alexinoslo's posterous

Requisites for nearness to God

 

A day of joy, today, Naw-Ruz! The start of the New Year. Will anything be the same again? The old year has been left behind. A new chapter has begun. The onrush of springtime brings closer the attainment of the goal - realization of our true identity as nothingness in a sea of grace.

 

'Abdu'l-Bahá speaks of severance, thus:

The greatest attainment in the world of humanity is nearness to God. Every lasting glory, honor, grace and beauty which comes to man comes through nearness to God. All the Prophets and apostles longed and prayed for nearness to the Creator... [H]ow many days they devoted to supplication for this attainment, seeking ever to draw nigh unto Him! But nearness to God is not an easy accomplishment.... Divine nearness is dependent upon

  • attainment to the knowledge of God, upon
  • severance from all else save God. It is contingent upon
  • self-sacrifice and to be found only through
  • forfeiting wealth and worldly possessions. It is made possible through the
  • baptism of water and fire revealed in the Gospels.

Water symbolizes the water of life, which is knowledge, and fire is the fire of the love of God; therefore, man must be baptized with

  • the water of life,
  • the Holy Spirit and
  • the fire of the love of the Kingdom.

Until he attains these three degrees, nearness to God is not possible. This is the process by which the Bahá’ís of Persia have attained it. They gave their lives for this station, sacrificed honor, comfort and possessions, hastened with the utmost joy to the place of martyrdom; their blood was spilled, their bodies were tortured and destroyed, their homes pillaged, their children carried into captivity. They endured all these conditions joyfully and willingly. Through such sacrifice nearness to God is made possible. And be it known that this nearness is not dependent upon time or place. Nearness to God is dependent upon purity of the heart and exhilaration of the spirit through the glad tidings of the Kingdom. Consider how a pure, well-polished mirror fully reflects the effulgence of the sun, no matter how distant the sun may be. As soon as the mirror is cleaned and purified, the sun will manifest itself. The more pure and sanctified the heart of man becomes, the nearer it draws to God, and the light of the Sun of Reality is revealed within it. This light sets hearts aglow with the fire of the love of God, opens in them the doors of knowledge and unseals the divine mysteries so that spiritual discoveries are made possible. All the Prophets have drawn near to God through severance. We must emulate those Holy Souls and renounce our own wishes and desires. We must purify ourselves from the mire and soil of earthly contact until our hearts become as mirrors in clearness and the light of the most great guidance reveals itself in them.

- ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Promulgation 147-8 (emphasis added)

 

Talk Deeply, Be Happy?

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via well.blogs.nytimes.com

An interesting study (though the results are hardly surprising!) -
(Excerpts:)

[Dr. Mehl] proposed [that] substantive conversation seemed to hold the key to happiness...
"By engaging in meaningful conversations, ...interpersonally ...you bond with your interactive partner, and we know that interpersonal connection...is a core fundamental foundation of happiness.”

[T]he happiest person in the study...had twice as many substantive conversations, and only one-third of the amount of small talk as the unhappiest.

 

A BAHÁ'Í QUOTATION on the virtue of consultation:

In all things it is necessary to consult. This matter should be forcibly stressed by thee, so that consultation may be observed by all. ...inasmuch as it is and will always be a cause of awareness and of awakening and a source of good and well-being.

- Bahá'u'lláh
http://info.bahai.org/article-1-3-6-6.html

 

Musings 9.3 - nature of teaching

 

When teaching (in school or about faith), am I actually teaching how to teach, more than I am conveying pieces of information? This, since my hearers (more especially the younger generations) will probably, when once they become teachers, take after my method and example while the actual facts I've imparted will have been forgotten.


"[D]eeds exert greater influence than words."

- Bahá'u'lláh, Tablets 57

 

Woman, the equal of man

Excerpts from the Bahá'í writings regarding equality of the sexes in general, and the special traits of women in particular.

