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<h3>The Khoisan (Khoesan)</h3>There are different concepts of the Khoisan. We have given you a view of who the Khoikhoi, the original group were. In: Andrew Hofmeyr’s Discover South African Culture: Who are the Ancient Khoisan People? on page 1 he says: “The San [Khoe or Khoi] were hunter-gatherers who maintained a close relationship with the environment, needing to read the signs of nature to survive. They traditionally relied on gathering wild fruits and plants, as well as hunting wild game, and therefore led a nomadic lifestyle. It is agreed that the San hunter-gatherers were the first people of South Africa. Paleo anthropologists believe that the San were living in South Africa about 20,000 years before any other groups.” &nbsp;The group split and some 20 000 to 30 000 years ago came into what is called South Africa today. They spread all over South Africa as the evidence of their art over this same period in South Africa indicates. The word Sān is thought of as foragers in the Kalahari and regions of Botswana, Namibia, Angola, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Lesotho, and Northern South Africa. All these groups picked things from the ground and did not own livestock.As such, it [Sān] was used in reference to all hunter-gatherer populations who came into contact with Khoekhoe-speaking communities and was largely referring to the lifestyle, distinct from a pastoralist or agriculturalist one, and not to any particular ethnicity. While there is attendant cosmologies and languages associated with this way of life, the term is an economic designator rather than a cultural or ethnic one.<a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoisan" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoisan">Wiki: Khoisan p.2</a>With the entry of the Khoikhoi [Men of Men] around 300 CE, these two groups would not even recognise themselves as the same, if it were not that they spoke a similar click language. Their ways of life were different so there was no reason for mixing except where they would be looking for a mate.&nbsp;When the huge herds of livestock of the Khoikhoi would drive away the wildlife of animals, the Sān would simply hunt an ox or sheep. This would cause an altercation which was summarily resolved. The Sān person may be put in charge of a part of the livestock he had raided. The feeling between the two peoples was in general one of intense animosity, though there were occasional instances of a kind of compact between a Hottentot &nbsp;[Khoikhoi] tribe and the Bushmen in its neighbourhood, under which the former provided food in times of great distress, and the latter acted as scouts and gave warning of any approaching danger. This was only the case, however, when the Bushmen were so reduced in number as to be incapable of carrying on war.&nbsp;George McCall Theal: History and Ethnography 1907: Hottentots, p.35Another way of existing when the wild animals took off to the north, was for the Sān to partake of seafood such as whales, seals and such like thrown out by the sea. They also picked off mussels and other seafood from the rocks. Catching fish was another way of acquiring food for the family.The Sān group was also a framework where Khoikhoi who had either been kicked out or left voluntarily would make its way. The eldest son of a Khoikhoi tribe inherited everything when the father died. The other sons were left disowned unless the heir was reciprocal. The Khoikhoi entities had an inclined love for liberty so that the brothers who were left uncared for, could go out on their own. The Sān racial entities and anatomical inclinations were not much different to the Khoikhoi, so, the Sān was the obvious group for the freedom seekers.In the Sān group, the women collected all the plants, berries, bulbs, and fruits while the men had to take care to bring in the flesh. They did not care about having a pastoral life as is thought of the Sān in Botswana where they 10 000 years ago acquired the keeping of cattle, sheep, and goats.When Vasco da Gama went ashore at St. Helena Bay on 8th November 1497, he found Khoi-Sān people who did not have any livestock.&nbsp;On 14th December 1601, Joris van Spilbergen describes the people of the Cape of Good Hope as “yellowish in colour, like mulattoes, very ugly of countenance, of middling stature, lean and thin of body, and very fast runners, having a very strange speech, clucking like turkeys. Their clothing is the skins of deer or other animals, worn like cloaks.” R. Raven-Hart: Before Van Riebeeck, Struik, 1967 p.28In the above, some 100 years after Da Gama, they came across seven men and a woman who did not respond with requested livestock for the whole period they were anchored at Table Bay. A Mulat is a child born of a black and a white parent.Autshumao (Harry) had a group of about 40 people of whom he was the head. They, too, did not have any cattle or sheep. Supported by Unison Music and Literary Publications

