 Friends, thank you very much and thank you to the Association for inviting me to share some thoughts this morning. I can say on behalf of myself and Dr. Gadirian, my dear colleague on the board of counselors, that the counselors really are quite pleased and delighted with the progress and advancement of scholarship in North America. In the last few years, we talk about this regularly over the phone and consultation when we get together in small groups and in plenary as the continental board of counselors. It's always on our mind and we're delighted with the progress, the enthusiasm, the energy and so on of the Baha'is who are pursuing study of the Baha'i faith in more academic and scholarly ways. I also want to thank the Association, actually the planning committee for the wonderful excerpts that you've shared about balancing intellectual pursuits with the development of spiritual virtues and so on. This is constantly on my mind. In particular, I'm thinking about a statement that the Universal House of Justice offered a few years ago, actually when they were writing about development in general. They said that the oneness of humankind is at once our ultimate goal and our operating principle. Even more recently, the Universal House of Justice writing about the systematic development of the Baha'i faith around the world said there are no shortcuts. Well, I'm trying to think about this far from equilibrium state and I wanted to share with you initially a brief description of the situation as I understand it. Shoghi Effendi said that there are these three stages or ages of the faith. The first one, the heroic age or the apostolic age was characterized by that release of creative energy for building this new world order and the efforts, the heroic efforts of those early followers. The third stage he called the golden age or that age of fruition or that time of blissful felicity when we've managed to apply all these principles and they're fully operational in the world and in all our institutions and our behavior and relationships and so on. Now, in between the age in which we find ourselves, Shoghi Effendi called that the formative age or the age of transition and in one letter he called it the age of frustration with a capital F. Now, Baha'u'llah said the world's equilibrium has been upset through the vibrating influence of this most great, this new world order. Mankind's ordered life has been revolutionized through the agency of this unique, this wondrous system the like of which more lives have never witnessed. So the equilibrium of the world has been upset. Now, those who study organic systems, dynamical systems say that this far from equilibrium state is characterized by lots of surprises, messy situations, costly mistakes, lots of disappointments, humiliation, feelings of helplessness and extraordinary and exciting innovation and learning. In fact, those who study and write about chaos theory and dynamical systems say that the greatest learning takes place in this far from equilibrium state. In fact, some are actually in the field of management now in organization development. Some are suggesting that we find ways of engineering far from equilibrium states. Well, Baha'u'llah has done this for us. In fact, in terms of engineering this far from equilibrium state, I have to say that Abdu'l-Baha suggested this. In fact, he was meeting with a group of Baha'is ones and he said that he told a story of a situation when he was in Baghdad. He described a situation when he was in Baghdad where a thief was arrested for stealing, he said to the Baha'is. A thief was arrested for stealing and was convicted and sentenced to a hundred lashes with the bastanato on the bottom of his feet. Now, the governor of Baghdad apparently, according to Abdu'l-Baha, decided to observe the execution of the punishment and while he was watching this man being beaten, this thief, he noticed that the thief didn't show any sign of distress or pain or discomfort and it was pretty surprising because he was being tortured. Now, the governor decided to assign an agent to follow this fellow when he was released and figure out who he was. Abdu'l-Baha said that the agent returned and reported to the governor that this thief lived in a house full of thieves and that every day they beat each other's feet until they had no feeling left. Now, after telling this story to these Baha'is, Abdu'l-Baha said, I want the Baha'is, when you get together, to raise the most difficult issues, to build up your endurance, ask the most difficult questions and try to answer them. Abdu'l-Baha actually encouraged us to engineer this far from equilibrium state, to make us feel uncomfortable. Now, he didn't suggest that we humiliate each other or anything like that. But to raise the most difficult issues, it's clear that this is where the greatest learning takes place, is when we ask the difficult issues, when we find ourselves in an uncomfortable position. Well, I wanted to ask you to consider that there's really a purpose for all this far from equilibrium state. According to the Shoghi Effendi, there's actually a plan and that's one of the reasons I suppose why the Universal House of Justice has recently encouraged us to read letters from the Guardian that describe this stage and what the purpose is and what its intent is and what it will do. In one letter he said that the conditions of this far from equilibrium state would purge, purify, and prepare us for what's to come, for what we have to do. It's a necessary thing. Now, I'm thinking that there are, in my consideration of this, I'm thinking that there are maybe three things that come to my mind that I would ask you to consider today