Baha'i Perspectives February 13th, 2008
Newsflash: The Swedish Baha’i Summer School will be happening again in July this year, with guest speaker Dr. Firaydoun Javaheri. Check out the web site and the Facebook group for more information.
iman February 12th, 2008
As people scurry around last minute to purchase chocolates and flowers for Valentine’s Day — and stationary stores run out of anything bearing even the slightest resemblance to everyone’s favourite pulmonary organ — let us take time out to reflect on the story of Mr and Mrs O’Connor.
This NY Times story caught my attention a couple of months ago. It is about former US Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, who watches as her husband battles with Alzheimer’s disease in an assisted-living centre. In brief, Judge O’Connor watches as Mr. O’Connor falls for another woman, but far from feeling upset or remorseful about the situation, she is actually overjoyed to see him happy after so long. The article continues by discussing the nature of “old love” as opposed to romantic love, in the context of discovering love’s true meaning.
Abdu’l-Baha provides us with a beautiful summary of the four kinds of true love that exist:
What a power is love! It is the most wonderful, the greatest of all living powers.
Love gives life to the lifeless. Love lights a flame in the heart that is cold. Love brings hope to the hopeless and gladdens the hearts of the sorrowful.
In the world of existence there is indeed no greater power than the power of love. When the heart of man is aglow with the flame of love, he is ready to sacrifice all — even his life. In the Gospel it is said God is love.
- There are four kinds of love. The first is the love that flows from God to man; it consists of the inexhaustible graces, the Divine effulgence and heavenly illumination. Through this love the world of being receives life. Through this love man is endowed with physical existence, until, through the breath of the Holy Spirit — this same love — he receives eternal life and becomes the image of the Living God. This love is the origin of all the love in the world of creation.
- The second is the love that flows from man to God. This is faith, attraction to the Divine, enkindlement, progress, entrance into the Kingdom of God, receiving the Bounties of God, illumination with the lights of the Kingdom. This love is the origin of all philanthropy; this love causes the hearts of men to reflect the rays of the Sun of Reality.
- The third is the love of God towards the Self or Identity of God. This is the transfiguration of His Beauty, the reflection of Himself in the mirror of His Creation. This is the reality of love, the Ancient Love, the Eternal Love. Through one ray of this Love all other love exists.
And finally, the unselfish kind of love demonstrated by Judge O’Connor towards her husband:
- The fourth is the love of man for man. The love which exists between the hearts of believers is prompted by the ideal of the unity of spirits. This love is attained through the knowledge of God, so that men see the Divine Love reflected in the heart. Each sees in the other the Beauty of God reflected in the soul, and finding this point of similarity, they are attracted to one another in love. This love will make all men the waves of one sea, this love will make them all the stars of one heaven and the fruits of one tree. This love will bring the realization of true accord, the foundation of real unity.
(Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 180)
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nadim February 10th, 2008
…the size of the armaments of every government should be strictly limited, for if the preparations for war and the military forces of any nation should be allowed to increase, they will arouse the suspicion of others.
(Abdu’l-Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 64)
Revealed well over a century ago, the significance of these words has been demonstrated time and time again on the world’s fragile political scene. And now, here are the latest set of incidents presented in the news that have aroused the suspicion of political leaders:
The increase in incidents of this nature is deeply worrying, for in the Atomic Age, differences between nuclear powers can no longer be resolved by simply resorting to warfare, as the consequences would clearly be catastrophic. We find ourselves in an unfortunate situation, where the technological gains made in the past century have not progressed in parallel with the moral sense of how best to use them. Distressing, too, are the vast sums spent worldwide in developing weapons and military equipment. We are only 40 days into 2008, and already estimated spending has topped the USD$150 billion mark (click on the link to watch that how quickly that number rises).
The Baha’i International Community, in it’s statement on The Relationship Between Disarmament and Development, makes three important observations:
Disarmament and development are interrelated. Funds used to make weapons are a drain on the national and world economies. Such funds could be better used to raise the living conditions of the world’s peoples.
The economic connection between disarmament and development represents only one side of the issue. A spiritual connection also exists. Resources spent for weapons drain not only national treasuries; they also drain the reservoirs of human hope and trust.
The two issues must be approached in an integrated manner. Not only can disarmament further the cause of development; development can further the cause of disarmament. Indeed, the key to advancing the cause of both disarmament and development lies in fostering a sense of global unity. Unless unity is attained, true peace and security will remain out of reach.
