Baha’i Perspectives

nadim July 31st, 2008

This video is another gem from DoubleTake.tv, a site that contains a growing collection of short Baha’i-inspired documentaries. Watch how an innovative “white bloke” living on the island of Vanuatu rolls up his sleeves and gets down to finding a homegrown solution to the problem of rising fuel prices.

Finished watching?

Let’s reflect for a moment on the video and then turn our thoughts towards the bigger picture…

The Biofuel Conundrum

Biofuel production is without doubt one hot topic these days. It provokes an entire spectrum of opinions from advocates and critics alike. Having initially been devised as a mechanism to reduce the world’s dependence on crude oil, the mass production of biofuel using food crops has precipitated another crisis — in the form of rocketing food prices and increased global famine. What are the possible reasons for this wretched situation? Was this outcome inevitable, or was it somehow avoidable?

Being a regular user of public transport, I’ve had to endure yet another rise in the base taxi fare, as well as a significant price rise for bus tickets, all in the past month. Clearly, biofuels haven’t lowered fuel prices — not for me anyway — and the trip over to the local grocery store is becoming more and more of a nervous window-shopping experience. So what exactly has gone wrong?

As usual, I dive into the World Wide Web to try and figure things out. A Time magazine article, Solving the Biofuels vs. Food Problem, points out that in 2006 alone the U.S. produced 4.86 billion gallons of corn ethanol. That sounds like a lot, but what does it really mean? Well, United Nations expert Jean Ziegler, explains that it takes the same amount of corn to produce 13 gallons of ethanol as it does to feed a child for one year. Divide 4.86 billion by 13 and we have 374 million starving children who could have been fed, all by a single country!! And this was back in 2006 — I can only imagine the numbers would have shot up by now. Ziegler, clearly exasperated by this situation, goes on to comment:

…the effect of transforming hundreds and hundreds of thousands of tons of maize, of wheat, of beans, of palm oil, into agricultural fuel is absolutely catastrophic for the hungry people… So it’s a crime against humanity… What has to be stopped is… the growing catastrophe of the massacre (by) hunger in the world.

Based on this statistic alone, it would take a foolhardy person to reject Ziegler’s statement outright.

When Baha’u'llah, Prophet Founder of the Baha’i Faith, pronounced that the prevailing world order is “lamentably defective”, need we look any further for proof?

Couldn’t They Have Waited?

Both Ziegler and the author of the Time article state that non-food alternatives for biofuel, such as switchgrass (which is energy-efficient) and Jatropha shrubs (which grow well on poor land), are only a few years away from becoming viable for mass production. The Science Blog reports on an even more promising alternative, a grass called Miscanthus. Why then, do the economically advantaged countries not wait a little while longer? Surely it should be obvious that all this excess corn can quite easily feed the world’s hungry population. Why do these countries ruthlessly trade human lives in order for their citizens to drive a few extra miles on the highway?

In the masterpiece entitled Century of Light, which examines the successes and failures of the 20th century, the The Universal House of Justice explains:

Tragically, what Bahá’ís see in present-day society is unbridled exploitation of the masses of humanity by greed that excuses itself as the operation of “impersonal market forces”… What they find themselves struggling against daily is the pressure of a dogmatic materialism, claiming to be the voice of “science”, that seeks systematically to exclude from intellectual life all impulses arising from the spiritual level of human consciousness.

(Commissioned by The Universal House of Justice, Century of Light, p. 137)

This captures, in essence, what Baha’is believe to be the root cause of humanity’s ills. What is completely disregarded by our present economic and political systems are those universal spiritual qualities spoken of in the Holy Books of the world’s religions — justice, honesty, trustworthiness, generosity, love of one’s neighbour and so on. Indeed, it is puzzling to observe how these guiding principles, which govern the behaviour of righteous individuals across just about every society, are conveniently swept under the rug in debates on international policy.

