Being and Empowerment: Introduction

(This is the rough beginning of what I hope will be the introduction of a long essay spoken about in the essay blog. Most of the research will be documented there but I will be posting chapters and paragraphs here. I would love some feedback on the content and suggestions for other literary sources to be used.)


I have been thinking about the social model of personal and community development envisioned in the Baha'i community. It is becoming more and more apparent that the unity we envision will only come about when each of us take ownership of our potential and responsibility to the process. There will be no passive observers in the transformation.

For many it is challenging to be around large crowds of people. There is an inverse relationship between the number of people at a gathering and the quality of interaction that ensues. At a certain point one can feel completely isolated. In the Baha'i community, there has been a significant shift in the past few years to hold activities in peoples homes instead of a centralized location. These activities are no longer events in which a few perform and the rest spectate. Instead, everything is viewed as a process of building capacity within ourselves and the community. Being a Baha'i means actively working to overcome the divisions which plague our society, not standing in the larger and larger rooms together until the whole world is enclosed.

All too often we have been content with a superficial unity reflected in a type of large group mingling. In the dominance of the crowd the real potential and vulnerabilities of people are neglected, and hence we become passive observers to an evanescent impulse. Thus, as Paulo Freire would conceptualize it, we are like banks in which those who speak eloquently and can dominate a discussion deposit their wisdom as the rest of us save it up. This is how most religion today operates, with the members coming a few times a month to "do the church thing", without reflecting on how it relates to their lives and institutions.

We must realize that we have been given the spiritual tools and the dignity to realize the change within our hearts and to build these new divine institutions with our own hands. A Baha'i study circle stands as a model of engaging people of very different bearings in a singular study of spiritual human potential, while at the same time providing the flexibility of dialogue and independent thought. In each study course, a new practice is introduced which builds capacity for service to the community. By completing the last study course people are trained to bring along others through this process.

Spiritual empowerment requires an understanding of being itself and the process of a self-reflection and spiritualization. As this concept is investigated we can begin to define its relevance in a collective process to create real change in the world. The question of being has been a preoccupation of philosophers and religionists for quite some time. Martin Heidegger devoted his whole philosophical career to exploring this question, while Paulo Freire identified the "humanization" of being as a prerequisite to social transformation. This essay attempts to explore the historical thinking on being and community empowerment and place in a spiritual context using the Baha'i institute process as a model.

The Brilliance or Arrogance of Cormac McCarthy

I love the writing of Cormac McCarthy, his use of language is absolutely unmatched. I know he is good enough to deserve creative licence, and this isn't even technically a run-on sentence. But seriously, is the story better served by not having a period for 10 lines or so. The sentence after it makes it even funnier, it's like he's making a joke. He does this sort of stuff all the time, he also writes sentence fragments constantly. I would understand if it was poetry or it made the storytelling better, but it isn't and it doesn't. Maybe I just don't understand this aspect of his profound writing, will some McCarthy devotee please illumine me?


"It came boring out of the east like some ribald satellite of the coming sun howling and bellowing in the distance and the long light of the headlamp running through the tangled mesquite brakes and creating out of the night the endless fenceline down the dead straight right of way and sucking it back again wire and post mile on mile into the darkness after where the boilersmoke disbanded slowly along the faint new horizon and the sound came lagging and he stood still holding his hat in his hands in the passing groundshudder watching it till it was gone. Then he turned and went back to the house."

Stuff that's happening

I've been thinking about what to write on this blog. There have been a couple of false starts, words have just fallen flat. I am really excited about an ongoing essay project. The scope of it will probably have to be toned down at some point, or else it will never get written. It was going to be collaborative, but that is looking less likely. I feel an intense need to engage in collaborative, creative writing projects with other people. I have tried to initiate things but nothing seems to get off the ground, which is a little bit frustrating. Maybe it is a sign that I need to put more energy in other aspects of my life right now.

Speaking of which, Sjo and I visited some of her family this evening. I had a really nice time, they are all very wonderful people. Here are some photos...





Jimmy and I. Jimmy is one of the most interesting people I have met. He is so good hearted and full of energy. I have to say it took me a while to get used to his personality, but now I love being around him, he makes me happy.

One of the cutest pictures I personally have taken of Sjo

The cousins. Nancy is in the middle, she is awesome. Very inquisitive, open minded, and mindful of things.

Jimmy, who is an artist, painted this on three different panels, each of which he gave away. We will have to all get together again to create the full picture.

And finally a moment of deep understanding and recognition...

Shout Out

Check out this website. It hosts daily video discussions among bloggers and other public thinkers on a wide range of topics.

