Eindhoven, Holland - August 27, 1964
Code Number : 64 EIN 1
As Bapak said just now, it is enough that you follow the latihan sincerely. You do not have to study it. And you should use your heart and thinking – or, to put it more correctly, your heart and your brain – for the needs and necessities of your life in this world. That is indeed your responsibility, to use your heart and thinking to take care of your life while you are in this world. Your soul, on the other hand – or the process of your life that takes you towards that which is without boundaries, towards the life that is called eternal, that is always complete – always exists, and is in the hands of God. In other words, only God can study it, use it and work on it. So, in your life, on the one hand you follow, trust and submit to God’s commands that prevail and operate in your inner feeling, as when you receive in the latihan; and on the other, you use your heart and brain and thinking to provide for your life in this world. Therefore you have two tasks in your life: one task is to receive whatever God gives you, because you need that for your life that is without limits. The second is your duty to use your heart and brain or thinking to fulfil and serve your life in this world.
That is how it is, brothers and sisters; so do not keep thinking about your soul with your intellect. For what is called psychology is actually not the study of the psyche. It is the study of the intelligence, the brain or the thinking mind, not the soul. Your soul is the content of your life, the content of your inner feeling. How can you study that? Who could study it? Only the soul can study the soul. A person cannot. What is coarse cannot. No.
That is the reason why there is no science of the human soul that can change the soul: make one that is not good better; make one that is small bigger; make one that is narrow wider, so that you can have a great soul, like the prophets and the messengers. Only God can do that, for God is the Master of the soul. A human being can teach only about human intelligence, the heart, the thinking and feeling. And then they call that psychology. It is not. It is thought-ology. It is the study of the thinking, the brain; the study of the physical body, the physical.
Jakarta, Indonesia - August 19, 1971
Education for the child
Code Number : 71 TJK 14
Not only is it difficult, brothers and sisters, it is impossible to change the inner content, the jiwa, from outside, by means of the vessel. This is something that simply cannot be done by a human being; it is not possible. The one who can change the jiwa is Almighty God.
That is why in the latihan kejiwaan we only surrender to the One God, with patience, trustful acceptance and sincere submission. For something then arises that is original, free from whatever dosed it up - that is, nafsu - free from the knowledge accumulated and gathered on earth. Cleansed of all this, the original inner self becomes uncovered or visible. This is the pribadi, the inner self or inner nature. Then what the jiwa is like can be recognized. But this cannot be brought about by a man, only by the One God.
So, if you speak of ilmu jiwa ( psychology ), this is not really a science of the djiwa, but rather a science of the character, a science by which to recognize someone's character, his behavior, his characteristics. It is not a science of the jiwa, it does not reach so deep.
So scientific skill cannot be used in connection with the jiwa; it is not of the same order, so this is not possible. For what Bapak calls the content, the jiwa, can only be changed if you are really emptied of all outer knowledge, all accumulated knowledge.
Cilandak, Indonesia - February 15, 1976
Code Number : 76 CDK 3
For our equipment for attaining to perfection in spiritual matters is our perfection in our lives, so that we can understand our lives so long as we live in this world; and later on in the hereafter, if we have received rules and understanding from God, we understand our lives when we leave this world. This is the content, the reality of spiritual life. This is why it cannot be learnt through study. That is merely talk, merely words, which are easy enough to say. Psychology: the science of the psyche or soul; psychiatrist: a doctor of the psyche, the soul; if someone is a doctor of souls, he ought to be able to make a soul, a jiwa. Why, on the contrary, is he able to die? Thus he cannot do this; there is no science of the soul, the jiwa. The only one who can understand the jiwa is the One Almighty God. This is the basis of religion, the basis of the regulations which are from the One Almighty God.
Kendfield, England - May 26, 1976
Code Number : 76 KFD 5
Now the other thing that Bapak wants to tell you is that the existence of this meeting here is, for you, a kind of test or experience, and what is required of you at this meeting of councilors is that you should attempt, in meeting each other, to really get to feel the situation of Subud in the countries other than your own, so that you should really get, not only to understand, but really to feel the situation of the Subud groups, and the latihan, in countries other than your own, in order that gradually you will become able to have a really wide feeling about the situation of Subud all over the world.
To give an example of this Bapak does not need to go far, Bapak only needs to give you the example of Bapak himself. Why is it ( as it has been said in these reports and as you are all aware ) that when Bapak comes to a place which he has not visited for many years, that people turn up who maybe have not shown their face for many years, let us say, since Bapak was there last. They all suddenly want to come and listen to what Bapak has to say, and even people who are not in Subud want to come in and listen to what Bapak has to say. Also people who have not been to the latihan for a long time suddenly turn up and want to do latihan when Bapak turns up at the group. But as soon as Bapak leaves, you are left with two or three people or ten people, just the way it was before Bapak came. Now why is it that this is the case with Bapak? This is, in fact, not because Bapak is someone who is very intelligent or who is very clever, because if Bapak compares his cleverness with other people, it may be that you are all cleverer than Bapak, but because of the grace of God Almighty. It is the grace of God Almighty which fills Bapak so that people’s attitude towards Bapak is one of love and this is the feeling of love that is provoked by the will of God towards someone who has received the grace of God. And this feeling of love is something that arises spontaneously and is what is usually called by the word 'charisma', or something like that.
