 from the American Creativity's Austin Global Chapter. We are coming to you today from Austin, Texas. I'm your host, Phyllis Bleece. Joining me is our guest, Hoton Shabazi Harman. Hoton is an award-winning journalist and she works at the intersection of leadership, spirituality, society, innovation and technology. The title of today's show is The Baha'i Wisdom for a Creative Life. And we look at the power of reflection on creativity. Welcome, Hoton. Hello, thank you so much for having me here, Phyllis. Well, you're welcome and I'm reminded that the last time we were doing this, you were sitting in my seat. You want to say a little bit about when you were a show host and what that show was called and what you did there? Absolutely. I had a show in Austin for 10 years. It was called Idea Lounge on Austin's Community Radio, 91.7 FM. And we also streamed live online. And the show was very much focused on ideas that are building the future. We had a Nobel Peace Prize winner. We had a great journalist. We had a scientist. We had folks that were very much engaged in an intellectual creative life and pursuit of the future. So very nice to talk about it after these years. Well, I know and I was very honored to be on your show. Tell me, didn't you get an award, several awards? What was that? The show was recognized by receiving multiple Gracie Awards, which is an honor from the Association of Women in Radio and Television. So we were very blessed with that recognition. And we were excited that every week to be able to come live and talk to the community in Austin and beyond Austin about ideas that were emerging, what is seeking to emerge in our community was really exciting. So I'm very happy to be here with you, Phyllis. I'm not sure if I'm used to being on this side, but we'll try it out. Well, yes. And even before we get into the Baha'i wisdom for creative life, I think I would love for you to share with the viewers what the Baha'i faith is and how you got started in it. And one thing I didn't do, and I bet you haven't either, I forgot to look up the percentage of Baha'i that are in the Hawaiian Islands. Oh, my God. I don't know if you know. But we can add that to the comments where the show lives in the library at YouTube and Vimeo. So we'll do that so that the viewers could look that up. I don't know if you know what the percentage is globally, just roughly. But give us an introduction on Baha'i. Oh, thank you. Thank you. And you too. Well, I know that there is, so United States has its own Baha'i national community, and Hawaii has its own Baha'i national community, as does Alaska. So they don't fall under America in terms of the national community. And the Baha'i faith has been in Hawaii, I believe for some time. We'll definitely put a link to the Baha'i community in Hawaii. And I hope the friends who are watching are inspired by the vision of the faith. Baha'is, we believe that the crucial need facing humanity is to find a unifying vision of the future society and the nature and purpose of life, and that there are truly two moral purposes to all of our lives, which is to pursue our own spiritual and intellectual growth and to contribute to the transformation of society. So I have been a Baha'i on my mother's side. I believe I'm the sixth generation. It goes back to the inception of the faith in the 19th century on my father's side. We are Jewish, Baha'i, Muslim from Iran. And I married a boy from Arkansas, Phyllis, as you know. So we have everybody in the mix, I think. Well, it began in Persia, right? And you're from Iran originally. That's right. That's right. So I want to let the viewers know we really have a representative from the Baha'i faith. You're not a leader. You're not here on behalf of the Baha'i faith. But you bring a grace and you bring a culture and a vision and a voice to us today that I very much appreciate about you. Thank you, Phyllis. I believe very strongly that my roots are in Iran and my branches and fruit are here in America. So I feel this spanning of the globe and they're honored to be here. Thank you. Well, you're welcome. And then getting into the Baha'i wisdom for creative life. When I talked to you about being my guest, you said that what you wanted to talk about was how you intersected the whole Baha'i community and vision and mission is with creativity. And so could you tell us a little bit about that and what we'll be talking about today? Absolutely. It's very interesting because the Baha'i holy writings are addressed as the creative word of the creator, that the creator has breathed the spirit of creation into the world and that by the command of creation, things have come into being. And that idea of creator as the ultimate creator, as the ultimate creative and our alignment and coherence with that vision is really powerful. I know we have some slides, perhaps we can look at the first slide and about the power of reflection. So I wanted to share some of the source material from the Baha'i writings and invite our own reflection and interaction with it because we're all going to get a very different, we're going to glean different understandings from these amazing words. And what's so powerful is that the source of craft, sciences and the arts in the Baha'i faith is the power of reflection. So that's a very interesting and very succinct idea of creativity. So creation can come either from our higher nature, which is our spirit, or it can come from our lower nature, which we share with the animals on this planet, which is our ego, but the source of it, if we want to go to the sourcing of it is for the power of reflection. And so there are, this is a mine, it's an ideal mine that from there, ideas and truth and wisdom come forward. So I thought that's a very interesting thing to share is how does the power of reflection work and what are some of the qualities of reflection? So can I reflect when I am in conversation or do I reflect when I am quiet and centered? Can I reflect and pose a question to my own spirit, to the creative spirit of the world as I am focused on my craft, the sciences and the arts? Isn't it interesting Phyllis, that those three words usually don't appear together, they're pearls together, the craft, sciences and the arts. So there's something about reflection and all of creation and creativity. So I thought that was really interesting in this first one. And I want to call out that in that quote, so if you might put it up again, Eric, but you talk about the source of this creativity coming from a mine, am I honey? So this is, I want to make sure, because it's hard to hear. And so that's in the Christian