Irfán Colloquia
Bosch Bahá'í School
Santa Cruz, California · USA
May 22–25, 2015
Papers from this session
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"He-She-It Is"� (Huwa): The re-created Basmala in Babi-Baha'i Literary Commencements
"In the Name of God, the Merciful, the Compassionate" بِس�'مِ اللهِ الر�'َ��'منِ الر�'َ�ِيمِ "In the Name of God, the Inaccessible, the Most Holy" بِس�'مِ اللهِ الامنع الاقدس "In the Name of God, the Glorious, the All-Glorious" بِس�'مِ اللهِ بهي الابهى "The Greatest verse of the Qur'an is the basmala" (Ibn `Abbas relayed in al-Suyuti, al-Itqan, 91) "The Basmala is closer to the Greatest Name (al-ism al-a`zam) than the black of the eye is to its white" (words attributed to the 8th Imam `Ali al-Rida' [c. 148/765- d. 203/818] as narrated in the `Uyun al-akhbar and the Tafsir al-`Ayyashi, etc).
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Islamic and Baha'i Interpretations of the tradition "He who knoweth himself knoweth his Lord"
The purpose of interpretation is to reveal the inner meaning of a verse of Quran or a tradition. Historically, various methods of interpretation have been utilized to arrive at the inner meaning and real purpose of the verses of Quran or traditions. These methods have resulted in significantly various outcomes and understandings. In this presentation, an overview of various methods of interpretation utilized by scholars is followed by specific focus on the well known tradition of "He who knoweth himself knoweth his Lord". Our study shall include the Islamic interpretations as well as those found in the tablets revealed by Baha'u'llah.
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The Language of the Heart: From Dream Language towards Understanding the Language of the Heart
The Bahá'í Religion could justifiably be called the "Religion of the Heart." Statistically for example in the Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh the heart is the most frequently used word after God. God 995, Heart 236, Revelation 229, Divine 142 and all other words, like Love, Faith, Hope, Justice, Unity (together with Oneness) Knowledge, Mankind are used less than 100 times. The heart in the Bahá'í Writings is given a special meaning; concepts like the city of the heart and the citadel of the heart are emphasizing the importance of the heart. The heart is described as possessing sensory capacities. Bahá'u'lláh talks about the "eye of thine heart" (KI 90),"ear of his inmost heart" (SLH 86),"hearts have been sorely shaken" (PM 12) and the "wise and understanding heart" (ESW 65) and suggests that one "Ponder this in thine heart" (ESW 74). These statements can be correlated with the findings of modern Neurocardiology, which describes the "little brain" of the heart, having perception, memory and decision making ability. Recent work in the relatively new field of Neurocardiology has firmly established that the heart is a sensory organ and a sophisticated information encoding and processing center. Its circuitry enables it to learn, remember, and make functional decisions independent of the cranial brain.[1]
Published in Lights of Irfán, Vol. 17, pp. 65–110
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Meaning, Essence, and Latency in the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá
Concepts such as meaning, essence, inmost self, hidden and manifest, inner meaning, depth of understanding, etc. permeate Bahá'í Sacred Writings. For example, Bahá'u'lláh states: "The Purpose of the one true God, exalted be His glory, in revealing Himself unto men is to lay bare those gems that lie hidden within the mine of their true and inmost selves." Such an apparently simple sentence examines, at once, notions of revelation, manifestation, hidden/appearance, and inmost self. This presentation explores the significance of these concepts and their inter-relationships, especially as they apply to process thinking, nihilism, and teleology. Specifically, in a world where notions such as meaning, sanctity, essence, and depth are questioned, avoided, or otherwise found irrelevant, it is demonstrated that it is precisely the absence of due attention to them that corresponds to distrust, bewilderment, aimlessness and apathy. On the contrary, attention to appearances, superficiality and liquidity of concepts characterize the post-modern society suffering from anarchy on the one hand and extremism on the other.
