Yes, It Matters

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 22, 2020 in collaborating, Community, Family, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 22,2020-

In the midst of confusion,

in the heart of despair,

I hear you say

“This nonsense about all lives matter

is not how we live”.

You spoke differently,

apparently indifferently,

when others said

“Black Lives Matter”.

Then, you said,

ALL lives Matter!!”

Friend, life matters.

It matters, because

God gave it to all

His creatures.

It matters, because

each form of life

has purpose.

Each form of life

serves its Creator.

Humans, without respect

to colour, gender, status,

stature, age,

level of cognition,

level of hormonal balance,

progress on the Spiritual Path,

progress on the path of knowledge,

progress on the path of gestation,

are the highest form of material being,

ever to live on Planet Earth.

It is always wrong for individuals

to kill one another,

whether in the name of vengeance,

or in the name of fear,

or in the name of science.

It is always wrong for individuals

to diminish one another,

whether in the name of superiority,

or in the name of possession,

or in the name of revulsion.

Killing, diminution,

are the province of God,

for only He knows the hearts

of His children.

Only He has complete

knowledge of True Justice.

There was a time

when my maternal grandfather,

in the heat of frustration,

threw up his hands

and said he was through

with anyone who was

spending their days

lazing about.

Papa was no teacher

or counselor,

though he taught,

and listened to,

his children.

He was a shoemaker,

a gardener,

and tireless in his labours.

Genetics passed his ethic on,

to twenty-nine grandchildren,

whom he never knew,

in his brief earthly life.

He watches us yet,

and makes his lessons,

his regrets,

his triumphs,

known to me

through dreams

through waking visions.

He tells me

that all life

matters,

more than

the living realize;

more than many

even want to know.

In the midst of confusion,

in the heart of despair,

God’s love for us all

glimmers,

through the fog

and through the clouds,

just as Christ foretold.

Surprises

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 21, 2020 in collaborating, Community, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 21, 2020-

Today,

the second day of Ridvan,

produced these:

I experienced a higher

than usual

level of energy

and positivity,

upon rising,

this morning;

A video,

not made by a Baha’i,

which affirms several

basic teachings

of Baha’u’llah,

regarding the future

of humanity;

I had an easier time

doing the exercises

in my online yoga class;

It rained, a fair amount,

this morning and afternoon,

despite a forecast of sunshine.

I was able to complete

the first module

of an online course in

Humanitarian Assistance.

(I am, at the age of 69, unlikely to be called to serve in any real capacity, by humanitarian agencies, but it helps to gain this perspective, in case of any unforeseen emergencies, even in this country.)

Paradise and Change

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 20, 2020 in collaborating, Community, distraction issues, impediments, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 20, 2020-

As I bid farewell to my Baha’i friends, after the Zoom call that commemorated the First Day of Ridvan, I found a message, essentially telling me I was part of a greater problem, for having attended the Holy Day observance.

Ridvan is Persian for “paradise”. The Garden of Ridvan was a salubrious place, just outside Baghdad. In 1863, Baha’u’llah and His family were preparing to obey the edict of the Ottoman Empire’s Sultan, and depart Baghdad for Constantinople (Istanbul). They camped in Ridvan Garden for twelve days, April 21-May 2. As we use a lunar calendar, called the Badi Calendar, to reckon our Holy Days, the actual dates may fluctuate, as they have this year. So, today is the Festival’s first day and May 1, the twelfth day. In between, there is a commemoration of the ninth day, during which Baha’u’llah revealed His Station, as Messenger of God, to His family and camp followers. We Baha’is commemorate all three days, as sacred.

No one who knows me really thinks I sit around and am content to merely observe ritual or tradition. At the same time, observing special occasions with friends is NOT wrong, nor is it wasteful. There are those, however, who feel it their duty to savage people, for whatever reason they have cooked up in their minds. My inclination is to not let their diatribes turn me aside from what I know to be my spiritual path. One of my spiritual advisers urges me to stay on my path, and I’m sure that. were I to consult the others, they would agree.

There will, no doubt, be many changes coming our way, in the immediate future and throughout this decade. The 24/7 nature of our news and communications have many people in an uproar. Some will make risky choices and suffer for them, possibly taking others down with them. Others will want to make choices FOR others, offering to take control of many lives-“in the name of scientific progress”. I will, as I’ve said recently, make my own choices and they will take both my needs, and those of the multitude whom I love, into consideration. For that matter, I will consider the safety and well-being of those who attack me, as well. God created them, too, even if they don’t see it.