A Bikeride

Sjona and I took a bike ride along the Rio Grande today. The last time we rode I had themes of landscape and nostolgia heavy on my mind. Today not so much, just happy to be with the one I love.









Just kidding, here we are below...

Cycle 6, part 4

As we spoke on the phone he sounded nervous but very friendly. His name was Jim and he was enthusiastic about getting his three year old daughter into a children class. As I met them in the apartment lobby, his daughter had a huge smile on her face. She acted shy when I greeted her but approached me soon after with a hug.

As I presented the Faith, his daughter stammered for attention, one second doing something cute and getting a laugh, the next second hitting her dad for averting his eyes. While it was tough for both of us to maintain concentration, he was incredibly patient with her....

"So what is it that has drawn you to the Baha'i Faith?"

"You know we all come from a different place, and mainly that it seems that the Baha'i's to want to include everybody, of different colors, tall, short, skinny and not..."

"...Do you believe Baha'u'llah is the manifestation of God for today, would you like to be part of the Baha'i community?"

"Yeah, I do believe this, I think the Baha'i Faith is just what I have been looking for."

"Well that's great, welcome, we would love for you to join us.

"Yeah, you know I have been wanting to get involved with a religious community, and I have really been wanting to get Emily involved with some sort of children's activities..."

It is always kind of shocking to me that people can accept a religious faith based on such a simple, yet potent concept of unity. In a couple of situations now I have wanted to question them deeper, make sure they know what they are getting into. I don't know if I am projecting my own lingering sense of doubt onto them. In this case Jim was sure, he just KNEW. now that I think about it, I always knew intuitively that this was the truth. I went through an intense period of questioning, one in which I could barely function, but I always KNEW.

A few days later I called him to see how the first devotional gathering went. Apparently his daughter didn't want to leave, I could tell that this made him very happy.

It is obvious that he is devoted to her upbringing. It is not easy, she is very hyperactive and he is a single father.

As I sat across from him at the first Baha'i Feast, I couldn't concentrate on the prayers, I knew that she was getting fidgety and he was getting anxious. I anxiously hoped that he wouldn't feel embarrassed. Other kids were walking and climbing around, so I hoped that set his mind at ease. Finally the children's table opened up and she ran over along with about 10 other kids. As she worked on her butterfly, her dad watched with approving eyes. She kept running back to show her dad the art, relate to him her excitement, and then get back to the table where the fun was.

Window in Time

The old windows drip. Surrounding me on three sides, I lay still in the moonlight a reflection of my waking self.

The bedroom was slapped onto the side of the house to raise it's market value. There is not much privacy, for them either.

The rain is relentless tonight. Once barking proud dogs, they now lay cowed in the street-lit shed. I wake many times in and out of various lives of questionable form and meaning.

For a moment I am the same as I was staring through that window. In what could be a memory, or could have been a dream, shadows of women are storing herbs and grains in large jars which slowly dissolve into the cupboard. They only emerge during sunset when the dusk intrudes on both sources of light.

I am the same as I was basking in the ray of light coming through the large sliding glass door. I am sharing the warm spot with Sambi, our black Labrador Retriever. Her name had been Sambo until my mom was told that it had a negative racial connotation. I was once envious of her four-legged life. I needed to understand her secret, take in the subtle exhilarants waiting beyond the backyard fence near the abandoned buildings and warehouse alleyways. Maybe dig a hole in the backyard and relish the cool earth on a hot day.

Vines hang down from the ceiling. Little plants are being raised in tofu containers and the water is draining through the punched holes. The electric light is a surrogate father until they peek through the window and delve into the universal soil of their kin.

An Inspiring Way to Raise a Child

For a couple of years now I have been admiring how Aria and James are raising Sasha, and appreciating that they are documenting the whole thing. I know Aria is getting into education, I think she already has an outstanding resume.

Why He Blogs

"For centuries, writers have experimented with forms that evoke the imperfection of thought, the inconstancy of human affairs, and the chastening passage of time. But as blogging evolves as a literary form, it is generating a new and quintessentially postmodern idiom that’s enabling writers to express themselves in ways that have never been seen or understood before. Its truths are provisional, and its ethos collective and messy. Yet the interaction it enables between writer and reader is unprecedented, visceral, and sometimes brutal. And make no mistake: it heralds a golden era for journalism."


Check out this great article by Andrew Sullivan on blogging

Cycle 6, Part 3

Looking up at the clock, it was 5:20pm and we still had a work meeting to attend to. Mary and I were sitting in the secure room waiting anxiously to get out so that we could meet Camilla at 6pm. I had called her the night before.