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Memorials of the Faithful: An Introduction
Composed in Farsi by Abdu'l-Baha in 1915 and translated into English by Marzieh Gail, "Memorials of the Faithful" is an anthology of biographies of some early believers of the east. During those tumultuous years of WWI when people of the earth, ignorant of their savior, were contending with fire and death, and at a time when followers of Baha'u'llah, for the most part, were temporarily barred from beholding the beauty of its Center of Covenant, bounteous will of the Master graciously moved to immortalize the lives of over ninety God intoxicated men and women. In this presentation, we will consider a general overview of the book along with some select episodes from its contents.
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Memorials of the Faithful: Promptings of the Spirit
The occasion of the 100th anniversary of the publication of 'Abdu'l-Baha's eulogies of a select number of early believers offers an appropriate opportunity, to consider, beyond the particulars of the lives and experiences of these friends, some of the verities and allusions set forth or implied by the Master in these accounts. In other words, exploring those spiritual truths and dimensions which bear directly today on the life and reality of the human soul and its spiritual hopes and aspirations. May we not presume this as a vital facet of His original intention. Exploring insights into the role of such themes as the love of God, of steadfastness, sacrifice and humble service to the Cause of God, are intended to enhance our prospects of dealing successfully with the current challenges of Baha'i life.
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Nietzsche and the Baha'i Writings: An Introductory Exploration
First appearances to the contrary, the Baha'i Writings and Nietzsche's philosophy share a surprising number of features in common that allow Baha'is to re-vision Nietzsche from a new perspective. The basis of this re-visioning are the Aristotelian elements in the Writings which I have documented in a previous paper and similar elements underlying the works of Nietzsche who calls on man to "become what he is," i.e. to actualize his potential to become an Uebermensch.* In other words, both the Writings and Nietzsche analyze reality in Aristotelian terms: actuality and potential; essence/substance and attribute; matter and form; essential and accidental as well as causality. Both have a dynamic understanding of reality and both see human life as a process towards a new and superior form of mankind, i.e. as a quest for greater actualization of our powers. Viewed from a Baha'i perspective, being "beyond good and evil" also takes on a new meaning. Interestingly enough, the Baha'i Writings offer a way to interpret the "will to power" in a way that resolves various contradictory understandings. They also agree on the need for 'superior individuals' called 'Manifestations' by the Writings to guide humankind. Of course, there are significant differences between the Writings and Nietzsche, the most obviously being Nietzsche's sometimes hysterical tone in which he reaches rhetorical excesses that seem to lead his thinking into absurdity. One of these is the "eternal recurrence" which not only contradicts the whole tenor of his philosophy but also is negated by the second law of thermodynamics of which Nietzsche was aware. * I shall use the word Uebermensch because, as a native German speaker, I know there is no satisfactory or even adequate English translation of this word. Note: This article was published twice: in Volume 17 without footnotes, and in Volume 18 with notes. The PDF below is the newer version. [-J.W., June 2017]
Published in Lights of Irfán, Vol. 17, pp. 111–178
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Provisional Translation of the Persian Tablet of A�mad and a Review of Its Contents
The Persian Tablet of Aá��mad is one of the Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh revealed in Adrianople addressed to a person by the name Aá��mad who is a native of Káshán, a city in the Central Iran. It may not be regarded as a lengthy Tablet but it contains invaluable exhortations to its recipient, the people of the Bayan, as well as other people. The Guardian of the Bahá'í Faith selected certain paragraphs from this Tablet perhaps based on the suitability of their contents and then translated them into English. Such translated paragraphs appear, in scattered form, in the body of the authorized and authentic translation of the Bahá'í Scriptures in English. Since, the original sources for most of the small passages translated by the Guardian are not readily available, the author made an effort to search and to identify the Persian counterpart for those paragraphs of this Tablet translated by the Guardian. These passages constitute almost half of the Table. Then, translated passages were placed together in the same order as that appearing in the original Tablet. However, such paragraphs did not form a continuous text and presented many gaps in between these paragraphs which were to be filled by the author of this paper through the process of translation. Such task posed a challenge arising from the fact that the author's translation of the new passages required to be compatible with and conform to the style of the translation of the Guardian both in terms of the selection of words, and poetic expressions and sentence structure. The outcome of this endeavour were to be a wholesome translated text of the entire Tablet which would ensure that any reader of this Tablet could not distinguish between the styles of the two translations; otherwise such a reader would be confronted with two different styles of translation which would keep switching back and forth, an exercise which would ultimately defeat the purpose of the translation. Of course, this requirement is not unique to this translation alone and may be present in cases where a significant part of a Tablet is translated by the Guardian. The author is confident that such objectives are achieved in this case and the outcome of the translation is a text which exhibits smooth transition from one paragraph to another as anyone reads through the Tablet. In this paper the historical background for, and the circumstances which lead to, the revelation of this Tablet is reviewed and some of the concepts which characterise this Tablet are discussed.