Having said this, individual transformation, although vital, is alone not enough. It is becoming increasingly urgent for nations to acknowledge that they belong to a single common homeland known as planet Earth, and that the good of the whole can never be achieved without sincerely seeking the best for each and every part. This implies moving from a culture of competition for natural resources towards one of collaboration. The implications of this change of thinking would be nothing short of revolutionary, and revolution, it seems, is precisely what is needed.

Sure, it is easy to pass this off as some fanciful notion and continue seeking the latest popular explanation as to why our world systems are just so volatile. Commonly-heard phrases like “economic downturn”, “instability in the Middle East”, “rising interest rates”, “loss of investor confidence”, “farm subsidies” are forever making the rounds in the media, and people blindly accept these for the very reason that they are impersonal. These phrases, in my opinion, are comfortable to accept because they do not challenge the status quo. They do not challenge ingrained patterns of human and societal behaviour. Instead, all they do is mask the reality that we are governed by a system that has long passed it’s sell-by date; one which is described as “morally and intellectually bankrupt” by The Universal House of Justice. The only solution that will ensure a long-term future of peace and prosperity is spiritual — it can only be spiritual.

But what to do about the biofuel problem?

Ahh, the million dollar question. Obviously there is no such thing as a quick fix. Nevertheless, Baha’is believe that even the most complex economic problems can be solved through the application of spiritual principles. Now, supposing for a moment that Tony Deamer’s coconut fuel initiative in Vanuatu became a candidate for large-scale production. What are some questions that we would hope the Government would ask? What are some suggested potential international guidelines on this matter? Here is a quick list that came to my mind:

• What is the nutritional value of the crop in question? Is it a viable source of food for the world’s population?
• What is the current economic state of the country in question? In what ways can the money saved on importing fuel be channeled towards improving education, health care etc?
• Will the by-products of the fuel extraction process have any worth or be discarded as waste?
• What is the potential environmental impact in terms of greenhouse gas emissions etc?
• How do we “give back” to the land what has been taken from it?

In terms of coconut fuel in Vanuatu, you may find it interesting to read this article, in which Tony Deamer addresses some of the above questions.

Do you have any personal thoughts on this issue?

Tags: development, economics, fuel, materialism

• General Interest , News & Current Affairs , Principles in Action , Society
• Comments(4)

leila July 28th, 2008

I sat down this morning, with my glass of Lady Grey, scanning the pages of the New York Times, guiltily avoiding writing the sequel to my last post. My editor’s voice haunted me, with the words “deadline” and “Sunday” echoing in my head. I sleepily rubbed my shoulder, feeling tense from the day’s depressing headlines, trying to re-ignite the cheery tone with which I had left off in my previous post.

The disintegrative forces — those old, oppressive, corrupt phenomena in the world — were, no doubt, getting me down.

Sometimes, it seems as if oppression, corruption, and injustice are King. Sometimes, it seems the change brought about by the integrative forces is painfully slow.

As I scanned the news, it seemed all hope was lost: a bomb in Istanbul, soaring fuel prices, and the inevitable snarkiness that surrounds the U.S. presidential elections.

Then, hidden among the headlines, I found a gem of a story. It spoke of a music program at a woman’s prison in Venezuela. The women — some thieves, some drug smugglers, and even a Malaysian law student who claimed she was wrongly imprisoned — participate in a voluntary orchestral program that offers classical training. In this program, the women find hope and purpose. One participant remarked, after her three daughters watched her performance, “I finally felt useful in this life.”

This, to me, is an example of the integrative forces arising in the world. Sometimes small, sometimes quiet, but altogether a reflection of a changing attitude in the world.

It’s easy, though, to look at these integrative efforts with a sense of cynicism. I often hear, from my peers or in my own mind, lamentations about how the U.N. is mired in stagnation, or that the millions of dollars the World Bank pours into development hardly produces equivalent results. Or, that successful and well-meaning endeavors in social and economic development are too small to make any kind of true impact.

Our generation is an eternally impatient one, and tends to seek quick-fixes. If we only stopped to reflect on how much we’ve accomplished in the past century, and how much more, as our consciousness expands, humanity will inevitably grow.

