musings of an itinerant lover

So I’ve made a commitment with some of my closest friends to blog once every couple of days for the next month in our ongoing crusade of sorts to consistently blog. It started with once a day for a week, then turned into this with a biweekly check-in. Though I have a nutty month coming up I think the purpose is that its not that hard to write a couple of paragraphs at night and share what you’re thinking, what you’ve learning, what you’re musing on. So here it is to bloodpact blogging!

One of the themes that’s come up frequently recently is the practice that Baha’is refer to as consultation. Its the community’s mechanism of collectively seeking truth and finding consensus. In consultation you don’t own your contributions per se, but rather once you share your perspective on the matter of hand that perspective belongs to the consulting group. We try to maintain both a frank as well as a loving atmosphere and the goal is at all times to put truth before our current thinking. As such it is my understanding that you act upon the consultation just as much as the consultation acts upon you. You might be informed as deeply by the consultation as you are informing it, and often may find yourself in the position of changing your opinion on a matter a number of times during the course of the consultation.

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I am enclosing here the transcript of a conversation (to date) between myself and a very precious human being whom I love dearly and who happens to be 11…

Hey sweetheart! Good! I miss you too baby…I think its maybe because I love you so much!!! Hey, are you on facebook? Couldn’t remember if I’d added you or not. You should hop on there if you are. Hey baby, I was reading the first Hidden Word, and Tara and I wanted to do an arts project, where we all read the first Hidden Word and then we all express it in some artistic form, whether it be music, drawing, or whatever else you choose to express it with. It is…

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This blog post is a response to a friend of mine who, upon hearing criticisms of the Baha’i Faith from his friends, decided to investigate matters for himself and join a Ruhi Study Circle. I have copied my response below:

Great to hear from you too. I think you are quite wise in discovering the truth of any matter with your own eyes and ears. That is actually the nature of a study circle. Far from being a forum whereby someone with an agenda attempts to impose a belief upon another, it is a loving and trusting environment wherein we all embark on a collaborative quest for truth and understanding. Questioning is an integral part of the independent investigation of truth, yet we must always be so careful to avoid imposing our opinion upon another, either in the form of a criticism or that of praise. Though often well-meaning, this is essentially an arrogant act since it fails to acknowledge the sovereignty of the individual’s will through the operation of his own mind and soul. You have a soul that is of God, you are a child of God, and one of the tools the All-Mighty has blessed you with is a sound mind. This allows you to form your own opinions and as such I look forward to learning from you as much as I do to sharing with you my humble understanding of the Baha’i Writings.

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