HOW AND WHEN DID SUBUD START IN THE U.S.A.?r

8/19/2019 HOW AND WHEN DID SUBUD START IN THE U.S.A.?r

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fter a few days in San Fran&is&o, the 7ennetts went to Carmel on%ar&h 1D E1, and opened people there, and 7ob :restie went to <osngeles on %ar&h 1D# He went there be&ause 4arl !obinson hadalready told a number of people about Subud, and while :restie wasthere he opened !obinson and others# He ga-e a tal' at whi&h, he

says !on Hubbard who founded S&ientology was present, and sowas da :# !olfe, who as'ed him if he &ould persuade 7apa' to &ometo start a group with in Galteria, a suburb where she had a group ofpeople whom she was training in her methods, whi&h later be&amefamous#

/he 7ennett0s went to <os ngeles on %ar&h 15 and this pro-idedthe opportunity for women to be opened, in&luding da :# !olfe#

Githin two days twentyEone women and si.teen men were opened#Ghen 7ennett got ba&' to San Fran&is&o, he says, */he number nowopened in California was ninetyEnine,+ so he de&ided to defer furtheropenings until after 7apa'0s arri-al#

Ba$a),s first %isit to -alifornia.

7apa', bu Siti Sumari, !ahayu and smana arri-ed in ew or' on%ar&h ?1, after a diffi&ult flight from <ondon# smana was pregnant,and !ayahu had suffered from airsi&'ness for most of the )ourney#Coombe Springs had warned lfathah erner that they would bearri-ing, and hotel a&&ommodation for one night, had been boo'ed#

lfathah had been opened when on holiday in Sri <an'a in 2anuary,during a -isit by &'san and by %uftiah rnold who opened thewomen# She then )oined 7apa' and his party in 4urope, beforereturning to )oin her husband in ew or'# He 'new nothing aboutSubud, howe-er he went to the airport to meet 7apa' and hisfamily# s erner was a member of the Sri <an'an delegation to the@nited ations, he had a&&ess inside the &ustoms, and &ould helpthem# He then too' them ba&' to his apartment – and on arri-al bulay down to rest# !onimund and Sophie -on 7issing, who had beenopened by !of in 4ngland, were -isiting ew or' at this time, and

also &ame to greet 7apa' at the apartment#

Ghen it was time to go to the hotel for the night, bu did not want tomo-e# nd so 7apa' and bu remained in the erner0s bedroom,!ahayu and smana slept on the floor of the li-ing room, and theerner0s mo-ed in with friends# /he ne.t morning 4d too' 7apa' andhis party to the airport, for their flight to San Fran&is&o# /hey arri-edon %ar&h ??, and lfathah )oined them on %ar&h ?8# Ghile she wasin California, 7apa' first told her to prepare for a -isit by 7apa' toew or', and after she had returned to ew or', she re&ei-ed a

letter from 7ennett saying that 7apa' authorised her to start a

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group in ew or' as soon as there were twenty men and twentywomen interested#

Ghen 7apa' and party arri-ed at the airport in San Fran&is&o, abouttwenty or more people from the San Fran&is&o group were there to

meet them, in&luding li&e ent, 2ohn Coo'e, eorge Fields and 3i& /orrey, as well as 7ob :restie and the 7ennetts# 7apa' and his partystayed at a fi-eEstar hotel used by embassy people when -isitingSan Fran&is&o, and when they got there, more people were waitingto wel&ome them# 7apa' ga-e an informal tal', but did not want itto be re&orded, and the ne.t morning the latihans started#

/orrey wrote to !ogge about all this a day or two after 7apa'arri-ed# He saidI

*Jlready the group is far too large and starting %onday we plan torun four relays of e.er&ises a day in the %etaphysi&al <ibraryJothing else to say e.&ept that it has poured rain and been -erydamp and yet year old women, et&#, ha-e been &oming outregularly# uess 0m still the youngest in the group# met !obinson#He seems li'e a wonderful person although a little bit older, greyer,and more wrin'led that had e.pe&ted#

*$ur main problem right now is spa&e# obody had done anythingand the same was true in 4ngland and ermanyJ<ast night,7ennett turned away and sent home a number of people who &ame

for the first time# 4-erything is up in the air and we do not 'nowwhere we will meet from day to day# 7ennett said that it too' themten days in 4ngland to get started and three wee's in ermany# ndif we &an do it in three days, we will be three times faster than4nglandK###/his has all been wonderfulJ+

7apa' remained in San Fran&is&o for only si. days, and during thattime 7ennett says there were four general latihans and about fiftymen and women were opened, in&luding some from Carmel andSa&ramento# (uring this period 7apa' ga-e two tal's at the%etaphysi&al <ibrary# /hen 7apa' and party went to Carmel, where

he stayed from %ar&h ?8 to %ar&h DL#

4ither at this time, or possibly a little later, %ardiwati =Syl-ia>i&olosiE7rown arranged for 7apa', bu, !ahayu and smana to -isitthe then o-ernor of California# smana thin's that %ardiwati was amember of his staff# smana remembersI

*Jt that time we don0t ha-e the proper dressJohJMwe wereNreally li'e girls who &ome from the -illage# MGe had nothing suitableNfor -isiting the o-ernorK+ smana laughed# *$nly bu, of &ourse,

wore kine and kebaya# nd we went there, and, ohK 4-erybody wasso well dressed# 4-en %ardiwati was really elegant# nd she loo'ed



at us in our %ar's and Spen&er dresses#+ smana laughed again#*/he o-ernor was -ery 'ind, and -ery ni&e to us# He tal'ed to usand made the time for 7apa', and was -ery ni&e# 7ut &ould seethat other peopleJMsaw usN really li'e from the )ungle sort of thingK+nd she laughed again# M%ar's and Spen&er was an 4nglish &hain

store spe&iali;ing in ine.pensi-e good Buality e-eryday &lothesN#

7ob :restie and friends &olle&ted 7apa' and party and the 7ennettsand they all went to <os ngeles – 7ennett remained there from%ar&h DL to pril D, while 7apa' and party stayed on until pril 6#

