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JANUARY 2009

SUBUDVOICE®

SUBUDVOICE

What’s Happening with World Congress?

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Well here we are, at just one year (January 4-18, 2010) fromour great meeting together in Christchurch, New Zealand.This will be a busy and challenging year, but the whole con-gress organizing team, both local and international, hasnow become more structured and coherent and ready tohost all of you.

In 2008 the Congress Organizing Team and the WSAExecutive and Council worked together to establish the foun-dations for the congress. This includes setting up a legal struc-ture in New Zealand to provide a local vehicle to organize thecongress, working to finalize the budget and the registrationfee, and starting to look atthe congress content anddirection that we hope totake during the congress.

Gradually the team hasgelled into a close knit work-ing group. It works in a dem-ocratic and harmoniousmanner, supported by localand international helpers,the Christchurch group andthe national committee ofSubud New Zealand.

It is a great experience,helped by the extensive useof the internet and Skypeconference calling. Onehighlight happened in May, when Stewart Horthy in the UK‘hacked into’ Arif Matthee’s computer inChristchurch, to give the international teampresent an on-line demonstration of the func-tioning of the website and registration form.

The World Congress website and registrationform can be accessed at www.subudworld-congress2010.com and through links on themajor Subud websites.

Two OptionsAfter discussions back and forth, the final deci-sion was made by the World Subud Council attheir meeting in Amanecer, Colombia, thatthere would be two registration fee options: onefor the full two weeks, the other a daily option formembers who may only be able to come for a few days.

The major costs incurred by World Congress for the full 2weeks: venue rentals, country delegate support (approx. 30countries will need help), Ibu Rahayu's attendance, supportfor working staff and volunteers. Smaller costs include, techni-cal translation equipment, security and medical supportrequirements, and other such needs.

As most members will come from far away, we hope they will plan

to come for the full two weeks. We have worked together toreach a registration fee that is close to the fee paid in Innsbruck. As usual, there are lower fees for youth and families, plus dis-counts on fees for early payment of registrations, which makesthe planning much easier. Payment can be made by creditcard or by electronic transfer. Members can register, andthen pay later, as long as they are within the specific timedeadlines in order to get the discounted registration fee.

World Congresses are large scale events which require suit-able facilities to provide for the needs of the members andtheir programs. It also includes helping as many as possible to

come including those fromcountries with lower averageincomes.

It is largely thanks to theextensive volunteer workdone by many, that registra-tion fees can be kept downlow. We are counting oneveryone’s generosity to helpmake the congress a success,so please add a donation toyour registration fee if possi-ble. Donations to supportmembers to attend the con-gress, by those not attendingthe congress, can also bemade on the website.

AccommodationThe accommodation project leader has workedhard finding the best accommodation andnegotiating the best prices, which are low byinternational standards.

We have found a good range of accommoda-tion for you close to the main venues, includinghotels, motels, bed and breakfasts, backpack-ers, and camping options.

When you register you can book meals (lunchand dinner) at the convention centre, or simplychoose, once in Christchurch, from the numer-ous choices of restaurants and cafes availablenearby. Another important feature on the web-site is the extensive information concerning visas.

Samara Schionning from Australia is now living in Christchurchand has become secretary to the congress team, andMarianne Kay has been working since November 1 asCongress Co-Ordinator.

Hammond Peek has volunteered to become the local web-site editor and is working with Stewart Horthy who is develop-ing the website for the congress. The Congress OrganizingTeam will appear on the website..

Amongst its many other delights, the World Congress in Christchurch is promising “tramping” with Arif Matthee in New Zealand’s spectacular scenery.

See story Page 2.

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We hope thatmany will cometo express their

ideas andvisions for the

future…

SUBUDVOICE PAGE 2 JAN 09 •

The team needs others from around the world to help fill all theroles involved. For example, Marston Gregory from the US isworking with Stephen Woodruff from NZ coordinating a num-ber of cultural events.

There will be an on-site volunteering program, which will func-tion similar to the Innsbruck Congress. The intention is thatworking hours will be of a reasonable length so that all mem-bers may participate in the activities of the congress.

To finish, please remember that this is a World Congress of allSubud members. We hope and trust that many will come toChristchurch, to join in the latihans, as well as express theirideas and visions for the future, through workshops, forumsand dialogue.

We are investigating the possibility and costs of streaming cer-tain parts of the Congress onto the web, thus creating a virtu-al on-line congress for those who are unable to come to NZ.Thanks to the support of Harlan Cockburn, Congress TV willagain be a major feature, allowing events to be shared atcongress and around the world.

Most importantly, Ibu Rahayu has confirmed her hope tocome to congress in New Zealand. Any talks she gives will befilmed and become available as soon as possible.

Christchurch Group –the Local Hosts of theWorld Congress

•

Several of us will be attending the Australian Congress toupdate members and to provide them with an opportu-nity to get involved as there are still many responsibilitiesthat need to be filled on site such as registration, catering,welcoming, translations etc… We hope many of the vol-unteers will come from our neighboring countries, as wellas from further afield.

I am attempting to organize a significantly reduced pricetramping (read walking) trip to the Milford Track before orafter the congress. The Milford Track is considered to beone of the most famous tracks in the world, so this will bea tremendous opportunity for members to appreciate themagnificent scenery New Zealand, the home of middleMiddle Earth, is blessed with.

Many ExcursionsOf course there will be many excursions and trips duringthe congress that the members in Christchurch arepreparing for you all to experience and enjoy. Thesemight include watching the whales or dolphins inKaikoura, visiting the Thermal Reserve in Hamner Springsand others.

As Christchurch is a modest sized city, the impact of ourcongress on our home city will be considerable. Our con-gress is exceptional because of its length. Most confer-ences of up to 2,500 people held in Christchurch usuallyonly last for about three days – thus at two weeks long,ours is extraordinary.

We understand that it will actually be the largest event tobe held at the convention centre, so we need to showourselves at our best! January will be a busy time withmany tourists and events like the World Buskers Festivalwhich is always very well attended, beginning directlyafter the end of our congress. Street performers whowould like to apply to participate in this festival can findthe information at www.worldbuskersfestival.com

We hope you can make it here. At the end of the dayIf you are not able to achieve it, we hope that you willstill find a way to participate in this four-yearly Subudevent. Streaming of the congress is being looked intoand hopefully congress TV will be as successful as it waslast time. We do not want anyone to feel they missed

out, rather we want you all to feel thatyou are part of it.

Could you please consider making a dona-tion in addition to your registration fee? TheNZ dollar remains weak against most majorcurrencies and this makes it very attractivefor overseas members to attend congress.Your generosity will support members fromcountries with lower average incomes toattend. Many members volunteer much oftheir time towards the congress. Your dona-tions will allow them to also participate inour congress. Thank you very much for yourgenerosity in advance.

Although we are still more than a year away from thecongress, we are all looking forward to welcoming you.We hope there will be a lot more attendees than the1,200 we are using for our break even budget figures.

From Arif Matthee (you guessed it right, I am looking afterthe financial side AND I am a keen tramper)

Arif Mathee writes…

The members of the Christchurch group, who bought ahectare of land where the current Subud house and lati-han hall are now built, had great foresight and couragewhen they got this off the ground.

The large Subud hall was built on this land. Later on afurther block adjoining this was bought by individualSubud members , who recently separated off part ofthis land, subdividing it into a number of residentialblocks, many of which were bought bySubud members who now live there intheir own houses.

The Christchurch Subud group has about70 – 80 members which is large for a city of380,000 people. We are very lucky to haveour own premises, and because of ourfinancial security we are not obliged torent them to cover costs.

This means that we can use our premisesat any time for our own purposes. This istruly a blessing which not many otherSubud groups in the world enjoy. Ourgroup is in the process of building a second hall, withconstruction due to begin once a council buildingpermit has been issued..The Congress organizing team is looking to set up anoffice at the Subud House. There may also be accom-modation possibilities for members at the ChristchurchSubud Property.

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We do notwant anyoneto feel theymissed out

PAGE 3SUBUDVOICE JAN 09

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We welcome AmaliaRasheed in the newposition of WSA ExternalRelations Coordinator.We are happy thatthere was a goodresponse from well qual-ified members to ourrecent letter seekingsomeone for this role.This position has beenevolving for severalyears, and Amalia hasbeen involved, for the mostpart, all along the way.

Amalia facilitated PeaceWorkshops at the Bali World Congress and more recentlyhas served on the External Relations Committee alongwith Victor Margolin, Rohana Laing, and Taufik Waagewith Samuel Simonsson and Frederic Richard as co-chairs.Amalia and Rohana Laing wrote a newsletter on theactivities of the committee and it was widely distrib-uted in the Subud community.

In 2007 the committee fulfilled its objectives andsummed up their activities in a report to the WorldSubud Council that summer.

In this new phase with a coordinator for external rela-tions, Amalia has accepted a four-year volunteer consul-tancy and coordinating role as part of the WSA executivefunction. She will build and coordinate a team to com-plete the various aspects of this work.

