Restoring And Holding On To Beauty: Aesthetics In - Ciret

514 Pages·2010·3.48 MB·English

Restoring and holding on to beauty:
The role of aesthetic relational values in
sustainable development

Moshe E. Ncilashe Swartz

Dissertation presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Public
Management and Planning at Stellenbosch University

Promotor: Prof. Mark Swilling

December 2010
Declaration

By submitting this dissertation electronically, I declare that the entirety of the work
contained therein is my own, original work, that I am the authorship owner thereof (unless
to the extent explicitly otherwise stated) and that I have not previously in its entirety or in
part submitted it for obtaining any qualification.

Signature:………………………………… Date:………………………………………….”

Copyright © 2010 Stellenbosch University
All rights reserved
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Abstract
Unless Africans and their leaders make a concerted effort to rid themselves of the harmful legacy of
colonial spirituality by adopting new motives for living, entering into new relationships with
themselves on the plane of beneficial values, Africa will not be able to escape the social,
environmental, political and economic afflictions that currently beset her. The colonial forces that
burst into Africa with violence from minds bent on foreign conquest were primarily driven by an
ethos of covetousness that has come to characterize the existing international order. Stealing, not
only of natural resources has continued side by side with the denuding of the very souls of people –
as has happened so successfully in Africa – of their humanity.

There is evidence that human existence has been beleaguered and governed by an unviable
microphysical framework (mindset and spirituality). In the midst of what appears to be a
bewilderingly dynamic, turbulent and complex world, this spirituality looms large, gaining a
stronghold resulting in disconnectedness among self-worshipping humans and their environment.
We now live in a world governed by a distructive innate iniquity that produces overwhelming
inequity among humans and unprecedented damage in the natural environment that sustains us. This
study draws from and connects the evidence provided by ancient history with current macro-
physical endeavours to demonstrate that this micro-physicality still holds sway, albeit under various
manifestations.

Having been in a state of war with itself and its living environment, humanity has reached what
observers have acknowledged as a crossroads. In the violence that has engulfed all humans since
time immemorial, as evidenced in the co-existence of poverty and affluence, pandemics driven by a
wide variety of illnesses, huge disparities in wealth within and between national economies, energy
and environmental depletion and degradation that have earned us the unprecedented crisis of global
warming, this crossroads has made itself very present.

A particular kind of mentality and spirituality has taken us to this point. It is a spirituality that is
obviously devoid and incapable of producing beauty of harmony and communion among us
irrespective of our diversity, whether in race, culture, knowledge discipline or geographic space.
The macro-physical condition we are experiencing cannot be viewed in isolation from the
spirituality that produced it. We are now in an unsustainable world that must have been the fruit of
an unsustainable spirituality. The answers to our global dilemma must fundamentally be sought not
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in any new technologies that emanate from the same mindset, but in a renewed mind and in a
different pattern of spirituality.

This study probes the dominant world mindest that directed the globally pervasive Western
civilization and reviews some major historical and cultural trends that, it argues, have brought
humanity to the zenith of its “world-hunt”-culture. This is a “world- hunt” of self-mutilation that
manifested itself in Europe, the near-east, Asia and Africa over more than four millennia ago. The
deforestation, land degradation, oppression of the poor, hunger, hatred that drives terrorist attacks,
climate changes that drive natural disasters and the loss of species, are all the unmistakable bitter
fruit of such a culture. It is a culture characterized and propelled by the absence of what this study
coins as “aesthetic relational values”.

This dominant mindset has strewn all over our globe various rule-based governance institutions
characterized by an ethos of central control, manipulating people’s lives for self-centred gain.
Though many of these institutions come in various garbs of apparent benevolence, faith-based,
trade-based, knowledge/science-based and political governance bodies, all are adherents of the
same worldview that is firmly grounded in a merciless and destructive pantheistic, and nature-
worship belief system traceable to ancient Egypt. Many of these institutions, today, publicly claim
to be proponents of sustainable development, the eradication of poverty and peace among the
nations of the world, yet they are still clinging, esoterically, to a cosmological perspective of nature-
worship that glorifies self-worship and disregards the well-being of others.