Kendfield, England - May 27, 1976
Code Number : 76 KFD 6
Thus we really do experience it, and we shall be working very hard. Because we have members in seventy-four countries, we can at least feel what other people's customs and habits are like. This is something that Bapak has often tested. Thus actually at present psychology is important for you; the ilmu jiwa, the science of the psyche, is important for you. But it is different from the ilmu jiwa which is written in books. The ilmu jiwa which is written in books is only studied from external questions of understanding, of habits, of customs. That means that it is something already known and understood. But the ilmu jiwa, the psychology, we have in Subud is the ilmli of the jiwa present in the lower forces which are auxiliary to your selves. In this way you will eventually be able to be at home wherever you are.
Christchurch, New Zealand - January 16, 1978
Code Number : 78 CHC 3
What is it that can function beyond this earth? It is the jiwa, it is your jiwas that can function. What is the jiwa? That word, jiwa, originates from the Javanese; ajining nyawa, ajining nyowo, is what it is called. Nyowo is “the content of life”; is “the truth”, the value, what in Dutch is called the persoonlykheid, the personality or individuality. This is life for human beings. The human jiwa is human in its nature; that is, it is rohani and jasmani. That is why many people who write books say that the person who is worshipping God is studying matters of the rohani. Yes; it is easy for people to say things like that. What do they say that this rohani is? The rohani is not something that one learns about, brothers and sisters, it is a receiving; it is what is called ilham or wahyu ( revelation ).
That which is called wahyu and ilham, brothers and sisters, that rohani, is something for which people cannot use their minds and hearts. For so long as people still use their minds and their hearts, they will not attain to the level of the rohani, but will still be on the kejiwaan ( psychological ) level of the jasmani, if they can even do that.
What lies lower than the jasmani, brothers and sisters, what lies below the human level, is very strong. For instance, the material life force, the roh raewani, do you think that the roh raewani is easy, brothers and sisters? No. The prophet Suleiman, Solomon, who was called a prophet and who, as a prophet, was able to receive the blessing of God, he attained to the level of the roh raewaniah. He had power over this. That is why it is said in the holy books that the prophet Solomon was the prophet of material wealth. Solomon was the rich prophet. Why was that? It was because he had the power to rule over the riches of this world, not Solomon as a human being, but the spirit or roh of Solomon. Thus it is the roh raewani, the roh satoniah, which rules over the riches of this world. This has been proved, brothers and sisters; this has been proved. Perhaps, if you want to verify it, it is like it is in Indonesia, like it is in Borneo, where every time anyone discovers worldly treasure there, it is watched over by the satanic power, the devils which appear and which become visible.
Cilandak, Indonesia - June 22, 1980
Code Number : 80 CDK 6
This is why we can only hope that Subud can become widespread. If Subud spreads to the whole of mankind, so that the human self embodies the power and the compassion of God, then wars will not occur, so that the world will be filled with prosperity and harmony amongst the nations. I was once interviewed somewhere in Europe - in Switzerland, so it seems. "Would Bapak be willing for his book to the faculty of Psychology and Parapsychology and would Bapak accept the responsibility for it? "Of course I would, because I wrote it." "Bapak would receive the title of Doctor Honoris Cause" What use to me is the title of Doctor Honoris Cause? I could enjoy words with Maliwa, empty words. If Bapak became a Doctor Honoris Cause, how would he walk?
( Bapak demonstrates )
There is never any end to such talk. There is really never any end to it. It never stops so long as people live.
Cilandak, Indonesia - January 2, 1982
From Notes made by Sharif Horthy during a meeting with Bapak
to discuss a name for the Dell Park project.
Code Number : 82 SWN 1
God can also change what He has created in the same way: without using anything. It is this reality - this zat wajibul wujud - which is manifesting within us in tile latihan. That is why the latihan can change us. That is why the way to change is through doing the latihan.
For all the things wrong in us - all the things that need to be changed - all the errors and mistakes of ourselves and our ancestors, are actually ingrained in our blood vessels, our nerves, our very cells, everything. Such deeply ingrained wrong cannot be changed by psychology or psychiatry. The term for a psychologist in Indonesian is ahlijiwa, jiwa expert or doctor of the jiwa. But psychiatrists are not doctors of the jiwa: they are just doctors of the thinking. They cannot change what is really wrong. This can only be done through the latihan.
Bapak will tell you something that indicates the reality of what Bapak says. The other morning in the newspaper there was a picture of Suslov who had just died in Russia. You could see on the faces of the people behind him, standing there sort of gawking at his corpse, a complete lack of comprehension, an inability to understand how it is that such an apparently great man can die and is then nothing. They noticed that the death of Suslov was no better than the dying of a cat.
On the contrary, a man in who all this Power of the Creator is manifested, cannot die without nature giving a sign to mark his passing: which is something completely different from this dying without a trace.
Any other questions?
