February 2011 - Subud Voice

®
In this
issue
SUBUDVOICE
F R E E & O N L I N E
The best thing that ever happened to me
The Best Thing That Ever
Happened To Me
Simon Guerrand explains
why a near fatal car accident
was the best thing that ever
happened to him... P1
What is Subud?
A brief introduction for
those who might be unfamiliar
with the Movement... P3
Editorial.
Keep To Your Core Values
And Move with The
Culture... P4
The Power of Prayer
and Prayer Warriors
Wanted... P6
KGC signs with Tigers
KGC ended 2011 on a high
note... P6
Chandra
one young woman shows
the spirit of Susila Dharma
as an everyday activity... P7
Herni.
A sad story with a happy
ending P8
Favourite Photos
A new feature. Send us a
favourite photo and tell us
why... P10
Sumiko
Part 1 of anextraordinary
story of love by Rozak
Tatebe... P11
Whatever Happened to the
‘Miracle’ Baby?
Deana Sinatra, daughter of
Eva Bartok, tells her story...
P14
Secularisation
How can we use it? By
Peter Paul McNally... P18
Letters to the Editor,
Obituaries, Notices... P20
Number 1
February 2011
Simon Guerrand, the founder of the Guerrand Hermes Foundation for Peace, explains why
a car accident in which he was nearly killed was the best thing that ever happened to him ...
It was one of the most important experiences of my Subud life. It happened on Friday the
13th, October 1992, both a bad and a very good day for me.
In the days before the accident occurred, It was as if I had an intimation that something
dramatic or life-threatening was going to happen to me. I put my affairs in order, almost,
as if preparing to die.
I was living in New
York at the time, but
Studying in the Divinity
School at Harvard,
doing a Masters in
Theological Studies,
and I had been invited
to the 165th
anniversary of the
church at Harvard.
So I decided to drive
from New York to
Harvard stopping off at
a place I owned in
Connecticut to stay
overnight. But on the
way I decided that it
was ridiculous to try
and stay there.
I passed the exit I would
have taken to go to my Connecticut house. I was travelling pretty fast and someone was
trying to overtake me. It is a two-lane highway at that point, and suddenly I saw in front
of me a car coming the wrong way.
I thought about turning to the right and for some reason – don't ask me why? – I turned
off the radio which was carrying a debate at the time between two
candidates for Vice-president of the USA.
I debated which way to turn, but neither seemed that it would save me, and there was
only one thing to do which was to go straight ahead. I put on the brakes but hit the other
car and there was an enormous crash.
Damned Lucky!
I got out of the car, I certainly didn't feel very well, I sat on a little fence by the side of
the road, A man came up to me and said, “You are damned lucky to be alive.”
And I said, “Yes, but do you want to be my witness?”
Simon Guerrand with Alina Woodhouse (left) and Emilie Pez, teachers at
BCU School in Central Kalimantan. (Photo by Elias Dumit)

And he said, “What do you mean will I be your
witness? When you have an idiot who comes at you on
the wrong side of the road, do you need a witness?”
He continued, “I have done two things. I called the
police, they should be here in about seven minutes, and
I've called the hospital in Waterbury, I hope you don't
mind. Bye Bye.”
By that time the shock was wearing off, and I was
beginning to feel it was going to be difficult to walk.
But my biggest problem was that I insisted when the
police arrived, that I should take my briefcase from my
car. It had everything I needed in it including my
passport and my keys.
which I took to mean that he was senile.
She went on and on about how sad she was that he was
supposed to have his eye operation tomorrow.
I was incensed because there was no sensitivity to the
fact that he had driven on the wrong side of the road
and almost killed me. No sense that this man had been
so irresponsible to drive in the evening when he was
having an eye operation the next day. My mind was
going mad. There was no word from her like, “Wasn't
that awful?” Nothing. No acknowledgement.
What are you concerned about?
Then something incredible came to me, like a voice
which said, “What are you complaining about? You are
The police insisted that nothing should be removed damned lucky to be alive!” And there was an immediate
transformation. I realised I was “damned lucky to be
from the car, but I said, “What is going to happen to my
car? I am going to hospital. I need my briefcase. ” alive”. Forget about the woman who couldn't say sorry.
It was a miracle I was alive.
And finally they agreed that I could have my briefcase.
That was the greatest negotiating I ever did in my life. And from that moment on, I was on a high, a complete
‘
transformation. I had recognised
I didn't go and look at the other
there was a purpose to all this.
You said you would do
car but got the impression that an
Whatever happened to me, the
old man was the driver. Then I this, and you haven't only thing that mattered was that
was taken by ambulance to the
I was alive. To have survived a
hospital. I arrived at the hospital done it. Don't you
’
situation where two cars collided
and was taken directly to a series
like that is a miracle. The car was
think it is high time to
of examinations.
a complete wreck, it didn't exist
get on with it?
anymore.
Then a woman approached me
and asked, “Were you involved in an accident?” People came to visit me in hospital, both Subud members
and the man who was my professor and head of
And I said, “Yes, was it an older man driving?”
the Centre for the Study of World Religions at Harvard.
And she said, “Yes, that was my husband. He is 75
years old.”
That's all she said, there was no other remark. No sorry
or anything like that. She told me that he was in a
coma, but still alive. No apology, no expression of concern,
no ‘how are you?’, no nothing.
Anyway I had a problem with my heart, so I was taken
through one machine, and then another machine, and
then they wanted to take me to intensive care.
I saw the lady again with another lady, her daughter. She
said to me, “I am very sad.”
I asked, “Why are you sad?”
She replied, “Tomorrow my husband was going for an
eye operation at 10 a.m.”
She had told me before that there was some problem
with him, that “sometimes he was not all together”
I should have been broken in every part of my body but
the only part of me that was broken was my ribs from
the impact of my chest with the steering wheel. It was
quite painful, I couldn’t laugh, I couldn't get up from
my bed. I had pain in my right ankle which had been
twisted, but short of that, I was OK. I started to feel that
there was something truly extraordinary in the fact that
I was still on earth.
After a week the hospital was telling me that there was
nothing more they could do for me. “Your bones will
have to heal on their own and it will take six weeks to 3
months. So basically you have to go home.” I couldn't
walk, I couldn't move but I had to go home.
Fortunately, some Subud friends referred me to
somebody who was prepared to care for me.
So I found a wonderful man, a Subud brother called
Jack Sterling who looked after me extremely well, and
was also somebody I could talk to.
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 2 FEBRUARY 2011

Of all the things I wanted to do in my life, I had always
said since I was very young, that one day I must have a
Foundation. And finally it became very clear that the
message I had been given in this accident was, “You
said you would do this, and you haven't done it. Don't
you think it is high time to get on with it?”
I stayed at my house in the country with Jack. I could
hardly walk, I had to be pushed everywhere, I couldn't
laugh. It took quite a long time for the bones to mend.
Going to bed was very difficult. Jack had to hold my
hands and I had to lower myself so slowly onto the bed,
and once I was in bed I could not move from one side
to the other. And all the while this process was going
on, this inner prompting about the Foundation
The World Had Another Look
Each day I felt so happy to be alive. It was like the
world had another look. Flowers were beautiful. The
house was marvellous. Before I had taken everything
for granted. Now I was finally thanking God for creating
such a beautiful world.
The only thing that was very difficult was that I had no
focus. If I was looking at TV, after 30 minutes I couldn't
take it anymore. Two minutes of reading was the
most I could do. It took me two months to get back to a
normal way of being able to concentrate on one thing
for an hour.
Eventually I went back to Harvard. I started to take
classes again, I had to do my exams. All the while Jack
helped me to understand that all my life I had been phenomenally
privileged.
When I was young and started working, I didn't have
much money, but after that I did, more than enough,
much more than normal. I realized, “Yes I am very
lucky that every day I can decide to do this or that. I'm
very free, I don't have to go to a job 9 to 5. I can take a
holiday when I feel like taking a holiday. I don't have to
think twice about these things. I don't have to count my
pennies.”
The accident showed me that I had to do what I had
promised to do. It showed me I was very
privileged and should be thankful all the time. It
showed me that I had to do more with my resources
than just to take care of myself.
That accident was the best thing that ever
happened to me. I don't think anything else could have
done it for me. It took that dramatic shock, that brush
with death, to make me realize that I needed to change
direction in life.
I changed my way of my life completely. I became
more and more involved in my own businesses and less
in the family business. (Hermes, the French fashion
accessories house). I began to really find myself and in
1996 with Sharif Horthy, I set up the Guerrand Hermes
Foundation for Peace,
In future issues we intend to bring stories about the
work of the Guerrand Hermes Foundation for Peace in
areas including inter-religious understanding, humancentred
education and sustainable livelihood. ◆
What is Subud?
It is likely that this issue of Subud
Voice will reach many people who
have not seen it before.
For the past 24 years, Subud Voice has been a
magazine only available to subscribers who have been
members of the spiritual movement known as Subud.
Now, with this issue, the magazine becomes
available to everyone, Subud members and the general
public.
We are making it available to the world because we
think that there are things in Subud which will be of
interest to even
those who are not
Subud. These
include enterprises,
social welfare
projects, cultural
events and experiences
all deriving
from a spiritual
perspective.
As Muhammad
Subuh (1901-
1987), the founder
of Subud once
remarked “Subud
has every kind of
thing in it”.
Because there will
probably be some
new readers who
are unfamiliar
with Subud, it
seems a good idea
Bapak Muhammad Subuh, the founder of
Subud, with his wife, Ibu Siti Sumari, and
John Godolphin Bennett who supported the
arrival of Subud in England in 1957 and its
subsequent spread around the world
to provide a few words of explanation about the movement.
Subud is a spiritual movement which originated in
Indonesia in the 1920s and spread to the West in 1957,
first to England and then all around the world.
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 3 FEBRUARY 2011

It has always remained fairly small and inconspicuous,
with perhaps only about 15-20,000 active members
worldwide, although it is represented in close to 80
countries.
The central spiritual experience in Subud is called the
latihan. “Latihan” is a commonplace Indonesian word
which simply means exercise or drill. It is short for the
Indonesian phrase “latihan kejiwaan” which means
spiritual exercise.
Although it originated in Indonesia, and although the
founder was a Muslim, Subud is not Indonesian or
Islamic. Everyone in Subud is encouraged to follow
their own nationality and beliefs. Subud is not a system
of belief but an experience available to everyone
regardless of race or religion. It does not contain any
particular culture or religion. It is open to people of all
religions, political persuasions, nationalities and ethnicities.
Subud members are encouraged to be active in the
world and endeavour to give form to what they have
received in the latihan. Activities include setting up
businesses and humanitarian and cultural projects.
There is a democratic international Subud organisation,
the World Subud Association (WSA) which unites the
various national organisations in Subud which meet
together at World Congresses usually held every four
years. A more compact body, the World Subud Council
(WSC), looks after the affairs of Subud between
Congresses.
Other important organisations in Subud are Susila
Dharma International (SDI) which co-ordinates the
social welfare projects of Subud members; the
Muhammad Subuh Foundation (MSF) which funds a
variety of Subud projects; Subud Enterprise Services
International (SESI) which supports the work of Subud
entrepreneurs; Subud Youth Association International
(SYAI) which works with young Subud members, and
Subud International Health Association (SIHA)which is
concerned with issues of health and healing.
This is a very brief sketch of Subud. Those wishing for
a more detailed explanation should go to www.whatissubud.org.
There is a link to it on the left hand side of
our home page. There are also links to the web sites of
the various organisations mentioned above which also
include explanations of Subud. See for example the
official web site of WSA, www.subud.com.
If anyone would like to make contact with a Subud
group near them, they should check the telephone directory
to see if there is a group in their locality. Or they
should go to the web site www.subud.com where they
will find contact information for the WSA and the various
national bodies.
◆
Keep to your core
values and move with
the culture
Harris Smart, Editor of Subud Voice writes...
I do not often find myself agreeing with the late
Reverend Jerry Falwell who espoused a right-wing version
of Pentecostal Christianity, but I do think he said
one very smart thing. “Keep to your core values and
move with the culture.”
This is probably good advice for any human activity,
but is particularly applicable to churches and spiritual
movements. When we look around the world today, we
see major religions and spiritual movements which
have not moved with the culture. They have identified
their “core values” with the “culture” of a particular
time and place.
They get stuck at a certain
point. In my understanding,
God or the universe
or whatever you
like to call it, does not
get stuck, but is constantly
unfolding, constantly
evolving. This is hardly a
very radical point of
view. The evolution of
God and the universe
was the understanding of
of the French Catholic
theologian Teilhard de
Chardin, although he did
get a good rap on the
knuckles for putting it
forward.
Even though the values
of the Pentecostal
churches are in some
ways “old-fashioned”,
these churches are often
quite modern and even
fashionable in other
‘
The
editor... a youthful outlook and
moving with the culture
In my understanding,
God does not get
stuck, but is constantly
unfolding...
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 4 FEBRUARY 2011

ways. Perhaps it is because they “move with the culture”
that they are successful. While most versions of
Christianity are receding, Pentecostal or “spirit-filled”
Christianity is forging ahead. No doubt there are other
reasons as well such as their lively, experiential forms
of worship and their often quite acceptable Christian
rock music.
In Subud we also have fundamentalism, although it
does not take a very virulent form. We do not want to
blow each other up because of it. but we do have differences
of opinion. Some people have wondered if it was
a good idea to make Subud Voice “free and online”,
but I see it not as a betrayal of “core values”
but “moving with the culture”.
The biggest and most regretted change that
most Subud members will find between this
new Subud Voice and the old Subud Voice
(which was a subscriber magazine for Subud
members only) is that the new Subud Voice does
not carry the talks of Subud's founder,
Bapak Muhammad Subuh, or
his daughter, Ibu Rahayu,
who has carried on his mission
since his death.
This is because these talks are
for Subud members only, and
when I asked Bapak’s daughter
Ibu Rahayu some years ago if it
was all right to put out Subud
Voice as a magazine for the general
public, she said it was okay except
that the talks could not be published.
I do not think that the omission of the
talks matters as much now as it might
once have done. For many years, Subud
Voice was one of the main conduits
through which Subud members received these talks,
especially new talks, but now the situation is very different.
We have Subud library (link on our home page)
where all the known talks are available and where
videos of new talks can now be put up within a couple
of days of the talk being delivered.
(The archives of Subud Voice up until January 2011 are
also now at Subud Library, available only to Subud
members since they contain Bapak and Ibu talks. Go to
Subud Library to obtain a password and find the
archived copies of Subud Voice in the “Compilations
and Miscellaneous” section.)
Furthermore, WSA distributes by email the official
translations of new talks as soon as they are available.
Contact Julia Hurd julia@qsoup.net. Then these talks
are further disseminated by local group email networks
The very
first printed
Subud Voice – June 1987
and the last – January 2011
etc. Subud Publications International
(SPI) not only publishes collections of
the talks but also has a free service of
distributing a “talk a week” by email.
Contact Leonard Hurd spi@subudbooks.co.uk.
Therefore, I believe that Subud members
now have many ways of accessing the talks and
the fact that we cannot publish them in Subud Voice
does not matter so much. Indeed, it is not only in the
realm of the talks that Subud is now a
very different place from what it was
when Subud Voice began. There is now
a very vigorous climate of communication
in Subud with many information
services available.
We not only have national and
regional publications but a free
online news service (Subud World
News) as well as regular electronic
news bulletins from the World
Subud Association (WSA),
Susila Dharma International
(SDI), Muhammad Subud
Foundation, (MSF) Subud Enterprise
Services (SES) and so on. Subud members are not
starved for information about themselves anymore.
(Links to the organisations mentioned are available
on our home page.)
It is partly because the needs of Subud members
are now so well looked after that it has liberated
Subud Voice to become a magazine also for
the general public. Of course,
we realise that in all this
explosion of electronic communication,
there are still some members,
generally older generation, who
do not yet use computers.
We can only hope that kindly friends who live nearby
will help them by printing out Subud Voice (and talks
and other news bulletins) for those who are disadvantaged
in this way. Subud Voice will now look much better,
clearer and stronger printed out on a colour home
printer with photos in full colour, than it used to look in
the grey print edition we used to distribute.
We believe that Subud Voice will be reinvigorated in its
new form. We intend to reach out to younger people
much more, and also of course to make our content
accessible and interesting to readers who are not in
Subud.
Please wish us well.
Harris Smart, Editor, on behalf of the Team
S P I
Subud
Publications
International
◆
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 5 FEBRUARY 2011

The power of prayer
Emmanuel Elliott, UK, writes...
I have just finished reading Abdullah
Pope's excellent book – Reminicenses
of Bapak and of My Life – and I
thought it worth sharing with as
many people as possible one little
anecdote in particular.
It's the story of a Subud chap
who happened to read in the
newspaper of a young man's death in a
car crash and immediately felt moved to pray for
him. The soul of this young man later visited the Subud
brother to thank him and say how meaningful and
helpful his prayer had been; that he alone had done this
for him.
This story renewed my own commitment to pray daily
for family members and other loved ones who have
gone on ahead.
Abdullah Pope was a much loved Subud member who
passed away in 2010. In the March issue we will be
carrying the last article he sent us and in future issues
we will publish some extracts from his book.
Emmanuel Elliott is the author of the
recent book THE DAWNING which
recounts the author's sometimes
amazing spiritual experiences and
connects Subud with a general spiritual
awakening in the world, particularly
in relationship to the
appearances of the Virgin Mary at
Fatima and Medjugorje. Contact
dawncp@blueyonder.co.uk ◆
KGC – SAFE HARBOUR AND A
NEW JOURNEY
For more than 25 years, Subud members have been
involved in mineral exploration in Kalimantan, Indonesian
Borneo.
Kalimantan Gold Corporation (KGC) is a junior exploration
company listed on both the TSX Venture Exchange in
Canada and on AIM in London. The Company has two
exploration projects in Kalimantan: the Jelai epithermal
gold project in East Kalimantan and a Contract of Work in
Central Kalimantan with multiple porphyry copper and gold
prospects. It also has interests in coal.
KGC actively supports the Yayasan Tambuhak Sinta (YTS)
Foundation which has an outstanding track record in community
and social projects close to the exploration areas.
Prayer warriors needed
Malama MacNeil, Coordinator of the Subud Prayer
Network writes..
To all of our Subud Brothers and Sisters – you are
invited to join the Subud Prayer Network. A new
service to all of us, established as part of the Caring
Initiative of Subud USA (see below), the prayer
network is provided in order for Subud members to
share prayerful fellowship with one another.
Prayer requests are put on a Yahoo
Groups network and sent to each of
us who are members. In this way,
you will be able to post requests for
prayers, and to read the prayers
requested by your sisters and brothers
in Subud. Prayer warriors needed!
You will also be able to reply to prayer
requests. Any reply you make will be
directed only to the person posting the
request, not to the entire group. Attachments
are currently not deliverable.
To join the SubudPrayerNetwork, click on
groups.yahoo.com/group/SubudPrayerNetwork and
click on "Join This Group". Once you join, you will
receive the prayer requests of other members. To send
requests to the network, send an email to
SubudPrayerNetwork@yahoogroups.com. It would be a
good idea to put this email address in your email
address book.
The form of your prayer should be whatever is
authentic for you; God, the Divine One, our Creator
knows our longing and our needs before we speak
them, but in speaking them we open ourselves to
receive what we seek. Please join in this opportunity to
experience the power, support, and connection of our
Subud community through prayer.
◆
Having experienced two very difficult years following the
GFC, Kalimantan Gold finished 2010 with deals placed on
its KSK Copper and Jelai Gold projects. In addition, on the
eve of Christmas, the Company successfully completed a
fundraising for C$ 1.3 million. So 2010 ends for
Kalimantan Gold in finding a safe harbour with a new journey
in 2011 being to implement the programs with our partners
and to source new projects.
For more information, Press Releases are available at
www.kalimantan.com
To receive releases as they are issued please send request to
geri@goldenoakcorporate.com
Rahman Connelly, Deputy Chairman & CEO, Kalimantan
Gold Corporation Limited
◆
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 6 FEBRUARY 2011

