Fighting With Myself

For twenty years I’ve been a member of a Faith that I deeply love. For twenty years I’ve had to fight with myself to live up to the precepts and principles of that Faith…

Why would a person who feels their Faith is powerful enough to help them with the bad side of life have to struggle so hard? Could it be that the 42 years I’d lived before I found my Faith have such a backlog of ingrained habits that it will take a supreme effort to live up to my Faith?

I’ve thought, for many years, that I needed to make a supreme effort and sometimes felt I was making that effort. I’m still  needing a Supreme Effort…

At least I’m a better man than when I began this Faithful Journey. Still, my conscience doesn’t stop stalking me…

Some may say I shouldn’t be so hard on myself. Some may say that feeling bad about trying to be good is insane. Some may think I should just stop trying to live up to a Code that interferes with living in this world.

That last idea hits at the core of why I keep battling with myself—is this world the end of existence for human beings? My mind says, if it is the end, I’ve got no business worrying about my behavior—in the long run it doesn’t matter at all.

If it isn’t the end of my existence and if there is another world after this, then I need to make a Supreme Effort to get this life Right so I can Soar in the next life!

I don’t believe there are a heaven and hell after this life—places of infinite joy and infinite punishment—those states exist right here on this earth. To me, the next life is a continuation of this one, both being an infinite Journey back to our Creator…

And, as far as reincarnation goes, seems to me the ultimate excuse to do whatever the hell I want since I can make it up “next time”…

So, as I continue working to live up to my principles, I’ll leave you with some quotes to think about. My Faith says we all have the responsibility to investigate Truth for ourselves—see with our own eyes and hear with our own ears…

The first three quotes are not from the free Ocean software I usually use; I found them on the ‘Net.

Spiritual Quotes :

“Death is no more than passing from one room into another. But there’s a difference for me, you know. Because in that other room I shall be able to see.”
— Helen Keller (both blind and deaf from infancy)

“The primary question about life after death is not whether it is a fact, but even if it is, what problems that really solves.”
— Ludwig Wittgenstein (Austrian philosopher who worked primarily in logic)

“The fear of death follows from the fear of life. A man who lives fully is prepared to die at any time.”
— Mark Twain (American Writer/Humorist)

“As to the soul of man after death, it remains in the degree of purity to which it has evolved during life in the physical body, and after it is freed from the body it remains plunged in the ocean of God’s Mercy.”
— ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 66

“What death is more wretched than to flee from the Source of everlasting life?”
— Bahá’u’lláh, Gems of Divine Mysteries, p. 38

“You are now like a withered leaf;
the messengers of death have come near you.
You stand at the threshold of your departure.
Have you made provision for your journey?”
— Buddhist, Dhammapada – Sayings of the Buddha 2 (translator, J. Richards)

“Verily, verily, I say unto you, He that heareth my word, and believeth on him that sent me, hath everlasting life, and shall not come into condemnation; but is passed from death unto life.”
— King James Bible, John 5:24

“In the way of righteousness is life: and in the pathway thereof there is no death.”
— King James Bible, Proverbs 12:28

“But whereso any doeth all his deeds
Renouncing self for Me, full of Me, fixed
To serve only the Highest, night and day
Musing on Me- him will I swiftly lift
Forth from life’s ocean of distress and death,
Whose soul clings fast to Me.”
— Hindu, Bhagavad Gita (Edwin Arnold, translator)

“Giver of vital breath, of power and vigour, he whose commandments all the Gods acknowledge -.
The Lord of death, whose shade is life immortal. What God shall we adore with our oblation?”
— Vedas, Rig Veda – Book 10, 2

“One said, ‘The world would be a pleasant place
If death never set foot within it’.
Another answered, ‘If there were no death,
The complicated world would be worth not a jot.
It would be a crop raised in a desert,
Left neglected and never threshed out.
Thou fanciest that to be death, which is life,
Thou sowest thy seed in salt ground.
Carnal reason deceives us; do thou contradict it,
For that fool takes what is really death to be life.
O God, show us all things in this house of deception,
Show them all as they really are’!”
— Mathnavi of Rumi (E.H. Whinfield translator), The Masnavi, Vol 5

“Then contemplate (O man!) the memorials of Allah’s Mercy! — how He gives life to the earth after its death: verily the Same will give life to the men who are dead: for He has power over all things.”
— The Qur’an (Yusuf Ali, translator), Surah 30 verse 50

“‘Life and Death are indeed changes of great moment’, answered Confucius, ‘but they cannot affect his mind. Heaven and earth may collapse, but his mind will remain. Being indeed without flaw, it will not share the fate of all things. It can control the transformation of things, while preserving its source intact’.”
— Tao, Chuangtse (Lin Yutang, translator)

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The Numbers Make Me Thankful

 

Numbers make me thankful?

 Yep!

 See, tomorrow is Thanksgiving in the United States and, since I spend almost every waking hour either writing or preparing to write this blog, all aspects of the blogging process are important to me; especially, how many people are reading the posts and  where on the earth they are when they access the blog…

I may have been born and still live in the U.S. but I consider myself a world citizen. I try to write the blog from that perspective and I’m grateful when I see that people in other lands are reading it!

So, I decided to share the numbers I’ll be thankful for tomorrow during the Thanksgiving celebration.

