Sorry Gnat, World Citizen

2009-10-29T08:58:00.000-07:00

October 27, 2009
The day my husband had his pretend birthday - 55 and I noted his real birthday (75). we went to Mijares Restaurant up by the 210 in Pasadena. Mijares has a man who blows balloons up, and made what looked to be a chair for Bill's head. The cake, gratitude to Amelia, was Bill's favorite: white, pink, creamy, and young and old croaked and sang out happy birthday and we all communed. Here's some pictures:

2009-10-03T15:42:00.000-07:00

Race Discussion Glossary - compiled by Bill DeTally - hope helpful to all who browse these pages:

RACE DISCUSSION GLOSSARY
Ally – A person committed to dismantling racial injustice and racism. This commitment is shown by the person’s willingness to learn about racism and racial justice; challenge his or her own racial prejudices; learn and practice anti-racism; and interrupt statements, behaviors, and institutional practices of racial prejudice.

Antiracism – Actions and attitudes which challenge all forms of racism. With an understanding of the systemic nature of racism, an anti-racist works actively to counter racist practices and attitudes in herself/himself and others, and dismantles racist institutional structures and policies.

Anti-racism is more than tolerating or even celebrating diversity. A diverse organization is not necessarily anti-racist. An anti-racist, multicultural organization or institution is one that includes people from diverse cultural backgrounds as “stakeholders” in the work, benefits, responsibilities and key decisions of the organization (adapted from Bailey Jackson)

Racism has been historically institutionalized into every organization and system of the United States. It is now time to institutionalize anti-racism in all those same places.

Culture-The vast structure of behaviors, ideas, attitudes, values, habits, beliefs, customs, language, rituals, ceremonies and practices peculiar to a particular group of people, and that provides them with a general design for living and with patterns for interpreting reality.” (Wade Nobles)

Cultural Diversity-Differences in age, color, gender, ethnic heritage, language, national origin, spiritual belief or tradition, sexual orientation, physical, mental or emotional nature, and economic circumstance. Each of these differences brings a diverse perspective, reflection and insight to every life experience.

Cultural Racism-This form of racism undermines the history and culture of certain groups by ignoring, devaluing, laughing at or misrepresenting their experiences. The dominant group sets the standards of beauty, art, music, and other cultural norms. This leads to a lack of knowledge and appreciation of diversity for the dominant group, and to a lack of pride and self-esteem for excluded groups. All of society loses the awareness of important contributions of all groups in our global society.

Cultural racism occurs when attempts are made to debase or assimilate a group of people, thus ignoring their individual and collective contributions to the mobility of humankind. Stereotyping is one of the self-perpetuating features of this form of racism.

Discrimination-An Act. A failure to treat all persons equally where no reasonable distinction can be found between those favored and those not favored. (Blacks Law Dictionary) A showing of partiality or prejudice in treatment; specific policies or actions directed against the welfare of a group. Discrimination is a tool of oppression.

Environmental Racism-A form of racism that manifests itself by locating trash dumps, toxic waste sites and other objectionable material/discards in storage areas in proximity to neighborhoods of people of color.

Ethnic (Group)-Grouping of people with some similar set of religious, linguistic, ancestral, tribal, or physical characteristics.

Institutionalized Racism-Occurs when institutional power is added to or combined with racial prejudice. When the institutions of society – the economic system, the legal system, the health care system, the education system, the media, the civil system, etc., are controlled by one group and operate on the basis of racial prejudice.

Many members of societal institutions assume their dominant race is superior, more valued and more worthy of inclusion or benefit. Participants in these systems, whether decision makers or beneficiaries, may be unaware of the institution’s biases, or may be deliberately discriminatory.

Internalized Racism-The belief by people of color that the stereotypes and lies about them are true. Results of this are: self-doubt, loss of self-esteem, self-hatred, and lowered expectations and motivation.

This tragic form of racism occurs when the victims of racism believe the stereotypes and misinformation, then turn society’s negative evaluations about their group inward. They take out the anger, hurt and frustration on themselves and members of their own group.

Justice-Fair and just treatment to all and in all actions and attitudes.

Kinship-This is the recognition of family not necessarily limited to blood relatives. We seek to reclaim this recognition through love, respect and concern for all humankind.

Oneness- The oneness of humanity is a spiritual truth abundantly confirmed by science. To paraphrase a definition by Albert Einstein: a human being is part of the universe. He or she can experience himself/herself, and their personal thoughts or feelings, as something separated from the rest of the universe, which is a delusion of his or her consciousness. This delusion can be a kind of prison, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for only a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in all its beauty.

Oppression- A system of dis-equality where the goods, services, and benefits of society are available to people based on their membership in social groups. This system is supported by the power structure. The root of the word “oppression” is “press.” Presses are used to mold things, flatten, or reduce them. The experience of oppressed people is that one’s life is confined and shaped by forces that are not accidental. It is the experience of being caged in or blocked.

Power-One group having control over the major institutions (economic, political, social, etc.) of the country.

Prejudice-an emotional commitment to ignorance; a preconceived notion; a negative evaluation based on insufficient or erroneous knowledge; irrational hostility toward a group or individual based upon supposed characteristics; a negative attitude about a person or group based on comparison, in which the person’s own group is used as a positive reference point.

Race-Ethnic grouping by skin color shades, with the realization that there is only one race, the human race.

Race Unity-the process of bringing together as one family all ethnic groupings.

Racial-relating to ethnicity.

Racial Equity-Treating all ethnicities impartially.

Racial Justice-Treating all ethnicities just and fairly.

Racial Prejudice-An emotional commitment to ignorance about ethnic groups other than your own group. Usually negative and usually formed without personal experience.

Racial Stereotype-A generalization imposed on an entire ethnic group or an individual of that ethnic group based on a real or perceived characteristic of some individual belonging to that group; or based on a cultural norm which has been distorted; or based on myth or total misunderstanding of the group/ethnicity/culture.

Racial Supremacism-The most vile form of racism. “Ethnic cleansing” and genocide are its watchword and horrible legacy.

Racial Unity-A commitment to interconnectedness of individuals in an ethnicity which leads to harmony of thought and purpose.

Racism-A system of manifestations of oppression and advantage. Racial prejudice as practiced by a person from the power ethnic group. An emotional commitment to ignorance relating to ethnicity by a person belonging to the power ethnic group. This group then assumes they have the right to dominate, exclude, discriminate against, abuse, hate, kill…Racism is racial prejudice that’s practiced by a person from the power ethnic group.

Racist-A person practicing racism. That person is not a racist unless they are a member of the power ethnic group and are practicing racial prejudice.

Reverse Racism-This is a misnomer. There is no such thing. There is only one power ethnic group in our country and that is the “white-skinned” ethnic group.” “People of color skinned” do not have the systemic social power to oppress “white skinned” people as a group. The people of color ethnic groups can practice racial prejudice, but they don’t have the power to practice racism.

Separate But Equal-Extreme separatism, nationalism. The U.S. Supreme Court case of Plessy v. Ferguson, 163 U.S. 537 (1896) established the practice of ‘separate but equal’ facilities for differering races, and this practice continued until the Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka, 347 U.S. 483 (1954). Some examples of this concept still voiced today are, “I don’t mind such and such a group, but not in my neighborhood, not with my kids, not with my daughter,etc.”

Spatial Racism-The practice of constructing space that is prejudiced against people of color.

Stereotype-From a printing term for the metal plates from which copies are made. In this sense, racial stereotypes are conventional notions about people based upon oversimplified ideas, opinions or beliefs. They can also be manifested when groups are thought to conform to a standard pattern or manner, lacking individuality.

Stereotyping-The act of generalizing that is believed about an entire group of people (all Puerto Ricans, or all Italians…) It is based on a real or perceived characteristic of some person that belongs to that group; or based on a cultural norm which is being distorted or based on a total misunderstanding of the group that is being practiced.

Structural Racism-The term refers to a system in which public policies, institutional practices, cultural representations, and other norms work in various, often reinforcing ways to perpetuate racial (group) inequity. The term identifies dimensions of our history and culture that have allowed privileges associated with “whiteness” and disadvantages associated with “color” to endure and adapt over time, (from “Structural Racism and Community Building” by Aspen Institute Round Table on Community Change).

