THE Solutions Project

The Solutions Project, publishing on November 8th, 2008

Aim

The Solutions Project (formerly called the "Vision Project") is a response to requests for concrete proposals for change in Subud. On November 8th we will publish a series of short papers on topics covering the whole spectrum of the Subud experience. Each will identify a problem and offer a carefully thought-out solution. To start you thinking, we have compiled a list of possible topics (below) and we hope that you, our readers and potential authors, will come up with others.

Contributors Sought

Between now and October, we will be looking for Subud members (or ex Subud members, or friends or family of Subud members) willing to write these proposals. If you have a great idea for how Subud could be improved, work out the details and fill in the form at the bottom of this page. You can choose one of the listed topics or propose some other topic we haven't thought of.

Writing a Solutions Project article is easy

We don't want long articles. If fact we will ONLY accept short articles, no longer than will fit on an A4 or US Letter page, and we ask that all articles are divided into four clear sections, namely

1. A catchy title
2. A description of the problem to be solved
3. A summary of the proposed solution
4. The details of the problem and your proposed solution, including ideas about implementation

Note: The topics list is a list of SUGGESTIONS. In fact writings on any topic will be accepted if they satisfy the criteria of: a practical proposal for change and improvement.

1. Replacing the helper system with a new scheme for kejiwaan assistance
2. Running the helper system differently
3. Abolishing the applicant period
4. Changing the way we handle the applicant period
5. Better ways of looking after newly opened members
6. Changes to Subud to make members less likely to want to leave
7. Ways to increase democracy and participation in Subud
8. A dispute resolution scheme
9. Advertising the latihan
10. Making sense of the enterprise concept and realising its value in practise
11. Improvements we can make now in our care of members
12. A new role for youth in Subud
13. Practical steps to minimise cultishness
14. Improving the ambience and usage of our Subud premises
15. New ideas for finance
16. Making better use of Testing
17. A new approach to cultural activity and development
18. Developing cooperation between Subud and local charitable and community ventures
19. A new name for Subud
20. Reducing "religiosity" in Subud
21. Changing how Subud is connected with the talks of Pak Subuh
22. Addressing any discrimination within Subud based on religion, gender, ethnicity, race or sexual orientation.
23. Promoting the development of a wider range of interpretations of the latihan
24. Discovering the relationship of Subud and the latihan to other historical traditions
25. Setting up impartial committees of enquiry to investigate and resolve long term grievances of Subud members
26. Communicating about Subud
27. Can we "help" members to apply the latihan in their everyday life?

Example of the FORMAT of a Solutions Project article proposal

TITLE: Normal origin story

PROBLEM: One common way of explaining things is saying where they come from. The conventional Subud explanation of the origin of the latihan is that it came from God in the form of a revelation to Pak Subuh. This makes Subud sound like a religion, the speaker like a cultist, and invokes all kinds of assumptions about the world which most people don't share.

SOLUTION: Construct a new story about the origin of the latihan which sets it in its Javanese cultural context, and doesn't sound so outlandish to the average audience.

THE DETAILS: Pak Subuh's explanation of the origin is in fact a normal story structure within the culture of Java, and when you take it out to other cultures is when it sounds all weird; the latihan is not so radically new in Java, and there are many practices there that have a great many connections to the latihan; we can talk about the latihan as spontaneous moving meditation, if we understand properly what meditation is, and so forth.

Send us an outline of your proposed Solutions Project article

Use the form below to send us an outline or preliminary draft of your proposed article. All submissions will be acknowleged.

Enter your email address here: (not for publication)

Type your email address a second time here: (not for publication)

Enter your name or a pseudonym:

TITLE Enter the title of your piece here:

PROBLEM Enter a brief description of the problem to be solved:

SOLUTION Enter a summary of your proposed solution to the problem:

THE DETAILS Enter the details of the problem and your proposed solution, including ideas about implementation:

Audience

As well as publication on this web site, we hope to distribute the publication widely in book format. We encourage those who have the enthusiasm and ability to recognise a way forward for Subud to write for us. All articles will be expected to pass through the Subud Vision editorial process, which aims to improve the quality of writing.

Selection of Articles for Publication

The Solutions Project is not a competition. We will not be picking the best article in each category nor will we only pick the solutions the editors favour the most. If there are different, maybe even opposing, solutions for the same topic we will publish them all. The purpose of this project is to get people thinking about solutions, not for us to dictate them. For these articles, we are not looking for the authors to have great literary skill, but we are looking for authors who can think through a proposal and provide sufficient detail that it can be successfully carried out in practise by others.