The Sun is brighter than the candle

Our life is like a candle. Sometimes it is lit and we feel happy, full of light; other times it is dark and we feel sadness or suffering. But when the sun comes into our lives, it outshines the light of the candle and the candle becomes irrelevant. The sun is the spirit and light of God. This is our true life, our true joy. May we all strive to bring the transcendent light of God into our hearts and lives so that the changes and chances of this passing worldly life serve only to strengthen our trust and faith in Him, the Source of our being!

“Do not grieve at the afflictions and calamities that have befallen thee. All calamities and afflictions have been created for man so that he may spurn this mortal world -- a world to which he is much attached. When he experienceth severe trials and hardships, then his nature will recoil and he will desire the eternal realm -- a realm which is sanctified from all afflictions and calamities.”

--from the writings of the Baha'i Faith

More hurt, more love

The person who is more sensitive and aware, who sees how people are not being loving, and gets hurt by it, must be the one who is more loving, tolerant, patient, and accepting of less-than-loving behavior. This is the suffering prepared for those whose hearts are open and tender, who are ready to receive the anointing of the Holy Spirit. These souls will feel more pain, but will be more loving. For their love will be the love of God which they will call upon to comfort their broken hearts. Know that God is close to these souls and He will protect them from the darts of the worldly-minded.

"Cleanse ye your eyes, so that ye behold no man as different from yourselves. See ye no strangers; rather see all men as friends, for love and unity come hard when ye fix your gaze on otherness. And in this new and wondrous age, the Holy Writings say that we must be at one with every people; that we must see neither harshness nor injustice, neither malevolence, nor hostility, nor hate, but rather turn our eyes toward the heaven of ancient glory. For each of the creatures is a sign of God, and it was by the grace of the Lord and His power that each did step into the world; therefore they are not strangers, but in the family; not aliens, but friends, and to be treated as such.

Wherefore must the loved ones of God associate in affectionate fellowship with stranger and friend alike, showing forth to all the utmost loving-kindness, disregarding the degree of their capacity, never asking whether they deserve to be loved. In every instance let the friends be considerate and infinitely kind. Let them never be defeated by the malice of the people, by their aggression and their hate, no matter how intense. If others hurl their darts against you, offer them milk and honey in return; if they poison your lives, sweeten their souls; if they injure you, teach them how to be comforted; if they inflict a wound upon you, be a balm to their sores; if they sting you, hold to their lips a refreshing cup."

--from the writings of the Baha'i Faith

Religious materialism

8/24/07, concerning news about Mother Teresa's inner emptiness while serving:

This is very significant. This shows, among other things, that just doing service does not bring the love of God into your heart (don't get me started!). Let's talk about this. This news has profound implications and reveals a universal trend, I believe, which is swept under the rug in the name of projecting an image of godliness without having a genuine connection with the Holy Spirit. The rationalization goes: well who cares about the Holy Spirit as long as you get the work done! What is the work, my friend, but sharing the love of God with others so in their hearts they feel a deep consolation which is sanctified from this world? Food for thought. Hey, I'm not saying don't do worldly and material work. I'm saying without the love of God, this world is materialistic and meaningless, but don't take my word for it, read it in the Scriptures of all the religions.

And often doing work in the world makes it harder to feel the love of God in your heart, because you have to create a shell in order to be around people, and that shell veils you from experiencing a deep and transcendent feeling of connection with God. You might feel a connection with another person, though, but it is attachment to this world, via the other person. I didn't say don't do work in the world, I just said it makes it harder to feel the presence of God when you're around people who don't consider the spiritual reality.

Let me clarify a little. These are all ideas-in-process, and are open to revision. My 'gripe' is not with good action, service, and work, which necessarily creates an external appearance of godliness or accomplishment. The problem is the contradiction with our own inner state in terms of our happiness. Often our source of happiness comes from the validation and approval we receive from others or give to ourselves for these acts of service or accomplishment, instead of deriving our sense of value, worth, joy and peace from the only source of joy and value--the love of God for us and His acceptance of us, which is a constant. Our actions become a kind of 'religious' materialism. Also, when we give approval and validation to others for the appearance of accomplishment or godliness without knowing their inner state, we are propagating the cycle of illusory attachment to the external world as the source of happiness and love. This also supports the idea that eventually we need to relate more honestly and openly with each other. But that's another conversation!

The love and acceptance we receive from God comes through our spiritual practice (which includes service) and sincere prayers, and the path of self-purification and detachment. This path is often relegated to secondary status, due to our materialistic conditioning and lack of education about the importance of an inner spiritual life, as well as a lack of understanding of what exactly an inner spiritual life is. These issues are often overlooked by many religious leaders today, so that an appearance of godliness and unity can instead prevail. Often appearance is given more importance than inner reality. This is again because security and comfort is being sought in the approval and acceptance of others, or in external accomplishment, rather than in our trust in God. It is indeed difficult and understandably threatening to expose and resolve these issues, but can't we begin an honest dialogue for the sake of healing ourselves and the world?

Here is a strong verse, but not to be taken too literally (obviously it is not saying that it is harmful to help an injured person if you don't happen to have the transcendent feeling of the love of God in your heart at that very moment!):

"All things are beneficial if joined with the love of God; and without this love, all things are harmful, and act as a veil between man and the lord of the kingdom." --'Abdu'l-Baha

In His service,
Bob Charnes

Most people (religion, spirituality, and transformation)--excerpts from a letter

Positive attitude or spiritual transformation? In transformation, or transmutation, you confront the darkness or fear within you, bring the light to it, and then it becomes 'light'. For me, a positive attitude is not something I create to cover my inner feelings of struggle or insecurity. I believe it is best to actually transform the inner feeling so the spiritual light we ingest becomes our deep reality. It is the process of transmutation and turning the darkness into light. Most people create a false self that is then plastered over the inner dark self with all its guilt, hurt, resentment, fears, and desires. Then we relate superficially and materialistically. We become cut off from ourselves and from others, but don't realize it, because everyone else is doing the same thing.

