A physicist looks at the Javanese
shadow-puppet performance
by
M.S.A. SASTROAMIDJOJO
Because of the lifelong preoccupation of the author
with physics and philosophy, and in particular Javanese
philosophy,it is not surprising that he has been looking for a
common conceptual ground for both physics and the
Javanese philosophy as expressed in the Javanese shadow-puppet
play.
Why should physics be brought into juxtaposition
with what is essentially art? The shadow-puppet play is not
only an art but more significantly a 'sacral' art which even
at the present forms part and parcel of Javanese culture.
Physics and art are but human attempts to get at the
ultimate truth. Physics, since Descartes, Newton and
Bacon has developed into a search for the fundamental building
block.
The underlying philosophy being, that once the
"fundamental building block", in this case a sub-nuclear particle, has
been found, everything else will be deducible. This world
view is essentially mechanistic. If this world view was limited
to the field of physics, it would be of interest only to
physicists. However this has not been the case.
Locke based his philosophy on the findings of
Newton. Descartes had a deep influence in psychology and Bacon
can be traced in almost all disciplines of science.(5).
In short the present fields of sociology, biology,
medicine, economics, politics, all are based on the mechanistic
world view, which holds that the world consists of separate
parts.
This world view is therefore fragmented or non holistic.
However, there has been an increasing concern in
the field of physics about the validity of this quest for the
"ultimate building block" culminating in the work of Chew (1960),
Bohm and Bell, who challenged this mechanistic view on the
basis of mathematical analysis and experiments.
Since the findings that there is no such thing as a
"fundamental building block" no "ultimate sub-nuclear
particle" but only "fundamental dynamic relationships" are so
clearly portrayed in both matter and substance or if you will
"hard-ware" and "soft-ware" of the Javanese puppet-play, an
attempt has been made to re-view the contemporary fragmented
world view in the Western world and compare it to Javanese
philosophy and see if heuristically new developments are possible.
We will therefore start by looking at how the shadow-
play is performed and try to find out what the implicate message
of this medium consists of.
The Javanese shadow play is performed by a
puppeteer who sits cross-legged in front of a screen. The
puppets which are made of perforated pieces of buffalo skin are
manipulated in such a way that a light source behind and above
the puppeteer or "dalang" as he is called, throws the
shadows of the puppets on the screen.
The puppets are curiously enough, "shadow-like", so
that holding a puppet one is holding in fact a "solid-shadow".
The generic name of these puppets are "shadows" so that
the shadow on the screen is nothing less than a "shadow of a
shadow".
One can sit behind the screen and then only shadows
are seen. If one sits in front one sees:
1) the shadow on the screen,
2) the "shadow" in the hands of the dalang and
3) the dalang himself with the supporting "gamelan" orchestra,
consisting almost entirely of percussion instruments, not unlike
xylophones.
The music can best be described as symphonic and the
mode reminiscent of Bach's "point-counterpoint" compositions.
The main impression is that of "flowing movement".
Animation of the "shadow-puppets" is by voice of the
dalang and such is his art that before long there is a
total illusion of the "shadow" coming to life.
It should be noted here that the dalang himself,
insofar as he is the prime mover of the puppets, is the symbol
of a higher level, or higher order. But at the same time
he himself is a puppet in the hands of a "still higher"
order.
The best dalangs are "sensitives"; which means
that it is almost as if they are possessed by the self same
"spirits" or "shadows" they are throwing on the screen.
It is said that many dalangs take drugs or smoke
opium to enhance their receptiveness.
The sequence 1) "shadow-of-a-shadow". 2) solid-
shadow in the hands of the dalang and 3) the dalang himself is
the way "things" or "events" are projected from deeper and
deeper levels of ordering.
It should be noted that "shadow" in Javanese culture
stands for, the physical phenomenon and also, for
essence, spirit, and soul.
The shadow play itself is rigidly structured. The
performance starts at eight o'clock in the evening and
finishes at four o'clock in the morning. For the uninitiated this
seems to be excessively long. However two things have to be
remembered.