"Hello, is Camilla there?"

"And who is this?"

"O, uh, my name is Jason, I am from the Baha'i community here in Albuquerque, I was made aware that you were interested in learning more about the Baha'i Faith."

"Yes, yes, I would like to join your church"

Wow, okay, lets make sure she knows what she's getting into

"Oh, okay, well would you like to meet up sometime so that we could talk about it?"

"So how long have you been in this church?"

"For about 10 years, yeah my mom was a Baha'i and after some investigation I found it to be the truth for myself. How did you get interested in the faith?"

"I met some Baha'is who have an art shop on the plaza, I was very impressed by how helpful they were to each other. I used to be a Mormon, but now I would like to join your church."

"Okay, can we meet up and discuss this further?"

The directions she gave me to her house were incredibly descriptive, and she spoke in a slow and deliberate manner, a style very different than my own. I am not always very good at recalling details on the spot, which makes me a horrible verbal storyteller. I really, really wanted to say, 'just give me an address, I will look it up online." But I waited...

We rushed over and were greeted into her house. My initial read of her seemed to be correct. Her energy was very grounded, she was a little shy but beauty and understanding reflected from her eyes. There was opera music in the background, which complemented the many paintings that hung in her house. Silence filled in the gap as we sat down and she sat there looking back at us, waiting for us to make a pitch.

"So if you are interested we brought this presentation, maybe we can go through it and see what you think."

"Okay, whatever you like."

As I presented, I couldn't help but notice that she she was respectfully waiting for this social formality to pass over.

"Do you believe that Baha'u'llah is a manifestation of God?"

"Everybody is a manifestation of God"

"Yeah, that's true, um, though Baha'u'llah is making a big claim here, He is saying that he is the promised one of all ages, foretold in the books of the past. Do believe that he is telling the truth?"

She paused for the briefest moment before saying:

"yeah, I believe that."

Time when on, she spoke of meeting a friend for lunch. While in conversation she had told her friend about meeting with the Baha'is in the evening, to which her friend responded:

"I'm a Baha'i, I just declared two weeks ago!

Throughout the presentation her phone had been ringing off the hook. Partway through the presentation she decided to answer it. Another friend also wanted to know about the Faith. She showed up at 6:50pm.

"So what is the Baha'i Faith?"

"Well the main theme of the Baha'i Faith...you know what, do you mind if I use this presentation, it kind of helps me keep my thoughts in order."

"Okay, but in five minutes is the vice presidential debate."

I presented for five minutes while Mary started Ruhi book 1 with Camille. We made plans to visit again the following week.

Thinking partly in jest, this is an example of how politics distracts us from what is really important. I was awed by what had just taken place, but I also wanted to watch the debate.

Cycle 6, Part 2

The doorway had one of those "no smoking, oxygen in use" signs. About a minute passed and we were on our way out when a very old lady with a flower dress opened the door and told us to come in. Her name was Virginia and she was sitting on the couch gazing indifferently. She was hard of hearing but sharp as a nail. I did my best to accommodate her train of thought and ask her permission to continue with each part of the presentation. I felt like a respectful grandson. Looking on the wall, she had several pictures of kids. "Are those your grandchildren?" I asked. "Great-grandchildren", she proudly replied. While she was white her great grandchildren were of all different racial backgrounds. I couldn't help but be awed that somebody of her generation could be proud of such diversity in her family.

"Do you see the light of God in these words?" "Of course". "So what do you think, do you think that Baha'u'llah is the manifestation of God for this day?" "Well, yeah I do."

"Do your family members visit you often?" "No, they don't really come by".

I feel that one of the devastating consequences of modern transportation is that families are scattered. I find it hard to believe that somebody with dozens of grandchildren and great-grandchildren has to spend many of her final hours alone.

This has also helped me realize the value of this type of teaching. In the past we would hold big events and hope that people would be attracted to us. People would come, but only those who were actively discontent with their current spiritual resources and had the means to do something about it. Somebody like Virginia, with her immobility and everyday struggles would have never knocked down our doors. We knocked on her door and her heart was ready. She will probably never see the Baha'i center, but she will be every part of the community, with people to visit and care about her.

Teaching does not precede community development; they are inextricable. Now we have the tools to manifest the principles that we always believed were latent, even outside the walls of our Baha'i center.

