Chairperson’s UpdateM

usingsidwest

from the

August 2011Subud Midwest Newsletter

Lucian Parshall, Editor

The color edition of this newsletter is online at: subudusa.org/regnewsletter.php#Midwest

Treasurer’s Update

Michael Shaver - Chair

For those observing Ramadan #1432:27th night - August 26th

Eid - August 30th

IHs to attend SEC/MW Gathering in Pittsburg

Dear all,Below is an updated itinerary for the Area 3 IH visit, as of Au-gust 9th. Please feel free to officially announce this visit and itinerary to the centers and on your websites/calendars. Elaina Dodson, IH

September 23 - 25: Boston group September 26 - 30: New York group (and surrounding areas)October 1: day with Philadelphia groupOctober 2 - 4: Washington DC group & Maryland satellite groupsOctober 5 - 6: Raleigh NC group October 7 - 9: Subud East Coast/Subud Midwest gather-ing in Pittsburgh, PennsylvaniaOctober 10: Washington, DC and Virginia satellite group

I’m so very proud to rep-resent Subud Midwest as your Regional Chair. At our National Gathering I had many opportunities to see our region shine. The respect and admiration I feel for each of you fills my heart with joy. God’s Grace is shared through us and we were blessed to share this Grace with all of our Subud Broth-ers and Sisters from around

our country. It was a busy week for me with the many responsibilities I have been entrusted with. Our own MW Regional Gathering on Sunday was good and true with so many tender moments. The warm and heartfelt remem-brances of our Sister and Mother Rohana McCormack I still feel with a tear and a smile. I love Rohana as you do too. Thank you for sharing your life with me and with each other. That’s family to me. See the photos inside.

The SUSA Board of Directors had a full agenda. To much to list here. I can say how excited I am with the forward and purposeful decisions we as a Board are engaged with for Subud as a whole. Each of my fellow regional chairs shared a presence of being that was truly humbling to me. We worked hard on difficult opportunities but always with an admirable feeling of harmony. Thoughtful discussions accompanied by many smiles and laughter.

Three Rivers is coming up and I can’t wait. This East Coast/Midwest gathering promises to be special. Our local, Regional, National and International Helpers will be join-ing us. Please come. Make every effort to be there. It will begin the evening of October 6th. The registration forms will be posted soon. Hey, my birthday is that day! You’ve got to come and have a cupcake. Bring something for the silent auction if you are able. This money will go to my most favorite cause (the Midwest Regional bank account).

Your financial generosity helped ten of our Brothers and Sisters attend our National Gathering. I’m bursting with pride with this blessing! You should be too! Our cup needs to be overflowing again. I think you know how this hap-pens. Send your hearty donations to Bryan. Love from here.Michael

As you can read in Michael’s report it is time to replenish our checking account which is down to $739.62. The reason for this is because of your generosity many brothers and sisters in the Midwest were able to receive financial support to at-tend the SUSA Gathering in our regions. As of 8/8/2011:

Checking: $739.62Savings: $1,172.26We keep a little over $1,000 in our savings to cover pre-payments for MW congress and gathering events.

Mail your donations to me at:Bryan Stevenson821 N SeymourLansing, MI 48906

Thank you in advance again for your donations.Bryan

Rohana: 1926-2011Subud Chicago activitiesMidwest News

Celebrating Bapak’s BirthdayOn Saturday evening, June 18, members of the Chicago group gathered at the Margolin apartment to celebrate Bapak’s birthday. Why on the 18th instead of the 22nd, the actual day Bapak was born? Because Saturday was a better day for people to convene.

It was a potluck. We had the balanced range of courses from appetizers to desserts. Ten people were there, and each brought something to share.

We also spent some time reading favorite quotes from Bapak’s talks and telling stories of being with Bapak we’ve experienced or read about. And as always, it was just good to be together and get to know each other a little better.

Photo (starting on the left): Elmira Sullivan, Vanessa Nashold, Jewell Gregory, Victor Margolin, John Howland,

Teresa Clark, Mara Grbenick, Rasheda Hagan, Sho-shanah Margolin

Chicago Group Moving to New LocationAs many of you know, the Subud Chicago group has been doing latihan since 1999 in an Evanston building owned by Daniel Cheifetz. We did invest about 14% in this building, but Daniel is the legal and primary owner. We have enjoyed the luxury of the space. Last fall, however, Daniel told our group that he needed to expand his business into the space Subud Chicago was using.

