Surf's up!

image credit:
Stephen McCulloch,
via Wikipedia

Recently I crossed the path of a huge wave of idle contention on the Internet, and I went tumbling head over heels. My head is still spinning, and I'm still floundering around, dazed, trying to get back to the shore.

What knocked me off my feet was not the wave itself. It was the undertow.

Now I'm wondering if it could serve any of my purposes to learn to ride those waves. If nothing else, it might help me avoid being knocked over by them.

Things to consult about with friends, family members, and others.

This is just a bullet list of some of my current visions and goals. I'll post later about my strategies and lines of action.

- Learning to be a pure channel of God's grace.
- Learning to be more places, more of the time, where God can do more with me.
- Learning to be a better person, a better friend and a better neighbor.
- Practicing and promoting loving devotion to the best interests of our communities.
- Learning to better encourage and support more individual initiatives.
- Practicing and promoting fellowship across religious and other ideological divides.
- Special attention to some of the people around me that I see being stigmatized and marginalized the most.
- Learning to do more to help improve the lives of the most ravaged people in the world, near and far.
- Learning to better encourage and support people who are studying with me, in practicing what we're learning.
- Learning to better encourage and support all people in their progress in the path of God.
- Experimenting with Baha'i community-building principles and practices, in Internet communities.
- Practicing and promoting better conduct on the Internet.
- Practicing and promoting a more loving economy.
- Practicing and promoting richer and deeper communications.
- Helping to improve the quality of training for community building.
- Helping to develop training for other work above.

Joy from watching companionship

Yesterday, while Patty was shopping on and around the walking street, I spent some time sitting on a bench, practicing keeping my heart open to God. I looked around and up at the sky for a while, then I remembered being filled with joy once before, sitting on the walking street, watching people go by. At first I couldn't remember how that happened, then I remembered that I had watched people laughing and having fun together. I didn't see as much of that this time, but I did see a lot of companionship in groups of various sizes. After I watched that for a while, I felt so much joy that it bubbled out in laughter and put tears in my eyes.

I took some pictures of groups of people, to share. I wrote about it, along with a few photos, to one of my friends that I'm studying and practicing with, learning ways to lift our spirits when we're feeling blue. I'm planning to write a post about it on my Nets of Wonder blog, along with a few photos, and to share that on Facebook.

Experiences like that sometimes remind me of the idea in The Celestine Prophecy, that one way to get energy, without draining it from others, is from beauty. This experience also reminded me of what Baha'u'llah said about fellowship. He wrote "This goal excelleth every other goal, and this aspiration is the monarch of all aspirations."

Raising our banners

This is about my Baha'i banner, but some of these thoughts might interest people rallying around other banners, religious or not.

Recently I've been trying to learn to proclaim the cause of Baha'u'llah more openly and continually on facebook. Pondering why I haven't done so before, I remember noticing years ago that all the things I was trying to tell people in Internet discussions were things they really already knew, and were just choosing to ignore. I gave up trying to tell people things, and since then I've mostly just devoted myself to teaching with my actions. That applies especially to Baha'is, and my teaching efforts have been focused mostly on Baha'is.

Another reason for my aversion to promoting what I believe in verbally has been what Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha have said about words and deeds. For example:

"O SON OF DUST!
Verily I say unto thee: Of all men the most negligent is he that disputeth idly and seeketh to advance himself over his brother. Say, O brethren! Let deeds, not words, be your adorning."
(Baha'u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words no. 5)

"O friends! Help ye the one true God, exalted be His glory, by your goodly deeds, by such conduct and character as shall be acceptable in His sight."
(Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 271)

"O people of God! Do not busy yourselves in your own concerns; let your thoughts be fixed upon that which will rehabilitate the fortunes of mankind and sanctify the hearts and souls of men. This can best be achieved through pure and holy deeds, through a virtuous life and a goodly behaviour. Valiant acts will ensure the triumph of this Cause, and a saintly character will reinforce its power. Cleave unto righteousness, O people of Baha!"
(Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 86)

"The wrong in the world continues to exist just because people talk only of their ideals, and do not strive to put them into practice. If actions took the place of words, the world's misery would very soon be changed into comfort."
(Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 16)

In my efforts to be sure that my words are always preceded by actions, I've often ended up not saying anything at all. I think now that I want to try saying more about the sources of my inspiration and strength for what I do, but I still want to tread very carefully. My thought now is to continue putting actions first, then discussing where I've found inspiration and strength for those actions.

