On Buttoning Down the Baha'i Faith: Researching it as my subculture
Y found a subject for her social anthropology report. -gw So I had a discussion with my flatmate about the Baha'i Faith last night, for my social anthropology interview report, aka final assignment. It's an interesting religion. I had not heard of it until I met him, and listening to what he was saying was awesome.
"Jar of Buttons," uploaded on July 15, 2007 by madaise on flickr
"Jar of Buttons," uploaded on July 15, 2007 by madaise on flickr
So what I gathered was that the Baha'i faith originated in Persia aroudn the 19th century, founded by Bahá'u'lláh. The word 'Baha'i' comes from the Arab word 'Bahá’' which means 'glory' or 'splendour'.The main principal is unity, and the Baha'i faith is a progressive religion. This means that God reveals different messengers over time and that what these messengers teach are relevant to the world at the time. Examples of such messengers are Buddha, Muhammad, Jesus Christ and Abraham. He mentioned that the religion was like a boy or man, growing, at different stages at different times of life. In order for equilibrium in the world to occur, religion and science must agree. Additionally, Baha'i believe that "work is worship," and discourages people from giving into the Faith so strongly, so that their whole life revolves around praying, so in other words, Monasticismis forbidden. There are also no status or ranks in the Faith. Everyone is equal.
I dunno. I just find this viewpoint rather
interesting, and I'm happy that I chose to research it as my subculture :) Oh and right after that conversation (we discussed other things as well) I dunno why, I just had the mood to button stuff... haha. Must've have been that jar of buttons that I bought from the Op Shop the other day. A whole jar full of buttons for $4.50, heh. Couldn't resist, and there are really spiffy buttons in it too :D
{Re-posted with permission}
{Photos licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0 Generic}
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