On LIfe Is a Charade: Let the dead bury the dead

 

Life is a charade, don't ya know. Is it illusory? -gw

 

Certain sophists think that existence is an illusion, that each being is an absolute illusion which has no existence—in other words, that the existence of beings is like a mirage, or like the reflection of an image in water or in a mirror, which is only an appearance having in itself no principle, foundation or reality. 

 

This theory is erroneous; for though the existence of beings in relation to the existence of God is an illusion, nevertheless, in the condition of being it has a real and certain existence. It is futile to deny this. For example, the existence of the mineral in comparison with that of man is nonexistence, for when man is apparently annihilated, his body becomes mineral; but the mineral has existence in the mineral world. Therefore, it is evident that earth, in relation to the existence of man, is nonexistent, and its existence is illusory; but in relation to the mineral it exists.

 

In the same manner the existence of beings in comparison with the existence of God is but illusion and nothingness; it is an appearance, like the image reflected in a mirror. But though an image which is seen in a mirror is an illusion, the source and the reality of that illusory image is the person reflected, whose face appears in the mirror. Briefly, the reflection in relation to the person reflected is an illusion.

Then it is evident that although beings in relation to the existence of God have no existence, but are like the mirage or the reflections in the mirror, yet in their own degree they exist.

 

That is why those who were heedless and denied God were said by Christ to be dead, although they were apparently living; in relation to the people of faith they were dead, blind, deaf and dumb. This is what Christ meant when He said, “Let the dead bury their dead.”

 

Abdu'l-Baha, The reality of the experior world

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On Playing Charades at Junior Youth Group: Quick with the answers

Junior youth at Lisa's played a fun game of charades as their activity a few weeks ago.. Co-animator Jardana came up with the ideas. -gw

 

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On Alternatives to Competitive Games: Think synergy, cooperation, unity, and an experience of interdependence

I came across an amazing pdf document online consisting of 154 pages on games people can play that are more in keeping with the spirit of the age as reflected in the Writings of Baha'u'llah. The document was last updated just a few weeks ago. Thanks, Linden Qualls, for doing this! -gw

http://home.earthlink.net/~l.qualls/sitebuildercontent/sitebuilderfiles/1agamesrules.pdf

Children's understanding of oneness derives from concrete activities which promote synergy, cooperation, unity, and an experience of interdependence---all of which are inherent properties of cooperative games. Cooperative games are a concrete metaphor in action for unity in diversity and oneness.

My personal opinion is that under most circumstances, most competitive games tend to promote values and attitudes that directly undermine unity and the oneness of humanity paradigm. Children can't learn oneness and unity when they are being taught to dominate, to control, to be superior, to succeed at the expense of others. Think of the themes found in typical competitive American board and group/team games:

• Us versus them
• Play to overcome and beat others
• Were number one, we’re the best
• Exulting in other’s failures, depending on it for own success, feeling good when others have faults, weaknesses, or make mistakes
• Yay winners, boo losers—lack of respect and exclusion of the weaker and less coordinated. (Think of “last one there is a rotten egg”)
• Being first, or having the most is the criteria that establishes the winner

Remember, the themes in games influence formation of our social attitudes.

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

The the Relationship Between Christ and Baha'u'llah: He came to rekindle the waning light of truth

 

The birth of Christ was celebrated in several billion homes Sunday. Christianity is the most numerous of the religious commuities today. What is Christ's relationship wth Baha'u'llah? Here is what His son, Abdu'l-Baha, had to say 100 years and a month ago in Paris. -gw

 

All down the ages the prophets of God have been sent into the world to serve the cause of truth—Moses brought the law of truth, and all the prophets of Israel after him sought to spread it.

 

When Jesus came He lighted the flaming torch of truth, and carried it aloft so that the whole world might be illumined thereby. After Him came His chosen apostles, and they went far and wide, carrying the light of their Master’s teaching into a dark world—and, in their turn, passed on.

 

Then came Muhammad, who in His time and way spread the knowledge of truth among a savage people; for this has always been the mission of God’s elect.