This includes such things as WSA's participation in inter-spiritu-al activities, the WSA 'forum,' the UN and related activitiesalong with SDIA and she will serve in an advisory capacity

regarding the public image ofSubud, including in respect to peo-ple who are interested in Subud andour attitudes to some of the above.

Amalia brings depth, understand-ing, and experience to this position.We send a big thank you andhearty welcome to her, as well asmuch appreciation for her pastefforts! We also extend warm thanksto the former members of the ERCfor their efforts and successes.

Garrett, Maya, Samuel, and Julia

The External Relat ionsCo-ordinator

Amalia Rasheed – WSA External RelationsCoordinator

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This position hasbeen evolving forseveral years, andAmalia has beeninvolved all along

the way

Anthony Bright-Paul, UK, writes…

This letter from John Godolphin Bennett may be of interestto you, since it establishes the date of the first latihan in thedining room at Coombe Springs on Monday 10th June.

This was the first big latihan, or series of latihans as theywent on all evening, 15 people at a time. Those who hadfar to travel were in the first one. Of course some peoplehad been opened earlier, like Bob Prestie, who wasopened up at Rofe's flat together with some of theGurdjieff and Ouspensky old guard.

I have scanned a number of very old letters and sentthem to Ben Bennett, who has reciprocatedby sending me an irate letterfrom Rofe to JGB!

The First Latihan

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An historic letter from John Bennett

Abdullah Pope writes from Perth, Western Australia…

In October, three of our Australian National Helpers cameto visit us in Perth. They spent the night of Saturday 11that Hilltop, our SICA project, a small conference andretreat centre 60 kms from downtown Perth, in the rollinghills and pastoral country of Western Australia.

The rest of the time they spent staying with various mem-bers of the Perth group, and seeing the city and itsbeaches, as well as attending latihans at the hall in town.On the Saturday, thirty members came for latihan and test-ing in the dome throughout the day, and were joined by agaggle of children in the evening for a barbeque on the bigterrace, many people staying overnight.

News from the Top ofthe Hil l

N e w I n t e r n a t i o n a l H e l p e rWelcome to Dahlan Simpson! dahlan7@optusnet.com.au,new Area 1 International Helper. (Mason Cook has resigned– and so we wish him well and thank him for his dedicationand service.) Dahlan lives in Sydney with his wife Mardiahand their 2 children. He writes…

I owe my life to Subud and the latihan. Thank you Bapak! Iremember when just 6 years old wondering (worrying, actu-ally) when I would know about God and heaven. What hasbecome a flood of laughter and joyful tears in Subud,

among so many brothers and sisters flowering everywhere,tells me I must be on to something. I have written verse overthe years and a favourite of mine is – "With harmony, comes light. / With love, there's life. / And,with each other, / A world, / That can be right." •

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PAGE 4 SUBUDVOICE JAN 09

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Hilltop has also been busy recentlywith a spiritual, a church, a familyor school group visiting everyweekend in September andOctober. This has been quite astrain for Salamah and me, as weare now 75 and 80, but our prayershave been answered and BerenyHadley, until recently the Chair ofthe Subud Sunshine Coast group inQueensland, has just arrived inPerth to take over as our newManager!

She plans to expand the business to include more busi-ness groups, especially mid-week, and also to work withSalim Ismail (one of the four medical doctors in our group)to set up a natural health clinic for weekend, or week-longretreats. Salim has a large and successful alternativehealth clinic in Perth, and his staff will, we hope, be ableto manage and run these retreats for their clients.

This will give Salamah more time to do her lectures andworkshops on Bapak’s ideas, presenting her book “ThePattern of the World” with its holistic cosmology, and memore time to follow up on our original plans to develop aSubud community of 7 or 8 houses in a cluster around theconference centre.

I also want to market the third and final edition of mymemoir, “Reminiscences of Bapak”. I have added 40pages of text since the first edition, and 16 since the sec-ond edition was published.

It now contains a section on self-sustaining communities,which I believe will be the development pattern of thefuture, and which, like Hilltop here, and Gunnabah overin the East of Australia, are already appearing in theSubud world.

Self-sustainingcommunities

will be thedevelopmentpattern of the

future

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As most of you will know, there was something of a crisiswith Kalimantan Gold Corporation in November 2008when CEO, Rahman Connelly, announced that the com-pany might have to suspend operations as a PrivatePlacement seeking US$1 million had been undersub-scribed because equity markets had dried up due to theglobal financial downturn.

The positive in this was that many Subud members werere-inspired to support the venture and a significantamount was forthcoming into the Private Placement from“small” Subud investors all around the world. It was likethe financial crisis re-awoke concern for KGC andrenewed the project’s connection to its roots in Subudmembers.

As we go to press, the most recent communication wehave from Rahman Connelly about the situation is thismessage posted on the SES INTERNATIONAL listserver.Rahman writes…

Further to my note of 15 November:- The fundraising stands at around $450,000 with somepeople yet to send the funds committed. We haveextended the Placement closing date till 15 Dec for those

funds to be sent. As well we are making vigorous effectsto source the balance of the $1 million.

- To preserve cash, we have ceased all work on on ourJelai property and retrenched 100+ permanent andcasual staff. Should we get the $1 million we will recom-mence a limited work program at Jelai because, ofrecent months, drilling results have been outstanding.

- As previously advised we have acquired an option overa near-production coal area in East Kal and are in discus-sion with potential partners/off-takers (companies thatcontract to purchase the coal).

- Close to securing a deal on a producing mine, for whichwe would seek funding from Macquarie Bank.

This will be my last note to this listserver as it is evident andunderstandable that many people don't want their mailboxes filled with discussion on KGC. Therefore, any of youthat wish to receive updates from the Subud team work-ing in the project, please advise me by return email and Iwill also include you on our press release email list.

Suggestions for an Advisory Board of Subud members won'twork in the context of a public company, but we acknowl-edge that some vehicle for communication, feedback,suggestions, support etc to the Subud team in the projectmight have validity. Therefore I suggest that those of youwith a specific interest in the matter form yourselves into adiscussion group outside of this listserver to develop yourideas, and let's see where we go from there.

Rahman Connelly’s email is rconnelly@ozemail.com.auThe KGC web site where press releases may be read iswww.kalimantan.com

•Kalimantan Gold

Michael Rosa writes of his experience with KGC…

This story is a call of help for Kalimantan Gold Corporationto support Bapak’s vision for the world. I will try and makeit as short as possible with out leaving any thing out.

The story begins with the Widjojo Building which I of courseinvested in, I only ever received two dividends which Iinvested in what is now known as KGC. Some years later Iinvested more money giving me a few thousand sharesat a higher price than they are now.

And then I forgot about them for some years. Much laterwhen the company had by this time developed into thename of KGC, I was informed that Widjojo had been soldand that I would be receiving a money wire for over£2000 and where would I like to invest it?

So I decided it had to go to KGC, I was told to contactRahman Connelly who in turn advised me at the time thatthere was no Placement available and that I shouldinvest in Aim or the Canadian Stock market.

I contacted my broker who got me a good deal and pur-chased another 34.000 shares on Aim. Since that time a newplacement has arrived and I believe it will be at a fair price.

My investment was beginning to mount up, I then had astrong feeling I should buy more, once again

Making a Profit with KGC•

PAGE 5SUBUDVOICE JAN 09

A Celebration of Restored Vision•

I decided to buy a further 40.000 at a very reasonableprice purchased by my broker at 4p, bringing my totalinvestment to 90.000.

While doing my latihan a day later I received a strongurge to buy more. The next day the price had gone up soI decided to give it a miss. I should also mention that mytwo sons have a small part of this investment. My eldestson, who is the most cautious member of our family,came to my house and during our conversation askedme how our investment was doing.

This was just a few days ago and I told him that we hadcleared off all the payment for the shares and were£440 in profit. My son could not believe it. He said,“Everything is going through the floor through the cred-it crunch, and we are making profit!” He then imploredme to buy more.

At this stage I thought the price too high at 7p but heinsisted and I finally gave in. We purchased another14.000 giving me a total over100.400. The next day theprice had moved up slightly I and we were more than£800 in profit, I decided this was as far as I wanted to go.

Last night I could not sleep. I got up and started doing anexercise during which it came to me that some years agoa psychic had told me that I would invest in a gold mineand indicated I would make a lot of money from thisinvestment.

I had completely forgotten this, and I also felt strongly Ishould write an article about these incidents.

The point I am trying to make is that I feel strongly throughmy experience that our enterprise is ready to take off andfor a lot of people the price will be out of their reach.

But of course this will not apply to the people with moneyso this could be the last chance for many members.Rahman Connelly has asked for our support to fuelBapak’s vision for Kalimantan, I feel he is the right manwith the team to lead our enterprise into success. So Ihope we will all come up with some money to support thisenterprise.

