words with these letters: Kasım 2012

30 Kasım 2012 Cuma

The Purpose of Baha'u'llah

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Unto the emblems of justice and the exponents of equity it is indubitably clear and evident that this Wronged One, strengthened by the transcendent power of the Kingdom, is seeking to efface from among the peoples and kindreds of the earth every evidence of disorder, discord, dissension, differences or divisions; and it is for no other reason but this great, this momentous object that He hath again and again been cast into prison and many a day and a night hath been subjected to chains and fetters. Blessed are they that judge this impregnable Cause, this glorious Announcement, with fairness and equity.
(Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 260)

O King of Paris! [Napoleon III] Tell the priests to ring the bells no longer. By God, the True One! The Most Mighty Bell hath appeared in the form of Him Who is the Most Great Name, and the fingers of the Will of Thy Lord, the Most Exalted, the Most High, toll it out in the heaven of Immortality in His name, the All-Glorious. Thus have the mighty verses of Thy Lord been again sent down unto thee, that thou mayest arise to remember God, the Creator of earth and heaven, in these days when all the tribes of the earth have mourned, and the foundations of the cities have trembled, and the dust of irreligion hath enwrapped all men, except such as God, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise, was pleased to spare. Say: He Who is the Unconstrained is come, in the clouds of light, that He may quicken the world with the breezes of His name, the Most Merciful, and unify its peoples, and gather all men around this Table which hath been sent down from heaven.
(Baha'u'llah, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, paragraph 1.131 p. 67)

The purpose of the one true God in manifesting Himself is to summon all mankind to truthfulness and sincerity, to piety and trustworthiness, to resignation and submissiveness to the Will of God, to forbearance and kindliness, to uprightness and wisdom. His object is to array every man with the mantle of a saintly character, and to adorn him with the ornament of holy and goodly deeds.
(Gleanings from the Writings of BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h CXXXVII, p. 299)

The Baha'i Womens Group of Lumumbashi, Katanga, Democratic Republic of Congo, in 1997
Copyright © 2006 Baha'i International Community
Used with permission
This Wronged One, rid of all attachment to the world, hath striven with utmost endeavour to quench the fire of animosity and hatred which burneth fiercely in the hearts of the peoples of the earth.
(Tablet of Tarazat (Ornaments), Tablets of Baha'u'llah p. 44)

Thou didst bring mankind into being to know Thee and to serve Thy Cause, that their station might thereby be elevated upon Thine earth and their souls be uplifted by virtue of the things Thou hast revealed in Thy Scriptures, Thy Books and Thy Tablets.
(Baha'u'llah, Tablet of Ishraqat, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 111)

That which hath been set forth and will be revealed in the future is but a token of this Servant's ardent desire to dedicate Himself to the service of all the kindreds of the earth.
(Tablet of Maqsud, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 171)

Unto that immeasurably exalted Being Who seeketh naught but to foster the spirit of love and fellowship amongst men, and to revive the world and ennoble its life, they have imputed such charges as the tongue and the pen are ashamed to recount.
(Baha'u'llah, Tablet of Maqsud, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 174)

The Tongan Baha'i Lakalala Dance Group at the 2004 jubilee celebrations
Copyright © 2006 Baha'i International Community
Used with permission
The Divine Messengers have been sent down, and their Books were revealed, for the purpose of promoting the knowledge of God, and of furthering unity and fellowship amongst men. (Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 12)

We, verily, have come to unite and weld together all that dwell on earth. (Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 24)

Mine aim hath ever been, and still is, to suppress whatever is the cause of contention amidst the peoples of the earth, and of separation amongst the nations, so that all men may be sanctified from every earthly attachment, and be set free to occupy themselves with their own interests.
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 33)

. . . it is Our purpose, through the loving providence of God -- exalted be His glory -- and His surpassing mercy, to abolish, through the force of Our utterance, all disputes, war, and bloodshed, from the face of the earth.
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 33)

The betterment of the world hath been the sole aim of this Wronged One.
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 36)

Addressing Himself unto the kings and rulers of the earth -- may God, exalted be He, assist them -- He imparted unto them that which is the cause of the well-being, the unity, the harmony, and the reconstruction of the world, and of the tranquillity of the nations.
(BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 44)

Confer with them, and show them what hath flowed out of the Pen of Glory, that haply they may be graciously aided to better the condition of the world, and improve the character of peoples of different nations, and may, through the living waters of God's counsels, quench the hatred and the animosity which lie hid and smolder in the hearts of men. We pray God that thou mayest be assisted therein. And this, verily, would not be hard for Him.
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 59)

. . . that He may quicken the world and unite its peoples
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 63)

This Wronged One, in the daytime and in the night-season, occupied Himself with that which would edify the souls of men, until the light of knowledge prevailed over the darkness of ignorance.
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 71)

This people need no weapons of destruction, inasmuch as they have girded themselves to reconstruct the world.
(BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 74)

that the souls of men may be edified, and the Word of God be exalted.
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 76-77)

Night and day hath this Wronged One been occupied in that which would unite the hearts, and edify the souls of men.
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 88)

He hath sent forth His Messengers, and sent down His Books, that they may announce unto His creatures the Straight Path.
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 98)

...that thine eye might be cheered, and thy soul be well-assured.
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 103)

Their concern hath ever been and now is for the betterment of the world. Their purpose is to obliterate differences, and quench the flame of hatred and enmity, so that the whole earth may come to be viewed as one country.
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 123)

this Wronged One hath, at all times, been cleaving fast unto whatever would be conducive to the glory of both the government and the people.
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 124)

Our purpose is that all men may cleave unto that which will reduce unnecessary labor and exertion, so that their days may be befittingly spent and ended.
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 138)

The eyes of this Wronged One are turned towards naught save trustworthiness, truthfulness, purity, and all that profiteth men.
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 138)

. . . so that He may infuse life eternal into the mortal frames of men, impart to the temples of dust the essence of the Holy Spirit and the heavenly Light, and draw the transient world, through the potency of a single word, unto the Everlasting Kingdom.
(Baha'u'llah, Compilation on Trustworthiness; The Compilation of Compilations Volume II, p. 337, #2050)
Briefly, in every instance He hath stated that which is conducive to the conversion, the advancement, the exaltation, and the guidance of men.
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 155)

God is My witness that this Wronged One hath had no purpose except to convey the Word of God.
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 161)

A Baha'i children's class in Yarmag, Ulaanbatar, Mongolia, 2005
Copyright © 2006 Baha'i International Community
Used with permission
We had no other purpose except to edify the souls of men, and to exalt the blessed Word.
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 166)

Say: He Who is the Unconstrained is come, in the clouds of light, that He may quicken the world with the breezes of His name, the Most Merciful, and unify its peoples, and gather all men around this Table which hath been sent down from heaven.
(BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h addressing Napoleon III, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, paragraph 1.131, pp. 67-68)

Consider these days in which He Who is the Ancient Beauty hath come in the Most Great Name, that He may quicken the world and unite its peoples.
(BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h addressing Queen Victoria, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, paragraph 1.177, p. 92)

O ye rulers of the earth! Wherefore have ye clouded the radiance of the Sun, and caused it to cease from shining? Hearken unto the counsel given you by the Pen of the Most High, that haply both ye and the poor may attain unto tranquillity and peace. We beseech God to assist the kings of the earth to establish peace on earth. He, verily, doth what He willeth.
(BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h addressing the rulers of the earth, in the Tablet to Queen Victoria, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 93)

They that surround thee love thee for their own sakes, whereas this Youth loveth thee for thine own sake, and hath had no desire except to draw thee nigh unto the seat of grace, and to turn thee toward the right hand of justice.
(Baha'u'llah addressing NÃ¡siri’d-DÃn ShÃ¡h, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, paragraph 1.194, p. 99)