Unaware Racism-Participants in this difficult type of racism are not conscious of or sensitive to how their behavior perpetuates ideas that are false and damaging. Everyone in American society is affected by unaware racism, as we have been exposed to misinformation from the media, movies, literature and curriculum on all levels. Most people remain with people of their own group, so first-hand knowledge about members of other groups is not obtained. We can acknowledge unaware racism and strive to be sensitive to it in all aspects of our daily lives.

Unity-this is the recognition of interconnectedness of individuals and groups which leads to harmony of purpose, thought, ideas, or aims, goals, etc.

White Privilege-Choices, advantages, benefits, assumptions and expectations granted to “whites” by the society as well as the assumptions and expectations internalized by white people. Privilege group membership is usually determined at birth (“white” child, male child, child born into economic security, etc.) White privilege group has a powerful tool for dismantling racial injustice when this privilege is used with integrity. Likewise, when members of the white privilege group adopt a passion for justice and thereby challenge unjust structures, attitudes and institutions, they further the dismantling of racism.

2009-09-22T10:24:00.000-07:00

From Dave R - to http://www.care2.com/causes/global-warming/blog/is-this-really-the ... The Age of Stupid

"I just got back from the global premier of the film The Age of Stupid, which included a live simulcast to over 500 theaters in 45 countries as a tie-in to climate week and the UN climate meetings in New York.

The movie is set up as a series of modern day vignettes looked at through the eyes of an archivist 45 years in the very bleak future, who can only wonder at why we were so stupid. To be honest, I was a bit skeptical that this film would cover any new ground: There are only so many ways to represent the potential dangers and damage of climate change, many of which were covered via Al Gore's Inconvenient Truth and Leonardo DiCaprio's 11th hour (and in the case of a few scenes, the lightweight and unbelievable "The Day After Tomorrow".)

But I was impressed by the honest treatment of the complexity of the issues surrounding action on climate change. The film acknowledges that it isn't as easy as simply turning off the 'carbon tap'. The aspirations of billions for a middle class life, the entrepreneurial spirit, the contradictions between what we need to do for a living and what we believe, and even the simple unwillingness of many to accept aesthetic inconveniences (even while expressing concern over the climate) are all featured, providing an interesting human face and counterpoint to the growing body of scientific evidence and urgency for action. The film is full of ironies, such as the segment on a young Nigerian woman who points out the injustices of Shell Oil in her community, while selling diesel and wistfully aspiring to the "American good life", which of course is powered at least in part by Shell.

Most of the characters seem to feel "trapped" in a lifestyle that they know is unsustainable, even as the evidence of the planetary impact mounts around them. Perhaps we are not living so much in an "age of stupid" as an age of covet or inertia? Whatever the case, these are very real behavioral barriers to tackling the climate issue. For the "haves", we need to somehow increase the sense of urgency without waiting for the kind of planetary apocalypse to occur that the film projects. For the "have nots ", as I have mentioned before, using climate action as a tool rather than barrier for development is also a way to encourage positive change.

The post film discussion was equally interesting, featuring the film's director (Franny Armstrong), Kofi Annan, the head of the IPCC, and many others. All seem generally alarmed at how much hangs in the balance in the next few months, both with US climate policy and worldwide commitment in Copenhagen. There was also a strong and consistent call for serious lifestyle change and economic retooling in the west as a matter of self preservation and social justice.

Finally, Ms. Armstrong rolled out a "10:10" campaign, urging a voluntary commitment to reduce emissions 10% by 2010. While the idea to send a message of public will is a strong one, the target is pretty tame, requiring little change, inconvenience or financial commitment, and is simply not enough. If anything, it may send a message that true public will is lacking.

Has she fallen into one of her film's traps of symbolic gestures over real change? Or perhaps as a Brit, she has does not fully appreciate that for the average American, 10% is easy. While Europeans have already captured the low hanging fruit, we clearly have not. For this "side of the pond", I have been a proponent of 20:20 or more, which is 20% via reduction and 20% more via offsetting.

Whatever your commitment, all of this attention is well timed. A strong populist message to the UN and the climate delegates needs to be sent!"

Read more: global warming

2009-09-13T12:17:00.000-07:00

Angus was a bassett whose belly hung lo, so low, he make Br'er Fox of "He
just don't do noth'in but stay low" - he make Bre'r Fox look lak he done a
hundred crunches a day. Do I lie? Well maybe but here on the planet, now
zoom in to the United States of America, where lying is a bad word unless it's
uttered or uddered by a politician who supposedly drinks too much caffeine
and can't hold his words in.

Call it evolutionary degrade or skin dissolution or sloth, or beings who are so coarse, they's like a redundant bunch of cattle, but I thank to mahself as I watched last week's rodeo show where the people were bestially rood to our presdent; and I
think, "They're toilet trained, ain't they?"

And the only answer I gave to myself is "Angus has more manners than that
red faced anger ridden man who yelled "Liar." If they can hold their
piss; why can't hold their vitriol? Whatevah happened to the Good Book and
high manners and language. Cain't we find a replacement for chronic belligerence?

I tell you. I miss Angus. I would hold Angus with my arms stretched around his big belly, hold him in tahms of crisis like in today's world. "Bestial verbosity," my Aunt Jenny Who Never Had a Wrinkle in Her Life and ate pork every day would say. But Angus, fell in love with a blonde lady who used to run a restoront down on the Avenue, don't you know, and he went to live with her, cuz she had another Bassett called Blanche, and Angus sort of hand a hunkering and a hankering for Blanche.

At Blanche's house, they don't listen to people saying mean things. I'm glad
Angus is happy. Gotta end raht now, as I'm gonna to send an old poster to the
Senate and the Congress, and it is a medium large poster and sort of sepia faded, don't you know. It shows politicians in diapers with bandages over their mouths, and in the background, which is really faded, is a fuzzy image of a toilet with a hand chain. The slogan is sort of like Uncle Sam needs you? This slogan tho is how to potty train politicians, one mouth at a time.

2009-08-18T09:21:00.000-07:00

A FRIEND JUST SENT THIS 8/18/09-their pictures were in original message.

Please join me in prayer , that our Heavenly Father intervene and do a miracle if in His will. For these two young women and for our 7 Bahai's . This is not bode well for our Bahai's

Until the whole world hears,

"
Hello...

I'm not sure if you have read about this situation in Iran or not, bu=
t we
had a Pakistani Pastor speak at church this morning and he brought th=
is
urgent matter to to our attention.=A0 We were heart broken and sobere=
d by the
depth of this, so I wanted to send this email out so you can first pr=
ay, and
secondly be aware that this is real and it is happening right now.=
=A0=A0

Two Iranian Muslim women, ages 27 and 30, were imprisoned 4 months ag=
o for
converting to Christianity.=A0 They were taken from their homes and p=
ut in
solitary confinement for weeks until they were put in a small cell to=
gether
in Evin prison.=A0 They are going before the judge within the next 24=
hours
(not exactly sure when, some say 7AM Sun other reports say Monday mor=
ning),
however the judge has already indicated that he will find them guilty=
.=A0
Their sentence will be death by hanging.=A0 It is against Islamic law=
to
execute a virgin, which both of these women are, so after the sentenc=
ing the
judge will issue a marriage license to 2 soldiers who will in turn ra=
pe the
women throughout the day of their execution.=A0 After enduring this t=
he women
will be hung, and once the women are murdered the soldiers will obvio=
usly be
married no longer.=A0=A0

These Christians are awaiting this reality right now.=A0 The cost for=
them to
follow Jesus is beyond anything we can imagine.=A0 I've attached a pi=
cture of
them, their names are Maryam and Marzieh.=A0 We are obviously praying=
for a
miracle in this situation, but the reality is that the Islamic rule i=
n the
Muslim majority countries have no tolerance for people who turn to
Christianity, and yet - these women have said that they refuse to den=
ounce
the name of Christ and they are sure He will give them the words to s=
peak
should they be given the chance.=A0 I hope their faith and boldness t=
o stand
in the most horrific of situations will be a wake-up call to anyone w=
ho
calls themselves followers of Jesus.=A0 How far would we go?=A0 How f=
ar did HE
go for US??=

Until the whole world hears,"

2009-08-12T09:50:00.001-07:00

Here is a copy of John's obituary.

