in the study of spirituality, which would in no other way have seen the light (cf. Du Toit 2010; Du Toit & Mason 2006, Du Toit 1996).My third intellectual interaction with Du Toit was even more intense. Since my appointment at the University of South Africa in 2006, I have been fortunate to experience him as an occasional discussion partner over long lunches in off-campus restaurants. His academic range was always impresssive: apart from spiritual matters, he kept up his interests in faith and reason (cf. recently still Du Toit 2012a:1-19) and in African and black theology (cf. e.g. Du Toit 2003:45-76 and Du Toit 2008:28-52 respectively). The repartee of our different intellectual repertoires had proven most stimulating to me, always urging me to think more deeply; read more widely; write more.It is, therefore, a great privilege for me to contribute to this special publication to honour Cornel du Toit. His influence in the academy, in broader circles and on me is warmly appreciated. Because of Du Toit's commitment in his intellectual engagements to track and to steer religious developments and trends in South Africa, also in interaction with international discussion partners, the theme of this contribution fits well with his oeuvre. Although our specialist backgrounds and, hence, intellectual approaches differ, Du Toit and I share an intellectual-existential placement where those who believe tend to believe we think too much, and those who do not/no longer believe, tend to think we believe too much. Still, as with our shared, always wavering commitment to maintaining bodily fitness, our intellectual commitments also keep us - as stated in the opening paragraph above: "inclined towards the lesser certainties outside secured truths" of faith and non-faith (cf. e.g. Du Toit 1987:154-169; Du Toit 1997:939-955). We can try to track and try to steer religious matters, but attempting to understand and making efforts to influence always remain a limited, and yet somehow still a limitless, endeavour. Tracking and steering? The broad scope (trend 1)With such a complex scene as constituted by South African religious matters (including related a-, anti- and non-religious matters - cf. e.g. recently Claassen & Gaum 2012), only some glimpses on aspects of this scene can be provided here. Naturally, the hope, even with such cautious peeks, is to gain some insight - an initially Freudian and Weberian move - in order to elicit some change - an initially Marxian move. Yet, neither of these two moves can be guaranteed. For one, the link between insight and action has always been tenuous. What is more, though, insight itself has no untarnished reputation for reliability.Currently we find ourselves culturally-historically at something of a cusp. On the one hand, we have the uncertainties post-modernism has bequeathed us, particularly with its philosophic-hermeneutical tradition - that no understanding can be firm, since meaning is forever deferred (with Derrida 1967 usually indicated as a high point of this line of thought). On the other hand, we are currently witnessing the philosophical dawn of neo-essentialism (cf. Schreiber 2012:2, drawing on Benedikter 2005) or critical realism (cf. Schreiber 2013, drawing on