By Zulumathabo Zulu © 2018
Last week I delivered a scholarly lecture at the Department of Basic Education in Pretoria, South Africa. Thanks to the Chief Education Specialist of Physical Sciences Madam Morongwa Masemola who hosted me. Madam Masemola is a very impressive science powerhouse in a gutsy mission to rewrite science from the African worldview. She recognises the fact that there is a plethora of indigenous scientific knowledge that needs to be recorded for futuristic generations.
Zulumathabo Zulu; Masemola Morongwa and colleagues at the Department of Basic Education, Pretoria.
It is gratifying to know there are indefatigable people like her who are working hard to foreground the African origin of knowledge with respect to science; what I normally refer to as metascience. Thokoza Makhosi!
The Purpose of this Article
The purpose of this article is to share with you the scholarly discourse African Origin of Philosophy: Modalities, Freedom and the Fourth Industrial Revolution using the MP3 format. This cosmic knowledge is inspired and sanctified by the erudite ancestors who have gone before us and needs to be disseminated so that the sons and daughters of the beautiful African soil and the Diaspora can gain an epistemic access to the intellectual fighting sticks that are meant to enable them to retake their position as the unsold and unbought architects of their sacrosanct destiny.
Western Philosophy
Western philosophy is a superset of all knowledges based on three disciplines namely (1) knowledge (epistemology); (2) reality (metaphysics or ontology) and (3) ethics (inclusive of axiology). This is confirmed by the fact that when you embark on a PhD degree program in a Western university, it is framed as a doctor of philosophy.
The ontology of this doctoral knowledge is based on the philosophy of science known as Materialism making Western philosophy a derivative of Materialism. This philosophy has since been superseded by a new philosophy of science known as Physicalism
Basotho Origin of Philosophy
The Basotho use Nahanosene to describe their systems of philosophy. Unlike the Western philosophical forms of knowledge which are either aprioristic or observational in their origin, Nahanosene traces its origin to Cosmology making African philosophy a derivative of the cosmos.
The ontology of this knowledge is based on the African metaphysical science encoded in the metaphysical axiom of “Nkare Teng” meaning “From the vantage point of the observer, it is like the case; the case that it is the case”. This axiom describes an African worldview that is based on spatial existence which conceptualises about Cosmology as the superset, reducing philosophy to a subcase.
According to Nahanosene, the knowledge of the cosmos is the mother of all knowledges.
When you embarked on a doctoral degree program of study, as per the sacrosanct calling of the erudite ancestors, in the ancient school system of Mophato (Basotho University College system), that degree was designed as a doctor of cosmology. You actually became a cosmologist as opposed to a Western university where you became convocated as a doctor of philosophy.
Cosmic knowledge is an extremely important part of the Mophato school system. Cosmology is also encoded in the Basotho greeting system of Dumela. The reader is referred to The Sacred Knowledge of the Desert: African Philosophical Transcendence to learn more about the Cosmology of Dumela.
Another example of cosmic knowledge is the Basotho system of geomancy commonly known as Ditaola (divination). The geomancic artifacts of Ditaola like bones; tlhakwana; kola or seashells are designed as systems of mathematical modelling of the stars. They encode an organizing principle of cosmic knowledge known as Lewa meaning the strategy of knowledge. Lewa literally means the pattern in the falling of the cosmic objects. Thus, Lewa describes the graphical sequence of the geomancic artifacts.
The Basotho system of Cosmology encapsulates an extensive array of organizing principles known as Ditaelo. It is Ditaelo that empower you to correct the chaos that arises out of the natural phenomenon of entropy.
The Geomancy Like The Galaxy
The mathematical modelling of the cosmos using the geomancic instruments is like having the galaxy presented in front of you. Imagine the power of a doctoral practitioner and cosmologist being able to bring the galaxy in front of you and showing you how the inter-galactic frequencies produce a directional impact upon your destiny with respect to the taxonomy of causality like deterministic causality; probabilistic causality and stochastic causality.
