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)

Vantage Point

Events, the ways in which individually and collectively they occur to the ways in which they ultimately culminate, can seem so hopelessly obscure to the unaided eye. The universe can seem all too chaotic, and yet we know we exist and we hope it is for come significant reason…How are we to make sense of the seeming built in paradox of our own humanistic existence? The answer, the hope of making sense out of the seemingly senseless, requires a monumental move on our part. This move is detachment, a movement away from self, from clinging to ego, from being entrenched in temporal whims and passions, and shifting our steadfast gaze to the ultimate answer to all of our questions and concerns, this being the Creator. When we look beyond our selves we can see both internally and externally, and when we look to a higher power, to an Omnipotent and Unfathomable Source of life and love, we can see the world for what it truly is, and we can watch the mystery and beauty unfold before us from the vantage point created solely for the purpose of our growth and inspiration.

When his eyes were opened to the light of Divine guidance, and he breathed in the fragrances of Heaven, he became a flame of God. Then his heart leapt within him, and in an ecstasy of joy and love, he roared out like leviathan in the deep.

(Abdu’l-Baha, Memorials of the Faithful, p. 1)

~Good Morning~

I now assure thee, O servant of God, that, if thy mind become empty and pure from every mention and thought and thy heart attracted wholly to the Kingdom of God, forget all else besides God and come in communion with the Spirit of God, then the Holy Spirit will assist thee with a power which will enable thee to penetrate all things, and a Dazzling Spark which enlightens all sides, a Brilliant Flame in the zenith of the heavens, will teach thee that which thou dost not know of the facts of the universe and of the divine doctrine. Verily, I say unto thee, every soul which ariseth today to guide others to the path of safety and infuse in them the Spirit of Life, the Holy Spirit will inspire that soul with evidences, proofs and facts and the lights will shine upon it from the Kingdom of God. Do not forget what I have conveyed unto thee from the breath of the Spirit. Verily, it is the shining morning and the rosy dawn which will impart unto thee the lights, reveal the mysteries and make thee competent in science, and through it the pictures of the Supreme World will be printed in thy heart and the facts of the secrets of the Kingdom of God will shine before thee. 370

(Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’i World Faith – Abdu’l-Baha Section, p. 369)

Youth and Me at Play in Villa el Salvador

I spent this past August volunteering in Lima, Peru in the grass-roots community of Villa el Salvador. I was placed at an extra-curricular sight named Deporte y Vida through an organization called Cross-Cultural Solutions. I highly recommend CCS to the individual with altruistic international travel motives. While at Deporte y Vida I worked in collaboration with international volunteers, but more importantly with the actual staff native to both Peru and the community of Villa el Salvador. I was blessed to bear witness to their selfless and steadfast existences as perpetuators of a progressive future for their children and community at large. I was humbled by their ever-present humility and astounded by their triumph of spirit.

O DWELLERS OF MY PARADISE!
With the hands of loving-kindness I have planted in the holy garden of paradise the young tree of your love and friendship, and have watered it with the goodly showers of My tender grace; now that the hour of its fruiting is come, strive that it may be protected, and be not consumed with the flame of desire and passion.

(Baha’u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words)

Detachment

One is often times burdened by the weight of want in this temporal existence. This is because the want of material things is ultimately unfulfilling, yet society tells us that if we “buy this” and “drive that” life will be better and we will thus be happier. These things, in time, can do no more than return to the dust from which they came and what are we left with in that moment? We are left with nothing!!! True fulfillment, peace, and love of life exist in plentitude however; we need only know where to search and how to receive…

This situation is the dying of self and the living in God, the being poor in self and rich in the Desired One. Poverty as here referred to signifieth being poor in the things of the created world, rich in the things of God’s world. For when the true lover and devoted friend reacheth to the presence of the Beloved, the sparkling beauty of the Loved One and the fire of the lover’s heart will kindle a blaze and burn away all veils and wrappings. Yea, all he hath, from heart to skin, will be set aflame, so that nothing will remain save the Friend.

~The Seven Valleys (Baha’u'llah, founding Prophet of the Baha’i faith)

~Fear~

Everyone can see how they have polished the mirror

of the self, which is done with the longings

we’re given.

Not everyone wants to be king!

There are different roles and many choices

within each.

Troubles come. One person packs up

and leaves. Another stays and deepens in a love

for being human.

In battle, one runs fearing

for his life. Another, just as scared, turns

and fights more fiercely.

~Rumi

Question: Which individual would you classify yourself as, one fleeing at the first sign of trial and tribulation, or one whom decides to stay and embrace the turmoil as beautiful in and of itself?

I recently declared myself a Baha’i, and as a devout believer in the message of the present day Revelation brought to us by the Prophet Baha’u'llah, I recognize that we are each called to be warriors, warriors of peace, justice, truth, and beauty. One might ask how can turmoil be embraced, how can hardship and suffering be recognized as essentially beautiful?

Then a woman said, Speak to us of Joy and Sorrow. And he answered: Your joy is your sorrow unmasked. And the selfsame well from which your laughter rises was oftentimes filled with your tears. And how else can it be? The deeper that sorrow carves into your being, the more joy you can contain. Is not the cup that holds your wine the very cup that was burned in the potter’s oven? And is not the lute that soothes your spirit the very wood that was hollowed with knives? When you are joyous, look deep into your heart and you shall find it is only that which has given you sorrow that is giving you joy. When you are sorrowful, look again in your heart, and you shall see that in truth you are weeping for that which has been your delight.

Some of you say, ‘Joy is greater than sorrow,’ and others say, ‘Nay, sorrow is greater,’ But I say unto you, they are inseparable. Together they come, and when one sits alone with you at your board, remember that the other is asleep upon your bed.

Verily you are suspended like scales between your sorrow and your joy. Only when you are empty are you at standstill and balanced. When the treasure-keeper lifts you to weigh his gold and his silver, needs must your joy or your sorrow rise or fall.

~The Prophet

by: Kahlil Gibran

…and thus we embrace turmoil so that we might learn from it, and we appreciate hardship and suffering for the clarity of sight and spiritual capacity it permits us.