Thoughts from an Evening at Home

Strained Mercy, and Other Musings

 

By John Taylor; 2011 Sep 23, 'Izzat , 168 BE

 

 

 

 

I have been relaxing, having finished my first draft of Cosmopolis Earth, and sent it off to a copy editor. Last night was a typical evening.

 

Contents

 

The Spirit Within Club

Sam; In Memoriam

Two Pre-prandial Prayers

Warm his cool heart

Comment on the Qiblih

 

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The Spirit Within Club

 

For Tommy's almost daily Baha'i class (Silvie, at 17 years, no longer deigns to attend) I continued reading aloud from a youth novel called "The Spirit Within Club," by Sahar Sabati, a Montreal believer now serving in the Holy Land. I typically read a chapter, but Tomaso always insists on hearing two or three more chapters, which shows what a good writer this fellow is, I guess. The Spirit Within Club was written to point the way the Ruhi program sees kids leading the community and the faith, and it seems to do a pretty good job of that. I am actually quite surprised that Tomaso takes such an interest in it, what with all the explosions and hijinks in the books, movies and games he usually likes.

 

The author contacted me through the now largely dormant Badi Blog, and sent us a prepublication copy of this novel, targeted at 8 - 14 year olds, which, he tells me, has been published by George Ronald and should already be available in your friendly national BDS. When we are done reading it, Tommy and I will be interviewing Mr. Sabati by Skype. I hope to share the results with you on this blog.

 

Sam; In Memoriam

 

When the Baha'i class was over we said a prayer for Sam, a member of our Baha'i community who just passed on. Sam was totally paralyzed by a brain stem stroke, but when his wife declared and they asked him if he wanted to be a Baha'i too, he said yes. I do not know how they communicated that, or anything else, since he is totally motionless. He reminds me of one of my most admired believers, Evelyn Knight, of whom I often speak here. She was a victim of Down's Syndrome, yet she was an active believer in a big city where it was hard to be an active believer, even for those with far more natural abilities.

 

Evelyn was always an inspiration to me, but not Sam, at least not when he was around. I must say, Sam was quite a test.

 

During meetings, every fifteen minutes or so, Sam's wind pipe got clogged, his breathing became heavy and obstructed and it sounded like he was about to suffocate. His nurse or wife would then fool around with some tubes, switch on a loud machine and it would clean out whatever it was that was clogged. He was a Baha'i about three years, and no matter how many feasts and firesides I attended with him, I never got used to that. I was always convinced that he was about to die, the adrenaline would pump through my system and I lost track of whatever else was going on in the meeting.

 

But again, the fact that this fellow, who evidently was an accomplished artist and craftsman before the stroke hit, even became a believer and stuck to it to his last day, is itself testimony to some kind of spiritual current running deep down things, way beyond the comprehension of us dwellers of conscious material life.

 

Two Pre-prandial Prayers

 

I guess we do not call them "grace," like Christians do, but the Master did reveal two mealtime benedictions when he was staying at the fantasy ranch of Phoebe Hearst, where the meals must have been pretty big and formal. It was 99 years ago, almost to the day that this happened (16 September). Here they are, from Balyuzi's bio,

 

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Mrs. Hearst recollected also the effect that the chanting of an Arabic prayer had had on her all those years ago in 'Akka, and expressed her ardent desire to hear such a prayer once again. 'Abdu'l-Baha's voice rang out powerfully as He acceded to her wish and chanted a prayer in Arabic. The other guests sat spellbound, although they were not familiar with the  308  language. The second day at the luncheon table, when asked to say a benediction, He uttered this prayer:

 

"He is God! Behold us, O Lord, gathered at this board, thankful for Thy bounty, our gaze turned to Thy Kingdom. O Lord! Send down unto us Thy heavenly food and blessing from Thee. Verily, Thou art the Generous, and verily, Thou art the Beneficent, the Merciful."

 

 

 

And at dinner on the 15th He spoke this prayer:

 

 

 

"He is God! O Lord! How shall we thank Thee! Thy bounties are limitless, and our gratitude but limited. How can the limited render thanks to the limitless? Incapable are we of offering thanks for Thy mercies. Utterly powerless, we turn unto Thy Kingdom, and beg Thee to increase Thy bestowal and bounty. Thou art the Giver, Thou art the Bestower, Thou art the Powerful."

 

 

 

Before departing for San Francisco on the 16th, 'Abdu'l-Baha asked to see all those who served in Mrs Hearst's household: maids, pages, groom, cook.

 

(H.M. Balyuzi, Abdu'l-Baha - The Centre of the Covenant, p. 307-308)

 

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"Warm his cool heart," A Portrait of Portia and Shylock

 

The Merchant of Venice, The Sequel

 

After reading the Baha'i stuff, Silvie and I continued our reading of Shakespeare's play about racism, The Merchant of Venice. I took most of the male roles and Silvie the female ones, except when she did not, in which case the drama came from our disputes as to who reads what role. Last night we covered acts three and four, with the action climaxing in two sub-plots. It was so gripping, in spite of the often obscure references and word play, that Tomaso stayed at the table to quietly play with some walnuts and Mom ceased her Czech blogging to discretely listen in.

