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"No lines sector off the sky so high above, though all the nations of the Earth be bound about with borders."

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  • most great bell - second letter to napoleon III

    Bahá’u’lláh’s Second Letter to Napoleon III: A New Way of Life

    Bahá’u’lláh’s second letter announcing to Napoleon III his mission, is multilayered. It was written not long after Bahá’u’lláh arrived in the prison city of Akka. As we read it, it is easy to forget that these are the words of a persecuted prisoner of an absolute monarch. He Who is the Unconstrained is come, in the clouds of light, that He may quicken the world with the breezes of His name, the Most Merciful, and unite its peoples, and gather all men around this Table which hath been sent down from heaven.[1] The tragedy was that the Emperor could not hear and his fate hung by a thread. He had…

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    Human Nature: What Does It Mean to Be Human?

    April 15, 2017

    Shoghi Effendi – A Transcendent Life

    June 15, 2017
    to be a Baha'i

    What does it mean to be a Baha’i?

    June 19, 2017
  • Abdu'l Baha in the prison city

    Arrival in the Prison of Akka: Abdu’l Baha

    Abdu’l Baha, Bahá’u’lláh’s eldest son, is held up as the best example of what a Baha’i life can be. Most of us struggle to exemplify even occasionally the virtues that were evident in Abdul Baha’s life. Nonetheless, reflection on his life gives us a standard for which to strive, and many stories are told about him. Among those stories, as told by his sister Bahiyyih Khanum, are the first days in the prison of Akka. Initially, conditions were extremely harsh and Baha’u’llah and his followers were confined to the barracks (which were a prison within a prison). As we have seen, in Adrianople, the people, who had come to know Bahá’u’lláh,…

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    tree courage

    Courage

    June 3, 2017
    Ridvan garden entrance - ishraqat

    Ishraqat – Universal Education, World Language and Global Institution

    September 21, 2017
    tablet of ahmad adrianople

    O Ahmad, be thou so steadfast in my love that thy heart shall not waver …

    August 13, 2017
  • 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 –…

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    light in the dungeon darkness

    A Light in Dungeon Darkness: the Siyah-Chal and the beginning of Bahá’u’lláh’s mission

    July 22, 2017

    Mona Mahmudnizhad – Speaking Truth to Power

    May 27, 2017
    galileo - new paradigm

    The Kitab-i-Aqdas: A New Paradigm

    September 5, 2017
  • Gallipoli suriy-i-rais

    When the World Changed: Gallipoli and the Chief Vizier

    The future is hardly ever what we expect it to be. It almost always surprises us. This is proof enough that in any point of time, although we often write history as if it was inevitable, many possible futures stretch out before us. Sometimes there are pivot points in history when things change profoundly from what came before — or from what they might have been. When Baha’u’llah sent his message to the kings – the Suriy-i-Muluk  — he warned them that their actions had the power to change the future. If ye pay no heed unto the counsels which, in peerless and unequivocal language, We have revealed in this…

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    fire tablet

    The Fire Tablet

    July 10, 2017
    achieving unity

    Achieving Unity

    July 2, 2017

    The Epistle to the Son of the Wolf – Oneness of Religion, Oneness of Humanity

    October 20, 2017
  • house of baha'u'llah adrianople

    And the People Wept …

    Events moved quickly following the issue of the order for Bahá’u’lláh’s exile from Adrianople and perpetual imprisonment in Akka. Bahá’u’lláh and his followers lived together in a house in Adrianople. One morning they awoke to find that their home had been surrounded by soldiers of the Sultan. Guards were posted and Bahá’u’lláh and his followers were told to prepare for exile. Bahá’u’lláh’s fame was already considerable. As the news spread, consuls of foreign governments in the city wrote with offers of assistance, for which Bahá’u’lláh expressed thanks but which he declined. The Governor of Adrianople, who was an admirer of Bahá’u’lláh, had written objecting to the government’s mistreatment of Bahá’u’lláh…

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    each day better - dawn - healthy attitude to mistakes

