It isn’t without a great deal of reservation that I embark on this topic. I already anticipate what some responses will likely be, but the events of yesterday are so intensely on my mind that I am willing to throw caution to the wind, and share some things that won’t settle well in the minds of those who have never experienced the “magic” of Bali.
As I’ve mentioned in a few past posts over the last several days, we are in the middle of preparing for our Melaspas ceremony for our new compound here in Bunutan. These preparations came to a head just this past Monday with our nanjeb, and I’ve already written on this forum about that.
Yesterday, I meet Ida Bagus Dharma from Sanur. He had a drawing by Lempad that he wanted to sell, and he was brought to me by a close Balinese friend, Pak Gusti, who is also an artist and teacher of art. Having sold several Arie Smit works for Pak Gusti in the past, when he learned that his friend wanted to sell his Lempad, he arranged to have him meet me and Eri at our house.
Unknown to me, and Pak Gusti offered no advance information, Ida Bagus Dharma is a well known Balian and para-normal from Sanur. In our compound, the daily arrival of Balinese and other Indonesians with things to sell is a part of our daily lives. It happens every day, and has so for many hears, so I was totally unprepared for his arrival.
For those who haven’t a keen understanding of the Melaspas ceremony, which in short is the dedication and “bringing to life” of new buildings, and especially a compound, the days before, during, and shortly after the ceremony itself are wide open for all sorts of influences…both good, and evil. Much like the tooth filing ceremony for a Balinese man or woman, this time is especially open…almost like a window that has never been opened before.
Business over the Lempad aside, I became increasingly drawn to this man who I’ve just met. Sitting at a table and having some coffee, he drew my attention to a great Balinese stone sculpture of a guardian that we have owned for many years. As I was sitting directly in front of it, it was polite for him to comment on it. What he had to say about it, its age of over 350 years, and the area in Bali it came from was of no surprise to me…this man knows his Balinese art…so what.
Growing more curious, and admiring his knowledge, I invited him into our holy room to hear what his thoughts might be about some of what we have always regarded as especially powerful sculptures that we own and are kept. Pusaka is the generic Indonesian word for such things.
He wasn’t in the holy room for more than a few seconds when his attention was drawn to an especially wonderful Majapahit stone Ganesha that we keep there. His words that followed stunned me.
He told me that it was this Ganesha that helped me to bring my mother to Bali, which she did twice soon after both Bima, and then not long after, Rama, was born. He told me that she was dead. She is dead, having died just before her third and final (moving to Bali) trip was scheduled. He told me that she was short, but that my grandmother was tall. Once again, true.
Understanding that I have never told my Balinese friend, Pak Gusti, for which I have sold paintings before, anything about my family or personal life, I began to get that eerie feeling of “Bali Magic.” There was NO way Ida Bagus could have known any of these specific details.
Back at the table, Ida Bagus took the pad of paper on which I had earlier written down the specifics of our business regarding the Lempad drawing. Quietly he sketched away, while I discussed some other things with Pak Gusti.
Finished with Pak Gusti, Ida Bagus showed me what he had drawn. He said to me, without any question, or reservation, “this is where you last lived in Amerika Surikat.”
It was a perfect map of the cul- de-sac in Okemos, Michigan where I last lived in the US before moving to Bali. I am not kidding. If I was still there, and needed to sketch out how to find my house there, it would be exactly what Ida Bagus had drawn. He had identified each of the only four houses that were there. Nobody in Bali, even my wife Eri, knew that I had ever lived in Okemos, Michigan, let alone, the specific geography of where I lived.
Then, he added more. He mentioned that I had a very dark skin “relative” that lived there with me. He pointed to his own brown skin and said, “darker than this.” That was the love of my life at that time, Leslie, who was indeed African-American. She wouldn’t move to Bali with me, and our relationship broke up because I was so compelled to move to Bali.
How do you feel when “confronted” with this kind of truth? I once used to feel scared, goose bumps, weird, a little violated, and surely uncomfortable. Not yesterday though. Yesterday, I felt wonderful and extremely happy.
During their visit, Eri had come home and after her mandi, she did the offerings around our compound. Hearing from the “edge of her ear” some of what we were discussing, she joined the discussion and Ida Bagus talked to her for yet another hour. When it was time for them to leave, I walked them out to the gate. I wasn’t really walking. It was more like I was weightless and moving without effort or resistance.
Last night, I slept very deeply and I had wonderful dreams of my grandparents, my mom and dad. I was a kid again, and I was enjoying those dreams of the good times. This morning, even before I spoke to Eri of my dreams, she told me that Ida Bagus had told her that five days before our Melaspas, my grandparents, followed by my mother and dad, will come to our compound.
I know, I know, just how crazy this all may seem. It’s easy enough to say I’ve gone totally “tropical” and will never recover. But, in all truthfulness, I don’t want to “recover.” I don’t want any of this to change.