People wishing to contact Rahman Connelly, CEO ofKGC, can do so at rconnelly@ozemail.com.au

We have carried several articles about Aisha Holm inSubud voice. Her story has been a breakable one ofstruggle, courage and persistence following an incidentthat severely damaged her vision.

We also told how she produced a CD of her own musicunder the most difficult conditions. Now we bring a newand happy chapter. On November 2nd 2008 Aisha per-formed a concert in Hawaii celebrating the substantialrestoration of her vision. At the concert she said…

The music I play comes from my heart and from all theplaces I have lived throughout my life. I don’t know whatto call it and it does not matter. Music is music and peo-ple are the same all over the world. I am Danish and tooka Music Conservatory education in CopenhagenDenmark. But I played with people from many culturesand worked in Paris with Berber people and in Nicaragua

with street children and in Indonesia at an American highschool and in Denmark with all kinds of musical educationand with various bands.

From 2001 to 2003 I was in Jakarta Indonesia where I felthappy. Someone not so happy assaulted me and my reti-na fell off the left eye. The next almost five years I was inand out of eye surgery in Denmark and in the end the eyedoctors and the Danish health system gave up on meand told me I would have to live with the lack of vision.There was nothing they could do.

I made a CD called “Songs from the Heart” to try to earnmoney enough to find a place abroad where especiallymy left eye could be repaired somewhat. It was a longand slow process till Reynold Feldman, retired professorfrom the University of Hawaii in Honolulu came along andstarted fundraising for an operation among his friendsand among Subud members around the world.

Subud is a spiritual organization where people from all reli-gions (and many countries) worship God together and tryto become better people and also to act in a sociallyand “communitarial” responsible way. I have been inSubud since 2000.

Reynold Feldman’s dear wife Simone passed away inSeptember 2006, and this was the reason he decided to trav-el around the world and chose his first destination as Denmark.

A Surprising HappeningWhile he was there the surprising thing happened thatone day a mail came from Hawaii of all places! An eyesurgeon responded to Reynold’s call for helping me findsomeone who could operate on my eyes.

Dr. Mike Bennett from The Retina Institute of Hawaii,Honolulu, wrote to me that he would do the operation forfree if only I would wait till the Mobile Eye Clinic had beenconstituted and that PROJECT VISION would be workingin the fall of 2008. This is now and I am here, miracle of mir-acles, in this beautiful place called Hawaii. From oneisland in the Pacific (Java) to another (Oahu).

And the greatest miracle is that by now my two eyeshave been operated successfully and I can see thingswhich I have not seen in years. The first operation hap-pened on September 24 and the second one ten dayslater. This is the reason for this celebration of happinessand joy and new life and new eyes.

There is only little I can give back to the people whosaved my eyes. And at the time being that is my music.

I apologize beforehand for mistakes I might make on thepiano because I have not really seen it for the last five years.

I am grateful and extremely happy to play for you thisafternoon and to be part of this celebration. And I praythat Project Vision may have great success and helpmany people in Hawaii and around the world. I thank youall for the awesome help I have received.

For the love for the sweetness and for the professional skillof Michael Bennett and his whole staff. For the fundraisingand help that Reynold Feldman gave me. And for thelove and friendship I have found in Hawaii. This is a won-derful place on Earth. I wish the aloha spirit will spread allover the world. Mahalo, Aisha •

PAGE 6 SUBUDVOICE JAN 09

Usually we have a talk by Bapak or Ibu Rahayu in this partof Subud Voice but we thought we would vary it for onceby publishing this very interesting talk by Varindra Vittachiwhich addresses a “problem” in Subud. Why aren’t moreyoung people coming in?

The talk was given by Varindra Vittachi to young Subudmembers at a Zone 7 gathering. Varindra was theChairman of the World Subud Association, a job he heldfor thirty years, from l963 to l993.

The gathering, hosted by Subud Montreal, was held in thefirst week of July 1992 at a convention centre just outsideMontreal, Canada. (Editor's note: Because of sound prob-lems in the tape, small portions of Varindra's talk provedinaudible and have been left out of this transcription.)

Benefits of the LatihanA young member asked Varindra what benefits arebrought about by doing the latihan.

In reply, Varindra said the following:After years of doing latihan, when the latihan starts bear-ing fruit, then you ask yourself, for example: "What hashappened to me within the last three years? Has the lati-han been beneficial to me or not?" While it may take along time for a person to be sure that the latihan hasbeen beneficial, you recognize that clearly somethinghas happened to you.

I will give you an example of that. I used to be terrified ofpublic speaking. Now, I don't mind talking to10,000 or 20,000 people. But before that,before I came to Subud, I really was terrifiedof public speaking. As a newspaper reporter,I clearly had to do something about that. So Iused to write my speech down, word forword, and then learn it by heart.

Then one evening, not too long after I cameto Subud, I was putting on my necktiepreparatory to making a speech, the mostimportant speech I had yet made in my life –I was giving the Prize Day speech at my col-lege. I had been expelled from that college,but events over the years had turned me intoa Distinguished Old Boy of the college.

Just before entering the hall, my wife said, "You haven'tprepared your speech, have you?"

"No, I haven't, have I!"

When the time came to make the speech, I made thebest speech in my life because the great burden of want-ing to be good, wanting to stand first, had fallen off myshoulders. I no longer cared if people liked what I said ornot; I didn't have to be admired. That's a fantasticrelease, you know – never getting stage fright, or any-thing like that. That was the first actual proof I had that thelatihan had benefited me. That Kind of StuffIs there any other question you would like to put forward?

Question: I would like to ask Varindra about the ways he cont on p7 >

has seen Subud change and the direction in which hesees it going (big question!). One of my concerns is whyyoung people, unless they grew up in Subud, are notcoming to Subud?

Answer: I am glad you asked that. It is a big question, asyou said. So let me take a little time answering it. I havefive children. Four of them do the latihan. Two of themnever go to a group. They loathe going to a group. Andyet they practise the latihan. And I have seen that Subudhas made them really mellow at a very young age –mature, but not precocious.

One of my children evolved into a groupie. He is now abudding journalist. He likes congregation. In fact, at onestage while he was at school, he wanted to become aChristian minister. I know of no one, no priest, no clergy-man, who knows the Bible better than he does. He isinclined that way; he understands the meaning, thevalue of congregation.

Many of us are not joiners. It takes a special kind of expe-rience and a kind of need, I guess, for people to want tobelong to a group. That is the way Subud grows. But thequestion you are really asking is, I think, why more youngpeople don't come to Subud?

One of the simplest reasons is that many Subud youngpeople don't come to Subud – children of Subud mem-bers don't come to Subud. One of my five children, myson, he stays out. He is a very sincere young man – 37years of age.

He tells me things that indicate to me why he stays out. Idon't probe, but sometimes he tells me why he staysaway from his local group. He thinks that his mother's

friends, some of them, are a bit balmy. Alltheir dogmatic talk; they are absolutely sureof the dimensions of God, and that God talksto them every day. Of course, any youngman would consider this absolute rubbish.

And why do two of my other children whodo the latihan, why don't they go to groups?My daughter, who is of the younger set inSubud, was in really bad trouble with her firsthusband. He used to bash her around, youknow, really maul her; she was in really des-perate trouble. She didn't tell me this.

Instead, she went to the group helpers whogave her this stuff, you know – you must submit to yourhusband. That kind of stuff. As a result, she walked outand never came back [to the group]. She does the lati-han [on her own]. "God gave the latihan to me," she said."I do the latihan [rest inaudible]."

These are the reasons why lots of people do not come toSubud. We can't generalize: many helpers are very good.

Subud is not a HierarchyI would really like to see all of us who call ourselves helpersto remember, to realize that Subud, as Bapak saw it, is nota hierarchy, meaning a vertical hierarchy, withInternational Helpers, followed by National Helpers, thenRegional Helpers, and finally group helpers. It is not at alllike that.

Rather it is a matter of scale; it is a horizontal

Why Don’t Young PeopleCome into Subud?

We have no authority,but we have

a greatresponsibility

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People believe in themselves more than they believe inGod. And so the further along we go, the more logiccomes into it, and less the supernatural or a higher being.And so I wonder [inaudible] if the older generation had aneed for spiritual guidance, a need which seems to havebeen lost in our generation."

Varindra: I see we are now into theology. Let's see if we canhandle this one. You see it is very easy to set up a straw man

and then knock him down. That is what somany so-called scientists do. They set up anold gentleman with a white beard in the sky,and then they knock him down.

Most of the arguments about God's existenceor non-existence is a setting up of a straw manand then knocking him down. Bapak oncesaid to us that we look for God in the clouds,we look for God on mountaintops, in caves, intemples, in mosques, and in churches.

We are so busy looking for God that whenGod knocks on our door, we are not at thedoor to receive Him. Think about that one.Bapak also said that God is nearer to each ofus than the vein in our neck.

I was talking at a meeting at OxfordUniversity a couple of years ago. On thesame panel as me was Carl Sagan, theastronomer. He switched seats with the guynext to me, and he said, "I have never heard

a journalist speak like that. Where does it come from?"