In order for humankind to progress, though, it is imperative that we reflect on the nature of the world, on the failures and successes of present institutions, and then act accordingly. Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, wrote:

The world is in great turmoil and its problems seem to become daily more acute. We should, therefore, not sit idle, otherwise we would be failing in carrying out our sacred duty. Bahá’u'lláh has not given us His Teachings to treasure them and hide them for our personal delight and pleasure. He gave them to us that we may pass them from mouth to mouth until all the world becomes familiar with them and enjoys their blessings and uplifting influence.

– Shoghi Effendi, Bahá’í News, no. 73 (May 1933), p. 2

Bahá’ís believe that Bahá’u'lláh’s teachings, rooted in the concept of the oneness of humanity, are not only those that will help solve the world’s ills in the future, but are already beginning to do so. Bahá’u'lláh was imprisoned and placed into exile for most of His life — yet His teachings have already manifested themselves in ways both small and large, and millions of individuals around the world, on all continents, have embraced His Faith.

And I’d venture to assert that as a steadily growing cohort of individuals who engage in sustained social action emerges, beginning from the grassroots, and based on the spirit of Bahá’u'lláh’s teachings, our adolescent world will, ever steadily, blossom into the calm of maturity.

So, while my awkwardness personally never ended after adolescence, my adherence to Bahá’u'lláh’s teachings makes me certain that humanity’s will.

Tags: integration/disintegration, maturity, oneness, politics

• Baha'i Concepts , Events , Inspiration , News & Current Affairs , Principles in Action , Society
• Comments(0)

nava July 23rd, 2008

If there are indeed “lost” boys and girls out there who refuse to grow up, who waste their days away with idle talk and deedless days, is our society just doomed to perish?  Or is there hope for a flourishing of human affairs once again, a spiritual renaissance, if you will?

I believe it is the latter.  Yes, there is work to be done, and a lot of it.  But it can be done.  It will be done, and we will be reborn.  We will flourish.  We will arise.  So when do we start, and how do we start?

We start…today.  That much should be abundantly clear.  There is no time to waste, not a moment to lose. As our environmental woes amass, moral decadence prevails, depression and suicide rates are on the rise, and materialism infects the cells of society like a terminal cancer, how can we hesitate for even a moment to stand up and make a change?  How can we doubt for even one instant that things are not okay and will never be okay until we get out there and do something? But we can’t do it alone.  It would be foolish to think ourselves capable of transforming this mess we currently live into the promised Kingdom of God on earth on our own.

Fortunately, we have Baha’u'llah.  We have the Revelation of Baha’u'llah.  The teachings that are apropriate for the ills of today.  You see, God sends us Divine Teachers (what many refer to as Prophets, what Bahá’ís term Manifestations or Messengers of God) to guide humanity and draw us nearer to Him. These Manifestations of God do this by bringing us laws and teachings according to our collective capacity as a human race. These laws are both new and the same. They are appropriate for the day in which we live — as every new age has its own ill, and every new ill requires a different medicine, the social teachings change and address the specific “disease” of the time — and the spiritual laws which are eternal and unchanging are renewed rather than rewritten.

This accounts for the varying religions.  There are so many, not because one is right and all the rest are false, but because each authentic religion was right in its own historical context, was necessary for the age in which it was revealed, and is renewed, not lost, when the next Manifestation comes. So essentially, there is only one religion — “eternal in the past, eternal in the future” — though at different times it had different names and different laws. Even different teachers. Much like the child going through the same school, but at each new grade learning newer and more complex ideas, humanity is educated by God in the same progressive and gradual way.

Therefore, we believe that Baha’u'llah, the most recent in this series, has brought the teachings which are appropriate for today. He says:

The All-Knowing Physician hath His finger on the pulse of mankind. He perceiveth the disease, and prescribeth, in His unerring wisdom, the remedy. Every age hath its own problem, and every soul its particular aspiration. The remedy the world needeth in its present-day afflictions can never be the same as that which a subsequent age may require. Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements.

