 Hello, my name is James Craig. I'm a landscape architect, and I worked as an urban designer for the city of Birmingham, Alabama for nine years. Professionally, I always thought that it was my job to make the world a better place to live. So when I became a Baha'i, I wanted to understand the advancing civilization and the Baha'i Golden Age. I wanted to understand what the new civilization would look like. I wanted to review the plans for how the new world will be built. So I followed the advice of our Baha'i religions founders. I looked to science and religion to uncover the mysteries that will lead us toward the advancing civilization. The Baha'i teachings are my north star, but science provided the map, and nature's lives revealed to me the pathway that would lead to the Baha'i Golden Age. This presentation outlines an accelerated method for Baha'is to build Baha'i communities. The plan is to invest in communities that have been devastated by poverty, by war, by natural disaster, and bring those Baha'i communities into a global network of support. The plan is based on unique Baha'i principles chosen and developed with the insight of science. First, let me explain the science that helps me understand the natural growth of our Baha'i advancing civilization. If we go back to the beginning, we will talk about how energy organizes the universe. I'm a visual thinker and I appreciate visual information. So without going deep into math or physics, we'll look at graphs and diagrams for the concepts. I will explain the principles of self-organization using the simple example of a Benard cell. Secondly, the natural progression of organizational growth described in the S-curve. And third, we'll look at the employment of fractals to unite complex structures. And fourth, we'll look at the power of networking to grow and sustain global communities. Then, through reflection of these scientific principles, we will see how nature's way of organization suggests how Baha'i law can build the ever-advancing Baha'i, excuse me, can build the ever-advancing civilization and the foundation of the Baha'i Golden Age. Beginning with the Benard cell, imagine a pot of water, add the heat, the heavy particles filed, the light particles rise, water boils. The energy that causes the boiling causes the rearrangement of the molecules and then the molecules organize themselves. The more heat creates more intricate organization. Energy builds up to create pressure that drives water molecules into a new different arrangement that helps energy flow faster. The resulting Benard cell shown here form a new equilibrium. The water is at one equilibrium and then when it boils, it reaches another equilibrium. And then if it boils at a higher temperature and organizes itself more, it reaches another equilibrium. A simple example, but the process of energy rearranging matter created the self-organization, power to form stars, galaxies, and even the chemical networks that give rise to life on earth. It applies to both living organisms and groups of living organisms, like a human society or a global civilization. So our next slide will look at the S-curve, the predictor of the development cycle of organizational growth. This development cycle could represent the life of a person or it could represent the life of a planet, the growth of a business or the growth of a product or the growth of a country or an empire. The S-curve depicts the growth of a development cycle. The S-curve is important because it helps us see where we are in the development cycle and what lies ahead. So I'm going to talk about four stages of this development cycle. The startup stage is where a small group of diverse entities are organized as a response to this pressure and it builds structures. But it's fragile. As it grows and builds more structures, it reaches the second level of maturity. It develops strong bonds. It becomes resilient, grows stronger and spreads. It creates a new equilibrium. The third stage of aging is where the new equilibrium becomes old equilibrium and the organization may not be able to change quickly enough. It may grow beyond its structure. And then the fourth level is where the structure is really limited and it can't respond and it could collapse. So on the lower right hand corner we can see a diagram with consecutive S-curves. Progressive revelation is a series of S-curves of religion. A small number of energetic followers with better organization and in growth, it gets bigger, less united and fragile and a new vibrant religion could come take its place. The advancing civilization could be viewed as a series of S-curves of empires. The Greek, the Roman, the Ottoman, et cetera. Now we have a global financial empire. We might be at the end of the S-curve in the beginning of a new world order that will emerge. So now I want to talk about fractals. I became interested in fractals when I found that fractals created unity. Fractals provide the optimum flow of energy across hierarchy levels. The fractal human circuitry system shows the point. Arteries, veins and capillaries provide blood to every cell of the body. The fractal hierarchy in the circuitry system, the nervous system, the respiratory system, the brain and more unite the body through the transportation of material and energy and information. When comparing the complexity of the unity needed for the advancing civilization, Bahá'u'lláh compared human civilization to the human body through these fractal structures in the human body, billions of diverse cells live in harmony with one another. Each cell both receives its nourishment from the whole and contributes to the health of the body. The fractal structure is found in nature because it allows information, resources and energy to flow. But why is this important to Bahá'u'lláh? This next slide shows a diagram of the Bahá'u'lláh administrative order. The Bahá'u'lláh administrative order is fractal. Fractals unite the Bahá'u'lláh world. Although mathematicians and other scientists only discovered the logic of fractals recently, Bahá'u'lláh spoke with them often. We are leaves of one tree. This powerful message represents the unity and the fractal structure hidden in the Bahá'u'lláh revelation. If we turn this fractal diagram of the Bahá'u'lláh administrative order upside down, the diagram could look like a tree with a hierarchy of the trunk, limbs and twigs and leaves. Since nature used fractals so effectively and since Bahá'u'lláh likes fractals and since the Bahá'u'lláh administrative order is fractal, I'm proposing the following new fractal institutions to build Bahá'u'lláh communities. In this slide we can see the Bahá'u'lláh community corporation, the Bahá'u'lláh agricultural network and the Bahá'u'lláh investment company. These are