Back to Baha'i

Today I was back at the Baha'i Meeting House! There were like 25 people there this time and quite a few people there for the first time wanting to learn! Everyone sat down and we read about the Baha'i beliefs on world peace. It was awesome because the information that we went around and read was from Buddhist, Hindu, Zoroastrian, Christian, and Baha'i writings.

The focus is hugely on unity, love, equality, and realizing that we are ALL loved by God. 

I was also able to look at more of the building and got to check out the information center! Sorry the pictures are poor quality and blurry... I have an iPhone 4...

For the music that day there was a Baha'i member who was just passing through Colorado who has worked a lot in Native American populations and brought her hand drum! She sang some beautiful Baha'i songs that had been composed by Native American members! 

Mindy was leading the lesson and she was so accommodating and kind! She showed me around the book store and information center and explained Baha'i beliefs beautifully.

It was another great and uplifting experience! After the meeting I ran over to my church and felt so spiritually prepared to enjoy my Sunday!   

Forgiveness cont.

As I've been implementing what I learned from Erica's presentation I've learned a lot more about forgiveness!

I've noticed that we have a lot more to forgive in our lives than we may realize: the bus being late, not having time to train for my marathon, people not being able to read my mind, etc. These seem pretty petty but they tend to fill up your day! Things never seem to go according to plan. I can't even explain how applicable the idea of forgiveness is in these situations.

As I said in my previous post, I chose a person and an organization that it is my goal to forgive. It is kind of shocking how similar the feeling of forgiveness is for a person or a bus!

Every time the person or organization came to my mind I would think "instantly forgive" and as I wrote about in my last post, it allowed me to clear my mind and decide that I wanted to focus on other things like how to bring joy to the world. It was obviously very helpful! In fact, I kept trying to forgive the individual but it wasnt working! Finally, I realized that I'm not actually angry with her, I'm angry with the people that can't see through her insincereity. Once i forgived that I could really feel the difference! Sometime we don't even know what e're mad at!!!

So, then I started to apply this when I was waiting for the bus, really needed to get to class, and the bus doesn't come... I don't have control over the person/organization and I don't have control over the bus. So, when the bus is late I think "instantly forgive" and focus on how my life will go on even if I'm late. I did my part to have a good outcome. Me being angry will not make the person/organization change and it did not make the bus come faster. 

This has brought me a lot of peace, allowed me to remember that it's ok for things to go wrong and has allowed me to invite a lot of peace into my very chaotic life. 

It has also been interesting with my marathon training. There is not enough time in the day for me to train! I could wake up earlier, not do homework, not spend time with Jeff, but I know that I get sick when I don't get enough sleep, my education will suffer if I don't do my homework, and I will be an unhappy camper if I spend less time with my husband. 

So, while initially I was really stressed about this, I have done everything I can and have made my decision to let running be what suffers. I may pay the price on marathon day but that is the price that I chose to pay over other ways I could pay. So basically, I've had to forgive the other things in my life and forgive  myself for not being capable of more. Because it's OK. When I start to think I should be able to do more I remember that I've done everything I can and me being anxious isn't going to change it. 

I'm SO GRATEFUL that I've been able to apply this! 

Baha'i Application- Forgiveness

Forgiveness

I listened to a Baha'i podcast about forgiveness and thought I'd write a post about it because it's reeallt beautiful and I want to apply it to my life!

I'm a little funny with forgiveness. I can actually forgive pretty quickly unless the offense was long lasting then the anger starts to build and before I even know it... I'm bitter. And then it's really hard to shake the bitterness!

But here is what Abdul Baha taught:

"If some one commits an error and wrong toward you, you must instantly forgive him. Do not complain of others. Refrain from reprimanding them, and if you wish to give admonition or advice, let it be offered in such a way that it will not burden the bearer. Turn all your thoughts toward bringing joy to hearts."

In the talk I was listening to by Erica Toussaint, she talks about the concept of instant forgiveness. She defines forgiveness as "to cease to feel resentment," which is the 4th definition in the dictionary but it could be the most important part of the forgiveness process. The first three definitions are "to grant  pardon for an offense", "to give up claim on", and "to grant pardon to a person". I feel like I'm ok at doing those things. I can be civil toward people that have offended me, even positively contribute, but I still feel that resentment. I'm doing the whole "If you don't forgive it's like drinking poison and expecting the offender to die" thing but it's really hard to stop! No one ever explains how to actually let it go! And maybe that's because it's too hard to articulate!

Anyway, Erica talks about a time when a Baha'i woman who was part of the local authority offended her because she called Erica into the office over a small matter and berated her in front of the other local authorities and her friends. It sounds like it was really crazy. Erica talks about how she's never been spoken to like that before. And this was from a church authority and in a church setting! Understandably, this left Erica pretty upset. But she decided to pray to Baha'u'llah to help her instantly forgive, as he teaches. 

