Baha'i Coherence

Individualism, Ego, and Breaking the Ice

2012-01-16T15:12:00.000-08:00

I'm currently training two groups of animators in my cluster. It's an inspiring process, as always. Ruhi Book 5 continually encourages me to look at my surroundings with greater wisdom, compassion, and discernment. Recently I have been reflecting a great deal on society's emphasis on self-esteem, and how it affects me as an animator, teacher, and tutor.

The influence begins on the first day: "Go around the circle and say your name, your age, and your ... favorite vegetable."

This is an icebreaker. It's supposed to help us get to know one another. But is this really a message worth sending? "I want to know about your personality, your individuality, your uniqueness. I want everyone here to know how special you are, and see where they stand in relation to you."

How much can we learn about a creation of God from its career ambitions or favorite school subject? How does this knowledge help the group to serve?

"Today the confirmations of the Kingdom of Abha are with those who renounce themselves, forget their own opinions, cast aside personalities and are thinking of the welfare of others.... Whosoever is occupied with himself is wandering in the desert of heedlessness and regret. The 'Master Key' to self-mastery is self- forgetting. The road to the palace of life is through the path of renunciation."

('Abdu'l-Bahá: star of the West, Vol. XVII, p. 348)

Why not lay this habitual focus on the self aside? Why not:

What motivates you to walk this path of service?
What does it mean to be noble in the world today?
Who is a hero of yours? What are three qualities in this person that you most admire? How can these qualities be used in your path of service?
If you could transform this into a perfect neighborhood, what would it be like?

I've used these with high school students who are training to be animators. They were difficult questions, even for me. But they provided an atmosphere of spiritual connection, of mutual respect, and critical thought. They gave us insight into one another's values, communication styles, and life experiences, without emphasizing the self. They also alluded to the habit of reflection that must become a regular habit of any path of service.

For children:

What is something kind you've seen someone else do this week?
What does it feel like when you pray?
What is one way the world would be different if everyone were loving?

It takes more time to talk like this. More time to plan, more time to reflect silently, more time to speak, and more time to respond. But like many spiritual processes, it's an investment that could certainly bear fruit.

Thoughts?

Baha'i Writings on Language

2011-12-29T19:19:00.000-08:00

Philosophers and lovers of wisdom alike have long reflected on the nature of language. This question is not just pointless intellectualizing but is fundamental to our very attitude to life and 'reality.' Is language just a 'will to power'? Does it have any coherence or is it just to be deconstructed as irrational? Can we communicate as much in silence as in sounds? Here's my own understanding and organization of some salient themes on language in the writings of Baha'u'llah:

The Baha'i Writings do not seem to take a direct stand on the correspondence/representation debates about language. (This is probably because such debates were not in the forefront of philosophical debate in the middle of the 19th century and certainly not in Islamic philosophical debates.) Rather, the Baha'i writings' concern with language centers on its on the nature of the 'Word of God,' which Baha'is' own speech is enjoined to reflect. Words are considered to be able to be the manifestation, emanation, and the power and meaning conveyance of the one who utters them. They manifest a person's feeling and ideas, yet also have the power to emanate those feelings and ideas to others. Baha'u'llah says, "Every word is endowed with a spirit, therefore the speaker or expounder should carefully deliver his words at the appropriate time and place, for the impression which each word maketh is clearly evident and perceptible." Words do not simply represent that which they signify but can convey unseen spiritual forces as well. Baha'i writings express these spiritual forces in terms analogous to energy waves - streams, waves, billows, shining lights, effulgences, and animating forces. The words of God are represented as ontologically superior as well as cosmologically a priori to our everyday world and universe. One Word created the entirety of the universe, a Word which is "an ocean inexhaustible in riches, comprehending all things. Every thing which can be perceived is but an emanation therefrom." These writings affirm and elaborate upon the Qur'an's expression that all things were made by the command uttered by God "Be!" This word is formed by joining together the two letters kaf and nun into the imperative 'be!' - kun.

While that one word created 'all things' (kul al-shay), it is the utterances revealed through God's messengers and prophets that is the chief creative agent of human being's spiritual life, or the quickening of the soul. These prophets and messengers are called Manifestations in the Baha'i writings, examples of whom Baha'is cite such figures as Abraham, Moses, Zoroastor, the Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad, and of the Baha'i dispension - the Báb and Baha'u'llah. These words revealed by the Manifestations convey spiritual forces as well as reveal the meaning and insights of the Word itself. However, the things of this world/universe itself are also considered an 'outspreading scroll' or emanations that manifest the wisdoms, insights, and attributes of its source. The things and processes of the world are 'letters' of the words of God, together creating words that convey meaning, yet each letter may also be a morpheme, not just a phoneme, representing a complete idea and spiritual reality in itself.

God's revealed utterances makes use of human language to meanings in terms we can understand: "The word which the one true God uttereth in this day, though that word be the most familiar and commonplace of terms, is invested with supreme, with unique distinction." (Baha'u'llah in Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 103) These divine revealed utterances through the mouthpieces of the Manifestations of God have great impact upon this world, universe, individuals, and society:

"The Word of God is the king of words and its pervasive influence is incalculable. It hath ever dominated and will continue to dominate the realm of being. The Great Being saith: The Word is the master key for the whole world, inasmuch as through its potency the doors of the hearts of men, which in reality are the doors of heaven, are unlocked." (Tablets, p. 172)

This Word of God then has the creative power to bring in new physical creations and renew the old, transform human character, and even initiate new social institutions. It embodies divine virutes and perfections, such as "knowledge and power, sovereignty and dominion, mercy and wisdom, glory, bounty and grace, are made manifest." (Baha'u'llah, The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 103)

Human utterance has many potentialities, including having harmful, idle, or beneficial affects depending on how close it stands to the divine ideals and perfections. At its highest, our human utterance can only be a shadow of divine discourse. The perfections which human utterance should embody and convey are communicated in many prescriptions in Baha'i scripture:

"A kindly tongue is the lodestone of the hearts of men. It is the bread of the spirit, it clotheth the words with meaning, it is the fountain of the light of wisdom and understanding...." (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 289)

"The Great Being saith: Human utterance is an essence which aspireth to exert its influence and needeth moderation. As to its influence, this is conditional upon refinement which in turn is dependent upon hearts which are detached and pure. As to its moderation, this hath to be combined with tact and wisdom as prescribed in the Holy Scriptures and Tablets." (Tablets, p. 171)

Among the possible effects of words that express and convey such virtues are:

"This servant appealeth to every diligent and enterprising soul to exert his utmost endeavour and arise to rehabilitate the conditions in all regions and to quicken the dead with the living waters of wisdom and utterance, by virtue of the love he cherisheth for God, the One, the Peerless, the Almighty, the Beneficent."

"an enlightened man of wisdom should primarily speak with words as mild as milk, that the children of men may be nurtured and edified thereby and may attain the ultimate goal of human existence which is the station of true understanding and nobility. And likewise He saith: One word is like unto springtime causing the tender saplings of the rose-garden of knowledge to become verdant and flourishing, while another word is even as a deadly poison. It behoveth a prudent man of wisdom to speak with utmost leniency and forbearance so that the sweetness of his words may induce everyone to attain that which befitteth man's station." (Tablets, p. 171-2)

Human utterance then does not just have a casual, arbitrary, or socially constructed connections with the world. Rather it helps make it, is derived from it, changes and mitigates it, and can transform both individuals and social institutions. Additionally, it is a tool for building consensus as to ideals, plans, and projects to take place:

"Decision-making in Bahá'í communities throughout the world consists of a collective consultative process. Because it is based on universal spiritual principles, it is adaptable to any culture. The aim of this consultation is to discover, through a spiritual process, the optimum decision for the community. It is founded on a respect for the creative power of diversity and a shared desire for unity. In other words, "in the clash of differing opinions the spark of truth is ignited." Therefore, a diverse group, drawing on the wisdom, knowledge, and experience of each person, can produce more comprehensive, far-reaching and effective solutions to problems. Because it requires of participants both frankness and compassion, the consultative process itself engenders trust, breaks down traditional misconceptions about minority groups, and creates a dynamic unity."

(Baha'i International Community, 1990 Jul 15, Protection of Minorities)

The ways we name ourselves and others and the world we live in has powerful influence in how we think, feel, act, interact, and approach our lives. The Baha'i teachings aim to give human beings a new vision and language to constitute our lives that is conducive to collective spiritual advancement and building of relationships of dignity, freedom, solidarity, and unity.

This short essay of mine is my own organization and reflection of some salient themes I have found of Bahá'u'lláh’s writings that are translated to English. For analyses of the philosophy of language in the writings of Ali Muhammad Al-Shirazi the Bab, see: Nader Saiedi, Gate of the Heart: Understanding the Writings of the Báb (Canada: Wilfrid Laurier University Press, 2008).

We Are the 1%!

2011-11-29T00:59:00.000-08:00

The attention of the United States has gone from Tea Partiers to Occupiers. The angst of an increasingly impoverished lower class has been directed into protests nationwide, but they will ultimately never resolve the ills that are eating away at American society.

While the Tea Party movement is laden with nationalism, the Occupy movement has a more subtle introversion. Who are the 1%? You are! Well, if you're the average American then you are. Median household income in the United States is roughly $48,000/year, which happens to be the exact mark that divides the top 1% from the bottom 99% of world incomes. In other words, half of Americans are in the top 1%. See this calculator.

But those protesters aren't making median income. Let's say they're making minimum wage. In my state that would still leave them in the top 12% of worldwide income earners. It should be Vietnamese factory workers holding protests against the concentration of wealth.

The fight between labour and capital seems to be eternal, but Baha'is need not just sit around complaining about how ineffective protests are (see above for example). `Abdu'l-Baha traveled to Europe and America during the rise of communism. His talks offer extensive guidance on the issues of labour, and the current protests present a great opportunity to share the Baha'i teachings on extremes of wealth and poverty and the relationship between labour and capital.

On several occasions, in response to discussing the protests, I have been able to mention the practice of Huququ'llah. Put simply, Baha'is who have wealth are obliged to calculate privately what their basic needs are, and pay a 19% tax on the excess. In the future, when Baha'i funds are well established, they will have two broad categories: one for administration, and another for philanthropic purposes. Therefore, the law of Huququ'llah is a progressive tax that takes from the rich and gives to the poor.

The other Baha'i teaching that is perhaps most relevant to the current protest is chapter 78 from Some Answered Questions, regarding labour strikes. Here `Abdu'l-Baha mentions that while excessive private fortunes are undesirable, "absolute equality is just as impossible," and would "end in disorderliness, in chaos". He says that "difficulties will arise when unjustified equality is imposed." While appealing to the idea of reducing extremes, there is no support for absolute equality. There will always be differences of income, and there is a role to play for capital investors; only that "laws and regulations" should be established to prevent massive accumulation of wealth at the expense of the masses.

What kinds of laws and regulations? `Abdu'l-Baha mentions a few practical steps. First, 20-25% of the profits of a company should be returned to the workers, in addition to their wages (or "in some other way" they should share advantages). Second, each worker should be guaranteed support when they become "feeble and cease working, get old and helpless, or leave behind children under age", either by paying them sufficient wages, or by guaranteeing some form of social security.

But there are two sides of this coin. `Abdu'l-Baha also insists that once fair labour laws and regulations are in place, workers should not "make excessive claims and revolt, nor demand beyond their rights; they should no longer go out on strike; they should be obedient and submissive and not ask for exorbitant wages." In the case that either the workers or the management transgress, the government should step in and enforce the established laws and regulations. This interference, according to `Abdu'l-Baha, is "legal" because the relationship between labour and capital is not like "ordinary affairs between private persons, which do not concern the public, and with which the government should not occupy itself."

In `Abdu'l-Baha's response to labour disputes, one can see the answers to a number of current issues that are vexing the United States. As a result of government policies, the rich are getting richer, and the poor are getting poorer. The Occupiers are expressing anger at a legitimate problem, but they can hardly assess the ailment, let alone prescribe a remedy. Their claim of injustice is narrowly focused on the United States, and ignores the poor masses of the world's population. Within several protests (e.g. Portland) their ideals of redistribution of wealth brought chaos to the movement itself, as the "poorer" protesters demanded handouts from the better off in their ranks.

The energy of the current protests will surely be dissipated. As a Baha'i, I believe the attention provides yet another opportunity to share God's current message to a population yearning for spirituality and just institutions.

Pilgrim's Notes, Mr. Furutan, 26 Feb 2001

2011-11-21T16:59:00.000-08:00

I went on pilgrimage in February 2001. Below are the notes from the final night with Mr. Furutan. The notes are slightly modified from the original shorthand.

Monday, 26 FEB 2001
Mr. Furutan's Talk
Someone once asked `Abdu'l-Baha, "People come from pilgrimage saying 'He said this, He said that.' How should we regard these sayings?" `Abdu'l-Baha responded, "Thou hast written concerning the pilgrims and pilgrims' notes. Any text that is not authenticated should not be trusted."

Shoghi Effendi also mentioned that pilgrims notes are for personal use.

Mr. Furutan said that if you need to know something, it would be in the text. Hadiths ruined the very base of Islam.

George Townsend, Hand of the Cause, was at a conference in Stockholm in 1951. A boy asked his opinion on a matter. He asked the boy why he was asking the question, and the boy said, "You know more than me." He responded, "Of course I know more than you, everyone knows that I know more than you, because I've read the writings. Go read Some Answered Questions on such-and-such page and you will find the answer."

Pilgrim's Notes, Mr. Furutan, 25 Feb 2001

2011-11-08T15:29:00.000-08:00

I went on pilgrimage in February 2001. The notes for this day were brief, but worth posting. They are slightly modified from the original shorthand.

Saturday, 25 FEB 2001
Mr. Furutan's Talk

When Mr. Furutan finally returned to Moscow in 1990, he was attending a conference. He spoke on the Baha'i Faith. Afterwards, members of the audience said, "We have had two impossible ideologies, platonism, and utopianism. Now thirdly, we have Baha'ism."

The reference to Platonism is from Plato the philosopher, and his work "The Republic".

Utopianism is a reference to the work of Sir Thomas Moore (killed by Henry VIII).

Pilgrim's Notes, Mr. Furutan, 24 Feb 2001

2011-11-05T10:25:00.000-07:00

I went on pilgrimage in February 2001. I took notes while I was there. Later when I saw my chinchilla chewing on the paper, I took it as a sign that I needed to type up the notes. These are typed exactly as I wrote them.

Saturday, 24 FEB 2001
Mr. Furutan's Talk

Packing going to Moscow, Mr. Futuran packed in the middle of his books because it didn't sound religious. It was his only book for 5 years and he read it morning and night over and over. One day his friend Nicolae asked him about the book he read so much. He told him a little about it. He asked him "Do you believe in God?" If he said yes he would be in trouble. If he said no he would be lying. So he said "Nicolae, I don't believe in the God you don't believe in." Which is the God that is painted on the walls of churches or has a big white beard.

He told us a quote from the Aqdas (pg 19), summed up it said "The first duty of everyone is to recognize the Divine Manifestation, second, follow His laws." Then he told us some laws. About backbiting, about reading writings morning and evening, about obligatory prayer. "Who else but yourselves is to be blamed, if ye remain unendowed with so great an out pouring of God's transcendent and all encompassing grace," (Gleaning, pg 238)

Mr. Furutan got a letter while living in the Holy Land that said, "you are invited to this National Youth Conference featuring Hand of the Cause, Mr. Furutan." (he wasn't informed ahead of time) He talked to his wife and she convinced him to go. So he told the youth he was going. He arrived in town with his wife and on arriving was pulled aside by an officer. The man was a coroner. He asked him his name and then told him they would have to go downtown for questioning. It turns out the youth putting on the conference didn't get any kind of clearance by the police to gather Baha'is from all over and have a big meeting. He thought this was horrible, not only for himself, but the conference would be cancelled and the publicity would look really bad for the Faith. So there he prayed to Baha'u'llah and decided that he should try not to go downtown and he would stall as long as possible. So he said, "please question me here, there is no need to go downtown." So the coroner did. So they sat down and he said, "name" and he answered, "Ali Akbar Furutan" He said, "don't you want to know why my name is Ali Akbar?" The coroner said he didn't care. Then he said "it's important, you should know about my name. The Prophet Muhammad had a son in law named Ali, who had 3 sons named Ali, after himself. When he called them they all at once turned. So he named them 'Big Ali', 'Medium Ali', and 'Small Ali'. So my name is Big Ali, Ali Akbar." Coroner said, "father's name." He said, "you don't want to know my father's name." Coroner said strictly, "father's name now!" He said, "Karbilai Muhammad Ali Isfahani Furutan." It was an hour later before the name was spelled and explained correctly. "Mother's name" he said, "Soqrat." "Socrat?", "no, Soqrat." "Age", "I will not tell you my age. My wife is here and I have never told her my age. Instead I'll guess your age. 52." The coroner said, "today is my 52nd birthday." He let him go on to his conference.

Pilgrim's Notes, Mr. Furutan, 23 Feb 2001

2011-10-21T22:28:00.000-07:00

I went on pilgrimage in February 2001. I took notes while I was there. Later when I saw my chinchilla chewing on the paper, I took it as a sign that I needed to type up the notes. These are typed exactly as I wrote them.

Friday night, 23 FEB 2001
Mr. Furutan's talk

He told stories of Shoghi Effendi. My favorite was of him just describing the "Beloved Guardian", his manner, how he was. He said EVERYTHING about Shoghi Effendi was different, it was distinct. He repeated that a lot, "different". He said everything down to the way he moved his hand, he was distinguished, and humble.

Another story was about himself. Mr. Furutan grew up in Tehran. At an early age his family moved to Moscow. He finished college there and while applying for a job he was asked "what is your ideology?" He said the Guardian has said if asked of your beliefs you should say "I am a Baha'i." So he said "I am a Baha'i" So he was then exiled to Iran. They gave him a choice to go to Siberia or Iran so he said Iran. He said later he wished he'd have chosen Siberia. In Iran he wrote a letter to Shoghi Effendi and told him he was exiled to Iran and wanted to go back to Moscow. The Guardian wrote back, this was 1930, Communism was growing to its heighth, he said, "Be patient, in time this problem in Russia will subside and you will return to Moscow." With this he was very pleased and he would be patient and confident that some day he would return to Russia. So in the meantime years went by, he became the secretary of the National Assembly of Iran, he became a Hand of the Cause, he lived in Haifa after the passing of the Guardian, and he saw the forming of the Universal House of Justice. In 1990 he was asked by the Universal House of Justice to represent the Baha'is in a conference in Moscow. 60 years after the Guardian wrote his letter Mr. Furutan returned to Moscow, he was patient. In Tehran when he was younger he had typhoid fever, back then the medical field wasn't so advanced and he was in the hospital for 50 days. In the hospital the doctors told his mother he had no hope and she should start preparing a funeral for him. Upon hearing this he reminded his mother of Shoghi Effendi's letter, saying that he would return to Moscow. His mother was happy with this. He had a dream in which Shoghi Effendi visited him. He brought him a flower with 3 pedals, he said "I've come to visit you and wish you well." He turned to put the flower in a vase with water and when he turned back Shoghi Effendi was gone. He knew that the 3 pedals on the flower meant he would be better in 3 days. After 3 days the nurse examined him and declared he was fit to leave the hospital.

He told another story of when he went on pilgrimage. He had heard stories and seen pictures of the Guardian. When he first saw him his first instinct was to prostrate and bow. Shoghi Effendi pulled him up and said, "Don't you know that is forbidden by Baha'u'llah?" "To any living person you should not prostrate, even to the prophet. This is how you should greet me," and he embraced him in a big hug. "Like this, like brothers."

Shoghi Effendi was the one who led them to the Shrine of the Bab upon entering. He prostrated at the front of the room, on the threshold, and chanted for all the pilgrims the prayer of visitation. He then prostrated again, and then walked out, backwards, always facing the shrine. Later Shoghi said in front of all the pilgrims very sternly, "Don't think, that I do this at the Shrine to show you what to do, because I am the Guardian. Don't think that I am trying to show you what to do. You do whatever you feel. There is no tradition in the Baha'i Faith, there are no rituals. There is no tradition on what to do in holy shrines. For me, I do this because I saw Abdu'l Baha do this, why did Abdu'l Baha do this? I don't know why, but I saw him, so I do it this way."

Mr. Furutan also said that Shoghi Effendi got about 4 or 5 hours of sleep a night. He said he had so much to do that had to be done, he just had to, so he didn't sleep. He also mentioned that he was a very attractive man.

New Book

2011-09-23T23:13:00.000-07:00

About one year ago I started writing a post for this blog about evolution. I had just finished reading Keven Brown's Evolution and Baha'i Belief, and I had some thoughts in response.

It was to go something like this. `Abdu'l-Baha talked quite a bit about human origin, and in a way that seems contrary to the consensus of modern science, because he described humans as having evolved over many millions of years from a primitive form, but humans were not derived from animals. This is a serious subject, and one of those controversial topics that polemics like to discuss. Brown's is the only full length book on the subject, but there are tons of shorter articles floating around in various journals and online media. Basically all of them take the same view. They take the scientific consensus as fact, then they try reconcile the issue somehow.

Most of these take the same approaches. Either they redefine the term "human" to be something that shows human traits (i.e. the human line about 200k years ago), or they take `Abdu'l-Baha's statements as a whole as a refutation of the godless direction of society at the time, and then downplay the details. There are also attempts to retranslate the original texts to something that is more in line with science, and yet another approach was to simply say that `Abdu'l-Baha made errors and was not infallible in scientific matters.

After reading all these I became a little frustrated that nobody gave much thought to the possibility of a change in science over time. I think there is a fear of Baha'is being associated with creationists, but there is a huge difference between saying that the earth was created by a supernatural event six thousand years ago and saying that the branching pattern on the tree of life is a little different than first imagined.

I began to write out several things that would be discovered if the apparent meaning of `Abdu'l-Baha's statements was to be vindicated by changes in science. As I began to write, I realized that there was much more to write about then I first imagined. Pretty soon my "blog post" became ten, then twenty pages. I also began doing research, and several of the vindicating discoveries had already been discovered. Actually, in the last decade, and mostly in the last few years, there have been fundamental and significant shifts in the world of evolution and genetics. These have increasingly moved toward an agreement with what `Abdu'l-Baha stated 100 years ago. My post turned into a long paper outlining what has already been discovered, and the list of future discoveries kept shrinking as I kept doing more research.

I was also lucky enough to have Keven Brown review my work. He mentioned that the article is "an excellent, carefully researched, and ground-breaking work, unique for attempting to provide a scientific basis for 'Abdu'l-Baha's statements on human origin."

My attempts to get it reviewed by an evolutionary biologist have been unsuccessful, so if anybody has a lead for someone to provide review, I would appreciate the contact.

Now I have 93 pages (letter size) and I'll be sending it to the NSA's review office soon. After that I'm not sure what to do. I could send it off to the three Baha'i publishers and see if any of them will take it, but as everyone knows, print publishing is going out of style fast. I could try to self-publish and load it in the various e-book stores. I could build a website with advertising and make it available for free. I obviously didn't write it for money, but if I could get a few cents per hour that I put into it, that would be nice.

Any feedback on the subject or on the publishing process would be most welcome!

The Problem of Incumbency

2011-09-18T13:32:00.000-07:00

With six months left until Ridvan, it’s time to start thinking about the election of the Local Spiritual Assembly!

