Michael Battle writes more on the healthy person of Ubuntu.
What is a communal self? In this book I want to answer this question through the concept of Ubuntu which shapes the vision for how the relationship between persons creates a third entity. In other words, Ubuntu helps us see the complementarity between the individual and community - that one is unintelligible without the other. Ubuntu helps us guard against the unfortunate tendency of approaching relationships as what one person can get out of the other, thereby killing the opportunity for the third life to be born - the life of community.
I find that there is a traditional word within the church for this life that comes to be when individuals enter into community and we share of ourselves and receive back from others. It is the Holy Spirit. The Holy Spirit is alive between us. It is the life-action that bridges the separation and pulls us beyond our turned-in-on-self. When that pulling takes place, the result is a community that we in the church call the body of Christ - a gathering of self-differentiated individuals who share a life together that is shaped within the vision of the Christ and the life within the Reign of God. Ubuntu seems to carry that meaning.
Connection: It is not always easy to bridge the gap between one another. And yet, for the growth and well-being of all of us, it is necessary.
Spirit of Life lead us toward others and encourage us to see the great gift that awaits us as we share our lives with others. It is not what we always want but you know that the restoration of our relationships brings about a new day for everyone - a day within your loving Reign. Amen.
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