. . . this Servant hath had no end in view but to promote the betterment and well-being of the world.
(BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h addressing NÃ¡siri’d-DÃn ShÃ¡h, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, paragraph 1.209, p. 108)

This Youth hath come to quicken the world and unite all its peoples. The day is approaching when that which God hath purposed will have prevailed and thou shalt behold the earth transformed into the all-glorious paradise. Thus hath it been inscribed by the Pen of Revelation upon this weighty Tablet.
(BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h, SÃºriy-i-Ra’Ãs, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, paragraph 2.8, p. 144)

Say: Even should ye tear our bodies asunder, ye could not banish from our hearts the love of God. We were of a truth created for sacrifice, and in this do we take pride before all creation.
(BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h, SÃºriy-i-Ra’Ãs, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, paragraph 2.27, p. 151)

I confess that Thou hast no desire except the regeneration of the whole world, and the establishment of the unity of its peoples, and the salvation of all them that dwell therein.
(Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah CXV, p. 243)

If any man were to meditate on that which the Scriptures, sent down from the heaven of God's holy Will, have revealed, he would readily recognize that their purpose is that all men shall be regarded as one soul, so that the seal bearing the words "The Kingdom shall be God's" may be stamped on every heart, and the light of Divine bounty, of grace, and mercy may envelop all mankind. The one true God, exalted be His glory, hath wished nothing for Himself. The allegiance of mankind profiteth Him not, neither doth its perversity harm Him. The Bird of the Realm of Utterance voiceth continually this call: "All things have I willed for thee, and thee, too, for thine own sake." If the learned and worldly-wise men of this age were to allow mankind to inhale the fragrance of fellowship and love, every understanding heart would apprehend the meaning of true liberty, and discover the secret of undisturbed peace and absolute composure. Were the earth to attain this station and be illumined with its light it could then be truly said of it: "Thou shall see in it no hollows or rising hills."
(Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah CXXII, p. 260)

The Day Star of Truth that shineth in its meridian splendor beareth Us witness! They who are the people of God have no ambition except to revive the world, to ennoble its life, and regenerate its peoples.
(Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah CXXVI, pp. 270-271)

O thou that hast fled thy home and sought the presence of God! Proclaim unto men the Message of thy Lord, that it may haply deter them from following the promptings of their evil and corrupt desires, and bring them to the remembrance of God, the Most Exalted, the Most Great.
(Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah CXXVIII, p. 276)

My object is none other than the betterment of the world and the tranquillity of its peoples.
(Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah CXXXI, p. 286)

A study group at the Barli Development Institute for Rural Women in Indore, India
Copyright © 2006 Baha'i International Community
Used with permission
The Purpose of the one true God, exalted be His glory, in revealing Himself unto men is to lay bare those gems that lie hidden within the mine of their true and inmost selves.
(BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h, Gleanings from the Writings of BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h CXXXII, p. 287)

Say: We have accepted to be tried by ills and troubles, that ye may sanctify yourselves from all earthly defilements. Why, then, refuse ye to ponder Our purpose in your hearts? By the righteousness of God! Whoso will reflect upon the tribulations We have suffered, his soul will assuredly melt away with sorrow. Thy Lord Himself beareth witness to the truth of My words. We have sustained the weight of all calamities to sanctify you from all earthly corruption, and ye are yet indifferent.
(BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h, Gleanings from the Writings of BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h CXLI, p. 306)

He Who is the Eternal Truth hath, from the Day Spring of Glory, directed His eyes towards the people of Baha, and is addressing them in these words: "Address yourselves to the promotion of the well-being and tranquillity of the children of men. Bend your minds and wills to the education of the peoples and kindreds of the earth, that haply the dissensions that divide it may, through the power of the Most Great Name, be blotted out from its face, and all mankind become the upholders of one Order, and the inhabitants of one City.”
(Gleanings from the Writings of BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h CLVI, p. 333-334)

O ye children of men! The fundamental purpose animating the Faith of God and His Religion is to safeguard the interests and promote the unity of the human race, and to foster the spirit of love and fellowship amongst men.
(BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h, Tabernacle of Unity, paragraph 2.34, p. 38)

In this way the primary purpose in revealing the Divine Law -- which is to bring about happiness in the after life and civilization and the refinement of character in this -- will be realized.
(Abdu'l-BahÃ¡, The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 46)

Say: Take heed lest your devotions withhold you from Him Who is the object of all devotion, or your worship debar you from Him Who is the object of all worship. Rend asunder the veils of your idle fancies! This is your Lord, the Almighty, the All-Knowing, Who hath come to quicken the world and unite all who dwell on earth.
(Baha'u'llah addressing the Christian clergy, Tablet to Pope Pius IX, The Surih of the Temple, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, paragraph 1.109, p. 58)

We, too, have revealed the Cause of God in His cities and raised aloft His remembrance amidst them that truly believe in Him. Say: This Youth hath come to quicken the world and unite all its peoples.
(Baha'u'llah, SÃºriy-i-Ra’Ãs, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, paragraph 2.8, p. 144)

We have accepted to be tried by ills and troubles, that ye may sanctify yourselves from all earthly defilements. Why, then, refuse ye to ponder Our purpose in your hearts? By the righteousness of God! Whoso will reflect upon the tribulations We have suffered, his soul will assuredly melt away with sorrow. Thy Lord Himself beareth witness to the truth of My words. We have sustained the weight of all calamities to sanctify you from all earthly corruption
(Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, Section CXLI, p. 307)

We had no other purpose except to edify the souls of men, and to exalt the blessed Word.
(Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 166)

Thou didst bring mankind into being to know Thee and to serve Thy Cause, that their station might thereby be elevated upon Thine earth and their souls be uplifted by virtue of the things Thou hast revealed in Thy Scriptures, Thy Books and Thy Tablets.
(Tablet of Splendours, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 111)

. . . so that the souls of Thy creatures may be drawn towards Thee, that they may forsake themselves and turn unto Thee, and may flee from their misery and seek the tabernacle of Thy riches, and may haste away from their wretchedness into the court of Thy majesty and glory.
(Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah XCI, p. 153)

A group of women who have been studying together
Copyright © 2006 Baha'i International Community
Used with permission

The aim of this Wronged One in sustaining woes and tribulations, in revealing the Holy Verses and in demonstrating proofs hath been naught but to quench the flame of hate and enmity, that the horizon of the hearts of men may be illumined with the light of concord and attain real peace and tranquillity.(The Book of the Covenant, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 219)

An Encouraging Letter from Shoghi Effendi to the Baha'is of California

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When the Baha'is went on Pilgrimage to the Holy Land they often brought gifts with them for the family of Abdu'l-Baha. Abdu'l-Baha did not permit the family to keep most of these gifts-- sometimes clothing, jewels, home furnishings. One gift He did accept was brought by William Randall -- the gift of a portable typewriter. And with this typewriter, Shoghi Effendi typed out his translations of the correspondence addressed by the Master to the Baha'is of the West. Here is a photograph of Shoghi Effendi which I believe was taken during the last years of Abdu'l-Baha's life, probably just prior to Shoghi Effendi attending graduate school at Balliol College in England, perhaps around 1919:

Shoghi Effendi at his portable typewriterCopyright © 2010 Baha'i National Archives, WilmetteUsed with permission - Please click for larger image
Here is a close-up of Shoghi Effendi, probably taken around the same time, in the years immediately before he became Guardian of the Baha'i Faith

