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ANIMISM_IN_THE_AIR

                                             August 29, 2022

A simple solution to my conundrum

    ANIMISM_VS_GOMI

is just that I'm wrong about Japanese
believing that modern human creations        That doesn't *seem* right to
have a spirit of their own, as well          me though.  One example:
as well as natural objects.
                                             There's a book Dangerbaby
Shintoism specifically respects              was looking at that's
the spirits of *natural* objects,            apparently pretty famous,
and so discarding the "old" (but             a Japanese woman offering
serviceable) bicycle is nothing              advice for living. It 
like, say, cutting down a tree--             includes remarks like:
or even destroying a rock
formation, etc.                              "Your purse has worked hard
                                             for you throughout the day,
                                             and at night you should give
                                             it a rest, and empty it out
                                             completely."
           EMPIRICAL_MORALITY

                                    That's a good example of a phenomena
                                    I've mentioned before: beliefs that
                                    on the face of it would seem to be
  In Bali, you often see things     incorrect can (sometimes) lead to
  like a hole in the ground         correct behavior--
  filled with small offerings:
  presumably people have tripped       If you empty your bag every night,
  and hurt themselves there, so        and re-load it in the morning that
  they try to pacify the spirits       guarantees you'll keep debris from
  with these offerings...              accumulating in it, and every day
                                       you'll review it's contents and
  It occurs to me that these           you'll be more likely to remember
  brightly colored offerings           what it is you have with you.
  (typically including bright         
  flower blossoms, bits of                 My own style is more like the
  white rice and so on, on                 philosophy of "go bags": I try to
  trays made of banana leaves)             keep bags used for particular
  probably improve the visibility          purposes loaded with the things I
  of the hole, and have the                expect to need for them.  I can get
  side-effect of making it less            confused about what I've got with
  likely someone will trip                 me, and it takes me some time to
  there.                                   get around to disposing of stashed
                                           garbage (let alone actually washing
     But then, it's clear it               the bag, which needs to be done
     would probably be even                with bike shoulder bags).
     better to just *fill in
     the hole*, which is a
     criticism that can be
     applied to much of Balinese
     animism.

         E.g. the locals seem to regard
         fevers as the will of the gods,      But then, in the Covid era,
         and hence don't care much about      the rate of vaccination in
         things like mosquito netting...      Bali is supposed to be pretty
                                              high (I happened to meet one
                                              fellow who was actually an
                                              anti-vaxxer, but it doen't
                                              seem that's very widespread).



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