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OCTOBER 2008

SUBUDVOICE®

SUBUDVOICE

Ce lebra t ing the DawnOsanna Vaughn writes about the Gathering of theAmericas in Colombia, by all accounts a very successfulevent…

Amanecer – dawn – a new day – a fresh breeze weavingthrough the Gathering of the Americas and the series of'official' meetings happening in parallel.

Some events had already been running for a day or twowhen I arrived– Susila Dharma workshops, an AlternateGovernance and Sustainable Development workshop,the Zone 7 meeting, theInternational Helpers – so alively and productiveatmosphere filled the air.

At the same time it waspeaceful and easy to stepquietly into. On the 25thmost other attendeesarrived, so that the 26thcould be a day of latihan,testing sessions and sharinggroups enjoyed by all soinclined. In the eveningcame the first of manydance performances, fea-turing members from Cali,as well as hearing-impairedchildren from a project runby a Cali member.

They danced with such joy and confidence, that it washard to believe they could not hear the music, but onlyfeel the rhythm of the drums through the floor.

The following nine days were so packed with projectpresentations, workshops, business meetings, coffeebreaks, deep conversations, light-hearted banter, won-derful performances, beautiful artwork, etc., that itbecame virtually impossible to keep track of what dayof the week it was.

Much to DiscoverThere was so much to discover of all that is going on inColombia and other countries of theAmericas, that it would take pages to listeverything.

For example, Maria in Cali works with dis-placed families in a part of the city where vio-lence is so extreme that kids are lucky tomake it to 21 years of age.

She is responsible for over 2000 children,including 500 in the 0 to 5 year age group.Through her work, she came to know

Machrus and Daniela who spent two years working onconflict resolution among the displaced people, and shealso came to know Subud and joined a year or so ago.

The sad situation of the smallest children in particularwould seem ripe for the International Child DevelopmentProgramme, which is gaining such strength in the country,so I connected her with Oliverio who is in charge of ICDPin Colombia.

Another project gaining national governmental recogni-tion is the Manila del Caucacattle project run byBernardo and Elviro inPopayán, in the south westof the country.

With an intense process oforganic recycling, wormcultivation, compostingand so on, they are manag-ing to successfully keep 30heads of cattle on a onehectare plot of land, givinga livelihood to 25 familieswho would otherwise bedependant on the cocabusiness to survive.

Many Young MembersThere are many youngSubud members in South

America, and particularly in Colombia, also involved inmany projects and activities.

Leticia was very excited to tell us about a project she andothers have quite close to Amanecer. They have boughta property in the 'jungle', where they organise what theycall 'extreme camping' for city kids and others who arelooking for an outdoor adventure with lush vegetation,basic accommodation and a swim in the river.

Obviously, for safety reasons, it's not quite as extreme as itmight sound, but does give children who otherwise knowlittle beyond their city streets a chance to experience

nature first hand.

Literary and music camps are also held thereand, with the enthusiasm given to it by theyoung organisers, I'm sure it will flourish and grow.

The youth were very present and given fullattention from the youth co-chair HamiltonManley from Hawaii and others. Renata andRaina from New Zealand, and I had achance to make a World Congress presenta-tion for them one evening and

Maria in Caliworks in a part of

the city whereviolence is so

extreme that kidsare lucky to make

it to 21 years of age

Dancers from Cali at the Americas Gathering(Photo by Osanna Vaughn)

cont on P2 >

SUBUDVOICE PAGE 2 OCT 08

to answer their many practical ques-tions concerning how to get there.

On another occasion Sharifand Tuti Horthy answered abroad range of questions, andmany one-on-one conversa-tions took place. As we havealready been seeing recentlyin other places around theworld, many Subud youth seemkeen now to be involved andactive within Subud.

The FoodThe food was quite exceptional.Masrul and his brother Franciscohad taken on the task of preparing delicious meals com-bining traditional Colombian fare with an international,nouvelle cuisine touch.

It wasn't surprising to discover that Masrul is actually apainter, who has a flair for cooking. The enthusiastic din-ers would already start to line up for meals half an hourbefore the counter was opened.

This twice-daily activity turned into a setting for worldproblem solving discussions and a great chanceto catch up with old friends.

Despite the numbers waiting, Masrul andFrancisco never allowed their quiet demeanourto be flustered, serving each tray with care andtaking whatever time was necessary.

No menu was ever repeated and the offeringswere consistently delicious, accompanied byone type of fresh fruit juice or another. The diningarea also became a favourite spot for Maya andI to sing with our long-time pal Luther Schutz – attimes for hours on end.

Visit to ArmeniaOne evening we were invited to visit the Subud group ofArmenia. Following the 1999 earthquake that destroyedso many lives and buildings in the Quindio region, thegroup has been gradually rebuilding its house thanks togenerous donations from individuals and MSF.

Today they have two large and pleasant spaces for lati-han, though a piece of ceiling in one area still needs tobe finished off. Amanecer also became known immedi-ately after the quake, as it did not suffer any major struc-tural damage (though many roof tiles were broken), andwas used to store food provisions and so on for victims ofthe devastation.

Today, the hall is still the biggest of its type in the Quindio.Following the earthquake some inspired person had thevision to recognise that the Quindio is a beautifulregion with great tourist potential.

Today it is the second most visited area in the country,developing along the lines of what is considered eco-tourism. Coffee plantations have converted their financesinto comfortable accommodation for visitors, and thereare many interesting sites to visit and landscapes toexplore, such as Salento, a popular destination for outingsin the mountains.

Amanecer, its potential andchallenges is a whole story untoitself, which I won't go into here,except to say that we found it abeautiful space, with peacefulgarden, welcoming people anda very pleasant climate.

The sleeping facilities are quitesimple which limits the usage,but the big hall is unique andstunning, and the care shown tous by Lucas, Oliverio, Anisah,Isabel, Rossana (thanks for thecake!) and so many more madeour stay a delight and full of joy-ous memories.

AND FROM A SUBUD WORLD NEWS STAFF WRITER…There’s a tangible sense of ‘aliveness’ everywhere here atthe America’s Gathering…. in all the spontaneous chat-ting, singing, playing, laughing. It is so real that GraceHodgkins from Canada said she felt like she was walkinginto a warm bath when approaching Amanecer after aday’s outing.

There’s an openness and sincerity that allows completeexpression for a full range of feelings, and thisespecially includes a mutual willingness to helpand be helped. Members are engaged – we’veheard the words ‘effectiveness, hope andchange’ used a lot. There’s a generosity of spiritand freedom that enables a ‘safe haven’ forgrowing and healing.

On the weekends the Gathering swells to 400participants, with approximately 200 membersfrom outside the country. The warmth and hospi-tality of the Colombian members has made visi-tors feel this is a home-away-from-home. We areenveloped in this positive community while

being surrounded by lush vegetation and beauty.

With campfires every night for the younger (and not-so-young) generation, Sharif and Tuti Horthy giving time tothe youth, and just the sheer numbers of younger peoplepresent, there is a special attention to this age group.

The Mayor of La Tebaida, the neighbouring town, pre-sented amazing tango dancers as a gift to the Gathering.Of course there have been many workshops, presenta-tions and continuous meetings.

Each day is organised around a different theme – enter-prise, youth, culture, social projects, health and so on withcorresponding activities for each. The many concessionstands are selling wonderful local crafts. And it doesn’t’hurt that one member from the U.S. mentioned the foodhere is better than any he’s had at any other Subud event.

For Colombian members, and especially the Amanecercommunity, the Gathering provides a reminder andrenewal of the importance of the resource they hold inthe entire Amanecer complex. They have worked hard tomake this successful and many folks will leave havingformed new ties across many borders and boundaries.

We are indebted to Subud World News for extracts ofmaterial which first appeared there.

The warmthand hospitality

of theColombian

members hasmade visitorsfeel this is ahome-away-from-home

Main hall at Amanecer, the setting for the Americas Gathering.(Photo by OsannaVaughn)

•

PAGE 3SUBUDVOICE OCT 08

SUBUD VOICE IN SPANISHHarris Smart, Editor of Subud Voice, writes…Samuel Morillas one of the most active mem-bers in Cuba is spearheading a team to pro-duce a Spanish version of Subud Voice. Thefirst edition was launched at the AmericasGathering.

We hope the venture will grow and prosper.Not only will it provide Spanish-speaking peo-ple with more access to news and reflectionabout what is going on in Subud, but I am sure this is goingto be a two way mirror which will also enable us to peerinto the Spanish-speaking world.

We are looking forward to publishing in English SubudVoice new material from Spain and Latin America chan-nelled to us from Subud Voice in Spanish. Contact Samuelat banque@golfo.grm.sld.cu

YOUR CHILDREN – OUR CHILDRENOzana Ciubotaru Costin writes from Romania…Amid the mundane news items on a cold February morn-ing, one shocked me: within a few days, 7 children whohad been left alone in Romania, aged 11 to 16, had triedto commit suicide. These were children whose parentshad decided to leave Romania to make a better life forthemselves... or, at least, to get out of their financial crisis.

My husband Cristian Costin and I felt moved to do some-thing for the children – just like anyone would have feltmoved by the suffering.

For this reason our BON TON Theatre, the only family the-atre in Romania, began the project ‘YOUR CHILDREN –OUR CHILDREN’, without waiting for any financial supportfrom European or local funds. It is a course in drama ther-apy, which ends with the performance of a play,because, for thousands of years, theatre has healedmany wounds, opened unexpected doors within oursouls, and defined the ‘I’ buried deep within, allowing it toreach for this light – in this case the spotlights...

