Bizzare Journey To The West Of The West

juga merupakan studi lintas budaya yang lebih luas di dunia. Sebuah langkah peradaban yang besar telah dilakukan dan menjadi pengetahuan yang terus dipakai bahkan hingga kini.

Sementara itu, di baratnya Barat, Kekaisaran Romawi memulai sebuah konsep lainnya yang hingga kini dikenal sebagai Budaya Barat. Landasan pemikiran yang dimulai dari Yunani Kuno dan berlanjut hingga Abad Pertengahan dan Renaisans adalah gagasan rasionalisme dalam berbagai bidang kehidupan modern. Budaya ini adalah warisan norma sosial, nilai-nilai, adat istiadat tradisional, sistem kepercayaan, sistem politik, artefak, teknologi yang berasal, atau terkait dengan Eropa. Budaya Barat ini pun sangat memengaruhi negara-negara yang budaya dan sejarahnya terhubung dengan Eropa melalui imigrasi dan kolonisasi, dan juga kemudian melalui media massa.

Demikian besarnya pengaruh itu, hingga saat ini kultur baratnya Barat menjadi referensi utama secara global. Dan sedemikian besarnya pengaruh tersebut, inferioritas sebagai Timur membuat masyarakatnya membalikkan ziarahnya ke baratnya Barat. Menguatkan segregasi kelas yang memang sudah terjadi dalam masyarakat, baik dalam bentuk tradisional ataupun yang modernnya.

Namun, dalam kelamnya tekanan segregasi itu, ternyata ada celah bagi si lemah untuk melepaskan diri. Sebuah celah untuk melakukan perjalanan yang sangat panjang ke Barat, untuk menemukan Baratnya sendiri, dan kembali ke Timur. Mereka melakukan perjalanan panjang sambil bertahan dengan kelimbungan tradisi, yang nyaris tidak mereka mengerti karena terkurung dalam ruang waktu. Itu harus dilakukan walaupun artinya mereka masih harus menahan diri dengan segregasi yang sudah terbentuk. Menyeberang, beradaptasi dengan kekuatan yang lebih besar, masuk ke penjara baru kegalauan, untuk mendapatkan kembali martabatnya yang hakiki sebagai manusia.

Semua orang tahu ke mana tenggelamnya matahari. Barat adalah sebuah zona penuh misteri di dalam temaramnya. Dan kalau seseorang terus berjalan ke arah Barat, sejauh-jauhnya dia berjalan ke Barat, Timur pulalah yang akan ditemui. Manusia tetap tak akan pernah berhenti mengejar terangnya matahari. Seperti sebuah mimpi yang aneh, tak terjangkau, tak berujung.

INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION 07

Otty Widasari

That said, intellectuals from the East carried out a nineteen-year pilgrimage to the West. They looked for a place where the sun was set, motivated by a deep desire for knowledge (about Buddhism). A long narrative on The Journey to The West was archived. It contains extraordinary knowledge. It includes more than 12 editions explaining the geographical-geological situation of all traversed regions to the culture, history, and religions that exist and narratives about the products, languages, and people in that whole region. Even these travel notes become references for historians and modern archaeologists in the future because they describe the measure of distances and locations of various places precisely. These notes are also a valuable guidebook for various excavations of historical sites. This legendary narrative is not only limited to the notes on important places that become cross-cultural studies between China and India, but also as a broader cross-cultural study in the world. A significant step of civilization has been taken and become knowledge used continuously heretofore.

Meanwhile, in the west of the West, the Roman Empire began another concept that has been known as Western Culture hitherto. The rationale, which started in Ancient Greece and continued through the Middle Ages and the Renaissance, is the idea of rationalism in various fields of modern life. This culture is a legacy of social norms, values, traditional customs, belief systems, political systems, artifacts, technology originating from, or related to Europe. Western culture is also very influential to countries with culture and history connected to Europe through immigration and colonization, and later on through the mass media.

The influence is very significant that it makes the culture of the west of the West became the primary reference globally. Such significant influence creates inferiority as the East that makes the people turn their pilgrimage to the west of the West, reinforcing the class segregation that has already taken place in society, both in traditional and modern forms.

However, in the darkness of the pressure of segregation, it turns out there is a gap for "the weak" to escape. It is a gap to make a very long journey to the West, find its own West, and return to the East. They go on long journeys while enduring the gloom of tradition, which they barely understand because it is confined in time. It must be done even though that means they must still hold back from the segregation that has already formed—crossing over, adapting to a more robust power, entering a new prison of turmoil, and regaining true dignity as a human being.

Everyone knows where the sun is setting. West is a zone of mystery in its twilight. And if someone keeps going to the West, as far as they walk to the West, eventually the East will still be found. Humans will never stop chasing the illumination of the sun, like a strange dream, unreachable, endless.