Journey over the Earth
13.5
page 5 of 8
A different attitude to life
While we shape ourselves into separation, the Balinese respond to life.
I learned that making offerings is not so much a matter of having enough or being satisfied yourself, and so have something to spare which you can give away without discomfort. Sacrifice, making this gesture away from yourself, which through daily practice will generate a different state of consciousness, puts your whole existence in a different perspective and places you in a different relationship towards life.
But I also witnessed how a Balinese person without family is simply lost. Nobody will take care of him. And because he does not stand up for himself either, sooner or later he will simply go down. The conditions in which such a person lives, offer a pitiful sight indeed. Yet his Balinese neighbors are not all that interested. According to them, it’s all a question of karma.
The Self and thought
As stated before, the Balinese do not experience themselves as separate individuals. Curiously enough, this also implies that a Balinese does not think in an autonomous way. Even though he may have had a good education, has acquired sufficient factual knowledge and is perfectly able to pursue a profession, he does not think for himself; he acts according to the traditions. Therefore he does not know how to deal with unexpected situations. There is no impulse to adopt an independent stance (10.2). His inner system becomes a blank.
This Self-less culture was an eye-opener for me and made me look at our Western Self-preoccupation with fresh eyes.
The Mediterranean
When we leave our tropical experience behind us, we suddenly encounter, after the savannas, steppes and deserts, a manifest Self-awareness in the Mediterranean. Here, in the countries around the Mediterranean Sea, the genesis of Western civilization has taken place.
In this warm-blooded, bubbly world, the Self exhibits itself to the full. Italy has known the power of the Medici's and is still subjected to that of the clergy and the mafia. It shows its exaltation in the immortal beauty of the arts and sciences, and dramatizes itself in operas.
The Spanish are less open than the Italians, showing a stronger tendency to take everything personally. From the annals of history, Spain emerges as a country of pride, thirst for power and world dominion. Here, Southern passion has materialized in the typical, solitary Spanish dance and its equally solitary bullfights. In both cultural traditions, we see the Self literally spinning around its own center. The ancient Greeks were the first to show an interest for the individual and for independent thinking, and were also the first to speak of democracy.
In these national characters, besides a lot of sunny brightness, we also find some Saturnian traits. Here, the Self manifests itself in an outward focus and shows a strong need for the mirror of its surroundings as a means of Self-validation. The bullfighter is a nobody without his audience, and the same goes for the opera singer.
In the Arab countries, too, power and honor play an essential and dominant role in how the Self is experienced in the culture.