Comments on: growing up baha’i

By: Phil

Phil — Tue, 20 Jan 2009 12:48:48 +0000

Nice post, I like the way you’re writing.

By: big1

big1 — Sat, 20 Sep 2008 17:31:53 +0000

It’s correct!

By: manekineko

manekineko — Thu, 31 May 2007 02:35:58 +0000

What a great post, thank you. I am not Bahai myself, but my father is, and I can relate.

I ended up with many personal beliefs that are aligned with Bahai, but I gotta say sitting through meetings was pretty rough ;)

By: Portia

Portia — Fri, 20 Apr 2007 11:51:17 +0000

I’m sure I am much older than you, but your memories of “growing up Baha’i” echo my own! What a joy to read this post. I feel that my childhood was magical–I had such a safe haven being among the Friends and feeling so loved. I lost my way a bit as a young adult, but realized that I had such a foundation from which I could never truly turn away. Now, as I approach my 50’s, I understand even more what a treasured upbringing I had. Thanks so much for writing so beautifully!

By: dragfyre

dragfyre — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 19:49:33 +0000

Thanks for the comments everybody.
Sholeh – we were homefront pioneers as well; my earliest memories were from a tiny hamlet off Lake Huron with only a couple of Baha’is. When I was about six, we moved closer to the big city, and joined a bigger Baha’i community with a bigger Feast. And now that you mention it, I think learning to sit through the meetings does teach you things… while I was writing this post, I came across the following quotation from a letter written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to the Canadian National Spiritual Assembly in 1982:

…[C]hildren should be trained to understand the spiritual significance of the gatherings of the followers of the Blessed Beauty, and to appreciate the honour and bounty of being able to take part in them, whatever their outward form may be. It is realized that some Bahá’í observances are lengthy and it is difficult for very small children to remain quiet for so long. In such cases one or other of the parents may have to miss part of the meeting in order to care for the child. The Spiritual Assembly can also perhaps help the parents by providing for a children’s observance, suited to their capacities, in a separate room during part of the community’s observance. Attendance at the whole of the adult celebration thus becomes a sign of growing maturity and a distinction to be earned by good behaviour.

Sounds like your parents were clued into this—and kudos to them :)

By: Sholeh

Sholeh — Wed, 18 Apr 2007 08:31:12 +0000

aah so similar to my memories…although we were homefront pioneers in my early childhood, so Feast was often rather small. I am really glad that my parents encouraged me to sit through the Feast and not always run off to play (although sometimes I wanted to!). It taught me a lot about Baha’i Administration (and how to sit through meetings). :-)

By: george wesley

george wesley — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 18:53:01 +0000

Beautiful reflections.

By: Victor

Victor — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 17:07:51 +0000

Thank you for this!

By: Phillipe

Phillipe — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 09:08:59 +0000

Nice post. You were so fortunate to have been raised a Baha’i. I had to go and find it when I was 21 years old! I’m looking forward to (hopefully in the next year) becoming a Baha’i parent and sharing that adventure with my darling spouse who is a strong Baha’i woman raised in a Baha’i family. That inertia things is really something! It’s so easy to sleepwalk through being a Baha’i, going through the motions of this and that meeting and going blah, blah, blah about changing the world. Staying awake is the hard part.

You rock, man. You rock.