@ the week's end

It's Been a Long Time Coming

2012-02-07T07:04:00.002-05:00

The most significant thing that entered my consciousness this past month was the docu-movie Born Into Brothels: Calcutta's Red Light Kids. I just happened to be in the library, getting a book for D. I didn't mean to borrow anything myself but the line was long so I strolled through the DVD section, which is right in front of the check-out desk, and that one caught my eye.

Sam Cooke singing A Change is Gonna Come
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gbO2_077ixs

"I was born by the river," sings Sam, and isn't it true that where you are born influences your life? We don't choose our parents, and in a brothel chances are your mother neither chose you nor chose to have you. If you've seen Born Into Brothels, I'd love to know what you think. The film won the Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature in 2004. Zana Briski is the woman behind the film/Kids with Cameras project (now called Kids with Destiny). She has used the proceeds from sale of the photographs taken by the children, and of a book containing the photographs, to help pay for their education and to start a fund to build a school/home specifically for children of sex workers. Construction of 'Hope House' was to have started in 2011, according to the project website: http://www.kidswithdestiny.org/projects/hope-house.

This was the hardest movie I ever watched, I just don't know what to say about it. I do know I will never scrub another pot without thinking of a little girl squatting on the floor with a pot she can barely hold onto and spilling water from a plastic pail on the floor - water she had to carry from a well down the street where a woman cussed her out, calling her a 'little c**t .'

You can see some of Zana Briski's photos here: http://www.zanabriski.com/
Some of the photos taken by the children are here: http://www.kids-with-cameras.org/kidsgallery/
The photos are no longer available for sale, but the book is available at Amazon.
Avijit Halder, who through the Kids with Cameras project left the Red Light district and studied photography in New York, has a YouTube channel showing some of his work here: http://www.youtube.com/user/avijithalder7/videos

The film isn't perfect. Critics point to ethical and stylistic issues, saying the plight of the prostitutes was exploited for profit. One of the critics is Partha Banerjee, interpreter between the filmmakers and the children, who called the film a 'gross misrepresentation': http://www.mukto-mona.com/Articles/partha_ban/born_into_brothels.htm. I can't disagree with the many valid concerns of these critics, but I think Briski just wanted to give the world a long, hard look at these beautiful children. When I see the souls of those children looking into and through the camera, I forget about everything else, and the only important thing is to look harder for the spark of divinity in every soul I meet.

For me the movie was summed up in the scene where Avijit is in Amsterdam at an exhibition for child photographer from around the world. We see him talking about a photo (not his own I think, someone else's) of a young woman standing beside a tent/shack. She is wearing a head-dress and has her hand holding it closed over her face so we only see the lids of her downcast eyes. Behind her in the distance are other tents similar to the one in the foreground. The landscape is desolate and flat. He says (in his native tongue, with subtitles): "This is a good picture. We get a good sense of how these people live. And though there is sadness in it... and though it's hard to face, we must look at it because it is truth." The children who are his immediate audience - obviously from all different countries - look on rather blankly. They seem posed. The words may have been put into his mouth by Briski, but that didn't dilute the message for me.

It's been a long time coming, but change is gonna come.

Soft SOPA and Daily Bread

2012-01-18T12:15:00.000-05:00

I had nothing in mind to write about this month (Baha'i month of Sovereignty, January 19 to February 7) but today being the Internet's 'blackout' day - in protest of SOPA - made up my mind for me.

As you may already know I work as a Search Engine Evaluator. That means I spend a lot of time online, looking at websites of all kinds. Much of it is not pretty, and I do agree something should be done about pirating (which is one issue) and even more, about cleaning up the Internet of all the spam and filth (a quite different issue), but after doing some reading on the matter it really does seem to me that SOPA's opponents are right - it will hurt rather than help Internet users, and business in general.

You can read more for yourself on the issues - here are links to two letters worth a read:

Exhibit 1 - a letter signed by 41 human rights organizations
(URL: http://cdt.org/files/pdfs/SOPA-letter-from-Intl-human-rights-community.pdf)

Exhibit 2 - a letter signed by 110 professors of law
(URL: http://cdt.org/files/pdfs/SOPA_House_letter_with_PROTECT_IP_letter_FINAL.pdf)

Talk of the Internet (and by the way I always think of the Internet with a capital I, though that seems out of fashion) reminded me of a passage from a letter written by Shoghi Effendi (Baha'u'llah's great grandson) in 1936 and published in the World Order of Baha'u'llah. The full letter can be found here: http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/WOB/wob-56.html. The part about the Internet, considered by many Baha'is as tantamount to prophecy and very often misquoted as coming from Baha'u'llah Himself, is:

"A mechanism of world inter-communication will be devised, embracing the whole planet, freed from national hindrances and restrictions, and functioning with marvellous swiftness and perfect regularity."

I say this is about the Internet because that's how the quote has been interpreted by Baha'is, but is it about the Internet that we have today? Perhaps it is fair to say it functions with marvellous swiftness and perfect regularity, but certainly it is not free of hindrances and restrictions (yet). The other 'prophecies' in the passage include "a world script, a world literature, a uniform and universal system of currency, of weights and measures..." Say what? We are so definitely not there yet.

Shoghi goes on to say: "The press will, under such a system, while giving full scope to the expression of the diversified views and convictions of mankind, cease to be mischievously manipulated by vested interests, whether private or public, and will be liberated from the influence of contending governments and peoples."

Seems like a worthwhile goal, but how do we get there from here? One step at a time. Sign a petition: https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/; write to your local representative: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Main_Page or https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml; be more careful about what you 'like', post or forward on the Internet. Keep it worthy of a capital I.

Peace, Niki

Good Neighbors Come in All Colors (and Shapes)

2011-12-31T10:31:00.003-05:00

I came across the old Abba song "Happy New Year" today and by a happy coincidence, the lyrics are a perfect match to the songs I had just chosen for our devotional meeting to celebrate the Feast of Sharaf (Honor) later today in Hickory Tavern. Here are some of the lyrics, and a link to a video of Abba performing the song:

Happy new year, Happy new year
May we all have a vision now and then
Of a world where every neighbour is a friend
Happy new year, Happy new year
May we all have our hopes, our will to try
If we don't we might as well lay down and die

Sometimes I see
How the brave new world arrives
And I see how it thrives
In the ashes of our lives
Oh yes, man is a fool
And he thinks he'll be okay
Dragging on, feet of clay
Never knowing he's astray
Keeps on going anyway...

The theme that has been running through my mind - a continuation of the discussion of sexuality/homosexuality and the Baha'i Faith - is how we should treat people not only of different races, but also of different sexual orientations, and/or different moral codes. Habits are hard to lose, as the saying goes: get rid of the H and you still have "a bit"; lose the A and you still have a "bit"; chop off the B and you still have "it"! I recall reading a book by a French Baha'i shortly after I joined the Faith. As you probably know, in French culture/cuisine, wine with meals is a given. As a new Baha'i the woman decided to ease her friends into the idea of her not drinking wine with them bit by bit. To suddenly stop the 'habit' of wine with food was not a problem for her, but it would have been a problem for her friends, some of whom might have become alienated and distrustful, or at least less likely to listen to her thoughts on other more important aspects of the Faith.

Folk art by Tracy Dove - http://www.tracydove.com/

Moral behavior, like most things in life, falls along a continuum. There will always be people who dress more, and less, modestly than you do, for instance. What would you do if someone who is dressed in a manner you consider to be too revealing tries to befriend you? How about if the person dresses like a prude compared to you? Certainly you want to choose a life partner who thinks like you when it comes to the most important things in life (let's not define those just now!) But, what about just regular friends and acquaintances? Do you rule out talking to people based on how they dress or how they worship? Since we all fall short of being perfect, how much does it matter which side of the bullseye their own darts fall compared to yours?

Jesus Christ - an excellent if not perfect example of a human being living as God would have him live - was more friendly with 'sinners' than the righteous people of his time would have liked. The Gospel of Mark Chapter 2 verses 15 through 17:

"And it came to pass, that, as Jesus sat at meat in his house, many publicans and sinners sat also together with Jesus and his disciples: for there were many, and they followed him. And when the scribes and Pharisees saw him eat with publicans and sinners, they said unto his disciples, How is it that he eateth and drinketh with publicans and sinners? When Jesus heard it, he saith unto them, They that are whole have no need of the physician, but they that are sick: I came not to call the righteous, but sinners to repentance."

Of course if you are an alcoholic, you'd do well to avoid people who drink socially. Addictions aside though, how on earth are Christians and Baha'is going to be the salt of the earth if they don't spread out and share their Faith by example? It's no use being the best grain of salt in a container of salt, even if it's the biggest and saltiest container of salt in the world :)

Here are some more neighborly lyrics for all my virtual neighbors... Happy 2012!!!

"Good neighbors come in all colors
Red, black, yellow and tan,
Our outsides may be different
But we belong to the family of man."

"Walking down the street I met a friend,
A friend with skin of golden brown,
Suffering, suffering, With his head a-hanging down.

One Heart Ruby Red (3X)
Beats the heart of man.

When a friend can meet another friend,
And when for hate there’s love instead,
‘Neath a cloak of varied Hue, Beats one heart of Ruby Red."

The Really Big Questions

2011-12-11T20:38:00.018-05:00

I'm Late, I'm Late... seems I skipped a whole Bahá’i month, and tomorrow (12 December) is the start of a new one, the month of Questions.

I've been sick (bad cold, caught it from my daughter) and extremely busy at work this past week (working towards a productivity bonus), but those aren't good excuses. Actually, some questions have been percolating in my head, and that's the real reason for missing a whole month. This is the 5th and final post of a series on the topic "Unity" and I felt I needed to find a way to complete the series convincingly.

The truth is, most of my blogs so far have been written kind of on the fly. I've never sustained one thought for more than one or two posts, and even the previous four seem a little disjointed, when I look back at them. So let's look at them in summary and see if we can get them to paint a picture for us.

First there was "UNITY (on getting there)". That post was about the individual growing up and being spiritually educated to the point where they are able to contribute to a unified society. What I wanted to say (and didn't really) is that unity - and I mean the world unity envisioned by Baha'u'llah - implies a sense of brotherhood that goes beyond notions of family/friends, race, gender, nationality, and religious beliefs. Some might argue that it's perfectly natural for human beings to bond together in groups, why try to force people with different beliefs to be friends? Let's think about that for a bit.

The 2nd post was called "Father Abraham and His Only/Many Sons." That post focused mainly on lessons drawn from Frances Worthington's book "Abraham: One God, Three Wives, Five Religions." It looked at the history of moral responsibility, asserting that in the past (before Abraham) individual moral actions were seen as having little or no consequence, but that Abraham taught an individual's moral behaviour (get that, not their immoral behaviour but their moral behaviour) can in fact have a powerful influence. The main point of that post (again, not very well stated) was that in order to exert that type of moral 'change,' sacrifices need to be made - not just physical sacrifices, but the sacrifice of casting off old, outdated beliefs, traditions and privileges (symbolized by the idols made by Abraham's father), and embracing new ideas about who we are (spiritual beings) and where we're going (the Land of Canaan? more on that later, maybe).

The 3rd post - "Knowing vs Doing" - looked briefly at the scientific evidence supporting the idea that humans of all races all belong on the same family tree, that we are all related to a common ancestor in our relatively recent (compared to the universe) past. Let's suppose that knowledge were to become even more widely acknowledged and understood - would that make us less prone to fighting with each other? Probably not.

"Ah, Look at All the Lonely People" was the title of the 4th post, which moved away from scientific talk to look at the extraordinary behaviour of a certain individual (Jesus Christ) who was distinguished by his extreme compassion for all kinds of people. There aren't many people in history who have come close to that level of compassion. What will it take to stop the loneliness of all the lonely people? What quantum of compassion, from what percentage of individuals?

An answer to that last question came to me through a seminar on Sexuality and the Bahá’i Faith hosted by the Baha'is in Columbia, South Carolina last weekend. The 1st presentation of the seminar was by Mary K. Radpour, a Licensed Clinical Social Worker who also teaches psychology, social work and women’s studies at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. Her very thoughtful presentation left me feeling a lot clearer on the topic, and I knew I had to share it with you (even if it didn't fit with the topic of Unity, which it actually does, and very well too!)

The seminar on Sexuality was actually more on Homosexuality, which is a confusing topic for many Bahá’is I've met, and here's why. The Christian church is being split between those who support the LGBT community and those who condemn it. The churches who refuse to recognize gay rights tend to be composed of fundamentalist Christians, who take Scripture more literally than Bahá’is do. New Bahá’is are therefore often surprised to find that the same Bahá’i teachings which espouse harmony between science and religion and discourage superstition and empty tradition, are in disagreement with what they take to be scientific truth: that homosexuality is a natural state of being for humans and animals alike.

As Mary K. puts it: "The Baha’i teachings assert that homosexuality is not a parallel form of sexual development but an abnormality due to distortions in development. This is not a negative attribution or a condemnation, but a loving explanation of why one might differ from the norm."

So how can this be? Is science wrong? Isn't there a gene for homosexuality which science will one day discover? I was surprised to learn how little I knew about the actual research that has been done on this topic. Mary K. explains:

"One of the particular challenges in discussions of homosexuality is fuzziness about what exactly homosexuality is. Since there are many people who do not identify themselves as homosexual who engage in homosexual behavior, what exactly is homosexuality? Is it characterized by fantasies, attraction, emotional preference, or same-sex sexual activity, or non sexually stereotypical behavior? Is it fixed for life, or fluid? Is it different for women than for men?"

Mary K. presented us with information from research studies, and from her own experiences as a counsellor/clinician with homosexual patients, that led to these surprising conclusions:

"We understand that it is the adoption of a homosexual identity which is most associated with these traits, and the belief that sexual orientation is permanent and fixed that prevents many from questioning that identity. We understand that sexuality is fluid rather than fixed, and that women follow a different pattern in sexual attraction than men. Lesbians tend to adopt a lesbian identity later than men, often after having had heterosexual experiences and given birth, and some report that they choose such an identity for political reasons or because of the unavailability of suitable men." [The emphases are all mine]

With regard to male homosexuality, Mary K. shared the following: "Some men who have abandoned a homosexual identity and now see themselves as heterosexual explain that difference as due to a variety of negative factors, such as

Absence of and deep longing for a same-sex model;
Possession of a non-stereotypically masculine physique and/or temperament;
Emotional abuse;
Premature sexualization through pornography or sexual abuse;
An aversion to sexual contact with girls and women as a result of abusive experiences;
Social pressure to identify as gay (a recent phenomenon, turning traditional homophobia on its head);
Profound ignorance of sex and the titillating opportunity to acquire an education from same-sex exploration."

There was a LOT more to the seminar, including some very progressive (in my humble opinion) ideas on traditional versus dynamic concepts of morality, and the sociological background to the current status quo concerning male-female relationships. If you want to explore this further with me, you're welcome to post comments or email me privately if you prefer, but I want to wrap this up by getting back to the point about unity. The big question is: how are homosexuals within the Faith supposed to be treated? Mary K. says it well, and I hope she doesn't mind me quoting her so much:

"Like all communities, the Bahá’i community is in a state of transition regarding homophobia. There are places where the Bahá’i teachings on homosexuality have been misunderstood and seen to be completely in harmony with that religious fundamentalism that condemns homosexuals. Gradually, many Bahá’is are beginning to understand that the Bahá’i teachings call for a high standard of personal morality from both heterosexuals and homosexuals, but they distinguish between homosexual attraction and homosexual behavior. They do not judge same-sex attraction as a sin but as a condition to be regarded with compassion."

"Historically, communities have seen their role as necessarily coercive with regard to moral behaviors, asserting that if they did not shun and condemn “sinners,” morality would be undermined. The Bahá’i teachings challenge that position and argue that the community’s role is to provide loving acceptance as well as active concern; the recognition and affirmation of spiritual attributes; the acknowledgment that virtually everyone has experienced moral failures; and shared opportunities for moral reflection. This frees individuals from shame and humiliation, which are obstacles to growth. Encouragement in the shared goal of spirituality allows the heart, which is naturally drawn toward nobility, to be drawn toward noble ends."

This approach is admittedly not easy to implement! Unfortunately we have become used to being each other's keeper in the sense of sticking our noses into each other's business... but, Baha'is everywhere are trying to build communities that collectively strive towards the above-mentioned ideals of community behaviour. To quote the Bahá’i Universal House of Justice: "To regard homosexuals with prejudice and disdain would be entirely against the spirit of Bahá'í Teachings. The doors are open for all of humanity to enter the Cause of God, irrespective of their present circumstances; this invitation applies to homosexuals as well as to any others who are engaged in practices contrary to the Bahá'í Teachings." (Letter from the Universal House of Justice, dated September 11, 1995, to a National Spiritual Assembly)

Peace, Niki

Ah, Look at All the Lonely People

2011-11-05T10:28:00.005-04:00

Jesus wept. (John 11:35)

Eleanor Rigby statue, Stanley Street, Liverpool.

That's my inspiration for the month of Qudrat (Power, 4-22 November), but not in those words... When I hear the Beatles' Eleanor Rigby, I think this is what Jesus might have said if he were a songwriter in the 60's.

I find the song remarkable because it conveys so much meaning so simply. I like the way some of the lines are interchangeable (except for perhaps not fitting the rhyming scheme). I'll copy the lyrics out here so you can see what I mean. The original sequence is in blue text, with the alternatives in red.

Ah, look at all the lonely people (x2)

Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream Nobody came.
Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for? What does he care?

Chorus
All the lonely people
Where do they all come from?
All the lonely people
Where do they all belong?

Father McKenzie writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near. Who is it for?
Look at him working, darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there
What does he care? No one comes near.

Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried alone with her name
Nobody came. No one was saved.
Father McKenzie wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave
No one was saved. What does he care?

When I first heard the song (as a teenager) I thought they were singing "I look at all the lonely people", but the "Ah" in the song is critical; to me it shows compassion, without judgement or pity. You may say I am reading too much into the song, but I reserve my right to reinterpret :) In my lyrical world: "Words have a life of their own; leave them alone and they'll sing for you." As we meditate on this ode to the Eleanors of the world, notice how the name resembles "a loner" or "alien-er". Eleanor is said to mean "compassion" and the similar Hebrew and Arabic names Elior and Allahu Nuri mean "God is light" and "God is my light".

Eleanor Rigby picks up the rice in the church where a wedding has been
Lives in a dream.

Eleanor is a member of the church, a believer. She's a practical, hardworking woman, but dreams of having a bridegroom of her own.

Waits at the window, wearing the face that she keeps in a jar by the door
Who is it for?

Eleanor is waiting for something/someone to wake her from her dream. She puts on a 'face' which represents the way she interacts with the world, her mannerisms and behaviour shaped by the traditions/culture of her time and social station. The window also represents the local nature of Eleanor's views, which are shaped by local circumstance.

If Eleanor is waiting for her groom, then she must be a prospective bride. In the Bible, the generation of believers awaiting the "kingdom of heaven" is personified as a bride or bridesmaids/aka 'virgins'. Remember the story of the foolish and the wise virgins? (Matthew 25:1-13). Eleanor also waits for her groom, and what she has prepared in readiness is the face that she wears for his benefit. It is a face that she believes is appropriate, but it is not natural, so she keeps it where she will remember it when her groom arrives. Note that the "door" is a common symbol for the path to the afterlife, in other words, death (which could also mean the death of innocence, or the death of ignorance). The virgins on the other hand were prepared with lamps and extra oil. I'll leave you to ponder on what that represents, but note the similarity to the root meanings of the name Eleanor given previously.

Father McKenzie writing the words of a sermon that no one will hear
No one comes near.
Look at him working, darning his socks in the night when there's nobody there
What does he care?
Father McKenzie is Eleanor's pastor. As the leader of her church, it is his responsibility to guide and counsel his sheep. He is busy writing sermons, and darning socks, but who is it for, and does he really care for the Eleanors in his flock? Nobody even comes near to 'hearing' his message, which is of course the message of the bridegroom/kingdom of God. Like Eleanor, Father McKenzie is also working hard; he is "busy doing nothing," as the song Beautiful Dreamer declares. Does he care more about appearances than the quality of his sermons? Maybe.

Eleanor Rigby died in the church and was buried alone with her name
Nobody came.

Eleanor died a member of the church, a believer, but she must have had little if any interaction with fellow church members, since none of them came to her funeral. She was buried 'alone with her name', which serves as a reference to her childnessness, both physically and spiritually. Eleanor waited for her groom, but she didn't share the news of his coming with anyone else.... Naturally, Father McKenzie attended her funeral, but only in the course of duty:

Father McKenzie, wiping the dirt from his hands as he walks from the grave...
No one was saved.

That last line, as I meditate, speaks to me of the attitude or window on life that says the purpose of the church and of preachers is to save souls, to bring the wayward sheep into the fold of the church; if no one is saved, the church does not increase in numbers, and in authority and power on earth... but is this what is meant by the coming of the kingdom of God?

At the start of this series on Unity I asserted that Unity in the religious sense doesn't mean every believer worshiping in exactly the same way; it doesn't even mean every believer belonging to the same religious community (Christian, Baha'i or otherwise). If Baha'is were to be in the majority and yet not have love and compassion for their brothers and sisters (of whatever race, creed, gender or religion) then surely it would be better not to have any religion? This is not my idea by the way. For those of you who are unfamiliar with the Baha'i Faith, it is one of the Faith's foundational truths:

"Bahá'u'lláh proclaimed that, inasmuch as God is the one heavenly Shepherd and all mankind are the sheep of His fold, the religion or guidance of God must be the means of love and fellowship in the world. If religion proves to be the source of hatred, enmity and contention, if it becomes the cause of warfare and strife and influences men to kill each other, its absence is preferable. For that which is productive of hatred amongst the people is rejected by God, and that which establishes fellowship is beloved and sanctioned by Him. Religion and divine teachings are like unto a remedy. A remedy must produce the condition of health. If it occasions sickness, it is wiser and better to have no remedy whatever. This is the significance of the statement that if religion becomes the cause of warfare and bloodshed, irreligion and the absence of religion are preferable among mankind." (Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 298)

It may seem strange to be talking about compassion in the month of Power, but let's look at it this way: compassion is the most powerful attribute since it has the power to bring together all kinds of people and make them work together for the betterment of all. Baha'u'llah was born in this month (12 November), and He was an exemplar of compassion. They called Him the Father of the Poor. Which reminds me of the chef in India who gave up his restaurant job to feed the poor and homeless...

His name is Narayanan Krishnan, and his foundation is called the Akshaya Trust. You can read about him here: http://www.cnn.com/2010/LIVING/04/01/cnnheroes.krishnan.hunger/index.html, and his website is here: http://www.akshayatrust.org/

According to Krishnan, Akshaya is Sanskrit for "undecaying" or "imperishable," and was chosen "to signify [that] human compassion should never decay or perish. ... The spirit of helping others must prevail for ever."

Peace, Niki

Knowing vs Doing

2011-10-17T08:15:00.003-04:00

So here I am at the 3rd installment in my 5-part series on Unity. I've finished 'Abraham: One God Three Wives Five Religions'. I've started crocheting again, making 9-pointed star-shaped 'throws' in vivid colors. Last night Julian and I had devotions and dinner in celebration of the Feast of Ilm (Knowledge) in the company of Jamie Abercrombie and his mother, a delightful lady with sparkling eyes. They all complimented me by cleaning their plates so thoroughly there was no need to scrape them before stacking. I also want to report that I am almost finished with the Ruhi Book Five study circle that we started early this year. Every single study session has been an eye-opener for me, and I will share some of the knowledge I gained there in this month's blog.

The Rosegarden of Love

Before I start, a quote from my deliciously thought-provoking friend Al Black on Facebook last week has once again inspired me. Al quoted Alfred Adler, an Austrian psychotherapist and a contemporary of Freud, who by the way thought Adler too contrary! According to Wikipedia, Adler "emphasized the importance of equality in preventing various forms of psychopathology, and espoused the development of social interest and democratic family structures for raising children."

Here's the quote: “It is easier to fight for one's principles than to live up to them.” I don't know if the posting of this quote was somehow sparked by the current uprisings against Wall Street and all it symbolizes. I am certainly not making a statement about the Occupy movement here, but Adler's ideas about equality preventing psychopathology are very relevant to the discussion of Unity, so let's look into this some more.

At the end of the Abraham book, the author presents two conflicting theories on the possible relationship between Abraham/Judaism and Hinduism. The fact is, that the names of Abraham, his family members, and even important place names in his life, are eerily similar to the names of Hindu gods and goddesses and places. Here is a partial list that has been put forward by proponents of one of the theories:

Abram/Abraham...   Brahma - main deity
Sarai/Sarah...            Saraswati - an important goddess
Mount Moriah...       Mount Meru
Isaac...    Iswar - (Shiva, son of Brahma)
Rebekah...                Ambika - Shiva's wife
Ishmael...                 Ishalay (temple of Ishwar or Shiva)

The Rays of the Sun of Truth

Whatever the relationship between the two religions, the point I want to make is that the same religious ideas have been taught over and over again to mankind, but mankind (on the whole) has not been learning very well. Throughout history, it has been the few, the minority, who have had the 'ears to hear.' We now have in our heads if not in our hearts the raw knowledge of religious truth, since the gospel/Word of God has been preached to the 'ends of the earth'. However, knowing a thing - one could argue even believing in a thing - does not make it any easier to put into practice. Why? Perhaps like an alcoholic or a gambler going through the 12-step program, there are things we need to do, one by one, little by little, to overcome the habit of thinking ourselves superior to our fellow men?

You will surely have heard the scientific assertion that all humans alive today were descended from a common female ancestor known as Mitochondrial Eve. This idea seemed distant and somewhat irrelevant to me when I first heard it, but I recently did some more reading on the mathematical arguments for the existence of a "most recent common ancestor" (MRCA), who has been calculated to have lived between 5,000 and 2,000 years ago. These mathematical arguments are even more convincing to me than the studies of mitochondrial DNA. You can read more about it here: (Wikipedia article - detailed but not too technical). Some points of interest to me: a) these theories of common ancestry do not imply the existence of a 'first couple' Adam-and-Eve style; b) our most recent common ancestor could have "co-existed with a large human population," and c) would not have "passed all of his or her genes (or indeed any single gene) down to every person alive today."

Now Abraham (whose name actually means "father of many nations") probably lived somewhere between 2000 and 1500 BC. Is it possible that Moses/the author of the Pentateuch used the story of Abraham as an allegory to recount the religious history of his ancestors? The sons Abraham fathered can be seen as spiritual sons, who took the teachings of One God to different lands. The same is also true of two of his wives, Sarah and Rebekah, whom Abraham referred to at different points in time as his sisters. Although it is possible that someone in Abraham's time was our most recent common ancestor, doesn't the idea that Jesus' Kingdom was "not of this world" (John 18:36) call for a rethink of the significance of the prophecies about Abraham's seed being blessed? (example Genesis 17:19, 22:17-18).

The problem is, just knowing about our common physical and spiritual heritage doesn't help us to stop hating and fighting with each other, does it? Maybe it's a start, but more effort is needed to bring nations and religions together in harmony. To close, here are some ideas from "Spirit of Faith" a Baha'i publication designed for Junior Youth (12-15 year-olds), to encourage them to think about the purpose of physical reality in a spiritual AND scientific way. (The headings in bold are mine, I have summarized some of the main points in Lessons 1 and 2.)

Who are we?

O Son of Being! Thou are My lamp and My light is in thee.

O Son of Man! Thou art My dominion and My dominion perisheth not.

O ye Sons of Spirit! Ye are My treasury, for in you I have treasured the pearls of My mysteries and the gems of My knowledge.

Ye are the saplings which the hand of Loving-kindness hath planted in the soil of mercy, and which the showers of bounty have made to flourish.

What does this mean for us?

We should shine with the light of love, knowledge, truth, and a good character.

The kingdom of God is not a piece of land, it is the human heart. Allowing envy, jealousy, hypocrisy and greed to occupy and rule in our hearts means God cannot rule in our hearts at the same time.

The treasures we host include the 'powers' of love, understanding, and the intellect. Through the power of love we can overcome hate, build friendships, cooperate and achieve unity.

The purpose of a tree is to bear fruit, and "The fruits of the tree of man have ever been and are goodly deeds and a praiseworthy character."

It is possible for people to 'forget' what it is to be a human being. O friends! Be not careless of the virtues with which ye have been endowed, neither be neglectful of your high destiny. Suffer not your labors to be wasted through the vain imaginings wuhich certain hearts have devised. Ye are the stars of the heaven of understanding, the breeze that stirreth at the break of day, the soft-flowing waters upon which must depend the very life of all men, the letters inscribed upon His sacred scroll.

If good things come from God, do bad things come from the devil?

There is no such thing as the devil. Qualities such as love, mercy, kindness, truthfulness and justice belong to our higher nature. It is in this sense that we say we have been created noble. Our material nature is the part that we have in common with animals. There is no such thing as good or bad in the world of animals; they act according to their instincts. It is not wrong for an animal to act according to their animal instincts, but we humans abase ourselves when we live just like animals.

