Plan Midway Conference

Last Weekend's Five Year Plan Midway Conference

By John Taylor; 2009 Jan 14, 15 Sharaf, 165 BE

Let me try briefly to sum up my impressions, lessons learned and suggestions from the meetings in the Toronto Congress Centre last weekend.

The regional conference was one of a few dozen called by the UHJ in order to galvanize the believers to fill the goals. In this case it was Bermuda and Eastern Canada who have to make a supreme effort to meet the mid-plan goal of bringing the number of "A" clusters with IPG's (intensive programs of growth) from 23 to 33 by Ridvan. For full details, consult the UHJ's letter, which I have posted at:

http://badiblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/uhj-10-january-missive-to-regional.html

In view of the Ridvan exigency, I was surprised that there was no effort to rouse the crowd into a frenzy of evangelical fervor. Typical Baha'is. Always rely on people's rationality and responsibility rather than indulge in that good old time religion's emotional arousal. There were not even "pep talks" to speak of, though I agree with my correspondent on this representative of the UHJ's rhetorical skills,

"I think Counsellor Birkland is the best Baha'i speaker I've heard in years. He really made it for me this past weekend."

Mr. Birkland (I call him "Mr." because the UHJ has said that we should not use these services as titles or honorifics -- he signs his letters "Stephen Birkland, Member, Continental Board of etc.") spoke early enough in the morning for me to be fairly alert. Although I was as shaken and stirred as any by what he said, I noted that his inspirational quality came from simply telling stories straight out of the history of the Cause. For example, he told the life story of Ali Kuli Khan in some detail, especially how he met the Master (cf. Marzieh Gail, Dawn over Mount Hera, 193-202).

When he met the Master, Khan fainted dead away. Then he was immediately asked to translate some papers from Arabic to English. Khan objected that he did not speak a word of Arabic. Abdu'l-Baha took up some sweets and said, "Eat these," and of course he miraculously was given the ability to understand and translate that difficult language (foreign service language qualifications reserve a full five years to learn Arabic or Chinese, which puts them among the least learner friendly languages in the world). Gail translates the stuff he ate as "candy," but I think Birkland used the original word, "ghand" or "nabat," which is just the rock sugar that Persians serve with their tea. There is always a bowl of it right next to your teacup. Through the rest of the weekend "nabat" became a byword in our consultations for the miraculous confirmations that we expect from our arising to serve.

In the consultation breakout section on Sunday I was assigned to Niagara Cluster's group. There I suggested that we have coordinated meetings every weekend in at least one of their 11 LSA areas until Ridvan. I pointed out that there are many free services from Google that could help with such a framework for planning, such as their dynamic calendar service. I posted on this blog a YouTube video explaining just how to apply this free service here:

http://badiblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/instructions-on-how-to-use-google.html

In its letter to the conference the House wrote:

"We mark ... the evidences of a blossoming confidence among the friends. How numerous the accounts that attest to the transformation of the timid venturer into the assured practitioner of the Plan's instruments!"

Not all of have become assured practitioners, I can tell you. Me for example.

I admire how the House outlined the weekend's schedule with almost minimalist simplicity. Clearly, virtually the same program is being used everywhere in the world. But let me reiterate what I have often said, if we want to succeed we must use high technology. God has given it to us, why not take advantage? Consider the words the Master wrote after talking about the lesson of the Titanic to rely first on God. Trust Him, He in effect says, but tie your camel too.

"Let no one imagine that these words imply that man should not be thorough and careful in his undertakings. God has endowed man with intelligence so that he may safeguard and protect himself. Therefore, he must provide and surround himself with all that scientific skill can produce. He must be deliberate, thoughtful and thorough in his purposes, build the best ship and provide the most experienced captain; yet, withal, let him rely upon God and consider God as the one Keeper. If God protects, nothing can imperil man's safety; and if it be not His will to safeguard, no amount of preparation and precaution will avail." (Promulgation, 48)

As for the cycle of propagation, consolidation and reflection that we are becoming "practitioners" at, I ran across the following description of the cycle from over three centuries ago,

