WHAT IS HARMONY?

(SWAHILI AUDIO LESSON TRANSCRIPT)

Today I will talk about our first lesson in our Booklet (The Golden Rule for a Sustainable Future), which explores HARMONY and what it gives us in terms of how to improve our relationships with others, in our families, our communities, and our natural surroundings. To begin with, let me just say that Harmony is a word with a broader meaning and is used in different contexts.

The word harmony itself comes from the Greek word "harmonia" which means to be joined up or unity/coherence. But it still cannot be translated into just one Swahili word because HARMONY is not only joining up of diverse elements into a coherent unity, but it involves arrangements and relationships of those elements within the UNITY.  Harmony is therefore a relationship concept, which is underpinned by essential principles that maintain a state of active balance to enable the whole unity to function. 

Any unity/wholeness comprises of great DIVERSITY. 

Without diverse elements we cannot talk about unity.

Even our bodies are diverse (made of different organs) that work together.

This collaboration is made possible by the right relationships that ensure WELLBEING within the WHOLE. This is how our ancestors lived around the world, maintaining relationships within their communities and between themselves and their natural environment. They understood that no one can survive on their own. They knew that interdependence (the state of being dependent upon one another) is a foundation of life and they passed on this crucial wisdom to the next generations to ensure that the cycles of abundance are not disrupted. They read Nature before they even learned how to write. These Ancients had a very spiritual and holistic relationship with Nature about how they cared for each other, took care of their health, SOIL, WATER, AIR, PLANTS AND OTHER MIRACLES OF NATURE.

This reverence for Nature has been lost because of our modern arrogance, especially when humans discovered technologies that have the capacity of taking more than our needs from Nature. That is when we started to disrupt the natural balance (HARMONY) and we also stopped teaching each other about those right relationships of taking and giving, which were underpinned by Moderation (the avoidance of excess or extremes). All this was taught orally and by action in traditional societies. 

Right now, our world is faced with a major climate change and experts are pointing the finger at human activities as the main cause of this crisis.  It is clear that modern humans are not mindful of the sacred principles of Harmony because we are using natural resources at a faster rate than Nature’s cycles allow. We indulge only on ourselves without regard for other life on Earth. In the past, our ancestors had the WISDOM to understand how the living Earth works, and they understood the importance of all the life-giving systems under the sun.

The Harmony education explores NATURAL PRINCIPLES that govern the order of everything; visible and invisible, from the sky where the stars and planets orbit, to this Earth where NATURE’s natural processes of growth, decay and renewal are always active. Just reflect how our own bodies continuously perform amazing life-sustaining processes that we can’t even begin to comprehend. Think for a second, if we were left with the task of remembering to breathe?? 

As a Society of Harmony Practitioners, we are learning about humanity and our relationship with NATURE so that we can broaden our perception and anchor ourselves in a harmonic view of life and teach others, so that we may lead a good fulfilling life and ensure that the future generation can also enjoy a fulfilling life. The values we put in the Harmony lesson are LOVE and GRATITUDE, because love is the invisible energy that powers good relationships. Gratitude is a very important emotion that increases positive outlook.

Intentionally, on our Tuko Sawa Logo we have put the image of our world held by two hands, because it is only humans who have been endowed with the power of taking care of it OR destroying it. Harmonic awareness widens our scope to a spiritual perspective that clearly shows that our world is an interconnected, interrelated, and interdependent LIVING SYSTEM and we humans are part of this UNITED WHOLE. Other creatures live by instincts just as they were designed by Nature, but humans are gifted with imagination and power of choice to decide how to live. Humans have the ability to create societies guided by appropriate laws to moderate relationships of right and wrong. We can also learn personal moral codes which can help us be more responsible and just.

The competencies we learned in the harmony lesson are LISTENING AND CRITICAL THINKING. Without further explanation, just ask yourself, can any unity function without mutual understanding? LISTENING to understand nature is what enabled ancient societies to survive and use their environment to provide food, shelter, medicine and recreation. Their ability for CRITICAL THINKING enabled them to solve problems.

 

For further explanation and understanding please request for the Booklet Copy.