Baha'i Talks

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Baha'i Biography Notable Believers

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Dr. Richard St. Barbe Baker OBE (1889-1982) was arguably the first global conservationist, blazing a trail for contemporary environmental leaders such as Jane Goodall. He began his mission to save the world’s forests in 1922, when he started the first international NGO, Men of the Trees, in Kenya.

Baker was a visionary pioneer of concepts/practices such as sustainable development, agroforestry, agroecology, desert reclamation, fair trade, and ecotourism. Starting in 1931, he wrote thirty books about these ideas. A great adventurer, he travelled the world continuously from 1929-1982, networking with conservationists and lecturing on the need to plant trees to save the planet. In addition to kings and presidents, his extraordinary networks of contacts included leaders of thought, visionaries, and eminent scientists and artists. Starting in 1929, he worked with the Guardian of the Bahá’í Faith, Shoghi Effendi, to promote public discourse and social action on conservation.

He has been recognized as one of the outstanding figures of the conservation movement by environmental leaders such as Prince Charles, Jane Goodall, Wanjira Maathai (Green Belt Movement), Philippe Cousteau (EarthEcho International), Richard Leaky (International Centre for Research in Agroforestry), Sir Ghillian Prance (International Tree Foundation), Elizabeth Dowdeswell (Lieutenant Governor of Ontario, UN Under Secretary General, UNEP), and Peter Wohlleben (forester, author The Hidden Life of Trees). In 1969, The World Wildlife Fund appointed Baker its first Member of Honour.

124 The Man Of The Trees- Richard St. Barbe Baker | Paul Hanley

‘Abdu’l-Bahá was the son of the founder of the Bahá’í Faith, Bahá'u'lláh. Before His passing, Bahá'u'lláh wrote a document telling the Bahá'ís to turn to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and that He would inspire His son with whatever He needed to know.

Today we can’t meet ’Abdu’l-Bahá, but we can get to know more about Him  through the words of those who did meet Him. These stories are about the interactions of the pilgrims and visitors who met ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, both in America and the Holy land, and the emotions of those encounters. They illustrate dramatically the spiritual powers and prescience of ’Abdu’l-Bahá. He would answer questions before they were asked, convert atheists into believers, know the thoughts of His visitors and read the reality of their hearts. For those with receptive hearts, He would guide and educate with profound and uplifting talks. The stories attempt to show a little of what it had been like to be in His Presence.

Presenters: Earl Redman and Sharon O'Toole have been traveling and telling stories from their books. They have done their story-telling in the United Kingdom, Israel, Ireland, Iceland, Poland, Germany, Finland, Tunisia, Hawaii, Fiji, Samoa, New Zealand, Australia, Canada, the US and Alaska.

129 Stories Of Abdul Baha | Earl Redman and Sharon O'Toole

The talk will start with a brief examination of the major sources used in researching the book "A Seed in Your Heart: The Life of Louise Mathew Gregory" by Janet Fleming . This will be followed by an overview of the life story of Louise Mathew Gregory, an English woman born in the Victorian era, whose marriage to Louis Gregory, an African American lawyer, is considered the first Bahá’í interracial marriage. Unusually for the time, she was an educated woman and worked as a teacher in Luxembourg and Paris before her marriage. Her later travels, over a 14-year period, took her to Hungary where she was the first to teach the Faith, and to Bulgaria and Yugoslavia where she acquired the distinction of being the first Bahá’í pioneer to those countries. Janet will expand and explore some features of the book including:

some aspects of Louise’s personality – was she shy? She was a modern independent woman – how did this affect her marriage?
some of the difficulties Louise and Louis had to face in their marriage
Louise’s husband Louis was an outstanding Bahá’í and later appointed a Hand of the Cause. Was she overshadowed by her brilliant husband and has she now begun to emerge from obscurity?

More resources:
https://wilmetteinstitute.org/louise-mathew-gregory-sowing-the-seeds-of-racial-harmony/

097 Louise Mathew Gregory- Sowing The Seeds Of Racial Harmony - Janet Fleming Rose

Hussein Ahdieh, 'The Life and Martyrdom of Vahíd, the Báb’s Best Known Follower'

The great Muslim cleric Siyyid Yahyá-i-Dárábí (known as Vahíd, which means ‘unique’ or ‘peerless’) converted to the Bábí Faith in 1846. He spent years traveling and teaching around Persia, and arrived in Nayriz in 1850 to bring the news of the new faith. In Nayriz he led an upheaval at Fort Khajih and gave his life for the Cause on the streets of the town.

