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Post subject: The Content of Stories
 Posted: Mar 01, 2003 - 04:08 PM
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Site Admin
Joined: Jul 14, 2002
Posts: 295
Location: 世界 Shijie
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The files "Writer in Bapak's Talks 3" & "Writer in Bapak's Talks 4" have now been uploaded to the SWI website at
http://dev.web.ca/home/subud/subsites/writers/resources.shtml
In total, this took 2 months of searching through all online talks with the
keywords "writer" and "writing" and attempting to cut and paste excerpts
into separate files which were then reformatted - so it was a bit of work
These excerpts are meant as 'writer's resource notes' for those of you who
are still exploring writing from the point of view of the latihan, and I
hope they will be a source of inspiration for you & that you'll take the
time to read them.
I went through Susila Budhi Dharma also, so an additional file: "THE
CONTENT OF STORIES" has also been created and uploaded. Because these notes are like a guideline about the imagination, they are pasted in below.
Sincerely,
Rasunah Marsden, SWI Chair.
--------------------
THE CONTENT OF STORIES
The following items are taken in context from Susila Budhi Dharma - Bapak.
For full context, please find them in the Subud Online Library at:
http://www.subudlibrary.net/library/SBDHARMA.HTM
4. PANGKUR
2. Now to tell of something else: that is of the things that comprise the
instruments and the other requirements for writing, and also about the
nature of the mental skills learnt in schools or centers of study.
7. DANDANGGULA
28. So also with the nature of stories: you will be able to know whether
their content is true or not, whether the writing really contains truth or
is merely a product of the imagination. Do realize, then, that the mind is
extremely clever in using language, and so the reader is confused.
29. Some stories, moreover, because of their excellent literary style,
readily move the reader to such a degree that he unhesitatingly declares and believes them true, although in fact most of them are only concerned with beauty of expression and really cannot show any true content. Even so, this does not call for reproach, for of course it is customary for the heart and mind.
16. SINOM
1. Thus people no longer need to repeat the ways of training the inner
feeling used in earlier times. For they have now made so much progress in
the way they arrange to meet their life needs that many places which used to have the appearance of dense jungle have now become villages and towns; many former valleys have become neat and orderly roadways; many coastal places, where once men saw only the swell of the ocean waves and heard only the sound of their booming as they struck the rocks, have no become shipping harbors or bathing resorts.
2. But what is meant by places where a man can purify his inner feeling are not the natural places referred to above. In other words, what is meant by a mountain is not the mountain of earth that can be seen anywhere, but the mountain of feeling in the breast - that is, in what is called the inner heart.
3. What is meant by forest and plain is likewise not to be taken literally,
but as the place of thinking, which is in the head - that is, the brain.
What is meant by ocean and river is really the feeling throughout the human body, and what is called a river is really also the flow of feeling in the sex organs. As to the meaning of why a man needs to practice asceticism in the places referred to - first on a mountain, which is actually a mountain of feeling or the inner heart - it is simply to enable him to check the force of his imagination, which usually likes to delude itself with the unreal. And the forest, which in fact is the place of thought, or the brain, is where asceticism is needed to enable him to restrain also the force of his mind, which is usually about one thing or another. Again, ocean shore and river bank, which are truly the feeling throughout the body and the flow of feeling in the sex organs, are where asceticism is needed to enable him to withstand the force of his erratic feeling and to check too the power of the erotic passion with its habitual strong liking for sexual intercourse.
4. That is the true meaning of those things. Clearly, then, such things are
just parables pregnant with well- hidden meanings. But parables have an
advantage, for usually, if such things are said in a realistic way, the
listener does not even pay attention, considering them commonplace. It is
another matter when expressed as above: meaning that if a person wishes to clean the inner feeling as well as possible he needs to quieten the self on a mountain, on the seashore, or in a forest. Then he will take this more to heart and follow it up more earnestly, even though the eventual results are no different from those attainable in his own home. But there are also stories intentionally written by their authors to enable the reader to understand or to want to understand that a man can achieve happiness in his life only if he always acts honestly and in harmony with his own self. On the other hand, a man will be forced to undergo degradation and hardship in his life if he acts only according to his nafsu of anger and greed or if he does anything dishonestly and not in harmony with his own self.
5. Therefore it is best for the reader of storybooks, both those composed in chanting rhythm and those written in prose, to feel truly the meaning of
their content. If it still is difficult for him to feel and understand, let him ask some friend who can interpret them, so that in the end he will not
stay permanently skilled just at reading and chanting, but will truly be
able to realize the meaning contained in the stories dressed up in those
puzzling words.
