Bali
In May of 2004 during my theater studies for a program called Arts in London…(and Paris and Berlin)…we had a lady come into the class to teach us some things regarding the Bali culture. She taught us to play instruments. She taught us a dance. She taught us about the colors, the mask, the spirits and much more.
That day I wrote an entry in my journal that is listed below… what i find fitting is this….
Last year I bought a book called “Clearing the Clutter with Feng Shui.” Amazing book. I loaned it out and never got it back. I just bought the book again. But then I purchased, “Creating Sacred Space with Feng Shui” by the same author…Karen Kingston. The book is AMAZING!..if its your sort of thing. If your paradigm of thinking delves into the metaphysics of our existence this book will be a breath of fresh air.
What I had no idea about was that this woman has such close ties to the Bali culture.
Also…her huge emphasis on Space Clearing and Creating Sacred Space is just…so what I need right now. I started reading this book right now..thinking of how I want it to apply to my new apartment. MY apartment. Just me and my gods.
I thought it was perfectly fitting when my management company called today to tell me that they would be okay with me moving in two weeks early…at no charge. This call came as a complete surprise. That gives me two extra weeks to physical clean the apartment, metaphysically clear the space, and spritualy create a sacred consecrated holy sanctuary that will be my home.
So what does the book, Bali and my new apartment have in common? Its just all connected. All perfectly timed. In her book she speaks at great lengths about the Bali culture. As I read and underlined and highlighted, I remembered I wrote a journal entry about some of the same things.
Some of the random things I’ve underlined while reading the book are…
(Please note…all these are quotes from the book)
…purification ceremonies…
…the awareness that each particle of creation is alive and filled with life force energy, filled with spirit and intelligence…
..their consciousness is different from ours, but they are conscious….
….all families own at least one sacred object, which is believed to have mystical powers…. …..feng shui is about living consciously on Mother Earth and enjoying the highest quality of life force possible for the human…..
….there is so little sacredness in our lives….
….life in Bali is constantly moving. This is reflected in the fact that there are no past or future tense in the language – they simply live in the Now…..
….temple of the dead…..
…towards the east….
…the Balinese consecrate…..
….children are allowed to set off firecrachers all over the place to frighten away evil spirits….
Now below is the journal entry I wrote exactly five years ago after encountering this Balinese woman. I still remember the sounds, the colors and the spirits.
Bali
How old is this music? Always, she answered. You can’t play the instruments with your shoes on. The men sit in a circle. The high gods and the low gods. Let’s thank her—(it isn’t an applause, it’s a bow with the hands together in front of your chest) The mask cannot touch the floor. The objects have souls. Traditions. Culture. Colors. Gold. Red. Purple. Green. The dragon. The turtle. The gods. The sounds. We learned two dances. One was a warrior’s dance and then we learned the music to them…how to play then on the instruments. BALI. Indonesian Islands. Gamelan. The dance is a prayer. Often his back is to the audience because it’s not for them, it’s a dance for the gods. They count differently…emphasis on 8, not on the 1. I like it better, he says. You cannot step over an instrument. The feet are the lowest. The feet are the lowest in spirit. The dirtiest. They can’t touch things. They can’t touch the sacred…and yet Jesus wants to watch my feet…and she anointed his with her hair and oil. The mask are sprinkled with holy water and paraded throughout the town. I heard chanting. As we played the songs and the man got into the drumming. I felt something. They’ve been doing this “always,” she said. A thousand years ago they played this music. “The objects have souls,” he said, “And you’d be surprised.” I heard chanting. It was subtle but it was there as we played A-O-I-E-O-A-O-I. There were voices, a spirit…. God was taking on a different form. 210 days in their calendar. The weeks are different durations. New years day is quiet and you are not allowed to leave your home. We believe in angels and they in cows. Do we truly believe God can be found in many ways? They are not afraid of evil, as we are in our culture. They confront it. I thought we were commanded to. Wasn’t Jesus given all authority? Why do we shudder at Satan’s power? Is this the same God working in a different way? They sacrifice pigs. And the children of Israel . . .a lamb. What sacrifices have we? What do we offer up? Even their dance is a prayer, an offering. What is mine? They have caste system and depending on your status, you speak separate languages…. all in one community. May 2004, SLY
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