That word, Kebenaran, which is Javanese, relates to unusual coincidences, and to us it sounds like something out of the world of Kurt Vonnegut with his karass and granfaloons. Here’s some Javanese wisdom, courtesy of Peter Levenda, our friend and author of tomes on the mysterious realms.
***
“Events do not happen because of chance, but manifest themselves because of hidden forces that bring about each co-incidence, each kebenaran. A new event is a crossroad, a co-inciding, in which the shadow of inevitability becomes a fact.”
— Niels Mulder, Mysticism in Java: Ideology in Indonesia, Amsterdam: the Pepin Press, 1998, p.84
The Javanese term he uses, kebenaran, is interesting. It comes from the root “benar” which means “true.” The word kebenaran means “truth” as a noun, but in its adverbial form it means “by chance, by accident.” Thus, a Javanese understanding of the relationship between “truth” and “chance”?
The term “hidden force” is also suggestive, for there was a novel about Java by L. Couperus about 100 years ago with that title. You will find it referenced in “Sinister Forces” but I don’t remember the volume.
+++
Peter has recently returned from Java where he was involved in following up on a legend that Hitler survived the war and died in Indonesia. We’ll be seeing him this weekend and will find out more from the world of ‘Sinister Forces.’
He also promises to bring me a novel he found in a bookstore in Java that features a gushy blurb by me on the cover. He had already bought the novel and was reading it when he noticed the blurb. Interestingly, I never heard of the book and didn’t write the blurb. – R
Hmmm………How much would you charge for a ‘gushy blurb’, Rob?
Well, I’ll let rob answer that one!:)
Not sure how this Javanese word-play fits with your fallen gum tree synchro, Daz, but maybe you can clarify. This one is more about synchronicity than an actual synchro itself…except for the part about Peter reading a novel and finding my purloined blurb, on the cover.
Natalie, my gushy blurbs are free when I don’t write them! – R
Like I said Rob,
It’s a long story.You would have to read through most of the 13 posts at this Kate Miller-Heidke forum;
https://forums.katemh.com/index.php?showtopic=1224
to get the real gist of it,but I’ll try to summarize the connection in a condensed (and hopefully not to confusing) version.
I have about 300 CD’s in my CD tower and bookcase,so I decided a few months ago to play them pretty much in order,from top to bottom,left to right.I was nearing the 100 mark,when this sync occurred.I play one right through in my car,then get the next one in order,and so on.I was down to Kate Miller Heidke’s “Telegram” CD,but I wasn’t really in the mood for it that day,so I took”Neil Young’s Greatest Hits” instead which was the next one along,then popped it in my car CD player,and drove off to work.
The major sync was,as I was passing my favorite Gum tree,Neil’s song “Comes a Time” was playing,with the line, “It’s a wonder tall trees ain’t layin’ down,There comes a time”.The Gum tree had been cut down and was laying on the footpath,and I was stunned by the sync.Then I thought if I had of stuck to the playing schedule,then I would have been listening to Kate,instead of Neil singing.Then I had the thought,yeah Kate could do a really haunting version of this song (like her song “Last Day on Earth”-you can hear/see it here if you’re not familiar with it;
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5RLFfiBghio )
BTW,that’s the first song I heard as I got to work,after hearing about the NZ earthquake.
To cut a very long story into just a long story,I decided to run the sync by her,so I went to her official web site and posted my sync in the “Ask Kate” forum,to see whether it rang any bells with her.But I ended up getting into a debate with two guys who called themselves Steve W. and Mulder,about just what a synchronicity was.They were having a bit of a laugh (and so was I, if you read “The Rage Against the Machine” comments),but I couldn’t get through what a synchronicity was to them,so I was going to just leave it…then I read your post about the Javanese word for synchronicity… but here’s the bit that links it together (for me anyway) ;
“Events do not happen because of chance, but manifest themselves because of hidden forces that bring about each co-incidence, each kebenaran. A new event is a crossroad, a co-inciding, in which the shadow of inevitability becomes a fact.”
kebenaran
– Niels Mulder, Mysticism in Java: Ideology in Indonesia, Amsterdam: the Pepin Press, 1998, p.84
You just quoted Niels Mulder,and I have been trying to tell a guy on the forum called MULDER that I feel this incident wasn’t just a coincidence,but a meaningful event,like the universe was suggesting that Kate should do her own version of Neil Young’s “Comes a Time”. If you take the name Niels Mulder,and just swap the i and e around it would be Neil’s/Mulder,like in Kate should sing Neils song Mulder.
