Baha’i Perspectives

nooshin March 12th, 2008

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Tags: education, prejudice, unity

• Baha'i Concepts , News & Current Affairs , Society
• Comments(1)

geoffrey May 19th, 2008

Egyptian Fe-mail is a blog whose post of April of last year speaks directly on this subject of a guilt-culture. The author states:

“Shame” – what a word! It has the power to clog your mouth and seal your lips just by pronouncing it. Have you ever noticed how such a tiny word can lock your mind, inhibit your feelings, and imprison you in a world of rules that are not supposed to be broken just because it is a “shame”? We were born free and uninhibited, and then we were given “the rules of shame and its derivatives”; cover your body, hide your feelings, withhold from expressing your opinion, and filter your words before you get yourself in trouble, were all tips to treasure from childhood onwards.

The critical theme of this post is the oppressiveness and judgment of a society built upon the concept of shame and guilt, which in turn actually leads to a spiral of self-delusion, self-hatred and in essence self-negation within a society. Other critical concepts to take into account from the Bahá’í perspective, with regards to individual and community life, are those that deal with and encourage a mindset of learning.

This simple statement has profound impact and meaning. It allows one to transcend and be open to a process of transformation, and recognizes the need to place the high station of man’s inner being and true essence at the forefront of ones decisions. It allows one to be in a state of growth, development and reflection. It allows us to bring ourselves to account, to investigate the nature of our actions, to use “shame” as a positive instrument in the building a of stronger sense of conviction and consecration.

The sense of shame, when considered in its rightful context, can serve as a powerful agent for proactive societal change. Yet, even as a reactive force, it plays a needed role. Without it, how could nations feel compelled to right the wrongs of past generations? How could the privileged ever consider uplifting the previously down-trodden in society, often at their own expense? Without a new found sense of understanding guilt, how could we begin to repair those insidious affects of years of racial prejudice experienced by (and still affecting) such countries as the United States and South Africa?

Abdu’l-Baha, the son of the founder of the Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u'llah, further comments on prejudice:

The causes of dispute among different nations are always due to one of the following classes of prejudice: racial, lingual, theological, personal, and prejudices of custom and tradition. It requires a universal active force to overcome these differences. A small disease needs a small remedy, but a disease which pervades the whole body needs a very strong remedy. A small lamp may light a room, a larger would light a house, a larger still might shine through the city, but the sun is needed to light the whole world.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Abdu’l-Baha in London, p. 59)

Continuing on the concept of racial prejudice, how are we to ameliorate the affects of such a detrimental and long lasting illness? It is through the acceptance of the “universal active force” of the oneness of humanity.

In the Bahá’í view, the oneness of humankind represents an organic interdependence within a corporeal social entity. This implies that the welfare of the constituent components of this body is inextricably interwoven with that of the whole. Moreover, the essential oneness of the human race is not restricted to the physical dimension; it extends to the social and spiritual aspects of human life. Through the nurturing and unfolding of man’s transcendental potential, cultural diversity can begin to be viewed as the expression of this universal and basic truth. Only then can perceived racial barriers be overcome.

(Baha’i International Community, 1990 Jan 26, Combating Racism)

Again, at the foundation of this post is the need to reorient and restructure the concept of guilt or shame — to take it away from a repressive force, to one that is both active and positive. This will, of course, require a shift in education and moral training which would need to be structured in such a way as to provide the holistic perspective — a perspective that surpasses the narrow vision of excessive individualism and fragmentation. Its objective would be to provide solutions by which we approach the realities of life and our decisions proactively and through reflection.

Tags: guilt, prejudice

• Baha'i Concepts , Society
• Comments(1)

nooshin May 27th, 2008

It has been a very difficult two weeks in South Africa. Doubtless you are all aware of the wave of anti-foreigner attacks that has engulfed the country. Figures given on Friday 23 May estimate that there have been over 4,661 incidents and 519 people have been arrested, that over 50 people have lost their lives and more than 550 people have been injured. I have written a summary of this as part of my job at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies Southern Africa Zone office.

The number of displaced people is estimated to be between 25,000 and 30,000. That’s how many people have fled from their homes in fear of attacks, and are now living in makeshift shelters at police stations and community halls, trying to stay warm in the biting cold of winter. It is a tragic situation, one which I don’t see being solved very soon.