The study contrasts this dominant spirituality with the Afrocentric one based on a knowledge
system that propounds a belief in a compassionate and merciful Creator-God who is the source of
all nature, including the human family, as illustrated in the daily lives of amaMbo peoples whose
geographic origins are traced to ancient Ethiopia. As the former continues to make a nonentity of
the Creator-God, Africans, realizing the spiritual bankruptcy of a self-glorification ethic that has
polarised the people and ravaged their continent through rule-based institutions, are returning, in
large numbers, to this knowledge system of their ancient fathers on which their social institutions of
shared and consensus-based decision-making and governance, from the basic social unit as the
family, to national political relations, were founded.

In several encounters these patterns of spiritualities have produced unsavoury outcomes. In the
Cape’s more-than-a-century long, bitter and protracted encounter between a branch of amaMbo
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called amaXhosa, that began with the seventeenth century arrival of the Western “world-hunt”
culture through the Calvinist Dutch East India Company traders, Africa and the entire world have
been provided, simultaneously, with indisputable evidence of the destructiveness of self-indulgent
living on the one hand and the efficacy, on the other, of a relational aesthetic as a viable alternative
out of the humanitarian and environmental crises that confront our globe.

Views and principles regarding the harmonious living of life on earth have been advocated by many
a great leader since antiquity. They have been vindicated in the lives of ancient Israelite patriarchs
such as Abraham and Moses, who led his kinsmen out of the Egyptian bondage that lasted over four
centuries; in the life of Tolstoy, who chose to be excommunicated from a society that regarded
these principles with disdain; to that of Gandhi, on whom Tolstoy was a tremendous influence, and
effectively applied them to unshackle a whole nation from British subjugation; and Dostoevsky,
Tolstoy’s compatriot, who first referred to these as “aesthetic views”.

These relational principles were embedded in the lifestyle of ancient Israel, lived and advocated
later by the Jewish Rabbi called Jesus, whose very own people chose to shamefully murder Him
rather that accept His teachings. These principles were taught, practised and handed down to His
followers to influence humanity as never before. In their ancient setting these principles clashed
with those of the pagan lifestyle of Egypt, Babylon, Medo-Persia, Greece and Rome, which
culturally shaped the Western civilization that pervades our globe. The results were centuries of
enslavements, dispossessions and persecutions. In the course of history pagan beliefs crept in and
mingled with orthodox Jewish rites and worship, producing an adulterated Christianity and a
plethora of what are known today as nature-based religions, which still uphold and advocate the
individual gods to whom honour and worship is due rather than the Creator in the Hebrew and
Afrocentric cosmologies.

This study traces the effect of the absence of these relational values on the quality of the life of
nations and their leaders. A remarkable trend and pattern characterized by self-mutilative living
emerged among all such nations and people. Their efficacy and mutual beneficence, on the other
hand, was unmistakable in societies such as that of amaXhosa, in their pre-colonial state in the
Eastern Cape region of South Africa.

As all of nature “groans” under the human self-mutilation caused by the impoverished spirituality in
aesthetic relational values, this study argues that salvation lies in ibuyambo, the recalling of these
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under-appreciated relational values, and in ensuring the re-education of ourselves and our future
leaders in them. The focus of the study is what these values are, the effect of their absence, how
different they are to what are known as “social capital”, how they have been manifested and
preserved in ancient African institutions such as the weekly memorial day of rest – the Sabbath in
the creation narrative – in the lives of some individuals and people on our planet, particularly
Africans and amaMbo, and the benefits they derived from respecting them.

A vital observation in this study is that social systems that are driven by the motive of individual,
corporate or national self-exaltation are invariably rooted in strife and discention. The conclusion is
drawn that these under-appreciated relational values, aesthetic relational values, are not only a vital
ingredient to the quest for and in all known facets of sustainability in development efforts, they hold
the key to unlock the door to the mystery of “harmony” that has proven so elusive to individuals,
families, communities, societies, nations and their governance systems. The study concludes, with
Dostoevsky, that aesthetic relational values contain “a guarantee of tranquility” for all humanity and
the natural environment that sustains them. The restoration, not only by all of Africa, of the lost
spirituality of aesthetic relational values cherished by their ancient forebears, is key to the renewal
of our world.