The Khoisan: South Africa’s First People and Their Way of Life

Rock Painting of Lion at Bushman Paradise Spitzkoppe Namibia

<h3>The Bushmen</h3>The Bushmen or San was far from being uncivilised. They had a keen sense of perception which includes a sense of smell. They could gather food from nature and had the wisdom to leave a few to grow and feed them on another day. They did not see any need to farm because they were usually in small clans and their habitats did not allow their foods to grow throughout the year.They shared the same unique click-type languages as the Khoikhoi because they are historically from the same group that had separated at least twenty thousand (20 000) years before they came to South Africa. The Khoi were one group of Hunter-gatherers. Their contact with the Bantu tribes caused them to begin pastoral farming by several of them. The Bushmen / San who ventured south, were able to expand with purposeful techniques, their hunter-gatherer system of obtaining natural food.They were capable of remaining a long time without food, and could then devour immense quantities of meat without any ill effects. They were careless of the future and were happy if the wants of the moment were supplied.&nbsp;George Theal: History of Ethnography p.10The Bushmen piled up stone walls in the shape of the sides of a triangle, for the purpose of capturing game. There was a narrow open space at the apex. Just beyond this was a deep pit carefully covered over, into which the animals that were driven forward fell without chance of escape. The construction of these walls required much labour, but the hunters were not deficient in energy.They made pits for entrapping the elephant and the hippopotamus near rivers. &nbsp;The Bushmen, who lived in the vicinity of streams containing fish, used long baskets shaped like scoop nets made of reeds for the purpose of capturing the smaller kinds and speared the huge barbels and yellow fish with harpoons of bone. George Theal: History of Ethnography p.11The Khoikhoi and San have the most mtDNA haplogroup L0 in southern Africa&nbsp;within their genes. Europeans and other peoples also have this gene inside them. Europeans who know this should cast off racism because their roots lie in these so-called ‘savages’ or ‘wild people.’ Within their time, they were not savages but enlightened folk. Despite them being very seldom more than a band of twenty, there was an absence of incest. They practised monogamy. It is not correct to believe that George Theal, in his History of Ethnography p.19, says that the Bushmen were immoral.The convenient Sān protogroup eventually found their way into South Africa whence they spread out of the country and some of them eventually made their way to the Cape region. Here there was ample food and wild game. They could therefore make drums and musical instruments and could dance and play games in their leisure time.&nbsp;At the Cape, they could also live off the sea. They ate seals and whales when these spilt out of the sea. Their women folk, besides the many root plants, could also gather mussels, crayfish and other smaller and larger dishes. Bushmen were so-called “Bosjesmans” by the Dutch because they did not have actual homes. They slept in the open or made a home for themselves from bushes.When food was absent or they needed to procure more protein in their diets, they would hunt whatever wildlife was available. Their keen sense of perception and smell were assets to the nimbleness and agility to hunt wild animals. They were more civilised than modern humans in that they made no claim to property, they treasured the absence of violence and were merciful, cheerful and never lacked kindness. These chaste people did not have a chief and were blessed not to have any political situation to rule over them.At the Cape, they were joined by Khoikhoi, who had either been ousted by their clan or tribe or, like the non-eldest sons, would leave to find his own way. With the Bushmen, he or she could be free to live a life without waste. Living without waste is the second of the three treasures of Taoism. Living like birds, they practised without knowing that this was living in the Kingdom of Heaven according to Jesus Christ. They lived an unselfish life, like children, without intellectualism.The negativity of the white man’s blind-sided view of the San also has connotations of poverty, low status, thievery and scavenging. When one lives within the Kingdom of God, you are never poor. Yes, you keep a low status in the eyes of people who think of themselves as civilised while they use other low-status people to make money for their greed and ambitions. The term scavengers is totally out of place. They were gatherers, like the birds, in the Kingdom of More than Enough.The Bushmen / San were one with nature. They had insight into nature. During the Stone Age, they were the ones who drilled stones. They had other labours and skills. They made knives of stone. They knew that their arrows would seldom penetrate the hides of the animals they hunted so they fire-hardened bones of smaller animals onto their arrows.They knew that penetrating the skin of animals would not kill them, so they used natural poison to tip the arrowheads from serpents and trees.Bushmen were artists. When they found copper – and sometimes iron – they would make ornaments for the body. They used the skins of the hunted animals to make clothing for themselves. They were not thieves. They were humble like saints and knew how to survive in times of scarcity. This led to ingenuous game-catching techniques, like making traps for big animals to fall in. They gave every unnamed thing a name, and they knew them with skill.They knew where the waterholes were. During times of drought, when there was not a waterhole for several hundred kilometres away, they knew what wild fruit and vegetables they could consume to give their bodies the water they needed. They were not thievish. They wanted to avoid making contact with strangers. When contact with the outsiders of their clan came about, they knew the art of war with just poisoned arrows. When the white settlers chased away their wildlife, they helped themselves to the livestock of the Boers. This led to a quarrel which led to their genocide in South Africa.Only people like Elizabeth Thomas, for example, who have stayed with Bushmen for&nbsp;some&nbsp;time, can give a correct view of them. To befriend them is quite a task. They could make themselves invisible in nature. Once a few Bushmen were contacted, and after a while, they found the white person to be friendly, will this news cause other Bushmen to reveal themselves to strangers?The Bushmen were shorter and of a lighter complexion than the Khoikhoi with which they formed the Khoisan. They only wanted to be left in peace. They did not compete in issues which they could not win. They are only frightened by other people and hope to be spared their attention. They think of all strangers as dangerous people. They call all non-Bushmen ‘animals without hooves’, because, they say, non-Bushmen are angry and dangerous like lions and hyenas. And they called themselves ‘the harmless people.”Elizabeth Marshall Thomas 1959: The Harmless People p.24This post ends the Bushmen saga. It will be continued under the broader history of the Khoisan.Sponsored By Unison Music and Literary Publications

The Bushmen: "The Lost Legacy"

