To: Anyone who is interested From: Sharif Horthy About: Should Bapak and Ibu Rahayu's talks on the Web be restricted to Subud members? My thoughts on this issue plus Ibu Rahayu's response --------------- Dear Brothers and Sisters, I read with interest the recent comments on this question. I do feel very sympathetic to the general trend of the discussion, which seems to be that we should make things simple, that Subud should be more open than in the past, and what are we afraid of when we restrict these talks to Subud members?  (Incidentally, I also tried getting a password and had the same experience as Rachman Cantrell - anyway, why does it take 24 hours to register a password?) Some people perhaps feel that the reason for the restriction has been because people might get opened or go into crisis when they read Bapak's talks. I have to say that I've never heard of anyone going into crisis in this way, and having too many people opened suddenly certainly doesn't seem like a dangerous threat these days. So is that it? I don't think so. I can see two more serious objections that haven't so far been mentioned. They are as follows: 1. Bapak always said (e.g. see the extract in the June '99 issue of Subud World News) that his talks are not a teaching but explanations. He justifies this by saying that he is not telling members how to do their latihan (where they are taught directly by God) but simply explaining the meaning of the experiences that they are likely to receive, so that they will not be bewildered by the things that happen to them. Often he ends his talks by saying, 'OK, now let's do some testing so that you can check the reality of what Bapak has just told you.' But if people who are not yet opened are reading Bapak's talks to find out what Subud is all about, their understanding will be quite different. They will say, 'Oh yes, Subud is full of all these weird teachings about cosmology and the history of the world and a hierarchy of life forces and so on and so forth,' and they will probably assume that Subud is a sect or a cult where we are expected to believe in all this. (Of course if they read lots of Bapak's talks thoroughly they will eventually also understand about the latihan and the nature of Bapak's explanations, but that is something one can't rely on.) 2. The most sensitive things in this world have to do with religion and religious teachings, and non-Subud people often assess Subud from the point of view of 'what does Subud say about my religion?' Well, as we know 'Subud' doesn't say anything about any religion, except that it's good if people follow their religion and the latihan should deepen their understanding of their own religion. But in his talks to Subud members Bapak did speak about various religions from the point of view of spiritual reality, and what he said may be at odds with the specific teachings of this or that religion. This is hardly going to affect the growth of Subud in countries where religious tolerance is the norm - and  but it can be a life and death matter in other places. The first of these objections could be dealt with in various ways, for example by writing a brief explanation that everybody has to read before they access the talks on the Web. The second is harder, and this is an area where the talks on the Web are more dangerous than, say, a book, since it is much easier to search for a phrase or a reference and take something out of context. There is also the matter that Bapak MOST of the time wanted his talks restricted to Subud members. So far this is my thinking on the matter, but Ibu Rahayu happens to be staying with me, so I asked her what she thought. She agreed with most of what I've just written, but for her another concern was that lots of people might come with all sorts of questions that the helpers would be unable to answer. We talked about it for a long time and then she let it 'soak' for a couple of days. In the end she said, 'OK, for my talks I agree to make them accessible to everybody, as they don't contain anything too sensitive. But for Bapak's talks I don't have the confidence to go against what he wanted.' So the bottom line is that we can have Ibu Rahayu's talks outside of the area with password access - I think that was the immediate problem. It seems to me also that the issue with Bapak's talks is more complicated. It's good to discuss these things but I don't believe this is soluble through voting, quorums and intellectual effort. My sense is that it is not cast in stone, but to find the right solution for right now we need to test. And who better to do that than the International Helpers when they meet in Holland. Over & out. With love, Sharif