Tag Archives: Baha’u’llah

Scottsdale Flow

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal goals, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

August 10, 2024, Chandler, AZ- The flow in question was one of ideas. A group of us discussed the various ways in which the Teachings of Baha’u’llah fit into addressing the needs of any given society. We are gathered in this two-day symposium, not to offer piecemeal, or even easy, solutions, to the problems plaguing mankind.

Our take is more holistic, and generally distributes power and resources more evenly, though with things like money and property, even distribution needs to be arranged voluntarily. Grabbing the wealth of a person or family creates other problems-mostly related to the party from whom the wealth was taken, turning around and seeking vengeance. There is also the matter of the recipient of an easy take not valuing the loot.

Profit sharing, cooperative ownership and unconditional philanthropy work better. Other issues, especially with regard to land rights and environmental protection, need to proceed, but with clear explanations well in advance of the actual procedure being carried out. In all that transpires, Baha’u’llah says “The best beloved in My sight is Justice”. That process recognizes that the wealthy, the traditionalist and the conservative-even the reactionary, is as much a child of the Divine as the impoverished one, the change-agent and the progressive-and vice versa. Either one, or both, can be in the wrong, if there is not good-faith acknowledgement of the opposite number’s valid points and a willingness to recognize and accept where one might be in error. The key lies in the balance.

The gist of Baha’u’llah’s Teachings it that all are equal in the sight of God and that each individual is responsible for own spiritual search, and growth. Those factors, alone, when more widely accepted, will lead to a climate of fairness, self-responsibility and personal agency. These are all requisite to the peaceful world we all claim to cherish.

The Myth of Finality

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Posted by on in animal and plant life, Assistance, collaborating, Community, distraction issues, Historical, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

April 28, 2024, Gallup- As I was walking to breakfast, at Post 6, this morning, one of the dogs who customarily run up to their owners’ fence and barks his head off, was true to form. A raven began flying in circles, above the dog, and cawed loudly, mimicking the dog’s bark. Animals can hassle each other like that.

So, too, do we humans seem to think it is our due, to hassle one another. I give you the current version of “Forward, into the past!”-Right-wing students, mixing with peaceful protesters and yelling for a renewal of “The Final Solution”. There is no real concern about the Palestinians who have suffered, no desire to see justice for Gaza, just a re-hash of Nazi propaganda-blaming Jews in this country and around the world for the destruction that has come from two groups of extremists fighting one another. Palestinians, in Gaza, have asked that the hatred against ordinary Jews be stopped. It is, they note, not helping their search for justice.

I have relatives who are at least a quarter, or half, and in a few cases full-blooded Jewish. I have many more, both Arab and Jew, who I count as friends. None of them hate the others. Growing up, my parents counted both Arabs and Jews as friends. It is thus second nature.

In Creation, there is no permission given by the Divine, for one group of people to slaughter another. The deluded young man who called for the deaths of all Jews can quote Mein Kampf all he wants, but if he follows through, he deserves full punishment, under the law. I say the same applies to anyone calling for the deaths of all Arabs. Enough is enough! If someone, or a group, attacks a Jew, or an Arab, in my presence, I will stand for the intended victim-nonviolently, mind you, but I will stand in defense of the one being attacked.

Today is the anniversary of Baha’u’llah’s Declaration of His Mission, to unite mankind, both spiritually and materially. We Baha’is celebrated, worldwide. There are fellows in Faith who are of Jewish descent, as Penny was and there are fellows in Faith who are of Arab descent-in fact, there are Baha’is in virtually every ethnicity, across the planet. We stand for the oneness of mankind. There is no room for anyone to act on genocidal thoughts, of any kind. There is no such “final solution”.

In a few days, I will be at the Baha’i House of Worship, in Wilmette, Illinois, north of Chicago. I try to visit there, each time I head east, for family visits. The magnificent Temple helps me ground self spiritually. This time, I hope to see both Jewish and Arabic visitors, among the multitude that is there, on any given day.

The only finality should be love.

The Ancient of Days

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Historical, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Social, Spiritual, Striving

April 20, 2024- Today marked the First Day of the Festival of Ridvan, celebrating a period of time, in 1863, when Baha’u’llah revealed His Station and His Mission, to His closest family and followers, in Najibiyyih Garden, Rusafa, Baghdad. This serene garden is also called the Garden of Ridvan, or Paradise. The entourage mostly arrived, led by Baha’u’llah, on this day, remaining for twelve days, and then heading for Istanbul, which was then the capital of the Ottoman Empire.