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Opsomming
Tensy Afrikane en hulle leiers ’n daadwerklike poging aanwend om ontslae te raak van die nadelige
erfenis van koloniale spiritualiteit deur nuwe lewensmotiewe te aanvaar en nuwe verwantskappe
met mekaar aan te gaan op die vlak van heilsame waardes, sal Afrika nie aan die sosiale,
omgewings-, politieke en ekonomiese beproewings wat hom tans teister kan ontsnap nie. Die
koloniale magte wat Afrika met ingesteldhede op buitelandse verowering met geweld bestorm het,
is primêr aangedryf deur ’n etos van hebsug wat tans die bestaande internasionale orde kenmerk.
Diefstal van nie net natuurlike hulpbronne nie, het voortgeduur saam met die ontneming van die
essensie en menslikheid van mense, soos met soveel welslae in Afrika plaasgevind het.

Daar is bewys dat die menslike bestaan omsluit en beheer word deur ’n nielewensvatbare
mikrofisiese raamwerk (geestesingesteldheid en spiritualiteit). Te midde van wat ’n verbysterend
dinamiese, onstuimige en komplekse wêreld skyn te wees, tree hierdie spiritualiteit op die
voorgrond en vorm ’n bastion wat lei tot onsamehangendheid onder selfaanbiddende mense en hulle
omgewing. Ons leef nou in ’n wêreld wat beheer word deur ’n vernietigende ingebore
ongeregtigheid wat oorweldigende ongelykheid onder mense meebring en ongeëwenaarde skade
veroorsaak aan die natuurlike omgewing wat ons onderhou. Hierdie studie steun op en verbind die
bewyse wat deur die antieke geskiedenis voorsien word, met deurlopende makrofisiese pogings om
te toon dat hierdie mikrofisikaliteit nog geld, hoewel onder verskillende manifestasies.

Nadat hy in ’n staat van oorlog met homself en sy lewende omgewing verkeer het, het die mensdom
nou ’n kruispad bereik, soos waarnemers erken. In die geweld wat alle mense sedert die vroegste
tyd omring, soos blyk uit die saambestaan van armoede en oorvloed, pandemies wat deur ’n groot
verskeidenheid siektes gedryf word, reusagtige ongelykhede in rykdom binne en tussen nasionale
ekonomieë, energie- en omgewingsuitputting en –agteruitgang, wat aan ons die ongekende krisis
van aardverwarming besorg het, het hierdie kruispad hom duidelik aan ons opgedring.

’n Bepaalde soort mentaliteit en spiritualiteit het ons tot by hierdie punt gebring. Dit is ’n
spiritualiteit wat klaarblyklik ontdaan is van en nie in staat is om skoonheid van harmonie en
verbondenheid tussen ons te bewerkstellig nie, ongeag ons diversiteit ten opsigte van ras, kultuur,
kennisdissipline of geografiese ruimte. Die makrofisiese toestand wat ons ondervind, kan nie in
isolasie van die spiritualiteit wat dit veroorsaak het, beskou word nie. Ons is nou in ’n
onvolhoubare wêreld wat die resultaat van ’n onvolhoubare spiritualiteit moes wees. Die antwoorde
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op ons globale dilemma moet fundamenteel nie in enige nuwe tegnologieë gesoek word wat uit
hierdie selfde geestesingesteldheid voortvloei nie, maar in ’n hernude sienswyse en in ’n ander
spiritualiteitspatroon.