I’ve been thinking a lot about an issue with Baha’i elections. What is the role of incumbency? Generally speaking, Assemblies don't have natural turnover. Once someone is elected, it is extremely rare that they are removed in the normal voting process, instead they leave due to personal reasons, retirement, or moving to another community. If this is a problem, it should be given serious thought by Baha'is.

I feel the Writings are clear that it is a problem. It can cause stagnation. Shoghi Effendi quite explicitly says that having new members elected "would be nice" and provides "new blood" that "always adds to the energy of the group." In another place he says that he was “happy to see changes” in membership of an NSA, because, "change itself is good and brings a fresh outlook into the discussions of any assembly." Shoghi Effendi was “pleased to see that these changes involved more younger people being on the N.S.A.” Having the election annually, he says, allows "the quality of membership in Baha'i assemblies" to be "continually raised and improved."

Part of the problem of stagnation is simple: most Baha'i communities are very small. Shoghi Effendi also says that the desire for turnover should be subordinate to the more important principle that, "the members are considered to be well qualified for that post." So if there were only 15 active members, it would not always be possible to have new members elected without compromising the quality of membership. The Baha’i system of governance is scalable, and as the community grows, the pool of those exemplifying the qualities for membership will also increase in a community.

However, when the community grows, another problem grows with it. It becomes nearly impossible to become closely acquainted with the character of so many people, so incumbency happens for a different reason: people elect sitting members of the Assembly without knowing much about them. In communities with hundreds of believers, often broken up into smaller units for Feasts, it would be truly rare for Baha’is to know all the Assembly members personally. This is the problem I wish to address, because without understanding this, communities will stagnate as they grow.

I believe this is the case in my city. I have lived in the city for about 7 years, and in that time I have never seen an Assembly member removed from membership by an election. As I hear, it has always been that way, and I can see the need for change. The community is also a bit stagnant, with little to no growth over many years, either in teaching or fund contributions. Whether this is caused by the stagnation on the Assembly or the other way around is a philosophical question for another time. But certainly, the community and institution affect each other, and resolving the problems in one can raise up the other.

So how can this problem be resolved? Quite simple. There are two general rules that I thought of.
1. When considering a ballot, pay no attention to current membership status.
2. Only vote for those individuals with whom you have personal experience and can gauge their character.

By personal experience, I mean some one-on-one time, not public speaking or reading their Facebook posts. Otherwise it would be too easy to maintain a public image that is not reflective of one’s private life. These practices are consonant with all the guidance provided in the guidelines for elections, and focusing on them has some obvious benefits.

In communities that are broken up into smaller Feast areas, each Feast area would naturally vote mostly for people in that area. The result would encourage the makeup of the Assembly to be geographically and perhaps culturally diverse. Votes are not limited, but in a large decentralized community this would be the natural result, and it provides a benefit overall. This trend of a neighborhood increasingly voting within its own ranks is consonant with guidance from the Universal House of Justice about the long-term growth of communities. As the number of neighborhoods grows beyond nine, the Assembly membership cannot be drawn from each area. The House of Justice anticipated this growth and announced in 2005 that it will monitor development closely and “authorize a two-stage electoral process on a case-by-case basis,” meaning that each neighborhood will elect a delegate, and all the delegates of a city will be the electors of the Local Spiritual Assembly.

When casting votes for delegates or Assemblies, the previous year’s status should be largely ignored. Otherwise a significant bias would be given to sitting members, and change would verge on impossible. Obviously a wholesale replacement of all the members would cause some undesirable chaos, but that is not a problem currently experienced anywhere. Shoghi Effendi asks Baha’is to consider the qualities of “unquestioned loyalty, of selfless devotion, of a well-trained mind, of recognized ability and mature experience,” and that they be “faithful, sincere, experienced, capable and competent”. Past participation on an Assembly is never mentioned as a virtue when considering names. In theory, those in the community who best combine these qualities will not change dramatically from year to year, so if the qualities are the basis for voting, the Assembly would not change greatly in membership from year to year. But if current membership status is somehow added to this list in people’s minds, then the quality of membership will suffer.

Far from avoiding the subject of elections all together, Shoghi Effendi advises Baha’is to “get thoroughly acquainted with one another… and discuss among themselves the requirements and qualifications for such a membership without reference… to particular individuals." They should "stress the necessity of getting fully acquainted with the qualifications of membership… and of learning more about one another through direct, personal experience…” These guidelines are clear. Baha’is should discuss the qualities of membership, the election process, and be thinking of who to vote for throughout the year, not just when walking into the election. Most of all, he asks Baha’is to stress the necessity of learning about one another through direct, personal experience. That’s what I’m stressing. I have observed that this simple advise is difficult to put into practice. Baha’is should not vote for anyone who they are not thoroughly acquainted with personally. This can easily be achieved by attendance at Feast: through participating in consultation, and during the social portion. In another place Shoghi Effendi even says that one of the reasons for participating in community life is just to be able to vote intelligently in the election. It’s that important.

Just to be clear, I think this is a problem that will be resolved and improved with time, experience, and education. It is not an inherent flaw in the system, since nobody would advocate a regression to the obscene spectacle that is partisan politics, with its nominations and soul-grinding campaigns. What I’m trying to address is an area of improvement, where returning to the guidance will resolve a persistent problem that is seen in Baha’i communities all over North America.

Baha'i Coherence: Understanding the Addict as a Bahai

2011-06-15T15:24:00.000-07:00

Baha'i Coherence: Understanding the Addict as a Bahai

New Blog Project

2011-05-21T21:07:00.000-07:00

Jake Grandy and I have started a new blog project called "Bounded Irrationality". If appropriate some of the posts might be cross-posted here. Here is a provisional description of its purpose.

We believe that the role of knowledge is to advance the interests, both material and spiritual, of the human race. The goal of this blog is to aggregate strands of knowledge and opinion that we find conducive to a better functioning and more unified global community, and to offer our own insight into subjects with which we are familiar with. The major themes will include public policy, economic and social development, environmental sustainability, institutional efficacy, and progressive business strategy.

We welcome your critical engagement in the blog's comment section..

If I Had a Letter

2011-04-19T19:59:00.000-07:00

Here are some new lyrics for a familiar song--Pete Seeger's " If I Had a Hammer"

If I had a letter
I'd read it in the morning
I'd read it in the evening
All over this land
I'd read about coherence
I'd read about community-building
I'd read about the love between
my brothers and my sister
All over this land....

If I had a method
I'd practice in the morning
I'd practice in the evening
All over this land
I'd build a vision
I'd avoid dichotomous thinking
I'd focus on process rather than events
All over this land....

If I had a plan
I'd build a new civilization
I'd nurture human potential
In my own locality
My mode of learning
Would be humble and open
I'd invite neighbors and friends
To the core activities
All over this land...

Well, I have a letter
And I have a method
And I have a Five Year Plan
For how to change the world
It's a letter from the House of Justice
It's a method called active learning
It's a Plan involving individuals
communities
institutions
All over this land!!!!!

Feast Communities

2011-04-02T00:48:00.000-07:00

My previous post about Monkey Brains discussed the value in decentralizing Baha'i communities as they get too big, to allow for more growth. In the comments I got an earful from people bemoaning the loss of a larger community, "If you split up in groups before you have a cohesive fire started somewhere then those groups will fizzle out... Success isn't in division."

At the time of writing that, my city of Portland had 7 Feast areas, and had been alternating every other Feast from centralized to decentralized. Centralized attendance was in the 50-80 range, and decentralized attendance ranged from 4-20 people, depending on the area. The city has 150-170 active overall. The Baha'i center is an hour from certain parts of the city. After breaking up into 7 areas, overall attendance actually went up noticeably, especially in the outlying areas. So did Fund contributions, which usually follow attendance. A side effect of breaking up was that people became more intimate with Baha'is living close-by, and it gave a further boost to non-Feast related activities. It also became more friendly to new Baha'is, because they didn't feel lost in a crowd. In this case decentralizing was a catalyst for growth, in a city that hadn't seen noticeable growth for well over 10 years prior.

There is a challenge in decentralizing. If the areas are too small, as my friend commented, then the fire goes out. Out of the 7 areas two of them sometimes reached attendance of three people, depending on families being out of town. In some areas, if the Feast got up to 20 people, then it was difficult to host in most homes.

The Assembly just made a somewhat dramatic decision. From now on Portland will have three Feast areas, with no centralized Feasts. This effectively shapes the city into three distinct Baha'i communities, sharing a single LSA and a single cluster boundary, with a few central holy days. The interesting part is that while decentralizing, the areas got bigger, at least for awhile.

There are some serious advantages to this scenario. First of all, it avoids the large group problem of having so many people that personal connections get lost. Second, it creates communities of about 50 active believers, which happens to be the number much toted several years back as the magic number for growth (although since then the International Teaching Centre has discouraged relying on a formula for growth). Third, it also avoids the small group problem of not having enough people to keep the fire going with resources for a variety of activities.

There are also some serious disadvantages to this scenario. First of all, attendance will be in the 25-30 range initially, and will only grow, so most homes won't work for hosting. That puts us back into rented facilities, despite owning a Baha'i center (and spending a lot of $$$ for upkeep). Second, it adds to the travel problem that smaller neighborhoods fixed, so a trip from one extreme to the other still takes about 45 minutes. Third, in the downtown area where people mostly don't own cars, rides will have to be coordinated when the event is not close by.

The Assembly also will appoint two people from each area to coordinate Feast venues and hosts.

I'm very interested in feedback. What have other communities experimented with? What have you learned? What advice do you have?

Knock, Knock, It's the Assembly!

2011-03-05T14:00:00.000-08:00

Many Local Spiritual Assembly members struggle to balance their work as part of an institution of the Faith with their personal and team teaching goals and the need to model participation in the goals of the wider community. Home visits are an ideal way to integrate the basic practices of the Ruhi Institute and the goals of the cluster into the work that must necessarily fall on the shoulders of the Assembly. Here are 10 ideas for incorporating home visits into the business of the LSA:

Visit with engaged couples to deepen them on Baha'i marriage and provide counseling and encouragement.
Visit community members to deepen on recent guidance from the Universal House of Justice and encourage the development of individual teaching plans.
Visit to welcome new members to the community and assess their needs and hopes (deepening, children's classes, avenues of service, etc.)
Veteran Assembly members visit the newly-elected in order to help them grow in their role, and those who formerly held a certain office (such as treasurer) visit new officers in order to ensure an effective transition.
Visit those who were unable to attend a Cluster Reflection or Feast to fill them in on the details and receive their input, sharing knowledge of the nature and importance of these gatherings as needed.
Visit the hospitalized and homebound to strengthen their sense of community, especially on Holy Days.
Visit with 14-year-old Baha'is in the community in order to have a discussion about the nature of the age of maturity and the ways in which the Assembly can assist them in their endeavors as youth.
Visit members of the Core Team to pray for the advancement of the Cause in the region, and to build stronger bonds of unity and fellowship between the institutions.
Visit community members who have relocated from elsewhere in order to help them find their place and path of service without their having to scramble for information about their neighborhood, cluster, or available resources.
Visit with friends who are struggling with a particular aspect of Baha'i law, especially when a specific visitor or visitors (one that is the same gender as the community member to be visited, or who has struggled with a similar issue, or who is a personal friend) might be more appropriate for a first conversation than the Assembly as a whole.

This is, of course, just a jumping-off point. Any other suggestions? How does your Assembly integrate home visits into its business? In what ways would you like it to?

Watching Libya Burn

2011-03-05T10:40:00.000-08:00

The government of Libya in the past few days has accumulated massacres that are blatantly counter to any international standard of legitimacy. I feel the situation is already an avoidable stain on the pages of human history.

The resolution to the problem seems so simple. A dictator losing his mind is using extreme violence and outright lies to keep himself in power. He has given orders to bomb and machine-gun down unarmed civilians in mass. Today his troops rushed through the town of az-Zawiyah shooting dead any person they saw. At one point the troops broke into a hospital and began executing patients in their beds. There is no need to insinuate anything, he has openly admitted that he plans on killing as many people as possible if he is forced from power. He relies on blatant lies and bribes to keep his few supporters going, but those few have incredibly powerful weaponry. Clearly the international community should step in to prevent the massacres, put Qaddafi on trial for crimes against humanity, and restore order and justice.

The condemnation from outside of Libya has been strong, but it's been little more than sharing words, freezing assets, and starting an investigation. Some countries are simply more concerned about the flow of oil than the flow of blood. China is far more concerned with quelling any internal unrest than it is with preventing a massacre in Africa (Chinese reporting about Egypt and Libya have only focused on the scared Chinese nationals fleeing the chaos). As usual, China is trying not to set a precedent for the international community to step in and prevent governments from violently suppressing protests. This almost total avoidance of military intervention in any country by a permanent member of the UN Security Council has been a drag on the effectiveness of the UN, just as the United States' total reluctance to allow condemnation of Israeli transgressions has allowed injustice to continue in Palestine far too long.

For those wondering why these countries can hold the UN hostage, the Security Council was formed with 15 members, 10 of which rotate between nations in the world, and 5 of which are permanent. The five permanent members are the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Russia, and China, the victors of World War II. All resolutions must be passed without a "no" vote from any permanent member, effectively giving veto power to the five permanent members. As silly as this seems 65 years later, it was probably the only way to get everybody on board willingly. That doesn't mean the practice should continue.

The Baha'i International Community published a statement in 2005 outlining reform of the UN. With respect to the Security Council, they said, [emphasis added]

We welcome the United Nations' efforts to articulate a more comprehensive vision of collective security, based on the understanding that in our interconnected world, a threat to one is a threat to all. The Bahá'í Faith envisions a system of collective security within a framework of a global federation, a federation in which national borders have been conclusively defined, and in whose favor all the nations of the world will have willingly ceded all rights to maintain armaments except for purposes of maintaining internal order...

To address the democracy deficit and relentless politicization of the Security Council, the United Nations must in due course move towards adopting a procedure for eventually eliminating permanent membership and veto power. Alongside procedural reforms, a critical change in the attitude and conduct are needed. Member States must recognize that in holding seats on the Security Council and as signatories to the Charter of the United Nations, they have a solemn moral and legal obligation to act as trustees for the entire community of nations, not as advocates of their national interests.

Discussions of reform at the UN have been focused on increasing, not eliminating veto powers. Brazil, India, Japan, South Africa, and Germany have been proposed as new permanent members to reflect a changing world. Increasing permanent, veto-wielding members of the Security Council will only further paralyze its effectiveness. The insistence on clinging to veto power reflects an insecurity about control of the world.

In the United States, where opposition to the UN is a national pastime, I see three sources of contention with supporting a world federation of nations, all of which will likely disappear over the coming five to fifteen years.

The first is religious. Many Christian fundamentalists in the US maintain a delusion that the anti-Christ is a figure who will resolve the conflict in Palestine, make himself king of the world, and unite the forces of evil against the forces of good at the battle of Armageddon. Of course, any hint of international peace and cooperation would only encourage the anti-Christ, so the faithful reject such efforts. For Baha'is, the anti-Christ (and the Christ, for that matter) already came, the description of a great battle at Har Megiddo was fulfilled during World War I, and world unity is not just possible, but inevitable. As Christianity loses ground in society, as the Baha'i Faith spreads, and as the fruits of collective security become observable, the religious aversion to international peace will fade.

The second is nationalistic. Many Americans maintain a delusion that national sovereignty exists as it did centuries ago. This is echoed by voices wanting to put an end to NAFTA, become energy independent, and close the borders to foreigners. These protectionists don't mind American companies dominating foreign markets, or the accumulation of American wealth at the expense of other nations, but when international competition gets too hot, they want America out of the action, and the US out of the UN. This tendency will also fade away as international business and communication become more commonplace. The tendency to integrate markets, currency, language, and education across national boundaries has long made the idea of national sovereignty a relic of a past age, especially when national boundaries tend to be somewhat arbitrary around the world.

The third is maintaining the Pax Americana. Many Americans maintain a delusion that American domination of the world is good for America. This line of thinking vilifies the UN with the idea that any powers gained by the UN are powers lost by the US. In 1999 the neo-conservative group "Project for a New American Century" released a policy statement stating that US leadership is good for the world, that after winning the Cold War America has an opportunity as the sole superpower, and that it should use that position to create a new century favorable to American interests. The same people brought George W Bush to power, and America went on pulling the levers of power to implement the policies outlined by the neo-con project, which included toppling the regimes in Iraq, Iran, and North Korea. At the height of US arrogance, in 2005 Bush appointed John Bolton as US Ambassador to the UN, a man who once said, "There is no such thing as the United Nations. There is only the international community, which can only be led by the only remaining superpower, which is the United States." The world watched as from the beginning to end of Bush's presidency, America fell hard. Two failed wars, a failed economy, a crushing national debt, and the total lack of moral authority has brought the US far down from its peak of power. This process will continue over the next ten years, as the dollar will surely fail as a world reserve currency, political corruption will reach new lows, American military strength will have to be scaled down all over the world, and the inability to kick the oil addiction will drain the economy of the vitality it once had. Several scenarios are neatly laid out in Decline and Fall of the American Empire.

Fareed Zakaria outlined this process in his 2008 book The Post-American World, where he describes the US as remaining the preeminent nation in the world for decades to come, but the rest of the world will be lifted up to near equal footing. He describes the US as becoming one of several regional powers, especially China and India, and he notes that while some Americans see this as a threat, it is the natural result of spreading democracy and American values around the world. Zakaria ultimately argues that it is good for the US to not dominate the world.

But the fear remains in countless Americans that losing sovereignty to an international body will result in its domination of the US. There is a general fear of government in the American psyche. This fear has left the US out of the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court, even while the US encourages its jurisdiction over others. This fear has sabotaged efforts by the UN to fulfill its mandate, even while the US tries to draw Security Council support for its own legitimacy.

In Libya, a weak military intervention would take the form of a no-fly zone, similar to the ones imposed over Iraq and Bosnia when they were misbehaving and killing innocent civilians. Attacks from the air are the greatest fear by the rebels taking over the country. On this subject there is still debate at the UN Security Council, but what is interesting about the debate is that Russia and France have clearly said that any foreign aggression must be endorsed by the Security Council. In the words of Russia's NATO ambassador, it would be, "a violation of international law" if the US unilaterally interfered in Libya, and that it "requires a resolution of the UN Security Council." Such deference to the Security Council is praiseworthy, but until its membership is reformed and its hands are untied, it cannot fulfill such an obligation.

In the cases of Libya, Sudan, Georgia, Iraq, and other conflicts, especially when one of the permanent members is involved, the Security Council must be able to make decisions without unanimous consent, and its decisions should be binding. This is collective security, and without it, the world will remain insecure.

The other need that the situation in Libya demonstrates is the need for an effective standing army. Often a point of contention in how to implement any resolution is, which military gets to enforce it? A multi-national force would not carry such baggage with it. The other need the new army would fill is the ability for immediate response, such as Libya, where each day hundreds are dying.

Potentially the worst situation in Libya is for Qaddafi to succeed. It would parallel the revolts in Iraq in the 1990s, where the international community sat by and watched the massacre of civilians trying to revolt against a ruthless dictator. Qaddafi still has the ability to perpetuate massive injustice and retain power. If he does, it will be a stain on the pages of history, and will ultimately have to be dealt with later on. Regardless, the situation thus far already demonstrates the need for specific reforms and a change in attitude.

Over the long-term, everything is self-correcting. The arc of history bends towards justice and unity, and injustice ultimately gives the impetus for creating justice. But today, while I wrote this blog, 35 tanks rolled into a Libyan town and killed hundreds of people, while military boats shelled the city with mortars. This massacre was completely avoidable.

Gifts

2011-02-28T20:21:00.000-08:00

I live in the most materially prosperous nation in the world, and it strikes me as odd some of the etiquette around gift-giving.

I just had the experience of having my first baby exactly a week ago, and leading up to the birth my wife and I decided that we didn't want many gifts. We have a very small apartment with plans to move in three months. The major things we needed were donated by friends and family, such as a car seat, changing table, bags of used clothes, and a bassinet. A few big ticket things we bought ourselves, such as a new couch ($500), rocking chair ($150), dresser ($80), and pump ($240). My wife and I are pretty well off financially so it wasn't particularly burdensome to get these. The greatest burden was not the cost of small things, but the birth itself cost around $10 thousand, in our case with a $3 thousand deductible. Outside of those things, a diaper bag, some onesies, and lots of diapers, there's not much else that is needed for a newborn for several months, at which point we would move anyway. With this in mind, we registered for a few things and then asked for gift cards if people felt the need to get gifts.

Here's the thing about gift cards: they're just a bad idea. Over 25% of gift cards are never redeemed. Let me repeat that, over 25% of gift cards are never redeemed. For the companies involved, this is just free money. About $8 billion a year of free money. When they are redeemed, it's a guaranteed sale at their store with the cash provided up front, months in advance, so the company earns interest on the cash for as long as the card is held. In this scenario, why not give a person cash instead of a gift card? It lets the recipient buy anything anywhere. The only reason a gift card should be given in place of cash is if the giver wants to restrict where the money is spent, similar to how food stamps can only be spent on food. It's the kind of thing you would give to people begging on the street so they can't buy booze with your money. In our case, the biggest cost was meeting our deductible for the birth, and gift cards couldn't be applied towards it.

Among adults it would be very rare to know exactly what someone needs or what they would buy, so when gifts are obliged to be given, most people opt for gift cards instead of guessing or spending time shopping for something that might just be returned for something else. So at a gift exchange (Christmas, Ayyam-i-Ha, birthdays, etc.) you'll see a lot of gift cards passed around. Since gift cards are just a bad idea, it would be best to just give cash. But then at Christmas time you would see John give a card with $40 to Jane, and Jane give a card with $40 to John. What's the point then? Exactly.

Now we've come full circle back to where we started. If you don't know what the person needs or wants, then no gift needs to be given. The social requirement to give gifts, especially Valentine's day, are mostly hyped up by commercial propaganda flaunting a huge lie, a lie that says happiness comes from purchasing material things. Affection should not be measured in gifts.

Then to top it all off, there is a social requirement to write thank-you cards for every gift at a wedding or baby shower. My wife and I chose not to send thank you cards after our wedding and were berated by family members about how rude that was. I remember thinking, "I would rather not get a gift than have to write a thank-you card."

I have four young nephews, and this year my sister-in-law asked me not to get her kids any toys for Christmas, since they're house was overflowing with toys already. She suggested that I take all the kids to a children's museum and playground instead, which I did two months later. I thought this was a great idea, because it was spending valuable time with kids, instead of buying them a plastic toy.

Back to my story. My wife and I tried to spread the word that we don't really need anything in particular for the baby, that we registered for some things, that nobody should feel obliged to get us anything, and that gift cards are better than "stuff" cause we would be moving before most of anything would be useful. I would have said "cash" instead of gift cards, but one step at a time.

Of course, even from people to whom I explained this quite well, we received all kinds of things. One person was actually offended by the idea of not getting us a gift. Some people got us multiple gifts on different occasions. The new grandparents got us gifts even after we specifically and directly told them not to get us anything, this is true for both sides of the family.

We did get a few things that were clever, which we wouldn't have thought of otherwise, but we received tons of clothes, toys, books, and blankets that we were doing our best not to accumulate. We also got a lot of gift cards at a variety of stores. A lot of the presents were great, and we appreciated all the stuff that we would use months and months in the future, and we understand that people wanted to show their excitement and affection, but I feel like social tradition just beat us at a game of chess.

Here are some of the conclusions I learned from this experience.

1) Materialism pervades American culture, even among people who should know better.

2) Some people misinterpret gift-giving for true affection.

3) Gift cards are better than most presents, but cash is much better than gift cards.

4) Pay attention to financial need. Some couples are swamped with the cost of a new baby, some aren't.

5) The best gifts were things on our registry, or things that were not purchased, such as a used changing table, used baby clothes, hand-made things, etc.

6) Flowers are a great present in general. Partly because most people wouldn't normally get them, they're beautiful, and they're temporary.

7) What I really appreciate is time with people. I enjoyed the baby shower because I got to see tons of people and celebrate. After the birth I really enjoyed getting visits and people bringing us food.

8) Babies are incredibly cute and totally worth it. She's sleeping on my lap right now.

Guidance Remix

2011-02-13T17:36:00.000-08:00

I've been experimenting with Wordle as a new graphical way of looking at the language of the Universal House of Justice. I find it illuminating. Thoughts?

The 28 December, 2010 Message:

The Ridvan 2010 Message:

Young Heroes and Junior Youth Groups: Comparisons and Lessons Learned

2011-02-06T13:39:00.000-08:00

From 2001-2002, I served as a corps member with City Year Cleveland. City Year is a year of service program for 17-24 year olds that draws inspiration from the nonprofit, corporate, government, and military models in order to engage young adults in an annual campaign of service. I was 18 years old when I joined, fresh out of high school, and the impact CY had on the way I work, serve, and lead has been immeasurable. One of my primary areas of service in City Year was the Young Heroes program, which eventually led me on the path to becoming a junior youth animator.

Young Heroes is a service-learning program for 6th-8th grade students, led by City Year corps members. At the time I was involved in the program, Young Heroes Cleveland engaged about 80 students in educational service activities all day, every other Saturday. Teams of ~10 students were each led by two corps members, who were in turn coordinated and organized by a small leadership team of other corps members.

What did I learn from Young Heroes?

Most of the cooperative games, unity-building activities, and icebreakers I know come from my experience with Young Heroes. My understanding of hoon a given saw to work with 11-14 year olds does too. I also learned a lot about documentation and organizational partnerships, which I think I ought to utilize more effectively as a junior youth group animator. But there are a number of ways in which the Young Heroes model is not conducive to what the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program hopes to accomplish. I've had to learn to keep these in mind in my work as an animator, in order to avoid unhelpful cross-pollinations.

How do Young Heroes and the JYSEP differ?

1. Intent

Young Heroes is a youth development program, not a community development program. There are no corresponding Older Heroes programs for the adults in the Young Heroes' lives. The teams of Young Heroes are formed randomly, so that team members may not live in the same neighborhood or even attend the same school. Service sites are chosen for their educational value and their ability to handle a massive influx of very young volunteers on a given Saturday, and not due to any immediate applicability in the lives of those who go to serve.

2. Education vs. Empowerment

Despite its focus on youth development, there is little emphasis on empowering the Young Heroes to take on the responsibilities of the program itself. In contrast with the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program, in which junior youth begin with simple, animator-guided service projects and eventually grow towards planning and implementing complex acts of service on their own, Young Heroes remains entrenched in the delivery model of development and education.

3. Relationships and Continuity

Although relationships may form between Young Heroes and their team leaders, these bonds do not extend to include the parents, families, friends, teachers, and neighbors who are also a vital part of the Young Heroes' lives. Any communication with parents is generic and in written form, with no consideration of language or literacy. The relationships that do exist last only from recruitment in the fall until graduation in the spring. Each year, a new crop of corps members takes over, and the program begins again. New teams form with new names, new students, and no sense of progression. Nothing builds on the year before. While acts of service are encouraged, they are event-focused. Discerning and embarking upon one's own path of service is not a part of the program.

What can animators learn from City Year and Young Heroes?

City Year has a wonderful record of service, and has a lot of fantastic experience on which to draw. The constant emphasis on RASL (Research And Systematic Learning) is one that can help youth and junior youth develop habits of insightful reflection very early on in their lives. The RASL chant, "Is what? So what? Now what?" could become a mantra for reflection gatherings, and is simple enough for even young children to understand and implement. The culture of storytelling-as-proof creates a self-reinforcing commitment and idealism. Both "starfish" (stories of having made a small difference to one person) and "ripples of hope" (stories of service and justice that had an impact far beyond the initial statement or act) are sought out and shared at every gathering. RASL and stories combined create a powerful combination of encouragement and learning that any animator, tutor, or coordinator would do well to harness.

Young Heroes also makes its presence known to the community unmatched by junior youth groups at their current stage of development (at least in the communities I have lived in or visited). From their constant contact with government and business leaders in the community to their bright uniforms, City Year (and the Young Heroes program) makes certain their reputation is both inspirational and unmistakable. While our junior youth groups are currently growing behind the scenes at an organic pace, the acceleration of this process means being more public with the good we do in a way that is both bold and humble, professional yet true.

In general, both Young Heroes and the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment Program see that there is a vast reservoir of energy and talent in our young people, which can and should be devoted to the advancement of our communities. City Year, like the public schools they serve, aim to gather up all the willing numbers they can muster in the few cities in which they operate, and with the resources at hand, offer them a taste of the beauty and a few of the skills necessary for transformative service. The JYSEP has begun with far fewer human and material resources locally, but in far more locations around the world, and is growing at a pace that Young Heroes cannot, with its reliance on sponsorships and infrastructure, ever hope to replicate. Both have their struggles and their strengths.

For those who serve as animators, in what other contexts have you worked with young people? As a mentor, tutor, instructor, or coach? What are some of the valuable lessons you have gathered from these activities? What important distinctions would you draw?

The Problem of "Artificial States"

2011-01-23T13:21:00.000-08:00

There is now quite a body of literature that points to the problem of so called "artificial states" which lack "legitimacy", due to the fact that they were arbitrarily and haphazardly drawn up by European colonizers in the latter part of the 19th century (in Africa's case), with very little regard for preexisting human and political geography. Crawford Young, in his book "The African Colonial State in Historical Perspective" describes the impact that African colonialism had in a relatively short period of time in embedding either distorted or completely foreign political structures:

The colonial state in Africa lasted in most instances less than a century-a mere moment in historical time. Yet it totally reordered political space, societal hierarchies and cleavages, and modes of economic production. Its territorial grid-whose final contours congealed only in the dynamics of decolonization-determined the state units that gained sovereignty and came to form the present African polities. The logic of its persistence and reproduction was by the time of independence deeply embedded in its mechanism of internal guidance.

Pierre Englebert, in his book "State Legitimacy and Development in Africa", explores the idea of "state legitimacy" in the context of Africa. His measure includes vertical legitimacy - the degree to which the state is responsive to the plurality of its citizens, and horizontal legitimacy - the degree to which the boundaries of the state relate to any coherent precolonial logic. He then correlates these measures to measures of good governance and development capacity. He begins his conclusion by saying:

"The historical endogeneity of the state, its congruence with underlying political institutions and norms of political authority-in a word, its legitimacy-is a crucial variable in understanding the choice of policies that rulers of developing countries adopt and the quality of the overall governance they provide. Both, in turn, are important factors contributing to economic development. Deficits of state legitimacy are therefore at the core of the development failure of many African states.

Recently, Bill Easterly (famous for his notorious skepticism to aid) and others performed a study titled "Artificial States" which arrives at a similar conclusion to Englebert for both African as well as other post-colonial states. Others have rightly pointed out (see a critical response to Easterlies study) that in reality, all states are artificial to some degree, and were only developed after thousands of years of war, colonialism, settlement, conquest, treaty, etc.

Clearly some states are more "artificial" than others; should anything be done about it? Should the international community support the reconfiguring of "artificial states" based upon pre-colonial claims to legitimacy? While it may seem just, it is a proposition fraught with peril. The recent referendum in Sudan, where preliminary results show that the close to 99 percent of Southerners have voted to split from the North, has only come about after many years of civil war and the deaths of over two million people. The overwhelming support from the international community for this split, including the U.S. offering to take the Khartoum government of Sudan off of its terror list, as well as promises of debt forgiveness (in the tens of billions) has drawn the praise of many and the ire of some. The skeptics point out that the new country of Southern Sudan will be one of the poorest and most fragile in the world, on the brink of being a failed state and in danger of being invaded by the North. In addition the break-up could spark other separatist movements which have in the past often lead to ethnically targeted war and terror (read: Lords Resistance Army, which turned children into soldiers and used rape as a strategy of war). Also, small and especially landlocked states have a hard enough time acquiring the resources they need for development unless the majority of the economy is based on trade. A reconfiguring of "artificial states" could likely lead to smaller, more impoverished states.

It seems to me that in limited circumstances it may be necessary for the international community to support, cautiously and judiciously, the reconfiguring of boundaries based upon legitimate claims of sovereignty from the local people themselves. Arguably the creation of Southern Sudan, despite the problems mentioned, is an example of this. With that said, I am more apt to support what Bryan laid out in his recent post "29 Nations of the Earth", which advocates the creation of large regional federations (not just for "artificial states") that make sense geographically, promote trade, migration, and economies of scale, and appeal to more expansive and cosmopolitan identities. This would require buy in not only from the states themselves (maybe them least of all), but also from the various ethnic, cultural, and civil groups within who might not be represented well by their government. Therefore if a state lacks legitimacy, or is just corrupt/incompetent in general, the success of a larger regional entity can fill in the void and help hold the government accountable to its citizens. The European Union, despite all of its troubles, is a positive example of this trend in Europe. The proposed East African Federation is another move in this direction. These are baby steps towards the practical realization that "the earth is but one country and mankind its citizens".

Friends

2011-01-22T11:46:00.000-08:00

I previously left a post titled Monkey Brains, where I showed that human brains want to be in social groups of 150, with a small group of about 12 friends.

Other research has shown that it only takes 6 good friends to be happy. Less than that and the individual's happiness drops off. Too many and the effect is diluted with an overall drop in happiness. Another study proposed 10 close friends as the magic number.

As strange as this might sound, I have too many friends. I think a lot of people struggle, especially moving to a new town, to find a small group of close friends, the kind where you can totally relax with and really connect emotionally. I had such an experience living in Wenatchee, WA for 3 months in 2008, and again in Madras, OR for 3 months in 2009. I experienced the sadness that comes from being alone in small towns that are largely emptied of 20-somethings. In both cases, the only real friends I made came from the Baha'i community, so I can also sympathize with countless studies indicating a marked increase in happiness of church goers. I also saw the depression (among some coworkers) that comes from losing the ability to make new friends later on in life. I think one of the worst end-of-life scenarios is to spent one's final years alone watching television.

Back in Portland, where I spent most of my life, I have the opposite problem. In my network of close friends -- those that I want to see frequently and stay connected with -- I can count at least 30 people. Outside of that I can count hundreds who I know and see at least once a year. The difficulty is, it's impossible to maintain close relationships with that many people. Instead of adding to my happiness, the infrequent contact with a large number of people was a cause of stress for me. It meant that I didn't have at least 6 really close friends. At a certain point I had to consciously think about my friends and pick a few people who I really wanted to see often, and I went out of my way to visit them about every other week, even if that meant sacrificing other responsibilities.

This also left me with a kind of sadness for all those people that I don't make a point to see. There are a dozen high school friends scattered around within an hour, lots of cousins, many Baha'is, or college and work friends.

This may sound like a rich person complaining about having too much money, but hey, there is also a sweet spot for income. Making less than $50k and more than $100k causes happiness to drop off accordingly.

Another dynamic is teaching. If Baha'is form close-knit, impenetrable groups of friends, then the growth of the Faith will become stagnant. It's very rare that real consecration comes through personal study alone. Although an idealist might say that the social aspect of religion should be irrelevant to one's acceptance or non-acceptance of the truth, there is undoubtedly a marriage between religious truth and the community in which it thrives. The Baha'i Feast gathering every 19 days has three portions: spiritual, administrative, and social. Each is supposed to receive the same degree of weight. So while the Baha'i Faith is not a just social club, social relationships are important to develop, and if someone investigating the Faith doesn't find a small group to join where they connect emotionally, they will likely not go on to effloresce into a mature Baha'i who then goes on to teach others.

I had to realize these dynamics and make conscious efforts to direct my energy appropriately. When I see an opportunity to include someone attracted to the Baha'i Faith, I have to realize that such a friendship is more important than seeing some other Baha'i friends. There is always a balance though. Some consecrated Baha'is are also in the position of not having enough close relationships and they may need to be encouraged and assisted. Also, people interested in the Baha'i Faith want to see a community.

For certain, though, two mature Baha'is who both have an overflowing network of close friends, who are both willing to sacrifice for the Faith, and are devoting their lives to its propagation, should recognize that as strong as their mutual affection is, what is best overall is for them to reach out into the broader society and create new networks of friends, not spend more time with each other. This may not be an intuitive conclusion.

Roots and Seeds

2011-01-20T18:10:00.000-08:00

Most places I go, I am asked to speak on the Junior Youth Spiritual Empowerment program, due to my (relatively) extensive experience with it. I have been an animator since the spring of 2007. And I have never had a successful junior youth group.

This is not to say that I have not had success with the program. I have assisted in its implementation in at least five clusters. But I have never animated a group in the way it was intended, beginning with a group of 11-12 year olds and growing together through the program for three years.

Why? In my adult life, I have never lived in a single place for three years.

As soon as I move to a new place, I am in the process of saying goodbye. My current city became home to me when my Auxiliary Board Member called me during breakfast on a Sunday morning and asked me to move here. I was meant to stay through the first cycle of our intensive program of growth. I've remained an extra year to complete some schooling and establish the foundation of a strong junior youth program.

But I have not established the truly strong bonds necessary for its continuation and propagation. This relationship-building is fundamentally the work of those who are arising, even now, to carry on the program in my absence.

And I will be absent. I will take my licensure examinations one month after the launch of the next global Plan, and I am waiting for the call; where will my home be next? What will I do when I arrive?

Say goodbye?

It seems that the process of community building, since the earliest days of the Divine Plan, has needed two very important populations: those who travel light, bringing broad experience, fresh eyes, and new energy into the community, and those who become the community, growing the relationships, intimate knowledge, and sense of identity needed to help a Plan become a reality, and flourish.

These two are as necessary to the growth of a community as the growth of a forest is dependent on roots and seeds.

These trends are not limited to the Baha'i community, although we seem to be rather unusual in seeing both as a part of a coherent whole.

On one hand are the "technomads" (I like the term) like Everett Bogue of Far Beyond the Stars, self-described as "a cybernetic yogi supporting the future of human/technological evolution." They see a minimalist, location-independent lifestyle supported by the internet as ideal for those who view their lifework in terms of spreading information and ideas.

On the other are people like Sharon Astyk of Casaubon's Book. Astyk, a writer and subsistence farmer, is primarily concerned with "adapting in place," creating permanently sustainable communities on an extremely local level, whatever that locality happens to be. She and her compatriots view information primarily as a tool for providing more basic needs: food, shelter, and family.

It's interesting to note that both groups are immensely focused on overcoming the materialist culture that is so epidemic today. As such, both deserve our attention.

Is age the primary difference between the two trends? The Universal House of Justice has made mention of "the native urge of youth to move from place to place, combined with their abounding zeal," making them ideally suited to the work of travel-teaching and short-term pioneering. And part of becoming a long-term pioneer or community member that roots a community firmly into place involves having been on the planet for an extended period of time. It's obvious that a twenty-year-old cannot have seen a community grow and develop over a thirty-year period, as her elders may have.

And yet, the Baha'i Faith is littered with examples of selfless travelers of all ages who scattered seeds abroad without thought to creating a permanent home for themselves, and of young people who settled into a place and lived out their lives there in service. Perhaps this is primarily a matter of one's capacities and strengths?

As of this writing, I am twenty-seven years old, recently married, and childless. The day may come when it is more important to me to tend my garden and live within it, than it is to keep my attachments few in order to be able to answer the call to service wherever it may arise.

I have loved so many people and places that I can no longer simply go "home" to the ones I love. I have been so long running towards the frontiers of service that to remain in place feels like being left behind. But it is equally agonizing to know that the youngest children here will not remember me in ten years, or even two.

I have no idea where, or if, I will ever find a place to call home for the rest of my life, or even long enough to accompany a group of junior youth through the years leading up to their blossoming into maturity. The idea frightens me, knowing that the skills and attitudes that have served me so well thus far will need to be adapted, perhaps even abandoned, for a new kind of endeavor.

But that constant state of learning, of trying again, of learning more and trying anew, this is what has brought the Baha'i community to the place we stand today. And if I can withstand the heartache of the travel teacher, I can withstand that of the pioneer.

Someday. In the meantime, I'm keeping things light, waiting for the call. A new "home" is becoming ready for me. It's almost time to say goodbye.

Xtranormal Baha'is

2011-01-17T16:51:00.000-08:00

Xtranormal is the latest greatest method for making your own videos. It's actually really easy, and there's an option for a browser based creation tool. All you have to do is choose a background, characters, and voices, then you type in the dialogue. The robotic voices are convenient to add some comedy to the scenes, and the movements are all easy to embed into the dialogue.

I made this as an exercise. The possibilities are endless.

Development Blogs

2011-01-13T11:58:00.000-08:00

There are a lot of great blogs in international development. I think that Baha'is have a lot to offer to and learn from these discussions and we should be active in engaging (discussion/comments) if not potentially collaborating with the practitioners and academics involved. As a resource for those interested, I thought it might be useful to provide a list of development blogs that I have enjoyed and followed (with the help of Google Reader), in no particular order. If you know of other good ones, please list them in the comments.
Chandan Sapkota
Chris Blattman
Dani Rodrick
Blood and Milk
David Roodman
Eric Green
From Poverty to Power
Owen Abroad
Africa Can...End Poverty
African Arguments
Aid on the Edge of Chaos
Aid Thoughts
Aid Watch
Barefoot Economics
Developing Jen
Development Horizons
Give a Damn about Poverty?
Greed, Green, and Grains
India Development Blog
Microfinance Blog
On My Way
Waylaid Dialectic
The White African
IPA's Blog
Beyond Profit
IFMR
Private Sector Development

First day

2011-01-09T20:01:00.000-08:00

My wife and I just had the first meeting of a junior youth group. As with any group, it doesn't exactly fall into the ideal situation. There are 5 starting out, instead of 9 or 10. They are all boys, so no mix of gender. They are very unfocused and don't quite know what's going on.

On the other hand, this is the most ideal junior youth group I've started. For the first time I'm beginning with actual 11 year olds, as opposed to a mix of ages (my first group) or starting with mostly the same age but starting in either 7th grade (second group) or 8th grade (third group). That means for the first time, I could potentially study through all of the available curriculum with them, and it means I can start at an early age where they are still forming habits and attitudes.

As with any group, there are always little moments that make it all worth it. Out of the five, two of them are from Baha'i families, and one of those announced that he had read the section of the first book before coming, even though we didn't start the book on the first night. One of the boys not from a Baha'i family asked, "What if I don't want to come?" and I said, "Then you don't have to come?" The puzzled look on his face was part of his realizing that he's starting to make his own decisions, and if he attends then he'll have to own it.

After discussing the goals of the group and talking about expectations, we asked them to come up for a name for the group. The ideas ranged from, The No Name Group, The Awesome Group, The Group, The Couldn't-Think-of-a-Name Group, The Five Amigos, and much much more...

We did an activity of what I call "drawing telephone", a game where everyone writes a description of some crazy scenario on the top of a stack of stapled paper, then everyone passes the stack and has to draw a picture of the description, then the stacks continue getting passed around, alternating between drawing and describing. At the end everyone was rolling around laughing as their story was converted into some totally different scenario.

We concluded the night by everyone, including me, running around the house whacking each other with foam toys.

The Second Way

2011-01-08T19:27:00.000-08:00

There is a way

to look at the crisis,

and not to cry. To see injustice,

famine, the virus of the blood, and yet stand

straight enough to speak

is difficult, but not impossible: forget your glasses.

Bring instead your weak

myopia, your astigmatic haze,

dulling the vistas of hopelessness until

there is only your nose and one pot of maize,

one school fee, one welcome song, one child

wailing in your arms. This way,

survive, and serve again.

There is only one way

to look at the crisis,

and not to cry.

But if you would cry, get up!

Walk out of that body, prostrated

and voiceless in its shame. Baptize

yourself in its tears and turn your back.

When you see the fires of impossible hope,

jump in! Blaze. Immolate fear in the coals

of your joy. This is the second way.

Then watch: these sparks,

they are heating a nation,

they are lighting the world.

On Human Resources

2011-01-07T10:20:00.000-08:00

When I find myself wishing I could avoid a given core activity for a day, it's not the logistics I dread. Planning, documenting, forging ahead--these things come naturally to me now. It's the massive emotional investment in building genuine relationships that exhausts me, introvert that I am.

The institute process has made me into a fine resource.

I'm hoping it can make me into a better human, as well.

New guidance regarding homosexuality

2011-01-05T18:38:00.000-08:00

The below letter was recently sent from the US National Spiritual Assembly to the American believers. It quotes from a letter to an individual on behalf of the Universal House of Justice, and directly clarifies what is perhaps the greatest social issue of my generation. It clearly encourages Baha'is to fight against discrimination and work for social justice, while leaving intact the clear moral guidelines around marriage. The prominent reference here is that with regards to homosexuals, "freedom from discrimination" can be actively supported, while "opportunity for civil marriage" would neither be promoted nor opposed.

To those looking for a reform of the underlying belief of homosexuality being an aberration, this letter may be another disappointment; it does not present a technical case that would hold up in court, and it leaves the obvious conclusion that as the Baha'i Faith spreads, the social attitude towards sexuality will also spread with it. But to Baha'is caught in the line of fire between a polarized pro- and anti-gay society, this message seems to authoritatively address several recent issues. The Congressional bill that repealed the exclusion of homosexuals in the US military can be actively supported by Baha'is (in fact, I was going to blog about it as such but got busy), as can any effort to stem the harassment in public schools that leads to an unseemly high suicide rate among homosexual youth. Regarding the California Prop 8 debate raging in court, Baha'is can change the channel.

January 3, 2010

To the American Bahá'í community

Dearest Bahá'í Friends,

The National Spiritual Assembly understands that homosexuality is a subject of particular interest and concern to many in this country and is, therefore, moved to share with you a letter dated October 27, 2010, written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice on this topic. A copy of the letter-addressed to an American Bahá'í-was received by our Assembly, and the Supreme Body has kindly granted us permission to share it with you:

"...With respect to your question concerning the position Bahá'ís are to take regarding homosexuality and civil rights, we have been asked to convey the following.

"The purpose of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh is the realization of the organic unity of the entire human race, and Bahá'ís are enjoined to eliminate from their lives all forms of prejudice and to manifest respect towards all. Therefore, to regard those with a homosexual orientation with prejudice or disdain would be against the spirit of the Faith. Furthermore, a Bahá'í is exhorted to be "an upholder and defender of the victim of oppression", and it would be entirely appropriate for a believer to come to the defense of those whose fundamental rights are being denied or violated.

"At the same time, you are no doubt aware of the relevant teachings of the Faith that govern the personal conduct of Bahá'ís. The Bahá'í Writings state that marriage is a union between a man and a woman and that sexual relations are restricted to a couple who are married to each other. Other passages from the Writings state that the practice of homosexuality is not permitted. The teachings of Bahá'u'lláh on personal morality are binding on Bahá'ís, who strive, as best they can, to live up to the high standards He has established.