Presenter:
Hussein Ahdieh
Dr. Hussein Ahdieh was born and raised in Nayriz, Iran, He is a sixth generation Bahá'í, his ancestors figuring among the first in Nayriz to accept the Bábi and later Bahá'í Faith. Hussein immigrated to the United States as a young man of 19. Like many immigrants seeking a better life in America, he worked and attended college in the New York area. Hussein eventually completed a Masters Degree in European Intellectual History and a Doctorate in Education from the University of Massachusetts. Dr.Ahdieh has had a distinguished career in education in New York. His proudest achievement is to have been one of the founders and Assistant Headmaster of the Harlem Preparatory School--a world renowned charter high school for disadvantaged students. The school is credited with helping numerous disadvantage young people to rise from poverty to a better life. Dr. Ahdieh also served as Director of Educational Programs at Fordham University. Hussein has been a resident of New York City for all of his adult life. He served as Treasurer of the Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá'ís of the City of New York for many years and several times has represented his area at the U.S. Bahá'í National Convention. In addition to “Awakening. History of the Babi and Baha’i Faiths in Nayriz”, which has been translated into 6 languages, Dr. Ahdieh is the author of 'Abdu'l-Bahá in New York (translated into three languages), a concise, informative history of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's activities during his visits to the area; “A Way out of No Way: Harlem Prep –Transforming Dropouts into Scholars-1967-1977, a Baha’i inspired institute. His other book “The Calling” is comprehensive study about the life of Tahirih and her American contemporaries in English and Persian languages. His newest book: Foreigner: From an Iranian village to New York City tells the story of an Iranian Baha’i immigrant to the United States in a series of moving and humorous episodes set against the backdrop of a changing Iran, the plight of Baha’is there, the tumult of the 60’s and 70’s in the U.S. The book has been released by George Ronald Publisher. For more info visit: HusseinAhdieh.com

108 The Life And Martyrdom Of Vahíd, The Báb’s Best Known Follower- Hussein Ahdieh

Jan Jasion, 'Abdu'l-Bahá and the Other

This presentation is based on reflections on Bahá’u’lláh’s Tablet of the Land of Bá and ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s statement published in Paris Talks and His activities in America. ʻAbdu’l-Bahá met with people of all ethnic and cultural backgrounds and He delighted in doing so. The Bahá’ís are very proud of this, and justly so. Many scholars have investigated the travels of ʻAbdu’l-Bahá in America: Alan Ward, Hassan Balyuzi, Robert Stockman, Earl Redman, Steven Kolins, Amín Egea. The latter two concentrated their efforts on newspaper coverage. Yet despite their efforts and the efforts of more localized research there appears a void which in a real sense undermines the intentions of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s efforts toward establishing the unity and dignity of all peoples. This void concerns the hundreds of non-English newspapers which existed at that time.

More resources: https://wilmetteinstitute.org/abdul-baha-and-the-other/
Firstly there are no articles from the newspapers of the groups whom He met in their venues: the Armenians, the Jews and the Japanese. Secondly there are very few articles, less than a score, from all the other diverse ethnic groups represented in the American Bahá’í community of that time: Syrian, French, Turkish, Norwegian, Polish, German, Swedish, Russian, Hungarian, Italian, etc. The importance of these other newspaper articles is based on the statement from Bahá’u’lláh, and their demise is a reflection of the perniciousness of the virus attacking the body politic.

This presentation will attempt to explore the causes of this situation and its consequences and possible restoration and utilization of these articles.

