The Undefined Fish
(The Deities of Openendedness and Undefinedness)

By Mocholoko Dr. Zulumathabo Zulu © 2023

Listen to SABC Channel Africa Radio Podcast – Tangible and Intangible Heritage at end of article.

The indefatigable warrior; the unbought and unsold architect of destiny as it was meant to be by those who have gone before us like the great legend Solomon Mahlangu who declared that the tree of freedom is watered with blood. This is congruent with the perpetual legend Che Guevara who philosophied about Revolutionary Love.
Haba bokwe Badimo! Siyacamagusha! Thokoza Makhosi! High Veneration To The Ancestors!

The Preamble

We African Natives are socialised by our families;  our friends and the environment we are strapped to, to assign blame to others for our failure or lack of performance instead of taking tactical; strategic and corrective action to transmute our disadvantage into a revolutionary opportunity as the unbought and unsold architects of destiny so that we can vibrate as we were intended to vibrate unimpeded and undefined by the perturbations of the terrestrial space.

In this revolutionary article, I draw from my exile experience, African Axioms of Success in Madisebo University Handbook, the greatest book you will ever read: The Sacred Knowledge of the Desert: African Philosophical Transcendence,  among others, to draw a line in the sand to mark a new path of divergence away from the automaton psyche of perpetually blaming others for our lack of performance. Without further ado, we begin with the contextual poetry: The Undefined Fish.

The Undefined Fish
By Dr Zulumathabo Zulu © 2023

extreme salt per environment,
like arrested development.
Anarchy, like a Trojan Horse,
No higher authority recourse.
The predators galore,
To perpetually hunt for food!
In the terrain that seeks to define

no blame to others for blues,
psychic arrest, we break loose.
Undefinedness of fish to fulfil
Despite forged in crucibles that kill
Stringent moral code must enforce
Undefined by the adverse conditions
The Undefinedness of the fish
Transcends the omnipresent salt
In trubute to the Deities of Undefinedness

Contextual Commentary

The fish is born and socialised in an extremely salty water but when you catch the fish it does not have the salt. You actually have to add salt in order to eat the fish. Where is the salt? What happened to the salt? The fish does not allow itself to be saturated and defined by the salt in spite of the omnipresence of the salt.

The invasive salt infiltrates the fisn through its skin and other ion channels of the membrane. There is no escaping the salt. To breathe underwater, the fish needs to drink water in order to extract dissolved oxygen from water through the threaded gills that are shielded by the operculum protectors. This water contains excessive salt and there is nothing the fish can do about it because there is no immunity from the ubiquitous salt. On the one hand, the  water contains the lifegiving oxygen and on the other hand the water contains the life asphyxiating salt. The fish must work with this double-slit system like the great card game players of Canada who taught me to work with the cards I was dealt even if I was dealt a bad hand. A bad hand is not a reason to walk away from the game of life. You must produce the best outcome with the bad hand given in order to transmute the bad hand into a novel solution.

This is exactly what the indefatigable fish does. After extracting the oxygen, the fish pumps out the extraneous salt; the salt is neither needed nor internalieed.  The diligent fish consistently keeps the salt at bay so that it remains undefined by the adverse conditions of the omnipresent salt. This explains why the fish in the supermarket has no salt in spite of the excessive salt in the environment of the sea.

The instructive Nalane (Cosmogony) of the erudite Basotho Ancients who have commissioned me Mocholoko has this to say about the twinness of the primordial gods of Lehe La Kganare (The Cosmic Egg):

Primordial Gods of the Basotho

The Deities of Formlessness and Hiddeness!
The great Spirits Ba and Tho!
Batho; Motho ke motho ka  batho.

The Deities of Primordialness and Vitalness!
The great Spirits Ma and Na!
Mawelana; Molapo wa Namahadi o tlala ka melatswana.

The Deities of Distributiveness and Risktakingness!
The great Spirits Ka and Athe!
Kare Athe! Lejwe lebitla le hloka maathe.

The Deities of Openendedness and Undefinedness!
The great Spirits Ra and Di!
Ramasedi; Nahanosene ka moralo wa Rakgadi.

In the openendedness of the vast expanse, the fish transcends the adverse conditions to remain undefined by the salt and  inspired by the Deities of Openendedness and Undefinedness.