Most people have felt pressure to conform their whole life, and they just want freedom to live from a place of ownership and choice, and find their own voice. True religion, however, entails surrender of the very self most people are struggling to create. Religion and religious practice can also be used as a component of that self-created life, but I would not call this spirituality, or true religion. We do need to exercise our free will, and choose to surrender to His will, and we do this with full ownership and conscious awareness, and we do it because we see His beauty with our own eyes. We know of course, God owns our soul as well as our will--for He created us. And that sits right with me.

Most people want worldly security, and religion or religious community (following the group patterns, learning the methods, acquiring the knowledge, trusting the leaders, socializing, serving) provides that for them. They feel better about themselves and the inner guilt and inadequacy is silenced and successfully suppressed. This is not transformation, however. This is not a new spiritual life. To me, this is just conformity, another way to feel secure by fitting in with a group of people.

I grew up with no religion or spirituality, but ironically it contributed to me staying open-minded about religion and the idea of God. I approached the God question rationally initially, but I also had an open and sensitive heart, so I was able to apprehend His presence in Scripture at age 17.

I realized from that moment on that most people who follow a religion are doing it in a way that actually prevents them from communing with God. They are following the dictates and patterns of a group of people and this gives a sense of security for the ego self, just like any other worldly security. You feel like you fit in and you follow the leader or the group and it becomes another worldly attachment. If you do what is taught, you feel worthy and acceptable (you successfully cover your inner inadequacy and insecurities); if you deviate, you feel guilty and wrong. Problem is, what the group or the leaders tell you is not what Baha'u'llah taught, it's only their interpretation, and it is partial at best. What you end up putting your trust in is a charismatic personality, acquired knowledge, leadership skills. Our trust should be in Baha'u'llah.

Most people only see the truth of Scriptures according to their capacity or through the filter of their personal desires and agendas. When one truly surrenders to God, life changes: there is an experience of being transported; a new life emerges--this is being born again in the Spirit, by the Spirit, and it happens in the Baha'i Faith as well as in Christianity. Of course it is a constant struggle to remain detached and spiritual, and to be transcendent and in communion with God; and as well we must struggle to obey the social and material laws...

some Baha'i Writings:

"We must strive to attain to that condition (spiritual condition in which communion with God becomes possible) by being separated from all things and from the people of the world and by turning to God alone. It will take some effort on the part of man to attain to that condition, but he must work for it, strive for it. We can attain to it by thinking and caring less for material things and more for the spiritual. The further we go from the one, the nearer we are to the other. The choice is ours.

Our spiritual perception, our inward sight must be opened, so that we can see the signs and traces of God's spirit in everything. Everything can reflect to us the light of the Spirit."

--words of 'Abdu'l-Baha reported in Baha'u'llah and the New Era

"It behoveth him who is a wayfarer in the path of God and a wanderer in His way to detach himself from all who are in the heavens and on the earth. He must renounce all save God, that perchance the portals of mercy may be unlocked before his face and the breezes of providence may waft over him. And when he hath inscribed upon his soul that which We have vouchsafed unto him of the quintessence of inner meaning and explanation, he will fathom all the secrets of these allusions, and God shall bestow upon his heart a divine tranquillity and cause him to be of them that are at peace with themselves."

--Baha’u’llah, Gems of Divine Mysteries (Javahiru’l-Asrar) (Haifa, Baha’i World Centre, 2002 edition) Pp. 25-26.

"The world is but a show, vain and empty, a mere nothing, bearing the semblance of reality. Set not your affections upon it. Break not the bond that uniteth you with your Creator, and be not of those that have erred and strayed from His ways. Verily I say, the world is like the vapor in a desert, which the thirsty dreameth to be water and striveth after it with all his might, until when he cometh unto it, he findeth it to be mere illusion. It may, moreover, be likened unto the lifeless image of the beloved whom the lover hath sought and found, in the end, after long search and to his utmost regret, to be such as cannot 'fatten nor appease his hunger.'"

--Baha'u'llah, Gleanings p. 328

My old Baha'i letters compilation

(letter to a friend, with prayer and verses, 'experience it', from 12/7/00):

"O thou handmaid aflame with the fire of God's love! Grieve thou not over the troubles and hardships of this nether world, nor be thou glad in times of ease and comfort, for both shall pass away. This present life is even as a swelling wave, or a mirage, or drifting shadows. Could ever a distorted image on the desert serve as refreshing waters? No, by the Lord of Lords! Never can reality and the mere semblance of reality be one, and wide is the difference between fancy and fact, between truth and the phantom thereof.

Know thou that the Kingdom is the real world, and this nether place is only its shadow stretching out. A shadow hath no life of its own; its existence is only a fantasy, and nothing more; it is but images reflected in water, and seeming as pictures to the eye." ('Abdu'l-Baha, Fire & Gold pp184-185)

...We need meetings which are more than intellectual rhetoric, and more than an old world order attempt to create a spiritual reality. We need to actually have the spirit, and that takes authentic human beings who are in touch with the spirit of God! These people need to be actually quickened by the Spirit of God--Oh Lord help us do this, please God help us, please God, we need your spirit to save the souls from the slough of materialism and intellectualism and pride and closed-mindedness, and ignorance and illusion--Oh, God, open their hearts to the actual, living, breathing reality of Your Actual presence and Love and Comfort--not encased by proud shells, stale rhetoric of minds scarred by old world tactics and old game-playing based on old world business and competition and fear and ego and separation--no, no, God! Why should we succumb to ego and separation, when we have the real thing, the Love of God, the authentic, living breathing vehicles of aware, awake, human beings--soft, open to your Love, empty vessels willing to be filled with the real Spiritual power inside the heart of Love, of Baha'u'llah!!

