Category Archives: Sundry

Sundry, or if you will, miscellaneous.

Here and There II

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Recently a Baha’i was inspired from discussions on Talisman to begin a group dedicated to formulating Alternative Learning Institutions. I’m glad to pitch in with a few measely ideas of my own in the hopes of contributing to its success. Its necessary to go beyond criticisim (however well deserved) and demonstrate a clear alternative that is better than the status quo. The only thing that will overcome the inertia of apathy and the group think of top-down imposed Ruhi institutionalization is the success of an alternative. I don’t think this is a particularly difficult challenge since Ruhi is now in its 5th year of world wide implementation and it has yet to show any significant evidence of efficacy. If you want to be part of this endeavour, you can join the Alternative Learning Institute Yahoo!Group.

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A new website, the Heyday, has been created by and for the Baha’i youth of Australia. It looks pretty comprehensive with not only current events but multimedia, a few regular columns, discussion forums and even an advice column by ‘Ace’. Its similar to Baha’i Youth (the US site) as well as the now defunct MJBaha’i (the Latin American site). Needless to say, you don’t have to be an Australian youth to use it. So if you know a Baha’i youth who would benefit, point them in the right direction.

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There are quite alot of Baha’i related websites with new ones popping up every day it seems. But it is very confusing when you see one that purports to be one thing and then is something entirely another. Take for example the bizarre Yahoo!Group: Afghan Baha’i. In its introductory blurb it says “In this Website you will learn more about AFGHAN BAHA’IS…”

Along with many other Baha’is I am interested to know how the Baha’is are doing there after such a harrowing time under the oppression of the Taliban. So, silly me, I joined and hoped to find out some good news about the renewed activities and freedoms they enjoy. I was baffled when the only thing that appeared, day after day, week after week and month after month, was the reposting of Baha’i World News Service stories – which had nothing to do with Afghan Baha’is, inside or outside Afghanistan. But don’t bother trying to point out the inanity of the whole thing. Apparently the creator and moderator of the group is completely immune to logic.

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It’s dead, Jim.

I’m. Sorry. I. Really am.

Just like you, I hoped that Spiritual Degrees would tackle some of the difficult issues which most Baha’is sweep under the rug. And bless them, their heart seemed to be in the right place (give or take a few inches). But when when Bones says it’s dead, its dead.

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The trend of podcasting seems to have finally been embraced by Baha’is. As well as Alison’s which I’ve already mentioned, here are a few other ones:

But although this may be relatively new to the Baha’i region of the internet many others have been quite active for a while now. I stumbled upon one such podcast in this blog. It is an interview with a Baha’i describing her personal journey towards the Faith.

The audio clip, at almost an hour, is rather longish. And I also would be remiss if I did not add a cautionary note for listeners with sensitive constitutions: it contains material of a rather graphical nature regarding the wanton masculinity of a certain Burl Barer and its unintended consequences on a hapless young girl. But then again, all is fair in teaching and consolidating, right? Now that you have been duly warned…what are you waiting for? clicky, clicky!

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Baha’i World is a great website for keeping up to date with conferences and such. I’m mentioning it so that more become familiar with it and actually use it so that it can get over the critical mass hump and really become useful. Go ahead and add your local Baha’i activities and events. Get the word out through the internet and you’ll be surprised at how many will show up. Also pass it on to others so they can do the same with their events. Just make sure you put up your event ahead of time to give people a chance to find it and attend.

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Badi has started a personal blog. I’m always happy to read the thoughtful comments of other Baha’is about real substantial matters (not to be confused with the sort of drivel that gets put up on most blogs by Baha’is: I ate pizza… my cat had a bowel movement… etc.). The only thing is Badi’s blog is in Spanish. So if you ‘no habla español’ … get with the Universal Auxiliary Language already !!

Thought Experiment

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If you are willing to play a little game, I want to try something.

I want you to think back and try to remember all the times you have either read or heard of letters from your National Spiritual Assembly. Ofcourse, you won’t recall every single incident but rather try to get an over all idea of what you do remember.

Now, think back and recall how many times they spoke about the financial needs of the Baha’i funds.

And how many times they talked about teaching the Faith.

ok…got it?

Now I want you to try something else.

