What am I doing?

I guess I'm joining the 21st century (though I still want nothing to do with a cel phone). I never imagined I'd be this much of a reactionary, at one time I wanted to change everything in the world - now I want the world to slow down so I can catch up! Maybe it's because the things I've wanted to do have had to be on hold while I did the things that I had to do. Oh, well - now I can learn to focus.

I'll probably stumble around here for a while (maybe a long while) until I learn how this blog-place works. I'm not very good at anticipating how other brains who set up things work.

I want to mention the major transition that, it seems to me, the Baha'i community is engaged in. These are still the very early days of the Faith and still learning what it might mean to be Baha'i. Up to this point in time we have been forming the very basic back bones of community structure - local, national and international councils for corporate decision making, their committess and operating agencies, and the advisors to individuals and the councils. Now we have begun a transformation of the local communities from past social patterns where a few individuals are vocal and active while the rest remain (more or less) passive to a new kind of norm where the vast majority of people are equally interactive. It is truly empowerment of the people. It is a very significant change.

In past human society there have been leaders and followers. The leaders made the decisions and the followers were expected to obey, even (very often) to the cost of their lives. Baha'u'llah as brought information to change all that. The abolition of the priesthood was the first step. Creation of the coucils for governance followed close behind. Creating an advisory position for individuals, separate from the councils, and with no rights of governance, cemented this change. We have implemented that with the local and national Spiritual Assemblies and Universal House of Justice (the councils) and individuals with advisory rank of Counsellors, Auxiliary Board Members and assistants - so the structure is assembled. Now for the empowerment of the masses. It has been possible, but we didn't have a mechanism. One mechanism which has been found to work in several places is now being implemented in the entire world Baha'i community. It is the Ruhi sequence of courses. It is a step by step process whereby people learn how to become active, nuturing individuals who reach out to others and assist them in their own spiritual activation. It is an umfamiliar process, so it is uncomfortable to some, but it seems to be working for a large number of people in very widespread areas of the planet, so it is more successful than any other process we've tried so far.

It is one more step in the process of creating a new social fabric for humanity. And it has just begun!