Prophecy, Destruction and Real Life in SEA

Eight Months ago, as monks led peaceful demonstrations in Myanmar, soldiers and spies were everywhere - noting who was participating in and supporting the street protests in preparation for the impending crackdown - visits in the night, imprisonment, disappearances, examples made to frighten the populace. In the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, these soldiers seem strangely absent. Monks are again on the streets, working with residents on the clean-up efforts. News reports speak of the few foreign aid workers allowed in, seeing the military being more concerned with manning checkpoints to monitor and control their movements than to ease the suffering of the people.

A TIME report in their 19th May 2008 issue mentioned speculation among Journalists in Yangon that the natural disaster wrought by the cyclone, as well as the monk-led protests had been predicted by soothsayers, and these predictions were behind the shift of the administrative capital from Yangon to Naypyidaw in 2005. Naypyidaw was spared by the cyclone.

Another article from AFP mentions not only Burmese soothsayer predictions for the Cyclone Nargis, but also the Sichuan Earthquake and another major natural disaster in the region, still to come in the year 2008. AFP Story: After cyclone, Myanmar astrologers see more tragedy in 2008 (Thu May 15, ET)

One of the books I've most enjoyed reading in recent years (I read most of it during a family holiday to Sydney in Dec 2004) is "A Fortune-Teller Told Me - Earthbound Travels in the Far East" by Tiziano Terzani. This is the back cover blurb, which does a good job of describing the book:

Warned by a Hong Kong fortune teller not to risk flying for a whole year, Tiziano Terzani - a vastly experienced Asia correspondent - took what he called 'the first step into an unknown world ... It turned out to be one of the most extraordinary years I have ever spent: I was marked for death, and instead I was reborn.' Travelling by foot, boat, bus, car and train, he visited Burma, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, China, Mongolia, Japan, Indonesia, Singapore and Malaysia. Consulting soothsayers and shamans wherever he went, he grew to understand and respect older ways of life and beliefs now threatened by the crasser forms of Western modernity.

I most enjoyed the sections where he travels through south east asian countries, and consults with fortune tellers. Most seem to be fakes - though not all are out to cheat as they seem to want nothing in return for their service. A very small number some seem to have real insight that they could not possibly know by natural means. Terzani is passionate about the loss of cultural identity he sees during his travels, a wealth being eroded by western values. He seems to feel that the ancient asian traditions are like real gold and jewels, and what the west offers instead are well packaged trinkets - attractive and irrisistable on the outside, but cheap plastic and glass on the inside.

There is a chapter devoted to a short trip he was able to make into Burma, from northern Thailand. In it, he writes of how astrology and occult practices were of great interest to General Ne Win, who seized power in a military coup in 1962, and stepped down after massive student protests in 1988. Examples like the strange denominations of the currency notes, and odd behaviour to ward off predicted evils are fascinating to read. He ends this section with this line: "In Asia, the future is much more important than the past, and much more energy is devoted to prophecy than to history."

In 1973, a book called "The Spear of Destiny" caused a small stir. The spear is question was the one used by the Roman soldier who pierced the side of the crucified Jesus on the cross, to prove he was dead, and not in need of having his bones broken to hasten the death of the crucified. This spear came to be owned by a succession of leaders who achieved amazing military success (Alaric and Charlemagne being among them), and the legend was that whoever owned the spear would be able to conquer the world. Napoleon was supposedly unsuccessful in trying to gain possession of it, but another man known for brutal conquest was.....

Hitler annexed Austria, where the spear was in a museum owned by the Hapsburgs, and ordered the museum contents to be shipped to the Nazi headquarters in Nuremberg. From that point came Hitler's greatest military successes. The book asserts that Hitler killed himself in the Berlin Bunker soon after the American Forces gained control of the vault in the which the spear had been hidden.

A fascinating story, though not completely believable, especially for a young teen with a fondness for a reading diet heavily slanted towards science fiction and fantasy.

A young teen who several years later, in June 1981, in a cinema near Mountain View, CA, would be sitting transfixed before a cinema screen, totally blown away by a film in which Aldof Hitler is trying to get his hands on a major occult prize to feed his collection of ancient artifacts of spiritual power that would enable him to rule the world. The prize in question is the Ark of the Covenant, and the film (in which Hitler is mentioned, but never appears) was "Raiders of the Lost Ark".

Just writing about it today, 27 years later, still sends the shivers through my bones, and makes my breath shallow and rapid, as I recall the story line, the action sequences, and the sheer audacity of the plot. Bloody Hell. What a fantastic, utterly memorable and expletive deserving film.

The latest Indiana Jones movie is here. I've downloaded the iTunes trailers. It's cool to see Cate Blanchett as an uptight Russian Dominatrix. The film will have ancient prophecy and sacred treasures. The will be action sequences full of destruction and people will die. There will be heroes and villans. The elderly and the young. The passing of an age.

Just like real life in South East Asia.

See the IMDB page on Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull