Notes, Personal and on the Master’s first talk

Some Personal Notes on the Centenary

Notes on the Master's First Substantive Talk in America

 

By John Taylor; 09 April 2012

 

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Some Personal Notes

 

I very much wanted to record my voice reading the first address of the Master, which happened a hundred years ago. I was preparing on the computer some illustrations to illuminate the points made in it. That way, I could answer for myself the question, what might an address by the Master look like if it were given today, complete with PowerPoint bullet points? A hair raising question, I know, and it probably is best left by the roadside. Still, it interests me. So far, I had only found that this is much more work than I had thought.  Then, I was struck down by a twenty four hour flu. Barely recovered, both my kids were knocked down by the same bug. They spent a miserable night of vomiting and diarrhea.

 

As I was undergoing my travail, I found myself thinking a comforting thought,

 

"Maybe this session serves a creative purpose. Maybe it will act as a sort of reboot for my life. Maybe what I have not been able to do, my hopes and dreams so long unfulfilled, will be morally possible after this is over."

 

It sounded strange once the agony was over, but I repeated it to my daughter between her trips to the bathroom that night. What else could I say to comfort her? It seemed to have an effect on her spirits. I read some jokes to her, and they lifted her spirits too.

 

That night, my son was having a sleepover with his air cadet corps. In the morning, we got a call that he had been sick all night too. I drove him home. A miserable Easter Sunday morning where nobody even thought of the egg hunt and egg painting that they had been anticipating.

 

I was still enervated by this virus, so we did little else yesterday other than watch old videos.

 

Saturday, though, I was somewhat disoriented but functional. I dropped Thomas off at the Legion for his drill weekend, then wandered in the car over to Dunnville's Shared Harvest Community Farm. There I listened to an impromptu disquisition by its young organic farmer. He should be on YouTube, thought I. We spoke about Hugelkultur, or log gardening, which he has used extensively throughout the farm. He is even making up a sinuous design of garden beds meant to resemble a green snake.

 

 

He spoke of the plot by seed corporations to destroy thousands of years of seed genetics by patenting every seed available for sale, then making it illegal to save your own seed. They are so powerful now that they persuaded the Canadian government to refuse entry to a seed expert from India, who had been invited to speak about the now subversive activity of saving your seeds.

 

Then I wandered over to the former arena grounds and attended an outside meeting to discuss future use of this now-vacant land right in the center of Dunnville. Powerful interests, the new cabal of state capitalist parasites who socialize risk and privatize profit, are nuzzling under the skin of city hall. They are trying to persuade politicians to sell them this public land beside our farmer's market so that they can build a condominium complex there.

 

Almost everybody else around here is for turning it into some sort of park or recreation area, perhaps gardens combined with a skateboard park, or, considering that it is on a natural incline, an open stadium for public performances. We talked over several ideas, including a boardwalk to the bridge.

 

Notes on the Master's First Substantive Talk in America

What is a Baha'i? What does it take to be an angel?

 

 

 

'Abdu'l-Baha leaving a taxicab at Hotel Ansonia, New York 1912  <http://abdulbahawest.blogspot.ca/>

Here is a picture I had never seen before, of the Master near the Ansonia, the hotel He stayed at first in America.

 

"It is wrong to think that love comes from long companionship and persevering courtship. Love is the offspring of spiritual affinity and unless that affinity is created in a moment, it will not be created for years or even generations." Kahlil Gibran

 

A hundred years ago, Abdu'l-Baha gave his first talks in North America. I have been going over His first couple of addresses in Promulgation. I was struck by the repeated use of the expression "spiritual affinity." The above quote from Kahlil Gibran is the main thing that turned up when I searched. On one hand, Gibran has had a big influence on American spiritual sensibilities over the last century, and the Master may have used the expression to reach that element of society. On the other hand, Gibran had great respect for the Master. Without further research as to when this quote was written, it is impossible to say who influenced whom, since Gibran did meet the Master in New York not long after the "spiritual affinities" talk, the second in Promulgation. I think, though, that a better title for this address might be:

 

"How to Become Angels Arrayed in Divine Virtue"

 

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It is amusing, when reading the Writings, to count up the number of questions asked. I counted almost two hundred questions in the Iqan, for example. In this "angels arrayed in divine virtue" talk, the Master asks twelve questions. No wonder that Socrates and Plato put such emphasis on what they called "dialectic," on back and forth, Q&A, on discussion, when confronting the highest truth. Here is how one of the Master's party, Mahmud, describes this -- or some other early meeting in New York -- he gave at least two that day, in two different believers' homes. He waxes poetic about the feelings that the meeting aroused.