"In attempting to reconcile what may appear to be conflicting obligations, it is important to understand that the Bahá'í community does not seek to impose its values on others, nor does it pass judgment on others on the basis of its own moral standards. It does not see itself as one among competing social groups and organizations, each vying to establish its particular social agenda. In working for social justice, Bahá'ís must inevitably distinguish between those dimensions of public issues that are in keeping with the Bahá'í Teachings, which they can actively support, and those that are not, which they would neither promote nor necessarily oppose. In connection with issues of concern to homosexuals, the former would be freedom from discrimination and the latter the opportunity for civil marriage. Such distinctions are unavoidable when addressing any social issue. For example, Bahá'ís actively work for the establishment of world peace but, in the process, do not engage in partisan political activities directed against particular governments."

We felt it important that the friends have access to this guidance from the House of Justice, and trust that you will find it helpful.

With loving Bahá'í greetings,

Kenneth E. Bowers
Secretary
National Spiritual Assembly
of the Bahá'ís of the United States

Taking Ownership: Questions for Reflection

2010-12-20T16:31:00.000-08:00

What does it mean to take ownership of one's own spiritual education and community?

We bandy the phrase about a lot, but does taking ownership just mean participating in consultation, feeling a part of community, and being involved in the practices?

If I feel that a community or a process is my own, and if I truly value it, how do I show this?

Or another question, not unrelated:

What would it look like if every study circle participant, every devotional gathering participant, every animator, teacher, junior youth, and child involved in any of the core activities in a cluster, whether Baha'i or not, participated in intensive campaigns to extend these activities to others?

Why does our outward-looking orientation stop at the cluster reflection door?

Let's think about what kind of community we're raising up. One that can catch the people who fall into it? Or one that has learned to grow all on its own?

The Search for a Modern Theology

2010-12-13T15:36:00.000-08:00

A while back I wrote "A Baha'i's Interpretation of Original Sin", which sought to challenge the dominant Christian understanding of "original sin" using passages from the bible paired with illumination from the Baha'i writings. Andrew Sprung also challenges "original sin", not by trying to reinterpret biblical scripture, but philosophically, based on modern knowledge of the human condition. He regards it "as a really pernicious myth that fundamentally miscasts the human condition". He starts by describing an internal dialogue he has with C.S. Lewis:

The intensity of my dislike of the fall meme has taken form through my ongoing if increasingly pointless internal dialogue with C.S. Lewis, whose mythopoeic force made Christianity at least partially imaginatively available to me for a few years.

He goes on to challenge the philosophical basis of "the fall" by interpreting the meaning of human evolution:

But in an era in which humanity has built up detailed if fragmented understanding of how organisms interact with each other and with the nonorganic physical world, how the body processes nourishment and fights off disease, how our behavior is related to that of our primate ancestors and mammalian cousins-- and how our values and behavior have evolved over time -- the notion that our limitations and nonadaptive impulses derive from some fundamental originary act of disobedience -- whether understood collectively or individually -- is simply not adequate, not helpful, not in keeping with the factual knowledge we have acquired. We are what the physical universe and the biology of this planet have made us. Increasingly, as we acquire knowledge, we are what we make ourselves -- we have the capacity to at least partially shape our own evolution, for better or for worse. If the notion of an "unfallen" society haunts us, it should be as a hope of the future, not a dream of the past.

He concludes by wondering whether a new, credible theology will emerge that accounts for modern understandings of political and scientific knowledge:

I wonder when some new perception of divine law or the human condition that takes full account of acquired knowledge and wisdom, political and scientific -- one not based on past scriptures or a product of obvious fraud, like, say, the Mormon scriptures -- will burst upon the world. Maybe never. New scriptures generally reference old ones, and full-souled in-spiration may depend on a degree of self-delusion (thus speaks the Lord!) not possible in someone who takes full account of knowledge acquired in the last 200 years. But it's plain that the thirst for doctrine and ritual and communion, a vehicle for contact with the numinous and a frame for understanding duty and purpose, and a reassurance that all will be well and all will be well and all manner of things will be well, is not going away.

I wonder, would the Baha'i Faith fit his criteria? At face value, he might think of it as an "obvious fraud, like, say, the Mormon scriptures". At face value, he might take exception to the fact that the Baha'i Faith does draw from past scriptures, even if they are contextualized for their time and place. At face value, he might think of the explicit references to God as a "self-delusion". But digging a little deeper, he is looking for something that takes full account of acquired knowledge and wisdom acquired in the last 200 years. The Baha'i Faith arguably does this, or at least makes a valiant attempt to. It doesn't necessarily quench the "thirst for doctrine and ritual and communion", but now it is his turn to account for a backward looking requirement of religious fulfillment. Instead it provides a dynamic and flexible "vehicle for contact with the numinous and a frame for understanding duty and purpose..." one that doesn't rely on physical or dogmatic representations of the divine. Finally, it provides a reassurance that "all will be well", not by imagining some static utopian future of sinless perfection, but instead by placing value in the process, in the progressive movement towards a provisional understanding of perfection that can and will change as our capacity increases.

Blogging, Discourse, and Ruhi Book 2

2010-12-12T14:15:00.000-08:00

I love blogs. I love the democratic explosion of writing on the internet. It has introduced me to so many great thinkers and writers and ideas that have enriched my life. Clearly, I've got a penchant for Baha'i blogs as well. There are a few I follow religiously (ha!), several more that I drop in on occasionally, and others that I only know from links to specific articles that have been passed on to me by friends. I enjoy contributing to Baha'i Coherence, and feel comfortable here despite the fact that my background is considerably less academic than those of many of my co-creators. I feel like this blog is a wonderful forum for sharing our early experiments in contributing to the discourses of society.

"... involvement in public discourse can range from an act as simple as introducing Bahá’í ideas into everyday conversation to more formal activities such as the preparation of articles and attendance at gatherings, dedicated to themes of social concern—climate change and the environment, governance and human rights, to mention a few. It entails, as well, meaningful interactions with civic groups and local organizations in villages and neighbourhoods."

I'm primarily concerned with the first level of "involvement in public discourse" mentioned by the Universal House of Justice in its Ridvan 2010 message, that of "introducing Baha'i ideas into public conversation," the skill taught in Unit 3 of Ruhi Book 2. Specifically, I've been taking the month of December to study through action what this means for Baha'i bloggers.

At the beginning of December, I started a free wordpress blog for personal-type content, as separate from my professional blog. I signed up for Reverb10, a one-month challenge to reflect on the past year in blog form every day, based on a series of prompts. Participants then use a shared hashtag on Twitter to alert other participants to their daily entry, creating a sense of mutual endeavor. My goal has not been to blog exclusively about the Baha'i Faith (I follow the prompts faithfully), but to explore for myself the ways in which the lessons from Ruhi Book 2 on introducing Baha'i ideas could be integrated into a personal blog not intended for a Baha'i audience.

Almost halfway into the month, I've discussed my Baha'i wedding, my desire to eliminate backbiting from my life, my endeavors in the cluster, and a handful of other topics that relate to my life. I've infused the language of the Universal House of Justice and the Writings into my own to a degree that feels natural to me. One positive comment, from a fellow Reverb10 participant, shared that "It's always inspirational to hear stories about how people build community where they are." Another participant shared in response to a piece on cultivating a sense of wonder, adding, "I love what you wrote about humility. That is such a huge part of wonder. I hadn't really put my finger on that aspect of it. Thanks."

These aren't earth-shaking revelations. I am not, at this point, building true relationships with these people. The number of people who care to be privy to my reflections on life is of course minute. I may develop insights into these issues as I go, but the experience of writing regularly about Baha'i life for an audience that is in no way affiliated with the Baha'i community is proving to be enlightening and invigorating to me as a writer, a tutor, and a Baha'i. I don't have much learning to share yet, but I'll be sure to share when I do.

To take a look at my little laboratory, feel free to drop in at A Stronger Thought of Peace

Thoughts? How do you involve yourself in the discourses of society through social media and blogging? What have learnings have you taken from the experience so far?

the Site of Thinking

2010-12-07T03:10:00.000-08:00

This short opinion piece in the New York Times outlines a compelling approach for practicing philosophy in our time. In it, the author describes what he refers to as field philosophy;

“Getting out into the field” means leaving the book-lined study to work with scientists, engineers and decision makers on specific social challenges. Rather than going into the public square in order to collect data for understanding traditional philosophic problems like the old chestnut of “free will,” as experimental philosophers do, field philosophers start out in the world. Rather than seeking to identify general philosophic principles, they begin with the problems of non-philosophers, drawing out specific, underappreciated, philosophic dimensions of societal problems...Field philosophy, then, moves in a different direction than either traditional applied philosophy or the new experimental philosophy. Whereas these approaches are top-down in orientation, beginning in theory and hoping to apply a theoretical construct to a problem, field philosophy is bottom-up, beginning with the needs of stakeholders and drawing out philosophical insights after the work is completed.

I think this helps highlight where the Bahá’í world has been moving in recent years. Gone are the days when Bahá’í "scholars" could content themselves with having an encyclopedic knowledge of Bahá’í teachings and history without extensive engagement with the wider society. And those serving actively in the field are discouraged from limiting themselves to simplistic activities, such as handing out pamphlets or walking in a parade. Service now requires a great deal more thought and effort. And intellectual pursuits inspired by the Baha'i faith are becoming more and more mobile and “embedded” in patterns of community action.

The junior youth spiritual empowerment program is perhaps the best example of this. A successful junior youth group is one that stimulates on-going dialogue among early adolescents around topics such as justice, beauty, love, education, prosperity, and others— and then engages them in service and artistic projects aimed at transforming society. Between the junior youth program and field philosophy we see two complementary movements. One is of philosophy extending its efforts to embrace the community. The other is of service extending its efforts to embrace philosophy.

Taken together, and each acting from its own pole, we see an enactment in practice of what philosophers have been talking about since at least Nietzsche—the systematic de-emphasis of a whole series of false dichotomies: mind/body, thinking/acting, theoretical/practical and others.

Statistics and Spirit

2010-12-04T18:57:00.000-08:00

Earlier in the Five Year Plan, I was obsessed with statistics. Cluster Growth Reports? I devoured them like candy. They fed my desire to know exactly what was happening so that I could determine next steps.

Then something shifted. My teaching team's efforts started to bear fruit. We grew in numbers, but more than that, we grew in spirit. And ironically enough, now that our statistics show the beginnings of real growth in this neighborhood, I find I need them less. I'm happier to know how one junior youth is feeling safe enough to express interest in new subjects, or that a parent attended children's classes for the first time. I'm focused on the confidence our new teachers have begun to show, and the spiritually-based friendships now developing between former strangers.

We're expanding the number of our classes, home visits, and study circles, but what we're witnessing is a steady process of transformation. I'm still recording the numbers, but it's the stories that have captured my heart.

How Many Does It Take?

2010-12-03T16:05:00.000-08:00

How many people does it take to raise up a junior youth group?

One who is good at recruiting young people.
One who is good at explaining the program to adults.
One who is good at coming up with creative activities.
One who is good at facilitating discussion.
One who is good at playing sports.
One who is good at engaging the majority of the group.
One who is good at engaging the one who doesn't want to participate.
One who builds strong friendships with the youth.
One who builds strong friendships with parents and guardians.
One who lives in the neighborhood.
One who knows community resources well.
One who can offer rides.
One who can offer materials.
One who can offer prayers.
One who can document the learning and growth that takes place.
One who regularly visits the homes of the participants.
One who reaches out to visit the homes of the participants' neighbors.
One who teaches a class for the littler brothers and sisters.
One who facilitates a study circle for older family members.
One who can fill in during illness or travel.
One who can train more animators to take over one day.

These might be embodied in one or two individuals, or an entire cluster newly on the rise. But before all these, you need one who has the vision of something transformative and beautiful. At the very least, let that one be you.

It's time to...

2010-12-02T11:59:00.000-08:00

"move beyond the culture of contest. It’s time to get down to the hard work of reinventing democratic governance."

Civil Society, Technology, and Development

2010-12-01T11:01:00.000-08:00

Shanta Devarajan, the World Bank chief economist for Africa, has written a short summary on the post-WW2 history of development thinking/activity. He goes through the first attempt to correct market failures through government services and intervention ("the big push"), and then the second attempt to correct for government failures, which include rent seeking, lack of accountability, and the accumulation of massive debt, resulting in the much derided "structural adjustments" imposed by the IMF and others ("The Washington Consensus"). He advocates a progression to "Development 3.0", which emphasizes the role that civil society* and information technologies can play in empowering people to hold their government accountable. Accountable how? He outlines two areas where the government has been deficient:

When they don’t use market incentives, governments have difficulties in monitoring and enforcing performance by frontline service providers. The result is absentee teachers, clinics without drugs, impassable roads.
A second, more pervasive imperfection is in the political system. Even in democracies where the median voter is poor, politicians who advocate anti-poor policies (such as some of the government interventions above) continue to get elected. One reason is that politicians are able to control the flow of information to the electorate, convincing them to vote for policies that are, in fact, not in their interest. In the water tariff example, politicians run on a platform of maintaining free water—and get re-elected.

He goes on to ask: "Can we use technology and the voice of civil society to address these government failures?" And he gives a couple of specific suggestions.

Rather than imposing conditions, we can empower poor people to monitor service providers. With some 80 percent of Africans having access to a cell phone, it is not difficult to have parents (or the students themselves) send an SMS message if the teacher is not in school, or there are no drugs in the clinic or the purported road maintenance program is not happening.

Rather than writing reports on the costs of distortions (and whispering them in the Finance Minister’s ear), we could disseminate these results—in digestible form—to poor people through their cell phones. Get the information out about who benefits from infrastructure subsidies, which districts have the highest teacher absentee rate, etc. This is information about poor people’s daily lives; they should be the first to receive it. As better informed voters, they may then start voting for politicians who advocate in their interest. Going further, why not prepare these reports in collaboration with poor people? After all, the analysis is about them.

I was heartened by this World Bank summery for a few reasons. One is it's recognition of civil society as essential to the development process. It gets us away from the paternalistic, almost neo-colonial approach advocated by the same organization in the past that saw the poor as passive recipients of rich-world development schemes. Another is the implicit recognition of the dual importance of science and religion, of which technology and civil society, respectively, are largely derived. Finally, it advocates a culture of learning in which development is measured by participation and engagement as well as material wealth.

In the book chapter "Promoting a Discourse on Science, Religion, and Development", Dr. Farzam Arbab, current member of the Universal House of Justice, writes brilliantly on these themes. I encourage you to read the whole thing, you will see that Baha'i thinking on development is way ahead of its time, the "development community" is only beginning to catch up. In the following passage he echoes Devarajan's prescription of empowering the poor to be co-collaborators in the production of knowledge.

The building of a world civilization — the content within which, I have argued here, the field of development needs to organize its operations — calls for a level of capacity far greater than anything humanity could have imagined during its long childhood. Reaching such a level will require an enormous expansion of knowledge. But if all that is accomplished is growth in magnitude, the practical results will be sad indeed. If the current arrangements that assign the ownership of modern science to small sectors of society are maintained, the consequence will be no more than the widening of the gap between the poor and the rich. Development, that is, cannot be viewed as the mere preparation of the majority of humankind to become efficient users of the products of science and technology. A fundamental concern of any program of social and economic development has to be the right of the masses of humanity not only to have access to information, but to participate fully in the generation and application of knowledge; the extent of each human being's participation should be determined only by the measure of his or her capacities.

*While there are many definitions of civil society, I found this one useful:

"the aggregate of non-governmental organizations and institutions that manifest interests and will of citizens; individuals and organizations in a society which are independent of the government"

Update: Check out Owen Barder's excellent response which originally led me to Devarajan's post. Barder is a development practitioner with a wealth of practical experience in development
.
Update (2): Geoffrey Cameron over at Jeune Street has also commented on this article, contrasting Devarajan's views with that of Bill Easterly's recent piece.

"Jeune Street" reviews "Revelation and Social Reality"

2010-11-26T11:23:00.000-08:00

"Jeune Street", a blog I have long enjoyed for its reflections on global governance and development, has posted a nicely brief yet comprehensive review of Paul Lample's "Revelation and Social Reality". Do check it out, and more importantly, if you are interested in the philosophical underpinnings of the Baha'i institute process, read the book.

The Virtue of Moral Anxiety

2010-11-26T11:00:00.000-08:00

David Brooks has an interesting take on the U.S. debt crises and our political inability to deal with it. He cites this gridlock as a relatively new phenomenon, relating to a depleted level of moral anxiety in our politics.

For centuries, American politicians did not run up huge peacetime debts. It wasn’t because they were unpartisan or smarter or more virtuous. It was because they were constrained by a mentality inherited from the founders. According to this mentality, a big successful nation exists in a state of equilibrium between its many factions. This equilibrium is fragile because we are flawed and fallen creatures and can’t quite trust ourselves. So all of us, but especially members of the leadership class, should practice self-restraint. Moral anxiety restrained hubris (don’t think your side possesses the whole truth) and self-indulgence (debt corrupts character).

This ethos has dissolved, on left and right. The new mentality sees the country not as an equilibrium, but as a battlefield in which the people, who are pure and virtuous, do battle against the interests or the elites, who stand in the way of the people’s happiness.

The ideal leader in this mental system is free from moral anxiety but full of passionate intensity. This leader pushes his troops in lock step before the voracious foe. Each party has its own version of whom the evil elites are, but both feel they’ve more to fear from their enemies than from their own sinfulness.

And the American constitution divides power so completely that big important action requires some humility on all sides, or else collaboration is impossible. All legislation becomes emergency legislation, too little, too late.

Compilation on Marriage and Sexuality

2010-11-20T23:21:00.000-08:00

Several years ago I put together this compilation for a class I facilitated at a summer school. Since the subjects of marriage, chastity, and homosexuality have proven to be a popular source of discussion, I've been able to use it many times since the class, and I'm sharing it here for general interest.

Marriage

…He established the law of marriage, made it as a fortress for well-being and salvation, and enjoined it upon us in that which was sent down out of the heaven of sanctity in His Most Holy Book. He saith, great is His glory: "Marry, O people, that from you may appear he who will remember Me amongst My servants; this is one of My commandments unto you; obey it as an assistance to yourselves."

Bahá'u'lláh, Bahá’í Prayers, p. 103

Bahá'í marriage is union and cordial affection between the two parties. They must, however, exercise the utmost care and become acquainted with each other's character. This eternal bond should be made secure by a firm covenant, and the intention should be to foster harmony, fellowship and unity and to attain everlasting life.

`Abdu'l-Bahá, Bahá’í Prayers, p. 103

The Bahá'í Teachings do not only encourage marital life, considering it the natural and normal way of existence for every sane, healthy and socially-conscious and responsible person, but raise marriage to the status of a Divine institution, its chief and sacred purpose being the perpetuation of the human race...

From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, April 15, 1939

That there should be, however, certain individuals, who by reason of some serious deficiency, physical or mental, would be incapacitated to contract marriage and enjoy the blessings of an enduring and successful marital life, is only too evident, but these constitute only a very small section of humanity, and are therefore merely an exception, and their condition cannot possibly invalidate what an all-wise and loving Providence has decreed to be the normal way to the fruitful and constructive social existence.

From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, April 15, 1939

The atmosphere within a Bahá'í family as within the community as a whole should express 'the keynote of the Cause of God' which, the beloved Guardian has stated, 'is not dictatorial authority but humble fellowship, not arbitrary power, but the spirit of frank and loving consultation'.

From letter of the Universal House of Justice December 28, 1980

Concerning your question whether there are any legitimate forms of expression of the sex instinct outside of marriage: according to the Bahá'í Teachings no sexual act can be considered lawful unless performed between lawfully married persons. Outside of marital life there can be no lawful or healthy use of the sex impulse. The Bahá'í youth should, on the one hand, be taught the lesson of self-control which, when exercised, undoubtedly has a salutary effect on the development, of character and of personality in general, and on the other should be advised, nay even encouraged, to contract marriage while still young and in full possession of their physical vigour. Economic factors, no doubt, are often a serious hindrance to early marriage, but in most cases are only an excuse, and as such should not be overstressed.

From a letter dated 13 December 1940, to an individual believer

The Bahá'í Teachings… while permitting divorce, consider it a reprehensible act, which should be resorted to only in exceptional circumstances, and when grave issues are involved, transcending such… considerations as physical attraction or sexual compatibility and harmony.

on behalf of the Guardian to a believer, May 8, 1939

There is no doubt about it that the believers in America, probably unconsciously influenced by the extremely lax morals prevalent and the flippant attitude towards divorce which seems to be increasingly prevailing, do not take divorce seriously enough and do not seem to grasp the fact that although Bahá'u'lláh has permitted it, He has only permitted it as a last resort and strongly condemns it.

The presence of children, as a factor in divorce, cannot be ignored, for surely it places an even greater weight of moral responsibility on the man and wife in considering such a step. Divorce under such circumstances no longer just concerns them and their desires and feelings but also concerns the children's entire future and their own attitude towards marriage."

on behalf of the Guardian, December 19, 1947

Chastity implies both before and after marriage an unsullied, chaste sex life. Before marriage absolutely chaste, after marriage absolutely faithful to one's chosen companion. Faithful in all sexual acts, faithful in word and in deed. The world today is submerged, amongst other things, in an over-exaggeration of the importance of physical love, and a dearth of spiritual values. In as far as possible the believers should try to realize this and rise above the level of their fellowmen who are, typical of all decadent periods in history, placing so much overemphasis on the purely physical side of mating.

The Universal House of Justice, Messages 1963 to 1986, p. 233

Chastity

Briefly stated the Bahá'í conception of sex is based on the belief that chastity should be strictly practiced by both sexes, not only because it is in itself highly commendable ethically, but also due to its being the only way to a happy and successful marital life. Sex relationships of any form, outside marriage, are not permissible therefore, and whoso violates this rule will not only be responsible to God, but will incur the necessary punishment from society.

The Bahá'í Faith recognizes the value of the sex impulse, but condemns its illegitimate and improper expression such as free love, companionate marriage and others, all of which it considers positively harmful to man and to the society in which he lives. The proper use of the sex instinct is the natural right of every individual, and it is precisely for this very purpose that the institution of marriage has been established. The Bahá'ís do not believe in the suppression of the sex impulse but in its regulation and control.

On behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer

“As to a chaste and holy life, it should be regarded as no less essential a factor that must contribute its proper share to the strengthening and vitalization of the Bahá'í community, upon which must in turn depend the success of any Bahá'í plan or enterprise. In these days when the forces of irreligion are weakening the moral fiber, and undermining the foundations of individual morality, the obligation of chastity and holiness must claim an increasing share of the attention of the American believers, both in their individual capacities and as the responsible custodians of the interests of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh. In the discharge of such an obligation, to which the special circumstances resulting from an excessive and enervating materialism now prevailing in their country lend particular significance, they must play a conspicuous and predominant role. All of them, be they men or women, must, at this threatening hour when the lights of religion are fading out, and its restraints are one by one being abolished, pause to examine themselves, scrutinize their conduct, and with characteristic resolution arise to purge the life of their community of every trace of moral laxity that might stain the name, or impair the integrity, of so holy and precious a Faith.

“A chaste and holy life must be made the controlling principle in the behavior and conduct of all Bahá'ís, both in their social relations with the members of their own community, and in their contact with the world at large. It must adorn and reinforce the ceaseless labors and meritorious exertions of those whose enviable position is to propagate the Message, and to administer the affairs, of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh. It must be upheld, in all its integrity and implications, in every phase of the life of those who fill the ranks of that Faith, whether in their homes, their travels, their clubs, their societies, their entertainments, their schools, and their universities. It must be accorded special consideration in the conduct of the social activities of every Bahá'í summer school and any other occasions on which Bahá'í community life is organized and fostered. It must be closely and continually identified with the mission of the Bahá'í youth, both as an element in the life of the Bahá'í community, and as a factor in the future progress and orientation of the youth of their own country.

