Tacoma Baha’i

 

 

Solving poverty requires practical solutions, but the fundamental basis that motivates us is spiritual. The Golden Rule, which exists in all religions and cultures, testifies to this truth. Here is a “Golden Rule” passage from the Bahá’í Writings:

“Lay not on any soul a load which ye would not wish to be laid upon you, and desire not for any one the things ye would not desire for yourselves. This is My best counsel unto you, did ye but observe it.”  Bahá’u’lláh

 

We are all poor before God. Our obligation is to know and worship Him.

I bear witness, O my God, that Thou hast created me to know Thee and to worship Thee. I testify, at this moment, to my powerlessness and to Thy might, to my poverty and to Thy wealth. There is none other God but Thee, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting.  Bahá’u’lláh

 

The worst poverty of all is poverty of the soul.

“Thou art He, O God, Who hath proclaimed Himself as the Lord of Wealth, and characterized all that serve Him as poor and needy. Even as Thou hast written: ‘O ye that believe! Ye are but paupers in need of God; but God is the All-Possessing, the All-Praised.’ Having acknowledged my poverty, and recognized Thy wealth, suffer me not to be deprived of the glory of Thy riches. Thou art, verily, the Supreme Protector, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.”   Bahá’u’lláh

 

Our Creator has made us all to be rich of soul. However, people bring themselves down to poverty through their own behavior.

“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?”  Bahá’u’lláh

 

Naturally, we all have some responsibility to help the poor. Here is a passage from the Bahá’í Writings, where Bahá’u’lláh addresses the Sultan of the Ottoman Empire regarding the poor in Istanbul:

“We found among its inhabitants some who were possessed of an affluent fortune and lived in the midst of excessive riches, whilst others were in dire want and abject poverty. This ill beseemeth thy sovereignty, and is unworthy of thy rank.”  Bahá’u’lláh

 

People and their governments are really obligated to do something about poverty.

“A financier with colossal wealth should not exist whilst near him is a poor man in dire necessity. When we see poverty allowed to reach a condition of starvation it is a sure sign that somewhere we shall find tyranny. Men must bestir themselves in this matter, and no longer delay in altering conditions which bring the misery of grinding poverty to a very large number of the people. The rich must give of their abundance, they must soften their hearts and cultivate a compassionate intelligence, taking thought for those sad ones who are suffering from lack of the very necessities of life.  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

 

Happily, social service projects are widespread throughout the world. Here, in Pierce County, Washington, for example, we have the Emergency Food Network. Formed in May of 2000, the Mother Earth Farm is an eight-acre  farm that produces over 150,000 pounds of fresh fruits and vegetables each year — all of which is distributed directly to local food banks and hot meal programs. Here is their link: http://www.efoodnet.org:80/mother_earth.htm.

 

Today, October 15th, is the second annual Blog Acton Day. The idea of Blog Action Day is for blog publishers to view a critical social issue from their own perspective, and do it all at once, in effect generating a multi-faceted global discussion on a specific topic. The topic this year is poverty.

 

EDUCATION IS A FUNDAMENTAL HUMAN RIGHT

 

The Iranian government continues to actively prevent Bahá’ís from entering or staying at universities, and in some cases, they are being refused enrollment at secondary and primary schools. You can play an important role in assisting the Iranian Bahá’í students. We know, from reports received from Iran, that international pressure has had a powerful effect on government action. 

 

What can you do? And especially university students and faculty? First, you can pray for our Bahá’í friends in Iran and for guidance as to what role you can play in their defense. Then you can consult with other students and faculty at your college. Bahá’ís can consult with their local Spiritual Assembly as to the most effective course of action.

 

Here are some suggestions from http://iran.bahai.us:80/support-bahai-students:

Students, faculty and academics around the world are protesting the treatment of Baha’i students in Iran and calling for equitable access to higher education in Iran. Review the sample actions below and consider how you can help.

• Join a social network devoted to defending the rights of Baha’is in Iran
• Organize a public event on campus in collaboration with like-minded organizations on human rights or the specific right to education
  • Human Rights Day, December 10, could be commemorated with an examination of the denial of education to the Baha’is and others
• Meet with university faculty and administrators and ask them to write letter of protest
• Re-visit university faculty and administrators who have taken action in the past
• Ask faculty or student associations to pass resolutions on this issue
• Approach campus media or write op-ed pieces
• Blog about the issue and post a button on your blog

 

For further details about the situation and suggestions for action, go to:

http://iran.bahai.us/support-bahai-students

http://www.usbnc.org/comm/iran/DenialEdu.asp

One of the rarest of animals was recently spotted and photographed. This animal is the Frog of Wisdom. It was found near one of its favorite habitats, a China Doll tree. Here is a photograph of this remarkable creature.

