tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-10090100115898238372024-03-23T06:02:39.897-07:00Baha'i CoherenceAn Exploration of RealityBryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.comBlogger271125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-42048039056720447402020-09-28T13:41:00.004-07:002020-09-28T13:41:46.732-07:00Moved to Medium.com<p> Hi folks. After much frustration with Blogger over the years I finally moved over to Medium.com, which seems to be much easier to manage and share articles. I made a new channel with the Baha'i Coherence name. Please follow here for new posts:</p><p><a href="https://medium.com/bahai-coherence">https://medium.com/bahai-coherence</a></p><p>I'm still figuring out some of the details, but as long as you're following the publication, I'll figure out how to send email updates with new articles. Medium does charge $5 for unlimited access to premium content, but my content will remain outside the paywall. If in some strange future I put material behind a paywall, Medium gives everyone 3 free articles a month. </p><p>I've already posted the timely <a href="https://medium.com/bahai-coherence/getting-political-why-not-1569307b0f41">Getting Political</a>, about the Baha'i position on political non-involvement, and a remake of my first post on Baha'i Coherence: <a href="https://medium.com/bahai-coherence/reconciling-the-story-of-genesis-with-the-modern-world-84af4ab326b7">Reconciling Genesis with the modern world</a>. I plan on going through my best posts from this blog over many years and cleaning them up for new posts on Medium. </p><p>Thanks for all the good times. </p>Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-7063752164414805882020-09-04T11:52:00.012-07:002020-09-04T23:34:00.355-07:00Priority: Charity or Baha'i Funds?<span style="font-size: medium;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/#"></a><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.blogger.com/#"></a><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeJlrQjIIFbjDeS2F2XTYhOaoP2rAZZvZeswpJHCtkfND85kuGpDLF_wEYowlsE4rmMp5OU-IP3s2RHMYtbzQ_ux7kyw3CeeeZ-oMUYkwBHVkk7Sm57KEN6b0jMk7h6swRux_ZoYf6Zjic/s1200/sinking.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="626" data-original-width="1200" height="267" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeJlrQjIIFbjDeS2F2XTYhOaoP2rAZZvZeswpJHCtkfND85kuGpDLF_wEYowlsE4rmMp5OU-IP3s2RHMYtbzQ_ux7kyw3CeeeZ-oMUYkwBHVkk7Sm57KEN6b0jMk7h6swRux_ZoYf6Zjic/w512-h267/sinking.jpg" width="512" /></a></div><br /><a href="https://bahaicoherence.blogspot.com/2020/07/wealth-is-praiseworthy-if.html">Wealth is praiseworthy</a>, if it is earned honestly and used for philanthropic purposes. The desire to better the world leads to figuring out how best to <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">give away money</a> intentionally, getting the most value out of every dollar donated. Giving efficiently means not always responding to the needs in front of your face, but giving consistently to address root problems with a long-term vision. <br /><br />Naturally, a question arises for Baha'is: how much should I give to charity versus the Baha'i funds? <br /><br /></span><div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">It turns out, there are many writings already addressing this, and it seems clear that giving to the Baha'i funds should be the highest priority for Baha'is giving to charity. Although it may not be obvious at first, giving to the Baha'i funds is the best way to help the world, because it is building up a solution to address underlying problems. I have two analogies that convey the principle.<span><a name='more'></a></span><br /><br /><b>The machine to stop the flood<br /></b><br /><span><a href="https://bahai-library.com/moffett_pilgrims_notes">Pilgrims notes by Ruhaniyyih Ruth Moffett</a> record a story of Ruhiyyih Khanum, the wife of Shoghi Effendi,</span></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;"><br />Ruhiyyih Khanum said she had a dream one night: she dreamed that the dam had burst and that there was a great flood, She rushed down to the water's edge to try to save someone, but the current swept them past. She reached out to try to grasp and save another. She grasped one by the hair, and, with great effort, brought that one to shore. Then she tried to reach another, but the current swept him by. She looked up at the side of the mountain, and there she saw 'Abdu'l-Bahá, who looked like a Prophet of God, with his white turban and flowing beard, with his back to the flood, working very hard. She rushed up the mountain side, grasped His sleeves and said, "Oh, 'Abdu'l-Bahá, come and help me save some of these people who are drowning in the flood." 'Abdu'l-Bahá went right on, working very rapidly and said nothing. She grasped his sleeve again and said, "Oh 'Abdu'l-Bahá, these people are drowning, come help me save some of these people who are drowning in the flood." 'Abdu'l-Bahá, without stopping his work turned to her with a smile and Said, "'Abdu'l-Bahá is building the machine to stop the flood."</span></blockquote><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /><b>Building a new ship<br /></b><br />A good analogy I've used is the world order as a large ship floating in the ocean. Every once in awhile, the ship starts sinking slowly and catastrophically, and the world builds a better ship. World War I was a failure of the era of kings, and it was replaced. The new ship also failed as World War II broke out and tens of millions lost their lives to another war. In smaller ways, this analogy plays out in ideologies of racism, nationalism, and immorality. The world seems to be entering another sinking, and a new ship will have an even closer unity of nations, but it is not the long-term solution.</span></div><span><!--more--></span><span><!--more--></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Baha'is are building a new ship. One that is currently small but will have the capacity for all of mankind to enter. It will be better than any ship the old order can possibly make, and only Baha'is can build it. The longer it takes, the longer the world's suffering will fester. It will promote real unity between races, nations, religions, classes, and ideologies. It will resolve injustices and promote prosperity, science, and industry.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>Prioritizing Baha'i funds</b><br /><br /></span></div><span style="font-size: medium;">Of course, being a Baha'i means recognizing that this Faith is the remedy to the world's afflictions. Others may not recognize that truth and may see this as selfishness, but charitable giving by Baha'is should be almost entirely to the Baha'i funds. Don't take my word for it, numerous writings from Shoghi Effendi and the Universal House of Justice provide clarity on the subject. A compilation can be found <a href="https://bahai.works/Lights_of_Guidance/Charity">here</a> in Lights of Guidance, and another <a href="https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/compilations/bahai-funds-contributions/bahai-funds-contributions.pdf">here</a> by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice.</span><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Here are two key passages from Shoghi Effendi.<br /></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Regarding the question you raised: in the first place every believer is free to follow the dictates of his own conscience as regards the manner in which he should spend his own money. Secondly, we must always bear in mind that there are so few Bahá’ís in the world, relative to the world’s population, and so many people in need, that even if all of us gave all we had, it would not alleviate more than an infinitesimal amount of suffering. This does not mean we must not help the needy, we should; but our contributions to the Faith are the surest way of lifting once and for all time the burden of hunger and misery from mankind, for it is only through the System of Bahá’u’lláh—Divine in origin—that the world can be gotten on its feet and want, fear, hunger, war, etc., be eliminated. Non-Bahá’ís cannot contribute to our work or do it for us; so really our first obligation is to support our own teaching work, as this will lead to the healing of the nations.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">—On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, letter dated 8 December 1947 to an individual</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">Regarding your question concerning helping the poor: The Bahá’ís should not go so far as to refrain from extending charity to the needy, if they are able and willing to do so. However, in this, as in many other things, they should exert moderation. The greatest gift that we can give to the poor and the down-trodden is to aid to build up the divine institutions inaugurated in this day by Bahá’u’lláh as these institutions, and this World Order when established, will eliminate the causes of poverty and the injustices which afflict the poor. We should, therefore, do both, support our Bahá’í Fund, and also be kind and generous to the needy.</span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: medium;">—On behalf of Shoghi Effendi, letter dated 11 March 1942 to an individual</span></div></blockquote><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><b>The Universal House of Justice</b> </span></p><span style="font-size: medium;">One particular letter of the Universal House of Justice stands out on the topic of charity and prioritizing Baha'i funds. It was written <a href="https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/the-universal-house-of-justice/messages/19741119_001/19741119_001.xhtml">19 November 1974</a> to the National Spiritual Assembly of Italy. The full text is below.<br /><br /></span><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><span style="font-size: medium;">Dear Bahá’í Friends,<br /><br />In your letter of 11 September you say that the questions of how to help the Third World or the poor who are suffering under calamities are much discussed in your community and you wish to know whether to create a special fund for such needs, to ask for special contributions from time to time, or whether there are other ways in which you could help.<br /><br />It is understandable that Bahá’ís who witness the miserable conditions under which so many human beings have to live, or who hear of a sudden disaster that has struck a certain area of the world, are moved to do something practical to ameliorate those conditions and to help their suffering fellow-mortals.<br /><br />There are many ways in which help can be rendered. Every Bahá’í has the duty to acquire a trade or profession through which he will earn that wherewith he can support himself and his family; in the choice of such work he can seek those activities which are of benefit to his fellowmen and not merely those which promote his personal interests, still less those whose effects are actually harmful.<br /><br />There are also the situations in which an individual Bahá’í or a Spiritual Assembly is confronted with an urgent need which neither justice nor compassion could allow to go unheeded and unhelped. How many are the stories told of ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá in such situations, when He would even take off a garment He was wearing and give it to a shivering man in rags.<br /><br />But in our concern for such immediate obvious calls upon our succor we must not allow ourselves to forget the continuing, appalling burden of suffering under which millions of human beings are always groaning—a burden which they have borne for century upon century and which it is the mission of Bahá’u’lláh to lift at last. The principal cause of this suffering, which one can witness wherever one turns, is the corruption of human morals and the prevalence of prejudice, suspicion, hatred, untrustworthiness, selfishness and tyranny among men. It is not merely material well-being that people need. What they desperately need is to know how to live their lives—they need to know who they are, to what purpose they exist, and how they should act towards one another; and, once they know the answers to these questions they need to be helped to gradually apply these answers to everyday behavior. It is to the solution of this basic problem of mankind that the greater part of all our energy and resources should be directed. There are mighty agencies in this world, governments, foundations, institutions of many kinds with tremendous financial resources which are working to improve the material lot of human beings. Anything we Bahá’ís could add to such resources in the way of special funds or contributions would be a negligible drop in the ocean. However, alone among men we have the divinely given remedy for the real ills of mankind; no one else is doing or can do this most important work, and if we divert our energy and our funds into fields in which others are already doing more than we can hope to do, we shall be delaying the diffusion of the Divine Message which is the most important task of all.<br /><br />Because of such an attitude, and also because of our refusal to become involved in politics, Bahá’ís are often accused of holding aloof from the “real problems” of their fellowmen. But when we hear this accusation let us not forget that those who make it are usually idealistic materialists to whom material good is the only “real” good, whereas we know that the working of the material world is merely a reflection of spiritual conditions and until the spiritual conditions can be changed there can be no lasting change for the better in material affairs.<br /><br />We should also remember that most people have no clear concept of the sort of world they wish to build, nor how to go about building it. Even those who are concerned to improve conditions are therefore reduced to combating every apparent evil that takes their attention. Willingness to fight against evils, whether in the form of conditions or embodied in evil men, has thus become for most people the touchstone by which they judge a person’s moral worth. Bahá’ís, on the other hand, know the goal they are working towards and know what they must do, step by step, to attain it. Their whole energy is directed towards the building of the good, a good which has such a positive strength that in the face of it the multitude of evils—which are in essence negative—will fade away and be no more. To enter into the quixotic tournament of demolishing one by one the evils in the world is, to a Bahá’í, a vain waste of time and effort. His whole life is directed towards proclaiming the Message of Bahá’u’lláh, reviving the spiritual life of his fellowmen, uniting them in a divinely created World Order, and then, as the Order grows in strength and influence, he will see the power of that Message transforming the whole human society and progressively solving the problems and removing the injustices which have so long bedeviled the world.<br /><br />With loving Bahá’í greetings,<br />[signed: The Universal House of Justice]</span></blockquote></div></div></div>Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-43014084661940055482020-09-01T15:49:00.005-07:002020-09-04T12:58:02.476-07:00Can Baha'i Assemblies provide welfare?<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3wMDUVKlsw8ayJR6aMLgNdXyKl0p1W9iMdE0yD5qL_UBTgSKVsWwaNGR4a151qmNjOaSJzN7hd4iFK9hHA2fSAizQQcKowalx7pXGpUiw67Ro3MOFeKyRmcyWPBGuEcLpiBiI1vVuOn8q/s740/eviction.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><img border="0" data-original-height="416" data-original-width="740" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3wMDUVKlsw8ayJR6aMLgNdXyKl0p1W9iMdE0yD5qL_UBTgSKVsWwaNGR4a151qmNjOaSJzN7hd4iFK9hHA2fSAizQQcKowalx7pXGpUiw67Ro3MOFeKyRmcyWPBGuEcLpiBiI1vVuOn8q/w400-h225/eviction.jpeg" width="400" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">(I recently wrote about <a href="https://bahaicoherence.blogspot.com/2020/07/wealth-is-praiseworthy-if.html">wealth</a> and <a href="https://bahaicoherence.blogspot.com/2020/08/how-to-give-away-money.html">giving away money</a>, which provide some background to this post about how the Baha'i Funds interplay with charity and welfare.)</span><p></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">I was once on a Local Spiritual Assembly that investigated setting up a humanitarian fund to help individuals in the community who fell on hard times. Of course, superficially this sounds simple: set aside some money and give it to the needy. Similar to the complexities of aid work, there are many pitfalls when crossing over that line of giving away resources. Trying to develop a framework for a local humanitarian portion of the Baha'i Fund was a long process that drove me into researching some interesting areas of the Baha'i Writings. <span></span></span></p><a name='more'></a><p></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>To aid, or not to aid</b></span></h3><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The first question to arise aught to be, should we provide material assistance at all? The answer isn't simple. On the one hand, there are numerous calls in the Baha'i Writings for individuals and Assemblies to relieve the suffering of the poor.</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">O CHILDREN OF DUST! Tell the rich of the midnight sighing of the poor, lest heedlessness lead them into the path of destruction, and deprive them of the Tree of Wealth. To give and to be generous are attributes of Mine; well is it with him that adorneth himself with My virtues.</span></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Baha'u'llah</span></blockquote></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Shoghi Effendi wrote that Local Spiritual Assemblies "must do their utmost to extend at all times the helping hand to the poor, the sick, the disabled, the orphan, the widow..."</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">A letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi also indicates that assistance to the poor is a key responsibility of Baha'i communities:</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It is the responsibility of every local Bahá’í community to insure the welfare of its poor and needy members, through whatever means possible.</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">The same letter goes on, however, to say,</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">But, of course, this extension of assistance to the poor, in whatever form should under no circumstances be allowed to seriously interfere with the major collective interests of the Bahá’í Community, as distinguished from the purely personal interests of its members.</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">So yes, Assemblies should provide humanitarian relief, but the relief should never seriously interfere with the interests of the community. This assistance could come in two forms: individuals asking for help, or giving to a charitable organizations. </span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><b>Giving to charity</b></span></h3><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">On the subject of Assemblies contributing to charities, a 1973 letter from the Universal House of Justice further elaborated the wisdom needed:</span></p><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Spiritual Assemblies are, of course, permitted to make contributions to charity—indeed care of the poor and needy is one of the duties assigned to them in the Bahá’í Writings—but they must weigh their responsibilities very carefully and remember that in a highly organised country like the United Kingdom the poor are helped by a multitude of agencies, both governmental and private, whereas only the Bahá’ís can contribute towards the building of the Kingdom of God on earth. This, clearly, is a matter for wise moderation. Assemblies, moreover, should perform their charitable works with a pure motive, and not with the thought of propagandizing for the Faith.</span></blockquote><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">It is allowable for Baha'i institutions to set aside funds for charities, but the needs of the Baha'i community and teaching must come first. Taken to the extreme, individual Baha'is could divert all their charitable giving to philanthropic organizations, and the Baha'i Faith itself would hardly grow. On the other hand, charity coming from Baha'is needs to increase over time, especially wise and efficient giving from institutions. </span></p><p><span style="clear: right; float: right; font-size: medium; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"><img border="0" data-original-height="310" data-original-width="310" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhDCNdsGk7WYjO99LBeWDO_jQYpg-02Z9LzJ2HSn4pUT3U-Ai_GsXI3V61p3_UzFwc59U6ntI4-LGgZ8aF6Ms1GzsSGYcLn3g5i0afCJcomCX9-HzM7O1qB3GExcHZFzjDmpyIPD2z_3cmo/s0/camping.jpg" /></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">If an Assembly sets aside a small portion of their funds to give to a charitable organization, where should the money go? The same problems I noted with <a href="https://bahaicoherence.blogspot.com/2020/08/how-to-give-away-money.html">giving to charities</a> applies equally to institutions making donations. And the same solutions apply. Charity should avoid using service as an advertising tool, should avoid inefficiency and impetuousness, and should think of long-term solutions to root problems. Similar to individuals giving, I think a good approach is to research an effective and efficient organization that gets high value per dollar, and ensure the charity is building capacity, not creating dependency, etc. Then contribute funds consistently and without fanfare. Individuals can know that some money contributed to the local Baha'i Fund also makes its way to a well-researched charity.</span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"></span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;">The Baha'i funds themselves are a kind of charity (more on that in my next post). The contributor is choosing to give for the expansion of the Baha'i teachings, which will increase spiritual progress. It would be inconsistent with the intention of the giver to expend a large part of that money toward other charities. </span></span></p><div><span style="font-size: medium;"><b style="font-family: georgia;">Baha'is in need</b><span style="font-family: georgia;"> </span></span></div><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>Institutional giving to an aid organization doesn't address the problem standing in front of you: when a member of the Baha'i community is suffering from a hardship, people really really want to be able to offer assistance. Besides balancing their personal interests with those of the Baha'i community, and not allowing personal needs to seriously interfere with community needs, </span>institutions must also avoid another pitfall: creating a financial incentive to be a Baha'i. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><span style="font-family: georgia;"></span></span></p><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;"><span>A story highlights the point: the Baha'i center can be rented for a certain daily fee, but the cost is about half of that for Baha'is, which makes sense. A man once inquired about renting the Baha'i center, and then asked if there was a discount for members. When he was told about the discount, he said, "Okay, I'll sign up." Of course his offer to enroll as a Baha'i was rejected, but this shines a spotlight on what could be a huge problem as the incentives grow larger. What if financial aid were only available to enrolled Baha'is? Shoghi Effendi mentioned that Assemblies should extend a helping hand, "irrespective of colour, caste and creed," indicating that aid should not be limited to Baha'is, but he also said that the Baha'i community should provide the welfare of its "poor and needy members", indicating that there is a special place for </span>Baha'is who suffer intense hardships. </span></p><h3 style="text-align: left;"><b><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">What actually happened</span></b></h3><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Both types of charitable giving, to needy individuals and organized charities, I think should be avoided while Baha'i communities are very small with limited resources. Similar to social and economic development projects, charity is something that Baha'is can take on as growth is happening and resources are abundant. Small communities that are struggling just to put on Feasts and Holy Days can get bogged down in the details of giving aid and their contributions would be a drop in the ocean. They should focus all their energy on building up the spiritual education that will address underlying social problems, even if society is crashing all around them. Sometimes you have to run past people drowning to fix the dam so that more people don't drown.</span></p><div><p><span style="font-family: georgia; font-size: medium;">Here is what came of the consultation that I was involved in, balancing the various sensitivities of aid. The Assembly would create a line in the budget for humanitarian purposes. Money contributed to the general fund would not be allocated to it, so it was earmark-only. If any requests for material assistance came to the Assembly (which was fairly common), a group of three would interview the individual and decide how they can be helped. If funds were needed to resolve a temporary situation, and humanitarian funds were available, then the funds could be dispersed. Funds would not be limited to only Baha'is. Assistance would be for short-term problems, to keep people out of the worst of hardships without creating dependency or becoming an alternative to large aid structures like welfare. </span></p><p><span style="font-size: medium;"><br /></span></p> </div>Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-30818181693489460752020-08-12T17:16:00.003-07:002020-08-23T22:32:21.726-07:00How to give away money<div class="separator"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_USOUC8_lPocIkm2z5uKcrFD24PpuqrU3xHGLfXUXCwnwSXLaKTi3fM3Jk0Ac37PbSUBAs234KngUZzEpyMC41oXu-uy4C_KLVdTYeo5diu0RU1ZgULOaZPDvwtAa9aPebWBtOlKmErvm/s855/charity.jpg" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="855" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh_USOUC8_lPocIkm2z5uKcrFD24PpuqrU3xHGLfXUXCwnwSXLaKTi3fM3Jk0Ac37PbSUBAs234KngUZzEpyMC41oXu-uy4C_KLVdTYeo5diu0RU1ZgULOaZPDvwtAa9aPebWBtOlKmErvm/w400-h211/charity.jpg" width="550" /></span></a></div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span><div style="clear: left;"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">The Baha'i Writings are full of references encouraging charity and generous spending on the poor. Baha'u'llah wrote, "O SON OF MAN! Bestow My wealth upon My poor", and, "O CHILDREN OF DUST! Tell the rich of the midnight sighing of the poor, lest heedlessness lead them into the path of destruction, and deprive them of the Tree of Wealth. To give and to be generous are attributes of Mine; well is it with him that adorneth himself with My virtues." And, "Be generous in prosperity, and thankful in adversity." </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">It seems like such a simple thing, if you have money, give it to the poor. But it's not at all that simple. Philanthropy can have unintended negative side effects, my favorite example of which was the very well intentioned <a href="http://content.time.com/time/world/article/0,8599,1987628,00.html">Jason Sadler of Florida</a>, who made it his goal to send one million t-shirts to Africa. He stepped into a debate among aid workers, that sometimes incoherent attempts to send aid end up making things worse. In the case of the t-shirts, there was no particular need for shirts (Jason had excess from his company), there were much more pressing problems that needed addressing, and flooding the market with free shirts would ruin many local businesses. That's not an argument not to care, it's just to say that aid is complicated.<span><a name='more'></a></span></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">Philanthropy has some known problems. What if someone only gives to get recognition? Is that worse than not giving at all? What if someone gives a dollar to a charity for every "like" on their Instagram page? Will giving lead to increased capacity? Will it lead to dependence? Will donations accidentally encourage poverty? Is the charity addressing root problems? </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">Some charitable organizations are terribly inefficient due to people's giving habits. Think of local canned food drives that collect canned goods to redistribute through local food banks. People have to stock the grocery store, then you buy cans, carry them around, drop them in a collection bin, someone has to carry the whole lot to the food bank, some of the cans end up going in the trash, then the hodgepodge of different foods get put together incoherently into meals. A much more efficient way to feed the needy would be to simply collect money and have the food bank order wisely selected goods, purchased cheaply in large quantities, and delivered directly to the food bank. Food banks can deliver <b><u>four times the amount of food</u></b> if you just give them cash. So why do they have food drives? Because you're not giving cash. People like the feeling of dropping a can into a bin and they don't like the feeling of giving money. So the food banks take what they can get. They're working with people's impulsivity.</span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">Philanthropy on a small scale is no more simple. Giving money to friends dramatically changes the relationship from one of equals co-struggling to one of donor/recipient. Sometimes offering aid to friends and family can be offensive. Giving to beggars on the street ends up being about as incoherent as giving a million t-shirts to Africa; the giving is always impetuous, inefficient, and encourages the presentation of poverty. </span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">Enough complaining. You get it, it's complicated. So what SHOULD you do? Here are my thoughts about navigating charity. </span></div><div><ol style="text-align: left;"><li><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b>Be generous</b>. The best way to help others is to employ them. Don't let people take advantage of you, but when you need work done, pay people and look for opportunities to employ those in need. People don't like handouts, but they love getting tips. On a large scale, a company that pays fair wages in Zambia could do more to lift people out of poverty than someone donating a hospital.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b>Focus on capacity building</b>. Any aid that helps build up people's ability for service is always useful. This is often met with education, but also work experience. Young people love getting scholarships for college or summer programs. On a large scale, giving to educational aid programs usually avoid the pitfalls of handing out free stuff or creating dependency.