What's happening in my life

photo credit:
endolith, via flickr

For my imaginary collaborators

Here's another bullet list of topics related to what's happening in my life. I'm planning to elaborate on some of them in later posts. I might also elaborate on some previous bullet lists. Or not.

* On line and off line
- Nurturing the spirit of faith and the love of God
- Meekness and kindness
- Pure channel

* Off line
- Origami and diabolo
- English corner: activities with children
- English corner: elevated conversations with students, including more loving neighborhoods and a more loving economy
- New friends: email, invitations for tea, walks
- Tutoring accompaniment
- "Who We Are"
- How to explain what I want to do
- Growth cycles

I want to learn to be a good friend to Chinese people who are helping to spread the best kinds of wisdom and love.

* On line
- Learning to be a better friend to some people in my life, one by one
- Encouraging and supporting individual and group initiatives
- Framework on line
- Research opening and attracting hearts
- Exchanging ideas and experiences in improving quality of training
- Fellowship across divides
- Online training starting with BIA documents
- Atheists, atheism and God-centered living

What good can I do on the Internet?

The image on the screen is by
 Lorelyn Medina, via 123RF

For 15 years I've been trying to learn what good I might be able to do on the Internet. I've seen some fruits of my efforts to free myself from my prejudices, and to help cheer and refresh the down-cast. I've had a lot fun practicing fellowship across religious and other ideological divides, but I haven't seen or heard of that doing anyone else any good.

All these years I've dreamed, in vain, of finding collaborators in those initiatives. Now I see some possibilities that look more promising.

To imaginary friends

Bullet list update, for possible amplification later (some names fictitious):

* English corner at the library
- Chapter 1 of The Wonderful Wizard of Oz, with little Dorothy.
- Gave Dorothy's mother children's stories to look at, from the life of Abdu'l-Baha, to see if she approves of me reading them to Dorothy.
- Invited to speak at the next English corner.

* Friendships
- Invited to birthday party for Lin's child.
- Invited to dinner with Min and friends.
- Visited by Jin and Yin, made tea, fascinated by Baha'i books, walked by the lake, felt like old friends.

* Web
- Discovered Susan Gammage's teleconferencing study circles initiative.
- Came out on facebook with my "anti-semitic" and "homophobic" views.
- Resisted temptation to get drawn deeper and deeper into Internet discussions.
- Responses to Emily's blog

* Daily living
- More OCR: announcements, community center displays, learning to use photo editing functions.

A Tale of Two Donkeys?

To imaginary friends

As I'm pondering the question of how to promote what we're practicing and learning, I'm seeing RVCBard struggling with the same issue. Pondering the questions she raises, one problem that I see is that we all want to be our own producers and directors, more than we want to support what anyone else is doing. It's hard for me to face letting go of that, but that might be where I need to go. No matter how good the possibilities might be in the performances I'm dreaming of, year after year goes by without finding any collaborators. I might do more good by spending more time and effort working with other people on their performances.

Community building, and online activities, as performance

For my imaginary friends

To improve my understanding of RVCBard's posts, I've been trying to frame parts of what I'm doing as performance initiatives. One example is to think of the community building that the House of Justice is promoting as a continually evolving performance. Another is to think of what I've been trying to do in online communities as continually evolving performances. Thinking that way helps me make her issues my own.

Fellowship across ideological divides

For my imaginary friends again.