 

 

This, naturally, causes us to ask, what are some of the teachings from the Bahá’í Faith on wisdom?

God and His Manifestation are the Source of wisdom:

“Wert thou to give ear to My voice, thou wouldst cast away all thy possessions, and wouldst set thy face towards the Spot wherein the ocean of wisdom and of utterance hath surged, and the sweet savors of the loving-kindness of thy Lord, the Compassionate, have wafted.”  Bahá’u’lláh

 

It is incumbent on us to acquire it!

“Drink your fill from the wellspring of wisdom, and soar ye in the atmosphere of wisdom, and speak forth with wisdom and eloquence. Thus biddeth you your Lord, the Almighty, the All-Knowing.”  Bahá’u’lláh

 

We should behave with wisdom:

“A kindly tongue is the lodestone of the hearts of men. It is the bread of the spirit, it clotheth the words with meaning, it is the fountain of the light of wisdom and understanding.”  Bahá’u’lláh

 

We need it to bring our Faith to others:

“O people of Bahá! Subdue the citadels of men’s hearts with the swords of wisdom and of utterance.  Bahá’u’lláh 

 

It’s effective!

“Say: The sword of wisdom is hotter than summer heat, and sharper than blades of steel, if ye do but understand.” Bahá’u’lláh

 

There is much more on the subject of wisdom in the Bahá’í Writings that you can explore for yourself.  But what, may we ask ourselves, is the wisdom that the Frog of Wisdom imparts? And this is the most astonishing thing!  In what may be the first time ever, the Frog of Wisdom has actually been photographed sharing its wisdom with us, so now we can all know what it is! Here is this incredible, never before seen photograph of the Frog of WIsdom actually speaking its wisdom to us. Look very carefully, and you will see for yourself its famous wisdom.

 

 

HAPPINESS! How wonderful! Who won’t like that advice? Ah, but wait. What are some of the things that the Bahá’í Faith says about happiness?

 

Happiness is what Bahá’u’lláh wants for all of us.

“We desire but the good of the world and the happiness of the nations; yet they deem Us a stirrer up of strife and sedition worthy of bondage and banishment….  Bahá’u’lláh 

 

As spiritual beings created by God, our ultimate happiness to to know and love God. This can only be done through His Manifestation.

“Thou hast made mention of the loved ones in those regions. Praised be God, each one of them attained the honour of being remembered by the True One — exalted is His glory — and the names of them, one and all, flowed from the Tongue of Grandeur in the kingdom of utterance. Great indeed is their blessedness and happiness, inasmuch as they have drunk the choice wine of revelation and inspiration from the hand of their Lord, the Compassionate, the Merciful. We beseech God to strengthen them to manifest inflexible constancy and to summon to their aid the hosts of   wisdom and utterance. He is in truth the Mighty, the Omnipotent.”  Bahá’u’lláh

 

Happiness is the goal of religion.

“O ye that dwell on earth! The religion of God is for love and unity; make it not the cause of enmity or dissension. In the eyes of men of insight and the beholders of the Most Sublime Vision, whatsoever are the effective means for safeguarding and promoting the happiness and welfare of the children of men have already been revealed by the Pen of Glory.  Bahá’u’lláh

 

Finding and creating happiness takes effort.

“Meditate profoundly, that the secret of things unseen may be revealed unto you, that you may inhale the sweetness of a spiritual and imperishable fragrance, and that you may acknowledge the truth that from time immemorial even unto eternity the Almighty hath tried, and will continue to try, His servants, so that light may be distinguished from darkness, truth from falsehood, right from wrong, guidance from error, happiness from misery, and roses from thorns. Even as He hath revealed: “Do men think when  they say ‘We believe’ they shall be let alone and not be put to proof?” Bahá’u’lláh 

 

Spiritual union is the basis of attaining happiness.

“And we will surely find that the spiritual union is absolutely necessary for the attachment and happiness of the essential or spiritual world.  From Bahá’í Prayers

 

There is more to be found about happiness in the Bahá’í Writings. May you explore this subject yourself in your path of spiritual discovery.

BE HAPPY!