Equipped with the teachings of Baha’u'llah, the very elixirs for the diseases of the age, Baha’is the world over are engaged in specific core activities aimed at addressing the root causes which result in the symptoms of these diseases plaguing humanity. Too many organizations and institutions address it the other way around — they address the symptoms, not the cause. This at best postpones further symptoms, but does nothing in the way of truly curing and preventing the problems from reocurring.

We believe in grassroots change. We believe in the power of the individual to arise and make a difference. To be an active agent of social transformation, rather than a passive bystander in the perishing of society, or someone who sits on his or her couch all day feeling depressed about the world but offering nothing more than complaints.

Our core activities include, as a vital component, children’s classes and junior youth classes. These classes aim at infusing these youngsters with morality, all-too lacking and underrated these days, so that they can use their lives for the betterment of society.  They are also expected to engage in service activities as a group so that the love of service, which may not be inherently there, can grow and together, they can gradually learn to be the kind of people who care about more than just their own existences.

We support, encourage, and are participating in social and economic development projects, especially those aimed at helping the under-served in our world have a voice, provide for themselves and their families.

We are working for change.

But, we can’t do it alone. We don’t want to do it alone. We want to work shoulder-to-shoulder with our neighbors, our coworkers, our friends, our friends’ friends — in taking responsibility for our planet and together, rebuilding the world in which we live. Transforming it into that long-awaited Kingdom of God on earth.

Boys and girls, men and women, let’s rise up off our couches.  Put away the video remote control.  Stop checking your Facebook updates.  Forget about who your ex-boyfriend is talking to today.  Let’s not be those lost boys and girls.  Let’s be the agents of change.  Let’s transform ourselves and our planet, and let’s do it today.

Tags: baha'i, childhood, maturity, religion

• Baha'i Concepts , Principles in Action , Society
• Comments(4)

leila July 18th, 2008

Every morning, I sleepily stumble into my office, a glass of steaming Lady Grey Tea in hand, absent-mindedly clack away at the keyboard to log into my computer, and catch up on the world.

Living abroad this year, I’ve soaked up the news more than ever before. I don’t know if it’s an attempt to stay connected with home, or just a new means of procrastination.

And what a year to stay connected — natural disaster in Burma, a heated race in Zimbabwe, Olympic protests against China, a historical presidential election in the U.S.

I reflect on the year, and I can’t help but notice that the vast majority of the news is, well, quite gloomy. Even with the unprecedented breaking of gender and racial boundaries in the U.S. presidential election, the news was constantly fraught with the polarizing, oftentimes nasty coverage that emphasized personality and appearance over issues of substance.

It made me remember why, in the past, I avoided reading the news in the first place — because it was so darn depressing.

But my personal habits have also shifted a bit this year, in that I’ve made a more serious commitment to read from the Bahá’í Writings. And in the process of steadily increasing my knowledge of the Bahá’í Faith, the gloomy nature of the world suddenly seems less depressing to me. In fact, it makes a lot of sense — and, I’d venture to assert, it’s kind of exciting?

Let me backtrack by saying that lives lost, the triumph of dictators, or partisan quarreling in the presidential election is not exciting. It’s sad, and, if I didn’t have the writings of Bahá’u'lláh, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, and Shoghi Effendi from which to draw perspective, I’d hop on the next train to the Himalayas with my bag of soy nuts to stare at the clouds in seclusion rather than face the pain of this world.

Two words, however, ring in my head as I read about the world’s woes and triumphs: disintegration and integration.

Let me put this in some context. Most of the world’s traditions — religious, cultural, tribal, or otherwise — speak of the promise of a bright, peaceful, unified future. Bahá’ís believe that that time has arrived.

“But what of all the depressing gloominess you were just talking about?” some of you might be thinking.

This is where my favorite analogy — that comparing the whole of humankind to a human being — comes in. Humanity has gone through its childhood already: grappling with the fact that women are equal to men, that slavery is inhumane, how to rub two sticks together to create fire, and the like. Not everyone is fully in accordance with all those issues (except for the fire part), but in the past century and a half, we’ve made more progress than all previous centuries combined.

