Baha'i Perspectives

iman March 17th, 2008

The earth’s vast resources had remained largely untapped until a few hundred years ago. These days the situation is significantly different. The excessive and indiscriminate use of resources have resulted in environmental concerns such as rising carbon dioxide emissions, deforestation, fresh water pollution and a plastic blighted landscape, which have both direct and indirect global consequences.

In all matters moderation is desirable. If a thing is carried to excess, it will prove a source of evil.

(Baha’u'llah, Tablets of Baha’u'llah, p. 68)

United Nations initiatives such as the Kyoto protocol, a recent proposal, GLOBE, and the latest EU climate plan can act as an indicator of the level of global concern. Such initiatives represent an effort to achieve an equilibrium mark that has been overshot. However, one important aspect is still missing:

We cannot segregate the human heart from the environment outside us and say that once one of these is reformed everything will be improved. Man is organic with the world. His inner life moulds the environment and is itself also deeply affected by it. The one acts upon the other and every abiding change in the life of man is the result of these mutual reactions.

(Shoghi Effendi, letter dated 1933)

Rather than merely tweaking an unstable system of environmental administration, it seems as though nothing less than a complete shake-up will help us reach the goal of a balanced environment:

We need a change of heart, a re-framing of all our conceptions and a new orientation of our activities. The inward life of man as well as his outward environment have to be reshaped if human salvation is to be secured.

(Shoghi Effendi, letter dated 1932)

What should be the foundation of such a “re-framing”? Part 3 will offer some suggestions.

Tags: environment, sustainability

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Baha'i Perspectives March 17th, 2008

“My roommate, Kersten, belongs to the Baha’i Faith. Though there are some Baha’is in Nebraska, Kersten was really excited to engage in the Baha’i community in Houston. Always the student, I wanted to know more about her faith, so she insisted I come with her to a Baha’i program…Continue reading.

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nadim March 14th, 2008

The refusal this week by the Ugandan government to hand over suspected war crimes perpetrators to the International Criminal Court has highlighted, once again, the frailty of international bodies in enforcing any meaningful authority over individual nations. Ironically, it was the same government who, prior to the commencement of peace negotiations with the Lord’s Resistance Army, requested that the Criminal Court indict these same suspects.

This has placed the Criminal Court in an awkward situation — does the Criminal Court abide by the latest wishes of the Ugandan government and drop the charges, or does it stick to principle and insist on bringing the suspects to trial?

On the most fundamental level, it is unfortunate that this problem should even exist for an institution whose field of operation is, in theory, international.

On the other side of the coin, some might assert that international bodies are controlled by strong nations and thus do not truly represent the best interests of all. This feeling, coupled with the almost obsessive nationalism that plays such a dominating role in human affairs, present formidable obstacles for those who genuinely wish to establish more effective systems of international justice. No one would argue that the world desperately needs these systems in place; the challenge is to break through the self-centeredness and suspicion that are so characteristic of international relations. As Abdu’l-Baha states in “The Secret of Divine Civilization”:

Endeavor, ceaseless endeavor, is required. Nothing short of an indomitable determination can possibly achieve it.

Fortunately, we are also seeing the early signs of a shift in human consciousness. As people travel from place-to-place, settle in foreign locations and encounter common global problems, what follows — almost unwittingly — is a growth in the feeling of world citizenship. This slow and painstaking process will with time, and following a great degree of turmoil, lead to a greater unity of thought in human affairs, and consequently more effective systems of global justice.

The League of Nations, followed by the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, and so on, are evolutionary steps in the right direction. Yet the need still remains for people and governments to think beyond the bounds of national sovereignty. In “The Unfoldment of World Civilization”, Shoghi Effendi describes a future world commonwealth…

…in which all nations, races, creeds and classes are closely and permanently united, and in which the autonomy of its state members and the personal freedom and initiative of the individuals that compose them are definitely and completely safeguarded.

For Baha’is, the question is not whether or not we will get there — we believe that humanity will ultimately be impelled in that direction — it is more a question of how. Do we keep on clinging to those short-sighted and obsolescent doctrines which have hindered our development to this point, and continue to suffer the consequences? Or do we accept the new realities of life and strive to foster the spirit of unity between different people and nations? The choice is ours.

Tags: justice, war

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nooshin March 12th, 2008

Once in a while a news story will break that will cut through the miasma and shock a seemingly unshockable readership. In South Africa, we have gotten used to a diet of bad news about crime, violence and poverty. But the recent headlines about racist videos on the UFS campus have caused a furore both in the media and civil society.

The “new” South Africa is 14 years old now. I just assumed that blatant and institutionalised racism was thing of the apartheid past. But it seems I have been naive. Just the other day, I was taken aback to listen to a conversation, between a highly-educated, well-meaning, culturally diverse group, about how they have recently come to realize that all humans are affected by the same emotions, regardless of their colour. Having been brought up as a Bahá’í, the oneness of humanity seems to me to be a perfectly obvious truth, one I have known since my earliest days.

Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch. Deal ye one with another with the utmost love and harmony, with friendliness and fellowship. He Who is the Day Star of Truth beareth Me witness! So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.

(Baha’u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u'llah, p. 288)

Perhaps, then, the answer is spiritual and moral education for children. It is not enough to hope that our children will somehow figure out right from wrong, or that it is okay to abdicate our rights as parents and family and leave it all to schools. The formative years of life can be the most crucial in forming an upright character. A compilation on Bahá’í Education includes the following exhortations from Bahá’u'lláh:

Man is even as steel, the essence of which is hidden: through admonition and explanation, good counsel and education, that essence will be brought to light. If, however, he be allowed to remain in his original condition, the corrosion of lusts and appetites will effectively destroy him.