 

 "After leaving the ship the Master went to the Hotel Ansonia. After some tea, He went to the meeting with the friends. And what a wonderful meeting it was! The friends were so full of joy and happiness that it seemed the very walls were immersed in rapture and ecstasy. Because it was so crowded, many had to stand. When the initial excitement abated, the Master gave thanks and gratitude to the Blessed Beauty for His assistance and then spoke about the power and influence of the holy utterances to attract and cement the hearts, unifying the East and West." (Mahmud's Diary, 38)

Here are some of the topic headings I wrote for my reading text of this disquisition.

 

 

Bullet Points for the Master's First Talk in America (first draft)

 

  Unity is our reason for being

  Atomic Affinity; Life itself comes of love among the parts of the body

  Spiritual Affinity; our potential comes of the Kingdom of God

  Death and darkness come of turning the mirror's back to the sun

  God's Prophets came to teach unity in the heart

  Christ's foundation was the oneness of humanity

  The army of Jesus started off unimportant and ignorant but their purity and attraction gave them the victory

  Opposition to Christianity ended in defeat for the rich and powerful

  By Christ's eternal power the obscure became renowned, the prominent were forgotten

  There was a reason for the suffering of Jesus

  The essential teaching of Jesus

  Some answered questions about the civilization vaunting itself in Christ

  Question One

  Question Two

  Example from the news: the invasion of Tripoli by Italy

  Questions Three to Six

  Answer: this is the civilization of antichrist, death and Satan

  The same is true of conflict between believers

  Q&A seven and eight

  Definition of a Christian

  Spiritual susceptibilities are the real fruits of heaven

  Capsule Definition of Baha'i

  Suffering plays the same role in Baha'u'llah's sacrifice

  Questions nine and ten: this unique period in history

  Definition of service to the Cause of God

  Questions Eleven and Twelve; one must know in order to teach the Cause of God

  Susceptibility leads to divine confirmation and virtue. This way, one will become one of the promised angels of heaven

 

 

As might be expected, 'Abdu'l-Baha starts with the basis of His listeners' religious understanding, which at the time was, by and large, a sort of liberal Protestant Christianity mixed into a thousand other notions, from spiritualism to New Thought (now called New Age Thought). He defines what a Christian is, then what a Baha'i is. The latter amounts to the same thing as the former.

 

It is interesting to contrast the definition He gives here of what Baha'i is with how Abdu'l-Baha defined it in the face of some narrow minded missionaries. They, of course, regarded their faith, Christianity, as a rival religion utterly incompatible, as a congregation of deluded sheep led by cynical power mongers. For the Master, Baha'is are leaderless, a "community of cooperative servants." There can be questions among Baha'is, but not the sort of disputation and wrangling over doctrine that has dragged Christians into the dust ever since Athanasius' day.

 

 

QUESTION: "Is there any leader or head in the Baha'i Religion?"

ANSWER: "The Baha'is are a community of cooperative servants, they have no leader. Their only leader is God. They have no ordained ministers or priests. Whosoever hears and believes in the principles of this Cause, it is required of him to convey this Message to others.

The Baha'is have no organized missionary headquarters. Because their cardinal creed is the Fatherhood of God and the Brotherhood of Man, they have no theological wrangles and no metaphysical speculations."

 

(The Era of Independence; An Interview with Abdu'l-Baha What Abdu'l-Baha said to five American Christian Missionaries From the Diary of Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, in Star of the West, Vol. 12, p. 13. For the whole interview online, see: http://badiblog.blogspot.com/2008/12/era-of-independence-interview-with.html)

 

 

Another aspect of this talk struck me as I was going over it. Imagine how controversial some of what He says here about the nature of Western Civilisation (the forces of Satan and Antichrist) would have been if He had given it in New York ninety years later!

 

I just read Linda McQuaig's "Its the Crude, Dude!", which describes how the United States invaded Iraq out of pure greed, in order to gain control of its oil fields. This base motive was clear to all, Iran most of all -- hence their present rush to a nuclear defense. But when it happened, all of a sudden no respectable commentator in the press could consider any motive for the invasion other than unselfishly spreading freedom and democracy. Forget oil-free places like Congo and Darfur where government itself, much less democracy, were long ago tossed out the window. The point is that we Americans are unselfishly spending masses of blood and funds to save democracy in Iraq. End of story.

 

Same base, bloody story with Italy's invasion of Tripoli, which Abdu'l-Baha refers to in this address.