Nowadays, we seem to be zooming ahead in certain aspects. Information from India to Chile in seconds? Check. Eradication of many communicable diseases? Check. And yet, we still haven’t figured out a way to get along. We’re making inroads, but somehow, the tension in the world seems to be getting worse and worse.

Isn’t it a bit like adolescence? You’ve figured out how to walk, talk, and feed yourself, but suddenly, a whole new set of problems abounds. Mom and dad are still driving you around -- embarrassing! –, that blemish on your nose never goes away, and you seem to be a lot smellier these days.

And so it is with humanity. We’ve figured out some of the basics, and we astonish ourselves with our scientific and technological advancements. But doesn’t some of that partisan political sniping remind you of gossiping middle-schoolers? Are not the waves of violence and oppression that plague societies reminiscent of the turbulence that surrounds the teenage years? Our global community searching for commonality — what are human rights, what is justice? — similar to an adolescent seeking his or her identity? And likewise, doesn’t our endless quest for knowledge and truth, or our rising suspicion of and exasperation with many present institutions, bring to mind that struggle in the chasm between childhood and adulthood?

It’s certain that the old, oppressive ways are the world are disintegrating – at times rapidly, and other times at a painfully lethargic pace. But with this disintegration has come a gradual, sometimes subtle integrative process.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá elucidated this theme in a talk given in New York City, in 1912:

From every standpoint the world of humanity is undergoing a reformation. The laws of former governments and civilizations are in process of revision; scientific ideas and theories are developing and advancing to meet a new range of phenomena; invention and discovery are penetrating hitherto unknown fields, revealing new wonders and hidden secrets of the material universe; industries have vastly wider scope and production; everywhere the world of mankind is in the throes of evolutionary activity indicating the passing of the old conditions and advent of the new age of reformation. Old trees yield no fruitage; old ideas and methods are obsolete and worthless now. Old standards of ethics, moral codes and methods of living in the past will not suffice for the present age of advancement and progress.

(Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 438)

In Part II, I’ll explore the integrative phenomena arising in today’s world, and the central role the Bahá’í Faith plays in the building up of a new civilization.

Meanwhile, a homework assignment: try reading the news today. Any examples of the integrative processes I mentioned? Leave me a comment and let me know what you think.

Tags: integration/disintegration, maturity, oneness, politics

• Baha'i Concepts , News & Current Affairs , Society
• Comments(4)

nadim July 16th, 2008

Picture a soccer game with 22 players and no referee. I’m not talking about the lazy Saturday afternoon kick-about with a bunch of friends and bags in place of goals — I’m talking highly-competitive, international football. How exactly would that work out we may ask ourselves?

Now picture this scenario: we have one young player on the team, going by the name of Zim, who has been committing fouls persistently throughout the game (in full view of everyone). This carries on for a while, everyone sees it but feels powerless to do anything because, well, none of them are referees, nor do they consider it their job to intervene.

Eventually it goes too far, Zim commits one foul too many and everything boils over. Two of the older players, call them Britain and the United States, charge up to Zim and start yelling and gesticulating. “Get your act together and play by the rules!” they shout, to which Zim impetuously shrugs his shoulders and responds: “Who are you to tell me what to do? I’ve seen the two of you committing plenty of fouls yourselves. Besides, it’s no secret that both of you have fouled me in the past.”

Along come two more of the senior players — China and Russia — and they join in the fray: “Leave him alone,” they say, “It’s not our job to sort this situation out, nor has he fouled any of us, so basically we have nothing to gain from intervening!” They argue back and forth on this theme for a while, neither party giving an inch, until eventually they turn to Zim’s best friend hoping that maybe he can do something about it.

And, as if things weren’t divided enough, South Africa has worked out his own strategy: “Don’t worry, I’m talking to him. All he needs is a bit of encouragement. I hope that at some point he will play by the rules, but in the meantime we’ll just have to tolerate him.” So, after wasting the whole afternoon arguing, they carry on playing with nothing resolved.

Doesn’t it seem obvious at this point that a referee is needed?