As to the children: We have directed that in the beginning they should be trained in the observances and laws of religion; and thereafter, in such branches of knowledge as are of benefit, and in commercial pursuits that are distinguished for integrity, and in deeds that will further the victory of God’s Cause or will attract some outcome which will draw the believer closer to his Lord.

We beg of God to assist the children of His loved ones and adorn them with wisdom, good conduct, integrity and righteousness.

Tags: education, prejudice, unity

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negin March 11th, 2008

The question “Where do you come from?” might seem like an easy and straightforward one, a simple question looking for a simple answer. Being of Persian origin, but born and raised in Sweden — a country in which I look foreign — I’m faced with this question quite often. And it always manages to create a degree of hesitation within me. Looking at the world today, I’m sure that I’m not alone.

The question could be interpreted literally and answered accordingly, which in my case would be Sweden, as that is  where I was born. This usually doesn’t satisfy the questioner though.

Or I could “play along” and, in my case, say Iran but that isn’t totally the truth either, as I haven’t ever even been there.

What complicates the matter are the indirect implications of my answer. It’s usually not a matter of where I literally came from, but more a question of ethnic origins, and/or perhaps even cultural identity. What people are more interested in is knowing what I identify myself as, which is understandable. The problem occurs when people put me in a “file” depending on what I answer.

Regardless of the benefits or drawbacks of the present-day global economy, this way of thinking is out-of-date, and I know more and more (young?) people are liberating themselves from it. The days when most people strictly belonged to one nationality and one culture are history.

With people moving across borders and continents more and more, generations are arising where one has had the benefit of experiencing so many different cultures that it is impossible to identify with just one of them. Being a mix of several cultures — hopefully taking the best of each — and realizing that people across the world have more in common than the opposite, will make people see themselves less as belonging to a certain nationality, and more as world citizens.

This concept has been beautifully expressed in the Baha’i-writings, revealed almost 150 years ago:

That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race. The Great Being saith: Blessed and happy is he that ariseth to promote the best interests of the peoples and kindreds of the earth. In another passage He hath proclaimed: It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.

(Baha’u'llah, Tablets of Baha’u'llah, p. 167)

I’m not so bothered by people asking me where I come from as it may seem. I just hope that I’m not sorted into a file of a “typical Persian” (whatever that is), but rather a person whose identity has been formed by the experiences I’ve been through, may it be Persian, Swedish or simply… a world citizen.

Tags: culture, identity, world-citizen

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iman March 8th, 2008

Today, March 8, marks International Women’s Day.

Such a commemoration has, as one of it’s aims, the promotion a more balanced civilization, following a past in which man has dominated over woman by reason of his more forceful and aggressive qualities both of body and mind”; this being a product of physical difference. Although physically distinct, our spiritual identities are equal; a soul has no gender:

In the Divine Creation there is no such distinction. Neither sex is superior to the other in the sight of God. Why then should one sex assert the inferiority of the other, withholding just rights and privileges as though God had given His authority for such a course of action?

(Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 160)

I found this very nice short video, which illustrates how one African village is putting these ideas into practice. The interview is with Chief Ntambo:

Tags: equality, women

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iman March 7th, 2008

Nature is a reflection of the Divine:

Nature in its essence is the embodiment of My Name, the Maker, the Creator. Its manifestations are diversified by varying causes, and in this diversity there are signs for men of discernment. Nature is God’s Will and is its expression in and through the contingent world….It is endowed with a power whose reality men of learning fail to grasp….and Nature itself is lost in bewilderment before its revelations, its compelling evidences and its effulgent glory which have encompassed the universe.

(Bahá’u'lláh, Tablets of Bahá’u'lláh, p. 141)

Furthermore, all things flourish through their interdependence:

Reflect upon the inner realities of the universe, the secret wisdoms involved, the enigmas, the inter-relationships, the rules that govern all. For every part of the universe is connected with every other part by ties that are very powerful and admit of no imbalance, nor any slackening whatever.

(Abdu’l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Bahá, p. 157)

Nature. Inter-connectedness. The rules and relationships which bind the planet as a single entity. Just as with the human body, where a mere toothache causes suffering for the entire system, so it is with our planet, where even the slightest disruption in equilibrium can cause a bewildering chain reaction, affecting all manner of related entities. Sadly, very often we don’t even realize the delicate connections between things until the damage is done.

Along with this principle of inter-connectedness is another essential law of nature — the existence of all organisms is conditioned on the coming together, or union, of constituent elements. Non-existence is caused by the dissociation of those same elements. Taking the simple example of a tree; so long as the constituent elements of the tree are bound together and operating in unison, we see continuous strengthening and growth. As the tree ages or parts fall off, the result is decay and decomposition of the elements, leading to eventual death of the organism.

Since all things in nature are bound by this law of union, what should preclude the human race from striving to reach this condition? Indeed, a sustained solution to the problems of the environment requires us, as individuals, to consider ourselves as being an active part of the “worldwide organism”, and that includes how we connect with our fellow human beings.

Part 2 will examine these thoughts in further detail and also take a look at the current global environmental situation (although I suspect we all have some idea of where we stand).

Tags: environment, sustainability

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