The Spirit of Transformation
About a month ago, Bahá’ís around the world celebrated their new year. Naw-Rúz, which translates from Persian to “new day”, is referred to by Bahá’u’lláh as “a festival unto those who have observed the Fast.”(1) ‘Abdu’l-Bahá explained that this “sacred […]
2012
The Master and The Press
‘Abdul-Bahá came to the United States during a unique historical period — the Nineteenth Amendment, which would give women the right to vote, was eight years from being ratified, the First World War was soon to be fought in two […]
2012
“The First Voyage of Easterners to America”
The reason and significance of His journey was a recurrent subject addressed by the Master during the long crossing of the Atlantic. It was customary for ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to casually walk on the deck every morning and evening. Mahmúd recounts how […]
A Beauty of Stature
On April 3rd, 1912 Mahmúd wrote: Our American friends requested that the Master ask us, the Persians, to alter our attire to suit the circumstances of the time and place, changing everything except our Persian hats and coats. He replied, `What […]
2012
The Master and the World of Nature
In the spirit of spring, here are two vignettes about the Master and nature. The first takes place in the Swiss countryside and Juliet Thompson is its narrator: We passed fertile hills, covered with vines and corn or fruit trees; […]
2012
Paris Talks Revisited: The Equality of Sex
…in the two lower kingdoms of nature we have seen that there is no question of the superiority of one sex over the other. In the world of humanity we find a great difference; the female sex is treated as […]
2012
Paris Talks Revisited: The Non-Interference of Religion with Politics
2012 is set to be a year filled with political fervor as citizens in several countries including France, the United States, Germany, and Egypt will vote in presidential elections. Individuals from all walks of life will engage in an important […]
2012
Food for Thought
I will unabashedly admit that I think about food a lot in the days before the Fast. Recently I have been thinking about food and the Master. One of my favorite stories is of Lua Getsinger purposely trampling through poison ivy […]
2012
The Generosity of the Master
Detachment from personal wealth paired with generosity to others are twin virtues demonstrated by the Master throughout His life and there are legions of stories on the subject. Juliet Thompson recounts the following of His visit to Switzerland: Just as […]
2012
Discourse and Distribution
At the time of the Master’s travels the western believers had little access to the Writings of the Báb or Bahá’u’lláh. The last page of some issues of “Star of the West” list the literature available for sale in 1911: […]