Those interested in more information can write to ArnoldLanden at arnoldlanden@wolfsburg.de

YUM PROJECTS DEVELOP AND GROWThe YUM June 2008 newsletter is packed with interestingnews from the NGO's many projects in Indonesia. Here anextract from a report on the first activities surrounding themalaria control effort in Central Kalimantan.

In April of this year, the Mayor of Palangka RayaMunicipality, representatives and guests, as well as 150women from the community were present to officially wit-ness the first spraying of a house in Habaring Hurung andthe distribution of insecticide treated bed nets to a smallnumber of families with young children.

The groups of sprayers then proceeded to continue andspray close to 450 houses in Habaring Hurung andMarang where the same number of families were alsoprovided with impregnated bed nets in the correct sizes cont on p4 >

+ news in brief +for which they willingly paid a small fee which will be usedby YUM to accommodate families in the program whichwill move into the project area in the coming three years. The Mayor of Palangka Raya reiterated his support for the

project and thanked YUM for undertaking thispioneering work in the region. This is the firsttime an NGO has partnered with local govern-ment institutions and community representa-tives to deliver a malaria control project in theprovince...

JAKARTOnce again, Mikhail David and Ary Sutedjaorganised the JakArt Festival, which tookplace in the Indonesian capital throughout the

whole month of August.

The very extensive, international programme included arecital by soprano Cherie Valaray that took place onAugust 4th at Adi Puri, and was sponsored by and cour-tesy of The Sydney Cultural Centre and 72 Erskine Events& Exhibitions. Cherie was accompanied by Ibu PujiwatiInsia M. Effendi, grande dame of Indonesian pianistes,and head of Yayasan Musik International.

From August 7th to 27th, and also as part of JakArt@2008, therewill be an exhibition of paintings by Richard Engels – Fairytales.

The Rainer Maria Rilke Institute and the Batavia BauhausFoundation, in collaboration with Reinhard and MarleenHesse, have arranged for these paintings to be broughtand exhibited in Jakarta. In the framework of ‘100 Yearsof National Awakening’ they have also commissioned anew composition by Valerie Gregorovich, to be per-formed at the opening, Aug 7, of the exhibition, based onone of these paintings: The Sleeping Beauty.

The exhibition will be shown atthe Rainer Maria Rilke Institute,Cileduk For more informationon the Festival, please go towww.jakart.info

LAVASIR NORDRUMFollowing the loss of our wellloved Saroni Bassi, Area 2 nowhas a new international helperin the person of LavasirNordrum of Norway.

Married to Stephanie andfather of four children, Lavasir isa photographer and digital poet of the supreme class.

For more on Lavasir's work, please check out the PEO-PLE/Profiles page and www.lavasir.no

CULTURE AT WORLD CONGRESSStephen Woodruff writes…The XIII Subud World Congress in Christchurch 2010 offersa number of interesting possibilities for us all. The condi-tions of our world and our life have changed during thepast four years and additionally the country and thevenue will be new to many of you.

The arts and entertainment are important in that they cir-cumvent the limitations of language and

New International Helper,Lavasir Nordrum from Norway

I am sure this isgoing to be a

two way mirrorwhich will also

enable us to peerinto the Spanish-speaking world

PAGE 4 SUBUDVOICE OCT 08

reach those aspects of our experience which don'trequire translation. Sound, colour and movement candirectly express universal qualities which can have gen-uine inward content and present a starting point we canall share together.

We hope many of you will bring some elements of nation-al costume or regional culture that you may consider anaddition to the richness of our diverse Subud cultural life.

Stephen is coordinating events, culture and entertain-ment for the World Congress in January 2010. He may becontacted at LFWoodruff@clear.net.nz

A Festive Spir i t•

Subud Indonesia celebrated Bapak’s birthday withrespect for tradition combined with lively, contemporary,youth-orientated, cultural activities…

This year, Subud Indonesia NationalCommittee celebrated Bapak MuhammadSubuh Sumohadiwidjojo's birthday in a dif-ferent manner. Four activities with differentobjectives were prepared during a fourdays celebration, starting from June 20 to23, mostly located in Wisma Subud inCilandak, South Jakarta.

The concept of this year's celebration was‘family-bonds and togetherness’. That theme brought afestive spirit through the whole celebration.

In order to realise that concept, we welcome all Subudmembers to participate and showcase their best artisticabilities. We're just preparing the operational and techni-cal side of the shows,’ Ibu Ary Sutedja, Chairperson of ofSubud Indonesia Culture Association, said.

As expected, many members lined up to participate, ofwhich many are youth members. To accommodate all ofthem, the committee decides to have two cultural nights ina row, instead of the usual one night show, held in Cilandakhall in June 20-21.

The main activity however, washeld in a different manner.Bapak's birthday remembranceon June 22, carefully designedto be conducted in a solemnatmosphere.

The Cultural ShowA day before the cultural show, ateam of designers decorated theLatihan Hall in Cilandak withaccessories in line with the themeof the nights. All kind of Javanesetraditional decoration like wayang,batik, and great looking masksmade the hall look so different andready to stage cultural perform-ances complete with a T-shaped stage in the middle.

Friday night, the show kicked off at 7.30 pm. Ibu ArySutedja herself hosted the cultural night and introducedall the performances. A quality performance ofHayungningrat dance by Pramanta – Jakarta's youth

member – opened the night.

Then followed a Lenggang Kencana dance (byWidayanti), instrumental music performance (by GarudaBintoro), and a string of lovely songs by Alfira and NadiraAsmodiwati. About fifteen youth members then per-formed Saman dance from Aceh, with merry applausefrom the audience.

The next show was France's folksongs by Raymond andElizabeth, followed by a beautiful little choir (by Nur’aini,Audrey, Emmaline, Harlan, Agnes, Ramon, Elizabeth andCherie Valary). The audience cheered with excitementwhen they saw the next performance: Salsa dance (byIne Anaya and Dhwani Dinakara).

Finally, the highlight of the show came in the end: a fash-ion show of batik designs. Subud member and designer:Pancawati Audran, showcased her latest collection,helped by young lady members of Subud Jakarta as hermodels. It was a very fine closing for an entertaining night.

The Film ShowThe next day, Saturday, June 21, the secondactivity of Bapak's birthday remembrancestarted in the morning. It was a film screeningand discussion on the making of the film. Thefilm ‘Perempuan Punya Cerita’ or ‘Women'sStories’ was directed by four filmmakers: NiaDinata, Lasja F. Susatyo, Upi and Fatimah T.

Ronny, based on a script by two female writers: VivianIdris and Melissa Karim. Even the producers Nia Dinataand Vivian Idris, were female.

Nia Dinata, a renowned filmmaker in Indonesia, andMelissa Karim, the writer, were present at the discussion.‘We're glad this activity received such a positive feed-backs. Many youths want it to be a regular activity,’ saidone of the event committee, Eneke Arisanti.

Saturday night, the second Cultural Night began. Thistime, the performance had more traditional flavours in it.It was opened by a reading of rajah kidung and cacan-dran by Subud members from Bandung and Cimahi, and

then followed by Dayak Kenyahdance from Kalimantan byPramanta.

There were some contemporaryarts here and there too. Theaudiences enjoyed pop songsperformed by Anitasari withAnaya playing the piano and ajazz performance by the trio ofYance Manusama, Rene vanHesdingen and Benny Mustafa.

‘I'm happy to see all the youthperforming. They have greatpotential and just need a bitmore guidance to improve,’ IbuAry said. ‘The most importantthing is these cultural nights

gave them an opportunity to go on stage and perform,and off course, a chance to work together and trust eachother,’ she said.

The Main EventThe main event for the celebration took place

The concept of this

year's celebration was

‘family-bonds and

togetherness’

cont on p5 >

At Bapak birthday celebrations, Ibu Rahayu gave the first spoonof yellow rice to Indonesian National Committee Chairperson,

Iwan Syamsudin

PAGE 5SUBUDVOICE OCT 08

All the Perfect Little Moments

•

continued on page eleven

on Sunday, June 22, right on the day Bapak was born. Asplanned, the event was respectful and solemn. The hostof the night, Luluk Marsito, started the remembrance byasking all the audience to sing Panembromo together.

The Chairperson of Subud Indonesia, Bapak IwanSyamsudin, gave an opening speech, followed by aspeech by Bapak's family representative: Bapak HaryonoSumohadiwidjojo.

Then all present were asked to listen to poems from SusilaBudhi Dharma, sung in Javanese, Indonesian and English,by Ibu Rahayu, Bapak Haryono, Bapak Djoyowidarbo andBapak Raymond Lee. After that, everybody then listenedattentively to one of Bapak 's talks.

Ibu Rahayu led a prayer before cutting the Tumpeng –

Faebian Bastiman writes about the recent gathering ofSubud Youth at La Source… Let me just say: ‘Wow’ and get the word out of the way somore lucid thoughts might permeate through the exuber-ant delirium. ‘Ah’, I hear you say, ‘a rather enthusiasticaccount of a week spent in the Pyrenees is sure to follow.’

Well, yes, if this is your desire, the following passage shallnot disappoint, though I would equally encourage thesceptical reader to indulge in the whimsical journey, as Ipromise to relay an objective account.

For the brave band of travellers accompanying me as Imeandered through France on a three day road trip, theexperience began some days before the official sched-uled commencement. We talked and laughed and sangand began to create the ‘Subud Bubble’ that every inti-mate gathering seems to manifest.

