Baha'i Perspectives

leila December 26th, 2008

In my last post, I introduced a topic that had been gnawing at me for some time: those distractions and turmoil that lie within us, namely, feelings of inadequacy.

In my quest to understand the nature of feeling inadequate, I derived some inspiration from a talk given a couple of weeks ago at the Regional Conference held for the Southeastern United States in Atlanta, Georgia.  What I learned shifted my perspective considerably:

There can be a wisdom in feeling inadequate.  But it can also potentially be destructive.  From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, dated 13 October 1947, to an individual Bahá’í, we see why:

Each one of us, if we look into our failures, is sure to feel unworthy and despondent, and this feeling only frustrates our constructive efforts and wastes time. The thing for us to focus on is the glory of the Cause and the Power of Bahá’u'lláh which can make of a mere drop a surging sea!

We should also bear in mind that a few titles attributed to our Creator by Bahá’u'lláh, in some of the many prayers He has revealed, are: “the All-Merciful,” “the Most Compassionate,” and “the Ever-Forgiving.”  If that’s the case, then it follows that all we need to do is to call upon Him for assistance.  It’s a comforting thought: we can’t do it by ourselves!

Feelings of inadequacy and inner turmoil that stem from the demands and distractions of an increasingly busy, overly-committed lives, seem very 21st century.  But it is an emotion that has transcended time and place.  A story of a young man in 19th century Iran exemplifies this.

The young man’s name was Hájí Muhammad-Sádiq Khán, and he embraced the Faith of Bahá’u'lláh after attending gatherings held by his friend, a young poet who would recite his works at these meetings.  One evening, the young poet recited a poem depicting the cruel martyrdom of an early believer named Vahíd.  As the poem progressed, Hájí Muhammad-Sádiq realized with horror that the commander of regiment that killed Vahíd was his own father.  Filled with shame and remorse, he began to withdraw from the Bahá’í community.  Concerned for their friend, the young poet wrote to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, explaining the situation.  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote a Tablet to Hájí Muhammad-Sádiq in response, in which He wrote:

The true morn dawneth from the depths of a darksome night, and the world-illuminating light of day poureth forth from the canopy of a night of gloom. The enchanting flower bloometh on a branch of thorns, and multitudinous plants grow out of the sad, sodden earth. The delightful fruit sprouteth upon a piece of wood…. be not saddened.

He continued:

Pray thou and supplicate at the threshold of the One True God, begging forgiveness for thine earthly father. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá will also, with utmost lowliness, implore at the threshold of God that perchance the musk-laden breeze of His forgiveness may waft over [him] and from the billowing sea of His grace a wave may pass over him and cleanse him of the defilement of sin and transgression. This is not far removed from the ocean of the grace of Bahá, His mercy, and His pardon.

(H.M. Balyuzi, Eminent Baha’is in the Time of Baha’u'llah, p. 27)

What I gathered from these thoughts is this: we can oftentimes be harder on ourselves than our own Creator is.  But this shouldn’t lull us into complacency.  We should act, of course, and reflect upon our actions.  We learn from our successes and shortcomings, and we make changes accordingly. And crucially, there is a spiritual component: study, prayer, and meditation upon the Divine Word, which in this day, is reflected in the Writings of Bahá’u'lláh.  A letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi sums this up succinctly:

Study of the Word, Meditation on its divine import, prayer, and then action are necessary. And then, perseverance in action. If these steps are followed, one will develop spiritually, and be victorious in service to the Cause of God.

Tags: 41 conferences, inadequacy, turmoil

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nava December 22nd, 2008

“It is not an easy task to present minds obsessed with the conception of this world and its affairs as complete in itself rather than as an ante-room to a larger, freer life, a scene in which the dominant note [is] Eternity.”
~ Howard Colby Ives

What would it look like if we lived our lives at every moment aware of the fact that this world and everything in it was merely a prelude to a world much greater than this.  Rather than allowing that knowledge to dull us into nonchalance or trick us into thinking the prelude was inconsequential, we would live knowing that the prelude was absolutely crucial in dictating what was to come.

The prelude would define the rest of the play- the body and the characters, the scene titles, and even the very last period on the very last page of the final act.

