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

hey hey hey hey have some photos! I’ve posted the photos from the ottawa Baha’i community’s recent reflection meeting. In response to comments, I tried to take a lot more face shots this time instead of back-of-head shots and crowd shots. hopefully this helps convey the active, participatory nature of reflection meetings. this weekend’s meeting wrapped up an exciting cycle (in which twenty people declared their faith in Bahá’u'lláh in only a few weeks—something Ottawa hasn’t seen in a very long time), and set a great foundation for the next cycle. keep your eyes on this blog for more news as Ottawa’s intensive program of growth chugs along.

the Baha’i month of fasting began on Sunday; from March 2nd to March 20th inclusive, Baha’is refrain from eating or drinking from sunup to sundown. This physical Fast is symbolic of a spiritual Fast—just as fasting helps cleanse our bodies from physical impurities, the Baha’i Fast is a time to cleanse the spirit of selfishness, earthly desires and vain imaginations. I’ll give an example of what I’ve been doing—maybe not the perfect schedule; I’m open to suggestions! I’ve set my alarm for 5:00 AM to give me enough time to wake up and prepare myself for sunrise, which is happening at around 6:30 AM right now (you can follow the 2008 sunrise times in the calendar on the upper right hand corner of this blog’s home page). I’ll plod downstairs somewhat groggily and get some food into me: usually a combination of granola or oatmeal with soy milk, fruits and fruit juice, vitamins, and some form of protein such as eggs or a breakfast burrito. Oh, and lots of water - usually the equivalent of 4 to 6 cups of it before sunrise. The remaining time before sunrise is dedicated to reading from the Sacred Writings of the Baha’i Faith, particularly those of the Báb and Bahá’u'lláh. I’ve also been reading from the book The Path Toward Spirituality: Sacred Duties and Practices of the Bahá’í Life, published by Palabra Publications (publishers of the Ruhi Institute course materials). It’s a simple, straightforward book that offers a clear outline of all the facets of Bahá’í life; its contents roughly mirror the requisites to spiritual growth outlined by the Universal House of Justice.

I have to confess something (ok, well not really “confess”—just mentioning it for the sake of context): I tend to get distracted easily. Big time. In my everyday tasks, at work, during prayer, while reading, while writing, while enjoying myself—all the time. So, as long-time readers of this blog will attest to, consistency in my own daily spiritual practice is often a challenge for me. When I blogged about my Baha’i pilgrimage to Haifa and ‘Akká, I drew a lot of inspiration from the long obligatory prayer—partly because of the impact of visiting the qiblih, but also as a way of reminding myself of how vital, how refreshing and how fundamentally life-giving the long obligatory prayer is. The truth is, I struggle with the obligatory prayers sometimes, and with all the basic building blocks of spirituality, like daily readings and study, meditation, teaching the Cause, service to humanity, and so on. I think the root of the struggle, for me at least, is attachment to material comfort. Sometimes I feel it’s just easier, or more comfortable, for me to give in to the distraction and go to bed without thinking of anything—turn off my brain, as it were—instead of taking the time every evening to remember God and bring myself into a peaceful, centered state, renewing my connection with a Power greater than myself. Of course, without hitting that “centered” state, I just start the next day feeling unbalanced, off base. And so it continues until I finally snap out of it and say to myself, “Enough is enough, I’m going to say the long obligatory prayer even if it keeps me up past midnight!”

Instead of making the generalization “I’m not following Bahá’í teachings, I must be a bad Bahá’í”, and becoming discouraged or (God forbid!) estranged from the Bahá’í community, we can remember that we are commanded to strive to observe Bahá’í teachings. We’re always striving—that is, until we give up. Apart from ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, who was known as the Perfect Exemplar of Bahá’u'lláh’s teachings, and who reminded us to take our struggles “kam kam, ruz bih ruz” (little by little, day by day), nobody can claim to be perfect. As long as we keep trying day by day to bring our behaviour more in accordance with the teachings of Bahá’u'lláh—whether it means writing a note for ourselves so that we don’t forget that day’s obligatory prayer, or leaving a book of daily readings on our pillow so we’ll remember to read them before going to bed—we are not “bad Bahá’ís”, just normal human beings trying to transform ourselves from beings of earth and water into beings of spirit and light.