We’ve been looking for another location and have finally found one. Starting on August 1, we’ll be meeting on Tues-day evenings and Sunday afternoons (same times as before) at the dance studio of Chicago Ballet Arts, housed in St. Scholastica Academy on Ridge Ave. in Chicago. We’ll have two large dance studio rooms. For those who still would like to come on Fridays, Daniel said we could continue to use the Evanston building for a while longer.

Although the space will not have the luxury we have grown use to (e.g., no carpeted floors), we are fortunate to find rooms large enough at an affordable price. God willing, we will one day be able to purchase our own Subud house. The new address is:Chicago Ballet Arts7416 N. Ridge Ave.Chicago, IL 60645Shoshanah Margolin

Dear Brothers & Sisters,For those of you who were unable to attend Rohana Mc-Cormack’s funeral on June 28th - it was truly something worthy of this wonderful human woman. It was a Jewish ceremony and was attended by her family, subud brothers and sisters and a host of her temple members, and friends.

The rabbi knew Rohana and spoke of her ever present smile, her love of life, learning and especially her love of family and of all people. He spoke of her devotion and diligence in learning to embrace the Jewish faith (which she wore like a glove). And her ever present harmonica (smile), and of course her poetry.

After the cemetery we gathered at her house, where the temple friends prepared delicious homemade food. We all gelled together as we shared stories and memories of Ro-hana. Her family was curious of how we met their mother and a little of Subud although all of Rohanas’ children were opened.

As the room thinned out I was aware of the lightness of the house, like it used to be when several of us ladies would visit, and have a grand old time, latihan, swimming in her pool, sharing, laughing, eating.

And I thought I hadn’t felt that in the house in a long time, I bet Rohana missed that, she loved company. I am certainly not a writer but I was so touched with the day’s events, that I wanted everyone to know that Rohana was sent off well - praise be to Allah.Rohana Broadnax

Memorial tribute to Rohana at the recent SUSA Gathering in Rockford, IL

SUSA Gathering Activities

Mateo Mulcahy (bottom) was the MC for evening entertain-ment. Michael Mustafa (Rohana Broadnax’s son) is at piano and Mary (who managed childcare) leads a group into a skit they performed for the audience. →

← During the opening event at the SUSA Gathering the participants broke into circles for a structured activity. Left: Hannah and Elmira were in a group with East Coast Members. Bottom: Venessa, Sadira, Daniel, Joseph and Leonore were in another group.

This talk was given for people practicing the spiritual exer-cise known as the Subud Latihan. For those not practicing this exercise, reading the following talk is not recommend-ed as it could be misunderstood. For more information

Midwest Members at the SUSA GatheringMidwest Gathering: Members from our region got to-gether on Sunday afternoon to discuss Midwest issues and catch up on activities.Top: Luscian, Emmaline, Elmira, Rasheda, Carol, Olaf and DavidCenter: Michael, Dana, Sabrina, Rohana and HannahNext: Matthew, Emmaline and BenedictBottom: David and Jewell →

← Rasheda volunteered to help out with registra-tion at the gathering

During a luncheon raffle Simon Curren - walking up to get his prize ↓

↑ Michael was busy - starting with a SUSA Board of Directors meeting (top), a midwest report at the AGM with other Regional Chairs (bottom) and meeting with the SD Board (middle).

This talk was given for people practicing the spiritual exer-cise known as the Subud Latihan. For those not practicing this exercise, reading the following talk is not recommend-ed as it could be misunderstood. For more information

Midwest Members at the SUSA GatheringMidwest Gathering: Members from our region got to-gether on Sunday afternoon to discuss Midwest issues and catch up on activities.Top: Luscian, Emmaline, Elmira, Rasheda, Carol, Olaf and DavidCenter: Michael, Dana, Sabrina, Rohana and HannahNext: Matthew, Emmaline and BenedictBottom: David and Jewell →

During a luncheon raffle Simon Curren - walking up to get his prize ↓

Bapak ExtractsThe Hague, Netherlands - October 8, 1957Code Number: 57 HAG 6It’s said that human beings who have reached perfection, who have received God’s grace, God’s gift, don’t die when they die, but rather they then begin to live. As an example that you won’t forget, my children, because it’s been told of in the Christian religion, there’s the Prophet Jesus himself. It’s not that the Prophet Jesus didn’t die, but he continued living, and it’s a life without limits. This is just an example; it’s something you can take into consideration in deciding whether what Bapak has said is true or not. However, a per-son who hasn’t yet reached that level, or who still has a body of desires (nafsu), when they die - as Bapak has been say-ing - will have no understanding of the fact at all; the person won’t be aware of having died.

