Community

Dalai Lama’s Reflection on Universal Responsibility
Dalai Lama’s primary focus is on having ethical responsibilities which are not based on the religious principles. Even with the challenges in realizing these universal responsibilities, it is essential that teamwork is practiced to accomplish work for the general audience. With the changes in the modern economics, technological advancements and the size of the population, ignoring other people’s interests is inevitable and thus needs for the universal responsibility. Attaining the universal responsibility should mainly entail developing an attitude of the mind that focuses on taking of opportunities with other people’s interests in mind other than individuals’ interests.
The development of the sense of universal responsibility enables an individual to become sensitive to all others irrespective of how close they are to him or her. It is, therefore, necessary not to neglect other people’s well-being. There is a need to cultivate contentment to attain peaceful coexistence in the society as this reduces the seeds of envy and the culture of materialism. In achieving the universal responsibility, there is need to question perpetual economic growth culture to create balance in the economic growth. The principle of honesty according to Dalai Lama is another aspect that universal responsibility leads people. There is a need to care for each other in the society. As much as this may sound hopelessly idealistic, there has been a growing acceptance of the human rights universally and the need to accept diversity in the society.

Dalai Lama’s admits that even with difficulty in creating peace and harmony, universal responsibility can be attained.
Mbiti’s Discussion of Community in African Indigenous Religions
Africa has different groups which are grouped by the anthropologists as the Bushamanoids, Caucasoid, Mongoloid, Negroid, Pygmoid among others which form the community. They have distinct languages which have made them different from each other. The community shares a common culture which is traced to the man created by God or a national leader. Mbiti admits that the religious beliefs in the African community are hard to define since the societies’ religions pervade the given entire life. The African community came to split to form different tribes and linguistic groups. There is still, however, a similarity in the names of God and even for the words of spirit. The traditional African community has been based on the kinship which controls the social relations between the different societies (Mbiti, 2010). The kinship in the African community has significantly determined the marital customs.
In the African community, the clan forms the major subdivision of a given tribe. The clans are either patriarchal or matriarchal. For the patriarchal clans, the descent is traced through the father while the matriarchal involves determining it through the mother. In all the clans, members of a specific one observe usually observe the care for their totem. It is often the visible symbol of the kinship, togetherness and the common affinity. The community has a full circle of members who are considered to be more than the rest of the world with a single family ranging from ten to a hundred members. The members include even the unknown ones regarded as the loins of the living (Mbiti, 2010). The community has traditional houses which are round and are built around the village compound. Finally, the community is charged with the obligation to make an individual. Each person should be a member of the African community as a whole since the physical birth alone is not enough.
Reference
Mbiti, J. S. (2010). African religions & philosophy. Jordan Hill: Heinemann.