Report of our Latest Fireside in Local Paper

What in the World is Happening?

Posted By BETTY FROST, SPECIAL TO THE Dunnville CHRONICLE

"The Haldimand Baha'i community was very happy to welcome to the Garfield Disher Room of the Library, Terry Spratt, last Tuesday, where he gave his remarkable talk about what is happening in the world today. Although the audience was limited, we heard a number of voices saying how thankful they were to have heard it."

For the rest of this article go to:

http://www.dunnvillechronicle.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=1533899

For Earth Day

Reality, the Environment and Plan B

By John Taylor; 2009 April 22, Jalal 13, 166 BE

It is Earth Day today, and the following fits into that theme, more or less.


A plan to address our present environmental reality is laid out in an article in the May 2009 edition of Scientific American called: "Could food shortages bring down civilization?," by Lester R. Brown. The precis of the article says, "The biggest threat to global stability is the potential for food crisis in poor countries to cause government collapse. Those crises are brought on by ever worsening environmental degradation."

The newest part part for me of this analysis comes at the end, where Brown summarizes a proposed "Plan B" for saving us from the dire fate threatened by climate change. I had never heard of this plan. After a quick search of the Wikipedia article it transpired that Brown has been promoting this idea in Washington for several years through a group called the Earth Policy Institute. You can read about it at:

(http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earth_Policy_Institute)

It seems that Plan A is a sort of negative activity intended to put to sleep the attitude that "business as usual" is enough to save the planet. Plan B is the positive measures that will take the place of all that renunciation in Plan A.

The original Plan B came in the form of a book proposing that America stop unsustainable practices like depleting soils and sucking aquifers dry. It suggested a World War II-like mobilization of all resources to reverse such bad habits. The plan was "a way of sustaining economic progress worldwide, an alternative to continuing environmental deterioration and eventual economic decline." Then more recently Brown wrote a revised version in a book called, "Plan B 3.0: Mobilizing to Save Civilization." This according to Wiki is,

"A major expansion and update... Here he outlines a plan, a budget, and a timetable for rescuing our twenty-first century civilization. The plan includes eradicating poverty, stabilizing population, protecting and restoring soils, forests, rangelands, and fisheries, and conserving the earth's biological diversity."

As always, this plan is directed at the de facto world government, Washington. On page 56 of this Scientific American article, Brown gives a short outline of this plan in four steps, one, cut carbon emissions by 80 percent by 2020, two, stabilize the world population at 8 billion by 2040, three, eradicate poverty, and four, restore forests, conserve soils and refill aquifers. Although it would demand a massive effort, Brown calculates that the price is small in comparison with present arms budgets.

"...the cost for saving civilization would amount to less than 200 billion a year, a sixth of current global military spending. In effect, Plan B is the new security budget." (57)

Compare that price to the savings that would happen on day one after the formation of a world government. No need for inter-state military expenses at all. That would free up six times that money, at least. Huge resources would instantly be available for even more extensive plans to save us all.


--
John Taylor

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

:

Homosexuality: My Opinion

Silvie wrote the following handwritten, illustrated note, showing how little she agrees with her father and the Baha'i Faith about the gay question. I have exhausted every avenue, including studying together the compilation "A Chaste and Holy Life," to persuade her of the justice of the Baha'i position on homosexuality. Maybe some of my readers can say something to where I have failed.

Homosexuality: My Opinion (by Silvie)

I think that when you say homosexuality is "sick and wrong," I beg to differ. It is just another person's way of loving. If you say that a person should be separated from the one they love, just because they are homosexual, then you must think that all lovers should be separated and do not need love in life. Therefore, in conclusion, I do not see that if you support straight lovers, why you should not support homosexuals (who married, never had sex, and got a kid via adoption. Let a cousin or aunt or uncle act as the "other parent.")

This is followed by a suggestion that I make a romantic gesture to her mother (it turned out that she wants to have another little brother or sister, because it would be "fun."). Her handwritten text has at the bottom a picture of an indignant cartoon man, hands on hips, saying, "Well, do you agree? Well? huh? do ya?! do ya?! ..." In the margins, like a Google email letter, are two "advertisements" framed in little squares. The first promotes her opinion that I would be better off shaving my beard off,

"Adsense. A nice fresh feeling on your chin. Very clean. Call 905-trimmers Now!"

And below that, in a second box:

Quote: "Just because you are trying to make a point, does not mean you are always right, Dad!" -me

At the bottom: FIN

Rome and OH

The "When In Rome" Principle


By John Taylor; 2009 April 22, Jalal 13, 166 BE

Last in a Series on Comenius and the Oneness of Humanity


Before I move on from the principle of oneness of humanity, there are some points made by Comenius that I want to go over one more time.

First is his argument that reconciliation among the earth's rival peoples may not prove to be as difficult as we tend to think. All that is needed is to hold fast to reality. If reality is truly one, the more we know it, the more we will agree.

"Let me give an example to illustrate my point and show how easy it is for opposing parties to be reconciled. Suppose that there are six hundred people who have heard or read a description of the city of Rome; the ideas of the individuals, if we were able to examine them, will certainly vary widely. But take them all to visit Rome, to have a careful look at everything on the spot, and soon the ideas of all will have much in common and will tend to become identical. In our present situation we should do likewise; those who disagree about the nature of things or about God, or the ideas of the mind, must be brought to see nature or God or the mind, and soon they will be reconciled." (Comenius, Panorthosia II, Ch. 8, para 30, p. 121)

An objection might be raised that these six hundred visitors might visit different regions and buildings in Rome and come away with even more variant opinions of what the city is all about. This possibility is illustrated in the traditional story of the four blind men and the elephant. One feels the tail and says that elephants are like ropes, another feels a foot and says they are like tree trunks, and so forth. Comenius partly answers this by choosing a large number of tourists, six hundred. The wisdom of crowds tends to even out the large variance that tends to occur among small samplings of individuals.

