Responding to the Helpers
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In May of 2006, three international helpers spent a
week in eastern Canada. Afterwards, a report was sent to the groups. This
article is a reaction to that report.
The first time I read the report my immediate response
was to feel hurt and angry. I want to
talk about why this happened and try to say something useful about it.
Let me start by sharing with readers what the report
says. The following quotes give, I think, a fair representation of the report’s
tone and contents:
[In two of the Subud
groups] there were good feelings and social activities among the members but
the dewan or group was not
meeting regularly and working together in accordance with God’s guidance to
create activities and group life that would impact both the members as well as
the non-Subud community; in both cases, the groups were stuck, in-grown, and
not growing.
After noting that several members from one of these groups
participated in a choir at the regional gathering held during the helpers’
visit, the report goes on:
…God
willing, the group can use its talents and energy to manifest the fruits of the
latihan in the world. Testing in [the other group] showed that there is a need
for the dewan to meet in a more
business-like way, with a facilitator and an agenda and to test possible
directions for the group so that it is more aligned with God’s will for the
group’s growth and development.
Testing
regarding the needs of the members indicated the deep need for purification,
and ultimately quiet lightness and connection to God that the latihan, by God’s
grace, can give.
In
general it seems that most groups are ‘getting by’, some better than others, and
that most helpers and committee people are doing relatively competent work in
their roles, but that there is room for improvement. The main lack appears to
be an over reliance on socialization and on heart/mind and personal opinion
with not enough contact with and input from the latihan or God’s power….
Members or ‘not-yet-members’ seeking the latihan can find their fill of talk
anywhere.
The central need for
Subud Canada overall at this time seems to be for more contact with and
guidance from God’s power.
Reading it now, I wonder who the report was intended
for and what did it accomplish? Life has gone on, and I wonder if the report
has had any effect on Subud life in our region.
The following comments are more specific.
Judgements and Criticisms
There are a number of judgements in the report. For
instance, it describes two of the groups as stuck, in-grown and not growing and
complains that there is too much reliance on socializing.
I wish it was clearer who is making these judgements:
the international helpers, the national helpers, the local helpers, or all
three? Are these descriptions or
judgements the result of testing? If so, who tested, and what were the
questions?
I wonder, do readers feel the report implies the local
groups are not aware of this, or are not doing enough about it?
I am prompted to ask why we spend most of our limited
funds in Subud to promote helper travel? I think the best rationale for helper
travel is to empower local members.
Judgements, whether negative or positive, do not
empower people.
A different approach, one less likely to provoke a
defensive response would have been to observe and report on what happened
during the visit and talk about it.
For example, where the report describes the groups as
stuck and in-grown, it would be easier for me to accept if it had said
something like, “The international and national helpers tested with the local
group about how open they were to new members. Some concerns were expressed
that the group was stuck and this led to a discussion of attempts that had been
made to reach out to applicants and new members.”
If visiting helpers feel the need to go beyond what
they observe and add their own assessment of what is happening, I would prefer that
they clearly state that it is their judgement and offer as much information as
necessary to explain it.
This could be valuable information. From travelling
around to different Subud groups in different circumstances, the helpers may
have gained a particular perspective and insight that is worth sharing with
others.
Subud “Best Practices”
The report mentions the lack of regular dewan and group meetings and it links this to
its conclusion that the groups are stuck and in-grown.
The purpose of dewan and group meetings, says the report, is to create activities and group
life that will be good for members as well as the non-Subud community.
The mention of regular dewan meetings struck a chord with me. During the helpers’ visit, I expressed
exasperation at how difficult it seemed to be for our men and women helpers to
meet.
I suppose I should have felt justified after this
issue of dewan meetings was
high-lighted in the report.
However, I dislike generalized and anonymous
judgements and would again prefer to have heard something based on their own
observations, such as: “From our visits to many groups, we feel that those
groups that are doing better at creating an environment for the members to grow
spiritually are the groups that hold regular dewan and group meetings.” If this is indeed true???