How might we live if we understood that the prelude was not more important than the rest of the play, but was absolutely essential to its unfolding.

And what if we knew that this play would tell the greatest love story of all time.  Greater than Romeo and Juliet, Antony and Cleopatra, Bella and Edward, Leili and Majnun…greater than the love felt by the most adoring, devoted, sacrificial father for his favorite daughter…and that the prelude’s purpose was to set forces in motion which would allow for the lover and the beloved to meet in the chamber of eternity.

The meeting of the two was inevitable.  But the prelude would determine how quickly it would happen.  The prelude would determine how long the lover would sigh in longing for her beloved.  How long she would feel consumed by the flame of separation from the one for whom every cell in her body existed, every beat of her heart resounded, nay, the reason why every atom in the universe was. For these two to meet, to love, to be near.

What if you knew that you were the lover in the prelude.  And that every decision you made, every thought, every action or inaction, bore direct influence on how near you would be to the greatest, most radiant, most resplendent, kind, loving, wonderful, unimaginably glorious being.

That every kind act, every selfless thought, every step taken to help ease someone else’s burden, to help improve the quality of another’s life, to help those other lovers living the prelude with you would draw you nearer to this object of adoration — and what if you knew that your time in the prelude was very, very fleeting, especially as compared with the dominant note of eternity, which the rest of the play would unfold — would you waste a single moment on anger? On jealousy?  On lethargy or inactivity?

How much time would you devote to leisure?  To pleasure pursuits that distracted you, perhaps even moved your further away from, the path that led to this all-glorious one?

If we lived every moment of our lives consciously aware that we were created to know and to love God, to worship and adore Him in our actions towards His other creatures, that in serving our fellow man, we drew nearer unto Him, that whether or not we felt it now, when we exited the ante room and entered the chamber of eternity, we would be totally aware of and consumed by our love for Him and that if we were remote from Him we would feel sorrow and regret more intense than any hellish brimstone or scalding fire could impose on us …and that our nearness or remoteness from Him would be in direct proportion to how we had spent our time in the ante room, or how we had penned our story in the prelude — I wonder how differently we would behave.  How different our entire atmosphere would be.  One directly affects the other, after all, and both help shape the kind of eternity that awaits us.  An eternity which we are already a part of, which is always as near to us as the air we inhale and exhale at every moment.

It is the duty of every seeker to bestir himself and strive to attain the shores of this ocean, so that he may, in proportion to the eagerness of his search and the efforts he hath exerted, partake of such benefits as have been pre-ordained in God’s irrevocable and hidden Tablets. If no one be willing to direct his steps towards its shores, if every one should fail to arise and find Him, can such a failure be said to have robbed this ocean of its power or to have lessened, to any degree, its treasures? …This most great, this fathomless and surging Ocean is near, astonishingly near, unto you. Behold it is closer to you than your life-vein! Swift as the twinkling of an eye ye can, if ye but wish it, reach and partake of this imperishable favor, this God-given grace, this incorruptible gift, this most potent and unspeakably glorious bounty.

~ Baha’u'llah

Tags: afterlife, freedom, love, service

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leila December 18th, 2008

I woke up feeling sick this morning.

My tongue parched, stomach growling; my body as if it had been mowed by a steamroller; I could hardly lift myself up from the living room couch, as Natalya sat across from me, sipping her tea quietly.

(Natalya was staying the night, en route back home to Singapore after an autumn internship in D.C.; my Kiwi friend Kat occupied my bedroom; and Wendy, a scientist by day who moonlights as a cellist, pianist, vocalist, journalist, and HIV/AIDS patient mentor, had already shuffled out the door.)

The inevitable had dawned: I was sick.

The early mornings and late nights didn’t help: getting up early to go to work after an evening of meaningful conversation with my friend in town from New Zealand, lasting until 1:00 a.m., left me invigorated but sleep deprived.

