Sunday, February 24, 2013
Saturday, February 23, 2013
To Live the Life
To live the life
To be no cause of grief to any one.
To love each other very much.
To be kind to all people and to love them with a pure spirit.
Should opposition or injury happen to us, we must bear it, and be as kind as ever we can be, and, through all, we must love the people. Should calamity exist in the greatest degree, we must rejoice, for these things are the gifts and favors of God.
To be silent concerning the faults of others, to pray for them and help them - through kindness - to correct their faults.
To look always at the good and not at the bad.
If a man has ten good qualities and one bad one, we must look at the ten and forget the one. And if a man has ten bad qualities and one good one, we must look at the one and forget the ten.
To never allow ourselves to speak one unkind word about another, even though that other be our enemy.
To rebuke those who speak to us of the faults of others.
All of our deeds must be done in kindness.
To cut our hearts from ourselves and from the world.
To be humble.
To be servants of each other, and to know that we are less than any one else.
To be as one soul in many bodies, for the more we love each other the nearer we will be to God; but that our love, our unity, our obedience must not be by confession, but of reality.
To act with cautiousness and wisdom.
To be truthful.
To be hospitable.
To be reverent.
To be a cause of healing for every sick one; a pleasant water for every thirsty one; a heavenly table for every hungry one; a guide for every seeker; rain for cultivation; a star to every horizon; a light for every lamp; a herald to every yearning one for the Kingdom of God.
-- ‘Abdul-Bahá
Friday, February 15, 2013
METEORITE OVER THE URALS
The view @ 1:02 in the video was frightening.
I had a dream in 1968 where I was standing on the southeast corner of Ocean Avenue and San Carlos in Carmel, and I looked up to see something similar coming at me---and then there was a nuclear burst. As I was dreaming that I had just died, I slowly opened my eyes.
Tuesday, February 12, 2013
Monday, February 11, 2013
Saturday, February 9, 2013
Tuesday, February 5, 2013
Monday, February 4, 2013
O thou who art turning thy face towards God! Close thine eyes to all things else, and open them to the realm of the All-Glorious. Ask whatsoever thou wishest of Him alone; seek whatsoever thou seekest from Him alone. With a look He granteth a hundred thousand hopes, with a glance He healeth a hundred thousand incurable ills, with a nod He layeth balm on every wound, with a glimpse He freeth the hearts from the shackles of grief. He doeth as He doeth, and what recourse have we? He carrieth out His Will, He ordaineth what He pleaseth. Then better for thee to bow down thy head in submission, and put thy trust in the All-Merciful Lord.
--Abdu'l-Baha
Sunday, February 3, 2013
BAHA'I GARDENS, Mount Carmel, Haifa, Israel
In early spring, two years after my pilgrimage to the Shrine of the Báb, I got a call at three o’clock in the morning from Fariborz Sahba, the project manager and architect engaged in the design of the terraces that scale Mt. Carmel today. He asked me if I was interested in applying for employment at the Baha’i World Center as a landscape designer of the terraces. A few days later I flew to West Palm Beach, Florida, and interviewed for the position. I only wanted the job if qualified, however, and prayed that the right thing would happen.
At the time, the project on Mt. Carmel was in the conceptual stage. Here is a model, which was on display in the Mansion at Bahji, if I recall correctly.
As it turned out, when I was attending the Commemoration of the Ascension of Baha'u'llah on the 29th of May at the Bosch Baha'i School in the Santa Cruz mountains, I mentioned to an acquaintance--who, unbeknownst to me was a landscape architect in Monterey--about my conversation and interview and the opportunity to participate in the design of the terraces.
Needless to say, I didn't get the job, but six months later, while attending the Baha'i World Congress in New York city, who do I run into in the cavernous Jacob Javits Convention Center but my friend Dennis. He told me that after our conversation during the early hours in Santa Cruz, he called Mr. Sahba, and was granted an interview in Haifa. Not only did he get the job, but his wife and children went with him, and he was only in the U.S. for the Congress. He told me that he was hoping he'd run into me among the 10,000 evening attendees so that he could thank me, which made me incredibly happy.
♦
One feature I was happy to see was the bridge across Hatzionut Avenue, just above the Shrine of the Báb. At the time of my pilgrimage, pilgrims had to dash across the avenue to visit the archive building, the Seat of the UHJ, and the monuments along a "far-flung arc". Besides the danger, the noise from the traffic could be heard at the Shrine.
This is the bridge across Hatzionut today.
Looking toward Akka from above the Shrine in 1990.
Today
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