 

I have been kind of stuck on the idea of writing a series of sequels to Shakespeare's plays. We all enjoyed "Hamlet II," an indie film about a play about an artsy English lit teacher who writes an indulgent ego piece about Hamlet II and stages it in the local high school. In November there is a "write your own novel in a month" challenge, and I am kind of thinking of doing a novel about events after one of the Bard's plays, now that my main book is written. Silvie was thinking along similar lines, because she stayed up late to draw the following drawing.

 

 

https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgVpcnTtDcnIKmJC6X2rmh0rCu_ZrARCbsF_ANwbH-H8fRT8tmoDoWiHCaTjOD9vBkc9hAQR5g-y836EHaALTJhPtROp8OG6yEBFDb2O8ZbXCAJoYGLqccu4J26lRaAo0N74_rE/s400/image0.jpg

 

https://picasaweb.google.com/lh/photo/CQwnUk4dicNTcEYUbGcCUg?feat=directlink

 

 

This is her idea of what happened after Shylock had been deprived of his fortune (by Portia's ruling) and forced to become a Christian. Portia comes to him discretely and passes over to him the ring that his dead wife, Leah, had given him during their courtship. A touching proof that she had meant it when she said, "The quality of mercy is not strained..."

 

 

Comment on the Qiblih

 

This site is going the rounds, a way to find out for sure, no matter where you may be,  in what direction to pray.

 

http://qiblih.com/

 

This is an amazing device. Turns out that for all these years I have been praying to a bathroom in Tunis rather than the correct point of adoration, which is in Bahji.

Such is human frailty.

 

But, as the Qur'an (24:35) says, God's revelation is "neither of the East nor the West," so It must be in every direction. So I guess I could not have been that far off.

 

By the way, do not confuse the Badi Blog with Badi's blog, http://www.myspace.com/badimusic/blog. No relation.

 

Our Monthly Fireside Makes Page One

Shirlee Smith spoke in October of her harrowing experiences as a descendant of escaped slaves living in Toronto, and of her eventual discovery of the Baha’i Faith. Our monthly meetings are always covered extensively in the local paper, but I do believe that this is the first time we have made the front page. In the photo, Shirlee is showing a photo of her when she won an essay for Black History Month (read it at: http://www.globaltoronto.com/search/Week+Contest+Winner/1310621/story.html) that made the front page of the Toronto Star, coincidentally on the same day that the first Black president also made history. You can read the full text of the report of Shirlee’s talk as it appears in the Dunnville Chronicle article, “From Slavery to Celebrity,” at:

http://www.dunnvillechronicle.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=2138848

How to Beat the Klan

EP and the GAM, Part II

Baha'u'llah's Principle of Elimination of Prejudice

By John Taylor; 2009 July 03, Rahmat 09, 166 BE

We are considering the Great Announcement to Mankind, the section of
the Proclamation where Baha'u'llah addresses the entire human race as
a body. It is telling that here, not in earlier Tablets addressed to
leaders, He establishes the principle of elimination of prejudice.
Perhaps this is because other Baha'i social principles, such as
universal peace and economic readjustment, begin in strong initiatives
from the center, by public officials and experts. Prejudice, though,
is so universal a condition that there is a severe limit to what
anybody, as opposed to everybody, can do to stop it. Baha'u'llah sees
leaders taking a back seat, restricting themselves to what later came
to be called consciousness raising.

"Please God, the peoples of the world may be led, as the result of the
high endeavours exerted by their rulers and the wise and learned
amongst men, to recognize their best interests." (Proclamation, 113)

Strong, extrinsic measures tend only to suppress other fundamental
human rights, such as equality or freedom of expression. The Great
Announcement to Mankind (GAM) takes a different, intrinsic approach by
calling upon the people as a whole to take the lion's share of the
responsibility for expunging prejudice upon themselves.

"O contending peoples and kindreds of the earth! Set your faces
towards unity, and let the radiance of its light shine upon you.
Gather ye together, and for the sake of God resolve to root out
whatever is the source of contention amongst you. Then will the
effulgence of the world's great Luminary envelop the whole earth, and
its inhabitants become the citizens of one city, and the occupants of
one and the same throne." (Proclamation, 114)

This is as specific as you can get with prejudice as a social problem,
simply make a resolution "to root out whatever is the source of
contention amongst you." This is wise, since as long as prejudice
prevails just about anything, no matter how niggling, becomes a bone
of contention. It is best to be aware of this and seek out the fire
producing all this smoke, prejudice.

Like a petulant child who cries at the slightest annoyance, the causes
of human strife have many outward expressions but usually can be
traced to one of only a few underlying problems. No matter what the
shouting seems to be about a toddler is usually either wet, tired,
sick or hungry. In the case of severe social contention, the "source
of contention" is an injustice invariably caused by some breed of
prejudice, be it racial, sexual, national, ethnic or one of any number
of other varieties. In order to stop the "contending peoples and
kindreds" from continuing in the same old faulty caterwauling,
Baha'u'llah offers a series of questions.