Another way is to make certain that the six hundred visitors have a comprehensive view of the whole city -- rather than sinking them deeper in their own prejudices -- would be to require that each of them takes at least one guided, general purpose tour of the whole city of Rome. Or, better still, that they be accompanied by a guide and that they live with native Roman families at least part of the time. Such tours would be the most effective when integrated into the visitors' educational or professional development.

Australia did just this, it went from a backward, bigoted place in the 1950's to an open-minded, sophisticated, broadminded nation in the 1960's, a remarkably short time. It did this accidentally, just through increased tourism among young people, prompted by cheaper air fares. This about face took place very quickly, and I have often wondered how much more could be accomplished if teachers integrated tourism into the curriculum. This was done in Europe for centuries among the leading classes. A "grand tour" of Europe was expected after a student had finished schooling.

Today something like this should be required as a condition of graduation of all students, of all classes and both sexes. Guided tourism would broaden the minds of young people in poor nations and the Islamic world, but in my opinion it would benefit Americans the most, since insularity and unwillingness to see the same "Rome" have been holding them back from a high destiny.

One reason that guided travel is such an effective teacher is that the diversity one encounters while living in another culture forces us to learn what is essential and what is not in our own culture. A people without enough contact with the outside world trusts in the wrong kind of sameness, the kind of conformity that leads to factionalism and competition rather than unity. Comenius discusses this here:

"Concerning mutual agreement within the same order, the words of the poet Hesiod (Works and Days, 25-26) are still true: 'there is hatred between one potter and another, and one craftsman and another,' (Ovid Metamorphoses I, 145) and the same applies to schools, churches, and politics. Also neighbours, relatives and even brothers are seldom on friendly terms. This could hardly have been otherwise at a time when life was torn with distractions and everyone lived selfishly, and when nothing was safe from violence or dishonesty, and therefore every man viewed his neighbour with suspicion. Verily, if God gives us the chance to end partisanship, treachery and violence, it will also be possible to put an end to mutual distrust and the disagreements which stem from it. Therefore we must arrange to end them all. (Comenius, Panorthosia II, Ch. 10, para 34, p. 166)


--
John Taylor

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

Treehouse of Horror fan comic by Silvie

Silvie's Comic, II

Silvie's Comic, III

A Spy, or a Hand?

Baha'is who like to hike might want to visit the grave of a Hand, deep in the woods. Weathy Baha'is might even want to purchase the property. It is for sale...

http://www.sunjournal.com/story/312211-3/MaineNews/A_spy_lurks_in_Stoneham_Hardly/

Consciousness and OH

On the Consciousness of the Oneness of Humanity

By John Taylor; 2009 April 19, Jalal 10, 166 BE

We are discussing Comenius's ideas and their impact upon the principle of the oneness of humanity. In the eighth chapter of Panorthosia, he cites stoic philosopher Epictetus, who pinpointed the origin of common consciousness in avoidance of criticism and backbiting, "Every single thing has two handles," wrote Epictetus,

"and it can be grasped by one but not by the other; and men in their dealings with one another generally make the mistake of taking hold of the one which cannot sustain them; this means both sides for ever looking back upon their differences, and observing faults in the others which give rise to mutual hatred and disaffection." (quoted in Panorthosia, p. 112)

In our relationships with individuals and groups we can either trust or distrust. We can look at mankind from one of two points of view, as either essentially the same or as essentially different. One point-of-view cannot refute the other, but it can and does block it out, for it is impossible to observe the world in both ways at the same time, or a mixture of the two. These two "handles," as Epictetus calls them, seem like an early version of the idea in physics of quanta, as illustrated in Shroedinger's Cat. When you open a box, the cat is either alive or dead; it is never both, never a gradation. Comenius offers the following thoughts on this polarity in human identity,

"This (polarity of Epictetus) is all too true, and if so, let us not persist in sin! And Since we all have our handles of similarity and difference, let us now drop the latter and grasp the former. Let us stop looking at the difference, and devote our attention to the similarity. Let us all-in-all love our common possession, the Image of God, and similarly our other various possessions generously added unto us by the gift of God." (Panorthosia II, Ch. 8, para 11, pp. 112-113)

Comenius points here to the tremendous potential practical value of belief in God. To see His image in others is to grasp the "handle" not only of our similarity but also to understand the best that we can possibly be. Belief in God, then, has to be treated as a universal belief common to all, enabling all to see the best in all.

Last year, in a presentation arguing against atheism I tried out a Venn Diagram to demonstrate these two "handles." Each of us is a circle, with part outside and unique to our experience. Our reflection of God is the intersection set of common features among all humans. In the light of this role, religions ought to show a good example by showing they can see common features in one another. In a book defending religion that I read at that time I noted the following,

"Samuel Huntington says that the major world religions have many key values in common, and recommends, in what he calls the 'commonalities rule', that people should search for and attempt to expand those values that they have in common with other civilisations." (Keith Ward, Is Religion Dangerous?, p. 188)

Whether you call it a handle or a commonalities rule, the consciousness of the oneness of mankind is a melding of the conscience of all individuals.
Fascinating evidence is emerging that consciousness, even on the physical level inside the brain, is the product of a sort of principle of universal participation working among the totality of neurons. A French team of researchers has uncovered evidence for what a "global access" theory of consciousness, as reported in the 21 March, 2009 edition of New Scientist, p. 7,

==========

Whole Brain is in the Grip of Consciousness

Electrodes implanted in the brains of people with epilepsy might just have resolved a question about the mysterious process of consciousness. Signals from the electrodes seem to show that consciousness arises from the coordinated activity of the entire brain. The signals also take us closer to finding finding an objective "consciousness signature" that could be used to probe the process in animals and people with brain damage without inserting electrodes. ... Because the activity only occurred in volunteers who were aware of the words (flashed before them), Gaillard's team argues that it constitutes a consciousness signature. As much of this activity was spread across the brain, they say that consciousness probably has no single "seat." "Consciousness is more a question of dynamics than of a local activity."

