Merpati Putih makes the blind 'see' clearly<\/p>\n
By Arif Suryobuwono<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): Can a man see nothing yet he sees something?
\nSocrates once asked. But the reverse is also true. A man can see
\nsomething though he sees nothing.<\/p>\n
This premise was proved at a special competition for the
\nblind, held by the Merpati Putih pencak silat school in Senayan's
\neastern parking lot last Sunday. Pencak silat is an Indonesian
\nform of self defense.<\/p>\n
The competition, which was held in conjunction with the
\nschool's 32nd anniversary, required blind students to walk
\nthrough a maze of iron rods, without touching them.<\/p>\n
They had to find a way through by obeying the traffic signs
\nthey met on the way. At the end of the maze, they were required
\nto identify the color of a painted wooden bar, lying about two
\nmeters in front of them.<\/p>\n
Out of the maze, they had to walk on stilts and ride a
\nbicycle, again in accordance with traffic signs.<\/p>\n
Amazingly, they did it, though, of course, not all of them
\ncould "see" clearly. Some wandered off the maze; some other
\nknocked off one or two rods, or misinterpreted the signs.<\/p>\n
Sensor<\/p>\n
For the blind, especially for those who have been blind from
\nbirth, identifying color can be said to be an impossible task
\nbecause color is an abstract concept. But for Merpati Putih's
\nblind students the task poses no big problem.<\/p>\n
Mustofa, 25, a contestant from a blind school in Malang, East
\nJava, identifies colors by feeling, "I know a color must be red,
\nfor instance, because I sense it from the wave the color emits."<\/p>\n
Nyoman Tanggal, 20, who is Balinese and became blind after a
\nchildhood illness, perceives colors by his fingers. "To test
\nwhether a color is red, I direct my thumb to the color," he said.<\/p>\n
"If it is not red, I feel something thick, like a hot current
\nagainst my thumb. If there is no resistance, I know it must be
\nred," he explained. He claims he can identify colors that way
\nfrom a distance of up to five meters.<\/p>\n
Mustofa and Nyoman said they acquired the ability to identify
\ncolor after practicing Merpati Putih breathing exercises twice a
\nweek, for about one year.<\/p>\n
"Students with normal vision usually learn the breathing
\nexercises after mastering our pencak silat skills, given from
\ngrade one to grade six," Poerwoto Hadipoernomo, one of Merpati
\nPutih's founding fathers, said.<\/p>\n
"But for our blind students, we give the exercises right from
\nthe start," the 50-year old chain-smoker added.<\/p>\n
Hari Prasetyo, who teaches Nyoman at a blind school in
\nDenpasar, Bali, said that the breathing exercises, which he calls
\n"resonance-producing techniques," generate sensory sensitivity.<\/p>\n
This enables the body to be sensorially aware of its
\nsurrounding, making it easy to identify things.<\/p>\n
"Ideally, the whole body should be able to function as a
\nsensor. But for practical reasons, sensory sensitivity is usually
\nconcentrated in the palm of the hand," Hari said.<\/p>\n
Spectrum colors<\/p>\n
Hari teaches his students only the colors of the spectrum, by
\nimpressing the colors' waves into their sensory sensitivity. This
\nimplies that if the colors are wrongly imprinted, the students
\nwill interpret the colors the wrong way.<\/p>\n
And because the students learn only the primary colors, they
\nwould be unable to tell color gradation. If there are many
\ncolors, they would only be able to identify the predominant
\ncolor, Hari added.<\/p>\n
Merpati Putih has been helping the blind since 1990, according
\nto Ipung Purwanto. He is one of the teachers who trained the
\nschool's first blind students in Yogyakarta.<\/p>\n
"They made impressive progress within the first three months
\nof training, that is, they were able to walk without a stick,"
\nIpung said.<\/p>\n
"But in the following six months, I found it hard to train
\nthem. They made progress very slowly. I really needed a lot of
\npatience. But after one or two years of training their sensory
\nsensitivity has been firmly established," Ipung said.<\/p>\n
Mustofa and Nyoman said they felt exhausted after exerting
\ntheir sensory sensitivity. "Fifteen minutes are enough to almost
\ntire me out," Nyoman said.<\/p>\n
But Poerwoto said they were exhausted because they exerted all
\ntheir energy for sensing their surroundings. This might also
\nburden them psychologically and drain their energy.<\/p>\n
"If they are fully familiar with the exercises, they won't
\ntire easily because everything will come naturally," he added.<\/p>\n
Both Poernomo and his brother Budi Santoso, who established
\nthe school with him in 1963, claim that no other country, besides
\nIndonesia, has treated the blind this way.<\/p>\n
"Some East Asian countries might claim they have their own
\ntechniques, which produce the same effect," Budi said.<\/p>\n
"But I think theirs, in which meditation is central, are
\ndifferent from ours. For instance, we cannot ask blind people to
\nmeditate on a candle or a picture because they cannot see," he
\nadded.<\/p>\n
People with normal eyesight can also do what their blind
\ncounterparts do, with their eyes blindfolded of course.<\/p>\n
In a demonstration, a blindfolded Arianto, a Merpati Putih
\nstudent of grade seven, read an ID press card correctly, though
\nhe halted sometimes and hissed (suggesting the use of a certain
\nbreathing technique), while reading.<\/p>\n
But for Hari, training blind people, particularly those who
\nwere born blind, is easier because they are less demanding.<\/p>\n
People who can see or people not blind from birth, often are
\nnot ready to accept what he teaches because they always compare
\nit with their sight experiences.<\/p>\n
"If I tell them there is a hole in front of them, they would
\nask whether there is shattered glass in the hole because they are
\nafraid of getting hurt," Hari explained on how he arrived at the
\nconclusion that those who see, or have seen, often have more
\nworries.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/merpati-putih-makes-the-blind-see-clearly-1447893297",
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