On Layli of Layli's Trip Around the World: Youngest Baha'i Blogger?

"This is me on a crasy car that was going so fast. It was going up and down dunes. It was so bumpy I thought I was going to die!" -Layli

Is Layli of Layli's Trip Around the World the youngest Baha'i blogger? -gw

I had a wonderful time in the Holy Land during my pligrimage. I visited the Shrines of Baha'u'llah - the Founder of the Baha'i Faith, the Bab, and Abdul-Baha who is the Son of Baha'u'llah. I said a lot of prayers for kittens and mother nature.

Layli, "I had a wonderful time...," Layli's Trip Around the World

On a Baha'i Wedding in Hawaii: Newlywed couples more magical

"Hawaiian Theme Wedding Cake,"

uploaded on September 3, 2006

by Cherri's Starynyte on flickr

这个周末把人忙坏了，因为要参加一个婚礼，所以得帮着筹备。虽然不是传统婚礼，不用去教堂，只是在宾馆举行仪式，而且只有50个人，还是把我们忙坏了。新婚夫妻比较神奇。新郎是加拿大人，学数学的，新娘是斐济人，长期住在夏威夷。两人在网上偶然认识，越谈越有感觉。加拿大小伙就决定到夏威夷去看一下自己心中的“dream girl"。两人在夏威夷度过了浪漫的三个月。然后新娘就跟新郎回到了加拿大，举行婚礼。由于他们是Baha'i信仰者，而且新娘家又是热情的夏威夷人，虽然婚礼很是特别，从服装到仪式，特别是最后新娘姐妹兄弟一起表演的夏威夷本地舞蹈，是我从来没有参加过的婚礼。

不管怎样，很久没有来跟大家问好了。祝大家一切如意，吃好睡好！

果果熊的窝, "我参加了加拿大人的婚礼," Spaces

Here is a translation of a portion of this post, thanks to Google's Language Tools. -gw

Newlywed couples more magical. The groom is the Canadians, studying math, the bride is Fijians long in Hawaii.They understand the Internet occasionally, become more and more feeling. Canada went into the decision to Hawaii can see his mind on the "dream girl." They spent a romantic three months in Hawaii. Then the bride returned to Canada with her husband and marriage. Since they are Baha 'i faith, but the bride's family is warm in Hawaii, although it is a very special wedding, from clothing to the ceremony, the bride is the last of the brothers and sisters together in Hawaii local dance performances.

On the Self-Management of Emotional State: Bahia's Baha'i-Inspired Strategies

Bahia's current post describes strategies she's learned for keeping herself in tune. -gw

yes, i was a bit shaken today when i realized that i don't want to leave after all. that hey, i'm quite content at home and i don't want to spend the next six months just waiting to come back. what threw me was how i could just change my mind like that, but what caught me was my mom explaining how much i'd changed.

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"Prizren, Kosovo," uploaded on May 9, 2006 by jo.vanka on flickr

i know i have this "weakness" persay, that we like to label as impatience. something else that comes to mind is something that Maike reminded me in Kosovo, that our weakness is also our greatest strength. it kind of brings it all back to the idea of balance--not to eliminate our weaknesses, but to simply be aware of them. it seems that when i put my mind to it, i can pretty much accomplish whatever i want (generally something everyone is capable of) and recently that focused activity has consisted of tearing apart my brain in order to "put the pieces back together my way" (Aesop Rock)

i have a pretty firm grasp on the concept of psychology and ideas that the Baha'i Faith have given me, to figure out that a lot of the pain we experience in this life is self-induced, and pretty much always stems from how we look at it. i guess the thing is that it's tiring to always be looking at yourself and the "bright side" so sometimes, as human beings, we just have to be sad. but other times, if it gets out of hand, we can get too sad, for anyone's own good, and that's something that will hold you back from making the most of your time on this planet. So, sometimes in order to get out of a particular funk and get some perspective you need to relocate in order to get a better view. or, in my case, you realize that there's always another side to the story, you open yourself up to the patterns forming in your normal life and you realize that you've had enough.

i guess i have this tendency to have epiphanies every so often, and when i do i can't help but change my behavior. as a result i guess i undergo somewhat drastic attitude changes. this as my mother helped me to see, is why i changed my mind so easily about going away for 6 months. you could say i was somewhat of a different person, therefore i made somewhat of a different choice. this is all said for the sake of my own sanity. it freaked me out to change my mind because it made me feel like i can't trust myself, that i can't make decisions because who knows, i might feel differently tomorrow. but i guess i learned that yeah, maybe i will, but what matters is learning to go with it, tend to my needs at the time in order to make the best decision and use of that time.

