Archive for December, 2008

There is a zinger thrown at Baha’is that I’ve had stuck in my head for years that goes like this: ”Baha’is suffer from terminal niceness.” I’ve written about this before. According to the post below, when can a Baha’i say, “No more Mr. Nice Guy”? Apparently, nev-ah. -gw

I am Baha’i. That means I have to be nice no matter what. But where do I draw the line?

I’m not afraid to speak my mind, and I’ve always been so influenced by the power of words, especially negative ones.

But I’m beginning to realize the real power comes from self control, from being able to hold your tongue despite how someone else treats you and be courteous and loving no matter how they behave. THAT is real strength. And even if they don’t see it at the time, the long term gratification of knowing you have established yourself as a good hearted person with your strength coming from your character is overwhelming.

Sometimes I really do feel like a Baha’i.

To be honest, I have a dilemma that I really, REALLY don’t know how to solve. It’s one of those situations where I get mad at God and go, “Now SEE what you did! You just COULDN’T let me be a mind reader so I could leave you alone and figure this out for myself, noooooo, you just had to play, well.. God..” And then I just feel like an idiot. I need to PRAY! PRAY FOR ME!

Chelsea and the Flying Pink Monkeys of Doom

Image: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:IchigoAnimeEp113.jpg

We Baha’is around the world constitute a learning community. There are many vehicles that contribute to our learning. The Wilmette Institute is one. Here is a listing of courses currently underway or soon to start, together with the faculty who have been lined up to facilitate the courses.  I’ve added links to content online about or by some of these scholars, and not necessarily on topic. -gw

The Ministry of Shoghi Effendi
Lead Faculty: Helen Wilson
Faculty: Zaid Lundberg
Duration of course: Three months (Dec. 1, 2008 – Feb. 28, 2009)

Baha’i Theology: Concepts of God, Revelation, Manifestation, Humanity, Creation, Afterlife, and the Covenant
Lead Faculty: Peter Terry
Faculty: Ian Kluge and Duane Troxel
Duration of course: Three months (Dec. 15, 2008 – Mar. 15, 2009)

Health and Spirituality
Lead Faculty: Marleen Chase
Faculty: Claire Levesque, Phillip Tussing and Theo Cope
Duration of course: Three months (Jan. 15 – Apr. 15, 2009)

Kitáb-i-Aqdas
Lead Faculty: Hussein Achtchi
Faculty: Necati Alkan
Duration of course: Three months (Feb. 1 – Apr. 30, 2009)

Exploring the Christian New Testament
Lead Faculty: Peter Terry
Faculty: Ted Brownstein and Wolfgang Klebel

The Wilmette Institute offers quality on-line courses on the Bahá’í Faith. It aims to engage a broad and diverse community of learners in an in-depth study of the Bahá’í Faith. Wilmette Institute courses can be completed at introductory, intermediate (undergraduate), or advanced (graduate) levels of rigor. At the intermediate level, some students have received college credit for their Wilmette Institute course work.

Since 1995 the Wilmette Institute has served some 3,000 students, many of whom have made important contributions to the Bahá’í community, serving as teachers, sharing what they have learned informally with family and friends, and taking more active roles in community development. Some have been inspired to continue their formal education at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

The Wilmette Institute is an educational agency of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United States.

http://www.wilmetteinstitute.us.bahai.org/

No question. I looked in the mirror. No matter how I try to tilt my head just so, I am aging. -gw 

“As Flowers Go,” by Charles King, Baha’i

AS FLOWERS GO

I watched the petals

Fall softly from a rose

And I thought of how it emulated

The way that human life goes.

We burst into this world

And dominate a space for a time

Growing slowly but patterned

Just like roses on a vine.

Then quietly we start fading away

Our lives coming to a close—

Losing a part here and a sense there

Like petals falling from a rose. 

Image:  ”Woodstock Music Festival/1969,”

uploaded on September 4, 2006 by dbking on flickr, Attribution 2.0 Generic -gw 

Message from the Baha’i regional conferences: There is no time to lose.

In case you need to find me, I’ll be here:

Saturday, January 3, Cluster Reflection Meeting

Sunday, January 4, Personal Teaching Workshop

Saturday and Sunday 10-11 & 17-18  Expansion Phase in Sumner and Lakewood

Then there will be a big old potluck celebration on Martin Luther King Day on the 19th.

Yes, please note. With our increasing confidence, we our launching our efforts into new communities and neighborhoods in our cluster.

TWO WEEKENDS, TWO LOCATIONS! Sharing Baha’u'llah’s Message door-to-door

Saturday, January 10 thru Monday, January 19, intensified personal teaching as well.

