The basics of keris understanding?

Jussi M. · 17th June 2008, 01:32 PM

Greetings,

What I have to say may be taken negatively and if so, please accept my apologies as I do not intend to put a negative light on anything or try to appear as more knowledgeable than I truly am. - On the contrary – I just try to educate myself by raising the question of what is important and what is not important when one tries to educate himself on matters regarding the keris.

I will be more specific a bit later on with my actual question but please do note: I make no foolish assumption that there is going to be a consensus on ”what is important and what is not important regarding kerises”. I do not want this thread to become a futile argument on whos right and whos wrong as there is no such thing as a universal ”right or wrong” – everybody on their own minds think they have the right answer. And, in a way it is true as people have different motivations and different values. The absolute truth of an uninformed and ignorant man may not be the truth for a man with a better understanding of the phenomena in question. Truth therefore is more like the scenery on a path. - It changes yet remains the same depending on what path one has chosen, how does he travel it and how far has he gone. There are many paths to one end and not a single one is better than the next. It is all in the perception of the traveler in question.

With this introduction let me proceed. I am new and ignorant what comes to kerises. However, I do know that I dont know, and I do know, that I do not want to start from the wrong end of the pool so to speak. The keris is such a enigma that it is hard to get a firm grip of it. There is so much to learn, so many sides to it that I guess one can spent a lifetime studying it in, yet have nothing but pieces of detail information that in the end dont count to nothing that could really be deemed as valid understanding of the keris. Acknowledging this I know that I have two possibilities:

1) Study all possible information available and try to put the pieces together in order to form a synthesis as a work in progress.
2) Make drastic decisions regarding what to study and leave the rest alone.

The first option is in my opinion more or less doomed because there is so much information that one gets lost in it. It is like trying to study all leaves of a big tree one by one in isolation of the rest of what makes the tree a tree and try to guess what kind of a plant it might be from the hundreds of thousands of detailed pieces of information (leaves). On the second option you focus on the roots and – this I do believe – eventually, as you gain a better understanding of the roots and the ground they sprang from, you will eventually get a better understanding of the core of the plant in question even though you may not have all the detailed information that can be extracted from the core what come to the various branches, flowers and leaves (things such as styles, materials, pamors and so on).

I am drawn to the second method of learning but face a big problem: I do not know what the roots nor the core are and therefore don’t know where to begin. Granted, I have had the luxury of a expert assistance in choosing some books that I have yet to receive but I am not talking about the material from which to study. What I am asking gentlemen is this:
In your subjectively objective opinion what forms the core of the understanding of the keris? What areas should be addressed? - How, what, why?

I wish this discussion to evolve onto a fruitful one regarding the various ways one can see the keris and what is important and what is not important regarding them and their study?

As stated previously my intention in raising this question is to educate myself. I did not ask this question for trolling or to raise storms on a water glass. We all have our opinions and we are entitled to have them. Yet we all benefit from the occasional study of our motives, objectives and points of view as that opens the door for further development of knowledge, understanding and personal character.

I look forward to hear your thoughts

I thank you for your time and effort,

J

17th June 2008, 01:32 PM	#1
Jussi M. Member Join Date: Apr 2008 Posts: 235	The basics of keris understanding? Greetings, What I have to say may be taken negatively and if so, please accept my apologies as I do not intend to put a negative light on anything or try to appear as more knowledgeable than I truly am. - On the contrary – I just try to educate myself by raising the question of what is important and what is not important when one tries to educate himself on matters regarding the keris. I will be more specific a bit later on with my actual question but please do note: I make no foolish assumption that there is going to be a consensus on ”what is important and what is not important regarding kerises”. I do not want this thread to become a futile argument on whos right and whos wrong as there is no such thing as a universal ”right or wrong” – everybody on their own minds think they have the right answer. And, in a way it is true as people have different motivations and different values. The absolute truth of an uninformed and ignorant man may not be the truth for a man with a better understanding of the phenomena in question. Truth therefore is more like the scenery on a path. - It changes yet remains the same depending on what path one has chosen, how does he travel it and how far has he gone. There are many paths to one end and not a single one is better than the next. It is all in the perception of the traveler in question. With this introduction let me proceed. I am new and ignorant what comes to kerises. However, I do know that I dont know, and I do know, that I do not want to start from the wrong end of the pool so to speak. The keris is such a enigma that it is hard to get a firm grip of it. There is so much to learn, so many sides to it that I guess one can spent a lifetime studying it in, yet have nothing but pieces of detail information that in the end dont count to nothing that could really be deemed as valid understanding of the keris. Acknowledging this I know that I have two possibilities: 1) Study all possible information available and try to put the pieces together in order to form a synthesis as a work in progress. 2) Make drastic decisions regarding what to study and leave the rest alone. The first option is in my opinion more or less doomed because there is so much information that one gets lost in it. It is like trying to study all leaves of a big tree one by one in isolation of the rest of what makes the tree a tree and try to guess what kind of a plant it might be from the hundreds of thousands of detailed pieces of information (leaves). On the second option you focus on the roots and – this I do believe – eventually, as you gain a better understanding of the roots and the ground they sprang from, you will eventually get a better understanding of the core of the plant in question even though you may not have all the detailed information that can be extracted from the core what come to the various branches, flowers and leaves (things such as styles, materials, pamors and so on). I am drawn to the second method of learning but face a big problem: I do not know what the roots nor the core are and therefore don’t know where to begin. Granted, I have had the luxury of a expert assistance in choosing some books that I have yet to receive but I am not talking about the material from which to study. What I am asking gentlemen is this: *In your subjectively objective opinion what forms the core of the understanding of the keris? What areas should be addressed? - How, what, why?* I wish this discussion to evolve onto a fruitful one regarding the various ways one can see the keris and what is important and what is not important regarding them and their study? As stated previously my intention in raising this question is to educate myself. I did not ask this question for trolling or to raise storms on a water glass. We all have our opinions and we are entitled to have them. Yet we all benefit from the occasional study of our motives, objectives and points of view as that opens the door for further development of knowledge, understanding and personal character. I look forward to hear your thoughts I thank you for your time and effort, J