Baha’i Perspectives

geoffrey August 8th, 2008

Where are the poets? Where are the mentors of this age that take us deep, rip us apart, and heal us with those transitional words needed for an unsettled time? How are we to operate successfully in a world where those that speak with universal tongues are left silenced or relegated to a softer side of history?

We seek and sift through the dust waiting for those connections to form between us and generate those golden threads that break the gloomy dusk of lives being built without the strength, the vision - we seek those who speak in tightly packed moments of passion and vivacity.

Why is language lost, and not truly used as that art, that truth? I was emboldened one day when I came across a treasure trove nestled deep within nytimes.com - a multimedia presentation called “Three Poems” – it linked to an article entitled “Young American Indians Find Their Voice in Poetry”.

As I listened and viewed the pictures, completely blown away by the power and substance of their expressions – these high-school students – my heart was uplifted and I truly felt the fire of words that truly galvanize. After reading the article and listening to the three poems presented, I thought of four things: 1) a Baha’i perspective on art and poetry, 2) the power of words to affect, 3) the immense potential of youth and junior youth, and 4) how the native or indigenous populations of a country have such a role to play in the eventual upliftment of their home land.

A poet named Roger White, who was a Bahá’í and has since passed away, once wrote:

Art has a message for us. It says: care, grow, develop, adapt, overcome, nurture, protect, foster, cherish. It says; your reality is spiritual. It says achieve your full humanness. It invites us to laugh, reflect, cry, strive, persevere. It says rejoice! Above all, it says to us: be! We cannot turn our backs on art. Art heals.

Artists…will be a vital force in preventing inflexibility in our [world] community. They will be a source of rejuvenation. They will serve as a bulwark against fundamentalism, stagnation, and administrative sterility. Artists call us away from formulas, caution us against the fake, and accustom us to un-predictability—that trait which so characterizes life. They validate our senses. They link us to our own history. They clothe and give expression to our dreams and aspirations. They teach us impatience with stasis. They aid us to befriend our private experiences and heed our unexamined mechanistic responses to the world…Art conveys information about ourselves and our universe that can be found nowhere else.

Poetry stirs deeply within us because of the nature of its composition. It has the ability to transcend, and can be used as that vehicle for the expression of the divine. It has been recorded that often times, though also due to the cultural conditions of the time, when early believers in the Baha’i Faith wished to express their devotion to its Founder, Baha’u'llah, they would write to him in a poetic fashion. It is true also that the Baha’i Faith first originated in Persia, and the Persian language is in itself quite poetic.

Here is an excerpt from a response from Baha’u'llah:

Every word of thy poetry is indeed like unto a mirror in which the evidences of the devotion and love thou cherishest for God and His chosen ones are reflected.

(Baha’u'llah, Tablets of Baha’u'llah, p. 175)

Abdu’l-Baha, the son of Baha’u'llah, also says in relation to art:

All Art is a gift of the Holy Spirit. When this light shines through the mind of a musician, it manifests itself in beautiful harmonies. Again, shining through the mind of a poet, it is seen in fine poetry and poetic prose. When the Light of the Sun of Truth inspires the mind of a painter, he produces marvellous pictures. These gifts are fulfilling their highest purpose, when showing forth the praise of God.

(Lady Blomfield, “The Chosen Highway”, p. 167)

A Baha’i perspective on art could be read to mean that art is a release of self. It is a cleansing. It is a way of expressing a sense of openness to reach out and touch some portion of Truth. As Baha’u'llah says in the example above, that individual’s poetry was enough to show Him how strong his sense of devotion was, and how ardently he loved his new found Faith. The key, as noted by Abdu’l-Baha, is that the sole aim of Art must be, if it is to be called Art, to show ‘forth the praise of God”. And this concept is in itself a topic worth exploring (which I may be able to touch upon in the next post).

But before anything else, make sure you listen to “Three Poems”.

Tags: art, poetry

• Arts & Culture , Baha'i Concepts , Inspiration
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geoffrey August 28th, 2008

I apologize for the delay with this second post — passing moments of confluence and divergence interceded.

I’ve come to realize that my use of the word “poet” can take on a couple of different meanings and connotations. By no means do I wish to be exclusive with my language. There are some who may feel they have no talent with regards to language, there are those that hoard it; and language can be a tricky thing. It requires one person attempting to pass on to another individual her or his perspective of the world (in the broader sense — but in reality, everything we say is an effort to explain how we see reality).