<h3>The Bushmen</h3><figure id="figure-0q4v7swpl5m6qecp8q"><img id="0q4v7swpl5m6qecp8q" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/38nscLRoSTxejEjmbxxBOGZGeMpVFZDlfIEYsUfvCudO04thbooiasleJiMw2IEd.jpg" alt="" title="" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 " style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/38nscLRoSTxejEjmbxxBOGZGeMpVFZDlfIEYsUfvCudO04thbooiasleJiMw2IEd.jpg" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure>There are several Connotations given to the words San and Bushmen. Alan Barnard 2007 on p.x of his Anthropology and the Bushmen writes: “The word ‘Bushman’ is certainly not without its problems. Indeed the same can be said for the currently more politically correct term ‘San’, which historically and in the Khoekhoe dialects in which it is found has carried connotations of poverty, low status, thievery and scavenging, as well as purposeful food-gathering (that being perhaps its most literal translation).”&nbsp;Alan Barnard survives our pramana test of personal perception because he has spent some time among some Bushmen (we write the term with the capital letter it deserves). As usual, we start at the foundation. This will be covered more in detail under the section on the <a data-mce-href="https://kaapsculture.org/blog/origins-of-human-evolution" href="https://kaapsculture.org/blog/origins-of-human-evolution">Evolution of Humans</a>, but we will use only a small amount of it to create our basis here.Remember that we only point the direction out to you. Those of you who want a firmly founded identity will go out and build your house upon a rock (Matthew 7:24-25). So, Google <a data-mce-href="https://www.google.com/search?q=khoisan&amp;rlz=1C1CHBF_enZA1033ZA1033&amp;oq=khoisan&amp;gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyEggAEEUYORiRAhixAxiABBiKBTINCAEQLhivARjHARiABDIHCAIQABiABDINCAMQABiDARixAxiABDIHCAQQABiABDINCAUQLhivARjHARiABDIHCAYQABiABDIHCAcQABiABDIHCAgQABiABDIHCAkQABiPAtIBCDMzMzhqMGo3qAIAsAIA&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8" href="https://www.google.com/search?q=khoisan&amp;rlz=1C1CHBF_enZA1033ZA1033&amp;oq=khoisan&amp;gs_lcrp=EgZjaHJvbWUyEggAEEUYORiRAhixAxiABBiKBTINCAEQLhivARjHARiABDIHCAIQABiABDINCAMQABiDARixAxiABDIHCAQQABiABDINCAUQLhivARjHARiABDIHCAYQABiABDIHCAcQABiABDIHCAgQABiABDIHCAkQABiPAtIBCDMzMzhqMGo3qAIAsAIA&amp;sourceid=chrome&amp;ie=UTF-8">“Khoisan”</a> and download what interests you, but be sure to download the article by <a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoisan" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoisan">Wiki</a>, under the same name. What I so much like about Wiki is that all the very high-quality writings are authorless, in other words completely selfless, one of the main ingredients to get into the Kingdom of Heaven.<a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoisan" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoisan">Wiki: Khoisan: “Khoisan /ˈkɔɪsɑːn/ KOY-sahn, or Khoe-Sān</a> (pronounced [kxʰoesaːn]), is a catch-all term for those indigenous peoples of Southern Africa who do not speak one of the Bantu languages, combining the Khoekhoen (formerly "Hottentots") and the Sān peoples (formerly "Bushmen"). Khoisan populations speak click languages and are considered to be the historical (pre-Bantu) communities in the South African Cape region, through to Namibia, where Khoekhoe populations of <a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nama_people" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nama_people" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Nama </a>and <a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damara_people" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damara_people" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Damara</a> people are prevalent groups, and <a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botswana" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Botswana" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Botswana.</a>”We are so fortunate today that science has discovered that the mtDNA haplogroup L0 is in the southern African ancestral Khoisan and everyone – irrespective of race – who has this gene inside them. The word “Khoisan” (more correctly Khoe-Saan as in Afrikaans spelling). The Khoe-khoe and Saan were one group some 260 000 to 350 000 years to go. The MIS 5 megadrought struck this central, southern African group 130,000 years ago and the ancestral population was obliged to find survival means elsewhere. (Still from Wiki but simplified)&nbsp;It was at this time when the Khoe-Saan split came with the Sān (the macron on the a lengthens the vowel) moving southwards, where they expanded their purposeful techniques of gathering natural food. It is wrong for whites to typify this existence of the Khoekoe and San as primitive and savage as they so often, given that the Europeans did not even exist at that time.The Khoe trekked northwards where they were not welcomed by the bearers of the haplogroup L1-6 in central and east African regions. Wiki also has a reference 13: &nbsp; &nbsp;[Crowe, Tim (4 February 2016). <a data-mce-href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-origin-of-the-khoisan-tells-us-that-race-has-no-place-in-human-ancestry-53594" href="https://theconversation.com/how-the-origin-of-the-khoisan-tells-us-that-race-has-no-place-in-human-ancestry-53594">“How the origin of the KhoiSan tells us that ‘race’ has no place in human history.]</a> The Wiki writer goes on to add that this Khoe group went on to populate Europe and Asia by stating: “this group carried DNA from Eurasian as well as some Neandertal groups.”&nbsp;The convenient part of the Khoe-Sān protogroup eventually found its way into South Africa whence they spread out of the country and eventually made their way to the Cape region. From here they will meet up with their other lineage, the Khoe again sometime later when the Khoe-khoe entered South Africa about 300 years BCE (before the common era).&nbsp; We have only used the term Khoe-Sān to show that the <a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_people" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_people" target="_blank" rel="noopener">Bushmen</a> and<a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoekhoe" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoekhoe" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> Khoe-khoe</a> had a common origin which is why they both speak the rare click language. Bushmen were so-called by the Dutch as “Bosjesmans” because they did not have actual homes. They couldn’t because - especially in the <a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalahari_Desert" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kalahari_Desert">Kalahari</a> where they had to continually go for food after they had left enough for more to grow and serve them on their return.Yes, their women foraged for roots, berries and other edible foodstuff while the men tried to hunt a wild animal. And, yes, they sought out a bush or a cave because it was senseless to have the block houses like the 17th century and onward imperialists had. [Imperialists are people who practice, or advocate the policy of extending the power and dominion of a nation esp. by direct territorial acquisitions or by gaining indirect control over the political or economic life of other areas; broadly: the extension or imposition of power, authority, or influence. Merriam-Webster Dictionary] Aside: It sounds to me as just another word for colonists, settlers or conquistadors.So, of all the pejorative [disparaging or belittling] names given to San or Bushmen, they accepted Bushmen as being the closest - in Enlightened terms – that resembled their way of life. But with the Khoikhoi, having become pastoralists [people of a social organization based on livestock raising as the primary economic activity. Merriam-Webster Dictionary] and calling themselves Khoikhoi (Khoekhoe) [superior men because they owned livestock and did not have to wander in search of food and the Bushmen], added this negativity to the white man’s blind-sided view of the San as also being “connotations of poverty, low status, thievery and scavenging.”