==========

Consciousness, then, is quite literally the meaning of its root words, "knowing together." When neurons firing across the whole field of the brain rather than restricted to one region, the mind is conscious.

However, although consciousness of the oneness of humanity is a kind of knowledge, it is more a kind of ethical concern. It emerges from the conscience of all individuals paying careful heed to the moral implications of the divine image within each, and within all. Hence Jesus' saying that "the Kingdom is within/among you." Since it arises from many individuals independently seeking truth, the Baha'i principle of consciousness of the oneness of humankind seems closer to the older Thomist word for consciousness, synderesis. Synderesis comes from a Latinized Greek word for "careful guarding," "watching" or "preservation." When each and all observe the good of all and sacrifice for the whole planet, then we are conscious of this principle of oneness. As Abdu'l-Baha put it,

"... in this age of lights, specific teachings have become universal, in order that the outpouring of the Merciful One environ both the East and the West, the oneness of the Kingdom of humanity become visible and the luminosity of truth enlighten the world of consciousness." (Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha, Vol. 3, p. 538-539)

Each and all meet at the crux, where personal conscience joins into collective consciousness. In order that this be clear we must all be ready to grasp what is clearly true to everybody, not our own perspective or vision of universal reality. I will close with what Comenius has to say about that.

==========

"People who look at the same thing with the normal eye but through glasses of different colours do not all see the same thing. Instead, one sees it red, another green, a third blue, and so on. But let them remove the glasses and look at the thing in its natural appearance, and it will surely be the same for all.

"The same applies to other senses; we do not obtain the same impression of things because our dispositions vary. Obviously bread and water do not taste the same to a starving man as to one who is well-fed. Elegant music does not sound the same to the ear of Tmolus as to that of Midas, and honey does not taste the same to a fever-patient as to a healthy man. Therefore evil dispositions should be discarded (or prejudices which enslave the mind in one way or another) and then the dictates of nature, Scripture, and our minds will be unable to affect different sides in different ways, and there will be harmony and concord."

(Panorthosia II, Ch. 8, para 31, pp. 121-122)


--
John Taylor

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

::

Happy Ridvan

Jim sent this link to a Ridvan greetings site.

http://nybahai.org/ridvan2005/index.html

Right Rendering

Reality and Right Rendering Unto Caesar and God

By John Taylor; 2009 April 18, Jalal 09, 166 BE

Yesterday we discussed the crux of principle, a recognition of common reality followed by unified action based upon that. At least one reader found its thesis surprising.

==========

Hi John
When I started to read your entry this evening, my feeling was that it would lead into something like where individual knowledge and action came together, in sort of a "Zen moment", or "being in the zone", of course your view of the Baha'i version of it.

It did not go there, of course.

But I think it's important to consider (this) seriously as well. The Seven Valleys seem to be pretty much exclusively about it. Prayers such as those which talk about the teacher changing from something insignificant to something great( as a gnat into an eagle) also refer to it. It's the mystical transformation that can go all the way from Search to True Poverty and Absolute Nothingness... It's about being guided if we make the effort. I would imagine it's also very intimately connected to the humility that Abdu'l-Baha exemplifies, and obedience to the Covenant.

==========

I was struck by one thing the Master said in London, as recorded in ABL. Somebody asked him about spirituality, and He answered that if there is no practical fruit what we call spirit is not real. Okay, I will look up the quotation. Here it is,

"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." (Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 107)

In brief, we are here for two reasons, one to prepare our souls for a life beyond, and the other to advance civilization -- and right now the latter probably means saving civilization from total destruction. We make fatal errors when we think that one can be helped without the other, or if we confuse the rules and conditions of one with those of the other.

I had a friend a few years ago who read book after book about mysticism and the self-help inspirational pop-philosophy that weighs down the shelves of booksellers today. But when I listened to him go on and on about what he called spiritual insights, my thought was always, "What is the result of all this?" Nothing that I could see. Even his personal problems were not alleviated by all the navel gazing and absorption in "spiritual truths." Although he meditated hours every day and strained every nerve to control his thoughts, he was still constantly wracked by destructive nervousness and over-competitive feelings. I pitied him, but since he had little practical outlet of service his mystic leanings were worse than useless. He was beyond aid because he thought he had The Answer.

You mention the Seven Valleys. But if you check out the Hidden Words, they literally begin and end in admonitions to practical service, however mystical the material in-between may be.

That is why I squirm in my seat when I hear people facilely say that the world's problems can be solved by personal improvement or spiritual advancement. In what universe? After how many billions of years? Problems are solved by solutions, not by waving our fingers in the air and pretending that some invisible spiritual force is working unseen to the general betterment. That is just how my friend thought. I never saw any evidence that his "spirituality" was anything but vain imaginings.

The principle of harmony of religion with science means that we render unto Caesar what is of Caesar and to God what is God's. That means steadfastly refusing to confuse mystic reality with some debased scientific law that we can trick into manipulating. That is no better than superstition. Material things are below us and we can rule them by knowing them. Spiritual things are above us and only submission is appropriate in that direction.
I am not saying that spiritual progress has no effect. In fact, rendering to God His due would have tremendous results. For example, from an environmental point of view the divine law forbidding backbiting would revolutionize things completely. It would eliminate the endemic criticism of one another that makes social life so repulsive to most people. As we have seen here lately, poor social skills, worsened by gossip, push people away from one another. This feeds into suburbanization and prevents people from trying out the sort of high density housing that would minimize human impact on the natural world. It takes no provocation to set any two or more of us at each others' throats. Consider what the Master said in reference to a dispute about the "correct" spelling of certain Arabic and Persian names among early Baha'is.