The question of Zimbabwe is merely the latest in a whole catalog of decision-making failures at the international level, and as people scratch their heads for answers yet again, one wonders when the penny will finally drop. Will it require another major crisis, on the scale of a world war, for leaders to realize that their priorities are worn and outdated? That the days of selfish nationalism, of excessive patriotism, of stubbornly clinging to the perceived good of one’s own nation instead of sincerely caring for the good of the whole, are well and truly over. Well over a century ago, Baha’u'llah stated:

The well-being of mankind, its peace and security, are unattainable unless and until its unity is firmly established.

And with every passing crisis, with the increasing complexity of modern-day issues, the truth of these words becomes more and more evident. What’s more, (and I apologize for using the football analogy again), it becomes increasingly apparent that the game of politics can’t keep being played without, at the very least, a base set of laws that all will adhere to. Nor can it continue to be played without a referee who has everyone’s full backing, not only to make decisions, but more importantly to ACT on those decisions. Although, perhaps “referee” is the wrong term to use here (after all, history has repeatedly demonstrated how excessive centralization has a tendency to promote despotism). Anyone who has watched a game of football knows how frustrating it can be when the ref makes one (unchallengeable) decision and video replays confirm he got it totally wrong! A “refereeing panel”, or world parliament backed by a formidable international force, is more like the answer, according to the Baha’i Writings.

The Baha’i International Community, in a fascinating document entitled “Turning Point For All Nations“, broadly surveys the political landscape in the light of past and present happenings. In addition, the document offers several compelling suggestions on how to advance towards the goal of lasting peace. For example, in addressing the question of which of the myriad political systems to choose as a model for world governance, they write the following:

Furthermore, in devising a specific framework for the future international order, leaders should survey a broad range of approaches to governance. Rather than being modeled after any single one of the recognized systems of government, the solution may embody, reconcile and assimilate within its framework such wholesome elements as are to be found in each one of them.

For example, one of the time-tested models of governance that may accommodate the world’s diversity within a unified framework is the federal system. Federalism has proved effective in decentralizing authority and decision-making in large, complex, and heterogeneous states, while maintaining a degree of overall unity and stability. Another model worth examining is the commonwealth, which at the global level would place the interest of the whole ahead of the interest of any individual nation.

Extraordinary care must be taken in designing the architecture of the international order so that it does not over time degenerate into any form of despotism, of oligarchy, or of demagogy corrupting the life and machinery of the constituent political institutions.

So federalism has proven it’s effectiveness in uniting diverse groups within a flexible framework, and is a possibility, as is the idea of a world commonwealth. Well, what next? The temptation exists to simply file these thoughts away and worry about the future when it happens, playing the role of passive observer. Wrong approach. In the atomic age it is clearly dangerous to ignore such questions for too long. What the world desperately needs right now is a critical mass of people who share the same vision of unity — and who will strive their utmost to promote it.

While we believe this formulation of a world government is at once the ultimate safeguard and the inevitable destiny of humankind, we do recognize that it represents a long-term picture of a global society. Given the pressing nature of the current state of affairs, the world requires bold, practical and actionable strategies that go beyond inspiring visions of the future. Nevertheless, by focusing on a compelling concept, a clear and consistent direction for evolutionary change emerges from the mire of contradictory views and doctrines.

(Baha’i International Community, 1995 Oct, Turning Point For All Nations)

Tags: justice, politics, unity, Zimbabwe

• Baha'i Concepts , News & Current Affairs
• Comments(2)

nava July 13th, 2008

As little children we are fed the notion that growing up is bad. That childhood marks the best years of our lives: we are carefree, we are blamelessly irresponsible, we are pure-hearted, we are truly happy. Movies like Peter Pan featuring the Lost Boys, commercial ads for companies such as Toys’r'Us, with the logo, “I don’t wanna grow up…”, and a slew of other media, teach us that being a child is the peak and culmination of the human experience.

How terribly sad it would be if this notion were actually true. That by 10 or 11 the best years of our lives have faded. Our innocence can exist no longer. And even worse is the thought that the best years of our lives are those marked by immaturity.

