Bahá’í Studies Review (volume 8)

• Review Article Translating the Hidden Words: an extended review of Diana Malouf’s "Unveiling the Hidden Words", Franklin Lewis
• Papers
• Bahá’u’lláh as the Zoroastrian saviour-king, Christopher Buck 100 years of the Bahá’í Faith in Europe, Seena Fazel and Graham Hassall
• Unofficial information and rumour in the Bahá’í community: the case of the "tree they couldn’t kill", David Piff
• Commentaries Native Messengers of God, William Collins Evolution, Stephen Friberg
• Education of women and socio-economic development, E Graham and F Rawlings Book Reviews Desinformation als Methode (U Schaefer et al.), Christian Cannuyer Historical Dictionary of the Bahá’í Faith, A, (P Hainsworth and H Adamson), and A Basic Bahá’í Chronology, (G Cameron and W Momen), William Collins The pivot of the universe: Nasir al-Din Shah (A Amanat), Sholeh Quinn Towards the Most Great Justice (ed. C Lerche), Rod Rastan Film and Music Reviews Five contemporary Bahá’í albums, Simon Mawhinney Saving Private Ryan, Milan Voykovic, Shamim Razavi
• Obituary O Z Whitehead, Robert Weinberg
• Compilation Introduction, Stephen Friberg A compilation of Bahá’í writings on science and technology prepared by the Research Department of the Universal House of Justice

The Youth via the Year of Service Desk. If you can go - GO NOW - contact Sylvia Miley.

Those who are financially self-supporting. If you can go, then contact Edgar Boyett, together we will find a goal for you.

Are you retired and can afford to spend six months or more helping another country achieve its Goals? If so, contact Edgar Boyett and together we will find a goal for you.

We are approaching the end of this Century of Light, a century full of promise. It is us that God has given the bounty to help Him achieve His Vision. To pioneer takes time and with only six months of the Four Year Plan left, we say don’t delay.

Travel teachers are needed like rain drops on a parched land - as many as can arise. Contact us for a consultation, help and advice. Don’t wait - ring or e-mail right now. Had you realised that from the beginning of time there have been pioneers and travel teachers? Now, in order to establish God’s Kingdom on Earth, the need is most great.

The following verse is dedicated to all Pioneers and Travel Teachers everywhere ...

Listen very carefully - Can you hear the drums beating? Can you hear the trumpets calling? Can you hear the sound of marching feet? Yes! Yes, the Pioneers are coming the Travel Teachers are coming From over here, over there, Everywhere Bahá’u’lláh is calling, The countries are calling to us to go, Over here, over there, everywhere. Will your answer be, "Yes Bahá’u’lláh - I am coming!" We are responding to this call Because we love you one and all. Yes the Pioneers are coming, the Travel Teachers are coming. Oh the Pioneers are coming, the Travel teachers are coming From over here, over there, everywhere, And together we will unite the world, because the Pioneers are Coming, The Travel Teachers are coming, To you, from over here, over there, everywhere.

Many Bahá’ís today are involved in activities linking local communities with the wider society. The Bahá’í Office of Religious and Educational Affairs (BOREA) has become aware of a project which could show the Faith in a new light.

JC2000 is a special nationwide millennium project, running through 1999-2000AD. Its basic premise is to apply the words and actions of Jesus to issues today, via the arts. According to the organisers, pupils can "respond appropriately from their own Faith commitment, whether that is of no particular faith, of Christian Faith, or of another Faith ".

This is a tremendous opportunity for Bahá’í youth to be involved in using their talents in dance, music, drama and art, to produce challenging work that has a Bahá’í perspective, while also being seen to be supportive of His Holiness, Christ and other Manifestations of God.

BOREA would like to encourage the friends to get involved in the JC2000 project. Please make contact in your locality to see if you can offer help, input and a Bahá’ís perspective. If your schools aren’t involved, why not encourage them to do so?

I spent exactly six months in Honduras, four months at Hogar Tierre Santa (the children’s orphanage) and two months at Bayan working with the SAT rural education programme.

I’m not going to go into detail about these institutes, as other reports have clearly described the projects in Honduras, but I would like to share with you some of the experiences I have come away with, and exactly how YOS has affected me. I made the decision of taking a YOS the summer of ’98. After I graduated, I was at a bit of a loss as to what direction my life was taking. I applied for a Masters course, but was not entirely sure of this decision. Anyhow, I waited for my acceptance/rejection letter and laid my decision upon this.

The plan was - "If I am accepted I’ll go on and finish my studies, if not, I do my YOS". I waited and waited and waited, yet I got no reply. In the meantime, I did a lot of thinking and came to the conclusion that if this year were to be my last (you never know!) that I’d much prefer to enter the "Pearly Gates" with an enlightened soul, than an academic qualification! So, in late August, I made the decision to take my YOS and go into God’s school of learning. The very next morning, I swear, I received the letter from University with an acceptance onto the MSc course. Well, my decision had been made, so with a little apprehension I had to phone up the University and ask them for a deferred entry.

