ࡱ>   Root Entry FτƐ`'MWordDocumentBCompObjjSummaryInformation(  !"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~Root Entry FτƐ`'MWordDocumentBCompObjjSummaryInformation(  !"#$%&'()*+,-./0123456789:;<=>?@ABCDEFGHIJKLMNOPQRSTUVWXYZ[\]^_`abcdefghijklmnopqrstuvwxyz{|}~Q&P\SQP`UQ)Q|ZQ*PZQ֧P#cQ+PDiPoQ.PrQ/PsQxPxQPQ0PQ1P[Q2PQQPQ5PQPQQPQQP$Q8P/Q:QרQ=QQP@QܦPQ P]Q@P}Q"P{QAPQCQQDQQGPws 95A@v#%@A-ɗ@\+C@LTMZDU ՜.+,0HPlt|  Multimedia Design` WHAT IS SUBUDܥhW eK@+~RR<444  ( ?1(&&&&&&=9 !?X @B!4&"&&&&!<44&",mportant perhaps to a newcomer, which the book does not answer. I am relieved to be able to state that I have not yet been made aware of any major 'preliminary' problem that has not been dealt with in these pages. Each individual obviously has a few personal questions to ask and each has his own slant or approach, but that is only to be expected. Those who are 'ripe' to come to Subud usually find, at some stage or other in their reading, that there comes a time when further questions are useless. They realize that, in essence, Subud is an experience and that therefore it is only experience of Subud which can possibly give them an answer to those comparatively few doubts or queries which cannot be satisfied by talking or reading about it. For many men and women in Subud (none of whom, even after a few years of Subud experience, would claim to be more than spiritual babes), the period of initial 'experiment' is over. The 'proof' of the effect of Subud in their daily lives is so overwhelming that they sometimes wonder how, previously, they ever managed to live without it. No one knows what stresses, strains, temptations or disasters lie ahead, but there must be many alive today who cannot conceive that they would ever again dream of facing any major (or even minor) problem without the guidance and comfort which Subud has brought to them. PREFACE Subud is directly concerned with affairs of the spirit from the nearly material to the highest states imaginable. It is a general misfortune that, in the world today, matters affecting the spirit are almost universally looked upon with doubt, suspicion and even hostility. The word 'spiritual' has itself acquired a host of bewildering associations which may cause the average person to turn away from it, slightly embarrassed. It is a sweeping assertion, but manifestly true, that most of mankind today is outwardly non-religious; it is also perhaps true that, deep down, most men are neither fully secure nor entirely happy in their beliefs nor, for that matter, in their unbeliefs. Although, today, Subud is available to help us towards higher realms of being, the approach in these pages is intentionally very much down to earth. In assuming that most readers will prefer this, I intend no insult. The whole point of this book is that it shall be read by those who are still groping at my own low level. Those who have achieved greater insight can safely afford to ignore much of what is written here. A characteristic of Subud (and perhaps all) spiritual progress, which many will recognize, is that what one feels moved to say or write now is probably quite different from what one would be willing to assert in one or two years' time. In what follows there is no claim to originality. The more one reads or experiences, the clearer it becomes that, fundamentally, there is nothing new under the sun. There are only restatements, in a modem context, of old truths. This is perfectly logical, because, if there is such a thing as absolute truth, it is difficult to imagine how it could change. Pak Subuh, the first man to experience Subud as it is known today, himself always ends his talks by craving pardon of his audience lest anything which he has said be considered out of place. How much more is it necessary for me to preface this book with the same request to be forgiven if anything that is written should happen to offend. INTRODUCTION There are as many approaches to Subud as there are people in the world. This applies to any subject-not only to Subud. What, then, you may well ask, is the value of one approach among so many? Next there is the classic definition of a bore as 'a person who insists on describing the indescribable'. Most people who have been in Subud for some time will agree that in very many ways Subud is indescribable. Why, then, you may wonder, am I proposing to describe it? Even if, as I suspect, I do not know the correct answer to either question, I must make some attempt at an explanation. First, although nobody else's approach to Subud will be the same as mine, it is probable that many people will have a background similar to mine in this or that respect, even if not in all respects. Furthermore, quite apart from a similarity of background, there are sure to be a number of fundamental views, opinions and attitudes which others will share with me. To the extent, therefore, that I happen to echo such views, it may be assumed that at least one common starting point will have been established. If, after that, what I have to say helps anybody in the smallest degree to an understanding of what Subud means, this book will have been worth while. That is my answer to the first question. The second question is not going to be answered; it is to be evaded. This book does not pretend to describe or explain (except quite superficially) the workings of Subud; I am not spiritually competent to do so. The entire emphasis of the description will be on the approach for those who are not yet in Subud or who are newly in it. If, incidentally, what is written also helps those who have been longer in Subud, or helps them to assist the approach of others, nobody will, I hope, be the loser. There are already at least two books on Subud, to which many others besides myself are deeply indebted for our beginnings. Both authors are brilliant men, and part of their approach could, perhaps on that account, be considered unusual. In particular there must be some people for whom Mr. Bennett's introductory thesis could be frightening in its learning and exposition. 'If,' some people say, 'I have to believe or study such theories before I can approach Subud-then Subud is not for me.' To miss a trial of Subud for this reason would be a very great pity. Subud is available to everyone-in fact, the more simple and humble your approach, the better. Perhaps the only justification for adding to Subud literature this personal approach of mine lies in the fact that I am not in the least brilliant, and have what may be described as an 'average Christian upbringing'. I hesitate to inflict on you even a brief autobiography. Nevertheless, if you can imagine someone with the sedate background of an English preparatory and public school education, coupled with a subsequently acquired professional qualification, groping amidst the fairly common religious doubts of our time, I hope that you will think to yourself: 'This fellow is so ordinary that it could be me.' A friend of mine who had read what I have written above said: 'It is quite permissible for you to stress your own ordinariness, but, at an early stage, you must emphasize the extraordinariness of Subud.' There is some force in that comment. Fear of boredom at the thought of the 'ordinary' should not be allowed to stop you at this point. The Pocket Oxford Dictionary defines a 'miracle' as an 'Event due to supernatural agency, act of supernatural power, remarkable event', etc. If we accept that definition the coming of Subud is quite certainly a miracle of a most deeply significant kind. To say more at this stage would involve undue compression and would not help you much. For anyone who is still anxious to know what Subud is I fear that there is no escape from reading the rest of this book. PART ONE WHAT IS SUBUD ? APPROACH To begin with it is necessary to state here what is repeated in closer context later, namely that Subud is not a new religion and that it has no teaching, no creed and no dogma. Nevertheless, in my view, Subud is a timely and powerful aid to the faltering belief that so many have today-belief that, somewhere and somehow, there is a realm or sphere of being which embraces matters of higher importance than the day-to-day affairs, petty or seemingly vast, with which humanity seems to be so fully engrossed. I must apologize if the next few paragraphs seem to be stating the all too familiarly obvious. The queer characteristic of the obvious is that, quite obviously, it is never obvious to everybody. What is obvious in Washington is evidently not so in Moscow; what is obvious to a Christian is hard to believe for an atheist. Almost nobody will deny that the world is in a turmoil-afar worse state than ever before in time of peace. True, technology has developed excitingly. We are putting men into space. If one had seriously tried to forecast, even a hundred years ago, what science has accomplished in the last thirty years, one would at best have been ridiculed and at worst put in a mental home. Somehow there are many who still feel that 'progress' is inevitable and we point to these technical achievements and to the welfare state type of politics as 'proof' that there has indeed been progress. But there are also many who will doubt whether, deep down inside us, there has been any progress at all. It is painfully clear that, fundamentally, mankind is just as material and cruel-minded as ever before. The chief difference is that we now do everything on a bigger scale. The bow and arrow could kill one man at a time; the latest form of bomb can probably slay a million. Attila and Genghis Khan in their respective heydays slaughtered their way across Europe and Asia, murdering thousands. Less than twenty years ago Hitler caused millions of Jews to be exterminated. This in the name of Germany-not of some savage territory, but the land of Beethoven and Goethe, claiming to possess one of the most civilized cultures in the world. It is futile to throw the guilt of all this upon one or two persons. We little men of today allow these tyrants to lead us. We commit, allow to be committed or do not prevent, directly or indirectly, the most terrible atrocities that imagination can conceive. The saddest part of it all is that we feel rather helpless. The little men in America (generally described as a Christian country), no less than in Russia (popularly considered to be virtually atheistic), just do not seem to be able to call a halt to the creation of modes of universal destruction or to the modes of thought which lead to them. Has religion-and, particularly for us, the Christian religion-nothing to offer us? Yes, of course it has; but the saying (attributed to many famous people) that 'Christianity is a wonderful idea-somebody ought to try it' is as true today as ever it was. The vast majority of us do not feel that it is 'practical' to turn the other cheek; nor are we able, by a very long way, to love our neighbour as ourselves. We try-sometimes; most of us are not incorrigibly evil. We do not murder or steal (at least not as individuals) and we only occasionally tell lies. But even on the rare occasions when we feel comfortably holy we are not wholly comfortable, because, of course, we really understand nothing at all. I once had occasion to write to an Anglican bishop about Subud and the following extract from that letter perhaps sums up reasonably adequately what I am trying to establish as a starting point. 'For some time I have shared the difficulty, experienced by many others, of not being able to understand the extraordinary number of divisions within the Christian Church of which the Catholic/Protestant split is perhaps the deepest. A further difficulty has been that, even if Christendom were united, what of the 'salvation' of those who follow the other great religions? What of those who lived before Christ or have never heard of him? The more tolerant answers given to this sort of question usually take some such form as 'God is merciful'; but this is said with the implied intonation that, while we will each have our cloud and harp, anyone who is not a Christian might conceivably sit on a lower second-class cloud but would certainly be without a harp. They would, in other words, not be 'saved'. Some Muslims are just as bad. The Koran is, as you know, packed with fulminations against the 'unbeliever' who will burn while the ,faithful luxuriate in paradise. Even though few people these days believe such assertions literally, for me, personally, the conclusion has been inevitable that any exclusive claim to salvation by anyone religion must contain some very fundamental error somewhere. (Incidentally, these claims never seem to be made in this form by the founders.) Speaking for myself, I had reached the conclusion that the right answer must somehow embrace the following: (1) The path of the Spirit must be simple to enter (which is not the same as saying that it will be easy to tread). (2) The road signs must be as easy to understand for a beggar as for a king; for the illiterate as for the highly educated. (3) The path must be open to those of all religions and not } only to Christians or only to Muslims, etc. Many religious people believe in (I) and (2), but few will accept (3). It is not difficult to reach the above conclusions which are in no sense original. Having reached them, however, what does one do about it? Usually nothing. It was at this point that we (my wife and I) encountered Subud. We very soon gathered that, in some way, a new miracle or dispensation was at work in the world. It seems almost too good to be true that here is a means, of worship which is pure content and has no form of its own; Like water it is therefore able to fill the shape of the Christian vessel, the Muslim jar, the Buddhist flask and even the pagan pot. After about two years' experience in Subud I can confirm that its manifestations range from the startlingly Pentecostal to the still, small voice. It has not made me any more eager to attend church, but a new and direct sense of worship is undoubtedly present. I have read and re-read the four Gospels and the Acts with the greatest pleasure; passages previously obscure have become clearer and many things formerly hard to believe with the intellect are seen to be literally true. It is all quite amazing and remarkable and I hope that you will not get the impression that we have fallen uncritically for some new passing "ism". It seems that the Vatican knows of Subud. A number of monks in a Benedictine monastery have been "opened" and they will perhaps in due course report on the spiritual results.' About five years ago, before I had even heard of Subud, I had, in my own mental make-up, reached the state outlined in the first few paragraphs of the letter quoted above, and had confidently decided to write a book which would solve all the problems of the world. Perhaps not surprisingly, the outline, committed to one sheet of paper, lay fallow for at least a year. Then I came into contact with Subud, which embraced just exactly the conditions stipulated in (1), (2) and (3) above. To these I should perhaps add a fourth. Most of us at some time or another feel the urge to 'get away from it all'-permanently. We think of a mountain-top, a Pacific island, a monastery or the desert. Reflection soon brings home to us that there are not enough mountains, islands or monasteries for all of us and that the desert is very dry. I was fully convinced that not only must the solution be available to everybody but it must also be practicable in the hurly-burly of modern daily life-in a supersonic aircraft, in a bus, in the office, in the kitchen. For me (and also for countless others) Subud has proved to be the key