Chandra
Harris Smart writes...
Chandra MacDonald is the 17-year old
daughter of Karim and Rashidah
MacDonald who are respectively the
principal and a board member of Bina
Cita Utama School, the Subud school in
Central Kalimantan, Borneo.
In 2010 I taught creative writing at BCU
and Chandra MacDonald was one of my
students. At the start of the term she told
me that she was going to write a series of
portraits of young people she knew in
Central Kalimantan.
She would show what difficult lives
many of these young people had, but how
they also showed the Dayak spirit of
Iseng Mulang (Never Give Up). Chandra
stayed faithful to her intention as the resulting
collection of stories testifies. One of the stories is
included in this issue of Subud Voice.
Chandra is in many ways a typical teenager. She loves
to play her guitar and ride her motorbike. She is
extremely popular. She knows EVERYONE in her age
group between Rungan Sari (where she lives) and
Palankaraya (the capital of Central Kalimantan).
Sometimes it is impossible to approach her parents’
house because of all the motorbikes parked around it.
And this is not even to mention her vast network of
international contacts.
At the same time, she is
extremely sincere in the practice
of her religion which is
Islam. And she already has, at
age 17, a profound sense of
service to her fellow human
beings, what we call in Subud
the spirit of Susila Dharma
(charity, the humanitarian
impulse). This is mostly
expressed through her attention to the lives of others in
her age group who are less fortunate than herself.
There are many young people affected by extreme
poverty in this part of Kalimantan who lead desperate
and troubled lives. For example, there was one boy at
the BCU school whom I often noted for his particularly
friendly and cheerful disposition. It was through
Chandra that I found out that this boy (who is on a
scholarship at the school) eats only one meal a day, the
free lunch which is given to him at the school.
Chandra (extreme right) with friends from BCU School – Christie, Fenny and Iga, all in
Dayak costume. (Photo by Pak Deny)
‘ ’
She already has, at age
17, a profound sense of
service to her fellow
human beings
Family relationships of the poorest of the poor are often
troubled, with many broken marriages, or parents
forced to live apart by economic circumstances.
Children are often separated from their parents or other
siblings and lead lonely lives of economic hardship. Such
circumstances are vividly presented in Chandra's stories.
Chandra’s service to these young people takes various
forms. As well as just being with them, taking an
interest in them, and supporting them emotionally, she
also often arranges for money to go to them by drawing
people's attention to their economic plight. She teaches
them English, which greatly enlarges their opportunities
in life, and she even finds them employment.
woman's life.
One of the saddest stories in
her collection is the story of
Herni (included in this issue
of Subud Voice), but fortunately
it has a happy ending
because Chandra helped to
find her a job in the library at
BCU school which has totally
transformed this young
Our hope in Subud is that our children and grandchildren
will increasingly show human qualities such as
kindness and service to others and Chandra is a good
example that this can come true.
So I am very happy to have played a part in supporting
Chandra to produce her first book. I have a feeling it
will not be her last. She wants to be a teacher and a
writer. Chandra’s story about Herni follows...
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 7 FEBRUARY 2011

Herni
Chandra MacDonald writes about Herni Listiani, one of
the stories from her collection Iseng Mulang (Never
Give Up) which deals with the struggles of young
people to cope with the difficulties of life in Central
Kalimantan...
In the beginning it was just her mum, dad, older sister
and Herni herself. She was born in Tampah, a village in
central Kalimantan and lived there for three years then
moved to Palangkaraya until she was five.
Then they moved to a transmigration village at kilometer
38, joining many other poor Javanese transmigrants,
including her grandma and grandfather who were
already living there.
Herni went to primary
school in Trans, the transmigration
settlement. This was
when the third child was
born, Dimas, Herni’s
younger brother.
Herni remembers fights happening
regularly in her
house at that time.
‘
school...
When Herni was 9 years
old, they moved to a Bali
village near Tangkiling, to look after the house that
belonged to a foreign man. Living there was tough.
Herni remembers never having any money, and rarely
having even rice to eat. She said they went hungry a lot
during that time. Herni and her older sister, Herna,
saved up once, and bought rice with their savings.
Once while living there, her parents had a fight. Herni’s
mum had a large sword with her, and her dad kicked a
cupboard and all their rice fell on the floor, ruined.
Sometimes Herni’s mother would take her emotions out
on Herni and Herna.
When they moved back to Trans, the fourth child was
born, another boy. Her parents stopped living together.
Herni’s mum and Herna, her older sister, moved to
Sukamulya, a village near Rungan Sari, because that's
where Herni’s mum was working at the time as a maid.
And Herni lived with her father and two younger brothers,
being the mum of the house at a very young age of 12.
To get from Trans to her junior high school, Herni had
to ride a bicycle for seven kilometers, and sometimes
she had to walk. To make sure she got to school on
time, she would leave at five-thirty every morning.
The Family Is Breaking Up
The day Herni had to move in to the one-roomed house
Despite all the
drama at home,
Herni graduated
from junior high
with her mother and sister, she was very sad. She felt
like her family was really breaking up. But she needed
to help her mother work, and provide for themselves.
When Herni was 14, her dad moved away for work and
all contact with the family stopped. The fifth child, a
girl, had already been born at that time.
Things weren’t easy on her mother either though. Her
father returned for a visit and not long after, when she
found she was pregnant with their sixth child, she
became very depressed. She didn’t want any more children,
and her husband had left again. She didn’t have
any money and didn’t know how she would raise another
child.
Sometimes her mum was so upset she would go out of
control, Herni remembers. Once Herni’s older sister,
Herna, was nursing the youngest sister when her mum
started attacking her. Herna
ran away with the baby,
scared.
Once Herni was almost hit
with a shovel; things at home
’
were not peaceful. All her
younger siblings had to live
with her grandmother because
her mother had to work to
support the family.
Despite all the drama at home, Herni graduated from
junior high school with very good grades, and was
ranked second highest in her school.
Because Herni’s mother was already supporting her older
sister to go to senior high school, Herni was told that it
was unnecessary for her to continue her schooling as the
family needed money and it was better for her to find
work. Herni was very upset about this.
She felt sad that her sister was being fully supported by
her mum to go school, but Herni wasn’t even allowed to
continue. She was jealous, too; she felt unloved.
She started saving, and working with her grandmother,
packing soil into sacks to sell. She told her mum that she
had some money, and that a family in Rungan Sari would
help her go to school and her mum said it was up to her.
The school Herni went to wasn’t as good as her sister’s
high school that was 12 kilometers from Trans, but she
was grateful to be able to go to school at all.
A house (one room wooden hut) was built and a much
needed second hand motorcycle was donated from a
very nice Subud Perth lady.
Things still weren’t easy. Money was still scarce. Herni
and her sister started working after school, nights and
weekends as maids in Rungan Sari. Their father still
hadn’t returned.
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 8 FEBRUARY 2011

Her Mother Leaves
When Herni was 16, her mother remarried got pregnant
and moved away, leaving behind all her six children,
taking no responsibility. Before she left she wrote a
note for Herni to give to the Subud family who had
been helping Herni through school, saying that she had
left, and she hoped they would look after her children.
Herni was shy at first to ask for help and shy to tell
them about what had happened, but she didn’t know
what else to do, they needed to eat, and without help,
that was something that wasn’t possible.
Herni and Herna sold cake at their schools to try make
some extra money to live on.
Then the worst happened. Herna, Herni’s older sister
who was the one everyone had expected great things to
happen to, got pregnant. Herni’s mother was horrified,
since she was the one who had being given support all
the way through school and then the sister just threw it
all away.
Once the mum had left again, Herni’s father finally
came home. Herna went to live with her in laws, so at
home it was just Herni and her father looking after the
four youngest children ranging from three to eight years
old. They would take turns with the house work and
cooking.
In June 2010, Herni graduated high school with the rest
of her close friends, almost all of them going off to university;
making Herni the odd one out. She had
dreamed of going to university but then when the time
had come, she couldn’t afford it. She was offered a job
12 hours away, and moved there, but didn’t stay long as
she felt sorry for her father looking after all of her
younger siblings alone.
A Job for Herni
Then she was offered a job at the Subud school in
Rungan Sari, working as the librarian. She accepted this
job and recently started working. She had always had a
passion for English and loved learning it at school, so
POEMS BY SOFYAN ARMYTAGE
(1922-2004)
In this issue we include some short poems by Sofyan
Armytage. One of the best of Subud poets, his work
was rarely explicitly “spiritual”, but rather casual and
unpretentious notes from everyday life.
Herni Listiani in her new job as librarian at BCU School
(Photo by Chandra MacDonald)
sometimes when there’s a quiet time at work she sits
there and teaches herself English by reading.
She is a lovely girl, with a lovely helpful nature. Her
life hasn’t been easy, and her dreams haven’t come true.
But she is still young, and determined. She doesn’t
know what the future will bring, but she hopes it will
be bright so she can help her poor family, and be happy.
Recently her sister and baby have returned home, to
live with Herni and their father. More mouths to feed
for them, but Herni says that having the baby around, is
a constant inspiration to her to try her best in life and
not turn out like her sister. She also wants to work hard
to help her sister give her son a better life then they
had, and also a better life to the children she might have
when she gets married.
PS Since this article was written, Herni has expressed
her wish to become a Subud member, and is attending
applicant meetings.
◆
Spitfire
My wheels last touched a Kentish field
in forty-three – I am a different me
from him who played among the clouds
with tingling nerves.
Sofyan was a Spitfire pilot in the Battle of Britain. On
his first time out against the enemy, he was shot down
over the English Channel. He told me that as he was
coming down in his parachute, he was shocked to see
he was wearing odd socks. More poems on pages 17
and 21.
That admirable toy that lifted my young limbs
above the world gave me a taste for flight
but now, when I take off, my antiquated frame
remains behind.
◆
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 9 FEBRUARY 2011

FAVOURITE PHOTOS
Ying and Yang
Harris Smart writes...
People who see this photograph usually think that it has
been created in Photoshop. But not so.
It was taken in London in 1984 and this is exactly how
the camera captured it. There has been no cropping,
retouching or manipulation of the image in any way.
It is a photo of one of those places where people put up
posters for theatrical events in which, of course, London
is extremely rich. Posters get posted on top of posters
and then some get torn away creating an interesting
montage of vivid images.
This happy accident shows on the right the Japanese
pianist, Mitsuko Uchida, who is regarded as one of the
world's foremost interpreters of Mozart.
On the right, we see an advertisement for the group
popularly known as the "Demon Drummers of Japan".
I like the photograph because it seems to me to sum up
much of life, what is encapsulated in the idea of ying
and yang, male and female, light and dark, East and
West, soft and hard, all those contrasts which animate
the unfolding dialectic of life.
What does it have to do with Subud? The connection is
that I took it at a time when I was travelling the world
researching my book about Subud called Sixteen Steps,
a collection of interviews with Subud members. At the
same time I was doing what so many Australians need
to do which is revisiting the "homeland", mother
England, connecting with our British Isles roots.
But apart from that, the fact that anything exists in my
life now is really a tribute to support, because at the
time when I joined Subud in 1968 in my mid-20s, I was
in such a black hole, that I doubt I would have
survived, had it not been for Subud.
So if I ever feel cross or unhappy at about anything in
Subud, such as my own progress, then I only have to
recall that I would not be here at all were it not for Subud.
Readers are invited to submit a favourite
photograph taken by themselves. Include a
text of no more than 400 words
explaining why the photograph is
important to you and what connection it has
with Subud.
◆
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 10 FEBRUARY 2011

