Things Getting Worse in Iran

There is growing concern by the international community for the fate of the six Baha'i leaders arrested in Iran two weeks ago. Here is why.

Purpose in life

Mara just shared with me this quotation from the Baha'i writings. I found it very thought provoking. I wondered how our island "nation" fares on the issue of knowledge. The individuals have a strong sense of community, and I feel manifest the idea of enhancing social good more than in most places in the world. Yet there is certainly a lot of untapped potential in this regard. It also got me thinking about the idea of "looking within" in a way to find one's own special talents and gifts and using them to the max.

"The happiness and pride of a nation consist in this, that it should shine out like the sun in the high heaven of knowledge... And the honor and distinction of the individual consist in this, that he among all the world's multitudes should become a source of social good. Is any larger bounty conceivable than this, that an individual, looking within himself, should find that by the confirming grace of God he has become the cause of peace and well-being, of happiness and advantage to his fellow men? No, by the one true God, there is no greater bliss, no more complete delight."

(Abdu'l-Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 2)

Will this country never change?

Back in the 1980's, after the Islamic Revolution in Iran, several members of my family were imprisoned and executed because of their activities as members of the Baha'i Faith, whom the authorities regard as infidels. Back then the Baha'is were usually charged with things like "spying for Israel" or "promoting prostitution" (the latter because the Islamic government does not recognize Baha'i marriages). Things are starting to look alarming again.

The article below refers to the abduction and execution of the national-level governing council of the Baha'is back then. The Baha'is quickly reconstituted another nine-member governing body, which the Iranian government again abducted and executed. One of our former CHC doctors lost both of his parents to those executions. His father was a member of the first group, and his mother was elected onto the second group. He was a college student in the States at the time.

***

NEW YORK, 15 May 2008 (BWNS) -- Six Baha'i leaders in Iran were arrested and taken to the notorious Evin prison yesterday in a sweep that is ominously similar to episodes in the 1980s when scores of Iranian Baha'i leaders were summarily rounded up and killed.

The six men and women, all members of the national-level group that helped see to the minimum needs of Baha'is in Iran, were in their homes Wednesday morning when government intelligence agents entered and spent up to five hours searching each home, before taking them away.

The seventh member of the national coordinating group was arrested in early March in Mashhad after being summoned by the Ministry of Intelligence office there on an ostensibly trivial matter.

"We protest in the strongest terms the arrests of our fellow Baha'is in Iran," said Bani Dugal, the principal representative of the Baha'i International Community to the United Nations. "Their only crime is their practice of the Baha'i Faith."

"Especially disturbing is how this latest sweep recalls the wholesale arrest or abduction of the members of two national Iranian Baha'i governing councils in the early 1980s -- which led to the disappearance or execution of 17 individuals," she said.

"The early morning raids on the homes of these prominent Baha'is were well coordinated, and it is clear they represent a high-level effort to strike again at the Baha'is and to intimidate the Iranian Baha'i community at large," said Ms. Dugal.

Arrested yesterday were: Mrs. Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr. Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr. Afif Naeimi, Mr. Saeid Rezaie, Mr.Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr. Vahid Tizfahm. All live in Tehran. Mrs. Kamalabadi, Mr. Khanjani, and Mr. Tavakkoi have been previously arrested and then released after periods ranging from five days to four months.

Arrested in Mashhad on 5 March 2008 was Mrs. Mahvash Sabet, who also resides in Tehran. Mrs. Sabet was summoned to Mashhad by the Ministry of Intelligence, ostensibly on the grounds that she was required to answer questions related to the burial of an individual in the Baha'i cemetery in that city.

On 21 August 1980, all nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Iran were abducted and disappeared without a trace. It is certain that they were killed.

The National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Iran was reconstituted soon after that but was again ravaged by the execution of eight of its members on 27 December 1981.

A number of members of local Baha'i governing councils, known as local Spiritual Assemblies, were also arrested and executed in the early 1980s, before an international outcry forced the government to slow its execution of Baha'is. Since 1979, more than 200 Baha'is have been killed or executed in Iran, although none have been executed since 1998.

In 1983, the government outlawed all formal Baha'i administrative institutions and the Iranian Baha'i community responded by disbanding its National Spiritual Assembly, which is an elected governing council, along with some 400 local level elected governing councils. Baha'is throughout Iran also suspended nearly all of their regular organizational activity.

The informal national-level coordinating group, known as the Friends, was established with the knowledge of the government to help cope with the diverse needs of Iran's 300,000-member Baha'i community, which is the country's largest religious minority.

This week, I'm a teacher.

Spring break has started for the kids, and it's always a challenge to plan activities for them. This year, I'm doing something different for the older two, and their friends. I'm teaching a class on religion and spirituality. So far, so good. These Montessori kids are pretty self-motivated. I got them started on a project, and they're off and running.