"How long will humanity persist in its waywardness? How long will
injustice continue? How long is chaos and confusion to reign amongst
men? How long will discord agitate the face of society?" (113)
The way ahead leads only to further misery. New, more stable
presuppositions are needed if the people are to stop the hatred from
feeding upon itself and spreading out of control, leading to the
ultimate impasse to reform, apathy and loss of hope.

"The winds of despair are, alas, blowing from every direction, and the
strife that divideth and afflicteth the human race is daily
increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be
discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appeareth to be lamentably
defective." (113)

Baha'u'llah later in the GAM points to the root cause of prejudice,
the first deadly sin, pride. Experts and ideologues have arrogated to
themselves the divine responsibility of the salvation of humanity, and
though they clearly have botched the job, they continue bungling,
anything but admit that they are helpless to stop the spread of the
disease.

"We can well perceive how the whole human race is encompassed with
great, with incalculable afflictions. We see it languishing on its bed
of sickness, sore-tried and disillusioned. They that are intoxicated
by self-conceit have interposed themselves between it and the Divine
and infallible Physician. Witness how they have entangled all men,
themselves included, in the mesh of their devices. They can neither
discover the cause of the disease, nor have they any knowledge of the
remedy. They have conceived the straight to be crooked, and have
imagined their friend an enemy." (116-117)

Baha'u'llah was a good Platonist in that He believed that virtue can
be taught, but here in addressing humanity as a body He also makes it
clear that ignorance and pride can spread even more quickly than
knowledge. Like a virus, which spreads unimpeded by normal biological
processes, prejudice is a kind of ignorance that bypasses the usual
requirement that a truth be rooted in reality.

In its essence, then, prejudice is a viral attack on heart and mind.
It resembles the HIV/AIDS virus in that it can attack from any
direction and transmute itself into a myriad forms, turning immune
defences on their ear. There are innumerable types of biases and their
expressions tend to be subtle, inchoate and shifting. Prejudice is
also like common cold viruses. The fact that we give one name to
similar set of symptoms does not mean that it comes from one source.
Colds are now known to arise from any of hundreds of different
viruses, each with different structure and characteristics.

In the same way we can come up with a thousand excuses to quit
investigating before the whole truth is fully grasped. The result of
every such abdication is a pre-judgement that, as it spreads, becomes
a prejudice. This is why prejudice is untouchable by the blunt
instrument of the law. Government legislation can inflict legal
sanctions to curtail blatant bigotry, but this only alleviates
symptoms in the latter stages of the disease. Outward measures do
nothing to halt the penetration of prejudice into hearts and minds.

Baha'u'llah then goes on to address perhaps the most prolific,
persistent and widespread variety of prejudice, that which grows
within and among religions. This has made the Middle East a more
severe and enduring cauldron of violence than anywhere else in the
world. Baha'u'llah begins by assuring all sides that an adequate
measure of truth is on their side,

"There can be no doubt whatever that the peoples of the world, of
whatever race or religion, derive their inspiration from one heavenly
Source, and are the subjects of one God. The difference between the
ordinances under which they abide should be attributed to the varying
requirements and exigencies of the age in which they were revealed.
All of them, except a few which are the outcome of human perversity,
were ordained of God, and are a reflection of His Will and Purpose."
(Proclamation, 114)

The very fact that so many people have found the truth of a major
religious tradition useful over many centuries is proof that each has
a sufficient measure of truth. There is no need to put others down in
order to legitimate our own heritage. Since iconoclastic leanings are
central to every monotheist faith, each believer has a central duty to
break apart the real idols of this age, the 'isms and ideologies that
take the place of independent thought. This is the critical initiative
is what God is calling every one of us to take.

"Arise and, armed with the power of faith, shatter to pieces the gods
of your vain imaginings, the sowers of dissension amongst you. Cleave
unto that which draweth you together and uniteth you. This, verily, is
the most exalted Word which the Mother Book hath sent down and
revealed unto you. To this beareth witness the Tongue of Grandeur from
His habitation of glory." (Proclamation, 114)

While the relations between religion have shown themselves a prolific
breeding ground for this virus, Baha'u'llah also holds up hope that if
the world's religions take the initiative they can stand together for
the truth and the life that prejudice inherently denies. They can do
this by eliminating the negative, by purifying themselves of moral
turpitude,

"Beware lest the desires of the flesh and of a corrupt inclination
provoke divisions among you. Be ye as the fingers of one hand, the
members of one body. Thus counselleth you the Pen of Revelation, if ye
be of them that believe." (118)

And they can explode the virus by upholding the positive, by
testifying to the God of love, the bond of unity that takes hold on
whoever enter into the fundamentals of faith,

