Isaac Goff 2013
Marketing Subud to the World
By Isaac Goff (Sept. 2001)
During the World Congress, I learned that there is almost nothing a group of say 15 members will agree about. Is Subud growing? Not growing? Is there a problem? Should we try to do something about anything? Unanimity of opinion was as rare as ice cubes you could trust in your drink.
I encountered three schools of thought about the growth of Subud. The first was that we can and should do something about it, the second was that there is nothing we can or should do because it’s entirely in God’s hands, and lastly, that we should use our hearts and minds and then surrender the outcome. I happen to favor the last view. Like it or not, we do now market Subud to the world. It’s just that we don’t think about it clearly and we do it poorly. As a result, we’re not successful in attracting or keeping new members. Surprise, surprise.
If a collection of marketing wizards were brought together and just for the fun of it were given the task of developing a plan for marketing Subud to the world, the following might be included in what they come up with. The Product that Subud has to offer that is most likely to be attractive to its target market is its system of tuning into and receiving God’s guidance. Through Subud one is trained to receive guidance for one’s life so that one can make the choices that lead to a happy, healthy and satisfying life. This training we call the Latihan and it is remarkable in the ease with which it can be learned and used. This is a very hot product and one very much in demand by our target market.
There are many other benefits to be derived from participating in Subud for example, learning how to surrender to death when our time comes or the purification of the faults of one’s ancestors. Marketing Subud based upon these benefits is not likely to attract our target market since few are actively searching for, or even interested in, a way to purify the faults of their ancestors.
So why are so few interested?
1. Because we do not put this forward clearly as our Product. Instead we currently market Subud primarily as “A way to worship Almighty God”. Not surprisingly, few of our target market seem interested in that goal, perhaps because it is not clear what that phrase means nor of what value it would be to them. Out current marketing approach ignores our target market’s needs and interests. Better to present Subud so as to highlight the facets of the Subud experience which match the needs and interests of the market.
2. The Latihan can be viewed as training for improving the clarity and understanding of our receiving. God is the trainer. The word “Latihan” can be translated as either “exercise” or “training”. While “training” would be a more accurate and useful translation for our purposes, in English speaking countries we have chosen to use “exercise” which conveys a different and less clear image. We use many other bad translation choices as well: “Helper” which abbreviates “Bapak’s Helper” is interpreted incorrectly by the target market (and many members and helpers as well) as “member’s helper”. This conveys the wrong impression. “Brotherhood”- the word is associated with cults. “Probationer”- to be on sounds like one is entering the criminal justice system. “Applicant”- one applies and is judged worthy or unworthy. Better to use words that more accurately reflect the reality such as Training, Assistant, Association and Interested Person.
3. We make no attempt to clarify the Latihan’s potential role in our target market’s day to day lives. For example, if we look into the lives of great artists and musicians past and present and our own members, the description of them being a channel for God’s music or God’s vision to pass through often comes up. The training offered by the Latihan would therefore benefit aspiring artists and musicians. Our current marketing approach never suggests a link between the training Subud offers and the inspired creativity common in the arts. We should make clear these kinds of relationships so that the Latihan will appear particularly useful to those in our target market who seek inspiration in their work.
Another example: we were reminded again at the Congress that a man & women’s inner state at the moment of conception effects the character of the child conceived. Couples in our target market planning families would find of interest the link between the training the Latihan provides and their wish for a child of good character. Our marketing should make that information available.
It is reasonable to assume that as in all other areas of marketing, for people to want what you have to offer, you must show them how it will be of value to them.
So why do so many who have been opened leave?
The Latihan can be viewed as a long term, gradual process. For many, it may be difficult to see change occurring. In some groups new members are pretty much left alone unless they ask for help. In some, and all too many cases, after what appears to the new member as a period of uneventful Latihans, the member loses interest, gets bored and drifts away. Many new and existing members do not see the Latihan as a training to improve the clarity of their receiving of God’s guidance in order that the quality of their lives can improve.
To keep members attending Latihan, from the start, members should be clear that they are in a training program. With the helpers assistance they should begin immediately to be trained in receiving guidance. How do I receive a yes? A no? When something is correct? Not correct? Viewing the Latihan as a training program makes it all click. Fasting on Monday & Thursday makes sense and has a clear purpose – to improve one’s receiving. Why is drug use a problem? It interferes with the training. Why is getting to Latihan three times a week important? Just like training at sports, it requires regular effort. And so on.