Bahia, "It's Funny," Bits and Pieces

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{Re-posted with permission}

On Personal Expressions of Discontent with the World: Paradox Invites Response

"no comment!" uploaded on November 3, 2006 by never happens on flickr

Paradox is a Persian blogger who has been sharing her thoughts and feelings over numerous blog incarnations for more than three years. Text from her blog have been re-posted on Baha'i Views several times, as have quite a number of her pictures from her Flickr site. She is not a Baha'i, although it was her posting about the Faith and her disclosure that a childhood friend of hers back in Iran was Baha'i that makes her posts especially relevant to Baha'i Views readers.

Paradox went back to Iran to visit her family for the summer. Since her return she has not posted a lot, but very recently she has begun a new blog, nelumbo-nucifera, for "throwing out all my thoughts and things that bother me," she writes. In another comment she said, "yeah i need a big shake to my life and myself... that's why i decided to write as openly and outspoken as possible, though i find it harder than i thought!"

Although her thoughts and comments are ultimately unique to her as a person, still they are representative of a discontent that has been widespread in the world for years, even going back the past two centuries, if we take into account the literary figures she cites in her post.

Although her posting is highly personal, her invitation for comment is clear. She would appreciate receiving feedback from others, and so I re-post her observations here. -gw

1900. Leo Tolstoy and Gorky.

perhaps millions of people have lived to date who were unhappy about their lives, their being born, their upbringing...perhaps, millions of other people ignored their own inner voice and their mission as a human, and they lived as happy as larks.
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i, personally, was brought up with a close attention to a long list of do's and dont's.
-
i was taught to develop the virtue and suppress the vile in me.
-
Fyodor Dostoevsky
i was kept away from the ugly realities of this world, from cruelties, selfishnesses, dishonesties, deceptions... ignorance and shallowness, a long list of vile...
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(but my parents were wrong by keeping me pasteurized and detatched, as much as they could.)
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Samad Behrangi

my first experience of getting exposed to the outer world ended up bringing up a big problem for me and family... i was strong, though... and my parents' support helped me as well to get over it soon.but what did we learn? my parents felt more worried and feared.
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i kinda learned, however, that perhaps i should give it a second thought before trusting people totally!
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Ahmad Shamlou
but i was still immature and naive.
-
years passed... i lived with purity and innocence pervaded inside home and cruelty and ugliness spread widely outside, while unconsciously i tried to keep a distance from the harshness and ugliness of the society.
-
but that was a mistake, too. i thought shielding myself will keep me unharmed, but won't prevent me from progress.but...
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Forough Farrokhzad

i gave what i had, i said what i meant, i meant what i said... all what i had learned...
but, all in vain!
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i believed people and what they said, i trusted their "friendships", i took what they said as what they meant, ... (but i was wrong, i have been wrong... always wrong, still wrong!)
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i grew more and more, but detached from numerous things in everyday lives of people, their casual relations and "friendships" , from being shallow and superficial, from living a carefree life, from all their manipulative behaviors which were taboos for me and my family, but so normal for them, so normal and part-of-life... and i was so blind!
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and my family failed to help... because they remained even more naive than me... !
they were happy with my detachment from many aspects of social life, they called it "protection" and believed in it and encouraged it.they ignored many things... poor them!
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they were so preoccupied with the dangers of growth and social life that ignored my needs as a human, who perhaps wanted to live just like everyone else!they ignored to know me as the person i was... poor me!
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i hated being an apple-polisher, i resented boot-licking and pleasing those in higher position than me; i avoided any reason i had to butter anyone up for...
i never took whatever it takes to get what i want.
never used others to step up higher.
i was never a yes-woman, never a wannabe...
i kept my dignity intact.
i kept my pride high.
i walked tall.
whatever i got was through my own efforts and not even good luck.
i'd learnd to keep my integrity, always, no matter what!
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i couldn't enter any sort of relationship whatsoever, just like that, only as an experience, or simply for the sake of growth and learning... because i resented casualness, because i was taught to be serious and avoid "cheap" fun, because i was expected to be dignified and resolute
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"this is not a temple or a holy shrine!" uploaded on June 20, 2005 by never happens on flickr