"This is the Day in which God's most excellent favours have been
poured out upon men, the Day in which His most mighty grace hath been
infused into all created things. It is incumbent upon all the peoples
of the world to reconcile their differences, and, with perfect unity
and peace, abide beneath the shadow of the Tree of His care and
loving-kindness." (Proclamation, 121)

John Taylor

email: badijet@gmail.com
blog: http://badiblog.blogspot.com/

::

Comenius and Elimination of Prejudice

Awareness, Laziness and the Removal of Prejudice

By John Taylor; 2009 June 19, Nur 13, 166 BE

The sixth chapter of Panorthosia is about how to remove barriers to reform. The sub-title sets up the task of "first and foremost ... ridding our minds of stupidity, careless prejudice, and obstinacy." Comenius held that we can remove all three, stupidity, prejudice and obstinacy, by admitting our mistakes and returning to the point where we erred. Last essay, we discussed his ideas on how to apply this "principle of return" to get around obstinacy. Another major barrier to reform is what he calls "stupidity." Stupidity is the result of confusion, which is mostly the effect of disunity.

Like Baha'is, Comenius believed that we should value unity as something divine, as an end in itself. We get past errors by rejecting mere opinion and coming to grips with truth, by going "from conflicting pursuits and fighting" to "love of common welfare to peace and concord." (Panorthosia II, Ch. 6, para 12, p. 102) Like sheep cut off from the flock, we are miserable unless we are aware of the whole human race. To stand alone is not to be in our element. "Let us return, therefore, from confusion through simplicity to unity..." (Ch 6, para 12, p. 102) Recent studies on happiness have confirmed that human happiness cannot come about when we feel alone. Happiness is a product of meaningful connection with others, a sense that we are doing good to those we love. Thus the return is a return to our own justice, the place where we observe and learn how best to serve.

Unfortunately, ignorance is widespread, then as now.

"No one can possibly be unaware of the stupidity of the general public concerning their environment and all that is happening in it. Most people are profoundly ignorant of God, the world, themselves, and everything, and those who know something about them have no more than a superficial knowledge, and do not take trouble to probe them further or to attend to distinctions of true and false, good and evil." (Panorthosia II, Ch. 6, para 4, p. 100)

A natural response is to despair, to give up on humanity and just try to survive on our own. Mixed in with this is simple laziness. It always seems easier just to sit back and accept shadows as reality.

"So long as this indolence fetters the sense of men, it is vain for us to conceive any hope of Universal Reform. For what reform would we expect of the man who is not even aware of corruption and the necessity for reform? But this is the ignorance of the man who does not know the ideal and perfect state of affairs which has been left behind. Therefore if we propose to persuade men to concern themselves with reform, we must first rouse them from their slumber." (Panorthosia, p. 100)

As Comenius put it in an earlier work, "He who knows not that he is ill cannot heal himself." (Great Didactic, quoted in Daniel Murphy Daniel, Comenius, A Critical Reassessment, p. 261) Once we do recognize our need for change, the next step is to increase awareness, and then sort through what this open-mindedness discovers in what we now would call a scientific spirit.

"It is therefore in the common interest to adopt a different attitude, for example,

1. we should all pay more attention to everything, so that each of us is able to apply the test of reason to our doubts and our judgements on every single subject;

2. we should prove all things and hold fast that which is good, which is the advice given by God Himself in I Thessalonians 5:21,

3. whenever it is recognised that we have gone astray, everyone should be ready to exchange error for truth." (Ch. 6, para 7, pp. 101)

This is especially significant when we recall Comenius's position that everything we know arises from the senses, that all knowledge is a projection of what the senses perceive. This was in contrast with Rene Descartes, who held that mind and body are entirely separate, independent entities. On one occasion Comenius met with Descartes personally and discussed this with him. It is interesting that in the study of the brain, their disagreement lives on to this day. Very recent studies have swung the pendulum in Comenius's direction by showing how important physical motions, gesticulations and gesture are to how we all speak, remember and reason.

Unlike later empiricists, though, Comenius saw sense perception not as the be all and end all, but as a tool for getting at the light. Once we all stand in the daylight, everything will change. If we all become receptive to the light our common vision will surely disperse our former darkness and collective ignorance. The method for doing this is,

"By persuading all who have been admitted into God's theatres equipped with eyes, ears, and other senses, to take a lively interest in everything, to review things for themselves and get to know them anew, and so to imbue their minds with universal light. If this desire for mental light is aroused, the first and most obvious obstacle, mental darkness, will at once be removed, and the ways and means of doing so have been investigated in my 'Universal Education'." (Ch. 6, para 4, p. 100)

John Taylor

email: badijet@gmail.com

blog: http://badiblog.blogspot.com/

How Prejudice Works

Comenius on How Prejudice Works

By John Taylor; 2009 June 08, Nur 04, 166 BE

In our collective childhood, an illiterate majority was forced to act for limited ends. Slavery was prevalent, and prejudice was not a prominent concern, unless it served the interests of the elite. Now that freedom and education are approaching universality, however, the few have learned to use persuasion, artificial prejudice as it were, in the mass media to cajole and manipulate the majority into compliance with similarly limited purposes. Comenius wrote Universal Reform (Panorthosia) as an exploration of how we might go about affecting change for universal ends, reform in the interest of all.