 

The general opinion was that Italy, the center of Western Christianity, had to be in the right to invade a defenseless neighbour across the Med. Its victory, right or wrong, was a triumph of the West. Of course, when the Italians later proved not to be such successful imperialists, that opinion was moderated. Today we remember the sinking of the Titanic as the most memorable event of that time, but this war (now known as the prelude to World War One) was what contemporary journalists thought was the most important headline.

 

 

 

 

Today's Badi' Blog Essay (jetbadi.aligu@blogger.com)

I've shared Today's Badi' Blog Essay

Click to open:

• Today's Badi' Blog Essay

Here are the latest additions to the Badi' Blog.

Joe Woods to speak in Dunnville on the Golden Rule and the oneness of religions next week.

http://badiblog.blogspot.ca/2012/04/lsa-of-haldimands-monthly-fireside-next.html

Here is the poster for this month’s Philosopher’s Cafe meeting in Wainfleet. We will be discussing the grounds for optimism.

http://badiblog.blogspot.ca/2012/04/come-for-open-discussion-in-small-group.html

Here I share a quote about corporal punishment that I came across lately.

http://badiblog.blogspot.ca/2012/03/spanking.html

My daughter’s latest comic book satirizing our family.

http://badiblog.blogspot.ca/2012/03/dopey-mom.html

A passage from a book by the early environmentalist, Gray Owl.

http://badiblog.blogspot.ca/2012/03/why-canadians-do-not-move-north.html

I would remind those who receive this mailing list, that much of my output lately is to be found on my Facebook wall. Contact me there.

::

Google Docs makes it easy to create, store and share online documents, spreadsheets and presentations.

LSA of Haldimand's Monthly Fireside, Next Week

Beyond the Golden Rule

with Joe Woods

Garfield Disher Room, Dunnville Library

8 PM 

Wednesday, 11 April, 2012

Tomaso answers "in his own words."

Our fireside this month will be about "Beyond the Golden Rule." Making up the poster for it, I came across the above answer given by a child, taking the question too literally. Teachers have to watch what they say. Take this answer, which my son gave in a test about the rules of flight and aviation for his Grade Seven class. The mistake the teacher made was to say, "in your own words." Thomas chose to say his words in Esperanto, which only got him a big question mark. The words were "Mi ne scias kio, cxi tio estas." which, translated, means, "I do not know what that is." Later, of course, we looked over the many YouTube videos on that principle and how it works. He had just forgotten what it was.

Come for an open discussion in a small group

Philosopher’sCafé

This month’s topic:

“Is There Hope?” 

Thursday, April 12 

6:30 p.m. in the Library’s meeting room 

Wainfleet Township Public Library 

31909 Park Street, P.O. Box 118 

Wainfleet, ON L0S 1V0 

905-899-1277 www.wainfleetlibrary.ca 

Everyone welcome. Drop in for a lively 

discussion. 

• There is no fee to participate. 

• No formal philosophy training required; 

real life experience desired. 

A second Thursday of the month destination for provocative, insightful discussion around ideas and issues that matter. 

Taste of TED2012

Spanking

 

March 28, 2012

 

My father never hit any of his kids. His reasoning was thus: if I have to resort to physical strength, I am demonstrating that this young mind is better than mine, that I cannot outsmart someone of such tender years. I have never found a rational like that in anything I have read, though others have come to the same conclusion through different paths. Here is one that impressed me lately, from the Roman teacher, orator and writer, Quintilion.

 

"A very pertinent question now arises. What place, if any, should corporal punishment hold in the school ? Quintilian is quite decided in his answer. "As for corporal punishment, though it is a recognised practice. I am completely opposed to it … first because it is disgusting, fit only for slaves and undoubtedly an insult . . . in the next place, because a pupil whose mind so ill befits a free man's son as not to be corrected by reproof, will remain obdurate even. in face of blows—like the vilest of slaves : and finally because there will be no need of such chastisement if there is always somebody present to diligently supervise the pupil's studies . . . If you coerce the child when he is young by means of blows, what will you do when he is a young man who cannot be compelled through fear and has many more important things to learn?" (Institutio, Book I, c. 2, quoted in A Short History of Educational Ideas, Curtis and Boultwood, University Tutorial Press, London, 1953, p. 60)

 

 

 

Jonathan Haidt: Religion, evolution, and the ecstasy of self-transcendence

Dopey Mom

Mom returned to school in January, and the changes are showing up in 17 year old Silvie's satirical series, Dopey Dad. I may have lost the title role, but not the role of the heavy. No use for the heavy to point out that linoleum is a hard substance that is laid on floors, not a liquid. I must say that until I had a teenaged daughter, I had no idea into what depths of uncoolness a human being can sink. But here I am, sunk.

::

Why Canadians do not move north

A Passage from Grey Owl's "The Men of the Last Frontier."

