Yearning
for heaven in a cycle of civilisations
September 29, 2000
HANOVER,
Germany - A visit to Planet Visions at the Expo 2000 makes you reflect about how
far civilisation has evolved and whether the ultimate human aspirations for
peace, harmony, happiness and prosperity can be attained at all.
As
soon as you enter the hall, you confront the Garden of Eden. You see plants and
different kinds of flowers. A giraffe moves its head slightly from time to time.
But this picturesque heaven is mere imagery. This scene of greenery is a
reflection on the surface of a small pond, which is a mirror for the whole
garden attached upside down on the ceiling above your head.
Since
the beginning of civilisation, man has been yearning for heaven. But heaven has
always been elusive. You may see it in different ambiguous forms, but you'll
never be able to touch it.
Then
you walk through a small cave. On the wall are different characters or language
signs, lost forever with the collapse of the civilisations from which they
sprang. This reminds you of the disappearance of the ancient Khmer and Mon
empires. An IBM sign appears as a mockery to lost civilisations.
As
soon as you enter into the hall from the cave and turn your back, you see the
Tower of Babel. Again, this represents a symbol of the human yearning for
heaven. The tower was intended to take people all the way to paradise. But their
dream died with the collapse of the tower as a punishment from God who sent
these sinful human beings to scatter all over the world.
Inside
the high-ceiling hall, you encounter a Statue of Myth. From different parts of
her Venus-like body, computer screens poke out to project images of the heroes
and heroines of different times. Every man needs heroes and wants to become a
hero himself. There are unmistakable pictures of Arnold Schwarzenegger, John F
Kennedy, Albert Einstein and Marilyn Monroe. They represent the idols of our
time.
Then
you move on to take a look at City Utopia. It is, guess what?, New York - the
greatest metropolis of our time. But for all its lavish wealth, this New York is
also the New York of crime and violence.
Next
is Social Utopia. In a honeycomb-like globe, you can see different people
working and assuming different roles. People have agreed to a division of labour,
which should keep them happy. But unlike bees, human beings are complicated,
with different needs and frameworks of thought. They don't live together quite
peacefully.
The
tension and discord necessarily leads to the Gate of Apocalypse. It immediately
reminds you of the date of April 28, 1767 when Ayutthya, the ancient capital of
Siam, fell into the hands of the Burmese. That was the Day of Apocalypse. Here
is how it was described:
"On
the 28th of April, 1767, the town was captured by assault. The treasures of the
palace and the temples were nothing but heaps of ruins and ashes. The images of
the gods were melted down and rage deprived the barbarian conquerors of the
spoils that had aroused their greed. To avenge this loss, the Burmese visited
their heavy displeasure upon the town folk. They burnt the soles of their feet
in order to make them reveal where they had concealed their wealth and raped
their weeping daughters before their very eyes. "The priests suspected of
having concealed much wealth were pierced through and through with arrows and
spears and several were beaten to death with heavy clubs.
"The
countryside as well as the temples were strewn with corpses, and the river was
chock full with the bodies of the dead, the stench of which attracted swarms of
flies causing much annoyance to the retreating army. The chief officers of state
and the royal favourites were in the galleys. The King (King Ekatad), witness of
the unhappy fate of his court, endeavoured to escape, but he was recognised and
slain at the gates of the palace." (quoted from Sunait Chutintaranond's and
Than Tun's On Both Sides of the Tenasserim Range: History of Siamese-Burmese
Relations, Asian Studies Monographs No 050, 1995, page 6). With the fall of
Ayutthya, the Siamese later on moved down to found new capitals in Thonburi and
Bangkok.
Now
is the Thai currency devaluation in 1997 a revisitation of 1767? Through the
Gate of Apocalypse, you can see a green pasture of rebirth. In front of the gate
is pure hell, or eternal damnation. If the Thais cannot tackle their present
problems and move on to experience a resurrection, they will continue to
experience damnation in this economic crisis.
Then
you'll come to Mechanical Utopia and a flying ship that will take human
civilisations into the 21st century. There are robots, built to serve human
needs. But they don't seem to be the answer to human convenience or happiness.
And the ship will only carry those who survive this present turmoil.
After
finishing this brief tour, you feel enlightened by the long process of human
struggle for perfection and happiness. But as the exposition suggests, heaven
will always lie beyond your grasp, if not your dreams.
BY
THANONG KHANTHONG
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