Category Archives: General Announcements

No Latihan Saturday, July 18

There will be no latihan Saturday, July 18 due to a rental event in the reception hall.

Sorry for any inconvenience.

OTHER NOTES:

Latihan happens for Men Tuesday mornings at 10:45am for an 11am start. Great way to beat mid-week blahs. Evan Padilla’s a regular.

Latihan happens Thursdays at 12:45pm for the women for a 1pm start. More details on Latihan times here.

Also, PLEASE LOCK THE DOOR LEADING TO THE NEW RAMP FROM THE INSIDE OF THE CHAPEL CLOSET. It was unlocked again today and has been left unlocked several times.

Finished Handicap Ramp! (Video)

Your humble narrator (& his trusty companion) gives you a tour of the new handicap access ramp at the Subud House, funded by the Muhammed Subuh Foundation and built by Resident Carpenter of Subud Greater Seattle, David Lynch. The ramp now makes Spring Street Center accessible to people in wheelchairs for weddings and other events. Enjoy a video taken today of the new feature of the Seattle Subud House.

And see a video with David Lynch here: https://www.subudgreaterseattle.com/constructing-a-ramp-for-disabled/

Constructing a Ramp for Disabled

Lumber where the ramp will be

A project many years in the making is coming to fruition thanks to the Muhammad Subuh Foundation, the Subud Greater Seattle Dewan and “Resident Carpenter” David Lynch. Grants totaling $16,000 have enabled the construction of a ramp, done to ADA specifications, that would make the first floor of the Seattle Subud House accessible to folks in wheelchairs for latihan, weddings and the other myriad events held in that space. Former Chair of Subud Greater Seattle, David Lynch entered the successful bid for the project and is sleeping in the Men’s Latihan Hall on an airbed with his Brother-in-Law Tom Young until the project is completed. The recent hot spell makes this arrangement not as bad as it might sound.

David gave your humble blog editor a guided tour of the project in this video:

The ramp is expected to take up to two weeks to complete, so stop by the north side of the house, or the Men’s Latihan Hall and give a howdy and a thank you to the resident carpenter of Subud Greater Seattle, David Lynch.

Support Your Local Subud

Flutist. From Local Helper Jim O’Halloran:

Jim O’Halloran

Hi everyone!

We have some excellent gigs coming up, starting with a trio gig featuring Tim Carey on bass and Ricardo Guity on percussion kit at the Lake Chad Cafe, 1712 S. Jackson June 26 from 7-100 PM. No cover, Chadian and New Orleans menu, full bar. Sweet!

July 11 we’ll be at Choochokam Arts festival, Langley WA; TBA. A terrific arts & crafts fair with an excellent live music line-up http://choochokamarts.org/

July 12 will find the trio of Jim, Dean Schmidt on bass and Jacques Willis on drum set at the Georgetown Garden Walk/Cross Pollinate event. TBA—Hat & Boots, Georgetown

July 17, August 14, & 28, and September 1 Jim, Dean & Jacques will be at Swedish Cherry from 11:30-1:30 outside the main entrance.

July 17th We’ll also be back at the Lake Chad cafe; this time with Dean Schmidt on bass and D’Vonne Lewis on drums. 7-10PM.

August 29th will be the Bradner Gardens extravaganza with Bill Anschell on piano, Dean Schmidt on bass, Denny Stern on percussion, Jacques WIllis on drums; with special guests Elva Pope on vocals, and poets Faiza Sultan and Paul Nelson. 6:30-8:30PM. Bring a blanket and a picnic dinner! 29th S. & S. Grand.

http://bradnergardenspark.org/

More gigs coming your way!

See you soon for a fun, musical summer.

Jim

Subud Canada Western Regional Family Gathering

Now this is something to look forward to!
(Subud Canada Western Regional Family Gathering)
By: Hadidjah Gregory June 2, 2015

The Subud Canada Western Regional Family Gathering at Crescent Beach has become another chance for U.S. Subud members to cross over the Border into Canada and enjoy some of the best of times. It was held over the U.S. Memorial Day Weekend.

Crescent Beach, BC

I really want to say put THIS on your calendar as soon as dates are announced for next year and start looking forward to a real breath of fresh air. In a perfect place to relax and receive (your latihan of course) as well as the beautiful sweetness of place that the Alexandra Retreat and Events Center offers.

It felt like being part of a wonderful family; welcomed, included and appreciated just for coming.

Yes, we did latihan. Yes, we met in a few circles. Yes, we sang and danced and remembered what a happy child feels like, and we could take beautiful walks by the water, or into the very quaint town center.

We could take naps inside or outside, we could be earnest or silly and even feel alone in the midst of the crowd while wrapped in our own thoughts if we liked. The food was always there, and very good, the coffee was always fresh or almost ready; the laughter was light and frequent.

