A spiritual enterprise

At the recent UK institutional meeting, Counsellor Shirin Fozdar-Foroudi gave a wonderful talk about the Five Year Plan as a spiritual enterprise.

I made some notes as she spoke, and you can read these by clicking on the ‘read the rest of this entry’ link below. As before, I must emphasize that these are my personal notes and are not a transcript of the talk and they are not exhaustive, However, I hope they give a reasonable flavour of what the Counsellor said.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Counsellors

Presentation by Counsellor Shirin Fozdar-Foroudi

A most precious weekend to come together to study the message and to be together with those who are striving to align their will with the will of God. Because of what we?re doing, seeing, feeling, it brings a deep sense of joy, reassurance and comfort.

Helpful to remember what this glorious process is. It?s not just numbers. It is a spiritual enterprise. The final paragraphs of the 27 December letter remind us of this. If we forget this we fail to reap the benefit of the spiritual forces that at our disposal.

It?s a manifestation of the power of Bah??u?ll?h that He has chosen ?insignificant gnats? to accomplish His purpose. We understand the pattern of what is happening in the world and we respond accordingly. But we can respond only if we have unremitting faith, prayer, the promptings of the soul, divine assistance. We also have to be systematic ? the necessary mode of functioning prompted by the urgency of the need to act.

Why the urgency? There is an over-arching reason: the pitiable plight of the masses of humanity. They must be fed. Vision must be restored where confidence is lost. Nothing short of God?s wholesome medicine can restore the vitality of men?s belief in God.

We need to become more effective sharers of this elixir. We need to learn to help those who have tasted of the elixir to share it with others. Some are active searchers; there?s no problem reaching out to them. Some are living their lives without particular joy; we need to find the way to initiate conversations about their spiritual purpose on this plane of existence. What we find in the writings of Bah??u?ll?h are spiritual realities and have particular application for anyone who has recognized the Lord of the Age.

What else is this if it is not a spiritual enterprise? It is truly the most important work we can be engaged in. The entire process we call civilization is a spiritual enterprise. The object of the Revelation of Bah??u?ll?h is to inwardly and outwardly transform mankind. Transformation in the lives of individuals, the community and the institutions.

While the mind seeks intellectual certainty, what the soul longs for is the attainment of certitude. Such inner conviction is the ultimate goal of all spiritual seeking, regardless of how rapid or gradual the process may be. For the soul, the experience of conversion is not an extraneous or incidental feature of the exploration of religious truth, but the pivotal issue that must eventually be addressed. There is no ambiguity about Bah??u?ll?h?s words on the subject and there can be none in the minds of those who seek to serve Him: ?Verily I say, this is the Day in which mankind can behold the Face, and hear the Voice, of the Promised One. The Call of God hath been raised, and the light of His countenance hath been lifted up upon men. It behoveth every man to blot out the trace of every idle word from the tablet of his heart, and to gaze, with an open and unbiased mind, on the signs of His Revelation, the proofs of His Mission, and the tokens of His glory.? [One Common Faith]

If we understand this, we will not feel that it is exploiting a situation to share a prayer with someone who is suffering and vulnerable. We need to understand what the purpose of the person?s suffering and vulnerability. We should not wait to be asked, since people have no idea to what they should ask for.

Individuals who are trained and consecrate our lives become dynamos of growth in their own areas, despite feeling incompetent, realizing that it is not they who achieve the transformation in others, but it is the divine forces.

Love and unity in the community exert a powerful force of attraction, sharing a common vision of our purpose. If we have questions we should ask them in our desire to understand how to align our wills with the will of God. A diverse community that is strongly united will attract the divine forces and will attract others who are seeking. We have to gain victory over our own selves, to banish those things that are the cause of misunderstanding and disharmony, which could be blocks to growth.

Martha Root, the archetypal itinerant Bah??? teacher, used to bring such great joy to the Guardian at times when he felt tired, depressed and disheartened. The House of Justice must feel very acutely the dangers facing our beloved family in Iran. Our response should be to be able to share stories of such victories that will be bring joy to the House of Justice. [Shirin was in tears when she spoke about this.]

Technorati Tags: Five Year Plan, spiritual enterprise, Bah??u?ll?h, elixir, community, Martha Root, House of Justice