"Should ye attribute a mistake to a person, it will be a cause of offense and grief to him - how much greater would this be if it is attributed to a number of people! How often it hath occurred that a slight difference hath caused a great dissension and hath been made a reason for division. ... In all matters, endeavor not to cause grief to any one. Strive firmly to establish unity and harmony. The least difference today may cause great difference in the future." (Abdu'l-Baha, Tablets, Vol. 1, p. 20)

Yet in social situations we we routinely do far more than attribute mistakes to groups, we impugn their motives, we vilify and cut them down any way we can. Spewing hatred for the most important group of all, government and politicians, is considered normal and healthy -- which is probably why Baha'u'llah orders us to pray for our political leaders. When we pray for them, we really are praying for ourselves, that we will not impugn them and make their service any harder than it already is. With all this social poison, is it any wonder so many long to get away and live in the insulated false paradise of suburbia? Anything is better than risk being cut to pieces in a well designed, eco-friendly but socially dysfunctional neighborhood.
That is where spirituality and religion can help save the planet, by changing the invariables of social life. For doing that, the following admonition of Baha'u'llah is worth infinitely more than gold, platinum, or any other precious substance.

"O ye beloved of the Lord! Commit not that which defileth the limpid stream of love or destroyeth the sweet fragrance of friendship. By the righteousness of the Lord! Ye were created to show love one to another and not perversity and rancour. Take pride not in love for yourselves but in love for your fellow-creatures. Glory not in love for your country, but in love for all mankind. Let your eye be chaste, your hand faithful, your tongue truthful and your heart enlightened. Abase not the station of the learned in Baha and belittle not the rank of such rulers as administer justice amidst you. Set your reliance on the army of justice, put on the armour of wisdom, let your adorning be forgiveness and mercy and that which cheereth the hearts of the well-favoured of God." (Baha'u'llah, Tablets, 138-139)

--
John Taylor

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

Princrux

Reality, the Crux of Principle

By John Taylor; 2009 April 17, Jalal 08, 166 BE

The crux of principle is the pivot or transition point between search and oneness. Get this right and personal righteousness leads to unified action based on reality, which is to say, principle. Fail to do so and you get instead mere folly, self-deception and equivocation. A perfect example of the latter is the preposterous idea of counting up carbon "credits" and pretending that by taking such tallies based on purely personal choices and behavior we are doing our part to halt global warming.

On the surface, the logic of counting up carbon credits seems specious enough.

I can sin by taking an airplane flight, spewing hydrocarbons high up, right by the ozone layer, but if I pay an indulgence of a few dollars promised for tree planting I can "offset" the harm I did. This puts mathematics to use, which always gives an air of scientific rigor. Better still, you can trade offsets on a sort of stock market, which puts capitalism's holy of holies, market fundamentals, to work as well. How can you lose? But then again, financial wizardry like leveraged, brokered sub-prime debt was just as mathematical and was also traded in a free market. And look what that is doing to the world's economy.

George Monbiot refutes in detail the whole idea of carbon credits in his global warming classic, Heat. I suppose the reason people persist in counting "credits" and "offsets" is that this activity at least gets us involved in something that seems positive. It gives a comforting sense that we are not free riders, that we can participate, that there is something we can do personally to stop global warming. But logically it makes a fatal error. It conflates individual with collective conditions. Here is an example that makes this clear.

Imagine a village centuries ago located on the vast steppes of Asia threatened by the onrushing Mongol hoards of Genghis Khan. We know now that nothing short of a quantum leap in military technology combined with a stroke of political genius, including unification with many other villages, could have saved that village from certain defeat, death and destruction. Nothing else, no matter how clever, would help. Imagine somebody coming to these villagers and proposing a scheme of "peace credits" where they count up nice things they can do that contribute to peace, little things like smiling at somebody when you feel like frowning. Would such a plan, however nice sounding, do anything but distract them from a clear and present danger?

No, if we want to do something to stop global climate destabilization, we cannot afford to confuse individual good with group salvation. To solve a problem that affects the entire planet we have to recognize the problem, work out a solution quickly, and do whatever is necessary to carry it out. I am not saying that individual behavior is totally irrelevant. But those villagers had an urgent problem that they had to solve immediately, or they would all soon be dead or enslaved. And so do we, or at best we will respond to this crisis inadequately and suffer mass starvation and post-apocalyptic chaos.

All this explains why you see the word "reality" repeated so often in Abdu'l-Baha's exposition of these first two principles, search for truth and oneness of mankind. Reality, as I said at the outset, is the crux between the first two principles. Ignore it and you might as well count fairies or carbon offsets or peace points. In the last month of His stay in America, Abdu'l-Baha praised this confrontation with what is real as the spirit of the age,

"Praise be to God! We are living in this most radiant century  wherein human perceptions have developed and investigations of real foundations characterize mankind. Individually and collectively man is proving and penetrating into the reality of outer and inner conditions. Therefore, it has come to pass that we are renouncing all that savors of blind imitation, and impartially and independently investigating truth." (Abdu'l-Baha, Promulgation, pp. 443-444)

Unfortunately, then as now, religious thought does not confront reality with the same sincerity and integrity as scientific thinking. The principles of science are widely understood and applied outside the areas of expertise of scientists themselves. Not so with religious principle.

The Master therefore continues,

"Let us understand what constitutes the reality of the divine religions. If a Christian sets aside traditionary (sic) forms and blind imitation of ceremonials and investigates the reality of the Gospels, he will discover that the foundation principles of the teachings of Christ were mercy, love, fellowship, benevolence, altruism, the resplendence or radiance of divine bestowals, acquisition of the breaths of the Holy Spirit and oneness with God." (444)

Comenius, I think, understood the principles of religion. He held that reform begins in the self, which is by nature a reflection of God. God is the reality, and sincerity is when we reflect God in the real. This perception is expressed in divine perfections and good works, balanced by severe and continual self-appraisal. He wrote:

"You must attend to these virtuous practices and see that you take them seriously, and examine yourself every day as ruthlessly as if you were at the bar of justice."