Of course, next year more people of all ages would be nice, more “talks”, more sharing, more music and dancing and more “anything worth doing is worth overdoing.” Yes, of course, there was a closing circle and the big take away for me was “This is great.” It works. My hope is Subud Canada keeps doing this there and really encourage people to save the time and the money to make it next year. They also started an assistance fund that will hopefully be large enough in a year’s time to assist.

Oh and by the way this is less than two hours from Seattle to Surrey (including customs). The Alexandra Center has a vision and a mission that we share.

Vision? “A vibrant inclusive and caring community.”

Mission? “To gather, grow and build a spirit of community.”

Month of Ancestors

From Subud Voice. Download the latest edition here.

ANCESTORS

International helper, Isti Jenkins, sent us this information about the Month of the Ancestors…

For those members who practise the Ramadan Fast, the month preceding the fast has special significance; it is the Month of the Ancestors. This month is the time when all the ancestral stuff comes to the surface and can be a special time for work on this level. Ancestors! Like it or not, we all have them. Some of your ancestors may have led good lives, and some not so good. Unless you are on a very lucky break, it is likely that you have some real work ahead of you to repair the mistakes of your ancestors. Your inherited baggage, going back many generations, is a heavy burden on all of you. “…If there has been some impurity in an ancestor, it will be carried on and will even increase. If your grandfather had some fault, it will be handed on to his son, your father, and the existing fault will become greater… So a fault grows even bigger and is multiplied. The fault that comes down to you is doubled – these faults may have descended through many generations.” “Not only your own mistakes, but also those of your ancestors can be repaired with God’s help. It is difficult to say how long it will take – this purification can be a long and difficult process. But with the latihan it is possible to repair your ancestral damage, even if it has accumulated over 1000 years. “That is why, when you do your latihan, you must pray to God, ask God to give you a latihan which will purify your sins, purify the traces of the mistakes that have been handed down to you from your ancestors. It is much easier if you have a couple of generations in your family doing the latihan and working at your ancestral inheritance, because it spreads the load. “You are part of a chain connecting back to your ancestors and forward to your children and their children and so on. You are affected by your ancestors and can rectify the mistakes by living a good life, doing your latihan with diligence and receiving the help of God. In the same way you and your ancestors can be helped by your children, if they lead good lives. Hence the latihan you do does not affect you alone, it affects the parents who gave birth to you and also the children born of your marriage. “As a bonus from this whole ancestral process, if you can really understand your parents and grandparents while they are still alive, while you still have a chance to talk with them, then you will come a long way to being able to understand and love yourself.” How to improve your life Prihatin/fasting can be a great way to go! Prihatin is an Indonesian word meaning to restrain yourself from enjoyment of pleasures. A reduction in eating and sleeping, marital relations (sex) and all kinds of pleasure is very necessary, for it is in fact a way to make it possible to obtain an improvement in your fortune in life. Everyone wishes for a life of ease and abundance, but if you will not follow the path of prihatin, such a wish will remain no more than a hope.