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b>Think long term</b>. Make sure giving is dealing with root issues and is building coherently towards a vision. If you find someone in need to help, think about where they need to be in 10 years, and what is the best route to get there? Sometimes a sustainable path has short term pain. On a large scale, that means building up institutions that can address problems after aid has been removed. </span></li><li><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b>Think bigger</b>. Sometimes prosperity will come through big changes. When looking at a whole population, a new constitution, the combining of states into a federal system, or the removal of longstanding traditions could address the roots of poverty in a way that traditional aid never could.</span></li><li><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;"><b>Be intentional</b>. The best way to help the world is to spend a significant amount of time and reflection on the best way to help the world, then once you find the right organization, give generously to it for the rest of your life. Don't just give impulsively to what's in front of your face, but be calculated and efficient. Many organizations spend resources soliciting funds, making giving to them less efficient. Charities need generous and voluntary contributions with minimal soliciting, so that they can focus resources on their mission. </span></li></ol><div><span style="font-family: times; font-size: x-large;">My reflection led me to giving to the Baha'i funds, which will be the subject of the next post!</span></div></div>Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-71957206422136483642020-07-28T22:36:00.000-07:002020-07-28T22:36:00.156-07:00Carmel Baha'i School Online<br /><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0 0 0 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8cspFqi1i0Pye1EnkuOGG8XrYgqpYHuorvXk2YrfEQRAwQbe1eY74O-WzkNp7LzcBDWfs-LWwp9h1c1NmvGAqU1uuNuw-CT6WrFrmKYQibvb5dueDYEZEJ06BCXckTqBqARVX0uq3I6Hi/s1332/2020+Carmel+ad.png" imageanchor="1"><img border="0" data-original-height="1332" data-original-width="940" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh8cspFqi1i0Pye1EnkuOGG8XrYgqpYHuorvXk2YrfEQRAwQbe1eY74O-WzkNp7LzcBDWfs-LWwp9h1c1NmvGAqU1uuNuw-CT6WrFrmKYQibvb5dueDYEZEJ06BCXckTqBqARVX0uq3I6Hi/w453-h640/2020+Carmel+ad.png" width="453" /></a></div></blockquote><div> </div><div>When I was 14 a visionary married couple in my area started a Baha'i summer camp for youth. It was one of many inspiring events for young Baha'is while I was growing up. It became the only Baha'i summer school with a counselor program outside of the three permanent schools (Bosch, Louhelen, Green Acre), allowing kids as young as 12 to come without parents for a transformative week. </div><div><br /></div><div>The camp survived the passing of its founders and met continuously for 25 years, until now. The 2020 Camp Carmel became another casualty of the pandemic, and the in-person gathering has been replaced with a shorter online camp as a placeholder until next summer. </div><div><br /></div><div>On the plus side, the online camp will have many of the things that make the in-person camp amazing, like arts classes, some great special guests for evening programs, and even a good ol' counselor program for small group bonding with older youth. It also means that it can be attended by just about anyone. </div><div><br /></div><div>Of course, the heart of the camp is a set of classes that will teach about the life of Baha'u'llah, aspects of the future world civilization, and how to build race unity in America. </div><div><br /></div><div>It starts next week, and registration will close August 3. If you have any young people in your life, please go register them now!</div><div><br /></div><font size="6"><a href="https://cvent.me/VN98Kb">https://cvent.me/VN98Kb</a><br /></font><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div>Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-82399760662061789652020-07-07T15:24:00.002-07:002020-08-23T22:32:21.727-07:00Wealth is praiseworthy if...<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX5Lts9w9en35_aICV4NQl6JXDYL-fIsAl43Qt2iekd4HRnKUDX_iC-j65NangtmopJixs2j_B8viDQ3Tbd1Zqvf0GYxtE3ZVesqHjrU-vOzZWbBVY54BYZtXTdk7dPNOlKdq8JMfFV_EX/s800/wealth.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><font size="5"><img border="0" data-original-height="531" data-original-width="800" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgX5Lts9w9en35_aICV4NQl6JXDYL-fIsAl43Qt2iekd4HRnKUDX_iC-j65NangtmopJixs2j_B8viDQ3Tbd1Zqvf0GYxtE3ZVesqHjrU-vOzZWbBVY54BYZtXTdk7dPNOlKdq8JMfFV_EX/w320-h212/wealth.jpg" width="320" /></font></a></div><font size="5">Maybe it is because I recently spent 3 months in a country with a GDP per capita of $2,100, or maybe because I recently entertained leaving a great job to spend more time with kids, or maybe because the pandemic is wiping out the economy, but I've been thinking about wealth lately. </font><div><font size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font size="5">The Baha'i Writings are full of references like this: "to be poor in all save God is a wondrous gift, belittle not the value thereof, for in the end it will make thee rich in God" (Baha'u'llah). Or, "In the estimation of them that have fixed their eyes upon the merciful Lord, the riches of the world and its trappings are worth as much as the eye of a dead body, nay even less" (The Bab).</font></div><div><font size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font size="5">There are also other references that praise wealth. These are not in conflict with the need to denounce riches, but require virtue in the acquisition and use of funds. Here are two examples.</font></div><div><span><a name='more'></a></span></div><div> </div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="5"><span> </span>How great the number of people who deck themselves with robes of silk all their lives, while clad in the garb of fire, inasmuch as they have divested themselves of the raiment of divine guidance and righteousness; and how numerous are those who wear clothes made of cotton or coarse wool throughout their lives, and yet by reason of their being endowed with the vesture of divine guidance and righteousness, are truly attired with the raiment of Paradise and take delight in the good-pleasure of God. Indeed it would be better in the sight of God were ye to combine the two, adorning yourselves with the raiment of divine guidance and righteousness and wearing exquisite silk, if ye can afford to do so. If not, at least act ye not unrighteously, but rather observe piety and virtue</font></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="5"> The Bab, <i><a href="https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/the-bab/selections-writings-bab/6#464816503">Selections from the Writings of the Bab</a></i></font></div></blockquote></div></blockquote><div><a href="https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/the-bab/selections-writings-bab/6#464816503"><font size="5"><br /></font></a></div><div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><font size="5"><span> </span>Gracious God! How can one see one’s fellow men hungry, destitute, and deprived, and yet live in peace and comfort in one’s splendid mansion? How can one see others in the greatest need and yet take delight in one’s fortune? That is why it has been decreed in the divine religions that the wealthy should offer up each year a portion of their wealth for the sustenance of the poor and the assistance of the needy. This is one of the foundations of the religion of God and is an injunction binding upon all. And since in this regard one is not outwardly compelled or obliged by the government, but rather aids the poor at the prompting of one’s own heart and in a spirit of joy and radiance, such a deed is most commendable, approved, and pleasing.</font></blockquote></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="5">`Abdu'l-Baha, <i><a href="https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/some-answered-questions/13#280889011">Some Answered Questions</a></i></font></div></blockquote></div></div></blockquote><div><div><font size="5"> </font></div><div><div><font size="5">A letter of <a href="https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/the-universal-house-of-justice/messages/20100402_001/1">2 April 2010</a> from the Universal House of Justice to the Baha'is of Iran spoke on wealth, social justice, and the family. They summarized this quote from `Abdu'l-Baha.</font></div><div><font size="5"><br /></font></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><font size="5">
<span> </span>Wealth is praiseworthy in the highest degree, if it is acquired by an individual’s own efforts and the grace of God, in commerce, agriculture, art and industry, and if it be expended for philanthropic purposes. Above all, if a judicious and resourceful individual should initiate measures which would universally enrich the masses of the people, there could be no undertaking greater than this, and it would rank in the sight of God as the supreme achievement, for such a benefactor would supply the needs and insure the comfort and well-being of a great multitude. Wealth is most commendable, provided the entire population is wealthy. If, however, a few have inordinate riches while the rest are impoverished, and no fruit or benefit accrues from that wealth, then it is only a liability to its possessor. If, on the other hand, it is expended for the promotion of knowledge, the founding of elementary and other schools, the encouragement of art and industry, the training of orphans and the poor—in brief, if it is dedicated to the welfare of society—its possessor will stand out before God and man as the most excellent of all who live on earth and will be accounted as one of the people of paradise.</font></blockquote></div></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="5"> `Abdu'l-Baha, <i><a href="https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/secret-divine-civilization/2#753844522">Secret of Divine Civilization</a></i> </font></div></div></div></blockquote></blockquote><div><div><div><font size="5"><br /></font></div><font size="5">The conclusion of the letter from the Universal House of Justice discussed the state of materialism perpetuating "oppression and greed", and provides a vision of youth, mindful that "wealth is praiseworthy insofar as it is attained through just means and expended for benevolent purposes..."<br /><br /></font></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div><font size="5"><span> </span>Today the world is assailed by an array of destructive forces. Materialism, rooted in the West, has now spread to every corner of the planet, breeding, in the name of a strong global economy and human welfare, a culture of consumerism. It skilfully and ingeniously promotes a habit of consumption that seeks to satisfy the basest and most selfish desires, while encouraging the expenditure of wealth so as to prolong and exacerbate social conflict. How vain and foolish a worldview! And meanwhile, a rising tide of fundamentalism, bringing with it an exceedingly narrow understanding of religion and spirituality, continues to gather strength, threatening to engulf humanity in rigid dogmatism. In its most extreme form, it conditions the resolution of the problems of the world upon the occurrence of events derived from illogical and superstitious notions. It professes to uphold virtue yet, in practice, perpetuates oppression and greed. Among the deplorable results of the operation of such forces are a deepening confusion on the part of young people everywhere, a sense of hopelessness in the ranks of those who would drive progress, and the emergence of a myriad social maladies.</font></div><div><font size="5"><span> </span>The key to resolving these social ills rests in the hands of a youthful generation convinced of the nobility of human beings; eagerly seeking a deeper understanding of the true purpose of existence; able to distinguish between divine religion and mere superstition; clear in the view of science and religion as two independent yet complementary systems of knowledge that propel human progress; conscious of and drawn to the beauty and power of unity in diversity; secure in the knowledge that real glory is to be found in service to one’s country and to the peoples of the world; and mindful that the acquisition of wealth is praiseworthy only insofar as it is attained through just means and expended for benevolent purposes, for the promotion of knowledge and toward the common good. Thus must our precious youth prepare themselves to shoulder the tremendous responsibilities that await them. And thus will they prove immune to the atmosphere of greed that surrounds them and press forward unwavering in the pursuit of their exalted goals.</font></div></blockquote></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="5">The Universal House of Justice, <a href="https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/the-universal-house-of-justice/messages/20100402_001/1">2 April 2010</a></font></div></blockquote></div></div></blockquote><div><font size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font size="5">I have a few more thoughts to add to the jumble of ideas so far. Happiness in many societies peaks when a family is making median income up to twice median income. Lower or higher than that range and happiness tends to fall off. I have reflected on that for many years. Being rich often means living in isolation from the masses of people, and social isolation leads to depression. Being rich also means that people see you as a class that they can't truly associate with. There is a comradery to being poor and everyone sacrificing. I have been friends with people who make 1% of my income, and the only way for true unity to exist is when people freely acknowledge the differences in wealth while the wealthy also spend generously on the poor. </font></div><div><font size="5"><br /></font></div><div><font size="5">I heard a story recently. If a man in an expensive suit were to pass by a pond where a child was drowning, should he sacrifice the suit to save the child? Of course he should. But that happens every day, separated by continents. If that man were to pre-emptively sacrifice that suit, he could send $1,000 to stop the spread of malaria and easily save a life. Or that $1,000 could go to feed and educate the poor of Honduras, or to strengthen government institutions, or to provide the spiritual education that will help propel a prosperous society. But when the poor are not in front of your face drowning in a pond, it is easy to forget about their suffering. When faced with the reality of the enormous gap in extremes of wealth and poverty, some people are clearly motivated to use their wealth to benefit others, while some people merely choose to avoid noticing the poor, and their wealth will become a liability.</font></div><div><font size="5"><br /></font></div><div><br /></div>Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-91312182177712379052020-06-28T22:36:00.002-07:002020-08-23T22:32:39.068-07:00Good Black Things<div>Did you ever notice how the English language describes dark things as worse? Think of 'whitelist' and 'blacklist', or how movies dealing with something bad or evil are called 'dark'. You know who noticed? Black people. Americans have been trying really hard to come up with a name for the descendants of African slaves. It has gone from negro, colored, or black, to African American, to another way of saying colored. But the most common name is still 'black', so all the negative imagery with blackness leaves some room for improvement. </div><div><br /></div><div>Explicitly racist language has mostly been removed (look up what Brazil nuts used to be called), and people are trying to come up with alternatives to the phrase 'blacklist' (we'll see what catches on). Honestly, it will take some work to change phrases. </div><div><br /></div><div>We all need to work on positive imagery associated with black skin, so here are a few examples of things that are great because they are black. </div><span><a name='more'></a></span><br /><img border="0" data-original-height="338" data-original-width="450" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiikkdG6zSzmGKhyQauMHPk4gw-9w9eiZcYlCNyu4QPc2nvv5dKy_P1wBp-3q0usCDzYipvhqL9lKsVyNKSkBvgU_obSY4iNwz5h57pEjP17ewq8wfjOXNBx5naukHNf7Dt8DYipY6JFUN_/s320/soil.jpg" style="float: right;" width="320" /><h3>Soil</h3><div>I've been doing a lot of gardening during the pandemic, and composting. You know what makes me excited? Dark soil. The darker the better, because that means it's alive and rich and is going to make my plants go bonkers. </div><div><br clear="all" /></div><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdRxOJSA82FLRYhMnGq3OtrWT0lH6ynqLpeyUNg10-aUOD79vG_MuqCX-G9jiy7ILXB09ZdfsvgMgKzVsVyNBEk0FY2cSRLgz4eJ7ibuIIxtjzXjxCrBkCvZVRmPGLiTiw6FpYvbNHrQJc/s320/coffee.jpg" style="float: right;" width="320" /><h3>Coffee</h3><div>I'm not a fan of coffee, but my wife is, and to her it's a wonderful black wonderdrug that gives her a boost of life everyday. And you know what color of liquid makes those good feelings? A very dark rich black color.</div><div><br clear="all" /></div><img border="0" data-original-height="666" data-original-width="1000" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTea4T6hRGl1FsOoqtXpShFvW7dweZYKcK3nytr-2dKYII7IOD_WedYiv0AAH-B1dviyOW4wy-hLvpF9uKUE69zlmd59yz2XDsj7PBcU40IdnVXqkK9FMZbI_o6201xdqTAt4caMoOSH9S/s320/chocolate.jpg" style="float: right;" width="320" /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Chocolate</h3><div>Look at this image of two shades of chocolate. If you have any sense in you at all, you know that the darker one is better.</div><div><br clear="all" /></div><img border="0" data-original-height="350" data-original-width="650" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4QxSsT6cCzuHueY1FiAiDKER8MFLN_Th78LE-Lmml3Z8aHNSR8v1xg-FfzEq46WdpES7csKbfWxo0qsbeAy4zYl80M_WburiogUWgAxmVPJOllSpdlD4-IiMrIGKo1C8eqevmfNJwR8G9/s320/pupil.jpg" style="float: right;" width="320" /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Pupil</h3><div>The pupil of the eye is a special tissue that absorbs so much light that it appears competely black. If it weren't black, you wouldn't be able to see! Thanks pupils, we're glad you figured out a way to be black. </div><div><br clear="all" /></div><img border="0" data-original-height="1349" data-original-width="1080" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjKsO_ZFi4XWQXgL86VD-gJ-6hbYU0m06MPVc9LO9mFTXVWQ9thSO8j2_6Ph1qX-oIICMfc_ZvjlZNgEujdkBtBlRGiXubrlkidKnzccp_nclaByjUdQEA31do3x2a6ivIaVXBY0kCmV1Bt/s320/Khoudia-Diop.jpg" style="float: right;" width="320" /><img border="0" data-original-height="661" data-original-width="600" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjqkCNoA8ls0UyvYqElGD01urD-hMsIjCXPSQkM9neuOYLMGrw8CN3DE8XE08035qaOMThM8wYfISJAoIz1TSk0aZrKHOvfU8Ttzp4XLfOFJDy_rvNJddqrNjyj7oHetZoBjgFbQ9XHDnnW/s320/Beckford.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right;" width="320" /><h3 style="text-align: left;">Black skin</h3><p style="text-align: left;">Don't forget about the most great black thing: black people. Yes the most important shift is to look at black people and recognize their inner and outer beauty. Here are some really good looking models to gaze at.</p>
Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-64438535440788175452020-06-14T23:18:00.008-07:002020-08-23T22:33:09.339-07:00The George Floyd Protests<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4kfOBRw6ROqTxkZ1zTFvL0IBUReMizgxfwniPJA-vBFCHdKv2XmrEMYyo_xHyBZDBfxg1Y9JezXYn_b-8g4CruX56xjUIbz20rqp29YTUOYECQ3hv5HxB2ZCsT-MjMoqOUnzJY0hhxUrM/s1136/kids.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><font size="4"><img border="0" data-original-height="852" data-original-width="1136" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4kfOBRw6ROqTxkZ1zTFvL0IBUReMizgxfwniPJA-vBFCHdKv2XmrEMYyo_xHyBZDBfxg1Y9JezXYn_b-8g4CruX56xjUIbz20rqp29YTUOYECQ3hv5HxB2ZCsT-MjMoqOUnzJY0hhxUrM/w320-h240/kids.jpg" width="320" /></font></a></div><font size="4">"Why are all rich people white?" That question came out of nowhere from an African-born teenager visiting my house years ago. "It's complicated," I said.</font><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4">A majority of people in America want to see racial harmony. People want life outcomes to be based on the content of one's character and not the color of their skin. However, the life outcomes of black citizens in the United States tend to fare worse than those of its white citizens. The roots of this problem are not simple or easy to fix.</font></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><div><font size="4">Watching the George Floyd protests I have been surprised at the positive response from the masses of white people. This week my company held a townhall phone meeting just to let people share their thoughts on race in America for an hour and a half. It was full of spontaneous personal testimonies and calls for empathy, awareness, justice, and inclusion. It was attended by 1,000 people, about a third of the company. </font></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4">The current conversation about race feels different than anything I've experienced in my life, and I think some positive change will come of it. I want to share some thoughts on this moment and I hope to cut through some of the meme-fueled anger and get into the nuance that doesn't fit onto protester signs. </font></div><div><font size="4"><span><a name='more'></a></span></font></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><font size="4"><br /></font></span></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;"><font size="4">Shoghi Effendi</font></span></h2><div><font size="4">By far the best commentary I've read on race in America comes from Shoghi Effendi, who led the Baha'i Faith from 1921-1957 and wrote about the situation in America in 1938:</font></div></div><font size="4"><br /></font><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4">A tremendous effort is required by both races if their outlook, their manners, and conduct are to reflect, in this darkened age, the spirit and teachings of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh. Casting away once and for all the fallacious doctrine of racial superiority, with all its attendant evils, confusion, and miseries, and welcoming and encouraging the intermixture of races, and tearing down the barriers that now divide them, they should each endeavor, day and night, to fulfill their particular responsibilities in the common task which so urgently faces them...<br /></font></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4"> </font></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><font size="4">Let the white make a supreme effort in their resolve to contribute their share to the solution of this problem, to abandon once for all their usually inherent and at times subconscious sense of superiority, to correct their tendency towards revealing a patronizing attitude towards the members of the other race, to persuade them through their intimate, spontaneous and informal association with them of the genuineness of their friendship and the sincerity of their intentions, and to master their impatience of any lack of responsiveness on the part of a people who have received, for so long a period, such grievous and slow-healing wounds. Let the Negroes, through a corresponding effort on their part, show by every means in their power the warmth of their response, their readiness to forget the past, and their ability to wipe out every trace of suspicion that may still linger in their hearts and minds. Let neither think that the solution of so vast a problem is a matter that exclusively concerns the other. Let neither think that such a problem can either easily or immediately be resolved.</font></blockquote><font size="4"><br /></font><div><font size="4">Those excerpts from <a href="https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/shoghi-effendi/advent-divine-justice/"><i>Advent of Divine Justice</i></a> succinctly capture the attitudes needed to resolve the quite difficult situation Americans found themselves in the 1930s, and it rings just as true today. </font></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><font size="4">Joy DeGruy</font></h2><div><font size="4"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm7FeN8nytxV-k15roJG3_gn_Om6opAxdAwZX8YgC2EgCYSTTqMh9MejtVN14MG9LK9osbhrR6GV1vsLrdIqWcW6mGeYIHUKS89pyJl3d8PLgqx2QU9ARMUUi2ubhs9_8e4livmvt9kS4E/s480/Joy.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="360" data-original-width="480" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm7FeN8nytxV-k15roJG3_gn_Om6opAxdAwZX8YgC2EgCYSTTqMh9MejtVN14MG9LK9osbhrR6GV1vsLrdIqWcW6mGeYIHUKS89pyJl3d8PLgqx2QU9ARMUUi2ubhs9_8e4livmvt9kS4E/w320-h240/Joy.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Joy DeGruy</td></tr></tbody></table>The other commentary I've found quite useful is a book by Joy DeGruy: <i><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Post-Traumatic-Slave-Syndrome-Americas-dp-0985217278/dp/0985217278/">Post Traumatic Slave Syndrome</a></i>. She is an African American Baha'i from Los Angeles who did her PhD thesis on racism, violence, and American slavery (and happens to be a friend). Her book does a great job of providing historical context, personal anecdotes, and most importantly, demonstrating how slavery and a century of legal racial discrimination left generational trauma on black families that continues today. It helped me understand why the problem of racial disparities is complicated and can't be solved overnight. </font></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4">Clearly some of the poorer outcomes experienced by African Americans come from lack of opportunity and unfair discrimination in housing, loans, jobs, policing, sentencing, etc. That is a real problem that needs to be rooted out whenever possible, but by its nature can't be fixed through laws. It manifests in personal interaction, sometimes unconsciously, so each one of us needs to overcome our biases and actually create an opposing positive bias. To compensate, every white person should be doubly kind, forgiving, generous, and patient with any African American. </font></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4">What Joy's book also brought out is the generational trauma that has been passed down to children who didn't personally experience slavery or segregation. For example, under legal slavery blacks were beaten, raped, or killed with impunity. The 13th Amendment left a loophole that allowed southern states to lease prisoners as slaves, so in practice slavery continued until the 1920s. Prisoners were worked to death and families separated. Black communities were still terrorized. An intense poverty was the reality of all but a few black families. </font></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4">At the point that the trauma were removed, would those families end up with equivalent life outcomes within a generation? Of course not. It would take several generations to recover, and then only if the stumbling blocks were removed from their path. </font></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">Legal segregation continued until the 1960s. Did the external trauma end in the 1960s?</span></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><font size="4">It's complicated</font></h2></div><div><font size="4">Unfair discrimination has continued to this day in access to loans, housing, and jobs. These are well documented but one example stands out and has been repeated in many studies: a resume with a 'black' sounding name gets about 10% call backs, and the exact same resume with 'white' sounding names gets about 25% call backs. Unlike the Civil Rights reforms, these problems are nearly impossible to fix through laws, so they will fester until the culture changes. It's a lower level of trauma, but it hasn't ended.</font></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4">The other place that unfair discrimination appears is in policing and sentencing. Black people make up about 12% of the US population, yet they make up 20% of people killed by police, and a well documented bias exists in juries and judges during sentencing. Police spend the day making snap judgments about people they interact with. Everybody does that, but police are using it to evaluate the danger to themselves and others, and any bias that perceives black people as more dangerous will manifest in blacks being pulled over more, checked for drugs more, and detained more aggressively. People tend to be more comfortable and trusting of people that are more like themselves, so a white police officer might generally have more peaceful interactions with white suspects than the black kind. </font></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4">The perception bias also means that white people are more likely to call the police on black people. Someone at my work shared that his black father once moved to a new house and was sitting in the living room. A white lady in the neighborhood saw him and assumed that he had broken in because she thought a black man wouldn't be able to afford the neighborhood. The police crashed the door in with their guns drawn on him.</font></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><font size="4">Black lives matter</font></h2><div><font size="4">When Michael Brown was shot by a white officer in Ferguson, Missouri, I was already conscious of the rising movement for racial equality and the many examples of bias in policing. I investigated the case in earnest after the grand jury announcement was made. I was really disappointed, not because the officer was acquitted, but because the public and media had turned into a mob and were so eager to demand reform that they latched on to Brown's friend, who lied on camera. The friend told a story of an innocent young kid minding his own business when a police officer shot him with his hands up. What actually came out in court, where it matters, was a story of Michael Brown and his friend having just robbed a store, walking around with the loot visible, when an officer approached them. Brown was high enough to be hallucinating when he rushed the officer before he could exit his vehicle and started punching him in the face. With both of them fumbling for the gun, the officer shot Brown in the hand, which made him run away. When the officer pursued him, Brown turned and walked toward him, looking like he was ready to attack again. After several warnings and while backing up, he shot Brown dead. </font></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">The movement that was primed and ready to make needed changes in police interactions with black Americans latched on to one particular case as an example to inspire change. People called it a murder. The problem was, the case they chose to make an example was the wrong case, it was built on the lies of Brown's accomplice and not the 60 other witnesses who convinced a jury that included 3 black members to acquit the officer. A similar story could be told of Eric Garner in New York whose death gained attention. </span></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4">The right or wrongness of the movement's founding case really matters because it is trying to change culture. The cases being magnified are anecdotal, magnifying a case of injustice to demand fair treatment in all areas of society. A large number of white people ignored the entire Black Lives Matter movement and saw it as extreme or political because its founding claim of injustice turned out to not hold up under scrutiny and the protesters appeared to not understand policing.</font></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><div><font size="4">Any death is tragic, but the tragedy in the case of Michael Brown was not the day he died, it was a life that led him to make the choices he made that day. The failure of society that day was behind the scenes, decades in the making</font><span style="font-size: large;">. Federal investigations into the city of Ferguson and its police force found the systemic injustice that everyone knew was there. </span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><div><span style="font-size: large;">About 30% of Ferguson was of African descent, and as with many other black communities, they were on average more poor and less educated than their white neighbors. The police department was not there to uplift the downtrodden; the Ferguson police priorities were being set by the finance department. Investigators dug up emails from the city basically telling the police, "We need more revenue, send officers out on patrol." Those officers would then find the easiest targets in the black parts of town, looking for minor infractions.</span></div></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4">According to a 2015 report by the Department of Justice, </font></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><font size="4">This emphasis on revenue has compromised the institutional