that may help us thrive in this far from equilibrium state in terms of our learning. The first has to do with vision, the next has to do with that part of creating a culture of encouragement that has to do with how we talk to each other, how we communicate with each other, and the last has to do specifically with the Word of God. Bahá'u'lláh said, and I love this because Bahá'u'lláh said, Well, if for a few days in compliance with God's all-encompassing wisdom, outward affairs should run their course contrary to one's cherished desire, this is of no consequence and does not matter. He said our intent is that the Bahá'u'lláh should fix their gaze on the supreme horizon and cling to what has been revealed in the holy tablets. And when I get home, you know, Najla and my wife ask, how was the day today? And I usually, I try to quote Bahá'u'lláh, you know, I say, Well, today outward affairs ran their course contrary to my cherished desire. Sometimes I use that, well, you know, remember that talk that, some of you have read that talk that Abdu'l-Bahá gave in Paris about joy and pain, now he said joy gives us wings, in times of joy our strength is more vital, our intellect is keener, our understanding is less clouded and so on. And then he said, when sadness visits us, that I use this line with my wife too sometimes, he said, when sadness visits us, the actualities of life seem to elude our grasp. Sometimes when she says, how are you? I said, well, today the actualities of life eluded my grasp. But then she comes right back with another quote from Bahá'u'lláh and said, this is of no consequence and does not matter. She's always won better than me. So if for a time outward affairs run their course contrary to one's cherished desire, Bahá'u'lláh said, it doesn't matter. He said, fix your gaze on the supreme horizon. Now I'm thinking, I shared with some friends recently that the image that comes to my mind is riding in a car with my dear wife going at a great speed and looking out the window and trying to concentrate on what's going by. It's clear that the longer I look at what's going by, it's just a blur and the longer I look, I become nauseated and dizzy. But no matter how fast she's going, when I look up at the horizon, everything comes into focus. There's a calmness or a serenity about it. It seems that one of the keys to operating at this far from equilibrium state, which will serve us, one of the keys to thriving is this vision. Bahá'u'lláh said, according to men of wisdom, keenness of understanding is due to keenness of vision. He said, foremost among all of the gifts that God has given to humans is the gift of understanding. But the chief instrument through which this understanding can function is vision. In fact, in one tablet, Bahá'u'lláh said that whatever service to increase vision and reduce blindness is worthy of consideration. So important is this vision. I suppose, again, this is one of the reasons why the Universal House of Justice is encouraging us at this time to study these tablets or these letters from Shoghi Effendi, describing this age of frustration, why we have it, what we have to go through, and what to expect. Because Abdul Bahá'u'lláh said, no matter what, don't be perturbed. House of Justice said, don't be disturbed for even one moment by any of these happenings. Recently they wrote in a letter, the Universal House of Justice wrote in a letter, lest you be distracted. So important is this vision to our success in learning and scholarship. In fact, all the things that we're trying to do at the same time, expansion, consolidation, community building, trying to develop institutional capacity, scholarship. We're trying to do them all at the same time when the Universal House of Justice said, we're living in a maelstrom, the darkest hour before the dawn. It really is nauseating if we focus on the little things whizzing by. But once we have that vision, there's a serenity about it, a calmness. In fact, what can we expect? What do we expect? Do we expect things to go smoothly? Do we expect things that, I mean that there are no shortcuts. And we're expecting that there's going to be chaos, really, all around us. We're trying to remember the oneness of humanity as at once our operating principle and our ultimate goal. There are no shortcuts. So we're trying to apply these things to our community and at the same time develop our character. When Abdul Baha was in St. Paul, the city where I live, he said that it is clearly evident that while man possesses powers in common with the animal, he is distinguished from the animal by intellectual attainment, spiritual perception, and the acquisition of virtues. They all have to be blended together to be for us to what he called be adorned with honor and sublimity. I have to ask you just because this is, I think, one of the lessons of Shoghi Effendi in these letters that we've been asked to study. One of the lessons is what in the world do we expect? If you feel offended by a fellow believer, you're in good company. No, no, I just looked this up this morning. Bahá'u'lláh said, my imprisonment do with me no harm, nor do the things that have befallen me at the hands of my enemies. That which harmeth me is the conduct of my loved ones. Shoghi Effendi said, perhaps the greatest test Baha'is are ever subjected to is from each other. So if you feel like some of your fellow Baha'is aren't treating you well, some members of the institution are unjust. Well, I expect this will happen. This is the age of frustration. Not that it minimizes the casualties, but knowing about this, knowing about this, I think can help. In fact, I want to ask you to just to consider one thing related to