Recently i found the following tip in a newsgroup:

"Read article on Dutch painter's strange encounter on Bali"
(for URL see Bookmarks)

I've visited Michael Rogge's site before and found other interesting material - this article exceeded all expectations, and the description of the Javanese Subud mysticism which was linked to it was also fascinating. I was only 4 days in Bali (in 1978) but was impressed by the charged spiritual atmosphere which i attributed to the tremendous sense of unity among the population. Because they all share a belief, the consequences of their believing become reality. The guide warned us (in Indonesian) not to wander in an area where there were trees wider than a man could surround with his arms, as a particular class of spirits dwelt there - i didn't understand him and nobody translated for me, so off i went: that evening, returning to the hotel on the other side of the island, there were cockroaches everywhere, which were never seen before or since; precisely at the stroke of midnight, i was awakened with terrible dreams and visions - some beast or other was on my back, like the Old Man of the Sea, and in my attempt to free myself i screamed loudly at which point my wife (who is knowledgeable about these things) beat the bed with a cane broom to dispel the spirits. It was sometime later that i was told about the guide's warning.

At that time i was skeptical and rationalistic in my life view, but this experience stayed with me until other happenings have forced me towards an openness for mystical occurrences. Perhaps the time will come soon (perhaps it is already happening) that what happens on Bali can occur worldwide - that enough enlightened spirits (with the help of the internet) maintain contact and unity with one another to create a charged sphere which would introduce a world civilization based on spiritual values. On this i base my hope.

(a correspondent suggested that the Internet promoted diversity rather than uniformity)
Indeed IMO this diversity is the most important feature of it all. What we don't want is a thousand year Reich with a population (cloned or otherwise) looking the same, thinking the same, reacting the same. Witnessing diversity in others can make us aware of our own possibilities and of the limitations implicit in who we think we are.

We can all work miracles.
We can all perform healing.
We can all predict the future.
Only we have to overcome the idea which has been drummed into us since the cradle that it's impossible to do these things.

Perhaps i was wrong to go trying to connect with my roots.
Roots are by definition what hold us down. Perhaps what we should be doing is disconnecting from them one by one until, finally freed, we float away into eternity.

Never mind sex, drugs and even Balinese food. These are just the side shows, the main event is about to start. Hold on to your seats folks - or just don't!

Come fly with me, let's fly, we'll fly away.

16-18 March 1997

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Last updated 25.4.2003