And I said, "Subud". He said, "Is it a spiritual movement?";and I said, "Yes". He said, "I have not heard of it". I replied,"It is the smallest international spiritual group in the world".

He went on to say, "That was very interesting, that talk;you can't be a theist, you can't be a God-believer."

I replied, "I know you are an atheist, and that you are sureof your position as an atheist, but I am not sure about any-thing, I always question everything. I thought that was thescientific attitude, not to be sure but to question."

He saw the logic of that because I was talking at the levelof his logic. So he asked me if I would speak to his class atIthaca, which I did, and he was very surprised to find thatmany of his students were asking questions just like you[the audience] are; that they are now more open to thepossibility of another kind of world, another kind of reality,than my generation, which claimed to know the answersto everything. And look at the mess we have made of ourworld by these absolute certitudes of ours.

The Nature of ForcesOnce Bapak told me that when the universe was first cre-ated, there was nothing except emptiness. You don'tknow what this emptiness is, he said, because you havenever experienced it. He said that in this emptiness therewas no light because there was no darkness.

There was this emptiness and God. He said that you willnever be able to understand how there can be nothing –and something.

God created the light and designed it as a vibration. Thisis the primary vibration that we receive in the

PAGE 7SUBUDVOICE

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JAN 09

scale of responsibilities, with the local helper as a kind ofgeneral practitioner, the home doctor, who actuallyassociates with people [inaudible]. It is absurd to think interms of vertical hierarchies [inaudible].

The group helpers are the most important of the helpersbecause they actually deal directly with individuals ratherthan institutions.

Authority and ResponsibilityThe point is that none of us in Subud, and thisis a point you young guys should perhapsappreciate, none of us in Subud has anyauthority whatever.

Bapak was a great political scientist; he wasa radical political scientist. One of the thingshe said was that Subud is not a teaching,that all the teachings that are needed havebeen given by the great prophets. As Iunderstood it from him, Subud is not a teach-ing; rather, it is a great learning.

What I learned from Bapak and his explana-tions is really that we have no authority, butwe have a great responsibility.

During my thirty years in Subud [as WSAChair], I have never had any authority what-ever. I can't fire anybody, I can't demoteanyone, I can't fine somebody. There is noauthority in my position [as WSA Chair]. It isthe same with the helpers. None of them has any author-ity. And if they claim authority, they are misclaiming it.

I have said two things there. I have said that the helpershave no authority, but they do have responsibility. I thinkthat when responsibility is carried out well, really carriedout well, it has an authority of its own. Responsibility that iscarried out well gives that person credibility.

Now, for instance, I am a journalist. When I was a veryyoung journalist, I talked often about the freedom of thepress, about my right – the freedom of a journalist. It wasonly after a while that I realized I also have obligations. Ihave the responsibilities accrued to being a journalist,and that unless I carry out those responsibilities, I have noright to that freedom.

If there is a helper who does not appear to be carryingout his responsibilities, he will be in a lot of troublebecause he is claiming an authority that he may actuallyhave spoiled. In Subud we really should have no occa-sions like that.

We can talk about it, we can test about it, we have waysto resolve problems between members and helpers andbetween helpers and helpers without resorting to all kindsof [inaudible]. There are ways to do these things in a waythat does not hurt anybody. Why should we hurt people?

Man of StrawQuestion: You were talking about your son, that his intelli-gence made him skeptical about Subud. You asked howhave we changed. I think it was that the era in whichmost of our parents joined Subud was a lot freer, and thatthere has been a lot more logic in today's generation. Imean the more human beings figure out the answers tomysteries, the harder it is to believe in God.

Most of thearguments

about God'sexistence is asetting up of a

straw manand then

knocking himdown

“

“

PAGE 8 SUBUDVOICE

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JAN 09

latihan. Now this vibrating light creates material things,vegetable things, animal things, and human things. Andthese secondary vibrations have their own vibrations.

As we progress in the latihan, we should be able to distin-guish in us this primary vibration that I describe to myselfas 'butterfly wings' – very, very gentle.

And since we are composed of material things, straightout of the earth, these outer vibrations are rel-atively much closer; and those are the vibra-tions that lead to anger, jealousy, all those pas-sions in us… [But] we need these lower forces,because without these material forces we can-not move, we cannot think, we cannot any-thing. We cannot make a table, etc.

All that is being done by the latihan is toarrange and re-arrange these forces so thatthey serve human beings, rather than over-whelm human beings and use human beings.

So that is why I explain to people that you can-not help the latihan by other things you do.

I think it is very important to realize that recent-ly – two months ago – some astrophysicistsgave a story that British newspapers reallyunderstood the importance of. Indeed, theIndependent, probably the greatest Englishnewspaper in the world, gave their wholepage one to this story.

The story is that the astrophysicists had discov-ered the 'ripples', as they called it, that is, thevibrations that followed what they called the'Big Bang'.

Astrophysicists had been looking for these 'ripples' orvibrations all the time. This is the same story that Bapaktold, which is now being discovered by scientists. Theastrophysicists actually went on to describe how these'ripples' created materiality. So now it appears that sci-ence and spiritual truth are coming together.

Question: My question is about the word nafsu. Somepeople say that they don't like to use this word, to talkabout this word. [Rest of the question inaudible]

Nafsu means lower forces. You guys, chaps of your age,are coming into a really different Subud world than theone we inherited. You must remember that we lived in theage of Bapak, the age of Pak Subuh, the human being.We were very lucky in many ways. Maybe you are luckyin many other ways.

For us Bapak was a reality, a live reality that we used to con-stantly meet. Let me say something that for me is true, whichis that I used always to wonder why a guy like me who by nomeans is any kind of saint or a holy man of any kind lived inthe age of Pak Subuh. For me, it was like living in the land ofJesus, in the Palestine of Jesus, or living in Mecca with theProphet Muhammad. It was like that for me.

Problems of TranslationNow remember that Bapak was an Indonesian and hereceived in his language. It was a problem for me in thebeginning, I must admit. I once had the effrontery to sug-gest to Bapak, "Bapak, why don't you learn some English?

It would be so much easier for all of us." (I was always ask-ing stupid questions like that.)

And Bapak replied, "Ja, except that it would be second-hand." He received in his language, and he did not wantany obstacles to that receiving.

We used some Indonesian words at that time becausethey proved useful. For instance, the word ‘latihan’, which

simply means training. I remember once pick-ing up some English people at the Jakarta air-port to drive them to Bapak's house. On theway there they saw a large building with thenotice that said Sekolah Latihan Polisi. "MyGod", they said, "In Indonesia the police alsodo latihan!"

Mr. Bennett (or Mr. B as we used to call him)was a brilliant linguist. He picked up Russianin two weeks, and shortly after began speak-ing to his teacher in Russian. He also pickedup Indonesian in two weeks, and shortly afterbegan translating for Bapak when Bapakgave talks.

He made many mistakes. You can becomeadept in a language in two weeks, but you alsoare very liable to make mistakes. For example,the word Bapak used for helper was berlatihanperantin – which means assistant, or servant ifyou like, a service person.

This word was translated into English as helper,which linguistically is not wrong, because ofcourse an assistant helps. But the word has allkinds of connotations: a person needs help,

and you help. The stronger helps the weaker. You canhelp someone beneath you. All of these kinds of conno-tations. So this is where the hierarchical ideas came in sur-rounding the word.

Or take the word "testing". In its Indonesian sense this wordhas nothing to do with the English word "testing". WhenBapak used to test with us, he used the word "terima",which means "receive". The phrase "Thank you" is "terimakasih", which literally means "receive my thanks". Prettysoon, "testing" with all its connotations of "examining"came into being. Testing someone's performance, forexample.

All of these misunderstandings came about because ofwrong translation. And we have used these wrong trans-lations constantly for two generations. I am not suggest-ing that we should change these words; just understandwhat they really mean. [Varindra turns to the person whoraised the problem of using the word "nafsu" and tells himthat his good friend Fritz von Kahler had his own word for"nafsu" – "snafu"! ‘Situation normal, all fouled up’]

I Was BrashIn my very early days in Subud, I was very brash withBapak – man-to-man, you know. So insensitive you can'timagine! I would sit beside Bapak night after night, smok-ing one cigarette after another. But then, after a while, Ibegan to notice everyone sitting well behind Bapak, andI began to guess what Bapak might be.

I once asked him, "Bapak, I understood you have said thatdrinking is bad. What's wrong with drinking?"

For me,living in the

age ofBapak waslike living inthe land ofJesus, orliving in

Mecca withthe ProphetMuhammad“

“

cont on p9 >

PAGE 9SUBUDVOICE JAN 09

cont on p10>

Inner Voice welcomes stories and letters. Please send to IlainaLennard, ilaine.l@hotmail.co.ukIlaina (Ilaine for the e-mail) can be contacted at her newaddress: 8 Sissinghurst Grove, Up Hatherley, Cheltenham, Glos.GL51 3FA UK.

