Black Indigenous Malaysians embody Anarcho-Taoism

[Harmonious Emptiness]

Some interesting correlations, not to say that they are or aren't related:

 

 

Some Daoist classics often refer to "the Ancients" who knew how to live with Dao.

 

We know that modern humans migrated from Africa to Southeast Asia nearly 60,000 years ago.

 

 

http://originalpeople.org/batek-people-indigenous-group-malaysia/

 

Batek People: Indigenous Group of Malaysia

 

Batek are a peaceful society. If a member of the group has a conflict with another member of the group they will discuss the matter privately. If that does not end the disagreement, each will publicly share their side of the argument in an attempt to have other members of the camp suggest a resolution. Since each adult member of the camp is equal, there is no internal leader or adjudication system so one or both of the aggrieved parties will leave the camp until cooler heads prevail.

 

[....]

 

External disagreements become a little more tricky, since the Batek do not have leaders or a military, the Batek are generally at the mercy of the Malaysian Government. Malaysia does not recognize Batek sovereignty so during the 20th century the Government gradually encroached on the Batek land, to use it for logging and farming. Since the 1960s the Government has encouraged the Batek to live in Pos Lebir and become non-nomadic farmers. Most Batek are unwilling to settle in Pos Labir because it has not been dedicated to the Batek, they would have to leave there if the Government asked and they would lose their nomadic lifestyle and their religion. One of the Batek summed up the situation by saying: “We Batek are rich if we have a cooking pot, digging stick, bush-knife, lighter, tobacco, salt and fishing pole. Also a man is sad if he doesn’t have a blowpipe. We only want four or five sarongs, we don’t need trousers. If we live here (in Pos Lebir), we need money, if we have money we buy a lot. But if we have no money, no problem, we reject possessions. When we live in the forest, we don’t need them. We can dig tubers. If someone doesn’t have food, others give it as in the old days.”

 

 

 

 

I find it fascinating how the Batek people have managed to survive all of these millennia with no leaders and have managed to maintain the values and practices of non-ownership, non-attachment, and non-egotism/non-selfishness in their culture.

 

On a side note, it also made me think of how our DNA is in societies like this, sharing with one another and ensuring our survival by doing so. This is why we have "group mentality," which is often seen as and taken advantage of as a weakness. Something we can learn from the Batek people is how to live with each other in groups of well meaning people. Governments try to displace people from their inherited land, yet they don't realize how much more value and history will be destroyed in the missteps of misguided "industry."

 

Edited February 22, 2014 by Harmonious Emptiness

[gendao]

Nomadic hunter-foragers who live off wild foods and move around to let the terrain regenerate are definitely the most sustainable and healthy for the species in the long-term.

So they have no difficulty in moving every five months to allow the forest to replenish. All Batek are animists, without organised or codified religious beliefs. Instead they see the world, especially the river and jungle, as being animated by spirits.

The San are not wasteful and every part of the animal is used. The hides are tanned for blankets and the bones are cracked for the marrow.

Water is hard to come by, as the San are constantly on the move. Usually during the dry season, these migrants collect their moisture by scraping and squeezing roots. If they are out hunting or travelling, they would dig holes in the sand to find water. They also carry water in an ostrich eggshell.

Whereas, most "more advanced" modernized humans are already too weak and degenerated now to handle their lifestyles living like native animals:

I am with a local Malaysian man called Musa who spent three months living with one family group in a village near the river’s edge. This group is the object of my visit. Musa tells me he had planned to live there for six months, but found the lifestyle too hard and left.

Unfortunately, these "WILD MEN" tribes, also including the Native Americans, San Bushmen and Bigfoot, are getting pushed out of existence through their wild habitat destruction by rampant logging, plantations, urban sprawl, cultural modernization and also women outbreeding. These peoples have a LOT to teach us...yet our war against Nature is rapidly forcing them to the brink of extinction. After which, once they're gone, there will be no way to bring them or their deep Earth wisdom, back...

The San are a friendly, creative, and peaceful people, who never developed any weapons of war, and have lived in harmony with their natural environment for at least 20 000 years. Properly restored to their ancestral lands, and reintegrated into the game reserves of southern Africa, San communities could become self-sustaining.

Due to absorption but mostly extinction, the San may soon cease to exist as a separate people.

Edited February 21, 2014 by vortex

[suninmyeyes]

Vortex said :

These peoples have a LOT to teach us...yet our war against Nature is rapidly forcing them to the brink of extinction. After which, once they're gone, there will be no way to bring them or their deep Earth wisdom, back...

 

This just reminded of what Kogi people from Sierra Nevada , Columbia have to say on that . Have posted about it before , but every time I see it -- it talks to me even more .