( Sharif nodded yes and went on to the next item. )
Perth, Australia - April 28, 1982
Code Number : 82 PER 3
Brothers and sisters, it is indeed not just difficult but it really is impossible in any way to make a study of what happens in the latihan kejiwaan of Subud. And because it is impossible to study it by using the brain and the feelings or the heart and the mind, we therefore provide these with their own way to work; the same way in which people learn lessons at a school. All lessons of this kind are learnt with the heart or mind. Thus it is clear, brothers and sisters, that your lives run along two separate kinds of paths. One is the path which leads to the awareness of the inner-self, the jiwa, and that we leave to the power of God, for only God can work along that path. Bapak always says that this path lies beyond the mind. Whereas all that can be learned in schools, up to however high a level - such things as the art of healing, or medicine, the art of building or architecture and engineering, all kinds of expertise: there is even that which is called the expertise of the psyche, or psychology - all that is learned through the mind, even psychology. So that is not yet the true psychology, which is beyond the mind and which cannot in fact be studied with the brain.
Well, brothers and sisters, if and when you are able to receive all this, even though not yet to receive it one hundred per cent, you will be able to feel how our minds, your minds, follow behind the guidance and direction of the One Almighty God. This you will later on be able to experience; if you have already started to receive it to a small extent so much the better. This is what Bapak calls indications.
The mind points the way for human beings, and of course they could not make their lives in this world complete or perfect if they didn't possess minds and intelligence. This is obvious. Thus unless they use their brain and their minds, people cannot be true human beings who really work to achieve this and that. But do not forget, brothers and sisters, that all these things are still of this world, still what are called external; they are still the needs, uses and benefits of life in this world, whereas you do not live only in this world. There is also death, what is called death. People who die and leave this world are still alive, but not living in this body, not with these organs, not with the brains and minds they were accustomed to use in this world. The life which is lived with all of these is another life, one that is aimed at this world.
Melbourne, Australia - May 2, 1982
Code Number : 82 MEB 2
As we find in Bali, in Java and in India, where perhaps a man will just... ( Bapak snaps his fingers ) and a tree falls down! In their minds people consider those able to accomplish such things as holy, as people who carry weight or as having a nature set apart from others, though in reality it is magic, magic of which there are twenty varieties, people say. There are other examples, brothers and sisters, such as occultism, magnetism, hypnotism and so on - they also belong to the 20 varieties of magic. Such super-natural powers differ from the real thing, from true spirituality, and in fact with the real thing there are no powers - but it is real, and it is clean.
If we go into this properly, there is no end to it; there is no end to spiritual knowledge, to understanding life. People talk about experts in psychology, psychologists, who claim to be experts of the jiwa - but in fact they are not. They are not experts in the jiwa but in the thinking, in the nafsu. That is why their way of finding out something is to ask the person to relate his story, or his experiences, and they consider that that is the way to obtain the truth. But really, it isn't, it's nothing if compared with the content of such scriptures as the Gospels and the Quran.
And, so, brothers and sisters, you should be in no hurry to go in for such matters which may fascinate you, such as hypnotism, magnetism, spiritualism and so on, and such things as spells by which you can make contact with the dead and with spirits, so they say, for these things represent a danger. And why? Because they tempt your minds and feelings since they are mixed up with human powers, still within human reach. You will be able to check this for yourselves later on, when you can really receive properly and understand your own intelligence and desires... Bapak will conduct some testing with you now, though not all of you are yet able to receive it. That doesn't matter and you shouldn't feel disappointed, since all things come in their own good time and they all have their limits.
Wisma Subud, - Cilandak, Indonesia - July 8, 1984
Code Number : 84 CDK 14
Religion can't enter Subud but Subud can permeate religion and envelope religion because of the nature of the latihan. Likewise, Chinese and a Japanese will hate each other but once they've done latihan together they'll come out arm in arm. Later Bapak is going to do some testing with you about this, because this is what Bapak means by psychology of the jiwa. Two of you, if you're both Subud members, you should know each other's character. Only then can you be called international helpers if you can be aware of each other's character. Mankind today doesn't have faith in, or value Almighty God; they don't appreciate that Almighty God is like an arch which stands over everything that exists. Therefore in the latihan kejiwaan, there is nothing that uses the nafsu, there is no such thing as an enterprise in the latihan kejiwaan but enterprise arises separately in its own field, that is, in the working of the heart and mind in this world.
Religion can't enter Subud but Subud can permeate religion and envelope religion because of the nature of the latihan. Likewise, Chinese and a Japanese will hate each other but once they've done latihan together they'll come out arm in arm. Later Bapak is going to do some testing with you about this, because this is what Bapak means by psychology of the jiwa. Two of you, if you're both Subud members, you should know each other's character. Only then can you be called international helpers if you can be aware of each other's character. Mankind today doesn't have faith in, or value Almighty God; they don't appreciate that Almighty God is like an arch which stands over everything that exists. Therefore in the latihan kejiwaan, there is nothing that uses the nafsu, there is no such thing as an enterprise in the latihan kejiwaan but enterprise arises separately in its own field, that is, in the working of the heart and mind in this world
.Amen. Bapak Muhammad-Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo