The Evening Prayer

A few nights ago, as we were getting ready to say our prayers, Shoghi turned to me and said, "Papa, I'd like to learn a new prayer."

"Which prayer", I wondered aloud, "would you like to learn?"

"How about that night prayer you say a lot?"

I hadn't realized that I said this particular prayer "a lot", but I guess I do. There's something about the "evening" prayer that really touches me somewhere deep inside. I don't know why, but it does. I mean, yeah I know it's sacred text, from Baha'u'llah, and everything, but not all sacred words touch us the same way. There are some that really seem to go deeper, probably depending on us at the time. After all, Shoghi Effendi said that there are some that "have been invested by Baha'u'llah with a special potency and significance", so we already know that this seems to be the case.

Anyways, I was wondering to what write about today when I remembered this little thing from the other night, and so I figured it might be a good time for me to look a bit more closely at this prayer that Shoghi is now trying to memorize.

O my God, my Master, the Goal of my desire! This, Thy servant, seeketh to sleep in the shelter of Thy mercy, and to repose beneath the canopy of Thy grace, imploring Thy care and Thy protection.

I beg of Thee, O my Lord, by Thine eye that sleepeth not, to guard mine eyes from beholding aught beside Thee. Strengthen, then, their vision that they may discern Thy signs, and behold the Horizon of Thy Revelation. Thou art He before the revelations of Whose omnipotence the quintessence of power hath trembled.

No God is there but Thee, the Almighty, the All-Subduing, the Unconditioned.

Every time I read this prayer I am always reminded of that story from Memories of Nine years in Akka, in which a group of Pilgrims were awaiting the Master. He was quite late that night in getting home, but the friends still waited for Him. No one knew where He was, or when He would return, but still they waited. Later and later it got, until it really was the middle of the night, past midnight and everything. Finally after many hours of eagerly anticipating His arrival, He came home, worn out from His very busy day. Not wanting to disappoint those stalwart souls who were kept waiting, He said some kind words to them and then asked one of the friends if he would kindly say a prayer. Stifling a yawn, this believer agreed to do so, and began, "This, Thy servant, seeketh to sleep..."

So, what is it about this prayer?

Obviously it begins with an invocation of God, referring to Him as the Master, implying that we are His servants. Then it calls upon Him as the goal of our desire. Personally, I don't think of this as an attribute of God, of which we are some sort of lower case version, but rather a reminder that all of our desires should lead us towards God. This is a good reminder to me as I'm heading off to sleep, for it is too easy to indulge in my sleep, spending far more hours idle in bed than is good for me. I mean, it really is quite remarkable just how comfortable my pillow and blanket can be, but then my jealous alarm clock comes between us. Probably a good thing. But this simple phrase is a good reminder to me that sleep should not be a goal of mine, but rather a tool that I can use to better serve my Lord in a refreshed manner.

(Wow. I didn't think I would be able to say anything about that first line. Well, there you go. That wiley spirit in the Concourse on High who has the unfortunate task of keeping me in check is really on top of things today.) (Gives me something more to think about when Shoghi and I say it tonight.)

The next line is one that I find quite fascinating these days: This, Thy servant, seeketh to sleep in the shelter of Thy mercy, and to repose beneath the canopy of Thy grace, imploring Thy care and Thy protection.

First there is the reminder of being a servant again. There is also the reminder of the goal, through the word "seeketh". In the previous sentence, God is the goal, but now we seek to sleep. And not just sleep but sleep in the shelter of His mercy.

What does that mean? And why would we want to sleep there?

When I just asked that question in my mind, as I was typing it, I sort of imagined all the things that I would want to do in a shelter, and I realized that they all came down to resting. I had pictured myself wanting to listen to Baha'u'llah, or in some other way bask in His presence. But then I realized that nothing else would be done in a shelter. A shelter, as far as I can tell, is a place of rest in a time of peril, a place of protection when danger abounds, generally from the weather, but not exclusively.

Now I realize that it really is the perfect descriptor. Without God's mercy, we are left to His judgement. Without His mercy, we are truly doomed. I can't put it any other way, hard as I am trying. We are not living in a simple world, full of peace and love, all rosy and cushy. "By God," writes Baha'u'llah, "this is the arena of insight and detachment, of vision and upliftment, where none may spur on their chargers save the valiant horsemen of the Merciful, who have severed all attachment to the world of being." And I don't know about you, dear Reader, but just reading about this makes me tired, longing for a rest. And God, through His mercy, allows us a few moments to catch our breath.