“Such a chaste and holy life, with its implications of modesty, purity, temperance, decency, and clean-mindedness, involves no less than the exercise of moderation in all that pertains to dress, language, amusements, and all artistic and literary avocations. It demands daily vigilance in the control of one's carnal desires and corrupt inclinations. It calls for the abandonment of a frivolous conduct, with its excessive attachment to trivial and often misdirected pleasures. It requires total abstinence from all alcoholic drinks, from opium, and from similar habit-forming drugs. It condemns the prostitution of art and of literature, the practices of nudism and of companionate marriage, infidelity in marital relationships, and all manner of promiscuity, of easy familiarity, and of sexual vices. It can tolerate no compromise with the theories, the standards, the habits, and the excesses of a decadent age. Nay rather it seeks to demonstrate, through the dynamic force of its example, the pernicious character of such theories, the falsity of such standards, the hollowness of such claims, the perversity of such habits, and the sacrilegious character of such excesses.”

Shoghi Effendi, The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 30

Chastity in the strict sense means not to have sexual intercourse, or sexual intimacies, before marriage. In the general sense it means not to be licentious. This does not mean we Bahá'ís believe sexual relations to be impure or wrong. On the contrary they are natural and should be considered one of God's many blessings.

Shoghi Effendi, The Light of Divine Guidance v II, p. 69

Homosexuality

. . .you write that you cannot explain to a friend why her way of love, homosexual love, is wrong and that your lack of understanding on this point also hampers your teaching efforts. Until there is wide recognition of Bahá'u'lláh as the Revealer of the Divine Will, there is no answer that will satisfy all questioners, particularly one who has a vested interest in maintaining that his behavior is innocuous. Homosexuality has been forbidden by Bahá'u'lláh in His Book of Laws, just as it was forbidden by other Prophets of God. . .

On behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer

"You mention recent research which indicates that there may be a genetic basis for homosexuality; you accept the Bahá’í view of this matter, but you question the use of such terms as “abnormality, handicap, affliction, problem, etc.” since they can create misunderstandings. On the contrary, the House of Justice feels that just such words can be a great help to the individuals concerned. Human beings suffer from many problems, both physical and psychological. Some are the result of the individual’s own behaviour, some are caused by the circumstances in which he grew up, some are congenital. Some human beings are born blind, some suffer from incapacitating accidents or diseases. Such conditions present the individual affected, and those around him, with serious problems, and it is one of the challenges of the human condition that all those concerned should strive to overcome such problems and have understanding and sympathy for the individual so afflicted.

"There is a wide range of sexual abnormalities. Some people nowadays maintain that homosexuality is not an abnormality and that homosexuals should be encouraged to establish sexual relations with one or more partners of the same sex. The Faith, on the contrary, makes it abundantly clear that homosexuality is an abnormality, is a great problem for the individual so afflicted, and that he or she should strive to overcome it. The social implications of such an attitude are very important. The primary purpose of sexual relations is, clearly, to perpetuate the species. The fact that personal pleasure is derived therefrom is one of the bounties of God. The sex act is merely one moment in a long process, from courtship through marriage, the procreation of children, their nursing and rearing, and involves the establishment of a mutually sustaining relationship between two souls which will endure beyond life on this earth."

Letter of The Universal House of Justice, 5 June 1993, Homosexuality, p. 11

"On the question of whether or not there is a biological predisposition to homosexuality, the letter indicates that the question is still open to dispute. In this regard, it may be important to note that while science may find that a predisposition to homosexuality is caused by genetic aberration, and in that sense may be considered "natural", it does not follow that it is "natural" for some people to be homosexual. A comparison can be drawn with the evidence which suggests that there is a genetic flaw which produces a predisposition to alcoholism. Most people would hesitate to conclude from such evidence that a person with such a genetic aberration would be destined to become an alcoholic in spite of any efforts to the contrary. As the letter states, "The statistics which indicate that homosexuality is incurable are undoubtedly distorted by the fact that many of those who overcome the problem never speak about it in public, and others solve their problems without consulting professional counselors." Furthermore, contrary evidence may well exist but may be overlooked by scientific reporting that is, for one reason or another, biased."

The Universal House of Justice, May 3, 1994, Advice on Homosexuality

...it is clear from the teaching of Bahá’u’lláh that homosexuality is not a condition to which a person should be reconciled, but is a distortion of his or her nature which should be controlled or overcome. This may require a hard struggle, but so also can be the struggle of a heterosexual person to control his or her desires.

Letter of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer, 12 January 1973

"While recognizing the divine origin and force of the sex impulse in man, religion teaches that it must be controlled, and Bahá'u'lláh's law confines its expression to the marriage relationship. The unmarried homosexual is therefore in the same position as anyone else who does not marry. The Law of God requires them to practice chastity."

Compiled by Universal House of Justice Research Department, Homosexuality, p. 5

"They (homosexuals) should be treated just like any other people seeking admittance to the Faith, and be accepted on the same basis. Our teachings, as outlined in “The Advent of Divine Justice” on the subject of living a chaste life, should be emphasized to them just as to every other applicant, but certainly no ruling whatsoever should be laid down in this matter. The Bahá'ís have certainly not yet reached that stage of moral perfection where they are in a position to too harshly scrutinize the private lives of other souls, and each individual should be accepted on the basis of his faith, and sincere willingness to try to live up to the Divine standards"

Compiled by the Universal House of Justice Research Department, Homosexuality, p. 3

"When an individual becomes a Bahá'í, he or she accepts the claim of Bahá'u'lláh to be the Manifestation of God bringing a divinely-inspired message from God for the benefit of mankind. Implicit in the acceptance of this claim is the commitment of the believer to embark on the lifelong process of endeavouring to implement the teachings on personal conduct. Through sincere and sustained effort, energized by faith in the validity of the Divine Message, and combined with patience with oneself and the loving support of the Bahá'í community, individuals are able to effect a change in their behaviour; as a consequence of this effort they partake of spiritual benefits which liberate them and which bestow a true happiness beyond description. As you know, Bahá'u'lláh has clearly forbidden the expression of sexual love between individuals of the same sex. However, the doors are open for all of humanity to enter the Cause of God, irrespective of their present circumstance; this invitation applies to homosexuals as well as to any others who are engaged in practices contrary to the Bahá'í teachings. Associated with this invitation is the expectation that all believers will make a sincere and persistent effort to eradicate those aspects of their conduct which are not in conformity with Divine Law.

Compiled by Universal House of Justice Research Department, Homosexuality, p. 11

"This law is no reason for Bahá’ís to consider homosexuals as outcasts. If they are not Bahá’ís there is also no reason to expect them to obey the Bahá’í law in this respect any more than we would expect a non-Bahá’í to abstain from drinking alcohol."

Compiled by Universal House of Justice Research Department, Homosexuality, p. 11

"The question of how to deal with homosexuals is a very difficult one. Homosexuality is forbidden in the Bahá'í Faith by Bahá'u'lláh; so, for that matter, is immorality and adultery. If one is going to start imposing heavy sanctions on people who are the victims of this abnormality, however repulsive it may be to others, then it is only fair to impose equally heavy sanctions on any Bahá'ís who step beyond the moral limits defined by Bahá'u'lláh. Obviously at the present time this would create an impossible and ridiculous situation. He feels, therefore, that, through loving advice, through repeated warnings, any friends who are flagrantly immoral should be assisted, and, if possible, restrained. If their activities overstep all bounds and become a matter of public scandal, then the Assembly can consider depriving them of their voting rights. However, he does not advise this course of action and feels that it should only be resorted to in very flagrant cases."

On behalf of Shoghi Effendi to a National Spiritual Assembly, 20 August 1955

"Homosexuality is highly condemned and often a great trial and cause of suffering to a person, as a Bahá'í. Any individual so afflicted must, through prayer, and any other means, seek to overcome this handicap. But, unless the actions of such individuals are flagrantly immoral, it cannot be a pretext for depriving them of their voting rights.

On behalf of Shoghi Effendi to a National Spiritual Assembly, 6 October 1956

"Assemblies, of course, must exercise care not to pry into the private lives of the believers to ensure that they are behaving properly…."

On behalf of the Universal House of Justice to a National Spiritual Assembly, 2 December 1980

"If a homosexual cannot so overcome his or her condition to the extent of being able to have a heterosexual marriage, he or she must remain single, and abstain from sexual relations. These are the same requirements as for a heterosexual person who does not marry."

Compiled by Universal House of Justice Research Department, Homosexuality, p. 11

"Your plea for understanding and of justice extended to homosexuals is well taken in many respects, and the House of Justice assures you of its concern for the large number of persons so afflicted. Your work with the homosexual community is praiseworthy, and it permits you personally to exercise the support which is necessary for these often harassed persons, support which you call for in your essay. Moreover, your interest cannot but be therapeutic, at least for the more superficial elements of the problem; however, definitive therapy of the underlying predisposition, which you consider to be innate but the Teachings do not, may have to await additional investigations. As for the responsibility of Assemblies and of individual Bahá’ís, certainly all are called upon to be understanding, supportive and helpful to any individual who carries the burden of homosexuality."

Letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual, 22 March 1987

The Roots of Human Morality

2010-10-17T22:50:00.000-07:00

This is a nicely nuanced article in the New York Times, written by Frans de Waal, a primatologist, exploring the roots of human morality in our evolutionary heritage. His view of empathy and altruism is a nice alternative to what he coins as "Veneer Theory", which tends to see all human behavior as fundamentally selfish. He concludes somewhat ambiguously by minimizing the necessity of a God in the evolution of morality while also recognizing the integral part that religion has had on our lives.

Other primates have of course none of these problems, but even they strive for a certain kind of society. For example, female chimpanzees have been seen to drag reluctant males towards each other to make up after a fight, removing weapons from their hands, and high-ranking males regularly act as impartial arbiters to settle disputes in the community. I take these hints of community concernas yet another sign that the building blocks of morality are older than humanity, and that we do not need God to explain how we got where we are today. On the other hand, what would happen if we were able to excise religion from society? I doubt that science and the naturalistic worldview could fill the void and become an inspiration for the good. Any framework we develop to advocate a certain moral outlook is bound to produce its own list of principles, its own prophets, and attract its own devoted followers, so that it will soon look like any old religion.

Blog Action Day: Water

2010-10-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

It is blog action day topic water. Instead of writing something myself, I will link to the anonymous cowgirl who has already written a nice post highlighting the importance of collaboration/cooperation in solving our greatest resource challenges. She brings in reinforcements: Elinor Ostrom and Paul Lample. Can't do much better than that.

The End of War

2010-10-13T22:33:00.000-07:00

During a college World History course I remember a professor mentioning that deaths from war declined decade by decade over the entire 20th century. I referenced this many times to allay the fears of people complaining about how war is becoming more prevalent and deadly. One of those times I mentioned the trend, a coworker said, "That's not true." To which I responded, "Yes it is." "No it's not." "Yes it is." And so on until I decided to go and look up the reference for myself. This led me to the Human Security Report, and I read the entire 2005 report.

What I found was far beyond a simple graph showing a decline in battle deaths (I was correct, by the way). The report was the first of its kind to document a dramatic global decline in political violence since the end of the Cold War, and the rise of effective peacekeeping missions of the UN. Its conclusions challenge conventional wisdom. Since global media gives coverage to new wars, but pays no attention to conflicts that are ending, nobody was paying attention to the greatest peace the world has ever seen.

Since any individual nation would want to bias the data on wars, genocides, terrorism and other violent abuses, the report was funded by the governments of Canada, Norway, Sweden, Switzerland, and the UK, and the data were compiled from a wide range of scholarly sources. It was directed through an institute of the University of British Columbia.

As it turns out, reliable data for battle-deaths really begin following World War II, and the average number of battle-deaths per conflict per year has been evenly falling since the 1950s. From 1950 to 2002 it dropped from 38,000 to 600. During and prior to World War II, conflicts between major powers resulted in many times more deaths than in the post WWII era. Correspondingly, the number of coup attempts has been declining from 25 in 1963 (highest in post-war period) to 10 failed attempts in 2004. The only form of political violence that is increasing is terrorism, but by its nature terrorism still causes far less casualties than war or genocide.

The Media and Fear

The following are reports from media sources that the Human Security Report proved false.

The number of armed conflicts is increasing.
Wars are getting deadlier.
The number of genocides is increasing.
The gravest threat to security is international terrorism.
90% of those killed in today's wars are civilians.
5 million people were killed in wars of the 1990s

In the early 1990s the media began to warn of massive wars in the developing world as the great powers pulled away their support. This assumed that the Cold War actually prevented wars from breaking out due to the undesirability of nuclear warfare. The media also began referring to the post-World War II era as the 'long peace' since there was no conflict between major powers. The opposite is true in both cases. Outside of the US and the USSR political violence increased throughout the Cold War (peaking in 1981), and the number of armed conflicts began to drop in the early 1990s when the Cold War subsided. Although they didn't fight each other, the United Kingdom, France, the United States, and the Soviet Union were involved in more international wars than any other nations during the last 60 years. The number of genocides also dropped since the end of the Cold War, and twice as fast as the drop in armed conflicts.

United Nations

The end of the cold war also allowed, for the first time, the United Nations to play the role that its founders had intended. "With the Security Council no longer paralysed by Cold War politics, the UN spearheaded a veritable explosion of conflict prevention, peacemaking and post-conflict peacebuilding activities in the early 1990s." The UN also proved to be much more successful in all of the above than similar efforts by the United States (67% success rate for the UN vs 50% success rate for comparable US missions).

Africa

The major conflicts in the 1990s and early 2000s mostly took place in sub-Saharan Africa. Somalia, Sudan, Sierra Leone, Rwanda, Uganda, Congo, and everything in between went through a series of violent movements that saw casualties. Those wars were becoming much less active by 2001, but pointing to their existence misses the point. Conflicts before the 1990s involved large armies with heavy weaponry supported by economically powerful nations, involving the deaths of tens of thousands of people. The wars in Africa involved small bands of rebels armed with light conventional weapons and sometimes lacking any official state support. Small skirmishes and attacks on civilians were preferred to major engagements, and these conflicts kill relatively few people compared to the wars of the past. In addition, these wars have and will subside when the mix of poverty, crime, and unstable governments are remedied. Don't get me wrong, the Congo wars were horrible, but by comparison to previous examples they were small and short-lived.

Conclusions

Among its conclusion, the report documents "three remarkable changes" in international politics that have had a major positive impact on global security and caused a sharp decline in international wars.

First, by the early 1980s, wars of liberation from colonial rule had virtually ceased... With the demise of colonialism one of the major drivers of international conflict had simply disappeared.
Second, the end of the Cold War removed another major cause of armed conflict from the international system. Approximately one-third of all wars in the post-World War II period had been driven wholly, or in part, by the geopolitics of the Cold War... Denied the external assistance that had long sustained them, many of these conflicts simply petered out, or were ended by negotiated settlements.
Third, the end of the Cold War set off an explosion of international activism directed toward stopping ongoing wars and preventing wars that had ended from starting up again.

Among other things, the report cites several long-term global trends that have reduced the risk of conflict.

A dramatic increase in the number of democracies.
An increase in economic interdependence.
A decline in the economic utility of war.
Growth in international institutions.
A gradual normative shift against the use of violence, creating a war-averse world.

In its final conclusion, the report says,

"International wars are extremely rare today and are likely to remain so for the foreseeable future... Over the long term, the evidence suggests that the risk of civil conflict is reduced by equitable economic growth, good governance and inclusive democracy."
"The 80% decline in the most deadly civil conflicts numbers that has taken place since the early 1990s owes little to any of the above factors, however. Here the evidence suggests the main driver of change has been the extraordinary upsurge of activism by the international community that has been directed towards conflict prevention, peacemaking and peacebuilding."
"The last point is both the most surprising and the least examined. The evidence that international activism has been the main cause of the post-Cold War decline in armed conflict is persuasive, but thus far it is mostly circumstantial. A lot more research is required to determine which specific activities and mechanisms have been most effective in bringing about the recent improvement in global security."

Beyond 2005

The 2005 report was the first of its kind, but what about the ongoing wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Sudan, Kashmir, Korea, and of course Israel/Palestine. There was another brief in 2006 from the institute claiming that the decline in armed conflict trend continued, and that particularly in Africa there were declines in the number of genocides, refugees, and military coups.

The 2007 brief focused on terrorism and showed a sharp net decline in terrorist violence around the world, and a dramatic collapse in popular support for terror networks throughout the Muslim world. It further noted that sub-Saharan Africa continued to decline in active conflicts and combat related deaths, and the same trend is still seen worldwide.

The 2009 Human Security Report shows that nationwide death rates during wartime have actually been declining due to effective health interventions in poor countries.

Lesser Peace

The greatest peace in all of history has just swept through the world and nobody noticed. What's more, nobody can even explain exactly why it happened.

Baha'is are trying to establish world peace, so a logical question might be, "If peace is being established naturally with no direct influence from Baha'is, then why do we need the Baha'i Faith?"

There are actually two stages of establishing the peace envisioned in the Baha'i Writings, first the Lesser Peace, then the Most Great Peace. The lesser is essentially a pragmatic end of war that comes about on its own, with no direct influence from Baha'is. This was prophesied by Baha'u'llah towards the end of the 19th century at a time when European powers were waging endless war on each other. The Great Peace is a stage that only Baha'is, through the diffusion of spiritual teachings, can establish, and it will represent a Golden Age of mankind. The Lesser Peace is akin to not fighting, while the Greater Peace is akin to loving one another.

The Lesser Peace has several distinguishing characteristics from the Baha'i Writings. The issue is treated at length here, but I'll provide a summary and relevant quotes.

"[The Lesser Peace], indeed, is the greatest means for insuring the tranquility of the nations. It is incumbent upon the Sovereigns of the world--may God assist them--unitedly to hold fast unto this Peace, which is the chief instrument for the protection of all mankind. It is Our hope that they will arise to achieve what will be conducive to the well-being of man. It is their duty to convene an all-inclusive assembly, which either they themselves or their ministers will attend, and to enforce whatever measures are required to establish unity and concord amongst men. They must put away the weapons of war, and turn to the instruments of universal reconstruction. Should one king rise up against another, all the other kings must arise to deter him. Arms and armaments will, then, be no more needed beyond that which is necessary to insure the internal security of their respective countries. If they attain unto this all-surpassing blessing, the people of each nation will pursue, with tranquility and contentment, their own occupations, and the groanings and lamentations of most men would be silenced."
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, pp. 30-31)

And in another place:

"The time must come when the imperative necessity for the holding of a vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally realized. The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and, participating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means as will lay the foundations of the world's Great Peace amongst men. Such a peace demandeth that the Great Powers should resolve, for the sake of tranquility of the peoples of the earth, to be fully reconciled among themselves. Should any king take up arms against another, all should unitedly arise and prevent him. If this be done, the nations of the world will no longer require any armaments, except for the purpose of preserving the security of their realms and of maintaining internal order within their territories. This will ensure the peace and composure of every people, government and nation."
(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings, CXVII)

Regarding the timing of this stage in world development, there are also several references by `Abdu'l-Baha stating that elements of the Lesser Peace will be established in the 20th century. This is regarded as a process or an era, not an event, nevertheless he assures us that major elements of it will be seen before 2001.

"The first candle is unity in the political realm, the early glimmerings of which can now be discerned. The second candle is unity of thought in world undertakings, the consummation of which will ere long be witnessed. The third candle is unity in freedom which will surely come to pass. The fourth candle is unity in religion which is the corner-stone of the foundation itself, and which, by the power of God, will be revealed in all its splendour. The fifth candle is the unity of nations -- a unity which in this century will be securely established, causing all the peoples of the world to regard themselves as citizens of one common fatherland. The sixth candle is unity of races, making of all that dwell on earth peoples and kindreds of one race. The seventh candle is unity of language, i.e., the choice of a universal tongue in which all peoples will be instructed and converse. Each and every one of these will inevitably come to pass, inasmuch as the power of the Kingdom of God will aid and assist in their realization."
(`Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-Baha, p. 32)

Later Shoghi Effendi confirms that unity among nations will be established in the century:

"This is the stage which the world is now approaching, the stage of world unity, which, as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá assures us, will, in this century, be securely established."
(Shoghi Effendi, The Promised Day is Come, p. 121)

Shoghi Effendi also mentions that the completion of the administrative buildings in an arc on Mount Carmel, whose construction finished in 2001, will "synchronize" with two others developments: "the establishment of the Lesser Peace and the evolution of Bahá’í national and local institutions". The House of Justice clarified in 1987 that the establishment of the Lesser Peace does not depend on the completion of the Arc, and that these are gradual processes, not events.

This process began with the dissolution or decline of the great monarchies during and immediately after World War I. Baha'u'llah wrote to the rulers of the world during his lifetime and gave them a prescription to establish the Most Great Peace. He said that their rejection of his message would result in the loss of their power and the beginning of a long slow process towards peace. Following WWI the League of Nations was formed, representing the first attempt at creating an international organization, being declared by `Abdu'l-Baha "the dawn of the Most Great Peace", while at the same saying "it is incapable of establishing universal peace." At the time of its failure, Shoghi Effendi described "the storm clouds that are gathering may for a time totally eclipse its power and obliterate its machinery, yet the direction in which the institution itself is operating is most significant... triumphs which this presently constituted institution, or any other body that may supersede it, is destined to achieve."

Consider the progress that has been made since this fledgling embryonic institution was formed, since its first decision to impose collective sanctions upon a member that committed an act of aggression. Consider then that the United Nations went on to develop for over 40 years before the it was able to play the role that its founders had intended. The use of its powers to promote peace is now recognized as a remarkable change that contributed towards the inexplicable trend towards peace that the world is now in.

Consider how several processes converged just leading up to the year 2001. The effective functioning of the UN, the normative shift against violence and towards a war-averse world, the rapid rise in democracy around the world, the collapse of the threat of nuclear war, the winding down of the last great war in the Congo, the fall of institutionalized racism, the rapid and diffuse use of the English language as a universal language, the proliferation of access to the internet and with it all available human knowledge, the opening up of China to the world and its joining the World Trade Organization, the adoption of the Euro, the rise in free trade organizations, the large number of humanitarian organizations formed, the rapid response of news networks to ongoing conflict, the equality achieved by women, and the increasing reliance on the Security Council for legitimacy, all collectively fulfill the requirements of the unity of nations and the lesser peace set out by `Abdu'l-Baha that would be fulfilled in the 20th century. Compare the current condition to the 1920s, or even just the early 1980s, and you can see the contrast.
While the rest of the world wasn't paying attention, Baha'is were. The Universal House of Justice published a document in 1985 called The Promise of World Peace that outlined favorable steps toward world order that had taken place up to that time and declared peace inevitable. The same wrote in 1996 about world leaders taking collective actions,

"that, to a Bahá'í observer, signify a tendency towards a common approach by nations to solving world problems. Consider, for instance, the unusual frequency of the global occasions on which these leaders have gathered since the Holy Year four years ago, such as the one in observance of the Fiftieth Anniversary of the United Nations, at which the attending heads of state and heads of government asserted their commitment to world peace. Noteworthy, too, are the promptitude and spontaneity with which these government leaders have been acting together in responding to a variety of crises in different parts of the world. Such trends coincide with the increasing cries from enlightened circles for attention to be given to the feasibility of achieving some form of global governance. Might we not see in these swiftly developing occurrences the workings of the Hand of Providence, indeed the very harbinger of the monumental occasion forecast in our Writings?"