character of Ferguson’s police department, contributing to a pattern of unconstitutional policing,
and has also shaped its municipal court, leading to procedures that raise due process concerns
and inflict unnecessary harm on members of the Ferguson community. Further, Ferguson’s
police and municipal court practices both reflect and exacerbate existing racial bias, including
racial stereotypes. Ferguson’s own data establish clear racial disparities that adversely impact
African Americans. The evidence shows that discriminatory intent is part of the reason for these
disparities. Over time, Ferguson’s police and municipal court practices have sown deep mistrust
between parts of the community and the police department, undermining law enforcement
legitimacy among African Americans in particular.</font></div></blockquote><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4">I'm no expert, but I would guess this description fits many towns across the United States. The trauma has not ended. </font></div><div><span style="font-size: large;"><br /></span></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: large;">George Floyd</span></h2><div><font size="4">The case of George Floyd was different. Floyd appears to have been wrongly accused of using a counterfeit bill (while drunk). The police were called in and they were quick to arrest him. He put up some minor resistance by going limp and tried not to get in the police car. That's it. The officers pinned him down with a knee on the neck and he died while pleading for his life.</font></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4">I believe George Floyd's death will change culture. Police across the country are supporting the movement. The masses of white people are turning their attention to the plight of black communities and becoming aware of unfair discrimination in policing. There is an expectation that the experience of the last 50 years needs to change, and the trauma needs to be removed. </font></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4">There seems to be widespread agreement that Floyd's case was unjust, but there is a question that those-who-lean-white-nationalist will definitely notice: Where is the racism? For context, police arrest about 10 million people a year in the United States, and about 1,000 a year die from police interactions, with about 20% of those killed being black. The narrative that there is an epidemic of racist cops running around with an intent to murder black people is just plainly untrue. In the case of George Floyd, there is nothing indicating racial discrimination other than the fact that Floyd was black and the others were white and asian. I have two responses to this. </font></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4">First, accidental death is such a big deal, and police are given so much benefit of the doubt when someone dies, that cases such as Floyd's that are obviously excessive force should be tried and prosecuted regardless of the race considerations. Second, though there was nothing explicitly racist in Floyd's case, there were three places I can see where things escalated quickly, and those things tend to happen more to black people. They were when the store owner claimed he used a counterfeit bill, when the police were quick to detain him, and when the police used excessive force on him because he was resisting arrest. This is being used as an anecdotal case that represents a systemic problem of these kinds of escalations happening more often and more severely to black people, and that's what the protests are actually about. </font></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4">On the other hand, some protesters are so ignorant of the facts that some are demanding an end to police altogether, or that police should never kill anyone under any circumstances, or that police should just leave people alone if they don't want to be arrested. Many people are calling it a murder. Those police officers knew they were being filmed and obviously did not believe they were killing Floyd. Those extreme views are also dangerous because they turn rational people away from the movement and into the arms of law-and-order politicians who are not sympathetic to the needs of people of color. </font></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><h2 style="text-align: left;"><font size="4">Final thought from a privileged rich white guy</font></h2><div><span style="font-size: large;"><font size="4">I benefited immensely from grandparents and great-grandparents who were well-educated, had access to jobs, and were raised by their parents. A fellow black American could have had his grandfather (who himself lacked a stable family) unjustly thrown in prison for a bogus crime, and raised in deep poverty by a single mother who lacked a high school education. That same person is more likely to have interactions with police because of the color of his skin. Even when the trauma is entirely removed, there still needs to be healing and equity. Even if you didn't personally own slaves, we are all living with the remnants of slavery. If you're playing a game of monopoly and the 3 white players get to go around the board twice before the black player joins, they can't just say, "the rules are equal," and carry on. But in the real world, you can't just start the game over. There is no easy solution, but white and black people both have different roles to play. </font></span></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4">This context is really important. Any reform has to take into account both the state of deprivation that black Americans have been digging out of since the 1960s and the continued hinderances to their development that are brought on by a privileged white class that has been largely indifferent to their suffering. Once a level playing field is developed and the trauma is mostly removed, then black communities will still need some positive bias, extra money for schools, affirmative action in jobs and housing, a better voice in the media, and much more. With the removal of trauma and a compensating hand, black families might achieve parity of outcomes relative to the population within a few generations. </font></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzJcA4dXqiFp4T-EBmZvAOTl8x09_TyjQ8jJnWt9G5R0eta-Ea4dqcyPPpnPpw2bsioMqrFc3k7OqKjWU-AT24Vvlw5nUhF_v6otIfEchM-RpOphovm9yFD4ebyDwC9UpE-XX9qBhtpfRM/s584/e-pluribus-unum.jpg" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="390" data-original-width="584" height="268" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgzJcA4dXqiFp4T-EBmZvAOTl8x09_TyjQ8jJnWt9G5R0eta-Ea4dqcyPPpnPpw2bsioMqrFc3k7OqKjWU-AT24Vvlw5nUhF_v6otIfEchM-RpOphovm9yFD4ebyDwC9UpE-XX9qBhtpfRM/w400-h268/e-pluribus-unum.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The goal</td></tr></tbody></table><font size="4"><br /></font></div><div><font size="4"><br /></font></div>Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-44053262524687351932020-05-20T23:09:00.009-07:002020-07-15T22:16:01.074-07:00Universal House of Justice on the Pandemic<head>
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<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhabE4Bc86-uAIY7xfy79PpYIZuwIgnH86_WSrJP44cYJeLtcsuhrPxjPnyLVUuaYb-etOgVt61ICwLWGIVLeK11RCaDFB6FNef_ILWtOxH9aFLHnf8-ZIOQTaG-7HtYx0OxQqGY2X9MeKW/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="620" data-original-width="1404" height="141" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhabE4Bc86-uAIY7xfy79PpYIZuwIgnH86_WSrJP44cYJeLtcsuhrPxjPnyLVUuaYb-etOgVt61ICwLWGIVLeK11RCaDFB6FNef_ILWtOxH9aFLHnf8-ZIOQTaG-7HtYx0OxQqGY2X9MeKW/w320-h141/UHJ.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>On 9 May 2020, the <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">Universal House of Justice</a> wrote a letter to all Baha'i National Spiritual Assemblies on applying the current global plan to the new situation of a pandemic and some thoughts on what is to come. Or as they put it, "The world is caught in the grip of a fast-spreading virus that has claimed many thousands of lives and severely disrupted a large share of humanity’s social and economic activity... we wish to explore more fully what the coming year might entail."<br /><br />The House of Justice has released multi-year plans to direct the worldwide Baha'i community and focus on certain incremental goals. In 2001 they launched into a series of four 5-year plans that would culminate in 2021, which will be the centennial anniversary of Abdu'l-Baha's passing. The importance of this transitional year has been talked about among Baha'is for over a decade, so it's not totally surprising that a once-in-a-century pandemic is taunting the world and the next 12 months are ominously uncertain. <br /><br /><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgjPFlhihZAyxhyphenhyphenRPwiFSLwcHcV2d94f0nda1eq_KW5fuYnJ9tEFhporFj8_11kICMBDpmtD1RnWlDrm5jIRgWoT5hIAO6h39VyelS7SXz_-5o90L1aFVNx0uei0UC1ZQsh3KfZ7oGNYIQ/" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="936" data-original-width="475" height="640" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhgjPFlhihZAyxhyphenhyphenRPwiFSLwcHcV2d94f0nda1eq_KW5fuYnJ9tEFhporFj8_11kICMBDpmtD1RnWlDrm5jIRgWoT5hIAO6h39VyelS7SXz_-5o90L1aFVNx0uei0UC1ZQsh3KfZ7oGNYIQ/w324-h640/summit.jpg" width="324" /></a></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-weight: 700;">Millennium Development Goals.</span><br style="font-weight: 700;" /><span style="font-weight: 700;">Created at the Millennium Summit in 2000. </span><br /></td></tr></tbody></table>In an earlier letter of 18 January 2019, exactly 100 years after the opening of the Paris Peace Conference that ended WWI, the House of Justice wrote that three major steps were taken in the preceding century toward world order: the formation of the League of Nations following WWI, the formation of the United Nations after WWII, and a decade of international cooperation and agreements that followed the end of the Cold War, culminating in the Millennial Summit. The deficiencies in each of these advancements led to the instability that became the impetus toward another, greater push towards world order. Though the last decade of the 20th century saw a major improvement in world peace, throughout the 21st century the trend has been away from world order. According to the letter, "the dominant currents in societies everywhere are pushing people apart", "political and economic systems have enabled the enrichment of small coteries with grossly exorbitant wealth--a condition that fuels fundamental instability", "religious fundamentalism is warping the character of communities, even nations", "a decline in public trust... systematically exploited by vested interests seeking to undermine the credibility of all sources of knowledge", "certain shared ethical principles... are eroded", and "the will to engage in international collective action.... has been cowed, assailed by resurgent forces of racism, nationalism, and factionalism." <br /><br />The forces of disorder and disintegration have been gaining ground, and world unity will certainly worsen, "possibly with catastrophic consequences" according to the 2019 letter. Every major push toward world unity has been preceded by some dramatic and destructive changes that push people toward the inevitable world federal system Baha'u'llah envisioned. The current movement away from world order will continue, according to the House of Justice, "until a chastened humanity sees fit to take another significant step, perhaps this time decisive, towards enduring peace."<span><a name='more'></a></span><div><br /></div><div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-D4GZAL8Bp5lB-h3te3XAjaCMT4AmK3DGoaEXgy2R7OHhsR-dEJ64cIda5hyplPxW9nuiGxNTVlrXyAxukON6foEe2wcTnkbJYlbT3qxY2GR0YZ2LB68PuOh8mYAvKq7X8A67k4xMC_kk/" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="500" data-original-width="501" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-D4GZAL8Bp5lB-h3te3XAjaCMT4AmK3DGoaEXgy2R7OHhsR-dEJ64cIda5hyplPxW9nuiGxNTVlrXyAxukON6foEe2wcTnkbJYlbT3qxY2GR0YZ2LB68PuOh8mYAvKq7X8A67k4xMC_kk/s320/Keanu.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>What significant changes might be ahead? In 2010 I wrote <a href="https://bahaicoherence.blogspot.com/2010/10/end-of-war.html">The End of War</a> about the Lesser Peace, a period prophesied by Baha'u'llah that was largely, but not entirely, achieved by the end of the 20th century. Noting that the existing world order was fraying at the edges and could unravel catastrophically, in 2016 I wrote <a href="https://bahaicoherence.blogspot.com/2016/01/the-end-of-nuclear-weapons-and-new.html">The End of Nuclear Weapons and a New World Order</a>, mentioning that the elimination of nuclear weapons and the end of veto power at the UN Security Council are the two main changes needed to move to the next stage of world order, and several peripheral ones. I can't imagine those changes taking place without a dramatic collapse of existing systems, or some other powerful demonstration that everyone is better served by unity, not nationalism. Is the pandemic the thing that will drive the United States into joining the International Criminal Court and relinquishing veto power at the Security Council? I don't think so, but I can see the pandemic as accelerating the existing trends and creating the stresses that lead to significant social unrest. </div><div><br /></div><div>Back to the 2020 letter, the House of Justice noted that,</div><div><br /></div><div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;">It is not possible to foresee the extent to which this pandemic will influence the movement towards unity among the nations. But there is no doubt whatsoever that, for the endeavours of the Bahá’í community, the months ahead will be consequential. Indeed, it could hardly be otherwise. This final year, of the final Plan, in a series spanning the final quarter of the opening century of the Formative Age, will seal the foundation upon which will rest the next series of global undertakings. It is the concluding act in a captivating drama whose end is yet unwritten.</blockquote><div><br /></div></div><div>Besides this larger context of the drama of establishing world peace, the letter also surveyed the current plan that Baha'is are working under and gave significant advice on how Baha'i institutions around the world can best navigate. The letter shared the striking news that in the first four years of the current plan, the Baha'is worldwide have "doubled both the number of core activities occurring worldwide and the number of their participants", a significant sign of progress. They also mentioned that many communities have, "taken great strides in adapting to this new reality", that the crisis is not "a hiatus to be endured with patience", that "the need to render meaningful service to humanity [is] more urgent", that applying the current Plan's framework for action should "continue in earnest", and that the current crisis "will have a direct impact on Bahá’í activities... for months or even years, and the task of adapting to the situation cannot be postponed."</div><div><br /></div><div>Adapting and continuing a set of activities that are inherently social and educational will not be easy. Video meetings and remote education is not a comparable replacement for in-person exchanges. Personally, many meetings, including children's classes, have continued over video conferencing. I have started meeting with local friends while maintaining distance, and I think small groups can continue meeting locally as long as certain conditions are met, such as groups under 10 people, testing, and avoiding travel to other areas. Along these lines, the letter also notes,</div><div><br /></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div><div style="text-align: left;">However, while certain possibilities have been temporarily closed, others have opened up, and new means have emerged for strengthening existing patterns of activity. Flexibility has proven to be an asset, but so has vigilance in ensuring that the primarily local character of community activities is not diluted; efforts to nurture flourishing communities within neighbourhoods and villages and across clusters must continue.</div></div></blockquote><div><br /></div><div>On the functioning of Baha'i institutions, the House of Justice also says that they must "maintain their operations throughout this period", and if lack of funds becomes an issue, then "the whole company of the faithful in each country will rally around you, and in particular, we are confident that believers with means will come forward to aid you." Local Spiritual Assemblies, they say, "should consider what means might be within their power to prevent, relieve, or mitigate suffering in the wider society of which they are an integral part."</div><div><br /></div><div>I really enjoyed this letter. In part because it was a good reminder that the pandemic is truly global. I can't think of another example when a calamity hit so evenly across the entire world, except an older pandemic. From villages of Nigeria, to Pakistan, Russia, Germany, or Brazil, governments and peoples are facing similar health, social, and economic upheavals. Not only that, but it is more apparent than normal that everyone's fate is tied together. The virus taking hold anywhere on earth threatens everyone. The economic woes of China, the UK, or India all affect each other. Selfishness, especially at the national level, is self-defeating. Attempts to bring supply chains into the United States to reverse globalisation will result in an even more woeful economy and merely further emphasize the need for international cooperation. One way or another, we are entering the last phase of a long drama that will mark the end of the age of nationalism. Good riddance. </div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8YDqpwMgIS7CyTCczfO6UJbtvcSWDOZGqSJsMrx2gg4H97JDVU6oYR9tWefR7UThmqSf1esofmspqjHoO_eQZpksAFJ3RiVyV8qiYtoz1lc88WxxasV6wMfCgMq0AGLaukjSBaCBEMY5w/" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="284" data-original-width="600" height="256" width="540" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg8YDqpwMgIS7CyTCczfO6UJbtvcSWDOZGqSJsMrx2gg4H97JDVU6oYR9tWefR7UThmqSf1esofmspqjHoO_eQZpksAFJ3RiVyV8qiYtoz1lc88WxxasV6wMfCgMq0AGLaukjSBaCBEMY5w/w640-h302/fine+meme.jpg" /></a></div><div><br /></div>Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-20912754058340827272020-05-13T00:30:00.017-07:002020-05-13T23:54:25.571-07:00Thoughts on God<head>
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<div><img border="0" data-original-height="896" data-original-width="592" height="320" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9d/Dcp7323-Edirne-Eski_Camii_Allah.jpg" style="float: right;" /></div><font face="times" size="4">
</font><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><div style="text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="4"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> "O All-Sufficient One! Thou dost suffice Me in every hardship that may descend upon Me and in every affliction that may wax great before Me. Thou art My sole Companion in My loneliness, the Delight of My heart in My solitude and My Best Beloved in My prison and in My Abode. No God is there but Thee!"</span></font></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="4"> </font></div></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="4">The Bab</font></blockquote><font face="times" size="4"><div><br /></div>"Nicolae, I don't believe in the God that you don't believe in", was how Ali-Akbar Furutan responded to his Soviet friend who asked him, "Do you believe in God". If he responded that he believed in God, he risked a visit to the gulag. If he said he didn't believe in God, he would be lying.<br /><br />I tend not to u</font><font face="times" size="4">se the word "God" in normal speech. It means so many different things to different people that it almost needs definition when bringing it up. I can agree with an atheist that the traditional vision of God is a false and harmful idea. When speaking to a Christian, I would profess myself as a believer in God. If that sounds confusing, keep reading.<br /><br />What I actually believe about God is so different than the common understanding that I need a different word other than "God", but there is no such word available, and I'm not even sure how to articulate what I think I believe. I know what God is not, which is the superman miracle worker who manages heaven, but I also recognize that whatever I might be able to articulate about God is probably also wrong. And if God is unknowable and unarticulatable, then why even worry about it?<br /><br />I've gone back and forth wondering whether figuring out God is either the most important question, or so esoteric as to be divorced from practical daily life. <br /></font><pre style="text-align: left;"><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><tbody><tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" data-original-height="741" data-original-width="1614" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/30/%27Adam%27s_Creation_Sistine_Chapel_ceiling%27_by_Michelangelo_JBU33cut.jpg" width="320" /></td></tr><tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><font face="times" size="4">Probably not.<br /></font></td></tr></tbody></table></pre><font face="times" size="4"><div style="text-align: left;">After some thought, I concluded that the absence of the supernatural God of lore extends much deeper than I imagined. God has no material form, and in a sense doesn't exist in the universe. What I mean by God comes down to two things: the inherent virtues that exist potentially in all people, and the Manifestations of God. </div><span><a name='more'></a></span><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div></font><div style="text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="4"><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;">There is a logical flow of ideas presented by Baha'u'llah in the </span><a href="https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/bahaullah/kitab-i-iqan/">Kitab-i-Iqan</a><span style="font-family: times; font-size: large;"> that is both oddly familiar and revolutionary in describing God. The book starts with the necessity to be detached from everything you have ever learned and try to investigate reality with an empty cup.</span></font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="4"><br /></font><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="4"><span> </span>"...man can never hope to attain unto the knowledge of the All-Glorious, can never quaff from the stream of divine knowledge and wisdom, can never enter the abode of immortality, nor partake of the cup of divine nearness and favor, unless and until he ceases to regard the words and deeds of mortal men as a standard for the true understanding and recognition of God and His Prophets."</font></blockquote><div><font face="times" size="4"><br /></font></div><font face="times" size="4">The second part of the book starts with the idea that there is some reality of God that is unknowable and simply beyond anyone's capability to fathom. The internal quotes here are from the Qur'an.<br /><br /></font><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px;"><font face="times" size="4"><span> </span>"To every discerning and illumined heart it is evident that God, the unknowable Essence, the divine Being, is immensely exalted beyond every human attribute, such as corporeal existence, ascent and descent, egress and regress. Far be it from His glory that human tongue should adequately recount His praise, or that human heart comprehend His fathomless mystery. He is and hath ever been veiled in the ancient eternity of His Essence, and will remain in His Reality everlastingly hidden from the sight of men. “No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision; He is the Subtile, the All-Perceiving.” No tie of direct intercourse can possibly bind Him to His creatures. He standeth exalted beyond and above all separation and union, all proximity and remoteness. No sign can indicate His presence or His absence; inasmuch as by a word of His command all that are in heaven and on earth have come to exist, and by His wish, which is the Primal Will itself, all have stepped out of utter nothingness into the realm of being, the world of the visible.<br /><span> </span>"Gracious God! How could there be conceived any existing relationship or possible connection between His Word and they that are created of it? The verse: “God would have you beware of Himself” unmistakably beareth witness to the reality of Our argument, and the words: “God was alone; there was none else besides Him” are a sure testimony of its truth. All the Prophets of God and their chosen Ones, all the divines, the sages, and the wise of every generation, unanimously recognize their inability to attain unto the comprehension of that Quintessence of all truth, and confess their incapacity to grasp Him, Who is the inmost Reality of all things."</font></blockquote><font face="times" size="4"><br />The unknowability of the essence of God is foundational. Even the Prophets of God, who act as the Manifestations of God on earth, "confess their incapacity to grasp Him, Who is the inmost Reality of all things". If these two paragraphs were all you read, then indeed trying to understand God would seem pointless. But of course there is more. </font></div><font face="times" size="4"><br /></font><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="4"><span> </span>"The door of the knowledge of the Ancient of Days being thus closed in the face of all beings, the Source of infinite grace... hath caused those luminous Gems of Holiness to appear out of the realm of the spirit, in the noble form of the human temple, and be made manifest unto all men, that they may impart unto the world the mysteries of the unchangeable Being, and tell of the subtleties of His imperishable Essence. These sanctified Mirrors, these Daysprings of ancient glory are one and all the Exponents on earth of Him Who is the central Orb of the universe, its Essence and ultimate Purpose. From Him proceed their knowledge and power; from Him is derived their sovereignty. The beauty of their countenance is but a reflection of His image, and their revelation a sign of His deathless glory. They are the Treasuries of divine knowledge, and the Repositories of celestial wisdom. Through them is transmitted a grace that is infinite, and by them is revealed the light that can never fade. Even as He hath said: “There is no distinction whatsoever between Thee and them; except that they are Thy servants, and are created of Thee.” This is the significance of the tradition: “I am He, Himself, and He is I, myself.” "</font></blockquote><font face="times" size="4"><br />Those "luminous Gems of Holiness", "sanctified Mirrors", "Daysprings of ancient glory", and many other references, are describing a certain recurring role found throughout history, a role that Baha'u'llah says will continue to appear about every thousand years into the indefinite future. Baha'is refer to this as a Manifestation of God, a person who is born with innate spiritual perception and goes through a supernatural enlightenment that gives them perfect knowledge and insight. Like a skilled physician, they perceive the illnesses of mankind and prescribe a remedy in the form of teachings and laws that bring the highest level of spiritual civilization possible to those who respond to the message. They are always initially rejected by those in power, they are persecuted, and their religion ultimately overcomes their enemies as a new golden age dawns. Eventually, their religion becomes corrupted as spiritual life fades from the community of adherents, and the unknowable Essence again raises up another Manifestation of God to give mankind a new robe. </font><div><font face="times" size="4"><br /></font><div style="text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="4">Baha'u'llah was a Manifestation of God, which I believe will be apparent to everyone who investigates with an open and unbiased mind on the signs of His revelation. It's not just that everything He writes is true, or connects with the heart, but the teachings as a whole are a formula that is the perfect cure for the world we live in. Whether or not I believe in "God" or an afterlife seems sort of irrelevant. Living according to the teachings of Baha'u'llah is the best way to live. Reading the Baha'i writings brings the most joy and insight of anything I've experienced. In a sense, I believe in God because Baha'u'llah tells me about God, and He goes on to say that God is potentially inside me, closer to me than myself.