So, what’s it all mean? Some of you will agree with all or some of the above, some won’t. Like I said, 15 people, 15 views. Change is difficult in Subud. For me the lesson of the Congress was that it’s not what happens at the Congress that’s important, not what resolutions are passed, or who is elected to what, but rather, what can make a difference in the growth of Subud is what I do or don’t do when I get home, and each day thereafter.
I’m starting by writing this article.
As another marketing guy, I completely support this idea to translate “latihan” to the English word “training”. It really does reflect better the original intention of the word. In my understanding, the original words that Bapak used in Javanese (notably in the book Susila Budhi Dharma) were then translated into Indonesian and really lost some of their meaning. They were then translated into English and lost some more. I seem to remember Bapak saying something along the lines that he preferred to describe the meaning of “latihan” in such words as “discovering, understanding truth and reality” , in my owns words here! Thanks, Isaac.
You go, Isaac! What you wrote back in 2001 is both insightful, practical, and relevant. I’m not surprised. After all, you are one of Subud’s (few?) successful entrepreneurs. You’ve taken your worldly experience and considered Subud’s lack of apparent penetration into the world’s population in that light. The marketing problem is that if Subud, as Bapak said, is for all humankind (“UMAT MANUSIA” in Bahasa Indonesia a genderless term, unlike our “mankind.”), 10,000 members worldwide is a mere droplet in the ocean–about the size of a smallish Protestant church in Seoul, S. Korea.
Jesus said that we shouldn’t hide our light under a barrel. We’ve misinterpreted Bapak’s advice about not making propaganda as keeping things as quiet as Yale’s Skull and Bones. We dare not say anything, and if we do, we whisper it with lots of Javanisms and “Almighty Gods.” In a time when the fastest growing “religion” in the U.S. is “unaffiliated,” not approaching our market, as you say, with practical benefits described in simple, everyday language is a sure formula for failure as our “brotherhood” ages out. We’ll all be headed for Elderhostel, and beyond and Bapak’s wonderful gift to the dust bin of history, a minor footnote to Needleman’s “new religions” of the 60s.
Times change, our latihans change, and so should we. At our next Congresses, I think your article should be multi-copied and made a main topic of discussion: “Growing Subud Through Appropriate Marketing.”
Reynold Ruslan
9-30-2019
I agree
Thanks, Rosetta.
Reynold Ruslan
Impressive. —& i wonder why it wasn’t widely circulated 18 years ago?
Fantastic Isaac ! – Very insightful and spot on.
Training, Assistant, Association and Interested Person are definitely more approachable translations.
To summarize, synthesize and embellish on what you said
(for those that might want to make a marketing piece):
Main benefit of the training of Subud:
* Ability of tuning into and receiving God’s guidance. Through Subud one is trained to receive guidance for one’s life so that one can make the choices that lead to a happy, healthy and satisfying life.
Other benefits of Subud:
* Learning how to surrender to death when our time comes.
* Purification of the faults of one’s ancestors.
* Purification of one self and ancestors will benefit your parents and your children.
* A man & women’s improved inner state from this training will positively affect offspring from the moment of conception and provide a child of good character.
* Learning about and utilizing the life forces and in the order that is correct for our advancement in this life and the hereafter.
If I have left anything out or additional points need to be added or clarified more, please feel free to correct me. Also please forgive me if I have said anything incorrect.
I would love to see this turned into a clear marketing effort via a landing page, rack card or any other means to attract “Interested Persons”.
Sincerely,
Albert Wooster
10.2.2019
Thank you Issac for the serious question of looking at the lack of development of Subud.
I notice a religious practice that has become very !popular’ MINDFULNESS.
(An extract from the Buddhist faith)
When we look at Subud (which is a spiritual practice common to all faiths) there is one essential difference in its marketing. Mindfulness has become a proffession! You have to ‘pay’ to learn. People promote what is profitable, a job, a career.
Subud is given freely and received freely! Therefore Helpers do their work freely!
No profit there! No career prospects being a Helper. And therefore no ‘financial evaluation’ required! Consequently, there is no material ‘common’ goal between Helpers. No practice which is expedient, profitable. Advisers, executives focus is about profit. What does it profit Subud to have large numbers practicing Latihan ? There are no investors, no speculative financiers, no profit.