This sacred Nalane  of the indigenous knowledge system of the Basotho in the beloved land of Azania (South Africa), underscores and confirms the sacred principles of transcendence and undefinedness as outlined in the book The Sacred Knowledge of the Desert: African Philosophical Transcendence so that we are not defined by the adverse conditions and the calamitous events that befall us; beset our path; trip us; trap us and seek to derail our sacrosanct destiny. We must sharpen our minds like the great Letlaka (African thunderbird vulture) who sharpens her beak and talons. We must use the intellectual fighting sticks outlined herein to climb to greater heights and to shrug off the treacherous funks engendered by the harsh terrain so that we can vibrate as we were intended to vibrate unimpeded and undefined by the perturbations of the terrestrial space.

Landing in Canada

When I landed in Canada in 1989 in the great City of Ottawa, people felt sorry for you if you drove a Japanese car like Toyota or Honda. The best car to drive was an American car like Ford Cougar or Mustang. As a result, I owned and drove a very nice 1991 Cougar with a V6 and 3.8 litter engine. I was most likely the first Black man in the lilly White neighborhoods of Ottawa to achieve this. The most beautiful and honourable Canadian women fell in love with me! Moreover, they loved me because this exotic Black man also boasted superior cooking skills; educated feet and intellectual prowess!

In about 10 years, there was a paradigm shift wherein the best car to drive in Ottawa was a Japanese car. While in the doldrums, the Japanese did not lay blame on others for their failure and mediocre performance. They iteratively perfected their offering through infinitesimal;  disciplined work ethic and enterprising culture in cooperation with one another as a people. When you repeatedly polish and perfect your talents;  offering and the necessary moral code that beautifies and underpins you as a people, you make the clan attractive to success.

African Philosophy of Success

Success is like a beautiful and virtuous woman. You do not chase; misrepresent or stalk her; you attract her. If she resonates positively towards you, she will send  the good vibes.

So is success. If your offering is good, they will want it! Success will come knocking on your door. Thus, the prerequisite for success is to work on yourself.

In the Madisebo University Handbook we read these lines of the first axiom from The African Axioms of Succes Charter:

“To resolve questions of identity and regain mastery of your mother tongue so that your identity is crystalised with a clarity of mind about who you truly are. Thus, to play to your strength and to leverage your home advantage as a springboard for success.”

Challenge and Thought Provocation

This article is a challenge and thought provocation to those who would rather assign blame as well articulated by #DrSpirit in a recent reflection post. I call upon those who would rather assign blame than to produce novel solutions to solve problems they are beset with to read my books; articles and listen to my podcasts and  meditation music.

From the instructive #DrSpirit we read the following:

“Yah Neh! I sometimes ask, why did Our Creator allow this to happen to us, Natives of this ‘Land of Milk & Honey’. The most common answer I come across is, some of our Ancestors, who were Moors, SOLD US out to the Devils. It’s still happening till today, by the 20th & 21st century version of Moors. Unfortunately, some are not even aware ukuthi bayasidayisa and support the status quo esicindezelayo as Natives. Okunye futhi is UBUNTU bethu…”

#DrSpirit has eloquently captured the essence with respect to the mood states that prevail among our people with regards to who to blame for our suffering.

This article is intended to show that we do not need to blame others for our lack of performance.

Drawing from the sacrosanct principles of African Philosophy of Transcendence in the book The Sacred Knowledge of the Desert: African Philosophical Transcendence, it is argued herein to put our internal house and psyche in order to climb to greater heights that inspire success like the great Letlaka (African thunderbird vulture) that climbs to dizzying heights to reach and sometimes to exceed the cruising altitudes of commercial Jets at 37,000 feet (Zulu, 2017a).

Instead of blaming our African Ancients, the Moors; the Creator and Ubuntu for our tragedy of colonial conquest, we should draw a line in the sand to cease and desist from this retrogressive mindset of blame. As a beneficent beacon of leadership for those coming after us, I hereby mark and trace the novel path of divergence away from this automaton habit of blame assignment.

The Genesis of Mindset Shift

When I was in hospital in 2021 due to my injury wherein I suffered a permanent physical disability, I found myself being highly morose with a need to assign blame for my tragic and deathly situation. Moreover, we African Natives are socialised to blame others instead of taking full throttle responsibility for our situations and actions.

While in my death bed in hospital, the extraterrestrial voice whispered the following words:

“We do not criticise! We do not blame! We forge ahead!”.

I was like catapulted out of a psychic arrest. This ushered in a radical mindset and paradigm shift with respect to my conceptualisation and transcendence of tragic situations. I have actually written a book about this philosophy of transcendence shared below:

The Sacred Knowledge of the Desert: African Philosophical Transcendence.

Now back to the reasons why I respond to #DrSpirit post shared with me.

