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Patterns of Renewal
The pattern of renewal as I have experienced it, in what I call the “first man of Africa,” is, I think, the earliest known human pattern still alive and accessible to us today. I present it as an experience, with perhaps more confidence than I should, because I think that what we need in the world today is not knowledge of these things so much as experience of these things; because it seems to me one of the tragedies of modern man is that he is cut off from experiencing this immense dynamic pattern of renewal deep in himself.
So begins the retelling of the Bushman creation stories: how the world began, what Man was like, how life is renewed. The Bushman’s stories are all told in images, which are a kind of hieroglyphic of the spirit. Join with the Laurens in discovering the beginnings.
So begins the retelling of the Bushman creation stories: how the world began, what Man was like, how life is renewed. The Bushman’s stories are all told in images, which are a kind of hieroglyphic of the spirit. Join with the Laurens in discovering the beginnings.
34 pages, Kindle Edition
First published June 1, 1962
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5 people want to read
About the author
Laurens van der Post
78 books164 followersSir Laurens Jan van der Post was a 20th Century South African Afrikaner author of many books, farmer, war hero, political adviser to British heads of government, close friend of Prince Charles, godfather of Prince William, educator, journalist, humanitarian, philosopher, explorer, and conservationist.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
February 10, 2024
This is a challenging pamphlet for me given a few things about it. First, it is a single essay compiled from four extemporaneous speeches given over a weekend Pendle Hill retreat on religion and psychology. And the compilation is completely from transcripts, not by the author, but by a different person. What might be lost in the condensation into a single shorter document?
Second, it is very much of its time, steeped in European conquest and colonialism of many parts of Africa. The author is very much a product of that period. Evidence, he tells us early in the pamphlet that his grandfather had led the slaughter of the local population through a raid “conducted against the last of the Bushmen in the Orange Free State.” And that he grew up with two old Bushmen brought home as captive novelties or trophies. (p. 6)
Third, despite saying once he learned some Bushmen survived in the Kalahari Desert, that he wanted to “beg their pardon for what we had done,” his writing is fraught with a learned white racist superiority mixed with smug privilege. For instance, after collecting the stories and experiences of these Bushmen ad the research by others (presumably other Europeans). Van der Post was “amazed at the revelation that they brought to me. For the first time I felt that I had liked up with my own earth in Africa, as if before then I had been a stranger in my own land where my people had been for 300 years.” And most telling, his studies led “far from destroying my own cultural inheritance, seemed to rejuvenate it in some way. Far, for instance, from destroying the meaning of the Christian, the Biblical story for me, it made it clearer for me than it had ever been, gave it a new energy that it had never had.” (p. 7)
He compares or equates the opportunity for personal renewal of whites by learning the stories of these persecuted people to the parable of the prodigal son in the Bible. Additionally, he notes the similarities in appearance of Bushmen to praying mantids, for the insect has “the same high cheekbones, pointed chin, and a sort of Bushman eye” (p. 15) I am uncomfortable with that.
Fourth, he begins to appropriate the renewal stories of the Bushmen for Christian use but, by the end of the four tales, seems to have either forgotten or abandoned the exercise or that the similarities or value is exhausted by merely concluding there are four stages to live: birth, procreation, death and rebirth. That’s it?
Other readers have rated it higher so they may have found more benefit from their reading. They left no comments so I'm only guessing. I will move on to #122, still seeking.
Second, it is very much of its time, steeped in European conquest and colonialism of many parts of Africa. The author is very much a product of that period. Evidence, he tells us early in the pamphlet that his grandfather had led the slaughter of the local population through a raid “conducted against the last of the Bushmen in the Orange Free State.” And that he grew up with two old Bushmen brought home as captive novelties or trophies. (p. 6)
Third, despite saying once he learned some Bushmen survived in the Kalahari Desert, that he wanted to “beg their pardon for what we had done,” his writing is fraught with a learned white racist superiority mixed with smug privilege. For instance, after collecting the stories and experiences of these Bushmen ad the research by others (presumably other Europeans). Van der Post was “amazed at the revelation that they brought to me. For the first time I felt that I had liked up with my own earth in Africa, as if before then I had been a stranger in my own land where my people had been for 300 years.” And most telling, his studies led “far from destroying my own cultural inheritance, seemed to rejuvenate it in some way. Far, for instance, from destroying the meaning of the Christian, the Biblical story for me, it made it clearer for me than it had ever been, gave it a new energy that it had never had.” (p. 7)
He compares or equates the opportunity for personal renewal of whites by learning the stories of these persecuted people to the parable of the prodigal son in the Bible. Additionally, he notes the similarities in appearance of Bushmen to praying mantids, for the insect has “the same high cheekbones, pointed chin, and a sort of Bushman eye” (p. 15) I am uncomfortable with that.
Fourth, he begins to appropriate the renewal stories of the Bushmen for Christian use but, by the end of the four tales, seems to have either forgotten or abandoned the exercise or that the similarities or value is exhausted by merely concluding there are four stages to live: birth, procreation, death and rebirth. That’s it?
Other readers have rated it higher so they may have found more benefit from their reading. They left no comments so I'm only guessing. I will move on to #122, still seeking.
Displaying 1 of 1 review