which was needed to open the door to many things from which we all seemed to be locked out. If, however broadly or even partly, you have also experienced the state of mind indicated above, coupled occasionally perhaps with that spiritually bewildered feeling which I am sure many of us share, then you may be encouraged to read on. 2 THE MEANING AND ORIGIN OF SUBUD ______________________________________________ SUBUD is a contraction of three Sanskrit words: Susila Budhi Dharma. In Subud terminology, these have been interpreted as follows : Susila means 'right living'. Budhi refers to 'the higher powers and capacities latent in man himself'. Dharma means 'submission to the Will of God'. Taken together, they mean 'Right living according to the highest that is possible for man in submission to God's will'. (A more complete interpretation will be found on p. 92.) From this definition it will be clear to many that the principle behind Subud is not new but has existed as far back as recorded history. It is a principle which is the kernel or root of all religions. It is quite easy to state what Subud is not, and I make no apologies for repeating several times what I consider to be one of the most important principles to grasp, namely that Subud is not a new religion, creed, theory or dogma. At this stage the exasperated reader is entitled to wish that someone would tell him what. Subud is. With some misgiving I venture the following broad definition: The principle at work in Subud is a spiritual action which offers us a new means or possibility of becoming quiet within ourselves. The more inwardly quiet we become, the greater is the likelihood that we will begin to receive, from some higher source, direct and individual guidance for the right conduct of our life. The action of Subud is quite beyond our understanding. The realization of this is perhaps the single most important contribution which each of us can make towards the smoother working of Subud within us. The 'transmission' of the means to this inner working occurs at what in Subud is called the 'opening', in the presence of another person called a 'helper'. Thereafter we are at first advised to allow the action (Latihan) to work in us regularly twice a week for approximately half an hour, together with other members of our local Subud group. Later, we may add a third Latihan of half an hour at home. Subud, as it is known today and in the sense in which it is the subject of this book, originated in 1924 through a man named Muhammad Subuh living in Java. He is often referred to as Pak Subuh, but his full title is R.M. Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo. The word 'Pak' is a term of respect and is short for 'Bapak', which in Indonesian means 'father'. Everybody in Subud knows Pak Subuh affectionately by the name of 'Bapak', and throughout the rest of this book either 'Bapak' or 'Pak Subuh' will be used. This chapter is short because much of what could be written here is better placed in the next two chapters. Some definitions Opening. This is the term used in Subud for the occasion when a new member first receives the vital 'contact' which enables the action to start in him or her. At First I did not much care for this word, which struck me as strange or even mildly bizarre. But I soon realized that other existing terminology--e.g. 'ceremony' or 'initiation'-already had meanings which conjured up, in the minds of most people, even more misleading connotations. Helper. The name given to those authorized by Pak Subuh to 'transmit' (or, perhaps more accurately, to 'witness the transmission of') the contact to new members. Latihan. An Indonesian or Malay word literally meaning 'exercise' or 'training'. As both these words indicate the necessity of some effort or contribution on the part of the 'trainee' or the 'one who exercises', such literal translations are hopelessly out of place. The very essence of the Latihan is that, of ourselves, 'we do nothing; it is different for each one of us; it cannot be learned or taught. Our only contribution is a sincere willingness to submit to the action. A note on pronunciation. The 'u' in Subud and Subuh is pronounced rather like a 'double o'-not long as in 'food' but rather shorter like the 'double 0' in 'book'. The final 'd' is pronounced as a 't'. Subud is therefore more like Sooboot and Subuh like Soobooh. The 'a' in 'Pak', 'Bapak' and 'Latihan' is almost exactly like the 'u' in 'luck'. So Pak is pronounced Puk, Bapak is Buppuk and Latihan is Luttihun. 3 BAPAK ALREADY varying accounts of Pak Subuh's life have been recorded. He himself is stated to be vague as to the detail of many aspects of his life. In some ways this is just as well because, in my view, the exact detail, although interesting, is not really significant in relation to the phenomenon of the whole. It is doubtful if any ordinary person can ever be said to 'know' a man of Bapak's spiritual stature. Although, therefore, I have met Bapak both in his own home and abroad, I cannot refer to any personal 'knowledge' of him. What follows as regards biography is a paraphrased precis of the facts surrounding Bapak's early life unashamedly culled from the books by J. G. Bennett and Husein Rofe to which reference has already been made; also from various talks and lectures that have been given during the past few years. For the rest it is a record of my own impressions from personal encounters. Pak Subuh was born on 22 June 1901. He was named 'Sukarno' at birth and was delicate as a child. At one time it was thought that he would die, but an itinerant beggar happened to come to the door and, after making enquiries as to what was happening, indicated that sukarno was the wrong name for the child and that he should be called 'Muhammad Subuh'. His name was changed and his health improved. Pak Subuh was born and bred a Muslim. He seems, from an early age, to have had clairvoyant powers, and, Although he occasionally tried to imitate his companions with little tricks and lies {boys will be boys even in Indonesia), he found that his voice failed him and that he could not do as they did. There seems to have been a prophecy that he would die at the age of twenty-four (or thirty-two-Rofe has heard both ages mentioned). fu view of this he felt that it would be useless to pursue the gains of this world, and, instead, he sought spiritual guidance from various teachers. It is recorded that, with remarkable unanimity, all the seers, gurus and Sufi teachers to whom he went for study indicated that he was somehow different. They said that they could teach him nothing, but that whatever was to come to him would emanate direct from God. Bapak married in 1927 with Siti-Rumindah and had five children-three sons and two daughters. Bapak's first wife died in 1937 and two of his sons have also died. In 1941 Bapak married Siti-Sumari who is known as Ibu (mother) to all Subud members. Ibu's own daughter, Rochanawati, died early in 1966. Between 1925 and 1933, that is between his twenty-fourth and thirty-second year, there occurred the happenings which were to clarify for him his particular mission in life. One dark moonless night in 1925 he was walking outside with some companions when a ball of light more brilliant than the sun appeared above him and seemed to enter him, filling him with radiant light and vibrations. It is recorded that others, too, from far away observed this extraordinary light and made enquiries the next day as to what it could have been. There then began for Pak Subuh, during a succession of about 1,000 nights, the experiences which we in Subud know as the 'Latihan'-a purifying and cleansing process which (in his case) allowed him little sleep at night but nevertheless gave him the strength to carry on with his ordinary work during the day. He did not then understand what all this meant, and was, if anything, unhappy at the thought of receiving something which was not apparently available to others. It was not until his thirty-second birthday-the night of 21-22 June-that he received what, for want of a different word, we must term a revelation. This was to the effect that it was to be his mission and task to transmit to others the same inner working of the spirit which he himself had received. He was not to go anywhere unless he was invited and he was not to give this 'contact' unless he was requested to do so. It was to be given to all who asked for it. It so happened that very soon afterwards all the pupils of a Sufi teacher in Java came to him asking for this contact which, they said, their master had told them to request. That is how Subud began. At this time it also became clear to him that he should retire from his worldly work, and this he did, causing (so Rofe humanly records) no little anxiety and crisis in his immediate family circle. According to Rofe, Pak Subuh explained to his wife that God would now provide for them. One of Bapak's endearing characteristics is his sense of humour, which can emanate so happily from him on almost all occasions. It is in no way a cutting wit, but a real sense of fun. It is difficult to convey on paper the quiet humour with which he told me once that since !933 he had been 'un-employed'. He used the Dutch word 'werkeloos' (workless), which, to us who know the immense calls on his time, makes the remark even more gently amusing. From 1932 to 1957 (with the intervention of the war years and the occupation of Indonesia by the Japanese) Subud spread slowly in Java. Looking back, it is obvious that these were not wasted years, as there grew up a small nucleus of men and women who were being 'spiritually fortified' against the time when the explosive spread of Subud from 1957 onwards would require the help of those with much experience and inner strength. Husein Rofe came to Java in 1950 and was brought into contact with Pak Subuh. fu 1956 Rofe was instrumental in bringing Subud to the West when, among others, he met J. G. Bennett, who was, in the early stages, largely responsible for carrying on the torch. from there. Between 1957 and 1960. Bapak made two world tours, visiting more than thirty countries in which Subud came to be established. There are now about seventy groups in England alone and a similar number in the U.S.A. How is one to describe Bapak? This is the age of the ordinary man and I am sure that Bapak is happy to give the impression of being an ordinary man. fu this connection I cannot do better than to quote his own words as spoken to over 1,000 people at Friends' House in London on 17 August 1959. 'Someone once said to Bapak in Indonesia: "Bapak, you are very strange-you still wear a necktie, whereas you are a spiritual man and supposed to have a noble soul. You even drink tea and smoke cigarettes, and sometimes you go to the cinema; at other times you go to the shops and so on. Yet all these things are regarded as useless and as closing the way to God. Why don't you allow your beard to grow and lean on a stick, as do those others who are said to be near to God?" And Bapak answered: "Oh, no; Bapak is not like that. Bapak is willed by God to be simply as Bapak is-to drink coffee, to eat butter, bread and cheese, also to smoke-because this is what people ordinarily do; and it will not close my way to God, because He wills me to be so. "God is All-knowing and All-wise, and His Mercy towards man does not require him to withdraw from normal life. Man can truly receive the contact with God' s Greatness and the working of God's Power within him at times when he is engaged in his normal occupation; at every moment he can be open to receive the action within him of the Power of God. "In the times of the Prophets they wore the long shapeless robes that were customary in those days, because there were , no tailors; they allowed their beards to grow, because there I were no barbers. But at the present time there are plenty of barbers and specially good tailors who make well-cut suits and dresses. ...Why, then, should a man choose tasteless clothes and wear them because he thinks it is the Will of God? They are not the means by which man can be near to God. Those means are purity of heart and mind." Although this all goes to stress Bapak's 'ordinary' aspect and qualities, there need be no illusion on one score-and that is that he is, of course, a very extraordinary man. Although his contact with everybody is easy-going and free from all ceremony, his natural dignity is immense. The sincere reverence which all those who work for him display quietly and discreetly is, to the outsider, most impressive and unmistakable. Bapak always stresses that 'if he doesn't eat he is hungry, and if he puts his hand in the fire it will burn'. He also admits to making mistakes, although if one quotes this to his closest circle they move their shoulders or heads in very doubtful acquiescence. Bapak is immensely practical. This is a joy to some of us who cannot see why goodness should necessarily be equated with inefficiency. It is, however, sometimes a bit of a stumbling block to those who still do not grasp the inescapable fact that men and women are here to live and work on the earth and that a solution to problems must come by bringing affairs of the spirit into daily life and not by abandoning daily life in order to flee to the spirit. (In other words, it underlines what we all know to be true: that holiness is for twenty-four hours of the day, every day; not just for church and Sunday.) Finally, almost everyone asks: Who then is Bapak? What level or manner of man is he? He himself makes no claims whatever and I therefore feel that it would be wrong for others, like myself, to make any claims on his behalf In his talks he always traces the line of prophets by following the Koranic sequence of Abraham, Moses, Jesus and Mohammed. Of one thing there is, for me, no doubt whatever. Humble as were his beginnings and poor as was his education, Bapak speaks as one having authority Having stated that, it is necessary to add immediately that Bapak claims no authority and, in fact, disclaims it. It is of the essence of Subud that 'authority' is considered unnecessary because each one of us can, by the inner process of Subud, ultimately come to know all that is necessary for us. The following illustrates one of Bapak's views. I once wrote to a friend with the request that he should ask Bapak if he would be prepared to sit for a portrait by any outstanding Indonesian artist he might care to name. Bapak replied, through my friend, that he hoped that I would not be offended if he refused, but that it was best not to create any form of attention which might lead men to look to Bapak rather than to God. Although, as I see it, Pak Subuh is, from the spiritual point of view, probably the most important man alive today, he has described himself quite differently. In a talk given to the Subud World Congress in August 1959 he used the following memorable phrases: 'In all this, Bapak's function is like that of a school servant, who sets out the books, opens the door, clears the rooms and arranges the tables and chairs. When you are all in the classroom the teacher will come and give the lessons; and the teacher is not Bapak, but God Himself Bapak is not a teacher, but only the servant of God. This is in truth Bapak's position in this spiritual work of Subud; under the Power of God and in His Hands.' 