Shoghi Effendi as a young manCopyright © 2010 Baha'i National Archives, WilmetteUsed with permission
It was on this typewriter that Shoghi Effendi wrote all of his letters to the Baha'is of the West. All of the lengthy letters in "Baha'i Administration" and "Citadel of Faith," all of the manuscripts of his translations of the writings of Baha'u'llah -- the Gleanings, the Book of Certitude, Prayers and Meditations, as well as his manuscripts of "The Dawn-Breakers" and "God Passes By" -- all were produced on this typewriter. When he sent the manuscript of Baha'u'llah's Book of Certitude to the United States, he wrote:
Unable to find a good typist, I have had to do the work myself, and I trust that the proofreaders will find it easy to go over and will not mind the type errors which I have tried to correct. I would especially urge you to adhere to the transliteration which I have adopted. The correct title is, I feel, 'The Kitab-i-Iqan' the sub-title 'The Book of Certitude.' May it help the friends to approach a step further, and obtain a clearer idea of the fundamental teachings set forth by Baha'u'llah.(Shoghi Effendi, postscript to a letter published in Baha'i News #46, November 1930, p. 2)
Amatu'l-Baha Ruhiyyih Khanum, his wife, writes,
"He typed, on a very small portable machine, by the two-finger method, all his own manuscripts..." (The Priceless Pearl, p. 201)How many hundreds of hours Shoghi Effendi spent on reading his sources and compiling his notes, how many days and months in painstakingly writing out in long hand - and often rewriting - the majestic procession of his chapters, how many more wearisome days he sat at his small portable typewriter, hammering away with a few fingers, sometimes ten hours on end, as he typed the final copy of his work! And how many more hours we spent late into the night, when the daily typing was over, seated side by side at his big table in his bedroom, each with three copies of the typescript before us, proof-reading, making corrections, putting in by hand the thousands of accents on transliterated words which Shoghi Effendi would read aloud, until his eyes were bloodshot and blurred, his back and arms stiff with exhaustion, as we worked on to finish the entire chapter or part of a chapter he had typed that day. It had to be done. There was no possibility of working at a slower pace. he was racing against time to present the BahÃ¡'Ãs of the West with this inimitable gift on the occasion of the one hundredth anniversary of the inception of their Faith. (The Priceless Pearl, p. 223)
"God Passes By" is really the only book Shoghi Effendi wrote; everything else was in the form of letters. Anyone who reads this magnificent book Shoghi Effendi labored so hard to give to us, will become much more aware of the grandeur of the Baha'i Faith, and more deeply familiar with its teachings.
Several times, Shoghi Effendi needed to retire to Switzerland, where he fought his spiritual battles, and prepared himself for his unimaginably demanding labors as Guardian of the Baha'i Faith. Following his return in November, 1923 he wrote to the Baha'is:
Upon my return, after a forced and prolonged absence, to the Holy Land, it is my first and most ardent wish to renew and strengthen those ties of brotherly love and fellowship that bind our hearts together in our common servitude to His sacred Threshold.
A few weeks later he wrote the following beautiful letter to the Baha'is in California, which he prepared on this same typewriter. It is a model of encouragement and leadership. In 1997 a copy of this letter was sent to all of the Baha'is in California, on the occasion of the establishment of the Regional Baha'i Council of the Western States. It is well worth reading and re-reading for the guidance and encouragement it provides.

Titles of the Baha'i Revelation

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"This Cause" -- Titles of the Baha'i Revelation, from the Baha'i Writings

1. this Revelation from the Most High

2. this most mighty Revelation.

3. this mighty, this glorious Revelation

4. this mighty, this transcendent Revelation

5. this sublime, this beauteous Revelation

6. this sublime and momentous Revelation

7. this sublime, this unique and wondrous Revelation

8. this mighty, this sublime, and most holy Revelation

9. this most sublime and momentous Revelation

10. this inestimable, this wondrous, and sublime Revelation

11. this most manifest, this lofty, this shining and glorious Revelation

12. this most manifest and all‑glorious Revelation

13. this wondrous Revelation

14. this most exalted, this most holy, this mighty, and wondrous Revelation

15. a Revelation direct from God

16. this God‑given, and ever‑enduring Revelation

17. this most potent Revelation

18. this Supreme Revelation

19.this Revelation whose influence hath pervaded all created things

20. this most effulgent, this most holy, and manifest Revelation of His Beauty

21. this holy, this glorious, and exalted Revelation

22. this new and wondrous Revelation

23. this wondrous and transcendent Revelation

24. This most wondrous and sublime Revelation

25. this mysterious and transcendent Revelation

26. this pre-eminent and glorious Revelation

27. this glorious, this august Revelation

28. this Most Great Revelation

29. so mighty a Revelation

30. so stupendous a Revelation

31. so transcendent a Revelation

32. so preeminent a Revelation

33. so tremendous a Revelation

34. so colossal a Revelation

35. so wondrous a Revelation

36. so sublime a revelation

37. so impetuous a Revelation

38. so overpowering a Revelation

39. so transcendent a Revelation

40. so stunning a revelation

41. so dazzling a Revelation

42. God's Revelation

43. apprehend the greatness of this Revelation, and perceive its stupendous glory

44. a momentous Revelation

45. a Revelation so incomparably great, so infinitely precious, so mightily potent, so manifestly innocent

47. a Divine Revelation

48. a Revelation of loving-kindness

49. this wondrous Revelation, this transcendent and divine Faith

50. this sacred, this mighty, and most exalted Faith

51. the changeless Faith of God, eternal in the past, eternal in the future

52. this, Thine inviolable Faith

53. His resistless, His irrefutable and most exalted Faith

54. the true Faith of God

55. this upright Faith

56. an immortal and infinitely precious Faith

57. this all‑compelling Cause

58. this pre-eminent Cause

59. this momentous Cause

60. this impregnable Cause, this glorious Announcement

61. this inviolable, this mighty and enlightened Cause

62. this wondrous and most exalted Cause

63. this wondrous Cause of God

64. this most wondrous Cause

65. this all-compelling Cause

66. this glorious Cause

67. My mighty and unassailable Cause

68. God's holy Cause

69. His great and mighty Cause

69a His glorious and resplendent Cause

69b His irresistible, His mighty and wondrous ause

70. this Most Great Cause

71. His shining and glorious Cause

72. Thine irresistible Cause

73. a heavenly Cause

74. this most great and lofty Cause

75. this new and living Cause

76. this most great and lofty Cause

77. this great and glorious Cause

78. this wonderful Cause

79. this new Cause

80. this great and most holy Cause

81. this sacred Cause

82. this steadily-growing Cause

83. this glorious Cause

84. this Holy Cause

85. this Divine Cause

86. this most precious Cause

87. such a Holy Cause

88. such a great Cause

89. so challenging a Cause

90. so unique, so enduring, so precious a Cause

91. so noble a Cause

92. so transcendent and priceless a Cause

93. so mighty a Cause

94. so pre-eminent and meritorious a Cause

95. so glorious and mighty a Cause

96. this all-embracing and all-compelling Cause

97. This most mighty Sovereignty

98. this Scene of transcendent glory

99. this Seat of stainless sanctity

100. this divine and glorious Vision

101. This most resplendent Dispensation

102. This glorious Dispensation

103. This wondrous Dispensation

104. This wondrous and exalted Dispensation

105. This most mighty Dispensation

106. This new and wondrous dispensation

107. This sacred Dispensation

108. This great dispensation

109. This divine dispensation

110. This universal dispensation

111. This Most Great Dispensation

112. This shining and luminous Beauty

113. My marvelous Revelation

114 a mysterious Faith

115 This greatest of all Dispensations

(First five photographs copyright © 2006 Baha'i International Community used with permission; final photograph copyright © 2006 Michael Bernhard, used with permission)