In the time of Comenius, science was not nearly as far advanced in applying principles as now. As an educator he therefore found both faith and science dismissed as bases for reform. Neither gave much of an example of unified action, they protested. Comenius responded that the reason this is so is that, like the villagers on the Stepp, the right questions were not being asked.

"If you protest that those who investigate nature, the Scriptures, and the things of the intellect are the very people who disagree most, my answer will be in the words of the Apostle, that they ask, and receive not, because they ask amiss (James IV, 3). Therefore, also, those who seek, and find not, are seeking amiss for something which is not available, or conversely, they are not seeking for truth in truth, but for their own pleasures or for truth in some other colour; and then it is no wonder that they do not see what is there, but something different or in a different form." (Panorthosia II, Ch. 8, para 31, pp. 121-122)

This demonstrates why some personal search falls short. Instead of truth, we seek our own slant on it. But without collective vision, action is impracticable. We all have to see things from one point of view. Yes, there is room for personal style, but in order to act there must be common vision of a universal reality. As Socrates put it,

"Where God is our teacher we all come to think alike. For example, all agree that it is better to wear warm clothes in winter..." (Xenophon, Oeconomicus 15:3)

--
John Taylor

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

::

Same Scream in Many Movies

Dizzy Gillespie & Louis Armstrong - Umbrella Man

I Look I See - Yusuf Islam (the artist formerly known as Cat Stephens)

A Purchase and A Lesson

Auto Purchase and Lessons Learned

By John Taylor; 2009 April 16, Jalal 07, 166 BE

In Which I Purchase a Car


I just bought a new used car, a black 2000 Toyota Echo. With it I plan to pursue my new hobbies, ecomodding and hypermiling. These activities are so new that nobody I have met so far, no matter how knowledgeable they are about cars, has ever heard of them. So I will explain. Ecomodding is making modifications to the car in order get the maximum possible fuel economy out of it, and hypermiling is improving your driving style in such a way as to extend the mileage even further.

My choice of automobile was guided by the shared experience of the pioneers of this sport at ecomodder.com, a site which I visited frequently during my search. I came close to buying their automobile of choice, a Honda Civic Hatchback made between 1992 and 1995, which has a VTEC-e engine -- the "e" stands for economy, meaning that with proper coaxing it can pop into a lean burn condition. This car gets better mileage than anything coming off assembly lines today, including most hybrids. Unfortunately, I was unable to find any of this model car around here that were not rusting away, or that would not have required a great deal of work, including engine transplants.

My second choice, the Echo, is a better one in many ways, since it is newer and therefore less subject to the bane of cars around here, rust. Also it has a small 1.4 litre engine which impressed my mechanic with its peppiness, and its body has the lowest drag coefficient of any car ever designed, with only a handful of exceptions. Because of its reputation for reliability the Echo is relatively rare, in demand and commands a premium. The car I eventually bought was sold by an individual advertising on Kajiji, and was half the price of the cheapest I had seen. I took a risk buying it without a safety certificate and unexamined by a mechanic. Fortunately the seller turned out to be honest and all that was wrong was just what he had said, a bad front wheel bearing. Just to be safe I had both front wheel bearings replaced, influenced by my father's often repeated story of how one day long ago he was rounding a left turn at a stoplight and both front wheels buckled and all but fell off. The car sunk, hit the ground and scraped along the ground in a shower of sparks.

"If I had been going at highway speed, I would have been dead. You do not fool with wheel bearings."

The kids had their hearts set on a yellow Mazda hatchback being sold at a local dealer for twice the price of this Toyota, which they called the "yellow bee." I came within an ace of buying it, but the dealer refused to take my mechanic's advice and lower the price enough to cover two needed tires. So I walked. Nine-year-old Thomas was, after much protest, finally won over to this black one by the "secret" passage into the trunk that Japanese sedans have, by simply folding down the rear seats.

I was put off at first by the fact that this is a coupe, but the former owner had kids too and said he had had no problems. Now I see what he means. I can see the advantages for a parent. There is no way that they can open the rear doors in motion, or leaving them ajar, on a two-door vehicle. No safety belts stuck in doors, or doors being left unlocked. Or even on this vehicle leaving the rear window open. The two rear windows do not open at all. No hands stuck out the window at the most inopportune time, no arguments about who should keep whose window open. There goes half the worry and annoyance of driving with the family.


Lessons Learned from the Experience

With this event in prospect I have been paying close attention to the automobile industry in general. It seems that I am not the only one looking for fuel economy. Most buyers are, and economical cars are simply not available, at any price. This Echo, and its successor the Yaris, are "entry level," but as subcompacts they are all but alone in being economical on fuel. Most buyers have been impressed with other things. Interestingly, though, automakers are finally, after so many decades of stonewalling, starting to make electric cars.
I was interested to read in Phil Edmundston's annual car buyer's book, Lemonaid, that in his opinion hybrids are nothing but a publicity stunt. They are unreliable, have twice as many parts and their batteries need replacing every few years. After much reading and pondering about this question, I think he is right. If a Honda ICE engine built back in 1993 (not to mention at least one modified car built in the 1970's) was more economical, hybrids are hardly the result of a technical advance. Their mileage is at best a slight improvement, usually nullified by higher repair bills and quicker depreciation.

The fact is that the straight electric car is a perfect automobile, and has been for well over a hundred years. Nothing can do better by any criterion, speed, economy, adaptability, quietness, lack of maintenance, durability, efficiency, the list goes on.
Even by the dubious macho criterion of "muscle," EV's are better. Check out the Youtube video where a wimpy, boxy 1980 economy car that has been converted to an electric motor competes in a drag race with a four hundred horsepower, V8, supercharged Dodge Charger. Guess, who leaves who in the dust?

