A Walk With a White Bushman

June 26, 1987
Van der Post calls Jungian psychology a modern weapon for healing a divided world. Applying it to South Africa, he claims that apartheid is gradually crumbling, strongly opposes economic or political sanctions and urges all parties to stop projecting their "shadows'' upon one another. Our age has tilted to a rationalist extreme, the author argues, and collectivist religious cults, ``tribal'' rock music and feminism (``a form of Amazonian gang warfare'') offer no real solutions; individuals and nations alike must ``individuate'' or develop their unique identities. Growing up in Africa, this world traveler (Venture to the Interior, etc.) was reared by ``a Stone Age person,'' a female Bushman nurse who taught him reverence for life. These intimate conversations cover journeys to Japan, Indonesia and Tibet; friendships with Jung and Yukio Mishima; thoughts on Conrad, the intelligence of elephants, spirit possession in the Kalahari Desert and much else.