All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization... To act like the beasts of the field is unworthy of man. Those virtues that befit his dignity are forbearance, mercy, compassion and loving-kindness towards all the peoples and kindreds of the earth.

Is there no evil then? What is evil and how do we get rid of it?

God did not create evil, God only created good. Evil is the absence of good. Ignorance is a lack of knowledge. Hate appears when there is no love. Pride is the absence of humility. We need to create good in order to get rid of evil. Darkness cannot be defeated by darkness. To overcome the darkness of evil, we must reflect more intensely the attributes of God.

Love is light in whatsoever house it may shine and enmity is darkness in whatsoever abode it dwell.

The will and plan of God is that each individual member of humankind shall become illumined like unto a lamp, radiant with all the destined virtues of humanity, leading his fellow creatures out of natural darkness into the heavenly light.

That's all from The Spirit of Faith for now. The point I am getting at is that in order to claim our inheritance of the blessings given to Abraham's 'seed' we need to know who we are (spiritual children), and what our purpose is on earth. By daily activation of the light of the attributes of God in our hearts we grow and ripen, to bring forth the fruit for which the seed was planted in the first place.

I've run out of time! Next month I'll look at free will, fate, and overcoming difficulties.

Peace, Niki

Father Abraham and His Only/Many Sons

2011-10-02T11:20:00.003-04:00

I'm in Heaven! I finally got Frances Worthington's new book, engagingly titled Abraham: One God, Three Wives, Five Religions. It's fantabulous. I've never had such an easy read (easy to understand language, not academic or boring) that also gave me so much insight and food for thought. It is certainly no pillar of salt :) This book is like a fresh drink of spring water after a week of being forced to drink chlorinated water that has been left standing uncovered for 24 hours.

We are now in the Baha'i month of Will (27 September to 15 October), so what better time to talk about free will and moral responsibility? Last month I mentioned that I was starting a 5-part series on the topic Unity, but this is not off-topic. For many, the concept of unity means fitting in with the crowd, being 'uniform' in our ideas and behavior by following the majority view. The problem with that idea in practice is that a crowd can be fairly easily influenced, or bought. I dare say this is a fundamental principle underlying much of public life, including politics, entertainment, and finance/big business.

As Frances points out in her book, Abraham lived in a time when both human and animal sacrifices were common, and people thought God punished whole towns with pestilence and disaster, and that priests were needed to perform the right sacrifices and say the right prayers so that plagues could be averted and lives spared. What follows is two major 'lessons' Frances sees in three of the stories about Abraham's life, which provide a whole new way of looking at how God/religion works.

Lesson 1) Individual Moral Responsibility

Remember when Abraham asks the Lord (who appears to him in a vision) if He will destroy the whole town even if 50, 45, 30, 20 or 10 innocents can be found there, the Lord says “for the sake of ten I will not destroy it.” Frances describes the 'new spiritual concept' introduced by this story like this: “With His argument, Abraham demonstrated that the ethical actions of as few as ten people might be enough to save a whole town. Previous generations knew that if the gods weren't placated through offerings and through the intercession of priests, then famine, pestilence, war or earthquakes might ensue; but they weren't familiar with the notion that their own moral actions could have a powerful influence. When the Lord said, “For the sake of ten I will not destroy it,” the sacred burden of morality was placed squarely on the shoulders of each person.”

Lesson 2) God Doesn't Eat, and Certainly Doesn't eat Children

Abraham demonstrated spiritual insight that was way ahead of his time. His father was an idol maker, but Abraham rejected the concept of idols as gods early on. According to Frances (and this was news to me) Jewish tradition tells a story about how Abraham demonstrated the foolishness of idol worship by playing a prank on his father. The story goes that a pious woman came to the idol-shop when daddy was out, and sprinkled flour on the floor for the idols. When the woman left, Abraham took a hammer and smashed all the idols but the biggest one, then placed the hammer in the idol's hand. When daddy came home of course he was furious, and asked Abraham which madman had ransacked the store. Abraham explained that the gods had argued over the flour left by the pious woman:

"The greediest god irritated the others by announcing, "I will eat first." This caused a second god to protest, saying, "No, I will eat first!" The disagreement escalated until the biggest of them all stood up, grabbed a hammer and crushed the others to dust."

Daddy's response was of course, disbelief. He said "Are you trying to fool me? These idols don't know anything." Abraham replied, "Do your ears not hear what your mouth has just said?"

Later on in life, Abraham makes a point of creating altars with no visible gods, in odd (not designated 'holy') places. He still burned sacrifices on those altars, but remember where society was coming from. He was making his point step by step, so those who had ears to hear could hear.

Still later on in life, Abraham had a son. He had two sons one shortly after the other, actually - first Ishmael, then Isaac - and later bore another 6 sons by Keturah, but that was late in life. Frances has some interesting things to say about which of the first two sons was involved in the famous story where the Lord tells Abraham to sacrifice his 'only son', but I won't go into that here. Read the book, please! :) As a Christian, I did not understand the story of the near-sacrifice of Abraham's son. I just didn't believe it. Just as Abraham didn't believe his father's idols had any power, I couldn't see how killing your own son - only son or otherwise - could hold any meaning for an invisible, all-powerful but loving Father-God. I dismissed the story (and many others in the Old Testament) as a man-made fable with no useful/spiritual application.

The wonderful thing about Frances' book is how it opens the mind to the many spiritual lessons hidden in the Old Testament texts. Here is what she has to say about the underlying spiritual lesson of this barbaric story.

"Because human sacrifice was still being practiced in Canaan and other regions during the lifetimes of Abraham and Moses, it is logical to conclude that one of the goals of these Messengers of God was to bring an end to this spiritually degrading practice. The tribes of that period might not have been ready to totally dispense with the ritual of sacrificing something living, but by dramatically substituting an animal for a child and showing that God approved of the substitution, Moses and Abraham were able to make a little progress. ... The prophetic purpose of the animal sacrifices made by Abraham and Moses could have been that of getting mankind ready for vital spiritual lesson to be taught by future religions: self-sacrifice is even more potent than animal sacrifice."

This idea ties back into the first lesson about individual moral responsibility, which of course requires self-sacrifice. There will always be people, often powerful people, who will try to entice us to abandon our morals. Following Christ, Buddha, Mohammad, Baha'u'llah or any Messenger of God instead of those people (who are really just like idols with no power!) means sacrificing the physical benefits these idol-men and idol-women provide as incentive towards their own selfish ends.

I pray each of you reading this will take even one baby step this month towards emancipating yourself from the mental slavery of superstition and idolatry.

Peace, Niki

UNITY (on getting there)

2011-09-10T10:16:00.000-04:00

Recently I came across an article showcasing 15 'famous logos with hidden images.' At the same time I'd been meditating on the theme of unity, which is often cited as a distinctive and important principle/goal of the Baha'i Faith. In fact, it is so important that it kind of gets overlooked, I think. People think unity and they think a bunch of automatons all doing exactly the same thing in exactly the same way, and instead, the idea of 'unity in diversity' is often championed by Baha'is.

Last night while I was meditating on UNITY the letters in the word came alive for me - I saw in it hidden symbols of the different stages we go through in life, from infancy to maturity...

The U in my vision is the shape of a baby (seen from its side) with arms and legs in the air (a typical pose). An infant can't manage much more movement than that - it waves its limbs around happily (when fed) and doesn't achieve much more (nor does it need or want to achieve much more) than the loving attention of the nearest living being. The actress Thandie Newton gave a speech on TED recently, noting that "newborn babies believe they are a part of everything" but that the "fundamental sense of oneness is lost on us very quickly". Here's a thought to ponder: "Verily I say unto you, Whosoever shall not receive the kingdom of God as a little child, he shall not enter therein." (Mark 10:15)

However, apart from the side-effects of a) the cuteness factor, and b) the selfish gene driven to protect its kind, an infant does nothing to promote unity between itself and other beings. U is a floppy, defenseless letter. Push it or punch it and it may rock and roll for a bit and then settle, always on its back. It can't walk and it provides no resistance.

The N is the shape of a child sitting on the floor, or some other flat surface - say propped up in bed, reading. (Humor me if you don't see it, this is my vision :) The (normal) child is much more complex than the infant. It can walk, can communicate using words, and can initiate or resist communication with other beings. The shape of the N is also more complex - it is made up of two triangles, which in the vision represent the child's learning process as it experiences life. The middle stroke of the N is the interface between the child and the world. Knowledge and emotions flow from the child's environment through to the child, and the child also contributes to the environment through his or her actions and emotions.

The I represents the individual going through puberty. The average healthy youth at this age has lost their baby fat and is more of a doer than a learner. At this time of life most youngsters have a much stronger sense of self-hood than they did as a child, and the formerly steep learning curve flattens out a bit, so their interactions with the environment tend to become more predictable. At this time as well, most young people become more closed-off - all things being equal they will have settled into a circle of friends and may identify quite strongly with a certain worldview or belief system, be it religious, anti-religious, or indifferent. Of course there are many notable exceptions, but most young people at this age will only be beginning to consider what they will do in life and how they will contribute to society.

The T in UNITY - in the vision - represents the adult. The individual is at last a 'fully-functioning' member of society, capable of voting, forming lifetime unions, making major decisions about their careers, managing their finances and so on. The crossbar across the T represents the individual's public persona, their interface with society. For some individuals the bar is short - they may have few friends and belong to no organizations. If they have a regular job they go to work then come straight home, go out infrequently, and spend weekends quietly cleaning house and/or working on some personal hobby. Others have a long crossbar - they may be activists of one sort or another, may belong to or even be leaders of social organizations, or be well known for their artistic or sporting achievements, or they may work in fields where they must interact significantly with the public.

Okay, now it looks like we're done, right? So what about the Y?

The Y stands for maturity, but I am not equating maturity with years. Some people reach adulthood and achieve maturity at the same time. Others remain immature right into old age. In the vision, the Y symbolizes an individual who consciously and purposefully attempts to use their life to make a positive difference in their environment. They may dedicate themselves to one or more specific causes, or start their own. Or, they may simply live their lives so that they are giving to the environment significantly more than they expect to receive.

But what has that got to do with UNITY?? A couple of things. Firstly, remember back to the U - the infant? The one who thinks it is one with everything but can't do much about it? Well now it can, but only if it remembers or realizes the 'fact' of UNITY will it have the motivation to do something about it. The stem of the Y, in effect, is the education of the infant throughout childhood and puberty, raising it up to be a boon to the world. What's more, even if the child is not educated, and if the youngster is not initiated into maturity through the efforts of its parents, guardians, teachers and mentors by the time of adulthood, he or she can still learn about UNITY later on in life (though by then it is much harder to break bad habits).

The thing about UNITY though, is that it is not exclusive, but inclusive. Jesus did not come to save only the Jews (as many of them imagined, which is why they missed his advent) God's goal is not to save an elect group and consign the rest to everlasting fire; there is a bigger plan.

"Lie not one to another, seeing that ye have put off the old man with his deeds; And have put on the new man, which is renewed in knowledge after the image of him that created him: Where there is neither Greek nor Jew, circumcision nor uncircumcision, Barbarian, Scythian, bond nor free: but Christ is all, and in all."

(King James Bible, Colossians 3:9-11)

And as the song goes:
He didn't bring us this far, to leave us
He didn't teach us to swim to let us drown
He didn't build his home in us to move away
He didn't lift us up to let us down...

The drive for UNITY is not going to stop until we are all united, every one, and the mechanism driving this unstoppable force is the animation and the maturation of the human race, one soul at a time.

"One thing and only one thing will unfailingly and alone secure the undoubted triumph of this sacred Cause, namely, the extent to which our own inner life and private character mirror forth in their manifold aspects the splendor of those eternal principles proclaimed by Bahá'u'lláh."

(Shoghi Effendi, Baha'i Administration, p. 66)

Peace, Niki

Sand and Fog: In Search of Stability

2011-08-14T16:47:00.003-04:00

Dearest Friends, my 10-day trip to Kingston came and went like a summer storm. I took hubby's little "Flip" video camera along, but didn't even take it out of its carry-bag. I find that the taking of images distracts from the experience of living. The images capture only a fraction of what I see with my eyes, and at any rate it is the voices and the unspoken communication (hugs, facial expressions and body language you don't see when someone is posing for the camera) that mean the most to me. Those I can remember when I close my eyes, but only if I was really paying attention in the moment...

My Jamaican family - mom is in pink and gray to my left

It was great to see old friends and former colleagues. I spent quite a bit of time at UTech, though I still didn't get to see everyone there I would have liked to catch up with. I promise, all things being equal, not to leave it so long until the next visit.

With the theme of 'home' on my mind, I want to say a bit about the last two movies I saw: Rise of the Planet of the Apes, and House of Sand and Fog. Both movies have a lot to do with home and the heart's desires to find the perfect homestead. [Please note that I am running late for the Baha'i month of Kamal (Perfection), which started on 1 August, while I was in Jamaica.]

The movie House of Sand and Fog, starring Ben Kingsley and Jennifer Connelly - originally a novel by Andre Dubus III - is a 'tragedy'. At least that's the word Sir Ben, who loves Shakespeare, has used to describe it. Others simply call it 'depressing' but I think it is very well crafted and worth watching, especially with the changed ending, where there's a little bit of hope for at least one of the main characters.

Don't worry if you haven't seen it yet - reading this won't spoil the movie for you. The main story line - based on a real news story that impressed the author - is about an American woman (Connelly) whose home is taken from her because of non-payment of taxes, which she actually didn't owe. Before she can rectify the error the house is sold to an immigrant American from Iran (Kingsley), and she is left homeless, living in her car. The interesting thing about this story is the levels of gray it sustains. There is really no hero/heroine and no 'bad guy' in the movie, just people who want to live their lives in peace and who are standing up for their legitimate rights (and for the rights/peace of their family and friends).

The story moves along (downhill!) through a series of 'bad' choices made by the characters. It is clear throughout the movie that if one character or the other would have just made a different choice, things could have ended very differently. I put 'bad' in inverted commas because in some cases the actions taken weren't so bad in themselves, but they served to escalate the conflict and to increase misunderstanding between the two main characters - the two owners of the house.

Another interesting thing is how the supporting characters, who perhaps might have helped to promote a more balanced approach in order to resolve the 'natural' conflict between Kingsley and Connelly, fail to do so. Connelly's lawyer, a competent and sympathetic woman, is just a little bit too disinterested and professional to get involved beyond the strictly lawyerly level. On the other hand, the cop who falls in love with Connelly and tries to help her out goes well beyond his authority as a policeman. By compounding Connelly's biased viewpoint with his own prejudices and misconceptions, he ends up making things worse for her.

Meanwhile, both Connelly's and Kingsley's family members are kept in the dark about what's going on, which hampers their ability to make informed decisions that might help the situation. Connelly has already kept important information hidden from her family (her husband left her and she told no-one). Explaining about the situation with the house would bring her separation out into the open, so she keeps that a secret too. Connelly's mother is concerned and caring, but like many mothers, comes off as snoopy. Connelly's brother is the 'successful salesman' - the white sheep of the family - but he is busy with work, and passes off his sister's plea for help as just another needy-addict episode. Kingsley's wife, a housewife with no American friends - speaks little English. Kingsley is patriarchal and domineering (culturally typical). He is in the habit of making decisions without his wife, and she (and their teenaged son) are in the habit of obeying him.

While it's easy to think, with hindsight, that I would have made better choices than Kingsley or Connelly, it struck me how often I have flubbed opportunities to make a difference in the lives of family and friends, because of being too caught-up in my own drama to give them the attention they need.

It also struck me how even some of the 'better' choices in the story were based on tradition (moral stories and precepts taught to Kingsley and/or his wife in their youth), and not a real attempt to solve the root problems. The characters are more or less adrift, like the sand and the fog. They long for stability, but are not grounded in a belief system that allows them to build, block by block, a way of life that is sustainable and satisfying. Kingsley is stuck in the past - he is trying to recreate the life he had in Iran. He decries the materialistic American way of life, but his own idylls are built on empty status symbols that in retrospect seem equally materialistic. Connelly is afraid to move on. Untethered from home and husband, with no children (the reason for the dissolution of her marriage - she wanted them, he didn't), she hangs on to the things that give her comfort: her house, her cigarettes, and eventually she goes back to her first love, alcohol, as well.

In Rise of the Planet of the Apes, the lines of good and evil are a lot less blurry, but the story is complicated by the fact that many of the characters are not human :) No time to go into the details of this story (plus since the movie just came out some of you may not want to hear any details), but anyway, the name of the hero is Caesar, a chimpanzee. A fascinating thing about the movie is the way Caesar is able to communicate with and lead not just other chimps, but also orangutans, and a gorilla. For these animals, 'home' is the forest. It didn't matter that they were of different species, they just wanted to regain their rightful position on the planet, as dwellers among the trees. A crucial difference between Caesar, and the tragic characters in House of Sand and Fog is that Caesar is not adrift. Caesar has a goal in mind not just for himself, but for all the chimps he can find in the city. Given the choice between the immediate comfort of a family who loves him and who are willing to sacrifice to care for him, and the chance to fulfill a far more distant (and dangerous) goal, Caesar makes the choices that lead to the most benefit for all concerned.

These stories, along with the unrest in England and the economic conditions in the US and Jamaica in particular, remind me of the following quote from the Baha'i Writings:

"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."

(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 213)

Peace, Niki

Drink a Cup of Kindness

2011-07-22T08:26:00.001-04:00

It's ma Birthday!!

I've been pondering what to write about since the month of Words (Kalimat) started on 13 July, but I just couldn't focus because of all that was going on (more anon). I watched a really moving movie recently which some of you may have seen, called "Babel" and since that's about communication I thought I might write about it, but I can't do so adequately without giving away the plot, so I thought better of it...

I went on a 'road trip' this month. Julian accompanied me to Chicago the 2nd weekend in July to attend a Wilmette Institute Board meeting. Those are fellow board members posing with me in front of the House - Rob Stockman (Wilmette Institute Director), Missy Martin, and Cathy Higgins.

We (me and Julian) rented a car and took turns driving. It was quite a trip: 728 miles, spanning 5 states and taking over 12 hours overall, including a few stops to eat and top up on gas. I was surprised the directions were so simple. Once we got out of the city (Atlanta) we spent almost all of the time on just three different highways, and on one highway (I-65 North), we were traveling for over 400 miles.

The highlights of the trip were:

A) Commemoration of the Martyrdom of the Bab at the Wilmette House of Worship. It was the first time for both Julian and me to attend a service in the House of Worship. Of course the singing was great, and Van Gilmer (who Julian knew from years ago because he became a Baha'i in Baltimore when Van was living there) sang a solo.

B) Visit to the Chicago Botanical Gardens. That was worth a whole Blog post all by itself. I wasn't feeling up to walking and we didn't have much time, so we took the bus tour around the perimeter of the gardens - which are housed mainly on little islands, each with a different 'design' and different ecosystem. Then we ate outdoors on a porch under a tree by the lake, where two swans were resting and preening just a few feet away from us. I have never seen swans up so close, they were magical.
The weather all weekend was great - the only place we saw rain believe it or not was Indianapolis (think little green apples and you'll see why this is funny). The Monday we left, though, there was a bad storm that knocked out communications in the National Baha'i Center (where we'd had our meetings) so it was a good thing the storm didn't hit sooner. Not too far north of Indianapolis, shrouded in a mild drizzle, we saw the most amazing sight - a windmill farm. There was something serene and so beautiful about it - I searched the Internet for photos but they don't do it justice. Hundreds of shining, stately windmills, turning on both sides of the highway for miles and miles... Suffice it to say that that it reminded me of an old song - one of my favorites in childhood - Windmills of Your Mind.

I've shared videos of that song in a previous post, so I won't go on about it any more :) It made me ponder the importance of remembering, and since now that I'm 50 I suppose I will be sliding down a slope of forgetfulness (only half joking there) I invite you to 'drink a cup of kindness' with me for auld lang syne.

So, if you have anything to share - any good news you know I will enjoy hearing, or even any sad news over which we can share a prayer - please comment or send me an email. I'd love to hear from you.

I'm already overwhelmed by the number of birthday greetings I've been getting by email and Facebook, from people I remember but who I never thought remembered me :) So thanks everybody!!! And see you in Jamaica soon if you are there - I arrive on Monday the 25th, so if you think I might not have your number, please feel free to drop me a line so we can link up.

Peace, Niki

Under a Shade Tree

2011-06-26T15:58:00.000-04:00

Is there anything more comforting than a shady tree when it's hot and the merciless sun makes you feel like you're melting away?
This weekend we had friends over to celebrate the Feast of Rahmat (Mercy). There were 9 of us in all, and for music I chose to play 2 songs from Jackie Evancho's first CD: Ombra Mai Fu, and To Believe. Ombra Mai Fu (also known as Larghetto or Largo because of it's slow and stately tempo) was used to accompany death notices on a popular radio station, so those of you from Jamaica will probably recognize it when you hear it. Here's a link to a video of the song as sung by Paula Rasmussen - it shows the opening scene of the opera from which the song is taken: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PqaZ6CtRjPM.

Ombra Mai Fu translates from the Italian as "Never was a shade". It is sung by the main character, Xerxes I of Persia (fourth Zoroastrian "king of kings", who ruled Persia from 486 to 465 BC) admiring the shade of a plane tree:

Tender and beautiful fronds
of my beloved plane tree,
let Fate smile upon you.
May thunder, lightning, and storms
never bother your dear peace,
nor may you by blowing winds be profaned.

A shade there never was,
of any plant,
dearer and more lovely,
or more sweet.

The plane tree, also known as the sycamore, has large pretty leaves, which is what makes it so shady. A characteristic of the tree is its flaking bark, that peels away in sections or sheets, leaving a dappled trunk. This is due to a lack of flexibility in the bark, so that as the trunk grows, the bark cannot adapt to it, and separates from it.

Trees are an important symbol in culture and religion. There's the Tree of Life (stories about this are found in many texts, notably Chinese, Turkish and Norse mythology as well as the Bible), and the infamous Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil. The Holy Sycamore of the ancient Egyptians was believed to stand on the threshold of life and death, connecting the two worlds. Jewish mysticism depicts the tree of Life in the form of ten interconnected nodes, as an important part of the Kaballah.

In India, two types of fig trees, the banyan and the peepal tree (aka bodhi tree, under which Gautama Buddha was said to be sitting when he became Enlightened) are significant. The fig tree's importance is said to come from its 'two-way growth' - it has aerial 'roots' that grow downwards. The banyan also symbolizes fertility, and is referred to as the tree of immortality in Hindu scriptures. Notice the similarity between this idea of the two way growth of the fig tree, and the concept of the tree of the knowledge of Good and of Evil? If the tree represents a human being, then as humans we have the capacity to grow 'up', towards the sun (which represents our Creator, the source of our lives), or to grow 'down', to associate more with and to strengthen our animal nature.

From Wikipedia: In Bhagawat Gita Lord Krishna said "There is a banyan tree which has its roots upward and its branches down, and the Vedic hymns are its leaves. One who knows this tree is the knower of the Vedas." (Bg 15.1) Here the material world is described as a tree whose roots are upwards and branches are below. We have experience of a tree whose roots are upward: if one stands on the bank of a river or any reservoir of water, he can see that the trees reflected in the water are upside down. The branches go downward and the roots upward. Similarly, this material world is a reflection of the spiritual world. The material world is but a shadow of reality. In the shadow there is no reality or substantiality, but from the shadow we can understand that there is substance and reality.

Some years ago I composed my own English lyrics to the tune of Ombra Mai Fu. They reflect my longing for union with the Divine Spirit, and the certainty that God's Love and Mercy are with me always:

Oh, I'm a fool
Longing to be with you
Night and Day
My love abides
Here in the heart of me
Beating, beating, beating constantly...
I will take my rest
Under a shade tree.

Oh, hear my plea
Cover me
Share my dreams
Stay till the light
Your love is like a tree,
Growing, growing, growing, constantly
Reaching for the sky
From the earth below.

In this lyric the tree is both the believer and his or her religion. Night and Day is a reference to periods of divine inspiration/spirituality and of earthly suffering/sin, as well as to the concept of the continuity of religious revelation through successive Manifestations of God. God's love lives within the tree/believer, who through the power of this love continually grows towards the Light/God/Truth, regardless of what type of tree it is called, or by what brand or flavor of religion the believer is known. In other words, it is still a 'shade' tree, whether it is called a plane tree, a sycamore, a banyan or a peepal tree, as its function is to nurture and protect the believers, keeping them safe as they grow within its 'shadow' or sphere of influence. The Tree of Life is also a symbol of God's Mercy, as it represents the spiritual realms, and the gift (of eternal life) to those who seek God.

Happy Friends, Feast of Mercy 2011

Similarly, every religion is a source of 'shade' or 'nurture' for the believers who associate with it. To go back to the plane tree, remember I mentioned that the bark tends to fall off because it is inflexible, and cannot keep up with the growth of the tree? Hold that thought.

I wanted to mention a book I read recently called The Second Coming, by Rome Collier. The book is about a skeptical journalist sent to cover the story of a young prophet in the West Bank named Amal Al-Rahim, whose message the journalist takes to heart. The author had not heard of the Baha'i Faith until after he wrote the book and was told that the teachings of Al-Rahim (whose name roughly translates to 'Hope of God's Mercy') are similar to the teachings of Baha'u'llah.

One of the themes in The Second Coming is the inflexibility of some devout believers (and devout non-believers), who refused to take seriously the ideas taught by Al-Rahim (whose parents by the way were of different faiths - Jewish and Muslim). To put it a little simplistically, such scoffers at Al-Rahim's 'new religion' are so attached to their own beliefs - their 'plane tree' so to speak - that no other tree, no matter how shady, or how fruitful, seems worthy of their investigation.

Happily, every day more and more people are becoming educated about the Baha'i Faith and are growing to respect it. Over the past months for instance, leaders from different nations have spoken out against the injustices being suffered by our sisters and brothers in Iran.

Peace. Niki

June-light

2011-06-06T18:24:00.001-04:00

It's the month of Nur (Light) and and I can see the light at the ends of all my tunnels :)

metro-Atlanta with a shine

Firstly, I've booked my ticket to Jamaica - I shall arrive (God Willing) on the 25th July (National Baha'i Day for Jamaica) and stay for about 10 days. Here's a link to the news about the celebration of the first Baha'i Day in Jamaica in 2003 - on the Bahai World News Service website. I'm excited about the visit (my first trip back home in 3 years) and happy to say that my petition to remove the conditions on my status as a legal alien has finally been approved, and I got my new Green Card about a week ago.

Secondly, work is going well (knock wood) - my contract with Leapforce was renewed last month, making it just over 2 years now I've been working as an Independent Contractor with the same company. Every day I get a little more confident about my work, and I am practically debt free now, and able to set aside a little money to pay my own taxes at the end of the year.

River Fork Road, Waterloo, on a sunny day

Thirdly, I've been having a really great time meeting new friends in both places I live. For the previous two years my life was a little too insular. Atlanta is such a big city, and Waterloo such a tiny, rural town - both, ironically, making for less interaction with neighbors than I was used to. But, last weekend we had a larger-than-normal celebration for Feast at the Greenville Baha'i Center in South Carolina, with friends joining us from Anderson, Greenville and Honea Path, after which most of us went to lunch together in town. I also met two new friends who live in Laurens County, and one from Laurens who is now living in Decatur (not far from our apartment in Mableton).

Fourthly (yeah, crazy right?) - when it rains...


Voices of Baha Caribbean Tour - July '05

I've been wanting to share audio as well as video in my Blog and I couldn't find a way to do that directly here on Blogger, so I decided to search for a social network designed for songwriters. Literally seconds after I googled "social network for songwriters" I found one that looked promising. It was easy to join, free, and I am still exploring it, but already I've had some very helpful feedback on the lyrics to one of my songs, and I've started to write some more. One of my songs is entered into the site's monthly competition, so you can hear it here: http://songwriterspace.com (scroll down to the bottom of the page, but you can't vote for songs, only members can vote). On a related note, Calabash Trust is collaborating with Peepal Tree Press to publishing another anthology in 2012 - a 50th anniversary (of Jamaica's Independence) deal - so I have to get cracking to work on something new for that.

I don't know yet what the Kingston Baha'i community is planning for Baha'i Day/Week but when I find out I will post details so those of you who will be around can maybe join me to celebrate :)

To close, here are some readings on the Light of Unity that I shared at Feast on the weekend.

1^st Reading – from the Arabic Hidden Words (Baha'u'llah)

O SON OF BEING!

Thou art My lamp and My light is in thee. Get thou from it thy radiance and seek none other than Me. For I have created thee rich and have bountifully shed My favor upon thee.

O SON OF BEING!

With the hands of power I made thee and with the fingers of strength I created thee; and within thee have I placed the essence of My light. Be thou content with it and seek naught else, for My work is perfect and My command is binding. Question it not, nor have a doubt thereof.

O SON OF MAN!

