First, Arising to Serve: Glimpses from 41 Regional Conferences is a DVD capturing the highlights of the regional conferences that took place between November 2008 and March 2009. The scenes are vibrant and inspirational; check it out at www.bahai.org/arising. You can watch the DVD in parts online or download it in it’s entirety.

“Beyond our culture of contest lies a different kind of democracy: gentle, just and… inevitable”. This is the tagline from the recently released documentary entitled Beyond King of the Mountain produced by DoubleTake.tv. The best way to describe it would be to say that it will leave you begging for more! And here is the film below… enjoy it.

So, how do we approach food and nutrition from a spiritual angle?  While there is not a Bahá’í ‘diet,’ we do have some guidelines about where we – as a civilization – will be heading in the future. It’s a process, individually and collectively, of moving towards health, not just for ourselves, but for every living thing on the planet.

Listen to this excellent podcast, entitled “Nutrition from a Bahá’í Perspective: Food for the Body, Food for the Soul”, prepared by Margaret Tash.

You can view/download the transcript of this presentation here.

“Kevin Locke, world-renowned Native American performer and educator, and member of the Baha’i community, has been nominated by the Native American Music Awards for Artist of the Year and Flutist of the Year.

His newest album Earth Gift, has been nominated for Record of the Year.

http://www.kevinlocke.com/nammy.html

We invite you to consider voting for Kevin. Kevin’s life work is sharing an understanding of the oneness of humanity through his music, dance, and storytelling. We are excited about this year’s nomination and the opportunity it provides to introduce more people to the message of love, unity, and oneness.

To learn how to vote, visit http://www.kevinlocke.com/nammy.html. The last day to participate is October 3, 2009.”

Baha’i Perspectives is going on holiday during the month of August. But the good news is that we’ve given you an entire month to fill out the survey form below! It won’t take long to answer the questions, even if it’s your first visit to the site. We’d be delighted to hear back from you.

With love and appreciation,
The BP Team

P.S. If you’re an e-mail subscriber you may wish to click here to get to the form.

cforms contact form by delicious:days

This Revelation…so suddenly and impetuously thrust upon me, came as a thunderbolt which, for a time, seemed to have benumbed my faculties. I was blinded by its dazzling splendor and overwhelmed by its crushing force. Excitement, joy, awe, and wonder stirred the depths of my soul. Predominant among these emotions was a sense of gladness and strength which seemed to have transfigured me. How feeble and impotent, how dejected and timid, I had felt previously! Then I could neither write nor walk, so tremulous were my hands and feet. Now, however, the knowledge of His Revelation had galvanized my being. I felt possessed of such courage and power that were the world, all its peoples and its potentates, to rise against me, I would, alone and undaunted, withstand their onslaught. The universe seemed but a handful of dust in my grasp. I seemed to be the voice of Gabriel personified, calling unto all mankind: ‘Awake, for, lo! the morning Light has broken. Arise, for His Cause is made manifest. The portal of His grace is open wide; enter therein, O peoples of the world! For He Who is your promised One is come!’

May 23, 1844, signalizes the commencement of the most turbulent period of the Heroic Age of the Bahá’í Era, an age which marks the opening of the most glorious epoch in the greatest cycle which the spiritual history of mankind has yet witnessed. 

Read more about this turning point in human history.

FILMMAKER AIMS TO DEMOCRATIZE SOCIAL ACTION
Technology Puts a New Twist on Mobilizing Fans

Iranian-American documentary filmmaker Bita Haidarian, whose work has been described as “the best hope for film and politics in Australia,” launched a groundbreaking project this week, giving her fans a deciding voice in the new initiative.

After placing a rough trailer of her upcoming film Finding Bibi online in December, Haidarian was inundated with positive responses. The film itself, which follows Haidarian around the world as she documents the lives of Middle Eastern women and interviews notables like human rights activist Mukhtaran Bibi, already serves as a clarion call for women’s empowerment. But her fans wanted more.

In response, Haidarian, the daughter of Baha’i religious refugees from Iran, announced the Finding Bibi movement this week. But unlike many documentary activists, Bita decided to bring her fans in at the very beginning. Rather than craft a program in isolation and mobilizing supporters around it, she is offering them the chance create the first project themselves. Using the ranking technology Slinkset, similar to applications used in social bookmarking sites like Digg, Finding Bibi fans are able to submit project ideas and other comments which their peers can rate by clicking simple up or down arrows. Over time, the most popular ideas rise to the top. After submitting the top five projects to a final vote, Haidarian has committed to working out the logistics and obtaining the resources to transform the best idea into a reality.

“By giving our fans an active role in building the organization and its projects from the get-go, we know they’ll be even more committed to seeing it succeed later on,” said Todd Brogan, Head of Creative Expansion for Finding Bibi. “We’re creating a cycle of empowerment. We give fans ownership in projects that will in turn empower women and girls to act against the attitudes and practices negatively affecting them.”

The website, FindingBibi.com, also features updates on the film and its most recent trailer, as well as regular blog posts on the constantly innovating organization. The film is slated for completion late this year.

To read more about this initiative, as well as watch the trailer and have a say in the selection of the project, please visit FindingBibi.com. 

Then it is clear that the honor and exaltation of man must be something more than material riches. Material comforts are only a branch, but the root of the exaltation of man is the good attributes and virtues which are the adornments of his reality. These are

the divine appearances,
the heavenly bounties,
the sublime emotions,
the love and knowledge of God;
universal wisdom,
intellectual perception,
scientific discoveries,
justice,
equity,
truthfulness,
benevolence,
natural courage and innate fortitude;
the respect for rights and the keeping of agreements and covenants;
rectitude in all circumstances;
serving the truth under all conditions;
the sacrifice of one’s life for the good of all people;
kindness and esteem for all nations;
obedience to the teachings of God;
service in the Divine Kingdom;
the guidance of the people,
and the education of the nations and races.

This is the prosperity of the human world! This is the exaltation of man in the world! This is eternal life and heavenly honor!

These virtues do not appear from the reality of man except through the power of God and the divine teachings, for they need supernatural power for their manifestation. It may be that in the world of nature a trace of these perfections may appear, but they are unstable and ephemeral; they are like the rays of the sun upon the wall.

As the compassionate God has placed such a wonderful crown upon the head of man, man should strive that its brilliant jewels may become visible in the world.

~ Abdu’l-Baha

This tremendous composition exposes the absurdity of the charges against Baha’is, and states in a factual, clearly presented manner, the reality of the persecutions that Baha’is have experienced in Iran over recent decades. It is an appeal to mind and heart of every human being following the situation, be they perpetrators, journalists, well-wishers or simply spectators — and in particular to the governing authorities of Iran — to take stock of what is happening and to accord the freedom and dignity due to every citizen of that land. 

Read it here.

Recently, as many are already aware, he wrote a commentary for CNN bringing awareness to the plight of the 7 Baha’i leaders who remain wrongfully incarcerated in Iran.

And now, he will be chatting with Oprah Winfrey on her “Soul Series” webcast. Some details of the upcoming interview, taken from Oprah.com:

Rainn Wilson
Actor and creator of a website that aims to connect people and offer a place to discuss life’s big questions. 

Coming Up: March 9

Be sure to tune in online. Spread the word to your friends. And in case you were wondering which website is being referred to, here is a sneak preview:

Soul Pancake