&nbsp;Writer Megan Biesele who would like to ‘ennoble’ the word Bushmen notes “One Ju/’hoan leader made the ‘Bushmen’ preference to ‘San” at a community meeting in 1991, the year after Namibia’s independence, while his brother at the same meeting said he ‘never wanted to hear the term [San] used again in post-apartheid Namibia’. Many at the meeting had never heard the word ‘San’, and no one present argued in favour of its use.” In: <a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=Alan+Barnard+%C2%A02007%3A+Anthropology+and+the+bushman+p.7&amp;title=Special%3ASearch&amp;ns0=1" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?search=Alan+Barnard+%C2%A02007%3A+Anthropology+and+the+bushman+p.7&amp;title=Special%3ASearch&amp;ns0=1">Alan Barnard &nbsp;2007: Anthropology and the bushman p.7</a>Let us end by asking: “What do the Bushmen call themselves?” Let us first apply the Perception Pranama and test the validity of our source:“We have crossed this desert three times, my family and I, on three expeditions, which usually numbered between ten and fourteen people and included my father, my mother, my brother, and myself, as well as several other Europeans who were linguists, zoologists, botanists; or archaeologists; sent by universities of the Union of South Africa (probably University of South Africa, UNISA), England, or the United States, as well as four or five Bantu men - several interpreters, a cook, and a mechanic - who were the staff.&nbsp;We usually travelled in four big trucks and jeeps and had to carry all our food and water, gasoline, and equipment in supplies to last us for several months. We crossed great drought areas, once crossing four hundred miles of the central desert of Bechuanaland where there was no water at all, and once travelling every day for two weeks into an unmapped part of the desert of South-West Africa, close to the Bechuanaland border, where we found a waterhole and refilled our empty drums. All this was to film and study the life and customs of the people of the Kalahari, who are called the Bushmen.”<a data-mce-href="https://www.thetedkarchive.com/library/elizabeth-marshall-thomas-the-harmless-people.pdf" href="https://www.thetedkarchive.com/library/elizabeth-marshall-thomas-the-harmless-people.pdf">Elizabeth Marshall Thomas 1959: The Harmless People &nbsp;p.19</a>She was nineteen years old when Elizabeth Thomas started out on their missions and afterwards in 1979 wrote this book which has to this day never stopped selling. She was not only untainted by the downgrading racism of the time, she even brought her non-discriminating family along.&nbsp;They came with their Western resources but soon came to realise how ill-equipped the Western one-sided view of the Bushmen's existence was. They were experiencing a touch of it themselves. Why? All for the madness “of filming and studying the life and customs of the people of the Kalahari, who are called the Bushmen.” Quite different to the 97% white-written books concocted in a fancy study using the hearsay of other biased people some of whom (like Jan van Riebeeck in 1647) had not even seen an indigene in his eight-day stop with a fleet of twelve ships but called them ‘brutes, savages who cannot be trusted at all.’But how long were they with the Bushmen?The back cover of the David Philip Africasouth Paperbacks 1988 Print says that Elizabeth Thomas and her family spent four years in all in the Kalahari to study the life of the hunting-and-gathering Bushmen. What does Thomas herself say about this enigmatic community of J/wasi Sān?“We have visited four of the Bushman language groups, two of which we stayed with for long periods of time. In 1951, after a survey expedition to learn where Bushmen could be found, we went into the Nyae Nyae area of South-West Africa, close to the border of Bechuanaland, to look for Kung Bushmen. We found a band living near a waterhole, as it was June, the drought of the year, and we stayed with them for four months.&nbsp;“At first only a few Bushmen were there. but as the news spread that we were friendly, more and more people came to visit us and receive presents of tobacco and salt, for Bushmen love to smoke but rarely have tobacco, which they get in trade. Also, most of the Bushmen had never seen a European before, none had ever seen a European woman, and they came by dozens to sit together in a cluster at a distance to observe my mother and me. By the end of our stay, we had become friendly with them, and in 1952 we visited them again.&nbsp;“We found them waiting confidently for us, living beside the track our trucks had made, as we had told them that we would come back if we were able, and this time we stayed with them for a year. In August 1955 we returned to them again, but before we did so we spent four months in Bechuanaland. We lived one month with a group of Naron and Kõ Bushmen at a place called Okwa (the two groups were mixed together because their territories happened to meet at that place), and almost two months with Gikwe Bushmen in the four-hundred-mile stretch of empty desert between Ghanzi, near the border of South-West Africa, and Molepolole, near the border of the Transvaal.Elizabeth Marshall Thomas 1959: The Harmless People &nbsp;p.24Let’s bring in some spirituality, the highest form of Truth. The back cover begins with a very short extract from a review of the book by The New York Times: &nbsp;‘... the study of a ...people which, for the beauty of both style and concept, would be hard to match ...”&nbsp;The beautiful style of Marshall is simple, unpretentious, and easy for anyone who can read to relate to. She also has a beautiful concept of the Bushmen, telling everything as it is which gives the reader access to people living in the Kingdom of Heaven rather than in the hell of savage brutes that the ignorant West typifies them.It is, however the word beauty that conjures up one of the four trinities Jesus speaks about in the <a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gospel_of_the_Holy_Twelve" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Gospel_of_the_Holy_Twelve">Gospel of the Holy Twelve</a> and <a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_the_Nazarenes" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gospel_of_the_Nazarenes">The Gospel of the Nazarenes</a> (both freely downloadable).&nbsp;The word trinity is made of tri, meaning three and unity, one and therefore trinity means that the parts (three) are closely interrelated to each other. The second Trinity Jesus says is made up of Truth, Goodness and Beauty. What does this mean? It means that when you tell the whole Truth and nothing but the Truth, it will always be beautiful and filled with goodness. In a trinity, if you mention the one, the other two would automatically be linked to it. Here we have beauty being used to describe this wonderful book which calls up the other two.Okay so let’s conclude with what the Bushmen call themselves:“So the distinction between people was caused by the great god, and the Bushmen, who want only to be left in peace, do not compete in issues which they cannot win. They are only frightened by other people and hope to be spared their attention. Kung Bushmen call all strangers zhu dole, which means “stranger" but, literally, “dangerous person"; they call all non-Bushmen zo si, which means "animals without hooves," because, they say, non-Bushmen are angry and dangerous like lions and hyenas.&nbsp;But Kung Bushmen call themselves zhu twa si, the harmless people. Twa means “just" or "only" in the sense that you say: "It was just the wind” or “It is only me.”Elizabeth Marshall Thomas 1959: The Harmless People &nbsp;p.34 Sponsored By Unison Music and Literary Publications &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;&nbsp;