 

So, at last, when Bahá’u’lláh arose in Persia, this was His most ardent desire, to rekindle the waning light of truth in all lands. All the holy ones of God have tried with heart and soul to spread the light of love and unity throughout the world, so that the darkness of materiality might disappear and the light of spirituality might shine forth among the children of men. Then would hate, slander and murder disappear, and in their stead love, unity and peace would reign.

 

All the Manifestations of God came with the same purpose, and they have all sought to lead men into the paths of virtue. Yet we, their servants, still dispute among ourselves! Why is it thus? Why do we not love one another and live in unity?

 

It is because we have shut our eyes to the underlying principle of all religions, that God is one, that He is the Father of us all, that we are all immersed in the ocean of His mercy and sheltered and protected by His loving care.

 

The glorious Sun of Truth shines for all alike, the waters of Divine Mercy immerse each one, and His Divine favour is bestowed on all His children.

WORDS SPOKEN BY ‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ IN PASTOR WAGNER’S CHURCH (FOYER DE L’AME) IN PARIS

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On a Flashmob Christmas in Denver: A little slower pace this side of the Rockies

 

This Christmas Taraz was running with the mob in Denver. Flashmob, that is. Very fun time with Melonlight Dance troupe.

 

I was running with my work cronies for a little holiday get-together with members of the Community Support Team, Department of Child and Family, Kitsap Mental Health Services.  Got to see Sara's new home, too. Had a book exchange. I came home with Siegel's The Developing Mind. Good times.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On Christy and the Christmas Caroling: A lovely end to our devotions

 

I have been so entranced by the experience of the core activities in Lisa's home this week that I have forgotten to take pictures. Sunday afternoon it was the junior youth group. Jardana's family pastor and his wife came to visit. Jessica, Elijah and Tita attended with Matt also there to take it all in. Thursday Kim, Gianna, Trejon and Gilmar came for Book 1, and made great progress.  Matt and Christy had started a new job, and weren't able to come that night, but there were there Friday night for devotions.

 

It was just the three of us, as Lisa was away. We celebrated the fact that they are both working together at the same factory now. We prayed. For two hours we prayed.

 

It was almost 11 o'clock when we heard music. Where was it coming from? The neighbors? No, outside. What was it? Christmas carols. "Do you have your camera?" Christy asked.

 

 

I managed to shoot a few pictures and a video, as Matt and Christy stepped outside to listen. Christy was radiant. She had never heard carolers live and in person, she said. We cleaned up a bit, locked up, and headed home for the night, thrilled with our evening. -gw

 

 

 

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On Giving Service While Seeking Even Greater Opportunities: Examples from the Invaders

 

Visiting with the guys at the Tacoma Invaders practice on Saturday I was impressed, as I always am, with their hopes and aspirations, and with the quality of their lives. Many of these young men are still finding their path of service. Many are already serving in a variety of ways.

 

 

I think of one 24 year-old man who has served his country in both Iraj and Afghanistan, is now discharged from the Army, and is now serving his younger siblings still in the home, while also going to school. He cooks for the family, helping his mom out. Dinner is at 6:30. Bedtime is at a decent hour. He makes sure the kids get off to school, and, I'll bet, do their homework.

 

My friend Coach Matt does the same -- monitor and guide his childrren throughout their school year. -gw

 

 

 

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On Equality In America: Red Hot Chili Peppers power

 

But in the divine teachings equality is brought about through a ready willingness to share. It is commanded as regards wealth that the rich among the people, and the aristocrats should, by their own free will and for the sake of their own happiness, concern themselves with and care for the poor. This equality is the result of the lofty characteristics and noble attributes of mankind.

 

Abdul-Baha, Foundations of World Unity

 

The emancipation of women, the achievement of full equality between the sexes, is one of the most important, though less acknowledged prerequisites of peace. The denial of such equality perpetrates an injustice against one half of the world’s population and promotes in men harmful attitudes and habits that are carried from the family to the workplace, to political life, and ultimately to international relations. There are no grounds, moral, practical, or biological, upon which such denial can be justified. Only as women are welcomed into full partnership in all fields of human endeavour will the moral and psychological climate be created in which international peace can emerge.