I have become increasingly convinced that the Montessori method of education is the future of reaching the multiple intelligences in a classroom. The essential focus is that children are given learning tasks and set out to complete them, with guide from a teacher. It avoids nailing children to a desk, and allows them to discover the reality of things for themselves. I spent a few days last week observing in their classrooms and asking questions of their teachers, so I could get a sense of how to design these classes to keep them engaged. It's working!

Here is the invitation I sent to the parents.

***

I’m going to be teaching a class for elementary age children that will explore religion and spirituality. (I was a comparative religion major in college.) I’ll be approaching it from the perspective of the Bahá’í Faith, which emphasizes the oneness and unity of all religions, taking the approach that they all come from the same source at different times in humanity’s history to provide socially and historically appropriate guidance to the world.

The subjects that I plan to touch upon include:

• The lives of the Manifestations of God: Krishna, Buddha, Zoroaster, Moses, Christ, Muhammad, and Bahá’u’lláh.

• The key teachings of the major world religions: Hinduism, Buddhism, Zoroastrianism, Judaism, Christianity, Islam, and the Bahá’í Faith.

• Exploring the concepts of God, the soul, prayer, meditation, and the purpose of life.

• Developing virtues in our lives: Truthfulness, trustworthiness, courtesy, kindness, etc.

• Social principles related to Peace Studies such as the need for independent search after truth, the oneness of the entire human race, the elimination of all forms of prejudice, the harmony between science and religion, and the equality of men and women.

I hope to convey this information through some lessons to stimulate their interest, and guide the children in their own research of the subjects. We’ll also have art and drama, as well as physical activity.

Fasting Thoughts

Mara and I had a nice dinner last night with Angelo, who joined us in fasting for a day yesterday. Great food, great company, and we were all happy to eat.

It's the seventh day of the fast today, and I've been doing well. Every year during the fast, I seem to gain some insight. One of the things that I've been mulling over this year has been about my relationship with "whatever you call it," you know, that thing well all so flippantly call "God."

One of the quotes from the Baha'i writings that I read said in effect, fast not out of fear of punishment, or out of some hope for self, but fast out of the love of God. As a result of thinking about this -- the motivations for fasting -- I realized, I really had no idea why I was fasting, and it would be a good thing to understand. So, after letting the thoughts incubate for a few days, I sat down with paper and pen to try to sort this out. I do best concentrating when I write it all out.

Here's what I came up with. There is definitely some element of fear involved when I fast. Not like a fear of punishment, but more like a fear that I'll miss out on something if I don't fast. Okay, I can shed that line of thinking. Next, I realized that I am definitely motivated by some hope that the fast will do me some good. After all, it's supposed to be a time of turning inward and reflecting and of spiritual recuperation. I guess those are all great outcomes, but as I came to understand it, they should not be the motivation for fasting. So, I kind of decided to shed that attitude too.

Do I fast for the love of God? I have never really thought about that. It opens up a bigger can of worms, because, it calls into question the whole issue of "God." It evokes questions like, "How does one love God?" and "What, really, is God?"

I thought about my image of God. Despite knowing that God is an "unknowable essence," there is a part of my brain that developed an image of God during my childhood, and that image remains. This is going to sound crazy, but it's this sort of giant head, like the Wizard of Oz (not the guy behind the curtain, but the big floating head). Years ago, I read some of the writings of Rabbi Kushner, the guy who wrote, "When bad things happen to good people," and he stated that in all his years as a Rabbi, any time a person came to him in a theological crisis, it was because they were thinking of God as a person -- as having human-like thoughts, reactions, emotions. They had an anthropomorphized image of God. And why not. That's the language with which much of religious literature depicts God.

I've written about this before, this difficulty with the "God as dude." And despite knowing that this is not accurate, that green wizard head comes pretty quickly when I say the word, "God." Honestly, it's hard for me to think of loving that God, or that God loving me. My experiences with authority figures hasn't been exceptionally loving, and I think that it carries over to this anthropomorphized God in my mind.

Parallel to this, is an image of God that has been developing for me over the past few years. It's an image of God as "The Force" -- the benign loving essence of the Universe that binds things together, gives life to all things and uplifts all things. "The River" in the story from Illusions. I really like this image of God, and although I know that any image I conjure up is of necessity just my imagination, this image serves me well. I can actually love this God, the Force. I can love it for my life. I can realize that it lives within me. I can thank it for the portions of its limitless blessings that it has showered upon me through my family and friends and the love that surrounds me. I can fast for the Force. I can fast as a sign of my love for the Force. The Force says, "fast, as a sign of your love for me," and it makes sense. (Of course, I get thrown off the minute that the Force "says" something because that requires a mouth of some sort, or uses the word "me," because that requires some sort of individual identity that seems human, and then that ridiculous Wizard head pops up in my brain, but in any event, it's a start to a healthier approach for me.)

