Author Archives: Rachman Cantrell

About Rachman Cantrell

Rachman Cantrell is a long time Subud member, helper, photographer, amateur musician, partner dancer, volleyball player and owner of 'Bothell Jewelers & Collectibles' in downtown Bothell and now editor of the Greater Subud Seattle newsletter.

New Messages! 

Sheltering in Place 

The Subud Greater Seattle Committee hopes everyone is hanging in there during this unusual time. We hope you had a lovely and meaningful Easter, even if you were unable to gather with family as you might have liked. We hope the phone in Latihans have succeeded in helping you feel continued connection with your spiritual community. The Sunday Zoom meetings at noon have provided another way to stay in touch. The meeting ID is 2064225002. 

 

Book Release 

Several Subud members attended the virtual book release party Saturday night for Paul Nelson’s new book, A Time Before Slaughter/Pig War: & Other Songs of Cascadia. If you would like some sheltering in place reading, you can order it at atimebeforeslaughter.com

 

 

Ramadan 

Begins April 24.

Subud World Congress 1975 Germany video

Short five minute video of the Wolfsburg congress in 1975 posted by Erwin husoyono.   Source Video on YouTube :http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0xuBT_Kkn0
Dutch Subud members travel by train to Wolfsburg, Germany, to attend the 5th world congress. Pak Subuh and his family attended this gathering visited by many foreign members. Amongst the Dutch members: Faisal Sillem, Reinbrand and Erica Visman, Volkert Reyn.
Camera Philip Renard. Sound Michael Rogge

Excerpt from Imron Comey’s book ‘A Time Soon To Come’

This is an excerpt from a book by Subud member, Imron Comey, who lives in Indonesia and Australia.  I felt it is very prophetic and important for this time in our history.  He gave me permission to share it here.  It is available on Amazon and Ebay for anyone who wants to read the whole book.
Imron Comey

As some will know, I had an encounter with an insubstantial being, on my little farm here in Kalimantan, twenty years ago. This would later become the basis of a book called “A Time Soon to Come”. The message given me at the time seems relevant to the times now. Therefore I post the first chapter here and hope it is worth taking into consideration. The Message

