Under a Fig Tree

Under a Fig Tree

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Under a Fig Tree
Under a Fig Tree
The sacred nature of daily life in Bali

The sacred nature of daily life in Bali

On Ritual (part 5) An inheritance from the old world

Gabriela Gutierrez's avatar
Gabriela Gutierrez
Dec 08, 2024
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Under a Fig Tree
Under a Fig Tree
The sacred nature of daily life in Bali
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In the 1930s, Margaret Mead went to live in Bali for a couple of years to study Balinese culture. She and fellow anthropologist (and later-husband-to-be!) Gregory Bateson set out to explore the role of culture in forming personality. Mead is one of my imaginal ancestors - one of the greats who forms part of my pantheon, so you can imagine how excited I was to be where she had been, and see what she saw.

Culture absolutely shapes personality.

When I first arrived in Bali, my prayer was for peace. It’s a little cliché, I know. But is there really anything more imperative? Elizabeth Gilbert called it “balance” in her novel. She was looking for her balance.

I didn’t set out on a spiritual quest that took me to search for some kind of peace in Bali. I went there, initially, for a visa run. And decided to turn it into a solo writing retreat to finalise my manuscript. And then, like all journeys, it became something else entirely. And as I wrote last week, I ended up meeting a Balinese healer who became my teacher and initiated me into the Balinese tradition.

My unexpected initiation into the Balinese healing tradition

Gabriela Gutierrez
·
December 1, 2024
My unexpected initiation into the Balinese healing tradition

The monthly newsletters are an amalgamation of musings and two poems (one by another poet and one by me, as per a practice introduced to my master’s cohort by poet Alice Oswald).

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I found my beloved Zorro, the Balinese puppy, abandoned on the street and spent a week that felt like a lifetime with him before finding him a loving Balinese home (in which, for those of you who have been following, he is very happy!)

The gifts from my time there will keep on giving. I prayed for peace, and I was given flowers and I was given thorns.

When I say peace, I suppose I mean an inner stability that is accessible more than it isn’t. I’m not so naive (anymore!) to think that inner peace is a lasting state. Unless we are a rose or an oak tree, it’s not.

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