Winding up into the mountains on the third day held allthe enchantment of a dream: the mauve mountains cre-ating an inspiring backdrop against the verdant hillsidesand azure mid-afternoon sky.

We were warmly received at our destination, zealouslyconsuming the first of many delicious meals from MayaBernardes’ kitchen. After dinner, we retired into the gar-den and spent a pleasant evening chatting under thestars whilst nursing a mug of fresh mint tea.

People in AbundancePeople arrived in abundance over the following twodays, until by Sunday evening some 30 young Subudians

sat gathered in a rather more intimate kitchen.

A mix of close friends, familiar faces and new acquain-tances created a delightful hubbub and seemingly end-less threads of conversation. We were 35 strong at ourpeak – so if you thought Halim Korzybski’s property couldnot accommodate a medium sized gathering, you wouldbe wrong. Congratulations Halim!

The youth, true to our energetic selves, participatedenthusiastically in the numerous excursions organised byour hosts: not least the hot baths of Bagneres de Bigorreand the icy lakes 2000m up in the mountains.

The scenery was breathtaking and the weather bothagreeable and changeable. Each individual broughttheir own flavour to the mix and in the words of one par-ticipant: ‘throughout the entire time there was alwayssomething to do’.

Whilst it is hard to conceive a week without respite, I can-not find fault with the statement. I explain it simply withthe word: ‘energy’. The constantly changing, unhinderedenergy flowing through the group was almost magical.

We, of course, gathered with greater plans thanmere recreation. On the first morning a brainstorm oftopics birthed a number of discussions over the pro-ceeding days.

The agenda ranged from an overview of the struc-ture of Subud international led by Osanna Vaughnto the various avenues where youth require or canprovide support at large.

a mountain-shaped heaping of yellow rice – a tradition incelebrating one's birthday in Indonesia. She then gavethe first spoon of yellow rice to Pak Iwan. After dinner, theevent ended with a film screening titled ‘Bapak’s Songsand Prayers’.

And Finally…However, that is not the last activity of this year's celebra-tion. The following day, Monday, June 23, hundreds ofSubud members gathered in the Cilandak hall from 05.00am. After everybody arrived, they then traveled toBapak's grave in Sukamulya, West Java and prayed there.

During those three days activities, Subud Youth Indonesiaorganised a photo exhibition of their 2007-2008 projects.The objective is to inform other Subud members aboutyouth activities all over the country.

CAP Youth at La Source.

PAGE 6 SUBUDVOICE OCT 08

Bapak

Talk25TH NIGHT OFRAMADAN Bapak’s Second Ramadhan talk 1980Cilandak, Indonesia, August 6, 1980 CodeNumber 80 CDK 8

BAPAK has witnessed your latihan, brothers and sisters,and indeed that is how you will experience the growththat comes from the jiwa, because this latihan kejiwaanthat you do will not alter your own individuality.

It is different from what happens when one human beingguides another, so that the one who is being guided canreach the level of the one who guides him. Whereas you,brothers and sisters, are guided by the power of God,which is boundless, so that you are guided by the powerof God according to your jiwa's capacity for growth.

So you can correct and see for yourselves the way yougrow in the kejiwaan and in your lives. Thus these thingshappen outside you, in front of you, as if they werereflected in a looking-glass. You will be able tosee your condition and your nature reflected inthat glass.

That is how it would be if there were a looking-glass, but in your lives it is your external sur-roundings which reflect your condition. Thus ifpeople love you, if not only those who knowyou but also those who do not know you alsolove you, that means that your jiwa is alreadypure, and it can, of its own accord, receivefrom or be raised up by the power of God.

That was the experience of the messengers of God,brothers and sisters, human beings who lived in the past.Although what is taught is the same and they are alltaught by the same teacher, yet the pupils also differfrom one another and their nature is different, for eachhas his own capacity.

That is how it is for all of you. Each of you has his or herown individual capacity, and one cannot make compar-isons between A and B or between B and C. No. It is Godwho knows what they are like.

No Evidence of LoveIn the second place you have to be able to know this foryourselves; that is, to be able to see your own reflection inthe things you do. Supposing that people do not like you,of course you suffer. It is not their fault if people do not likeyou; no, it is your own fault. Your self is still dirty, not yetpure.

There is as yet no evidence in your inner-feelings of lovefor your fellow beings. Not yet; not like the nature of some-

one who has been purified by the One Almighty God,such as the prophet Muhammad, on whom be peace.The nature of the prophet Muhammad was sidiq,amanah, tabligh, fatunah. That was his nature. Peoplealways paid attention to what was said by the prophet,and far more of what he said was true than was false.

So, too, were the actions of the prophet Muhammad anexample to the general public, for other people to follow;both for those who were near to him and for those whohad heard about or seen the prophet. Thus the prophetcould know for himself whether or not his nature reallywas sidiq, amanah, tabligh and fatunah. It is the same forall of you.

Clearly, then, people should worship God so as to be real-ly able to correct their own inner-selves; so that when theyare able to learn for themselves the good and the bad,the bad and the good in them, then they will also be ableto know the way that God guides human beings.

His guidance is measured and adapted to their capacity,as with a parent who guides a young child. The parentwould like the child to be able to run quickly, but if it is stillthe time for it to crawl, it would be wrong if the parentsforced a child who is still a baby, and who can only crawl,and told it to run. It is like that, for instance.

That is how it is, brothers and sisters, so supposing yourprogress in the kejiwaan is slow, you must never say thatGod does not give you anything or that God does notlove you. No; he loves you just the same. It is like when youare pleased with some material object. If the object you

are pleased with is a stone, you may be verypleased with it and you polish it as one polish-es a stone.

But if the object that pleases you and that youlove is a diamond, for instance, it is good even ifit is unpolished, let alone when you polish it. Thusyou cannot blame God for decreeing that thereshould be these differences. It is not God's fault,but your own.

Why is it like this, when in the beginning all weremade the same? All were one, for it is said that all mankindoriginated from one man, who is called Adam. Whether thisis true or not, Bapak himself does not know. But it is true thatit is God's will for all mankind to be one, which means to beharmonious and able to live together.

That is why it is the duty of human beings to follow a reli-gion, so that they receive one and the same guidancefrom God Himself. If the guidance is one, then of coursehuman beings can be harmonious, because they knowone another and have a mutual knowledge of oneanother.

It is the jiwa that can have this mutual knowledge, not thenafsu. Thus it is the nafsu that cause the state in whichhuman beings do not love one another and are not har-monious; let alone people of different races, even broth-ers and sisters born of the same father and mother aresometimes not harmonious. This is because of the nafsu.

Why Do the Nafsu Cause Disharmony?Well, then, why do the nafsu cause disharmony? It is becausethe nafsu are caught in the grip of the nafsu angkara and thenafsu murka (greed and anger).

See yourown

reflection inthe things

you do

cont on p7 >

This is a sign that you are really being trained by thepower of God which is seated within the inner-selves of allof you. And the latihan kejiwaan which you receive, asBapak knows and as he has just witnessed, at presentgoes only so far. But the latihan continues and goes on,just as your life goes on. Where your life is, there is your lati-han. Thus you just keep on being trained in the latihan.

It is so that you can feel how you are continually beingtrained that Bapak suggests that you should doenterprises. The meaning of enterprise is aneffort; an effort that you make in your lives. Youare alive, and of course you move and act. Youractions should benefit you.

Are Their Movements of Benefit to You?The movements of your hands, for instance,what are the movements of your hands? Aretheir movements of benefit to you? If they arealready able to draw batik designs, for instance,use their ability. When your legs move, are their

movements beneficial, brothers and sisters; in dancing,for instance?

Although it is the legs that move, yet if they move in adance, that will at least be of benefit to you, for althoughpeople who dance may not get paid for it, they will bepopular with those who watch them. It is a different mat-ter when your legs move to kick people, for instance;there is nothing beneficial in kicking people, but it is infact dangerous. Well, these are just examples.

It is also like that for all the other parts of your body. Theyall move. Moreover your mind moves, thinking about thisand that. Use your minds for thinking about things that willbe of benefit to your lives. If you are able to do all thesethings, then make a start in doing what Bapak just nowcalled enterprises, brothers and sisters.

Everything you do in those enterprises will also be accom-panied by your faith in and your mindfulness of the OneAlmighty God. How much easier this is for all of you whohave received the latihan kejiwaan of Subud; to combinethis with all your actions, so that it will gradually happenthat your actions, your work, the things that you do everyday, are not separate from your worship of the OneAlmighty God.

If for at least two hours out of the twenty-four youare not cut off – at least that, and praise be toGod if it is like that for half the day, for twelvehours – and if during that time you rememberabout God, then, in return He will also rememberyou.

Of course God will also remember you, just asyou remember Him. Thus you should not just wor-ship God just in passing, not just when you hap-pen to be idle, when you have nothing else to

do. No, you must not just worship God when you havenothing else to do. You should, if you can, be filled withyour worship of the One Almighty God at times when youare working. This is especially so for all of you who havereceived the latihan kejiwaan of Subud.

This is why Bapak needs to urge you on to do these enter-prises. In this way you should gradually be able tobecome aware of your talents, your basic qualities, yourindividual gifts. Of course, you are already

PAGE 7SUBUDVOICE

cont on p8 >

OCT 08

Thus so long as these nafsu are present in the human self,human beings will not give way to anyone who they think willexcel them. These people want to excel, they want to be highthemselves. This has become habitual for human beings.

That is why it is very necessary for human beings to bemindful of God and to worship God. It is necessary inorder that they will be able to receive and to feel theguidance of God, so that they can also feel one another.

