Accumulating Experience

by Omalley Ehren Abel

In rereading the May 17, 2009 letter from the Universal House of Justice regarding the 19-Day Feast, I am fascinated how much it says about our community, even beyond the celebration of Feast. We are growing... both in size and capacity.

The May 17 letter notes a growing dynamism as one of the salient features of our worldwide community. The dictionary defines dynamism as great energy, force, or power. Our Baha'i community has great energy, it has force, and it has power! The individual, the community, and the institutions are all coming together to demonstrate this power to ourselves as well as the greater community.

One of the outcomes of our dynamic, powerful community is that individuals will want to attend Baha'i Feast. It is natural that our community of interest will be drawn to our gatherings as people flee from the pain and sorrow of the world. The Baha'is have something to offer and people will reach for it as moths to a flame.

Of course, this means that we will occasionally find that seekers will show up at Feast wishing to attend even when they have not been invited. Beautifully, the Universal House of Justice has helped us understand how we are to deal with these situations. As Baha'is are to have an outward-looking vision,we would naturally not wish to be rude. Therefore, the new guidance indicates that we can hold feast almost as usual keeping in mind the need for confidentiality and restraint.

Note: We should guard against taking this new guidance to mean we can invite seekers to our Feasts. However much we may wish to share our Faith enthusiastically with interested individuals, it would be a mistake to forget that Feast was an institution created for the Baha'is themselves and respecting this directive is important. Nonetheless, should someone show up at Feast who is not a Baha'i, we are free to include them in Feast and adhere to the standard format (with discretion given to the Local Spiritual Assemblies to decide how much to include).

Part of what I love about being a Baha'i is the on-going, ever-dynamic understanding of the Faith that grows along with the community. The Universal House of Justice states, The continued expansion of the Bahá’í community in the years to come will surely give rise to a range of challenges that will affect how the devotional, administrative, and social aspects of the Nineteen Day Feast are conducted in diverse localities.

Further, Responsibility for addressing these challenges will fall, in the first instance, on Local Spiritual Assemblies. Theirs is the duty to remain alert to conditions in their communities, to consult with the friends, to respond thoughtfully to a multiplicity of needs and circumstances, and to remain flexible without compromising fundamental principles.

Remaining flexible without compromising fundamental principles is a hallmark of our Faith. This is theaccumulating experience that allows us to grow and change and yet never waver in our principles. This is our energy, our force, and our power... This is what makes us dynamic... This is what makes us Baha'is.

The understanding that the mere knowledge of principles is insufficient to ensure personal growth and social change, that both require the exercise of volition and the application of will.

service --benevolent act

Praise be to God! the mediaeval ages of darkness have passed away and this century of radiance has dawned, -- this century wherein the reality of things is becoming evident, -- wherein science is penetrating the mysteries of the universe, the oneness of the world of humanity is being established and service to mankind is the paramount motive of all existence.

- ‘Abdul-Bahá Bahá'í World Faith p. 297

Arena of democracy at the very root of society’ links individual to collective processes