Here we are standing in line with our ballots, each person waiting in turn to have their name checked off by a Registrar before the ballot is accepted. We are Electoral Unit 163 in the United States Bahá’í Community (the 48 contiguous states) and are the Bahá’ís from Pierce County, southwest King County (principally Federal Way and Auburn) and Vashon and Maury Islands. This year 66 persons voted in person, 18 by absentee, for a total of 84 ballots. There was one invalid ballot. Chris Gilbert, from the Pierce Peninsula Community, was elected our Delegate to attend the 2009 National Convention that elects our National Spiritual Assembly.

Elections in the Bahá’í Faith happen without nominations or electioneering. Each person in the community is expected to get to know the other Bahá’ís well enough to make an informed decision. Every adult Bahá’í in good standing who lives within the jurisdiction is eligible to vote and to be elected. Our system is unique: a combination of an administrative system whose structure comes from God, yet whose members are elected democratically.

While awaiting the results from the Tellers for, first, the election of the Convention Chair and Secretary, and later, our Delegate, we enjoyed excellent music from Alonso and Yuri Brizuela.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Consultation took place following the election of our Delegate. It began with Shawn Javid, our Auxiliary Board member, reading the letter from our National Spiritual Assembly and reminding us of the importance and purpose of our consultation.  George began by encouraging us to participate in reaching out to our neighbors during our teaching efforts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Those in attendance were generally able to keep their comments focused on the purpose of our consultation, which is to bring the Word of Baháu’lláh to our friends and neighbors and find those souls who are receptive to His message. The several speakers included Chris Bily, whose perceptive comments kept us right on track.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This year’s Unit Convention was hosted by the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Lakewood, to whom we extend a great, big THANK YOU! The venue was the convention center at Clover Park Technical-Vocational College in Lakewood, and was an excellent choice. We hope to see even more people at next year’s Unit Convention!

Photos by the Webmaster

We want to find those souls whose spiritual beliefs are the same as ours, but who have not yet discovered that object of their hearts and spiritual affection and made the spiritual connection with the Faith of Baha’u’llah, the Baha’i Faith. And we know that you’re out there!

We’re doing this in an organized, systematic way with the human resources available. Our recent effort was a nine-day campaign of door-to-door teaching in the Hilltop neighborhood of Tacoma.  We offered to present the Faith to our neighbors who were interested in hearing more about us. And for those who would like to hear more at another time, Baha’is will be making return visits to their homes during the next few weeks, or, of course, they might also want to attend our devotional meetings or participate in a Ruhi course, which is a course of study on particular spiritual topics.  

Our Baha’is who go door-to-door to offer to present the Faith are friendly and easy-going, and are represented by teams of usually two persons.  Here are stories from the first day of the nine-day campaign, Saturday, September 20, 2008.

One team met two young ladies standing and talking on a porch and asked to share about the Faith and they said “go for it!”  Another girl joined them who had heard of the Faith.  A long conversation ensued, one of the first girls left, the third girl eventually had to as well.  The teachers continued with the first girl and they had a deep discussion about life after death in relation to the hurt she still felt from her grandfather’s death five years earlier.  The team spent over an hour on the steps to the porch.  The teachers shared a prayer for the departed and the girls were invited to a devotional that week.  She gave the teachers her phone number which she had declined to do earlier.  She said, “you’ve really enlightened my day!” and the teachers said the feeling was mutual. 
 
Two more teachers took to heart the idea of staying with the seeker as long as they wanted.  The first house was the only house they went to and they were there about three hours.  The team introduced themselves to a guy in builder’s overalls.  He disappeared to their surprise but came back with chairs, so they all sat down for a very intense, deep conversation.  The man was a deep thinker with strong opinions, a gentle soul who occasionally talks with much emotion. He wanted to know what is different in Bahá’í Faith from Christianity.  He invited the seekers to come back.  The teachers plan to return to find out if he is really receptive, or if his strongly held beliefs prevent him from hearing the New Message.
 
Another team of a male, female and child visited several receptive homes where the people asked for return visits.  They met an African American man on crutches coming out of his house.  He and his wife had heard of the Faith in their investigation of religions and invited them to come back during the week.  A lady with an unusual name (she said she has “hippy” parents) was very receptive.  The teachers went through the whole presentation with her.  Afterward she admitted she was sick so they offered to say healing prayers.  She gave her email address and asked for a return visit and said she really likes this.  A young Caucasian American male, strong in Native religion (mentioned liking smudges, which one of the teachers also liked) asked the team to return again when his wife is there.  The team will bring native believers.  Another man who was house-sitting heard part of the presentation. He became emotional during presentation.  He lives in another area of town where there are strong believers to follow-up, as he wants to learn more!  
 