As we have seen, Comenius devotes the entire sixth chapter of Universal Reform to how to remove "hindrance to reform." He starts off saying that our most serious obstacles are mental blocks, the stupidity, "careless prejudice" and obstinacy at the "true root of all corruption." These "bind us from within" and "render us incapable of undertaking any reform whatsoever." (Panorthosia II, Ch. 6, para 1, p. 99) This inertia confronting us affects everything, from social cohesion, to thought, to our very goodness.

"For we have indeed gone astray I. from unity, through countless opportunities leading to countless confusions, II. from Truth, through countless opinions leading to countless errors, III. from Goodness, through countless temptations leading to countless particular deadly desires and pursuits."(Comenius, Panorthosia II, Ch. 6, para 11, p. 102)

The key to removing prejudice is, as we have seen earlier in this series, the principle of purification. Just as our bodies need clean air and water in order to be healthy, mind and soul require pure sustenance too. Various kinds of pollution cause the bad attitudes, obstinacy, apathy and passive resistance that block change for the better.

"The first solid beginning of reform would be like the removal of all the mud of indifference, prejudice and wicked obstinacy from the springs of the senses, the fountain of understanding, and the outflow of the will, so that the rivulets of attention, judgment and ready inclination towards every improvement begin to flow forth in greater purity for the benefit of all."(Comenius, Panorthosia II, Ch. 6, para 16, p. 103)

Comenius understood that three faculties, sense, understanding, and volition must be fully involved in order for willed, conscious action to take place. We need to pay conscious attention, have the right attitude and judge aright what to do; in the words of Baha'u'llah, "Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements." (Proclamation, 116) Our concern and resolve to act are systematically dissipated by bad habits, which we can only counteract with systematic countermeasures.

"Three factors contribute to this habit of inwardly accepting the evils into which we have fallen, namely: I. carelessness and stupidity; II. prejudice concerning the true and the good already possessed; thence producing indifference; III. lastly, the most pernicious jealousy for one's own affairs and hatred for those of others. These three hindrances must be completely removed and replaced by their direct opposites, namely I. urgent attention to all current affairs; II anxious concern for truer knowledge of affairs; III. readiness and enthusiasm to adopt improvements." (Comenius, Panorthosia II, Ch. 6, para 3, pp. 99-100)

In spite of our increased sophistication in this age of education, we still, each and all, need to fulfill these three conditions, attention, concern and readiness, if we are to push aside the prejudices that block an active response to the "needs of the age." As mentioned at the beginning, these three faculties, which should be the foundation of freedom, are instead being systematically suppressed and redirected by commercialism and ideology. However, there is nothing stopping us from purifying self by removing prejudice in our own thought, and in the public forum by placing the elimination of prejudice at the top of the public agenda.

John Taylor

email: badijet@gmail.com
blog: http://badiblog.blogspot.com/

::

An Assembly Line for the Elimination of Prejudice

Suggestions for Eliminating Prejudice and Corruption

By John Taylor; 2009 June 02, Azamat 16, 166 BE

From my study of Comenius I have learned at least two new things about the disease of prejudice. First, that prejudice on the individual level leads directly to corruption on the collective level. Second, that prejudice always hides behind hypocrisy.

Hypocrisy, which comes from the Greek word for "acting," is a defence mechanism that substitutes pretence for a neglected inner reality. In religion, its symbol is the idol, a sham that we set up as a substitute for God.

"It will be necessary for you to be reformed truly and seriously, so that all these changes in you are real and practical things, not shadows without substance. It is a mistake for men to wish to give the appearance of reform according to God's will without working towards the reality of it. Certainly hypocrites and idols, which are an abomination in the sight of God, must be destroyed forthwith and have no place under Heaven. The tables of the testimony which Moses carried down from the mount in his hand were written on both their sides, and they were the work of the Lord (Exodus xxxii, 15, 16). As a reformed Christian, you must be this kind of tablet, graven within and without, that is, presenting the same kind of front whether to yourself or to others, such as God and your neighbour, made in every detail by the work of God, which means truly. For God is truth, and the works of God are all done in truth." (Panorthosia, Ch. 20, para 20, p. 27)

God is truth and his works are done in truth, which is to say that all true reform begins in a sincere desire to remove all prejudices. Whether social change leads to good or evil depends upon this sincerity. How long our reforms will last also depends upon sincerity.

This recalls my first lesson from Comenius.

To say that a government, a religion or a scientific organization is corrupt is the same as saying that many individuals in these groups are subject to prejudice. The most effective way to remove corruption, then, is to be systematic and efficient about the removal of prejudices. This starts with careful self-examination of the self, and continues through every stage of reform.