John Howard Kavelin January 7, 1944 – July 18, 2009

John died as he lived -- with joy, gratitude, wonder, and amazing spiritual clarity and wisdom, defying the effects of brain cancer diagnosed 15 months ago. John was a devoted member of the Baha’i Faith and embodies its teaching to “let your vision be world embracing rather than confined to your own selves.” He gave joy to so many as an art director and imagineer for Walt Disney Imagineering. When he was little, he was called “Mr. Toad” because he moved so fast. He later designed “Mr. Toad’s wild ride” at Disneyland. John received his Bachelor’s and Master’s of Fine Arts degrees from Carnegie Mellon University and Brandeis University. His 40-year career as a designer spans the worlds of opera, theatre, exhibit design, television and film. John is a 17-year veteran of Walt Disney

Imagineering as an art director and show producer, He was the lead designer for “Asia” at Animal Kingdom in Orlando, Florida and spent 6 years in Japan as Director of Design and Production for Tokyo Disneyland. In 1990, John, his sister Linda Kavelin Popov and brother in law Dr. Dan Popov founded The Virtues Project, a global initiative inspiring people of all cultures and beliefs to live by their highest values. It began on Salt Spring Island in 1988 and spread to more than 96 countries and has been endorsed by the United Nations and the Dalai Lama.

Of all John’s creative projects, the two most meaningful to him were The Virtues Project and the design for the Baha’i World Congress in New York in 1992. John’s sweet nature, loving friendship and wise mentoring will be deeply missed by his family and countless friends. A celebration of his life will be held Friday, July 24th at 11 AM at Harbour House and all are welcome.

2009-08-10T16:58:00.000-07:00

I found this book at my local Pasadena library and have been reading it every spare minute. It was a gripper, profound, compelling, and a major voice for all those slaves in all countries who suffered so incredibly. It seems to me I briefly read that getting through it with the dialogue required staying power I think the author was profound and wise with the constant use of the dialogue. It kept the reader, me, in Lilith's mind and emphasized the never ending horrific process of suffering and slavery. This book should be read far and wide. It was an honor to read. I wish the author so well. What a gift he has given to humanity.

2009-08-05T17:37:00.000-07:00

Dear Friends and Neighbors,

We’re writing you because seven of our dearly loved Baha’i brothers and sisters in Iran are in grave danger, and possibly face execution. They have been held in Tehran’s Evin prison for over a year with no access to their lawyer, Nobel Laureate Shirin Ebadi. Their crime: being Baha’is.
7 Baha'i Leaders imprisoned in Iran

7 Baha'i Leaders imprisoned in Iran

The US State Department, the UK Foreign Office Minister, Amnesty International and others have roundly condemned the imprisonment and trial of the Baha’is: http://iran.bahai.us.

Support from our Congresspersons

On February 13th, 2009, a bill was introduced in Congress, H. Res. 175, “Condemning the Government of Iran for its state-sponsored persecution of its Bahá’í minority and its continued violation of the International Covenants on Human Rights.” Our Congressman, Adam Schiff, supports it. S. Res. 71, a concurrent resolution to H. Res. 175 regarding the persecution of the Baha’is in Iran, was introduced into the U.S. Senate on March 9, 2009, receiving support from our Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein.

Why should you care?

The Baha’i Faith is a peaceful religion that seeks to promote the unity of mankind. Our principles are in alignment with American values: http://www.bahai.org.

We may be small in number (about 6MM worldwide), but we are spread out across almost every country in the world and are trying to be of service to humanity. Baha’is have been in Pasadena since the early 20th century.

We need your help

You were probably unaware our situation until now, but we need advocates beyond the Baha’i Community:

* Come meet us on Wednesday, August 12th at the Western Justice Center (55 S. Grand Ave., Pasadena 91105). Attending and/or speaking will be US Congressman Adam Schiff, Pasadena Mayor Bill Bogaard, Police Chief Bernard Melikian, and the Hon. Dorothy Nelson, 9th Circuit Court of Appeals.

Your friends and neighbors,

The Baha’is of Pasadena, California

2009-07-29T17:04:00.001-07:00

GOING OVER THE RAINBOW BRIDGE - SOPHIE THE PUG, the most Vaudevillian Pug ever!!!

2009-07-25T23:12:00.000-07:00

2009-07-25T23:08:00.000-07:00

From Linda Popov regarding service, celebration, memorial for John Kavelin:

Saturday, July 25, 2009 10:26 PM, CDT
Dearest friends,
Tommy just read aloud many of your guest book entries to members of our family gathered at Spirit Lodge. Our hearts have been deeply touched by the outpouring of your love and support. How wonderful to know we have this amazing global family, especially at this time when joy and sorrow have embraced, as our father used to say. Tommy's daughter Zhena who lives in Sweden came from Puerto Rico withTommy and Farahnaz. My son Craig came from San Francisco, son Chris from Australia and Tommy's daughter Nava from Haifa, Israel! At John's burial, a small, exquisite circle of friends and family accompanied by a piper recited prayers, sang, and each placed a rose on John's casket. More than 100 attended yesterday's celebration. The visual presentation of photos of John's life including a portion of the dvd of the 20th anniversary conference will be available soon on line. We wish all of you could have been with us for this amazing celebration of John's life. We did it up right, decorating the hall with tapestries and paintings from John's home, & lots of flowers. Tommy sang so beautifully as did others. My eulogy was met with many tears and lots of laughs as well. I feel we all need to stay in touch for a while. Dan and I are going away for a week. After that I will send you thoughts on where to make donations in John's name. Tommy and all of our family join me in sending you our heartfelt love and gratitude. Linda

2009-07-17T12:54:00.000-07:00

IT WOULD BE GREAT TO SEE YOU AT
OUR THIRD ANNUAL WOMEN’S GATHERING!!!

Coffee, Tea and Conversation

August 15, 2009

IF INTERESTED, CONTACT ESTHER - RESPOND TO THIS BLOG

2009-07-16T18:52:00.000-07:00

YIKES, ZAZOOKS! TARNATION THUNDER, I WAS REPORTED SEEN IN LONDON, SENDING OUT A RUN-ON SENTENCE, ASKING FOR ALL THINGS FOR MONEY! You know I might ask for attention, that's fine or not fine, depending on the beholder, but asking for money is not my style, via email or any other manner of speaking.

I filed the necessary cyber crime reports; and reader, i had over 700 people on my list. I wonder what they thought. Most people got it. It wasn't me. Two friends said, "It's not Esther, because she doesn't speak in complete sentences." Some praised my random eloquence, and my friend Donna did the best-she basically thought it a parody written by me and responded that she'd pay, but they'd have to realize, she'd pay in California currency, i.e., I.O.U.'s as the state government pays for goods and services. She put it more humorously, and Bill and I fell to the floor laughing. Just for that one response of hers was worth the whole theft happening.

Thank you one and all for your concern, and apologies for inconveniences. Love to all, Esther safe in California, rolling around in her money!

2009-06-26T15:31:00.001-07:00

un24
Jailed Bahá’í leaders set to stand trial in Iran on July 11

01:02 pm on Jun 24th 2009 OEA

The trial of seven Iranian Bahá’í leaders, arrested in the spring of 2008, is scheduled to be held at Branch 28 of the Revolutionary Court on July 11, 2009. American-Iranian journalist Roxana Saberi was recently convicted of espionage in Branch 28 of this Court and sentenced to eight years imprisonment. She was eventually released, but only after an international outcry at the clear politicization of the case and manifestly unjust legal procedures.

News of the July 11 trial date was conveyed only orally to the family members by authorities at Evin prison, where the seven Bahá’í leaders are being held. As information conveyed by officials concerning the judicial process has often proved unreliable, it is possible that the Iranian authorities may find some reason to change the trial date.

The seven Bahá’í leaders have been held for over a year without formal charges or access to their attorneys. Official Iranian news reports have said the Bahá’ís will be accused of “espionage for Israel, insulting religious sanctities and propaganda against the Islamic Republic.” The charge of “espionage for Israel” is punishable by death.

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2009-06-21T08:38:00.000-07:00

I Love Yous Are For White People, Lac Su, published 2009 Harper Perennial (www.harperperennial.com) Incredible new memoir about man who as a young child made a harrowing escape from Communists in Vietnam. Came to West Los angeles, not the West Los Angeles of falafel shops; glitzy films, UCLA students galore, writing groups on every corner, but one where living conditions so horrific, and the every day street world eclipsed the soul. Lac Su was poor; his father abusive; he experienced gangs, and yet he made it through with a tremendous awareness of all the light and dark forces surrounding him. He received a master's degree and Ph.D.,A.B.D., in industrial organizational psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology (good school). He's working on another book.

