This is your newsletter and it would be great if we could use it to share our experiences here.  If you have a feeling to write something about your inner or outer blessings or travails, or if you have anything you want to post, please do so!  Send to me at rachmanc@gmail.com.  It is helpful to hear stories of how we are coping with our outer and inner worlds and perhaps give hope and encouragement to our brothers and sisters!

Faith

When I was a boy, living with my parents, my faith was Roman Catholic.

When I was a college student, full of new ideas and the knowledge that I could choose my spiritual path, I wondered what I would choose and found many paths that could be that path – one was shown to me in a dream.

When I was done with college and living in San Francisco, trying to figure out what sort of man I would become, I found that the rock and roll, sex and drugs religion suited me for a time. And, then it didn’t. My marriage collapsed and my work life was going nowhere.  It was then that my soul, having put itself on a shelf saying, “come back to me when you’re ready,” asked, “Are you ready now?”

Then I had dreams of leaving the sex and drugs and rock and roll scene. I was afraid, but I kept going until I found a clearing, and, in that clearing, I found the place I’d seen in the dream in my college years.

It felt like I was home. It felt like I’d finally found my path. And, having walked along that path now for over 40 years, I’ve never felt lost, always at home, in the grace of this faith; in this practice we have in Subud.

Copyright © 2007 the World Subud Association.  All rights reserved.CodeNumber:70TJK3 ProvisionalTranslationForSubudMembersOnly

To a member in England In reality, Lent and Ramadhan have equal value.  Christians feel that fasting in Lent is very important for them because it is derived and adapted from what was done and experienced by Jesus Christ.
You say that Jesus Christ carried out the religious observance of fasting in the wilderness for forty days at the time of Lent.  This may be taken to mean that Jesus Christ fasted during this time so that his inner feeling might be swept clean of the influence of the nafsu causing darkness (wilderness) within.
For Muslims, the religious observance of fasting in the month of Ramadhan is the same.  This too is derived and adapted from what was done and experienced by the Prophet Muhammad.

It is told that the Prophet Muhammad fasted in a cave at that time (this too means in darkness ).  He carried out the religious observance of fasting in the cave so that the inner feeling could be swept clean of the influence of the nafsu causing darkness.  It is therefore said that the revelation that he was to be the Messenger of God came to him in the cave.  In other words, it was then that he received the first command of the One God.

This is Bapak’s explanation concerning these two religious observances of fasting, as seen from the spiritual point of view.  So Bapak feels that Lent and Ramadhan are of equally great and high value.

Furthermore, any individual Christians, or Christians in general, may follow the religious observance of fasting during Ramadhan if they wish to do so, because, although this is not usually customary for Christians, if the fast is observed it is also a method whereby the influence of the nafsu, which always constitutes a temptation and a hindrance to the quiet of the inner feeling, can be separated and swept away from the inner feeling.  Conversely, it is the same for Muslims who wish to carry out the religious observance of fasting during Lent.

Now, of course, you ask: how is it for us or for Subud members?
Bapak would like you to know that, because our brotherhood of Susila Budhi Dharma consists of members of various nationalities and religions, it is best for each member to observe the fast of his own religion unless he wishes to observe another as well.

Concerning the explanation you may want about prihatin: This actually is cutting down one’s pleasures in eating, sleeping and other enjoyments.  For, if one practices prihatin, the heart is accustomed not to be deceived all the time by the nafsu.  If the nafsu, which arise in the heart and mind, are not given their way so much (that is, if one restricts the pleasures of eating and sleeping and restrains the nafsu of anger and greed which drive away all contentment) then the nafsu will automatically weaken, and a feeling of patience, surrender, trust and sincere submission will become manifest.
Prihatin may be practiced by anyone wishing to do so, anyone who hopes to become a person of patience who surrenders with trust and sincere submission to the Will of Almighty God.  Usually when a person can really carry this out his situation will be one of well being and happiness.
This kind of prihatin may be done by way of fasting every Monday and Thursday, without saur (that means without eating in the middle of the night) or by cutting down on one’s food every day; for instance, if one is accustomed to having beefsteak and potatoes, then one eats only potatoes and vegetables, provided one does not take too much of these either.  One can also cut down on sleep; not sleeping often with one’s wife and not sleeping before midnight.

This is done in the hope that one’s life situation, or one’s lot in life, may improve; also so that one’s inner feeling, which still continues to feel dark or hindered by the influence of the nafsu, may become calm and quiet and the influence of the nafsu, which always interferes with the calm and quiet of the inner feeling, may be avoided.

This is why Bapak always says that a good and noble life can be achieved only if one really practices prihatin beforehand.  It must be remembered that even Jesus Christ and the Prophet Muhammad did this.  How much more does an ordinary person need it.  One should not be quick to complain so often, or to feel despair just because one lacks things in life, nor should one feel overjoyed if one happens to have unusually good fortune.

This is Bapak’s answer to your question.  Bapak gives praise and thanks to Almighty God and hopes that you will accept the above explanation in a good way.

From Bapak

Update On Our House Improvements Fundraising Efforts

We have a match!  Daniel Stralberg has offered to be the 2nd match. This means we have $1000 to be matched.  And, a regional member has pledged $100 toward this match.  

We’re still receiving donations in the $30-$35 range on Sunday, thanks to Daniella Mauguin’s Money Tree.

Lastly, I’ve received 1 pledge and 1 donation toward reducing the amount we will need to obtain from the Subud PNW Housing Fund. The more members who can do this, the less we’ll end up needing.

