Wanderings » teaching

Vilisi’s Presentation

TeacherJay — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:07:36 +0000

A friend let me know about this wonderful video from Fiji of 10 year old Vilisi delivering Anna’s Presentation. For those of you who have not encountered it, Anna’s Presentation is a model of way to tell someone about the Baha’i Faith. It covers not only the main principles of the Faith, but also the manifestation of Baha’u'llah. It was wonderful to see such a young child so knowledgeable about the Faith, and also so interested in sharing this knowledge. She does a wonderful job of delivering the presentation and the video is interspersed with images of the Baha’i community on the Fijian islands. As a former dweller of the topics, I loved to hear the rooster in the background and to see the beautiful colors of the vegetation, but also the reminder that Baha’is all over the world share the same stories, and a common Faith that unites them in their diversity.

After viewing this video with them, I had an 8 year girl, a 11 year old boy and their mother ask me about Anna’s Presentation and wanted me to give more details. It was Vilisi’s presentation that opened the door to the conversation and she is truly “a brilliant lamp and a shining star.” Thank you Vilisi (and thank you Elham for sending me the link).

Interfaith Explorer

TeacherJay — Mon, 28 Dec 2009 06:01:00 +0000

I have a been a long-time user of Ocean, but was occasionally frustrated with its slow search capabilities. Friends had told me about Interfaith Explorer, but it was not until today that I finally tried it out. I do prefer this application because it has about twice the number of documents and allows the user to search in only certain sections. For example, instead of searching ALL Baha’i documents, I can search through only documents by `Abdu’l-Bahá. The search does seem a little sluggish, but it allows for the full reading of documents and is available in many more languages. Unfortunately, there is no Linux version, but the inline option is a suitable alternative.

This program is recommended for anyone wanting to do interfaith research and or just wanting to explore the sacred (and many additional) texts from some of the world’s major religions.

Interfaith Explorer is available at: http://www.bahairesearch.com/

First Interaction

TeacherJay — Sun, 27 Dec 2009 22:07:14 +0000

I was at a mid-IPG reflection meeting this morning discussing the importance of first interactions a person may have with the Baha’i Faith, because first impressions last forever. Even though a person may not want to learn more about the Faith, or even have a favorable opinion of it in those early moments, as long as the Baha’i is respectful, courteous, knowledgeable, etc., than the person can gain a positive impression of the Baha’is are what they stand for. This may begin a long chain of events and a person may ask questions internally about her/his own beliefs.

I related my first encounter with the Faith, which happened to be Haifa, Israel at the Shrine of the Báb. I liked what I learned about the Faith that day, but I was not ready to become a Baha’i yet. Likewise, I recall telling someone in Guatemala about the Faith once. She was not interested in becoming a Baha’i, but appreciated knowing that the Faith existed and that there were Baha’is in her country.

As we move into teaching opportunities, although we have been advised to work towards the direct teaching of the Faith, it is also important to remember that sometimes all we need to do is be good examples of the teachings of Baha’u'llah and let people know what we believe.

Protesting Hate

TeacherJay — Fri, 25 Sep 2009 15:36:41 +0000

I see stories about groups such as the Westboro Baptist Church picketing Jewish Synagogues, public high school students, and even the funerals of American soldiers for supposedly going against their ideology. I am concerned by their actions, but even moreso about the message they send about themselves. I am sure groups that spread hate think they are doing right by their own misguided beliefs, but even if they do, nobody will be “converted” to their way of thin king by seeing protest rallies, or slogans shouted at them.

I was very glad to see that Donna Lieberman of the NYCLU reminded us that although Westboro’s right to protest is protected under the First Amendment, they do not have the right to intimidate, threaten and harass and schoolchildren. Even better, though, was the response from those schoolchildren who turned out in droves to peacefully, confront the group with signs of love. By protesting the hate that was being spread, they won.

The Baha’i Faith teaches us to respect each other and to love each other whether we have differences or not, and whether we believe the same things or not. We are forbidden from proselytizing the Faith and understand that people form their own judgments about people, about other religions, about homosexuality, and anything else in life through observation and direct interaction. No amount of protesting, or slogans will convince someone and only serves to convolute the message. We, as Baha’is, protest hate, and promote love and unity.

Consort with all the peoples, kindreds and religions of the world with the utmost truthfulness, uprightness, faithfulness, kindliness, good-will and friendliness, that all the world of being may be filled with the holy ecstasy of the grace of Baha, that ignorance, enmity, hate and rancor may vanish from the world and the darkness of estrangement amidst the peoples and kindreds of the world may give way to the Light of Unity.

~ Abdu’l-Baha, The Will and Testament, p. 14

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