nrimo, is suppose to be a great concept of life that teach us to accept everything we deserve as a compensation of what we’ve done.
An elementary school teacher in Indonesia will not be able to afford a Harley Davidson just count on their salary every month; but they will get other non-material appreciation because of their service to produce Indonesia’s next generations. If someone choose to be an elementary school teacher, they should realize this and commit to this path without compromise.
Unfortunately this concept of life become a weapon to irresponsible people to continue their economic colonialism to people in rural areas. People in rural areas are brainwashed so they will receive their destiny to be poor. Somehow, ‘nrimo’ is perceived as blindly rely your life to the destiny. If God wants you to be poor, then what ever you do, you will always be poor.People in rural villages are made to believe that being poor was their destiny by neo-colonialist people, so they can take maximum benefit out of it. These low educated people are brainwashed so they don’t have any desire to develop themselves and easily satisfied by minimum material appreciation.
It’s been happening so long that they believe that there is no other way to life their live but being poor. During Soeharto’s era, this situation was strengthened by subsidizing on every life-critical needs so these poor people didn’t see negative impact of this misdefined ‘nrimo‘.
In contrast in most cities, invasion of consumerism that lead to corruptive behavior is caused by the absent of ‘nrimo’. Many people want more than what they can afford, try to find a shortcut to get what they want, and do anything to achieve what they want.
Hi Hiro,
Like anything else in life, we cannot see a life philosophy in a very narrow context without understanding some cultural background. ‘Nrimo’ means accepts what you have in life, but it is also ‘penerimaan tanggung jawab’ (acceptance of responsibility), ‘pasrah tapi tidak pasif’, submissiveness. Nrimo has a very deep and long historical/cultural background for Javanese and perhaps difficult to be taken out of context, as a simple acceptance of life. It is viewed that wealth is illusory and not worth string for (Harjowiroyo, M- Manusia Jawa – 1982), overlaid with an Islamic view that hard work is not efficacious because God determinies everything. Its typical characteristics would include lack of assertiveness, high level of cooperativeness, little need for achievement, strong need for social affiliation and lack of initiative (Taruna, JCT – Ciri budaya manusia Jawa – 1987). Plus, to live holistically in true Javanese philosophy would incorporate other elements among others: Kerukunan (harmony), Eling (has to know what is right/wrong)or Slamet (to be safe). This is why I said you cannot take out philosophy per se and use it out of the total meaning.
The question now is whether these elements would suit the competitive, dog-eat-dog world, that we live in now. Again, to me, life is about survival of the fittest and life is about making choices. You are where you are is not by accident. I don’t think the primary teacher in Sragen would dream or consider a need for riding a Harley – to put your example to the extreme – but it is a matter of choice and suitability to use it in a village road with capacity of 60-70km per hour. Suwun & pareng.
I agree it’s a matter of choice, we can’t limit what and how people want to dream about their life.
What I’ve tried to say was ‘nrimo’ concept being over-used and blindly translated into total reliance to -so called- God’s destiny.
Islam on the other hand, encourage people to work hard and achieve their goals. There was a saying told by a Prophet Muhammad SAW; “chase your world as if you will life forever and pray as you will die tomorrow”
I don’t think this philosophy was taught to grass root people since colonial era until now.
These poor people are pressed to be blindly rely on their destiny and package it as Islam way of life.