 

Abdu'l-Baha. The Promise of World Peace

 

On both continents, but especially in North America, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá received a highly appreciative welcome from distinguished audiences devoted to such concerns as peace, women’s rights, racial equality, social reform and moral development.

 

Universal House of Justice, The Century of Light

 

Latest pick by the rocker girl, as she is affectionately known by some of her friends, is a song about equality. -gw

 

 

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On Ruhi Study, Smoking Cessation, and Gifts of Furniture: In Lisa's house of hospitality

Matt, Christy, Kim, Trejon, and little Gilmar came for the "Reflections on the LIfe of the Spirit" Baha'i study circle at Lisa's Thursday night. Two weeks ago Matt and Christy started that book in the Ruhi series, covering the first two sections with Lisa, Nancy, and me.  Last week Kim, Gianna, and Trejon started the Book 1, covering the first section. In our third week of the circle we were able to combine our efforts.

 

Arriving with great energy and enthusiasm, the first thing Matt and Christy wanted to share before we cracked upon our books was an idea for a junior youth activity that they had gotten at an open house at the school Elijah will be going to next year.

 

 

After completing our study for the evening, no one wanted to leave, even though it was a school night for Tre. Christy is trying to stop smoking, which inspired Lisa to offer some strategies she had used to quit two years earlier.

 

 

 

Kids seem to always want to know where things come from. Trejon wanted to know about a chair. No, I didn't buy the chair, Tre.  I did bring the floor lamp from my home, as a contribution of light, and Saturday Lori and Matt (another Matt) brought over the new sectional -- leather, I might add. Lisa said that all the furniture in her home has come from different people.

 

This Salishan home is like a Baha'i center. It may be Lisa's home, but everybody has a stake in it, just as we all have a stake in the institute process happening in that neighborhood. May every home of Baha'is in every neighborhood of our cluster be as open and welcoming as Lisa's. The tremendous and ever increasing growth of the Cause is an inevitable result, hastened by such hospitality.

 

 

Matt wanted to know what happened to the old sofa that had been replaced by the sectional. Oh, it went to Lisa's neighbor. -gw

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On the Baha'i Children's Class Dinner for Parents: Nearly 70 in attendance

 

 

 

 

 

Text on the event from the upcoming Baha'i bulletin for Tacoma. -gw 

 

The fruits of the devoted efforts of several Pierce County Bahá'ís were wonderfully revealed on Wednesday, December 14, 2011, when the Bahá'ís in Pierce County sponsored a dinner for the parents of the Salishan neighborhood children attending the various classes in that neighborhood. A total of nearly 70 persons attended, the vast majority being non-Bahá'í parents from the neighborhood and their children. About half of those attending were children, with nearly all of them from non-Bahá'í neighborhood families. Following dinner, 25 of the children gathered at the front of the room and sang songs and recited prayers that were learned in the classes. The children all wore paper head bands with their names on them in big letters and with assorted virtues written on paper leafs that were attached to the headbands. After the program, all enjoyed cake. The past few years have borne very promising results. Many in the neighborhood are being imbued with the virtues of human conduct that will help make this a better world for everyone. This dinner was the first such event, and we hope to do this again annually.

 

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On Moving Towards a World So Stupendous: Songs that will impress upon the consciousness of the young

This letter just in ... -gw

 

Propelled by forces generated both within and outside the Baha'i community, the peoples of the earth can be seen to be moving from divergent directions, closer and closer to one another, towards what will be a world civilization so stupendous in character that it would be futile for us to attempt to imagine it today. ...

 

We long to hear ... the emergence of captivating songs from every part of the world, in every language, that will impress upon the consciousness of the young the profound concepts enshrined in the Baha'i teachings.