Well, you have clearly received this; that is, it ispresent in the latihan kejiwaan of Subud. In thelatihan kejiwaan of Subud, brothers and sisters,although you are of different races and of differ-ent religions, different beliefs, yet what holdthese beliefs are the heart and mind, and whenyou are in the latihan you feel as if you were inthe midst of your own family.

Thus supposing that you are near someone whois feeling sad or who has just experienced somekind of trouble, as many people do in their lives, you your-self at least share in what they are feeling. That shows thatthis is the will of God for human beings, and it is His will thatthey should feel for one another.

If this feeling became general amongst the people of thisworld, the world would become peaceful and prosper-ous, and God has really given this world to mankind fortheir enjoyment while they are living in this world.

Brothers and sisters, if one says that God is One and Godis All-powerful, of course God has power over all things, sothat He can change wrong into right, and things that arenot good enough, not big enough, can be made big.Something that is not high enough can be made higherthrough His power.

This is something that you must not doubt, nor must youworry or feel confused about whether what you aredoing is right according to what exists in your inner-selfand to what is the will of God. Then it will be easy toachieve these changes in yourself. This has also been theexperience of such human beings as the prophetMuhammad and the walis, and of those who are calledthe messengers of the One Almighty God.

They, too, used to be ordinary people to beginwith, but because they did nothing to contra-vene the rules of religion which have been taughtto us by the power of God, which are called thecommandments of God or of Allah, then gradu-ally the things that were not right in them disap-peared and were replaced by something good.And it is only God Who can make these changes.

Moreover, brothers and sisters, where is anyhuman being to be found who can train all thepeople in the world, all the many thousands andmillions, when sometimes it is impossible just to train oneself.The people of this world pray that the One Almighty Godwill train them and teach them.

Yes, He is not far away; Although the Subud mem-bers are not very numerous they are all beingtrained by the power of God at the same time, andthey each receive their training individually. It isproof of this that you feel satisfied when you receivethe latihan kejiwaan of Subud.

People shouldworship Godso as to be

really able tocorrect their

own inner-selves

If this feelingbecame general

amongst thepeople of this

world, the worldwould becomepeaceful andprosperous

PAGE 8 SUBUDVOICE

cont on p9 >

OCT 08

Inner Voice welcomes stories and letters. Please send toIlaine Lennard, ilaine.l@hotmail.co.uk

I N N E RV O I C E

•

able to know things, like a bird who goes out every morn-ing to look for food and comes home every evening.Where did the bird learn how to do that? Yet it can find itsfood, because the bird remains a bird. It is a bird; it is itself.But if that bird has been trained by human beings to say'Good morning' and 'Good evening' every morning andevening, so that instead of finding its food it is given food,then gradually that bird becomes stupid. It cannot know.If you ask the bird what it means when it says 'Good morn-ing', it does not understand the meaning. That is the wayof a mynah bird; it just imitates.

You Should Not Be People Who Just ImitateWith the latihan kejiwaan you should not be people whojust imitate. You must not be like that, so that if your neigh-bor sells cao ( a kind of drink ), you also sell cao, or if yourneighbor sells onde-onde ( a kind of sweetmeat ), youalso sell onde-onde. It is not certain that selling onde-onde will do you any good. Leave the benefits for theperson who is selling it.

This is the way you lose your heads and lose your waywhen you do not work. This is the reason why, on thewhole, you have become imitators. You have to changethis, brothers and sisters, or rather it is not you who canchange it, but God. But it is changed through your wor-ship of Him, your worship of the One Almighty God.

We have already received His teaching; that is, the lati-han kejiwaan of Subud. Thus the latihan kejiwaan is atraining that enables the trainee who practices the lati-han to become aware of his own inner-self. It is saidnowadays that one should be able to know one's origins,one's nationality.

Yes, but this is something even more basic than national-ity, for this is your very foundation. Yes. That is the reason,brothers and sisters, why it is very necessary for you to per-severe with the latihan kejiwaan of Subud, so that thingswill go well in your lives and you will lack for nothing inyour lives, either in this world or the next. You should notincrease your difficulties.

Of course you will have your troubles and there will bethings to cause you trouble. But if you make a mistake,the mistakes of someone who has no troubles are differ-ent from those of someone who has troubles. The mis-takes of someone who is in trouble are like when some-one has climbed high up a tree; if he falls he will hurt him-self. Yes, even if he does not fall on his head he will injurehimself; if he falls on his head he will die.

Troubles Made LighterBut the troubles of someone who is remembering are likewhen someone falls down while he is walking. Thus he fallsjust the same, but he does not hurt himself very much.Thus one can say that his troubles can be said to bemade lighter.

Bapak himself has experienced this, brothers and sisters.Bapak really has experienced it; so have the people whoare now working on P.T.S.Widjojo. Bapak has experiencedthis for himself in unexpected ways. Why is this? Bapakacts in accordance with what Bapak has just been say-ing. Every time Bapak makes a move or takes any action,it is always accompanied by the zikir.

Thus if Bapak turns aside just a little bit, he is pulled back.'Not there; there is a dog there who wants to bite you.' If

you are not like that, God prompts you to turn aside, butyou do not feel the prompting, so that eventually youencounter the dog and the dog bites you. So you go tothe doctor, because the dog has bitten you. Thus clearlyit can be said that it is as if people manufacture these dif-ficulties for themselves.

Because they can be said to make their own difficultiesand dangers, then these people have to be able tomake themselves such that they do not make mistakes, orthat if they do make mistakes, these will not be serious.Well, it is like that.

Brothers and sisters, there is still a lot for Bapak to tell you,and that he will tell you, but Bapak only promised to speakuntil eleven o'clock, so now he is obliged to – or rather heis not obliged to but he is going to – end this talk. So, as afellow human being, Bapak asks you not to feel disap-pointed. Bapak now ends this meeting, and will continuetalking to you on the twenty-seventh night. So for now youmust just be patient and accept that we stop now.

Thank you. Good night.

THE FATEFUL LOVEMore extracts from Rozak Tatebe’s forthcoming bookSubud – a Spiritual Journey, in which he describes his loveaffair with a young woman called Sumiko…

Sumiko knew nothing of the events I have described ear-lier, but it is not impossible that they did have an effect onher. The love she had for me became much moreintense.

From a social point of view, her love was unforgivable. Ihad a wife and a child, and Sumiko had sensed from thevery start that I had no intention to divorce. Despite this,she had decided she would give herself to me and shecasually hinted at this.

At that time, we were talking together in a café. Withoutwarning, I was suddenly filled with a burning love for her,and an unexpected thought welled up from my heart; Iwouldn’t care if I went to Hell as long as I could marry her.I was horror-stricken.

Until then, that thought had not crossed my mind. I hadalways thought that the whole purpose of human life wasto remain focused on God and on Heaven, and to neverdesist from this no matter what happened. Nevertheless, Ihad had this thought in the core of my body.

Because of our shared emotional bond, I knew thesource of my emotion came from Sumiko. But as soon asI felt it, I knew it was also my emotion and as such, wasshocked at the intensity of it. The words, ‘fateful love,’came to me.

PAGE 9SUBUDVOICE OCT 08

cont on p10>

A Fate that Transcended WillCertainly, the love between Sumiko and me hadbeen born when our souls were linked through afate that transcended will. I realized that the kind offateful love I thought existed only in novels – thatfeels beyond your power to stop even though youknow it leads to your own destruction – truly couldexist.

Despite this, I did not make any moves towardSumiko. To be honest, this was not because I didn’twant to marry her. Since our spiritual marriage hadoccurred, the idea of a marriage in this world was of course, avery attractive one.

But in order do that, I would have to either divorce my wife, orelope with Sumiko, or conduct an immoral affair in secret, noneof which I was capable of doing.

My wife and I had fallen in love at work. We had gotten mar-ried around the time that I discovered the existence of Subud.Dr. Taniguchi had told me to stop Subud as it was dangerous,but I had continued to do the latihan.

I finally decided to marry my wife when I thought that even if Itook the Subud path against Dr. Taniguchi’s wishes, this youngwoman would still follow me.

And indeed, just before we got married, she did start doing thelatihan and had continued to stay by my side without com-plaint, even after I had collapsed with TB, even after I refusedto go back to my job at Kyobunsha because I wanted to re-establish the group, and even though we had no idea of howwe were going to get by.

Like any ordinary couple we had our differences and our quar-rels, and sometimes I felt awkwardness between us; but none ofthese had escalated into a major issue and my wife still trustedme. So I could not betray her, or divorce her.

And when I considered the effect such an action would haveon the newly established Subud group and my responsibilitytowards its members, I could not behave in such a way thatwould draw social censure, no matter what the reason.

Hoping for GuidanceI was hoping for guidance from God. As I mentioned before,since I myself did not understand what was going on, I couldnot give any explanations to Sumiko, and so I took no action.

I hoped that the latihan would show me the next stage, andwhat I should do. Since it was through the latihan that this situ-ation had arisen, I presumed that the latihan would also giveme instructions. I waited and waited but my wish was not ful-filled.

I tested. I calmed my mind and asked sincerely. ‘Why has thishappened? How should Sumiko and I be from now on? What isit that I am supposed to do?’

Instantly, the answer came tumbling out of my mouth. That washow I received answers at that time.

‘The matter of Sumiko is in God’s hands. You cannot know yetwhat God’s will is for you.’

This answer was unexpected. While it was somewhat comfort-ing to confirm that God’s will was involved, it was basically adenial of the question. Unlike tests I had done until then, I foundmyself back where I started and in a state of suspense.

