not to stand here or go yonder. He will find his ʺproper placeʺ and will stay in it. You do not need to send him to the back door. He will go without being told. In fact, if there is no back door, he will cut one for his special benefit. His education makes it necessary. The same educational process which inspires and stimulates the oppressor with the thought that he is everything and has accomplished everything worth while, depresses and crushes at the same time the spark of genius in the Negro by making him feel that his race does not amount to much and never will measure up to the standards of other peoples. The Negro thus educated is a hopeless liability of the race. [152, p.xxxiii] In the place of the word ʺNegroʺ in Woodsonʹs statement you can substitute the “African,” “Black person“, and other applicable terms. The fact remains that there is a serious problem with the education of Africans and their descendants in relation to their welfare. On the African continent some selected Africans were first given the dose of the opium of the European education, became remade and stamped, made in Europe with a name brand, educated African whose content is filled with Eurocentric essence. She or he is African in physical appearance but with Eurocentric intellectual content that negates the true African essence. He or she is an educated African, an honorary European. This new brand of Africans came to despise and hate the African spiritual essence and culture. They have been drugged in the process of transformation to the idea that the African spiritual essence 25

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

and culture are evil and heathenish. They came to accept the European characterizations about African way of life as divine truth without cognitive examination and to dislike the African way of life. They work with their European masters to undermine the African social existence. It is this same education with the thinking system that it creates that forces us to accept the notion that philosophy is of Europe and witchcraft is of Africa; and that Christianity and the concept of one God is of Europe; and paganism and idols are of Africa. The idea that we have tried to make explicit is similar to the critical reflection by Woodson on education of African descendants in United States of America. The Eurocentric paradigm of thinking with emphasis on individualism which inspires and stimulates Africaʹs predators and destroyers to think and behave as if they are everything including God at the same time crushes the creative mind, inventiveness, courage and dignity of an African who acquires such a thinking system that slowly but surely drives him or her to cognitive extinction, spiritual despair and schizophrenic personality, because his or her cognitive immune system has been compromised with his or her newly acquired metamorphosis of education. A short knowledge diameter is fixed by the nature of Eurocentric institutions of learning and research to control the content of the circle and the circumference of Africaʹs behavior in the general decision space. The nature of the colonial question in Africa and other areas inhabited by the Africans was quite different. In the first half of the twentieth century, the question faced by the Africans on the African continent was not how to cope with European occupation and oppression but rather how to decolonize the African continent and simultaneously break the chains of servitude and set free the natural and creative energies of Africa and all Africans. The operational leadership in this direction was assumed by Kwame Nkrumah and supported by a host of African leaders like Nasser, Ben Bella, Azikiwe, Padmore, DuBois, Nyerere, Kenyatta and others. In this respect the philosophical and theoretical works of Blyden [18] Cromwell [31d], Garvey [59], Woodson [152] and others became relevant and instructive. In the second half of the twentieth century, the question of political decolonization facing Africans was broadened to include an intellectual and cultural decolonization. The task was to evolve and create a new African intellectual order and African Personality without which complete emancipation of Africa and all Africans is impossible. The 26

Historical Reflections for the Development of Polyrhythmicity

bringing into being of this new intellectual order demanded the establishment of an Africentric system of thinking with a corresponding culture that would form the basis on which African actions, organizational wisdom, problems of social relevance, the nature of social discourse, terms of discourse and factual truth are judged to be Africentrically correct. On the theoretical level of the struggle, a number of African intellectuals broke away from the European colonial traditions and became involved in exerting leadership in this effort. They came to appreciate directly or indirectly the central points of the works of Carter G. Woodson and Marcus Garvey that demonstrate that the Africans cannot hope to emancipate themselves until they have changed the thinking system that holds them in a subservient mode. They concluded that the struggle to emancipate the Africans must then proceed on two fronts, physical and mental. They placed more relative weight on the mental. These two fronts, they thought, must be supported by the emancipation at the spiritual level of the African existence. They pointed out a number of contradictions in the types of education acquired by the Africans, and how these contradictions influence African consciousness, decision-choice actions and inner soul. The theoretical works of Diop [37], Woodson [152], Nkrumah [106] and Abraham [1] and others, of course anchored in the works of previous generations, were based on the recognition and understanding that Africans, irrespective of their place of residence, have been reduced from a state of active creation of history to being passive followers of what others are either creating or instructing them to create. Africans, educated to disown all that they are, have become intellectual slaves to a Eurocentric system of values and thinking that subvert our interest and undermine the very foundations of our being. Our contemporary essence has made us into useful idiots for tightening political, intellectual and cultural screws against ourselves and our kind. The theoretical works of Anta Diop [37] [39] sought to redirect Africans to our creative powers and spiritual essence by pointing our creative past through a process of Sankofarization. His works are actively being advanced by Ben-Jochannan [13], Cress Welsing [149], Van Sertima [144b], Molefi Asante [8a] [8b], Karenga [78] and many other enlightened Africans who see the vision of Africa’s golden tomorrow.

27

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

The intellectuals and practitioners of Pan-Africanism and African emancipation saw the Africans to be in a precarious situation. Our collective cognitive machine has been dislocated by centuries of vicious myths, intellectual deceptions misinformation and religious bigotry promoted by the European colonial occupiers. The Africans, therefore, are caught in a web and revolving door of a Eurocentric system of intellectual, political, ideological and cultural deception. Africans have been molded by the formal educational process into perpetual slaves and glued to a thinking system that does not serve our interest and the interest of our offspring. Our destiny and history are controlled externally through levers of intellectual colonialism and cognitive apparatus. Through these observations the practitioners of PanAfricanism understood that intellectual and cultural colonialism has become the greatest impediment and stubborn obstacle on the road toward Africaʹs complete emancipation. The removal of such an impediment and obstacle presents another stubborn problem that must be handled with extreme care if our struggle to emancipate is to be successful. It became clear to the African intellectual nationalists, as it is clear to us today, that the solution to this problem and related ones must be found in Africa but nowhere else. Answers to subsequent questions can only be found in the development of an Africentric system of social thinking so as to create the required personality to channel the African energies and actions to a unity of purpose of emancipation through socioeconomic development. In this way, the learned behavior of following lines of least resistance will be replaced by an inherited progressive thinking system of our ancestors that instructs the contemporary African to battle against elements, odds and obstacles that stand in the way of Africaʹs progress. Such a thinking system will lead Africans to define our lines of struggles and search for solutions to our problems within the parameters defined by Africaʹs own interest, needs and history but not within those set by imperialist oppressors and predators as socioeconomic traps. In order to lay down the foundations for answering questions raised by previous generations as well as certain issues brought to surface by Carter G. Woodson [152] and Anta Diop [39] on the conditions of Africans, Nkrumah sets out to illustrate the nature of thinking systems and their relationships to societies and social progress [106]. He appeals to our traditional social formation around 28

Historical Reflections for the Development of Polyrhythmicity

communalism brought to modernity with an emphasis on collective success and welfare. In view of this, the relationships between the thinking systems, ideology and the collective character of societies were singled out and structured for our understanding and appreciation. It was then made clear to us that philosophical discourse and theoretical constructs are driven by problems confronted by societies and that all thinking systems are created to set boundaries for raising and answering questions as well as defining and solving problems that societies come to face. Cognitive systems are reflections of social currents as well as arise and develop from social exigencies. Similar works were done by Abraham [1], Danquah [34] and others; particularly see the impressive collections in [8b] and [88]. It is the understanding of the bankruptcy of the African collective and individual cognitive apparatus and the need to change it if Africa is to make progress on her own effort that forced Nkrumah to establish the Ideological Institute at Winneba in Ghana [60b] [114]. It must then be understood that some problems that are either generation specific or social-system specific may have no meaningful solutions in thinking systems external to the particular generation or society. Theoretical constructs proceed with this view in mind. In view of this, the African problems must find solutions in an African thinking system as it was understood by Nkrumah [106], Diop [36], Woodson [153a], Abraham [1], Garvey [59], Asante [8a], Ben-Jochannan [13], Ahuma [2], Ani [5b] and many others. African education must find its weapon from its cultural confines and how these confines relate to the external parameters because the cultural confines affect the content of education just as the content of education tends to shape and redefine the cultural confines of the society and its relationship to the external. Having epistemologically established the need for an Africentric system of thinking, Nkrumah then assumed both intellectual and operational leadership. In following his own theoretical works, Nkrumah sought to merge thought with practice by establishing the first African Studies Program in the University of Ghana at Legon. This was followed up by the formation of Nkrumahʹs Philosophical Society and the creation of the Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute at Winneba (initially named Kwame Nkrumah Institute of Economics and Political Science, in February 18, 1961 [60b]) to study and develop an ideological and philosophical system relevant to the creation of the correct African personality, the character of which would shape and 29

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

dictate the type of solutions and answers sought to Africaʹs current and future problems and questions. In other words, the goal was to create a relevant Africentric thinking system that would support correct African ideology (see for example Nsanze [117], Cabral [27]). The work at the University of Ghana may be known as the Legon School and that at the ideological institute may be referred to as the Winneba School. These schools were charged with specific category of cognitive tasks. The Winneba School was assigned the task of researching and learning the African philosophical tradition from antiquity to the period of colonial occupation. From the research and results correct African ideology was to be constructed and crafted to guide African behavior in the general decision space of human endeavors. The Legon School was charged with the intellectual and teaching responsibilities of the African essence and its supporting elements of culture to redefine the knowledge diameter, reshape the content of the circle that affects the African personality in order to reestablish the circumference of Africaʹs vision through teaching, research and action. The strategy generally was to re-define and promote African intellectual traditions, create a new non-colonial African that would be consistent with the goal of Africaʹs emancipation at all levels of human endeavor. Most of the intellectual work done in these schools, relating to philosophy and ideology for Africaʹs cognitive restructuring was destroyed by the imperialist predators and their African collaborators during and after the violent overthrow of Nkrumah [60b]. The current works by Molefi Asante [8a] [9], Josef Ben-Jochannan [13] [14] [15], Harold Cruse [32], Gyekye [67a] [67b], Karenga [78],[79], Keita [80] [81], Mbiti [96], Van Sertima [143a] [143b], Welsing [149], Marimba Ani [5b] and many others must be viewed as a continuation of the development and refinement of the Africentric system of thinking. The work in this book must be viewed in the same direction. The goals are manifold but the central theme is emancipation of Africa and all Africans from cognitive subservience and the zone of intellectual idiocy. The solutions to African problems must find anchorage in African history from antiquity to present as well as in the social conditions of African people irrespective of the place of birth or residence. Without true intellectual discipline and effective Africentricity constructed from within African cognitive tradition, Africaʹs complete emancipation will be unachievable. In this thinking, we have added our voice with a burning desire for freedom, justice and 30

Historical Reflections for the Development of Polyrhythmicity

progress for all African masses over the world. We see the emancipation problem of Africans in the cognitive field and the personality that it engenders. A solution to this cognitive problem will effectively initialize the process of social development sustainability of Africa on the basis of Africaʹs will. It is only when people are intellectually emancipated to operate creatively in the choice-decision fields regarding their destiny that they can embark on the road to progress, and prosperity. When this occurs they become collectively free. The complete emancipation of the mind is the first important step in the development of a new and dynamic personality; in this case, the African personality. A true emancipation process is such that the African personality will evolve along the lines of Africentric system of social thinking where the African personality will have a stamp of made in Africa and the African will have a brand name truly African. The African personality development that is considerate to Africaʹs interest and unity as is being advanced here is based on the concept and thought that every African no matter where she or he is born and resides is a perfect branch of the Ancestral Tree from the source of KABA-RA (the Creative Force, Spiritual Force and Light Force in Unity). For more discussions on the meaning and the role of KA, BA, and RA see the works in [10h] [25] [30] [58b] [93a-93d] and Chapters 2 and 6 of this book. The sources of every African, therefore, are pure forces in transformational unity of inherited African essence. The African in the contemporary world is sick from negrosis, a psychological disease that is generated by Eurocentric anti-African ideology and mis-education through institutions of learning and research that do not relate to the African experience and Africaʹs foundation and contribution to global intellectual heritage. The Africans simply need Africentric mind treatment to correct the collective cognitive dislocation brought about by a long period of intensive and extensive destruction of traditional institutions and values through Arab invasion, forced conversion to Islam, slavery and colonial occupation forced conversions to the European brand of Christianity, enhanced by the content and process of education that are most of the time irrelevant to Africaʹs socio-cultural needs, progress and sustainable welfare. The treatment requires the change of current regime of our thinking system and social cognition to allow the shining and creative image of pure Africanness to surface to drive the engine of Africaʹs humanism, creativity, freedom, justice, progress and 31

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

prosperity. It is impossible for us, as Africans, to arrive at this conclusion unless we are fully convinced that Africentricity projecting the Creative Force, Spirit Force and the Light Force in unity (KA-BARA) is the foundation of every African born at home and abroad and that this African Trinity binds us together and links us to those gone, those that are here and those that are on the way, all of which reflect the true sense of Africaʹs ancient greatness and the continuity of our bloodline as well as the strength of our Ancestral Tree. In accordance with the supreme principles of KA-BA-RA, which are revealed and transmitted through the ancestral images, beliefs, ideas and universal forms, it follows that in Africentric mind treatment to rid ourselves of the negative images and ideas planted in our collective mind by Eurocentric education, anti-African propaganda, the orgy of intellectual violence, intellectual thievery and deceptions the Africans must rise above the anti-African ideology that has produced cognitive dislocations, negrosis and distortions in the African collective personality. We must also free ourselves from European intellectual dictatorship that restricts and many times destroys Africaʹs creativity. All these require the development of African collective consciousness as well as race consciousness to the perception of the Creative, Spiritual and Light Forces that project motion and form, to African experiences and realities, with continuity to bring about the required African personality. This African personality and its Africentric thinking system will reestablish the traditional understanding of mutual complementation and supplementation between individual and society, and between humans and the Creative Force in a manner where continuity is maintained between passing from existence to being through categorial conversion that reinforces continual creation and transformations toward Perfection.

32

2 POLYRHYTHMICITY: PHILOSOPHICAL FOUNDATIONS

African traditional societies and their social formation have been constructed, organized and managed on the basis of certain philosophical principles about human and non-human phenomena from antiquity to the present before external intrusions. These philosophical principles constitute a comprehensive view of man, nature, the universe and creation, whether or not they were written in terms of our modern conception of writing. These philosophical principles form the bedrock of certain philosophical claims of some major religions and civilizations [8b] [14] [25] [36] [39] [93a-d]. The most important cognitive elements in understanding the philosophical basis of any society are data, forms of data recording and forms of transmission after data organization. The data may come to us through artistic symbols, oral tradition and documentation in different ways. The argument that Africa has no philosophical tradition as it is held by some scholars begs the question. Furthermore it negates the existence of African societies contrary to history. There are plenty of data in many different forms indicating that there is African philosophy and its foundations can be constructed in terms of modern linguistic systems with judicious and careful interpretations of the data. Such dataset is available to us through history, art, proverbs, mythological statements, and many more. Our challenge is to trace from the landmarks of Africaʹs experiences from antiquity to the present the intellectual system by which African people operated and on the basis of which social production and distribution were organized and managed, rules of behavior were constructed; forms of government and governance were instituted and art and science were carried on within the cultural context of African societies. In this challenge we have to excavate the intellectual monuments of this 33

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

great continent and reorganize them into a logically integrated and coherent system that would be understandable by the ʺmodern manʺ irrespective of his place of origin. This newly integrated system referred to in this book as polyrhythmicity will then constitute the logical and ideological foundation of Africentricity, the basis of which the African essence and way of life can be understood and appreciated. The constructed philosophical system reflects my interpretation of the data set, broadly defined, as I see it. It is also meant to provide conceptual links among contemporary African thoughts and ideas that are buried in African proverbs and symbolic languages. Additionally, it is meant to show the differences in African cognition, an approach to knowing and non-African cognition, and the extent to which other philosophical systems have drawn from the African conceptual foundations. The fundamental premise in this conceptual development is that African societies are linked together by common philosophical thread, which establishes the African essence, cultural unity and general way of life. It is these philosophical threads that will occupy our attention. We shall begin with the African essence.

2.1

The Africentric Essence

In developing the philosophical and ideological content of Africentricity and its philosophical foundations we must first answer some important questions. What constitutes the Africentric essence, that is, the African essence? Is there such a concept as Africentric essence of the African people? If there is, what is it and what is its form? Is this Africentric essence a superimposition on the human essence or is it a derivative therefrom? Similarly, one may ask a question about how the Africentric essence relates to African history and the evolving cultural matrix. Furthermore, how does this Africentric essence relate to the revolutionary spirit of African personality, social formations, transformations, and management? In other words, what constitutes the cognitive foundation of the African essence, cognitive system and its supporting institutions of reasoning? Let us start our reorganization of the basic philosophical principles by establishing a working definition of the Africentric essence. The Africentric essence may be viewed as the constellation of fundamental characteristics that reflect the true self an African without the external superimposition of other forms of characteristics. These fundamental 34

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

characteristics are by abstraction common to all Africans in all their social experiences, existence, forms government and governance. They reflect the humanistic principles that characterize the African social traditions. They also reveal the fundamental social characteristics that have become engrained in the African self that distinguishes him or her from the non-African. The fundamental characteristics define the essence of the African as a historic being whose story is inseparable from his or her essence. This will exclude different cultural effects from the triple legacy, leaving purely the African heritage like the ancestral tree as an evolving cognitive system with sub-stems. This Africentric essence is a superimposition on the general human essence. It is a development traceable to Africaʹs cognitive map of the universe that establishes the universality of creation, existence and human essence. The fundamental African characteristics include: 1) cognition and knowledge formation based on conception and logic of polarity and duality at levels of nothingness to somethingness involving matter, mind and spirit, and 2) emphasis on human relations at the level of social organization of production and distribution where the collective interest is always held above the individual interest. The Africentric essence, thus, reflects a particular mind set that has evolved from Africaʹs antiquity. In this respect, the Africentric essence cannot be claimed to be made up of abstract traits that exist independently of African experiences, history and evolving culture. Similarly, there is no African without Africentric essence and there is no Africentric essence without the African. On their natural paths, the African experiences and history from antiquity have definite imprints on the cognitive space of Africa world. It is these imprints that define the African, establish his or her identity and set him or her apart from the nonAfrican. The Africentric essence, in the field of development of ideas about human relations, is such that a human being is seen not as an instrument of exploitation to the benefit and enjoyment of others, but as a spiritual and human object whose contribution to the collective spirit is just as important as the collective contribution to the development of his or her human essence and spiritual existence. Each African person entering into the human family is a bona fide member of the African community. The human essence, as distinguished from the Africentric essence, is regarded as equal for every member of the collective, community and human race. This concept of human equality 35

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

still holds with men and women living in isolated individualism. The concept of equal standing in Africentric essence, however, arises as possibility and probability in a social collectivity. It does not arise at all with people living in isolated individualism. The concept of possibility and probability of equal standing of the Africentric essence has meaning and social relevance in conditions of the village, social community or nation. It is the application of the principle of equal standing that gives rise to freedom, justice and rules of social engagement. The historical development of the Africentric essence is that there is individual passion for the collective and its organizational success while there is collective compassion for the individual human essence, success and his or her fair share in the social success irrespective of his or her ability, limitations and contributions. It is in the social application of the principle of collective compassion towards the individual that injustice and unfairness tend to arise. The individual and the collective have independence from each other for identity and yet interdependent for existence and progress. They constitute an inseparable unity for social creation and transformation. In African social formation the collective or the community is considered as the primary element, the individual as the secondary, and their inseparable unity as the tertiary for logical tools of analysis and synthesis (see Chapter 6 of this volume). This vision of social formation has its philosophical foundation. It is this foundation that we seek to explore here and by which we shall develop a particular philosophical, analytical, and synthetic construct of a thinking system that had guided Africaʹs social formation, management, and understanding of states, processes of nature and socio-natural interactions. From this construct we shall abstract active and useful ideas and philosophical propositions that we think must guide the contemporary post-colonial African social reconstruction and development if Africa is to make giant leaps into modern history as it was in the beginning. Let us begin the reconstruction of the foundations of the Africentric essence.

2.2

Duality, Polarity, Cosmology and Africentric Essence

The African cosmological view of the universe is conceptualized in terms of categories of duality, polarity and unity (see also [10c] [25] [65a] [84a] [99c] [150a]). All existence is conceptually seen in terms of 36

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

inseparable dualities and polarities on the principles of opposites. These dualities and polarities appear in categories which are linked together by a hierarchy of being and rhythms. Thus there is action and reaction. But it is not only that. In a spectrum of Deity system and human representation, there are gods, goddesses and one God, all in oneness. God is dual with both male and female elements linked in unity. Thus in God reside both the female and male characteristics in an inseparable union. God thus appears epistemologically as a duality. Similarly, the human soul is dual. It is composed of the guiding spirit and an essential (or material) spirit. The guiding spirit is the bearer by creation and is the instrument for the transformation of human destiny. The essential spirit is the bearer of human character, disposition and genius. Simply put, the universe is seen as a system that is cast in dualities. The dualities of all conceivable elements and those that will emerge are presented to us in categories of polarity. The concept of polarity acknowledges the existence of two opposites which for the purpose of epistemic construct we shall refer to as the left pole and the right pole. The left and right poles are relational in existence where one of the two is either primary or secondary. The relations are also viewed in categories that mutually interact to establish unity and harmony. This unity and its contents are under continual tension that produces disequilibrium and provides the unity with self-motion. The self-motion allows adjustments, corrections, transformations and internal creations induced by the process of categorial conversions (see [106] for basic discussion on categorial conversion and [44] for its application to socio-economic evolution). The left pole exist in duality and so also is the right pole. The essential elements of any polarity constitute a trinity that is made up of duality, relationality and conversion force. One of these poles may be logically viewed as primary and the other as derived, without which transformation dynamics and categorial conversions within and between categories are inexplicable. What then are duality and its relationship to existence or being? 2.2.1

Duality and Existence

Duality refers to a condition where two seemingly different elements reside in the same entity. It thus establishes the existence of two different elements for any entity considered. The two elements are viewed in terms of opposites which we have referred to as the left and 37

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

right poles in the case of polarity. For example, it is not only that the existence of something implies the existence of nothing and vice versa, but that both of them reside in the same thing. Nothingness is somethingness and somethingness is nothingness in the sense that somethingness resides in nothingness and nothingness resides in somethingness with relational unity governed by the behavior of multiplicity of internal and external rhythms. The existence of poles also implies their nonexistence. This is not absurdity as the logic of categorial conversion will show. Each pole contains characteristics that define its identity, quality and meaning. However, each pole contains some characteristics of the other pole. The characteristics that define the recognizable left or right pole are in relatively greater quantity compared to the similar characteristics that reside in the right or left pole respectively. Thus each pole like any other entity exists in duality. In each pole we have a set of dominant characteristics that leads to the identification of the pole. We shall refer to this dominant set as the positive set. The set of characteristics that is in relatively small quantity we shall refer to as the negative set. As specified, the negative set in the left pole is identical in characteristics to the positive set in the right pole and vice versa. The structure is illustrated in Figure 2.2.1.1.

D U A L I T Y

Negative Set

Negative Set

Positive Set Positive Set

Right Pole

UNITY

Left Pole

Figure 2.2.1.1 A Venn Diagram of Right and Left Poles with Negative and Positive Sets of Duality

38

D U A L I T Y

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

As consistency demands, each negative element also contains positive characteristics in an inseparable unit. A reflectively logical deduction is that in every good there is an evil without which the good has no existence and identity and vice versa. To say that in every good there is an evil is to say that both good and evil exist in the same thing to give meaning to existence and identity of that thing. Similarly, existence of somethingness presupposes the existence of nothingness in such a way that both are simultaneously and mutually exclusive and nonexclusive as well as collectively exhaustive and non-exhaustive. But nothingness and somethingness are defined by respective sets of characteristics that impose meaning and identity. It is this conceptual unity that provides an analytic meaning and operational significance to the mathematical statement that every set contains the null. Both the concepts of nothingness and somethingness are real and without them the accepted modern logical system will collapse. The set of characteristics of nothingness has within itself the set of characteristics that define the morphology of somethingness. Thus each primary pole has a secondary pole, which is bipolar. By abstraction, polarity requires the existence of duality, opposite elements and unity. In fact, it is the simultaneous existence of the negative and positive characteristics in differential ʺquantitiesʺ within the same entity that provides every pole with its existence and identity. The distinguishing characteristics of the left pole are also embodied in the right pole and vice versa. Since each pole is identifiable it has its independent existence. However, since each pole has some of the characteristics of the other, it shares with it some relational commonness that also involves something they mutually oppose and support. This is also true for the negative and positive sets within each pole. In the Africentric philosophical system the universe is conceptualized to be composed of infinite sets or categories of poles. At the level of abstraction the poles exist in three modes of oppositeness, relationality and unity. These three entities (the Trinity) constitute the structure of specific polarity and universal polarity. The universal polarity is composed of categories of specific polarity. Each specific category of polarity is, in turn, made up of categories of duality. Within these categories we have the primary categories and derived categories. The primary category is taken to be the initial polarity from which all other categories arise through a process where all derived categories are reducible to the primary category. Since any derived category 39

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

emerges out of the primary, it exists in relational unity with the primary and vice versa. In other words, both the primary and the secondary reside in each other. In the male resides the seed of the female and vice versa. The universe is thus conceived as composed of categories of polarities with transformational processes whose dynamics are induced by conversion factors. Each pole of a polarity is simultaneously composed of nothingness and somethingness. A pole thus exists as subbipolar unity that is mutually disintegrating into parts and mutually integrating into oneness. The disintegration involves creative destruction while integration involves creative reconstruction. Both processes are brought into being by categorial conversion. For existence, the nothingness seeks to unite with somethingness; and for identity it seeks to separate from the somethingness and vice versa. The nothingness is the primary element while all other elemental categories are derivatives therefrom. All derived elemental categories are reducible to the primary element. The primary element of nothingness is the foundation of Creation as we shall argue and explain in the Chapters 3, 5 and 6 in this volume. The nothing-something polarity is the primary polarity from which other categories of polarity are derived. Thus the spirit-matter polarity and body-mind polarity are all derivatives of nothing-something polarity. Out of nothingness came something and into nothingness shall all things vanish by a process of categorial conversion as a cyclical process. By categorial conversion we shall hold to mean a process where one pole emerges out of its opposite and negative set arises out of the positive set and vice versa reconstituting themselves into a new polarity. In other words the process of creation never stops. Rather new forms emerge from previous forms through transformations of known characteristics. Nothing is lost in the creative process involving destruction-construction polarity except qualitative values and characteristics that go through transformations. The universe will never come to an end. It will merely change forms of representation with rearrangements of contents, characteristics and the nature of the particular and global unity. Another category is life-death polarity as a derived category from nothing-something polarity. It is not simply the idea that there is no death without life in relativity and reversal processes, but that life itself emerges out of death and death emerges out of life as well as both 40

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

reside mutually in each other as bipolar entity. There is no life and there is no death but only nothingness. The dead is never dead and the living is not living. Death is not the absence of life and vice versa. Death is life and life is death in unity. The same conceptual construct holds for war and peace. The life-death polarity is captured by an African poet, Birago Diop in the following poetic structure. Those who are dead are never gone: They are in the brightening Shadow And in the thickening Gloom. The Dead are not beneath the Earth: They are in the quivering Tree, They are in the groaning Wood, They are in the flowing Water, And in the still Water, They are in the Hut, they are in the Crowd: The Dead are not dead [11b, p.126]. In this African conceptual scheme, death is not viewed as finality but as a transformation to life with a difference. Similarly, birth is not the beginning but a transformation to death. Both life and death, therefore, constitute the beginning and the end in transformational dynamics. This seemingly apparent contradiction is reconciled through rituals in African social practices as the beginning and end of both life and death through celebrations of both birth and death. Life emerges from nothingness and death enters into nothingness by abstraction. There is neither beginning nor end, only progressively nonlinear higher transformations into higher order without end. The end is the beginning and the beginning is the end. Both elements reside in each other in a manner that provides identity and existence to both in other to form the beginning-end polarity. This beginning-end polarity is in complementary, supplementary and reciprocal relationship with the nothing-something polarity in the creative process without end. Old things enter destructively and progressively into nothingness and new things emerge creatively and progressively from nothingness through the process of categorial conversion. Similarly there is sameness and there is difference. In the sameness, we find the characteristics of difference and in difference, we find the characteristics of sameness. Thus there is sameness-difference polarity 41

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

that vanishes into nothing-something primary category. The sameness arises from nothingness while the difference emerges from somethingness. The sameness-difference polarity exists in complementation, supplementation and reciprocity with both categories of beginning-end polarity and categories of nothingsomething polarity. Here then emerge time, quantity and quality categories that exist in unity with one another. In this way, the general scope of human, natural and cosmic existence is conceptualized within the broad framework of categories of polarity. The categories of polarity are established to define the universe. Each pole of bipolar structure exists in duality. The general set of categories of polarity defines diversity in unity and unity within diversity that establishes harmony and disharmony in the same existence. The dualities exist as complementarities and relationally induced by each other in unity. The existence of categories brings us to the concept of relationality that manufactures disequilibria, generates conversion factors, establishes unity, induces particular and universal harmony, and maintains stability (dynamic equilibrium) in the creative process as logically conceived within the African conceptual scheme. 2.2.2

Relationality, Unity and Transformational Dynamics

The concept of relationality introduced in the last section requires an epistemic definition. By relationality we mean the general channels, quality and quantity of communication and information flows among categories of duality in a manner that produces bipolar and multi-polar links and non-links of diverse forms into unity, harmony and disharmony. The channels of communication are the lines for delivering and receiving messages as well as manufacturing of forces of change. The sources are full duplex in the sense that they have the capacity to send and receive information simultaneously in both directions. The structure of relationality is not only essential but necessary and sufficient for establishing particular unity within poles and general unity among poles. Relationality is a necessary and sufficient condition in establishing tension, non-tension and unity within poles, between poles and among poles for categorial conversion. The relationality also presents itself in categories. Conceptually these categories include: a) complementarity, b) supplementarity, c)

42

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

interdependence, d) dimensionality and e) reciprocity. The five categories appear as asymmetry, symmetry, similarity and difference. We have already pointed out that each pole has sets of negative and positive characteristics that mutually define its identity relative to the other. Within each pole the negative characteristics complement and supplement the positive characteristics in a relational asymmetry and yet they are symmetric in giving and receiving duality. In other words, within each pole the set of negative characteristics and the set of positive characteristics are asymmetrically relational. The implication here is that within any given pole there is relationally unequal complementarity, supplementarity, interdependence, dimensionality and reciprocity of the negative set and the positive set. This relational inequality appears as multidimensionality involving necessity and accidents to produce internal laws and rules for the continuous internal regulation and management that maintain temporary harmony (interpolar and intra-polar equilibrium) within the pole, and disharmony (inter-polar and intra-polar structural adjustments) between poles as well as well as transformations. These internal laws and rules are rhythms and become polyrhythms in multi-polarity. It is these polyrhythms that are Africentrically conceived to generate and maintain motion, stability and unity. The epistemic intercourse on the structure and behavior of these multi-polar rhythms as a general cognitive system in the discovery of ʺwhat there isʺ, transformation dynamics of ʺwhat would beʺ and the planned execution of ʺwhat ought to beʺ will be referred to as polyrhythmicity. We shall refer to the negative and positive sets that mutually reside in the same pole as sub-duality. Within the sub-duality, the relational supplementality implies that the negative set supplies something important that is wanting in the positive set and vice versa. In other words, each sub-duality also generates a relational giving-receiving duality without which the pole has no existence. The positive set provides the pole with its identity; the negative set provides the pole with its completion in the sense of complementarity, while both the negative and positive sets establish the poleʹs recognizable existence. Thus the negative and positive sets supplement and complement their mutual existence in a pole and in the polarity. Given the supplementation within a pole there is interdependence between the negative and positive sets. The nature of the interdependence presents itself as dual. In order for the positive and 43

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

negative sets to have identity they must have mutual independence in some form. In other to possess completion, both of them must acquire conditions of supplementation and complementation, and hence they are interdependent. In this way both the negative set and positive set are simultaneously independent and interdependent as categories of duality. They are independent of each other for identity and mutually interdependent on each other for existence through categorial supplementarity and complementarity. The degree of independence and interdependence will define the conditions of conversion and the transformational direction. Complementarity, supplementarity, independence and interdependence are categories of relationality that satisfy conditions of duality. Additionally, we have dimensionality that presents itself as polyrhythms of categories of relationality. The morphology of multiplicity of rhythmics is such that categories of polarity are strategically positioned to enforce the laws and rules, or to coordinate different rhythms that allow efficiency of complementation and supplementation as well as channels of communication and information flows required for transformational dynamics, unity and stability. Dimensionality also projects similarity and difference of all the categories of relationality in the same pole composed of sub-duality. On one hand the negative and positive sets have common properties of sameness. On the other hand, the negative and positive sets have common characteristics of difference, all of which are involved in the categories of relationality in polyrhythms that establish multi-channels of communication of mutually negative and positive sharing. The important point is that these categories of relationality are basically full-duplex channels of communication that allow the sharing of information and mutual activities. Sharing of information involves reciprocity, given the categorial polyrhythmicity. The categorial polyrhythmicity allows polynomial paths of information input-output flows to be established within a pole, between poles and among poles. Thus the universal process involves inter and intra polar activities of many forms. The reciprocity appears as duality of symmetry and asymmetry. Within each pole there are multiple channels of communication and information flow between the negative and positive dual depending on the arrangements of elements in the category of relationality. Information is also the energy that maintains 44

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

the livelihoods of polar activities. The multiplicity of rhythms may also be viewed as the set of relational instructions that allows forms of polarity to manage their transformational processes within each pole and from one category to another. The negative set is a recipient of information (energy) from the donor, the positive set and vice versa. Thus both the negative and positive sets are simultaneously recipients and donors in asymmetric duality. The channels through which the giving and receiving are carried on are different. Similarly, the nature of giving and receiving is different in an asymmetry duality. All categories of relational reciprocity are asymmetric and symmetric in unity. Symmetry establishes their mutual interdependence while the asymmetry affirms their mutual independence in the donor-recipient duality within any given pole. That which is given and that which is received involve quantity, quality and time that tend to characterize the nothingsomething polarity and its transformational process from one state of being to another. Transformation implies change; change is produced by motion; motion is induced by energy; energy is generated by tension while tension is internally manufactured by symmetric and asymmetric flows of relations created by multiplicity of rhythms. Let us turn our attention to transformation dynamics involving change, tension and motion as they relate to categorial conversion. 2.2.3

Tension, Motion and Change

So far we have presented duality and relationality as the main categories of polarity. We argued that all categories of relationality involve symmetry and asymmetry within the same pole, and within the same bipolarity. This symmetry-asymmetry duality creates conflicts and tension within any category, pole and polarity. The sources of tension are produced by the energies of two differential tendencies within the same pole and the same duality. Let us refer to them as the left or negative tendency and the right or positive tendency. The left and right tendencies correspond to the left and right poles respectively within the same polarity. The negative and positive tendencies also correspond to the negative and positive sets within the same pole respectively. A tendency is simply a constant inclination on the part of an entity or a characteristic to change in a particular direction through self-excitement and self-organizing controllability.

45

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

From the internal organization of a pole we have, as it has been argued, simultaneous existence of positive and negative sets of characteristics in differential magnitudes within the poles. These differential magnitudes are unified by categories of relationality into oneness. The differential magnitudes and relations that they mutually engender reflect themselves as energies and energy flows. The left tendency is composed of negative energy while the right tendency is made of positive energy in unity with the negative. The unity is an internal arrangement and construct of the categories of relationality as well as self-organization of the mutual interaction of the negative and positive energies. The tendencies and categories of relationality impose on a pole a sub-duality. The negative energy gives the left tendency its self-excitement and forces of self-motion in terms of self-preservation and change while the positive energy provides the right tendency its self-excitement and forces of self-motion in terms of self preservation and change. In this mode, the sub-duality finds expression in a simultaneous behavior of change and no change. The behavior of the negative energy defines the basis of internal change of the negative tendency as well as defining the external conditions for a change of the positive tendency and vice versa. The positive tendency seeks to maintain and expand its dominance over the negative tendency in a pole by negating the elements in the negative set. This activity of the positive set preserves the pole in the sameness. The negative tendency on the other hand seeks to maintain and upgrade the negative set by negating the elements in the positive set in order to create a new dominance and hence a difference. In this process, a pole assumes a character of sameness-difference duality where there is a tendency to become more of what it is and the tendency to become what it is not through mutual negation and transformation. The actively dual tendencies constitute oppositeness and somehow a contradiction of simultaneous existence of what there is and what there is not as a sub-sub-category of nothing-something polarity. Here lies the powerful African cognition of how the living is within the dead and the dead is within the living; both of which are linked by a category of relationality. It explains the notion that the ancestral tree continuously grows without shrinking, transforms itself into higher order of unity. This translates logically to the conception of unity of the world of creation that is maintained on a delicate balance of existence 46

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

and non-existence through continual transformation. This apparent contradiction is resolved at the level of thinking through polyrhythmic logic while at the level of Africaʹs social application it is resolved through rituals of mediation and reconciliation. We are thus presented with a natural process where a tendency seeks to complete itself through negation that must affirm selfconstruction of the positive set and the pole. Self-construction through the behavior of the positive set that provides the poleʹs identity also generates conditions for its self-destruction through relative supplementation. The tension generated by these dual tendencies of self-construction and self-destruction consists of categories of creative construction-destruction duality. It is a process that provides the logical support to the African conception of continual creation, the beginning of which is unknown to any human that ever lived, and the end of which will never be known by any human that lives because the beginning resides in the end and the end resides in the beginning in an inseparable unit constituting the unity of all categories of polarity and being. By logical extension, if anybody saw the beginning of creation then what was seen could not be claimed to be the beginning; and if anybody lives to see the end then that which was seen could not be claimed to be the end. All these point to how duality and polarity are connected to unity and oneness. 2.2.4

Unity, Oneness, Duality and Polarity

Every pole or every polarity is self-contained in the sense of having independence and interdependence. The independence and interdependence are established through the various categories of relationality that provide the channels of input-output information flows. The independence exists in unity with interdependence without which the individuality of either of them is not recognizable. Similarly, the negative and positive sets exist in transformational unity within the same pole. This unity is imperative and necessary for the existence of recipient-donor duality within a pole and between poles. According to Africentric conceptual system, therefore, without unity there is no existence and existence implies unity. Unity is the fundamental element of existence in general. It comprises a duality and connectors. The duality establishes the opposites while the connectors are established by categories of relationality which produce tendencies. The tendencies generate energy 47

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

and information flows that result in tension. The tension defines the conditions for categorial convertibility within any pole, between poles and among poles, all of which exist in categories of unity which in turn constitute the universal unity that is a category of nothing-something polarity. Duality, polarity and specific unity are, thus, inherent properties of all things, processes, states and phenomena that operate in a universal unity for the emergence of the new and the disappearance of the old through self-contained transformation dynamics. The universal unity is the enveloping of the categories of unity that define the complexities of accidents and necessities which then produce simultaneous existence of harmony and disharmony in the universe. Necessity is a predetermination of the forces and rhythms of the working mechanism of unity of processes. Accidents are human characterization of events due to deficiency of information and knowledge. They indicate human ignorance about natural and social laws (rhythms) of processes and their organic and particular behaviors in the destructive-constructive transformations in creation. The organicity and particularity of the unity express themselves in dualities and convertibilities where the universe is seen as categories and convertibilities are seen in terms of transformation of categories form the essential reality to existential potentiality. As the potential is being actualized the actual is being transformed into the potential. In this way reality and potentiality exist as a polarity. Individually, reality and potentiality exist as duality composing of positive and negative sets (see Figure 2.2.1.1). The actual is always being transformed into a potential and the potential is being converted into an actual. This is the full duplex of channels of actual-potential polarity in the creative process. Here one can view reality as the old and potentiality as the new that exist in oneness through the process of disappearanceemergence polarity. Residing in every individual pole and in polarity is oneness of reality and potential within which the necessity and accident are unified. Therefore a pole is both reality and potential. Reality and potential simultaneously induce their own self-transformations and self-preservations as well as mutual destruction toward a categorial conversion of particular polarity. The positive and negative sets in a pole perform two identical roles. Each of the sets seeks to preserve its existence while acting to transform the other to become more of what it 48

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

is, or for maintaining the sameness or a change of the pole. The tendency on the part of either the negative set or the left pole (positive set or right pole) to transform either the positive set or the right pole (negative set or left pole) respectively in order to preserve its existence is also a tendency towards its own destruction in terms of selftransformation of what it is to what it is not. There are four qualitative equations of motion governing the transformation dynamics for intrapole and inter-pole conversions. It is a conjecture in this construct that the logic of fuzzy mathematics and the theory of fuzzy automatic controllers may assist us in further unraveling of the underlying structure of categorial convertibility and the understanding of the implied energy and transformation moment at work. The actions and reactions of the negative and positive sets in the preservationtransformation duality within either the same pole or polarity result in self-transformation of either the pole or polarity from that which is to that which is being. This is the creative-destructive process. For example, both the seeds of life and death reside simultaneously in the living and the dead. The very essence of living generates within the structure of living things, an internal creative-destructive process towards non-living, which is death. Similarly, the essence of dying generates within its tendency internal forces that bring about destructive-creative process toward a resurrection of life from the nonliving, that is, death to the living, which is life. The conditions that maintain life by negating death are also the conditions that maintain death by negating life and vice versa. The living being is a unity of duality connected by categories of relationality that together present themselves as life-death polarity in accord with African philosophical traditions. It is within this context of life-death polarity that the story of Osiris in the teaching of Isis must be seen, interpreted and understood [10b – 10e] [23]. Let us keep in mind that the African conceptual system is full of philosophical riddles [8b]. Both life and death are simultaneously actual and potential through the process of categorial conversions. The conversions are a series of never-ending rhythms of cyclical mode where the beginning and end are progressively categorial conversions through the dynamics of mutual negations that are established by the rhythms (laws) of internal transformations. The effects of external factors are to hasten the internal dynamics and enhance the categorial transformation in favor of either the negative (left) or positive (right) set (pole). In a universal 49

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

unity the rhythms appear as multidimensional configuration that establishes the particular and global categories of communications. Here lie African rhythms and African sensibility where creation is seen as a continual process of internal evolution induced by categorial conversions. The new as a potential emerges out of the womb of the old, as actual by categorial conversion and then become the actual reality. The old as the initial actual exists from the womb of the new as the potential and then become a potential by categorial conversion. The beginning of the creation process is unknown to any human that ever lived and the end will not be known to any human that will ever live. Thus the universe is viewed as complete and closed in unity. It is selfconstructing, self-destructing, self-adjusting and self-containing in transformational unity. It is always on the path of constructivedestructive activities without which transformations are impossible. This path is the grand transformation possibility trajectory that is an enveloping of the set of possibility trajectories. The African conceptual system translate to a proposition that nothing is ever lost in the transforming dynamics of the constructiondestruction polarity because everything transformationally enters into nothingness and everything transformationally emerges out of nothingness so that the universal system will not collapse. It simply will be qualitatively different as the actual (something) transformationally enters into nothingness and becomes potential. From the state of nothingness emerges the potential that transformationally enters into somethingness. At this juncture, one may examine the Judeo-Christian conception of creation and how it relates to or opposes the Africentric idea of creation and to the African nothing-something polarity (see also [8b] [14] [16] [24a] [25] [30]). Furthermore, notice how the conception of six-day creation in the Judeo-Christian theology is contrary to the African conception of perpetual creation that provides an explanatory logic of transformation dynamics of our world, and in fact of our universe, where accidents and necessities are the colorful characteristics of universal forms of nature and human cognition. The unity of universal forms expresses itself in a system of categories capturing the reality-potential polarity. All static-dynamic dual are viewed in terms of sub-system of categories. The dual is relational to one another and connected by relational dualities as previously explained. The relational dualities form a unity of categories 50

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

that constitute the relationality. The categories of relations produce categories of dual tendencies with opposite characters. Each tendency generates both actual and potential energies in a dual existence. These energies are also in categories that appear in dual, such as negative and positive, that induce qualitative and quantitative motions for transformations. Practical examples from Africa illustrating this African-centered conceptual system and the embedded transformation logic are given in sections 2.3 and 2.4. Every tendency is a pole which is a sub-pole to elements of the categories of polarity. The category of dual tendencies with inherent categories of dual energies brings about tension or force that is dual in opposite. The tension constitutes categories of dual such as preservation and change that exist as conflict-resolution dynamics in the conversion unity. The categories of tension bring about categories of transformation dynamics leading to conversion of categories between two sub-systems, among subsystems and within the general system. In this way the universe is exhaustively described in terms of categories and subcategories of polarity, duality and relationality. The duality and relationality exist under tension in unity. The relational tension provides the conditions for a never-ending creative process through conversions of categories by establishing conversion factors and moments which act on both the potential and actual in a mutual negation and transform the potential to actual and the actual to the potential. In the Africentric conceptual system, therefore, everything, observable or non-observable, is in transition of change through categorial conversion no matter how long the change takes. Accidents are not accidents and adversities are not adversities as we think. They are nothing more than corrective elements in the creative process.

2.3

Some Africentric Reflections and Examples

It is useful at this point to provide some specific explanatory examples of application of the African conceptual system in order to concretize the above theoretical construct. These applied examples will show how the conceptual scheme constitutes the foundation of Africentric essence and Africaʹs social foundation. The Africentric essence is the intangible quality that distinguishes an African from a non-African. It defines and projects African art, forms of music, dance, 51

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

and sculpture, style of dressing, literature, statecraft, sociopolitical organizations and ways of life in polyrhythmic forms where the driving force of social creation is the community in unity with the individual. As perceived the cognitive foundation of the African essence is an abstraction from transformation behaviors in the categories of polarity with a primary category being the nothingsomething polarity. For example, the past is conceptually projected to us as simultaneously real and illusory (that is, what there was and what there is not); the present is shown to be simultaneously actual and potential and the future is presented to us as simultaneously purposeful and accidental. Purposefulness translates into necessity. Necessity defines conditions where a process of transformation or categorial conversion of categories of the actual-potential polarity is such that by its own internal rhythms, it manifests certain outcomes but not others of the set of potentials. These rhythms are internal laws of transformation which allow for categorial convertibilities of forms and stability of the organic creative process. Their interactive processes in multidimensional forms produce the essence of polyrhythmicity. A complete knowledge of these rhythms and polyrhythms (laws of transformation, harmony and stability) in organic unity is impossible to obtain and comprehend by humans simply because of the vastness and complexities of the working mechanism of the interactive processes of categories of relationality. The lack of complete knowledge of these rhythms and polyrhythms leads humans to characterize some events as accidents when they occur because their inner working mechanisms and the resulting outcomes are not informationally revealed to us at the basic material level before their occurrences. This may be due to the fact that the subconscious channels of information flow are closed to us by our primitive state of spiritual technology. The greatest cognitive limitation in our contemporary times to the process of knowledge acquisition is poverty and backwardness of spiritual technology that was abundant among ancient Africans, visible in their traditions and revealed itself in social formation and its management. This technology, a substantial portion of which is now cognitively lost or forgotten, formed the foundation of African social formation, its creative process and spirit-matter production. It is through the prism of this spiritual technology that the creative monuments that impressively color the African continent can 52

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

be fully analyzed and understood. It cannot be understood from the cognitive spectacles of our contemporary material technology. For example, it is almost impossible to try to understand the technology of the construction of the African pyramids from the knowledge and science of our current material technology. The Western current intellectual arrogance is an important cognitive limitation as well as an element of boundedness of rationality. Such limitations and bounded rationality generate analytical works that lead to bizarre conclusions where sometimes Europeans attribute archaeological findings in Africa to alien sources in other to justify their preconceptions of what Africa is. The purposefulness or necessity in events of universal outcomes is Africentrically defined as destiny. Human destiny is viewed as an accident-purpose polarity with mediational resolutions that are ritualistic at the level of social practice. Here, every conceived accident is viewed as a transformational mediation without which the overall purpose is internally non-accomplishable. A person is conceived as composed of the human side and spirit (God) side in unity. Humans are necessities of the nothing-something polarity through transformational processes. As living beings, humans owe their evolution and existence to the spirit-creative polarity (see discussions in Chapter 5 and 6). As spirits, humans are not created but are an integral part of the Creative Force and the creative process. In this respect, we have creation and non-creation polarity in a framework of mutually complementing and supplementing duality. The complementing and supplementing dualities are opposites that merge through categorial conversion into unity of a new form and then separate into new different poles that complement and supplement each other to maintain the new unity and affirm the process of continual creation without end. Every creation has a seed of destruction and vice versa, that allows the disappearance of the old and the emergence of the new in duality, polarity, unity and continuity. The spirit-matter polarity is illustrated by a number of interesting examples from African social practice. The spirit in a person appears in two souls while the human side appears in duality as a male and female in unity, as is described in the Dogon account of the works of the Creative Force (Amma) [20b, pp25-45] [65a][8b]. The same conceptual structure of duality is found in the philosophical system of the Akans of Ghana [1] [33b] [34] and [67a]. The concept is also explicated in the whole of the Kemit philosophical system that is 53

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

colorful with categories of duality and polarity [25][30][75]. The Sundiata episode in West Africa is another example of duality (Wraith) [99b]. The unity of the human element and spirit element in a person, giving him or her identity and sameness, is the driving force of categorial conversions from the living to the dead and from the dead to the living in a never-ending cyclical process onto a progressively higher quality of categorial transformation. The process is such that there are simultaneous tendencies for mutual separation and unification toward death and life as polarity. 2.3.1

Unity, Polarity, Duality and FuntummerekuDenkyemmireku

The concepts of polarity, categories of duality and categories of relationality in unity are vividly captured by African symbolic representations. For example, we have the Akan (of Ghana) symbolic language of a philosophical concept represented by two-headed-onestomach crocodile called Funtummereku-Denkyemmereku [120, Nos 810and 25]. It appears in another abstract form as the Egyptian Swastika [13, pp. 438 and 719] (see Figure 1.4.2a) that is encircled by the Sun Burst (Ra or Re) and anchored at the top of the pyramid (see Section 1.4 of this book). The symbols illustrate the categories of duality as the essence of creation, here and after, all connected to the center where the stomach represents unity of universal forms with differentiation and sameness through the creational process. The two heads are relationally connected to the stomach in all activities of life and death as well as all activities here and after. The two heads represent philosophically two opposite principles of universal forms that exist in a dynamic separation and unity. It is an expression of polarity. The struggling of the two heards against each other for livelihood symbolizes conflict while the one stomach that supports both heads defines resolution in separation and unity. By positing the two heads connected to the stomach the logical system is closed and complete. This is a different conceptual and logical world from the Eastern philosophies. There is one important thing that requires a logical note. In the Africentric construct of logical understanding of the universe of states and process the conceptual system must be closed to display the dynamic properties of duality, conflict, unity and self-change that must establish the path of 54

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

transformation possibility trajectory where actual and potential reside in each other and continuously reversing roles and positions with different qualitative characteristics. No matter what name this conceptual symbol has acquired in different parts of Africa and other parts of the world even with corrupted meaning and interpretive representation, it is purely African and rooted in Africentric cosmology. It represents all the elements which unify the forces of creation for transformation of categories of the universe as a general philosophical symbol of categories of duality and relationality that constitute the universal polarity. Here all categories of polarity are conceptually derived from the primary category of nothing-something polarity [14] [25] [39] [75]and [93a-d]. The symbol splits into female and male representations as duality that are relationally connected into unity (see Figure 2.4.2b). 2.3.2

Unity, Duality and the Anoma-Kokone-Kone Problem

Again the concepts of duality, unity and transformation as they relate to disequilibrium processes, continual adjustments and temporary states are illustrated by a philosophical problem called the Anoma-kokone-kone problem in the Twi language of the Akans of Ghana. We are sure that different expressions for the same conceptual and philosophical ideas embodied in the Anoma-kokone-kone problem can be found in different ethnic groups and other parts in Africa after the problem is described and the solution discussed. Anoma-kokone-kone is a conceptual bird that flies to the upstream of the community drinking water-source, dirties the river, flies to the downstream and discovers the mess of the filthy and dirty water for the community’s use. It then flies to the village to announce his gruesome discovery. It complains bitterly and requests the head of the village to summon the community to find the perpetrator of such a crime against the community. This is the Anoma-kokone-kone problem in the African conceptual system. The Anoma-kokone-kone problem is a complex conceptual representation of unity of evil and good under tension, where the resolution is seen in terms of social organization and rituals. Here lies the individual-community polarity. Notice that the problem is open-ended without a solution, owing to different applications and cognitive instructions that it offers. Its solution is conceptually connected to other categories of duality and

55

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

polarity within the universal unity in terms of independence and interdependence. At the level of social organization, the individual is both good and evil to the community depending on his or her composite behavior. Similarly, the community is both good and evil to individual members depending on the community’s collective behavior. The individual can be a liability as well as an asset and yet his or her asset or identity is community-defined while his or her membership of the community helps to define the disposition of the community. The community also can be a liability as well as an asset to the individual whose membership helps to establish the identity of the community. Alternatively viewed, the Anoma-kokone-kone problem presents universal concept of constructive-destructive polarity that is conflict driven to explain the need for rules and regulation, reward and punishment, freedom and justice and above all individual and collective personality where ever a society exists. There is a category of relationality that establishes channels of communication between the individual and the community on all levels of interaction. The individual is the primary category while the community is the derived category at the level of nature and persons living in isolations. At the level of social formation, however, this natural individual-community polarity is reversed where the community becomes the primary category while the individual becomes the derived category through categorial conversion and transformation dynamics. The reversal of the logical positions of the individual and community in the transformation process of the primary-derived category is essentially consistent with the nothing-something polarity as the primary polarity in the creative dynamics. The community is the counterpart of nothingness and the individual is the somethingness. All individuals emerge out of the community and all the individuals vanish into the community through the process of categorial convertibility. Both the individual and community have existence and non-existence polarity. Individual, as actual, exists in categorial transition and the community, as potential, exists in categorial conversion. The potential exists as nothingness and actual exists as somethingness linked into unity by a particular category of relationality manufactured by the dynamics of multiplicity of rhythms. It is logically incorrect to assign positive quality to existence (actual) and negative quality to the nonexistence (potential) because both the 56

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

actual and potential exist as categories of polarity. The negative and positive sets are present in both with defined categories of relationality. It is the presence of the negative and positive sets in each one of them in relative composition that defines their identities as potential and actual, and as nothingness and somethingness. This is true of the community and the individual. By projecting the community as the primary category and the individual as the derived category, a philosophical foundation is laid for a particular type of social formation and political arrangements. Furthermore a particular logical system of reasoning is established where one proceeds from the general to the particular and then examines the particular within the general. The social formation that emerges has the properties of communalism, egalitarianism, and humanism where the Anoma-kokone-kone problem can be resolved through categorial conversion of the individual and collective personalities that exist in a delicate equilibrium-disequilibrium processes of social evolution, governance and management. 2.3.3

Duality, Polarity and the Asantrofi-Anoma Problem

In the philosophical traditions of the Akans of Ghana, which of course is part as well an extension of the philosophical traditions of Alkebu-lan [1] [8b] [39] [67b], the categories of duality and relationality are further presented by the conceptual Asantrofi-anoma problem. The structure of this philosophical problem is outlined in Dompere [42, p. 227]. It was also pointed out that a similar problem definition is characterized by Catullus in a structure of love-hate duality [91c]. The Asantrofi-anoma problem is complex, taking claim to universality of duality, polarity and unity. It engulfs the whole conceptual structure of creation, existence and categorial conversion. The problem is projected into decision-choice space where there is only one element that must be chosen or not chosen. This is the with-and-without problem in decision making in benefit-cost space. The decision presents itself in a categorial duality. Its difficulty reflects the complexities of conflict resolution to the universal system of categories of polarity and transformations in completely fuzzy domain structures, fuzzy in the sense of continuity of death-life spectrum in the destructive-constructive process where there are shades of life and non-life. The choice object represents universal unity.