The Bushmen

<figure id="figure-yi7uq5iium6qh2z39"><img id="yi7uq5iium6qh2z39" src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/20Psl4nbzW7xS6QKBLBJiaGguLmJRv1Ln6NrZhvUZ5JmhnYnDX2DPvL8prtKigVB.jpg" alt="" title="" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 " style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: undefined undefined;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://cdn.durable.co/blocks/20Psl4nbzW7xS6QKBLBJiaGguLmJRv1Ln6NrZhvUZ5JmhnYnDX2DPvL8prtKigVB.jpg" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: undefined undefined;"></figure><h3>Origins of Human Evolution</h3>The early humans were under pressure to increase their brain capacity. They did not invent guns and military equipment because that would always mean devolution. So, they made tools to allow them to hunt energy-rich meat products. This all happened some 4 million years ago.&nbsp;Modern behavioural modernity includes specialization of tools, jewellery, images such as drawings and rituals like the burial of their dead. They also use specialised hunting techniques, trade (or barter), use of language. All these have been built on the foundations of the spiritual development of human ancestors.About 50 000 years ago, human culture began to evolve rapidly which has been characterised as the “Great Leap Forward.” Some groups, like the <a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_people" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/San_people">Bushmen</a>, chose not to do modern farming. Today some Europeans typify them as savages and brutes, but instead of modern cannons, guns, and forts, they kept with their bows and arrows (and some tribes also used lances) which do not kill on a large scale as men do today.The <a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aboriginal_Australians" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aboriginal_Australians">Australian Aboriginal</a> population separated from the African population around 75,000 years ago. 60,000 years ago, they made a 160 km sea journey. It was also at this time that they started burying their dead, making clothing from animal hides, hunting with more sophisticated techniques (such as pit traps or driving animals off cliffs) as well as cave painting. Fishhooks, buttons and bone needles showed signs that had not been seen before 50,000 before the present. <a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolution" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolution">(Human Evolution: Wikipedia p.23)</a>A Bishop from England took the saying in the Bible of 2 Peter 3:8 literally: “But forget not this one thing, beloved, that one day is with the Lord as a thousand years and a thousand years as one day.” The Bishop then concluded that the seven days in Genesis were actually seven thousand years in the time of humankind.The<a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_of_Humankind" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_of_Humankind"> Cradle of Humankind</a> states that science says that the universe that we find ourselves in was formed about 14 billion years ago. The Earth is about 4.6 billion years old, and that life evolved from fossils found 200 million years ago in South Africa. <a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_of_Humankind" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_of_Humankind">(Cradle of Humankind: Maropeng p.2)</a> It goes on to say that Africa is the birthplace of humankind; that Homo sapiens, the species to which we all belong, evolved in Africa about 200 000 years ago; that all humanity shares an African heritage.Agriculture that started about 10,000 years ago showed that humans could determine their civilization (some 5,000 years ago) rather than being completely subservient to natural selection. 5 000 years ago, humans developed urbanization which led to industrialization 250 years ago. There are arguments that genetic differences occur to the extent that people differ today. Light skin and blond hair in some populations developed due to both climate and altitude adaptations. <a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolution" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolution">(Wiki: Human Evolution p23)</a>Culturally driven evolution causes some pressure due to effective contraception, higher education, and social norms. The human brain expansion could not only be the cause of the just-mentioned evolution but may also be the cause of the brain’s social learning and still greater efficiency. It is also support for skill development and the rapidly increasing technologies.<a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolution" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_evolution">(Wiki: Human Evolution p23)</a>“Mitochondrial DNA” (mtDNA) can trace all modern humans to a single common female ancestor who lived about 200,000 years ago – and she’s from Africa, the African Eve, the Mother of all. It showed that all ancestors are African.&nbsp;<a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_of_Humankind" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cradle_of_Humankind">(Cradle of Humankind: Maropeng p.13)</a>Wrapping up this section, please allow us to introduce you to The Callers at the Cape before Jan van Riebeeck came to set up his halfway station here. Vasco da Gama in 1497 was the first to make contact with the <a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoisan" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Khoisan">Khoisan</a>. These were Bushmen who made their living by foraging their food. Da Gama reported that their food near the Berg River at St. Helena Bay was confined to the flesh of seals, whales, gazelles, and the roots of herbs. They had no livestock.After Da Gama’s men came to know them, the Bushmen, which they found to have a brownish-orange to light brown skin colour. They were like ‘men of little spirit, quite incapable of violence.’ This reminds one of Matthew 5:3 “Blessed [are] the poor in spirit: for theirs is the kingdom of heaven.” The Cochoqua, Bushmen, Watermen or Strandlopers (Beach rangers) were another of this same group as those in St Helena Bay.&nbsp;Alan Barnard: Anthropology and the Bushmen, p13.At the Cape, they were about forty strong and headed by <a data-mce-href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autshumato" href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autshumato">Autshumato</a> known by Jan van Riebeeck as Herry, the Strandloper. In 1631 he was taken by a British ship on its way to Bantam (Java) to learn Dutch on the ship. Van Riebeeck notes that they, too, had no livestock. Therefore Van Riebeeck continually mentions that Autshumato could speak some English.&nbsp;This then where we end this short series about the Bushmen. We will meet them again either as Bushmen where they were on their own or as Khoisan where they were mixed with Khoikhoi who had either left their clan or had been thrown out.Sponsored By Unison Music and Literary Publications