I found I Love Yous Are For White People over the weekend, well Friday, checked it out of library and couldn't put it down, profound, insightful, authentic, good writing, wonderful; hard to say wonderful to hardships, but if it produces a book like this, it's all grist for the mill.

2009-06-20T14:23:00.000-07:00

HOUSE WAS TENTED; JUST our pool house not big one. Bill and I have been really tired from settling a friend's estate, and we took a two day respite at a local motel, shades of the 30s; rested, read; ate healthy; walked a little; i swam in the pool; and I discovered some new books.

I LOVE YOUS ARE FOR WHITE PEOPLE, a Memoir by Lac Su a must; THE PLAN (big Ideas for Change in America) Rahm Emanual and Bruce Reed, looks well written, easily digestible and informative. Read first few pages; Bill interested too. Two more memoirs beckoned Oliver Poole's Red Zone, Five Bloody Years in Baghdad, and A Comrade Lost and Found (A Beijing Story) by Jan Wong

House moved back into; pipe broken, exterminator people sent their own plumber; nice guy starting his own business; hope it goes well; gas people cam by; nice to have services; i remember in Ukraine if something went wrong, you had to just wait until Monday for someone to fix, like the plumbing went out because the workers were drunk; oh my; a friend sent his poetry; it's astounding; has a book; lovely; am going to have a cup of decaf, crash, hopefully walk later. Good to be home!

2009-06-06T11:12:00.000-07:00

SCAM ALERT, SCAM ALERT

A friend put this more succinctly than I could-i am busy right now telling 900 people on my lists about this horrible Tagged email that whipped through Pasadena and the like. Ugh to Tagged, and Kudos to friends trying to fix it. IT IS NOT A VIRUS, but it's a violation!

I thought you might like to know that I received the following invitation, apparently from you, but sent through www.taggedmail.com. Since I've been receiving the same message from other Baha'i friends, I suspect that this is one of the practices of www.tagged.com, a social networking site that Snopes.com states:

"[Tagged.com's] current registration process asks applicants to supply an e-mail address and a password for accessing the corresponding e-mail account so Tagged can 'match you up with your friends,' information which the company apparently uses to traverse address books (or other e-mail contacts) and send e-mailed invitations to the addresses found there — invitations like the ones noted above, which deceptively appear to have been sent by the Tagged members themselves and claim that the recipients have been 'added as a friend,' 'sent photos' or 'sent a private message' on Tagged (even though no deliberate 'adding' has taken place, nor have any photos or private messages for the recipients been posted for viewing)."

You can read more about this deceptive practice at: http://www.snopes.com/computer/internet/tagged.asp

2009-05-12T13:03:00.000-07:00

Recommending some books:

Drawn to the Rhythm, Sara Hall, a gripping, and exceedingly well-written memoir of a woman at 40 or so married, affluent, with children and a verbally abusive husband, who discovers sculling (single kayak type of boat); i am not skilled in naming appropriately some sports stuff; but this was a fabulous book which I found in my favorite used book store in Chico, California. Chico is about 2 hours beyond Sacramento. Also I read Life's That Way, by Jim Beaver, of his marriage to Cecily Adams (daughter of Don Adams-Get Smart fame) and her incurring lung cancer; about their daughter Maddie, and also well written, insightful and just reflective of so many of the anonymous amongst us facing their Herculean tasks and soldiering on. One more; was another woman and boating; this was A Pearl in the Storm, Tori Murden McClure; rowing across the Atlantic. Yes, you heard that correctly. rowing across the Atlantic, and incredible gripper; what a fierce and wonderful soul.

We are back in Pasadena; think house in Chico selling-it belongs to Ralph who passed, the Ralph of "I'm dying as fast as I can," at 91 fame; and we are settling his stuff as all kids pitch in and are gigantic help; it's wonderful to see the Baha'i community, and for me, I am having a lot of healing work done. One is NAET which deals with allergies, and is terrific, my friend Vicki is a Practitioner.

I feel on a newly waxed bathroom floor a week or so ago, and now back in Pasadena, I go to the Altadena Healing Arts center-see Marilyn -last name escapes me at moment, and she is incredible, incredible. She does DNFT - nonforce. com stuff; and more than that. The Altadena Center - healing center is not new in my mind. Friends have raved about it for years.

When you first go in, the flowers in their small garden, seem to burst towards you in profusion of color, health and the whole place has an incredible sense of quiet beauty, knowledge, love, amazing.

So we will probably drive up to Chico Sunday; bill hurt his hand, and we were in emergency care Sunday at Kaiser-great people; we think while cleaning out our garage, dust from 1945 fell on an open cut on his hand; and he has had an extremely painful skin infection. I Googled it, and came up with the symptoms of Rheumatoid Arthritis, but his hands were not twisted, and his other hand wasn't injured; so in my brilliant medical diagnosis by Google, I missed the mark. I've done this twice with my own stuff and half to laugh at myself.

He's getting better; taking a nap; and that's the story morning glories!

2009-05-08T15:21:00.000-07:00

from John Kavelin's blog on health - his health-good news

John and I want to share with you a truly amazing new development, due in no small part to the prayers and positive thoughts you continue to send. Please don't stop!

John says: I have been wrestling for some time with this feeling of being between two worlds. The medical prognosis seems to have been incorrect. We have been told since the beginning that I just don't have a lot of time left. So, I told Linda that treading water and holding my breath is exhausting. She asked me "What do you need?" I said "To move forward." When we explored what that meant, it was to finish the design for a new Virtues Project website that began before my diagnosis. So, we went back to work!!!! We have been consulting with the web designer to finalize my part of the project, which is the design template. Then of course it will take Linda and Dan some time to complete the content.

My sight is better. My energy is more consistent. Linda says I'm sharper than ever in discerning the decisions being made now.
Brother Tommy and his wife Farahnaz are coming tomorrow and we look forward to fully enjoying their visit and doing lots of walking.

I have a keen awareness that healing takes many forms. At this point my physical and mental condition is surprising all of us, and especially the palliative care medical team!

It is wonderful hearing from all of you! It's regrettable that I simply don't have the capacity to write to each of you what my heart is feeling when I read your loving messages.

If I could define the three virtues most prominent in my life right now, they are Joy, Awe and Wonder.
Much love to you all from John, Dan and Linda

2009-05-03T10:20:00.000-07:00

From The Seven Mysteries of Life, chapter, "The Ultimate Mystery: Divinity, pp. 624-625, Author Guy Murchie. This is a book I've had for 30 years, and I dip into it. It is out of print, but I believe, and have run into many a biologist or scientist, that it is an exceedingly valuable book. Bill and I are settling someones house in Chico; he passed on, and I was given another copy. I gave it to my son, Nicholas, for his 40th. We had a great combo of his birthday, mother's day, and seeing Jessica, his daughter, our grandchild and Nick and Laura, O frabjous Day! contents include The Body, the Animal Kingdom, Realm of the Vegetable, World of Little, the Body, The complement called Sex, Secret Language of the Gene, the Mind, eleven senses of radiation and feeling, twenty-one senses of chemistry, mind and spirit, Emergence of Mind, the Body-Mind Relation, Memory, Intelligence and States of Mind, then Part Three-The Seven Mysteries of Life: First Mystery-The abstract Nature of the Universe; Second Mystery, The Interrelatedness of All Creatures, Third Mystery: The omnipresence of Life, Life's Analogies on Land, Sea and Sky, Doornail and Crystal Essence, Living Geometry and Order; Fourth Mystery: the Polarity Principle, Fifth Mystery: Transcendence; The change Named Death, Evolution of Earth, Sixth Mystery: the Germination of Worlds, and the Seventh and Ultimate Mystery: Divinity,

Postlude the Meaning and the Melody

Summary-the Seven Mysteries of life.

It's about a 700 page book including index, and I think is in softback too; try Amazon or Alibris if interested or Google title or author's name. Forgive typing, not properly punctuated, etc., in haste, Esther

"There are many people on Earth still of a mind to follow blindly the ancient superstition that all misfortune in life is meted out by God in His anger over the sins of man. But that is an error, says Baha'u'llah, for 'tests in life are not punishment but rather serve to reveal the soul to itself. . .Neither need we dread the disasters that come to each individual life . . . according to station. For the earth in essence is a workshop, a crucible for the molding and refining of character." It is definitely not a global art gallery, nor a playground nor a torture chamber, though it may show temporary elements of all of these. Instead it is a Soul School, the perfection of which paradoxically is hidden within its imperfection."