Well, that's as far as I got. It was a relief to dissect my thoughts and bring them to the forefront of my own consciousness. I need to gradually let the Force supplant the Wizard. Next I have to grapple with the idea of the Force having consciousness. I have more time.

What's your image of God?

Fast Approaching Fast

It's a little over a week away from the beginning of the Baha'i Fast. It's a period of 19 days, from March 2-20. Unlike Lent and Ramadan, it is fixed to the solar calendar, and falls on these same days every year, ending on March 21 with the Baha'i New Year -- the vernal equinox.

The Baha'i Fast is a period of abstaining from food and drink (yes, drink too) from sunrise to sunset on each of these 19 days. You get up before sunrise, eat and drink, and then don't eat or drink again until the sun sets. I've been observing the Fast since I was 15 years old. It's not meant to kill you. You're exempt if you're younger than 15, older than 70, pregnant, nursing, menstruating, traveling or engaged in heavy labor. It's meant to be a period of turning inward, of spiritual recuperation, self-reflection. It's also meant to be a time of heightened awareness of the suffering of the poor.

It's an important part of the year for me. It's not easy to be sure. In fact, even Baha'u'llah, the prophet-founder of the Baha'i Faith, described it as being "outwardly toilsome". The hardest part for me isn't so much the NOT eating, but the eating. I often don't feel like eating much in the mornings, and by the evening, I'm pretty tired and don't want to eat. But I do allow myself to eat things during this time of year, that I wouldn't otherwise eat. Like chocolate. And ice cream.

I think one of the greatest lessons of the Fast for me over the years has been practicing self-restraint. It seems like an impossibility to not eat when you're so hungry, or drink when you're so thirsty, but you learn to practice self-restraint for a higher good. The absence of that single virtue -- self-restraint -- seems to be at the root of so much of the corruption in today's world. Self-discipline. It's a way of exercising mastery over that most unwieldy of creatures, the self.

Anyway, I'm starting to get ready for the Fast, mostly just by thinking about it, and thinking of the areas of my spiritual life that I'd like to pay focused attention to during this time of the year. Many years, a friend will fast with me for a day. I invite you to join me.

Injustice, Meaning and Purpose

Barbara Jamison led a seminar studying two letters from the Universal House of Justice. The first was written December 21, 2006 to the Baha'is of Egypt, and the second was written September 9, 2007 to Baha'i students deprived of access to higher education in Iran. Both of these communities have a long history of repression at the hands of the governments of their lands.

In Egypt, the constitution recognizes only Judaism, Christianity and Islam as official religions, and only citizens who declare one of these as their religion are given the state issued ID cards which gives them rights as citizens. The Baha'is are not asking for official recognition as a religion, but rather to be allowed to receive ID cards without having to lie about their religion. The case is schedule to be heard (again) by the courts in Egypt in January.

In Iran, the government has for at least three decades denied Baha'is access to higher education. The case has been taken up by the United Nations and many groups and organizations around the world have voiced their concern. Iran remains recalcitrant in its position.

The letters to these two communities both outlined the issues, the history behind the issues, and then provided encouragement to those communities in the actions they are to take while suffering under the yoke of oppression. I'll have to admit, it's not your average bit of instruction.

In the case of the Baha'is of Egypt, after outlining the history of the oppression, the Universal House of Justice calls upon the Baha'is to view their plight as a part of the injustice suffered by peoples throughout the world.

This is no time, however, to dwell on a litany of vexations your community has for so long sustained. It is, rather, an appropriate occasion for reflection on the broad context in which the recent action of the Supreme Administrative Court occur ed, that from it you may derive an ever-larger sense of meaning and purpose.

Injustice is rife. Throughout the world it afflicts every department of life whether in the home, at the workplace, or in the public sphere as a consequence of the ill conduct of individuals, groups, or governments. Lamenting the horrors it breeds, Baha'u'llah made this poignant remark: "Justice is, in this day, bewailing its plight, and Equity groaneth beneath the yoke of oppression. The thick clouds of tyranny have darkened the face of the earth, and enveloped its peoples." So grave a situation exists at a time of unprecedented change: opposite processes of chaos and of order interact in a spiral of turbulence that signals a transition in the spiritual and social agenda of the world as a whole.

