The final act of a Wayang performance is called the Manyura part. Some associate this word with agrarian activity: to harvest. What does one harvest in this closing act?

Performance of Moving Stasis. Source: soydivision documentation.

When one hits the noble Gong Ageng, it signifies at least three different events: (1) the start of a musical piece, (2) the end/start of a musical cycle, and (3) the end of a musical piece. The music of the Gamelan repeats its musical cycle. Its repetition is, however, not repetitive. It changes in each repetition, so subtle and soft: a moving stasis.

Performance of TIBA during the rice cooking ritual. Source: soydivision documentation.

Any type of struggle is familiar to those who decide to leave their country. One form of such a struggle is the struggle with one’s identity and values. As soon as one steps into the new country, one’s identity and values are confronted with those who are not of one’s own. Not surprisingly, this leads to personal disorientation. Values and identities are influencing each other. Disorientation in values leads to the disorientation of identity and vice versa.

In such a situation, one finds oneself in the state in between. As such, one finds oneself in a liminal state. Should one move to the new values, new identities? Should one grasp the old values, old identities? Delays in answering such questions leave one prolonged in the liminal state. We find ourselves often delay our answers, making sure that the decision we take is the right one. By making a decision—-and the absence of it, as yet another type of decision—-one shapes one’s identity, one’s value.