This is because such a person’s contents return to their source, but not to the true human level, because the person came from below that level. As a result, human beings left behind with their desires (nafsu) wander around in whatever they imagined, in the things they gave a lot of thought to when they were on earth.

That’s how it is. That’s the reason why in Buddhism it’s told that reincarnation is a fact, as indeed it is. But it applies only to those individuals who went astray on the path to God, or the path to perfection.

For this reason, in Buddhism there’s this teaching: that if a human being has already reached a high level, then that person will be free from reincarnation, will be free from this world. This is why they try to understand the true nature of the spirits (roh) that a little while ago Bapak called forces, which originate from material objects, from plants, from animals and from ordinary human beings.

Because it lacks knowledge of these forces, the human soul (jiwa), or the soul of a person who hasn’t actually reached such a high level, can very easily get lost in any place where the forces are stronger than the soul itself. This is what rein-carnation is.

However, we ourselves hope and desire - as far as possible, if God permits it, if God gives us this gift - not to experience this. And we beseech God not to let us return to a place that is lower than the true human level.

In other words, we hope to know where we really ought to return, and that’s to the place of origin of the perfect human being - the insan kamil as people usually call it, which means the perfect human being, the human being who is separated from this world in which we are now living. And we hope that after death we’ll experience the real afterlife, not the world again. This world is not the afterlife.

Singapore - November 22, 1958Code Number: 58 SIN 1How can we describe the sickness of the soul that is within the self of man? (The soul) is the inner content within the self of human beings; the content that enables human beings to think, to feel, to do this and to do that. But it is by no means certain that this content of a human being is truly a human soul. The proof of this is that not a few clever people, who have studied to a very advanced level and who have all kinds of titles, still unwittingly, unconsciously, do things that go against and violate a code of human behavior. The reason for this is that the content of their being - that is, their soul - is not a human soul that is really able to keep its promises to God. It is filled with a low soul that is wrong. Because of their negligence, because of their stressed and disturbed behavior, within their being there is a wrong content or soul - that is, a subhuman soul.

This is mentioned in Buddhism; it’s what they call reincar-nation. That is to say, there are levels in the souls of human beings, and if the state of a human being is not yet really complete, he cannot possibly rise up, but is still reincar-nated. So it is important that the blocks that cause us to be incarnated again should be removed, but... (inaudible) ...the Almighty than in this world.

Now, why is it that in Islam and Christianity there is no such thing as reincarnation? The reason is that the names Chris-tianity and Islam signify the state of a perfect human being. But the people who follow these religions are not yet (perfect human beings); so while the religion really does not favor reincarnation, its followers are not always able to carry out fully what their religion requires.

And as for what is required in religion, for Christians the example, if you remember, is the story of the life of Jesus. He was not a child who was taught, nor did he go to school. Also, he was not the son of rich parents who would have been able to send him to school in various places. Why then did he become an adviser of humankind, an adviser of the world, whose advice has spread everywhere, so that millions of people believe in it? It was simply because of his obedi-ence, his surrender, his acceptance, submission and faith in God, as a result of which he was able to receive a revelation, a gift from God within his being. It was the same with the other prophets; for example, Abraham, Moses, Muhammad and others.

It should be clear therefore, that the absolute condition for us human beings to be able to receive the true gift from God is none other than for us humans, especially you, to really surrender to the One God with acceptance, submission and faith. Especially you, children, since you have all received the awakening of the soul, the awakening of the Power that is within the self of each one of you.

Extracts (continued)Denver, Colorado U.S.A. - June 30, 1959 Code Number: 59 DEN 1 . . . As well as this structure of life forces decreed by God in order that human beings should be able to move upwards and be guided in their ascent - to experience and know how things are in the levels above the human - God has also cre-ated a life force that is all-holy, all-powerful, and envelops all the life forces in this hierarchy. This is what is usually referred to in spiritual language - especially in religion - as the roh ilofi (Arab.: ruh ilahi) or the Holy Spirit.

And so the work of this all-holy life force can be fully accom-plished, it is accompanied by a further life force, which is called rah al-qudus (Arab.); that is, the life force of the angels. This is also spoken of in the Bible, the Quran, the Zabur and the Torah. These two forces penetrate all the seven life forces so they can interact. They provide an open path for them to move upwards until they reach the level required by their being.