Human society has arrived at a stage in its evolution when unity of the whole human race is imperative. to not appreciate this reality is to not grasp the meaning of the current crisis in world affairs. The principle of the oneness of humankind identifies the code of resolving the far-reaching issues involved. As Baha'is, you understand that this principle implies not only the ultimate peaceful goal that it signifies but involves, as well, your participation in the painful tasks entailed in attaining it. Hence, you appreciate the global connotations of instances of oppression at home or abroad and accept the responsibility of striving, guided by the principles of the Faith and in collaboration with others whenever possible, to combat injustice, for the common good.

So, the call is not to just battle your own oppression, but to accept the responsibility and the painful task of striving to combat injustice for the common good. Attention is then turned to the groups in Egypt who are supporting the Baha'is, and the ultimate destiny of Egypt.

Those groups supporting you in your current encounter are of a world-embracing vision and are themselves prepared to withstand the harsh resistance to their selfless occupation, sustaining blows of injustice in the process. As the rise of justice ensures the appearance of unity in the world, all who take on the formidable challenges of struggling for it have indeed captured the spirit of the age epitomized in the principle of oneness. to the extent that the fight for justice contributes to the establishment of a single global standard of human rights, the organizations in Egypt so engaged are working towards achieving the unification of their nation's peoples. They are thus committing themselves in large measure to the vital task of reconciling the tensions that bedevil their society and delay the attainment of its unity. Such reconciliation should not be impossible to Egypt's people, who can take pride in the celebrated enlightenment that in a glorious past ensured their unity in a flourishing society. Undoubtedly, Egypt will rise to participate, as befits its stature, in the fruition of that destiny of world peace and prosperity of which all nations dream.

Bushido and the Traditional Japanese Moral Education

The second speaker yesterday at the Mariana Islands International Baha'i Winter School was Nozomu Sonda from Japan, who spoke on "Bushido and Traditional Japanese Moral Education." Bushido translates as "the way of the warrior," and refers to the code of ethics of the Samurai. He did a Kendo demonstration (bamboo sword), and discussed how the code of the Samurai continues to influence Japanese moral development through the practice of Kendo, which is one of the "sports" practiced by many Japanese high-school students. Bushido has its sources in Zen Buddhism, Shinto and Confucianism. The eight primary virtues of Bushido are

1. Rectitude/Justice
2. Courage
3. Benevolence
4. Politeness
5. Veracity/Sincerity
6. Honor
7. Loyalty
8. Self-Control

He explored the meaning of each of these in both the context of the Samurai and in the context of modern Japanese society, and highlighted commonalities with the virtues extolled in the Baha'i Faith as well as other world religions.

What are the sources of moral education in our traditional cultures? We've recently had hot discussion of "respect" as the foundational moral cultural value for Pacific Islanders and specifically the Chamorro culture.

In the Company of Vibrant People

A few weeks ago, the Pacific Islands Health Officers Association (PIHOA) held their conference in Saipan. The annual conferences gather health officials from throughout the Pacific, along with big-wigs from the US who are involved with Pacific health. I didn't attend the conference, since I'm not a health official, but on the last evening, they held a reception at the Hyatt, and the Secretary of Health invited me to attend. There were health officials there from around the Pacific, people from the Institute of Medicine and CDC, researchers and demographers from US universities, a four star general from Tripler, people from a private company who continue to administer the care of the people affected by nuclear testing in teh Marshall Islands, and a whole host of similar folks. It was energizing, simply because it was nice to be in the company of a vibrant group of people who were focused on making things better in a constructive way. Sure, they were grappling with complex problems, and limited resources, but they were happy, engaged, and solution oriented. I realized how much I missed this.

I'm having the same experience right now in Guam. I'm attending the Mariana Islands International Baha'i Winter School. There are people here from the Marianas, the Federates States of Micronesia, the US, Australia, Japan, Korea and Russia, striving to understand and apply principles for a better world. In the Marians, we started holding these longer five-day "schools"/conferences about four years ago. The purpose of such schools, is summarized in the following couple of sentences:

"The world is undoubtedly facing a great crisis and the social economic and political conditions are daily becoming more complex. Should the friends desire to take the lead in informing the world, they should start by educating themselves and understand what the troubles and problems really are which baffle the minds of men. "

As I read this, I realized that to some extent, the people that I enjoy hanging out with are those that are involved in this kind of stuff -- vibrant enthusiastic people looking to understand and address issues that baffle the minds of people. This is what we're doing here in Guam this week. Yesterday was the first day, and both speakers addressed issues related to character, ethics and morals. I'm going to break up the summary of their talks into separate posts.

As an aside, I've been doing some reading recently on the reasons that religion is, to a large extent, irrelevant these days. In large part is has to do with the inabilty of religions to address modern concerns. I'd like to post a few paragraphs from the document I'm reading, "One Common Faith," but I'll do that separately as well. It's a couple of pages long.