Contributors
Jan Jasion

Jan Teofil Jasion is a retired librarian. He was born in Canada of Polish parents. His varied career included working as a roofer in housing construction and as a labourer at an iron-ore smelter, as a librarian in a remote Labrador town, a library technician at the National Library of Canada, at the Library of the University of New Brunswick and later at a college in Cardiff, Wales; as an economic journalist and translator in Warsaw, Poland, as an acquisitions and periodicals librarian at the Bahá’í World Centre Library, as an editor at the Department of Philosophy, Warsaw University; and as a cataloguer for a library vendor in England. He was educated at universities in Ontario, Newfoundland, England and Poland. His Bahá’í activities include pioneering to Labrador (1967-70) and Poland (1970-72; 1992-1999), and service on numerous national committees and local assemblies and lately as an editor at Librarie bahá’íe, Paris, France. He currently lives with his wife Annie-Joëlle in a southern suburb of Paris. Jan has published over 35 articles in journals in Canada, USA, UK, France, Poland and Pakistan in the field of library studies, economics, human rights, biography, corporate structures and bio-bibliography.  He has authored and edited a dozen monographs including An International Guide to Legal Deposit (2nd ed. 2019); Never Be Afraid to Dare (George Ronald, 2001), ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in France (English 2016 and French 2017); ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in the West (English 2012 and French 2015); Táhirih In History (2004). His latest article was a bio-bibliography of John E. Esslemont for The Book Collector (2020).

118 Abdu’l - Bahá And The Other - Jan Jasion

Mr. Lample gave a talk in August 2013 at the Baha'i House of Worship in Wilmette, USA, and he covers a number of topics including his personal thoughts on the current Plan and the activities propelling the community-building process forward.

Paul Lample - Community Building Process

Tom Price delivers a talk titled ‘The Role of Religion in Today’s Society’ at the Hornsby Baha’i Centre of Learning in Sydney, Australia on 3rd Jan, 2015.

Tom Price’s talks have been extremely popular on Baha’i Blog, and a lot of our readers have been requesting that we post more Baha’i-related talks on the site, so we hope you enjoy this one too.

Special thanks to Qi-Jie of Nonagon Productions for helping Baha’i Blog capture the talk, and to Bobby Azami of Fiona+Bobby Photography for the photo.

Happy listening!

Tom Price - The Role of Religion in Today's Society

Baha'i Blog is thrilled to share this series of 12 talks collectively called "Drawing Nigh to Baha'u'llah" given at the Alaskan Baha'i Summer School in 1984 by Adib Taherzadeh.

Here's the complete playlist of these talks: https://bit.ly/36xAdGp

Adib Taherzadeh was a member of the Universal House of Justice, the governing body of the international Baha'i community (https://universalhouseofjustice.bahai.org/). You can read more about his life in this One World newsletter from the Baha'i International Community: https://www.onecountry.org/story/adib-taherzadeh-member-universal-house-justice-passes-away

Of his many legacies, Adib Taherzadeh's scholarship and strength as a writer live on in his works, such as the four volumes of 'The Revelation of Baha'u'llah'. You can read more about these invaluable books in this Baha'i Blog article: https://www.bahaiblog.net/2018/04/revelation-bahaullah-books-adib-taherzadeh/ 

For more talks that explore Baha'i subjects, please check out our Baha'i Talks playlist: https://bit.ly/36Gfu2O

Drawing Nigh to Baha'u'llah

Drawing Nigh to Baha'u'llah (1 of 12) - A Talk by Adib Taherzadeh

A great granddaughter of Pauline and Joseph Hannen, Judy Hannen Moe has written a book which tells of the unique and various contributions these early Washington DC believers made to the Bahá’í world, as they grew in their devotion to Bahá’u’lláh. She writes about their frequent encounters with ’Abdu’l-Bahá and how that shaped their lives, as well as the many ways they served the Faith both locally and nationally. She also shares much about the work they did teaching in the African American Community at a time when that was a great challenge to do in our country. They are given credit for teaching the Faith to Louis Gregory, who was a Nationally known speaker and promoter of the Faith and the first African American to serve on the National Baha’i Assembly. Stories of their close relationship are throughout the book.

Judy also writes about other people Pauline and Joseph taught about Bahá’u’lláh, including their parents and Pauline’s famous sisters, Alma Knobloch—who helped to open the Faith to Germany—and Fanny Knobloch who brought the Faith to South Africa and who taught the Message of Bahá’u’lláh in many states. Judy uses mostly first source manuscripts and personal letters, which she researched in the National Bahá’í Archives and the Bahá’í Archives of Washington DC. She also had the unique opportunity to interview five of Pauline and Joseph’s six grandchildren before they passed on to the spirit world.