Developing the Nineteen Day Feast
‘Arena of democracy at the very root of society’ links individual to
collective processes
This is the sixth in a series of articles in The American Bahá’í looking at the
remarkable statements in the Bahá’í writings about the potential of the Feast for
individuals, communities and Assemblies and how Bahá’í communities in the
United States are enhancing their Feast experience.
By the Office of Governance Studies
The Universal House of Justice has referred to the Nineteen Day Feast as “an arena of
democracy at the very root of society.”
What does this mean? How can 12 Bahá’ís sitting around a living room constitute an
“arena of democracy”? In a community of 100 friends, in what ways is Feast consultation
a democratic process? What will it be like when every city has dozens or hundreds of
neighborhood Feasts?
The Universal House of Justice describes the society-building significance of the
Nineteen Day Feast as follows:
“Moreover, because of the opportunity which it provides for conveying messages
from the national and international levels of the administration and also for
communicating the recommendations of the friends to those levels, the Feast becomes a
link that connects the local community in a dynamic relationship with the entire structure
of the Administrative Order. But considered in its local sphere alone there is much to
thrill and amaze the heart. Here it links the individual to the collective processes by
which a society is built or restored. Here, for instance, the Feast is an arena of democracy
at the very root of society, where the Local Spiritual Assembly and the members of the
community meet on common ground, where individuals are free to offer their gifts of
thought, whether as new ideas or constructive criticism, to the building processes of an
advancing civilization. Thus it can be seen that aside from its spiritual significance, this
common institution of the people combines an array of elemental social disciplines which
educate its participants in the essentials of responsible citizenship.” —Letter dated Aug.
27, 1989, quoted in A Wider Horizon, Selected Messages of the Universal House of
Justice, 1983–1992, p. 68
The best of each system
If we think of “democracy” only as a political system in which candidates put
forward by political parties compete for money and votes, it is hard to imagine what
relevance it has to the Bahá’í Administrative Order. We must look further.
Shoghi Effendi has explained that the Bahá’í system “embodies and blends with the
spiritual verities on which it is based the beneficent elements which are to be found” in
various governance systems, while avoiding the defects in each:
“Neither in theory nor in practice can the Administrative Order of the Faith of
Bahá’u’lláh be said to conform to any type of democratic government, to any system of
autocracy, to any purely aristocratic order, or to any of the various theocracies, whether
Jewish, Christian or Islamic which mankind has witnessed in the past. It incorporates
within its structure certain elements which are to be found in each of the three recognized
forms of secular government, is devoid of the defects which each of them inherently
possesses, and blends the salutary truths which each undoubtedly contains without
vitiating in any way the integrity of the Divine verities on which it is essentially
founded.” God Passes By, p. 326
What might be the “salutary truths” to be found in modern democratic systems?
In the secular world today, among those who harbor some optimism for the future of
humanity, many base their hope on the remarkable global spread in recent years of
democracy and so-called “democratic values.” Setting aside the debates about how
profound or lasting some of these changes have been, and about the mixture of political
and economic motives inspiring different groups of democratization advocates, it is
generally recognized that a major shift has occurred worldwide in people’s expectations.
In some quarters democracy itself is now claimed to be a fundamental human right.
More than just voting
Democracy advocates of all stripes agree that “democracy” is not just about going to
the polls every few years. More fundamentally, it is about participation and
responsibility. It is about all citizens—wealthy and poor, majority and minority, the
powerful and the vulnerable—having a voice that is heard. It is about putting the wellbeing
of all citizens and their right to participate in shaping their own future at the heart
of the governing process. It is about orderly, peaceful change in the political and
economic life of a society. It can be inefficient and chaotic, but it is a means to work
towards social justice.
It is recognized, of course, that even nations that have had democratic systems for
generations still have longstanding social inequities to overcome, but solutions are sought
through deepening the democratic process, not replacing it.
One response to the need for and expectation of greater citizen voice has been the
proliferation of nongovernmental organizations. These and other civil society