In a book entitled “Minimalism”, in a section concerning matters of knowledge, reality, subjectivity and objectivity, the scientist William Hatcher describes a process of understanding reality. One such approach is to view each person as having an inner model which relates to reality like a map relates to a territory. He states “Ontologically, a map of Canada has nothing in common with Canada. Canada is a geographical territory made up of earth, water, forests, cities, people, and animals, while a map of Canada is a piece of paper…” What generates a sense of meaning, or creates a relation between the two, is the existence of an “appropriate correspondence”. Relating the inner model to reality can be done in the same way, there must exist mediums and specific reference points for the two.

What if we’re all looking at different maps?

This, I feel, naturally leads into the next point I wanted to touch briefly upon, because in essence these posts are in no means exhaustive, but simply probing. The power of words to affect is my next consideration.

If we follow along with the analogy of the map presented earlier, the difficulties, even when a common language is shared, are immense. The question arises, how then, in a world fraught with dichotomies, are we to express ourselves in a way that touches someone’s heart? This is the important point here. The thrust of the question is how to use language, words and expressions so that they become means of generating a change in consciousness as we seek to build an ever increasing sense of unity in the world (for this is underlying principal of the Bahá’í Faith), and thereby transcend and develop language that redefines our “map”. When this happens, when we’re able to begin to reshape our “inner model” so that it resonates in unison with others around us, this is the point at which our words become those means of attraction, binding together others and expressing universalities that have the potential to heal and build.

This is what I also mean by the use of “poet”. We all have the potential to utilize language for this constructive purpose, and when our words and phrases mirror this positive force and attempt to seek truth, that is when we’ve reached the essence of true poetry.

Utterance is another concept in the Bahá’í Faith that stands alone as unique.

Baha’u’llah, the Expounder of the Bahá’í Faith, revealed a prayer that speaks to this:

Intone, O My servant, the verses of God that have been received by thee, as intoned by them ho have drawn night unto Him, that the sweetness of the melody may kindle thine own soul, and attract the hearts of men. Whose reciteth, in the privacy of his chamber the verses revealed by God, the scattering angels of the Almighty shall scatter abroad the fragrance of the words uttered by his mouth, and shall cause the heart of every righteous man to throb. Though he may, at first, remain unaware of its effect, yet the virtue of the grace vouchsafed unto him must needs sooner or later exercise its influence upon his soul. Thus have the mysteries of the Revelation of God been decreed by virtue of the Will of Him Who is the Source of power and wisdom.

In part III, I’ll touch upon the topic of the potential of youth and junior youth, while following this train of thought with regards to the impact of language.

Tags: art, language, poetry

• Arts & Culture , Baha'i Concepts , Inspiration
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geoffrey September 22nd, 2008

Sometimes I think back to when I was younger; well, I mean, I only just turned 24. So “younger” is a relative term. I guess also with turning 24 I think of myself less of as a “youth” and certainly not a “pre-youth” or “junior youth”. I’ve hit an age that, at least in my mind, brings with it connotations of blooming adulthood, where life may become more serious. But certainly, how you take life doesn’t have to. In this third post, I promised to talk briefly on the power of youth with regards to language.

I see that one of my co-posters, Negin, has recently published a post entitled “Youth Can Move the World”. I’ll make sure that repetition is limited or negated all together. What I want to talk about today is “horizontal thinking”. Recently I watched a YouTube video of Thomas Friedman on his book “The World is Flat“. He was giving a keynote address at MIT, and though he covered a lot of material, some of which I did not agree with (but this is for another post perhaps), he did touch on one thing that I was really able to latch on to - it was this process of “horizontal thinking“.

The main thrust of this conjecture about the state of the world is that growth in opportunity, coupled with the integration and growing connectivity of the world, has basically made it flat. And that a person’s ability to access a much larger market, or to interact with a variety of other people across the world, has increased at an incredible rate. Thus, our orientation with respect to the rest of the world is side-to-side rather than top-down, which is a break from traditional vertical thinking (where hierarchy rules and systems of class dominance are perpetuated). Horizontal thinking allows us to see greater opportunities for equality and implies devolution of authority and an increased sense of autonomy for the individual.

Now, in one respect, this does nothing to stem the tide of, what a good friend has called, the cult of individualism, but what it does do is allow greater chances for influence — particularly for youth.

I’ve also recently been getting increasingly fascinated with the medium of podcasting. I mean, I’m only about three years late in becoming interested in this form of media. But it’s never too late I guess. And I look at blogging too, of course. Here I am, writing to… no one and everyone… about things just spinning around in my head… and I hope against hope that it is somehow interesting to someone, somewhere.

And now we find ourselves in a burgeoning world of global connectivity, creating these golden threads of light that circumnavigate the world — creating what though? That we can only guess — what will be the outcome of all this? The only thing we can do is to grasp it, use it and exploit it to its fullest and make sure that this mode of connection can help bring us together.