And the commitments: the days at work of course, and evenings and weekends, always doing something.  And while it was fulfilling, I somehow felt like I wasn’t doing enough.  We all feel that anxiety, at some point: about our jobs (that others are getting ahead, or that we’re not satisfied with our work); about friendships or relationships; about a society that is seemingly crumbling around us, and we feel powerless to fix it.  And, when we come in contact with the words of Bahá’u'lláh, we’ve been given the medicine to treat an ailing world — but we may sometimes feel overwhelmed by the magnitude of the task at hand.  Whether it’s the spiritual education of children, the moral empowerment of young adolescents, or study of and sharing the Creative Word with others, we feel pulled in many directions and struggle to work actively toward the betterment of the world.

Examining my course of action and the outcomes, then, I’d become increasingly frustrated with the fact that things weren’t “clicking” the way I expected them to.  It left me with a nervous knot in my stomach, sleeping little, eating less.  In short, I felt I was falling far short of my goals and expectations.

The stress culminated in my bulldozed, sick state this morning.

Unable to stomach the toast and honey that Kat had prepared for me, and sipping slowly on chamomile tea, I crawled back onto the living room couch, curling underneath the down comforter.

It’s now late evening, and as I chew on a vitamin C tablet, I mull over a letter written by the Universal House of Justice to those gathered at the six Regional Conferences held in the United States, of 41 held worldwide.  One statement in particular stands out:

Undeflected by the turmoil and distractions of the world around you, direct your energies to the task at hand with expanded vision and renewed consecration.

The turmoil and distractions of the world around us are self-evident: rampant materialism; a severe financial crisis; corrupt governance; to name only a few.  These are external distractions that often cause our actions to stray from that which we believe.

But, what about the distractions and turmoil that lie within us: those feelings of inadequacy?  Is there a wisdom behind it, or does it deflect us from accomplishing what we need to?

I derived some inspiration from a talk given last week at the Regional Conference held for the Southeastern United States in Atlanta, Georgia.  Stay tuned for Part II to find out what I learned.

Tags: 41 conferences, inadequacy, turmoil

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iman December 15th, 2008

A man walking down the street with, presumably, his partner, hitting her across the back of the head every 10 metres or so. Again and again and again… something I just wasn’t expecting to see whilst walking to work recently. Upsetting, surreal, unjust. Around this same time, on November 25th, the International Day for the Elimination of Violence against Women was observed.

Abuse commonly stems from, amongst other things, cultural standards, prior abuse of the now-abuser, insufficient parenting, broken homes or genuine illness. Barring the latter, all indicate just how pivotal education is:

The basis for such [moral] curricula is the belief that every person is a spiritual being with limitless potential for noble action but that potential, in order to manifest, must be consciously cultivated through a curriculum attuned to this fundamental human dimension.

Among the moral capabilities identified by Bahá’í­ educational institutions include the ability to:

• participate effectively in non-adversarial collective decision-making

• act with rectitude of conduct based on ethical and moral principles

• cultivate one’s sense of dignity and self-worth

• create a vision of a desired future based on shared values and principles, and to inspire others to work for its fulfillment

• understand relationships based on dominance and to contribute towards their transformation into relationships based on reciprocity and service.

In this way, the curriculum seeks to develop the individual as a whole integrating the spiritual and the material, the theoretical and the practical and the sense of individual progress with service to the community.

Such capabilities can be taught in schools but will not be effective unless they take root in family and community:

…it is the family environment in which children grow and form views about themselves, the world and the purpose of life. To the degree that a family fails to meet the fundamental needs of the children, to that same degree will society be burdened with the consequences of neglect and abuse and will suffer greatly from the resulting conditions of apathy and violence.

In the family, the child learns about the nature of power and its expression in interpersonal relationships; it is here that she first learns to accept or reject authoritarian rule and violence as a means of expression and conflict resolution. In this environment, the widespread violence committed by men against women and girls constitutes an assault on the foundational unit of the community and the nation.

Religion has historically been the primary contributor of the values espoused in most of the world, yet, today, it is voices arising in the name of religion that are obstacles to the eradication of abuse and violent behaviour:

Using religious appeals as a vehicle for their own power, proponents of extremist religious interpretations have sought to tame’ women and girls by limiting their mobility outside of the home, limiting their access to education, subjecting their bodies to harmful traditional practices, controlling attire and even killing to punish acts which were claimed to abase the family honor. It is religion itself that stands in desperate need of renewal.