In the 19th chapter of Panorthosia Comenius suggests posing at each of three stages of reform a question designed to uproot corruption by testing its prejudicial presuppositions.

==========

I. What corrupting forces are at work there ruining that stage, and how can they be stopped? (In other words, what defects or excesses and transgressions have marred its existence and still debase it, and how can they be wiped out?).

II. Then what forces must replace them to restore each stage and reform its corruption?

III. What action must be taken to establish each separate stage once it is restored, so that it cannot easily fall into disorder, and deteriorate again?" (Ch. 19, para 18, p. 17)

==========

While such testing is essential to implementing reform, it is also important to avoid on the one hand impugning the sincerity of others before testing our own, and on the other neglecting the social responsibility to remove prejudice by allowing inefficiency and duplication of effort.

"But who will manage to remove prejudices? No-one thinks that he is prejudiced, and all men think that their judgement of affairs is sound. The answer lies in my salutary recommendation that a systematic collection of all the facts of human knowledge should be begun, so that all men start their investigations from a common point where we cannot tear ourselves away from the common light of the human mind, even if we wished to, and from there we would gradually be uplifted until an end was found to our disagreements. This will inevitably depend upon our knowing the right way to establish Universal Wisdom. (Panorthosia II, Ch. 8, para 32, p. 122)

This shows the influence of Frances Bacon. In Panorthosia, Comenius fully endorses Bacon's recent proposal to collect errors and superstitions into a single, integrated library or database. Once a fallacy has been debunked once, Bacon thought, we should see to it that we do not have to constantly repeat that labour every time an error raises its head again in a new guise. The refutation for each popular superstition or misconception must be given broad exposure in the public eye.

Their suggested project to expunge prejudice was partly implemented by the Royal Society and its development later into what we now call science. Eventually, free, compulsory public education has spread to almost all countries in the world. However it was not universal in the Comenian sense until the Internet and World Wide Web were invented.

Even now, many worry that the Net is propagating as much as eliminating superstitions, crackpot theories and wrongheaded causes. It may yet be decades before everybody on earth is in a position to "start their investigations from a single point."

As a lawyer, though, Bacon believed that to remove unproven, false or harmful ideas is as easy as promulgating a law. As a teacher and school principal, though, Comenius was well aware that this would be far from sufficient. The only way, then, to purify society from corruption and prejudice would be to incorporate their removal into a comprehensive, positive curriculum of research and reform, since "truth must be taught before errors are untaught." (Ch. 18, para 16, p. 246) This is because it is not so much errors in fact that keep us back as it is prejudicial habits that gradually, throughout childhood, became second nature. Once we regard an idea as innate and natural we defend it, right or wrong, as we do our own lives. Once the weed takes root it takes tremendous energy to uproot it.

"Then certain difficulties must be removed, such as habit which has perhaps developed into a natural characteristic. One must show that this can be conquered by a contrasting habit, provided that we begin by destroying the former one." (Ch. 18, para 16, p. 245)

::

About a movie about the father of a Baha'i

The Barber's Diaries

Charles Ellis was the founder of a remarkable family. Barney Leith writes about Charles’ daughter, Wilma: 

“Wilma’s penetrating wit and intelligence make her a spiritually uplifting person to know and converse with. Amongst her many other qualities and accomplishments, her years of service at senior levels to the Baha’i Faith, including her time as the Baha’i International Community’s representative to the UN, are, I am sure, a reflection of the spiritual and intellectual quality of her heritage."

One viewer comments:

"This is an extraordinary and inspiring story - and the film deserves to be made. Actually, it needs to be made. The story of a man who adhered to principle when his life might have been more comfortable if he had not done so is a necessary antidote to the money-grubbing greed of those who have brought the world's economy to its knees. We need more people like Charles Everett Ellis."

Day After Day of Covenant

The Day After the Day of the Covenant

By John Taylor; 2008 Nov 26, 4 Qawl 165 BE



Since it is the Day of the Covenant, today let us talk about the covenant. Okay, maybe that is a little ambitious. Covenant is a huge subject, the distinguishing feature of the Baha'i Faith; it pervades just about everything we think, read, write and do. Let me restrict myself today to what is new, to what I have learned about covenant lately. If we take "lately" to mean the past five years, in that time I have come to realize that covenant is, along with other things, a spiritual principle. Yes, it is a practical and administrative principle, but more than anything it can and should be classified along with oneness of God, power of the Holy Spirit and love as a primal spiritual phenomenon.



I have learned quite a bit about how covenant is unique, and how it is not. We all know the difference between the lesser and the greater covenant, that one refers to the Baha'i Faith especially, and the other to all Faiths, both past and future. But beyond that, there are features to the covenant that I used to think are unique to Baha'i, but they are not. For example, plastered on the back of one of our prayer books is the stern verse from the Aqdas,



"Recite ye the verses of God every morn and eventide. Whoso faileth to recite them hath not been faithful to the covenant of God and His testament, and whoso turneth away from these holy verses in this Day is of those who, throughout eternity have turned away from God. Fear ye God, O my servants, one and all."