Firstly this is not a performance in the modern
sense of the word. It is first and foremost a communal meditation
in which the dalang prepares the audience mentally to
receive the "wahyu" or "enlightenment". He does that not only by
the content of the play, which is perceived and processed by
the rational part of the mind but also by the music which is
programmed to match the human biorhythm. Secondly the real content
of the totality underlying the story cannot be expressed
in words.
At two o'clock in the morning when the mind is in
the twilight zone between waking and sleeping, the unspoken,
un-written, "message" of the play "comes down" and will be
absorbed by those which have been spiritually and mentally
prepared.
The structure or program of the play is as follows.
From eight o'clock in the evening to half past twelve the
"problem" or "plot" of the shadow-play is laid out.
War, love, intrigues, are "rationally" analysed.
The language of the play is old, classical, Javanese which is
derived from Sanskrit.
In this part it is shown that rational, conventional
or "linear" thinking is not adequate to "solve the
problem".
From half past twelve to half past one the dalang
starts the "goro-goro" or "time of trouble" in which everything
is brought back to the "primogenial chaos" or rather
"primogenial void". Which should not he thought of as total
emptiness.
The primogenial void is in fact pregnant with power and
potentialities. It is the source of infinite power.
This "void" is called "awang-uwung". It reminds us of the
basic Taoist philosophy : "The myriad creatures in the world
are born from Something, and Something from Nothing".
During the "goro-goro" the dialogue is in the vernacular. Jokes
are told and the audience relaxes.
One should not view this interlude as spiritually
empty. It is exactly in this state of relaxation that the human
mind is receptive to the "unspoken" or "implicated" content
of the "teaching jokes" and "teaching stories". After the
"goro-goro", the last part is performed. The language is switched
back to classical, old Javanese, and the "solution of the
problem" presented.
At two o'clock in the morning the audience, now
psychologically prepared, receives the "wahyu" or "enlightenment".
This "enlightenment" is not explicitly given by the dalang
but it is the blending of the soul with "that-which-is".
In sum the whole puppet play both in outward form
and inner content depicts the world view of the Javanese, to wit :
1) that everything is connected with everything else.
2) that nothing is static, everything is only "becoming" or process.
3) the source of all power is the primogenial void.
It has been said that the Javanese philosophy is
syncretic, which means that it consists of bits and pieces of all
kinds of beliefs and religions.
If it looks like bits of Buddhism on top of Hinduism mixed
with Islam and Animism, this could be construed as an example
of syncretism. Geographically, Indonesia has always been on
the nexus, or cross-roads of two continents and two oceans and so
has been influenced by many beliefs and religions. But the
syncretism has been active not passive.
Everything has been redigested and re-created. And the result is
a consistent system of thought of breathtaking beauty,
grandeur and originality. Consider the following dialogue.
In the Dewa Ruci story Bima, one of the five Pendawa brothers
is directed by his "guru" or spiritual teacher to look for the
"water of knowledge" in the middle of the ocean. After scooping
the whole ocean dry he finds standing on a rock a little man
standing only a finger high. Outwardly he resembles Bima closely.
Not the Bima standing in front of him though, but a Bima still in his
adolescent years, the years of innocence.
When Dewa-Ruci, the little man, asks him what he is doing
in the middle of the ocean, Bima tells him ofhis quest for
the "water of knowledge". Once he has swallowed this purest
of all pure water he will "know everything".
Dewa-Ruci tells him, that he has been misled by his
spiritual teacher. There is no such thing as water which can
make people all-knowing but he adds, if you want to know
everything you have only to enter my body by way of my left
ear. Bima laughs and chides the little man. "How can I fit
into your body? You are as big as my little finger".
Answers Dewa-Ruci:
"Reflect a little bit. The whole universe is certainly bigger
than your body Bima, and since in this slight body of mine
you can find the whole universe complete with all the world's
mountains and oceans, you certainly will fit in".
Bima in deep meditation becomes convinced and starts
to shrink so that now being small enough he can enter Dewa-
Ruci's body. In a flash he becomes one with the universe and
therefore enlightened.
The "wayang" or "shadow" story is in essence a
teaching story, which means that it is in fact a "technical
document".