"It is clearly necessary that those who are to be converted should first be prepared and conditioned for conversion, then converted, and finally confirmed in their conversion." (Comenius, Panorthosia, Ch. 18, para 16, p. 245)

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Recent direct posts to the Badi Blog:

An Esperanto Lullaby

http://badiblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/lulkanto-en-esperanto.html

A human interest news report that the blog Cute Overload calls "smarmy" but which had my wife Marie in tears all the way through it:

http://badiblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/animal-odd-couple.html

My initial report of last weekend's meeting:

http://badiblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/huge-bahai-conference.html

Promo for a recent film with a Baha'i angle:

http://badiblog.blogspot.com/2009/01/charles-ellis-was-founder-of-remarkable.html 

--
John Taylor

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

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Instructions on how to use Google Calendar

Here is one of many videos available on Youtube showing how to use Google Calendar. 

It never ceases to amaze me how little my fellow believers take advantage of the technological means available to us. This service is free and can be used to coordinate our response to the UHJ's call for intensive, coordinated action in goal clusters. The password can be distributed to hosts of meetings so that last minute changes will be instantly registered to all concerned.

As a friend commented after the conference, 

"At last I understand what people are talking about when they speak of clusters.

God has us by the clusters and we have no choice but act quickly."

UHJ 10 January Missive to Regional Conference

Since I do not see a freely available copy of this letter on the Web yet, here it is. I will refer to it in today's blog essay.

THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE

10 January 2009

To the Friends gathered at the two Regional Conferences in Canada

With exultant hearts we hail the followers of Baha'u'llah assembled at the conferences convened in the Dominion of Canada. As you survey the progress of the Cause throughout this vast land, you may justly celebrate a substantial rise in the capacity of the Canadian believers to sustain growth. 

In the vanguard of this development—and we rejoice to see it—are the youth. Their zeal for sharing the glad-tidings of God's new Revelation is one of the most impressive expressions of your collective efforts to exploit the framework for action that governs the operation of the Five Year Plan. We mark, too, the evidences of a blossoming confidence among the friends. How numerous the accounts that attest to the transformation of the timid venturer into the assured practitioner of the Plan's instruments! 

By reaching out in your neighbourhoods, you have embraced many souls from divers backgrounds previously unrepresented in your midst. For proof of your region's marked progress in advancing the process of entry by troops, look no further than the clusters wherein both conferences are located, to which the friends come to observe the processes of growth that nurture a vibrant pattern of community life. All this augurs well.

There are 23 clusters in Canada where the conditions for launching an intensive programme of growth have already been created. By Ridvan 2009, this total must increase to 33, and beyond this, you must urgently turn your attention to the clusters that are required to join them before the Plan's end. Ultimately, success will depend upon the extent to which a more profound understanding of the dynamics of the Plan can permeate the entire community and the degree to which new declarants are welcomed into the embrace of a vigorous institute process. 

The believers from Bermuda, who also bring their enthusiasm to the conference in Toronto, will no doubt be eager to absorb the lessons that have been learned in Canada with a view to applying them to their own circumstances. Indeed, everyone in attendance at each event might profitably do the same. 

Let not the clamour of a confused and distracted world deter you from contributing your uttermost to this spiritual enterprise. Let a power be released at these conferences that will inspire you, galvanize you, and elicit a quality of response and an intensity of action unprecedented in the history of your region. We earnestly entreat the Ancient Beauty that He may fortify you all as you strive to awaken souls to the dawning of His light.

(Signed) Universal House of Justice 

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Lulkanto en esperanto

I am finding this group Kajto pretty addictive, especially this lullaby, called Dormu Milde.

Animal odd couple

Huge Baha'i Conference

TUESDAY, JANUARY 13, 2009

Toronto Regional Conference

Last weekend Ron Speer, Peter Gardner and I shared a hotel room while we attended the big Toronto Baha'i Regional Conference at the Toronto Congress Centre. Unfortunately, our room was in the smoking part of the hotel and I am still trying to overcome the migraines and other problems caused by the lingering smoke of past residents.

