Dawn Books, Australia

Whereas my life started as an exploration of the world around me, it changed radically at twenty-six to a search for the purpose of life. As a result this memoir is as much about inner experiences as it is about outer events. The ideas that triggered this change in 1954 were those of Ouspensky and Gurdjieff. Becoming a follower of their teaching with JG Bennett led me, three years later, to receiving the spiritual exercise of Subud and practising it for the rest of my life, including ten years in Indonesia with Pak Subuh (Bapak), the founder of the Subud movement.
The story is divided into two parts and a reference:
Part One contains an account of my Gurdjieff training, my childhood and my early working life, and the first twenty years after finding Subud and learning to follow the guidance of the latihan (spiritual exercise).
Part Two recalls the next twenty years, putting the latihan into practice in life—establishing and managing an enterprise and working with others in the role of a Subud helper.
The reference is part of a history of the Subud enterprise PT International Design Consultants in Indonesia during its first ten years, 1966-1976.
This memoir, as a record of my experiences, necessarily includes some observations about other people. If these offend in any way, I sincerely ask forgiveness.
Raymond van Sommers