I Blog Poetry and Prose

The last book I read that had an impact on my was The Dawn-Breakers: Nabil's Narrative of the Early Days of the Baha'i Revelation Translated from the original Persian and Edited by Shoghi Effendi. Nabil, the author of The Dawn-Breakers, was a Bahi--a believe in The Bab--before he accepted Baha'u'llah, as the one promised by The Bab. Nabil lived through the turbulent years of the early days of the Baha'i Faith, he witnessed the martyrdom of several early Babis and Baha'is, and he interview witnesses to those events. Since it was written by someone who live through those years, there is no question as to it authenticity.

What counts? The answer to this question has changed as I matured. At 72, I'm closer to the door leading into the Abha Paradise than I was twenty-five or fifty years ago, this means that may answer to that question today is different than my answer would have been in the twentieth century. Now the things that count are the divine virtues I've developed over the last seventy-two years, and those I will develop before the Angel of Death severs the connection between my soul and body.

A walk down the street
looking at my neighborhood,
prayers before going to sleep,
reading or writing poetry,
and listening to the neighbors
or the sounds of nature.

Am I addicted to writing? Do chickens lay eggs? The answer to both those questions is yes. Yes, I am addicted to writing. Specifically, I am addicted to writing poetry, which--I suspect--is a healthier addiction than smoking or some other addictions I've heard of. I used to be addicted to smoking, but I gave that up over ten years ago. I cannot give up writing. I cannot give poetry writing. Writing keeps me sane in an insane world, or maybe it's insane in a sane world. Whichever it is, I cannot give up my addiction to writing poetry.

Ayyám-i-Há, The Days of Há, are a joyous time of year. It is a time for giving cheer, joy, and starting projects to assist humanity. The Days of Há are not a part of any other month in the Baha'i or Badi calendar, which means all the months of the Baha'i calendar or nineteen-day long. The Days of Há fall between the months of Mulk (Dominion) and 'Ala' (Loftiness), and are a preparation for the month of the Fast

I think most people are aware enough of what is going on in their lives and in the world around them to know if they are living in a nightmare. Knowing your are living in a nightmare, and panicking about it is two different things. You can know you are living in a nightmare, and still function enough to figure a way out of it. Sometimes the nightmare is so bad, that the person just gives up; however, they still know their are living in a nightmare. Those who do not know they are living in a nightmare are no longer in touch with reality, and are living on their own alternate plane of existence.

Can the human soul be degraded? According to the Cambridge Dictionary the definitions for degrade are (1) "to reduce the quality of something", (2) "to cause someone to seem to be worth less and lose the respect of others", and (3) "to cause people to feel that they or other people have no value and do not have the respect or good opinion of others".9 So, Mr. Douglass is right about no man being able to degrade his soul. Individuals can degrade their own souls by not showing it the respect that it deserves by believing they do not have a soul, or that their soul does not survive the death of the body.