I have been disappointed to see how little is to be found reporting the Regional Conference, no news reports are in evidence and nothing is turning up in the blogosphere. A Baha'i just wrote me these comments, so I will cite what she had to say,

"I'm so glad I went. Initially, I did not intend to go as I'm not a huge fan of crowds of people (I'm slightly claustrophobic) but at our last Feast, we studied the Oct 20 letter from the House of Justice FOR TWO HOURS (surprised the daylights out of all of us) and all of us got fired up, so that 6 of the 8 people in our community (the ones at the Feast) immediately registered.  I'm very grateful I was there, especially as I think Counsellor Birkland is the best Baha'i speaker I've heard in years. He really made it for me this past weekend.  Plus, I saw old friends from Toronto, Ottawa area and Newfoundland that I had not seen in years."

I wanted to share my photos here but our dedicated computer that deals with that is down. Maybe some of my readers would like to share their comments and experiences and pictures with this blog. For heaven's sake, we will have more publicity for our fireside tonight in tiny Dunnville than I have seen for a conference of four thousand five hundred believers in the media centre of Canada.

--
John Taylor

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

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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."

The Three Guardians, UP Part I

Comenius and the Principle of Universal Peace

By John Taylor; 2009 Jan 13, 14 Sharaf, 165 BE

Part I; The Three Guardians of the Age of Happiness

Preface

Comenius was among the first to perceive that humanity is at a turning point where the promise of bliss is no longer a long shot hope of future bliss in heaven. The Kingdom, that is, a firm peace upheld by a world government, is practicable, but only if we make an effort.

Comenius has been called a utopian thinker, but his utopianism comes from straight from the Bible. It and indeed all holy books are inherently utopian, promising heaven and a future peace. This makes all believers and theists implicit utopians. For example, the Sermon on the Mount declares:

"Blessed are the peacemakers, for they shall be called the children of God." (Matt 5:9, KJV)

Similarly, the Qur'an says,

"And the servants of (God) Most Gracious are those who walk on the earth in humility, and when the ignorant address them, they say, `Peace!'" (Q25:63, Yusuf)

The fact that peacemakers are the children and servants of God, and that their only enemy is ignorance, means that God clearly wants to confirm any effort we can muster to build permanent peace.

This is perhaps why, as we have seen, Comenius defines the entire profession of the politician as a specialist in peacemaking. As a result of this, his treatment of the two, politics and peace, cannot be artificially separated.

Universal Peace in the Panorthosia

The Panorthosia, Comenius's master work on universal reform, devotes four chapters especially to politics and peace. Chapter Fifteen outlines the three branches of his proposed future government of planet Earth. It is subtitled:

"Concerning the necessity of correctly establishing all our constitutions once they are correctly set up, by means of three supreme courts or tribunals as guardians of the Age of Happiness; and the form which these ought to take." (p. 216)

What a wonderful portrayal of the three branches of an institution that is destined to save the human race! Today so many are indoctrinated by nationalist propaganda to feel a chill of fear to hear the words "world government." How much more inviting "guardians of the Age of Happiness" sounds. Heaven on earth indeed.

The three "guardians of peace" are science, religion and politics. Each is tasked to focus on one aspect of the common good. And because they use education rather than propaganda, the programs they each set up will be like Comenius's proposed universal language in that they will be, as it were, "self-installing." Here is how he explains this in the Tenth Chapter,

"The last condition is that the Universal Good, based upon Universal Philosophy, Universal Religion and Universal Politics, should bring the end of all our desires under Heaven." (Panorthosia II, para 37, p. 167)

First of the three is the program run by the science ministry, which is concerned with establishing a philosophy or relation to knowledge that is universally compatible. The following explains why it is "self-installing,"

"This (universal good) will come to pass if true Philosophy kindles true light in the minds of men so that everyone has an inviolable share in it even in the absence of human books and suggestions, and lives in the light at every turn (in the three Books of God, Nature, Scripture, and the recesses of his Mind)..."