I'm thinking now about our efforts to practice and promote fellowship across religious and other ideological divides. A few months ago I spent a lot of time reading and posting in some atheist forums and blogs. There were some heated discussions going on about some issues that interest me passionately, including improving the community life for a wider diversity of people, and promoting better conduct on the Internet. I also read and posted in some Baha'i forums dominated by views and practices opposed to mine. Just now I was missing some of those discussions.

One of my goals in those discussions was to learn to never depreciate anyone, and to free myself from all ill will. One way I've found to do that is to explore and practice healthy ways of using anger.

I'm not sure if or when I'll go back to that. When I'm ready to spend more time on the Internet, I'd like to work on:
- learning what kinds of online interpersonal experiences help open people's hearts to God and attract them to His Kingdom.
- helping to develop online training for people who are learning to make better use of the Internet to help spread the knowledge and love of God.
- finding ways to project the framework for action into Internet neighborhoods.
- finding more people who want to be candles for God, or some equivalent of that in non-theistic language, and learn to encourage and support them, especially in spreading the knowledge and love of God, and in serving the best interests of their communities.

Growth cycles

This post is for some imaginary friends

I'm trying to practice three month growth cycles. This cycle I'm experimenting with an expansion phase of three weeks, with intensive efforts to expand my circle of friends, followed by ten weeks of consolidation. I do have a few new friends now, that I met during those three weeks.

Part of my consolidation efforts will be to work on helping to improve the quality of institute training. Another part, which overlaps with that, will be trying to learn to be a better friend to friends of mine who are learning to follow Baha'u'llah. Two of my friends and I have studied Ruhi Book 6 together, with me as the tutor, but sometimes we go for months without meeting. One of my goals is to practice and promote mentoring as a way of training, apart from study circles.

I've been reviewing Book 6, considering what it's designed to teach us to do. I'll study the book and practice, trying to learn to do those things, and invite my two friends to do the same, and to work with me in helping each other learn. The next step I have in mind is to start trying to learn to design and implement a personal teaching plan.

I've been reading about how some people here in China have been learning to follow Baha'u'llah. I want to study that some more, and practice doing what some Chinese people have been doing, as a way of learning to be a better friend to friends who are learning to follow Baha'u'llah. I want to ask one of my Book 6 study circle friends to help me with that by letting me talk to him sometimes about what I'm doing, and maybe helping me practice.

Some of the next things I'm dreaming of doing on the Internet are:
- Learning from stories about what kinds of online interpersonal experiences have helped open people's hearts to God, and attract them to His Kingdom.
- Finding ways to project the framework for action into Internet neighborhoods.
- Helping to develop online training for people who are learning to make better use of the Internet for God's purposes, starting with studying and practicing materials on the Web site of the Baha'i Internet Agency.

The widow, the fatherless, the stranger and the poor

7:10 And oppress not the widow, nor the fatherless, the stranger, nor the poor; and let none of you imagine evil against his brother in your heart.

(King James Bible, Zechariah)

Emily is Smiling is one of the blogs I found when I was searching on the Internet for people who want to be candles for God. This post is written for Emily, in response to her posts about her 7 experiment.

----

Beyond what you say, in the introduction on your blog, about your heart for orphans, I see orphans, and some of the world's most ravaged people, as all-pervading themes in the blog. In the posts about your 7 experiment I see some parallel themes, including the extravagance in our lives, yours and mine; and learning to free ourselves from slavery to our passions and possessions.

Your heart for orphans and for ravaged people brings to my mind one reason I've seen in the Bible for  God's recurring wrath against Israel: its mistreatment of the widow, the fatherless, the stranger and the poor. The theme of the extravagance in our lives brings to my mind some connections I see between that and the ravaging, which might possibly have been in your mind also. The theme of learning to free ourselves from slavery to our passions and possessions is the part which seems to me to correspond the best with my break from Internet discussions. The only way I've found in the past to manage my Internet addiction has been to abstain altogether for a few months at a time. This time I abstained for just three weeks, the first three weeks of a three-month cycle of personal growth that I'm experimenting with. I had some experiences during that time that might interest you (or not, I'm not sure), but before that I want to write about what we can do for the world's most ravaged people, near and far.

