-
A Different Kind of Power
Lust for power, or an addiction to it, once acquired, or the endless contest for power, is at the heart of much human suffering. Baha’u’llah was a Persian nobleman. His birth gave him power over others, had he desired it. He rejected that kind of power although offered to him by the vizier of the Shah when he was a young man. In the the Sultan’s Puppet Show, we saw that even as a child, Baha’u’llah saw such power as meaningless. The following, addressed to Napoleon III (when Baha’u’llah was himself a prisoner and exile) couldn’t be clearer: Exultest thou over the treasures thou dost possess, knowing they shall perish?…
-
As Mild As Milk – The Human Power of Speech
We live in a time where increasingly shouting down those who think differently than we do is the “normal” of public discourse. Words are bludgeons to be used to subdue and humiliate an opponent or win an argument. Truth is distorted or disregarded. Listening plays a marginal role in this verbal warfare, and the polarisation of society and heightened potential for conflict are frequent outcomes. Yet the power of speech (with its full implications of complexity, abstraction and grammar) is, as far as we know, a distinguishing characteristic of human beings. The tongue, Bahá’u’lláh, warns is a “smouldering fire” consuming “heart and soul”, “the effects of which last a century”.[1] It is…