HOW TO SURVIVE THE MONTH OF THE ANCESTORS

By the editor of Subud Voice, Harris Smart…

I’m writing this on Saturday night, May 16. The last few days, I’ve been feeling a bit strange. So what else is new?, you ask. Well, I’ve been feeling stranger than usual. Up one day, full of energy; down the next day, barely able to drag my carcase around. I believe that tomorrow night will be the beginning of the Month of the Ancestors, and I associate these mood swings and disturbances with that event. I am grateful to the international helper, Isti Jenkins, for providing us with that document about the meaning of the Month of the Ancestors. But I would like to add something about what is my 12 JUNE 2015 ” Repairing the mistakes of your ancestors… > “ • 13 JUNE 2015 actual experience during this month. And I know that, at least in some respects, it is what is quite often experienced by other Subud members. The simplest way to describe the Month of the Ancestors is that it is the month when things commonly go wrong. That is how I recognize it. That is how I identify it. I know that other Subud members have a similar experience. It is a month when it is very difficult to accomplish anything. Is a month in which things will not come together. It is a month in which you get sudden unexpected shocks. When your world, which seemed so secure, suddenly opens up and falls apart. If we put it in traditional religious terms, for me it is like the month of being shriven, that is, an intense episode of purification. I must say that it is not as bad now as it used to be. Perhaps this means that some of my more gross faults have been purified or reduced so that now I don’t suffer as much turbulence as I used to. Actually, that is a good metaphor for the Month of the Ancestors. It is like you are flying along in the a plane and it is a fairly smooth ride and suddenly the pilot tells you to, “Please fasten your seatbelts, we have some turbulence coming up, it could get a bit bumpy.” A Call to Live More Inwardly My experience of the month is a call to live more inwardly. And it’s not something I have a choice about. I don’t decide, I’m going to live more inwardly this month, it just starts to happen to me, and whether I like it or not I have to go along with it. There would be no point trying to fight it. At first, I resist, I want to go on with my life as it is, strongly involved in colorful worldly activities, but inexorably, these things are taken away from me. My energy is reduced and I have no choice but to focus more quietly on my inner life, such as it is. I can’t deny it. I have to give in to it. I have to “surrender” to it. I think it is a month for lying low and letting the storm blow over you. A month of battening the hatches. You can’t fight this month. You have to learn to get along with it. Befriend it if possible. Best of all, fall in love with it. I know it is commonly said that Ramadan is not a good time to initiate things, and I suspect that the same might apply to the Month of the Ancestors at least to some extent. It is a month for withdrawing from the world rather than engaging with it. Of course I am generalizing very much here, mostly just talking about my own experience, or things that have been echoed in the experience of other people I’ve talked to. Giving Two Months to God But maybe not everyone is affected by the month of the ancestors. Most of the humanity around me seems to go on quite oblivious to it. Is it only we, who for some reason or another have chosen to engage in this spiritual process, who become subject to these particular spiritual rhythms? The way I see it is that maybe in these two months, God encourages us to withdraw a little from the outer world, to give perhaps two months of the year to our inner life, and for the rest of the year we can go for it in our worldly life. It is a time of sobriety rather than exhilaration, of getting back to basics rather than exuberance, of consolidation rather than expansion. My energy is low and has to be carefully marshaled to accomplish those bare essentials which have to be done, rather than striking out into bold new directions and splendid vistas. I know that for me the Month of the Ancestors is often a time of shocks and humiliations. Very often I am so battered and bruised by the end of the month that I barely have the energy to crawl into Ramadan. In this way the Month of the Ancestors is a preparation, a “softening up” for Ramadan. I am so beaten up by end of the month that I just have no choice about doing Ramadan. I have to do it. > A time for getting back to basics… “ ” Please forgive me for anything I’ve said out of place here. This is just my experience. Please don’t take it as a prescription for what might happen to you during the Month of the Ancestors. You might have a completely different experience. Blessings to you all for the rest of the Month of the Ancestors and for the Month of Ramadan for those of you who fast.

Subud House Fragrance Free

Dear Subud Members,

Several women are experiencing difficulty breathing in the Women’s Latihan Hall (the Chapel) due to chemical sensitivity. See the letter below. It would be wise to reconsider all use of chemical perfumes and colognes when visiting the Subud House.

Ladies, there was an incident last Sunday where one of our members was impacted by another members fragrance, she had a hard time breathing and had to leave early even though she opened several windows

And the fans were turned on. After latihan she explained how she is very allergic to scents.

I don’t know if I need “permission” to do so but I intend to bring signage next Sunday to post which will say something like: women’s latihan hall is a fragrance free zone as it has come to our attention several of our members

Have allergies to certain scents.

Thank you for your understanding.

Women helpers

Ok with everyone?

* * *

From WebMD:

Fragrances and Our World continued…

“From hair shampoos to carpet shampoos, from laundry detergent to shower gels, from home sprays to hair sprays to moisturizers, cosmetic, and personal care items, the scent industry has literally exploded. And for many people, it’s a real sensory overload,” says Pamela Dalton, PhD, MPH, an olfactory researcher at the Monell Chemical Senses Center in Philadelphia.

We do have some control over what we allow into our homes and other personal spaces — we can toss that magazine with the inserts or switch shampoo — but it can really become an issue when our senses are assaulted in common areas, such as the workplace or a college classroom, places where we have to be.

“Being forced to breathe in others’ fragrance choices is a lot like being forced to breathe in secondhand smoke,” Dalton tells WebMD. “It’s a loss of control over your personal environment, and for some it can have serious personal health consequences.”

And that is precisely the logic behind several recent legal actions aimed at cleaning up our personal air space.

In July 2007, a government worker from Detroit sued her employers under the Americans With Disabilities Act for what her lawsuit claims is “fragrance toxicity” in the workplace. Her claim: Exposures to fragrances also means increased exposure to chemical neurotoxins that adversely impact brain function. The suit is pending.
In the fall of 2007, a group of students from California State University, Stanislaus, became so concerned about these same chemical exposures they asked campus officials to institute a fragrance-free policy. Their request cited headaches, nausea, and inability to concentrate, all caused by overpowering fragrance use among some students and faculty. The students are waiting for the administration’s decision.
Workers in the Portland, Ore., Bureau of Emergency Communications were recently banned from wearing fragrances under what has become one of the nation’s first government workplace “fragrance-free” policies. Portland State University followed suit, and now similar programs are in place at Cecil College in Maryland.