A new idea came to me, from a Bible passage I found when I was searching for passages about the widow, the fatherless, the stranger and the poor:

19:9 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not wholly reap the corners of thy field, neither shalt thou gather the gleanings of thy harvest.
19:10 And thou shalt not glean thy vineyard, neither shalt thou gather every grape of thy vineyard; thou shalt leave them for the poor and stranger: I am the LORD your God.

23:22 And when ye reap the harvest of your land, thou shalt not make clean riddance of the corners of thy field when thou reapest, neither shalt thou gather any gleaning of thy harvest: thou shalt leave them unto the poor, and to the stranger: I am the LORD your God.

(King James Bible, Leviticus)

I'll be pondering that, as part of my preparation for some following posts.

Climbing a Mountain

photo credit: Jim Habegger
via Blogger

I was pondering all the things I'm trying to do, that I'm hoping to do, and that I need to do, and feeling a little overwhelmed. Then I grouped them into these categories:

• Daily living.
• Working with Patty on her English teaching.
• Top priorities in learning to know and love God.
• Other.

I don't feel any pressing need for now to try to improve on the daily living, working with Patty, or my pursuit of the interests in the "Other" category. For the top priorities, I've decided to try giving myself one task to try to complete, each week.

Your Place or Mine?

photo credit: Jim Habegger
via Blogger

Thinking about the issues RVCBard raised in a post about diversity in theater, gave me some new ideas for my own initiatives.

The first thought that came to me was to turn the question around, from "What can I do to help increase the participation of Those People in what I'm doing?" to "How can I increase and improve my participation in what Those People are doing?" That would include, but not be limited to, whatever they might be doing that could serve the same purposes.

I've already put a lot of effort into learning to spend time in fellowship and collaboration with some of the people I've seen being stigmatized and marginalized the most, in their comfort zones, for other purposes. Now I'm considering it in the perspective of learning to collaborate on performance initiatives. The first thought that comes to me is to look for performance initiatives of theirs, and/or other initiatives that could possibly serve the same purposes, where they might be willing to include me. Immediately some wide open doors with welcome mats come to mind, that I've been scorning.

Update for some imaginary friends

Photo credit: Jim Habegger
via blogger.com

First I'll list and discuss some efforts and experiences as they come to mind. Then I'll search for some lists that I've made before, and write about those later. I might also write about some of my visions, goals, strategies, lines of action, and possible fruits and signs of progress.

* List of some recent and current efforts.
1. To learn to nurture the spirit of faith and the love of God, in myself and in others.
2. To practice and promote loving devotion to the interests of the Universal House of Justice.
3. Three weeks of intensive efforts to meet people and make new friends, with a break from Internet discussions.
4. To practice and promote richer and more personal communications when we're tempted to use impoverished substitutes in their place, like posting on Twitter and Facebook.
5. To learn to be a better person, a better friend and a better neighbor, especially to some of the people I see being stigmatized and marginalized the most.
6. To learn what to do on the Internet to help open people's hearts more to God, and attract them to His Kingdom.
7. To learn to project the kinds of personal and community development that the House of Justice is promoting, into Internet neighborhoods.
8. To practice and promote better conduct on the Internet.
9. To learn to never depreciate anyone, and to free myself from all ill will.
10. To practice and promote freedom from prejudice.
11. To practice and promote fellowship across religious and other ideological divides.
12. To learn, practice and promote what all of us can do for the most ravaged people all over the world.
13. To learn to encourage and support my friends, near and far, in the kinds of personal and community development that the House of Justice is promoting.
14. To help Patty with her English teaching.
15. To learn Chinese.
16. To use and  promote freely shareable and modifiable software and artistic creations.