</font></div><div style="text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="4"><br /></font></div><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><font face="times"><font size="4"><span> </span>"How resplendent the luminaries of knowledge that shine in an atom, and how vast the oceans of wisdom that surge within a drop! To a supreme degree is this true of man, who, among all created things, hath been invested with the robe of such gifts, and hath been singled out for the glory of such distinction. For in him are potentially revealed all the attributes and names of God to a degree that no other created being hath excelled or surpassed. All these names and attributes are applicable to him. Even as He hath said: “Man is My mystery, and I am his mystery.” Manifold are the verses that have been repeatedly revealed in all the heavenly Books and the holy Scriptures, expressive of this most subtle and lofty theme. Even as He hath revealed: “We will surely show them Our signs in the world and within themselves.” Again He saith: “And also in your own selves: will ye not then behold the signs of God?” And yet again He revealeth: “And be ye not like those who forget God, and whom He hath therefore caused to forget their own selves.” In this connection, He Who is the eternal King—may the souls of all that dwell within the mystic Tabernacle be a sacrifice unto Him—hath spoken: “He hath known God who hath known himself.”</font><font size="4"><br /></font><font size="4"></font></font></blockquote><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="4"><span> </span>"I swear by God, O esteemed and honored friend! Shouldst thou ponder these words in thine heart, thou wilt of a certainty find the doors of divine wisdom and infinite knowledge flung open before thy face."</font></div></blockquote><div><font face="times" size="4"> </font></div><font face="times" size="4"><div style="float: right;"><iframe allowfullscreen="" class="BLOG_video_class" height="266" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/-WybvhRu9KU" style="float: right;" width="320" youtube-src-id="-WybvhRu9KU"></iframe></div></font><div><font face="times" size="4">What can be known of God are attributes of God, also known as virtues. In the New Testament Paul says, "God is love." (check out the video, you won't regret it) Love is available to everyone, and these qualities are infinite. We never attain "love" or "kindness" or "justice" or "unity", we're just always growing closer and closer to them. It is these virtues that is the goal of our lives individually and collectively. Virtues bring us a joy that never fades. If God is unknowable, and the attributes of God are knowable, then virtues are all we can know of God. Though these virtues are not God, when we talk about God, we're talking about these virtues. There is a Baha'i prayer that reads, "O God, my God, my Beloved, my heart's Desire." I know that there is some unknowable essence to God, but to me this prayer is not talking to something outside of myself or outside of my ability to understand. My beloved and heart's desire is the recognition of the message coming through Baha'u'llah that ignites my internal virtue candle. It brings wonder, amazement, submission, and all the feelings. To a lesser extent, these virtues and contentment can be achieved through scientific investigation, music, and art, disconnected from direct knowledge of one of the Manifestations of God, because these signs of God are visible everywhere to a degree. </font></div><div><font face="times" size="4"><br /></font></div><div><font face="times" size="4">One last quote. Here Baha'u'llah lays out some of the same ideas already discussed with different wording and emphasis. This is found in <a href="https://www.blogger.com/#">Gleanings</a>.<br /></font><blockquote style="border: none; margin: 0px 0px 0px 40px; padding: 0px; text-align: left;"><font face="times" size="4"><br /><span> </span>[God] chose to confer upon man the unique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Him—a capacity that must needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole of creation.… Upon the inmost reality of each and every created thing He hath shed the light of one of His names, and made it a recipient of the glory of one of His attributes. Upon the reality of man, however, He hath focused the radiance of all of His names and attributes, and made it a mirror of His own Self. Alone of all created things man hath been singled out for so great a favor, so enduring a bounty.<br /><span> </span>These energies with which the Daystar of Divine bounty and Source of heavenly guidance hath endowed the reality of man lie, however, latent within him, even as the flame is hidden within the candle and the rays of light are potentially present in the lamp. The radiance of these energies may be obscured by worldly desires even as the light of the sun can be concealed beneath the dust and dross which cover the mirror. Neither the candle nor the lamp can be lighted through their own unaided efforts, nor can it ever be possible for the mirror to free itself from its dross. It is clear and evident that until a fire is kindled the lamp will never be ignited, and unless the dross is blotted out from the face of the mirror it can never represent the image of the sun nor reflect its light and glory.<br /> And since there can be no tie of direct intercourse to bind the one true God with His creation, and no resemblance whatever can exist between the transient and the Eternal, the contingent and the Absolute, He hath ordained that in every age and dispensation a pure and stainless Soul be made manifest in the kingdoms of earth and heaven. Unto this subtle, this mysterious and ethereal Being He hath assigned a twofold nature; the physical, pertaining to the world of matter, and the spiritual, which is born of the substance of God Himself. He hath, moreover, conferred upon Him a double station. The first station, which is related to His innermost reality, representeth Him as One Whose voice is the voice of God Himself. To this testifieth the tradition: “Manifold and mysterious is My relationship with God. I am He, Himself, and He is I, Myself, except that I am that I am, and He is that He is.” And in like manner, the words: “Arise, O Muḥammad, for lo, the Lover and the Beloved are joined together and made one in Thee.” He similarly saith: “There is no distinction whatsoever between Thee and Them, except that They are Thy Servants.” The second station is the human station, exemplified by the following verses: “I am but a man like you.” “Say, praise be to my Lord! Am I more than a man, an apostle?” These Essences of Detachment, these resplendent Realities are the channels of God’s all-pervasive grace. Led by the light of unfailing guidance, and invested with supreme sovereignty, They are commissioned to use the inspiration of Their words, the effusions of Their infallible grace and the sanctifying breeze of Their Revelation for the cleansing of every longing heart and receptive spirit from the dross and dust of earthly cares and limitations. Then, and only then, will the Trust of God, latent in the reality of man, emerge, as resplendent as the rising Orb of Divine Revelation, from behind the veil of concealment, and implant the ensign of its revealed glory upon the summits of men’s hearts.</font></blockquote></div>
</div>Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-50316604152573592312020-04-03T22:03:00.004-07:002021-04-14T10:48:20.684-07:00Thoughts on a pandemic<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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There seem to be two ideas on how to handle this pandemic. One is to enter a period of isolation so that the virus will burn itself down, followed by massive testing and case tracking to completely eliminate it. The other approach is to enter a period of isolation so that the bulge of initial cases doesn't create rationing in the health system, then the virus will become endemic and more slowly spread in a manageable way.<br />
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My impression is that a majority of people view the first scenario as realistic and see anyone proposing the second as okay with mass murder.<br />
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The evidence supports the second scenario, and it's not nearly as scary as everyone first assumed. The virus is already endemic, as of today the world has 1 million confirmed cases touching almost every country, but the real infection rate is probably many times that number because half of those infected barely notice they have it. In places like the United States where testing for the virus was initially very low, the actual infection rate is at least 4 times the number of confirmed cases.<br />
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That the virus is highly contagious is both good and bad. Bad because many people will get hit with the virus at the same time, causing hospitals to be overloaded and ration care. Good because viruses that are highly infectious more easily burn themselves out and run out of victims.<br />
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Early estimates of the COVID-19 fatality rate caused panic, but as more data came in it became clear that less than 1% of those infected ended up dying when they had functioning hospitals. The confirmed cases are always fewer than all cases of infection, but the people dying from the disease are almost always tested. That creates a bias towards overestimating the fatality rate. Dividing by a larger number (actual infections) means the fatality rate will go down as more data accumulates. In Oregon, 3 weeks into isolation, you can't even get tested unless your symptoms are severe, and even then you have to pay for the test yourself. South Korea had an early outbreak but they managed it with the most extensive testing at the time, and their fatality rate was about 0.6% of those infected. The UK now estimates it is between 0.5 and 1.0%. Of course, areas that see health care rationing will see a higher number.<br />
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A virus that is only 5-6 times more fatal than the seasonal flu doesn't sound that bad, but it is hitting the world all at once, and unlike the flu there is no vaccine. The flu has killed up to 80,000 people in the United States in a year without a panic, but it is spread out over the entire flu season and those vulnerable to the flu can get a vaccination that reduces its severity and spread.<br />
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From an epidiomological point of view the new coronavirus is not that bad, it's not a bird flu with a 60% mortality, and it largely doesn't affect children. That said, it is much worse than the flu, does not have a vaccine, and its initial spread can easily overload hospital capacity in an area. That means there is an urgent need to slow it down with a period of isolation, but then what? The current social distancing is not going to eliminate the virus. If every person on earth were 100% isolated in their homes for 3 weeks, the virus would likely disappear, but that is not possible. Hospitals, police, utilities, and food distribution all need to continue. Isolation would reduce the cases of the virus, which could then be managed with testing and case tracking, but that is unrealisticly optimistic when faced with the current reality.<br />
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The world is slowly coming around to the idea that the virus is endemic and can't be eliminated, and that means accepting that about half of the world will get the virus, depending on when and if a vaccine becomes available. It may not even be eliminated with a vaccine; it may just join the list of endemic cold and flu viruses that make their rounds in the world's population. The treatment of the disease will assuredly improve with time (there are already some promising candidate drugs), but assuming there is not a fundamental change, there are several important implications of a novel coronavirus that is endemic and not going away anytime soon.<br />
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One implication is that governments will increasingly start evaluating the value of isolation from the virus against the economic and social costs. That doesn't mean that people should die to support the stock market, it means that the 10 million people who just lost their jobs in the USA are a casualty of the war and their sacrifices should not be squandered. Most people would accept missing a few paychecks if it meant eliminating the virus, but what if that sacrifice didn't make a difference? If an area isolates and reduces its economic activity before the virus appears, it's just as susceptible after the release of quarantine, with nothing gained. A much more reasonable approach would be to initially put a lot of effort into testing, and increase restrictions in proportion to the spread of the virus, especially while considering hospital capacity and admissions. Tight isolation when hospital admissions are ramping up, and loose isolation when health care professionals are sitting around with spare capacity. Each state and major metropolitan area can vary their level and length of isolation based on those needs, moving back and forth on the scale over the next year. Antibody tests could monitor who has immunity, and at a certain point society would just go back to "normal".<br />
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That sounds a bit grim, it means hundreds of thousands - up to millions will die, but it is reality. The alternative is a failed attempt to eliminate the virus that will cause incredible economic suffering. Governments around the world will be evaluating the cost of lives and the costs to the economy, and as uncomfortable as it sounds, there is a limit to the value of a human life. Those decisions over the next few months will test the morality of nations and create a strong push towards a unified global order to respond with collective action to common threats.<br />
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One little invisible germ caused all this.Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-74547837373108655672020-03-25T19:10:00.002-07:002020-06-01T22:36:48.347-07:00Do healing prayers work?<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="http://www.evolvewellnesscentre.com/Portals/0/Images/Workshops/Energy%20healing%20VERNON.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="346" data-original-width="614" height="180" src="https://www.evolvewellnesscentre.com/Portals/0/Images/Workshops/Energy%20healing%20VERNON.jpg" width="320" /></a></div>
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There were a
variety of habits and beliefs of early Christian kingdoms that today we would recognize
as superstition. For example, people believed that God was continuously
intervening in the world, so in the case of a serious dispute they would let
the two people fight to the death, believing that God would intervene on the
side of the righteous and help them win. This belief was so complete that the
guilty party would often confess their crimes to avoid the divinely guided fight.</div>
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It’s easy to
recognize in hindsight that some early beliefs were erroneous and not guided by
the teachings of God, but what about today’s beliefs?<o:p></o:p></div>
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I remember
being somewhat of an adult and realizing one day, “Ghosts aren’t real!” I’ve
found this subject surprisingly polarizing when I mention it to people. Some are convinced that spirits can still materially influence the world
after death, and of course others deny the existence of any such spirit and view
a belief in ghosts as a superstition of the ignorant. I’ve found the same split
among Baháʼís who sometimes believe that supernatural phenomena go hand in hand
with belief in God. For the record, ghosts aren’t real, but that’s for another blog.
<o:p></o:p></div>
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I also
remember realizing one day, “Prayers don’t heal people!” Sort of. At least not the way I previously thought. This is a little more
complicated than the ghost story but it’s still true, and it gets to the very heart
of what it means to pray. <o:p></o:p></div>
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I started
pondering the healing power of prayer because I noticed the practice of Baháʼís
occasionally saying healing prayers at gatherings for people who were ill.
Usually this would be at the beginning of a Feast gathering, and sometimes
there would be an opportunity for people to announce the names of people being
prayed for or a list of ailments to be healed. This appeared to me to be a
remnant of Christian faith healing being carried over to the Baháʼí community. <o:p></o:p></div>
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There is a
summary of Baháʼí Writings on healing in <i>Baha'u'llah and the New Era</i> <a href="http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/je/BNE/bne-89.html">pp. 107-116</a>, two chapters in <i>Some Answered Questions</i> <a href="https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/some-answered-questions/some-answered-questions.xhtml?9b90de46#023937412">#72</a>
and <a href="https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/some-answered-questions/some-answered-questions.xhtml?9b90de46#687057348">#73</a>, and other references such as <i>Tablets of Abdul-Baha Abbas</i>, <a href="http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/ab/TAB/tab-712.html">p. 654</a>.
To summarize, the two broad categories of healing are using medicine, and not
using medicine. Without medicine there are some very slight and weak ways to
heal, simply because good health is also contagious through microbes and the
good energy of a healthy person can improve the psyche of a patient. Lastly,
there are two “immaterial” or “spiritual” ways to heal the sick. ʻAbduʼl-Bahá said,<br />
<o:p></o:p></div>
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One is when a healthy person focuses
his whole attention upon a sick person, and the latter in turn fully expects to
be healed through the spiritual power of the former and is wholly convinced
thereof, to such an extent that a strong connection is created between their
hearts. Should the healthy individual then bend every effort to heal the sick
one, and should the latter have full faith that health will be attained, an
excitement may be produced in his nerves from these soul-to-soul influences and
bring about the cure. So, for example, when a sick person is suddenly given the
good news that his most ardent wish and desire has been realized, a nervous
excitement may result that will entirely dispel the ailment. In the same way, when
a terrifying event suddenly comes to pass, such an excitement may be produced
in the nerves of a healthy person that he immediately falls ill. The cause of
the illness is not a material thing, for that person has not ingested or come
into contact with anything: The nervous excitement alone has brought about the
illness. Likewise, the sudden realization of a most cherished desire may impart
such joy as to excite the nerves and restore health.<o:p></o:p></div>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEnRJfSd6HuAfvOkoVX7fz7-fMRX4bGNK6tWt8J9DHWMsySH1pdSEmKkv6m7y7QH-RGywIMpcDcc4izzcSZRjIJ-wzr3IF8MyghEvvWC9uu4SFiL9B67hYd1VMWtREiDuMMNCiAigaL3jc/s1600/crystals.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="484" data-original-width="277" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgEnRJfSd6HuAfvOkoVX7fz7-fMRX4bGNK6tWt8J9DHWMsySH1pdSEmKkv6m7y7QH-RGywIMpcDcc4izzcSZRjIJ-wzr3IF8MyghEvvWC9uu4SFiL9B67hYd1VMWtREiDuMMNCiAigaL3jc/s400/crystals.jpg" width="228" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">How do healing crystals fit in to all this?</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
He goes on
to say that this method will not heal a “grave illness” or physical injury.
Clearly, ʻAbduʼl-Bahá is describing a placebo effect when someone realizes they
are being prayed for. It is the heart-to-heart connection that induces
happiness and joy, and joy is conducive to health. Also, calling it a placebo
does not diminish its effect. Placebos work. Placebos heal people. We test
drugs against placebos because placebos are good at healing, even when the
person knows they’re getting a placebo. So don’t walk away from this thinking
that you shouldn’t pray for others, just let them know that you’re praying for
them. <o:p></o:p></div>
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What about
miracles? Can prayers heal someone who doesn’t know they’re being prayed for? Scientists
have gone through the ridiculous motions of controlled trials of patients being
prayed for without their knowledge compared to those without such prayers, and
there is no difference. BUT! ʻAbduʼl-Bahá talked about a second kind of
spiritual healing, and he said, <o:p></o:p></div>
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This depends neither upon physical
contact, nor upon sight, nor even upon presence: It is not dependent upon any
condition. Whether the disease be mild or severe, whether there be contact
between the bodies or not, whether a connection be established between patient
and physician or not, whether the patient be present or not, this healing takes
place through the power of the Holy Spirit.<o:p></o:p></div>
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So we <u>should</u> be making lists of people with cancer and broken bones and pray for them at
Feast, right? There are two reasons why I think we should still avoid that. First, the
type of healing that is a true miracle is "a gift belonging to the Holy
Manifestations and those who are in the highest station", according to ʻAbduʼl-Bahá. In other
words, miracle healing can happen, it is possible, but very few people EVER
will be involved with such a thing.<o:p></o:p></div>
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Second,
devoting a lot of mental energy to physical healing really distracts from what
is important. Physical suffering leads to spiritual growth and we’re supposed
to pray for spirituality. We’re supposed to pray for material hardships. Material
healing is not actually important unless it contributes to spiritual progress. ʻAbduʼl-Bahá
said, <o:p></o:p></div>
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But if the health and welfare of man be
spent in sensual desires, in a life on the animal plane, and in devilish pursuits—then
disease were better than such health; nay, death itself were preferable to such
a life.<o:p></o:p></div>
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And in another place,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Unless the spirit be healed, the cure of the body is worth nothing.</blockquote>
If we shouldn’t pray for miracles, then what is the point of praying? Why do we have healing prayers?<br />
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Baháʼís almost
exclusively read prayers written by the Bab, Baháʼuʼlláh, and ʻAbduʼl-Bahá, and
the prayers provide a guide on how we should be thinking. If we align our
thoughts and attitudes towards gratitude, submission, and our own lowliness,
such thoughts advance our spirituality and happiness. When we pray to God, the
prayers are not going outside of ourselves to some foreign entity. There is some reality of God that is independent and outside of our possible understanding, but what can be known of God is
inside us. When you pray, you are bringing out what is inside
you for your own benefit. You are praying to God to bring out godly attributes in yourself, and in a sense those attributes are God, at least all we can know of God. The prayers are aligning your mind with the truth of the power that is available to you.<br />
<br />
Most prayers, including healing prayers, ask for spiritual growth, and those that mention healing are not explicitly asking for material healing. I think if you combine studying the prayers with the description of healing in the Baháʼí Writings, you can see that the references to healing have a focus on spiritual healing, not material healing. Here are examples from three different prayers,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
...purge me with the waters of Thy bounty from every affliction and disorder, and from all weakness and feebleness.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Nearness to Thee is my hope, and love for Thee is my companion. Thy mercy to me is my healing and my succor in both this world and the world to come.</blockquote>
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Send down, then, upon him Thy healing, and make him whole, and endue him with a constancy vouchsafed by Thee, and a tranquillity bestowed by Thy highness.</blockquote>
So the prayers for healing are still just as meaningful as the other prayers. They produce spiritual health and healing, which is conducive to improvements in physical health. A common interpretation is that they are a means of requesting a miraculous material recovery from a serious disease or injury. My personal reflection is that they do not, generally, provide an avenue for obtaining material miracles.<br />
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Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-86879508915402973402020-03-24T11:21:00.001-07:002020-03-29T20:49:46.837-07:00A revolution in cars<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8RkHYsSYdDIfNWucd6S2IsA2gIC7F334ig-ktKmnpxFnlxyP6a6NhiMvHAWzZeGm-H78zg7uO6gNyeCYhS_Iy2eGja2dW4A3eR3rWEpmQ4xCxxBhsem1qGKcGfZJWHHlbK0VrOcprwZXc/s1600/IMG_1862.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1151" data-original-width="1600" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj8RkHYsSYdDIfNWucd6S2IsA2gIC7F334ig-ktKmnpxFnlxyP6a6NhiMvHAWzZeGm-H78zg7uO6gNyeCYhS_Iy2eGja2dW4A3eR3rWEpmQ4xCxxBhsem1qGKcGfZJWHHlbK0VrOcprwZXc/s400/IMG_1862.JPG" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Left to right: 2013 Chevy Volt, 2016 Chevy Spark EV, 2018 Pacifica PHEV</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Despite the current chaos and social isolation amid the coronavirus, there are things to look forward to. In about 10 years a majority of people in Europe and America will be buying electric cars, and it will have an enormous positive effect on the economy, the environment, and your health.<br />
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First a brief refresher on the electric motor. If you move coils of wire over a magnet, an electric current will be pushed through the wire. This is how dams, wind turbines, coal and nuclear plants generate most of your electricity. If you take the same magnet and wires and run a current through the wires, it will push on the magnet and make it move. This is how all your electric drills make the bit spin. </div>
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Now if you compare the efficiency of an electric motor against a gas engine, the gas engine doesn't look very good. It pushes using tiny controlled explosions and generates a lot of heat, so from the pure raw energy of gasoline it only puts 19% into motion, whereas an electric motor puts about 77% of the raw energy into moving the car. Part of that efficiency (17 percentage points) comes from regenerative breaking, the fact that any time the car is slowing down that motor is working in reverse and recovering energy back into the battery, like a generator. Gliding downhill for several miles will recharge an electric vehicle. On a gas car that breaking energy is wasted as heat.</div>
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So on purely efficiency grounds, electric motors are completely better than gas engines. Electric cars are also much more fun to drive thanks to the incredible torque, quiet driving, and smooth acceleration without a gear box. To top it off, with an electric motor you can say goodbye to the smell of car exhaust and all the health problems that go with it.</div>
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But gas cars still have one major advantage because their fuel is incredibly dense and can be poured into the vehicle in under 2 minutes. Here's what I've learned about charging infrastructure. </div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwBqGxXbYHTK_2yqSSK2T45h4DIRUomz8stVopETo1LrvIVJ96NIka0uSjbG5EqwXFXxUTQBbF5fRrXgWjCdfi5e7rQLAjH4hMO5eP09bKdjemFTwMCon-Qhyphenhyphenl_iO8Gh6vYU6qKQMt0QzM/s1600/IMG_1871.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1378" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwBqGxXbYHTK_2yqSSK2T45h4DIRUomz8stVopETo1LrvIVJ96NIka0uSjbG5EqwXFXxUTQBbF5fRrXgWjCdfi5e7rQLAjH4hMO5eP09bKdjemFTwMCon-Qhyphenhyphenl_iO8Gh6vYU6qKQMt0QzM/s320/IMG_1871.JPG" width="275" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/SAE_J1772">J-1772</a> connector used for levels 1 and 2 AC charging</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
In November 2018 I bought a Pacifica plug-in hybrid. When it is fully charged it gets 32 miles of all-electric range then it goes to a hybrid mode that increases the efficiency of the gas engine because it still recovers breaking energy like any hybrid. The vehicle comes with a level 1 charger, which can be plugged in to any home outlet and fully charges in about 10 hours, so pretty much every morning you step into a fully charged vehicle. Obviously it helps to have a garage for this, but they also work fine using outdoor outlets. 32 miles just about covers my commute, so if all I do is go to work and back, I don't use any gasoline.</div>
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I also learned that there is a level 2 charger that fully charges in about 2 hours. I downloaded the <a href="https://www.plugshare.com/">PlugShare</a> app that shows where these chargers are available, some for free. For example, near me there is a McDonald's, New Seasons, and Cafe Yumm that have free chargers, so I usually choose them over others to get the free juice. Many more chargers are around for a cost. </div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm8RZweAkdyv-t7R8UJMEVcO287pihFY7ICjay5DIQgnt_5G87XF21__7YPzUSjs_lVeMu3-EG9jkIVeIxOW3wrILLPBLD89pe9FjQX_rzHaifQM7pmGeomMt-Y7UV-XF1vHlIZhUP3H1X/s1600/IMG_1870+%25282%2529.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="1394" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm8RZweAkdyv-t7R8UJMEVcO287pihFY7ICjay5DIQgnt_5G87XF21__7YPzUSjs_lVeMu3-EG9jkIVeIxOW3wrILLPBLD89pe9FjQX_rzHaifQM7pmGeomMt-Y7UV-XF1vHlIZhUP3H1X/s320/IMG_1870+%25282%2529.JPG" width="278" /></a>The really exciting part about EVs is the money. At least for now they tend to cost more than an equivalent gas car when buying new, but their operating cost is significantly lower. To compare running costs, convert the vehicle's mpg and the price of gas to dollars per mile. Then do similar math with the cost of electricity and you will get dollars per mile of electric driving. Using $3/gal for gas and $0.135/kWh for electricity, a 2018 Pacifica running on gas costs $0.14/mile, and the same car running on electricity costs $0.07/mile. That's right, half as much to run on electricity when I'm charging at home every night. This will actually improve as utilities move to time-of-day rates and charge less for electricity at night, or as gasoline prices go up.</div>