"Then They Came for the Baha'is"

(The following is from US Congressman Mark Steven Kirk's speech. I have family in Iran who are dealing with the repercussions of the Iranian government's treatment of Baha'is.)

As Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad took the stage today to address students at Columbia University, his government was working at his direction to find and expel students from Iranian universities—solely based on the religion they practice.

There is a little-told story from Iran—a story we thought would forever stay buried in the darkness of 1930s Europe. This story is about a religion founded in Iran in the mid-1800s that has become Iran’s largest religious minority with over 250,000 members.

As the representative in Congress for the Baha’i Temple of North America, I know that the Baha’i faith preaches peace, tolerance and diversity of thought—values we embrace on the North Shore. But in an oppressive Islamic dictatorship like Iran, Baha’i values pose a clear and present danger to the regime.

In March of 2006, just a few months into Ahmadinejad’s presidency, the Command Headquarters of Iran’s Armed Forces ordered the police, Revolutionary Guard and Ministry of Information to identify all Baha’is and collect information on their activities.

Two months later, the Iranian Association of Chambers of Commerce began compiling a list of Baha’is serving in every business sector.

In May of last year, 54 Baha’is were arrested in Shiraz and held for several days without trial—the largest roundup of Baha’is since the 1980s. Then in August, Iran’s feared Ministry of the Interior ordered provincial officials to “cautiously and carefully monitor and manage” all Baha’i social activities. The Central Security Office of Iran’s Ministry of Science, Research and Technology ordered 81 Iranian universities to expel any student discovered to be a Baha’i. A letter issued in November from one university stated that it is Iranian policy to prevent Baha’is from enrolling in universities and to expel Baha’is upon discovery.

This year, the safety of Iranian Baha’is continued to deteriorate. This year, 104 Baha’is were expelled from Iranian universities. In February, police in Tehran and surrounding towns entered Baha’i homes and businesses to collect details on family members. The First Branch of the Falard Public Court refused to hear a lawsuit “due to the plaintiffs’ belonging to the Bahaist sect.”

In April, the Iranian Public Intelligence and Security Force ordered 25 industries to deny business licenses to Baha’is. The Ministry of Information threatened to shut down one company unless it fired all Baha’i employees. Banks are closing Baha’i accounts and refusing loans to Baha’i applicants. Just last week, the Iranian government bulldozed a Baha’i cemetery, erasing the memory of thousands of Iranian citizens.

The U.S. State Department’s 2007 Report on International Religious Freedom paints an even darker picture.

“Broad restrictions on Bahá'ís severely undermined their ability to function as a community. The Government repeatedly offers Bahá'ís relief from mistreatment in exchange for recanting their faith.

“Bahá'ís may not teach or practice their faith or maintain links with coreligionists abroad. Bahá'ís are often officially charged with "espionage on behalf of Zionism”…

“Since late 2005 Bahá'ís have faced an increasing number of public attacks…Radio and television broadcasts have also increasingly condemned the Bahá'ís and their religion…

“Public and private universities continued either to deny admittance to or expel Bahá'í students.”

We have seen this movie before—the opening scenes of one of the most horrific episodes in human history. What happened to our solemn promise of ‘never again’ made in 1945?

Never again would the international community stay silent about laws banning one group from attending school. Never again would we ignore orders to register with the government and report on your family’s whereabouts. Never again would we welcome a leader who has ordered a religious minority to be subject to secret police monitors and nightly round-ups.

When President Ahmadinejad rose to address the student body at Columbia—a school extolling the virtues of tolerance and diversity—why was there no mention of Baha’i student expulsion in Iran?

This is a defining moment for our new century. The lessons of the 20th century gave us all the warning signs of what will come if we do not speak out. The Iranian President has spoken – will we?

“Then they came for…” the Baha’is -- we pray the poem ends differently this time.

Revolution on Little Cat's Feet

This is a long post. I probably will not post anything more personal or more important than this (so if it makes you queasy, avert your gaze now). It's been bubbling in my head for most of this week. My friend Don Bader and I were on another hike this Tuesday morning, and he was asking me about one of my Seven Random Facts. There I had written:

I’m a practical idealist. I believe the paradigms that govern society and human relations have worked well for a long time, but are proving themselves woefully inadequate for an emerging global civilization. I see the accelerating turbulence in human society as the death pangs of the current defective order. Instead of trying to fix these dying paradigms, I work to help establish the foundations of the systems that I’m convinced will rise up and redefine our world over the next century. That's why I don't complain much or criticize the way things are. I'm a builder.

So here goes explaining that.