Cycle 6, Part 1

I missed the last expansion phase so when I first arrived in the Baha'i Center holding five hours of sleep and a large coffee-extra shot in hand, it still had not occured to me that in a few hours I would be standing in a doorway on my third sentence still not calm enough to take a breath. She listened carefully and then politely answered "no" to my question, "Do you see the light of God in these words". After about an hour of "I'm busy", or "I'm not home even though the music is on" (Which is a strategy I must admit I have use many times to avoid proselytizers), a young lady answered the door. "These quotes are beautiful", she said after about the 3rd page of Anna's Presentation. A few minutes later she acknowledged what her soul had surely recognized from the start, that Baha'u'llah is the manifestation God for this age. A conversation started about her family, how her and her husband were looking for a church, and how much she missed her three kids who had been taken away. At this point she couldn't keep the composure that is afforded to those who can take their loved ones for granted. Francis, one of my teaching partners, immediately found her gaze and with hands locked recited a healing prayer:

"They Name is my healing, O my God, and remembrance of Thee is my remedy. Nearness to Thee is my hope, and love for Thee is my companion. They mercy to me is my healing and my succor in both this world and the world to come, Thou, verily, art the All-Bountiful, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise." -Baha'u'llah

In tears she took a prayer book, which we would find out two days later from her husband had been used fervantly in prayer. He was getting ready to be re-deployed. With courteous manners and hard eyes, he was not yet ready to recieve God in his heart again. He did see her however, and her eyes were open.

Expansion

The Albuquerque Baha'i community has just started its sixth expansion phase. Last cycle we welcomed over 50 new souls into the community, an occurrence I was not able to participate in due to a crazy work schedule. I have been itching to get out into the teaching field again, and today was a wonderful day.

I have been thinking a lot lately on the unlimited potential of this day. Sometimes it is hard to realize the transformation of the world when you are in the thick of it. It is easy to get complacent and forget that our lives our fleeting while the opportunities are so great. What we are doing as Baha'is, this process of expansion and consolidation, is more than just teaching the Faith, it is showing people a way through all of the false dichotomies, all the cruel and banal constructs we have nested in. Most of all, by teaching and engaging in the lives of others, we are realizing for ourselves the Word of God; we are finding ourselves as we find others.

Over the course of this cycle I hope to keep a running log of my experiences and reflections from the field. So many emotions pass through, and I want to remember them

Exciting New Project

I am excited about a new project Brenden and I are starting. The eventual goal is to write an essay loosely on the relationship being spiritual being, pedagogical empowerment, and community development. To do this we are reading both Baha'i and non-Baha'i books together on these themes. So far we have decided to read Martin Heidegger's "Being and Time", Paulo Freire's "Pedagogy of the Oppressed", various readings from Shoghi Effendi, various readings on the Baha'i institute process, and plenty of the writings of Baha'u'llah along the way.


Hopefully the process by which we write the essay will evolve as we learn and develop new ideas. We want the final essay to be both rational and poetic, objective and subjective, deductive and inductive, etc. The idea is that the structure of the essay will reflect the subject matter we are writing about, that being intentional evolution on both personal and collective scales.

The process of reading, writing, and reflecting will be documented Here.

"Making Social Science Matter"

I am in the process of reading an insightful book called "Making Social Science Matter" by Bent Flyvbjerg. The social sciences, he argues, will always fail to gain the comprehensive theoretical structure of the "hard sciences" because it studies subjects as opposed to objects, who are inherantly more dynamic and unpredictable and change their behavior depending on the context. He suggests that the social sciences pursue a more context-dependent, action/reflection oriented, practical approach, which will empower communities to generate knowledge based upon their own experience and not through some abstract theory.

Even if he overlooks the spiritual dimension of community development, his prescription contains many useful parallels to the Baha'i institute process.

I won't describe the book in any more detail because Ryan has already given an excellent review.

Sapling

The Word of God may be likened unto a sapling, whose roots have been implanted in the hearts of men. It is incumbent upon you to foster its growth through the living waters of wisdom, of sanctified and hold words, so that is root may become firmly fixed and its branches may spread out as high as the heavens and beyond.

-Baha'u'llah



Taking root, satiated no longer, the rotten stump has finally released its burden and we realize the ontological bankruptcy. There is no more power that can be willed without a heavy dose of nausea. But here we are, every moment is a potential foundation for something.



The world's equilibrium hath been upset through the vibrating influence of this most great, this new World Order. Mankind's ordered life hath been revolutionized through the agency of this unique, this wondrous system-the like of which mortal eyes have never witnessed.

