by Benedict Herrman
Every year, with only a couple of misses due to business conflicts, I have gone to Menucha. I lost count around 25 years, though I know it’s more… What is it that draws me back, year after year, to this meeting of Subud folk in the Columbia Gorge a few miles outside of Portland?
I could talk about the beautiful setting – an inviting 1920’s former governor’s mansion nestled in the wooded hills above the Columbia Gorge… but that’s not why I go.
I could talk about seeing old friends and doing latihan together in an intimate setting, surrounded by the natural beauty of the area… but I go to lots of congresses, so that’s not why I go, either.
What I have found about the Menucha experience is that, if you allow it, you will get exactly what you need. If you bring your broken heart there, it will be soothed. If you bring your loneliness and solitude there, you will find it lifted. And if you bring your weariness of living in a world at war with itself, egos rampant, nafsus clashing, minds overworking… you can feel a few days of how life in this world can, and perhaps should, be. Perhaps – dare I say it – even feel alive again.
Menucha is a place to bring your heart, in whatever shape it’s in, to feel safe and nurtured by those around you. It’s a place to take workshops and explore those voices inside us which demand our attention, but so often go unheeded, drowned out by the daily cacophony of the world. It’s a place to rest, reflect, and reconnect with two very simple, but very important words… “I am.”
So, come to Menucha… and come as you are.