by Rosana Schutte

Three of the USA international helpers (IHs) came to the gathering of USA helpers in Sacramento on March 6-8 to deliver a message from Ibu Rahayu. Basically what she said is: It’s all about the budhi.

I will give an account of the weekend from my perspective. I went to it hoping to meet up with some dear friends (that happened), meet new friends (that happened), receive latihan with a large group (that happened), do some assessment testing on my work as a Helper (that happened) and I had a few personal reasons too. These were to address two major issues that were playing out in an email listserv for USA helpers:

1. A fundamentalist bent that is continuing to try to assert itself into Subud and to codify Bapak’s Advice and Guidance for Helpers into rules and regulations, as well as use it to police each other’s work as Helpers
2. Issues centered around the treatment of LGBTI (Lesbian/Gay/Bisexual/Transgender/Intersex) community within Subud, both helpers and members, as well as when members of that community are interested in Subud.  This latter issue started to be addressed at the Congress in Puebla and emerged as a major issue in Lewes, England around a property being purchased by members of Subud Lewes.

These intertwine a bit because the fundamentalist would often make sure that LGBTI members of our community felt uncomfortable or of a lower spiritual status. And let me say, right now, for the record, that I am well aware there are helpers out in our communities who are wide open and welcoming, and asserting the claim that Subud is for all of humankind. Just as there are some helpers, a smaller but extraordinarily vocal group, who are VERY anti-LGBTI. My concern is, that as an organization, we must be clear about what we endorse as opposed to personal prejudices that use Bapak and Ibu’s words to justify their prejudice by saying it is an endorsed SUBUD belief.

When I have spoken out (especially on the SubudUSAHelpers listserv) about the Advice and Guidance for Helpers, I have said it is just that and not a rules and regulations book. I was repeatedly attacked with passive aggressive tactics, Bapak quotes and outlandish shaming tactics. Of course, as you all know, I will speak to those things and will continue my assertions that we were told to go to the latihan (all about the Budhi) and not follow blindly or without a personal experiential understanding.

Another clear distinction was that some people wanted us to be called Bapak’s Helpers (which tended towards idol worship of the man, rather than the mission) and others (me among them) wanted to serve the mission while retaining our personal feeling for the man as a private matter.

At the gathering one of the tests that everyone participated in was “What is Bapak’s mission?” Which was enlightening. There was other testing but it came after the international helpers relayed their experience of their time with Ibu.

The IHs told us they had just come from Indonesia where all the IHs gathered (18 of them) and received latihan, talked with Ibu and had a presentation from the archival personnel. This last is the first I will talk about.

It has become very apparent that the talks, as they have been newly translated by a team, have heretofore been mistranslated because the people translating did not know High Javanese, a language Bapak used quite a lot, along with Bahasa Indonesian and Dutch words. They have been in the process of being retranslated. It follows that the quotes in Advice and Guidance for Helpers are mistranslated or taken so out of context as to be unusable.

When all this was presented, Ibu asked that the Advice and Guidance for Helpers be thrown out. (Slight caveat: Bapak never wanted it to be written but capitulated because the US helpers insisted over and over again. He agreed, admonishing that we must be careful that it did not become a rule book because that would make Subud a religion, which it is not, and would make Bapak the teacher and guru, which he was not – all this according to him. Also, it was never used in Indonesia and was never translated into Bahasa Indonesian.)

Ibu has asked that a new procedural pamphlet be developed that would be simple, available in all countries, that anybody can read, and not address political or sensitive information, as Subud does not represent or stand for political issues. Sensitive information is left out because Subud does not have a stand on these issues, including LGBTI. My understanding is that she is sensitive that LGBTI people are killed in some countries and people associated with them are endangered and she does not want Subud people to be targeted but wants all people to feel free to join.

Ibu relayed two stories to help address the LGBTI “issues.” She was asked by helpers what latihan a transgender woman should be allowed to go to. Her response was to let the person decide for herself which she felt to go to. The other story was about a gay man in Canada who wrote to her to ask why he was gay. She replied, “I don’t know. It is one of God’s secrets.” She said it was between him and God and that she hoped he would continue in his own latihan.

