Reflections on The Rite of Circumsision

by The Outsider

I have been listening to the news this morning; I hear that the number of youths who have died during their Initiation rituals has risen to thirty three. I was shocked to learn that the death toll is approaching that of the Marikana Massacre.

My Brothers, I have terrible forebodings with regard to this Sacred Initiation Rite; may The Creator forbid that it should be outlawed like the mystery religions of ancient Greece, when the state adopted Christianity as the official religion.

But the way things are going, that may not be an impossible outcome in a few years to come. I believe that we will suffer great psychic epidemics when that happens (in fact the suffering has already commenced; the increase in sex crimes and the upsurge in "Satanism" are some of the first clues), because we would be legislating against an essential structure of our psyche.

This ritual is an ancient practice; it is part of the very structure of our minds. We have evolved it from psychological necessity, as the body evolves methods of Healing itself. When a race of people develops a particular Myth, you can be sure that the Myth will feed the most essential hungers of their collective psyche.

If you are a subtle observer however, you will perceive that these hungers are not being fed today, or they are being fed badly, because the suffering has already commenced. To me it seems that the ritual has become a shell; everyone goes through the motions but the Myth is no more internalised. The ritual has become a communal spectacle in which the participants are rational people who have ceased to believe in Myth. I believe that this is part of the reason why we suffer from this collective psychosis today; "the wrath of the Ancestors" if you will.

Although our current reality is as it is, we should not "throw away the baby with the bath water". We need to revive this ritual, not on the level of Custom but on the level of Philosophy. Old men will never let us engage philosophically with this ritual; they are obstinately dogmatic.

My Brothers, I dare say we must look beyond the forms of things, that we may perceive the essential in them. Let Each Man ask him-Self; what are the Psycho-Philosophical needs that have necessitated to evolution of this form of Initiation?

I know that I will be condemned by my people for my public Reflections on this topic, and I will be condemned by some westerners for being too backward. But I am motivated by Compassion. Thirty three have already dead, and it's not even June yet.

I am convinced that we need brave Men to philosophise anew with regard to this ritual; otherwise we will lose it altogether.