Saving Our World

Some of what's wrong:

Major Global Issues Synopsis
As reported by the UN Environmental Program (UNEP)
Population
World population passed 6 billion in 2000, up from 2.5 billion in 1950. It is projected to grow to 8 billion in 2025, 9.3 billion in 2050, and eventually to stabilize at 10.5-11 billion.
Poverty & Inequality
The degree of inequality between rich and poor is not getting better, and this is a deterrent to reduction of poverty. There are still 1.2 billion people who subsist on less than $1 per day.
Food & Agriculture
Developing countries in general have food deficits now where they recently had surpluses. The greatest threat to forests, wetlands, mountains and biodiversity in developing countries is now seen to be the expansion of agricultural land to meet growing demand.
Water
By 2025, nearly half the world's population will experience water shortages, and it is projected that wars will increasingly be fought over water.
Forests
The world's forests continue to shrink.
Climate Change
Fossil fuel consumption and carbon dioxide emissions continue to grow, especially in Asia and the US.
Health
Most deaths in the least developed countries are readily preventable.


Today's quote:

"O people of God! Do not busy yourselves in your own concerns; let your thoughts be fixed upon that which will rehabilitate the fortunes of mankind and sanctify the hearts and souls of men. This can best be achieved through pure and holy deeds, through a virtuous life and a goodly behaviour."

Bahá’u’lláh: Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, "Lawh-i-Dunyá" or "Tablet of the World", p. 86

"...haply they may be illumined by the light of the Sun of true knowledge..."

Ever had a day when you wanted to reformat your brain's hard drive--cut down on the mental clutter society lays at your doorstep--hide from those folk who are trying to prove something--take a vacation in a cave?

When scientists indulge in fantasy and ministers cling to materialism it's time to be extremely cautious about what we accept...

"Would that the hearts of men could be cleansed from these manmade limitations and obscure thoughts imposed upon them! haply they may be illumined by the light of the Sun of true knowledge, and comprehend the mysteries of divine wisdom."

Bahá’u’lláh: The Kitáb-i-Íqán, paragraph 49, p. 43

"So great is the folly and perversity of the people, that they have turned their face toward their own thoughts and desires, and have turned their back upon the knowledge and will of God...."

Bahá’u’lláh: The Kitáb-i-Íqán, paragraph 183, p. 158

"Cleave to the Root of Knowledge, and to Him Who is the Fountain thereof, that thou mayest find thyself independent of all who claim to be well versed in human learning, and whose claim no clear proof, nor the testimony of any enlightening book, can support."

Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Selection LXXXIX, p. 177

"Rid thyself of all attachment to the vain allusions of men, and cast behind thy back the idle and subtle disputations of them that are veiled from God."

Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Selection CXXXIX, p. 303

"...faith compriseth both knowledge and the performance of good works."

Rather Easy Quiz:

Which would you rather be?

A.) Politically Correct
B.) Socially Correct
C.) Spiritually Correct

Thing is, much of Social Correctness and even a bit of Political Correctness come from Spiritual Correctness.

Doing good is a fine thing...

Doing it as more than what's normally demanded is much finer...

"Pleasing and acceptable as is a righteous person before God’s Holy Threshold, yet good works should proceed from knowledge. However matchless and exquisite may be a blind man’s handiwork, yet he himself is deprived of seeing it. How sorely do certain animals labour on man’s behalf, what loads they bear for him, how greatly they contribute to his ease and comfort; and yet, because they are unwitting, they earn no recompense for all their pains. The clouds rain down their bounty, nurturing the plants and flowers, and imparting verdure and enchantment to the plain and prairie, the forest and the garden; but yet, unconscious as they are of the results and fruit of their outpourings, they win no praise or honour, nor earn the gratitude and approbation of any man.

"The lamp imparteth light, but as it hath no consciousness of doing so, no one is indebted to it. This apart, a man of righteous deeds and goodly conduct will assuredly turn towards the Light, in whichever quarter he behold it.

"The point is this, that faith compriseth both knowledge and the performance of good works."

‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in a Memorandum from the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice to the Universal House of Justice, 28 March 1996, "Authenticity of Bahá’í World Faith and Foundations of World Unity." The quote is a revised translation of a selection of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá which appeared in Bahá’í World Faith, pp. 382-383.

"...the beauteous robe of faith..."

I like using Wikipedia, even if parts of it are untrustworthy.