Baha’u’llah and His family had been banished to Iraq, in 1853, for their association with al-Bab, His Herald, Who had proclaimed His own dispensation, thus challenging the authority of the Shiite Muslim clergy. Al-Bab had been executed by firing squad, in July, 1850, which led to the mass execution of His followers and the imprisonment of Baha’u’llah for four months. Upon His release from the fetid Siyah-Chal and an attempt by a deluded follower of al-Bab on the life of Nasiruddin Shah, Baha’u’llah was subject to exile, by order of the Shah, and crossed the Zagros Mountains on foot and on horseback, in the dead of winter, 1852-3.

Baghdad proved a relatively benign locus for the entourage, at first. Soon, though, a few aggressive members of the group, led by Baha’u’llah’s half-brother, Yahya, also known as Sub-i-Azal, began to foment dissension. Baha’u’llah left the encampment and spent two years in the mountains of Kurdistan, basically giving Azal the burden of proving his leadership capabilities. When Azal proved incompetent as a leader, an emissary from the group found Baha’u’llah in the mountains and persuaded Him to return to Baghdad. He rekindled the spirits and cohesiveness of the community. Once it began to thrive again, however, Nasiruddin Shah pressured the Ottoman Emperor, Abul-Aziz, to remove Baha’u’llah and His followers from Baghdad to Istanbul (then still called Constantinople, its name since Roman times).

This chain of events led to the time He spent in the Garden of Ridvan. One of the names given to virtually all of the Adamic Prophets is Ancient of Days. This title essentially links the Messengers, from Adam to Jesus the Christ to Baha’u’llah, to the Creator. The image of God the Father has been raised, yet there is as much a feminine energy as there is its masculine counterpart, in the Creative process. Each of the Messengers has alluded to the equality of men and women, in the sight of the Divine, yet only al-Bab and Baha’u’llah have codified this equality, in Their respective Books of Laws.

Ancient of Days is used by adherents of many Faiths, basically noting that Creation is a process that goes back further than any human can comprehend and will extend in the future farther than any human-inspired model can prognosticate. Thus we have the Teaching: “This is the Changeless Faith of God: Eternal in the past, eternal in the future.”-Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Bah’u’llah, Section LXX, Paragraph 2.

Thus do we Baha’is honour the beginning of Our Lord’s Dispensation, celebrating from April 20-May 1, this year.

UndivIDEd

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

March 15, 2024- Today being the Ides (Divides) of March, I am taking a few minutes to look at one element of life that may lead to division.

Among the entries on my e-mail serve, this morning, was one from a local woman, bemoaning socialism. That comes as no surprise, with so many who view any sort of collective as an affront to those whose well-being has come, in their honest assessment, from the sweat of their own brows. It does not, however, recognize that both socialism and individualism are continuums, varying in degrees.

Socialism can be as compatible with individual effort as are the systems in place in countries as diverse as Sweden, New Zealand and Costa Rica-all of which have, or recently have had, conservative leadership. Those conservative leaders have not seen fit to wholly dismantle the economic system; instead viewing small tweaks that stimulate individual ingenuity and drive, when the State appears to be overly dismissive of those two qualities.

Socialism can also be overly deterrent of individual initiative and drive, when ambitious reformers get ahead of their own agenda, as has happened in Cuba, Nicaragua, and in the former Soviet Union. Ego can end up destroying whatever good might have initially come from the attempt to correct excessive individualism. Then, we will see the very thing that the artist Pete Townshend described in his song, “We Won’t Get Fooled Again”- “The parting on the Left is now parting on the Right…”

No one size fits all, and human beings are, by and large, hard-wired to draw inspiration, and affirmation, from their own imaginations, interests and talents. Baha’u’llah teaches that “It is made incumbent on every one of you to engage in some occupation, such as arts, trades, and the like. We have made this—your occupation—identical with the worship of God, the True One. Reflect, O people, upon the Mercy of God and upon His favors, then thank Him in mornings and evenings.” (Bahá’u’lláh: Bahá’í World Faith, p. 195) (Programmer’s note: ‘Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh revealed after the Kitab-i-Aqdas’, p. 26).

We were each created to live to our fullest individual capacity. Even many developmentally disabled persons can do some form of work that contributes to the public good. Being discouraged from this, by anyone in authority, can only do harm to society, over time-which is why a balance between liberal idealism and attention to the collective need to be balanced with conservative preservation of values and the honouring of individual initiative. Left to themselves, either ideology can become over-active, and end up stifling the populace.

I could offer several specific examples of both, but suffice it to say that no human institution can thrive, in perpetuity, without rigourous oversight by the people it purports to serve. That’s why even enterprises and social groups, formed with the purest of motives, need to be subject to scrutiny. Publicly-held companies, school systems (both public and private) have Boards of Directors for a reason, and founders of those institutions have been asked to leave, when they depart from their own original plan of operation. Government, too, operates best with a system of checks and balances.

