"According to African peoples, man lives in a religious universe, so
that natural phenomena and objects are intimately associated with
God. They not only originate from Him but also bear witness to Him.
Man's understanding of God is strongly coloured by the universe of
which man is himself a part. Man sees in the universe not only the
imprint but the reflection of God; and whether that image is marred
or clearly focused and defined, it is nevertheless an image of God,
the only image known in traditional African societies....It emerges
clearly that for African peoples, this is a religious universe.
Nature in the broadest sense of the word is not an empty impersonal
object of phenomenon: it is filled with religious significance. man
gives life even where natural objects and phenomena have no
biological life. God is seen in and behind these objects and
phenomena: they are His creation, they manifest Him, they symbolize
His being and presence. The invisible world is symbolized or
manifested by these visible and concrete phenomena and objects of
nature. The invisible world presses hard upon the visible: one
speaks of the other, and African peoples 'see' that invisible
universe when they look at, hear or feel the visible and tangible
world. This is one of the most fundamental religious heritages of
African peoples. It is unfortunate that foreign writers, through
great ignorance, have failed to undertand this deep religious insight
of our peoples; and have often either ridiculed it, or naively
presented it as 'nature worship' or 'animism'. Traditional African
societies have been neither deaf nor blind to the spiritual dimension
of existence, which is so deep, so rich and so beautiful. The
physical and spiritual are but two dimensions of one and the same
universe. These dimensions dove-tail into each other to the extent
that at times and in places one is apparently more real than, but not
exclusive of, the other. To African peoples this religious universe
is not an academic proposition: it is an empirical experience, which
reaches its height in acts of worship."

John S. Mbiti
African Religions and Philosophy


This has been a Revolutionary Daily Thought
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