To the people of Baha

This is re-posted from my wayfarer's blog.

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December 9

The verse I'm trying to practice now is:

"O people of Baha! Subdue the citadels of men's hearts with the swords of wisdom and of utterance."

(Baha'u'llah, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 76)

I thought it might help me to memorize some more of Baha'u'llah's words. I looked in Ruhi Book 6, because I'm currently involved in a Book 6 study circle. I memorized this:

"Say: To assist Me is to teach My Cause. This is a theme with which whole Tablets are laden. This is the changeless commandment of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future. Comprehend this, O ye men of insight."

(Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 196)

Now I'm reading the whole tablet (Tablet to Siyyid Mihdiy-i-Dahaji).

Baha'u'llah's words addressed to the people of Baha

This is re-posted from my wayfarer's blog. I've decided to move this project back to this blog.

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November 19

I've started my search in The Summons of the Lord of Hosts because I've been wanting to read that.

"O people of Baha! Subdue the citadels of men's hearts with the swords of wisdom and of utterance."

(Baha'u'llah, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 78)

In the other blog I posted some of the context of that passage. I won't re-post all that here. It's from a letter to Napoleon. Among other things, Baha'u'llah says to Napoleon: "Adorn the body of Thy kingdom with the raiment of My name, and arise, then, to teach My Cause." Then he says some things that seem to be addressed to all people, along with some things addressed specifically to the people of Baha. After that he addresses the priests and monks.

After I read the whole letter, I'd like to consider this section addressed to the people, one sentence at a time, and look for ways to improve my practice of what Baha'u'llah is saying.

I'm sitting here wonder how I might do that. What can I do, for example, to improve my practice of "O people of Baha! Subdue the citadels of men's hearts with the swords of wisdom and of utterance."? I just remembered that I can always practice in make believe if I don't find any other way. I can try to think of examples of subduing the citadels of men's hearts with the swords of wisdom and of utterance, and act them out

Spam

I just had my first comment spam, and I can't find any way to delete it. Darn! I had forgotten to turn on word verification for this blog.

Freedom from estrangement

One of my biggest challenges now, in practicing freedom from estrangement, is learning to see some good in global corporations, and in governments I see revolving around global corporate interests.

The swords of wisdom and of utterance

I'd like to try studying and practicing what Baha'u'llah says to the people of Baha. I'll be searching for passages addressed to the people of Baha. I'm starting with The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, because I've been wanting to read that.

"O people of Baha! Subdue the citadels of men's hearts with the swords of wisdom and of utterance.

(Baha'u'llah, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 78)

That's from a letter to Napoleon III. It's in a series of paragraphs addressed to the people, following some words addressed to the King, and followed by some words addressed to priests and monks.

I never noticed this before:

"On other than these four consummate days, engage ye in your daily occupations, and withhold yourselves not from the pursuit of your trades and crafts."

Just before these paragraphs addressed to the people, Baha'u'llah says to the King:

"Adorn the body of Thy kingdom with the raiment of My name, and arise, then, to teach My Cause."

In the next paragraph after that He writes:

Say: He from whom, in this day, the sweet savours of the remembrance of His Lord, the All-Merciful, have not been diffused, is indeed unworthy of the station of man. He, verily, is of them that have followed their own desires, and shall erelong find himself in grievous loss. Doth it behove you to relate yourselves to Him Who is the God of mercy, and yet commit the things which the Evil One hath committed? Nay, by the Beauty of Him Who is the All-Glorified! could ye but know it. Purge your hearts from love of the world, and your tongues from calumny, and your limbs from whatsoever may withhold you from drawing nigh unto God, the Mighty, the All-Praised. Say: By the world is meant that which turneth you aside from Him Who is the Dawning-Place of Revelation, and inclineth you unto that which is unprofitable unto you. Verily, the thing that deterreth you, in this day, from God is worldliness in its essence. Eschew it, and approach the Most Sublime Vision, this shining and resplendent Seat. Blessed is he who alloweth nothing whatsoever to intervene between him and his Lord. No harm, assuredly, can befall him if he partaketh with justice of the benefits of this world, inasmuch as We have created all things for such of Our servants as truly believe in God.

After I read the whole letter, I'd like to consider this section addressed to the people, one sentence at a time, and look for ways to improve my practice of what Baha'u'llah is saying.

