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Drawing down the music

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Category: Alison Marshall's Column
Created: Saturday, 11 February 2006 13:30
Published: Saturday, 11 February 2006 13:30
Written by Alison
Hits: 3997

Here is another podcast. This time I talk about one of the themes in the movie "As it is in heaven". In the movie, a conductor teaches a local choir how to sing together. He begins by teaching them that singing is all about listening; that is, listening to the music that already exists and then drawing it down. In the podcast, I discuss how this process of drawing down the music is like the one we need to focus on in order to enrich our spiritual lives.

9-minute MP3 audio of Alison discussing the process of drawing down the music

Six Feet Under

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Category: Alison Marshall's Column
Created: Friday, 10 February 2006 13:27
Published: Friday, 10 February 2006 13:27
Written by Alison
Hits: 3736

A couple of nights ago, Steve and I watched the final episode of Six Feet Under. Steve and I watched every series of that program. I greatly enjoyed this last series. I think it was easily the best television to come out of the US in recent years. I was sad to learn that it was to finish. I was curious to know how they would end it -- after all this time, they had to somehow find an ending to it all. I thought the technique of fast forwarding into the future so that we could see the death of each character was very effective. I felt as if I was fast forwarded into my own death. I felt exhilarated by that. I imagine that death will be the journey of a lifetime. :-) Imagine travelling from one world of reality to another! To me, the idea is mind boggling and reveals the greatness of God.

One important reason I liked the program so much was that it dealt with death and incorporated that reality into the lives of the characters. Usually death is invisible in television programs, which reflects how we spend our lives ignoring it. I also really liked the way they incorporated people's dreams and thoughts into the drama. Again, it added to the reality of their depiction of what is to be human. We operate as though the physical world alone is what's real, but the fact is that we generate a reality as well with our thoughts. As Abdul Baha says, "The reality of man is his thought."

I have mentioned this before, but over the last few years I began to wake up to just how much my thoughts were dominating my reality. I realised that I was generating an inner hell with them. Baha'u'llah says that we are the worshippers of our idle fancies and vain imaginings. If only people would realise that they are a slave to them. If they saw this, they would free themselves and the physical world would reflect the Sun of Truth. You can see in the program how David was tormented by his fears, which manifested themselves in the image of that man who had assaulted him in the previous series. And Brenda was tormented by her fears that her child would be mentally disabled. These are obvious examples of how our inner thoughts generate our reality, but it happens in a more subtle way as well and we don't realise it's happening. I realised that I was making myself depressed by concentrating on negative things. In particular, I tormented myself with things that I couldn't change and I got angry at people for not being the way I wanted them to be. I told myself all sorts of silly stories; I was drowning in silly stories. Then it dawned on me that these silly stories were what Baha'u'llah meant by idle fancies and vain imaginings. And I began to knock them on the head. I implemented a mental discipline: if I thought a silly thought, I checked myself and told myself to stop thinking it. It has made huge difference to my life.

But in any case, I wanted to acknowledge how much I enjoyed Six Feet Under and thank those who created it. I hope that, in the future, more television programs incorporate the reality of our spiritual lives as that programme did.

Baha'u'llah refers to the "world's within this world" in his Tablet of the Vision. These worlds include the ones that David and Brenda went to in their thoughts and dreams, as do all of us.

The text for the Tablet of the Vision is at http://www.whoisbahaullah.com/Alison/vision.html.

9-minute MP3 audio of Mark reading Tablet of the Vision

11-minute 40-second MP3 audio of Alison discussing the worlds within

My mum's home

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Category: Alison Marshall's Column
Created: Thursday, 09 February 2006 00:12
Published: Thursday, 09 February 2006 00:12
Written by Alison
Hits: 4244

Every Thursday afternoon, I go to visit my mum, who lives in a home. She has Alzheimer's disease and the home specialises in taking care of people with dementia. I know that there are frightening stories about the way these people are looked after in institutional care. That's the thing about the place where my mum lives. It is such an amazing place that it banishes all thought of frightening stories. The home has about 35 residents and it has the atmosphere of a big house with lots of people living there. It isn't institutional at all.