i grew up reading "Maxim Gorky"*, "Dostoyevsky"**. i grew up with "Hedayat", "Behrangi", "Shamlou", "Forough", ...*** while the kids of my generation were reading TinTin... (not that i look down on them)...they had common things to talk about, even after they grew to young men and women... but i usually ended up discussing with older generation, who i had something in common to talk about with!
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the...irony, though, was this bitter truth that those kids had now grown up to people who could wrap everyone round their little fingers, who could easily lie to get to what they want to, who could manipulate anyone to get their jobs done... and i, was and have been left in my world, all alone, left in my taught principles of honesty and purity and innocence... humbleness and being down-to-earth.
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and now, i doubt all of those virtues.
i doubt the truth in the freaking life i have lived.
i doubt all the principles and values i have been proud of.
and came all the way down to this point to feel that i don't fit this...world
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Aleksei Maksimovich Peshkov**
Fyodor Mikhailovich Dostoevsky***
Persian(Iranian) writers/poets: (Hedayat, Behrangi, Shamlou, Forough, Forough in wiki)
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Paradox, "if I were to confess, I and II," nelumbo-nucifera

On Finding a Baha'i Community: They encourage me and hold my hand

Prayer beads in Haifa by manonfire on flickr

Cassandra's grandfather is gravely ill. She is flying to see him. -gw

I'm praying constantly for my Granddad. I don't want to lose him when I've never or barely met him, but I know it may just be time for him to go.

Unfortunately, I'm going to miss a week of school and two Children's Classes. I'm going to be surrounded by unfamiliar faces and unknown relatives, in a city I've never seen before. I'm crossing my fingers that I may find a Baha'i community nearby - and perhaps attend a class or meeting there.

The Baha'is in my community are a constant uplifting influence. They encourage me and hold my hand while I pray.

Cassandra, "Airplanes and Heart Attacks," Finding Me

On a Flickr Baha'i pic of the day: Bahji

"windows at bahjí," uploaded on May 9, 2006 by .Leili on flickr

On X-Men Epiphanies: Seeing the Face of the Beloved in All Faces

Chance wants to change the world. -gw
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Today i had an epiphany. I was watching X-men III and (if you haven't seen it then you may not understand exactly where I'm coming from) I was watching the part where Jean has killed everyone on the island and Wolverine is standing below her and the view pans out to show everything she has done... and I thought why can't I do that? Why can I not do something that will change lives, something that will change the very face of the earth? I realized that I can. I wish I could do justice to what I felt because if everyone that has seen that movie left with the feeling I feel then the world would be changed. You have the power to effect every person you come in contact with, it is your choice whether the experience is a good one or a bad one, but why not choose good? It's not that hard when you allow the love you feel for people to radiate rather than remain supressed.

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You know, there is a story of a man asking Abdu'lBaha (the son of Baha'u'llah, the prophet founder of the Baha'i Faith) how he treated every person he came in contact with with such compassionate love and affection. He said that he simply saw the face of Baha'u'llah on every person. This may not have the vast effect it has on me for you, but (if you're Christian) imagine the face of Christ on every person you meet. If you do this then how could you hate anyone?

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Hardcore Chance, "God Works in Mysterious Ways," MySpace

On Googling 巴哈伊 ("Baha'i" in Chinese): About 11,500 listings in 0.44 seconds

http://xbean.cs.ccu.edu.tw/~dan/ChineseBahai/readings/CONV_BIG5/homepage.html

With inspiration from Chinese-speaking world citizen Child-of-Africa, I was inspired to copy and paste this - 巴哈伊 - into my browser. I got "Results 1 - 10 of about 11,500 for 巴哈伊. (0.44 seconds)." -gw

peoplepress.net/

bahai.org.tw

巴哈伊信仰创立于一个半世纪以前，今天已跻身于最快速发展的世界性宗教信仰之列。有五百万以上的信仰者居住在地球上的每一个国家，已经成为分布第二广的信仰，在地理幅度上超了除基督教之外的所有其它宗教。巴哈伊分布于全世界约100,000多个地点，其范围之广反映了祂们对世界公民这一理想的奉献。 http://info.bahai.org/chinese/

