African Spirituality: Cosmological and Theological Values

To penetrate into the world of another people is simply a task that demands patience, skill, and humility. It is easy to write off people on the basis of racial or ethnic pride, ignorance, and hasty judgment. Until one carefully studies a peoples way of thought, reasoning, and logic, it is not easy to understand and interact with them. Once peoples cosmological views are properly understood, it would be easy to relate, associate, interact with them, and even criticize them from within and not from outside their scheme or realm of thought and action. This work has tried to peer into the world of Akwa Ibom and Cross River states of Nigeria, people with immense, rich culture and tradition and, in contemporary times, enormous oil wealth and attractive tourist attractions. The author has argued that the best in any people can be caught only when one understands and works with them from within. The myths of the people can help explain their lifestyle and actions.