Australia: day three

Today we spent most of the day at a Sikh gurdwara on the outskirts of Melbourne. It was a fascinating visit, which included a lengthy exploration of the beliefs of this community, as well as a shared meal prepared by volunteers at the gurdwara — an essential and ever present element of Sikh beliefs. More than anything I was impressed by the commitment to social justice lived out in practice. Sikh belief is monotheistic and universalist, and there are no doctrinal gender distinctions (although plenty in practice).

Sikhs have sacred teachings bound into a large book that is reverenced during their worship time, but anyone can read from it -- women and men, old and young -- and the passages chosen to read during worship are chosen at random. Pastoral leadership is elected by the community, and while there are training regimens in the Punjab in India, leaders in this particular community can be elected at any time and be anyone (at least that's what we were told). The music was haunting, and reminded me in some ways of the music of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan from the film Dead Man Walking.

This evening we went over to RMIT (the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) for an extended briefing on Australia more generally (Peter recommends the Lonely Planet guide as the best info source). Jolyon and I have been going back and forth over whether Australia is more American or more European. Until this evening I was convinced it was more European (in all sorts of ways it reminds me of Vienna), but its history -- particularly in terms of how it has treated its indigenous people -- is so much more like that of the US. Sigh. I suppose what Jolyon and I have mostly been doing is playing the Sesame Street game of "which of these things are like the other, which of these things are not the same." As long as we recognize that, perhaps we can move beyond imposing our personal categories and allow Australia -- or at least Melbourne -- to speak to us in its own voices.