REFERENCES
1. Ã�qÃ¡n p. 77 paragraph 84

2. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 190

3. The Most Holy Tablet, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 12

4. Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 240

5. The Most Holy Book, p. 61, paragraph 116

6. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 14

7. The Most Holy Book, p. 71-72, paragraph 143

8. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 10

9. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 288

10. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 183

11. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 105

12. Prayers and Meditations by Baha'u'llah, p. 276

13. Proclamation of Baha'u'llah, p. 34

14. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 117

15. The Most Holy Book, p. 32, Paragraph #37.

16. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 82

17. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 95

18. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 97

19. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 273

20. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 294

21. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 330

22. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 324

23. Book of Certitude, p. 112

24. Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 67, Paragaraph 1.130

25. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 325

26. Book of Certitude, p. 227

27. Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 247

28. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 79

29. The Promised Day is Come, p. 118

30. Messages to America, p. 52

31. The Promised Day is Come, p. 13

32. The Promised Day is Come, p. 48

33. The Promised Day is Come, p. 78

34. The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 24

35. The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 62

36. The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 100

37. The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 103

38. The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 112

39. The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 123

40. God Passes By, p. 53

41. God Passes By, p. 103

42. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 271

43. The Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 236

44. God Passes By, p. 7

45. The Promised Day is Come, pp. 15-16

47. The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 124

48. The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 124

49. Book of Certitude, p. 252-253

50. The Most Holy Book, p. 36, paragraph 45

51. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 136

52. Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 193.

53. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 105

54. the Qayyumu'l-Asma, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 41

55. the Qayyumu'l-Asma, Selections from the Writings of the Bab, p. 63

56. Messages to the Baha'i World, p. 101

57. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, pp. 57-58

58. Tablet of Tarazat (Ornaments), Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 44

59. Tablet of Tarazat (Ornaments), Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 44

60. Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 260

61. Tablet to Siyyid Mihdiy-i-Dahaji, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 201

62. Book of Certitude, p. 65

63. Book of Certitude, p. 77

64. Book of Certitude, p. 88

65. Tablet of Ishraqat (Splendours), Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 132

66. Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 235

67. The Most Holy Book, p. 62, Paragraph #117

68. Book of Certitude, p. 83

69. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 83

69a Paragraph 154, The Most Holy Book

69b Paragraph 167, The Most Holy Book

70. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 162

71. The Most Holy Book, p. 60, paragraph 113

72. Epistle to the Son of the Wolf p. 104

73. `Abdu’l-Baha, Japan Will Turn Ablaze! p. 6

74. `Abdu’l-Baha, The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 38

75. Selections from the Writings of `Abdu’l-Baha, p. 62

76. The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 66

77. Paris Talks, p. 167

78. Tablets of `Abdu’l-Baha Abbas, Vol. I, p. 73

79. Tablets of `Abdu’l-Baha Abbas, Vol. I, p. 142

80. Tablets of `Abdu’l-Baha Abbas, Vol. II, p. 474

81. Baha’i Administration, p. 66

82. Baha’i Administration, p. 125

83. Citadel of Faith, p. 141

84. Unfolding Destiny, p. 170

85. Unfolding Destiny, p. 446

86. Dawn of a New Day, p. 134

87. Unfolding Destiny, p. 455

88. Baha’i Administration, p. 68

89. The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 3

90. Baha’i Administration, p. 61

91. Citadel of Faith, p. 93

92. Messages to America, p. 104

93. God Passes By, p. 409

94. Unfolding Destiny, p. 320

95. Letters to Australia and New Zealand 1923-1957, p. 11

96. The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, paragraph 1.98

97. Gleanings 180

98. The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, paragraph 1.97

99. The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, paragraph 1.97

100. The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, paragraph 1.98

101. Ã�qÃ¡n 222

102. Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ p. 30

103. Ã�qÃ¡n p. 173

104. Ã�qÃ¡n p. 105

105. Most Holy Book p. 109

106. Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ p. 112

107. Will and Testament of `Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ p. 13

108. Tablets of `Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ Abbas Vol. II, p. 449

109. Tablets of `Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ Abbas Vol. III, p. 647

110. Selections from the Writings of `Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ p. 145

111. BahÃ¡'Ã Prayers 65

112. The Summons of the Lord of Hosts 29

113. Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 325

114. This Decisive Hour; Messages from the Guardian to America 1932-1946, paragraph 85.5

115. This Decisive Hour; Messages from the Guardian to America 1932-1946, paragraph 85.8

Abdu'l-Baha, and Saffa and Vafa Kinney

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Saffa and Vafa Kinney were pillars of the Faith, immensely blessed by the Master. Edward was his birth name, but everyone knew him by the name the Master gave him, Saffa -- Serenity; and they called Carrie by the name the Master gave her, Vafa -- Certitude.

When Abdu'l-Baha's ship arrived in New York Harbor, and a multitude was awaiting Him on the dock, He asked Mr. Kinney to come on board, and He spoke with him. Then He directed everyone to go to the Kinneys' home, and wait for Him there. His first address on American soil was in the Kinney home:

How are you? Welcome! Welcome!
    After arriving today, although weary with travel, I had the utmost longing and yearning to see you and could not resist this meeting. Now that I have met you, all my weariness has vanished, for your meeting is the cause of spiritual happiness.
    I was in Egypt and was not feeling well, but I wished to come to you in America. My friends said, "This is a long journey; the sea is wide; you should remain here." But the more they advised and insisted, the greater became my longing to take this trip, and now I have come to America to meet the friends of God. This long voyage will prove how great is my love for you. There were many troubles and vicissitudes, but, in the thought of meeting you, all these things vanished and were forgotten.
    I am greatly pleased with the city of New York. Its harbor entrance, its piers, buildings and broad avenues are magnificent and beautiful. Truly, it is a wonderful city. As New York has made such progress in material civilization, I hope that it may also advance spiritually in the Kingdom and Covenant of God so that the friends here may become the cause of the illumination of America, that this city may become the city of love and that the fragrances of God may be spread from this place to all parts of the world. I have come for this. I pray that you may be manifestations of the love of BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h, that each one of you may become like a clear lamp of crystal from which the rays of the bounties of the Blessed Perfection may shine forth to all nations and peoples. This is my highest aspiration.
    It was a long, long trip. The more we traveled, the greater seemed the expanse of the sea. The weather was brilliant and fine throughout; there was no storm and no end to the sea.
    I am very happy to meet you all here today. Praise be to God that your faces are shining with the love of BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h. To behold them is the cause of great spiritual happiness. We have arranged to meet you every day at the homes of the friends.
    In the East people were asking me, "Why do you undertake this long voyage? Your body cannot endure such hardships of travel." When it is necessary, my body can endure everything. It has withstood forty years of imprisonment and can still undergo the utmost trials.
    I will see you again. Now I will greet each one of you personally. It is my hope that you will all be happy and that we may meet again and again.

Several important talks in the City of the Covenant recorded in The Promulgation of Universal Peace were in the Kinneys' home.

When the Master fell asleep on John Bosch's shoulder during an automobile drive in New York, that drive ended at the Kinneys' home.

When the Master told Howard MacNutt, who had followed Khayrullah and then came back to the Covenant, and for a bountiful reward was directed to compile all of the Master's addresses into The Promulgation of Universal Peace -- when the Master told Mr. MacNutt to go and tell the people, "I was like Saul, now I am Paul" -- that was at the Kinneys' house, as recounted here.

In the movie of Abdu'l-Baha at the MacNutt home in Brooklyn, Mr. Kinney and Mr. Getsinger at the beginning of the movie are together walking up the sidewalk after the Master does.