You watch that race and wonder, "What could have possessed people to invest so much time, money and resources in the gas guzzling, grossly inefficient internal combustion engine?" Only about twenty percent of the energy they consume goes into propelling the vehicle forward. The rest, I suppose, goes into pumping hydrocarbons and other poisons into the air.

When the now-doomed General Motors in its glory days was forced to make an electric car they and the whole industry were probably shocked to find what comes out in interviews in the documentary "Who Killed the Electric Car?" The fortunate few who leased the vehicle all said the same thing, they loved it. A mechanic is interviewed who did periodic maintenance checks on those GM electric cars. In the film he says that unlike the long routine of checks and adjustments for gas guzzlers, all he did was change the windshield washer fluid and send them on their way. That was it. Imagine, one job in ten in our present economy is in some way connected to the automobile industry. As soon as we switch over to electric that would probably drop right away to one in thirty or forty jobs. Heaven forbid. How much cheaper and easier it is for the companies to keep bribing political interests to allow them to keep their ICEy stranglehold on the industry.

There is one reason, and one only, that this ridiculous situation has been allowed to continue. The military needs gas and diesel engines for its heavy, armored equipment. They subsidize a way of running vehicles that never made any sense for civilian applications.

Needless to say, as soon as the means become available I will convert this Echo to electric. I will make a special request to the mechanic to allow me to stomp on the ICE engine after they have taken it out. Or, better still, Thomas can put to good use that sledgehammer we have sitting in our garage.

Even now the electric cars they are showing in auto expositions are little more than that, a show. Most of them are so expensive or over-designed that they do not merit mention here. The Tata Motors car in India, which can easily be converted to electric by local craftspersons, is a good step forward. The best of a bad lot is the Miev, or Mitsubishi In-wheel Electric Vehicle (YouTube has several demos and test drives of this remarkable machine). The Miev takes a hundred and ten-year-old idea and places the electric motors inside the wheels. This is the only sensible way to build a car, since it leaves the rest of the body, with the exception of batteries, entirely free for the design needs of passengers and freight. If it ever hits the production lines it would be great. But I am afraid that will never happen.

I am not saying that I have no sympathy for the automobile manufacturers. As has been pointed out, unlike the financial industry that is corrupting governments and bringing down the whole world's economy, at least they are producing a product that you can touch and is of benefit to somebody, however inadequate it may be. But the fact is that electrification offers no financial benefit to them. Their main profits come from oversize pickups, SUV's and minivans -- and that means artificially skewing the laws of economics in their favor. If they ever started making sensible machines they well know that they would soon be out of business.

Imagine what kind of product you would get if you had death row prisoners design and build their own guillotine. Would you expect a new guillotine to come out that would, say, double the number of heads that roll? No, you would expect promises, delays, and in the end little more than the same chopping rate that you got in the past. This is no surprise. When your neck is on the line you will do everything necessary to keep your head.

The only way to get sensible designs and overall improvements is to do just what Comenius said: look at a universal problem from a universal perspective. In other words, ask how to improve transit and transportation, do not ask how to help any particular company or industry. To make this more clear, imagine a planner trying to improve human lifespan. She could go into the hospices and frantically try to improve life support machinery for a few specific individuals, or she could look at whatever measure will increase the overall lifetime of large populations. Mathematically, there is no comparison between the cost effectiveness of these two approaches.

So, to conclude, if we want to be sure of electrifying the car industry we, the people of the world, will have to do it ourselves by taking matters into our own hands. It is not as hard as it seems at first blush. As Baha'u'llah said,

"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)

All we do is publish open standards for every purpose we put vehicles to. There are only two main uses for the personal automobile, first, a local, city car for running about and commuting, and, more rarely, a longer range, intercity auto for vacations. Well over 90 percent of driving is the former, which is electric car territory. The only excuse, flimsy as it is, for gas guzzlers is for the latter, long-range purposes. So to solve that problem you see to it that city cars can be freely exchanged temporarily with a guzzler for vacations and other long trips. To end guzzlers forever, just require that every wheel sold have an electric motor built into it, even if the electricity comes from another, less environmentally friendly engine, be it gas, diesel, or whatever. If the standards are truly universal, free and open, any maker, local or multi-national, could compete to make a better part that will fit any car.

Do that and the Gordian Knot is cut forever.

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John Taylor

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

ABS Submission

Proposed Presentation on Comenius for the ABS

Throughout my writing career my motto has been "submit to no man, only God," but I made an exception today with the Association for Baha'i Studies. I submitted the following abstract of a proposed presentation for next summer's conference in Washington. I have no idea how I would ever pay for such a trip, but the importance of this topic moves me to try anyway, albeit well after their deadline for submissions. The abstract had to be under a hundred words, and this is the 99 words I gave them: 

"Best known to English speakers as a pioneer of learner-centered education, Johannes Amos Comenius (1592-1670) put forward almost three hundred and forty years ago the first detailed plan for global reform. His posthumous masterpiece, Panorthosia (Universal Reform) covered most Baha'i principles, including a democratic world government. As an essayist and author of the Badi' Blog (badiblog.blogspot.com), which specializes in the Baha'i principles, I have detailed the Panorthosia in relation to Baha'i ideas. This informal presentation will give an illustrated biography of Jan Amos Comenius, introduce the Panorthosia and sum up features of interest to Baha'i scholars and peace workers."

You are allowed to expand upon this in less than two hundred words, so I put in the following, in well under the required word count.

