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People at Congress have been sending me many excellent photos. It has not been so easy to get information. There has not been a paper trail of reports and discussions which it has been easy to access.
But I would like to give you a progress report on how Congress has been for me up to and including July 24.
So, first of all there was a period of preparation. I guess as for many people this started for me about a year ago and built from there. I saw Congress as offering a great opportunity for self-improvement as well as for meeting your old friends and so on.
So, then the Congress started for me on Friday July 19. I thought the Opening Ceremony was a great success. It was an excellent mixture of the necessary formality combined with some entertainment. The entertainment included an Indonesian mask dancer, a sensational Dayak dance troupe, and the children of BCU School joining a singer from LA to do “We are the World”.
There was a great feeling about it, in the event was very smoothly organised and well compered by two young people representing the East and the West.
Then there was a Kejiwaan day including a Bapak talk, the All of Mankind talk from Bapak’s tour of America in 1981. It is a very seminal talk. You can see why it was chosen to be played at this point in the Congress.
First of all, Bapak tells the experience of how he first received the latihan outside the hospital in Semarang. He then goes on to describe the lineage on his mother’s and father’s side, on his mother’s side the Islamic saint Sunan Kalijogo, and on his father’s side the connection to the kings of Solo and Mataram. Bapak says he talks about this to illustrate the Dutch proverb, “the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree”.
Towards the end of the talk, he says how the development of Subud is in the hands of God. At the same time, it is necessary for us to make an effort as Subud members.
By watching the talk of course, I was able to have the same experience as the people of Congress.
I have heard that also on that day there was a gathering where Sharif, Ibu Yati, Ibu Ismana and others talked about their experience of the latihan. I would love to know what was talked about on that occasion.
Then of course there was a great deal of business and appointment of office holders.. A few days of working through the agenda has put in place the complete team for the organisation for the next period. And all that seems to have been accomplished fairly easily. The really essential absolutely crucial business of Congress has been done.
The team has been appointed and Portugal, decided upon as the next location for World Congress. From the point of view of the businesses which absolutely had to be done, the essentials have been done, but of course the Congress is about much more than the business.
Yesterday, July 23 was my birthday, and it was a happy occasion. A highlight being to communicate with my daughter who lives in the USA.
On July 24 I felt strange…
I couldn’t do anything. In his talk Bapak speaks at one point about how we are dependent on the material force. He says something like if we didn’t have the material force we would just lose interest in clothing, buildings and all the other things the material force provides for us.
Today I had a feeling that just about all my force and left me. I couldn’t do anything. It wasn’t a good feeling.
But tonight, I was thinking about this, and I thought, this is what I hoped for from this Congress. This is precisely what I asked for. I wrote that this Congress was for me an opportunity to pass through the eye of the needle, but to do that I have to be very small. So, this feeling I decided was precisely part of being made to be very small. It was an opportunity to renew my commitment to the process of this Congress.
Congress continues today July 25 in Rungan Sari with Wings displays and activities. This Congress seems to be working well as it combines two places, Palangka Raya and Rungan Sari,
Of course, I have been doing this blog and I am very grateful to all the people who have supported me..
Actual background information about reports and decisions as been very difficult to come by but some is starting to flow through.
So, to sum up, at this point in my experience of the Congress, it is a moment of catching up and looking back and seeing what has happened. But while it is dealing with what is familiar, there is also something new in it. There is the feeling of a flame, a little flame, they could perhaps be blown into something bigger. But a positive flame. Not a flame to ignite or burn, but a flame to warm and illuminate.