This experience of Howard Colby Ives was in the Kinneys' home:

Not long after that great first experience with 'Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ I was again talking with Him. It was in the beautiful home of Mr. and Mrs. Kinney, a family of the friends who seemed to feel that the gift of all which they possessed was too little to express their adoring love. Entering their home the roar of the city, the elegance and luxury of Riverside Drive, the poverty and wealth of our modern civilization all seemed to merge into a unity of nothingness and one entered an atmosphere of Reality. Those heavenly souls who thus demonstrated beyond any words their self-dedication had a direct influence upon my hesitating feet of which they could have had no suspicion. My heart throughout all worlds shall be filled with thankfulness to them.
    In this home I had become a constant habitue. I could not keep away. One day 'Abdu'l-BahÃ¡, the interpreter and I were alone in one of the smaller reception rooms on the ground floor. 'Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ had been speaking of some Christian doctrine and His interpretation of the words of Christ was so different from the accepted one that I could not restrain an expression of remonstrance. I remember speaking with some heat: "How is it possible to be so sure?" I asked. "No one can say with certainty what Jesus meant after all these centuries of misinterpretation and strife." He intimated that it was quite possible. It is indicative of my spiritual turmoil and my blindness to His station, that instead of His serenity and tone of authority impressing me as warranted it drove me to actual impatience. "That I cannot believe." I exclaimed. I shall never forget the glance of outraged dignity the interpreter cast upon me. It was as though he would say: "Who are you to contradict or even to question 'Abdu'l-BahÃ¡!" But not so did 'Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ look at me. How I thank God that it was not! He looked at me a long moment before He spoke. His calm, beautiful eyes searched my soul with such love and understanding that all my momentary heat evaporated. He smiled as winningly as a lover smiles upon his beloved, and the arms of His spirit seemed to embrace me as He said softly that I should try my way and He would try His.
    It was as though a cool hand had been laid upon a fevered brow; as though a cup of nectar had been held to parched lips; as though a key had unlocked my hard-bolted, crusted and rusted heart. The tears started and my voice trembled, "I'm sorry," I murmured.
    Often since that day have I pondered on the tragic possibilities of the effect of an expression of the face. I have even thought I should like to write a book on The Glance that Saved the World, taking as a theme the way Jesus must have looked upon Peter after the three-fold denial. What could that glance have carried to the fear-stricken, doubting, angry Peter? Surely not the self-righteous, dignified look in the eyes of the interpreter for 'Abdu'l-BahÃ¡. As surely it must have been something in the nature of the expression of all-embracing love, forgiveness and understanding with which 'Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ calmed and soothed and assured my heart. ("Portals to Freedom," pp. 36 ff.)

Juliet Thompson records in her diary that during her Pilgrimage to the Holy Land in 1906, at which the Kinney family were fellow-pilgrims, these events occurred:

First, with a father's tender care, He came to the carriage with us and watched us start. At the house in Bahji He joined us in a cool, whitewashed room, its door and window-trimmings painted blue, the usual linen-covered divan lining its walls, under three wide windows. Outside stood wonderful trees, like still sentinels guarding the Tomb. Sanctity hung in the air, a brooding spirit. Nowhere else in the world is the beauty of nature so impregnated with the soul of Beauty, a reflection from another world. In the air of 'AkkÃ¡ and Carmel is -- Life.
    On a table was a single photograph, Lua's. Our Lord called me to sit by His side, then, pointing to the photograph, said: "Your friend!"
    I got it and placed it on a little table close to His elbow, between the couch where He sat and my own chair. As I did this His face lit up with a smile of heaven.
    Tea was brought in -- in the little clear glasses always used in 'AkkÃ¡ -- and He served us with His own hands. Then, seating Himself again on the divan, He called the four children who were with us: two of his own little grandsons (Shoghi Effendi and Ruhi) and the two Kinney boys, and with a lavish tenderness, a superabundance of overflowing love, such as could only have come from the very Centre and Source of Love, He drew all four to His knees, clasped them in His arms, which enclosed them all, gathered and pressed and crushed them to His Heart of hearts. Then He set them down on the floor and, rising, Himself brought their tea to them.
`Words absolutely fail me when I try to express the divine picture I saw then. With the Christ-love radiating from Him with the intensest sweetness I have yet witnessed, He stooped to the floor Himself to serve the little children, the children of the East and the children of the West. He sat on the floor in their midst, He put sugar into their tea, stirred it and fed it to them, all the while smiling celestially, an infinite tenderness playing on the great Immortal Face like white light. I cannot express it! In a corner sat an old Persian believer, in a state of complete effacement before his Lord, his head bowed, his eyelids lowered, his hands crossed on his breast. Tears were pouring down his cheeks.

Abdu'l-Baha and the Kinney family
Copyright © 2010 Baha'i National Archives, WilmetteUsed With Permission
During a meal during that Pilgrimage, Juliet writes:

He called Mr. Kinney's attention to the rice. "Rice. Rice," He said in English, "very good." Then looking at me and laughing: "She is smiling at My English!" "I smile because Your voice makes me happier than anything in the world."
    Soon, sensing my wish to speak to Him, only for the sake of speaking to Him: "Speak. Speak."
    But I had really nothing to say! I brought forth this: "Even this physical food is the best in the world."
"That is because of your intense love. A poison given by a friend is like honey. A Persian poet says: 'The poison which comes from Thee to me is my antidote. A wound from Thee is remedy.' Certainly these physical dishes are tasteful to you because you have the greatest love."
    I supplicated that He might give me poison and wound me in His Cause, that I might be found worthy of this. "I will. When afflictions and bitter conditions taste sweet to man, this shows that he is favoured in the sight of God." Mr Kinney said: "I am not eating now, but my Master is feeding me." Our Lord: "I, Myself, am the Food." As He spoke His head was bowed, His hands upturned, like cups, in His lap. He sat, the embodiment of Divine humility. A great Mystery flooded the room, and a tremendous Power. "How like Jesus that sounds!" whispered Mr Kinney. "Jesus," said our Lord, His head still bowed, "was the Bread that came down from Heaven, but I am the Food prepared by the Blessed Beauty, BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h."

Mr. Kinney recounted that the New York Spiritual Assembly met in the Kinney home: Mr Kinney: "The Board of Council has met for three years past in my studio and I am very proud of it."
Our Lord: "It is indeed worthy to be proud of. I hope your home may always be the place of the gatherings; that the beloved of God may always come together there, be engaged in commemoration of God, have heavenly talks and speak through the confirmation of the Holy Spirit. Your home will be one of the heavenly constellations, Insha'llah, and the stars will gather there."
Mr Kinney: "What could I ask for more?"
Our Lord: "There is nothing superior to this."

The Master permitted the Kinneys to remain as pilgrims in the Holy Land for eight months during 1906. They asked Him for the privilege of returning the favor, imploring Him to visit America, and when He did, to stay as a guest in their home. He did, and while in their home in New York He told Mrs. Kinney, "I am returning your visit, but while I am in your home I will be the host and you will be the guests."

SAFFA KINNEYCopyright © 2010 Baha'i National Archives, Wilmette
Used With Permission
On the occasion of Saffa Kinney's passing, Shoghi Effendi cabled to the Baha'i world:

GRIEVE PASSING DEARLY LOVED, HIGHLY ADMIRED, GREATLY TRUSTED, STAUNCH, INDEFATIGABLE, SELF-SACRIFICING TEACHER, PILLAR FAITH, SAFFA KINNEY. HIS LEONINE SPIRIT, EXEMPLARY STEADFASTNESS, NOTABLE RECORD SERVICES ENRICHED ANNALS CLOSING PERIOD HEROIC AGE OPENING PHASE FORMATIVE AGE BAHA'I DISPENSATION. BOUNTIFUL REWARD ASSURED ABHA KINGDOM BENEATH SHADOW MASTER HE LOVED SO DEARLY, SERVED SO NOBLY, DEFENDED SO HEROICALLY UNTIL LAST BREATH. SHOGHI

"Saffa was so human." (Statement by one of Saffa Kinney's friends after his passing.)