Thou art My dominion and My dominion perisheth not; wherefore fearest thou thy perishing? Thou art My light and My light shall never be extinguished; why dost thou dread extinction? Thou art My glory and My glory fadeth not; thou art My robe and My robe shall never be outworn. Abide then in thy love for Me, that thou mayest find Me in the realm of glory.

O SON OF LIGHT!

Forget all save Me and commune with My spirit. This is of the essence of My command, therefore turn unto it.

2^nd Reading – Light of Unity and Concord

In every country where any of this people reside, they must behave towards the government of that country with loyalty, honesty and truthfulness. This is that which hath been revealed at the behest of Him Who is the Ordainer, the Ancient of Days.

It is binding and incumbent upon the peoples of the world, one and all, to extend aid unto this momentous Cause which is come from the heaven of the Will of the ever-abiding God, that perchance the fire of animosity which blazeth in the hearts of some of the peoples of the earth may, through the living waters of divine wisdom and by virtue of heavenly counsels and exhortations, be quenched, and the light of unity and concord may shine forth and shed its radiance upon the world.

We cherish the hope that through the earnest endeavours of such as are the exponents of the power of God -- exalted be His glory -- the weapons of war throughout the world may be converted into instruments of reconstruction and that strife and conflict may be removed from the midst of men.

(Baha'u'lláh,Tablets of Baha'u'lláh, p. 22)

3^rd Reading – The Light of the Manifestations

Give ear, O King, unto the Voice that calleth from the Fire which burneth in this verdant Tree, on this Sinai which hath been raised above the hallowed and snow-white Spot, beyond the Everlasting City: 'Verily, there is none other God but Me, the Ever-Forgiving, the Most Merciful!' We, in truth, have sent Him Whom We aided with the Holy Spirit (Jesus Christ) that He may announce unto you this Light that hath shone forth from the horizon of the will of your Lord, the Most Exalted, the All-Glorious, and Whose signs have been revealed in the West. Set your faces towards Him (Bahá'u'lláh) on this Day which God hath exalted above all other days, and whereon the All-Merciful hath shed the splendour of His effulgent glory upon all who are in heaven and all who are on earth. Arise thou to serve God and help His Cause. He, verily, will assist thee with the hosts of the seen and unseen, and will set thee king over all that whereon the sun riseth. Thy Lord, in truth, is the All-Powerful, the Almighty.

The breezes of the Most Merciful have passed over all created things; happy the man that hath discovered their fragrance, and set himself towards them with a sound heart. Attire thy temple with the ornament of My Name, and thy tongue with remembrance of Me, and thine heart with love for Me, the Almighty, the Most High. We have desired for thee naught except that which is better for thee than what thou dost possess and all the treasures of the earth. Thy Lord, verily, is knowing, informed of all. Arise, in My Name, amongst My servants, and say: 'O ye peoples of the earth! Turn yourselves towards Him Who hath turned towards you. He, verily, is the Face of God amongst you, and His Testimony and His Guide unto you. He hath come to you with signs which none can produce.' The voice of the Burning Bush is raised in the midmost heart of the world, and the Holy Spirit calleth aloud among the nations: 'Lo, the Desired One is come with manifest dominion!'

(Baha'u'lláh, The Proclamation of Baha'u'lláh, p. 18-19)

Peace, Niki

The Known in the Unknown

2011-05-14T13:25:00.003-04:00

Saturday 14 May, 2011

The Steve Miller Band sings a popular song that I keep hearing on the radio - "Jet Airliner". Because the radio stations I listen to most (except for NPR) have very little talking, I never caught the title of the song until this morning when I googled the lyrics. There's one phrase in the chorus that puzzled me - I wasn't quite sure what it was saying - and it turns out that phrase is actually the song title! sung in what I suppose is a Milwaukee accent (since that's where Steve Miller was born). I don't feel so bad now, as I can't think of anyone I know who is from Wisconsin.

The thing is, it was obvious from the context that the song is about an airplane taking Steve - and the whole band, perfectly in synch with him - away from the place he knows and loves. But, I wanted to sing along... and not knowing for sure exactly what was being sung for that one bar in the chorus really nagged at me. Enquiring minds want to know...

Which brings me to other current events, like my daughter flying off today to New York on Spirit Air (1st flight delayed for an hour, luckily the connection isn't tight so she should make it there this evening). And less current but of more interest to the public is the issue of Osama Bin Laden's post mortem photos, which some members of the press are insisting on seeing. I am going to tell you my views on the showing of those photos, but in a round-about way. You'll just have to be patient. (And by the way, if you try to cheat and skip to the bottom you won't really get what I'm saying.)

Last night I watched two different TV shows - Flashpoint and CSI: New York - that had similar themes, though very different stories. Flashpoint starts out with a man locked in a car trunk, begging for freedom from his captor. The bad guy opens the trunk and affixes fresh masking tape to his victim's mouth, conking him out with a blow to the head so he will stay quiet.

We later learn that the bad guy is committing this illegal act of kidnapping for a 'good' reason. His son is dying and needs a bone marrow transplant. The man in the trunk is the boy's biological father, and his 'last chance' as no relatives on his mother's side are a suitable match for the transplant, but he has refused to even give a blood sample to check if he is a donor match. His reason is somewhat selfish: the relationship he had with the child's mother was illegal. Not only was he her teacher, but she was a minor at the time, and there's no statute of limitations on that particular crime ...

The special team of profilers on the case have a dilemma on their hands. Especially after meeting the boy and his mother, the team leaders feel more and more that it is the kidnap victim who is the bad guy. They are no longer keen to save the man when they realize that the boy's father has managed to get him into surgery all prepped and ready to give his marrow so the boy can be saved... but they have to do what is legally right.

The team bursts into the operating room in the nick of time. The father - his real father, not the biological one - resists arrest, threatening to kill the biological father if they don't allow the surgical procedure to continue. The team manages to subdue the distraught father without killing him (the bullets in their guns are special ones that disable instead of killing - I've often wondered why more police teams don't use those?) and they arrest him, saving the biological father/kidnap victim.

On the way out of the hospital the father begs to see his son one last time. At the same time, the kidnap victim's wife arrives at the hospital. Back at the ranch (don't you just love TV?) seeing the brave boy comforting his sad parents is too much for the female team leader. She's done what she had to do, so now she does what she needs to do: she confronts the biological father and berates him for his uncaring behavior. The wife comes in, catches what's going on (it's the first time she's hearing about her husband's judgement lapse - till now she thought he was a completely innocent kidnap victim), and is visibly angry with him. In a split-second screen transition we realize that instead of being upset about the husband's illegal act and the fact that he could face criminal charges and lose his position as a school principal/upstanding community member, the wife is upset that he is a coward who has refused to 'do the right thing' and save his biologicial son.

The story ends with the wife convincing her husband to go ahead with the surgery, and going to meet the boy and his parents, with whom she shares a tender and totally cheesy moment.

Next show up was CSI New York. The main story in last night's episode was about an old case that our hero (Mac Taylor, played by Gary Sinise) was trying to close. It seemed like a simple corner store robbery-gone-wrong: two innocent people were killed and the two bad guys got away completely. After recreating the scene and going over the physical evidence with new/different instruments, Mac finds that there was a little girl at the scene, and that the robbers must have taken her with them. The child was reported missing, but her disappearance was never linked to this or any other case. We meet her mother, an alcoholic guilty of child neglect to some degree but who has not had a drink since the night her daughter went missing. Like the Flashpoint case, this child is an angel: she was at the corner store at night because her mother came home late/drunk/with a headache, so she went to get aspirin as the bottle in the medicine cabinet was empty.

Mac pledges to find out what happened to the girl, but it has been nine long years, and leads are few. He interviews one of the robbers' ex-girlfriends. At first she is reluctant to even talk to the police, but when she learns that her boyfriend took a little girl with him she shows Mac a postcard - the last communication she had had from him, faded almost completely to the human eye - along with the name of a friend who lived in the town the postcard was sent from. They find the robber and interrogate him. He eventually tells Mac the truth: he had wanted to kill the girl as she was a liability to their escape plans, but his partner (whom he says he did not know well) beat him up, took away his gun and left him, saying that killing kids was where they'd have to part ways.

Mac only has a first name for this other bad guy, but he manages to track him down (again through an ex-girlfriend, who has an old bottle of special pills the girl takes for a heart condition). The ex-girlfriend can't believe that the girl was not her ex's real child. She recounts how close the man had been to his 'daughter' (and through the magic of TV we get to see that he does indeed care for her like a real father would).

Unfortunately, the team that arrives at the house where the man is living happily with his daughter (I think he is now an auto mechanic by trade) do not know who he is except that nine years ago he was involved in a robbery/shooting. They also do not know that he was not the one with the gun, and that he did not do any of the shooting at that scene (in fact he had tried to stop the other robber from using the gun). Unlike the Flashpoint team, the CSI:NY team is well armed (real bullets this time), with a rescue protocol designed for kidnap situations.

Despite Mac's attempts to defuse the stand-off between the unarmed father and the men with the lethal arm of the law on their side, the father is shot and killed (he reached for his car keys that had fallen in the grass, and the team assumed he was reaching for a weapon). That story ends with a showdown between Mac and the girl, who had picked up her father's gun from where it was hidden (behind the car, in the car? not sure). This time the men with the guns have to be careful not to kill Mac, so they don't shoot at the girl, as she is too close to Mac to get a shot safely off. Being an expert profiler and negotiator, Mac gets the girl to put down the gun (after putting down his own gun) and she is eventually reunited with her mother.

If you're still with me :) I am going to get back to "Jet Airliner" which has simple but deep lyrics. If you look beyond the outward meaning, you can see that the 'big old jet airliner' is a symbol for the institutions and attitudes in society that tend to take us (the citizens) in one direction or another. The jet airliner could be our legal system, our police force, our political systems. It could be the rules and regulations of our school, our church/religion or our employers. It could be the combined force of the managers, advisors and fans of the Steve Miller Band. At whatever level, the jet airliner stands for a mid- to long-term path we have decided to take that we can't just hop off of with a moment's notice.

Steve Miller sings: "Big old jet airliner / Don't carry me too far away" because he knows there are consequences to his choice of 'airline': "I'm goin' with some hesitation / You know that I can surely see / That I don't want to get caught up in any of that / Funky s__t goin' down in the city."

But big old jet airliners by definition do travel for long distances! This is not a bad thing per se, but it does underline the need to get things right from the get-go. I think the moral of both the stories I've recounted to you today is that there is Good in the Bad and Bad in the Good, and that although rolling stones may gather no moss, a rolling snowball is another thing entirely.

I'm in the middle of a great book by the way called "The Argument Culture: moving from debate to dialogue" - by Deborah Tannen. In it, Tannen examines what she calls the 'argument culture', "a pervasive warlike atmosphere that makes us approach anything we need to accomplish as a fight between two opposing sides." She shows that this approach often creates more problems than it solves. Tannen asserts that "in the argument culture, the quality of information we receive is compromised, and our spirits are corroded by living in an atmosphere of unrelenting contention." Maybe that's why I am "listening to public voices in a whole new way" (as predicted by the blurb on the backflap of Tannen's book). The public voices are saying they want to see Osama Bin Laden's photos. It is our (the public's) right, no? Government should be transparent, yes? Isn't that what Obama promised, transparency?

But what does transparency really mean? Are transparency and secrecy really opposite ends of a spectrum in this situation, one being 'good' and one being 'bad'? What useful purpose would making the photos available to the media serve?** What harmful purposes might it serve instead, even with the closest of safegaurds? Who is calling for the photos to be seen and what is their real motivation? **Finally, might there not be another way/ways to effectively serve the same purpose? Enquiring minds want to know. Based on my TV 'dinner' of last night alone, there are definitely more than two sides to some stories. Let's not get on that particular jet.

Peace, Niki

Bridges, Balloons and Other Beautiful Things

2011-04-28T16:42:00.002-04:00

Although the wild weather continues, my life is filled with Beauty. Paradoxically, as the time draws nearer for me to visit Jamaica and once again fellowship with all my Beautiful Friends and Family, I am missing them (not to mention the beautiful food!) more and more. This month - the Baha'i month of Jamal (Beauty) - 28 April to 16 May - I'll share with you a few beautiful things I discovered recently.

1) Joanna Newsom - especially this song: Bridges and Balloons.

It's refreshing for me to find a song with words I have to look up, like 'catenary', which is the shape made by a firm but flexible line hanging, suspended, between two points. I watched an interview with Ms. Newsom in which she said that she found it difficult to talk about her feelings, to explain them, and that her music was the best way she had found to do so. The main thing I get from this song is that feeling of delight you get when you are with someone you love, experiencing the joy of living. The song bubbles over with inward laughter, and I can just imagine myself, after the fact, trying to explain to another friend what it was like to be there, to 'be the ones to've seen'.

2) The (least 'royal' in the worst sense) Royal Wedding: T-Mobile's Faux Wedding Dance video

I think this video was really well done, and although I don't expect I will be up at 4:00 am to watch the actual wedding, I like the way this royal couple has stretched their boundaries outside the royal box.

3) and 4) Something Borrowed, Something Local...

Been enjoying my fellow Blogger's '21 Days of Poetry'. Geoff Philp is an inspiration, and I like almost all the poems he's posted so far - here's a link to just one, but you can browse his Blog at your leisure and see the rest: "Fight with the crew" (Derek Walcott)

The 'Local' thing of beauty I want to big up is the National Housing Trust (Jamaica) online application for refunds. If you hadn't heard about it yet and might be due for a refund (they're processing refunds up to 2003), here''s a link: http://www.nht.gov.jm/contribution-refunds. I've submitted an application and the process went without a hitch. I got a promise of results within a certain (reasonable) time frame, and I thought the instructions and the whole online set-up was exemplary.

5) Beautiful Faces and Words of Wisdom from People over 60 (be sure to click on 'portraits' to see the photos - I found them very inspiring, somehow, and beautiful)

Special greetings to all the people over 60! If you are under 60 and have a relative or friend who is over 60 - especially if they are over 70 or 80 - please give them a special hug and find a way to brighten their day the next time you see them.

6) Last but not least, some of my favorite quotes from the Baha'i Writings. The first one I have made a song out of the words in italics, and after that is a set of quotes from the Arabic Hidden Words about Beauty.

"O thou handmaid aflame with the fire of God's love! Grieve thou not over the troubles and hardships of this nether world, nor be thou glad in times of ease and comfort, for both shall pass away. This present life is even as a swelling wave, or a mirage, or drifting shadows. Could ever a distorted image on the desert serve as refreshing waters? No, by the Lord of Lords! Never can reality and the mere semblance of reality be one, and wide is the difference between fancy and fact, between truth and the phantom thereof.

Know thou that the Kingdom is the real world, and this nether place is only its shadow stretching out. A shadow hath no life of its own; its existence is only a fantasy, and nothing more; it is but images reflected in water, and seeming as pictures to the eye.

Rely upon God. Trust in Him. Praise Him, and call Him continually to mind. He verily turneth trouble into ease, and sorrow into solace, and toil into utter peace. He verily hath dominion over all things.

If thou wouldst hearken to my words, release thyself from the fetters of whatsoever cometh to pass. Nay rather, under all conditions thank thou thy loving Lord, and yield up thine affairs unto His Will that worketh as He pleaseth. This verily is better for thee than all else, in either world.

--'Abdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Bahaá p. 177

"O SON OF MAN!
Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine image and revealed to thee My beauty.

O SON OF MAN!
Rejoice in the gladness of thine heart, that thou mayest be worthy to meet Me and to mirror forth My beauty.

O SON OF MAN!
Neglect not My commandments if thou lovest My beauty, and forget not My counsels if thou wouldst attain My good pleasure.

O SON OF MAN!
If adversity befall thee not in My path, how canst thou walk in the ways of them that are content with My pleasure? If trials afflict thee not in thy longing to meet Me, how wilt thou attain the light in thy love for My beauty?

O SON OF MAN!
Many a day hath passed over thee whilst thou hast busied thyself with thy fancies and idle imaginings. How long art thou to slumber on thy bed? Lift up thy head from slumber, for the Sun hath risen to the zenith, haply it may shine upon thee with the light of beauty.

O SON OF BEAUTY!
By My spirit and by My favor! By My mercy and by My beauty! All that I have revealed unto thee with the tongue of power, and have written for thee with the pen of might, hath been in accordance with thy capacity and understanding, not with My state and the melody of My voice."

--Baha'u'lláh

Peace, Niki

Half-Caste and Full-Caste

2011-04-10T11:55:00.001-04:00

More stormy weather has quickly come and gone since I last wrote. Georgia, including metro-Atlanta, experienced an intense hailstorm that passed through my area just after 11pm on monday April 4. This sort of weather is not exactly uncommon. The temperature swings wildly here - we were up in the 80s last night, I had to throw off my blanket.

This 'half-caste' weather - to borrow an idea from John Agard's intense poem "Half-Caste" (thanks to Geoff Philp for sharing this poem in his Blog) inspired me to share with you some nature-scapes and miscellaneous light-and-dark insights from Dean Koontz's novel "One Door Away from Heaven". They are presented in the order in which they appear in the book.

"The world is full of broken people. Splints, casts, miracle drugs, and time can't mend fractured hearts, wounded minds, torn spirits." (This is how the novel opens.)

"Previously scattered clouds, as woolly as sheep, have been herded together around the shepherd moon."

"The prisoner moon escapes the dungeon clouds..."

"Alcohol never soothed her rage. She'd become a drinker because booze inflamed the anger, and for so long she'd cherished her anger. Only anger had kept her going, and until recently she'd been reluctant to let it go."

"A butterfly flutter of light, a sibilant sputter, a serpent of smoke rising lazily from the black stump of a dead wick: One of the three candles burned out, and darkness eagerly pulled its chair a little closer to the table."

"To many people, the face of a victim of severe Down syndrome inspired pity, embarassment, disquiet. Instead, each time Noah saw this boy - twenty-six but to some degree a boy forever - he was pierced by an awareness of the bond of imperfection that all the sons and daughters of this world share without exception, and by gratitude that the worst of his own imperfections were within his ability to make right if he could find the willpower to deal with them."

"On the bosom of the dark plain below, a half-mile necklace of stopped traffic, continually growing longer, twinkles diamond-bright and ruby-red."

"He wasn't a bad kid, really. He wasn't a bad seed, either, not born in his father's image. His indifference to his family's criminal behavior had not been nature's fault; as the parenting experts would put it, his moral drift was the consequence of inadequate nurturing. But abed with time to think, Noah had come to understand that it was immaterial whether nature or nurture was to blame. Only he himself possessed the thread and needles to sew up his shabby life and to transform it into a suit presentable in the company of decent people."

"The sun, as orange as a dragon's egg, cracked on the western peaks and spilled a crimson yolk. Against this fiery backlight, the mountains wore king's gold for a while, then gradually took off their shining crowns and drew royal-blue nightclothes up their slopes."

"The glowering sky pressed lower by the minute, black clouds like knotted fists, full of cruel power."

"...Why'd you come here?"
"To change the world," Curtis says.
"...Have you had any luck so far?"
"Well, I'm just starting, and it's a long job."
"...You're changing the world starting here?"
"According to my mother, all the truths of life and all the answers to its mysteries are present to be seen and understood in every incident in our lives, in every place, regardless of how grand or humble it may be."

"Lightning bared its bright teeth in the sky, and its reflection gnashed in the mirrored blacktop surface of the county road."

(The hero, Curtis, in response to someone's affirmation that the phrase "Love is the answer" (written on a T-shirt) was true, "even when it's said by people who don't mean it.")
"No, ma'am. If we are talking about the answer, then that's not it. The answer, the whole big enchilada, is a lot more complex than that. Love alone is an easy answer, and easy answers are what usually lead whole worlds into ruin. Love is part of the answer, sure, but just part. Hope is another part, and courage, and charity, and laughter, and really seeing things like how green pine trees look after a rain and how the setting sun can turn a prairie into molten gold glass. There are so many parts to the answer that you couldn't possible squeeze them all onto a T-shirt."

And lastly, the answer to the 'riddle' that inspired the title of the novel (What will you find behind the door that is one door away from Heaven?):
"If your heart is closed, then you will find behind that door nothing to light your way. But if your heart is open, you will find behind that door people who, like you, are searching, and you will find the right door together with them. None of us can ever save himself; we are the instruments of one another's salvation, and only by the hope that we give to others do we lift ourselves out of the darkness into light."

I think we need a new vocabulary to talk about the 'new race of men' - the 'full-caste' human beings - that Baha'u'llah is calling us to become. As George Orwell said: “But if thought corrupts language, language can also corrupt thought.” In a recent article on 'The New Humanism' by David Brooks in The New York Times, I found these definitions of characteristics I would associate with a full-caste human being:

"Attunement: the ability to enter other minds and learn what they have to offer.

Equipoise: the ability to serenely monitor the movements of one’s own mind and correct for biases and shortcomings.

Metis: the ability to see patterns in the world and derive a gist from complex situations.

Sympathy: the ability to fall into a rhythm with those around you and thrive in groups.

Limerence: This isn’t a talent as much as a motivation. The conscious mind hungers for money and success, but the unconscious mind hungers for those moments of transcendence when the skull line falls away and we are lost in love for another, the challenge of a task or the love of God."

Peace, Niki

Coexisting with Truth

2011-03-22T17:07:00.001-04:00

Yesterday (Monday 21 March) was Baha'i New Year, and I celebrated it on Saturday night with friends in South Carolina. We had devotions and dinner, but just before that a funny thing happened. We'd been having warm weather - warm even for South Carolina at this time of year - but there was a sudden, violent hailstorm that dumped hail up to an inch thick in parts of Laurens and Newberry counties. We didn't take any photos of the phenomenon, but what with the moon being extra big that night (it was the night of the 'supermoon') and the warmth causing a dense fog to linger over the icy landscape as we drove to and from Hickory Tavern (which is about 20 miles from Waterloo), it was a night to remember.

Interfaith T-shirt worn by our host for
Baha'i New Year - you can order here:
http://www.bahairesources.com/coexist-t-shirt.html

The theme for devotions was growth, because the main purpose of the Baha'i Fast, which precedes Baha'i New Year, is spiritual preparation and regeneration. It's a time to refocus, to take a fresh look at the bigger picture and rediscover the things that are most important in life. I think one of the most important things we can hope to achieve is to be channels for peace, helping to bring others closer together. That can't be done if we are constantly thinking only of ourselves, so by learning to put aside our bodily needs, we take a step towards becoming more aware of the needs of others.

I was deeply impressed seeing news reports about the behaviour of the Japanese survivors of the recent quake/tsunami. According to the press there were no incidents of looting, despite the severe shortages of things that the people needed - not desired, but needed. There was sharing, and co-operation. There was calm, restraint (orderly lines to collect rations), and concerted efforts to make order out of the choas brought by the huge mudslide that wrecked and destroyed earthly possessions, but could not destroy the spirit.

'Abdu'l-Baha said:

"If thou seekest to be intoxicated with the cup of the Most Mighty Gift,

cut thyself from the world and be quit of self and desire.

Exert thyself night and day until spiritual powers may penetrate thy heart and soul.

Abandon the body and the material, until the merciful powers may become manifest;

because not until the soil is become pure will it develop through the heavenly bounty;

not until the heart is purified, will the radiance of the Sun of Truth shine therein.

I beg of God that thou wilt day by day increase the purity of thy heart,

the cheerfulness of thy soul, the light of thy insight and the search for Truth."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 362)

The last sentence of that quote was so inspiring for me that I wrote a song based on it, that starts with this prayer:

"O Lord! Enable all the peoples of the earth to gain admittance into the Paradise of thy Faith, so that no created being may remain beyond the bounds of Thy good-pleasure.

From time immemorial Thou hast been potent to do what pleaseth thee and transcendent above whatsoever thou desirest.
- The Bab

For a long time I've been meditating on that prayer, pondering the significance of the last line. For many people, religious or not, life is about attaining the things that you desire. But to strive to be 'transcendent above' what one desires is to become more spiritual, which is the aim of anyone who follows the teachings of Jesus, Moses, Buddha, Mohammed, or Baha'u'llah. The irony is that according to the spiritual teachings of all the religions associated with these historical figures, by focusing on the spiritual, you set yourself up to achieve the things you most sincerely desire - things that you wouldn't give up for the world once you find them.

It is not an easy path. Sometimes the truth really does hurt! But oh, it is worth it. I'm approaching the 10th anniversary of the day (6 April, 2001) I declared myself a Baha'i, a follower of the light of God as manifested by Baha'u'llah, and I find myself 'intoxicated with the Cup of the Most Mighty Gift'. This year I'll be looking for more ways to share that Gift with you all.

Peace, Niki

The Last HaHa

2011-02-27T11:01:00.010-05:00

Remember Kermit the frog and his signature song "It's Not Easy Being Green"? Genius song - the video there is the one with the Ray Charles duet, in case you're wondering. Kermit did an excellent duet with Lena Horne, as well - he has such great taste :) In the first video Kermit is sitting on a rainbow, which for me is symbolic of the good things that come to those who wait, and also just reminded me of a poem I wrote one Easter inspired by a rainbow: "The arc of the Covenant / swayed across a stationary sky / one day in March / as I was walking home".

Since 2001, March/Easter/Lent/the season of sacrifice has become associated for me with the Baha'i Fast (2 to 20 March). Just before the Fast comes the intercalary days (4 of 5 of them, depending on whether it's a leap year). Baha'is call this period "Ayyam-i-Ha" - which means 'Days of Ha'. The US Baha'i website tells us:

“Ha” has several meanings in Arabic, including reference to God or the “Essence of God.” Baha’is celebrate the sacred days of Ayyam-i-Ha through acts of love, fellowship, unity, charity and goodwill.

The intercalary days of Ayyami-i-Ha “stand apart from the ordinary cycle of weeks and months and the human measure of time,” says Karla Jamir, a Baha'i in Virginia. “Thus Ayyam-i-Ha can be thought of as days outside of time, days that symbolize eternity, infinity and the mystery and unknowable Essence of God Himself.”

Baha’u’llah has said of Ayyam-i-Ha: "It behoveth the people of Baha, throughout these days, to provide good cheer for themselves, their kindred and, beyond them, the poor and needy, and with joy and exultation to hail and glorify their Lord, to sing His praise and magnify His Name.

Last night (Saturday 27 February) I went to see a production of the musical Godspell at Georgia Perimeter College's Dunwoody campus. One of D's friends from Acting II played the role of Jesus. Godspell reinforced thoughts I've been mulling over about what it means to be a Baha'i as is outlined in the Study Circle materials on 'Releasing the powers of Junior Youth' that I've been working through along with some Baha'i Friends every Tuesday night.

The materials are challenging. It's not easy being Baha'i :) Unlike Kermit, whose color blends in with the rest of the world, we are called on to stand out among our peers. Godspell is very much about that: Jesus constantly reminds his 'disciples' (who - except for Judas/John the Baptist - wear unique T-shirts spelling out the real names of the cast members) that their behaviour should not be like that of the pharisees. A good Christian/Baha'i must turn the other cheek; must forgive those who wrong them; must love their enemies; must be kind and charitable; must be humble and not boastful of their good deeds; must comfort and care for the sick; must stand up for justice on behalf of the oppressed; must resist the temptations of a life of personal wealth and of power over others; must 'be the salt of the earth'.

But what does it mean to be the salt of the earth? One of the outstanding lessons I took away from the last couple of study circle meetings is that an attitude of service to others is the best habit we could ever attempt to cultivate. Godspell is based on the Gospel according to Matthew, and it is in this Gospel that we find these verses (Chapter 6:25-33):

Therefore I say unto you, Take no thought for your life, what ye shall eat, or what ye shall drink; nor yet for your body, what ye shall put on. Is not the life more than meat, and the body than raiment? Behold the fowls of the air: for they sow not, neither do they reap, nor gather into barns; yet your heavenly Father feedeth them. Are ye not much better than they? Which of you by taking thought can add one cubit unto his stature? And why take ye thought for raiment? Consider the lilies of the field, how they grow; they toil not, neither do they spin: And yet I say unto you, That even Solomon in all his glory was not arrayed like one of these.

Wherefore, if God so clothe the grass of the field, which to day is, and to morrow is cast into the oven, shall he not much more clothe you, O ye of little faith? Therefore take no thought, saying, What shall we eat? or, What shall we drink? or, Wherewithal shall we be clothed? (For after all these things do the Gentiles seek:) for your heavenly Father knoweth that ye have need of all these things.

But seek ye first the kingdom of God, and his righteousness; and all these things shall be added unto you.

Could it be that to seek the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness, means to look for ways to achieve God's Kingdom on earth? 'Abdu'l-Baha said:

"Justice and truth will encompass the world; enmity and hatred will disappear; all causes of division among peoples, races and nations will vanish; and the cause of union, harmony and concord will appear. The negligent will awake, the blind will see, the deaf will hear, the dumb will speak, the sick will be cured, the dead will arise. War will give place to peace, enmity will be conquered by love, the causes of dispute and wrangling will be entirely removed, and true felicity will be attained.