Hierdie studie ondersoek die dominante wêreldingesteldheid wat die globaal omvattende Westerse
beskawing gerig het en hersien ’n aantal belangrike historiese en kulturele neigings wat, volgens die
argument, die mensdom tot by die toppunt van sy “wêreld-jag”-kultuur gebring het. Dit is ’n
“wêreld-jag” van selfverminking wat sigself meer as vier millennia gelede in Europa, die Nabye
Ooste, Asië en Afrika gemanifesteer het. Die ontbossing, grondagteruitgang, onderdrukking van
die armes, hongersnood, haat wat terroriste-aanvalle aangedryf het en klimaatsveranderings, wat
natuurrampe en die verlies van spesies laat toeneem het, is almal die onmiskenbare bitter vrugte van
so ’n kultuur. Dit is ’n kultuur wat gekenmerk en voortgestu is deur die afwesigheid van wat
hierdie studie “estetiese relasionele waardes” noem.

Hierdie dominante ingesteldheid het verskeie reëlgebaseerde regeringsinstellings wat gekenmerk
word deur ’n etos van sentrale beheer en die manipulering van mense se lewens vir selfgesentreerde
gewin oor ons hele wêreld versprei. Hoewel baie van hierdie instellings in verskeie gewade van
skynbare welwillendheid - geloofgebaseerde, handelsgebaseerde, kennis/wetenskapgebaseerde en
politieke bestuursliggame - voordoen, is almal aanhangers van dieselfde wêreldbeskouing wat
stewig in ’n genadelose en destruktiewe panteïstiese en natuuraanbidding-geloofstelsel gevestig is
wat na antieke Egipte terugvoerbaar is. Baie van hierdie instellings maak vandag in die openbaar
daarop aanspraak om voorstanders van volhoubare ontwikkeling, die uitwissing van armoede en
vrede onder die nasies van die wêreld te wees, terwyl hulle nog, esoteries, vasklou aan ’n
kosmologiese perspektief van natuuraanbidding wat selfverheerliking aanprys en die welsyn van
ander verontagsaam.

Die studie kontrasteer hierdie dominante spiritualiteit met die Afrosentriese siening wat op ’n
kennissisteem gebaseer is, wat ’n geloof in ’n barmhartige en genadige Skeppergod voorstel wat die
bron van alle natuur, met inbegrip van die menseras, is, soos blyk uit die daaglikse lewens van
amaMbo-mense wie se geografiese oorsprong na antieke Ethiopië teruggevoer kan word. Terwyl
die eersvdermelde steeds die niebestaan van die Skeppergod voorstaan, keer Afrikane – met die
besef van die spirituele bankrotskap van ’n selfverheerlikende etiek wat mense gepolariseer het en
hulle kontinent deur reëlgebaseerde instellings verniel het - in groot getalle terug na hierdie
kennissisteem van hul voorvaders waarop hul sosiale instellings van gedeelde en
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konsensusgebaseerde besluitneming en regering, vanaf die basiese sosiale eenheid as die familie tot
by nasionale politieke verhoudings¸ gevestig is.

Hierdie patrone van spiritualiteite het in verskeie gevalle tot onaangename uitkomste gelei. In die
Kaap se meer as ’n eeu lange, bittere en langdurige botsing tussen ’n tak van amaMbo bekend as
amaXhosa, wat met die 17de-eeuse aankoms van die Westerse “wêreld-jag”-kultuur deur die
Calvinistiese Nederlandse Oos-Indiese Kompanjie-handelaars begin het, is Afrika en die hele
wêreld terselfdertyd voorsien van onbetwisbare bewys van die vernielsug van gemaksugtige lewe
aan die een kant en, aan die ander kant, die doeltreffendheid van relasionele estetika as ’n
lewensvatbare alternatief uit die humanitêre en omgewingskrisisse wat ons wêreld in die gesig staar.

Sienswyses en beginsels omtrent ’n harmonieuse lewenswyse op aarde is al sedert die vroegste tyd
deur vele groot leiers bepleit. Dit is gehandhaaf in die lewens van antieke Israelitiese patriage soos
Abraham en Moses, wat sy stamverwante uit die Egiptiese slawerny van meer as vier eeue gelei het;
in die lewe van Tolstoi, wat verkies het om verban te word uit ’n gemeenskap wat hierdie beginsels
met minagting bejeën het; in dié van Gandhi, op wie Tolstoi ’n geweldige invloed gehad het, wat
hierdie beginsels effektief toegepas het om ’n hele nasie van Britse onderwerping te bevry; en
Dostojewski, Tolstoi se landgenoot, wat die eerste keer daarna as “estetiese sienswyses” verwys het.

