Ladies and gentlemen, before Bapak explains about the spiritual way, he would like to form a committee from among you, so you can make arrangements for your worship together. The committee is an organizational structure to enable you to record everything needed by our community here. It is responsible for providing and organizing a place for latihan and other things -whatever you will need in the future.

Bapak is forming this committee provisionally - for, say, a period not longer than three or four months. After that, the committee will resign and a new committee will be chosen at a general meeting. After the four months, the members of the provisional committee Bapak is now setting up will automatically become helpers. Each of them will be able to open new members and accompany the latihan. Those whom Bapak considers able to become helpers, but who are not involved in the committee, will ( also ) automatically become helpers in three or four months. For the moment they will just accompany the latihan and wait until the four month period is over.

The committee needs to have a chairperson, a deputy chairperson, a secretary, a deputy secretary, a treasurer and a deputy treasurer, and seven or eight others. The chairperson is... ( The name is read out. ) Would those who are appointed by Bapak please stand up so people can see you? And the deputy chairperson.., secretary.., deputy secretary.., treasurer.., deputy treasurer... ( After Bapak mentions each function a name is read out. ) Now the eight assistants on the committee - four women and four men. ( The names are read out. ) And the rest... ( The names of the candidate helpers who are not on the committee are read out. ) But that will be after four months. For the moment they don't work. They're just candidates. Is that it? Do you agree? ( Laughter, applause )

Brothers and sisters, as Bapak has said in each place ( he visits ), one of the tasks of the committee is to prepare by-laws in accordance with the laws of your country. Bapak ( also ) leaves to the discretion of the committee how you obtain the money to rent a building, and for your other needs.

In other places Bapak has suggested the committee should find the means to set up a commercial enterprise that can make a profit. This profit can be used for the needs of our Subud community, so we can own our own building for doing latihan here; we can also create a school staffed by Subud members, who will be able to know the right field of work for each child in the school and guide them towards it.

Regarding the capital for this enterprise: that is something you can provide from among yourselves - from the Subud membership - in the form of a co-operative, so our community here will become strong and be able to obtain everything it needs easily and without difficulties. In Washington, Florida, and in New York, they have already formed a body so they can buy a building for the latihan soon, and not need to rent any more. They will be able to use their building as they like, for whatever they need.

Also, eventually, we should be able to establish a hospital to receive people who are sick. This can be staffed by our own members as well as by doctors who have their medical license from the state. Certainly this is not something you will be able to do easily or right away. But eventually you will be able to do it providing you are really active, and keen to work to fulfil the goals of the organization. Then our Subud community here will truly be working for the common good, both spiritually and materially.

These are the things the members of the committee have to do. Bapak hopes you are willing to carry out his advice, and will carry it out sincerely. After four months, those of you who sit on this provisional committee will automatically become helpers. Only from that point will there be a separation between the work of the helpers on the spiritual side - who do openings and accompany the latihan - and those of you who sit on the committee. And you can read about this division of work in Bapak's statement, which may already be available It is being ( printed ) by... who?... ( The name is inaudible. )

That is all regarding Bapak's appointment of the committee and the candidate helpers who will do the work after Bapak leaves Denver. Now that Bapak has explained about the requirements for the organization and the helpers, he will give explanations about the needs of the soul, as you are very likely to find these necessary.

Brothers and sisters, according to Bapak's experience, God has decreed that the scheme of life consists of seven levels. The first is a life force that is called the material life force. The second is the life force of plants, the third of animals; and the fourth is the jasmani life force - that of human beings. So, in reality, we human beings in this world occupy the fourth place in the scheme of the life forces.

Above our human life force there is one called the life force of perfect human beings - creatures who occupy the fifth level. And the sixth level is a life force even more perfect and more noble than the life of human beings, whether in this world or in the perfect world. The seventh is a life force that is all-great; it can be described as the creator, or the one who helps the Creator of the universe. It is impossible for us to imagine it or think about it, but, through our surrender, it is possible that we might be taken there, so we can experience and learn about their level.

