Ruhi and other news

Ruhi and other news

By John Taylor; 2006 June 03

The most important news coming through the pipes of late is from the Ruhi website, <http://www.ruhiresources.org/>, which could win a reward for most improved website of the year; better still, they have recommenced their mail-out notifications of their updates. If you are not already on their list, go to the above website and sign up. Here is their announcement of a major and confusing change in the numbers of the books in what the Counselor calls the "Ruhi cycle of study circles" (meaning that when you go through books one to seven, you start over at one again, presumably until you die or the world becomes Baha'i, whichever comes first.)

"The Ruhi Institute will shortly publish a new Ruhi Book 5: Raising up Animators of Junior Youth Groups. The previous Book 5: Teaching Children's Classes, Grade 2, will now become Book 3A and will be considered a course "branching out from Book 3".

"We welcome the decision of the Institute...to move the book currently occupying the fifth position in the sequence to a set of courses branching out from Book 3 for preparing Baha'i Children's class teachers and to insert in the fifth place a new book for raising up animators of junior youth groups." - Letter from the Universal House of Justice to all National Spiritual Assemblies, 28 December 2005

I have continued puzzling over the Ruhi institute's insistence that coming into the faith breaks down the distinction between "be" and "do." As far as I have been able to determine, this is ground first laid out and explored by Aristotle, who said that the only way to learn to play the flute is by playing the flute, or to use something more modern, you learn to drive a car or fly an airplane by doing it, albeit guided by an expert, not only by sitting in a classroom. I think in the Ethics he said, "We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence then, is not an act, but a habit." Aristotle was not lost in theory like the Platonists, he was the son of a doctor and understood the value of starting with the practical, with what works, and then trying to understand it --that is, induction rather than deduction. In the politics he elaborates upon the role of habit further:

"There are three things which make men good and virtuous; these are nature, habit, rational principle. In the first place, every one must be born a man and not some other animal; so, too, he must have a certain character, both of body and soul. But some qualities there is no use in having at birth, for they are altered by habit, and there are some gifts which by nature are made to be turned by habit to good or bad. Animals lead for the most part a life of nature, although in lesser particulars some are influenced by habit as well. Man has rational principle, in addition, and man only. Wherefore nature, habit, rational principle must be in harmony with one another; for they do not always agree; men do many things against habit and nature, if rational principle persuades them that they ought. We have already determined what natures are likely to be most easily molded by the hands of the legislator. All else is the work of education; we learn some things by habit and some by instruction." (Politics, Book XIII)

The way the Ruhi system is meant to work is to set instruction and habit going in a feedback cycle; a tutor guides the "collaborators," setting the learning process going from the holy Word, then, actively guided by the tutor, they go out into the non-Baha'i world, teach, and by so doing start more beginners into the process, and it all becomes a sort of snowballing habit. Being is doing, teaching the Word becomes second nature. Nonetheless, as the Beatles said, "It don't come easy," or as Kant said more clumsily in the "Critique of Judgment,"

"We readily see that enlightenment, while easy, no doubt, in thesis, in hypothesis is difficult and slow of realization."

Dan Scott said in the keynote speech of the conference Friday night that the problems that inevitably crop up in what the House is calling the "framework for action" can be dealt with by using the new statistical officers now just appointed in most clusters. These will point exactly where the process is breaking down, allowing what I guess you could call "Ruhi rescue crews" to come in and solve the problem. He said, "We now know exactly what to do to change the world and bring in large numbers." He then cited the second paragraph of the all important UHJ letter to the Counsellors of 27 December, 2005:

"Never before have the means for establishing a pattern of activity that places equal emphasis on the twin processes of expansion and consolidation been better understood. Indeed, so consistent has been the experience with intensive programmes of growth, implemented on the basis of this understanding in divers clusters, that no cause for equivocation remains. The way forward is clear..."