Next we seek to repose beneath the canopy of His grace.

My first question is what is the difference between sleep and repose? Well, sleeping is a state of unconsciousness in which our body is refreshed. During this time we are also offered illumination through our dreams, if we are lucky. To repose is to be in a state of tranquility. When we sleep, we are not necessarily tranquil. We can have a restless sleep for many reasons, but to repose implies tranquility.

My next question is why the canopy? Well, that's an interesting question. (I'm glad I asked.) Years ago, we, meaning humanity, didn't have the most weather-tight of housing. Our roofs were often made of thatch, or some other material that likely leaked. It was for this reason that the four-poster bed was created. It didn't just look nice, like something out of a Disney fairy-tale. It was practical. It kept the water from dripping on us in the night. And as anyone who has camped in a leaky tent knows, there is very little more disturbing than a cold drop of water hitting you when you are sound asleep.

When we are resting, spiritually, it doesn't really take a lot to disturb our peace of mind. (Well, it doesn't take a lot to disturb my peace of mind. I don't know about you.) By trying to emulate grace, that courteous good will, we are better able to ignore those things that may disturb our tranquility. The Grace of God is often described as the undeserved favour of God. We can extend that favour to others in our life, too. Bahiyyah Khanum, the Greatest Holy Leaf, was exemplary at this. She once said that the trick of this was to not take offense in the first place. (I would love it if someone can remind me of where that line is.)

Through all this, we implore, we beg of God for His care and protection, further emphasizing the shelter and the canopy.

I beg of Thee, O my Lord, by Thine eye that sleepeth not, to guard mine eyes from beholding aught beside Thee. Strengthen, then, their vision that they may discern Thy signs, and behold the Horizon of Thy Revelation. Thou art He before the revelations of Whose omnipotence the quintessence of power hath trembled.

(I just put it there so that I could see it again and refer to it as I'm typing.)

God sees all. He even sees what we see. And here, we are pleading with God to only see Him, to only see the good. Doesn't that just hearken back to the grace just mentioned?

We are also asking God to be like glasses for us. We not only wish to see the good in everything, we also desire to see God's signs, wherever they may be. Quite often God's signs are hidden, usually right in plain sight. There is so much that is beautiful in the world, if we but take the time to notice it. Whether it is a butterfly flitting past, or a tiny little flower growing by the sidewalk, these are signs of God.

And so often we can easily be overcome by despair with all that is going wrong in the world that we forget to notice the signs of the maturing of humanity, those signs of all that is going right. The Horizon of God's Revelation is lit up with the majestic Sun of Baha'u'llah's World Order if we only take a moment to lift our heads and look. Despite, for example, the oppression of women in so many parts of the world, or the political backlash in some areas striving to take away the rights of women that were fought for years ago, we have still come a long way in the advancement of these same rights. This is not to say that we shouldn't continue to fight for these rights, exposing injustices when we find them, but just that we should not lose sight of how far we have come in only 100 years.

And when we look around and see how far we still have to go, see those great corporate or political or fanatical powers arrayed against us, we can still remember that the very "quintessence of power" trembles before the might of God.

After all, there is no God but God, and He is Almighty. He can subdue all. Nothing can stand against His will.

Finally, He is unconditioned. This doesn't just refer to God not being masculine or feminine, or insert any other descriptors you wish. God is beyond all that, obviously. I think it also refers to God not being subject to our conditions, as in a contract. God loves all, whether or not we do. God supports all, whether we agree with them or not. God is for all, whether they believe as we do or not. God is not subject to any conditions. This is not to say, of course, that we are unconditional. No. We are subject to many conditions. For example, "If thou lovest Me not, My love can in no wise reach thee." This is not a condition upon God, but a statement about us.

God offers the shelter of His mercy. It is up to us to go in.

And you know, it doesn't matter how many times I read this prayer, I still mistakenly end it with the "air conditioned". One of these days that will be purged from my brain.

Ah well. What can you do?

Trust and Reality

There has been something going on for some time that has both amused and disturbed me. It has to do with the idea of playing with people's reality, fooling them into believing something is happening that isn't, usually for the amusement of others.

For example, one of the earliest instances of this was the famed radio broadcast War of the Worlds. While it was very well done, I love the show, and they regularly announced that it was all a drama, it still undermined some people's trust of the newscasters and the media.