Belief in one’s own primacy can never take the place of commitment to the public good.

Cycles of Thirteen

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Family, impediments, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

March 5, 2024- I sat at Penny’s gravesite, early this afternoon, reciting a special Tablet written by Baha’u’llah, and several other prayers that I customarily say each day. The place was quiet and the air calm, with only a few other people around, either paying their respects or working.

She was in declining health, and I was her mainstay, for thirteen years (1998-2011), from her first head trauma to the day of her passing. It has now been thirteen years since she went to the afterlife, which Baha’is know as the Abha Realm (Abha means Heaven, or Most Glorious). In that time, I have shed much lack of confidence, honed social skills-some of them the hard way and become more patient with myself. None of that would have been possible, I believe, without the support of my strongest spirit guide. What gave her fits, in this life, has largely been overcome by her patient admonitions and way-showing.

The next thirteen years, if indeed such a cycle has started to succeed the last two, will likely find me even farther afield than the one just ended. I will possibly be occupied with remaining international journeys, may be building another relationship-or both. Regardless of the substance of this life, I know it will have the support of the soul with whom I became a strong Baha’i and raised a fine young man to adulthood. Any and all bumps along the way were just part of the growth process.

May her soul ever shine its light on any dark path I encounter.

The Trends of ’23

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, impediments, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Service Activities, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

December 31, 2023- The last day of the Gregorian calendar year brought my late parents-in-law together in matrimony, in 1948. That union brought Penny into this world, led me to the Baha’i Faith, made possible our marriage and the birth of our son, who has grown into a strong, well-grounded man. It has made possible my faith-based travels and activities here at Home Base. Although she is also gone now, Penny’s spirit and those of my other departed loved ones guide me to a higher level of action.

Nearly forty-three years after embracing the Teachings of Baha’u’llah, I was honoured to host a Spiritual Feast, last night, at which those present engaged in a fulsome consultation, which is the core purpose, along with devotions and fellowship, of the event. It was one of the best consultations in which I’ve ever participated. It signified the spirit of this past year, which was all about internal reflection and personal refinement.

Now, I look back at these past twelve months, and the overall trends and themes of its passage. Essentially, taking an attitude of self-confidence, I accepted a managerial role with the Red Cross, and thanks to a fine team, was able to help over eighty evacuees during a flood response, in Santa Cruz County, CA, in April. Working through those challenges, and overcoming hostility from a local business owner, led to what was, overall, a successful relief effort. I feel confident that I could replicate this effort, should the need arise again.

In July, a simple visit to a long-isolated fellow Baha’i brought her back into activity in her community. This, in turn, seems to be regenerating that community’s activities, as well as her own once-flagging self-confidence. It is what we can do for one another, and will result in a much stronger human race, “one brick at a time”. 

Here in Home Base 1, encouraging young people in their efforts has been a key focus of time and energy. Whether in classrooms, at the Farmers Market or in private conversations with a single mother, who is like a daughter to me, and taking a stand on her behalf, the fostering of rising generations has been probably the most rewarding of efforts. Being able to rise above, and resolve, other instances in which miscommunication has resulted in estrangement, has also been a reward of this past year.

My mother’s milestone birthday, this past September, while reminding me of the difficulty I have in communicating with her, long distance, also reflected the deeper bond between us, which transcends face-to-face meetings. She is still one of the seminal influences on my life.

The first extended travel outside the United States, in nearly ten years, brought some wondrous people into my life-one in particular. My Philippines experience has also imparted the confidence that I lacked, when visiting Europe in 2014, and has strengthened my voice, for what lies ahead-both on the return to that country, in September and visits to six other nations, across another ocean, later that month and nearly to November. That these are all Faith-based journeys does not negate my sense of personal responsibility, in their execution. In fact, living the Baha’i life entails, in the words of ‘Abdu’l-Baha, “walking the mystical path with practical feet.”

So does 2023 enter the realm of history, having already done so,in nearly half the world, and ready to do so, within the next thirteen hours, across the rest of Planet Earth. I am grateful for the personal lessons it has brought, am chastened by the physical and emotional destruction that nationalism, greed and fear have wrought, both in the U.S. and across over a dozen countries around the world and I am ready to work, as hard as necessary, to bring about a lasting peace, wherever 2024 takes me.

Successive and Progressive

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Service Activities, Spiritual, Striving

December 25, 2023- The parking lots were mostly empty; the stores mostly closed and the churches were at least half full, as one of the quietest days of the year played out.