All you will get is each Subud person becoming their own Priest/priestess, their own individual spiritual guide, answerable to no other except to their Maker.
After over 50 years of Subud all I have acquired is a gentle inner peace, delight and Thankfulness. I need no other person to advise between me and my Maker. Such actually could put manny out of work if Subud became a common practice as each person would acquire a deep seated ‘knowing’.
Who gains in promotion of Subud? No one other than the individual participant.
Isaac, your comments are so accurate and true!
As a regional chairperson in the Rocky Mountains, I’m going to encourage our members to take heed of your advice and interpretation of Subud.
Best wishes,
Lewis
I appreciate and applaud the re-posting of Isaac’s article, as well as all the comments shared. My thanks go to Shariban Flynn for comparing and contrasting the “Mindfulness” marketing and practice – with how we understand and present the benefits of Subud.
While individually grateful for the effect on our lives, we are somewhat blind to how noncommercial and refreshingly individual and voluntary our association and practice are. I would like to see Shariban’s perspective incorporated into what appears about Subud in Wikipedia!
“Pembantu pelati,” the Indonesian term for a Subud helper, means “assistant trainer” or “assistant with the training.” Of course, in Subud, the real training comes from Budhi, that essence of God, within each one of us. And any good trainer wants to help the trainee to become confident in his or her own ability to carry on with what he/she is learning, experiencing on his/her own. As Harlinah Longcroft said to me before I became a helper, “If you can help people feel confident in THEIR ability to receive, rather than in yours, I think you’ll be doing pretty well.”
“If you can help people feel confident in THEIR ability to receive, rather than in yours, I think you’ll be doing pretty well.”
This encapsulates the essence of a good trainer/helper/teacher.
Thank you
Thank you Isaac for a very thoughtful essay. I think it is a long time overdue for us to approach this subject and make sure the terms we use are understandable by others.
Since we’re doing Indonesian, the standard abbreviation in Bahasa for helper is PP. Now there’s a humbling thought: We helpers are PeePees! Along similar lines, one of Bapak’s favorite words was “biasa ,” meaning ordinary, simple, everyday. For me, a month from my 80th birthday and six from my 59th Subud one, the most striking feature of my Subud life is how ordinary, simple, and everyday both the latihan and I have become. Back in the day, I seemed to have had daily, sometimes hourly miracles. I had searched for the Miraculous, and suddenly it had found me! I felt part of a real Second Coming. How could people resist joining Subud? Now I find myself active at church—could you believe: a Jewish Episcopalian?! Active in politics. Co-mentoring a youth group with my wife. I am no longer doing Subud. It is now doing me while I, PeePee of long standing, am doing life. Subud is no longer my Masonic lodge with its secret Javanese language and lore. By the Grace of God, I have gone “biasa,” and it feels good. Thank you, Bapak. With love and regard, dear siblings. Reynold Ruslan
Wholeheartedly agree with your suggestions on ‘marketing Subud this way Issac & what Latifah T. says about the translation of the Indonesian meaning of helper to an ‘assistant trainer’ plus L.T.’s remarks about the training really coming from the Budhi & Harlinah practical, wise advise to L.T. before she was (helper) or an assistant with the training.
Excellent article and comments.
So I reduced my rant to this. This effort will most likely move forward and I hope in the right way. Please, please read and receive the understanding that is in Bapak’s talk Coombe Springs August 13, 1959 last talk in volume 4. It should be your (our) guideline in moving forward.
“learning how to surrender to death when our time comes or the purification of the faults of one’s ancestors”
Hmm. What are the faults of one’s ancestors? and how do we learn to surrender to death?
We can’t can’t even get long with each other let along get along with death.
Maybe we can let go of the trauma our ancestors experienced which got in the way of them being present or or loving themselves and others (or their children) . I think the latihan can do that. Or at at least when we bring grace to our pain and our ancestors pain. We can even be present to each others pain. I don’t want to be Bapak’s helper. I am not loyal to Bapak but to the experience of grace and to my soul when we surrender. I am grateful to Bapak for bringing this form to us and want to be loyal to his request that we stand on our own two feet.
Also there is no quid pro quo in the latihan and so nothing to market. There are no deals. In fact our exceptions of something will get in the way of receiving something. (Sorry I recently had to look that latin phrase up and really wanted to use it)
interesting at all.