Presenting Ubuntu Stoicism: Meditating on African Proverbs Stoically | Introducing Ubuntu Stoicism

4 min readOct 29, 2020

This post inspired my short compilation book, ‘Introducing Ubuntu Stoicism: Gain Joy, Resilience, Productivity, and Defuse Anxiety.’ It’s on Amazon. Order here if in South Africa — or visit your nearest bookstore.

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I was stressed. My heart was strained. The strain felt like it could cause me a heart attack.

I don’t know if such could, but I imaged so. I felt it.

My strain was caused by, well, a disagreement with a business associate. They could have been wrong. I could have been wrong. What strained me more was that the situation might have forced me to go the court route. Anyway, I was stressed by that, and everything.

Everything always piles up. And it gets you at some point. At that point, it had gotten to me.

My refuge for hard times is many things, but particularly Stoicism. It is my hit refresh code. Or else ego or victimhood-mindset take over.

When stressed, I read many Stoicism quotes. Parts of them made it into this book. They helped relieve my strain, as they do most times.

As I read the stoic quotes, a thought hit me that African Proverbs speak such healing into me also.

I realised that African Proverbs are stoic as well.

That is creativity. I followed it, writing all this here.

Here, I interpret African Proverbs in a Stoicism sense. I am meditating on them stoically.

My creative mind told me to call them ‘Ubuntu Stoicism.’ Maybe I will make t-shits of them one day.

Definitions of Stoicism and African Proverbs

Again, for definition’s sake, Stoicism is an ancient Greek philosophy, written and practised by people who played different roles in their society: slaves, politicians, businessmen, warriors, emperors, and artists.

The intended benefit, among others, is to practice virtue — as it can’t be lived just in words — and to not be adversely affected by events in life.

It is also to manage our reactions, as this is what hurts us much of the time. A simple example is this quote by Marcus Aurelius telling himself the following:

“Remember that it is not he who reviles you, or strikes you, who insults you, but it is your opinion about these things as being insulting. When then a man irritates you, you must know that it is your own opinion which has irritated you.”

African Proverbs

I will reiterate about African Proverbs below:

Proverbs are an integral part of the African culture. They are used to illustrate ideas, reinforce arguments, and deliver messages of inspiration, consolation, celebration, and advice.

The great Nigerian author Chinua Achebe once defined Proverbs as “…the palm oil with which words are eaten.”

And this is what the African culture does. It uses Proverbs to oil. To reinforce sanity, motivation, inspiration, meaning, and cautionary discipline.

This is just as stoics meditate on their stoic words.

All this is a code of philosophy to refresh meaning and sanity into our lives — code in the literal sense.

Ubuntu means good and essential human virtues; it is compassion and humanity.

Meditating stoically on African Proverbs

“Teeth do not see poverty.”

Think about it. A smile is a smile is a smile, and it is a good thing. So, smile. Be to yourself a force of meditating smile. Smile by yourself, brother and sister.

“No matter how hot your anger is, it cannot cook yams.”

A yam is an edible tuberous root. The sweet potato is also a tuberous root, for example — yams and sweet potatoes both need hot cooking to soften up.

So, anger, however called for, can never cook a yam. You cannot eat the fruits of your anger.

But maybe the people you are angry with will know how you feel. Maybe. Maybe not. Nonetheless, do not be angry for long. Find peace for you to live with. Maybe even without those people. For a life lived with anger is a waste.

Presenting Ubuntu Stoicism — Stoicism meditations with African Proverbs –

“Teeth do not see poverty”

Think about it. A smile is a smile is a smile and it is a good thing. So smile. Be to yourself a force of meditating smile. Smile by yourself brother, and sister.

“No matter how hot your anger is, it cannot cook yams”.

Yam is an edible tuberous root. Sweet potato is also a tuberous root for example — yams and sweet potato both need hot cooking to soften up.

So anger however called for, can never cook yam. You cannot eat the fruits of your anger.

But maybe the people you are angry with will know how you feel. Maybe. Maybe not. Nonetheless do not be angry for long. Find peace for you to live with. Maybe even without those people. For a life lived with anger is a waste.

“The best way to eat an elephant in your path is to cut him up into little pieces”

Maybe your problems cannot be solved in a day. 30 minutes daily is also enough in solving them. The rest of the hours can be directed at other things like smiling, showing teeth and laughing with friends and family. Or they can be spent on hobbies, meaningful creations or meaningful work.

Problems cannot be solved with the same consciousness that created them. Anxiety defuses creativity and creativity defuses anxiety. This is the subtitle of my book The Anxious Entrepreneur. Anxiety and creativity (add productivity and peace) cannot reside in the same house.