One team found that there was not much receptivity on their block, so they decided to try another one.  They went to a house and talked to two youth, who suggested they talk to the mom.  After waiting, she appeared.  She is Christian and happy with that, although she had investigated other faiths, but said the youth were free to investigate whatever he wants.  The youth asked for something to read and the team set up another time to visit.  
 
A team of three ladies meet an older African American woman who knew some early Baha’is in the area and had attended meetings long ago.  She was recuperating from surgery so the team said prayers with her.  She gave them her phone number and asked for a return visit. She is Buddhist.  They also met a Moslem woman from Saudi Arabia, and her 12 yr old son.  Two team members began speaking with her in Arabic and she was so taken with this that she invited them in.  She is interested in junior youth and children’s class for her many children.  She gave her kid’s names, her contact info and wants to know the schedule for the classes.
 
A team with a veteran teacher, a youth, and junior youth found that the area they were in was too prosperous, and not very receptive so they changed location and were able to give three full presentations of the Faith.  The youth on the team felt drawn to one home that the team had passed up, so they returned.  They met a young woman who had recently moved to the neighborhood to live with her grandmother.  There was suffering in the family and her mother was in the hospital.  There was a lot of interaction and she resisted her cousins telling her to go back inside.  The teacher asked if she believes this, and she said yes.  This appeared to be a significant statement to her.  When beginning the enrollment process she indicated that she is not yet ready to make the decision of becoming Baha’i and wants to think about it more.  When the teacher asked if she has children, she said no, she’s only 16!  She goes to the same high school as our new believer from the last cycle. 

If you are interested in hearing about the Baha’i Faith, please contact us!

Photo: some of the participants in our nine-day teaching campaign, taken on Sunday, September 28, 2008, by Bonita Dannells.

The anniversary of the Birth of the Báb is soon to arrive. It will be on Monday, October 20th, and is one of our Holy Days. The blessed Báb’s appearance on this earth is one of the great events in human history, one that as yet few people appreciate, probably even many Bahá’ís. He was the Forerunner of Bahá’u’lláh and devoted His life to preparing the way for Him. The tumultuous events that occurred in Iran during His brief Ministry, so ably recorded in The Dawnbreakers, was inevitable given the social conditions that prevailed in that country.

Bahá’ís of many years who have read widely, searching for and absorbing all of the knowledge that they could obtain about their Faith, have had little available to them about the Writings of the Báb. We have the marvelous Selections from the Writings of the Báb published by the Universal House of Justice in 1976. However, finding commentary to help us gain a real appreciation of His Writings has been elusive. About all that has been available are short scholarly essays which have a narrow focus, must be pulled together from many sources and are few and far between, and are written in the standard terminology of scholarship that requires most readers to keep a dictionary at their side.

“Gate of the Heart: Understanding the Writings of the Báb” by Nader Saiedi, published in 2008 by Wilfrid Laurier University Press, is a welcome and refreshing addition to our literature that goes a long way to helping us gain this understanding that so many of us have sought. So far, I have read only the first three of the fourteen chapters. Mr. Saiedi’s exploration of the Báb’s Writings presents a comprehensive overview and synthesis of these important Writings in a scholarly manner without the “terminology potholes” that the uninitiated must typically navigate when reading scholarly essays. The profundity of the Báb’s Writings quickly strike one as deeply impressive and one must read the book to appreciate them. It is no quick read – I need to read a little at a time and then put the book aside for awhile – but the writing is very good and the prose flows well.  I have reservations as to whether it would be a good book to read by someone not deepened in the Faith, but I cannot say – my perspective is as a Bahá’í of many years with a large library.  What I can tell you is that I’m loving it.     

I would like to share one passage from Gate of the Heart. It is talking about the incredible challenge that the Báb faced in presenting His world-shaking Message, but It also speaks to us today about the difficulties that we, as devoted followers of Bahá’u’lláh, face in teaching the Faith:

“To be willing to subject to reexamination one’s most deeply cherished beliefs – beliefs that constitute the foundation of one’s personal identity – and accept the possibility that those beliefs may be mistaken requires an extremely high degree of psychological and spiritual maturity. It requires an absolute dedication to searching out the truth above all, no matter where that search leads, and a willingness to recognize the truth once one encounters it, no matter what the consequences. Few people possess such a level of absolute justice and love of truth that surpasses all other allegiances and inclinations. Thus the majority of the audience to whom the Báb would offer His message could be expected to respond to it initially with shock, denial, and rejection.” [page 89]

“Gate of the Heart: Understanding the Writings of the Báb” may be purchased through the Bahá’í Distribution Service. http://www.bahaibookstore.com/

The Webmaster