Generally these sorts of pranks were done on the first of April, and were what I would call relatively harmless.

Lately, though, they seem to be proliferating at an alarming rate, and they are becoming more and more intrusive on people's reality. For example, if you were listening to the War of the Worlds, you could pretty much look outside and see that what they were reporting wasn't what was really happening. Today, though, it isn't quite that simple.

Check out this video in which one family in a restaurant was subjected to prejudicial and harassing behaviour by a waitress. The problem, though, is that it was all staged. The family and the waitress were all actors putting on a show to see how others would react, and some of them reacted very nobly.

While I agree that it was interesting to see the reactions from the other patrons, and witness the heroic actions of those who stood up to the waitress, and that it illustrates a very real problem, it could have another unintended affect. I imagine myself eating there and feeling truly sickened by the actions of the waitress. In fact, my stomach is still a bit upset after having seen it again. But I can imagine myself there and know that I would do something very similar, but probably not as tactful as the man in the video. And while I would feel justified in coming to the defense of those being persecuted, I know that I would suffer the ill feelings for quite some time afterwards. That type of justified confrontation, while I still do it, has a very real toll on me. It truly makes me ill for some time.

But then, after the whole thing is done, to be approached and told that it was all a hoax, a test, would make it even worse. It would make me question the reality of it if I saw something similar at a later time. I can truly see myself witnessing another similar, but this time real, scenario, and hesitating, to the detriment of all.

Now, like I said, I understand why they are doing it here, but I think they are missing a very real consequence of it.

As you can probably guess, I saw this video a while ago. It disturbed me at the time, especially to learn that there are a whole pile of similar videos and situations that they did for this "reality" show. It wasn't just the once. It was over and over again. It was as if they decided to see how bad they could make a situation just to see how others would react, without really thinking about the long-term consequences of it.

I mean, how many times do you have to see the staged versions of these things before you become immune to them and end up ignoring a real situation? I'm just wondering.

But now, we, as a culture, seem to be going even further. If you watch this promo for an upcoming movie, you'll see what I mean.

Again, I think it's a real cool effect that they have done, but is this the right place to be doing such a stunt? What impact does it have on those who witness such things? Have we overstepped some boundary that should be there? Does this somehow fall into a similar category as shouting "fire" in a crowded theatre? Have we allowed ourselves to become the "playthings of the ignorant", mere tools for the people dreaming up these stunts? When do we say enough is enough and claim our reality back as our own?

How to Start a Blog in Two Easy Steps

Thank you, dear Reader, for all the e-mails of congratulations and well-wishes. I really appreciate it. Especially during this time of the year when my allergies are making themselves known to me. So abundantly making themselves known to me.

Last night, as I was finishing up a bit of work, I told Shoghi that I had just received a number of your e-mails about having written 500 articles. His eyes got really wide and he asked how it was that I could write so much. This sort of dove-tailed with the questions I got about how to begin writing your own blog, and I think the answer to his question is pretty much the same as the answer to yours.

"Well," I replied to Shoghi, "every day when I read the Writings, I always find something in them that catches my attention. When that happens, I think about it all day. I play with it in my mind, in my heart, see what it looks like from all sorts of angles. I try to discover how I can apply that teaching in my life. And you know what? Sometimes I'm even successful. Occasionally the Concourse on High helps show me a way to apply it. And that's when I sit down and write."

"But what about those times", he asked, "when you don't?"

"Hmm. Good question. Every now and then", I said, "I begin to write about whatever it was that caught my attention and think about it as I'm writing. Sometimes I am very surprised that just doing that gives me a new perspective. Other times I don't come up with anything. Sometimes that wily Concourse on High just doesn't get through to me. Maybe I'm too busy with my own thoughts that I don't pay attention to what they're trying to tell me. And that's when I write about how I don't understand something.

"You see," I continued, kind of getting into the rhythm of it, "one of the most important things we can talk about is what we don't know. Do you remember in our children's class this morning how nobody knew the answer to the question I asked? I said that answering 'I don't know' is the best answer at those times. By admitting that we don't know, we open ourselves up to hearing what the real answer is. Or a real answer. Or sometimes just an answer.

"When I don't know how to apply something, or I just can't figure out what Baha'u'llah is trying to say, I admit it. And that is how my friends all over the world know to send me their thoughts. And you know what? One of them usually has an answer for me. By putting it out there, and waiting for an answer, we all learn from it."