Ibu has requested that the online presence of Subud be examined to make sure we are not aligned publicly with political issues or issues that reflect a bias in Subud. This is being done, though as everyone knows, this is a painstaking and long process. My recommendation is that WSA get on it with a policy that will begin now and go forward about representation of Subud online, and ask that all people who have a Subud online presence comply with the policy retroactively and voluntarily. That will begin the process. Then the “clean up” will be reduced and those who are not adhering to the new policy can be identified. This is still a long and difficult process, but there is no harm in beginning by asking. Of course to ask, WSA has to have a policy in place. So, get on it WSA! (I am sure that is already happening as we have some pretty smart people working on all this right now)

Ibu asked the IHs to relay this information to all helpers so that we can be in alignment with this from the inside out, not just as window dressing. She also requested that we all emphasize our understanding of budhi and relate to each other and to members and new candidates, indeed all people, from the place of budhi. She said reading Bapak’s words are important but we must take those words to latihan and allow our understanding to come from there.

Of course, the budhi focus was met with some of us breaking into “Shake, shake, shake / Shake, shake, shake / Shake your budhi, Shake your budhi” and “It’s all about the budhi, yeah the budhi, O the budhi” …which made most of us laugh.

The other tests we did were to get in touch with the budhi nature and how we can be in the world with other people from that place, as well as feeling the budhi nature of others.

By the way, Ibu was appalled that quotes from her talks and from Bapak’s talks are being used out of context and as attacks on each other. She said to remember that we cannot remove a quote from the context in which it was spoken because what was said reflected the era, the place, the question being answered and the person or persons being spoken to.

Finally, Ibu is no longer giving names. She says we can feel that for ourselves, there is no magic or special quality about it and it is not a special name for our soul. If we feel to change and it is correct according to our latihan, then we should change it. If not, don’t. It is up to us.  She said all this is being done for the generation who never knew Bapak and Ibu and for the generation and generations after us.

Sidebar (and entirely from me): there is no “heir apparent” and so I think this is Ibu’s way of saying clean up the house, get ready because you are all going to be responsible going forward.

By Sylvia des Tombe

Along with eight other helpers from the Palo Alto Subud Center, I attended the weekend gathering of helpers in Sacramento on the weekend of March 6. There were so many noteworthy aspects to the retreat, and of course everyone had different experiences, but here is mine.

Saturday after our group latihan, the women were asked to receive “What was Bapak’s mission?”  That was quite a powerful test. Then, the international helpers gave the message that Ibu had expressed to them when they were in Indonesia just recently:  when helpers talk to applicants and when they are doing helper work such as testing, they need to really be feeling, acting and talking from their “budhi.”  “It’s all about “budhi;”  helpers need to be quiet and need to meet the “budhi” of others.”  (NOTE: See related article for some of Bapak’s explanations of the term budhi)

Two people said memorable related things: “Living life to the fullest is how to be Bapak’s helper” and, from the Christian tradition: “Nothing makes God happier than for one to be an authentic human being.”

Then we broke up in groups, each with an international or national or regional helper. For each member of the group, we tested (to access the “budhi”): “Who is X?” and “Who is she when doing her helper’s work?”  “What challenges does she face in her work as a helper?”  “What is needed to overcome this/these challenge(s)?”  “What gift does X have to give to Subud and the world?”  The receiving was powerful for each person, and we each walked away with many lessons and gifts.

Saturday evening was rich with news from the IH’s (Suzanne Renna, Miriam Ramsey and Sjarifuddn Harris), who discussed the efforts being made to rectify Bapak’s Advice and Guidance for Helpers and give us a new one, with the goal of unifying procedures around the world and making sure that quotes are authentic and referenced.  (Note: see article by Rosana Schutte for further commentary on this discussion).  The evening ended with anecdotes shared by many members.  Only when we were told we needed to break up and vacate the premises by 10:00 did the flow stop.  We all went home quite full of memorable stories and reflections.

Sunday after group latihan, the helpers modeled a way of conducting awareness testing: One helper asks one person to receive, while another helper or helpers “witness,” staying as close to their own “budhis” as they can. The helper then takes the person who is receiving on the voyage, so to speak, of awareness testing. Every woman who wished to was able to experience both the testing and the receiving in this way.

At the end, small groups were formed to pursue questions raised earlier. The helpers took the time to make sure everyone was satisfied. Then, at my request, everyone was asked if they wanted to do a latihan for peace in the world, as our little group had tested as to what results could come of our individual latihans for that purpose and had received some pretty amazing outcomes. Sophia Nicoletti and a few of us decided to move forward to organize some regional simultaneous latihans for peace. We also thought the men’s participation would have great value.

Someone referenced this lyric from a song by Hamid Camp about the correct use of time: “Time is just a sacred loom on which we weave the fabric of our destiny.”