This is the arrangement of the life forces that exist in the spiritual realm and are present in the worship that you prac-tice. From the material to the human - from level one to four - it is indeed possible for us to fathom these four forces by quieting our thinking mind, our heart and our desires. This is because these forces are still connected with the human will. That is why it’s said that, for as long as people still use the power of their heart and brain, they will need to come back down and become human beings again. This is something you may have read about, called reincarnation.

But if you are blessed by God and are able to ascend to a higher level - to the fifth level, which is nobler than the hu-man - you may not wish to come back down to this world and become human beings again. For the fact is that hu-man beings - yes, like all of you - do not have contentment, because you are affected by all the things that touch you. For example, you are affected by the cold, by cold things; by heat, by hot things; you are affected by this and that; you still suffer from this and that. Your life is difficult, it is different from those above us; their life is very different from ours. The difference between their life and ours is like that be-tween human beings and animals.

In order to attain that state and achieve what you need for yourselves, you are required, in this latihan of Subud, to sur-render everything to the greatness of God. By doing this you will immobilize your thinking, your desires and your heart, and make them powerless. And when our thinking, our de-sires and our heart are powerless, it is easier for us to receive the influence from what is above. It can take us into its world so we can know that which is beyond our normal knowledge in this world.

And if we always surrender ourselves to God with patience and submission, then the forces below us - below the human level -will spontaneously recognize their own nature and will no longer disturb us. They will return to the place of origin God decreed for them, which God created in the framework of life that Bapak just described.

Cilandak, Indonesia - April 8, 1984 Code Number: 84 CDK 1The aim of the latihan kejiwaan is to make us normal and to make us used to the action of God within our being. The people who are not normal, or the people who can be consid-ered to be somehow special, are not the people who do the latihan kejiwaan. The people you can consider to be special are just the other way: they are people who make a special study and a special effort to get deep into their religion, or who go into kebatinan or something like that, with the result that they attain a state which is called, maginoun. The reason or cause of this maginoun - or the people who get into this state m is that they try to precede God. They try to go ahead of God, they try with their brain to go faster than God and be ahead of God’s guidance.

Now the result of that is that they lose their grip on where they are and who they are. The difference with the latihan ke-jiwaan or the difference with people who are ordinary, is that they simply follow, like the worshipper who does his solar behind the immam. That is called ma’mum - that you just follow. The one who leads your worship, that is the immam, is Almighty God. So it is this, the essence of the latihan keji-waan, the awareness of the relationship between the immara and the one who follows. The reality therefore, of the latihan kejiwaan, is that it is strange. But that is real. Bapak is tak-ing this description from a popular TV program nowadays, which is called, ‘It Is Strange, But It Is Real’ or ‘It Is Strange, But It Really Happened.’

So the latihan kejiwaan is like that. It is peculiar but it is really like that. Bapak told a little story at that point about a man who was the leader of the Communist party in Se-marang, a man called Alimin. It seems that this Alimin Wanted to meet Bapak very much and three times, Bapak made an appointment to meet him and he never turned up. So each time they made another appointment and again he never turned up. It seems that what happened was that he got scared. He got scared because he had a friend of his who was also a Communist, who was called Patmo. Apparently Patmo told him, ‘You don’t need to go there, you don’t need to become a Subud member, because if you become a Subud member, you will experience what I experienced. You will get into crisis. So it is better for you to stay as you are, and don’t bother with Subud.”

Apparently, what happened to this Patmo was, when he was opened, he eventually got into crisis. Before he was opened he did not believe in God, after he was opened, he was made to worship idols. He was forced by the latihan to go to Ja-karta then to go to Jogia and to Borobudur and to go every-where. Then he would sit and pray in front of all the stone carvings in Borobudur. This was his punishment for not believing in God. It was as if to say, ‘OK, you didn’t believe in God, so now you’ll believe in the statues, in the idols; just in things of stone.’ So Patmo said, ‘The same thing will just happen to you, Alimin. You’d better not go.’

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So, brothers and sister, that is all fine; but rather than think-ing about other people, think about ourselves. The nature of the latihan kejiwaan is to show us our origin. It is to show us where we have come from, where we have descended from, or what is our inner content. It will show us whether inside us we have an elephant or a cow or a goat - or whatever it is. These are all real things; if it is something like an elephant or a goat, this is fine because at least you can see it. But, sup-posing you are a mosquito, it means that there is no reality in your experience. So, brothers and sisters, it is really true that there is such a thing as reincarnation - that you go from the material to the vegetable to the animal to the human. This is what is really important - now that you are on a human level, try not to go back again, to being a cow or a goat. Try to stay where you are, at least, if not go forward.