"I've heard it said that man's body needs the pig, as does his soul the eagle. If so, the Soul School is where he will find out how to reconcile the two. for this is a serious establishment in a venerable cosmos where we learn by trying and doing. Despite local appearances, ours i not a world composed entirely of neat three-acre lots, each sheltering a contented, well-fed, well-adjusted family that has never experienced mud, cancer, bugs, accidents, poverty, wars or rumors of wars. No, this is the place where a step is taken every day from thinking, "Someone ought to do it but why should I?" to "Someone ought to do it so why not I?" This is the planet where the bowel that issues entropy shares blood and nourishment with its neighbor, the womb, that issues negentropy. It is Saint Augustine's epic meeting ground between 'Brother ass, the body, and his rider, the soul.' It is where many a good man persists in denying his soul by telling himself it would be inhuman to deny his body -- all because he has not yet discovered it is actually only his outdated animal body that is holding back the vast potential of his evolving human soul."

"As spirit thus distributes itself through the world, obviously it will not treat all souls alike. For, in the service of justice, the Soul School must deal with us as individuals, making full allowance for the fact that the trials and lessons of one soul are rarely exactly appropriate for another. Thus arises the familiar and often puzzling disparities in life's fortunes, like the exploding bombshell in a battlefield that inflicts cruel suffering upon one soldier, bestows heavenly relief in a hospital on another and grants a third his mystic release from life altogether. In a similar way Earth's approaching catastrophe of adjustment to germination may, for some souls, turn out instead to be a metastrophe of hope, a sort of musical beyond-beat or spiritual purge that will clear the way for general and joyous recognition of spiritual values, an aspect of the Soul School that I cannot hope to explain in any reasonable way because, quite simply, it is a matter of faith.

Faith of course is mystical and often a key in the struggles of mind and spirit--as when Jesus said to the father of the epileptic, "If thou canst beli8eve: all things are possible to him that believeth." To which, paradoxically, the tearful man replied, "Lord, I believe; help thou mine unbelief" (Mark 9: 23-24)

For faith means more than holding something to be true. It requires action. It says: "I decide to do it. I stake my existence on it." Columbus did not just think he was right. He laid his life on the line. So did Lindbergh and Neil Armstrong.

Faith is likewise a spiritual form of vision. The Arabs said as much in their ancient proverb: "the eye is blind to what the mind does not see." Which really means: "Believing is seeing."

2009-04-26T08:34:00.000-07:00

Input from Linda and Dan Popov regarding John-

John and I went to Saturday market on this cool, but thankfully bright Spring day. His stability is really good and he walks without assistance.

John says to tell you that the steroids that his brain requires to keep swelling down which he has taken for a year have added a lot of weight and he hardly recognizes himself in the mirror anymore. He is also growing a beard and I think he looks quite distinguished. The amazing thing, he says, is that during the year, other than occasional headaches, he has had little or no pain (other than what he calls "grab and stab" during hospitalizations). We will get some photos on Caring Bridge for you soon...

John was asked what prayer he gravitates to now. One is a long healing prayer and another is a Baha'i prayer for the midnight hour: "O Lord, I have turned my face unto Thy kingdom of oneness and am immersed in the sea of Thy mercy. O Lord, enlighten my sight by beholding Thy lights in this dark night, and make me happy by the wine of Thy love in this wonderful age. O Lord, make me hear Thy call, and open before my face the doors of Thy heaven, so that I may see the light of Thy glory and become attracted to Thy beauty. Verily, Thou art the Giver, the Generous, the Merciful, the Forgiving. -- Abdu'l-Baha

With love from Dan, Linda and John

2009-04-20T09:43:00.000-07:00

John Kavelin is in transition with his terminal illness, and his sister, Linda Popov, left a note on "Caring Bridge," which is site on the net to inform everyone of someone's illness, joys, challenges, and I thought I would post today's (April 20, 2009) comment. To describe John would take more than a bucket of words, and my buckets are out today, so suffice it to say, he's noble, valiant, highly creative, highly loving, giving, and we house sat for him in Pasadena, and the Pasadena Baha'is had the privilege of listening to John and Linda at a fireside at the Nelson's several months ago.

He has the same kind of brain tumor Ted Kennedy has. John was also the designer of Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disney, and won awards I believe for his Animal Kingdom in Disney World. He also designed stages, etc. in most major Baha'i conferences. He has a twin Tommie, and a sister Linda, and a brother-in-law Dan. Dan and Linda are living with him in his gorgeous place on Salt Springs Island, called by him Spirit Lodge. So here's the note: love and prayers to all, and for John and his family. How'd we get so lucky to know them, and for us, in particular, John?

I want to receive Journal update notification e-mails.

Friends, you know from reading our journal that there have been a great many gifts and blessings in the last year for our family. One of the sweetest is the sacred time John and I spend most mornings together. This is an opening for John to discern and to speak whatever is on his mind or heart, and for me as well.
I am realizing that while his short term memory fades, his spiritual acuity is brightening. Yesterday he was saying that in his prayers, he is not asking to go or to stay, but for contentment with what is. He said "It is a commitment to NOW". So, we are very much at peace living in the now of each moment and each day. Sending you all our love, Linda

2009-03-27T18:21:00.000-07:00

Friday, March 27, 2009 - Bill and I took a vakashun day; saw SlumDogMillionaire at local theatre ($2.00) a ticket for matinees, grabbed a sandwich at Corner Bakery, walked. beautiful.

Attaching some pictures of Chico in March, and we'll go back up April 1st, Wed for 3 weeks and then hopefully down for a while. way to look thin: stand pressed against huge tree; it's bigger than me; whaddya know.

2009-03-07T08:09:00.000-08:00

We are in Chico, and I am using Ralph's library card. Although he just died at 91, his card lives on and his reading of books has increased greatly. I just finished Postcards from the Edge; anderson cooper, and found it good and tender; and then Eve Ensler's Insecure At Last - Losing It in our Security Obsessed World - which i regard as a MUST for every concerned soul on the planet. what's happening outside our doors and inside this nation is big and carving us out. Clearly we are met to serve and care for one another. I cannot recommend this book enough. Love esther

2009-03-01T11:33:00.000-08:00

Dear Friends, these are personal observations of an individual Baha'i:

Bahá'í Epistolary

What have seven Baha'i prisoners, and the oppressed community they serve, achieved for the nation of Iran?

Posted: 28 Feb 2009 04:31 PM PST
As seven heroic souls in Iran await an impending trial on absurd and dangerous charges, which place their very lives at risk, while excluded from their lawyer, the brave Nobel laureate Shirin Ebadi, the question recurs: why?

Why this fear, this virulent hatred of a community so self-evidently committed to peaceful coexistence, sometimes criticised for its absence of partisan political activism, let alone any form of militant stance that might threaten a government, a nation, in the form of hostility, or that staple of government fabrications, espionage?

The nature of the activities of this extraordinary group of people, is explained by the editors of Iran Press Watch as follows:

"After the abduction and disappearance of the nine members of the first National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Iran after the revolution in 1980 and the summary execution of most members of the second such Assembly of Baha’is in 1983, the governing body of the Baha’i community in Iran voluntarily suspended its administrative activities in 1983, and the affairs of the Baha’i community were managed by small groups of three individuals in each locality.

"After a few years, this group of three individuals on the national level became more organized and was named the institution of “The Friends of Iran.” The main responsibility of this institution was managing the affairs of this large religious minority, such as recording marriages, handling divorces, assisting with burials, sending letters of introduction for traveling Baha’is, arranging for worship services, and similar activities. “The Friends of Iran” guided the Baha’i community through many tumultuous years, and provided hope and reassurance through critical times with a unified vision and exemplary resolve.

"The activities of the “Friends” were completely transparent and were devoid of any hidden agenda. Incidentally, during this period, a particular office was designated in the Ministry of Intelligence to follow the activities of the Baha’is. This office would contact the “Friends” directly with any questions about a specific activity. Even Ayatollah Dorri Najafabadi, Iran’s chief prosecutor, has referred to this close monitoring. At the time of the suspension of Baha’i administrative activities in 1983, a letter was sent by the National Assembly of the time to Mousavi Ardabili indicating that in exchange for this suspension, the Baha’i community requested that the government allow its high school Baha’i graduates to enter universities, that the dismissed Baha’i university professors be reinstated, and that the Baha’is fired from the public sector be given permission for employment. The government did not heed or honor any of these requests for minimal civil rights for the Baha’is of Iran."

