Saturday, April 29, 2017

The Ninth Day of Ridvan






(On) April 29, 1863, the ninth day of Ridvan, the flooding Tigris receded enough so that Baha’u’llah’s family could cross the river and join him on the island. This symbol – the reunification and strength of the bond of family, and by extension the unity of the entire human family – permeates the meaning of the ninth day of Ridvan.  Link



Bahiyyih Khanum

"When the news (of Baha’u’llah’s exile) came to us, from which we inferred that my father would again be made a prisoner, we were thrown into consternation, fearing another separation. He was summoned before the magistrates…. Great numbers of his followers had assembled before our house, and these witnessed his departure with many demonstrations of grief, feeling that it was possible he might not return.

The magistrates expressed great sorrow to my father; they said that they respected and loved him, that they had not instigated the order (the exile order had come from the Sultan of Turkey), but that they were powerless to suspend or modify it, and must proceed with its execution." 

                                 --Bahiyyih Khanum, daughter of Baha'u'llah





Friday, April 28, 2017

Irises--Vincent Van Gogh






A Note on the movie "12 Angry Men"





"Henry Fonda immediately complained to Sidney Lumet about the cheap backdrops outside the jury room windows when he walked on set. "Hitch had great backdrops, you could walk right in them," said Fonda, referring to the previous film he made with Alfred Hitchcock, The Wrong Man (1956). Lumet assured him that director of photography Boris Kaufman had a plan to make them work."  From IMDB


From my chair, the nondescript backdrop keeps my focus on the drama inside the jury room.



Tuesday, April 25, 2017

April 25



The maple, redbud, dogwood and hornbeams haven't leafed-out, but the work in progress --which is the screening of the new house--can be seen in this view.









Monday, April 24, 2017

Nightingale



Nightingale




The common nightingale is a small  bird best known for its powerful and beautiful song. Wiki










'He is the King, the All-Knowing, the Wise!  Lo, the Nightingale of Paradise singeth upon the twigs of the Tree of Eternity, with holy and sweet melodies, proclaiming to the sincere ones the glad tidings of the nearness of God, calling the believers in the Divine Unity to the court of the Presence of the Generous One, informing the severed ones of the message which hath been revealed by God, the King, the Glorious, the Peerless, guiding the lovers to the seat of sanctity and to this resplendent Beauty.'    --Baha'u'llah, The Tablet of Ahmad





Sunday, April 23, 2017

The Station of Baha'u'llah






Shoghi Effendi elaborates Baha’u’llah’s station in God Passes By:

"To Israel He was neither more nor less than the incarnation of the “Everlasting Father,” the “Lord of Hosts” come down “with ten thousands of saints”; to Christendom Christ returned “in the glory of the Father,” to Shi’ah Islam the return of the Imam Husayn; to Sunni Islam the descent of the “Spirit of God” (Jesus Christ); to the Zoroastrians the promised Shah-Bahram; to the Hindus the reincarnation of Krishna; to the Buddhists the fifth Buddha."

From here.






Friday, April 21, 2017

Riḍván

фестиваля Ридван




'Inhale the fragrances of the Ridvan from His roses and be not of those who are deprived'. --Baha’u'llah, The Tablet of the Branch 










































O ye loved ones of God! In this, the Bahá'í dispensation, God's Cause is spirit unalloyed. His Cause belongeth not to the material world. It cometh neither for strife nor war, nor for acts of mischief or of shame; it is neither for quarrelling with other Faiths, nor for conflicts with the nations. Its only army is the love of God, its only joy the clear wine of His knowledge, its only battle the expounding of the Truth; its one crusade is against the insistent self, the evil promptings of the human heart. Its victory is to submit and yield, and to be selfless is its everlasting glory.--Abdu'l-Baha




Thursday, April 20, 2017

The Garden of Ridvan, Baghdad



The woodland Garden of Ridvan, Baghdad



The woodland Garden of Ridvan (literally "Garden of Eden"), or Najibiyyih garden, was located in what is today the Rusafa district of Baghdad, along the Tigris.  The garden is the place where Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha'i Faith, lived twelve days, from April 21 to May 2, 1863, after he received the order of the Ottoman Empire into exile to Constantinople (now Istanbul).  

During his stay in the garden, Baha'u'llah announced to his followers that he was "the One whom God shall make manifest", the messianic figure whose coming all scripture foresaw.  These events are recalled during the annual festival of Ridvan.  It is the essence of the  concept of the Resurrection.












Baghdad as it looked at the time of Baha'u'llah's announcement.











Wednesday, April 19, 2017

Tuesday, April 18, 2017

Болтунья Лида --А. Барто





(Poem starts @ 0:23)





Что болтунья Лида, мол,
Это Вовка выдумал.
А болтать-то мне когда?
Мне болтать-то некогда!

Драмкружок, кружок по фото,
Хоркружок - мне петь охота,
За кружок по рисованью
Тоже все голосовали.

А Марья Марковна сказала,
Когда я шла вчера из зала:
"Драмкружок, кружок по фото
Это слишком много что-то.

Выбирай себе, дружок,
Один какой-нибудь кружок".

Ну, я выбрала по фото...
Но мне еще и петь охота,
И за кружок по рисованью
Тоже все голосовали.

А что болтунья Лида, мол,
Это Вовка выдумал.
А болтать-то мне когда?
Мне болтать-то некогда!

Я теперь до старости
В нашем классе староста.
А чего мне хочется?
Стать, ребята, летчицей.

Поднимусь на стратостате...
Что такое это, кстати?
Может, это стратостат,
Когда старосты летят?

