So if ubuntu is so damn important—maybe even all we really need—how do we do it? Short answer: any way we can.
Buddhism has a nice concept called “upaya.” Upaya is the idea that, when crossing the river to enlightenment, any water-worthy thing that gets you across will do. Bass boat, yacht, driftwood—it’s all good.
“Upaya” is often translated as “expedient means.” While this gives a good idea of what it gets at, “expedient” can make it sound like anything goes. Anything goes doesn’t go. Anything goes won’t get you across the river. Anything goes is the wrong side of the river.
So what practices and habits get us across the river to upaya? I’ll make one suggestion: reconciliation .
(You can follow this whole ubuntu thread by clicking on the “ubuntu” tag link.)
Reconciliation comes with understanding. Understanding comes with compromise.
Compromise comes with being able to acknowledge that grey matter between right and wrong. I believe that there are certain moral principles that should never be broached. But beyond that there is much give and take.
Reconciliation means that minds must be opened. Reconciliation means that a sense of irony must be present. It above all means that “I believe what I believe, but I could be wrong.”
Beliefs are odd. Sometimes they just come down to perception. Doesn’t make them real. Doesn’t make them correct. Either it’s how you were raised or it’s a result of something you went through at some point during your life.
[…] So if the best way to practice ubuntu is any way that works, then why aren’t we practicing ubuntu better? Violence and conflict, and the memory of violence and conflict, stand in the way. The only way around them is reconciliation. […]