this, because the person that comes to my mind when I think about this kind of situation is Mirza Meendi, the son of Bahá'u'lláh, who many of you know the story of his life and his death and how he was walking on the roof of the prison saying prayers and he fell through the skylight and landed on a wooden crate, apparently breaking a rib and he was bleeding internally and Baha'u'lláh offered him his life and Mirza Meendi said that if his life could be a ransom so that the followers of Baha'u'lláh could enter the prison and achieve this nearness to their beloved, he would be happy to give up his life and Baha'u'lláh said in a tablet that he wrote later that he'd accepted this as a ransom in Mirza Meendi died. Three months after this the doors of the prison were opened by the authorities. In fact, Baha'u'lláh in one tablet compared this ransom to the ransom of Jesus Christ and I'm thinking when in our endeavors, in our efforts, whatever part of the Baha'i community development we're involved in, if we're feeling offended or hurt by the remarks of a believer, a fellow believer, a fellow community member and we're really, because that's what hurts the most. Remember even, I think that applies to us, even from Baha'u'lláh, our enemies can do us no harm. It's those who are closest to us and when we're hurting, when we've been criticized unfairly or something has been offensive and we're really bleeding internally. That's when we have an opportunity to offer that as a ransom. That's when we can, because if we're not hurting, we have nothing to ransom. But with this vision of the purpose of this age of frustration, knowing what we're going to be going through, what we're experiencing, that there's a reason for this, when we're hurting, then we can say, oh, Baha'u'lláh, if my heart is pure enough, please accept this pain as a ransom for the development of the community. The next thing I wanted to ask you to consider was, in terms of creating a culture of encouragement, was the role that our tongue plays. Because Baha'u'lláh, in the Kitabi Akhtas, his most holy book, said that, for every end, I'll give you a means to accomplish it. He said, for building up cities, I've given you hands and other means. He said, but for edifying the souls and the hearts of men, I've given you your tongue. It's the key to opening the hearts of our fellow humans. So, utterance seems to be our weapon, our instrument to accomplish this culture of encouragement, the Universal House of Justice said, or this culture of encouragement, but I realized that encouragement is really like an art. And I don't know a lot about arts, but artists that I've talked to, friends of mine, tell me that in order to become good, excellent in the arts, one first has to master the techniques, the brush strokes, the notes, the hand movements, the dance, and so on. One has to master these techniques, these mechanical things, and then, once those are mastered, the artist can be inspired and moved and so on, and the creativity comes. It seems that if encouragement is an art, I've been asking myself, what are the techniques of encouragement? What do we have to master first? Well, where do we learn about it? Many of us maybe came from families where there wasn't very much encouragement. Maybe many of us don't have a very good model of how to encourage. And so, we really are starting from scratch, but Baha'u'llah, thank God, has written a lot about how to use our tongue, how to create, what the House of Justice said, how to create an etiquette of communication worthy of the coming maturity of humankind, an etiquette of communication. I'm thinking that one of the ways that we can look at this issue of utterance and encouragement is to look at the example of Abdu'l-Baha, even looking at the nonverbal part of this, because Universal House of Justice, in one letter, they wrote that they said, we return to the phenomenal characteristics of speech, content, volume, style, tact, wisdom, timeliness, are among the critical factors in determining the effects of speech for good or evil. There's a lot there, even the nonverbal. And there's so much confusion around that. I saw a couple of Persians the other day in the hallway. One was talking and gesturing, and the other was going, I didn't know if that was good news or bad. But it seemed the more he was doing that, the other guy was getting even more animated, you know? So I did. But these nonverbal things are, you know, Abdu'l-Baha, maybe someone can explain that to me later. But Howard Colby, I've said that, he said, I remember one time watching Abdu'l-Baha give a talk in the quiet New England church, he said. And he said, I don't remember a thing he said, but I remember his gestures. He said, when Abdu'l-Baha spoke, there was never an uprised warning finger. He said, there was never a dogmatic downward stroke of the arm. He said, when Abdu'l-Baha spoke, it was like this. That he was, he said it would, like, he would lift us off the chairs when he spoke. This, not, there's a lot. I don't know who in your life has been encouraging to you. But probably all of us have some experience, whether it's a kind aunt or a grandfather or a parent or some mentor in the community, somebody's been encouraging. And probably if we asked everyone here to describe how they were encouraging, there would be hundreds of different examples of how we can be encouraging. But one thing I know for sure, and that is that we can tell right away if the words match the heart. When you walk into a gathering and someone says, nice to see you, you can look into their eyes and you know instantly whether it really is nice for them to see you, whether they mean it. It really is an