And check out http://blog.xuite.net/doris629/Bahai. Xuite! -gw

On Baha'i Community Blogs: Sharing Stories

"And here is a picture of our dearest Dr. Samandari, taken in Buea on Sunday November 26th, who has never ceased to be a wonderful and loving inspiration to us all.... He is seen here with Nysa and Mehdi" - Just News

Community blogs are up-and-coming. More Baha'i communities are establishing one, starting up a blog being easier than starting a separate website.

just news... sharing stories, events and activities from the Cameroon Baha'i Community is such a community blog. Reading a post about the appointment of Auxiliary Board members serving this part of Africa, I am struck by the sound of their names, the familiarity of their first names and the exotic beauty of their last. Yes, we should keep them in our prayers. -gw

The Auxiliary Board members were appointed early in November and will work under the guidance of Counsellor Tiati a Zock for the Next 5 years. Here are their names and the areas they will cover. Some areas have more that one ABM serving.

Mrs OTTIA Helen (Littoral (excluding Douala) and SW (Fako))
Mrs TIATI Beatrice (East and West)
Mr. ARREY John (Littoral and SW (Mamfe))
Mrs TCHAMEGNI Christine (Far North, North, Adamawa and Douala)
Mrs TANGU Constance (NW and West)
Mr GABANA Felix (East)
Mr. ONDOBO Fridolin (Centre, South and Equatorial Guinea)
Mr. DJOULDE Alain (Far North, North and Adamawa)
Mr. NKOUAGA Ferdinand (Centre, South and Equatorial Guinea)
Mr. TEM Gideon (SW and NW)

We should keep these wonderful and devoted friends in our prayers as they undertake the prodigous task of assisting the communities in implementing the 5 year plan.

"Auxiliary Board Members appointed," just news... sharing stories, events and activities from the Cameroon Baha'i Community

{Re-posted with permission}

On Interfaith Dialogue: Forum for All

Interesting site promoting interfaith dialogue in the Middle East. -gw

Middle East Interfaith Blogger Network

-Manifesto-

Silent no longer!

The blogosphere is the Middle East’s newest community: a powerful alternative communication network largely (though not entirely) beyond the reach of censors. It gives voice to a heretofore silent minority of people seeking dialogue and understanding. Who knows? Through our efforts we might find that the silent minority is larger and stronger than we now believe.

We represent diverse members of that community. Despite our differences, we come together to protect individual rights and freedom of conscience.

Through blogging, we are free to express our beliefs online and share them with the world in a way that is not possible otherwise. We cherish our right to free expression and freedom of conscience. As individuals with ties to the Middle East, we are pained by ongoing repression and conflict in the region, troubles fueled in part by religious differences and in part by a fundamental lack of communication.

Together, we are committed to helping Middle Eastern societies find a formula for genuine acceptance of difference. We ask the blogging community to provide an open environment for interfaith dialogue and education – and to help us transform online dialogue into local interfaith efforts in our own communities.

We establish the Middle East Interfaith Blogger Network to put our ideas into action. We intend to celebrate difference, to encourage discussion and learning, to recognize outstanding blog writing on interfaith issues, and to promote grassroots interfaith activism in our local communities.

The Middle East Interfaith Blogger Network is guided by the following principles:
* Our dialogue will de just that: a dialogue with give and take.* Our dialogue will not be an excuse to advance political agendas, but rather an opportunity to discuss faith.* We will try to avoid generalizations, recognizing the diversity of interpretation within each tradition, as well as the differences that exist between religions.* Our dialogue is open to the range of religions represented in the Middle East, including growing populations of Hindus and Buddhists, as well as Bahai’is.

[Home]

On Mingshu's First Post: Message to Her Baha'i Friends

"Night out at Bangladore's China Town," uploaded on October 7, 2006 by spraveenitpro on flickr.
Some rights reserved.

Mingshu starts blogging. -gw

To Everyone...
hey hey, i've created my own space... yeah... sounds great to me huh... haha... guess this will be my first and last blog? i dunno... i'd love to leave some messages to some people that are important in my life...