I N N E RV O I C E

(I used to be a soak. I am a journalist, and over-drinking is anoccupational disease. A quarter of a bottle of whiskey a daywas standard form; and being a good, well-trained Britishcolonial, I knew how to carry one's liquor as a gentleman.)

And Bapak said, "Do you drink?" I replied, "Sure". He said,"What do you drink?"

I replied, "Scotch whiskey".

"Do you like?' Bapak queried.

"Yes, very much."

And Bapak on hearing me say this did not slap his headand say, What a terrible fellow – out of Subud, and so on.He was interested in this character – me.

"Do you drink a lot?" Bapak asked.

I said, "Sure".

He said, "Good Scotch whiskey also given by God. Butyou must be sure that you are drinking the Scotch, andthat the Scotch is not drinking you." It was then I realized,My God, it's not just a case of the Scotch just drinking me– it is pickling me.

This nafsu you were asking about. We are supposed to behuman; we are supposed to be in charge of these forces.But, actually, the whole thing is up-ended. So it is a caseof having to turn it around. That is what the latihan is sup-posed to do. It's rather like the receptionist in your officetaking all the calls and giving all the answers to yourclients. It's absurd."

When Women Come Into Subud…Question: "Is it true that a woman has to ask a man to bein Subud. Why?"

You assume my answer to the question is going to be"Yes". Well, now, let me tell you that in Indonesia thewoman's role is very much one of obedience to the man.The man runs the show, he makes the decisions. I believethat this situation also exists in parts of modern Europe.

The men there make the decisions, even at home, whilemost of the work is done by the women. Over there,women who came to Subud without their husband's per-mission – why the men took a strong stand, even takingthe matter to court on the grounds that Subud wasseducing people away from the normal order.

That was how it came about that women had to ask theirhusband's permission in order to join Subud. But we don'tneed to do this any longer.

There is no reason to do that stuff any longer. I am tellingyou guys, insist that you be put on the Canadian and U.S.delegations to Congress. [Applause from the audience.]We want Subud to expand. Your voice must be heard.You just cannot protest, throw bombs and the like! I chal-lenge you. Please be on the next delegation.

You know, at previous Congresses young members weregiven a big house far away from the centre of things, awonderful ghetto… [inaudible].

We intend to publish the remainder of this talk in the next

“THE ARROW THAT PIERCED MYHEART...”Rozak Tatebe continues his memoirs of spiritual experience...

There are events in people’s lives that even though rare,can radically transform a person’s destiny in an instant.The event I am about to relate to you now was one ofthose. It was indeed a once-in-a-lifetime experience inthat it literally changed my life’s direction from thatmoment on.

That morning was a normal summer’s day for me. I hadgone to the office as usual and started my work. At teno’clock, I finished the first lot of work and paused to smokea cigarette.

It was just when I was about to start on my next task that, com-pletely without warning, the right side of my chest was piercedby an arrow from the spiritual world that came straight towardsme. It penetrated my heart, exited from the left side of mychest, and then disappeared into empty space.

It was over in an instant. I felt a sharp pain in my heart andat the same time, the wound poured not blood, but a liq-uid that was filled with a sweetness that permeated myentire body. My consciousness was filled with a sudden,instinctive understanding. This too lasted only an instant butin this case it revealed to me the eternal purpose of my soul.

I am not in the habit of keeping a diary. But because therevelation that had filled my consciousness was so unex-pected, I wrote it down in English in a memo. (The reasonI wrote it in English is because the content seemed so farremoved from reality that I did not want anyone whocame across it to understand it.) It was in the form of aprose poem that expressed the shock and emotion that Ihad experienced. It went something like this:

Finally I understand! From the very beginning, my soul hasbeen continually searching for its supreme goal.

This supreme goal will remain unchanged whether it is in thisworld or the next. For as long as God allows my existence tocontinue, this goal will remain unchanged until the end of time.

Now, it is revealed to me: I am to become the lowly – lowli-est – servant of God.

Until then, the thought of aspiring to be God’s servant hadnever entered my head. To my mind, the

issue of Subud Voice.Thanks to Subud USA from whom wegot this talk. They suggested…‘While you read this 1992 talk given by our brotherVarindra Vittachi to young Subud members, feel free togo to Benjamin Drazen's website and listen to some jazz!http://www.benjamindrazen.com •

PAGE 10 SUBUDVOICE JAN 09

concept was strongly related to Christianity andthe thoughts of a priest or minister – not somethingthat had a connection to me personally. Not onlythat, but the method of this revelation hadbeen so extraordinary: the thought of an invisi-ble arrow reminded me of the Greek legend ofCupid whose arrows cause their targets to fall inlove. That is a legend of course; but I came torealize that there was such a spiritual reality,that it did exist and that it was no mere fancy. Itwas clear from the pain I had felt in my heartand the liquid sweetness that had filled mybody, that this was not a delusion.

Later, I found out that St. Theresa of Avila in the 16th centu-ry had described being pierced in the heart by an invisiblearrow and of entering a state of ecstasy; but I was notaware of this at that time. It is not my intention to comparemy experience with hers’ but only to show that such anexperience has a reality to it.

I was overwhelmed for a while. But then the pain in mychest began to ease leaving only a feeling of bliss. Thislasted all day and on the following morning it still reverber-ated faintly within me.

The understanding I had been given from this experiencehad an immeasurable effect on me. I was shown withabsolute clarity, the reason for my existence. To becomethe servant of God had been until then, an unfamiliar con-cept but now it became the whole purpose of my life.

From then on, my chief preoccupation was how I couldbecome God’s servant. This was because while I hadbeen shown my soul’s purpose, I had not been shown howto go about realising it. All I knew then was that it was nogood just calling myself, ‘the servant of God.’

Also, while it is possible that without being aware of itsomeone is used by God as an instrument for His purpose,to be a servant of God should be different from suchcases. First, God Himself had to acknowledge me as suchand then if He did so, I had to be in such a state that Icould correctly receive His will and instruction.

Looking back now, I can see that I had absolutely no ideaat the time just how nigh impossible a task this was. Tobecome a servant of God is the highest goal a humanbeing can pursue. While of course, I did not think that itsachievement was an easy task, I was secretly hoping forthe next sign from God. But instead I had to wait a long,long time. Thirty years later, I finally had an experiencerelated to this goal, which I will elaborate on later.

Pertinent to the experience was the fact that the memo Ihad written had not simply stated that my goal was tobecome a servant of God, but that I had to become thelowliest servant of God – and this word ‘lowly’ was repeat-ed in order to stress that to become the lowliest servant ofGod would be my supreme goal.

I understood just how small I was before God and simulta-neously, was painfully aware that no matter how muchtime passed, I would remain this microscopic existence forall eternity.

This was a valuable realisation as it helped me to sup-press any arrogance in my life. I also discovered that thefeeling of utter humility – as though one is nothing – is

always present when one is given a glimpse ofGod’s existence.

This feeling is like a litmus test that lets you knowif you have actually had an experience of God,or not. If you do not feel that emotion, I think itcan be said that you have not had a true expe-rience of Him.

Several months later, I discovered that on theday I had that experience, the 9th July 1963, thesecond World Congress of Subud had openedin Briarcliff, a suburb of New York.

I had not been able to attend and so had forgotten all aboutit. But it was interesting to me that on the evening of the 8thJuly, Bapak had given his first talk. I had received this experi-ence some time in the middle of his talk – despite the factthat he was thousands of miles away.

Of course, this could be dismissed as coincidence, but theexperience had come to me like a bolt from the blue andthe fact that it happened at the same time as the WorldCongress suggested there was some significance in this.

It lasted only aninstant but it

revealed to methe eternal

purpose of mysoul

“

“

SUBUD – A SPIRITUAL JOURNEY Rozak Tatebe’s complete story

Those of you who subscribe to SUBUD VOICE, pleasedon't assume that the extracts in SV are all there is toRozak's book, because you will miss a lot unless youread the full account. For proofreading purposes I hadto check through the book five times, and each timeit held something fresh for me.

This is because Rozak was a former chairman of ISC,and later an International Helper, and has written veryclearly about Subud itself, in a way that is easy forthose not in Subud to understand.

It is a book to give your friends, as well as to read foryourself, because whilst he begins his life with consider-able doubts as to the existence of God, he still – like somany of us – had a very strong wish to find a way tomake contact with the Supreme Being.

When he eventually finds Subud, he is then graduallyconvinced from his own experience, that this AlmightyBeing really does exist.

For those of you who have not until now read about hisexperiences, you are in for a treat. In my opinion, this isone of the best personal stories about life in Subud thathas yet been written. – Ilaina Lennard

The book will be available from SPI or AMAZON. Forthose of you with access to the Internet, just typewww.amazon.com and give the title or author name.The book costs $14.00. Otherwise you can order fromSPI @ sterling £10.00 plus p&p.