art. We have to, I could say, nice job. What? It didn't seem sincere to you? So, in fact, I could say all of you behind is a good job for all you're doing. Well, you know, most of you are saying, he doesn't have a clue what I do, right? So specificity seems important too as a part of encouragement, right? Actually appreciating something specific somebody does. Oh, there's a lot to this. In fact, sometimes not... I was just talking with this dear Dr. Jane Faley. Years ago, maybe 25 years ago, I heard her give a talk in Canada. One thing that I always remember, it was so cute because she was talking about one of the seven martyrs of Tehran that was martyred during the time of the Babin. He was being tortured and wasn't saying a word, wasn't making any sound at all. The more they beat him, the more they tortured him, the more they frustrated they were. I don't remember his name, Naraghi. I have to look it up again and see what his name was. But finally, the Farash Bashi said, clearly he's deaf and dumb. And the other believer standing nearby who was about to be martyred said, no, of course he's perfectly capable of speaking, but I'm his mentor and he wouldn't dare speak unless he had my permission. And then he said, now say something and the man spoke up. And I remember dear Jane was saying that this isn't probably the interpretation that we all had imagined, but she said, here's a guy who goes down in history of our faith for not saying a thing. And I'm just wondering how many times it is an act of heroism to keep your mouth shut. This utterance, according to Bahá'u'lláh, is the key to the human heart, but he gets quite specific. In fact, in one tablet to a fellow, Sayyid Mihti Dhaji, who was a great scholar and was a very eloquent speaker, Bahá'u'lláh actually wrote a warning. And in this tablet he said, oh, my name, utterance must needs possess penetrating power. For a bereft of this quality, it would fail to exert influence. And this penetrating influence depended on the spirit being pure and the heart stainless. Likewise, it needed moderation without which the hearer would be unable to bear it. Rather, he would manifest opposition from the very outset. And moderation will be obtained by blending utterance with tokens of divine wisdom which are recorded in the sacred books and tablets. Thus, when the essence of one's utterance endowed with these two requisites, it will prove highly effective and will be the prime factor in transforming the souls of men. This is the station of supreme victory in celestial dominion. The House of Justices asked us to work towards creating an etiquette of communication worthy of the coming maturity of humankind. And I have to say that many of the, much of the discourse that I've heard here at this conference is very, has been very dignified and noble. It's so uplifting to me to hear encouraging words, to hear searching questions asked in a noble and humble way. Sometimes that can be the most encouraging thing, just to ask a question. I went to graduate school just to learn how to say, uh-huh, I see, uh-huh. So I mean in a sincere way. No sir, I think really just sometimes listening can be extraordinarily encouraging. And none of these gestures. Mm-hmm. Right? Well friends, I wanted to share with you a third thought about creating this culture of encouragement and this environment where despite the far from equilibrium state, despite the surprises and messy mistakes and humiliating and embarrassing efforts and so on, that we can maintain our focus on learning and nobility and blending and blending intellectual attainment with the acquisition of virtues. The Universal House of Justice wrote that the Holy Word, the revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, has been extolled by the prophets of God as the medium of celestial power and the wellspring of all spiritual, social, and material progress. The wellspring of all spiritual, social, and material progress. Access to it, constant study of it and daily use of it in our individual lives are vital to the interpersonal transformation towards which we strive. And whose ultimate outer manifestation will be the emergence of that divine civilization which is the promise of the world order of Bahá'u'lláh. This Word of God, the wonderful thing about the Word of God is that it's pure and unadulterated. But Abdu'l-Bahá said that God's grace is like the rain, that when it falls to the earth, as it's falling it has no shape or form or any limitations, it's unrestricted. But the minute that rain hits the earth, it takes on the shape of whatever container or place that it falls into. And then Abdu'l-Bahá said in a square pool it becomes a square. Previously unconfined, the water becomes a square. In a round pool, a circle, and a hexagon, and so on, Abdu'l-Bahá goes into great deal explaining this and then says that it's the same with humans. That God, that this Word of God is unlimited and unrestricted, but when it goes through our perceptual screen it takes on limitations. Whatever we offer in terms of our view, our perspective of the Word of God is limited. Previously unconfined, previously unlimited. Now it takes on limitations. The beauty of it is, the limitations are all characterized by the way our minds have been trained. So the view of a mathematician, the view of an artist, the view of a doctor, a view of any particular person depending on their racial background, how the environment they grew up in, the academic training, how they've trained and disciplined their mind, it gives shape and form to this interpretation. Now understanding, remember, is this foremost among all the gifts of God to us. Bahá'u'lláh then said that the maturity of