new organizations like parts of the brain that effectively work together. These institutions play different roles, but they share common goals. Through the collaboration of these fractal institutions, they accomplish the common goal of creating Bahá'u'lláh learning communities that can be part of the global fractal network. Each of these following institutions provide a special function, but they all share the same fractal structure of unity and the shared goal to create vibrant Bahá'u'lláh learning communities. So the first institution, new institution I like to talk about is the Bahá'u'lláh agricultural network. When I look at the Bahá'u'lláh heritage, I believe that the Bahá'u'lláh civilization is destined to have great gardens. The Bahá'u'lláh said agriculture was important. The most important issue to address in the advancing civilization was Bahá'u'lláh's advice about agriculture and romantic fantasy. I take Bahá'u'lláh serious. Bahá'u'lláh said everyone should be involved in agriculture. So if there's one thought I'd like for everybody to take away from this, said every cluster should have a Bahá'u'lláh agricultural network. So let's look at the Bahá'u'lláh agricultural network. The Bahá'u'lláh agricultural network is fractal. From the cluster, we have garden clubs and we have individual gardeners. The strength of the fractal network of garden starts with the successful individual gardener. The information and the resources and other support is designed to help the individual gardener become part of a strong network of successful gardeners. Out of many make one, out of many individual gardeners makes one big fractal horticultural industry. So the individual gardeners benefit from the support of the network. The individual gardener doesn't have to do everything for themselves through the high agricultural network. The individual gardener has the technical support, the access to the materials and the teamwork of other members of the network. Each gardener will be different and they choose what they want to grow in their garden. One person might want to grow flowers. One person might have a small tree farm because that person wants to make some money without working. Another person may want to grow the best food possible. Diversity is good. New opportunities emerge. Unity and diversity is our strength. With the garden clubs, that's where the individual gardeners come together to support one another. The individual gardeners can exchange plants, work together as a team. And working with the knowledge from the cluster level, the broker, the gardeners can self-organize to grow special items that meet some demand need. The garden club receives support obtaining the materials such as the seedlings and the compost from the cluster and it distributes them to those individual gardeners as needed. The garden club is part of an organized network to make sure every garden project is successful because successful individual gardeners build a strong cluster network. So the cluster level, at the cluster level, the bi-agricultural network can be organized. With the technical support and the business support from the cluster, each individual gardener can become a micro-enterprise. With the cluster network, individual gardener grows more with less work and makes more profit than doing it by themselves. So out of many make one, the fractal horticultural industry can be a model for a new community economy of micro-enterprises working together. This new business model is a new equilibrium of collaborating communities producing community prosperity. So with the Baha'i Community Corporation is part of this new business fabric and it's fractal. The Baha'i Community Corporation, the community-based businesses and the employees and shareholders are make up this Baha'i Community Corporation. It's a conglomerate that supports independent initiatives and from the community. A conglomerate like General Electric can be many businesses from light bulbs to TV networks to medical supplies to financial services all under one umbrella. The Baha'i Community Corporation can have many community-based businesses under the support of their umbrella. One of the many things different about this Baha'i Community Corporation and the typical modern age corporation is that the Baha'i Community Corporation is owned by people that live in the community. The board members are homeowners, business owners, employees, representatives of the local youth group, the caring committee of the devotional group and the community service organizations and the pioneers. Only a few shares would be held by people of goodwill that don't actually reside in the community but have invested in the success of the community. So what we're talking about is the Baha'i Village economy. The Baha'i Agricultural Network is one part of the Baha'i Community Corporation. Other community-based businesses there are not limited to this but they could include a landscape design company and construction company, home repair, home health care just to name a few. Professional firms of architecture, landscape architecture and engineering could also be part of the community corporation. So now we want to talk about the Baha'i Investment Company which is fractal. It's made up of pioneers and the investors and a design team. Finding the right location, the right community to invest in is important. So we could get requests from local Baha'is that live in an area, a community that's been devastated by a storm or a war or low income and they could invite Baha'is to come in to help build up a strong community. After a general area is selected, the suitability study to find the best spots in the community to invest in will be analyzed. The boundaries of the community will be determined and we'd be trying to buy houses that are in vacant lots within the boundaries of the community. We'd be looking for enough houses where we could bring in pioneers that would make enough critical mass to really build a Baha'i community. After we've selected the community, then we need to have a community vision and an investment plan. The community vision is prepared by the local Baha'is that live in the community and the pioneers that are coming to transform the community and the investors of goodwill. What do they want their community to become? So after they all agree on their plan, then they have an investment plan. What will it cost to implement this plan? The goal is to purchase five or more houses and some vacant lands for farming and to help start a business. So again, we want to have enough Baha'i residents living close together to reach the critical mass of Baha'i pioneers building a new Baha'i learning community. The pioneers are building a community that they'll be part of. The pioneers