"In the Western Canon, John Comenius comes closest in spirit to the Baha'i approach to the principles of peace. Deeply rooted in faith, Comenius, along with Francis Bacon, inspired the Royal Society and what became modern science. Later, his more liberal ideas were co-opted by anti-theist writers of the Enlightenment and are now understood in wholly secular terms. Comenius's organized, detailed, scripture and education-oriented approach in Panorthosia complements perfectly the "universal gathering of mankind" proposed by Baha'u'llah in the Tablets to the Kings, as well as the future-oriented principles proclaimed by Abdu'l-Baha in the West.

"I have found that many teachings that uninitiated Baha'is think of as distinctive to their Faith were worked out by Comenius, who in turn derived them from classical sources, and especially the Bible. Examples are: education for all, including priority to girls as the mothers of the next generation, independent search for truth, a common faith for all humans, a parliament of religions, universal language and world government. Each of these is worked out in Panorthosia, though often with gaps and differences of emphasis."

--
John Taylor

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

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Selection from SDC

SDC Quotes by Abdu'l-Baha

Thanks to Ed for this selection from Abdu'l-Baha's masterpiece of development literature, The Secret of Divine Civilization, which, he said, my recent writing about reform calls to mind. Indeed it does.

It is unquestionable that the object in establishing parliaments is to bring about justice and righteousness, but everything hinges on the efforts of the elected representatives. If their intention is sincere, desirable results and unforeseen improvements will be forthcoming; if not, it is certain that the whole thing will be meaningless, the country will come to a standstill and public affairs will continuously deteriorate.

`I see a thousand builders unequal to one subverter; what then of the one builder who is followed by a thousand subverters?'

The purpose of the foregoing statements is to demonstrate at least this, that the happiness and greatness, the rank and station, the pleasure and peace, of an individual have never consisted in his personal wealth, but rather in his excellent character, his high resolve, the breadth of his learning, and his ability to solve difficult problems. How well has it been said: "On my back is a garment which, were it sold for a penny, that penny would be worth far more; yet within the garment is a soul which, if you weighed it against all the souls in the world, would prove greater and nobler."  (Abdu'l-Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, pp. 23-24)

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For every thing, however, God has created a sign and symbol, and established standards and tests by which it may be known. The spiritually learned must be characterized by both inward and outward perfections; they must possess a good character, an enlightened nature, a pure intent, as well as intellectual power, brilliance and discernment, intuition, discretion and foresight, temperance, reverence, and a heartfelt fear of God. For an unlit candle, however great in diameter and tall, is no better than a barren palm tree or a pile of dead wood.

"The flower-faced may sulk or play the flirt,

The cruel fair may bridle and coquet;

But coyness in the ugly is ill-met,

And pain in a blind eye's a double hurt."

- Rumi, The Mathnavi, I, 1906-1907.]

  (Abdu'l-Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, pp. 33-34)

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 "the happiness and greatness, the rank and station, the pleasure and peace, of an individual have never consisted in his personal wealth, but rather in his excellent character, his high resolve, the breadth of his learning, and his ability to solve difficult problems. How well has it been said:

 "On my back is a garment which, were it sold for a penny, that penny would be worth far more; yet within the garment is a soul which, if you weighed it against all the souls in the world, would prove greater and nobler."

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The apparatus of conflict will, as preparations go on at their present rate, reach the point where war will become something intolerable to mankind.

The Baha'i Concept of Monsters

I subscribe to the RSS feed of the Baha'i Blog, "Baha'i Thought," and in today's entry I found to my delight that they have made a zombie version of Pride and Prejudice. I had to suffer my wife's watching the Laurence Olivier version of this film over and over to the point where I had every line memorized. At last, they have come up with a version of P&P that men can enjoy too! Anyway, the author of the blog explains why he is interested in monsters, as if you have to have a reason why...

"...For people who are puzzled by my fascination with such things I've always told them that tales of monsters and things going bump in the night are really about human nature with these creatures representing the dark and terrible side of ourselves and fighting them representing the our spiritual struggle to overcome our egos. The Baha'i Writings put it nicely:

"Regarding the questions you asked: Self has really two meanings, or is used in two senses, in the Bahá'í writings; one is self, the identity of the individual created by God. This is the self mentioned in such passages as 'he hath known God who hath known himself etc.'. The other self is the ego, the dark, animalistic heritage each one of us has, the lower nature that can develop into a monster of selfishness, brutality, lust and so on. It is this self we must struggle against, or this side of our natures, in order to strengthen and free the spirit within us and help it to attain perfection."  (From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, December 10, 1947) 

"There is nothing more monstrous or frightening than a human being whose ego has seized control of his or her life. No zombie, vampire, or werewolf can compare. Witness the horrors human beings visit upon one another on a daily basis all over the world. To paraphrase a famous statement, I have seen the monster and it is us."

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ES Dance

Equality Dance- Danse Egalite entre l'Homme et la Femme

Interview with a clerical killer

Thanks to Ed for sending this video where an incitor to murder of Baha'is is interviewed. In Canada anyone who promotes hatred ends up in jail. Where this guy lives, he is a leader of thought. Just astonishing.

On the 2nd of April, the Al Mehwar TV reported on the tragic torching of Baha'i homes in the Egyptian village of Shoraniya.

Ed writes: 

Hi all. It's in Arabic, but if you click on the arrow at bottom right of picture and choose CC you can see subtitles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ii2DtC9Aw8s&feature=related

To see the original threats and the result, check out the video footage at:

http://observers.france24.com/en/content/20090413-journalist-launches-fierce-attack-against-bahai-traitors-egypt

Plan to Remove What I Hate

Reader Responses to "Ten Things I Hate"

By John Taylor; 2009 April 13, Jalal 05, 166 BE

In a recent rant called "Ten Things I Hate" (http://badiblog.blogspot.com/2009/04/10-hated-things.html) I wrote the following paragraph, which provoked the two reader responses that I will deal with today.

