WHY I DO THE LATIHAN

We intend this page to be an antidote to all the querying and discussion on the other pages of the web site. Tell us how you feel about the latihan, what you feel are the actual benefits of doing it, tell us what keeps you coming to latihan. We will publish readers' answers on this page. Fill in the form below, and your answer will appear instantly on this page.

Some simple rules: This is not a discussion forum. Give your answer to the question rather than comment on anyone else's answer. Only one reply per person, please! Answers which break our guidelines will be deleted.


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You may also be interested in this page: What Is the Latihan?", a project to find new ways of describing and the latihan and Subud.





Answers

From Webmaster, July 12, 2009. Time 9:38

We have been experiencing some technical problems with our feedback pages in July 2009. If you send feedback and it doesn't show up here then please contact me at webmaster@subudvision.org


From Webmaster, June 26, 2009. Time 20:54

There has been very little response to this page and the editors may soon decide to close it down,

(June 2009)


From shaun, April 1, 2009. Time 22:3

MY TV WAS A CATHOLIC
SUBUD GAVE IT THE ELECTRIC
THAT TURN ON HAS NEVER LEFT ME.
THANKS TO THE POWER GREATER THAN I.


From Hadrian, October 31, 2008. Time 8:51

WHY I DO THE LATIHAN?

I don't. And I would never invite anyone else to do the latihan either.

Why?

Because I don't speak Indonesian. Most of the people I know don't speak Indonesian. Latihan is an Indonesian word. It means "exercise".

So, I do do the exercise found in Subud. But I don't do "Subud-speak". The use of this kind of jargon is a part of the Subud culture that helps keep Subud a small group.

Neither do I do "testing" -- a mis-translation of the Indonesian word "terimah" which is Indonesian for "receiving" I'm told. What is different about the receiving in the exercise and the receiving done in what is still lazily and mistakenly called "testing"? Well, I call it "focused receiving".

In the exercise, we allow ourselves to become quiet and we allow the exercise to happen. In "focused receiving", we pose a question and then do the exercise.

With that out of the way, I'll explain why I do the exercise.

Because I want its benefits. Simple really.

As a Buddhist, I practice mediation. It's part of my spiritual practice, just like praying might be in yours. Asking a Buddhist not to meditate is like asking a Muslim not to pray.

And, just to be clear about it, I'll say that while sitting in my Buddhist mediation, I don't do the Subud exercise. And while doing the Subud exercise, I don't do my Buddhist mediation.

Before Subud, I lived in a yoga ashram for a year. During that time I was meditating 3-4 hours a day. What I found after entering Subud is that the method of simply getting quiet and simply allowing the exercise to happen was more efficient and more effective than all that time spent in formal meditation.

So why do I have my Buddhist practice and, in addition, do the Subud exercise?

Each provides me with different benefits. Perhaps the greatest benefit of doing the Subud exercise for me is finding a deeper capacity for quiet.

And so, I will now, finally, here, be quiet.


From annabella, September 17, 2008. Time 7:54

It makes me satisfied in my soul. It has not improved my material life but it has helped me begin to discover, for myself,who I am and why I am here . It has given me a way to worship God, which I find more than comfortable. It has given me experiences which I would never have had without the latihan. After 9 years in Subud my intellectual understanding of the source of the latihan is non existent.


From marcus bolt, May 9, 2008. Time 14:42

Because not only does it create the inner growth (no idea how that works - don't ask), it also facilitates the shedding of the outer skins of conviction, opinion, view, belief. What I believed a week ago seems trite today. Hopefully, what I opine today will appear nonsensical next week – especially this answer.


From artemis, May 9, 2008. Time 9:9

I did not beleive in anything - let alone God - when I joined the latihan 30 years ago but I knew I was in a bad way and on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I was probably a candidate for the Psychiatrist's chair but I could not imagine trusting anyone enough to let them deal with my confusion. The helpers I met during my candidancy all seemed to have an inner calm I lacked. I felt that was what I needed. I was an applicanta long time for a number of reasons. I joined when I was actually depressed and feeling very negative about my life. I was lucky enough to have a very powerful opening full of love and joy and very opposite to my daily mental fears. I realised that this was my true self and all the other stuff was in my head. Since then I have had many other depressions and dark nights of the soul, but I now know they will pass and I live with them better than in my youth. I might have managed without the latihan but it is still the best reminder I have when my mind is distracted by worry that there is another reality within me and so within the world. so that is what keeps me doing the latihan...


From Convinced, March 18, 2008. Time 7:30

Slow, steady but noticeable progressive changes. Outer life becoming more and more organised and satisfying. Looking back at my state in my 20's, can't imagine things would have got better without the latihan. Probably would have got a lot worse.