Sumiko
I N N E R
V O I C E
Inner Voice welcomes stories and letters. Please send to Ilaina Lennard,
NEW E-MAIL ilaine.l@blueyonder.co.uk
Ilaina (Ilaine for the e-mail) can be contacted at her NEW ADDRESS:
8 Sissinghurst Grove, Up Hatherley, Cheltenham, Glos. GL51 3FA UK
NEW TEL NO: (+44) (0)1242 707 701
The word “unique” is often overused these days to
mean something like “rather special”, or “rather unusual”.
What it actually means of course is “one of its
kind”, “completely unlike anything else”. I believe the
word “unique” can be legitimately applied to this story.
I do not believe you will have ever read another story
exactly like it.
We have published this story in Subud Voice previously
but because we will now have many new readers, both
Subud and non-Subud, we have decided to republish
this extraordinary episode from a spiritual life.
It comes from Rozak Tatebe’s book, Subud – a
Spiritual Journey. Rozak joined Subud in his native
Japan in 1954, making him one of the very first people
outside Indonesia to experience the latihan. He was
instrumental in the establishment of Subud in Japan...
figure of a woman kneeling with her hands clasped in
prayer. It was Sumiko. Of course, it was not her actual
body, but rather her astral body that I saw.
How could Sumiko’s astral body enter the latihan space
when she was not even opened? And how could she
appear in a posture of prayer as though she were doing
latihan beside me? After a few minutes, the figure started
to fade and then disappeared altogether.
The following evening, an even more surprising event
occurred. When my wife was asleep, I again started
doing latihan. After a while, a small sphere of light
appeared in front of me. I instinctively knew that it was
my soul.
Then suddenly, another sphere appeared a little distance
away. It was slightly smaller and it was Sumiko’s soul.
The edges of both spheres touched and then, like
molten metal fusing, they merged into each other to
form a pear shape.
At that moment, my mouth moved involuntarily and I
found myself declaring, ‘Sumiko has now become my
wife.’ The idea was inconceivable, yet at the same time,
expressions of gratitude to the Almighty for this feeling
of joy and happiness kept welling up inside me. These
were like hymns for a marriage.
That was how this experience started. The content of
my latihan was utterly transformed. As soon as I was in
latihan, all that came out of my mouth were songs of
joy and celebration for my marriage to Sumiko.
A YEAR PASSED and by the following autumn, Subud
was well established. It was then that I noticed there
was something unusual about one of the women who There was nothing I could do about it. But my inner
worked at the patent firm. Her
‘
name was Sumiko, and
self was filled with a latihan of
while she was much younger
praise for the marriage; whenever
I walked the streets and there
than me, she was my senior Whenever I
and it was she who trained
was no one about, I would just
me.
walked the
open my mouth and sing.
The unusual thing I noticed
streets and
Feeling her Emotions
about her was that whenever we
In my outer life, a new situation
sat side-by-side to work, I would
there was no
arose with Sumiko that corresponded
to the events that had
start to feel unusually calm. But
this was no ordinary calm – this
occurred in the latihan. The first
was a certain kind of calmness one about, I
thing was that I started to feel her
that I had, until then, only experienced
in my latihan. would just
emotions. It was as if there was
’
no longer a Me/Other factor.
I wondered if this young open my mouth And when I finally stopped
woman possessed some special
doubting that a shared emotional
quality. This happened another and sing
bond had actually come into
two or three times and one
existence between her and me,
evening, after my wife and child had gone to bed, I started the idea that humans led an essentially lonely existence
doing my latihan.
and that the Other is always the Other whose mind can
never truly be understood, was completely quashed.
Suddenly, I was made aware that there was someone
beside me. I looked round and saw the semi-transparent It was only I who was aware of this shared emotional
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 11 FEBRUARY 2011

ond. Sumiko knew nothing about it but for me it was
a startling discovery. For example, if it were love that
Sumiko felt for me, when that emotion was reproduced
inside me, I would feel it as my love towards her. Or
indeed, if it were hatred that Sumiko felt for me, then I
would experience it as hatred towards her.
This process brought to mind sayings like, ‘To be loved
by others, you must love others,’ or, ‘Everything
returns to its source.’
This shared emotional bond became
deeper and deeper as time went on.
Sumiko was unaware of what was
happening to me. I did not mention
Subud or the latihan to her. This was
because it was unlikely that anyone
could have accepted my experiences
– even I myself could not understand
them. However, as time passed,
Sumiko began to be attracted to me
and then came to love me.
She told me about unusual experiences
that she had had as a child.
What she spoke about seemed to have
some connection with what was happening
to me. However, I felt I could
not speak frankly to her. All I could
do was wait until the latihan gave me
the next step.
In the meantime, Sumiko’s love for
me grew stronger, and I started to experience other
strange things. Once, I had gone to the café to have a
coffee. Even though the café was spacious, it was to
my surprise filled with the scent of flowers.
It smelled like roses and had a heavenly sweetness. I
realized that the fragrance was because of Sumiko; she
had become convinced of my love for her and this was
the manifestation of her happiness. I was filled with
joy, but as soon as I left the café, the fragrance disappeared.
In this way, I discovered that emotions also had
odours. This was later confirmed by other experiences.
All my senses were heightened around that time, and in
particular, my sense of smell. I also had experiences of
a different nature, such as when I heard Sumiko’s voice
even though she was in another place. The voice was
not coming from anywhere around me but was audible
inside me.
Sumiko called me two or three times. I don’t know
whether she was actually calling me, or calling me in
her mind, but I could hear her voice quite clearly. It is
actually a very strange feeling to hear the voice of
another person inside your own body.
An Experience to Top All Others
And then, finally, I had an experience that was to top all
the others so far. That day, I had used the director’s
chauffeur-driven car to go to a foreign embassy to have
some papers approved. On my way back, I was sitting
in the rear seat relaxing, when suddenly my body felt
heavy and I was overcome with exhaustion. My body
was drained of all its strength so that I could not even
lift a finger.
Then, my chest started to become bright as though lit
up and Sumiko was inside. The feeling
I had then was indescribable. It brought
with it a sense of reality that was 10 or
even 100 times more intense than the
reality one feels towards the things of
this world – an utterly heightened sense
of existence.
Bapak characterizes a true spiritual
experience as one where the sense of
reality is 100 times stronger than normal.
Once one experiences this overwhelming
sense of reality, I do not
believe there is anyone who would
doubt the truth of that experience.
While the exhaustion had to some
extent dissipated, the feeling of
Sumiko’s presence inside me continued
until the car I was in reached the firm.
I realised she would still be at the
office. I was curious as to the difference
between the Sumiko inside me and the Sumiko at
the office. Which one was the real Sumiko?
When I arrived, she was talking to someone else but we
exchanged a few simple words. This was actually very
strange. The Sumiko inside me felt so real, it positively
sparkled while the real Sumiko who was standing in
front of me had a much fainter, shadowy presence. And
she was clearly unaware that her real entity had
detached itself and was actually inside me.
The Fateful Love
Sumiko knew nothing of the events I have described
earlier, but it is not impossible that they did have an
effect on her. The love she had for me became much
more intense.
From a social point of view, her love was unforgivable. I
had a wife and a child, and Sumiko had sensed from the
very start that I had no intention to divorce. Despite
this, she had decided she would give herself to me and
she casually hinted at this.
At that time, we were talking together in a café. Without
warning, I was suddenly filled with a burning
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 12 FEBRUARY 2011

love for her, and an unexpected thought welled up from
my heart; I wouldn’t care if I went to Hell as long as I
could marry her. I was horror-stricken.
Until then, that thought had not crossed my mind. I had
always thought that the whole purpose of
human life was to remain focused
on God and on
Heaven, and to never
desist from this no
matter what happened.
Nevertheless, I had had
this thought in the core
of my body.
Because of our shared
emotional bond, I knew
the source of my emotion
came from Sumiko. But as
soon as I felt it, I knew it
was also my emotion and as
such, was shocked at the
intensity of it. The words, ‘fateful
love,’ came to me.
A Fate that Transcended Will
Certainly, the love between Sumiko and me had been
born when our souls were linked through a fate that
transcended will. I realized that the kind of fateful love
I thought existed only in novels – that feels beyond
your power to stop even though you know it leads to
your own destruction – truly could exist.
Like any ordinary couple we had our differences and
our quarrels, and sometimes I felt awkwardness
between us; but none of these
had escalated into a major
issue and my wife still trusted
me. So I could not
betray her, or divorce her.
And when I considered
the effect such an action
would have on the
newly established
Subud group and my
responsibility towards
its members, I could
not behave in such a
way that would
draw social censure,
no matter
what the reason.
Hoping for Guidance
I was hoping for guidance from God. As I mentioned
before, since I myself did not understand what was
going on, I could not give any explanations to Sumiko,
and so I took no action.
I hoped that the latihan would show me the next stage,
and what I should do. Since it was through the latihan
that this situation had arisen, I presumed that the latihan
would also give me instructions. I waited and waited
but my wish was not fulfilled.
Despite this, I did not make any moves toward Sumiko.
To be honest, this was not because I didn’t want to
marry her. Since our spiritual marriage had occurred,
the idea of a marriage in this world was of course, a
very attractive one.
But in order do that, I would have to either divorce my
wife, or elope with Sumiko, or conduct an immoral
affair in secret, none of which I was capable of doing.
I tested. I calmed my mind and asked sincerely. “Why
has this happened? How should Sumiko and I be from
now on? What is it that I am supposed to do?”
Instantly, the answer came tumbling out of my mouth.
That was how I received answers at that time.
“The matter of Sumiko is in God’s hands. You cannot
know yet what God’s will is for you.”
This answer was unexpected. While it was somewhat
comforting to confirm that God’s will was involved, it
was basically a denial of the question. Unlike tests I
had done until then, I found myself back where I started
and in a state of suspense.
My wife and I had fallen in love at work. We had gotten
married around the time that I discovered the existence
of Subud. Dr. Taniguchi had told me to stop
Subud as it was dangerous, but I had continued to do
the latihan.
The story of Sumiko will be concluded in the next issue.
I finally decided to marry my wife when I thought that
Rozak's excellent book, Subud – A Spiritual Journey, is
even if I took the Subud path against Dr. Taniguchi’s
‘
available from Amazon.com at US$14.
wishes, this young woman would still follow me.
And indeed, just before we got married, she did start From a social point
doing the latihan and had continued to stay by my side
without complaint, even after I had collapsed with TB, of view, her love
even after I refused to go back to my job at Kyobunsha
because I wanted to re-establish the group, and even
was unforgiveable
though we had no idea of how we were going to get by.
◆
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 13 FEBRUARY 2011

