Welcome to the one and only AntiSubud site. If you're reading this you're either already familiar with Subud or you're really, really lost. The aim of this site is to provide information about Subud from a different perspective. What's bad, what's good, and what's just downright wonky. My approach is unflattering, and is very much tied to my experience. I have no intention of raising the ire of Subud members, to each his own. Anyway, that would prove a difficult task as Subud members tend to be a pretty docile bunch. My goal here is to get people thinking.

A special note to visitors: This page, the FAQ, and the links page are the most intelligible to those unfamiliar with Subud, the rest will likely only be understood by members and former members.

The Subud.org site provides definitions for some of the strange words that I use, and thoroughly describes what Subud is supposed to be. It is claimed that Subud is neither religion nor cult, but direct contact with God. My own experience has led me to reject Subud as more or less a cult, and further, to reject all religion and the whole idea of God.

Essentially, Subud provides a group of abstractions; it gives us new names for old ideas. Instead of a soul, a person has a jiwa. Instead of wicked desires, we have the nafsu. Subud practitioners, that is, people who practice the latihan (spiritual training exercise), redefine and regroup ordinary experiences -- common to us all -- into nebulous constructs. For example, if you feel confident when ice-skating and enjoy doing it, that's your inner-self telling you that you are following God's will by ice-skating. If you feel disgust when near a certain individual, that's your inner-self sensing his inhuman or lower qualities and warning you. Subud is a name game, and the end result is a redefinition of ideas into a belief structure.

Of course, this is not new. All religions do it. Subud is different because of the practice of the latihan, in which members attempt to purify themselves and communicate directly with God. During the latihan, members enter a sort of meditative trance (relaxed, quiet at first) and allow their inhibitions to float away. Then, members follow whatever impulses come to them. If one wants to scream and twirl around, one screams and twirls around. Want to flop around on the floor? Go for it. Ideally, anything can and should happen in the latihan. However, this ideal is rarely reached since members know what is expected from reading the literature and from observing and talking with other members.

The main fallacy in Subud is that members credit everything that happens during the latihan to God. Subud members say to themselves: I relaxed and tried not to think too much, I felt a movement in my body and followed it, thanks God. It does not follow. The only reason that it makes sense to Subud members is that they have already accepted God to some degree by joining Subud in the first place. Someone introduced to a hypothetical, secular version of the latihan would not unconditionally assign such an experience to God (some members claim that Subud has atheist members, however, I've never encountered one). This ultimate requirement for faith is where Subud fails in its promise of direct contact with God.

Take a look at the FAQ about Subud I wrote a while ago.

Sprechen Sie Subud? Here's a concise guide to Subud-speak.

What is that monstrosity? The meaning of the AntiSubud symbol is here.

This just in: Proof Subud a Cult!

Everything else goes here. Except...

See something that amazes/disgusts you? Tell me what you're thinking at the comments page.

Of course! What web site would be complete without a list of links?

And finally, contact the author of this site (or not), Ryan (ryan10017@hotmail.com).