While the greatest unanswered questions of mankind, those questions like, “why are we here, where do we come from, where do we go when we die” are likely not to be totally answered by living here in Bali, there is no doubt in my mind that here, at the very least, we can get as close as possible to those answers.
As I’ve mentioned in a few past posts over the last several days, we are in the middle of preparing for our Melaspas ceremony for our new compound here in Bunutan. These preparations came to a head just this past Monday with our nanjeb, and I’ve already written on this forum about that.
Yesterday, I meet Ida Bagus Dharma from Sanur. He had a drawing by Lempad that he wanted to sell, and he was brought to me by a close Balinese friend, Pak Gusti, who is also an artist and teacher of art. Having sold several Arie Smit works for Pak Gusti in the past, when he learned that his friend wanted to sell his Lempad, he arranged to have him meet me and Eri at our house.
Unknown to me, and Pak Gusti offered no advance information, Ida Bagus Dharma is a well known Balian and para-normal from Sanur. In our compound, the daily arrival of Balinese and other Indonesians with things to sell is a part of our daily lives. It happens every day, and has so for many hears, so I was totally unprepared for his arrival.
For those who haven’t a keen understanding of the Melaspas ceremony, which in short is the dedication and “bringing to life” of new buildings, and especially a compound, the days before, during, and shortly after the ceremony itself are wide open for all sorts of influences…both good, and evil. Much like the tooth filing ceremony for a Balinese man or woman, this time is especially open…almost like a window that has never been opened before.
Business over the Lempad aside, I became increasingly drawn to this man who I’ve just met. Sitting at a table and having some coffee, he drew my attention to a great Balinese stone sculpture of a guardian that we have owned for many years. As I was sitting directly in front of it, it was polite for him to comment on it. What he had to say about it, its age of over 350 years, and the area in Bali it came from was of no surprise to me…this man knows his Balinese art…so what.
Growing more curious, and admiring his knowledge, I invited him into our holy room to hear what his thoughts might be about some of what we have always regarded as especially powerful sculptures that we own and are kept. Pusaka is the generic Indonesian word for such things.
He wasn’t in the holy room for more than a few seconds when his attention was drawn to an especially wonderful Majapahit stone Ganesha that we keep there. His words that followed stunned me.
He told me that it was this Ganesha that helped me to bring my mother to Bali, which she did twice soon after both Bima, and then not long after, Rama, was born. He told me that she was dead. She is dead, having died just before her third and final (moving to Bali) trip was scheduled. He told me that she was short, but that my grandmother was tall. Once again, true.
Understanding that I have never told my Balinese friend, Pak Gusti, for which I have sold paintings before, anything about my family or personal life, I began to get that eerie feeling of “Bali Magic.” There was NO way Ida Bagus could have known any of these specific details.
Back at the table, Ida Bagus took the pad of paper on which I had earlier written down the specifics of our business regarding the Lempad drawing. Quietly he sketched away, while I discussed some other things with Pak Gusti.
Finished with Pak Gusti, Ida Bagus showed me what he had drawn. He said to me, without any question, or reservation, “this is where you last lived in Amerika Surikat.”
It was a perfect map of the cul- de-sac in Okemos, Michigan where I last lived in the US before moving to Bali. I am not kidding. If I was still there, and needed to sketch out how to find my house there, it would be exactly what Ida Bagus had drawn. He had identified each of the only four houses that were there. Nobody in Bali, even my wife Eri, knew that I had ever lived in Okemos, Michigan, let alone, the specific geography of where I lived.
Then, he added more. He mentioned that I had a very dark skin “relative” that lived there with me. He pointed to his own brown skin and said, “darker than this.” That was the love of my life at that time, Leslie, who was indeed African-American. She wouldn’t move to Bali with me, and our relationship broke up because I was so compelled to move to Bali.
How do you feel when “confronted” with this kind of truth? I once used to feel scared, goose bumps, weird, a little violated, and surely uncomfortable. Not yesterday though. Yesterday, I felt wonderful and extremely happy.
During their visit, Eri had come home and after her mandi, she did the offerings around our compound. Hearing from the “edge of her ear” some of what we were discussing, she joined the discussion and Ida Bagus talked to her for yet another hour. When it was time for them to leave, I walked them out to the gate. I wasn’t really walking. It was more like I was weightless and moving without effort or resistance.
Last night, I slept very deeply and I had wonderful dreams of my grandparents, my mom and dad. I was a kid again, and I was enjoying those dreams of the good times. This morning, even before I spoke to Eri of my dreams, she told me that Ida Bagus had told her that five days before our Melaspas, my grandparents, followed by my mother and dad, will come to our compound.
I know, I know, just how crazy this all may seem. It’s easy enough to say I’ve gone totally “tropical” and will never recover. But, in all truthfulness, I don’t want to “recover.” I don’t want any of this to change.
While the greatest unanswered questions of mankind, those questions like, “why are we here, where do we come from, where do we go when we die” are likely not to be totally answered by living here in Bali, there is no doubt in my mind that here, at the very least, we can get as close as possible to those answers.