If anything, I was disappointed that the issues of dewan and group meetings was not discussed
during or after the visits. Would it have made a difference? Worth a try, I
think.
Perhaps there could have been a discussion about the
continual difficulty of getting these meetings off the ground and the different
feelings that helpers and members have about this.
Perhaps the helpers could have shared stories about
those local groups that are managing to hold regular dewan and group meetings and who feel they are
actually having the effect of fostering the activities and group life that this
report talks about.
A few concrete examples would do more, I think, to
encourage and empower our groups than the judgement that we are not doing it
and should be.
Or, if the lack of regular dewan and group meetings is a general problem across many groups, then that
is also useful information. We are not the only ones struggling with this!
Maybe what would help is a list of “best practices” for Subud groups based on
actual examples, e.g. groups that do have regular dewan and group meetings.
Reminding people that they are failing, and making
people feel guilty about missing opportunities to act in “accordance with God’s
guidance” is not that likely to be well received or to really accomplish
anything.
Guilt is a lousy motivator.
Socializing Versus Spirituality
The report’s final two paragraphs describe the regional
gathering that took place during the helpers’ visit. Here is what was said:
… an excellent turnout,
and the presence of a large contingent of members from the west made for a
‘more than a regional’ feeling, and the workshops and entertainment evenings
gave plenty of opportunity for participation. There was plenty of life evident
in the performances of the many members who took part: there was music,
singing, salsa dancing, and an hilarious English ‘Panto’…hugely enjoyed by
players and audience alike.
In general, Camp
Kawartha was a wonderful social gathering, but a bit devoid of the connection
to God except when we were engaged in latihan, kejiwaan activities, and sharing
culture.
This is how the report ends. Pretty abrupt and
callous, was my reaction. To have the gathering judged as “a bit devoid of the
connection to God” struck me as pretty hard.
How ungenerous, I said to myself. This regional
gathering was an absolutely wonderful event for the sixty Subud members who
were there. For many of them, it was a rich, joyous experience, a time to
connect with old friends and a chance to feel enveloped in the Subud community.
Some of these Subud members are materially poor, and
they spend their limited funds to attend this gathering. It is a considerable
cost for them. This is the one time each year that our region comes together in
a major (for us) gathering.
We need joy, celebration, laughter and ecstasy to make
our lives meaningful.
Social activities—activities like group singing and
theatricals—nourish us; they feed our hearts and minds. I want people to go
away from this type of Subud event feeling good and completely satisfied with
life.
In other times and places, Subud has been criticized
because people said it didn’t pay enough attention to our need for community.
So when a gathering lets people soak in the community feeling they’ve been
starving for, it’s now a problem?
Again, an anonymous judgement that suggests we are
doing something wrong, is unhelpful. In this case, it seems way off-base and
anyone from my region who read this report was almost certainly offended.
Isn’t it entirely possible that the joy we feel in
socializing comes from our inner and is the fruit of our latihan?
Might not these good feelings and social activities be
evidence of the latihan’s presence in our lives? I didn’t know that social
activities can interfere with feeling the latihan, if that’s what the writer
was implying.
Conclusion
How does the latihan manifest itself in our lives? To
me, this report seems to suggest that we need to be constantly manifesting
piety. And that we are not testing enough.
What does it really mean to speak of “not enough contact with and input from the latihan or
God’s power”?
In publishing this article I am trying to point out
practical ways that this report and its writer(s) could have taken a different
tack, one that is more respectful, and more helpful and empowering for the
Subud groups they visit.
A common Subud reaction to something like this report,
something that we don’t like or feel is off-base, is to chalk it up to
“purification” and move on.
You could say this article is my own purification.
Reading this report reminds me of the passivity and guilt that I felt growing
up in a Christian fundamentalist Protestant church. Guilt was freely passed
around, and it seemed that sermons took pains to emphasize how hopeless life is
for us with all our shortcomings and limitations. I don’t want Subud to end up
like this.
I think the report and the assumptions it contains
need to be challenged.
For me, Subud in the world is a work in progress. I
look forward to comments by others.