Aku, Karep, dan Kramadangsa (Self, Will, and Self-fullfilment)

Human life cannot be separated from the conception of who “I” really is. From Rene Descartes’ Cogito Ergo Sum to Sigmund Freud’s Tabula Rasa, all attempted to define, map, and understand who “I” really is through an empirical-positivistic approach. Ki Ageng Suryamentaram, following the footsteps of previous thinkers and from his personal experiences in researching, identifying, and defining the nature of the “I” in humans through his perspective as a Javanese, had found the trinity of I, Will (Karep), and Kramadangsa, which is “part of the ego that always tries to relate itself to the notes of the karep”. Therefore, Kramadangsa is a portrait of the “I” that appears in public, which is interconnected with how society shapes and forges it to become an inherent identity in humans.

Mawas Diri (Self-Aware)

After humans realize that Kramadangsa is the one that stands out from within as a manifestation of a person that experienced and experiences social phenomena, mawas diri are needed to evaluate, control, and improve the social actions carried out by Kramadangsa and to minimize the external consequences. At this level, Ki Ageng Suryamentaram calls Kramadangsa that has known their heart’s content as Natadangsa, which is the “I” who is starting to be able to introspect and contemplate to organize their body and soul to become a “whole human being”.

Getun-Sumelang, Meri-Pambegan (Grief-Anxiety, Jealousness-Meanness) Kecewa-Khawatir, Iri-Angkuh

In a social life that is always sawang-sinawang (reflection on other people), the ego will not be able to escape from feeling disappointed, worried, envious of others, and pompous, overbearing, or arrogant. According to Ki Ageng Suryomentaram’s observation, this happened because the Kramadangsa felt uneasy as it did not know the essence of karep. This makes humans involved in continuous competition, endless obsessions, and even leads to interpersonal and inter-group conflicts that make themselves feel less peaceful. In summary, in the Kawruh Jiwa paradigm, the traits of constantly feeling worried, demanding to compete with each other, not feeling satisfaction and contentment, and feeling haunted by fear and disappointment are caused by the lack of understanding of Kramadangsa in separating the “I” and “karep”.

Bungah-Susah, Mulur-Mungkret (Happiness-Sadness, Expanding and Shrinking Will) Senang-Susah, Kehendak yang Mengembang dan Mengkerut

Likewise, humans also cannot be separated from eternal pleasures and pains: endlessly alternating with each other until the “I” died, at least biologically. Suryamentaram observes that there is something to do with the karep expanding and contracting in this joy and distress. When the “I” are happy, the karep grows more and more so that the mind will reach places that have never been achieved before, which is called optimistic projection. Likewise, if we get into trouble, the karep will guide us into a smaller place to overcome despair, worry, and the feeling of wanting to give up easily in anticipatory ways to adapt to the circumstances. According to Suryamentaram, this flexible and conditional life management style is a response to the owah-gingsir (changing) world condition in a very merdika (independent) way so that humans can still fulfill their life tasks and overcome the obstacles they encounter. 

 Ukuran Kaping Sakawan (The Fourth Dimension) Dimensi Keempat

Ki Ageng Suryamentaram in his view further develops the concept that humans live in four dimensions: the first dimension is where a sense of personal begins to grow, the second dimensionis where it begins to react to personal feelings, and the third dimension is where it begins to understand personal feelings. However, according to Suryomentaram, humans cannot be perfect if they have not reached the fourth dimension, which is being able to explore the universal sense. By living in the fourth dimension, one is expected to develop tolerance, altruism, and philanthropy. By living in the fourth dimension, humans will understand that they are part of a universal household, which in the philosophical language of Eastern religions is formulated with the term “wahdatul wujud” or “tat twam asi”, which is not understood by KAS as a mystical step as a loved term by orientalists when exploring the wisdom of the Begawans and Sufis from the past, but as a gateway to universal humanity.

Filsafat Raos Gesang (The Philosophy of the Sense of Living) Filsafat Rasa Hidup

In Ki Ageng Suryomentaram’s view, things that distinguish humans from other creatures lay with the existence of raos gesang, namely the awareness of life. With the awareness of life, humans can feel bungah lan susah (joy and sorrow) and begja cilaka (lucky and unlucky) as a part of their motivation to survive, not solely based on survival instincts and reproductive instincts. With the existence of raos gesang, humans can mobilize their cipta-rasa-karsa (creativity-feels-intentions) to build a civilization. By understanding the existence of this raos gesang, humans are expected to be able to nyawang karep or to seriously investigate the motivations that drive and underlie all of their actions. According to Suryamentaram, the result of observing this karep is true inner peace because humans have been liberated from the shackles of the mind that deceives them and provokes conflict with others.