In late 1999 I was working as a ‘poverty alleviation’ consultant in the Indonesian part of the island of Borneo, some forty kilometers from Palangkaraya, the capital of the Province of Central Kalimantan.
It was my habit to make a weekly check on participants in our programs in several of the transmigration sites located there.
I had finished with my meetings and it was early afternoon. I was only about an hour’s drive from the office in town and figured I could afford a few minutes to check the roof of a wooden farmhouse I had recently bought in the area. I was concerned the roof might be leaking; something that can lead to quick deterioration in the tropics.
The farmhouse was on a block of land located only a few minutes off the main road.
As I turned off into the rocky little track that led back into the farming area I was already feeling strange. It was as if I had been hyperventilating, yet was not. A tingling sensation was running through my limbs, becoming increasingly intense; a pleasant kind of “pins and needles” that began to totally engorge my musculature. This fizzing rush of energy filled my cells and ran deep into my bones.
A sensation of extreme well-being which I can only begin to capture with the word ‘bliss’ began to invade me. It was as if I was being drenched in a liquid form of love, utterly comforting, carrying me to a feeling of willing abandon.
As I drove up the road toward the cottage, I found that under the extremely relaxing influence of this ‘bliss’, and the incumbent vibration that now sizzled in my flesh, my muscles were becoming awkward and seemingly detached. My movements no longer entirely followed my intent.
I stopped about a hundred meters from the cottage and stumbled out of the car, my body now behaving as if I were drunk, and lurched awkwardly toward the little house. The idea of checking roof leaks had vanished from my thoughts. I only wished to be somewhere I could allow this marvellous sensation to continue.
Behind the house was an old neem tree. I fell to the ground beneath it, overcome now by the luxury of this feeling and a rather wild desire, noticeably sexual in character, to be consumed by the earth.
I lay under the tree. In this way, relaxed upon the earth, I immediately saw a massive vortex, twisting up into the sky and seeming to descend into the earth only some fifty meters from where I lay. Riding this circling cone, and seeming to be carried up and down on its twisting spirals, were greyish forms which I took to be some kind of entities.
One of these stopped next to me, hovering on my right side. I was still completely aware of my environment: the feel of the earth under me, the breeze, and the sun streaking through the leaves of the tree.
I believe this an important aspect of the experience; that I still had normal awareness of my environment, the experience then becoming a powerful penetration of a more numinous reality into my everyday world. A fizzing energy continued to course through my body.
It was then that the ‘entity’ spoke.
“Generosity.”
I experienced no surprise and, after a short silence, it continued: “Genesis, gene, genuine, generator, genital, gentle, genius.”
This was an amazing set of seemingly related words.
‘Generosity’ was repeated.
Nonplussed, I asked, “What is this? What are you doing?”
My questions were not thought out. I was in fact hardly thinking at all although very ‘aware’. Perhaps this assisted my later ability to remember events and the answers so well.
The voice answered my questions as if they were expected.
“A time is soon coming…”
Those were his exact words. I say ‘his’ because it was a male voice.
“…when human beings will undergo tremendous change. We are helping to prepare that change. This is a place where we are bringing gifts into the earth. These are gifts for the earth, and for mankind, preparing changes that shall soon come about. This is like an umbilical cord for the earth.”
“What kind of change?” I asked.
“Mankind has always lived from self-interest. It is part of his current nature. It is part of the program within. In a time soon to come this will be changed. People will begin to regard others as equal to themselves, even to think of others as if part of themselves. No new growth can occur until this change is fully manifest.
“This change is being made in the DNA of mankind; in your genes. Nothing new is being added, but there will simply be an alteration. Certain genes will be activated that are already present; turning them on.
“When this occurs the nature of mankind will alter rapidly over a short period of time. Many will begin to feel this difference. They will begin to consider the welfare of others as if considering their own welfare. It is difficult for you to imagine the implications of this. There will be chaos, of a kind never before experienced; the chaos of a conflict of natures utterly immiscible. Generosity is the key to your survival in those times.”
“What is this change really?”
“God has given you the internet as a metaphor. It is an analogy for the conditions that are coming, for the way in which human beings will move towards oneness.
“A ‘human internet’ will be turned on; a condition in which a connection will be felt, a unifying oneness of understanding and of sharing of feeling and knowledge. Lying will no longer be possible for many. It will in fact become meaningless. Many will be exposed to a direct understanding of the needs of others, and will be moved to satisfy those needs. There will be a reciprocity of care, more of the kind that you experience in families but particularly genuine. I have said ‘generous’.”

In this communication with the entity I believe there were no misunderstandings because his words were transferred on the back of ‘meaning’ and not the other way around. This is the very special property of that ‘internet’ of which he spoke. ‘Seeing’ this internet in my mind at the time, it was for me a subtle web of holographic reflections seeming to be bound into every cell of the body, glimmering in response to those to whom we were communicating, like sparkling neurons in some harmonic play with one another; each a mirror to and already somehow a part of the others.

