Personal diary of John Barnabas (aka Barney) Leith

Tendayi Chingeye, a delegate from Zimbabwe.

A great new story on Bahá’í World News Service starts like this:

Experiencing the diversity of the human family can be humbling, as Bahá’ís attending their recent international convention learned.

Gregory C Dahl, a delegate from Bulgaria and former International Monetary Fund staffer thought it was the most diverse gathering of people on the planet - and he’s attended more than a few UN-related meetings.

At the United Nations, there are representatives from many countries, but not from so many different social, economic, and professional classes.

The story is illuminating, but the photographs touch the heart. Go have a look. These are people elected by their Bahá’í communities to represent them. I’m including a small selection of the pictures below.

Nuriyeh McLaren and Daniel Woodard, delegates from Venezuela.

Santos Vargas, a delegate from Bolivia.

Keyhan Ighanian (left) and Thor Henning Lerstad, both from Norway.

(All pictures © Bahá’í World News Service.)

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Brian Kurzius has sent me the link to his photos of the light display behind the Shrine of the Báb on Mt Carmel to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the State of Israel. They are great photos, taken from Brian and Christine’s apartment in Haifa.

And Brian has put an animation of the light show on his blog. Well worth a look.

Many thanks, Brian.

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It’s not every day that one can see the Shrine of the Báb like this. These blue lights sweeping over Mount Carmel were there to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the foundation of the State of Israel.

According to this story on Arlington Baha’i, normal lighting of the Shrine was reduced for the occasion.

I’m afraid I don’t have a photo credit for the picture.

(Hat tip: David Henderson.)

Big changes in Israel

Erica and I first visited Israel in 1970 for our first Bahá’í pilgrimage. At that time the State of Israel was but 22 years old. The 1968 war was still fresh in people’s memories. The whole place was still relatively undeveloped. But there was a tremendous energy in the country. Now, 38 years later, much has changed, but it is still a special experience to visit this land that is holy to Jews, Christians, Muslims and Bahá’ís.

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Reviving the world - regenerating its peoples

Bahá’u'lláh says this:

The Day Star of Truth that shineth in its meridian splendor beareth Us witness! They who are the people of God have no ambition except to revive the world, to ennoble its life, and regenerate its peoples. Truthfulness and good-will have, at all times, marked their relations with all men. Their outward conduct is but a reflection of their inward life, and their inward life a mirror of their outward conduct. No veil hideth or obscureth the verities on which their Faith is established. Before the eyes of all men these verities have been laid bare, and can be unmistakably recognized. Their very acts attest the truth of these words. [Gleanings CXXVI]

The energy of Convention

To sit in a large hall with over a thousand delegates and others from all sorts of backgrounds from all over the world, to hear these people express their love for God, their experiences in sharing Bahá’u'lláh’s healing message with all and sundry, to take part in a global election - conducted in an atmosphere of prayer - was to feel an extraordinary energy.

I was sitting on the edge of my bed reading this quotation from Gleanings the other morning when it struck me that this was exactly what International Convention was about. What I heard and what I experienced and what I felt at Convention showed clearly the truth of the quotation.

And it showed just how alive the Bahá’í community is right now. At International Convention ten years ago, we all wanted to lecture each other about how things should be done. Some Bahá’í communities, some National Spiritual Assemblies (naming no names) clearly felt they had it cracked. This time, though, pretty much every contribution at the microphone made it clear that we are all learning together. We are learning from each other.

In a word, the mood was collegial.

Institutions

The newly elected Universal House of Justice

And the Bahá’í institutions are alive and learning all sorts of lessons. Administration for its own sake or for the sake of control (as if!) is long dead. This is what the Universal House of Justice has written in this year’s most powerful Ridván message to the Bahá’ís of the world:

Institutions, from the national to the local level, see with ever greater clarity how to create conditions conducive to the expression of the spiritual energies of a growing number of believers in pursuit of a common goal. The community is serving more and more as that environment in which individual effort and collective action, mediated by the institute, can complement each other in order to achieve progress. The vibrancy it manifests and the unity of purpose that animates its endeavours are drawing into its swelling ranks those from every walk of life eager to dedicate their time and energies to the welfare of humanity.