We should not close out personal experience and feeling. This must be dynamic and vital, and must come from the open heart of beings in a receptive mode as well as transmissive and expressive. We need to align with God, emptied of this nether world! ____, please join in--we must win the hearts of the hardened, we must win souls in the faith and outside the Faith! We must truly fight as warriors, as Spiritual Dawnbreakers with a mission so high, it can revolutionize the world! Please join with me and ____ and ____ and ____, and whoever else can stay in this spirit, and not sway us from the Truth--because many within the faith will want to kill our spirit; but many will join us when they see that what we have is real, deep, and authentic, and we are not playing games in the old world order--we want to build the new... I know the others mean well, they are doing good things, they just don't have all the answers they think they have. They don't see the wider reality. We can show them what they are missing, when we consolidate, and focus on the actual spirit of God--not just talk about it. Can you access the actual spirit of God, and commune with his presence, and pray to Baha'u'llah, and really feel His presence, and see His Oneness, and feel it in your being? It is peace, it is faith, it is Love, it is unity, it is humility, it is patience. It is open to all people, it is knowledge.

Okay, I'm losing energy here. I know my ego is involved a bit, here, at least I admit it. Yes, I need people, I'm not fully detached. But God put the fire in my heart, and this is where I am. I need help, yes, I am weak. But God sent us here to unite, and to desire to unite. Yes, I have some pride--but we all do, and God can work with that, as we recognize His Supreme Power and Authority!! Ya-Baha'u'l-Abha! Please pray for me, and thanks for your sincere spirit.


(letter to friend, from 5/30/05, 'face feelings' ):

____, I feel stifled in certain environments that don't honor and acknowledge deeper feelings, including the hidden needs, fears, hurts we all have inside, and also the physical needs and bodily sensations. These environments are focused on intellectual disciplines and methodologies to the exclusion of body and emotions. This is the influence of our culture--it is not balanced nor holistic. I am interested in redressing the balance, and bringing in awareness of and working with the emotions and the body, so that we have complete humans who can experience all of what God has given us to experience. I think you understand very well what I am saying, and I thank you and God that you understand. Let's continue to be that leaven for the community.

I guess I have my limits, and if I spend too much time with certain people in certain environments, I lose my focus, my connection with God, and I can't be loving or helpful anymore. I needed to take a walk in the park and get back to God, and FEEL my feelings, and breathe through my body, and feel and experience more parts of my God-given vehicle for the life-force--the spirit-body. I had to take my negative energy, and just feel it inside without projecting it onto others, and just talk to God and let myself feel the feelings of need, aloneness, hurt and how I just want love and connection with people and with God. I acknowledged my remoteness from God and that I was not loving, and that I want love and I want to feel love and peace and joy. I just felt my feelings, let them flow, did not project them or blame anyone else for my suffering. When I did this, I felt God's presence--I did the work of facing my feelings without blaming--I guess it is called 'owning' my pain. Then I felt transformed and free. I could not do this in the other environment. Then I felt that I wanted to share this and I wanted companionship, but then even that is a desire, and I was closer to God then, so I could work with those painful emotions more easily. It is a constant dance and unfolding...


(letter to a friend, 'wave of the spirit', from 8/6/01):

...I am trying to encourage cell groups of a few people who trust each other, and feel comfortable with each other, to begin to explore the areas in their lives that need transforming and spiritualizing. We need to empty our worldly egos and the roles and acts we play for the world, and begin to access and receive the Holy Spirit through the Word and through prayer. I have come across some amazing Christian sermons, and I must tell you--Christians blow us away as far as being filled with the Holy Spirit, and getting to the point of what people need for healing and transformation. They've been doing it for decades. We're generally stuck in this intellectual, business-like, proper, white, middle-class, professional consciousness, and we can barely move out of it. Now, I realize we are making some growth--you can see that we are moving, and many of us are aware of the present limitations, and many of see where we have to go. But there needs to be a powerful force, or movement in the community--kind of like they have in Christianity--a wave of the Holy Spirit radiating from one, two, or several souls. These souls will ignite others, and the fire will spread. Or we can do cell groups, all linked by the same Spirit of God, and the cell groups will start with one or two, and they will divide and grow, and occupy the same organism--the body of Baha, if you will. Of course it will soon spread to the greater community, and we will see entry by troops.

I can't say exactly how it will happen. We know we have the guidance from the UHJ, in the five-year plan. There's a lot we can do. I have my own personal goals and vision. I will enlist any I find who are compatible with my goals, according to my gifts and talents, and their gifts and talents. We have to link people together. If we can't get everybody together, at least we can get together those who are already friends to begin to become more focused on God, on the Word, on prayer, on transformation. So if you get together for coffee, or a movie, how about instead talk about the spiritual world, or what problems you're having that prevent you from experiencing the love of God? We have a lot of layers of worldly conditioning to work through. It is purification and cleansing. Sometimes only tests will serve to motivate the person to cut his attachment to something, or impel him to turn to God with fervent prayer and supplication, or stimulate his deeper consciousness, or cause him to attempt to look at himself and life from a different angle.