А что болтунья Лида, мол,
Это Вовка выдумал.
А болтать-то мне когда?
Мне болтать-то некогда!

У меня еще нагрузки
По-немецки и по-русски.

Нам задание дано -
Чтенье и грамматика.
Я сижу, гляжу в окно
И вдруг там вижу мальчика.

Он говорит: "Иди сюда,
Я тебе ирису дам".
А я говорю: "У меня нагрузки
По-немецки и по-русски".

А он говорит: "Иди сюда,
Я тебе ирису дам".

А что болтунья Лида, мол,
Это Вовка выдумал.
А болтать-то мне когда?
Мне болтать-то некогда!



(I haven't found  a good translation.  I will ask my tutor about it today.)

Monday, April 17, 2017

Sunday, April 16, 2017

Resurrection





Paul --Christian fresco in a Roman Catacomb






THE RESURRECTION OF CHRIST


Question.—What is the meaning of Christ’s resurrection after three days?

Answer.—The resurrections of the Divine Manifestations are not of the body. All Their states, Their conditions, Their acts, the things They have established, Their teachings, Their expressions, Their parables and Their instructions have a spiritual and divine signification, and have no connection with material things. For example, there is the subject of Christ’s coming from heaven: it is clearly stated in many places in the Gospel that the Son of man came from heaven, He is in heaven, and He will go to heaven. So in chapter 6, verse 38, of the Gospel of John it is written: “For I came down from heaven”; and also in verse 42 we find: “And they said, Is not this Jesus, the son of Joseph, whose father and mother we know? How is it then that he saith, I came down from heaven?” Also in John, chapter 3, verse 13: “And no man hath ascended up to heaven, but He that came down from heaven, even the Son of man which is in heaven.”

Observe that it is said, “The Son of man is in heaven,” while at that time Christ was on earth. Notice also that it is said that Christ came from heaven, though He came from the womb of Mary, and His body was born of Mary. It is clear, then, that when it is said that the Son of man is come from heaven, this has not an outward but an inward signification; it is a spiritual, not a material, fact. The meaning is that though, apparently, Christ was born from the womb of Mary, in reality He came from heaven, from the center of the Sun of Reality, from the Divine World, and the Spiritual Kingdom. And as it has become evident that Christ came from the spiritual heaven of the Divine Kingdom, therefore, His disappearance under the earth for three days has an inner signification and is not an outward fact. In the same way, His resurrection from the interior of the earth is also symbolical; it is a spiritual and divine fact, and not material; and likewise His ascension to heaven is a spiritual and not material ascension.

Beside these explanations, it has been established and proved by science that the visible heaven is a limitless area, void and empty, where innumerable stars and planets revolve.

Therefore, we say that the meaning of Christ’s resurrection is as follows: the disciples were troubled and agitated after the martyrdom of Christ. The Reality of Christ, which signifies His teachings, His bounties, His perfections and His spiritual power, was hidden and concealed for two or three days after His martyrdom, and was not resplendent and manifest. No, rather it was lost, for the believers were few in number and were troubled and agitated. The Cause of Christ was like a lifeless body; and when after three days the disciples became assured and steadfast, and began to serve the Cause of Christ, and resolved to spread the divine teachings, putting His counsels into practice, and arising to serve Him, the Reality of Christ became resplendent and His bounty appeared; His religion found life; His teachings and His admonitions became evident and visible. In other words, the Cause of Christ was like a lifeless body until the life and the bounty of the Holy Spirit surrounded it.

Such is the meaning of the resurrection of Christ, and this was a true resurrection. But as the clergy have neither understood the meaning of the Gospels nor comprehended the symbols, therefore, it has been said that religion is in contradiction to science, and science in opposition to religion, as, for example, this subject of the ascension of Christ with an elemental body to the visible heaven is contrary to the science of mathematics. But when the truth of this subject becomes clear, and the symbol is explained, science in no way contradicts it; but, on the contrary, science and the intelligence affirm it.



 --- Abdul-Baha, Some Answered Questions










Saturday, April 15, 2017

The Coast Road --Robinson Jeffers



I knew a native of Big Sur who told me of a time when many objected to the extension of Highway 1 to their remote part of the California central coast.



Study (Final to T.E.G.)



A horseman high alone as an eagle on the spur of the mountain
over Mirmas Canyon draws rein, looks down
At the bridge-builders, men, trucks, the power-shovels, the teeming
end of the new coast-road at the mountain's base.
He sees the loops of the road go northward, headland beyond
headland, into gray mist over Eraser's Point,
He shakes his fist and makes the gesture of wringing a chicken's
neck, scowls and rides higher.

From 'The Coast Road' --Robinson Jeffers







Thursday, April 13, 2017

Wednesday, April 12, 2017

2017 Honda Accord LX 6 Speed.



2017 Honda Accord LX 6 Speed







I prefer it in white, but it's not an option with a 6-speed manual transmission.






Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Monday, April 10, 2017

Photinia



The Photinia hasn't looked very healthy all year, but after a wet winter and spring, it's putting on a nice show.











Saturday, April 8, 2017

Крошечные косички







У Виктории крошечные косички и очень голубые глаза!








Thursday, April 6, 2017

White House


The While House, Washington, D.C.







Wednesday, April 5, 2017

Cattails



There's something clean and refreshing about cattails, and the environment they thrive in.  They remind me of someone very dear.





















Lake Cattail   Georgi Dimitrov






A prayer of undetermined attribution.


Oh God, make me a hollow reed from which the pith of self hath been blown, so that I may become as a clear channel through which Thy Love may flow to others.