Many have been the responses to such dismal and absurd charges. The most memorable for me are perhaps those of Mr. Hamid Hamidi and Moojan Momen. The former, non-Baha'i Iranian intellectual, in a truly remarkable, even historic talk, chronicles impartially with remarkable accuracy and passion the history and context of assaults against the human rights of the Baha'i community as fellow citizens in Iran from the days of Reza Shah to the present day. Moojan Momen's own statement specifically exposes the absurdity of each of the charges leveled specifically against those seven precious souls who gambled with their lives in service to their community, and to humankind. The context of egregious human rights violations in Iran, not only against the Baha'is, but against many sectors of the population, is eloquently and movingly expounded by a Baha'i uniquely qualified to do so, former UN War Crimes Prosecutor, Payyam Akhavan, reminding us that the world Baha'i community's struggle for the rights of its cherished brothers and sisters in Iran is part of a wider struggle for justice for all, of whatever faith or none.

Against this backdrop, I was encouraged by a friend whom I deeply respect, to share some excerpts from a paper I wrote in 2001, for an academic journal by the name of the Middle Eastern Studies Association Bulletin, exploring the reasons for the comparative silence of scholars of the Middle East, and of Iran in particular, in relation to all things Baha'i.

As I pondered the suggestion, I reflected that perhaps the discussion that he felt was relevant to what is happening today, was the general exploration of the continuities and discontinuities which the Baha'i Faith represented upon its emergence in the 19th century, and which led to its becoming an "Other" to the people of Iran, to the extent of disappearing from sight, and, if successive governments had had their way, as chronicled by Mr. Hamidi in the link above, dissappearing from existence altogether. In fact, revisiting that paper in the context of today's fearful persecutions, one finds, not gloom, but extraordinary hope.

For if Baha'is were non-existent then relatively speaking, if one were to judge by their utter absence (outside frequent polemics that form part of their oppression)from the written discourse of their fellow countrymen, intellectuals, activists, artists, journalists, inside Iran and abroad, Iranian Baha'is certainly "exist" now in the voices and the minds of their compatriots, as never in this Faith's 165 year history.

It is almost a truism for Baha'is, borne out not only scripturally, but by long experience of repression, yet one that cannot ever lose its pathos, that each wave of persecution, each effort to erase this Faith's existence, is unfailingly accompanied by an unprecedented victory, that only digs its roots the deeper, and establishes its claims before the sight of men. The preceding chapter of extreme and nation-wide oppression, in the 1980's, achieved in fact, globally speaking, the Baha'i Faith's emergence from obscurity, and endowed the Baha'is with an extraordinary capacity for global concerted action, that countless activist organizations admire and respect, as Baha'is across the world for the first time arose as one voice in creative and united ways to seek reddress and protection for their fellow believers, mobilising public opinion from city councils and local press to the European Parliament and the United Nations, and averted genocide.

The most immediate victory that the present episode of persecution has already achieved in a manner that has astounded observers, foremost among them the Baha'is themselves, is the final integration of the Iranian Baha'is into the broader identity of their nation. For the first time in their history, the Baha'is are not the Other which I observed in my paper, they are, for a rising, mighty wave of non-Baha'i Iranians, the prominent and the obscure alike, elite and ordinary people, from all walks of life, "one of us", fellow citizens, and the silence of the past is not only finally and irretrievably broken, but explicitly repudiated, and for all time.

Achieving this, such an extraordinary victory over mass prejudice sustained by unremitting propaganda and lies, from earliest childhood to the grave, is not just a victory for the Baha'i community, but for the people of Iran, and facilitating such a leap of consciousness, such a broadening of hearts, of minds, and social consciousness, is an extraordinary service which these seven prisoners have rendered the noble Iranian nation, together with the ranks of fellow believers who even now languish in dark incarceration, mourn loved ones killed for their religious identity, and strive to contribute to the welfare and prosperity of their country while the avenues of education and livelihood are either severely limited, or altogether shut.

Why did so many millions shiver, irrespective of their politics, when President Obama gave his inaugural speech? Because the United States, as a nation, had achieved a thing of wonder, it had placed an "Other" that arrived in bondage and slavery, in the highest place of honour it was in its gift to choose. And in so choosing, beyond honouring President Obama, beyond honouring a given minority or minorities, as a nation, it honoured itself, to such an extent, that many souls beyond its borders felt honoured too, at their own humanity's potential to transcend the universal legacies of hate.

This turning tide began most noticeably, as may be followed in the remarkable website, Iran Press Watch, with Iran's foremost and most prominent human rights advocate, Shirin Ebadi, agreeing to represent the Bahas'is as defense lawyer. More recently, history was made when 267 personalities, not Baha'is, from famous academics to Iran's most well known pop star, from the most famous student dissident, to the former Miss Iran and second runner up to Miss World,in other words thinkers, journalists, cultural and popular icons, who for decades held their peace, now spoke and said: "we are ashamed", of the silence that for so long signalled to their Baha'i compatriots, "you are not Us", while oppression weighed on them. The Iranian Writers' Association has likewise made its own voice heard, as have writers and journalists of Kurdistan. Even the first President of the Islamic Republic of Iran (1980-1981) has spoken in support of Baha'i rights, and, more astonishing still, one of Iran's most caustic attackers in print of the Baha'i Faith, has compellingly been moved to write in defense of a community he spent three decades attacking. Similarly Ayatollah Montazeri, once one of the very highest ranking clerics in Iran, and who in his memoirs recorded proudly his youthful persecution of Baha'is in the 1950's, broke new ground by proclaiming them legal citizens. The record of new voices continues, as political prisoners in a prison in Karaj raised, amidst their own captivity, a “proclamation in support of our Baha’i countrymen”, while 26 Muslim students in a university of Mazindaran protested the expulsion of Baha'i fellow students. The non-Baha'i Iranian journalist Ali Keshtgar captured the spirit of this mighty victory of non-violent example and resilience over the fear and exclusion of centennial prejudice in the title of his piece: "We are all Iranian Baha'is".

To grasp the extent of this trajectory, and its cultural significance for Iran, I return, as requested, to that paper from 2001, with the following excerpts which might be germane to this discussion:

In the last quarter of the nineteenth century, the Baha’i faith could be aptly described as an underground messianic movement. Nevertheless, it was not the first such movement. The tradition of Persianate religious radicalism goes back to the origins of Persianate Islam and has always been linked in significant and often predominant ways to chiliastic fervor. The work of scholars such as Madelung, Hodgson, Dickson, Daftari, Corbin, Nasr, Modarresi, Arjomand, and, more recently, Amanat, Babayan, and Cole, has shed much light into the character of these movements, and permitted the beginnings of an integrated picture to emerge. Babayan in particular has sought to identify, following Hodgson and Madelung, common features that, amidst the bewildering diversity, provide grounds for seeing, in the recurrence of certain outlooks and motifs, a tradition of religious innovation in a Persianate context, rather than a collection of sporadic and more or less isolated incidents and movements. At the center of ghulati movements, suggests Babayan, has been found what she describes as “a sense of immediacy in the desire to experience a utopia on earth.” The ghulat are often “idealists and visionaries who believe that Justice could reign in this world of ours”:

"Reluctant to await another existence, perhaps another form, or eternal life following death and resurrection, individuals (ghulat [exaggerators]) with such temperaments emerged at the advent of Islam expecting to attain the apocalyptic horizon of Truth.…They do not see the universe in linear terms of a beginning and an end, but as successive cycles where the end of one era spontaneously flowed into the beginning of another...there is no Final Apocalypse, no End-Time as is believed by “mainstream” Jews, Christians and Muslims....What distinguishes each cycle is a new prophetic vision, each time unveiling layers of the mystery of the universe. And since the cosmos was understood to be alive, endlessly unravelling new dimensions in a way that ultimate Truth was inexplicable, almost unfathomable, creativity and new imaginings saw no bounds for the ghulat."[Kathryn Babayan, Mystics, Monarchs and Messiahs: Cultural Landscapes of Early Modern Iran]

I have cited rather extensively because in this one paragraph a distinguished scholar seeks to encapsulate the essence of a specific tradition of religious innovation in the Persianate world. I would like to compare the citation to the following messianic proclamation by Bah’u’llah:

"It is evident that every age in which a Manifestation of God hath lived is divinely ordained, and may, in a sense, be characterised as God’s appointed Day. This Day, however, is unique, and is to be distinguished from those that have preceded it. The designation “Seal of the Prophets” fully revealeth its high station. The Eternal Truth is now come. He hath lifted up the Ensign of Power, and is shedding upon the world the unclouded splendour of His Revelation."[Bah’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, (London: Baha’i Publishing Trust, 1978), p. 59.]