There are levels of consciousness in each one of us which are untapped and which could provide limitless experience of the divine. Some of these levels cannot be tapped unless we are inspired in a group setting with spiritual music and devotions. Then we must hold onto it, nurture and cultivate those higher awarenesses of God, and ourselves. We must not be afraid to look into ourselves, our egos--our identity--what do we show to the world--how can that be different if we had support systems that nurtured true spiritual growth, instead of the present system, which nurtures worldliness and comformity and separation and hiding our feelings and playing roles for this world. Inside is a mine of gems suited for a new world, which we must work together to create...


(two excerpts from letter to friends, 'One Light', and 'struggle of self'):

...I know your life is complicated. I wish I could convey to you the importance of clinging to God, to His Cause, to the hope of ultimate victory, to the vision of service in His Cause. It is that One Light that shines constantly amidst all the tumult and turmoil of this nether world, all the melodramas of this passing, ephemeral world; all the power games, the judgments, the cruelties, the ignorance of all the people that dwell here on earth. There is that one Point of Light, of Hope, that is expanded in fantastic Glory, and with it comes all the Hope and Joy and True Life, and all of Reality exists in It, and only in It. All else will pale in comparison to Its Wondrous Glory!


____, I know you want to remove the struggle of self, and the feeling of shame, guilt, or inadequacy you may feel. By actually doing the physical things which you think will be living up to the standards you feel will make you worthy, you will still not remove the struggle of self. For without having your inner being lit by the love of God, and being lifted into the Transcendent Kingdom, and soaring on the wings of the Spirit above all created things, you are still bound to the cravings of self--cravings for approval and acceptance from people perpetuating the myth that doing something outwardly in order to gain the acceptance or approval you crave will save you from your pain.

Posts from my Baha'i Yahoo! Group: Healing and Transformation

(May 16, 2001):

Some days are better than others for me. I have been struggling lately, but that is good. All this suffering has been forcing me to turn to God for comfort. This mortal, transient world provides only superficial happiness, and it is usually followed by woe. The wise man does not attach himself to this world. But alas, we live in cultures permeated by materialism, and we find ourselves craving the things of the world, and forgetful of our God, who created us. He will supply us our needs, and we should rely upon Him. But we must learn to commune with Him, and work to build a world founded on eternal principles. This is the New World Order which we have been called to create, amidst the chaos and siren voices of this crumbling old world. What a daunting task for all of us! Many of us slip into illusion, become caught in the undertow of materialism, and forget who we truly are and what we have been called to do. It is so difficult to rise above the worldly attachments we have been conditioned into, and follow that inner guidance beyond the voices of the world. Baha'u'llah has revealed His Word and His guidance. But we must filter through the worldly desires and promptings, and focus on the spiritual worlds, and let the healing power of the Holy Spirit into our minds, hearts and lives, and begin to truly transform ourselves. Let's hope we can support one another in this monumental and oh-so-urgent task.

"Whenever you see tremendous personal problems in your private lives...according to our teachings one of their wisdoms is to teach us the impermanence of this world and the permanence of the spiritual bonds that we establish with God, His Prophet, and those who are alive in the faith of God."

"O thou servant of God! Do not grieve at the afflictions and calamities that have befallen thee. All calamities and afflictions have been created for man so that he may spurn this mortal world--a world to which he is much attached. When he experienceth severe trials and hardships, then his nature will recoil and he will desire the eternal realm--a realm which is sanctified from all afflictions and calamities. Such is the case with the man who is wise. He shall never drink from a cup which is at the end distasteful, but, on the contrary, he will seek the cup of pure and limpid water. He will not taste of the honey that is mixed with poison."

In Baha'i love,
Bob


(May 24, 2001):

It's all about catching the spark and spreading the fire. We need to be attracted to God, develop a spiritual awareness, sustain and maintain that awareness, and then apply it to our material tasks in creating the New World Order. We need to be continually fed by the Spirit of Baha'u'llah, through prayer and reading the Writings. We need to create a momentum, and begin to influence others, and draw them in with love and knowledge, to the realm of transcendent reality, and create patterns of thought, behavior, relationships, work and progress based on this higher awareness, knowledge, and love. Of course, since this Reality is ever-present, and always accessible, it should be easy! But no, it is not, because the gravity of our worldly conditioning and ego impulses are constantly pulling us away from our real work. And we are working in a society created in the style of the old world order. In this society, we really need to stay aware of how we are being influenced by the materialism around us. (Read Peter Khan's talk on mental tests: http://www.bahai-library.org/talks/nature.of.tests.html.)

And we need to quickly build support systems to help us stay above water (the sea of materialism), so we can maintain and sustain the spiritual awareness of God's love, comfort, hope, wisdom, and strength. We need to learn and teach the process of change and growth. Many people are working only on the surface level, but that will not inspire entry by troops. We must be brave and truly consecrate our lives to this Revelation, and surrender ourselves, and throw ourselves into the fire of His Love. Yes, we need to access that love, and I know that is a struggle for all of us today. It will come--God will help us.

From Ridvan message 2001: "May He Who keeps watch over the destiny of His divine System guide and direct and confirm every effort you make towards the realization of the urgent tasks set before you."


(May 25, 2001):

Yes, we are influenced by the world from every direction. I have been calling on God to help me, to keep me above water. It is very lonely, even amongst Baha'is. If we could only really create a powerful force for good, that was different, that was rooted in the Spirit, and in authenticity, and honesty. We would have to be honest with ourselves, and with each other. This society teaches you to put on an act, to play a role, to deny your true feelings, to be superficial, or to follow the desires of the lower self, in order to fit into the old world order. Yet as Baha'is, we are supposed to be different. Yet, many of us don't know what to do, how to be, since all we know is what we have acquired from the world. We do need a revolutionary consciousness, as drastic as that sounds. But that is what the Word of God implies. We must re-create society. Shoghi Effendi says this in Messages to America. So we must innovate and pioneer new roles for ourselves and for the people. We have all the arts and sciences at our disposal, and all the creative energy and power of Baha'u'llah's Spirit! We have only to call upon our Lord, with fervency and urgency, and he will come to our aid!!