* List of some recent experiences.
1. At the English corner.
2. At the Library.
3. In our neighborhood: basketball, diabolo, origami, tai chi, outing for retired people, water bucket, exploring, neighborhood center.
4. On the street with my map.
5. Memorizing scripture passages
6. Reading "Heroes of the Dawn."
7. Communing with nature.
8. Practicing healthy uses of anger.
9. Reading and posting in atheist forums and blogs.
10. Reading and posting in blogs of people who might want to be candles for God.
11. Reading and posting in some other blogs.
12. Practicing writing Chinese.
13. Taking photos for a blog series on the lions of Guilin.

Fasting from excess and the American Dream

photo credit: Jean Fortunet,
via Wikimedia Commons

In a blog post, 5 Books I'm Reading, Emily wrote:

My friend Sammy and I are going to have a Bible study this summer and challenge ourselves with a seven week fast.  Coming back from Kenya this summer opened my eyes to the ridiculous focus on materialism and excess.  I'm eager to remove my gaze from all worthless things.  I do not want any part of my life to become an idol over the Lord.

Do I believe it's a sin to use social media or own a closet of clothes or eat a bunch of good foods?  No.  But I want to stretch myself out of my comfort zone and keep the Lord's heart as my own.  Sometimes these material possessions can become necessities, and nothing but Christ should be a necessity in my life.

In a later post, Preparing for the 7 Experiment, she wrote:

7 features seven different fasts from excess and the American Dream, focusing on the topics of: clothes, spending, waste, food, possessions, media, and stress ... Jen Hatmaker expanded on six reasons that people fast in the Bible: mourning, inquiry, repentance, preparation, crisis, and worship.

I chose to focus on three over the next two months:

• Inquiry: Does God want me to "go" or "stay"?, as well as a few other questions I am asking the Lord during this time.
• Repentance: for my selfish heart and love of excess and focus on pleasing others above pleasing God.
• Worship: because the Lord is so worthy of my fasting with a sincere heart, out of my own motivation.

Emily's blog is one of the ones I found when I was looking for people who want to be candles for God, hoping to learn to encourage and support them. I've been following her blog and trying out some of her ideas. I'm not doing the 7 experiment, but I took a break from blogging and Internet discussions for 3 weeks while I was practicing a "meet people and make new friends" marathon off line, and I thought my experience with that might be relevant somehow.

I'm still pondering how my break from Internet discussions might have helped my progress, what it might have to do with Emily's experiment, and what to say about it. I might need a few days to review what Emily has written about her experiment, to get some ideas. I'll be out of town this weekend, and I have some other things to catch up on, before I spend more time on this. For now I'll just post some thoughts that were running through my mind one day at the beginning of my marathon.

• 3 month cycles of development
• starting this cycle with 3 weeks of intensive efforts to expand my circle of friends
• bringing myself to account each day
• bringing myself to account each time before posting, as a way of learning to manage my Internet addiction
• ideas I've tried for meeting people
• finding a friend I can talk to about my efforts and progress in learning to be a better friend and a better neighbor
• basketball, walking street, riverside, tai chi, origami, diabolo for meeting people
• English corner experiences
• neighborhood experiences, including invitations, water buckets and basketball
• experiences reading Emily's blog
• finding people to study and practice with, using wisdom from heaven
• hearing from two long-lost friends, and from high school friends, during this friendship circle expansion phase
• floating to the top of the world, watching people smiling, laughing and having fun on the walking street.
• flying high with Patty, at our lake, on our balcony, and elsewhere (bits and pieces blog)
• cooking, laundry, dishes, groceries
• examples of where some of my time goes: trying to get Skype to work, translating manuals and instructions
• memorizing a verse for my workshop with Patty, which turns out to be about being the best person I can be, and doing all the good I can do
• practicing my Chinese writing
• ideas for after the three weeks: slide shows about some stories of community building; helping to improve the quality of training and mentoring; learning to accompany people in their efforts to be better friends and better neighbors.
• opening my heart more to God
• Heroes of the Dawn
• temptations to post in my blog and other people's blogs and on facebook
• The Lions of Guilin
• camera problems
• some people I want to focus on in learning to be a better friend
• what to do for the most down-trodden people all over the world
• learning how to help open up people's hearts to God on the Internet
• projecting the framework for action onto the Internet
• free software and systems, public domain, commons

Licensing photos to be freely used by others

I'm looking for the best way for me to license photos for my purposes, to allow people to use them freely. Maybe I'll use CC0 for now, until I learn more about it.

