| " Knowing one's origins and aim is a precondition to any positive human action."
Man has always tried to understand his
origins. Whether through an omnipotent, supernatural Creator or the
mechanistic interactions of molecules, stories of creation are
common to all religions, cultures and civilizations.
African explanations of creation are less well known than those of western cultures because they have been passed down through oral traditions that are not easily accessible to outsiders. Although many books have been written on African religious thought, most authors have not spent enough time in the field with African religious practitioners to gain a true understanding of their beliefs.
An even greater barrier to a true understanding of African religious belief is the limitations of the written word itself. Writing is fixed. but life is dynamic. African traditional knowledge is passed from one person to the next not only through speech but through song, ritual, dance, music, rhythm, gesture and symbols. The complexity and nuance they convey is impossible to capture on the printed page. Just as an actor on stage gives life, meaning, and emotional comprehension to the lifeless words of a script, so traditional African modes of expression provide a depth of knowledge and richness far beyond their fixed description in print. | 
