Number One Across in the Universal crossword (as seen in the Toronto Star, the internet and probably other places) this week = Baha'i! So awesome!http://ms-slg.blogspot.com/2007/08/this-week-in-bahai-news.html
"All historical epics," as Benjamin Friedlander notes in his analysis of Bahá’í poet Robert Hayden's epic, "are first of all affirmations of community." ... I can't help but agree with the sentiments of Joseph Campbell when he says: "each individual is the centre of a mythology of his own." As Baha'u'llah says, we each must find for ourselves the indwelling God, the Thou at the centre of our world--and the crossover, for the Bahá’í, the cornerstone of community, is symbolized by Baha'u'llah.
Small groups like the Baha’i are easily overlooked in Egypt but their right to freedom correspond to the freedoms of all the countries citizens, therefore Baha’i freedoms equal Egyptian freedoms. 
Muslims do not allow images of God or messengers which is a movement toward God being transcendent, which means that all description of God being in time or space is pure imagination. This also, is the Baha’i view of God which means that it is helpful to imagine where God is terms of virtue, but description of God is beyond all comprehension.Richard Hastings, "Where is God?" Radical Change
We believe that "seal of the prophets" did not mean that Muhammad was the last of the Manifestations, but rather more of a closing off of prophecy itself, or the "seal" as a kind of stamp of approval — or more accurately, of validation — of the previous prophetic messages. And we believe that while not all of the literal "signs of the return" may have accompanied the lives of the Báb's and Bahá'u'lláh, these various apocalyptic predictions are built up and exaggerated over the years.
Stephen A. Fuqua, "Missed Opportunity: Baha'i Connection to the Shi'a Mahdi," Safnet.com
im going to like world religions, and if i gain weight this semster, its all because of that class [teacher makes us bring in food], so tell me if i look fatter.
The more I listen to Arise by the Dawnbreaker Collective and the Temple of Light Vol 1 albums, the more I am aware of the tremendous gains that have been achieved in producing high quality Baha'i-inspired music. I absolutely love the creativity of the Arise collaboration and the diversity of selections on the Temple of Light compilation.-gw
"Ditmas Park mural: Recently dubbed 'the most diverse neighborhood in America' by U.S.News & World Report, Ditmas Park attracts a broad swath of individuals and families from a wide variety of cultural, religious, and economic backgrounds." Uploaded on September 17, 2006 by anniebee on flickr
"Believers sang song or pray to God of Taoism & Buddhism at the temple, Taipei"
Uploaded on August 13, 2007 by Sunshine Junior on flickr
On his blog Iguana focuses on the intersect of economic development and spirituality in a fascinating post on what has been termed the Grameen methodology, or micro-credit programs, which aim at alleviating poverty. -gw
*All quotes taken from “Science, Religion and Development”, pages 83 – 86, Dr. Farzam Arbab, FUNDAEC, 2001.
Marco, the Portuguese blogger of Povo de Baha, conveys the news of Baha'i Nelson Evora's achievement. Nelson won a gold medal for Portugal at the international track meet in Osaka, Japan. -gw
Uploaded on March 22, 2006 by Skip The Budgie on flickr
I find different groups and religions interesting. One day you will see me reading the bible, read on buddaism to the Baha'i religion because I think it is important to learn about others beliefs so you can make your own desicions on what you believe. It all falls under love, basic religions basically say the same thing, they all pray and fills our hearts with peace. If people stopped focusing on other people and forcing others to believe what others believe than I think this world would be a happier place ;-) PEace and Love.
"Ye are even as the bird which soareth, with the full force of its mighty wings and with complete and joyous confidence, through the immensity of the heavens, until, impelled to satisfy its hunger, it turneth longingly to the water and clay of the earth below it, and, having been entrapped in the mesh of its desire, findeth itself impotent to resume its flight to the realms whence it came. Powerless to shake off the burden weighing on its sullied wings, that bird, hitherto an inmate of the heavens, is now forced to seek a dwelling-place upon the dust. Wherefore, O My servants, defile not your wings with the clay of waywardness and vain desires, and suffer them not to be stained with the dust of envy and hate, that ye may not be hindered from soaring in the heavens of My divine knowledge.(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 327) " Uploaded on August 22, 2006 by prema on flickr
at the ticket counter i was told that my flight is not until tomorrow. this made me feel very alone. suddenly my expectations went from getting on a plane and waking up in michigan and seeing my mom, to shivering through the cold dark city all alone from a lonely airport of strangers to a cold desolate, late night, end of the line, BART station, to the spooky civic center station ghetto, to the actual ghetto, to my home, where no one is expecting my return, not even my cat. it was nearly 11pm and i felt nothing but desolation and dissapointment as i wheeled my things to the elevator and got on the air train to journey back to my sad life.
"An approaching train in the Civic Center BART station," uploaded on February 11, 2007 by Jeremy Brooks on flickr
we had the greatest discussion. and i felt so lucky to have the things that i had with me. i had wanted to go to the book store and get materials to help teach my christian best friend in michigan. but i ran out of time, so just before leaving the bahai center i grabed a flyer called, "the Rumor of Christ's Return". i also had the book "Preparing for Christ's new Name" and i even had printed out the Lawhi Aqdas, the Most Holy Tablet aka the Tablet for the Christians. but i didn't have all the pages, so he gave me his email address to get the whole thing by email. 
BAHAI FAITH - A WAY FORWARD
EGYPT TOURISM AD
Sunday morning I had occasion to visit a Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints church and observe youth and young adults among those at the 9 a.m. sacrament service. Today I note a fascinating discussion involving dozens of comments to a post on a blog called By Common Consent which addresses what might be called religious diversity issues affecting LDS youth. The 52nd commenter is Portia who had this observation to share among others. -gw
As far as sharing similar values, one of my closest friends was Persian and Baha’i. We had interesting discussions about our respective religions, and she had very good morals as far as modesty, drinking/drugs, sex, etc., and she wasn’t Christian, let alone Mormon.
Comment on "Teenagers and Mormon friends" by Portia, By Common Consent
{Photo licensed under Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.0}
"Ties that bind," uploaded on April 10, 2007 by quasarsglow on flickr
The blogger of Welcome to My Home invites his readers to view the video "George Airy and Abdul-Baha" on YouTube, and offers the following observations. -gw
Saturday I spent the day manning the Baha'i Booth at the Asian Water Festival. The booth looked like 
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Sara and Greg are back from Indonesia and have posted again. I was reading a previous post of Sara's and continue to find remarkable the incredible detail of her description of visiting Baha'i communities in Mentawai, Sumatra, Indonesia. -gw
Hate and violence just increases, 
Blogging and Baha'i. They go together like beans and rice. It's page one Blog Search news. -gw
Books Accomplished: 40 / 50 books. 80% done!
When I first started blogging I thought readers always started with the top post. What I've come to know, but only when I got Sitemeter, is that readers come to blogs via as many doors as there are posts. Another benefit to sticking with a blog day after day, year after year. It is my hope that every post can be an avenue to investigation of the Faith. Another post, another door.
Bahai Views