She humorously explains that after 6 weeks she instantly forgave! The next time the woman asked Erica to do something for the Baha'i community Erica describes that she was past what happened. Erica has a tendency to ask a lot of questions to make sure that she does a good job. When she began asking questions about the assignment the woman became cold and defensive. Erica immediately sensed this and calmly said "What just happened? I feel like something changed when I asked about my assignment. I just want to make sure I'm doing a good job." The woman immediately said "Ohhhhh, I am so sorry. I thought that when you asked questions you were questioning the authority of the local assembly." 

So in the end it got worked out and they are good friends now but the interesting part of the story is BEFORE they came to an understanding. While it took time, Erica was able to completely forgive and be sincerely open to interacting with this woman, a woman who had authority over a very important aspect of Erica's life but who had treated her so poorly.

So I decided to instantly forgive. I have one person and one organization in my life that first came to mind that I have had bad experiences with and need to instantly forgive! Without going into too much detail- the person has a tendency to use people and has hurt some people very important to me, but because of her bubbly personality people tend to let her walk all over them. The forgiveness of the person is a pretty petty one but the organization played a big role in my life growing up, caused me a lot of pain, and has continued to cause a lot of pain. What the organization is founded on is something I love and appreciate but the people in it have caused me a great deal of pain. 

The way I have decided to forgive is to basically get in the habit of "instantly" forgiving. As Erica showed... it's impossible sometimes to just let it go. She instantly forgave after six weeks! But she suggested focusing on forgiveness, praying for it, the moment the person enters your mind. Abdul Baha taught us to train our mind to focus on how to bring joy to hearts! Since I've been trying this I've found that it keeps the bitterness at bay, turns my mind toward God, and gives me the power to think about what to do with a clear mind. Instantly forgiving doesn't mean instantly letting someone walk all over you, it allows you to instantly clear your mind and decide what to do. Sometimes that still means not participating in a friendship or organization but you are making the decision from a very peaceful place instead of out of anger. 

I'm loving the amount of peace the Baha'i faith has introduced me to :) 

A Baha'i Sunday!

I went to a Baha'i meeting! And I am kicking myself for not taking pictures but I was just enjoying the experience so much that I didn't think about it! I met some really nice people and they were so open to answering my questions, it was fantastic. They were so welcoming and loved talking about God and His love.

So here's how it went down:

I walked into the room where there were some chairs circled up. The person I had been corresponding with over email (Ken) came in and had and introduced himself. We started talking about the faith, why I was there, and he introduced me to everyone. We had Ken, Nicole, her husband (I can't seem to remember his name), her three children, as well as Marsha, Anya, Stella and Me! There weren't many of us there because the Sunday meeting is not the pinnacle of their worship. They have study groups throughout the week, firesides, group events, and all of these are designed to be a form of worship. I got the impression they they were equal in quality and importance to the Sunday worship so you could go to any and be uplifted.

We got started with a song played on a stereo. This was funny because the song was in Spanish and no one knew Spanish but it was more to listen to than to sing along with. I thought that was just a one time thing but the next time they put on a song it was in Arabic (The Baha'i have their roots in Pakistan) but they had the translation for it and they let me read it as the song was playing. Then the kids went to a children's class.

Then they said that the topic that day was Racism but wanted to do a little introduction to the faith since there was a visitor (me!). Marsha, who was leading the meeting, handed out something she had printed from the website and we each took a turn reading. They were totally prepared for me and there was a lot of discussion that led to a lot of the information I'll share below about the Bha'i beliefs:

God: God is unknowable. We will never see the face of God. But we can grow closer to Him by learning from His Manifestations (prophets). We can also come closer to Him by taking part in service and making sure that our motives are selfless.

Purpose of Life: To progress here and for eternity. Life is like a baby's time spent in the womb. We are growing and developing and the more that we are able to grow in this life the further along we'll be in the next life.

Focus: Unity. People around the world are meant to be unified and work together.

Organization: There are no clergy. There are nine local leaders, who are elected, and representatives are chosen to elect nine national leaders. The highest authority (The Universal House of Justice) are nine people who are elected to represent the members throughout the world. They are not elected based on race, gender, ethnicity, finances, or prestige. They are elected based on their character alone and are expected to represent every member and their race, gender, ethnicity, etc. When the Universal House of Justice meets, their decision is considered to be the Word of God. This is not true for the local and national authorities.

Prophets: There are greater and lesser prophets. The greater prophets are called Manifestations of God (ex. Krishna, Jesus, Muhammad, Buddha, Zorastra). They usher in a new method of serving God. They represent humanity progressing to the point where they are ready to receive more from God. Lesser prophets are those who assisted the greater prophets (ex given from the bible: Daniel, John the baptist, Isaiah). There has only been one time where there have been two manifestations at the same time. That is the Bab and Baha'u'llah who ushered in the most recent progression. This is not the last nor the most important time. There will be another Manifestation of God and the world will progress further.

Pre and After Life: There was no existence before this life. As was said in "The Purpose of Life" we use this time to first start developing. After this life we continue to progress. The after life is not clearly understood but we know that we will continue to progress and we will know and be with our loved ones. There is no physical hell. It is more a state of mind or taking bad things (anger, bitterness, grudges) with you into the next life or putting a barrier between you and God.

Satan: Not a physical being. Satan is a representation of the animal nature of man. Evil does not really exist it is just an absence of good. When goodness is invited back in it eliminates the evil like light entering a dark room.

