NAW RUZ 2014

This sacred day, when the sun illumines equally the whole earth, is called the equinox,
and the equinox is the symbol of the Manifestation of God.
The Sun of Truth rises on the horizon of Divine Mercy and sends forth its rays.
This day is consecrated to commemorate it. It is the beginning of Spring.
When the sun appears at the equinox, it causes a movement in all living things.
The mineral world is set in motion, plants begin to shoot, the desert is changed into a prairie, trees bud and every living thing responds, including the bodies of animals and men.
The rising of the sun at the equinox is the symbol of life, and likewise it is the symbol
of the Divine Manifestations of God, for the rising of the Sun of Truth in the Heaven of Divine Bounty established the signal of Life for the world. The human reality begins to live, our thoughts are transformed and our intelligence is quickened. The Sun of Truth bestows Eternal Life, just as the solar sun is the cause of terrestrial life.
--‘Abdu’l-Baha

Dear All:

Happy spring New Year’s (Persian: naw ruz) greetings this year 2014!

Here is a link to a wonderful presentation by McGilchrist on the deeper meanings of purposeful consciousness of the rational mind as a faithful servant and loyal agent for the broader corrective processes of the intuitive mind of spiritual well-being. The talk is entitled “The Divided Brain” and answers many questions about left-brain right-brain mythologies using updated empirical data from science--checked by our intuitive drives for spiritual growth and transcendence. It concludes with a quote from Albert Einstein who attended Firesides and Deepings frequently at the Baha’i Center in New York, the City of the Covenant:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SbUHxC4wiWk

This New Year marks a new beginning for the progress and advancement of the Cause of God and the enlightenment of all the peoples of the world. Local communities now established for many years will be receiving the full bounties of this year’s blessings. Our International School in the Rockies is moving rapidly into this new phase of education and development. This expansion into new territories of the heart, mind, and soul of humanity is the necessary spiritual inroad galvanizing and re-doubling our personal efforts of firmness in the Covenant through harmony and alignment with the New Cycle indicated by the Mayan-Aztec Calendar Round.

‘Abdu’l-Baha states:

“Human beings are stirred into activity by the operating realities of all those fitted for the experiment—for experiment it still is and must be. This is the Day for such work; and each human being may have the opportunity for further development, if he will obey the spiritual law of the Covenant emphasized in this Cycle…

“At the very Dawn of this Cycle [2001 & 2012] divine Discrimination began—discrimination between the ‘sheep and the goats’—Discrimination between those who can survive the strenuous vibrations of these times and those who cannot withstand its critical tests. As the Cycle advances the vibrations increase and many egos snap the cord and pass on; or are restored, if wisely guarded and protected by quiet in all mental operations until equilibrium is reestablished in the domain of the mind.

“Tests are of various kinds meeting the needs of the soul. Tests are not sent for punishment, but in reality, for the purpose of the soul revealing itself to itself. Tests reveal strength as well as weakness; and provide the opportunity to remedy ailments; the soul becomes aware of its strength; a former weakness is overcome. A surprise awaits the soul if it realizes its growth; and so the heavy discipline is proved to be nutritive; and a new confidence and trust is born in the consciousness; and this leads to self-discipline; and self-discipline leads to self-mastery.

“A Spiritual Vision is a Divine Key to unlock the door of facts in the outer world… The really enlightened soul will not censure or condemn any irregularity in the expression of life by any entity at this most critical stage in the evolutionary period… The time is now, after cycles of labor, and the "Fit" will survive the cataclysmic ordeal soon to be focused on the objective world. There is nothing to fear, for the cataclysms are going on in each individual life all along the path; but a landslide is also due, which, in various ways, egos will experience according to their station in the cycle of progress.” (‘Abdu’l-Baha)

May this New Years Spring find you with blessings and enlightenment for all!


  O Lord, my Lord!
This is the Day which Thy Sacred Tongue and Thy Pen of Glory both have sanctified, and made it a day of heavenly blessings, of divine benediction and favour. Thou hast honoured it with Thy bestowals, endued it with Thy Grace, and invested it with Thy Glory, and caused it to be a day of joy and gladness unto them that have turned to the Light of Thy Divine Revelation; that the hearts may thereby be gladdened, that the radiance of happiness may illumine the lives of them that remember the manifestation of Thy Glory upon Thy Sacred Mount.
Hallow it, 0 Lord, with Thy grace, and make it a day of joy and blessedness for Thy loved ones that have stood fast and firm in Thy Covenant, Thy friends that have sung Thy praise, and especially for this servant of Thine that hath turned his face to Thy Holy Kingdom, supplicated the glory of Thy might and power, circled Thy throne of grandeur and fell prostrate at Thy threshold of Divine Mercy. Thou art the Gracious, the Bountiful, the All Merciful.
Naw Ruz Prayer--‘Abdu’l-Baha

Your servant,
Neal.