Rasa Merdika (The Independent Sense) Rasa Bebas

Humans can achieve a sense of freedom when they know and understand the nature of everything comprehensively. The sense of freedom, according to Suryamentaram, is a condition in which humans have been able to accept their condition fully, including their weaknesses and shortcomings that they must have. The reluctance to admit this necessity makes humans compete to seek a continuous defense of the ego, which then gives birth to an inner war that leads to the insecurity of life. One of the keys to develop raos merdika or a sense of freedom is the will to research the sense and to develop raos sami, which is to leave the desire to surpass, compete with, or beat others, because all people in Suryamentaram’s eyes are equal. According to Suryamentaram, to be able to achieve raos sami, humans need to leave the “savagery and arbitrariness” in themselves.

Kawruh Pamomong (The Science of Pedogy) Ilmu Pendidikan Lahir Batin

Ki Ageng Suryamentaram, apart from concentrating on fundamental psychological research, also paid attention to the world of education. In the early days of Taman Siswa, Ki Hadjar Dewantara appointed Ki Ageng Suryamentaram to guide the “adult education” while Ki Hadjar focused on the children’s education with his Taman Siswa. However, Ki Ageng Suryamentaram himself has a comprehensive concept for human education, starting from “raos begja” (a sense of luck and happiness), “raos sih” (love for others), and forming an independent and rational personality as the basis for achieving an independent adult human personality.

Piyageming Gesang (The Guide of Life) Pegangan Hidup

In Piyageming Gesang's chapter, Ki Ageng Suryamentaram states that the human personality is strengthened by various experiences he feels, both pleasant and unpleasant. These experiences are valuable to shape and hone human character. Still, KAS emphasizes that this can be achieved if humans can ngupakara jiwa or care for the soul: examine the happy and sad causes and events from their own raos perspective or through other’s raos. This way, a raos pribadi that have tepa selira can arises. Ki Ageng Suryamentaram found that the root of suffering is the human’s inability to live in harmony with the rules of nature, and tends to ignore it either intentionally or unintentionally. To overcome this, experiences, especially bitter experiences need to be processed as provisions for navigating life and used as piyagem or guidelines so that life can go well.

Gesang Miturut Aturan Alam (Konsep 6-Sa) (Living with Natural Rules) Hidup Sesuai Aturan Alam (6-Sa)

Amid the race of humankind, leaders and countries vying to win, rule, and even do not hesitate to step on each other’s raos, postmodern society started to lose its moral compass. Even though they began as ripples, many movements seek to escape from the “systemic raos collision” that has taken roots, has been symptomatic, and strived to last forever with various forms and ideological masks. In the end, it makes postmodern humans suffer endlessly. Ki Ageng Suryamentaram formulated that in living life fulfills the function of defending, saving, and preserving oneself. Humans need to hold the 6-sa concept, which is; sakepenake (feel comfortable), sabutuhe (knowing real needs), saperlune (moderately), sacukupe (developing a sense of contentment), samesthine (acting as how it should be), and sabenere (not deviating). The development of 6-sa concept is very futuristic because it has been predicted long ago that the future of humanity does not lie in competition but in coexistence. 6-sa is a guide to traverse the future with peace and prosperity.

Manungsa Tanpa Tenger (Humanity Beyond Identities) Manusia Melampaui Identitas

Ki Ageng Suryamentaram classifies the development of Kramadangsa into four stages, (a) as a juru cathet, who records social phenomena around him, (b) as cathetan, which is his life is transformed into part of the social phenomenon itself, (c) as Kramadangsa, namely as an ego covered in karep that arises from his association with cathetan which he has recorded since the beginning of his soul's growth, and (d) becomes manungsa tanpa tenger, a peak achievement a human can get which the soul has fully understood, knows and able to "subdue" these cathetan-cathetan, which then triggers the birth of a pure conscious soul who is compassionate, generous, rational, tolerant, and able to be honest with himself and others. In this manungsa tanpa tenger level, Suryamentaram gave birth to the credo ora ana rasa kepenak kejaba saka ngepenakake tanggane (there is no sense of comfort unless we are able to make others happy), and menawa ana wong kepenak ora kanthi ngepenakake tanggane, padha karo njiret gulune dhewe (making themselves comfortable by sacrificing other’s comfort is the embryo of our own suffering).

