I have been frustrated of late by the lack of growth in Subud. Subud's "latihan kejiwaan" (Indonesian for 'spiritual training') is a beautiful gift to humanity that is underappreciated and underutilized.
It is, in one sense, a quite simple phenomenon involving no prior or lead-up training or discipline. On the other hand, it is a profound phenomenon that requires patience and insight to fully appreciate and utilize. It is the subtle profundity of the latihan kejiwaan, devoid of flash and show, devoid of pomp and ceremony, that leads to its underappreciation and underutilization even among those who have at one time or another tried to enter into the training.
The latihan kejiwaan is similar to other spiritual practices. Like Tai Chi and Qi Gong, the latihan kejiwaan involves an experience of the life force flowing through one's body. Like yoga, too, the latihan kejiwaan involves a mind-body discipline that liberates the body and the ego from restraints that have held it back from development. Like Zen, the latihan kejiwaan is a way that emphasizes knocking the reasoning mind out of the driver's seat in order to receive the flow of the universe from its divine sources. Like the mystical forms of the Judeo-Christian-Islamic heritage, the latihan kejiwaan is a way of achieving the unity the self with the divine so that one's worship of God and one's self-development spring from the same source and the same activity.
The advantage of practicing the latihan for me is that it is completely spontaneous. It is completely a matter of experiencing the flow of the chi, or the power of God as we think of it in the Judeo-Christian-Islamic heritage, and learning to flow with, i.e. be guided by, it. The fact that the latihan is so spontaneous has positive and negative aspects, however. For someone who is ready for it, we experience it as a great advantage of systems that teach you physical and mental techniques to get into a state where you can receive this purification and guidance. The other side of that, however, in my experience, is that for the person who is not ready for it, there is little or no spontaneous receiving and the new practitioner becomes frustrated with the whole process.
Subud is not a religion, but is open to all people, including people of all philosophies and faiths.
In my personal life, I was raised as a Christian, but have come to appreciate all spirituality, and all of the world's religions. My approach to religion is rather like Gandhi's when he said that "I AM a Muslim... and a Hindu... and a Jew... and a Christian." He believed as I do that all religions focus on the worship of, and coming into harmony with, the divine, and its truths. Fundamentalist followers of all of these religions would reject me as not a true follower of their faiths, because I am a philosopher and seek the truth not through any particular set of stories or holy texts, but through a combination of prayerful seeking, experience and reason.
The roots of the latihan kejiwaan lie closer to Sufism, I believe, than any other religion, though the gift-bearer who initially taught us about the latihan, Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwijojo, always emphasized that his association, Subud, was meant to be open to people of all faiths.
But the religious labels don't matter.
What matters is the sincerity of surrender (sacrifice of the ego) to the guiding powers of the divine. We all have the divine spark within us. Jesus taught as much himself. The whole purpose of life is to try to come into harmony with the divine power that flows through the universe. And as a student and teacher of the world's religions, I have found this to be a universal theme.
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Social Work and Subud: Link between Subud "Readiness" and Work "Readiness?"
Olav said: "It is the subtle profundity of the latihan kejiwaan, devoid of flash and show, devoid of pomp and ceremony, that leads to its underappreciation and underutilization..."
I've been doing the training for 22 years myself so some may call me biased, but it's always been hard for me to fathom that EVERYONE doesn't want direct access to the Source of the universe--that which can solve every problem, answer every question, give guidance in any circumstance, give direct and profound insight into any situation, and provide unlimited love and compassion... What human being in their right mind would turn this down? Yet this direct contact has been available in this form, in the West, for 50 years, and there are only about 2,000 or people in the USA in Subud.
Maybe one answer is that only a small percentage of people are "ready" for Subud. Olav said that the person who is "ready for the latihan" may experience a great benefit in spontaneous energy flowing through the body, and guidance for their life, etc., and yet "...for the person who is not ready for it, there is little or no spontaneous receiving and the new practitioner becomes frustrated with the whole process." What does this "being ready" mean?
Often, social workers tend to say a person experiencing symptoms of mental illness (note that this is 1 of every 5 people in the USA) isn't "ready to work" and thus is prevented by treatment teams (social workers, nurses, psychiatrists, etc.) from working. Because they "aren't ready" they are forced to live on public assistance, have low self-esteem, little purpose in life, continue in poverty, and have the worst health of just about any population in the USA (because of lack of adequate diet and health care) and on the average even though they are not at any kind of physical disadvantage initially, they die 15 to 25 years before their non-mentally ill peers. This has been a major challenge for us for the past five years in Hawaii. All human beings SHOULD work, whether they are "ready" or not. Even Jean-Paul Sartre, the French exitentialist philosopher who held that life was meaningless and purposeless said, in his later years, that a person can create their own meaning and purpose if they have "projects" or something to throw themselves into to provide purpose and structure to life. I've confronted social workers all throughout the state of Hawaii and asked them what they mean, exactly, by this phrase "not ready."
The federal data tells a different story: Even though someone with mental illness is at a disadvantage, SAMHSA says that nearly 75% of these folks want to work, and with the proper support 60% can be successful in work. But in Hawaii, as in other states, only about 15% are working. With proper education about the world of work, the 75% number can be increased to over 90%. The probem is that social workers don't know how to present the situation and don't know how to properly deal with the issues, so they throw their hands up and say, "they aren't ready for work."
It may be the same with Subud. How much of a responsibility do we have for our fellows? If we truly care, should we simply accept that someone "isn't ready?" Subud folks tend to have an egalitarian bent on these issues, and this attitude is somewhat at odds with the humanitarian and compassionate modes of comportment. And it starts right from the beginning, when "helpers" are explaining what Subud is about. Mostly there's little warm, welcoming inclusiveness. There's more of a feeling of sel-help--if they "don't get it" then too bad. I'm not saying anything should be forced. I'm saying it may not be presented correctly.
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