The Bahá’í community - in all its endeavours - has moved a long way from where it was ten years ago. We are all clearly treading the same path. We speak a shared language about the processes of growth. We are part of a single narrative of development and systematic learning - despite the huge diversity of circumstances we live and work in. Some struggle with war, others with poverty, many of us with “forces of oppression, whether generated from the depths of religious prejudice or the pinnacles of rampant materialism”.

Whoever we are and wherever we live, we are in the business of removing oppression, particularly the grievous oppression that prevents souls from knowing where to turn in their search for truth and from whom to seek the knowledge of God.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Baha’u'llah, Bahaullah, International Convention, regeneration, oppression, God

In the House of ‘Abbúd, visitors move softly around and there’s a shush of socked feet sliding across the floor. Whispered conversations in front of pictures hanging on the walls. Pilgrims sit cross-legged on the floor of the wood-lined room where Bahá’u'lláh finished revealing the Kitáb-i-Aqdas in 1873 and contemplate the going out of the Law of God from this simple chamber.

Inside there’s peace. Outside the electronic voice of a child’s toy gun says, “Fire! Fire!” and emits the sound of shooting. Ironically, this is also the room where Bahá’u'lláh revealed the Fire Tablet.

Peace and prayers fill Bahá’u'lláh’s room in the House of ‘Abbúd. A car alarm sounds outside, but it is the power of peace that wins in this holy place.

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This is the official photograph of the Tenth International Bahá’í Convention, 26th April to 3rd May 2008.

I’m in there somewhere!

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Delegates from many nations to the International Bahá’í Convention went in groups to visit the prison cell that Bahá’u'lláh occupied in the barracks in Akka for two years, two months and five days from 31 August 1868. We crowded into the cell and sat in silence on the floor, on chairs and on the ledge just inside the windows to pray, to think, to contemplate.

This was the prison that Bahá’u'lláh named “The Most Great Prison”.

The Ancient Beauty bound with chains

After a short time, one of the delegates read the following passage from the Writings of Bahá’u'lláh, at the request of our guide:

The Ancient Beauty hath consented to be bound with chains that mankind may be released from its bondage, and hath accepted to be made a prisoner within this most mighty Stronghold that the whole world may attain unto true liberty. He hath drained to its dregs the cup of sorrow that all the peoples of the earth may attain unto abiding joy, and be filled with gladness.

Impressions

When the reading had finished, I sat quietly and opened my senses to the cell and its particular atmosphere. I wrote these impressions in my notebook at the time:

Visitors from many nations sit, rapt, in this Prison cell which is filled with the scent of cedarwood.

A cool breeze blows in through the open window and we can hear the sussuration of sea, the sound of waves breaking on rocks and against the sea wall.

A dog barks and barks. A cock crows. Someone throws planks of wood.

Pacing, pacing

I think back to the first pilgrimage that Erica and I made, in 1970. In the cell, Erica felt restless and could not stop herself walking up and down. And now I thought of Bahá’u'lláh pacing and pacing up and down in that confined space.

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The National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the UK near the Shrine of the Báb

The spot in the Most Great Prison where the Purest Branch, Mirza Mihdi, lay dying after falling through a skylight above.

Now that I am home, I am beginning to upload my pictures from the Tenth International Bahá’í Convention to Flickr. This will take a bit of time, but you can see them here.

I hope to write more tomorrow.

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I’m on my way home from International Baha’i Convention. I will blog some more reflections on the Convention (with some photos) in the next day or two.

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Throughout International Convention, we have heard from delegates from every continent, from countries poor and rich. Any delegate who wishes to speak lines up at one of the microphones and takes his or her turn to speak to the theme of the consultation session or to say whatever is on their heart. One older lady, a delegate from one of the Pacific islands, spoke through a translator to bring the greetings of the Baha’is of her island to those gathered at the Convention.

The humbling and exciting thing for those of us from the wealthy countries is that much of the really useful learning comes from the Baha’i communities of the poorer countries. It is heartwarming to hear stories from Indonesia, Chad, Solomon Islands, Nicaragua, Zambia…

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, International Convention, learning