Prayers: Suggested everyday, morning and night. There is a prayer book but you can also use your own words. Most expressed that they liked using the prayer book because there are different prayers for different situations and they have A LOT of wisdom in them. So the prayer helps you to look at your situation through a different perspective.

Fasting: The Baha'i calendar is made up of 19 months, 19 days each. The new year begins with a 19 day fast. You fast from sun up to sun down and focus on service, bringing peace, dispelling anger, and focusing on unity.

Health Code: There is no specific health code but they do not take things into their bodies that impair the mind like "recreaional drugs, alcohol, etc". You won't be dismissed from the religion if you do these things but they believe in honoring the body.

Disciplinary Action: It is possible to "lose your administrative rights," but this does not happen often. What you do in your own personal life is not monitored or regulated by the religion but if you are doing something to damage the community you may be asked to leave. The example given was bringing alcohol to a Baha'i meeting. You would be asked not to do that anymore but if you were persistent then you would be asked to not participate but are always welcome back if this can be corrected. There are no clergy and you are forbidden from confessing sins to each other. The local authorities are always open to helping direct you to the resources you need but you do not give your sins to anyone but God.

Scripture: There is no one book that the Baha'i focus on. There are many books that they gain knowledge from.

Joining the Religion: When you decide to join you fill out a card and register as a Baha'i. This is called "declaring". There are no requirements other than a desire to join.

The Bahai meeting is usually from 10:00 AM to 11:30 AM but they let me stay and chat with all of them until 1:00PM! I had a great time and I'll be writing about some more personal insights from them in later posts!

September = Baha'i!

I've been studying the Baha'i faith for about a week now and I have to say, within two days I could feel this being a stress relieving exercise for me.

I'm not positive how i want to structure the blog around this endeavor but I think I'll start by outlining some of the basics that I've gathered about the Baha'i faith.

The first sign of this religion coming to life was in the early to mid 1800s when a merchant in Iran announced that he had a message that would change humanity. He had a 6 year ministry that revolved around preparing the world for a "Promised One".

This messenger gave himself the name "Bab" which mean "The Gate" in Arabic. He preached about caring for the poor, the inequality of the class system, and even about improving the treatment of women.

The Bab

The man of whom the Bab foretold was Baha'u'llah. In the mid 1800s God called Baha'u'llah to be the newest mouthpiece or "Manifestation of God".

Baha'u'llah

The Baha'i get a lot of crap for "believing everything," but it's really beautiful what they believe and practice. They believe that God periodically sends "Manifestations of God". This seems to be the equivalent of a prophet. The Baha'i believe that Buddha, Christ, Krishna, Muhammad, and other famous religious figures were "Manifestations of God" come to teach His people.

I've found that, where the different beliefs that lie in religions tend to separate people, the Baha'i use those differing beliefs to form bridges. If you believe in Jesus Christ then they will respect your worship of Him because they appreciate and study Him also. And the same can be said for the other figures. They find wisdom in each of the Manifestations of God.

Baha'u'llah spent the last 40 years of his life writing about the possibility of a unified world. I'll be spending this next month reading and learning about it! I'll let you know how it sounds!

To learn more about the Baha'i go to their awesome website: bahai.org

Methods to Wisdom

In my classes we've been talking about how to prevent burn out. You really have to learn to take care of yourself in order to be a resource to others!

As an assignment, we had to make a plan for what we were going to do prevent burn out and to relieve the pressure in our lives as grad school is a bit intense. I looked at running but realized that it's not stress relieving for me, just something I'm trying to do to take care of myself. I looked at reading, while I love it I tend to get so involved in what I'm reading that I take it with me and sometimes I get a little lost in it (and don't get other things done). I looked at yoga, meditation, taking a nap, getting a pet (just kidding they're not allowed at our place :/ ), but none of them really satisfied what I was hoping to feel when looking for a stress reliever.

And then I really had to be honest with myself and think about what makes me feel uplifted. I am really inspired by people, I love watching them, and let's be honest, studying them. I love watching people prove that they are good even when the news would have us believe the world has an ovverwhelming number of bad people in it.

I also love God. I believe that He's really made Himself an unstoppable force in my life, filled it with love, people/things to admire, and healing during heart ache.

So I thought, "I can study people to relieve stress"... but as a social worker that's what I am doing all day at school, work, and with my internship... the things are are currently creating the stress. So I thought about a Confucius quote about how to gain wisdom.

To apply that I decided to take what I love and to focus it in a way that I knew would add value to my life. I decided to study people and how they express their respect for God! I'm going to take one religion a month and study it, attend meetings, get to know people of that faith, and take the goodness I find to apply it to my own life.

September = Baha'i 

October = Buddhism  

Novemeber = Confucianism

December = Hinduism 

January = Islam

February = Jainism

March = Judaism 

April = Shinto 

May = Sikhism 

June = Taoism

July = Zoroastrianism

August = Atheism

You may notice that Christianity isn't in there. I thought I'd save it for next year and do a different form of Christianity every month! For now the focus is the Baha'i faith! We'll see what happens!