Amado, you are describing a typical youth attitude, at an age where we are specially attracted to whatever is forbidden. One of the May 1968 slogans was « it is forbidden to forbid ». We are speaking here of responsible adults, to whom a complete picture is offered through internet. I didn’t discover Baha’i Rants because I was warned against it, but by Googling for Ruhi materials! The UHJ offers no special guidance against reading questions and indeed encourages Baha’is to seek answers. This doesn’t mean that we are to overwhelm people for questions that have not arisen in people’s minds.

Back to my professional analogy, when a person seeks my advice, and before he gives consent for the treatment I am suggesting, I give him just that, mentioning possible alternatives and evaluating other techniques, without overwhelming him with exceptional outcomes or techniques. We have plenty of anti-science associations doing a wonderful job of terrifying the patients for us. There is a variance between the French and US requirements: we have to make sure the patient has understood before giving his consent; in the US they overwhelm patients with information and make him responsible to sort it out.

Back to your analogy, when a person is looking for art galleries, I don’t wipe out part of the map, but I recommend a list of addresses and the way to get there, without including the address of slums, unless I wish to warn him areas to avoid.

I do agree that at some point, a seeker should, one day or another, as Shoghi Effendi clearly recommends, be initiated to the implications of the Covenant he is entering into with God when he enrolls, so as not to waste time moving in and out of the community if he is not yet prepared for the implications and frustrations implied in community life. One of the purposes of what has become known as "Anna’s presentation" is to have a check-list to make sure that the fundamental teachings have been grasped enrolling, but this doesn’t mean that we should only restrict information to those fundamentals.

Amado, you are describing a typical youth attitude, at an age where we are specially attracted to whatever is forbidden. One of the May 1968 slogans was « it is forbidden to forbid ». We are speaking here of responsible adults, to whom a complete picture is offered through internet. I didn’t discover Baha’i Rants because I was warned against it, but by Googling for Ruhi materials! The UHJ offers no special guidance against reading questions and indeed encourages Baha’is to seek answers. This doesn’t mean that we are to overwhelm people for questions that have not arisen in people’s minds.

Back to my professional analogy, when a person seeks my advice, and before he gives consent for the treatment I am suggesting, I give him just that, mentioning possible alternatives and evaluating other techniques, without overwhelming him with exceptional outcomes or techniques. We have plenty of anti-science associations doing a wonderful job of terrifying the patients for us. There is a variance between the French and US requirements: we have to make sure the patient has understood before giving his consent; in the US they overwhelm patients with information and make him responsible to sort it out.

Back to your analogy, when a person is looking for art galleries, I don’t wipe out part of the map, but I recommend a list of addresses and the way to get there, without including the address of slums, unless I wish to warn him areas to avoid.

I do agree that at some point, a seeker should, one day or another, as Shoghi Effendi clearly recommends, be initiated to the implications of the Covenant he is entering into with God when he enrolls, so as not to waste time moving in and out of the community if he is not yet prepared for the implications and frustrations implied in community life. One of the purposes of what has become known as "Anna’s presentation" is to have a check-list to make sure that the fundamental teachings have been grasped enrolling, but this doesn’t mean that we should only restrict information to those fundamentals.

Dear Craig, forget your nightmares and come dream with me, beacuse believe it or not, with God's help, we can make dreams come true!

Dear Craig, forget your nightmares and come dream with me, beacuse believe it or not, with God's help, we can make dreams come true!

Craig, the present world is indeed still dominated by power issues. The Baha’is are to some extent contaminated by this. The « great reversal » promised in all the books of the past and announced by Tahirih at Badasht will in time abase the arrogant and raise the down-trodden ; I see the institute process as part of this, accelerating the move towards a generalised empowerment : from individual tutorship for a few privileged we are going to public schools, from chauffeurs and taxis for the rare aristocrat, we are moving to trains.