At this point in our ‘conversation’, I know more was said, but I cannot honestly recall the detail of the message. I can only mention my recollection that something of ‘disturbances’ and an apparent parting of ways between those who could contain the changes and those who could not, would occur but am not confident enough to place it along with that which I clearly recall and about which I made some notes not long after the event.
He continued, “The internet I speak of is something that already is in place. It is within your DNA.
“As for the workings of this ‘internet’, the way in which you will experience it, that is easy to show you because you are experiencing it right now and therefore your understanding should be complete. It is just this; this way in which you are communicating with me right now.”
As he spoke I saw two people facing one-another each with some capacity to serve the other, and the desire to do so, without seeking reward. In the energies of this new world I could see a thousand resolutions and an almost automatic rush to improvements in the conditions of every life. Every lack being filled, the resources of the earth would be turned to honest purpose, leaving some things to wither while others would blossom.
It is not hard to imagine what would be the wheat and what the chaff. The old biblical ‘swords to ploughshares’ comes to mind.
Yet, as he spoke I was also seeing our world, a vast grey supermarket of fashionable rubbish for which we all competed. Perhaps my next question, particularly dull, emerged from that vision:
“What about malls? Shopping malls?”
“These are a part of the world as it is, but this form of commerce, built on self-interest, will lose meaning, as will many of the vanities of man.”
I recall seeing a massively confused condition coming into the conduct of business of every kind. My question came from this.
“What about money and banks?”
“These will pass and change form. God has already prepared everything for you. If you could understand it, within ‘generosity’ is already the key to God’s own financial system: God’s money.
“Prepared within everyone since time began are the gifts necessary for their role on the earth. These gifts are meant to be given; employed and developed to bring richness and quality to the life of the earth and its creatures. Yet, in greater part these gifts have lain within you undiscovered, and many poorly, or wrongly used.
Each of you is born with a unique capacity, with which to bring something which is needed into the world. What mankind has achieved so far is only a shadow of the real possibilities present within him when he takes up his true role.”
“What do you mean by ‘true role’?”
“To understand this you might look at the example of the rainforest. This island, Borneo, is known for its great forests. These forests have taken countless years to develop. They are home to innumerable species of animals and plants.
You need to understand something about this. Each of these organisms has been created, but not in the way that scientists currently believe. They will come to understand this differently.
Scientists studying the formation of the stars, of the suns and planets, and those studying genetics will soon begin to understand the role of ‘Generosity’ in this act of creation.”
I was feeling that there was a particular significance in the constant reference to ‘generosity’; a significance that was tied to the ‘gene’ in that word, and to the mysterious (for me) science of genetics.
“Within the rainforests it is apparent that every creature, every living thing, is in some way dependent on others for its growth, its life, and further, that every living thing offers something back into the system of the forest that provides for or improves the life of others. The entirety is a living network of interdependence that spans and reaches out in myriad connections; connections running deep into to the earth itself and these reaching further: to the sun, stars and beyond.
“This is something that can be studied and can be understood. What has not been considered, but which will soon begin to be understood, is that the movement toward the tremendous complexity and beauty that is found in the forest – just one tiny part of the creation – is the result of the ever refining movement of the force of generosity.
“Consider that the very nature of a new species is a product of the needs of that which already exists and answering a powerful creative intent. Generosity is the mechanism of this intent. It acts with an energy you call ‘love’; the creative and sustaining force of The One, whom you know as the beneficent, the compassionate, and the merciful.
“New things, in essence, come into being upon the word of intent of the creator, with the energy of love, and the desire to fulfill the needs of that which already exists, perpetually refining and increasing.
“Your understandings of evolution will soon change. Your own sciences will begin to indicate the truth of this generative force and its presence and role in the creation of every creature and in the creation of stars and planets.
“In the forest everything exchanges. Each gives to and takes from others. This is the true and perfect economy; and also the economy of the universe. Mankind should be part of this economy, should be contributing to it, refreshing, refining and renewing it. But currently mankind’s economy is built around his vanity and lust for personal power and wealth.