4 SOME QUESTIONS AND ANSWERS Q. Is Subud a nelv religion? A. No. Q. Does Subud have any creed or dogma? A. No. Q. Does Subud have any teaching? A. No. Pak Subuh is constantly reminding Us that what he tells Us is not to be regarded as teaching. He is reluctant to 'lecture' at all and usually expresses the hope that we will forget, and certainly not 'think about', what he says. He looks upon his talks as 'clarifications' which are necessary only because our minds are (to begin with at any rate) so restless and full of questions. Most of us have since childhood found nothing more infuriating than to be told that we are 'still too young' to understand something. It is probably quite true that we are too young, spiritually, to understand the full significance of Subud, but we are apt to resent those who tell us this. Possibly for this reason, Bapak does in fact give talks because we would, in our present state, feel baulked or cheated if our questions were not answered. We are free to believe or disbelieve what Pak Subuh says. Ultimately we may be in a position to verify for ourselves the truth behind what is said. Pak Subuh has been known to say that 'the one great sin is teaching'. (This obviously refers to spiritual teaching. ) Q. Does Subud make any claims? A. It depends what you mean by claim. The word 'claim' has sometimes the connotation of something not quite right. So often when we say of someone 'he claims to be this or that' we indicate that we hardly believe it. To 'claim' something means, I suppose, to assert something which cannot be immediately verified. Pak Subuh always says that Subud has no claims and that we should make no claims for Subud. In another sense, of course, Subud 'claims' to be what it is. To the extent that an enquirer has not yet experienced Subud, he will be told what Subud is and what it sets out to be. But there is no 'claim' in the sense of 'guarantee' or 'promise' and I think that an understanding of that fact is quite important. Above all, Subud does not claim to be the only spiritual way. All the same, it is the belief of many in Subud that it is a way remarkably suitable for most people under present-day conditions. Q. In order to enter Subud does one have to believe in God? A. No-with qualifications. If you believe categorically that there is no God, and that it is quite impossible that God should exist, then Subud could hardly appeal to you. It is not, however, necessary to believe in God, Allah, Brahma or the Life Force before entering Subud. One should, I think, believe in the possibility that there is a Power higher than ourselves and that in some way we are able to come into contact with that Power. To begin with it is not necessary to believe more than that. Q. Does one have to give up one's own religion on entering Subud? A. Most certainly not. On the contrary, those who enter Subud are encouraged to continue with the customs of their own religion and with the form of worship which appeals to them. I believe that the experience of most people is that Subud has strengthened their own faith: Christians become better Christians, Muslims become better Muslims, and so on. The remarkable fact is that many dogmas previously un-acceptable to the mind are later felt to be literally true. This is not to say that all dogmas are verified in this way or that all details of religious ritual are felt to be at all times necessary. Some practices may be voluntarily abandoned, because you come to see that, for you, they are no longer essential. For example, many who practice what they call meditation or Yoga find that their need for this diminishes as time goes on. But whatever changes there may be, these come from inside and are often unmistakably compelling, and 'right', for the individual concerned. Q. Does Subud heal people? A. There have been quite a number of cases of spectacular healing and many more of general improvement in health. But Subud does not claim to heal and any assertion to the contrary should be strenuously denied. Pak Subuh encourages people to receive normal medical attention. Many people (in my experience, particularly in the East) come to Subud for the sole purpose of healing. From my own observation I can say that many who come for what, in away , I consider to be the wrong reason (that is, purely for healing) stay for the right one. We cannot grumble about that. Q. How do I join Subud? A. You apply to the nearest Subud centre and you are then asked to complete a form setting out the usual personal particulars and affirming your interest in Subud. (A few details which might be helpful are given in Appendix B to this book. ) You are then asked to wait for three months during which time you are free to ask any questions which occur to you and to read literature about Subud. The three months waiting period is not inflexible-variations are often possible. In an emergency (e.g. very serious illness) it is probable that a person will, on request, be opened immediately. The waiting period was instituted for practical reasons, chiefly, I think, to deter the large number of people who are merely curious or impulsive. Patience has always been considered a virtue and three months is not really very long when related to eternity. It is astonishing how even such a short waiting period causes some people to diminish their keenness and even to forget that they ever displayed interest. Although, therefore, this waiting period is occasionally criticized, experience has proved that it is a very valuable principle to adopt in normal circumstances. It should be added that those who wait (usually called 'probationers') can derive a great deal of benefit during these three months from attending probationers' meetings and from being in the company of Subud members who have already been opened. Men and women over sixty-three and wives of husbands who are already in Subud are not subject to the three months waiting period. There is a general rule that no one should be opened under the age of eighteen. Pak Subuh has stated frankly that the fixing of this age is a compromise. He has indicated that, spiritually, the correct time is round about the age of puberty-very roughly at fifteen. In most countries, however, the legal coming of age is fixed at twenty-one. 5 INTERLUDE WHETHER we wish to or not, we exercise a great deal of faith in our daily lives. I use 'faith' here in its widest, though not perhaps deepest, sense of believing in something which we cannot or may not be able to verify for ourselves. 'Faith' has come to have a deeper meaning than 'belief', but up to a certain point the words are interchangeable. When we are children there are many things which we accept from our parents and which we believe without verification. Some things we are able to imagine because we have had similar, though not identical, experiences. 'if you fall from the balcony on the third floor you will probably break your neck and die' is acceptable because we know that it hurts to fall in the ordinary way and that to fall from a height is likely to hurt more. But consider the injunction 'Don't put your finger in the electric plug on the wall or you will be electrocuted'. This sort of instruction we have to accept blindly, and if we are sensible we verify it only indirectly much later on in life when we read of others who are the victims of electric shocks. As we grow older so we increase the amount of 'knowledge' or 'belief' of facts and events which we cannot hope to verify. Some brilliant man occasionally revolts against accepted authority and, by refusing to believe the old, discovers something quite new. In this way Einstein 'exploded' or perhaps we should say 'extended' Newtonian physics. Following on this we accept, say, the 'Theory of Relativity' because many eminent men, who are qualified to know, accept it. But most of us do not understand the theory and do not wish to take the trouble to understand it, because in our daily lives we can get on quite well without it. This is only one example; those who do master the 'Theory of Relativity' cannot be bothered with theories in other subjects in which they are not involved, but it does not prevent them from acting in faith on the strength of those theories. It is rather curious to observe how much we, who pride ourselves on our hard-bitten intellects, are prepared to accept in the way of scientific conclusions. Yet when it comes to religion, theology and the like, our minds revolt at the idea of accepting anything which we ourselves seem unable to verify. And yet, in this field too, it is obvious that men far more brilliant than ourselves have come to accept dogmas which to us may appear to be childishly unbelievable. What attracted me to Subud, perhaps more than anything else, was the assurance that I need not believe anything that I was told about Subud because, ultimately, I could verify by my own experience what was true and what was not true. It would, I feel, be quite foolish to use this mental freedom to the uttermost and therefore to disbelieve everything that one heard until one could verify it. For myself, I have been more than happy to consider myself a child in the spirit. Just as, many years ago, I trustingly believed the advice and statements of my parents, so now I am content to accept for the time being the clarification of those more advanced in spiritual matters than I am. You may well find, as I have, that you are able to accept as reasonably probable about ninety per cent of what you will be told-albeit with reservations. If you accept the remaining ten per cent with even greater mental reservations, that is only as it should be. However, until you have had some experience you will have to accept a great deal on trust, and this applies to much of what you will read in the following chapters. This is unavoidable under the circumstances. I can only give you the preliminary assurance that Subud works for (and in) countless people and that there is no reason why it should not work in you as well. 6 THE OPENING AND THE LATIHAN LET us now assume that you have completed your three months waiting period and have decided, after what you have heard and read, that Subud is what you want, need, have been looking for or wish to try. You will of course, by then, have satisfied yourself as to what may happen at the opening, and what is the meaning of Latihan. But I write now for those who have not yet had the opportunity of asking all the questions which occur to most people. When starting to write this book I had resolved that no 'teaching' would find its way into these pages. This decision was reached not only because Subud has no teaching but, chiefly, because I am in no way competent to expound any matters of the Spirit. I am not in a position to say 'This is how it is; that is how it is'. Nevertheless, at this stage I can imagine many people asking for some clarification as to the theory of what is supposed to happen at the opening and afterwards. I set out the following in all honesty , but with the warning that I am not in a position to verify the process (and it is my belief that there are very few people in the world who can verify it). Nevertheless, speaking from my own experience, I can testify to the effect of the process. Briefly, then, the concept 'Body, Soul and Spirit' is not unfamiliar, at least as an expression. It is generally thought that the soul is the link between our body and our spirit. It is also palpably obvious that, if indeed there is a God, mankind as a whole has strayed, and is constantly straying, further and further from Him. Where once Man walked with God most men now evidently do not do so any longer. In most men one could say, therefore, that the soul (although not dead) is at least very deeply asleep, or is very young and almost undeveloped. Our bodily cares, needs and worries have choked off contact with the soul, and if the soul is a link with the spirit then we must to a large extent be cut off from the spirit too. Pak Subuh has explained that at the 'opening' some form of vital contact is made which enables the soul to awaken, or which opens up a channel to the soul. When awakened it can develop and bring us into contact with the Spirit, which, if we will let it, will once more guide us into the way in which we ought to live. We will, that is to say, come to be guided by something higher than ourselves-'from above' instead of 'from below'; from 'inside' rather than 'outside'. All this is a clumsy expression in words of a process which cannot rightly be described. What is set out above may not even be accurate, but I believe that for many people it will afford a reasonable starting point. Nobody is required to use this theory; each of us is free to have his own theory or no theory, just as he pleases. To those who are Christians, the opening and subsequent manifestations appear to bear a strong resemblance to what one imagines must have transpired at the original Pentecost scene. Here again I do not wish to appear to be inferring that it is what Christians call the Holy Ghost or Holy Spirit which manifests itself at an opening or during subsequent Latihan. All I can say is that I, personally, am convinced that something far higher than ourselves is at work. For those taking part, an 'opening' need be regarded as no different from a regular Latihan except that, of course, for one (or more) of them it will be the first Latihan. An opening or Latihan may take place in any hall or room hired or available for the purpose and large enough for the numbers likely to attend. In a Subud group's early days the venue is often a room in a private house, with the furniture removed or shifted to the side. I could not begin to enumerate the different types of rooms, barns, church halls or other meeting places in which I have done Latihan in various parts of the world. One conclusion emerges quite clearly: confirmation that the worth of true worship does not depend on surroundings. I was privileged on one occasion to be allowed to undertake, on my own, a journey which had as its object the opening of some thirty Subud probationers-all of them Muslim. Below, I set out the few words which I addressed to them before each opening session. (I sent this statement to Pak Subuh afterwards and asked him to let me know if I had said 'too much' or 'not enough' and if anything I had said was wrong. The reply came that it was 'enough'. As Bapak almost never criticizes, I hesitate to say that what follows has been fully approved by him; I can only conclude from the absence of correction that there is probably nothing fundamentally or dangerously wrong with what was said. ) 'As you probably know, Subud is a contraction of three Sanskrit words: Susila Budhi Dharma. (The meaning of each word was then given.) It is important to remember that Subud is a way of life and is not a new religion. Subud has no teaching, no dogma and makes no claims and you should not make any claims for Subud. You should all, in fact, continue the practice and custom of your present religion and you will find in time that Subud may strengthen many of your present beliefs and your faith. It is also necessary to stress that I am here only to be a witness of your opening. Any power or grace that is present during the opening comes from God and not from me. When presently we do Latihan it is advisable to remove your watch, your spectacles and any hard objects in your pockets. There is no mystic reason for this. It is a purely practical measure to prevent these objects from being broken or from hurting you. When the Latihan commences you should stand quite relaxed with your hands at your sides. It is a good thing to close your eyes so as to be distracted as little as possible by what goes on around you. You should not try "to think" and you should not try "not to think"; in fact, you should do nothing but relax and receive what comes to you. Now as to what may happen in the Latihan. Some people make movements of the head, the body, the arms