Every form of work or creativity is given group expression. The organization of villages, the cultivation of farmlands, and even the creative arts are a communal effort. Within his village, a man belongs to hisfamily, his clan, his caste, his community, and to the total of the galinese people who share in his heritage and surroundings. Religion is as essential as his livelihood. Every new occasion, whether it be the first birthday of a child or the completion of a house, receives the priest's blessing.
Every personal calamity is treated as a shared problem among family, friends and divine guardians.
Only in rare momentsthroughout his life would a Balinesefeel oppressive solitude. A child born in Bali awakens to a wondrous world of expectation. His father has long centered his hopes on having children, preferably a male child who will care for him in his old age and, after his death, perform the necessary rites to liberate his soul for reincarnation. A newborn baby is believed to have just emerged into this life from a spiritual realm, and is respected as holy. As an infant, he is not permitted to touch the impure earth and is carried everywhere, often riding on the hip of an oidersister.