The most significant initial contribution of Local Assemblies to the processes of growth was providing encouragement to the believers. This was particularly effective when an expansion of vision had resulted from the participation of Assembly members in the institute process … Continue reading Houston LSA Chair Enjoys Med Center Junior Youth Group, on Sunday April 13th, 2014
Recently, a gathering took place in which friends from diverse backgrounds, ages, geographies, and experiences came together to explore participation in discourse. Coherence, it seemed, was the key. The weekend began with a study of a message of the … Continue reading Coherence in Conversations
Authentic solutions to the problems of the world, products of an unjust social order, begin with a sea change in public loyalties. An expanding mass of popular support for a new center of authority and legislator of values, which occupies … Continue reading Authentic Solutions
This past weekend, nearly forty individuals gathered together for an exploration of participation in discourse. (See post, Discourse: Session at Bosch) The aim was to connect everyday conversations – those with neighbors, with friends, with co-workers, with family, with parents … Continue reading Collective Reflections
The economic recession is linked to a recession in democracy. If we continue this way, we will be ruined by class warfare and the wrath of global warming. We must seek a different way of living that is based not on maximizing how much we can buy but on maximizing values important to life. True happiness is a transcendent experience, not inherent in material things. Groundswell in grassroots spirituality holds the solution. Countless small actions of unknown people are the foundation for those great moments that ultimately enter the historical record without mention of the people that created them. Change is made in such ways. … Continue reading Prophecy And Policy
Paragraphs: 1- “The Book of God is wide open, and His Word is summoning mankind unto Him. Incline your ears, O friends of God, to the voice of Him Whom the world hath wronged, and hold fast unto whatsoever will exalt His … Continue reading Summary Ridvan 2013 Message: Growth and Discourse, A Dynamic Coherence
Please join us June 14-16th for a weekend of study of the Messages from the Baha’i World Center. This session is a space to build capacity to participate in the prevalent discourses of society. The Universal House of Justice has asked the … Continue reading Discourse: Session at Bosch
Decades have come and gone and our busy lives, cluttered with diverse daily drives and enjoyments, have advanced in age, irreparable choices have been made, courses set, and moral decisions cast in the stone of opportunity cost. Billions have come … Continue reading Shadows of the Mind: Disorganized Activism, Conducive to Change?
Paragraph#: 1. Abdu’l-Baha’s Temple-ground piercing Centenary. Diverse participants then and now. 2. Divine civilization beyond mere adjustments to present order. 3. Erroneous assumptions of human nature, justified by failings, disallow spiritual potential. 4. Imprisonment enables sympathetic hearts. 5-Year Plan (5YP) … Continue reading Summary: Ridvan 2012 Message
The universe is pregnant with these manifold bounties – bounties mysteriously emerging from the intricate interplay between the micro-cosmic visions of various actors on the world stage, each pursuing their own selfish advantage, and yet all mysteriously contributing to the … Continue reading The Universe is Pregnant
Certain habits of thought also need to be fostered in connection with a culture of learning, often at odds with current society’s tendencies – three will be mentioned. It is clear that society increasingly speaks with slogans. To be able … Continue reading Habits of Thought
The advancement of a civilization aiming to achieve a dynamic coherence between the material and spiritual dimensions of reality recognizes that science and religion are the two reciprocal knowledge systems that impels its advance. History gives rare, yet significant instances … Continue reading Crisis of Knowledge
Just as the physical world has laws and functions in ways that reveal underlying patterns, so the spiritual world has laws and patterns that can be observed and understood. We can observe that justice only emerges where there is love. … Continue reading Love, Power, Justice
The next point regarding our perspective of history is that there is purpose in creation; in other words, evolution is understood as a teleological process. Characterizing evolutionary processes with this word – meaning that it is directed by an intrinsic … Continue reading History of the World, Part 3
The previous post’s mention of various views about human nature, incoherent and fragmented in and of themselves, are also incoherent and fragmented in their application towards different domains of life. One individual, as an example, who claims self-interested notions of … Continue reading Questioning Fragmentation
At this critical moment in the history of humanity’s social evolution, the diverse people’s of the world need a more coherent vision of society that can guide the advancement of civilization. This need can only be met through the voluntary … Continue reading Oneness
achieving coherence 