To order, e-mail spi@subudbooks.co.uk or pay by UKbank cheque or credit card to: SPI, Loudwater Farm,Loudwater Lane, Rickmansworth, Herts. WD3 4HG, UK. Tel +44 (0)1727 762210 •

PAGE 11SUBUDVOICE JAN 09

cont on p12>

•

Marcus Bolt, UK, writes…

‘Throw yourself wholeheartedly into any spiritual groupthat appeals to you, whether you believe in it or not, andhope that in your case a miracle may occur...”(Carl Jung in a letter of advice to Rowland H.)

Intuitively, I did exactly that forty years ago, and a miracledid occur – I am now sane.

During my forty years' Subud membership, I have oftenbeen exasperated by the belief systems andattitudes of many members, as well as beingfrustrated – even hurt – by the organisation’sactions, almost to the point of handing in mymembership card. But I have never ever onceconsidered stopping practising the latihan. Infact, I plan to be doing it on my deathbed –come what may.

And that’s the first and the main thing I likeabout Subud – the latihan and its process.

As an example, last Monday there were justtwo of us at latihan in a rather large, rentedhall. For the first fifteen minutes I sashayedaround the floor, doing the most remarkableballroom dance movements.

'Wahey! Not bad for a 66-year old dude,' I observed tomyself, as the day’s stresses were sloughed off.

Now, the moves may not have looked much to a profes-sional dancer, but inwardly they felt authentic andgraceful – quite the light fantastic. Then my latihanchanged as my mind began to be ‘creatively worked’ –a whole chapter of the book I’m rewriting smoothlydownloading, solving many of the structural problems I’dencountered earlier in the day.

For the last five minutes, I stood thoughtless at the centreof a huge inner space, grateful to be sentient and alive.Then I sat down feeling refreshed and satisfied, had achat with my co-exerciser and went home. Whatever it is,wherever it comes from, however the latihan works, “I’llhave what she’s having.”

Apart from more creative, the latihan process has mademe, over time, more open-minded, more compassionate– even a little wiser – and definitely saner. Of course, acynic may say all that’s merely the side effects of growingup. But I’m not so sure when I think back to the place ofdrug-induced anxiety-depression I started from.

The second thing I like about Subud is how simple it isto do the latihan. You don't have to prepare for itbefore you join, or pass any exams after. In fact, thelatihan process doesn’t depend on anything, be thatbelonging to a group, becoming a helper, or readingBapak's talks; neither do you need to study Indonesian,have a religion, change your name, get circumcised,visit Bapak's grave, do charity work, run an enterprise,or worry about your ancestors, for the latihan to work.All you have to do is practise it regularly, follow whereit leads and, en route, ‘do unto others as you would bedone by’.

Contrariwise, the third thing I like about Subud is that youcan, if you feel so inclined, pick’n’mix from all of theabove (and more) cultural idiosyncrasies and make upyour own belief system (but please, try not to foist yoursonto me – I have my own). And the fourth thing I like isthat, although there is tacit pressure to embrace a corporatedoctrine (fundamentalists are everywhere), no one canactually stop you doing the latihan, or even expel you, ifyou don’t toe the party line.

The fifth thing I like about Subud is that members of all reli-gions, as well as agnostics and atheists, can and do latihantogether without ripping each other’s heads off. This alsogoes for all races, all ages, all sexual orientations, rich and

poor, clever and stupid. (And, as a bonus, Ilike the fact that men and women don’t do ittogether – inter-gender relationships aredifficult enough, thanks.)

The sixth thing I like about Subud is its sociallife. At any gathering of any size that I haveattended over the last forty years, theabsence of heavy alcohol consumptionmeans there’s far less aggression and sexualpredation than at, say, my local golf club’ssocial evenings.

More importantly, I treasure the endearingfriendships I’ve made, deeply enjoy thewarmth generated in close-knit groups andlove (and need) the sense of belonging –while being aware none of these things are

unique to Subud.

The final thing I like about Subud is its internationality.Subud has given me the opportunity and the motivationto travel all over the world – not bad for someone whohas never lived more than thirty miles from his birthplace.

And these are the reasons why I've stuck with Subud, itswarts and all, for forty years.

Celebrating the Mastery of Paint

What I Like About Subud

A miracle

did occur – I am

now sane

“

“

‘Restorative Dragons’, works by Riduan Tomkins at SoFAGallery, Arts Centre, reviewed by Jamie Hanton.

Dragons are not often referred to as restorative; in fact, inthe vast majority of European cultures and mythologies,dragons were seen as nefarious monsters with violent ten-dencies and were ultimately regarded as enemies ofhumankind. In Western art history, too, dragons are givena bad rap.

However, skip continents and an entirely different por-trayal abounds. Asian cultures venerate the dragon asa benevolent and wise beast, more likely to leadhumans to enlightenment and wellbeing than unleashfiery destruction.

The dragons in Riduan Tomkins’ recent paintings are definite-ly Eastern in nature and represent the significant meetingpoint between Western artistic tradition and the ethereal Inhis work. Tomkins employs painterly abstraction and meas-ured space to convey deep visual harmony.

This article first appeared on www.subudvision.org

SUBUDVOICE PAGE 12 JAN 09

•

Although Tomkins has beenpainting for the last fourdecades, it is in his current workthat hints of spirituality are mostnoticeable. Tomkins began hispainting career in London,where he gained his MA fromthe Royal College of Arts.

After studying, Tomkins begana successful career as a prac-

tising and exhibiting artist, showing in a wide range of coun-tries and galleries. In 1984 he was selected as the Canadianentry for An International Survey of Recent Painting andSculpture at New York’s Museum of Modern Art.

A year later Tomkins arrived in New Zealand to take upthe position of senior lecturer in painting at the Universityof Canterbury, a term that lasted 10 years.

Because he is an environmentally dynamic artist, onemight expect to see a number of drastic trajectorychanges over the course of Tomkins’ career, but insteadhe has maintained a core practice that has developedsubtly and purposefully.

The emphatic geometric framing within the pictorialspace has remained, as have the Lilliputian figures, seem-ingly swamped by the world around them. Yet there is nodespair in those that populate Tomkins’ paintings. Ratherthan dwell on their place in the world, the figures seem tohave taken the other option, the peaceful and tranquilacceptance of life’s hugeness.

Together with the unerringly bright palette of golden sum-mer yellows and rhythmic layering, Tomkins’ work couldalmost be a mantra for the viewer. It is here that theRestorative Dragons assume their full relevance as heraldsof serendipity, hovering in the horizon where highlystylised clouds float, sensual curves and spirals declaringtheir weightlessness.

Cloud of Unknowing is a particular joy: Tomkins usestranslucent layers of colour to spin and almost gossamerweave across the surface of the paitning as rays of lightbreak behind a central cloud.

This piece and the exhibition, allude to how we often wrong-ly and hastily dismiss that which we cannot understand.Restorative Dragons celebrates both a mastery of paint byan exceptional artists and the willingness to believe in theuplifting space between knowledge and faith.

The exhibition alludesto how we often wronglyand hastily dismiss that

which we cannot understand

“

“Dahlan Fraval writes…

Just sending a quick email to let you know aboutthe Loudwater Farm support website: www.loudwaterfarm.org

After a recent visit from a member of Loudwater Farm I wasreminded of my childhood memories of the farm. Hearingabout the strong possibility of losing the farm and the effortthat has gone into trying to prevent this from happeningmade me want to get involved and show support.

I wanted to pass on this website to give peoplethe opportunity to show their support (inwardly or

Leonard Wells, UK, writes...I am reading a book which should be issued to all newmembers. It is called Finding Your Perfect Work by Paul &Sarah Edwards (ISBN 0-87477-795-X)

It simply HAS to be the definitive guide to doing your ownthing – it is masterly and I wish I had read it back in 1963when I was opened. It is published in the USA but easilypurchased through Amazon online. I have no shares inAmazon.

Leonard Wells, 8 Rudd Street, HASLINGDEN, Lancs.,BB4 5DG UK – Tel: +44 (0) 1706 396455 – Fax: +44 (0) 161662 7268 – Mob: +44 (0) 07963 224617

Friends of Loudwater Farm

During the recent National Congress in Wolverhampton, Iwas one of several oldies who were invited to a meetingfor the benefit of young people, in which we were askedto say how we arrived at our present occupations. Itbecame clear that we had all wandered about, tryingthis and that until we found occupations that were suit-able for us. This prompted me to mention my acronymSMOCK:

S – start anywhereM – move in any directionO – observe the consequencesC – change start point and/or directionK – keep going until a pattern emerges

This inspired one woman immediately to use SMOCK tohelp her to find her right path.

During the next two days I was involved in kejiwaan ses-sions with other people who were uncertain about theirdirection in life. Without boasting, they felt that they hadthe talent to go in any of several directions. My answerwas that they should SMOCK, which gave them thecourage to try it for themselves.

You too can SMOCK!

(Hear ye, hear ye, let it be known that the acronymSMOCK was first coined by Samuel Lesley in 1986.)

Finding the Right Path

Finding the Right Work

•

•

outwardly) to the members of Loudwater.

