On Hairdressers as Natural Helpers: She then asked me about Baha'u'llah

When I begin my master's program I took a course on counseling that referenced the significance of "natural helpers," those who provide emotional support to others as a natual part of their jobs. A hairdresser or barber often can have a positive effect on the mental health of many people over the course of a day. Dear blogger friend and hairdresser Jess is such a natural helper.

A truth for me, working in the mental health field, is that following a religious practice is an enormous assistance to maintaining a positive mental state. Jess has written about how she provides a listening ear for her clients but that people in her profession usually need to avoid the subject of religion with their clients. As she writes in this post, when there is receptivity, even this rule of thumb can be ignored. -gw

I had a client here today who is a very nice woman but she has a lot of personal problems, the two significant ones being that she battles an eating disorder and her marriage is in a rough patch. I put some foils in her hair and began to work on her daughter's hair so she went into the playroom off the kitchen to watch TV. Bob's and my Ruhi study books are on a bookshelf in the playroom and she picked one up and flipped through it.

Earlier we had been talking about church. She asked me if I had been lately and when I responded, "no", she said she hadn't either and she felt guilty. She mentioned that she needed an evening study group more than a weekend sermon to help her along and I told her a little about the Ruhi group Bob and I participating in. She seemed vaguely interested but I didn't push the issue because it isn't my place as her hairstylist to be discussing her spirituality with her.

So, I guess after our brief chat she saw the Ruhi books, picked one up and leafed through it and then returned to me with questions. The most notable being, "Do Baha'is believe Jesus is the Son of God and He died for our sins?" I answered her as best I could telling her that yes Baha'is do believe Jesus is the Son of God and died on the cross but their interpretation of the resurrection is a bit different than the evangelical Christian one. I briefly explained how Baha'is accept many faiths as leading to the same God, Christianity being one of them. She then asked me about Baha'u'llah, who He is and what He had to say. Oh, boy. I told her a bit more that I know and gave her a comparison of sorts to help her understand. I told her that Baha'u'llah is considered by Baha'is to be the most recent Prophet from God. The Bab could be compared to John the Baptist, Baha'u'llah to Jesus and Abdu'l-Baha to Paul.

She had many more questions and wanted to know about my study group. I then told her I thought the best thing to do if she was really interested would be to take one of my Baha'i books to read and if she still had questions or was interested in exploring further to let me know. She took Moojen Momens The Baha'i Faith with her when she left. I also gave her information about Ocean, the online concordance of sorts for all religious texts.

We'll see what happens. I have to admit I felt unprepared to answer her questions because I am still new and learning myself. And I am not a Baha'i!

Jess, "And so it begins..." Tangential Thoughts

{Re-posted with permission}