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Lidia Zamenhof and a World Language
Lidia Zamenhof’s famous father was the creator of the Esperanto – perhaps the most successful effort to create an international language. Lidia herself devoted herself to promoting the language and also to teaching the Baha’i Faith of which she had become a member. Undoubtedly Bahá’u’lláh’s call for adoption of a world language would have resonated strongly with her, given her own commitment to it. Her own life was tragically cut short in World War II, the coming of which Bahá’u’lláh specifically predicted. Irrespective of the specifics, it’s clear that World War II was one of the consequences of clinging to patterns of thought and modes of behaviour inadequate to the…
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Good News — Bahá’u’lláh’s Glad Tidings
Good news — glad tidings or “gospel”, to use an old English word. In Arabic, “bisharat”. Bahá’u’lláh’s Glad Tidings are a short collection of teachings concerned with reform of the world. They are addressed to all human beings. Bahá’u’lláh notes the abolition of the following as key consequences of his Glad Tidings. The abolition of holy war, destruction of books, the ban on association and companionship with other peoples and on reading certain books. There are 15 Glad Tidings. The following is a brief summary of some of them, sometimes accompanied by a personal reflection. Of course it is best to refer to the Glad Tidings themselves. The first glad tiding is the…