Ok. Maybe that's not exactly what I said, but that's the general spirit of it.

Then he asked me again, "But 500? How could you write so many?"

That was when I was reminded of a friend of mine: Reggie Newkirk. I have to say that Reggie is quite the guy. He's wise, witty, and very practical. He has served the faith in many different capacities, and always exemplary. (But pleae don't tell him I said so, for I don't want it to go to his head. His humility is another wonderful thing about him, and I don't want to tempt his ego by my words.)

There was one time when we were both at a summer school, and I noticed that Reggie got up very early every morning and went for a long run. I don't know how long, because I never joined him. Until very recently I was not what you would call a "morning guy".

Anyways, one morning at this school, some of the youth saw him running back into camp and asked him how it was that he was able to get up so early.

"Oh, now that's a good question. Well, you see, when I wake up, I put one foot on the floor. Then I put the other one on the floor and I start my day."

In other words, he just does it.

When Shoghi asked me how I was able to write so much, I thought about that and said, "One article at a time."

Perhaps the word is persistence, or perseverance. I'm not really sure. I just know that I begin typing, quite often without knowing what I'm going to write, and just keep typing until the article is done. Or until I have to be somewhere else. Or until I get too hungry.

Whatever.

I just begin, and then go until I'm done.

So, for those of you asked me how you can start writing your own blog, I think that's my answer: Just begin. Find something that catches your attention and write about it. Find something that you are passionate about, and write about it. Find something that makes you say, "Neat", and write about it.

Once you've done that, then hit "publish". Oh, you can always hit "spell check", or "grammar check", or insert a photo or a video, or something, if you want, but you have to be sure to hit "publish".

Got that?

Two easy steps, like it says in the title (see above).

1. Type.
2. Publish

Easy, non?

And if you're anything like me, you won't think that your insights are all that special, but you never know, to someone else they just may be. Your quirky little perspective that you take for granted may be just the thing that nobody else has ever thought of before. (Maybe for good reason, but maybe not.)

If you have started a blog on the Faith, please let me know. I'd love to read it. After all, I sure have a lot to learn, and who better to help teach me?

I mean, except Baha'u'llah, of course. But you know, there are many things in His Writings that I just don't get yet.

500

Wow.

I can't believe it.

Another year has gone by. Yes, it's my birthday again (tomorrow, not right now), and, again, I am giving pause to reflect. In previous years I have sometimes mentioned it, and even written about it. But this year something else is happening, too. This is my 500th article on this blog.

I really can't believe it. 500!?!

When I look back over the past few years, I am truly amazed at all the changes that have happened.

But first, I want to reflect a moment on how I began all this.

At the time, I was serving the Faith in an administrative capacity, and one of the joyous responsibilities of this service was to travel throughout the Snoman Region. Saskatchewn, Northern Ontario, and Manitoba; what else were we going to call it?

So one day, way back then, I was at a meeting in Regina, sitting in the main hall at the Regina Baha'i Centre. Now, if Regina were in the States, it would have been the Regina Baha'i Center, but it isn't. It's in Canada. And therefore it is the Regina Baha'i Centre.

So there I was, sitting in the main hall, listening to people share their stories about how their children's classes were going. Story after story of these incredible gatherings were being shared, one after the other, really giving us all a sense of how much was happening in the area. But then someone stood up and asked the question that really made the day stand out for me, above and beyond all the other similar meetings I had attended. He said, with his straightforward, matter-of-fact, farmer's drawl, "This is all well and good, but how did you all begin? How did you get those kids to come over to your house the first time?"

Now, you have to understand, at that time my wife and I had had a children's class going in our home for a few years and I hadn't ever really considered that question before. How did we get those kids to come over the first time? And then I remembered.

Then I snickered.

It was just a little laugh, but the guy sitting next to me (whose initials are Ward Johnson) heard. Later, when he was giving me a ride back to where we were both staying, a good 30 minutes or so away, he asked me why I had laughed.

"Oh," I replied, "I was just remembering how Marielle and I began our children's class."

He looked a but puzzled and asked, "How?"

"Well, our cat peed on our comforter."

As I told Ward the story of how our classes began, which you can read about here, he was laughing so hard that I realized I had a good story to share. I needed to write it down. And so I decided to write a little bit about what I had learned about the Faith.

And that is how this blog began.