Where are the poets? We are here; we are everywhere.

This servant appealeth to every diligent and enterprising soul to exert his utmost endeavour and arise to rehabilitate the conditions in all regions and to quicken the dead with the living waters of wisdom and utterance, by virtue of the love he cherisheth for God, the One, the Peerless, the Almighty, the Beneficent.

(Baha’u'llah, Tablets of Baha’u'llah, p. 172)

It would be exhaustive at this point to speak of the power of youth, about their potential. What is more important perhaps is how this potential is used. Wisdom and utterance are of the utmost significance with regards to communication. They are the foundations of mutual understanding and beneficial interactions. The youth of today, as we continue to create a virtual mesh over the entirety of the world, need to utilize, must tap into and be educated in these processes that lead to the “quickening” of men.

And especially in a horizontal world, where communication has become the catalyst for so much, the use of wisdom in incredibly important.  There is a passage in the Baha’i writings that says “Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age in which ye live, and certain your deliberations and exigencies upon it”.  The use of language as a means of power, influence and ultimately love are, in reality, among the greatest goals of today, whether we realize it or not.

The youth of today, indeed, are the vanguard of this endeavor.

O SON OF DUST!
The wise are they that speak not unless they obtain a hearing, even as the cup-bearer, who proffereth not his cup till he findeth a seeker, and the lover who crieth not out from the depths of his heart until he gazeth upon the beauty of his beloved. Wherefore sow the seeds of wisdom and knowledge in the pure soil of the heart, and keep them hidden, till the hyacinths of divine wisdom spring from the heart and not from mire and clay…

(Baha’u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words)

Let me retract me initial statement.  I am a youth.  This is where the real power of civilization-building lies.

O Lord! Make this youth radiant, and confer Thy bounty upon this poor creature. Bestow upon him knowledge, grant him added strength at the break of every morn and guard him within the shelter of Thy protection so that he may be freed from error, may devote himself to the service of Thy Cause, may guide the wayward, lead the hapless, free the captives and awaken the heedless, that all may be blessed with Thy remembrance and praise. Thou art the Mighty and the Powerful.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’i Prayers)

Tags: art, language, poetry, youth

• Arts & Culture , Baha'i Concepts , Inspiration
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geoffrey October 17th, 2008

When looking at the collective history of Man, when peering through the ages, we may find those pivotal moments that appear periodically which have served as catalysts for the advancement of the world.

Baha’is believe that throughout history God has sent Messengers to guide mankind to its next level of development; have come to bring about the order of the world in ever increasing and complex modes of organization.

Inevitably, though, due to the weakness of Man, we reject these Prophets and turn away.

I know, O my Lord, neither their reasoning with which they have acknowledged Thee and believed in Thy signs, nor their argument whereby they have repudiated Thy sovereignty. Every time I call them to Thee and say: ‘O people! Consider the utterances of the Lord your God which are in your possession and those that have been sent down from the heaven of His will and power,’ they cavil at Thee, and turn their backs to Thee, though — as Thou art aware — each of the words that have gone out of the mouth of Thy will sheddeth the fragrance of the breaths of Thy mercy.

(Baha’u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha’u'llah, p. 179)

Hollow, empty echoes meet my ears.

The only sounds of my soft footsteps.

My breath catches,

And I feel pressed for air.

Suddenly, I am paralyzed by the pain of sorrow.

When it should drive me to love,

I am overwhelmed by fear and loss.

My Ears are stopped,

And I cannot hear the Ancient Song.

One sung by Poets and seers,

Ever heard at the breaking of Dawn.

How do I measure the seasons of life?

How may I test the strength of love’s bonds?

Only when every action of Man’s life,

Every thought, every whisper,

Has become an expression of Faith and Reason,

Will Man be able to love,

Without understanding what is loved.

Then we may see the changeless face of God.

For Day will come,

But first the sun must fall.

And with each winter in Man’s heart,

A single Seed is set.

This is the rebirth of the Heavenly Tree.

How often is it neglected and misshapen?

How often is it cast aside,

Where It’s splinters are used as fuel

To feed the fires of hate?

Or to be left withering,

As it falls in a graceful decay,

Devoid of purpose and meaning.

I have within my own Heart

The universal life of Mankind.

Its joy and hope,

Its pain and mystery.

I contain the fertile field,

Where a fruit laden Tree sinks its roots.

With leaves upturned

It catches the light and sustaining rain

That falls ceaselessly

On those that have let it grow there.

Tags: faith, poetry, religion

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