We human beings can only receive and be aware of the life force above us - on the fifth level - and of its influence, once we are able to leave behind our personality; that is, once we can leave behind our will, our desire and the thinking we use as human beings in this world. The nature and state of this fifth life force, being higher than we are, is such that it is deep within everything that is within us, and beyond the furthest that we can see - whether we use our eyes or our thinking mind. So it is impossible for us, with the instruments that we possess, to imagine or understand what it is really like at that level unless we have come under its influence or power, and have been transported to that world.

Bapak doesn't really need to explain the life force that occupies the sixth level, as even the fifth one cannot be explained using the thinking mind. That is even more true of the sixth and seventh. Therefore it is best if you .just regard this as a mental picture. But don't think about it, because its nature cannot possibly be grasped using our thinking mind - only through the emptiness of our mind.

You can compare the relationship ( between us and the next level ) to that between human beings and animals. Since we belong to the fourth level our relationship with the fifth level is similar to the relationship between animals and ourselves. Animals are unable to know what human beings want. The same is true of us with respect to the life force above us. The life force above us knows more about us than we know about it. So whether we like it or not we are influenced by it, are under its power, and cannot resist. Moreover, when we are under the power of the level above us we are made happy because we will find the right way, which can raise us up - higher than the world where we now reside.

It is said that God's creatures on the rohani, or fifth level, not only know but also understand the life of human beings in this world -just as you do when you see a goat or a horse walking about, standing in the stable, or being used for racing and so on -whereas human beings cannot possibly know these ( fifth-level ) creatures in the normal way, on account of their power and their greatness, which block our vision in a similar way to when animals look at a human being.

So, no matter how clever human beings are - and human intelligence seems to have reached such a peak that, for example, they can now build rockets and launch them into space, or make an atom bomb, which all seems very amazing and advanced to the mind of humans - the creatures at the fifth level are higher than all of that. For them our highest and most advanced knowledge would seem like knowledge that has no reality, which doesn't meet the conditions of excellence and perfection that exist in the world of these fifth-level creatures.

This is even more true of the sixth level, which stands in the same relationship to us as human beings do to plant life. We regard plants as something we can just plant and eventually harvest. We use their wood to make whatever we wish, such as tables, chairs and so on. And plants used in this way by human beings have no power to do anything other than follow whatever human beings wish to do to them.

This is also true of the life force on the seventh level. It relates to us as human beings relate to inanimate objects. ( Material things ) are entirely at the disposal of human beings. Inanimate objects have no power whatsoever, they can only submit themselves to the authority of human beings.

That ( explains ) how the life forces are arranged. From this we are able to ponder and feel our true position in this world. That is how perfect everything is that has been created for human beings, and for the whole of life.

And yet people consider it is very easy to know and approach God using their desire and their will; whereas, in fact, they are powerless even when just in front of the life forces higher than the human. How much less then are they capable of thinking about God, who created ( those life forces ) and who is certainly more powerful than whatever He created.

That is why Bapak advises you not to be in a hurry to think about, or wish to be close to God; to understand what God is like and where God is. It is not that the distance between you and God is so great - as in the case of a material object - but rather, that God is beyond your power of sight, beyond your thinking mind, and beyond your human understanding and ability.

As well as this structure of life forces decreed by God in order that human beings should be able to move upwards and be guided in their ascent - to experience and know how things are in the levels above the human - God has also created a life force that is all-holy, all-powerful, and envelops all the life forces in this hierarchy. This is what is usually referred to in spiritual language -especially in religion - as the roh ilofi ( Arab.: ruh ilahi ) or the Holy Spirit.

And so the work of this all-holy life force can be fully accomplished, it is accompanied by a further life force, which is called rah al-qudus ( Arab. ); that is, the life force of the angels. This is also spoken of in the Bible, the Quran, the Zabur and the Torah. These two forces penetrate all the seven life forces so they can interact. They provide an open path for them to move upwards until they reach the level required by their being.