Over the previous umpteen years a number of people had told me that my very simple way of looking at the Faith, and figuring out how to apply the Teachings, was useful to them. And while I didn't think much of my own insights, and still don't, really, others had said that they did help them find more in the Writings.

And since I am really just one lone Baha'i struggling to find his way amidst the... Hmm, I can't think of a good analogy here.... Uhm, since I really am just one lone Baha'i trying to keep afloat in this vast ocean of His Writings (how's that?), I thought I would call it "One Baha'i".

So I did a quick search for a reasonable blog site, came across blogspot, typed up the story, and the rest, as they say, is history.

But then I ran into a problem.

What else could I write about?

Well, the second article was easy. I just wrote a bit more about that little old children's class.

And then I remembered another interesting thing that had happened at that same meeting in Regina and wrote that little bit about the Right of God.

Oh, and then I recalled something I had once said about the Tablet of Ahmad that really stood out to someone else. And then it was time for an election, so I wrote about that. And then I remembered... Well, as you see, it has kind of gone on from there.

500 articles gone on from there.

Nearly 4 years gone on from there.

And for those of you, and yes, I'm referring to you, dear Reader, who have been reading this for most of that time, you have seen me move from the prairies to the coast, watched my son double in age from 4 to 8, and seen me get back into my artwork. You have seen me lost in wonder, puzzled over a quote, inspired by a line I had never considered, chastised for skipping sacred Text, crying over the loss of a friend, confused over what something in the Writings means, and generally blabber and blither as I talk about those little tidbits I am able to find amidst this vast treasure house of Writings.

A lot has happened in those nearly 4 years.

Now we have seen the Baha'i Faith grow and change, too. Four years ago I never would have dreamed of seeing the call for local Houses of Worship in my lifetime. It never would have occurred to me that we could possibly see over 100 youth conferences in so short a span of time. I could never have imagined how much we would learn about actual growth in just a couple short score of months.

Way back in October of 2009 I used my first quote from the Writings in an article here in this blog: "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..." Today I look back on that quote and realize that little seed has come to fruition through your love and friendship.

I never would have dreamed of the people I would meet through telling that simple little story of going to the laundromat and beginning a children's class. I never would have dreamed of all the e-mails I have received from all over the world. I never would have dreamed of all the joy and tears and questions and insights and laughter and... well, I never would have dreamed of how this simple little practice of writing a blog about how the Faith has influenced my life would influence my life.

Thank you for sharing this with me, and thank you for all of your kind words and loving support.

And if anyone ever asks me how I began writing this blog, well, it is all because of my silly little cat peeing on my comforter.

Public Speaking

The other day I had the wonderful opportunity to give a short talk at the public library in downtown Victoria. When asked in advance about what my topic would be, I said, "Finding hope in a hopeless world." After all, 'Abdu'l-Baha said that we must "make hopeful the hopeless ones".

And while I had originally thought to write some of the ideas from the talk in an article here, I realized that I've actually said most of what I wanted to say in previous articles. Why repeat myself?

Instead, I thought I would share a little bit about what I learned from it.

To start, though, here are as few things I've found useful when public speaking. First, pray. Pray before opening your mouth, for it is only by the inspiration from the Realms on High that you will say anything that will touch the hearts, and I find the hearts far more important to address than the minds. "Turn thy face toward the Kingdom of God," are 'Abdu'l-Baha's words, "ask for the bestowals of the Holy Spirit, speak, and the confirmations of the Spirit will come."

The second thing is kind of odd, but makes sense when you see it in action: Refer to something that is present. Of course, this isn't a hard and fast rule, but just something that I try to do on a regular basis. I look for something that connects to my talk and try to refer to it. For example, in my recent talk, I turned to Shoghi, my son, who was sitting in the front row, and asked him how old he was. Of course, I already knew his age, but this gave the audience something real to refer to. This is something that I picked up from Abdu'l-Baha's talks and have seen work quite well with others. In fact, if you look through Promulgation of Universal Peace, the record of His talks in the US and Canada, you will see that He often begins His talks with a reference like that.

The third is to prepare. Research your topic, plan an outline, rehearse it. And then, on the day of the actual talk, go with the spirit. No matter how much you prepare, you never know who will be in your audience, and you are talking to real, actual souls, not a faceless mass of bodies. (Yeee. That's a gruesome image, talking a faceless mass.) There have been many times when I've planned multiple talks, including memorizing three talks from the Master, only to scrap them all at the last moment. Of course, if you don't prepare, then you're just not ready. The tool, so to speak, has not been prepared for the task. So I feel that planning and preparation is essential, even if what you prepared is not used in the final talk.