Hierdie relasionele beginsels is vasgelê in die lewenstyl van antieke Israel, en later uitgeleef en
verkondig deur die Joodse Rabbi genaamd Jesus, wie se eie mense verkies het om Hom skandelik te
vermoor eerder as om sy leringe te aanvaar. Hierdie beginsels is onderrig, beoefen en aan Sy
volgelinge oorgedra om die mensdom te beïnvloed soos nog nooit tevore nie. Hierdie beginsels het
in hulle antieke opset gebots met dié van die heidense lewenstyl van Egipte, Babilon, Medo-Persië,
Griekeland en Rome, wat die Westerse beskawing wat oor die wêreld versprei is kultureel gevorm
het. Die resultate was eeue van slawerny, onteienings en vervolgings. Met verloop van die
geskiedenis het heidense gelowe ingesypel en met die Joodse rites en aanbidding vermeng, wat
gelei het tot ’n verknoeide Christendom en ’n oorvloed van wat vandag as natuurgebaseerde gelowe
bekend staan, wat steeds die individuele gode aanhang en verkondig aan wie eer en aanbidding
toekom, eerder as die Skepper in die Hebreeuse en Afrosentriese kosmologieë.

Hierdie studie belig die afwesigheid van hierdie relasionele waardes in die gehalte van die lewe van
nasies en hulle leiers. ’n Merkwaardige verloop en patroon wat gekenmerk word deur ’n
selfverminkende lewenswyse het by al hierdie nasies en mense te voorskyn getree. Hulle
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doeltreffendheid en wedersydse liefdadigheid is, aan die ander kant, onmiskenbaar in
gemeenskappe soos dié van die amaXhosa, in hul voorkoloniale staat in die Oos-Kaapse streek van
Suid-Afrika.

Terwyl die hele natuur “kreun” onder die menslike selfverminking wat deur die verarmde
spiritualiteit in estetiese relasionele waardes veroorsaak word, argumenteer hierdie studie dat die
redding lê in ibuyambo, die herroeping van hierdie onderwaardeerde relasionele waardes, en deur
seker te maak dat ons onsself en ons toekomstige leiers daarin heropvoed. Die studie konsentreer
op wat hierdie waardes is, die uitwerking van die afwesigheid daarvan, hoe dit verskil van wat as
“sosiale kapitaal” bekend staan, hoe dit in antieke Afrika-instellings soos die weeklikse gedenkdag
van rus – die Sabbat in die skeppingsverhaal - gemanifesteer en bewaar is in die lewens van party
individue en mense op ons planeet, veral Afrikane en amaMbo, en die voordele wat hulle trek uit
die nakoming daarvan.

’n Belangrike waarneming in hierdie studie is dat sosiale stelsels wat deur die motief van
individuele, korporatiewe of nasionale selfverheffing aangedryf word, sonder uitsondering aan
onenigheid en verdeeldheid gekoppel is. Die gevolgtrekking word gemaak dat hierdie
onderwaardeerde relasionele waardes, estetiese relasionele waardes, nie slegs ’n noodsaaklike
onderdeel in die soeke na en in alle bekende fasette van volhoubaarheid in ontwikkelingspogings is
nie, maar dat hulle die sleutel is tot die ontsluiting van die misterie van “harmonie” wat so
ontwykend vir individue, families, gemeenskappe, samelewings, nasies en hul regeringstelsels
geblyk het. Die studie kom, saam met Dostojewski, tot die gevolgtrekking dat estetiese relasionele
waardes ’n “waarborg van kalmte” bevat vir die hele mensdom en die natuurlike omgewing wat ons
onderhou. Die herstel deur meer as net die hele Afrika van die verlore spiritualiteit van estetiese
relasionele waardes wat deur hulle antieke voorgeslagte gekoester is, is die sleutel tot die vernuwing
van ons wêreld.

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