Man’s Essence in Bantu Ontology Celestine Chukwuemeka Mbaegbu

The concept of force is bound to the concept being even in the most abstract thinking upon the notion of being comparing the Western and Bantu notions. Tempels observes that force is the nature of being, force is being, A being is a force. Kagame maintains that all beings, all essences, in whatever form it is conceived, can be subsumed under the concept of force or as a social category encompasses all beings from God, There is constant vital interaction among beings, that is to say, forces  Tempels argues that: -this concept of separate beings, of substance which finds them side by side, entirely independent one for another, is foreign to Bantu thought! Bantu hold that created beings preserve a bond one with another, an intimate ontological relationship, comparable with the causal tie which binds creature and creator. Further argues and insistently too that -all creatures are found in a relationship according to the laws of a hierarchy! Nothing moves in this universe of forces without influencing other forces by its movement! The world of forces is held like a spider's web of which no single thread can be caused to vibrate without shaking the whole network or the Bantu there is an interaction of force with force! This kind of metaphysical interaction among beings transcends the mechanical, chemical, and psychical interactions of the created force, Tempels observes that the Bantu see a causal action emanating from the very nature of that created force and influencing other forces will weaken or strengthen another.