Now, those are all things that I already knew ahead of time.

One thing that I didn't consciously know was how important humility is. I mean, I guess I did, in the abstract, but Marielle was chatting with people afterwards and made this observation. She said that in most of my previous talks I had not talked about how it was just "my own opinion", but she noticed that writing this blog and regularly making that disclaimer seemed to carry over. There were a number of times when I said that in my presentation. And the reaction? Quite interesting. It seems that this very honest disclaimer helped people lower their internal walls. She said that by claiming my talk was only my own opinion, and nothing official, I allowed the audience the opportunity to dispassionately examine what I was saying. They were free to decide for themselves if they agreed or not. Even if they disagreed, they did not feel threatened, and therefore those internal barriers never came up.

She also said that my informality helped people relax. I did not come across as a big shot who was there to tell them something. I came across as just a regular guy who had an idea that he was asked to share. And you know what? That's all I am. It's kind of cool that it came across.

One thing that I consciously did was embed quotes in my talk. I would sometimes say, "Baha'u'llah said", or something similar, followed by a quote. But more often I would paraphrase a quote in my own words. After all, not everyone like being quoted at. Oh, and an example of this would be like using that first quote in the Ruhi Books. You know, the one that begins, "The betterment of the world can be accomplished..." Instead of using that quote, I think I said something like, "When you do good deeds, pure deeds, and act in a commendable way, you help make the world a better place."

Finally, I answered questions people asked. And while I didn't claim to have "the" answer, I answered them to the best of my ability. Of course, this often began with a moment of silence while I said my favorite prayer for this sort of occasion quietly in my own heart: "Oh God, HELP!"

For example, one person said, "For Baha'is, hope comes from the promise of the Golden Age of Baha'u'llah. Can you tell us when this will happen?"

My immediate thought was to say, "No, I can't", and move on to another question.

Instead, I realized that this would be a dis-service to the one who asked. So I said my favorite prayer (see above).

"That's a very interesting question", I began. "It is the same question as asking about the Lord's prayer 'Thy kingdom come, Thy will be done on earth as it is heaven'. I think they are describing the same thing."

This was when I turned to Shoghi and asked him how old he was. "8 years-old, Papa."

I then turned back to the man who asked the question and asked him, "When will Shoghi turn into an adult? What is the exact day? How old will he be? In truth, there is no exact time. It is a process that occurs over a length of time. For now, we don't need to be concerned about when it will occur as much as what we can do to help bring it about."

That, to me, was the answer to my prayer, for there is no way that I would have come up with an answer to that question on my own.

So there it is. Just a few things I learned from giving a public talk and reflecting on it. I hope it was useful.

Is there anything you have found that helps make talks more effective?

Everything Between

As I said in the previous article, there is so much more to talk about regarding "heaven and earth and all that lies between" them.

I already mentioned how it can relate to the image of the ringstone symbol, but there is another one that comes to mind: the human being.

For example, there is the head, which contemplates heaven, and there are the feet that walk the earth. Between them is "That which He hath reserved for Himself... the cities of men's hearts". And where the centre line in the ringstone symbol represents the Message that connects the three levels of creation, it is also the same Message that connects these three levels within us.

Like the ringstone symbol, we can see ourselves simplistically in terms of three levels all contained within a single unity which is the symbol itself. We can be seen as the micro version of the ringstone symbol. In fact, Baha'u'llah Himself says "Man is the supreme Talisman." And a talisman, as you know, is a symbol, an object thought to have magical powers and producing miraculous effects. Doesn't that describe the miracle of the human being quite well?

When speaking of the hearts of men, He says "Open, O people, the city of the human heart with the key of your utterance." And again, "The Word is the master key for the whole world,", He says, "inasmuch as through its potency the doors of the hearts of men, which in reality are the doors of heaven, are unlocked."

The doors of the hearts are in reality the doors of heaven. Wow. I had never really thought of my heart in that way before, but it does add a greater significance to that aspect of the human being when teaching.

In many other posts I have referred to the importance of the heart, such as how the unity prayer, the one that begins "Unite the hearts of Thy servants...", both begins and ends with the heart.