Much of the world took a breather today, in observance of Christmas-celebrating the birth of Jesus the Christ. Although, some archaeologists and historians point to March or April, as a more likely time for the actual event. the die had long been cast, for the cusp of Solstice, by the time the experts had formulated their alternative theory. So, it remains that December 25, or January 7, by the Julian Calendar used by Eastern Orthodox reckoning, is the day on which Christ is acknowledged as having come into the world.

A friend mentioned that there were long lines, to enter restaurants, in her home area. There was a long line at the Solid Rock Food Pantry, where I finished my day by wiping pots, pans and trays-after they’d been washed. There was no line at Hiking Buddy’s house, where six of us dined on roast pork loin, scalloped potatoes, and tender asparagus. The lights at Courthouse Square have no lines walking around to see their affirmation of civic life. There was a line, for selfies, in front of the gazebo, but I am past that stage.

The gatherings of families and friends, across the globe, are taking a breather of their own, now-before it starts up, though to a lesser degree , as the transition of calendar years is celebrated, next weekend. Each successive year has similarities to those before, and immediately after, its play-out. There is often the sentiment-“I am so over_______. ________can’t come fast enough.” The same sentiment is then repeated, as the next year, in turn, winds down.

We are, however, making progress-individually, communally and as a species. The guidance that comes from the Divine expects no less of us. Yes, there are fall backs, and reversals, but just like a financial decline, these are followed by a resurgence, and steps forward-often bringing forth cultural and technological advances that have not been anticipated. People are, by and large, more resistant to War Culture and Patriarchy. More force has to be applied to support those antiquated notions. The rollbacks, even when temporarily successful, cannot themselves be sustained over time.

Each succeeding Divine Messenger brings renewed respect and understanding of the Predecessor’s Teachings. Each also brings the exhortation to advance in our understanding of some practices-giving up some of them and taking on others. Thus, Christ told His followers that divorce was, for the most part, no longer permitted and that eating shellfish and pork were no longer taboo. Baha’u’llah has, in turn, called for eschewing those social practices that relegate women to second class status or that encourage a social hierarchy, based on race, class or age. The parochial structure, so necessary in a world rising out of famine and plague, is being superseded by a structure that calls for character and responsibility, as determinants of social rank, to the extent this is even necessary.

Each time a new Message comes from the Divine, it is worth honouring the Light that brought the Message. Today, people of all faiths honoured Christ’s Light.

Expanding Home, Day 12: A Toe In The Water

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Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

October 21, 2023, Paranaque- The driver seemed near the end of his rope: “How can you be staying someplace, and not know the address?” The equally flustered passenger was asking self the same question, but all the e-mails from the hotel gave a phone number and e-mail address, but no physical location. The gate guard at the airport knew the answer-“Sir, the rider cannot know the street address, because there is only a general location. Kindly drive around the edge of the terminal and turn left. You will both see a familiar face: Colonel Sanders. There is where the hotel is.” Driver followed the directions, the passenger sighed to self, paid the driver and went off to enjoy an evening of professional karaoke singers, playing all the hits they knew. It was a fine Saturday night, after all.

I spent the better part of the day with three or four Filipino Baha’is, at the National Center/South Luzon Regional Office. We also scouted my residence for the coming week, which is close to the office and will allow me to establish the bonds that are as much my goal for this journey, as the visit, three days ago, with my sponsored youth was. I will thus have put a toe in the water, figuratively speaking. By the end of my time here, the Philippines will seem as much like home as Arizona, California, New Mexico, Colorado,Carson City, Texas, Pennsylvania, New England, Atlantic Canada, the Pacific Northwest, Brittany and South Korea. Home is definitely expanding.

I was not always certain that I would take to the tropics, the same way that my temperate mindset has reveled in lands with four seasons. It is, however, more a sense of the heart being touched by the gentleness, overall, of people here-much as the First Nations peoples and the farm folk around North America, and the Celts of Brittany, have won that heart. Truth be known, I barely feel the intense heat. Sunscreen and a good hat take care of the physical aspect. I am, otherwise, mainly attending to conversations, some of them fairly deep, with both the Baha’i friends and people I have met here and in Bicol.

What this means for the years immediately ahead remains to be seen. Family will always be my primary responsibility, after service to Baha’u’llah. Being told, though, that I am always welcome here, means a lot.