Networking about service-learning initiatives

I've been wondering how to search for people of all faiths all over the world to correspond with, to share our ideas and experiences in learning to help improve the world. An idea just came to me to search on the Web for service-learning initiatives. With Baha'is that would include the framework for action that's being promoted by the House of Justice.

Fellowship across divides

Photo credit: Audrey Johnson via Stock.XCHNG

What do a smiling student "overwhelmed by the grace and love of my Savior, Jesus Christ," a "Catholic creature unlike any other," a Rabbi who is co-director of a youth fellowship, and an atheist dedicated to breaking free from irrational belief and opposing Christian extremism, have in common?

I'm having lots of fun, and learning a lot, reading their blogs!

I would need to be a much better story teller to even begin to share the fun I've been having, and what I've been learning. All I can do is offer a tiny glimpse:

Goals and deadlines

I've always seen a lot of value in having goals and deadlines, but I haven't had any for years. Emily sets monthly goals, and reports on them each month. After reading her last report, I decided to try re-learning to use goals and deadlines. I'm starting with some very easy goals each week, just to spend two hours doing one thing or another. After the first week, I found Rabbi Zion writing about timed benchmarks, for example reading one midrash a week or a new Jewish book each year, with some very helpful additional tips for what I'm trying to do.

Helping to promote social justice, around the world

Recently on my facebook timeline I was musing about what I can do to help reduce the ravaging and counteract its effects, not only in my geographical vicinity, but all around the world. Then I found Lucia discussing how to have a more loving economy, which is a central issue for me in practicing and promoting social justice, and I had some wonderful exchanges with her on that topic. After that, I saw Emily, and an atheist blogger, discussing some social justice issues close to my heart.

What I saw Lucia saying rejoiced me so much I laughed out loud! Again and again I've been cheered and refreshed, and moved to joyful tears and laughter, in reading those blogs, and interacting with their authors.

Status update on projects

Contents:

1. Practicing and promoting better conduct on the Internet.
2. Cheering and refreshing the down-cast.
3. Overcoming my own prejudices.
4. Cross-pollination across ideological boundaries.
5. Cross-pollination between professional scholars and other people.
6. Practicing and promoting blogging.
7. Helping people find and use resources.
8. Finding better ways to serve on the Internet.
9. Finding ways to project the framework for action into Internet neighborhoods.
10. Studying and practicing the ideas on the Baha'i Internet Agency Web site.
11. Learning to be a better friend.
12. Helping stigmatized people navigate through the cruelty.
13. Scrapbook of individual initiatives.

----

1. Practicing and promoting better conduct on the Internet.

I've made a list of ideas about what individuals might be able to do to help calm the tempest of Baha'is maligning each other across ideological divides. I want to practice each one myself for a while, before I try to find other people to work on it with me.

2. Cheering and refreshing the down-cast.

For now I'm just focusing on a few friends and people in my family, trying to learn to be a better friend. Practicing fellowship with stigmatized people will be part of the first project above.

3. Overcoming my own prejudices.

Still uncovering more, every time I get free of some.

4. Cross-pollination across ideological boundaries.

That will be part of the first project.

5. Cross-pollination between professional scholars and other people.

I've started studying some works of scholars, and I'm planning to discuss them with other people.

6. Practicing and promoting blogging.

Practicing, here. Reading some blogs, and linking to some from facebook.

7. Helping people find and use resources.

I've found someone I might be able to work with on that.

8. Finding better ways to serve on the Internet.

I might help with the Ruhi Resources Web site, and/or the Ruhi Institute Web site.