Her Emotions As My EmotionsAfter severa l more months , th ings took an unpre-d icted tu rn . Sumiko s tar ted to show s igns of change.Where once she had h inted that she was ready tog ive herse l f to me, now she s tar ted to rev i se herthoughts on our re lat ionsh ip and was ambiguous inher at t i tude.

Fundamentally, her feelings for me had been bothsocially and morally unacceptable. Now, the timesare different, but in those days, ethics bound peo-ple in a powerful way.

I had continually been vague in my response to herand never held out any prospect for the future, andeventually, this internal conflict had arisen withinher. Ultimately, reason won, and she made thedecision to stop loving me.

But although she was very strong-willed, to try andsuppress the love she felt was a supremely difficult task. Thatwas to be expected. Even if she didn’t know it, that love hadbeen born out of the marriage of our souls. And so, this herald-ed for me a time of suffering. As I shared her emotional life, herinternal struggle between will and emotion, now came backtenfold to me.

My emotions began to swing violently. Again, and again, I feltthe effects internally. Just as I had started to become accus-tomed to a tranquil inner life, gained through the latihan, I wasexposed to wave after wave of intense emotions which I hadno way of avoiding.

I suffered bitterly from this. Unable to stifle the love she felt for me,Sumiko then tried even harder to strengthen her will to overcomeit, with an even more devastating effect on me.

In the relationship with Sumiko, I experienced her emotions asmy emotions. But when it came to her attempts to use her willto suppress her emotions, I felt it like a physical oppression. Thearea of my body from my neck to my chest felt like I was beingclamped in a vice.

Sometimes I could barely breathe, and even while standing ona station platform, was not able to move for several minutes.There was no way for me to escape this state. My suffering wasso great, I felt I was in hell.

I wanted to explain that the love she felt for me was part ofGod’s Will and therefore not a crime, and that to try and dispelit with her own force was impossible. However, believing that toconverse with me would cause her love to flare up again, sheavoided me assiduously and would not talk to me at all.

Finally, I felt that I could not bear this state anymore. I prayedthat my connection with Sumiko’s soul be cut off. But myprayers were in vain. I also tried to bring my relationship with herto an end through latihan, but I could not succeed. It seemed to me that I was sur-rounded by an impenetrable barrier, with no way through.

The Turning PointAnd then, one day, there came a turning point. Suddenly anentirely new thought came to me. If Sumiko’s soul and my soulwere as one, it did not matter how much I begged God to sep-arate us, it would not happen.

And so, there was really only one thing I could do. That was tosurrender both my soul, and Sumiko’s soul to which it wasbound, entirely to the Divine Power of the Almighty. That was agesture of supreme surrender for me.

I still remember the strange feeling that came over me. Untilthen, I had been practising the latihan in order to improve myown soul. But now, if I were to give over my soul entirely to God,whatever happened to it would no longer have anything to dowith me.

Would I then continue to do the latihan? What would I be doingit for? I wondered. The answer, ‘to worship God,’ was one thatI was to discover somewhat later.

However this turned out to be the beginning of the end, forthen the situation started to change rapidly; it was as if timehad been standing still but had now begun moving, and withincredible speed.

An unexpectedthought welled upfrom my heart; Iwouldn’t care if I

went to Hell as longas I could marry her

PAGE 10 SUBUDVOICE OCT 08

My Wife’s ResponsesFirst, my wife, who for the past two years had notbeen aware of Sumiko’s existence, suddenly, forsome strange reason, became aware of it andstarted to question me. I explained what hadoccurred in my latihan, but needless to say, mywife thought this was crazy and could notbelieve me.

She wanted to run to one of my friends for advicebut, to make a long story short, from my point ofview, that friend was the worst choice she couldhave made.

However, I was unable to convey this to my wife.

It is hard to explain what happened over the next few days, butI was enveloped by a strange feeling. It was as if a spiritualdrama was unfolding somewhere in the clouds and I could feelit but could not influence its process nor be involved in the plot.

However, I knew that it had something to do with me andthat the outcome would have an effect on the outerworld. Several days passed, with the drama unfolding lit-tle by little, every day somewhere in mid-air.

Then, one day, when it felt as though this drama was drawingto a close, there was a change in my wife’s attitude and sheinformed me that basically, she would accept what was hap-pening between Sumiko and I.

For three days after that, I was urged from within, to sleep withmy wife every night. These times were not the result of desirebut were quiet exchanges that occurred in a state of latihan.On the third night, I found myself in a landscape in a differentdimension.

The atmosphere was serene, bathed in the pre-dawn light andwhile the fields in front of my eyes were still dark, I could seemountains stretching far ahead on the distant horizon. A faintblue light from the mountain ridge heralded dawn and every-thing was filled with a heavenly, majestic calm.

TransformationThe following morning, when I looked at my wife, I was amazed.Something about her had changed. It was as if light from insideher was now shining in her face. It felt as though she hadbecome a completely different person overnight.While the glow that I could see radiating from her did not last,the feeling that she was now different stayed with me. It wasclear that change had occurred within her at a fundamentallevel.

The awkwardness that I had felt between us before had disap-peared completely. Our quarrels became infrequent and westarted to experience a harmonious relationship as a marriedcouple.

At the same time I also underwent a transformation. Beforethen, whenever I met a beautiful woman, I was not able to stopthe impulse that I wanted to get her attention or that I wantedto get close to her.

Since the general belief is that all men do the same, I thoughtso too, and never paid particular attention to it. But after mywife’s transformation, those thoughts completely disappearedquite naturally. If I saw a beautiful woman, I would think herbeautiful but my mind would be moved no further than that. Iwas amazed, as I had never thought this possible.

Even more surprising, this experience served as a boundary line,after which the shared emotional bond which had been sopowerful between Sumiko and me, started to weaken rapidly.Sumiko continued to avoid speaking with me, but the sufferingI had felt because of these shared emotions, faded away.

The problem had been solved. (Sumiko eventually got married

and was blessed with a son and a happy life.) Butthe sensitivity I had experienced towardsSumiko’s emotional states remained with me in aweaker form and as something I now experiencetowards everyone.

This ability, that allows me to instantly feel anystrong emotions that are directed at me, hasbeen particularly instrumental in helping me tomaintain harmonious relationships with othersthroughout my life.

Once the problem had been solved, I realizedthat I would never want to repeat that experience again,regardless of how much happiness was heaped upon me. Thatis how painful the experience had been.

On the other hand, even if I were offered all the happiness inthe world, I would not want to go back to where I was before.The gifts I was given through that experience, including my ownpersonal transformation, were too precious for that. (To be continued)

In the

relationship with

Sumiko, I

experienced her

emotions as my

emotions

•

•

l e t t e r t o t h e e d i t o r

‘MY SUBUD VISION’ ARTICLESahlan writes from Ireland in response to the article by HannahHurd in our September issue..,

Dear Editor

In her article ‘My Subud Vision’, Hannah Hurd writes:...There has to be a clear distinction when trying to ‘improve’Subud – to avoid confusion. That is, that the foundations are nottampered with how ever much the structure is altered. So as anorganisation we need to be very clear about what these are sowe stay true to what Subud is and keep its integrity...

As your introduction to Hannah's article points out, she writes withgreat personal conviction and certainty. Therefore I am puzzledthat she does not list what she considers these ‘foundations’ tobe that are apparently so vital to maintaining Subud's ‘integrity’.I do not recall seeing any such list written down in any Subudconstitution, and certainly not in Bapak's talks. Perhaps Hannahthinks they are common knowledge, or so obvious that it is notnecessary to list them explicitly.

On the other hand, I find talk of ‘foundations’ somewhat inap-propriate. Isn't Subud supposed to be about finding one's ownpath through the latihan? Or are there some additional con-straints involved, a moral code perhaps, or imposed limitationson what individual members are allowed to think and say? Inwhich case, who is responsible for formulating and laying downthese ‘foundations’ and what spiritual authority or any other kindof authority do they claim that permits them to prescribe thebehaviour of the rest of us?

(If there are such people, they should be careful: I recall Bapaktelling a story, the moral of which was that the true sign of aspiritual person is they have lost the desire to claim to be spiri-tual). Even Bapak himself urged us to find our own truththrough the latihan.

Despite my disquiet on this matter, I am willing to keep an openmind, so I have devised a little experiment. On the Subud Visionweb site there is a page – http://www.subudvision.org/question-shtml.php – where a question is asked each month and anyonecan post an answer. The question that is being asked there at themoment is, ‘What do you think are the foundations of Subud?’ Itwill be interesting to see to what extent there is agreement onwhat the foundations are or should be. I encourage readers tovisit this page to see what has been said so far, and to add theirown opinion,

Sahlan Diver, Managing Editor, Subud Vision web site

PAGE 11SUBUDVOICE OCT 08

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e n t e r p r i s eTHOUGHTS ON SUBUD ENTERPRISESSharif Horthy and Hamilton Helmer write…

To us the latihan is such a special gift because one’s inner devel-opment is no longer compromised by the cacophony of themodern world. It is not only possible to engage in an active andvibrant outer life, but, even more, this engagement becomesbeneficial.

This is the message Bapak conveyed in his many, many talksabout Subud enterprises. Trying, as best we could, to follow hisadvice has immeasurably enriched both of our lives.

Having said that, carrying out this vision is not easy, and,between the two of us, we have probably made nearly everymistake there is to be made – more than once! We thought thatenough time has passed and enough efforts tried that theremight be some value in looking back and asking ‘What lessonshave we learned?’ and ‘Where do we go from here?’

