Dunia ni duara, huzunguka kama pia

 

Methali (proverb)

Dunia ni duara, huzunguka kama pia.

Translation: The world is a circle, it rotates like a cone.

Sidereal time:

Sidereal time is the time scale based on measurement of the position of “fixed stars” in the sky. – fixed stars are the majority of the of the luminaries in the sky which are observed to move in one block across the sky background. This is in contrast to luminaries visible to the eye that appear to move independently among those fixed stars. These are termed “rogue stars” and have different names like planets, comets, meteors and so forth.

The fixed stars at night rise in the east and set in the west. When you divide the sky into 180 portions (180 degrees), each portion/degree distance is covered by the stars after 4 minutes. This period is termed “longitude”. 1 degree longitude becomes equal to 4 minutes. 1 degree longitude is a theoretical concept of the smallest visible division of luminary movement across the sky. The angles can be measured using a sextant.

Sidereal time is followed by Solar time whereby the same procedure and rules apply to the movement of the sun across the sky during the day. The sun is a dominant luminary that is not accompanied by any rogue luminaries.

Cycles in Solar time

Jua - sun.

Jua - know.

Nominal derivations:

Ujuzi (“knowledge, experience”)

World cycles

In the governance of human societies, these cycles also exist. The cycles can be caused by a number of things including: new technologies, depletion of a primary natural resource, corrupt and decadent primary institutions/ideas, novel frontiers of primary resource extraction.  For these reasons, institutions are set up to adapt, control and mitigate effects of these cycles. This is conceptualized in the ideas of “Immanence” and “Transcendence”.

Immanence is a term used in philosophy and theology to the fact or condition of being entirely within something. It corresponds to a state of faith (pistis), which is a state of reliable institutions that produce faith and trust in human behavior. Immanence creates institutions, laws, and order. An example is the post-1945 creation of United Nations which got its first erosion of trust just 15 years later in the 1960 Congo Crisis; a process that has been cascading.

Transcendence is a term in philosophy and theology, applied in contradistinction from “immanence”, to the fact or condition of going beyond a limit or surpassing a boundary. It corresponds to a state of knowledge (gnosis), which is a state of unreliable institutions that produce doubt and suspicion in human behavior. Transcendence creates conflict, division, and chaos. In contemporary Eurasian thought, the idea of transcendence is represented in the mythology of “phoenix rising” and implemented in the controlled ‘arnachist movement’.

For the purpose of universality, we can symbolically represent immanence with soft and still waves; and represent transcendence with rough and turbulent waves. This phenomenon is also observable by a person spending some time at the shores of an ocean.

Both immanence and transcendence are factors of consideration in institution-building by human societies. An example of this awareness is illustrated in the book unfortunately titled “The Vanishing Tribes of Kenya: A description of the manners & customs of the primitive & interesting tribes dwelling on the vast southern slopes of Mount Kenya & their fast-disappearing native methods of life”, written by J. Orde Brown (1925). A late royal artillery, senior commissioner Tanganyika, a fellow of American geographical society, membre de l’institut d’anthropologie Suisse, etc. in page 52, he wrote:

“… the recognized authority was the Kĩama, and these old men laid down the observations of the customs to be followed by the tribe in matters spiritual and temporal, though the other sections (Njama) might be consulted in matters specially concerning them…

… it will be observed that this system places the social power in the hands of a group of old men, with the obvious disadvantage that it was unsuited to vigorous action in the shape of tribal defence or offence. To get over this difficulty, there existed an individual known as a Mũthamaki, or war leader; generally a seasoned and experienced warrior. Upon this man or men, depended the defence of the community and the organization of the raids which might be contemplated against an adversary. These people tended to grow more important in troublous times, when a strong character and success in warfare might well give them such importance that they quite overshadowed the Kĩama (Elders Council).”

Apart from the Agĩkũyũ and related peoples around Mt. Kenya, this system appeared among the Arochukwu Confederacy, Ashanti Confederacy, Saxon tribe in the Baltics, and a number of contemporary nations who have adopted it in various ways.

From this grand scale, this same system is also replicated at lower levels of human governance to various degrees. It is a system of necessity supported by legitimacy. The basis of immanence is “foundational legitimacy”, which connotes the ability of a state to provide and guarantee security and safety of a nation/people. On the other hand, the basis of transcendence is “contingency legitimacy”, which connotes the legitimacy derived through certain processes e.g. revolution, war, elections, dynastical inheritance; to pass on power to other state actors or to another entirely different state as the case may be. These different forms of legitimacy also affect the procedures and methods of decision-making.

 

References

J. Orde Brown (1925). The Vanishing Tribes of Kenya: A description of the manners & customs of the primitive & interesting tribes dwelling on the vast southern slopes of Mount Kenya & their fast-disappearing native methods of life. Pg 52-53

TUKI (2001), Kamusi Ya Kiswahili-Kiingereza; Swahili-English Dictionary. Published by Taasisi ya Uchunguzi wa Kiswahili (TUKI), Chuo Kikuu cha Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.