    Each Morrow Richer than its Yesterday

    April 30, 2017
    Entry to Srhine of Abdu'l Baha and the Bab

    ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and the Pivot of the Oneness of Humankind

    May 9, 2017
    Ridvan garden entrance - ishraqat

    Ishraqat – Universal Education, World Language and Global Institution

    September 21, 2017
  • Tablet of the Branch

    In Adrianople, Bahá’u’lláh began the public announcement of his mission; writing to kings and rulers and to followers of the Bab. Also from this period, Bahá’u’lláh was already looking far ahead to the time when he would no longer be in the physical world and he was laying the foundations of the Baha’i Faith after his passing. We have already noted the role of Abdu’l Baha in his journeys to the West,[1][2][3][4], and in his role as the foundation stone of human unity. We have seen the extraordinary work schedule that he maintained. In France, his first address was concerned with kindness and welcome to strangers. In the Tablet of the…

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    Gallipoli suriy-i-rais

    When the World Changed: Gallipoli and the Chief Vizier

    August 21, 2017
    central ornamentation of house of worship in wilmette illinois

    The Oneness of Religion

    April 18, 2017
    only human

    Only Human

    August 12, 2017
  • napoleon III - apartments

    Bahá’u’lláh’s first letter to Napoleon III: the Responsibility of Government for Welfare of the People

    We have seen that while Baha’u’llah was in Adrianople he wrote to the rulers of society, individually and collectively. From this period comes Bahá’u’lláh’s first letter to Napoleon III – Emperor of the French – who at the time was at the height of his power and influence. Bahá’u’lláh’s letter announces his mission as do other letters of this period. Some of this letter is however concerned with responding to statements Napoleon III had made some years earlier in the context of the Crimean War. Two statements graciously uttered by the king of the age have reached the ears of these wronged ones. These pronouncements are, in truth, the king…

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    interconnection of all things

    The Interconnection of All Things

    June 25, 2017
    weaving the future from threads of the past

    Weaving the Future from the Threads of the Past

    May 25, 2017

    Lidia Zamenhof and a World Language

    May 20, 2017
  • arthur de gobineau

    Origins of Racism: the Case of the Count de Gobineau

    When we see racism still at work in our world it is important not only to know its current manifestations but also to understand something of how it arose. This article concerns, Count Arthur de Gobineau, a man who is often labelled a “father of racism”. Of course, no one individual is solely responsible – but he was clearly one of those whose influence contributed to the strengthening of racist ideology. Curiously enough he also appears as the European historian who wrote the first extensive account of the birth of the Babi religion, as we have seen in the article on E.G Browne. Regrettably, it appears, Gobineau did not pursue…

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    abdu'l baha plymouth - tribute to baha'u'llah

    A Tribute to Bahá’u’lláh

    May 1, 2017
    sidewalk rainbow serpent

    Adam and the Rainbow Serpent

    May 21, 2017

    Good News — Bahá’u’lláh’s Glad Tidings

    May 18, 2017
  • religious scholar accused of being a babi - avicenna memorial

    The religious scholar accused of being a follower of the Bab

    In the time of Bahá’u’lláh, there lived in Persia a very erudite and accomplished religious scholar, Aqa Muhammad. Aqa Muhammad was so accomplished that later in life he was awarded the degree of “mujtahid” (recognition as an authority in Islamic law) by his teacher. About the time that Bahá’u’lláh was in the Black Pit (the Siyah-Chal) and there was intense persecution of the followers of the Bab, Aqa Muhammad arrived in Tehran to join a theological school. Aqa Muhammad was interested in metaphysics and philosophy, an interest the head of his new school shared. Aqa Muhammad was befriended by the head who welcome the opportunity to talk about such matters. Among the…

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    galileo - new paradigm

    The Kitab-i-Aqdas: A New Paradigm

    September 5, 2017
    tree courage

    Courage

    June 3, 2017
    Baha'i elections

    Baha’i Elections

    June 14, 2017
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