Today is Martin Luther King Day, an American national holiday that celebrates the birthday—and the life and times—of Martin Luther King Jr., a Christian minister who championed the Civil Rights movement in America in the 1960s.

I remember blogging way back about this neat initiative spearheaded by a couple of Baha’is from New York City called the Children’s Theatre Company (CTC). It’s a theatre company that goes far beyond your average elementary school plays and instead promotes theatre as an active way of learning and building character qualities.

Ottawa now has a chapter of the CTC, which just ended its first run of Yertle the Turtle, a story about a turtle king whose greed and lust for power get the better of him—to the great detriment of his subjects. One of the children from our children’s class played Yertle, which made us all feel quite proud of her. All the actors were eight- to ten-year-old children from the area; for some, English was only a second (or third) language. All the same, the production was impressive, well presented and funny, and the children seemed to have gained insight into the themes explored in the play, and how said themes apply to their own lives.

I was lucky enough to be able to be present during a few of the company’s rehearsals, since they rehearsed at the Bahá’í Centre right after our children’s class finished. Each week, they would learn their lines and then alternate between games one week and character education the next. Apparently the character education part—during which Bahá’í teacher (and excellent storyteller) John Rager would join the kids for a session of discussing moral and character qualities and how they apply in our day-to-day lives and in the world of humanity—was the children’s favourite part.

The company presented several times at local elementary schools, and once at the Bahá’í Centre to conclude their well-received run. Children and parents alike eagerly await a new season—which, although there isn’t yet a firm starting date, will hopefully be soon!

Photo © Louis Brunet, elbi.smugmug.com.

Happy celebration of the Birth of Bahá’u'lláh! Right on time, the Baha’i International Community has launched a new website that serves as a pictorial history of the life of Bahá’u'lláh. you should see it, especially if you’re planning to go on pilgrimage soon.

it’s been just about a year since my family returned from our pilgrimage to the Baha’i World Centre in Haifa, Israel—in the midst of my now-busy life, looking back on the traces of that sacred journey brings back a lot of memories and a lot of longing.

On October 24th, 1945, the Charter of the United Nations entered into effect after being signed in San Francisco during the summer of 1945, creating the international organization we know today. The Baha’i International Community has been accredited as an international nongovernmental organization at the UN since 1948, and was granted special consultative status with the UN Economic and Social Council in 1970. Even now, in this time of reform within the UN, the BIC continues to make positive contributions—perhaps most notable of late was its statement, The Search for Values in an Age of Transition (PDF), on the occasion of the 60th anniversary of the United Nations in 2005.

Ottawa’s Baha’i community opened up the 10th cycle of its intensive program of growth on Friday night with loud whoops and hollers, African drums, singing, laughing and dancing. In fact, the assembled crowd seemed so joyous that they even interrupted the MC’s opening jokes with outbursts of applause. So, as a word to the wise: if you had the impression that reflection meetings were supposed to be sober occasions full of number-crunching and wringing guilty commitments out of people, then you desperately need to think again.

There were two shining stars of the evening: first, those brave souls who were able to gain experience with “Anna’s presentation“, using it as a general yet complete overview to introduce seekers to the Baha’i Faith; second, those equally brave souls who participated in the first wave of the Fire and Snow initiative in Toronto and were able to report on their experience in glowing and inspiring terms. In both cases, the sharing was uplifting, exciting and inspirational—being evidence, as Regional Council member Todd Smith stated, of a “true change in culture” within the Baha’i community.