That is, when we are trained and competent in the basics of nature, the Word of God and our own psychology, we will flare out in our own brilliance. This is, in Baha'i terminology, what we call the principle of search for truth. Universal investigation by each and all of us will enable the individual to foster his own enlightenment while at the same time increasing the strength of the light that all see by. Next comes the court or tribunal of religion, and the educational program that it disseminates,

"... and if true Religion brings the Mind into true union with God, through which each and every one of us, regardless of external help and human learning, may walk uprightly before God and be filled with God, even now rejoicing in the joys of Heaven."

This Baha'u'llah in a famous quote calls One Common Faith. There is no sensible reason that religion cannot be like science in that it is part of the common heritage of humanity, and that its techniques cannot be part of the toolbox of every one of us. Everybody, even the atheist, has some kind of faith or view of our destiny in the universe, and insofar as it has truth there is no reason that we should not love and respect one another's search and be mutually supporting of one another's faith.

Finally comes the third branch, the tribunal of politics and peace. This is not restricted to the cessation of war. Interestingly, Comenius sees its establishment as coincident with the upholding of a universal standard of human rights, and perhaps even a ban, once and for all, on capital punishment.

"Lastly a perfect Political System should bring perfect Peace, so that summary powers to use the executioner's sword and the hangman's noose are abolished and no-one is at liberty to inflict savage and unjust treatment on his fellow-men."

The next chapter dealing with the proposed political institution is Chapter 17, subtitled, "The Universal Bond of Politics, The Dicastery of Peace." (p. 231) Chapter 24, "Political Reform," (p. 102) is concerned with details of how the institution will operate in a "panorthosic" way, and the 25th chapter, called, "The World Assembly Or Ecumenical Council," deals with the "Authority For Universal Reform." In upcoming essays in this part of the essay series I will be looking closer at Chapter 17.

--

John Taylor

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

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Payback, Forgiveness and Pure Money

Thoughts on Atwood's discussion of debt

By John Taylor; 2009 Jan 12, 13 Sharaf, 165 BE

While in Toronto this past weekend I finished Margaret Atwood's latest book on debt, Payback. The little scenario that she suggest in the following passage about forgiveness knocked me for a moral loop, especially after reading Comenius's definition of politics as peacemaking.

"Now take a deep breath, close your eyes, and try the following exercise in historical revisionism. It's the eleventh of September 2001. After two planes have flown into them, the Twin Towers have collapsed in billows of smoke and fire. Vengeful messages have been disseminated by al-Qaeda. The president of the United States goes on international television and says,

"`We have suffered a grievous loss -- a blow has been struck at us that was motivated by an obsessive desire to harm us. We realize that this was the work of a small group of fanatics. Other nations might bomb the stuffing out of the civilian population where those fanatics are at present located, but we recognize the futility of such an action. Nor will we accuse any bystander nation of having been involved. We realize that acts of vengeance recoil upon the heads we do not wish to perpetuate a chain reaction of revenge. Therefore we will forgive.'

"Just imagine the impact of taking such a position, not that there was a snowball's chance in Hell of this ever happening. Now imagine how much different the world would have been today if that position had in fact been taken. No ongoing Iraq war. No impasse in Afghanistan. And above all, no ballooning and ruinous and nation weakening and out-of-control big fat American debt." (Margaret Atwood, Payback, Debt and the Shadow Side of Wealth, Anansi, Toronto, 2008, pp. 160-161)

The job of politicians is to make peace. Instead the level of discourse sinks to that of an unsupervised schoolyard. Leaders have vengeful attitudes, which vent in infighting, bullying and squabbling while precious lives and trillions of dollars are wasted. Atwood, the novelist, portrays beautifully what might have been if only one man or one nation had seen it in their hearts to forgive the 9-11 atrocity. Instead they lashed back in hatred and revenge, perpetuating a blood feud that can only get worse before it gets better.

Thinking about this, I snagged the following quote from Baha'u'llah. I cannot resist bringing it up here again. "How often have things been simple and easy of accomplishment, and yet most men have been heedless, and busied themselves with that which wasteth their time!" (Epistle, 138) I should memorize that. Although it was written in reference to the language barrier, it certainly describes the problem of unforgiving, un-peaceful political leaders.