 

From a letter from The Universal House of Justice, 12 December 2011

 

 

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On Saved From the Pound: Be more kind and merciful to the innocent

 

Educate the children in their infancy in such a way that they may become exceedingly kind and merciful to the animals. If the animal is sick they should endeavour to cure it; if it is hungry they should feed it; if it is thirsty, they should satisfy its thirst; if it is tired they should give it rest. Man is generally sinful and the animal is innocent; unquestionably one must be more kind and merciful to the innocent. -gw

 

Abdu'l-Baha

 

 

Laurel and Mehran's little dog, twice returned to the pound before they became the owners, joined us at Long Beach. You can tell when a dog has been abused. Every dog deserves love. -gw

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On a System of Accompaniment: The sun never says to the earth, 'You owe me'

 

Even after all this time
The sun never says to the earth,
"You owe Me."
Look what happens with a love like that.
It lights the whole sky.

- Hafiz (14th-century Sufi poet)

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On Raising Kids to Be Resilient: Baha'i class an alternative to boxing class

 

The most popular sport in America is football. It can be pretty violent. I hate that players get hurt. Especially children.

 

 

Boxing used to be popular. (Think the Gillette Friday night fights.) Boxing has been replaced in popularity by mixed martial arts, which is arguably more violent.

 

We want children to be resilient, accustomed to hardship, fighting through difficulties. Some will argue that boxing and football teach that.

 

But at what point does sport cease to be sport and just become violence, mayhem.

 

Here's Lisa's story from yesterday. She's changed the names. I'm posting this. Baha'i children's classes can change lives. Save lives. -gw

What every believer, new or old, should realize is that the Cause has the spiritual power to re-create us if we make the effort to let that power influence us, and the greatest help in this respect is prayer. We must supplicate Bahá'u'lláh to assist us to overcome the failings in our own characters, and also exert our own will power in mastering ourselves. (Compilations, Lights of Guidance, p. 115) One of the boys in my neighborhood (will call him Dee) along with two boys in our children's class ( call them A and B) had starting attending a "boxing class".    One day after children's class i heard alot of ruckus outside and looked out to see the boys along with their dad's boxing in the alley -- no head protection - nothing-- i felt like i was watching a pit bull fight - my heart fell - and i was seriously PISSED  A-B's dad had just gotten out of 2 years in prison  Dee's dad's had just gotten out of long stay in jail and are okay Dads- they are trying to be role models in their lives and the boys LOVE LOVE LOVE their Dads. The Dad's feel they need to toughen their boys up -  The next morning at our before school devotional A was recounting the boxing story (proudly) and i said " you hit your friend until he puked-- how do yu feel about that?" -- he started to  cried.   I prayed-- no i BESEECHED God --I talked to the Mom's (to no avail) I Beseeched God again and again- trying to overcome the passionate ANGER i felt -- i wanted to flip the H out of all those fools -and ibn between all that anger i supplicated God's help.   Saturday during a bk 1 Dee's dad showed up to pick up A - who had been at a Children's Devotional and immediately mentioned my Greatest Name. Yesterday the Dad of Dee who is actually the ring leader in this boxing deal called and asked if his son could be a part of the "stuff you have going on up in your crib"    WHAT???????  i can't even tell you how amazing this really is

  

When the power of love overcomes the love of power the world will know peace. 
Jimi Hendrix 

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On Our Study Circle As a Family Affair: Accomodation and lnclusion

+

Thursday night's "Reflections on the Life of the Spirit" study circle was a family affair again. Last week Matt and Christy came to start Ruhi, and their kids, always welcome at Lisa's, came along, too. This time it was Kim and Gianna, starting Book 1 with lots of help from 8 year-old Trejon and 3 year-old Gilmar. This coming Thursday we'll combine forces in a continuation of our study.
+

+

I was so impressed with Trejon. Upon arrival, he was given the chance to play X-Box upstairs, but decided instead to stay downstairs and participate in the circle. What an active participant he was!
+

It was great having support from Chris, our Cluster Institute Coordinator, who joined our circle as well. -gw
+

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

Channels of Service: Vehicles for expansion

Lisa came across this Vimeo channel covering the efforts of British Columbia Baha'is. -gw
+

Commercial Drive - For the Children from Striving Pictures on Vimeo.
+

http://vimeo.com/channels/perspectives

the last one is a communities expansion activities that are REALLY great with Much Love L I S A

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On a 35-fold Increase in Children with Severe Mental Illness: Why?