The Moors are called Moors because they originate from Morocco. The oldest modern University on the planet is from the African country of Morocco founded by women of the Moors. So the Moors have a strong intellectual tradition which must serve as a source of perpetual inspiration to us. The Moors are the indigenous people of Africa commonly known as Berbers (not Arabs; Arabs are the conquerors). In fact they [Moors] are ethnically known as Ifrika which is where the name of Africa comes from. I know them well because I schooled with them during my exile in Canada.

During my stay in the great land of Cuba, I was introduced to the Museum of the Moors in the City of Sandiego de Cuba. This confirms that the legendary revolutionary leader, the great Fidel Castro, and his people venerated and continue to venerate the Moors. The greatest lifetime experience I have ever lived!

As we all know, the Moors conquered and ruled Europe for 800 years and produced more than a million MSS (manuscripts) of revolutionary knowledge of new science. These MSS were tragically destroyed and burnt by the Christian Europeans during the Crusades Wars. It has yet to be determined how many manuscripts survived the inferno. This confirms that Europeans are the late comers in the intellectual pursuits of knowledge on account of this anti-intellectual stance. In fact, in the 1400s Europeans did not know how to multiply and divide. Their calculators like Pascaline invented in 1642 by Blais Pascal could only do addition while African calculator of Moruba in the land of Azania performed five mathematical operations namely (1) addition; (2) subtraction; (3) multiplication; (4) division and (5) concatenation more than 800 years before the first calculator of Thomas Arithmometer invented by a French engineer Charles Xavier Thomas de Colmar in the 1800s.

The African Natives are the forerunners in the tradition of intellectual pursuits as confirmed by the largest engineering projects like the Pyramid of ancient Kemet (Egypt) and Nubia; the obelisks of Ethiopia; the mathematical science of Ishango Bone of Congo dated at more than 20,000 years (while Europe was still arrested by the Ice Age and drank from the skulls of their forbears); the writing and mathematical systems of the African Natives of Azania (South Africa) dated by University of Witwatersrand at more than 70,000 years making the African Natives of Azania the oldest architects of intellectual pursuits longer than anyone on the planet.

For this reason, we do not need to lay blame on the Moors; Ubuntu or Creator for the mistakes of our modern Ancestors with regards to their failure to stem the tide of the ECC (Euro-Christian Colonialism); the WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant); the USA (United Snakes of America) and the DAC (divide and conquer).

The Nefarious Instructions

When colonizers left Europe on their odyssey to conquer and to subjugate the World, they were instructed by their Masters and Lords that when they arrived in the new country they must make contact with the royal families. The reasons for this instruction was to convert the royal families and the leadership to Christianity to facilitate the process of colonial conquest and thus subject them to the worshipful images of a White God and White Dolls.

The Kingdom of Congo

Perfect example of this is the great kingdom of Congo. The Kingdom of Congo was a revolutionary and technological Kingdom. This is an African Kingdom that was invented and created by the metallurgists. Metallurgists are  engineers who specialise in the design; materials science; solid state chemistry; solid state physics and processing of  the iron ore. The name Congo means iron ore. The King of Congo of the Mbatha Royal House was called Manicongo meaning the King Metallurgist. This confirms that the Kingdom of Congo was ruled by Engineers; Engineering Technologists and Philosophers of Science.

The Congolese were also excellent Cartographers and Geographers. The Kingdom of Congo was built on a defensive geography. This Kingdom was defended on the Western side by the large body of water of the Atlantic ocean and that means it was not possible to invade this Kingdom coming from the ocean.

The kingdom was also defended on the North by the great and mighty Congo River meaning it was not possible to invade the Kingdom from the North. It was also protected on the Eastern side by large Rivers and mountains and that was also the case on the South which is the present day country of Angola. This Kingdom was large from the North as far as Gabon and the present-day Congo Brazzaville; Congo Kinshasa and Angola.

The Fall of the Congo Kingdom

When the Portuguese arrived in Congo, they got trapped in the mighty Congo River [as per the design of a defensive geography] in 1483 and were rescued by the Congolese Natives and taken to the Royal Palace where they were introduced to the leadership. The African Natives felt a sense of Ubuntu compassion for the Portuguese. The Royal family and leadership  were subsequently converted to Christianity (big; regrettable and indelible mistake) and the rest is history! Congo still suffers the tragic aftermath of the ECC (Euro-Christian Colonialism) and the DAC (divide and conquer) and has not recovered from this tragedy.