Register for the National Gathering

New Subud USA Newsletter

As Communications Coordinator of Subud USA, your humble narrator had a modest role in gathering information for Subud members in the U.S. Most of that information ended up in the current Subud USA Newsletter. (See below). The most exciting part for me was the publication of the first half of an interview with long-time Subud members Frederick and Melanie Branchflower of the Olympic Neighborhood group. I will post the text and audio on this blog in the coming weeks. My gratitude to the Branchflowers for their hospitality, to Elisha Gullixson, Hadiyah Carlyle and Bhakti Watts for their contributions to the transcription effort and to Mary Wold, who did a remarkable job in putting the newsletter together. Thanks all! Paul Nelson

Welcome to the new Subud USA newsletter. First off, thanks to everyone who contributed to its content, your patience in its birthing process and our regrets for any unintended exclusions of material we have received in these past months since Julia Hurd stepped aside as Editor.

Download Subud USA Newsletter

We are transitioning to a new approach in compiling our newsletter. The new version will be a selection of news items taken from blog postings on the Subud USA National website. It will be mailed electronically on a quarterly basis to members with email addresses and distributed in print form to active members without them. Contact the Subud USA Communications Coordinator, Paul Nelson at: communications@subudusa.org to offer newsworthy morsels.

Share the Wealth!

Please consider sharing a printed copy of Subud USA News with your members.

More Ramadan Info

From Isman Kanafsky:

For those observing the fast of Ramadan

Explanations of the Ramadan Calendar
Compiled from explanations given by Bapak, by Mas Sudarto and by Mas Prio
=====================================================

Eve of Ramadan: The way to observe Ramadan is to take a full bath, including hair washing, and also cutting the hair and the nails, the evening before the fast. Then, after you are clean, to state your wish to observe Ramadan as a sincere expression of your worship of Almighty God. Then stay up at night, preferably spending the night together with other Subud brothers and sisters, in the home of a member who is also observing Ramadan.

Around three o’clock in the morning, you should take breakfast and you should brush your teeth no later than 4:30 in the morning, and after this, no more smoking, not even gargling till 6:30 PM or 7:00 PM – along about sunset. (The local mosque can clarify as to the hour for breaking the fast.)

To break the fast, start slowly by drinking warm tea and a light snack; you can eat your dinner about half an hour or an hour later. Bapak also recommends no sexual union during the whole month of Ramadan. It is also beneficial to sleep as little as possible during Ramadan, not only on Nights of Power.
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During the month of Ramadan: it is not permitted to have sexual intercourse, and our fasting must also include abstention from the following:
a) We must not use our ears to listen to gossip, quarrels or bad words.
b) We must not use our mouth to say anything wrong or unkind.
c) We must not use the emotions to reach the emotions or passions of others.
d) We must not use our eyes in a way that is not good or nice.
e) We must not use the heart and mind to imagine or think about unhappy things, fantasies or unrealities.
f) We must not eat or drink or smoke anything between dawn and sunset each day.
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During the month of Ramadan, we have to fast thirty days, and during the thirty days of fasting we go through three important periods:

The first ten days (ending evening of 9^th day Ramadan):
This is a period of putting the passion in an inactive state. During this period we are made aware that our passions become weaker and weaker day by day, and on the 9th day of fasting, it is felt that our passion is completely inactive.

The second ten days (ending evening of 19^th day Ramadan):
This is a period of becoming aware that in general our attitude and actions are guided by our inner-self and the guidance day by day becomes stronger and stronger and on the 19th day of fasting our actions are as if in a complete latihan state, but in harmony with our daily activities.

The last ten days (ending evening of 30^th day of Ramadan):
This is a period of receiving the lailatu ‘lkadar (the Nights of Power), and this is sent by God on the 21st, 23rd, 25th, 27th and 29th days of fasting. This lailatu ‘lkadar is not something that falls from above, but it forms a certain power which can change our state.
Most of the Subud members who fasted felt, after completing the fasting, that there were changes to their inner. Mostly, their spirit to worship became stronger and stronger and also the intention of doing ‘prihatin’ became stronger and stronger.
_________________________________________________

LAILATUL-QADR (The evening preceding 27^th day Ramadan): Although it is generally accepted in the Moslem community that the last ten days of Ramadan are days of receiving, this particular evening is celebrated with special prayer, in the Moslem community, because it is thought that this is the day upon which the Messenger Muhammad received the verses of the Qu’ran.

TAK-BARAN: (30^th day Ramadan): The last day of fasting. Sundown marks the end of the month.

IDUL-FITRI:
The Night of Forgiveness. At the end of Ramadan, we again take a full bath and put on new clothes, and then we should go to our family and our friends and ask forgiveness for whatever sin we have done. This is a time of special celebration and thanks to Almighty God.

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Posted by: “Mhd. Isman Kanafsky”