We live in a world in which more and more people seem to be losing their way. Increasingly people live isolated lives with the breakdown of communities and the loss of social cohesion. The "me" generation appears to have taken over with greed becoming an international disease that is undermining social values and leading to increasing levels of corruption and exploitation.
How has this all come to pass?
Perhaps we can find some answers if we go back to same basic fundamentals of who we are as people. As we are growing up we learn a set of values. We learn what is right and wrong, we learn to respect older more experienced people and, most importantly, we learn the basic rules of a healthy society.
These rules way vary from country to country according to the norms of the society in that country but it appears that they tend to follow similar basic human values. Killing or raping people is not acceptable neither is stealing or imposing personal beliefs onto other people.
But there is something far deeper at play here. Each person has a deep seated need to be an accepted and useful member of the society in which they live, we all need interaction with and respect from those around us. This is the basis on which communities are built with their own ground rules, values and norms by which members of the community are expected to live their lives.
Over generations communities around the world have build up their own unique and individual sets of values and belief systems which define them as people and have become their own unique cultural identities. What has become known as
"intangible" heritage may include all aspects of our lives, beliefs, social norms of behavior, language, customs, music and song, traditional clothing, recipes and cuisine. All this is handed down from generation to generation and it tells people who they are as people, it gives them sense of identity.
Throughout history there have been major conflicts caused by political forces that have tried to remove or change people's sense of identity.
In colonial times many colonizing powers tried to forcibly transplant their own cultural identities onto the countries they were dominating and often symbols of earlier civilizations were purposely destroyed. In South America for example the Inca civilization was all but totally wiped out.
Some of the policies in communist regimes attempted to "sterilize" people in order to remove or attempt to reprogram people's identity, religions were banned of children were removed from their parents and families all with devastating results.
Closer to Indonesia the people of the Philippines look and behave very much like Indonesians and Malays but their original culture has Been lost being replaced by a sort of half hearted Spanish culture. You can't suppress people in this way, people have to have a sense of ownership of their true identity and hence the half hearted nature of their
"Standardized" world. Tee shirts and blue jeans tend to be the traditional clothing in the Filipino these days are.
More and more in the modern world identity is becoming watered down and lost. Materialism and the pursuit of wealth numbs the soul, television programmes present totally false values and standards of social interaction. Indonesian sinetrons are notorious for presenting shameless displays of violence, argument and conflict totally contrary to the natural behavior based on values of peace, harmony, politeness and respect that these were brought up with.
Is it surprising then that there are increasing levels of corruption, violence and crime both in this country and across the world?
In Bali the people have a very strong sense of identity and are part of culture that for the most part is still relatively intact. No where else on earth is there a culture that is so rich and so comprehensive. Religion, beliefs, values, art, music, clothing, architecture, food even the social security and administrative organization of families and banjars are all integrated into a single cultural entity.
Sadly "development" and the desire for material wealth is starting to break down this wonderful culture, value systems are being abandoned, respect is being lost, jealousy, conflict and crime are on the increase and, not surprisingly, so is suicide. Could it be that money destroys all that it touches?
This appears to be a worldwide problem. It seems that more and more people crave a sense of identity and without it they fell isolated and alone, they lose their spirit, their sense of purpose in life and the natural framework that holds their lives together.