6. There are even many stories too where the characters and the villages
they come from, with all the circumstances and events described in them, are drawn solely from imagination and thought, not from real life. But, through the skill of the authors, many readers suppose that the contents of those stories are true, and the people told of are also thought real.
7. For this reason, among the readers are to be found those who copy the
behavior of a character described in a story and do not hesitate to put into
practice his means of finding truth, by withdrawing to live quietly in a
forest, on a mountain, or beside sea or river. The may even believe from
what is printed in the storybook that those places really are places of
worship for finding truth, and hence that at length they may possibly meet
some god from the Hindu heaven who can guide them towards the right path for their life.
8. They even think that those actions will truly lead to the realization of
what they have read, where much is told of knights meeting nymphs from
paradise.
9. Such are the mistakes of people who cannot yet understand the true
meaning of what is said in storybooks they read. It is a very different
matter with people who have been able to realize the truth, so that such
things are seen to be only symbolic and that, to get evidence of the real
nature of the inner self, it suffices to stay at home leading an ordinary
life, provided that all the nafsu, the imagination and thought can be purified in the right way.
10. By doing this they are even able to look closely into whether the
content of these stories is true or not, and also to see whether the author
when writing them could set aside the influence of the low forces within his
self.
11. In fact the author himself can of course be quite blinded by the
constantly changing flow of these forces towards the homes of his nafsu, his imagination and his thought. For that very reason, if the author is not
alert enough, he may easily be influenced by those forces so that, unawares, the content of the story he is writing is distorted; that is to say, a wrong situation is made out to be right and the right one is not even set down.
12. That being so, many scholars remain confused about the content of the
story; particularly if the story is intentionally written in high-flown
language, when its entire content will be taken as an empty tale of no
significance, even though in fact it may contain much latent meaning.
13. True, the content of many stories does not agree with reality. This may
be simply the author's device to prevent the reader seeing clearly all the
secrets referred to in the story, or of course it may be to conceal - at the
wish and request of the person concerned - the secrets of a person mentioned in the tale.
14. So the reader misunderstands the story and misses its real content. The problem does not of course cause difficulty or surprise to anyone with much experience of the kejiwaan. But people lacking such experience may easily guess wrongly and, as well as thinking the incidents of the story really happened, feel a wish arise to imitate it.
15. It is precisely this clouded awareness that causes a person to do
something like that mentioned in the story. But what can possibly be gained by imitating someone in the story? Hollowness only - nothing else - making all his painstaking activity utterly meaningless. Hence is best for you, my children, if you carry out the latihan of your inner feeling, as has often been stated earlier - the training, that is, which does not require you to isolate yourselves anywhere nor to abandon all the everyday needs of your life.
20. DANDANGGULA
9. So this writing ends, closing with simply this hope: may those who are on this way follow the training of the inner feeling zealously; and may they
also be able to receive the Grace of God Almighty, so that in time they may sincerely show the way to those who are interested in the latihan of the inner feeling. |
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 11, 2003 - 01:10 AM
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Directed Jiwa
Joined: Feb 04, 2003
Posts: 33
Location: London
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| Well done Harun - you're a lovely man. I don't care what they all say about you! |
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 11, 2003 - 09:11 AM
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Site Admin
Joined: Jul 14, 2002
Posts: 295
Location: 世界 Shijie
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Cheers Lucas, love you too.
Hmmm anyway.
You do understand that I did not compile the above extracts. I literally copied this from a list email sent by Rasunah Marsden, the Subud Writers International (SWI) Chair. I felt moved to support her effort. She has been putting a lot of into getting the SWI page working. A lot of things in Subud take great effort and determination even when they come from a very sincere and positive centre. People are often fairly arsey to ones efforts to begin with and its feels like support could be greater.
So I posted the above hoping it would inspire people to submit their writings/ ideas both at SubudLife as articles and in the forums, and on the SWI site.
People should really drop their misgivings, their self-consciousness and not be so worried about feeling a little exposed. Hell I doubt you'll look as foolish as myself.
Harun. |
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Post subject:
Posted: Mar 13, 2003 - 01:14 AM
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Directed Jiwa
Joined: Feb 04, 2003
Posts: 33
Location: London
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Hey Harun,
I meant that affectionately, old bean, it's just that I'm a bit emotionally retarded, so I register my appreciation of your post with a bit of cliched repartee. It was extremely cool that you posted this, and I went to the site in question, registered and downloaded the whole thing and read it, so please don't think I was joking - you are a lovely man indeed! 
Bapak makes it all sound so easy!
Lucas
P.S. How is China? Are you still out there? I'd love to read a report or travelogue or postcard or something on your experiences. |
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