A core element of such renewal is the need for religious leaders to state unequivocally and become the standard bearers of the principle of equality of men and women, a moral and practical principle urgently needed to realize progress in the social, political and economic spheres of society. Today, religious practices and doctrines in flagrant violation of international human rights standards must be subject to deeper examination and scrutiny, bearing in mind that all religions contain the voices of women, which have often been absent from the evolving definition of what religion is and what it requires.

Who is responsible for the protection of women? The highest, most influential (in terms of enforcement) body of power available to us is the State:

…the State has the duty and responsibility to protect the individual. It is at this level that enlightened leadership is desperately required. Many governments continue to hide behind cultural and religious reservations to international treaties, perpetuating a climate of legal and moral impunity and rendering this kind of violence and its victims invisible.

Ultimately, however, how can a self-sustaining solution to common plagues such as abuse be found? Progress is iterative. As each generation embraces, more and more, the idea that education is the sturdy foundation that can stabilize society’s shaky core, the closer will be the goal of eradicating societal ills.

Quotations extracted from separate statements located here and here at www.bic.org

Tags: abuse, education, women

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Interview Series December 12th, 2008

The Interview Series aims to reflect the unity in diversity of the Baha’i Faith through a series of informal interviews with people from various cultures and backgrounds, touching on their personal experiences and insights. This week, we chat with Kenneth Chadwick and his big red beard.

 

Where are you from?

The small village of Alpena, Michigan.

How long have you been a Baha’i?

I was born into a Baha’i family, but in reality I could say five years.

When did you first hear or see the word?

When I was zero.

Why does one need faith?

Because there is only so much we can see, observe, experience, ourselves. In order to move through the world with any certainty or purpose, you must have some sort of faith to guide you.

What about the Baha’i Faith gives you hope?

The question implies that other things give you hope, but the Faith is the ONLY hope for humanity. It has a vision and plan for the entire world from the most significant individuals to the most far-reaching institutions. It is all-encompassing.

What virtue do you esteem most highly or try to adhere to most often?

Purity. Because its a difficult virtue to adhere to. A pure heart, a pure mind. Its a constant struggle. It’s not a matter of specific actions and choices as much as a constant orientation to the world around you.

What do you consider your greatest achievement in life, to date?

Playing Macbeth on stage in theatre.

What life lesson do you wish you had known earlier?

I wish I had worked harder. I wish I had had a better work ethic instilled in me from a younger age. I’ve had too much handed to me. I haven’t had to work for it.

What is your favourite passage from the Writings?

This prayer by the Bab.  It almost always embodies how I feel at any given moment.

I beg Thee to forgive me, O my Lord, for every mention but the mention of Thee, and for every praise but the praise of Thee, and for every delight but delight in Thy nearness, and for every pleasure but the pleasure of communion with Thee, and for every joy but the joy of Thy love and of Thy good-pleasure, and for all things pertaining unto me which bear no relationship unto Thee, O Thou Who art the Lord of lords, He Who provideth the means and unlocketh the doors.

(Compilations, Baha’i Prayers, p. 79)

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nooshin December 9th, 2008

You don’t hear much good news these days: from the financial crisis, to cholera outbreaks in Southern Africa, to bomb attacks, and piracy. It seems like the end of world has finally arrived, and it’s taken most of us by surprise.

In October 1985, the Universal House of Justice released a statement, addressed to the peoples of the world, entitled “The Promise of World Peace”. It was written “out of a deep sense of spiritual and moral duty”, to bring to the attention of the world “the penetrating insights first communicated to the rulers of mankind more than a century ago by Baha’u’llah, Founder of the Bahá’í Faith”. I recently re-read the 14-page statement, to try and get some perspective on what’s happening around me. It is a succinct, visionary document which gives a clear analysis of the historical forces that have led us here and I would like to share with you some of the passages I found particularly illuminating.

The House of Justice first sets the scene with this description of the world (of the world in 1985, but equally applicable to today):

“The winds of despair”, Bahá’u’lláh wrote, “are, alas, blowing from every direction, and the strife that divides and afflicts the human race is daily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appears to be lamentably defective.” This prophetic judgement has been amply confirmed by the common experience of humanity. Flaws in the prevailing order are conspicuous in the inability of sovereign states organized as United Nations to exorcize the spectre of war, the threatened collapse of the international economic order, the spread of anarchy and terrorism, and the intense suffering which these and other afflictions are causing to increasing millions.”