Please go to the website and click the button atthe bottom of the home page "Become a Friend ofLoudwater Farm." Please pass this on.

God willing we will be able to enjoy it for another 40 years. •

Working at Loudwater Farm 40 years ago

PAGE 13SUBUDVOICE JAN 09

cont on p14>

Ilaine Lennard, UK, reviews a book about love and sex…

This book is a gem for any young people who are open toguidance about their sexual relationships.

The author, Emmanuel Williams, grew up in the heady atmos-phere of the 1960’s, and in his own young days enjoyed manysexual relationships. It was only when he joined Subud, andthen spent seven years in Cilandak, that things started tochange. A long period of purification began, as he graduallybecame aware that his old life and habits were being peeledaway, much as a snake skin peels off a snake.

During this time of purification he did very little except spendmany hours sitting outside his ‘hot little room, where there wasan open veranda and a white wall with scarlet bougainvillea.’Someone he knew had advised: “Sit. Just sit. Don’t even read.”

And then one day he took a pen and made a list of all his pastloves, and started to realise, deeply and profoundly, just whatan effect they had had on him: “I could feel them all in me,like presences ..I could feel how sex had loaded their feelingsinto me, how full my being was with their energies.’

With this understanding came a turning point. He writes: ‘in mysoul, in my guts, in my mind and my heart, in my toenails andin the lobes of my ears this truth: sex harms me if I abuse it.’ Hegives many vivid examples from others who wrote to him, con-firming his own realisation through their personal experiences.

For those who have read Susila Budhi Dharma, Emmanuel’sbook will be no revelation; quite simply, he is just putting someof the truths that Bapak received into a teenagers’ idiom,together with many graphic, real life stories from others. But thisis where the book is so valuable. Many parents will have won-dered how in today’s world, they can explain to their childrenor grandchildren, the truths about sex that they haveabsorbed and tried to follow, through SBD.

There is almost no mention of Subud in ‘Loving’, and none atall as to what Bapak actually received about sexual relation-ships, but nevertheless Susila Budhi Dharma’s powerful andamazing message is all there. The chapter on Abortion, andthe one on Celibacy are particularly moving and helpful.

‘Loving’ would not be appropriate for all cultures, as its styleand idiom is primarily for American teenagers, but it could stillbe a milestone for young people in any other country with aWestern culture.

Emmanuel shows great humanity, honesty and courage as heshares his own past, and in doing so, he becomes both confi-dant and friend. He never preaches. but as you make yourown journey, you feel he’s right there beside you, all the time.

The book is available from www.amazon.com

February 2, 1947 to September 27, 2008

Rachmat was born EdwardKeith Fisher in Stockton,Newcastle, NSW, on 2ndFebruary 1947. He wasopened on 2nd April 1970in Ottawa. He graduatedfrom Carlton with a Ph.D. inPure Mathematics in 1972at the age of 23.

Rachmat’s sense ofhumor was wide-rang-ing, subtle throughabsurdist, with a pen-chant for the finest ofdetai ls , and curiouslyhe could be relied uponto provide information

surrounding every conceivable topic.

Those closest to Rachmat were in no doubt that he was agenius. The closest friends of “Captain Midnight” from earlydays in Subud were Evan and Rohiid Gamblin and MichaelWiddicombe in his self-proclaimed fraternity known as the“Venerable Degenerates”.

After a few years in Ottawa and the Subud World Congress inIndonesia in August 1971, Vancouver, Australia and thenJakarta, Rachmat became a Muslim in Jakarta in 1974.

There followed a move to Vancouver in 1975, Australia inSeptember 76 where he changed his name by legal deed toRachmat Keith Fisher. In the late 70's he worked for theAustralian and New Zealand Association for theAdvancement of Science (ANZAAS) in Sydney, running theirhuge annual conferences for them.

Rachmat married Mieke Sudarsono in Jakarta on 27th August1980. They moved to Jogja and back again to Jakarta inJanuary 1982, when Ami Rachmi Martini was a couple ofweeks old, and lived outside Wisma Subud. In 1985 theyreturned to Wisma Subud, and Richard Evan Roosdy Fisher wasborn on 7th October.

Salamah Pope remembers getting to know Rachmat properlyabout 1996, when he and his family moved down to Perth, toacclimatize/acculturate the children.

They lived in a small apartment in Subiaco, a nice, busy, hum-ming, central suburb of Perth, with several excellent book-shops. His children went to Perth Modern (the tops of the Govt.schools in Perth) although it was a time when Rachmat foundit difficult to find a job.

Many know that Rachmat, deeply committed to the latihan,was an absolutely dedicated father and husband with a greatlove, acceptance and appreciation of all people.

The water bearer – an aquarius – sometimes moody (ratherthan depressive) Rachmat was an extremely sensitive, peace-ful and gentle person.

He was also a naturally serious, hugely inquisitive, sometimeschildish, independent thinker who was engaged over the past10 years or so of his life in writing a magnum opus – a history ofthe world from the non-euro-american point of view.

Rachmat was also extremely humble, yet with an astonishing,breath-taking grasp of knowledge systems, theoretical tenets

Rachmat Fisher‘Loving’Truths about sex no one ever told you

Rachmat Fisher

•

To find the corresponding time in your part of the world go towww.timeanddate.com/worldclock

WORLD LATIHAN

JANUARY 03/04 03.00 GMT ON THE 4th

FEBRUARY 0110.00 GMT

PAGE 14 SUBUDVOICE JAN 09

and philosophies which wound throughseveral disciplines in great depth – physics,chemistry, biology, languages, sociology,anthropology, politics, theology, meta-physics, you name it – far beyond hisyears.

His history, not quite finished at time of hispassing, covered development andimpact of civilizations, migrations, leadersand continents in sweep – over centuries!It is what can be considered “A GreatWork”.

In its style of chronicle or letters it is similar to some of the worksof Galeano and other literary giants,. He was able to illuminatehistorical characters, dynasties, kingships and eras throughincisive and accurate research, dealing with ideas, theoriesand world views as though they were playthings.

For a while much of his work was available on the internet forpurposes of attracting a publisher, but I imagine that as it wasnot a priority of his to manage it, eventually he let it go.

Rachmat?s friends received many short notes from Rachmatover the years. Here are only a very few one liners: “My worlddoesn’t have things like news and newspapers in it.”

“The nature of a human being is worship and quest. When youfigure out that eating is not all there is to life, then you are dis-satisfied.”

“The saying of the Buddha, ‘With our thoughts we make theworld’ is a literal truth.”

“Of all the predators dangerous to man, I l ike womenbest.”

“Before you criticize anyone, walk a mile in their shoes...Thatway, when you start to criticize them, you've got a mile head-start – and you've got their shoes!”

Written by friends of Rachmat’s from Subud Ottawa andSalamah Pope. A fuller account of Rachmat’s life can beobtained from Rasunah Marsden. Email: rasunah@shaw.ca

Rasunah also has a collection of writing about Mas Adji.

Helena Casbolt writes…

On October 31, 2008, at about4pm, Michele von Royk-Lewinskipassed away in Sydney, peace-fully, after a long illness.

Michele led an extraordinary life.She was born in Germany in 1928,an only child. She was aBaroness, a title she rarely used.Her young life was severely dis-rupted by the Second World Warwhen she and her family had toflee the advancing Russians.They eventually settled in moremodest circumstances in Munich.

Michele had many talents & interests - past and present. She was agifted violinist as a young woman, studying to become a concertprofessional - until derailed by an automobile accident.

She was an actress, on the stage for 4 years in Germany and a voice-

Michele von Royk-Lewinski

cont on p15>

His historycan be

considered a “GreatWork!”

“

“

•

Michele von Royk-Lewinski

over translator and performing artist foranother decade. She nearly became a filmactress in Hollywood, but detoured aftermeeting Ludwig, to marry and help him in hiscampaign to re-build the churches ofEurope. She was an early and cleveradopter of computer technology, an operaand classical music enthusiast and an ani-mal lover through and through.

Michele’s uncle introduced her to Subudand she joined during Bapak’s first visit to theWest – in Munich on January 3rd, 1958,opened by Ibu Siti Sumari with Ibu Rahayu, Ibu Ismana and EvaBartok present. Her husband, Ludwig, was opened 2 days later.

After her parents died in ’66 and ’67, she left Europe and lived in theUnited States, with her husband Ludwig, in Hawaii where they hadan Anthurium plantation business. After he died of cancer in 1981,she visited Australia and came here to live permanently in 1984.

She was always a devoted worker for Subud, including stints as alocal, regional and international helper, during her 50 years as amember. She often said, ‘Subud is my life.” She was an ideal ambas-sador for Subud – and a wonderful sister to so many around theworld.

The families that she counted as her own in the northern suburbs ofSydney, were also encouraged by Michele to establish an addition-al Subud group in the area in 2007, in an harmonious growth ofSubud in the region… another Subud accomplishment.