The Stance of the Kingdom of Japan

Contrast that with the Kingdom of Japan. The Portuguese arrived in Japan in the 1500s. As per their instructions in Europe, they were introduced to the royal palace of Japan. They carried with them the rifle and the Bible. The Japanese Emperor inquired about the rifle. The Portuguese responded that the rifle was for hunting. They saw and shot a sitting duck and brought it to the Japanese Emperor. The  Emperor was instantly impressed and he paid for the rifle and gave it to his engineer and said go make more copies of this. Moreover, the Portuguese tried to interest the Emperor in the Bible and the Emperor disavowed any interest in the Bible (wise move for the Emperor).

The Portuguese asked the Emperor for permission to stay in Japan but the Emperor said no you can’t stay here; you must leave Japan. The Portuguese insistently begged the Emperor to stay but the  Emperor firmly put his foot down and finally declared that if you stay we have to kill you so you must leave. The Portuguese left and Japan was never colonized.

Why Africa Was Colonised?

We were colonized not because of the Moors or our beneficent philosophy of Botho/Ubuntu but because of the lack of strategic foresight; the complacency; the naivete and the mistakes committed by our modern Ancestors.

Ignorance is an amazing thing! If you have no knowledge of something,  you automatically conclude it does not exist even if it exists. In this case, we had no knowledge of the danger of the ulterior motives of the invaders and thus assumed the non-existence of danger. We thought there was no danger while the danger was there albeit hidden out of sight.

We are repeating this tragic mistake at this present juncture. Because we do not know about {Letsema / Ilima /  Izithakazelo / Iziduko / Direto / Diboko / Masika / Amasiko}, we automatically assume their non-existence. A regrettable and tragic mistake!

Going forward, it doesn’t have to stay this way. We can change this by changing our mindset; paradigm and coming together as a people to teach each other these teachings of the erudite Ancestors who have gone before us and to rebuild this elusive unity that we so desperately need so that we can defeat the ECC (Euro-Christian Colonialism); the WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant); the USA (United Snakes of America) and the DAC (divide and conquer).

La Lucha En Espanol

Sin embargo, la lucha debe continuar! No rendirse! Nunca jamas, porque el destino es nuestro! Nosotros debemos derrotar las cadenas vestigiales de la esclavitud y CEC (Colonialismo Eurocristiano). Nostros debemos resistir vigorosamente hasta a la muerte! La melanina debe sobrevivir en la jungla, para ser el arquitecto del destino no comprado y no vendido como estaba destinado a ser por los antepasados Africanos.

The Struggle in English

Notwithstanding, the struggle must continue! No surrender! Never never, because the destiny is ours! We must defeat the vestigial chains of slavery and the ECC (Euro-Christian Colonialism); the WASP (White Anglo-Saxon Protestant); the USA (United Snakes of America) and the DAC (divide and conquer). We must vigorously resist to the death! The Melanin must survive in the jungle as the unbought and unsold architect of destiny as it was meant to be by the African Ancestors who have gone before us.

Haba bokwe Badimo! Siyacamagusha! Thokoza Makhosi! Alta Veneracion a las Antepasados! High Veneration to the Ancestors!

References

Zulu, Z. (2019). Kgolaboloko: African Roots of Cosmic Genesis: Madisebo University College Press and Amazon Punlishong.

Zulu, Z. (2017a). Doctoral Dissertation of Mocholoko: African Cosmology; Metaphysics and Metascience: Mophato wa Bongaka (Doctoral School of Mophato), Free State, Azania (South Africa). Unpublished MSS.

Zulu, Z. (2017b). African Origin of Mathematics. Madisebo University College Press: Johannesburg.

Zulu, Z. (2017c). African Drum Telegraphy and Indigenous Innovation: African Contribution To Communication Science, University of Pretoria; Axademia.Edu.

Zulu, Z. (2015a). Numerical Logic of the Basotho – Part I, https://zulumathabo.com/2015/11/30/numerical-logic-of-the-basotho-part-i/ (accessed March 1, 2022).

Zulu, Z. (2015b). The Basotho Origin of Mathematics. Central University of Technology, Free State.

Zulu, Z. (2014). The Sacred Knowledge of the Desert: African Philosophical Transcendence: Madisebo University College Press.
Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/Zulumathabo-Zulu/e/B07NBS419H%3Fref=dbs_a_mng_rwt_scns_share ; (accessed April 10, 2022).

Zulu, Z. (2014). Sesotho Dictionary of Mathematics: Madisebo University College Press.

Zulu, Z. (2014). A Woman In The Bush: Madisebo University College Press.
M