Different Types of Enterprises To help clarify our comments wewould like to distinguish between three different types of under-takings:

1. Charitable enterprises. Some individual or group in Subudundertakes an effort whose primary purpose is charitable. Theremight be profit involved or not; often volunteers are crucial. Thismight be as simple as a Subud group renting the Subud house orsomething as sophisticated as an on-going micro-credit facility.

2. Cooperative enterprises. A number of Subud people jointlystart a profit-oriented business with the goal of creating a vehiclethat allows Subud people to work together and fund Subud.Some large scale examples of this are S. Widjojo, BSB, andAnugraha, but there have been many smaller efforts as well.

3. Individual enterprises. A Subud person (possibly two) starts theirown profit-oriented business.

If we review our many efforts over the last several decades, thearc is clear. Many charitable and individual enterprises havebeen started and some are on-going and successful, whereasmost (all?) cooperative enterprise have failed, with a great dealof money and goodwill lost in the process.

This pattern of failure is something we must learn from, and the pur-pose of this article is to try to contribute to that learning. However,first we would like to comment on charitable enterprises.

Difference Between Charitable and Co-operative EnterprisesCharitable enterprises are an important addition to our Subudcommunity. In Hamilton’s group, for example, the rental incomefrom the Santa Clara Valley Subud house makes a substantialcontribution to the group’s financial health and has done so formany years.

This is different from a cooperative enterprise, however,because, although renting the Santa Clara Valley Subud houseproduces income, it is not a normal profit-making business andwould not pass this test. All the management labor is volunteer,and there is no impetus to try to earn competitive returns for thecost of the implicit capital involved (the real estate).

These are concerns for a private sector business and not appro-priate for an effort such as this. Rather, the measure of success isproviding some income and furthering the Subud community’sgoals. We do not believe that anything we say in this articleshould discourage Subud groups from engaging in money mak-ing ventures, for we regard all these as falling into the charitablecategory.

SUBUD YOUTH AT LA SOURCEContinued from page 5

The Most Eagerly Awaited TopicPerhaps the most eagerly awaited topic regarded the NewZealand World Congress. The discussion was an open forum andextremely engaging as we considered what we can bring to thisevent, what we can look forward to and perhaps most impor-tantly how to circumnavigate the globe in order to get there inthe first place.

There was an appreciable focus upon the role of youth, wherethe most modest of us all could not help but feel a swelling inhis chest as the importance of our young selves was iteratedand reiterated.

Aside from the official discussions, a plethora of impromptu con-versations with the various facilitators boasted an equally reward-ing conclusion and an inspiring taste for things to come. We, itwould seem, have much work to do.

By the fourth night the gathering had reached an idyllic stateof peace and togetherness. The culmination of which was anight spent around the bonfire literally filling the valley with thesounds of our singing voices. Some six hours passed before thesing-a-thon was over and a thin sliver of light on the horizon her-alded the dawn.

The whole event was permeated by a congress-style morningand nightly latihan. An event supported by testing sessions andopen discussions with international helpers: Andrew Hollowayand Farah Czwiertnia.

One afternoon devoted to discussion with the helpers waswarmly received, with the Q&A session digressing into amost enjoyable account of our favourite Subud tales: Nexttime you see Rhyana Blakeley ask her the one about themining helmets!

Breathtaking BeautyThere is a breathtaking beauty to the Pyrenees. I hark backto our mountain trek now and draw your attention (I hope)to the picture of us all against the stunning backdrop (thestill frame does little justice).

We stand embarked on an inner and outer journey of explo-ration, to which the mountain walk was a fitting metaphorand apotheosis. The nights brought fresh wonder as we gath-ered below the ethereal sky with stars so bright that it seemednew ones had been added just for us to gaze upon andreflect upon the vast majesty of the heavens.

It is impossible to capture all the perfect little moments,though I hope I have managed to pique your interests withthis short account (and to those who shared the haven Ihope you feel I have done it justice).

The greatest outcome of the event was a sense ofachievement, both personally for the individual and gener-ally for Subud at large: The sense that one leaves richerthan upon arrival.

As the gathering gradually dissolved and the ‘bubble’ ulti-mately burst we left with a sense of purpose; a sense ofdirection. And above all an appetite to gather again andagain under different guises and perpetuate the wonderfulatmosphere so simply created by the agglomeration of ourlikeminded selves.

Maya and Halim announce… We shall again have a NewYear’s music and theatre jamboree at La Source from theweekend of the 27th of December to the weekend of the3rd of January.

Contact halimkorzybski@gmail.com •

SUBUDVOICE PAGE 12 OCT 08

cont on p13>

What we are calling cooperative enterprises are different beasts.Their intent is to be fully successful by normal private enterprisestandards. It is our view that their history in Subud in the last 35years reflects an important reality: cooperative enterprises willnot work.

A central purpose of this article is to try to glean, from our manyyears of being personally involved in a wide variety of coopera-tive enterprises, why this is so.

Why Do Co-operative Enterprises Fail? In our view, their repeatedfailure is not for lack of good intent, lack of effort, lack of capitalor even lack of talent. Rather we feel that cooperative enterpris-es are doomed by their origin: the initiating force is a groupwhich is often neither expert in the targeted business nor expect-ing to be the leadership of the business. More specifically coop-erative enterprises face five major stumbling blocks:

Organizational effectiveness. Entrepreneurial success does notcome from flawlessly executing a business plan. Rather it involvesmany twists and turns with countless directional decisions alongthe way. Committees lack the flexibility, speed, unitary visionand persistence that this brutal winnowing process dictates.There is not a single large scale successful business that we canthink of that was started by more than two people.

Once a business is firmly established, then a competent andharmonious board can make a significant although highly con-strained contribution, but this is an entirely differentmatter and not relevant to start-ups. We believethat when Bapak spoke of working together, hesimply meant giving each other support, not col-lective management.

Expertise. The initiating group is often not exclusivelycomposed of people who are deeply expert in thebusiness area targeted. There is some logic in this:the latihan is so powerful that it is not unreasonableto think that if you throw yourself into a situation youcan be guided to a positive outcome.

Our own painful experience (and many dollars later)is that this just doesn’t work. Expertise not only isessential in selecting a good opportunity, it is the critical cogni-tive framework in making the right choices in the many, manybusiness decisions faced as the business evolves. We are not say-ing here that the latihan does not make a difference in business.We have both experienced the strange synchronistic events, theinsurmountable difficulties overcome at the last moment and the‘special atmosphere’ remarked on by customers that have beenreported by many Subud entrepreneurs.

These kinds of things seem to happen both in cooperative andindividual Subud enterprises, but they only contribute to successin the latter. They are no match for a lack of expertise or thedead hand of group decision-making in cooperative enterprises.This is not a theoretical comment we are making. We have triedthis quite a few times and had to suffer the consequences.

Commitment. Starting a business is a long tortuous path with themajority failing. Unless those leading the charge have taken theplunge, the temptation to bail out will be too great. By ‘takingthe plunge’, we mean a multi-year, full-time commitment withone’s own financial well-being at stake. These are motivators ofthe highest degree and the challenge faced requires thisdegree of motivation. We don’t consider advising or offering upsome spare time as anywhere close to the needed level of com-mitment. In fact, we worry that efforts that tout an impressiveboard of advisors convey a false impression of on-board commit-ted expertise.

Divergence of interest. For a Subud person, one of the greatattractions of starting a business is that you are given the oppor-tunity to more closely follow the dictates of your own inner com-pass. If you put a group of Subud people together, they stilldesire this, but their sense of correct direction inevitably comesinto conflict as they move forward and face new circumstances

– we have experienced this over and over. Once some of thegroup realizes that this aspiration of theirs cannot be fulfilled, theirinterest wanes. We might wish that, in an ideal world, this groupcan act as ‘one person’ and have continuing quick and com-plete agreement on direction. Having been at this for 35 yearsnow in many, many different contexts, it is our view that it justdoes not work this way.

Conflicting motives. Business is challenging and involves manyhard decisions; some with unpleasant consequences for thoseinvolved. The problem faced by those in charge of a coopera-tive enterprise is that, at some point, forcing the best course forthe business may involve decisions that would disrupt the harmo-ny of their own Subud community (for example, firing someone).For those in charge, this is a Hobson’s choice; understandablymost Subud members will avoid the destruction of harmony. Theconsequence is that the business cannot develop into an effi-cient organization and, competition being what it is, this is a roadto failure.

Sharif’s experience is a good case in point regarding the inher-ent dysfunctionality of cooperative enterprises. Sharif was in onthe start-up of two of Bapak’s own enterprises, Bank Susila Baktiand S. Widjojo, and he ran S.Widjojo under Bapak’s supervisionfor its first thirteen years. The way Bapak explained the impetusfor these start-ups was that he did not want Subud members tobecome obsessed with their inner life, and wanted them to befully engaged in the world. But he eventually realized that unlesshe set an example, they would ignore this advice because it is

not easy to carry out. So Bapak decided to do some-thing himself with the tools that were available, thatis, the people who happened to be around, some ofwhom had business experience. The fact is that theform these enterprises eventually took was the ratherhaphazard result of the circumstances surroundingtheir creation, at a time when business and financialexpertise was truly in short supply.

