Journey over the Earth
13.3
page 3 of 8
Sacrifices
The Temple practices cannot be compared in any way to our Church services, where a God is preached who keeps an eye on us all the time. The Balinese do not feel scrutinized in this manner. They are just expected to be present, and if they are unable to come, some other member of the family will be there and that is fine, too. The Balinese and their deities do not think in such private, separated terms. The only thing that is asked of them is this endless sacrificing from their meagre possessions. In the eyes of the more materialistic Westerner, seeing the poverty all around, this does not seem a small matter.
Poverty
At the place where I was staying, there was little clothing. T-shirts were only available for those that had a job at that moment. There was only just enough food for the children and it was mostly these vital necessities, such as rice, fruit and meat, that were used for the sacrifices. They cost the average Balinese household more than they can afford.
All art, and consequently people’s spare time, is invested in the Temple life. Beautiful wood engravings are manufactured with the greatest care over weeks of dedicated labor, just to be taken to the Temple where they are sacrificed and… burned in the fire.
Economy
These religious customs cause a substantial deficit in the Balinese economy. Considerable investments of time and energy by practically all families are converted into temple offerings and eventually eaten by... the countless dogs, cats and chicken that stray around the home and neighborhood temples, disappearing into ‘nothingness’.
But this is a very Western perspective; this is our way of thinking. The Balinese do not attempt to control their circumstances. To them, there is no problem or economic deficit. The Temple life is LIFE ITSELF and all the rest just amounts to temporary imaginings or projection.
This attitude cannot be traced back to some well-argued ethical view that is imposed and imprinted upon the Balinese, but springs from an extraordinary way of upbringing that is applied to children from infancy onwards, molding them in this specific way.