http://www.examiner.com/examiner/x-14414-Columbus-Interfaith-Spirituality-Examiner~y2010m5d4-Spirituality-and-what-is-the-Bahai-Ridvan-festival-about-101continued . . .
The Bahai believe God is revealed through many prophets who were inspired by God: Abraham, Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Krishna, Jesus, Muhammad, the Bab and then Baha’u’llah. (Guru Nanak Dev 1469 was not mentioned) The Baha'i religion speaks of equality among peoples and upholds the value of education. Its teachings emphasize that because God is ingredient to all faiths and peoples, all endeavors of arts, sciences and religions there should be no conflict. There aren’t clergy in the Bahai tradition, but elected administrative people who govern the faith.
The Baha'i scriptures are available online at http://reference.bahai.org/en/
It's quite an extensive list http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/ In Gleanings of the Writings of Baha'u'llah XIX he says, 'To every discerning and illuminated heart it is evident that God, the unknowable Essence, the Divine Being, is immensely exalted beyond every human attribute, such as corporeal existence, ascent and descent, egress and regress. Far be it from His glory that human tongue should adequately recount 47 His praise, or that human heart comprehend His fathomless mystery. He is, and hath ever been, veiled in the ancient eternity of His Essence, and will remain in His Reality everlastingly hidden from the sight of men. 'No vision taketh in Him, but He taketh in all vision; He is the Subtile, the All-Perceiving.'… Source:
US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1990.
US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1990.
Like the Sikh faith, the Baha'i faith has a universalist approach and is based on the divine inspiration of its founder. We can't deny that exclusivist faith approaches would have a problem with this. There are several approaches one might take to other faiths: exclusionary (my way or the highway); inclusive (my faith respects your faith; there's room for us both- even though I prefer this route and you might also discover why) and universalist (all routes are on equal footing as ways to the divine) and secular/humanist (they're all human constructs; there may or not be a 'divine presence'-we don't know how/why/who/form).
What's truly important to glean from these transcendent universal approaches is to learn how to live together better in our times, to quit playing 'king of the hill' and begin to focus on a better quality of life for ourselves/one another and all creation. This could also be behind the appeal of Buddhism in the West; it improves oneself and the life of others through the growth of compassionate thought and meditation. Jesus' ministry was about what the reign of God could be like in the here and now; he inagurated it in his time. The torch has passed for us all to make it possible here and now. To create peace and abundance like life in a garden, the garden of paradise, a vibrant beautiful gem of a blue green planet swirling through space . . . beautiful and ever more fragile, teeming with life . . . in 2010.
copyright 2010, Patricia A. Rodemann
No comments:
Post a Comment