At the heart of S. Widjojo there was a stroke of genius– the purchase of the land on which the S. WidjojoCentre was built. This was entirely Bapak’s foresight:he must have seen that this land, which at the timeseemed to be in the wrong place, would eventually

be one of the most highly valued sites in Jakarta. Had S. Widjojobeen run as a normal development company, it could haveprofited immensely from its first mover status at the beginning ofa period of unprecedented expansion in Jakarta. Unfortunately,however, from the very beginning S. Widjojo was trapped in aninappropriate business model. Instead of being able to pounceon emerging opportunities, its governance structure mired thecompany in endless introspection and fatally limited speed, flex-ibility and focus.

The upshot of all this is really simple: groups of people starting for-profit businesses just doesn’t work well. Period. This is true in or outof Subud. Our advice is that we should stop initiating coopera-tive enterprises – they will inevitably dissipate our limitedresources. Instead we should concentrate on charitable andindividual enterprises – this is the future. This will mean a changein attitude. There has been a sense that cooperative enterprisesare the only form that fully follows Bapak’s advice. As a conse-quence, charitable and individual enterprises seemed a lessergoal and have received less attention. We hope this will change.The fact is that many people in Subud are doing some amazingthings and, we not only need to be supportive, we need to fullycelebrate these accomplishments, understanding that they rep-resent exactly what Bapak had in mind in stressing Subud enter-prises. We wonder whether this change in recognition wouldresult in Subud receiving greater contributions from these individ-ual enterprises.

Moving away from cooperative enterprises will bring us a num-ber of benefits:

– Committees at various levels will no longer feel obligated to tryto encourage, participate in or initiate cooperative enterprises.

This pattern offailure is some-thing we mustlearn from, andthe purpose ofthis article is totry to contributeto that learning

PAGE 13SUBUDVOICE OCT 08

cont on p14>

We would like to conclude by saying why we resonate so strong-ly with Bapak’s views on enterprises. Mankind has made startlingand positive advances in the last 300 years. Economic develop-ment, something largely stalled for millennia, has taken off, firstfor the Western world and now increasingly spreading elsewhere.

For large portions of humanity, this has distanced them from star-vation, removed the specter of the death of their children andpromised a longer, more fulfilling life. This enormous advancethough has come with a price: the proliferation of materialgoods and the strengthening of the mind has made it harderand harder to access that subtle inner sense that is so importantto our humanity; harder both because of ever escalating distrac-tions and because of our growing commitment to trust only thosephenomena that can be validated by our minds.

This is really the fundamental challenge of our age: how can weenjoy the fruits of these terrific advances without distancing our-selves from our souls. It is our belief that the latihan is so importantbecause it provides an answer.

Because it is a direct, individual experience, it has a resonance,relevance and uncontestable validity that are needed in ourage of proof. With the latihan it is possible to fully participate inthis complex and sophisticated age and still cleave to this innervoice. This is a gift of immeasurable value.

We feel that Bapak’s emphasis on enterprises, by turning upsidedown the usual relationship between spiritual paths and outerlife, strikes to the core. It is not simply that it is possible to partici-pate in this world and still advance spiritually.

The message is much stronger than that: it is our responsibility tolead full outer lives, and it is through this engagement that thetrue power and subtlety of the latihan will become most appar-ent. This is an uncommon message and one perfectly tailored tothe needs of our times.

Instead they can concentrate their precious time on other initiatives.

– We can end cooperative enterprise efforts at raising seed cap-ital from unsophisticated investors in the Subud community, withall the attendant ethical questions.

– Support organizations such as SES will have a clearer mandate.

– We can put to rest this lingering disappointment that somehowwe have failed in furthering Bapak’s vision.

There is much positive to say about what we have accom-plished so far. We should first applaud the efforts of those pio-neers who led these cooperative enterprises. Their failuremay not have felt very good at the time, but our future pathhas been greatly clarified by their courage. These earlyefforts are wasted only if we fail to internalize the hard lessonslearned and persist in making the same mistakes over andover. Active engagement in the outer world while followingthe latihan is new territory. It would be contrary to all humanexperience to expect that we could undertake this and besuccessful right out of the gate. Rather we must take risks andlearn from our mistakes. An expression of Hamilton’s applieshere: ‘The rudder only works when the ship is moving.’ We arefull of optimism and think we are just at the beginning ofsomething really important.

So far we have begged the larger question ‘Why did Bapaksuggest cooperative enterprises if they are non-starters?’ Wehave to approach this topic with a certain humility, only offer-ing up impressions not certainties. We have thought about S.Widjojo, BSB and Aunugraha and what they represent and alsohave had the benefit of Tuti’s recollections of how Bapak’senterprise views developed. Where we come out is that wefeel it is easy to draw the wrong lesson from these pioneeringefforts. Bapak’s example was a lesson of action not a lesson ofform. He was telling us ‘Don’t sit on your haunches. Get mov-ing.’ This is a vital example and one that strikes to the heart ofhuman progress. We should do our best to follow this exampleof moving out, but we should not feel constrained by the wayBapak tried to get things started. That was only a beginning.We feel so strongly about this principle of action that we wouldprefer people to persist in cooperative enterprises rather thandoing nothing at all. Skin in the game leads to learning, andlearning leads to advance. There is no detour around this sim-ple logic.

Jumping in may be the essential start, but it is only a start, and wemust proceed intelligently after that; we need to activelyengage the lessons from our failures and successes and worktoward an understanding of the best approaches. It is inappro-priate to put blinders on and try to simply follow what Bapak sug-gested decades ago.

Varindra told a story that we feel is apropos. Bapak had Varindratest the question of what share of Varindra’s attention wasfocused on this world. Varindra received that it was practicallyeverything, greater than 90%. He then had Varindra test thesame question for Bapak’s attention and the answer wasreversed: very little, less than 10%.

Bapak then went on to say that he relied on Varindra to proper-ly engage the outer issues facing the Subud organization; thiswas not Bapak’s charge. Our feeling is that this is how we shouldregard Bapak’s specific advice about business forms. This wasnot his area, and it is up to us to figure this out and not be con-strained by any suggestions that he might have made.

In a wider sense we believe this accords with what Bapakrepeatedly told us: that he was not a teacher. He described him-self rather as the school servant whose responsibility it was to pre-pare the classroom and to make sure that all the chairs were fac-ing the front, i.e., facing the Teacher who was God, not Bapak.What this means to us is that he taught us how to be open toGod’s teaching in our everyday lives rather than following therules that Bapak gives us.

ENTERPRISE IS A FORUM FORACCELERATED PURIFICATIONHanafi Fraval writes from the USA in response to the article byHamilton Helmer and Sharif Horthy…

First of all, a hearty thank-you to Sharif Horthy and HamiltonHelmer for their articulate, relevant article. Their much-neededThoughts will, I hope, provoke and be a catalyst for furtherinsights and understanding for individual entrepreneurs andgroups. I agree with nearly everything in this article, but there ismore….

First, what are my credentials? I have been doing the latihan for42 years, and nearly all of that time has included involvement, toa greater or lesser extent, in enterprise. One could say that I ama seasoned – as well as dented – entrepreneur.

I headed Anugraha, one of the three large group enterprisesreferred to in Sharif and Hamilton’s article. Before that, I was oneof the founders of Rofin, a company in the high-tech businessthat developed over ten years before I left it and a number ofother small companies for Anugraha. I have also run a publiccompany listed on the London Stock Exchange.

I’ve had successes and many failures. I’ve learned a great deal.I’ve experienced much pain from the failures, and the successesalways seemed somehow more faded than the sharp learningone experiences from a failure (more on failure later).

Capital and Capital StructureSomething Thoughts on Subud Enterprises did not cover, Ibelieve, is capital and capital structure. The fact is, returns arepaid to investors. If an individual entrepreneur or several individ-ual Subud members invest in a company, they receive returnsproportionate to their investment. When outside investors investin a Subud enterprise, they are the ones who benefit.

One of our objectives in enterprise is that Subud

•

PAGE 14 SUBUDVOICE OCT 08

•

should benefit from our enterprise activity. This is onlypossible to the extent that individual Subud mem-bers hold all or a portion of the company’s equity.For the most part, these are private companies fund-ed by a combination of the entrepreneur and angelinvestors.

We do however, have another model out there thatcould be said to be in development. It is the publiccompany model. Of course Kalimantan Gold is themost mature example of this; however, being anexploration company, it is necessarily long term andhas not yet proven itself in operational or profit-gen-eration terms.

Another very recent example is Computronics in Australia, acompany in which my brother Sachlan (current SES Internationalchair) and two or three colleagues acquired a controlling inter-est in a public company in administration, repurposed and redi-rected the company, repopulated its management team andre-floated it on the Australian Stock Exchange.

There are at least eight Subud members who, among them, holdthe majority of this company’s equity. A portion of its stock is heldfor MSF. Because of the rigorous rules that govern public compa-nies, nothing can be said about this company’s content until it isready to declare its own direction through the medium of aprospectus.

Public Company ModelBut I raise the issue of a public company model because it seemsto me that, structurally, it may be a way forward. At the moment,it can be said to be an experiment only; we will have to see howwell it works. But it does incorporate some of the attributes of thegroup enterprise, while avoiding the structural pitfalls of thegroup enterprises that were Widjojo, BSB and Anugraha.

The public company model is a recognized one. It requires ahigh level of disclosure. It is relatively transparent. To be success-ful, it must be well run and professionally executed, with flair,imagination and adaptability. And these last attributes must alsoapply to the enterprise of an individual.

The cost and complexity of compliance can be prohibitive,although, with a lot of diligent effort, there are ways of contain-ing this cost. I don’t know the viability of the public-companystrategy for the U.S. for a Subud enterprise. It has to be investigat-ed. Conditions in other countries vary.