57

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

Let us consider a unique object that is to be selected or not. Now recall that the Africentric conception of the universe sees each object, C , in duality. This unique object, therefore, is composed by a choice state A1 and alternative state A2 in an inseparable unity. Keep in mind that polarity consists of two poles (each of which appears in duality) and categories of relationality that bring the two into unity as well as generate the conditions for categorial conversion between the poles and within the unit. The decision element appears as a category of polarity. Both alternatives A1 and A2 have their own dual that appears as sets of opposite characteristics. Let K1 and K2 be the sets of characteristics of the dual. In an alternative, A1 , we have the existence of sets K11 and K12 in an inseparable unit. Similarly in an alternative, A2 we have K21 and K22 existing in an inseparable union. The alternative, A1 and A2 exist as a polarity and in a transformational unity. As specified, all the categories of relationality that we have previously discussed apply to A1 and A2 as well as K1 and K2 . For example, elements of sets K1 and K2 complement and supplement each other’s existence and identities in A1 and A2 . Similarly A1 and A2 are relationally connected in unity and identities by the mutual givingreceiving polarity. The basic structure may be presented in Figures 2.3.3.1. The partition structure is presented as logic matrix with the various components as in Figure 2.3.3.2

K12

K 22

DUALITY

DUALITY

K11

K 21

Pole A1

Pole A 2

Figure 2.3.3.1 Choice Element, C , in Polarity

58

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

DUALITY

P O L A R I T Y

Positive set K1

Negative set K2

Pole A1

K11

K12

Pole A2

K21

K22

Figure 2.3.3.2 Choice Element, C , in Polarity and Duality 1. K1 = K11 ∪ K21 and K2 = K12 ∪ K22 (balance) 2. #K11 ≥ #K21 and #K22 ≥ K12 Similarity: 3. #K12 ≤ K11 and #K21 ≤ K 22 , dissimilarity In an alternative A1 , K1 yields such an intensity of benefit that the object, C , is desirable. The desirability of C in choice element A1 is constrained by the characteristic K2 that provide such an intensity of cost (pain) that C is viewed as undesirable. When the alternative A2 is examined for choice, the qualities of K1 and K2 are transformed such that K1 is cost and K2 is benefit in the same relative intensities in terms of opportunities. The choice object C is a category of polarity whose poles are A1 and A2 with elements of dual, K1 and K2 existing in an inseparable unity. Each of the alternatives, A1 and A2 , is thus a category of duality with a defined bipolar conditions on K1 and K2 that exist in unity through categories of relationality. This can be continued, but the epistemic point is clear in that we have a system of categories of polarity whose simultaneous solution is philosophically presented as the Asantrofi-anoma problem that characterizes the universality of forms in past, present and future. It is also a paradox in that there is always a simultaneous existence of good and bad, or pleasure and pain, cost and benefit in every alternative with continual reversal of roles through categorial conversions and transformations of entities from that which is to be that which is not. It 59

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

is within this context that the statement that every adversity presents a new opportunity acquires a powerful force of consolation. A particular adversity is an actual and in the actual is the seed of potential that presents itself as an opportunity. This statement that is generally accepted for consolation is not different from an African statement that every adversity is a transformational mediation in the creative process within the accident-purpose polarity. In other words all accidents are viewed in terms of specific and universal restructuring towards a different goal or state. The objective of the asantrofi-anoma problem is to select or not to select C . But the alternatives A1 and A2 exist as polarity in C . In terms of benefit-cost implications of choice the selection of C is also non-selection of C . This is because A1 and A2 exist as mutually complementing and supplementing dual with a flow of giving and receiving characteristics. The object C is, therefore, what is and simultaneously what is not. As such alternatives A1 and A2 cannot exist in an isolated mode for non-interactive selection. Alternatives, A1 and A2 are independent and yet interdependent through categories of relationality in C . The problem emerges out of Africentric conceptual system involving duality, categories of relationality and polarity. The element C is a polarity of A1 and A2 , which are dualities of K1 and K2 with relative distribution that are linked in unity by categories of relationality. The Asantrofi-anoma problem is not a phantom one. It is a phenomenon that characterizes the dynamics of the universe or the world we live in where decisions and choices are the terrain of human social organization, internal and external organization of living things and processes of transformation of universal forms. At the level of human operations, the problem is not about indecision at critical transformation points. It is simply a problem used to describe the interactive processes of duality, categories of relationality, unity and categorial conversions that impose a particular structure on information flows and processing, human limitations, cognition and decisions in the universe where change is the only thing that can take claim to permanence and necessity. The poles claim their identities from the relative magnitudes of the negative and positive sets. The pole A (B) is identified by the relative dominating presence of the positive (negative) set. The logic of categorial conversion is such that through the categories of relationality 60

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

tensions are created to manufacture energies. These energies act on the negative and positive sets in the pole A for the positive set to become more than what it is not and less than what it is while the negative set seek to become more of what it is and less than what it is not. The reversal process takes place in pole B. The process is categorial conversion and the set of conditions for conversion possibility is the categorial convertibility. This process points to a theory of categorial conversion (see also [106]). 2.3.4

Conjectural Solutions to the Asantrofi-Anoma, Anomakokone-kone Problems: The Sankofa-Anoma Resolution

The following conjunctures are advanced for the solution to the Asantrofi-anoma problem representing categories of polarity, universal unity and categorial transformation. The solution may be conjectured for the Anoma-kokone-kone problem. Both of them stem from the structure of the Sankofa-Anoma resolution 1. The Asantrofi-anoma problem has an unsatisfactory, temporary and unstable solution within states and among states in the creative dynamics. The solution acts as mediation in the destructiveconstructive process that allows the active operation of categorial conversion from one category to the other. 2. The unsatisfactory solution has no permanence in the universal system of categories and transformations that are characterized by equilibrium-disequilibrium polarity and conflict-resolution duality. 3. Every problem and every solution is in polarity as well as in transformational unity with continual categorial conversion without end and without beginning. 4. Every solution or resolution is a transformation that presents a new condition and a new problem. There is no end to problems and there is no end to solutions. The solution path (set) is also the problem path (set). Every solution has a seed of a problem and every problem has a seed of solution that exist in unity.

61

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

5. There are no satisfactory, permanent and stable solutions to the problems of the world processes that connect the past to the present, the present to the future and the future to the beginning. 6. Solutions to existing problems give rise to new problems that require new solutions in a cyclical mode of the problem-solution processes that are relationally connected to actual-potential transformations. There are no permanent problems and there are no permanent solutions. Permanency is the characteristic of problemsolution trajectory and categories of problem-solution polarity are the characteristics of the universal order. The condition 5 introduces us directly to the Sankofa-Anoma resolution to the Anoma-kokone-kone and Asantrofi-Anoma problems. The Sankofa-Anoma resolution provides a philosophical resolve through the trinity of past, present and future, cast in dualities that present important lessons in philosophical inquiry based on duality, polarity and relational unity. The system reveals the infinitude of creative process through destructive-constructive dynamics where nothing is lost except qualitative appearances through transformations. The Asantrofi anoma is a conceptual bird that has its head twisted backward while in a forward motion with one eye pointed to the past and the other eye pointed to the future. This conceptual bird represents multi-interpretive phenomena within the conceptual system of information, learning, knowledge acquisition, collective wisdom and decision as processes in unity. The Sankofa-anoma is in unity with itself and yet separates into three universal processes of past, present and future. It asserts continuity in all aspects of natural and social endeavors in the creative process. In the process of motion, it is firmly planted in the present position and hence fully aware of the actual and the present problem. The one eye pointed to the forward track is in search of a potential to be actualized through the use of new information and knowledge. In other words, it is seeking a solution to the present problem. The other eye pointed to the backward track is monitoring the past information that relates to the solution to the past problem that has given rise to the present problem, retrieving it for analysis and synthesis to constitute a new knowledge base for decision regarding the future (potential) as a solution relative to the present (actual). The bird in motion represents the philosophical position that the world is made up processes of 62

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

categorial conversions and categories of problem-solution polarity. The Anoma-kokone-kone and Asantrofi-anoma problems represent categories of transformations that have no end. In the conversion of categories we deal with two polarities of pastpresent polarity and present-future polarity in the continuity of process unity that establishes the past-future envelope. The conceptual process is such that the past-present polarity constitutes the primary category of the categorial conversion. The present-future polarity is a derivative thereof. Future outcomes are transformations from the past-present polarity. Thus behind any disposition of future outcome is present outcome which is past derived. Future is the potential and present is the actual while the past is an information input. Thus behind the appearance of a future event is the disposition of past-present outcomes. The appearance of any future event is a surrogate of presentfuture disposition. In other words the past-present polarity is the primary category from which elements in the present-future polarity are derived but in unity with the elements in the primary past-present polarity. The conditions of the present are the basis for change of the actual while the conditions of the future and the past are the reasons for change to the potential. In terms of categorial convertibility or creative possibility process in the decision space we are confronted with the Sankofa-anoma problem. At the level of social formation, the asontrofi-anoma problem translates into the problem of decision dynamics with a conceptual and analytical chain that connects the past to the present and future in a cyclical process where the actual is being negated to the potential and the potential is simultaneously being negated to the actual. The decision task is to solve the problem of past-present-future interconnections through the dynamics of decision-informationinteractive processes. The solution must retain the creative process of potential to the actual and the actual to the potential in endless cycles of the process outcomes. The Sankofa-anoma resolution, Asantrofi-anoma problem and Anoma-kokone-kone problem constitute a trinity that represents a pyramid. The three conceptual elements relate to the individual, family and community, which together form a conceptual pyramid on the basis of which nations are organized, governed and managed through transformational dynamics. They form a foundation that defines a set of democratic ideas and principles particular to the African cognitive 63

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

map of society, and how society must interact with all creations including humans, and how society, family and individual must relate to each other to ensure community security, individual freedom and privacy, and community stability. The epistemic geometry is presented in Figure 2.3.4.1. Sankofa Anoma

Family

Individual

Social Formation Anoma Kokone -kone

Asantrofi Anoma

Community/Nation

Figure 2.3.4.1 Epistemic Geometry of Sankofa-anoma, Asantrofianoma and Anoma-kokone-kone in Relational setting The cognitive map includes egalitarianism and humanism as important building blocks of social formation and management. The egalitarianism seeks ideas of human society that promote individual development as part of general social development that promotes social equity. Humanism seeks ideas of human development that promote compassion to each individual members of the society irrespective of the level of their contribution to society. In this philosophical map of society, the conditions for development of society become the conditions for the development of the individual members of the society. This statement is a logical derivative of categories of relationality. Here transformation dynamics define a process where the individual is the family and the family is the individual; the family is the community and the community is the family and hence the individual is the community and the community is the individual in the social formation, governance and management. This philosophical 64

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

position gives meaning to the traditional notion of diversity in unity that encapsulates the qualities of beauty, strength and tension. The Anoma-kokone-kone problem defines conditions of individual-community tension that results from mutual negation of individual and collective personalities within the unity through categorial conversion. The asontrofi-anoma problem defines individual-family-community tension that results from relational supplementation, complementation in the intra-transformational process of the society. It also represents problem-solution transformational duality where there is no permanent solution but only a temporary solution in the problem-solution chain of the specific and universal duality. The Sankofa-anoma resolution defines the conditions of the solution path to the destructive-constructive process of the emergence of the new and the disappearance of the old linked to the past-present-future dualities. At the level of social organization as seen from the cognitive spectrum of categorial conversions, freedom and justice are philosophically viewed as inseparable. Freedom has no anchorage in an unjust world and justice has no meaning in conditions of bondage. Individual freedom and justice are also the communityʹs freedom and justice. The defense of individual freedom is also the defense of community freedom. The individual has freedom to develop so as to fulfill his or her duty to the society without introducing negative elements of distinction that destroy the egalitarian basis of African social formation and its communalism. The society on the other hand has freedom to be compassionate to individuals without introducing elements of distinction that destroy the foundation of social justice and the egalitarian basis of the African social formation and the principles of communalism. The moral foundation that emerges from the African conceptual system is the promotion of ethics of common good over the ethics of individual greed at the expense of freedom and justice that bring about social exploitation, injustice, unnecessary conflicts and war.

2.4

The Epistemic Scheme of the Principles of Duality, Opposites and Polarity in Transformations

The characterization and discussion of the Asantrofi-anoma and Anoma-kokone-kone problems with the Sankofa-anoma resolution lead us to connect the conceptual discussion to the African traditions of the 65

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

principle of opposites. The principle of opposites involves the four quantitative elements of earth, water, air and fire; and four qualitative elements of hot, cold, dry and wet. They constitute the eight pyramidal categories of polarity that are expressed geometrically in Figure 2.4.1(see also [13, p.384.or [15, p.320]). The conceptual thinking behind the principles of opposites is cast in a system of duality linked together with categories of relationality to produce categories of polarity and categorial conversions through the behavior of destructive-constructive duality. The cognitive foundation is such that we have four categories of polarity. These categories of polarity appear as a) wet-dry polarity, b) hot-cold polarity, c) water-fire polarity and d) air-earth polarity. The system is thus made up of two categories of quantitative polarity and two categories of qualitative polarity that together constitute the characterization of quantity-quality polarity in universal unity. The conceptual system for analysis, explanation and synthesis is presented as consisting of two categories of quantitative polarity (c and d) and two categories of qualitative polarity (a and b). Together they characterize quantitative-qualitative polarity in universal unity. Everything in the universe is characterized as quantitative or qualitative or both with time acting as neutral. HOT FIRE(NUT)

(SHU) AIR

1

4 2

3

WET

DRY 5

6 7

8

EARTH (GEB)

WATER (TEFNUT) COLD

Figure 2.4.1 The Relational Geometry of the Principle of Opposites in Universal Unity

66

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

The geometry of the principle of opposites reveals the center of unity that is generated by the categories of qualitative polarity through the categories of relationality. The center is a power source for change, transformation and categorial conversions. The center of unity is the unifying force for progress. From the diagram of principles of duality, opposites and polarity we can quickly abstract the symbol of unity, the Egyptian swastika (or the Ghanaian Funtummireku Denkyemmireku) by considering the outer shell and the central power chords. The construct, works by simply deleting the hot-air connector, dry-fire connector cold-earth connector, wet-water connector, wet-hot connector, hot-dry connector, dry-cold connector and wet-cold connector whose relationality is

HOT AIR

WET

FIRE

•

DRY

WATER EARTH COLD

Figure 2.4.2a The African Swastika (Funtummireku Denkyemmiraku) as a Construct from the Principles of Opposites in Relationality

rhythmically maintained. The hot-cold and wet-dry connectors are retained as the qualitative axis of quantitative transformations. The result is the diagram in Figure 2.4.2a called the swastika or the abstract Funtummireku Denkyemmireku. It represents a division of creation as well as unity of creation (see also [15, p.370]). The manner in which some connectors are dismantled and others are retained to obtain the symbol has cognitive importance in understanding the dynamics of creation and evolution where creation is evolution and evolution is 67

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

creation. It also has its own logic and philosophical interpretations of the universal system of categorial conversions. Some cognitive clarity will be found in the discussion that follows. The Egyptian swastika or the Akan Funtummirekudenkyemmireku projects in abstract a division-unity polarity of creation with continual-transformation and categorial conversion in quarters. The symbol is made up of male and female components in creational unity of universal forms. The left pole represents the character of the Creative Force. It is precisely this duality that establishes the cognitive foundation of Gods and Goddesses in African religious order, regimes of worship at the level of spiritual organization. The diagrammatic nature of the conceptual idea is shown in Figure 2.4.2b.

AIR

HOT

F

FIRE

M

WET

DRY

F

M

EARTH COLD

WATER

Figure 2.4.2b The Female-Male Polarity of the African Swastika. F=Female is the female element in Universal creation and M=Male element in universal creation. The right Pole represents the male and the left pole represents the female in universal unity and conflict that define duality

From the four quantitative elements and four qualitative elements of the diagram of the principles of unity, opposites, duality and polarity we can abstract two sub-systems of categories of polarity that are combinations of the first, fourth, seventh and eighth pyramidal poles. The air-earth polarity is obtained by superimposing the earth68

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

cold-dry pyramid on the air-wet-hot pyramid with air-earth power cord whose center of power is defined by the unity of categories of hotcold and dry-wet polarity. The epistemic structure is diagrammatically shown in Figure 2.4.3. as a relational geometry.

AIR

COLD

DRY

WET

HOT

EARTH

Figure 2.4.3 Pyramidal Geometry of Air-Earth Polarity Relationally Linked with Hot-cold Polarity and Wet-Dry Polarity

Similarly the fire-water polarity may be structured by superimposing fire-hot-dry pyramid on the water-wet-cold pyramid with water-fire power cord whose center of power is also defined by the unity of categories of hot-cold and dry-wet polarity. The structure of the fire-water polarity and its unified subsystem is presented in Figure 2.4.4. There are some important ideas to note about the epistemic geometry of the categories of air-earth and fire-water polarity. The outer circle defines the universal superstructure that is constantly expanding in its dimensions and houses the contents of creation through categorial conversions and transformations that are induced by the dynamics of destructive-constructive duality. The inner circles

69

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

are the center of relationality that projects unity of transformation of universal forms.

FIRE

WET COLD

HOT

DRY

WATER

Figure 2.4.4 Pyramidal Geometry of Fire-Water Polarity Relationally Linked with Hot-Cold and WetDry Polarity

The inner circle and the center define categories of pyramidal relationality such that not only is the hot-cold polarity in unity with dry-wet polarity, but the air-earth polarity is in transformational unity with the fire-water polarity. All of these exist in a transformational unity with one another to bring about disappearance of what there is from the something pole into nothing pole to become what there is not and the emergence of what there is not from the nothingness pole into the somethingness pole to become what there is. Again from the principles of duality and opposites we can divide the quantity-quality polarity into two sub-categories of qualitative polarity and quantitative polarity with hot-cold and wet-dry interactive power cords, and air-earth and fire-water interactive power cords through pyramidal superimposition. In other words, the quantitative and qualitative categories exist as independent identities and yet they are

70

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

fully interdependent with giving-receiving relation in full duplex.

AIR

WATER

FIRE

WATER

FIRE

EARTH

Figure 2.4.5 Pyramidal Geometry of Categories of Quantitative Polarity in a Universally Relational Unity

The cognitive structures are diagrammatically shown in Figures 2.4.5 and 2.4.6. As diagrammatically specified, the power cords connect the dual and by passing through the center of the categories of relationality (the center of energy) establishing channels of information sharing through communication flows in full duplex. They also define categories of duality as well as polarity with conversion potentialities within the universal unity. From the epistemic scheme of polarity, each element of the dual is independent from others for its identity, and yet relationally connected to others for their mutual existence. They reciprocate to each other through polyrhythmic patterns of categories of relationality that provide each category of polarity with the force and a factor of categorial convertibility from cold to hot and from hot to cold, or from wet to dry and from dry to wet with others in the cyclically transformational unity at progressively different levels of quality.

71

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

HOT

WET DRY

WET

DRY

COLD

Figure 2.4.6 Pyramidal Geometry of Categories of Qualitative Polarity in Universally Relational Unity

The fire-water polarity resides in air-earth polarity and vice-versa. Both are in mutual relationality (such as supplementation, complementation, difference, reciprocity and others) for identity and existence. They exist in transformational unity. They are different and simultaneously similar. They are independent units and yet they constitute separate parts of an organic whole. These four categories of polarity are derived by categorial conversion from something. They constitute matter. We shall refer to this system of derived categories of polarity as the Principle of Polarity of Existence (PPE). The principle is the foundation of continual transformation of what there is to what there is not and from what there is not to what there is, as viewed from a conceptual system involving trinity and creation where the past is connected to the present and present is linked to the future, which is shaped by the past through the actual-potential categorial conversions.

72

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

2.5

The Trinity and the Logic of Creation

The discussion of section 2.4 concluded with the idea that the system of derived categories came out of something. This something from which the Principle of Polarity of Existence is abstracted is the primary system of categories of polarity. The conceptual structure of primary system will be referred to as the Principle of Polarity of Creation (PPC). The primary system of categories of polarity is built on the conceptual Trinity of KA (Creative Force), BA (Spirit Force) and RA (Light Force) which together constitute the original pyramidal structure ( KA, BA, and RA are Coptic in root but linguistically and conceptually found among different African languages [93a-d]). From this Trinity we specify three categories of polarity. They are the KA-BA (CreativeSpirit) polarity, BA-RA (Spirit-Light) polarity and RA-KA (LightCreative) polarity that together constitute the foundation of creation. By defining them as categories of polarity we also maintain all the necessary and sufficient conditions of categories of relationality. The KA (Creative Force), BA (Spirit-Force) and RA (Light Force) have oneness, exist independently from each other for identity, and function interdependently for mutual transformation and evolution. (See the quotation at the beginning of Chapter 7). In sum, the Creative Force (KA) resides in the Spirit Force (BA) and vice versa. The Spirit Force (BA) resides in the Light Force (RA) and vice versa. By logical extension, the Creative Force (KA) resides in the Light Force (RA) and vice versa. The three categories of polarity thus exist in an inseparable oneness. The KA, BA, and RA are independent from each other for identity, mutually interdependent for existence, relationally interconnected for transformation and collectively exhaustive for the infinite existence. They are conceptually separated by the circle of transformation or the lines of swastical division. The Creative Force has no definable identity and existence without the Spirit Force and the Light Force and yet resides in both of them. The Spirit Force derives its existence from both the Creative and Light Forces and yet exists independently from them for its identity. Similarly, the identity and existence of the Light Force (RA) are derived from the Creative and Spirit Forces (KA and BA). They are inseparable and exist in unity throughout all categorial conversions in both forward and backward construction-destruction processes for any given

73

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

reference point within the nothing-something polarity and universal unity. In the primary system of categories of KA-BA-RA polarities, the Creative Force (KA) becomes conceptually the primary element of transformation while the Spirit and Light Forces (BA and RA) exist within the Creative Force as derivatives therefrom (see discussions in Chapters 3 and 6 of this book). Since the Creative Force resides in both the Spirit Force (BA) and Light Force (RA) it is a derivative by logical extension. Since the Spirit Force and Light Force (BA and RA) are part of the Creative Force (KA) they exist in created-uncreated polarity. This is true of the Creative Force (KA) by logical extension. Even though the Creative Force (KA), Spirit Force (BA) and Light Force (RA) reside in one another in transformational unity they are independent as well as interdependent for identity and existence in the nothingness pole. The categories of relationality among KA, BA, and RA establish a set of mutual channels of full-duplex information flows. They have mutual communication and generate programmed instructions to manage change, conversion of categories and the creative dynamics. These categories of polarity of the primary system are mutually interdependent and collectively exhaustive and yet mutually exclusive and collectively exhaustive. Together they constitute the totality of the universe and its creation, identity and existence. The mutual interdependence establishes existence while the mutual exclusivity establishes identity. The conditions of collective exhaustivity establish the totality of the universe while those of the categories of relationality establish unity and conditions for categorial conversions, transformations and evolutions. All other things of the universal system belong to the derived sub-systems. The system of categories of KA-BA-RA polarities forms the first layer that defines the primary set of conditions for creation, existence and categories of transformation. Superimposed on the set of KA-BARA polarities is a secondary layer that establishes a second set of conditions of creation. The first layer constitutes the Power of Creation. The second layer constitutes the Elements of Creation and it is made up of categories of polarity. They are the nothing-something polarity, matter-spirit polarity and the body-mind polarity. The first layer defines the primary Trinity; the second layer establishes the secondary Trinity while all other categories of polarity fall into the tertiary Trinity.

74

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

The nothing-something polarity defines the primary category of the elements. As a polarity, the two poles form a unity through the categories of relationality which are established by multiplicity of rhythms. They are independent for their identity and dependent for their mutual existence. Here nothingness is the primary category and somethingness is derived therefrom through a process of categorial conversion. The spirit-matter polarity is a derived category from the primary nothing-something polarity and exists in unity with it. The unity is established by categories of relationality that unite them and separate them at the level of existence and through transformational process. The body-mind polarity is also derived from the spirit-matter polarity and by a logical extension from the primary category of the nothing-something polarity at the level of secondary Trinity. The bodymind polarity also exists in transformational unity with spirit-matter polarity and vice versa. The unity and mutual separation are the results of activities and energy flows of categories of relationality, generated by the interactive behaviors of internal and external rhythms, such as complementation, supplementation, reciprocity, similarity that produce necessary and sufficient conditions for categorial conversion. The elements in the derived system are always connected to the elements in the primary system in order to constitute an integrated unity. The general analytical structure of the first layer Trinity and its relationship to the second layer Trinity are shown in Figure 2.5.1. An explanation of the structure of the relational geometry of the Principle of Polarity of Creation will help in our further understanding of the cognitive map of the African People and how such a cognitive map relates to Africaʹs social formation, governance, theory of morality and others. The cognitive map will also show the boundaries of contention of ideas regarding similarity and difference of some aspects of current Eurocentric system and global vision. To the African mind, all things are relational and connected in oneness. The oneness is the Circle of Unity at the center of the Great Panorama of Creation, existence and categorial conversions on the logic of polarity, duality and polyrhythms that establish categorial relationality and laws of transformational interactions. At the center of the circle of unity is the philosophical symbol that unifies all creative forces and energies of polarity. It is composed of female and male elements in the construction-destruction process of creation and universal and 75

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

particular self-evolutions. Here creation and evolution are inserparable in Africentric conceptual system. Creation is embeded in evolution and evolution is embeded in creation; both of which spin the trajectory of transformations where the Creator is internalized to the creative process through the internal self-transformation.

KA SPIRITMATTER POLARITY

BODYMIND POLARITY

BA

RA

NOTHING-SOMETHING POLARITY

Figure 2.5.1 Pyramidal Geometry of the Principle of Polarity of Creation in a Universally Relational Unity; KA=Creative Force, BA = Spirit Force and RA =Light Force

The symbol is Funtummireku Denkyemmireku [or alternatively called Swastika] that also contains the critical point of categories of relationality. Within this center are the zones of tension, energy, creation and forces of transformation resulting from the interactive behavior of multiplicity of internal and external rhythms that bring about categorial conversion self-transformation and self-evolution. The whole cognitive map may be summarized by the interactive processes of categories of quantity-quality polarity and its transformational unity as viewed from primary and derived systems and sub-system as represented in Figure 2.5.2. At the level of creation the system is initialized by universal endowment of nothing-something polarity that transformationally 76

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

brings to being quantitative-qualitative polarity with time playing a neutral role. At the level of evolution the System is initialized by a universal endowment of primary quantity-quality polarity for selftransformation and categorial conversion.

PQm-SYSTEM DQsSYSTEM

DQsSUBSYSTEM

DQmSYSTEM

DQmSUBSYSTEM

PQs- SYSTEM

Figure 2.5.2 Pyramidal Geometry of Quantity-Quality Polarity Showing Primary and Derived Systems and Subsystems of Creation in a Universally Relational Unity; PQm = primary quantitative, PQs = primary qualitative, DQm = derived quantitative and DQs=derived qualitative

This is taken to correspond to the first layer Trinity. We also have the derived system of quantity-quality polarities with their own categories of relationality that is manufactured from a particular set of rhythms for categorial conversion. This corresponds to the second layer Trinity. Lastly, there is the derived subsystems of categories of quantitative-qualitative polarity whose sets of rhythms of change are independent from one another for identity and yet dependent on each other for existence and effectiveness of transformation. This corresponds to the third layer Trinity.

77

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

Polyrhythmicity is a constructed cognitive system that contains primary, secondary and tertiary systems of categories of polarity and duality that are independent for identity, interdependent for existence and unity for transformation in multiplicity of rhythms that ensure information flows in all directions. Finally, we have explained the conceptual meaning of swastika (Funtummireku Denkyemmireku) and how it emerges as an important philosophical symbol from the Africentric conceptual system of the universe, creation and dynamics of categorial conversions. Its meaning and the sacredness of its believed power are the important reasons for imposing it upon the Sun Burst (RA) at the top of the Pyramid. It is the same reasons that made its universal appeal and acceptance as can be observed globally and in Hitlerʹs corrupted use [13] [14] [24b]. The logical purity, analytical power and the universality of the concepts of the pyramidal system and the principles of opposites are the fundamental reasons for the use of the pyramidal in Africa and recent adoptation and imposition of the symbol of pyramid on the dollar of the United States of America. For other uses of African symbols and architecture in United States of America see [22f] [125b] while keeping in mind that each symbol and architectural structure has an underlying philosophical value derived from the Africentric cognitive system concerning the universe and its creation. As African people we can not neglect the meaning of the powerful and important philosophical representation of this symbol of swastika because some Europeans have corrupted it, just as we cannot abandon the spiritual power and significance of the pyramid because its spiritual essence has been corrupted by its material use on the dollar of the United States of America. The derivation of the six pyramidal points representing the results of the interactive processes of the categories of KA-BA-RA polarity and the categories of Nothing-Something, SpiritMatter and Mind-Body polarity with Inner and Outer Circles establish the sources and meaning of the symbol of Tuat and the Twelve Hours of the Night that is hewn in the stone of Gizehʹs Great Pyramid [13, pp.436-452] [128c]. The apparent cross that is seen in the center of the inner circle of the Tuat is the African swastika of ancient Egypt (or Alkebu-lan). Again it is precisely these epistemic conditions that found their way into the scriptures as twelve gates of heaven in the Christian doctrine. Finally, notice that all the categories of polarity from Figures

78

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

2.4.3 - 2.4.6 and 2.5.1 - 2.5.2 are all in symbolic appearance of the Tuat and the Twelve Hours of the Night [15, pp.366-373]. From the epistemic set-up an important philosophical thinking has emerged to guide and shape African traditions of social formation, state craft, governance, value system, culture, art forms, forms of human relations, concept of God, spirituality, ancestors and decision making were guided and shaped. Central to the epistemic map referred to as polyrhythmicity are concepts of duality, oppositeness and categories of relationality from which categories of polarity are drawn with the establishment of categories of particular unity and universal unity. Polyrhythmicity may also be viewed as knowledge acquisition through the multiple channels of logical communication and information flows that are engendered by the categories of particular unity and universal unity for internal self-transformation and self-management in accordance with multiplicity of overlapping rhythms. The African conceptual scheme induces three elemental channels of African essence. These elemental channels are culture of appreciation and acceptance of universal diversity, culture of tolerance of universal differences, culture of community compassion for the weak as integral parts of the creative process in the social setup and management and a culture of individual respect and commitment to the social collectivity for its stability and progress. Given the categories of polarity, there are connecting concepts of primary and derived categories with categorial conversions within the process unity. Within the process unity there is necessity and accident. Necessity is purposefulness of nature and accident is the interpretive result of human ignorance. These concepts, logical links and understanding of the unity of the organizational structure of the universe, its parts, processes and states as categories of polarity are central to the evolving African traditions at the level of cognition and practice from antiquity. At the level of social formation, there is the individual-community duality that is linked together by categories of relationality to produce a category of polarity. In the individualcommunity polarity there is unity where both the individual and community have independence from each other for identity and where their identities are only meaningful in relation to the individual and community. The community and individual are also mutually interdependent for existence. They exist in unity without which their individual existence is impossible. They exist in mutual separation 79

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

without which their individual identity is not recognizable. The conceptual structure leads to a moral principle of social organization and management that states ʺeach for all and all for eachʺ and accompanies a particular democratic system of a high order in the social collectivity. The logic of categorial transformation requires that there must be a primary category which provides the basis for conversion or development to occur. This primary category, at the level of Africaʹs social formation and governance, is the community around which every rule, code of conduct, social regulation and behavior of all individuals evolves. The community is the social universe with the general social unity where any particular unity is a derivative therefrom. This cognitive framework explains why an individual exists in a mutual separation and in unity with the community, and why a ritual of allegiance (oaths) including a system of rites of passage becomes necessary for social unity and its stability. It is also within this conceptual and logical system that the African concept of a village as an instructor and educator of the youth and individuals acquires analytical power, practical importance and organizational dynamics. The community is always in unity with itself through all phases of internal selftransformation. The survival of the individual depends on the strength of the community while the communityʹs strength is derived from the survival of its members. The extensions of these ideals are discussed in Chapter 3. Again, this epistemic structure explains the nature of African personality, essence and corresponding humanism and egalitarianism from Africaʹs antiquity and cognitive traditions. It is this structure that must provide a thinking framework to restructure the current African personality, that must guarantee a moment of categorial conversion for modern Africaʹs social transformation and development from within Africa. According to the epistemic structure presented, the internal rhythms of Africa form the basis of transformation and development from within. The external rhythms merely provide the conditions for self-transformation. There are a number of important integrated ideas and essential elements in the structure of polyrhythmicity that must be enlisted, harnessed and brought into modernity to guide the social policy process of cotemporary Africans. The central points are 1) independent existence, 2) existence characterized by duality, polarity, relationality 80

Polyrhythmicity: Philosophical Foundations

and unity, 3) never-ending process of quantity-quality changes, 4) selfmotions as characteristics of all changes, 5) self-motions propelled by internal forces that are produced by categories of relationality under tension from duality and polarity, 6) relationality and tension are the results of internal organization of multiplicity of rhythms and 7) change as the only permanence in life and universal forms. These central ideas are given applied relevance in Chapter 4 where qualitative dispositions of dignity, confidence, self-reliance, courage, compassion, faith and others are related to social dynamics that are polyrhythmically induced by internal forces of specific unity and global unity. The philosophy of social organization that emerges out of this polyrhythmicity is communalism where the evolving behavior is guided by a culture of humanism and egalitarianism with compassion for all members and acknowledgement of human dignity as important elements that reflect Africaʹs conceptual beginning. I am the Eternal Spirit I am the sun that rose from the Primeval Waters. My soul is God; I am the creator of the Word Evil is my abomination, I see it not. I am the Creator of the Order where in I live, I am the Word, which will never be annihilated In this my name ʺSoulʺ [30, p.77]. These essential elements and central points of African traditions are reconstituted as polyrhythmicity that must guide the restructuring of the evolving African personality and its Africentric essence in our modern times. All these discussions on philosophical polyrhythmicity are directed toward emancipating the African philosophical system and social thought from the Eurocentric shackles and confusion where the individual is accorded primacy over the community in the transformation process. In this, the African scholar must see other philosophical systems as case studies in cognition within the context of their sociology, history and social exigencies. The logical techniques and methods of reasoning, analysis and synthesis are developed and presented in Chapter 6 as polyrhythmics.

81

3 AFRICENTRICITY

In chapter 2, we presented the basic and some extended essentials of philosophical structure of polyrhythmicity as a general African philosophy and the conceptual foundation for reconstruction of other branches of philosophy and how polyrhythmicity represents the African cognitive foundations. We shall now explicitly connect it to the African conception of society and its management. Any system of thinking emerges out of the collective experiences. Philosophy is an outcome of the process of organizing the members and resources of a society to deal with their needs, wants and fears, the rage of nature, conflicts among its members, external threats and many more. When the thinking system emerges it becomes the cognitive vehicle for organizing and reorganizing the society as a dynamic unity of individual and the community. The evolving social system in turn shapes the structure and content of the thinking system as new experiences come into play through the creational process of nature and success-failure processes in the social decision-choice space. The society and the thinking system become mutually and transformationally interdependent defining the dynamics of the social knowledge diameter and the circumference of collective vision. The process is such that the thinking system is a product of the peoplesʹ history and culture which are also its determinant that gives rise to the collective personality of the society. Every social system has a supporting collective personality that gives it dynamism. For the collective personality to be nonschizophrenic and bring about sustainable social progress and positive transformation, through social decisions and choices, it must be supported by a well-defined thinking system whose foundational ideas are rooted in the history and culture of the people. In this way the parameters of the thinking system are established and controlled from 82

Africentricity

within. The thinking system that evolved and continuously evolving from African traditions, culture, wisdom and history to deal with conditions of society and the interpretation of events of history is here referred to as Africentricity. Its overall philosophy is polyrhythmicity and its logic of analyses and syntheses is polyrhythmics. In order for Africentric thinking system to deal with vestiges of episodes of slavery, colonialism, European governmental repression, brutalities, racism and neocolonialism, it must be revolutionary and African based. It must revolt against the existing paradigms of thinking that control Africaʹs behavior in the choice-decision space. As a revolutionary thinking system, it seeks to define an alternative intellectual order on the basis of African traditions, culture and history. Not only that, it also seeks to induce a new social order that is consistent with Africaʹs interest, security, nationalism, race survival and history in order to turn Africa away from the path of global subservience and return her to the path of intellectual freedom and independence imbued with dignity and pride as it was in the beginning of times. The driving force of Africentricity is to arm the true pan-Africanist with a sword and a shield for both offense and defense. Africentricity with the supporting polyrhythmicity and polyrhythmics is our sword, hence our offence. African personality that flows from the contents of Africentricity is our shield and hence our defense. All these must be crafted from within Africa.

3.1

Africentricity and African Nationalism

In the previous section, the concept of Africentricity was introduced. In Chapter 2 we introduced and discussed the foundational concepts and logical ideas of polyrhythmicity from which Africentricity is to be constructed to define the cognitive parameters of African personality and nationalism. Essentially, Africentricity is a philosophical and ideological system of thought in which African personality takes its roots and becomes the logical foundation of the African nationalism and social thought. African nationalism and social thinking must constitute the basis from which the true African revolution must be engendered in the social and cultural fronts for Africaʹs future. In this section, a further development of the Africentic conceptual system will be provided along with its relationship to African personality and African nationalism. 83

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

Africentricity is an extension or further development of certain specific ideas in the philosophical system of thought that Kwame Nkrumah referred to as philosophical consciencism [106]. These extensions and development are intended to fill in certain logical gaps that place and time did not allow Nkrumah and others to develop. The filling in of these gaps is needed for analytical completeness. For example the foundational concepts of polarity, duality, relationality, multiplicity of rhythms and others that must provide logical completeness for categorial conversion were not discussed. In this logical structure, Africentricity is defined as the disposition of cognitive forces that will enable the development of a true African personality consistent with African nationalism and Africaʹs complete emancipation. In this Africentric setting the African personality acquires the energy and the conversion factor required to alter the relationship between both the current underdeveloped state of Africa and Greater Africa aspired to by African nationalists. In outlining the core ideas of Africentricity, an important advice of the great African nationalist and thinker, Kwame Nkrumah, that ʺour philosophy must find its weapon in the environment and living conditions of the African peopleʺ should be kept in mind [106, p.78]. We should state that it is only when a philosophy acquires its weapons from African environments that such a philosophy can serve as a guide for African social analysis, information processing, decisions and actions whose outcomes impinge on the African. And it is only when the knowledge diameter is established internally by Africans that the circumference of our decision behavior can be internally defined and controlled. Similarly it is only when the contents of education and research are internally structured that the contents of the circle of Africaʹs vision will be under Africaʹs control to establish Africaʹs true essence and personality required to deal with Africaʹs interest against the interplay of forces of global imperial predators. For these reasons, the main propositions of Africentricity are enclosed in African intellectual and social traditions. These propositions reflect Africaʹs conception of a person who is indigenous to the African society. They further reflect the relationship between one African and another; between an African and his or her society and between African society and its resources. They also reflect the relationship between the Africaʹs society and its people on one hand, and entities external to the African

84

Africentricity

social and natural environment on which Africaʹs survival depends on the other hand. Knowledge is defense and defense is freedom. In a full view of Africaʹ s current struggle to transform itself from within, Africentricity regards the Western and Islamic presence in Africa as experiences that have come to affect the African traditions and modern thinking, but not to replace them. The best of these experiences that complement Africaʹs progressive existence must be synthesized from the viewpoint of African traditions and interest if we, the Africans, are to benefit from the great works of our antiquity and imposed suffering in our modern history. These experiences should be reflected in an African logical and philosophical system of thinking without substituting these experiences for the logical system of Africaʹs modern thought. When a logical system is developed by abstractions on the general basis of African traditions in a way that accommodates the positive elements of Western, Christian and Islamic values as experiences external to Africa, but not as core ideas around which African social thought and values are constructed, then the cognitive system that emerges is said to be Africentric. A broad general definition of Africentricity can now be offered. Africentricity is a logical and philosophical system of thought that defines acceptable cognitive boundaries within which questions affecting Africa are raised; problems impinging on Africans and their descendants are formulated for analysis; correct answers to these questions are sought; proper solutions to the problems are searched; and social truth is verified and accepted for action in multiplicity of rhythms. It thus establishes boundaries of acceptable African social epistemology and ontological conditions required for accepting factual correctness of social events in any world order with race and social antagonism. It is a constructed thinking system from the foundation of polyrhythmicity that is goal directed and guided by the logic of polyrhythmics. The set of goals induces a partition on the general information space into relevant and irrelevant spaces. Understandably, a thinking system is not only useless but also dangerous to the holder if the systemʹs goals and objectives are not understood. This is a case of any theoretical construct about social action and outcome. Africentricity as a thinking system that is centered around the goal of Africaʹs complete emancipation accepts the basic tenets of philosophical consciencism [106] where matter has independent existence as discussed in Chapters 2, 6 and 7, and where nothingness85

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

somethingness polarity is the primary category of reality. Additionally, it accepts that matter is composed of forces under continual tension where these forces are in opposition to one another seeking to negate each other in order to establish a qualitative direction through the communications of multiplicity of rhythms. These forces under tension endow matter with the power of self-motion transmitted through the self-evolution from Nothing-Something polarity without external impression. This conceptual position of philosophical consciencism accepted by Africentricity translates into a situation where the African equipped with African personality believes in the law of progress and duty to self and African society. Additionally, he or she believes in the independent existence of Africa and her society where Africa has sufficient strength and appropriate internal forces to bring about unity; and to create development that reflects her glorious past without being externally impressed upon. Essentially, Africentricity projects a positional idea that African society is endowed with the power of self-development through internally conscious qualitative and quantitative changes. The power of self-motion acquires effective material content only in a united Africa guided by African nationalism and the supporting African personality. Just as behind every qualitative appearance of matter there is a corresponding quantitative disposition, so behind every path of a peopleʹs historic process there is a disposition of collective personality that reflects and defines the general social psychology of the people. Contextually, every nationʹs history may be viewed at a given point in time as a surrogate of collective personality of the nation in question. This conceptual position reflecting philosophical Africentricity must not be misinterpreted to mean that national history is equal to collective personality. Rather, it suggests that different social consciousness reflects different collective personalities in societies where such collective personalities exert preponderating roles in the directions of social consciousness. Each collective personality reflects acceptable norms and established boundaries of perception, decision and choices. The collective personality defines societyʹs capacity to collect, process and use information optimally in decision making, the outcomes of which establish and define the national history in time and over time. The collective personality is shaped by the ruling regime of

86

Africentricity

thinking system while the collective personality molds the thinking system. The history of African traditional greatness colorfully filled with great Kings, Pharaohs, empire builders, pyramids, and other impressive monuments such as the walls of Zimbabwe reflects the African collective personality with its thinking system at those periods of time. The cognitive foundation of the corresponding personality is what has been outlined in Chapter 2 with further discussions on methodological foundations in Chapters 6 and 7. The history of African slavery, the wars of resistance against European invasion, colonialism and suffering reflect the African collective personality with a particular thinking system also at that period. The current unfolding history where the African rulers have abandoned creative thinking in recasting organizations, institutions and nation building in favor of associations with faked international institutions, traveling throughout the world with beggarʹs basket in hand, also reflects a collective personality and the supporting thinking system that has taken hold of the African people at our current period. The history of European imperialism, atrocities committed against non-Europeans and racism practiced against Africans reflects the European collective personality and the complementary thinking system at that historic period. For every dominating society or class, there stands firmly behind it a collective personality with a supporting thinking system that rejects conditions of subservience for itself and creates a social psychology of a ruling people. Similarly, for every dominated society that remains in this position over time, there stands firmly behind it a collective personality and supporting thinking system that accepts its conditions of servitude and inferiority. These relative personalities and mindsets are sometimes accorded divine justification and blessings. In the dominating society the collective personality of the people becomes tinted with arrogance in a way that reflects an ideology, not only of superiority and invincibility, but also an ideology that her dominance and rule are ordained by some divine power external to humanity. Its defenders hold absolute positions of truth and righteousness and condemn any contrary position to be evil (for example, democracy, development, path of Devine Kingdom, knowledge validity and others). As such the members of this society come to expect others to be at their service and direction. In the dominated society the collective personality becomes completely 87

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

.

adulterated with the scorn of human inferiority, social hopelessness and fear. These negative dispositions become a stubborn stranglehold on their collective personality in such a manner that the members not only do seek amelioration of their conditions of suffering but they come to accept them as permanent and sometimes as divine creation. They internalize their servitude and suffering as ordained by some punishing divine power that has placed them under the service and guidance of the members of the dominating society. In this way their knowledge diameter is not only externally controlled but ideologically defined by the dominating society in such a way as to control the contents of their collective character and the essence of their being. This belief is reinforced and maintained by brute force, religious indoctrination and political teachings of the members of the dominating society. The members of the dominating society develop and cultivate within their collective personality a superiority complex and dominating social psychology while those in the dominated society develop and cultivate within their collective personality an inferiority complex and subservient social psychology (see also[5b] [6a] [53b][149]). In this way power equilibrium is established between the dominating and dominated and with an entrenched social equilibrium. The two personalities will co-exist in an unstable equilibrium in so far as the members of the dominated society accept the two personalities as they are with the conditions that maintain them. The equilibrium is unstable because the two personalities constitute a duality whose contents are in social unity under tension. They will exist as a category of polarity and function as duality in African-centered sense. Even though the social equilibrium is unstable, it can be maintained by the dominating society either with a military force, intimidation and fear or by ideological propaganda or both, as we have discussed in Chapter 6 in a companion volume [43b] that deals with the operations of crony imperialism. The maintenance of the unstable equilibrium by force of arms requires a physical occupation of the dominating society, particularly when the dominating society has not been able to win the minds of the members of the dominated society (e.g. Boers and Africans in South Africa and many colonially occupied territories). This is generally very expensive and cost-ineffective unless a territorial annexation or permanent occupation is contemplated by the members of the dominating society (for example Australia, Canada and United States). Alternatively, a proxy government may be created 88

Africentricity

from the dominated society. This proxy government is composed of political askari provided with internally organized armed forces with munitions supplied by the dominating society to maintain the unstable social equilibrium by force, intimidation, fear and internal repression. The maintenance of the unstable social equilibrium by ideological propaganda, mind control and divide-and-rule techniques is the most effective and lasting strategy of any dominating society. The grip of this strategy on the members of the dominated society, when it is successful, is difficult to fight especially when the values and thinking system of the dominated as propagandized by the dominating society become engrained in the collective personality and minds of the dominated. Because of the effect of such stubborn hold on the collective personality of the dominated society little effort is practically required by the dominating society or the occupiers in order to maintain this unstable equilibrium and impose some form of slavery or exploitative relationship through a complex system of resource extraction where the members of the dominated society work but the members of the dominating society reap the benefit. This seems to be the current African situation (see an extensive discussion in Dompere, [43b]) and the unfolding history of Iraq. . The height of this exploitative relationship is reached when the members of the dominated society are convinced mentally and willingly accept to pay the cost of being dominated and oppressed. This is the ultimate objective of crony imperialism and the corresponding neocolonialism. It is stupid to willingly co-operate with oneʹs oppressor but it is a graduation to madness and cognitive idiocy to pay additionally to be oppressed; yet this is precisely what a supporting ideology of the dominating society is intended to achieve. This is the current state in which Africa finds itself. It is a continuation of slavery and colonialism altered in appearance of structure and form just to reflect more or less humanized operations of the same exploitative relationship (see extended analysis in [43b]). The supporting ideology of the dominating society is, in general, strengthened by developing an intellectual class from the members of the dominated society. The members of the intellectual class are elevated to elite positions where their objectives are to advance their interest which is intertwined with the interest of the dominating society and at the exorbitant expense of the oppressed society to which they belong indigenously. The members of this intellectual class, equipped 89

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

with the intellectual sword, armor, helmet and other fighting tools provided to them by the dominating society join the forces of the oppressors. For example, through institutions of learning they utilize their privileged positions on the ladder of oppression; assume the duties as assigned to them by their masters to wage brutally intellectual and psychological wars against their own people. They argue against emancipation, African nationalism and African unity. They work hard to be accepted into the oppressorsʹ world, that is, to be what they are not and not to be what they are, with the hope of creating potential rent-seeking conditions. They pay for this illusions of inclusion by working hard in favor of servitude and suffering for their people in order to maintain their privileged posts, perks and crumbs from the imperial predators. This intellectual class perhaps trained but definitely mis-educated, fails to understand that education is about liberation and emancipation. Thus they use the ideological and thinking system they have received from the dominating society to reaffirm to themselves and their people the externally approved cognitive boundaries for verification of social truth and knowledge that must guide individual and collective decisions of the dominated society. The knowledge diameter of this African class is externally established to control the circumference of the vision of its members and the circle of the contents of their thought. In this way, the collective mind of the dominated society is controlled through this class and hence the history of servitude of the dominated society is maintained. With well-entrenched intellectual askari, zombies and cronies from the dominated society, the least-cost maintenance of conditions of domination, exploitation and subjugation by the dominating society is easily ensured. By creating a mis-educated intellectual class as a small privileged group at the top of the ladder of oppression and by continuing to reinforce its cognitive servitude, the dominating society succeeds in creating a buffer class that shelters it against demonstration of discontent and any possible revolutionary tendency that may arise from the general population of the dominated society. This technique is also used in maintaining racial subjugation in other parts of the world such as the United States of America, Canada, Brazil and others. The guiding principle of thought and practice of the members of the dominating society is based on the idea that success in controlling the minds of a people also leads to a success in controlling the 90

Africentricity

boundaries of acceptable decisions, choices and actions in all fields of human endeavors. A slave will always be a slave as long as he or she lives in perpetual mental servitude that allows acceptance of the existing conditions as rational and permanent even if freedom is granted. By controlling the boundaries of reasoning, and limitations on logic and the thinking system of the dominated people, the members of the dominating society can maintain the unstable social equilibrium. As long as the members of the intellectual buffer class and their supporting system of logic identify their interests with those of the dominating society, they become useful intellectual idiots who help to sustain the oppression of their own people and themselves. The members of this class has abdicated their right to create freedom, democracy and good governance through knowledge creation and understanding that will serve the interest of the members of the dominated society for true liberation toward a sustainable democratic social governance. Without exception, this situation of dominated people is true for all Africans in Europe, the United States of America, Canada, Brazil, the Caribbean, and South America and ironically in Africa itself. These conditions for domination are strengthened by intellectual dependency that accepts everything Eurocentric without question. In general such intellectual dependency is established and maintained through organized religion, political fanaticism, ideological absolutism and divine righteousness and supported by a system of domestic and international institutions for deception, disinformation, misinformation and propaganda. The contents of the organized religion, political fanaticism, ideological absolutism, divine righteousness become the imperial doctrine established in books and research papers as truth which is then supported by imperial theology that is preached to the members of the dominated society by the members of the dominating society and the supporting class from the dominated society. The defunct system of domination will continue until an enlightened class of intellectuals emerges from the dominated people. When this enlightened intellectual class emerges, it must be identified by its actions and revolutionary intellectual spirit, courage and direction by breaking ties with the intellectual order of the dominating society and their supporting intellectual imperial cronies from within. The enlightened intellectual class must then establish a new and revolutionary intellectual order completely opposed to that of the 91

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

dominating society, particularly regarding what constitutes social truth and factual correctness of history and current events. The awakened intellectual class constitutes the vanguard of the struggle against alien domination, oppression and resource exploitation. The members of this new class and the old privileged class constitute a duality. The objective of the new class is to wage war for a complete emancipation of the dominated on all fronts on the basis of anti-imperial ideology and liberation theology. This requires intellectual confidence, courage, perseverance, dedication and dauntless energy. The point here is simple, that for Africaʹs emancipation on all fronts to be sustainable requires a complete intellectual revolution to restructure the current paradigm of Africaʹs cognition. Given the present psychological conditions of the intellectual dependency, hopelessness and subservience that are deeply engrained on the collective personality of the Africans, a question arises naturally as to what must be done to change course. The answer to this question is that the Africans must first revolt against the current intellectual order, particularly as it applies to socioeconomic and politico-legal analysis of domestic and global events as they unfold. The intellectual revolt must lead to an establishment of a new framework of African social thought on the basis of which actions and choices affecting Africa and Africans must be undertaken. Construction of this new intellectual framework requires the rise of a new and liberated intellectual class from the dominated people. The new intellectual class must completely divorce itself from the old order by developing new cognitive munitions to combat the social lies and paradigms of an oppressive system of social thinking perpetuated by anti-African ideology. It is only by means of a true intellectual revolution and subsequent mass social actions that are internally organized and implemented by Africans that we can hope to throw off the yoke of subservience, mental dependency, collective suffering, and the international system of exploitative relationships. It is precisely by the same intellectual revolution that we can create new conditions that will be favorable for internally induced socioeconomic restructuring and consequent reestablishment of Africaʹs traditional leadership in the course of human civilization and history. It should be pointed out that any true revolution of a lasting nature has two components that are interdependent. They are a revolution in thought and a revolution in individual and collective actions. 92

Africentricity

The revolution in thought allows mental and ideological restructuring which then provides the logical foundation for developing a new and liberating collective personality which becomes the driving force for social and personal actions. Revolution in social action is a social rebellion against an existing system of social values, perceptions, decisions, choices, their supporting institutions and the social personality behind them. It is possible that a revolution in social action may not be directed against the existing collective personality, decision system and supporting ideology. Analytically, such a rebellion has no intellectual revolution supporting it, and may not only be reactionary and self-oppressive, but it may even acquire the character of reformation which could lead to an opposite result by preserving and strengthening the existing decision system and social order that the rebellion was directed against. For any revolution in social action to acquire the character of a true and successful revolt against the existing social order, it must have firmly behind it an intellectual vanguard that establishes new paradigms of collective social thinking. The basic philosophy and ideology of this new collective thinking must then be directed toward social restructuring and redemption of the society from the old order and its corresponding belief system, to allow a logical mapping from the perception space unto the space of reality on the basis of which visions are formed and social decisions are made. The intellectual revolution must consist of a complete system of social thinking that establishes new boundaries for the logical analysis of events and social actions. It must further establish criteria within the boundaries for verification and acceptability of social truth that were not possible in the old intellectual order. In the case of the current problems and difficulties facing Africa, the intellectual revolt that must stand firmly behind the social revolt and mass social action is Africentricity. The basic philosophical structure is such that Africentricity must thus define the logical boundaries of analysis and acceptable social actions for the African course. This requires an internally established knowledge diameter to define the circumference of our social vision with actions and the content of the circle that defines the collective African personality. To serve Africaʹs decision needs, Africentricity must be broad enough and yet specific to form the basis of social thinking that will provide the intellectual tools to restructure the current African personality by 93

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

which Africaʹs redemption must proceed. To be decisive in the struggle to emancipate Africa and her children around the globe, Africentricity must acquire its logical ammunition from Africaʹs social history, culture and living realities that are the experiences of the masses. It must then crystallize this logical ammunition into paradigms of a complete system of African social thought for social action and practice. The set of paradigms must define boundaries for approval of social truth, its acceptability and how it is to be directed toward Africaʹs complete emancipation in a manner whereby tolerance with intellectual pluralism is accepted in accord with Africaʹs democratic ideal. The African intellectual pluralism and its social tolerance must be discussed on the basis of polyrhythmicity and confined within the boundaries defined by the logical process required to achieve the greater goals of African nationalism and complete African emancipation. Hence Africentricity must abstract and emphasize all the key common and progressive African values and process them into a unified ethos that must stand firmly behind Africaʹs progress and the construction of a new society. Africentricity, polyrhythmicity and polyrhythmics, thus, present an alternative intellectual regime to Eurocentricity. It is worthwhile now to turn our attention toward examining some of the key common African concepts, ideas and values from which Africentricity is advanced and around which its development must occur.