(May 25, 2001):

"...If a small number of people gather lovingly together, with absolute purity and sanctity, with their hearts free of the world, experiencing the emotions of the Kingdom and the powerful magnetic forces of the Divine, and being at one in their happy fellowship, that gathering will exert its influence over all the earth. The nature of that band of people, the words they speak, the deeds they do, will unleash the bestowals of Heaven, and provide a foretaste of eternal bliss. The hosts of the Company on high will defend them, and theangels of the Abha Paradise, in continuous succession, will come down to their aid."
--Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha, p 81.

This is the ideal. The perfume of this sentiment is powerful enough to cleanse us, if we let it. Let us not be afraid, though, to be honest with ourselves if we cannot live up to this ideal. Let us be authentic. This verse is sent to us by a Divine Will, Who understands that we are imperfect and weak. He wants us to acknowledge that we indeed are weak, but that He is strong, and if we surrender our lives to Him, He will make us strong, and we can accomplish His goals, through His spirit and power. But let us come out from our pride and worldly striving, and enter into the calm of His Grace, Wisdom and commanding Authority, and we can feel the fire of His warmth, and all the tools to transform this world are here awaiting us! This is the transformation--the surrendering of our will into His.

"Every single letter proceeding from Our mouth is endowed with such regenerative power as to enable it to bring into existence a new creation--a creation the magnitude of which is inscrutable to all save God. He verily hath knowledge of all things."

If we could only tap into that regenerative power! I hope these verses can inspire us to transcend our worldly impediments and follow the sweet Voice of the Creator, who is lovingly and firmly beckoning us to follow His mighty plan, and enter into a heavenly realm, while we walk with practical feet. It means keeping aware of this eternal, spiritual world, while being here on earth and implementing and building the machinery of an organized society--but while we have this old world around us--albeit, a crumbling old world! So the processes of integration and disintegration happen simultaneously.

"The divine spirit which finds expression in man is manifested to a limited degree in all creation. Indeed, according to Baha'u'llah, the entire physical world is a reflection of the spiritual one. This physical world is the place where human beings acquire knowledge of God and, through their relationship with Him, learn about their spiritual reality."
--Baha'u'llah's Teachings on Spiritual Reality, p 61-62

The two worlds are coherent--the spiritual is infused in the physical. So we need not be split personality. We can be spiritual while in a human body in this world! But let us remember the spiritual aspect is the higher, eternal reality, even though the world tries to convince us otherwise. Just ask the people who have gone on to the afterlife! So the Power of God is here, at our disposal, at any time, no matter where we are or what we are doing.

"The friends must realize the Power of the Holy Spirit which is manifest and quickening them at this time through the appearance of Baha'u'llah. There is no force of heaven or earth which can affect them if they place themselves wholly under the influence of the Holy Spirit and under its guidance."
--Shoghi Effendi, from The Power of Divine Assistance

Please feel free to share. I am struggling, but I gain strength from sharing and connecting with you.

Bob


(June 12, 2001):

The world is disintegrating, but thank God He has given us hope through the message of Baha'u'llah! I have been reading the new book prepared under the supervision of the UHJ called Century of Light. It is extremely inspiring. I believe this summer there will be some serious changes in the thinking of Baha'is. I will be working on it in my part of the world. I am struggling to find people who understand, but I know God will bless my efforts. Here in the Triangle area, NC, we are a focus point for large-scale growth in the Baha'i community. We have some real progressive thinkers. All we have to do is infuse them with the Spirit, and that is not easy--but God will cause it to happen in His time. I must be patient, and keep praying and making efforts. We must have the 'will to act, and the faith to persist.'

From Century of Light: "One only has to read, even cursorily, accounts of the lives of the early Baha'is in the West to become aware of the high degree of individuality that characterized many of them, particularly the most active and creative." "Their response arose from a level of consciousness that recognized, even if sometimes only dimly, the desperate need of the human race for spiritual enlightenment. To remain steadfast in their commitment to this insight required of these early believers--on whose sacrifice of self much of the foundation of the present-day Baha'i communities both in the West and many other lands were laid--that they resist not only family and social pressures, but also the easy rationalizations of the world-view in which they had been raised and to which everything around them insistently exposed them."

From 'Abdu'l-Baha, quoted in Century of Light: "Such was our state when a letter came to us from the American friends. They had covenanted together, so they wrote, to remain at one in all things, and ... had pledged themselves to make sacrifices in the pathway of the love of God, thus to achieve eternal life. At the very moment when this letter was read, together with the signatures at its close, 'Abdu'l-Baha experienced a joy so vehement that no pen can describe it...."

Also by 'Abdu'l- Baha from Century of Light: "Ye must become the very soul of the world, the living spirit in the body of the children of men. In this wondrous Age, at this time when the Ancient Beauty, the Most Great Name, bearing unnumbered gifts, hath risen above the horizon of the world, the Word of God hath infused such awesome power into the inmost essence of humankind that He hath stripped men's human qualities of all effect, and hath, with His all-conquering might, unified the peoples in a vast sea of oneness."

May God bless all your efforts to bring healing and light into your lives and into the lives of others!