I think future historians will click their tongues in disapproval of how most North Americans waste their lives watching sports and idle, useless preoccupations while millions die of starvation and penury. At the same time the amount of money and knowledge has vastly increased, making a solution, in the words of Baha'u'llah, "simple and easy of accomplishment." And the worst of all are us men of North America. Our abdication of our sacred responsibility as world citizens degrades the public sphere and allows plutocrats and pollutocrats to do their will. In the meantime war and war spirit is spreading unchecked.

Another event last week primed me for appreciating what Atwood says here and throughout her book on debts and forgiveness.

For the past week I have been watching the second season of "Star Trek Enterprise" on DVD. Enterprise, for the non-trekkies out there, was the last series in Paramount Studio's Star Trek science fiction franchise. I used up every moment of my spare time absorbed in the Star Trek universe. This series was made not too long after the 9-11 attacks and the invasions prompted by them. I am an old Star Trek fan, missed most of the newer series after Star Trek TNG, when I gave up television completely.

One episode of this Enterprise series (set chronologically before the first Star Trek series) prepared me to appreciate Margaret Atwood's scenario above. It is called "Dawn" and is a clever rewrite of one of the oldest and most rerun episodes in the first Star Trek series (the Wiki article says that it resembles the 1985 movie Enemy Mine, but that probably ripped off the earlier Star Trek episode). It involved a staged battle in a rocky, desert planet between Captain Kirk and a rival captain of a lizard-like race called, as I recall, the Gorn. In it Kirk somehow scrabbles together sticks and powder and makes a blunderbuss that he uses to blow his opponent away.

The new series poses a similar situation where the engineer of the Enterprise, named Trip, is attacked in a shuttlecraft and stranded on a remote planet. His attacker is a member of an utterly antipathetic member of an unknown, hostile alien race, the Arkonians, has just discovered by the Enterprise. Neither officer understands the other's language -- unusual for Star Trek. Most species speak American accented English, even in the farthest reaches of the galaxy.

Anyway, the two enemies are stranded and must share and cooperate in order to repair their radio beacon and get rescued. Trip is captured and tied up by the alien, a formidable fighter. After some attempts at communicating with gestures, he escapes. A long fight ensues and after a hair-raising struggle Trip finally subdues him. He tries to establish communication so as to be rescued, but as repairs continue he has no option but to get help. He releases his prisoner in hopes of building enough trust to persuade him to cooperate. They both have to drag a beacon up a high mountain nearby in order to avoid interference.

But every time he is released, the suspicious prisoner immediately attacks him. They fight more, Trip wins, barely, and subdues him. Again he releases the opponent, they fight, he wins, barely, and subdues the alien, and so forth. Myself, I would have been worried at these close victories, but Trip takes an "is that all you got?" attitude to the confrontation.

The story is cleverly told, as I said, because there comes a point where the viewer thinks, what if I were in that situation? For me the situation is clear. I would just forget about making friends, kill the Arkonian and try to drag the beacon up the hill on my own. But Trip perseveres. His scrappy attitude finally gains respect and he cooperates. After much travail they succeed. The Arkonian does not have sweat glands and Trip saves his life as they wait to be rescued.

In the end the two are grudging friends, and relations between their races improve more in a day than the Vulcans had managed in a century. This is Star Trek at its best. Like Atwood's forgiveness scenario for President Bush, you think: "It is utterly fantastic but would it not be wonderful if such forgiveness and tolerance could happen? Imagine if our leaders were able to jack themselves up to this high moral plane! Imagine forgiving and even loving our enemies!" What a wonderful world that would be. Here is how Atwood introduces the above scenario in Payback,

"You may think that all of this forgiveness stuff is watery-eyed idealism of the clap-if-you-believe-in-fairies variety, but if the forgiveness is sincerely given and sincerely received -- both parts are admittedly difficult -- it does appear to have a liberating effect. As we've noted, the desire for revenge is a heavy chain, and revenge itself leads to a chain reaction. Forgiveness cuts the chain."

Imagine what a stance of forgiveness would have cost an American President after the 9-11 attack. He would have faced a flood of criticism from those unfamiliar with the admonition of Jesus to forgive wrongs done to us seven times seventy times (or, as Atwood puts it, less mathematically, forgive "as many times as it takes;" you know, like Trip did in Dawn... ).