This cycle is dedicated to the memory of Rebequa Murphy. -gw

A Baha’i clock: Triple 9 wall clock

Last weekend Payam and I drove down to Los Angeles to take part in a series of 41 conferences taking place literally all across the world. … I’ve been following the reports and was particularly moved by news of a gathering in the DRC which brought people to a war-struck community to deliberate on how they could best serve their friends, families, neighbors, and colleagues. I also love the perspective of this nine year-old in NYC who believes her friends really do question and care about “spiritual” ideas.

http://nuttygallery.wordpress.com/2008/12/19/a-meeting-of-global-proportion/

The Baha’i conference this weekend (more about this here) was inspiring in many ways and raised many thought-provoking questions. Though there is much I could blog about in relation to this, one of the things I’ve been thinking about lately, is the question of the need for an organized religion.

http://spiritualgleanings.blogspot.com/2008/12/organized-religion.html

ON THE MIND of every Baha’i around the world are the Regional Baha’i conferences that are happening all around the world.The official reports of the Regional Conferences as they come in, can be found here. You can also find Online videos of various Baha’i Regional Conferences Manila, Lumbashi, Bangalore, Johnannesburg, New Delhi, Atlanta, Anotfagusta, and more) as well as the classic source of YouTube videos on the Regional confereences.

For two of many touching personal recollections and reflections: one from the Baha’i Conference for the NorthEastern States (USA) and another from the Central Regional Baha’i Conference (Chicago) titled ‘I can do that too!‘

http://www.junior-youth.com/2008/12/21/best-bahai-posts-for-december.html

These words from the world governing council set the tone for the conference:

• Continue on the path of learning;
• Not to be distracted by the ephemeral pursuits of a bewildered society;
• Appreciate the value of the culture now taking root in the community that promotes the systematic study of the Baha’i Writings in small groups in order to build the capacity for service to others;
• And never forget the imperative to tend to the needs of the children of the world and offer them lessons that develop their spiritual faculties and lay the foundations of a noble and upright character.

http://www.hutchnews.com/Faith/wood2008-12-19T20-42-42

In my quest to understand the nature of feeling inadequate, I derived some inspiration from a talk given a couple of weeks ago at the Regional Conference held for the Southeastern United States in Atlanta, Georgia.  What I learned shifted my perspective considerably.

http://www.bahaiperspectives.com/principles-in-action/2008/12/26/undeflected-by-distractions-part-ii/

Running away for the weekend! * Sat at the conference * Speakers at the conference * Conference Break * Music at the conference

http://roosterintheroaster.blogspot.com/

My sunny Christmas started off with going through such a hang over and no, not the I drank too much type. I just haven’t been resting well for awhile. I can’t get out of bed, literally. I better get good sleep tonight cause it’s going to be a busy weekend with the Regional Conference going on. I’m ushering and singing in the choir. Ah, the joy of being a Baha’i youth.

http://inthewordsofthevixen.blogspot.com/2008/12/merry-christmas-fools.html

Polin and I at the Buddhist Temple in Tacoma.

My friend and Baha’i community member Polin will enjoy this video on CORDE, the Baha’i-inspired Cambodian NGO, if he hasn’t already seen it. Polin is Cambodian, having become a Baha’i there in 1993, actively teaching subsequently and in the Phillippines before coming to the United States about four years ago. He was among the 2600 Baha’is in Portland earlier in the month. Together we are committed to the teaching work in our community and adjacent goal clusters. Go Tacoma, bring in the masses! Go Kitsap County, A status by Ridvan 2009! Go Olympia/Thurston County, A status in 2010. We will remember the pledges we have made. -gw

CORDE from Amy Lim on Vimeo.

Amy is also the filmmaker for About a boy from Jenjarom 

There are 312 representations of “Baha’i” currently available from incredible embeddable Deviant Art for putting on your blog. -gw
Baha’i Ringstone Explained by ~boaste on deviantART

Irony (and sarcasm) doesn’t come through in print very well, which is why we have emoticons.   So for ease of understanding, I have highlighted in red the ironic comments. This, too, is an ironic statement. -gw

Today, Mara took me to the Baha’i World Centre in Haifa. The Baha’i faith is the newest of the world religions and Acre and Haifa are the spiritual centres. The Baha’i believe that there is only one God, one human race and that all the world’s religions have been progressive stages in the revelation of God’s will and purpose for humanity. They have some pretty cool principles, laws and institutions for a world civilization:

•  Abandonment of all forms of prejudice … that’s right
•  Full equality between the sexes… can you imagine?
• Recognition of the common source and essential oneness of the world’s great religions… that’s crazy talk!
• Elimination of the extremes of poverty and wealth… slow down now
• Universal compulsory education… huh?
• Right and responsibility of each person to search independently for truth… hello!
• Establishment of a world religion federal system… way too progressive
• Recognition that faith must be consistent with reason and that science and religion should be in harmony… who are these people?
  
  Can you imagine, if everyone believed in the Baha’i faith… we’d have nothing to create wars about and then how could we possibly have corruption, poverty, bombs, two-tier systems… a lot of people would be out of work. These baha’i believers have obviously not thought this through! Just kidding of course This place was really incredible, it’s set on the hillsides of Haifa looking down at the city and sea, just stunning.

http://gilisadventures.blogspot.com/2008/12/week-5-family-site-seeing.html

Image:  “Haifa – Israel Poster with triptych artwork… by the Tourist Office of Haifa. on the left detail of The Bahá´i World Centre with Archive -Temple-Building and The Shrine of the Báb and the Carmelite Subway – the onliest in israel and the shortest subway of the world,” uploaded on December 19, 2008 by hans_knosp on flickr