Jiwa Persatuan (The Spirit of Unity)

The Indonesian nation, like any other Eastern nations, is a very collective nation and not an individualistic one, so the entire movement is based on gotong royong (cooperation). However, sometimes under the influence of political, ideological, and other things that wish to perpetuate their dominance, this collectivism is often used as a tool to "lock each other up", not as a tool to free each other to achieve a happy life. Ki Ageng Suryamentaram formulated that the raos of unity must be cultivated and developed to get the raos sami. This will be resulted in the emergence of raos sugih (feeling enough), raos entheng (not feeling burdened), raos sumeleh (not ambitious), and raos tentrem (inner peace). These raos are embodied as the soul of the raos persatuan so that the social cohesion obtained will be stronger because the achievements of the raos are not artificial achievements but gained by the experiences of honest, nyawang, and mangerteni karep human beings.

mBangun Jiwa Warga Negara (Building the Citizenship Spirit) Membangun Jiwa Warganegara

The Kawruh Jiwa taught by Ki Ageng Suryamentaram is not a ‘ngelmu’ that was made of a play of words to talk about things that are far away and far-fetched. Kawruh Jiwa is intended as an applicable kawruh, involving empirical experience and rationality and prioritizing the raos aspect. According to Suryamentaram, the involvement of balanced thoughts and feelings can be applied in the life of the nation and state. According to the concept he formulated, the life of the nation and state is not only limited to a sense of handarbeni or political belonging but also based on a sense of kamanungsan or humanity.

Bela Negara (National-patriotism)

When Indonesia was approaching its independence, Suryamentaram and other manggalas sent a request to form a youth movement agency called PETA (Pembela Tanah Air/Defenders of the Homeland). The agency, which later became one of the backbones of the Indonesian nation to defend its independence, was composed by Ki Ageng Suryamentaram based on raos wantun pejah, "a sense of not being afraid to die". This is not in the sense of merely sacrificing oneself physically but also daring to give up ego and sectoral interests to strive for peace, tranquility, and world harmony so that the Indonesian nation can become a truly independent sovereign nation as a whole. Ki Ageng Suryamentaram’s piwulang about "Bela Negara" is then summarized in a book titled "Jimat Perang" which then he gave to the President of the Republic of Indonesia, Ir. Sukarno.

Raos Pancasila (The “Pancasila” Reason)

Some people might wonder why Ki Ageng Suryamentaram, who chose the path of mysticism in channeling his aspirations, chose Pancasila as his ideology? In his journey, we can find that the conception of Pancasila according to Ki Ageng Suryamentaram is not only limited to the description of the five commonly known precepts but also involves the raos of each of these precepts. Ki Ageng Suryamentaram emphasized that living in a nation and state is a practice of alap-ingalap paedah, which means a mutual benefit, mutual protection, and the need for one another. Therefore, Pancasila in Suryamentaram's view is not only seen from a positivistic point of view in the context of socio-political education for a group of people living in a unitary state but also needs to be studied from a raos perspective to be able to grow the Pancasila not only as a political ideology or a single principle in the state but also as a political ideology as well as a shared consciousness of a nation.

Gagasan (Kecemplung Gagasan) (Ideas (Drowning in the Sea of Mind)

Along the way, we cannot deny that as long as humans still have cipta-rasa-karsa (creativity-feels-intentions), ideas or thoughts will always be there and influence every movement of human’s lives. However, it is not uncommon for humans to be trapped in the construction of their own ideas (kecemplung gagasan), so that they limit themselves in their problems without seeing any way out that could actually be available if they free themselves from the confinement of these ideas. This is what causes a lot of inner conflicts, primarily because in these kecemplung gagasan circumstances, the feeling of nrima and the realization that we are always in a state of owah-gingsir suddenly disappears. To get out of those problems, Suryamentaram advises people to be able to think clearly, objectively, and independently.