p39 Ridvan

UHJ Ridvan Message, 165, 2008

By John Taylor; 2008 May 17, 01 `Azamat, 165 BE

 

I would be remiss if I did not offer some thoughts about the just released 2008 Ridvan Message. For the new Baha'is out there, this is a sort of collective taking of our progress into account over the past year, put out by the House of Justice during our most holy festival. I was impressed by the following short sentences. The first applies to the so-called "global justice movement," which too often sets its hopes on more superficial means:

 

"Only if you perceive honour and nobility in every human being --this independent of wealth or poverty -- will you be able to champion the cause of justice."

 

I am reading George Monbiot's Manifesto for this movement, and this statement rings in my head. The cruel injustices that rich nations inflict on poor ones could never be tolerated if the movers and shakers saw the dignity, honour and nobility of the poor majority.

 

Another saying that has heavy consequences beyond the immediate goal of a Ridvan Message is this one:

 

"And to the extent that administrative processes of your  institutions are governed by the principles of Baha'i consultation will the great masses of humanity be able to take refuge in the Baha'i community."

 

If you doubt that the principle of consultation is the key to the success of both the Cause and the salvation of humankind, believe! And, in this same pregnant penultimate paragraph of the 2008 Ridvan Message, they offer a cure for corruption. This is something to digest,

 

"Only if you demonstrate the rectitude of conduct to which the writings of the Faith call every soul will you be able to struggle against the myriad forms of corruption, overt and subtle, eating at the vitals of society."

 

Having covered the good parts, let us look at the availability of the Message. Here is a suggestion to whoever in the Administration is responsible for the distribution of the Ridvan Message: make it visible to search engines. Right when the announcement had been made, and a week or so later, that is, just now, I did a Google search for this using the keywords "uhj 2008 ridvan message" and both times I had to wade through a swamp of malcontents and covenant breakers in order to find a reliable source for the full text of the document. The longer I waited the deeper was the swamp of bad guy commentary. The best source I finally found was on a blog that I happen to know is written by a Baha'i in good standing, Barnabus Quotidianus's blog,

 

<http://www.leithjb.net/blog/2008/05/15/ridvan-2008-message/>

 

It would take very little effort to put an official copy of the Ridvan Message onto an official website early on; then the searchbots would give it higher priority all by itself. At a time when the attention of the Baha'i world is fixed on this event it seems silly to offer enemies and rivals a golden opportunity to upstage the announcement by copying and pasting onto their own web locales.

 

I confess that I was, as Baha'is like to say, "tested," not as you might expect by wading through a swamp of virtual filth but in the Message itself when I came across the House's use of the word "internalize." I distrust that buzzword; it seems to me that it epitomizes the materialistic bent of modern social science. These wannabe scientists consider not recognizing God as a mark of legitimacy, so they deny the mind. They eschew organic metaphors like eating or absorbing and instead talk of "internalizing" abstractions. We internalize rather than "digest" facts. So when Bacon said,

 

“Some books are to be tasted, others swallowed; and some to be chewed and digested.”

 

He would have been less witty but more scientific if he had said, “Some books are to be internalized more than others.” Now as far as I can determine, the first use of internalize in any of the Baha'i Writings, Tablets and authoritative works was on May 19, 1994 in a letter from the House to the NSA of the USA. The House cited the Guardian's advice to avoid an attitude of dictatorial authority, not to regard themselves as the "central ornaments" of the Cause, etc., by saying: "These instructions of the beloved Guardian get to the very heart of what must be more deeply internalized by the members of your Assembly at this time." After this use of the word I might have hoped that this might be taken as the House's concession to those to whom they were addressing. That is, they used the word "internalize" (instead of "reflect," "learn" or "digest") to a body packed with high-priced Ivy League degrees, much in the same way that they speak of the "great spirit" instead of "God" when addressing conferences of aboriginals. No such luck. Unlike "Great Spirit" "internalize" is contagious. Their use of the word on that occasion opened up the floodgates and now everybody in the Faith is internalizing everything.

 

How am I to internalize this use of the word? How did the Bible, the Qu'ran, the Bab, Baha'u'llah, Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi ever get their thoughts across without using this word? Or, to use a less sensitive example, why in the following did a translator of the philosopher Marcus Aurelius avoid the word internalize?

 

"Neither in writing nor in reading wilt thou be able to lay down rules for others before thou shalt have first learned to obey rules thyself. Much more is this so in life." (Meditations, 11:29)

 

Marcus might more economically  said, "Internalize command," and then even computers could have understood. But no, before 1994 you had to go through masses of verbiage. Oh, those dark days before internalize was internalized! Give me a break.

 

Back to the Ridvan message.

 

In discussing teaching, the House cites some passages from the Guardian, implicitly recommending that we re-read the original quotes. So I looked one up and pass it on with the original source for your convenience. There are more, but time is lacking. Shoghi Effendi in the 1940's was speaking specifically to America's pioneer teachers when he gave this advice,

 

"In their presentation of the Message of Baha'u'llah they must neither hesitate nor falter. They must be neither contemptuous of the poor nor timid before the great. In their exposition of its verities they must neither overstress nor whittle down the truth which they champion, whether their hearer belong to royalty, or be a prince of the church, or a politician, or a tradesman, or a man of the street. To all alike, high or low, rich or poor, they must proffer, with open hands, with a radiant heart, with an eloquent tongue, with infinite patience, with uncompromising loyalty, with great wisdom, with unshakable courage, the Cup of Salvation at so critical an hour, to the confused, the hungry, the distraught and fear-stricken multitudes, in the north, in the west, in the south and in the heart, of that sorely tried continent." (Shoghi Effendi, Citadel of Faith, pp. 25-26)