Compared with their Western counterparts, Balinese people are not big on planning for the future, nor do they dwell on or reminisce much about the past. Most people here seemed to be adept at living in the present, the ‘here and now’; focussing on what they are thinking about and doing right now. With the pace and pressure of modern society that has plagued the West for many decades now, most of us are always thinking either about the future, about the ‘what ifs’ of tomorrow; or the past, about the ‘I should’ve or shouldn’t have said or done this’. We also reminisce about the loss of the past, something that is difficult to resurrect. In short, this leads to a lot of unnecessary worry that few Balinese I know concern themselves with. I think many non-Balinese wonder how people here can be so ‘in the ‘now’.
I believe this mindset and attitude has cultural and religious roots. Balinese Hinduism, like Hinduism across the world, adheres to the belief that everything is cyclic, constantly being born and reborn until at some point eternal life is achieved. Unique to Bali, however, is the complex system of cyclic rituals that involves not only individuals but large groups of people under the banjar concept. There are simply so many rituals and ceremonies that people simply can’t plan more than a few months ahead. All this may explain why few people seem to be concerned about the distant future; for example where Bali is headed in terms of its environment or traditional culture: we always have another chance, and ritual and piety will save us...
Do Balinese ever plan for the future? Yes, but with different values from what we have. This is concerned with ritual and karma. More on this in the next issue of KK.
Vaughan Hatch has immersed himself with Balinese culture, living with locals in Bali since 1997. He speaks fluent Indonesian and Balinese, and is unashamedly addicted to playing gamelan. A linguistic, archaeology and publishing graduate, he works for indOKiwi ‘linguistic and cultural solutions’ in Sanur. Email him on contact@indokiwibali.com or call (0361) 8427030 for further queries.