organizations are said to be assuming the role of mediating the relationship between
people and government structures, by promoting the needs and interests of marginalized
groups, facilitating collaboration among like-minded people for common goals,
advocating for policy change, etc. “People’s organizations” help individuals feel
connected to one another and provide a framework in which they can take active, shared
responsibility for their collective future.
Advocacy of grassroots democratic processes goes hand in hand with “participatory”
approaches to social and economic development. Participatory development work is
based on the understanding that the most fundamental and valuable aspect of
development is not material advancement but increasing the capacity of people to take
responsibility for their own future and to work in groups for common goals. Individuals
and communities are not “target populations” for development projects but are the
protagonists. While others can and should offer material, technical and other forms of
assistance, the most important learning in development takes place at the local level.
Civilizing purposes
The goals espoused by advocates of participatory development and deeper
democratization seem to be very much in accord with the civilizing purposes of
Bahá’u’lláh’s revelation:
“Throughout history, the mass of humanity have been, at best, spectators at the
advance of civilization. Their role has been to serve the designs of whatever elite had
temporarily assumed control of the process. … Bahá’u’lláh has come to free humanity
from this long bondage, and the closing decades of the twentieth century were devoted by
the community of His followers to creative experimentation with the means by which His
objective can be realized. The prosecution of the Divine Plan entails no less than the
involvement of the entire body of humankind in the work of its own spiritual, social and
intellectual development.” Century of Light, pp. 110-11.
So, what occurs—or should occur—during the consultative portion of a Nineteen
Day Feast, is profoundly “democratic,” in the best sense of the word.
It is a time for all members of the community to gather, frequently and regularly, on
a fully equal basis, to work on their own development. It is a time to examine what has
been learned, to propose new ideas, and to reaffirm shared values.
It is a time to identify community needs, to understand them in light of spiritual
principles, and to build on strengths.
It is a time to foster and nurture “co-partnership” and “mutual confidence” (both
terms used by Shoghi Effendi) between community members and their elected trustees,
the Spiritual Assembly.
Feast as a whole, in its devotional, consultative and social aspects, is a time to
exercise our most noble inclinations and to foster the love and unity upon which all other
progress depends.
Learning about consultation
Viewed in the long term, the most important outcome of a Feast consultation may
not be the particular suggestions or ideas put forth, but the learning that takes place about
how to consult. Feast is a time to cultivate “elemental social disciplines” essential to
“responsible citizenship.” What social discipline could be more basic to the collective life
of any group than consultation? “Consultation, frank and unfettered, is the bedrock of this
unique Order.” —Shoghi Effendi, from a letter dated Nov. 18, 1933
Consultation can be understood not only as a skill set, of course, but as a decisionmaking
method, as a process for resolving difficulties, as a framework for unifying
interaction with others, and even as a door to creative thinking and collective discovery!
The principles of consultation—including courtesy, respect, frankness, moderation,
selflessness and truth-seeking—define the most basic requirements for responsible
citizenship.
Thus, a Bahá’í community, large or small, by gathering regularly for Feast and
striving to apply ever more fully the principles of consultation, is engaged in the very
process that democracy and development theorists and practitioners around the world are
advocating as the most fundamental building block of a peaceful and prosperous human
future. Bahá’ís as individuals and in communities are taking an increasing share of
responsibility for their own future, for creating the conditions in which they wish to live.
They are building local institutions constitutionally committed to promoting equality,
individual initiative and justice. And they are doing this not within an NGO or
congregation of their choice but with the Bahá’ís who are their geographic neighbors,
whoever they may be, in their full array of diversity in background and temperament. At
the local level, at the very root of society, Bahá’ís are learning the disciplines necessary
to free humanity from its bondage.
If all this is not apparent at our local Feast, it is only because we can as yet barely
glimpse the first streaks of the promised Dawn of this “Day in which all that lay latent in
man hath been and will be made manifest.”

