baha'i
April 2008 CE, (10th) edit
originally: December 4, 2001CE
The Holy Ground and the Temple— Kolya’s Story of Embracing the Bahá’í Faith
I first heard about the Bahá’í Faith in Berlin, Germany, sometime around 1994 (give or take a couple years). I believe that i first heard about it on TV, while channel surfing. I don’t recall what the program was or why it was mentioned, however, it was probably one of the programs aired every now and then by the Berlin Bahá’í community on the Berlin public access channel (Offene Kanal). I didn’t retain more about it, at the time, than that it started in Persia and that the Prophet has no pictures (except at the Bahá’í World Center Archives, i discovered later). Some time after, still in Berlin, i learned a little more about the Faith on SFB4, Radio Muliti-Kulti; the multi cultural radio station that i usually listened to (and still can do, thanks to the internet). On an evening radio program a Muliti-Kulti reporter was interviewing some Berlin Bahá'ís. I learned that a major component of the Faith was acceptance and affirmation of the validity of the other World Religions, which had always been a concept that attracted me and I already believed this. I had long felt that there were many truths in all religions and that many of these truths were common to all of them, such as loving your neighbor. I also found out that daily reading of religious/spiritual texts, attributed to the Prophet-founders (or “Manifestations of God” in Bahá'í terminology) of the world’s religions was important to the Faith, as it helps to keep you more centered on spiritual and moral principals.
The concept of the commonality of all religions was something that had attracted me to the Indian, Sri Sathya Sai Baba at the end of 1993, in eleventh grade. Sai Baba and Mary Summer Rain (who I discovered around April of ’94 through my Mum) were the guides that led to what i think of as my Spiritual Turnaround, in 1994, at the end of my eleventh grade. The Spring of ’94 was a time where i made a spiritual leap. It was a 180-degree turn in much of my thinking. I made the decision to cut down on my pot consumption, which had been growing and had reached its peak in the first few months of ’94. I had even started smoking up in lunch breaks two or three times a week. I noticed the adverse affects on my learning ability and health and decided then in the middle of spring to restrict smoking up to the weekends. I did this without too much difficulty and eventually also managed to not smoke cannabis for longer periods of time (despite most of my peers continuing to be devoted pot-heads).
Metaphorically, i now think of this time as the point in my life where i “stepped on to the Holy Ground” (see poem below). It was truly a special time; i was truly in The Flow. If i were looking for someone they would cross my path, if i was looking for some sort of information, there it would be in the book i happened to be staring at on the bookshelf in the school library. This time of being in The Flow, of synchronicity, lasted for two weeks to a month. Mary Summer Rain became, more and more, my guide and i eventually paid less attention to Sai Baba. Through Summer Rain i was led to Edgar Cayce. I didn’t actually get to reading any Cayce philosophy/theosophy until i got to college, however, i now consider him one of the best guides, outside the Faith, to many (but not all) spiritual truths (i recommend The Edgar Cayce Primer by Herbert B. Puryear). It was actually something from the Cayce Primer that was one of my main reasons for embracing the Bahá’í Faith as soon as i did. It recommended that structure can be very good for spirituality, that it can enhance one’s relationship with God. It was just what I needed. I was a New Ager and didn’t at first see a need for organized religion in my life. But this opened the door for me. I feel that the Bahá’í Faith is indeed good for a little more structure, which i feel has, indeed, strengthened my connection to the Creator.
While filling out the section on one’s religion in my college application i felt a little like checking the Bahá’í box as i felt more drawn to it than any of the other religious affiliations even though all i really knew about it was its inclusiveness of the other World Religions. It wasn’t until 1998—my second semester at Fort Lewis College, in the beautiful area of Durango, Colorado, that i again came in contact with the Bahá’í Faith; much more intimately, this time.