The world will become the mirror of the Heavenly Kingdom; humanity will be the Throne of Divinity. All nations will become one; all religions will be unified; all individual men will become of one family and of one kindred. All the regions of the earth will become one; the superstitions caused by races, countries, individuals, languages and politics will disappear; and all men will attain to life eternal, under the shadow of the Lord of Hosts."

(Some Answered Questions, p. 39)

That sounds really nice, right? But I think for some of you reading this it sounds like pie-in-the-sky, like something we can never hope to achieve. Yesterday an old friend asked me how and why I came to follow this path of being a Baha'i. I told them I was following Jesus, and that Jesus led me to the Baha'i Faith. I truly wanted to be 'green' - meaning to be righteous, to please Christ the Spirit Whom I had invited into my heart to be my Lord and Saviour - but it wasn't easy. I fell away from the Gospel, but soon after I had turned back towards God and started looking for ways I could serve, that's when I came upon the Faith. And now, to be perfectly honest, I am finding that His yoke is easy and His burden is light (Matthew 11:30).

That doesn't mean that a significant amount of effort is not needed. What it means is that I now have the strength and the motivation to not become overwhelmed when the going gets tough. In practical terms, it means I decided to go see Godspell last night although I was way behind on my work schedule, and really did want the bonus I've been promised if I can put in enough hours by midnight tonight... because I felt it was more important to spend some quality time with D while I still have the chance (she'll be 20 next month!). It also means I sat down this morning to write this Blog post - before logging in to work - because I think of it as a service. It may seem like a very small contribution, but perhaps someone reading this will be inspired afresh by the Good News of the Gospels and start seeking after righteousness instead of their worldly desires. Believe me, it pays off in the end - you will have the very last laugh.

I'll close with some more inspiration from the Study Circle materials:

"A race of men," is His [Baha'u'llah's] written promise, "incomparable in character, shall be raised up which, with the feet of detachment, will tread under all who are in heaven and on earth, and will cast the sleeve of holiness over all that hath been created from water and clay."

(Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 31)

"The companions of God are, in this day, the lump that must leaven the peoples of the world. They must show forth such trustworthiness, such truthfulness and perseverance, such deeds and character that all mankind may profit by their example."

(Cited in Shoghi Effendi, "The Advent of Divine Justice", p. 24)

"O ye friends of God! Show ye an endeavor that all the nations and communities of the world, even the enemies, put their trust, assurance and hope in you; that if a person falls into errors for a hundred-thousand times he may yet turn his face to you, hopeful that you will forgive his sins; for he must not become hopeless, neither grieved nor despondent. This is the conduct and the manner of the people of Baha'. This is the foundation of the most high pathway!"

(Abdu'l-Baha, Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha v2, p. 436)

Dearest Friends, let us not "...be so overwhelmed by the magnitude of the transformation required that we think it will occur magically, without effort on our part. Our eyes should remain fixed on Baha'u'llah's world order, and we should recognize that even the smallest act can contribute towards its construction."

(Releasing the Powers of Junior Youth version 6.3.1.PP [Pre-Publication] Unit 1, page 23-24)

Peace, Niki

PS: While searching for suitable images to post here I came across a poem by Hafiz that I had forgotten. Here's the first verse:

"What is laughter? What is laughter?

It is God waking up! O it is God waking up!

It is the sun poking its sweet head out

From behind a cloud

You have been carrying too long,

Veiling your eyes and heart."

The Devil Made Me Do It?

2011-02-04T18:24:00.002-05:00

Mulk (Dominion): 7 – 25 February

I was in a meeting with other Baha'is recently when the topic of tests and difficulties came up. This quotation (by 'Abdu'l-Baha, from Paris Talks, page 50) was quoted/paraphrased: "Men who suffer not, attain no perfection. The plant most pruned by the gardeners is that one which, when the summer comes, will have the most beautiful blossoms and the most abundant fruit."

Then a book was mentioned - In Search of Certitude: Deepening Our Understanding, Strengthening Our Faith - by Geoffrey Gore, a Baha'i, who according to my friend believes that people such as Hitler and Judas were 'allowed' to commit atrocities as an integral part of God's Plan. In quoting the author, my Baha'i friend said something to the effect that "they [they being Judas and Hitler] did their job, and they did it well." Here's a link to information on the book on the Baha'i Dsitribution Service website: http://www.bahaibookstore.com/productdetails.cfm?PC=4954.

I found this cute little red guy here:
http://www.origamiweb.com/index.htm

My initial, knee-jerk reaction (which I kept to myself at the time) was "no way!" My personal version of God - and I think any version of God has to be personal, since God is supposed to be unknowable and far above/beyond human imagination - is not of a Being Who continually intervenes in our daily lives. I have enough trouble fathoming that the Manifestations of God were 'sent' by God at specific points in time to promulgate God's Plan for us...

As usual, when I get a knee-jerk reaction like that I can't stop until I explore the source, and after sleeping on it, I woke up with these thoughts...

I see God as the very source of our being, not as a Puppeteer who arranges and removes obstacles in our path.

I see God as the Creator of our world, but not as its Controller and Manipulator.

I see God as Inspiration, not Punisher.

It seems to me that to insist God constantly intervenes in our lives is to downplay this marvellous and intricate universe, where Cause and Effect interact in mysterious but not inexplicable patterns, which we were in fact put here to discover.

The idea that God manipulates and 'makes' us do things seems as ludicrous to me as the idea that the Devil makes people do wrong. I actually don't believe in the existence of a being known as Satan who rules over Hell, and my (dis)belief is supported by Baha'i texts (despite the fact that Satan is mentioned several times in the Baha'i Writings). As the Baha'i Universal House of Justice has said: "The Bahá'í Teachings inform us that there is no independent force of evil in creation, but terms such as "devil" or Satan" are used in sacred books as symbols of the promptings of the lower nature of man." (The Universal House of Justice, 1985 Dec 02, Child Abuse, Psychology and Knowledge of Self)

Now I know I am going to get in toruble with some people for talking about man's 'lower nature'. That phrase is loaded with connotations of the dogmatic and Victorian kind. When most people hear 'lower nature' they immediately think of outdated ideas such as: sex (sex per se, sex as a pleasurable activity) is sinful, life should be dreary, poems should rhyme, and children should be seen and not heard. I want to make it clear that this is not what I mean by 'lower nature'. The Baha'i Faith emphasizes that the essential aspect of mankind is her 'higher' or 'spiritual' nature. Here are some passages that explain this some more (the emphases are mine).

"The reality of man is his thought, not his material body. The thought force and the animal force are partners. Although man is part of the animal creation, he possesses a power of thought superior to all other created beings.

If a man's thought is constantly aspiring towards heavenly subjects then does he become saintly; if on the other hand his thought does not soar, but is directed downwards to centre itself upon the things of this world, he grows more and more material until he arrives at a state little better than that of a mere animal."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 17)

"'What is evil?'

'Abdu'l-Bahá. -- 'Evil is imperfection. Sin is the state of man in the world of the baser nature, for in nature exist defects such as injustice, tyranny, hatred, hostility, strife: these are characteristics of the lower plane of nature. These are the sins of the world, the fruits of the tree from which Adam did eat. Through education we must free ourselves from these imperfections. The Prophets of God have been sent, the Holy Books have been written, so that man may be made free. Just as he is born into this world of imperfection from the womb of his earthly mother, so is he born into the world of spirit through divine education. When a man is born into the world of phenomena he finds the universe; when he is born from this world to the world of the spirit, he finds the Kingdom.'"

(Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 177)

"The animal creation is captive to matter, God has given freedom to man. The animal cannot escape the law of nature, whereas man may control it, for he, containing nature, can rise above it."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 37)

"This physical world of man is subject to the power of the lusts, and sin is the consequence of this power of the lusts, for it is not subject to the laws of justice and holiness. The body of man is a captive of nature; it will act in accordance with whatever nature orders. It is, therefore, certain that sins such as anger, jealousy, dispute, covetousness, avarice, ignorance, prejudice, hatred, pride and tyranny exist in the physical world. All these brutal qualities exist in the nature of man. ... Thus it is evident that the physical world of man is a world of sin. In this physical world man is not distinguished from the animal.

All sin comes from the demands of nature, and these demands, which arise from the physical qualities, are not sins with respect to the animals, while for man they are sin."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 119)

To get back to the subject of test and difficulties, I believe the reasons some Baha'is contine to think in 'devil-made-me-do-it' mode is simply that they are hanging on to outdated beliefs associated with their former religions. This is completely understandable, especially since converts to the Baha'i Faith are not asked to forsake their belief in a previous Manifestation of God when they become Baha'is. On the contrary, all the major world religions are embraced by Baha'is, and this makes it crucial for Baha'is to be able to see through the veils of man-made beliefs to the essence of the message lying deep within the scriptures of every religion. We need to learn how to keep the baby while getting rid of all the bathwater!

The following quote may seem tangential, but for me it expresses a truth that explains why tests and difficulties can be seen as a form of divine 'pruning':

"The hearts of all children are of the utmost purity. They are mirrors upon which no dust has fallen. But this purity is on account of weakness and innocence, not on account of any strength and testing, for as this is the early period of their childhood, their hearts and minds are unsullied by the world. They cannot display any great intelligence. They have neither hypocrisy nor deceit. This is on account of the child's weakness, whereas the man becomes pure through his strength. Through the power of intelligence he becomes simple; through the great power of reason and understanding and not through the power of weakness he becomes sincere. When he attains to the state of perfection, he will receive these qualities; his heart becomes purified, his spirit enlightened, his soul is sensitized and tender -- all through his great strength. This is the difference between the perfect man and the child. Both have the underlying qualities of simplicity and sincerity -- the child through the power of weakness and the man through the power of strength."

(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 53)

In the same way that the presence of the sun in our galaxy is the 'cause' of the physical growth and development of the creatures on earth, the presence of 'tests and difficulties' in our lives is the 'cause' of our spiritual development. These are perfect systems that require, in my opinion, no intervention from the Creator Who set them in motion.

Peace, Niki

Architecture of a Dream

2011-01-21T11:25:00.004-05:00

I finally, finally saw the movie 'Inception' (Leonardo DiCaprio's latest) this week, and though it was a little disappointing as a movie, the ideas in it crystallized some other ideas I've been having, which I am going to try to thread together in this post.

We celebrated the (21st) birthday of a good friend of my daughter last night, with dinner and birthday cake. He's been so sweet, giving Dalila rides to campus, trying out Jamaican and vegetarian cuisine with her...(need I say more? He's found the way into our hearts :) I have two friends actually, who were born on the 18th of January - the other one is the father of a best buddy of mine from my own college days. He's a great singer (the other way to my heart) and just had a pacemaker installed this week, so we are praying for a swift and successful recovery from surgery.

photo courtesy of Scott Murray [Scotland]

Now, the main idea behind 'Inception' is that people can create and share dreams, and that in those shared dreams, you can find out information (say, secrets) that only the other person is privy to. In theory, although the dreamer may try to hide the secret, the fact that it is hidden is the key to finding it, because in the dream it will be in the most secure and treasured place the dreamer can find. That's the first thing - the second thing is that it is possible to plant the seed of an idea in someone's mind, during such a dream, so that when they wake up, they think it is their own idea. The process of planting the seed-idea is what is termed "inception".

Let's let that percolate for a minute. Another thread I need to pick up now is Stevie Nicks' "Edge of 17". I heard this song on 97.1 The River on the way back to ATL last weekend. It's really catchy - if you want to listen here's a YouTube version with Stevie introducing the song, and explaining the circumstances (the deaths, in the same week, of John Lennon and Stevie's uncle Bill) that led her to write it:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aKrJc9G8cxM&feature=related

What she doesn't explain in that video is the mondegreen that produced the edgy song title. Stevie had been recording a song with Tom Petty, and while speaking to Jane Petty - who had a strong Southern accent - about how Tom and Jane met, she thought Jane said she met Tom when he was at the 'edge of 17'. Jane really said 'age of 17', but Stevie liked the misheard phrase so much she decided to use it as a song title. This was before Lennon died, but it fit perfectly with the sentiment of his unexpected loss at a relatively early age. Anyone who didn't know this bit of trivia might easily have assumed that Stevie coined the phrase in tribute to Lennon, whose life was cut short at the age of 40 (which you could think of as the further edge of 17, since they say 'life begins at 40').

The rhythm of the song is another good fit with the title - 'Edge of 17' has a "distinctive, chugging 16th-note guitar riff" - 16 notes packed into and almost literally bursting out of each bar, as if it wants to fit a 17th beat in there... An eerie but entirely coincidental coincidence is that this is my post for the 17th month of the Baha'i year.

Going back to Inception, the concept of time changes as you go down into different layers of dreaming. As you probably have experienced for yourself, some dreams seem to encompass hours of activity, but we know from scientific experiments that dreams really only last a few minutes. The dreamers in Inception had dreams within dreams within dreams, and each time they went to another dream level the dream-time gained was exponential. Just as scientists predicted aging would slow down for astronauts in deep space, so dreamers in deep inner space are able to experience years of dream-time in a couple of hours.

Dreaming is a fascinating subject for me - it's a kind of chicken-and-egg, which-comes-first thing: do the dreams make the man, or does the man make the dreams? While dreaming can we and do we move outside the boundaries of time itself? I ask this because I often dream things that 'come true' the next day. On the other hand, it seems to me that in our waking lives we are creating the 'architecture' through which we walk when we dream. I've read, and been told by a practicing hypnotist, that a hypnotized person will not do things under hypnosis that they would not do under their own steam in real life. For instance, if you love someone and wish them no harm, you could not be hypnotized to do them any lasting damage. Hypnotism, like inception, seems possible only when the idea or choice being planted in your mind is one that you conceivably might have or make, based on your personality and life experience.

Back to John Lennon, now: one of his most famous songs is "give peace a chance". This song shadows a very important teaching or 'seed' of Baha'u'llah's revelation: that (world) peace is not only possible, it is inevitable. This progress towards peace is, according to the Baha'i Writings, part of a wider forward movement of mankind's spiritual essence:

photo courtesy of Scott Murray [Scotland]

"In the world of spirit there is no retrogression. The world of mortality is a world of contradictions, of opposites; motion being compulsory everything must either go forward or retreat. In the realm of spirit there is no retreat possible, all movement is bound to be towards a perfect state. 'Progress' is the expression of spirit in the world of matter. The intelligence of man, his reasoning powers, his knowledge, his scientific achievements, all these being manifestations of the spirit, partake of the inevitable law of spiritual progress and are, therefore, of necessity, immortal." (Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 90)

Two of the things I love about the Baha'i Faith are its practicality, and its transforming power. The simple seed of the idea that God is One, Man is One, and all the Religions are One, gives us the framework for the Unity we need to have in order to achieve world peace. For some, the process may seem too slow. When you are young - at the edge of 17, or of 40, 50, or 60 perhaps - the things that "matter" to you seem all-important. As Stevie Nicks wrote:

"And the days go by... Like a strand in the wind... In the web that is my own...
I begin again. Said to my friend, baby... Nothin' else mattered."

But with experience, instead of being a strand in the wind, one day you find yourself sharing a dream with others, and you meet the Architect, and then you become a builder of the collective dream, adding your own unique architecture to the world of the spirit:

"The clouds... never expect it...When it rains
But the sea changes colours...But the sea...Does not change
And so... with the slow... graceful flow...Of age, I went forth...
With an age old...Desire... to please. On the edge of... seventeen"

Peace, Niki
Sultan (Sovereignty) - 19 January to 6 February

PS The photographs in this post are of geese, not doves :) I am grateful to Scott Murray for allowing me to post them here. Scott's series of photos of geese inspired me to revisit a poem by Mary Oliver called "Wild Geese" (http://www.english.illinois.edu/maps/poets/m_r/oliver/online_poems.htm). Here is an excerpt:

"Meanwhile the wild geese, high in the clean blue air,
are heading home again.
Whoever you are, no matter how lonely,
the world offers itself to your imagination,
calls to you like the wild geese, harsh and exciting--
over and over announcing your place
in the family of things."

Jesus Unwrapped

2010-12-24T18:56:00.002-05:00

2010 has been a good year, so I am celebrating in this Blog with some photos taken on Christmas Eve, when hubby and me (and Katie, our dog) went for a walk. It was a lovely day in Waterloo - warmer than predicted (in the 50s, Fahrenheit), and sunny.

Every Christmas my mom says to me "Baha'is don't celebrate Christmas, do they?" Technically, the answer to that is yes. You won't find Baha'is getting together as a group to celebrate Christmas with a devotional service. This is not to say that we disrespect Jesus or think Him unimportant. For me, Jesus has been the Gift in my life that keeps on giving, and although I may have expressed this before in bits and pieces, I want to tell you about my journey with Jesus, and wish you Love and Light whatever your relationship with Jesus may be.

In my early years, I never went to church, because my parents did not go to church. Mom was busy - working two jobs some of the time because Dad was not always around (they had divorced twice by the time I was teenager). Mom's experience with religion was with Catholicism - courtesy of a Catholic school. She was (and is) a strong-willed Saggitarian - beautiful, vivacious and talented (she was an excellent dancer) - and she did not take kindly to the rules, restrictions and superstitions that she associated with religion. Mom lacked love at home. Her father was an alcoholic, and he died when she was four years old. Mom spent much of her early years away from her own mother, living with a rich family. She did not find love or light in the church, only cold discipline.

My first church experience was also Catholic (Servite Convent - a school in the hills of Brown's Town, St. Ann). The difference with me - as opposed to my mom's experience - was that I loved the calm and quiet of the chapel and the Mass, and I had a good role model in Sister Jean - a nun who taught me music (piano). She was pretty, and reminded me of Maria in Sound of Music. I had a vague desire to be a nun, and would wander around the school grounds (where I boarded for a while) singing to myself and pretending I was alone in the hills, like Maria in the movie, singing "The Hills are Alive".

My next experience with church was with the Seventh Day Adventists. Our neighbours in Brown's Town, the Smiths, were devoted Adventists who were serious about the Sabbath. They didn't cook on the Sabbath, they had a lock on their fridge door, and they kneeled to pray as a family every Friday night. On Saturdays they all went to church for both morning and afternoon services. Being with the Smiths was a different experience for me. There were 3 children - enough to play ring games together. I loved visiting them, drinking the 'pot water' (which I didn't get at home) and playing ring games. I did have a brother, but he was older, went to a different school and had different friends and different likes. Sometimes when we tried to play together we would end up fighting. I preferred to read a book than play with him.

Naturally, I asked to go with the Smiths to church, and Mom said okay. So one Saturday I donned a dress and went to church. I loved the experience. The people were friendly and the singing was great. I wanted to go again, but Mom was against it.

To cut a long story short(er), when we moved back to Kingston and I started going to Excelsior High School, I would voluntarily and eagerly visit the churches of my friends. I visited with the Church of Christ a lot, enjoyed Religious Studies classes at school (I was great at memorizing verses), and eventually I became a member of Webster's Memorial - a 'United Church' formed by a union of a Presbyterian and a Congregational church. At the time I joined the 'Webster family' (it was called that, often), the pastor was a man from Britain (either Scotland or Ireland, I don't recall). He was a family man, two kids, and very down to earth and loving. I admired his family and have a vivid memory of a church outing to Blue Mountain Peak, when his whole family walked together the whole way. I was a teen and the pastor's kids were preteens. I could not keep up with them, and I felt that somehow it was their faith that sustained them.

When that pastor left we had another friendly one - Reverend Oliver. He was very loving too, and would give his young 'family' big bear hugs. So I found love and family life in the church, and when I 'met' Jesus, that love and light I was experiencing became associated with Him. He was the force that brought Christianity into being and that sustained the Christian communities in which I had experienced so much love and happiness. I loved singing Christian hymns and choruses, and although the services at Webster's were a lot noisier than a Catholic Mass, I found the same peace and happiness inside when I was at church. My favorite chorus was "Into my Heart, Lord Jesus" ("come in today, come in to stay, come into my heart, Lord Jesus").

As I grew in the church family, I became a leader. At one point I was President of the Youth Fellowship. I was appointed as a Youth Elder, and went to Bible study classes as well as Committee Meetings. I did not find any of this onerous. I felt that my church was doing a great deal of good. It was ambitious, and always working on some social prject or other. We had a basic school, a home for the old and dispossessed, and a pharmacy. This was the kind of thing I thought Jesus would have liked to see happening in the church. I was so busy with the church that I had no social life to speak of outside of church, and I admit I was glad to get away from home, which was a lonely place. My brother was never home, I was at that 'awkward age' with respect to my mom, and she was usually busy or tired anyway (she never remarried).

Soon, I had left high school and was at university, and living on my own. I didn't attend church as often, but I still felt deeply committed to Jesus and to the principles He taught. I joined a college Christian club. My best friends at university were not Christians, though, and many of my young Christian friends - now turned adults - were not living the morally pure life I was trying to maintain. I felt that my Christian friends (not all of them, but many) had abandoned Jesus, and I no longer felt empowered to walk in His ways in all respects. I questioned my 'relationship' with Jesus. Was it real? Was Jesus still in my heart? At university I studied natural sciences, and the idea of having Jesus in my heart seemed naive, childish. I read books on Creationism, in an attempt to reconcile my Christian beliefs with what I was learning at university, but the arguments in the books were not convincing. I believed in Jesus, but I also believed in Evolution.

I stopped going to church completely, but for me this was not an abandonment of Jesus. I just couldn't face my Lord and Saviour in public knowing that I was not in synch with the catechism of the church. When I did visit the church, I would sing the hymns and join in prayer but I could not repeat certain phrases that I didn't understand and that didn't make sense to me in the context of the rest of the world. At the same time, after studying about other religions at University (there was a required course on comparative religion at the time), I did not accept that Jesus was the only Way. He was the Way that worked for me, but I honestly didn't think that He would reject the people of other religions on the Last Day. That was not the Jesus I knew.

This shortened story is getting rather long, eeh? So here it is. Jesus, I found in the long run, was with me the whole time. Guiding me, protecting me. He led me to Baha'u'llah (another long story) and delivered me into the loving hands of the Manifestation of God for today, who keeps on giving me the most marvellous Gifts. He gave me my voice, he gave me back my Mom (if not for Him, we would probably be estranged now) and he gave me my husband (who I met while on Baha'i Pilgrimage in Haifa, Israel).

Speaking of Haifa, here is a photo of a Christmas tree in Haifa, made from recycled bottles.

You can read about the tree (and see more images and a video) here: http://www.greenprophet.com/2010/12/tree-recycled-plastic-bottle/.

Peace and Love, Niki

3 Big Questions

2010-12-12T12:32:00.002-05:00

I enjoyed a most hospitable evening yesterday (Saturday 11 December) celebrating the Feast of the month of Masa'il (Questions) with friends in Hickory Tavern, SC. I hadn't seen Aziz and Louise for a while, and it was great to have Dorcus and her husband with us as well. After devotions we had dinner - delicious tomato soup with carrots, zuchinni, sausage and tortellini, and a salad which I tossed myself with chopped apple, nuts and craisins. Then I played on the piano (mostly Christmas tunes from one of Aziz's beginners' books) while everyone else chatted.

I thought I'd share the readings for devotions, which were based on 3 'big questions' often posed to or by religious individuals and organizations.

Q1 What's the real deal with the Founders of different religions?

I think this is a key question because a lot of the controversy that stops people from accepting one or other religion is that people don't believe or have faith in the Founder. They may think that one Founder is more believeable than the others, or may think that all are just men with their own opinions and not to be fully trusted. The founder of the Baha'i Faith, Baha'u'llah, often asked a slightly different question which I think gets to the root of the problem. Here's one of several passages where He asks the question.

"Know then that it behoveth thine eminence to ponder from the outset these questions in thy heart: What hath prompted the divers peoples and kindreds of the earth to reject the Apostles whom God hath sent unto them in His might and power, whom He hath raised up to exalt His Cause and ordained to be the Lamps of eternity within the Niche of His oneness? For what reason have the people turned aside from them, disputed about them, risen against and contended with them? On what grounds have they refused to acknowledge their apostleship and authority, nay, denied their truth and reviled their persons, even slaying or banishing them?

O thou who hast set foot in the wilderness of knowledge and taken abode within the ark of wisdom! Not until thou hast grasped the mysteries concealed in that which We shall relate unto thee canst thou hope to attain to the stations of faith and certitude in the Cause of God and in those who are the Manifestations of His Cause, the Daysprings of His Command, the Treasuries of His revelation, and the Repositories of His knowledge. Shouldst thou fail in this, thou wouldst be numbered with them that have not striven for the Cause of God, nor inhaled the fragrance of faith from the raiment of certitude, nor scaled the heights of the divine unity, nor yet recognized the stations of divine singleness within the Embodiments of praise and the Essences of sanctity.

Strive then, O My brother, to apprehend this matter, that the veils may be lifted from the face of thy heart and that thou mayest be reckoned among them whom God hath graced with such penetrating vision as to behold the most subtle realities of His dominion, to fathom the mysteries of His kingdom, to perceive the signs of His transcendent Essence in this mortal world, and to attain a station wherein one seeth no distinction amongst His creatures and findeth no flaw in the creation of the heavens and the earth.

(Bahá'u'lláh, Gems of Divine Mysteries, p. 3)

Q2 The second big Question is: What's the real deal with mankind? Do we really have an eternal soul, or are we just relatively advanced animals?

Baha'u'llah wrote some short verses called The Hidden Words, that speak to this sort of question. He wrote two versions - one in Arabic and one in Persian (not two translations, two different versions but with similar themes and ideas). According to Baha'u'llah, the Hidden words are "clothed in the garment of brevity" and contain "the inner essence" of "that which hath descended from the realm of glory" (i.e. Teachings from God that were spoken by different Prophets). This sequence of four Hidden Words from the Arabic version all say similar things in slightly different ways.

"O SON OF BEING!

With the hands of power I made thee and with the fingers of strength I created thee; and within thee have I placed the essence of My light. Be thou content with it and seek naught else, for My work is perfect and My command is binding. Question it not, nor have a doubt thereof.

O SON OF SPIRIT!
I created thee rich, why dost thou bring thyself down to poverty? Noble I made thee, wherewith dost thou abase thyself? Out of the essence of knowledge I gave thee being, why seekest thou enlightenment from anyone beside Me? Out of the clay of love I molded thee, how dost thou busy thyself with another? Turn thy sight unto thyself, that thou mayest find Me standing within thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting.

SON OF MAN!
Thou art My dominion and My dominion perisheth not; wherefore fearest thou thy perishing? Thou art My light and My light shall never be extinguished; why dost thou dread extinction? Thou art My glory and My glory fadeth not; thou art My robe and My robe shall never be outworn. Abide then in thy love for Me, that thou mayest find Me in the realm of glory.

O SON OF UTTERANCE!
Turn thy face unto Mine and renounce all save Me; for My sovereignty endureth and My dominion perisheth not. If thou seekest another than Me, yea, if thou searchest the universe for evermore, thy quest will be in vain."

(Bahá'u'lláh, The Arabic Hidden Words)

Q3 The third Big Question has to do with the development of society. Some people who don't belong to any religion at all at least agree that religions do serve a useful purpose. When Baha'u'llah's son, 'Abdu'l-Baha visited London in 1911, this question was put to him at a public meeting, and the question and answer were recorded thus:

"The gentleman then put a question which he said he considered of very great importance in connection with a religious movement, claiming to be universal. What position he asked, if any, did Bahá'u'lláh give to the modern ideas and conceptions of Science in his teachings. The whole structure of modern civilization is based upon the results and the knowledge obtained through laborious and patient observation of facts collected by men of Science: in some cases through hundreds of years of painstaking investigation. To make his meaning clearer, he instanced the ethic, and the moral teachings of the Chinese philosophers, than which he could conceive nothing higher. However, these teachings had very little effect outside of China, for the reason he considered, that they were not primarily based on the teachings of Science.

'Abdu'l-Bahá replied that a very great importance was given to Science and knowledge in the writings of Bahá'u'lláh, who wrote that, if a man educated the children of the poor, who could not themselves afford to do so, it was, in the sight of God, as if he had educated the Son of God.
If any religion rejected Science and knowledge, that religion was false. Science and Religion should go forward together; indeed, they should be like two fingers of one hand...

A gentleman connected with the work of a Settlement then asked what was the best method of raising up and civilizing the very lowest and most degraded and ignorant of the people and would their education come about gradually through the enlightenment of the Spirit, or was there any special means we could adopt to further this end?

'Abdu'l-Bahá replied that the best way was to give them spiritual teachings and enlightenment. He also remarked that the way to broaden the outlook of the very narrow-hearted and prejudiced, and to make them listen to a wider teaching, was by showing towards them the greatest kindness and love. The example of our lives was of more value than words.

('Abdu'l-Bahá in London, p. 71)

I think that's a good note on which to end. During this Holy Season of loving and giving, I wish for all my friends a holiday filled with peace and goodwill.

Niki

Slippery Slope, or Point of Departure?

