Continuing on the subject of beliefs from the last post about the longhouse, the orang asli village is about ninety percent Christian - unlike the predominantly Muslim mainland - but this is intermingled with animist beliefs. Not being a religious person myself i am dubious enough about the credibility of major religions let alone belief in spirits but our host told us the story of why he believed in the spirits and although i'm not convinced by it, it is worth recounting.
During the 1990s he had witnessed some of the decapitations that occurred on buses in Bali on his way home. Understandably this lead to acute insomnia that lasted eight months but stopped the night after he visited a place that he was advised the spirits frequented. Once there he underwent tests, so to speak, from the spirits. He claims to have been bitten hundreds of times by mosquitoes and stood still as a python climbed up his body before licking up his throat. Having endured this he followed a small child to a hut where he slept and from that night on he slept in peace.
I understand that this sounds far-fetched. But this man believed every word he said and i believe that he believed that this was what happened and that the forces at work helped him overcome a very difficult period in his life, and that shouldn't be so easily dismissed for it is this sort of experience on which faith is built upon.
If you enjoyed this you might like to head on over to my travel blog at travelatalexleclez.blogspot.com for more.
No comments:
Post a Comment