Cast your thoughts back and recall how many times you have read a letter from your NSA reinforcing the many Writings about charity and the exhortations for the Baha’is to arise and serve their fellow man.

And how many times have you read from your NSA about the importance of helping the needy, feeding the hungry, healing the sick, befriending the marginalized, as Baha’u'llah instructed all Baha’is to do, and as Abdu’l-Baha demonstrated as the perfect exemplar?

ok… Done? Alright.

Now, imagine what sort of community you would have and what sort of effect on the world the Baha’is would have if we inverted the priorities of the NSAs around the world.

Go ahead, play along…its just a thought experiment. Close your eyes for one moment and imagine the kind of community you would see.

That’s it. Yup, pretty short thought experiment.

I’ll leave it to you to decide if it has any merit.

And if you like, you can leave a little response (even anonymously) in the comments section below to share what your personal thought experiment was like.

Reply to Comment on the Covenant

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I noticed recently that there was a comment added to my article about the covenant and I wanted to reply to it. I have to explain that this comment was a result of a contribution I made to a thread regarding the covenant on LiveJournal’s Baha’i community website. I guess Dave saw my post there and decided to comment.I wanted to respond to a few things which Dave Howden says. First:

“Second, Shoghi Effendi did not /need/ any scriptural evidence to move this authority from the Hands of the Cause to the Guardian.”

Well, as much as we all love the Guardian, there must be scriptural grounds for such a bold move. And lets remember that Abdu’l-Baha laid out the way the Baha’i administration would function, with the roles of the different institutions and such. All I’m saying is that the authority of declaring covenant breakers was given – by Abdu’l-Baha, mind you! - to the Hands. He didn’t give it to the Guardian. That’s a fact. But we do know that the Guardian changed this and took this authority for himself. All I’m asking is, on what grounds?

Surely you are not suggesting that since he was the Guardian he could just do whatever he wanted. That would be absurd, as well as a mockery and an insult to the Master. So if we then are talking about this from the principle that for everything there must be good reasons and grounds, then my question stands.

Second, Dave says:

“It is a natural step for the UHJ to assume this role, because it is the head of the Baha’i Community of the World.”

Again, lets go back to what Abdu’l-Baha said. The Universal House of Justice and the Guardian of the Faith are the head of the Baha’i world community. Not the House by itself. If we can agree on this fact (hopefully all it takes is a reading of the Will and Testament of the Master) then we can agree that there is nothing ‘natural’ about this step.

I’ll say it again just to be clear:

Abdu’l-Baha gave the authority of declaring covenant breakers to the Hands of the Cause of God (which were to be appointed by the Guardian).

He did not give it to the Guardian.
He could have.
But he didn’t.

He did not give it to the Universal House of Justice.
He could have.
But he didn’t.

And finally, regarding the comments on shunning. I don’t want to repeat what I’ve already written. I know that we are instructed to avoid covenant breakers. I also know that this was written for a time and I believe we are past that time. I also know that Abdu’l-Baha defined faithfulness to the covenant as being so spiritual that entering into a city is enough for people to say, This is a Baha’i. And He says until you attain this station, you aren’t faithful to the covenant.

I dare say there should be a lot of shunning going on because I know that I’m definitely not there. I also know that 99.999% of the Baha’is out there aren’t there.

Chlamydomonas Flagella

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A grilled cheese sandwich with the image of the Virgin Mary, the Holy Mother of God, toasted on its side is a tough act to follow but with a brave face, Baha’is have combed the universe and come up with the following entry:

It is a microscopic image of chlamydomonas flagella, which is a very small tiny part of something organic. If you still have questions don’t bother us, your friendly neighbourhood microbiologist can tell you all about it. The important thing isn’t what it is the important thing is what it looks like. And as you can see it has a nine pointed star and as a bonus the Arabic/Persian letter -ha at the end. And also notice that “chlamydomonas flagella” has 21 letters, take away 1 (for each word) and you get 19. Coincidence? I think not!

Here are some other images of chlamydomonas flagella (but they don’t count, because they don’t have 9 pointy things nor the Arabic/Persian letter -ha). Don’t click on that link. It will just confuse you and possibly lead you to question your belief in chlamydomonas flagella.