 

Robert Whitaker raises a provocative question, I see the evidence of medication solutions for children that have gone awry almost every day in my work. Psychopharmaological meds for kids I put in the same category as video gaming and marijuana clinics. Why do we view any of these as innocent and/or helpful? -gw

 

The number of children who receive a federal payment because of a severe mental illness rose from 16,200 in 1987 to 561,569 in 2007, a 35-fold increase.

I wrote Anatomy of an Epidemic to investigate this epidemic, and this pursuit necessarily raises a very uncomfortable question. Although we, as a society, believe that psychiatric medications have "revolutionized" the treatment of mental illness, the disability numbers suggest a very different possibility. Could our drug-based paradigm of care, for some unforeseen reason, be fueling this epidemic?

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-whitaker/anatomy-of-an-epidemic-co_b_555572.html

 

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On Optimism As Our Perogative: Working our Plan the best way we can help humanity

 

Money isn't everything. Young adults today are willing to live with less. The rate of unemployment among those 18-34 is twice the national average. Remaining optimistic in the face of economic upheavel says a lot about a person. Baha'is have a special reason to be optimistic and it really doesn't have anything to do with money. -gw

 

All humanity is disturbed and suffering and confused; we cannot expect to not be disturbed and not to suffer—but we don’t have to be confused. On the contrary, confidence and assurance, hope and optimism are our prerogative. The successful carrying out of our various Plans is the greatest sign we can give of our faith and inner assurance, and the best way we can help our fellow-men out of their confusion and difficulties.

 

Shoghi Effendi, Letter of 9 April 1949

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On Reaching a Dozen: Participation in the Institute Process is growing within sports club community

There are more than a dozen players, coaches and family members among the Tigers/Invaders football community participating in the Baha'i institute process at this time. There is involvement in all four of the core activities, a children's class, a junior youth group, a devotional meeting, and now a study circle, each of which occur weekly. The number of participants promises to grow by leaps and bounds now.

 

The Tacoma Invaders are practicing every weekend now. Here are pics and video clips from their latest workout. -gw

 

 

 

 

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On the Importance of Providing Service: Humanitarian intentions

 

Linda believes in mentoring. -gw

 

There are a few souls who in reality have some humanitarian intentions and are thinking of the well-being and prosperity of human kind. You must in this instance (that is, service to humanity) sacrifice your lives, and in sacrificing your lives celebrate happiness and beatitude.

 

Tablets of Abdul-Baha-Abbas

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On I've Been Waiting: Destined

 

I've been waiting a lifetime
For this moment to come
I'm destined for anything at all

 

Another Lisa music pick. -gw

 

 

I am waiting, eagerly waiting for these holy ones to appear; and yet, how long will they delay their coming? My prayer and ardent supplication, at eventide and at dawn, is that these shining stars may soon shed their radiance upon the world, that their sacred countenances may be unveiled to mortal eyes, that the hosts of divine assistance may achieve their victory, and the billows of grace, rising from His oceans above, may flow upon all mankind. Pray ye also and supplicate unto Him that through the bountiful aid of the Ancient Beauty these souls may be unveiled to the eyes of the world.

Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On Learning to Relax: Guided imagery online

How do you get the parent of, say, a young, challenging child to relax? How do you get anybody "who needs it" to relax?

 

When he ws 12, my middle son, high strung by nature, learned to relax by listening to nature tapes on his shoebox cassette player. It was his discovery. became how he went to sleep.

 

At Kitsap Mental Health yoga is offered for employees during the noon hour twice a week. Our yoga instructor, Kathleen, starts each session with calming, soothing guided imagery. Yoga's original purpose, after all, was to prepare a person for meditation.