My Baha'i Friends,
all of u are wonderful... thank you Su Ling for bringing me back to this faith... thank you everyone for making my life so meaningful, so happy to meet all of u from so many places... and when i start to join the community, i've got the opportunity to perform on stage, have chantting for everyone... i just enjoy every moment i'm in the community... Intensive ruhi, JY camp, Holiday College... all of them make my life more busier, more meaningful... i love this faith very much... really hope that i'll have the chance to serve more for Baha'u'llah... so, may God bless all of us in His path of service... take care everyone ya...

Mingshu, "To Everyone," Mystic Me

On Wanting to Speak Portuguese: And Pining for a Peace Universal

What if the best blogs in the world aren't in English? Or Persian? Or Chinese? Or German? Or Tagalog? Or Portuguese? Or...

Sometimes I feel like I am missing out. My blog-search engines are failing me, it seems. I can only understand English, and there are so many blogs out there in other languages. Native-speakers of other languages know English but this English-speaker knows only...English. I don't want to be limited. I don't want to be parochial. Google's Language Tools are helpful, but...

I view with admiration the many blogs in Portuguese and wish it were my native tongue, so to do justice to the posts by the likes of João Moutinho whose A Paz Universal is another first-class example of a Baha'i-content blog. I counted 178 links on his blog. This man is a blogger. -gw

"Tranquility zone @ portimão [Portugal],"

uploaded on flickr November 25, 2006

by sahbapasta

Some rights reserved

On Wayfarers in the Path of God: They Are Family

Katherine is thankful. -gw

I am SO THANKFUL for my incredible teaching team! We had Thanksgiving dinner together. Shannon, Kristopher, Daniel, Caroline, and myself make up this most incredible Baha'i family. We were also joined on Thanksgiving day by Caroline's family and Jalal, and also by Mr. Kavelin, whose grave we went to visit across the street. How many people get to spend the holidays with a Universal House of Justice member?

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Far left: Borrah Kavelin, who later served on the Universal House of Justice,

with other members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States in 1953

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Anyhow, the five of us are called The Wayfarers, after the quote from the Baha'i Writings that essentially serves as our mission statement (and seeing as how we've done most of our Ruhi together, it makes sense for us to focus on a quote that's repeated over again in half the books!).

[THE QUOTE]

Right now we're in something of a consolidation phase, as Shannon and I help the other members get through the sequence of courses as quickly and thoroughly as possible. But we have 4 devotional gatherings, 2 Ruhi Book 1's, and a junior youth group between us. We are starting to teach up a storm! Kristopher and Caroline are both finishing up Book 7, so will have just doubled our tutors! Amazing things will come of The Wayfarers, believe me. Amazing things already have.

Katherine, "Gracias, Merci, Thanks," A Thosand Paper Craniums

On the Surveillance of the Baha'is in Iran: Touching Home

My son-in-law back home in the USA with the family

(Photo by Flitzy Phoebie)

The news story from the Baha'i World News Service excerpted below is a month old. But it came to mind when I visited with my son-in-law on Thanksgiving Day. I recalled the story he told me of his visit to Iran earlier this year to see his father who has cancer and all the rest of his family. On the last day of his visit, when he and his family members there were briefly out of their home, someone entered and took $800 from my son-in-law's personal belongings and the videotapes he had made of family events. The door had been locked, but there had been no forced entry. Whoever commited the burglary had a key. When the family contacted the police, the authorities refused to do an investigation, because there was no damage to the house. Such is the circumstances for Baha'i families in Iran. People can enter your home, and you can do nothing about it.

My son-in-law's mother would get calls regularly from government representatives summoning her to come in to be questioned. Once when government representatives came to the home, she welcomed them with an offer of tea, and they concluded their visit immediately, an incident that invokes an old old story harking back to the time of the Bab when His followers were accused of putting something in the tea that made people become Babis. Apparently the authorities didn't want to experience Baha'i hospitality that might cause their hearts to be touched. -gw

http://news.bahai.org/story/488

NEW YORK, 2 November 2006 (BWNS) -- In an ominous move, Iran's Ministry of Interior has ordered officials throughout the country to step up the surveillance of Iranian Baha'is focusing in particular on their community activities.

