Sng'oi Way of Being

I just finished a book called "Original Wisdom. Stories of an ancient way of knowing." Robert Wolff writes about his experiences in Malaysian aboriginal settlements with the Sng'oi (Senoi) people that he visited for days at a time over years during the 60s and 70s. (This photo I lifted from a photographer's website).

He was married with 4 kids and they lived in the capital, while he did his anthropological studies and wanderings. "I learned early on to be in two different realities." One reality was oriented around the clock, efficiency, technology, and harsh realism. The other was fluid, timeless, almost dreamlike - a world in which "people touched each other," a world in which "we knew animals and plants intimately."

He visited these people that speak softly, minimally, don't compete for attention, don't talk about future and past.. just have a single tense in their language! They are always being, living now. They are gatherers, mostly, living in settlements, until the tropical forest around them has been foraged and they move on. They don't have discrete family units, but the settlement, the kampong, moves together, a mix of relatives. They construct bamboo shelters 6 feet off the ground, and eat as they go along during the day, no big meals together. They find a root, chew on it a while, and if satisfied, leave it in the crook of a tree for someone else to find and chew on. They get mangos from the tree, but do not bring extra home. If a child wants a mango, he or she will go to the mango tree herself to find it.

They spend much of the day away from the huts... just walking around the forest, being social, finding food, but having no agenda. They might laugh at a little monkey sucking on a mango, or admire a beautiful flower. "Each day was a blank page, to be written on as they were living it."

When the author would speak to the group, there would be a long pause. No body would answer him right away. There would be some sort of group mind-meld, and one person would speak for the group, and everyone else would smile.

People would sleep close together at night, touching each other. Different people in different huts each night. One night after a discussion with everyone, he said he slept with at least 8 arms touching him. Sometimes people slept very huddled together, in a ball. These people touched and groomed each other often when awake. Touching people I am connected to feels right and healthy to me.

After sleeping, people would wake and sit together in the hut discussing dreams. They would help each other remember dreams, and would co-dream. He dreamt about the settlement dog barking, a cough-sound bark; he felt darkness and fear in the dream, but he did not see the dog in the dream. An older woman said not seeing the dog was a warning of some kind. A girl who had slept next to him said she heard the same sound, but it was a tiger in her dream. He realized, yes, it might have been a tiger in his dream. The woman told him he needed to go to his family, that they needed him. He went out of the settlement to call and found out his kid had been taken to the hospital.

He experienced a trance during a ceremony with a smoking charcoal and some high-pitched singing and rhythmic dancing. During his trance he spoke in another language and told them some things... but he didn't remember this. He thought he had slept. The 'see-er' of the village then invited him to come back and learn with him. He accepted.

The learning consisted simply of taking long walks together in the woods together without talking, eating or drinking. Just seeing and hearing and feeling and sensing. The author was frustrated by the lack of instruction, lack of imparting of knowledge. Why just walking in silence together? He had other duties to his job and his family, was this all a waste of time? He attained some endurance, walking longer, needing less food and water. He took a hiatus from the settlement for a month or two, and returned, decided to not have expectations. Just go and 'be' with his friend who was happy for him to learn during the walks. On the next walk, his friend told him to stop, and be very quiet. A few minutes later, a very huge yellow snake (14 feet), crossed the path in front of them. This almost never happens. They are usually in the trees. The snake was the helper animal of the see-er. The see-er person knew the snake was coming. He did not hear him, but felt his presence. The snake was always with him.

Soon after, Wolff experienced his 'awakening.' He never called it that, but he suddenly stopped, sensing suddenly that the jungle was dense with sounds, smells, little puffs of air, here and there. He felt someone "had suddenly washed his dirty eyeglasses." He could suddenly smell things he had no name for. He heard new sounds that could be anything. He saw a leaf shivering... He had been ignoring his thirst. He suddenly zoomed his attention toward a leaf that was holding half a cup of water on a vine. He thought, maybe he could suddenly sense water? Maybe he could smell it. He realized that water was inside his heart. His see-er friend said in a Sng'oi way, that 'water was in his heart.' All was in his heart, he was now discovering.

He was in awe of everything, and suddenly sensed that the leaf was connected to the vine that connected to the tree that connected to the soil that connected to the Kampong, that connected to his see-er friend, that connected to him that connected to all on earth and he had an overwhelming sense of one-ness. He felt more alive than ever before.

No plants or drugs were used. He looked up, and his see-er was gone. He was alone in the forest after hours of walking from the settlement, no trails. His fear was quickly replaced by a sense of confidence is new awareness and knowing. He also heard a sound that was familiar from a previous dream. A dream about a tiger. He went toward the settlement, which was toward the sound. He felt at home, and safe, and slowly made his way back, the sound in front and to his right. The sound was a tiger, his helper animal. His see-er friend told him not to tell anyone about his helper animal. The Sng'oi were private about their real names. And also about helper animals. It was something only revealed if necessary when helping others.

As he experienced his feeling of one-ness he started realizing that he started knowing what plants were good for what medicine. He started knowing when someone might arrive for a visit... he didn't have to do some exhaustive memorization exercise as we are used to doing in the West with our schools and information addictions.

This book, has readjusted my view. There were things that I had heard before, but they arrived at a new time. It is like peeking my head out of the cave and seeing what should be real for all of us, and realizing that the cave can envelope me too easily. I have stress and I believe it is from having the 9 to 5 job and the schedule and pressure to pay bills, write research papers, sell wallets, go to the gym or yoga, go to the social gatherings, mow the lawn, recycle everything...

I feel I have experienced a different way of knowing at times when I am quiet and paying attention to my attention. It is a big challenge to balance a 'being' life where I can take the time to listen, feel and hear with the american-society-work-life that I have put myself into.