keris and spirit

[A. G. Maisey]

David, what I shall now write is not intended as disagreement with the position you have put, it is just another way of looking at "truth".

If you have enough people believing that something is true, then it becomes so.

I've heard a story a couple of times that might be worth repeating.

It would seem that in old Hawaii the local priest of dukun or whatever they call them in Hawaii, would go down to the eastern shore before sunrise and make an offering to ensure that the sun would rise.
The proof of the effectiveness of his ministrations was that the sun rose.

If the people believed this, it was true for those people.

If we believe that we can influence anything by some action or other, and enough people believe that, then for these people, that becomes true. If the desired effect comes to pass, then it has proven that what was done to achieve that effect worked. If it does not come to pass, then the fault must lay with our performance of the ritual---or maybe God simply has a bigger plan, and could not permit it to happen.

Truth is a bit like history---get enough people believing something, and it becomes true.

Who would ever argue with the "truths" of any major religion?

Certainly not I.

[Lei Shen Dao]

What we believe and what we know are not always the same thing

David

You are absolutely wright about that.
I should write the word believe or heard and not the word know .

My English language skills aren't good enough. Sometimes this is a big problem conserning the meaning of what I would like to say or write...

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

If we believe that we can influence anything by some action or other, and enough people believe that, then for these people, that becomes true. If the desired effect comes to pass, then it has proven that what was done to achieve that effect worked. If it does not come to pass, then the fault must lay with our performance of the ritual---or maybe God simply has a bigger plan, and could not permit it to happen.

Truth is a bit like history---get enough people believing something, and it becomes true.

Well Alan, i think you know me well enough by now to know (or maybe just believe ) that i have a pretty good understanding of this theory and have, in fact, seen it in action. Seperate realities is a common tool in my personal spiritual practice and i am not trying to throw stones at anyone elses glass houses. I am not quite convinced that it completely applies in this example though. If i believe a keris is powerful and can help me gain an end to a need or desire and that end does, indeed, come about i might then attribute the power to that keris and that may well be my "truth". I certainly wouldn't agrue this type of "truth" with anyone. Now i might believe that the essence of this power is held within the keris only because of it's meteorite content. Well, i know the end result came about and it would be awful difficult for anyone to prove that that keris wasn't in some way involved in that outcome. However, if i were, in the cause of science, to destroy that keris to try to find that meteorite content (something i would never dream of doing BTW ) and found no nickel content or even titanium what then? I may have believed that this keris had meteorite in it but it didn't. It was never "true" even though i thought it was. What would probably still be "true" for me in this hypothetical example is that this keris still has power. Afterall, my end result did come about. That would be an unchangable "fact". Of course, if this were an actual occurence, it would now be "my truth" that a keris does not need meteorite to be powerful.
In terms of history i see even less use for this theory. When enough people (usually the victors) believe that a moment or era in history occurred in a particular way (even if it didn't happen that way at all but it makes these victors look much better by their way of thinking) i would rather call that an "injustice" than a "truth". I may choose to be diplomatic to with these peoples rewriting of history or depending on the level of the injustice i might feel obliged to stand on the nearest hill top and shout "Liar!" at the top of my lungs. Remember, i am an American and have many years of experience living in a country that has a nasty habit of skewing it's history to reflect the glory of the Homeland.

[A. G. Maisey]

Well David, if you're going to force me to get down into the specifics of meteorites in keris, rather than wander all over the interesting and unstable ground of human perception, I will be as specific as I know how.

I know of only two keris that definitely have meteorite in them.
I know this because I forged the meteorite, and I was present when it was used.

I possess one tombak that according the Javanese parameters used to identify the maker, and the material , contains meteorite, according to those parameters.

I possess one keris that according to those same parameters also probably contains meteorite.

However, I have seen and handled many keris that according to respected Javanese authorities , applying the same parameters but only in respect of material, definitely contain meteorite.

These Javanese authorities know that my tombak, my keris, and the many others to which I refer above contain meteorite. They know it because they have absolute faith in their system and their knowledge.

On the other hand I am of little faith (and will undoubtedly go straight to hell) so I only know of two blades that contain meteorite:- the two I was involved in the manufacture of.

My truth is a little different from the truth of these other people.

My profession stands on a foundation of ensuring that certain things are in fact true.But after spending most of my life giving the thumbs up, or the thumbs down to various aspects of the truth, I have come to the rather non-committed position that anything is only as true as our knowledge and opinion, at any point in time, permits it to be.

[David]

Originally Posted by A. G. Maisey

My profession stands on a foundation of ensuring that certain things are in fact true.But after spending most of my life giving the thumbs up, or the thumbs down to various aspects of the truth, I have come to the rather non-committed position that anything is only as true as our knowledge and opinion, at any point in time, permits it to be.

You'll get no argument from me there.

[Raden Usman Djogja]

Firstly, according to Keris and spirit, the discussion is focused on the use of meteorite. Is it a legend or not? Is there any impact to the power of keris? Does the "believe" of meteorite use give advantage or disadvantage for keris? I hope the conclusion is decided by each discussant since the aim of discussion is to share and to broaden our knowledge of keris. I do hope we can postpone for a while about "meteorite". There is still a neglected issue: TAYUH.

Secondly, if talking about spirit of Keris (Tosan Aji), we are familiar with the word "Nayuh/Tayuh/ (please translate into English, dear)". Does any kerislover have idea/experience/story about TAYUH/NAYUH/TAYUHAN? I do hope, from now, we can share and discuss about TAYUH/NAYUH/TAYUHAN.

Lets begin...

Usman

[David]

Usman, i appreciate your enthusiasm for discussion on the spiritual aspects of the keris. It is a topic that is indeed very close to my heart. I would suggest that if you want to have this discussion that you just begin yourself and see what follows. If you wait for others to begin you might have to wait for some time.
Tayuh as i understand it is a practice used in Kejawen to determine things through metaphysical means: past or future, find lost items, determine causes and cures for disease, etc. Please correct me if i am wrong.
The keris can and has been used as a tool to facilate this process. While i believe that tayuh can be discussed in a much larger extent not necessarily specific to keris, i would suggest that for the sake of topic and context that try to focus the discussion on tayuh only as it relates to the keris itself...but perhaps that is not possible.

[Raden Usman Djogja]

David,

yes, tayuh covers many aspects in javanese life. to narrowing the discussion, perhaps, it is better as you mention only as it relates to the keris itself.

usually, in Djogja, I saw people held keris and closed their eyes. Soon after that, they metioned about something related to the origin and the use of keris.

several times, I tested person who was believed having sixth sense. It did not matter whether I believed or not at that time about their abilities. My concern was to test the use of keris to person who did not learn lots about keris.

Then, I brought a keris, e.g period tuban, shape tilam upih, ornamen raja abala raja / top point of mountains. Amazing me, some people could explain the use of keris and "time-made" as Bambang Harsrinuksmo wrote in his ensiklopedia. Then, it raised a question why they could explain the use of keris... even they did not know the name of its pamor. there must be another way to understand keris. Is it NAYUH?

What did I still not believe them, whenever they metioned about the name of ghost lived inside, e.g. kiai tunggul wulung. It was only his imagination becuase, I hoped, if it's true, the name should be either Kiai Magelhaens or Nyai Wilhelmina. Just kidding my dear.

Usman