9. Finding ways to project the framework for action into Internet neighborhoods.

One of the ideas for the first project above involves some training on the Internet, that could become part of this project.

10. Studying and practicing the ideas on the Baha'i Internet Agency Web site.

Off and on, mostly off.

11. Learning to be a better friend.

I've thought of some ideas of things some of my friends and family members are doing, that I could try doing too, but I haven't actually started doing any of them.

12. Helping stigmatized people navigate through the cruelty.

Not currently walking with any stigmatized people. Trying to learn to be a better friend to some other people in my life. I'll be walking with stigmatized people again, when I go into some protest forums, as part of the first project above.


13. Scrapbook of individual initiatives.

I started working on the pages, and found a few examples, but right now it's on hold, while I work on the backbiting problem.

Ideas for promoting gay equality in the Baha'i Faith

1. Stop trying to prove there's nothing wrong with gays, or with what some of them might be doing. No one should have to prove there's nothing wrong with them, or what they do, to be treated kindly and fairly.

2. Don't strike back at the wall of quotes. Just ignore it as out of context, and irrelevant to whether gays should be treated kindly and fairly.

3. Stop arguing about gay marriage. Just do it.

4. If you want gay marriages to be registered as "Baha'i" marriages, then propose some ideas about how, precisely, *all* the marriage laws could be applied to two women or two men.

Thoughts of a lover of Baha'u'llah about some issues

I might put up some Web pages "Some thoughts of a lover of Baha'u'llah about some issues associated with campaigns against the House of Justice."

- Infallibility
- Authenticity, authority, role and functions of the House of Justice
- Women on the House of Justice
- Guardians after Shoghi Effendi
- Disenrollments
- Separation of church and state
- Censorship and repression
- Corruption of institutions
- The framework for action
- Baha'i theologians
- Gays and homosexuality
- Freedom of conscience
- Influence, reputation and future of the Baha'i Faith
- Modernity and post-modernity
- Fundamentalism
- Liberal Baha'is
- Shunning
- Takfir
- Academic study of the Baha'i Faith
- The Dawning Place

Vision, goals, strategies, lines of action

I really need to get off of here and back to my neglected responsibilities elsewhere, but it's so hard to give up pursuing these new ideas, and maybe leave them to wither away like so many others. I'll try to put some helpful clues here, in case I do come back.

Vision: Helping to release the potential in the diversity of Baha'is.

Some goals:
- People learning to love and trust Baha'u'llah more.
- People learning to better understand and wholeheartedly serve the interests of the House of Justice.
- More and better independent investigation.
- More and better individual initiative and responsibility.
- More open, frank and unfettered discussions among Baha'is, about whatever anyone wants to discuss.
- More and better cross-fertilization.

Strategies and lines of action:
- Previous posts, and notes, here and elsewhere, and further observation and reflection.
- Search for more potential collaborators.
- Learn to be a better friend.
- Learn to be a better friend.
- Learn to be a better friend.
- Practice what I'm trying to promote, in roleplay and preferably in real situations.

click, click, whirr, CLICK!
Training courses on the Internet for butterflies and helpmates. Yes.

Justice, and the fruits of diversity

Part of what I see needing to be done, to increase and improve the fruits of our diversity, requires people to go on gathering expeditions in extremely demoralizing environments, environments where they will be continually treated cruelly and/or be continually tormented by the injustices they see being done to others.

Those fruits will not do anyone any good without the love of God, but how do I know how much or little love of God there is in what anyone does? Let it suffice that there *might* be some.

It's very hard to go gathering fruits without rising up against the cruelty and injustice, but I imagine that's part of what needs to be done to put an end to them.

I need to find people who can understand the need, and who are willing to face the arrows.

Not a shortcut by any means. Just a way, maybe, to help accelerate the process a little bit.

Disabilities are gifts

There are movements among people with disabilities to reject labels like "disability" and "handicap." I think I understand that feeling, and I agree with it, except I don't agree with throwing out the word "disability" altogether. A person who can't see with her eyes or hear with her ears, does not have an ability that some other people have. One point I see is not to reduce a person to that label. Another is not to think of it as a defect, any more than being left-handed. I go beyond all that and view disabilities as gifts.