But again, looking at this quote about heaven and earth and all that lies between, and comparing it to the human, we can start at the beginning and see what happens. Now I'm not saying that this an authoritative way of understanding this. It is, after all, only my personal opinion, and you can take it or leave it, but I find it useful to try looking at the Writings in this way.

So, let's start with the mind. "God's greatest gift to man", said 'Abdu'l-Baha, "is that of intellect, or understanding." He points out that the intellect is not for "the purpose of making instruments of destruction; but that we might become diffusers of light; create love between the hearts; establish communion between the spirits and bring together the people of the east and the west."He describes the intellect as "supernatural", the one power of humanity that is neither "hereditary in origin" nor the outcome "of nature's processes". It is through this power of the intellect that we are "able to receive a larger share of the light Divine". In the human being, He says, "the intellect occupies the supreme station", for through it we can distinguish truth from superstition. Through it, "sciences and arts, all inventions, crafts, trades and their products" have been discovered and produced.

And yet, this power has its limits. "(B)y means of intellect alone he cannot accomplish the progress effected by religion." It is not perfect, nor eternal. "Human intellects themselves must change and be subject to the universal reformation". This is a point where the analogy breaks down, but I think it is still useful. It does highlight the importance of the intellect in recognizing the divine.

From there, let's go to "the earth", or the feet. Now again, it may just be me, but when I think of the "feet", I think of movement, action. I think of deeds. And, naturally, when I think of deeds, I think of that line from the Hidden Word, "Let deeds, not words, be your adorning." But I also think of another line from the Hidden Words, "Bring thyself to account each day ere thou art summoned to a reckoning; for death, unheralded, shall come upon thee and thou shalt be called to give account for thy deeds." You see, we won't be called to give an account for our thoughts, or our intentions. Instead we shall be asked about our deeds. What did we actually do in our life? So many of the greatest ideas in the world remain there, in the realm of ideas. They are never put into action, for whatever reason. They stay there, in the head, so to speak.

The question, of course, is how to remedy that. How can we move our ideas, our intentions, from the head down to the feet? That image of the ringstone symbol, the concept of ""heaven and earth and all that lies between" them, gives to me the answer: through the heart.

There is so much in the Writings about putting our noble ideas into action, and the effect this can have upon the world. In The Advent of Divine Justice, Shoghi Effendi dedicates a very lengthy paragraph to this theme, beginning on page 23 and going for more than entire page. It is in this paragraph that we find such gems as "The betterment of the world can be accomplished through pure and goodly deeds, through commendable and seemly conduct." Here he quotes the passage in which it says that Baha'u'llah's "object is to array every man with the mantle of a saintly character, and to adorn him with the ornament of holy and goodly deeds." On and on he goes about this extremely important theme, far too long for me to quote here.

Another passage that comes to mind is that celebrated quote from Epistle to the son of the Wolf in which Baha'u'llah describes His receiving of the Revelation. He says that He "felt as if something flowed from the crown of My head over My breast", or that which is in between. Note how it moves from the head and over the breast, the seat of the heart. It seems to trace the passage of that central line from the ringstone symbol, and we find that same passage within ourselves, too. As we study the Writings, as we dive deeper and deeper into their meaning, our hearts become ever more touched. And as we become more inspired by what they contain, we find ourselves motivated to do more out of our love for this Faith of ours.

No matter where we enter this vast ocean of Baha'u'llah's revelation, we will find pearls of priceless value. And they will always lead us on to greater action. We begin with the ideals of heaven, as espoused in the Writings, and find our own clumsy way of striving to put them into action, here on earth. And somewhere in between, we find our hearts are touched, inspired, and that is where we will find the King of Kings sitting, smiling in appreciation of our efforts.

Of course, in my case, that smile of His is probably hiding a snicker.

An Interesting Phrase

Have you ever noticed that there are some things in life that become so commonplace that we no longer notice them? Like the noise from the buses going outside my window, or the persistent buzzing of the lights in the other room. These things are always there, and after a while I just become immune to their presence; my brain just filters them out.

When reading the Writings I often fall prey to the same filtering process. There are some things in the Writings that tend to get lost when I'm reading, such as the regularly occurring "this of one that"s. You know what I mean, all the times that Baha'u'llah says, "the leaves of one tree", "the waves of one ocean", "the flowers of one garden", "the fruits of one branch", "the fries of one happy meal". (Just kidding. I made up that last one to see if you're paying attention.)