***

Unbeknownst to most of the world’s 6.7 billion people, this week marked the anniversary of a rare occurrence in human history. It marked the birth of a religion. On May 24, 1844, Samuel Morse sat in a room in Washington DC, tapping out a message in the code he had invented. The successful receipt of this message in Baltimore marked the inception of the modern era of telecommunication.

On the eve of the prior day, May 23, a meeting was taking place in a room, on the second floor of a modest home, in a dusty corner of the city of Shiraz, in southern Persia. At two hours and eleven minutes after sunset, the protagonist, a young man of 25 (who six years later would die brutally before a firing squad of 750 soldiers) intimated to his guest, whom he had met a few hours earlier, that he was a manifestation of the Divine – one of those rare Beings, sent to revitalize the character of man and society.

The acceptance of this claim by his guest marked the birth of the Bahá’í Faith. From these obscure beginnings, the Bahá’í Faith has grown in the past 164 years to include some 5 million people of every nationality, race and ethnicity (even Chamorro & Carolinian). The Encyclopedia Britannica identifies it as the second most widespread religion after Christianity.

Revolutions come upon us quietly, like on “little cat’s feet” (as in Carl Sandburg’s Fog). This week, Bahá’ís around the world mark the anniversary of that intimate conversation that set in motion forces that have recreated the planet, a conversation that signaled the birth of a revolution in human affairs.

***

Now, I’ll admit, I’m a skeptic. I hear things like this and I raise my eyebrows, have my doubts. Religion, of any ilk, is not exactly a trustworthy institution these days. The existence of a divine being who intervenes in human affairs, in my affairs, in the affairs of anyone, is questionable. Yet, I count myself among one of those 5 million people. Why? How can a scientist, a thinker, a skeptic like me, come to accept that some person has some special access to some remote unseen source of knowledge, and that that knowledge is relevant enough to my life that I’m going to change what I do based upon it?

First, I think I have to ask myself, is it possible that such a being, a messenger or manifestation of the Divine exists? Is it possible? Might it be true? For the answers, I look to the pattern of history. Civilizations have been born in many ways. One of the most frequent and enduring is the civilization that is born because of an individual who proclaims “I am not an average human.” The pattern has been that these individuals proclaim that they are not expounding their own philosophy, but are relaying a message, or being a mouthpiece or manifesting the Divine. They state that they have come to revitalize humanity and that this task is not of their own volition. They gain nothing from it other than pain, suffering, exile, and often death.

History knows these individuals by the names of Krishna, Buddha, Zoroaster, Moses, Jesus, Mohammad and Bahá’u’lláh. In the case of all but the most recent of these, we have seen the full course of a recurring pattern: first, the manifestation of the divine appears, then

“...A community of believers forms around this focal centre of spiritual life and authority; a new system of values begins to reorder both consciousness and behavior; the arts and sciences respond; a restructuring of laws and of the administration of social affairs takes place. Slowly, but irresistibly, a new civilization emerges, one that so fulfils the ideals and so engages the capacities of millions of human beings that it does indeed constitute a new world, a world far more real to those who ‘live, move, and have their being’ in it than the earthly foundations on which it rests. Throughout the centuries that follow, society continues to depend for its cohesion and self-confidence primarily on the spiritual impulse that gave it birth.”

I cannot deny that this has occurred repeatedly. And it has occurred for each of these divine Manifestations. On this basis, I accept that there is validity to their messages, their teachings, their claims of the existence of something outside our ken. I accept that Manifestations of the Divine enter the world at rare intervals and release creative forces that revolutionize life.

But the question of God still remains in the mind of the skeptic. If you’ve noticed, I’ve been careful not to even use the word “God” until now. (I wanted to tell you that the content of Samuel Morse’s first message, but didn’t because it contained the word “God.”) I suppose I’ve been cautious because I assume I’m talking to other skeptics, scientists, and pragmatists. I don’t want to close minds by using a word that is fraught with so many assumptions and difficulties.

My best friend is what I call a "born again atheist.” He’s not an “anti-theist” that is, he’s not against God. He just doesn’t believe that “God” exists. What I’ve learned from him, and from others who claim that “God does not exist” or who are doubtful about the existence of God is that they are not rejecting the mystical or the divine or the transcendent. They rejecting a particular concept of God.

They (and I) accept that things exist that cannot be grasped, that the senses cannot contain, that are unfathomable, mystical, spiritual, infinite. Every time they (and I) look up at the night sky and contemplate that it doesn’t end -- that there is no edge (and if there is, what would be on the “outside” of it?) we accept the existence of the infinite even though we don’t understand it. It’s staring back at us with the eyes of all those galaxies we can’t even see. So it is not this concept of “God the mysterious” or “God the infinite” that people reject. Most doubters and skeptics reject the concept of anthropomorphizing God: God as dude, who behaves like most other dudes, only bigger and way more extreme.

