Reader response, House MD, Last Day of Ayyam-i-Ha
In quick response to yesterday's thoughts about Blackwater and the Praetorian Guard, John Bryden writes:
"John, the `strikes' amongst Turkish soldiers that you mention might refer to the Janissary Revolts. See Wikipedia article: `Janissary Revolts'. A somewhat similar pattern can be seen in the accession to power of the Mamluks in
That is a good point. I have purchased an audiobook on Islamic history and I might be able to make a half-way informed comment on this in coming weeks, assuming I can get over my iMac network problems, which are blocking off my iPod downloads. We must always be aware of our bias as English speakers, and mine as a lover of the immortal prose of Gibbon and Shakespeare. What is not a literary masterpiece tends to fall below my radar.
In one of the kindest responses to our engagement with the anti-theists, a reader wrote,
"I thoroughly enjoyed this article, to the point of some near guffaws! I may study it to see how to answer the anti-theists and maybe even the hyper-theists just a little more directly and boldly. At the same time, the fiery way you present your arguments might ignite a little fury among them, so I may use them a little less directly-- nah! On the other hand, I may just cut and paste."
As you may have noticed, I have run out of steam on the atheist question -- for one thing the atheist library books' due dates hit and I had to return most of the material that was infuriating me. Not having that stimulus, I have slipped into a tranquil, non-argumentative state of mind. Shameful, I know. It would help if those who are interested in this would send me quotes, suggestions, questions or other goads.
Over the past couple of days I have been watching on DVD the third season of the medical television series "House, M.D." It is interesting how much more sophisticated medical melodrama has become than in my own early days when I so ardently admired the saintly Dr. Leonard Gillespie in the Dr. Kildare series. For one thing, now you pretty much have to be a physician to understand the flurry of technical terms and strange conditions being bandied about. I guess they figure that if you really cared to find out what they are talking about, a search engine is only a few clicks away from answering every question that pops into your head.
But morally speaking, House is pretty much the reverse of Dr. Kildare; he is brusque, caustic and even offensive. The reason this has been the most popular drama series for the past few years, it seems to me, is that it poses the old question, "How do you balance the need for technical expertise and the equally important need for moral leadership based on human relations skills and spiritual uplift? How do you fit in a temperamental genius, who messes everything up except for the fact that his diagnosis is correct when everybody else's is wrong? Somehow a consultation has to work around our flaws and foibles and make the spark that will expose the truth. Marcus Aurelius, the philosopher Emperor, understood the principle involved:
"Penetrate inwards into men's leading principles, and you will see what judges you are afraid of, and what kind of judges they are of themselves." (Meditations, 9:18)
This question, what kind of judge you are, is what prayer and mediation change. They make new ground rules. That is why consultation cannot take place without spiritual preconditioning; the oven must be pre-warmed, so to speak, before you put in the roast of nitty-gritty consultation. Only that will make the abrasive personality smoother, and the less insightful or inspired brighter and more receptive. Safe to say that in real problem solving situations a mental powerhouse like House is rare; usually it is the synergistic combination of many minds working together that arrive at the right answer.
It is also well to remember that the subject matter of television drama, be it medical or the ubiquitous police show, is too technical to be worthy of the gaze of so many viewers. We should pay attention to things we can change. And most of what we can change is ethical rather than technical; few of us are medical specialists, but all are acute judges of what is right and wrong. The dream that a Baha'i had of the Master says it all: she saw rescuers saving victims from a flood and wondered where the Master was. She found Him working on a machine to lower the flood waters. Strictly speaking, most public consultation and even entertainment should be concerned with just that, with prevention, with stifling flames before they catch fire, rather than mere slinging water on blazing infernos, thrilling as that may be to watch.
Another recent response from a reader came from Ivan,
"Excellent post Badi, I have just added Baha'i to my list of Google alerts, and look what came across my PC, your fascinating comments on your blog.
"I reluctantly joined a Ruhi class a few months ago and that is bringing a lot of seekers and friends together. People I have never met before. I feel the questions you pose are being asked everywhere. I have a child who comes to our junior youth group, and when I asked his parents if they agreed for him to come they said. Oh that’s a great idea, were pagan actually but we're happy for our child to learn some virtues. In other words the darkness of people being uninterested in a new Faith is being dispelled in a most unpredictable way, almost like the new dawn.
"The Utube project you mentioned sounds great. I'm working on the idea for one of my oil paintings called `Vahid's Feast.' It took me almost a year to paint and we took over three hundred photos along the way. A friend who is a video buff is working on it, as we speak. To see the finished painting go to the history page of www.BahaiFaithArt.com. Warmest Regards."
