Unity

“The path to freedom hath been outstretched; hasten ye thereunto. The wellspring of wisdom is overflowing; quaff ye therefrom. Say: O well-beloved ones! The tabernacle of unity hath been raised; regard ye not one another as strangers. Ye are the fruits of one tree, and the leaves of one branch. Verily I say, whatsoever leadeth to the decline of ignorance and the increase of knowledge hath been, and will ever remain, approved in the sight of the Lord of creation. Say: O people! Walk ye neath the shadow of justice and truthfulness and seek ye shelter within the tabernacle of unity.”

~Baha’u'llah

(Sunset in the Amazon)

The Hope Human Hands Have Been Created To Bear

“God hath prescribed unto every one the duty of teaching His Cause.  Whoever ariseth to discharge this duty, must needs, ere he proclaimeth His Message, adorn himself with the ornament of an upright and praiseworthy character, so that his words may attract the hearts of such as are receptive to his call.  Without it, he can never hope to influence his hearers.”

~Baha’u'llah 

Praise worthy character is made manifest within the diversity of the human existence, this diversity being inclusive of ethnicity, nationality, religious affiliation, sex, and class.  The essential element which we all share in common is that we are created, and the way in which we might celebrate such a fundamental commonality is through honoring one another.  If we are all created, and the reason for our existence is to recognize and worship our Creator, and a means of doing so is through religion, then essentially religion is meant to unify souls, not elevate one creed while oppressing another.  We are created to recognize the greatness and omnipotence of the Beloved, but we are also created to bear witness to the greatness of humankind, thus the beauty within each and every individual.

I  spent the past three years of my life embracing such a philosophy at the International Community School in Decatur, GA. While the school is secular in name and definition, I consider it to be one of the greatest manifestations of Baha’i teachings I have witnessed thus far.  The school itself is comprised of a 50% refugee and 50% American student population.  The student and staff demographic represent over 40 countries world-wide and continues to celebrate exponential growth annually.  The picture below is of one of my second grade students who is an Muslim Bosnian.  In the palms of her two hands she cradles a lady bug, and in the moment during which I took this photo, I was struck by the symbolic nature it represented for the individual, the school, and the world at large.  We all have hands and hope exists within each of them.

The Baha’i Month of Ala (Loftiness)…The Fast Has Begun!!!

Glory be to Thee, O Lord my God! These are the days whereon Thou hast bidden all men to observe the fast, that through it they may purify their souls and rid themselves of all attachment to anyone but Thee.

~Baha’u'llah

The Baha’i calendar is divided into nineteen months of nineteen days each. Depending on whether it is a leap year or not this leaves four to five excess days referred to as intercalary days, and Baha’is refer specifically to this time as Ayyam-i-Ha, reserved for gift giving and acts of service. The beauty of these days is that they precede the nineteen day fast which Baha’is observe on a universal level. During the nineteen day month of Ala, Baha’is are bestowed with the greatest of callings, this being to spiritually awake and perpetuate themselves through the sacrifice of food and drink from sunrise to sunset.

All Baha’is from fifteen to seventy years old must abstain from food and drink between sunrise and sunset on each of the nineteen days of the month of Ala. Travelers, the sick, those engaged in heavy physical labor, and women who are pregnant, nursing, or menstruating are exempt from fasting.

~Baha’i Day Book

How is abstaining from the intake of food and drink for the majority of one’s day a blessing and a virtue you might ask yourself. As a Baha’i I have embraced the philosophy of the mystery of sacrifice, this meaning that observance of the fast by His friends and followers has been commanded by the Beloved. Within this commandment there exists innate knowledge regarding the order and needs of all things which I shall never fully understand but am blessed to partake in. Within the context of this time, this sacrifice, this spiritual preparation, I am able to participate in the following of a commandment which God has given to us as guidance, and through immersing myself in it, through observance and contemplation, I can further my understanding of and devotion to the Omnipotent.

As a Baha’i, when I fast I am not simply spending intentional time away from physical sustenance, but I deliberately shifting my focus to spiritual sustenance. When I experience the feeling of hunger, I am reminded of my absolute contingency upon the Creator, and thus I am equally reminded of His Omnipotence. Through remembrance of this contingency that I share with all of humanity, I possess a heightened sense of awareness that just as my physical body requires food and drink to thrive, so too does my soul and heart require gifts of the Spirit to flourish. Hunger experienced during fasting hours is a joyous reminder of one’s spiritual need and dependency upon One much greater than herself. This experience of hunger is also to suit as a reminder of the bounties which so many of us do enjoy on this physical plane of existence, and by sharing in a temporary and minor deprivation of such physical wealth we are thus connected to those who continually live their lives with so much less.

It is through trial and tribulation that one might see the Light, and it is through faith and a sense of contingency upon this Light for guidance that one’s true path and purpose shall be fully illuminated with the light of a thousand suns.

The spirit of faith, the beloved, the spiritual ego, the friend, the adored one, the desired one, the rays of the sun of truth, the flame of reality, the radiations of the celestial world, the lord, the nightingale, etc., are all synonyms of the one reality of man.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 29)