"What are we doing buying our own food anyway? Why not have the same coops that house us take care of our diet too? Our capitalist system insists that we be consumers, that we make a thousand decisions a day, bribed by ten thousand advertisements a day, but there is no real need for any of that. I would eat better, eat less, eat more environmentally friendly if my neighbourhood kitchen bought food straight from my neighbourhood farmer and served me just the amount of food I need, chosen by a professional dietician. It is crazy to accept the way things are when we could do so much better, so easily, if we would only think."

Long-time reader Jean pointed out that there is a cooperative, ecological community organized around a similar model to what I suggested near Albany, New York. The link to the "eco-village" is: http://www.ecovillage.ithaca.ny.us/. I had heard of it before but this website persuaded me that I must visit this intriguing place and take the tour someday soon. It is within fairly easy driving distance for us so such an excursion is not wholly out of the question, even for a reluctant traveller like myself.

The second response came from Mark, who wrote:

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Bravo John!

I've never seen this side of you before. Even as you feel uneasy as a Baha'i embracing your 'hate-writing', I am a little uneasy to say, I think I like it.

I wanted to start some discussion about hate item four. I have often thought about the merits of buying local and what it would be like if we only bought local for food. However, I feel like there must be some sort of middle ground to be had in this regard. Importing food provides us with great opportunities for variety in our diets, in some cases, access to food with potent health benefits that would otherwise be unavailable. That being said, I agree with your point about over-consuming, over-advertising, etc.

What are your thoughts on balancing buying local with access to foreign foods in moderation?

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I agree that there has to be a balance between local and outside foods. There also has to be a balance between variety and sticking to staples. Nor should the whole choice be left to our personal taste. I live in horror at what my children choose to eat, and there is little I can do about it.

What is most important is the principle of subsidiarity, that decisions be made as close as possible to those affected by the decision, and that, in this case, as many staples as possible be grown as close as possible to where they are consumed. Lettuce, for example, is cultivated inside kitchen windows in Antarctica, the harshest environment in the world, so there is no reason that greens and herbs should not be grown right by neighborhood kitchens everywhere.

This obvious arrangement is what the invisible hand of economic justice would dictate anyway, if the system were not distorted by subsidies coming from the corruption of the democratic system. We pour billions artificially propping up an inherently inefficient transport system that is burning carbon like there is no tomorrow. We know that meat eating is terrible for the environment, but we do not even try to promote a vegetarian diet. We ignore basics and then must deal with a thousand ills resulting from a lifestyle based on feeding the beast, corporations, rather than people. For example, a recent study found that over a quarter of American babies are now obese before their second birthday. If that is not frightening, what is not?

At the same time subsidiarity must be balanced by universality. We need to take the universal aspects of housing out of the hands of those who presently dominate it, especially those who make building codes. A world building code should be in force designed to allow an entire family to move anywhere in the world. Instead of owning a specific home, a family should own a unit share in a neighborhood, a share that can be transferred to any other neighborhood. This is part of the basic democratic principle of the right to roam, a right that presently ends at national borders.

In order to apply such balanced principles, we will need to rid ourselves of the filth of narrowed, blinkered interest, starting with our own selfishness. Another reader, Joe, sent this quote from the UHJ which points to the deeper, underlying solution to such problems.

"Humanity's crying need will not be met by a single struggle among competing ambitions or by protest against one or another of the countless wrongs afflicting a desperate age. It calls, rather, for a fundamental change of consciousness -- the time has come when each human being on earth must learn to accept responsibility for the welfare of the entire human family." (Universal House of Justice)

Over the past year I have been spending the lion's share of my limited time on Jan Amos Comenius -- in the face of a certain amount of reader dissatisfaction, I must say -- because I find he has already discussed in detail the solution to just such problems as "Ten Things I Hate" mentioned, filling today's headlines. So often I find my own supposedly original ideas for solving the problems of the world already dealt with in his Panorthosia.

For example, I have been suggesting for several years that the formation of a world government go along with a recycling, decade-long plan that would involve every major human need. Yet here again, the seed of this idea was anticipated by Comenius in the passage I included in yesterday's Badi Blog posting where he wrote:

"The world council should meet at ten-yearly intervals, first, somewhere in Europe, then in Asia, Africa, and America in turn, and every nation should send one or two members from each of its colleges, that is to say, philosophers, churchmen, and politicians accompanied by clerks." (Ch. 25, para 10, p. 142-144)

Sticking to the subject of food choice, the great advantage of having an epicyclical ten year world plan would be that food choices would be constantly reassessed in the light of a specrum of universal principles. Each year we would concentrate on a new principle, from investigation of reality to the last one, universal peace. A given problem would be solved locally but constantly examined in its universal aspects throughout each planning decade. For example, farmers, doctors, teachers and dieticians would put their heads together to see that traditional diets are promoted. Unfortunately, at present they are not as attractive to the palate as the commercial monstrosity that usurping older diets around the world, thanks to gobs of animal fat and a trillion dollar advertising campaign. The task of these experts is to do a variety of things to replace this ersatz diet with real food. Anything they try would be refined and revised every year in the light of experience and the new principle in question.

One thing that is affecting me right now is my daughter's braces. These are costing her grandfather some six thousand dollars over a couple of years. Yet it is a well known fact, based on dietary studies made with aboriginal peoples around the world, that teeth grow in well when traditional diets are reintroduced (not to mention an end to diabetes and a thousand other chronic illnesses). If my daughter had a traditional diet from birth her teeth would have grown in straight and cavity-free. On a broad scale this represents a major savings, especially since traditional diets are in most ways cheaper and more eco-friendly to begin with.

So, with world diet planning there would be no need to subsidize the changeover itself. It pays for itself many times over. We just have to stop the corruption that is subsidizing the diet that is slowly killing us. Given that argument, it makes sense to either outlaw the flood of fast food advertising completely, or at the very least start taxing its suppliers as fair exchange for what their product is really costing society.

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John Taylor

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

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