/here, a %rs# /homaset, formerly head of the <os ngelesConser-atoire, had pla&e a house at their disposal, and all the partysettled there – some using di-ans, sofas, and e-en the floor as beds#7ennett saysI *Ge were ten people in a house with two bedrooms,but -ery happy to be together#+ !a&hman de %i&hele remembersthis house as a small stu&&o building on ormandie and Gilshire#<ater he dis&o-ered that ldous Hu.ley – who was opened later on –li-ed in a larger house only one blo&' away from were 7apa' stayed#

7ennett gi-es a des&ription of this period in <os ngeles#

*n <os ngeles the latihans were held in magnifi&ient, large, bute.pensi-e rooms of the :ar' %anor Hotel on 6th Street# bout fortymen and women had already been opened, and there were si.ty twonew people the first e-ening# %ore than a hundred were present tohear :a' Subuh0s first tal', whi&h, unfortunately, was not re&ordedJ

*t rained nearly all the time we were in <os ngeles, and the floodswere a serious mena&e to traffi& in the &oastal regions#e-ertheless, 7apa' and the family were able to tour the hills abo-ethe &ity and also go to 7e-erley Hills and see something of thefamous *Homes of ?LL Famous Film Stars+#

4arl !obinson had been &hiefly responsible for the preparations for7apa'0s -isit# He was the leader of a small group who had started tostudy the urd)ieff and $uspens'y systems# 7ob :restie too' o-erthe preparations when he -isited <os ngeles, and also brought

some of his friends to Subud# /hey were not followers of urd)ieff, orof any other Ometaphysi&al0 group, and 7ennett noted that therewas therefore Buite a differen&e of temperament and preparation#

/he 7ennetts were e.hausted by the time they left#

/he 7ennetts then remained in San Fran&is&o with a short -isit toCarmel, for the ne.t month# 7apa' &ame ba&' on pril 6, and stayedthere until pril ?5# $n pril 1?, less than a wee' after 7apa'0sreturn, <uthfi and rene 2ames arri-ed in California# /hey had beenopened in Holland during 7apa'0s -isit there in 195, and had then

been with 7apa' in ermany in 2anuary 1958# 7y the standards ofthe time, they were *longEtime+ Subud members, and 7apa' as'ed

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them to )oin 7ob :restie in <os ngeles, so that rene &ould do thelatihan with the women, while 7ob and <uthfi loo'ed after the men#So they stayed only two days in San Fran&is&o, and then went to <osngeles where they stayed in *7apa'0s house+#

t some point during 7apa'0s three wee's in San Fran&is&o, 7apa're&ei-ed an une.pe&ted in-itation to -isit ustralia on his wayhome# He agreed to do so, but also wanted to stay in California aslong as possible# t was arranged therefore that he would -isitustralia for )ust one wee', meaning he &ould remain in Californiauntil %ay ?6# s 7ennett felt that one wee' would not be longenough to establish Subud in Sydney, it was de&ided that he and4li;abeth with the two boys would lea-e for ustralia on %ay D#7efore the 7ennetts left, &'san &hmad, the husband of smana,arri-ed in San Fran&is&o from ndonesia# t has been suggested thathe was brought to California to repla&e 7ennett as translator for7apa', but in fa&t his arri-al was already e.pe&ted before it was'nown that 7ennett would be lea-ing# He arri-ed in California onpril 16# He was needed be&ause there were now Subud groups inCarmel and Sa&ramento, as well as the two main &entres of SanFran&is&o and <os ngeles# So there were a great many -ery newmembers, and 7apa'0s party, with the 7ennetts, 7ob :restie and the

2ames0s were at full stret&h to loo' after them all#

7apa' returned to <os ngeles on pril ?5, and stayed there until heleft on %ay ?6 while <uthfi and rene 2ames returned to San

Fran&is&o# /hey remained there after 7apa' left California to helpthe Subud Centre# eorge Fields be&ame the first *4lder+ – shortlyafterwards renamed, *Chairman+#

t this time, there was no waiting period before people &ould beopened, and apart from 7apa'0s tal's, and 7ennett0s le&tures, andthe wor' of 7ob :restie and the 2ames, there was no real sour&e ofinformation about Subud# 7ennett0s boo', Concerning Subud, wasfirst published in 4ngland on %ay 5, 1958# t was at this time, on%ay 16, that 7apa' issued a do&ument entitled *7apa'0s Statementfor Helpers to !ead to ew :eople+ – or what we now &all */he :reE

opening Statement+# /he translation from the ndonesian was notparti&ularly good, but at least this statement helped, and it had tobe read to e-ery person who wanted to be opened#

Ghen 7apa' left for ustralia, the burden on rene and <uthfi 2ameswas enormous# lthough 7apa' had appointed helpers – they werenot yet permitted to open people# So the 2ames were the sole*helpers+ as we 'now them, for San Fran&is&o, and they also openedother groups – Chi&ago and :ortland, Fresno and so on#

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nd what about ew or'P Ghen 7apa' left for ustralia, lfathahhad already started to draw together people who were interested inSubud – but that &omes a little later and is another wonderful story#

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HOW AND WHEN DID SUBUD START IN THE U.S.A.?r

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