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vision, Kwan is called ‘Hamilton’s eyes’ during their discussion of the Noosphere (YLD, 71).
Of course, in light of Billy’s multiple masks, seen exhibited in the Alice in Wonderland
allusions, he also plays the role of Arjuna, the rider of the chariot whose dogmatic analysis of
the situation facing him leads to a spiritual dilemma which precludes the action required of
him. It is only the surface of the problem that this complex man can be seen as Krishna, Semar
or Arjuna, as the White Rabbit darting down the hole into the looking-glass world, as the
dalang manipulating his puppets, as a little Buddha meditating on his desktop, or a pint-size
Vishnu motoring around Jakarta and bringing on his scooter small doses of light to the poor of
the Pasar Baru. Kwan’s true puzzle is learning to transform his thought into force; indeed, his
idea that ‘thought is force’ seems at first to be an attempt at avoiding the necessity of action—
if he could just will action hard enough. He must first simplify himself—or rather, uncover his
self. He must overcome his egoistic interests, his fear of consequences, his criticism of Wally,
Curtis and the other journalists, and let go of his anger at Hamilton, Jill, Ibu and Sukarno for
resisting his will. Billy’s destiny is to defrock his self of its clouding masks, in order to purify
his thought, and, just as de Chardin postulated and Krishna commanded, transform it into the
force of action.
11.4.3. Koch’s ‘Double Man’ as Consummate Hero
This defrocking is unfortunately a task which is beyond Billy Kwan’s competence, for
he is far too involved in his passive, intellectual ruminations to become a man of active force.
At the same time, the defrocking needed to free Guy Hamilton from his own prejudices and
inhibitions cannot be accomplished without outside influences. Koch has created in Hamilton
and Kwan ‘a sort of double hero’ (Koch, 1987, 22), following the double metaphor of the
charioteer and rider of the chariot as personified by Krishna and Arjuna and of the three
Pandava brothers of the wayang kulit. Kwan and Hamilton ‘were two aspects of the one:
mystic and simple soul, thinker and man of action; both of them products of a dying colonial
world’ (Koch, 1987, 23), each needing his ‘complementary other’ to become whole.
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