Yes David, I did think that you, and the other people who have commented did not get quite the same message from this article that I got.
Maybe I'm wrong, maybe everybody understands exactly the same things from it, but because we are writing, rather than talking, the clarity of understanding is not shining through.
I have not yet, and probably will not, take a position on the content of this article. I have no intention of getting involved in trying to explain anything from my perspective, nor of trying to defend any point of view. The article is very clearly written, and I think it speaks for itself. All I really want is for other people to read it sufficiently diligently to understand the information that it carries. Then perhaps to apply that information to what we know of keris beliefs and the cultural and societal fabric of Jawa. Even the mention of the effects of magnetic stimulation and the noisy environment has a place in these considerations. It should be understood that noise in this context does not refer to noise measured in decibels, but rather noise measured in the intensity of feedback from population density and interaction, or possibly as a synonym of "distraction". What is clear is that the author is not talking about a heavy metal band.
The point of my initial post was to try to get people to apply information from an unrelated subject to the subject of keris culture and belief. The intent was to encourage abstract analytical thought. I had hoped that after the time it would take this process to reach fruition, perhaps we might have had a few original and/or interesting ideas floated on some matters to do with the keris and its culture and society.
For myself, I'm still digesting what I read in that article, and right at the moment I still need a lot more time before I can put some order into my ideas.Leads from the article also need time to be investigated.
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