I was going to focus my blog on the perpetrators of these acts of inhumanity and violence. But I realized that they get enough press time as it. I think the following quotation from Abdu’l-Baha will be sufficient:

In this wonderful age, according to the divine texts, ye must befriend all nations and communities. Ye must not look upon violence, force, evil intentions, persecutions or hostility, nay rather, ye must raise your eyes to the horizon of glory and see that each one of these creatures is a sign of the Lord of Signs and has stepped upon the arena of existence through divine favor and supreme energy. Thus they are known and not unknown, are friends and not strangers. We must deal with all according to the above criterion.

I want to rather talk about the good people in South Africa: and most South Africans are good, generous and caring. I work for the Red Cross, an organization whose life blood is its volunteer base. South African Red Cross volunteers have been at the sites since the first violent attacks, in often dangerous and difficult conditions, providing food, blankets and other items to those affected.

Everywhere around me, I see people looking to see how they can help. My friend Lebo felt he needed to do something, so he collected R2,000 in donations and went shopping for items he could take to the shelters. Lena, another friend, is involved in her Church’s donation drive: she went to buy the stuff they had asked for, and added fluffy blankets and chocolates for the children, even though she knew it wasn’t very practical, but because she so wanted to brighten a child’s day. Fern Lee, a friend of my brother’s from Cape Town, had about two hour’s sleep on the weekend because she was at shelters helping distribute food and clothes. These are the people I want to celebrate in this blog, because they, and the thousands like them around the country, have taught me that each one of us has the power to make a difference, and the responsibility to assist those in need. Baha’u'llah exhorts His Followers to have special care for those less fortunate:

If ye meet the abased or the down-trodden, turn not away disdainfully from them, for the King of Glory ever watcheth over them and surroundeth them with such tenderness as none can fathom except them that have suffered their wishes and desires to be merged in the Will of your Lord, the Gracious, the All-Wise. O ye rich ones of the earth! Flee not from the face of the poor that lieth in the dust, nay rather befriend him and suffer him to recount the tale of the woes with which God’s inscrutable Decree hath caused him to be afflicted. By the righteousness of God! Whilst ye consort with him, the Concourse on high will be looking upon you, will be interceding for you, will be extolling your names and glorifying your action.

Tags: generosity, poverty, prejudice

• Baha'i Concepts , News & Current Affairs
• Comments(0)

geoffrey June 30th, 2008

To discriminate against any race, on the ground of its being socially backward, politically immature, and numerically in a minority, is a flagrant violation of the spirit that animates the Faith of Bahá’u'lláh.

(Shoghi Effendi, Advent of Divine Justice, p. 35)

I recently watched a program conducted by Bill Moyers, a journalist for PBS, during which he interviewed a gentleman named Douglas Blackmon about his new book, Slavery by Another Name. This book concerned the world of post-Emancipation slavery in the South, and more generally, the American attitude towards freed slaves. The book discusses the evolution of forced labour by companies in Texas, Alabama and Georgia, and illustrated accounts of labour camps in which African Americans were held under the pretense of imprisonment.

The majority of these cases overwhelmingly affirm that the practice of falsely accusing blacks of perpetrating crimes in the South was a ruse to create a new brand of slavery, one that was technically legal in the post-Civil War and Reconstruction periods of the United States. It was during this time that former slave owners, in compliance with new anti-slavery laws, that slavery took another name and the southern economy, and even the American economy, continued its addiction to forced labour.

During this time, thousands of black men were arrested and then sold to plantations, mills, and labour camps right up to World War II. Large numbers of African Americans were arrested on specious claims, and those individuals that spoke up were at risk of being ostracized or facing complete excoriation.

Mr. Blackmon went on to give a couple of specific examples from his book. One concerned a young African-American named Green Cottenham who lived during the 1880s. His parents were slaves who had been emancipated. When Cottenham married, he and his wife went off to search for work. But in the twentieth century–although slavery had been outlawed–for some of white America it was more than permissible if blacks returned to a station of absolute servility.

During Cottenham’s search for employment, he was arrested, falsely accused, and enslaved in a mining camp on the outskirts of Birmingham, Alabama (incidentally, two hours south of my home town) called Slope Number 12, which employed the use of forced labour, or industrial slavery. He eventually passed away in the camp, and was buried on the outskirts of Birmingham.

This is an example of how African Americans were subjected to extreme suffering and economic disadvantage with no means of compensation, and which eventually lead to harmful repercussions for decades to follow. The question for the later generations, specifically for white Americans, is: how could we be so unaware? Even those that were children during this period grew up in an environment of collective amnesia. This is a history we haven’t wanted to know or face. False mythologies were created, as many attempted to deal with the reality that had been created.

