Globalization Through Communication
Posted in sim on July 29, 2009 by fahandWe’re at a unique moment in history, says UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown: we can use today’s interconnectedness to develop our shared global ethic — and work together to confront the challenges of poverty, security, climate change and the economy.
Baha’is and Constructive Resilience
Posted in sim on July 21, 2009 by fahandA must read talk given about the Baha’is’ way of dealing with injustice.
By Dr. Michael Karlberg
“When I first began writing and speaking out about the Baha’is in Iran, and the suffering they are experiencing, some people asked me: Why don’t the Baha’is in Iran fight back? Why aren’t they willing to confront their oppressors by organizing politically? Or by engaging in acts of civil disobedience? And more recently, people might ask: Why are the Baha’is of Iran not taking to the streets in protest – like their fellow citizens this past week following the Iranian election? After all, there are over 300,000 Baha’is in Iran.”
“It is no easy thing to be a Baha’i in Iran.”
For the rest of the article go here: http://www.iranpresswatch.org/post/4410
Marriage As Explained By Abdu’l-Baha
Posted in sim on July 13, 2009 by fahandThe following is a talk given by Abdu’l-Baha regarding marriage. It is mind blowing to see the way Abdu’l-Baha describes a couple and their relationship to each other and God. He continually mentions love, which shows the power of it to protect a marriage.
“The bond that unites hearts most perfectly is loyalty. True lovers once united must show forth the utmost faithfulness one to another. You must dedicate your knowledge, your talents, your fortunes, your titles, your bodies and your spirits to God, to Bahá’u'lláh and to each other. Let your hearts be spacious, as spacious as the universe of God!
Allow no trace of jealousy to creep between you, for jealousy, like unto poison, vitiates the very essence of love. Let not the ephemeral incidents and accidents of this changeful life cause a rift between you. When differences present themselves, take counsel together in secret, lest others magnify a speck into a mountain. Harbour not in your hearts any grievance, but rather explain its nature to each other with such frankness and understanding that it will disappear, leaving no remembrance. Choose fellowship and amity and turn away from jealousy and hypocrisy.
Your thoughts must be lofty, your ideals luminous, your minds spiritual, so that your souls may become a dawning-place for the Sun of Reality. Let your hearts be like unto two pure mirrors reflecting the stars of the heaven of love and beauty.
Together make mention of noble aspirations and heavenly concepts. Let there be no secrets one from another. Make your home a haven of rest and peace. Be hospitable, and let the doors of your house be open to the faces of friends and strangers. Welcome every guest with radiant grace and let each feel that it is his own home.
No mortal can conceive the union and harmony which God has designed for man and wife. Nourish continually the tree of your union with love and affection, so that it will remain ever green and verdant throughout all seasons and bring forth luscious fruits for the healing of the nations.
O beloved of God, may your home be a vision of the paradise of Abha, so that whosoever enters there may feel the essence of purity and harmony, and cry out from the heart: Here is the home of love! Here is the palace of love! Here is the nest of love! Here is the garden of love!
Be like two sweet-singing birds perched upon the highest branches of the tree of life, filling the air with songs of love and rapture.
Lay the foundation of your affection in the very center of your spiritual being, at the very heart of your consciousness, and let it not be shaken by adverse winds.
And, when God gives you sweet and lovely children, consecrate yourselves to their instruction and guidance, so that they may become imperishable flowers of the divine rose-garden, nightingales of the ideal paradise, servants of the world of humanity, and the fruit of the tree of your life.
Live in such harmony that others may take your lives for an example and may say one to another: Look how they live like two doves in one nest, in perfect love, affinity and union. It is as though God had kneaded the very essence of their beings for the love of one another.
Attain the ideal love that God has destined for you, so that you may become partakers of eternal life forthwith. Quaff deeply from the fountain of truth, and dwell all the days of your life in the paradise of glory, gathering immortal flowers from the garden of divine mysteries.