or the, legs. Some people walk, some dance, some run and some lie down. Some people make noises, some talk, some shout, some sing, some laugh and some cry. These are only a few of the possible outward manifestations. Most important of all is to remember that some people just stand and may feel nothing; some have been known to stand like this for as much as six months or even longer. If this should happen to you, you should in no way be discouraged. There is no merit or non-merit in movement as such and you should on no account try to copy others. Each of you will in due course receive what is best for you. Although Bapak gives no teaching, he constantly exhorts in his talks and writings that you should diligently and regularly attend Latihan twice a week, if possible, to begin with. Bapak also stresses that you should be patient and not look for quick results. When we start the Latihan presently I shall say "Begin" and you should then close your eyes and relax; at the end I will say "Finish" so that you need not yourselves worry about when to stop.' In amplification of the above it is perhaps necessary to elaborate the phrase 'you should not try "to think" and you should not try "not to think" '. Most people find it extremely difficult, even impossible, to still their thoughts for more than fifteen to thirty seconds. I suppose that, logically, this results from the premise that you cannot very well use the mind to abolish the mind. The classic example is 'try not to think of a white elephant'. The more you try, the more you return every now and then to the image of an elephant-just to be sure that you have abandoned it. In my own experience the most trivial thoughts ('I wonder what there is for dinner tonight') will keep on coming and going in the Latihan-at least in the early stages. I believe that one should just let them come; the main thing is not to try, of your own will, to develop them. That is: don't prepare, cook and eat the dinner when the subject of the evening meal happens to cross your mind fleetingly. Relax and submit' are the key words. The sooner one can do this, the sooner can the real worth-while process begin. It is here necessary to emphasize that the circumstances in which I gave the short talks set out above were unusual. I had to travel 500 miles to reach the probationers concerned and had no means of knowing what each or any of them had read or been told about Subud. I therefore condensed into one statement most of the information which Pak Subuh suggests should be given at various times during a probationer's three months waiting period. My statement should not therefore be taken as a model for use on any and every occasion. I quote it here merely because it summarizes usefully the points which I wanted to bring out in this chapter. Some helpers are shy and a little nervous about what to say at an opening; others are still permeated with self-will and are full of unsuitable theories of various kinds. For this reason Pak Subuh has supplied certain model' statements, including one suitable for use at an opening. This is short and has as its main purpose the calming of the probationer's mind and thoughts, the restless condition of which is often the chief obstacle to a passive relaxed attitude. (All new helpers should be given a copy of Bapak's statements, which they will find invaluable as a guide to a correct approach when con duty'.) Pak Subuh stresses continually that the action of the Latihan is beyond the working of our own intellect, emotions or will. These three faculties must, of course, be used for our daily life, and the more developed they are, the better servants they will be. But none of these faculties is of the slightest use to us in our approach to God-in other words, in the Latihan. In short, it is as foolish to imagine that mind, heart and desire can be used to find God as it is to assume that because we must cast them aside in our search for God we must therefore also abandon them in our everyday life. As Pak Subuh says, if we were not supposed to use the mind at all God would not have given us one. One more point needs to be stressed. In Subud men open men and women open women; men and women do the Latihan separately-never together, even husband and wife. Men's and women's Latihan may, of course, be done simultaneously, but in different halls or rooms. Some people are puzzled by this segregation, but, once in Subud, they soon realize the necessity for it. Pak Subuh has explained that in view of the infinite variety of possible reactions in the Latihan a far greater sense of freedom exists in holding the Latihans separately. Joint sessions might exercise an inhibiting influence and that would nullify much of the benefit to be derived from spontaneous reaction, free from any form of embarrassment. 7 SOME EFFECTS OF THE LATIHAN THE Latihan is the most important force in Subud. Submission to its workings is, for the world at large, the really strikingly new element in man's spiritual struggle. In the previous chapter I made a brief reference to just a few of the possible outer manifestations of the Latihan. It is very important to understand that, as the Latihan is uniquely individual, no two persons will react in exactly the same way. It is safe to say that nobody (I think not even Pak Subuh) is in a position to tell you what your outward or inner reactions are going to be. Experience also shows that, usually, we ourselves do not know the specific significance of our movements and that it is unnecessary for us to know them. We are therefore all advised not to speculate on the meaning of movements and other manifestations; the process is one which we cannot understand with our minds. In fact if we think too much about our movements and our spiritual progress we may hinder or slow down its workings. Movements may well, at one time or another, be the same for two or more people (there are certain movements which seem to be fairly common to many), but Bapak has confirmed that the significance is likely to be different for each person. Just as two members of the same family often have quite different physical and psychological characteristics, so also will their spiritual reactions and progress differ. I have, for example, observed an instance where two brothers, both over fifty-five, have had reactions in striking contrast. One had no outward movement at all for more than a year; the other felt, almost immediately, impelled to perform the swiftest and most beautifully formed movements of a kind of shadow boxing or fencing that I have ever seen. To submit sincerely to the Latihan is to submit to a purifying process the necessity for which (although not in this form) is recognized by most religions. In the broadest possible terms our physical being is purified first, then our feelings and emotions and, last of all, our understanding. But it is important to realize that this is not the invariable order of things, nor does it necessarily happen in clearly defined stages. Often the stages overlap. It is most inadvisable to try to hurry the process. In Chapter 9 I touch on some of the observed consequences for those who attempt, if l may use the phrase, to 'speed up God's work'. After being opened in Subud, most people report that their physical condition improves in all sorts of ways, both obvious and subtle. I have also met many people who have experienced quite spectacular improvements in health. Diabetes, T.B., stomach ulcers, asthma and certain heart conditions are some of the illnesses of which Subud friends and acquaintances of mine have been cured or relieved. I was once asked: 'How do you know that these cures are attributable to the workings of Subud?' The answer is quite simply that, of course, we cannot be certain. Few, if any, cases that I know of are medically documented, but, in most of the curative instances of which I am aware, no special medical treatment was being followed concurrently. The inference, therefore, to the individual concerned and to his or her friends is very plain indeed, even if it carries no scientific weight. To most of us there is, in fact, no reasonable doubt about it at all. Here again it is of the utmost importance to understand that not everybody in Subud is healed of all their ailments. To wish for and to expect cures is really contrary to the whole spirit of Subud, which is, fundamentally, submission to the Will of God. Many Subud members report a flare-up of old or chronic ailments before any definite cure seems to take place. This flare-up is in fact characteristic of other things besides illness. Emotionally, one's weaknesses and failings (e.g. temper, irritability, etc.) may well become more pronounced for varying lengths of time before a definite improvement is observed. In fact this purifying flare-up of the passions and emotions is probably responsible for the great difficulties experienced in the early stages by most Subud groups throughout the world. The bickerings and conflicts which took (and still take !) place in the various committees and helpers' groups have not always been a good advertisement to those inside or outside Subud. As Bapak so often says, 'Man remains Man'. We are certainly not changed overnight. Until we are truly guided from within, our dominating wills continue to be a stumbling block to others as well as to ourselves. However, having drawn attention to these difficulties, it is only right to record how wonderfully these tensions do dissolve and right themselves through the regular practice of the Latihan. Next to health, or concurrently with it, there often comes a remarkable change in habits. There are countless instances where, for example, the intake of alcohol has, quite spontaneously, been reduced. I cannot over-emphasize that the cases to which I refer are instances in which the effects are not caused by self-will or personal effort. We all know that it is possible to stop smoking or drinking by an effort of our own will. We stop or reduce our consumption because of health reasons, or because we think we 'ought to'. That, as far as it goes, is perfectly all right and in no way to be despised. However, the Subud effects of which I write come from a different source. Many people have told me that whereas, before, they were fairly heavy drinkers (not by any means, therefore, drunkards or alcoholics), now they cannot take more than one occasional drink without experiencing considerable distaste or even revulsion. My wife completely stopped smoking without any effort of will. One day she found that her cigarette just nauseated her. She tried again a day later, then one week and one month later-all with the same result. A journalist friend of mine who used to be a 'half-bottle of whisky a day' man now finds that an occasional beer or two is plenty. Others report that they cannot touch alcohol at all. Others tell of marked changes in food habits, as, for example, total abstention from all meat; some just can no longer take pork. One Muslim friend told me that he was severely punished with sickness if he knowingly indulged in pork (which is forbidden in Islam) but suffered no ill effect if he ate it in small quantities unknowingly. Before entering Subud he had, without ill effects, consumed pork whenever it took his fancy. Let psychologists explain this as they will, but, to us in Subud, it is quite clear and beyond doubt that these changes come from within and that they are necessary for the individual concerned. Just because these effects come to some people, nobody should leap to the conclusion that, therefore, all meat, alcohol or smoking is bad for everybody. Pak Subuh himself regularly smokes cigarettes or cigars and eats meat. Over a period of time most people feel that, as a result of the Latihan, tensions and anxieties decrease. No special knowledge of medical matters is necessary to appreciate that this of itself is bound to have a good effect on health. Most results are gradual and are therefore not noticeable to the casual observer; but an individual's close relatives or friends are usually fully aware of the undoubted change. Occasional 'hunches' and inner promptings occur to almost everybody, whether in Subud or not. But to those in Subud such occurrences are apt to happen with increasing frequency often for the benefit of others and certainly in a quite unmistakable way. Again, clairvoyance, clairaudience, healing powers, the ability to sense the inner feelings or needs of others are all gifts which are possessed by certain people allover the world. Some people in Subud, however, find, even if they were quite insensitive before, that one or more of these powers may develop in the course of time. Because these gifts are, to say the least, unusual, many people believe that they are of themselves signs of spiritual progress. Apparently this is by no means necessarily the case. Pak Subuh has often said that some of these qualities may well be of quite a low order. In fact the tendency to regard the acquisition of such powers as an end in itself can easily bar the way to higher spiritual development. Some who have these powers already may well lose them on coming to Subud. Later they may return in a higher form. Others who acquire, say, healing or clairvoyant powers are often so fascinated that they pursue them for their own sake and consequently get stuck in a kind of spiritual rut. Others who already possess unusual powers imagine that Subud has nothing further to offer them. While on the subject of unusual qualities there is one aspect which is worth underlining. It is a matter of common observation that a special gift, whether of clairvoyant powers or the quality of genius to compose like Beethoven or to play like Paganini, does not necessarily confer 1Jn its holder the attributes of a perfect (or even a particularly fine or noble) human being. It is here necessary to add the caution that, just as we should avoid coming to Subud purely for health cures, so should we also beware of demanding or expecting the acquisition of unusual gifts of the spirit. We are assured that each will receive according to his needs and it is perhaps helpful to bear in mind that it is God, and not we ourselves, who can best assess those needs. In general most of us in Subud should be careful not to attribute every unusual factor or circumstance to the working of the Latihan. It is an easy habit to fall into, but to be too uncritical in one's conclusions can sometimes do more harm than good, especially in the eyes of those who are not in Subud. Quiet observation is a useful course to follow at all times. Just in case it is not clear from what I have already written, I should perhaps stress what I understand to be the difference between the gifts which may come to us through Subud and those which may be acquired by practices such as Yoga or various forms of asceticism. Pak Subuh has on several occasions indicated that for those who want to develop certain powers (e.g. healing, or even those lesser powers possessed by many Indian fakirs who seem to suffer no ill effects from, say. prolonged fasts, sleeping on a bed of nails, exposure to extreme cold inadequately clothed, etc., etc.) there are numerous ascetic disciplines which offer the possibility of acquiring such powers in due course. Powers acquired in this way may, so it seems, be used at will by the individual concerned. They are, in fact, the fruits of our own wishes, wills and thoughts. If in Subud we acquire unusual gifts of any sort they are not necessarily available at all times, i.e. we cannot just turn on the switch and be sure that, on each and every occasion, power will flow as we wish. Bapak has said that were he not to 'receive' from God, or, in other words, were he no longer to be the channel of God's Will, he would, of himself, be powerless. If this is true of Pak Subuh, how much more limited are we likely to be in the use of gifts from a higher source? The words with which Jesus taught his disciples to pray 'Thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven' should, in time, attain a very real significance for us in Subud. Few will deny that it is a phrase not easy to live by, however often it may be uttered. 