I’m re-reading The Turning Point by Gregg Braden. I enjoy reading his books because they have nothing to do with showbiz, everything to do with humanity and they temporarily take me away from my own personal, circumstances and remind me that every breath I take, every move I make and every step I take, in some small quantum way affects everyone and everything.
I’ve written about UBUNTU in the past, however this time it struck me particularly deep. In his book Gregg talks about an anthropologist who proposed a game to the kids in an African tribe. He put a basket full of fruit near a tree and told the kids that who ever got there first won the sweet fruits. When he gave them the signal to run, they all took each others hands and ran together, then sat together enjoying their treats. When he asked them why they had run like that as one could have had all the fruits for himself they said: ”UBUNTU, how can one of us be happy if all the other ones are sad?” ‘UBUNTU’ in the Xhosa culture means: “I am because we are.”
Important because this game may be difficult to play for most of us who were raised playing the game “more for me.” However, if you subscribe to the thinking that giving and receiving are different aspects of the same energy, then perhaps we could play a new game called “share that which you seek.” In doing so, the energy of abundance would eventually circulate and come back around directly to you. Not like self-regard, more like collaboration.