It's not that these phrases aren't important, just that my deficient brain filters what sometimes appears to my dim sight to be common. Fortunately I have a wife who keeps me on my toes and has been training me to recognize when I'm skipping over things like that. You can see a good example of her pointing this out to me here.

Anyways, I was reading a prayer the other day, by the Bab, when I realized that I was doing that filtering thing again. What, you may wonder, was I filtering? Great question.

You know that prayer for protection written by the Bab, the one that begins, "In the Name of God, the Lord of overpowering majesty, and All-Compelling"? The one that was written in the shape of a pentacle? Well, towards the end of it, and all throughout the middle, He regularly uses the phrase, "heaven and earth and of everything between them", or some variation thereof. In fact, if you go through that prayer and only look at that (or those) particular phrase (phrases), this is what you will see:

• the kingdoms of Revelation and Creation and whatever lieth between them.
• the kingdoms of heaven and earth and whatever is between them
• the treasures of earth and heaven and everything between them
• the Creator of the heavens and the earth and whatever lieth between them
• all that dwell in the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them.
• the keys of heaven and earth and of everything between them.
• the power of His hosts of heaven and earth and whatever lieth between them

And then it finishes with this interesting sentence: "Protect us from what lieth in front of us and behind us, above our heads, on our right, on our left, below our feet and every other side to which we are exposed."

Heaven and earth and everything between them? What does that mean? And why is the first line so different? Why is the third line reversed? Why are the fourth and fifth referring to heavens as a plural when the rest are singular? What does it all mean?

At first glance I just sort of presumed that it meant all of creation. But you know what happens when we presume. We make a pre out of Sue and me. (Or something like that.) (Apologies to Abbott and Costello.)

Now I wonder.

It seems as if He is telling us a story, relating something important to us in that unusual varying of it. The "kingdoms of Revelation and Creation" seem somehow more majestic than "heaven and earth". They seem like a capital version, as opposed to a lower case version, and, in fact, they are. It is as if He is going from macro to micro, somehow, in those first two instances. And, of course, He seems to be giving preference to the heavenly by placing it first.

Also, there seem to be a series of couplets there, after the first oddity. The kingdoms, heavenly first, followed by their treasures, which appear to move from the earth up towards heaven. For some reason this reminds me of that Hidden Word that begins, "Holy words and pure and goodly deeds ascend unto the heaven of celestial glory."

The next couplet refers to the Creator and the creatures. Then come the keys, and the power they unlock. "Unlock, O people,", says Baha'u'llah, "the gates of the hearts of men with the keys of the remembrance of Him Who is the Remembrance of God and the Source of wisdom amongst you." When you unlock the the heart, then the innate power of the individual can come to life.

Overall, when I read this prayer it is as if my vision goes up and down, up and down, up and down, and then hits that last sentence. In front, behind, above, to the right, the left, below, "and every other side to which" I am exposed. What a path! I always seem to trace it mentally as I read it. It's almost like a three-dimensional labyrinth that explodes outward into a sphere, with little old me in the middle.

But back to that phrase: heaven and earth and of everything between them. Above, below, and in the middle.

Reminds me of the Ringstone symbol.

The heavens are the top line, while the earth would be the bottom line. And then there is "everything between them". So what would that be? Well, in the ringstone symbol, that middle horizontal line would be the world of the Manifestations.

In the Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, Baha'u'llah says that God "bade Me lift up My voice between earth and heaven". In the Kitab-i-Aqdas, He refers to Himself as He "Who lifteth up His voice between the heavens and the earth." To the Bishops of the world He proclaims, "He Who is the Everlasting Father calleth aloud between earth and heaven." He opens the Suriy-i-Haykal with, "This is the Surih of the Temple which God hath ordained to be the Mirror of His Names between the heavens and the earth".

Time and again He refers to His proclamation, His Station as being between heaven and earth.

In another place, the Suriy-i-Vafa, He quite interestingly refers to His Revelation as that "which God hath ordained to be the Sword of His Revelation between heaven and earth, and through which truth is separated from error". Looking again at the ringstone symbol above, I can so easily see this cleaving between that which is above from that which is below., which also reminds me of Genesis 1:18, in which the Two Great Lights separate light from darkness, a job which was previously God's, back in Genesis 1:4.

Yes, it is an interesting phrase, "the heavens and the earth and whatever is between them".

I'm sure I could go on and on with this, but I have to go a conduct a meditation session now.

Perhaps I'll meditate more on this phrase while I'm there.