Mr. Scott said, "You see, the framework works. If not, it is just a matter of finding the obstacle and removing (it)..." He emphasized that in view of this we need no longer ask how to go about things, we need only plunge into this letter in particular along with two others that seem to have been written in three consecutive days by the House. LSA members came back from the conference with a sheet of questions on these letters which we are to go over together in the next few months, assisted by, well, our Assistants to the Board Member. Our Haldimand LSA already went through the at least one of the letters, but we have resolved to do so again, as suggested. He said that knowing that this process works will "free our energy" and allow us to concentrate not upon all our options but just upon what step to take next.

The objection to Ruhi that comes to mind when anyone in a developed country tries to work it is that social ties are breaking down. We are not used to dealing with people face to face anymore. The habit does not exist. If I had taken the chance to stand up at last week's conference I would have said the following (I rehearsed it in my mind, but unfortunately the restoration work was ongoing at the new Toronto Baha'i Centre, there were noxious chemicals in the air, so I got a migraine. I could not put one thought next to the other during most of the conference),

"I have been reading Jane Jacobs' The Death and Life of Great American Cities, and she describes how in New York in 1963 there was a custom of leaving house keys with a trusted shopkeeper in the neighborhood for residents' guests and family members to pick up at their convenience. The demand for that little service has ceased to exist because people by and large no longer have guests, or even friends, at least outside of cyberspace. Families keep in contact, but across huge distances, by phone, by email, rarely in the flesh. Ruhi assumes a large, vital network of family, friends and acquaintances that -- outside of Latin America and the Third World -- have not existed for at least forty years. If we want to crack into social relations here we will have to start lurking in chat rooms, in social networking websites, and other virtual "places" on the web."

Now Dan Scott had no doubt run across such arguments -- how could he not? and he addressed the objection concisely and I think quite effectively in one of his early addresses. As far as it went, I found it persuasive. Let me try to reconstruct his defense as best I can from memory.

Yes, social relations are in decline, but the Word of God is designed to replace it and build up a new framework. A framework is like a tree, trunk, branches, etc. The only way we are going to grow the new tree is by taking up new space under the sun by forging our own, new social networks, by reaching out and meeting people face to face, by going to their homes, studying the creative word with them together, giving them copies of the Hidden Words (as Book One, it seems, says that we are to give them). No, we and they are not used to having guests in their home and talking in the flesh, but the Word can create something new, we must have faith in that. That is why it is called the New World Order, we must be willing to expand our face to face relations where there is nothing now. Tabula Rasa is good. And believe you me, people miss having a vital community. They may never have seen one, but they are hurting nonetheless and are waiting for this to come to them, to save them from all the ills that come of not having love and friendship to support them. Be assured, it will happen if you just take the first step."

Then I thought of more reasons bolstering this argument. I read science magazines for hope, and they are holding up this idea that there is a vital social network, growing in cyberspace, but is that a lie? People sitting in front of a computer screen act socially, but it is a poor substitute for the real thing. A friend can learn volumes just by looking at your face, help you in ways that would be impossible at the tenth remove of a chat room. Virtual relationships are narrow. And are they all that common? Are they growing as much as they seem? That remains to be seen.

I mentioned that the Ontario Counsel ran this conference with amazing maturity. It was almost over when I realized how brilliant the chair was at his job. There was no sense of "I am running things," but no false humility either. He added a gentle, warm, funny touch to every shift in the program. I was so impressed that I turned to the person sitting next to me and asked who the heck this guy was. "Todd Smith," was the reply. My hat goes off to him. The only slip, and it was a minor one, that I discerned was when one OBC presenter said something like, "and then Dan, I mean Counsellor Scott, I still always think of him as Dan..." Actually, she was right the first time. The House in its Counsellor compilation says that we are not to use this as a title, like Reverend Scott or Doctor Scott, either for people within or without the Faith. I looked up the passage, and here it is:

"As appointed officers of the Faith, the Counsellors and Auxiliary Board members should receive the respect of the friends. Regarding the use of the word "Counsellor" to refer to a particular member of a Continental Board of Counsellors, there is no objection to doing this. However, the exaggerated use of titles related to these ranks is undesirable. The title should not become inseparable from a Counsellor's personal name, as would be the case of referring to a member of the Board of Counsellors as, for example, "Counsellor Jones". Nor is it advisable to address them simply as "Counsellor"."