-Baha'u'llah



Something is happening in the world right now that is being overlooked by the news media and its obsession with the snarky politics born of a lower nature. It is being missed because it is taking root in the hearts and minds of the most vulnerable, receptive, and pure hearted among us, slowly maneuvering through the forgotten soil of forgotten potential, gaining strength in a process which is a reflection of the original divine impulse. It cannot be, will not be belittled, will not be disregarded as we disregard our corrupted leaders. Of what would be perceived as a threat to the decomposing heroes of world order, it is just beneath the surface.



A new life is, in this age, stirring within all the peoples of the earth; and yet none hath discovered its cause or perceived its motive...O friends! Be not careless of the virtues with which ye have been endowed, neither be neglectful of your high destiny. Suffer not your labors to be wasted through the vain imaginations which certain hearts have devised. Ye are the stars of the heaven of understanding, the breeze that stirreth as at the break of day, the soft-flowing waters upon which must depend the very life of all men, the letters inscribed upon His sacred scroll. With the utmost unity, and in a spirit of perfect fellowship, exert yourselves, that ye may be enabled to achieve that which beseemth this Day of God. Verily I say, strife and dissension, and whatsoever the mind of man abhorreth are entirely unworthy of his station. Center your energies in the propagation of the Faith of God. Whoso is worthy of so high a calling, let him arise and promote it. Whoso is unable, it is his duty to appoint him who will, in his stead, proclaim this Revelation, whose power hath cased the foundations of the mightiest structures to quake, every mountain to be crushed in to dust, and every soul to be dumbfounded. Should the greatness of this Day be revealed in its fullness, every man would forsake a myriad of lives in his longing to partake, though it be for one moment, of its great glory-how much more this world and its corruptible treasures!

-Baha'u'llah



There are no news cameras in the room where hearts are met, where intentions among enclaves are woven with the divine spirit into collective action. There are no cameras in the world that will capture the groundswell until it is sudden and shocking. The trust of God is in our hands, and as we build so shall we become the trust of God.

I fear that we will forget and lose our sight...

The sun is setting and we chase the Kingdom's shadow.

Universal Life

Bryan has just posted an interesting essay in the collaborative blog Bahai Coherence called "Genesis, Evolution, and Aliens". Do check it out!

Disjoint

Mindful of the loneliness, Everything I love is so fleeting.

Who are you? So you are happy huh, sitting there in grave confidence, creating the stage for which people laugh in giddy relief? And you, always smiling, always playing the shallow yet lovable narcissist? You are excused, for now. And I, never making much of an impression, always distant (I am painfully aware), holding onto the moment with a white knuckle, too often sinking into a third reflection, cycling loneliness, alienation, love, contempt, respect, and despair.

The only language I speak in is salvation and tears. That is, when I am awake!

Too easy to shrivel up and release the form always being projected. Every comforting morsel is a mockery, an illusory attempt. Even writing these horrible words...A despicable mockery!

How can words capture a human being? Why do we feel that we are the only ones who are bewildered by the sheer enormity. All I want is to wipe away all defenses and be taken, with everyone.

Most aspiration is smitten with form, a tool of the spirit and a hologram otherwise.

What to do during writers block? Write about writing.

So I have been in a writing slump lately. I can no longer use a crazy work schedule as an excuse, since I am back to the 40 and life is pretty laid back at the moment. I thought I would utilise this writers block to reflect upon the purpose and nature of writing within a blog format, as well as think out loud about new directions to go in.

Writing has become incredibly important to me, especially in the last year. I find that it is a great way to give voice and to actively explore emotions and cognitions that might have remained sub-conscious otherwise. Blogging has given me a forum to think about the craft of writing as well as the content. What I mean is, I used to write a lot a few years ago without very much thought to word choice, sequence, rhythm etc, kind of a throw-up if you will. Looking back on it now is invaluable, not only to see the progression of my thought but also to realize how far the craft of it has come. I find that the focus on craft has greatly improved the content; ideas are more tightly knit and lend themselves to greater cohesiveness.

Too much concern about craft can often inhibit writing, which has been the biggest problem lately. I have a post in progress that I find disjointed and cliche, even if it is a true record of my feelings

I find it important to challenge myself in different styles of writing. When I was working on my thesis, academic writing would have become dry if I couldn't also write poetically. Recently I have attempted to write in fictional and non-fictional narrative styles, which has always seemed horribly daunting, but has turned out okay so far. A few of my posts have been essays on religious/spiritual themes. The approach has been an analytical one; I would also like to approach them subjectively and poetically. Another interest, which is the approach of many blogs, is to comment on current events in a thoughtful way and link up to different others who are doing the same.

Writing is a form of therapy, a means of reflection, and a chronological record of our experience in this life. I intend to invest more energy finding words for the experience.

Beautiful Art From...

Baghdad