Saturday, March 15, 2025

Questions, BASIS of Science

Month, Day: 181, Loftiness, Questions (Glory) 

Questions? Yes, more of those than answers. 

I mentioned Patricius (March 2008) before Questions (June 2008).That's the Irish half. Too, in that regard, notice the Apple of the Bab's eye. More on St. Patrick

First post on Questions: Questions. But, there have been lots of posts on Questions: search?q=questions

Now, BASIS? See this post (BASIS and sufficiency - March 2008, so before Questions, too). 

Science? We have written a lot on that in this blog and will be doing more. 

Remarks: 03/15/2025

03/15/2025 --   

Friday, March 14, 2025

Groups, again, from the beginning

Month, Day: 181, Loftiness, Power (Majesty) 

Let's look a little at motivation for the following by the way of a few of the earlier posts. At the basis, we have moment to moment as a reality which the Fast brings to focus. 

1. Some seeds (Jan 2008) - The modern mind runs from chaos and random things through patterns into the certainty of technology. We can trace the development of those views. But, we also know of the stability of orbits as evidenced the calendar which was defined anew by the Bab. Thoughts during the Fast settled on the long trek from the rush of the 1st day and month (Splendour of Loftiness) all the way to the last day of the same month (Loftiness of Loftiness) after which we have Naw Ruz (now set by the moon over Tehran). Thinking about the flow, some Attributes (of God) made more sense from the human view. For instance, Light (5th month) is followed by Mercy and Words. Ah, biblical tunes come to play, such as Genesis. Later, we get to Knowledge (12th  month) followed by Power and Speech. Those suggested some type of group arrangement. 

This image shows the 19 months, starting with Splendour and ending with Loftiness with every month following the same pattern, separated into groups of three. What pops out is the transition through the month of Might (10th month) as the mid-point which is followed by Will. In terms of that last, independence of thought and perception are primal in the Writings. That order? We will get to Kant who was pre Bab. 

Might and focus

2. Another motive comes from last of the 7 Valleys where "chord" is mentioned in terms of possible interpretations meaning personal, purposful usage of the notions. There are many ways to group such as noting that there are 9 evens and 10 odds when considering an index of the ordered list of months. In the above, Might is the (10th month) followed by Will which brings in issues of free will and choice among other things. 

We mentioned Kant, above, and will be trying to show how his philosophy is central to the transition period of the Manifestations. Kant died in 1804 and represented the culmination of work to that time of bringing to fruit the "2 letters" of which reason was an important factor. Those of science who have looked realize that Kant's thoughts apply in lots of ways. Many of these have been ignored. 

Seven Valleys and human ways


3. This image has three circles with the interior one representing the days of the week. The new calendar has the week starting on Saturday with the name of Glory. It ends on Friday with Independence, such as today. That resonates with the modern way and its systems many of which are based upon the clock. 

The next two circles are based upon the Attributes of the months and their days. So, we have the start of Splendour and the end of Loftiness. Notice in the middle circle, Might has its place as a fulcrum. We have much to discuss about that. 

4/09/2022, Saturday (Glory) Glory, Splendour (09/03)

There are three lines in the image. Their meaning can be seen in the caption of the image. In 2022, the 9th of April was the first day of the week (Glory) and the month (Splenour) of the second month (Glory). This is a "square" day. There are also triple days where we see the same name for each. In 2011, the month of August had a triple day.  

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Groups were mentioned above without proper comment. These are in terms of four months: Transcendent; Teleological; Operational; Motivational; Ascendant. But, we have looked at groups of three and even eight

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Our focus all along has been science and religion as compatible themes with respect to knowledge. Everyone has the right to work that out for themselves, with the proviso, though, that science and its methods be publically verifiable. While, religion deals with the person's own realm of being in so many ways. 

Back to Kant, he showed that we can neither prove nor disprove God from the view of science, at least in terms that are prevalent in today's world. Remember, Kants of of the "2 letter" time. Too, the top-of-the-line logical  machines tell us this: whether or not one believes in God comes down to choice. 

So, free will? Now with respect to the growing complexity that we see with technology, personal choices have to be balanced with public views in so many ways. The Universal House of Justice will be weighing in on that. For instance, there is a lot in the Baha'i Writings that can be shown to subjectively relate to science. Same goes for the Koran which is full of wisdom that has not yet been brought to public view. 

