The passing of Bahá'u'lláh
Today the bahá'ís commemorate the passing of Bahá'u'lláh in 1892 at the age of 74 after a life of banishment and imprisonment.
If you want to read about the Bahá'í Faith,
in your own language, you can have a look whether your country has its own Bahá'í website. Click hereCountry Collection
This blog doesn't really get MANY visitors (about two per day), but they come from spread out over the world. As up to today I've got a collection of 27 nationalities: Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe-Islands, Finland, France, Germany, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Moldova, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Surinam, Turkey, United Kingdom, USA: almost 14% of the world's 193 countries!
Garden
Yesterday I took some close-ups in our garden.Doubts
We had planned that our daughter would travel on her own from Sweden to Czechia to attend the Transformation for Peace summercourse. But she suddenly got scared at the whole thought. As she is only 13, this triggered my nerves also and we lingered to buy the airtickets. Which became more and more expensive as time went ... As it is important to study the facts before making a decision, I called the airline we had in mind - SAS - about what assistance they could offer. For a certain amount of money the could take care of our child from the check-in to the plane, in the plane and from the plane to a person who picks her up. This person would have to go through the customs and everything to pick her up at the gate. ... (more)
The Declaration of the Báb
was celebrated by the Bahá'ís today.
In this room, on the night between the 22nd and 23rd of May 1844, the Báb declared for the first time that He was the Gate to a new era. It was the night that the Bahá'í Faith was born. You can read more about what happened here: in Czech, in Dutch, in Swedish, or in English.
Carl Linnaeus
300th birthday is celebrated tomorrow. He was the Swedish born genius who systematized all living creatures by giving each of them two latin names. I'm reading his book 'Skĺnska Resa', a diary from his travels through the south of Sweden in 1749. As all geniusses and individuals who want to make a positive change in the world, he was critisized by his contemporaries. He summarized this problem by saying:A saying that inspires me to go my own way, whatever others say."The silkworm critized the spider for his web being too loose and fragile, whereupon he tried to make it tighter and thicker, but then spun in himself."
Tomorrow is also the birthday of the Bahá'í Faith (1844).
Column
Yesterday our local newspaper published my column about the Declaration of the Báb, which the Bahá'ís will celebrate on the 23rd of May.
King Malietoa Tanumafili II of Samoa has passed away
On last Friday, the 11th of May 2007, king Malietoa Tanumafili II of Samoa has passed away at the age of 94. He was the founder of the independance of his country (1964). He was the first head of state who was a declared Bahá'í and the second royalty with this religion (the first one was queen Marie of Romania).
Jan Lagas
The Dutch interreligious website Reliflex shows a portrait of and an interview with Jan Lagas, a Bahá'í in the Netherlands. In Dutch and until the 24th of June.The Global Citizen
is the name of Travelstart/Openjet's (an online travelagency) newsletter, which we received by mail today. I like the titel. Bahá'ís have lived as global citizens for more than 150 years, which has resulted in many international marriages, acceptance of all worldreligions and love for mankind in stead of nationalism.Bahá'u'lláh who lived in the middle east in the 1800's taught us:
I'm connected with Travelstart/Openjet both as client and as freelance translator.The world is one country and mankind its citizens.
Country Collection
This blog doesn't really get MANY visitors (about two per day), but they come from spread out over the world. As up to today I've got a collection of 26 nationalities: Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe-Islands, Finland, France, Germany, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Moldova, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Surinam, Turkey, United Kingdom, USA: 13% of the world's 193 countries!
If you want to read about the Bahá'í Faith,
in your own language, you can have a look whether your country has its own Bahá'í website. Click hereNow we can find our pills
As a Bahá'í one strives daily to become a little better person than one was yesterday. This Religion not only requires this from you, but also gives the guidelines how to do this. Like every other religion we have laws to live after, and a lot of other advice to make life (the world) better. One of these advices is to have your home organised. I worked a bit on that yesterday and organised our family's medicines that were heaped up in a box in a real cabinet in the cellar. I felt like a little Martha Stewart.
Ruhi again
Yesterday we held another Ruhi-meeting after having had a break of some weeks. We studied the meaning of prayer. These Ruhi-courses really give new views upon life and inspire new initiatives like just visiting someone to study a prayer together, which can open up a whole new or deepen an excisting friendship.
Did you know that God always answers any prayer, though the answer might not be that what you asked for?
Borna's blog
You might think my blog is a bit too auntyish, with a lot of mothertalk and all that. Here you find a blog of a Bahá'í who is half my age.
Assistent meeting
In the beginning of March a couple of Bahá'ís from the different parts of Sweden gathered in Stockholm. One of them sent me this picture.
Religion: a subject at school
Living as a Bahá'í means that one has to withstand the natural feeling of wanting to be the same as everybody else. I try to teach that our children. The day after a Bahá'í Holy Day, when our children are free from school, their classmates usually ask where they were yesterday. My son answered that he was free because of his religion, which caused a lot of attention. How can one be free because of religion, which is nothing more than a subject at school?12th Day of Ridván
We concluded the Ridván Festival of this year with a visit to the swimmingpool and a meal of nettle soup. I also finished the writing of my next column for the local paper. It will be about the declaration of the Báb and I had to do some history research. Now i know that Karbila (Ottoman Empire) is the same city as today's battered Karbala in Irak. The most difficult with writing a column is, I think, to give it the right number of signs (3000 in my case).Country Collection
This blog doesn't really get MANY visitors (about two per day), but they come from spread out over the world. As up to today I've got a collection of 25 nationalities: Australia, Belgium, Bulgaria, Canada, Denmark, Estonia, Faroe-Islands, Finland, France, Germany, India, Iran, Israel, Italy, Japan, Malaysia, Moldova, the Netherlands, Norway, Russia, Sweden, Surinam, Turkey, United Kingdom, USA: almost 13% of the world's 193 countries!
The Ninth Day of Ridván
(the 29th of April) is a Holy Day for the Bahá'ís, and our family visited a sheepfarm, where we enjoyed to look att (and caress) the many newborn lambs. Here a few pictures:
Antichrist or Promised One?
It happens that people, as they hear of the Bahá'í Faith, make a point of that Bahá'u'lláh could be the Antichrist, for whose coming we are warned in the Bible. The Bible also promises the second coming of Christ. How to know who is who when someone claims to renew the world in the Name of God? I think it is the responsibility of every soul to at least study the new religion. Only after have done that one can reject it, join it, or be indifferent to it.I have studied the Bahá'í Faith (along with many other religions) for many years before I decided to become a Bahá'í. I could find only good in this religion I decided there was no other way for me than to join it. How can a religion that unifies people of all backgrounds (Jewish, Christian, Muslim, Budhist, Hindu, etc.) as one beautiful community, whose main goal is to unify the whole of mankind, have been founded by the Antichrist? ... (more)
Bahá'í: a religion without priests or leaders
was the title of my column in the local newspaper published one week ago. It's wonderful how a few millions of people of all backgrounds are bound together and cooperate worldwide, just by the love for Bahá'u'lláh, while the administration is taken care of by assemblies of 9, by election, chosen Bahá'ís.Here you can read the article (if you understand Swedish).