3.2

Foundations of Africentricity: Core Concepts and Paradigms

As earlier stated, Africentricity is a logical and philosophical system of thought that defines socially acceptable boundaries of cognition. The cognitive boundaries establish the framework within which questions affecting Africa and its Diaspora are raised, problems impinging on Africans and their descendants are formulated for analysis, correct answers to these questions are sought, proper solutions to the problems are searched and social truth is verified and accepted for action. It is a constructed thinking system that establishes boundaries of correct African epistemology and ontological conditions required for assessing factual correctness of social events. As a thinking system, Africentricity must mold and shape the nature and content of the African personality (discussed in Chapter 4) 94

Africentricity

before it can affect Africaʹs behavior in the choice-decision space and effect change in the appropriate direction for Africaʹs social transformation. Africentricity is the cognitive backbone of African personality and correct African ideology. It affects the manner in which technology is chosen for use, scientific problems are selected for investigation and analysis, and results are compiled and interpreted. Africentricity defines the African cognitive frame of reference in human social existence and activities of all human behavior. In constructing Africentricity, it must be kept in mind that its main principles must guide Africaʹs social actions in order to conform to the objectives of African unity and Africaʹs complete emancipation. The twin objectives must be guided by strong and unshakable general principles that must always reflect these objectives. The abstracted general principles must be such that their cognitive effect would prevent the Africans from choosing, deciding and acting as if we, Africans, were basically different from each other without common blood links, struggle and destiny, violating the holiness of the African Ancestral Tree. Africa has cultural unity as Anta Diop has shown [37]. Africentricity and Africaʹs behavior must be organized around this cultural unity and Africaʹs cognitive foundations. Africa is one, African nationalism is indivisible and African personality is a unifying ethos. As a thinking system, Africentricity embraces certain minimum fundamental propositions regarding African philosophical positions about nature, man and their relationship with one another. These minimum fundamental propositions are abstracted from the general family of the African cultural milieu and principles of African tradition from classical antiquity to the present. The cognitive foundations of these propositions have been outlined in Chapter 2 and extended in Chapter 6 and 7. They will form the fundamental building blocks of Africentricity. The fundamental building blocks of Africentricity involve propositions about existence, divinity, being, society, family, nation and state. These fundamental building blocks are abstractions from our analysis and understanding of African history, culture, social organization, symbolic languages, proverbs and others. We shall now state these conceptual and philosophical building blocks. In order not to allow my attention to be diverted by details one must refer to [1] [8b] [24a] [25] [26a] [33b] [34] [36] [39] [57c].

95

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

3.2.1

Concerning Existence

3.2.1.1 There is an absolute and independent existence of matter and spirit in an inseparable unity that constitutes the nature of which the spiritual force governs the material element in the process of categorial conversion. 3.2.1.2 The spirit force is a defining quality of matter and exists in a hierarchical state, the order of which depends on the structure of matter and the complexity of its internal arrangements and organization. (The spirit force is the BA, to use the Coptic term, which also has different terms but the same concept in different parts of Africa.) 3.2.1.3 Matter is endowed with the capacity of self-motion and hence possesses the creative force (KA). The self-motion is influenced to a varying degree by the spirit force inherent in the matter, depending on the hierarchical order that the spirit force occupies in the spiritual order of things. 3.2.1.4 Matter and spirit exist in relational unity through the light force (RA) that is present in unity with matter and spirit. 3.2.1.5 The world is one and so also is the universe at large with internally complete connections. Thus this denies the concept of human externality to the universe of states and processes, and separation among mind, spirit and matter. Nature constitutes an internally consistent and contiguous order with a complex spiritual chain that provides it with harmony, beauty and an efficient self-corrective mechanism in a unified setting under the Light Force operating jointly with Creative and Spirit Forces in multiplicity of rhythms and relational unity. 3.2.2

Concerning Humans

3.2.2.1 A person is an encapsulated spirit, not simply a body or matter animated by some being. Each human being is part material being and a part spiritual being and part mental being. These attributes of matter, spirit and mind exist in relational unity under tension. They

96

Africentricity

spin the space of category of duality; polarity and relationality (for cognitive continuity see Chapters 2, 6, and 7 of this book). 3.2.2.2 The three elements: matter, mind and spirit constitute the trinity. They are conceived to exist in a transformational unity as a human being. A person is thus part of the larger spiritual order, part of a larger material order and part of a larger mental order with consciousness, sub-consciousness and awareness. A personʹs presence like any other object of being in the visible and invisible universe is purposeful in the natural scheme of things. The body relates to matter, consciousness relates to the mind and sub-consciousness relates to the spirit. 3.2.2.3 As part spirit, human beings are thus part of the deity system which is ruled by the Almighty to whom all the individual spirits, irrespective of their position in the spiritual hierarchy, have surrendered their ultimate power and agreed to the exercise of this power in their judgement, and to whom we are all accountable. This Almighty is the Ruler of the Universe (KA-BA-RA) of which the earth and heaven are inseparably connected. 3.2.2.4 Humans are of the likeness of the Ruler whose gender is neutral, and who rules the universe through a system of messengers of which human being are His or Her lieutenants as an expression of all powers vested in ʺHimʺ, and to whom we communicate individually and directly. The ruling power of the Almighty is anchored on the masses of the members of the spiritual universe that defines His or Her Throne. The human communications with the Almighty are completely democratized without exception. 3.2.2.5 As a Ruler, the Supreme Being has power to forgive and punish. The Almighty is not All-forgiving. He rewards and punishes. He has no altar and no priests through whom other humans can communicate or through whom He or She communicates with other humans. All individual beings have direct and equal access to that which is the Supreme, the Universal Force of Life (KABARA) from whom all individual characters emerge or evolve (see discussions in Chapter 6). The Supreme Being, the Vital Force of Life, is perpetually creating and repairing because He/She is composed of the creative force 97

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

(KA), Spirit Force (BA) and the Light Force (RA). The Supreme Being is just and fair. The African Deity System rejects description of a Supreme Being who is caricatured to have created the world in six days and then went to rest on the seventh day and remains resting. (The Africentric logic of this creative process and the evolutionary change is provided in Chapters 2, 5 and 6.) Africentricity also rejects the concept of original sin as represented in imperial theology to impose uncleanness and social guilt for control. 3.2.2.6 The human body is composed of a complex work of matter. Its associated personality and character rest on a number of integrated relationships between the spiritual and mental order of existence. The personality and character rest on a) the guiding spirit; b) the disposition of the person that is engendered by the degree of perfect interaction among the material essence of the person, mental state and spiritual guidance; c) the ancestral spirit; and d) the bloodline of the family tree, that is the clan formation, the basis on which the State acquires its existence. Both the ancestral spirit and the bloodline are inheritable. 3.2.2.7 Life and death are changes of state with a well-specified transformation process of the emergence of the new and disappearance of the old in a manner that connects the body, mind and the spirit to the family tree. The family tree can only grow bigger as new ones enter and old ones change states but not disappear. The ancestors constitute the expanded and integrated network of roots, stems and branches that give rise to new branches with emerging leaves and fruits. Hence a great deal of respect is accorded to the ancestors on their shoulders of whom we stand. The lineage is a permanent establishment by conception. As a permanent establishment, the lineage must be reverenced and worshipped as a mode of communication from time to time, not only for cognitive and spiritual strength but also to bring about family reunion, affirm the sanctity of the establishment and initiate contacts with all members in the family at the material and spiritual levels. The worship of the Almighty is the worship of Ancestors since we are derived and created or evolved in the likeness of the Unified Force of Life, the Almighty God who is the beginning and the end in line of the ancestors in the creative process. (See the quotation in Chapter 6 section 6.1)

98

Africentricity

3.2.3

Concerning Society, Nation and State

3.2.3.1 An African nation is a collection of states which are collections of ethnic groups. Each group is constituted by clans and tribes with common characteristics. The African nation is made up of diversity in unity that gives it its strength, beauty, power and creative dynamism. A clan is a collection of families with defined common characteristics. All these are linked and knitted together by a lineage. The lineage evolves from the bloodline and ancestral spirit. The relational bloodline, clan and lineage are systematized in attitude and by their defined boundaries of acceptable norms that guide individual and collective behavior in the state. 3.2.3.2 The African nation has its own personality that is anchored in African values, traditions, and belief systems. The values, traditions and belief systems are products of the social evolution that developed and is still developing through the material, mental and spiritual order of the ancestors from the beginning to the present. They are embedded in Africaʹs cosmology. The personality and the social unity that give the African nation its content and character are reinforced by the principle of inheritability of the ancestral spirit and the bloodline within their material existence. 3.2.3.3 The African nation is a sacred one founded on a principle of duty rather than right. The duties are ritualistic and humanistic. The humanistic duties consolidate the nation at the material and mental levels of the members. The ritualistic duties consolidate the national unity at the spiritual level of the members. 3.2.3.4 The African nation is absolute. Its mission, goals, and objectives constitute the national spirit around which the states, clans, families and individuals revolve. The national spirit constitutes the hierarchy of social and spiritual allegiance that establishes the material and mental linkages, where the hierarchy of obedience from the nation to the states to the clans to the family and to the individual is endorsed through the rule of law and norms in the preservation of the collective with liberty to the individual with the social collectivity. The laws and norms are based on the principle of collective existence and identity of each for all and all for each with the principle of freedom and justice.

99

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

3.2.3.5 There is complete individual freedom that is constrained by the collective existence and social progress and there is collective freedom that is constrained by compassion for the individuals. There is no absolute freedom for either the individual or the collective. 3.2.3.6 The power to govern the African nation is derived from the states. The power to govern any state is derived from its constituent clans. The power to govern a clan is abstracted from the constituent families. And the power to govern a family is derived from its members. Thus the power to govern the African nation is derived from the people and absolutely held in trust by the governing core for them. The governance of the nation then, is of the members, by the members, and for the members including their ancestors and offspring that ensures the African democratic ideals. (See for example [13, pp. 59-60]) As we have previously stated, Africentricity and its development must rest firmly on these philosophical principles of Africaʹs cosmology and the life that flows from it. It defines a framework for raising correct questions that affect Africa, its Diaspora, her children and descendants, analyzing them and abstracting solutions to those questions that affect the welfare of Africans and their descendants. Africentricity defines the African conception of human being, natural order, social formation, governance, general social existence and the path of progress given the implied concept of creation and the abstracted logic of evolutionary dynamics as discussed in Chapters 2 and 6 and 7.

3.3

Some Implication of the Core Concepts of Africentricity for Reasoning and Practice

The existence of matter, mind and spirit in an inseparable unit as held in Africentricity projects a philosophical position where a multiplicity of being in unity is seen as categories. These categories have contents and forms that are constantly under forces of change. The forces of change are produced by tension from within. The tension emerges from the conflicts between matter and its constituent spirit that operates through the mind to give the categories the defining quality. The unity of matter and spirit under tension, the mind as communicator of awareness (conscious existence), the spirit as a connector and communicator to the subconscious existence, and the 100

Africentricity

very nature of inseparability of matter and spirit provide matter with the capacity of self-motion, change and transformation all of which are induced by the Creative Force. The multiplicity of being as conceptualized in terms of categories, the hierarchical order that spirits of matter of varying complexities occupy in the spiritual order of things, the role that light plays, the internal organization of multiplicity of rhythms as relational properties and the conflicts arising from matter and spirit, endow objects with the capacity of self-convertibility and self-transformation within and between categories of being (for extensive discussions see [43a][106]). These self-transformations, categorial convertibility and correspondingly induced changes internalize rather than externalize human existence to the universe with self-adjustment and self-creating mechanisms. In this way, diversity and change are the strength and beauty of the unity of nature. Here different manifestations and perceptions of matter are integrated and linked by a spiritual chain in an internally consistent manner in which conversions and transformations of matter and society are induced by categorial conversions. The proposition that matter has absolute and independent existence, and that matter is endowed with self-motion, translates into an analytical structure where matter has a creative force, and hence it has the power of self-creation in terms of philosophy of existence and being from African classical antiquity and traditions. The concepts of self-motion and self-creation is linked to KA, the Creative Force, that has self-motion and self-creation. Thus out of nothing matter acquired its creation and existence through the Creative Force. The internal dynamics of the Creative Force led to the creation of the Spirit Force (BA) that came to exist in unity with the Creative Force (KA). The Spirit Force is present in every matter and provides it with its qualitative disposition. The interaction between the Creative and Spirit Forces with the properties of self-motion and self-creation brought about the creation and existence of the Light Force (RA), the mind in unity with the Creative and Spirit Forces (KA and BA) (See also [10f] [10h] [14, pp.99-120] [24a-c] and Chapters 2 and 6 of this book). All these Creative, Spirit and Light Forces (KABARA), therefore, constitute the African Trinity and the entire active forces of the universe where creativity and transformations are in continual motions. The Creative Force (KA) is never dormant, the Spirit Force (BA) never 101

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

dies, and the Light Force (RA) is eternity. These properties established the universe, the beginning of which is not known to anybody that ever lived; and nobody will ever live to see its end. The Universal Life Force (God) created Himself or Herself from nothing and through the Creative Force endowed Himself or Herself with matter, spirit and light (mind). The matter, spirit and mind exist in a transformational unity from which humans evolved in the likeness with matter, spirit and mind that also exist in unity in terms of KA-BARA. The KA-BA-RA thus constitutes the Universal Life Force. This Trinity is symbolically represented at social level by the African icon of the Father, Mother and Child that exist in unity. The Trinity also generates the continual process of the visual disappearance of the old and the emergence of the new (an example of continuous never-ending transformations and change from the beginning to the end and from the end to the beginning, both of which are unknown to humans). In Kemitic or Ancient Egyptian traditions and theology, the KA (Creative Force) came to be associated with the Divine side of Osiris, BA ( Spirit Force) the Divine side of Isis, and RA ( Light Force) the Divine side of Horus. Keep in mind that African philosophical expressions are cast in riddles, proverbs, solutions and resolutions that are relationally important in understanding the internal processes and interplay of Shu(Air), Geb (earth), Teftnut (water) and Nut (fire) where Khepera setforth Shu and Tefnut from within Khepera’s existence to create the Universal Trinity that formed the reasoning foundation of the pyramedal conceptual system and mulidimentional evolution of things. It is useful for us to observe that from nothingness came something and into nothingness shall all things disappear through transformations and categorial conversions. This is the power of internal dynamics of the category of Nothing-Something polarity of reality under forces of multiplicity of rhythms. The observation that KA-BA-RA projects a process of creation of somethingness from nothingness and the disappearance of somethingness into nothingness brought about a thinking process that led to the development of the African code of conduct, the Negative Confessions [14, p. 25] [26b] [25, p. 347] and the corresponding African communalism, humanism and relationality between the individual and collective freedoms. By logical extension through reduction man came from nothingness and by transformation man shall disappear into nothingness and into a material void of 102

Africentricity

spiritual and creative existence. In passing it would be useful to point out that the so-called ʺTen Commandmentsʺ of Moses came directly by abstraction from the Negative Confessions. The postulate that a person is a material, mental and spiritual being in unity places both the individual and society in the same logical platform of the categorial conversion process where sustainable change and transformation are self-induced. The purposefulness of humans, and of other objects in the whole universal system, implies that all processes, transformations and categorial conversions are induced for self-correction and self-adjustments as the universal environment alters in consequence of the multiplicity of processes due to inter- and intracategorial changes. Furthermore, transformational processes of diverse categories are interconnected in unity. The central fundamental idea in all these postulates, constituting the epistemic core of Africentricity, is that permanency is not a characteristic of states and processes of nature and society, and that there is no beginning and there is no end. The only thing that is permanent is change where transformations and substitutions are the inherent characteristics of forces of energy. This statement must not be confused with an assumption of static state for reasons of logical constructs to understand states and categorial conversions of states. The principle of change conceived as the only thing or process that is permanent in nature and society in turn projects a philosophical position where the Supreme Being, the Vital Force of Life, is continuously creating new forms, destroying old forms, repairing damaged forms and restructuring existing forms. All these take place through the categorial transformations within the organic unity of matter, mind and spirit. As applied to society, these processes of creation, destruction, repairing and restructuring take place through the transformational dynamics of decision-information-interactive processes with humans as agents of change and social transformation. The social transformations are engendered by complex processes and interactions of humans with other elements in nature and through cognitive communication of knowing (conscious state) and hidden (subconscious state) to effect changes. The postulate that humans are the lieutenants of the Self-Creator and that all individuals have direct and equal access to His or Her power projects an African philosophical view of social organization where each for all and all for each is the modus operandi for organizing and 103

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

managing the society. Furthermore, it projects a complete democracy of access to the governance of the Creator that is translated to social formation with a careful balance between individual and collective freedoms and democratic rights with corresponding duties. It is an egalitarian view of society from which the moral principle of collectivism and the legal foundations for managing society flow. The organizations of traditional African societies attest to this. Here, each individual is viewed by others within the social setup as an end and important building block of the social design. This is an outgrowth of the view that each element in the universal system is an important building block of the grand design of the Creator. Individuals have a responsibility to themselves, to the society, and to nature that support categories of universal life for ecological diversity, balance and equilibrium. The society, or the collective, has a responsibility and duty to every member irrespective of his or her social standing. The individual and society exist in a transformational unity; they constitute a polarity. In nature the individual is also conceived as an instrument of the Creator for the purpose of Great Design. He or She is not a social instrument to be used by others as means of their utility. All individuals, therefore, have equal standing in society and nature. However, they have different responsibilities and duties which they are to discharge faithfully. As conceived, Africentricity holds within its logical confines that social rights are earned through duties and responsibilities while natural rights flow from the bloodline and ancestral spirits of which the Creator is at the highest level of the spiritual hierarchy and at the beginning in line of creation. Since social rights are earned through responsibilities and duties, all members of the society must have equal and un-tampered opportunities to participate in all the affairs of the society in accordance with their ability and strength. This is the logical foundation of African democratic ideal where the principle of consensus operates. Africentricity projects an equal access to nature, society and the All Encompassing Universal Life Force. It is an important thought process and conception for Africentric social formation without which the traditional African social formation cannot be logically and meaningfully explained without internal logical contradictions. Such logical contradictions are common in Eurocentric logical explanation of certain outcomes in African social formation and management. They 104

Africentricity

even call them primitive when such contradictions occur or when the explanation is lacking in their logic. It is just trying to explain in theory with modern logical lenses how the pyramids in Alkebu-lan were constructed. The natural rights translate into human rights, and as such human rights in addition to equal access to nature lead to a particular social construct of a land tenure system in African social formation where land is collectively owned with temporary individual ownership of a piece of land that is institutionally granted on a strict basis of the principle of need and use. Nobody owns land permanently and everybody has access to land as needed for use. The principles of need and use provide possession of land, albeit temporary individual property rights and permanet community property rights. Land tenure on the principles of collective ownership and individual need is supported by the principle of right use as mandated by the social collectivity. In other words to deprive one of access to land in African social formation is to deprive one of his or her human right and by logical extension his or her natural rights The right to land for use is a fundamental human right that has no compromise, and the right to ownership of output of oneʹs work within the social collectivity is fundamental to property right that has no compromise. Let us recall the four basic elements of water, air, fire and earth. Water, air and fire are communal properties and hence accessible to all by natural construct. The nature of land creates conflicts and a possibility of denying natural and human rights to some individuals by denying them land which must be used in conjunction with other three elements to sustain life. The African land tenure system is designed to provide a continuity of natural and human rights as we move from the three other elements to land through sensible social management. Such management is essential to guarantee the principle of each for all and all for each. Since air, fire and water are collectively owned; land cannot and must not be an exception by Africentric social philosophy. At the level of social practice, land must be democratized if democracy is to be complete. In other words, the African land tenure system is designed in accordance with African conception of democracy and the practice that may be required of it. The postulate that the Supreme Being is just and fair translates into a social operating principle of freedom and justice. The freedom and justice must be consistent with the collective existence of the society 105

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

whose moral rules and legal parameters are derived ancestrally as may be seen by the moral code of the Negative Confessions that we have previously referred to in passing. The principles of freedom and justice acknowledged as existing in an inseparably operating unit involve recognition that freedom has no anchorage in an unjust order, and that justice itself has no meaning except under conditions of freedom. The principle of freedom and justice admonishes the principle of law and order that is not derivable from the African code of Negative Confessions and democratic ideals. Human laws as designed constructs to control individuals in society, and thus sanction common boundaries of individual and collective behavior, may violate some or all principles of freedom of some members of the society by exclusion principles. It may even deprive some members of the social unit of human rights and even brutally trample on their natural rights. For example lynching and limb severing that were undertaken by some Europeans against Africans in the United States of America and Africa itself were legal and approved by the corresponding laws by logical extension through the failure to pass anti-lynching laws by the government even though they violated all human and natural rights of the people involved. Orders are authoritative social directives to enforce legal rules even if the orders trample on all the natural and human rights of some members of the society. The principle of law and order may operate in a completely opposite direction to that of freedom and justice. Law and order without freedom and justice is tyrannical and freedom and justice without law and order is chaotic. The idea that ther is a country that is a nation of laws is not only travesty of intellect and over streching but is in strict opposition to foundations of African philosophy. Every country is a nation of people knit together by social regulatory system of laws, rules and regulations to create social harmony and stability. There are unjust laws in society and even just laws may be unjustly administered to destroy freedom of some members of the society. Even given just laws, order may be practiced without due respect to justice. The principle of law and order, unlike that of freedom and justice, has no natural basis. It may be a derivative of a primary category that must be made explicit. In a poly-ethnic sequence of events, freedom supersedes justice while justice is a guide to freedom. Lasting peace and sustainable social stability in multi-ethnic societies are the products of the principle of freedom and justice, and not simply that of law and 106

Africentricity

order. Laws of society are products of human social exigencies in accordance with social perceptions of social stability and cohesion. Laws are said to be just if the social mapping is into the field of freedom. Orders are defined to be humane if the social mapping is into justice. There is no one-to-one correspondence between elements of law and elements of freedom. Similarly there is no one-to-one correspondence between elements of order and those of justice. The highest principle, as can be abstracted from African traditions, is freedom and justice with law and order as categorial derivatives. The principle of freedom and justice projects a framework where social responsibility and duty are shared equitably by the individual and the collective in terms of their abilities and strengths. It is the foundation of African democratic ideals as well as the nutrient of the ancestral tree and the reverence that is accorded to the African ancestry. The principle does not admit of separation between freedom and justice. It also does not admit of a separation between the individuals and the collective. The individual has identity only within the collective while the content and the quality of the collective identity are the results of the constituent individuals. Duty and responsibility on the part of the individual and the collective are thus the landmarks of organization and operations of African traditional societies on the basis of freedom and justice. They must constitute the foundation for the reconstruction of African modern societies with social accountability. Coupled with the principles of freedom and justice, the principles of duty and responsibility constitute the democratic ideals and practices that characterize the African traditions. It is around these traditions that Africentric thinking must be organized; and where new African social organization, governance and management must draw their lessons to deal with Africaʹs contemporary difficulties. Here individual differences are viewed as the strengths and beauty of the social organization. In its bare essentials as applied to society and its members, Africentricity embraces the principle of natural rights as I have argued. Responsibility and duty are derivatives thereof. All other rules of tradition are subcategories that are reducible to freedom and justice. Together the principles of freedom and justice with the laworder derivative, and duty and responsibility implying the principle of work and happiness stem out of Africentric philosophical traditions where the four basic elements of air, water, fire and land (earth) are completely democratized in ownership in support of work and 107

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

happiness within the cultural confines of humanism. Privatization of any of the basic four elements not only leads to the destruction of natural democracy but destroys freedom as well as initiating the rise of injustice, exploitation and slavery to which Africentricity strongly objects.

108

4 THE AFRICAN PERSONALITY

We have outlined the essential elements of the fundamental ideas of African nationalism in a companion monograph [43d]. We have also shown in the that volume the positive and negative relationships among concepts of African nationalism, state-specific nationalism, and other forms of group-specific affinities within the general context of Africaʹs complete emancipation, and in the theoretical and applied framework of African unity. In developing these ideas and relevant concepts that encapsulate them, we have in mind an informationsupported belief system that constitutes the foundations of our reasoning and logical construct. In fact, we have a model of Africaʹs future reality whose seeds are already sown in our current experience. The pillars of this belief system are firmly grounded in the conceptual system of Africentricity, unshakably connected to the practice principles of Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles [78], see Chapter 5 of this book ) They are linked to a number of African symbolic languages and representations of concepts such as Adinkra or Coptic or Ethiopian ones and others [20b] [26] [30] [57d] [61] [120] [128d]. Within this belief system, we hold a position and conviction that great and lasting revolutions and the resulting social edifices that may be constructed are the creative works of honest principles and those who believe in them. Such principles acting through cognition are achieved through the transformation of the mental and spiritual personality of the individual and the collective. And such mental and spiritual transformation anchored on firm principles, honesty, moral values and dedication to service becomes the moving force for revolutionary change and the creation of a new social order that replaces the old. Behind African nationalism, state-specific nationalism, ethnic-specific affinity and tribe-specific affinity there are particular forms of collective personality that give individual personalities their 109

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

identity and living existence. Analytically, every revolution is a struggle against the old order and it is also a contestant for a new ones. It is important to always maintain perseverance of the struggle against the old order and to maintain and increase the social momentum after every successful revolt. The successful revolutions are the crafts and creative works of forms of collective personality. Another conviction held is that we Africans are the only people who can liberate ourselves from our current conditions. This requires us to fight for the right destiny of Africa, mold her future from the ashes of her glorious past and shape her offspring from scars of adversities of slavery and colonialism. We should not abrogate our responsibility to shape the welfare of our beloved continent and allow external forces which are important causes of our current conditions to determine the terms of our progress. These statements flow directly from the cognitive skeleton of polyrhythmicity where self-motion, but nothing else, is the basic element of sustainable progress. In this respect, no amount of external goodwill, foreign aid, foreign legislation such as those taking place in homelands of Africaʹs oppressors will solve Africaʹs social and transformation problems. The fundamental ethical postulate of individual and group survival and progress holds that only the individual and the group (in this case Africans) to which the individual belongs can assess the intensity of pain, suffering and pleasure associated with a particular socioeconomic state and make appropriate adjustments. The acts of bringing important social institutions and essential elements of transformation of Africa into being are the natural rights, responsibilities and duties of all Africans, individually and collectively. The realization of these rights, responsibilities and duties must spring from profound and firm principles that are rooted in the belief system of the major core of Africans. The core is constituted by the members of the decision-making class who must move the African masses on the right path of emancipation through its decisions, choices and actions. The decisions, choices and actions are the products of the personality that the members of the core collectively share. The profound and firm principles are those that are being advanced by the basic social logic of Africentricity with the philosophical foundation of polyrhythmicity, the rules of reasoning as established by polyrhythmics and ideological principles of African nationalism. The Africentric social logic, philosophical foundation and ideological 110

The African Personality

principles are required to empower us to successfully implement the nationalist agenda for Africaʹs complete emancipation and African unity. The logical structure of the nationalist agenda is presented in [43d]. The objective in this chapter is to develop a conceptual structure of a set of principles based on African material and spiritual traditions on the basis of which African personality must be rooted. The practice of these principles should lead to the disintegration of cognitive chains that have held the Africans in mental servitude from the colonial times to the present, and to awaken the sleeping minds of Africans to the painful realities of the global order in which we find ourselves. These principles will equip the Africans with a unified system of social reasoning that is internally consistent with the goal and mission of complete emancipation of Africa and her children irrespective of their places of residence, since the collective personality spins the vector of social changes. The set of principles must establish the cognitive foundation of the African personality that is consistent with the revolutionary trend of the African nationalist agenda. The concept of African nationalism relates to a broad, general system of ideas whose structures may not be directly obvious to one who has not followed and studied the African conditions and problems immensely. Therefore, it is necessary to map out the basic relationships of the concepts of polyrhythmicity to other concepts of immediate relevance as well as lasting social practice. The important concept of immediate relevance is the African personality. The task here is to convince those Africans who do not believe that there is such a thing as African personality that there is one and to affirm it to the believers. The African personality must be linked to the conceptual foundation of African nationalism that is examined at length in a companion volume [43d]. The basic analytical force is not to rearrange the world but to appeal to all Africans to conceptually unite to rearrange Africa for progress, dignity and happiness of all. What is African personality, one may ask? Let us turn our attention to this question.

111

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

4.1

African Personality: The Concept and Characteristics

The implementation of the unity program, African nationalist agenda and African socioeconomic transformation requires the existence and expansion of the set of true believers in African unity and the organic principle of African nationalism. Toward this end there is a need for a stream of new Africans with the characteristics of precolonial and pre-slavery Africa with a full linkage to Africaʹs original conceptual system. These characteristics and traits, reignited and upgraded to deal with the modern conditions of Africans and their descendants all over the world, will constitute the essential behavioral core. They must define the African personality that is consistent with Pan-Africanism, Nkrumaism, and the intense struggle to completely emancipate Africa and her children from oppression, degradation and racism through collective self-reliance and internal categorial transformation that will move Africaʹs socioeconomic development over different stages. What are the characteristics that must establish and define the new African personality? The characteristics must be such that the new African, a) must be dedicated to the creation of a greater Africa, b) must be modest and honest, c) must be willing to devote himself/herself to the service of Africa and her children d) must detest vanity, e) must abhor greed and embrace humility as a source of our peopleʹs strength and integrity and as a catalyst for African greatness. Furthermore, the new African with these characteristics must be willing to enlist to join the collective to wage war against the worship of pure material interest at the expense of human life. The African personality must promote willingness to embrace justice, truth, freedom and fairness in the management of affairs of the evolving African social order. The enlisted personality characteristics must induce willingness to be rightly educated and to rightly educate other Africans because the individual is the African society and the African society is the individual. The development of the new African personality is made complete by an uncompromising detachment from the cognitive legacy of colonial, neocolonial, slavish and imperialist intellectual order. It is strengthened by complete detachment from any principle that opposes that of African nationalism such as imperial theology. These characteristics must also be firmly grounded in the ultimate willingness to perfect the constructed logic of African nationalists, the desire to 112

The African Personality

promote and refine the African nationalist agenda, the agenda of Africaʹs complete emancipation. The new African personality must induce devotion and passion to spread the principle of African nationalism and to convince other Africans that the sole path to Africaʹs emancipation is through Africaʹs own hard work, sweat, sacrifice, and unity, and not through the path of servile acceptance of the global and imperialistic system of revolving doors of aid, leftovers and humiliation. The latter behavior is inconsistent with the Africentric essence discussed in Chapter 2 and 3. Implied in this is the notion that emancipation is the child of work; work is the father of national greatness and wealth. The land is the mother of this greatness and wealth. The product of the peopleʹs collective effort constitutes the efficiency of their collective work. The people are the beneficiaries. The nature of distribution of effort and output is the testimony of social justice. This cognitive derivative is a logical extension of self-motion that is embedded in polyrhythmicity and Africentricity with rules of reason from polyrhythmics. The characteristics that we have enlisted constitute the cluster of the basic principles of humanism that was practiced and still being practiced in traditional African societies. These principles are grounded in strong moral and spiritual foundations to which some of the worldʹs best known civilizations are indebted [8b] [10c] [10d] [13] [36] and [39]. These personality characteristics must be the basis for reforming the current African into a new African whose actions and behavior will constitute the dialectic of Africaʹs modern social transformation amidst conflicts, obstructions and contradictions of Africaʹs current realities and future possibilities. They define the structure of individual behavior within the collective in the theater of sociopolitical operations in a manner whereby the individual Africans do not manipulate the African societies for personal gains at the expense of the African masses as is occurring in our present times. The Africentric conceptual system establishes the community as the primary category and the individual as a derivative thereof as is held in the individual-community polarity. Here the ideas of conflict and its natural and social implications are accepted as part of the general transformation dynamics of the emergence of the new and disappearance of the old. Their intrinsic meanings find expressions in Africentric concepts of duality and polarity, where harmony and social stability are created through rituals. What is new and non-African is the manner in which conflict 113

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

resolutions are practiced in contemporary Africa. Rituals have given way to new brutish methods that are alien to Africaʹs humanistic nature that flows from the cognitive structure of polyrhythmicity. It must be understood that the first step toward every profound and successful revolution and subsequent social transformation is a revolution in and a positive transformation of social personality through the development of a correct ideological posture for the individual and the collective. This idea must form part of Africentric decision rationality. Here the citizens are schooled in the correct analysis of historical events and social currents. The process must lead them to become profoundly educated in the collection and utilization of information toward correct choices and decisions with the understanding that the outcomes of the decision-choice process define the map of their national history. The education and training must take on a sense that is compatible with African traditions and in a line of creating a true African personality. Behind every successful revolution and effective social transformation through defined states and moments is the collective personality that reflects, and is guided by, the level of collective consciousness of the society. The collective consciousness is a product of a particular thinking system that has taken hold in the society and thus defines the behavior of the individual and collective personalities. For the task at hand, this collective personality is the African personality, its content is African nationalism and its guiding thinking system is Africentricity whose foundation is polyrhythmicity whose rules of reasoning are contained in polyrhythmics. The principle of self-motion contained in the logical confines of polyrhythmicity indicates that when African nationalism becomes the foundation of individual African personalities, it will nourish and mold the collective personality in a manner that will acquire a moving power for Africaʹs self-transformation. It will unquestionably become dialectical and revolutionary that will positively transform everything on its path. It then submerges itself to the governance of the law of nature where there is always the disappearance of the old, the emergence of the new and the contestant with all the potentials. In this way, African nationalism becomes the basis for advancing the cause of Africaʹs complete emancipation, social transformation and cultural reconstruction. The African personality imbued with the ideology of African nationalism becomes the moving force of positive African 114

The African Personality

history. It thus becomes active, not reactive. It acquires the dynamism of evolution of a kind that sweeps unwanted properties out of its way and replaces the old stubborn mental attitudes of colonialism, slavery and neocolonialism, which are basic characteristics of current African social settings. The transformation dynamics will bring positive elements for the creation of a federated and Greater Africa. In such an environment African nationalism will define and establish the path of the transient process through the stages of Africa history. It will destroy self-doubt and bring to the African collective personality elements that are imbued with the African tradition of creativity, a sense of courage, confidence and initiative within the general process of Africaʹs social transformation.

4.2

Characteristics of African Personality and Social Practice

Human history is nothing more than a map of contours of successfailure outcomes of events of individual and collective decisions and choices that people make in the process of pursuing their survival, comfort and happiness. The decisions and choices rest on collective visions and social personality. The collective decision and choices constitute active cognitive processes over potential that must be actualized by collective actions on principles of optimism, hope and hard work. The structure of the map of the decision-choice contours, on the other hand, reflects the collective personality that has taken hold as the operational paradigm in the society, for information collection, processing, and use in the acts of the deliberation leading to collective and individual decisions. National history is the outcome of collective personality. It shows itself through human decisions and choices. The collective personality is the determinant of decision and choice preferences where the ingrained social consciousness defines their contents and quality. The course of the ensuing national history is shaped by the collective personality of the society. It operates through the decision-information-interactive processes that assert the direction of the resultant of conflicting forces of decisions and choices in the social space. The social consciousness that exerts the preponderating effects on the direction of social decisions is the system of views of the society, its internal and external relations, and the code of conduct that has come to be accepted generally as the tradition. It involves a set of social a 115

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

priori true propositions that are taken to be source-free and cognitively unchangeable by the members of the general society. In the social decision and choice spaces, this system of views affects the character of the individual and collective personalities. It serves to simplify behavior and provide a degree of societal optimism and hope to the extent that it wins such a cognitive authority over the members of the social community that they take the system of views as immutable and permanent. This system of views constitutes the ideology of the society on which cohesion is formed, cultural progress is made and social optimism and hope are developed. By defining the content of collective personality, ideology presets the social and individual perceptions and interpretations of facts, truths and reality as cognitive images. As a non-progressive ideology, antiAfrican ideology negates progressive forces as it seeks to transform African personality from what it is to what it is not. By doing so the antiAfrican ideology creates in the minds of the members of the African society special barriers against positive development of the collective personality by artificially manufacturing a psychology of self-doubt. The barriers act to prevent the members of the community from uplifting themselves to the higher level of decision, even when this higher level of decision has become possible and necessary for transforming the society to a higher stage of collective good. By defining and fixing the content of collective personality and social psychology of society, ideology affects the general social perception and behavior over information and knowledge spaces. At the level of perception, ideology presents itself as the establishment of a source-free knowledge that is taken to be social truth and hence noncorruptible. At the level of explanation of social events and outcomes, ideology presents itself as a simplified general social theory to the masses for analysis and understanding. At the level of social and individual decisions, choices and practices, ideology serves as a guide to social and individual action or inaction. At the level of social organization, ideology presents itself as a unifying force of the members of the society. At the level of history, ideology presents itself as a builder of individual and collective personalities. At the level of social transformation, ideology acts as optimal controller over the trajectory path of national history. In general, therefore, the dominant ideology in the society seeks to create harmony and preserve the existing superstructure even if the content is inimical to the general 116

The African Personality

uplifting of the masses of the society. Analytically, if the dominant ideology is anti-African then we should expect that the corresponding individual and collective personality and behavior in the decision space will lead to bizarre results. By changing the nature of the collective personality, one can alter the course of national history through a restructuring of the behavioral foundation of information processing, decisions and choices. The collective personality can be transformed by fundamentally altering the dominant ideology that has taken hold of the masses of the people. This will allow the reshaping of the peopleʹs collective rationality and mode of reasoning, their perceptions, behavior, and the manner in which information is accepted and processed in the choice and decision spaces of all social activities and events. The dominant ideology, that is, the collective thinking system, consisting of customs, rules, laws, and religious ideas that have been developed into a dogma, defines the boundaries of acceptable choices and decisions in the social setup. It constitutes the general social theory that establishes broad outlines of socially approved behavior and action. It also guides social practices in all endeavors of life. A successful change in the course of social history requires first and foremost the creation and establishment of a new ideology that militates against, and is destructive of the existing dominant one. The new ideology for social change must completely replace the old and the corresponding collective personality, and create a new collective personality in order to acquire social and cognitive dominance. It must then establish new paradigms of social thought, define new rules of social practice and establish cognitive boundaries in which social decisions are made and social truths are verified and validated. In the context of changing the course of contemporary Africa and its modern history, this new ideology is African nationalism with its defined new African personality supported by Africentricity with the philosophical foundation of polyrhythmicity and corresponding rules of reasoning to replace the Eurocentric anti-African ideology that has evolved from the period of colonialism to the present. African nationalism establishes a new conceptual framework from which a new African is born and equipped with a new African personality that is to be molded and guided to perfection in accord with the vision of African nationalists. In other words a new African is created and stamped made in Africa. The new African, equipped with 117

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

this new personality, must see Africa in the light of Africa and her children; will see Africa in the light of Africaʹs progress, welfare and interest within a greater Africa, and Greater Africa as the association of ethnic groups and states welded together by a common vision. The new African will see Africa as the alliance and coalitions of Africans both at home and abroad committed to collectively working out Africaʹs mission of complete emancipation in unity, justice, peace, liberty, compassion and love among ourselves. The new African must see Greater Africa as a federation of African states composed of ethnic groups and tribal units. The Greater Africa must be viewed as an organization of free and equal Africans who will make a way toward progress and pursue happiness without unnecessary social obstacles. The composing members will support each other in unity, profit from each otherʹs association, create appropriate institutions for all Africans, and will be guided by one common theme, Africa for Africans in a completely emancipated whole. This is an important and difficult requirement of the new African but it is an imperative and the only way to freedom and justice for all Africans. The task before us, as Africans, is not only a drive to create a united Africa, but also to build and market her as great and powerful in a manner worthy of her glorious past, aware of her mission of freedom and a duty of protection for all her children both at home and abroad. In the light of this task, all African states must embrace the highest principle of African nationalism regarding Africaʹs self-independence and self-government. Self-independence and self-government imply self-reliance and self-confidence, without them self-independence and self-government have no meaning. They require that the collective consciousness, defining the African personality, must be such that the African people in each state must resist any form of government imposed on them from without. They should also rethink the nature of foreign assistance or any domestic promises of fast relief from their immediate suffering by critically analyzing the impact of such relief on Africaʹs organic goal of complete emancipation and independence. They should not allow foreign military and intelligence-gathering bases on our soil, the African soil. The acceptance of such bases is the work of the colonial, neocolonial and dependency personality produced by venomous anti-African ideology. Doing so would be contrary to Africentric social logic for Africaʹs sustained development. The African states that have servilely acquiesced to foreign bases must understand 118

The African Personality

that this does not support Africaʹs emancipation; neither does it support their own proud survival, security and sovereignty. This type of behavior is admonished by African-centered thinking. It stems from the lack of African consciousness and personality. Africa is at a crossroads. She must choose boldly the path that serves of her interests. Africa is at the dawn of a new era. It requires her to break away from the old ties where some African states, like those that have allowed foreign bases to be established on their territory, manage to bring foreign foxes as doorkeepers of the chicken houses in Africa while the clock of her destiny ticks slowly with an amazing regularity to destruction. National security and national freedom are two sides of the same coin. In natinal freedom do we find national security and in national security do we find national freedom. In allowing foreign bases of any kind on your teritory is trading off national freedom for illusions of security and hence the leadership of the country has forfitted both national freedom and security of the people of the country. The structure of the current ties reflects a situation of corruption, moral bankruptcy, visionary darkness, intellectual sterility, slave mentality and political subservience among the majority of the African political elite. These situations and decisions that come with them reflect a schizophrenic personality that is not African. It is simply a product of mis-education and propagation of anti-Africa ideology that has remolded the African elite into a different strain of African with the trademark “made in the West“. The elites have learned to regard the West as the best and Africa as primitive. They actively promote this idea to the masses. They dismantle true African institutions (for example the Kwame Nkrumah Ideological Institute) and replace them with institutions of African demise as prescribed by their neocolonial masters. They fail to acknowledge a basic fact, that the world is a jungle with its own laws. The nature of the laws of the jungle and survivability impose the principle of recognition of types where people of the same race are drawn together for understanding and struggle to overcome adversities, especially when the laws of the jungle are formulated by the lions who simultaneously act as the police, witnesses, prosecutors, judges and executioners on the basis of race and type. These laws impose a structure on behavior in such a way that those who violate them are severely punished with suffering and unconditional jail terms in prisons of inferiority with hard labor. The 119

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

structure of such behavior in the jungle of international affairs, politics, law and economics, demands that we, Africans, believe firmly in the sacredness of the principle of African nationalism, where the authorities of all African states and the growth of national consciousness are derived from African nationalism as the ruling national principle, to which all events and outcomes of African social life and international relations must be referenced, and within which the collective personality of every African ethnic group and state is also molded and stamped with a trademark made in Africa where the content is truly the African personality. The development of a new African personality with the defined characteristics is the creation of a vehicle for altering the course of Africaʹs modern history. It does so by reversing the forces behind a pattern of our decisions and choices that have always gone against Africa and her children. The new personality development will help to redefine cognitive foundations of acceptable norms of social practices. It will help alter the framework for judging what constitutes justice, freedom, fairness, individual-community rights appropriate relations and correct democratic practices in international relations and order. Again we must state for emphasis that the ideological guidance of African personality is African nationalism. Its philosophical and logical system of thought is Africentricity. Its organic principles of behavior are the Nguzo Saba (the seven principles). Its goal is Africaʹs complete emancipation. Its mission is to reclaim Africa for Africans and reassert Africaʹs leading role in the direction of the world civilization where culture of violence as practiced against Africa is not tolerated and where the philosophical principle of African humanism as an element of African tradition is given a global dimension in accord with the logical structure of polyrhythmics and philosophical framework of polyrhythmicity. All historic accounts point to the fact that every social organization has the natural tendency to organize and harmonize all forces of which it is composed away from destructive conflicts and into a unified force directed to create the required stability for progress, if the organization is to survive. The ideological principle of African nationalism accepts this position. It holds that by creating a new personality true to all Africans, an unshakable ground of African brotherhood, sisterhood, motherhood and fatherhood on the characteristics of African humanism can be nurtured to propel Africans to accept and believe in 120

The African Personality

the laws of unity, progress and duty, and to become convinced of the idea that Africa ought to be one nation with a common destiny that is unshakable by hostile forces of imperial predation. The current difficulties in the process of moving the African masses toward this direction of unity and progress are merely expressions of poor judgement, decisions and choices that are reflected in the absence of a compatible collective African personality. Consequently there is the lack of a required vision among the members of current governing bodies and leadership. The secret of success in this direction rests on the creation of a compatible collective African personality consistent with African nationalism that will bring together constancy and unified effort toward the realization of the African unity and progress. All Africans, both at home and abroad, must understand that when sovereignty is held in divisions among several non-viable state ʺpowersʺ, the path of intense conflicts is opened. Consequently the struggles among states and factions within states that hold no real power in the global power system, but dilutions of power, become inevitable. Such a situation presents a fertile ground for imperialist activities ranging from intimidation to overthrow of legitimate governments, destruction of democratic values, oppression, disastercreation, exploitation and many other socio-political evils. In fact, divisive conditions are laid down for the African states and factions to be manipulated externally against each other for their destruction. Distrust becomes the norm among the powerless. The struggle for power among the powerless in an essentially barren field of power becomes the goal without a vision. Meanwhile organized hostility either manipulated or influenced by more powerful external forces takes the place of national political stability and harmony, which are indispensable factors for social development and progress. Precious resources, human and non-human, are siphoned away from activities of nation building and into human activities of national destruction and disaster. The results are social confusion, human suffering, and lack of development. The current African border disputes, coup dʹetats, internal hostilities, and widespread famine are clear examples of this condition of the struggle among the powerless in the face of hopelessness, power illusions and ineffectual national sovereignties. These unwanted situations are the creations of the anti-African personality. They can be corrected by the practice of the principle of African unity, African nationalism and African personality that 121

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

together constitute a restatement of the African Trinity which we have discussed extensively in Chapter 2, 3 and 6 of this book. African unity expresses the principles of both a general intercourse among individual Africans and inter-communication among African states. These two principles acquire their optimal and useful character only with the existence of an African collective personality that is consistent with African nationalism. Through the mechanism of collective African personality, African unity can be used to actualize the collective African self-reliance, self-determination and self-motion with cooperation and shared responsibilities as reflected in the philosophical structure of polyrhythmicity and the logic of polyrhythmics. It seems that Africans, particularly the leadership, do not fully understand that the current territorial divisions, forms of political organizations, nature of governance, institutional arrangements and meaningless associations with other non-African countries, particularly the West, as prioritized over other African States will, by necessity, impede all true African progress. This situation will not change until the African political, intellectual and cultural leaders have come to an unmistakable realization that Africaʹs complete emancipation and the defense of the race must proceed on the seven sub-principles of freedom, justice, independence, equity, compassion, faith and collective self-reliance based on African unity, nationalism and personality in accordance with the reasoning rules of African philosophical tradition. And the thought of such seven sub-principles must be central to the African way of life and African personality whose development must be guided by the ideology of African nationalism with the intellectual light of Africentricity. We must keep in focus, what African cognitive traditions teach us, that self-reliance is the energy of self-motion. It rests on Africentric ideas of human dignity, courage, confidence, hard work, perseverance and faith without which self-independence acquires no content.

4.3

African Personality and African Nationalism

African nationalism, African personality, and Africentricity that are consistent with the complete emancipation on all fronts of Africaʹs social life consisting of politics, economics, laws, and technology are inseparable in concepts and practices. The existence of one implies the existence of the others. This is the synthesis of our history which is the 122

The African Personality

true test of Africaʹs will. The lack of practice of this synthesis attests to the harsh and stubborn realities of current African social life, history and adulterated culture where the African struggles seriously to be what he or she is not, and simultaneously not to be what he or she is, which is to be an African. The tide of history flows in our presence, and as it does, it sweeps brutally to the shores of Africa certain painful, but ontological conditions of factual correctness. These conditions reveal that the current territorial divisions of Africa, the ideological struggles among the inherited African traditions coexisting with the invasion of Islamic values, superimposition of European-tailored Christianity and its ways of life on African culture, the meaningless associations with international organizations, slave-like appendages to former colonizers plus the active existence of economic, political and military subordination to and servility toward the former colonizers and Africaʹs imperial predators cause the leadership of most African States to be suspicious of one another and to believe in the lip-service promises of goodwill of Africaʹs predators and exploiters. All these elements create an environment that leads the African leaders to be skeptical about and hostile to every powerful and useful cognitive synthesis of current conditions of Africa that reflects a true process of Africaʹs emancipation and collective self-reliance through dignity and courage. Optimism from decolonization has given way to pessimism about independence and self-reliance where dependency mentality has steadily replaced hope of self-determination for Africaʹs progress. The African leaders’ suspicions, skepticism and hostilities among themselves spring from false perceptions of the facts of reality and the true conditions required for Africaʹs emancipation. The suspicions, skepticism and hostilities have no justifications in the logic of Africaʹs complete emancipation. They are simply children of anti-African collective personality spun by faulty institutions of learning that has no place in African nationalism. The holders of these perceptions regard crony imperialism and corresponding neo-colonialism as virtues because they benefit personally from them [43d]. At the same time they regard African unity and African nationalism as perversions that are the works of agitators, political and cultural extremists and enemies of the West. The behavior of these leaders is motivated by the fear of losing personal benefits and rents they abstract from Africaʹs disharmony, suffering and instabilities. 123

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

This suspicion as it exists has no cognitive basis in African tradition, and it has no positive character in African liberation. It is a destructive enemy that Africans cannot embrace. In a clear virtue of African nationalism and African personality, we are convinced that every advance, once attained in cognition and put into practice for Africa, will be achieved forever. It is useful to remind ourselves of the long period of evolution of the Pan-African thought and how such a thought can assist us in overcoming adversities and social calamities as we journey through years of struggle and Africaʹs resolve. Africa cannot afford to overlook the directions of global winds of change, particularly those blowing over Europe and North America and even over Asia in terms of cooperation, unity and dominance. All the European nations belong to a common military alliance. They are constantly perfecting their instruments to enforce their will through the propaganda of humanitarian militarism as well as mass killing in the name of humanitarianism, democracy, peace and economic development as they define them. The Asians are organizing themselves into unity to protect themselves against the destructive effects of these winds of change and even to participate in some predatory activities. Who is left out and who is the victim? Invariably it is Africa and her children. The ideological framework of African nationalism, therefore, holds a cognitive position that the war toward Africaʹs complete emancipation must first be fought at the conceptual level because every idea, when accepted decisively by the intellect, is certain to influence practice and lead to social action by simply creating conditions that make changes possible in the collective personality as it operates in the choice-decision space. Africa must be one. Without unity there is no African nationalism and there is no African personality; without African nationalism and African personality there is no true Africa; without a true Africa there is no African collective self-reliance and no collective consciousness, neither is there real strength nor independence and security. The objective of Africentricity, in relation to African decision space as referenced to global history and events, is to create the cognitive environment that would allow intellectual acceptance of the concepts and ideas of African personality, African nationalism and African unity by the African masses and by the members of the leadership class. Here, we are of the deepest conviction that no true national independence can come about without a mass intellectual revolt on the part of Africans, at 124

The African Personality

home and abroad, against the ideas and concepts that hold us in bondage and cognitive darkness, and serve to maintain a schizophrenic collective personality, which destroys our confidence, zaps our courage and subverts our dignity. The same schizophrenic collective personality dangerously serve to restrain our perseverance and faith that stand behind Africaʹs self-motion toward true democracy with freedom and justice. This intellectual revolt should be a new thinking that, when it takes hold, must be translated into positive collective action, since unity of thought and collective action are the life blood of every successful revolution. The act of actualizing an intellectual revolt of African masses is anchored firmly in the precious and delicate hands of those who show themselves ready to fight for and to conquer a cognitive frontier in order to create a new African intellectual system that would govern our choices, decisions, social behavior, collective actions and collective selfreliance. This effort requires the rise of new Africans with African collective personality that is trademark, made in Africa. The new Africans must be organized into a Nationalist African Leadership Intellectual Council (NALIC) whose research and intellectual activities are guided by African-centeredness to reclaim and enhance the African cognitive traditions from antiquity. This council must have branches in every African state and the staff must be composed of experts from different African states with an operative concept of diversity in unity and African cultural unity. This must be supported at political level with the Nationalist African Party (NAP) that must be rooted in African personality as well as being established in every African state to generate and coordinate the African nationalist agenda. The new Africans would be those who have divorced themselves from Eurocentricism, colonialism of all forms, imperial collaborators and have reached a point where they are naturally and fully exhibiting the complete characteristics of African personality. This point defines a situation where the African becomes fully aware of African cognitive traditions. The traditions which teach us that the secret of power and success in bringing about an effective change in the current African state and conditions that maintain it is dignity and faith in ourselves and in Africa. And that the true virtue is the sacrifice of self to the greater and collective good of Africa and show of compassion for other Africans; that the ability to make good decisions requires knowledge; that the implementation of programs of action demands conviction and 125

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

confidence; and that the success of such implementation necessitates courage, commitment, perseverance and hard work. The unity of all these is engulfed by a logical and conceptual system referred to here as Africentricity. The Africans have not reached this point of development of the African personality if the conceptual system of Africentricity and the supporting philosophical foundation has not been acquired, mastered and practiced. Africa will rise above its current conditions only when we Africans have confidence, courage and faith in ourselves in that the way to Africaʹs bright and prosperous future lies in our traditions brought to modernity with full collective self-reliance. The first requirement to achieving this self-faith is not to look to foreign lands, the lands of our predators and destroyers, but to end our servile subjugation and appendage to imperial system of dependencies and exploitation. This requires the overthrow of and prudent detachment from the Eurocentric personality, its corresponding anti-African ideology and all other personalities opposed to our way, the African way of life. Among other steps of moving Africans toward this self-faith, confidence and courage is to recognize the power of our existing belief system by first waging war against important instruments of our predators: corruption, greed and vanity in our societies, particularly within the leadership and indirectly supported by our predators. In place of these latent tools of our destroyers, we must substitute a strong adherence to truth, justice, freedom, humility, fairness, integrity, modesty, honesty, dedication to principle and above all, service to Africa and her children. These elements are the central characteristics required of the African personality that must move us to the road of emancipation and progress. They reflect African humanistic principles drawn from our traditional societies as we have discussed in Chapters 2 and 6 for the important reasons of continuing our way, the culture that has provided us the mental, moral and spiritual qualities for the creation of the foundations of our ancient empires, state craft, the Nile valley civilizations, the science of pyramids, agriculture as well as the administrative foundations of our current predators, the modern imperial units of the Western Europe. It is only under conditions and guidance of African personality that Africa can be free from foreign domination and interference. And it is through African nationalism that the African human and non-human resources can be defended against the external predators and internal 126

The African Personality

collaborators. Equipped with African personality, the African leaders with a trademark ”made in Africa” will be in a better position to analyze global events in terms of true democracy, freedom, justice, fairness, and African progress, and then in terms of global geo-politics and resource conflicts. The basic underlying thought of the above claims is that every true and lasting emancipation of Africa from oppression, injustice, racism and the predators who seek Africaʹs demise must be the work of the principle of African personality that has been translated into deep-seated conviction of the masses who constitute the collective strength of Africa, and from whose existence the African leadership must drink at the fountain of strength, hope, optimism, courage, survival and progress. In these respects African institutions of learning have a major role to play in the correct African personality formation in the sculpturing field of human dignity. The African leaders, and of course the masses, must understand that the success of the emancipation embodies actions of negation, affirmation, substitution, transformation, and defense. Negation involves changing the existing social configuration composed of political, economic and legal arrangements and the conditions that maintain them. Substitution involves replacing the old social construct whose inner principle has become outdated, inefficient, and incapable of leading the masses out of suffering, with a new and progressive one. Transformation involves continual maintenance of negation and substitution on the progressive path of socioeconomic development of the social formation on the basis of African personality and nationalism as the internal forces. Affirmation involves asserting the collective faith in the truthfulness of the principles embodied in the new social construct of African personality and African unity. Defense involves reorganization of the actual and potential resources on a new basis of collective self-reliance, hard work, creativity and courage, on the principles of optimism and hope to protect the new social configuration, and to provide unity of direction towards socioeconomic improvement of the African masses. All this can be done successfully only on the basis of the African personality that must be engrained in the African leadership and the masses and the institutions of learning.