That beautiful scene recounted in Portals to Freedom (pp. 50 ff.), when Howard Colby Ives followed the Master up the stairs when the Master was so tired, and asked Him about Renunciation, was in the Kinneys' home.

One day the Master asked Saffa Kinney to walk with Him on Riverside Drive. He stopped and looking deep in to Saffa's eyes asked in heart-piercing tones,
"Do you love Me? Do you love Me? Do you love Me?"

The next-to-last talk of the Master on America's shores was at the Kinneys' home:

I am greatly pleased with you all and rejoice that you have shown me the utmost kindness and affection. It is my desire that BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h shall be pleased with you, that you may follow His precepts and become worthy of His confirmations. The requirements are that your minds must be illumined, your souls must be rejoiced with the glad tidings of God, you must become imbued with spiritual moralities, your daily life must evidence faith and assurance, your hearts must be sanctified and pure, reflecting a high degree of love and attraction toward the Kingdom of Abha. You must become the lamps of BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h so that you may shine with eternal light and be the proofs and evidences of His truth. Then will such signs of purity and chastity be witnessed in your deeds and actions that men will behold the heavenly radiance of your lives and say, "Verily, ye are the proofs of BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h. Verily, BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h is the True One, for He has trained such souls as these, each one of which is a proof in himself." They will say to others, "Come and witness the conduct of these souls; come and listen to their words, behold the illumination of their hearts, see the evidences of the love of God in them, consider their praiseworthy morals, and discover the foundations of the oneness of humanity firmly implanted within them. What greater proof can there be than these people that the message of BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h is truth and reality?" It is my hope that each one of you shall be a herald of God, proclaiming the evidences of His appearance, in words, deeds and thoughts. Let your actions and utterances be a witness that you are of the Kingdom of BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h. These are the duties enjoined upon you by BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h.
BahÃ¡'u'llÃ¡h endured the greatest hardships. He found neither rest by night nor peace by day. He was constantly under the stress of great calamity -- now in prison, now in chains, now threatened by the sword -- until finally He broke the cage of captivity, left this mortal world and ascended to the heaven of God. He endured all these tribulations for our sakes and suffered these deprivations that we might attain the bestowals of divine bounty. Therefore, we must be faithful to Him and turn away from our own selfish desires and fancies in order that we may accomplish that which is required of us by our Lord.

‘Abdu’l-BahÃ¡ Farewell at New York Harbor, December 5, 1912
Copyright © 2010 Baha'i National Archives, Wilmette Used With Permission

The House of 'Abdu'llah Pasha

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THE HOUSE OF 'ABDU'LLAH PASHA
The house in 'AkkÃ¡ that 'Abdu'l-BahÃ¡ rented in 1896 and that served as His residence until He moved to Haifa in 1910. Historical photograph from media.bahai.org

"Some of the most poignant, dramatic and historically significant events of the Heroic Age of our Faith are associated with this house, which derives its name from the Governor of 'AkkÃ¡ who built it and used it as his official residence during his term of Office, from 1820 to 1832.... It was in this house that ['Abdu'l-Baha's] celebrated table talks were given and compiled, to be published later under the title "Some Answered Questions." In this house and in the darkest hours of a period which the beloved Guardian describes as 'the most dramatic period of His ministry,' 'in the heyday of His life and in the full tide of His power' He penned the first part of His Will and Testament.... In this house was born the child ordained to hold the destiny of the Faith in his hands for thirty-six years and to become its 'beloved Guardian,' the child named 'Shoghi' by his Grandfather, who grew up under His loving and solicitous care ...."
[As Thornton Chase, the First American Baha'i, wrote of his Pilgrimage, when he visited Abdu'l-Baha in this house:]

'We did not know we had reached our destination until we saw a Persian gentleman, and then another and another, step out at the entrance and smile at us. We alighted and they conducted us through the arched, red brick entrance to an open court, across it to a long flight of stone steps, broken and ancient, leading to the highest story and into a small walled court open to the sky, where was the upper chamber assigned to us, which adjoined the room of 'Abdu'l-BahÃ¡. The buildings are all of stone, whitewashed and plastered, and it bears the aspect of a prison.'

"As we contemplate the extraordinary focusing of powerful forces and events upon this house, we eagerly anticipate the day when it will be restored and made ready for pilgrims, who may inhale from its atmosphere, its grounds and sacred walls, the fragrances of a glorious past."(The Universal House of Justice, Messages 1963 to 1986, Message 157)

"Freedom is not a matter of place. It is a condition. I was thankful for the prison, and the lack of liberty was very pleasing to me, for those days were passed in the path of service, under the utmost difficulties and trials, bearing fruits and results. Unless one accepts dire vicissitudes, he will not attain. To me prison is freedom, troubles rest me, death is life, and to be despised is honour. Therefore, I was happy all that time in prison."(`Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 120)

~ ~ ~
O House! Who climbed your stairway? When the Master was a prisoner our spiritual forbears came to you in the night, hearts pounding, souls reaching and hoping: Lua and Sarah, and Phoebe and Robert, and Louis, and Laura, and Thornton -- the first in the West to hear the voice of their Shepherd, Christ, in His "New Name."
We hear their footsteps now, the dust crackling beneath their feet. We hear their spirits, crushing doubt, opening the doors of their hearts to the Light of the New Jerusalem.
A child was born here, too --one promised by Isaiah. He ran up and down your stairs, his praises of God filling the courtyard.
- The courtyard? His voice filled the earth, and fills it still, and will for ages to come!
O Palm Tree, witness of servitude and grandeur, bearer of beauty and joy! How sweet your form, how dear your shadow, caressing the room of the Beloved! We, too, would press our cheek against that wall, feel its coolness against our face, inhale its fragrance, and seek to hear the soul-uplifting Voice within, charting destinies, answering questions, granting certitude.

29 Kasım 2012 Perşembe

Theme 188 - Ground

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From @swordfish19: He jumped off the skyscraper. He was magnetized by the ground and now he was falling towards it with breakneck speed. Then there was a crunch and he just had time to take one last sniff of the musty earth. And then, there was no ground. He was floating in the ether. He felt alright.

From @flirtingshadows: She leaned against the wall, as she heard him raise his voice at her. He was agitated. But she wasn’t sure why or how. She was running short of breath but he didn’t notice that. She took a step closer to him but again it went unnoticed. He only saw her crumple to the ground.

From @tweettabulous:

“You must taste this, it is the most wonderful Shiraz I’ve had in a long time.”
“Alright. Wow! It is amazing and very smooth. You make a fine connoisseur, darling.”

Somewhere in a vineyard…
“Oh! You humans always celebrating, relishing divine substances and rejoicing. Forgetting how much pain, I go through while being ground. Hmmph!”

From @VidulaChakradeo:

18,000 feet in air, he felt invincible. Everything below him looked tiny. His pompous laughter belittled everything. The world below was so worthless. So full of himself, he took up on a feisty gust of wind. Slapped hard, he slammed into the ground.

The higher your ‘EGO’ flies, the harder it falls on its face.

From @writingchalk:

Started a company at 15.
Had 200 patents to his name at 17.
Appeared on TIME Magazine’s cover at 20.

All of this made him pompous.

Then, he was sued for patent theft.
Lost the case.
His ego fell tumbling from the sky.

He spent the rest of his life turning coffee beans into powder.

