Ok, I'm sorry. You might be expecting more on the first passage from 'Abdu'l-Baha's volume, Light of the World, and I'm sorry. I was reading ahead, and looked at the second passage. Besides, after re-reading what I wrote on it, I couldn't really think of much else to add. I already began to look at the corresponding 1s, 2, 3s, and 4s. So I thought, this morning, I'd go on to the second passage. Let me know if you want me to write more about the first one. I'm sure I could find something to say. Anyways, here's the second passage from that wonderful book. It's 3 paragraphs, after an invocation ..read more

I love reading the Writings. And I especially love reading them with my wife. Today, in the middle of the Fast, we decided to crawl into bed and warm up under our blankets and read a bit of 'Abdu'l-Baha's writings. Today we chose the relatively new volume, Light of the World. And specifically, we chose the first selection: He is the All-Glorious. O friends! How blessed, how favoured, how fortunate are ye to have been born in such a cycle and dispensation and to live in such an age and century, to have come upon such a wellspring and bowed down before such a threshold, to have taken shelter be ..read more

I recently re-watched a little video from the BBC about Hamlet's soliloquy which begins "To be, or not to be..." What was amusing was the way all these wonderful actors came on-stage to try and get the actor to place the emphasis on a different word. What was wonderful was how the changing emphasis really changed the way we understand what was written. Well, that got me thinking. As you know, dear Reader, I love to look at the Writings from many different perspectives. After all, that's one of the amazing things about Sacred Text. You can read so much into it, as long as you don't ignore to ba ..read more

It's a strange thing in our society, this notion that if something isn't perfect it's not worth doing. In a recent video I posted (click here to see it), there was an interesting comment left on it. It read: "U do look a little wierd and unkept? So I suggest if u are going to record yourself? And to promote spiritual topics and aspects? It would b good and best, if u do so professionally and proper? Otherwise, representing the Faith, is a personal thing, and u do wish u all the best? But I don't think Ruhi is welcomed." Now, to be clear, I understand where this is coming from. I don't think it ..read more

Imagine if we had, from the Pen of Baha'u'llah, a detailed description of how to teach the Faith. Would you read it? Would you study it? Would you examine in great detail all of the finer points of that description? We know from the memoirs of Haji Mirza Haydar Ali that He told us to look to the Master. He said that we should listen so carefully that the speaker feels as though they are teaching us something. And that's great advice, to be sure. But what if we could see how Baha'u'llah taught? We know that He brought many people to a recognition of the Bab during His time as a Babi. How did He ..read more

Such is the potency of the Divine Elixir, which, swift as the twinkling of an eye, transmuteth the souls of men! ...consider the substance of copper... ...the (divine) elixir will, in one instant, cause the substance of copper to attain the state of gold... Could this gold be called copper? Could it be claimed that it hath not attained the state of gold, whilst the touchstone is at hand to assay it and distinguish it from copper?             Baha'u'llah - Kitab-i-Iqan, paragraphs 164 - 166   As some of you may know, a friend and I have been ..read more

Contrary to what you may think, this is not an article about Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck. Instead, it's about the concept of social capital. "What is social capital?" I hear you, dear Reader. Social capital is the wealth that is generated from the relationships between people, those networks that enable society to work better, more fluidly. A recent study looked at the relationship between the common use of pronouns and the social capital in a community. Its findings were intriguing enough for me to write a bit about it, and share how it might relate to the Baha'i writings. The use of pronouns c ..read more

Before reading this post, I would suggest that you read the 2024 Ridvan Message from the Universal House of Justice, found here. I mean, I'm sure you have by now, otherwise why would you be here, looking at this post? Also, this is not one of those "study guides", with emphasis on the quotation marks, that just asks questions ensuring you know how to read. After all, you wouldn't be here, on-line, searching study guides for this message if you weren't fairly literate. So, no, I don't have any of those "answer with a line from the text" type of questions. Sorry, if that's what you were hoping f ..read more

A friend and I were talking the other day, and this is the sort of friend that teaches me a lot. Almost every time we speak we talk about the Writings, and he is so knowledgeable about them, has such a different perspective than I do. It's wonderful. That day, though, I was reminded of a very important truth: What seems obvious to you is a wonder to someone else. "I like the simple way the Iqan explains progressive revelation", he said to me, "but I really prefer the Seven Valleys." There was something about the conversation that really made me want to go deeper, but I realized that we first n ..read more

When I was a child, I listened to the stories of the Tanakh, the Old Testament. As I listened, I had an image that always came to mind: I saw the blessing of God like a glowing ball. That's it. It was like a glowing ball in my mind, passed from one generation to the next. As I listened to the story of Abraham, this ball had been given to Him, and He cared for it. Sometimes, though, it was difficult to keep this precious object. One mis-step and you could accidentally lose it, as the Jewish people did time and time again throughout he stories. But back to Abraham. He had this great gift, and wa ..read more