 

http://tairona.myzen.co.uk/index.php/media/film/

[Harmonious Emptiness]

I don't believe Bigfoot are homosapiens, though they may have more intelligence than your average KKK member.

[voidisyinyang]

A great pdf summary of the focus of 90% of human history: Bushmen healing culture

 

http://innersoundqigong.blogspot.com/2014/07/a-great-pdf-summary-of-focus-of-90-of.html?zx=728d8f7aa8958218

 

San Bushmen mentioned in this thread so I'm bumping it.

[soaring crane]

A great pdf summary of the focus of 90% of human history: Bushmen healing culture

 

http://innersoundqigong.blogspot.com/2014/07/a-great-pdf-summary-of-focus-of-90-of.html?zx=728d8f7aa8958218

 

San Bushmen mentioned in this thread so I'm bumping it.

 

 

thanks for bumping this one! :-)

[GrandmasterP]

Some interesting correlations, not to say that they are or aren't related:

 

 

Some Daoist classics often refer to "the Ancients" who knew how to live with Dao.

 

We know that modern humans migrated from http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200007/15/eng20000715_45573.html]Africa to Southeast Asia[/url] nearly 60,000 years ago.

 

 

http://originalpeople.org/batek-people-indigenous-group-malaysia/]http://originalpeople.org/batek-people-indigenous-group-malaysia/[/url]

 

Batek People: Indigenous Group of Malaysia

 

Batek are a peaceful society. If a member of the group has a conflict with another member of the group they will discuss the matter privately. If that does not end the disagreement, each will publicly share their side of the argument in an attempt to have other members of the camp suggest a resolution. Since each adult member of the camp is equal, there is no internal leader or adjudication system so one or both of the aggrieved parties will leave the camp until cooler heads prevail.

 

[....]

 

External disagreements become a little more tricky, since the Batek do not have leaders or a military, the Batek are generally at the mercy of the Malaysian Government. Malaysia does not recognize Batek sovereignty so during the 20th century the Government gradually encroached on the Batek land, to use it for logging and farming. Since the 1960s the Government has encouraged the Batek to live in Pos Lebir and become non-nomadic farmers. Most Batek are unwilling to settle in Pos Labir because it has not been dedicated to the Batek, they would have to leave there if the Government asked and they would lose their nomadic lifestyle and their religion. One of the Batek summed up the situation by saying: We Batek are rich if we have a cooking pot, digging stick, bush-knife, lighter, tobacco, salt and fishing pole. Also a man is sad if he doesnt have a blowpipe. We only want four or five sarongs, we dont need trousers. If we live here (in Pos Lebir), we need money, if we have money we buy a lot. But if we have no money, no problem, we reject possessions. When we live in the forest, we dont need them. We can dig tubers. If someone doesnt have food, others give it as in the old days.

 

 

 

 

I find it fascinating how the Batek people have managed to survive all of these millennia with no leaders and have managed to maintain the values and practices of non-ownership, non-attachment, and non-egotism/non-selfishness in their culture.

 

On a side note, it also made me think of how our DNA is in societies like this, sharing with one another and ensuring our survival by doing so. This is why we have "group mentality," which is often seen as and taken advantage of as a weakness. Something we can learn from the Batek people is how to live with each other in groups of well meaning people. Governments try to displace people from their inherited land, yet they don't realize how much more value and history will be destroyed in the missteps of misguided "industry."

 

They are wearing plastic Chinese-manufacture-looking flip flop sandals and those fabrics were never woven on a hand loom either.

Wherever you choose to travel and howsoever remote the 'tribe', rest assured that the market economy arrived long before you did.

Edited July 7, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[Apech]

They are wearing plastic Chinese-manufacture-looking flip flop sandals and those fabrics were never woven on a hand loom either.

Wherever you choose to travel and howsoever remote the 'tribe', rest assured that the market economy arrived long before you did.

 

 

We each have our own path but we all need plastic flip flops to walk it.

[GrandmasterP]

Yep.

Plus we need to walk a mile in somebody else's Chinese-made plastic flip flops before ever we critique their footwear choices.

I can't wear those flip flops that have a pillar between the big toe and next toe.

In India we called those 'safety boots' as most site workers wore them to work.

Edited July 7, 2014 by GrandmasterP

[soaring crane]

 

Plus we need to walk a mile in somebody else's Chinese-made plastic flip flops before ever we critique their footwear choices.

 

*that way, when you criticize them, you're a mile away and you have their shoes.

 

badump-bump-pssshhh...

 

 

*credit goes to Jack Handy