Philippine Baha’i National Center-Main Library
Entrance to Baha’i National Center of the Philippines, Santa Ana District, near Manila

First Nations

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Posted by on in Assistance, collaborating, Community, distraction issues, Historical, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

October 9, 2023- There once was a story, that when the People came across the ice and land bridge known as Beringia, they followed large, ferocious beasts, from mastodons and mammoths to smilodons (sabre-toothed cats) and short-faced bears. There was Megatherium, the larger, somewhat more irascible ancestor of today’s tree sloth. There were huge dire wolves and wild cattle, called aurochs. Some legends also say that the continent of North America was occupied by giant humans. There is evidence that some First Nations people also came by sea, from the western Pacific islands and from the Mediterranean region-and that even the Amazon Basin was peopled, before the Pacific Northwest.

Much of that lore remains to be proven. So, too, does much of the lore about who first settled what we call the Holy Land. The Old Testament recounts that the twelve tribes of Israel were led to the edge of that nation, and found Canaanites and Philistines already there. There was battle, and the Philistines were defeated. They went slightly north, became the Phoenicians , and contributed greatly to Western Civilization-as did the Jews.

People have always been on the move. Homo sapiens came out of Africa, spread throughout Eurasia, across the Pacific Islands, into Australia and to the Americas. Migrating peoples left the Eurasian steppes and Altai Mountains-some going east and becoming the Siberians and at least some of those we call First Nations peoples or Native Americans; others going west and becoming the Scythians, Kelts, Teutons, Slavs, Turks, Magyars (Huns) and Sami. Other migrating people left the Caucasus and became the Greeks, Etruscans, Latins and Illyrians of southern Europe, or, going eastward, the Persians and various peoples of north India.

African emigres sailed the Indian Ocean, and the eastern rim of Asia, to Australia, New Guinea and Melanesia. The true First Nations of the Philippines, Taiwan and Jeju (South Korea) were of African origin. In kind, Malays, who long ago left southern China and settled the Pacific Rim of southeast Asia-found their way westward, settling Madagascar, where they found and intermingled with Africans.

In Africa itself, the southern third of the continent was originally the domain of those who have been variously called Hottentots, Bushmen, Pygmies, or more recently by their own preferred name, San. Those known collectively as Bantu were migrants from western Africa, who spread across the continent, much as the First Nations peoples of the Americas spread through those continents.

The beat goes on-and still there is argument, as to who should be allowed to live where. Fighting over land is tantamount to self-defeatism. Untangling the ball of yarn will be a long, tortuous process, but can anyone really say the process of conflict and warfare is easier?

“The Earth is but one country, and Mankind its citizens”. – Baha’u’llah

Messages

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Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Education, Historical, impediments, Inspiration, Personal goals, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving, Travel

October 4, 2023- When I closed my eyes at this evening’s prayer meeting, I saw a cabin in the woods, with soft, multicoloured lighting outside. After a few more prayers were said, I closed my eyes in reverence again, and saw the dungeon where Baha’u’llah was imprisoned for four months, in 1852. The full meaning of these visions could play out, in terms of my being physically-present in those locations, at some point, or there could be some related meaning, that pertains to something else in my life.

Messages can have “one and seventy meanings”, according to any number of spiritual traditions, including the Teachings of Christ, and those of Baha’u’llah- Who goes further, ascribing such a distinction to every written word in Scripture. Indeed, any time I get an inspirational message about how to spend a day, where to work and where to visit, it takes some contemplation, beforehand and along the course of the day, to be sure that I am maintaining the intended course of action,

The message that came to me, three weeks ago, to accept this week’s work assignment, was very clear: “Do your level best for the two children who will be your primary focus, while also helping with anyone else who needs attention, especially if the classroom teacher is busy elsewhere or is overwhelmed.” This has prepared me for a few instances, such as lunch time, when there has been shortness of staff and I found myself serving as an adhoc monitor. It also falls into my long-held view that every educator in an institution of learning is responsible, to a degree, for the well-being of every student in that environment.

The message that came to me, back in May, regarding my journey to southeast Asia, was to focus strictly on the Philippines-that a longer journey to the region, involving more nations, would happen in a few years. Such guidance can always change, as situations evolve in various aspects of my life and in the wider world. Yes, the dynamics of aging and health are among those aspects-but for now, that part of my life is not fraught with issues. I have three focuses for the upcoming trip: Visiting a sponsored youth, connecting with the Baha’is and a few other friends, and paying homage to those who died at Bataan and Corregidor, as well as to Jose Rizal and,if time allows, Lapu-Lapu, whom I regard as a figure little known in the West-but every bit as important to history as the great chiefs of North America’s First Nations.

Over the next few days, I may receive further insight regarding the matter, but for now, the message is to focus on the children and correct an oversight on a financial matter, relative to health care I received one and two years ago.