The Road to Diamond, Day 157: Phalanxes

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on May 5, 2025 in animal and plant life, Assistance, collaborating, Community, impediments, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

May 4, 2025, Socorro, NM- All along my drive through the Gila Mountains of eastern Arizona and western New Mexico- and into the grassy foothills, they stood, alternately grazing and watching me, from the safety of the road’s edge. They were veritable phalanxes of elk, probably four dozen in all, from just outside Alpine, AZ to just south of Datil, NM.

The last pair, between Datil and Magdalena, were an adult cow and a juvenile bull, the latter of which tentatively decided to challenge Sportage for the road. As I turned the car to the left and gave him space, he decided that two tons of metal and fiberglass was more formidable, and moved backwards, sparing us both the grief of a collision.

There were near phalanxes of rabbits, also. Most of them scattered at the approach of the SUV. Only one ran under the car, and sadly met death. Rabbits being fodder for coyotes, I was pleasantly surprised to not see the canines out and about. Deer were also nowhere to be seen, though they tend to not compete with elk for forage.

This all took place after the second day of our Baha’i conference in Phoenix. We have discussed the matter of forming strong communities. The idea of a separate group of people setting the tone for the wider community only works to a limited extent. The community as a whole must be, and feel, included in decision-making-whether it be a matter of spiritual growth or material well-being. Further, there can be no separation, no us and them, in the process of community growth. The phalanx must be one.

It was thus a very full day, and I am most happy, relieved, at being in this comfortable room at Economy Inn. Socorro has had its struggles, but it is a nice town. I will rest well tonight.

The Road to Diamond, Day 156: Heroes, Super and Otherwise

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on May 5, 2025 in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Entertainment, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving

May 3, 2025, Phoenix- The comforter on the bed I am borrowing for the evening is Superhero-themed. I am now safe from anything that could threaten the well-being of a six-year-old boy. Since he’s away, this seventy-four-year-old, overgrown kid can expect the same. Monsters and villains, be gone!

Heroes, in real life, come in many shapes, sizes and guises. The people who seem to stand in our way, and keep us from what what we think we might want, will sometimes turn out to be our best friends-and unlikely heroes in our lives. Remember the tale of Majnoon, searching for his beloved Layli (Layla, of the Eric Clapton song). His path was blocked by one or another watchman, until he vaulted himself over a wall-and found her looking fr a ring she had lost.

Heroes can be full of bravado, or they can be ordinary people (as in the Dave Grohl song). They can be constantly in action, in the limelight or just be around-for one day (as in the David Bowie song). Yes, we have been celebrating our deliverers and saviors from time immemorial. From the Epic of Gilgamesh, to the Iliad and Odyssey, the Tales of Hiawatha, Icelandic sagas and stories of the Samurai, all the way to the Marvel and DC characters, we derive much comfort in the idea that someone has our backs.

It is best, though, that we are our own, and one another’s champions. Acting in the interests of each person in our world-starting with ourselves, but not stopping there, can be challenging. The alternative, though, is to let someone else determine the entirety of our existence. That may seem easier, but recall the fates of those who acquiesced to tyrants, throughout history. Were they happier, in the fullness of time? Were their needs met?

Today, in conference with many of my fellow Baha’is, at the Center where Penny and I spent many happy hours, in the often troubled 2000s, I was reminded that “heroism” is hard work and that it is often not intentional, but the result of just putting oneself out there, on behalf of humanity-and of all creation. It most often involves teamwork, and always involves discernment and fortitude.

After our long day of consultation, my host and I joined several old friends, and many youth, in honouring a hard-working college graduate. It was a joy to see people I haven’t seen in fifteen years and to witness how several of them have grown from childhood and become successful adults, in various fields.

Heroes-some of them “super” come in all forms.

The Road to Diamond, Day 154: No Worries

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on May 1, 2025 in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving

May 1, 2025- I woke this morning with a minor headache. After drinking a liter of water, the headache was gone. I greeted the month of May with a renewed sense of purpose. Staying extra-hydrated is a key part of that, as the weather will soon warm up.