As explained by Idris Shah when he talks about Sufism:
"An ancient yet still irreplaceable method of arranging
and transmitting a knowledge which can not be put in another
way". Being a "technical document", the content of the
teaching story can only be understood by people who are suitably
prepared. Only then can the developmental effects of the
story work on the individual or group.
What has physics to say about all this? Physics since
Newton has gone through a development from extreme mechanistic
and fragmented to the present "mystic" view where the
observer and the observed are thought to be one.
Bima's quest for the "the water of knowledge''
corresponds to the quest for the fundamental particle in physics.
Dewa-Ruci's claim that he has in his body "the whole
universe" is reminiscent of a passage in "The turning
point" by Fritjof Capra where he says:
"According to the bootstrap theory of Geoffrey Chew
(1960) and other physicists, nature cannot be reduced to
fundamental building blocks of matter, but has to be understood
entirely through self-consistency. All of physics has to follow
uniquely from the requirement that its components be
consistent with one another and with themselves."
The "bootstrap theory" of Geoffrey Chew (1960) also
points to the possibility that : ''Every particle
consists of all other particles". This does not mean that the
whole material world is piled up in one little subatomic
particle. Rather, sub-atomic particles should be viewed not
as separate but as "interrelated energy patterns in an
ongoing dynamic process".
This is a radical change from the view that there
has to be a "'fundamental building block". Science is now
forced to entertain the thought that to study matter, in one way
or another, human consciousness has to be taken into
account too.
The old mechanistic paradigm therefore has to shift to
holism which ultimately involves the (holistic) study of
physics, biology, psychology, the social sciences and the arts.
The whole universe is in fact one interlocking "system of systems".
One of the reasons of looking for a new interpretation
of the Javanese shadow puppet play is a growing
dissatisfaction with the present world view, which is by and large
fragmented, and non-holistic.
It is this fragmented world view which is at the root of
many, if not all the "ills of this world", be it on a personal
level or in society as a whole.
With all our accomplishments in science and
technology we still have to ask ourselves: "If everything goes so
well why do we feel so bad?" Maybe a change of paradigm is
in order. It is proposed that the prevailing method of
linear thinking be replaced by non-linear thinking.
Since traditional wisdom in Javanese society is
largely non-linear it would be interesting to examine the
cultural foundations of this society.
The Javanese shadow play in many ways is reminiscent
of Plato's "Allegory of the cave" in his "Republic".
Especially of Plato's notion of shadows and images in the cave. The
sun outside is Plato's "light of reality".
As we have seen, the Javanese shadow puppet play is
rich in symbolism, and the more one digs the more one is
surprised to find shadows behind shadows and dreams within dreams,
implicating deeper and deeper levels of order. A more
complete picture will emerge if the present study is done in a
multidiciplinary way, involving linguistics, the abstract sciences,
biology and psychology to name only a few.
Finally it should be pointed out that Javanese
philosophy is not just "something to read or to hear about".
Javanese philosophy has to be experienced.
The "wayang"-story or "shadow"-story is called the
"lakon" but meditation and other esoteric practices like praying
and fasting are called "nglakoni" which has the same root
"lakon" and which means "acting-out-the-story"; the emphasis
being on the inherent one-ness of "thought and action", of mind
and matter, of time and space, and finally of observer
and the observed.
The message of the Dewa-Ruci story is clear. To
attain enlightenment the use of reason has a limit. One has to
go back to the pristine uncluttered state of mind symbolised
here by the figure of Bima as adolescent, by way of
meditation. Why does Bima enter Dewa-Ruci by the left ear and
not by the right ear?
In Javanese philosophy the word left or "kiwo"
denotes the para-normal, the normally not used, the world "behind
the mirror".
Finally entering Dewa-Ruci's body means coming back
to an earlier phase in your life or rather another state of
your life; coming back to the primogenial void where on the
one hand space, time and matter are being dissolved in a
greater totality but at the other hand there is still the imprint
of one's personal identity.
After his enlightenment was attained in Dewa-Ruci's
body, Bima has to come back to the world of everyday life. The
message for us who live in a world daily more dangerous
to live in, is also clear.
We cannot turn the clock back, but we can learn from
the past. Sophistication has to be attained by
simplicity.