This has been a year of meticulously taking one day at a time-and it will continue as such, well after COVID19 has subsided.

My Four Tent Posts, and Center

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 18, 2020 in collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Spiritual

April 18, 2020-

Today would have been the start of Earth Week, commemorating the 50th anniversary of Earth Day One. As it happened, I spent quality time (2 hours) watching and listening to young people talking about their concerns regarding Mother Earth. Few are really blaming all of the mess on the human race, but each made the point that we are not blameless, nor are we powerless, in the face of the climate challenge. Youth groups and the Farmers’ Market are my anchors, in this Center that is my Home Base.

There are also four spiritual posts, one in each direction, that help me stay centered, and which have connections to one another, and to the Center.

East– The Baha’i Faith originated in Iran, spread gradually in all directions, and is now found in nearly every nation on Earth, with its World Centre being in Haifa, Israel. The Teachings of Baha’u’llah have confirmed my lifelong conviction that there is only one Race,the Human Race, and that all religious teachings emanate from One Creator. This eastern spiritual post has led me to the others. http://www.bahai.org

South– Elizabeth Peru is based in Adelaide, South Australia. I was drawn to her website, was introduced to her daily guided meditations and insights into the interaction between Earth and all other elements of the Cosmos. These meditations and observations both affirm and enrich my own. The southern spiritual post affirms my connectedness with all living beings. http://www.elizabethperu.com

West– Earth Rising, based in San Francisco, also focuses on the connectedness of all beings on the planet and in the innate spirituality of mankind. I was drawn to this site, through other Baha’i friends on social media. It’s a private group on Facebook, yet I feel abundantly welcome, and affirmed here. I join in regular digital conferencing of this group and its affiliate, Gaia Calling. New members are welcomed, through Earth Rising’s Facebook page. https://www.facebook.com/groups/1039631319395983/

North– Chief Phil Lane is a longtime Baha’i friend and well-deepened Lakota spiritual guide. His Four Worlds International Institute, in the Vancouver area of British Columbia, is in many ways a North Star. I have deep genetic memory of being connected to First Nations people, especially those of the eastern woodlands. Four Worlds has graciously welcomed me into its fold, with regular digital conferencing, for the time being. http://www.fwii.net

In the midst of the current turmoil, I have increasingly felt the need for these four posts, and for my center. There is, I feel, a new society rising out of all that is happening, and all that remains to happen, in the foreseeable future. Those who live their truth have little cause for alarm.

Views from A Deep Place

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 16, 2020 in collaborating, Community, Education, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 16, 2020-

The young girl read her poem She thanked Coronvirusdisease2019, for bringing things to a halt, for making us take notice of one another and for showing us that we need to use our time more wisely.

I joined a Zoom call this morning, with people from Jordan to New Zealand, from Bolivia to Alaska, joining together in prayer, and a short series of Talking Circles, organized by the Four Worlds International Institute, a spiritual connectedness center, run by First Nations people, in Surrey, BC-south of Vancouver.

Most of the time was spent in prayer and thoughtful remarks. The young girl and her father, Bedouins from Jordan, offered very cogent remarks about the state of the planet and fervent prayers for all humanity to recover fully, from the current crisis. They were followed, not long after, by an Israeli Jew, singing a prayer in Hebrew.

This session lasted two hours, and will be followed, on a daily basis, by a Mayan gentleman, offering a prayer at sunrise. It will be followed, on a weekly basis, each Thursday until May 21, by a similar prayers and Talking Circle format.

A Talking Circle, for those not familiar with it, is a small group of people talking from their hearts, one at a time. Customarily, a Talking Stick is held by the person whose turn it is to speak. No one else may speak until that person finishes. A person may not have a second turn holding the stick, until everyone in the circle has had a chance to speak-though one with nothing to share may pass the stick to the next person.

In the current, digital format, the unmute button serves as Talking Stick. Everyone remains muted, except the person whose turn it is to speak. Six of us, three from Arizona and others from as far away as Norway and Fiji, spoke briefly in introduction to one another. I am sure the conversations will become deeper, as the weeks progress.

This sort of discourse will be where the ideas for spiritual regeneration come.

He Is Risen, and Now It’s Our Turn

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 12, 2020 in collaborating, Community, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 12, 2020-

When Jesus the Christ was slain on the cross, He did not give up the ghost and simply resurrect Himself, on the third day after His demise. More importantly, He rekindled the Faith of His disciples and sent them forth to spread His Teachings, which alone were able to redirect a distracted and frightened world, as the Roman Empire was starting to witness the seeds of its hubris grow into the trees of destruction.