Whatever happened to
the ‘Miracle Baby’?
When Subud first arrived in England in 1957, it attracted
a great deal of publicity. Much of this was due to the
cure of the film star Eva Bartok. She had a stomach
tumour which disappeared after she began the latihan
and she subsequently gave birth to a healthy daughter.
Whatever became of this “miracle baby”?
Eva Bartok left Hollywood for a spiritual calling in
Jakarta. Forty years later, her daughter, Deana, has
returned to the city.
By Bruce Emond (First published in The Jakarta Post
WEEKENDER www.thejakartapost.com).
“I am back in Jakarta and I don’t know why,” Deana
Sinatra says with mock exasperation. The city she left
in 1971 as a 14-year-old resembled a small town with
big aspirations, with kampongs backing on to rice fields
and Hotel Indonesia the main landmark of note.
Today’s sprawling capital is almost unrecognizable and,
she says, “very stressful” compared with how it was
during her four happy years here.
The only child of the late Hungarian-born actress Eva
Bartok, Sinatra has lived in many places – her birthplace
London, Jakarta, Los Angeles, Hawaii and
Sydney, where she
moved with her British
husband and raised two
sons.
Looming large in her story – always the case for the
scions of famous people – is Bartok, the stunning darkhaired
beauty who appeared in a string of Hollywood
and European movies during the 1950s and 1960s.
Bartok survived scandal and near-death during her
pregnancy with Deana to become one of the most
prominent international ambassadors for Subud, the
Indonesian-based spiritual movement.
On their travels, Bartok’s own forceful mother was
always in tow. Curiously, in this company of women,
three male figures retained a strong presence: Bartok’s
father, who disappeared during World War II;
Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo, the founder of
Subud; and Frank Sinatra, the man Deana recognizes as
her biological father but whom she never met.
Coming to Town
Deana Sinatra still remembers the day in London in
1967 when her mother proposed moving to the Wisma
Subud compound in Jakarta. “She told me that there
would be no electricity or hot water, but there would be
freedom.”
Then barely 10 years old, Sinatra was used to babysitters,
chauffeurs and the high-walled existence of
celebrity. It was lonely and protected, she says, and she
was thrilled at the possibility of an escape.
They embarked on the long journey across continents,
her mother still travelling like a film star with a
About 18 months ago, in
her early 50s, divorced
and with her sons in college,
she gave up her job
as a diversional therapist
and relocated to Jakarta
to teach.
“I have a very soft spot
in my heart for this
country,” says Sinatra, a
tall, attractive blond with
piercing blue eyes. “I
felt that I had unfinished
business here, not only
having to do with Mum
but the fact is I’ve
always been comfortable
here. There were things
that motivated me to go
out of Australia. I didn’t
want to go back to America or Europe, but Indonesia.”
Deana Sinatra in front of the latihan hall in Wisma Subud, Jakarta
(Photo by R Berto Wedhatama, courtesy of Jakarta Post)
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 14 FEBRUARY 2011

heap of suitcases, her grandmother suffering not so
silently. They arrived in Jakarta and were put in the
only guest room available. The next afternoon, jetlagged,
they went to meet Pak Subuh.
Pak Subuh had always been part of Deana’s life. At the
same time Bartok discovered she was pregnant, she
learned she had a potentially life-threatening ovarian
cyst. Doctors recommended surgery for its removal,
which would have killed the fetus.
Bartok, then already involved in
Subud, moved from Los
Angeles to its compound
at Coombe
Springs outside
London, where she
awaited a visit from Pak
Subuh. Following his
instructions, she put off the
surgery and the cyst miraculously
disappeared. He also
decided that the child would
be called Donald if a boy, or
Deana if a girl. Deana Grazia
was born in October 1957.
“He was beautiful and warm,”
she says of Pak Subuh. “There
was light all around him when he Eva Bartok
walked into a room. He loved children,
and he called me over and asked me
in Indonesian how I liked Wisma Subud.
He was so revered. His wife was fantastic,
too, we became very close, and she
loved Mum a lot.”
She calls Wisma Subud a “little
island” of calm from which she
would venture out to the sidewalk
stall along Jl. Fatmawati to buy ice
cream. The transition to the tropics
was sometimes daunting, Sinatra
admits, describing the differences –
curious smells, birds singing, house
lizards scurrying across the walls –
as “gobsmacking”.
Frank Sinatra.
Respected Sinatra
biographers support Deana's
contention that Sinatra was her father
(Courtesy of Jakarta Post)
While Deana attended Jakarta International School, her
mother threw herself into Subud activities. “I think she
wanted to become a better person and let go of all the
trappings of being a film star,” she says. “She always
believed in a much higher power ... she came into this
world with a spiritual thread.”
Omar Martinez, who has created an extensive online
tribute to Eva Bartok, agrees. “From the time she was a
child she was questioning her place in the universe,” he
says. “She was very intelligent and sensitive.”
The idyllic Jakarta interlude ended in 1971. Pak Subuh
asked Bartok to spread Subud’s philosophy throughout
the world. The family moved to Los Angeles, and later
to Hawaii. “My mother left here on a mission that was
asked of her. And she never ended up coming back here
to live.”
Perhaps, Deana Sinatra says, that is why she has come
back. She has also returned to Subud after several
years’ absence, adding that its way of living and
viewing the world always remains part of its followers.
The city, and her small circle of friends, is
helping her tie up the loose ends of the past.
Meaning over Movies
Bartok’s spiritual quest led her to put aside her
acting career, Martinez says from Los Angeles.
Bartok had first gained international fame starring
in The Crimson Pirate with Burt
Lancaster (1952). Her Eastern European
background made her a favorite to play
World War II heroines and Cold War
escapees in such films as Operation
Amsterdam (1959) and Beyond the
Curtain (1960).
Fluent in many languages, she continued
to make movies in Italy and
Germany in the 1960s;
her last lead role was
in the Israeli film
Sabina in 1967, with
Deana making her acting
debut.
“I believe that her newfound
connection with
Subud made her less interested
in pursuing her career.
After all she had found in that
movement what she had been
looking for all of her life: the
meaning of her existence,” says
Martinez, drawing on Bartok’s
1959 autobiography Worth Living
For.
Deana Sinatra, who also had a brief acting
career, says her mother was a very good actress,
although not great. Unlike her fellow Hungarians, the
Gabor sisters, Bartok set out to lose her accent when
speaking English by taking elocution lessons.
But she never looked back wistfully on her Hollywood
years. “She had realized the fakeness of it,” Sinatra
says. “It was just a phase that she went through. But
she did love the stage.”
Bartok’s search for meaning also stemmed from the
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 15 FEBRUARY 2011

losses that shadowed her life. Born Eva Ivanova
Szoke in Budapest in 1927, she was the daughter of a
prominent Jewish journalist father and Roman Catholic
mother. World War II destroyed the family’s comfortable
existence. Her beloved father continued to write
articles critical of the Nazi regime; when Eva was barely
a teenager, he disappeared forever.
Father Figure
Eva Bartok lived life on her own terms, eschewing convention.
She dated an Indian prince when relationships
between Asian men (even noble ones) and white
women were frowned upon, and ignored friends who
told her she was crazy to give up her career to move to
the politically tumultuous Jakarta of the mid-1960s.
To avoid her mother and herself being sent to a concentration
camp, the 15-year-old Eva entered into a brief,
loveless marriage with a local Nazi official.
After the war, she drew on connections with Hungarian
émigrés in London to leave her homeland and pursue her
acting ambitions. She married the producer Alexander
Paal in 1948, but they
divorced three years later.
The void from losing both
her father and her country
remained. Many of her
relationships were with
much older men (including
Paal and her fourth husband,
the actor Curt
Jürgens, who was 12 years
her senior), as though seeking
a replacement for her
missing father.
“Men would fall in love
with her beauty, and also her soul, but they could never
really love her completely,” Deana Sinatra says.
She reflects on her mother’s personality, a mercurial,
sometimes frustrating bundle of contrasts. She was not
a homey person – she chose furnished apartments or
hotels, and her disastrous, thankfully rare forays in the
kitchen still make Sinatra chuckle.
While drama followed her in everyday life, she could
laugh at herself and she was a loving mother: She read
her daughter bedtime stories and they slept in the same
bed. “Of course, I didn’t see her the way other people
saw her, as a film star,” Sinatra says. “She was just my
mum to me. It was normal to me.”
Although Bartok loved her adopted homeland of Britain
and believed in its values, Sinatra says, she also pined
for her birthplace, which suffered more bloodshed during
the 1956 Soviet invasion. Yet Bartok never
returned. She died in August 1998, aged 71.
“The things she experienced made her a stronger person,
because she questioned things more, about why
things happened in her life,” Sinatra says. “And that’s
how you grow as a person.”
‘
Eva Bartok’s
search for
meaning
stemmed from
the losses that
shadowed her
life.
’
Bartok needed that self-belief during her pregnancy
with Deana, as she was already separated from Jürgens.
Gossip columns kept tabs on Hollywood stars, who
were then expected to toe the moral line. Sinatra says
Jürgens urged Bartok to identify him on her birth certificate
to quiet the scandal, although she laughs that it
reads “father unknown” next to the Austrian actor’s
family name.
The document was just a
formality (she met Jürgens
only once in her life). She
says her real father was
Frank Sinatra: At 41, the legendary
singer allegedly had
an affair with 29-year-old
Bartok when she was working
with Hollywood “Rat
Pack” member Dean Martin
on the movie Ten Thousand
Bedrooms.
Deana claims she knew who
her father was instinctively. As a toddler, she rifled
through her mother’s stacks of LPs and picked out a
Sinatra album. “Daddy,” she says she pronounced to a
dumbstruck Bartok.
As a restless teenager, then in Los Angeles, she
pressed her mother to contact the singer. At an
appointed time, he called; Deana, listening on the
extension, heard him say he was busy but they
would meet the following week. He never called
again, and her mother let it rest.
A few years later, a request for contact sent to Sinatra’s
lawyer met the response that Sinatra was preoccupied
with other responsibilities. Deana says her mother never
said a bad word about Sinatra, or sought financial gain.
And so it was just the women, Eva and Deana (her
grandmother died in the late 1980s).
Using her legal name, Deana made several Hollywood
B films in 1983 and 1984, including one produced by
Frank Sinatra Jr, the singer’s son. Her mother sometimes
visited her during filming, once advising her
about dealing with an ornery co-star before a love
scene. “She told me to have my morning coffee, and
then to eat a clove of garlic,” she says.
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 16 FEBRUARY 2011