What I have learned is that although the strength and centrality of this teaching may be unique to Baha'u'llah's Teaching, other religions, Christianity and Judaism in particular, treat daily reading as a necessary discipline -- this is evident, for instance, in the chapter on family in Comenius's Panorthosia that I have been going through on this blog during the past couple of months. And although it sounds strange to invoke the secular quasi-religion of the self-help movement, these advisors have observed that successful people inevitably start their day with a half-hour of reading some important text in their trade or profession. They counsel ambitious readers to do the same in their daily routine. Of course, there is no reason that a Baha'i cannot do both, read from the Writings, then read something from their own studies. In fact I did that for many years and was often struck by the coincidental insights gained by comparing the two sources of knowledge one after the other.



One of my major interests is history, and I have come to at least one new realization about the background of the covenant in general, and the history of the Day of the Covenant in particular. Here is how it happened. This summer I was listening to a professor of American history discuss his book about early African American Baha'is. Although it was very well done, I went away with a vague feeling that he had been doing the Master an injustice somehow. I could not put my finger on it until later. I saw that when somebody writes a comprehensive history of the Master's travels in America ("239 Days" does not pretend to be such, it is little more than a collection of anecdotes), they will have to put tremendous emphasis on a certain event that, I suddenly realized, has been all but ignored. I am talking about the title of this blog entry,



"The Day After the Day of the Covenant."



This day after event is told briefly in Mahmud's Diary, how Jim Crow kept the African Americans out of the formal banquet in a snooty hotel, and how the White Baha'is on their own initiative decided to hold a meeting the next day for the Blacks who had to miss it, where they personally served them their food. I will include the full text of Mahmoud's account at the end of this post. I now see that this meeting after the covenant banquet merits much more attention than we have been giving it. If anything we treat it like a footnote to a footnote, but now I see that it was one of the brightest highlights of the Master's visit, if not (in view of how important covenant was in the eyes of the Master -- see the Tablet about the Covenant that He had published earlier on that year in the Star of the West, 13 July, 1912, which is enclosed at the end of today's blog entry) the very climactic event of the trip to America. We have a photo of the formal, Whitey-only affair, a poor reproduction of which I have posted at:



http://badiblog.blogspot.com/2008/11/day-of-the-covenant.html



I often think about how this second banquet came about.



The Master had the option to cancel that first, formal banquet in the hotel completely. He probably could have found a place where all races are allowed, though hardly such a posh venue. It would not have been the first time He made such a stand on principle. But no, He let it happen, and left it up to the White believers to right the balance. He wanted Whites to take the extra step, to go beyond staid complacently and make an effort to right the balance of inequality. This is very significant, and very telling about what the Covenant is meant to be teaching us.



Nobody that I know of took a picture of the Whites serving the Blacks -- probably the lightest of several darker reasons that the event is so obscure and often overlooked. Baha'i artists, here is your chance, draw a painting of how you imagine this event might have looked. Or better still, why not have a re-enactment? Let us face it, it was probably all White ladies who did the serving of African Americans at the banquet, so why not wipe out all tinges of sexism as well as racism and have a banquet where white men serve everybody else, non-white men, and all women and children? Speaking as a white man myself, in view of the harm our arrogance in ascendency has done in the world, this would be the very least we could do...



I have a lot more to say on this, but for today I cannot resist giving the last word to the Master Himself. Maybe I will have the rest of my say in the upcoming essay on the Ascension of Abdu'l-Baha.



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Enclosures



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Covenant Banquet, and the Day After



Tablet on the Covenant



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Covenant Banquet



from Mahmud's Diary, pp. 405-407



Saturday, November 23, 1912 [New York]



The friends arranged a banquet in commemoration of the Day of the Covenant and the journey of the beloved of all hearts. Today many came to the Master with bouquets of flowers in their hands. The banquet was held in the ballroom of New York's Grand Northern Hotel. The hall was decorated similarly to that in Washington with festoons, banners, ornaments and exquisite screens, with the Greatest Name suspended above all on the stage in its customary calligraphy.



In the center of the ballroom were two rectangular tables, between which was another large table exquisitely set. Around these tables on both sides were placed small circular tables bedecked with colorful flowers, a variety of sweets and crystal glassware. The electric lighting reflected the glassware and caused the whole room to shine brilliantly. More than three hundred guests, formally attired, attended. Several friends and specifically Miss Lali Lloyd served at the banquet.



When the Master appeared, all rose from their seats and with smiling faces cried out, 'Allah-u-Abha!' Many of the hotel guests saw the banquet and were astonished to see the grandeur of the Master and the sincerity and enthusiasm of the friends. After the Master took His seat, Mr Hoar, on behalf of the Baha'is, read an address of welcome expressing obedience and firmness in the Covenant. The Master rose and responded with an address about the divine teachings and the oneness of humanity. He then walked around the tables and perfumed the heads and faces of the friends with attar of rose. When He returned to His chair, the friends, accompanied by the piano, sang songs of praise to Him.



