Category — Religion & spirituality

Some years ago Mrs Barnabas and I took a holiday in the Basque region of south west France, close to the Spanish border.

One of the attractions in the area the tiny settlement of l’Hôpital St Blaise (more detailed page on French Wikipedia) on the Way of St James, the ancient pilgrim route to Santiago de Compostela (St James of  Compostela). The star building was a tiny 12th century Romanesque church with features that were clearly derived from Islamic architectural practice.

There are waymarks along the pilgrim route and, sadly, these get vandalized with graffiti. Curiously, and doubly sad for me as a Bahá’í, some of the waymarks have had the letters BAHAI or BAHAI.ORG painted on them, as the reports on this website show.

What people thought of the Bahá’ís

One pilgrim commented in March this year:

In the evenings in the albuerges this led to quite a few heated discussions, someone had found out that it is the name of a non-christian religious group. Well, I don’t know anything about them or if it really was a member of this group but whoever did these graffitis didn’t do this organization a favour….

An old woman in a village told us that they appeared between December and February.

Others took a more moderate view:

I’m sure we all condemn such vandalism - and many of the waymark stones on many of the routes are vandalised in some way. Simlarly there are those who disrespect the routes by throwing litter and trash all over the place.

However I’d make a plea that we don’t get into any controversy about the authorship of this particular graffiti - http://www.bahai.org appears to be the website of the Bahai faith which is clearly not Islamic.

And:

I agree. When I walked the Camino in December, the ‘Bahai’ graffiti had been freshly done. I too found it irritating, but my thoughts turned to the poor (and perhaps damaged) individual who found it necessary to spoil the environment in that way. I did not imagine for a moment that it was the expression of a group. Followers of the Bahai faith are respectable and peaceful people and would not be in sympathy with an individual who spoiled the environment in this way. Neither - in all probability - is that individual anything to do with them!

Bahá’í graffiti condemned

As a Bahá’í I absolutely condemn the use of the name of my faith as graffiti to damage the waymarks on this (or indeed on any other) pilgrimage route - of whatever faith. Pilgrimage is an ancient, respected and universal religious practice and one that Bahá’ís share.

Sadly, it seems that the person who perpetrated this outrage was a Bahá’í, as this entry on the pilgrimage site shows:

Afraid the chap got a bit cocky, and left his details in the visitors’ books along the way.

He is a 56 year-old, from Metz in France, named Jean-Marc Tesson. I even have his National ID number that he left in the book in Arzua.

I find it difficult to believe that a Bahá’í perpetrated this outrage and I am deeply ashamed and saddened that this is the case. What did he hope to achieve? It clearly was not the act of a balanced or rational person. I hope his conscience is giving him a hard time.

Interestingly, a number of the pilgrims were more inclined to be forgiving towards this vandal than I am!

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, pilgrimage, pilgrim route, Santiago de Compostela, St James of Compostela, Camino, Way of St James, vandalism, graffiti

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Dalai Lama with senior faith representatives at Lambeth Palace [Photo: © Lambeth Palace]

Here’s a picture of the Dalai Lama with the religious representatives at Lambeth Palace on 23 May. You can find my post about this wonderful encounter here.

I’m in the back row on the left of the line-up, next to Cardinal Cormac Murpy-O’Connor.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Buddhism, Barnabas Quotidianus, Dalai Lama, faith leaders, Archbishop of Canterbury

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Today has been the Bahá’í Holy Day known as the Declaration of the Báb. It marks the very beginning of the Bahá’í Faith in the Iranian city of Shiraz in 1844.

My great treat for the day was a trip to Lambeth Palace, the Archbishop of Canterbury’s historic residence in London, to take part in a private meeting of religious representatives with the Dalai Lama.

Demonstrators

Two small groups of demonstrators, penned by the police across Lambeth Palace Road from the palace gate, shouted the odds as I arrived (not, please note, because I arrived). One group wanted China out of Tibet and accused the Dalai Lama of betraying Tibet. The other group seemed to favour China’s remaining in Tibet.