Millions around the world take solace, each Spring/Fall, in the knowledge that we are never left alone, by our Creator. Buddhists have recently commemorated the Birth of Gautama Siddhartha. For Jews, this comfort comes with Pesach(Passover). Christians find it in today’s observance of Resurrection Sunday and next Sunday’s Pascha, the Day of Resurrection observed by Orthodox Christians. Muslims will begin Ramadan at the end of this month. We Baha’is will observe Ridvan, the twelve day festival, commemorating Baha’u’llah’s first proclamation of His Station, from April 20-May 1, the time when He and His family were preparing for exile from Baghdad to Istanbul (then still called Constantinople).

This sacred time, if we see with open eyes and hearts, blesses humanity, and our earthly home, as a whole. Naturists and animists recognize the Divine Presence that comes around the time of the Vernal Equinox and which revisits us, in Autumn. Thus has the Resurrection of Christ had implications for all humanity, from the day of its occurrence on forward. God has blessed us with bounty and fertility, which are apparent to all who see with unclouded eyes.

It is now our turn to resurrect all that is sacred about life on Earth: Compassion, listening with both ear and heart, a collective consciousness and plan of action, a workable and universal plan for distribution of the Earth’s bounty-so that none feel useless, starve or go without a measure of comfort. These cannot be accomplished from the top down, as some have suggested. Things which are forced on people, breed resentment and a desire for vengeance. This is something that both “high” and “low” alike need to bear in mind. It is essential that neither greed, nor a false sense of superiority, motivate the former. It is also needful that neither envy nor despair compel the latter to act in ways that will bring everyone down further. We need look no further than the French Revolution, or the rise and fall of the totalitarians of mid-20th Century Europe and Japan, to draw the necessary lessons.

Our resurrection, and that of Earth itself, will require heartfelt movement from both top and bottom.

A blessed season to all!

Pesach

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 8, 2020 in collaborating, Community, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 8, 2020-

The Holy Days of major world religions take on extra meaning for many more than just their adherents, in times of peril. So it is with Passover, the celebration marking the Israelites’ delivery from slavery in Egypt. The eight-day festival starts this evening, ending on April 16.

The celebration of freedom is ironic, in a time when when a climate of oppression is felt by many, with the sense that things may get worse, before they improve. Some will feel between a rock and a hard place, as two opposing groups of well-to-do entrepreneurs vie for public support of two very different treatments for COVID19- one, a pill with anecdotal, but not clinical, proof of efficacy; the other, a vaccine that is not likely to be ready for mass usage until the Fall of 2021. In the meantime, it seems to me that deliverance from THIS pestilence will be up to us laymen, following physical distancing guidelines and self-isolating, for a fair number of weeks or months AND building up our immune systems through improving nutrition, taking natural supplements and getting enough Vitamin D, from sunshine.

I wish all Jews a healthy and happy Passover season-with the rest of us keeping our God-given sense of free will, and using it wisely.

Change Surely Is A Constant

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 6, 2020 in collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Striving

April 6, 2020-

Several people are trying to circulate chain posts around social media. I don’t copy and paste anything, verbatim, as hackers are sometimes behind the posts. I do note what is making the rounds, though, and one of the most popular items has been a listing of what has changed, in the last five weeks.

I will hold off on making my own list. We have a way to go, yet, before all is said and done. I do have a sense that only the most durable and equitable of institutions will still be standing, five years-or even five months, from now. There will still be banks, and probably credit unions, as we need a medium of exchange to maintain commerce. There will still be government, hopefully one based on the rule of law. There will still be regular communication, as we are a social species and will figure a way to keep in touch, even in the absence of what we have now. There will still be goods and services, including restaurants and cafes, for the reason I just mentioned. Most of all, there will still be the human spirit-alive, well and forward-looking.

We have miles to go, and eons to live.

The Promise of Palms

Posted by Sagittarian Seeker on April 5, 2020 in Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Poetry, Spiritual

April 5, 2020-

A nonet, if you will:

The murmur of the crowd gathered strength

The tall, gentle man walked gamely

His route was roofed by palms

Fronds touched His fair head

Joy was the crowd’s

He was there!

Teacher

Christ

A nonet begins with a line of nine syllables, losing a syllable in each subsequent line, and finishing with one syllable. As today is Palm Sunday, this is a gift for my Christian family and friends