The descendants of past generations of African Americans often know these stories in their hearts, aware that these events have shaped the pattern of present society. These events help build an irrefutable case for appreciating the present-day frustration against those institutions which generated those devastating consequences, some of which persist to this day, although perhaps to a more subtle degree.

All of this raises one fundamental question: what are the qualities and attitudes we need to move forward?

Tags: America, oneness, prejudice, race

• Baha'i Concepts , Society
• Comments(4)

geoffrey July 5th, 2008

The first part of this two part post, concerned a brief historical account of racial prejudice and its further institutionalization into American social and political life as documented in Douglas Blackmon’s book “Slavery By Another Name“. The question I left with to lead into this second part concerned how to define those attributes we need to progress and how take steps towards transformation. As alluded to in the previous post, the fact remains that those periods of historical conflict, especially between white and black America, have created insidious barriers – some of which manifest themselves in active defiance against another race, or in the subtle form of a veil that often descends and prevents us from bridging those gaps of missing history or cultural understanding.

Perhaps, one day, those who have escaped knowledge of this tragic part of our history will understand better why any accomplished African American, Hispanic, female, etc., can justifiably and honestly say that he/she finally gets a chance to prove her/his worth, often against many obstacles that continue to be present, both visible and hidden: “For once I am proud to be an American.” Legitimate patriotism is not reserved only for those who historically have always had the wind to their backs and therefore have no reason to be critical. Nor is it reserved for those not having been so favorably blessed by history to remain silent until they pass the approval screening of those whose ancestors have made it difficult for them to become proud of this country.

Shoghi Effendi, the grandson of the Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, Baha’u'llah, described the racial animosity and prejudice that existed in America, and persists to this day, as “the most vital and challenging issue” facing the country.

He further states, when writing this around the 1930’s and 40’s, that to resolve this issue which “has bitten into the fiber, and attacked the whole social structure of American society”, we are required to exercise:

“ceaseless exertions“,
“sacrifices“,
“care and vigilance“,
“moral courage and fortitude“,
“tact and sympathy“.

Now, I think this idea of racial equality is one that is more or less popularly accepted by much of America today. Acceptance and recognition, however, though a step, is far different from what is required to restructure the varied landscapes of America, and transform systems and persistent societal ills and traditions that perpetuate within. It goes beyond a simple recognition or celebration of multiculturalism, phrases which one commonly hears today. It finds its answer in the deep and abiding recognition in the nobility and oneness of humanity (which in turn has implications outside the transitory borders of nations).

Abdu’l-Baha, the son of Baha’u'llah, revealed a prayer for America:

O Thou kind Lord! This gathering is turning to Thee. These hearts are radiant with Thy love. These minds and spirits are exhilarated by the message of Thy glad-tidings. O God! Let this American democracy become glorious in spiritual degrees even as it has aspired to material degrees, and render this just government victorious. Confirm this revered nation to upraise the standard of the oneness of humanity, to promulgate the Most Great Peace, to become thereby most glorious and praiseworthy among all the nations of the world. O God! This American nation is worthy of Thy favors and is deserving of Thy mercy. Make it precious and near to Thee through Thy bounty and bestowal.

In this prayer, what resonates with me is how Abdu’l-Baha gives recognition to the diversity of America, as that varied and democratic place which has a role to play in uplifting humankind past the bounds of narrow objectification.

While it does not do to create a collective guilt over those that did not play a part in the atrocities of the past, we nonetheless have to give credence to the fact that these atrocities have shaped the societies we now find ourselves in. What is important is that next transitional and transformative step. For the Bahá’í Faith, this involves an organic progression and reorganization of the systems which, again, have lost their usefulness or were built upon the bones of useless and damaging ideals – it’s about having and utilizing a mindset of learning – it’s about letting our future identity be shaped by a greater power; a force that is fueled and driven by the spiritual recognition of our essential oneness.

Tags: America, oneness, prejudice, race

• Baha'i Concepts , Society
• Comments(2)

Baha'i Perspectives November 27th, 2008

Portals to Freedom is one of those books that’s impossible to put down once you’ve started reading it. Written by Howard Colby Ives, at the time a Unitarian Minister, it describes his soul-stirring encounters with the personage of Abdu’l-Baha during his epoch-making journey to North America in the early 20th century. In Chapter Four of this flowing composition, Colby Ives tells a story of the love that Abdu’l-Baha demonstrates towards an unruly group of young urchins. Through his perfect example – in word and in deed – they learn a valuable lesson about unity and harmony among all races.