 

At the Wainfleet Library a few months ago, Tommy and I saw a report by an explorer and local boy. He just got back from exploring for the first time a river that runs into James Bay. In his canoe, alone, he floated by a polar bear. I was inspired by this presentation to buy and read his book about his first expedition to northern Ontario that he made as a teen. Most of this province in the north is a huge swamp, second only to the Amazon as an unexplored vastness. He tells of how he was inspired by the books of Grey Owl, one of the first environmentalist writers.

I happened to have Grey Owl's first book, "The Men of the Last Frontier," in my library, and this prompted me to read it. Here is a passage from that book explaining why this bush country is so tough, why it has never been colonized. If you ever wondered why Canadians hug our Southern Border, or why we do not have large cities in the far north as do the Russians, here is as good an explanation as any I have seen. Needless to say, this author is speaking from direct, personal experience living in this terrible (for humans) wasteland.

 

 

 

Chapter Two; The Land of Shadows

 

In the fastness of this rapidly fading frontier, the last on this continent, reigns the Spirit of the North Land. … Through them the invader must pick his way with the delicacy and assurance of one who walks barefoot amongst naked knives. Some of his weapons are merely annoyances, irritating but bearable; others are harassing to the point of obsession, wearing out the body and mind, and lessening the resisting power of a man; others, yet, bring swift death, or the long slow agonies of those who would die but cannot.

 

A stiff, wiry growth of sage brush, knee-deep and tangled, cumbers the ground over large areas. Mosquitoes, black flies, moose flies, and sand flies in relentless swarms make the forest almost uninhabitable for three months of the four of which the summer consists. The immense inland seas, shallow and exposed, are frequently whipped to fury on short notice, or none at all, by terrific storms, which, gathering force over the height of land, lash these northern latitudes with unbelievable fury. Forest fires, irresistible, all-devouring, sweep at times through the close-set resinous timber at railroad speed, leaving in their wake a devastation of bare hills and smoking stumps; desperate indeed is the plight of the voyageur so trapped far from water. Frequently miles of rapids have to be negotiated, where only the greatest skill and courage, coupled with days at a time of heart-breaking and exhausting labour, can gain the objective.

 

 

 

In winter snow often lies six feet deep in the woods and at the railroad, a hundred or so miles to the south, sixty-five degrees below zero (Fahrenheit) is no uncommon temperature. A rise in temperature often precipitates a blizzard, and these winter storms are so violent as to destroy whole areas of timber by sheer weight alone; the solitary trapper caught on the trail by one of these tempests, with little or no warning, especially if crossing any large lake, is in grave danger. His dogs, blinded and half-choked by the wind-driven masses of snow, cannot face the storm. Himself unable to break trail through the mounting drifts, or to keep his direction through the whirling white wall that surrounds him at the distance of a few feet, he may, if far from land, perish miserably.

 

Perhaps, wisely relying on his dogs to lead him ashore, he may, if lucky, find wood and shelter enough for his protection. A broken axe handle under these conditions would be not only an inconvenience, but a disaster with probably fatal results. Here, with his toboggan sheet for a windbreak, a bed of hastily laid brush, and a pile of wood sufficient to do all night, gathered with infinite labour, he can make some kind of a stand to live out the storm.

 

The howling wind fills his shelter with blinding smoke, and the fire only serves to melt the snow as it accumulates on blankets, food and clothing, wetting everything; cooking is impossible, and content with a pail of tea and perhaps some thawed-out fish intended for dog feed, he and his shivering huskies crouch by the fire all the long night. And often enough the cold light of morning breaks on a Shelter half-filled with drifting snow, a fire long since extinguished, and a pack of whining wolf-dogs waiting in vain to be harnessed up, later to run wild with the wolves.

 

From Grey Owl, The Men of the Last Frontier, Macmillan, Toronto, 1931, pages 35-37

This book can be downloaded at: http://www.archive.org/details/menofthelastfron013925mbp

News about Ocean and Sifter

The indispensable program for Baha'i scholars, "Ocean," has been improved in at least two ways. One, there is now a Mac version, and two, the companion search engine, "Sifter," is now available for free on the Baha'i Education website. This makes all the volumes of Star of the West available to search and use on your computer.

Check it out at: http://bahai-education.org/

::

JFK: "An attack on one religion is an attack on all." n.b. Iran!

Tablet of Ahmad لوح أحمد in Arabic

Neil MacGregor: 2600 years of history in one object

Jennifer Pahlka: We are not going to fix government until we fix citizenship

Work Less, Think More - from the NEF

TheSpec - Baha’is celebrate ‘leap days’ at 44th tea

TheSpec - Baha’is celebrate ‘leap days’ at 44th tea

Is there any remover of financial difficulties? Yes.