First, the statistics for what countries you readers are in when you visit. There are a total of 53 countries represented and that makes me exceedingly thankful!!  All I’ll show you here are the top ten {The numbers in my stats counter are only the last 500 visitors}:

Even though 55.8% of you are from the United States, I’m thankful that 44.2% are not  from here! Also, even though it’s only 2% from Israel, that country is where the spiritual and administrative center of my Faith are located—gives me a warm thankfulness…

Next are the states and regions (again, only the top ten):

Sure, most of the top ten are states in the U.S. but number 5 is, thankfully,  Jakarta Raya!

Last are the top ten cities:

First thing I noticed is that spot 4 is a city and state in the U.S. that has no name… That may have been where I was back in the late 60s…

Number ten makes me have that warm thankfulness again since it’s the actual city that has the World Center of my Faith!!

According to WikiAnswers, Mexico, Japan, China, Australia, and Canada also celebrate Thanksgiving. And, according to enotes: “Many groups of people around the world give thanks, usually at a celebration following a major crop harvest.”

So, tomorrow, as I celebrate the holiday with friends from my favorite café, I’ll be thankful I live in a country that still has some  of the freedoms it intended to have and I’ll savor, along with the food and friendship, the fact that my efforts in this blog are visited by members of our human family from many diverse countries…

Spiritual Quote :

“Today, humanity is bowed down with trouble, sorrow and grief, no one escapes; the world is wet with tears; but, thank God, the remedy is at our doors. Let us turn our hearts away from the world of matter and live in the spiritual world! It alone can give us freedom!”
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 110

The World-Wide Gender Gap

In a previous post, Path Toward Peace – Step Seven, the concept of eliminating the denial of the equality of women and men  was explored. I thought it was time to take another look at the critical need for complete equality between women and men, world-wide. It’s fulfillment is crucial to global peace…

I consulted a document entitled, Global Gender Gap Report. It was published by The World Economic Forum with the aid of Harvard University and the University of California, Berkeley.

It goes into extreme detail about many interactive factors measured for 130 countries to assess their accomplishments toward closing the gender gap.

Here are the top ten countries, those doing the best job of facilitating gender equality:

Norway
Finland
Sweden
Iceland
New Zealand
Philippines
Denmark
Ireland
Netherlands
Latvia

Here are the bottom ten countries, those doing the least to close the gap:

Bahrain
Ethiopia
Turkey
Egypt
Morocco
Benin
Pakistan
Saudi Arabia
Chad
Yemen

And, here’s part of the conclusion from the Report:

“The third edition of The Global Gender Gap Report calls attention to four essential facts. First, the Index provides a valuable snapshot of the current performance of 130 countries, representing over 90% of the world’s population. On average, over 97% of the gap on health outcomes, 95% of the gap on educational attainment, 62% of the gap on economic participation and 16% of the gap on political empowerment has been closed. No country in the world has achieved gender equality. The four highest ranking countries—Norway, Finland, Sweden and Iceland—have closed a little over 80% of their gender gaps, while the lowest ranking country—Yemen—has closed only around 47% of its gender gap.”

Much work to be done, eh?

Spiritual Quote :

“So it will come to pass that when women participate fully and equally in the affairs of the world, when they enter confidently and capably the great arena of laws and politics, war will cease.”
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, quoted in a document from the Bahá’í International Community, 1995 Aug 26, Creating Legal Institutional Structures for Gender Equality

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Poll Results

Well, the One Common Faith Polls have been up for three days now and I want to report on the results, so far…

I’ve learned in my time with this blog that any given post can be visited for months because of the web of connections I have on the Internet. The post that’s remained the most popular, Strong In The Broken Places, was written back on May 9th…

Even though I’m going to give the results of the polls in this post, I’m sure they’ll be visited over the next few months. I’ll be giving updates as time goes on. You didn’t take part in the polls? Oh, my!  Here they are…

So…

*The poll about, How would you characterize yourself?, has 32 responses so far. The top three responses are:

#1: Spiritual

#2: is a tie between, Religious and Moral

#3: is a tie between, Agnostic and Atheistic

*The poll with the question, How do you feel about humanity’s future?, has 25 responses and the top three are:

#1: The Kingdom of God will be established on earth

#2: Improvement’s possible with God’s help

#3: is a tie between, Science will save us and We will save ourselves

*The poll about, Where do you feel you’re at, right now?, has 29 responses and the top three are:

#1: Working to establish God’s Kingdom

#2: Climbing a spiritual mountain

#3: Roaming in a spiritual valley

The results are in (for now) and I’m pondering them deeply to open myself up to what the readers of this blog are feeling…

Spiritual Quote:

“You will see how the world is upset with internal conflict, and many lands are dyed in human blood—nay the earth is kneaded with gore. The flame of war is so ablaze that such terrible struggle finds no parallel in the war records of any of the middle or recent ages. Heads have become like grains and the war like mill stones—nay even worse. Flourishing lands are ruined, cities completely wrecked and thriving towns annihilated. Fathers have lost their sons, sons are made fatherless, and mothers have shed tears of blood over the death of their youthful sons. Children are made orphan, women are helpless, and the world of humanity is forced backward in all respects. The wailing cry of fatherless children is raised abroad, and mothers’ pathetic lamentation reaches the high heaven.

“The source of all these catastrophes is racial fanaticism, patriotic fanaticism, religious fanaticism and political fanaticism. The source of these fanaticisms is ancient imitations, religious imitations, racial imitations, patriotic imitations, and political imitations. As long as following such imitations persists, the very foundation of humanity is wrecked and the world of man is in great jeopardy.”
‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Letter to Martha Root

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