will own their homes and will own shares in the community corporation. So after the plan is being agreed upon between the pioneers and the community and the investors, the next thing is to implement the plan. The pioneers will move in, fix up houses, prepare gardens for the Baha'i agricultural network, start other neighborhood micro enterprises, service projects, plant trees, plant orchards, start the core activities, the youth groups, devotional groups, caring committees, prepare a house of worship, a community center, building this, I call this invisible equity. People want to live where children are successful, where families are successful and these Baha'i communities are going to rebuild the structure of the communities that are needed so bad. So let's review the proposals for these new institutions. The Baha'i agricultural network, every cluster should have one. The Baha'i community corporation, out of many make one and we're creating a Baha'i village economy and then the Baha'i investment company where we can invest in the Baha'i nine-year plan to build communities. The plan is to use this model to build one community, then a cluster of communities, decentralized units of growth that grow into a network of Baha'i communities that will co-evolve into strong global social and economic development networks of Baha'i learning communities. We're laying the foundation for the Baha'i Golden Age in organized systematic approach for social and economic development, transforming communities. So let's look at the power of the global fractal network of learning communities. The new equilibrium that unites the world is the growth of fractal Baha'i learning communities. The Baha'i global network uses the same fractal network as the Baha'i community corporation but on a global scale. Each individual local community corporation is part of a global network much like our Baha'i local assemblies are part of the fractal Baha'i administrative order. The organic growth of a Baha'i learning community network will start with one successful community that spreads. Another community might grow independently and the independent communities can collaborate. As one Baha'i community grows that growth opens more opportunities to collaborate and coordinate with other communities in the network. The communities in the network are co-evolving. The connections between the learning community stimulate exchanges and technology, arts and trade, business partnerships. The global cultural exchange will cause cultural evolution. The Baha'i culture will grow stronger and spread. You know successful cultures have been the foundation for advancing civilizations. With the right culture the individuals in the community will reach their potential. The Baha'i culture is a big asset that will separate us from the old world order. The Baha'i communities that are collaborating in production and in distribution are building a new economic fabric. The Baha'i global network would be nested inside the existing global economy. The growing decentralized nested network of Baha'i learning communities and Baha'i community corporations become better organized and grow. The fractal networks are growing bigger with stronger bonds until the network of learning communities reach a stable equilibrium. A new system of order will emerge. In the book of Surr2 Baha'i I 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 mortal eyes have never witnessed. Immerse yourself in the ocean of my words that he may unravel its secrets and discover all the pearls of wisdom that lie hidden in its depths. This new global economy is built from the bottom up with a parallel structure that works with but is independent from the modern age materialistic economy. If the existing old order economy collapses the new Baha'i fractal economy economic fabric is in place and ready to emerge. I'm describing the emergence of a new global economy but unlike the current global economy that destroys communities this Baha'i global network is built from the bottom up. The Baha'i global economy helps communities. The global economy is a network of Baha'i community corporations. A new civilization of Baha'i learning communities in a global network will emerge. The individual Baha'i learning communities could be like Athens of the Hellenic Greek city states. Each Baha'i community would have teachers and architects and great gardeners. All the professions and skills needed for prosperity and resilience. The Baha'i learning communities would have the an advantage over Athens because the Baha'i global learning network is a conduit of shared skills and technologies and the appreciation of the different cultures from all over the world. Now I want to introduce a friend and a partner of mine who worked behind the scenes to make this presentation possible. Doug Gilbert is the most qualified leader in building the network I have been describing. I'm going to work with Doug to help him network because I believe in him and I hope you will join us in our effort. Hello friends. The internet began only 50 years ago with just two communication nodes and grew into the expansive global network you see on this slide where each tiny burst depicts a sophisticated subnet. The growth of the internet is the best known example of a nested self-organized fractal structure for promoting the ever-advancing civilization of humankind. Only now does human civilization have tools to rebuild what Baha'u'llah called quote, a lamentably defective old world order unquote, with advanced communication structures to create information networks. Ulstered by divine guidance and spiritual principles, there is no limit to the society transforming achievements that network communities can attain across the planet as we enter the nine-year plan. For this reason, we propose to launch the global network for rebuilding devastated communities to transform Baha'u'llah's words into action and reality. This brings us to the end of this short presentation. My hope is that the logic and the examples in this presentation will empower the Baha'u'llahs to transform communities. I believe the Baha'u'llahs that believe in transforming the world by transforming communities. I believe in transforming the world through the power of unity. I believe that the Baha'u's who are working so hard to build their capacity to change the world one community at a time will be successful if we have an organized systematic approach. I believe we need to get started now. Baha'u'llah states that the purpose for which mortal men have from utter nothingness stepped into the realm of being is that they may work for the betterment of the world and live in comfort and harmony. Please email me if I can help your community in any way. Thank you so much for your time.