The owners, a lovely couple in their 30s, have consciously created a large family, and the extraordinary thing is that they have been successful. Mum's home is a place that I would like to take Abdu'l-Baha to visit. I believe that he would love it. I believe that he would say, "The spirit lives here." The place is full of joy, laughter, activity, acceptance, understanding, patience and love. It is as if the staff, residents, and visitors are all one. The staff chat away to each other and to the residents and visitors, which generates a lot of energy, and the residents always feel a part of what's happening. When I visit my mother, I help the staff out. Sometimes I am the only one in the room to see something happening, such as a spilt cup of tea, and it is important that I act. Over the years, I have come to know the other people who live there and have an idea of the sorts of things they need help with.

Because of the atmosphere in the home, I quickly learned to forget myself and to have extraordinary exchanges with the residents who can hold a conversation. They say priceless things. Today, for example, one lady was feeling a bit down to it. It is difficult for the residents because they can't go off the property. They have a wonderful garden that they can walk in, but some of them are aware that they are locked in. This lady looked at me and, an intense way, said: " I got to the frontier of Timbuktu... and then I found myself here! Everything has gone wrong", she lamented. I laughed out loud. She had no idea how funny her statement was.

I thank Baha'u'llah that he created a such a wonderful place for my mum to live out the rest of her days. Although she is confused all the time, nevertheless she is content within herself and she is often happy just to sit and watch everybody doing their thing in the lounge. It's interesting because you can see in the residents the way that heaven and hell work. In one sense you could say the residents are all in hell because they have dementia, but that would be a superficial assessment of the situation. Overall, my mum experiences contentment and I believe she is already in heaven. But there are other residents who suffer from depression. One woman cries much of the time and there is nothing you can do for her. I think that's hell. The residents seem to gravitate to a state within them that dominates their mood and state of being. It is very important that we do what Baha'u'llah asks and find contentment at the deepest possible place within us because this is the state that will one day determine the reality we experience in the next world.

Baha'u'llah devoted a whole tablet to discussing the importance of finding contentment. It is called the City of Radiant Acquiescence. Here are the links to it.

24-minute MP3 audio of Mark reading the City of Radiant Acquiescence

The text for the tablet is at http://www.whoisbahaullah.com/Alison/radiant.html.

My introduction to the tablet is at http://whoisbahaullah.com/blog/?p=222

Kahlil Gibran and the houri

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Category: Alison Marshall's Column
Created: Monday, 06 February 2006 13:09
Published: Monday, 06 February 2006 13:09
Written by Alison
Hits: 5217

Back in 2001, Juan posted to Talisman an interesting message that contained a houri story from Kahlil Gibran. It is interesting to contrast his account with that of Baha'u'llah's.

In Talisman, Juan Cole wrote:

Some of us have enjoyed Baha'u'llah's writings about the houri or Maid of Heaven. A fan reminded me that Kahlil Gibran, the Lebanese author, also wrote about the houri. Actually, there are some similarities in the two treatments, which would be interesting to explore. This is an old translation from "Tears and Laughter," which in my view is not very good. I can't remember if Walbridge or I did a new one, but if not we should. For those of you who don't know, I have translated three of Gibran's books, which are available from Penguin in paper and from White Cloud in hard covers.

cheers Juan

Before the Throne of Beauty

One heavy day I ran away from the grim face of society and the dizzying clamour of the city and directed my weary step to the spacious alley. I pursued the beckoning course of the rivulet and the musical sounds of the birds until I reached a lonely spot where the flowing branches of the trees prevented the sun from touching the earth.

Read more: Kahlil Gibran and the houri

Mars and Venus

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Category: Alison Marshall's Column
Created: Sunday, 05 February 2006 13:03
Published: Sunday, 05 February 2006 13:03
Hits: 3923

Some years ago an incident happened that I will never forget. I was engaged in an intense emotional exchange with a man. Back then, I was still suffering from depression, which I suffered from all my life up until a few years ago. This contributed considerably to the situation I was in at the time. I was emotionally needy and seeking solace from my friend. I didn't realise that what I was seeking from him he could never give me. I realised years later that only Baha'u'llah could give it to me.

When I had pushed my friend to his limit with my demands, he finally resorted to the Mars and Venus argument. He said that women and men were different creatures in that women experienced emotions and needed to talk about them. He said that men were different; in fact, he wondered whether men actually had emotions at all. When I heard this, I was shaken to my very foundations. I stopped the conversation at that point; I felt that his comment had destroyed all possibility of us having a meaningful relationship. If his words were true, it was impossible for me to share my inner universe with him. It meant that any relationship we could have had would have been superficial for me.

Read more: Mars and Venus

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