Inside, as always, Lambeth Palace was a peaceful retreat from the constant noise of London traffic.

The Prime Minister, the Archbishop and the Dalai Lama

I was conducted across the courtyard from the main gate to the Atrium, an unusual informal space which subsequently proved to suit the nature and mood of the meeting very well. As the Buddhist monks and leading Christians, Hindus, Jews, a Jain, a Muslim, a Sikh, and a Zoroastrian gathered, conversations started. Some of us knew each other well, others were meeting for the first time.

Suddenly media teams arrived, quickly followed by the Prime Minister, the Dalai Lama and the Archbishop of Canterbury. Gordon Brown, not looking at all fazed by the result of the Crewe and Nantwich by-election, shook our hands and smiled (looking much more natural in this act than he does on TV), chatted with a few, and then left.

We took our seats in a circle with the Dalai Lama: Archbishop Rowan Williams, Cardinal Cormac Murphy O’Connor in his scarlet skull-cap and scarlet edged cassock, the various Buddhists, the Sikh, the Jews, the Hindus, the Jain, the Bahá’í, the Zoroastrian, the Director of the Inter Faith Network, a panoply of spirituality. Archbishop Rowan welcomed all of us and invited the Dalai Lama to give a short meditation.

Actually, it was a short homily, simple but profound, as one has come to expect of the Dalai Lama.

Our common humanity

He relates to human beings, he said, on various levels. The foundation is the level of our common humanity, a level he referred to as “secular ethics”. In other words, all human beings have the same needs and can agree on common values, regardless of whether they have any religious beliefs or not. Everyone wants a happy life and wants to avoid suffering.

But there is a great deal of suffering in the world, despite the advances in science and technology. All spiritual traditions, he said, address suffering through love and compassion. All human beings come from one Source.

Human unity, religious diversity

However, when one relates to people at the level of religious doctrine, differences are infinite. Religions are either theistic or non-theistic. Within each broad category, there are many different beliefs and practices.

• And yet, despite these different approaches, all traditions have the same message of love and compassion.
• The theistic traditions see all humans and sons and daughters of one God.
• The non-theistic traditions cultivate right action towards all human beings.
• And at the level of our humanity, one can find common ethical ground with everyone, including those who have no particular religious belief or who are atheists.

Religion and ecology

To close his meditation, the Dalai Lama called on the religions to be more active in environmental protection, a call that was echoed by Archbishop Rowan.

Questions to the Dalai Lama

After the meditation, we were, one by one, introduced to the Dalai Lama, who made namaste to each of us. We then had some time for questions and discussion. Mostly questions, it has to be said. Who is going to engaged in debate with the Dalai Lama?

The first questioners asked about religious extremism and intolerance. One or two of the questions focused on ethics. What did he mean by “secular ethics”? What practical steps, asked an ayatollah in black robe and turban, can we take to put these ideas into practice?

Compassion and the motivation to act ethically

When my turn came, I said I thought religion provided an important motivation for people to follow an ethical path. The Archbishop nodded. How, I asked, did the Dalai Lama envisage people being motivated to follow secular ethics?

The Archbishop nodded again.

Compassion, said the Dalai Lama. Everyone has the capacity for compassion. Compassion is what motivates people to ethical acts.

Archbishop Rowan brought the meeting to a close, referring to compassion as a release from the prison of self. And, he said, one of our prisons is the prison of greed. He endorsed the Dalai Lama’s call for greater religious involvement in the environment.

Once again the Dalai Lama made namaste to each of us.

Photographs and farewells

Afterwards we went outside into the warm and rather humid sunshine for photographs and farewells. Archbishop Rowan said he wished the meeting could have gone on much longer. We had been touching on some really interesting questions, especially in the field of ethics.