This is the arrangement of the life forces that exist in the spiritual realm and are present in the worship that you practice. From the material to the human - from level one to four - it is indeed possible for us to fathom these four forces by quieting our thinking mind, our heart and our desires. This is because these forces are still connected with the human will. That is why it's said that, for as long as people still use the power of their heart and brain, they will need to come back down and become human beings again. This is something you may have read about, called reincarnation.

But if you are blessed by God and are able to ascend to a higher level - to the fifth level, which is nobler than the human - you may not wish to come back down to this world and become human beings again. For the fact is that human beings - yes, like all of you - do not have contentment, because you are affected by all the things that touch you. For example, you are affected by the cold, by cold things; by heat, by hot things; you are affected by this and that; you still suffer from this and that. Your life is difficult, it is different from those above us; their life is very different from ours. The difference between their life and ours is like that between human beings and animals.

In order to attain that state and achieve what you need for yourselves, you are required, in this latihan of Subud, to surrender everything to the greatness of God. By doing this you will immobilize your thinking, your desires and your heart, and make them powerless. And when our thinking, our desires and our heart are powerless, it is easier for us to receive the influence from what is above. It can take us into its world so we can know that which is beyond our normal knowledge in this world.

And if we always surrender ourselves to God with patience and submission, then the forces below us - below the human level -will spontaneously recognize their own nature and will no longer disturb us. They will return to the place of origin God decreed for them, which God created in the framework of life that Bapak just described.

Don't take this explanation of Bapak's as if it were a teaching or a theory, listen to it as a description of what goes on in the spiritual realm. Then it can influence your desires, your wanting heart and your thinking mind - which are in a hurry to know - so they will not be constantly filled by the power of curiosity, but instead will surrender to the greatness of God according to the capacity of each one of you.

God knows. God is wise. God knows the weakness of human beings and the measure of their strength. That is why it is God's will that human beings should not use their feelings to look too far into the distance in their wish to know everything. Because, in their impatience they forget their own strength, and instead of getting what they want, they destroy themselves; they damage themselves and become confused. They really bring harm upon themselves. Therefore, for your own welfare - to make yourself happy and good, both outwardly and inwardly - Bapak advises you to practice your latihan in the normal way: regularly, and not in a hurry but with true patience, acceptance and willingness to let go.

Bapak will add something else that may also be necessary. Between one force and the next there are in fact regions, which are also divided into three - or four if we include the original nature ( of the force itself ). For example, take a human being: when human beings ascend they have to pass through the aspects that make up their content, that is, their coarse nature. And this coarse nature is made up of four elements: material or earth, water, air and light.

We have to pass through these - we will certainly pass through these - in the course of our ascent. In Islam they are called: lahut, malakut, and jabarut ( Arab. ). Even just getting there, just taking that step, is impossible, because the second region, which is called lahut - that is, water - is not water like the water in the ocean. No. Our world is enveloped by water, but not sea-water or well-water or water from the mains. It is ( a different kind of ) water. So the air ( around us ) is like water; this fits with what people have now discovered - that messages can be transmitted by means of radio waves.

And this is just the closest one. But already we are unable to traverse this second region by using our human strength - our normal strength. We can only do it with the strength of our soul, when it has been purified by the power of God. For, when our soul is pure not only can it pass through the wall of water, the wall of air and the wall of light, but it is lifted up by them, because the purified soul is lighter and faster than the light that travels from the sun to the earth. This is because the soul was created before those four elements existed. That's the way it is. Just through the fineness and purity of your soul you will be carried in your understanding to a world that is higher than this world, passing easily through lahut, malakut, and jabarut- the three elements above this world of ours.

That is Bapak's explanation, which has been a bit like a scientific discourse. In fact it is necessary, you do need this science. Bapak hopes that, on no account, will you focus on this explanation of his so that it enters your thinking or your brain. It's just a picture. The reality of what Bapak has told you is what you will encounter in the latihan, if God grants you grace.

Now, to finish Bapak's explanation he will do some testing with you. Perhaps you have been wondering what testing is. So now Bapak will do a little, so that you can become aware of the state of your inner feeling. Has it already been awakened? Has it already been brought back to life - even if not completely?

( Testing )