CHINVAT : FIRE AND LIGHT : SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT 2014

FIRE AND LIGHT:
SECOND ANNOUNCEMENT 2014

“How great is His transcendent power, how immensely exalted His all-embracing Will, inasmuch as He produceth light from fire and joy from sorrow.”

“Say: The heavens have been folded together, and the earth is held within His grasp, and the corrupt doers have been held by their forelock, and still they understand not. They drink of the tainted water, and know it not. Say: The shout hath been raised, and the people have come forth from their graves, and arising, are gazing around them. Some have made haste to attain the court of the God of Mercy, others have fallen down on their faces in the fire of Hell, while still others are lost in bewilderment. The verses of God have been revealed, and yet they have turned away from them. His proof hath been manifested, and yet they are unaware of it. And when they behold the face of the All-Merciful, their own faces are saddened, while they are disporting themselves. They hasten forward to Hell Fire, and mistake it for light. Far from God be what they fondly imagine!”--Baha’u’llah

Dear friends,

I have just received the good news from the Director of the International Board of Protection, Adam Sipploa, that the apparent storm brewing at the Colorado US National center has been quelled. For more information on the situation--and to set up phone conference if need be-- Adam S. has sent the following message for all the friends:

“If there are any questions, grievances, concerns, or deepening needs at this or any time, please email me at this address: ibpdirector@duluthbahai.org. I will respond as quickly as I am able. If you require a telephone meeting, please include your phone number and your availability.”

In brief, a failed attempt--using various pretexts and schemes--was made to separate the gathering of the Baha’i elders at the US National Center in Colorado in order to disrupt the proposed tentative election of the US National Council of the Baha’is Under the Provisions of the Covenant. Outlying members who are familiar with this individual have also been affected. Loyal workers at the Center are still in recuperation this Fast-Season from some of the Stockholm-like effects of this Nine Years (plus) difficulty.

On the other hand, the United States has been deprived of a functioning national representative democratic body since the second guardian, Mason Remey, was obliged to dissolve the USA assembly in 1966--the same year that the mainstream Covenant-breakers (based in Chicago and Wilmette, Illinois, and Haifa, Israel) in league with the former “Hands” of Shoghi Effendi laid down the June, 1966 injunction upon the American Baha’i community (the 6-66 Injunction).

In 2010 the current living Guardian working in close co-operation with the remaining Baha’i elders were able to actively participate in God’s Plan to lift this Injunction off of the free Baha’i peoples both in the United States and those affected by this “great oppression” (see Baha’u’llah’s Book of Certitude, the Kitab-i-Iqan, p. 31 for more) worldwide.

In short, all twenty-four seats of the sovereign representative Body of the Apostles of Baha’u’llah as well as the individual sanctity of the rays of the holy spirit as manifested through the steadfast souls of the Baha’i elders--and their respective brothers and sisters in the 24 courses--have remained preserved, unshaken, and inviolate.

The core Quorum of Four--composed of veteran original members appointed by Dr. Leland Jensen himself during his lifetime--continues actively to defend the faith from the onslaught of Covenant-breakers and their aggressive Court cases remaining firm, unshaken, and resolute. Verily: “Every aggressor deprives himself of God's grace.” (W&T, p. 13)

The teaching effort and book publication efforts in the United States and overseas continues vibrant and redoubled. The faith is now progressing and advancing to its next inevitable phase of officially enrolling the American believers--for the first time since the Day of the Great Dividing in 1960--to the roster of voter registration planned from this Ridvan 2014.

For those interested in registering to vote for the US national election please contact the United States National Council (USNC) via the Secretary-General, Bonita McKee, at the following: gjbahai@inbox.com to receive the necessary application details, guidance, and instructions.

Friends! The Baha’i form of an emerging new spiritual society is meant to be an open and free society of democracy and a republican form of government. Unity through diversity is our watchword--self-determination at the individual and locally based level is our firm support.

The national system is designed to confirm the local freedoms and local group regulations of active Baha’i lifestyle, Baha’i fellowship, and Baha’i attitude as diverse as can be from community to community from person to person.