2010-11-24T13:46:00.002-05:00

My head is spinning (with a head cold, which I'm not sure if I caught from my husband, who just had a cold, or from O'Hare airport, where I spent several hours Sunday evening waiting for a flight). I don't feel like writing, but I feel I need to get some ideas down before I lose the threads that are (also, along with the cold germs) spinning in my head since they've come up over the last few days... possibly as a result of me being at the US Baha'i Temple on the weekend. (Yay, my first visit to a Baha'i Temple!)

Here we are - 4 members of the currently 5-member Board of the Wilmette Institute. The quote behind us is obscured (mostly by my afro which is getting quite big!) and says: "The real temple is the very Word of God; for to it all humanity must turn, and it is the center of unity for all mankind." (Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 65)

This is an apt quote for the month we're in (Qawl, or "Speech" - Nov 23 to Dec 11). So here we go into the slippery slopes of my mind :) I saw a TV show recently where the main character was a woman with Alzheimer's. In the story there was a song she liked that she would fall asleep listening to (Waters of March by Antonio Carlos Jobim, one of my favorites songs, which has extremely poetic/stream of consciousness lyrics). You can read the lyrics here if you don't know the song: http://www.des.emory.edu/mfp/waters.html.

In the story this woman with Alzheimer's was being dismissed by her family and her doctors, who thought she was just very 'confused' about stuff when she kept referring to a 'Charlie' who had (just?) killed 'Rose' (her younger sister, who in fact died young) and was supposedly out to kill her as well. The woman met up with some strangers, who listened carefully to what she said and researched her background (at first just to find out where to take her since she was found wandering and didn't seem to know where she lived). The strangers came to care about the woman and did their best to find out what it was she was so afraid of, as they noticed that without the drugs she was becoming increasingly lucid, and they thought perhaps there was some real threat to her life.

It turned out that Charlie was a real person. He was the woman's childhood sweetheart, but they broke up when he had sex with Rose and got her pregnant. He hadn't seen the woman since they were young, and he seemed truly sorry for what he had done. However, Charlie not only didn't kill Rose, he seemed patently innocent of any other crimes against the woman and was not out to get her as she seemed to believe. The strangers also investigated her 'family' (a brother-in-law, who was the one who had put her in a nursing home after trying to live with her in his own home). The brother-in-law was perhaps guilty of some degree of neglect, but like Charlie, he was not a killer. He had been selling the woman's belongings - example her piano - but he had had to spend a lot of money taking care of her so that's somewhat understandable.

After close observation of the woman's behavior - for example, she thought one of them was her dead husband, Bert, whenever he was nice to her - the strangers realized that the names she was calling were her names for people she knew in the nursing home. "Rose" was a girl who died - seemingly of natural causes - in the home. She identified other persons who had died in the nursing home - calling them names from her childhood (names that were unfamiliar, naturally, to the people in the nursing home - no wonder they were confused :).

The epiphany came after the strangers watched a home movie, where Charlie - the real Charlie - was wearing a white lab coat. They eventually realized that the man she was calling Charlie must be someone in the nursing home who wore a white coat, and who had been euthanizing patients, in 'Angel of Mercy' mode. It turned out that one of the doctors was indeed the Angel of Mercy - the 'nicer' one, not her own doctor - the one who in fact had seemed the most caring, of all the other staff at the nursing home.

"A snake, a stick,
It is John, it is Joe,"

What happened with the Alzheimer's lady I see as kind of the opposite of paranoia. Someone who is paranoid may see a stick and think it is a snake. This woman saw a snake of a particular kind pretending to be something else - something not harmful. She called it a snake of a different kind - a snake she remembered from her youth - which was actually more correct/useful than it sounded to the people who were trying to take her literally.

Another interesting thing I wanted to share is this video in which a delightful old Rabbi discusses the meaning of Psalm 23: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7d5eh8PY5E. What he says about the 'circuitous paths of righteousness' and about the rod and the staff 'equally giving comfort' are especially interesting. As he says near the end "I no longer thirst" is a much better translation than "my cup runneth over"...

"And the riverbank talks
of the waters of March,
It's the end of all strain,
It's the joy in your heart."

Getting back to our lady with Alzheimer's, at the end of the story the strangers find her piano and buy it back for her. She sits down and starts to play - very tentatively at first, but then as she remembers the song she plays it beautifully. Music is like that - you may forget someone's name but when a tune is imprinted on your heart, you remember and treasure it, no matter who is singing or playing it.

That brings me to another interesting thing - something I heard on the radio this time. An author was being interviewed. I don't recall his name because I missed the beginning of the interview, but he was telling a story about his childhood - about how his father, who worked with the Salvation Army, would sometimes wake him up in the middle of the night to ask if he wanted to go with him to the scene of an emergency. The boy would usually go, because he wanted to be with his father, although the disaster scenes were often horrific. The author said that by being in those situations so often - where there were people who had suffered terrible loss and were in need of comfort - that he learned early on to be a compassionate observer, to listen and to give non-judgmental support to the victims of diasters. Later in life he studied Theology, and then ended up with a career as a writer.

The author talked about his writing style, how he strove to remove himself completely - to remove his own ideas and beliefs - from the story. His goal was always to present the story exactly as if the person who 'told' him the story was telling it. He wanted his writing to be such that the people he was writing about (for instance some Native Americans, about whom he wrote at least one book) would read it and say "yes, this is exactly what happened, this is how it went", and not "yes, this writer really understands what we were going through".

This idea of being divorced from your own 'desires' - even the very natural and ... wholesome? desire to understand and to show that you do understand - is reflected in this translation of a portion of Waters of March:

"It is wood that resists the wind,
the falls of the riverbank,
it's the profound mystery,
it's wanting or not wanting."

That said, I don't want to take the songwriter's lyrics out of context. As explained on Jobim's official website:

"In the South Hemisphere ... March is the last month of summer, and usually there is a lot of rain. The title "Waters of March" refers to that rainy period. Digging deeper a little bit, those last rains of summer could also be interpreted like the completion of cleaning mind and spirit of a person, getting him (or her) ready and open for new experiences.

Jobim certainly embraces this viewpoint, as in the last verses of the Portuguese lyrics:
"São as águas de março fechando o verão
São promessas de vida no meu coração"

("While the rains of March close the summer period
I can feel new signs of life in my heart"). "

And:
"He wrote the song in his family real estate property, in the interior of Rio de Janeiro State. It was raining all over, and the roads were full of mud. Furthermore, he was building a new wall along the limits of the property, and the whole scene was a big mess. All these impressions were brought into the Portuguese lyrics. He talks about many typical things of the day-to-day life of those who live in Rio de Janeiro's inland."

Perhaps what I am saying is that those 'typical things' Jobim put into his song are themselves reflections of a more universal human condition. The mystery of life, the circuitous path toward a real understanding of who we are to each other (leaves of one branch, waves of one ocean... raindrops of one storm, or germs of one cold, maybe?)

Peace, Niki

The Power of the Hidden World(s)

2010-11-06T13:16:00.001-04:00

I feel back to normal again, :) since I am officially late for the Baha'i month of Qudrat (Power) which started on 4 November. This month Baha'is celebrate the Birth of Baha'u'llah (12 November, 1817). Hubby and I plan to celebrate Baha'u'llah's birthday with the Baha'is of Anderson County on the 12th, since we'll be travelling to SC that day and would normally pass through Anderson about that time.

With the recently concluded US Senate Elections there's been a lot of talk about political power, and hurricane/tropical storm Tomas's passage through the Caribbean has sparked dicussion about the power of nature, and the inability (or ineffectiveness) of the people - government or private sector - to halt the devastation caused by natural disasters. On a more personal front (meaning I couldn't vote in the US elections and chose not to follow the results closely, and I wasn't in Jamaica for Tomas)... I've been involved for the past month in discussions about Mysticism in general, and Baha'u'llah's Early Mystic Writings in particular, through a course run by the Wilmette Institute. I've also been reading Dean Koontz novels, which tend to have a mystical element - his heroes and heroines often have magical/unseen support from a realm beyond the physical. Maybe that's why I like Koontz so much (besides his quirky sense of humor).

I want to mention briefly an idea that came to me (from mathematics) that illustrates the concept of the power present in the Divine Realm or Hidden World(s) of God. It's related to last month's post in which I talked about exponentials. If you take a relatively small number (let's say 2 or 3) and raise it to a somewhat larger number or 'exponent' (let's say 10 or 12) the result of that equation would be significantly bigger than if you reversed the situation (a larger number raised with a smaller exponent).

2 raised to the 10th power = 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 x 2 = 1,024
10 raised to the 2nd power = 10 x 10 = 100
10 raised to the 3rd power = 10 x 10 x 10 = 1,000

3 raised to the 12th power = 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 x 3 = 531,441
12 raised to the 3rd power = 12 x 12 x 12 = 1,728
12 raised to the 4th power = 12 x 12 x 12 x 12 = 20,736
12 raised to the 5th power = 12 x 12 x 12 x 12 x 12 = 248,832

Let's think of the smaller number as our hero/heroine, and the larger number as the forces arrayed against them. Let's then think of the larger exponent as the Divine World(s) aligned and ready to assist our hero/heroine, and the smaller exponent as the limited resources available in the Divine Realm to those who try to abuse it! The end result of the mathematical equation in every case is that the little guy wins :) The exception is when the base number is 1, since 1 raised to any exponent is always just 1. I dare say this limitation does not apply outside of mathematics.

Briefly, in general mystical terms, various traditional and New Age sources of knowledge point to the time in which we are living as a time for drastic world change, a time for upheaval/cataclysm perhaps, but also a time for peace. Some believe these winds of change are a direct result of the accummulation (for want of a better word) of 'positive' spiritual forces and/or beings which influence the development of individuals and communities on earth today. As Koontz keeps pointing out in his stories, there is no concommital accummulation of 'negative' forces in some dark 'underworld'; evil lives and breathes in the form of misguided humans, whose souls have no power/life when their bodies cease to function.

To some of you this sounds like mumbo jumbo, but I believe that's because there are so many dabblers around, and opportunistic people who instead of aiming to make others more aware of the truth, try to set themselves up as keepers of and experts in the truth. Buyer beware!

An interesting thing about the Divine Realm, the 'world(s) of God' - and the reason I keep using the term "world(s)" with an s in brackets - is that it seems to me that although there may be many unseen levels/planes that interact with the earthly plane, they are so aligned that for us here there is practically no distinction. Think of these worlds like the layers of space beyond earth's atmosphere, or like the genetic code embedded in a tiny seed. Or, you can think of them as components of the exponent in the mathematical example above.

Below I've compiled some relevant verses from Baha'i texts and from the Bible that I hope may encourage anyone feeling powerless about their situation and station in life to make some changes.

Peace, Niki

"Today firmness in the covenant of servitude is the means of effectively flinging forth the divine proclamation into all horizons and this firmness is conducive to the power of the word of the teacher; for in this day when one arises to herald the Kingdom of Abha, a magnetic power is produced which attracts the rays of confirmation; the hosts of the supreme concourse will make whosoever is sincere victorious and the power of the Holy Spirit will assist him."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 34)

"Day and night I entreat and supplicate to the Kingdom of God and beg for you infinite assistance and confirmation. Do not take into consideration your own aptitudes and capacities, but fix your gaze on the consummate bounty, the divine bestowal and the power of the Holy Spirit -- the power that converteth the drop into a sea and the star into a sun.
Praise be to God, the hosts of the Supreme Concourse secure the victory and the power of the Kingdom is ready to assist and to support. Should ye at every instant unloosen the tongue in thanksgiving and gratitude, ye would not be able to discharge yourselves of the obligation of gratitude for these bestowals."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 104)

"O ye friends of God! Today is the day of union and this age is the age of harmony in the world of existence. "Verily, God loveth those who are working in His path in groups, for they are a solid foundation." Consider ye that he says "in groups," united and bound together, supporting one another. "To work," mentioned in this holy verse, does not mean, in this greatest age, to perform it with swords, spears, shafts and arrows, but rather with sincere intentions, good designs, useful advices, divine moralities, beautiful actions, spiritual qualities, educating the public, guiding the souls of mankind, diffusing spiritual fragrances, explaining divine illustrations, showing convincing proofs and doing charitable deeds. When the holy souls, through the angelic power, will arise to show forth these celestial characteristics, establishing a band of harmony, each of these souls shall be regarded as one thousand persons and the waves of this greatest ocean shall be considered as the army of the hosts of the Supreme Concourse."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 401)

"Verily I say unto you, Whatsoever ye shall bind on earth shall be bound in heaven: and whatsoever ye shall loose on earth shall be loosed in heaven. Again I say unto you, That if two of you shall agree on earth as touching any thing that they shall ask, it shall be done for them of my Father which is in heaven. For where two or three are gathered together in my name, there am I in the midst of them.

(King James Bible, Matthew 18:18-20)

"For God, who commanded the light to shine out of darkness, hath shined in our hearts, to give the light of the knowledge of the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ. But we have this treasure in earthen vessels, that the excellency of the power may be of God, and not of us. We are troubled on every side, yet not distressed; we are perplexed, but not in despair; Persecuted, but not forsaken; cast down, but not destroyed; Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body."

(KJV 2nd Corinthians 4:6-10)

"Grace and peace be multiplied unto you through the knowledge of God, and of Jesus our Lord, According as his divine power hath given unto us all things that pertain unto life and godliness, through the knowledge of him that hath called us to glory and virtue: Whereby are given unto us exceeding great and precious promises: that by these ye might be partakers of the divine nature, having escaped the corruption that is in the world through lust. And beside this, giving all diligence, add to your faith virtue; and to virtue knowledge; And to knowledge temperance; and to temperance patience; and to patience godliness; And to godliness brotherly kindness; and to brotherly kindness charity. For if these things be in you, and abound, they make you that ye shall neither be barren nor unfruitful in the knowledge of our Lord Jesus Christ.

(KJV, 2nd Peter 1:2-8)

Exponential Growth

2010-10-07T11:33:00.002-04:00

For the Baha'i month of 'Ilm (Knowledge): 16 October to 3 November

I jumped into a discussion on a minor internet hoax this week and it stirred up surprisingly strong feelings in me. You may have seen it and paid it no mind, just passed over it as we pass over so much 'stuff' that we see and hear daily. I won't repost any of the discussion, or even repeat the offending bit of (false) trivia because that would make me party to the hoax and add one more Blog to the countless others circulating viral nonsense.

Instead, I want to take a critical look at some of the general ideas about the phenomenon of the internet hoax, then suggest some avenues for constructive action (skip to Practical Suggestions if you're short on time). The most common reactions I found fall into these categories:

1) It's harmless: this is just a joke, it's for fun, don't sweat it.

2) It's not a scam: the hoaxer isn't selling anything and nobody will lose any money because of it.

3) It's nothing new / aka it's not the Internet's fault: people have been hoaxing for centuries, the internet just makes it easier to spread around.

4) The gullible are fair game: it's equally easy to debunk a hoax through the Internet; people who fall for hoaxes deserve it and should know better.

I'll respond to 1) and 2) together because they're related. It seems to me the whole point of the internet hoax (as opposed to practical jokes and more locally published articles), is to get the attention of vast numbers of people. While it may be fair to say that for any one individual the effect of the hoax is 'harmless fun', when you multiply all that harmlessness together you can end up with something that's not harmless. (Example harmless rays from the sun that focus in a piece of glass and start a forest fire.) What's more, is it really fun? Fun for whom? Seems to me most people don't appreciate being told something that isn't true (unless it is obviously a joke, and it really is funny, like some 'viral' videos I've seen and found quite entertaining and even informative). For the purposes of this discussion, I am not talking about circulating jokes/entertainment but about circulating statements that are presented as serious facts.

As for not costing money, is that the only valid bottom line? What about time spent on the hoax - time spent by not just one person but by all those who read it, wonder about it, read it again somewhere else, repost it, read an article debunking it, google it to find out if it's true or not, etc. What about trust? Someone who often sends out inaccurate information from dodgy sources is likely to lose some of the trust and respect of friends, acquaintances, and possible future freinds and colleagues. (Recent news reports show that some companies are using the social networking pages of prospective as well as current employees to make HR decisions.)

Re 3) - so it's nothing new - that doesn't mean we wouldn't be much better off without it. Crime, war, disease are nothing new, but most people want to get rid of those things, especially in their personal lives. I agree it's not the internet's fault - in fact, the internet is suffering because of all the junk on it. It's being poisoned, and I fear that some people who might otherwise make good use of it are staying away from it.

Re 4) - no-one deserves to be deceived?? While there have been some hoaxes intended to raise people's awareness of their own gullibility and help them (in the longer run) avoid the dangers of real scams, those are in the minority, and they are not the ones I am talking about.

I'm thinking that part of the reason I felt so strongly about this issue was that the post which sparked it was from a Facebook friend whose other posts I generally like, and who I admire because this friend is one of a few who often posts useful discussions on serious topics. But to get to the practical part now, what can be done about it?

Practical Suggestions:

1) Be an example: Those who know me well know that I don't generally foward chain mail. This is a small but I hope not completely insignificant behaviour that I keep hoping more of my friends will adopt.

2) The personal response: If the post or email is an inspirational message of friendship I may reply directly to the sender alone (not to the rest of their email list) telling them in my own words that I love them back and appreciate them thinking of me.

3) Keep high standards: I try to send or post only information that I think is the most interesting/ entertaining, and of course that I have checked (if applicable) for truthity :)

4) Target friends when possible: If it's an email, I try to send only to people I feel would be interested in the topic. Not all my friends have the same interests. Of course this doesn't work well with Facebook and some other social networking pages.

5) Be original: If I do send on something I received from someone else, I often include a brief comment with my own thoughts on the subject.

6) Ask first: When I see something interesting online I sometimes scan to see who's online and available to chat. Instead of sending an email to them you can then then send a link directly through whatever Messaging system you use, after telling your friend what the page you are recommending is about, and asking if they would be interested in seeing it.

This might seem like a lot of work, but I think it's definitely worth it. If large numbers of people make a small change, the result will be a big change - this is what's known as exponential growth. Funny how the word exponent also means advocate, supporter - as in 'advocate of change'. One last suggestion: some of my friends routinely post a quote as part of their email signature. One such quote which sums up all these suggestions is: "Be the change you want to see in the world." (Mahatma Gandhi).

Peace, Niki

The Long and the Tall of It

2010-09-26T19:22:00.001-04:00

As a kind of experiment, I sat at my PC on Friday night watching tweets about Bishop Eddie Long pop up on my Google search screen faster than I could read them. I don't normally Blog about current events, but the experience has made me think about some broader issues which I am going to try to address without crossing the border from the slopes of the mountain of independent investigation of reality into the treacherous valley of gossip and backbiting.

Ever seen the movie "The Women"? There are two: a 2008 version with Meg Ryan and Eva Mendes, directed by Diane English, and the 1939 classic with Norma Shearer and Joan Crawford. The classic movie was based on a play by Clare Boothe Luce, the author credited with the aphorism "No good deed goes unpunished." The play/movie has an all-woman cast, and its plot hinges on one of the women (Mary Haines, played by Meg Ryan) finding out - through a gossip-monger - that her husband is having an affair. Both movies have the same characters and the same basic plot, but the 2nd movie is quite different. In the words of Diane English: "so much has changed in 70 years since the original movie was made. You can remake a movie if you have something very new to say."

Most critics didn't like the remake much, for all kinds of reasons. The 1939 movie has been described as a "bitchfest" (pardon my French), and a very successful one at that. The 1939 movie is seen as "realistic", its remake as stereotypical and lacking in chemistry. In the remake, the women are portrayed as much more supportive of each other. Perhaps that's why it was not successful - not bitchy enough for the majority of critics, and too bitchy (albeit in a stereotypical way) for the rest. Perhaps women haven't really changed all that much in 70 years... but what about gossip itself?

The first major gossip we meet in The Women (2008) is 'Tanya' (Deborah Mazar), a manicurist at Saks. Tanya seems to bear no malice whatsoever. She talks simply for entertainment value, and doesn't make pronouncements about right and wrong, just the facts (and she's very proud of her ability to provide the 'correct' details). The other real gossip-monger in the movie is Bailey Smith (Carrie Fisher, 2008) - a good writer who writes a gossip column for the love of money, not for the love of gossip. In one scene, shot in a gym with both actresses on treadmills, Smith demonstrates the fine art of confirming the verity of a juicy piece of gossip when Mary's best friend, Sylvia (Annette Bening) unwittingly approaches her for a favor.

Technology has revolutionized the media since 1939, but gossip is still a major source of entertainment, and a lucrative pastime for those clever enough to capitalize on the human desire for superiority without actually comitting slander or libel.

To get back to my tweet-watching experiment, the question I'm asking myself is: is there harm in participating in an online conversation through Twitter or Facebook about a celebrity or other famous person (such as Bishop Long)? Since in some cases we get our 'gossip' from bonafide news sources that bring us other types of news as well, is it really gossiping if you have your say on such issues that are already in the public eye?

Some people argue that there's a difference between 'malicious' gossip, and just talking about somebody. In my experience there's too fine a line between the two types. If you are close to the person being talked about, and actively trying to get help for them to overcome whatever situation they are in, then okay, there may be times you need to talk about them when they are not around, but those cases are rare, and that doesn't apply to gossip about celebrities, politicians, the clergy, or other kinds of leaders. When tempted to gossip (even the least malicious sort of gossip), perhaps we should apply the Golden Rule: do to others as we would have them do to us. Would you feel comfortable if the other person were talking about you in the same light?

Several tweeters posted 'Galations 6:1)' in response to the topic of Bishop Long:
"Brothers, if someone is caught in a sin, you who are spiritual should restore him gently. But watch yourself, or you also may be tempted." (NIV)

The passage goes on to say: "Carry each other's burdens, and in this way you will fulfill the law of Christ. If anyone thinks he is something when he is nothing, he deceives himself. Each one should test his own actions. Then he can take pride in himself, without comparing himself to somebody else, for each one should carry his own load."

Here's a quote from the Baha'i Writings on gossip (aka backbiting):

"For the tongue is a smoldering fire, and excess of speech a deadly poison. Material fire consumeth the body, whereas the fire of the tongue devoureth both heart and soul. The force of the former lasteth but for a time, whilst the effects of the latter endureth a century.
That seeker should, also, regard backbiting as grievous error, and keep himself aloof from its dominion, inasmuch as backbiting quencheth the light of the heart, and extinguisheth the life of the soul." (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 264)

Gossip certainly has a strong multiplier effect. It's like the opposite of the saying 'each one teach one'. If each person only tweets once for the day, that's a lot of tweets out there, a lot of negative thoughts floating around (no wonder I had a headache reading them). On top of that, you might be able to just blow away all that negativity, but it's not so easy for some people to handle. I am not advocating the brushing of dirt under any doorsteps (ecclesiastical or not), but think about all the little pitchers listening and learning, and think about what they are learning ...

"And whoever welcomes a little child like this in my name welcomes me. But if anyone causes one of these little ones who believe in me to sin, it would be better for him to have a large millstone hung around his neck and to be drowned in the depths of the sea. Woe to the world because of the things that cause people to sin! Such things must come, but woe to the man through whom they come!" (Matthew 18:5-7, NIV)

If Long has done wrong to the young men who are his accusers, then I think it is their right to stand tall and take the matter to court. If their accusations are false, it is my hope that the court will see through them. If they are not false, I pray that lives, and souls, will not be lost along the way.

Peace, Niki

PS. Yes, gossip is an established fact of life that isn't going to go away any time soon. I am not suggesting anyone adopt a pious 'see-no-evil, hear-no-evil' attitude, but perhaps just as an experiment, the next few times someone tries to engage you in gossip, just change the subject. Face it, there are much better things to talk about. Check out this man who has lived without money for years: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cyqavzuFZ3c.

XXXtreme Repo

2010-09-19T15:32:00.006-04:00

For Mashiyyat (Will) - 27 September to 15 October

Heart

Help, my Blog is going through menopause :) I no longer write once every month, or on or near the 1st of the month, but that's okay. Inspiration isn't an asset you can draw on at will, so best to grab it while you can, right?

Last night (Friday 17 September) I watched an episode of Law and Order SVU (Special Victims Unit) where it turned out that the victim - a prostitute who had been raped and beaten by a client, and who had killed her attacker in self-defense - was really a serial killer. When it was found that she had killed more than 1 or 2 other men under similar circumstances, and she was charged for those crimes, her main line of defense was that everything she had done, she had done for the safety and comfort of her child - a son about 2 years old. This defense was a good one, because the woman didn't look the part of a prostitute at all, she looked just like any conservative mom. The defense broke down however, when the prosecution realized the son couldn't possibly be her own child.... After a blood test they realized the boy had in fact been abducted at 6 months of age, and his mother had been killed by his abductor (our original victim).

With all her pathological lies in the open, and forced to make a decision on a plea first thing the next morning, the woman commited suicide in prison. She left a suicide note and a Will bequeathing the 15 thousand dollars in her bank account (some of which was stolen from her victims) to her 'son'. In a supreme effort to continue saving face, she arranged the suicide meticulously; instead of hanging herself suddenly and awkwardly, she dressed up for court and hung herself slowly (leaning back in a chair with her legs crossed). In death her face looked calm, pretty, and innocent, as if she were asleep.

The pro victim/killer in this story was a confirmed 'psycopath'. In other words, she's at the extreme end of a continuum of personalities, but was she very different from the rest of us? Like most folk, she wanted to be a success - to have nice things, to be appreciated and respected. She happened to be good at lying, and at pleasing men sexually. She may well have been abused as a child (she said she was, but at least some of what she said was a lie, so we're not sure). At any rate, she was also good at taking and recovering from a beating. Like most folk, she found a job doing what she was good at. Like most women, she wanted a child to love and take care of.

I bring up the idea of being good at lying (which it seems most psycopaths are, because they're usually both clever, and lacking in 'conscience'), partly because of an article I read recently. Published in the UK Telegraph in May 2010, the article's oft-tweeted headline is:

Lying children will grow up to be successful citizens

The key to the childrens' eventual success as described in the article is an 'ability to think on their feet', and the development of "executive function" - the ability to invent a convincing lie by keeping the truth at the back of their mind." I heartily reject this notion of success, and would rather my own child be unsuccessful if it means she has to lie to get there. While a healthy ambition to develop one's talents to the full is a good thing, surely there are some talents that should not be encouraged... In fact, I think pushing the talents of the very young has more cons than pros to it. Although I love to hear Jackie Evancho sing (Jackie is 2nd place winner in the recently concuded season of 'America's Got Talent'), I am glad she didn't win the competition. I think it's too soon for her to be headlining on any stage (least of all in Vegas). Being a good singer/perfomer takes more than raw talent, just as being a good parent takes more than a talent for intercourse.

Getting back to the story of the woman who was a victim as well as a killer... it made me think of sacrifice in general, and of the sacrifice of Jesus, who died on the cross, according to Christian theology, for our sins. Everyone makes sacrifices in their lives, but can we truthfully deny that our mission is more honorable than merely saving face? We're all victims to some degree or other, as well as all sinners. Jesus however, was different. He didn't sin (although He was tempted), but He was 'punished' anyway (by men, not by God). Jesus was the 'Lamb of God' who came to take away the sin of the world (John 1:29 - the words of John the Baptist). Now that has got to be the biggest repossession imaginable. I can visualize Jesus in the temple, turning over the tables of the money-changers and the chairs of the dove-sellers, saying: "It is written, My house shall be called the house of prayer; but ye have made it a den of thieves."

When God repossesses your heart, it isn't a matter of saving face, it's the righting of a wrong. "The one true God, exalted be His glory, hath ever regarded, and will continue to regard, the hearts of men as His own, His exclusive possession."

"Dispute not with any one concerning the things of this world and its affairs, for God hath abandoned them to such as have set their affection upon them. Out of the whole world He hath chosen for Himself the hearts of men -- hearts which the hosts of revelation and of utterance can subdue."

"Unlock, O people, the gates of the hearts of men with the keys of the remembrance of Him Who is the Remembrance of God and the Source of wisdom amongst you. He hath chosen out of the whole world the hearts of His servants, and made them each a seat for the revelation of His glory. Wherefore, sanctify them from every defilement, that the things for which they were created may be engraven upon them." (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah)

On the other hand, with people, it's always a tit for a tat. If you examine the tit, you can usually find the tat - that's how criminal profiling works. As for sin: "Let no man say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God: for God cannot be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man: But every man is tempted, when he is drawn away of his own lust, and enticed. Then when lust hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin: and sin, when it is finished, bringeth forth death. Do not err, my beloved brethren." (James 1:13-16)

In practical terms then, perhaps a good way to get out of the cycle of tit for tat is to practice not being a victim. Don't let the actions of others determine your own behavior. "I charge you all that each one of you concentrate all the thoughts of your heart on love and unity. When a thought of war comes, oppose it by a stronger thought of peace. A thought of hatred must be destroyed by a more powerful thought of love." (Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 29)

Peace, Niki

Hot and Cold, Night Lights

2010-09-08T17:52:00.004-04:00

This Baha'i month, the month of 'Izzat (Might) - 8 to 26 September - is the anniversary month of the passing of a dear friend, Hopeton Fitz-Henley, who introduced me to the Baha'i Faith some 10 years ago. Not sure if his memory is why, but there's this song I first heard on So You Think You Can Dance (SYTYCD) that has been haunting me for the past few weeks. It's called "Fix You", by Chris Martin/Coldplay.