Comments

I just discovered that there were some restrictions on comments in this blog. Sorry! I've fixed that now.

Building a harmonious society

One of my interests is to participate somehow in China's initiatives for building a harmonious society, so I've been looking for articles on that subject. Here's an example, from China Daily:

Deciphering 'harmonious society'
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/english/doc/2005-03/21/content_426617.htm

"Xiao Zhuoji, professor of the School of Economics of Peking University and vice-chairman of the Social and Legal Affairs Committee of the Chinese People's Political Consultative Conference, believes that a harmonious society is one that puts people first."

"What are the main characteristics of a harmonious society? It will put people first and make all social activities beneficial to people's subsistence, enjoyment and development. In a harmonious society, the political environment is stable, the economy is prosperous, people live in peace and work in comfort and social welfare improves."

"A harmonious society should also see great improvements in morals and education."

"All people should co-exist harmoniously, love and help each other, encourage each other and make an effort to contribute to the building of a harmonious society."

Links

Bahá'í Internet Agency
http://www.bcca.org/bia/

The Bahá’í Internet Agency assists the global Bahá’í community in its use of the Internet, providing technical support to Bahá’í institutions and supporting promising initiatives of individuals. Established in 2004 by the Universal House of Justice, the Bahá’í Internet Agency operates under the guidance of the International Teaching Centre. The Agency can be contacted at: info at bia.bahai.org

Resources:

* Individual Initiative on the Internet
* Participation and the Internet
* Blogging and the Baha'i Faith
* Podcasting
* Guidelines for Internet Communication
* Basics of Search Engine Optimization
* Building Internet Communities
* Baha'i Blog Survey - Pheonix Conference (M. Naeimi)
* Cultivating the Roots Presentation
* NEBY Fest Presentation
* The Internet Perspective

Getting help from the person I'm trying to follow

As part of practicing and promoting blog reading for purposes of learning and encouragement and support, I've read a few of one person's posts on performance art, and posted some thoughts that came to me. That led to some friendly exchanges that I've enjoyed. Now I've read a post and came up with a blank. Of course I don't need to respond to every post, but the thought came to me that I could ask her for help in getting more out of her posts.

Temptations to respond contentiously to some posts

In reading some blogs, I'm often tempted to respond contentiously, in posts in my own blog. I want to learn not to do that. I want to practice reading those posts to learn from people and to encourage and support them in whatever good I can see them doing. I want to learn to turn my contentious impulses in other directions, which I will discuss some time in relation to responding to campaigns against the House of Justice, and responding to defects in the Baha'i community.

Reading blogs

I want to practice and promote reading people's blogs to learn to encourage and support them, and inform them about resources that might interest them. I've been reading a few blogs at random, but I've chosen one blog to read systematically over a long period of time. I'm continually tempted to respond to everything with my opinions, rather than trying to get to know the person better and learn how to encourage and support her.

Reading people's blogs

I'm reading some people's blogs at random, but I've chosen one person for special efforts to consistently read and ponder her posts.

Learning from people

I want to practice and promote reading people's blogs as a way of getting closer to them, learning from them, and learning how to serve their interests. I just read a post on "Love's Labors Lost" which mentioned the "4th wall." I didn't know what that meant, so I googled "fourth wall" with "theater" and found a Wikipedia article on it, and had lots of fun reading it.

The Hidden Words (continued)

I worked for about 40 years on learning to possess a pure heart. Then a few years ago I started noticing a lot of unkindness in my posts in Internet discussions. That might surprise some people. Some people have told me I'm very kind. Maybe they see me trying not to do any harm to anyone, and showing concern about people's feelings, and learning to walk with and work with abused and marginalized people. I do see a lot of kindness in my intentions.

I became aware of unkindness in my posts, and I started seeing much more in the idea of kindness than I had ever seen before. I'm not sure which came first. Anyway, I decided that even though I'm still a long way from having a pure heart, it might be time to focus on kindness. Then maybe in twenty years I'll focus on radiance. I don't want to wait 40 years this time.

The Hidden Words

Many years ago, when I was a student at Purdue University, I decided to try systematically mastering the knowledge in the writings of Baha'u'llah the way I did with books on mathematics: study the material and do exercises. I decided to start with the hidden words. I spent a year searching for ideas about what it might mean to possess a pure heart, and how to go about it.

