The Importance of Africa as a Civilization and People Essay

The Importance of Africa as a Civilization and People - Essay Example The essay "The Importance of Africa as a Civilization and People" focuses on the topic of African culture while throwing more light on the influences of other religions and culture on this ancient land. Very few are aware that the forerunner of the Homo sapiens that inhibit planet earth was believed to have lived here. One of the first known clues to this question of where man originated came from fossils found in the Afar depression in Ethiopia in the early 1970's. More importantly, the continent has been inundated with many alien cultures starting from the Muslim influence to the colonization in the latter part of the nineteenth century. But in spite of this swarm of cultures, the continent has been able to maintain its ancient individuality. There may be many reasons for this situation. It could be that the land is inhospitable in many places. The climate may be too harsh for alien cultures with tropical rain forests to deserts that are found here in abundance. The culture or aggr essiveness of some of the tribes found in the land may have prevented the dilution of such cultures. It could also be that the African way of thinking that has been a subject of study by many historians and anthropologists may have had an influence in keeping the ancient ways of life, vibrant in some places and diluted in others. In all probability, it could have been a mix of all the above factors that have been instrumental in helping the people of that continent to maintain their individuality. But what this paper attempts to prove is that the so called African system of thought has to a large extent been responsible for the preservation of culture and civilization even if it is in a diluted form. Hence it is proposed that one of the reasons for the retention of African civilization by way of culture, beliefs, and practices is rooted in the ancient African system of thought that is still alive today. Essay Summary Prehistoric Africa: â€Å"Of all the earth’s continents, Africa provides the longest, deepest record of the human past. Several million years ago in Africa, a group of primates diverged from the rest of the apes and set forth on a distinctive evolutionary pathway involving bipedal or upright walking.† (Matrin and O’Meara 1995). The land is often referred to the cradle of humanity. Evolution of civilization was slow until the practice of herding and agriculture began to take root about 8,000 years ago. Distinct ways of life that can be described as proper civilizations began to evolve rapidly after that. Egyptian influence in Africa: Even though this advanced ancient civilization was situated in the continent of Africa, many scholars believed that African and Egyptian cultures were distinct from each other. It was thought that Egypt only used the rest of Africa as a source of slaves and other raw materials. But this erroneous line of thinking was seen by later historians and anthropologists only as a way to maintain European supremacy in the continent. â€Å"In reaction, African and African American scholars, mostly in the latter twentieth century, adopted an opposite paradigm: that ancient Egypt was not only an African civilization, populated by "black" Africans, but also a civilization that imparted its culture to the rest of Africa as well as Europe.† (O’Connor and Reid 2003). Muslim influence: One of the biggest influences on African civilization was that of Islam. It is estimated that one out of every three Africans believes in this faith. The faith first spread into many parts of this continent during the second half of the 7th century. But the influence and faith is still strong in the continent even today. Colonialism and post-colonialism: European colonists had established a

Ultimate Reality and the Nature of a Human Being Essay

Ultimate Reality and the Nature of a Human Being - Essay Example Because of our limited understanding of reality, individuals create a personal perception of the truth of ultimate reality. The understanding of ultimate reality provides explanations of the causes of some phenomena such as living and non-living things in the universe. The explanations of the causes of existence make human beings create the meaning and purpose of life and living. For example, those who see the world from a religious viewpoint attribute the existence of a diverse universe to the works of an infinite Supreme Being. Thus, human beings come up with various attributes of the Supreme Being. Human beings derive the meaning and purpose of life from the perceived attributes of the Supreme Being. For the Christians, the purpose of living is to fulfill God’s creation. According to Goheen and Bartholomew (2008), the Bible is the true story of the world. It teaches that the definitive goal of the world is the establishment of God’s kingdom. Therefore, the Bible should be regarded as God’s message about how is working to resolve the world and all human beings. The practical implication of understanding ultimate reality is the emergence of various views that attempt to provide satisfactory explanations of existence. Each and every person creates their own individual perception of reality. The perceived individual reality helps in shaping the consensus reality of the human nature. Because of the limited powers of reasoning and experience, humans may not understand the entire diverse nature or even provide satisfactory explanations of its existence. It is such limitations of reasoning that make people resort to religion to explain what the basic human reasoning cannot provide. Therefore, what the human reasoning cannot explain is attributed to the Supreme Being. Human beings seek to understand themselves in relation to the ultimate nature. To understand the ultimate nature, an individual needs to understand God, the supreme being. Thus, God is strictly