Origins of Human Evolution

<figure id="figure-jreoytgkzmm2thmns2"><img id="jreoytgkzmm2thmns2" src="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1422452098470-722310d3ad74?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wyNjI5NjF8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw0fHxCbG9tYm9zJTIwQ2F2ZXxlbnwwfHx8fDE3MzAxNDcyNTJ8MA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.0.3&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080" alt="brown rock inside cave" title="brown rock inside cave" class="object-cover bg-gray-100 " style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;" data-corners="default" data-aspect="16:9" data-caption="" data-positionx="undefined" data-positiony="undefined" data-fullwidth="false" data-mce-src="https://images.unsplash.com/photo-1422452098470-722310d3ad74?crop=entropy&amp;cs=tinysrgb&amp;fit=max&amp;fm=jpg&amp;ixid=M3wyNjI5NjF8MHwxfHNlYXJjaHw0fHxCbG9tYm9zJTIwQ2F2ZXxlbnwwfHx8fDE3MzAxNDcyNTJ8MA&amp;ixlib=rb-4.0.3&amp;q=80&amp;w=1080" data-mce-style="aspect-ratio: 16/9; object-position: center center;"></figure><h3>Origin of Humans</h3>In our previous post ( God Makes Heaven and Earth), we examined the creation of the heavens and the earth from a Biblical perspective under the category of World Religions. In each topic we discuss, we focus on the foundation, or the origin. This time, we’ll look specifically at the origins of Coloured people. True to our approach, we will examine the source, which is the origin of humankind, and from there, delve into one of our ancestors—the Bushmen—some of whom still exist today.As always, we will reference reliable sources, as we did with our analysis of Genesis Chapter 1 through Chapter 2:1-3. This time, we will examine the origin of humankind from a scientific perspective. We recommend you refer to the "Human Evolution" entry on Wikipedia, where you will find references supporting our summary.Wikipedia states: “Anatomically modern humans emerged in Africa approximately 300,000 years ago.” Some scientists initially resisted this conclusion. If this is indeed accurate, does it mean that all humans are of African origin? How can that be, given that Africans are Black while Europeans are White?Fossils discovered at Blombos Cave near Heidelberg, around 300 km east of Cape Town, suggest that South Africa may be the birthplace of the human lineage. Although multiple origins are still possible, evidence shows that Homo sapiens (intelligent humans) reached South Africa about 100,000 years ago (Patric Tariq Mellet, The Lie of 1652, pp. 32–33).We encourage you to explore “Blombos Cave” or the “Cradle of Humankind” by searching online for more information on the significant human fossil discoveries made in Africa, particularly South Africa. Do these findings contradict the story of the Garden of Eden, traditionally believed to be near present-day Baghdad in Iraq?Let’s leave that question open for now and return to our evolutionary ancestors. According to Wikipedia, African hominids [erect, bipedal ape-like mammals, including humans] diverged from orangutans about 14 million years ago. Humans then split from gorillas between 8-9 million years ago, and from chimpanzees 4-7 million years ago. Human DNA is about 98.4% identical to that of chimpanzees (Wikipedia: Human Evolution, ~p. 4).Around 300,000 years ago, Homo habilis, the first tool-making humans, emerged in Africa. They evolved larger brains and gained the ability to walk upright with locked knees, similar to modern humans. The opening in their skulls for the spinal cord, which connects to the medulla oblongata, enlarged as their brains grew. This advancement enabled them to instinctively learn tasks such as controlling fire and cooking, leading to smaller teeth as a result of their dietary changes.These developments marked the emergence of Homo erectus, characterized by an upright posture and no longer sleeping in trees (Wikipedia: Human Evolution, ~p. 9).In Europe and Asia, evidence has been found of a group known as the Neanderthals, who lived from 400,000 to about 28,000 years ago. The Khoikhoi people, whom Jan van Riebeeck referred to as "savages and brutes," appeared strikingly more handsome than the reconstructions of Neanderthal ancestors in Europe.During the Ice Age, unlike other early humans who migrated to warmer African regions, many Neanderthals stayed in Europe. Some adapted to the cold, but a large number perished. Those who survived developed enhanced sight, useful in the dimmer light of glacial Europe.By 28,000 years ago, all Neanderthals had died out, yet they left some genetic legacy among primitive European humans. Today, all non-Africans have about 1–4% Neanderthal DNA. Studies indicate that Neanderthals may have passed certain traits, such as susceptibility to depression, to modern Europeans (Corinne Simoneti, Vanderbilt University, Nashville; Wikipedia: Human Evolution).Next, we will examine Homo sapiens ("wise" or "intelligent" humans in Latin), who emerged in Africa around 300,000 years ago. In South Africa, the San (or Bushmen) are the oldest known inhabitants of Southern Africa, where they have lived for at least 20,000 years (source: San - Siyabona Africa / Kruger National Park).It is likely that our ancestors were part of the intelligent human species that emerged in Africa 300,000 years ago. We plan to trace the origin, nature, and destiny of human beings until we arrive at the Bushmen's heritage. Afterward, we will continue our exploration in a new section, covering the Bushmen, Khoikhoi, Khoisan, and other groups, including Bantu and Europeans. We will also discuss our ancestry related to slavery—all with supporting evidence.Quran: “The Prophet Joseph – Yusuf 74: What shall be the recompense if you prove to be lying?”Bible: “1 Thessalonians 5:21: Prove all things; hold fast that which is good.” Sponsored By Unison Music and Literary Publications