No matter what field of life you name, making personal judgements about the trustworthiness of ideas, events, and people are necessary for our spiritual growth.

Even matters of faith need the clarity of reason to fuel their fires and even Wikipedia needs to make judgements about the trustworthiness of information.

Here's the beginning of their entry on Faith:

All or part of this article may be confusing or unclear. Please help clarify the article. Suggestions may be on the talk page. (December 2007)

To comply with Wikipedia's lead section guidelines, the introduction of this article may need to be rewritten. Please discuss this issue on the talk page and read the layout guide to make sure the section will be inclusive of all essential details. This article has been tagged since July 2007.

This article or section is missing citations or needs footnotes. Using inline citations helps guard against copyright violations and factual inaccuracies. (August 2007)

And, here are our quotes for today:

"Just as the conception of faith hath existed from the beginning that hath no beginning, and will endure till the end that hath no end, in like manner will the true believer eternally live and endure."

Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Selection LXIII, p. 141

"Amity and rectitude of conduct, rather than dissension and mischief, are the marks of true faith."

Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Selection C, p. 205

"Arise and, armed with the power of faith, shatter to pieces the gods of your vain imaginings, the sowers of dissension amongst you."

Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Selection CXI, p. 217

"He [Muhammad] bade the erring and wayward arise and speed out of the sepulchres of their bodies, arrayed them with the beauteous robe of faith, and quickened them with the breath of a new and wondrous life."

Bahá’u’lláh: The Kitáb-i-Íqán, paragraph 123, p. 107

"....the peoples of the world are judged by their countenance. By it, their misbelief, their faith, and their iniquity are all made manifest."

Bahá’u’lláh: The Kitáb-i-Íqán, paragraph 187, p. 160

The Revealing Power of Faith

The two excerpts for today are both by ‘Abdu’l-Bahá but from different times and texts.

Still, together, they say a lot for the oft proclaimed Woman's Intuition . . .

"Every superior stage comprehendeth that which is inferior and discovereth the reality thereof, but the inferior one is unaware of that which is superior and cannot comprehend it. Thus man cannot grasp the Essence of Divinity, but can, by his reasoning power, by observation, by his intuitive faculties and the revealing power of his faith, believe in God, discover the bounties of His Grace."

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Tablet to August Forel, p. 15

The following quote is from at least 80 years ago...

"....the balance is already shifting; force is losing its dominance, and mental alertness, intuition, and the spiritual qualities of love and service, in which woman is strong, are gaining ascendancy...."

‘Abdu’l-Bahá quoted in Esslemont: Bahá’u’lláh and the New Era, p. 149

"...the soul is a power that is free. "

If one were to combine the meaning of yesterday's excerpt with the two for today, there could be a "formula" created about our Nature as humans:

SOUL —> MIND —> SENSES

"Now concerning mental faculties, they are in truth of the inherent properties of the soul, even as the radiation of light is the essential property of the sun....It is through the power of the soul that the mind comprehendeth, imagineth and exerteth its influence, whilst the soul is a power that is free. The mind comprehendeth the abstract by the aid of the concrete, but the soul hath limitless manifestations of its own. The mind is circumscribed, the soul limitless. It is by the aid of such senses as those of sight, hearing, taste, smell and touch, that the mind comprehendeth, whereas the soul is free from all agencies."

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Tablet to August Forel, p. 8

"....regarding the question whether the faculties of the mind and the human soul are one and the same. These faculties are but the inherent properties of the soul, such as the power of imagination, of thought, of understanding; powers that are the essential requisites of the reality of man, even as the solar ray is the inherent property of the sun. The temple of man is like unto a mirror, his soul is as the sun, and his mental faculties even as the rays that emanate from that source of light. The ray may cease to fall upon the mirror, but it can in no wise be dissociated from the sun."

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Tablet to August Forel, pp. 24-25

"Wert thou to ponder in thine heart, from now until the end that hath no end...this divinely ordained and subtle Reality..."

I've made a point in my life to study a lot of science along with all the "humanities".

The deeper I got into science, the more clearly I could see the logical effect of denying the existence of God.

Scientists are only the latest in a long line of humans that claimed infallible understanding.

It's really rather funny when they make a bold claim that blows back in their face.

The human mind--or, rational faculty--is a field of study that has ultimately embarrassed colleges full of scientists...

