Predictions from Ancestors

Have you ever heard that one day humanity will have one world leader? Of course not a forced leader. We already know how painful it is when a race imposes its beliefs, feels the best or believes itself to be the descendant of a god.

World Wars I and II gave rise to strong suggestions about this arrogance to wage war.

Jayabaya's prediction

In Indonesia there is a prophecy which is famous as the Jayabaya prophecy. Pretty cool, no less interesting than Nostradamus and Baba Vanga. It is possible that every country also has a figure like Jayabaya.

In general, Jayabaya's prediction tells about the existence of a fair queen. The queen was so fair that someone said that tigers and deer would also be able to live side by side. This sounds like a Cinderella story. Even though the stories are told in different ways, the stories still worship Cinderella as a patient and kind-hearted princess.

There can be no smoke if there is no fire, that's the proverb. A good person will be widely remembered by word of mouth. Over time and the development of human communication styles, these good personal stories have become exaggerated tales.

So that the truth deviates from the intent and purpose, if a lie is told repeatedly it will eventually be considered the truth. Research by Lynn Hasher, David Goldstein and Thomas Topping in 1977 introduced this as the illusion of truth effect.

Likewise regarding Jayabaya's prediction. In reality, Jayabaya was not a fortune teller. In the book  "Sejarah Indonesia" (2017), H.M Vlekke revealed that Jayabaya was one of the kings of the Kediri Kingdom in Indonesia who ruled between 1135 and 1157 AD. At that time he received praise as a king who had great power and could not be challenged by other kingdoms.

Prediction Is the Story of Ancestors

Meanwhile, the prophecy about the fair queen that spread among Indonesian society and was addressed to Jayabaya is a story passed down from generation to generation from ancestors. The prediction is far from the original source. These Jayabaya predictions not only mention the fair queen, but also about the fall of the land of Java into the hands of the colonialists.

Even though Jayabaya's prediction about the colonization of Java by white people and yellow people turned out to be true, according to M. Fatkhan in the article "Sosok Ratu Adil dalam Ramalan Jayabaya" (Refleksi, 2019) it was used by poets as a symbol to increase popularity.

The term fair queen itself seems to be just a symbol. She can be interpreted as a queen or king. However, the characteristics of the leader described in Jayabaya's prophecy are too ideal, such a picture is only in the imagination of poets. The elite group has access to compose struggle sentences.

Everyone wants to have a leader with perfect morals, whose behavior is never wrong, almost like an angel.

The phenomenon of the fair queen is a power of suggestion to give hope to people who are in a condition where the socio-political, economic and cultural order is damaged. More than 20 Jayabaya prophecy books spread among Indonesian society were discovered between 1618-1743. The years when the Dutch with their trading company called the Vereenigde Oost Indische Compagnie (VOC) began to grip Indonesia.

The predictions of Jayabaya and Nostradamus were both written in poetry. The book Les Propheties by Nostradamus is also like poetry. Both Jayabaya's and Nostradamus' predictions cannot be avoided from the mood of the poets and the situation around them.

Forecasts are more ideas than actions. As encouragement rather than telling exactly what will happen. The accuracy of Jayabaya and Nostradamus' predictions was due to the compositions that occurred when the poems were updated. Discussions that give rise to interpretations that continue to be repeated make the predictions seem correct. Even though it is not necessarily the case that the poet is talking about what is interpreted in the conversation.

Besides that, many of the predictions from the poetry of Jayabaya and Nostradamus have not been proven.

Imagination is Smarter than Prediction

Prediction cannot be proven as human intelligence or a person's superiority, even though it is stated in religious scriptures as the ability of several prophets. This ability is not for public consumption. A prophet's ability to predict is defined as for himself.

However, the predictions made by the prophets cannot be proven empirically unless they are justified by religious doctrine which requires its followers to believe. This is different from the imagination that all humans have and can prove.

Even though initially the way imagination works is similar to fortune telling, it can be explored more as an advantage and characteristic of all humans. The Statue of Liberty already existed in the imagination of Frederic Auguste Bartholdi, as the sculptor of this statue, before he created this statue from bronze.

In the Islamic holy book, it is told about the rejection of angels when God wanted to create humans. The angel said, "Why do you want to create a creature that likes to shed blood?"

Allah answered the angel's prediction by saying, "I know better than what you know."

Then humans were created in a fairly long process. Even though bloodshed occurred due to human actions according to angels' predictions, it turns out that humans can still build civilization on this earth. The other creatures are shown to be mere followers.