Verily God created women for men, and men for women. - Bahá'u'lláh #54
The truth is that all mankind are the creatures and servants of one God, and in His estimate all are human. Man is a generic term applying to all humanity. The biblical statement “Let us make man in our image, after our likeness” does not mean that woman was not created. The image and likeness of God apply to her as well. In Persian and Arabic there are two distinct words translated into English as man: one meaning man and woman collectively, the other distinguishing man as male from woman the female. The first word and its pronoun are generic, collective; the other is restricted to the male. This is the same in Hebrew. To accept and observe a distinction which God has not intended in creation is ignorance and superstition…. It is my hope that the banner of equality may be raised throughout the five continents where as yet it is not fully recognized and established. In this enlightened world of the West woman has advanced an immeasurable degree beyond the women of the Orient. And let it be known once more that until woman and man recognize and realize equality, social and political progress here or anywhere will not be possible. For the world of humanity consists of two parts or members: one is woman; the other is man. Until these two members are equal in strength, the oneness of humanity cannot be established, and the happiness and felicity of mankind will not be a reality. God willing, this is to be so. - ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Promulgation 74–77
The woman has greater moral courage than the man; she has also special gifts which enable her to govern in moments of danger and crisis…. - ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, London 102–3
In the Divine Creation there is no such distinction. Neither sex is superior to the other in the sight of God. Why then should one sex assert the inferiority of the other, withholding just rights and privileges as though God had given His authority for such a course of action? If women received the same educational advantages as those of men, the result would demonstrate the equality of capacity of both for scholarship. In some respects woman is superior to man. She is more tender-hearted, more receptive, her intuition is more intense. - ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris 161
...men and women have basic and distinct qualities. The solution provided in the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh is not, as you correctly observe, for men to become women, and for women to become men. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá gave us the key to the problem when He taught that the qualities and functions of men and women “complement” each other. He further elucidated this point when He said that the “new age” will be “an age in which the masculine and feminine elements of civilization will be more properly balanced.” - The Universal House of Justice, Women, #34

Source: A Compilation on Women. View here.

Do challenges in modern-day history arise from new problems, or from repeating old mistakes?

 

In the article below, the underlying view of the author, which leads him to his negative forecast and conclusion in an otherwise insightful analysis, is that countries' fiscal policies are and will remain motivated by self interest (rather than "enlightened self interest"). This is an anachronism. In the real world, economists and policymakers have long realized the economic interdependence of all nations which has prompted them to support and aid the ones in need. History has taught them the painful lesson deriving from isolationism. Clearly, if any nations (and especially an economic superpower like Germany) revert to the latter, it will certainly spell global financial havoc. But is modern-day history in the habit of stepping backwards?!

True, there will be further financial crises in the decades ahead, but history tells me that these will be brought on mainly by new and hitherto unseen problems, not so much by repeating the mistakes of the past.

Hence the importance of knowing one's history! In the words of Bahá'u'lláh: "The past is the mirror of the future. Gaze ye therein and be apprised thereof" (Tabernacle, 10).

Excerpts from an article in the Toronto Star:


Baleful Greek chorus heralds economic doom

Fri Mar 05 2010
Immanuel Wallerstein
[E]veryone is pointing the finger at someone else....
The Germans [Europe's economic powerhouse and mainstay] don't want [to do anything - i.e. bail out Greece - for the reason that] the internal pressures of [Germany's] citizens who see any help to Greece as money that is being taken away from them, when they too are feeling an economic squeeze....
What these multiple crosscutting analyses of short-term blame and short-term gain miss is that the problem is worldwide and structural. Banks exist to make money. The game Goldman Sachs has been playing (and other banks as well) has...been...with many, many countries....
This is because governments wish to survive... And if they don't take in enough taxes...(both because they don't want to raise taxes further and because a weaker economy means less overall tax income), they must "massage" their accounts by borrowing....
Greece's problems are indeed Germany's problems. Germany's problems are indeed the United States' problems. And the United States' problems are indeed the world's problems....
What is going on is a worldwide game of chicken. Everyone seems to be waiting for who will flinch first. Someone is going to make a mistake. And then we'll have what the American economist Barry Eichengreen has called "the mother of all financial crises." Even China will be affected by that one.
Immanuel Wallerstein, senior research scholar at Yale University, is author of The Decline of American Power: The U.S. in a Chaotic World (New Press).