The discussion then takes on the effects of various ideologies and dogmas, and religion, on the state of the world:

No serious attempt to set human affairs aright, to achieve world peace, can ignore religion. … Writing of religion as a social force, Bahá’u'lláh said: “Religion is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein.” Referring to the eclipse or corruption of religion, he wrote: “Should the lamp of religion be obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness, of justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.” In an enumeration of such consequences the Bahá’í writings point out that the “perversion of human nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and dissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such circumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character is debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed, the voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame is obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and loyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of hope is gradually extinguished.

However vital a force religion has been in the history of mankind, and however dramatic the current resurgence of militant religious fanaticism, religion and religious institutions have, for many decades, been viewed by increasing numbers of people as irrelevant to the major concerns of the modern world. In its place they have turned either to the hedonistic pursuit of material satisfactions or to the following of man-made ideologies designed to rescue society from the evident evils under which it groans. All too many of these ideologies, alas, instead of embracing the concept of the oneness of mankind and promoting the increase of concord among different peoples, have tended to deify the state, to subordinate the rest of mankind to one nation, race or class, to attempt to suppress all discussion and interchange of ideas, or to callously abandon starving millions to the operations of a market system that all too clearly is aggravating the plight of the majority of mankind, while enabling small sections to live in a condition of affluence scarcely dreamed of by our forebears.

Finally, the House of Justice asks some penetrating questions of those who defend materialism:

The time has come when those who preach the dogmas of materialism, whether of the east or the west, whether of capitalism or socialism, must give account of the moral stewardship they have presumed to exercise. Where is the “new world” promised by these ideologies? Where is the international peace to whose ideals they proclaim their devotion? Where are the breakthroughs into new realms of cultural achievement produced by the aggrandizement of this race, of that nation or of a particular class? Why is the vast majority of the world’s peoples sinking ever deeper into hunger and wretchedness when wealth on a scale undreamed of by the Pharaohs, the Caesars, or even the imperialist powers of the nineteenth century is at the disposal of the present arbiters of human affairs?

That materialistic ideals have, in the light of experience, failed to satisfy the needs of mankind calls for an honest acknowledgement that a fresh effort must now be made to find the solutions to the agonizing problems of the planet. The intolerable conditions pervading society bespeak a common failure of all, a circumstance which tends to incite rather than relieve the entrenchment on every side. Clearly, a common remedial effort is urgently required. It is primarily a matter of attitude. Will humanity continue in its waywardness, holding to outworn concepts and unworkable assumptions? Or will its leaders, regardless of ideology, step forth and, with a resolute will, consult together in a united search for appropriate solutions?

In Part Two of this blog series, I will highlight the solutions offered by the House of Justice towards a lasting world peace, which they assure us “is not only possible, but inevitable”.

Tags: financial crisis, materialism, peace, religion

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nadim December 7th, 2008

A few months back, in a piece discussing crop-based biofuels, I mentioned the correlation between the increased production of these petroleum alternatives and a spike in global food prices. At the time, some experts said they had solid evidence that a significant percentage of the increase was due to biofuel production. Naturally, biofuel advocates pointed to contrasting statistics and quite a debate ensued.

Well as it turns out, there’s more to the story.

Since the article was written we’ve seen the sub-prime mortgage crisis and feared credit crunch hit the light of day. And while companies are facing foreclosure or downsizing, and workers face the very real prospect of retrenchment, an odd thing has happened. Average food prices have actually gone down instead of up — the price of corn in particular – this without any real policy shifts in major biofuel-producing nations. Confusion reigns. The experts revise their figures and it turns out that while the correlation between the two factors still exists, it isn’t as great as previously estimated. So why have prices dropped?