127

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

4.4

African Leadership and African Personality

In our current times, Africa is going through a leadership crisis and all the African governing bodies, without exception, are facing a deep crisis in personality. The personality that they collectively hold is inimical to Africaʹs emancipation and the path that the African masses must follow to progress and happiness. It is a personality order that allows the current leaders of Africa to indulge in bizarre behavior. Instead of dancing to the polyrhythmic tunes of Africa, they condemn them, and dance to the strange tunes of foreign lands and predators. They honor achievements of foreign people, and condemn the achievements of our people as insignificant. They accept foreign inferiority and mediocrity, and reject the African geniuses in the workspace of Africaʹs social reconstruction and development. They accept advice from the predators and destroyers, and criminalize advice from the African people. They use the African peopleʹs hardearned income to secure arms from their foreign masters, Africaʹs predators, in order to build oversized armed forces, not to protect the African masses and resources against the exploitative and oppressive activities of the predators and their international institutions but to protect the very oppressive system that our forefathers fought against, which they have now inherited from their foreign masters, in addition to committing human right violations against the Africans that they are to organize for progress and in support of African life. Additionally, they invert the concepts of government and governance where the government becomes an instrument for their private wealth accumulation and a protection for the predators; and governance becomes abstraction of personal service from the masses that they have forced to become subservient to them. With the help of the foreign predators, the leaders of Africa turn the masses into international beggars instead of working with them to create the collective wealth that they are capable of. They impoverish the masses, enrich the predators, and live in ostentation. They fight among themselves over imaginary dividing lines established over Africa by the predators from Europe, and even within their own territories; they obey instructions from their neocolonial masters and set one African group against another for nothing useful but Africaʹs destruction. They argue and explain hostilities among themselves on the basis of social trivialities of African ethnic and tribal differences while the rest of the 128

The African Personality

world sees no differences among them. They are merely rulers of Africa, parading as African leaders. They have a collective personality with a trademark showing mamufacture in either Europe or the U.S.A. with a slave docket. They are members of the international rent seekers whose main objective is personal enrichment at the substantial cost to Africa and her children. They condemn African nationalism and personality as perversions and as the work of African political and intellectual extremists and communists, and honor slavery, crony imperialism, fascism and Eurocentric personality as virtues. These rulers of Africa have lost the African essence, the way. They are nothing but political askari that are created by the predators, and made into zombies in African skin. They are stupefied by the personality that they collectively hold. They have lost the way, the African personality, and the rich African traditions. They send and direct the riches of Africa out of the continent, and into foreign deserts that seek the destruction of Africa. As askari and zombies, it is not in their nature to observe and to see that the foreign deserts have nothing to return to Africa except pain, suffering, poverty, and destruction. This fact cannot be revealed to them because they are completely surrounded by a plethora of external controllers that continually maintain them as zombies in a puppetry state. The plethora of controllers includes the Eurocentric anti-African ideology, corruption, domestic and international institutions that maintain the controllers. When a true leader emerges from their midst, they quickly betray him to the predators, and with the collaboration and instructions from the predators, they prepare the grounds for this genuine leaderʹs execution and elimination. The current so-called leaders of Africa, acting as askari and zombies, operate under the regime of thievery established by the predators for Africaʹs destruction. Stripped of the true African personality, these African rulers fight with each other. They fight to be the best servant, who would be admitted to serve in the palaces of Africaʹs predators instead of working with each other in unity in order to build African unity palaces and promote Africaʹs interest. By the nature of their collective personality, they logically fail to understand the modern and ancient history of Africa and the linking of those gone, ourselves here, those coming; our continuation, our flowing not along any meretricious channel but along our living way, the way: it is that remembrance that 129

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

calls us. The eyes of seers should range far into purposes. The ears of hearers should listen far towards origins. The utterersʹ voice should make knowledge of the way, of heard sounds and visions seen; the voice of the utterers should make this knowledge inevitable, impossible to lose [6a, p xiv]. This is the African way, the way through which the living essence of African personality will mold Africa and create true African leaders whose responsibility will be to establish a regime of life, progress, and collective self-reliance rather than collective suffering, death and Africaʹs destruction. ʺA People losing sights of origins are dead. A people deaf to purposes are lost. Under fertile rain, in scorching sunshine there is no difference: their bodies are mere corpses, awaiting final burialʺ [6a, p.xiv]. As political askari and zombies, the current leaders and rulers have become parasitic. They derive their ostentatious livelihood from the pain, suffering, and sweat of the African masses without making any meaningful, lasting, positive and noticeable contribution to African societies and the corresponding civilization. They succeed in doing this with the help of the drainers of the life stream from Africa. These helpers are the predators from foreign lands. The main aim of the predators is to establish a regime of destruction and impotence for Africa which then will become a terrain for exploitation of human and non-human resources as well as a playground for predatory games. In other words, the predators create the environment and conditions that are conducive for their game plan, Africaʹs destruction, and to benefit themselves and the general progress of their home countries. The creation of this environment requires the existence of political askari and zombies who are needed to create and maintain neocolonial states that are governed and controlled indirectly by the predators through proxy governments whose leaders either are hand-picked or have the blessing of the predators through the interconnected system of international institutions that are created to maintain the colonial and imperial order of predators and destroyers. The predators are able to do these things in Africa because the rulers of Africa have lost the essence of the African personality that would restrain them from operating and making decisions in the desert zone of illusions of inclusion in the world game of the predators. Instead of working under scorching heat as slaves in support of the predators they would work with each other as kings and queens for the 130

The African Personality

redemption of Africa and her children. They would not lose sight of our origins. They would have purpose without losing themselves in the jungle of savagery. And in fact their bodies would be living souls under either fertile rain or empty deserts to serve Africa and her children. When we say a person has an African personality, we simply mean that he or she has developed, within himself or herself, those intrinsic characteristics that allow him or her to work in a social order that is or will be established on the principles of African nationalism and African unity guided by the Africentric thinking system. This personality has a trademark “made in Africa but nowhere else“. True leaders equipped with African personality will not become Africaʹs traitors in support of the predators for the destruction of Africa through the process of resource siphoning through an established thivery system of the imperial predators. The social order that is to be established on the principles of African nationalism and African unity encompasses the defined range of decision-choice behavior over political, economic, moral, technological and social workspaces to bring about Africaʹs emancipation and progress. Anti-African personality thus involves every behavior in the choice-decision space that is incompatible with the ideology of African nationalism, African unity and social progress. The true African collective personality will lead Africans leaders and masses to see African nationalism and the African unity as virtues but not perversions at the level of ideology. At the level of Africentric identity, the African collective personality will force us and true African leaders to analyze, interpret, write and teach African historic facts as African experiences but not as parables of European commercial, predatory and missionary adventurism. At the level of theoretical generalizations, African collective personality must point us to Africentricity as a thinking system that defines the content of the ideology of African nationalism. At the level of teaching and studies of social sciences, the African collective personality must point to a methodological approach where European history is viewed as a case study among many of Africaʹs relations with other parts of the World but not as the only account of the worldʹs people where our own history is peripheral, insignificant and mentioned only if it affirms the ideology of European superiority and imperial activities in Africa. At the level of governance, African personality will point to true democracy and ensure continuity of leadership with an African mindset that will lead to sustainable 131

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

progress as envisioned by Africans. At the level of global relations, African personality will operate to reject a behavior where the African rulers travel internationally with baskets in their hands to beg for useless and trivial aid, loans, technical assistance and humiliations just to be forced to carry water in these baskets while at the same time siphoning billions of dollar worth of African real resources into foreign lands and deserts. There are two important underlying propositions that need to be elevated to higher cognitive understanding. One is the process of elevation and emphasis on personality as the major determinant and the driving force of the African emancipation towards freedom and justice. The other is the emphasis placed on the preponderant role that collective personality exerts over the individual personality in the emancipation process. These underlying propositions reflect an Africentric view base on African traditions of the relationship between the relative weights of the roles played by the individual and the collective within the individual-community duality in charting the path of national history and its progress [see Chapter 2, 3and 6]. At the level of African traditions, the individual has identity only within the collective, without which the concept of individual identity is meaningless and its existence vacuous. The individual personality acquires its form from that of the collective. In other words, the structure, form, and the boundaries of acceptable characteristics of individual personalities are the products of the personality that the members of the society hold collectively. The collective personality influences and molds the individual personalities. This statement does not do away with the dynamic interaction of cause-and-effect relationship between the individual and the collective personalities. A logical derivative from our discussions on polarity, duality, and relationality is that the individual and the community exist in unity as do the individual and collective personalities in the individualcommunity polarity. The collective personality sets the boundaries for the development and the changes of the individual personality in social dynamics. The development and changes of the individual personalities exercise a profound influence on acceptable boundaries of the collective while at the same time seeking to change the boundaries. The collective personality imposes the principle of social conformity on the individual in accordance with African traditions while the individual personalities operate sometimes in an unstable conformity 132

The African Personality

with that of the collective, creating an internal conflict that provides energies for internal self-change under African democratic ideals. In social practices where people make decisions that affect social life, history is moved by the interplay of necessity and accident as projected in the decision-choice space of the individual and collective personalities. Necessity is the work of collective personality. Accident is the work of individual personality. Necessary outcomes of national history resulting from cause-effect process manifest themselves through a series of accidental events that are the children of individual personalities. Accidental events, on the other hand, are conditioned and governed by the internal necessity that is the work of the collective personality. Necessity and accident therefore arise from universal operations of causality in decision-choice space in which people operate to affect their conditions of life, freedom and justice, and to affect their vision through dynamic interactions and interplay of forces of individual and collective personalities. Amid all the important contributions from the individual personalities, the collective personality asserts itself as the final necessity within African cognitive traditions. The African-centered proverbs that say ʺit takes a village to educate and raise a childʺ or ʺeach for all and all for eachʺ are testimonies to the above in terms of individual-community polarity, tension, social dynamics and transformation resultants. The effects of the collective personality on human activities in decision-choice space give rise to the necessity of social events and determine their outcomes. Necessity gives rise to freedom on the basis on which individual personalities must operate in the decision-choice space to affect the accidents. Accident gives rise to justice on the basis of which collective compassion is exercised. The collective personality, just as necessity, is primary and individual personality, just as accident is secondary in terms of category formation and categorial transformations. In this respect, the latter must, by the forces of causeeffect process, inevitably adapt itself to the former that ensures its freedom while the former acquires its internal creative force from the latter that ensures its organic transformation. Thus collective personality is the precondition to freedom and individual personality the precondition to accidents in social transformations leading to Africaʹs emancipation. Both necessity and accident define the decision environment for people acting in terms of personalities of either the collective or a group 133

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

of individuals to take definite actions conditioned by the interplay of forces of conflict in the social decision space and to carry them out. These are conditions of Africaʹs emancipation on which the African collective and individual personalities must be referenced. Thus the primacy of the collective personality in Africaʹs complete emancipation as has been projected here is not a limitation on the individual personality but the guarantor of its maximum contribution to African nationalism and the African unity that we seek. This argument may be extended to the relationship between the African unity to be and the present individual African states in the recognition that unity and separation constitute a category of polarity, namely unity-separation polarity. In unity resides separation and in separation resides unity that endenger the unity-separation dynamics. Keep in mind the African proverb that it is easy to destroy a broom by taking and breaking the individual straws but practically difficult when the straws are tied together in unity. The proposition that personality is the major determinant and driving force of African emancipation must be seen in different but interconnected operative modes in all aspects in the decision-choice space that must lead to action. Any change in the social setup takes place in the decision-choice space in which the individuals and societies operate. The decisions and choices are made with perceived information and knowledge about social realities and our actions are propelled by our optimism, hope, will, vision, wisdom and courage. The dynamic relationship between information and knowledge on the one hand, and the personality of the decision maker on the other, must be clearly understood if one is to appreciate the cardinal role of personality in affecting the selection of alternatives and resulting outcomes in the social decision-choice space in general. Similarly, human will, the will and courage to act on decisions based on the principles of optimism and hope, depends on the form of personality, information and knowledge that are abstracted from reality in accordance with the personality that people hold collectively and individually. Information and knowledge that people hold about reality are nothing but perceptual models that may or may not be in congruence with reality and truth. People form perceptual models of reality and truth in accordance with the collective and individual personalities that have taken root in the society and supported by the prevailing ideology. 134

The African Personality

If individual and collective personalities have their roots within a given society and are molded from within the cultural confines of that society, then the perceptual models of social truths and realities in most cases will be formed in relation to the interest of that particular society. The knowledge and information presented by such perceptual models will be considered essential and relevant to the extent that they open new doors that affect individual and collective behavior in the choicedecision space toward progressive social transformation. It is on this basis that the advice and recommendations of consultants external to a social system have no listening effects on the socioeconomic outcomes except by accident. Alternatively, if the individual and collective African personalities have their roots in foreign lands and such personalities are molded by cultures and thinking systems opposed to our way of life, then the perceptual models formed by the individual Africans and the collective about social truth and reality in our society will not conform to the interest of the African society. The personalities would tend to be antiAfrican and the corresponding perceptual models would reflect visions that are removed from the African people and against our way of life. The visions would tend to be inimical to Africaʹs development and emancipation process. It is, therefore, not by accident but a process of necessity that the majority of the members of the decisive core of the African rulers and leadership in the academy, law, politics and clergy have become more Europeans than Africans. They try to be what they are not: that is, Europeans; and they work hard not to be what they are: that is, Africans. In this posture, the frame of reference of decision making of the members of the African decisionmaking core is often Europe, the homelands of our colonizers, when a social problem is encountered in our African societies on African soil. The frame of reference of decisions and actions, and the assessments of the costs and benefits by the members of the African decision-making core are removed completely from the welfare of African societies so as to serve the welfare of the imperial powers and Africaʹs predators. The members of the decision-making core always look to the West as the best in terms of perceptual models. These perceptual models of truths and realities about Africaʹs experience in global event are always distortions that reflect an anti-African personality. Lacking the true African personality, the African leaders are easily fooled by the propaganda machine of the predatorsʹ vast 135

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

system of dissemination of disinformation and misinformation to alter perceptions. In fact the African leaders and the members of the decision core assume the character of external consultant with defective behavior in the choice-decision space. When perceptions are formed, they become inputs into decision making. When decisions are made the will and courage to act again become dependent on the personality that the society collectively and members individually hold. In fact, personality molds our will and courage, and constrains our social optimism and hope to act. The collective and individual personalities have significant effect on our choice behavior that affects the social outcomes. If the African collective personality is determined by the internal cognitive forces operating within African society and its culture, then the emerged collective personality will by necessity be African centered. Such a personality will mold our dignity, confidence, will and courage in a manner that affects outcomes and purposes which are our own. In this way our individual and collective actions will conform to Africaʹs interests and Africa will be on the correct path to complete emancipation. But if Africaʹs collective personality is rooted in foreign cultures and thinking systems, and is determined by forces external to African society and its culture, then the emerging personality is not only schizophrenic but anti-African. Such an anti-African personality will mold our collective will and courage so as to effect goals and objectives that, in the last analysis, are detrimental to Africa because the African society is forced to operate in a zone of illusions of inclusion by the members of the decision-making core. Under the influence of anti-African personality the members of the African decision-making core take Africa into imperial system of exploitation and oppression, not as partners of the predators, but as slaves to service the imperial system of exploitation and degradation where the Africans are the object of the predatory activities. In this way the Africans not only operate in a zone of global political ignorance and enslavement but also in a zone of hopelessness and marginalization. Africa will be on the golden path to emancipation when our collective and individual actions are determined by Africaʹs perception of the global events, Africaʹs goal and objectives. Similarly our collective and individual actions must be determined by our need to realize these goals and objectives and to respond collectively to the global events in accord with African personality and African interest. 136

The African Personality

In the social decisions and actions that are taken by the individuals and the collective to define the path of national history, it is not reality and truth that matter but the perceptions that people form about the truth and reality as inputs into decision making. Such perceptions are the works of individual and collective personalities whose growth and development reside in the dominant ideology. As Africans, whether you were born in the Americas, the Caribbean, Europe or Africa itself, we have, before us, a duty and responsibility to develop within us and within the collective the African personality so as to form perceptions about outcomes of global events in terms of African interests, experiences and encounters with external forces. We should not allow our perceptions to be shaped by deceptions of illusions of inclusion into international institutions that have been set up by our predators and destroyers as traps in the information and decision-choice spaces. These traps are set in camouflages of democracy, peace, development, good governance and human rights whose conceptual definitions and operational boundaries are under the control of the same predators and destroyers that have raped Africa. If we fail to understand that our perceptions must not be shaped by deceptions of illusions of inclusion then we will never find the path to Africaʹs emancipation, redemption and progressively sustainable social transformation but simply a path of global war of resource savagery at the expense of the Africans. A point of caution: the African personality is not defined in terms of the way one dresses or the type of music that one listens to, even though they are part of it; African personality reflects itself in African behavior in the decision-choice space in terms of perceptions and actions that are cultivated toward Africa and her children. The cognitive process encompassing philosophy and the collective conceptual system shapes the social perceptions which are fed into the collective vision which then affects individual and collective decisions and choices. Thus in the last analysis philosophy and the ideology that it gives rise to assert themselves as the guiding principles of culture and socioeconomic development by manufacturing the dialectical moment for categorial conversions. Let us point out that the understanding of the concept of African personality and its dynamic effects in manufacturing the conversion moments for social transformation is critical in a new African socioeconomic development process. The supporting thinking system on the basis of which the African personality is or must be molded has been presented in 137

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

Chapter 2 and 3. Let us turn our attention to the relationships among polyrhythmicity, Africenticity, African personality and Nguzo Saba (The Seven Principles), which is a set of application principles projected for practice in Africentric sense.

138

5 AFRICENTRICITY AND THE SEVEN PRINCIPLES (NGUZO SABA)

The philosophical building blocks of Africentricity have been advanced in the previous chapters. The complete development of the individual core ideas and concepts was sacrificed in favor of developing the unity of relational ideas and concepts that would allow the establishment of logical boundaries for analysis and synthesis. The core ideas and conceptual system were linked to the development of African personality. Following this line of conceptual reasoning, I would like to state that the Nguzo Saba (the seven principles Kwanzaa) as have been specified by Maulana Karenga [78a][78b] are abstractions from polyrhythmicity and embedded in Africentricity with the logic of polyrhythmics. The principles are also importantly related to other ideas and concepts of Africentric boundaries of reasoning and practice that have their roots in African traditions and social formation. The Nguzo Saba must be viewed as establishing a code of conduct or paradigm for Africentric behavior in modern times and in the same line as the set of Negative Confessions for Africaʹs unity. In this Chapter, we shall state and clarify the inter-supportive relationship between Africentricity and Nguzo Saba. The goal here is to present a general, yet specific intellectual guidance and a set of logical boundaries of acceptable conduct of the African in Africa and its Diaspora in the struggle to emancipate the race from the global system of oppression and racial exploitation. The acceptable conduct is viewed in terms of how the actions and behavior of African individuals or groups affect the general social welfare of African people, where the fundamental ethical principle of judgment is anchored on the relative position of the collective progress of Africans as compared to other people. The question of how well is an individual African doing in a particular state is important. But there more pressing question of how 139

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

an individual level of ʺdoingʺ (that is, the welfare state) contributes to the collective progress of Africans and Africa. This individual progress must be assessed within the general framework of collective African progress, as measured by the levels of collective welfare. In practice, this fundamental relationship is violated knowingly or unknowingly when Africans engage in unprincipled behavior whereby African resources are siphoned away to desert lands of foreign countries. Unfortunately, some of our behavioral actions are motivated from the mindset that has been induced by years of mis-education, false concepts of God and the general anti-African ideology propagated by European predators. Herein lie the relevance and contribution of the Nguzo Saba and the adherence to them where there is a recognition that the current paradigm of our decision behavior is at best at variance with Africaʹs welfare. The objective here is to alter the current paradigm and define an alternative paradigm of social practice in African societies. It is important to understand that the Nguzo Saba are general rules of behavior. They acquire their application power and effectiveness within the context of Africaʹs complete emancipation and progress It is necessary to deal with the relational structure of individual principle one after another and within the framework of Africentricity. The relevance of each principle, its philosophical position in the African thinking system and its behavioral application for the African nationalist will be illustrated and linked to the philosophical system of polyrhythmicity and the rules of reasoning from polyrhythmics. We should point out that the relational construct of Africentricity and the Nguzo Saba together constitute an ideological and conceptual revolt against current African conditions of global injustice, since the main objective here is to shift the paradigm of current Africaʹs behavior in the global space of decision-information-interactive processes. They therefore constitute a call to arms, and a summons to action on different behavioral principles of positive action. Africentricity seeks to develop African readiness for positive action and to create cognitive conditions for an offensive alternative. At the same time it must retain a defensive posture with a clear understanding that every offense is also a defense and every defense is an offense. This is the offensivedefensive duality. The struggle to emancipate Africa and her children all over the world from racism, poverty, technological backwardness, self-abuse, self-doubt, psychology of inferiority and intellectual and 140

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

economic subservience requires definite actions and the practice of principles that are pro-African unity. GENERAL AFRICAN CONCEPTUAL SYSTEM

POLYRHYTHMICITY: General African Philosophy

POLYRHYTHMICS: Logic and Reasoning Rules

AFRICENTRICITY: Social Philosophy

AFRICAN PERSONALITY: The Essence

AFRICAN NATIONALISM: The Ideology of Liberation

SOCIAL PRACTICE: Actions

Unity (UMOJA)

Self-Determination (KUJICHAGULIA)

Collective Work and Responsibility (UJIMA)

Cooperative Economics (UJAMAA)

Purpose (NIA)

Creativity (KUUMBA)

Faith (IMANI)

GLOBAL DECISION-CHOICE SPACE

Figure 5.1

A Relational Geometry of Nguzo Saba, African Conceptual System and Social Decision Choice Space

For these actions to be purposeful we must recognize that the current collective personality that we are operating with is infested 141

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

with negrosis (the psychological disease of the Negro). This psychological disease requires a cure by cognitive actions. Such actions must flow from a new intellectual order, a new paradigm of reason and decision that is truly African centered. The intellectual order should lead to a change in the reasoning characteristics and the current thinking system of the African, no matter where he or she resides. We are locked in battles of ideas and a bitter ideological war to cure the negrosis and to reclaim the African mind for freedom, justice, peace, true democracy and social progress. The interconnectedness of these ideas, concepts and reasoning as is being constructed is presented in terms relational geometry in Figure 5.1. Given the relational geometry we shall now discuss the individual principles in details as they relate to the African conceptual system its general philosophy, logical rules of reasoning, ideology and the social practice that may be required of them.

5.1

The Principle of Umoja (Unity) and Africentricity

The inheritability of the ancestral spirit and the family bloodline leading to the formation of an African nation places duties more than social rights on its members. The members, who are the citizens, of the African nation are duty bound to one another and the state. Membership and the chain of command are organized on the principle of duty, division of duty and responsibility from which social rights are then derived equally. The practice and implementation of this way of organizing resources for the welfare of the state and its members require the principle of Umoja (unity). As we have discussed in chapters 2 and 3, the Creative, Spirit and Light Forces exist in a dialectical unity that generates the required internal source of energy and power to control its existence and to manage the creative process of transformations through destruction-construction duality without external impression. This unity is the strength and beauty of nature as we emphasized. It is the relational tension within the individualcommunity polarity and the unity that it engenders, which internally generates the source of energy for social transformation. The methodology for raising relevant questions and constructing the required argument, propositions and conclusions as a unified cognitive system is discussed in Chapter 6.

142

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

The principle of Umoja represents integration, coordination and harmony in that unity is needed in diversity and unity has no meaning without diversity. It reflects the practice of democratic principles in the arena of social decisions, economic operations and the organization of resources for the betterment of the African nation. In the arena of social decisions, economic operations and resource organization, the cardinal ethical principle admitted by Africentricity is to treat each African as an end in himself or herself. This principle is consistent with Africaʹs humanist conception of existence and being. It is also consistent with the maintenance and respect of diversity in unity required by mass practice of Africaʹs democratic ideals and the code of conduct that is expressed in the set of Negative Confessions as ideological and moral boundaries of behavior. The principle of Umoja, within the logical foundations of Africentricity, requires every African, to strive for unity and maintain it in the family, community, in the African nation and within the race by every means necessary. This is a simple call to action that is demanded by the principle of self-interest in social practice and creative mutation. Each individual African and descendant of Africans, no matter their place of birth, are duty-bound in accord with the African Trinity (father, mother and child) to defend and share in the unity of all Africans at all cost. It must become crystal clear in our minds that all Africans are the same. We share in the same ancestral tree and face the same obstacles and sufferings in this social world, at least as we have come to know them. We have the same essence, and we rise from the same material and spiritual evolution as we have discussed in the previous chapters and in Diop [37] and Ben-Jochannan [13]. Africa is one and indivisible, and hence Umoja is its first Africentric principle. The unity of all Africans in Africaʹs social existence defines unlimited boundaries of hope for the new African. To actualize this hope requires a collectively positive action. The positive action must conform to the objectivity of African Unity in relation to the current African social realities. It must also conform to the actualization of the unity potential envisioned and defined by the ancestral spirit and the family bloodline. For unity potential and family bloodline are inherent elements in Africaʹs social thought in the creative field of Africaʹs material, spiritual and mental existence. The path to peace and harmony among all Africans must be guided by one common principle, the principle of Umoja. The practice and intellectual defense of the 143

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

principle of Umoja will assist in keeping the objective of African Unity in full view. It will also prevent the actions of Africans from proceeding as if Africans are basically different from one another and enemies of each other. Africentricity holds a conceptual position that Africans are the only people that can emancipate themselves economically, technologically and culturally and that no amount of genuine external help can produce sustainable development and continual transformations in these areas of human endeavors. This is consistent with the logic of internal self-motion which forms the essential element of the creative process as we have previously explained. The task of emancipating Africa and her children all over the world rests solely on the trembling shoulders of all Africans acting in unity with courage but not as individuals operating in antagonistic modes. The execution of this task requires all Africans, to submit unquestionably to the discipline of the principle of Umoja, and the spiritual guidance of our ancestral Light (RA). We must keep in mind the relational primacy of the individualcommunity duality and the relative individual-community shared responsibility within the divisional space of social duties of the collective. We must avoid the tyranny of absolutism of truth which is inconsistent with relational relativity in Africentric philosophical tradition as well as modern mathematics and logic of approximate reasoning. As Africans, it is up to us to foster our strength in unity, to abstract substance from our diversity, and to honor and respect the rich and varied traditions and cultures of our ancestors. This is a demand required by the practice and the very existence of the African Trinity as we have discussed in Chapters 2, and 6. On all fronts of human endeavor, we must always act together for the protection and benefit of our people and race. The principle of Umoja is a constant reminder to us that in unity we find strength, courage, victory and glory, and in unity shall we re-establish the gem of truth in our glorious past. African diversity is a blessing from our ancestors but unity is the strength of our effort and wisdom. The demands of the principle of Umoja require us to always formulate and strengthen comprehensive plans for African unity while upholding the local social cohesiveness as well as strengthening the supporting institutions. These demands require us to take positive actions to create a political union of all Africans if we are to avoid the 144

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

second major trap of having to pay others for our enslavement and to excavate the tunnel that leads to our executionerʹs altar where some Africans are made to behead other Africans for the interest of other races and imperial predators. We have already paid dearly for falling into the first trap where millions of Africans were removed from their roots and enslaved in Europe, the Americas and adjacent islands and to create the resources required to further subjugate and enslave those Africans that were left on the continent. Those Africans that were left on the continent were colonized and enslaved to provide resources required to tighten the bolts and lubricate the European slavery engines of terror and mass-killing machines over Africans in the Americas and in Africa itself. Upon reflection, this is the saddest chapter of the living book of Africaʹs history. This sad chapter could not have been written if there had been a United Africa. While it cannot ever be erased from the living memory of Africans gone, those who are here and those yet to join the ancestral tree, the struggle to restructure the future course of our history is in our hands and requires a united action with courage, strenth, vision, wisdom and optimism under a united Africa and not only as what unity simply connotes, but also as affirmed by the African conceptual unity of universal creation. A united Africa under one continental government implies united economic action to emancipate the Africans from material poverty, technological backwardness and cultural schizophrenia. It implies a united African approach to deal with the complex and rapidly changing external economic, diplomatic and political negotiations. All negotiations are games of strategic moves whose space of distribution of outcomes is a mapping from the space of power distribution. The outcomes are always in the favor of the strong against the weak, meek and helpless. Umoja implies a united military organization to defend Africans against internal and external aggressions and to defend the continent and her rich resources against imperialists, colonialists and neocolonialists and their interconnected predatory systems that they have established, constantly refining and retuning the corresponding instrument of terror on the basis on which they enforce the rules of resource exploitation. It implies a united will to create the technological possibilities that will make the economic and military actions possible and to expand the economic and political frontiers of Africa and the improvement of social welfare of Africans. A united Africa implies unleashing of progressive forces that are currently dormant in Africaʹs 145

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

social life, frozen under conditions of politically and economically nonviable territories carved out by the colonial predators to suit their imperialist and capitalist greed. The principle of Umoja within the cognitive construct of Africentricity reminds every African that the forces which unite Africans are intrinsic to Africaʹs social existence, ancestral tree and cultural unity. They are natural to Africaʹs belief and deity system. These forces which are internal to the African nature are greater than the externally superimposed influences that are meant not only to set us apart, but to set us one against the other in violation of the most important spiritual and natural laws of Africaʹs system of Deity in terms of philosophical tradition. The important spiritual principle is that one must not clip the ancestral tree. The ancestral tree is a permanent formation and represents the unity of the African people at the levels of mater, spirit and mind. The African Ancestral tree comes to us in unity and grows in unity that provides it with strength. It is thus indivisible. Any division renders it lifeless just as a tree chopped into parts loses its living and spiritual essence. The current suffering and general weakness of Africa in global affairs can be traced simply to the rendering of the African Ancestral tree destructively lifeless by the divisional actions and policies on the part of the imperial predators where the ancestral tree was spiritually chopped into pieces. We must reconstruct the spiritual tree by restoring the parts into a whole and heal the wounds through the creative spirit of our people. This implies the practice of the principle of Umoja to rekindle our will, strength our bounds, rejuvenate our power, affirm our courage and elevate our dignity. Let us keep in mind that the Creative Force, the Spirit Force and the Light Force exist in an inseparable unit and so must the ancestral tree. They are Three in One and One in Three where the African icon, Father, Mother an Child dwell in an inseparable whole. The social philosophical and ideological construct and the corresponding ideology of Africentricity call upon all African leaders to abandon the unprincipled and destructive behavior of struggling against one another for a semblance of power given Africaʹs present organizational structure and global sociopolitical arrangements. Real power will be bestowed on the African leaders when they put their minds together by accepting the principle of Umoja so as to enlist the progressive forces of unity and cement them for the sake of the African masses who are searching for a progressive way out of material 146

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

poverty, spiritual barrenness, foreign humiliations, technological ignorance, moral disorder and emotional scars left by colonialism and slavery. The African leaders should understand that these negative elements are not part of the African essence, neither are they part of the African personality that we have discussed in Chapters 2 and 3. They are foreign introductions and maintained by an outmoded and dictatorial international order operating though institutions of neocolonialism, racism and crony imperialism set up by the same predators and oppressors for exploitation. The destination sought by the African masses is an ordered unity where harmony and peace engulf the African diversity, and where freedom, justice and amity flourish in material and spiritual bounty under the ancestral tree, the tree of unity. At the core of the Umoja principle and the implied African unity are fairness, compassion and freedom of association based on one common destiny and a call to duty. The traditional African communities are built on the principles of duty and equity. The conceptual ideas of African unity and the resulting superstate embrace the principles of duty, responsibility, fairness and compassion as encapsulated in unity frame from which social rights are derived given the natural rights. The principles of duty, responsibility and fairness within the logical confines of Africentricity must in practice be directed toward creating the conditions for accelerated economic and technological advancement to effect good quality of life and the defense of the good life for all Africans under conditions of freedom and justice within the whole. In thought and practice, we must focus firmly on the mission and its intellectual support system. Let us keep in mind that the thinking system that we collectively hold not only establishes the framework of our collective personality in unity but defines the foundation of the paradigm of our social practice. Africaʹs complete emancipation is the goal, African unity with its principle of Umoja at all level of decisions is the vehicle, and Africentricity is the logical light. African unity is an integral and inseparable part of the true African personality that is to be sculptured with the logical and historical tools from the materials of Africaʹs social realities, classical antiquity, and the ideological flame of African nationalism into the shinning polyrhythmic sculpture of progress. Umoja (unity) as a vehicle for Africaʹs emancipation and survival reminds all Africans at home and in the Diaspora that the proverbial 147

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

crocodile with two heads and one stomach cannot possibly survive and make progress in life when its two heads struggle not in mutual cooperation against the external enemy for their common survival but rather against each other for the crumbs left by the enemies as traps for their distraction and destruction. A bloody struggle between both heads merely deprives the common stomach of food that must support them both. Africentricity is a cognitive tool to engrain virtues of unity on the African personality and to feed the Africans with the fountain of brotherhood and sisterhood in such a way as to know where, when and how to defend Africa and other Africans in unity that should provide us with courage, self-determination, self-confidence and internal selfmotion. Let us turn our attention to the principle of self-determination that follows from self-confidence in support of the principle of unity in social practice

5.2

The Principle of Kujichagulia (Self-determination) and Africentricity

African unity leading to the formation of an African super-state is the first step in the emancipation process. The principle of Umoja is the first in the sequence of interrelated principles required for victory. The effectiveness of the practice of the principle of Umoja requires that the elements and properties of self-confidence, optimism and courage become natural characteristics of the African personality. The properties of self-confidence, optimism and courage as a natural characteristics of African personality are anchored on the principle of kujichaguilia (self-determination), the second principle of Nguzo Saba. Self-determination represents toughness, endurance, assurance, confidence, courage and internal transformation of the African self through the Nkrumaist transformation dialectics of categorial conversion [106]. It admits of no compromise whatsoever outside of the African people. It is one of the properties of the African personality that induces conditions of internal categorial convertibility and transformation required for progressive motion and self-transformation. The concept of self-determination, concretized into a principle that one can uphold proudly, is an integral part of Africaʹs social thought regarding existence and progress of being. It is fundamental to liberty as it is embalmed by the ancient African symbols that are inscribed on African classical antiquity and landscapes. The relevance of the 148

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

principle of Kujichagulia must be understood by the Africans from the very foundations of the formation of the African nation, and its relationship to Africaʹs belief and Deity systems and philosophical foundation that emerged out of them. As noted the concept of a nation in the African social construct, as may be abstracted from Africaʹs antiquity to the period of colonialism, is developed around the principle of duty and responsibility rather than on the principle of social right given human rights. Duty demands self-reliance, selfdetermination and accountability of all Africans. A call to duty is a call to self-determination and reliance on oneʹs ingenuity and craftiness. The practice of such self-determination is individual and collective responsibility in the category of individual-community polarity. Selfdetermination gives the contents of self-transformation, internal development and progressive social change meanings that affirm the process of self-creation that we have explained previously regarding the Creative Force ( KA ). The principle of Kujichagulia requires all Africans to act in accord with the principle of Umoja. This implies that we must collectively define ourselves as Africans irrespective of our place of birth or residence in a world of racial competition and animosities. Additionally, it requires us to collectively redefine the nature of our social character, our existence, our goals and our mission on this planet, and in the community of human tribes within the universe. Individual Africans must then submit to the discipline of our collective definitions. We are also required by the principle to follow strictly the traditions of our ancestors and elders of whom the Creator is the last in line of ancestral backward progression. We must then refine and develop these traditions within the logical boundaries of Africaʹs social existence and apply them to our lives in every place where we find ourselves without overlooking Africaʹs historical realities and possibilities. From the viewpoint of individual-community polarity, the individual has no protection without the collective and the collective has no existence without the individuals. The practice of the principle of Kujichagulia translates into a situation where we, the Africans, with our own energies must create for ourselves and for the benefit of our children, elderly and those in need. It further translates into a situation where we specify our own principles of life and behavior. We must simply stop adopting and following principles of life and behavior that may not only be irrelevant 149

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

to the fundamental interest of Africans and our progress in life, but may turn out to be inimical to the survival of Africans, the casting of relevant institutions, progressive social development and the maintenance of the welfare of the race as modern history has revealed. We should not abandon our traditional paradigm of social construct, governance and management on the basis of the community as the primary category of social reality and the individual as a derived category of reality. From the viewpoint of social formation and existence we should also not abandon our traditional paradigm of individual as the primary category of reality and the community as a derived category in the community-individual duality. In pursuing the principle of Kujichagulia, we must not only name ourselves and our children in accordance with the ancestral traditions, but we must stop carrying silly names, and stop giving our children names of others and things that have no meaning within Africaʹs spiritual, cultural and material cosmology. We must keep in mind that names of humans carry with them intrinsic values of the evolving culture of the people and this is particularly so in African social set up. They affirm the links to oneʹs lineage and ancestors and establish the structure and form of the ancestral tree. To acquire the names of others that are spiritually barren and culturally empty in an Africentric sense is to subject oneself to cultural slavery. It would be acting to clip oneself off the ancestral tree that would result in deprivation of social selfworth. This act of naming ourselves outside the domain of African social existence and cultural construct not only puts one at a distance from the ancestral tree and traditions but places one into the turbulent field of spiritual and cultural schizophrenia. In other words, one uproots oneself into a shadow of emptiness where there is no firm ground on which one can stand in the history of the natural and social order of states and processes and point in the direction of his or her ancestral path of continuity of the past, present and future. In this way, one is cut off completely from the path of retrieval (sankofa) which is the right bestowed on any African by the African Trinity and traditions. The whole process of acquiring European names under the pretext of Christianization is a most dangerous particularity whose psychological impact is and has been very devastating to the African self-worth and dignity. It has destroyed the Sankofarization (retrieval) process and the ability to reconnect with the past. Our African ancestors can no longer identify us spiritually from where they are 150

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

because we carry names that send no signal or at the very best confused signals to them. Without recognition of our presence they will not bestow on us their spiritual blessings for the continuity between them, us here, and those coming to ensure our unity and selfdetermination. It is incompatible with organic principle of Africentricity and its polyrhythmic foundations. The same holds for non-indigenous Islamic names. What implications can you draw from walking around carrying the names of those people whose atrocities against you and/or your ancestors are unparalleled in the recorded global history, perhaps equalling or exceeding those iniquities committed by Hitler of Germany? Will any group of people, or their descendants operating in a zone of cognitive rationality, continue to carry names that identify their bodies, souls, spirit and minds with those people who have enslaved them, colonized them, lynched them, severed their limbs, killed them in cold blood, raped their women, castrated their men and continue to subjugate them through racism, psychological warfare and material exploitation? Why then should Africans subject themselves to this degradation of collective self? This is a travesty of emancipation and social progress through the principle of self-determination of Africa. The task of explaining to Africans this awkward situation that has been developed between the ancestors and us here is ideologically daunting. The task must be confronted in fearless and battle mode. Our ancestors are in continuous struggle against Africaʹs adversaries, predators and destroyers in the spiritual world. They want to fight in support of us. However, those Africans that carry the names of the adversaries, predators and destroyers detach themselves from the ancestral trust. They are thus placed in the camp of the betrayers and ancestral adversaries. In this way the spiritual blessings from the ancestors are thus completely cut off, leaving us in the battle and war fronts without ancestral help, thus further weakening our self-determination. Our spiritual callings fall outside the living communication of our ancestors, thus depriving us of practical links with those gone while at the same time depriving those coming of the needed resources for ancestral connection to maintain our continuity. There is no race of people in human history who have rewarded consistently and willingly their oppressors by acting as if their roots are the same as those that oppress them and continue to inflict collective punishment on them. There is something mentally wrong here. There is 151

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

something wrong spiritually here too. There is a lack of Kujichagulia (self-determination) here. Self-determination implies defining the channels of spiritual communication to the Creator in a manner that befits the African conception of the Deity system and the reverence accorded to the ancestral path. A conception of the Creator in terms of images of other races is blasphemy. There is something illusory here in contemporary Africa and its people. We frown upon the African Trinity, composed of the ʺFather, Mother and Childʺ and eagerly accept the foreign reinterpretation composed of ʺFather, Son and Holly Ghostʺ, as is discussed under “Africentricity and Polyrhythmicity“. For the sake of progress of Africa, we Africans are duty-bound, and have individual and collective responsibility to speak in our defense. We should resist being spoken for by others who in no instance, historically, have had our interest at heart. This violates the principle of self-determination. The principle of Kujichagulia requires all Africans, if freedom and dignity are viewed as priceless, to choose to do things for ourselves individually and collectively, and to manage our affairs even with danger, turmoil and disaster in unity, rather than to be donor-dependent under conditions of tranquility where servitude and oppression rule. Freedom and self-determination are inseparable in concepts and in practice just as dignity and self-reliance are inseparable. Without self-determination there is no freedom and there is no meaning to self-determination without freedom. Self-determination is the first and most important initial condition for the application of positive actions based on the rules of emancipation and progress of a people. To the Africans, the determination to be free and the commitment to freedom are at the heart of the principle of Kujichagulia whose guiding light is justice. Thus underlying the principle of Kujichagulia are freedom, justice and unity. They collectively imply dignity. Dignity requires self-reliance and self-reliance demands courage, optimism and vision which are ingredients for setting the potential against the actual. The principle of Kujichagulia is drawn from the conceptual position of Africentricity that affirms that the right of Africans to determine their destiny is fundamental to Africaʹs belief system, and to compromise on this principle is not only to betray it but to commit an impious act. The principle of Kujichagulia is an indispensable instrument, a practical imperative to activate a new African and a new Africa. Complete African emancipation requires a strict and 152

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

uncompromising adherence to the principle of Kujichagulia with freedom and justice that operate within the boundaries of Africaʹs collective existence and consciousness. It reminds us that every important struggle by a people to liberate and emancipate themselves rests firmly on self-confidence, and courage to activate it and hence the principle of Kujichagulia. This is illustrated by an African proverb which states that one cannot hope to be a free and respectable person if one is continually begging the neighbors for crumbs and leftovers. Relying on foreign aid for Africa’s socioeconomic development is not only against African traditions and the concept of self-motion, it is dehumanizing, foolish and contrary to the emancipation and independence that our forefathers have always fought for. Socioeconomic development is a labor process that draws its energy from the people and hence from within but not from without. The first step toward the road of true emancipation is the belief, courage, reliance and determination of self. This must be imbibed deeply into the minds of all Africans. The effective practice of selfdetermination is impossible under the current regime of territorial boundaries and illusory sovereignties. The practice of a meaningful self-determination (Kujichagulia) requires the practice of African unity (Umoja), without which the forces required for actualizing the potential in self-determination will be dormant for numerous years. The African destiny is in African hands but not in the hands of Africaʹs predators and colonizers with their tricks and traps of enslavement. Freedom and maintenance of freedom require self-determination. Self-determination translates into sustainable self-motion that is due to the systemʹs internal forces for sustainable progressive transformation. Self-determination is the law of nature. Viewed from the logical framework of progressive transformation, the principle of Kujichagulia (self-determination) demands that every African believes in himself or herself, other Africans, African communities and the race to execute the Africentric program of socioeconomic development. This in turn requires individual and collective dedications of self to an unselfish service of Africa and African communities through internal production of forces that will contribute to Africaʹs self-transformation. As alternatively stated, it is better for Africans to believe in ourselves and the race than to submit to the whims of others whose worldview is completely or partially inimical to our survival and progress as history reveals. 153

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

The implication of the principle of Kujichagulia is simply that true emancipation of Africa and her children on all fronts of human endeavor will come only when Africans direct the major portion of their energies inwards and develop solid relationships among the African states and cement them for the creation of a good quality of life that all Africans desire and are also entitled to by the creative process. The actions whereby the African ʺleadersʺ roam around the world with a dependency mentality and a beggarʹs basket in their hands are incompatible with the principle of Kujichagulia, neither are they compatible with Africaʹs dignity and ancestral spirit. This course of action is inconsistent with the African traditional ideals and must be abandoned by the leaders and shunned by the masses. Just as it does not make any sense to seek spiritual help from those that have killed your spirit, so also does it not make sense to seek salvation from those that benefit from conditions of your suffering. Adherence to the principle of Kujichagulia is also a call to individual duty and collective responsibility with full individual and collective accountability where every African must work to establish Africa as one nation. We are endowed with sufficient internal strength and force to create the dialectical moment required to effect unity and progress and to make them happen. There is also a belief that without African unity there will be no true African emancipation, and without true African emancipation, Africans will languish in pain, degradation, hopelessness and spiritual misery. This is an ordinance from Africaʹs antiquity where Greater Africa has always been the supreme conception. Kujichagulia, in the logical framework and application of Africentricity, is a principle that defines for Africans an historic and cognitive stage that enables us as Africans to reaffirm our African traditional concepts of self-determination, self-motion and self-creation of the African societies so as to proceed to something holistic that includes Africaʹs complete emancipation with equity based on Africaʹs self-reliance. The principle of Kujichagulia requires collective and individual dedication and perseverance that are affirmed Africentrically to be imperative elements that can provide us with courage and propel us to triumph over current obstacles and adversaries. Africa is passing through a particular stage in her transient path to her destiny. This stage is temporary but demands the utmost

154

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

attention of all Africans working together in unity (Umoja) and with self-determination (Kujichagulia). The African conceptual, spiritual and belief system which is integral to African life and culture has sanctioned that a united Africa shall exist and this will be made into a necessity by the evolving global events and their impacts on Africa. We must, therefore, utilize our selfmotion in accord with the spiritual order to actualize this potential based on self-determination, self-reliance and self-interest. The African people, wherever they may be found, are the indisputable branches of the African ancestral tree and hence constitute the core of this unity around which all African progress will and must evolve. Africentricity affirms that virtue and victory for Africa must be based on collective self-interest, self-reliance and self-determination of all Africans where duty, action and self-sacrifice are directed toward one common purpose, the complete emancipation of Africa, so as to free her in order to achieve freedom from the senseless current world order and internal conflicts. The emancipation of Africa and the process leading to it as specified by African nationalists are not only rights but also duties on the part of every African to be self-determined and self-dependent within the boundaries of Africaʹs collective self-reliance, selfdetermination, self-interest and independence that are defined within the collective existence. Every African on this globe is thus required, for matters of self-interest and collective survival, to exercise diligently his or her faculties and creativity without limitation and with noncompromised confidence so as to accomplish his or her special missionary role within the collective mission of Africaʹs complete emancipation. The success of this exercise demands that individual and collective self-interest, self-reliance and self-determination of Africans be connected dialectically to our spiritual, mental and material strength that flows from the principle of Kujichagulia which recognizes that the only limitation to African progress is the size of our collective ideas, the degree of our collective self-reliance and dedication, our courage and commitment to African unity. The history of struggles for liberty teaches us that it is a logical inconsistency or contradiction for the oppressed to go to the oppressor to seek the way out of their conditions of oppression. It is another way to oppression where one abandons selfdetermination, chooses a trap of easy way and sells oneself into slavery. 155

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

Such a behavioral pattern as practiced by a number of Africans is contrary to the ideals held by the principle of Kujichagulia (selfdetermination) and must be avoided at all costs. Self-determination and self-reliance reduce the risk of being enticed by imperialist gimmicks of aid, grants, loans, trade preferences and technical assistance into the imperialist sphere of influence for exploitation deepening and widening. The African children are the true soldiers of Africaʹs socioeconomic reconstruction and welfare. They are also the beneficiaries of the outcomes of their military actions on the battlefront of socioeconomic transformation. Therefore their reconstruction of Africa must be based on their vision, optimism and courage that must flow from their collective self-determination (Kujichagulia). The practice of the principles of unity and self-determination, to be effective, must be supported by a third principle of Ujimaa (collective work and responsibility) to which we turn our attention.

5.3

The Principle of UJIMAA (Collective Work and Responsibility) and Africentricity

Success in the practice of the principle of Kujichagulia in all aspects of African life requires the real and correct understanding of the objective laws of nature and the Universal Life Force. Such an understanding demands the recognition of the ontological conditions of factual correctness regarding the role which natural limitations place on individual Africans and states acting alone in a hostile world. The dimension of the job of Africaʹs complete emancipation is just as vast as the African continent itself. It far exceeds the dimensions of the microstates that were created artificially by the European colonial order and viciously maintained by the European neocolonial and imperialist forces and violence which together constitute important impediments and obstacles to Africaʹs complete emancipation and the true exercise of Africaʹs creative genius in human endeavors. As long as these impediments are nurtured by the imperialist predators and their established political, intellectual and religious askaris through divideand-rule tactics, the imperial predators will succeed in maintaining slave-master relationships to their advantage and to the detriment of Africa and her children. To remove these impediments which stand in the way of Africaʹs complete emancipation; and to throw off the yoke of neocolonial 156

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

darkness and the blurring imperial cloud that hangs over Africa and the heads of individual states; and to reconstruct Africaʹs social existence based on our way demand that the principle of Kujichagulia be supported by a third principle of Africaʹs paradigm of behavior. This is the principle of Ujimaa (collective work and responsibility). The principle of Ujimaa is a representation of democracy in purity. It is a call to the council of African states and all Africans to join hands for collective work and to share in the responsibility of our failures and successes. The principle thus affirms the old African wisdom of duty and responsibility as cornerstones for individual and collective progress. Its decision logic rests on democratization of effort and reward based on ability and need respectively, with collective compassion toward individuals for their weaknesses and individual passion for collective success. It is an affirmation that creation of good life and nation building are not spectator sports. They are democratic endeavors that are based on proportionate representation of effort and need toward collective self-determination. Nations are not created by individuals, neither are nations built by individuals. Nations are created by a social collectivity. And great nations are built by collective work based on a sense of fairness, shared responsibility and dedication to hard work, driven by lessons from history and the intense willingness for collective success. A great nation is built from the sweat of the people and for the people. A great nation is a collective construct of a collective work. That a great nation is a collective construct of collective work is to be seen in its collective responsibility, and that it is built for the people flows from their collective accountability and recognized responsibility for one another and the collective, and that individuals own the nation follows from their passion for its defense by the individuals and the social collectivity. Both nation creation and building are babor processes whose successes reside in social colectivity. It is on this basis that the logical and ideological construct of Africentricity affirms the principle of Ujimaa (collective work and responsibility) as involving collective decisions, duties and democracy. Africans, within the Africentric operations, cannot claim to have mastered the principle of Kujichagulia until the principles of Umoja and Ujimaa have been accorded the social content, purpose and right practice that will create the conditions for complete emancipation of all Africans and the construction of the Greater Africa. The practice of the 157

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

principle of Ujimaa requires all Africans to act in trust, and bury tribalism and ethnicity at the field of crony imperialism in order to correctly build and maintain African communities on the footing of freedom, justice, fairness and peace. Furthermore, it requires all Africans to adhere to the age-old African tradition affirmed by the ancestral spirit and the family bloodline where we make individually and collectively the problems of our African sisters, daughters, sons, brothers, families, communities, nation and race our own, and act collectively as a people to solve them on the fair basis of shared responsibility and duty. We must work for and appreciate each otherʹs progress within the boundaries of the collective progress. Here the African wisdom of ʺeach for all and all for eachʺ from the category of individual-community polarity becomes the guiding light for individual and community progress. The survival of the race, the material and spiritual progress of African people, and the racial animosity practiced against us all over the world call us to act democratically together not to fight each other for Africaʹs destruction but to work together to create an African superstate by creating our own future and an historic place for our children, nation, family and the race. Our individual success must always be referenced to the level of collective success in terms of its contribution and the cost that society must bear in support of individual level of success. All Africans, in this endeavor to liberate ourselves collectively and individually within the construct of Africentricity, must be held accountable for our actions and the actions of other Africans. Shared responsibility without accountability is incompatible and inconsistent with the principle of Ujimaa and, in fact, violates the spiritual laws of African ancestry. Collective self-determination without accountability is meaningless and vacuous. African nationalist thinking and acting within the logical framework of Africentricity holds the unshakable conviction that success of any vision, no matter how it is defined and measured, is the work of courage, dedication, duty, responsibility, action, perseverance and accountability without which the individual and collective optimism will remain a fictional possibility. Thus the creation of African unity, with the corresponding formation of the African super-state, is the true and ultimate responsibility of all Africans who must be held accountable for its outcome through collective work and responsibility. 158

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

The emancipation of Africa, and the emancipation of her children, rest solely on the collective shoulders and intellectual strengths of all Africans working with one another in unity with compassion and respect without exception. Emancipation through unity and selfdetermination is a collective responsibility, the outcome of which all Africans are accountable. It is, therefore, a logical guide of Africentricity and African nationalism that every African submits to the principle of Ujimaa (collective work and responsibility). It is also our collective duty and responsibility to ensure the development and expansion of the concepts and ideas embodied in the Nguzo Saba within an African-centered framework. It is our collective work and responsibility to spread the ideas among our people and encourage them to emancipate themselves from every connection with any principle that stands in opposition to the organic principle of Africentricity and African nationalism: that is, the complete emancipation of Africa and her children from the orbit of the imperialist sphere of influence, exploitation and humiliations. The effectiveness of the practice of these three principles must be backed by material basis of life through collective economic action of principle of Ujamaa (cooperative economics) to which we turn our attention.

