Karen's musings on the Faith
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- Category: Alison Marshall's Column
- Created: Wednesday, 11 January 2006 15:06
- Published: Wednesday, 11 January 2006 15:06
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Last night, Steve put Karen's lastest musing on my portable mp3 player and I sat and listened to it.
If anyone out there hasn't yet discovered Karen's audio musings on the Faith, I highly recommend that you listen to them. The URL is http://bahaipods.blogspot.com/.
Karen tells me that she is "trying to aim for something that would be understandable to non-Baha'is, while still remaining interesting to Baha'is." And she is very successful, discussing topics that would be new to, or forgotten by, enrolled Baha'is, while not talking over the heads of those who've never been Baha'is.
Her first podcast is a commentary on the penultimate paragraph of the Words of Wisdom - one of Karen's favourite passages: "The essence of all that We have revealed for thee is Justice, is for man to free himself from idle fancy and imitation, discern with the eye of oneness His glorious handiwork, and look into all things with a searching eye." Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p 157
And her most recent podcast is a discussion about the houri in Baha'u'llah's writings. Despite the fact that the houri plays a pivotal role in the writings, Baha'is don't know anything about her. This is why Karen's musings are so important and a very exciting development in knowledge and teaching. Let's put it this way, they'll discuss things that aren't covered in Ruhi.
But also, there needs to be ways for people to learn about the Faith and become believers without signing up officially. Some people will fall in love with Baha'u'llah but see that the community is not a nice place to be. Karen's podcasts are an excellent development in providing resources for people to learn about, and participate in, the revelation, without the nightmare.
And, finally, those of us who are not enrolled still have a duty to teach. There's the continual problem that when people find themselves out of the community because of the injustices, they let the whole thing go. But the duty to teach comes from Baha'u'llah, not the administration. And it's not just a duty, it's a privilege. I don't see why we should give it up to others, who falsely claim an exclusive right to it and Baha'u'llah. We unenrolled Baha'is can make a difference if we put our energies into constructive activities.
I look forward to many more podcasts from Karen.
Karen has also written a series of articles about the issues that have rocked the Baha'i community in the past decade. Again, these are aimed at those who are coming to these issues for the first time.
Go to the original blog entry...