There’s the sync link with your story –
Niels Mulder talking about kebenaran/synchronicity when I’m talking to Mulder about Neil’s song “Comes a Time”.
Sorry if this comes across as confusing,but remember,I’m a forklift driver,not an author.-)
Okay, I get it, Daz. That’s pretty cool…Mulder, Mulder…Niels Mulder, Neil Young (Young sounds like Jung!) all coming together, a mind-blowing kebernaran!
The song and gum tree part reminds me of a post from more than a year ago by an L.A. producer who wrote us about driving to the office one morning listening to the radio. Peter Gabriel’s Solsbury Hill was playing and just as the chorus came in…’My heart goes BOOM, BOOM, BOOM’ he passed Angina Blvd. – R
As you probably remember,I had my own Peter Gabriel sync,when burying my cat,to Pete’s song “Digging in the Dirt”.
With a name like Gabriel,it’s probably no wonder syncs occur around his songs.After all,the Archangel Gabriel is the exalted Messenger of God, whose name means “The Strength of God”according to this site;
https://www.luckymojo.com/archangelgabriel.html
Furthermore, according to Muslims, Gabriel dictated the Koran to Mohamed over a period of 23 years. (There’s that number 23 again) .
Some people believe that Gabriel is a female spirit; others hold that angels have no gender.
Because of Gabriel’s role as a communicator and mediator between Heaven and Earth, Catholics hold the Archangel to be a Patron Saint of broadcasters, telecommunications workers, diplomats, messengers, postal workers, and stamp collectors. Because Gabriel helped the prophet Daniel interpret his dreams, those seeking similar aid with their own dream work may petition the Archangel for help.
So,it’s not surprising,I guess, that Pete’s songs seem to carry messages to us via some mysterious source.
We used that story in the second synchro book, Daz. Loved it. RIP, Sylvester.
If I had of known he would later make it into print,and of his fondness for being on the road,
I would have named him Kerouac .-)
I’m always amazed at how a small synchronicity like this post can become a part of a larger synchronicity,like this post;
https://forums.katemh.com/index.php?showtopic=1224
It’s a long story,but it all started from this sync;
https://brizdazz.blogspot.com/2011/03/comes-time.html
Then I went to Kate’s forum (first link,above) to run the sync by her,to see if it resonated with her or not.But I ran into two larrikins going by the names Steve W. and Mulder,who were having a bit of a laugh at my post (all good fun),and so I was trying to tell them the difference between a sync and some event,that I am just trying to put my own meaning into.
I don’t know if Kate has read / will read it,but as they say in “The X-files” …it’s out there.-)
Interesting, Daz! Layered. Off to check out that first link in more detail.
Well, now, that’s the way to do blurbs!
“Best novel I’ve ever read!” Steven King
“My favorite book of all time!” Nora Roberts
“I wish I could write this well!” John Updike
can’t wait for more, either! as a lover of words myself, i’m always excited coming across new/different words so this was a real treat for me – when i was a kid and our family was on one of our regular cross-country road trips, one of the games we would play was basically an anagram solver thing – you know, take the word “washington” and see how many separate words we could make – anyway, i still do that with words a lot – and when i first saw the word “kebenaran”, i also saw the words “keen arab” – but like others here, i do love the sound of the word and especially its meaning – thanks for my new word a day! oh, and a gushy blurb by rob but not by rob? yeah, can’t wait for that, for sure! 😉
Interesting stuff. I see that kebenaran just translates as a noun for truth (as you say in your post) if translated by Google.
Can’t wait to hear more.
Oh what a taunting tease this is….can hardly wait to learn about the gushy blurb you wrote that you didn’t write! I am a born lover of words, and probably a “wordsmith”, for lack of a better term, and I love that word KEBENARAN. Don’t know why. It just rolls off the edges of my thoughts with a strange and lilting rhythm that reminds me of something I can’t quite bring into focus. It’s a lovely synonym for ‘truth’ when used as a noun. Intriguing post, Rob. Intriguing…..
I love the way it rolls, too.