So here we have a vehicle possessing many of the attributes ofthe group enterprise (many members could invest in it, shouldthey wish), while also possessing the desired attributes of anadaptable, professional and imaginative management.

Moreover, it is possible to follow a culture in a public company,as of course one could in any enterprise, that embodies the val-ues, vision, goals and actions that one might associate with adeep practice of the latihan. It is this culture that can be visibleand can have a positive effect on non-Subud individuals whocome into contact with the enterprise.

Adding Outside ExpertiseAnother benefit of the public company model is that it can andmust add outside expertise when that expertise is unavailablefrom within our Subud membership. And this is more easilyaccomplished in a public company, as long as its leadership is inSubud hands

Of course many of these attributes are also true of KalimantanGold. I simply want to draw attention here to a possible alterna-tive that might more readily embody the best attributes of boththe group and the individual-entrepreneur models.

Thoughts on Subud Enterprises refers to our ‘own inner compass.’Enterprise, in both its positive and negative outcomes, sharpensthis compass and provides an environment for an inner directionand growth.

When a non-rigorously structured group undertakes anenterprise, this happens to each member of the group,and inevitably the sharpening of each member’s com-pass leads to individual compasses pointing in differentdirections.

So, relatively rapidly, it becomes inevitable that the(founding) group members will ultimately splinter andgo their own way(s) – not necessarily a bad thing.

Personal Growth Through EnterpriseLet me return to the reference I made to failure I madeat the beginning. Stuart Cooke has written in the SubudUSA News about my experience in Anugraha, following

the 1995 Subud USA Congress.

Well do I recall that after the failure of Anugraha, for a wholeyear afterward, I remember literally feeling physical pain everytime I went to latihan at my local group, where many of theAnugraha investors as well as its new managers were membersof the group.

Certainly this was one of my most intense experiences of the painof failure. Yet I cannot underestimate the growth that I experi-enced, which cannot be transferred and which becomes a life-long asset. No pain, no gain. There’s no other way to really learn.The growth from the pain of failure can also be restated as:enterprise is a forum for accelerated purification.

In the article’s Conflicting motives section is a reference to theoccasional need within a cooperative enterprise to take anaction such as firing a member considered to be disturbing theharmony of the group.

At a deeper level, I believe that there may be something elsegoing on here. It is possible to fire somebody ‘from the rightplace,’ without agenda, and in doing so avoid disturbing thegroup’s harmony.

However, before that is possible, each of us must have reacheda point where we are able to confront ourselves. If I cannot con-front myself, I cannot confront a recalcitrant or non-performingmember, employee or associate.

The fact is, we are still being purified, and our tools are still devel-oping, and this is why we are usually unable to take difficult stepswithout inharmonious consequences. Put another way, theenterprise of an individual member is a kind of state-of-your-soulmeter; the outer is like a mirror of the inner.

This was one ofmy most intenseexperiences of

the pain of failure. Yet I

cannot underestimatethe growth that I experienced…

SEEING THE WOOD FOR THE TREES Leonard Wells writes from England’s Deep North. At first I thoughtthis was going to be another very serious article about enterpris-es but thank God it turned into more of a comedy…

This little article is in response to one in the August 2008 UK SubudJournal by Hamid Kaber from Costa Rica. In it he looks back withastonishment at the brotherhood’s past achievements andfuture possibilities using our collective strengths.

In 1979 I was working as a Tax Manager for Grant Thornton inManchester – now one of the top 5 companies in the world. Icould look forward to a big pension and an early retirement.

However, meeting and advising hundreds of rich and famousclients on their financial affairs proved less than satisfying. Theannouncement of the International Spiritual Centre by Bapak –which became Anugraha – was to my inner what the huntleader’s horn must be like to the eager hounds! Tally Ho!

At that point the project was going to be built beside the RiverThames at Reading. I wrote to the MD, Hanafi Fraval, and sug-gested that if I were to live on a river barge I could park it next tothe construction site and act as the night watchman!

I have no doubt that Hanafi smiled and filed this letter under‘Subud Crisis cases’ and thought no more of it,

PAGE 15SUBUDVOICE OCT 08

Rochanawati on ForgivenessEleana Pawl writes from Seattle with a reminder about forgive-ness, so appropriate at the end of the fasting season…

I have been going through my Subud files and organizing them.I ran across a little clipping from an early Subud publication ofadvice from Bapak's daughter. It really touched me…

Please Forgive…

All that matters is worship of God. M’bakju is not afraid to die orto give up everything, but I will not give up worship of God.

When someone does not like you – leave it, or if someone likesyou and admires you– leave it – it does not matter. All that mat-ters is worship of God and asking forgiveness of God; pleaseGod, forgive – forgive – forgive.

You must love yourself. If you love yourself,you will not dirty yourself and you will not dothose things like talking about other people.Your first love is to God, then to yourself, thento your husband and your family.

If you feel worried or hurt by people, orpleased if they admire you, or angry withsomeone or sad, this cuts into the your heartand makes wounds. But for heaven you must

have a whole pure heart.

So when anyone hurts you, leave it, leave it, forgive him or her –leave it and forget it. Let it not get into you; it must remain on theoutside. Inside you must be happy and untouched by it, worship-ping God. M’bakju is always happy and praying inside: ‘Oh God,forgive, forgive.’

And when people come with their worries, it does not makeM’bakju weak because of always praying inside to God, andbeing happy. You must come to that.

You must always be happy to pass the examination for heaven.You cannot come into heaven with a heart full of wounds. Ifsomeone hurts you, forgive him or her and forget about it. Butdon’t let it enter you and remain with you.

Excerpt from personal advice by M’bakju Rochanawati

For heavenyou must

have awhole pure

heart

•

•

as I myself received no response.

How to Get SackedIn 1980 my mother died after a long and traumatic illness. Ibought an ancient London Taxi and an old caravan and head-ed towards Reading. I called the Taxi Xerxes and the CaravanAggamemnon – no idea why- and many were the adventuresawaiting me!

I took a ghastly gruesome job in a firm of Accountants in Reading.The boss lady made Boudicca look wimpish and had me prayingnightly for guidance on how to escape this daily prihatin.

One morning I awoke and imagined naively that if I were toannounce that I fancied her she might just sack me on the spot.I can only thank God that it did not have the opposite effect. Itdidn’t work and one day I just walked away and said goodbye.

At this point I had volunteered to beChairman of the Bapak Visit Working Partyfor the forthcoming visit by Bapak in 1981. Iwas honoured to get the job and it camemy way for a total of 3 visits. I sold theCaravan to a couple who were taking it toGreece to live in while building a newhouse!

The visit went well and the publicity got menoticed. In one day I was offered the postsof Secretary of ISC and of Subud Britain. I

chose the latter. About a year later I was offered a post byHanafi Fraval to assist his brother Sachlan the Finance Director towhich was later added the role of Company Secretary atAnugraha – so I had got there in the end !

The Spiritual DimensionIf we look at Subud in the spiritual dimension, one might consid-er Anugraha to have been a kind of self financing Cathedral inthe making. No doubt those who bet their shirts on it are foamingat the mouth on reading this.

But you know, the journey to the Moon had many setbacks anda number of lives were lost. Isn’t the overcoming of all kinds ofodds part of the necessary road to success?

It was a great privilege to have been working on the Anugrahaproject and I agree with Hamid Kaber that it was NOT a failurebut on the contrary a miracle. We got it built and it still stands tothis day.

Our mistake was to have been too ambitious in the constructionprocess; instead of building the centre around an ancient countryhouse as we did, we ought to have built a modern new building.

As a result none of the bathrooms were above each other andall the pipework was hemmed in and higgledey piggledy andcost a small fortune – and that was just one of many costly con-sequences.

The result was a heavy burden of debt which eventually sank ourlittle enterprise ship. Had we sold it in 1985 when the opportunityarose we might all have got back some of our investment andnot completely lost our nerve.

Get Back on the HorseI would have liked to have seen us get straight back on to thehorse which had just thrown us and to have bought the AuroraGarden Hotel in Windsor.

It was a small successful part Subud owned enterprise whichhoused an active Subud group and was eventually bought outby the non Subud management team. It also had a namebeginning and ending with the letter ‘A’ as did Anugraha!

If we had bought it and ran it for a year or two our confidencemight have been restored. We could then have bought anotherhotel and so on until today we might have had 100 or more dot-ted around the world.

Unluckily and instead, some very bright and imaginative mem-bers started Premier Hotels. How it worked and was financed Iconfess that I still can not fathom. It looked so promising thatmany more shirts were risked and regrettably lost. Did they stum-ble, as did the Anugraha team, by being too ambitious?

So, what can we now do as a brotherhood? Bapak’s vision com-bined the material and the spiritual. We have little confidenceleft in the former but we like to think that maybe our efforts in thelatter will prove adequate.

Personally I don’t think so. We live in a material world. Supposing anative of Africa came punting his little raft down the River Thamesinviting us all to join him in the highly innovative faith of tree wor-ship. I think you will agree he will not have many applicants!

However, were he to fly in to Heathrow in his own gold platedJumbo Jet, I am fairly certain that a great many people wouldbe visiting their local forests on a regular basis!

I see mentioned quite often in Subud publications the times ofworld latihans but I know of no one who attends or organisessimultaneous latihans. Here is a suggestion to ponder.

What say from now until the World Congress we all attend aWorld latihan once a month and prior to the start, surrenderourselves to the Almighty and pray for his guidance and ifappropriate, the regaining of our collective spirit of adventureand enterprise.

If I were toannounce

that I fanciedher, she

might justsack me on

the spot

PAGE 16

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