Surprise surprise, all these factors are interconnected. As major investors and investing firms watched the housing bubble pop — so the explanation goes — they looked for other avenues to make a profit. With higher oil prices and a greater push to convert food crops to biofuels, it seemed a safe bet to assume that food prices would rise as a result (since there would be less of it). The frenzied investments around this assumption led to what is known as a speculative bubble, where the market value of a resource greatly exceeds its intrinsic value. Commodity prices rose dramatically, and kept on rising, until a point where it got ridiculous and the bubble burst, along with all the other speculative bubbles.

Without fail, this “bubble and pop” cycle has caused untold misery for the world’s poor. And while we would like to imagine that the worst is over, this NY times article predicts prices to rise again next year. So the question arises: is it acceptable for a handful of speculators, who are sitting on masses of wealth, to wreak havoc on the lives of millions of people living “downstream”?

Stephen Pearlstein, business columnist for the Washington Post, described the situation as it was happening:

this bubble is causing economic discomfort for households and businesses around the world, and misery for hundreds of millions of hungry people who suddenly cannot afford a bowl of rice or scrap of meat… the global food crisis has provided a grim reminder that the global economic ecosystem has become so interdependent that a drought in Australia, a tax credit in the United States, French farm subsidies and export controls in India can wind up forcing a desperate African farmer to eat his seed corn.

Shad Rowe, a Dallas money manager, remarked that the situation raises the bigger question of “whether people in a complex society ought to be allowed to make bets that affect other people and that have nothing to do with them.“

The insanity of 2008 has forced world leaders to finally sit up and take notice. At last month’s G-20 Summit aimed at combatting the financial situation, world leaders agreed “to a far-reaching action plan that, over the next 4 1/2 months, would begin to reshape international financial institutions and reform worldwide regulatory and accounting rules.” The plan included a joint statement:

We are determined to enhance our cooperation and work together to restore global growth and achieve needed reforms in the world’s financial systems.

Sounds good – and time will tell if the proposed measures lead to meaningful results. But then, given our chequered history with international reform, should there be any cause for optimism? Perhaps, perhaps not.

Let us, for a moment, dust off our magnifying glasses and take a closer look at the phrases “cooperation” and “work together”. Have our past actions always done them justice? What does it really imply when a determined group of previously separate entities work together in unity to fix a problem? Part of the answer lies in this quote. It starts by describing what unity is not, followed by what it is, and what tremendous effects it has had throughout history:

Unity is not… merely a condition resulting from a sense of mutual goodwill and common purpose, however profound and sincerely held such sentiments may be, any more than an organism is a product of some fortuitous and amorphous association of various elements. Unity is a phenomenon of creative power, whose existence becomes apparent through the effects that collective action produces and whose absence is betrayed by the impotence of such efforts. However handicapped it often has been by ignorance and perversity, this force has been the primary influence driving the advancement of civilization, generating legal codes, social and political institutions, artistic works, technological achievements without end, moral breakthroughs, material prosperity, and long periods of public peace whose afterglow lived in the memories of subsequent generations as imagined “golden ages”

(Century of Light, p. 41)

For a creative power which is essential to no less a cause than the advancement of civilization, isn’t it perplexing that the concept of unity receives no real thought or attention at any of these world showcases? Not a mere passing mention or goodwill gesture, but a profound grasp of what it is, what its implications are, and how to set about reconciling the complex misunderstandings and scattered beliefs that presently exist among nations.

For many, I suspect, achieving unity is seen as being incompatible with nationalistic priorities. Or perhaps it is dismissed as a pie-in-the-sky notion, too abstract and loosely-defined. Nothing at all like those big bad economic theories with the graphs and the formulas that make your head spin…right? Well, not really.

How’s this for a concise definition of what unity is all about:

For unity to exist among human beings — at even the simplest level — two fundamental conditions must pertain.
Those involved must first of all be in some agreement about the nature of reality as it affects their relationships with one another and with the phenomenal world.
They must, secondly, give assent to some recognized and authoritative means by which decisions will be taken that affect their association with one another and that determine their collective goals.

(Century of Light, p. 40)

A solid, scientific definition of unity, “at even the simplest level”. For a practical example of what this means, look here.

No guesswork required.

And herein lies the great paradox surrounding our scientific markets: for what is speculation, if nothing more than an educated guess?

Tags: economics, financial crisis, food, fuel, unity

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