Source: http://www.thestar.com/opinion/article/775221--baleful-greek-chorus-heralds-economic-doom

 

A concatenation of fortuitous circumstances

(Written 23 January 2010)

The moment is the start of life, when did it actually commence?

I was behind in the race, but, through mysterious forces, soon advanced to a place of Will.

The eternal bond colligates seemingly unrelated events into the tapestry of one's unfolding destiny.

Color strokes from life's palette reproduce ethereal Forms upon the canvas of the effacing soul.

 

A quotation of 'Abdu'l-Bahá which may have inspired the above, is this:

The most important thing is to polish the mirrors of hearts in order that they may become illumined and receptive of the divine light.  One heart may possess the capacity of the polished mirror; another, be covered and obscured by the dust and dross of this world.  Although the same Sun is shining upon both, in the mirror which is polished, pure and sanctified you may behold the Sun in all its fullness, glory and power, revealing its majesty and effulgence; but in the mirror which is rusted and obscured there is no capacity for reflection, although so far as the Sun itself is concerned it is shining thereon and is neither lessened nor deprived.  Therefore, our duty lies in seeking to polish the mirrors of our hearts in order that we shall become reflectors of that light and recipients of the divine bounties which may be fully revealed through them.

- 'Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 14

 

Baha'is throughout the world are celebrating their ...

 

Photo copyright Bahá’í International Community. View here.

 

Op-Ed Columnist - The Hard and the Soft of the Norwegians

The United States, a nation of 300 million, won nine gold medals this year in the Winter Olympics. Norway, a nation of 4.7 million, also won nine. This was no anomaly. Over the years, Norwegians have won more gold medals in Winter Games, and more Winter Olympics medals over all, than people from any other nation.

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There must be many reasons for Norway’s excellence, but some of them are probably embedded in the story of Jan Baalsrud.

In 1943, Baalsrud was a young instrument maker who was asked to sneak back into Norway to help the anti-Nazi resistance.

His mission, described in the book “We Die Alone” by David Howarth, was betrayed. His boat was shelled by German troops. Baalsrud dove into the ice-covered waters and swam, with bullets flying around him, toward an island off the Norwegian coast. The rest of his party was killed on the spot, or captured and eventually executed, but Baalsrud made it to the beach and started climbing an icy mountain. He was chased by Nazis, and he killed one officer.

He was hunted by about 50 Germans and left a trail in the deep snow. He’d lost one boot and sock, and he was bleeding from where his big toe had been shot off. He scrambled across the island and swam successively across the icy sound to two other islands. On the second, he lay dying of cold and exhaustion on the beach.

Two girls found and led him to their home. And this is the core of the story. During the next months, dozens of Norwegians helped Baalsrud get across to Sweden. Flouting any sense of rational cost-benefit analysis, families and whole villages risked their lives to help one gravely ill man, who happened to drop into their midst.

Baalsrud was clothed and fed and rowed to another island. He showed up at other houses and was taken in. He began walking across the mountain ranges on that island in the general direction of the mainland, hikes of 24, 13 and 28 hours without break.

A 72-year-old man rowed him the final 10 miles to the mainland, past German positions, and gave him skis. Up in the mountains, he skied through severe winter storms. One night, he started an avalanche. He fell at least 300 feet, smashed his skis and suffered a severe concussion. His body was buried in snow, but his head was sticking out. He lost sense of time and self-possession. He was blind, the snow having scorched the retinas of his eyes.

He wandered aimlessly for four days, plagued by hallucinations. At one point he thought he had found a trail, but he was only following his own footsteps in a small circle.

Finally, he stumbled upon a cottage. A man named Marius Gronvold took him in. He treated Baalsrud’s frostbite and hid him in a remote shed across a lake to recover.

He was alone for a week (a storm made it impossible for anyone to reach him). Gangrene invaded his legs. He stabbed them to drain the pus and blood. His eyesight recovered, but the pain was excruciating and he was starving.