Clearly, Baha’u’llah’s messianic message strongly resonates with the themes enunciated by Babayan and may be regarded as emerging out of that tradition. This view finds further reinforcement from the fact that Baha’u’llah repudiated finality for his revelation, holding fast to a cyclical yet evolutionary approach to eschatology that envisaged no end to the periodic and progressive (re)appearance of divine Messengers.

Such links with the tradition of ghuluw are of course as much historical as intellectual, the Baha’i vision having evolved in direct engagement with the Shaykhism of Shaykh Ahmad Ahsai and Siyyid Kazim Rashti, various strands of irfani and sufi thought and, above all, the rich and living heritage of Siyyid Ali Muhammad, the Bab. The use Baha’u’llah made of this tradition, however, was fundamentally not imitative but creative, resulting in a radical transformation to which we will return below.

It takes, however, more than a messianic figure to make a messianic movement; the response has to be forthcoming. In the case of Baha’u’llah (and of the Bab before him) the response was considerable not just in numbers, but in spread. Among the sectors from which the leadership of the Baha’i community was drawn in Baha’u’llah’s time, according to Momen, were: major `ulama, such as mujtahids, and imam-jum`ihs; minor `ulama, such as religious students (tullab) and sufi darvishes (rawdih-khans); the nobility, including members of the royal court, Qajar princes, governors, high government officials, and military commanders of rank of sartip and above; major land-owners and factory-owners (sahib-kar); minor government officials, secretaries, couriers, and soldiers; wholesale merchants (tujjar) and financiers (sarraf); retail merchants, usually guilded; skilled urban workers such as guilded craftsmen (asnaf) usually ustad (master craftsman), and traditional service workers (for example, tabíb, doctor); unskilled urban workers; peasant and rural workers; tribal peoples; and eventually modern professionals as well. Not only Iranians of Twelver Shi’i background were represented, but also Zoroastrians, Jews, Ahl-i Haqq, Afshari turkomen, Kurds, and Lurs—and this list is drawn only from within the borders of Iran itself. Baha’i presence in urban settings was only slightly more important than in rural settings.[Moojan Momen, “Iran” l] It is suggested that the swift emergence of a substantial Babi, and subsequently Baha’i, following in Persia constitutes a landmark response to ideological tensions that go back to the beginnings of Persianate Islam, and belongs to, yet also breaks with, the Persianate tradition of religious dissent.

In his seminal interpretive essays on the birth and demise of the late Antique world Browne emphasizes the cultural tensions engendered by the irruption of Arabo-Muslim culture into Sassanid Persia. Islam was the space where these tensions were played out. On the one, it was used as a source of legitimacy and a tool for cultural and political hegemony by the initially Arabized rulers of Persia. On the other hand, Islam served as an instrument for cultural and political appropriation and survival by a distinctive Persianate society. The result was a Persianate religious idiom that remained distinctive, far-reaching, and fragmented. Thus, we see in Persia and its cultural sphere movements and belief systems take root and develop which in the epicenters of the Arab cultural sphere stand out (in the main) as both foreign and alien―examples ranging from orthodox Shi’ism, Twelver and Sevener alike, to much of Sufism and, of course, ghuluw. These religious currents, it is suggested, reflect enduring attempts to appropriate Islam into a Persianate idiom and resolve tensions going back to late Antiquity between a Persianate (gnostic/cyclical) religious heritage, and a Semitic (nomic/linear) worldview inherited from Islam.

From the outset of Persianate Islam, successive political regimes in Persia evolved and jealously guarded Islamic identities that buttressed their power by imposing cultural hegemonies over a volatile cultural mix. In this context, radical religious innovation not only challenged the cultural hegemony of a given Islamic identity, but inescapably undermined the legitimacy of the political order that upheld it. With such weight accruing to ideological conformity in a milieu brimming with cultural tensions, it comes as no surprise that Islamic heresiography should have specially flourished in the Persianate sphere, as groups fought for political power through cultural control. Religious dissent was inevitably political dissent too. Such links between political revolt and religious radicalism are certainly not unique to Persia. What makes Persianate religious dissent distinctive is its persistent attempt to reconcile its Islamic identity with a pre-Islamic heritage that refuses to relax its ideological grip. We thus find, for instance, formulations of the Islamic escathon not only turning to pre-Islamic theological orientations, but even making room for pre-Islamic Iranian legend, as in the case of the radical Sufism of the Safavi period. Or should we say rather that an enduring pre-Islamic Iranian mindset made occasional room for Islamic eschatology?

True to the Persianate tradition of religious innovation, Baha’u’llah’s vision was able to transcend a strictly Islamic worldview through realized eschatology. Only, Baha’u’llah appropriated not merely the pre-Islamic past but, crucially, the non-Islamic present, to predicate a post-Islamic future. In the past, Islamicate religious dissent had been used to challenge other Islamic cultural hegemonies. Persians who embraced Baha’u’llah’s message, and, even more, Persians who embraced the Bab’s message, were responding to similar pressures, seeking to resist cultural encroachments from a new religious-political hegemony fractiously championed by the ‘ulama and, to a lesser degree, the secular rulers of Qajar Persia. The Baha’í teachings, typically, criticized the clerical establishment and formulated an alternative, spiritualized, and disestablished view of its place in society, legitimizing the sovereignty of secular rulers independently of clerical authority.

For the first time, however, equally strong pressures on identity came from a source outside the Islamicate world altogether: the Western world, whose expansion was accompanied by a subtle but insidious assertion of cultural hegemony in the form of Empire, one of the drivers of globalization. The Baha’i teachings gave nineteenth-century Persians who wished to do so a vehicle to resist the cultural (hence social and political) hegemony not only of the ’ulama, but of the intruding Western world. The Baha’i teachings could appropriate the idiom not just of Persianate Islam, but also of the West and use it to resist its cultural hegemony, in the same way as Islam gave the Sassanids a means to appropriate the cultural idiom of the Arabs to resist their attempt at cultural dominance. In other words, the Baha’i teachings opened an avenue for a new, post-Islamic identity that promised to overcome and finally resolve the cultural (and by implication political and social) tensions of the day. They also posed an unmistakable challenge to the existing order. What was seen by some as the fulfillment of Islam, was regarded by others as its open subversion.

What is perhaps most remarkable is that through the far-reaching political and social changes that have taken place since the days of Nasir-i Din Shah, the repression of Iranian Baha’is has remained constant, varying only in intensity, regardless of the prevailing order of the day. Coverage of these persecutions has focused on the Qajar period and the persecutions under the Islamic Republic, but Baha’is also suffered periodic persecutions throughout the whole Pahlavi period, not least being the country-wide campaign orchestrated against them in 1955. Even in quiet periods under the Pahlavis, the Baha’is never achieved rights as basic as having their marriages legally recognized. The consistency of this persecution suggests powerful cultural, social, and political continuities that may easily pass unnoticed by scholars of the ever-changing Iranian socio-political landscape.