Cosmologist Like a Reverse Engineer
The African cosmologist is like a reverse engineer who uses scientific techniques of regression to help you to locate important data points in the interpolation area because they are closer to the regression line and help you to throw away those data points that are in the extrapolation area because they are further from the regression line in which case the regression line represents the ideal state where we want to be. Thokoza Makhosi!
Withou further ado, listen to the audio below:
Zulumathabo on the Internet 2.0 
Great insight indeed. But what exactly do you mean by cosmic knowledge?
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Thank you Bokang for your feedback! We need more of positive feedback to recharge our African spiritual batteries. If we are deprived of positive energy from feedback, the messenger also atrophies. Thokoza Makhosi!
“Cosmic knowledge” refers to cosmology. Let me give the following recitals.
An African knowledge system is based on a system of knowledge known as Cosmology. This is the knowledge of the cosmos. The Basotho trace their genesis to the cosmos, making cosmology the most important form of knowledge. This is also reflected in their geomencic system known as Ditaola where the geomencic instruments (the divination bones) are designed as a mathematical modelling of the stars as confirmed by the system of Lewa (cosmic knowledge of the bones; also known as the strategic knowledge or the knowledge of transcendence). This system of cosmic knowledge is different from the Western society where the ultimate knowledge is Philosophy, as confirmed by a system of PhD (Doctor of Philosophy) making that philosophy an ultimate form of knowledge. Philosophy is created by individuals i.e. George Hegel; Karl Marx; Max Webber and others whereas in an African society the knowledge is created by the members of the clan and any individuals who produces new knowledge, it is on behalf of the clan with an attribution to the ancestors of the clan.
Among the Basotho, philosophy (also known as Nahanosene: see The Sacred Knowledge of the Desert – African Philosophical Transcendence book) is a subcase of Cosmology. As a result, the ancient doctoral schools of Mophato graduated doctors as Doctors of Cosmology. In a Western society a doctoral scholar graduates with a PhD (meaning Doctor of Philosophy) whereas among the Basotho and other Africans, a doctoral scholar graduates as a cosmologist.
I trust this helps! Thokoza Makhosi!
Zulumathabo
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Dumela Zulu. Thanking you for sharing and spreading the knowledge of our ancestors cosmology. I wish/hope you were part of articulating South Africa’s Cultural Policy? We need this kind of perspective and reminder. Malebo. Lesedi
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Dear Lebogang,
Your positive feedback is appreciated! Such kudos are like a fresh oxygen which my brain feeds on. It is my sacrosanct mission, as Mocholoko of the erudite ancestors who have gone before us, to produce; share and spread new knowledge of the cosmos in accordance with the cosmic vibration of the Basotho ancients. I was brought into the planet to do exactly that. I like your idea about making an input into the South African cultural policy. I would love to do that. Please nominate/recommend me for that important role. Badimo ke bao! Thokoza Makhosi! Mocholoko, Zulumathabo Zulu.
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Good evening Mocholoko
I am Isaac, Swati by birth and I stay in Gauteng. I would like to acquire knowledge on African spirituality, African Cosmology where we see reality through the African lens.
Upon my searching for knowledge on spirituality, I came across information that says that God has assigned to each nation a god. Therefore I would lie to know the various African gods that represent us in the spiritual realm that we should acknowledge.
I follow you on SAFM Indigenous Knowledge System talks and I admire you, the knowledge that you impart to us is imperative and necessary for us as Africans to reconnect to our old ways that we lost through colonization etc.
May you please advise me on which books must I read so that I can acquire this African knowledge and Cosmology.
Thank you so much for reconnecting us to our roots.
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Your commdntary is appreciated! I recommend two books namely (1) The Sacred Knowledge of the Desert: African Philosophical Transcendence and (2) Kgolaboloko: African Roots of Cosmic Genesis. In addition to this you shoukd visit our office at Sandton to discuss classes. Thokoza Makhosi!
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