Origins of the Humans

The Holy Bible (Word of God) opened during a glorious golden sunset. Sun in the center of the Bible. Background with clouds and orange and gold color. Horizontal shot.

<h2>1 God Makes Heaven and Earth</h2>&nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp; &nbsp;American Standard Version Please always bear in mind that we do not teach anyone because no one can be taught. The ability to know is in everyone but in order to know – especially true knowledge (truth) we must do as Jesus says: we must ask, knock and search. (Luke 11:9. “And I say unto you, Ask, and it shall be given you; seek, and ye shall find; knock, and it shall be opened unto you. 10. For every one that asketh receiveth; and he that seeketh findeth; and to him that knocketh it shall be opened.”)&nbsp;Not even the Bible can teach anyone anything unless that person is ready to use his/her understanding. What spiritual Masters and Initiates do, is to merely point. Like the Buddha says: “Buddha can but point the Way, humankind must work out their own salvation.” So there is no such thing as ‘just believe in the Lord Jesus Christ and you will be saved.’ The Law of Karma says, “There are no free lunches. You must ask, seek and knock for what you want.”In Thessalonians 5:21 it says that we must “prove all things; hold fast to that which is good.” The Buddha says nearly the same thing except that He says that we must test all things. The two masters are really complementary because after we’ve tested something we have proved it to be either right or wrong. The Buddha says that we must believe nothing until we have tested it and found it to be good. He says that we should not even believe Him without testing what He says.We do not have a religion. This gives us the freedom to search for Truth wherever we can find it, irrespective of from which Master or religious background it comes from. So, not having a religion of our own and neither belonging to anything (including cults), we cannot convert you to our way of thinking (religion).&nbsp;We are not going to teach you anything because, as we have said earlier, that we can’t. We will point like a signboard on the road. It says: ‘This way to Cape Town; that way to the Airport; you are now on the M10; if you turn right here you will be in Turfhall Road.’ The sign (pointer) cannot take you to any of those destinations. You have to travel the way and the distance yourself.&nbsp;Or as Jesus says in Matthew 7:24:- Every one therefore that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them, shall be likened unto a wise man, who built his house upon the rock: 25. and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and beat upon that house; and if fell not: for it was founded upon the rock (foundation).&nbsp;26. And every one that heareth these words of mine, and doeth them not, shall be likened unto a foolish man, who built his house upon the sand:27. and the rain descended, and the floods came, and the winds blew, and smote upon that house; and it fell: and great was the fall thereof.”This saying of Jesus is also the crux of everything that we do. We will begin nothing unless we have a solid foundation. Grades I to III in Primary schools are called the foundation phase. In this phase pupils learn the alphabet and construct words such this, say, is, the, of, that, we do. And so on. They also learn of numbers, units (0 to 9), tens (10, 20, 30 etc.) hundreds (100, 200 ,300 etc). It doesn’t matter how high up they n – even becoming a professor, they continue to use the words and numbers they learnt in the foundation phase.The foundation phase is in the Primary school. Primary, just like a foundation means &nbsp;the first in the order development: it is the first stage of civilization. And as we’ve said it is the first of rank, of importance, or value. It is derived from the word prime. Look this word up and add to the importance of the foundation phase.When we in high school (from 1964 to 1961) the teachers would tell us at the end of the lessons which pages in our text books we had to read to get a notion of the next lesson. We have always done this so we could understand say about 50% of the text.&nbsp;When our teacher gave us the lesson, this background knowledge made it possible for us to understand up to 90% of the text. Then to fill in the other 10% we would ask questions about the parts of the lessons we did not yet understand. This took us to 100%.The Supreme Master Ching says that knowledge without understanding is not knowledge. It is rote learning. You can get an A in the examinations for just repeating parrot wise what is in the book or Bible. When comes to religion this type of acceptance of everything we are taught, is called blind belief or blind faith. This is why people suffer so much because they do not know what is the good that they should hold onto.So we will just be pointing. We will put the information there in front of you and you must decipher it yourself. The Supreme Master Ching Hai says that once you have come to a full understanding of something then the knowledge becomes yours. So, after we fully understood the whole lesson, the content then belongs to us. It doesn’t matter who wrote the book and who is the teacher. Unless we are able to understand everything that is in the book or what the teacher utters, everything remains unintelligible or meaningless.So read up your own 50%. Ask questions about the parts you still do not understand from people who you know will know. And search. We are fortunate that all we have to do these days is to just type in a few words and Google will gives us a host of possibilities. Knock on the doors of the Masters like Jesus, Buddha, Krishna, Lao Tzu and a whole list of others. Buy second hand books on subjects you wish to investigate further. We are not going to tell you anything. &nbsp;We will only point by giving some background information. And, we will ask. A spiritual Master (Timothy Friswell) we had in the 1960’s and 1970’s said: “We do not know the right answers because we do not ask the right questions. We will help you somewhat by asking you some questions or inviting you to examine the information before us yourself. If you are not ready, then drop out. We will understand. 