On We're Doing Our Walks Memorizing Prayers: The reliance on the Word of God

Our Ruhi Book 1 Baha'i study circle is moving towards its conclusion. I have five prayers to memorize and I haven't completed the task. I gotta get crackin'. Tom and Renee, on the other hand, are learning prayers left and right. I wonder if they could memorize some for me and have in count. -gw

 

 

It is heartening to see that, already in some 300 of the 1,600 clusters worldwide with intensive programmes of growth in operation, the believers have entered the new arena of learning now open to them, and, in more than a few, they are extending its frontiers. Clearly, in all such clusters, strengthening the educational processes set in motion by the training institute, each with its own requisites—regularly held classes for the youngest members of society, close-knit groups for junior youth, and circles of study for youth and adults—is of paramount importance. Much of what this work entails was discussed in the Riḍván message. Without exception, having witnessed the transformative effects of the institute process first hand, the friends in such clusters are striving to gain a fuller appreciation of the dynamics that underlie it—the spirit of fellowship it creates, the participatory approach it adopts, the depth of understanding it fosters, the acts of service it recommends, and, above all, its reliance on the Word of God. Every effort is being exerted to ensure that the process reflects the complementarity of “being” and “doing” the institute courses make explicit; the centrality they accord to knowledge and its application; the emphasis they place on avoiding false dichotomies; the stress they lay on memorization of the Creative Word; and the care they exercise in raising consciousness, without awakening the insistent self.

The December 28th, 2010, Message of the Universal House of Justice to the Conference of the Continental Boards of Counsellors, paragraph 16.

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