 

Lucy Berliner of the Harborview Center for Sexual Assault and Traumatic Stress recommended this YouTube video  with "great audio (with clouds) for relaxation with kids." Guided imagery on demand as close as your computer. -gw

 

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On My Heart Goes Where the Wild Goose Goes: Mitchum's charitable recollections

There is something very beautiful about a flock of geese swirling above, unless, of course, you are trying to play football under them. -gw

 

 

Mitchum stretched his legs out long under the coffee table. Whirled the ice in his glass. Whistled: My heart goes where the wild goose goes.

 

How'd you get started?

"Well, my father was killed when I was three, so I was principally shipped around to relatives. I finally left when I was 14. Jumped on a train, came back, left again when I was 15, wound up on a chain gang in Savannah, came back, went to California. My first break was working for Hopalong Cassidy, falling off horses.

"So now I support my favorite charity: Myself. That's where the money goes. My wife, my kids. I have a brother, weighs about 280 pounds. Two sisters, a mother, a step-father. I think my sisters are religious mystics. They belong to that Baha'i faith."

 

Robert Mitchum: My heart flies where the wild goose flies

 

As recorded by FRANKIE LAINE
(original Mercury Records recording):

My heart knows what the wild goose knows
And I must go where the wild goose goes
Wild goose, brother goose, which is best
A wanderin' foot or a heart at rest

Tonight I heard the wild goose cry
Wingin' north in the lonely sky
I tried to sleep, it wern't no use
'Cause I am a brother to the old wild goose

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On Jessica at Junior Youth Group: Complete video

It's another Sunday. I talked to Matt yesterday at the Tacoma Invaders practice at Ft Steilcoom Park and we agreed that I would take Jessica, Isaiah and Dita to Junior Youth today.
+

Here is video -- lots of video -- from showing Jessica at group two weeks ago, her first experience. She liked it so much, her brother and neice have started coming. -gw
+

http://www.flickr.com/photos/85934826@N00/sets/72157628096331145/
+

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On the Expression of a Dynamic Baha'i Culture: A way of thinking, studying & acting while treading a common path of service

http://www.bahaiviews.net/2007/10/18/on-buttoning-down-the-bahai-faith-researching-it-as-my-subculture/

 

From: george wesley dannells

Date: Sat, Dec 3, 2011 at 8:53 PM
Subject: Re: Baha'i Faith Article from 2007
To: Jake

Jake, here is a quote from the official U.S. Baha'i website:

 

The Baha’i world community is in the midst of a vast, global process of systematic learning, growth and expansion. For a period of 25 years (1996 to 2021) the Baha’i world will focus on a single overarching purpose: to "advance the process of entry by troops." A study of the Baha’i sacred writings on this subject shows that this phrase refers not only to the dramatic increase in the numerical size of the Baha’i community, but more importantly, to the expression of a dynamic Baha’i culture and way of life to a degree that could not be realized before.

 

http://www.bahai.us/community-life/sharing-bahai-beliefs/

 

The Baha'i community is engaged in a process that results in "the expression of a dynamic Baha'i culture." It is a "way of life." Here are excerpts from a 2010 letter addressed to Baha'is of the world  that references Baha'i culture. Hope you find this helpful.

 

That the Bahá’í world has succeeded in developing a culture which promotes a way of thinking, studying, and acting, in which all consider themselves as treading a common path of service—supporting one another and advancing together, respectful of the knowledge that each one possesses at any given moment and avoiding the tendency to divide the believers into categories such as deepened and uninformed—is an accomplishment of enormous proportions. And therein lie the dynamics of an irrepressible movement.

...

 

This evolution in collective consciousness is discernable in the growing frequency with which the word "accompany" appears in conversations among the friends, a word that is being endowed with new meaning as it is integrated into the common vocabulary of the Bahá’í community. It signals the significant strengthening of a culture in which learning is the mode of operation, a mode that fosters the informed participation of more and more people in a united effort to apply Bahá’u’lláh's teachings to the construction of a divine civilization, which the Guardian states is the primary mission of the Faith. Such an approach offers a striking contrast to the spiritually bankrupt and moribund ways of an old social order that so often seeks to harness human energy through domination, through greed, through guilt or through manipulation.