Cilandak, Indonesia - July 8 1984 Code Number 84 CDK 14Indeed it is God’s will that the religions should become one, since they have all originated from God but the reason why they cannot become one is the nafsu. Oneness can only be achieved in the realm that is out of range of the nafsu; that is the world of the rohani, rahmani, and the rabani. It is only in that world that unity is possible.

Once people discover that what Bapak has received is analogous to the prophets they will say, “How come then, that Bapak still lives like an ordinary man?” Well, for as long as Bapak has to eat and wear clothes, of course he is still an ordinary man. This is the same as Jesus.

When he was in this world he said, “Here, I am vulnerable to whatever you wish to do to me but that is not the situation in the next world.” Here in this world we still need food and we are still offended if people don’t like us. We are still offended if we make something and people criticize it because we are still connected with what is in this world. And if we continue to be connected, then we end up like the Javanese of the olden days that Bapak described. They still live in this world, they are still here, still working, because of that connection with what is in this world. That is what is called incarnation which leads to reincarnation.

In Islam they don’t like reincarnation; but although they don’t like it, they also don’t understand how to avoid it. The problem is that most religion is still like a fantasy, or rather, people’s faith in religion is still in the realm of fantasy. Like Muslims will say, “When you break your fast with a date, every date will be planted in the next world so that when you reach heaven you will have one date-palm for every date you ate when you broke your fast. So eat as many dates as you possibly can.

Well, people don’t understand that of course that story is simply to promote Arabian exports (laughter) and it was simply, the interest of those who were spreading Islam and had nothing to do with religion itself.

When Bapak talks like this, some Subud members say, “Well, why didn’t Bapak tell us that before?” The reason why what Bapak tells you today is different from what Bapak told you before, is because today is different from before. Also, what Bapak tells you is Bapak’s own development and Bapak also develops in the same way as Raphael develops. For example, as you told Bapak before you were opened, you couldn’t solve your mathematical problems, but after some time of doing lati-han, you were able to solve them one by one. Well in the same way Bapak’s understanding also grows as time goes on.

Bapak has been told by somebody that they had received that Jesus Christ is within Bapak. Bapak doesn’t know anything about that. That’s not my problem. That’s up to God, but what is important is that once you become the channel of God’s revelation, then life really becomes very interesting.

Michelle, once she is the channel of God’s revelation her voice will really become an instrument whereby she can attract other people. Fernando will be able to design houses which are quite unbelievable in their beauty and the way in which they affect his clients. But there’s no use talking about it. You shouldn’t believe this until you experience it. What Bapak wants is that you experience it for yourself because in Subud there are no words which say, “You have to believe what I say. In Subud each of us follows the flowering of the latihan within ourselves and then we worship according to our own nature. Whether we start saying, “Allahhu akbar”, or whether we pray in the way of the Christians or in the way of others, that doesn’t matter. At least it is in accordance with our own nature.

So in Subud, it is not we who open another Subud member, but it is the power of God that opens them. Similarly, if it was not God who willed Bapak to travel around the world open-ing Subud members, it wouldn’t have happened. Then Bapak would simply have ended up as a local dunkin, as a teacher in his village, or something like that.

New York, NY USA - May 24, 1959 Code Number: 59 NYC 7Also, what we get in the spiritual life is not something to show off to people. No. Because a diploma from God is not a diplo-ma for this world. You can’t use it to get a job. A diploma from God is only for God. God’s will for human beings is that they should be honest, good, pure, and surrendered to God. So, you don’t need to say, ‘I am better (than him). He is not as good as I am,’ or, ‘Maybe she is better than that person.’ No. God alone can measure such things. God is the one who knows. Take Ba-pak, for instance. Bapak has never said, and has no wish ever to say, that he is a reincarnation of the Buddha, or a reincarna-tion of Muhammad, or a reincarnation of a prophet. No. Bapak is, well, just Bapak. Yes, just Bapak Muhammad Subuh for as long as he lives. What there is within him is God’s affair; that is a diploma from God, and not for this world. It is not for finding a job, because if Bapak looked for a job using his spiri-tual (credentials), nobody would give him one. (Laughter)

Extracts (continued)