As I get ready for a visit back east and down south, over the next 2.5 weeks, there are priorities to be set, but also a need to have a path open to electronically assist those here who contact me by Messenger and IM while I am away. The need to be acknowledged does not stop at the city limits or state line, so I have time to assist some friends who seem to have nowhere else to turn and point them towards those here who can help-and probably be of more help than I am when at Home Base I. For that matter, I have done the same for people in other parts of the country and in other countries, whilst here. That, to me, is one of the prime purposes of the digital realm.

There were about twenty of us who celebrated the Twelfth Day of Ridvan, marking the 162nd anniversary of the departure from Baghdad, by Baha’ullah and his entourage. They would cross the mountains and desert of Anatolia, modern-day Turkey, going by land and sea to what is now Istanbul. It would take them a little over three months. We celebrate, because we know that they made the journey successfully, joyfully, with a sense that their journey was in service to the Divine. Every place that Baha’ullah was sent, ostensibly in exile and as a punishment, was made better by His presence.

That is the reason why, on this day, and in this Day, I feel no worries. No matter how difficult things may sometimes get, the right thing happens in the end.

The Road to Diamond, Day 151: Parties Large and Small

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 28, 2025 in Community, Historical, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

April 28, 2025- The wind was still a bit brisk, as is the norm for April here. There were eleven of us gathered, in a large park at Prescott Valley. The occasion was the celebration of the Ninth Day of the Ridvan Festival. The twelve-day festival marks Baha’ullah’s Announcement of His Mission to the world and His departure, along with His family and closest associates, from Baghdad to Istanbul (Constantinople). Day 9 was the most likely day of His revelation to His family, of the true nature of His being in the world. It was after that, when preparations for their departure began in earnest, to be concluded with the actual beginning of the journey northward on the Twelfth Day.

Many Baha’i gatherings during the work week are small, but no less festive. We had a bit of music and an intrepid dancer engaged the birds, who were not all that interested and flew off. As always, the food was plentiful and devotions, heartfelt.

Later, I helped serve dinner at the Monday evening Soup Kitchen. This gathering is no small party,with probably 80 people getting a full, well-prepared and varied meal. The camaraderie, among people who are not living in the best of circumstances, is still heartwarming. Here, they know they are wanted and cared for. Despite the still-cold nights, they are able to mostly find shelter and the left over food can go with them, for further meal security, as well as to other shelters in need of food security.

I was asked this afternoon where my next journey will take me. After a fairly large two-day conference in Phoenix, this coming weekend, the road goes north and east-to other gatherings large, small and in-between. It is the warmth that counts.

The Road to Diamond, Day 146: Integrity

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 23, 2025 in Assistance, collaborating, Community, distraction issues, Education, impediments, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 23, 2025- When I was in Graduate School, I was ill during one of the classes that was having a chapter exam. The next class meeting,the professor gave me the exam to do at home. As my textbook was at the ready, I briefly considered making it an open-book test. I couldn’t follow through, as this was a Master’s Program, after all, and “masters” don’t cheat. While the professor initially was suspicious as I submitted the exam, at the next class meeting, my grade reflected my decision to take the exam properly, and the matter was considered moot.

I am presently reading a book entitled “Free Radicals: The Secret Anarchy of Science”, by Michael Brooks. Here, the author details the shenanigans of scientists both famed and obscure. There are numerous examples given, of titans such as Einstein and Newton, and lesser lights, like the hapless Robert Millikan (who claimed credit for discovering the electron’s charge), having fudged data, to make their findings jibe with reality.

In life, there is no hard and fast rule that each and every instance of one’s chosen work is going to go as one pleases. In my years as a counselor, I did a lot of good for many troubled young people, and a few adults. I also failed some people, usually those whose issues were more quotidian, and didn’t fit the “troubled” or “at risk” mode. Both types of people will remember what happened, and will have judged me differently. It makes no sense to inflate one set of work results and sweep the others under the carpet. Integrity requires that I own both. Besides, my work as a teacher and school administrator was more checkered. I have to own that, too.