I then contacted Esmyr Koomen from YOSDesk and started the process. I worked for a few months to earn enough money to support myself during the period of service, and in January ’99 I finally flew out to Honduras.

The next six months involved growth, development, learning, and a regeneration of qualities (then lying latent within me) resulting in a general "spring cleaning" of the soul.

When I first went to Honduras, I had a real culture shock! I went with a confident attitude, thinking that I knew exactly what to expect. I mean, I’d seen it all on TV (effects of Hurricane Mitch, conditions in developing countries ...) and I’d heard the experiences of other ex-YOS youth. Though this did soften the blow, seeing and hearing about something is quite different from being a living part of it!

My first month in Honduras was the most difficult, with feelings of isolation (not being able to speak the language well), frustration (at the slow pace of life there, when I’d gone with the enthusiasm to get straight to work), and home-sickness (feeling alien in a culture I did not understand). Looking back on it now, I feel that this was the exponential phase in the "soul-cleansing" period. It was during this time that I learned to truly rely on prayer, and that when all else is far from us, God is always there!

It’s amazing how quickly people learn to adjust to physical conditions when they have to. Once I’d adjusted, I looked back on myself and wondered what all the fuss had been about!

Over the next five months I came across various events and situations that I learned to cope with, with ever-increasing ease, as my confidence grew. I can only summarise my experiences as being completely "random", and after some time one becomes "accustomed" to the randomness and so can cope with almost any chaotic situation you find yourself in.

I truly cherish the time I spent in Honduras, and am planning my return, but amongst all the important lessons I have learned I would like to share just two with you.

The first is that the greatest thing I got from my YOS was an ever-increasing love for the Bahá’í Faith, for Bahá’u’lláh. Every dilemma I came across, every query, every stumbling block, the Writings provided me with the resolution. Every time I felt home sick or isolated or frustrated, I only found comfort in the Writings. I realised that we all have to find Faith by ourselves. We can go to all the deepening classes and firesides, and hear all the stories that others tell, but as long as we, as individuals, do not feel the love, then it will not mean very much and not take effect in our thoughts or actions. "Until love takes hold of the heart no other divine bounty can be revealed in it." (Promulgation p13)

The other important piece of learning is that I took on the YOS thinking I’d gone to devote six months of my life to Bahá’u’lláh, but came back realising that, that was just the first six months of the rest of my life! Setting a fixed period of time and going to a foreign land can be a great starting point, but the real test is to apply these acquired virtues, this state of mind, of being, throughout my life ... whatever the environmental push may be!

To anyone considering whether they should take time out to do their Year Of Service ... I suggest they stop considering and go for it!

Lots of love, Rama Mahboubi

The first international conference on Bahá’í Social and Economic Development organised by BASED-UK and The International Environment Forum (A Bahá’í Non-Governmental Organisation based in Switzerland) took place at Sidcot School in August, running parallel with the Arts Academy programme. Forty-five motivated and enthusiastic delegates from fourteen countries turned their attention to the practical applications of spiritual principles. Another 65 delegates from a further 23 countries participated via e-mail.

Speakers included Irma Allen (Swaziland), Leslie Casely-Hayford (Ghana), Augusto Lopez Claros (Bolivia, currently UK), Laurence de Closets (France), Arthur Dahl (Switzerland), Gisle Gimeland (Norway), Richard Hainsworth (Russia), Geeta Kingdon (UK), Barney Leith (UK), Nancy McIntyre (USA), Gunnar Lange Nielson (Norway), Farzin Rahmani (UK), Samantha Reynolds (Afghanistan), Michael Richards (UK), Hassan Sabri (UK), Kazem-Samandari (France) and Adam and Lindsey Thorne (UK).

A balance of theory and practice with contributions from around the world resulted in a highly inspirational and happy three days. We appreciated much more how Bahá’í ideas on development can help us to better understand the problems and devise solutions.

We heard first hand reports of grass roots projects in Afghanistan, France, Ghana, Honduras, India, Norway, Russia, Sierra Leone, the countries of Southeastern Europe, the USA as well as Swindon and Wychavon in the United Kingdom. Again and again we saw how universal participation and continual referral to the Writings were associated with the most successful and sustained projects. The participants went away with a new zeal to put their Faith into action by increasing their efforts in the field of social and economic development wherever they lived.

Two musicians from Germany provided musical slots, singing songs from a recent CD they had made for Agenda 21. Working with the International Environment Forum and the Arts Academy, who we warmly thank for making all the practical arrangements at Sidcot, was an added bonus.