Those people who attended Fire and Snow, they announced, will now be leading outreach groups in which all four core activities will be offered to the general public, similar to their recent experience in Toronto. Moreover, they’re inviting everyone (meaning everyone) who wants to learn about outreach to join them during the upcoming intensive phase (Aug. 4-19) in one of three outreach groups: one in Blackburn, one in Beacon Hill and one in South Keys. If you’d like to join up, you can either contact me and I’ll put you in touch, or contact someone like Marty or Sahba and they should be able to hook you up directly.

All in all, it’s been exciting to see how reflection meetings have progressed in the last few years. When we first started holding them, they seemed like just another meeting—just another burden (an annoying one, to some) on our already-busy work week. They truly seemed to have changed into what seems like an indispensable feature of a joyous and uplifting culture of learning, encouragement, and growth. They’ve become something genuinely fun, full of celebration and inspiration, balanced with frank consultation and a serious sense of purpose. Personally, I take it as another confirmation of the infallibility of the Universal House of Justice—and that if we stick to the Plan and are wholly united in our efforts to carry it out, the promised benefits will be ours, without a doubt.

OK so one more thing: I’ve added photos from this reflection meeting to a new photoset on flickr called baha’i reflection meetings, along with a bunch of other photos from previous reflection meetings. Check ‘em out!

The Cyprus Baha’i Arts Festival was held in the city of Limassol from June 23th-29th. You can read up a little more about it on the Baha’i World News Service. Fortunately for those of us who couldn’t manage a plane ticket to Cyprus, highlight videos such as the one below are sprouting up, chronicling the event. You can also do a search on YouTube to find videos of individual performances.

Happy Canada Day! Way back on this day in 1867—140 years ago, and a mere four years after Bahá’u'lláh’s historic Declaration of His mission in the garden of Ridván—the nation of Canada was brought into being. To celebrate, here’s a little flashback for you all.

Where was I on Canada Day…

• 2006? hanging out in downtown Ottawa with friends from Sherbrooke.
• 2005? again, hanging out in Ottawa and getting nice and stuck in the crowds on Parliament Hill.
• 2004? moving back to Ottawa from Quebec and experiencing some severe culture shock.
• 2003? delivering pizza in Drummondville.
• 2002? watching the fireworks at the Vieux-Port of Montreal, after a week in New York City that culminated in me performing at Carnegie Hall with Voices of Bahá.

On a related note, I saw the renowned Abha Voices perform on Friday, and they put on quite the show, performing several numbers from their repertoire, all based on the Baha’i Writings. It was incongruous—yet immensely refreshing!—to hear the following words sung on this otherwise nationalistic occasion: “Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind.”

Update (2007-07-02): the photos from canada day 2007 are gradually going up on flickr; check ‘em out and keep your eyes open for more. more photos are available on Facebook, including chronicles of the visit of a group of Baha’i Youth from Montreal’s West Island!

Howdy. I’m currently reporting from the Cultivating the Roots conference at Bosch Baha’i School in Santa Cruz, California. So far, the sharing has been awesome. Everyone has has amazing insights and ideas for different types of projects and collaboration tools—all to help Baha’is develop better ways of interacting, collaborating, and channeling their energy into systematic action. I’m currently posting up a bunch of photos from the conference; check them out on flickr. Big ups to prema for letting me use her laptop.

It’s fascinating to ponder the holes out there in the Baha’i community that could be filled by judiciously chosen and developed IT initiatives. Throughout the day today, we’ve been talking about the needs out there—from tools to benefit Baha’i Institutions (for example, accounting software that operates according to the 19-month Baha’i calendar, or geomatics software to aid in planning various types of community campaigns) to software to sift through the Sacred Writings of the Baha’i Faith, to collaboration software to help Baha’i institutions, communities, and individuals to work together more effectively… there are so many ways that computers and the Internet can help us do our work better, yet there’s so little time to accomplish them all. A few projects that were put forth in one of the last workshops this afternoon: a functional Baha’i events database (similar to bahailocations.com) that can be used by Baha’i communities throughout the world to track their core activities, holy days, and various gatherings; an online presentation platform (similar to webconferencing) for holding formal or informal talks and “fireside chats”; and a process for providing technical and material support for Baha’i communities throughout the world who wish to develop their first websites.

