doberman pizza. a baha'i (bahai, bahá'í) blog.

All praise be unto God, Who hath revealed the law of obligatory prayer as a reminder to His servants, and enjoined on them the Fast that those possessed of means may become apprised of the woes and sufferings of the destitute. (Bahá’u'lláh)

Ayyam-i-Há is coming this weekend, and with it, a time of charity, generosity and giving, a time to think of others around us and share our wealth – and also a time for preparing ourselves spiritually for the Fast. Briefly, Bahá’ís from the ages of 15 to 70 years abstain from eating or drinking from sunrise ’til sunset during the nineteen days between March 2nd and March 20th, culminating in Naw-Ruz (the Bahá’í new year) on March 21st.

I’ve posted up sunrise/sunset times for this year’s Fast in Ottawa. Feel free to bookmark it (if, of course, you’ll be observing the Fast in Ottawa). You can also get sunrise/sunset times for your own city by visiting the Fast calculator at BCCA.

For those of you who missed last Sunday’s reflection meeting: Ottawa, our favourite “A-cluster”, has launched its first “intensive programme of growth”. What’s that? It’s a city-wide campaign to open up the Bahá’í community to the people around us through personal invitation to the core activities of the Faith – devotional meetings, children’s classes and study circles. It’s an inclusive, welcoming kind of contact which will hopefully bring each person one step closer to the healing, vivifying and transforming power of the Message of Bahá’u'lláh.

Every so often, you might hear Bahá’ís talking about “teaching the Bahá’í Faith”. Bahá’ís, far from being insular or cliqueish, must, as an integral part of their spiritual life, teach others about their Faith. Our own spiritual growth depends on it. We’re forbidden to coerce or otherwise proselytize – that means we can’t make a person become Bahá’í against that person’s better judgement, nor can we use any form of manipulation. We must present the Message of Bahá’u'lláh clearly, to the best of our ability, detached from the results; and the person who receives it is free to accept or reject it. If they accept it, that’s their choice. If they reject it, that’s their choice too. Each individual must investigate the truth for him or herself, Bahá’u'lláh says – it’s a sacred right and a responsibility, too.

So if you’re wondering what Bahá’ís mean when they talk about teaching, that’s it. Feel free to tease us about it. We love it.

On a side note: I hate fax machines. (I just had to say that.)

Friend, n. 1. One who entertains for another such sentiments of esteem, respect, and affection that he seeks his society and welfare; a wellwisher; an intimate associate; sometimes, an attendant. (Webster’s 1913 Dictionary)

One must see in every human being only that which is worthy of praise. When this is done, one can be a friend to the whole human race. If, however, we look at people from the standpoint of their faults, then being a friend to them is a formidable task. (Selections From the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá)

here’s a nice, obfuscated bit of business-speak that I came across today. It’s from a survey from CIO Magazine.

Given the statement, “IT should proactively envision business opportunities and apply technology to achieve them”, 69% of CIOs agree and 54% of CEOs agree…

…and 0.002% of them have a clue what that means.

Welcome to the -10 Celsius world of Ottawa, the capital of Canada. The sky is blue, the sun is shining, and Winterlude is wrapping up soon. Have you been out to see the festivities yet? There are ice and snow sculptures, skating on the Rideau Canal, street performers, and so on. Ottawa is buzzing, but it’ll be over on the 20th – so this is your last chance to see it before it closes!

A few dates to circle on your calendar:

• February 20th – Ottawa’s Cluster Reflection Meeting. This is gonna be a big one because the whole city is going to be embarking on a collective teaching campaign, focused around enlarging our community of interest. We especially need youth and junior youth to be involved with this project – because as we all know, youth are the ones who will change the world! We need you with us during this exciting time. By participating, you will be helping to drive the growth of the Bahá’í community and to transform the way we live. Make your mark!

• February 26th-March 1st – Ayyám-i-Há! Consult Martin’s, Vafa’s, and Arash’s website – not to mention the Ottawa Bahá’í website – for details on Ayyám-i-Há activities.
• March 2nd-March 20th – The Bahá’í Fast. A spiritual time full of blessings, confirmations, prayer and nearness to God. Coming soon: a blog post about the Fast, with sunrise and sunset times and related information.