From @AskThePankazzzz: Ever since they learnt to crawl on the ground; they loved. They showed love. They made love. They never knew on what grounds did it become 'incest'. They stood their ground. They were grounded. Nobody knows who won between feelings & taboos, but they sleep next to each other now. Some 6 feet under the ground.

From @zoarcher: Aiko was walking home; lost in her thoughts. Suddenly she felt the ground below her feet tremble. Like a delicate leaf. Fear surged through her veins. Her heart pounded. An earthquake was descending on her beloved Toyohashi city, thought she. She looked around frantically. Coming her way though, was just a large group of sumos.

From @divigyaan: What a hard, yummy curvy texture. It is so difficult to resist it. Really man, “no one can eat just one” but definitely, it is better when steamed and gets chewy. A nut better when not screwed, I like it whole. Love for ‘GROUNDNUT’ will never die.

From @aaroo4: Why do you say “I ground you” when i do something bad? Does that mean i have to stick to the ground? He went on staring at his parents. Exasperated, his dad replied “It just means no fun, no TV, no going out, nothing”. But why do you say” I ground you” he went on.

Yes, It Is Hot Enough For Me, And Other Euphemisms For 'Moron'

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Co-Worker had a dilemma. Basically, she was at a loss for words. Technically, she had one word, a very specific and--for the occasion--a most appropriate word, but she's too nice and polite to use it, especially when the person (in this case, yours truly) to whom she wanted to apply the word was in her presence. I had simply just made one of my pun-ilicious, borderline insane remarks, which was accompanied by what may liberally be interpreted as a dance move, and punctuated by a snippet of an Abba song sung in my pitch imperfect falsetto. The disapproving shaking of her head was not quite side-to-side, but kind of a diagonal swirl thing, and she just uttered, "You're a ... a ... ugh ... I can't say it."

"Ah," I surmised. "But it's simple: say, 'RRRR-tist!' Easy enough."

"Moron!" she replied. "There, I said it, the word I swore I'd never call anyone. So you're a vow-breaking-inducer, too, on top of being a moron!"

"I'm a multi-tasker by nature, I can't help it."

What amazing things the most appropriate word used at the most appropriate time can accomplish, though. The ice now broken by her calling a moron--me--a moron gave way to a flood of mutual understanding and, I daresay, mutual respect. Soon we were discussing the intricacies and nuances of calling someone a moron who rightly deserves the appellation. Such learned philological colloquies are a good third of what I live for in these lean times.

Of course, in crueler, less enlightened times, the word moron--sanctioned by all sorts of psychological nabobs--was used to describe a person of a certain, well-defined, low IQ. There was actually a specific ranking using such words as moron, imbecile, and idiot. Thankfully, we as a society aren't as offensive anymore. Doubly thankfully, because now those words are unshackled from their "scientific" meanings and free to be used on the millions of more people who--regardless of their IQs--are unqualified idiotic, imbecilic morons, or who just--from time to time--act like one. How great is this: dictionary.com defines moron as "a person who is notably stupid or lacking in good judgment." God I love that "notably." Today not only being a work day for me but also a holiday (oxymoron), I don't really have the time to peruse the whole dictionary to confirm my suspicion, but I'd bet a grilled cheeseburger you can't find more than five definitions in the entire tome that utilize the word "notably." And what an apt benchmark. "Is that guy a moron or what?" "I don't know, Herm, he's pretty stupid, but I wouldn't go to the extreme of calling him notably stupid. So, no, he's not a moron. I think we need to go to our British cousins to aptly describe him as a 'silly git.'"

Anyway, the discussion between Most Polite Co-Worker and me soon evolved into list-making. So, for all of you genteel folks out there still a little too nice to call a moron a moron, here's a list of the best euphemisms we came up with. Next time you need to call some notably stupid person a moron but just can't get your tongue around the syllables mohr-on, try one of these. You're welcome.

I'm sure you mean well, but ...
Thanks for the input, Newt.
The wind get your beret, sir?
So how are your Red Sox doing this year?
If you only had a gently used copy of Fifty Shades of Grey, you might be worth my time and money.
Gosh, no, I've never seen a Canadian dime looking like that. Tell me, do you rent that metal detector or own it?
Yeah, Skynyrd, man!
It's getting cold in here. Can I borrow your copy of Going Rogue?
Yes I do work here.
It took me a minute, but yes, I do get your vanity plate. Clever!
Want some pizza with those mushrooms?
No, I didn't hear Rush say that.
Um, the "little boys room" is just down the hall on your left.
What do you mean you hate his singing voice?
So how's the weather been in Pittsburgh?
Thanks for the offer, but I think taking a ride on your Segway PT might activate my notoriously vile motion sickness.
That's not Shinola, Sherlock.
Hello, Mr. Trump.

The Tell-Tale Sign You're An Aged Rock Star

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Each generation is presented with new, never experienced before challenges. Think of the cohort who invented the wheel, then had to cope with their teenagers taking the first ever joy rides. Or the first Catholics who suddenly had to get culinarily creative on a Friday night. Or Morse's peers who had to deal with the first prank telegraph messages (just what is the dot-dash configuration of "Do you have Prince Albert in a can?"?). Obviously, the daunting, never-before-have-people-had-to-face-this challenge of the present generation is, what to do with aging rock stars. It's amazing to think of it, but many of the Founding Fathers (or Queens, and here's to you, Little Richard) of Rock'n'Roll are still alive--Chuck Berry, Jerry Lee Lewis, and the previously mentioned Mr. Penniman. Hell, Elvis would be/is only 77. All hail them and the rest, but still, we as fans are faced with several thorny issues concerning how to deal with these former paragons of youth now that they ain't that young anymore.

For years now we've rather naturally taken in stride the gradual steps of an aging career: the balding, the hearing loss, the myriad "comeback" tours and albums (when you've got at least three of each on your resume, you know you're getting old, Mr. Rock Star), the Rock Hall induction, the Super Bowl gig, the tribute albums and concerts, the third or fourth box sets, the ironic singing of lines penned in youth--and all of that's just the last thirty years of Pete Townshend's life. Like Medicare, senior coffee at McDonald's, and EZ Lift chairs for the rest of us, an entire network of safety nets has been erected to ease the once callow, rebellious rocker into senescence. There's Unplugged, and Storytellers, the duets album, the album of standards, the greatest hits live album, the hook-up with the hip young producer album, the songwriters in the round concerts, the rock cruises, and the inevitable writing of the memoirs (David Ritz thanks you all). Say what you will about Elvis's tragic death, but the man put out a lot of schlock when he was alive, and, all the merchandising since his death notwithstanding, imagine the crap he would have made lo these last 35 years!

But, accustomed as I am--and I'm sure you are--to all of this by now, the question that has bugged me for some time is, what's the Rubicon, what's the jump the shark/couch moment, the definitive dividing line between being an aging rock star--where we can salute the career, bask in past glories, honor, if a bit sadly, the god while he or she is still alive --and being an aged rock star, where the whole thing is just downright depressing and should be kept away from the public? Well, like Steve Jobs must have felt years ago when he realized, "Phones, my God! Who knew? The future is phones!" yesterday I had a eureka moment concerning this aging/aged rock thing. I now know the exact moment when it is clear that our beloved aging rock star, the hero of our youth, has landed at the bottom of the slippery slope and is now not simply completely irrelevant but is dangerous to our collective joie de vire and should be put out to pasture for good--however you want to define that euphemistic idiomatic phrase.

