Jussi, it surprises and disappoints me a little that this thread has not yet generated some very active discussion.
In my opinion, this is possibly the most pertinent and valuable thread that has been started in this discussion group in a very long time.
I think that it might assist further discussion if we were to break this "understanding" idea into the various areas of understanding.Thus, we could have understanding of the art of the keris, understanding of the technology of the keris, understanding of the technique of manufacture of the keris, understanding of the appraisal of the keris, understanding of the place within a culture of the keris, understanding of the maintenance and storage of a keris--- and so on, and so on.
Would anybody care to comment further on one or more of the various areas of understanding that I have identified, or perhaps add other areas of understanding which could be addressed?
Jussi has mentioned the "core" of understanding of the keris, but this core could vary for different people. For the person who pursues the ideals of Kejawen, the core could be quite different to the core of the anthropologist or ethnologist. These in turn could be very different to the core of the dealer or of the committed collector.
So, can we firstly identify which "core" we might like to look more closely at?
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