I appreciate all who have stepped forward and provided contributions big and small toward this effort. Thank You!

I’ll update you as progress continues.

Dear Subud Greater Seattle Members,

As your treasurer I wanted to make you aware of current and future expenses and to ask for members who can to make a large donation toward some of the costs that we are now facing in the maintenance of our Seattle facilities.

As you know from past posts, during December we had an issue with our sewer system backing up again.  Immediate temporary repairs were able to be completed, but it was discovered that we needed to complete the lining of our old sewer pipe all the way into the building because of new breaks in that pipe.  That repair has now been completed.  The total cost was $6,276 including tax.

We have put off for 2 years painting our building and it’s showing it.  Recently we’ve discovered water leaking into one of our rooms upstairs.  This needs to be repaired from the outside of the building.  We also know that we have other areas outside of the building that will cause similar issues, unless we act now. The total cost, with tax to paint the outside of the building is $14,862.  This painting will occur in June.

Together these costs total $21,138.

Your committee has secured a line of credit of $7000 from our regional housing fund to assist in the paying for the painting work.  If our Centerprise provides $11,203 toward these costs, the member’s portion would be $9,914.

Thanks to efforts by Danella Mauguin, and the Money Tree she started, and the donations of others, we have raised $1,558.  If we borrow the $7000 from the region, we would only need to raise $1,356, before payment for the painting is due.

I would like to see us raise $2000 by the middle of June. I’m willing to match, up to $500, of additional donations.  I would like a second volunteer to also commit to a $500 match.  Then, if checks small and large come in to match that $1000, we’ll have the $2000 before you know it.

The more we receive from members, the less we’ll have to tap into the $7000 from the region, we’ll eventually need to pay back.

I’ll be updating you as progress continues.

Your Treasurer, Oswald Norton

Oswald Norton

GARDENING DAY

AT SUBUD GREATER SEATTLE – SPRING STREET CENTER

COME HELP SPRUCE UP THE LANDSCAPING!   

WHEN:    APRIL 28  

TIMES:    AFTER LATIHAN FROM NOON TO 3 PM

EQUIPMENT:   BRING GLOVES AND WEAR GARDENING CLOTHS

We will also clean some items out of the storage room and do a Goodwill run.

IF YOU HAVE QUESTIONS CALL MARSTON GREGORY.

Note from Jim:  We have a general meeting after latihan this coming Sunday the 14th.  We will have reports from our helpers, treasurer, centerprise people, old business, and new business; plus time to discuss new subjects plus an upcoming Kedjiwaan day and also a picnic in August.

Please come and give your input on these subjects!

Oswald Norton

Ash Wednesday Reflections

I wanted to share with you an experience I had during an Ash Wednesday service at our church last week.  I’m sharing it with my Subud community because I know that a part of the reason I was able to have this experience has to do with what’s been opened in me through this spiritual training, this latihan.

I’ve been to a number of Ash Wednesday services, particularly as a child growing up in a Catholic family. In them I’ve heard the same phrase, “Remember, O man, that dust thou art, and to dust thou shalt return.” At my present church, the First Congregational United Church of Christ in Bellevue, we had an Ash Wednesday service last Wednesday to mark the beginning of Lent.

For reasons I’m still trying to understand, during this service, I came to understand to my core, that the body I inhabit now is nothing more than a vessel that my being – call it spirit, or just the image of the person that I represent – inhabits for the moment.

I guess, I, for the first time since observing this ritual, felt both a gratitude for and the temporal limits of this body, this mind, the energies that I’ve employed all these years to carry out the different tasks involved in my life. It was as if I finally was able to acknowledge, the gift of the possibilities, that inhabiting this body, in this place, with those I’ve shared this space with for the first time. Call it an awakening to what I’ve been given.

It came about through both the words and the actions of our minister the Reverend Lisa Horst Clark. As she spoke, she had before her, soil, in a simple baking pan.  The soil was in a small mound, as if unused, waiting. As she spoke, she shaped the mound first into the shape of a mountain, speaking of how we humans have built columns to try and reach to the sky to the world of the spirit. Something was shifting within me. I found that I could barely look at her and the work of her hands as she spoke, so I looked away.

Next she spoke of how, over the millennia the shape that was to become our human body, was created.  Specs of earth, and elements from the universe which have landed on our planet, evolved and evolved, until the human shape was formed. This body gradually evolved into the humans we are now with all of our thinking and feeling. Our thinking and feeling had evolved and created the environments in which we now live throughout this world.  Any yet, when we – those of us within the room of the service and those not there – completed our time in the bodies we now inhabit, and we died, these bodies will return to the basic elements that began the journey at the very beginning.

While she spoke, she shaped a body in the pan. Then, lifting up that body shape, let it fall back into the mound that was there in the beginning.

In me there came a new opening to the understanding of the temporary time I have to use this body. The time available to me is only the time I’ve been given. I have no way of understanding, or controlling, or lengthening through my own will the time available. What I can control is what I do during this time; this time I’ve been given.

So, during Lent, during this time of fasting and trying to grasp what is going on in my life that I could change, or react to in a different way, I’m going to remember that this is a temporary time. And, this body, this mind, these feelings I have are available to me temporarily.

To what end? That is what I’m going to try and understand and carry out.  Surely to create goodness and acts of kindness and love. Surely that. That is my hope.  That is my desire. So I’m going to reflect on that and see what comes of this reflection.