8 HELPERS AT the time of writing, a helper derives his or her 'authority' from Pak Subuh himself This authority is confined purely to that of being allowed to open (on his or her own if necessary) those who wish to become Subud members. Bapak has repeatedly said that no one in Subud has, on his own, any authority over anybody else. All helpers are equal members of the helpers' group attached to their local centre and should, when requested to do so, act together in spiritual matters. (In most groups there is also a committee who deal with the group's worldly affairs such as those connected with renting latihan premises, management of income and expenditure, etc. Except in very small groups, where it may be unavoidable, it is not considered advisable for helpers to sit on the committee. Where they do so, they should temporarily give up their function as helper. Generally speaking, the ratio of helpers in a group would not exceed about ten per cent of the membership.) What seems to be the unique feature of Subud is the equal power of transmission ( of handing on the torch or kindling the spark or, perhaps even more accurately, 'of witnessing the kindling') which resides in each one of us. A person who is opened by the rawest and newest helper receives the same as if he were 'opened' by Bapak himself. This is quite extra-ordinary and the process has aptly been described as a 'spiritual chain reaction'. Each opened person, as it were, becomes in turn a source for opening others, just as in physics a chain reaction occurs when each fissioned atom, in turn, becomes the source for the fission of other atoms. But, as Bapak so frequently says, 'Man remains Man'. Most Subud groups wherever formed-Europe, Asia or America-experience much the same difficulties as, I should imagine, were encountered by the early Christian communities. There are always some helpers who suffer (fortunately only temporarily) from some form of spiritual arrogance. It was at the second Subud Congress, when helpers' representatives came to England from allover the world to attend, that Bapak painlessly pricked the balloon of spiritual pride which had inflated itself almost everywhere. As one journalist wrote: ' All the generals were reduced to the rank of corporals.' Bapak explained that a true helper is one who can recognize his own mistakes and can correct them. This state is rarer that it sounds and it seems that even in Indonesia many have not reached it until after ten, fifteen or twenty years in Subud. Early in 1960 I asked Bapak how many real helpers there were in the world and he indicated that there were less than ten and that none of these were outside Indonesia. Bapak has many times explained that if Subud were to spread and were not to rely solely on his own presence it was obviously necessary to appoint individuals all over the world who would be authorized to open others (or, rather, 'witness the opening' of others). Bapak usually tended to pick those who were longest in Subud and who had attended Latihan most regularly and who therefore had more experience than others. He went on to explain that in many instances it was quite possible for the person who was being opened to be far more spiritually advanced than the person who opened him. (I remember one of us asking Bapak how long our purification process could take. His reply was: 'From three minutes to thirty years,' indicating, of course, that we all enter Subud at different levels and that the length of time in Subud was of itself no criterion of spiritual progress or development.) It follows from all this that the present method of appointing helpers is more of an 'emergency' measure than an indication that those appointed are spiritually advanced. If all of us who are helpers would regard ourselves as' emergency helpers' only, I think that it would nip arrogance in the bud. This should result in our being less of a stumbling block to others who do not happen to be appointed as helpers yet and who may inwardly resent the apparent (and it is only apparent) difference in spiritual status. 9 CAN IT GO WRONG? Some Doubts and Problems THIS chapter will deal briefly with certain doubts and queries which I have heard expressed from time to time. These affect people both before and after they join Subud. They are set out in question and answer form. Q. If; in the Latihan, we are supposed to submit and open ourselves to a superior force, how do we know that we cannot be possessed by an evil force? How can we be sure that the force to which we submit is good? A. The brief answer is that, of course, we cannot be absolutely sure of anything before we start. We must be practical and down to earth about this sort of question. Most people get in touch with Subud by word of mouth or by reading literature on the subject. Then, at some stage or other, they may suddenly feel that, for them, Subud is absolutely right, that it makes common sense and that it fulfills the requirements of what a true approach to God (Brahma, Jehovah, Allah, Tao or the Life Force) should be. After speaking to, or perhaps observing, others who have experience of Subud, each one of us must assess for himself whether it appears to be good or evil. From that assessment must come our decision. We know that not all men who set themselves up to be religious, and who pray in church, temple or mosque, are for that reason necessarily good. Some of the occupants of one of the most holy offices in Christendom, the throne of St. Peter, have been thoroughly evil and wicked men. Were they possessed of good or evil forces? Manifestly evil, but that does not mean that an approach to God through the Christian Church is therefore evil too. In the light of this sort of historic fact how can any person accept from another person complete assurance as to the beneficial certainty, spiritual grade or qualities of something unknown? I can only state for the reader that from my own experience and observation the power at work is good through and through. Such an assertion is, however, really valid only for me. It is of value to others only just so far as their own reaction and intuition will take them. Q. If; as has been stated, we are being purified during the Latihan and if; during that time, we are throwing off evil forces, what happens to those forces? Is there some danger involved? A. I do not know the precise answer, but a friend of mine posed a neat counter-question when he was queried on this point. 'Supposing,' he said, 'you have a room in a state of chaos and you clean it and tidy it up, what happens to the chaos?' One could add another question: If we pray, as many people do in church or at home, we might, for example, ask God that our temper or our greed should be cured. Supposing our prayer is answered, what happens to that temper or greed? The effect is the same; all or part of an evil force or characteristic leaves us, but does anybody worry about what happens to it? Many people, who have been in Subud for some time and who have become more sensitive, report that they can feel, and in a sense absorb, some of the forces cast out by others. Should this occur, a five- or ten-minute Latihan on one's own is usually enough to throw off such effects. Bapak has said that if you visit a hospital or a friend who is ill it is a useful thing to do a short Latihan on returning home. Helpers always carry out a short 'cleansing' Latihan before and after an opening for the same reason. Bapak has also indicated that it is inadvisable that a general Latihan should be held in a house where there are children under three years old. By 'general' Latihan, I mean a Latihan involving strangers; parents, of course, may do Latihan in their own home at any time. If we take the simple precautions referred to above there is no need to allow the spiritual effect of the purifying process to perturb us. Q. Does the Latihan have any sort of 'hypnotic' effect? Are we controlled by it? A. I would say, quite categorically, 'No' to both these questions. The essential difference between the Latihan and, say, a trance or hypnotic state is that we are fully conscious throughout the Latihan and can stop it at any time. Although we have to submit completely to the action if it is to benefit us, we do so willingly. If you do Latihan at home and the telephone or the door bell rings you can, of course, choose to ignore the interruption; but you can also break off the Latihan, answer the summons and return to the Latihan. In this respect it is the same as private prayer. Occasionally, the state of Latihan will come to a person quite spontaneously and 'unasked'. These are considered to be very valuable moments and, provided it is convenient, should be submitted to. Pak Subuh has said, however, that if this should occur when other people happen to be present, one may 'stop' the process and make a mental decision to continue the Latihan some time later when one is alone. Nobody need therefore fear that the action of the Latihan will ever prove to be an unwanted embarrassment. Again, a spontaneous Latihan need be stopped only if there is some chance of outward manifestation; it is, of course, perfectly possible for a state of Latihan to persist without anybody else in the vicinity being in the least aware of it. Q. Can the process go wrong? A. The word 'crisis' crept into Subud terminology quite early on and it would not be right to omit entirely any reference to certain difficulties which are encountered by Subud members from time to time. The term 'spiritual crisis' is liberally used outside Subud and it is no new phenomenon in the world. As Subud is a process of the spirit, it is not surprising that crises should from time to time occur. I once asked Pak Subuh whether it was necessary for everybody to experience a crisis in the sense that such crisis was noticeable to the outside world. The answer was 'No'. As Subud embraces, in essence, a process of 'dying' to one's faults and to the harmful forces which motivate or dominate most of us, it seems logical that the experience will not always be pleasant. Many in Subud have related that it can be a (spiritually) very painful experience when a man begins to see himself as he really is. But most of these crises are purely private and personal and are not visible to those around us. There are, however, instances where a crisis can painfully and obviously result in a state which gives the outward appearance of mental unbalance. (This again is by no means unknown in religious experience outside Subud.) Chiefly for this reason, most helpers' groups will not open persons with a case history of mental illness. Such persons can, of course, be opened and greatly helped, but a burden of this sort should not be undertaken unless a good service of 'after-care' is possible. I had occasion to ask one of the helpers in Djakarta what the usual procedure was, in Indonesia, in relation to those who wished to join Subud but who had at some time in the past been mentally ill. I was told that in most cases it was considered necessary for a close relative (a Subud member, of course) to be present at the opening and to be available to take physical care of the 'patient' should this prove necessary. This relative could thus shoulder most of the fairly heavy physical and spiritual burden which would almost certainly have to be borne in such instances. But leaving aside cases of mental illness which are, of course, of themselves abnormal, it is still possible for others to experience distressing symptoms to which the name of 'spiritual crisis' is certainly applicable. With my own limited experience, both as to observation and from hearsay, it would be foolish to attempt an exhaustive explanation of the reasons for such occurrences. However, from what I have heard Pak Subuh say, my own belief is that well over ninety per cent (perhaps all) of such cases are due to one of two things, or to a combination of both. The first is the wish 'to go faster than God'. The second is the attempted interference of the mind with a process which we are told quite firmly cannot be grasped by the mind. The second, i.e. anxious thought, usually succeeds the first, i.e. impatience. 'Because something is good, therefore more of it must be better' is a line of reasoning all too frequently adopted not only in Subud but in other spheres as well. In Subud this can lead to crises when a person is not satisfied with the advice to do Latihan only twice a week for half an hour. Such people do not understand why the Latihan may not be used in the same way as, for example, prayer, which, if one feels so inclined, can be practiced for an unlimited number of hours a day. To argue along these lines is to miss, to a great extent, the significance of Subud and the Latihan. In prayer-at least in the form in which most people know or imagine it-we do the asking and the thinking and the willing. In the Latihan we submit ourselves to God; asking, thinking and willing has no place in such submission. It needs little reflection to understand that God is not bound by time. He can achieve what is necessary in a few minutes if it is necessary. Saul of Tarsus was completely changed in less than a week by a deep spiritual experience on the road to Damascus followed by a few days' blindness. His crisis, in its acute form, was a short one. Most religions teach that the essence of worship does not consist of prayer in the form of 'asking' even if that asking is unselfish and is for other people. It is obvious that God must know our needs even before we know them. If one believes this, then 'asking' is unnecessary. In the Latihan we have the means of ultimately achieving true purity of worship. In one of his talks to the Subud Congress in 1959 Bapak said: At this very moment, in truth, as we are speaking of these things, God hears and understands what we speak about; for everything contained in man and all that belongs to him is wholly surrounded and pervaded by the Power of God. Therefore it is God alone who can give this awareness from beginning to end, for God is at the beginning of everything that is at the beginning, and at the end of everything that is at the end; He is within everything that is within and outside everything that is without. However far the heavens may extend beyond the reach of man, God is still farther beyond them; and close to us as are our heart, our mind, our eyes and our ears, God is closer yet. If you try to find Him, He is infinitely distant, impossible to be reached no matter what your effort may be; but if you do not try to find Him, but only surrender yourself to Him, He will be nearer to you than you can ever imagine. This understanding is the content of each and every religion.' So long, then, as, in spiritual matters, we refrain from asking, expecting or willing, our progress should be sure even if it seems to be slow. If, however, we try to hurry the process we may well achieve our aim and obtain certain gifts before we are ready for them. The result is bound to be lack of balance. Bapak had a telling simile when he addressed the 1959 Congress in the terms set out below. After indicating that 'crisis' is really an