5.4

The Principle of UJAMAA (Cooperative Economics) and Africentricity

The success of the creation of African unity and the subsequent formation of a united African nation with continental dimension, the maintenance of the unity and the defense of sovereignty that is associated with the Africaʹs super-state to be demand the creation of a strong economic and technological basis. The creation of the strong economic and technological basis in turn requires human and nonhuman resources. The resources required for its construction are continentally available, but either lacking or existing in insufficient quantities within the micro-states that were carved out during the process of colonialism and maintained by neocolonial and predatory forces to serve the imperial exploitative machine. The African unity and subsequent African nation with a completely federated sovereignty that may lead to Africaʹs complete emancipation have no content without the creation and maintenance of strong economic and technological support. The practice of the principles of 159

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination) and Ujimaa (collective work and responsibility) acquires no meaning for the African masses if it does not lead to the provision of good material and spiritual welfare. The task of creating the economic and technological support to produce good material and spiritual life calls for the cooperation on the part of all African states and on the part of all Africans, both at home and abroad. The cooperation must be forged out of our rich diversity and on the principle of Ujamaa (cooperative economics) that represents the chain of common bond as well as spiritual links of our bloodline that binds us to the African family tree. We cannot act like the conceptual two-headed-one-stomach crocodile with the two heads that fight against each other to feed their common stomach. The principle of Ujamaa and its practice flow out of a spiritual and material chain that links each African state to one another and connects all Africans into a united economic action. It is a principle of African interdependence, brotherhood, sisterhood and effective mutual cooperation on the space of production-consumption duality. As such it represents the spiritual life in unity that connects us all as Africans, binds us to our ancestors and affirms the collective duty and responsibility that emancipation requires of us. It also reminds us of collective courage and compassion that African democratic ideals demand of us in our production and distribution of goods. Just as life is the totality of the physical, mental and spiritual existence of nature as viewed in Africaʹs cosmology, so also Africa is the totality of spiritual, mental and material existence of Africans. The spiritual, mental and material life required to support Africaʹs way of life must be the product of our collective economic and technological action. Complete African emancipation depends on the lifeblood that must flow from the economic unity and cooperation that we may form through strong organization, institution building and efficient socioeconomic management. The individual states and the federated state to be formed, acting together in statehood, federation and cooperation, will be the material manifestations of Africaʹs unity, self-determination, shared responsibility and accountability. The individual African and African society, also linked by the spiritual bound and working together in brotherhood, sisterhood and cooperation, are the true and necessary manifestations of Africaʹs social life in the realms of shared responsibility, respect, accountability and courage where dignity and 160

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

pride are the products of our cooperative effort and activities toward the complete emancipation where the principle of each for all and all for each operates at full force. The practice of the principle of Ujamaa (cooperative economics) in the process of emancipation and social reconstruction requires all Africans to approach each other with a shared understanding, that it is only by pooling our resources together under conditions of fairness and mutual respect that we can hope to embark on the road to true emancipation, independence, and sovereignty. Cooperative economics provides a breathing room of liberty and pride for the African masses that are impatient to reach the land of our ancestral freedom. It is on this basis that Africans can hope to contain the predators and get rid of the internal askari and zombies. The principle of Ujamaa requires the African micro-states to collectively create and maintain Africaʹs own industries, commerce, intellectual support, appropriate educational programs, research institutions and relevant social infrastructure, and to use the results of such collective activities to benefit Africans first, their families, communities, states and race before we consider the welfare of other human species. But this must be done in unity with other African states. Our prime commitment is to ourselves and the race without which we have no basis of survival and we have no basis to support others. We must make ourselves and our race the center of our history and all our activities. Africa is the cradle of human civilization as well as the birthplace of humanity. We have no hope to be free if our race is appended to that of foreign lands and our social activities are grafted to the social activities of others. Unfortunately, this is what current African history reveals. We have no spiritual, mental and material basis to fight for liberty and democratic ideals for others at the time when we are deprived of all these at all international institutions. To embark on this useless endeavor is not only to participate in our own oppression but also to pay for our own enslavement. So far we Africans have not pooled our resources together for our own freedom and sovereignty. The African states have merely acted individually; and acting individually, they have succeeded in completely paying the imperialist and neocolonial forces to enslave the member states, The same behavior has allowed the oppressors to maintain Africa and her children in physical, mental and spiritual bondage where technological ignorance is the norm among 161

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

the masses, intellectual foolishness is rampant among the so-called educated, dependency syndrome is the characteristic of economic and technological behavior of the micro-states, and corruption and thievery are the behavioral norms among the rulers in the micro-states where the rulers siphon to other lands the income of the working masses, thus sharpening the instrument for creating mass poverty. We need to change course by changing the paradigm of our decision practice in the social space in order to actualize the potential that is within Africa. Africaʹs potential is unlimited and Africaʹs creative strength is without bounds, but we must act now and in cooperation with all states to create the conversion factor that can act on the potential to transform it to the actual. If we are to actualize the potential inherent in Africaʹs emancipation, if we are to engrain a meaningful social construct in the political independence acquired by the micro-states, and if we are to rescue the African masses from unwanted suffering, poverty and hopelessness then we must succumb to the discipline required by the principle of Ujamaa, and accept economic unity and cooperation of African micro-states as a necessity as well as an indispensable instrument for bringing into being Africaʹs complete emancipation and dismantling of the predatorsʹ revolving doors of coercion and marginalization through effective instruments of phony aids, loans, trivial technical assistance, vain promises and secrecy in policy manipulations at the international level of institutional operations. Economic unity and cooperation, like political unity and cooperation, are logical, ideological and operational imperatives if the program of African nationalists is to be successful in leading Africans into freedom. African nationalism and the principle of Ujamaa are inter-supportive and mutually inseparable. The principle of Ujamaa embraces all the principal conceptual elements of Africentricity. It requires that the spiritual, mental and material development on the continent of Africa must be based on and proceed from the needs of all Africans. We are called to duty, as Africans, to succumb to one ancestral spirit, rise above trivialities of ethnicity, tribalism, and micro-states and to emerge from the ashes of Africaʹs spiritual order. These actions are to pool our resources and energies together in order to create all the necessary conditions for accelerated and sustainable material and technological advance. Such an accelerated development cannot proceed by acts where the leaders of individual micro-states bow to their previous colonial oppressors to 162

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

beg for menial and useless aids and oppressive loans while being subjected to humiliating insults and racial epithets just to find themselves stealing these loans secured in the names of the people of the micro-states and returning them to the homelands of the predators, leaving huge debts that are later to be paid by Africans with African resources and blood. The accelerated development required for the complete emancipation can be achieved only through the collective effort and resources of Africans. The current regime of territorial, demographic and sovereign divisions in Africa is inimical to any meaningful strategies of Africaʹs sustainable progress. It is also a travesty of politico-economic rationality. The accelerated development calls for an African economic unity that will empower Africaʹs behavior in the global market. The unity in cooperative economics will ensure a rational utilization of human and non-human resources in co-operation with human potential, the will and courage of Africans ʺalong the lines of an integrated economy, and within complementary sectors of production, eliminating all unnecessary forms of competition, economic alienation and duplicationʺ [112, p.26]. The collective use of resources by Africans and the cooperative development of the African continent to support African material, mental and spiritual life cannot proceed smoothly in an atmosphere of technological ignorance. It cannot proceed either in an atmosphere where some Africans act foolishly to siphon off the rich resources of Africa to support Europe, the United States of America, Canada, and the racist operations of an oppressive international order. The programs for educational, technological and cultural development with complementary activities and rationally created competitiveness require an uncompromising adherence to the principle of Ujamaa. Without this economic co-operation, any part of Africa irrespective of its territorial position and current economic condition will be completely swept under servitude, and will never hope by its own individual action to triumph over crony-imperialism, racism, neocolonialism and international system of exploitation, poverty and civil war. Most of the wars and conflicts of contemporary Africa, either within the micro-states or between micro-states are fires set by external forces using our internal disadvantages. These fires are fanned by a dubious and dictatorial international order through which vicious and wicked activities are carried on by the imperial predators, destroyers of 163

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

Africa using technological advantage and exploitative capital. All these are made possible and successfully carried on by the imperial predators because of lack of unity, collective self-determination, work and responsibility, economic cooperation and unified collective Africaʹs vision. The lack of economic unity and co-operation, the absence of political unity and co-operation, and the very non-existence of intellectual and ideological unity of the African people have created adverse conditions where the whole of the continent of Africa and her children have been reduced to nothing but a class of international beggars. The current regime of Africaʹs relationship with herself is such that Africaʹs institutions are completely placed at the mercy of powerful foreign forces that help siphon out the rich resources of Africa, and at the same time set Africans against each other so that they can decapitate each other for no positive principle that the African rulers have committed themselves and their people to, other than to support Africaʹs conditions of servitude, misery, suffering and humiliation. To overcome the enormous impediments placed on the Africaʹs road to technological and economic progress the African ʺleadersʺ and masses must come to an uncompromising realization that Africaʹs salvation and progress rest on a strict adherence to the principle of Ujamaa (cooperative economics). It requires that the Africans turn a substantial portion of our attention inward and to search within Africaʹs inner soul where true solutions to Africaʹs current problems and future ones can be found. It may be pointed out in passing that the advantages of cooperative economics and united action are explained in the theories of socioeconomic integration and optimal size of nations. Solutions to Africaʹs economic, technological and intellectual problems cannot realistically be found in Europe, the United States of America or any other place outside of Africa. The solutions to Africaʹs problems in every field of human endeavor are in Africa. Our search, therefore, must be in Africa. And this search must proceed on a united front, and on the principles of organization that are favorable to efficient and rational resource utilization. The initial steps must proceed on the level of organization and this organization must be based on a new regime of concepts and distribution of territories and sovereignties. This is the rhythm of Africa. This is the rhythm that we must dance to. It is the rhythm of Africaʹs salvation, prosperity and progressive future. Every rational decision as seen in the logic of 164

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

polyrhythmics must have a purpose that involves necessity and accident. Thus the principles of unity, self-determination, collective work and responsibility, and cooperative economics must be supported by the principle of purpose (Nia) that points to our rational path and the reasons of our work and being to which we now turn our attention.

5.5

The Principle of NIA (Purpose) and Africentricity

Here, our task is to set in the minds of all Africans, the place of the concept and practice of African nationalism in the revolutionary endeavors to emancipate Africans from senseless suffering. It is also intended to highlight the cognitive relevance of applying the basic principles that are erected on African epistemological foundations. The objective is to call all Africans to duty, and to arouse our minds and bodies to embrace the spiritual idea that a United Africa is a living mission. It is envisioned in Africaʹs thinking system to provide the fighting implements to be used to melt the ice that has frozen Africaʹs creative spirit. Such a mission is endowed with life that is anchored in Africaʹs self-motion. Africaʹs self-motion can only come from the African people and the energies that flow from Africaʹs spiritual and cultural unity. The purpose (Nia) is an attempt toward a grand construct to redirect the race toward African conscience and traditions, and to create a lifestyle that is truly African. Here lies the strength and force of the logical design of Africentricity and its philosophical foundation in support of African nationalism as its ideological position and Africaʹs complete emancipation. Africentricity acknowledges the fundamental ideal of Africaʹs social thought, that practice of ideas without purpose is a useless expenditure of energy, resource and time. Such purpose is directionally progressive only with a clear understanding of what must be purposeful. Thus, the practice of the first four elements of Nguzo Saba and the logical edifice of Africentricity must satisfy the Africaʹs complete emancipation condition of the Principle of Nia (Purpose). Nia is the principle of African consciousness directed toward a realization of a vision and a goal of Africaʹs complete emancipation. Its supporting foundation is derived from a combination of African concepts and practices of alertness, duty, endurance, directional resourcefulness and defiance against obstacles in the path of Africaʹs progress. All these have been practiced and demonstrated to positively 165

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

work in pre-colonial African social formation. Nia is one of the ontological conditions of factual correctness about the African way of life. It is derived from African cosmological system and takes claim to a building block of African conscience and traditions true of the natural scheme of things as conceived by our ancestors. As we have discussed and pointed out in the previous chapters in this book, the Creative Force (KA) is purposeful and creates relationally with a polyrhythmic design and plan, in unity with the Spirit Force (BA) and the Light Force (RA). As it is with the Creative Force so must it be with African people as our tradition demands. Within African epistemology and classical traditions, everything is relational and purposefully placed in the material, mental and spiritual unity of things. It is held that not only are elements in the universe relational to each other, but they are purposefully and polyrhythmically relational. The principle of Nia, therefore, is a law of nature that cannot be violated if actions and practices are to be beneficial. The principle places a directional restraint on human action. As the Creator, the Universal Life Force is purposeful in his or her actions; humans must be likewise if we claim to be part of the spiritual order and the Deity system as maintained in Africaʹs cosmology. To the Africans, therefore, the principle of Nia requires us to direct our energies, time and other resources to the purpose of emancipating ourselves individually and collectively and the race from all forces that are oppressive to our existence. Africaʹs complete emancipation must be the purpose of our actions and Africa and her children must be the center of our thoughts, actions and creativity. The purposeful direction of our actions to liberate ourselves, our race and Mother Africa demands that we make our collective vocation the building of the economic, spiritual and moral base of all African communities. The purpose of this direction is to create a new African personality that will become a true catalyst for unification of Africans and the restoration of Africaʹs traditional greatness of industry, inventiveness, creativity, courage, self-reliance and humanism that satisfy the ontological conditions of historical correctness as seen from antiquity The purposeful exercise and application of the logical construct of Africentricity is to equip the African with socio-philosophical conditions of categorial convertibility. The logical construct of polyrhythmicity is to equip the African with cognitive conditions to design categorial moment from the conflicts in individual-community 166

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

duality for polar conversions. The logical construct of African Nationalism is to equip the African with conditions of ideological correctness for the use of knowledge to purposefully bring about progressive social transformation. The logical construct of polyrhythmics is to equip the African with socio-scientific methods of effective reasoning on the basis of African cognitive traditions. All of these are focus on a path of creative process where human actions are purposefully directed to transform unwanted conditions to new possibilities of African progress on the basis of African nationalism, freedom, justice, cooperation and fairness. The principle of Nia thus provides us with a spiritual and logical force of motion where Africans move through developmental stages as willed by us. In this framework, the practice of Africentricity becomes creatively transformational in the same way as the manner in which the Creator is conceived as evercreating in accord with the philosophical world view of polyrhythmicity. The Creative Force never goes to sleep, the Spirit Force is eternal and the Light Force is ever-present in a manner where all creations are purposeful evolving within the natural and supernatural edifice of the Creator whose residency is infinite. Here, the world is conceived in terms of processes and transformations where both are purposefully directed toward the realization of the unity and beauty of nature an where processes appear in categories. The presence of the principle of Nia as conceived within the general construct of Africentricity ensures the material, mental and spiritual basis of categorial convertibility of all stages and category of things where evolution is not only admissible, but purposefully admissible and directed, and where substitution is simultaneously complementary and antagonistic to transformation producing substitution-transformation duality (see also Chapter 5 of this book). For the dialectic inherent in the principle of Nia and embodied in the soul of Africa to succeed in leading to the conversion of various unwanted states of progress of modern Africa and her children, it must be that we, Africans, accept the principle wholly and recognize that life is a duty, and the requirement to belong to the race and African superstate is a duty to self and to the people in a purposeful manner. The purpose is emancipation, freedom and justice where complete emancipation encompasses broad aspects of human existence and life. The first step toward action is the recognition and acceptance of the Africentric ideas and the erection and development of correct 167

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

institutions for actualizing our collective and individual actions, vision and goals. The purposeful direction of our actions must take place through correct and favorable institutions that reflect the framework of effective organization of resources and reason with a full view of Africaʹs interest. Appropriate education and training are the instruments to ensure the correct transmission of culture in its total form. Our education, therefore, must be purposefully directed toward creating a technological and scientific foundation, as well as the supporting ideological boundaries that will contribute to the establishment of the required dialectical moment to ensure categorial convertibility and social transformation. Additionally, our economic institutions must be directional in a sense of supporting Africaʹs capacity to provide a good and respectable life for Africans with security from external aggression, global predators and imperial and domestic rent-seekers. The cultural, political, economic and legal institutions must be inter-supportive and relational with complementary sectors and purposefully directed toward Africaʹs complete emancipation, freedom, justice and pursuit of happiness for all Africans The principle of Nia must be seen from the Africentric theory of destiny where each person is viewed as part of the Deity System in unity, and occupies a purposeful position in the visible, invisible and natural world to accomplish a mission within the integrated whole of the spiritual, mental and material essence of society. With this assigned mission of individuals, responsibility, self-reliance, duty, courage, honesty, accountability and cooperation are prerequisites of belonging to the African society. The execution of the corresponding duties of the mission must take place in a total social and natural harmony where the communityʹs wellbeing takes precedence over individual self-interest. All the duties are purposefully directed toward the maintenance of the unity in a social and natural order of things. In this way creativity and democratic ideals of individual Africans and societies are restricted only by the boundaries of natural and spiritual laws, and the achievements of individuals and the collective are only limited by the size of our ideas, the intensity of our commitment and the degree of optimism that we hold for social success. In respect of this, there is only one interest, the interest of Africa, there is only one purpose, African unity and emancipation, and there is only one primary category of force of 168

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

change, the Creative Force (KA). Our decolonization must lead purposefully to independence; our independence must lead purposefully to our unity; and our unity must lead purposefully to our emancipation on all fronts of economics, politics, culture, law and others. The effectiveness of the practice of the five mentioned principles requires human ingenuity in design, use of information and decision practices. This human ingenuity finds expression in the principle of creativity (Kuumba) to which we turn our attention.

5.6

The Principle of KUUMBA (Creativity) and Africentricity

The action of Africans coming together, the formation of an African mega-state, the actualization of new conditions of African social life, the redesigning of Africaʹs individual and collective intellect, the creation of a relevant African personality and the new African, the rearrangements of Africaʹs institutions, the restructuring of Africaʹs social order through new institutional formation, and the redirection of Africaʹs mental and physical energies, all demand a vision of tomorrow. This vision with a supported plan must be drawn from the creative genius of Africans to act individually and collectively to move the African society and its people forward as we organize ourselves to deal with the social and technological instabilities in the present century and beyond. These require a purposeful direction of our energies. The movement of Africans toward the road of Africaʹs complete emancipation, the practice of the principles of Umoja (unity), Kujichagulia (self-determination), Ujimaa (collective work and responsibility), Ujamaa (cooperative economics) and Nia (purpose), must be guided by the principle of KUUMBA (creativity) which is the primary category of the African Trinity of Creative Force (KA), the Spirit Force (BA) and the Light Force (RA). The principle of Kuumba instructs us to adhere strictly to the African creative genius. It has produced a number of empires, and pyramids, discovered writing and provided the world with the initial conditions of respect for life and mankind. Progressive creativity is ancient to the African. It is part of Africaʹs worldview. It is this creative genius that defines the foundations of Africaʹs contribution to the world human civilization of, material, mental and spiritual life. It is precisely the creative essence embodied in Africaʹs spiritual, mental and material life, and it is precisely the democratic understanding and 169

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

practice of this creative essence that positioned geographically Africans in the center of the planet earth. It is precisely the practice of this creativity that will activate Africaʹs self-motion and lead to Africaʹs complete emancipation, and liberate the creative forces that are frozen by the ice of imperial Europe and other imperial predators. A creative way must be sought in order to ignite the African flame to melt this ice and free the forces of liberty, justice and progress in Africa and among Africans. In accordance with the principle of Kuumba, we are called upon in our daily activities to build upon the art and craft of our ancestors. We are also obliged to improve upon and creatively add to the culture they left to us and to utilize the ingenuity of our ancestors to construct a prosperous and bright future free of oppression, nuisance of tribalism and the vestiges of slavery, colonialism and racism. This requires Africans to develop a thinking society by creating institutions of learning where Africans can go not simply to learn what others have done but also what Africans have done, what Africans are doing and what Africans must do. In this way, a favorable environment is created so Africans can creatively add to our ancestral inheritance, practice it, and teach about African craft, wisdom and sensibility to the generation to come. In other words, we must make our education systems and practice of knowledge creatively indigenous and relevant to African conditions and culture. Viewed Africentrically, creativity is derived from the people and collectively held in trust for them to sustain and maintain the peopleʹs culture and way of life. The power of Kuumba is thus the essence of the people themselves, and maintained through ancestral spirits and the African family tree where the Creative Force is continually at work in unity with the Spirit Force and the Light Force in a never-ending process of transformations. There cannot be social creativity (Kuumba) in the absence of the people. The people are the creative force of civilization, culture and production. That creativity is of the people is admitted by the presence of their art forms and supported by any serious theory of cognition. That it is held in trust for the people logically follows from their ownership and practice of the culture. The Africans, therefore, will not have mastered their creative genius as bestowed on us by the Creative Force until such genius has acquired a collective character, social content and is purposefully directed toward satisfying the conditions

170

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

for complete emancipation with a general spiritual, mental and material uplift of the African continent. Contextually, the African intelligentsia and the supporting cognitive and learning systems are called to task, and in fact, they are called to question. The African intelligentsia must wake from a subservience position where its members have degenerated into useful intellectual idiots used for promoting Western propaganda against themselves and the African masses that they are supposed to lead and serve. They assume the cultural characteristics of their slave masters and condemn the culture of their ancestral creation that has been handed over to them from the beginning of time. They praise their oppressors and chastise their own African masses that are fighting to hold on to the culture of their ancestors. They exonerate the history of their masters and ridicule their own history and their ancestral achievements. The African intelligentsia and the supporting political and religious elite have made formal education alien and practically irrelevant to Africaʹs problems, social life and transformations. The members of the defaulting African intelligentsia try hard to perfect their ability to speak and write the languages of their slave masters and predators while they make mockery of their own. They look down upon those that cannot speak and write perfectly these colonial languages and completely neglect the development of their own languages. They live in cultural and intellectual servitude as well as operate in the zone of cognitive imbecility and yet perceive themselves to be superior to the members of their own group and the African masses, whose sweat forms the material basis on which these intellectuals have acquired their oppressive training. They proudly adopt slave and colonial names and justify them on the pretext of tyranny of some religion. The members of the African intelligentsia and their political elite have accepted the notion of education where institutions of learning are erected by them so that Africans can go to find out what the Europeans have done, learn it at root, go to the world to mimic it whether it fits in African social life or not, and finally they teach their offspring to do likewise without creativity of thinking. These institutions of learning fail to produce a thinking society that requires creativity and wit. The failure of the African intelligentsia to adhere to the principles of Kuumba has caused it to fall short of being truly educated. The training obtained by the members of the African intelligentsia, lacking 171

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

the African creative spirit, has become an effective weapon for perpetuating enslavement, subservience and neocolonialism on Africans all over the world, and supported actively by the ideological framework of the predators and tyranny of ideological and religious absolutism. Thus the training acquired by the African intelligentsia has failed to become a liberating force; rather it has become an oppressive intellectual instrument at the service of the predators. This condition must be corrected as quickly as possible. It can be corrected by strict adherence to the principle of Kuumba and by either developing new institutions or restructuring the existing institutions for creative thinking and creative learning that are African centered. It requires that the educated Africans bring out the best of Africa, and in the Africans, to serve themselves and the race of people of which they are members. The ontological conditions of factual correctness suggest that an awakened intelligentsia assumes a vanguard personality and accountability for sharpening and directing the creative genius of an oppressed people in order to lead them out of misery and suffering. For education and training of the Africans to constitute the required liberating force, it must be acknowledged that learning by just mimicking other peoplesʹ thinking systems without critical examination lacks creativity, and usually leads to subservient intellectual personality. Learning to think by considering other peopleʹs thinking systems as case studies in cognition that reflect their logical systems and social exigencies in justifying different models of reality is what creativity requires. This approach leads to leadership personality that must be an important cornerstone of Africentric training system. The true welfare of the Africans rests on Africaʹs creativity and the correct exercise of such creativity under strict adherence to the principle of Nia (Purpose). We must keep in mind that theories are case studies in cognition that result as models of reality from perception and thinking which arise from social exegencies. Studies of theories, therefore, fail to acquire cognitive creativity if they are mimiced from their roots withou social relevance and withou historical uderstanding of conditions that gave rise to them. The search for new models of reality and new ways of doing things reflects a process of imagination, perfection and knowledge acquisition as the basic attributes of the principle of Kuumba. The creative genius of the Africans, irrespective of the place of birth or residence, must first be collectively combined to produce complementary support systems 172

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

while eliminating unnecessary duplications of efforts and the struggle against one another for no useful collective purpose. Secondarily, the results of combined creative effort must be used to guide us to search along ancestral lines to find the correct path to the land of complete African emancipation and liberty, rather than indulgence in the illusion of belonging to the predatorsʹ world. A correct path must be creatively shown in the form of visions, historical analysis, synthesized knowledge and understanding of the African masses to whom all our efforts must be directed without exception. Our combined creative effort under the principle of Kuumba and within Africentricity and the ideology of African nationalism should lead us into the true quest of a continual search for path of perfection of activities that are related to our ancestral art, craft, culture, organizational form and institutional configuration for creating the dialectical moment to socially, technologically and economically restructure Africa on the basis of freedom, justice, fairness and equity. The principle of Kuumba with its corresponding Africentric thinking system consolidates all that is Africa where there is no creative limitation except that which we place collectively and individually on ourselves, and where the intellectual search is always at work to find the best that is of Africa. The degree of effectiveness of the practice of Kuumba (creativity) in support of the practice of the five principles that we have discussed demands collective and individual self-confidence. This self-confidence requires that our practice of all the six principles be supported by our justified belief system. This justified belief system reflects the principle of faith (Imani) to which we now turn our attention.

5.7

The Principle of IMANI (Faith) and Africentricity

A strict adherence to the Nguzo Saba, the practice of its conceptual system, and the logical boundaries set by the construct of the social philosophy of Africentricity and the ideology of African nationalism are merely means to an end. The end is complete emancipation of Africa on all fronts of human endeavor. The means are the set of principles that we hold and practice It defines the paradigm of social behavior. Changing any of the principle shifts the paradigm of decision action and behavior. The objective is to set free the forces of the creative genius of the African, and generate the dialectical moment required to 173

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

reconstruct and transform Africaʹs social life as well as create a new order for the African world. In other words to set the potential against the actual through the dynamics of internal conflict inherent in transformation-substitution duality. The collective value of these means, therefore, lies in using them to create new and powerful material, mental and spiritual conditions that will enable the end sought through a logical filling of actions to initiate and maintain the emancipation process. The success of these actions rests on the African collective personality. This personality is an inseparable unity of spirit, mind and matter. It is thus endowed with the Creative Force, the Spirit Force and the Light Force. The African personality is the African essence that flows from Africentricity with the philosophical foundation of polyrhythmicity and rules of reasoning as contained in the polyrhythmics. Africentricity conceives Africa as one and Africans as one people. All Africans have the same spiritual and material basis and arise from the same ancestral roots. They constitute the branches and subbranches of the ancestral trunk and share the nourishment from the same roots. Since Africans arise from the same ancestral roots and hence are one in unity, if individual and collective actions are to meet the ontological conditions of factual and historical correctness of Africaʹs cultural unity, our organic decisions and actions must be shaped and guided by one principle. We must be one people, with one destiny, one common struggle and guided by one organic principle. Alternatively stated, if individual and collective actions within the logical and ideological bounds set by Africentricity and African nationalism are to conform to the objective existence of spiritual, mental and material unity of African people, then these individual and collective actions must be guided by one organic principle. This organic principle must not only keep this objective in African social and cognitive practices, but must prevent individual and collective actions and thinking from advancing as if we Africans are different from each other, contrary to the ontological conditions of the objectivity of unity of African people through our culture and our conception of creation, and to the fact that we Africans arise from common ancestral roots, with common faith rooted in African Divinity and Ancestry. The principle that meets the organic requirement of objective existence of unity of African people is IMANI (faith). The principle derives its foundation from an uncompromising acceptance of the 174

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

ancestral spirits of which the Creator is the beginning in line of the path of creation and evolution. The principle of Imani requires us all as Africans, and our descendants, to believe with all our hearts, souls, minds and spirits in ourselves, parents, community, African people, ancestors, race, teachers and leaders with consciousness and to be emancipated from all principles opposed to African progress. Furthermore, it requires us to believe in African unity and the African way of life that we have defined for ourselves and the culture that our ancestors have constructed for us and those to come. It demands that we believe in the righteousness of our struggle to pull together our people and maintain our unity (Umoja) and the struggle against injustice, oppression and racism. It also demands that we believe that victory of our struggle will be imminent when we unite our people and resources under united behavior for collectively positive actions that are purposefully directed (Nia) with self-determination (Kujichagulia) toward programs for the attainment of Africaʹs emancipation where freedom, justice and fairness are the attributes of Africentric social organization. The practice of the principle of faith (Imani) requires us to believe in the truthfulness and power of unity (Umoja), self-determination (Kujichagulia), collective work and responsibility (Ujimma), cooperative economics (Ujamaa), purpose of our actions in struggle (Nia), the natural gifts of the individual and collective creativity (Kuumba) and the belief in ourselves individually and collectively, and in the principle which we have set forth, Imani (faith). The principle of Imani rests on the fundamental notion and Africentric belief of absolute and independent existence of African people. It reinforces the idea that the African society is endowed with the power of self-motion through the Creative Force that will propel us toward Africaʹs complete emancipation. The endorsement of the right of age to instruct the youth is an unquestionable acknowledgement of the belief in our elders and ancestors. The endorsement of the rites of ancestral worship as a means of spiritual communication and the preeminence of ancestral and family lineage are also true acknowledgements of the belief not only in us, but in our ancestors and the culture that is left for our inheritance and development. The collective endorsement of the village or the community as the teacher of the youth is an acknowledgement of the unity of our operations and the belief in our collective wisdom. 175

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

The basis of the principle of Imani is threefold. First, our ancestors are our predecessors, our family, our blood, and elders, and hence the law of struggle demands that we not only respect them but also believe in them and their creative works. We are the current representation of their material, spiritual and mental images. Secondly, because the race, the African nation, is a sacred one in the sense that the African nation is conceived as falling into a world inhibited by humans, spirits and gods, it is held that the spiritual state of our ancestors have more cognition than we the living can. And since our ancestors, of whom the Creator is the first in line of creational deduction, are always in an unhindered touch with the essence of all things they have more knowledge than we do. Thirdly, since we are their descendants linked to them by bloodline and ancestral spirit; we cannot accord them respect and belief without believing and respecting ourselves and other members of our race. Together, these three conditions establish unity, solidarity and permanence not only of Africans but of the organic principle that binds us together as a people with a common struggle, goal and destiny. Here, respect and acknowledgement for duty and responsibility are affirmed by the Africentric notion that virtue is inculcated through duty and the application of the African creative genius, more so than through precepts in the advance of culture and civilization. The corresponding significance of Imani is its reflection and representation of all of the above. In its organic interpretation, Imani means that the only thing more powerful than the African people and the only thing more superior to the African race is the Almighty, the All Encompassing Life Force. But since we are the descendants of and linked ancestrally to the Creator by the bloodline and spirit line, it then follows that the only thing more powerful and more superior to the African race is the African people themselves. This belief is represented by an African symbolic language such as Gye Nyame or the Ankh (except the Creator). It projects infinity, perpetuity, the vastness of the earth and the universe, with the ruling power of the Almighty who is always repairing and creating endlessly. The Almighty is the Creative Force and the Energy of life to whom all things own their existence and to whom all things report, and from whom all things evolved. The general African belief (Imani) is anchored on this Force, this Power, that is endowed with self-motion and self-creation, selfevolution and self-transformation. This Force that has no altar or priests is that on which African belief system is and must be anchored. 176

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

It is thus impious to set oneself up as the priest and collect tolls from other humans in His or Her name because humans are Africentrically conceived as part and parcel of the Deity system to which all forces are drawn and democratically concentrated. Since, in accord with the Africentric view of humans, creation and evolution, we are part of the Deity system, the belief in the Almighty is also a belief in ourselves as Africans and as cognitively demanded by the principle of logical extension. Nothing is thus greater than we ourselves as Africans, except the Almighty or the collective existence of our ancestral spirit whose presence crowns the African Deity system, to which we are all bona fide spiritual members, with the great panorama of creation and continual creation originated from an unknown time. No one who ever lived saw its beginning, neither will any one live to see its end except the Almighty in whom all beliefs, aspirations and creativity are anchored. It follows that it is illogical to think that somebody besides Africans will bring sustainable development as a gift to Africa or to feed African children through gimmicks of aid, loans, poverty reduction and technical assistance. The principle of Imani is the hope of tomorrow which never ends. Its practice is one in which the African future is not only grafted but encapsulated. It is thus held in the Africentric system of thought that it is ignorance of the highest order for any African to base his or her belief and faith (Imani) on that which bears no resemblance to him or her. Doing this is to give up faith in oneself and in Africa. It is likewise ignorant for any African to communicate to the All Powerful through a humanly established priesthood system that exploits the fears and weakness of the people for personal gains and group comfort. Every place is a place of communication and the communication is direct between the African and the Almighty. It cannot be anything else but this. Belief is a direct relationship between oneself and the mind, between the sub-conscious and the spirit, between ourselves here and those gone and those to come, and hence between the collective personality and the collective consciousness. The ever-ruling power of our success and commitment is faith in ourselves and our principles that we individually and collectively hold as Africans. The principle of Imani completes the circle which never ends (eternal circle with infinite diameter), the eternity, the beginning and the end not known to anybody that lived and not to be known to anybody that will ever live. 177

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

At the level of natural processes the rules of correct behavior are naturally absolute and cannot be invented by humans except to discover them. They admit of principle of absolutism within the general philosophy of polyrhythmicity. At the level of social practice, however, these rules of correct behavior are humanly perceived and formed. Such perceptions are formed as models of reality under conditions of social exigencies and evolving social history. The perception of correct rules is social system-specific and hence admits of the principle of relativism within the social philosophy of Africentricity. We only need to uncover the treasures and use them with care, understanding and purpose for ourselves and collective existence without abuse. The Nguzo Saba together instructs us that work fathers civilization, wealth, freedom and justice, while the land mothers them into fruition and maturity on the basis of the collective personality of the people under the natural gifts of air, water and fire that are naturally democratized as collective goods to be used by everyone without restrictions. The personality itself is molded by social philosophy of Africentricity whose development in turn depends on the structure and form of the African collective personality. It thus follows that if Africa is to make a sustainable headway in progressive social transformation, then the thinking system that guides our actions and behavior in the choice-decision space must by necessity be Africancentered. African centeredness means that our actions and behavior in all matters involving decisions and choices must be referenced to the fundamental interest of Africa and her people on the structure of Nguzo Saba (the seven principles) and Africentricity with philosophical foundation of polyrhythmicity and the logic of polyrhythmics. All these African-centered conceptual systems define a path of paradigm shifting from Eurocentricism to a paradigm that is African-centered.

178

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

GENERAL AFRICAN CONCEPTUAL SYSTEM

POLYRHYTHMICITY: General African Philosophy

POLYRHYTHMICS: Logic and Reasoning Rules

AFRICENTRICITY: Social Philosophy

AFRICAN PERSONALITY: The Essence

AFRICAN NATIONALISM: The Ideology of Liberation

SOCIAL PRACTICE: Actions

Unity (UMOJA)

Self-Determination (KUJICHAGULIA)

Collective Work and Responsibility (UJIMA)

Cooperative Economics (UJAMAA)

Purpose (NIA)

Creativity (KUUMBA)

Faith (IMANI)

GLOBAL DECISION-CHOICE SPACE

Figure 5.2 A Relational Geometry of Nguzo Saba, African Conceptual System and Social Decision Choice Space

179

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

_ AFRICENTRICITY

PERCEPTION

UM

REALITY

KUM

KUJI

IMANI

AFRICAN NATIONALISM

NIA

UJIM UJAM

AFRICAN PERSONALITY

DECISION

Figure 5.3 Geometry of Nguzo Saba and the Principle of Polarity of Creation where KA = Creative Force, BA= Spirit Force, RA = Light Force, UM = Umoja, KU = Kuumba, KUJI = Kujichagulia, UJIM = Ujimaa, UJAM = Ujama

The value relationships imposed on the individual and the community that constitute the evolving society are presented as a relational geometry in Figure 5.2. This relational geometry connects the individual-community duality, mind-body duality and spirit-matter duality into a unity of social cohesion for cultural and socio-economic transformations required for the societal welfare on the condition of freedom, fairness, justice and democracy. From the African conceptual system, the relational geometry presents duality of the universal and the particular that is not only connected to, but forms unity and continuity with the never-ending creational process. Here the relational geometry is epistemologically projected unto the creational space where the conception of the Creative Force, the Spirit Force and the Light Force (Three in one and One in Three, The Holy Trinity) constitutes the epistemic understanding of the relationship of freedom and justice in the process of nation building, governance and management with duty and responsibility properly distributed among the individual and the 180

Africentricity and the Seven Principles (Nguzo Saba)

community. In one way or the other the Nguzo Saba constitute a simplified and critical consolidation of the Negative Confessions of Africaʹs antiquity for guidance of the evolving African personality in the social field of practice. The relational structure in the never-ending creative space is presented as epistemic geometry in Figure 5.3. The understanding of Africaʹs philosophical tradition from antiquity that should cement the basis for the reconstruction and improvement of the modern African conceptual system must begin with the Trinity, unity, pyramid, that are linked to polarity, duality, conflict, continual transformation without beginning and without end. The African philosophical tradition does not allow a separation between creation and evolution. They are two sides of the same coin. Creation is evolution through categorial conversion on the bases of internal dynamics of categories and dualities in the space of transformation-substitutioan processes. The methodology of such understanding is discussed under polyrhythmics, which represents the rules of reasoning in the general philosophy of polyrhythmicity as is discussed in Chapter 6 and 2, and the corresponding social philosophy of Africentricity (Chapter 3) with the ideology of African nationalism backed by the essence of African personality (Chapter 4) with an applicational paradigm of Ngozo Saba (chapter 5) in this volume.

181

6 POLYRHYTHMICS: THE LOGIC OF POLYRHYTHMICITY

The construct of the evolving global intellectual heritage is the work of active and critical thinkers whose main concern is the understanding of the working mechanism of natural forces and improvements of human welfare through knowledge acquisition, effective reasoning and efficient utilization of that which is known. Accumulated knowledge defines the level and the state of human ignorance while the process of knowing leads to growth of knowledge accumulation and the reduction of human ignorance and fear. Here an important duality emerges between knowledge accumulation and the process of knowledge acquisition or the process of knowing. Knowledge accumulation owns its growth to the process of knowing. Such a process functions through tension between reality and perception by transforming ignorance into awareness. Perception and reality thus appear as dual with conflicts and internal dynamics. Here again, we have the perception space and the space of reality. The activity of knowledge acquisition is to design a process where the elements in the perception space are mapped onto the elements of the space of reality. The process is through systems of cognitive constructs that link elements of perception space to elements in the space of reality through conversions of logical categories. The conceptual power of categorial conversion is an operation where through thinking, perceptive elements are gradually justified by thought to be equivalent to elements of reality as the truth of existence (“what there is“). A scientific or cognitive truth is said to be established when an element in the perception space is shown by a theory to be collaborated with an element in the space of reality. Strong reasoning can convince one to accept by belief a conceptual element as the reality even though it is not. This is another way of looking at justified and 182

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

unjustified beliefs where justified belief is information supported through reason. In this respect, if the reasoning is weak, no amount of words can rescue reality from illusions in the perception space where illusory elements are equated to reality by reasoning. Similarly if the reasoning is strong illusions in the perception space can be made into believeable realities in the space of realities.

6.1

A Reflection on General Logic

Difficulties arise in all cognitive constructs that define the lines of communications within the perception-reality duality whose internal equilibrium, disequilibrium and process of change are maintained by the organization of multiplicity of relational rhythms. Perception has the characteristic of subjectivity of the perceiving individual while reality has the characteristic of objectivity of existence (that is, “what there is“). Since perception is subjective and individual-specific, how do we know that a particular element from the perception space coincides with an element in the space of reality through theoretical constructs that are cognitive edifices of an individual or a group of individuals? How do we verify the validity and consistency of our cognitive construct that represents our perceptual model of what we perceive to be real, and how do others come to accept it? To answer these questions the constructed theories must involve systems of arguments that convince one to accept the correspondences between elements of perception and elements of reality as shown by reason. Perception is a model of reality and the acceptance of any such model is through making a logical case through a theory. The theory is a thinking system that must be governed by a collectively agreed system of inductive and deductive rules for reasoning and its construct. This system of rules is called logic. Logic, therefore, is a science of thinking and reasoning that allows one to create the channels for relating elements in the perception space to the elements of the space of reality as well as allows one to interpret the truth and validity of the crafted correspondence for social acceptance. As seen, logic, as applied to social analysis and synthesis, is about creating conditions of acceptance of conclusions toward perceptions about reality from commonly agreed and or received notions and rules rather than a search for social truth. In general, however, logic in the final analysis is a special theory. It is a theory 183

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

about channels for constructing theories that link perception to reality. It may thus be viewed as a meta-theory of the process of knowledge acquisition. Its subject matter is about thought and thought process. As with any other theory, its development is affected by the content and character of the social environment in which it emerges. Thus logic and the whole methodological process of the enterprise of cognition must be viewed from social contention of knowledge creation since thinking is the subject of study, analysis and synthesis about the dynamics of perception-reality duality. Every society has a corresponding thinking system based on their social experience and exigencies. Each of these thinking systems may or may not collaborate with others since the subjective element of knowing is affected by social experience and conditions. Different methods and rules of reasoning arise from different social environments encompassing different experiences. In general, therefore, social thinking that drives the process of knowing finds its weapons from the social environment that gives rise to it. It is, therefore, possible to find different logic of knowledge creation from different social environments and conditions of existence. Each of the logics will have its own grammar and language. This is also true of Africa’s cultural environment and her people. African cognition, cognitive process and the science of thinking must find their building blocks and weapons from Africaʹs social environment, experience and existences and then fashion them in a manner that satisfies African problems. These building blocks and the weapons already exist in African social set up from antiquity. Our only task is to restructure, sharpen, reveal and make them accessible to the general African populace and interested persons for use. The integrated system of Africentric reasoning toward African social life, preservation and progress is the motivation for the development of polyrhythmics. The objective is to uncover the traditional thinking system, its rules of reasoning and cognitive techniques, and lay down the methods of argument for the construction of polyrhythmicity as an integrated philosophical system that guided and must guide African social practices. In this way the past will be linked to the present and the present will be connected to the future for full past-present-future continuity of the African conceptual and philosophical developments. As stated, and compared to the structure in Chapter 2 of this book, polyrhythmics is distinguished from polyrhythmicity in that the latter 184

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

is composed of a system of rhythmic concepts in a multiplicity of forms linked together by reasoning to discover and explain categories of “what there is” and “what would be” in terms of states and processes and how these states and processes become transformed into different categories of reality through a process, while the former presents a system of rules of thinking and process of thought in polyrhythmicity. Polyrhythmicity as Africentric philosophy is developed through a particular logical prism. The need for its logic of reasoning and the understanding of the correctness of arguments, verifications, validity of propositions and acceptance of conclusions cannot be overemphasized. For one thing, polyrhythmicity is presented as an African philosophy and a conceptual system on the basis of which Africentric social formations were constructed, human and non-human resources were organized in support of life and their societies managed before a number of external intrusions. Its concluding ideas and accumulated knowledge defined the African essence and personality that continuously shape the African cultural unity [37] through the manner in which reality is affirmed from perception. Interestingly, other logical systems and knowledge basis available to us now have liberally borrowed from it without acknowledgement of source and without credit. The implied logic of polyrhythmicity must show how thinking, reason and arguments proceed in its conceptual system leading to representation of thought that captures human perception as a model of reality. In this framework, Africentric perception must be a cognitive reproduction of elements in the space of reality under African social experiences, environment and exigencies. Perception as a model of reality cannot be divorced from social ideology and culture which collectively determine their mutual existence. Just as perception is inseparable from ideology and culture, so also are philosophy and knowledge accumulation inseparable from ideology and culture. The whole enterprise of science and social knowledge accumulation is culture-dependent and culture-determined, while the uses to which science and knowledge are put are ideologically determined. How do perception, ideology and culture influence and even determine theories of knowledge and acceptability of knowledge, and how does the growth of knowledge influence the development of ideology and culture? How does polyrhythmics shape and determine Africentric social knowledge and acceptance within the conceptual system of 185

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

polyrhythmicity? How does polyrhythmics differ from other logical forms? These questions bring us to the critical subject matter of the science of thinking within polyrhythmicity where we must analyze, synthesize and present an integrated system of implied logic and the method of scientific inquiry into how knowledge of nature and society is obtained.

6.2

The Grammar of Polyrhythmics

On the road to knowing we are always confronted with the problem of the relationship between perception and reality, between reality and potential, and between potential and progress. Perception and reality on the one hand, and reality and potential on the other hand constitute categories of polarity and duality while potential and progress in turn constitute changes in the universal unity. The whole enterprise of theory of knowledge and knowledge acquisition involves mappings of elements in the perception space into elements in the space of reality. The process of mapping is accomplished through a particular logical prism that allows claimed statements of truth to be made, verified and approved for social acceptance and action. The logic of polyrhythmics relies on assumed conditions, category of reality, multiplicity of rhythms, polarity, duality and relationality to present the method of reasoning. 6.2.1

The Building Blocks of Polyrhythmics

Let us now turn our attention to the essential building blocks of the polyrhythmic logic that helps to define the grammar in polyrhythmics. The building blocks of the science of reasoning in polyrhythmicity are composed of the grand structures of categories of all things, polarity, duality, unity, relationality and multiplicity of rhythms. These grand building blocks are conceptually linked together to constitute a unity of reasoning for the discovery of what there is (the actual), what out to be (the potential), and explanation of states and processes of actual and potential. The initializing of the conceptual linkages proceeds with sets of postulates, principles and axioms that allow the universe to be initialized for either explanation of “what there is” or prescription for what ought to be.

186

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

6.2.1.1 Concerning the Universal Unity and Particular Unity The universe is one continuum and contiguous phenomena that is composed of diverse forms in relational unity and in mutual existence. All the diverse forms are interdependent and are transformations from irreducible primary existence of reality and yet each form retains itself in a particular unity for identity and uniqueness. The universal unity is composed of categories of particular unity which find definitions from the structure of the universal unity. 6.2.1.2 Concerning Categories The universal system is partitioned into categories of being that allow different forms of elements to be identified and distinguished from each other. The universe, of which the world is part, is thus made up of categories and sub-categories of being which appear as states and processes. The states are temporary while the paths of processes define permanent evolutions of change. The categories constitute an infinite set or infinite family of sets of sets. Each category presents itself in particular unity which is composed of elements with defined similar and dissimilar characteristics 6.2.1.3 Concerning Polarity, Duality, Oppositeness and Unity The concept of Polarity characterizes every category where each polarity appears as right and left poles in relational unity (see section 2.4 of this book). Each pole appears as duality where the components of the dual exist in opposite principles but in relational unity. The dual is simultaneously composed of positive and negative sets of characteristics that exist in oppositeness and relational unity. The relative magnitude of the positive and negative sets in the duality defines the behavior of the particular duality and the nature of the pole. The right pole is made up right duality where the set of positive characters far outweighs the set of negative characteristics in relational quantity and quality. Similarly, the left pole is defined by its duality (the left duality) where the negative characteristics outweigh the positive characteristics. Both the right and left poles exist in relational unity with each other as well as exist in relational unity with their internal duality. The right duality and the left duality are in relational unity through the interactions of the negative and positive sets as well as establish the character of the poles of the polarity. Both polarity and duality are linked together through categories of relationality such as 187

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

complementarity, identity, supplementality, indifference, conflict, resemblance, and others. 6.2.1.4 Concerning Relationality The relationality establishes the channels, interpretation, meaning and response of either intra- or inter-communications within polarity and duality, among polarities and dualities and between the set of categories of polarity on one hand and the set of categories of duality on the other hand. Relationality is the essential element linking categorial forms together into particular and universal unity. Categories of events, states and processes are in relational unity with each other. Similarly the right and left poles as well as the positive and negative sets of the duality are in relational unity. The nature and type of relationality and the particular and universal unity that they engender are defined and established by multiplicity of rhythms 6.2.1.5 Concerning the Multiplicity of Rhythms Rhythms appear in multiplicity of forms that define the internal characteristics of states and processes of categories of polarity and duality. They also establish the characteristics of multiplicity of communications through the categories of relationality in terms of signal production, reception, interpretation and response of categories of particular and universal forms. The internal organization of a multiplicity of rhythms establishes and maintains the equilibrium of each categorial state in duality and polarity. Changes in internal organization and arrangements of the multiplicity of rhythms define the intra and inter-dynamics of the system, behavior of categories of duality and the direction of changes of the derived and primary categories of polarity in terms of logical pyramid and the universal trinity. 6.2.1.6 Concerning the Conceptual Pyramid and the Trinity The pyramidal points constitute a logical trinity and define the foundational points of epistemic constructs for analysis and synthesis. The intersections of the dividing lines that connect the pyramidal points to the middle of each pyramidal side constitute the epicenter of cognition of the creative process based on duality, relationality and categorial transformations. The pyramidal points also represent the Creative Force (KA) the Spirit Force (BA), and the Light Force (RA) in the triangular structure where the interactions in the unity at the 188

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

epicenter define the forces of creation on the basis of nothingsomething polarity and duality leading to the cognition of ʺwhat there

UNIVERSAL UNITY CATEGORY OF ACTUAL

{A i |

CAREGORY OF POTENTIAL

i ∈ In }

{Pi | i ∈ I ∞ }

PARTICULAR UNITY Candidates For Primary Category of REALITY

Candidates from Category of Potential for First Derived Reality

POLARITY

Category of Actual Polarity

Category of Potential Polarity

{Π i | i ∈ I m }

Left Pole

{Pi | i ∈ I ∞ }

Right Pole

Left Pole

Right Pole

OPPOSITENESS ACTUAL Polar Unity

POTENTIAL Polar Unity

DUALITY Category of Actual Duality

Category of Potential Duality

{Di | i ∈ I k }

{Pi | i ∈ I ∞ }

RELATIONALITY

ND

PD

CHARACTERISTICS

ND

ND

Multiplicity of Rhythms N S

P S

N S

P S

N S

P S

N S

P S

Conceptual Pyramid and TRINITY

Figure 6.1 The Logical Geometry of Polyrhythmics ND = Negative Duality, NP = Positive Duality, NS = Negative Set, PS = Positive Set. The sets are in the form X

= { xi | i ∈ I ∞ } , I = index set

189

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

isʺ (actual) and ʺwhat would beʺ (the potential) whose explanations are locked in axioms, postulates, principles and laws. The logical geometry of the path of reason is provided in figure 6.1.

6.3

Axioms, Postulates, Principles and Laws

The logical construct of reasoning leading to discovery and explanation of what there is and its transformation into the potential and what ought to be, and its transformation into actual, is such that the grand structures of discovery, explanation, prediction and prescription are supported by held principles, postulates and laws of evolution and change. These principles and postulates are grouped under categories of Dogon-Pharaonic, Nkrumaist and Kheperian conceptual structures. The supporting laws of universal transformations for explaining change and events are stated for reasoning and understanding of relationships between creation and evolution, and between the actual (what there is ) and the potential (what there is not). These laws allow further understanding of global and specific envelopings of universal events in the past-present-future dynamics and the possibility of different forms of actual and potential existence in other areas of the universe besides ours. 6.3.1

Kheperian Postulates

1. The postulate of existence of infinity and creation from nothingness There exists a nothing-something polarity as the primary category of reality where matter was formed from nothingness by self-evolution and that all categories of reality are evolutions through processes. Both the nothingness and somethingness poles contain a something-nothing duality which in turn contains the negative and positive sets (by sec. 6.2). Nothingness is the primary reality while somethingness is a derived category of reality of continuous transformation of categories of particular unity within the universal unity and through the internal dynamics of the nothing-something polarity. 2. The postulate of creation through internal dynamics and selfevolution 190

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

The universal creation is continuous and never ending where the beginning and end appear as opposites in nothing-something (actualpotential) duality. The creation is through self-evolving activities of the primary category of reality that gives birth to sequences of derived categories of reality. The system is closed in the sense that nothingness resides in infinity which contains nothingness such that the discovery of its offspring presents a problem for human cognition. . 3. The postulate of cognitive independence Existence of any reality is independent of human cognition and this independence covers all categories of reality including primary and derived categories that bring forth actual-potential transformations. 4. The postulate of actual-potential transformations and substitutions Transformation processes involve actual and potential elements. The actual and potential appear as opposites in an inseparable duality and polarity where there is a continuous transformation from potential to actual and actual to potential through internal dynamics that are generated by the behavior of multiplicity of internal and external rhythms as well as inducing partitions in the universal space where actual is substituted for potential and potential for actual on transformations. 6.3.2

Axioms of Khepera

1. Axiom of existence of nothing-something polarity as primary category of global reality. At the beginning of creation (the beginning of beginnings) there existed the category of nothing-something polarity where at the beginning of time the primary pole was nothingness in which resided in nothing-something polarity and duality. Nothingness was the reality and somethingness was the potential from which matter as somthing came to be. 2. Axiom of creation and existence of matter: Matter was created from nothingness through the internal rhythmic dynamics of the nothing-something duality in the nothingness pole.

191

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

3. Axiom of self-creation, evolution and transformations: The Creative Force was Nothingness which was self-created through the internal self-dynamics that brought about self-evolution. All other categories of reality are derived therefrom and inherited this property of self-evolution and dynamics through the behavior of multiplicity of rhythms from the beginning to the end. 4. Axiom of beginning-end polarity: The beginning resides in the end and the end resides in the beginning. They exist in an inseparable unity and mutually determine their identities and uniqueness. 6.3.3

Nkrumaist Postulates

1. The postulate of universal partition: The universe is completely partitioned into a family of sets of fuzzy categories of reality and potential with fading but interconnected boundaries with respect to states, processes and particular unity where the primary category must be identified to initialize the selftransformation process. (This can rigorously be defined in a mathematical form as sets with grade functions of belonging. See [43b][43c].) 2. The postulate of existence of primary category: The set of categories of reality has a primary category of reality from which all other categories of reality involve themselves through transformations into sequences of derived categories of reality composed of matter and non-matter. 3. The postulate of non-sole primary reality of matter: Matter is not the sole primary category of reality as it exists in a category of inseparable duality for categorial conversion. 4. The postulate of categorial conversion: Every category of reality, whether primary or derived, is under internal transformation from one category to another. The organic path of transformations is the path of creation as well as an enveloping of the derived categories of reality with primary category constituting the initial point of self-transformations. This is the process of categorial

192

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

conversion through construction-destruction processes transformation-substitution processes of duality and unity. 6.3.4

or

Dogon-Pharaonic Principles

1. The principle of duality and unity: The categories of reality always present themselves in oppositeness polarities and dualities. 2. The principle of polarity and unity of the poles: Duality in inseparable unit resides in every pole of polarity where the dual and the poles are seen in relational oppositeness united by polyrhythms. 3. The principle of relationality and multiplicity of rhythms: The relational unity is held together by the organizational arrangements of multiplicity of rhythms that reside in the constituent opposites to generate tension and energy for internal motion and change. 6.3.5

The Law of motion, conversion and transformations:

These principles and postulates are supported by a law of motion that governs transformations, substitution, categorial conversions and evolution of kinds due to the behavior of the multiplicity of the internal and external rhythms. The law of motion is composed of categories of: a) The law of interdependence of dual and poles in duality and polarity. The poles and dualities exist in mutual interdependence in an essential way and yet they retain their identities. b) The law of interdependence of mutual negation of poles and dual: Each pole seeks to preserve itself by negating the characteristics of the other pole through the behavior of the residing duality.

