Thread: Pawakan
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Old 28th October 2021, 12:47 AM   #16
A. G. Maisey
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Join Date: May 2006
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Ian, when I set out to respond to the original question, my intention was to put into simple, plain English language the central essence of my own understanding of pawakan & the elements surrounding it. I have had the benefit of learning from a man who was recognised during his lifetime as a great master of traditional Javanese beliefs. I have learnt other things from other people & other sources.

All this has helped to form my own perspective, which does vary a little from the perspectives of most of the people who gave me their knowledge & understanding.

To my mind the single most important thing that we must learn before we can even begin to have a small understanding of the keris is the World View of the people to whom it is a cultural icon:- the traditional Javanese and traditional Balinese people. In the absence of this understanding I believe it is impossible to understand much at all about the keris.

Regrettably I have found that it is really quite difficult to find people in Jawa & Bali today who have a similar World View, and similar values to those held by the people I knew in Jawa & Bali forty or fifty years ago.

I guess this is true of many places in the world today.

You, Ian are, I believe ridgydidge Oz. True Blue Australian.

How long is it since you encountered a real fair dinkum Man of the Land?

Even fairly humble cattle & sheep men send their kids to Sydney Grammar or Kings, and then sometimes on to Oxford. How many of this generation of Men of the Land would understand their grandfathers or the values of their Grandfathers?

What I tried to do with what I wrote was to present a starting point for people who cannot do what I have done.
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