Selfish, adj. 1. Caring supremely or unduly for one’s self; regarding one’s own comfort, advantage, etc., in disregard, or at the expense, of those of others.
Selfless, adj. 1. Having no regard to self; unselfish. (Webster’s 1913 Dictionary)

Today the nations of the world are self-engaged, occupied with mortal and transitory accomplishments, consumed by the fires of passion and self. Self is dominant; enmity and animosity prevail. Nations and peoples are thinking only of their worldly interests and outcomes. The clash of war and din of strife are heard among them. But the friends of the Blessed Perfection have no thoughts save the thoughts of heaven and the love of God. Therefore, you must without delay employ your powers in spreading the effulgent glow of the love of God and so order your lives that you may be known and seen as examples of its radiance. You must deal with all in loving-kindness in order that this precious seed entrusted to your planting may continue to grow and bring forth its perfect fruit. The love and mercy of God will accomplish this through you if you have love in your own heart. (’Abdu’l-Bahá, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 8)

Love, n. 1. A feeling of strong attachment induced by that which delights or commands admiration; pre-eminent kindness or devotion to another; affection; tenderness; as, the love of brothers and sisters. 4. Affection; kind feeling; friendship; strong liking or desire; fondness; good will; — opposed to hate; often with of and an object. (Webster’s 1913 Dictionary)

last week started out pretty rough, but it mellowed out at the end of the week, and finished up with quite a nice weekend. on Sunday we had our weekly prayer-capades skating devotional, and we went out onto Dow’s Lake to skate. It was fantastic — such a great day to go out skating. There was a university competition on the lake to see who could build the best wooden catapult. Several teams from different universities across Canada were tossing around big orange balls with arcane wooden devices. Some looked like crossbows, some like trebuchets, others like slingshots — one of the teams saw their entry snap in half while they were getting ready to take a shot. talk about your disappointment.

I installed a fish tank. It’s the photo of the week on my photoblog. go see.

Pictures may go up soon from a variety of events: an Assistants’ meeting that happened on Saturday afternoon; a Baha’i Youth Service Orientation Meeting that happened on the 5th (Bagha, you owe me pictures); Aram’s birthday party (actually, some of them are already up on my photoblog – check it out); not to mention various family get-togethers, as I’ve mentioned before. Anyway, keep your eyes open.

Overall? Life is changing, and in good ways. Sure, there have been some stressful moments recently — busy with work, striving to fit in service to the Baha’i community, visits with friends old and new, and enough rest to keep me healthy and sane — but I notice that I’ve been dealing with them with a little more ease than I used to. I guess I feel confirmed in my efforts.

Happy St. Valentine’s Day, y’all. Enjoy the love, and the chocolate. Give a nod to the Saint if you like. Don’t get too j though, someone might have to smack you.

When you love a member of your family or a compatriot, let it be with a ray of the Infinite Love! Let it be in God, and for God! Wherever you find the attributes of God love that person, whether he be of your family or of another. Shed the light of a boundless love on every human being whom you meet, whether of your country, your race, your political party, or of any other nation, colour or shade of political opinion. Heaven will support you while you work in this in-gathering of the scattered peoples of the world beneath the shadow of the almighty tent of unity.

good afternoon ladles and germs. speaking of ladles and germs, the soup at the conference board was pretty good today. some sort of okra and rice concoction. gumbo, I guess. anyway, it’s a grey day over here and I’m sort of dragging my way through the day. I’ve been more stressed out and tired than joyous and radiant lately. Maybe I’m sad, or maybe it’s SAD. I guess all I can do is plug along and take a hot bath at the end of the day.

there are a couple of things I wanted to post up: first of all, I added a nifty geo-locator to the bottom of my blog. so now, whenever someone visits my blog, it adds a little dot to tell where they come from. neat huh? I saw it on Marco Oliveira’s site, Povo de Bahá, and thought it looked like a cool gadget. So scroll down and take a look!

next, I’ve found a couple of Baha’i RSS feeds that might interest you: BahaIndex.com’s Newsfeed, and BahaiYouth.com’s Photo Gallery Feed. Remember BahaiYouth.com? Go check it out. What’s more, ask them about opening up more RSS feeds – i.e. news articles, stories, etc. They’ll add more if more people ask for them :)

And lastly… well… lunch break’s over… more later. I’ve got an awful lot of meetings this week so I may be taking the rest of my time to rest up and sleep. In fact, if you do see me somewhere this week and I’m not resting up and sleeping, kick my butt and tell me to get back home and get to sleep.

