• Baha'u'llah's seals

    Bahá’u’lláh defines his mission and teaches about the soul

    When Bahá’u’lláh had arrived in Gallipoli, on his way to exile in Akka, we have already seen that he predicted the consequences that would arise from the exile. In, the same letter (the Suriy-i-Rais – the Tablet to the Chief Vizier of the Ottoman Sultan), Bahá’u’lláh also takes time to make clear what the purpose of his mission was. This Youth hath come to quicken the world and unite all its peoples. The day is approaching when that which God hath purposed will have prevailed and thou shalt behold the earth transformed into the all-glorious paradise.[1] Bahá’u’lláh not only states that his purpose is the quicken and unify mankind –…

  • death the last taboo

    Death: The Last Taboo and What Comes After

    There is virtually nothing that is a taboo in modern society. Death is the one exception. Ironically so, as our nightly news and popular entertainment are so often full of death. Yet there are plenty of articles that identify the death taboo. So how is it taboo? It is taboo in the sense that we live as if death is something that only happens to someone else. In our popular culture, the unavoidable reality of our own death is a taboo that is pushed deep into the subconscious. Of course we will all die one day. The taboo has practical consequences. As the old meme goes – what would we…

  • Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah

    Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh

    When Shoghi Effendi was a young man at Oxford University, he didn’t imagine that he would become the leader of the faith which his great grandfather – Bahá’u’lláh – had founded. What Shoghi Effendi wanted to do was translate the Baha’i writings into English. Accordingly, he was focussed on acquiring a mastery of English sufficient to adequately translate Bahá’u’lláh’s writings. Despite the many duties of his office as Guardian of the Baha’i Faith, an office he held from 1921 until his passing in 1957, Shoghi Effendi found time to realise the dream of his youth. One of his gifts to the Baha’i community, was an anthology of selections from Bahá’u’lláh’s writings known as Gleanings from the…