Remarks: 03/14/2025

03/14/2025 --  

Wednesday, February 26, 2025

The Four Valleys

Month, Day: 181, 2nd, Intercalary Days (Justice) 

The Call of the Divine Beloved (The Four Valleys): 

  • The Sanctuary of the Desired One - this plane pertaineth to the self—but the self which is intended is “the Self of God that pervadeth all His laws”
  • The Court of the All-Praised - this is the station of the Intellect, which is known as the messenger of the realm of the body and the most great pillar 
  • The Abode of the Lodestone of Hearts - no soul may dwell on this kingly throne save the countenance of love
  • The Beauty of the Beloved - this station is the throne of the inmost heart and the secret of divine guidance
 Remarks: 03/14/2025

02/26/2025 --  

Thursday, February 6, 2025

Bastinado

Month, Day: 181, Sovereignty, Loftiness (Justice) 

Baha'i Stories:

When He had been bound in the humiliating bastinado position, His legs in the air, bare feet exposed and lashed to a bar held by assistants, Mulla Zaynu'l-'Abidin, Baha’u’llah’s paternal uncle and one of the company, threw himself in front of Baha’u’llah, and was thrashed until he fainted from the pain. Baha’u’llah was then beaten with rods until His feet bled.  He was then removed, along with his companions, to one of the rooms of the mosque, and held there until the return of the Governor from his visit to Fort Shaykh Tabarsi. 

(Adapted from ‘The Dawn-Breakers’, by Nabil, translated and edited by Shoghi Effendi; ‘Baha’u’llah, The King of Glory’, by Balyuzi; and ‘The Robe of Light, vol. 1’, by Ruhe)

Aqdas

#158 --   Say: Because He bore injustice, justice hath appeared on earth, and because He accepted abasement, the majesty of God hath shone forth amidst mankind. 

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For those who want to meditate (many senses): Foot whipping.

Remarks: 02/05/2025

02/05/2025 --   

Thursday, January 23, 2025

We are God's

Month, Day: 181, Sovereignty, Mercy (Majesty) 

Koran (The Cow 2:156): 

Who when a mischance chanceth them, say, "Verily we are God's, and to Him shall we return:" 62

Remarks: 01/23/2025

01/23/2025 --   

Tuesday, January 7, 2025

Education, need

Month, Day: 181, Honour, Names (Grace) 

Some Answered Questions (pg 10): 

But education is of three kinds: material, human, and spiritual. Material education aims at the growth and development of the body, and consists in securing its sustenance and obtaining the means of its ease and comfort. This education is common to both man and animal.

Human education, however, consists in civilization and progress, that is, sound governance, social order, human welfare, commerce and industry, arts and sciences, momentous discoveries, and great undertakings, which are the central features distinguishing man from the animal.

As to divine education, it is the education of the Kingdom and consists in acquiring divine perfections. This is indeed true education, for by its virtue man becomes the focal centre of divine blessings and the embodiment of the verse “Let Us make man in Our image, after Our likeness.”1 This is the ultimate goal of the world of humanity.

Remarks: 01/07/2025

01/07/2025 --   

Monday, January 6, 2025

Handel's Messiah

Month, Day: 181, Honour, Words (Beauty) 

This is the report, directly copied from Wikipedia (the links should work). 

ʻAbdu'l-Bahá's stay in Edinburgh was covered by The Scotsman newspaper.[171][172][173][174] The newspaper coverage lead to a stream of visitors and speaking engagements on 8 Jan; he spoke at the Edinburgh College of Art, and the North Canongate School.[nb 7] Later in the evening he spoke at Rainy Hall, which is part of New College, which was followed by a viewing of Handel's Messiah in St Giles' Cathedral. Visitors again came on the 9th, and in the evening he gave a talk with the Theosophical society hosted by David Graham Pole. That night and or early the next morning ʻAbdu'l-Bahá wrote a letter to Andrew Carnegie.[178][179] The letter commented on reading The Gospel of Wealth.[180][181] ʻAbdu'l-Bahá again sent a letter to Carnegie in 1915.[182] 

Reading about this was a nice surprise for me. In fact, it was in England where the Master first witnessed a dramatic arts event which was a story of Christmas. 

But, Handel's work? I heard it the first time in my late teens in the early '60s with two superb performers. The first was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir performing in the major auditorium in downtown Los Angeles. They were backed up by the LA Philharmonic. The striking thing was that they had added extra Basses which gave more than the usual resonance to me, having been a brass player: Baritone and Sousaphone. 

Remarks: 01/05/2025

01/05/2025 --   

Saturday, January 4, 2025

Middle Way

Month, Day: 181, Honour, Mercy (Glory) 

Kitáb-i-Aqdas (#43) 

Lament not in your hours of trial, neither rejoice therein; seek ye the Middle Way which is the remembrance of Me in your afflictions and reflection over that which may befall you in future. Thus informeth you He Who is the Omniscient, He Who is aware.

 Remarks: 01/04/2025

01/04/2025 --