Just a piece of cloth

When I decided to write and photograph sarongs, something kept coming to my mind-- the view of the sarong on the hanger and then on the body. More than any other item of clothing, a sarong has no structure. It seems like it's nothing, undefined because it takes its form from what is beneath.

Regular clothes, like jeans, dresses, shirts, etc. they have the character of what they will be even on a hanger. Sarongs do have qualities, softness of fabric, colors, dimensions; but it's the body and the way they are used that bring those qualities to life.

I wondered-- in terms of analogy, are we the cloth or the structure under it? A case might be made to reverse this, but I think our body is our character, the inner part of us that we might even think we can hide. The sarong is our choices, our actions. We drape them across our inner selves, even use them to attempt to hide behind, but as the body gives the sarong form so does our character do so for the actions. We think the actions are the important part, but all great sages, taught that it's the attitude that matters most. This allegory is not one of the flesh but of the spirit.

An example would be OJ Simpson. He dealt with shady characters, money became his only criteria for what mattered, he got away with a heinous crime, self interest was his bottom-line. Perhaps he felt invulnerable. He laid the decision for what he was going to do in Las Vegas on top of his character. The rest of us might think that seems nuts; but to him, based on his character, it made total sense.

With OJ, he could spend the rest of his life in prison or escape consequences once again. On that, who knows, as the whole bunch involved were lowlifes, but regardless of the price he pays right now, it will be repeated-- as the actions he drapes over himself are still working with his character.

I asked a friend of mine (the one who wrote all the spiritual emails last year which I condensed for this blog last summer) how he saw the analogy of sarong and body to us. He gave me a different take on it which I thought was worth considering. He said:

"Well, in my opinion, the body is a container that we (Spirit) use to interact with elements of this energy level or dimension. This interaction can be expressed in multiple ways and they are all correct, depending on the perspective of it.

"Oh course I can easily see your analogy. In this case, the body could indeed be represented by the Spirit and the Sarong could be the character. I wouldn't say that the Sarong is our actions, due to it only being a piece of cloth that's wrapped around the body for whatever reason. Moreover the Sarong is providing something for the rest of the world to see, other than what is really beneath it."