Just two years later in 1998 they wrote again,

"... amid the din of a society in turmoil can be discerned an unmistakable trend towards the Lesser Peace. An intriguing inkling is provided by the greater involvement of the United Nations, with the backing of powerful governments, in attending to long-standing and urgent world problems; another derives from the dramatic recognition by world leaders in only recent months of what the interconnectedness of all nations in the matter of trade and finance really implies--a condition which Shoghi Effendi anticipated as an essential aspect of an organically unified world."

Then in the year 2000,

"... attempts at implementing and elaborating the methods of collective security were earnestly made, bringing to mind one of Bahá'u'lláh's prescriptions for maintaining peace; a call was raised for an international criminal court to be established, another action that accords with Bahá'í expectations; to focus attention on the imperative need for an adequate system to deal with global issues, world leaders are scheduled to meet in a Millennium Summit; new methods of communications have opened the way for everyone to communicate with anyone on the planet."

There is, however, one or two points mentioned about the Lesser Peace that have not explicitly come about. A binding constitution has not yet been formed involving all the nations of the earth, the reduction in armaments has only been a token, an international criminal court does not have universal jurisdiction, and the security council must be drastically reformed before it can achieve its true purpose. These will come with time as appropriate, maybe after more catastrophes or conflicts erupt around the world. There are still serious conflicts raging in the world, like Israel/Palestine, Russia/Georgia, Pakistan/India, or North/South Korea, and of course the United States is trying to end wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Conflicts may flare up, but the Lesser Peace has already advanced to such a point that any step back will be followed by two steps forward.

The first well-documented recognition of the end of war by the Human Security Report verifies the fulfillment of a great Baha'i prophecy.

Cooperation for Survival

2010-10-11T15:26:00.000-07:00

If asked whether nature is fundamentally competitive or cooperative, I think most people would say competitive. The "struggle for survival" or "survival of the fittest" are often used as one-line phrases to sum up a view that fierce competition is the best way to advance in evolution, and that every organism's highest goal is to reproduce as much as possible. A classic example of this might be a male lion battling a rival for domination of a pride, another might be the finches on the Galapagos islands that Darwin studied.

This idea of struggle and rightful domination is an ideology that carries over into economics and politics. The view of modern capitalism can be summed in one of two ways, the first says that the individual pursuit of self-interest is good for the whole, and the other invokes the struggle for existence seen in nature and shows no sympathy for those unable to support themselves. Both approaches were like intellectual candy for the rich and wealthy of the 20th century and proved irresistible. They justify selfishness by attributing some kind of overall good to it. The struggle for survival made its way into social policies that tried to model the natural forces of animal and plant communities in a kind of social evolution in which weaker peoples would be eliminated by stronger ones.

There is a problem with all that: nature is fundamentally cooperative. The original competitive ideology was formed from a very narrow view of nature that ignores much more important concepts. While watching two lions fight to dominate a pride, one can also see that they take great steps to avoid fighting in the first place, that the internal organs of each animal are working in perfect cooperation, bacteria in the lion's stomach is used for digestion, female lions hunt for the group, prey animals have a birth rate that balanced out against predation, plants are pollinated by bees, plants provide sweet fruits in exchange for moving seed around, fungus live in a mycorrhizal association with tree roots, rhizobia fix nitrogen for legumes, algae and fungus have an association in lichen, and on a microscopic level the composition and evolution of all eukaryotes are a result of a symbiosis between cells, causing all of the above to exist in the first place. Even the relationship between prey and predators is cooperative in a sense, if the lions killed the prey too efficiently they would be without food and would perish.

Darwin relied on analysis of individual parts and saw that everything was trying to reproduce itself as much as possible and consume resources. With this analysis of a part, he concluded that nature is ruled by conflict. Now a new kind of biology is being studied, biology of whole living systems. This blog post documents some of the findings, among them that "nature uses extraordinarily ingenious techniques to avoid conflict and competition, and that cooperation is extraordinarily widespread throughout all of nature." Another author spent seven years reviewing more than 400 research studies dealing with competition and cooperation in human relationships, and wrote, "The ideal amount of competition . . . in any environment, the classroom, the workplace, the family, the playing field, is none . . . . [Competition] is always destructive."

So what does that say about our model of economics and politics?

What does `Abdu'l-Baha say about competition and cooperation in nature? I found this excerpt from a letter quite moving,

"Observe that the primary principle adhered to by every individual of the human species is to attract benefit to himself and to avoid injury. His aim is to secure his own tranquility and happiness. This is his sole desire in life, and he strives to distinguish himself from all others through the ease, wealth, and fame he has obtained. This is the goal of every individual of the human species. But, in truth, this is a base, dangerous, and inferior notion. If man advances a little in his thinking and his aspirations become nobler, he will realize that he should strive to benefit his whole family and to protect it from harm, for he perceives that by bringing comfort and affluence to the whole family, his own felicity and prosperity will increase. Should his thinking expand even more and his aspirations grow in depth, he will realize that he should endeavor to bring blessings to the children of his country and nation and to guard them from injury. Although this aspiration and thought are for his own sake and that of his family, all the children of the nation will benefit therefrom. But this aspiration will become the cause of injury to other nations, for he then exerts the utmost effort to bring all the advantages of the human world to his own nation and the blessings of the earth to his own family, singling them out for the universal felicity of humankind. He imagines that the more other nations and neighboring countries decline, the more his own country and nation will advance, until by this means it surpasses and dominates the other nations in power, wealth, and influence."

"However, a divine human being and a heavenly individual is sanctified from these limitations, and the expansion of his mind and the loftiness of his aspirations are in the utmost degree of perfection. The compass of his thinking is so vast that he recognizes in the gain of all mankind the basis of the prosperity of every individual member of his species. He considers the injury of any nation or state to be the same as injury to his own nation and state, indeed, the same as injury to his own family and to his own self. Therefore, he strives with heart and soul as much as possible to bring prosperity and blessings to the entire human race and to protect all nations from harm. He endeavors to promote the exaltation, illumination, and felicity of all peoples, and makes no distinctions among them, for he regards humanity as a single family and considers all nations to be the members of that family. Indeed, he sees the entire human social body as one individual and perceives each one of the nations to be one of the organs of that body. Man must raise his aspiration to this degree so that he may serve the cause of establishing universal virtues and become the cause of the glory of humankind."

"At present the state of the world is the opposite of this. All the nations are thinking of how to advance their own interests while working against the best interests of other nations. They desire their own personal advantage while seeking to undermine affairs in other countries. They call this the "struggle for survival" (tanázu'-i baqá), and assert that it is innate to human nature. But this is a grievous error; nay, there is no error greater than this. Gracious God! Even in the animal kingdom cooperation and mutual assistance for survival are observed among some species, especially in the case of danger to the whole group. One day I was beside a small stream and noticed some young grasshoppers which had not yet developed wings seeking to cross to the other side in order to obtain food. To accomplish their goal, these wingless grasshoppers rushed forward into the water and vied with each other to form a bridge across the stream while the remaining grasshoppers crossed over on top of them. The grasshoppers were able to pass from one side of the stream to the other, but those insects which had formed the bridge in the water perished. Reflect how this incident illustrates co-operation for survival, not struggle for survival. Insofar as animals display such noble sentiments, how much more should man, who is the noblest of creatures; and how much more fitting it is in particular that, in view of the divine teachings and heavenly ordinances, man should be obliged to attain this excellence."

"In the estimation of God, distinctions of race, divisions of borders, favoring one people over another, and all individual limitations are unworthy and rejected. All the prophets of God were sent down and all the sacred books were revealed for the purpose of assisting man to achieve this heavenly grace and this divine virtue. All the divine teachings can be summarized as this: that these thoughts singling out advantages to one group may be banished from our midst, that human character may be improved, that equality and fellowship may be established amongst all mankind, until every individual is ready to sacrifice himself for the sake of his fellowman. This is the divine foundation. This is the law come down from heaven."

The Art of Buying Stuff

2010-10-11T13:19:00.000-07:00

How can we become conscientious consumers? Melinda, over at the super-cool blog "Time Capsule on an Urban Homestead" has drawn up a list of things she thinks about when making a purchase. I find it helpful...

In peril? There's a Help for that.

2010-10-08T19:20:00.000-07:00

Why study a prayer with another Baha'i, rather than just simply praying?

Because we forget the obvious. We forget that foolish questions have mighty answers.

"My turn to ask a question? Okay, um ... God is the Help in what?"

Recently, amid the stressors of full-time work, part-time schooling, full-time advancingtheprocessofentrybytroops, and more than a little bit of sleep deprivation, I sat down, fully miserable, and realized,

"Crap. I'm in peril. Help!"

It made me laugh. The stupid snot-still-running-down-the-face-from-crying laugh that you never let anyone but your houseplants see. How could it not? It was the most ridiculous realization that could come to me.

But it did come. And what is sobering is that it might not have. I could have continued saying the words over and over again, no longer giving them any thought after 12 years of daily repetition. Because the answer is so obvious. Because the question is so stupid.

It is a worthy endeavor to visit another believer and study a prayer together. It is worthy! It doesn't make you a fool to study the beauty of a single, simple shell by the edge of the sea.

May we never consider ourselves too grand for the answers enshrined in the Holy Writings of Baha'u'llah.
May we never feel so superior that we no longer feel comfortable asking our fellow believers and our souls, "What does this mean?"
May we learn to speak a single language, a language of shared understanding that is rooted in the knowledge of the Words of God.
May we always find a way to remember that there is Help for our peril.

And through all of this, may we all find our path to the Self-Subsisting.

29 Nations of the Earth

2010-10-04T21:50:00.000-07:00

I recently came across a summary of Nine Nations of North America, written by Joel Garreau in 1981. In it, he argues that national and state borders are largely arbitrary, and he redrew the borders of North America according to what he thought were following cultural and economic lines. Thus, my home in Portland, Oregon was part of the nation of "Ecotopia".

As an admirer of maps and geography, I was immediately drawn into the theme and thought the premise was brilliant. I live in a state and nation that have arbitrary borders that don't follow any particular logic. Big, square states dominate the western USA, cutting across rivers, mountains, and lakes like their borders were drawn by a child who never set foot on their ground. Why not take another look at better ways to administer land?

It took me just a few seconds reviewing his map to decide that I disagreed with his rationale for borders. For starters, he left huge swaths of land empty of authority and completely left out what should be the main concern of administrative boundaries: water. Then it took me just a few more seconds to decide that I should perform the same exercise and draw my own nations of North America. Then it took me just one more second to decide that I should perform the exercise on the entire earth. Then it took me about 20 hours of work spread out over several weeks to finish the maps using Google Earth, and thus my thought experiment Twenty Nine Nations of the Earth was born.

Water Management

In older days it made sense for large rivers to act as borders, because they were hard to cross and the water was plentiful and clean, but today shared water resources creates mismanagement of a precious resource, resulting in conflict, inefficiency, and pollution.

Yes water. Despite the appearance of plenty, water is a scarce and valuable resource. It has been and will be the source of immense conflict around the world. Aquifer depletion will reach an endgame over the next 25 years as half the world’s population will reach the bottoms of their wells. Just to name a few current examples

· In California's central valley water is being pumped over the hills into Los Angeles and also diverted towards irrigating farms to such an extent that the reduced volume of the Sacramento river is causing the ocean to wash up into the valley and fish runs are almost entirely depleted.

· By the time the Colorado river reaches Mexico, it’s just a trickle. After making electricity and being diverted for agricultural as it rolls southward, the largest canal in the US siphons off a huge chunk of the remaining river and pulls it into the Imperial Valley of California. Mexico gets almost nothing.

· The Ogallala aquifer under the Great Plains of the United States, which is responsible for historic food production since WWII and currently 30% of the nation's irrigation, will be dry in about 25 years.

· Lake Chad supplies four countries of Africa with water, but has mostly dried up in the past few decades, inciting violence over water rights and being declared an ecological catastrophe by the UN.

· The Sea of Galilee supplies most of the fresh water for Israel, and when Syria began constructing a diversion of the headwaters of the Jordan river, 3 years later Israel captured the Golan Heights and continue to hold the area to this day. The final stretch of the Jordan, where Jesus was baptized, is now full of raw sewage as it dumps into the dead sea.

· Egypt has claimed water rights to the Nile and may soon enter into conflict with countries of the upper Nile who plan on building hydroelectric plants and other water diversion.

· In Spain, despite an attempt to control water use, many illegally dug wells are sucking the aquifers dry to grow cabbage and to water golf courses.

· Saudi Arabia sits on a grand aquifer with more water than the Persian Gulf, and has been pumping it unsustainably to grow wheat and supply a booming population. The aquifer is halfway depleted and its refresh rate is so low that it is essentially non-replenishable.

· The Caspian Sea is bordered by five countries and is almost entirely fed by the Volga River, which is in Russia. Diversion and release of the Volga waters have caused the sea to rise and fall over time, to the consternation of those who share its shores, and Russian contamination of the Volga is cited as the source of infectious diseases that have appeared around the Caspian.

It’s clear that, 1) water management will become a high priority over time, 2) water rights should include the interests of all people that share a watershed, regardless of political boundaries and 3) the rights of future generations should be safeguarded. Similar principles can be applied to oil and gas deposits, as well as natural resources such as forests. These principles, along with transportation and population centers, were the principles behind my ideas for national borders.

Federalism

I don’t want anyone to take this too seriously, but at the same time nobody should immediately disregard this idea as the fanciful musings of a crazy person. Ask yourself this question: why is the USA the most successful and affluent country in the world? Most people wouldn’t say "federalism", but our system of administration plays an enormous role, possibly the greatest. Imagine the 50 states of the US as independent sovereign countries, each with its own military and currency. Nobody in Oregon can appreciate the value of not having to fend off militias from Idaho crossing the border, or the efficiency of shared national services that reduce the tax burden, or the federal initiatives that developed the dams on the Columbia River that provide electricity at the cheapest rates in the country.

Now ask yourself this question: what does Africa need to pull itself out of abject poverty and militancy? Nobody I know would say federalism, but that’s exactly it. The borders of African states were drawn by European powers with the explicit intention of promoting division. Even now many European countries oppose efforts by the African Union to form a continent-wide political unity, and now China has moved in to begin raping the land of resources. The AU has a mandate to "promote peace, security, and stability on the continent", and retains the right to intervene in member states in circumstances of unconstitutional changes of government, war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity. This would just be a talking shop like the United Nations, but the AU already has a military deployed in Sudan’s Darfur region and another campaign ramping up in Mogadishu. Africa won’t bring itself out of its current mess by middle-class Americans donating $10 a month to starving children in Somalia, or missionaries building a hospital in the Congo, but it can be successful by pooling resources and creating a level of sovereignty above individual states that will crush warlordism and establish a strong currency.

Nationalism

In past ages the racism that now seems so abhorrent to all but a handful of the world’s citizens was part of the social reality of the time. Its falsehood is now clearly recognized. In the future nationalism will likewise have abated to the point where people look down upon the thought of promoting the people within one arbitrary political border over the people of another arbitrary political border. The same principle underlies both racism and nationalism, but nationalism is still part of the current social reality that will naturally fade away when its falsehood is clearly recognized and the unity of humankind is firmly established.

When this happens, as I believe it must, it will be possible for political borders to be debated and redrawn with a focus on the proper administration of transportation and ecological boundaries. This re-drawing will itself promote efficiency of resources and environmental sustainability, and the act of reorganization will be the source of economic and cultural growth. All this is to say that while my little project here shouldn’t be taken too seriously, the principles behind it are profound.

There are four primary administrative divisions in most countries of the world. First there is the nation or country, then the state or province, then the county or principality, then the city or town. These maps draw national borders, presumably with each containing many states within each, but I left out the state borders on all but my own home nation, which I’m more familiar with. I’ll go into detail about my home area, then I’ll just provide a brief description of all the others. The names of each nation are the first thing that came to mind.

There is one consideration in borders that I considered but didn't incorporate due to the amount of work required. Mountains make up most of my borders, but they don't make good border checkpoints. Assuming that each nation would want to control immigration, the borders would have to be adjusted to consider human transportation. Minor adjustments could be made along major highways so that where highways and national borders intersect, they can be conveniently located in valleys instead of mountaintops.

Cascadia

The original Oregon Country was jointly administered by the US and Britain, and covered the watersheds of the Columbia and Fraser rivers. The area has a natural cohesion and is surrounded by mountains or desert on all sides. The land was hotly debated and then divided between the two powers along the 49^th parallel, a totally arbitrary division running all the way from the Great Lakes.

The unsound border caused some problems as it hit the Pacific, cutting right through Vancouver Island and the Puget Sound. Canada claimed the entire island and the US demanded that the 49^th parallel be maintained as the border. This dispute caused a war that resulted in the death of a pig (no humans). The island was ceded to Canada, but the US held onto the San Juan islands and the tiny exclave of Point Roberts that happened to be south of the 49^th parallel. This division also meant that the Fraser River delta was politically separate from the rest of the territory, despite the obvious cultural and geographical similarities.

Cascadian
Independence Movement

There is a distinct common culture that runs from Vancouver to Seattle, Tacoma, Olympia, Portland, Salem, and Eugene, all of which are tied together with Interstate-5. This is the "heartland" of a distinct independence movement called "Cascadia", taking its name from the Cascade mountain range that runs north to south through the area. The approach behind Cascadia is similar to my idea that the current borders are arbitrary and need to be redrawn to account for ecological bioregions. For my map, I took this highly populated area and grouped it with some of the unpopulated lands of the North. The three Canadian arctic territories currently represent 3.5 million square kilometers, with a population of just 110 thousand. This area can’t simply be left as an "empty quarter" as Joel Garreau put it. Areas like this should be administered by a few population centers to provide the human resources required for proper management of resources, while giving some higher level of autonomy for those actually living there.

Cascadia

I divided Cascadia into nine states, each representing a bioregion. The state of Oregon is the Rogue River, Willamette River, and lower Columbia watersheds, and the rest of the Columbia is divided into three other states. The state of Jefferson (taking its name from an actual state-hood movement) represents the middle Columbia and its tributaries east of the Cascades, including the Deschutes River. The state of Idaho now represents the Snake River watershed, which gathers a large area up to the continental divide near Yellowstone. Above that is Montana, representing the headwaters of the Columbia. The area around the Puget Sound and Olympic Peninsula make up the new state of Washington, and to the north the Fraser river watershed and several smaller rivers make the state of Vancouver. The new Alaska is shortened to the southern coast, and to the north is the Yukon. The state of Mackenzie follows the Mackenzie River watershed, which swallows up a huge portion of northern lands and dumps its water into the Arctic Ocean.

Besides the cities already mentioned, Cascadia has sizeable populations in Pasco, Kennewick, Spokane, Boise, Anchorage, and Fairbanks.

The nation of Cascadia, as with all the nations I created, would be a powerhouse. The economy of Seattle, its largest city, is currently greater than that of Venezuela, Columbia, or Thailand. Its vast forests, petroleum reserves, and capacity for hydro power represent its greatest natural resources, and its industry is home for Microsoft, Boeing, and Nike.

California

The Nation of California follows the great Colorado River, the California Central Valley and the gulf of Baja California. A great deal of it is covered by desert that would be uninhabitable except for the Colorado River; Las Vegas is a clear example of that. Any water diverted or used for power must be accounted for, but if sovereignty of the river is shared, as is currently, then anyone upstream could siphon off the water into profitable crops to the detriment of anyone downstream, as is done currently.

I also see a natural cohesion in these boundaries following cultural and travel lines. For example, the current state of Colorado has three distinctly different ecosystems, and in its current form doesn't fit neatly into groupings of other states. If split along the continental divide, the land fits nicely into bioregions.

Canada

The new nation of Canada follows the watershed of the Great Lakes, or any water that dumps into Hudson Bay. It also extends into the islands of the far north and includes all of Greenland. Look closely and you'll see that Chicago and the industrial cities of Milwaukie and Detroit are all part of Canada, adding to Toronto, Ottawa, and Montreal. The farmers in southern Illinois are tied to the plains instead of the lakes.

The joining together of the Great Lakes is important for ecological reasons. It only takes one kid peeing to ruin a day at the pool, and it only takes one factory along the border of any lake to destroy the ecosystem for everyone else. Currently nobody is in charge of the Great Lakes, at least not effectively, and the absence of authority has allowed environmental destruction to persist long after it should.

The western panhandle is actually the watershed of lake Winnepeg, and boasts the cities of Edmunton, Calgary and Saskatoon, representing millions of people and an important economic area. With the thawing of arctic ice and the opening of the northwest passage in the last few years, this nation should see nothing but green pastures in its future.

Mississippi

Enough food is currently grown in the Mississippi watershed to feed the entire world, notwithstanding transportation. The nation of Mississippi stretches from Denver to Pittsburg, Bismarck to Dallas, and New Orleans to the continental divide, not to mention Oklahoma City, Memphis, Nashville, Indianapolis, and Columbus. Its economic power is undoubtedly vast, and the administration of water rights will become increasingly important as one of the largest aquifers in the world begins to dry up right in the center of this country.

This nation will also be responsible for the pesticide runoff into the gulf that is currently causing dead zones.

New England

I'm sure someone out there can come up with a better name than "New England", but this is roughly the original thirteen British colonies of America. This region has clear cultural and transportation ties, while the ecosystem similarity is mostly related to it representing the coastal region, as opposed to the watershed of a major river.

Mexico

Texans will have a hard time accepting it, but the state doesn't represent any logical cohesion other than cultural history. The Rio Grande currently represents a border, and it should be the center of a region that has similar ecology.

The deserts around Albuquerque, El Paso, Juarez, San Antonio, are now grouped with Houston, Mexico City, and most of current Mexico.

When I was 14 I actually drove through California, Arizona, New Mexico, Texas, and into Mexico as far as Mexico city and La Huasteca. Although I've never been to western Mexico, I'm pretty confident in the border of this nation as representing logical administration.

Caribbean

Anyone who's been to southern Florida knows that it's nothing like the rest of the United States. In the nation of the Caribbean, it's tied together with all the islands and central America extending all the way to the Orinoco River in current Venezuela. Even though there is no watershed, the islands of the Caribbean need a regional administration, or some kind of federal grouping. In this region the island of Cuba will be a strong presence, as well as the area of current Venezuela and Columbia.

The Panama Canal represents a major resource of the Caribbean, as well as some gulf oil deposits, fishing, and of course tourism.

Amazon

I admit, South America took quite a bit of consideration. The Amazon represents an obvious large eco-region, but its western slope in the Andes mountains runs very close to the Pacific Ocean, and there are virtually no population centers in the Amazon basin. The major cities are all along the rings of the watershed, and those cities might be inclined to be grouped politically with closer cities. I decided to stick to the basis of watershed, which means cities like La Paz and Santa Cruz are in the nation with Georgetown, Paramaribo, and Cayenne along the northeast coast, with no major transportation routes connecting them. This seems appropriate as long as there is an established capital, and the nation would continue to be broken into somewhat autonomous states.

The reason I stuck with watershed is the same as reasons already given to the importance of water. Santa Cruz has a major river flowing through it that feeds into the Amazon basin, and to ally it politically with another power means that water diversion and pollution would not be managed on the same water source. Political alignment can work between distant lands as long as the constitution is set up similar to the United States, where individual states have a shared sovereignty, and clearly defined roles. A "light" federal system would be ideal.

