The world is getting stranger by the day.
Not just faster — stranger.
People are louder inside themselves.
Reactive. Anxious. Always performing. Always defending something.
Very few are quiet enough to see.
I believe the world we are entering will require more humans who are internally quiet — people who can sit with discomfort, think clearly under pressure, and act without noise.
Historically, societies knew this.
They built initiation processes.
Initiation Was Never About the Cut
As township boys, many of us rejected initiation schools.
To us, it was simple: some old fool cutting your foreskin with a spear.
If that was all it was, then choosing a doctor, anaesthetic, and a clean room made complete sense. A shortcut. Less risk.
But the truth is: initiation was never about the foreskin.
The cut was symbolic.
The real work happened elsewhere.
Initiation was about:
- Separation from childhood
- Removal from the mother’s world
- Exposure to discomfort, fear, hunger, silence
- Healing without rescue
- Learning that pain does not mean collapse
When you were wounded, your mother was not there to soothe you.
Healing was up to you.
That was the lesson.
You went into darkness as one person and came back as another — not superhuman, but quieter, steadier, more contained.
What Replaced Initiation in the Township?
When initiation collapsed, nothing healthy replaced it.
Boys still needed:
- A threshold
- A test
- A moment where childhood ends
So we found substitutes:
- Alcohol
- Violence
- Hustle culture
- Sexual conquest
- Emotional numbness
These are failed initiations.
They bring pain without meaning. Scars without structure.
I Was Born Without a Foreskin
According to me, I was born without a foreskin.
I have never seen it.
That sentence is not medical — it’s philosophical.
It means I never crossed a ritual threshold.
I grew into adulthood by time, not by passage.
That is true for many of us.
Comrades Marathon as Initiation
This is why I keep talking about the Comrades Marathon.
I think that was my initiation.
I’m not completely sure — and it doesn’t really matter. It may have been a series of things. But what I know is this:
On Comrades day, there is death.
Often many deaths.
Ego dies.
Comfort dies.
The idea that you can stop dies.
What survives is simple. Quiet. Honest.
Comrades has all the elements of initiation:
- Long preparation
- Voluntary suffering
- No rescue
- A clear line you must cross
- Witnesses
- A before and after self
That is why it is hard to explain.
Words are too noisy.
Scarcity Is the Problem
This year, Comrades entries sold out within 24 hours.
Many people will never get the opportunity to run it.
That’s a problem.
Societies don’t need more elite runners.
They need more grounded adults.
Initiation should not be rare, expensive, or exclusive.
It should be plural.
We Need More Ways to Self-Initiate
Not everyone can run 90km.
Not everyone has knees, time, money, or temperament.
But everyone needs a way to:
- Meet discomfort voluntarily
- Sit in silence
- Commit over time
- Cross a threshold
- Come back changed
We need many avenues to self-initiate.
Not for status.
Not for identity.
But for quiet.
Because quiet people:
- React slower
- Buy less
- See manipulation
- Don’t need constant validation
And in a strange world, those people matter.
Closing Thought
Maybe the question is not:
“Should we bring back initiation schools?”
But rather:
“How do we help people die and be reborn without destroying themselves?”
That’s a question worth sitting with.