I checked out Ivan's website, and was impressed with his paintings of the early days of the Faith. For twelve bucks you can get them in postcard format, and since they are presumably accurate in portraying contemporary dress, they would be excellent for teaching Baha'i classes. Silvie has been drawing how she imagines the heroes of the Iron Age of the Faith; it is charming how she adds in characters to comment on the action, such as a prickly cactus and two brothers, one whose turban is stuffed with various items like a Swiss Army Knife, called Justin Case, and one with a clock on his turban, called Justin Time. This was apparently inspired by three of her classmates named Justin Cook, Justin Sutton and Justin Friday, respectively. Are names contagious, or what? One reader sent this little prayer to me a while ago, and it sums up what I am aiming for in our almost-daily Baha'i class:
"Teach them, by Thy Name, the All-Knowing, the wonders of Thy wisdom, that they may cleave steadfastly to Thy Faith and walk in the ways of Thy pleasure." (Baha'i World Faith, pp. 148-150)
On a random note, here is a link to the Dilbert random lyrics music video. The name says it all. Amazing that you can string together random words and come up with a song that is better than most pop music,
http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=TiH9dbAsAp0
Several other friends have sent me nice comments on the Badi' Blog lately, but as mentioned a sort of iron curtain has gone down between my Mac computer and the rest of our LAN, so for the time being I cannot easily access these messages.
David Pogue in his "Circuits" tech column for the New York Times wrote this week about the dangers of the Internet to children and youth. His argument is that it is overblown. His advice is,
"But if you live in terror of what the Internet will do to your children, I encourage you to watch this excellent hour long PBS "Frontline" documentary,"
"It's free, and it's online in its entirety. The show surveys the current kids-online situation -- thoroughly, open-mindedly and frankly. Turns out I had it relatively easy writing about the dangers to children under age 12; this documentary focuses on teenagers, 90 percent of whom are online every single day. They are absolutely immersed in chat, Facebook, MySpace and the rest of the Web; it's part of their ordinary social fabric to an extent that previous generations can't even imagine."
I think he has hit on the nub of the matter here, especially where he says that the real problem is not stalkers but bullies. With every technical advance the importance of backbiting becomes more intense, as was prophesied of old. But the problem on top of the problem is the very existence of a youth culture. As soon as a distinctive youth culture of any kind grows separate from traditional culture, you are looking at a corrupted, not to say a dying, society. That is why our diet is so terrible; we eat what is cheapest and most delicious, not what has sustained our bodies for centuries. Culture is culture, just as truth is truth, and if older generations are not directly and intimately connected with the new one about to replace them, then we are all in deep trouble. Now the problem is compounded by technology, much of which cuts off not only young from old but those present from those absent. This explains why the Bible depicted our present crisis as a flood of knowledge. The difference between watering and over-watering a plant only wisdom can determine. And there is no flood of wisdom. Where this flood of social gadgets will lead, nobody can say. Consider this news item,
“A coroner has criticised online chatrooms after a man was goaded into committing suicide while dozens of users watched live on the internet. Kevin Whitrick, who hanged himself with an electrical cord, is believed to be the first person in
It is the last day of Ayyam-i-Ha, the days of Ha; my thought for this moment is based on the last paragraph of the Iqan. Baha'u'llah cites two powerful points to remember about the value of "remembrance,"
"We conclude Our argument with His words -exalted is He - `And whoso shall withdraw from the remembrance of the Merciful, We will chain a Satan unto him, and he shall be his fast companion.' `And whoso turneth away from My remembrance, truly his shall be a life of misery.' Thus hath it been revealed aforetime, were ye to comprehend. Revealed by the `Ba' and the `Ha'. Peace be upon him that inclineth his ear unto the melody of the Mystic Bird calling from the Sadratu'l-Muntaha! Glorified be our Lord, the Most High!" (Kitab-i-Iqan, 257)
By remembrance I suppose He means worship and our regular reading of Holy Writ. These days of Ha are, then, days of the Father, the Godhead, and the other nineteen months are outside of the calendar, they transcend. Our cheer transcends, for now it is meant to remind us of our true patrimony, and glory in that. Put the two letters "Ba" and "Ha" together and you get "Baha," and in that sense we are all "Abdu'l-Baha," servants of Baha, the Son returned in the Glory of the Father.
Ignore the prime duty of remembrance of our patrimony, and the self will be made miserable by a satan permanently chained to the back. May the upcoming time of restraint help burn off the chains binding us to our persistent self; may the sun of the fast kill our satan like a hantavirus exposed to UV light. Here is a prayer of Baha'u'llah that seems appropriate for the last day of Ayyam-i-Ha,
"And were I to glorify Thee, O my God, so long as the glory of Thy majesty endureth and the influence of Thy sovereignty and power will last, such a glorification could never be compared with any of the praises which Thou, as a token of Thy grace, hast taught me, and wherewith Thou hast bidden me to extol Thy virtues. If such be the excellence of each one of the praises which Thou hast taught me, how immeasurably greater must be the excellence of the station of the One Who hath known Thee, Who hath entered Thy Presence, and pursued steadfastly the path of Thy Cause!" (Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations, 299)
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