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Since most of this oppression happens in Iran there are precious few western accounts of any detail. One of the most prominant is the biographical elements of a scholarly book by a recent participant who ultimately fled Iran and recanted his deeds. The book as a whole may be bought - it is...

"Mirza short for Amirzadeh meaning born of a leader or chief, therefore Prince, but also came to describe those who could read and write thus describing a male secretary."A citation closer to my definition. Looking back to the 1800's Mirza as a matter of being literate might have ment being much...

"Not many Baha'is..."?? We consider it a fundamental verity. "“That the Bab, the inaugurator of the Babi Dispensation, is fully entitled to rank as one of the self-sufficient Manifestations of God, that He has been invested with sovereign power and authority, and exercises all the rights...

I don't believe humans have any access to raw, unvarnished reality. We interprit through our sense what they are allowed to share and our interpritation is highly dependent on our social situation and norms. Here's some quotes: "Experiments reported in 1966 by Segall, Campbell and Herskovitz...

I would note that Fortune magazine ran a cover story on Mussolini in 1934, praising his fascism for its ability to break worker unions, disempower workers and transfer huge sums of money to those who controlled the money rather than those who earned it. I would note that significant drug use is...

There are forces of integration and disintegration in the world. But these are tumultuous times. Words can be used and abused by either side - we teach it in fact. We want children to learn how to say things well, but care rather little if what they say is shameful. But all is not lost, all...

I like the phrase "Knowing is half the battle" but often play off of it with "Not knowing is half the battle".

I like these ideas... Free is original and undefined by circumstance. It may be framed by circumstance but is not defined by it. Unborn - something that has not entered this world of humanity by birth or whose birth is not the defining quality of their presence among us. Uncreated -...

And the universe could be an eleven dimensional system so our three dimensions might be a tiny, undeveloped corner of all existence, however far those three dimensions may go. I beleive there are semi-convincing reasons the universe can't have more than 11 dimensions. Some favor 7 instead of...

Can't say I've done that in particular though I've experience fore-shortening, as if the horizon leaps to me. More broadly I agree that mediation and concentration can be plenty visual without need of drugs.

It should be noted that Persia went through a process of cultural change in names during this time - people generally did not identify by a family name. You can dimly catch this by noting the Shaykhs names are so short while the Bab's was longer (this covers about 30 years between their...

A related question is however moved and guided and individual becomes (and the Baha'i standard for this is quite high) then what? The exact situation isn't clear, but the authority of the affirmed scripture remains, and the the authority of the House of Justice is independent of such concerns...

It should be noted, as hinted at by Bruce, that the position of figure head was a passing phase in the Babi Faith. It ended and passed away and those who beleived it held enduring value were lost within that generation. There were several details and phases to this process but it all ended by...

Did some digging for more references - here's a BBC reference. It supports the idea of 10,000 witnesses. My understanding is that the execution and events thereof actually made soe European newspapers in the day but references, and certainly online ones, are scarce. I found a general review...

For me one of the hard parts was that for several iterations, the logical structure established was patently illogical which offered opportunities of suspicion of other motivations. It wouldn't be the first time someone has massively restructured a system almost specifically to shut down Baha'i...

Another range of things you don't see everyday: http://www.hprcc.unl.edu/nebraska/june2004hastings-mammatus.html "Three of these photos were featured on the front and back cover of the Journal of Meteorology and circulated in 26 countries. "

Argument and challenge. Every Faith makes comments about other Faiths in their scripture. Buddhism speaks of Hindu brahmins and other topics. Christianity speaks of Jewish laws and priests. Islam speaks of Christian teachings. And the Baha'i Faith speaks of them all, and some day another...

Re: For more "metta": Actually I have. Let's see what the basis of discussion can be. We can all pretend we all agree on everything and "just get along". No Faith has ever done that but we could just wish it away, pretend the differences don't matter and ignore them. Or we can take...

A long history with many facets and high ideals. One thing not mentioned so far is the history of suffering and death at the hands of oppressors of every stripe. Like the begining of most religions for us it begins in the period of the Bab's ministry. The deaths of Babis and later Baha'is...

At the Holy Year celebration at the Second World Congress had acapella as well as instrument associated music. We happen to have at least one participant in the music of that event with us on the boards, if he is of a mind to comment. He has in fact toured often with Baha'i choral groups.