The Ministry has requested provincial officials to complete a detailed questionnaire about the circumstances and activities of local Baha'is, including their "financial status," "social interactions," and "association with foreign assemblies," among other things.

The Ministry's order came in a letter dated 19 August 2006 and addressed to provincial deputies of the Department of Politics and Security in Offices of the Governors' General throughout Iran.

The 19 August letter, which was recently obtained by the Baha'i International Community, asks these deputies to order "relevant offices to cautiously and sensitively monitor and supervise" all Baha'i social activities.

The letter is the latest in a series of threatening documents that outline a secret national effort to identify and monitor Baha'is in Iran. ...

Over the last two years, at least 129 Baha'is have been arrested, released on bail, and are now awaiting trial throughout the country. The bail demands have been high, in most cases requiring the Baha'is to hand over considerable sums of money, deeds to property, business or work licenses.

[To read the full text of the 19 August 2006 letter in an English translation, along with a link to the original letter in Persian, go to http://bahai.org/persecution/iran/19-08-06]

On "Seekers": You Gotta Serve Somebody

http://www.sfondideldesktop.com/Images-Music/Bob-Dylan/Bob-Dylan-0003/Bob-Dylan-0003.jpg

"Blogs by 'seekers' excerpted on Baha'i Views" the sidebar heading reads. So who's a seeker? Everybody -- everybody is seeking something. And just like Bob Dylan said, you "Gotta Serve Somebody." -gw

You may be an ambassador to England or France
You may like to gamble, you might like to dance
You may be the heavyweight champion of the world
You may be a socialite with a long string of pearls.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
It may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Might be a rock'n' roll addict prancing on the stage
Might have money and drugs at your commands, women in a cage
You may be a business man or some high degree thief
They may call you Doctor or they may call you Chief.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a state trooper, you might be an young turk
You may be the head of some big TV network
You may be rich or poor, you may be blind or lame
You may be living in another country under another name.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a construction worker working on a home
You may be living in a mansion or you might live in a dome
You might own guns and you might even own tanks
You might be somebody's landlord you might even own banks.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may be a preacher with your spiritual pride
You may be a city councilman taking bribes on the side
You may be working in a barbershop, you may know how to cut hair
You may be somebody's mistress, may be somebody's heir.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Might like to wear cotton, might like to wear silk
Might like to drink whiskey, might like to drink milk
You might like to eat caviar, you might like to eat bread
You may be sleeping on the floor, sleeping in a king-sized bed.

But you're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
It may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

You may call me Terry, you may call me Jimmy
You may call me Bobby, you may call me Zimmy
You may call me R.J., you may call me Ray
You may call me anything but no matter what you say.

You're gonna have to serve somebody, yes indeed
You're gonna have to serve somebody,
Well, it may be the devil or it may be the Lord
But you're gonna have to serve somebody.

Bob Dylan, "Gotta Serve Somebody," Biograph album

On Stupid Tests: Baha'i as flaky 60's-leftover faith

Speaking of holidays, llcoolvad likes them. She takes one of those religion tests on the Internet, but she doesn't agree with the results. In the process of blogging about it, she passes on her impression of the Baha'i Faith, sort of like a one-person focus group. -gw

OK, *** SOOOO *** not accurate that I match more stuff in Mormon, Scientologist, or Christian Scientist faiths than in Jewish or Roman Catholic. And Jehovah's Witness? Seventh Day Adventist? This is all just filler. I'm an atheist, people. Secular Humanist. I'll take the UU, that's fine. The Quakers, Nontheists, also fine. Anything crazy? Not fine! No sacred undergarments. No thetans. No "clear". I don't know what Jainism is. I always think of Baha'i as flaky 60s-leftover faith. I like holidays, so there is no Witness here (or wait, is that the Adventists? feh!). Stupid test!

llcoolvad, "Meme," Then She Appeared

On Time Off for the Holidays: She's Baha'i and doesn't really care either way, but the vacation is nice

Sometimes the mentions of "Baha'i" on the internet are just that. Mentions. But even a mention can convey some small aspect about the Faith. -gw

Now, she's declared that since her secretary scheduled her off for Boxing Day as well as Christmas (she's Baha'i and doesn't really care either way, but the vacation is nice) that we're going to marathon the entire first three seasons of SGA (everything we can pull) in 2 days.