193

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

KHEPERIAN POSTULATES

Existence of Infinity and Nothingness

Internal Dynamics and Selfmotion for Creation

Cognitive Independence

Actual-Potential Transformations

AXIOMS OF KHEPERA

Existence of NothingSomething Polarity

Beginning-End Polarity

Self-Evolutions and Transformations

Creation and Matter

NKRUMAH’S POSTUTATES Categorial Partitions of Universe

Existence of Primary and Derived Categories

Categorial Conversion

None-Sole Primary Reality of Matter

DOGON-PHARAONIC PRINCIPLES Duality and Unity Polarity and Unity Multiplicity of Rhythms

Polar Relationality

LAWS OF MOTION

Independence of Dual and Poles

Tension and Energy

Mutual Negation of Poles and Dual

Quantitative and Qualitative Motion CONSTRUCTIONISM AND REDUCTIONISM

FIGURE 6.2 Geometric Paths of Axioms, Postulates, Principles and Laws of Motions

c) The law of quantitative and qualitative motion: 194

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

The characteristics of each pole are under continual qualitative and quantitative motions that bring about categorial transformations of poles and polarities. d) The law of rhythms: Rhythms appear in multiplicity of forms and their behaviors are the driving force of the relationality that appears as categories of interdependence, conflicts, energy and the final motion to establish the path of categorial conversion of the nothing-something polarity. The stated principles, postulates, laws and axioms are combined together with the grand structures to design the science of thinking and the logic of reasoning of polyrhythmics that would allow collectively structured discussions to be undertaken on the road to discovery of knowledge (truth) in society and nature. Let us expand on some of these ideas and how they operate in the logic of polyrhythmics and polyrhythmicity as an African philosophy of knowledge. The axioms, postulates, principles and the laws of motion are presented in a relational Geometry in Figure 6.2. The logic of polyrhythmics may be used to construct moral theory, legal theory, political theory, theory of social formation and management, and others that are consistent with Africentic theory of knowledge where their developments are constructed by the way of categorial transformations. Here change is not possible without energy. Energy cannot be generated without tension. Tension is not possible without duality and polarity which are revealed by the principles of opposites. Opposites are not possible without categories which reveal the nature of opposing forces.

6.4

Categories of Reality

One of the important building blocks of the logic of polyrhythmics is category with category formation. Conceptually the universal system of processes and states is classified into fuzzy category of existences of reality that satisfy the postulate of category formation. These categories constitute diversity in global unity satisfying the postulate of universal unity. The universe is one. Every process is seen as an enveloping transformation of sequential forms of a category as well as a path of 195

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

states. The number of categories is technically infinite since transformations as induced by the creative force are continuous without end. For each process we speak of a set of categories that are fuzzy partitions with connectedness through a fading process. Within the set there is a primary category of reality that must be identified to distinguish it from the rest as derived category of reality from the primary category. The primary category of reality is taken as the actual and all other categories are considered as potentials that can be actualized to become a derived categories of reality through processes. Each category is distinguished by its qualitative and quantitative characteristics that are established by grades of belonging (for example shades or grades of color) where categories may fade into each other by an internal process. Thus, given a process, there is a primary category of reality from which a first, second, third and other categories of reality are derived. The set of categories of reality may be arranged in a hierarchical order of transformations by means of logical constructionism as illustrated in Figure 6.4.1. In the figure we initialize the process of explanation by the primary category of reality { • = Ω } which may be taken as Nothingness in which resides the spirit-mater duality. Here the Spirit may be equated with Nothingness. In the Africentric philosophical system that we are trying to reconstruct, BA is the Spirit Force and RA is the Material Force in unity to produce spirit-mater polarity and duality that led to the Creative Force (see Figure 7.1 of Chapter 7) for self-evolution. This is followed by the first level set of potential categories of somethingness which may be symbolically represented as A = { Ai | i ∈ I ∞ } with an infinite index set, I∞ from which one { A3 } = T1 is actualized by a process to be a first derived category of reality. This is followed by second level set of potential categories of the form B = { Bi | i ∈ I ∞ } , also with an infinite index set, I∞ from which { B1 } = T 2 is actualized by self-evolution as a second derived category of reality by a process. The set of categories of reality as actualized from the potential may be specified as a set of the form T = { Ti | i ∈ Ii } which constitutes the actual-potential enveloping process through time. The Ti ’s are the actualized elements that may or may not be known to humans since their existence is what there is and what would be are independent of human cognition from Kheperian axioms.

196

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

Primary Category of Reality

•=Ω

1st Potential Categories { Ai | i ∈ I ∞ }

A1

A3

A2 1st Derived Category of reality: Actualize Potential

A3 = :

2nd Potential Categories { Bi |∈ i ∈ I ∞ }

B1

B2

B3

2nd Derived Category of reality: Actualized Potential B1

Continuous Categorial Conversions and

Transformations of the form T = {Ti | i ∈ I}

Figure 6.4.1 Hierarchical Order of Categorial Transformations From the actual-potential interactions and processes the set of categories of reality is contained in the set of categories of the potentials. To see how the logic works, let A = { Ai | i ∈ I } be the family of actualized categories (that is, the categories of reality) with a finite index set, I , and B = { Bi | i ∈ I ∞ } as the family of all potential categories with an infinite index set, I ∞ , given the primary category of 197

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

reality. It is easily observed that at any moment of time, the set of the family of actual categories of reality is contained in the set of the family of potential categories to be actualized, that is A ⊂ B and I ⊂ I ∞ . At infinity, however, it is the case that A ⊆ B and B ⊆ A and I ⊆ I ∞ ⊆ I . It must also be noticed that the actual category of reality, Ai exists independently of the knowledge of human mind and cognition. Categories are general classifications imposed on universal system of things, states and processes for identity, similarity, distinction, analysis and synthesis for knowledge acquisition through the understanding of universal qualitative and quantitative motions with intra and enter-categorial dynamics for explanatory and prescriptive processes towards knowing. But the principle of universal continuity is vague with fuzzy boundaries that allow one category of potential to fade slowly into a category of actual reality and vice versa through a process. Each category is endowed with a family of sets of characteristics, Z which establishes its existence, identity and behavior in a fuzzy logical plain with shades of belonging and dynamics. Thus corresponding to each category, I, we have Zi = { z ij | i ∈ I and j ∈ J } where I is an index set of categories and J is an index set of the characteristics which present themselves as multiplicity of rhythms of quantity and quality in local unity such that any of the qualitative characteristics has quantitative disposition and vice versa. The index sets may be finite or infinite depending on whether we are considering the categories of actual or potential. The category of reality is what there is, the actual, and the category of the making is what would be, the potential. In the organic process of transformation, substitution and creational dynamics, what would be fades into ‘what there is’ and ‘what there is’ fades into ‘what would be’ through a process of self-transformation. In other words, the potential is transformed into the actual and the actual becomes the potential through the dynamics of categorial conversion. A question arises as to how do we come to know ‘what there is’ and the process of ‘what would be’ through the logic of polyrhythmics. This is the knowledge acquisition process or the process of the discovery of truth or reality. The knowledge acquisition process proceeds by identifying two conceptual sets, of categories of reality, T = { Tij | i ∈ I and j ∈ J } and of a family of categories of perception of reality. For each element in the set of primary and derived categories of reality there corresponds a family of 198

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

categories of perception of reality in the form, P = { Pij | i ∈ I, j ∈ J and ∈ L } where L is an index set of perceiving agents and I and J are as defined above. The categories of perception are models produced by agencies of the senses of the living and organic bodies, at least, from the view point of human cognition and learning. Categories of primary and derived reality send information signals through their characteristics that reveal the degree of their existence in accordance with the accumulated information set which is then processed into categories of individual or collective perception as models of reality. In other words, there is a general set of information signals from which a knowledge base is humanly constructed by a logical process in accordance with an individual or collective model of perception. In this logical system of reasoning, it is important to note that reality is independent of human cognition while perception as a model of reality is dependent on human social characteristics, cognition and channels of knowledge acquisition. There is a space of realities independent of humans while there is a perception space dependent on human cognition. The knowing process is such that the elements in the perception space, P , is then mapped onto the elements of the reality space , T , through the connecting processes of relationality. Some form of knowledge or degree of truth about reality is said to be acquired if there is an establishment of either degrees of identity, or similarity or resemblance relation between the elements of Pij and Tij , i ∈ I and j ∈ J , by a perceiving agent ∈ L . The implication here is that the identity, similarity and resemblance relations are established by the cognitive process between the characteristic set of reality and the characteristic set of perception where every transformation that brings into being a particular category of reality needs a logical explanation from within the structure of polyrhythmics that provide consistency in reasoning with transformation-substitution duality.

6.5

Polarity, Duality, Unity and Rhythms

By the logic of polyrhythmics, each category is composed of polarity and duality that exist in universal and specific unity with the presence of right and left poles. The right pole is distinguished by the 199

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

fact that the magnitude of the positive set of the dual is greater than the negative set of the duality that resides in it. The left pole, on the other hand, is distinguished likewise where the magnitude of the negative set in the dual is greater than that of the positive set of the poleʹs duality. After identifying the primary and secondary categories of reality we then proceed to identify the poles and the dual in each category of reality for explanatory and prescriptive analysis and synthesis to learn and understand their relative qualitative and quantitative elements of the characteristic sets of the duality. Each polarity has a primary pole (the right pole) which is identified with the actual while the other pole (the left pole) is identified with the potential. The poles are in relational tension induced by two different sets of multiplicity of rhythms generated by differential dualities. There is also tension in each duality that is induced by a multiplicity of rhythms between the negative and positive sets. Both the polarity and duality exist in relational unity that allows them to interact and share information through giving-taking processes in a number of different ways. We identify the right pole and the left pole by the nature, structure and relative strengths of the qualitative and quantitative magnitudes of positive and negative sets in the pole-specific duality. Each dual in duality contains relative magnitudes of positive and negative characteristic sets that tend to distinguish the positive dual from the negative dual. Each dual contains sets of positive and negative characteristics in differential magnitudes that exist in unity and mutual negation under the forces of multiplicity of rhythms that maintain equilibrium for identity and disequilibrium for conversion and change. The logic, that is the process of reasoning, requires us to analyze and synthesize the relations of the right and left poles and their connections with the negative and positive dual as defined by the relativity of the positive to the negative sets of characteristics. In every pole reside multiplicities of internal rhythms through the duality. The nature of the organization of these internal rhythms provides the pole with its properties that allow the right and left poles to be distinguished in uniqueness and classification of belonging through the behavior of the duality. Here uniqueness and classification of belonging are in grades or shades. There are intra- and intercommunications of polarity and duality that establish rhythmic exchange in terms giving-taking processes. Intra-communications of each pole or dual are the result of unique arrangements and 200

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

rearrangements of multiplicity of rhythms. The behavior of the organizational structure of the polyrhythms provides temporary equilibria and disequilibria for internal stability, instabilities and unity of the duality through which the opposite rhythms operate to generate energy in support of internal motion and transformation of the polarity. The intra-communications and actual-potential relationality are the result of rhythmic behavior in each pole. The reasoning process of polyrhythmics is first to identify the category of polarity. This must be followed by an identification of the duality in each of the poles of the polarity, the tension and conflicts that they induce, and the internal energy that they produce to bring about categorial moment for transformation or change. The process of cognition through polyrhythmics requires us to establish the principle of identity of existence as well as necessary and sufficient conditions of presence of polarity and duality in categories of reality. In this framework of reasoning, every position of equilibrium is a state under potential conversion and hence every state is in temporary equilibrium undergoing internal transformation and substitution. There is no permanent equilibrium and there is no permanent state. Every position of disequilibrium, on the other hand, is a process in transformation and every process in transformation is disequilibrium. The thinking process here is to instruct us how to observe, analyze and synthesize the dynamic behavior of categories of polarity and duality through the spectacle of multiplicity of rhythms. The universe is then characterized by a set of temporary equilibria of reality and permanent disequilibria of reality. At the temporary equilibrium the nature of organization of multiplicity of rhythms allows us to distinguish between properties and categories of relationality and their impacts on transformational dynamics of categories of polarities. The positive set provides the actual existence of the pole while the negative set provides the potential existence of the pole through their relative characters in the duality. Polarity appears as a unity between the right and left poles while the duality appears as a unity between the positive and negative sets of the defining characteristics; all of which must be identified, analyzed and synthesized. The right pole is the actual which is identified with “what there is”, while the left pole is the potential which is identified with “what would be“. The nature of relationality induced by the internal organization of polyrhythms 201

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

creates internal conflicts in the duality and in each pole. The conflicts are in degrees of intensity that generate degrees of energy which then become the foundation of intra-qualitative motion that seeks to establish degrees of conversions of categories or transformations and substitutions by altering the nature and identity of the poles through the qualitative self-motion in the duality by reversals of relationships and properties. The qualitative motion presents itself in two categories of change in terms of relations and changes in properties. Such changes come about through processes of grades or shades of property and relational reversals. The process of gradual alteration allows the logical establishment of internal motion of categories of polarities and dualities. A simple example of qualitative motion is decay or socioeconomic transformations of societies. To define and establish the trajectory of categorial conversion we need to establish the primary category of polarity and duality and then abstract from within the principle of transformation that allows a logical explanation of how a category of reality becomes derived from the primary category of reality through a substitution. In this respect, the primary category of polarity and duality must logically be shown to have the capacity and ability of selfmotion in terms of changes of relation and properties. The thinking structure in polyrhythmics demands that the relations and characteristics in duality and polarities be defined and established through the multiplicity of the systemʹs internal rhythms in relations to the external rhythms in other to bring about conflicts associated with stabilities (equilibria) and instabilities (disequilibria). Here there is the quality-quantity duality where quality is always viewed as quantitative disposition of category of reality. The reasoning position of the logic of polyrhythmics is that every identifiable category of reality is either a primary category of reality or a derived category of reality that is completely reducible to the primary category of reality. The cognitive deduction is such that first there is the primary category of reality and then there is the time-ordered sequence of derived categories of reality from the initial category of reality through categorial conversion. In the logic of polyrhythmics the transformation, substitution and conversion process are such that the primary category of reality is nothing-something polarity where the primary pole of reality is nothingness in which nothing-something duality resides in accordance with the nature of the organization of the multiplicity of 202

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

rhythms that define the properties and relationality for identity, stability, equilibrium, disequilibrium, conditions of conversion and self-motion. In this paradigm of reasoning, nothingness is the actual and somethingness is the potential so that nothing-something duality also exists as actual-potential duality while nothing-something polarity also exists as actual-potential polarity. The process of categorial conversion or transformation and substitution from nothingness pole to somethingness pole is induced by the category of relationality between the set of the properties of nothingness and the set of properties of somethingness where nothingness seeks to convert somethingness into nothingness and somethingness simultaneously seeks to convert nothingness into somethingness by gradual alteration of the characteristics of the duality in the state of temporary equilibrium. The process of change is categorial conversion where categories of potential are transformed into categories of actual (reality) and in their places categories of actual are transformed into categories of potential through internal organization and reorganization of a multiplicity of internal and external rhythms that generate tension, energy, conversion moment and force of motion to affect the quantitative and qualitative characteristics of elements under categorial conversion. This is the process of universal creation in nature and society where the organic trajectory of categorial conversion is established as a set of universal realities of “what there is” for cognitive discovery. Knowledgeaccumulation process requires us to pattern our cognition and reason along this process. It may be pointed out that categorial conversion demands transformation and substitution without which change is impossible. Thus categorial conversion assets itself on the transformation-substitution possibility frontier of the creational process to alter the potential into actual and actual into the potential. The system of reasoning induced by polyrhythmics with the primary category of nothing-something polarity and duality is revealed by the Africentric philosophy of universal creation where nothingsomething polarity and duality are the beginnings (for further historical and conceptual discussions on Africentric universal beginnings see [8b] [10b] [10c] [10d] [25] [30] [36] [39] [93a] [93b] [93c] [93d]). The nothing-something polarity is the primeval polarity while nothingness is the primeval pole. Nothing-something duality is the primeval duality with defining characteristics that establish the positive 203

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

set of the dual. The concept of creation must be broadly interpreted as we construct polyrhythmicity as Africentric theory of knowledge and philosophy of life, human behavior and approach to the understanding of the universal system of ʺwhat there isʺ and ʺwhat would beʺ. First there is nothingness as the primary category of reality. The concept and reality of nothingness are abstracted from the Nile-valley conceptual system of beginning and creation where “infinity“, “nothingness”, “primeval” and “somethingness” initialized the explanation and search for “what there is” and how “what there is” can be brought to human cognition [8b] [10c] [93b] [24a] [25] [30]. Again the Coffin Texts IV suggest that the ʺUniversal Lord was simultaneously infinity, nothingness, inertness and invisibleʺ [30] [26a]. The concepts of Infinity, Nothingness, Nowhere-ness, Everywhere-ness and Darkness are repeated in the Coffin Texts IV which became adopted into JudeoChristian theology and philosophy. We may note that without zero and infinity our modern mathematics in terms of Arabian numbers with base ten has no closure and that the relationship between the African conceptual system and the Arabian contribution to theory of knowledge is well-known and established in history (see[10b-e] [13] [14] [22b] [38] [60c] [93a-d]. The conceptual beginning defining the explanatory and prescriptive analytical and synthetic processes of knowing through the method of polyrhythmics is that, in the category of nothingness reside the characteristics of infinity, inertness, invisibility in unity. This unity is put together by an internal organization of multiplicity of rhythms that establishes the character and internal arrangements of the characteristics of nothingness that give the unity its quality and identity. The property of invisibility or darkness projects somethingness that exists independently of human existence and cognition. The properties of infinity and inertness project nothingness that also exists independently of human existence and cognition. Both nothingness and somethingness are the defining characteristics of the primeval polarity and duality under internal organizations of multiplicity of rhythms. As it is presented, the existence of derived categories of reality constitute the explanandum (that which is to be explained) while the behavior of the duality as induced by deferential organization due to dualistic relationality constitutes the cognitive path of explanans (that which explains) on the basis of conceptual understanding of arrangements and rearrangements of the multiplicity of rhythms that 204

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

establish equilibrium and disequilibrium processes in the equilibriumdisequilibrium duality. The problem that we seek to resolve in the polyrhythmic reasoning toward degrees of truth is to identify the primary category of reality and then show how the derived categories of reality emerge out of the primary. The first task of the polyrhythmic reasoning is to identify the primary category of reality and to establish that the primary category of reality is part or derivative of the primary category of reality. If the identified primary category of reality is either part or derived from the identified primary category then we polyrhythmically conclude that it is self-caused and hence has capability of self-motion. Every other derived category of reality from the primary category will be endowed with this property of self-motion and self-conversion. It must be noted that a category of reality is said to be primary if there exists no known reduction process to reduce it to something else. The initialized condition of knowing and hence the Africancentered theory of knowledge toward “what there is” and “what will be” is nothingness, and since nothingness is part of nothingness it is self-caused. By the reasoning method of polyrhythmics, all other categories of reality must be shown to be derivable from or reducible to the primary category of reality through internal changes of the organization of multiplicity of the internal rhythms. The existence and changes of the external rhythms merely define the conditions for change while the existence and changes of internal rhythmic dynamics is the basis for categorial conversion. Thus categorial conversion projects destructive-constructive dynamics for evolution that involves transfrmation and substitution. Here the mode of reasoning affirms the independent existence of multiplicity of rhythms from human existence and cognition. The behavior and organizational structure of the multiplicity of rhythms allow us access to a reasoning path through which we are able to state the necessary and sufficient conditions for categorial conversion for a forward-progressive logic of constructionism from the primary category of reality to the derived categories and backward regressive logic of reductionism from the derived to the primary category of reality. In this Africentric framework of reasoning, logical analysis and interpretation synthesis, derived categories are surrogates of category of nothingness to which everything is reducible to without a residue. The primary category of nothing-something duality exists with internal 205

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

rhythms under relational tension that provide necessary and sufficient conditions for mutually continuous and gradual conversion of attributes of the internal characteristics of the positive and negative sets. The tension resulting from conflicts in the multiplicity of rhythms provides continuous energy which gradually changes the qualities and quantities of elements that establish equilibrium between the positive and negative sets in each duality in order to shift the balance that helps to define the identity of the category of reality and in favor of the potential in mutual transformation and substitution. These changes are mutual, gradual and in degrees of positivity and negativity. They proceed by altering the internal arrangements of the relative relationality of the negative and positive sets as established by the organizational arrangements of the multiplicity of rhythms, until a breaking point is reached at which the actual category of reality fades into potential and then the existing potential acquires the dominating characteristics to fade into the actual by shedding off its obscurity to reveal its new category of reality. The structural dynamics of the enveloping of creative process or categorial conversion is such that through the interplay of multiplicity of rhythms of categories of polarity and duality nothingness fades into somethingness through positive categorial conversion and somethingness fades into nothingness through negative categorial conversion. The concepts of negative and positive transformations are used in the sense of the logic of duality but not in the sense of judgment. It must be emphasized that the necessity for change of existing equilibrium of the duality or polarity is established by the nature of the changes of the organization of the multiplicity of the external rhythms. The sufficient conditions and the basis for change are defined by the nature of alterations of the organization of the multiplicity of internal rhythms that provide the force of incipient motion or transformation where qualities and mutual relations are altered. The nature of gradual conversion and degree of perception of reality and truth are such that the mathematical reasoning and the equations of qualitative motion governing the dynamics in the categorial relations and characteristics may be analyzed and synthesized by the method and techniques of mathematics and logic of fuzzy phenomena and approximate reasoning that are currently available to us. The current developments of fuzzy mathematics, technology and approximate reasoning have made it possible to establish the needed 206

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

qualitative motion that allows us to trace the trajectory of the categorial conversion and its enveloping. It may be noted that the methodological approach of polyrhythmics, by accepting from the outset the category of nothing-something polarity and duality as primary elements of reality with the unity of internal and external organizations of multiplicity of rhythms that simultaneously maintain temporary equilibrium for identity and permanent disequilibrium for categorial conversion, makes it duly possible to develop the explanans (system of explanation) to the explanandum (system of explainable realities) of the conversion of primary category of reality to derived categories of reality, and the reduction of derived categories of reality to the primary category of reality. The explanandum emerges from the outcomes of categorial conversions while the explanans is developed from categories of polarity, duality, rhythms, relationality and unity. The concepts of nothing-something polarity and nothingness as the primary category of reality from which all things are derived may seem to be paradoxical and a logical absurdity. Similarly when one examines the text on Africentric creation in the Papyrus of Ani (quoted below) one encounters something that identically seems to be paradoxical and logically absurd. The logical absurdity evaporates and I am he, who evolved himself under the form of the god Khepera, I, the evolver of the evolutions evolved myself, the evolver of all evolutions, after many evolutions and developments which came forth from my mouth. (I developed myself from primeval matter, which I had made). No heaven existed, and no earth, and no terrestrial animals or reptiles had come into being. I formed them out of the inert mass of watery matter, I found no place whereon to stand…I was alone, and the gods Shu and Tefnut had not gone forth from me; there existed none other who worked with me. I laid the foundation of all things by my will; All things evolved themselves therefrom. I united myself to my shadow, and I sent forth Shu and Tefnut out from myself; thus being one god I became three, and Shu and Tefnut gave birth to Nut and Seb, and Nut gave birth to Osiris, Horus-Khent-an-maa. Sut, Isis, and Nephthys, at one birth, one after the other, and their children multiplied upon this earth [25, pp xcix-c] ([Note Tefnut=water, Shu= air, Geb= earth ]) 207

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

The paradox of transformations and evolutions is resolved in Africentic philosophical traditions through the interplay of opposing patterns of multiplicity of rhythms and their organizational behavior. Nothing is lost in transformation and nothing is gained in transformation, only transformations and substitutions of states, categories and processes in particular and universal unity as projected in actual-potantial polarity. From the above quotation we find that in unity are Khepera and primeval matter existing in a temporary equilibrium. The temporary equilibrium of the unity state of Khepera and primeval matter is maintained by a unique organization of multiplicity of rhythms in accordance with the logic of polyrhythmics. In terms of categorial conversions and creational evolution of things Nothingness is identified with Khepera, and primeval matter is identified with somethingness. From the quoted text, Khepera is self-created. Khepera is primeval matter which was the basis of self-creation and hence by the principle of identity primeval matter was self-created. Matter is reducible to Khepera without a residue and Khepera is reducible to matter without a residue. Khepera and primeval matter exist in inseparable unity. Just as Khepera and primeval matter are in inseparable unity, so also are nothingness and somethingness. In this Africentric philosophical tradition, initial categories of polarity and duality are established. They are Khepera-matter polarity and duality. The Khepera-matter polarity becomes the primary category of polarity and so also the Khepera-matter duality as the primary category of duality. Khepera becomes the primary category of reality from which all other categories of reality are internally self-derived or evolved by processes, as indicated by ʺAll things evolved themselves therefromʺ in the quotation. The processes are through the internal dynamics of organization of rhythms that define the elementary properties and the relational structure of multiplicity of rhythms and their behavor. As it stands, it does not make any analytical difference whether Khepera is identified with spirit, or soul, or mind, or primeval matter in accordance with our current linguistic systems, the reasoning holds at all higher logical planes. Spirit and matter are inseparable in the unit in which they exist. Mind and body constitute a duality in an inseparable unit. Self-motion and derived categories of reality are fully indicated in the Africentric philosophical traditions. The inseparability of spirit and matter as nothingness and somethingness is indicated by ʺI developed 208

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

myself from the primeval matter which I had madeʺ and ʺI united myself with my shadow…ʺ This principle of inseparability and the principle of opposites are important conceptual foundations of the logic of polyrhythmics where polarity, duality, unity relationality rhythms and categorial conversions are tools of reasoning to discover and explain what there is as well as what would be through the transformation-substitution processes.

6.6

Relationality, Opposites, Conflicts, Energy and Selfmotion

The principle of inseparability of dual in duality and poles in polarity is maintained by the principle of multiplicity of rhythms in both equilibrium and disequilibrium states and trajectories of the transformation dynamics. The reasoning structure is such that given the poles and dual in polarity and duality respectively the polyrhythmic logic demands that we identify the relationships within each polarity and duality that tend to establish conditions of unity, conflicts and mutual existence of the poles and duality. The categories of the relationality are part of the characteristics of the polarity and duality that exist in universal and particular unity. The relations as properties of categories of polarity and duality are established by the nature and organizational structure of multiplicity of rhythms and their behavior. The relationships that these multiplicities of rhythms engender tend to produce temporary equilibria, continual disequilibria and internal dynamics that bring about mutual negation depending on the relative rhythmic strength of positive and negative sets in each dual as well as the relative strengths of the duality in the right and left poles. Equilibrium consists or tends to remain the same while disequilibrium has the character of changing to became something different in accordance with the relative rhythmic strength that generates the mutual give-and-take processes for similarity, difference, conflict and unity in both categories of duality and polarity. There are communications between the right and left poles on one hand, between the negative and positive duality in the polarity on the other, and between the positive and negative sets in the duality on the other. The communications establish the mutual give-and-take processes that allow the mutual existence and transformations of the polarity and duality. The nature of changes in the organizational 209

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

structure of the multiplicity of rhythms induces the reversals of giveand-take processes that bring about changes in the relative quality and quantity of the negative and positive sets leading to a negative or positive categorial transformation, first of the duality and then of the polarity over the particular and universal enveloping of the path of categorial conversions. The categories of relationality are essential reasoning tools in the process of discovery of cognitive truth via the use of the logic of polyrhythmics. Changes in the categories of relationality create disequilibria, bring about tensions which generate categories of degrees of energy, initiate, manufacture and maintain increasing categorial moment for transformations in duality and polarity. In the analytic and synthetic structures leading to universal cognitive unity, we must, therefore, identify and establish the relational processes that are established by the complex structural organizations of the multiplicity of rhythms in other to ascertain knowledge about the internal dynamics and the conflicts of the opposites that allow the law of opposites to be maintained in both duality and polarity and in the unity itself. The organizational structure of the multiplicity of rhythms establishes other forms of characteristics that define the mutual existence of the polarity and duality in addition to establishing various categories of relationality such as complementarity, identity, supplementality, interdependence, reciprocity, information asymmetry and others in the give-and-take processes. These categories of relationality are such that the opposites are in relational unity rather than mutually exclusive. We therefore speak of degrees of relationality such as independence, interdependence, similarity, supplementation, complementation and information asymmetry. Thus the nothingness set contains the somethingness set just as the somethingness set contains the nothingness set to define the nothing-something duality and polarity in particular and universal unity. The reasoning process of polyrhythmics allows us to analyze and conceptually isolate the conflicts in any category of reality as produced by the behavior of the antagonistic internal rhythms to establish categories of energy that provide forces of sustainable incipient internal self-motion without externally impressed upon if self-transformations of the actual and potential are to be explained. The logical task here is to identify the conflict and behavior of opposite rhythms that generate the energy for internal self-motion. The concept of categories of selfmotion is central to the explanatory, predictive and prescriptive 210

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

processes of actual-potential transformations in continual creation that allows the logical establishment of universal infinity and permanency of the universe composed of categories of actual-potential processes where the beginning and end are always in transformational unity induced by categorial conversion operating through organizational changes of multiplicity of rhythms. The whole transformation process of the universe is Khepera complete and closed by the Kheperian axioms and postulates in the sense that the beginning resides in the end and the end resides in the beginning, producing completeness and closure in the organicity of infinite creation. The transformation dynamics through categorial conversions ensure completeness and closure of sequential internal motions of actual to potential and potential to actual from the beginning to the end and from the end to the beginning of self motion of nothing-something polarity through the set of universal actions of states and processes.

6.7

Universal Creation, Transformations and Categorial Conversions

Now we want to unify the cognitive process of polyrhythmics. The structure begins with “what there is” in the beginning as primary category of reality. We now must abstract a path of an explanatory process for the discovery and explanation of the derived categories of reality, the actual, and then project a path where the actual fades into the potential and the potential is actualized by a categorial conversion within the organic process of creation where elements under active creation fade away from one category and enter into another category of reality. Sections 6.1- 6.5 provide us with cognitive tools. Creation as a process proceeds from destructive-constructive polarity and duality inducing gradual movements from one category of reality to another through the actualization of the elements in the categories of potential. To move from one category of reality to another category either in qualitative or quantitative terms requires a process that must indicate a motion. A motion requires energy that must generate a force of action. The logic of polyrhythmics requires that we indicate that force and its source that bring about transformations by gradually converting one existing category of reality to another category of reality through the actual-potential transformation process. The force is the conversion moment. To understand the structural behavior of the conversion 211

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

moment we must analyze its polyrhythmic character and the multiplicity of relationality that it engenders within sub-processes and the organic process of creation. Creation must be viewed as continuous internal evolution of universal forms whose ancestry is the primary category of reality. The process of conversion is what Nkrumah calls categorial conversion [106], and the force that brings about this conversion is what we are referring to as the conversion moment. The reasoning tools for analysis, understanding and synthesis of categorial conversion and the conversion moment are nominalism, constructionism and reductionism which are contained in destructiveconstructive processes from the primary category of polarity. 6.7.1

Nominalism, the Process of Creation and Reality

Nominalism is a logical process where the category of reality is searched and identified for analysis and synthesis. The nominalism involving the primary category of reality will be referred to as the primary nominalism. This is equivalent to initializing the creative process, just as the specifications of initial conditions are required for initializing the optimal control dynamics. Here we are dealing with automatic and optimal natural self-control dynamics of universal forms whose knowledge can be used in constructive-destructive process of social formation and its management. It allows the basic raw material to be conceptually defined in other to initialize the cosmic character of the universal destructive-creative process. It is intended to answer the question of “what there is” in the initial stage of creation. This initial “what there is” is the primary category of reality. From this primary category of reality we then cognitively trace the path of the conversion process and the transformations of derived categories of reality through observation, analysis, explanation and synthesis. Each derived category of reality is a potential in the making and each potential is a reality in the making. Here a question arises as to how we know or conceptually justify the primary category of reality. Since reality is independent of human cognition as held by the logic of polyrhythmics and the Khepera postulates the claim of the primary category of reality and its acceptance are through a logical path. No amount of words can save the claim and its acceptance if the logic is weak. In this cognitive process of knowing and building of knowledge accumulation a number of positions are philosophically and scientifically open to us. One may 212

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

subscribe to monism, dualism or poly-existentialism regarding the primary category of reality. The African philosophical tradition subscribes to a special type of dualism whose path of analysis is conceptual polarity and duality. This polarity and this duality satisfy the Kheperian Axioms and Dogon-Pharaonic principles in that the elements of polarity and duality always exist in oppositeness as well as in inseparable unit. An example is the nothing-something polarity and duality which give rise to spirit-matter polarity where the categories of mind-body polarity and duality are derivatives. From the reference point of African cognitive tradition this is the beginning of knowledge as well as the beginning of African philosophical tradition which precedes all others that history of human knowledge projects to our cognitive plane (see Gadamer [58c] for other claims, Massey [93b] [93d] and Asante et al. [8b]). Given the spirit-mater duality or polarity from the African philosophical tradition, we find the emergence of European philosophical debate on the spirit-matter relationality that spilled into the debate on mind-body relationality in terms of primacy and primary category of reality. The debate involves René Descartes (1596 – 1650) [35d] [35e] [36] [106], whose Cartesian dualism was body-mind duality that was assigned the primary category of reality of relationality, where an existential separation between the two elements is claimed, but supported by a claim of operational unity. On the side of monism, Thales dichotomized the African conceptual unity in both spirit-mater polarity and duality and assigned the primary category of reality to water (matter) [29b] [91d] [106]. This assignment followed the African conceptual primeval waters as part of the creational process from the above quotation on creation where everything was conceptually claimed by Thales to be water or perhaps reducible to water in the logic of reductionism. Similarly George Berkeley (1685-1753), following his understanding of the African conceptual system, dichotomized the Africentric unity of spirit-matter duality and polarity and assigned the primary category of reality to sprits [17c] [17d] [106]. The Africentric spirit-matter duality is maintained by Amo Afer (1727-1747) in his philosophical discussions on the nature of spirit [5a]. At this jucture, it is analytically useful to point out that two categories of theories emerge from the Africentric conceptual system involving two problems of how to understand and how to change. The categories are the set of explanatory theories spun by explanatory 213

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

science, and the set of prescriptive theories spun by prescriptive science. The main focus of explanatory science in this cognitive framework is the identification and explanation of what there is, the actual, and the prediction of repetitions of what there is in the future if the environment of what there is is unchanged. The focus may be extended to prescriptions on the basis of the conclusions of the implied theories to purposefully change what there is, the actual, to what there is not, the potential. The main focus of prescriptive science, on the other hand is the recognition of what there is, the actual, and the identification and purposeful actualization of what would be, a potential, on the basis of a set of prescriptive rules from prescriptive theories in oder to substitute a preferred what there is not, a potential, for an unwanted what there is, the actual, through a categorial conversion and substitutiontransformation process. By logical extension implied theories of prescriptive science constitute explanations (explanandum) and prediction of actualized potential. At the level of cognition, therefore, explanatory theories move logically on explanation-prediction-prescription path while prescriptive theories move logically on prescription-prediction-explanation path. The logical path of analysis and synthesis is such that constructionism may be associated with prescriptive science and implied theories while reductionism may be associated with explanatory science and implied theories in the dynamics of construction-reduction duality and transformation-substitution process. As stated the goal of prescriptive science is to improve reality though our understanding of the dynamic behavior of transformation-substitution duality in the creational process. Eplanation is a byproduct. The goal of explanatory science, on the other hand is the explanation of reality through the understanding of substitution-transformation duality in the creational process. Improvement of reality is a by product. Let us keep in mind that at the level of explanatory and prescriptive science there are four organic philosophical questions that command our cognitive attention at the first level of thinking. We must deal with the questions of “what is the primary category of reality“, “how can the primary category of reality be known” and ʹhow can the primary category of reality be explained“, ”how does the primary category reality create descendants”. At the second level of secondary thinking we must deal with the set of questions on derived categories. They are ”what is the derived category of reality”, ”how can the 214

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

derived category be known”, ”how can the derived category of reality be explained” and ”how can the derived category of reality be changed” The first is the existence question, the second is knowability question the third is the explainability question of the primary category of reality and the fourth is the transformation question. All these four questions are connected to nominalism. Again the same three questions arise in the cognition of the transformation processes of derived categories of reality. These three question also involve the question as to how we know that an identified derived category is a reality and traceable to the primary category of reality as has been nominally identified. In other words, is the derived category of reality a descendant of the primary category of reality? In the logical structure of polyrhythmics this identification of the derived category of reality may be referred to as the derived nominalism. A question immediately arises as to how we explain the transformation process that leads to any derived category of reality. The identification, verification and justification of true offspring of the primary category of reality require that for valid propositions about characteristics of the derived category of reality there must be logically valid propositions about the characteristics of the primary category of reality from which the derived category is a descendant. This logically requires that propositions about the characteristics of the derived category of reality are true to the extent to which propositions about the primary category of reality are also true. The verification and collaboration of validity of propositions about any derived category must be referenced to the validity of propositions about the primary category of reality for logical acceptance. Furthermore, only valid and concrete existence of characteristics is associated with the primary category of reality in nominal sense. In this respect and in relation to the primary and derived categories of reality, all other characteristics of existence are logically taken to be a surrogate of the primary real existence. The nothing-something polarity is the nominal primary category of reality where nothingness is the primary reality and somethingness is the derived reality in the polar and dual structures. 6.7.2

Constructionism, Process of Creation and Categorial Conversion

Given nominalism, polarity and duality, the primary-and-derived categories are interconnected by the logic of constructionism. 215

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

Constructionism is more or less similar to the logic of prescriptive science where the potential is conceived to emerge from the actual and shown to be so by deductive rules of transformation which are internally self-induced. In constructionism we begin with the characteristics of the primary category of reality and show how the characteristics of the derived category of reality emerge out of those of the primary category of reality. The movement from the primary category of reality to the derived category of reality requires us to identify the process and the equation of motion that establishes the trajectory of conversion and transformation process of quality and quantity leading to categorial switch. The logic of the transformation process requires the identification of the implied energy that underlies the equation of motion as well as gives impetus to the action of categorial conversion that is internally induced. The energy must be shown to emerge from within, through the tension in the duality or polarity that is connected to the category of reality. The tension is created by the interplay of multiplicity of rhythms that establish category of relationality in either the polarity or duality. We must therefore identify the poles and dualities in each category of reality as well as identify the conditions of convertibility at every point of the constructional process. In constructionism, we begin with valid propositions about macro-characteristics of the primary reality and then logically show how micro-characteristics of the derived category of reality emerge from it through internal conversion. Viewed in terms of social transformations, the multiplicity of rhythms may be identified with multiplicity of individual behaviors that are induced by multiplicity of perceptions which are in turn induced by multiplicity of ideologies in the reality space. 6.7.3

Reductionism, Process of Creation and Categorial Conversion

From the viewpoint of knowability regarding the existence of the derived category of reality, how do we know its ancestry in the enveloping path of the primary category of reality? The answer to this question lies in the logic of reductionism. The logical process is to identify the characteristics of the derived category of reality, the actual. We then must, by analysis and synthesis, show that the factual correctness about the characteristics of the derived category can be reduced logically to factual correctness about the characteristics of the primary category of reality, in other words to explain what ther is. The 216

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

ensuing logic is the reversal of constructionism. We begin with microcharacteristics of the identified derived category of reality and by a reversal reasoning of constructionism we cognitively trace our way back to the characteristics of the primary category of reality. Constructionism is a deductive process and a negation of reductionism while reductionism is an inductive process and negation of constructionism. The logic of reductionism requires that given the identified derived category of reality we identify the transient path of the positive transformation through which the categorial conversion occurred from the primary category of reality to the characteristics of the derived category of reality. The cognitive processes is just like analyzing the accumulated history of reality of a process and reducing the contained facts to their bare essentials to discover the conversion process, the conversion moment, the energy and the generator of the force behind the conversion moment. The objective here is to first identify the derived category of reality (actual) and trace it to the primary category of reality by discovering the quantitative and qualitative equations of motion that govern the transient process from the primary to derived categories of reality. The logical process is induction where we begin with the micro-characteristics of the derived category of reality and by the logic of reductionism we trace our way to the characteristics that gave rise and identity to the primary category of reality in accordance with the logic of polyrhythmics. As conceived in this logical process, the primary category of reality is the macro-unit and the derived categories of reality are the micro-units 6.7.4

Quality, Quantity, Time and Categories

Behind nominalism, constructionism, and reductionism in transformations are concepts of quantity, quality, time and category whose stabilities and instabilities are caused by the behavior of the organizational structure of multiplicity of rhythms and its dynamics. Categories are defined and identified by their quantitative and qualitative characteristics whose polarity and duality behave in accordance with the nature of relationality as induced by the multiplicity of the internal rhythms. Every quantitative characteristic that helps to define the identity of a pole or dual has a surrogate of qualitative characteristic which act together to mutually give existence and identity to the category of reality. We may thus speak of 217

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

quantitative and qualitative dispositions of existence, identity and character of any category of reality. Thus the quantity-quality duality and its relative rhythmic relations are essential to the understanding of conversion moment and categorial conversion. Just as the internal rhythmic patterns affirm the equilibria and disequilibria of the relativity of the negative and positive sets in the duality in each pole through the internal dynamics of the categories of relationality, so also the quantity and quality of the internal characteristics define the identity of the duality and polarity through their relative dispositions. When the quantitative disposition of the characteristics of the category of reality changes, it also changes the qualitative characteristics in order to evolve a new category of reality different from the previous one. Quantitative and qualitative changes are related to time and if these changes proceed in gradual manner from within the system itself then we speak of gradual self-transformations. Thus in the process of categorial conversion (that is, a process where one category of reality is transformed to another through the self-produced energy) two important equations of motions are essential and must be indicated to understand the creative process, discover “what there is” and construct a cognitive explanation for its existence. One equation defines a quantitative motion and the other equation defines qualitative motion. The two are mutually interdependent, creating and in unity to establish the trajectory of categorial conversion. The required energies that underlie these equations of motion to produce the conversion moment are self-produced within each category of reality as well as in the actual-potential polarity and duality. The energies are the result of quantity-quality dynamics that are governed by particular structure of interplay of multiplicity of rhythms. The transformation processes of the categories of actual-potential polarity appear in two dimensions. They are intra-categorial conversion and inter-categorial conversion that are under pressure from internal and external conditions which maintain identity as well as define the requirements for categorial convertibility. The external conditions define the reasons for categorial conversion while the internal conditions appearing in multiplicity of rhythms form the basis of intercategorial conversion. In the logic of polyrhythmics, it must be noted that the internal and external conditions of, say, a pole exist in unity. What is external to the left pole is internal to the right pole and vice

218

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

versa. Since the left and right poles exist in unity so also do the external and internal conditions that define them. The process of intra-categorial conversion and categorial responses to the changing organization of multiplicity of external rhythms defines the conditions for inter-categorial convertibility. These rhythms are the objective laws of universal transformation from one category to the other, from the actual to the potential and from the potential to the actual. The conceptual characterization and cognitive understanding of how external conditions of categories become internal conditions to define the basis for inter-categorial conversion find expressions in the science of systemicity, organicity and automata in terms of natural processes as we currently understand them. From the systemʹs standpoint the universe is in unity without residue and is closed by universal infinity with no beginning and no end, in accord with Africaʹs philosophical tradition. The conditions that are internal to the existence of the beginning are also the conditions that are external to the end. Similarly, the internal conditions of the beginning are external conditions of the end. We have already pointed out that the European philosophical debate on dualism and monism emerged from African cognitive system in terms of the Kheperian axioms and postulates and Dogon-Pharaonic principles as we have stated them. The African foundations of the path of what is claimed to be the Western philosophical tradition will be tightened up in the next chapter. In terms of the logic of polyrhythmics the primary categories of polarity and duality are taken to be nothing-something polarity and duality in accord with the axioms of Khepera. Here Nothingness is initialized as the primary pole with its own internal organization of multiplicity of rhythms that define the existential conditions of nothing-something duality. The cognitive path of the explanatory and prescriptive processes of constructionism (de-reductionism) and reductionism (de-constructionism) is that out of Nothingness emerges Somethingness through a conversion process and into nothingness shall all things vanish, also through a process of categorial conversion and from nothingness emerges somethingness by a process of categorial conversion as a universal infinity of creation where there is no beginning and no end. The end is the beginning and the beginning is the end. It is important to note that the ideas of infinity, no-beginning and no-end close the system for self-motion, self-creation, and selfevolution. Every category of reality that evolves carries with it this 219

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

property of self-motion and self-transformation. By specifying the primary reality as nothing-something polarity and that somethingness emerged out of nothingness seems to be either transformational absurdity or logical impossibility or a paradox of categorial conversion that violates the basic practical structure of multiplicity of rhythms where it is difficult if not impossible to think of getting something out of nothing. The transformational absurdity vanishes when one understands the conditions of polarity and duality in terms of an inexhaustible set of universal categories of actual-potential polarity and duality in a unified setting with fuzzy boundaries where transformations are conceived in grades of gradual changes to the points where the results of conversions are actualized. Furthermore, we must note that nothingness (zero) and infinity( ∞ )are special properties of our modern mathematical construct where nothingness is in every conceivable set and every set is in the category of nothingness by either deconstruction through the logic of reductionism or de-reduction through the logic of constructionism. The thinking process requires that we make our propositions in the system of induction and deduction to be parallel to the items of universal reality. The next step is to make the rules of inference to be parallel to the multiplicity of rhythmic behaviors as objective laws that establish stabilities (equilibria) and instabilities (disequilibria) in the categories of actual-potential polarities and transformations.. The initial conditions of our logical propositions that initialize the deductive process of the categorial conversion must then be parallel to the initial category of polarity as well as the duality in the primary pole. Similarly, the process of deconstruction through the logic of reductionism requires that the conditions of our propositions that initialize the inductive process must by necessity be made parallel to the derived category of polarity as well as the duality in the derived poles. This is the principle of logical parallelism in the logic of polyrhythmics. In this way the cognitive system of deductive and inductive processes becomes consistent with the constructibility of the initial nothing-something polarity where the primary pole is nothingness. The process is also consistent with deconstruction through reductionism of the derived category of something-nothing polarity where the derived pole is somethingness.

220

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

With infinity and nothingness as conceptual elements of the creative process in addition to categories of actual-potential polarity and duality, the cognitive system is closed for deductive and inductive inference towards construction or deconstruction that parallels the universal system of creation. In other words, the cognitive process is isomorphic to the natural creative process with information asymmetry that disfavors the cognitive process in the human knowledge enterprise. Here we must note the idea that somethingness emerged out of nothingness by a process and that somethingness is reducible to nothingness without residue is not to say that nothingness is somethingness and that somethingness is nothingness. The logic of polyrhythmics allows an Africentric philosophical statement that somethingess resides in nothingness and nothingness resides in somethingness in transformational unity to be taken as initial proposition of reality with asymmetric information and relationality that are induced by the dynamics and state behavior of organizational structure of multiplicity of the internal rhythms in the closed system. The dynamics of the structure of organizational arrangements of the multiplicity of the internal rhythms acting within a pole and polarity establish temporary equilibria in order for the categories of reality to be identified, and transformational disequilibria in the pole and polarity to bring about the rise of categorial moments through the internal processes in order to induce intra and inter categorial conversions. The speed and nature of the intra- and inter-categorial conversions in the universal creative process depend on the internal organizational arrangements of the multiplicity of rhythms associated with particular category of actual-potential polarity and the reality that it connotes. It is the differential dynamics of the internal organization of the multiplicity of rhythms that establish the categories of relationality, communications, information flows and the resulting categorial conversion. The categorial conversion is nonlinear. It is also continuous and infinite as the creation is continuous and infinite in the logic of polyrhythmics where nothingness become somethingness and somethingness fades gradually into nothingness, where the end does not only reside in, but fades into the beginning and the beginning does not only reside in, but fades into the end through processes that are internally generated without external impression. It is important to note that the logic of polyrhythmics internalizes rather than externalizes the Creative Force whether the Creative Force is called 221

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

Khepera, or God or Intelligent Designer. By this Africentric framework the debate between Christian fundermentalists and scientists on creationalism and evolutionism is errelevant and riddled with contraditions. The externalization of the Intelligent Designer or God to the universal system, in the Christian theology of creation, implies a finite universe that violates the axiom of Universal Infinity. The extenalization of the creative process from the Intellegent Designer or God or the Creative Force that created the universe denies the Intellegent Designer the power of self-creation through evolution. In the Africentric framework our universe is infinitely closed where the beggining resides in the end and end resides in the beginning where infinite self-evolution is the basic characteristic of universal dynamics [see the axioms and postulates]. In this process, rhythms perform two functions in the epistemic analysis. They simultaneously provide the systemʹs stability and instability. At the level of stability, the organizational arrangements of the multiplicity of rhythms by maintaining stable category of relationality provide temporary equilibria and categorial identity of the polarity or duality or both. At the level of instability, the dynamics of the structure of the organizational arrangements of the multiplicity of rhythms, by maintaining continually relational instability and information asymmetry, create permanent disequilibria, destruction of existing categorial identities by redefining the organizational nature of the existing rhythmic relations that give rise to categorial moment and conversions, the creative process and substitution of new categorial identity. 6.7.5

Nothingness, Infinity and Universal Creation and Permanency of the Universal Order

Some philosophers, analysts and intellectuals may quickly question whether infinity, nothingness duality, polarity and others belong to African conceptual system and the corresponding cognitive structure. Let me provide a little assurance and intellectual comfort to the weary and a challenge to possible critics. By the reasoning system of polyrhythmics the family of categories of spirit and matter with the sub-categories of mind and body emerged from nothingness through a conversion process with interplays of quality and quantity. The category of the spirit-matter polarity is a derivative of the nothingsomething polarity as the primary category of reality. The category of 222

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

the mind-body polarity is a derivative of the category of spirit-matter polarity. In the nothingness pole as the primary category of reality are nothing-something duality and the category of rhythmic relations that defines the initial temporary equilibrium of the pole under relational tension of the duality. Whether matter or spirit or body or mind is taken as the first derived category of reality is logically immaterial to the extent to which necessary conditions are established to meet the requirements of categorial deconstruction that shows the cognitive path to the selected primary category without a residue. If one takes the mind as the first derived category of reality in the transformation process then one must show how by process matter, spirit and body become derivatives thereof. Similarly, if one initializes matter to be the first derived category of reality from the nothing-something polarity then one must show within the logic of polyrhythmics how mind, body and spirit become derivatives by processes. In polyrhythmics, matter is initialized as the primary derived category of reality and mind is a derivative of matter by a process through critical organizational arrangements of the multiplicity of rhythms in matter, and categories of matter are not only de-constructible to nothing-something polarity but reducible to nothingness without residue. In other words its existence is permanent but in continual transformation. The rationale for this African conceptual foundation and the initialization of the Africentric philosophical system and thought on the basis of which African social formations were constructed and managed with complex systems of laws, justice, and acceptable decision parameters of the governing and governed is derived from the Kheperian axioms abstracted from the text of Papyrus of Ani that we have quoted above [25, p. xcix]. Additionally, the discussions in [30, pp. 35 – 123] are analytically instructive while the scholarly works by Messay [92a -92d] and Ashby [10b – 10e] point us to the Africaʹs claims to these abstract concepts and the cognitive system of thinking that they engender. From the axioms of Khepera as initializing the creational process, evolutions, transformations and categorial conversions, there is no question that matter is the primary derived category of reality from which all things evolved (ʺI developed myself from the primeval matter which I had madeʺ, also ʺI formed them out of the inert mass of water matter [primeval waters]ʺ). The concepts of duality, polarity and unity are clearly defined by the statement of 223

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

Khepera ʺI united myself to my shadow …ʺ, which indicates two elements in unity, ʺmyselfʺ and ʺmy shadowʺ exist in unity. The concept of ʺinert massʺ in the quotation points to nothingness. The concept of ʺ…I sent forth Shu and Tefnut from me; thus being one god I became three…ʺ gives affirmation to the conceptual Holy Trinity. From here emerged quality, quantity and time where nothingness (zero) and infinity reside in one another for the closure of the universal system of the creative process. The concept of nothing-something polarity with never-ending creation where there is no beginning and no end is captured in the Book of the Dead [30, p.54] where the concepts appear as ʺin the infinity, the nothingness, the nowhere and the dark..ʺ, and again in the Coffin Texts IV quoted in [30, p.55] we have the statement ʺwhere the Universal Lord dwelt when he was in the infinity, the nothingness and listlessnessʺ and again the primeval waters as matter are elevated to a level of voice such that ʺWhen the Waters spoke to infinity, nothingness, nowhere and darkʺ [30, p. 55]. These quotations are enough to convince the skeptics to the African origins of the concepts of infinity, nothingness, duality and their conceptual foundations in the construct of the Africentric epistemic approach to knowledge accumulation through cognitive paths to the identification of ʺwhat there isʺ, knowability of ʺwhat there isʺ , explainability of ʺwhat there isʺ, and prescriptions to possible change of ʺwhat there isʺ as well as instructions to actualize the potential from the categories of actualpotential polarity to bring into place ʺwhat there is notʺ and to eliminate ʺwhat there isʺ and place it into the potential. The system therefore involves among other things problems of identification, knowability, explainability, verifiability of the actual and prescriptive rules for potential to actual of states and processes. The logic of polyrhythmics and the philosophical structure give permanence to the Universal order with never-ending cycle of transformations. 6.7.6

A Diagram of the Cognitive Path of the Logic of Polyrhythmics

Let us now sketch the methodological paths of cognition through the logic of polyrhythmics as supporting methods and techniques for reasoning in the construct of polyrhythmicity and Africentricity. The same method of reasoning allows us to analyze the African personality,

224

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

its development and how it is linked to the Nguzo Saba as discussed in Chapter 4 and 5. This is presented in Figure 6.7.6.1. These cognitive paths may help us to understand the philosophical constructs of the Africentric cognitive system that will allow one to enhance the development of African philosophical traditions and their foundation of other philosophical systems. Abstractly, the logic of polyrhythmics begins with the primary category of polarity with left and right poles. In each pole resides a duality which is made up of sets of negative and positive characteristics in qualitative and quantitative forms. The left and right poles are distinguished from each other by the relative quantitative and qualitative compositions of the elements of the negative and positive sets in the duality that resides in the poles. There is a relational unity in both the polarity and duality. This relational unity is established by the categories of relationality and the organizational structure of multiplicity of rhythms. The rise of conflicts, conversional moment and categorial conversion is discussed in terms of the dynamics of the organizational structure of the multiplicity of rhythms.

