GARDENING DAY
AT SUBUD GREATER SEATTLE – SPRING STREET CENTER
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!
See you at the Subud House
The newest Latihan time is catching on. There has been a woman doing Latihan the past few weeks, but attendance has not built up yet. Men are gathering each week in the men’s Latihan hall Tuesdays at 11am. There has been a Helper on hand every time and here is the future Men’s Helper schedule:
March 19 – Elisa Gullixson
March 26 – Sebastian Tedrow
April 2 – Paul Nelson
April 9 – Paul Nelson
April 16 – Halstein Stralberg
April 23 – Hanafi Libman
April 30 – Elisa Gullixson
May 7 – Sebastian Tedrow
May 14 – Halstein Stralberg
May 21 – Hanafi Libman
May 28 – Elisa Gullixson
June 4 – Sebastian Tedrow
June 11 – Halstein Stralberg
June 18 – Paul Nelson
June 25 – Hanafi Libman
July 2 – Elisa Gullixson
July 9 – TBA
July 16 – Sebastian Tedrow
July 23 – Halstein Stralberg
July 30 – Paul Nelson
June 25 – Hanafi Libman
August 6 – Elisa Gullixson
August 13 – Sebastian Tedrow
August 20 – Halstein Stralberg
August 27 – Hanafi Libman
September 3 – Paul Nelson
September 10 – Elisa Gullixson
September 17 – Sebastian Tedrow
September 24 – Halstein Stralberg
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.
Bellevue First Congregational 11061 NE 2nd St
For best results, practice Latihan twice a week. Sundays at 11am are always popular at the Subud House. Friday night Latihans on the East Side in the UCC Bellevue Church (Bellevue First Congregational United Church of Christ) 11061 NE 2nd St Bellevue are also well-attended with quiet time at 7:45.
Now Tuesday Latihans at 11am for men AND women are available and a helper is scheduled on the Men’s side. We hope to see you.
Last Saturday’s Dewan meeting was well-attended with a strong feeling of community, according to our informer, who also says that the testing (on the direction for Subud Greater Seattle, and on how each new Dewan member could contribute to it) was quite “cohesive.” The main receiving was for our group to be more connected and have more energy. A full report is expected soon. Watch this space.
Recent email note from Najmat:
Dear Subud Greater Seattle member,
I would appreciate your support of my new book of transcribed interviews,American Prophets, at Elliott Bay Books.
February 3, 3pm – Elliott Bay Book Company. 1521 Tenth Avenue Seattle.
From their site: Paul Nelson, founder of SPLAB/Seattle Poetics LAB and Founding Director of the Cascadia Poetry Festival, joins us today with highlights from some of the interviews he has collected in his new book, American Prophets: Interviews with Thinkers, Activists, Poets & Visionaries (Seattle Poetics Lab). Included here are Paul Nelson’s interviews with luminaries such as Rupert Sheldrake, Jean Houston, Wanda Coleman, Allen Ginsberg and many others…
Early reviews of the book are in and people are saying that calling them simply “interviews” do not do them justice because of the quality of the content. This project is near and dear to my heart and I hope I see some Subud people there Sunday. Thanks for considering. Paul
This morning! Sunday, January 27, 2019, Subud Greater Seattle will elect new officers for the Local Committee: Chair, Vice-Chair, Treasurer, Secretary and At-Large Members. This is the business side of keeping our organization strong and we have had candidates step up for Chair and Treasurer, but we need you to consider serving a two year term to make sure Subud Greater Seattle continues to operate in the best way, ensuring we have places to do our twice-weekly Latihan Kejiwaan and (hopefully) expand our membership.
Please consider bringing snacks to share with other Subud members.
The meeting will commence after Latihan. We hope to see you. Watching this process always renews my faith in Subud and the power of our practice. Let’s also give thanks to outgoing the outgoing committee, especially Jim O’Halloran
and Sherwin O’Bar for all their service.
Potluck
This is an exciting time for Subud Greater Seattle! I just heard that Oswald Norton has tested and received to take on the treasurer’s job, which is wonderful news! Whoever takes on the role of chairman will have a much easier time with Oswald in that position, but, of course, the final decision rests with the new committee. The people in charge of the house and Airbnb rentals ( Paul and Debbie with many helpers and volunteers) are doing a great job and it looks like things are getting even better with new tenants and new opportunities for rentals for our property! Adjustments are being made due to new taxes and other expenses related to those rentals but even so prospects are good! All in all 2019 is looking to be a great year for our group with new projects and a great time to experience working for Subud! Please take the time to consider if you would like to experience this life altering process in whatever capacity that feels right! Our meeting for choosing the new committee will be Sunday, January 27th after the general latihan. Please come and help in making this a successful event and find out who will be guided to fill these positions!
