Subud Vision - Feedback
Rikard Seeberg Andresen - Subud And Sumarah
No, not "receiving through" ..... From y, June 10, 2009. Time 13:0
Re: "Sumarah members are supposed to receive through their pamong or group leader, who constantly coaches them step by step during the meetings and meditations." (p.2)
Not correct in my experience. The guide simply vocalises their own receiving as part of the process of helping others centre on their own receiving. One does not follow, rather simple hears without focusing - i.e. as with any other background sounds etc. I've never come across the idea that others receive vicariously through the pamong. Any receiving is direct experience as per Subud's claims.
However, if my memory serves me correctly, the few meetings I attended (as a western person) were always with a male guide and without regard to gender in those attending(i.e. mixed), although men and women may have sat separately in the room.
From y, June 12, 2009. Time 21:4
I might add after reading some of the other comments on this site, especially by Quackenbush, that one could easily reconstruct the Subud 'identity' as stemming from a 'common ancestor' within the Javanese culture.
I'd hazard a guess that Sumarah is closer today to the original pre-European adaptation of what has become known as Subud. The current apparent unsustainability of Subud (outside Java?) may well relate strongly to evolutionary shifts in Western culture and social-economic demographics which no longer see value in anarchist-like latihan out pouring sessions and donating hard earned cash to maintain the travel habits, and budgets, of a self-defining 'elite' class who believe they are helping (i.e. rather than helping the poor of the world who need it).
Is Subud systemically desirable? One would perhaps say "yes" based on its claims and those other similar systems that seem to perform a social function (e.g. Sumarah).
Is Subud culturally feasible? That I think is the question to be pondered. Perhaps it was when the upper middle classes of Europe and America indulged in their dreams of 'spiritual' advancement through the innovative practices of M. Subuh. But perhaps its future is less certain, and may involve some degree of returning to its Javanese roots by way of cultural adaptation to more seemingly orthodox systems such as Sumarah and its "guided meditations".
BTW: "systemically desirability" and "cultural feasibility" are terms used in the Soft Systems Methodology (See works by Peter Checkland) to help diagnose the "situation of concern".
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