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I am Goitsemang Elias Mabiletsa. Goitsemang is the name my parents gave me at birth; a Setswana question asking, “Who knows”. Just like with the many cultures of the world, in Setswana, a child’s name is either a reflection of the circumstances of their birth, or an expression of their parents’ aspirations. In my case, the name has inspired a lifelong quest to understand who I am; where I am; the reason I am here; who brought me here, and how best to be here; essentially, the meaning of life.
Even though I did not set out to enquire of these existential questions from the onset, what life ultimately taught me became sufficient in answering its most important questions when I finally got to asking them of myself. For much of my childhood I was exposed to lack and the suffering it inflicted on my family and the community in which we lived. This urged me to seek to understand the nature of suffering, and why it is so much a part of our lives, not only for humans, but for all other known life forms. I found it vital to establish whether this suffering happens because it is necessary to life, or simply a miscreation that should be eradicated.
My personal experiences and those the people I have encountered throughout my life have helped me gain a comprehensive understanding of our humanity and of the reality in which we live and has enabled me to provide the answers to the questions that mankind have been asking since the beginning of time; questions whose answers would give more meaning to life and living. Ultimately, the answers provide clarity to the primary purpose of life, as well as to the enormous power that each of us wields over the process of living.
We often hold the belief that great knowledge could only be gained through extraordinary means such as having some special mental abilities or gifts, initiation into some secret society or some interventions of a supernatural kind. However, in my case, great knowledge came through the simplicity of observing my thoughts and actions, as well as the experiences of the people I have encountered in the various circumstances of life. I have found the answers to have always been directly accessible to anyone and everyone, requiring that we have the personal courage to question our own beliefs, and the presence of mind to be aware of the answers as they unfold within and around us.
To me, finding these answers is only a completion of the first part in what I believe to be a two-part journey of life, whose first part is marked by the need to understand who we are and the environment in which we live; proceeding to the next part where our lives are guided by whatever understanding we shall have gained. In the end, the quality of any knowledge that we may acquire as a species can only be measured by the extent to which it helps us to live in harmony with our universal and situational reality.
My personal quest in life is to use the knowledge I have gained to heal myself, and to extend this healing to all who are in search of the true meaning of life, beyond our daily preoccupations with the issues of our survival, which usually entails the pursuit of money and accumulation of material possessions. I therefore aspire to inspire the will to live in harmony with the totality of life.
I am Goitsemang Elias Mabiletsa. Goitsemang is the name my parents gave me at birth – a Setswana question asking, “Who knows?”. My name instantly started charting my course through life when, as a little boy, I developed the need to make sense of what life is all about; who we are; where we are; who put us here; why they did; and how best to be here.
Like many people, I suppose the reason for my curiosity was to try and understand the coexistence of happiness and suffering in life, and with happiness as our preferred way to be, to figure out why suffering is very much a part of our pursuit of this happiness.
My access to this knowledge has not come in any way that could be regarded as supernatural, even though I have found the supernatural to be humanity’s natural state of being. The answers came through the simplicity of observing myself, primarily my thoughts, the people I encounter every day, as well as how all of us relate with each other and the environment in which we live. I found the answers to have always been directly accessible to anyone and everyone, requiring only that we simply have the presence of mind to become aware of them as they unfold within and around us.
For me, finding these answers is only a completion of the first part in what I believe to be a two-part journey of life, which starts with the need to understand who we are – our minds and bodies – as the ‘tools’ or means we have for living, and then to begin to live in our world from this understanding. In fact, the quality of any knowledge that we may acquire as a species could only be measured by the extent to which it helps us to find peace of mind and to coexist harmoniously with each other in the shared environment of our planet Earth.
My new quest in life is to use the knowledge I have gained to heal myself through a better regard for my mind, body and surrounding environment, and to see more of what the world has always been outside of my comfort zones and the routine life that my habits have over time helped to establish. On a broader scale, I intend to extend this healing to all who are in search of the purpose of life, beyond the daily pursuit of money and possessions, who want to remember their true selves and the power they have over the circumstances of their lives. In that way, my goal is to inspire the will to live in the world, which I believe to be the only home for humanity, which we all need to cherish and to share as equals.
