Something I have been thinking about a lot recently is the way that our lives and our day-to-day life has become a slave to forces that creep up on us so guilefully that the 'frenetic devotion to pleasure and diversion' has become part and parcel to existence as a whole. I'm a slave, you're a slave, we've all become slaves...

 One of the signs of a decadent society, a sign which is very evident in the world today, is an almost frenetic devotion to pleasure and diversion, an insatiable thirst for amusement, a fanatical devotion to games and sport, a reluctance to treat any matter seriously, and a scornful, derisory attitude towards virtue and solid worth. Abandonment of "a frivolous conduct" does not imply that a Bahá'í must be sour-faced or perpetually solemn. Humour, happiness, joy are characteristics of a true Bahá'í life. Frivolity palls and eventually leads to boredom and emptiness, but true happiness and joy and humour that are parts of a balanced life that includes serious thought, compassion and humble servitude to God are characteristics that enrich life and add to its radiance."

 -  Universal House of Justice, From a letter dated 8 May 1979 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer

FIVE YEARS TOO MANY - http://www.bic.org/fiveyears/

For five years, seven Baha'i leaders have been wrongly imprisoned in Iran.

Mrs Fariba Kamalabadi, Mr Jamaloddin Khanjani, Mr Afif Naeimi, Mr Saeid Rezaie, Mrs Mahvash Sabet, Mr Behrouz Tavakkoli, and Mr Vahid Tizfahm’s 20-year sentences are the longest given to any current prisoners of conscience in Iran. Their harshness reflects the Government’s resolve to oppress completely the Iranian Baha'i community, which faces a systematic, “cradle-to-grave” persecution that is among the most serious examples of state-sponsored religious persecution in the world today.

Baha'i communities around the world have launched a campaign calling for their immediate release – and the release of all innocent prisoners of conscience in Iranian prisons. 

I was honoured to attend a National Human Rights Forum calling for the immediate release of the seven leaders, which was hosted on Tuesday 7 May at NSW Parliament House, Sydney Australia. The Forum had representatives of the major religions in Australia who offered their prayers and blessings for the 7 Baha'i Leaders and each solemnly placed a seven red rose on a seven empty chairs representing each of the imprisoned Baha'i Leaders. Four Australian family members of the seven imprison Baha'is were also present at this forum, each of which spoke of their loved ones and shared with the audience their stories of the imprisoned, both before and after their incarceration. 

The below photos were taken at today’s forum. Please show your support and increase the international pressure on the Iranian Government to immediately release these seven wrongfully imprisoned members of the 300,000 strong Baha’i Community in Iran. My thoughts and prayers are deeply focused on these 7 imprisoned Baha'i Leaders and all victims of Religious persecution within Iran and across the world.

Alláh'u'Abhá

 

 

For more information:

http://www.bic.org/fiveyears/

http://www.bahai.org.au/NewsMedia/NewsStories/ArticleView/tabid/72/ArticleId/207/Seven-red-roses-for-seven-empty-chairs.aspx

The Old World Order needs wrapping up...

"...From different parts are to be heard sighs of anguish, lamentations of poverty, cries of agony and misery -- and the calls for succor have reached to the gate of heaven. One hears the weeping of the hopeless, the appeals of the oppressed, the trembling murmurs of the helpless, the harrowing wails of the shipwrecked in the sea of persecution. The heat of the conflagration of opposition spreads on all sides, the fire of longing is raging with great intensity and the tongues of the flames of calamity leap forth in every direction. Here one sees the oppression of kings and the thoughtlessness of cabinet ministers; there one sees conflict on the battlefield of thoughts and ideals between ambitious generals, statesmen and administrators of the nations and countries. They consult, scheme, plot and exchange views; they organize fallacious and superfluous companies and falsify the established values; and thus they do lay and destroy the foundation of their political careers.

In short: when thou observest these things with the eye of reality, thou wilt see that the outcome, result and fruit of all these theatrical performances are mirages, and their sweetness is bitter poison. A few days the earth shall roll on its axis, and these fleeting visions will be completely forgotten.

When thou shuttest thine eyes to this dark world and lookest upward and heavenward, thou wilt see light upon light stretching from eternity to eternity. The reality of the mysteries will be revealed. Happy is the pure soul who does not attach himself to transient conditions and comforts, but rather seeks to attach himself to the purity, nobility and splendor of the world which endures." 
(‘Abdu’l-Baha, Baha'i Scriptures, p. 345; Star of the West, vol. IV, No. 16, December 31, 1913)