Bahá’u’lláh explains God as an “unknowable essence.” My mind can accept this God – a source of creative energy. I can also accept that any attempt to describe this unknowable essence must of necessity fall short. The human mind cannot contain the infinite. Anything we say is speculative. This is not to say that the descriptions of God in ages past were incorrect. They were simply describing the abstract, the indescribable, in terms that could be grasped by minds of those times. As the child grows and becomes capable of grasping the abstract, so descriptions of God change and evolve from age to age. Thus the prior concepts of “God” are not intrinsically “wrong” or in conflict with one another. I can live with all of that.

God as “unknowable essence,” as a source of creative energy, is not something I have to blindly “believe in.” I can actually experience this God. Every day I see signs of the unknowable essence. From the unwinding of a double helix of DNA to the pulsating beauty of retinal blood vessels, to the sounds of my children laughing, I see traces of this unknowable essence, of transcendence that is God. I’m content to not try to understand it beyond that. God, the unknowable essence, I can believe in.

So, I accept that there is God, the unknowable essence. I accept, (because history seems to clearly prove), that this unknowable essence does intervene in human affairs from time to time in a very concentrated way through the agency of these Manifestations of the Divine. But am I saying that they are all the same? Am I saying that the religions they founded all are true? Am I saying that their source is the same and therefore that God and Allah and Yahweh and Jehovah are all the same? Yep.

Huh? If that’s the case, why am I a Bahá’í? Why choose a specific Faith above another? Why am I not a follower of Krishna or Buddha or Moses or Christ or Mohammad? Well, as a Baha'i, I am a follower of all of them. Not in some wishy-washy eclectic buffet sort of way. I am a follower of all of them in that I accept that, in their essence, they are all the same. Identical. They are all the Divine Manifestation returning from the same source from age to age. “This is the changeless faith of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future.” The all have the same purpose. Their spiritual teachings remain fundamentally similar: develop your virtues -- love, kindness, justice, compassion.

However, their social teachings – those that guide the complexities of society -- are not the same. They change from time to time in accordance to the circumstances of humanity at the time of their appearance: one says you can divorce, another says you can’t. Eat pork; eat what you want. Have four wives; don’t have four wives. These differences exist not because of intrinsic differences between the Manifestations or of their source. The differences in the social teachings exist only because of the circumstances of humanity at a particular time and place in history. Math for one grade is different than math for a different grade, not because the teachers are in conflict, but because the students are different. The religions are not really different religions. They are manifestations of one common faith. We just haven't recognized that. Once humanity understands this, religious strife will fade.

The spiritual teachings of long ago are still valid today. This is the reason millions of people continue to find sustenance in faiths that are thousands of years old. However, people are increasingly disillusioned by their religions (or any religion) because they do not appear to address the needs of the age, they do not appear to be relevant to life in the 21^st century.

This set of ideas on the progressive nature of religion is the fundamental essence of the teachings of the Divine Manifestation in this day: there is only one “God”; the same “God” has sent these Divine Manifestations from time to time to educate humanity. Bahá’u’lláh is the most recent of these Manifestations with guidance from the Divine to move humanity to its next level of development – to a global civilization based upon the fundamental principle of the oneness of humankind.

The spiritual laws today are the same as those of all the previous iterations of the Divine Manifestation. The social teachings are renewed for the emerging global society. Their mere enunciation over 150 years ago unleashed the forces which propelled them in the forefront of the standards of civil society. When they were place before humanity by Bahá’u’lláh at that time, they were unthinkable, punishable:

• The independent search after truth, unfettered by superstition or tradition;
• The oneness of the entire human race, the pivotal principle and fundamental doctrine of the Faith;
• The basic unity of all religions;
• The condemnation of all forms of prejudice, whether religious, racial, class or national;
• The harmony which must exist between religion and science;
• The equality of men and women, the two wings on which the bird of human kind is able to soar;
• The introduction of compulsory education;
• The adoption of a universal auxiliary language;
• The abolition of the extremes of wealth and poverty;
• The institution of a world tribunal for the adjudication of disputes between nations;
• The exaltation of work, performed in the spirit of service, to the rank of worship;
• The glorification of justice as the ruling principle in human society,
• And the establishment of a permanent and universal peace as the supreme goal of all mankind
  

These are not just a few well thought out social principles. Many see them as the principles enunciated by the eternal voice, through the return of the Divine Manifestation. And that eternal voice of the Divine has given the sort of detailed guidance that will be used to build a global civilization in the centuries to come.

