Choose to do good with your spirituality

„ THIS week, I had very fascinating encounters with four deeply spiritual individuals. One was a clairvoyant, one a prophet and the other two are inclined towards African traditional religion with a dash of prophecy steeped in the Christian faith.

All four are committed to their spirituality and very insightful individuals. I listened attentively to each one as they spoke to me passionately about their calling and what it is they do. It was very inspiring and also pretty much challenging.

I have my own spirituality that am always questioning, exploring and progressing so these encounters made for so much learning and need to enhance my own understanding of what spirituality is all about. This took me to a place where I became inquisitive about the way we choose to show up as a spiritual people in Zimbabwe. Fascinating!

The conflicted souls

I recall one day speaking to my cousin who is a pastor and we were talking about how Christianity was introduced to Zimbabwe. I was of the opinion that Christianity was used as a tool to “soften” Zimbabweans back then so that it would be easier to colonise them.

My cousin was of the opinion that just because someone decided to abuse Christianity and make it a tool for colonialism does not mean that the religion is bad. Well, I do not think that Christianity is bad — I just am of the strong opinion that because the religion was used as a tool to colonise Zimbabwe, we may also need to explore what our indigenous African Traditional Religion means in light of what Christianity propagates as a faith.

Now, I come from a background where I have been told that anything linked to my ancestors is demonic and has no place in the Christian faith. Hmmm, I am not sure if that makes sense to me as the same faith mentions ancestry and genealogy at shocking levels — the first chapter of the book of Matthew is a whole genealogy of Jesus — but let me not get all theological.

My point is that, dear reader, there is need to relook the way we view the Christian faith in a context like Zimbabwe. Religion could evidently be the opium of the poor — be careful! That encounter with those amazingly spiritual four individuals helped me realise that there is more to one’s spiritualty than what meets the eye. It is a typical story of the good and evil. There is need for good to prevail for the greater good of humanity!

Zimbabwe is a deeply spiritual country with so much debates around how people choose to show up in their respective faith.

Just a quick look around, one can see that there is a high level of conflictedness as many attempt to find their own understanding of spirituality. We can talk about witchcraft, manjuzu (belief in mermaid/ merman spirits), God, Jah, Jehovah, Scientology, satanism, atheism or whatever it is one chooses to hold onto as a form of expressing their spirituality. One thing that is clear though is that for a country like Zimbabwe, that has so much spirituality, we seem to be a people who are fearful and paralysed by this faith.

Just look at the response to the Mbuya Nehanda statue that is along Samora Machel Avenue — gosh! Truth be told, we are to a large degree slaves to that which we choose to fear. Is that why we are in such a terrible state of governance? Is this why we fail to speak truth to power and hold each other accountable at individual, family, community and even national levels?

We fear to offend not just those we deem to be much higher than us power-wise, but also the spiritual powers that be? Remember the diesel-found-in-Chinhoyi story? It was believed that just because the “news” came from someone who was spiritually inclined, it made sense.

Do we as a people cease to think because we find it easier to surrender our being to the higher power in the spiritual world? Do we suspend our thinking capacity because we tend to be spiritual? One begs to wonder. As I interacted with these four spiritual beings, I had so many questions and I was fortunate to get audience to ask, challenge with all due respect and get some answers.

One thing for sure is that there are some spiritually gifted humans — like the four — however, that does not mean that we stop living lives fully as human beings. We keep pushing towards what is important for the greater good of humanity even in our moments of conflictedness and seeking understanding. How can we as a people utilise our spirituality to enhance the good for all humanity?

Becoming better

As I learnt about the journeys of the four, I understood that we all seek meaning to life, good for us! One of the things I would like to challenge you to, dear reader, is to also manifest goodness and critically look at your life to check if what you are doing is by any chance enhancing humanity.

When we look around us and see all the ills of society; be it poverty, poor governance leading to corruption, dismal social service delivery and all sorts, do we think we can contribute to its improvement? Or do we stand by and dream that one day our vote will be the solution to all these ills? Or maybe we should just pray it all away?

Well, good democratic governance is important, but not in the face of humans like you and me standing idle as we watch our very own motherland go to the doldrums on our watch — no! So yes, let us believe in whatever we choose and practice whatever spirituality — above all, let us come together and facilitate for speaking truth to power and challenging the status quo.

We may never fully reach our spiritual maturity as the four taught me, but guess what dearest reader? We can as we explore our spiritually, choose to be sane and objective as we hold hands to make Zimbabwe better, one human at a time. In whatever small way that we can contribute to ensuring the world becomes a better place, let us harness our spirituality to do just that. We cannot keep being blinded by using spirituality to enhance personal wealth as some have been accused of doing or some selfish motives.

Let us not forget that we do not live on an island but we hold hands with others to make Zimbabwe a much better place not just for us but for future generations. Until then, we live, laugh and love to show the world that we were here, becoming better, making our mark, and leaving our footprint as we make the world a better place! Chirenje writes in her CapaCity as a CitiZen of Zimbabwe. follow her on soCial media for more lifeZone with GraCe Conversations on twitter: @ GraCeruvimbo; faCebook: GraCe ruvimbo Chirenje; instaGram: @

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