At least a thousand years before the Jewish concept of humans being made in the image of God (Genesis 1, 27), African Sages said the sanctity of life is the central pillar inside each human being. This concept was introduced in the Sebait of Kheti for his son Meritkara in the First Intermediate Period, more specifically in the 9th Dynasty (c. 4042-3633 BCE). Kheti’s comments not only provide the earliest known concept of humans as the images of God, but they also pose them as the children or offspring of God (Karenga, Maat, p. 225, 318). Out of this evolved concepts of the sanctity of human life and humans as the bearers of Dignity and Divinity—both characterizing what it means to be Human— and both constituting the source of Good Character. Thus, ones Dignity is the absolute reality and significance of ones Selfhood and ones Divinity is the subtle and hidden qualities of God’s Consciousness that requires cultivation throughout ones lifetime. By being of a spiritual nature both are without degrees.
This Ancient Africans belief in man being made in the image of God (Snn NTr; Imago Dei) became the spiritual grounding or meaning for human Dignity and Divinity; for the sacredness of life; and for moral responsibility. Hence it followed that the moral relationship between one human and another ought to be that of Acknowledgement of the Dignity and Divinity bestowed on every person and the Appreciation of whatever flows out of and/or contributes to either or both. To Appreciate ones Dignity demands the acquisition of African-type moral character. African-type Moral character is fashioned around the spark of the divine presence within each human being. This means that whereas Dignity and Divinity are birth gifts, ones Dignity must be displayed around ones Divinity while ones Divinity must be cultivated into Enlightenment. When one esteems who one is, based upon ones Dignity, and then attaches to ones dignity the tasks one does in life and carries those tasks to completion, one exhibits Self-Respect. Selfhood Mastery means one maintains moral character every time one is being severely tested.
|< Prev||Next >|