From: McKenny Michael <bn872@FreeNet.Carleton.CA>
Subject: Re: non non-Baha'is revisited
Date: Wednesday, March 10, 1999 11:00 AM
Greetings, Robert.
I follow my practise of starting at the most recent of many unread posts
and answer you without having read Juan's reference to me.
You wrote:
>
> Oh, the question: I don't know whether he is a Baha'i or not. According to my
> recollection, a Baha'i is one who accepts the Author of the Baha'i revelation
> (Baha'u'llah), His Forerunner (the Bab), and the perfect Exemplar of His
> teachings ('Abdul-Baha'), and acknowledges that they have revealed laws and
> ordinances which we must follow.
>
I did do that on June 23, 1971, though being a human being and not a
monotheistc god I saw it as striving to follow what had been revealed. Also,
not having become a lawyer, my focus was not on laws and ordinances, but on
spirit and principles. I still tried to say prayers every day, even bowing
down, according to directions. It is just that it was not Hammurabi whom I
recognized as having returned, but the spirit of Buddha and Jesus, etc.
It was precisely because I, previously influenced by Roman Catholicism
and Buddhism and aware of the superiority of males as compared to females,
felt the spirit of the Baha'i Faith insisting on the equality of women and
men, and the spirit of the Baha'i Faith confirmed my previously held ideas
on the importance of having an open mind, of harmonizing reason and faith,
of respecting representatives of all belief systems, of expressing my own
incomplete understanding, of being personally responsible for my moral
actions, of ceaselessly seeking to acquire a greater grasp of reality,
that I spoke up on Baha'i e-mail lists, that I responded to Counsellor
Birkland's invitation, as conveyed through Susie Tamas, that I met with
her, and that, at her suggestion, I wrote to the Universal House of Justice.
And, precisely because I was influenced by the spirit of the Baha'i Faith
the un-Baha'i response of the Universal House of Justice did not satisfy
me. That my refusal to conceal this disatisfaction did not even produce a
directive from the Universal House of Justice to shut up or else, but
instead a notice without warning from them through the National Spiritual
Assembly of the Baha'is of Canada that I could not be considered a member
of the Baha'i community only confirmed the remoteness this entity dwelt
from the words universal and justice.
Now I accept the power of the UHJ to decide whom they may call Baha'is
as I recognize that Stalin had the power to decide whom he felt was a good
Soviet citizen and whom he could have placed in the gulag.
However, as I have previously stated, the soul-sphere of this species,
what you call god, has been perceived by some in a monotheistic manner,
and Baha'u'llah's vision, seeking to provide a harmonizing framework to
permit the peaceful inclusion of all humans in a world civilization is one
of the most laudable, IMHO, in history.
This highly praiseworthy effort of the prophet does not mean that I
must reject the essential principles of the prophet and cling only to the
literal words he wrote in a few places, defining many other things he
wrote so as to reverse the normal meaning of the words he used. That is,
I do not place as the only essential principle the deification of the
obviously imperfect decisions of patriarchs and call fundamentalism
broad-mindedness, search for truth, harmony of reason and faith, freedom
of thought and expression, etc. Nor, am I willing to say that the prophet
did not really mean there should be broad-mindedness, search for truth,
etc.
The Universal House of Justice has repeated history and the lofty
spirit of Baha'u'llah has come into the grasp of those taking advantage
of poetic exaggeration as to their own responsibilities to insist on an
absolute obedience of what is completely contrary to the universal vision
of the prophet. I do not deny they have the power to redefine the Baha'i
Faith, so that instead of being universal in outlook it is an exclusive
cult. If these individuals would rather be cult figures than the leaders
of the universal religion that is their choice.
And, if this is their choice, then they are completely correct that
they can count me out.
And, since by their choice they have removed the universal from the
cutting edge of the monotheistic worldview, then I am quite reasonably and
spiritually in tune with the spirit of this age to be seeking perception
according to the wisdom of most of the people who have ever lived on this
planet, the pagans. Inasmuch as religious intolerance, conflict and
persecution seem to be overwhelmingly the consequences of the exercise of
power by exclusivist monotheists, then the current cycling back towards the
broad-minded views of our early ancestors would seem to be a good thing.
To open-mindedness, to tolerance, to harmonious understanding.
All the Best,
Michael
> Has Mr. McKenny done this?
>
> with love,
>
> Robert A. Little
>
--
"My name's McKenny, Mike McKenny, Warrant Officer, Solar Guard."
(Tom Corbett #1 STAND BY FOR MARS p2)
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