The national level also brings about a greater intersubjective unity through the region, province and area concerned. This cohesion allows for a more creative environment of scientific, spiritual, and artistic progress of all the members through the social contract that is infused with the love of God empowered by the light and magnetic influence of the everlasting Covenant of God.  Baha’u’llah states: “Although a republican form of government profiteth all the peoples of the world, yet the majesty of kingship is one of the signs of God. We do not wish that the countries of the world should remain deprived thereof. If the sagacious combine the two forms into one, great will be their reward in the presence of God.” (The Fifteenth Glad-Tiding).

Many of the national and region areas--such as England and Hawaii for example--preserve “the majesty of kingship” as one of the “signs of God” at the national/regional level. This form of democratic monarchy as in the UK does not strip away the democratic and constitutional principles upon which our divine civilization is based. The sole International Authority vested in the throne of King David is the only international Executive functioning upon the planet at this time. This does not compete with local and national practices and concerns but is designed to empower the sovereignty of states and locales through the liberation of the spiritual forces hidden and concealed--as latent powers, principles, and potentialities--within each and every member of society--the inextricable foundation of the body-politic--that is the real organismic functioning of the human-being as the manifestation of the mind and brain of the living planet of Gaia Awakening at this time. The blasphemy and attack against the “holy spirit” mentioned in the scriptures (see Mark Chapter 3 multiple and especially modern translations for full meanings…) is really the attack against the rays of the holy spirit as they emanate from the body of believers in the Divine Sun of reality. All peoples must “own their own soul,” so to speak, so that the Light may not be lost from them, by the external assaults and provocations of others. He “deprived himself and perturbed and poisoned others.” (W&T, p. 12).

This “mysterious grievous affliction”--as Baha’u’llah terms it--cannot understand that putting the light out in another human being does not in fact make their life any brighter. To the inherent Brightness of the children, to the light of the love of God manifested in the faces of all the beings and life-forms of this planet--the entire creation and world of being is infused from with a  mysterious force of forces from mysterious Source of sources that has been described as an indescribable, unknowable, unspeakable, ineffable, appearance manifesting via “deep darkness” such as that which fell upon Father Abraham author of the Hebrew Qabala: “As the sun was going down, a deep sleep fell upon Abram; and lo, a dread and great darkness fell upon him. Then YHVH said to him…” (Gen. 15:12 RSV); “For God, who said, ‘Let light shine out of darkness,’ made his light shine in our hearts to give us the light…” (2 Cor. 4:6 NIV see also John 1:5, etc.).

Obviously what is missing from the equation is the fully operational elected body of the Supreme Universal House of Justice as a representational elected body of the global population of the planet world-wide. However the Four Stage Constitution of Shoghi Effendi allows for the Appointed-Body (during the mission of the promised Twin Establishers--Joshua and Zerubbabel--as the first stage to function along with Executive Power in evolving through all four stages until the fourth stage of the universal election.

The International Executive is authorized through the Explicit Holy Texts of both the Covenant and ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Tablets of the Divine Plan to guide the nations and individuals believers world-wide into this election--whether the International legislative and judicial branches are in immediate session or not--or functional or not. Why? Because those who firm in the Covenant and educated to the appearance of the divine reality within themselves will realize that the Texts of the Covenant of Baha’u’llah and the sacred Will and Testament of ‘Abdu’l-Baha as well as the Tablets of the Divine Plan authorize full executive powers as laws, teachings, and ordinances already legislated, adjudicated, outlined and directed to the person of the living Guardian seated upon the throne of King David by Baha’u’llah and ‘Abdu’l-Baha! Thus the International Authority--the Davidic Kingship continued in the world of being is so empowered to carry out his mandate in the texts of the Covenant and the Tablets of the Divine Plan and the International teaching Efforts. The UHJ (body and head) both is over matters of state. The Tablets of the Divine Plan are prior to the formation of the Baha’i state and therefore fall under the purview of the Executive power in concert with the 144,000 knights of Baha’u’llah.

The emerging conditions for the election of both the Supreme Tribunal phase and the effloresce of Universal Election of the International Body in no way hinders the operation and function of the International Authority--throne-line of King David--operating within its full rights (huquq) as Executive Branch upon the International sphere of jurisdiction. Instead the Four Stage Plan provides the correct motivation and right guidance to move toward this International election through the teaching effort and the establishment of national and region bodies turning sovereignty over to local and regional peoples for self-determination, self-governance, self-preservation, and self defense.

