Editing Kikuyu people (section)

=====Philosophy of the Traditional Kikuyu Religion=====
The cardinal points in this Traditional Gĩkũyũ Religion [[Philosophy]] were squarely based on the general [[Bantu peoples]] thought as follows:<ref name="Placide 1959">{{harvnb|Tempels|1959}}</ref>
#The universe is composed of interacting and interconnected forces whose manifestation is the physical things we see, including ourselves and those we do not see.
#All those forces (things) in the universe came from God who, from the beginning of time, have had the vital divine force of creation within himself.
#Everything created by God retains a bond from God (Creator) to the created.
#The first humans who were created by God have the strongest vital force because they got it directly from God.
#Because these first humans sit just below God in power, they are almost like Gods or even can be Gods.
#The current parent of an individual is the link to God through the immediate dead and through ancestors.
#On Earth, humans have the highest quantity of vital force.
#All the other things (forces) on Earth were created to enable human vital force (being) become stronger.
#All things have vital force but some objects, plants and animals have higher vital force than others.
#A human can use an animal to symbolize the level of his vital force compared to other humans.
#There is a specific point within every physical manifestation (thing) of vital force where most of that force is concentrated.
#A human can easily manipulate things to his advantage or to their detriment by identifying this point of concentration of vital force. There are human beings who have more knowledge of these forces and can manipulate them at will usually by invoking higher forces to assist.
#Higher forces are invoked by humans using lower forces (animal or plant sacrifice) as intermediaries. To approach higher forces directly is ''thahu'' (abomination which leads to a curse).
#The human society has some few elite people very skilled in the art of manipulating forces to strengthen a human(s) force or diminish it, strengthen any force below human force or diminish it.
#The leader of a human society is the one possessing the highest vital force as at that time or the one closest to God or both. Since the leader of this human society has the highest vital force and hence closer to God than any other person, he should be able to nourish the rest of the people by linking them to the ultimate God and by being able to command lower forces to act in such a way so as to reinforce the other humans' vital force.
#The life force of a dead ancestor can come back to life through the act of birth of a new child, especially when the child is named after the departed ancestor and all is seen to be well.

The Gĩkũyũ held a belief in the interconnection of everything in the universe. To the Gĩkũyũ people, everything we see has an inner spiritual force and the most sacred though unspoken ontology was being is force.<ref name="Placide 1959"/> This spiritual vital force originated from God, who had the power to create or destroy that life force. To the Gĩkũyũ people, God was the supreme being in the universe and the giver (Mũgai/Ngai) of this life force to everything that exists. Gĩkũyũ people also believed that everything God created had a vital inner force and a connection bond to Him by the mere fact that he created that thing and gave it that inner force that makes it be and be manifested physically.<ref name="Placide 1959"/> To the Agĩkũyũ, God had this life force within himself hence He was the ultimate owner and ruler of everything in the universe. The latter was the ultimate conception of God among the Gĩkũyũ people hence the name Mũgai/Ngai. To the Gĩkũyũ people, those who possessed the greatest life force, those closest to God were the first parents created by God because God directly gave them the vital living force. These first parents were so respected to be treated almost like God himself. These were followed by the ancestors of the people who inherited life force from the first parents, then followed by the immediate dead and finally the eldest in the community. Hence when people wanted to offer sacrifices, the eldest in the community would perform the rites. Children in the community had a link to God through their parents and that chain would move upwards to parent parents, ancestors, first created parents until it reaches God Himself.<ref name="Placide 1959"/> The Gĩkũyũ people believed the departed spirits of the ancestors can be reborn again in this world when children are being born, hence the rites performed during the child naming ceremonies.<ref name="Placide 1959"/> The Gĩkũyũ people believed the vital life force or soul of a person can be increased or diminished, thereby affecting the person's health. They also believed that some people possessed power to manipulate the inner force in all things. These people who increased the well-being of a person spirit were called medicine-men (Mũgo) while those who diminished the person's life force were called witchdoctors (Mũrogi). They also believed that ordinary items can have their spiritual powers increased such that they protect a person against those bent on diminishing a person vital life force. Such an item with such powers was called ''gĩthitũ''.<ref name="Charles William 1922"/> Thus, the philosophy of the Gĩkũyũ religion and life, in general, was anchored on the understanding that everything in the universe has an inner interlinked force that we do not see.<ref name="Placide 1959"/> God among the Gĩkũyũ people was understood hence to be the owner and distributor (Mũgai) of this inner life force in all things and He was worshiped and praised to either increase the life force of all things (farm produce, cattle, children) the Gĩkũyũ people possessed and minimize events that led to catastrophes that would diminish the life force of the people or lead to death. The leader of the Gĩkũyũ people was the person who was thought to possess the greatest life force among the people or the person who had demonstrated the greatest life force in taking care of the people, their families, their farm produce, their cattle and their land.<ref name="Placide 1959"/> This person was hence thought to be closer to God than anybody else living in that nation. The said person also had to demonstrate and practice the highest levels of [[truth]] (''maa'') and [[justice]] (''kihooto''), just like the supreme God of the Gĩkũyũ people would do.<ref name="Placide 1959"/>