Part 2 will discuss some of the options available to us…
nadim February 6th, 2008
The Science Blog has recently published an interesting study showing a direct correlation between levels of materialism and self-esteem in youth. The article asserts that positive reinforcement and peer acceptance increases self-esteem, with the result being a proportional decrease in attachment to material goods.
While this may be true in time-boxed studies like the one described, I can’t imagine that the solution is anything more than temporary. We all know that life doesn’t provide us with an endless supply of positive reinforcement – or to use the old cliché – life has it’s ups and downs. Perhaps, for a more lasting effect, we should expend our energy on educating youth (and adults for that matter) on the true worth of material possessions:
Consider ye! No matter how much man gains wealth, riches and opulence in this world, he will not become as independent as a cow. For these fattened cows roam freely over the vast tableland. All the prairies and meadows are theirs for grazing, and all the springs and rivers are theirs for drinking! No matter how much they graze, the fields will not be exhausted! It is evident that they have earned these material bounties with the utmost facility.
Still more ideal than this life is the life of the bird. A bird, on the summit of a mountain, on the high, waving branches, has built for itself a nest more beautiful than the palaces of the kings! The air is in the utmost purity, the water cool and clear as crystal, the panorama charming and enchanting. In such glorious surroundings, he expends his numbered days. All the harvests of the plain are his possessions, having earned all this wealth without the least labor. Hence, no matter how much man may advance in this world, he shall not attain to the station of this bird! Thus it becomes evident that in the matters of this world, however much man may strive and work to the point of death, he will be unable to earn the abundance, the freedom and the independent life of a small bird. This proves and establishes the fact that man is not created for the life of this ephemeral world — nay, rather, is he created for the acquirement of infinite perfections, for the attainment to the sublimity of the world of humanity, to be drawn nigh unto the divine threshold, and to sit on the throne of everlasting sovereignty!
(Abdu’l-Baha, Tablets of the Divine Plan, p. 44)
It’s hard to accept, but neither the Rolex nor the surround sound system nor the fancy new SUV will ever bring us the material success of the little guy in the picture!
nooshin February 4th, 2008
I’m no stranger to living in the 3rd World, and having experienced life in Zimbabwe, am able to take most things in stride. That’s probably why I have a more relaxed attitude towards the recent electricity outages than other South Africans. It’s the finger-pointing and blame-shifting that worries me: everyone accuses everyone else and no one will take any personal responsibility. The same business-owners who are crying over lost productivity and profits are still leaving all the lights on at night in their premises. People complain about being left in the dark, but aren’t looking at how they can cut their own consumption. Such selfishness is what has brought the whole planet to an environmental crisis and to such a frightening state of affairs.
The Bahá’í International Community, in its 1995 statement entitled “Conservation and Sustainable Development in the Bahá’í Faith” stated:
The rapid progress in science and technology that has united the world physically has also greatly accelerated destruction of the biological diversity and rich natural heritage with which the planet has been endowed. Material civilization, driven by the dogmas of consumerism and aggressive individualism and disoriented by the weakening of moral standards and spiritual values, has been carried to excess.
Bahá’ís believe that the solutions to the world’s problems—to poverty, crime, war and, yes, global-warming—are spiritual ones. When we accept as true the principle of the oneness of mankind, we will no longer be able to justify any selfish act. We will see the whole human race as members of our own family, and be just as concerned for their interests as we are for those of our own parents, sisters and brothers.
The principle of the Oneness of Mankind – the pivot round which all the teachings of Baha’u’llah revolve – is no mere outburst of ignorant emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious hope. Its appeal is not to be merely identified with a reawakening of the spirit of brotherhood and good-will among men, nor does it aim solely at the fostering of harmonious cooperation among individual peoples and nations. Its implications are deeper, its claims greater than any which the Prophets of old were allowed to advance. Its message is applicable not only to the individual, but concerns itself primarily with the nature of those essential relationships that must bind all the states and nations as members of one human family. … It implies an organic change in the structure of present-day society, a change such as the world has not yet experienced. … It calls for no less than the reconstruction and the demilitarisation of the whole civilized world — a world organically unified in all the essential aspects of its life, its political machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade and finance, its script and language, and yet infinite in the diversity of the national characteristics of its federated units.
(Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Baha’u’llah).
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