9.1.2024Genesis Chapter 11. In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth.2. And the earth was waste and void; and darkness was upon the face of the deep: and the Spirit of God moved upon the face of the waters3. And God said, Let there be light: and there was light.4. And God saw the light, that it was good: and God divided the light from the darkness.5. And God called the light Day, and the darkness he called Night. And there was evening and there was morning, one day.6. And God said, Let there be a firmament in the midst of the waters, and let it divide the waters from the waters.7. And God made the firmament, and divided the waters which were under the firmament from the waters which were above the firmament: and it was so.8. And God called the firmament Heaven. And there was evening and there was morning, a second day.9. And God said, Let the waters under the heavens be gathered together unto one place, and let the dry land appear: and it was so.10. And God called the dry land Earth; and the gathering together of the waters called he Seas: and God saw that it was good.11. And God said, Let the earth put forth grass, herbs yielding seed, [and] fruit-trees bearing fruit after their kind, wherein is the seed thereof, upon the earth: and it was so.12. And the earth brought forth grass, herbs yielding seed after their kind, and trees bearing fruit, wherein is the seed thereof, after their kind: and God saw that it was good.13. And there was evening and there was morning, a third day.14. And God said, Let there be lights in the firmament of heaven to divide the day from the night; and let them be for signs, and for seasons, and for days and years:15. and let them be for lights in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth: and it was so.16. And God made the two great lights; the greater light to rule the day, and the lesser light to rule the night: [he made] the stars also.17. And God set them in the firmament of heaven to give light upon the earth,18. and to rule over the day and over the night, and to divide the light from the darkness: and God saw that it was good.19. And there was evening and there was morning, a fourth day.20. And God said, Let the waters swarm with swarms of living creatures, and let birds fly above the earth in the open firmament of heaven.21. And God created the great sea-monsters, and every living creature that moveth, wherewith the waters swarmed, after their kind, and every winged bird after its kind: and God saw that it was good.22. And God blessed them, saying, Be fruitful, and multiply, and fill the waters in the seas, and let birds multiply on the earth.23. And there was evening and there was morning, a fifth day.24. And God said, Let the earth bring forth living creatures after their kind, cattle, and creeping things, and beasts of the earth after their kind: and it was so.25. And God made the beasts of the earth after their kind, and the cattle after their kind, and everything that creepeth upon the ground after its kind: and God saw that it was good.26. And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.27. And God created man in his own image, in the image of God created he him; male and female created he them.28. And God blessed them: and God said unto them, Be fruitful, and multiply, and replenish the earth, and subdue it; and have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over every living thing that moveth upon the earth.29. And God said, Behold, I have given you every herb yielding seed, which is upon the face of all the earth, and every tree, in which is the fruit of a tree yielding seed; to you it shall be for food:30. and to every beast of the earth, and to every bird of the heavens, and to everything that creepeth upon the earth, wherein there is life, [I have given] every green herb for food: and it was so.31. And God saw everything that he had made, and, behold, it was very good. And there was evening and there was morning, the sixth day.Genesis Chapter 21. And the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them.2. And on the seventh day God finished his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made.3. And God blessed the seventh day, and hallowed it; because that in it he rested from all his work which God had created and made.4. These are the generations of the heavens and of the earth when they were created, in the day that Jehovah God made earth and heaven.Notes: &nbsp;We have used the American Standard Version of the Bible because the compilers try to distinguish the different sources of the Bible. The first four verses from Chapter Two of Genesis obviously belongs to Chapter one. It is clear that it is the conclusion of the creation story by some deity other than Jehovah. Our focus will be on Jehovah so we will be brief with regard to other sources. (Type: Nyala 14)Note that wherever the American Standard version uses the term God or Gods and even angel/s, judge/s, sons of God and others, the text was probably written by the writer who &nbsp;uses El (singular) or Elohim (plural) for God. (The sourced is described as E by Biblical scholars.) We will discuss the four sources of the Bible at some later time. Note for example in Genesis 26. “And God said, Let us make man in our image, after our likeness: and let them have dominion over the fish of the sea, and over the birds of the heavens, and over the cattle, and over all the earth, and over every creeping thing that creepeth upon the earth.”This the the foundation section of the Bible. If we can find the answers to some difficult question it will put us in a position to upgrade from the religious to the spiritual.&nbsp;Up to here, we are not going into detail. The spiritual practitioner would have many questions for example: Was there a beginning? If there were what was there before the beginning? Why did God create the heaven and earth at that particular time? Why not earlier? Or later? What did God do before He created the Heavens and the earth? What about the universe? Who made God? &nbsp;Light was made on the first day but the sun, moon and stars were made on the fourth day. What’s the difference? He made the plants and trees on the third day; how could they grow if sunlight was only made on the fourth day? What about photosynthesis? And many more but we are not concerned with those questions now. If any of you have some answers we would like to hear themSponsored By Unison Music and Literary Publications

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The Khoisan: South Africa’s First People and Their Way of...

The Bushmen: "The Lost Legacy"

The Bushmen

Origins of Human Evolution

Origins of the Humans

God Makes Heaven and Earth