"Consider the rational faculty with which God hath endowed the essence of man. Examine thine own self, and behold how thy motion and stillness, thy will and purpose, thy sight and hearing, thy sense of smell and power of speech, and whatever else is related to, or transcendeth, thy physical senses or spiritual perceptions, all proceed from, and owe their existence to, this same faculty. So closely are they related unto it, that if in less than the twinkling of an eye its relationship to the human body be severed, each and every one of these senses will cease immediately to exercise its function, and will be deprived of the power to manifest the evidences of its activity. It is indubitably clear and evident that each of these afore-mentioned instruments has depended, and will ever continue to depend, for its proper functioning on this rational faculty, which should be regarded as a sign of the revelation of Him Who is the sovereign Lord of all. Through its manifestation all these names and attributes have been revealed, and by the suspension of its action they are all destroyed and perish.

"It would be wholly untrue to maintain that this faculty is the same as the power of vision, inasmuch as the power of vision is derived from it and acteth in dependence upon it. It would, likewise, be idle to contend that this faculty can be identified with the sense of hearing, as the sense of hearing receiveth from the rational faculty the requisite energy for performing its functions.

"This same relationship bindeth this faculty with whatsoever hath been the recipient of these names and attributes within the human temple. These diverse names and revealed attributes have been generated through the agency of this sign of God. Immeasurably exalted is this sign, in its essence and reality, above all such names and attributes. Nay, all else besides it will, when compared with its glory, fade into utter nothingness and become a thing forgotten.

"Wert thou to ponder in thine heart, from now until the end that hath no end, and with all the concentrated intelligence and understanding which the greatest minds have attained in the past or will attain in the future, this divinely ordained and subtle Reality, this sign of the revelation of the All-Abiding, All-Glorious God, thou wilt fail to comprehend its mystery or to appraise its virtue. Having recognized thy powerlessness to attain to an adequate understanding of that Reality which abideth within thee, thou wilt readily admit the futility of such efforts as may be attempted by thee, or by any of the created things, to fathom the mystery of the Living God, the Day Star of unfading glory, the Ancient of everlasting days. This confession of helplessness which mature contemplation must eventually impel every mind to make is in itself the acme of human understanding, and marketh the culmination of man's development."

Bahá’u’lláh: Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, Selection LXXXIII, pp. 164-166

"….the universal divine mind..."

There are so many misconceptions floating around about God, His Prophets, and human nature...

It may seem too complex to worry about...

Of course, not knowing the Truth about God, His Prophets, and human nature is the prime reason for all our earthly problems...

"….the universal divine mind, which is beyond nature, is the bounty of the Preexistent Power. This universal mind is divine; it embraces existing realities, and it receives the light of the mysteries of God. It is a conscious power, not a power of investigation and of research.

"The intellectual power of the world of nature is a power of investigation, and by its researches it discovers the realities of beings and the properties of existences; but the heavenly intellectual power, which is beyond nature, embraces things and is cognizant of things, knows them, understands them, is aware of mysteries, realities and divine significations, and is the discoverer of the concealed verities of the Kingdom.

"This divine intellectual power is the special attribute of the Holy Manifestations and the Dawning-places of prophethood; a ray of this light falls upon the mirrors of the hearts of the righteous, and a portion and a share of this power comes to them through the Holy Manifestations."

‘Abdu’l-Bahá: Some Answered Questions, Chapter 58: "The Degree of Knowledge Possessed by Man and the Divine Manifestations", p. 218

"...the wine of certitude..."

There are so many opinions about how to know what God wants for us (and, this is one of them...).

Of course, God's Wishes are not a matter of opinion.

Anyone who tells you they know what God wants for your life should be treated kindly but certainly not believed automatically.

Our soul's growth is too important to entrust to human care...

"...they that tread the path of faith, they that thirst for the wine of certitude, must cleanse themselves of all that is earthly -- their ears from idle talk, their minds from vain imaginings, their hearts from worldly affections, their eyes from that which perisheth. They should put their trust in God, and, holding fast unto Him, follow in His way. Then will they be made worthy of the effulgent glories of the sun of divine knowledge and understanding, and become the recipients of a grace that is infinite and unseen, inasmuch as man can never hope to attain unto the knowledge of the All-Glorious, can never quaff from the stream of divine knowledge and wisdom, can never enter the abode of immortality, nor partake of the cup of divine nearness and favour, unless and until he ceases to regard the words and deeds of mortal men as a standard for the true understanding and recognition of God and His Prophets."

Bahá’u’lláh: The Kitáb-i-Íqán, pp. 3-4