225

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

PRIMARY CATEGORY OF POLARITY

LEFT POLE

RIGHT POLE RELATIONALITY AND RHYTHMS

DUALITY

NEGETIVE SET



DUALITY

NEGETIVE SET

POSITIVE SET



POSITIVE SET

RELATIONALITY

RELATIONALITY

CONFLICT AND TENSION CONFLICT AND TENSION

CATEGORIAL MOMENT

CATEGORIAL MOMENT

CATEGORIAL CONVERSION

CATEGORIAL CONVERSION DERIVED RIGHT POLE WITH ACTUALPOTENTIAL DUALITY

RELATIONALITY AND RHYTHMS

DERIVED LEFT POLE WITH ACTUALPOTENTIAL DUALITY

DERIVED CATEGORY OF POLARITY

∞ Figure 6.7.6.1 The Diagram of the Logic of Polyrhythmics The coming into being of the potential and the disappearance of the actual are explainable by the process of the categorial conversion. This 226

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

is the dynamics of the actual-potential duality that gives rise to categories of derived polarity. A derived category may be used to initialize an explanation to the set of new categorial formations with corresponding categories of polarity and duality. The logical process of polyrhythmics projects a methodology for constructing, analyzing and synthesizing a philosophical system of explanatory and prescriptive paths where the creation is continually occurring without beginning and without an end and where nothingness and infinity (eternity) close the system for logical constancy, continuity and permanence. Time, therefore appears as neutral that defines the beginning of history and end of history in continuity, oneness, nothingness and infinity (eternity). The important concepts for logical filling of the explanatory and prescriptive processes to “what there is” (the actual) and “what would be” (the potential) are category, category formation, polarity, duality, relationality, rhythms, conflicts or tension, categorial moment and categorial conversion. The secondary supporting concepts are primary category, derived category, transformation dynamics, dialectics, nothingness, somethingness, quality, quantity, actual, potential, infinity and existence. It must be noted that duality resides in each pole of a polarity without which the polesʹ identity and categorial self-conversion and motion are logically impossible. Furthermore, the relative quantitative forms of negative and positive sets in the dual give the qualitative character of the pole. The categorial conversions are transformational dynamics where the duality in each pole is under constant and gradual mutual negation, existence and quantity-quality dynamics. The conversional dynamics is such that the behavior of the negative characteristics points to a direction where the negative set seeks to change the positive set by negating the properties of the positive characteristics in order for them to become part of the negative set so as to preserve what the negative set is. The process is augmentation of the quantity and the size of the negative set and reduction of the quantity and the size of the positive set in the duality. This is also true of the behavior of the characteristics of the positive set that seeks to change the negative set through quantitative reduction of the size of the negative set and augmentation of its size for self-preservation. The tendency to change and the tendency toward self-preservation are the results ofinstabilities caused

227

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

CATEGORIES PRIMARY NOTHING-SOMETHING POLARITY

SOMETHINGNESS POLE

NOTHINGNESS POLE RELATIONALITY AND RHYTHMS

ACTUALPOTENTIAL DUALITY

NEGATIVE SET



ACTUALPOTENTIAL DUALITY

NEGATIVE SET

POSITIVE SET

POSITIVE SET

RELATIONALITY

RELATIONALITY CONFLICT AND TENSION

CONFLICT AND TENSION

CATEGORIAL MOMENT

CATEGORIAL MOMENT

CATEGORIAL CONVERSION DERIVED NOTHINGNES S POLE WITH ACTUALPOTENTIAL DUALITY



CATEGORIAL CONVERSION

RELATIONALITY AND RHYTHMS

DERIVED SOMETHINGNESS POLE WITH ACTUALPOTENTIAL DUALITY

DERIVED NOTHING-SOMETHING POLARITY WITH CATEGORIES OF ACTUAL-POTENTIAL DUALITY

∞ Figure 6.7.6.2 The Application of Polyrhythmics to Cognitive process

228

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

by the dynamics of organizational arrangements of multiplicity of internal and external rhythms. The transformational process is such that in an attempt for both the negative and positive sets to preserve themselves in a stable way, they also lose themselves in an unstable way that is the result of dynamics of polyrhythmic forms that establish relations and communications in the duality and hence by transferred process establish categories of relationality and communications in the polarity. The dynamics of organizational arrangements of the multiplicity of rhythms in the categories of duality and polarity generate three important tendencies for analysis and synthesis in understanding transformations, substitution, categorial changes and conversions that take place in the universal unity. In each duality there is a primary tendency to remain the same. The implication from the logic of polyrhythmics is that both the negative and positive sets in each dual seek to preserve themselves in other to maintain their relative strength for the self-preservation of the duality and the pole. There is a secondary tendency for the sets to mutually change the character of the opposite sets for dominance. The implication from the polyrhythmic reason is that both the negative and positive sets are involved in mutual negation to change their relative strength for selftransformation of the duality and by logical extension to bring about categorial conversion of the polarity. Lastly, there is a tertiary tendency for the characteristics of the negative and positive sets to change themselves for self-annihilation. The implication from polyrhythmic thinking is that in the process of preserving themselves in a stable way, there are tendencies toward self-destruction in order to accommodate the transformational dynamics of the other set in accordance with the changing organizational arrangements of the multiplicity of the internal rhythms of the duality which by logical extension lead to mutual transformation of the poles and categorial conversion of the polarity. In these tendencies, every categorial moment or conversion has a beginning and end where one category of potential becomes actual and the actual fades into a potential completing the cycle by transformation, where the end becomes the beginning of a new cycle of the rise of categorial moment and categorial conversion, and the beginning becomes the end of the old cycle of the local conversion process. Thus we logically distinguish between local and organic (global) categorial 229

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

conversions or transformations. The local categorial conversion or transformation is finite in terms of time and process but the global categorial conversion process and the number of local categorial conversions are infinite and endless in time. Once again, we may point out that the current gains in logic, mathematics, the science of fuzzy phenomena and fuzzy computing [43b][43c] will enhance the analytical and synthetic paths of formulations of, and solutions to the equations of quantitative and qualitative motions that govern the transient process of local and organic conversions in the universal unity. These motions define the character of the automatic controllers that relate to the categories of actual and potential in the creational process. We must note that the universe is closed under the Kheperian axioms and principles, in a continual state of disequilibria under Dogon-Pharaonic postulates and transformation-continuous under Nkrumaist postulates. The elemental categories of the universe are maintained in stability and conflict by Dogon-Pharaonic postulates of duality and polarity while categorial transformations are induced by natural controllers through the Nkrumaist postulates. The controllers operate in fuzzy domain structures within fuzzy partitioning of the universe into fuzzy categories where elements gradually move from one fuzzy category to another by a process of categorial conversion. The organic conversion process is an enveloping of the sequence of infinite number of local conversions tracing a trajectory of the creational process. We must keep in mind that the object of critical analysis, synthesis and inquiry into the logic of polyrhythmics is the thought process but not only that - also the thought itself. Here the materials to work with are information on fields of reality, potential and perception (that is, “what there is“, “what would be” and how they can be perceived as an actual fades into the potential and a potential fades into the actual). At the level of knowledge of states the thought process is to link perception as a model of current reality to actual reality while thought defines the logical filling of perceived elements of reality. At the level of human progress the thought process is to link perception as a model of future reality to potential while thought defines the logical filling of potential elements that must be actualized through a process that defines either local or organic categorial transformations. Here the logic of polyrhythmics admits of a whole hierarchy of categories of negation, truth, transformation, degrees of categorial belonging, and degrees of qualitative and quantitative changes that engender categorial 230

Polyrhythmics: The Logic of Polyrythmicity

conversions and sequential transformations through categorial moments. In all these cases of critical understanding we are confronted with the problem of double identity in cognitive duality. The first problem is identity of perception and thought. The second problem is identity of thought and reality. In perception-thought duality we examine how perception is transformed into meaningfully integrated statements to constitute thought. In the thought-reality duality we examine the problem of how thought provides the channels where perception is mapped onto reality in terms of identification and explanation of ʺwhat there isʺ or ʺwhat would beʺ. As presented the perception-thought duality and the thought-reality duality collapse into perception-reality duality which must be related to the potentialactual polarity. This cognitive approach is the closest that we have to human linguistic behavior toward concept formation, creative thinking, sequential problem-solving, the logic of human approximate reasoning with shades of truth, degrees of identity, assessment of perceptionreality values towards universal understanding and knowledge accumulation in the fields of human and non-human systems.

231

7 REDIVIVA AFRICANA

Every social system goes through ups and downs from within but not from without. Empires rise and fall. But they rise and fall from within through internal stresses and forces of social contradictions. Integration of smaller societies into larger groups and disintegration of larger societies into smaller groups through internal social dynamics are characteristics of our social history. This behavior of social transformation and internal motion is also observed in the behavioral structure of non-human aspects of the universe. In addition to the internal conditions there are external conditions. The external conditions define the reasons for change while the internal conditions define the true basis for change. All things considered, there is continual transformation of every conceivable element in the universe. This continual transformation is consistent with the Africentric notion of a never-ending process of creation where the beginning is unknown and the end will not be known to any human and where the end resides in the beginning and the beginning resides in the end, establishing a beginning-end polarity. In this process every element that exists in universal unity is under internal forces of transformation and continual change that are engendered by the universal system of categories of polarity and duality as discussed under philosophical foundation of polyrhythmicity and epistemics of polyrhythmics. Let us examine the conceptual system of polyrhythmicity and the philosophical beginnings and how the African conceptual system relates to other systems of thought that are claimed by modern intellectuals as Western philosophical traditions.

232

Rediviva Africana

7.1

Philosophical Beginnings: The Creation and “What There is”

The constant self-transformation that projects a continual creation within the universal unity and the constituent categories of particular unity form the analytical foundation of Africentric account of the universal creation and the rise of theology, philosophy and sciences. In other words, it forms the foundation of human knowledge and its accumulation. An important example of this Africentric conceptual foundation is provided from the text of the Papyrus of Any [25, p. xcix] [30, pp. 35-123] I am he who evolved himself under the form of the god Khepera, I, the evolver of the evolutions evolved myself, the evolver of all evolutions, after many evolutions and developments which came forth from my mouth. (I developed myself from the primeval matter, which I had made). No heaven existed, and no earth, and no terrestrial animals or reptiles had come into being. I formed them out of the inert mass of watery matter, I found no place whereon to stand…. I was alone, and the gods Shu and Tefnut had not gone forth from me; there existed none other who worked with me. I laid the foundation of all things by my will; all things evolved themselves therefrom. I united myself to my shadow, and I sent forth Shu and Tefnut out from myself; thus from being one god I became three, and Shu and Tefnut gave birth to Nut and Seb, and Nut gave birth to Osiris, Horus-Khent-an-maa, Sut, Isis, and Nephthys, at one birth, one after the other, and their children multiply upon this earth. [25, p.xcix - c] There are a number of key words and concepts in the above quotation that we have italicized for emphasis. The logical strength of the nothingness-somethingness paradigm in Africentric universal analytics is such that nothing is external to our universe which is infinitely closed under transformational dynamics of categories. Here the Creative Force is internal but not external to the universal system. From nothingness-somethingness polarity the Creator evolved himself or herself and hence self-created. This process of self-creation is categorial transformation that was the result of the relational process of interplay of the Creative Force, Spirit Force and Light Force of many 233

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

years of evolutions through the relational tension of nothingnesssomethingness duality in the nothingness pole. When the Creative Force (Khepera) emerge He or She became something with somethiness pole that contained the nothingness-somethingness duality. From within the somethingness pole of Khepera the nothingnesssomethingness duality is transformed to Khepera-Shadow-of-Khepera duality that existed in relational tension for reduction-construction process. Reductionism takes Khepera back to nothingness which is the primary category of reality. Constructionism takes Khepera to derived category of somethingness pole with its appropriate duality. From the relational tension of Khepera-Shadow-of-Khepera duality Khepera united Himself or Herself with His or Her Shadow through selfevolution to give rise to Shu (Air) and Teftnut (water) to become three. The Africentric conceptual system requires no external mover for the evolving path of somethingness since all things reducible to Khepera became endowed with the property of self-evolution in the creative process as it is stated in the quotation ”all things evolved themselves therefrom”. In the Khepera pole there is separation of self and shadow to establish a duality in unity under relational tension. These words and phrases must receive special attention if one is to understand and benefit from the Africentric framework that is presented in this book as well as their foundation for Western and Eastern philosophical claims. The conceptual domain for the analytical structure of these ideas of creation is part of the cognitive map that is provided in Chapter two of Polyrhythmicity. The domain of reasoning and epistemic approach of thinking is part of the logical structure provided in Chapter 6 on polyrhythmics. From the quotation, notice the conceptual trinity, oneness, separation, unification and selfevolution all of which are cast in categories of polarity and duality. One also should not lose sight of how this quoted text constitutes an important interpretive foundation of Judeo-Christian and Islamic theologies, mythologies and general accounts of Universal Creation. This text was written many millennia before the emergence of Judaism, Christianity, Islam, Hinduism, and Buddhism as our current knowledge reveals. This Africentric account of universal creation is not more mythological than its derivative representation for the JudeoChristian account of the universe. Buried in the above quoted extract is the powerful presence of the Nothing-Something polarity as the primary polarity from which the Creative Force was self-evolved (self234

Rediviva Africana

created), and the categories of polarity evolved through categorial conversion of the primary category of the Creative Force. Every category, after its evolution as categorial conversion to a new one, becomes simultaneously a derived category and primary category for a new form through conversions. In other words, the primary and derived categories exist in the same elemental process of universal creation indicating categories of primary-derived duality. The philosophical foundation presented in Chapter 2 for explaining the creation process in terms of universal unity and evolution toward the discovery of “what there isʹ“ provides us with the framework for linking the current to the past as well as projecting the current to the future in a logical trinity that will strengthen the collective African personality through self-evolution and change. This cognitive foundation requires that the characteristics of the collective African personality be structured and developed, along the category of individual-community polarity, where the primary element for categorial conversion is the community and the social unity, but not the individual. In this way the collective African personality that emerges for transformational continuity will be imbued with the characteristics of humanism that is a derivative of this philosophical foundation, where there is an individual passion for community success and a collective compassion for individual limitations. These characteristics of the collective African personality will then govern the dynamics of the individual African personality in a manner whereby the African social formation and its progress will avoid the tyranny of individualism over the community and the tyranny of the community over the individual creative progress within the social setup. A society is a unity of diverse entities and must evolve and transform itself as a unit in accord with the organizational dynamics of multiplicity of social rhythms of social polarity and categorial conversion. In this respect any ideology such as democracy, Christianity, Islam and others cannot be successfully imposed by force except through indoctrination and mind-altering process to change the African cognitive path. (For example, notice how long it took the Romans and Europe to accept Christianity, and even then a substantial portion of the original ideas were altered to conform to their cognitive confines in addition to human costs.) The individual reasoning process must then be guided by the logic of polyrhythmics as the science of

235

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

thinking that allows critical examination of the channels that relate perception to reality. The methodological structure presented in Chapter 6 to guide African-centered reasoning in terms of verifying the social relevance of questions raised and verification of logical truth in the process of knowledge discovery provides us with an integrated framework for, as well as strengthening, the cognitive paradigm of African people. It is also to assist in shifting the current path of African mode of thinking that is heavily influenced by the Eurocentric mode to the original cognitive path of Africanness. In this respect, the current African societies must undergo some important cognitive restructuring in all human activities in decision-making space. The nature of the restructuring must be guided by these philosophical principles and methodology of thinking that I have abstracted and made explicit from African cognitive traditions where the welfare and development of African society must be shaped by the dynamics of categories of actualpotential polarity and quantity-quality duality. It is important and necessary to pay attention to both quantitative and qualitative motions and how they mutually relate to one another and to the unity of the transformational process and to categorial conversion where the actual becomes transformed to potential and the potential to actual by internal processes. The categories of polarity and duality, the universal unity, the particular unity and transformation dynamics point to an important cognitive path and a model of thinking that Africaʹs socioeconomic development must follow. It is the path that enables unity between the individual and collective consciousness to act in a manner that leads to the mutual survival of the individual and the community. These categories of consciousness for completeness must also be combined with the individual and collective subconsciousness without which existence is incomplete and without which the optimal development of the African personality will be lacking. The problems and difficulties of current African societies at the level of education, economics, politics and law can be divided into two sets. One set of problems is the result of human essence that emerged out of the mind-body polarity which is a derivative from the primary category of nothing-something polarity through the spirit-mater polarity by reductionism. We shall call this set the human problem. The other set of problems is particular to the African essence. Its elements 236

Rediviva Africana

are shaped and developed from the historical conditions that have resulted in the territorial and demographic distributions of the current African states and their borders. We shall call this set of problems the contemporary African problem. The African problem is particular to African people and it is superimposed on the human problem. Its solution requires a different social cognitive framework from that of, at least, the ʺWestern peopleʺ and their social thought that projects the primacy of individualism over the community, national imperialism over sovereignty of other nations, exploitation without fairness and others. Every particular job has its appropriate type of tools for operation. The selection and use of incorrect tools will never get the work (properly) done. The crafting of these tools that correspond to the various job categories is always done and must be done within the social cognitive framework that defines the problems of individual and collective existence of society in question. The cognitive framework for fashioning appropriate intellectual tools to deal with Africaʹs contemporary and future problems is what we have referred to in this book as Africentricity. Its foundational principles are abstracted from the general and particular African environment. Its dynamic philosophical behavior with corresponding laws of motion is here referred to as polyrhythmicity. Its rules of reasoning and thinking leading to a decision-information interactive process is here referred to as polyrhythmics. The point here is simple. Africa must reconnect to its past as an intellectual tool-making society where Africaʹs social thought is shaped by her needs, wants and social exigencies. This cognitive connection must be made by Africans and their descendants all over the globe. Africans can no longer afford to borrow intellectual tools from other societies even if we can claim their foundations. The natural and social environments are constantly changing as we interact with the creative forces in a constructive-destructive process, and hence the intellectual tools must be continually redesigned, shaped, reconditioned and enhanced to cope with the creative process as it affects Africaʹs structural adjustments. We cannot mimic systems of thinking that are to our detriment because the intellectual tools for analyzing and solving all social problems are social vision-specific, culture-specific and social-system specific.

237

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

It must be noted that there is only one fundamental thing that is common to all social formations. This fundamental thing is the organization of human and nonhuman resources to accomplish a social vision which is always ideology and perception-motivated. The social vision may vary from society to society and from generation to generation. We must, therefore, create modern intellectual tools in accordance with our African ancient traditions of hard work, excellence and creativity that are applicable to our social and natural environment of the day and the problems that contemporary Africa faces as the result of her history and global power dynamics. Additionally we must evolve a new thinking society whose destiny is controlled and shaped by its own ideas and whose vision emerges from its own sociophilosophical principles, referred to as Africentricity (that is, Africancenteredness), whose philosophical foundation is grounded in polyrhythmicity and whose logic of reason is guided by intellectual traditions of polyrhythmics. African-centeredness must be the focus of our thought process and intellectual works. We can comfortably claim that the contemporary socio-economic difficulties and problems and the lack of appropriate African responses and solutions are attributable to cognitive dissolution and intellectual schizophrenia that force us to listen to advice from those that have our interest and welfare in perpetual captivity.

7.2

A Simple Reflection on the Growth of Philosophy

The growth of philosophy, like any branch of knowledge, is a process made up of cognitive forces under social tension. Africentricity, polyrhythmicity and polyrhythmics are no different. However, the cognitive forces that must shape the development of Africentricity with its supporting conceptual system and the social tension that directs its path of motion are specific to Africa. Africentricity points to the cognitive path of liberation; as such there is a loss of sensibility and logical force, as well as acquisition of intellectually schizophrenic behavior if we go and beg for tools of liberation from our captors in order to construct its organic essence and to change the conditions that are the crafty construct of the captors. To change Africaʹs current conditions requires a true understanding of the forces that have shaped the present from the past, are shaping them into the future and are defining the enveloping of Africaʹs social transformation. This 238

Rediviva Africana

understanding cannot proceed from the thinking system of those that hold Africa in general and specific captivity. It must flow from the fountain of Africaʹs philosophical traditions and the vision of society that it engenders from the path of our collective intellect, cognitive evolution and content of education. Different societies need not to be organized on the basis of the same socio-philosophical principles. Since social philosophy arises from social exigencies that spin the space of the evolving culture there is no a common philosophical shoe that fits all social formation, organization and governance. Every society is organized on philosophical principles that constitute its understanding of nature, vision of society and the governance of the people. Visions differ from nation to nation. The differences stem from differences in evolving cultures encompassing social exigencies and national histories. The notion that there is only one way to organize societies for sustainable progress is an intellectual travesty that flows from political and ideological arrogance and intellectual ignorance. The reason is simply that philosophy emerges from social exigencies, and its contents are rooted in the evolving social environment which is in turn affected by the content of philosophy and the belief system that it propagates. The basis of human social organization is not free from these philosophical dynamics which are human perceptive models of reality. Africaʹs vision of humans and social formation from antiquity is community based. It is humanistic and highly spiritual with its own rules of dos and donʹts. Its problems are those that are community-based, but not those that emerge from the tyranny of individualism and materialistic crudity that are at odds with those foundations laid down under polyrhythmicity. Similarly, the philosophical foundations of imperialist social formation evolve around oppression of other societies with legal structure of law and order and; philosophical foundations of social formation of colonized and occupied people evolve around emancipation with legal structure of freedom and justice. These philosophical foundations are formed from the relational tension and perceptive interpretations of social exigencies flowing from the oppression-emancipation duality that resides in the order-justice polarity. Nature itself works in unity of diverse forms and change in accordance with multiplicity of rhythms of which individual elements are essential parts. It is according to this principle of unity of diversity and multiplicity of rhythms that the current and future African 239

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

societies must be organized to deal with our problems by utilizing appropriate thinking tools that are the creative works of Africans intellectually liberated from the tyranny of Western intellectual construct. We must always keep in mind, in this Africentric conceptual system, that the external rhythms define the conditions for change but not the basis of change which is internal. The internal rhythms define the basis of change but not the conditions of change which are external. African socioeconomic development cannot successfully proceed from the external sources. It must proceed from within Africa itself and this development must be guided by Africaʹs own thinking. At the level of the basis for change, the internal conditions arise from the cognitive foundations of the society while at the level of reasons for change, the external conditions are generated by hostile cognitive process that seek to destroy the social system. In this way, it is hoped that the contemporary and future African thought processes will be completely influenced by Africaʹs vision, goals and progress, where the job is to analyze, understand and search for solutions to Africaʹs social problems in a manner that alleviates strains and stresses to which Africans are being subjected constantly from within by collaborators and without by the predators, in the modern global organization of production and distribution on the basis of global resource flows (see [43d]). Africaʹs education system must reflect this basic idea that Africans are taught to think from African philosophical and logical foundations whether it involves arts, sciences, morality, theology, law, economics, and politics. Here nothing can be more disastrous for Africa and her intellectual growth than imposition and blind acceptance of false and alien concepts and ideas that are out of step with the Africentric essence. Many examples can be given. One of such examples is the Western concept of democracy in the practice of social decision-making. This Western concept of democracy tends to be inconsistent with African social formation and management where the African philosophical traditions present a concept of democracy with different characteristics. The Western concept of democracy violates all important democratic ideals of the land tenure system of African tradition where land ownership is completely democratized, based on the principle of human right, dignity and use in accordance with the natural unity of the four elements of air, fire, earth and water in the conceptual system of the principles of oppositeness (Section 2.4). In 240

Rediviva Africana

accodance with Africentric philosophical basis of land tenure system, the property rights are such that land ownership is community-based and land use is individual-based on the relational dynamics of individual-community duality. Other examples are the concepts of truth, falsehood, validity and group. Since in the African conceptual system every element in the universe is relationally connected and conceived, truth and falsehood as two discrete opposing values, without a logical connector, as it is in the Western conceptual system, appear as extreme values in the truth-false duality where grades of belonging are admissible. In fact, the current trend toward privatization of water is naturally undemocratic in the African conceptual system. The growth of knowledge in Africa and the development of institutions that foster and maintain it, therefore, must keep in focus the African vision of the primacy of community in the individualcommunity polarity and its refinement as well as the problems and solution possibilities that they reveal. The known global history of the path to true liberation does not present to us with any account, where true liberation has been achieved by simply mimicking and utilizing the same intellectual tools that have been fashioned to subjugate and put one in bondage. Neither does our known social history reveal to us a situation where true liberation and sustainable progress have been achieved without a revolutionary intellectual construct that presents an organic principle with supporting sub-principles and ideology for emancipation. The real importance is that the revolutionary intellectual construct with its sub-principles and implied ideology shapes human perceptions that tend to influence collective behavior in information processing and choice-decision rationality. Definitely the use of hostile intellectual tools and method of thinking will in most cases bring about unintended, negative and undesirable results for the individual and the collective as is currently happening in Africa. These intellectual tools and rules of reasoning tend to support the arguments and positions of the oppressors and predator no matter how consciously one tries, for the use of particular rules of reason leads to a particular set of conclusions and possible practice. Again nothing can be more dangerous for Africaʹs intellectual future, collective knowledge accumulation and socioeconomic development than an unprincipled abandonment of Africaʹs traditions, her natural cognitive path, as has been outlined, and belief in her 241

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

intellectual history as defining the foundations of contemporary global intellectual heritage [8b] [10b–10d] [13], [36] [93a-93d]. .Diverse intellectual forms that have emerged from the intellectual traditions of Africa, the fragmentation of our current cognitive traditions and the urgent need for reconstruction and reconstitution must reinforce the current Africaʹs intellectual commitment to bring about the essential core. Here we must utilize our creativity for rejuvenation and salvation of African intellectual unity that gives substance to African cultural unity. The job seems daunting but it must be done and no other time is right but now. It demands strength, courage, confidence, perseverance, optimism, vision, wisdom, discipline, organization and other ingredients that we have discussed under Chapter 5 of Nguzo Saba and Africentricity. It is from this Africentric intellectual framework that we should examine Africaʹs principles of social formation, morality, codes of conduct, theory of law, monotheism and its relationship to polytheism. Notice that in the Christian theological system, angels, saints other divine links are elevated to lesser gods and offered reverence as conceptual parts of the structure of polytheism in accord with Kamitic theological tradition. It is also under this framework that we should examine the relationships among duality, dualism, monism and unity. It is also from the Africentric framework that we must evaluate the acceptance and non-acceptance of ideas and concepts from other religions, theological systems, philosophical systems and social formations whose foundations cannot be derived from or reduced to the basic Africentric framework which we have referred to as polyrhythmicity with its logic of polyrhythmics. The same Africentric framework should allow us to analyze and craft other essential cognitive elements that are needed for social cohesion and progress under true principles of African democratic ideals. In this way, the operations of African social forces will be humanistic as they should be. They will then override the tyranny of individualism as projected in Western thought in such a way that the organization of production and consumption would be geared to support social unity and life as true African traditions demand, where unity is the center of diverse forms; where differentiation of elements of categories from the primary to the derived in the universal unity is the strength and beauty of the never-ending and continuous process of creation; where tyranny of absolutism as projected in social thought in 242

Rediviva Africana

Western philosophical circles is rejected and where absolutism in the rules of universal creation is accepted. This is the unity of life; it is the unity of the universe and it is the African essence and way of life. There will be no end to this creation whose beginning is the end itself and whose end is the beginning itself in the universal oneness and conceptual polarity in categories. Unity at the level of African social formation, governance and progress requires a well-defined collective African personality to which the individual African personality must be subsumed. It also must have a well defined path of evolution amidst all social and natural exigencies. This is the element of transformational dynamics of the society through the individual-community duality with relational tension between the individual and the community. To sustain a consistent collective African personality, that is in social unity with the individual African personality and social oneness in collective decision-choice space, the Nguzo Saba [78] are discussed as general principles of African behavior. The philosophical basis of Nguzo Saba is provided to affirm their continuity and unity with polyrhythmicity, polyrhythmics and Africentricity. The Nguzo Saba may be viewed as constituting positive confessions that Africans must follow. Geometrically it is consistent with the six points of the star of the principle of polarity of creation with the center of creation being Imani (faith). The epistemic geometry of the relational structure and conceptual system is provided in Figure 7.1. One must take cognizance of the concept of trinity of trinity as revealed in the epistemic geometry where relationality cements the analytics of the logic of polyrhythmics in the evolutionary dynamics. There are three trinities: a) KA-BA-RA Trinity, b) Father-Mother-Child trinity and c) Spirit-Matter- Body-Mind- Nothing-Something trinity. Each trinity has its own set of categories of polarity and duality while each element of each trinity has its own set of elements of polarity and duality all of these reside in unity through relational logic. The concept of Imani (faith) at the center of the Africentric system of thinking is composed of unity of opposites, of the male and the female [20, No. 9], that defines the human essence as the foundation of the African essence. It is also composed of the trinity with the child introduced to give content to life and affirm continuity to the creative and self-evolving process of transformations that provide a living entity to both the human and African essence. The African essence is the assemblage of fundamental thinking traits that have evolved 243

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

historically and have become important imprints on the African human essence. The thinking traits must be edited in other to separate the evolutionary path of the mainstream African cognitive traditions from those elements that have entered into the African thoughts as the result of foreign occupations, colonialism, exploitation and domination.

KA

FEMALE

BODYMIND

UM

SPIRITMATTER

KUM

KUJI

MALE

IMANI NIA

UJIM

BA UJAM

RA

CHILD NOTHING-SOMETHING POLARITY Figure 7.1 Geometry of Nguzo Saba and the Principle of Polarity of Creation where KA = Creative Force, BA= Spirit Force, RA = Light Force, UM = Umoja, KU = Kuumba, KUJI = Kujichagulia, UJIM = Ujimaa, UJAM = Ujama. KA-BA Duality represents Female side of the Creative Process; KA-RA Duality represents the Male side of Creation and; BA-RA Duality represents the Child side of the Creative Process

We note that first there is human essence and superimposed on the human essence is the social essence. The nature of the social essence is defined by the thinking traits as the elemental characteristics of the evolving philosophy and ideology. The African thinking traits are derived from a conceptual system of polarity, duality, relational rhythms, unity and categorial conversions. This conceptual system must constitute a framework for a revolution against certain false 244

Rediviva Africana

conceptions of life, substitution of alien intellectual system whose foundations are not Africentrically derived. This African conceptual system must form the basis of our morality, the foundation of our thought process, and the genesis for instructing the modern African youth in order to ensure the continuity of the African way. In this way, we will guarantee the continuity of African intellectual traditions and hence rediviva Africana.

7.3

Polyrhythmicity, Polyrhythmics and Hermeneutics of General Philosophy

A short hermeneutical discussion on general philosophy from an Africentric view will be useful to understand African philosophical traditions, their contributions and how other philosophical systems have generously benefited. Our discussions here may be viewed as a metatheory on and evolution of general philosophy. Such understanding will increase our appreciation of Africaʹs contribution to universal system of reflections. We are sure some people including some African scholars may have problems with the reference to African philosophical traditions. There are some that hold the position that African philosophy does not exist. We think it was this negative claims that lead Cheikh Anta Diop to pose the question ʺDoes an African Philosophy exist?ʺ in Chapter 17 of his book [39]. He answers it affirmatively. The same concern lead to the analytical work of Nkrumah [106] and other numerous works such as [1] [8b] [67b] [96] [154]. The fact that the Greek-derived word “philosophy” is not used in the languages of Africa does not deprive Africa of her philosophical traditions in terms of general deliberations of what, how, existence and universe and how they may be conceptualized. It also does not deprive Africa of philosophy of law, Justice, ethics, and other critical reflective social thought. The question then is: are there comparable terms? If one goes through the languages of Africa, one would undoubtedly find words that capture the phrase ʺloving (phile) wisdom (sophia)ʺ as Diop has pointed out. For example, in the language of Akans of Ghana there is a word that represents philosophy. The word is nyansasem which is made up of two words, nyansa (wisdom) and nsem (words), which project philosophy. The philosopher is called nyansani. The subject matter covers a whole range of universal forms. We are sure that when other 245

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

African languages are examined critically and without prejudicial preconceptions one would arrive at the same conclusion. Here, I think there are common philosophical positions that link the African traditional societies. These common positions as have been initiated, for example, by Massey [92a-92d], Diop [36] [37] [39], Ben-Jochannan [13-15] Molife Asante [8a] [9] and others derive their foundations from the Nile Valley conceptual system of the Alkebu-lan (the Land of the Blacks) from which the African demographic movement began. The important works of the British intellectual Massey cannot be swept aside as if it never existed [92a - 92d]. We have pointed out that the African scripts are in symbolic language and must be transcribed, interpreted and reconstituted into an organic whole by the qualified. The current discussions and research taking place under ethno-philosophy are very useful. They will provide the required intellectually analytical micro-data that can be synthesized into a unified African organic philosophical thinking even though we object to the term ethno-philosophy. This is the challenge of the current and future Africentric intelligentsia. It calls for a collaborative effort of all persons whose interest and responsibility is to preserve and develop knowledge without preconceptions and prejudices. An important attempt is presented by Tempels in his Bantu Philosophy [138a]. The analysis, synthesis, reconstitution and reconstruction of Africentric philosophical tradition cannot be separated from the conceptual system of the Nile Valley. Let us revisit the Kamitic concept of creation from the people of Alkebu-lan and how the concept of creation provided the basis of modern philosophical thinking in general. As presented in the quotation from the text of the Papyrus of Ani [25, p. xcix] the phrase describing the self-evolution under the form of the God of Khepera establishes unquestionably the conceptual principle and foundation of idealism as a philosophical branch. The concept of ”primeval matter which I have made” and the concept of “I formed them out of the inert mass of watery matter” in the quotation establish the principle and foundations of materialism that give rise to a philosophical discipline. The two together establish an intellectual polarity in terms of idealismmaterialism polarity with the corresponding spirit-matter duality in unity that is established by the organizational arrangements of multiplicity of rhythms.

246

Rediviva Africana

The concepts in the words “I am he who evolved himself, ---the evolver of the evolutions, ----all things evolved themselves therefrom (the foundations of primeval matter which I had made)” in the quotation establish the foundation and principle of dialectics as the basis of a philosophical sub-discipline. It also establishes the basic foundation of the theory of evolution. In the same quotation, we find the established foundation of primary categories for categorial conversion where internal self-motion is the law of change, and the study of dialectics is set forth as a philosophical category of general categorial conversions or transformation dynamics. Here one must pay special attention to the emphasis of self-evolution. The Creative Force was self-evolved and self-created. There was no external force of impression requised, particularly as the universe is infinite and Khepera-closed under continual transformation. The transformation from nothingness to somethingness was attributed to internal dynamics. ʺHeʺ laid down the foundation of matter. All things evolved themselves therefrom. At the level of philosophical idealism the African thought process establishes the primary category to be nothingness from which the Creative Force was self-made to become something, thus establishing the primary category of nothingsomething polarity as we have discussed in Chapters 2 and 6 of this book. (See also [20b, pp. 25-45] for the role played by nothingness in an African thinking.) This construct is a little different from that of Diop [39]. However, we believe that the interpretation is consistent with the African conceptions of duality, relationality, unity and polarity that bring forward the logical consistency required for universal logical completeness and transformation closure. At the level of the principle of materialism, the African philosophical position establishes the primary category for the evolution or categorial conversion to be matter which was created to allow Khepera (sometimes represented as RA) that existed in unity with spirit to be then created as the foundation from which all other things including mind and body evolved themselves. Self-evolution or self-motion or self-conversion or self-change became an inherent property of universal unity and dynamics in the path of organic creation. For each category the external rhythms specify the conditions for change while the actual change comes from within through the behavior of internal rhythms as the basis for change. The implication here is that to understand the evolutionary process of the universe, we 247

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

must take matter as the starting point because the Creator asserts the primacy of matter in the statement ʺI developed myself from the primeval matter, which I had madeʺ [25 p. xciv]. This statement ensures the primacy of matter. The concept of “I united myself with my shadow” establishes the foundations and the ideas of spirit and duality in universal and particular unity. From here we obtain the spirit-matter duality. The conceptual domain of “from being one God I became three and I united myself to my shadow” establishes the basic principle and foundation of metaphysics as a basis of philosophical discipline. We must notice that both quoted phrases project no law of motion as well as projects a law of change simultaneously. Thus we have the category of dialectics-metaphysics polarity. The analytical structure that emerges is such that we have idealism, materialism, dialectics and metaphysics which together provide the four elements of principle of opposites at the conceptual level that provides an isomorphism to the original four elements of earth, water, fire and air. With these four conceptual elements, cross fertilizations such as those of dialectical idealism, metaphysical idealism, dialectical materialism and metaphysical materialism arose and appeared separately in the Western philosophical thought and logical constructs. From the viewpoint of Africaʹs philosophical tradition, these conceptual and epistemic areas are viewed as unified and inseparable on the journey to knowledge. The relational geometry is given in Figure 7.2 in terms of categories of duality where the two circles establish the outer and inner circles of knowledge. The doors and keys to find “what there is” in terms of discovery and explanation are contained in the universal Dot. The point here is simple, and that is, that all philosophical constructs take off from this basic structure and this structure is ancient to Africa and its foundation has its home in Africa. The resulting philosophical edifice from human inquiry will depend essentially on the questions that one seeks answers to, which will then point to the needed assumptions (that is, things that may be taken for granted for one reason or the other in the understanding process) and the starting point of the inquiry. When one goes back to the quotation from the Papyrus of Ani [25 and 26a] one encounters profoundly two types of self-motion. One type of self-motion involves the spiritual state which includes the evolution of the Creative Force of general spiritual dynamics that projects qualitative motion. The other type of self248

Rediviva Africana

motion involves the material state as a foundation from which all things evolved themselves. This projects quantitative motion. From these motions of the primary category, time emerged whose axis can always be rotated or shifted to initialize a derived category as a new primary category of polarity for analysis and synthesis either by constructionism or reductionism.

IDEALISM

DIALECTICAL MATERIALISM

METAPHICAL MATERIALISM

DIALECTICAL IDEALISM

METAPHYSICAL IDEALISM

MATERIALISM

Figure 7.2 The Relational Geometry of Methodology of Knowledge with Cognitive connections of IdealismMaterialism Polarity and Dialectical-Metaphysical Polarity that spin the Knowledge Space

Superimposed on these types of motion is the human conception of the state of no changes or infinitesimal changes that may be neglected on general philosophical constructs. The complete understanding of the African thought process requires the consideration of the spiritual and material aspects that together present themselves as dual in oppositeness, and yet in unity from the categories of relationality leading to an important spirit-matter polarity. The notion of ʺI developed myself from the primeval matter which I madeʺ establishes duality and imposes the logic of unity and inseparability of spirit and matter. Any separation between them brings into existence the logic of the process of unification at all levels of categories of polarity. The 249

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

notion of ʺI united myself with my shadowʺ asserts duality and unity (examine for example the conceptual system of the Dogon people of West Africa [65a] as well as similar thoughts in [8b] [33b] [96] [144a]). At the level of the primary category of polarity and in accordance with polyrhythmicity, the positions of philosophical idealism and philosophical materialism add no intellectual substance if they are distinguished in terms of primacy of matter or spirit, or whether existence is independent of human mind and cognition, or whether consciousness is a product of matter. These types of distinction do not make any analytical sense in the African conceptual system because matter and spirit exist in relational unity in a manner that ensures their mutual existence. At this level of distinction between these two philosophical positions, and in accordance with African conceptual system, the relationship between the spiritual and material is rhythmically defined and only meaningful in the categories of derived polarities and the dynamics of relationality. This is due to the fact that ʺall things evolved themselves therefrom (the foundation)ʺ including other forms of matter, spirit, mind, body, consciousness and subconsciousness. When forced and artificial separation is made between the spirit and matter, this imposes an important cognitive impediment on human inquiry that prevents human reasoning from elevating itself to a higher spiritual and material state of understanding, even if this state has become necessary and possible from the viewpoint of general cognition and the creative process. The thought process that emerges from this position becomes mechanistic and servile. This is one important reason why the technology and the logic of the pyramidal construction cannot be explained and understood in terms of the modern Western cognitive spectacles. The universe, from the Africentric conceptual system, will exist, and the creative process will continue on its path even if we manage to annihilate the whole of mankind through spiritual ignorance, material stupidity and the lack of understanding of the logic of the universal polarity, duality and unity, and the understanding that the creative process is continuous and unending that resides in oneness. The statement that all things evolved themselves from the foundation that has been established by the Creative Force does not deny conceptual separability, analysis and synthesis, but it affirms a process unity within the Africentric conceptual system as viewed in terms of categories of polarity, duality and relationality. At the level of 250

Rediviva Africana

human cognition, therefore, the questions of ʺwhat there isʺ and its knowability are seen critically in terms of matter-spirit polarity and mind-body duality in the Africentric conceptual system, where phenomena of temporary states and processes are pulled together by categories of relationality that are established by organizational arrangements of multiplicity of rhythms to form the universal unity with transformational dynamics and categorial conversions. Nothing relationally stands by itself and nothing can stand by itself except in organic unity, and this organic unity by logical extension is the child of nothingness. This suggests the inseparable unity of cognitive dual of idealism and materialism. In matter is the seed of the spirit, and in the spirit is the seed of matter. In this Africentric conceptual system, duality is distinguished from dualism. In duality is separation and unity and in dualism is separation and disunity. There is no cognitive conflict in either assuming the primacy of matter or the primacy of spirit as long as the two are again logically brought together in cognitive unity within the African philosophical tradition, and as long as everything can be shown to emerge from or reducible to the primary category of reality. The conflict only arises from human cognitive limitations rather than from harmony and resolutions in the universal unity composed of transitional states, processes and categories of categorial dynamics. This unity of cognition must constitute the foundation for understanding nature and its processes through transitional states. It must form the cognitive basis for analysis, synthesis and construction of theories about African societies and their progress. It must also form the logical basis for instructing the African youth to ensure the continuity of Africaʹs contribution to universal system of knowledge in order to elevate humanism, primacy of the community, and the creative evolution to the forefront of all human activities where the global intellectual history comes to honor and accord true credit to the African conceptual foundations of global philosophical, theological and scientific constructs as are revealed in the massive, impressive and foundational works of Gerald Massey [93a – 93d]. The contribution of Masseyʹs work is summarized by Charles Finch thus: ʺMassey pioneered the effort to connect Old Kamite thought to its origin in Africaʹs antiquity. His conclusions, which are constantly being verified, showed that Kamite thought was the direct progenitor to the philosophy, metaphysics, religion and science that eventually shaped 251

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

Western civilizationʺ [92a back cover]. What all this points to are conceptual battles of social formations, wars of ideas and the role that Africa has played in the global intellectual heritage. In these battles and wars of ideas to win minds, the advice of one of Africaʹs modern eminent scholars, Cheikh Anta Diop, is extremely useful. ʺAncient Egypt was a Negro civilization. The history of Black Africa will remain suspended in the air and cannot be written correctly until African historians dare to connect it with the history of (Ancient) Egypt … The African historian who evades the problem of Egypt is neither modest nor objective, nor unruffled; he is ignorant, cowardly and neuroticʺ …“The ancient Egyptians were Negroes. The moral fruit of their civilization is to be counted among the assets of the Black world. Instead of presenting itself to history as an insolvent debtor, the Black world is the very initiator of the “western” civilization flaunted before our eyes today. Pythagorean mathematics, the theory of the four elements of Thales of Miletus, Epicurean materialism, Platonic idealism, Judaism, Islam and modern sciences are rooted in Egyptian cosmology and scienceʺ [36, p. xiv]. Massey also points out that ʺIt is to inner Africa we must look in order to understand that whish became majestic in [ancient] Egyptʺ [10b]. In other words the Kamitic philosophical tradition of antiquity is truly African and African-centered in the sense that it is reducible to all Africa without residue. The driving force of the work in this volume is to take the counsel of Diop, that points to rediviva Africana and to shift the paradigm of African current cognitive process, the resulting philosophy and content of education. In this respect we must add an isomorphic statement to that of Diop, that any construct of Africa philosophy and its discussions by an African intellectual that fails to connect African organic conceptual system to the conceptual system of the Kamitic philosophy in particular and that of the Nile Valley civilization in general from which the demographic movement of Africans occurred is a mere cognitive illusion that rests on ignorance, travesty of historical rationality, and trivialities of exercises of intellectual mimicry that forces one to be enslaved in the house of oneʹs formal education without the creative development of independent thinking that is librating. The fruits of the Nile valley conceptual system are African roots that must be connected to philosophical and theological research

252

Rediviva Africana

in order to present an integrated system of African philosophical tradition. The roots of the Nile valley conceptual system are African and must be integrated in a holistic approach to the reconstruction of African philosophical tradition. For example, in African philosophical tradition in general, democracy entails humanism. Humanism implies democratization of the four elements of water, land (earth), air and fire, the basic elements of principles of opposite, on the basis of use without individual control, and this must guide Africentric social formation, governance and management of the society. It is from this democratization that ideas of individual passion for community success and community compassion for individual limitation acquire the content of freedom and justice for Africentric socioeconomic formation on the basis of ”each for all and all for each”. Fear of unconstructive criticism from within and from without cannot be entertained in bringing together the essential elements that are common to and unifying of this Great Continent of ours and her peoplesʹ achievements. We are reminded by Isaka Seme that All the glory of (ancient) Egypt belongs to Africa and her people (without residue). These monuments are the indestructible memorials of this great and original genius. It is not through (ancient) Egypt alone Africa claims such unrivalled historic achievements. I could have spoken of the pyramids of (ancient) Ethiopia which, though inferior in size to those of (ancient) Egypt, far surpass them in architectural beauty; their sepulchers which evince the height parity of taste, and of many prehistoric ruins in other parts of Africa. In such ruins Africa is like the golden sun, that, having sunk beneath the western horizon, still plays up on the world which he sustained and enlightened in his career. [130d p. 262]. The defense and continuation of rediviva Africana demand an African intellectual decolonization that projects a new global intellectual order where true source of the development of the global intellectual heritage and Africaʹs cognitive path are clearly defined. This requires hard work, independent thinking and resolute commitment to develop Africaʹs intellectual unity from its foundations in support of African cultural unity. The solution to the problem of rediviva Africana at the level of cognition and the establishment of 253

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

African intellectual independence demand that we take off the intellectual veil that has blinded our cognitive sight and clouded our vision in order to construct the organic African intellectual story with continuity and elegance to guide our socioeconomic progress in all fields of human endeavor. In this way we shall ensure rediviva Africana. Finally, we shall remark on the ideological debate taking place between Chrisian fundamentalists and science fundamentalists on creationism and evolutionism by putting it in a proper context within the Africentic conceptual system. Within the Africentric logical framework, the universe is one with infinite diameter that spins an infinite circumference. It is self-contained by Khepera axioms and principles. By Nkrumah’s postulates the universe is composed of infinite set of categories of states and processes of what there is (actual) and what there is not (potential) [that is, categories of actual-potential polarity and duality). By Pharaonic-Dogon postulates the categories of polarity and duality are under continual relational tensions with mutual negations. By Nkrumah’s postulates these categories are under continual intra- and inter-categorial conversions that are infinitely Khepera closed where nothing is lost or gained except transformations and substitutions in a manner where one category fades into another by particular and universal internal processes. The initialization of the existential universe logically begins with the primary category of nothingness in the primary polarity of nothingness-somethingness polarity. The primary category of duality resides in the nothingness pole. By many years of self-evolution and transformation Khepera emerged as self-created from the nothingness pole of nothingness-somethingness polarity into somethingness pole as we have previously explained. From the somethingness pole the nothingness-somethingness duality became Khepera-Shadow-ofKhepera duality that carried with it the particular property of selfevolution and hence self-creation under relational dynamics withou extenal impression. All other derived categories of polarity and duality inherited this self-creation as a universal characteristic of self-evolution . When the Creative Force (Khepera) emerge He or She became something with somethiness pole that contained the nothingnesssomethingness duality. From within the somethingness pole of Khepera the nothingness-somethingness duality is transformed to Khepera-Shadow-of-Khepera duality that existed in relational tension for reduction-construction process. Reductionism takes Khepera back 254

Rediviva Africana

to nothingness which is the primary category of reality. Constructionism takes Khepera to derived category of somethingness pole with its appropriate duality. From the relational tension of Khepera-Shadow-of-Khepera duality Khepera united Himself or Herself with His or Her Shadow through self-evolution to give rise to Shu (Air) and Teftnut (water) to become three. The Africentric conceptual system requires no external mover for the evolving path of somethingness since all things reducible to Khepera became endowed with the property of self-evolution in the creative process as it is stated in the quotation ”all things evolved themselves therefrom”. In the Khepera pole there is separation of self and shadow to establish a duality in unity under relational tension. In this logical system the Creator is internalized but not externalized. He or She lives in the universe of His or Her own creation and evolution. Things come into being or disappearace through categorial conversions of substitutiontransformation processes in our self-contained universe which is infinitely closed under operators of creational and evolutionary dynamics. Evolution and creation are two sides of the same coin. Creation is evolution and evolution is creation and the process is infinite. The externalization of the Creator, whether we asign the name Khepera, or God, or Allah, or Intelligent Designer, or any other name, imposes fanality on our universe. The deny of self-evolution is also a deny of self-creation and the existence of our universe as self-evolving system as well the deny of the emergence of the Creator or Designer. The teaching of evolution is also the teaching of creation under internal selfmotion and dynamic behavior of the nothingness-somethingness polarity as primary category of reality of our universal system. In this Africentric cognitive framework creation is continually infinite that imposes specific requirements on human cognitive endearvors. Here the role of scientific and non-scientic studies acquire important cognitive dynamics in the study of existiences of categories, properties of categories, categorial formations and conditions of categorial conversions. The undersanding of this evolution-creation dynamics as self-transformational phenominon is also Rediviva Africana. .

255

REFERENCES [1] Abraham, W.E., The Mind of Africa, London, Weidenfeld and Nicholson, 1962. [2] Ahuma, Attoh S.R.B., The Gold Cost Nation and National Consciousness, in [88], pp. 161-72. [3a] Ajala, Adekunle, Pan-Africanism : Evolution, Progress and Prospects, London, Andre Deutsch, 1973. [3b] Allen, J. et al., Without Sanctuary: The Lynching Photography in America, Santa Fe, N.M., Twen Palms Publishers, 2000. [3c] Allen, James P., Genesis in Egypt: The Philosophy of Ancient Egyptian Creation Accounts (Yale Egyptological Studies, #2), New Haven, Yale University, Department of Near Eastern Languages and Civilizations, 1988. [3d] Alston, W. and R.B. Brandt (eds.), The Problems of Philosophy, Boston, MA, Allyn and Bacon, 1967. [3e] Amate, C.O.C., Inside OAU: Pan-Africanism in Practice, New York, St. Martinʹs Press, 1986. [3f] Amen, Ra Un Nefer, Metu Neter Vol. 1, Bronx, New York, Khamit Co. Pub., 1977. [4a] Amin, Samir, Neo-Colonialism in West Africa, New York, Monthly Review Press, 1973. [4b] Amin, Samir, Eurocentrism, New York, Monthly Review Press, 1989. [5a] Amo Afer, A.G., The Absence of Sensation and the Faculty of Sense in the Human Mind and Their Presence in our Organic and Living Body, PhD Dissertation and other Essays 1727-1749, Halle, Wittenberg, Jena, Martin Luther University Translation, 1968. [5b] Ani, M., Yurugu: An African-Centered Critigue of European Cultural Thought and Behavior, Trenton, N.J., Africa World Press, 1994. [5c] Apostel, Leo, African Philosophy: Myth or Reality, Ghent, Belgium, Scientific Publishers, 1981. [5d] Appiah, Kwame, A., In my Father’s House: Africa in the Philosophy of Culture, New York, Oxford Univesity Press, 1992. 256

[5e] Appolus, Emil (ed.), The Resurgence of Pan-Africanism, London, Freedman Brothers, 1974. [5e] Aristote, N., Politique, Books I and II, Paris, Les Belles Lettres, 1960. [6a] Armah, Ayi Kwei, Two Thousand Seasons, Oxford, Heineman, 1973. [6b] Armah, Ayi Kwei, Osiris Rising, Dakar, Senegal, Africa Per Ankh Publishers, 1995. [7] Asante, Molefi K. et al. (eds.), African Culture: The Rhythms of Unity, Trenton, New Jersey, African World Press Inc., 1990. [8a] Asante, Molefi K., Afrocentricity, Trenton, New Jersey, Africa World Press, Inc., 1989. [8b] Asante, Molefi K. et al. (eds.), African Intellectual Heritage: Book of Sources, Philadelphia, PA, Temple University Press [9] Asante, Molefi K., Kement, Afrocenticity and Knowledge, Trenton, New Jersey, Africa World Press, Inc., 1990. [10a] Asante, S.K.B., Pan-African Protest: West Africa and the ItaloEthiopian Crisis, 1934-1941, Legon History Series, London, Longmans, 1977. [10b] Ashby, M.A., The African Origins of Civilization: Book I, Mystical Religion and Yoga Philosophy, Miami, FL, Cruzan Mystic Books, 1995. [10c] Ashby, M.A., The African Origins of Civilization, Book II: African Origins of Western Civilization, Religion and Philosophy, Miami, FL, Cruzan Mystic Books, 2001. [10d] Ashby, M.A., The African Origins of Civilization Book III: The African Origins of Eastern Civilization, Religion, Yoga Mysticism and Philosophy, Miami, FL, Cruzan Mystic Books, 2001. [10e] Ashby, M.A., Egyptian Yoga Vol. I,: The Philosophy of Enlightenment, Miami, FL, Cruzan Mystic Books, 1997, [10f] Auma-Osolo, A., Cause-Effects of Modern African Nationalism on the World Market, University Press of America, 1983. [10g] Axinn, Sidney, ʺKant, Logic and Concept of Mankind,ʺ Ethics, Vol 48 (XLVIII), 1958, pp. 286-291. 257

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

[10g] Bakewell, Charles M., Source Book in Ancient Philosophy, New York, Charles Scribnerʹs Sons, 1909. [11a] Bascom, William, African Art in Cultural Perspective: Introduction, New York, Norton, 1973. [11b] Bebey, Francis, African Music: A Peopleʹs Art, Westport, CT, Lawrence Hill and Co., 1980. [11c] Bell, Richard H., Understanding African Philosophy: A Cross-cultural Approach to Classical and Contemporary Issues, New York, Routledge, 2002. [12] Ben-Jochannan, Joseph A.A., Cultural Genocide in the Black and African Studies Curriculum, New York, River Nile Universal Books, 1972. [13] Ben-Jochannan, Joseph A.A., Africa: Mother of Western Civilization, Baltimore, MD, Black Classic Press, 1988. [14] Ben-Jochannan, Joseph A.A. et al., African Origins of Major Western Religions, New York, Alkebulan Books, 1970. [15] Ben-Jochannan, Joseph A.A., Black Man of the Nile, Baltimore, MD, Black Classic Press, 1989. [16] Ben-Jochannan, Joseph A.A., We the Black Jews, Baltimore, MD, Black Classic Press, 1983. [17a] Ben-Jochannan, Joseph A.A., Hugh Brooks and Kempton Webb, Africa: Land, People and Cultures of the World, New York, W.H. Sadlier, 1971. [17b] Bergsten, C.F. (ed.), Global Economic Imbalances, Special Report #4, Washington, D.C., Institute for international Economics, 1985. [17c] Berkeley, George, Treatise Concerning the Principles of Human Knowledge, Works, Vol. I (edited by A. Fraser), Oxford, Oxford University Press, 1871-1814. [17d] Berkeley, George, ʺMaterial Things are Experiences of Men or Godʺ in [3c], 1967, pp. 658-668. [18] Blyden, E.W., ʺAfrican Life and Customsʺ in [88] pp. 78-87. [19] Blyden, Edward W., Christianity, Islam and the Negro Race, Baltimore, MD, Black Classic Press, 1994.

258

[20a] Boahen, A. Adu, African Perspectives on Colonialism, Baltimore, Johns Hopkins University Press, 1987. [20b] Bonnefoy, Yves, Mythologies, Vols 1-2, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1991. [21] Bovill, E.W., The Golden Trade of the Moors, London, Oxford University Press, 1958. [22a] Bovill, E.W., Caravans of the Old Sahara, London, Oxford University Press, 1933. [22b] Breasted, James H., Ancient Records of Egypt, Vols. 1-5, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1906-1907. [22c] Breasted, James Henry, Development of Religion and Thought in Ancient Egypt, New York, Charles Scribnerʹs Sons, 1912. [22d] Brody, Baruch A. (ed.), Readings in the Philosophy of Science, Englewood Cliffs, NJ., Prentice-Hall Inc., 1970. [22e] Browdes, Anthony T., Exploiting the Myths, Vol. 1: Nile Valley Contribution to Civilization, Washington, D.C., The Institute of Karmic Guidance, 1992. [22f] Browdes, Anthony T., Egypt on the Potomac, Washington, D.C., IKG Publishers, 2004. [22g] Brown, Lee (ed.), African Philosophy: New and Traditional Perspectives, New York, Oxford University Press, 2004. [23] Budge, Willis E.A., Osiris and the Egyptian Resurrection, Vols. 1 and 2, New York, Dover, 1973. [24a] Budge, Willis E.A., The Gods of Egyptians, Vols. 1 and 2, New York, Dover, 1969. [24b] Budge, Willis E.A., Amulets and Talismans, New Hyde Park, University Books, 1961. [24c] Budge, Willis E.A., The Bandlet of Righteousness, an Ethiopian Book of the Dead, London, Luzac and Co., 1929. [25] Budge, Willis E.A., The Egyptian Book of the Dead, New York, Dover, 1967.