So yeah, some really intense consultation here. The workshops have been the best—that’s why I really came to this conference. This morning, I attended a workshop on blogging by the authors of bahainine.com, the growing online portal to Baha’i blogs everywhere. That was awesome, just to be there and to be able to talk shop with them about blogging software, search engine optimization, content management systems, and miscellaneous Web 2.0 hobbledyhoy. The whole project is really interesting—creating an online portal to basically aggregate all the Baha’i-related content on the Internet, giving the “Baha’i blogosphere” a friendly face. The current site just contains a map and a searchable index of Baha’i blogs, but there’s a lot more in the works—photos, videos, full tagging capability, and so on. Speaking with the team that’s working on this mammoth task is immensely uplifting and exciting, and the possibilities are endless. I’ll be sure to post more later; remember to check back—apart from photos, there’ll also be videos (and/or mashups) for your enjoyment and upliftment.

uh oh. it’s time for the annual Naw-rúz blowout! professional marketing executive and fellow webmaster Martin reports that on Tuesday evening, March 20th, from 7:00 to 8:00 pm, Boofs (at 730 Industrial Ave.) is the place to be. there will be many, many, many of us (”us” hopefully meaning “your good friends and kindred”) there, enjoying a sumptuous Persian kebab buffet to break the Fast together after 19 long days of daylight fasting. consider coming out to enjoy the evening with us before continuing on to the Baha’i community’s Naw-rúz celebration at the St. Elias Centre (750 Ridgewood Ave.). Busing it to the celebration? Don’t forget, the St. Elias Centre is just across from Mooney’s Bay, and the 87 goes all the way there from downtown. So (to risk sounding like some sort of event promoter) dress to impress, and bring a friend! And as Martin so categorically states (in all caps, at that): this will be huge.

On Facebook? Join up with the official Baha’i Naw-rúz group!

Joyeuse journée internationale de la femme! / Happy International Women’s Day! This day, marked on March 8th each year, commemorates the social, economic and political achievements and contributions of women the world over. The theme of this year’s commemoration, as adopted by the UN, is “ending impunity for violence against women and girls“.

Baha’is believe in the equality of women and men, as a matter of principle, and see it as an expression of justice—since we are all members of one human race and are each accountable to one and the same God, it is only just that we manifest a spirit of solidarity and unity in all our dealings with one another, men and women alike. The achievement of equality between the sexes is seen not only as the cornerstone of a society free from domestic violence, but also as a pivotal step in achieving international world peace.

Exalted, immensely exalted is He Who hath removed differences and established harmony. Glorified, infinitely glorified is He Who hath caused discord to cease, and decreed solidarity and unity. Praised be God, the Pen of the Most High hath lifted distinctions from between His servants and handmaidens, and, through His consummate favours and all-encompassing mercy, hath conferred upon all a station and rank of the same plane. He hath broken the back of vain imaginings with the sword of utterance and hath obliterated the perils of idle fancies through the pervasive power of His might. (Bahá’u'lláh)

When all mankind shall receive the same opportunity of education and the equality of men and women be realized, the foundations of war will be utterly destroyed. Without equality this will be impossible because all differences and distinction are conducive to discord and strife. Equality between men and women is conducive to the abolition of warfare for the reason that women will never be willing to sanction it… (’Abdu’l-Bahá)

Therefore, as woman advances toward the degree of man in power and privilege, with the right of vote and control in human government, most assuredly war will cease; for woman is naturally the most devoted and staunch advocate of international peace. (’Abdu’l-Bahá)