Baalsrud could no longer walk, so Gronvold and friends built a sled. They carried the sled and him up a 3,000-foot mountain in the middle of a winter storm and across a frozen plateau to where another party was supposed to meet them. The other men weren’t there, and Gronvold was compelled to leave Baalsrud in a hole in the ice under a boulder.

The other party missed the rendezvous because of a blizzard, and by the time they got there, days later, the tracks were covered and they could find no sign of him. A week later, Gronvold went up to retrieve Baalsrud’s body and was astonished to find him barely alive. Baalsrud spent the next 20 days in a sleeping bag immobilized in the snow, sporadically supplied by Gronvold and others.

Over the next weeks, groups of men tried to drag him to Sweden but were driven back, and they had to shelter him again in holes in the ice. Baalsrud cut off his remaining toes with a penknife to save his feet. Tired of risking more Norwegian lives, he also attempted suicide.

Finally, he was awoken by the sound of snorting reindeer. A group of Laps had arrived, and under German fire, they dragged him to Sweden.

This astonishing story could only take place in a country where people are skilled on skis and in winter conditions. But there also is an interesting form of social capital on display. It’s a mixture of softness and hardness. Baalsrud was kept alive thanks to a serial outpouring of love and nurturing. At the same time, he and his rescuers displayed an unbelievable level of hardheaded toughness and resilience. That’s a cultural cocktail bound to produce achievement in many spheres.

Sign in to Recommend More Articles in Opinion » A version of this article appeared in print on March 2, 2010, on page A23 of the New York edition.
via nytimes.com

"...there also is an interesting form of social capital on display [in this astonishing story]. It’s a mixture of softness and hardness. Baalsrud was kept alive thanks to a serial outpouring of love and nurturing. At the same time, he and his rescuers displayed an unbelievable level of hardheaded toughness and resilien...ce. That’s a cultural cocktail bound to produce achievement in many spheres."

An approach to detraction and negativity

How to meet with negativity and fault-finding?

Silent prayer, I suppose, as well as showing a good example oneself by praising without distinction. What doesn't seem to work is to voice one's disagreement with the negativity (by trying to point to the positive). I find this actually magnifies the negativity (since the la...tter is being used as the premise for what you're saying - better to overlook negativity entirely!).

I'm reminded of these passages from Esslemont's book:

On no subject are the Bahá’í teaching more imperative and uncompromising than on the requirement to abstain from faultfinding....

‘Abdu’l-Bahá tells us:—

"To be silent concerning the faults of others, to pray for them, and to help them, through kindness, to correct their faults.
"To look always at the good and not at the bad. If a man has ten good qualities and one bad one, to look at the ten and forget the one; and if a man has ten bad qualities and one good one, to look at the one and forget the ten."

http://is.gd/9DnHC

As well as this quotation of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:

Remember how Adam and the others once dwelt together in Eden. No sooner, however, did a quarrel break out between Adam and Satan than they were, one and all, banished from the Garden, and this was meant as a warning to the human race, a means of telling humankind that dissension—even with the Devil—is the way to bitter loss. This is why, in our illumined age, God teacheth that conflicts and disputes are not allowable, not even with Satan himself.

http://is.gd/9Do6n

Schools are churning out the unemployable


An informative article on employment and education issues in the UK. Unfortunately, its tone is rather negative.
In reply, I would say that there will always be faults in the educational and political system. Our task should be to focus on the positive and constructive trends, which certainly DO exist, and to build on these.
(Highlighting is mine.)
Times Online
From The Sunday Times

February 21, 2010

Schools are churning out the unemployable

  by Harriet Sergeant

The latest unemployment figures are a shocker. Eight million adults are “economically inactive”. That means one in five people of working age does not have a job. A new and expanding group, poignantly described as “discouraged” workers, have even given up looking.

They are right to be discouraged but wrong that there is no work. A report out on Friday points out that a fifth of firms and a quarter of employers in the state sector are still hiring — despite the recession. Except they are taking on migrant workers — not our home-grown “discouraged” variety.

