Tag Archives: World Order

Sane and Intelligent Patriotism

2
Posted by on in collaborating, Community, Personal Values, Social, Striving

February 27, 2022- Recently, we have been treated to the spectacle of a field grade officer, in the United States Army Reserves, making public statements supporting the unprovoked attack of one country upon another-as a way of expressing opposition to our own sitting president.

Baha’u’llah taught that love of one’s country, as expressed in patriotism, should be sane and intelligent. Shoghi Effendi, His great-grandson and the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith, from 1922 until his passing in 1957, explained the Baha’i teachings on this matter further: “Let there be no misgivings as to the animating purpose of the world-wide Law of Baha’u’llah. Far from aiming at the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to broaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with the needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate allegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is neither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in men’s hearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the evils of excessive centralization are to be avoided.”-Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha’u’llah.

This World Order, as opposed to the partisan or financial globalist orders, recognizes the essential need for society to be constructed from the ground up, first with a securely functioning family, then community, state/province/prefecture, nation and commonwealth. None may be allowed to cancel the other, particularly from the top down.

This principle honours the human need for loyalty and belonging. By its lights, a citizen exhibits loyalty to family, state and nation, then gradually may reach the understanding that the human race is one entity. This understanding can never be forced upon anyone. Conversely, peace officers, military and government officials-at any level, must honour the citizens and their elected representatives, regardless of the officer’s or official’s personal views about those representatives.

In my humble opinion, that is the meaning of sane and intelligent patriotism.

United and Independent

2
Posted by on in Assistance, children, collaborating, Community, Family, impediments, Inner Struggles, Inspiration, Matters of Faith, Personal Values, Service Activities, Social, Spiritual, Striving

January 16, 2021-

Today, my focus has been on two things: Sharing things I no longer need and attending to the unity of all life. I am presently reading Amalia Camateros’ “Spirit of the Stones”, an account of her life that focuses on her growth as an embodied soul and deep connection with the elements of Earth: Air, water, mineral and fire. Amalia is a native of Australia, whose primary connection with North America has been with Sedona, our sister city to the northeast.

In one chapter, she relates her most intense visit to Cathedral Rock, perhaps the most energy-laden of the Sedona area’s many vortices. She describes the promontory as appearing to be two souls, standing back to back-united and independent. The standing rocks are often described by those who have spent time on Cathedral Rock as representing a man and a woman- married, but also each their own person.

That set me to thinking: I was in such a marriage, and when one of us needed the other most, we were inseparable. No pun intended, we were one another’s rock. I am seeing more married adults, among my circle of friends, celebrating their spouses. This is a reverse of what I used to see, from the ’90s into the 2010s, though I know many will reply: “I’ve always been in love with my spouse.” There was more bickering, not so many years ago, and I sense that, with life hard enough as it is, people are realizing what matters most in life.

There is also a rise in the understanding that each human being is a unique soul and that there is no ownership of one by another. Even the use of “my”, in reference to a spouse, or even a child, is fading. Not that many years ago, I was taken to task for using the term “my wife”. The critic was right, though not for the reason he gave (“Only a misogynist would claim to own a woman”). No one owns anyone else, period. It has nothing to do with a person’s psychosexual baggage. Words do matter, though, and when rererring to one’s beloved, children or family members, it’s become my wont to use given names-as well as relationships- end of digression.

Getting back to the blend of unity and independence, the other revelation that came today was with regard to the process of global unity. It must come from the ground up. No downwardly imposed world order will last long. As a community is only as strong as its families, so a planetary order will depend on strong individual nations, each committed to work with the others. This will largely depend, at least initially, on the human race taking the wisdom of the ancients and blending it with the native adaptability of children, in solving novel problems. (I saw this ability, this past week, with a new focus).

The days and months ahead will likely see a clash, of sorts, between those who favour the present, conventional ways of doing things and those who favour such a blend of knowledge, as is described above. There is, though, a new energy taking root.

The Road to 65, Mile 357: Ten Positive Areas in My Life

2
Posted by on in Personal Values, Striving

November 20, 2015, Prescott-  I spent today at Mile High Middle School, here in town.  The classes’ focus for the week was facing prejudice.  The main class had been watching “The Diary of Anne Frank” (2009 miniseries), and finished today.  The Honours classes viewed “Simon Birch” (1998), a film that examines institutionalized, “faith-based” prejudice in a small town. The clever teacher, for whom I was covering, had done a fine job in responding to the events of Nov. 12-13.

My response to those has been engaging in Positivity Week, an annual project of the blogger Cherokee Writer.  Today, I’d like to note my life’s ten positive themes:

1. Children and youth- I so deeply love the younger generations, that helping them build on their personal strengths, and their futures, remains my central focus.

2.  Faith- I am a Baha’i, because of the comprehensive, all-inclusive and forward thinking that infuses every Word of Baha’u’llah’s Writings.  No nation or group need be left out of the World Order, as He envisions it.  It was nice to finally feel like I belonged somewhere, beyond immediate family, and  I still feel it.

3.  Family- My son, mother, siblings, in-laws and all extended family bring me great pride and solace.  That the holidays will find me among many of them offers yet more of these.

4.  Nature- I will elaborate a bit more in the next post, but being in a natural setting gives me all manner of reassurance, that life is resilient.

5. Music- Various genres alternately soothe and energize me.  One of my earliest memories is of marching alongside the Varsity Marching Band, in the Independence Day parade, when I was about four.

6.  Heritage-Both history and lore have fascinated me, since I was small.  Growing up in a town which honoured both Indigenous peoples and settlers from Europe helped engender this focus.

7. Literature-  Fiction and nonfiction alike led me to learn to read early on, and I often had my nose in a book, when others would be watching TV.

8.  Justice- I have been urgently concerned with having the right thing happen, since I was in grade school.

9. Personal development- Largely due to my personal challenges, a major focus of my being has been to own up to, and address, defects and weaknesses.

10.  Mercy-  I have tended to forgive and move on, after slights or mistreatments.  Though I am less forgiving of hurts to children or vulnerable people than I am of injuries to myself, there is still a sense that it falls to the Divine to exact true justice.