Javanese Beliefs - Kebatinan Schools

Kebatinan Schools

• The Sumarah School: According to this school, man and his physical and spiritual world are divided into three parts: the physical body and brain, an invisible world, and a more elusive and sublime world. In the brain, the faculty of thinking has two functions: to record memories, and to serve as a means of communion with God. One section, Sukusma, governs the passions, while the other, the Jiwa, provides the driving forces governing thought and reason. The invisible world, which is situated within the chest, is the Jiwa, the ineffable soul. It is here that the deeper feeling (Rasa) is located. The most elusive and sublime world is hidden somewhere near the anatomical heart. Sumarah theology maintains that humankind's soul is like the holy spirit, a spark from the Divine Essence, which means that we are in essence similar to God. In other words "One can find God within oneself," a belief similar to the "I=God" theory found in Hindu-Javanese literature.

• The Sapta Dharma School was the product of the Indonesian Revolution.