That’s what excites me. That’s what makes this week and the anniversary of that conversation so profound. That’s why I’m optimistic about the future of humanity, despite the darkness on the immediate horizon. That’s why I don’t scratch my head and wonder, “What in the world happened in the middle of the 19^th century that has caused humanity to progress further in the past 150 years than it had in thousands of years? What’s the source of the revolution and upheaval in human affairs that is taking place?” This guidance is what gives me the tools to help build systems that will redefine our world over the coming centuries. It is the basis for the new paradigm I refer to. Samuel Morse's devise, without the wires and the keys and the clicking is the cell phone in my pocket. The revolution is visible. I, the skeptic, the scientist, the thinker, have heard little cat’s feet upon which the revolution arrived. The paradigm makes sense, both to my mind and to my heart.

Tropical Naw-Ruz

Yesterday was Naw-Ruz, the Bahá’í New Year. We took the kids out of school, and to celebrate, took a boat ride over to Managaha, a tiny picturesque island about 20 minutes off of Saipan’s western shore. The island is reserved for recreational use, and no one lives there.

Naw-Ruz also marks the end of the 19 day period of fasting for Bahá’ís. Below is a brief talk that I gave a few years ago explaining Naw Ruz, the Fast, and an overview of the Bahá’í Faith at our community's celebration. That's followed by some photos of our day at Managaha.

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We would like to welcome you all here to this celebration of the Bahá’í New Year, Naw-Ruz. Naw Ruz is a time of hospitality and rejoicing, and we thank you all for being here to celebrate this festive occasion with us.

The Bahá’í year begins each year at sunset on March 20, the day of the vernal equinox. The equinox is the day on which the sun equally illuminates the whole earth. In many cultures, the equinox is a symbol of life and of divine illumination.

The Fast

Sunset today, also marks the end of the 19 day period of fasting for Bahá’ís. For the past 19 days, Bahá’ís around the world have arisen before dawn to pray and meditate, and have abstained from food and drink from sunrise to sunset. The fast is symbolic – a reminder. Its significance and purpose are fundamentally spiritual in character. It is a time of self restraint, a time to focus more actively on our spiritual side, a period of spiritual recuperation.

So we are honored to have you with us this evening, as we end our fast, and move into a new year.

The Bahá’í Faith

This evening marks the 160^th (2007 is the 164th) year of the Bahá’í calendar. The Bahá’í Faith is the most recent of the world’s major religions. It began in 1844 in what was known as Persia, amidst tales of heroism and great sacrifice.

Bahá’u’lláh taught that there is a creative force, a creative energy in the universe, which is unknowable to us, and which humanity has called God. Throughout human history, this creative force, this unknowable essence, God, intervenes in human affairs, giving guidance to humanity through individuals that have come to be known as the founders of the world’s great religions – through Buddha, Krishna, Zoroaster, Abraham, Moses, Christ, Mohammad and, Bahá’u’lláh.

The teachings brought by these manifestations of God bring two sets of teachings – spiritual teachings and social teachings. The spiritual teachings address the spiritual life and growth of humankind, and remain essentially the same – that we be loving, kind, merciful, just and peace-loving. The social teachings change from age to age because humanity changes, and the needs of society change. The social teachings become the basis of the laws of society, and upon them, great civilizations are built.

The teachings of the Bahá’í Faith address the needs of an emerging global civilization. They include the recognition of the essential oneness of humankind, the elimination of all forms of prejudice, the equality of men and women, the need for universal education, and the essential harmony between science and religion. So the fundamental teachings of the Baha’i Faith – that there is only one God, that all the world’s religions have come from the same source, and that humanity is one – are captivating the hearts and unifying people around the world. The Bahá’í s here tonight come from Buddhist, Zoroastrian, Jewish, Christian and Muslim backgrounds. We live and work believing that humanity is now on the threshold of that long awaited day when peace will envelop the earth, when we will regard ourselves as all one people, and the earth as a common homeland.

Again, we welcome you and thank you for joining us, on this celebration of the Bahá’í New Year, the festival of Naw-Ruz. We hope you will all enjoy yourselves. In the words of Bahá’u’lláh, “Rejoice with exceeding gladness”.

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(Click on any of the photos to enlarge)

Preparing to Leave Saipan

Approaching Managaha. Look at that blue water!

At the Managaha dock.

Clear water, white sand, palm trees, blue skies. Just another average day in the South Pacific! Click on this photo to really appreciate the beauty (then click "back" to get back here).

Staying in the shade.

Managaha's eastern shore has been eroding. The soil is now gone, but the trees are still there. The whole island can be circumambulated in about 15 minutes (even with a two-year-old). That's Saipan in the background.

Managaha is the burial place of Chief Aghurubw. This is his statue and the plaque on the monument.

Ready to head home, after a great day. (This photo taken by a pair of Japanese tourists. Very nicely done! Domo arigato gozaimasu!).