Developing the Nineteen Day Feast

Developing the Nineteen Day Feast
Action is key in strengthening observance so it ‘encourages benevolent
pursuits’
Seventh in a series of articles on the Nineteen Day Feast
By the Office of Development Research

The Master said, “This Feast is held to foster comradeship and love, to call God to mind
and supplicate Him with contrite hearts, and to encourage benevolent pursuits. That is,
the friends should there dwell upon God and glorify Him, read the prayers and holy
verses, and treat one another with the utmost affection and love. … Let all discussion
centre on the doing of charitable acts and holy deeds, that laudable results may be the
fruit thereof.”
This series of articles has looked at the Feast’s role in comradeship and love among
the believers, at the devotional aspect of this important institution and at effective
consultation. But what of “benevolent pursuits”?
Let’s begin by thinking about what “benevolence” is, some of the ways benevolence
can be expressed, and how encouragement of benevolent pursuits can enhance and
develop the Feast experience.
Benevolence is, literally, good will, charitableness, a desire to do good to others, an
act of kindness. Thus, when ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says we should treat one another with
affection and love, He is also expanding on the definition of benevolence. His example in
this regard is clear: sending sweets from the Feast with a child, for instance, to the mother
whose illness had kept her home.
Model of benevolence
The most fundamental model of benevolence is to be found in the relationship between
God and His children. Bahá’u’lláh’s revealed prayers explain ways that God shows us
His benevolence: “Whenever I ponder my evil doings and Thy benevolence, my heart
melteth within me, and my blood boileth in my veins.” Our hope, indeed, lies in that
benevolence: “O God my God! Thou seest me standing before the door of Thy forgiveness
and benevolence. …”
This model of benevolence is put into action in the relationships between people, as
for example when Bahá’u’lláh exhorts His followers: “Show forbearance and
benevolence and love to one another. Should any one among you be incapable of
grasping a certain truth, or be striving to comprehend it, show forth, when conversing
with him, a spirit of extreme kindliness and good-will. …”
Benevolence is also an outcome of the operation of the Administrative Order, of
which the Feast itself is such a central part: “The institutions of the Bahá’í Administrative
Order, now being raised in all parts of the world through the endeavors of the believers,
are the precursor, the nucleus and the pattern of that World Order which will, in the
course of time, exert its full benevolent influence on all the peoples of the earth.”
‘Abdu’l- Bahá described benevolence as an aspect of the law of God, a law which, He
says, “shows mercy to the poor, defends the oppressed, gives to the wretched and uplifts
the fallen.”
Action is the key
These last phrases all hinge on action words, benevolence expressed in action. What
actions might be involved? On a personal level, we are to show forth “extreme
kindliness,” “treat one another with the utmost affection and love,” and enjoy
comradeship with one another. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá also said, however, that “all discussion”
should focus on “the doing of charitable acts and holy deeds,” which raises the
possibility of a shared expression of benevolence, of collective action. Benevolence, or
benevolent pursuits, must therefore have both individual and collective dimensions.
Philanthropy is a related concept. Both it and benevo lence influence our
understanding of Bahá’í social and economic development. Love, mercy and the
improvement of the spiritual and material life of mankind are the threads that tie these
concepts together.
‘Abdu’l- Bahá describes philanthropy in words similar in tone to the above
dictionary definition of benevolence: “But in this wonderful dispensation, philanthropic
affairs are for all humanity, without any exception, because it is the manifestation of the
mercifulness of God. … Therefore, my hope is that the friends of God, every one of them,
may become as the mercy of God to all mankind.”
The Universal House of Justice called our attention to social and economic
development with these words: “From the beginning of His stupendous mission,
Bahá’u’lláh urged upon the attention of nations the necessity of ordering human affairs in
such a way as to bring into being a world unified in all the essential aspects of its life. In
unnumbered verses and tablets He repeatedly and variously declared the ‘progress of the
world’ and the ‘development of nations’ as being among the ordinances of God for this
day. The oneness of mankind, which is at once the operating principle and ultimate goal
of His Revelation, implies the achievement of a dynamic coherence between the spiritual
and practical requirements of life on earth.”
When we think about the benevolent pursuits to be encouraged at the Feast, then, the
whole range of individual and community initiatives directed at improving and ordering
the lives of people is eligible for our consideration in the sacred environment of that
institution.
The effect on Feast
Consider the Feast model current in a great number of communities today: prayers and
readings; consultation (sometimes) about the letter from the National Spiritual Assembly
and the local Treasurer’s report; then refreshments.
Now envision a Feast whose consultation is a brainstorming session devoted to
finding ways for the friends, individually as well as in community, to “become as the
mercy of God to all mankind” through their charitable deeds, identifying needs inside and
outside the community and consulting on approaches to meeting the needs.
As the ideas flow, an atmosphere of encouragement prevails; you hear “That’s a
good idea, Mehran; what could I do to help you?” and “I have a car and some tools;
maybe that would help with the project to refurbish the community center.” The Local
Spiritual Assembly notes items it wishes to consider in consultation. Teams begin to form
of those who share an interest, while others hear new ideas for personal action.
The following month, people report back: this project went really well, that idea hit
some obstacles; the Local Assembly shares the product of its consideration. The friends
discuss how to carry the ideas and actions to the next stage.
Perhaps things start small: Phil and Mary decide they are going to do something on
their own, but as they get some successes and share their excitement with the community,
more people decide to lend a hand or to copy the Mary-and-Phil model.
A starting point like that makes sense for a small group or community. Where there
are more resources, more connections with the outside community, and a greater pool of
talents, interests and skills to draw from, there is practically no limit to what is possible.
The first, most important step, is to understand that the Feast is about more than the
internal affairs of the community; at its most basic level it is about personal benevolence,
evident in the way we treat each other, yet Feast can also be a place where efforts
embracing the whole community can find encouragement and enlist willing souls, so that
“the friends of God, every one of them, may become as the mercy of God to all mankind.”