inappropriate word, Bapak uses the term 'state of delivery'. His advice is succinct: 'This is why Bapak consistently advises that in order to avoid experiencing such a state of delivery you should never follow the dictates of your heart, desiring to do as many exercises as possible in the hope of accelerating the process. You should take into account the fact that the strength of your feelings and thoughts is still greater than that of your soul. It may be that you have reached the age of forty , fifty , sixty or even more, but this is only the age of the desires, the heart and the mind, not of the soul: the soul has only just been born, and it is still unable to overcome the strength of these ordinary outer functions of yours. The situation can be likened to a journey made with two horses, of which the one on the right is fully mature, while that on the left is a newly born foal. The one is unable to keep parallel with the other, and the journey cannot as yet be expected to proceed harmoniously. That is why Bapak constantly advises that you should follow the exercise with patience and never be in a hurry. In this way your receiving will eventually become sufficient to allow you to go ahead gradually, steadily and in parallel, without the need to experience anything disturbing, which may cause anxiety to those who, see it. Q. Can Subud be combined with other practices, disciplines? A. In Chapter 4, 'Some questions and answers', page 37{Now changed}, I indicated that in joining Subud one need most certainly not relinquish one's present religion; also that it is not absolutely essential to give up the practice of other disciplines such as Yoga or 'meditation' and the like. In other words, to join Subud does not, of itself, demand the abandonment of such existing disciplines, spiritual or mental, as we hold dear. Broadly speaking, all that is quite true. One warning should, however, be taken seriously, and that is not to mix or confuse Subud with any 'system' which has spiritual advancement as one of its objects. By 'mix' I mean that the Latihan should not be made the occasion for the simultaneous practice of other spiritual exercises. If you wish to continue Yoga or to 'meditate' (or to pursue any other system of conscious discipline or spiritual effort) you are free to carry on for as long as it still pleases you to do so, but do not undertake any of these during the half-hour devoted to the Latihan. By 'confuse' I mean that it should not be assumed that any other 'system' is a necessary accompaniment of Subud. The discipline imposed by the commandments of our own religion (or by the highest moral code that exists in our own country ) sets us a sufficiently high standard. In fact we all know how difficult and even seemingly impossible of attainment such standards are. The Subud Latihan, undertaken with sincerity, patience and submission, will be a powerful aid in helping each one of us ultimately to attain what is necessary in that direction. It would, however, be quite wrong to give anybody the impression that he or she will make 'better' or 'quicker' progress by combining Subud with existing 'systems' or disciplines, which are inevitably the product of our own wills. In that way often lies confusion-a confusion which, as indicated in my answer to the question above, could in extreme cases lead to a spiritual crisis. Pak Subuh, who almost never admonishes, included the following words in his message to the first U.K. Subud Congress held at Oxford in July 1962: You should know that all prophets and messengers who possess understanding and wisdom beyond the ordinary do not acquire them from teaching and guidance from any man; they do so because of the presence of the teaching and guidance from Almighty God within their understanding. In very truth it is God alone who can teach and guide the heart of man, his inner feelings and his soul, so that he may arrive at an understanding and wisdom beyond the ordinary. Therefore, if you can be influenced to such an extent that you go astray-wanting to find a method that appears to e more capable of giving tangible guidance-the possibility is very great that it will bring you to a state of inner darkness, to be aware of which is extremely difficult for you.' The vast majority of people have no need of this kind of warning, but there are always some who seek to improve on the best an unnecessary undertaking, when you come to think of it. Q. We are told that in the Latihan some people are guided to unusual behaviour, including, for example, the utterance of loud, ugly and even bestial noises. Why is this sort of thing necessary ? A. The simple answer is that only God can possibly know why it is necessary. It is a phenomenon which has puzzled me and no doubt many others, some of whom have been put off by it. It should perhaps at once be said that these ugly manifestations are usually of a temporary nature and that some very beautiful outward manifestations also occur. Although, therefore, I can not answer the question directly, it may be helpful to some if I pose a counter-question and also venture a reminder of what occurred at the original Pentecost scene. The counter-question is: As the process in Subud is one of physical and spiritual purification, and as most people admit that they are imperfect and that their characters may contain overt or latent ugly traits, what makes one imagine that ugliness can be thrown out beautifully? (Christians will know that when Jesus healed or purified those possessed of evil spirits this was, on occasions, accompanied by severe and ugly manifestations in the patient.) In drawing attention to the original Pentecost scene I do not wish to imply that the process of the Latihan is necessarily the same. Nevertheless, some of the outward manifestations are remarkably similar. Christians will know that when the Apostles received the Gift of the Holy Spirit they spoke 'in tongues' ; i.e. in languages quite foreign to their education. (This, incidentally, also happens to some persons in the Latihan. ) The effect of these utterances must have been bizarre in the extreme. In fact it is recorded that some of the bystanders said contemptuously: 'These men have been drinking.' The point I wish to make is that not everything that is holy necessarily comes in the serene or pious manner with which our imagination would equip it. We may not understand it, but it does not become less holy on that account. Q. It is apparently a fact that many people who have entered Subud and who have been opened have subsequently abandoned the Latihan. If Subud is so wonderful why should this happen? A. Obviously it is not possible to give an exhaustive list of reasons, because, for one thing, I have not spoken to every person who has left Subud. But it is a fair question and I feel that I should attempt an answer. First it should be said that I have not come across or heard of any instance where Subud has been abandoned on religious grounds or because of religious scruples. There may well be such cases, but I would say that these cannot be common. From what I have seen and heard I should imagine that an overwhelming proportion of those who leave Subud do so because of impatient disappointment, lack of understanding or just plain diminished interest. In my view the explanation is not hard to seek. Inevitably in these early stages of development comparatively large numbers of people have sought to join from general motives of curiosity and perhaps exaggerated expectancy. In England, in particular, the fairly widely publicized healing of the film actress Eva Bartok (who is a Subud member) gave the first impetus to a small avalanche of enquirers. Many, I feel sure, have joined Subud for the purpose of healing or in the expectation of gaining, say, clairvoyant or similar powers. When nothing seems to happen immediately, disappointment and impatience take the upper hand and people lose interest. It has not been unknown for people to leave Subud soon after being healed! Such people obviously join for a limited purpose and go away when the reason for their coming has disappeared. fu the early days there was no three months waiting period and the general experience was that wherever Pak Subuh went many (often hundreds) wished to be opened. For a number of these the seed, after opening, must have fallen on stony ground; it was accepted with joy, but it took no root in them. To be fair, it is necessary to add that in those early days there were not enough Subud members available with sufficient experience to give the necessary help as and when it was required. Left to themselves it was perhaps to be expected that some odd notions should prevail in newly opened persons. I have heard of one instance where a woman told her fellow members that if 'something' did not happen to her in three months then she would leave Subud. This (perhaps not uncommon) attitude savours of giving God an ultimatum and cannot surely have much chance of success. There is no doubt that sincerity, patience, trust and sub mission are some of the qualities which we ourselves must bring to the Latihan and, in particular, to the first year of it working, during which perhaps most doubts tend to arise. Q. If Subud is intended for the good of all why is it not blazoned from the rooftops; why do not more people hear about it? A. It has become obvious to most of us, and Bapak has said it often, that the world is tired of propaganda. Added to this we must bear in mind what is stated above, namely that there have not, in the past, been a sufficient number of helpers to cope with a really large number of applications. In my own view the present stage of semi-lull is one of consolidation, during which small groups and their helpers, all over the world, are gaining experience against the day when the next influx takes place. As it is, since it first left the shores of Indonesia Subud has probably grown more rapidly than any other spiritual movement in history. This is to be expected in a world where communication and travel is so swift. Nevertheless, religious history clearly demonstrates that not every onlooker who is privileged actually to witness the birth of a new spiritual force necessarily adopts or recognizes it for what it is worth. What Subud can give to people is desperately needed by almost all mankind. This does not mean that all mankind will embrace it on sight. There are, I am sure, many of us who, in the first flush of enthusiasm, feel a generous urge to share Subud with as many people as possible. Even when we do not shout about it we are often watchfully on the look-out for recruits. This is a natural tendency and, in its own way, sufficiently laudable. At the same time there will be many who have found out that when such recruiting, however well intentioned, is tainted or mixed up with our own motives the results are not by any means always satisfactory. Yet very often, when we least expect it, an enquiry comes from an improbable quarter and opportunity is handed to us on a plate. As in most things, Pak Subuh favours the middle way. Subud is no dark secret and we do not need to hide it; on the other hand, blatant advertising or propaganda is inappropriate. We gradually learn to keep the balance between these two extremes. Q. Does the membership of Subud carry any. financial obligation? A. Yes and No. There is a general understanding that no member will ever be refused an opening or prohibited attendance at a Latihan because he or she cannot afford to make any financial contribution. On the other hand, in so far as each one of us is able to do so, it is clear that we have an obligation to pay for the minimum organization that is necessary to keep the worldly side of affairs in being. It will be obvious to everybody that the hire of a suitable Latihan hall or room costs money, as also the petty expenses of postage and stationery required to keep members informed of what is going on. This applies to all local groups or centres. In addition, there is usually some national organization (e.g. Subud North America and Subud U.K.} which looks after national needs and requires some sort of contribution from local centres to keep it going. Finally there is the International Secretariat in Djakarta which acts as headquarters for the whole of Subud. Pak Subuh daily receives a large number of enquiries and requests for advice from allover the world. The secretaries who work full time dealing with Bapak's replies naturally need to earn money to live. Funds, then, are required for all worldly needs, but all gifts are entirely voluntary and the amount is left to the individual concerned, who should donate, as Bapak puts it, 'from the heart' and not from any outer compulsion. Q. Is it true that, even at this early stage, there are different interpretations of what Pak Subuh has said? Are there not contradictions? If that is true now what will things be like in a hundred or a thousand years' time? A. I am sure that there are many different versions and views current about the full meaning and significance of Subud and the Latihan. It is now easy to see how, if distortions arise even in the lifetime of someone like Bapak, tradition and history must often be tangled beyond measure in the course of a hundred, let alone a thousand or more, years. I must confess to being vaguely worried about this during my first year in Subud, and I used to lose few opportunities of correcting, with varying degrees of vehemence, what I considered to be misconceptions in others. But I very soon came to realize that one can safely leave things to the Latihan which seems to afford a tremendously powerful 'built-in, safeguard to the future of Subud. It is clear that in due course the Latihan will correct mistakes of view far more deeply and effectively than ever we can hope to do for others. For the very reason that Subud (or Bapak) has no teaching, there can be nothing fundamental to distort. It does not, therefore, ultimately matter if there are misunderstandings in the early stages. We are assured that if we continue with the Latihan sincerely each one of us can, in time, verify the truth of the clarifications which Bapak is often asked to give during his journeys and on other occasions. We can verify, that is, up to the limit of what is necessary for us at any particular time. Q. What attitude does Subud take towards nuclear armaments. communism, spiritualism, reincarnation, etc., etc.? A. This sort of question, substituting for the problems listed above any subject one cares to think of, is frequently asked. Fortunately, the answer is easy. As Subud has no teaching, tenets or dogmas, Subud has no official 'attitude' to anything. The great religions already have teachings by which we are supposed to live but which, according to all evidence, we seem unable to follow. If Subud can be said to have any general attitude it would, I suppose, be 'non-interference'. Most often, interference is the product of our own wills, motivated by forces which are usually not of the highest. By the practice of the Latihan our motives are purified at the same time as we are. Hence our 'attitude' towards any problem is likely to undergo changes for the better until such time as we know beyond doubt from within what that attitude ought to be and what action, if any, we must take in relation to it. Q. If the process of Subud really accords with the general descriptions given is it not all too good to be true ? A. This and similar questions have often been posed in my hearing by interested enquirers and used also to cross my own mind before I myself joined Subud. Some of the reasons for this feeling probably lay in the rather optimistic and perhaps too rosily painted descriptive literature which appeared in the early days of Subud. The intuitive feeling that in this world one cannot get something for nothing is very strong and I would say, basically, probably quite correct. The confusion comes if we reason that because we ourselves cannot hasten or control our spiritual progress, we therefore have no other responsibility whatsoever. This is fallacious. We who are Subud members have, in our daily lives, just as much, and indeed more, responsibility to conduct ourselves according to the teaching of our religion or according to the best moral and ethical precepts of our times and our education. As Bapak has said: 'The judge who knows the law is morally more responsible than the criminal who is ignorant of it.' The path of Subud may be easy to enter, but it is not on that account at all times easy to tread. Although, as we become increasingly purified we shall increasingly receive inner guidance as to what we are to do, it does not follow that the action to which we are guided is necessarily going to be without hardship. The story of Abraham and Isaac illustrates an extreme case of the formidable challenge with which we may be confronted if we are prepared to submit completely and unquestioningly to the Will and the Voice of God. In the early stages most of us are in no condition to 'receive' either fully or accurately and, outside the Latihan, we must therefore still control our natures as best we know how. In answer, then, to the question posed above, we can say that, although the coming of Subud may indeed seem 'too good to be true', in practice we shall find that it is not by any means an easy short cut to perfect and permanent bliss in this world. Certainly, at the outset, we are given something for nothing, but it is helpful to realize that this is only the beginning. 