This is how the Archbishop’s own news release described the meeting:

The religious leaders who had gathered to welcome His Holiness the Dalai Lama listened with great appreciation to what he had to say about the priority of compassion in all our religious traditions. He also spoke about the need for all of us to engage with our culture not only in the vocabulary of our specific convictions but out of a recognition of a common humanity – a ’secular ethics’ alongside the doctrines and disciplines of faith. A warm and searching discussion took place, and the meeting ended with a time of shared silence. It was a privilege to have this opportunity of engaging with a great spiritual teacher.

Reflections

In some ways, what the Dalai Lama said seemed obvious. In saying that, I do not mean to denigrated it (or him) in any way. My guess is that it was obvious because he was drawing on the common spiritual heritage of humankind and citing wisdom that is to be found in every genuine spiritual tradition.

It was undoubtedly a great honour to spend some 90 minutes in the presence of one of the world’s great spiritual presences. What I love about the Dalai Lama is that he manages to combine this great spirituality with humility and humour, delicious and down-to-earth.

As I emerged from the gate of Lambeth Palace onto the noise and bustle of the street, the protesters were packing up their banners and heading off towards Waterloo.

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Dalai Lama, Archbishop of Canterbury, religion, spirituality, wisdom, common humanity

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On 11 October I posted this about Dr Randy Pausch. Dr Pausch has been diagnosed with terminal cancer of the pancreas. Instead of giving up on life, as I would be tempted to do, he has embraced both his coming death and the time he has left to live life to the full in the most positive and creative way imaginable.

This coming Tuesday (27 November) he’ll be giving a lecture at the University of Virginia on how to get the most out of your time, no matter how much or how little time you have left. The lecture is free and open to the public.

If I were in within reach of the University of Virginia Tuesday afternoon, I know exactly where I would be this coming Tuesday afternoon. But I’ll be in the UK then, so I’m going to watch the lecture online.

His “Last Lecture” was so extraordinarily humorous, inspiring and moving that I really don’t want to miss his Time Management lecture.

You can find links to Randy Pausch’s video lectures, media coverage and his legacy in general here. If you haven’t come across this gem of a man before, watch the video of his Last Lecture.

Technorati Tags: Randy Pausch, personal development, time management, death

The Baha’i World News Service has just announced the launch of a wonderful new site about the life of Baha’u'llah, Founder of the Baha’i Faith, in pictures and text.

A new Web site featuring photographs that help viewers experience the life of Baha’u'llah has been launched by the Baha’i International Community.

Some of the photographs have not been published before, and many of them have had only limited distribution.

Douglas Moore, director of the Baha’i International Community Office of Public Information, explains:

The purpose of the Web site is to provide illustration of Baha’u'llah’s life through photographs of places and artifacts and relics associated directly with Him. We’ve tried to bring together a unique collection of photos, many of them not generally available, so that you get a better sense of Baha’u'llah’s life and the time period in which He lived.

Baha’u'llah’s room in Takur, Mazindaran. Photo by Effie Baker, ca. 1930

Baha’u'llah’s story (He lived from 1817 to 1892) is quite remarkable, linking as it does a deep and abiding spirituality, religion and modernity. Baha’u'llah lived in a society that seemed buried in the past, but He Himself addressed the very questions that are at the heart of the challenges facing the world in the 21st century. And Baha’u'llah’s own experience, encompassing as it does imprisonment, torture, exile, poverty, bereavement, reflects what so many have suffered and continue to suffer in the modern age. Despite His often bitter and heart-rending suffering. Baha’u'llah was renowned for the extraordinary loving-kindness, forgiveness and wisdom that He showered on all He met.

Do visit www.bahaullah.org, whether you are a Baha’i or not. But please note there is no picture of Baha’u'llah Himself on the site. This is deliberate. There is a photograph of Baha’u'llah in the International Baha’i Archives at the Baha’i World Centre, but it is treated with extreme reverence by Baha’is and viewing the photo is a very special part of the Baha’i pilgrimage experience. Baha’is do not publish it, nor do they reproduce it.

[Pictures in this post are ©Baha'i International Community]

Technorati Tags: Baha’i, Bahai, Baha’u'llah, Bahaullah, Baha Allah, Iran, Middle East, 19th century, history, religion

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