In Baha'i love,
Bob


(March 13, 2002):

I am trying to assemble a group here in the Triangle area of North Carolina which will be an example of an authentic, spiritual and unified group. But it is hard--very hard. The world and worldliness traps people so they don't know what their authentic self is. They have conformed to the standards and behaviors of the world without knowing it, since everybody else is doing the same conforming. And most Baha'is have been caught in a pretense, projecting an idealized self-image of what a good Baha'i should be, but inside they have not truly addressed their real needs. They have spent much of their lives creating a mask, or false self, and have felt forced to uphold this image, but they are not able to be unified or spiritual, since they are not authentic. There can be no intimacy this way, and intimacy with God is limited. We need to be real with each other and with God. This usually takes suffering to break down the defenses we have built up over the years. And we have conformed to what we thought was expected of us. But it is not working. It works for the old world order illusion--but we are trying to create a new world, based on Reality, so we will have to be different. We have to expose the deception. Yes, lovingly and gently--and sometimes I am impatient. There are non-Baha'i books out there that deal with these themes: The Different Drum (M. Scott Peck), The Four Agreements (Don Miguel Ruiz), Debbie Ford's books, and many others.

We need to create safe environments so we can let down our masks and learn to be our authentic selves. We will have to feel free to show our dark side to a certain extent, and we will have to attempt to transmute our characters and spiritualize ourselves from this place of authenticity, where we will see our defects and faults, and we will see the defects and faults of others. So we will have to be loving with ourselves and to others on a new level. All this fluffiness--this plastic Baha'i niceness must give way to genuine connection and loving the person through to their authentic self, which might not be so lovely and sweet, and may be scared, guilty, hurt, angry, bitter, lonely, unhappy, or full of shame. Of course this work will be done in small groups first, since most Baha'is will not be ready for this, until more suffering comes into their lives. Then they will be forced into it. We can only keep up the charade as long as our worldly attachment life is satisfying us. When tests come, the veils fall away, and we need to reach into a deeper part of ourselves, and we search for a renewed faith, a deeper connection with people and with God. But if our worldly life is fine, rarely do we search for deeper meaning. Believe me, the searching masses want authentic love and spirit, that cares deeply, and is humble and real and compassionate. They don't want the plastic niceness, with a table full of food, and fluffy formalities and materialism. They see through that.

We Baha'is must do the work of authenticating ourselves, and spiritualizing our lives from this place of authenticity. This will take work, and creating safe environments without the usual judgments and limiting viewpoints. We want to be a love, wisdom and spirit-based community, not a material and Baha'i image-based community. We want the real thing! Shoghi says the people want not an imitation, but Truth! So we will have to search hard to see these truths, and we will have to give up old ways of thinking and being. No more old world order thinking and being. It is time for the building of the new world order on the inner plane, as well as the outer! We need to revamp, to reorient our ways! Time to transform and heal! Because of my living situation, I don't spend much time on the internet, so I am not posting often. But I believe these themes are very pertinent for now, so I will try to post more, and please feel free to respond with your thoughts.

In Baha'i service,
Bob


(Sept. 16, 2002):

Hi All! I've been feeling more hopeful lately, because I know the forces of spiritual unity are irresistibly drawing us together. As the old world crumbles, and the disintegration of society advances ever closer, the concomitant forces of integration and unity are poured out for us. As we face the brink of a possible world-wide conflict, we know that healing spiritual powers will be poured out to those who call upon God in this time. It is a time to arise and unite and exploit the suffering of humanity to bring the redemptive message of Baha'u'llah to the confused masses. If there is suffering, then there needs to be healing. And it is time to arise and call upon Baha'u'llah and His love like never before, as we confront the tribulation of the times. For those who still suffer, know that God is ever-present, and He will work with us as we make sense out of the chaos. We must strive to become spiritual, and to detach from this world of conflict, illusion, and materialism. We need to join together and help one another, and learn and teach with humility and compassion. I pray that our conversations are elevated in consciousness, and we can learn to focus more on spiritual solutions, rather than worldly strivings. I pray that the sense of self, whether it is blame or acclaim, pride or abasement, is surrendered and dissolved within the love and glory or God, so that His strength becomes our hope. Then we trust in Him, and our soul is comforted!

Love,
Bob


(Jan. 11, 2003):

Hi all! As we struggle through this difficult in-between time, let us realize that all suffering has a wisdom and a lesson. We may not always understand it right away, though. But God is aware of our pains and struggles, He knows our every thought, and He is our wise Father. In the spiritual world, there is completeness, joy, and constancy. The Kingdom is the real world, and this world is only its shadow stretching out. Let's remember our connection to the Eternal life, the spirit world, where we are free and our hearts soar in the bliss of spiritual joy and knowledge. When I am sick or in pain, I allow myself to feel the pain, and in allowing myself to feel it, with no negative judgment, I also allow myself to freely receive and feel God's loving Grace--as I remember His Words and promises. Let's all pray that we can trust again and that we find safe places to allow ourselves to feel our pain all the way to the end, where we will find God's love and knowledge waiting to guide us and lift us up on His wings. This love--feeling it and knowing it, and trusting it, will be our healing. Authenticity, courage, trust, hope, love, wisdom. May all these beautiful qualities and more be yours in the coming days and weeks. My love to you all!