10 SUBUD AND THE ACTIVE LIFE THE title of this chapter is also the title of a remarkable Subud book on which I have liberally drawn for quotations in these pages. It is a record of proceedings at the second Subud International Congress held in London during 1959, and contains, among other information, the transcript of fifteen talks by Pak Subuh in answer to various questions posed to him at the time. It is a book which no Subud member should be without, as it contains answers to about ninety per cent of the usual run of questions which occur to most of us in our early Subud days. It is a book to be read and re-read, as a thorough knowledge of its contents will effectively stop us from burdening others with unnecessary questions. It is also bound to help us in countless other ways, not least in our own dealings with newcomers who enquire about Subud. What I wish to stress here in concentrated form is a sentiment which is sprinkled in other chapters, namely that Subud is for use in our outer life even though, possibly, its most significant workings are for the rehabilitation of our own inner and spiritual life. It is perhaps inevitable that many Subud members will, initially, take up some extreme position. At one end are those who might be termed spiritual hypochondriacs. Their attention is concentrated on their own spiritual 'status' ; they still use their minds to try to understand matters which cannot be understood by the mind, and, as Bapak has pointed out many times, this sort of attention actually slows up or bars spiritual progress. Undoubtedly we would be right to concentrate on the log in our own eye and to forget the speck of dust in our brother's eye. (In other words, self-correction is highly desirable and criticism of others is to be avoided at all costs. ) Few would cavil at self-analysis of that sort. I refer mainly to the introvert concentration on our own state of advancement. I should imagine that this could be as damaging as the habit of morbid concentration on our physical ills. At the other extreme (and probably numerically far greater) are those who see in the Latihan the only practical purpose of Subud. They take the view that, as the Latihan will in the end purify and guide them, they may meanwhile do as they like in everyday life. Even more dangerous, they may think that they are already being inwardly guided when in fact their inner promptings are still emanating from their own lower natures. Perhaps because of this, Bapak stresses that although Subud has no teaching of its own, we should continue to be guided by the teachings of our own respective religions or, if we are non-religious, by the highest known morals and ethics of our times. Subud has certainly not come to destroy religion; it has come as a supplement, perhaps even an umbrella, to all that is best in the religious and moral life of humanity. Bapak stresses time and again that it is our duty to fulfill our worldly obligations and that, for these, we must use in the best way we can the bodily, emotional and mental instruments with which we are equipped. The Latihan does not teach us that two and two make four, nor does it, of itself, keep the wolf from the door if we ourselves insist on being idle. The Latihan is constantly purifying our bodies, hearts and intellects so that, ultimately, we shall use these instruments in a quite different way. But for most of us it will be many years before that stage is reached to any worth-while degree of perfection. Subud has, among other things, been referred to as an 'obscure mystic sect'. 'Obscure', in the sense that it is little known, it may be at present; 'mystic' in some of its implications it certainly is; 'sect' it is not by any definition. However, what is important is that, coupled with each description, there should always be the word 'practical'. The average man does not realize that the greatest mystics were intensely practical people with a capacity for hard work and physical accomplishment which would astonish even the busy executive or worker of today. The hard paths trodden by the great mystics are not available or even suitable for all of us. Subud is available to everybody and is as valuable on the factory floor as it would be in palaces or parliaments. As Bapak says, God knows the state of mankind today and it is by His grace that the path of Subud has been made available to the ordinary man and woman of this age. But Subud does not diminish our ordinary responsibilities-it heightens them. Our bodies, emotions and intellects are, or should be, our servants. Obviously, clean, well-trained and intelligent servants are better than dirty, ill-disciplined and foolish ones. Bapak stresses that these instruments of ours are useless in our search for God but that they are very necessary for life in this world and are in no way to be neglected or despised. We have also been warned not to be in too much of a hurry to help others spiritually before we are in fact strong enough to do so. For most of us, spiritual 'capital' is as yet very limited and Bapak has compared excessive and premature zeal with spiritual 'over-trading'. It is unwise and unnecessary. In this sphere the Latihan will take care of virtually everything. In relation to this very point, Pak Subuh has said, referring to our present spiritual poverty: '...it is also necessary to remember your own being and its needs. For you can be likened to a man who wishes to become rich, but who has no capital, no property, no equipment with which to start a business, so that his wish to become rich remains in his imagination. Therefore, you should remember and take thought for yourselves in this way.. .so that you can work according to the strength that is in you. As it is with you now, you have not got the strength that is required. Those of you who have already received the contact may wish to see many others receive it also. Some of you may wish to see a million members in England in the next six months. But what about this million if they cannot be looked after?. ..Proceed slowly, therefore, little by little; a hundred, a thousand, two thousand, so long as they can all reach maturity and become complete. It is clear that the ideal way for Subud to spread is by example. In the early stages this means a rather slow tempo, because none of us can yet even faintly claim to be a good example. Nevertheless, there will almost certainly be a snowball-growth effect as soon as more people begin to show evidence, in their daily dealings, that Subud is working in them. In other. words, Subud must emerge in the active life and we must consider ourselves more than a little responsible, Within : our limited capacities, to ensure that it manifests itself worthily. Songs of Submission Apart from Bapak's own writings and talks there is probably no finer book than Ronimund von Bissing's Songs of Submission, which was published less than a year ago. Its subtitle is con the practice of Subud', but, astonishingly, the word Subud' is nowhere mentioned in the book nor is Pak Subuh referred to by name. Songs of Submission is of a rare calibre. Quite clearly, the author must have received its contents from a far higher source than that which inspires most of us. No Subud member should fail to possess it, nor will other enquirers who read it be sent empty away. It represents the finest description of the meaning and workings of Subud that I have read or can imagine (Bapak's own works and words again being excepted) and it would surprise me to hear a contrary view expressed. I have often referred to it as ca book to end all books', even while myself transgressing this description. I have also heard it said that Bapak thinks highly of it and, for Western readers, its poetic imagery and simple phrasing will prove a quite exceptional delight. 11 RELIGIOUS APPROACH As I am not a theologian nor a scholar of religion, what follows must be taken as a layman's view and not as that of an expert. To many Christians it will perhaps come as a surprise to learn that there are at least eleven religions still actively alive today. In alphabetical order these are: Buddhism, Christianity, Confucianism, Hebraism, Hinduism, Islam, Jainism, Shinto, Sikhism, Taoism and Zoroastrianism. Some of these-e.g. Buddhism and Confucianism-did not start as religions and were at one time philosophies or systems of thought and action rather than religions. However, in one way or another, men have turned them into religions. Estimates of the number of adherents show that the Jains, Sikhs and Zoroastrians each number less than six million. Shintoists, numbering about seventeen million, are confined to Japan; the Jews number between ten and fifteen million. The other religions apparently number between three and six hundred million adherents each (except the Taoists, of whom, it seems, no numerical estimate is practicable). What must be very obvious to anybody who thinks about the religious problems of the world today is that, quite definitely, what is not required is yet another religion. Piously and literally, Heaven forbid! Happily, major religious wars are a thing of the past. Even so, imagination rather falters at the thought of some new religion trying to win the minds and hearts of men already committed to existing forms of worship. There would be utter and acrimonious confusion. Human attempts at religious synthesis occur every now and then. The Theosophists (and not only they) have much literature devoted to pointing out the similarity of the truths behind all the great religions. The analogy of the facets of a diamond has been frequently used by those who have sought to demonstrate the essential unity of all religions each of which represents a different aspect of one great truth. These efforts at synthesis have clearly not gained general acceptance. The priesthoods of most religions have built their own edifices, not only of stone but also of theory and dogma, designed virtually to exclude all those who do not think as they do. In addition there are, within most religions, innumerable sects. Some of these almost fanatically exclude even co-religionists who happen to hold views different to their own. If, then, we concede that neither a new religion nor a synthesis of existing churches, temples and mosques is a practicable proposition as far as unified worship of one God is concerned, what is the answer? Man's own religious efforts have resulted in continually increasing diversity. To a situation of this kind, which can at best be described as one of tolerance without understanding, it is evident that only God can find a universally acceptable solution. It is with considerable awe that some of us recognize, in Subud, a possible instrument whereby each man may for himself eventually come to a full understanding and be inwardly convinced of the essential brotherhood and unity of all races, colours and creeds. This is in no way a new concept; it has, for centuries, been the dream and the object of idealist striving, and has now passed into the language of political cliche. Nevertheless, to be in Subud and to have been in Latihan at one and the same time with devout Hindus, Taoists, Buddhists, Christians and Muslims is to catch a glimpse of what unified and yet truly individual worship can be, and perhaps ought to be. I have never been able to understand the tenets of those who believe that their religion has given to them, and to them only, a God (a prophet or a teacher) who has intervened finally and for all time in the affairs of mankind. The more we learn of the immense age of the Universe, and of the Earth in particular, the less credible does such a belief become. I would go as far as to say that any claim to exclusive salvation by anyone religion must, of itself, constitute, at the very least, a grave error. It is only fair to add that some religious leaders and spiritual thinkers of today do not subscribe to such narrow interpretations. All the same, I do not know of any authoritative move towards a broader view of worship. Speaking as one who has had a Christian upbringing, I have been interested in reports of instances, which have occurred all over the world, where Christian ministers of varying denominations have been opened in Subud and have given some indication of the deepening effect that the Latihan has had on their religious outlook. In this direction perhaps the most vital news was when we heard that a number of monks in a European monastery had been opened and were regularly practicing the Latihan. Rightly or wrongly, I have always regarded the Roman Catholic Church as holding exceptionally rigid religious views. It has, at any rate, not surprised me to learn that it has often been members of the Catholic Church who have expressed most qualms as to the permissibility, for them, of being opened in Subud and of submitting to the Latihan. It was therefore a fine experience to read a testimony (quite unofficial, as the writer is careful to emphasize) by one of the reverend fathers resident in the monastery referred to above. It was a living account of a man who was quietly convinced that Subud and the Latihan were in no sense incompatible with his own firm faith and that of his Church. This I found a most heartening and exhilarating sign. Friends of mine in Subud have, with modest caution, reported an apparently increasing ability to grasp the deeper significance of much religious literature which they had previously classified as obscure and even forbidding. The Cloud of Unknowing written in the fourteenth century by an anonymous English monk, The Practice of the Presence of God by Brother Lawrence, and The Interior Castle by St. Theresa, are just a few examples taken from our Christian heritage. One could, however, equally well skip a continent and about twenty centuries and find much meaning