"When you try your best, but you don't succeed
When you get what you want, but not what you need
When you feel so tired, but you can't sleep
Stuck in reverse

And the tears come streaming down your face
When you lose something you can't replace
When you love someone, but it goes to waste
Could it be worse?

Lights will guide you home
And ignite your bones
And I will try to fix you

And high up above or down below
When you're too in love to let it go
But if you never try you'll never know
Just what you're worth"

The song is empathetic in the extreme, and this video brings out a certain attitude of sincerity (I think that's the best word for it) which is intense but in a calm, not fierce way - that's what grabbed me about the song. The dance this song accompanied portrayed a man caring for his terminally ill mother. It is said that Chris Martin wrote this song for his wife, Gwyneth Paltrow, and her father. (Gwyneth suffered a bout of depression after her father died at age 58 from complications of pneumonia and a recurrence of throat cancer.)

One source says that Gwyneth "came home from the hospital covered and drenched in tears, and he started crying and asked her, 'what can I do for you?' ... and she looked up at him, and said 'just hold me... cause you're the only thing that can fix me right now'. This story may have some truth, although it doesn't seem to be about her father since other sources say he died before Gwyneth met Chris Martin... but it's a nice story :)

Fix You echos of hospital wards, X-Rays, and grief - the kind of loss you feel only for your closest friends and family - the ones who cared enough about you in their lifetimes to try to fix you themselves, although they knew deep down they had to let you go for you to find and fix youself. Here's another bit of lyric that resonates with me:

"Tears stream down on your face
I promise you I will learn from my mistakes
Tears stream down on your face"

Fix You made me think suddenly of another song, an old favorite by the only performer of her caliber I've seen perform live and up close: Randy Crawford. Here's a video of Crawford singing "Why", with a live orchestral back-up. I prefer the original track to this live performance, which doesn't have the 'fiery' vocals Crawford is known for.

"Why, in the silence of the night
do I hear a voice inside
that cries, that cries for more
since you rushed into my door?
You, gave to me your holy word,
but you left me in this world
I cry, I cry and pray,
but your light just fades away...

I'm walking through the night
searchin' for a light, oh Lord
I'm wanderin' in the dark
lookin' for a spark, oh Lord
longin' for the day
can't you show the way, oh Lord
don't leave me on my own
it's hard on me alone
when nothing's going right
when livin' and believin' is a fight
don't leave me here alone"

This is a song of grief for the loss of the Light of the World, and in my imagination I hear the world, personified as a woman dressed in black (like Randy Crawford in the video) singing this song... and I hear the voice of the Light of the World coming in with a chorus of Fix You, because that's what God's Messengers are about - They are the Divine Physicians who came to heal the world. We are not alone, brothers and sisters, not alone.

"O thou yearner after the Kingdom! Each Manifestation is the heart of the world and the proficient Physician of every patient. The world of humanity is sick, but that skilled Physician hath the healing remedy and He bestoweth divine teachings, exhortations and advices which are the remedy of every ailment and the dressing for every wound.

...when thou wilt compare the teachings of the Beauty of Abha [Baha'u'llah] with the requisitions and necessities of the present time, thou wilt conclude that they are to the sick body of the world the swift healing antidote; nay, rather they are the remedy of everlasting health. The prescription of the proficient physicians of the past and the future will not be the same; nay, rather they will be in accord with the ailment of the patient. Although the medicine is changed, yet all of these are for the sole purpose of the healing of the sick.

In former dispensations the sick body of the world could not bear the strong and overpowering remedies. That is why His Highness the Christ said: "I have yet many things to say unto you, but ye cannot bear them now. Howbeit, when He, the Spirit of the Comforter, who is sent by the Father, is come, He will guide you into all truth." Therefore, in this age of lights, specific teachings have become universal, in order that the outpouring of the Merciful One environ both the East and the West, the oneness of the kingdom of humanity become visible and the luminosity of truth enlighten the world of consciousness."
(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 380)

It seems to me that so much could be achieved if we keep two things in mind. Firstly let us strive, not to never make mistakes, but to learn from our mistakes (call me a heretic, but I say even God can't fix us if we don't make an effort at improvement). Secondly, let us try not to try to fix anyone else (not our prerogative), except with sincere and tender love:

"Act in accordance with the counsels of the Lord: that is, rise up in such wise, and with such qualities, as to endow the body of this world with a living soul, and to bring this young child, humanity, to the stage of adulthood. So far as ye are able, ignite a candle of love in every meeting, and with tenderness rejoice and cheer ye every heart. Care for the stranger as for one of your own; show to alien souls the same loving kindness ye bestow upon your faithful friends...Perchance such ways and words from you will make this darksome world turn bright at last; will make this dusty earth turn heavenly...so that war and strife will pass and be no more, and love and trust will pitch their tents on the summits of the world."—‘Abdu’l-Bahá

11 of 10 - Uncommon Resolve

2010-09-06T16:47:00.003-04:00

I am going an extra mile this month - I already posted for the month of Might, but just couldn't wait until the end of September to write some more. I guess as I age life happens faster, like the ending of a detective thriller, when the writer/director cuts from one scene to another and all the little clues strewn throughout the book/movie start falling into place.

News Just In: I have in my hands at last my copy of So Much Things To Say - edited by Kwame Dawes and Colin Channer - with poems from 100+ Calabash poets, including one by likkle me. It's under $20 and full of the sweetest poetry, sweet like Julie mango, I promise.

I've finished reading Tod Ewing's Seeing Heaven in the Face of Black Men, and I like the last chapters best. There's one passage quoted in the book from the Baha'i Writings I wanted to share:

"Let the white make a supreme effort in their resolve to contribute their share to the solution of this problem, to abandon once for all their usually inherent and at times subconscious sense of superiority, to correct their tendency towards revealing a patronizing attitude towards the members of the other race, to persuade them through their intimate, spontaneous and informal association with them of the genuineness of their friendship and the sincerity of their intentions, and to master their impatience of any lack of responsiveness on the part of a people who have received, for so long a period, such grievous and slow-healing wounds."

(Shoghi Effendi: The Advent of Divine Justice, p.33)

This sums up a lot of history in just one sentence. Shoghi Effendi is famous for his long sentences and I think it's because he thought things through in the most thorough way. Thinking things through is never easy or popular, but it's what we need most in my opinion (next to 'love, sweet love' which we've had a whole lot of already and of which it's easy to take - too literally, and too much).

I write this on US Labor Day, thinking how much labor went into Tod's book, and how much more labor I could and maybe should be doing. (In terms of paying work I peaked in August - not sure if I can repeat that in September.) But the kind of work I'm thinking of is the kind outlined in Shogi Effendi's quote, where you work to contribute to the solution of worldwide problems (even though you may quite rightly feel those problems are caused by others and that others have the responsibility to fix them).

Today I responded on Facebook to a friend who posted about the importance of listening to your 'gut'. He said: "Trust your gut. If it tells you no, eleven out [of] ten times it is correct". I didn't disagree with him exactly (he was talking about emergent situations, and the gut feeling to which he was referring is more like what we mean by 'conscience', plus Divine Intervention), but it has taken me such a long time to sort out within myself the various 'gut' feelings I've had, and still do have, that I wanted to explore the idea of our 'gut' sensibilities a bit more.

I think what most people mean by a gut feeling is basically instinct, plus. It's not the same as animal instinct, though sometimes the roots of animal instinct are clearly there. It's also who you are in terms of your personality, and it's what we mean when we say we're 'following our heart'. For instance, I'm not sure why but I have a preference for short/petite men. My gut will choose the short guy over the tall guy every single time, given that their other characteristics such as facial 'looks' and personality are about equal, and I do this without consciously thinking about it.

The 2nd kind of gut feeling is the same as what we mean by 'head' (as in listening to your head versus listening to your heart). I value certain characteristics, and if I were to be choosing a mate (since I started with my love of short men let's go there :) my 'head' gut would start looking at his behavior, educational background, hygiene, and personal tastes. In part, these preferences my head-gut has have to do with a) how I was brought up, and b) my past experiences (with men). Here are two examples...

a) My mother kept drumming it into me that a mate must be clean, and must be compatible with you when it comes to basic personality ('opposites attract' doesn't usually work in a marriage, as she found out by experience); and

b) I am relatively health conscious, partly because of stuff I learned from my Ex who is a vegetarian nutritionist and lifestyle consultant. We weren't together very long but my exposure to vegetarian cooking and vegetarian ideals was intense, and I experienced 99.9% positive results in our vegetarian child's health. These experiences color my headspace.

Another case in point about headspace and how it is affected by childhood experiences: the movie Long Lost Son. I don't want to lose any of my audience here, but I am going to admit up front this was a Lifetime Network movie (I watched it on Hulu). It is not based on a true story, and the case is a little bit extreme, but it does illustrate the point. In this movie a 4-yr-old is taken from his mother by his dad, who brings him up thinking his mom died in a house fire that destroyed all their possessions. Before the separation, the child, who had absorbed some perfectionist tendencies from his mom, would often say "I can't!" when he failed to master a new skill. The mother always said to the son: "Did you know that 'can't' isn't in the dictionary?" and she would go on to tell the boy how he could get rid of all his cant's by taking a deep breath, and then blowing all the can'ts away like bubbles.

When the boy was 18, the mother found out he was alive, and went to see him (they had migrated to Canada, assumed false identities, then moved all over and were now in the Caribbean). He did not recognize her, as he'd seen not even a picture of her since he was four; everything was burned in the fire as far as he knew... and for various reasons she couldn't tell him right away who she was. He did however remember what she had taught him about "can't", to the point of repeating the exact same thing to her when she said she 'couldn't' go diving with him.

Now the crucial thing is that I'm thinking both these guts - the gut-gut and the head-gut - can be quite unreliable for decision-making because they don't take into account the full spectrum of choices at our disposal as humans. Even though we may have had good parents, who tried hard to bring us up right, parents are not always right, and we absorb more from them and from our environment than we may like to admit. On the other hand, we have the distinctive ability to take into account not just our own past experiences, but also the experiences of others whom we may never even have met (I am talking about literature and history).

We also have the unique ability among animals to look a good distance into the future. We can imagine what our world would be like if we took certain courses of action. Based not just on experience but on our knowledge of how things work, along with creative imagination, we can design new and different ways of doing things in order to provide a better experience for us and for our children. To go back to the scenario of choosing a mate, I'd then want to get to know that person and see how our ideals match up. What long-term goals does he have? Is he interested in settling down? How well will our goals and personalities mesh? Can we achieve more as a couple than we could on our own?

Although this aspect of decision-making is partly a 'head' thing too, the head-gut I'm talking about is really more a matter of our head being on auto-pilot. Sure we all think about what we're doing in our daily lives, but like the Long Lost Son a whole lot of what we think as adults is largely shaped by very early experiences. If we compare with Pavlov's animal experiments for instance, our gut-gut is like what is known as an unconditioned response, and our head-gut is like a conditioned (learned, basically) response. (See http://psychology.about.com/od/cindex/g/condresp.htm for a brief explanation if you are not familiar with these terms).

So what I'm saying is, that other gut that my friend was talking about (the one that's right 11 times out of 10) is not really a gut feeling at all. It isn't material/animal, it's a human/spiritual thing that supersedes both the gut-gut and the head-gut. The spirit-gut as I'll call it is the outcome of your spirit listening to and learning from your mistakes. It is not an unconditioned response, nor is it your brain on auto-pilot having been conditioned by your childhood experiences, nor is it even a conditioned response, since that implies someone else doing the conditioning. If anything it's a self-conditioned response. That reminds me of a book called "To Say Nothing of the Dog". In that book there are some historians who time-travel, and the interesting thing is the way that history had a way of 'self-correcting'. I think that's how it is with us. We get lots of chances in our lifetime, and if we can listen hard enough to see the patterns of action and reaction and eventually learn to know and follow the spirit-gut* then we'll do okay.

"O my brother, take the step of the soul, that thou mayest in a moment traverse the distant valleys of separation and remoteness, enter the Ridvan of union and nearness and in a breath attain to the divine Souls. These stages can never be travelled nor the destination reached by the step of the body. Peace be upon these who follow the truth in truth and stand in the path of command upon the shore of knowledge in the name of God."
(Compilations, Baha'i Scriptures, p. 15)

Unconscious Race (America, The Beautiful; Jamaica, Land We Love)

2010-08-29T14:24:00.004-04:00

8 - 26 September, 'Izzat (Might)

A Series of Fortunate Events led me to try writing about a Tricky Subject this month: Race (as in Prejudice, not Sports). Firstly, I've been reading a book written by a Baha'i friend, Tod Ewing - a friend of my husband, really - titled Seeing Heaven in the Face of Black Men. The book is largely about Tod's experiences with racial prejudice, growing up and living as a Black Man in the 'US of America' (US as in we), as Tod poetically calls the USA. The book is no ordinary memoir; it relates the author's conscious struggle, through the practical application of his spiritual beliefs, to understand the reality of the race situation in the US and to overcome the emotional baggage he has (US all, actually - Black, White and Brown - have) inherited. For me it is unusual to see such patent honesty and objectivity. I guess that's what inspired me to open up and write.

As you all know by now, I didn't grow up in the US of America, but in Jah-mek-yah (Jah as in Yahweh, God; mek-yah as in 'made here') which is how I and many Jamaicans think of Jamaica - as a place God made specially beautiful and fortunate. Growing up Black in the US of America is of course quite different to growing up Brown in Jah-mek-yah, but prejudice there is. My parents called it Shade Prejudice, and there was and perhaps still is Class Prejudice, mixed in with a heavy dose of Partisan Political Prejudice, which if we were to look into its roots, is probably fueled by repressed racial tensions.

When it comes to Race and Shade I've kept on the fence my whole life, and at times I've felt strangely guilty about it. I've told myself it's because in terms of skin coloring I'm smack in the middle of the no-man's land of "brown" people, especially with my reddish-brown hair (it was much redder when I was a child). I've reasoned that I grew up in a household with a matriarch who thought she was essentially White, who instructed me in the Queen's English, expressed a strong preference for fair-skinned boyfriends, and who would constantly refer to her Scottish heritage, but is all that a good excuse for the fact that while other poets around me were chanelling indignation, fear, pride, justice, exile and freedom (as well as aggression), I stuck to much more intimate and less political topics?

To make matters even more confusing (in terms of my Identity as an individual) from a very young age I used to think I was Special, that God had a Special Plan for me and I was being Protected because of some Great Purpose I was intended to fulfil. I am not sure where that came from, because I had no clue about God/Christianity as a child. My parents didn't go to church, and although I went to Catholic schools I didn't learn much about religion there, as I was not required to participate in any meaningful way in church rituals. It sounds cheeky, I know, but I have to admit that growing up I had something of a Superiority Complex. As an example, in elementary school when our music teacher was choosing people for the choir, and I was passed over in the first round of auditions, my only thought was that the teacher had poor judgement, since I obviously was one of the best singers in the class. So anyway, now I'm starting to wonder what factors in my environment caused me to think and feel that way (since obviously I am not special, I'm just one of US - just a slob, as the song says). I thought about it and came up with a number of environmental factors:

a) due to the single-parent status of my small family we moved a LOT, so I never had a 'neighborhood' or neighborhood friends with whom to associate and form an identity of US-ness

b) my parents weren't church-goers, so I had no US-ness there either, no feeling of belonging to a particular religion or denomination; also my single parent was an only child, and daddy wasn't around much, so there were no big gatherings or reunions of US-in-the-family

c) an avid reader herself, my single parent supplied me with LOTS of books, so since there was nobody much to play with and nothing much to do growing up (we had a live-in maid part of the time, my only sibling was a boy with radically different interests, and my parents were busy/not the type to hang out with their kids) I spent most of my childhood with my nose in a book

I read a lot of adventure books (Nancy Drew, Hardy Boys, etc) and since I had no US identity, I identified with the heroes and heroines in the books. It didn't matter to me one bit that they were White and I wasn't; Race was never a factor in those books since every character was White. The thing about identifying with Heroes is that in storybooks, although the Heroes go through trials and danger, they're always in the 'right' (although they make mistakes sometimes, their motives are good) and they're always 'alright' in the end. I guess the idea of me being Right (if not White) just stuck with me. I became who I read; I was Smart, Good, and Invincible. This inner confidence (outwardly I was as shy and nervous in new situations as any other kid, but inside I was generally certain about an agreeable outcome) was reinforced by the first popular song I learned - a song I chose as a kind of personal anthem, which I would sing to myself constantly: Raindrops Keep Falling on My Head.

I didn't know it then but Raindrops was top of the US pop charts in early 1970. At that time I would have been 8 years old - that was about the time I moved from Kingston to live in the then very remote hills of Brown's Town, St. Ann. Raindrops has since featured in quite a few films, including Spiderman 2. It was composed by Burt Bacharach, and sung by BJ Thomas, who I just learned turned to gospel in his later years. In this video he sings Raindrops followed by Expression of Faith: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t30cX6OGO0U .

Speaking of songs, the Second Event that led to me trying to write about Race was that my daughter (D) is studying voice, and the first song she has to prepare for class is the patriotic song America, the Beautiful. D is a lot more patriotic about her homeland than I am. I love Jah-mek-yah, but in my growing years I lived in my imagination; you could say I really wasn't a resident of Jamaica. Since then I've traveled a lot, and the more I travel, the more beauty I see all over the world. If Jah did make Jamaica, surely Jah made every other country too...

The Third Event was a video clip from an interview with Morgan Freeman on CBS' 60 Minutes. The interviewer was Mike Wallace. Freeman's take on the race problem is that the way to stop it is to stop talking about it. I think this idea is impractical, but full of sense. Morgan says we should stop calling each other Black and White, and use our names instead. It's true that Black and White are labels that are no longer useful to US who wish to make peace and promote unity, since their purpose was to keep Blacks and Whites apart. However, as Tod Ewing points out in Seeing Heaven in the Face of Black Men, it's our inner vision that's screwed up. The labels 'Black' and 'White' are strands in a large and complex web of histories, memories and attitudes - a web that extends into every corner of our lives. You know how persistent cobwebs can be - they reverberate right through your life, fuzzying up everything, and as soon as you make a good-sized hole in one, Brer Anancy comes along to repair it!

The Fouth and final Event happened some time ago - Jon McGregor's If Nobody Speaks of Remarkable Things. The remarkable thing about this book is the way McGregor introduces his characters based only on their character. There is no mention of potentially race-distinguishing characteristics such as complexion, accent, or even name. This makes the reader care about the characters because of Who they Really Are, because each of them has been though stuff unique to themselves, private stuff they may not even ever talk about, but through the magic of storytelling the reader can relate to that stuff as if these characters were the reader's dear friends and confidantes. Maybe that's how we need to treat our brothers and sisters on this planet, like they are our friends and confidantes, going through their own stuff, and you don't really need to know all the details to stand by them. Saying that is a little like saying Jamaica is the land I love, even though it isn't always so beautiful, even though I may not sing its praises, or even discuss its triumphs and shortcomings, in this Blog.

I'll close with a few lines from Expression of Faith

Though the north wind is freezing

And the thunderclouds gather

Still we scatter the new seed

And we trust in the sun

Though this world is uncertain

We deliver our children
To life's great adventure
And the promise of love

Peace, Niki

PS. It is entirely coincidental that Tod Ewing's http://www.heaveninthefaceofblackmen.com/has Ray Charles' version of America, The Beautiful playing on it.

Names in Heaven (not the Zodiac)

2010-08-19T16:57:00.003-04:00

Asma (meaning "Names", 20 August to 7 September) is the ninth month of the Baha'i calendar. I think of 'names' in two basic ways:

as synonymous with language - names are tools to organize (and master) the world of experience;
as synonymous with the individual/character - we are distinguished by the names we take/make for ourselves*.

* Perhaps it is this 'name' that is written (or not) in heaven/The Book of Life. Luke 10:19-20: "I have given you authority to trample on snakes and scorpions and to overcome all the power of the enemy; nothing will harm you. However, do not rejoice that the spirits submit to you, but rejoice that your names are written in heaven." See also Revelation 3:1-6 at the end of this post.

There are all kinds of people in the world, and some like to classify them by personality, particularly by zodiac sign. I used to believe quite strongly in the zodiac, but have recently changed my mind. I won't go into my reasons in this post, but I am going to make some observations about character based on three works of creative fiction/three characters I've recently encountered: the movies "Nine (2009)" and "Dorian Gray" (2009), and the Sookie Stackhouse (True Blood) novels.

When I saw Nine, one of the first things I wondered was why... why 9? Then I learned it was based on a musical (also called Nine) which was based on a semi-autobiographical film by Italian film-maker Federico Fellini, titled "8 1/2", which makes a lot more sense. Fellini named his film 8½ in recognition of the fact that he had made six full-length films, two short films, and one film that he co-directed (adding up to about 8 1/2 full films). Fellini thought he hadn't quite 'made it'. He was perhaps half a film away from where he needed to be, but felt his creativity drained by the expectations of the public and by the demands of his intimate relationships. Guido (the Fellini character in the musical/movie) shirks his responsibilities until the very last minute. His head is full of ideas but he is not a very organized person, and prefers to put things on hold while he enjoys the attentions of the women who love him.

The Picture of Dorian Gray is Oscar Wilde's only published novel. The book is arguably his most famous work, although he was much more prolific as a poet and playwright. Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest (his last, and most popular play) is one of my favorite classics, because of its excellent double entendres, notably the titular pun on the name Earnest, which as an adjective means "characterized by a firm and humorless belief in the validity of one's opinions." Wilde's anti-hero, Dorian Gray, leads a double life. Charming, handsome and talented in public, Gray is as troubled, mean and petty as they come when he isn't playing to a crowd. His aesthetic self, his 'artist' or 'celebrity' persona, is the opposite of his ordinary, everyday self (which grows stronger as he ages and the novelties of the flesh wear off).

Sookie Stackhouse (for those who aren't already Sookie/True Blood fans), is a telepath in a world full of supernatural beings. At least half the people Sookie knows are not always what they seem - they are vampires, shape shifters, werewolves, witches and fairies. Sookie feels relatively comfortable hanging with vampires because since they are 'dead', their minds don't broadcast thoughts like the minds of regular people, or of 'live' supernatural beings. This is a plus because having the thoughts of others thrust upon you willy nilly is about as bad as being a celebrity caught in the spotlight all the time. Just as a celebrity doesn't want their every move broadcast in public, Sookie's quality of life is severely hampered by the flood of thoughts and feelings she encounters when out in public. She longs for a stable, 'normal' relationship with someone who can be her equal, and who is attracted to her because of who she is, not because of what she can do, or can do for them.

How do these three characters cope with life? How do they find what they've been looking for? (I think the U2 song I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For could easily be used as an anthem for Guy, Dorian and Sookie.) Here's a live video of U2 performing it in Milan, Italy.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Pb1XXs7e7ac

Nine ends at the beginning of shooting for Guido Contini's 9th film. We don't know if it will be a hit or a flop (he has had both), but he manages to put his doubts aside and begin the process. He admits his indiscretions to those he has hurt, and keeps with him (in public) all his muses, including his childhood wonder personified (himself as a youngster, and his doting mother). He is just a regular guy (the name Guido is a variant of "Guy") who means well but whose flesh is weak. He is easily influenced in matters of the heart, but has true talent, and will not be persuaded to compromise on his artistic vision, especially if he continues to have/seek support and guidance from friends and family.

Dorian Gray, unfortunately, has gone too far with his alter ego to make a fresh/9th start. He refuses to show the world his indiscretions. In fact, he refuses to make any kind of confession (except to a priest, halfheartedly, which doesn't really count), even though there is a woman who assures him of her unconditional love, and encourages him to tell all. Dorian pursues pleasure/happiness but although through magic he appears completely hearty and happy, his soul gets sicker and sicker. He takes his indiscretions to the grave, along with anyone who tries to bring them to light. The name Dorian is a derivative of Doris, which means gift. He is too easily influnced, and the smallest criticism/trouble can upset him enough to throw him completely off track. He abuses his talent for the pleasures of the moment, and has no real friends to support him, as he has betrayed them all.

Sookie's story isn't quite finished yet. She keeps being betrayed by the men in her life, and so far the only one she hasn't slept with is the one she trusts the most (her boss). Sookie's world is changing - the supernatural beings are all 'coming out of the closet' to take their respectful (if not completeley respected) places in society. She uses her telepathic talents to help the various cliques of supernaturals (sometimes for pay, but never through greed) although that puts her own life in more and more danger. She is between human and supernatural, which makes it hard for her to choose a life partner since that would essentially mean taking sides in one or other supernatural camp. The name Sookie is a form of Susan, which means lily, and the lily is a symbol for innocence and purity. Sookie is not easily influenced. She is usually well aware of the motives of the various beings trying to influence her, and is self-reliant enough to form her own opinions based on facts. She chooses her friends well, and is herself a positive influence in many lives.

Revelation 3:1-6 "To the angel of the church in Sardis write:

These are the words of him who holds the sevenfold spirit of God and the seven stars. I know your deeds; you have a reputation of being alive, but you are dead. Wake up! Strengthen what remains and is about to die, for I have not found your deeds complete in the sight of my God. Remember, therefore, what you have received and heard; obey it, and repent. But if you do not wake up, I will come like a thief, and you will not know at what time I will come to you. Yet you have a few people in Sardis who have not soiled their clothes. They will walk with me, dressed in white, for they are worthy. He who overcomes will, like them, be dressed in white. I will never blot out his name from the book of life, but will acknowledge his name before my Father and his angels. He who has an ear, let him hear what the Spirit says to the churches."

The Road to Perfection

2010-07-31T10:14:00.003-04:00

As I write this it is the last day in July. It will be back to work time soon for those of us who have the summer holidays off (like my hubby) or are full time students (like my daughter). I myself took two whole days off from work this week, to visit friends in North Carolina. This evening we'll be celebrating the start of the Baha'i month of Perfection (Kamal) - 1 to 19 August. Slow-cooked ribs are on the menu.

I have a friend who often said "perfection is not an accident"... in other words, it is something you work for, or work towards. The phrase struck me so deeply that I wrote a song with that lyric, but it wasn't until recently that I connected this idea with scriptural comments about the perfection of God's Creation, such as these:

"Man is the sum of Creation, and the Perfect Man is the expression of the complete thought of the Creator -- the Word of God."
(Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 51)

"Can the creation be perfect and the creator imperfect? Can a picture be a masterpiece and the painter imperfect in his art? For it is his art and his creation. Moreover, the picture cannot be like the painter; otherwise, the painting would have created itself. However perfect the picture may be, in comparison with the painter it is in the utmost degree of imperfection.

The contingent world is the source of imperfections: God is the origin of perfections. The imperfections of the contingent world are in themselves a proof of the perfections of God."
(Abdu'l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, p. 5)

"When we carefully investigate the kingdoms of existence and observe the phenomena of the universe about us, we discover the absolute order and perfection of creation. The dull minerals in their affinities, plants and vegetables with power of growth, animals in their instinct, man with conscious intellect and the heavenly orbs moving obediently through limitless space are all found subject to universal law, most complete, most perfect. That is why a wise philosopher has said, "There is no greater or more perfect system of creation than that which already exists."
(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 79)

After the last passage above, Abdu'l-Baha goes on to explain why this 'perfect' creation could not be merely the result of the forces of nature (shortened for emphasis):

"Man possesses certain virtues of which nature is deprived. He exercises volition; nature is without will. For instance, an exigency of the sun is the giving of light. It is controlled -- it cannot do otherwise than radiate light -- but it is not volitional. ... Likewise, all the properties of nature are inherent and obedient, not volitional; therefore, it is philosophically predicated that nature is without volition and innate perception. ... But the question which presents food for reflection is this: How is it that man, who is a part of the universal plan, is possessed of certain qualities whereof nature is devoid? Is it conceivable that a drop should be imbued with qualities of which the ocean is completely deprived? ...