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A Review and Content Analysis of Aflakiyyih, `Abdu'l-Bahá's Tablet of the Universe
Abdu'l-Bahá in the "Lawh-i-Aflákiyyih" translated as "Tablet of the Universe" describes different aspects of what he refers to as "the holy realities" and the reality as "established in both the hidden and manifest worlds", The realities that "capable neither of being defined by limits nor contained within the compass of signs and allusions"; He moreover, describes how through "the power of attraction and propagation," the existence has become manifested and been "set in order" and each and every being has "became the recipients and the manifestations of "the Divine conditions and Eternal signs. Emerging from behind the veils". He furthermore explains how natural "evolution" takes place within the realm of "creation". Lastly Abdu'l-Bahá touches on the various descriptions of the Universe as explained by Ptolemy and Al-Farabi. [The original Tablet in Arabic is published in Makátib-i 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Vol. 1, pages 13-32. There is also a provisional translation of this Tablet that can be found at bahai-library.com/abdulbaha_lawh_aflakiyyih.]
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To Study and to Teach: Twin Duties in service to the Cause of God
Drawing from numerous examples from the Holy Texts, Shoghi Effendi singles out these two major obligations as ever incumbent upon the believers with respect to the propagation of the Cause. The presentation will draw attention to some of these vital sources from the Holy Writings, as well as to other references in the Guardian's own correspondence bearing on the topic. The extracts help explore the wide spectrum of preparation versus inspiration, an ongoing challenge to the sincere believer. Consideration of the acceptability of matching our preparations to our given capacity. The question of expanded capacity by grace itself as a dimension of preparation. Suggested approaches and steps in the study of the Writings. The role of learning aspects not necessarily needed in an initial presentation of the Faith.
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The Universal Masculine and Feminine
Why did God create man first? Because She wanted to start with something simple. Just because something sounds funny, doesn't mean it is not true. But the concepts of masculinity and femininity are not just related to men and women. Rather men and women are particular instances of these concepts. This latter statement has many important implications, the most important of which is that men and women and their sex-based characteristics are not mere artifacts of biology, evolution, or need for procreation. Masculinity and femininity are defined in terms of characteristics that are found in live creatures as well as inanimate objects. These concepts are defined in terms of modes of actions or reactions or how they manifest themselves. In particular, whether such actions or reactions are concentrated or distributed. The masculine characteristic is related to concentration or focus, while the feminine characteristic is related to diffusion or distribution. Concentration and diffusion are basic and complementary traits of any system or process. Baha'u'llah and Abdu'l-Baha, expound, in several tablets on the station of women and their place in human affairs, and that men and women are "co-equal" and "complement" each other. Abdu'l-Baha also explains that men are distinct from women because of the forceful nature of both their bodies and minds. The "forceful nature" is closely related to the masculine characteristics as defined in this paper. These characteristics are applied to men and women at various levels of detail including sub-cellular, cellular, physiological, anatomical, emotional, cognitive, and behavioral. At each level, the masculine and feminine traits manifest themselves in a complementary fashion, sometimes distinctly and sometimes more subtly. These differences are purposeful, not arbitrary. As it turns out, the masculine characteristics also tend to make men simpler or more straightforward in terms of their behaviors and interactions, as indicated by the opening remark above. It follows that men and women are complementary at fundamental levels and as such, both are capable to perform any function but in different manners and with different emphasis. Such complementation does not confer privilege or priority on either sex. It provides the specializations necessary for collaboration and achievement. It further follows that although men and women are not the same in characteristics, but they are equal in the rights to exercise their characteristics freely.