faith, I know one of the Gospels, it talks about going to your interior room and you will find me there. And so this idea of going inward to a cave, a mine, your secretive small space where you hear that voice, that reminds me of this quote, which how old do you think that quote is coming from? It is probably 19th century, probably end of the 19th century. So it's interesting that in the world, there is this releasing of this energy at the end of 19th century of progress and innovation. And at the same time, Bahá'u'lláh, who is sharing this quote with us, is reminding us that all of the things that are being created, the crafts, the science and the arts are not as apparent as possible, they're within a mine. So our job is to identify the mine, be able to go into the mine and excavate these beautiful creative truths and then bring them out and share them with society. I'm sorry, my headphone keeps falling. So take us into some of those truths. What, from a Bahá'í perspective? So the Bahá'í perspective is, it's a Bahá'í faith is a very spherical, very balanced religion. It believes in science and religion being in balance. So you see crafts, science and the arts all appear together within a very religious setting, very religious teaching. It believes in the oneness of humanity, that we are all the leaves of one tree, that all of humanity is noble in creation, that we are the fruits of the same tree. It talks about man and woman being each, the wings of a bird, that they have to be in perfect balance for the bird of humanity to fly. You can't have a wing that's tied down and try to fly with the other wing. It's in fact in the best interest of both that they work in harmony with each other. So it's about coherence with a vision of unity. It's an alignment with the idea of collaboration, working together diversity. When the true diversity comes into play and everything works in concert with each other. It's also about individual growth as well as our contribution to society, that individuals have rights and responsibilities and societies have rights and responsibilities that need to be addressed and honored. Well, given a political climate, more of balance and bringing in both all voices is a good thing to be pursuing. And you were talking, is this kind of what you meant about creativity? The creator is fashioning a new world What does that mean? Oh, if we go to the great question, Phyllis, if we go to the next slide, it talks about the creator as a fashioner. So one of the names of God, great spirit, however you want to address him, her, that spirit of creation is the fashioner. Fashioner means the creator that loves craftsmanship. So if any of us are manifesting this particular attribute, it's very much accepted. So craftsmanship is a book among the books of divine sciences that is a treasure among the treasures of his heavenly wisdom. I mean, how beautiful is that? Because this idea that we don't have to go to museums to appreciate beauty and creativity, it's in everything that we do, it's in how we live our lives, it's how we interact with our environment, it's how we cook something, it's how we parent someone, it's how we show up in our spaces, that sense of being a fashioner and creator and crafting our environment and or crafting a craft that is our handiwork. So I love that there is this reflection of the divine fashioner and then we individually in some way, like a mirror can reflect these divine sun as it were, if the creator is the sun, by doing the same thing, we can then reflect that attribute into the world and illuminate the world. Do we have to strive for perfection in doing this? Well, the next slide actually talks about that. So there is a responsibility to our creation. So this is from the forerunner to Baha'u'llah, his name was the Bob, which in Arabic means the gate. So it basically says, whosoever possesses power over anything must elevate it to its utmost perfection that it is not deprived of its own paradise. I find that quote so beautiful because it is the sense of striving, striving for excellence and service at the same time. So excellence and service are in balance to each other and that there is a sense that every created thing, me as a person, the book that I may write, this interview that we do together, the meal that I prepare, the art that I create, the science that I pursue has its utmost level of excellence and perfection. And my job is to strive towards that perfection, strive towards that excellence in what I do so that there are degrees that, I love that you can never get to perfection, but as we keep working and working towards it, we keep growing. This is actually for our own edification and education. You know what it reminds me of? I think it might have been socrates to aspire to the good, the true, the beautiful. Yes. And also, is it a classiasties in the Christian Bible, talking about the good, the true, the beautiful. And I think, you know, I have them right here on my, I hate my desk. The mind is free of it. And you know who this is? This is Tagore. This is Tagore. Where the mind is without fear and where knowledge is free. Where the world has not been broken up. These things you need to think about. So the good, the true, the beautiful to think about. And that that is a form of creative expression that is at the same time, feeling and life-giving. That is exactly right. Which is the way we want our creativity to show up. Although creativity can be tough. What about... And messy. What about your duty to refine all of this? Absolutely. If we go to the next quote, I mean, here's another idea. So that there is a duty of refinement. So for each thing within its own station, yearneth to attain unto the utmost height of excellence in its own level. So thank you. So within this religion, refinement is a command that is rigorously enjoined. And there is a duty to refinement. So I want to differentiate here between refinement and luxury. This does not say that we're in pursuit of luxury. Of the thing that is the most expensive or it uses the material that is the most scarce. This is talking about refinement. So in my heart and in my mind, refinement is like a note. So you know when you're off key. You also know when you're on key. If you're singing, if you're sharing a song. So refinement is understanding the tone of when you're singing, what you're actually singing, the spirit behind it, the energy behind it, how it is shared, understanding silence and sound. It's actually a very sophisticated practice. So it also requires a certain rhythm. When we think of refinement and reflection, they sort of go hand in hand. And let me say