This liberation of the human spirit via real education is the foundation of the spiritual and everlasting Kingdom of God.

These personal, intimate, and individual, attacks against the members of the body--making them uncomfortable at least and perturbed and poisoned at worst--require the “patient endurance of the saints” to evolve through the testing of the relentless accusations and various pre-texts against both the person of the Guardian; and the stunts and antics of the indidual(s) in question who are attempting to stamp out the light one soul at a time--all of which has no place within the Baha’i faith, the current Baha’i Administration, or the International Community of the Covenant.

Obviously the Guardian--who is radically against all forms of organized religion and hive mentalities--stands is opposition to these types of insidious inappropriate acts--that are being used to thwart the formation of the local and national bodies from assembling under the protection of the Holy Spirit and functioning correctly.

As it is flat fact that no human being at any time can actually police attacks against the light itself it falls, therefore, only upon each one of us must to guard his or her own faith as well as guard the life, and guard our own souls--that is take ownership of our own souls--to protect it, cherish it, and nurture it using self-care for it in our day to day lives. ‘Abdu’l-Baha states:

“This wronged one hath in no wise borne nor doth he bear a grudge against any one; towards none doth he entertain any ill-feeling and uttereth no word save for the good of the world. My supreme obligation, however, of necessity, prompteth me to guard and preserve the Cause of God.”

“Thus, with the greatest regret, I counsel YOU saying: Guard ye the Cause of God, protect His law and have the utmost fear of discord. This is the foundation of the belief of the people of Baha (may my life be offered up for them): "His Holiness, the Exalted One (the Bab), is the Manifestation of the Unity and Oneness of God and the Forerunner of the Ancient Beauty. His Holiness the Abha Beauty (may my life be a sacrifice for His steadfast friends) is the Supreme Manifestation of God and the Dayspring of His Most Divine Essence. All others are servants unto Him and do His bidding.” (W&T, p. 19)

Obviously not everyone on earth or professing to be a “Baha’i” is working the program so to speak, to remain vigilant and daring in entering the trust of God--the unknown void of personal spiritual evolution (announced by the Buddha and Christ)--to grow and evolve and to know and experience with direct knowledge the Divine Being while functioning in fellowship in the group dynamic of a live spiritual system.

These groups and communities are known by many names. Our group and International Community of the Covenant (ICC: of which members benefitting greatly from Dr. Jensen’s explanations and commentaries of the BUPC forms the currently largest population among many faiths of origin) is still only one example of functioning community of the Light and Love of God active on planet earth at this time.

What is unique to the ICC and in common with the BUPC is the acceptance of not “the throne of King David” but the individual role and personality of the living descendant of King David himself as a fellow believer active in exercising his religious freedoms in the US in the worlds of reality. These souls are in full conscious experience as well as the friendship and fellowship of the living descendant of King David seated upon the throne as one of their equal fellow believers. However many members of many Jewish, Islamic, and Christian fellowships, as well as Buddhist groups--and Hindus and Zoroastrians, new thought societies, governmental agencies, and peoples of all backgrounds and faiths--also are currently in common communion with the person of the living Davidic King and recognize his position as well as his station in the world of humanity.

From this perceptive the current work assigned to current guardian (and taken up by his stalwart companions) is really unimaginable in scope. Without the redoubled support of the non-dysfunctional Baha’i Elders this work would be greatly slowed down--yet ultimately progressive and redeeming at any rate of motion.

How this responsibility fell upon my shoulders is a story that many of you are already intimately familiar--and so I will not repeat those details here. Suffice it to say, that the 6-66 Injunction has been lifted now only three short years in time for the 150th anniversary year of the Proclamation of Baha’u’llah in the Ridvan Garden 1863. (1863 + 150 years = 2013). These victories bestowed upon our community by God Himself as aroused the childish antics and immature jealousies of those few actively seeking the overthrown of this Kingdom--that Jesus Heralded 2000 years ago and established in the year 1991 with my assistance in Montana.

In accomplishing these various tasks, God has guided me--as He does equally all the servants of the light--through  a series of personal and mysterious journeys that words ultimately fail to describe. These so-journs--especially in the years 2010 and 2012--have involved direct work in experiencing victories over the jinn-like forces, so to speak, of the dragon of “Islam” and the demoniac-like forces, so to speak, of the “Christian” Beast depicted in highly charge symbolic imagery in the Book of Revelation.