Be to each other as heavenly lovers and divine beloved ones dwelling in a paradise of love. Build your nest on the leafy branches of the tree of love. Sail upon the shoreless sea of love. Walk in the eternal rose-garden of love. Bathe in the shining rays of the sun of love. Be firm and steadfast in the path of love. Perfume your nostrils with the fragrances from the flowers of love. Attune your ears to the soul-entrancing melodies of love. Let your aims be as generous as the banquets of love, and your words as a string of white pearls from the ocean of love. Drink deeply of the elixir of love, so that you may live continually in the reality of Divine Love.”
A bit pesonal…
Posted in sim on July 12, 2009 by fahandSo you know how they say everyone comes to your life for a reason? Thanks to my gullibility I’ve always learned that the hard way. The latest person has been the best example of this.
I got myself in a messy situation for quite a while and even though I knew I was making a mistake I ignored it, mostly because ignoring it was way easier than dealing with it. What I didn’t realize was that as time went by it was getting worst and though I thought I was doing myself a favor, I was really preparing myself for an incredible test that affected many aspects of my life.
This all sounds so confusing, but all you need to know is that I was going way out of track and thankfully I stopped it before it got worst. It was a hard decision, but I did it. The most surprising thing to myself, though, was that I stuck with it. But I didn’t stick with it because I was strong. I did it because I met someone who, without knowing it, pulled me out of it. This person made me realize how far I had gone from the things that mattered to me and how much I had given up.
The past…I can’t say months because it has been way longer than that…but the past while has been an emotional roller coaster for me. I was thinking about it tonight and I realized that it has all been for a reason. This person somehow guided me to overcome what I was going through and realize what the real solution was. And I am so, so grateful.
I don’t like posting cheesy, emo posts for the world to read but it has been on my mind so I thought I would write about it. 
My Iran
Posted in sim on July 11, 2009 by fahandSo, the past few weeks have been intense in Iran. Iranians around the world have been watching with agony while thousands of their brothers and sisters have been beaten and killed on the streets. If there is one positive thing that came out of this, though, it’s that the youth in Iran showed their bravery, open-mindedness and their unfulfilled desire to choose their own destiny.
I thought I would share a few quotes in the Baha’i writing about Iran. More than 160 years ago, Baha’u'llah envisioned a great future for Iran. He warned of horrible times of oppression but said that the distant future of Iran is bright. I couldn’t find all of them in English so some of them will only be in Farsi.
حضرت عبدالبهاء میفرمایند: ایران مرکز انوار گردد. این خاک تابناک شود و این کشور منوّر گردد و این بی نام و نشان شهیر آفاق شود و این محروم محرم آرزو و آمال و این بی بهره و نصیب فیض موفور یابد و امتیاز جوید و سرافراز گردد.
حضرت عبدالبهاء میفرمایند: … خیر عموم خواهیم و ترقّی جمهور، و به عالم آداب و اخلاق ایران خدمت می کنیم، و شب و روز می کوشیم که خدا یک روح جدیدی در جسم ایران بدمد تا یک قوّه ای خارق العاده در بنیه ایرانیان جلوه نماید.”
حضرت عبدالبهاء میفرمایند: …ولی ملاحظه خواهید کرد که به تأئید الهی ایران چنان فوران نماید که سیل جان بخشش اقالیم عالم را سبز و خرّم نماید…مشیّت الهیه تعلّق یافته و قوّه معنویه در ایران نبعان نموده. هذا امر محتوم و وعد غیر مکذوب…
“Iran shall become a focal centre of divine splendours. Her darksome soil will become luminous and her land will shine resplendent.” – Abdu’l-Baha
A Quote On Friendship
Posted in sim on May 22, 2009 by fahandThey that love beyond the World, cannot be separated by it.
Death cannot kill, what never dies.
Nor can Spirits ever be divided that love and live in the same Divine Principle; the Root and Record of their Friendship.
If Absence be not death, neither is theirs.
Death is but Crossing the World, as Friends do the Seas; They live in one another still.
For they must needs be present, that love and live in that which is Omnipresent.
In this Divine Glass, they see Face to Face; and their Converse is Free, as well as Pure.
This is the Comfort of Friends, that though they may be said to Die, yet their Friendship and Society are, in the best Sense, ever present, because Immortal.
William Penn’s Fruits of Solitude (Part II: Union of Friends)