Patagonia

Patagonia represents the cultural and economic centers that make current Brazil and Argentina noteworthy. Its coastline is dotted with Buenos Aires, Sao Paulo, and Rio de Janeiro, and its inland represents vast agricultural potential.

Its western border is defined by the watershed of the Rio de Plata, which spills into the Atlantic near Buenos Aires.

Peru

The nation of Peru covers the Andes mountains and everything west, along with the southern tip of the continent. Despite its narrowness, there are actually many cultural similarities that run through the mountains and coastal lands.

Major cities include Santiago, Lima, and Quito. The nation has exclusive use of a great area of the Pacific, and its territory includes the Galapagos islands.

South Africa

The first of the new African nations is South Africa, which covers an enormous and plentiful land, and includes several population centers. It also is home to the world's largest known deposits of platinum, chromium, vanadium, and cobalt, along with lesser amounts of diamonds, gold, titanium, iron, and uranium.

The ecology of South Africa is not uniform, but its cohesiveness comes from it being the horn of Africa. The border I've drawn almost exactly follows the Southern African Customs Union, a loose economic grouping of countries similar to the beginnings of the European Union.

Congo

Making the Congo region a single nation is actually much easier than for the Amazon. The Congo has several centrally located cities that already govern the watershed with some minor variations. The main concern is Burundi and Rwanda on the eastern side, which run along the Great Rift Valley. However, both Burundi and Rwanda are some of the smallest countries in Africa, and the lack of higher authority in the area has resulted in genocidal wars, and massive misuse of resources. The countries were arbitrarily made by European powers, and the people in the area would be best served by being split along natural borders into parts of much larger nations.

Chad

Lake Chad is another example of misuse of water rights. The several nations that currently border this endorheic lake all rely heavily on it for their water supply. The mismanagement of it has led to its steady disappearance, which is at the heart of the unrest in Darfur. Providing a central authority over the watershed of the lake is essential for the long term stability of central Africa.

The strip between Lake Chad and the Atlantic is what remains between the Congo and the Niger watersheds.

Niger

The Niger River is the largest in western Africa, and snakes its way westward along the edge of the Sahara desert. Both the coastal and inland cities of the nation of Niger have some of the greatest potential in all of Africa to create a booming economy and nation. They are currently sorely lacking in success due to political disunity and poverty.

Maghreb

Northwestern Africa was always referred to as the Maghreb (western) part of the Islamic world, and the term is still used to this day. Although the Sahara desert doesn't have much to offer in the way of population and resources, the coastal cities, particularly Tripoli, Tunis, Alger, and much of Morocco have strong populations and some natural resources.

If you look closely, this nation also has control of Gibraltar, and thus the narrow passageway to the Mediterranean.

Nile

It's only been a century since the clear discovery of the true source of the Nile River, but it didn't take long to cause controversy. Egypt's attempt to build the Aswan dam controlled the periodic flooding of the river, and made some power at the same time, but it also stopped the periodic silting of the banks of the river, which caused the fertile ground. In more recent years Egypt has become very blatant in claiming exclusive rights to the water of the Nile, just as Ethiopia and other countries are constructing water diversion projects that could leave Egypt barren.

Clearly the entire Nile River watershed needs to be grouped together politically, if for no other reason than the incredibly valuable resources of the river. And if these are grouped together, it makes sense to add the area bordering the Red Sea to this federation, since the Suez canal connects it to the Mediterranean.

Europa

The Nation of Europa encompasses every last bit of European land whose water drains into the Atlantic. This actually leaves many cultural and transportation ties intact, since past empires largely had to follow coastlines and were thwarted by large mountains.

This nation has no shortage of population and economic capacity. It is the heartland of western civilization, with cities such as Lisbon, Madrid, Paris, London, Brusseles, Berlin, Prague, Warsaw, and St Petersburg. It also has surprisingly large petroleum deposits in the North Sea.

Mediterranean

The Mediterranean coastline represents a frequently conquered land that was ruled for centuries by Romans, Byzantines, and later Ottomans. The region has clear social and economic ties, and even similar ecosystem. Included in its boundaries is the Dardanelles, the strait that connects the Mediterranean and Black Seas.

Among its major cities, it boasts Barcelona, Marseilles, Rome, Athens, Istanbul, Ankara, Damascus, and Jerusalem.

Black Sea

The Danube River drains a large part central Europe into the Black Sea. This area has always been historically linked together, at times being dominated by Austria, Hungary, Romania, and even Russia. It naturally becomes allied together with other lands that drain into the Black Sea, mainly parts of Poland and most of the Ukraine.

Caspian

The Caspian Sea has an interesting ecology. It is endorheic, so it doesn't drain into the ocean, and it is fed almost entirely from the Volga River, which runs through the heartland of Russia. It makes sense to tie the area together with the watershed of the Aral Sea, which collects from central Asia. This area has always had cultural ties to Moscow, which itself was founded by Mongol traders from central Asia. The Aral sea is another example of water mismanagement. Its endorheic basin is split between several dry nations, and it has largely dried up in recent decades.

Another endorheic basin just to the East could also be grouped into the Caspian nation, but it seemed more appropriate for it to be with Siberia, otherwise a large section of arctic lands would have a very small population.

Siberia

On the southern end of the nation of Siberia, Lake Balquash is an endorheic lake that collects water from northern central Asia. Just to its north, the Ob and Dvina Rivers have large basins that drain into the Arctic Ocean. The eastern border is defined by the Yenisei River, which also drains into the Arctic and has its headwaters near Lake Baikal, the oldest, deepest, and second most voluminous lake in the world (second to the Caspian).

This nation is admittedly lacking in human resources. Its main cities will obviously be in the South, mostly in central Asia, but its northern territories are resource rich, and the thawing of the Arctic may play out well for this nation also.

Iran

The nation of Iran follows roughly the old Persian Empire. The entire Persian gulf, with its immense capacity for energy resources, is all under a single authority. Also are the rivers that pour into the gulf that are currently part of disputes of water rights between Iraq and Turkey. When this region is politically coherent, civilization here will flourish.

Major cities include Baghdad, Tabriz, Tehran, Shiraz, Basra, Kuwait, Riyadh, Dubai, and Esfahan. It also includes the southern shore of the Caspian, which has only a very small watershed that drains into the Caspian, and is much more culturally allied with Tehran.

India

The border between the current countries of Afghanistan and Pakistan were drawn by a British man who never visited the area, yet they persist to this day. Afghanistan is currently a huge, mostly impassable mountain range surrounded on three sides by flat dry land. The mountain range represents the western border of the new nation of India, stretching all the way across the sub-continent into current Burma, and includes the watershed of the Indus and Brahmaputra Rivers, which stretch all the way around the Himalayas into Tibet. The islands of the Maldives are also included.

The Indus Valley represents one of the cradles of civilization and in ancient times hosted the largest cities in the world. It is almost certainly the most populous of any of the 29 nations, and has a strong agricultural base.

Southeast Asia

Southeast Asia has an interesting terrain. There is a stretch of land high up in the mountains where three major rivers run parallel to each other for a short time before diverging into three completely different seas. The Salween runs southwest through Burma and into the Indian Ocean; the Mekong runs southeast through Laos, Thailand, Cambodia, and into the South China Sea in Vietnam; the Yangtze runs east through the Sichuan basin and into the East China Sea. The need to manage the shared resource of the Mekong flowing through six countries has already caused controversy. China has begun construction of three dams on its headwaters that will threaten the livelihoods of all those living on its lower reaches.

The lands of current Cambodia and Thailand have seen the rising and falling of great civilization over time, and combining them with Vietnam and the prosperous Yangtze and Pearl watersheds seems like a proper match. There is already extensive cultural mixing between southeast Asian countries and southern China.

For lack of a better name, I called this Southeast Asia. Maybe Siam would work?

Indonesia

The new nation of Indonesia encompasses Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines, and some other small islands. This seemed like an obvious fit for a nation, although I debated how much of Malaysia should be associated with the islands.

This land has rich biodiversity, especially on the main islands of Java, Sumatra, Borneo, and Bali. Here you'll find a rhinoceros, orangutan, and an elephant romping around the forest, although their numbers are dwindling. The human population is doing much better. Malaysia, Indonesia, Singapore, and the Philippines have about 350 million people, larger than the current United States, and a combined GDP of about $1.75 trillion.

Australia

Australia is a continent and country. The only change here is to group it with New Zealand, which doesn't fit as well into the Pacific Islands. Given the land and cultural resources, I think this nation has sufficient means to compete with the rest of the world and administer its affairs.

Pacific Islands

The Hawaiian islands are the most isolated grouping of islands on earth, and didn't have any mammals or edible vegetation on them, but that didn't stop some Polynesians two thousand years ago from setting off on an adventure in advanced boats fully stocked with plants, animals and women. Hawai'i should naturally be grouped with the rest of the Polynesian Islands in a large nation with similar culture and ecosystems.

Many of these islands are already grouped into political federations, such as the Federated States of Micronesia, Cook Islands, Solomon Islands, Kiribati, and French Polynesia. These, along with New Guinea, could easily represent individual states of a federal system for the larger nation to combine resources.

China

The Yellow River, representing another historic cradle of civilization, rolls across the heartland of the oldest definition of China and dumps its water into the Yellow Sea. The headwaters of this river extend all the way up into Tibet. The far western area is the large endorheic Tarim Basin, the bulk of Xinjiang autonomous region and a major part of the old Silk Road. The Tarim Basin is most closely associated with northern China and Mongolia, so for this reason they are part of the same nation. Also noteworthy is the inclusion of most of Korea.

Chinese people will immediately notice the division of China through the coastal plain as a grievous error, but anyone who has been to China also knows of a clear north/south cultural and linguistic divide, not to mention the obvious ecological differences. Nationalism has to fall for the Chinese too!

Japan

The last nation is Japan, tied together with the Amur and the Lena Rivers, and some uninhabited arctic lands.

The powerhouse of this nation is obviously the Japanese islands, but the continental land includes the Chinese city of Harbin, and the Russian port city of Vladivostok, connected to the Trans-Siberian Railroad

Similar to Cascadia, the northern lands need to be part of a nation with significant human resources for administration and industry. For the land in the far northeast of Asia, it seems more logical to group it with a power in the Pacific Ocean, instead of Russia.

All the images used here can be seen in this Picasa album. If you want the Google Earth files, post your email address.

Systematic Accompaniment: Ruhi Book 1 in Action

2010-09-29T08:43:00.000-07:00

Sometimes, it feels like pulling teeth just to convince a community that home visits are a viable method of community building. Sure, it might work in those* communities. [*anywhere but here] Or for somebody else. But not here, not now, and above all, not us.

Changing the minds of these individuals is an extremely daunting task. But running under the assumption that it's a much simpler matter to give birth than to raise the dead, let's take a look at our new friends Ruhi Book 1. How can a tutor provide the best quality study circle possible in order to ensure that our participants feel empowered to carry out regular home visits?

1. It starts before you hand out the books.

Share the nature of the study circle, it's place in the process of community building, and its purpose in building the capacity of the individual. Discuss the fact that “understanding the implications of the Revelation, both in terms of individual growth and social progress, increases manifold when study and service are joined and carried out concurrently.” (Ridvan message 2010, paragraph 9.) Explain the process as one of a group of action that studies in support of that action, rather than a group of study that acts in support of intellectual learning. You can sometimes affectionately refer to it as a Practice Circle or Active Learning Circle instead of a study circle if that helps.

Once you do start working with the book, read “To the Collaborators” first. Talk with your participants about what they'll experience as they work towards becoming tutors themselves.

2. The real work begins in Unit 1.

In the first section, practice studying the selections from the Writings as an entire group. Follow the entire process of reading the quotation, formulating questions and answering directly from the text, and finding concrete examples of any abstractions. Relate the learning to your own experiences if insights appear, but don't force this—some people are shy about personal situations. Also complete Section 2 as a group.

For the first quotation of Section 3, model doing this process as a pair. Then divide the group into pairs (add a triad, if needed), and have them work through on their own as you circulate.

After each pair has completed Section 3, come back and reflect on the experience. What was easy? What was difficult? What did I learn about the text? About myself? About my partner? Then move on to Section 4 as a group.

Continue this way through Unit 1, breaking into pairs for study of the Writings, gathering for reflection, and answering the questions in the even-numbered sections as a group. Yes, this takes more time. But it takes considerably less time than attempting to build confidence through the process of rousing pep-talks at every single Cluster Reflection for the next ten years.

3. Get geared up before Unit 2.

Read the purpose and practices, and discuss them in the context of community building. Then put the books away.

As a group, study a prayer. This should come naturally, as you follow the exact same procedure as you've been practicing in Unit 1 for the study of the Writings in general. Read the prayer, ask and answer questions from the text, formulate concrete examples, and relate it to your experiences.

Again, model the process in a pair. Reassure your participants that you're doing nothing different aside from choosing the Writings from a prayer book rather than following what has been given in the Ruhi book.

Break into pairs to study a prayer together.

Come back and reflect as a group.

Do not begin the unit yet.

4. Arrange the first round of home visits.

Find believers who agree to be visited during your regular meeting time. Since your study circle participants already have this cleared in their schedules, there should be no conflicts. Choose the most welcoming, loving, and humble believers you can find to be visited, ideally those who have completed the Book 1 practice and make home visits on a regular basis. Make sure they know what the purpose of the visit will be.

If possible, arrange for experienced believers to come and accompany your study circle participants on their first home visits. If not, arrange the groups in such a way that the confident and the timid are paired with one another for support.

Meet, scatter, visit, return, and reflect.

5. Now start Unit 2.

Study. Make art. Pray. Sing. Memorize your five prayers. Host a devotional gathering. All that good stuff.

6. Help your participants arrange their second round of home visits.

This time, involve the group in the planning process, so that they can see what goes into that part of it. They may have specific people they would like to visit. Offer as much support as needed. Model making a phone call to arrange a home visit. If there is still nervousness, role play the phone call in pairs. For those who still don't feel comfortable, partner them with someone who is.

Meet, scatter, visit, return, and reflect. Has the process of visiting become easier? What will they do differently next time? How has their deepened understanding of the nature of prayer changed the quality of their visit? How did visiting deepen their comprehension of the nature of prayer? Has our “understanding of the Revelation” truly “increased manifold”?

7. Don't drop the subject.

Share your own home visit stories with participants. Suggest people who might like a visit. Offer to accompany anyone through the process of visiting. The Unit 3 theme of “Life and Death” is a rich subject with many prayers that can be shared with both survivors and the dying, a profound home visit experience indeed.

There is no reason why we can't be just as systematic in our accompaniment as we are in gathering statistics or planning programs of growth. Although the process takes considerable time and effort, the reverberations of such an effort throughout a community can be exponentially greater.

“That the Bahá'í world has succeeded in developing a culture which promotes a way of thinking, studying, and acting, in which all consider themselves as treading a common path of service—supporting one another and advancing together, respectful of the knowledge that each one possesses at any given moment and avoiding the tendency to divide the believers into categories such as deepened and uninformed—is an accomplishment of enormous proportions. And therein lie the dynamics of an irrepressible movement.

“What is imperative is that the quality of the educational process fostered at the level of the study circle rise markedly over the next year so that the potential of local populations to create such dynamics is realized.”

(Ridvan message 2010, paragraphs 10-11 [emphasis mine])

We have half a year.

Creating an Eternal Universe.

2010-09-27T04:31:00.000-07:00

As you may or may not already know, famed physicist Stephen Hawking has recently weighed in with some thoughts on God's role in the origin of the universe. I think these statements provide a fruitful opportunity to explore statements of Baha'u'llah regarding the unknowability of God and the eternal nature of the universe.

In his latest book, The Grand Design, an extract of which is published in Eureka magazine in The Times, Hawking said: “Because there is a law such as gravity, the Universe can and will create itself from nothing. Spontaneous creation is the reason there is something rather than nothing, why the Universe exists, why we exist.”

He added: “It is not necessary to invoke God to light the blue touch paper and set the Universe going.”

It seems to me Dr. Hawking’s statements tend to confirm Bahá’í teachings and can help purify a Bahá’í understanding of physics from some unwarranted assumptions introduced from the heritage of Christian theology.

One assumption we don't need is that the universe has a definite beginning within time, and that God has, at a certain point, set it in motion. If the big bang was the result of an already existing law of gravity then there doesn't seem to any longer be a historical limit on that's law's age. This fits rather well with words of Baha'u'llah on the topic.

As to thy question concerning the origin of creation. Know assuredly that God’s creation hath existed from eternity, and will continue to exist forever. Its beginning hath had no beginning, and its end knoweth no end. His name, the Creator, presupposeth a creation, even as His title, the Lord of Men, must involve the existence of a servant.
Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, LXXVIII p. 150

Another assumption we can do without is that God is a substance, just as we might say iron is a substance or a toothbrush has substance. I think such an idea goes against Baha'u'llah's statements that God is unknowable. Such a profound concept doesn’t just mean he is way “up there” and we’re “down here.” Perhaps, it means that God is not a being that happens to be distant or unreachable, as if, for example, his substance existed in a closet in my basement but I can’t find the key, but that instead he is heterogeneous to being itself. If God is “unknowable” then it is only logical to expect that he would not show up within the domain of physics. My understanding is that Stephen Hawking is trying to discredit the idea that science can identify a role for God within the realm of what can be known through scientific research. If that’s the case, then I think it makes sense to say Bahá’u’lláh wholeheartedly agrees! In the same passage, Baha'u'llah writes,

[T]he habitation wherein the Divine Being dwelleth is far above the reach and ken of any one besides Him. Whatsoever in the contingent world can either be expressed or apprehended, can never transgress the limits which, by its inherent nature, have been imposed upon it. God, alone, transcendeth such limitations. He, verily, is from everlasting. No peer or partner has been, or can ever be, joined with Him. No name can be compared with His Name. No pen can portray His nature, neither can any tongue depict His glory. He will, for ever, remain immeasurably exalted above any one except Himself.
Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, LXXVIII p. 150-1

It seems to me that anyone hoping for scientists to find God in the order of the Universe are barking up the wrong tree. He is nearer to us than our life vein. But that doesn't necessarily mean we could ever point to him with a set of scientific theories.

Catholic Imagery in Baha'u'llah's Writings

2010-09-21T12:43:00.000-07:00

This comes from Baha'u'llah's address to Pope Pius IX.

Arise in the name of thy Lord, the God of Mercy, amidst the peoples of the earth, and seize thou the Cup of Life with the hands of confidence. First drink thou therefrom, and proffer it then to such as turn towards it amongst the peoples of all faiths.
Baha'u'llah, Summons of the Lord of Hosts, 105, p. 56

This quotation is similar to a well known passage from Baha'u'llah's writings about teaching: "Whoso ariseth among you to teach the Cause of his Lord, let him, before all else, teach his own self, that his speech may attract the hearts of them that hear him." Sharing Baha'u'llah's message with others is certainly a major aspect of this passage. But in addition, the imagery resembles the way the Sacrament of the Eucharist is conducted.

As someone who has grown up familiar with the Roman Catholic Mass, it seems to me that Baha'u'llah is using the Sacrament of the Eucharist, the sharing of the Body and Blood of Jesus, as a metaphor for service to His Cause. To speak of the "the Cup of Life" in a Christian context inevitably leads the reader back to Jesus' Last Supper with the Apostles: Then he took a cup, gave thanks, and gave it to them, saying, "Drink from it, all of you, for this is my blood of the covenant, which will be shed on behalf of many for the forgiveness of sins. (Mt 26.27-8)

Each Mass, the priest re-enacts this consecration of the bread and the wine. After the consecration the priest is the first to drink from the cup. He then begins sharing the Eucharist with the congregation. This is consistent with Baha'u'llah's exhortation to "First drink thou therefrom, and proffer it then to such as turn towards it amongst the peoples of all faiths." Though, perhaps, it goes without saying that the Catholic Church does not open the Eucharist to the peoples of all faiths. Baha'u'llah has in mind a wider distribution of the Cup of Life.

Worth keeping in mind are the diverging ways Catholic Tradition and the Baha'i Writings understand how a soul comes in contact with the divine.

For Catholics, the central concept is incarnation; that human flesh became divine in the person of Jesus, and that the bread and wine become his Body and Blood in the Sacrament of the Eucharist. Through the eating and drinking of the Eucharist a person is joined to the spiritual body of the Church, whose head is Christ Jesus. Whoever eats my flesh and drinks my blood lives in me and I live in that person. (Jn 6.56) Receiving the Body and Blood of Christ brings a person in contact with the divine.

And for Baha'is, the central concept here is manifestation, that divine qualities, such as love, knowledge, and joy, are like rays of the sun, emanating from God and reflected upon the mirror of human hearts.

So, when the teachings of Baha'u'llah are shared with others, if those teachings take root, a process of spiritual transformation takes place by which a person becomes a fuller manifestation of the divine qualities. Here, exemplifying certain spiritual characteristics brings a soul in contact with the divine.

It seems to me, when Baha'u'llah writes "seize thou the Cup of Life," he is discussing the manifestation of divine qualities in our souls, using physical imagery Catholics would associate with the Sacrament of the Eucharist and the concept of incarnation undergirding it. Perhaps, we might say the cultivation of spiritual qualities occupies the place within the Baha'i Faith that the Eucharist has played within Catholicism.

Rays of Light

2010-09-16T04:06:00.000-07:00

Check out the website for the Rays of Light Foundation, a Baha'i inspired NGO in Papua New Guinea working in the field of education.

Here's a quotation from their website. It describes Preparation for Social Action (PSA), a Baha'i-inspired high school curriculum developed in Colombia.

What distinguishes PSA from most other educational programmes is the emphasis on both intellectual and moral empowerment. With a particular focus on the rural education setting, the course materials have special relevance to those involved in typical village and rural community life. Participants in the programme develop capacities through the study of the material and through service projects. The aim is for the students to become “Promoters of Community Well-Being”, a designation given to those working towards developing their local geographical region (or microregion).

Through a research-action-learning approach the participants apply their newly founded knowledge in the fields of service relevant to their community’s needs and are actively involved in individual and collective transformation, working for the material and spiritual improvement of the community and becoming true protagonists of their own development. Service to the community is the core aspect of the structure of the PSA curriculum.

Exciting things are happening !

Collaborative Writing: The Work without an Author

2010-09-10T12:39:00.000-07:00

Recently, I had a great study circle experience that I'd like to share with you, the readers. As a way of reviewing the concepts from Ruhi Book 1, some friends and I did a collaborative poetry project.

The way this worked was that everybody chose one quotation from the book that they liked best. Then individually, we wrote four lines of poetry for each quotation selected. When we were done we handed the lines we had written to the person who selected that quotation so that he or she could edit it. So, for example, I chose the quotation that contains the line, "Man must live in a state of prayer." When we finished writing our lines, everyone gave me the four lines they wrote inspired by that quotation, and I distributed my lines to the appropriate people. Each of us, then, edited the lines we were handed as we saw fit and pieced them together into a single, generally-coherent poem.

One of the interesting implications of this is that no poem can be attributed to any one person. Each writing is without an author, a proper origin. Thus, they're a little bit disjointed. But at the end of the process we were all very pleased with the results.

I appreciated the way the involvement of others changed our postures toward our own writing. Each of us had to make poems out of other people's lines. And our own lines were getting scratched out and reworked by other people. Consequently, detachment from one's own contributions and sympathy towards the work of others were both essential to producing good work. I was impressed that this activity raised individuals' power of expression, but did so in such a way that prevented it from fanning the flames of arrogance about one's own creativity; something I always get anxious about whenever I'm called on in a group to "express myself."

Below the fold is the quotation I chose and the poem I edited.

