Hi DK, Hi All!

Just as we describe the same ONE earthly father differently in childhood, youth, middle-age and old age, similarly, the spiritual masters experienced the same ONE 'Heavenly Father' but described 'Him' differently because they belonged to different cultural Ages.

And that ONE, Heavenly Father, is no different from what we have been calling in our previous threads as indescribable spiritual realm or Unified Force or Unified Force of Love.

The rest should follow as a matter of course.

Ultimately One, unity of purpose, peace, can only be realized within, through one's own self-experience.

Love, Harb

Dear DK,

The past few days i have realized a very important truth: everybody walks his/her own path, sometimes we walk for a little while together, then we part again and each goes further on his/her own path. Then we meet another "lesson" on our path and learn again from that, and so on and so on. So i do agree with Harb, the One can be found in all the countless, many, many paths there are, but one's own path is and stays unique :)

I do very much agree that those 9 points are a good starting point if one is on a crossing point in one's life.

I guess if groups of about 9 people with the above values get together with practical ideas, they will be capable of making important changes.
Getting everyone with their nose into the same direction will be an impossible task in my opinion.

Many many are already working into this direction, nature forces us more and more, so it is in the scheme of things i suppose :)

Love, Mieke

Dear DK,

I think inter-faith dialogue is critical, just as dialogue between different countries and groups of all kinds are critical. Otherwise we human beings keep falling into the trap of thinking our faith, group, etc, is (at least just a little) more special than the other. Or more worthy in some way.

I agree with Harb that ultimately we realize unity of purpose and peace through our own self experience. And so, hopefully there is an acknowledgement or a willingness to entertain the possibility that there is a deeper truth and we are more than a body/mind. Even so, without the ability to understand and communicate with those who are from different groups or have different beliefs we won't make the kind of progress we need in order to work together for a world that embodies the values of the great spiritual teachers.

Kindness. Forgiveness. Compassion. Wanting to serve. Or you could simply say, Love your neighbor as yourself.

Seems pretty straight forward and simple to me.

Love, Kristin

Dear DK,

Am generally hesitant to discuss religions, beliefs and faiths. Predominantly because of lack of knowledge and also because invariably it ends in acrimonious debate going round in circles and becomes repetitive. Everyone wants you to hear them on their faith and version but has no time to listen to your side of it.

However, your questions pertain to an opinion on dialogue and unity of purpose. I think this is absolutely essential at all times. Had this been done always, I dare think that maybe there would have been far less violence in the name of the almighty and the one true faith.

In fact I am also reasonably certain that at the end of serious and open minded dialogue, we would perhaps realise that there is far more commonality between faiths than there is divergence.

Like Harb, Meike and Kristin I believe we find and make our own peace in our own ways. We tred individual paths and often back-track and change paths throughout our lives. If we share these experiences with an open mind, bereft of ego, we would perhpas succeed to a great extent in eradicating ignorance and misconceptions of other cultures and faiths. This ignorance and misconception is probably the root cause of most conflicts and violence the world has witnessed and suffered.

Dear Dara, DK, Mieke and Harb:

I wanted to add that in addition to open dialogue it is essential to be open to experiencing different faiths and cultures. I'm not saying we need to change our beliefs or pracices, but if we can allow ourselves to be vulnerable enough to step out of what is comfortable, safe and familiar to us for even short periods of time, we can discover the beauty beneath all ritual and within each human being, even those that seem so strange to us or bring up our deepest fears.

I've been thinking about vulnerability lately and how when we are open about our weaknesses we are vulnerable. And yet, I still say, let's be open about our vulnerabilities. Let's transform our weaknesses and fears (which we so often project onto OTHER people or groups) by being open about them. People say to me that now more than ever we should protect ourselves and hide that which another could use against us. I just don't agree. I say we need to go the other way.

This is not a game where some will win and some will lose. It's all or nothing. We all step into the light or we all move further into darkness. There is no leaving any part of the whole behind. How could there be?

Love, Kristin

Hi Dara,
Your comment has all the ingredients for realization of Unity Living ... not only for those who want to communicate inter-faith ideas, but nations can follow this way - to find what is common and dialogue without the need for violence.

Hello to Harb, Mieke, and Kristin,
so glad our paths have crossed!

Love,
~ Kate

Dear DK,
Thank you for posting the nine principles of the Baha'i Faith.

I think they are good guidelines,
but I believe along with spirituality (which includes creative and 'mystical' thinking and problem solving, a deep sense of unity/oneness, and dreaming/manifesting into visible form...)

science will contribute (as it has for centuries now) to solutions of health, sharing of resources and discoveries of the cosmos and the human body still to be revealed.

With love,
~ Kate

p.s.
it is a loving picture you posted of Shamsi Navidi with one of her grandaughters

Even today, Baha'is are marginalized and harrassed in Iran (just as Bahá'u'lláh was in the 19th century), this inspite of the fact that they never seek to contradict or subvert governments...they are the ultimate diplomats.

The same goes for Egypt: http://www.bahai.org/persecution/egypt

Imagine a man who'd spent what one would expect to be the most productive years of his life exiled in squalor, writing letters to Kings and Presidents and Czars alike, confronting modernity with Truth Prophecy.

Few of us could remain so possessed of purpose under such denigrating circumstances.

I think, ultimately, history will look kindly upon Bahá'u'lláh in the same way succeeding centuries regarded Jesus of Nazareth.

Dear Kate,

You are right, talking together, has always been a healing process. Maybe we need to take recourse to that informally, like the net enables us to, and gradually begin to understand where we and our problems are all coming from.

Maybe someday "It's a Wonderful World' will be adopted as the international anthem - it's good to dream! :)

Hi Dana,

I think the Baha'is have impressed all those who have come in touch with them and are respected wherever they go for the gentleness and compassionate attitude towards others. The few I have met have come across as very dignified, soft spoken and generous people.

What made Shamsi so special for me was that her beliefs as a Baha'i were made real in the way she lived, conducted herself, related to others - and in the very core of her being.

I've been a Baha'i since I was 18, way back in 1966, and I've met and worked alongside many Baha'is. As with any other group of people, some have been miraculously lovely and inspiring, some have not (how to put this tactfully?) lived up to what Baha'u'llah asks of us, and the majority (amongst whom I count myself) have been those striving to "make each morn better than its eve".

To have the privilege to serve (as I did) alongside Shamsi was to be given the privilege of associating with a soul far more advanced than me. She wasn't a saint, she had a real and humorous humanity, but she lived constantly in the light of prayer.