“With these changes that are coming human beings will be transformed, awakened to their true purpose. They will begin to be bent to the real service of others and to the creation; to the adoration of the source, the One; that of which we are all a part. That is their role. When conditions are like this it is then possible that the Kingdom of God will come upon the earth.
“In the human form is written the whole. All that has been on the earth to this time; the earth itself, even that which is beyond the earth is reflected in your physical and spiritual nature. Mankind is like the fruit of a great tree; a tree that spans the stars of the heavens. Human kind is both a reflection of the whole, and, as an agent of Generosity, a renewing source, its seed, its prototype written within its form and nature.”
Against his lovely picture of a miraculous universe tied into our deepest being, I was seeing the darker world we have created in a kind of crippled mimicry; that of the complex steel and oil fed industrial world in which we lived. Within that vision my thoughts came to rest on my own dependence on air travel, if not my romantic love of aircraft.
“What about airplanes? Will we still have airplanes?”
“All this is in your own hands, as you return to your real needs and your true nature. If you want airplanes you shall have them. Within mankind are capacities to bring into being new wonders, new technologies that are now only like dreams. I have told you of the gifts. These are from The One. Once you understand the principles of working for and with each other, as the creator has planned, then nothing you truly undertake will be impossible and these gifts will bear fruit. Heaven on Earth is possible.”
I would now wish to have been able to ask so much more, so many questions that would arise after I left that place. But the condition was fading and this relatively pointless, if not immature, question about airplanes was to be my last.
I felt a diminution of the tingling and the bliss. I was clearly returning to my everyday state and I lost at this point the awareness of that voice and the vision of the vortex. I stirred to my feet and my attention moved completely back to this world.
Although I recalled then that I had come to check for leaks, I had so completely lost interest in the condition of my house that I started immediately to walk back to the car, hoping to retain the feeling for as long as possible.
I was still bathed in the residual comfort of that marvellous blanket of bliss that had enfolded me during the experience and from knowing that I had be given a startling revelation. As I drove toward Palangkaraya, I realized that the experience was not entirely over. Whatever the condition was that had resided in me, allowing me to communicate with that entity, now continued in a different form.
The ‘love’ that had enveloped me at the outset of the experience had now subsided to a soft feeling of utter safety, but it now sustained me, the feeling itself containing something that brought with it a marvelous statement about the nature of this life.
In those moments I needed nothing else. I was wrapped in a comfort for which the word ‘happiness’ fails completely. I was beyond happy. Rather I was ‘at home’, seemingly embraced by the warm attentions of my creator. What greater security can we hope for?
Somewhere in each of us there is a sense of this ‘at home’ feeling. Its most immediate image for the western mind is found in the warmth of the hearth, our child self, nestled in the arms of mother at the end of a busy day, the cold dark night locked out, the murmur of a sleepy story, the crackle of the fire.
This brought me to a new awareness of my own condition in this life. The phrase “the truth shall set you free” seemed to capture it perfectly.
‘The Truth shall set you free’.
As I said this to myself in my reverie I was doing so in reaction to a new understanding about the condition of mankind that was invading me with force in those moments. The ‘truth’ mentioned in this phrase was not something external, discoverable, or some finally reduced scientific or even spiritual clarity. It was nothing more or less that the simple state of my own being at any moment when I have no longer the fear of death. And it was this feeling of blissful and penetrating love that worked this magic on me, that freed me, at least for those moments, from that fear.
“It’s not what is wrong with the world!” I thought, “It’s what is wrong with me!”
Truth is about me. About ourselves. It is about what and who we really are; our lost connections with all that is about us suddenly plugged in, suddenly making us part of a greater life that has always been moving unseen within and around, exposing us to the lies and self-deceit we live, exposing us to the fears that move us; exposing us too, to the love and delight, the sustaining breath, that has always been as close as our own heart.
If we are at that moment to be flooded with the truth of our condition and if we are open and accepting, I saw this would be a journey out of our prison of lies about ourselves; an awakening into a new world of a freedom we cannot begin to imagine.
I felt that this would happen. On that Day.

