The Snowflake Chronicles

Epiphany

17 Mashiyyat 163 B.E. - October 13, 2006

When did my world view change? Was it the first time I saw a picture of Earth taken from orbit? Was the dream I had in which I saw Christ returning in the clouds? I wonder about this sometimes. I grew up in Middle America, in Blackwell, Oklahoma. I was raised Southern Baptist, I went to the Baptist Mission in Blackwell, I was baptized at the First Southern Baptist Church in Blackwell. I moved, with my family, to Shawnee, Oklahoma, I went to a Southern Baptist Church there; I graduated from Shawnee High School in 1966. I moved back to Blackwell and lived with my grandparents.

After my grandparents’ death, I stayed in Blackwell for a while, but then I moved to Las Vegas. In Las Vegas, I stopped going to church for a while. I didn’t stop praying, I just stopped going to church. Then I heard about the Baha’i Faith. I knew the instant I heard about Baha’u’llah and about the precepts of the Baha’i Faith I had found what I was looking for.

I have been a Baha’i twenty-five or thirty years. In that time, I have discovered a great deal about religion, about humanity and about myself. I think of myself as a world citizen, I accept the three onenesses and the common foundation of all religions, without question, and I see the connections between human being and religions. There is no going back and no changing religions again. I couldn’t follow a religion that didn’t accept all the prophets from Adam to Baha’u’llah as reflections of the Divine Essence.

I can’t say that being a Baha’i is easy, it isn’t. I brought a lot of baggage with me when I accept the Baha’u’llah. I am always unpacking psychological suite cases, discarding illusions about humanity and myself that I carried with me from childhood. I am still learning obedience to the laws Baha’u’llah revealed. I struggle with tests, the biggest tests I have come because I’m still “unpacking” and “tossing out” stuff, but there is joy also.

I find joy in reading the sacred scriptures. In this I’m not only referring to the scriptures revealed by the Bab and Baha’u’llah, I’m also talking about the Holy Books of other religions. I am learning to read all of those scriptures from a new vantage point. I grew up reading the Bible. I have now discovered the Qur’an, Bhagavad-Gita, the Avesta, the Katib-i-Aqdas, the Katib-i-Iqan, etc.