in the Tao Te Ching, a collection of short and lovely poems which have been attributed to Lao Tze and which form the Taoist 'bible'. Indeed, I do not think that it is too much to say that many people in Subud achieve a clearer understanding of the language of the mystics than, so they now realize, they would have been likely to acquire outside the Latihan experience. I should find it absorbing to ransack the literature of all religions for quotations which would illumine the Subud experience and which, in turn, the Subud experience would clarify , but the results would perhaps be out of place here. For Christians in Subud (and I speak now for d1ose who did not previously possess an unshakable faith of their own) a re-reading of the Gospels, Acts and Epistles will inevitably afford a rich field of study and happy recognition. There must be any number of obvious examples where, for Christians, the Subud experience helps to confirm the literal truth of phrases which are by no means easy to prove or understand in other ways. Easily recognizable instances among the sayings of Jesus are: Ask and it shall be given you; seek and ye shall find; knock and it shall be opened unto you' ; 'Not everyone that saith unto me Lord, Lord, shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven'; 'Verily I say unto you unless you be converted and become as little children ye shall not enter the kingdom of heaven'; 'Why callest thou me good? There is none good but one, that is, God'; 'Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein'; 'Except a man be born again he cannot see the kingdom of God'. Perhaps the most obvious and most often quoted example is when Jesus says 'The Kingdom of Heaven is within you'. It has always fascinated me to read how, after three years of constant proximity to Jesus, even his close disciples did not seem to understand much about d1e new spirit and doctrine. It is, for example, almost unbelievable that only shortly before the Crucifixion there should have been arguments between some of them as to who should ultimately sit on Christ's right hand and left hand when he entered his Kingdom. The indignation of the other disciples when they heard of this also gives a childishly petulant rather than a spiritually mature impression. Jesus had been teaching his disciples for some three years, not only in parables but in the meaning of those parables and by his own example in action. Yet, in spite of all that, they appeared, in some respects at least, to be almost none the wiser. The difference in these same men, as reported after Pentecost, is remarkable. The confidence, savoir-faire and fresh note of authority is unmistakable. The advent of the Holy Spirit seems to have been demonstrably responsible for the change and it is wonderfully probable that, from that moment onwards, each of the recipients experienced the benefit of some inner teacher and guidance at work. I am unable to enter the field of higher speculation as to exactly what force it is which works in us through Subud. It is impossible to say that the subject is not important. It is. But it is permissible to suggest that it is not material-in every sense of that word. Our progress is not affected by knowing or not knowing the exact nature of the force. What is important is our submission to the will, protection and power of God, and that is what we do in the Latihan. It is not for us to analyse this force in order to fit it into our own terminology. By trying to do so we are likely only to create further hindrances in our mind. I myself cannot believe that a devout Muslim is guided by a Spirit which is different to that which guides a devout Christian, but to introduce questions of dogma is, in my view, contrary to all that Subud stands for. Whether or not we consider that it is the Holy Spirit which works in us through the Latihan is a matter which each one of us, before we are enlightened beyond all doubt, may decide for himself. It seems, however, possible to assert that the effect of the workings of both forces (if there are in fact two) appear to be the same or similar; also that the workings of the Subud Latihan permit one to understand-perhaps very roughly, but certainly more clearly than before-what manner of effect the Holy Spirit must have had on those who, as recorded in early Christian times, received it. It is noteworthy (and, incidentally, also serves as a cautionary warning to those in Subud who may be expecting too much) that the workings of the Spirit did not entirely free the Apostles from human error and failings, nor for some of them did it prevent disaster in the physical sense. But it is clear that their new-found inner strength enabled them to surmount those afflictions in a manner very different to the reactions of the frightened and dispirited little group of men just prior to and during the Crucifixion. This could with advantage be borne in mind by all those who tend to look upon Subud as a miraculous cure-all or talisman. Almost all of us achieve a certain rigidity in our way of thinking-whether at the age of, say, eighteen, twenty-five or thirty-five is an individual matter. There comes a time when we reach some sort of philosophic or religious conclusions even if it is only that no religion or philosophy is worth while. From everything that we hear, read or absorb after establishing our fixedness we tend to sift and gather in only those ideas that suit our private belief, or lack of it. It is wise to remember, not only for ourselves but in observing others, that we each bring this rigidity with us when we come to Subud. The tendency in the early months, and even years, of Subud is to superimpose our own theories on to Subud. In support of this new-found experience, the Christian will delightedly quote the Bible, the Muslim quotes the Koran, Christian Scientists, Theosophists, followers of Gurdjieff, the Arcane and Rosicrucian schools-all will try to fit their new experience into confirmatory compartments of the old. In doing so, each will use the language and terminology familiar to him. This is inevitable and not harmful of itself if not forced or indulged in to excess. The wonderful thing is that, as time goes by, we automatically, even if gradually, cease to impose our own theories on Subud and it is then that the reverse process can fruitfully begin. This is all part of the procedure by which the old house of our ideas has to be cleaned and swept before any real reorganization is possible, let alone new or refurbished furniture introduced. No one should take this to mean that old positions, perhaps sacred ones, must in all cases eventually be abandoned. On the contrary, the whole beauty of Subud is that it is complimentary to almost any belief except extreme atheism. (Incidentally, I have observed the remarkable effects of Subud even on an atheist!) What does, however, happen is that the old and fixed beliefs are purified; bad and long-since conflicting notions are discarded and the good reintroduced in far finer form. In this, as in so many respects, Subud seems to be a permanent miracle at work. One of Pak Subuh's most frequent sayings is 'Experience first, explanations afterwards'. He indicates that proof of the reality behind Subud will come in time through the regular practice of the Latihan. More than ever today (and that is saying something) mankind demands proof. To those not blessed with an unshakable faith, it seems that theory and dogma are not only unsatisfactory but tend to act as an irritant as well. For thousands of people Subud has been an instrument for furnishing incontestable proof that there is more to this world than mere matter. What, in this practical day and age, could be more reasonable than encouragement in the form of 'Try it and see for yourself'? In closing this final chapter I cannot perhaps do better than to quote yet another highly significant extract from one of pak Subuh's talks to the second Subud World Congress. 'Now, why is it that so many intellectual people doubt the validity of the various religions, although these have existed for so long and have so many adherents? The reason for this is that, up to the present, that which is written in the holy Scriptures has remained no more than words, and these cannot provide evidence of reality. This is why so many intellectuals are unable to accept or believe in the existence of God; it is because they can find no convincing proofs in religion as it has come down to us, whereas the Prophets, for instance, to whom these revelations were given, were able, in their own time, to demonstrate the evident reality of what they received from God and taught to their followers. This situation arises from the fact that those who profess the various religions are yet unable to practice the truths contained in their scriptures; it is also due to the progress of the age in which we live and to the development of the thinking mind, the heart and desires of men. It is a fact that the more man has developed his mind and his will, the weaker have the links become between man and his soul and between the soul and God. But this situation is known to God. He understands what is necessary for man, and it can be seen, by the appearance of Subud, that it is the Will of God to bestow His Grace upon us, since without His mercy it would be impossible for us to restore our link with the soul and thus re-establish contact with the Power of God. You are yourselves aware of the situation obtaining when someone is opened. New members who come to be opened are required only to submit themselves to God with patience and sincerity. Words denoting "patience" and "sincerity" are frequently pronounced by many people, but yet, although constantly repeated, they never bring about any contact as a result. Although similar sentiments may be much more eloquently expressed, they are empty of contact so long as they are not pronounced by the Will of God, but arise only from the thinking mind, which is itself influenced by the lower forces which dominate and oppress the true inner nature of man. In our opening, however, the Will of God makes it possible for our thinking and desiring to come spontaneously and at once to a standstill, and thus it has been made very easy for us to receive contact with the Greatness of God. It can be seen, therefore, that this does not depend upon prayer or upon pronouncing the words surrender, patience and submission, but upon something that is in us by the Will of God; that is, Subud. And this is in accordance with the meaning of Subud, which is an abbreviated form of Susila Budhi Dharma. Susila denotes the nature of a man in whom are to be found the true human qualities that he should possess according to the Will of God. Budhi means that there resides within a man superior power which can guide him when he is able to be aware of it. Dharma signifies the submission of man before the Greatness of God above all, so that his own experience proves to him that no other wish is stronger in him than his wish for God, and that of all his love none is greater than his love towards God; this is beyond everything he has ever wished or could wish for himsel All the Prophets have taught that a man should love God even above his own soul. This is a symbol for us in Subud. It is certainly very hard for you to live in this way in your own individuality, but once God wills it so, we can hope that what Subud stands for-namely the perfection of human society united in the worship of God-will be attained both by you yourselves and by your descendants. Subud is not a religion, for it stands as a symbol for man both within the communities of the various religions and also outside all organized religions, and only if a man's nature corresponds to the symbol of Subud can he be described as really Subud. In Subud each one will meet with and become aware of reality according to what he himself has experienced, and a man who becomes Subud will really be able to receive the guidance from God which exists in and for every individual. He will then be aware of what is right and what is wrong; he will also understand how to live while he is on this earth in such a way as to achieve happiness for himself and his family. It will be a matter of course that a state of well-being should accompany the fulfillment of his worldly obligations; not only his soul but also his body will enjoy good health, so that such a man can be said to be healthy both outwardly and inwardly. In Subud, in the exercises that we receive, we are being led from the lower to the higher, from the outer to the inner, and this will result in a balanced condition of well-being. Each of you will also be able to receive for yourself what has to be done by you, and eventually you will be able to comprehend the truths contained in all the scriptures and to become a true follower of the religion to which you belong. The whole of this process is worked in you by the Power of God alone.' POSTSCRIPT If, after many words, we ask again 'What is Subud?' it is perhaps easier to sum up than it was at the beginning. The essence of Subud is the practice of the Latihan, the Latihan and again the Latihan. It is the Latihan that, in its present form and transmission, is new to the world-certainly to humanity at large. With the Latihan goes the concept of worship of God whereby we aim at pure and passive 'receiving' rather than 'asking'. In the Latihan God does the work; we do nothing. It is from the effects of the Latihan that all else will flow including, ultimately, a fuller understanding of what is necessary for each one of us. If you can come to Subud in all sincerity; if when you are in Subud you can bring to bear your fullest trust, even in adversity and when life is not going so smoothly; if, when nothing seems to be happening or if progress is less swift than you had hoped, you can exhibit patience; and finally if throughout you can, in all humility, contribute a true spirit of submission-if, then, you can develop all these qualities, your progress must beyond all doubt be sure, even though at rimes it may seem slow. It is odd that a whole book on Subud can be condensed into seven words-the Latihan, receiving, sincerity, trust, patience, submission and.. .the Latihan. Any attempt to describe the indescribable must fail somewhere. Let the sole excuse be that, at a certain stage, words are the only means of communication that we possess. I apologize if there have been too many words and if some have, through human error, been misplaced. PART TWO Extract from Talks given by Pak Subuh On his journey rounds the world FOREWORD In writing what has now become Part One of this book I have quoted extensively from Bapak's talks. It was never my original intention to include further selections of his sayings in an introductory volume of this nature. The chief reason for my reluctance was that, no matter how often one repeats the statement that 'Subud has no teachings', it is evident that the more one quotes from Bapak's words, the more will the average person insist on finding in them some 'teaching'. That danger apart, however, there can be no question that the more one can absorb of the spirit of Bapak's explanations, the nearer one will be to the spirit of Subud. I have therefore allowed myself to be persuaded to make the selection which constitutes this second part of the book. Moreover, in doing so I have come to realize how valuable it could be to an enquirer to observe for himself or herself just where the true emphasis of participation in Subud is to be found. As the choice is my own, it is clear that these selections contain what I consider to be the important essence of what B