Melting

Oh, God, we cannot meet again
In prayer with the congregation
-Sitor Situmorang, Chartres Cathedral

Maybe he wanted silence. But could he lose himself in the quiet, could he escape from 'prayer with the congregation' in this impressive gothic cathedral, a gathering place for the faithful, pilgrims and tourists? "[T]his anonymous glory, this rich stone forest, this epic chant, this gaiety, this grand quiring shout of affirmation," Orson Wells praised Chartres when he used the cathedral as the setting for his last major film, F for Fake. Wells was merely one of millions of visitors fascinated with this 12th century edifice.

It is indeed not easy to be quiet. Cathedrals and churches are expressions of religion as an institution that shapes people into congregations. Congregations are identities that appear stable, but actually can change-sometimes as a fraternity, sometimes as a unit in arms, sometimes as a crowd, From time to time, a crowd that gathers without any clear shape can change into a gang, a collectivity producing energy. Whatever its shape, within it destiny is not 'each person's own silence', to use Chairil Anwar's phrase. Destiny, in that collectivity, is the tramp of a parade, the crash of waves.

August 4, 2015