Miriel, "We are not as we appear," Miriel's Journal

On This Grand Design: Can you hear Him now?

"Can you hear me now?" Detail of the "whispering ceiling" in the registry room at Ellis Island. Designed by the same person who designed the ceiling of Grand Central Station. It is possible to stand on opposite sides of the balcony and have a whispered conversation thanks to its acoustical properties. Uploaded on October 4, 2006 by Ed Karjala on flickr.

Architecture offers many examples of "grand designs." The man responsible for the design of the ceiling brickwork of the picture to the left created such a grand design. From Ruhi Book 6 comes this quotation for memorization which references God's grand design. -gw

Now is the time, O ye beloved of the Lord, for ardent endeavor. Struggle ye, and strive. And since the Ancient Beauty was exposed by day and night on the field of martyrdom, let us in our turn labor hard, and hear and ponder the counsels of God; let us fling away our lives, and renounce our brief and numbered days. Let us turn our eyes away from empty fantasies of this world's divergent forms, and serve instead this pre-eminent purpose, this grand design. Let us not, because of our own imaginings, cut down this tree that the hand of heavenly grace hath planted; let us not, with the dark clouds of our illusions, our selfish interests, blot out the glory that streameth from the Abhá Realm. Let us not be as barriers that wall out the rolling ocean of Almighty God. Let us not prevent the pure, sweet scents from the garden of the All-Glorious Beauty from blowing far and wide. Let us not, on this day of reunion, shut out the vernal downpour of blessings from on high. Let us not consent that the splendors of the Sun of Truth should ever fade and disappear. These are the admonitions of God, as set forth in His Holy Books, His Scriptures, His Tablets that tell out His counsellings to the sincere. "The glory rest upon you, and God's mercy, and God's blessings."

‘Abdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu'l-Bahá, pp. 263-264

On the 50th Anniversary of the National Assembly of South Africa: A Message from President Thabo

By email from Lisbon, Portugal-based Marco of Povo de Baha, who provides such leadership to the Baha'i blogging community, comes this news item about the Baha'i Faith in South Africa. -gw

"Joburg," uploaded on August 6, 2005 by skymyr on flickr
The National Spiritual Assembly of South Africa hosted a banquet for the Birth of Bahá'u'lláh on the 11th of November in Johannesburg where some 170 non-Bahá'í guests and about 110 believers attended. The occasion not only celebrated the Holy Day but also the 50th year of the anniversary of the election of the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of South Africa. The Bahá'í Community was indeed privileged to receive a message of congratulations from the State president of this country, Mr. Thabo Mbeki.

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Kirstenbosch, famous South African bontanical gardens. Uploaded on September 3, 2006 by Victor Geere on flickr

MESSAGE BY PRESIDENT THABO MBEKI ON THE OCCASION OF THE 50TH ANNIVERSARY OF THE NATIONAL SPIRITUAL ASSEMBLY OF THE BAHÁ'ÍS OF SOUTH AFRICA

> I am most honoured to have this opportunity to extend warm greetings
> to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of South Africa on
> this important day, the 11th of November, in which you celebrate your 50th Anniversary.
>
> That you are today turning fifty testifies clearly to your
> steadfastness and to the pivotal role you have played and doubtlessly
> will continue to play in advancing the cause of unity and amity in our beloved country, South Africa.
>
> Since its formation half a century ago, on 11 November 1956, the
> National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of South Africa untiringly
> has promoted the spiritual, moral and material development of Bahá'ís
> in this country as well as that of the South African society in
> general. In this regard, your notable participation in the National Religious Leaders Forum has also contributed immensely in ushering in an age of hope in our country.
>
> The fact that your anniversary falls in the same year in which we
> commemorate our country's land-marking events, such as the tenth year
> of our democratic Constitution which recognises and promotes religious
> freedom, points further to the historical position you occupy in our country.
>
> Accordingly, on behalf of the Government and people of South Africa
> we say congratulations and best wishes to the National Spiritual
> Assembly of the Bahá'ís of South Africa on your 50th Anniversary.
>
> May you have more successful and fulfilling decades ahead!