There is nothing sweeter in the world of existence than prayer. Man must live in a state of prayer. The most blessed condition is the condition of prayer and supplication. Prayer is conversation with God. The greatest attainment or the sweetest state is none other than conversation with God. It creates spirituality, creates mindfulness and celestial feelings, begets new attractions of the Kingdom and engenders the susceptibilities of the higher intelligence.
-'Abdu'l-Baha

We all pray, taking away
our unformed parts, taming inner sharks.

"I know a man conversing with his Lord.

There is no hurry, no bustle and rush.
No traffic jams or speeding tickets- hush."
"Sugar in your tea, sir?" "No, it's fine as is."
"Now what were we saying?" "Oh yes, he i s ."

"He describes the state of prayer:

Fire burning. upward souls in motion;
Divine virtue stirring inner com-motion.
State of prayer, of ecstasy
transfigures souls, configures sanctity."

Broken into my Waking

2010-09-06T12:22:00.000-07:00

A loom to climb upon between layers of lint and dust atmosphere, a toy to fight for-cry over. Big energetic snow dog, tail wagging against the flattened tire, is only a symbol of much needed warmth. "Your teeth are strung with tendons, does this mean you have to leave? No, please, don't 'leave', run away, into..."

The sky dominates the vast, empty, long transformed, shrubby excuse for land. Broken and vulnerable. Streaks of light discover themselves illumined orange on the abrupt white peaks, reflecting and being absorbed into the supple and defiant storm clouds. Abyss. Isolated rain bursts alternate preseance of the horizon. The dream landscape has escaped its prison, has broken into my waking. Turned inside beyond.

"Is the spiritual world this beautiful?"

"Can it really be this lonely?"

Keeping up Appearances

2010-09-06T03:07:00.000-07:00

Recently, I was reading the message, “The Golden Age of the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh” contained in Shoghi Effendi’s The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh. At one point he describes the need to avoid activities that could arouse the antagonism of foreign governments against Bahá’í communities in those countries. As I was reading, all the ideas felt very familiar. But this time, there was one part that stood out for me.

Such an attitude, however, is not dictated by considerations of selfish expediency, but is actuated, first and foremost, by the broad principle that the followers of Bahá’u’lláh will, under no circumstances, suffer themselves to be involved, whether as individuals or in their collective capacities, in matters that would entail the slightest departure from the fundamental verities and ideals of their Faith. Neither the charges which the uninformed and the malicious may be led to bring against them, nor the allurements of honors and rewards, will ever induce them to surrender their trust or to deviate from their path. Let their words proclaim, and their conduct testify, that they who follow Bahá’u’lláh, in whatever land they reside, are actuated by no selfish ambition, that they neither thirst for power, nor mind any wave of unpopularity, of distrust or criticism, which a strict adherence to their standards might provoke.
Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 66-7

It seems to me that, there’s a tendency for Bahá’ís to be very conscious about how others perceive the Bahá’í Faith. Generally, that’s a good thing. They understand the need to be open and welcoming, and to address the particular needs of each person. But, taken in the wrong direction, it can create problems. In an effort to satisfy the wishes of others and to maintain a certain reputation in the community, it’s easy compromise Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings and see that as a service to the cause. Worth remembering is that Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings are the healing medicine for the ailments of our age. The surrounding world is confused and bewildered. Bahá’ís are a little bit less confused and bewildered. The main advantage Bahá’ís have over the wider society is the knowledge that Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings can guide us toward a divine world civilization. We still have a lot to learn about how to walk that path. So sacrificing the vehicle that will get us there, in exchange for a momentary boost to the faith’s reputation, is counterproductive. It’s something to think about.

What does Baha'u'llah say of his future followers?

2010-09-04T11:55:00.000-07:00

More so than perhaps any other work of Bahá’u’lláh available in English, the Suratu’l-Haykal repeatedly emphasizes the strength and glory of his future followers. Written during the dark days of the early imprisonment in the prison-city of ‘Akká, it calls to mind the supreme efforts that would be made to vindicate the Cause of Bahá’u’lláh. The Suratu’l-Haykal is an exceedingly rich text. Passages bearing on this theme are too numerous to quote, or even to summarize. Two are presented here so as to give a general glimpse. In each of these Bahá’u’lláh is addressed in the second person.

O Pen of Eternity! Grieve not at the things that have befallen Thee, for erelong shall God raise up a people who will see with their own eyes and will recall Thy tribulations.

Erelong, shall We bring into being through thee men with sanctified and illumined breasts, who will testify to naught save My beauty and show forth naught but the resplendent light of My countenance. These shall in truth be the mirrors of My Names amidst all created things.

Bahá’u’lláh and the exiles were at that time greatly oppressed. They endured the scorn of their fellow prisoners, hunger, and disease that was rampant within the prison. They were forbidden from receiving pilgrims or communicating with Bahá’ís outside the prison. Certainly these were tough times for all Bahá’ís, whether imprisoned or not. But Bahá’u’lláh assures his readers that this is not the end of the Baha'i Cause. He prophesies the appearance of a people who will take his laws and teachings as the animating impulse of their collective life. They will be the mirrors of his qualities "amidst all created things." Bahá’u’lláh comes not just to fulfill prophecies, but also to make further prophecies, and, in so doing, assigns that people with the messianic task of their fulfillment.

Being Human

2010-09-02T12:53:00.000-07:00

Great is the station of man.
Great must also be his endeavours
for the rehabilitation of the world and the well-being of nations.
-Bahá’u’lláh

"Being human" has in many quarters become shorthand for feebleness, inconsistency, and vulnerability to errors both practical and ethical. Should a person fall short someone might console her: “We’re all human,” “That’s just human nature,” etc. If someone were to utter these words as praise for an accomplishment, other might perceive it as an underhanded insult. Humanity has become an excuse; and I find this completely unacceptable. That such grave incompetence could be conveyed with this single expression betrays a profound despondency in our individual and collective capacities. The Bahá’í Faith, however, is structured around a mode of human life that is entirely reversed. Here, the human form takes on a noble and exalted position. The expression, "mere humanity" comes across as an oxymoron.

So as to muster up the strength for great endeavors, a vision of human life is needed that joyfully and unreservedly celebrates the nobility and capacity of the human form. I think this is what we see in the plans given to the Baha'i world by the Universal House of Justice.

Beautiful Prayers

2010-08-31T11:43:00.000-07:00

Strive that your actions day by day
may be beautiful prayers.
Turn towards God, and seek always to do that
which is right and noble.

Enrich the poor, raise the fallen,
comfort the sorrowful, reassure the fearful,
rescue the oppressed, bring hope to the hopeless, shelter the destitute!

'Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p.81

In Praise of Islam

2010-08-28T12:31:00.000-07:00

It’s been a hard month for Muslims in the United States; and I’m tired of seeing Islam presented as the Other; whether that’s as the Other to be feared and condemned or the Other to be merely tolerated and respected. I’d like to see some full-throated admiration of the Faith. And at this point, I know that’s not going to come from the US media. So here are two things, among many, that I love about Islam. I invite readers to share in the comments section aspects of Islam that they admire.

First off, let’s consider the call to prayer. For those of you who aren't familiar with it, the call to prayer is a series of statements chanted publicly five times daily, in modern times over loudspeakers, calling Muslims to perform the designated prayers for that period of the day. Where it is performed, the call to prayer configures public space around a common impulse toward worship. It weaves inspired testimony (statements such as “There is no God but God” and “Muhammad is his Messenger”) with musical intonation in a public performance conjoining spiritual and material excellence. On a personal note, I find this vastly preferable to the way consumer advertising floods public space with its ugly incitements to superficial pleasures.

Secondly, the act of prayer in Islam is not just something one says or reads. Prayer is tremendously physical as well. Whether standing, raising one’s hands, bowing, sitting, or prostrating oneself on the floor, the act of prayer is felt throughout the body. This characterizes not only Islamic prayer, but Bahá’í prayer as well. Bahá’u’lláh writes in one place: Thou seest, O my God, how my spirit hath been stirred up within my limbs and members in its longing to worship Thee and in its yearning to remember Thee and extol Thee. Soul and body are not alienated from each other. Rather they are stirred by a common experience of worship.

Obviously, there’s a lot of things not to like that occur in many Muslim communities. And none of us are blind to the fact that truly horrific crimes are often preached in the name of Islam. But as a society, the United States could really benefit by taking a broader perspective on the Faith. There’s a lot to like, even prefer, in Islam; and we would do well to try to learn from our Muslim brothers and sisters.

On an end note, here's a well titled recording of the call to prayer.

الله اكبر! يا أحباء البهاء

An Integrated Approach to Agriculture

2010-08-26T10:38:00.000-07:00

This is a very interesting article in "The Economist" on Brazil's agricultural miracle. Can their "systems approach" be replicated? It seems to me that there is no single answer to making agriculture sustainable AND plentiful enough to feed a growing population. It must be an integrated effort. There is value to local and organic food, but we can't go back to some over-romanticized past. Science, technology and the economies of scale also have their place. What's clear is that we need more research to be done that is not influenced by corporations such as Monsanto, but instead inspired by the desire for human betterment. The Embrapa research institution in Brazil seems to provide a nice model for the rest of the world, not only as an example for better agriculture, but also as an example of how science can be used for the betterment of humanity. Here is an excerpt.

Embrapa is short for Empresa Brasileira de Pesquisa Agropecuária, or the Brazilian Agricultural Research Corporation. It is a public company set up in 1973, in an unusual fit of farsightedness by the country’s then ruling generals. At the time the quadrupling of oil prices was making Brazil’s high levels of agricultural subsidy unaffordable. Mauro Lopes, who supervised the subsidy regime, says he urged the government to give $20 to Embrapa for every $50 it saved by cutting subsidies. It didn’t, but Embrapa did receive enough money to turn itself into the world’s leading tropical-research institution. It does everything from breeding new seeds and cattle, to creating ultra-thin edible wrapping paper for foodstuffs that changes colour when the food goes off, to running a nanotechnology laboratory creating biodegradable ultra-strong fabrics and wound dressings. Its main achievement, however, has been to turn the cerrado green.

Becoming a Vegetarian

2010-08-26T06:06:00.000-07:00

I recently posted a blog post titled “The God of Evolution” which explored the nature of evolution, and as a thought experiment, the God that we would induce from it. The reason I wrote the post is because I have been thinking a lot about the cruelty, often needless cruelty, and indifference of the natural ecosystem, and what it means. Looking at it from the gene level, each living organism is simply a platform for genes to get themselves carried over to the next generation. The better adapted the genes are for that particular environment, the higher chance they have to propagate themselves. This is the driver of biological evolution via natural selection. So where do the organisms themselves fit into this picture? From the point of view of the gene, they are merely a means to an end, once the organism reproduces, they can be disposed of.

While the natural ecosystem is largely indifferent, many animals have evolved the capability of expressing communal and empathetic behavior, even beyond their species. For example, elephants will morn their dead, and their are numerous accounts of dolphins coming to the rescue of humans. Humans have this capacity to an extraordinary level (and an equal and opposite capacity for destruction and malevolence).
I just found this interesting blog on evolutionary linguistics, called a replicated typo, and it has a post which attempts to outline 6 cognitive capacities that humans have that far exceed any other species. Here they are:

(1) The capacity to develop a shared point of view or “we-perspective” (Tuomela 2007: 46f.) and jointly engage in and attend to shared goals, plans and intentions in a cooperative collaborative activity within a joint attentional frame and a shared frame of reference (Tomasello et al. 2005).

(2) A conceptual system that is able to reinterpret and re-describe sensory as well as cognitive data and store them in an abstract, decoupled format that can be used for symbolic, relational and analogical reasoning (Penn et al. 2008).

(3) actively attribute mental states to others in the same sense as one experiences mental events and states oneself, that is to, have a “theory of mind” (Premack & Woodruff 1978).

(4) shared, intersubjectively overlapping frames of references or coordinate systems into which abstract and non-abstract conceptual representations could be integrated and imported in a systematic fashion, and within which shared percepts and concepts could be blended, unified, and related to each other in a role-governed fashion. (Bühler 1934, Fauconnier & Turner 2002).

(5) for projecting ourselves and others backwards or forwards into past and future situations is probable to have evolved, that is, a capacity for mental time travel, including the ability to retrieve and re-live episodic memories of past autobiographical events (Tulving 2005) as well as prospective foresight enabling the planning of future actions and events (Suddendorf & Corballis 2007).

(6) a collection of unique mental structures – phonology (externalisation) and syntax (merging constituents (A + B = [AB]) and creating blended new ‘mental building blocks’ which can be merged with other constituents recursively [AB] + C = [ABC]) – and the interfaces between these mental structures and the conceptual system. These “specific unique building blocks for phonology, syntax, and their connection to concepts” are what makes language and language acquisition possible (Jackendoff 2007: 388f.).

These cognitive abilities, developed in the course of our evolution, have given us the capacity to extend our empathy to everybody in the world, and has made the adoption and enforcement of universal human rights more and more of a probability. This may be looked at as merely enlightened self-interest; it can be argued that unless we learn to cooperate on a global level, we will ultimately destroy ourselves. But by also starting a discussion of animal rights, as Peter Singer famously did in his book Animal Liberation, it seems that we have the potential to expand our moral imagination beyond the more immediate concerns of our own survival. In some ways this is a sign of our independence from the cruel and indifferent aspects of nature.

This leads me to the point of this essay. Sjona and I have decided to become vegetarians. It has been an option that I have been considering for quite some time. There are 7 (overlapping) reasons why I have made this decision for myself.

Empathy: Most of what I have written up to now leads to this. While eating meat is “natural”, we are at the point where we can apply our capacity of empathy not only towards humans, but also towards animals, who share many of the same, if less developed, capacities for intelligence, emotion, and empathy.

1. Abdu’l Baha says that is where we are going:

The food of the future will be fruit and grains. The time will come when meat will no longer be eaten. Medical science is only in its infancy, yet it has shown that our natural food is that which grows out of the ground.[i]

As humanity progresses, meat will be used less and less, for the teeth of man are not carnivorous. For example, the lion is endowed with carnivorous teeth which are intended for meat and if meat be not found, the lion starves. The lion cannot graze; its teeth are of different shape. The formation of a lion's stomach is such that it cannot receive nourishment save through meat. The eagle has a crooked beak; the lower part shorter than the upper. Were it to try to pick up grain it would find it impossible; were it to try to graze, it would fail. Therefore it is compelled to partake of meat. But the domestic animals, the cow, horse, donkey, sheep, etc., have herbivorous teeth formed to cut grass which is their fodder. The human teeth, the molars, are formed to grind grain. The front teeth, the incisors, are for fruits, etc. It is therefore quite apparent, according to the implements for eating, man's food is intended to be grain and not meat. When mankind is more fully developed the eating of meat will gradually cease.[ii]

3. The Environment: The long term environmental costs of eating meat are clearly unsustainable.

4. Hypocrisy: I would not be willing to slaughter an animal. Indeed, my upbringing has made me squirm to even eat chicken with bones or a fish served with the head. I like meat in nice, indistinguishable chunks.

5. Health: Not eating meat is generally healthier if a special effort is made to still get all of the necessary nutrients:

6. Cruelty: Most of our meat comes from factory farms, which resemble concentration camps.

Before I get to the seventh reason, I must first admit the one reason why I have avoided giving up meat so far. It tastes so damm good. I absolutely LOVE bacon and sushi, steak and salmon. While intellectually this reason pales in comparison to the other reasons listed so far, it is often the most salient. It will require an act of will, and necessity to overcome my immediate urges for a higher principle. It requires…

Spiritual growth: To sacrifice that which is lower for that which is higher

I hope we can make it longer than a month…..

[i] ('Abdu'l-Baha, from Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era, page 102)

[ii] ('Abdu'l-Bahá, from Star of the West, Vol.III, No.10, p.29)

The True and Outworking Spirit of Modernism

2010-08-24T12:21:00.000-07:00

In its Ridván message of 2010 the Universal House of Justice made a powerful statement about the nature of Bahá’í endeavors: “That the world civilization now on humanity’s horizon must achieve a dynamic coherence between the material and spiritual requirements of life is central to the Bahá’í teachings.” A great deal of meaning is contained in this statement. It’s worth taking some time to illustrate how it is grounded in the writings of Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá.

In one passage Bahá’u’lláh writes,

A new life is, in this age, stirring within all the peoples of the earth; and yet none hath discovered its cause or perceived its motive. Consider the peoples of the West. Witness how, in their pursuit of that which is vain and trivial, they have sacrificed, and are still sacrificing, countless lives for the sake of its establishment and promotion. The peoples of Persia, on the other hand, though the repository of a perspicuous and luminous Revelation, the glory of whose loftiness and renown hath encompassed the whole earth, are dispirited and sunk in deep lethargy.
Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, XCVI p. 196

In this passage Bahá’u’lláh states that “a new life” was emerging at that time. None were able to discover its cause or perceive its motive. He goes on to show how the peoples of the West and of Persia responded to this new life. It seems to me that, in his discussion of the West, he is referring to the militarism associated with the rise of the modern nation-states, and is likely to be referring especially to the bloodshed the of the Franco-Prussian war of 1870-71. With regard to Persia, he is clearly referring to the appearance of his own teachings, and with them, those of the Bab. Worth noting, is that though culturally and geographically these were very separate phenomena, in the eyes of Baha’u’llah they are connected in some way to a single event, a “new life” stirring within all the peoples of the earth.

In a similar vein, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá addressed a gathering in New York in 1912 about the period of reformation the world of humanity had entered.

From every standpoint the world of humanity is undergoing a reformation. The laws of former governments and civilizations are in process of revision; scientific ideas and theories are developing and advancing to meet a new range of phenomena; invention and discovery are penetrating hitherto unknown fields, revealing new wonders and hidden secrets of the material universe; industries have vastly wider scope and production; everywhere the world of mankind is in the throes of evolutionary activity indicating the passing of the old conditions and advent of the new age of reformation. Old trees yield no fruitage; old ideas and methods are obsolete and worthless now. Old standards of ethics, moral codes and methods of living in the past will not suffice for the present age of advancement and progress.

This is the cycle of maturity and reformation in religion as well. Dogmatic imitations of ancestral beliefs are passing. They have been the axis around which religion revolved but now are no longer fruitful; on the contrary, in this day they have become the cause of human degradation and hindrance. Bigotry and dogmatic adherence to ancient beliefs have become the central and fundamental source of animosity among men, the obstacle to human progress, the cause of warfare and strife, the destroyer of peace, composure and welfare in the world. Consider conditions in the Balkans today: fathers, mothers, children in grief and lamentation, the foundations of life overturned, cities laid waste and fertile lands made desolate by the ravages of war. These conditions are the outcome of hostility and hatred between nations and peoples of religion who imitate and adhere to the forms and violate the spirit and reality of the divine teachings.

While this is true and apparent, it is, likewise, evident that the Lord of mankind has bestowed infinite bounties upon the world in this century of maturity and consummation. The ocean of divine mercy is surging, the vernal showers are descending, the Sun of Reality is shining gloriously. Heavenly teachings applicable to the advancement in human conditions have been revealed in this merciful age. This reformation and renewal of the fundamental reality of religion constitute the true and outworking spirit of modernism, the unmistakable light of the world, the manifest effulgence of the Word of God, the divine remedy for all human ailment and the bounty of eternal life to all mankind.
The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 439

Clearly, Bahá’u’lláh and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá are engaging with the discourse of their day on the significance of the time in which they were living, namely that humanity was entering a new era of human history, “a new day.” In fact, many would observe that it was during this time that the idea of history became more than a just a cataloging of past events; They would note that during this time the idea of history became the grand stretch of human existence by which humanity has leapt forward to its climax: the emergence of “modern” civilization. Typically modernity is associated with machine technology, democratic governance, mass education, and other contemporary phenonena. It is treated as a product of the West, originating there but imported around the world. But, with regard to Bahá’u’lláh and the mission he has given to humanity, reference to such features is too narrow of an analysis. Within the self-understanding of Bahá’u’lláh’s writings, the changes happening within European society were inseparable from what was happening within Persia: God’s revelation of himself to humanity through the persons of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh.

Taken together, I think this provides a good context within which to read the statement of the Universal House of Justice: “That the world civilization now on humanity’s horizon must achieve a dynamic coherence between the material and spiritual requirements of life is central to the Bahá’í teachings.”

Later in 1912 ‘Abdu’l-Bahá shared his vision for the relationship between the material development of the West and the spiritual renewal brought by Bahá’u’lláh in the East. Here, we see how he envisions the coherence between them we must achieve, and the role this must play in bringing about a world civilization.

In the western world material civilization has attained the highest point of development, but divine civilization was founded in the land of the East. The East must acquire material civilization from the West, and the West must receive spiritual civilization from the East. This will establish a mutual bond. When these two come together, the world of humanity will present a glorious aspect, and extraordinary progress will be achieved. This is clear and evident; no proof is needed. The degree of material civilization in the Occident cannot be denied; nor can anyone fail to confirm the spiritual civilization of the Orient, for all the divine foundations of human uplift have appeared in the East. This, likewise, is clear and evident. Therefore, you must assist the East in order that it may attain material progress. The East must, likewise, promulgate the principles of spiritual civilization in the western world. By this commingling and union the human race will attain the highest degree of prosperity and development.
The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 165-6

Unity between East and West, the material and the spiritual: This is 'Abdu'l-Baha's vision of the emerging world civilization.

Window in Time

2010-08-22T04:35:00.000-07:00

The old windows drip. Surrounding me on three sides, I lay still in the moonlight a reflection of my waking self.

The bedroom was slapped onto the side of the house to raise it's market value. There is not much privacy, for them either.

The rain is relentless tonight. Once barking proud dogs, they now lay cowed in the street-lit shed. I wake many times in and out of various lives of questionable form and meaning.

For a moment I am the same as I was staring through that window. In what could be a memory, or could have been a dream, shadows of women are storing herbs and grains in large jars which slowly dissolve into the cupboard. They only emerge during sunset when the dusk intrudes on both sources of light.

I am the same as I was basking in the ray of light coming through the large sliding glass door. I am sharing the warm spot with Sambi, our black Labrador Retriever. Her name had been Sambo until my mom was told that it had a negative racial connotation. I was once envious of her four-legged life. I needed to understand her secret, take in the subtle exhilarants waiting beyond the backyard fence near the abandoned buildings and warehouse alleyways. Maybe dig a hole in the backyard and relish the cool earth on a hot day.

Vines hang down from the ceiling. Little plants are being raised in tofu containers and the water is draining through the punched holes. The electric light is a surrogate father until they peek through the window and delve into the universal soil of their kin.

The Insecurity of Taking Action

2010-08-22T02:38:00.000-07:00

Action is risky, insecure. The fruit of building a vibrant community life is priceless. But in the process of getting there, it can be tempting to turn back. Laziness and complacency are boring and can be very lonely. But they offer security. And in moments of weakness people treasure security more than anything else.

Action requires that we dare for greatness; not for our own glorification, but for God. Action requires becoming visible to others and trying new things. Action carries the risk that we could fail and that others will see it. A study circle could disintegrate. Neighborhood parents would notice if a children’s class is failing. Any number of things could happen. Learning to do new things is hard. But it must be done. This is why our motivation must be to glorify God rather than our own selves. The Apostle Paul was right to describe himself and the other Apostles as “fools for Christ.” They endured hardship and became fools in the eyes of the world so that they might spread the Good News of Jesus Christ to new cities. But, in the face of their troubles, they succeeded at establishing the Church throughout the region, thereby winning a victory for the Lord.