It wasn’t until April 1998, that i saw a booth in the College Union Building (CUB: home of the canteen, KDUR radio station and more) that i again heard of the Faith. In the CUB there are often booths for one thing or another. On a day in the beginning of April i saw a booth promoting the video The Power of Race Unity which would be shown a few days later or perhaps the following week and would be followed by a panel discussion. Due to a meeting of the Student Theatre club, Fourth Wall, that i had to attend, i missed the video but came in time for the panel discussion on local racism issues. Before i left i grabbed a bunch of pamphlets and The Bahá’ís Magazine and was invited to a "Fireside"; a get-together where one can learn more about the Faith in a wonderful homey atmosphere. The Fireside was on the following Friday, 17 April. I was very excited after my first Fireside, which included a slide show presented by Marco from the nearby town of Aztec. In my three-year diary, Millenium Memories (from Mary Summer Rain), i wrote, “Thankyou to the Powers That Be for my getting together with the Bahá’ís of Durango. The Bahá’í philosophies seem to be 100% compatible with my present philosophies. I therefore feel quite confident that i will myself be a Bahá’í. In fact, i already kind of think of myself as one. J … It is going to be a long and joyful relationship. After the meeting i noticed how i’d been catapulted to my higher-Self state of being….” Looking back it actually seems quite amazing that i felt that connected after my very first Fireside. I guess it was destined. Simply put, i truly felt that i’d found the name for what i already was! I was, in a sense, a Bahá'í already but i just did not fully understand that yet.
In high school i had often daydreamed of starting a hippy commune based on my New Age beliefs; calling it the “Order of the Spring Moon”—it also became the name of my first Radio Show as a volunteer DJ at KDUR Durango. I wanted it to be a place that would spread peace and love and be a safe haven in the mountains should there ever be any kind of global catastrophe due to global warming or a polar shift. However, when i discovered the Bahá'í Faith i found that there was already an organization established that shared all my most important beliefs. Moreover, it was a global movement, with established communities in every country and territory on Earth. I had desired to create something but i discovered that that which i wanted was already in existence and incomparably more beautiful and grander in scale and design then anything i could have created. This is also the realization that inspired me to write the poem “My Spiritual Journey”:
My Spiritual Journey
I remember the time
When i first stepped onto the holy ground.
Sri Sathya Sai Baba and Mary Summer Rain
were my guides.
No temples i found,
on that holy ground, seemed quite right for me,
so it was, that i built a small temple of my own.
My temple bore the inscription: Order of the Spring Moon.
Also, above the doorway, as with the temple at Delphi,
engraved:
Know Thyself and Nothing in Excess,
and then Mary Summer Rain and Edgar Cayce
were my guides.
But then came the day
on which was spotted,
a greater, most marvelous temple.
Nine were its sides.
Its gardens emanated the sweet, fresh scent of the Beloved.
I examined this temple; very familiar it seemed,
And soon I had stepped inside.
Now Bahá’u’lláh and His Covenant are my guides,
Those of greatest authority.
The only spiritual teaching of the Bahá'í Faith that does not coincide with my previous beliefs is that of reincarnation (human to human). Although, on the other hand, the Bahá’í explanation of the afterlife is not at all dissimilar to my previous beliefs. Within my first year as a Bahá'í i slowly came to share the Bahá’í teaching that we are only in this world once but in the after life we continually progress through countless "worlds" of God. Many or perhaps most indigenous belief systems also don’t believe in reincarnation. Rather all the past ancestors are always there in the next world (and often keep in contact through dreams and shamans). But my belief in reincarnation was mostly based on a New Age philosophical background and so it was an explanation coming out of this same New Age philosophy which helped me the most. Experiences that some people have had, which might lead them to believe that they have remembered an experience from a past life can be explained by what is known in some (mostly New Age) circles as the “Akashik Records”. The Akashik Records are an otherworldly store house of the experiences that anyone has ever had. It is just as likely that when someone experiences what they might think is a past life experience that they are actually just experiencing a life as it is stored in the Akashik Records. They experience the life in the first person perspective and can therefore easily mistake the experience as being that of themselves in a past life when actually they are just seeing someone else’s life through their eyes (as stored in the Akashic Records).
The Metaphorical Journey continues: stepping into the Temple. Throughout the rest of April and May 1998 i read more on the Faith and started praying more. I’ve found that praying, especially reciting the prayers revealed by Bahá’u’lláh (as well as those written by His son ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and His Announcer, the Báb) has and does very much help to strengthen and keep strong my connection to God as well as clearly providing Divine Assistance. Prayer has also been a solace and help in times of difficulties.