why. Because refinement sounds calm. It sounds, the rhythm is one that is not fast and pushy or exuberant in too many ways. It is something that invites reflection on itself, observation, we enjoy refinement. It's something that we even can take in. So anything that is in a state of imperfection, even if we look at it, it feels like to me, my own personal experience has been that we may have a critical eye as to the sort of gap to goal for that thing that is an imperfection, right? So we want to improve the state of living. We want to improve a certain thing. We want to improve an idea because it feels like it's not completely refined to its highest and best standard of what it can actually be or the highest and best level. So what you remind me of is that in our industrial world and how we have moved from slow to medium to exponentially fast, there's a whole slow food movement, slow appreciation movement. And when you get to this essence of refinement as in the Baha'i teachings, and you said you really take time with it and you make sure it's come to it, it's fully showing up. It reminds me of needing to get into a presence practice to slow down and not miss anything. And total immersion. In total immersion. In order to get to this refining process. I love that, Delis, I love that. So I am married to a man whose background is also Alaskan Russian and Aleutian on his mother's side. And there is a, there's something in him along with his European side that is very refined that comes from his native culture, which is economy of words. There is a lot of silence when Wade, my husband is speaking and there is a refinement to his spirit that's very native in experience. So it is very generous, it's very generative and it's very measured but not forced. It has to do with this, it's in him, this whole attitude and way of just being. His mother has it and he has it where there is this silence and reflection and words have a refinement. So not the luxury of it. So it is just this beauty of it. So I just wanted to mention that it's interesting to live with that for someone who had her own show and I talk and I connect and I interact. I had to adjust and understand that and to really appreciate it. Let me share with you my experience of native, ritual and practice, the Hawaiian ritual of dance and spoken poetry, the spoken word is a slower pace. Well, I was in Hawaii for 25 years and my life just continuously sort of grew up my early years there. And when I came from California to even Honolulu which is one of the most fast paced cities on the island is the fastest pace. My internal rhythm slowed down a hundred percent. And I felt it's almost like living at a slower pace is an act of grace. And I was taken by one of your Baha'i readings that this form of creative expression is almost like an act of worship. Yes, I'm so happy to mention that. If you could share that aspect because really when people slow down there's a sense of honoring everything. You know, and back to that slow food movement you're honoring the exquisiteness of what you're doing in the moment. And out of that comes, it seems that it's sort of a primordial soup or a birthing place for every form of new expression. Oh, beautiful, beautifully said. New expression, no, iteratively. That's right. See something new. Exactly. So Phyllis, the word that comes through as we're discussing what's emerging is savoring. That's the word. Right? It's like so many of us are human doing rather than human being. We're just doing, doing, doing. And do we have the time, the space for refinement and savoring our experiences? So what you're relating to creativity as worship, the next slide speaks to art sciences and crafts are all counted as worship in the Baha'i Faith. So a man who makes a piece of paper to the best of their ability and who is concentrating on it to be of service to the community that act is worship of the creator and the creative spirit of all of creation. So it's not necessary to go and sit on our knees and pray, which is important as well, but that act, so we can be prayer in action as it were. And there are, if we could jump maybe to the slide on the steps for solving, you know, problem solving creativity that might illustrate it a bit. There are a few things that I brought for you. This is a gift from the Baha'i Faith to the friends who are watching about, well, how do I put this into practice? So if we could go to that slide, it's a step one. So it's to pray and meditate about it. So again, reflection using the prayers of the manifestations, these are divine teachers because they have a lot of power and then remain, look at that word, in silence of contemplation for a few minutes, Phyllis. I know you love contemplation, you practice contemplation. I've done it with you. I love that you have that practice. So here is step one. Step two is to arrive at a decision during contemplation and this decision is usually born again in contemplation. It may seem like that it's impossible to accomplish, but if it looks like that is an answer to your question, hold on to it. Immediately take the next step and that's step three. And that's have, yes, ma'am. So what I wanna do is I wanna honor we've got a minute and a half. Yes. And you have five steps. And I think what I wanted to let our viewers know is we'll put all five steps into the comment section where the show is being housed. And I wondered if there was some kind of wrapping up comment you would make, because I love that you brought in action items for the viewers and hearing what the values and beliefs are that only you could share that. So I'm glad we have this sweetener to hold back for everyone to read online. Thank you, Phyllis. I think how I would wrap it up is to say to honor our process of creativity and to know that we can connect it to our ego or connected to our spirit of creation. And we know ourselves. We know when we're connected to the ego where it is all about us and it is us pushing something whereas we're flowing within the spirit of creation. Thank you. Oh, thank you. And there is more. We might, very much might need to have you back but we'll leave it there for today. And to the audience you have been watching The Creative Life from the American Creativity Associations Austin Global Chapter on Think Tech Hawaii. Today I have been discussing the power of reflection and contemplation to help us source our creativity from spirituality with our guest, Hoton Shabazi Harman. Mahalo, Hoton for joining us. And Mahalo to our viewers for tuning in. I'm Phyllis Bles. We will be back in two weeks with another edition of The Creative Life. Aloha.