Later the Master spoke about the wars and massacres of the nations and the need for the teachings of the Greatest Name. He encouraged all towards peace, harmony and sincere love for all the people of the world. After His talk, the Consul General, Mr Topakyan, and others gave short speeches praising 'Abdu'l-Baha.



This evening's banquet was so grand that the hotel staff were curious to know about the Cause. They came to see the Master to ask about the banquet and why so many distinguished Americans were praising and glorifying a person from the East. Indeed, it was a banquet for a king and a source of awakening to every person of insight.



Two photographs were taken with a good quality glass and special lighting. Although the photographs do not show the entire group, they tell much about the banquet.



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The Day After



Sunday, November 24, 1912 [New York]



A gathering of black Baha'is was held at the home of Mrs Kinney. They had been invited by the New York Baha'is to attend the banquet of the Covenant but when the proprietor of the hotel heard about it, he was not pleased. The more the friends endeavored to persuade him, the more vehement was his refusal. He said, 'If the people see that one colored person has entered my hotel, no respectable person will ever set foot in it and my business will go to the winds.' Such is the depth of prejudice between blacks and whites. Since it was impossible to invite the black Baha'is to the banquet, the friends arranged today's feast for their black brothers. Many white women came forward to serve their black guests, showering them with love. The Master approved of this meeting very much and He said:



Today you have carried out the laws of the Blessed Beauty and have truly acted according to the teachings of the Supreme Pen. Behold what an influence and effect the words of Baha'u'llah have had upon the hearts, that hating and shunning have been forgotten and that prejudices have been obliterated to such an extent that you arose to serve one another with great sincerity.



The Master's words made a great impression. The meeting embodied the grandeur of the Covenant and demonstrated the power and influence of the Cause in uniting, in sincerity and love, two races of humanity.



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Tablet on the Covenant



from: Star of the West, Vol. 3, No. 7, p. 16, July 13, 1912



Star of the West editor's note: The time has come when the Baha'is of the West should understand what is intended by "The Center of the Covenant," therefore we are pleased to publish in this issue the article from the pen of Charles Mason Remey, "`Abdu-l-Baha, the Center of the Covenant." A tablet regarding this important subject was recently revealed by `Abdu'l-Baha through Mr. Remey. We publish it herewith:



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To his honor Mr. Remey.



Upon him be Baha'u'llah-el-Abha!



O thou who art firm in the Covenant! Thy letter was received and I was informed of its contents. Explain the matter according to the following Teachings, and do not add one word thereto:



His Holiness Abraham -- Upon him be Peace! -- took the Covenant of His Holiness Moses and gave the glad tidings of His appearance. His Holiness Moses took the Covenant of the Promised One, His Holiness the Christ, and gladdened the world with the glad tidings of His Manifestation. His Holiness the Christ took the Covenant of the "Paraclete" which means His Holiness Mohammed and announced the glad tidings of His Appearance. His Holiness Mohammed took the Covenant of His Holiness the Bab, and the Bab was the Promised One of His Holiness Mohammed, for He gave the good news of His Coming. His Holiness the Blessed Perfection Bahaullah WAS the Promised One of His Holiness the Bab. The Blessed Perfection has prophesied of the coming of a Promised One after one thousand years, or after thousands of years. That Personage is the Promised One of the Blessed Perfection, and He will appear after one thousand years or after thousands of years. Likewise with the trace of the Supreme Pen He has taken a great Covenant and Testament from all the Baha'is that after His Departure they must obey the Center of the Covenant and must not deviate one hair's breadth from obedience to him. He has commanded in the most explicit term in two instances in the Book of Akdas and He has appointed most unmistakably the interpreter of the Book.



In all the Tablets, especially the chapter of "Branch," whose meanings are all Abdu'l-Baha, that is, "the Servant of Baha," everything that is necessary as revealed from the Supreme Pen. As Abdu'l-Baha is the interpreter of the Book, he says that the chapter of "Branch" means Abdul-Baha, it refers to the servitude of Abdu'l-Baha and nothing else.



In brief, one of the special favors of this dispensation of His Holiness Baha'u'llah which is not seen in past Manifestations is this that He has left no place for difference. For in His own Day, with the Trace of His own Supreme Pen He has taken a Covenant and a Testament. He has pointed to the one who should be looked upon as authority by all, He has shown the interpreter of the Book and has closed the doors of outside interpretation.



Everyone should thank God that in this Blessed Cause He has tranquilized all and has left no place for hesitation. Therefore obedience and submission must be shown and the face turned completely to him (the Center of the Covenant)



Restrict discussion to this and do not exceed thereto, so that it may become the cause of fellowship and the remover of differences.



UPON THEE BE BAHA EL ABHA!



(SIGNED) ABDUL BAHA ABBAS.



Translated by M. Ahmad Sohrab, Montclair



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John Taylor



email: badijet@gmail.com



blog: http://badiblog.blogspot.com/



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