Towards the latter part of April, late one Sunday afternoon, I was again at the home where so many wonderful hours had been spent. It had become almost a habit, when the service at my church was over and dinner dispatched, to hasten in to New York and spend the rest of the day and evening at this home. Sometimes I would have an opportunity to speak to Abdu’l-Bahá, but usually I must be content with a glimpse of Him, or with listening to Him while He spoke to a small group. This particular afternoon, however, was destined to be a red-letter day. I was standing alone at one of the windows looking out upon the street, when I was startled by seeing a large group of boys come rushing up the steps. There seemed twenty or thirty of them. And they were not what one would call representatives of the cultured class. In fact, they were a noisy and not too well dressed lot of urchins, but spruce and clean as if for an event. They came up the steps with a stamping of feet and loud talk, and I heard them being ushered in and up the stairs.

I turned to Mrs. Kinney, who was standing near. “What is the meaning of all this?” I asked.

“Oh, this is really the most surprising thing,” she exclaimed, “I asked them to come today, but I hardly expected that they would.”

It seemed that a few days before Abdu’l-Bahá had gone to the Bowery Mission to speak to several hundred of New York’s wretched poor. As usual, with Him went a large group of the Persian and American friends, and it made a unique spectacle as this party of Orientals in flowing robes and strange headgear made its way through the East Side. Not unnaturally, a number of boys gathered in their train and soon they became a little too vocal in their expression. As I remember, even some venturesome ones called names and threw sticks. As my Hostess told the story, she said: “I could not bear to hear Abdu’l-Bahá so treated and dropped behind the others for a moment to speak to them. In a few words, I told them Who He was; that He was a very Holy Man who had spent many years in exile and prison because of His love for Truth and for men, and that now He was on His way to speak to the poor men at the Bowery Mission.”

“Can’t we go too?” one who seemed to be the leader asked. I think that would be impossible, she told them, but if you come to my home next Sunday, and she gave them the address, I will arrange for you to see Him. So here they were. We followed them up the stairs and into Abdu’l-Bahá’s own room. I was just in time to see the last half dozen of the group entering the room.

Abdu’l-Bahá was standing at the door and He greeted each boy as he came in; sometimes with a handclasp, sometimes with an arm around a shoulder, but always with such smiles and laughter it almost seemed that He was a boy with them. Certainly there was no suggestion of stiffness on their part, or awkwardness in their unaccustomed surroundings. Among the last to enter the room was a colored lad of about thirteen years. He was quite dark and, being the only boy of his race among them, he evidently feared that he might not be welcome. When Abdu’l-Bahá saw him His face lighted up with a heavenly smile. He raised His hand with a gesture of princely welcome and exclaimed in a loud voice so that none could fail to hear; that here was a black rose.

The room fell into instant silence. The black face became illumined with a happiness and love hardly of this world. The other boys looked at him with new eyes. I venture to say that he had been called a black–many things, but never before a black rose.

This significant incident had given to the whole occasion a new complexion. The atmosphere of the room seemed now charged with subtle vibrations felt by every soul. The boys, while losing nothing of their ease and simplicity, were graver and more intent upon Abdu’l-Bahá, and I caught them glancing again and again at the colored boy with very thoughtful eyes. To the few of the friends in the room the scene brought visions of a new world in which every soul would be recognized and treated as a child of God. I thought: What would happen to New York if these boys could carry away such a keen remembrance of this experience that throughout their lives, whenever they encountered any representatives of the many races and colors to be found in that great city, they would think of them and treat them as “different colored flowers in the Garden of God.” The freedom from just this one prejudice in the minds and hearts of this score or more of souls would unquestionably bring happiness and freedom from rancor to thousands of hearts. How simple and easy to be kind, I thought, and how hardly we learn.

When His visitors had arrived, Abdu’l-Bahá had sent out for some candy and now it appeared, a great five pound box of expensive mixed chocolates. It was unwrapped and Abdu’l-Bahá walked with it around the circle of boys, dipping His hand into the box and placing a large handful in the hands of each, with a word and smile for everyone. He then returned to the table at which He had been sitting, and laying down the box, which now had only a few pieces in it. He picked from it a long chocolate nougat; it was very black. He looked at it a moment and then around at the group of boys who were watching Him intently and expectantly. Without a word. He walked across the room to where the colored boy was sitting, and, still without speaking, but with a humorously piercing glance that swept the group, laid the chocolate against the black cheek. His face was radiant as He laid His arm around the shoulder of the boy and that radiance seemed to fill the room. No words were necessary to convey His meaning, and there could be no doubt that all the boys caught it.

Tags: prejudice, race

• Inspiration
• Comments(3)