Does a bottle know the quality of the wine it contains?
Musing Around by Lawrence Pevec
After about seven years (age seven to fourteen) of Pentecostal Christian indoctrination mostly with no evident results, I decided it was all a hyped fraud and I stopped participating. However, I still felt strongly motivated to find the reality of God, and my relationship with Him, (Her, It), in some other way. I also had puberty to endure, and a passion for art to pursue. Those things were a serious distraction, but I never lost my interest in finding a personal spiritual path and I got plenty of help along the way. Then at age twenty-one, I found Subud.
I’m not a scholar or intellectual, I am intellectually lazy and I rather follow my feelings about what I need to know and whether there is truth in it. I am curious about the truth of the issues that interest me and there are plenty of compelling resources on the internet in all my areas of interest.
I listen to a lot of podcasts and watch a lot of videos on many subjects in what was formerly called the esoteric or paranormal. Up until the disappointment of the November election I included politics in my list. Now, not so much. In addition to Unidentified Ariel Phenomenon (UAP), Ancient Aliens, Near Death Experiences and the origins of Homo Sapiens, probably due to my early indoctrination, I’m particularly interested in religion, Bible scholarship and Judeo-Christion spirituality. It is evident there is a massive reevaluating of the spiritual traditions and the whole human experience.
The driving force behind my pursuit of truth in religion originated in one significant belief; that individual humans have two fundamental aspects; The form and the content. Of course, this is nothing new. It is observable every day on every level of experience. Humanity has been looking for clarity about it for thousands of years. It is fundamental in all research in the social and physical sciences as well as in religion, and can as with me, be a primary motivator for personal “seeking”.
In Subud we refer to this dualism as the inner and outer or the material and spiritual aspects of life experience. The value of using either phrase for the phenomenon can certainly be debated. The content (inner, spiritual) side became much more compelling when I read in Susila Buddhi Dharma Bapak’s explanation of the evolutionary hierarchy; the seven life forces that make up the content and how they influence the individual. In many talks he mentions:
“In reality, brothers and sisters, Subud is not a religion, but it is the content of religion; it is the content of what people are seeking in this world.”
— Subud Library; Bapak’s Talk, Provisional Translation by A. Sawyer-Cookson Code Number: 79 YYZ 9
Seeking content correlates to seeking and communing with God in early religious traditions. In the Hebrew religion, God spoke only to the prophets and there is only minor distinction between the content; the inner, and the body, the outer. It’s the origin and destiny of the content that is mysterious. Where did it come from and where does it go? The Hebrew word Nefesh is often translated as “soul” or “life,” but also refers to the whole person. The Tanakh (Hebrew Bible) does not provide a fully developed doctrine of the afterlife or an individual soul’s destiny, but it does contain hints and evolving ideas that later Jewish thought (in the Talmud, Kabbalah, and other writings) expanded upon.
In the Bhagavad Gītā (2:20), the Hindu distinction between the inner and outer and their characteristics is much more definite: “The soul is neither born nor does it ever die; nor having once existed, does it ever cease to be. It is unborn, eternal, everlasting, and primeval; it is not slain when the body is slain.”
I believe a clearer distinction and expansion of the original dualism; form and content is what people are looking for. Judging from the amount of related material I’ve found in my “feed” it seems obvious that society is anticipating a breakthrough in empirical understanding of content, not merely makeovers or ideas, new religions and philosophies, but something new and experiential. As I listen, read and watch what is happening on the internet, I can’t help but think the latihan may not drift slowly into obscurity and disappear but rather emerge as the next step in the evolution of human consciousness and hopefully who and what we are.
LF Pevec
Lovely article, Lawrence. Really enjoyed what you say. Thank you for this.
Thank you, Lawrence, for your musing. Here’s my take.
Whether or not “latihan”, per se, drifts into obscurity, the growing awareness, within humanity, of the presence of eternal inner Self — as disctinct from earthly parts which need its guidance to work well — seems to continue, largely hidden inside the cacophony of our disturbed world.
Hello Lawrence, I agree with what you say that the Latihan will emerge as the next step. It seems obvious especially now as the the forces seem to be marshaled against it. I hate to say it but to me it looks like the struggle to find the truth of our content is obscured by the messages of all the worlds religions. There are more than enough passages in all the holy writings that give the individual a view of the truth. But their meanings have been misappropriated (misinterpreted) on purpose by the all of the leaders of organized religions for centuries. Reason being, power over the individual for personal profit. Profit and perversions of all types. And now the final battle presents itself in the form of various styles of fascism. Cases in point are all the alliances that have formed. Russia and the Russian Orthodox church, American and Christian Nationalism (evangelic and others), Israel and the Hasidic movement, Islam and Islamic fundamentalism. Perhaps its ironic that we don’t see eastern equivalents or maybe I’m just not aware of them being a white American male.
I know my content, my inner feeling, and it does not allow others to shape me. I believe that there have been folks going way back through time that have had a similar understand of the make up of our existence. And we have seen what happened to them. I could go on but I believe we all know each for him and herself what our duty is. Surrender and receive for ourself. Best regards, Joseph
Thank you all for your comments. Please feel free to comment further on any topic and let other members know about this forum. We welcome topic ideas for future Musings as well as original writing in any area that reflects our Subud Culture and Experience. Love LP
Reynold
When I was about 14 I had an experience at the Methodist Church my family attended. The pastor decided kids in my group should be rebaptized. So about ten of us knelt in the front of the church for a “practice” baptism. The pastor read a text, and the associate pastor followed him with a bowl of water. When his fingers touched water to the top of my head something unexpected happened. The top of my head opened, and I was filled with Christ Spirit. A golden light filled my body and touched every part of my being. The feeling was exquisite and lasted about 15 minutes. I couldn’t speak. I looked at the other kids and realized none of them shared what I was feeling.
Six years later, I stood with the helpers waiting to be opened, and I remembered this Baptism experience. But this time my head didn’t open. I felt my chest open to receive the latihan, and I knew with certainty I had found my spiritual path.