But would the fear and sense of insecurity of Americans after the attack have been worse than it was, or better, if their leader forgave? If only they had had the discipline to shut down the ill feeling, prejudice and backbiting, I think they would have felt far safer in the long run. Consider the definition of security that Baha'u'llah gives in the Words of Wisdom,

"The essence of true safety is to observe silence, to look at the end of things and to renounce the world." (Tablets, 155)

And what about the crash of those precious markets that Bush put before everything else? What about the massive debt he ran up, and the frittering away of billions of dollars on military spending all these years? The fact is that this is no loss at all. Consider the following words of wisdom, defining what exactly wealth is:

"The essence of wealth is love for Me; whoso loveth Me is the possessor of all things, and he that loveth Me not is indeed of the poor and needy. This is that which the Finger of Glory and Splendour hath revealed."

Money, be it a dime or trillions of dollars, is not wealth unless it is somehow connected with the love of God. So, good riddance to all that filthy money. It was valueless anyway. We need to learn how to make pure money. So let us start by forgiving one another. Let us walk the paths of peace. Let us make what good we have into real wealth by loving our Creator and spending our all on the poor among our neighbours. That is the only way to cancel our real debt.

"The beginning of magnanimity is when man expendeth his wealth on himself, on his family and on the poor among his brethren in his Faith."

--
John Taylor

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

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20 things to do before you reach twenty

While Dad is away, the kids will play. I spent the weekend in Toronto, with 4500 other Baha'is, at the big UHJ conference. While I was gone, my fourteen year old daughter Silvie wrote the following whimsical list of things other pre-teens might aspire to do before they reach twenty years old.

 

 

20 (somewhat far fetched) things to do before you are twenty

 

GROW WINGS

 

BECOME KING/QUEEN

 

BE THE HERO YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO BE

 

FIND THE CURE TO INK-POISONING OR CANCER

 

BECOME A MILLIONAIRE (^_^)

 

TRAVEL THE WORLD (SWITZERLAND, CHINA, YORK...)

 

GO HANGGLIDING! (0.0)

 

STOP A BOMB FROM EXPLODING

 

LEARN THE NINJA ARTS/KUNG FU

 

PUBLISH YOUR OWN BOOK

 

STOP WORLD HUNGER

 

BECOME A WORLD RENOWNED SOMETHING

 

BE FIRST WOMAN/MAN ON MARS

 

KISS THE ONE YOU LOVE

 

GRADUATE (FROM DRIVING SCHOOL).

HAVE THE BEST BIRTHDAY EVER!

 

GRADUATE (FROM HIGHSCHOOL)

 

BECOME (YOUR NAME) WORLD FAMOUS POP STAR!

 

GET MARRIED (^_^)

 

REACH 20 YEARS OF AGE (^.^)

Comenian Peace

Comenius and the Principle of Universal Peace, Part I

By John Taylor; 2009 Jan 09, 10 Sharaf, 165 BE

Peace is the inevitable, natural goal and outcome of human nature and the nature of things. All creatures are happiest when they do what nature has prepared them to do. Pigs love to root in the mud for food. Cats are happiest doing catty things. Humans are happy when we learn, when we decide and when we act. This is only possible when there is peace.

Jan Amos Comenius taught that the purpose of politics is peace, and the purpose of peace is to inaugurate what he calls an Age of Happiness. The peace he envisions is one that we have to plan, deliberate upon and work out for ourselves, but that is just what we were made for. A do-it-yourself peace has to be far more fulfilling than one that falls in our laps. This Baha'u'llah said: "Blessed and happy is he that ariseth to promote the best interests of the peoples and kindreds of the earth." (Tablets, 167) To know, will and act together for the good of all sets in motion the machineries of joy. Even if we fail, even if the path leads through centuries of travail, it is worth it, for that is why we are here and what we are designed for.