My feeling of comfort and connectedness—of already being a Bahá’í grew stronger. Then, on the 31st of May i went with a friend of mine, a Bahá’í woman of my parents’ generation, Messel, who grew up in the part of Ethiopia that is now the independent country of Eritrea, to the house of a Navajo Bahá’í family on the northern part of the Navajo Reservation (Aneth), in southern Utah. It was a teaching workshop where we, among other things, did some skits using quotes from the writings of the Faith and then had a great meal. It really brought great joy to my heart to see how Bahá’ís treat the indigenous people: with great respect for their culture, for example, by encouraging the use of their native languages. Much more than can be said, historically, of many or perhaps most Christians (missionaries).
Right before leaving, June McCall asked me whether i had any questions and whether i wanted to be a Bahá'í. Since i had been thinking about when and how i could/would officially become a Bahá’í that very day, as i already felt like one inside, i didn’t hesitate to say yes, and at the time, no questions came to mind. They gave me a little enrollment card and on it i signed that i did, indeed, believe that Bahá’u’lláh is the latest Manifestation of God for this Age. (The enrollment card helps the National Spiritual Assembly keep track of the number of it’s members and also provides the address to which the national Bahá'í newspaper, The American Bahá'í, can be sent.)
I felt joyful on the way home but that evening i felt that i had perhaps been a little impulsive, that perhaps, i was not yet ready to officially be a Bahá’í. A senior citizen Bahá’í, Art Hampsen, at the Four Corners Bahá’í Summer School (‘98) said it marvelously. Art said (something like), “i joined the Faith and then found out about all the things i wasn’t allowed to do. If i’d know about them beforehand i would never have become a Bahá’í.” After which his wife, Ruth, promptly interjected, “Oh, yes you would have,” which is undoubtedly true, although, it might have taken a little longer. My case was very similar.
That evening of the 31st i realized about my conflicting belief in reincarnation. However, since it didn’t interfere with anything in my daily life as a Bahá'í it wasn’t a major problem. As I stated above I have since come to a new understanding on the subject, for i have come to see that there are alternative explanations for what some might think of as proof for reincarnation. However, the larger problem that i discovered was that i didn’t feel ready to follow the laws on alcohol and pot. Those were the main reasons that i thought i should have waited to officially enroll. Also my 22nd birthday was coming up (June 18th) and i had been planning to buy beer among the food etc. items that i splurged on that birthday week. (Splurge because of the money spent.) That third week of my being a Bahá’í, the week of my birthday, i was at a friend’s house for dinner and i was offered a couple of glasses of wine which i accepted. The morning after, even though it had only been about two glasses, the way i felt (although it wasn’t at all so bad as to be a hangover) did make me think that perhaps totally giving up alcohol wouldn’t be such a bad idea, after all. As it was, i did indeed buy beer the week of my birthday. I was very moderate though, as i’d always meant to be. I never had more than a beer a day. At the time, i felt that if i was drinking it for the taste and not for the alcohol then it was not flagrant, and therefore excusable. And, that one beer was generally with one of my meals. I couldn’t see the harm in that, however, today, for one thing, i look at giving up alcohol as a sacrifice for all the alcoholics of the world. It’s not just a matter of the effect but the principle.
I haven’t drank any alcoholic beverages since the last of my birthday beer was drunk and i also no longer feel any inclination to use marijuana, although, i did have one single relapse in regards to marijuana in Ayyam’i’Há 155BE (1999CE). But except for that one incident i have been able to lead a sober Bahá’í life since the month after declaring. It is now truly not at all difficult to abstain from alcohol and pot, even if i’m with others who are using the substances. I also feel much better physically, mentally and spiritually from being fully and continually sober and drug free. Since i believe that Bahá’u’lláh is God’s most recent Prophet, who has come for this Day and Age, then i must also accept that the laws brought forth by Him came directly from God and that following them completely is the best way to make my personal life the happiest it can be, as well as bring about a new world that is cured of the ills of this day. How did this change of viewpoint come about? Well, quite simply, my faith and understanding has been getting stronger—the Ruhi institute has certainly helped a lot in this department too! My faith—the Bahá’í Faith—and its laws, will prevail, for it is what my heart desires: to follow what i consider to be God’s laws for this Day and Age.