Bob


(Jan. 15, 2003):

Thanks for the currents of movement occurring here. I guess it is the ocean of desire in our hearts--desire for love, connectedness, unity. We want to break out of complacency, we want to see ourselves and others emerge from the cocoons of materialism, and begin to soar on the wings of authenticity, and even more, on the wings of the Spirit. It is hard for most of us to face ourselves--how this society has deceived us, and how we have chosen the standards of this society as a measure for our lives. Now we need to go through the painful process of transmutation. The old self must fall away, and the new, spiritual creature is born in its place. Many of us are in the midst of such a transformation, but we become stuck. We feel we need help and assistance on a greater level than we have heretofore received. We have few living examples of this new creature. It is uncharted territory. We are at an evolutionary precipice. There must be a critical mass of people who want this next step of growth. There are many authenticity movements out in the world. We can learn from them. But we need to fuse this knowledge and practice with the Baha'i Spirit. I am ready to discover, to work for it, to try, to put my talents and abilities on the table of sacrifice for the good of humanity and service to the Cause. Who else is willing to surrender their lives to serve the Cause and dedicate their gifts and talents to this service? Lord, lead us to those people whom you see fit that we work with, to advance your Cause and the process of entry by troops! Assist us, make us victorious by the power of your Holy Spirit!

Love,
Bob


(Jan. 16, 2003):

Ah, there is no escape from God's irresistible unifying power of Love! Of course we can prolong it with our own selfishness! But, ah, we are in a society based on ego and competition and materialism, and it is so hard to get free of the entanglements of this world, and to soar on the wings of holiness, especially if everyone around you is also caught in the same web! Help us, God, this is not funny! Get us out of this mess! We are sorry for our sins, sorry for turning away from you, sorry for living for our egos and worldly desires! We want You, only You--we want only what You desire for us! Please help us and bring us to Your loved ones, free us from the meshes of this world and our corrupt desires. We long to hold Your holy hand, and we long for the freedom of worshiping You without restraint. We long to be transported to the precincts of Your sacred domain, and we want that world to be our world, so that we can live here in our bodies, but be living by Your grace alone, through the power of Your Holy Spirit. Transform us into Your likeness, penetrate our hearts and souls, and transmute our darkness into light, so that we may shine for all to see! Bring us companions, oh Lord, so our journey here is not so lonely and desolate. Lighten our hearts and send a breeze of holiness into our lives, please, oh Lord. We long for Your presence to be with us all the day long. Help us Lord!

Bob

Spiritual work--letter to a friend

(Spiritual Work, letter to Sherlock, 7/4/06):

Sherlock, I'm curious to know what kinds of conversations you anticipate with me and perhaps others, as we enter into an approach to the threshold of the Beloved. I think it is quite difficult to anticipate what might happen, since to truly break new ground, we will witness the breaking of the old foundations of our life--the attachments to self and this world. The noise resulting from a true transformation of our old self may not be something we have quite heard of late. Perhaps the sixties was a taste of it, without the religion to guide it. Letting go of ego and pride and the old 'tricks' will be a necessary precursor to a humble receiving of the Spirit. We will have to feel a divine safety in order to reveal the tender underlayers of our personhood, to empty out enough to 'merit' the infusing of the Glorious Transcendent Light! How can this occur without a tumult and upheaval, the likes of which can tear down an entire civilization!

Alas, for we, as the spiritual descendants of the Dawnbreakers, must sacrifice all of ourselves on the altar of His Love. Thus, all that was built up for the sake of self, in all its subtlest forms, must be razed to the ground, ground up, and with the power of the Divine Elixir itself, turned into spirit, and unleashed onto the world with the overwhelming radiant splendor of Baha! All the needs and longings will be used for fuel to create the very love that will heal hearts and minds. We cannot bypass the struggle, for the struggle is the fuel for the fire! It is the pain of longing which leads us to Him. Without pain we cannot grow. The pain humbles us and shows us that we are in need of greater love, and that our ego is still here, needing more purifying. Those who don't struggle have false humility, since they feel they have arrived and have no inner need or impetus to seek with fervor for a greater measure of the Beloved. The beloved is infinite--He never ends--our search for Him is ongoing.

Praise God we can be humble at His threshold, be honest about our needs and shortcomings, and bare ourselves to Him, since He sees us, and He created us. May we be able to, if in our longing for Him it is deemed beneficial, to also bare ourselves to one another, so that we can better reflect His love in our interactions, without the veils of contrived personality we are so used to. God, give us the wisdom and grace to accomplish this. We do this for Your Cause, out of the outpourings of Your Love and Mercy. Give us patience and humility, and discernment. Give us an open mind and heart, and cause us to apprehend the glorious intimations of regeneration and renewal which are vibrating within every atom of existence, so that we can rest assured that we are alive and growing beings, capable of change and transformation, in accordance with Your glorious command!

Through His Love,
Bob


"Through that Word the realities of all created things were shaken, were divided, separated, scattered, combined and reunited, disclosing, in both the contingent world and the heavenly Kingdom, entities of a new creation."

--Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations, pp. 295-96


"Throughout the world, immense intellectual and spiritual energies are seeking expression, energies whose gathering pressure is in direct proportion to the frustrations of recent decades. Everywhere the signs multiply that the earth's peoples yearn for an end to conflict and to the suffering and ruin from which no land is any longer immune. These rising impulses for change must be seized upon and channeled into overcoming the remaining barriers that block realization of the age-old dream of global peace. The effort of will required for such a task cannot be summoned up merely by appeals for action against the countless ills afflicting society. It must be galvanized by a vision of human prosperity in the fullest sense of the term-an awakening to the possibilities of the spiritual and material well-being now brought within grasp."

--Bahai International Community, The Prosperity of Humankind (Haifa: Bahai International Community Office of Public Information, 1995) P. 1.

"I beg of Thee, O my God, by Thy most exalted Word which Thou hast ordained as the Divine Elixir unto all who are in Thy realm, the Elixir through whose potency the crude metal of human life hath been transmuted into purest gold, O Thou in Whose hands are both the visible and invisible kingdoms, to ordain that my choice be conformed to Thy choice and my wish to Thy wish, that I may be entirely content with that which Thou didst desire, and be wholly satisfied with what Thou didst destine for me by Thy bounteousness and favor. Potent art Thou to do as Thou willest. Thou, in very truth, art the All-Glorious, the All-Wise."