the gift of understanding is made manifest through consultation. So the more people with the different views and different interpretations that we can gather together and join in a nurturing discourse, the closer we come to true understanding. But this requires this kind of environment that's nurturing and encouraging so that we really can mine all the gems from all the different minds in our community. The Word of God is that wellspring. And the final thing that I'd like to ask you to consider is a tablet from Bahá'u'lláh about this Word of God. Bahá'u'lláh said that every word is a mother word. Every tablet a mother tablet. He goes into great detail and describes that he, in fact he describes in this tablet, you're all, many of you are familiar with this, through the mere revelation of the word fashioner issuing forth from his lips and proclaiming his attribute to mankind. Such powers released as can generate successive ages, all the manifold arts which the hands of man can produce. Just through that one word Bahá'u'lláh said. In another place in the same tablet, Bahá'u'lláh said, in like manner, the moment the word expressing my attribute, the omniscient issue with forth from my mouth, every created thing will, according to its capacity and limitations, be invested with the power to unfold the knowledge of the most marvelous sciences. He said, and every other word in his revelation has a similar attribute, has a similar power. So as I'm thinking about this far from equilibrium state, as I'm thinking about creating a culture of learning and a culture of encouragement, it occurred to me that among the writings of Bahá'u'lláh there must be some words which if we meditate on them would give birth to thoughts about creating a learning environment, building our capacity to contribute to encouragement and a culture of encouragement on our community that we had no access to before. I don't know what words those would be though, but if fashioner can give rise to all the arts which the hands of man can produce an omniscient will has the power to unfold the knowledge of the most marvelous sciences, what words do you suppose from the blessed beauty Bahá'u'lláh will help us create a culture of encouragement, will accelerate our learning and our scholarship in this far from equilibrium state. I don't know. I was thinking as these gentlemen were reciting the prayer for healing, this long prayer for healing, I was trying to think at every name, every attribute that was being recited. Is that one, is that one that I could meditate on maybe it would bring forth something from my mind the way my mind has been trained, however limited it is that could contribute to this nurturing environment, this culture of encouragement. I thought about, oh thou concealer of the sins of the world, oh patience of the world, the generous, the unconditioned. I want to ask you to consider this as a challenge that maybe all of us as a contribution to the development of scholarship in Bahá'u'lláh's studies could think of even in just the next few months could think of one word from the writings of Bahá'u'lláh that we could meditate on. Because then he said that these words would give rise through every individual's mind according to their limitations and capacity things that we had no previous knowledge of. Well friends, I want to finish by asking you to consider the value of what those of you engaged in scholarly pursuits have right now in my estimation. Apparently Bahá'u'lláh, or I'm sorry, apparently Abdu'l-Bahá had arranged for over a period of time especially after he'd been released from prison and was living in Haifa. Apparently he'd arranged for a number of Persian students to come over several years and study in Beirut. I was reading once, not too long ago, about a situation in which there was a school break at the university in Beirut and some of these Persian boys had come to visit Abdu'l-Bahá during their school break and they were walking with Abdu'l-Bahá on Mount Carmel behind him listening to him talk. And he looked, it was in the springtime apparently and he looked down and he was walking on a bed of violets that the mountain was covered with these little purple flowers and he turned to these boys and he said that when he was in Baghdad as a young teenager after all their worldly possessions had been taken away from them, this holy family, they had nothing in this house in Baghdad. They had virtually nothing. Abdu'l-Bahá explained to these boys that one thing they did have in that house in Baghdad was a potted plant, a violet plant and that whenever it blossomed everyone would get excited and discuss how they were going to keep it watered not too much watered, keep it blossoming and then he turned to these boys and he said you see when a thing is rare it's very precious but when we have it in abundance it isn't regarded as valuable anymore or as valuable and Abdu'l-Bahá said right now there are just a few Baha'is in the world but in the future there will be Baha'is in abundance he said right now you're very precious I think that way about those of you who are pioneering Baha'i scholarship there aren't many of you increasing numbers but not many the things that you're doing the ransoms that you're offering despite the pain in your heart the offenses that you've encountered the struggles, the effort despite all that you're persevering those of you who are engaged in Baha'i scholarship who are pioneering are very precious right now because you're rare I'm sure in the future there'll be many wonderful Baha'i scholars and what they will contribute will be very valuable but right now because you're rare you're very precious thanks for all you're doing