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With some experience behind me, my other car bit the dust and I replaced it with a used Spark all-electric that costs only $0.03/mile and gets about 80 miles of range, so it's like driving a car with a 3-gallon tank that is magically full every morning. In addition to the other chargers it can use a fast DC charger that fills it up in about 20 minutes. Those chargers are less common but once you know where they are, it's pretty easy to plan trips. While the level 1 and 2 AC chargers work on any electric vehicle, there are three types of fast chargers for electric cars in North America: Tesla's superchargers, Nissan's CHAdeMO, and the CCS used by everybody else.<br />
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With even more experience behind me, my mother's car bit the dust and I replaced it with a used Chevy Volt PHEV that gets 40 miles of all-electric range before going to hybrid mode.</div>
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<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfVKe8LXlMXaf___NV-A2uA74CxTrBM5Skjiob_-4Zv19pIrIlB4kgFhnJaefcaHxKf9AfvmJuk5y_s5va_2whjfuTJ7bYBoXo3aQNn7d3sE96tQdTR15v2ktEqHaPct2FO2k_spAhZMwi/s1600/CCS.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="297" data-original-width="530" height="179" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjfVKe8LXlMXaf___NV-A2uA74CxTrBM5Skjiob_-4Zv19pIrIlB4kgFhnJaefcaHxKf9AfvmJuk5y_s5va_2whjfuTJ7bYBoXo3aQNn7d3sE96tQdTR15v2ktEqHaPct2FO2k_spAhZMwi/s320/CCS.jpg" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Combined_Charging_System">CCS</a> type 1 connector for fast DC charging</td></tr>
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<div>
<br />
Eventually I had an electrician install a 240 V plug in my garage (the kind used on dryers) and I bought a level 2 charger to use at home, which is very handy when making multiple trips in a day. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
Jumping to all-electric seems scary so I imagine most people will want PHEVs for the coming years to gain most of the advantages of electric motors without having to abandon the benefits of using gas when needed. But there are huge benefits to going all-electric. A hybrid vehicle needs two engines and still has all the complexity and maintenance that comes with a gas car. Once you can throw that gasoline engine in the garbage you get less weight, more room, and virtually no maintenance. A lot can go wrong in a gas engine. Electric motors are simple, mostly frictionless, don't need oil changes, and generally don't break. The break pads on electric cars last as long as the car, so you'll just need to buy new tires every once in awhile and that's it. When electric vehicles go into mass production, and throw in some new battery technology, they'll be cheaper than gas cars at the dealer, they'll be cheaper to operate, and cheaper to maintain. The initial rumors of needing to replace battery packs every 10 years have proven to be overblown. Most likely battery packs will lose capacity over time but last as long as a typical gas engine. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The new battery tech is called solid-state. It's already a proven technology and all the big car manufacturers are trying to figure out how best to get it into production vehicles, which will appear around 2025. Basically, by replacing the liquid electrolyte (the part separating the anode and the... never mind you don't care) with a solid, the batteries will be more dense, more safe, more cheaper, and more better. Pretty soon battery packs for EVs will have double the range for the same size and weight, and cost less. When that happens, very few people will be wanting gas cars.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The production for EVs is ramping up. GM, Volkwagen, and BMW have all been putting a ton of money into electrification and the fruits of their efforts won't appear for another year or two. By 2023 there will be an estimated 70 all-electric models available around the world and their prices will drop. Of course, Tesla is about 8 years ahead of everybody and will continue to dominate, but they will be like the Apple iPhone and GM will be the Samsung Galaxy. I can pretty much guarantee that one of the big car manufacturers will be bankrupt by 2028 from botching the transition, and by 2030 the majority of new cars will be all-electric or plug in hybrids.<br />
<br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt6sP1uBVe2NNtLtecIRFZsFa5dLVznDpqDP8dtOyrNx2-iK1GA_Ri9kBTWTupNQNSnXQiC5cUoZnLnEAS1aXy9717SEWZaPjWS4ypxY8i6HbW6QpwfaEYU1D7bw_DijjJNtIyK4kxKS_c/s1600/IMG_1866.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="718" data-original-width="1600" height="287" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgt6sP1uBVe2NNtLtecIRFZsFa5dLVznDpqDP8dtOyrNx2-iK1GA_Ri9kBTWTupNQNSnXQiC5cUoZnLnEAS1aXy9717SEWZaPjWS4ypxY8i6HbW6QpwfaEYU1D7bw_DijjJNtIyK4kxKS_c/s640/IMG_1866.JPG" width="640" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Making a better world for these three</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br /></div>
Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-37791926279499078402020-03-06T16:18:00.003-08:002020-05-13T08:54:28.797-07:00Multifaith Devotional Cards<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOM3cW-FkOC-nS0V6P7dnZjY8w_GMC-XTKvhge6uqzrB8Fyp88vdbHRAll9S6Df0kiNCR8NZafaVBA3QxcCqdXouPCwd2ikuhVWSBvRLgv9ORMXbqsJRXowsbiCyEwST17FAlvt_YiwBOc/s1600/IMG_E1827.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1200" data-original-width="1600" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOM3cW-FkOC-nS0V6P7dnZjY8w_GMC-XTKvhge6uqzrB8Fyp88vdbHRAll9S6Df0kiNCR8NZafaVBA3QxcCqdXouPCwd2ikuhVWSBvRLgv9ORMXbqsJRXowsbiCyEwST17FAlvt_YiwBOc/w400-h300/IMG_E1827.JPG" width="400" /></a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
Many years ago I made my own prints of quotes from the Bible, Qur'an, and Baha'i writings to use in devotional gatherings. I drew the quotes from readings that personally inspired me and printed them on color coordinated cardstock to give them a nice feel. I'm sharing the files here for anyone looking for a quick way to spice up your meeting and make it friendly for people of different faiths. <div>
<br /></div>
<div>
The junior youth group (now youth group) that I originally made these for was composed of African immigrants with a mix of Christian and Muslim families. Initially the youth would choose to read from their family's tradition, which gave them and their parents a sense of stability and a point of reference. Over time, everyone began readings a mix of the different sources and started to notice and point out the common threads that run between all scriptures. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
I'm sharing the Word format as well in case anyone wants to change the quotes around. If you have any recommendations, have trouble downloading, or want to share your own tools, email <a href="mailto:bahaicoherence@gmail.com">bahaicoherence@gmail.com</a> and comment below.</div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
PDFs</h3>
<div>
<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1mZf5a32W_8VLiRRTQftJP-EtKEUnV5WI" target="_blank">Baha'i Quotes</a></div>
<div>
<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1qEiLrL2_3KucEq9_kzcnKQmQkr4QAEqo" target="_blank">Qur'an Quotes</a></div>
<div>
<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1sapje4Doaqlnw4M9TH7CferIb07cLZNC" target="_blank">Bible Quotes</a></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<h3>
Word Docs</h3>
<div>
<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1xW0sbqg1LHy0fw6i2SYohyMSKV29zAjQ" target="_blank">Baha'i Quotes</a></div>
<div>
<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1958qqLI_r8wLDuzToCUon5Ji9oQyIzjH" target="_blank">Qur'an Quotes</a></div>
<div>
<a href="https://drive.google.com/open?id=1HWSJFnXpEaoxJ1G8g1hxXayuTa66as6Y" target="_blank">Bible Quotes</a><br /><div>
<br /></div>
<div>
<br /></div>
</div>
Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-20045437546327408232019-07-21T12:42:00.001-07:002019-09-12T21:59:34.466-07:00American Division<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/United_States_Capitol_-_west_front.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="415" data-original-width="800" height="206" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/b/b2/United_States_Capitol_-_west_front.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">US Capitol Building</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<br />
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Most thinkers have noticed that
America is going through a difficult time. My favorite podcaster, Dan Carlin,
tried addressing the issue of extreme politics in 2017 then went silent for
months. His listeners urged him to jump into the fray because, "the stakes
have never been higher". In May <a href="http://hwcdn.libsyn.com/p/c/8/9/c89a79e54af53923/cswdcd18.mp3?c_id=21212754&cs_id=21212754&expiration=1563739185&hwt=0769ff3b1d8d2b0915bea0c129a89f0d">he
let loose a podcast</a>, saying his whole political worldview is in crisis, and
that if you walk away from his podcast thinking, "yeah, that is exactly
what I wanted", then you probably didn't need it to begin with.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
(Dan is trained in political
science and mostly podcasts with entertaining historical epics, from the <a href="https://www.dancarlin.com/hardcore-history-56-kings-of-kings/">Achaemenid
Empire</a> to a 5-part, 24-hour runtime series on <a href="https://www.dancarlin.com/product/hardcore-history-50-blueprint-for-armageddon-i/">World
War I</a>, which comes highly recommended!)<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Dan's recent rantings have helped
clarify, for me, the reality of the current political moment. There are a lot
of people pointing out problems that are ultimately symptoms, but what is the
underlying ailment? Everyone seems to have different ideas. Sure, people don't
know how to consult, not enough people vote, money increasingly corrupts power,
social media has fundamentally changed the way people get information, the news
is bonkers, gerrymandering undermines democracy, it goes on and on. But why is
it different now? Why does it feel like we've gone from a contentious debate to
nearly a civil war?</div>
<a name='more'></a><br />
<table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Great_Seal_of_the_US_obverse_(PSF).png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="778" height="400" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/91/Great_Seal_of_the_US_obverse_(PSF).png" width="387" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Great Seal</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
A clue to the conflict comes from both
sides calling the other Nazis, that catch-all insult for an evil government.
For sure, most people throwing around “Nazi” as an insult have missed the
nuances of what that means. The government that Hitler ran was definitively on
the right of the political spectrum. The left/right divide has to do with the attitude
toward labor and capital: the left are leaning socialist and the right are
leaning capitalist. Left/right is not about being conservative or liberal; in
China the conservatives are communists and the liberals are capitalists, just
the opposite of the USA. Left/right is also not about freedom and
authoritarianism; Karl Marx praised democracy and said that communism would
take hold in democratic societies without the need of a violent uprising.
Hitler and Stalin were both dictators who took total control of the state and
killed their own citizens to keep power, but they were on opposite ends of the left/right
political divide. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
America has long considered itself on
the center-right of the spectrum, leaning capitalist but with enough socialism
to keep old people from dying in the streets. However, when it comes to power,
America has always been strongly on the side of freedom and democracy with a distaste
for the extremes of fascism and single-party communism. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Until now. Both sides are calling each other Nazis because they think the other is becoming authoritarian, and they are.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
The white-hot core of the left
represents only 5-7% of Americans. That might not sound like much, but that’s
about 15 million people. The right has about the same number of extreme voters.
The culture war is largely among these two opposites duking it out for supremacy.
Then there are about 20% on each side who associate with one side or the other
but are moderate in their views, and of course that leaves about HALF THE
COUNTRY either uninvolved or not committed to a political framework. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Recently both parties have been pushed toward their political extremes, and at the same
time both see the other as stepping into authoritarian measures to gain
powers. When your enemy uses power to secure more power, what do you do? As
this game has played out for over 20 years, we’re now a few key steps away from
one side taking total power and permanently cementing their authority for
generations. Both sides want that prize and either side is willing to step over
decency and the law to get it.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Conservative rural America lost a
major culture war and see the liberal victors as removing their constitutional
freedoms, leading the country into moral bankruptcy, and pushing a communist
agenda that will lead to collapse. They feel like they are fighting for their
lives, so what they want is control of districting to get a few more Representatives,
control of the Senate, which favors less-populated areas, a news program that
counters the left-leaning bias, an electoral college that can be won without a majority,
the allowance of law-breaking to stay in power, the removal of immigrants that
would vote for more social programs, and control of Supreme Court nominations
by any means necessary. Backed into a corner, the right would rather have a
dictator on their side than a democracy that destroys them. <o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
Faced with increasing totalitarianism from their political enemy,
many people rush to the opposite extreme, thinking that the only way to beat fascism
on the right is to support ever more extreme ideas on the left. Conservative
states have been passing laws to limit abortions, and in response liberal
states have been loosening their abortions laws, passing resolutions that give
the right up to the moment of birth. After a mass shooting when there are calls
to restrict weapons, conservative states have passed laws loosening gun rights. Liberal college campuses are totally willing to deny conservatives a space to share views, even though a few decades ago it was the right willing to deny communists a place in society. The right passed massive debt-financed tax cuts and has proposed cuts to health
care and social security. The left is proposing astronomical spending increases
on health care, education, minimum wage increases, or just simply handing every
US citizen $1,000. The infatuation with control of the Supreme Court came in part from its
declaration that same-sex marriage is a constitutional right, an issue that
should have fallen to the legislature to decide.<o:p></o:p></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div style="margin-bottom: .0001pt; margin: 0in;">
The move back to the center can be
accomplished through some straightforward changes. In 2016 I wrote out <a href="https://bahaicoherence.blogspot.com/2016/11/6-reforms-to-save-american-democracy.html">6
Reforms to Save American Democracy</a> that would reduce corruption and
extreme views, but as I mentioned, they are unlikely to be implemented. American
division can’t be fixed by people entrenching themselves in comfortable bunkers
and hurling insults. I would like to end this with a happy note that everything
is going to be okay. It’s not. Bad times are ahead. <o:p></o:p></div>
<br />Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-56947812565959090942019-03-20T14:19:00.001-07:002019-03-22T10:23:00.199-07:00Baha'is of Nicaragua<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhagEVdCGW7CcQRtouje6h1G5XYKf5xYRM572kPW8fH9E2n2W0GgnhKgail2_-eFWk6HUdbFjjp_kNr7vfqvFBt-GbEkXeqaE1DQzg14uvWoapurUiaqSQw-yWx7LfMHEg8GQRTKmTmDTBE/s1600/Bahai+Masaya.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="900" data-original-width="1600" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhagEVdCGW7CcQRtouje6h1G5XYKf5xYRM572kPW8fH9E2n2W0GgnhKgail2_-eFWk6HUdbFjjp_kNr7vfqvFBt-GbEkXeqaE1DQzg14uvWoapurUiaqSQw-yWx7LfMHEg8GQRTKmTmDTBE/s400/Bahai+Masaya.jpg" width="400" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Baha'is of Masaya, Nicaragua</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
Today's sunset will mark the spring equinox, the end of 19 days of fasting, and the Baha'i New Year. It also marks my family's halfway point of a 3-month stay in Nicaragua.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
We came here for a variety of reasons: to learn Spanish, to expose our kids to a new culture, to escape the terrible Oregon winter, but also to contribute to the development of the Baha'i Faith. We were able to make this happen with 3 little kids because we saved up for over a year and made the trip during a transition between jobs.<br />
<br />
We were also able to make it happen because our friend's parents retired to Nicaragua 11 years ago. We visited them 5 years ago and got to know the city of Granada, where we now stay. Granada has an interesting history. It sits on Lake Nicaragua, an enormous lake on the narrow strip of land between the Caribbean and Pacific. Granada was founded by Spaniards in 1524, before they even knew where the river was that dumped into the Caribbean. It hosts amazing old Spanish architecture and was among the most prosperous cities in the New World, which is why it was repeatedly sacked by pirates. Before the Panama Canal was built, Granada was on the shortest land route across the isthmus and many Americans passed through while going between New York and Los Angeles.<br />
<br />
The first Baha'i in Granada arrived in the 1970s. Rose Mangapi, from the Philippines, successfully taught dozens of people and there was a thriving Baha'i community. Last night someone on the street told me that they remember the Baha'is and their teaching efforts from the time of Somoza. Then in the 1980s the civil war in Nicaragua tore the country apart. Many were displaced, Baha'is included. By the time relative normalcy was restored in 1992, some of the remaining Baha'is in Granada retained their faith but married into Catholic families and no longer maintained a community life.<br />
<br />
One family in particular stayed very active. The founding couple, now in their seventies, have 8 children, 14 grandchildren, and 4 great-grandchildren and spouses that are all Baha'is. Many of them have studied Ruhi books, hosted children's classes, and taken ISGP courses. Outside of that family there are 3 other active adults, and many more that are inactive.<br />
<br />
Nowadays Granada is normally full of tourists and thriving on foreign dollars, but last summer protests arrested the country and the government killed hundreds of people to regain control. Tens of thousands left, and hundreds of thousands more lost their jobs as the economy went into recession. Granada, heavy on tourism, was hit harder than the rest.<br />
<br />
Since the crisis, Baha'is have continued to teach. The nearby towns of Masaya and Nandaime have been very active in organizing growth activities. I visited Masaya during one of the outreach campaigns and found brilliant young folks dedicating all of their effort to growing their cluster and bringing spiritual education to their neighborhoods. They are trying to reach the third milestone of self-sustained growth in a year. I can speak Spanish, but not well enough to teach advanced concepts, so someone suggested that I could visit with seekers just to show them that there are Baha'is in the United States too, and all over the world. They said that sometimes people don't believe it when they are told that there are Baha'is all over the world, and they struggle to make it clear that the Baha'i Faith is not just a small group of Nicaraguans.<br />
<br />
This was special to me because Baha'is in the United States have the same problem, often trying to dispel the belief that the Baha'i Faith is a largely American phenomenon. Here the ephemeral Nicaraguans that I use to show diversity are using me as an example of diversity.<br />
<br />
Despite its progress in other cities, the Baha'is of Granada feel like the Faith hasn't done well in their city. When they joined in the 1970s, they were expecting entry by troops in the near future. 40 years later, they have seen very few new converts. But the large family also has many children and enormous capacity. Expansion and consolidation is not easy. The little flame that was ignited will stay lit, and it can be fanned as opportunities arise, like institute campaigns or travel teachers. Our stay of 3 months is not long enough for some kind of large-scale teaching effort, but we have been able to bring some life to the Feasts, children's classes, and devotional gatherings. Tonight we get to host the Naw Ruz party at our house!<br />
<br />
<br />
<br />Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-59721101782728814882018-12-14T23:05:00.002-08:002021-12-08T22:38:54.475-08:0019th Century Religious Movements<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Pb5hJB05ZqQ6qP2TV40DfroVroXsF9Sn56FgvaCfAvMjQekJK1QpuJ4BvdFMFEJFVY77UcLD1eMjwVI2oG-3CvLEEYrH7271q1oCDcDpVDUgpziUMze8Iw0E0WgLq4cEcsthlH9akfzl/s1600/Jesus.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="600" data-original-width="800" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh0Pb5hJB05ZqQ6qP2TV40DfroVroXsF9Sn56FgvaCfAvMjQekJK1QpuJ4BvdFMFEJFVY77UcLD1eMjwVI2oG-3CvLEEYrH7271q1oCDcDpVDUgpziUMze8Iw0E0WgLq4cEcsthlH9akfzl/s400/Jesus.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
<br />
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">I
have always been intrigued by the many, many nineteenth century prophetic
movements all over the world. People from New York to Tehran to Nanjing were
all getting prophet fever. Some were preparing people for the coming of a great
day heralded by Christianity and Islam, others were claiming themselves to be
the long-awaited restored religion.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Observing
as a Baha'i, these new religious movements were part of a world upheaval in
religious thought that was in the context of the revelation of Baha'u'llah and
the concurrent collapse of established orthodoxy. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">It
is amazing what they got right. William Miller's prediction of the return of
Christ was within months of the Bab's declaration of His mission. Most of the
movements held restorationist beliefs about the need for new guidance from God,
and many tried to create a moral code suitable for the modern world, teaching
of the equality of men and women or abstention from alcohol.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Here
are short summaries of them, and some mysterious connections to the Baha'i
Faith.</span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5f2crIyV3bxxBsC_3154LYMCE9fSewHvuBysTGqxXfTeCOBTF250N-3zJlnwR-GbJkWMOh-5IACfyk5Mrzyzj0HswDz9EHfVuS19N9brZoJ5bYIxJtwIBgxoIV0y3t2uJGhYIA6NeT3L6/s1600/The+Joseph+Smith+Photograph.JPG" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="475" data-original-width="366" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj5f2crIyV3bxxBsC_3154LYMCE9fSewHvuBysTGqxXfTeCOBTF250N-3zJlnwR-GbJkWMOh-5IACfyk5Mrzyzj0HswDz9EHfVuS19N9brZoJ5bYIxJtwIBgxoIV0y3t2uJGhYIA6NeT3L6/s200/The+Joseph+Smith+Photograph.JPG" width="153" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 107%;">Joseph Smith<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">(1805-1844)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Joseph
Smith spent his childhood in New York and Pennsylvania, where three large
churches were vying for adherents. In his early twenties, he began receiving
revelations and claims to have been guided to find a set of golden tablets left
by a Jewish tribe that visited America. Joseph used his seer stones to
translate the plates, which tell of a visit of Jesus Christ to the New World.
His followers, Mormons, now number about 16 million.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Although
there are many indications that Joseph Smith was at times a fraud, there are also
many indications that he tapped into the divine currents flowing in the
nineteenth century. He said that there were "some in the congregation that
should live until the Savior should descend from heaven" and "there
are those of the rising generation who shall not taste death til Christ
comes." After all, he named his reformed church "... of Latter-day
Saints" when there was a focus on being in the "latter days"
before Christ appeared.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">He
also received a revelation that if he were to live to 85 years, Smith would see
"<a href="https://www.fairmormon.org/answers/Question:_Did_Joseph_Smith_prophesy_that_Jesus_Christ_would_return_in_1890%3F">the
face of the Son of Man</a>". He was killed by a mob in 1844, just weeks
after the Bab's declaration, but if he had lived to be 85, he could have seen
Baha'u'llah standing on Mt Carmel, pointing out the spot where the Bab's shrine
would later be built. The following year the Baha'i Faith was presented at the
World Parliament of Religions, held in Chicago not far from the Mormon colony
of Nauvoo, an event that Smith certainly would have attended if he had been
alive.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
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<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/William_Miller.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="637" height="200" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/94/William_Miller.jpg" width="158" /></a><b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 107%;">William
Miller <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">(1782
- 1849) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">In
1818, after two years of intense Bible study, William Miller discovered that
prophecy would be fulfilled in the year leading up to 21 March 1844. He
expected "all the affairs of our present state would be wound up" and
that Christ would descend from the sky. The date was revised and set to 22
October 1844, and on that day thousands of people put on white robes and waited
in fields. Of course, in May that year the Bab began teaching in Persia.<br />
<br />
Millerites, as they came to be known, numbered more than 50,000. Miller
recorded his personal disappointment in his memoirs: ''Were I to live my life
over again, with the same evidence that I then had, to be honest with God and
man, I should have to do as I have done. I confess my error, and acknowledge my
disappointment”.<br />
<br />
Although there are no "Millerites" today, there are about 20 million
followers of the Seventh-day Adventist church that sprung directly from
Miller's movement. Another 8.5 million are in the Jehovah's Witness church,
whose founder was influenced by Miller.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Hong_Xiuquan.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="396" data-original-width="349" height="200" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/c/cc/Hong_Xiuquan.jpg" width="176" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 107%;">Hong Xiuquan <o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">(1812
- 1864) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">After
failing the Chinese civil service exam for the third time, Hong Xiuquan had a
nervous breakdown. He dreamed of a fatherly man in a black dragon cloak giving
him a sword and seal, and telling him to rid the world of demons. In the dream,
he slayed the demons with the help of his heavenly brother. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Back
in the real world, Hong took the exam again in 1843 and failed a fourth time,
again causing delerious visions of slaying demons. This time he also started
reading Christian literature, and decided that the father in the vision was
God, his brother was Jesus, and Hong (the brother of Jesus) was being commanded
by God to rid China of idol worship.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Hong
immediately destroyed all the idols and confucian literature in his home, and
soon recruited his extended family to do the same. In 1844, as the Bab declared
to Mulla Husayn, Hong's movement spread to his entire ethnic group (Hakka) and
soon engulfed Guangzhou in a crisis as they began destroying idols all over the
place and preaching the worship of the one true God. Hong prohibited opium,
gambling, alcohol, slavery, and prostitution. Under his control, property was
seized by the state and redistributed among the poor and farmers. In 1850-51,
as Hujjat and Vahid were being sieged by government forces in Persia, Hong and
tens of thousands of his followers were under attack by government forces in
southern China, but they emerged on top. Within three years they sacked Nanjing
and controlled a territory covering 30 million people, known as the Taiping
Heavenly Kingdom. By 1856, the Taiping armies numbered over 1 million, and the
resulting civil war caused at least 20 million deaths.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">In
1864, as the imperial army closed in on Nanjing, Hong retreated to the basement
of his imperial palace and died from taking poison. His followers buried him in
a yellow imperial shroud, but when the imperial army reached the palace, Hong
was exumed, beheaded, and burned.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Mirza_Ghulam_Ahmad_(c._1897).jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="555" height="200" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a8/Mirza_Ghulam_Ahmad_(c._1897).jpg" width="137" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 107%;">Ghulam Ahmad<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">(1835-1908)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Just
as Christians are awaiting the second coming of the Messiah, Muslims are
expecting both Jesus and the Mahdi to appear about the same time to restore the
true religion of God. According to <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/ahmadiyya/comments/68sb70/dear_ahmadi_brothers_how_do_you_respond_to_these/">one
account</a>, a Baha'i teacher named Sulayman Khan visited Ghulam Ahmad in
northern India and left him some literature (maybe 1888-9). Later
Ahmad announced himself to be the Mahdi of Islam and shared doctrines that are
surprisingly similar to those espoused by Baha'u'llah, such as the return of
the qualities of a prophet and not the physical body. He forbade holy war,
talked of a new world order, and discouraged the materialism of western
civilization.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Ahmad
claimed to be a reformer within Islam, a sort of revivalist restoring the true
faith, quite similar to the claims of Joseph Smith about a restored priesthood.