The managing director of a medium-sized IT company explained why. High-flyers — Oxford and Cambridge graduates — are still as good as any in the world. His problems come when he tries to recruit middle management. Last year he interviewed 52 graduates — all educated in state schools. On paper they looked “brilliant students”. Each had three As at A-level and a 2:1 degree. He shook his head. “There’s a big difference between people passing exams and being ready for work.”

This was obvious even before the interview began. Of the 52 applicants, half arrived late. Only three of the 52 walked up to the managing director, looked him in the eye, shook his hand and said, “Good morning.” The rest “just ambled in”. When he asked them to solve a problem, only 12 had come equipped with a notebook and pencil.

The three who had greeted him proved the strongest candidates and he hired them. Within a year they were out because of their “lackadaisical” attitude. They did not turn up on time; for the first six months a manager had to check all their emails for spelling and grammar; they did not know how to learn. It was the first time they had ever been asked to learn on their own. Their ability to “engage in business” was “incredibly” disappointing and “at 5.30 on the dot they left the office”.

This year the managing director has joined the 20% of companies recruiting overseas. “We are an English company but we have no English staff. It’s just too much trouble,” he said.

It is the same story with employers at every level in the UK. Sir Terry Leahy, the chief executive of Tesco, put it bluntly. Too many children have been leaving school after 11 or 13 years of compulsory education “without the basic skills to get on in life and hold down a job”. He said 5m adults were functionally illiterate and 17m could not add up properly. “On-the-job training” cannot act as a “bandage or sticking plaster” for “the failure of our education system”.

A CBI survey revealed that literacy and numeracy were not the only problems. More than 50% of employers complained that young people were inarticulate, unable to communicate concisely, interpret written instructions or perform simple mental calculations.

This goes a long way to explain why, of the 1.7m jobs created since 1997, 81% have gone to foreign workers. The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) agrees with Leahy. UK citizens are on the dole because of “issues around basic employability skills, incentives and motivation”. It is a pity it has not passed that insight on to the Department for Children, Schools and Families.

The DWP has made it clear: work is where the inflated claims for our state education finally hit the buffers. At every stage we have a system in which the expediency of politicians and the ideology of the educational establishment take precedence over the interests of pupils. ...

Read the full article here.


A benefit of adversity

When you've hit the wall and you experience a crisis this often becomes an impetus to "figure out a new way of doing things.”

Can any change or improvement be effected without facing up to problems? If "no", the first step should then logically be to recognize that a such a problem (or "discrepancy from the ideal") exists.

Now, how would I proceed if I desired to make another (or a group/organization) aware of the existence of a certain problem (and at the same time motivate them to tackle it)?

The following quotations highlight spiritual principles that can shed light on this question. Of particular relevance in this regard could be the powerful influence that "a kindly tongue" can have on one's hearer, as expressed in the first passage.

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.
- Bahá’u’lláh

The following passage from the same text will likewise be of interest here:

Consort with all men...in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship. If ye be aware of a certain truth, if ye possess a jewel, of which others are deprived, share it with them in a language of utmost kindliness and good-will.
- Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings 289

'Abdu'l-Bahá sheds further light on the issue, in stating:

...if you wish to give admonition or advice, let it be offered in such a way that it will not burden the bearer.
- ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, PUP 453

Finally, a word of warning is given by Bahá’u’lláh against "contention":

Beware lest ye contend with any one, nay, strive to make him aware of the truth with kindly manner and most convincing exhortation.
- Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings 279

NOTE:

This post was inspired by the following passage (from the nytimes.com article "A Vision of Iceland as a Haven for Journalists," available here):

“Throughout the run-up to the crisis [in Iceland] — the bubble — people were so excited with what they were doing,” said Mr. McCarthy, who has an Irish parent but has lived in Iceland since he was 11. “Suddenly that dream disappears. People had the option of sinking into some sort of sadness about it, some national depression, or the alternative, trying to figure out a new way of doing things.”