SUBUD VISION

Author:

Michael Irwin

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Mini Biography


Born in 1936 I have lived all my life in western Canada. I obtained a BA in 1958 in English and History and an MA in Theatre in 1967 both at the University of British Columbia. In 1962 I obtained a high school teaching certificate for the province of British Columbia. Apart from a decade as a farmer and four years as a teacher, I have been a theatre technician most of my life. I was raised in a theosophical environment and have always been interested in mysticism, searching the 'spiritual marketplace' during my early twenties for organizations, books and people who had similar interests. Having found Subud in 1962 I have exercised regularly since. I have worked extensively on committees: twice chair of Subud Vancouver, once chair of Subud Canada, years as Committee Councillor for Canada, member of the SBIF Board of Trustees (precursor to the WSC) and co-author of the WSA Constitution. Since the sale of the Bank Susila Bakti in 1986, I have served as SBIF Trustee (the original trustees for the Bank's beneficiaries) and subsequently on the boards of the BSB Residual Assets Trust and the BSB Trust Co. (BVI) Ltd.


Having emerged from years of nose-to-the-grindstone committee work, by 1996 I was free to begin to drill down into why we Subud members behaved the way we do in an effort to discover the source of my extreme discomfort with certain practices revolving around testing, particularly its use in committee matters. Along the way on this continuing exploration, I have become convinced, both within and through dialogue, that finding our deepest assumptions about life determines how we construct our thinking about it. At root, what do we believe? At this point I remain an agnostic. I am interested in science, democracy and why standing on one's own feet within the Subud community seems to be so hard for Subud members. I have only a cursory interest in the outer forms of any religion but have become increasingly curious about the influence of Bapak's Javanese cultural roots on traditional Subud cosmology.





How I Latihan pdf, html

I have been latihaning regularly for forty-five years. While many people talk or write about the results of the latihan in their lives, few, if any, address what they actually do while engaging in the exercise. This articles attempts to describe what I do. The first half of the article discusses the problems associated with using language to describe subjective experiences. Bearing those difficulties in mind, the second half uses the vocabulary developed in the first half to try to describe my subjective experiences in the latihan. Finally, I try to identify only the most significant apparent results of this process after 45 years of latihaning regularly. I welcome other peoples? descriptions of what they do in latihan.


Testing the Committe pdf, html

Four authors argue that we should change the way we elect the committee. Jointly authored with Rosalind Priestley, Sahlan Diver and David Week.


Wayward pdf, html

A Subud group with a difference


Certainty pdf, html

Let go and watch; then keep watching



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