Think of the loss when a young man full of potential and intelligence wastes his day away sitting on a couch playing video games. A young man who was created to serve humanity, who was endowed with gifts and talents to do just this — to work for the edification of himself and his compatriots — and who instead never develops these talents — perhaps unaware himself that he is even in possession of them! What could he achieve if he weren’t too busy behaving like a child?

And what about the young woman who wastes her day away gossiping and keeping track of who’s wearing-what and how-tightly-it-fits and who’s-dating-who, and when will that-who-date-me? A young woman who was created noble, who was endowed with treasures and gems that through vigorous education can be unearthed to contribute to the well-being of us all. A young woman who will one day be the primary educator of her children — what will she teach them when her days have been occupied with mindless babble and mundane concerns?

It sounds terribly stereotypical and yet these scenarios, while pedestrian, are all-too-often real. A world full of people who may exist but hardly live.

Baha’is believe that the coming of Baha’u'llah, the most recent in a line of Messengers of God sent to draw people of all nations and races closer to God and reveal the laws and teachings appropriate for the age, marked a new stage in our collective maturity and capacity. So what happens when an entire society behaves like a child? When a people who’ve reached the age of their collective maturity and are enabled with new gifts and capabilities refuse to behave accordingly?

Shoghi Effendi explains that:

The recrudescence of religious intolerance, of racial animosity, and of patriotic arrogance; the increasing evidences of selfishness, of suspicion, of fear and of fraud; the spread of terrorism, of lawlessness, of drunkenness and of crime; the unquenchable thirst for, and the feverish pursuit after, earthly vanities, riches and pleasures; the weakening of family solidarity; the laxity in parental control; the lapse into luxurious indulgence; the irresponsible attitude towards marriage and the consequent rising tide of divorce; the degeneracy of art and music, the infection of literature, and the corruption of the press; the extension of the influence and activities of those “prophets of decadence” who advocate companionate marriage, who preach the philosophy of nudism, who call modesty an intellectual fiction, who refuse to regard the procreation of children as the sacred and primary purpose of marriage, who denounce religion as an opiate of the people, who would, if given free rein, lead back the human race to barbarism, chaos, and ultimate extinction — these appear as the outstanding characteristics of a decadent society, a society that must either be reborn or perish.

The Lost Boys of Peter Pan did eventually make their way out of Never Never Land, even settling down with jobs and family. Baha’is believe that through the teachings of Baha’u'llah, the lost boys and girls of our world can make their way out of the spiritual never-never land they sink deeper into each day; that through the spiritual reawakening of the entire world our society can be reborn before it perishes.   But we must act, and we must act swiftly.

(Part II will address some of the ways Baha’is the world over are working toward this reawakening.)

Tags: childhood, maturity

• Baha'i Concepts , Society
• Comments(0)

Baha'i Perspectives July 6th, 2008

We should let the world know what the real aim of Bahá’u'lláh was. Up to the present Unity of Mankind was only of an academic importance. Now it is becoming more and more a subject for international statesmen to think of. It is coming to the field of practical politics. It is therefore a wonderful chance for us to come to the front and expound the teaching which is the goal and aim of the social precepts of Bahá’u'lláh. Shoghi Effendi hopes that the friends will re-echo this call to an organic unity of mankind until it forms part of the conscious faith of every living man in the world.

(From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, The Compilation of Compilations vol II, p. 191)

As Baha’i Perspectives approaches it’s 6-month anniversary, we would like to pause a while and hear back from our dear readers. For this purpose we have come up with a survey that should only take a minute or two to complete. The aim, of course, is to know our readership better and receive any feedback that will help us to keep improving.

We would also like to offer a special thanks to all those who have helped advertise this site and linked to it from outside — your support and encouragement is always warmly appreciated, and indeed it inspires all of our contributors to press forward.

While you fill out this form, we will be going on a mini-break. See you back here in a week’s time .

cforms contact form by delicious:days

• General Interest
• Comments(0)