It seemed that he was not moving through his own volition; but was being guided by what he interpreted as the power of God. This same kind of experience reportedly happened to him for a few hours each night over a period of about 1000 days during which he slept little but was able to continue working full-time. He said he experienced a kind of "inner teaching" whereby he was given to understand a variety of things spontaneously. As these experiences proceeded, Pak Subuh explained, he gained spontaneous insight into people and situations that he had not possessed before. Around 1933, as he reported, he received that if other people were physically near him while he was in a state of "latihan", then the experience would begin in them also. While still in his early thirties, Pak Subuh's reputation as someone with spiritual insight apparently grew, and people went to him to be 'opened'. They in turn could open others, and this is how Subud eventually spread around the world. In Jakarta, Husein Rofé, an English linguist who had been living in Indonesia since 1950, met Pak Subuh. Rofé had been searching for a spiritual path and became the first non-Indonesian to be opened. Subud moved outside of Indonesia when Rofé attended a religious congress in Japan in 1954. Subud first spread internationally into Japan, followed by Hong Kong and Cyprus. In 1957, Rofé (who was then in London) suggested that Pak Subuh visit Britain. Pak Subuh accepted the invitation and visited the home of John G. Bennett in Coombe Springs. It was at this time that many UK followers of George Gurdjieff were initiated into Subud, including Bennett himself, though he later left the group. Over the next 14 months Pak Subuh visited many countries before returning to Indonesia. Symbol The Subud symbol was envisioned by Pak Subuh in 1959. The design consists of seven concentric circles and seven spokes, which, in traditional Javanese mysticism, represent seven levels of life forces as well as the Great Life Force that connects them. Each circle grows wider, the further out from the center, and each spoke narrows as it approaches the center. The space between the circles remains constant. The symbol is often printed in black and white when color printing is not available. When colors are used, usually the circles and spokes are gold and the background is dark blue