Thanks to Pat Reid and Maureen Page for sending me this letter. Am I the only one who has financial difficulties and troubles finding a job? This recitation should come in useful quite a bit.

THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE

DEPARTMENT OF THE SECRETARIAT

1 February 2012

 
Dear Bahá’í Friend,


Your email letter of 7 October 2011, requesting authentication of three passages, has been received at the Bahá’í World Centre and referred to the Research Department for study.

Enclosed is a memorandum prepared by that Department in response to your question. It is hoped that the content of this document will provide the information you seek.
With loving Bahá’í greetings,


Department of the Secretariat
Enclosure

****

M E M O R A N D U M

To: The Universal House of Justice 
Date: 1 February, 2012
From: Research Department

Request for authentication

We have received ........ an email letter of 7 October 2011 ....... requests information concerning the authenticity of three translated passages. There follows a response to each query in turn.


Regarding the prayer beginning “O God! O God! Cause me to drink from the cup of Thy Bestowal…”, this is an authenticated prayer of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, for which the authorized translation is as follows:


"O God, my God! Give me to drink from the cup of Thy bestowal and illumine my face with the light of guidance. Make me firm in the path of faithfulness, assist me to be steadfast in Thy mighty Covenant, and suffer me to be numbered with Thy chosen servants. Unlock before my face the doors of abundance, grant me deliverance, and sustain me, through means I cannot reckon, from the treasuries of heaven. Suffer me to turn my face toward the countenance of Thy generosity and to be entirely devoted to Thee, O Thou Who art merciful and compassionate! To those that stand fast and firm in Thy Covenant Thou, verily, art gracious and generous. All praise be to God, the Lord of the worlds!

........  mentions that “Bahá’u’lláh has said that reading the following Quranic verses every day will assist those in financial difficulties as well as those having difficulties earning a living: ‘To him who believes in God and the Last Day. And for those who fear God, He prepares a way out. And He provides for him from sources he never could imagine. And any one puts his trust in God, sufficient is God for him. For God will surely accomplish His purpose. Verily for all things has God appointed a due proportion.’”


The verse is from Qur’an 65:2–3, and the accompanying instructions resemble those found in a Tablet of Bahá’u’lláh, which can be viewed at the Bahá’í Reference Library online at reference.bahai.org/fa/t/b/MAS8/mas8-110.html. An authorized translation is not available.


Regarding the prayer “O My God! I beg of Thee, by the King of Names and Maker of heaven and earth…”, this is similar to a prayer found in Star of the West, volume 14, number 6 (September 1923), page 166. We have not been able to locate the original text and are, therefore, unable to confirm the authenticity of the prayer or the instructions that accompany it. However, we have located the original Tablet from Bahá’u’lláh to Mírzá Abu’l-Fad'l which contains lines similar to the prayer in question. We provide the authorized translation below:



Say: O God, my God! Glory be to Thee for having guided me unto the horizon of Thy Revelation, illumined me with the splendours of the light of grace and mercy, caused me to speak forth Thy praise, and given me to behold that which hath been revealed by Thy Pen.

I beseech Thee, O Thou the Lord of the kingdom of names and Fashioner of earth and heaven, by the rustling of the Divine Lote-Tree and by Thy most sweet utterance which hath enraptured the realities of all created things, to raise me up in Thy Name amidst Thy servants. I am he who hath sought in the daytime and in the night season to stand before the door of Thy bounty and to present himself before the throne of Thy justice. O Lord! Cast not away him who hath clung to the cord of Thy nearness, and deprive not him who hath directed his steps towards Thy most sublime station, the summit of glory, and the supreme objective—that station wherein every atom crieth out in the most eloquent tongue, saying: “Earth and heaven, glory and dominion are God’s, the Almighty, the All-Glorious, the Most Bountiful!”…

Praise be to Thee, O Lord my God, for guiding me unto the horizon of Thy Revelation and for causing me to be mentioned by Thy Name. I beseech Thee, by the spreading rays of the Daystar of Thy providence and by the billowing waves of the Ocean of Thy mercy, to grant that my speech may bear a trace of the influence of Thine own exalted Word, attracting thereby the realities of all created things. Powerful art Thou to do what Thou willest through Thy wondrous and incomparable Utterance.


In this Tablet, Bahá’u’lláh gives no prescription for how the prayer is to be recited or used.
 

My Daughter's XMas Present Video to me

O FILS DE L'ESPRIT Hidden Word sung in French with subtitles also in French

Its all about power II; Wind Turbine Debate