The Baha’i Faith as Departure

Having concentrated on historical continuities, we may now elaborate on the discontinuities. For even as there can be little doubt that the worldview and community that crystallized around Baha’u’llah has inextricable connections with the rich currents of tradition, there can likewise be little doubt that in Baha’u’llah’s hands, the traces of tradition were embedded in something altogether new, something Other, something amounting, both in intent and consequence, to a new religion. The theological transition from Islam has recently been mapped by Buck. The author describes Baha’u’llah’s doctrinal teachings as “an ideological bridge to a new worldview.”[Chris Buck, Symbol and Secret (Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1995), chapter 5] This new worldview implied sociological innovations too. Traditionally, the energies released by large-scale Islamicate responses to a messianic claim have sought outlet in military enterprises. Such indeed was the case with Babism. The idea of the conquering Mahdi or Qaim pervaded prophetic expectations, and the conquest was expected to occur by military and supernatural means. This Islamic ideal of messianic conquest, like so much else in the Islamic heritage, was not rejected by Baha’u’llah, but it was recast in spiritualized form, community building, and moral regeneration taking the place of physical combat as the proper instruments of victory. Baha’u’llah would eventually conquer the world, but would do so by spiritual means, through the attraction of hearts, and the battle would be waged by Baha’is through a consecrated dedication to community building and the cultivation of moral rectitude. Not surprisingly, a doctrinal outlook that appropriated the prophetic expectations of all religions yet upheld the relativity of truth led to early experiments in multiculturalism. On the one hand were the imperatives from Baha’u’llah to consort with the followers of all religions; on the other was the conversion of non-Muslim minorities, which initiated a slow and gradual process of cultural rapprochement between converts from these various backgrounds, as has been broadly examined by Stiles-Maneck.[“The Conversion of Religious Minorities,” Journal of Baha’i Studies 3. 3 (1991)]

At this juncture it would be worth asking what contemporary Persians themselves regarded as innovative about Baha’u’llah’s teachings. One testimony comes from a Baha’i convert from the later period of Baha’u’llah’s ministry, a former cleric, writing in 1911 when the Baha’i community had been securely established in the East and had begun to penetrate into the West. The features he highlights as the most significant innovations of Baha’u’llah include: abstaining from crediting verbal traditions; prohibiting individual claims to authoritative interpretation; abrogating conflict and controversy on the basis of differences of opinion; the prohibition of slavery; the obligation to engage in allowable professions as a means of support, and obedience to this law being accepted as an act of worship; the compulsory education of children of both sexes; the command prohibiting cursing and execration and making it obligatory upon all to abstain from uttering that which may offend men; the prohibition on the carrying of arms except in time of necessity; the creation of the House of Justice and institution of national parliaments and constitutional governments; the exhortation to observe sanitary measures and cleanliness, and to shun utterly all that tends to filth and uncleanness; and the provisions of inheritance laws designed, in his view, to prevent the creation of monopolies.[Mirza Abu’l-Fadl Gulpaygani, Letters and Essays, 1886-1913, trans. Juan R. I. Cole (Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1992)]

The concerns highlighted in this testimony are not unique, or even rare, although the specific responses are distinctly Baha’i. They reflect issues exercising the minds of many contemporary Persians, regardless of their faith. Iranian Baha’is, like the Baha’i teachings, were distinctive, but far from incomprehensible to fellow Iranians.

...As an outsider to the field, I would have anticipated that at a time when the study of ‘minorities’ is in vogue, the largest religious minority in Iran today would have generated more interest. The absence of even one solid academic monograph on the Baha’i faith in Iran is positively intriguing. This absence is in stark contrast to the volume of work devoted to Persian Jewry, for example, which has, I suspect, received notice outside of Jewish circles.

Similarly, the prominence which the recent persecutions of Baha’is in Iran has had in the Western world has hardly sparked discussion about the roots or cultural significance of persecution, or even the socio-cultural impact of 150 years of continuous repression against a substantial segment of the Iranian population. The place of the Baha’i persecutions in Irano-Western political discourse has hardly been noted, even when major NGOs, numerous national parliaments, the General Assembly of the United Nations, and major heads of state such as former President Clinton have issued condemnations and resolutions and even sent commissions to Iran to investigate human rights abuses against Baha’is.[45] Such contemporary prominence of the Baha’i faith in Irano-Western relations appears to be deeply uninteresting to scholars, to judge from the attention it has received. Even more intriguing is to find that Baha’i historical documents have not been mined in areas such as the social and political history of Qajar Iran, even though they are often extremely rich in detail and broad in geographical spread.[46]

Figures in the history of Babi and Baha’i who attracted the attention of Browne’s generation, such as Qurratu’l-Ayn, scholar-poetess-prophetess, or Abdu’l-Baha, who pioneered the successful translation of a Persianate religious idiom into a Western milieu, have recently received little attention, notable exceptions merely proving the rule. Qurratu’l-Ayn’s ritual unveiling appears to be a particular omission, given the emergence of feminist scholarship on Iran.[47] The transplantation into over 2100 ethnic groups of a Persianate nineteenth-century religious innovation, touching as it does on processes of globalization, modernity, tradition, nationalism, and more, also has passed virtually unnoticed in the literature, perhaps as something that has nothing to do with the Persianate and Middle Eastern milieu that witnessed its genesis.

Finally in this review of, to me, puzzling silences, is the place of the Baha’i community in the drive towards modernization that ran through Iran in the late nineteenth and twentieth centuries. The Baha’i community of Iran at the turn of the century was closely linked to agricultural reform and elementary education at the village level. Modernization extended to educational formats and content as well, as Iranian Baha’is established schools for boys and, significantly, for girls, in partnership with American Baha’is, enjoying, until they were banned, a substantial intake of students from outside the Baha’i community. No serious attention has been given to these schools, nor to Baha’i medical clinics and hospitals or to the role of Baha’is in the introduction to Iran of Western pharmaceutical knowledge. The eradication of illiteracy among all Iranian Baha’i women under the age of forty in the 1960s and 1970s likewise does not appear in the history of Persian women.

In most disciplines, a social movement that sweeps across a country, touches virtually every demographic segment of a population, and has a 150-year history would have a solid body of literature behind it. Is my puzzlement legitimate, or is it merely due to my lack of experience in the field? One possibility is that silence breeds silence, insofar as it might be thought that if leading scholars have not written about a subject for almost a century, there is probably good reason. The question is, what is that reason? Regardless, it is likely that silence does reinforce and perpetuate silence in its own right...

There is one other possibility for the neglect of Baha’i studies. Could it be that in the orthodoxy of Iranian and Islamicate studies, like in the orthodoxy of Iranian religion, a stigma attaches to all things Baha’i? Could it be that beyond academic considerations a certain amount of prejudice is at work? Allow me to explore this question. It appears that, given the prominent presence of the Baha’i faith in Iran historically, the wealth of material available, and the precedent of serious academic study of its history and doctrines by the foremost Iranologists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the more recent silence on the Baha’i faith and the complete indifference even to Baha’i historical sources mark a definite boundary which designates it as Other. Other, that is, from the perspective of a disciplinary paradigm from which it is largely excluded.

This exclusion is significant. The nineteenth-century Persians who converted to the Baha’i faith evidently felt that the boundary between the Islamicate world to which they truly belonged―they could belong to no other―and the Baha’i faith was bridgable. Members of this faith were nineteenth-century Persians, representing a microcosm of Persian society, steeped in its culture, its traditions, its values. They were both Baha’is—they belonged to a distinctive community, with traits that differentiated them from all other Persian communities—and they were Persians—they shared with their compatriots a common education, common material circumstances and pressures, and a great deal more. Yet, in current Islamicist scholarship they are not integrated into the spiritual, social, religious, or political landscape of the nineteenth-century Middle East in the way that the Zoroastrians, Jews, merchants, or ’ulama might be. Nor are they even explicitly excluded. Instead, they are negated.

Let us discard conspiracy theories. I do not believe that many academics in this field would consciously choose to exclude a range of potentially relevant sources merely because they were tagged Baha’i. Rather, the Baha’i faith occupies a disciplinary blind-spot in the perspective of scholars of the Middle East, so that when we look at the Persianate world we do not see the Baha’i faith, when we search for sources we do not notice Baha’i sources, and when they come into our field of vision we push them aside so we can see more clearly what we are examining. It is as if the disciplinary paradigm of contemporary Persianists is predicated on an ‘imagined’ nation, to allude to Anderson, which, emulating the imagined nation of many Iranians throughout the century and across all political divides, cannot explain or even accommodate the existence of the Baha’i faith in Iran. In other words, it may be that an element of cultural bias has filtered into the discipline of Islamics, in a sort of inverted Orientalism, in which the Iranian Baha’i community is exiled from the Iranian cultural experience.

If this is so, then we might be missing an entire dimension of the Islamicate, and particularly the nineteenth-century Persian landscape. In the throes of modernization and the first deep encounters with globalization, we contend that the Baha’i faith opened up possibilities of identity to which nineteenth-century Persians could relate even if they could not always accept the faith. To integrate the Baha’i faith into the nineteenth-century mentality might well change many of our understandings of the multilayered processes of identity formation, affirmation, and development in nineteenth-century Persia. The same might apply to present-day Iran. Who is Baha’u’llah? Who are the Baha’is? What did these questions mean in nineteenth-century Persia? What do they mean in Iran today? Is it not likely that by completely ignoring their existence, we may have a distorted picture of nineteenth-century Persian society? By ignoring their presence in Iran today, their situation, and their place in contemporary Iranian religious and political culture (and international relations), do we not distort our understanding of contemporary Iran?