And similar to Joseph Smith, the claims did not go over well with the
mainstream. His followers faced persecution, hundreds killed, many fled, and to
this day Pakistan forbids Ahmadis from calling themselves 'Muslim'. There are
now more than 10 million Ahmadi Muslims in the world, mostly concentrated in
Pakistan.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeGwl37dsl9DocEhMJNBYC985FXWQY6V3RDU8j48tUwFDeQMNtuQHxypZ-JSjZAV5uXkfuwooZQPvGgHJqh91FCFJxLIgF-oMuOmGd-ht3d41zXzhjUAuuSzJ8wHKzDEByZaT-eOhmuIZk/s1600/Wolff.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="363" data-original-width="262" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjeGwl37dsl9DocEhMJNBYC985FXWQY6V3RDU8j48tUwFDeQMNtuQHxypZ-JSjZAV5uXkfuwooZQPvGgHJqh91FCFJxLIgF-oMuOmGd-ht3d41zXzhjUAuuSzJ8wHKzDEByZaT-eOhmuIZk/s200/Wolff.jpg" width="143" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 107%;">Joseph Wolff<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">(1795
- 1862) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Wolff
was born a Jew in Germany and later became a preacher in the Church of England.
Wolff was a well respected missionary who traveled to Greece, Malta, the
Crimea, Palestine, Turkey, Egypt, Central Asia, Abyssinia, Yemen, India, and
other lands, including the United States of America, where he was ordained
deacon, and preached to a joint meeting of Congress in 1836.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">He
taught that the Messiah was coming soon to set up His kingdom in the Holy Land.
He showed Jews that the Messiah is to be identified with Jesus Christ. Using
the same prophecies that Miller found, he proceeded to expound the 2300 days of
Daniel 8:14, showing that they would end in 1847 with the coming of the Messiah
in power and glory. Having established in his hearers’ minds that the Messiah
would be returning to re-establish the Jewish kingdom within a few years, Wolff
called for belief in Jesus as Lord and Saviour.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">As
the years passed and 1847 loomed close, people asked Wolff what he would say if
1847 passed without the return of the Messiah. He answered that he would admit
that he had been wrong.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/jv/6/6d/Choe_Je-u.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="289" data-original-width="200" height="200" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/jv/6/6d/Choe_Je-u.jpg" width="138" /></a></div>
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<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 107%;">Choe Je-u<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">(1824-1864)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Choe
Je-u was a Confucian scholar in Korea who noticed that the "mandate of
heaven" had passed from the Asian powers to the western powers. Concerned,
Choe spent years wandering and studying with a distressed heart.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">In
1860 Choe claims to have heard the voice of the supreme ruler of heaven saying,
"Don't be afraid. Mankind calls me the Supreme Lord. I sent you to save
mankind. I have a talisman which is called the Elixir of Immortality. Cure
mankind's illness with this talisman." The voice told Choe that he, the
Supreme Lord, would soon appear in the world and initiate the "Great
Opening of the Later Heaven". Choe formed a new religion called Donghak
around the belief that this Lord of Heaven would soon incarnate in this world
to usher in a new era of righteousness. One of the distinguishing features of
his religion was the unity of humanity, emphasizing that all people should be
treated equally. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Three
years after Choe began preaching, Baha'u'llah announced his new Faith in
Baghdad. Eight months later, Choe was arrested and beheaded by the emperor of
Korea due to the popularity of his movement. The faith that Choe founded
evolved into Cheondism in modern Korea, with a current following of about 3
million.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Joseph_Bates_(1865).jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="800" data-original-width="533" height="200" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/9a/Joseph_Bates_(1865).jpg" width="133" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 107%;">Joseph Bates<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">(1791-1872) <o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">On
the morning following the "Great Disappointment" of October 22, 1844,
a Mr. Hiram Edson claimed to have seen a vision. He said that he saw Jesus
standing at the altar of heaven and concluded that Miller had been right about
the time, but wrong about the place. The idea became popular that the return
was fulfilled in 1844 as predicted, but not as they were expecting. Rather than
seek out the fulfillment in a new Messenger of God somewhere else on earth
(hint: Persia), Joseph Bates decided that Jesus' return was not to earth, but a
move into the heavenly sanctuary as is referenced in Heb. 8:1-2<a href="http://www.carm.org/kjv/Heb/Heb_8.htm#Now">.</a><o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Mr.
Joseph Bates (1792-1872), a retired sea captain and a convert to
"Millerism" then began to promote the idea of Jesus moving into the
heavenly sanctuary. He published a pamphlet which greatly influenced James
(1821-1881) and Ellen White (1827-1915). It is these three who were the driving
force behind the Seventh Day Adventist movement, now numbering about 20
million.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/C.T._Russell.gif" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="416" data-original-width="319" height="200" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/f/f3/C.T._Russell.gif" width="153" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 107%;">Charles Russell<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">(1852
- 1916)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">At
the age of 18, Russell listened to a Millerite preacher and renewed his faith.
He was further influenced by a handful of Adventist preachers until he too
began writing articles about faith, rapture, and the imminent coming of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">One
Adventist in particular, Nelson Barbour, worked with Russell to describe that
6,000 years from creation would end in 1873, Christians would be removed in a
rapture in 1874, and the "harvest" would be from 1874 to 1914, after
which the kingdom of God would be established on earth.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><br />
After the failure of 1874 to produce the expected rapture, Russell and Barbour
split ways while trying to explain the embarrassing situation. Russell quickly
established what came to be known as the Watch Tower Society, a name which you
probably recognize because you have most likely found their pamphlets left on
your door. Russell's publications quickly spread to reach millions of readers.
He taught that in 1874 Christ returned invisibly to rule from heaven, and that
1914 would see an anarchical world war that would destroy nations. When World
War I broke out that year, he said that it was the battle of Armageddon and
that the generation who witnessed it would see the return of Christ.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;"><br />
Russell's Bible students, now known as Jehovah's Witnesses and numbering 8.5
million, entered a crisis as the expected return of Christ failed to
materialize as they expected. After Russell's death in 1916 they continued
setting dates for the event in 1918, 1920, 1925, 1941, and 1975. Their last,
best hope for their foundational doctrine was that maybe a baby born in 1914
would still be alive, but even that hope faded and the church had to come up
with logic gymnastics to explain their continued existence.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Shaykh_Ahmad_Ahsaey.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="496" data-original-width="300" height="200" src="https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/72/Shaykh_Ahmad_Ahsaey.jpg" width="120" /></a></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<b style="mso-bidi-font-weight: normal;"><span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 20pt; line-height: 107%;">Shaykh Ahmad<o:p></o:p></span></b></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">(1753-1834)<o:p></o:p></span></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Ahmad
was born in al-Ahsa, eastern Arabia near Bahrain. He observed that Muslims had
perverted and degraded Islam, and he set out traveling and studying, thinking
about how to bring about a revival. He concluded that no reform could
regenerate Islam, and that nothing short of a new revelation would be needed
through a new Manifestation of God. He settled in the theological centers of
Najaf and Karbala in Iraq, and convinced a large following that the promised
Mahdi and Christ would soon appear to redeem and save mankind. He spent the
last twenty years of his life in Iran, where he gained the patronage of Qajar
princes.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Shaykh
Ahmad didn't exactly create his own sect, he always considered himself teaching
within Shi'ah Islam, yet he introduced some ideas that changed Shi'ah thinking
and created a distinct following. He taught that the soul is separate from the
body, and that the ascent into heaven is of the soul, not the body. He also
applied this principle to the return of bodies, meaning that the return of the
Imam Mahdi would be a return of the qualities of prophethood, not of the
individual who lived in the 10th century AD. He therefore taught insistently
that his followers should scatter far and wide and seek the redeemer of the
world in the form of a human being born with innate knowledge.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">Shaykh
Ahmad's successor, Kazim, gave details of what to look for: he was to be of
pure lineage, of the seed of Fatima (Muhammad's daughter), he would be between
20 and 30 years old, of medium height, he would not smoke, and be free from
bodily deficiencies. In May of 1844 a follower of Shaykh Ahmad by the name of
Mulla Husayn encountered a young merchant in Shiraz who announced that he was
the promised Mahdi. The Bab, as he came to be known, began revealing scripture and
converted tens of thousands in Iran to his new faith, which formally split from
Islam.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Bab gained close to a million followers in just six years. The opposition from
the Islamic clergy was heavy and swift. The Bab was executed in a public
square, and an estimated 20,000 followers killed across the Persian Empire.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">The
Bab claimed to be the herald of a far greater Manifestation of God, who would
reveal himself 19 years later (1863). According to Biblical and Islamic
prophecy, there would be two messengers back to back in the end times. One of
the Bab's followers, exiled in Iraq, announced himself as this second
Messenger. He was known as Baha'u'llah, and his own writings spread among the
Babis of the time, and the majority of them converted to become Baha'is. The
followers of Baha'u'llah now number between 5 and 8 million, spread out into
nearly every country and territory of the world. <o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
<div class="MsoNormal" style="margin-bottom: 0in;">
<span style="font-family: "times new roman" , serif; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 107%;">That's
it. The Baha'i Faith is the fulfillment of all these messianic expectations.
Some of them got it very close but were taking things too literally. Some of
them conquered half of China. But all of them were part of the currents flowing
at the time in the context of the true renewal of the one religion of God. If
you haven't done so already, I highly recommend reading Baha'u'llah's <a href="https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/bahaullah/seven-valleys-four-valleys/">Seven
Valleys</a> and the <a href="https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/bahaullah/kitab-i-iqan/">Book
of Certitude</a>.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<br /></div>
Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-41061246126300124242018-11-13T07:41:00.000-08:002018-11-16T15:35:30.795-08:00Defection of the Faint in Heart<div>
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1zLh-HTpazqjXLL6UkDZdKg4QGp6xRn3eEFZgx2iAEtXNypU8IlxKDGXUyL28Y8Z1NjwFVQZcTpO51EzZ0rY0_X1f22nKRvacKCNOitpVfvDDLQhlYA6x8e9zWJx9CYU1hGit2wViuIsY/s1600/customer-defection-768x522.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="522" data-original-width="768" height="271" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg1zLh-HTpazqjXLL6UkDZdKg4QGp6xRn3eEFZgx2iAEtXNypU8IlxKDGXUyL28Y8Z1NjwFVQZcTpO51EzZ0rY0_X1f22nKRvacKCNOitpVfvDDLQhlYA6x8e9zWJx9CYU1hGit2wViuIsY/s400/customer-defection-768x522.jpg" width="400" /></a></div>
I grew up a Baha'i. My older brother never had an interest in it and later told me that anyone who believes in God is an idiot. My sister enrolled as a Baha'i, had a Baha'i wedding, then mostly quit participating. Of all the Baha'is in my generation growing up, about half of them no longer identify as Baha'is. Now as an adult, about once a year I see someone leave the Faith, sometimes distant acquaintances, sometimes close friends.<br />
<br />
So what does that mean about the truth of the Baha'i Faith? What does the current social climate say about the long-term prospects of the growth of Baha'u'llah's message? How should we view people leaving almost as fast as they're joining? Here are some thoughts.<br />
<br />
<a name='more'></a><br />
<h3>
Truth</h3>
As a teenager I studied the Baha'i Faith, and during <a href="http://bahaicoherence.blogspot.com/2013/12/summer-of-consecration.html">one intense summer</a> I faced a challenge: is this true or not? I was attracted to the teachings and people, but that's not why I committed myself. It was the truth at the foundation of the religion that made it clear that I should live to serve it. I recognized that some people treat religion as a social club, participating for the worldly conveniences of it, holding on by a weak connection that could easily detach when difficulties arise. </div>
<div>
<br /></div>
<div>
And so it went with many young people I grew up with, I was often confused and distraught seeing someone who was raised in a Baha'i family drift away. That's the best way to describe it, drifting away, because it is exceptionally rare that Baha'is ever convert to another religion; if they are not interested in committing to this faith they simply become inactive, have no faith in God, or get swallowed up by other life pursuits.<br />
<br />
As I gained some maturity I realized that my confusion was part of the idealism of youth, believing that if something is true then people will recognize it. But sharing truth is like sharing moonlight with someone in a cave, people have to seek it out on their own, and if their heart is not open to it, continuing to press your case will just drive people away. Baha'u'llah said,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
If ye be aware of a certain truth, if ye possess a jewel, of which others are deprived, share it with them in a language of utmost kindliness and goodwill. If it be accepted, if it fulfill its purpose, your object is attained. If anyone should refuse it, leave him unto himself, and beseech God to guide him. Beware lest ye deal unkindly with him.</blockquote>
<h3>
Consecration</h3>
Pilgrim's notes record Shoghi Effendi sharing that teaching involves three processes: attraction, conversion, and consecration. Of course, at the stage of attraction it is easy for people to come in and out of the Baha'i Faith. In when things are going well, and away when challenges arise. After conversion, people might still have a crisis of faith or simply drift away. But those who are consecrated, who dive deep into the ocean of Baha'u'llah's writings, pass through the seven valleys, and sacrifice themselves, they will weather any storm that arises.<br />
<br />
This helped me make sense of that sense of loss that I saw growing up, and there are many concepts that give some perspective on how to feel about people leaving this faith.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Crisis and Victory</h3>
Particularly in Shoghi Effendi's writings, there is this idea that the Baha'i Faith has passed from crisis to victory throughout its history.<br />
<br />
The first Baha'i teacher in America was Ibrahim Kheiralla, who brought in many of the early American believers, including Thornton Chase and Lua Getsinger. In 1899 Kheiralla defected and announced his support for Muhammad-Ali, `Abdu'l-Baha's half-brother who was attacking his leadership, and who, less than a decade later tried his best to have `Abdu'l-Baha exiled. In the years leading up to 1908, the crisis was so deep that `Abdu'l-Baha finished His will, buried it in a courtyard, and sat waiting for a hostile government commission to decide his fate while Muhammad-Ali held a celebration, anticipating his imminent seizure of the Baha'i properties and his ascent to leadership. Suddenly, the boat in the harbor holding the commissioners turned and went to Istanbul, forgetting about `Abdu'l-Baha to deal with other business. A short while later the Ottoman leadership was overthrown by revolution, `Abdu'l-Baha was freed from prison, the Shrine of the Bab was completed, as well as the House of the Bab in Shiraz restored, `Abdu'l-Baha made His historic trips to Europe and America, and Muhammad-Ali's influence was greatly reduced.<br />
<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDJ2RZFXUtrJn_aqbgMUm-CCmlxXI84A2AlhsfrHAcGXckyaYUV1n7Hxsvxf4dGdOunCQJ-NgkKWmFzRaIkHCu5roLFOJf8yIz5eQRs-R74NLpo-vrA0UR8K6hkT021Ik5Wp0fph42MTfc/s1600/Mirza+Abu%2527l-Fadl+with+Lua+Getsinger.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="871" data-original-width="809" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDJ2RZFXUtrJn_aqbgMUm-CCmlxXI84A2AlhsfrHAcGXckyaYUV1n7Hxsvxf4dGdOunCQJ-NgkKWmFzRaIkHCu5roLFOJf8yIz5eQRs-R74NLpo-vrA0UR8K6hkT021Ik5Wp0fph42MTfc/s320/Mirza+Abu%2527l-Fadl+with+Lua+Getsinger.jpg" width="297" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lua Getsinger with Mirza Abdu'l-Fadl</td></tr>
</tbody></table>
The stories of crises and victories abound. World War I brought another crisis to the Holy Land that was followed by the Tablets of the Divine Plan and the replacement of Ottoman authorities. The passing of `Abdu'l-Baha in 1921 saw yet another rise in hopes for both Muhammad-Ali and Yahya, which were later crushed by the clarity of `Abdu'l-Baha's will and Shoghi Effendi's leadership. An attack by an Egyptian court declaring that Baha'is are heretics became an opportunity for Baha'is in the West to establish their independence in the minds of academics who insisted that they were a branch of Islam. The unjust seizure of Baha'u'llah's house in Baghdad and the destruction of the House of Worship in Ishqabad were followed by Baha'i institutions maturing and petitioning the world's highest tribunal to condemn the actions, while at the same time coordinating pioneers that brought the Faith into 34 new countries and completing the temple near Chicago. The defection of Mason Remey and his attempt at schism was a serious crisis to the Baha'i world, but was followed by the establishment of the Universal House of Justice, Remey's total loss, and a great expansion of Baha'is all over the world.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Severe Mental Tests</h3>
Each of these crises, especially the defection of Covenant-breakers, brought purification to the Baha'i community by pulling out those who held a weak grasp of the teachings. And this is how it has always gone, an influx of new believers is followed by tests and difficulties that end up purging some who were not consecrated, whose continued adherence would compromise the character of the Faith during its infancy and prevent its message from reaching ever greater heights. The loss is then followed by some great victory and another surge of new believers.<br />
<br />
The Baha'i writings are full of references about this purification (<a href="http://bahai-library.com/compilation_crisis_victory">here</a> is a compilation on crisis and victory). `Abdu'l-Baha promises repeatedly that western Baha'is will face great difficulties, and He notably said that He is happy that they will face these tests,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The more difficulties one sees in the world the more perfect one becomes. The more you plough and dig the ground the more fertile it becomes. The more you cut the branches of a tree the higher and stronger it grows. The more you put the gold in the fire the purer it becomes. The more you sharpen the steel by grinding the better it cuts. Therefore, the more sorrows one sees the more perfect one becomes . . . The more often the captain of a ship is in the tempest and difficult sailing the greater his knowledge becomes. Therefore <b>I am happy that you have had great tribulations and difficulties</b>… Strange it is that I love you and still I am happy that you have sorrows.</blockquote>
Shoghi Effendi said,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
in particular during the concluding years of His mission on earth, [`Abdu'l-Baha] laid stress on the '<b>severe mental tests</b>' that would inevitably sweep over His loved ones of the West — tests that would <b>purge, purify and prepare them</b> for their noble mission in life.</blockquote>
It is always sad to see someone discover the Baha'i Faith, become attracted to its teachings, maybe even declare their belief, then walk away from it. However, it should be expected given the nature of the process. Even more so during one of the great tests that has assailed the Faith, when strong social forces are pulling hard at those shallow roots that did not penetrate the ground far enough.<br />
<br />
<h3>
Defection</h3>
Shoghi Effendi also provides context for people leaving the Faith in the early years of its rise.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
How slow and painful the process that gradually brought it forth from [obscurity]... How severe the shocks which the ranks of its devoted adherents have sustained through the <b>defection of the faint in heart</b>, the malice of the mischief-maker, the treachery of the proud and the ambitious!</blockquote>
</div>
He further anticipates people continuously deserting the Cause, and says that it would be unreasonable to expect otherwise.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Were anyone to imagine or expect that a Cause... should at all times be immune to any divergence of opinion, or any <b>defection on the part of its multitudinous followers</b>, would be sheer delusion, wholly unreasonable and unwarranted, even in the face of the unprecedented evidences of the miraculous power which its rise and progress have so powerfully exhibited.</blockquote>
And this defection will increase as this Faith becomes increasingly in conflict with the desires of society.<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Their Faith, they may soon find, has been assaulted, their motives misconstrued, their aims defamed, their aspirations derided, their institutions scorned, their influence belittled, their authority undermined, and their Cause, at times, <b>deserted by a few</b> who will either be incapable of appreciating the nature of their ideals, or unwilling to bear the brunt of the mounting criticisms which such <b>a contest</b> is sure to involve.</blockquote>
That contest is the "double crusade" described by Shoghi Effendi while addressing the Baha'is of the West. They must first "regenerate the inward life of their own community" through the weapons of,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
A rectitude of conduct which, in all its manifestations, offers a striking contrast to the deceitfulness and corruption that characterize the political life of the nation and of the parties and factions that compose it; <b>a holiness and chastity that are diametrically opposed to the moral laxity and licentiousness</b> which defile the character of a not inconsiderable proportion of its citizens; an interracial fellowship completely purged from the curse of racial prejudice which stigmatizes the vast majority of its people</blockquote>
The second part of that crusade involves assailing "the long-standing evils that have entrenched themselves in the life of their nation."<br />
<br />
<h3>
Spiritual Prerequisites of Success</h3>
With those three goals in mind: moral rectitude, absolute chastity, and complete freedom from racial prejudice, Baha'is are used to being opposed by the greater society in America.<br />
<br />
Throughout their history, the Baha'is have sought to be free from partisan politics and instead focus on building up their own administrative order. This non-partisanship is criticized as passivity or pacifism, and I've known seekers and Baha'is who disengage from the Faith so that they can engage in the endless movements and countermovements that seize power and force their beliefs on others.<br />
<br />
Baha'is have always been active supporters of racial equality, which brought great opposition at a time when powerful social forces were forcing segregation and oppression. Standing fast to their principles, Baha'is were later vindicated after the civil rights era when the goal of racial equality was woven into the American psyche.<br />
<br />
A chaste and holy life, however, presents a different challenge. Whereas racial equality was aligned with progressive liberal forces, chastity aligns more closely with the conservative type, particularly regarding abstention from sex outside of marriage and the exclusion of gay marriage. The current progressive climate portrays the acceptance of gay marriage as equal to the acceptance of racial equality, and openly mocks ideas of chastity as naive or backwards. This is the challenge confronting the current generation of Baha'is; having been aligned with many liberal causes, Baha'is are now facing opposition and defections for refusing to align with a liberal view of sexuality.<br />
<br />
<h3>
A Sea of Materialism</h3>
America was not chosen as the seat of Baha'u'llah's administration because of its inherent virtue. It is precisely its backwardness, oppression, and licentiousness that make it an ideal location to demonstrate the power in Baha'u'llah's message. Shoghi Effendi said,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
It is precisely by reason of the patent evils... that the Author of their Faith and the Center of His Covenant have singled it out to become the standard-bearer of the New World Order envisaged in their writings. It is by such means as this that Bahá'u'lláh can best demonstrate to a heedless generation His almighty power to raise up from the very midst of a people, immersed in a sea of materialism, a prey to one of the most virulent and long-standing forms of racial prejudice, and notorious for its political corruption, lawlessness and <b>laxity in moral standards</b>, men and women who, as time goes by, will increasingly exemplify those essential virtues of self-renunciation, of moral rectitude, of chastity, of indiscriminating fellowship, of holy discipline, and of spiritual insight...</blockquote>
<h3>
The Smallest Handful</h3>
There is another strain of thought that provides context to people deciding to abandon the Cause. The Book of Matthew records Jesus saying,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
Enter by the narrow gate; for wide is the gate and broad is the way that leads to destruction, and there are many who go in by it. Because narrow is the gate and difficult is the way which leads to life, and <b>there are few who find it</b>.</blockquote>
Similarly, Baha'u'llah said,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
...all but a few remain bereft of this celestial city, and even of these few, <b>none but the smallest handful</b> hath been found with a pure heart and sanctified spirit.</blockquote>
And again,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<b>No more than a mere handful</b>, however, hath been found willing to cleave to His Cause, or to become the instruments for its promotion.</blockquote>
And `Abdu'l-Baha said,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
The dark hath taken over, and the brute traits prevail. This world of man is now an arena for wild beasts, a field where the ignorant, the heedless, seize their chance. The souls of men are ravening wolves and animals with blinded eyes, they are either deadly poison or useless weeds -- <b>all except for a very few </b>who indeed do nurture altruistic aims and plans for the well-being of their fellow men: but ye must in this matter -- that is, the serving of humankind -- lay down your very lives, and as ye yield yourselves, rejoice.</blockquote>
I think these references are describing a fundamental spiritual truth. A small slice of any population will have the spiritual thirst to seek out the truth and the fortitude to face the onslaught of society to uphold that truth. It's unfortunate to see people reject the new revelation, but it should be expected. And there is more. If someone defends their actions by saying, "but everyone is going down the wide path, so I went too", God will still hold them accountable for their choice. Baha'u'llah said,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
If... any man should, whilst standing in the presence of God, be asked: “Wherefore hast thou disbelieved in My Beauty and turned away from My Self,” and if such a man should reply and say: “Inasmuch as all men have erred, and none hath been found willing to turn his face to the Truth, <b>I, too, following their example</b>, have grievously failed to recognize the Beauty of the Eternal,” such a plea will, assuredly, be rejected. For the faith of no man can be conditioned by anyone except himself.</blockquote>
<h3>
When the Victory Arriveth</h3>
The truth that "all but a few remain bereft of this celestial city" does not mean that Baha'is will remain an extreme minority, nor always contending with an immoral culture, nor that they can disregard the arguments in cognitive dissonance, nor does it mean that only Baha'is are in the "celestial city". It means that during the hard times, when the storm is really blowing, most people will get pulled away. That is true now, it is true for Muslims and Christians, and it will be true in a future Baha'i society.<br />
<br />