While I am still on the subject of this conference, the feedback to my first report continues to trickle in. One reader, who did not attend the conference, told me that he found the personal comments so funny that he rolled on the floor and was actually in pain afterwards from too much laughter. He said that reading it nonetheless made him want very much to meet Mr. Scott in the flesh. But then again, he was in the passenger seat of my car at the time and I had it in my power, should his reaction to my writing displease me, to drive the car off the lip of the Niagara Escarpment, thus putting us both to a spectacular end. So he may have had that in mind when he said that. Another reader wrote in part:

"I am upset that any importance at all is put on a person's quirks and quarks. We need to become overlookers and stay focused on the message -- everything else is a 'spanner' and in my opinion of no value except to mock and ridicule someone. I am more upset with myself that I was so careless and didn't pick up on those particular comments and am grateful that other Assembly members did."

I replied: "I am not comfortable with the characterization `negative comments' since I made it clear that these were the errors of a beginning speaker. He evidently heard back from somebody about the tilting of the podium since he only did it in the Friday evening talk. In his position he is dealing with non-Baha'is as a representative of the Faith so it is better he hear about any mistakes from the "friends" than from strangers. My last paragraph was meant to show that I have common feeling for him and I did not mean to be hurtful. People in a public position have to expect to be examined, it is part of the job description. I have a readership of thirty people, and I think of this as a set of drafts for any finished work that I may do someday, so do not overestimate my influence! I only wish that what I said and did mattered as much as what Mr. Scott says and does."

The same reader replied further, later on:

"So I guess it just means we all have to be really, really careful with what we say and do especially when in print because communication is a funny thing and people (as you can see) process things very differently. So I believe this is proving to be a great learning experience for all of us, and, the moral of the story is that 'Our perception is our reality'."

That is certainly true. Aristotle considered thoughts, much less words, to be like dye that contacts a cloth. They stick, they cannot be removed. They enter in and define what and who you are. So, I will try to have good thoughts and words and you do too, my friends.

Soccer season started this week. Silvie had a dream that she was playing soccer, so of course we had to sign them both up. This was not cheap and strained our budget to the limit. I thought it would be two nights a week but it turned out to be four, two practices and two games every week, Monday to Thursday. So as far as time, it is even more expensive. This week during Thomas's practice I fooled around with Silvie and one of her little friends, I was goalie and they tried to get the ball in the net. I was tempted to run and kick. Only afterwards, with muscles checking in and complaining that I did not even know I had did I realize that I cannot run. I have arthritis and have not run more than a few seconds at a time for many years. What happened was that two years ago I read in Scientific American that migraine and arthritis are inflammatory conditions and that meat causes low level, chronic inflammation. So I became a vegetarian and now, praise be to God, I can not only run but kick the ball. Last year if I kicked the ball once I would be unable to walk for weeks afterwards. Now, though I am in pain all up the front of my body, I welcome it. If I continue to practice with one kid while the other is with their team all summer, I will end up in better shape than anytime since I was a teenager.

That is the upside of being a vegetarian. The downside I found out when I visited my doctor's dietitian this week. For my annual checkup this year they filled in almost every check box of my blood test chart and found one major problem: I have a chronic vitamin B12 deficiency, which causes a form of anemia, tiredness, and inability to get going. I thought that was just normal, part of my condition, whatever. I am to take pills with big amounts of B12, and if that does not work by August, I may even be getting injections.

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John Taylor

badijet@gmail.com