Coming of Age
Deana was not interested in the all-consuming actor’s
world. She wanted instead the settled family life she
had never known as a child, but away from her mother.
In 1985 she married a fellow Subud member and they
moved to Australia. She admits her long-distance relationship
with her mother, who lived in California and
then London, was not always easy, with each dealing
with her own problems and finding it difficult to connect
emotionally in stilted
conversations from
halfway across the world.
Bartok, still active in
Subud, worked in an art
gallery toward the end of
her life. “Oh, she could
always turn on the charm,
she could sell anything,”
Deana says. Her mother was unhappy when Deana
went public about her parentage in a newspaper interview
in the mid-1990s. “She wanted to know why I did
it, and she also was worried for me for the possible
repercussions. She didn’t call again for a few months.”
Despite the distance, Deana noticed her mother’s health
and spirit gradually waning. But she was shocked by
condolence messages left on her answering machine in
May 1998, for another loss; Frank Sinatra had died,
aged 83. “It was astounding,” she says of the outpouring
of concern for her for a man she never met. “But
the hope [of meeting him] died then.”
Three months later, Bartok had a stroke and was hospitalized
in London. Deana Sinatra begged the doctors to
keep her mother alive until she arrived from Australia,
but a second massive stroke and heart attack took
Bartok’s life as Deana was still trying to arrange her
ticket. “I had told the doctor to whisper in her ear that I
loved her,” she says, breaking down.
In London, she found that her mother had spent her last
few years “living like a monk” in a dingy hotel room.
She had got rid of all her possessions over the years,
and everything she owned fitted into three plastic bags.
In one of them, Deana found Bartok’s birth certificate,
the date of birth changed by hand to make her older and
thus eligible to migrate to England. In another was a
beautiful ring, a gift from the Marquess of Milford
Haven, with whom she was close in the 1950s.
Materially, Bartok was poor – the press reported the
onetime movie star died penniless and homeless – but
at the funeral the pews were filled with friends and
strangers. Sinatra saw how her mother had touched
many lives with her kindness and films.
streaming down their faces,” she says. Sinatra says she
realized she too was alone, except for her sons. “It’s
tough becoming an orphan,” she says simply.
Divorced, she subsequently changed her name by deed
poll to Sinatra. It was easy to do, she adds, merely formalizing
what she sees as her rightful parentage, “the
other half of me”. She emphasizes that she has never
sought a share of the Sinatra estate, only recognition.
She shows a photo of her
‘ ’
Both Eva Bartok
and Deanna Sinatra
have done things
their way...
younger son next to one of
Frank Sinatra; there is a
striking resemblance in the
color of their eyes and the
shape of their lips.
Sinatra’s three children have
never commented on her
claims. But if they did
address the issue? “It would be wonderful, I would welcome
it,” says Deana. She also bears a strong resemblance
to ol’ Blue Eyes, who she always refers to as
Frank, in her eyes and the shape of her face. But she is
clearly her mother’s daughter, shaped by all the delights
and disappointments they shared.
The similarity is evident not only in her attractiveness
but also in her willingness to make her own decisions
and follow her heart, including back to Jakarta. Both Eva
Bartok and Deana Sinatra have done things their way.
Our thanks to Bruce Edmond and Jakarta Post for permission
to republish this article.
Editor's Note: Frank Sinatra's celebrated biographers
Robbyn Swan and Anthony Summers are convinced
that Sinatra has at least one authentic lovechild –
Aussie claimant Deana Sinatra.
Summers reveals, "She is the daughter of the actress
Eva Bartok and we're rather satisfied, short of DNA
proof, that her claim is truthful and accurate.
"The sad thing is Sinatra rebuffed all her attempts to get
in touch before he died, even though she made it completely
clear she didn't want anything material from him
– no money, nothing. She simply wanted to have spoken
to her father before he died."
◆
The Beetle
I met a beetle on a path
& stopped to talk to it, wished it
a happy day & found
a tear was in my eye, for oh,
the shortness & the beauty of this life
“People walked off the street, I think they had read
about the service in the papers. There were tears
Sofyan Armytage
◆
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 17 FEBRUARY 2011

The restructuring of Subud –
facing ourselves
Peter Paul McNally writes from Tunbridge Wells...
Perhaps restructuring our inner will alter our outer. If
we are concerned about the state of Subud perhaps a
closer examination will draw some analogies between it
and the conditions and influences which pervade in the
wider world and may provide answers as to why the
Subud movement appears to be contracting.
Such an examination could invite us to rethink our values,
see the wider implications of these influences and
help us understand their subtle nature and the form they
manifest in the wider culture.
There is no valid reason why Subud should not be subject
to the same oppressive influences which affect our
contemporary cultural and religious institutions, all of
which are undergoing similar processes of contraction.
Finding an adequate explanation as to Subud`s `temporary`
contraction seems beyond our ordinary grasp and
understanding – yet we unknowingly play a part in it. It
is not an abstraction! We are all a cell in the body of life.
Have we noted how an
influence of thought, politics
and fashion seems to
pervade the surface of the
earth? It can spread internationally like wildfire, and
there is no firm explanation as to how this manifests
itself. It does not seem to be the product of conscious
effort or design.
There seem to be strong receptors which absorb influences
and transmit them only for them to eventually
dissipate and be replaced by yet another influence. It is
as if a space has to be filled. If it is not filled with substance
it will be filled with nonsense. Perhaps something
permanent within our being is needed to counteract
the impermanence of cultural influences.
To counteract an influence we need to maintain our
own sense of being. Equally, Subud has its own influence,
form and presence. But the power of that influence
is subject to the nature of those whom attach
themselves to it and are it. The membership of the
movement is Subud! The strength of an influence such
as Subud and the latihan exercise is dependent on the
faithfulness of its membership.
Perhaps our relationship to Subud is not strong or sincere
enough to counteract more insidious and all-prevailing
lower cultural influences which misguide us and
deflect us from purpose. Have we been unfaithful in our
relationship with Subud? Do we make appropriate
efforts to participate or do life`s influences beckon
more powerfully. Perhaps we are not a strong cell in
this Subud body and cannot counteract the lower forces.
We may consider ourselves to have honest intentions
because we possess a membership card, but is that
enough? Have we passed the test of sincerity by submitting
to the correct force?. How often do we proclaim
our allegiance to purpose and yet prioritise lesser issues
over latihan?
Inner Reality
The latihan exercise is the expressed dimension of inner
reality and becomes the living embodiment of all organised
inner experiences. The exercise allows us to make
sense of knowledge, understanding and consciousness
by unifying all into a higher emotional experience. It
gives sense to feelings – one feels the truth/non-truth
behind a situation. Genuine feeling is quite distinct
from desires which masquerade as sincere feelings.
The secularisation of life seems to have its own reverence
which often far outweighs our higher purpose,
resulting in the neglect of our true mission and marginalising
the very exercise which could deliver us from
the weight of the world. The lower must not take precedence
over the higher.
‘ ’
Do we see Subud
as credible?
When life is overbearing we
cannot see the reality of
worlds beyond it. Our illnesses,
mental and emotionally
oppressive manifestations
inherited from the secularised culture are something we
may be addicted to. They are the poison we may believe
to be necessary to normality. We have been given the key
to something beyond this, and fail to break free of a personally
secularised imprisonment because it is the only
tangible reality we believe in.
Can we find time to attend to the demands of submitting
to the exercise? We forsake our true heritage of living
and dying well because the pregnant validity of
lesser preoccupations gain our full attention. Matters
pertaining to life`s lesser promptings seem more pressing
than inculcating values which would contextualise
those promptings.
Have we learnt the lesson of the texts of the Prophets-to
apply value to our inner lives which will contextualise
our relationship to our secular lives and make it successful.
Life and being work hand-in-hand. One cannot first
deal with societal issues hoping that when it has been
tidily sorted, we will then be ready to arrange our inner
world. It will be too late-the inner world is the present.
The value placed on the outer world and how well we
live in it is commensurable with how we begin to manage
our inner lives. Yet we do not want to turn the key
in the lock lest the door open to an unfamiliar world.
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 18 FEBRUARY 2011

The Impact of Secularisation
Secularisation has permeated Subud just as it has infiltrated
the internationally organised churches, not to
mention Christianic, Judaic and Islamic thought. (We
are reminded of Christ driving the traders out of the
temple. He was not against trading but against this secularisation
of life to the point where there are no
Sundays). Christ`s words and actions still have credence
in this modern world.
Secularisation of our thought is subtle – it renders us
party to the colonisation process of our minds and emotions
without knowing it. We are too keen to participate
in the colonisation of our being by lesser forces.
A wise Indonesian made sense when he said that the
Exercise has been given now as never before as our
need is greater in a culture with no space. This colonisation
of our thought and feeling and our submission to
the lower forces creates the imbalance. We should live
with balance and harmony of purpose in a world filled
with the higher and lower.
The seductive rationalism of this secular world appeals
strongly to our modern technological society, filling every
vacuum of inner space. We have little understanding as to
what has happened to our thinking process and how this
new secular orientation has replaced true being value.
Our value system has been replaced with a hollow
morality and vacant rationalism which is applied without
understanding the contextual nature of the circumstances
outside and inside us. The by-product of secularist
thought stores up problems for us in our inner and
outer lives and devalues our humanity in our expressed
business, educational, social and working world.
Secular and inner values must be conjoined – not
expressed separately. Equally, the latihan is not only for
Mondays and Thursdays and then relegated to the backseat
so the more serious issues of life can continue.
Our fragmented lives exhibit a paradox which we do
not see, let alone understand. Such incompatibility of
the inner with outer is indicative of our estrangement
from the higher source.
How have the Subudian custodians of God`s divine gift
delivered it sincerely to themselves and others? Are we
making sincere efforts? When an old man can make journeys
the equivalent of going to the moon and back, but
we cannot rouse an interest to go to the exercise`down
the road,`are we really thankful for his efforts?
Do we see Subud as being credible? Does it have the
tangible reality of our secular culture? Do we engage
with Subud only when life allows us to?
Unless we make time and effort for our future it will
not be given.
We cannot wait until we have tidied up this world
before we put our mind to the inner one. It is only when
the inner is attended to that the outer will begin to form
sensibly and favourably. Perhaps with the evaluation of
secularisation we can begin to contextualise what has
happened to the religious institutions, including Subud.
If we reframe ourselves in our movement then a cellular
restructuring will begin to manifest itself positively
in us and our movement.
◆
SYA wants you in Indonesia
2011 is shaping up to be an amazing time to visit
Indonesia.
SYAI are proud to support both the Yes Quest at
Rungan Sari and the Human Force camp in Cipanas
both in July 2011. Both of these events offer a unique
opportunity for you to learn about yourself, Indonesia
and to meet other like-minded people.
Immediately prior to both is the World Subud Council
meeting (23rd June-July 1st). SYAI would love as many
people (especially youth) to be there to support the
WSC – which includes the SYAI team!
You can apply for funding for your travel to these
events through the IYTF. For further information or an
application form please email:
sya-international@subudyouth.net.
◆
The Human Force presents
Camp 2011:
Cipanas, Indonesia July 3rd – 17th, 2011
- Work on organic farming project
- Do workshops with local community
- Teach children in need
Hurry! Deadline for applications March 1, 2011
About the Camp
We will be working at the Cipanas Children's Village, a
Susila Dharma/YUM project in the mountains above
Jakarta and very close to Suka Mulia (Bapak's grave),
where we will be working on their organic farming
project, doing workshops with the local community,
and teaching children.
For those of you who do not know about Cipanas, it has
served as an orphanage for many years, and now they
are transitioning into playing the role of a community
center. You can read more about it in YUM's 2009
annual report:
http://susiladharma.org/assets/projects/yum/ yum-AR2009.pdf
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 19 FEBRUARY 2011

