There are times when I learn something so new, and so cool, that I just want to jump up and down and yell in delight. This was one of those days, and I want to share it with you.
I was picked up at the airport this morning by Papa (we will call him Smith). He is called Papa as it is a sign of respect, and a lot of people call him Pap.
So as we are going to meetings—and sitting in a lot of traffic—Pap and I have a chance to chat. It seems (I asked) that Pap is neither a Christian or a Muslim. He has his own native religion from his home in Senegal, and sadly I didn't catch the name (if I do, I will update the blog. This is likely, because I may petition for membership. But I am jumping ahead).
Pap says his religion doesn't believe in death. Instead, he says they believe in reincarnation, though it sounds more like a kind of continuation. Among the principles are:
- There is not one diety. The closest living thing to you is believed to be your god. And rivers and streams are 'living' just as humans and animals. So when you sit next to a river you are sitting next to god, and you would never defile it in any way. When you are close to a person, you are close to god, and you would do nothing objectionable to the person/god.
- A person is just a continuation of his ancestors. When you meet someone, you meet everyone that made them—all of their family and ancestors. (Holy shit this is neat).
- When you greet someone you greet them by the family name. Say 'hi' to Jon, that's just me. Say 'hi' to Bormet, and it is everyone in my family for all generations.
- There is no concept of birth. Instead, pressed for a date for societal needs (like a passport or drivers' license) he offers his 'date of continuation'.
- There is no word in his language for 'death'. Instead, all living things continue.
There is probably no better testament to these beliefs than Pap himself. He is truly a wonderful human being. And tonight when I said goodbye, I said 'Good bye Smiths, to all of you' which made him laugh and made me feel as good as I have in a long time. Amazingly, I will get paid to spend the next week with him. How cool is that?
1 comment:
Throw some Jung in for the collective unconcious, and this is what you got, courtesy of Wikipedia:
hTheism in the broadest sense is the belief in at least one deity.[1][2] In a more specific sense, theism refers to a particular doctrine concerning the nature of a god and its relationship to the universe.[3] Theism, in this specific sense, conceives of a god as personal, present and active in the governance and organization of the world and the universe. The use of the word theism as indicating a particular doctrine of monotheism arose in the wake of the scientific revolution of the seventeenth century to contrast with the then emerging deism which contended that a god — though transcendent and supreme — did not intervene in the natural world and could be known rationally but not via revelation.[4]
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