Integrity, the state of how one acts when no one is looking, has a serious claim to be restored to public service, in fact to be restored to all walks of life. There ought to be confidence in those whose mantra is “The statistics say”, or “Data tells us”. Right now, that confidence is often unmerited.

The Road to Diamond, Day 144: Divine Will

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 21, 2025 in collaborating, Community, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 21, 2025- The unequivocal patron, at our weekly Soup Kitchen meal, reminded me to not question what he saw as the Will of God, as we talked about last Friday’s freak snow squall. He’s right, whatever happens in the realm of nature has Divine cachet.

Jorge Mario Bergoglio, known officially as Pope Francis I, left this world early this morning, having shepherded his flock through one last Easter, even while suffering the ravages of age and long toil. Pope Francis never came across as an egotistical man, nor did he flaunt the riches that surrounded him in the Vatican, a place of storied wealth. He kept at his work until the next-to-last day of his life, boots on the ground. It was the Will of God that His steward of the adherents to Roman Catholicism, a voice for peace and strength of character, should have left our midst at the end of the holiest week on the Christian calendar.

Everyone on Earth serves the Divine Will. Even those who style themselves as the purveyors of mayhem, as the unchallengeable lords and masters of the rest of us, have no power to do anything that is at variance with the Creator’s Master Plan. There is growth to be achieved by the very people who are in the sights of tyrants. There is growth to be achieved by the tyrants themselves-and all their minions. Each of us walks in His path, whether to point out where we are falling short, as a species, or to effect the changes that will bring about a more peaceful world.

In this year of confusion, each of us gets to make the choice of which path to growth is right for us.

The Road to Diamond, Day 143: Resilience

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 20, 2025 in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal goals, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 20, 2025- Some 1,993 years ago, when His tormentors gave Him up for dead, those who rolled back the stone at the designated tomb of Jesus the Christ were astonished to find it empty. He had business to which to attend: His followers were in need of reassurance, encouragement. Only Christ could provide that impetus to resilience, and so He did.

Each of us, given what we are to do in this life, has a need for resilience, on many occasions. The first time most of us experience this is when learning how to walk. Falling doesn’t faze most infants. They instinctively know that falling is part of learning, and so they keep on, until able to take step after step, ideally to the cheers and hugs of loving family members.

As life goes on, either we accept failure as a means to learning, as we did when edging towards toddlerhood, or we take it as a sign of inadequacy. The former is a burnishing of a can-do mindset, a harbinger of future success. The latter may, if not corrected, become the spark of learned helplessness. I have experienced both, over the years. Guess which one felt better, and which one I embrace now.

Communities, and nations, can face the same choice. Debate can see a case made for either option. It is true that collective failure is less easily fixed than is that of individuals, but it is also true that an honest conversation and civil commitment, to what is actually best for the community as a whole, can lead to reconciliation and true social progress-of the kind that doesn’t play favourites or institutionalize scapegoats.

We are at a crossroads, as a nation. Can we be discerning enough to take the best ideas of social progress and the best ideas of social conservatism, and reconcile the differences between the two? National survival has always been dependent on finding a balance.

The Road to Diamond, Day 141: Good Friday

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 18, 2025 in Education, impediments, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 18, 2025- The day was marked here by rain, throughout the day, and snow in the early evening. As I sat with friends at American Legion Post 6, enjoying a fish fry, the snow continued to fall, adding a rather surreal touch to what is, for many, a solemn day.

When I was a child, in a Roman Catholic home, the day marking the Crucifixion and Death of Jesus the Christ was the saddest day of the year. I didn’t feel like there was any reason for mirth or celebration, of anything, on Good Friday. As a teenager and young adult, I would invariably turn down invitations to join my friends, in whatever routine Friday night celebration they had planned. Even Catholic friends viewed my stance as sanctimonious, but I felt it deep in my heart.

As a Baha’i, I still view the Sufferings and Death of Christ as a tragic rejection by humanity, of His Message of peace and spiritual reconciliation. The day was spent in service, albeit in the covering of a Band class at a local intermediate school. Despite the odd weather and the approach of Easter weekend, students maintained a certain focus and kept on with their tasks. It did help, though, that it was a shorter day.