One day I was searching for books about purity in the card catalog at the library, and I saw this title: "Purity of Heart is to Will One Thing."

I didn't even need to look at the book. The title itself answered all my questions.

Baha'i fellowship and me

One of my ideas to help check the disease of sectarian hatreds has been to practice and promote fellowship among people who are divided over Baha'i administration. I was thinking about that this morning, and I thought of my decision not to attend the Baha'i foreigners devotions here in Shanghai, because it looks and feels so much like the Baha'i church that I detest. The thought came to me that going to those devotions and developing a friendship with other people who go there might be a good way for me to practice what I'm promoting.

This morning, in the middle of the night, I was thinking about Karen and Alison and Steve and other friends I've met on the Internet in connection with AO feuds, and about my periodic concern that their preoccupation with Baha'i administration might be holding them down and holding them back. The thought came to me that I could try showing more interest in other things they do which seem more healthy and potentially fruitful to me.

Some random thoughts about promoting better conduct

Some random thoughts about promoting better conduct on the Internet:

• Working on improving my own conduct, and appealing to others to do the same.
• Learning from others, observing them and asking about their efforts and experiences.
• Looking for the best things I can see people doing on the Internet, and finding ways to help.
• Practicing the vision of cordiality that came to me, thinking about one of Alison's posts.
• Three vital issues in The Advent of Divine Justice.
• The Big Three: truthfulness, courtesy, fairness.
• Courtesy and kindness.
• Responding to abuse and injustice.

One of the best things I see people doing on the Internet is answering questions in help forums.

What about Covenant breakers?

I saw Baquia and Gerald discussing how to apply the writings about Covenant breakers, and the writings about unity, at the same time. It might help some people to have compilations on both topics, and some examples of how people have tried to apply them together.

I've done a lot of research and thinking about it, since the first time I thought of the possibility of encountering Covenant breakers in Internet discussions. Here are some of my thoughts:

• No one but the House of Justice has any authority to say who is a Covenant breaker and who isn't.
• I don't think that the requirement to avoid fellowship with Covenant breakers requires us to try to find out which people in Internet discussions are Covenant breakers according to the House of Justice. What we need to avoid in Internet discussions is not certain people, but certain kinds of discussions.
• In Internet discussions, I try not to make any distinctions in the way I treat people individually, between people who are promoting a Guardian after Shoghi Effendi and others. People who are promoting a Guardian after Shoghi Effendi rarely address me, but when they do, I try not to respond any differently from the way I would respond to anyone else.
• I have always strictly avoided forums which I thought were primarily gathering places for people promoting a Guardian after Shoghi Effendi.

Where to go from here

Since yesterday I've been wondering where to go from here with my "Deeds Not Words" pages.

On the goals page I wrote:

I'm planning to use this site to provide information, ideas and other resources for practicing and promoting better conduct on the Internet, and for responding to harmful conduct and to questions it might raise in people's minds.

Under strategies I listed:

• Moral leadership
  
• Using Internet activities to practice virtues and develop capacities
• Reducing and counteracting harmful behavior
• Responding to attacks on the Faith
• Responding to personal attacks
• Working with abused and marginalized people

One idea I had today about where to go from here is to practice and promote spending time on the Internet with other people besides Baha'is, including people whose interests and ideas seem contrary to ours. I'd also like to discuss ways of responding to attacks on the Faith on the Internet, and ways of responding to defects in the Baha'i community and its institutions.

To get some ideas about resources to put on my "Deeds Not Words" pages, I might start with reviewing my efforts and experiences so far, and continuing my efforts, and considering what resources might help me. I might also look at other people's efforts, and discuss with them what resources might help them.

Intercultural fellowship

I'd like to see Baha'is on the Internet spend more time with other people besides Baha'is, doing things that interest them. It might be visiting their forums or reading their blogs for example. I'd especially like to see Baha'is spending time with people whose ideas and interests seem contrary to their own. That could be atheists or Pagans for example. It would also include fellowship between people devoted to the interests of the House of Justice and people with grievances against the Baha'i community and its institutions. They might spend time in each other's favorite forums, and read each other's blogs with friendly intentions.