259

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

[26a] Budge, Willis E.A., The Papyrus of Ani, Vols. 1, 2 and 3, New York, G. P. Putmanʹs sons, 1913. [26b] Budge, Willis E.A., The Negative Confession, New York, Bell Publishing Co., 1960. [26c] Budge, Willis, The Egyptian Sudan. Vols I and II, London, Kegan, Trench & Co., 1907. [27] Cabral, A., Return to the Source, New York, Monthly Review Press, 1973. [28] Cameron, J., The African Revolution, New York, Random House, 1961. [29a] Chinweizu, The West and the Rest of Us: White Predators, Black Slaves and the African Elite, New York, Vintage Books, 1975. [29b] Chomsky, Noam, Pirates and Emperors: International Terrorism in the Real World, New York, Claremont Research Publication, 1986. [29c] Chomsky, Noam, Profit Over People, New York, Seven Stories Press, 1999. [29d] Chomsky, Noam and E. S. Herman, The Washington Connection and Third World Fascism, New york, South End Press, 1979. [29e] Clark, Gordon Haddon, Thales to Dewey: a History of Philosophy, Boston, MA, Houghton Mifflin, 1957. [30] Clark, Rundle R.T., Myth and Symbol in Ancient Egypt, New York, Thames and Hudson, 1978. [31a] Clarke, John H., Notes on African World Revolution: Africa at the Crossroads, Trenton, N.J. African World Press, 1991. [31b] Clarke, John H., Marcus Garvey and the Vision of Africa, New York, Random House, 1974. [31c] Cowan, L.G., The Dilemmas of African Independence, New York, Warker and Co., 1964. [31d] Cromwell, Adelaide M. (ed.), Dynamics of the African AfroAmerican Connection: From Dependency to Self-Reliance, Washington, D.C., Howard University Press, 1987.

260

[32] Cruse, Harold, The Crisis of the Negro Intellectual : A History and Analysis of the Failure of Black Leadership, New York, Quill Press, 1967. [33a] Danquah, J.B., Friendship and Empire, London, Fabian Colonial Bureau, 1949. [33b] Danquah J.B., The Akan Doctrine of God: A Fragment of Gold Coast Ethics and Religion, London, Frank Cass and Co., 1968. [34] Danquah, J.B., Ancestors, Heroes and God, Kibi, Ghana, George Boakie Pub. Co., 1938. [35a] Davidson, Basil, The Lost Cities of Africa, Boston, Little, Brown & Co., 1959. [35b] Davis, Kortright, Emancipation Still Cominʹ: Explorations in Caribbean Emancipatory Theology, New York, Orbis, 1990. [35c] Dawson, Christopher, The Making of Europe, Part 1: The Foundations, New York, The World Pub. Co., 1956. [35d] De Buck, Adriaan and Alan H. Gardiner (eds.), The Egyptian Coffin Texts, Vols. 1-7, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1935-1961. [35f] Descartes, René, The Philosophical Works of Descartes, Cambridge, Cambridge University Press, 1931. [35e] Descartes, René, ʺMan as Two Substancesʺ in [3c], 1962, pp. 386402. [35f] Descartes, René, Meditations on First Philosophy, New York, BoobsMerrill and Co, 1960. [36] Diop, Cheikh A., The African Origins of Civilization: Myth or Reality, Brooklyn, New York, Lawrence Hill, 1974. [37] Diop, Cheikh A., The Cultural Unity of Black Africa, Chicago, Third World Press, 1978 [38] Diop, Cheikh A., Pre-colonial Black Africa, Brooklyn, New York, Lawrence Hill, 1987. [39] Diop, Cheikh A., Civilization or Barbarism, Brooklyn, New York, Lawrence Hill, 1991. [40] Diop, Cheikh A., Black Africa: The Economic and Cultural Base for a Federated State, Brooklyn, New York, Lawrence Hill, 197. 261

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

[41a] Doane, Thomas W., Bible Myths and Their Parallels in Other Religions, New Hyde Park, New York, University Book, 1971. [41b] Dodson, H. et al., Jubilee: The Emergence of African-American Culture, Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture, New York, New York Public Library, 2002. [42] Dompere, Kofi K., ʺOn Epistemology and Decision-Choice Rationalityʺ in R. Trapple (ed.), Cybernetics and System Research, New York, North Holland, 1982, pp. 219-228. [43a] Dompere, Kofi K., Africentricity and African Nationalism, Langley Park, MD, IAAS Publishers, 1992. [43b] Dompere, Kofi K., Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Theory of Fuzzy Decisions: Identification and Measurement Theory (Series: Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing, Vol. 158), Berling, Heidelberg, Springer Verlag, 2004. [43c] Dompere, Kofi K., Cost-Benefit Analysis and the Theory of Fuzzy Decisions: Fuzzy Value Theory (Series: Studies in Fuzziness and Soft Computing, Vol.160), Berling, Heidelberg, Springer Verlag, 2004. [43d] Dompere, Kofi K., African Union :Pan-African Analytical Foundations, London, Adonis-Abbey Pub., 2006. [44] Dompere, Kofi K. and M. Ejaz, Epistemics of Development Economics: Toward a Methodological Critique and Unity, Westport, CT, Greenwood Press, 1995. [45a] Douglass, Frederick, ʺFourth of July Oration,ʺ in [8b], pp. 637-640. [45b] Dray, W.H., ʺHistorical Understanding as Re-thinking,ʺ in [22d], pp. 167-179. [45c] DuBois, W.E.B., The Souls of Black Folk, New York, Feiwcell World Library, 1961. [46] DuBois, W.E.B., Dust of Dawn: An Essay Toward an Autobiography of a Race Concept, New York, Harcourt, Brace, 1968 [47] DuBois, W.E.B., The World and Africa, New York, International Publishers, 1987. [48] DuBois, W.E.B., On Sociology and Black Community, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1978. 262

[49a] DuBois, W.E.B., W.E.B. DuBois Speaks: Speeches and Addresses 18901919, New York, Pathfinder, 1970. [49b] DuBois, W.E.B., The Education of Black People; Ten Critiques, 19061960 (Ed. H. Aptherker), New York, Monthly Review Press, 1975. [50] Duchein, R.N., The Pan-African Manifesto, Accra, Guinea Press Ltd., 1957. [51a] Emerson, Rupert, From Empire to Nation, Boston, MA, Beacon Press, 1963. [51b] Engels, Frederick, Dialectics of Nature, New York, International Pub., 1940. [52a] Esedebe, P.O., Pan-Africanism: The Idea and the Movement 1963-1976, Washington, D.C., Howard University Press, 1982. [52b] Ewing, A.C., ʺA Reaffirmation of Dualismʺ in [3c], pp. 454-461. [53a] Fagg, William B., Nigerian Images, The Splendor of African Sculpture, New York, Praeger, 1963. [53b] Fanon, Frantz, The Wretched of the Earth, New York, Grove Press Inc., 1963. [54] Fanon, Frantz, Toward the African Revolution, New York, Grove Press Inc., 1964. [55] Fanon, Frantz, Black Skin, White Masks, New York, Dover Press Inc., 1967. [56a] Faulkner, R.C., The Ancient Egyptian Coffin Texts, Warminster, England, Aris and Philips, 1973. [56b] Faulkner, R.C., The Ancient Egyptian Pyramid Texts, Oxford, Clarendon, 1969. [56c] Fedoseyer, P.N. et al., Philosophy in USSR: Problems of Dialectical Materialism, Moscow, Progress Pub., 1977 [56d] Felder, C.H., Troubling Biblical Waters: Race. Class and Family, New York, Orbis Press, 1989. [57a] Foote, George W. and W.P. Bell (eds.), The Bible Handbook for Freethinkers and Inquiring Christians, London, The Pioneer Press, 1921.

263

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

[57b] Frankford, Henri, The Intellectual Adventure of Ancient Man, Chicago, University of Chicago Press, 1957. [57c] Frankford, Henri, Ancient Egyptian Religion: An Interpretation, New York, Columbia University Press, 1948. [57d] Fraser, Douglas (ed.), African Art as Philosophy, New York, Interbook, 1974. [57e] Frazer, James G., The Golden Bough; a Study in Magic and Religion, Vols. 1 – 13, London, Macmillan, 1911-1936. [58a] Frobenius, Leo, The Voice of Africa, Vols. 1 and 2, London, Hutchinson and Company, 1913. [58b] Gabre-Medhim, ʺThe Origin of the Trinity in Art and Religion,ʺ in [17b], pp. 99-120. [58c] Gadamer, Hans Georg, The Beginning of Knowledge (Translated by Rod Coltman), New York, Continuum, 2001. [59] Garvey, Marcus, The Philosophy and Opinions of Marcus Garvey, Dover, MA, The Majority Press, 1986. [60a] Geiss, I., The Pan-African Movement, London, Methuen Press, 1974. [60b] Ghana Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, Nkrumsh,s Subversion in Africa, Accra, Ghana, Government Printing Press, 1966. [60c] Gillings, Richard J., Mathematics in the Times of the Pharaohs, London, M.I.T. Press, 1972. [61] Glover, Ablade E. (ed.), Adinkra Symbolism, Accra, Liberty Press Ltd., 1971. [62a] Glover, Ablade E., Linguist Staff Symbolism, Accra, Liberty Press Ltd., 1971. [62b] Glover, Ablade E., Stools Symbolism, Accra, Liberty Press, 1971. [63] Goma, L. K. H., The Hard Road to the Transformation of Africa, Aggrey-Fraser Guggisberg Memorial Lecture 1991, University of Ghana, Legon-Accra, Communication Studies Press, 1991. [64a] Graves, Robert and Raphael Patai, Hebrew Myths: The Book of Genesis, New York, Doubleday and Company, 1964.

264

[64b] Green, R.H. et al., Unity or Poverty: the Economics of Pan-Africanism, Baltimore, MD, Penguin Books, 1968. [65a] Griaule, M., Conversations with Ogotemmele, London, Oxford University Press, 1969. [65b] Groves, Charles P., Planting of Christianity in Africa, Vols.1-4, London, Lutterworth Press, 1948-1958. [66] Guyer, David, Ghana and the Ivory Coast, New York, An Explotion Press, 1970. [67a] Gyekye, K., An Essay on African Philosophical Thought: The Akan Conceptual Schemes, New York, Cambridge University Press, 1987. [67b] Gyekye, Kwame, Tradition and Modernity: Philosophical Reflections on African Experience, New York, Oxford University Press, 1997. [68a] Hargreaves, J. D., Prelude to the Partition of West Africa, London, Macmillan, 1963. [68b] Harris, Joseph E. (ed.), Global Dimensions of the African Diaspora, Washington, D.C., Howard University Press, 1982. [69a] Hayford, Casely J.E., ʺAfrican Nationality,ʺ in [88], pp. 203-219. [69b] Hegel, George, Collected Works, Berlin, Duncher und Humblot, 1832 – 1845 [also Science of Logic, translated by W. H. Johnston and L. G. Struther , London, 1951]. [69c] Hempel, Carl G. and P. Oppenheim, ʺStudies in the Logic of Explanation,” in [22d], pp. 8 – 27. [69d] Herman, Edward N. and N. Chomsky, Manufacturing Consent, New York, Pantheon Books, 1988. [69e] Hess, R., ʺTravels of Benjamin of Tudela,ʺ Journal of African History, Vol. 6, 1965, p. 17 (also in [13] p. 5). [70a] Hill, Cromwell A., and Martin Kilson (eds.), Apropos of Africa: Sentiments of Negro American Leaders on Africa From 1800 to the 1950, London, Frank Cass and Co., 1969. [70b] Hillard, Asa G. (eds.), The Teachings of Ptahhotop: The Oldest Book in the World, Atlanta, Blackwood, 1987.

265

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

[70c] Hirschman, A. O., National Power and the Structure of Foreign Trade, Berkeley, University of California Press, 1945 [71a] Hochschild, Adam, King Leopoldʹs Ghost, New York, Houghton Mifflin Co., 1998. [71b] Hodgkin, Thomas, ʺNational Movements in West Africaʺ, The Highway, February, 1952, pp. 169-175. [71c] Hoskins, L Halford (ed.) Aiding Underdeveloped Areas Abroad, The Annals, Vol. 268, March 1950. [71d] Hountondji, Paulin J., African Philosophy: Myth and Reality, Bloomington, Indiana, Indiana University Press, 1983. [72a] Hufbauer, G.C. et al., Economic Sanctions in Support of Foreign Policy Goals, Washington, D.C., Institute for international Economics, 1983. [72b] Hughes, L. and M. Meltzer, A Pictorial History of the Negro (African American), New York, Crown, 1963. [72c] Ilyenkov, E.V., Dialectical Logic: Essays on its History and Theory, Moscow, Progress Pub. 1977. [73] Jahn, Janheinz, Muntu, The New African Culture (Trans. Marjorie Grene), New York, Grove, 1961. [74] James, C.L.R., ʺKwame Nkrumah: Founder Emancipationʺ, Black World, Vol. XXI (9), July, 1972.

of

African

[75] James, George G.M., Stolen Legacy, Newport News, Virginia, United Brothers Communication System, 1989. [76a] Jeffreys, M.D.W., ʺ The Negro Enigma,ʺ West African Review, September, 1951. [76b] Johnson, De Graft J.C., African Glory, New York, Praeger, 1955. [77a] July, R.W., The Origins of Modern African Thought, London, Faber, 1967. [77b] Kant, Immanuel, On History, New York, Bobb-Merrill and Co. Inc, 1963. [78 ] Karenga, N., Kwanzaa: Origin, Concepts, Practices, Los Angeles, Kawaida Publishers, 1988. 266

[79a] Karenga, N., The African American Holiday of Kwanzaa, Los Angeles, University of Sancore Press, 1988. [79b] Kaunda, K., ʺIdeology and Humanismʺ, Pan-African Journal, Vol.1 (1) 1968, pp. 5-6. [79c] Kaunda, K., Humanism in Africa, London, Longmans, 1966. [80] Keita, L., ʺ African Philosophical Systems: A Rational Reconstruction,ʺ The Philosophical Forum, Vol. 9 (23) Winter-Spring, 1977. [81] Keita, L., ʺ Two Philosophies of African History: Hegel and Diop,ʺ Présence Africaine, No. 91, Third Quarter, 1974. [82] Keita, L. ʺ La Philosophie Africaine Contemporaine à la Recherche dʹune Méthode,ʺ Diogène, No. 130, Avril-Juin, 1985. [83a] Keltie, J.S., The Partition of Africa, London, E. Stanford Press, 1893. [83b] Kenyatta, Jomo, Harambee!: The Prime Minister of Kenyaʹs Speeches 1963-1964, New York, Oxford University Press, 1964. [83c] Kenyatta, Jomo, Facing Mount Kenya, New York, Vintage Books, 1965. [84a] Knight, Richard P., The Symbolic Language of Ancient Art and Mythology, New York, J.W. Bouton, 1876. [84b] Kohn, H., African Nationalism in the Twentieth Century, Princeton, New Jersey, Van Nostrand, 1965. [85] Krafona, Kwesi (ed.), Organization of African Unity: Essays in Honour of Kwame Nkrumah, London, Afroword Publishing Co., 1988.. [86] Langley, J. Ayodele, Pan-Africanism and Nationalism in West Africa 1900-1945: A study in Ideology and Social Classes, Oxford, Clarendon Press, 1973. [87] Langley, J.A., ʺGarveyism and African Nationalism,ʺ Race, Vol. 11 (2), pp. 157-172. [88] Langley, Ayo J. (ed.), Ideologies of Liberation in Black Africa:1856-1970, London, Rex Collings, 1979. [89] Legum, C., Pan-Africanism, New York, Praeger Pub., 1962. [90a] Lynch, H.R., Edward Wilmot Blyden: Pan-Negro Patriot, London, Oxford University Press, 1967. 267

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

[90b] MacEwan, A., International Economic Instability and U.S. Imperial Decline, New York, Monthly Review Press, 1990. [91a] Mandela, Nelson, The Struggle for My Life, New York, Pathfinder Press, 1986. [91b] Martin, Tony, The Pan-African Connection: From Slavery to Garvey and Beyond, Dover, MA, The Majority Press, 1983. [91c] March, J. C., ʺBounded Rationality, Ambiguity and Engineering of Choice,ʺ The Bell Journal of Economics, Vol. 9 (2), 1978 [91d] Mark Cohen, S. et al. (eds.), Readings in Ancient Greek Philosophy: From Thales to Aristotle, Indianapolis, Indiana, Hackett, 2000. [92a] Marx, Karl, Contribution to the Critique of Political Economy, Chicago, Charles H. Kerr and Co. 1904. [92b] Marx, Karl, Economic and Philosophic Manuscripts of 1884, Moscow, Progress Pub., 1967. [92c] Marx, Karl, The Poverty of Philosophy, New York, International Publishers, 1971. [93a] Massey, Gerald, Ancient Egypt: The Light of the World, Baltimore, MD, Black Classic Press, 1992. [93b] Massey, Gerald, A Book of the Beginnings, Vols. 1-2, London, William and Norgate, 1881. [93c] Massey, Gerald, Pyramid Text, Vols. 1-4, New York, Longmans Green, 1952. [93d] Massey, Gerald, The Natural Genesis, Vols. 1 and 2, Baltimore, MD, Black Classic Press, 1998 (First published 1883). [93e] Mathews, Wendell, Basic Symbols and Terms of the Church, New York, Fortress Press, 1971. [94] Mazrui, Ali A.A., Nationalism and New States in Africa from About 1935, Nairobi, Kenya, Heinemann, 1984 [95] Mazrui, Ali A.A., toward a Pax Africana, Chicago, The University of Chicago Press, 1967. [96] Mbiti, J.S., African Religions and Philosophy, New York, Anchor, 1970. 268

[97] Mʹbuyinga, E., Pan-Africanism or Neo-Colonialism: The Bankruptcy of the O.A.U., London, Zed Press,1975 [98a] McCray, W.A., The Black Presence in the Bible, vols. 1 and 2, Black Light Fellowship, 1990. [98b] Mendoza, M.G. et al. (eds), Trade Rules in the Making: Challenges in Regional and Multilateral Negotiations, Washington, D.C., Brookings Institutions Press, 1999. [98c] Meyerowitz, Eva L.R., The Divine Kingship in Ghana and Ancient Egypt, London, Faber and Faber, 1960. [98d] Moody, R.A., Life After Life, New York, Bantam, 1976. [99a] Murapa, R., ʺNkrumah and Beyond: Osagyefo, Pan-Africanist Leader,ʺ Black World, Vol. XXI (9), July, 1972. [99b] Niane, D.T., Sundiata: An Epic of Old Mali in Transactions, G. D. Pickett (ed.), London, Longmans, 1965 [99c] Nketia, J.H., Ethnomusicology in Ghana, Legon, Ghana, Ghana University Press, 1969. [100] Nkrumah, Kwame, Toward Colonial Freedom, London, Heinemann, 1962 (First Published 1946). [101] Nkrumah, Kwame, Ghana, The Autobiography of Kwame Nkrumah, London, Thomas Nelson and Sons Ltd., 1957. [102] Nkrumah, Kwame, Speech at the Conference of Independent African States, Accra, April 15, 1958. [103] 1965.

Nkrumah, Kwame, I Speak of Freedom, London, PANAF Press,

[104] Nkrumah, Kwame, Speech at the Closing Session of Casablanca Conference, Casablanca, January 7, 1961. [105] Nkrumah, Kwame, Africa Must Unite, New York, International Publishers, 1963. [106] Nkrumah, Kwame, Consciencism, London, Heinemann, 1964. [107] Nkrumah, Kwame, Neo-Colonialism: The Last Stage of Imperialism, New York, International Publishers, 1965.

269

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

[108] Nkrumah, Kwame, Speech at the Fourth Afro-Asian Solidarity Conference, Winneba, Ghana, May 10, 1965. [109] Nkrumah, Kwame, Challenge of the Congo, London, PANAF Press, 1967. [110] Nkrumah, Kwame, Axioms, New York, International Publishers, 1967. [111] Nkrumah, Kwame, Dark Days of Ghana, London, PA-NAF Press, 1968. [112] Nkrumah, Kwame, Handbook of Revolutionary Warfare, London, PANAF Press, 1968. [113] Nkrumah, Kwame, Class Struggle in Africa, London, PANAF Press, 1970. [114] Nkrumah, Kwame, Revolutionary Path, London, PANAF Press, 1973. [115] Nkrumah, Kwame, Rhodesian File, London, PANAF Press, 1976. [116] Nkrumah, Kwame, ʺPrinciples of African Studies,ʺ Address Delivered at the Time of Official Opening of the Institute for African Studies, University of Ghana, Legon, Voice of Africa, Vol. 3, (3) December, 1963. [117] Nsanze, Terence, ʺIn Search of an African Ideology,ʺ Pan-African Journal, Vol.1 (1), 1968, pp. 27-30. [118a] Nyerere, Julius K., Freedom and Unity ( Uhuru Na Umoja), Nairobi, Oxford University Press, 1966. [118b] Nyerere, Julius K., Freedom and Socialism (Uhuru Na Ujamaa), Nairobi, Oxford University Press, 1968. [119] Odinga, Oginga, Not Yet Uhuru, New York, Hill and Wang, 1967. [120] Ofori-Ansah, Kwaku P., Symbols of Adinkra Cloth, Washington, D.C., 1999. [121] Ofosu-Appiah, L.H., Encyclopaedia Africana Vols. 1 and 2, New York, Reference Publication, Inc., 1977. [122] Okwonko, R. L., ʺ The Garvey Movement in British West Africa,ʺ Journal of African History, Vol. 21, 1980, pp. 105-117. 270

[123] Olugboji, D., The United States of Africa and Realpolitik, Lagos, Nigeria, CMS Press, 1959. [124a] Omari, Peter T., Kwame Nkrumah: The Anatomy of African Dictatorship, New York, Africana Publishers, 1970. [124b] Owusu-Ansah, J.V., New Versions of the Traditional Motifs, Kumasi, Ghana, Degraft Graphics and Publications, 1992. [125a] Organization of African Unity, Lagos Plan of Action for Economic Development of Africa, 1980-2000, Geneva, IILS, 1981. [125b] Ovason, David, The Secret Architecture of Our National Capital, New York, HarperCollins, 2000. [126] Padmore, George, Pan-Africanism or Communism, London, Dennis Dobson, 1956. [127a] Padmore, George, Africa: Britainʹs Third Empire, London, Dennis Dobson, 1949. [127b] Paterson, Thomas G. (ed.), Major Problems in American Foreign Policy: Documents and Essays, Lexington, MA, Heath and Co., 1978. [127c] Payer, Cheryl, The Debt Trap: The International Monetary Fund and the Third World, New York, Monthly Review Press, 1974. [127d] Perham, M., ʺPsychology of African Nationalism,ʺ Optima, Vol. 10, 1960, pp. 27-36. [128a] Perkins, John, Confessions of Economic Hit Man, San Francisco, Berrett-Koehler Pub. Inc., 2004. [128b] Peters, Jonathan A., A Dance of Masks: Senghor, Achebe, Soyinka, Washington, D.C., Three Continents Press, 1978. [128c] Petrie, William M.F., The Pyramids and Temples of Gizeh, London, Field and Tuer, 1885. [128d] Rattray, Robert S., Religion and Art in Ashanti, New York, AMS Press, 1979. [129a] Resnick, Idrian N., ʺThe University and Development in Africa,ʺ Pan-African Journal, Vol. 1 (1), 1968, pp. 30-34. [129b] Robeson, P., ʺPower of Negro Action,ʺ in [8b], pp. 522-532.

271

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

[129c] Robinson, E.A.G. (ed.), Economic Consequences of the Size of Nations, New York, Macmillan, 1963. [129d] Rodney, Walter, How Europe Underdeveloped Africa, London, Bogle-L’Ouvertune Pub., 1972. [129e] Roger, Joel A., Africaʹs Gift to America: The Afro-American in the Making and Saving of the United States, New York, J.A. Rogers Publications, 1959. [130a] Rotberg, R.I., The Rise of Nationalism in Central Africa: The Making of Malawi and Zambia, 1873-1964, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1965. [130b] Sampson, G.P. (ed.), The Role of the World Trade Organization in Global Governance, New York, United Nations University Press, 2001. [130c] Seligman, Charles G., Egypt and Negro Africa: A Study in Divine Kingship, London, George Routledge and Sons, 1934. [130d] Seme, Pixley Isaka, ʺThe Regeneration of Africa,ʺ in [88], pp. 261-265. [130e] Serequeberhan, Tsenay, The Hermeneutics of African Philosophy: Horizon and Discourse, New York, Routledge, 1994. [131a] Shorter, A., African Christian Theology—Adaptation or Incarnation, New York, Orbis, 1977. [131b] Shorter, Aylward, W. ., African Culture and Christian Church: An Introduction to Social and Pastoral Anthropology, New York, Orbis Books, 1974. [132] Sithole, N., African Nationalism, New York, Oxford University Press, 1969. [133] Smertin, Y., Kwame Nkrumah, New York, International Publishers, 1987. [134a] Smith, A., The Geopolitics of Information, How Western Culture Dominates the World, New York, Oxford University Press, 1980. [134b] Snowden Jr., Frank M., Blacks in Antiquity, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, 1970.

272

[134c] Snowden Jr., Frank M., Blacks in Antiquity: Ethiopians in the GrecoRoman Experience, Cambridge, MA, The Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1970. [134d] Steindorff, G. and K.C. Seele, When Egypt Ruled the East, Chicago, Chicago University Press, 1957. [135] Sundkler, B.G.M., Bantu Prophets in South Africa, London, Oxford University Press, 1961. [136] Tambo, Oliver, Preparing for Power: Oliver Tambo Speaks, New York, George Braziller Inc., 1988. [137] Tekyi, K., ʺRacial Unity,ʺ in [ 88 ] pp. 402-404. [138a] Tempels, Father Placide, Bantu Philosophy, Paris, Présence Africaine, 1959. [138b] Tennemann, Wilhelm G., A Manual of the History of Philosophy, London, H. G. Bohn, 1852. [138c] Tetteh, M.N., The Ghana Young Pioneer Movement, The Institute of African Studies, University of Ghana, Tema, Optimum Design and Publishing Service 1985. [138d] The Editors, “One Afrikan-Centric Continental Afrikan Government Now“, The Afrikan Truth Magazine Vol. 1 (2) 1995. [138e] The Lost Books of the Bible and Forgotten Book of Eden, New York, The World Pub. Co., 1963. [139] The Spark Editor, Some Essential Features of Nkrumaism, London, PANAF Press, 1975. [140a] The Torah: The Five Books of Moses, Philadelphia, The Jewish Publication of America, 1962. [140b] 1969.

Thompson, V. Bakpetu, Africa and Unity, London, Longman,

[141] Thompson, W. S., Ghanaʹs Foreign Policy 1957-1966, Princeton, New Jersey, Princeton University Press, 1969. [142a] Toure, A. Sekou, Africa on the Move, London, PANAF Press, 1977. [142b] United States National Security Council, Memorandum 200 Study: Implications of World Wide Population Growth for U.S. Security and 273

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

Overseas Interest, December 10, 1974, Classified by Declassified July 3, 1989, Executive Order 12358.

h.c. Blaney III,

[142c] United States of America, Department of States, Foreign Relations of the United States, Vol. XXIV: 190, Africa, 1964-1968. [ 143a] Van Sertima, I., African Presence in Early Europe, New Brunswick, New Jersey, Transaction, 1986. [143b] Van Sertima, I., They Came Before Columbus: The African Presence in Ancient America, New York, Random House, 1977. [144a] Van Sertima, I. (ed.), Great African Thinkers, Vol. 1, Cheikh Anta Diop, New Brunswick, New Jersey, Transaction, 1987. [144b] Van Sertima, I. (ed.), Blacks in Science, New Brunswick, N.J., Transaction Publishers, 1998. [145a] Wallerstein, I., Africa: The Politics of Unity, New York, Random House, 1967. [145b] Wallerstein, I., Africa: The Politics of Independence, New York, Random House, 1961. [146] Walters, Ronald W., ʺThe Afrocentic Concept at Howard Universityʺ, New Directions, Fall, 1990. [147] Walters, Ronald W., Pan Africanism in the African Diaspora: An Analysis of Modern Afrocentric Political Movements, Detroit, Michigan, Wayne State University Press, 1997. [148a] Watson, R. L., The Slave Question: Liberty and Property in South Africa, Hanover, New England, University of New England Press, 1990. [148b] Weber, Alfred, History of Philosophy, New York, Scribnerʹs Sons, 1896. [149] Welsing, Cress F., The Isis Papers: The Keys to the Colors, Chicago, Third World Press, 1991. [150a] Whitman, Daniel, ʺThe Dual Soul and Double in Africa and West,ʺ Chrysalis: Aspects of African Spirit, Vol. 3 (1) Spring, 1988, pp. 2227. [150b] Williams, Chancellor, The Destruction of Black Civilization: Great Issues of Race From 4500BC- 2000AD, Detroit, Harlo Press, 1974

274

[151a] Williamson, J., The Lending Policies of the International Monetary Fund, Washington, D.C., Institute for International Economics, 1982. [151b] Wilson, H. S. (ed.), Origins of West African Nationalism, London, Macmillan, 1969. [151c] Witt, R. E., Isis in the Graeco-Roman World, Ithaca, N.Y., Cornell University Press, 1971 [152] Woodson, Carter G., Mis-Education of the Negro, Washington, D.C., The Associated Publication, 1933. [153a] Woodson, Carter G., The African Background, Washington, D.C., The Associated Press, 1936. [153b] World Health Organization, Interrelationships between Health Programs and Socio-economic Development, Public Health Paper #49, Geneva, WHO, 1973. [154] Wright, Richard A. (ed.), African Philosophy: An Introduction, New York, University Press of America, 1984 [155] Yesufu, T.M. (ed.), Creating the African University: Emerging Issues of the 1970s, Ibadan, Oxford University Press, 1973. [156] Zartman, William I., International Relations in the New Africa, Englewood Cliffs, New Jersey, Prentice-Hall, 1966. [157] Zeller, Edward, Outline of the History of Greek Philosophy, London, Longmans, Green and Co., 1914. [158] Zeller, Edward, A History of Greek Philosophy From the Earliest Period to the Time of Socrates, Vols 1 – 2, London, Longmans, Green and Co., 1881.

275

NAME INDEX DuBois, W. E. B., 3, 14, 22, 27 Dawson, Christopher, 7 Diop, Birago, 42 Dompere, Kofi Kissi, 58, 91 Danquah, J. B., 29 Descartes, Rene, 215

A Agbebi, Mojola, 21 Ahuma, Attoh, 21 A mo, Afer, 215 Abraham, W. E., 22 Asante, Molefi Kete, 22 Ani, Marimba, 22, 31 Amin, Samir, 22 Azikiwe, Namdi, 22, 27 Adelabu, Adegoke, 22

E Eicher, Carl K., 20

B F Ben-Jochannan, Joseph, A. A., 3, 14, 16, 22, 28, 30, 31, 141, 247 Bovill, E. W., 6 Blyden, Edward W., 21, 27 Biko, Steven, 22 Ben Bella, Ahmed, 27 Berkeley, George, 215

Fanon, Frantz, 3, 22 Faduma, Orishatuke, 21 Finch, Charles, 252

G

C

Graves, Robert, 9 Gueye, Lamine, 21 Glover, Ablede, 22 Gyekye, Kwame, 22, 31 Gadamer, Hans George, 215 Garvey, Marcus, 3, 11, 16, 22, 27, 30

Clifford, Sir Hugh, 14 Cromwell, 21, 27 Cabral, Amilcar, 22, 30 Cruse, Harold, 22, 31 Clarke, John Henrick., 22

H D

Herskovist, Melvelle Hodgkin, Thomas, 14 Hayford, Casely, 21 Houenou, Kojo Tovalou, 21 Hilliard, Asa G., 22

Douglass, Frederic, 3 Diop, Cheikh Anta, 3, 14, 16, 22, 28, 29, 30, 42, 97, 145, 246, 247, 248, 253

276

Name Index

N

J

Nkrumah, Kwame, 2, 3, 7, 11, 22, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 86, 121, 214, 246, 255 Nyerere, Julius Kambarage, 22, 27 Nasser, Gamal Abdul, 27 Nsanze Terence, 30

Jeffreys, M. D. W., 13 James, C. L. R., 22

K

O

Karenga, Maulana, 3, 22, 28, 31, 141 Kenyatta, Jomo, 22, 27 Kaunda, Kenneth, 22 Keita, L., 22, 31 Kaluli, Dunduzu, 22

Omoniyi, Bandele, 21 Olugboji, D., 22

P Padmore, George, 3, 22, 27 Pati, Raphael, 9

L

R

Lumumba Patrice, 11 Langley, Ayodele, 22 Leopold, King, 23

Robertson, Paul, 3

M

S

Mazrui, Ali, 7, 22 Massey, Gerald, 15, 215, 247, 252, 253 Molema, M. S., 22 Mbiti, J. S., 22, 31 Mboya Thomas Joseph, 22 Mandela, Nelson, 22 Mbuyinga, E., 22

Sarbah, Mensah, 21 Sekyi, Esuman-Gwira, 21 Senghor, Lamine, 22 Seme, Isaka, 22 Selassie, Haile, 22

277

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

W

T Teure, Sekou, 22 Tempels, Father Placide, 247 Tudela, Benjamin, 10

Woodson, Carter G., 3, 16, 22, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30 Welsing, Frances Cress, 16, 22, 28, 31 Williams, Eric, 22 Williams, Chancellor, 22

V Van Sertima, J., 22, 28, 31

X X, Malcom, 11, 22

278

SUBJECT INDEX African Nation, 131-133, 136, 142, 144-145, 151 African nationalism, 85-97, 111129, 133-136, 149, 161-167, 175, 183 African personality, 1, 27, 35, 82-88, 95-97, 111-140, 149-150, 168, 171, 183, 227, 238, 244 African philosophical system, 83 African philosophical tradition, 30, 50, 124, 183, 215, 228, 241, 246, 252, 254 African Philosophy, 21, 34, 84, 108, 1876, 197, 246 African problems, 30-31, 186 African Rhythms, 22, 51 African swastika, 80 African traditions, 2, 16, 18-19, 67, 81-87, 109, 116, 131-135, 141, 155, 243 African unity, 1, 92, 97, 111-114, 123-129, 131, 133, 136, 143, 145150, 159-160, 170, 177 Africa’s education, 241 Africentric philosophy, 187, 205 Afrientric thinking system, 3033, 85, 133, 175 Africentricity, 31-35, 84-110, 141-183, 238-239, 243-244, 227, 228 Afriphobia, 13 Air, 209, 235, 241, 249, 253-254 Akans, 54-56, 58, Alkebu-lan, 5, 58, 80, 107, 80, 247, 278

A Absolutism, 93, 146, 174-180, 243-244 Accidents, 49-53, 61, 135-136 Actual-potential enveloping, 198-201 Actual-potential polarity, 49, 53, 205, 220, 222, 223, 226 Actual-potential transformation, 63, 193, 213, 219, Adinkra, 111 Affirmation, 129, 159, 226 African centered education, 18, 21 African cultural unity, 127, 187, 243, 255 African Deity System, 100, 179 African democratic ideal, 102, 106-108, 135, 162, 243 African emancipation, 22, 28, 96, 134-136, 155-162, 175 African essence, 4, 12-16, 26-32, 35, 53, 81, 131, 149, 176 African History, 5-6, 20, 31, 35, 97, 116-117, 163 African intellectual order, 27 African intellectual pluralism, 96 African intelligentsia, 11, 173175 African leadership, 127, 129, 130-140 African leaders, 130-140

279

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

Body-mind polarity, 41, 76-77

Almighty, 99-100, 178-179 American Natives, 5 Ancient Egypt, 6, 80, 253 Ancestral spirit, 100-101, 106, 144-145, 156, 160, 164, 172, 177179 Ancestral traditions, 152 Ancestral tree, 8, 32, 36, 47, 97, 109, 145-149, 152, 157 Ankh, 8-9, 178 Anoma-Kokone-Kone problem, 56-67 Anti-African ideology, 4-17, 32, 94-120, 128, 131, 142 Anti-African personality, 123, 133, 138 Arabian Peninsula, 7 Asantrofi-anoma problems, 6267 Askari, 91, 131-132, 163 Australian Natives, 13 Axioms, 188-193 Axioms of Khepera, 193, 221, 225

C Canada, 90, 92, 93, 165 Canaan, 8-13 Caribbean, 2, 3, 12-13, 21-22, 25, 93, 139 Categorial conversion, 33, 38-46, 50-86, 195, 209-233, 245, 248, 252-256 Cartesian dualism, 215 Categorial convertibility, 103, 150, 168-170, 220-221, Categories, 37-52, 102-109, 169, 183, 187-193, 197-201, 243-250, Causality, 135 Cause-effect process, 135 Characteristics of African personality, 117-150 Christianity, 5-33, 125, 235-236 Circumference of vision, 4 Circle of unity, 77 Coffin texts, 206, 226 Cognitive crises, 21,32 Cognitive independence, 193 Cognitive path, 239, 242, 254 Collective consciousness, 33, 116, 120, 126, 179, 237 Collective decision, 92, 117, 139, 159, 244 Collective personality, 33, 57, 84, 88-96, 112-123, 143, 149, 170180 Collective self-determination, 143, 158-167 Collective work, 158-162, 167, 171, 177

B Ba, 75-83, 190-198, 244-245, Bantu philosophy, 247 Basis for change, 64, 208, 233, 241, 248 Beginning of knowledge, 215 Beginning-end polarity, 42-43, 194, 233 Black Mandingo, 6 Bloodline, 32, 100-106, 144-145, 160, 162, 178 280

Subject Index

Creative genius, 158, 171-175, 178 Creative learning, 174 Creative reconstruction, 41 Creative thinking, 2, 174, 232 Creativity, 19, 32-33, 1o3, 117, 129, 157, 168, 170-177,239, 243 Crony imperialism, 90-91, 125, 131, 149, 160 Cultural unity, 97, 127, 148, 167, 176, 187, 243, 254

Common intellectual heritage, 5, 10, 21 Communalism, 29, 58, 67, 83, 105 Community-individual duality, 152 Complementarity, 190, 212 Conflicts, 168-169, 182, 242-244 Congo, 13, 23 Concept of equal standing, 37 Conceptual trinity, 75, 235 Construction-destruction duality, 48 Constructive-destructive polarity, 51 Constructionism, 198, 207-225, 250-256 Continuous transformation, 192-193 Conversion factors, 41-43, 52, 86, 164 Conversion force, 38 Conversion moments, 140, 205, 214, 219-220 Cooperative economics, 161167, 171 Coptic, 75, 98, 111 Creation, 4, 8, 11, 16, 75-83, 90, 102-110, 147, 156, 213-219, 222226, 234-239, 244-255 Creational process, 55, 84, 182, 205, 215-216, 225, 231-233 Creational space, 182 Creationism, 225 Creative destruction,41 Creative destructive process, 50 Creative force 32-33, 54, 69, 7577, 98-104, 135, 148-151, 168-197, 224, 234-238, 248-255

D Decision-choice process, 16, 116 Decision-choice space, 58, 84, 135-139, 244 Decision-informationinteractive process, 65, 105, 117, 142 Decision-making class, 112 Decision-making core, 137-138 Decisive core, 137-138 Defense is freedom, 87 Degrees of conversion, 204 Degrees of energy, 212 Degrees of intensity, 204 Degree of truth, 207 Deity system, 38, 99-100, 148, 151-154, 168, 170, 179 Democracy, 23, 89-93, 106-110, 126-139, 144, 159, 182, 239-241 Derived category, 37-62, 77, 152, 250, 256, 197-226, 235, 246-256 Destruction-construction polarity, 41 Destructive-constructive duality, 144 281

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

Egypt, 5, 6, 10, 22, 80, 104, 253254 Egyptian swastika, 55, 68, 69 Energy, 45-48, 73-78, 86, 94, 105, 124, 144, 195-213 Epistemic geometry, 65, 71, 183 Equal standing, 37, 106 Equilibrium, 43-=44, 56-63, 9093, 106, 185, 190, 207-210 Equilibrium-disiquilibrium duality, 207 Equilibrium-disiquilibrium polarity, 63 Existence, 4-7, 36, 38-43 Ethiopian, 6, 111 Ethno-philosophy, 247 Eurocentric system, 17, 24, 28, 77 Eurocentric myth, 15 Eurocentric Thinking, 16-17 Eurocentric paradigm, 18-26 Eurocentric personality, 128131 Europe, 3, 5, 7-10, 126, 130-131, 147, 236 European predators, 10, 14, 142 Existence of infinity,192 Existence question, 217 Existential potentiality, 49 Explainability question 217 Explanadum, 206, 209, 216 Explanans, 206, 209

Destructive-constructive dynamics, 63, 207 Devine creation, 8, 90 Dialectical moment,140, 156, 170, 175 Dialectics, 150, 228, 248-249 Dialectics-metaphysics polarity, 249 Differential tendencies, 46-48 Dimensionality, 44-45 Disappearance-emergence polarity, 49 Disinformation, 5, 15, 93, 138 Divide-and-rule, 91, 158 Divine Master Plan, 11 Dogon, 54, 251 Dogon-pharaonic principles, 195, 215, 225, 255 Dominant ideology, 118-119, 139 Dominated society, 89-94 Dominating society, 89-94 Duty and responsibility, 1, 109, 139, 144, 151, 159-162, 178, 183 Dualism, 215, 221, 243, 252

E Earth, 67-74 Eastern philosophical claims, 235 Economic unity, 162-166 Egalitarianism, 58, 66, 82-83 Educated African, 16-26, 174 Enveloping process, 198-201 Essential spirit, 38 Essential reality, 49

F Faith, 175-183 Female-male polarity, 69-70 282

Subject Index

Fire, 67-74, 104-109, 165, 241, 249, 254 First layer, 76-79 Formal Education, 12-18, 28, 173, 253 Forces of transformation, 78, 233 Freedom, 18-19, 31-37, 57, 65-67, 85, 87, 92-106 Fundamental African characteristics,36-37 Funtummerekudenkyemmereku, 55-66, 69 Fuzzy boundaries, 200, 222 Fuzzy category, 231 Fuzzy mathematics, 50, 203 Fuzzy partitions, 197 Fuzzy phenomena, 208, 231

Human essence, 35-37, 237, 244-245 Human equality, 36 Human ingenuity, 171 Human laws, 108-109 Human problem, 237-238 Human resource, 128, 132, 161, 165, 187, 233 Human rights, 23, 107-108, 139, 151 Human system, 232 Humanism, 32, 58, 66, 82-83, 104, 110, 115, 122, 168, 236, 252, 254 Humanistic duties, 101 Humanitarian militarism, 126 Humans, 152, 168, 178-180, 198, 201, 240

G

I

Geb, 67-74, 104, 209 German military power, 23 German factor, 23 Germany, 153 Gizeh’s Great Pyramid, 80 Grammar, 186, 188-192 Greater Africa, 20, 86, 114, 117, 120, 156, 159 Guiding spirit, 38-42, 100 Gye Nyame, 178

Idealism, 247-253 Idealism-materialism polarity, 247-253 Identity of perception, 232 Identity of reality, 232 Identity of thought, 232 Ideological absolutism, 93 Ideological bankruptcy, 2-3 Ideological Institute, 30, 121 Ideology, 4-33, 89-117, 119-123, 236, 239-245 Illusions of inclusion, 92, 133, 138-139 Imani, 175-183, 244 Individual-Community duality, 182, 242-244

H Hermeneutics, 246-256 Human cognition, 251 Human destiny, 38, 54

283

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

Individual-community polarity, 56-57, 81, 115, 134-135, 144, 151, 160, 236, 242 Inferiority complex 90-94 Intellectual buffer class, 93-96 Intellectual class, 91-94 Intellectual crises, 2 Individual-community polarity, 56-57, 81, 115, 134-135, 144, 151, 160, 236, 242 Individual personality, 134-136 Imperialist predators, 7, 21, 31, 158 Infinity, 178, 192-193, 200, 206, 213, 224-232 Information, 5, 14-18, 43-50, 232, 238, 242 Information asymmetry, 212224 Inter-categorial conversion, 220-223, 255 Inter-dependence, 44-48, 57, 76, 162, 195-197, 212 Internal duality, 187 Internal conflicts, 157, 203 Internal laws, 44-53 International order, 149, 165 Intra-categorial conversion, 220, 221 Islam, 5, 7, 9, 235, 236, 253 Islamic theology, 235

Judeo-Christian theology, 51, 206 Justice, 31-32, 37, 57, 66, 107, 149, 225, 240, 246, 254

K KA, 75-83 KA-BA-RA, 10, 32, 75-83, 99, 103-104, 244 Kamite, 252 Kamitic theological tradition, 243 Khepera, 104, 210-214, 225-226, 235, 247-248, 255-256 Khepera complete, 213 Kheperian postulates, 193 Khepera closed, 255 Khepera-matter polarity, 210 Khepera-shadow-of-Khepera duality, 235, 255-256 Kingdom of Ghana, 6 Knowability question, 217 Knowledge accumulation, 16, 184, 187, 215, 226, 232, 242 Knowledge acquisition, 3, 63, 81, 174, 184-188, 200-201 Knowledge Diameter, 3-4, 1116, 27-30, 84-90, 92, 95 Kujichagulia, 150-159, 162, 180182 Kuumba, 171-175, 180-182

J Jesus, 11, 12 Judaism, 5, 235, 253

284

Subject Index

Model of reality, 185-187, 201 Monotheism, 242 Monism, 215, 243, 221 Moses, 11, 105 Multiplicity of rhythms, 46, 57, 77, 80, 83, 86-88, 98-104, 188, 190-225, 228, 230, 240, 247, 252

L Land tenure system, 107, 241, 242 Law of motion, 195-197, 249 Law and order, 108-109, 240 Law of rhythms, 197 Left tendency, 47 Left duality, 189 Legon School, 30 Life-death polarity, 41, 42, 50 Liberation theology, 94 Light force, 10, 32, 33, 75-76, 98100, 182, 190, 235 Lineage, 152, 177 Logic, 180, 184-188 Logic of polyrhythmics, 197, 200-232 Logical pyramid, 190 Logical absurdity, 8, 209 Logical geometry, 192 Logical parallelism, 222

N Nation, 238, 240 National history 88, 116-119, 134-140 Nationalist factor, 23 Natural right, 106-112, 149 Necessities, 49-54, 62, 81, 124, 135-138 Necessity and accident, 44, 49, 81, 135-136, 167 Negation, 4-5, 20, 47-52, 66, 129, 195, 202, 211, 219, 230-232, 255 Negative set, 39-52, 62, 189-190, 202-211, 230 Negative confessions, 104-108, 141-145, 183 Negative energy, 47 Negative tendency, 46-47 Negrosis, 32, 144 Neocolonial intellectual tradition, 24 Neocolonial masters, 121, 130 Neocolonial states, 24, 132 Neocolonialism, 85, 91, 117, 149, 165, 174 Nguzo Saba, 111, 122, 140=183, 228, 243-244 Nia, 167-171 Nile Valley, 6, 128, 247, 253-254

M Mary, 12, 37 Matter, 52-74, 80-88, 98-105, 139, 144, 192-194, 209-225, 242-250 Matter-spirit polarity, 76, 252 Material essence, 100, 170 Materialism, 247-253 Materialistic crudity, 240 Mental state, 100 Meta-theory, 186 Methodological process, 186 Micro-state, 158, 161-165 Mind-body duality, 182, 252 285

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

Perception-reality duality, 185, 186, 232 Perception space, 95, 184, 188, 201 Perceptual models, 137-138 Perpetual creation, 51 Personality characteristics, 114115 Philosophical consciencism, 8688 Philosophy of education, 4, 20 Polarity, 192-232, 233-238, 240250 Polarity of creation, 69, 75, 77 Polarity of existence, 74-75 Pole: left, 38-50, 69, 189-203, 211, 221 right, 38-50, 69, 189-203, 211, 221 Political askari, 91, 131-132 Polyrhymics, 184-232 Positive energy, 47 Positive set, 39-52, 62, 189-190, 202-211, 230 Positive tendency, 46-47 Postulates, 105, 188, 192-194, 195, 197, 213-214, 221-224, 231, 255 Potential categories, 198-200 Power of creation, 76 Predators, 4-7, 10-26, 31, 86, 241 Predatory ideology, 7 Primary category, 40-55, 60-77, 192-226, 248-256 Primary element, 37, 41, 76, 209, 236 Primary set, 76 Primary trinity, 76

Nkrumaist postulates, 194, 231 Nkrumaist transformation dialectics, 150 Nominalism, 214-219 North Africa, 6-7 Northern Mediterranean, 6-7 Nothingness, 36-43,51-57, 72-87, 104-107, 192-194, 198-210, 213217, 222-240, 248-256 Nothing-something duality, 193, 204-225 Nothing-something polarity, 197, 204-226, 237 Nyansani, 246 Nyansasem, 246

O Offensive-defensive duality, 142 Oneness, 38, 41, 47-52, 75, 244, 261, 228, 238 Oppositeness, 40, 47, 81, 189195, 215, 241, 250 Opposites, 38, 48, 54, 67-74, 80, 244, 249 Optimism, 117-129, 136, 147150, 156, 160, 170

P Pan-Africanism, 28, 114 Panorama of creation, 77, 179 Paradigm of reasoning, 205 Particular unity, 43, 81, 82, 189, 192, 194, 211, 234, 237, 249, Perception of reality, 200, 208

286

Subject Index

Quantity-quality duality, 220, 237 Quantity-quality dynamics, 220 Quantity-quality polarity, 67, 72, 78, 79

Primeval matter, 234, 247-250, 209-216 Principle of absolutism, 180 Principle of change, 105 Principle of collective existence, 101 Principle of consensus, 106 Principle of duty, 101, 144, 151 Principle of freedom and justice, 101, 107-109 Principle of law and order, 108 Principle of need, 107 Principles of opposites, 38, 67, 80, 197 Principle of relativism, 180 Principle of responsibility, 158161 Principle of unity, 144-150, 240 Principles, 144-183 Property right, 107, 240 Proxy government, 90-91, 132 Purpose, 167-171 Pyramid, 54-55, 65-70, 80, 107, 128, 171, 190, 251, 254 Pyramidal categories, 67-72

R Ra, 75-83 Reciprocity, 43-45, 74, 77, 212 Racism, 6, 8, 85-89, 114, 129, 143, 149, 153, 165, 172 Reality-potential polarity, 51 Rediviva Africana, 233-256 Reductionism, 207, 214, 218-219, 207, 219, 235, 237, 250, 255 Regime of life, 132 Regime of thievery, 131 Relational geometry 70, 77, 144, 182, 197, 249 Relational oppositeness, 195 Relational tension, 52, 144, 202, 208, 225, 235, 240-244, 255 Relationality, 99, 104, 134, 188206 Religious absolutism, 174 Rent-seeking, 92 Responsibility, 1,116-120, 122, 139, 144-151, 151, 157-167, Right duality, 189 Right tendency, 47 Right to land, 107 Rights, 23, 106-112, 122, 139, 144, 151, 157, 242 Ritualistic duties, 101 Rituals of libation, 11 Ruler of the Universe, 99

Q Qualitative elements, 67-74 Qualitative motion, 195, 204, 208-220, 231, 237, 249 Quality, 200-206, 212-224 Quantitative elements, 67-70, 202 Quantitative motion, 52, 195, 200, 220 Quantity, 200-206, 212-224

287

POLYRHYTHMICITY: Foundations of African Philosophy

Something-nothing polarity, 223 Soviet global power, 24 Space of reality, 95, 184-188 Specific polarity, 40 Sphere of imperial influence, 24 Spirit force, 32-33, 54, 69, 75-77, 98-104, 135, 148-151, 168-197, 224, 234-238.248-255 Spiritual technology, 53 Spirit-matter duality, 182, 215, 247-249 Spirit-matter polarity, 41, 54, 77, 215, 225, 250, Substitution, 105, 129, 169, 176, 203-216, 224, 230, 245, 255, 256 Substitution-transformation duality, 169, 216 Sundiata episode, 55 Superiority complex, 90-94 Supreme Being, 99, 100, 105, 107 Supplementarity, 43-45 Swastika, 55, 68-69. 70-80 Swastical division, 75

S Same pole, 44-50 Sameness-difference polarity, 42-43 Sankofa, 12, 62-67, 152 Sankofarization, 28, 152 Sankofa-Anoma Resolution, 6267 Second layer, 76 Secondary trinity, 76-77 Self-annihilation, 231 Self-construction, 48 Self-destruction, 48, 231 Self-determination, 124, 125, 150-159, Self-excitement, 45-47 Self-motion, 38, 47, 83, 88, 98, 103-127, 145, 150-156, 167, 172, 177-178, 204-213, 222, 248-256 Seven principles, 11, 122, 140183 Shu, 67-74, 104 Six-day creation, 51 Social conformity, 135 Social formation, 29-37, 53-67, 77-82, 102-107, 129 141, 152, 168, 187, 197, 214,225, 236, 239-244, 253-254 Social ideology, 4, 10, 187 Social knowledge, 4, 7, 84, 187 Social psychology, 88-90, 118 Social equilibrium, 90-93 Social rights, 106, 144-149 Somethingness, 36-43, 51-57, 72-87, 104-1o7, 192-194, 198-210, 213-217, 222-241, 248-256

T Tefnut, 67-74, 104, 209 Tertiary Trinity, 76 Theory of destiny, 170 Thinking race, 3 Transformation, 99-110, 211237 Transformation dynamics, 38, 44-57, 66, 115-117, 211-237, 248 Transformation question. 217

288

Subject Index

Transformational unity, 32, 48, 51, 56-63, 72-80, 99-110, 213, 223, Tribalism, 160, 164, 172 Trinity, 8, 10, 32, 38, 40, 63-65, 74-83, 99-104, 124, 143-150, 182, 190-195, 226, 235-244 Truth, 188, 192-212, 232, 237, 242 Tyranny of individualism, 236, 240-243

W Water, 67-74, 104, 209 Wineba School, 30 What it is, 44, 184-215, 219, 226232, 234-255 What it is not, 47, 50, 62 What ought to be, 44, 118, 188, 192, What there is, 47, 53, 72, 74, 164, 185-188, 192-198, 200-239, 249255 What there is not, 47, 53, 72-74, 216, 226 What would be, 44, 187, 192, 198-216, 232 Work and happiness, 109-110

U Ujamma, 161-169 Ujimaa, 156-162 Umoja, 144-152 United Africa, 88, 120, 147, 157 United front, 166 Unity of categories, 51, 70, 71 Unity of opposites, 244 Universal creation, 192, 205, 213-232, 234-244 Universal Force, 99 Universal infinity, 213, 221, 224 Universal polarity, 40, 56 Universal space, 193 Universal system of creation, 223 Universal trinity, 49-67, 188, 233-237, 243-248, 252, Universal unity, 49-67, 73-81, 188-239, 233-237, 243-248, 252 Unjust laws, 108 Unjust order, 108

Z Zombies, 92, 131-132, 163 Zone of illusions of inclusion, 133, 138 Zones of tension, 78

289

Ordering this book and other books by Adonis & Abbey Publishers

Wholesale inquiries in the UK and Europe: Gardners Books Ltd +44 1323 521777: email: [email protected] Wholesale enquiries in USA and Canada Ingram Book Company (ordering) +1 800 937 8000 website: www.ingrambookgroup.com

*Online Retail Distribution: All leading online book sellers including www.amazon.co.uk, www.amazon.com, www.barnesandnoble.com *Shop Retail: Ask any good bookshop or contact our office: http//:www.Adonis-abbey.com Phone: +44 (0) 2077 938893