Seriously.

Hello all you dobermaniacs out there. I’ve been gathering these up for a while now, so it’s high time for another installment of “Interesting Search Terms”. Doberman Pizza is linked to a whole whack of search engines, and a lot of my hits come from them – people looking for dobermans, for pizza, and for other… interesting things. I’ve already posted up several examples in the past (1) (2) (3); now here’s a sampler of what people have been looking for over the past few months.

• I love arash hashemi (you’re on the wrong website then)

• el poulet fantastico
• show how to make pizza by steps and pictures (I should make a clickable)
• make in approaching the introduction of pizza (hi, my name is pizza. come a little closer, please)
• DOBERMAN A LA REUNION
• carstairs carruthers
• hot pictures of daniel jones (come on… all the pictures of me are hot… except this one)
• pizza religion (sounds like an appetizing religion)
• how to train a doberman with kids (…instead of dog biscuits? that’s just wrong)
• pizza roll pics
• ice car (the iceman cometh… in a ‘64 impala)
• hat rack (yay!)
• Drumondville magazine rack (freakin typo)
• WANT TO LEARN WAITERING (welcome to the doberman pizza school of waitering?!?)
• comme on fait pizza
• boy chases geese (…geese goose boy)
• year of service guyana baha’i
• tsunami memorial
• how well do I know myself? (good question)
• hog jowls
• pizza tsunami (…um)
• pics of food poisoning (eewwww!)
• mel gibson baha’i (more rumours)
• tock game
• tautou trust god (audrey tautou aka amélie poulain)
• saint ferdinand quebec
• doberman pics of teeth
• pioneering posts bahai

O people of Bahá! It is incumbent upon each one of you to engage in some occupation, such as a craft, a trade or the like. We have exalted your engagement in such work to the rank of worship of the one true God. Reflect, O people, on the grace and blessings of your Lord, and yield Him thanks at eventide and dawn. Waste not your hours in idleness and sloth, but occupy yourselves with what will profit you and others. Thus hath it been decreed in this Tablet from whose horizon hath shone the day-star of wisdom and utterance.

Bahá’u'lláh

After recently seeing several friends of mine proudly join the ranks of the working world — Vafa at Revenue Canada, and Sahba at CHEO; as well, Martin has been having lots of luck recently with his many website and business contracts — I thought it might be appropriate to blog something about work. For me, the transition from full-time school to full-time work initially came with a sense of disappointment, particularly because it meant that I had less free time to do things I liked (yes, including goofing off, but also including personal projects, service to the Faith, hanging out with friends, and so on). It felt like a sacrifice. In a way, I felt as if work was taking away from my ability to be a “good Bahá’í”, because after a long day of work, I had no energy left to give to visiting people to encourage them, hold or attend training sessions or study circles, support devotional meetings, etc.

It took some deepening on the subject to begin resolving the issue. The above quote, from the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, was a starting point. We have to work – we can’t just sit around doing nothing. We have to do some good on this Earth. Moreover, when we do work (“…especially when performed in the spirit of service” – Shoghi Effendi), our engagement in our work has the same rank as worship. So, working full-time to support yourself and your family has the same worth in God’s eyes as worshipping God all day. Does that mean that I shouldn’t still serve in other ways? I don’t think so. “Arise ye, under all conditions, to render service to the Cause,” Bahá’u'lláh exhorts us in the Most Holy Book. Perhaps, as with all things, the key is to find a balance.

I’ve been working at the Conference Board of Canada since October. It can be a hectic, high-pressure environment sometimes, but I seem to work well under pressure. As well, the people I work with are very supportive and willing to share their knowledge and experience with me. They’re also fun to be around. In a way, I got lucky. This job is perfectly aligned with the skills I’ve developed through my previous job experience, and I’m learning so many new things every day. I feel blessed and confirmed to be working here. I appreciate the structure that I get in my day thanks to work. I always have a variety of things to work on – which I really need in order not to get bored. I appreciate being able to put my skills to use in making people’s lives easier.

Now that I’m working regularly, I feel like I have a firm foothold to be able to move on with my life, to progress, to better my situation, to serve humanity better. I like that.