Comenius sees an age of happiness coming out of a world order based upon the three main areas of human endeavour, science, religion and politics. Each of these is tied to the three faculties of knowing, willing and acting. All are basic to our makeup; we each have a deep need to learn, to worship and to serve. As a result of these three basic drives, we are happiest when we learn, worship and serve in the most universal ways possible. Specialists and experts in these three areas can take humanity closer to the age of happiness by competing with one another to be the most useful. This Comenius calls "holy rivalry,"

"When human affairs are so reformed that our Philosophy, Religion, and Politics are all truly universal, it will be the task of scholars to collect and purify essential truths and transplant them into the minds of men, of churchmen to attract men's souls away from the world in the direction of God, and of politicians to maintain peace and tranquillity everywhere, competing with each other, as it were, in holy rivalry to make an outstanding contribution in their respective spheres to the salvation of mankind." (Panorthosia, Ch. 15, para 1, p. 216)

I want to comment on what he says about the learned "transplanting" essential truths into the minds of men. Here we see the crucial difference between the Comenian peace program and the "isms" and ideologies of today. The dogmatist or ideologue uses propaganda to push a limited truth for limited ends. Here is a definition of propaganda that I found lately,

"Propaganda is the deliberate, systematic attempt to shape perceptions, manipulate cognitions, and direct behavior to achieve a response that furthers the desired intent of the propagandist." <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda>

Propaganda, then, treats humans as objects, as means to ends. The Comenian peace plan does not propagandize, it educates. It treats humans as ends in themselves. Such an educational goal is inimical to ideology, fundamentalism or dogma. Educators have higher, nobler objects. For example, here is a typical definition of education:

"The aim of education should be to teach us rather how to think, than what to think - rather to improve our minds, so as to enable us to think for ourselves, than to load the memory with thoughts of other men." (Bill Beattie)

Education, is like propaganda in that it spreads information. But it differs in that it does not manipulate. An educator informs (knowledge), encourages (will) and strengthens (action) the learner. Both teacher and learner abide in the faith that the nature of things will steer us away from error and in the right direction towards an age of happiness.

-- 

John Taylor

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

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Sea shanty sung in Esperanto

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More on the Definition of Faith

Attacked by a Webbot

By John Taylor; 2009 Jan 08, 09 Sharaf, 165 BE

A while back I had a run-in with a Web centered philosophy program designed to pick a fight based on the faulty presuppositions that it detects in your answers to a long questionnaire. This the "Philosopher Magazine" presents as a teaser to visitors on its website. One contradiction it found among my responses had to do with the question, "What is Faith?"

You disagreed with the proposition that:

"It is quite reasonable to believe in the existence of a thing without even the possibility of evidence for its existence."

But agreed that:

"Atheism is a faith just like any other, because it is not possible to prove the non-existence of God."

The survey points out that of almost 140 thousand people who took the test, 33 thousand, or about a quarter of them, had this "tension" in their beliefs.

I set this argument aside for quite a while, mostly because I misread the first part. That is, I thought that I had agreed that it is reasonable to believe without evidence. That is what I am like, forgetful, absent minded, unreliable. I miss things. Basic things. Now, looking it over a month later I realize that I did give the right answer. It is definitely not reasonable to believe without proof. That is why the Qur'an, for example, is constantly offering proofs, signs, evidences and arguments for the knowledge it presents. It most definitely does not expect believers to just believe blindly.

It is just as well I put it off, however. In the meantime, intrigued by this little virtual confrontation, I looked around for something to help the kids argue better. I ordered an informal logic book I found on the Web designed for home schooled Christian children called "The Fallacy Detective." When it arrived we started to go through it as part of our daily study session. We are about two thirds of the way through. Unfortunately, 14 year old Silvie took a dislike to it at first; it was hard going for the first half of the book. One problem of several was that she resented an example name that they use of a fallacious arguer, a character by the name of Silvia. Not tactful. Only now is her bitter resistance attenuating.

Anyway, during this time I did a little refresher study of informal logic on my own, and I think I can name the fallacy that the philosophy machine commits here, or rather forces the responder to commit. It asks you to answer yes or no to the proposition:

"Atheism is a faith just like any other, because it is not possible to prove the non-existence of God."

