In Murakami’s story, the first question that arises is: are names personal possessions? Where do we get them from?

In Bergman’s film, The Seventh Seal, Block does not seem worried that it will all be pointless. He is returning from war, he has travelled through plague territory. He has seen how easily lives are lost. The thin knight with the tense expression is anxious not because of Death, but because God is silent. He has found no basis to his faith. Faith is a torment.

Maxime Rodinson is an atheist. But he is not one to shut himself off with arrogance as do the ‘new atheists’. He sees that “…Muhammad did really experience sensory phenomena translated into words and phrases and that he interpreted them as messages from the Supreme Being.”

The dalang creates an aesthetic construct with layers of components. Voice, sound, diction, intonation and rhythm interconnect when he describes a scene, creates dialogue (with different personalities), introduces humor, makes Bhima move, and moves two wayang in combat.

Like power, noble values are usually associated with heroes – which is one reason people build monuments. These values—nobility of spirit, courage and so on—have no fixed place. The fixed is not in anyone’s heart.

The gods make unnecessary laws because they do not know mortality. A king on earth makes laws, even if they are not good because he is human—he must protect life that is contingent.