My development and growth as a Bahá’í
I went to many Firesides in my first year as a Bahá'í and also before i declared, when i was still a seeker. Firesides have been of great enjoyment for me. Firesides are always a gathering of friends, even when it is your first time and you don’t really know anyone. Most of the firesides i attended in my first year as a Bahá’í were at the house of accomplished musicians, Oraea Varis and Steve Dejka. Firesides have served to strengthen my own faith while, at the same time, serving to inform seekers of the Faith. Also very enjoyable was Oraea’s ability and inspiration, to bring the arts (music and other arts) into her Firesides. Also, it often happened that something i had been wondering or contemplating was answered or resolved in a Fireside, whether directly or not, about the Faith or not.
Also very functional to the strengthening of my faith along with Firesides and, simply, time, was the Four Corners Bahá’í Summer School, July 22-26, 1998. I got to experience a small-scale version of Bahá’í society and the beautiful “unity in diversity”, that has become a catch-phrase of the Faith, in action. The unity in diversity was expressed through the various cultures that were in attendance and, for example, by the reading of prayers in these respective languages (English, Persian, maybe also Arabic, Philippino, Navajo, Hawaiian and Spanish—i would have read a prayer in German but i didn’t have one and wasn’t able to translate one without a good German-English dictionary).
Deepenings (which today are most often a built-in part of Ruhi study circles but can still happen as their own thing) have also contributed greatly to my growth. I soon found the deepenings at Mark and Diane Reddy’s home in La Plata County (just outside Durango), Colorado, to be sources of great enjoyment and education, which for a Bahá’í, fills a gap that Firesides don’t—quite. In fact, all gatherings with Bahá’ís are sources of great contentment, mentally, emotionally and especially spiritually—Soul Food. As i attempt to lead my life on this path of high integrity, deepenings are sources of great strength. Providing me with new strength of character and also thoroughly enjoyable evenings! (Most deepenings at the time were in the evening). An especially good and effective type of study circle is the Ruhi Course. I took part in a Ruhi book 1 circle while i was living in Chicago for a couple months in the beginning of 2001. It was facilitated with excellence by John Cornyn and was very energizing as well as enlightening. While they don’t have to be, the Ruhi institute now often is a Fireside and Deepening all in one, with participants being both Bahá'ís and seekers.
Another event which was again a great strengthener, deepener, and generally a wonderful event was my first visit to NABI, the Native American Bahá’í Institute, on the eastern Diné (Navajo) Nation (mostly NE Arizona), in June 26-27 1999AD. It was perhaps my most powerful and spiritually uplifting experience yet, comparable only to other visits to NABI and service at the Houses of Worship. I was also blessed with being able to serve as a volunteer at NABI for about two months in the summers of 2001 (May-June) and 2007 (June-July). It was always a wonderful and spiritually energizing experience!
Serving on L.S.A.s (Local Spiritual Assemblies) has been at times challenging but also strengthening and very rewarding. With local Bahá’í communities in America still at fairly low numbers outside of big cities it is not unusual for new Bahá’ís to end up on an LSA.
I also grew as a person and a more knowledgeable Bahá’í by having the great bounty of serving as a volunteer guide at the House of Worship in New Delhi, India (the “Lotus Temple”) in August 1999, January and August 2001 and at the House of Worship in Wilmette (the “mother Temple of the West) in February-April 2001 and May 2001. Nothing gives me greater pleasure than to volunteer at a House of Worship and answer visitor’s question about the Faith!
Back in April of 1998 when i first discovered this amazing global movement, the Bahá'í Faith, i might have wondered what i was getting myself into and if there would be any regrets in the future! Today, i would be overjoyed to, if i could, assure that Kolya of the Past that there are no regrets! For one thing every Bahá'í i’ve ever met has been a stellar individual. And the more deepened they are in the writings of the Central Figures of the Faith, the more selfless, caring, kind, wonderful, virtuous people they are! I cannot help but feel strongly that my life has been more filled with happiness and more fulfilling since 1998 (than it would otherwise have been). And that my daily life has been inching towards higher and higher levels of integrity. No life is without tests and difficulties but the Faith has provided me with sure and steady means of making it through all of life’s gales sane and happy, and has been invaluable in aiding me in my constant striving to make myself a more virtuous individual.