In later years, Michele saw the content and immediacy of IbuRahayu’s words as something that she could help distribute to manymembers. She kept up this self-less act of typing translations andemailing them to about 800 people globally for several years. Manyof us are grateful to her for this thoughtful service.

You know, Michele once had a near death experience, during a caraccident as a young woman. She found it to be most beautiful andwondrous. At the time she felt she ‘had’ to come back for herbeloved parents – to whom she was always dedicated and dutiful.But she would have loved to stay.

Well now, with God’s Grace & Guidance, Michele can go on to thiswondrous place, and start her new life in God’s hands.

May God always bless you, Michele.

And Ibu Rahayu writes…

All of us in Subud, including myself, feel a great loss now that Michelevon Royk Lewinski has left us forever. Michele was a lady of fine char-acter and an example to us all, because she carried out her dutiesin this life with a sense of acceptance, love, and faith in the great-ness of Almighty God.

I set out below some words for Michele, whom I was close to as weoften worked for Subud together.

Dear Michelle, I still recall and feel the close relationship we enjoyedfor fifty years, especially when we worked and worshipped togetheras we travelled with Bapak when Bapak spread Subud to peoplewho needed it all over the world..

To accept life’s trials in Subud is never easy, but thanks to your strongsense of self and nobility, you faced them with surrender andacceptance.

And now, after being born and living your life in this world, the timehas come when you have been called to go back to God. Toaccompany you on your journey, we send our prayers so that yourjourney will be filled with light and guidance from Almighty God.

And we sincerely pray that your soul will receive

Michele was alady of fine

character andan example to

us all

“

“

PAGE 15SUBUDVOICE JAN 09

Istimah Week passed away on Thursday 13th Novemberin the early afternoon. Raymond van Sommers deliv-ered this eulogy for Istimah at her funeral on 17November 2008…

David, Erica, Sandra and friends of Istimah,

I’d like to recall with you some of the major events in Istimah’slong and rich life which we are here today to commemorate.

Istimah was born in Chile into a Catholic family and fromher earliest years was devoted to the Church. She waseducated in an English-speaking school and later at aSpanish language college where her bilingual skilllaunched her into a successful career.

She became private secretary to one of the most importantbusinessmen in the country. This led to her travel to New Yorkwhere she met and married Erling, known now to us as Mark.In the summer of 1958, Istimah received a letter from herbrother Latif with the news from John Bennett in England:‘Something new in the spiritual search has come. It is adirect experience of the power of God, availablethrough a man from the East.’

Istimah said that she felt immediately the truth of this andthis was the most important moment of her life. The expe-rience Bennett referred to was the latihan, the spiritualexercise of Subud. Mark and Istimah became members ofSubud soon afterwards.

When Bapak, the founder of Subud, came to the USA thefollowing year he stayed with Mark and Istimahat their home in Briarcliff, near New York. Duringthat stay he invited them and their two smallchildren, David and Erica, to join him and live inIndonesia.

Mark sold his business interests and in January1965 the family moved to Jakarta. Living condi-tions in Indonesia were primitive compared withupstate New York and life for Istimah often dra-matic as she vividly describes in her book, ‘TheMan From The East’. Political turmoil added tothe difficulties and only six months after arrivingthey had to leave the country.

They chose to live in New Zealand and followinga year in Takapuna, where Sandra was born,they moved to Church Bay Farm, on WaihekeIsland.

These were happy times for the family but when the situ-ation in Indonesia had become safe they let their houseand moved back to Jakarta.

Istimah described the following seven years as a mostwonderful time. The Subud community attracted mem-bers from all over the world who wanted to live nearBapak and participate in the rapid growth of the move-ment. Istimah became close to Ibu, Bapak’s wife, andwith her and other women took part in the many exoticcultural activities of Javanese life.

In 1970 Bapak invited Ist imah and David to accompa-ny him and Ibu on his fourth around-the-world jour-ney. It took three months and included visits to over

Eulogy for Istimah Week•

twenty cit ies in many countries often of different rel i-gions. Everywhere members of Subud were joyfullycelebrating their worship of God through the latihanand showered their hospitality on the touring party.

When the group returned to Jakarta Istimah, whose birthname was Irma, was given her new name: ‘Istimah’.Bapak explained that it meant ‘Always obedient to thecommandments of God’. In Javanese, he said, ‘itacknowledged her gracefulness.’

Istimah – as we all knew her – was quick to smile, andalways ready with a humorous or wise Chilean sayingappropriate to the moment. She had a beautiful singingvoice, and a passion for music. Bapak often asked her to

sing at celebrations in Indonesia.

Her memory of all things, including the words ofnumerous songs, was exceptionally good mostof her life, and she was meticulously accurateabout things she quoted. This made her writingalive and interesting.

In 1985 Istimah and her family moved toAustralia, where she became an active Subudhelper, greatly loved and respected by themembers. Being a helper involved introducingnew people to Subud and accompanying oth-ers in the latihan. Bapak appointed herKejiwaan Councillor, representing Australianwomen in Subud World affairs.

In her later years in New Zealand Istimah’s lifewas taken up with her own spiritual process. Bapak saidthat one day Istimah’s humanity would become saintly.For those privileged to know her at this time, this wasplain to see.

In her own words, Istimah had this to say of life:

Love and respect your body, it has carried you through yourlife and provided you with all the senses of this world.

Love and respect your Self, it has taken you throughmany experiences and perceptions.

Love and respect your Soul, it is your true goal and knowseverything, therefore trust it completely and utterly.

May Istimah’s beautiful soul continue in the peace andlove of God.

Amen

Bapak said that one dayIstimah’shumanity

would become saintly

“

“

Istimah Week with Bapak and Ibu

•

God’s grace, and be given a fine and peaceful place in keepingwith your service and worship.

Amen.

PAGE 16

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The opinions expressed in the various articles are thesole responsibility of their authors and can not be seen asrepresenting the opinion of the World Subud Association.

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•

REMINISCENCES OF BAPAK AND OF MY LIFE

By Arthur Abdullah Pope.Third edition with 20 extra pages of text

now available from abdandsal@ozemail.com.au

or after 1st January from amazon.comAlso Salamah Pope’s book on Bapak’s

cosmological ideas, THE PATTERN OF THE WORLD

is now available from www.amazon.com

I LA INA LOOKING FOR WORKIlaina Lennard, former editor of SUBUDVOICE, is looking for paid work, proof read-ing / editing. Reasonable rates, excellentreferences. E-mail Ilaine.l@hotmail.co.uk

Thailand’s Northern SkiesTHAILAND’S NORTHERN SKIES is thebrainchild of Hannah Tiano (openedMay 2004), a Subud Member fromLampang, a small city in the North,near Chiang Mai.

Her Thai batiks carry a style unlike theIndonesian. They are drawn from plantsand animals unique to Thailand as wellas from various Thai sub-cultures.

Hannah has been exploring graphic artssince primary school. As a second grad-er, she transformed leaves and ferns intobutterflies, mountain homes, and ricefarms. In her university days, multi-colorbus tickets became birds, boats, fish,and frogs.

She puts pencil to paper and little miraclesappear.

Email her at modtiano@yahoo.co.th andshe will email photos of her work to you.

She has done Subud symbol banners forSwitzerland and for Thailand. She coulddo one for your center and country.

Consider Thailand’s Northern Skies forholiday gifts, housewarmings, birth-days and so on.

Dear Harris,

I’m writing to you in connection with theAppeal by Emmanuel Williams in arecent Subud Voice, for articles and sto-ries – personal reminiscences of Bapak.

As he says, as time goes by fewer andfewer people will have met Bapak andthis is an opportunity to remember notonly the spiritual being who brought usSubud, but the essentially human, com-passionate and wise man.

I for one received from him life-chang-ing advice for which I will be forevergrateful.

I was talking to Ilaina Lennard, initiator ofSubud Voice and first Editor, about this,and she told me she had been given acomplete set (around 300 copies, a lot ofthem 16 pages each) and she was goingthrough them for relevant stories and arti-cles, and typing them up to send toEmmanuel.

This is time consuming and as one of thestories is mine – written a long time ago, Isaid I would pay for her work in connec-tion with my story, I would like to encour-age others to do the same, whose valu-able stories might also find their way intoEmmanuel Williams’ book. Emmanueltoo needs funding. For instance recentlyhe received 8 boxes of cassettes record-ing the memories of people close toBapak; he has to listen to each tape anddecide what is relevant, and then get ittranscribed and edited. A huge task.

Could we start a fund for this excellentproject? For instance a moneygramcould be sent c/o Subud USA office, tobe divided between them.

Alicia Moss, UK. Tel. (44) (0)208 954 1919

Would You Like toSupport this project?

If you feel moved to contribute direct toEmmanuel Williams, (and it doesn't haveto be a lot!) please send a check ear-marked "Bapak Stories Project" to: SubudUSA National Office, 14019 N E 8th ST #ABellevue, WA 98007. Donations areaccepted by credit card as well – Mastercard, VISA or AmEx.

Feel free to call 00-1-425-643-1904 todonate.

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