Note:  His book ‘A Time Soon To Come’ is available on Amazon and on Ebay.

Addressing the COVID-19 Crisis 

General business meetings are suspended until further notice

Regularly scheduled latihans will continue at the Seattle Subud House for those of you who wish to continue coming during the COVID-19 outbreak. For those who do choose to come to Seattle to attend the latihan there, please note that there may be no helper to start the latihan. 

For those preferring to physically attend latihan, please wash your hands immediately on coming to the hall or church and after touching your face or eating. 

Consider making an attempt to maintain a 6 foot distance between yourself and other attendees. 

Needless to say, if you have a temperature, feel ill, or have a cough (especially a dry cough), stay home and enjoy the benefits of a remote latihan. 

Few of us do a good job washing our hands. Here’s a link to a good video. Note turning off the faucet with a paper towel, so your clean hands are not recontaminated. 

https://youtu.be/IisgnbMfKvI 

Other Options: Sunday Call-in Latihans For those who still wish to do latihan, but not come to the center during this time, our Subud PNW Regional Helpers are offering a Sunday conference call latihan. Here are the details: 

Quiet time 11:00 AM Latihan 11:15 AM to 11:45 AM 

Men and women may now dial in on any of the following numbers: 1 (218) 339-7800 1 (712) 832-8330 1 (605) 475 2879 

After you’re connected please use the appropriate code to connect to your group: Women’s code 242 6147 Men’s code 863 2438 

Please follow your guidance, and keep yourselves healthy! 

Effect on Airbnb Business 

As you might imagine, the current crisis has drastically impacted Airbnb bookings at Spring Street Center, which is our major source of income. Please consider donating a little extra if at all possible. 

Regional Call-In Latihans 

Regional Latihans 1st Monday and 3rd Thursday every month Quiet time 7:30 PM Latihan 7:45 PM to 8:15 AM 

Men and women may now dial in on any of the following numbers: 1 (218) 339-7800 1 (712) 832-8330 1 (605) 475 2879 

After you’re connected please use the appropriate code to connect to your group: Women’s code 242 6147 Men’s code 863 2438

Kedjiwaan Day March 8 report

Kedjiwaan Day was a day of heartfelt connection. After latihan and a potluck, twelve members sat in a circle. Each got a chance to share about something happening in their lives or about possible test questions. Testing afterward included some preliminary test questions about ancestors (as a prelude to the month of the ancestors which begins March 24). Another question asked was what we can do more/less in order to flourish, and then there was some personal testing. It was a lovely time of connection and revelation. The group expressed a desire to have a Community Day more often, including potluck, sharing circle, and testing. 

Announcements!

IF YOU MISSED THE APPLE CAKE AT THE GENERAL MEETING, THERE’S MORE FOOD ON THE HORIZON! 

Soup and Bread 

You are cordially invited to join Rayma and Oswald Norton at their home for soup and bread at 6:00 pm before the Friday night Eastside Latihan on March 6th. If you would like to bring something to add to the menu it is welcome, but not necessary. 

Kedjiwan Day and Potluck 

March 8th the helpers are planning a Kedjiwan Day and Potluck following latihan at Spring Street Center. Please bring questions you would like to test as well as a delectable dish!

Dear Brothers and Sisters,

We are writing today with an important update on our 2020 Subud USA National Congress.

As you are no doubt aware, in recent days the world has focused its attention on the rapidly expanding transmission of the novel coronavirus.

On Friday, February 28 the World Health Association’s Director General stated that the organization has increased its “assessment of the risk of spread and the risk of impact of COVID-19 to very high at a global level.” Indeed, many companies have taken steps in the last 48 hours to cancel or postpone upcoming conferences. These changes are occurring precisely at the time when Subud USA would need to finalize its contractual commitments for our July 4 event.

Taking these facts into consideration, and out of an abundance of caution regarding the wellbeing of our members, the executive committee of Subud USA has determined that the best plan forward for our National Congress is to postpone it until later in 2020 when the situation surrounding the coronavirus contagion is more clear.

We feel that we will be better informed within the next few weeks as to the scope and impact of the virus on the US. Please know that we are actively pursuing venues suitable for our National Congress that can accommodate our group later on in 2020.

We apologize for any inconvenience that this extraordinary circumstance may have caused. We will be back in touch as soon as possible with our revised plan and schedule.

Thank you in advance for your understanding. Comments or questions can be submitted to us at info@subudusa.org.

Sincerely,

                               

Lucas Boladian                                Philip Lindstrom

Chair                                                Vice Chair

Subud USA                                      Subud USA

New Announcements!