Kejiwaan and personal development activities are also
integrated into the core of our program.
Why Should I Come?
This will be an excellent way to experience the richness
of Indonesia, to understand and get directly involved in
Susila Dharma's work, to help the surrounding communities
along the path to sustainability, and to build relationships
that are based on manifesting the latihan in
our world's development.
Requirements for Participation
Although preference is given to people under 30, we
welcome all who are interested in participating. We ask
that anyone who applies is able to do a bit of physical
work and has a functional knowledge of either English
or Indonesian (or both).
Please write to us with any questions or for a copy of
the application!
Contact us! alex.woodward@subudyouth.net or
getinvolved@susiladharma.org
WHAT BELONGS TO GOD ALONE?
Yes, yes, thank you to all those who've written to tell us that we
got the date wrong on the final in-print version of Subud Voice.
We said it was January 2010 when it should have been 2011. Ha
ha, the joke's on us.
But you all know what we meant. We meant January 2011. And
when some little mistake like this happens, I always remember
the very wise words told to me by an old Navajo Indian when I
lived in the United States. He told me that when the Navajo do
their marvellous sand paintings, they always leave a flaw in the
design, because "perfection belongs to God alone".
TELL YOUR STORY
Emmanuel Williams requests stories for his new book
Changes: Subud as a Life-Changing Experience.
◆
LETTERS
TO THE ✒
EDITOR
In recent weeks we have
received many letters relating
to the changes at Subud Voice
from a subscriber-based magazine
to a free, online magazine.
We are grateful for the
many messages of appreciation
for past efforts and good
wishes for the future.
We are also extremely grateful to the many readers who
have forgone the repayment for the outstanding portion
of their subscriptions when the subscriber magazine
closed down in January 2011.
This relieves us of some financial strain and helps us
wind up the affairs of the “old” Subud Voice in good
order and supports the birth of the “new” Subud Voice.
A sample of the letters from those who have supported
us in this way...
Ruslan Moore, USA...
Please keep the balance of my subscription. In this way
I'll be able to do a small part in sustaining the new, free
online version of the VOICE. Thanks for all your wonderful
work with this excellent publication over the
years. So in the words of my late father-in-law I'll close
with "Keep the faith, good luck, and God bless."
Margaret Hughes, UK...
Our group is happy not to reclaim any of the annual
payment we made in October 2010 for Subud Voice.
Hopefully you will have an article in the final printed
“Subud Voice” to encourage groups/members to follow
our example (who may have been due to renew much
sooner than us?) or even be donors from April onwards.
I do hope my suggestion will be greeted positively as
we would be showing in a practical way our
This book is a sequel to An Extraordinary Man which
relates remarkable interactions with Bapak experienced
by Subud members.
In Changes members describe how their lives have
changed because of the latihan. The book is seen as one
we could encourage the public to read as an introduction
to Subud.
For a more complete description of this book and story
examples please visit changes.inttouch.com or
emmanuel.williams@inttouch.com
S U B U D E V E N T S
For news of forthcoming Subud events go to
www.subudworldnews.com and click on
“Events”.
◆
◆
Cartoon, ‘Subud Outreach’, from The Great Life Farce by
Campbell and Bolt. Available from www.lulu.com
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 20 FEBRUARY 2011

gratitude to Harris, Bradford, Rahman, Ilaina and
Marcus for all the work, dedication and finance which
they have willingly put into this much loved publication.
Sanderson Morgan...
I wish you well with the new manifestation of Subud
Voice and thank you for such a good run with the past
version, it was an important part of Subud culture and
kept us all in a well connected loop.
Matthew and Melanie Mayberry, USA...
It has always been an excellent publication and I send
my best wishes to you guys (including llaina, as "guys"
is a generic term). I will give you all the support I can
for the new venture but cannot do cash until a later possibility
is realised.
Lester and Pauline Sutherland, Canada...
Pauline and I are very happy that Subud Voice, while
based “down under”, is not going under but will continue
as a free online Subud magazine. This delights us
because the thought that Subud Voice would no longer
continue as the premier Subud magazine containing
news and stories from all over the Subud world, would
be too much to bear. We can’t begin to tell you how
much we look forward each month to the next issue of
Subud Voice. Its arrival sets up the day for us.
Naturally, we do not wish a refund of the outstanding
amount on our subscription. With much gratitude for
your past and continuing service as editors and administrators
of Subud Voice,
Elaina Helen Dodson, USA...
I look forward to seeing the new online version this winter,
and I thank you so much for all you have done for us.
Samuel Lesley, UK...
Thanks for the December issue of SV – full of interesting
articles. I appreciate the generosity of you both in continuing
to produce SV – online and free of charge from the
February 2011 edition! With my grateful thanks,
Judy Gibbs, New Zealand, International Helper...
Yes, we have been spoiled for these years but have really
appreciated the up-to-the-minute and interesting articles
in Subud Voice, the opportunity to read stimulating,
thought-provoking articles from around the world
in a very attractive format which arrives regularly on
time. Wow!
What marvellous news that you are going to continue to
produce Subud Voice on-line and I hope this will be
able to continue for a long time. I’m sure it is a vehicle
which has helped to bring people to Subud and to a
greater understanding of our international brotherhood
and the many wonderful folk who contribute so much
in so many ways.
With very sincere thanks to you all for your amazing
loyal service for so many years. May your Voice continue
to be heard!
Helene Jelman, UK...
I'm sorry to hear Subud Voice is no longer being published
in its current form. I will really miss receiving
the magazine as I always find it very uplifting but I
guess things have to move on.
I don't need a refund of my subscription, I guess you
can use the money as a contribution to the new online
Subud Voice. A big thank you to everyone who contributed
to Subud Voice in the last few years, it's a great
publication!
Maurice Baker, UK...
Just to say I do not wish to be reimbursed with any outstanding
subscription to Subud Voice. It's a shame that
the printed copies cannot be sustained as I prefer the
format (I like to read SV in bed) to an online version.
However, if it must be – that's life. Sponsorship was
mentioned in Harris' article, by the way, what might
that entail?
Thanks, also, for all the amount of work you and the
rest of the SV team have put in over the years – it's certainly
appreciated by me as virtually an isolated member
(our group in Newcastle only has one other regular
man and he is often unable to attend) and the nearest
group being Perth in Scotland which is nearly 200
miles away – nothing by Aussie standards but still
enough to make regular visits difficult.
Maxwell Fraval, Australia, WSA Executive Chair...
I very much appreciate the major recent efforts that are
keeping the magazine afloat and the ongoing efforts to
change with the times.
WSA recognises the benefits of Subud Voice as the
longest running, independent, international
Church Bell
Up from the river comes
the sad sweet sound of a church bell
but it is only someone in the dry dock
hammering a pipe.
I wish it were the other
& our world still run
by good god-fearing folk
which, as a boy, I thought it was
Sofiyan Armytage
◆
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 21 FEBRUARY 2011

professional journal in our Subud community. The indepth
reporting and articles on a multitude of topics
over the years has provided an incomparable and valuable
service.
We are happy to learn that the magazine will continue,
free and online and the WSA executive would like to do
whatever we can to support the continuation of Subud
Voice. Please keep us informed about developments.
Luke Penseney, Canada, WSA Chairman...
I have been feeling this deeply also in all the meetings /
conferences I have attended in Asia, Europe, North &
South America (just back from Brazil, Colombia &
Argentina) so far this year. There is a stirring of need to
express what Subud is more fully in the communities we
live within..
Awakening is indeed something we are on the verge of
it seems!
◆
SPONSORSHIP
Subud Voice free and online is supported by donations
and sponsorship. Donations of any size are welcome
from individuals, groups or businesses..
Our thanks to Bradford and Celia Temple who provided
major sponsorship for this issue.
Major sponsors of single or multiple issues are welcome.
Contact Harris Smart at editor@subudvoice.net
Thanks to the many individuals and Subud groups who
have forgone their right to have unused parts of their
subscription refunded to them when we closed down
the subscriber-based magazine. We have been heartened
and encouraged by your support for the “new”
Subud Voice.
The Liverpool group were amongst those who said
“don't worry about sending us back the unused portion
of our subscription”. Margaret Hughes from that group
wrote with this suggestion...
“Groups or members may wish to contribute annually
either in full or in part the amount they formerly paid
for the printed editions. This contribution would be
entirely voluntary and could start from now on or after
their subscription has run out.”
All payments to Subud Voice can be made by credit
card by clicking on the “Payments to Subud Voice”
button on the left hand side of the home page. Please
enter “Donation to Subud Voice” in the comments box
and indicate if you wish your sponsorship to be publicly
acknowledged or not.
◆
IN MEMORY OF SIMEON & ORIANA
Simeon Gibbons passed away in early July 2010. He was a long term member
of the Ascot group, having arrived from Liverpool in the 1980’s. He
married Oriana Yim and they lived in Datchet, Windsor. They had first met
at St Katherine’s College in Liverpool where Oriana worked as a librarian
and where he was on the board of admissions.
It could be said that his death was particularly sad. His wife had died 5
years previously. It was music that had brought them together, Oriana a
flute player and Simeon an extremely talented guitarist. He carried on with
the composing, arranging, playing and recording of his music, much of the
time on his own.
He was one of the most regular of our group members, and served four years
as a regional helper which he obviously enjoyed. It was only because we had
not seen Simeon at latihan for a few times that we began to worry. He had
died on his own in his flat quite suddenly.
Selamatans were held at about ten days after and 100 days after and prayers
were said. The occasions certainly did not feel sad. His funeral was
arranged by his family at the same place as Oriana’s and quite a number of
Subud brothers and sisters attended.
We were warmly welcomed by Simeon (Stephen’s) family and they allowed
some prayers from Bapak to be said. There were memories from Jean his
kid sister and Peter his twin brother –‘my brother was a kind and gentle
man, he was a very talented man. Simeon had asked Jean to be the custodian
of his ‘precious and beautiful music’
She also provided us with biographical details for an obituary. Although
Simeon was not a Subud member known internationally, yet it might be fitting
that along with the music he leaves behind, we have a glimpse of his life.
Born on 25th December 1943, he studied piano and guitar at an early age
and taught classical guitar studies at such places as Ampleforth College and
the Liverpool School for the Blind, not forgetting that he lived and played
his guitar in Liverpool in the 60’s era of the Beatles.
‘Crisp artistry with brilliant and reflective music’ so wrote the Daily
Telegraph after one of his performances. He performed as a soloist at the
Liverpool Philharmonic Hall and Blue Coat Chambers Liverpool and at several
venues in NW England but also in Germany and Iceland. He won the
Pernod Arts Award for performing in 1967 and 1972.
Sadly we never heard him perform live, but since 1996 Simeon had several
works published including albums and library music. His repertoire included
music from the Renaissance to the twentieth century, classical with a
keen interest in Flamenco and contemporary music. We have a number of
collections including ‘Veil of the East’ and ‘Mississippi Blues’.
Simeon would probably not thank us for the tribute – nevertheless it has
been done; he would probably want us to listen to his music rather than
these words!
And from Miftach and Astrid Taylor...
Simeon and Oriana were a very brave couple, enterprising when they were
working and when ill-health befell them, quite surrendered and uncomplaining.
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 22 FEBRUARY 2011

