Saluting my friend Randall Falkenberg

I met Randall 48 years ago, in 1963, at Rhodes University, when we both began our theological training for the Methodist ministry. Those were heady days! The country was still reeling from Sharpeville, Steve Biko had launched the Black Conscious Movement, and some very courageous people were writing about secularity and the ‘death of god’. John F Kennedy’s assassination was imminent. America was preparing to put a man on the moon.

We clicked instantly, though in some ways we could not have been more different. Randall was as tall as I was short; he was comfortable with maths, accounting and logic whereas I was all fingers and thumbs. And he could play a better game of table tennis than I could! He got Firsts, I often didn’t. He could join the dots and see the connections. In one final examination we were to attempt three questions - he combined his answers into one; and got another First! He majored in Philosophy, I in Social Anthropology. We arrived at Rhodes at a time when good teaching was valued, and robust debate was encouraged. We arrived with our faith unquestioned and our lives unexamined. The university proved to be a stern testing ground; we met our first atheists, we got to know good people who were not Christians, and we had our first taste of the politics of opposition.

We broke the rules of the Methodist Church decreeing that theological students should stay out of student politics, stood for the SRC and won. And so we were thrown into the deep end of student politics at a time when South Africa was becoming more and more oppressive. We studied together, talked long into the night, laughed a lot, pined for our fiancés, saw many movies, and ate many toasted sandwiches. Our undergraduate years cemented a lifelong friendship. They were truly formative years for us and determined somewhat the trajectory of our respective lives from then on.

Six years ago, Randall and I began a ‘writing project’ which we initially called our “secular spirituality” project. Over the intervening years since Rhodes we had both come to question and ultimately reject Christianity, whilst remaining indebted to the Church for the ethical grounding we had received. We had also begun, in our different contexts, to practice a secular spirituality that was meaningful for us. Could we write something that would describe what this journey was about? As Randall put it, could we write something that would “provide a perspective on what spirituality means in a secular world”? And so, for the past six years, we have met and talked, we have reminisced, we have debated issues robustly, enjoyed good food and wine, and laughed a lot.

The “secular spirituality” writing project never got done. But we are both the richer for the experience. And perhaps, dear friend, I shall try to write up some of our cherished insights - with you as my interlocutor. No promises, mind. 

But what I can do is to open up our discussions somewhat to give you a sense of the insights and values that Randall cherished. Some of you will know that for years he wrote a regular feature for the Greyton newspaper called “Insight Stories” and later he published some of these in his blog called “falkenbergsfolly”. Well, Randall was himself an ‘insight story’. And what I want to do now is draw some insights from his life, in his own words where possible…

First insight. There is a long and honourable tradition, called Naturalism, stretching back at least to the Greeks that rejects belief in the supernatural or in Supreme Beings. “The known and experienced universe is complex, wondrous, mysterious and enchanting enough on its own. It doesn’t require any super-natural explanation”, according to Randall. His own naturalism was robust and rigorous; he was quick to spot attempts to smuggle in a supernatural explanation for something that science could explain. Indeed, one of his favourite scientists was Carl Sagan who said that because humans are so gullible they need to be equipped with a ‘baloney detection kit’. “We all need to develop a healthy scepticism to sniff out the hogwash that society tries to get us to accept”, he said. Randall certainly used the tools of sceptical thinking. Here are some that come to mind. Look for independent confirmation of ‘facts’ before you accept them. Encourage debate and listen to all points of view before making up your mind. Don’t trust arguments from authority. Ask whether the hypothesis can, at least in principle, be falsified. Be sceptical of claims that are untestable…

Second insight. We urgently need to develop our ‘ecological intelligence.’ The phrase is Ian McCallum’s; ecological intelligence is a subject Randall dealt with recently in one of his blogs. He believed passionately that we take responsibility for what he called “Planet Earth”. He read and appreciated James Lovelock’s work and understood the power of the Gaia metaphor to describe our fragile and precarious earth system that is now so much at risk. Citing McCallum and Irvin Lazlo, Randall believed we need to develop a blend of science and soul to tackle the problems that beset us. “We need science to enable us to understand past and present reality, and we need a new spirituality that inspires us to do whatever it takes to be co-creators of a viable new world”. Whenever I heard Randy warming to the subject of his beloved planet earth I was reminded of the saying, “We did not inherit the earth; we borrowed it from our children”. What we are seeking is a secular spirituality that leads to care for the world. Randall practised what he preached, in more ways than one. He loved nature, was a keen bird watcher and could pick out one of the Big Five in the bush with the best of them. He loved to walk in the mountains encompassing Greyton where he now lies. He cherished his time at the Bush House.

Third insight: Celebrate important ‘rites of passage’. Randall believed that we should celebrate life’s significant transitions with ceremony. He pioneered the writing of such ceremonies, set in a secular spirituality key. Indeed, Randall will have conducted a ceremony for some of you to mark the birth of your child, your marriage, or the memorial for the death of a person you loved. He wrote these ceremonies with great empathy for the particular circumstances, and he led them beautifully. Over the next while these ceremonies will be published on his blog. Draw on them, modify them to suit your circumstances; he meant them to be used.

Fourth insight: Develop your imagination! Randall read widely and deeply appreciated the impact of science and technology on our lives. He understood science to be the primary “reality generating mechanism” of our time. To borrow a phrase from Matt Ridley, Randall was a “rational optimist” despite the overwhelming pessimism that prevails today. But there was another, well developed, side of Randall. He had a big heart, a powerful imagination and a great feeling for myth, metaphor and symbol. “Imagination”, he believed, “is essentially the suspension of everyday limitations from our thinking in order to enrich experience.” We should cultivate the art of imagination; get in touch with our creative selves. Science and rationality can take us so far; for the rest we need myth, metaphor and symbol.  Speaking of myth, he said, “Mythology is an art form that points beyond history to what is timeless in human existence. A myth is ‘true’ only if it is effective in giving us new insight into the meaning of life and not because it gives us any factual information.”

I must end. I think it was Kierkegaard, commenting on the marriage of a confirmed bachelor, who said: “Every man needs someone to whom he can explain himself”. Our friendship was like that! Over the years from our student days on we have been able to share with each other the deepest and most intimate things. The Greeks have a special word for this kind of love between friends- philia -‘love as rejoicing in each other’. What a gift!

Thanks Mate! I will miss texting you when watching rugby or cricket. I will miss our conversations. I am the richer for knowing you. I celebrate your life! I celebrate the values you stood for!

Jimmy Leatt