Man is intelligent, instinctively and consciously intelligent; nature is not. Man is fortified with memory; nature does not possess it. Man is the discoverer of the mysteries of nature; nature is not conscious of those mysteries herself. It is evident, therefore, that man is dual in aspect: as an animal he is subject to nature, but in his spiritual or conscious being he transcends the world of material existence. ..."
(Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 79)

Volition is mentioned here as an important distinction between man and the rest of nature. Volition is defined as "the capability of conscious choice and decision and intention". This reminds me again of the Creation Story, because Adam/Eve, at a turning point in the existence of humankind, ate the fruit of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil - a reasonable metaphor for volition/conscience. I am thinking though that volition alone is not an aspect of 'perfection'. It is part of the means by which we can become perfect: first we have the capacity to recognize 'good' and 'evil' by exercising our intelligence; at the same time we have the capacity to choose good or evil using our volition; but what is it that drives us to want to choose good over evil consistently? I think because as Abdu'l-Baha said, God is "the one goal, towards which everything in nature yearns. This conception was embodied in the words of Christ, when He said, 'I am the Alpha and the Omega, the beginning and the end'." (Paris Talks, p. 51)

Peace, Niki

Happy Ever After

2010-07-13T08:12:00.000-04:00

Don't ask me why, but Julia Fordham's "Happy Ever After" just popped into my head one day this month. I hadn't thought about that song for years, but I learned and rehearsed it once, before my daughter was born. Maybe it has something to do with my anniversary (13 July, which is also the beginning of the Baha'i month of Words, or "Kalimat").

I did some rooting around on the word kalimat. Kalim means "one who speaks", interlocutor, lecturer. Interestingly, Maat - a name my ex-husband has taken for himself - is a word for the Ancient Egyptian concept of truth, balance, order, law, morality, and justice. "Maat was also personified as a goddess regulating the stars, seasons, and the actions of both mortals and the deities, who set the order of the universe from chaos at the moment of creation." [from Wikipedia]

It makes sense then, to assert that Kalimat means more than just words as in any old set of words strung together. Uh-uh, it means one who speaks (since words have no meaning really unless 'spoken') with or for truth, balance, order, and justice. Kalimat thus has a meaning more like The Word described in the Bible (John 1:1), which was in the Beginning, and which brought Life to and sustained Life in the world.

In the world today, and very recently in the news, words have been a source of the opposite of justice and truth in society. The actress/celebrity Lindsay Lohan was censured last week for appearing in front of a judge with the phrase "f--- u" inscribed on her middle fingernails. The actor/producer Mel Gibson has been heard - first just on the Internet, but recently also in the mainstream news - cursing at his ex-girlfriend and baby-mother,Oksana Grigorieva. I continue to be amazed at how words that were once completely off-limits in the public media have become so passe that bleeping them in movies and videos being aired for the consumption of youth and children will no doubt soon no longer be required.

Getting back to the Happy Ever After song, I wanted to share the lyrics for the bridge. After expressing sorrow at the incredible injustice in South Africa (the song was released in 1988, on Fordham's first album, two years before Nelson Mandela was released from prison), she goes on to say:

"Down in Southern Africa no happy ever after
Not now, but soon forever
While they're sitting comfortably
In that white winter city
How can we be happy ever after?"

So, life may be like a fairytale to you (as in many ways mine is). You may have everything you ever wanted; you may be a good, kind and just soul; you may be enjoying religious and racial 'freedom' - but as long as there are others who are comfortable with the injustice in their own lives, how can you be happy, 'ever after'? (I take this to mean a kind of complacency - not that we can't be happy and joyful under all conditions, but life isn't a fairytale as I know you all know.) Cinderella was released from the drudgery of manual labor when her fairy godmother set in motion the events that freed her from her tyrannical family, but we all have responsibilities, things we would rather not have to do that have to be done - if not for ourselves for our 'family' who have yet to achieve the freedoms we enjoy.

So let us remember the Baha'is in Evin prison in Iran (who have been there just over two years, since 2008). The latest news I can find is inconclusive. The Baha'i World News Service says, quoting Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations, "it seems from what we have heard that the trial itself has now concluded. But we have no further information at this time."

I do have some great news from Jamaica. They'll be celebrating the 8th National Baha'i Day on July 25th, with an "Evening of Music", and I will be there in spirit, singing Happy Ever After.

Peace, Niki

More or Less Time

2010-06-25T10:27:00.002-04:00

Mercy Me, I am Late for the Month of Mercy (June 24 to July 12). My mom is in Atlanta, visiting from Jamaica, and I've been trying to balance work and the visit, all the time marveling at the way mom makes fast friends with 'my' neighbors (who I'm just now meeting :) because of her smoking (on the back porch, which faces other back porches sometimes occupied by people of like mind).

Maybe I am not so late. My friend Al posted yet another inspiring post on Facebook today (that would be yesterday now, but it was today when I started writing this post, on Thursday 24 June): “I have learned silence from the talkative, tolerance from the intolerant, and kindness from the unkind; yet strangely, I am ungrateful to these teachers.” (Kahlil Gibran).

I came across some more interesting ideas about Time in a sci-fi novel titled Starburst by Frederik Pohl, one of the pioneers of sci-fi, who happens to be still alive at 90 years old, and who now has his own Blog, at: http://www.thewaythefutureblogs.com/. One of the characters in Starburst is an astronaut who dies, but who keeps one foot in the world of the living for a while. 'Uncle Ghost' - as he is called by the children born from the shared gene pool of the 8 astronauts in Pohl's story - describes what it is like to live with one foot in this world and another in the life after death:

"Sometimes I walk among you in a form of flesh and sometimes hover like an airy cloud. My name is Willis Becklund, and I died twenty years ago. More or less. I don't mean more or less twenty years, I mean more or less "ago." When you stand where I stand it is not easy to see what is "ago."

Since it is important that you understand what I am saying, let me give you an illustration. When I was alive and standing on the face of the Earth, I could see ahead of me and behind, but only as far as nothing got in the way. To see farther I had to rise higher; but the higher I rose the more distant what I saw became, and the harder to make out. Thus in space. So in time. I am on neither side of Chandrasekhar's other limit, but above it as you might say, and you would be astonished at how tiny you all look from here. Multiplying embryos in one direction. Moldering corpses in the other. And I am not always sure which way I am facing since, once you rid yourself of the myth of causality, it makes no difference at all."

"Chandrasekhar's other limit" is a fiction cleverly ascribed to a real astrophysicist, Subrahmanyan Chandrasekhar, born October 19, 1910, who discovered what is now known as the astrophysical Chandrasekhar limit. According to Wikipedia, "The limit describes the maximum mass of a white dwarf star, ~1.44 solar masses, or equivalently, the minimum mass, above which a star will ultimately collapse into a neutron star or black hole (following a supernova). The limit was first calculated by Chandrasekhar in 1930 during his maiden voyage from India to Cambridge, England for his graduate studies."

The fiction is clever for more than one reason. It could reasonably be expected that an astrophysicist from India, where Buddhism started, might have been prone to tell Zen-type stories such as the one described by Pohl in Starburst, which may or may not have been adapted from a 'real' Zen story. As Pohl tells it (through Uncle Ghost):

"It is an old folk story he is supposed to have liked to tell, Evelyn. It is about dragonfly larva. You see, if you are a dragonfly larva, swimming around in the water and getting ready to metamorphose, you don't know what will happen to you; you only know that from time to time your friends suddenly go to Heaven. That is, they go up through the surface of the water. What happens to them then? You don't know. What really happens, of course, is that they change into adult dragonflies; but you have no way of knowing that until you yourself become one, and then you can never come back to tell. No one ever does. Can't, because they can't penetrate the surface tension of the water, even if they had the desire to do so. So, being a stupid larva and not knowing this, you call all your friends around you and say, 'I will be different! I will come back, I promise! And I will tell you what lies beyond this shiny, wavery thing we see over our heads!' But you can't do it, when the time comes. It is an irreversible process."

So Chandrasekhar's other limit can be thought of as a metaphor for death, though I think it would be more accurate to say a metaphor for enlightenment. The second reason this fiction is clever, is that Chandrasekhar first thought of his astrophysical limit while on his 'maiden voyage' to England, while in Pohl's story, Uncle Ghost along with 7 other astronauts are on a 'maiden voyage' to a planet discovered by a wily scientist named Knefhausen (the nefarious 'Kneffie' as the astronauts called him). Kneffie was in fact engaged in a secret experiment, a ruse de guerre. Disturbed by the lack of "grand, simplifying intuitive leaps" since Einstein, he fabricated a livable planet light years away, and carefully selected and prepared four highly intelligent couples to go and start a colony there. Kneffie's idea was that with so much time on their hands, with no worries and no distractions, and most of all with limited resources (no library to research the experiments and ideas of other scientists, no tools except their own minds and certain basic tools of language and logic provided by Kneffie) the astronauts would come up with fresh insights they could transmit back to a waiting and needy world.

This needy and expectant world is rather like the dragonfly larvae waiting for their comrades who have ascended past Chandrasekhar's other limit. That they can't return (though their knowledge can, by way of messages encoded and sent through space/time) is uncannily like the process of Divine Revelation, but I won't say any more about that just yet. What I did want to say, very carefully, because I think it is very important, is that what we call 'adversity' or 'suffering' has a really bad rap (not unlike death). The Buddhist Monk and author Thich Nhat Hanh has said that his idea of the 'kingdom of God' is not someplace where there is no suffering. He said he would not like to be in a place with no suffering, because without suffering, there is no way to learn compassion and understanding. The watery home of the dragonfly larva is beautiful and comforting, but also restrictive. Growth and metamorphosis require painful change, perhaps the most painful of all being the inability to communicate the new you to your family and friends.

My dear friend Al also posted on Facebook a short time "ago": "What have you learned from adversity?" - to which I must/will/have already responded: "I've learned to look forward to the view - adversity is like a mountain that you climb to get away from your REAL problems."

Peace, Niki

Time, Love and You

2010-06-12T13:36:00.003-04:00

I watched the movie The Time Traveler's Wife yesterday. I hadn't read the book, but I'd seen the trailer, which actually wasn't all that interesting to me (it seemed too tritely romantic), but I was struck by the title, and the concept of time travel intrigues me, so I ordered it on NetFlix.

This morning I watched a couple of videos of the author (Audrey Niffenegger) talking about the book's genesis. She's a visual artist, and had never written a regular novel before; her previous books were largely made of images, with 'minimalist prose'. The Time Traveler's Wife came to her mind as a phrase, which expanded into a couple of characters (the wife first, and of course the husband) and then into a story. Niffenegger felt that "still pictures don't represent time very well", and so since she couldn't make a movie herself, she wrote a book. Although I haven't read the book, I get the feeling that unlike most books made into movies, I will probably prefer the movie over the book. It's clear that Niffenegger has a great visual talent, and to me the ideas and the characters in the story are better than the dialogue. I especially liked the young actors - the one who played the wife as a little girl, and the girls who played the Time Traveler's daughter (who also Time Travels, which I should have guessed would happen, since the Time Traveling is a 'genetic disorder').

Note: this next bit may make more sense if you have seen the movie or read the book. I don't want to give away the whole story in this post, but would be willing to post a synopsis elsewhere if anyone is interested.

In my dreams last night I woke up with an image of an hourglass-like object, tilting back and forth. I thought about the hourglass as an analogy for the process of time. You could say that there's a 'right way up' for the hourglass, which represents the 'normal' flow of time. If you turn the hourglass upside down, you might say that represents time flowing backwards, but in reality the law that governs the flow of the sand (gravity) is the same in either direction. The sand will always flow 'down', and in that sense time can only run in one direction (forward).

So, when the Time traveler moves, he 'jumps' from one time to another (sort of like turning the hourglass over), and then moves forward in time like everyone else. There's no point at which he is moving backwards in time, and the switch from one time to the other is more or less instantaneous, as is the point at which the flow in a real hourglass would change direction when it's turned upside down. There's also no residual flow in the other direction, and to stop the flow (to balance the hourglass exactly horizontal) would be difficult, since the weight on the heavier side (in my thought experiment this is a huge hourglass, with one side having much more sand than the other) would tend to unbalance it in favor of flow towards the heavier side. That would explain why the Time Traveler can never spend too much time visiting a time outside of his natural time-line.

Keeping in mind that this is just a thought experiment :) I started to imagine a different analogy, more high-tech. Instead of an hourglass, perhaps time in our lives operates more like a DVD. The "reader" mechanism of the DVD player can skip to anywhere on the DVD, and start playing from there. You can also play the DVD backwards, but this is unnatural as the action in a movie has to be filmed 'forward'. (The dialogue would make no sense backwards, either.)

Assuming though that it is the reading mechanism - the DVD player- that represents the human characters in life, the difference with this analogy is that it explains how it is that the Time Traveler keeps returning to places and people that are important to him. He wants to be there, to be close to his wife, and to his daughter. His memory (the DVD can be thought of as a container filled with memories of a life) keeps dragging him back (and sometimes forward) to the places and the people where and with whom the Time Traveler can replay the most significant events of his life (including his death).

I want to make the point that in a sense, the Time Traveler's Wife was the Time Traveler's Wife from the day she met him (at six years of age) although in their regular time-line he did not meet her until she was 20 years old. It's also interesting to note that at that time he wasn't particularly impressed with her - it was she who loved him dearly, having cherished the special memories of the attention he paid to her in his later years, when he traveled back in time to be with her. Later on in the movie when they are indeed married, and having an argument, he tells her she had a choice, but she says no, you didn't give me a choice.

The thing I like about the DVD analogy is that it captures something of the non-linearity I experience in my own life. To me, life doesn't flow like grains of sand in an hourglass - that seems too random and final a mechanism. I may not be able to change the past (as the Time Traveler found he couldn't, although he tried), yet I am able to replay significant events in my memories, and the attention I pay to those memories shapes the bonds that I make with the other people in my life, and serves to change the direction of my future path as well. I believe that if we pay enough attention to notice the patterns in our lives, we can avoid/break through the cycle of cause and effect that the forward flow of life teaches us.

In a video interview on Amazon, Audrey Niffenegger relates a conversation with one of her readers, who commented: "All your work is about loss, and why is that?" Audrey's first response was "Huh?" then she went home and thought about it and concluded, that "...in a way that is true - my work is about time passing, and things that go away and you can't get them back.... it is true that I write about loss a great deal, and I think that I do that because it seems like the most profound thing that happens to us.... everything that we do is potentially going to be lost, and so I just think it's important to enjoy everything while it's here, and pay attention while it's here." This conversation resonated with me, because I've been told the same thing by a critical reader, and at first I had the same response.

Today I have jumped back in time to my teenage years. I was riding in the back of a truck, coming home from (Christian) summer camp. I wrote this chorus and sang it over and over in my head:

Time, Love and You kept me through the night.

Time, Love and You, taught me to see the light...

And whenever I remember the things I left behind,

It's been Time, Love and You, on my mind.

The 'You' in that little song did not have a human face (although I had already experienced romantic love). It felt to me like I was singing to a You in my life whom I had not yet met, exactly. If I had been then who I am now, I might have said the You was Christ, but at the time I didn't think of it in those terms, although I did identify strongly as a Christian. I see that event as a main thread in a mystical tapestry which started long before I was a teen (I was about 6 or 7, I think, attending Immaculate Prep School in Kingston), and came to a climax, or peak (not an end, but definitely a Very Important Event) when I 'met' Baha'u'llah nearly 10 years ago.

I wanted to tell you all how this idea relates to two other movies I saw this week, 'The Lovely Bones' and 'Up', which are both very much about losing things you can't get back, but that will perhaps have to wait for a time when we are alone together, and I can really 'sing this song for You'.

Peace, Niki

On Waiting and Hoping

2010-06-01T11:45:00.002-04:00

There's joyful optimism in the air, can you feel it? Maybe not - events in Jamaica have got a lot of people down, I know - and others like my friend Leahcim are on their feet, speaking out, as usual... But we are coming up on the Baha'i month of Light (Nur) - 5 to 23 June - and I can't help but sing with joy for the light upon light in my life.

On Saturday evening I went with D and a Jamaican friend to Piedmont Park to see Esperanza Spalding at the Atlanta Jazz Festival. I probably would not have gone if it hadn't been for a Baha'i friend I met on the Buddhism course who is visiting ATL (from San Diego, where she met Esperanza). We wanted to meet face-to-face, but transportation was a problem for both of us. We ended up combining the meeting with the Jazz Festival, and with a link-up with my Jamaican friend, who drives. That's really ironic, because the way it turned out, my friend parked her car at the train station and we had to walk over a mile to the venue from the nearest station to the Park.

Here are some links to videos of Esperanza performing:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c8gynGy8pSg&feature=related
"I Know You Know" (her own composition) - on the Jimmy Kimmel show, June 2008;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-lNE7jWA5AE&feature=related
Stevie Wonder's "Overjoyed" - at the White House, February 2009;
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bS0N0vzARag&feature=related
I Know You Know again, but this time she's playing the upright bass - sound/video quality not great, but this performance has a wonderful vibe.

Since names mean a lot to me, I looked up the meaning of Esperanza. I though it had something to do with waiting because I recalled the Spanish verb esperar, which means to wait - but Esperanza means Hope. These lyrics to Esperanza's "Espera" say very well how I feel about the relationship between 'waiting' and 'hope'.

"Espera"
[noun: waiting / wait / delay / stay / patience]

"people i almost gave up holding on
watching us give in to our fears
i almost believe/almost believe
all the world is helpless sorrow
no hope for a bright tomorrow
but i'm not sure enough
to give it up...no

now as i learn how i must work for change
i nearly cave in from the weight [note pun on "wait"]
i almost believe/almost believe
all the sorrows will consume me
'til peace among men i never can see
but i'm not sure enough to give it up

i'll keep faith
like so many souls who won't be drowned
by evil in the world
I have faith in mankind
that we can guide our choices towards a healthy world
in time to ease our bind
for only hard work through time
can change men's minds, i know
if we make some small changes now
we'll heal ourselves, some way, some how

i don't expect to ever taste the fruit
my life devoted could bring forth
i almost believe
well i do believe
oh the path to peace is endless
so, choosing to close our eyes makes our fault mendless
of this i'm sure enough

I won't give up
I'm sure enough
and I won't give up
I'm sure enough
and I won't give up"

"Espera" on YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-YI6nTKltGE

I'm afraid if I try to say any more I will muddy Hope's crystal waters :) but seriously - waiting doesn't mean inactivity if you wait with Hope - it's more like waiting for the right time, knowing there is and there will be a right time (joy!); practicing what you know to your bestest abilities because it can only help (joy!), even if others appear to ignore or not to appreciate your efforts; having your eyes and ears and spirit open for that right time (joy!), even though it never seems to come, or seems to come when it's too late. Hope is the (always joyful) certainty inside you that says you are just in time with the universe.

Peace, Niki

Transitions - Gearing Up

2010-05-15T08:56:00.000-04:00

We've moved suddenly from a short Spring into what feels like Summer and all kinds of new things are happening. I attended Career Day at my husband's elementary school (in the capacity of Crochet Artist); I hosted my first Skype chat for members of my group in the Wilmette Science & Religion Course; I got a promotion/raise at work; I found my way completely on my own to a government building in an unfamiliar area of Atlanta (without benefit of GPS); I made contact with two ladies who are active in Local Baha'i administration in my County in Atlanta, and have pledged my services for Ruhi tutoring; and, I've started making plans to bring my mother over for a visit this summer.

I really do feel like I'm gearing up for a grand summer, which starts with a bang next week with registration for D's summer classes at Georgia Perimeter College. D is also transitioning - she passed Math, including her "exit test" from Math Learning Support - with relative ease (I am so proud - she knows more math than me now!), and will finally be registering as a Georgia resident.

I decided to post some thoughts coming out of the Skype chat I mentioned. We went through 10 quotations from Baha'i sources that mention "science". One that I had not seen before really made me think (the emphases are mine):

Religion is religion, as science is science. The one discerns and articulates the values unfolding progressively through Divine revelation; the other is the instrumentality through which the human mind explores and is able to exert its influence ever more precisely over the phenomenal world. The one defines goals that serve the evolutionary process; the other assists in their attainment. Together, they constitute the dual knowledge system impelling the advance of civilization. Each is hailed by the Master as an "effulgence of the Sun of Truth". (Commissioned by The Universal House of Justice, One Common Faith, paragraph 45)

Something one of my group members said caught my attention: there's a concept in business that says "what's got us here won't get us there". The idea is that the development of a business is not a strictly linear process. Strategies that worked to move a company to success are not guaranteed to keep it moving to the next stage of its 'evolution'. This simple idea seems to me to be the principle behind Progressive Revelation. The purpose of Revelation is "the training of the human realities so that they may become clear and pure as mirrors and reflect the light and love of the Sun of Reality."(Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 262) Each time we are visited by a Manifestation of God, we get a new set of strategies to take us to the next level of our evolution towards that overall goal.

It occurs to me that the basic idea missing from secular/scientific views of reality is that the physical world/reality is connected to the spiritual world/reality. The relationship between these worlds (or perhaps more accurately, the desired relationship between these worlds) has been described as that of a reflection, the physical world being a reflection or mirror of the spiritual world:

"My hope is that through the zeal and ardour of the pure of heart, the darkness of hatred and difference will be entirely abolished, and the light of love and unity shall shine; this world shall become a new world; things material shall become the mirror of the divine; human hearts shall meet and embrace each other; the whole world become as a man's native country and the different races be counted as one race."
(Abdu'l-Baha, Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 38)

You could also imagine that the worlds are like the gears in a clock - with 'teeth' that mesh and turn together in ever widening circles. The biggest gear is not connected directly to the smallest gear, but it is the turning of the smallest gear which sets all the others in motion. The biggest gear is analogous to science, and that gear interacts directly with the world of nature (exerting its influence ever more precisely as it meshes and grows). The smallest gear is one the biggest gear cannot even see, although it can feel its influence/movement indirectly.

The spiritual world can be seen as our example, which we mirror, and as the driving force/energy system which sustains our development and growth. Because the gears are all connected, we can extrapolate both ways to explore their existence/reality (towards spiritual/divine verities from physical/natural verities and vice versa)*.

To "gear up" means "to become adjusted so as to match, blend, or harmonize". When I think of 'blending' when it comes to 'gear' (which also means clothing in British English) I think of camouflage - blending in with the external characteristics of my surroundings. But if you think in terms of an engine, gearing up would mean moving faster, and in the clock analogy, the smallest gears are the ones that move fastest (with zeal and ardour). Gearing up would therefore mean moving towards the inner gear mechanisms, working as a source of energy and impetus towards transformation of the outer world into a mirror of the inner world.

*7. Philosophy is of two kinds: natural and divine. Natural philosophy seeks knowledge of physical verities and explains material phenomena, whereas divine philosophy deals with ideal verities and phenomena of the spirit. (Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 326)

PS: this story from Memorials of the Faithful is a good example of the principle of what got you here won't get you there:
http://www.ibiblio.org/Bahai/Texts/EN/MF/MF-24.html

Dew on the Grass in the Garden

2010-04-24T09:03:00.004-04:00

We are in the middle of the Baha'i Festival of Ridvan (April 21-May 2), which commemorates the 12 days in 1863 when Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith, resided in a garden called Ridvan (Paradise) in Baghdad, Iraq. At this time He publicly proclaimed His mission as God’s messenger for this age. The first (April 21), ninth (April 29) and twelfth (May 2) days are celebrated as holy days when work is suspended.

I haven't been systematically suspending work as I used to when I worked for organizations, and not for myself. I do try to spend more time in contemplation, though - which is what this Blog is about. The course on Science and Religion has given me a lot to think about, and in the way of serendipity, friends keep posting interesting quotes that are relevant, like this joke, attributed to Abraham Lincoln (who happened to be serving as President of the US during the original Ridvan):

"How many legs does a dog have if you call the tail a leg?"
"Four; calling a tail a leg doesn't make it a leg."

This joke illustrates something about truth that I had not thought much about before reading about the "correspondence theory" of truth - which states that "the facts about the world determine the truth of statements, but the converse is not true". One of the collaterals of looking at truth in this way is the idea that there is a 'real' world that we are observing, and that statements, not people, are the bearers of truth. That means that a true statement is true no matter who says it. This theory may seem obvious but there are other different theories or definitions for truth, such as the coherence theory, the consensus theory and the pragmatic theory.

My friend Geoff, in commenting on the above portion of this post, asked "what about the truth of the visionary that rests on faith"? Let's look at that. As a 'visionary' and a poet, I titled this Blog post Dew on the Grass in the Garden. I was thinking of the Garden of Ridvan, and of the idea of the "Divine Knowledge/Truth" that comes to us in the form of God's Messengers. Dew on the Grass, as a symbol, stands for a turning point in understanding, the dawn of a new day, the appearance of the Spirit among us. The condensation of water from the atmosphere can be seen as an analogy of the appearance of spiritual truth from the invisible, spiritual world into the visible, physical world.

There are a number of parallels here (I mean concerning the physical phenomenon of dew) between the visible and the invisible. Here is a description of the phenomenon of dew (taken from Wikipedia: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dew)

"Dew is water in the form of droplets that appears on thin, exposed objects in the morning or evening. As the exposed surface cools by radiating its heat, atmospheric moisture condenses at a rate greater than that at which it can evaporate, resulting in the formation of water droplets.

When temperatures are low enough, dew takes the form of ice; this form is called frost. Because dew is related to the temperature of surfaces, in late summer it is formed most easily on surfaces which are not warmed by conducted heat from deep ground, such as: grass, leaves, railings, car roofs, and bridges.

Dew should not be confused with guttation, which is the process by which plants release excess water from the tips of their leaves."

The first two parallels I am seeing is that the dew of divine inspiration comes to individuals who are 'exposed' or 'open' to it, and it comes at certain periods in time.

The third parallel is that the formation of dew is a 2-way process, involving loss as well as gain. The blades of grass, because they are "exposed" and "thin", lose heat. If they were able to retain the heat they would not gain the dew. As the saying goes, you can't have your cake and eat it too. There is more to this if you think about it.

The fourth parallel is that a qualitatively different form of dew (frost) appears at very low temperatures. Frost can be harmful of course, to plant life.

The fifth parallel is that heat from the deep ground (analogous to the desires and the cares of the physical world) interferes with the process - it is the structures that reach up, above the ground level, that are "not warmed by conducted heat from deep ground" and that therefore get the most dew.

The sixth parallel is that there is a process that causes droplets that look similar to dew, but is not dew. Some plants (including grasses) exude water from the tips and edges of their leaves because of pressure from excess water coming up through their roots.

Peace, Niki

The Wheel That Keeps on Turning

2010-04-11T14:59:00.000-04:00

This post is kind of a continuation on the last one, about the song Windmills of Your Mind. (Click to read it if you want background). Although I said in that post that I couldn't choose a "favorite" version becasue there were so many really good ones, I do have a preference for the Billy Paul version, so I was trying to figure out why. A sequence of events led me to some conclusions which I posted on my Wilmette Institute Science and Religion Blog, which is restricted to course participants, so I am reposting (slightly edited for context) here.

Yesterday (Saturday 10 April), I was at a cook-out with some Baha'i friends, and noticed that two of the ladies with whom I was playing a game of Crazy Eights liked to sing (like me), and for a while we would take turns spontaneously starting up a song that we liked, or that seemed appropriate to the game play, and the others would sing along if they knew it. Well, I started up Windmills of your Mind at one point, and when Cecelia chimed in it struck me that this was not a good song to be sung by more than 1 person, especially not the way Billy Paul sings it.

So what I am thinking is that Religion is like a song that's designed to be sung by a choir - a large choir - with lots of parts. In choral music, individual parts are normally quite simple. The melody is usually the most complex part, and the most obvious, and all the choir members will know how to sing the melody, but the 1st alto will also know the 1st alto part very well, and should know how it relates to the melody and to the other parts.

I'm also thinking that Science is something like a song that's sung as a solo. Yes, scientists do team up to do research, but for any particular ground-breaking experiment, the 'idea' or hypothesis at the root of it can probably be traced to a particular individual - often but not necessarily the lead researcher. Even if the hypothesis is an entirely collaborative one, that came out of a brainstorming session, the design of the experiment has to be such that it embodies a set of unifying ideas (analogous to a single melody). Although some members of the research team might think that slightly different techniques and procedures should be employed (analogous to the riffs and embellishments characteristic of a solo singer, and their unique timbre) all of the scientists on the team must work together on the experiment exactly as designed, or the results will be meaningless.

Religion is by definition a collective endeavor. As one course participant said, Religion is "necessarily carried ... into collective expression", while Science is "activity by means of which we systematically grow and deepen our understanding of the truth about the material world". My point is that as we grow and evolve as a race, "understanding" starts as a thought in the mind of an individual, which can then be shared with others. To me this is what Science is about (the purpose and intent of it, not the mechanics), so it can also be thought of as Spirituality, because in my view whatever brings us closer to understanding of the world we live in, since it was created by God, is a form of spiritual growth, which is the goal of spirituality. On the other hand, the starting point of Religion is God, Who transmits "ideas" to us through the Manifestations of God.

In that sense, Science can be seen as one of several branches of activity which constitute 'spirituality'. Other branches would be for example the arts, and the professions (not just doctor, lawyer Indian chief - I mean any honest profession - teacher, architect, nurse, cook, whatever). The Baha'i Writings speak of work as being equivalent to worship, after all, and profound discoveries and enlightenment can surely be achieved from thoughtful and dedicated attention as a professional in any field.

So let us say that Science is like a path of energy and growth from the Many (meaning us as individuals) to the One (the One True God), and that Religion is like a path of energy and nourishment from the One to the Many. My project for the next Blog post is to draw a poster depicting this relationship.

