#207 - The days as they happen

From recently discovered dig in Indonesia
Majapahit era (11 - 13th century - coinciding with high and late medieval
although the expression is far more Renaissance to me)

I didn't work very much this week. I think that I just finally laid my tools down and just decided to actually take a total break. It does take about two weeks to wind down. Usually during this time I write the school reports and then I take a total break and then start class prep. Class prep begins when I get back from Malaysia.

This Buddha head must have been concealed from vandals to prevent it from being destroyed. South East Asia has seen so many civilisations influence us. It began animist and in many ways still is. The spirits of place and our ancestors are very real to us. People don't die. They just move into another dimension. Their bodies go but we know they live on. We also believe in the difference hierarchies. And we know that gods are not perfect. They are more powerful but they are just as fucked up and many of them can die - or change state. This is what underlies our spirituality. And Celtic spirituality for that matter. Then we have Hinduism. It was a massive influence forever. Then came Buddhism, which really is a sect of Hinduism. Finally came Islam and then Christianity. Taoism for some reason never took root amongst the indigenous peoples. It always stayed this preserve of the proper Chinese. It was practised by the Straits Born Chinese as ancestor worship. But it never really took a hold the way these other religions took hold. As a result, the Chinese were never really part of the region until the Ming Voyages with Cheng Ho. 

These are one of the many things which I have an opportunity to think about this week. Also mermaids. I have been thinking a lot about mermaids because this place is so surrounded by the sea.

Singapore though - it is really impossible to grasp. I do not know how the people who think they are in power plan to take this whole thing forward. In an impossibly messy world Singapore's order is only kept by its economic success... whatever that means. But as the rich get richer and everyone else stays the same, it is impossible to justify the endless sacrifice that people have to go through.