The Ground of All My Religions

​Some of my friends and acquaintances think of me as Steve Feldman, Jew. Others as Reynold Feldman, Lutheran. Still others as Reynold Feldman, Roman Catholic. Finally, for the last 15 years it would be Ren Feldman, Episcopalian. Beside all that, I am technically a Muslim and have spent time or attended more than one service as a Hindu, a Buddhist, and have immersed myself in the teachings of Confucianism and Taoism. So much for “all my religions.” But how do I think of myself? As Reynold Ruslan Feldman, AKA Ren. My birth name was Stephen Michael Feldman. In 1965, at age 26, I became Reynold Feldman, my baptismal name as of March 4, 1967 and my legal name beginning sometime in 1968. You’ll learn why shortly. But other than names, how do I think of myself? As an aging child of the Great Life Force, generally known as God, who is forced to grow older physically but, thanks to a particular spiritual path which I’ll talk about now, is trying to do so spiritually as well. The Holy Spirit, which I believe can be contacted through this exercise, guides us in our inner development so that in our twice-weekly group exercises, we meet WE. We simply need to surrender to this gentle but strong Force.

Said exercise is known formally to the few who’ve ever heard of it—we don’t proselytize—as the Spiritual Exercise of Subud, or in the language of its founder, Indonesian, Latihan Kejiwaan Susila Budhi Dharma. To many in my hometown of Boulder, Colorado, where many are Hindu or Buddhist practitioners, the last three words will be familiar. Our founder, Muhammad Subuh Sumohadiwidjojo (1901-87), understood them to mean “right living” (Susila), our divine soul or self (Budhi), and submission to God via that divinely designed self (Dharma).
​
Subud is not large, maybe 10,000 active members in all. But it is very widespread, with practitioners in 80 or more countries, with a diversity of cultures, religions, professions, etc. I was initiated in what is called, no doubt influenced by the founder’s Muslem background, the Opening. (The first chapter of the Quran is known as The Opening. That was in May, 1961 in Chicago. I was 21 at the time, and have been “exercising” twice weekly, a half hour at a time, ever since. My Opening, or first exercise, was quite dramatic. I describe it in detail in my memoir, Stories I Remember--My Pilgrimage to Wisdom, which you can get from me at [email protected]. So I won’t do so here. The practice has brought me to what the late Fr. Thomas Keating, co-founder of Centering Prayer, has termed a growing “Intimacy with God.” I also think of the Third Order Franciscan Brother Lawrence of the Resurrection (1614-1691), whose abbot entitled his posthumous writings The Practice of the Presence of God. That would be a good description of our spiritual exercise. Or Latihan in Indonesian.

​If you’d like to learn more about Subud, go to www.subud.org. I also like the Wikipedia article about it.

A painting of the founder of Subud, the late Bapak Muhammad Subuh Sumohadjiwidjojo.