Baha'is are also anticipating a golden age in the future when the majority of many nations embrace the Baha'i Faith. Then it will be “easy” to be a Baha’i without challenges of being a tiny minority. Then, the challenges that arise will no longer see people leaving their Baha'i identity behind. Then, the vitality and depth in the Baha'i Writings will be able to sustain and advance civilization in a way that we can hardly imagine now.<br />
<br />
It is comforting to know what is coming for the future, and the privilege that will belong to those who hold fast in the face of a spiritual tempest. Baha'u'llah wrote,<br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
When the victory arriveth, every man shall profess himself as believer and shall hasten to the shelter of God’s Faith. Happy are they who in the days of world-encompassing trials have stood fast in the Cause and refused to swerve from its truth.</blockquote>
So have faith that the current crisis will pass, hold fast, and continue advancing the teaching work, because every crisis is followed by victory.<br />
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Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-26080784759516016902017-12-18T23:46:00.001-08:002020-08-23T22:33:09.338-07:00Lessons of the Civil War<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwmexeF7Gub-3nNNEATNjzNKy990cyc_dkw3pKn30WEXBJPefU9yvFHofuW4RA1AzBhtsO8A-z18bTpr1JtedrdcN5z1P6YqqJh7kmofU2x9O3zl5RUKOIsVXE2aNa44YuAF7U7Jk2BqaP/s1600/Grant.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1080" data-original-width="710" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjwmexeF7Gub-3nNNEATNjzNKy990cyc_dkw3pKn30WEXBJPefU9yvFHofuW4RA1AzBhtsO8A-z18bTpr1JtedrdcN5z1P6YqqJh7kmofU2x9O3zl5RUKOIsVXE2aNa44YuAF7U7Jk2BqaP/s320/Grant.jpg" width="209" /></span></a></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">I recently came across this quote by Ron Chernow in his book <i>Grant</i>:</span><br />
<blockquote class="tr_bq">
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">For all the endless horrors of [the Civil War], Grant believed the country was stronger for having endured it: “We are better off now than we would have been without it and have made more rapid progress than we otherwise should have made.” The country had become more cosmopolitan, its citizens more worldly, its economy more productive, its military more potent. Most important, Union forces had struck a major blow for freedom and equality. Like Lincoln, Grant deemed the war “a punishment for national sins that had to come sooner or later in some shape, and probably in blood.” Four million slaves had been emancipated and would shortly receive the right to vote, send their children to public schools, and enjoy the benefits of citizenship—progress that would be savagely resisted. For Grant, the war had validated the basic soundness of American institutions. Before, he noted, “monarchical Europe generally believed that our republic was a rope of sand that would part the moment the slightest strain was brought upon it. Now it has shown itself capable of dealing with one of the greatest wars that was ever made, and our people have proven themselves to be the most formidable in war of any nationality.” He added the important caveat that the war had been “a fearful lesson, and should teach us the necessity of avoiding wars in the future.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"></span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Further, the purging conflict that Grant viewed as inevitable was festering under the surface for decades. Irreconciliable differences must have led eventually to a break in unity or open conflict. </span><br />
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">That "punishment for national sins" that was the American Civil War didn't fully resolve the problem, and another conflict has been festering again for decades. Irreconcilable differences regarding race, nationality, sex, and class have been steaming to the surface and showing themselves in a mighty culture war, fighting for dominance. It pits urban vs rural, religious vs secular, moral vs immoral, and liberal vs conservative. Both sides feel strongly that the other is one of the "domestic" enemies that they swoar an oath to defend the constitution against.</span></div>
<div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;"><br /></span></div>
<div>
<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Of all those issues, race stands out. Just ask anyone visiting from another country for perspective. White America can't deal with race. They can hardly talk about it. America has been <a href="https://www.vox.com/2017/1/18/14296126/white-segregated-suburb-neighborhood-cartoon">self-segregating</a> since the 1990s, because most people want diversity, unless it's in their neighborhood. This segregation has left black Americans with the short stick, with chronic disempowerment, and it has coincided with an increase in open racism that threatens to ignite conflict. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">That these issues are breaking out in the open again is only for the good. </span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">To put it another way, the longer the country takes to heal its wounds, the worse the repayment will be of those national sins. And repayment is coming. Think of the embolded nationalists who are rolling through the country ripping fathers from their babies and deporting them. Think of the swelled ranks of emboldened whites who feel free to hurl racial insults and demoralize people of color. The American democracy elected an overtly racist Administration that is dismantling the judiciary, Department of State, and the FBI. The damage is done. If Trump gets impeached, the far right will see it as a partisan act, or worse as a move by corrupt Washington insiders in need of punishment. If he is not impeached, the damage will get worse, much worse.</span></div>
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<span style="font-family: inherit; font-size: large;">Now we're at a civil war crossroads. This new ideology must crash and show its perversity, and the bigger it grows, the harder it will crash. The harder it crashes, the greater the recovery will be. That seems to be the only path towards a genuine rebirth of unity. If you need a blueprint for racial unity, see the <a href="https://bahai-library.com/nsa_race_unity">Vision of Race Unity</a> or my older post on the <a href="http://bahaicoherence.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-eradication-of-racism-in-america.html">Eradication of Racism in America</a>. </span></div>
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Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-72836335331820334932017-12-10T22:36:00.001-08:002019-03-22T10:25:48.138-07:00Humor of Baha'u'llahWhen a Baha'i goes on pilgrimage, they sign up for a formal 9 days in the Holy Land, marked by a few guided tours, talks, a hike or two up the terraces, and long visits to the shrines of Baha'u'llah and the Bab.<br />
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When I went in early 2001, Mrs. Grossman was my guide, and I heard many amazing stories while visiting the places in Akka and Haifa. Here are three stories that stood out to me because they serve as a reminder of the wit and humor of Baha'u'llah and His companions. These are from memory, and if you know of the references, please leave a comment.<br />
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Mishkin-Qalam was a great calligrapher of his day, and is the author of the Greatest Name calligraphy that Baha'is use as a symbol of the Faith. He was a close friend of Baha'u'llah and accompanied him on many of his journeys. One day Baha'u'llah needed to borrow a teapot, so he sent someone to request a teapot from Mishkin-Qalam. The messengers arrived and said, "Baha'u'llah would like to borrow your teapot." To which Mishkin-Qalam responded, "Tell him I said no." The messenger, a little stunned, returned to Baha'u'llah and said, "He said no." Baha'u'llah, now with a smile on His face, asked the messenger to return and ask Mishkin-Qalam, "Why?" The poor messenger now returned to Mishkin-Qalam and said, "He would like to ask you why you said no." To this, Mishkin-Qalam responded, "Tell him that many times in my life I have asked God for something and God denied my request. I would like to have one time in my life that I can say no to something God asks."</blockquote>
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Near Akka there was a small alluvial island in a river that the Baha'is built up so that it wouldn't flood, and they made it into a garden. This became known as the Garden of Ridvan (not to be confused with the Garden of Ridvan in Baghdad, where Baha'u'llah declared his mission publicly). This was towards the end of Baha'u'llah's life, when he was free to live outside of the gates of Akka. Baha'u'llah would often visit the garden to relax and enjoy its natural beauty. The caretaker of the garden was a man named `Abu'l-Qasim, who spent many days tending the garden to perfection. One day, a swarm of locusts was approaching the area and would devastate the garden. `Abdu'l-Qasim was frantic and asked Baha'u'llah to do something about the impending destruction. Baha'u'llah responded, "`Abu'l-Qasim, the locusts need to eat too." He returned to his garden and sat in distress while the swarm got closer, within sight. Again, `Abu'l-Qasim pleaded for help and received the same response from Baha'u'llah. As the locusts began chewing on his plants, he again pleaded for help. Baha'u'llah went out into the garden, faced the swarm of approaching locusts, and said in a loud booming voice, "`Abu'l-Qasim is not pleased with you!" Then he shook his robe with a hard swoop, and then most of the locusts in the garden flew away, and the swarm bypassed the garden. </blockquote>
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`Abu'l-Qasim, tending the same garden, worked particularly hard cleaning up mulberries. There was a bush that grew up and over a bench where Baha'u'llah would often sit. To keep the area clean `Abu'l-Qasim would have to daily pick up the fallen berries and then wipe off juice from the bench. As this went on and on `Abu'l-Qasim once complained to Baha'u'llah about this problem and asked for a solution to the problem. To this, Baha'u'llah stood in front of the mulberry bush, and addressing the bush said, "`Abu'l-Qasim is not pleased with you!" Again, he shook his robe with a hard swoop at the bush. The bush never produced a berry again. </blockquote>
These are stories recorded in <i>Baha'u'llah: A Short Biography</i> by Moojan Momen, pp. 121-122.<br />
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...when the Garden of Ridvan was being prepared, all the Baha'is lent a hand in raising the level of the island so that it would not flood and then worked on the soil to develop it into a garden. One day, Nabil Zarandi came to this garden while the other Baha'is were busy at work. One of them called out to Nabil to take a spade and give them a hand. Mulla Muhammad... whom Baha'u'llah had given the name Nabil (meaning 'noble' in Arabic), replied that "Baha'u'llah has prohibited me from working with a spade since he named me 'na bil' (which in Persian means 'no spade')."</blockquote>
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On one occasion, Baha'u'llah attended a memorial meeting in `Akka for one of the Baha'is who had died. Aqa Muhammad `Ali noticed how graciously and beautifully Baha'u'llah spoke about the deceased. Longing for the same treatment, Aqa Muhammad `Ali is reported to have said to Baha'u'llah, "I shall be honoured if you would presume that I am dead also, and give me the privilege of inviting you to attend a memorial meeting for me!'</blockquote>
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On one occasion when they were still in Baghdad, a rather rotund Iranian cleric came to visit Baha'u'llah and sat down pompously. "I am the seal of the mujtahids", he announced upon his arrival. Mujtahids are the most senior grade of Shi`i clerics and the word seal (khatam) is usually connected with Muhammad being the seal, meaning the last, of the prophets. The word can also mean, as intended here, the most excellent. Baha'u'llah however, taking the first meaning (which would make what he had said to mean 'I am the last of the mujtahids'), quipped: "Let's hope so." </blockquote>
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Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-62896440133387888512017-08-18T20:15:00.000-07:002020-08-23T22:33:09.338-07:00Vanquishing Racism<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBBchY9s8lw2xymPjj9u7MDR3GUg4-tTQtRYxZ6MSDuAf6PpBZEUz6xpCxdxOt8kaAdXBkSjs9gF3D1tccrAuZpnZhAN1mmjLYHat5nk4_N-uZ1tj6-CHCGcIdSW-0ROxYnYrSEW_lwTBq/s1600/08-1004336441%252B13%252Brally081317.jpg" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhBBchY9s8lw2xymPjj9u7MDR3GUg4-tTQtRYxZ6MSDuAf6PpBZEUz6xpCxdxOt8kaAdXBkSjs9gF3D1tccrAuZpnZhAN1mmjLYHat5nk4_N-uZ1tj6-CHCGcIdSW-0ROxYnYrSEW_lwTBq/s640/08-1004336441%252B13%252Brally081317.jpg" /></a><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Woe to the vanquished!" Shouted Brennus as he threw his sword on the scales. He had just finished sacking Rome and was weighing out the 1,000 pounds of gold that the defending Romans would pay to ransom the remainder of the city. After a complaint that the scales were rigged, he threw his sword on the weights because, well, he could.<br /><br />That was 390 BCE. The Romans took that motto to heart. By 51 BCE Julius Caesar was using the same phrase as he conquered and crushed all of Gaul, where the descendants of Brennus lived. Out of an estimated three million Gauls, Romans killed one million of them, and took another million into slavery. </span><br />
<a name='more'></a><span style="font-size: large;"><br /> When I was in Spain I saw a Roman <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Triumphal_arch">triumphal arch</a> that was placed there to celebrate the Romans conquering the land. I was confused as to why people would allow the arch to remain, celebrating someone else's conquest, so I asked about it. My friend said, "We are the Romans." That's how total the vanquishing was. The indigenous never fought for their independence, because they stopped existing.<br /><br /> Compare the annihilation practiced by the Romans to that of the Greeks and Chinese. Ancient China had warring kingdoms, but they all considered themselves Chinese and had a common language and culture, then Qin Shi Huang conquered them all and united them under one empire. Similarly, the ancient Greek city-states were usually in conflict (unless Persia was invading) until Phillip of Macedonia conquered them all and united them into one powerful nation. These conquests weren't annihilation, they were unification. <br /><br />The kingdom of China went on to be invaded numerous times, most notably by Mongols and Manchus. Each time, the invaders were absorbed into Chinese culture. In other words, within a few generations the invading culture no longer existed. The advanced civilization of the Chinese, with its technology, wealth, history, arts, and literature was so desirable that everyone who observed it tried to emulate it. In other examples, the Chinese empire spread simply by absorbing willing neighboring states who wanted to be part of the civilized world. <br /><br /> When Phillip's son Alexander took his greek army and conquered the Persian (Achaemenid) Empire it was like the barbarian Mongols invading China. Alexander was an outsider conquering the civilized world. Pretty soon he started dressing and acting like a Persian, and after his death the invading army was absorbed into Persian culture. These examples were conversions.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">America</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">Nowadays, America has the desirable culture and language, and most of the world is absorbing it. The soft power of Hollywood and Silicon Valley make America the most attractive place to be. But internally, the United States is a mess when it comes to dealing with race and the legacy of slavery. We just had a <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Unite_the_Right_rally">rough weekend</a> where an innocent girl was killed for peacefully protesting against open and ugly racism. <br /><br />I feel like we're sitting at a proverbial crossroads. Leading up to the 21st century the side of racial unity and equality was winning by conversion. The bulk of America's social power was directed at promoting the virtues of diversity and <a href="http://bahaicoherence.blogspot.com/2017/02/black-history-and-affirmative-action.html">affirmative action</a>. It is now socially unacceptable to hold openly racist views.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Then a series of things happened that changed the dynamic.</span><br />
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<li><span style="font-size: large;">Barack Obama was elected</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Social media became a thing</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Same-sex marriage was normalized</span></li>
<li><span style="font-size: large;">Donald Trump was elected</span></li>
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<span style="font-size: large;">These things are all related. Negative racial stereotypes actually <a href="https://www.vice.com/en_us/article/wdbnjx/how-racist-is-america">went down</a> in America from the 1960s to the 2000s. By 2010 and later, old fashioned racism saw a rise.<br /><br />Obama being elected brought race into politics in a new way. It polarized, and that's not necessarily a bad thing. It took the people who were on a continuum of racial justice and pushed most people, already converted, to the side of unity; while others were pulled to the side of division. It also for the first time since the 1960s gave people a chance to vote on race relations. Consider that Obama's predecessor was a Republican, hotly reviled on the left, who was an outspoken supporter of racial justice. There was nowhere for racist votes to go until Barack Obama came along. <br /><br />The Internet also polarized. Before the 1990s most people got their news from a few monolithic sources of popular culture. With the Internet, fringe groups could flourish and people gravitated to the news sources that fit their own biases. This was already happening to some extent, but the Internet allowed people to leave the mega-culture that was pushing for racial unity. Social media then allowed people with overtly racist attitudes to connect with each other easily. It only takes about 40 people sharing their views to give them the confidence to put on rallies and take action. Social media is what connected the disparate "patriot" groups who <a href="http://bahaicoherence.blogspot.com/2016/02/rural-america-and-federal-land.html">took over the wildlife refuge</a> in Oregon last year. Social media, with its groomed list of friends, creates an echo chamber for outrage.<br /><br />Throughout this same period, America experienced a new kind of cultural conversion. Around the time a majority of Americans became accepting of same-sex marriage, the US Supreme Court decided that it was a right nationwide. The language and tactics of the affirming side tried to mirror the civil rights movement, and indeed the issue continues to be presented by media as the next inevitable step to clear away oppression, and anyone opposing it would be treated the same as the social outcasts who clung to slavery. This added fuel to conservatives who then felt like they were fighting for their lives and decided to push hard on the rejecting side. This presentation by the media backfired, in my opinion, by causing a large number of marginal or un-opinionated Americans to feel abandoned by the megaculture and seek to undermine it, and in the process align themselves against racial unity along with the whole political agenda of the left, including healthcare and immigration. <br /><br />This mix of political, racial, and sexual issues aligned with another trend. Political power has swung back and forth between the duopoly for the last hundred years. From the time of Taft until now there were only three times that a party held the White House for more than two terms. Likewise, in the last 20 mid-term elections, the US House of Representatives lost seats to the president's party 90% of the time. So the political winds were already blowing toward the Republicans when Trump took over the nomination, and he picked up votes as a rejection of popular culture, not all of which were about race, but the racist votes that had nowhere to go previously had a direct target. The rest of America felt sick, while Trump supporters cheered his subversion of the far left. <br /><br />It is of critical importance that America address the issue of racism in America and <a href="http://bahaicoherence.blogspot.com/2017/03/the-eradication-of-racism-in-america.html">eradicate it</a>. That is why I'm writing, because the far left is screwing it up. They have given up on converting and they're now shouting, "Woe to the vanquished!" while they annihilate their political opponents. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Extremism</span></h2>
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<span style="font-size: large;">As liberal views become more extreme and militant, they become less effective at converting people to their side. Look no further than the horror story of liberalism run amok at <a href="http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/the-evergreen-state-college-implosion-are-there-lessons_us_5959507ee4b0f078efd98b0e">Evergreen State College</a> for an example, or the many cases of government-funded campuses <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/free-speech-is-flunking-out-on-college-campuses/2015/10/22/124e7cd2-78f5-11e5-b9c1-f03c48c96ac2_story.html?utm_term=.894d4d4bb5e9">defunding or banning</a> people who criticize liberal ideals. In the name of spreading tolerance, there are frequent calls to shun anyone they perceive as intolerant. While holding signs against hate, they are filled with hate for the haters. While rightfully angry at the displays of intolerance in Charlottesville, people throughout the country are now seeking out <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2017/08/18/us/monuments-memorials-vandalized-charlottesville/index.html">confederate monuments to vandalize or destroy</a>, sometimes while mocking the police officers trying to stop the mob. White nationalist marchers have <a href="http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-40922698">already been identified</a>, lost their jobs, and are getting credible death threats. The lawlessness of it does matter. <br /><br />In the days after the 2016 election, <a href="http://reason.com/blog/2016/11/09/trump-won-because-leftist-political-corr">Robby Soave</a> wrote,</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"...political correctness actually is a problem on college campuses, where the far-left has gained institutional power and used it to punish people for saying or thinking the wrong thing. And ever since Donald Trump became a serious threat to win the GOP presidential primaries... a lot of people, both on campus and off it, were furious about political-correctness-run-amok—so furious that they would give power to any man who stood in opposition to it.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">"I have watched this play out on campus after campus. I have watched dissident student groups invite Milo Yiannopoulos to speak—not because they particularly agree with his views, but because he denounces censorship and undermines political correctness. I have watched students cheer his theatrics, his insulting behavior, and his narcissism solely because the enforcers of campus goodthink are outraged by it. It's not about his ideas, or policies. It's not even about him. It's about vengeance for social oppression."</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">It reminds me of this conversation:</span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;"><b>Batman</b>: I'm going to kill you!<br /><b>Joker</b>: You idiot! You made me, remember? You dropped me into that vat of chemicals...<br /><b>Batman</b>: You killed my parents... I made you; you made me first.</span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">Not easy to untangle. The left's intolerance is increasing the intolerance on the right. "But the other side is wronger!"<br /><br />Ideas of racial superiority need to be vanquished and annihilated through just laws and conversion, not by shaming, shunning, and acting lawlessly toward those holding onto the legacy of slavery. </span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Daryl Davis</span></h2>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4v9GNlx1MjdDBrtwTsOlQwxElWfQ5FTviDM1F0cQ_n9uPokHy2zuqajERxhLn4xDUCjsN63jLhmTWZKEVTQ5dXr2rzr1TxgnKzd19mA0e558wbG4bqJ_3Ri4JYHx2wLE5i4U89-yQV24U/s1600/6a00d83451b5a969e20162fc24e073970d.jpg" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh4v9GNlx1MjdDBrtwTsOlQwxElWfQ5FTviDM1F0cQ_n9uPokHy2zuqajERxhLn4xDUCjsN63jLhmTWZKEVTQ5dXr2rzr1TxgnKzd19mA0e558wbG4bqJ_3Ri4JYHx2wLE5i4U89-yQV24U/s320/6a00d83451b5a969e20162fc24e073970d.jpg" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span style="font-size: small;">This is Daryl.<br style="text-align: start;" /><span style="text-align: start;">Daryl converts, he doesn't vanquish.</span><br style="text-align: start;" /><span style="text-align: start;">Be like Daryl.</span></span></td></tr>
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<span style="font-size: large;">A wonderful example of this is <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Daryl_Davis">Daryl Davis</a>, a black man who convinced hundreds of KKK members to disavow their beliefs. Daryl was the son of a Foreign Service Officer and went around the world attending integrated international schools. He was oblivious of the racism in his home country until he came home at the age of 10 and found it very odd that people would hate him because of the color of skin. As an adult, he made it his hobby to seek out and befriend racists. He now has a collection of KKK memorabilia that were abandoned by his friends. He says, </span><br />
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<span style="font-family: "arial" , "helvetica" , sans-serif; font-size: large;">“Give them a platform. You challenge them. But you don’t challenge them rudely or violently. You do it politely and intelligently. And when you do things that way chances are they will reciprocate and give you a platform.” </span></blockquote>
<span style="font-size: large;">When I look at how the left are responding to racists, I see them one-upping each other on how mean they can be to anyone with even unconscious prejudice. Just this week, I've heard that you should talk to your family about racism, and if they're not on board with racial justice, shun them. I've heard that white people should shut up and stop talking about racism and let black people lead. I've heard that white people should raise their voices and if you're not outraged on social media, you're passivity is criminal. I've heard that we can't talk about any other cause for social justice unless we're also talking about racial equality in the United States. I've heard that the white nationalist marchers should have been tear gassed. I've heard that society should be intolerant of intolerance, otherwise we end up with Hitler. I've heard that the pinnacle of not being racist are those counter-protesters who violently opposed the marchers. The left are trying to vanquish the opponents, not the ideas.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Remembering the past</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">There is a nuanced debate about how to handle the memory of slavery and the Civil War. That is a legitimate debate, and listening to people's complaints doesn't mean that we have to honor the defenders of slavery. <br /><br />A special committee at Princeton University <a href="http://www.cnn.com/2016/04/04/politics/princeton-university-woodrow-wilson-name-debate/index.html">investigated how to handle the legacy of Woodrow Wilson</a>, who was president of the school before becoming president of the country. Princeton has a Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs that includes some great big portraits of him and plaques describing how great he was. But he was also quite racist. He segregated the already desegregated military and mentioned how slavery wasn't so bad because blacks were treated well. Students began demanding that his picture and name be removed from the school. The committee decided to keep the name of the school and honor his contributions, but also acknowledge in plaques and memory that he was a racist shithead. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">If the left approaches the issue of legacy with a torch to anything that stinks of slavery, then the whole country will go up in flames. Statues of Thomas Jefferson have become the focal point of eradicating racism in several universities. Indeed, there is a contingent among the social justice crowd that wants to strike at the very legitimacy of America, of which George Washington is the real symbol. Washington owned over 300 slaves at Mt Vernon until the end of his life, although he freed them in his will. I'm not opposed to pressing reset on America, but I'm also not opposed to having a polite, rational debate over how to properly remember both the good and the bad. And I haven't even touched the Native American question yet.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Evangelize</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">There are a lot of good hearted people out there across America who don't consciously harbor any idea of racial superiority. However, there's an awful lot of unconscious biases that perpetuate injustice, in varying levels across pretty much every American of any color. We all need to work on becoming more enlightened to a <a href="http://bahaicoherence.blogspot.com/2017/02/black-history-and-affirmative-action.html">positive bias towards black ski</a><a href="http://bahaicoherence.blogspot.com/2017/02/black-history-and-affirmative-action.html">n</a>, but especially the mass of conservative, rural, and white folks who don't even interact with black people on a daily basis. Those who need it the most are being driven away by the antics on the far left. They are being driven away by the powerful popular culture that lumps racial equity in with a bunch of political ideologies that they don't want. Their way of life is being mocked. They don't want to be told that if they're not out there protesting, then they're part of the problem. That doesn't work. It drives them away to the other side. They are not even watching your social media tirade, if you can believe that. <br /><br />So get out there and evangelize. First listen, befriend, look for the good, and then convert through enlightened conversation. <br /><br />I'll end with one personal example. The cleaning guy at my work comes around at the end of every day and usually talks to the people still there. He is not a sympathizer of the torch-wielding racists, but he is somewhere in between them and your aunt who has little figurines of black kids selling watermelons for 5 cents ("It's okay, cause I bought them from a black man in New Orleans."). The cleaning guy is my friend and we talk about aliens and artificial intelligence. He says a lot of crazy things that I mostly let go. One day he casually mentioned that Africans are inferior, "you know, genetically." My mind made three snaps and went, 'Oh no you didn't!' I politely corrected him and by the time I was done he agreed that black people are not inferior, but have been subjected to media bias. I converted him. </span></div>
Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-47757114528098393222017-07-31T23:01:00.000-07:002019-03-22T10:27:30.539-07:00Waiting for my real life to begin.<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
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I've been told I'm not normal. I sleep too little or too much. My light is usually on when all other lights go out, and though I'm perceived as being a public personality, I'm in fact incredibly private in some ways. When people ask me what my dreams are or how I define success for myself I do not trust to hope and avoid fully answering. I think, "Who's business is that anyway?!" ~_~ I'd be lying though if I said the fever dreams of success and the fear they awaken, doesn't frequently snatch sleep from me so late, that the light creeps over the rolling hills behind my house, and I abandon my bed to watch the sun rise.<br />
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I smell the cool morning air, listen to the birds chirp and remember my younger self. She would romanticize a moment such as this. The so called struggle of the artist. For she has seen it in the books and movies she pours over. This would be the moment in which a character would usually find themselves reflecting and coming to some great epiphany about their lives. Some supporting character might be there helping them solve some problem and inevitably the solution would come like a storm in spring. They would figure everything out and the book, series, or movie would leave them at the high point of their journey and understood positive upswing. I've come to understand more and more that those single scenes in stories really represent for most, years and years of internal struggle and difficulty. But real life stories aren't fast and sexy like book and film.<br />
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Its easy to think that that is how life works when you see only fragments of people's lives. The confident and sure veneers. The ones that say, "Look at me! I'm normal and put together, well liked and generally useful to the world." It's easy to be seduced by this simple idea that life goals are meant to be easily won and that mental challenges and basic struggles with motivation, time, and skill sets are personal failings that are entirely due to you just inherently sucking where everyone else succeeds. I think that's why this idea of "Normal" is so popular and so disempowering. Its just a mirage; a hierarchy that the herd subconsciously decides upon and then agrees to based off of what appears to be lowest risk, highest reward, or at least what is predictable.<br />
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We humans love our hierarchies...<br />
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And so the meandering thoughts tantrum until listening to the birds awaken and taking in the glowing greens of the leaves kissed by new light somehow silences them all and I find a still peace.<br />
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I listen to "Waiting for my real life to begin" by Colin Hay and cry tears of relief, hearing my life in his song and for those 5 minutes and 40 seconds, feeling a little less alone in my experience of the world.<br />
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I don't wish to be stuck here. But maybe I just have to be patient and persevere. I can't help but thinking I'm at the part of the movie right before the tensions are released, I just have to keep pushing forward. and stop waiting for my "real" life to begin, like everyone else seems to be. I'm living it. And it is as unique and beautiful and as common and basic as the bird songs, the leaves, and the morning light.<br />
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<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14254703291818163875noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-21191777956162031762017-07-18T22:24:00.001-07:002020-08-23T22:26:56.428-07:00The Decline of Christianity<a href="http://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2015/05/FT_15.05.12_RLS2genReplacement_640px.png" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span style="font-size: large;"><img border="0" src="https://assets.pewresearch.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/12/2015/05/FT_15.05.12_RLS2genReplacement_640px.png" /></span></a><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">There is a clear trend in America: <b>religion is on the decline</b>. Go visit just about any church in the United States, and you'll see a lot more retired people than you do college students. This trend shows no signs of reversing. The "unaffiliated" saw a 6.7 point increase from 2007-2014. If you narrow it down to those born in the 1980s, the increase was 9 points in just 7 years. The Catholic church is <a href="https://www.ncronline.org/news/parish/situation-us-catholic-youth-actually-grim">losing about half</a> of all people who grew up in it.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">As a Baha'i, this creates an interesting dynamic. The social forces pushing down Christianity are pushing down religion as a whole, and replacing it with materialism. Baha'is are affected by the same trend, struggling to train youth against powerful social forces that pull them away from religion. So what may at first look like an opportunity to teach, is actually a sad slide into irreligion. It also calls to mind some warnings in Baha'i scripture about what will happen when the light of religion is extinguished:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"The weakening of the pillars of religion hath strengthened the hands of the ignorant and made them bold and arrogant. Verily I say, whatsoever hath lowered the lofty station of religion hath increased the waywardness of the wicked, and the result cannot be but anarchy." </span></blockquote>
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Baha'u'llah. <a href="http://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/bahaullah/tablets-bahaullah/#f=f3-175"><i>Tablets of Baha'u'llah</i></a></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">“Should the lamp of religion be obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness, of justice, of tranquillity and peace cease to shine.” </span></blockquote>
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Baha'u'llah. <a href="http://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/bahaullah/tablets-bahaullah/#f=f4-321"><i>Tablets of Baha'ullah</i></a><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"...when, as a result of human perversity, the light of religion is quenched in men’s hearts... a deplorable decline in the fortunes of humanity immediately sets in, bringing in its wake all the evils which a wayward soul is capable of revealing."</span></blockquote>
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Shoghi Effendi. <a href="http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/WOB/wob-50.html"><i>World Order of Baha'u'llah</i></a> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Future historians will analyze this decade and describe trends in the context of a long and inevitable decline in Christianity due to the backwardness of its leaders, a decline that swept away what seemed like impenetrable barriers to the promotion of the Faith of Baha'ullah. But the process will also increase the evils of society, as Baha'u'llah described, and Baha'is will spend many more years in an uphill battle to transform an increasingly barren religious landscape.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">The reasons for the decline are documented by Pew Research in a survey of <a href="http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/08/24/why-americas-nones-left-religion-behind/">why Americans left religion</a>. About half of them left because they stopped believing. They looked at the only religion they knew and decided that it is illogical, against science, and lacks evidence. Others don't like the hierarchy of organized religion, others think religion is too much like a business, and others just simply became inactive because going to church was too much work. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">American Christianity is riddled with contradictions and some nonsensical beliefs. Below are some of the strong Christian beliefs that have caused people to leave religion as a whole in America, teachings that have been discarded and resolved in Baha'i teachings.</span><br />
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Creationism </span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">The idea that Genesis is a literal account of historical events is perhaps the greatest contradiction with observable facts and reason. Issues such as evolution, billions of years history of earth, or dinosaurs can't be reconciled with the picture of a young-earth created 6,000 years ago. Young people are not getting answers about scientific issues and told to just have faith and trust in God. Sometimes they are told that the book of Genesis shouldn't be taken literally, but if we can doubt and reinterpret Genesis, what other teachings can we disregard?</span></div>
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<span style="font-size: large;">`Abdu'l-Baha says that the literal meaning of the story of Adam and Eve cannot be accepted, affirmed or imaged by an intelligent person. He goes on to describe <a href="http://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/some-answered-questions/#r=saq_en-30">what its symbols mean</a>. The story had a purpose, but it was for a particular time and suited to the capacity of people of about 4000 years ago. It is only through the idea of progressive revelation that the story of Genesis can be reconciled with science. According to Baha'u'llah, the material universe has no beginning or end in time, and humans evolved from a primitive form over millions of years.</span><br />
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Salvation</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">Another illogical supposition at the core of American Christianity is the idea that all people carry the original sin of Adam, and only faith in Jesus allows us to enter heaven when we die. This is a nice idea to hear from your pastor, but it is easily contradicted by the Gospels of Jesus. I've known many people who have left Christianity over this issue because it condemns innocent people throughout history (not to mention everyone before Jesus) to eternal torture for not really having done anything wrong. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Again, `Abdu'l-Baha says that the idea of original sin and atonement as understood by "the majority of Christians" is "irrational and clearly mistaken". He describes the real meaning behind the <a href="http://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/some-answered-questions/#r=saq_en-29">sacrifice of Jesus</a>. The outward and apparent meaning is that Jesus brought spiritual teachings that brought spiritual life to mankind. These teachings would certainly be opposed by people in power, and anyone propagating these divine teachings would be killed. Jesus taught the truth regardless of the consequences. The act of bringing teachings from God meant that he was sacrificing Himself. It is not death that brings life, the teachings bring life. The divine teachings have been renewed again, and Christians have clung to the death of Jesus, rather than the message that he brought. </span><br />
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Miracles</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">“I’m a scientist now, and I don’t believe in miracles” says one Pew Research response to why they left Christianity. I've personally heard Christians say that the miracles of Jesus are the reason why they believe. There are many problems with this view. Nobody can verify that the miracles happened. Even if they did happen, they don't represent proof to someone who didn't witness them. But most of all, miracles are attributed to all kinds of people throughout history. Roman emperors around the time of Jesus were claiming themselves to be sons of gods and capable of miracles. Brahmans from India have claimed supernatural powers throughout their history. So what makes Jesus special? The modern rational world has debunked any and all claims of supernatural powers. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;"><a href="http://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/abdul-baha/some-answered-questions/#r=saq_en-22">`Abdu'l-Baha says</a> that the Manifestations of God are uniquely capable of "extraordinary feats" and can "influence the world of nature through a power that transcends nature". However, he also says that miracles are of "no importance" and only matter to those present at the time, "not for those who were absent." He says scriptures use a "special terminology". For example Jesus said, "let the dead bury their dead", mixing the terminology of material death and spiritual death. What is the importance of raising a body from the dead unless the person was spiritually dead and given everlasting life? This is the true meaning of the miracles of Jesus. His teachings brought insight to those blind to the spirit. He gave people hearing who had closed their ears to the divine teachings. He brought knowledge to the ignorant. </span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">So why were the gospels written in this coded language? Check out my older post <a href="http://bahaicoherence.blogspot.com/2009/02/bible-code.html">Bible Code</a> for more details. </span><br />
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Lack of Scriptural Authority</span></h2>
<span style="font-size: large;">Other common complaints relate to the hierarchy of organized religion, the multiplicity of churches and doctrines, and the occasional evangelist who amasses a fortune. Organized religion, some may argue, will inevitably dissolve into contending factions fighting over resources and practices, following pursuits that have deviated from the founder's intent. So why replace Christianity's crumbling institutions with those of the Baha'i Faith? How do they differ from the Papacy and its ecclesiastical orders? How will they avoid the deterioration in character, the breaches of unity, and the loss of influence that have befallen all organized religious hierarchies?</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">There are two ways to answer. First, every religion has its golden age, where its teachings thoroughly permeate a whole society and produce a great advance in civilization. After the golden age, the religion deteriorates into superstitions and traditions, somewhat void of its original intent and purpose, while the context of its holy book begins to be lost to history. Christianity is a religion past its shelf life, it is a robe that got worn out and was renewed 150 years ago. Spiritual teachings can never exert meaningful influence over time unless they are organized into a structure to resolve disputes, manage resources, and provide guidance. So the renewal of religion brings institutions with it, which will provide the structure needed for the next golden age, which will far surpass the previous.</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">Second, Jesus did not leave instructions on how to organize the church, so there is no scriptural authority to any organized Christian institution. This is a long quote, but well worth it to make the point:</span><br />
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<span style="font-size: large;">"...the fundamental reason why the unity of the Church of Christ was irretrievably shattered, and its influence was in the course of time undermined, was that the Edifice which the Fathers of the Church reared after the passing of His First Apostle was an Edifice that rested in nowise upon the explicit directions of Christ Himself. The authority and features of their administration were wholly inferred, and indirectly derived, with more or less justification, from certain vague and fragmentary references which they found scattered amongst His utterances as recorded in the Gospel. Not one of the sacraments of the Church; not one of the rites and ceremonies which the Christian Fathers have elaborately devised and ostentatiously observed; not one of the elements of the severe discipline they rigorously imposed upon the primitive Christians; none of these reposed on the direct authority of Christ, or emanated from His specific utterances. Not one of these did Christ conceive, none did He specifically invest with sufficient authority to either interpret His Word, or to add to what He had not specifically enjoined. </span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"For this reason, in later generations, voices were raised in protest against the self-appointed Authority which arrogated to itself privileges and powers which did not emanate from the clear text of the Gospel of Jesus Christ, and which constituted a grave departure from the spirit which that Gospel did inculcate... Had it been possible for the Church Fathers, whose unwarranted authority was thus fiercely assailed from every side, to refute the denunciations heaped upon them by quoting specific utterances of Christ regarding the future administration of His Church, or the nature of the authority of His Successors, they would surely have been capable of quenching the flame of controversy, and preserving the unity of Christendom. The Gospel, however, the only repository of the utterances of Christ, afforded no such shelter to these harassed leaders of the Church, who found themselves helpless in the face of the pitiless onslaught of their enemy, and who eventually had to submit to the forces of schism which invaded their ranks."</span></blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">"Not so with the Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh. Unlike the Dispensation of Christ... the apostles of Bahá’u’lláh in every land, wherever they labor and toil, have before them in clear, in unequivocal and emphatic language, all the laws, the regulations, the principles, the institutions, the guidance, they require for the prosecution and consummation of their task. Both in the administrative provisions of the Bahá’í Dispensation, and in the matter of succession, as embodied in the twin institutions of the House of Justice and of the Guardianship, the followers of Bahá’u’lláh can summon to their aid such irrefutable evidences of Divine Guidance that none can resist, that none can belittle or ignore. Therein lies the distinguishing feature of the Bahá’í Revelation. Therein lies the strength of the unity of the Faith, of the validity of a Revelation that claims not to destroy or belittle previous Revelations, but to connect, unify, and fulfill them..."</span></blockquote>
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Shoghi Effendi. <a href="http://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/shoghi-effendi/world-order-bahaullah/#r=wob_en-2"><i>World Order of Baha'u'llah</i></a> </blockquote>
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<span style="font-size: large;">Unique among the religions of the world, the Baha'i Faith has scriptural authority for its institutions, whose unity will not be broken, and whose leadership will not dissolve into business-like competing factions. </span></div>
Bryanhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/06536028746119658713noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-62946777419374808952017-07-13T00:52:00.001-07:002017-07-13T09:26:34.869-07:00Churches and Chicken<div style="-webkit-text-stroke-width: 0px; color: black; font-family: "Times New Roman"; font-size: medium; font-style: normal; font-variant-caps: normal; font-variant-ligatures: normal; font-weight: normal; letter-spacing: normal; margin: 0px; orphans: 2; text-align: start; text-decoration-color: initial; text-decoration-style: initial; text-indent: 0px; text-transform: none; white-space: normal; widows: 2; word-spacing: 0px;">
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My city is segregated by affluence and poverty. </div>
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Drive west in Nashville and you'll find old money, the bourgeoisie, and white coeds sipping $5 tea. Drive north and you'll find Fisk University, mostly poor black and some white people, and the roads always need repair. Drive east and you'll find where black people used to live, but now it's full of white hipsters who like the area for its "history" (it feels like Portland, OR). </div>
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And then there's the southern part of town, my part of town. Full of hookah bars, taco shops, and people of color from all around the world trying to make a living in a place where upward mobility for most is a pipe dream. You can have your car worked on by Essy, the most universally trusted local mechanic. Walk down the street and get baklava or a pupusa while you wait. </div>
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South is where poor people and students congregate and has a reputation for being a dangerous petty-crime-infested part of the city. As Nashville attracts people with fatter pockets it is quickly pushing poor people further out of it and making rental costs too high for most to afford. South has become more sought after by folks who can't afford the East side anymore and don't want to move to North. There are Churches everywhere and houses where poor white people live among Kurdish, Hispanic, African, and Black Families.</div>
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Where poor people live is where the majority of fast food Chains end up setting up shop. In my neighborhood there are Waffle Houses, Hardees, and a plethora of fried chicken chains like Bojangles. When you are poor and work labor intensive jobs for low pay, cheap high calorie foods become a survival essential and then a way of life. The chains know this. they don't work to make their spots sleek or even clean and appealing because they will attract their clientele out of necessity and then out of addiction rather than having to coax and nurture them.</div>
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The Churches are interesting here too. in the south you can see looming billboards in Arabic and Persian put up by churches to try to entice the large Kurdish population to find Jesus. it is said that Sunday is the most segregated day of the week in the nation. that statement definitely finds expression in the places people worship here. The question, "Where do you worship?" to many folks determines how you vote, what your economic status is, who your friends are, where you probably live, and what you are probably like.</div>
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Spammers and advertisers target my zip code and send me credit card offers with black faces on them. They target black people and encourage them to open really crappy lines of credit or attempt to get them in some fast money or pyramid schemes. </div>
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My part of town also has a legacy. Back in the day when Nashville was still a small town it was very segregated. South Nashville and specifically Antioch was where the white folks lived. Black people just didn't go there and you'd be liable to be attacked and run out of the area if you were black and wandered in. A group of black and white business men and women together decided they wanted to change that, so the black families purposefully moved into Antioch somewhat protected by their white counterparts and allies and together helped incentivize other black families to buy in the area as well. Now Antioch is the most ethnically diverse part of Nashville. There is a revolutionary spirit there that makes me proud to call it home!</div>
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Perhaps it seems strange that I forged a home here in this part of town. I'll tell you why. I find this part of town honest. It knows how it's been treated, what people think of it, and what it is. It is a diverse and enriching place to live. People are generally polite to one another. There is fear and mistrust but there is also a sense of common struggle. You will see Arabs, Mexicans, Persians and Puerto Ricans working together as car mechanics. You will see Black people and Asians visiting and befriending each other over food. It's very neat.</div>
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Antioch and south Nashville will perhaps never be considered an aesthetic gem, but for its ethnic diversity and its history it really is what makes Nashville special to me.</div>
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<b></b><i></i><u></u><sub></sub><sup></sup><strike></strike>Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14254703291818163875noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1009010011589823837.post-23145904112776874392017-07-07T23:45:00.000-07:002019-03-22T10:29:02.632-07:00Framily<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTmSWCfGyggTU4rSDw1eQbo2jlO-rjFvhvHvfqedDK3OY7qjlcBY5PxKyIORpdAGjhegvmA9KQ33eGFwjQMxuCuWUej8d8QRF-Gb8cLJnhkkk4EybPtd6DNtvRfGTWpMozY83FrecsSNA/s1600/friends.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1067" data-original-width="1600" height="212" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhTmSWCfGyggTU4rSDw1eQbo2jlO-rjFvhvHvfqedDK3OY7qjlcBY5PxKyIORpdAGjhegvmA9KQ33eGFwjQMxuCuWUej8d8QRF-Gb8cLJnhkkk4EybPtd6DNtvRfGTWpMozY83FrecsSNA/s320/friends.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Friends do things together</td></tr>
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In 2012 I left Oregon, where I went through middle school and high school, and I moved to Nashville, Tennessee. I moved to serve the Baha'i Faith in a metro area where the junior youth program was just beginning. I found a place in Nashville through a Baha'i friend who was already there, and since I'm a musician it kind of made sense.<br />
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I knew that moving to Nashville would be difficult because the cultures are so drastically different between the west coast and the southeast. But I had no idea what kind of culture shock I would experience. The two friends I already knew when I walked into town, I never ended up seeing more than twice a year in my five year stint living there. My closest family member was an 8 hour drive away. The Baha'i community felt foreign to me. They were so excited to have a youth (I was 18) with experience in the junior youth spiritual empowerment program, a relatively new Baha'i core activity. I was immediately thrust with no cultural context or real friendships into leadership rolls. As I got to know more and more people I realized that the isolation and difficulty making friends was not unique to myself. There were people in the general population who grew up together or lived together and didn't know basic facts about each others' lives, such as the existence of siblings, a death in the family, what people did for work, or basic likes. The first question asked by anyone, anywhere, was, "Where do you worship? Where do you go to church?"<br />
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Most Baha'is my age didn't want much to do with me, and so I was there for almost two years with little to no meaningful connections. Until, a Baha'i lady was moved by my singing voice and came up to me after a devotional gathering and said, "You need to come to my house!" in a soulful plea. So I did. We hung out, and she became my first real connection and lasting bond in the Baha'i community. She's a mother of two sons, she's a black woman in an interracial relationship, and she's a writer, a thinker, and a rebel. Her best friend is a flaming red haired MENSA member Italian Jewish Baha'i. These two became my best friends for the last four years.<br />
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We liked to go out and "mess" with people who didn't understand why we would be friends. It's not common in most parts of the country to see strong multi-generational, multi-cultural, and multi-ethnic relationships, let alone to see three people outwardly so different laughing to the brink of peeing themselves in an Applebee's restaurant on a late Friday night, because that's the only place open and Mama be hungry.<br />
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We talked about knowing Who you answer to. Not putting other people or things in the God seat, if you will. I spent many a night those first few years on their couches processing through the latest struggle or disappointment in my ongoing attempts to make friends. We've decided that the most important family you have is family you choose, and we are that for each other. We bonded over BTS (Korean Pop). We talked about sex. I don't know many women in their fifties cool with talking about sex and marriage. They say that after a certain point they found the confidence and self-worth to keep their relationship with God clear and not give a damn about the opinions or idle chatter of others. We all need strong women, intelligent, powerful women in our lives. They are teaching me how to be one. <b></b><br />
<br />Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/14254703291818163875noreply@blogger.com0