Beyond Community: Returning to Our Habitat A Dialogue with Wakanyi Macharia-Hoffman on Ubuntu and Interbeing
Words have temperature. Sometimes, a word that was once warm can grow cold, losing its original life force as it circulates too widely on the surface of our world.
Recently, my friend and dialogue partner, Wakanyi Macharia-Hoffman—an Indigenous African Thinker and a profound voice on Ubuntu ethics—shared a reflection that resonated deeply with me. She confessed that she had “run out of words” to define Ubuntu and expressed a discomfort with the word “community.”
She wrote:
“The word community for me sounds similar to circle. We all know the circles we belong to don’t include everyone, so if community is a circle, then I will always be a willing outsider... Personally I prefer the word habitat.”
This distinction is crucial. In our modern context, “community” is often used to define a boundary: who is inside, and who is outside. It creates a distinction between “us” and “them.” In Buddhist terms, this is the working of a mind trapped in discrimination or dualism. We seek connection, yet by drawing a circle, we inevitably create separation.
From Circle to Open Field
Wakanyi’s preference for “Habitat” aligns perfectly with the Buddhist understanding of the world. In my forthcoming book, Work Like a Monk, I explore the Japanese concept of Jinen (Nature). Jinen does not mean “nature” as an object to be protected or exploited by humans. It means “things as they naturally are,” a concept very close to “habitat” or “umwelt”2.
A habitat has no fences. It is a “no-man’s land” where rivers flow, animals play, and humans exist not as owners, but as inhabitants.
Wakanyi quoted a passage from my book in her reflection:
“In simple terms, who we are—the inhabitant—is constantly being shaped by where we are—our habitat—and what we do—our habits.”
This triad—Inhabitant, Habitat, Habits—describes the reality of Interbeing (Interdependent Co-arising). We do not exist in isolation. We are shaped by the soil we stand on, the air we breathe, and the relationships we nurture.
Ubuntu as Ecological Interbeing
A few weeks ago, I wrote about my meeting with Monsignor Obiora Ike and the connection between the “Global Surface” and “Indigenous Soil.” I realized then that true wisdom does not float on the homogenized surface of global discourse but grows from the deep, specific soil of a place.
Wakanyi’s insight takes this further. She reclaims Ubuntu—often translated simply as human kindness or community—and grounds it in the Habitat.
She writes: “It is less about being a member of a close-knit community and more about the fluid nature of being relational in a most human way with all that is alive with, around and within you.”
This is the convergence of Ubuntu and Interbeing. It is the realization that our “self” extends beyond our skin, beyond our human circles, into the rivers, the grass, the technology we create, and the ancestors who came before us.
Entering New Habitats
As we approach the end of the year, many of us feel that certain stories are ending. The old narratives of “community” that rely on exclusion or rigid identity are losing their power. Like Wakanyi, I feel we are entering a new phase.
We are moving from being managers of communities to being inhabitants of a shared habitat. In this habitat, we are not defined by our titles or our tribes, but by how we relate to the life around us.
Let us accept the endings of old roads. Let us step into this fenceless habitat, where old habits can change, and where we can remember that we are, fundamentally, nature itself.