For a brief example a triad of three Baha’i elders representing the ethnically inherited faiths of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam--yet all united in the firm Covenant of Baha’u’llah--were able to appear a the prophesied place, and prophesied date of 2010 in the UK to cleanse and purify the spiritual sanctuary and surrounding precincts of Shoghi Effendi’s grave site--thus liberating spiritual forces beyond description for the healing of the nations and peoples of the world. This took place just prior to the so-called “Arab Spring” and the cutting don of the “sacred thorn” in England near Glastonbury (and the initial tomb of Arthur and Guinevere) a cutting that had not occurred since the days of Cromwell.

In conjunction with the other spiritual societies of light and love through the world--the establishment of the Kingdom of God--and accompanying spiritual revolution timed with the Mayan Calendar Re-calibration--moves forward with its inevitable progressive forces of truth and justice for all.

Meanwhile these co-workers of the Guardian have not remained either unruffled or unscathed. In the East this jinn-like activates, so to speak, have felt their crushing effects upon the chests of the Imams and Shaykhs of Light; and in the West the demoniac-like forces, so to speak, have aroused the ire and assaulted the minds and sprits of the Valliant Warrior Baha’is who are promised ultimate victory for uniting East and West.

For this reason--we have instated a Highly Effective Healing Circle in the United States of America in the prophesied legal precincts of the city of Philadelphia after the preparatory work in the Cause laid down by the founding fathers (men and women following the prophecies of the scriptures) of this United States of America. The members of that Secure Circle have dedicated themselves as veterans of wars--both foreign and domestic, so to speak--to regain the healing light and manifest the sanctity of the love of God for all the peoples of the world and especially the companions of the Guardian in this day and age. The Tablets of the Divine Plan revealed by the Master, ‘Abdu’l-Baha, have enabled us to successfully vanquish the forces of darkness of what Baha’u’llah terms in His own Holy writ “the manifestations of satan” through His Universal Medicine-Teaching of the Crimson Book of the Covenant: “converting satanic strength into heavenly power.” Baha’u’llah reveals:

THE POWER OF REGENERATION

    The vitality of men's belief in God is dying out in every land; nothing short of His wholesome medicine can ever restore it. The corrosion of ungodliness is eating into the vitals of human society; what else but the Elixir of His potent Revelation can cleanse and revive it? Is it within human power, O Hakím, to effect in the constituent elements of any of the minute and indivisible particles of matter so complete a transformation as to transmute it into purest gold? Perplexing and difficult as this may appear, the still greater task of converting satanic strength into heavenly power is one that We have been empowered to accomplish. The Force capable of such a transformation transcendeth the potency of the Elixir itself. The Word of God, alone, can claim the distinction of being endowed with the capacity required for so great and far-reaching a change. (Baha’u’llah, Baha’i World Faith, Chapter 3, p. 113).

In short, the true purpose and function of the living Guardian as the International Executive is still emerging to be understood and accepted for what it is by the peoples of the world.

While we know the basic message: that “The purpose of the Davidic Kingship being the Executive branch of Baha’u’llah’s Universal House of Justice (ww.UHJ.net)  is so that WE can recognize the true Universal House of Justice of Baha’u’llah from fakes, frauds and imitations” --BOTH Shoghi Effendi and ‘Abdu’l-Baha  tells us that it will take at least 100 years of the operation of the Will and testament (1921-2021) of the full meaning to be truly felt and understood--yet alone lived as real experience in the Light of Lights on this: the Day of Days!

"The contents of the Will of the Master is far too much for the present generation to comprehend. It needs at least a century [100 years from 1921-2021] of actual working before the treasures of wisdom hidden in it can be revealed.” (Shoghi Effendi, March 26, 1930)

“In such matters as the Covenant it is far better to be too vigilant than too lax…Many of the Baha’is, while loyal to the Cause and the Guardian, do not fully grasp the implications of the Master’s Will and the full station of the Guardians of the Cause. They need to study more deeply the spiritual side of the Teachings and the Will itself.” (Shoghi Effendi, July 5, 1949)

"Praise be to God, this century [1921-2021] is a glorious century; may love increase every day; may it strike fire to light the candle in the darkness, like a gift and mercy of God.” (‘Abdu'l-Baha, ‘Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 107)

May these Holy Days of the Fast find you and your loved ones all emerging spiritually into the plurality of all the worlds of God--the good things of this life and the next!

I remain yours,
Your servant,
Neal.