As somebody of Celtic bloodlines on both sides of my family, and three generations removed from pure Irish peasantry, I also do have a strong belief in the unseen. I grew up believing that bunches of garlic over the doors and windows kept out evil spirits. Spilt salt? An invitation to the devil.
However, how can any rational man believe that something made by man can possess a power above the power of God?
Even the existence of spirits, which would be difficult to deny, seems to be mostly, or perhaps always, associated with human emotion.
Then there is the factor of the communal sub-conscious.
Yes, the unseen is there, but can it harm you? Only if you believe it can.
Now, as for flying keris, as Shahrial says,there are many of these stories, but the cautionary thing is this:- stories like this can be laughed at in retrospect, however, when you are involved in them first hand, and the sandiwara is skilfully presented, it is a rare person who will not be taken in. The businessman in my story was and still is a very successful man. Now probably in his 70's, Chinese, and very hardnosed.Definitely nobody's fool. But he got sucked in and carried along just the same.
One of the things that I find particularly interesting are the ways in which some purveyors of keris have adapted their styles to the electronic medium. It is one thing take somebody for a ride when you are face to face. It is something else entirely to be able to do it over the net. Lew's example in another thread was a fairly unpolished presentation, but some of the more refined people can create magic ( of a different kind).
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