It was clear that music had brought them together and at both Oriana and
Simeon’s funerals a selection of own compositions and evocative music
from their lives was played. Simeon survived Oriana by five years during
which time he continued his compositions – it goes without saying how
much he missed his wife and he died near the anniversary of her birthday.
They seemed to combine the practical with the artistic though. Oriana was a
book keeper but could make beautiful beaded jewelry and Simeon was a
wonderful musician but also a very good recording technician and helped
with the recording of Bapak’s talks when he came to England.
He had a sense of humour which probably was Liverpudlian. Only Simeon
would know what ‘all good things happen on a Tuesday’ meant. It would
take too long to explain and is probably inexplicable! We miss Simeon all
the more on latihan days as he was one of the most regular members, often
leaving quite soon after latihan but always there if someone needed a
listening ear.
We got to know Simeon’s family (his sister) at the time of his death and
they were respectful towards his Subud brothers and sisters allowing us to
have Bapak’s prayers read out at the funeral and got to know of the selamatans
that took place. At these selamatans we realize what a good friend
we have lost but at the same time we are left with a sense of peace.
A BOOK ABOUT DYING
Daniela Coles writes from the UK...
After my mother’s death, I became involved with a project
initiated and directed by Hermione Elliott called LivingWell,
DyingWell. Throughout her experience of working with the
dying and their families, through the holistic approach,
counselling and training, she recognised that when individuals
start to accept death they can better live life.
LivingWell, DyingWell provides a safe way for people from all
walks of life- those facing death, taking care of a family
member, and also health professionals- to navigate the sensitive
territory around death and dying.
Hermione runs workshops and seminars in a supportive environment,
to help participants to look deeper into the subject,
encouraging them to talk through their hopes and fears, and to
prepare emotionally, practically and spiritually.
My own experience of being with my mother at the end of her
life continues to feel like a huge blessing and inspires me in my
work with LivingWell, DyingWell. It became very clear that life
is truly sacred, our connection with spirit, very real.
Editor's note: Selamatans are prayerful gatherings accompanied by a meal to
mark the stages of the soul's departure after death.
FERNANDO DAVANZO
Fernando, aged eighty three, passed away peacefully on December 13th, surrounded
by his family and after being unwell for about two years. He leaves
his wife Toti, two sons, four daughters and twenty nine grandchildren.
He was one of the founding members of Subud Chile and active all his life. As
an architect, he worked for IDC in Indonesia in 1973, building the mining
camp in Sulawesi. He and Toti became well known in the brotherhood serving
as International Helpers from 1983 to 1989.
Fernando will be lovingly remembered for his commitment to Subud and his
charming and witty nature.
Youth fundraising goes global
◆
We are inviting you to contribute to the project by sharing your
experiences and stories around death and dying which may
become a small book. Perhaps you have been able to accompany
a loved one, family member or friend at the end of their life.
We are interested in all experiences across cultures and
traditions, whether inspirational, difficult, surprising or
inexplicable perhaps. As part of your writing perhaps you might
like to consider if your experience has changed your feelings
about death and dying. You may feel that you have learnt something
more about living life that you could share. If you were to
prepare for your own death what would you do?
We look forward to hearing from you. If you have any questions
about the book project please contact Daniela on 01273 476888
or by email dc@livingwelldyingwell.net
◆
Ideally we see an enterprise as the best way for IYTF
(International Youth Travel Fund) to get funding but in the
meantime it requires fundraising to keep it topped up and
functioning.
We decided that organising a dinner in each of our groups
and other groups doing the same would be a great way to
raise funds. We were all very excited by the prospect of
these dinners being held at the same time (roughly) across
the globe.
So, ‘International Community Dinner’ was launched and
events were hosted mainly by youth across the world
between November 24th and December 4th, 2010. Events
varied, from film nights to sundae making to family friendly
activity days.
We would like to thank the following groups for their participation;
Melbourne, Medellin in Colombia (they had 3
events!), Los Angeles, Wolfsburg and Montreal. So far the
tally is at US$1538.71. Amazing!
Thank-you to the individuals that organised the events, the
money you helped raise will get a young person involved in
the wider Subud community!
We plan on holding more events to raise funds for the IYTF
in 2011. If you have ideas, suggestions, want to be involved
or know more please email us!
sya-
With love,
Alex, Lucinda, Miguel, Roland, Steven & Theresa.
international@subudyouth.net
◆
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 23 FEBRUARY 2011

A D V E R T I S E M E N T S
BAPAK’S TALKS
VOLUME
N O W
22
A V A I L A B L E
PLACE YOUR ORDER NOW FOR BEST DELIVERY
PRICES (Incl p&p) UK £14.50 • Europe £15.85
• Rest of World £18.55
Pay by UK bank cheque or Credit Card
Subud Publications International
Loudwater Farm,
Loudwater Lane
Rickmansworth
Herts WD3 4HG
tel: +44 (0) 1727 762210
S P I
Subud
Publications
International
e-mail: spi@subudbooks.co.uk
www.subudbooks.net
BOOKS & RECORDINGS
FROM HARRIS
SMART
BOOKS
Sixteen Steps – Stories of Subud life. $25
Stella (with Stella Duigan) – If 16
Steps is a collection of “short stories”,
Stella is a novella recounting
one woman's recovery through the
latihan from severe childhood
abuse. $25
Destiny – Three stories of Subud life.
$15
Tom Bass Totem Maker (with Tom
Bass) – Life Story of the most important
Australian sculptor of the 20th century
and a profoundly spiritual man. $30
Occasional Prayers – Meditations
on life by Tom Bass. $20
Contact:
harrissmart@optusnet.com.au
DVD
The Man and His Mission – 60 minute
multi-lingual DVD telling the life story
of Muhamad Subuh and the development
of Subud 1901-2001. In
English, Russian, French and
Indonesian. $30
Contact:
harrissmart@optusnet.com.au
MUSIC
Precious Morning – a collection of
original songs in rock, blues, jazz
and gospel moods by the Act
Naturally Band. $12.97
Hear samples and download from
www.cdbaby.com/cd/actnaturally
MUSIC BY
SUBUD ARTISTS
Music By Subud Artists
available from:
www.djcrecords.co.uk
Recording, mastering &
CD production:
DJC Records
104 Constitution Hill
Norwich
NR3 4BB
UK
clague@paston.co.uk
LOOKING FOR WORK
Ilaine Lennard offers proof reading/editing/typing.
Fees to match those in your
own country. Excellent references.
ilaine.l@blueyonder.co.uk
TEL: +44(0)1242 707701
8 Sissinghurst Grove, Cheltenham, GL51
3FA, UK
SAVING
GRACE
Marcus
Bolt
now in its 3rd
edition with
new cover &
extended to
256 pages
Available from
www.lulu.com
www.subudbooks.com
Price £11 plus postage
“This is by far the best book written
about Subud. Perfect for friends, family,
enquirers...” Dahlan Johnson
Entertaining and instructive by turns,
Marcus writes in an easy, flowing
conversational style that gives the
reader the feeling of being personally
addressed. Unpretentious and
refreshingly free of sanctimony,
there is a generosity and a warmth of
spirit about his narration that quickly
befriends the reader and invites
positive participation... It’s well
written, too... Laurence Clark
SUBUDVOICE
MONTHLY ONLINE
DEADLINE FOR NEXT ISSUE:
2 8 F e b r u a r y 2 0 1 0
Subud Voice is published monthly and the English edition
is issued on the 1st of each month at
www.subudvoice.net
A Spanish facsimile edition usually appears a little
later on the same web site.
SUBMISSIONS
Send articles, photos, cartoons etc. to Harris Smart,
Editor Subud Voice,
email: editor@subudvoice.net
Tel: + 61 3 95118122
Submissions are invited which relate to Subud life or
are from Subud members. We cannot guarantee
when or if a submission may be published.
Preference will be given to articles of about 2000
words or less accompanied by a photograph, wellwritten
in English and dealing with the activities of
Subud members, or expressing a Subud member's
perspective on a subject.
Articles should be written in such a way that they are
intelligible and interesting to both Subud members
and the general public. Sometimes this may mean
providing an explanatory introduction or notes for
the non-Subud reader
There is no payment for submissions. Correspondence
about articles will generally not be entered into.
Submissions to Subud Voice may be edited for a variety
of reasons including the need to shorten them or
improve expression. If you do not want your submission
to be edited in any way, please mark it clearly
NOT TO BE EDITED.
The opinions expressed in the various articles are
the sole responsibility of their authors and cannot be
seen as representing the opinion of either the editor
or the World Subud Association.
ADVERTISEMENTS
Classifieds: 50 cents a word. Minimum charge
AUD$15.00. Display rates on request. (Developing
countries – no charge). To make payments by
credit card to Subud Voice for any purpose
including sponsorship. Go our website
www.subudvoice.net. Click on the CREDIT CARD
PAYMENTS button on the left hand side of the
screen. Click on SUBUD VOICE CREDIT CARD PAY-
MENTS. Fill in the form which comes up and in
the comments box put SPONSORSHIP or whatever
is relevant. Or contact us for bank details for
bank transfers. Do not forget to indicate if you
would like your sponsorship to be publicly
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SUBUD VOICE TEAM
Harris Smart: Editor and Business Manager
Ilaina Lennard: Founder & Contributing Editor
Marcus Bolt: Design and Layout
Kitka Hiltula: Webmaster
The opinions expressed in the various articles are the
sole responsibility of their authors and can not be seen
as representing the opinion of the World Subud
Association.
The name Subud ® and the Seven Circles Symbol are
registered marks of the World Subud Association.
SUBUD VOICE PAGE 24 FEBRUARY 2011