In relationships among the friends, then, this development in culture finds expression in the quality of their interactions. Learning as a mode of operation requires that all assume a posture of humility, a condition in which one becomes forgetful of self, placing complete trust in God, reliant on His all-sustaining power and confident in His unfailing assistance, knowing that He, and He alone, can change the gnat into an eagle, the drop into a boundless sea. And in such a state souls labour together ceaselessly, delighting not so much in their own accomplishments but in the progress and services of others. So it is that their thoughts are centred at all times on helping one another scale the heights of service to His Cause and soar in the heaven of His knowledge. This is what we see in the present pattern of activity unfolding across the globe, propagated by young and old, by veteran and newly enrolled, working side by side.

Not only does this advance in culture influence relations among individuals, but its effects can also be felt in the conduct of the administrative affairs of the Faith. As learning has come to distinguish the community's mode of operation, certain aspects of decision making related to expansion and consolidation have been assigned to the body of the believers, enabling planning and implementation to become more responsive to circumstances on the ground. Specifically, a space has been created, in the agency of the reflection meeting, for those engaged in activities at the cluster level to assemble from time to time in order to reach consensus on the current status of their situation, in light of experience and guidance from the institutions, and to determine their immediate steps forward. A similar space is opened by the institute, which makes provision for those serving as tutors, children's class teachers, and animators of junior youth groups in a cluster to meet severally and consult on their experience. Intimately connected to this grassroots consultative process are the agencies of the training institute and the Area Teaching Committee, together with the Auxiliary Board members, whose joint interactions provide another space in which decisions pertaining to growth are taken, in this case with a higher degree of formality. The workings of this cluster-level system, born of exigencies, point to an important characteristic of Bahá’í administration: Even as a living organism, it has coded within it the capacity to accommodate higher and higher degrees of complexity, in terms of structures and processes, relationships and activities, as it evolves under the guidance of the Universal House of Justice.

Universal House of Justice, Ridvan 2010 Message 

 

Jake, may your interest in studying the Baha'i Faith continue after your coursework is over!

 

George

 

On Sat, Dec 3, 2011 at 12:19 PM, Jake wrote:

 

Hi,

My name is Jake and I am a student in East Bay, California.  I've read the 2007 article "On Buttoning Down the Baha'i Faith: Researching it as my subculture." and it led me to a link which contained this email. I was wondering if you could actually answer two simple questions for me. Would you define the People of Baha'i Faith as a Culture, and if so, how would they be defined as such? I'm curious because I too am doing a cultures report and chose the Baha'i People. Emailing because I have searched and there is not much on the internet that directly links the Baha'i Faith with cultural connections. I also don't know anyone personally with connections to the Baha'i Faith so I cannot directly ask someone, thus I am emailing today.

Thank you so much for your help,

Jake

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On Being Desirous of Refinement: Both for yourselves and all that ye posess

Ye have been enjoined to renew the furnishings of your homes after the passing of each nineteen years; thus hath it been ordained by One Who is Omniscient and All-Perceiving. He, verily, is desirous of refinement, both for you yourselves and for all that ye possess; lay not aside the fear of God and be not of the negligent. Whoso findeth that his means are insufficient to this purpose hath been excused by God, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Bounteous.

 

Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas

 

It hasn't been 19 years since we moved into our present house -- more like 16. Nevertheless, Bonita has been transforming the look of our home, with a focus on the furnishings of the living room. She "is desirous of refinement." This photo reflects new additions to the decor made today. -gw

 

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On Unimaginable Horrors: Or by act of consultative will

 

 

You're lucky if you have this friend on Facebook, because you are in for a daily deepening. -gw

 

Posted via email from Baha'i Views

On Traveling in Italy: Leaving home with Google Street View

 

Bonita has been traveling in Europe this week, in Italy, to be exact. Her mode of transportation is very inexpensive, Google Street View. She has snapped a few pictures along the way. Lovely textures, architecture, and even people. -gw

 

Posted via email from Baha'i Views