Today or yesterday, I became more aware of the lack of a living Guardian in the Baha'i Faith, as a disability. If it is, then it is also a gift, and that could be the explanation everyone is looking for, for why this happened.

Reviewing again what Shoghi Effendi said the Faith would be like without a Guardian, this time, for me, there was no escaping that what's been happening to the Faith is exactly what Shoghi Effendi said would happen without a Guardian. Yes, yes I'm familiar with the argument that he didn't mean it that way, but whether he meant it that way or not, it looks very much to me like it *is* that way.

At the same time, I can see the gift in it, which I don't see any need to discuss now, and besides I don't feel like discussing it.

No, I'm not promoting a Guardian after Shoghi Effendi, or even contemplating it. I have not seen enough fruits coming out of those trees to attract much of my attention. Just because the Faith looks disabled to me without a living Guardian, doesn't mean I'm ready to accept anything that moves, in the place of one.

How to unshackle liberators?

I've been pondering why I'm seeing so little action, as opposed to words, from stigmatized and marginalized Baha'is, to help free the spirit of the Faith from its shackles. Possible reasons:

1. Maybe there's more action than what I'm seeing, or hearing about.

2. Maybe they've been battered enough already?

3. Maybe because of the threats from Counselors and the House of Justice, and the disenrollments?

4. Maybe from seeing others beating their heads against the wall?

5. Maybe from not seeing enough potential in it, to make it worth facing the assault and battery?

Back to the same place again. Try to learn to be a better friend. I'm not coming up with any shortcuts yet. Patience, patience, perseverance ...

More action needed

I'd like to see more action from stigmatized and marginalized Baha'is, to address the problems. I have some ideas, and I'm trying to come up with more, but even if I do, who will listen? Maybe I need to try harder to find people who are doing something. Yes, yes, that's it.

Meanwhile, here are some half-baked ideas:

1. We need more non-members to participate in core activities.

2. We need more people with unpopular views to become tutors.

3. We need more people to pursue more individual initiatives of their own, outside of the bandwagons, and Baha'is on the bandwagons need to see them. Right now the only initiative I can remember hearing about has been something to do with the Dawning Place.

4. We need more each-one-teach one initiatives, to acclimate more Baha'is to unpopular views.

5. Baha'is are more friendly and open to people who have never been members, no matter how much they disagree with the House of Justice. We need to find ways to put that to good use. Ah, ah, no no! Honest ways!

6. Stigmatized and marginalized Baha'is need better moral support, and training, to find safe and healthy ways to pursuing their own initiatives outside of the bandwagons, and promote their ideas to Baha'is on the bandwagons.

Some wonderful potential

I see some wonderful potential in the diversity of Baha'is, to help improve many people's lives and to help improve the world, being restrained by popular forms of idolatry, religious and other prejudices, sectarian attitudes and practices, personality cults, celebrity worship, bandwagon oppression, self-repression, and other shackles.

I've been experimenting with various ways to help release that potential. I would like to exchange ideas and experiences with others who are working on that, but I haven't found any who want to discuss it with me. I'm tossing out this message in a bottle, hoping it will wash up some place where someone will find it who would like to have that discussion with me.

I'll describe three of my ideas, that might appeal to different audiences:

1. Practice and promote people learning to love and trust Baha'u'llah more, and learning to better understand and wholeheartedly serve the interests of the House of Justice. I've gathered some ideas about that from some of my friends, and made some progress in practicing them.

2. Practice and promote more open, frank and unfettered discussions among Baha'is everywhere, about whatever anyone wants to discuss, whether it conforms to the views of the House of Justice or not, without anyone's views or interests being stigmatized. Two ways I see for that to happen are for more non-members to participate in core activities, and for more people with unpopular views to be trained as tutors.

3. Practice and promote more and better independent investigation, and individual initiatives.