--Baha'u'llah, Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 53


"Know thou, moreover, that every created thing is continually brought forth and returned at the bidding of thy Lord, the God of power and might...

Verily, the Word of God is the Cause which hath preceded the contingent world--a world which is adorned with the splendours of the Ancient of Days, yet is being renewed and regenerated at all times."

--Baha'u'llah

Call for healing

(This is from 6/17/95)

There are very many desperate and hurting people out there who are lonely, alienated, and unable to make any loving connection with people or even with a loving Creator. Some indulge in alcohol to drown the pain, some use sex, many are diagnosed as depressed and take anti-depressants, and some just sit and cry! It's unbelievable--the hardships people must endure these days. Then there are those who must endure the torture of abuse of all kinds, the victims of violent crimes, disease, poverty, starvation, and the like.

Don't we need to reach out and help one another like never before? Isn't this the time of all times in the history of the world that we need to transcend our worldly attachment, let down our defenses, open our heart, pray to God, and help each other through these difficult times? Yes, we need to read the Writings on our own and understand the nature of tests as beneficial and necessary for our spiritual growth. But we also need to see how God uses tests to bond the community in loving unity. An example is the Oklahoma City bombing incident. This tragedy actually helped bond the community as people rushed to help one another in sacrificial and self-transcendent love! Isn't there already a tragedy happening in the world today? We can no longer shut our eyes to it.

Here's a quote I read recently that really inspired me, from Shoghi Effendi's "Directives from the Guardian":

"Deep as are family ties, unless supported by spiritual bonds, are confined to this life. You should do all in your power, through prayer and example, to open the eyes of your family to the Baha'i Faith, but do not grieve too much over their actions. Turn to your Baha'i brothers and sisters who are living with you in the Light of the Kingdom."

"Indeed, the believers have not yet fully learned to draw on each other's strength and consolation in time of need. The Cause of God is endowed with tremendous powers, and the reason the believers do not gain more from it is because they have not learned to draw fully on these mighty forces of love and strength and harmony generated by the Faith."

Some of us are suffering outwardly more than others. Some of us have Baha'i families or supportive communities and have more emotional resources than others. But we're all in this together and we must help those who need it! If one is sick we're all sick! Does this sound drastic? Well I think we need a drastic change in our attitude towards people who are suffering, because there may be more hurting people than you think, and one may be you! You know many people have difficulty expessing their emotions in this materialistic culture, and that means their pain remains unvoiced, repressed, and therefore they are unable to receive help and guidance. But sadly, often when they do express their pain, their cries remain unheeded and they turn to unspiritual activities to escape the pain. It takes a very spiritual person to overcome the trials of life without any loving support from others!

We need to share the teachings with others, pray for them, and listen to their problems! We need to have forums where people feel comfortable expressing, (and even feeling!) their emotions (within limits of course!). Too many of us are stuck in conventional ways of relating to one another, having developed defense systems supposedly appropriate for the materialistic society we live in. But we must change all that. Listen to this excerpt from "The Prosperity of Humankind" (don't you just love that they used the word "humankind"?):

"In order for the standard of human rights now in the process of formulation by the community of nations to be promoted and established as a prevailing international norm, a fundamental redefinition of human relationships is called for. Present-day conceptions of what is natural and appropriate in relationships-- among human beings themselves, between human beings and nature, between the individual and society, and between the members of society and its instituitions--reflect levels of understanding arrived at by the human race during earlier and less mature stages in its development. If humanity is indeed coming of age, if all the inhabitants of the planet constitute a single people, if justice is to be the ruling principle of social organization--then existing conceptions that were born out of ignorance of these emerging realities have to be recast."

We need to help people release emotions, and to unleash that latent trust in God that is the most powerful healing force in a human. Then the love can flow, the trust can grow, the power of the Holy Spirit can manifest itself, and healing can take place! We need to trust one another--we are more closely bonded than family, in reality! Why shouldn't we act that way? Just envision in your heart and mind what it would be like if groups of people all over the world were inspired and enlivened by God to pour out their hearts to one another in perfect trust and all had their hearts open to God, and they received one another and loved one another with spiritual love, and this love spread to all in the region, and searching souls were magnetized beyond description to this powerful and overwhelming love, and tears were shed--tears of joy and lifelong relief for having revealed to them the meaning of life, the meaning of existence itself, and lifelong questions were answered, and lifelong pains were healed, and the Holy Spirit of God was unleashed like never before in onrushing gales of surrender, reverence, awe, holiness, sacrifice, peace, love and ultimate comfort and healing as the souls bonded together in an indissoluble, heavenly, eternal bond that kept growing and opening up like a flower in bloom, as hearts connected to Baha'u'llah's heart, and we all connected to each other's heart, and we all served the Kingdom forever in eternal bliss!! Sound drastic??!

May God help us use our talents and abilities to serve Him and to serve humanity, and to promote healing in the hearts of everyone we meet. May we all be guided in this endeavor, and ask Baha'u'llah's blessings and confirmations in all that we do. Let's remember nobody's perfect and we all need healing in one way or another.

God bless all of you. Please stay in touch and send me any messages, thoughts, ideas, criticisms, exhortations, musings, questions, answers, opinions, guidance, poems, stories, songs, quotes, etc. The goal is for everyone to share with everyone, and to network with one another, and to spread the unity far and wide. Any ideas on how to network and get the ball really rolling would be greatly appreciated.

Baha'i love,

Bob