Visit by students from Jersey College for Girls

Yesterday a group of ten sixth formers from Jersey College for Girls came to the UK National Baha’i Centre in London for a tour and to discuss certain aspects of the Faith.

I had spoken to the same group two or three years ago when I was in Jersey for the celebration of the 50th anniversary of the establishment of the Bah??? community in the Channel Islands. Their RE teacher, Tom Fallon, contacted me to say that the group was coming to London as part of its Religious Education study to meet representatives of different faiths.

The students had been impressive when I had met them previously; they are even more so now. I gave them the tour of the building, but the main theme was the role of revelation and experience in the Faith. There were some perceptive questions from them. Some of them had even been on a study tour to India and had visited the Lotus Temple in Delhi.

As I say, these students were very impressive: they asked perceptive and well thought out questions, a number of which were of a philosophical kind. They have been studying religion and philosophy in depth for around four years and have an understanding of religion that goes beyond what is so often taught in schools: artefacts, festivals and rituals. In other words, these girls have gone well beyond the merely superficial study of religion and belief.

It was a great opportunity to speak in depth about the Revelation of Baha’u'llah and about my experience as a Baha’i. I shared with them my devotion to the long Obligatory Prayer, which has, on occasion, elicited feelings and consciousness of a - I was going to say ‘of a mystical nature’, but I think that would be to claim too much - of an exalted kind.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, education

A note on the island of Jersey. Jersey is, along with other islands such as Guernsey, Alderney and Sark, part of a group of islands in the English Channel known as the Channel Islands. They are close to the coast of Normandy and one can clearly see the French coast from some places in Jersey.

Each island is self-governing and has its own legal system, based on ancient Norman law. They are independent of each other and of the United Kingdom, but they come under the UK for defence and foreign affairs purposes. They are not even part of the European Union.

They are in the Sterling currency area, but make their own notes and coins, and have their own low-tax regimes.

They are great to visit, but difficult to get to live in. You have either to deposit a considerable sum of money in whichever island you wish to live in or to be employed in a job in education or the health service and other sectors for whom there are not enough native islanders to fill the posts.

Do visit, if you get the chance. Each island has its own particular charms. They may be relatively small, but there are wonderful narrow country lanes and all kinds of nooks and crannies to visit, not mention the delightful coastlines of the islands. And the history is fascinating!

Technorati Tags: Jersey, Channel Islands, revelation, India, Lotus Temple, Delhi

Start Slide Show with PicLens Lite