Subud Vision - Discussion

Bronte Grivell - Testing or Testosis

A victory of subud democracy?. From Haskel Adamson, August 13, 2007. Time 21:50

In your article you give an example of how not to do testing, where a group not content with a helper did some testing with visiting helpers and the local helper resigned, You don't give any specifics but i can't see what is wrong with this scenario. What are a group to do with helpers who do not help? Accept that they have a job for life. Maybe they were happier without helpers 'taking the latihan' . If testing is the method used to choose helpers (and not tested in by the members but by the helpers) then your example sounds like a victory of subud democracy, not a failure of testing.

From Mike Higgins, September 1, 2007. Time 6:24

"In your article you give an example of how not to do testing, where a group not content with a helper did some testing with visiting helpers and the local helper resigned... "

I too would like to hear Bronte's take on this - why he thought this was a testing failure - but I suspect that if the people doing the testing believe something is true, their testing will simply confirm their belief. So if they feel someone is a poor helper, the testing will confirm their bias. If you can't be objective about a question, put all personal prejudices aside when you test about it, do not expect to receive a dependable answer to it.

From Bronte Grivell, September 9, 2007. Time 20:13

I was not writing about one dismissal, but three, which then resulted in a fourth person also standing down.

One of them told me the people concerned do not now see their actions as correct -- they believe they should not have "Stood down" as helpers. The situation has produced an effect of having, most of the time, just one helper active in the group. The group had become unhappy and far less

sociable than before. It is desparatetly in need of a few apologies and some decent human interaction to bring it back to life. The testing, as I stated, was a catastrophe, in the opinion of one of the people involved.

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