In the scheme of things, I continue to wonder: “How might our world be different, if the powers of the day had heeded Christ’s Message, and followed Him, at the time of His pronouncements?”

The Road to Diamond, Day 138: Biology and Belief

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 15, 2025 in collaborating, Community, Hiking and Nature, impediments, Inner Struggles, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 15, 2025- A strange dream, just before I woke this morning, presented me with an alternative version of my late twenties. I was tooling around a remote area of the Great Plains, and connected with a young lady, much more easily than I actually did, back then. When I awoke, it occurred to me that, while the dream was pleasant, I would not give up one minute of the life I actually ended up having, for even such a comforting revision. The idea of not having my Faith, Aram and my twenty-nine years with Penny is really beyond my comprehension.

This morning, I brought a friend to inquire about getting an appliance, at one of the area’s thrift stores. For one reason or another, though the appliances in question had arrived last Thursday, I was only able to help her today. All the appliances were sold. This, she quickly determined, was the result of inherent bad luck and the system being stacked against her. My take was, “first come, first served”, though I recognized how painful it must feel to her, to have drawn the short straw, again. We found ourselves hitting every red light, at the intersections going back to her house, another indication that there was a “conspiracy afoot”. Well, no-it is just a day when I paid the universe back for all the other days when I caught every green light, from here to Spring Valley.

I have seen self-loathing or a victim mentality draw the worst energy, from random mishaps to disease. The latter, of course, perpetuates the dark energy, to the point where the poor soul often ends up being socially isolated. Many of the emotionally down and out of my past have died prematurely. This is all the more reason why I have cast aside my own self-loathing, with a view towards living several more years, to the fullest, in good health and surrounded by family and friends.

So, after this morning’s errand of mercy, I joined Akuura on another exploration of the Williamson Valley trail system. This time, we found the previously elusive water tank, that is a landmark for the trail to petroglyphs that lie somewhere atop a hill. We will have to locate the ancient scripts on another adventure, but here are the things we did find this afternoon.

The upshot of the hiking story, as regards biology, is that this hobby is one of the factors in my own relatively good outlook on life. Of course, good friends, a healthy diet and maintaining a realistic view of both good fortune and misfortune, have their places in the game plan of longevity.

The Road to Diamond, Day 135: An Overdue Reunion

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 13, 2025 in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Family, impediments, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, service, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

April 12, 2025- The cousins had not seen one another for forty years, though they have spoken by phone on several occasions. Their embrace was timeless and classical, reflecting the universality of family and of the human need for continuity.

Reunited — Bobot, Thelma and Celeste after dinner, with a “stealth selfie” of yours truly.

Coming from large families, on both sides, I thoroughly appreciated what was transpiring, in this well-appointed home, on Phoenix’s far south side. The Filipina cousins re-cemented routes that had never really been severed, over a delectable meal of chicken adobo and steamed kalabasa(squash). I will hopefully meet with some of my own cousins next month, though our parting has not been anywhere near as long.

The day began well, with visits to Prescott Farmers’ Market and Zeke’s Eatin’ Place. Each of my local friends were gracious and welcoming to Babot and Thelma. The visits afforded them free samosas and enough food from Zeke’s to keep them for another day or so.

We next drove down to Desert Rose Baha’i Institute, in Eloy. There was a great temperature difference between there and Prescott, so we kept our outdoor time to a minimum. The caretakers were busy with another matter, so after brief conversations with them,we conducted our own tour. I made what I thought was a comprehensive video, using my i-Phone, only to later find that it had somehow jammed and ended up recording nothing. (Note to self, next time use the camera. It doesn’t depend on cell towers.) I have photos from a January visit here, and Bobot took his own video, which I hope turned out better. In any case, my friends enjoyed this little bit of Baha’i property.

The last journey on my watch, from Eloy to Phoenix, was marred by neither dust storms nor heavy traffic. We found the house easily, and after showing my friends that the best way to get someone to let them in to a house was by pressing the doorbell, rather than relying solely on the phone, the joyful reunion was complete.

I drove back to Home Base I, a bit tired, but happy that the week has been a fair success.