Peace, Niki

Windmills of Your mind

2010-04-04T20:30:00.002-04:00

I was reminded of the song "Windmills of Your Mind" this weekend. Don't ask me why - could be the half-forgotten dreams I'm always having :) Actually, I wanted to talk about Easter in this Blog, although I wasn't sure how to start. While I remember, I watched the last half of a documentary about the Shroud of Turin on the History Channel last night. While I am not convinced that the shroud is a fake, I don't see how it might be proved that it was Jesus himself who was wrapped in it, or why the impression the body made on it needs to be labeled as 'miraculous'. As Locard famously said "every contact leaves a trace". I expect that blood, sweat and dirt from any human being would transfer to the cloth they were wrapped in, and we know that Jesus was not the only individual crucified by the Romans.

Most of all, the issue of what Jesus looked like - though I know it is of interest to many people who are not Caucasian, and who wish to make the point that he 'wasn't white' - seems to me to make so little real difference that I sometimes feel annoyed when people bring it up. I'm reminded of the phrase "tilting at windmills", and wish to give full credit to A. Anthony - who drew this interesting image of Don Quixote and the offending windmill... you can see her original post/comments at: http://www.elfwood.com/~anthonyooo/Tilting-at-Windmills.2530883.html

Here's an analogy: Windmills of Your Mind is, to me, a great song. It had humble beginnings - it was written along with several others for a particular purpose - to help illustrate a mood in the movie The Thomas Crown Affair (the original one). It has since been covered by a number of well-known singers and groups - even more than I had imagined before I researched it - sometimes in other languages. If it has a fault, it perhaps has too many words, and maybe that's why I like it so :) Here's the thing though - whose version of the song is best? Here are a few links to videos (some live, some not) of my favorite versions to date.

Jose Feliciano (Photo Montage): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XkdANtSKT2g
Jose Feliciano (Live): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0TENBIrwOHU&feature=related
I love Jose Feliciano's version for his passion, for his flamenco guitar playing, and because I just love Jose Feliciano.

Alison Moyet (Live): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6iP0q1xIkB4&feature=fvw
I love Alison Moyet's version (this is the first time I'm hearing it) for her smooth, jazzy tone and the fact I could see her feeling the song.

Sting: (Lyrics, plus Audio from The Thomas Crown Affair): http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/thethomascrownaffair/windmillsofyourmind.htm
I love Sting's version for it's quiet reflectiveness, and music that makes me want to sway and dance.

Dusty Springfield (Audio): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Wl8fKAYQuPk&feature=related
I love Dusty Springfield's version for the way it blossoms and climaxes with that big band sound - also for sentimental reasons - this is a version I remember from the days when I used to listen to audiotapes over and over again.

Billy Paul (Audio plus Photo Essay): http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b26J9mHCo3s
I love Billy Paul's version for the mystical Eastern/chanting sounds he makes, and because the way he slowed it right down gives me time to picture the windmills and all the other images the lyrics bring to mind.

I suppose I could choose a favorite version, but does that mean the others are not excellently done and equally valid choices if this were a competition? And what sense would it be to argue the point with someone who much prefers a different version? My point is that the thing I love about Windmills of Your Mind is Windmills of Your Mind - the song itself. I'd also like to think that some other singer might come along and sing it and make me like that version just as well, or even more than these, at least for a while - like a flavor of the month.

Back to the point, then - Jesus. Jesus is special, and because it's Easter I want to remember Him and 'play His song' in my heart - something like what a dear friend of mine does every Easter - she listens and dances to the soundtrack of Jesus Christ, Superstar. Now what I love about Jesus is the message He brought to light and heal the world, and when I slow down and really listen to the 'music' and the message of Jesus, and then listen to Buddha, and Baha'u'llah (for instance) - I realize I am hearing the same, eternal song.

"Is the Divine Manifestation, God?

Yes, and yet not in Essence. A Divine Manifestation is as a mirror reflecting the light of the Sun. The light is the same and yet the mirror is not the Sun. All the Manifestations of God bring the same Light; they only differ in degree, not in 67 reality. The Truth is one. The light is the same though the lamps may be different; we must look at the Light not at the Lamp. If we accept the Light in one, we must accept the Light in all; all agree, because all are the same. The teaching is ever the same, it is only the outward forms that change.

The Manifestations of God are as the heavenly bodies. All have their appointed place and time of ascension, but the Light they give is the same. if one wishes to look for the sun rising, one does not look always at the same point because that point changes with the seasons. When one sees the sun rise further in the north one recognizes it, though it has risen at a different point."

(Abdu'l-Baha, Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 66)

Peace,
Niki

Happy New Year - notions of normalcy

2010-03-20T08:51:00.002-04:00

Happy Naw-Ruz to all my Baha'i friends! Naw-Ruz is the Baha'i New Year - it comes right after the period of the Baha'i Fast, and starts approximately at the Spring Equinox (when 'night' and 'day' are exactly 12 hours each).

As I write this it is the morning of the last day of the Fast, and I have just eaten breakfast. While eating, I was online chatting to a friend, and confessed in a half-joking way that I would miss some aspects of the Fast, for example it is such a good way to lose some weight! My friend said "nothing says you have to stop" - but the truth is, one is not supposed to fast longer than the 19 days. From what I recall this is as bad as breaking the Fast intentionally for no good reason (and there are many good reasons, including ill health, manual labor, extremes of age). I can't find anything in the Baha'i Writings specifying that, except a passage that says it is permissible to fast at other times than during the prescribed Fast, but it is better to do something else that benefits mankind:

"Vowing to fast (in a month other than the one prescribed for fasting) is permissible. Vows which profit mankind are however preferable in the sight of God." (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas, p. 149)

I'd certainly much rather be doing something that's 'preferable in the sight of God'. If I want to lose more weight I just need to have the discipline to keep on eating frugally, and to exercise as well.

I started thinking this week about what 'normal' means. I'd had a sudden memory of a grammatical faux pas on Jamaican TV that was corrected after someone pointed out that "normalcy" was the preferable word to use in a certain setting, rather than "normality", which had previously been used by the newscasters to describe the state of the country after some extreme of political or social activity. There actually isn't much difference between the two words, but it struck me that normality sounds a lot like morality, and that for some people, as long as they are doing what is 'the norm' then they believe they are acting in a perfectly acceptable and moral way.

Note that the term 'normalcy' was originally used only in mathematics, although grammarians say it is now the other way around - that normality is the word used in scientific or measurable situations while normalcy applies to "the ordinary, familiar, routine, etc."). In science, 'normal' usually refers to things that are in the middle of a scale between two extremes. It's a matter of statistics: for measurable conditions of nature such as the height or weight of a class of objects, or the exam scores of a class of students, most of the measurements are expected to be somewhere in the middle of the observable scale, while only a few will be either very low or very high. But isn't what distinguishes man from other animals his ability to transcend what is considered normal? In sports and games, aren't we always striving to do better than we did before, to break the record, to move the bar up a notch? Are students in school encouraged to get average scores, or to excel?

We got our census 2010 forms in the mail this week. Since we live in two homes, I phoned up the census office to ask for advice on completing the forms. The question is whether to record yourself as living at the address where you spend most of your time, or at the address you actually are located at on 1 April, the official census date.

I can't help thinking of judgement day. Am I preaching if I mention that the scriptures say people will be eating and drinking and marrying just the same as 'normal' - storing up treasures in their store houses - when all of a sudden the Day will come when they are 'counted'? Am I talking hellfire when I note that instead of taking the middle section of the population, guess what - the two extremes of humankind (the 'sheep' and the 'goats') are going to be separated? I don't mean to be mean, and as a Baha'i I don't believe in heaven and hell as places we go to after we die, it's just interesting, and reminded me of this passage from Revelations (3:14-21):

"And unto the angel of the church of the Laodiceans write; These things saith the Amen, the faithful and true witness, the beginning of the creation of God; I know thy works, that thou art neither cold nor hot: I would thou wert cold or hot. So then because thou art lukewarm, and neither cold nor hot, I will spue thee out of my mouth. Because thou sayest, I am rich, and increased with goods, and have need of nothing; and knowest not that thou art wretched, and miserable, and poor, and blind, and naked: I counsel thee to buy of me gold tried in the fire, that thou mayest be rich; and white raiment, that thou mayest be clothed, and that the shame of thy nakedness do not appear; and anoint thine eyes with eyesalve, that thou mayest see. As many as I love, I rebuke and chasten: be zealous therefore, and repent. Behold, I stand at the door, and knock: if any man hear my voice, and open the door, I will come in to him, and will sup with him, and he with me. To him that overcometh will I grant to sit with me in my throne, even as I also overcame, and am set down with my Father in his throne.

I guess what I am trying to say is while 'moderation in all things' is a good principle that serves well in many situations, how does it help to be 'moderate' when it comes to the most important things in life? The Baha'i Writings say "Be unrestrained as the wind, while carrying the Message of Him Who hath caused the Dawn of Divine Guidance to break." I am "enkindled with the fire of God's love," "set ablaze with the fire of God's Cause," - "this Fire which blazeth and rageth in the world of creation." Who wants to be normal? Not me.

Hotly, Niki

Fasting continued

2010-03-09T11:06:00.000-05:00

Day 8 of the Fast. I have to say I am really enjoying the food, and there seems to be so much of it around. I don't have time to snack (though I have been eating dessert every night, because it's there - we had left-over cake from Ayyam-i-Ha).

I have two pieces of great news - one is that I am going to be Assistant Faculty on the Wilmette Institute's Science and Religion course starting in April. They have had more registrations than they expected, so will need more help. Some of you know this already - I sent out emails. It will mean a lot of work, but it's work that I enjoy and there is a small stipend.

The 2nd piece of good news has to do with a volunteer Baha'i project I've been working with on and off. I was having trouble fulfilling the minimum requirements - didn't like the tasks I was given to do, and it was very hard on my eyes, but we found a solution. I now have a new job which I love, and new skills, and I can make a useful contribution to the project and develop myself at the same time. Can't get better than that.

In addition to feeling more alert/observant, I find I am having more interesting dreams than I've had in the past year or so (since I've been married). I've been thinking about the possible reasons for this... here are some parameters that have changed since I started the Fast that might be contributing to the extra dreams:

1) eating later than usual at night/closer to bedtime (perhaps the presence of some nutrient in the bloodstream stimulates my sleeping mind at just the right point in my sleep/dream cycle?)

2) waking earlier than usual, sometimes with an alarm (maybe by the time I get up normally the dream is so long gone that I don't remember it?)

3) having more daily input in terms of creative thoughts, to process by way of dreams

Another factor I have considered but which is not provable, is a strengthened mystical connection with "the Concourse on High", and the "world of vision".

Here's a relevant prayer and quote:

"I beseech Thee, by the potency of Thy will, and the compelling power of Thy purpose, to make of what Thou didst reveal unto me in my sleep the surest foundation for the mansions of Thy love that are within the hearts of Thy loved ones, and the best instrument for the revelations of the tokens of Thy grace and Thy loving-kindness." (Baha'u'llah)

"O Thou who art cheered through the fragrances of God! When thou desirest and yearnest for meeting in the world of vision; at the time when thou art in perfect fragrance and spirituality, wash thy hands and face, clothe thyself in clean robes, turn toward the court of the Peerless One, offer prayer to Him and lay thy head upon the pillow. When sleep cometh, the doors of revelation shall be opened and all thy desires shall become revealed. " ('Abdu'l-Baha)

"I ask God to grant thee thy greatest wish in this wonderful time." ('Abdu'l-Baha)

Fasting 9.0

2010-03-04T09:30:00.001-05:00

Dear Friends,

It is Day 3 of the Fast, and I thought about doing a fast journal (and then decided not to) but just wanted to share a few thoughts about my experiences on fasting in general, and on my meditations this time around.

This is my 9th fast. I became a Baha'i in early April 2001, so I just missed the Fast that year. My first Fast, I was a little worried about how I would manage. I couldn't take time off at the time (I was working for The British Council) and my experience with missing lunch had been that I almost always got a headache by mid-afternoon. However, not only did I not have any headaches at all, I felt great (hungry, but not listless, I had more than enough energy).

Fasting has two aspects, there's the physical aspects - the shrinking of the stomach, the mobilization of stored resources in the body, the weight loss (unless you overeat between sunset and sunrise) and so on. Then with the Baha'i Fast, you are supposed to focus more on your 'spiritual' life. Some people say special prayers, and/or pray more than usual, although as far as I am aware there are no 'requirements' for extra prayers at this time.

My experience has been that Fasting focuses my mind. I think that probably has something to do with blood flow to the brain - along with other physiological aspects of Fasting. The thing is, digestion takes quite a bit of resources. First you have to prepare the food, then your stomach and the rest of the intestinal system needs to contract and to produce the juices required to digest the food, and then your body has to take care of moving all those nutrients through the cell walls and into the bloodstream, and on to the places that need them most, and send the by-products/waste to the kidneys/ liver/ wherever... all that takes quite a bit of energy, I understand.

Meanwhile, the brain could always do with energy/blood, but the digestive system can be a real hog of energy, and if the brain doesn't force itself into active mode, it tends to get sleepy, because we have two opposing systems - the parasympathetic nervous system, which constricts the pupils of our eyes, our heart rates and our respiration rates, slowing us down, basically; and the sympathetic nervous system, which inhibits digestion, increases respiration and heart rate, dilates pupils, and activates certain other hormonal systems that prepare us for action. The textbooks don't focus on this aspect, but one of the most important organs that is activated when the sympathetic nervous system is active would be the brain, I should think.

All that explains what I have experienced on a personal level - I feel more alert during the Fast (in the daytime - not just after dinner, mind you!) and particularly, more observant or 'mindful' of what's going on around me. I feel more concern for others as well.

I will post this now - but if you're reading, look out for more thoughts as the Fast progresses, and feel free to share your own experiences and thoughts - by commenting here in the Blog or by private email if you prefer.

Peace, Niki

Eli addendum

2010-02-27T20:23:00.000-05:00

A friend pointed out some important stuff that I didn't include in the Blog about The Book of Eli, and some stuff I did not know, and I noticed some spelling errors and typos (I always gets "jeopardy" wrong - sorry) so here's a little extra on the topic.

Note that according to the Gospels, Jesus's "last words" were "It is finished," and not "Eli, Eli...." etc. Note also that those words of Jesus are actually a quote from the Book of Psalms - the first verse of Psalm 22. This Psalm is seen by Christian scholars as a prophecy about Jesus's death on the cross, because of verses such as:

"They divide my garments among them and cast lots for my clothing" - which is something the soldiers were said to have done at the foot of the cross.

"I am poured out like water, and all my bones are out of joint. My heart has turned to wax; it has melted away within me. My strength is dried up like a potsherd, and my tongue sticks to the roof of my mouth; you lay me in the dust of death" - I won't go into the details, but medical doctors say all this relates well to the physiological conditions one would expect to observe in someone who has been crucified.

By quoting this Psalm, it is believed that Jesus was thereby 'confirming' the prophecy and indicating that although he was scorned and scourged - a pitiful sight there on the cross - yet, as the Psalm ends: "All the ends of the earth will remember and turn to the LORD, and all the families of the nations will bow down before him, for dominion belongs to the LORD and he rules over the nations. All the rich of the earth will feast and worship; all who go down to the dust will kneel before him— those who cannot keep themselves alive. Posterity will serve him; future generations will be told about the Lord. They will proclaim his righteousness to a people yet unborn— for he has done it."

That last verse in particular seems to give extra meaning to Jesus's final "It is finished."

Happy Ayyam-i-Ha! And here's a seasonal quote from 'Abdu'l-Baha:

"If we are not happy and joyous at this season, for what other season shall we wait and for what other time shall we look?"

Peace, N

Eli, Eli (is he or isn't he?)

2010-02-17T09:58:00.000-05:00

Teach a man to fish and you feed him for a lifetime. Teach him about God and he will starve to death, while praying for a fish. (Timothy Jones)

I have no idea who Timothy Jones is/was, but a version of this quote was posted by a friend of mine on Facebook today (17 February). I don't agree with Jones, but like most generalizations the quote has some truth in it, and is kind of funny. I posted it because I had been thinking all weekend about the movie I saw on Valentine's Day (The Book of Eli, starring Denzel Washington) and it fits in with that. For those of you who haven't seen the movie, and intend to do so, you may want to postpone reading this because it contains spoilers.

Before I start on the movie I'll say that February has been a busy month for me, involving traffic court and tax returns, and I'm looking forward to my favorite Bah'ai month of the year - March 2 to 20 - the month of the Baha'i Fast. This Saturday you're invited (in spirit) to join us in celebrating Ayyam-i-Ha, the 'intercalary days' of the Baha'i year. We'll be having friends over to eat and play games.

The big twist in The Book of Eli derives it's intensity from the fact that we assume the hero, Eli (Denzel), is everything we expect of a modern hero. Eli is a man with a mission. He has been traveling "by faith" on foot for 30 years, carrying with him a large and well-read book which is so precious that he kills to protect it. Eli is a marksman - he uses his bow and arrow in the opening scene to kill a hairless cat for food. Then he uses his sword - a shiny machete-like blade, probably made of titanium, which he keeps well polished - to cut off the hand of a mugger who tries to stop him from carrying out his mission. Later he uses his pistol to kill a number of henchmen firing at him from different angles (one on a roof).

So far Eli sounds like a formidable warrior, but he is not vicious at heart, or selfish, even though he picks his fights carefully, walking away from a woman in distress because he knows he is outnumbered and knows his Mission is too important to jeapardize unless absolutely necessary. He shares his meal of roasted cat with a rat. He teaches the wicked stepfather's stepdaughter to pray, and is kind to her blind mother. He leans in on one knee - face to face in the dirt with the mugger whose hand he had chopped off - and his fatal thrust with the sword is more like a benediction than an act of cruelty. What kind of man is he? There are no flashbacks, so we have no idea who he was before the holocaust - the 'flash' as they call it - that killed (and blinded) almost everyone on earth.

Now, there does happen to be an Eli in the Bible. He was a priest, and a kind of stepfather to Samuel, whose mother, Hannah, had given him 'back to God' as she had promised, because his conception was in her eyes a miraculous gift from God for which she had prayed fervently. Historically, Samuel is considered to be the last of the Hebrew judges and the first of the major prophets of Israel. His leadership is said to have been at the cusp of two eras - the first when Israel was led by God (through the priests/judges) and the second when Israel wilfully abandoned the leadership of priests in favor of Kings. It was Samuel who annointed the first two Kings of Israel - Saul, and David. One might even say that Samuel was sort of both Priest and King, since he wasn't really born a priest, so he was more like a secular leader.

Eli's own sons were considered unworthy to take up leadership. They had been spoiled by Eli, who was a softie, and could not bear to punish them when they did wrong. I see parallels between Eli in the movie, and both Eli and Samuel in the Bible. In the town where Carnegie, Eli's nemesis, was 'king', the majority of people were born after the holocaust, did not know how to read, and had no idea what prayer was. Therefore Eli in the movie is also at the cusp between two ages - the age before the holocaust, when people were content to live with the Bible, as Israel was content to live with the Priesthood even though it was no longer an ideal situation, and the age after the holocaust, when all the bibles were burned, and people lived without religion/Christianity.

Carnegie desperately wanted to have the Bible, and his motives were very un-Christian. He wanted to use it to help him enslave more people, gaining more power and possessions for himself. He saw the power inherent in the scriptures, and as the Timothy Jones quote implies, Carnegie's idea of people who are religious is that they are generally gullible and not very smart. Eli however, was not blind to Carnegie's designs. He knew what was in Carnegie's heart, just as the biblical Eli knew what was in Hannah's heart when she prayed to God for a son. But the Eli in the movie had learned a lesson from the holocaust that Eli Samuel's stepdad had not - he had learned to punish the sons of men who would stand in the way of the Cause of God. The Eli in the movie didn't mess around, he kept his promises: when the mugger put his hand on him and Eli said "put your hand on me again and you won't get it back", he meant it. I am not an advocate of violence, but doesn't experience show that 'punishment' can only work if rules and regulations are enforced? Is holding back on deserved punishment the same as mercy? If everyone who does wrong gets pardoned, is that an act of love, or justice, or turning the other cheek, even?

I noticed a couple of movie reviewers refer to Eli's "terrible, swift sword", so I looked it up as I'd forgotten where I'd heard those words - The Battle Hymn of the Republic (words by Julia Howe). It's a song I know quite well, which fits in nicely with an end-of-the-world theme. What I did not know was that this song started out as a Civil War marching song with secular lyrics (John Brown's Body). Now I get why there are so many secular versions to this particular 'hymn' - which has been scorned by some Christians as not being "written within the framework of historical Christianity". (Howe was a Unitarian, a social activist and an "ardent Abolitionist" - see http://www.rediscoveringthebible.com/BattleHymn.html.)

"Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord / He is trampling out the vintage where the grapes of wrath are stored / He hath loosed the fateful lightning of His terrible swift sword / His truth is marching on."

Perhaps the most controversial lyric in Howe's song is this one, written in quotes: "As ye deal with My contemners [despisers], so with you My grace shall deal," because here Howe is quoting God. There are many biblical references in the Old Testament to which Howe might be referring. In those days the Law of Moses (an eye for an eye, etc) was seen as the way God dealt with His people. The prophets Isaiah, Jeremiah, and in particular Ezekiel are all possible sources of Howe's interpretation of the mind of God - they were after all in the business of warning Israel what would happen to them if they disobeyed God. However, books such as Psalms presage Jesus's New testament message of 'turn the other cheek', with verses like: "He hath not dealt with us after our sins; nor rewarded us according to our iniquities." (103:10, KJV)

The New Testament book of Hebrews puts a spin on the idea of Divine punishment with this passage (12:6-8, NIV): "...the Lord disciplines those He loves, and He punishes everyone He accepts as a son. Endure hardship as discipline; God is treating you as sons. For what son is not disciplined by his father? If you are not disciplined (and everyone undergoes discipline), then you are illegitimate children and not true sons."

Here, the principle of God's relationship with Israel is broadened to include all peoples. The implication is that since all sons are disciplined (even by Gentile fathers, because discipline is a basic human-relationship thing not limited to the people of Israel) then all people are sons of God, and if you expect not to endure hardship (because you are a "chosen people" and somehow deserve to be treated differently by God) , then in fact you are the ones who are illegitimate/not children of God's Kingdom.

That brings me back to the movie... another spoiler, sorry... At the end of the movie, the community that is positively thriving compared to Carnegie's chaotic kingdom and the rest of the barren US landscape is none other than Alcatraz. Although the prison at Alcatraz was closed down in the 60's, it still serves as a symbol of a place for outcasts, and its association with Native Americans, who occupied the island from November 1969 to June 1971, extends the symbolism.

NB: Carnegie means "fort at the gap" which for me symbolizes the secular Carnegie's failed attempt to maintain leadership without moral or spiritual authority.

I am in the middle of reading another book by Deepak Chopra about Jesus - "The Third Jesus". This one is not a novel, like his "Jesus" and "Buddha", it is Chopra's interpretation of Who Jesus really was. If you were to ask Chopra the question: Is Jesus or isn't Jesus God? I think he might say 'Both.' Chopra views Jesus as one of a few sages who achieved 'Enlightenment,' or 'union with God,' and he stresses the passages where Jesus indicates that his disciples can and will do the same wonderful things as he did. Similarly, in answer to the question people have been asking of Eli in The Book of Eli: "Is he or isn't he blind?" I would have to say 'Both.'

The name Eli means 'high", "ascended" or simply "my God" - as in Jesus's comment on the cross: "Eli, Eli, lama sabachthani?" (My God, my God why have you forsaken me?) Well did he? Or didn't he?

Peace, Niki

How Much Wood? On Groundhogs and Rituals

2010-02-02T18:13:00.000-05:00

Dominion (Mulk) - February 7 to 26, 2010
Just for the fun of it, I googled "groundhog" today (as I begin to write this month's blog, it is Groundhog Day in the USA and Canada - 2 February). I kind of knew what a groundhog looks like (it's a rodent, like a squirrel - same family in fact, but bigger - and more like a mole, because it burrows underground). However, I did not know that a groundhog was the same as a woodchuck. I also did not know that woodchucks have nothing to do with either wood or chucking - which makes the little tongue twister rhyme about woodchucks even funnier:

"How much wood would a woodchuck chuck, if a woodchuck could chuck wood?
A woodchuck would chuck all the wood he could, if a woodchuck could chuck wood!"

Instead, the name "woodchuck" is said to be derived from a Native American name that sounds phonetically similar.

I also was not aware that there's a Catholic "Feast" at about this time as well - 40 days after Christmas. So I did some more googling and here's what I found:

The Feast has different names: Feast of the Presentation of Jesus at the Temple, Candlemas, Feast of the Purification of the Virgin, or Meeting of the Lord. It is based on the event described in Luke 2:22–40 where Mary and Joseph take baby Jesus to the Temple in Jerusalem forty days after his birth to complete Mary's ritual purification after childbirth, and to perform the redemption of the firstborn, in obedience to the Law of Moses (Leviticus 12, Exodus 13:12-15, etc.)

This time of year is also the time in much of the USA/other temperate regions when the weather starts to change (or not :). Spring is not here yet, but you can feel it coming. It's interesting that the main point of the story of Jesus in the Temple is the blessing/prophesy by Simeon the Righteous. Luke records that Simeon had been promised that "he should not see death before he had seen the Messiah of the Lord." (Luke 2:26). Simeon prayed the prayer that would become known as the Nunc Dimittis, or Canticle of Simeon, which prophesied the redemption of the world by Jesus:

"Lord, now you are letting your servant go in peace, just as you said. I have seen with my own eyes the one you have sent to save people. You have made this way for all peoples to be saved. He is a light which will shine for those who do not know God. He is the one who will bring praise to your people Israel." (Luke 2:29-32).

Simeon then prophesied to Mary: " . . . 'He will be a sign that people do not believe in. He will make many people in Israel fall and rise. (Yes, a long knife will cut your heart too.) What people think will be made known." (Luke 2:34-35).

Note that the name "Simeon" means "one who hears" (or conversely, one who is heard - funnily, Simon the Zealot, an apostle of Jesus, was said to be someone who 'spoke much without thinking').

The elderly prophetess Anna [from Hebew Hannah, which means Grace] was also in the Temple, and offered prayers and praise to God for Jesus, and spoke to everyone there about Jesus and his role in the redemption of Israel (Luke 2:36-38).

The candles of Candlemas (Candle Mass) are blessed in some churches by the priest, and distributed to church members to be lit during thunderstorms and placed in windows to ward off the storm. What a fascinating symbol for the Light of Christ who came to dispel the darkness of religious ignorance and superstition!

One last point about the woodchuck - its role as a builder of homes for other animals is significant: skunks, foxes, weasels, opossums and rabbits all use woodchuck burrows for their dens.

And speaking of dens, last week I mentioned I had read Deepak Chopra's "Buddha". Well, I also read "Jesus". In Chopra's novel about Christ, His first miracle was rescuing a family from a raging house fire. Like Daniel in the lion's den, Jesus was unharmed by the flames. Chopra's Jesus left home and family, and the possibility of a loving relationship with Mary (portrayed as a slave girl with a pure heart, forced into prostitution from a young age) to become not the hero his tired countrymen were hoping for, not the figurehead the Zealots wanted to exploit to help them overthrow the Roman government, but the saviour of the skunks and rabbits of the world.

Jesus said "The foxes have holes and the birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay His head." Some dominion, this King of the Jews had? But how do you measure wealth and power in the Kingdom of God that Jesus prayed would come? If you're interested in where you stand on a global scale in terms of wealth - check this: http://www.globalrichlist.com/.

My coincidence of the month has to do with the late great Prof Rex Nettleford. Julian and I were listening to a new classical CD one day this week, which includes a piece from Adiemus: Songs of Sanctuary by Karl Jenkins. The next day, I watched a video posted on Facebook in memory of Nettleford, showing the NDTC performing Tintinnabulum - named after another track from Adiemus, and featuring a third track - the one titled "Cantus Iteratus"). You can listen to samples here on Amazon: http://www.amazon.com/gp/recsradio/radio/B000000WFU/ref=pd_krex_dp_001_006?ie=UTF8&track=006&disc=001

Literally translated, adiemus (in Latin) means 'we will draw near'. However, Jenkins was unaware of the word's meaning when he 'created' it. The lyrics for all the songs on the Adiemus album are made up - syllables with no language reference, no meaning. Jenkins said: "The text in Adiemus is written phonetically, with the words viewed as instrumental sound. The human voice is the oldest instrument and by removing the distraction of lyrics, we hope to create a sound that is universal and timeless."

I see Jenkins' human voice as akin to the inner/spiritual meaning in the Scriptures - the voice of the Spirit, trivialized and temporalized by distracting rituals and diverse interpretations. There is hidden treasure in the ancient Gospel 'sounds', so no matter how much wood we can chuck, I encourage us all to listen more than we speak.

Looking forward to Ayyam-i-Ha - more anon,
Niki