This is what is called a complex question. It forces you to accept a presupposition that you do not necessarily agree with. Although I agree that atheism is a faith like any other, I do not necessarily accept that the impossibility of proving a negative is adequate to explain why it is a faith like any other. Forced to answer yes or no, I chose yes. I was begging the question and I knew it, but what are you gonna do? Agree that atheism is true? Here is the rest of the argument the machine spat out at me.

"In disagreeing with the first statement, you are acting consistently with the general principle which states that in the absence of good grounds for believing something, it is not rational to believe it. For example, it is not possible to disprove the possibility that there are invisible pink fairies at this moment circling the planet Pluto, but we do not countenance it as a real possibility because there is no evidence for their planetary activities.

"This is not to be thought of as a matter of faith, but of sound reasoning. But asserting that atheism is a faith just like any other because it is not possible to prove the non-existence of God contradicts this principle. It replaces the principle 'in the absence of good grounds for believing something, it is not rational to believe it' with the principle, 'in the absence of good grounds for believing something, it requires faith not to believe it'. For this reason, atheism is not a matter of faith in the same way as belief in God.

JET: Granted. I agree that this Via Negative, which supports anything and nothing and everything between, hardly does much to uphold belief in God. But disproving that does not do much to support their conclusion either. An equivocation here confounds worldview with "faith." They are not the same thing. A worldview requires a different kind of evidence, evaluation rather than proofs. Faith is a form of reason, and therefore requires its own kind of evidence to uphold it.

"In short, belief without evidence (a form of faith) is not the same as non-belief due to lack of evidence (rational refusal to assent)."

This strange definition of faith as believing without evidence is the result of an interesting misunderstanding, intentional or not, of John 20:29. Here the resurrected Jesus says to doubting Thomas, who had declared that he had to touch His wounds in order to accept that it was really Him. Jesus comes and allows him that, but then declares, "Because you have seen me you have believed. Blessed are those who have not seen, and yet have believed." (NIV) Clearly, the meaning is not that faith is belief without evidence, but rather that the kind of evidence that grounds faith has nothing to do with what physical eyes see.

Faith is rather what the inner eye sees. But seeing is not enough. Also, faith is what the outer self does to enact what it has seen. Jesus made this clear. "Not everyone that sayeth unto me, Lord, Lord shall enter into the kingdom of heaven; but he that doeth the will of my Father which is in heaven." (Matt 7:21) And, as the Master is reported to have said in London,

"Know, O thou possessors of insight, that true spirituality is like unto a lake of clear water which reflects the divine. Of such was the spirituality of Jesus Christ. There is another kind which is like a mirage, seeming to be spiritual when it is not. That which is truly spiritual must light the path to God, and must result in deeds. We cannot believe the call to be spiritual when there is no result. Spirit is reality, and when the spirit in each of us seeks to join itself with the Great Reality, it must in turn give life." (ABL, 107)

That is, faith is knowing, acting on that knowledge, and then behaving in such a way that faith replicates itself by teaching others. The Christian theologian Paul Tillich made an excellent point when he pointed out that the creative power love is the glue that empowers faith to span knowledge, action and teaching.

"Faith implies love, love lives in works... The immediate expression of love is action. Theologians have discussed the question of how faith can result in action. The answer is: because it implies love and because the expression of love is action. The mediating link between faith and works is love." (Tillich, Dynamics of Faith, 115)

This is what faith is all about, bridging faith, works and teaching with love. A worldview causes a lifestyle and the lifestyle bears the fruits of spirit. That is why, I think, the House of Justice denies that Baha'is are here to push the Baha'i agenda. We are here to do something else entirely.

"It is not our purpose to impose Baha'i teachings upon others by persuading the powers that be to enact laws enforcing Baha'i principles, nor to join movements which have such legislation as their aim. The guidance that Baha'i institutions offer to mankind does not comprise a series of specific answers to current problems, but rather the illumination of an entirely new way of life. Without this way of life the problems are insoluble; with it they will either not arise or, if they arise, can be resolved." (Universal House of Justice, 21 July 1968, letter to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States)

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John Taylor

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

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