Spring Street Living RoomFundraising Drive
The next fundraising drive for improvements to Spring Street Center is about to begin. The plan is to raise $3000 to sand and refinish the wood floors in November. You can earmark a portion of your monthly donation, or designate a donation specifically for the fundraising drive.

Next General Meeting
March 20 in Bellevue after latihan.

Month of the Ancestors
Begins March 24. The midpoint is the full moon on April 7, which happens to fall on a Tuesday. Ancestor Testing will be available after latihan. Shall we have lunch after? Make it a social occasion as well?

Ramadan
Begins April 24. There will be a Subud Pacific Northwest Regional Meeting in Portland on May 24, which happens to correspond with Eidl Fitri.

Subud Greater Seattle Treasurer 2019 Summary Report

Donations

Over all donations for December were $3832 ($1,740 general fund $2,092 Maintenance Fund). At the end of the year we were behind our 2019 budget for donations to our building and general funds by $1,600.

Member 2020 donations calculated through Pledging this year

This year we’re asking all members to participate – in whatever way they can – by donating to our center.

As of the end of December only 8 members have pledged. Total annual pledges so far $5,264.

Update on Building Repair Fund

With December’s donations we have completed our fund raising and have $215 toward our 2020 Maintenance Fund. Many thanks to all members throughout 2019 that made this happen!!

Building Rentals

December rentals brought in $800. AirBnB rentals for December were $5,880 – $870 up over November. For 2019 we were -$1,923 under budgeted income for AirBnB. Because of a major client for Hall Rentals, our overall budgeted amount for 2019 was positive $ 982.

December Expenses

December expenses were up again over November due to increased heating costs. We ask everyone who uses the hall for latihan to return the heat to normal after using the facilities.

Future Expenses

January expenses will continue be higher due to heating costs, but should be in line with average winter costs.

Proposed 2020 Budget

The budget for 2020 was approved at our last group meeting at the Subud House on Sunday December 15 th . In that
approved budget is $400 a month to be dedicated toward building up a building maintenance fund; $100 a month
toward building up a fund to assist Subud Seattle members in need to attend Subud events; and, $1000 ($500 ea.) to send 2 delegates from the Seattle Subud Group to the SUSA congress this summer.

Important! New name for donation checks to Subud Greater Seattle

Use only “Subud PNW – Seattle Center” on any future donations to our center. Bank rules, recently changed, are delaying deposits. Please be sure to change the “Pay To The Order Of” section of your handwritten or automatic withdrawal check from your account and use this name. If you intend to make your donation to the Region, please earmark your check ‘Subud PNW’.

Pledges still being accepted

Please fill out a pledge form online if you haven’t already.

Bank Information for monthly donations

Thanks monthly recurring donations setup through your bank. These regular checks really help us meet our monthly commitments to the region and pay for our use of our facilities.
If you’d like to know how to setup a recurring donation to our group through your bank, please contact me.

Meeting Friday night!

Our annual general meeting will be after Latihan in Bellevue this Friday, January 31.
We’ll keep it short, a recap of the year, and vision for the coming year.

Helper meetings (men and women) after Latihan the third Sunday of each month; next February 16th.

Kedjiwaan day March 8th after general Latihan.

Paul Nelson Book release April 11th at Open Books in Wallingford, 7PM

New from Jim!

We have passed a budget for 2020-this was accomplished at the general meeting Sunday!

Please pledge for the year!  Here’s a link—-https://www.subudgreaterseattle.com/subud-greater-seattle-pledge-commitment-for-2020/

Holiday family potluck party this coming Sunday, December 22nd after Latihan in Seattle

Womens’ retreat January 24th-26th near the Skagit river!  Here’s a link—-https://subudpnw.org/women-kedjiwaan-gathering/

You can now fill out your own census information for Subud USA, AND choose what to dilvulge and what to keep private!  Here’s a link—-https://subudpnw.org/please-take-5-minutes-subud-usa-census/

Ressurection of art camp/family camp?  Any interest?  https://subudpnw.org/art-camp-family-camp/

Jim O’Halloran
ojim1@blarg.net
206-817-2066