But first let me qualify things. I love the Rolling Stones. It might be an oldies station playing it, but whenever I hear "Jumpin' Jack Flash," or "Brown Sugar" or "The Last Time" on the radio, they all still sound like the freshest, nastiest thing on any airwaves. If I were a pugilistic sort, I'm sure by now my oft-repeated, and oft-scoffed at, statement of incontrovertible fact that the Stones were/are/and ever shall be greater than the Beatles would have gotten me engaged in many a fisticuffs over the years. It's such a foundational truth, that I guess only the hoariest, most despicable cliche applies--you look up Rock'n'Roll in the dictionary, and you'll find a picture of the Stones.

Of course, duh, I'm speaking of the Rolling Stones only in the first 20 years of their by now 50 year existence (sic). Go ahead, name three great songs the Stones have made in the past thirty years; here's a hint, I'll be beyond aged by the time you can even muster an argument for the third one. Hell, they've made a grand total of six, 6! albums in the past thirty years. (By the way, the answer is one. One great song in the last thirty years: "The Worst," off Voodoo Lounge; a Keith song, ironically, from 1994!).

Now I won't bother going through yet again the "pathetic parodies of themselves," "only in it for the (huge amount of ) money" arguments. You've read them all before. And will undoubtedly read them again as they mount whatever becomes their 50 Year Celebration, i.e., hopefully, Swan Song, in the next few months. No, my beef at the moment is with Keef. The Human Riff. The alleged poster boy of all things Rock. Mick is Mick, always was, always will be. God save him. Ronnie's just a hired gun. Charlie is irreproachable; always was and always will be the coolest guy Rock has ever created. But Keith. My God. Years ago I thought it, and I still do, now more fervently than ever--every day he lives he gets less cool. For thirty years now he's been trading on the lovable bad guy schtick. Now he's Goofy Grandpa, professionally raconteuring rather than rocking and touring. We love you Keith, always have and always will, but shut up and go away already.

And what has brought me to such apostasy today? What has me so sacrilegiously blaspheming the mighty Keith Richards? The eureka moment I experienced yesterday. The discovery of the tell-tale sign that the aging rocker has become aged. The end of the living rock god's relevant life: At the bookstore where I work, we received two remaindered (duh) copies of Keith's autobiography, Life, IN LARGE PRINT! Trust me, I know the book retailing business. Keith's audience is not the LARGE PRINT audience. Unless he's ditched Patti and is shacking up with Debbie Macomber, Danielle Steel, or Barbara Taylor Bradford, Keith Richards has no place in the LARGE PRINT section of a bookstore. Good God, Keith, I know you've raised reckless nonchalance to an art form, but why in the name of Robert Johnson did you sign a publishing contract that allowed them to print your book in LARGE PRINT? If you do ever tour again, you better have a special ring of seats for AARP members, where earplugs, Depends, and seat cushions are included in the senior discount price. You never even made a standards album, Keith! How can you go LARGE PRINT on us?

R.I.P. KEITH. IT'S ALL OVER NOW.

An Oldster Re-Fashions A Youngster's Song

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Well, the toe bone is connected to Epsom Salts
And the foot bone is connected to ongoing litigation involving Medicare, the insurance industry, and Payday Loans, Inc.
And the ankle bone is connected to God only knows what.
The shin bone is connected to the slings and arrows of absurd misfortune
And the knee bone is connected to Dial-A-Prayer
While the thigh bone is connected to a heating pad.
The hip bone is connected to Mother Nature's storm center
And the tail bone is connected to this EZ Lift Chair.
The back bone is connected to Edvard Munch's psyche
And the breast bone is connected to the hopes of Ponce de Leon.
The shoulder bone is connected to Advil
All the arm elbow wrist hand and finger bones seem to be connected to someone else's nervous system
And the neck bone is connected to Meyerwitz, Meyerwitz, and Pane and Sons.
The jaw bone is connected to Ensure
The nose bone is connected to a sink of dirty dishes at the moment
The ear bone has been disconnected
And the head bone is looking to connect with a soft pillow.

Have Belly, Should Putt

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It would be a stretch to say I embrace change. Instead, I brace myself, hide, rationalize, then begrudgingly adapt. Just yesterday, in some odd conversation with a customer, I was asked if I had gotten rid of cable. "I never have had cable," was my conversation-ending retort. So let's just say that in most things, especially technological, I lag behind the curve; curves are best appreciated from behind, some wag once said. Anyway, despite what so far appears to be a rather slow news day, I had to dig a bit to find the most earth-shattering piece of news, in its context (the world of golf, which, if we're getting honest here, easily ranks in my Top Ten Worlds [and if this were July, not cold November, I might bump into the Top Five]), one is likely to see this week. A virtual Katrandyostrophe this: The governing bodies of the world of golf, the United States Golf Association and the British version (the Royal something or other), have decided to outlaw the use of the so-called "belly putter" beginning in a couple years. I don't want to get too technical here (or anywhere, for that matter), but suffice it to say that the belly putter--and all its permutations--which has been increasingly used to great success by all sorts of golfers, permits the golfer to anchor his longish putter against his body, often the abdomen (or belly, depending on the golfer) instead of having the putter "swing free of the body" as had always been the case (contrast the photo above with that of one of the most vociferous denunciators of the belly putter, Tiger Woods, below).

Of course I met this news with loud applause, not just because I'm a Tiger fan who abhors technological change and who, nearing fifty, still putts--much to the amusement of my playing partners and opponents--with his grandfather's old (it was old when he was still using it twenty years ago) putter. The belly putter just doesn't look right. It looks alien. Now I know that "looking alien" on the golf course is a subjective opinion, especially with the garb that often passes for appropriate on the golf course, but still, get it out of here has long been my one and only thought re belly putters. But then, in the middle of my victory dance this morning (Ding Dong the Belly Putter's Dead!), I had a most surprising thought about the validity of belly putters (don't it always seem to go, that you don't know what you've got 'til it's gone; I wonder what Joni Mitchell's handicap is): belly putters!

Is there a more lovable, cushiony word in any language than belly? I'm on record elsewhere for my affection for the word, so I won't regurgitate it all here, but I'm thinking about the concept of tradition here. Before there was mega-pumped and -toned Tiger and all his wannabes, there was Fat Jack. There was Roger Maltbie. There was Billy Casper. The belly has long occupied a glorious spot (or several) in the world of golf. Are we in danger of throwing the belly out with the belly putter, I wonder? Young hotshot golfer Keegan Bradley, one of the most successful of the new wave of belly putter putters (young, lean, and growing up with the belly putter, rather than coming to it after years of the yips and trying and failing at everything else), reportedly vows to fight the new ruling. I hope he loses, but wins if he gains.

I hope he loses, but wins if he gains--let me explain that golf koan. I propose that the USGA and the Royal Whatever amend their ban on belly putters to allow any golfer with a certifiable belly to use the belly putter. That's it, so simple--if you have a real belly, then you get to putt with the belly putter; if not, back to the old "free swinging" putters. Six pack abs? No belly putter for you. Keg-like torso--let me show you our new line of belly putters. Name me one fat guy who's been able to beat the super-fit Tiger. I say, and the American electorate seems to back me up on this, level the playing field--give the fat guys a competitive compensatory entitlement. Think of the jobs this could create: Belly Certifiers at every golf course and pro shop in the world! Uh, sir, if you're going to pull that belly putter out of your bag, I'm going to have to ask you to lift that paisley shirt up. I'm sorry, I can't sell you that belly putter because obviously you've been doing your regular morning crunches. Hey, pipsqueak Keegan, start eating mounds of pasta and drinking lots of brew if you want to wield that freakish looking putter on this Tour.

Compromise, right? With this kind of thinking the fiscal cliff turns into a lowly speed bump on the cart path. Get to it gentlemen.

28 Kasım 2012 Çarşamba

The Tell-Tale Sign You're An Aged Rock Star

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