The book, Aflame with Devotion: the Hannen and Knobloch families and the early days of the Bahá’í Faith in America is thoroughly reviewed by the Bahá’í World Center and the National Baha’i Review Committee, and is edited and published by the Bahá’í Publishing Trust in Wilmette, IL. Judy has put together a power point presentation which summarizes the book and tells about the various areas of service in which the Hannens and Knoblochs were key players. It also explains how she went about doing the research for the book.

Judy Hannen Moe has been active in the Baha’i Faith her whole life and in her community of Rockford, IL for 45 years where she lives with her husband Bruce. She is very involved in various community activities involving social justice and interfaith work. She brings this experience to the discussion of the early believers as well as current issues in our world. Judy is a retired teacher of English as a second language.

058 Pauline And Joseph Hannen Book Summary: "Aflame With Devotion" | Judy Hannen Moe

Baha’i Blog Studio Sessions is an initiative where we invite Baha’is and their friends from around the world to come into a studio and share the Baha’i Writings put to music.
 
In this Baha’i Blog Studio Session, we’re in Chicago, USA with Katie Malberg and Faizi Fifita who sing “The Sign of Love” based on the Writings of Baha'u'llah.
 
You can watch the recording of this song on Baha’i Blog’s YouTube channel here: 
 
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a6D6_AgswW0
 
This song was filmed and recorded in Chicago, USA, December, 2018.

Here is the quotation used for the lyrics below followed by the chords:
 
LYRICS/QUOTE:

O SON OF MAN! For everything there is a sign. The sign of love is fortitude under My decree and patience under My trials.
-Baha'u'llah
 
CHORDS: 

|| Fmaj7, Em7 | Dm7, Cmaj7 |
| Fmaj7, Em7 | Dm7, Cmaj7 ||

Fmaj7, Em7
O SON OF MAN!

Dm7, Cmaj7
For everything for everything

Fmaj7, Em7
There is a sign

Dm7, Cmaj7
There is a sign

Fmaj7, Em7
O SON OF MAN

Dm7, Cmaj7
For everything for everything

Fmaj7, Em7
there is a sign

Dm7, Cmaj7
there is a sign

Fmaj7, Em7
The sign of love

Dm7, Cmaj7
is fortitude

Fmaj7, Em7
The sign of love

Dm7, Cmaj7
is fortitude

Fmaj7, Em7
Under my decree

Dm7, Cmaj7
Under my decree

Fmaj7, Em7
Under my decree and patience (and patience)

Dm7, Cmaj7
and patience

Fmaj7, Em7
under my trials (under my trials)

Dm7, Cmaj7
under my trials (under my trials)

Fmaj7, Em7
under my trials (under my trials)

Dm7, Cmaj7
under my trials (under my trials)

Fmaj7, Em7
under my trials (under my trials)

Dm7, Cmaj7
under my trials (under my trials)

Fmaj7, Em7
under my trials (under my trials)

Dm7, Cmaj7
under my trials (under my trials)

Fmaj7, Em7
O SON OF MAN!

Dm7, Cmaj7, FMaj7
For everything for everything there is a sign

----------------------

You can also watch the "Studio Sessions" video series on Baha'i Blog's YouTube Channel here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLePDtgwcyKAScvchcLzY-XZTmP2tdN-EY

"The Sign Of Love" by Katie & Faizi

This interview from the Ink of Light Baha'i Writers' Festival 2019 features singer, songwriter, Grant Hindin Miller.

'Ink of Light' (https://inkoflight.org/) is an annual festival that explores and celebrates the work of Baha'i writers and creatives, who all come together to share ideas, learn from one another, and celebrate creative expression.

Grant is a New Zealander who, at night as a child in his Auckland brick house, learned to play the ukelele and would accompany his father at the piano. He bought his first guitar around the age of 16 and as soon as he had learned five chords, he immediately tried to 'write' a song. It wasn't as easy as he thought but he persevered. In the spaces between family responsibilities, earning a living as a teacher and writer, (we won't mention interminable Baha'i commitments), he still toys with making music. He has produced nine albums of original songs, and he is the published author of three books, the scriptwriter of three produced NZ feature films, and the composer/lyricist of one stage musical. Grant is married to Jenny and they have two children, Rebeccah and Isaac. They live in a warm house east of Christchurch on a hill overlooking Lyttelton Harbour, in the South Island.

You can find Grant Hindin Miller's music here: https://9starmedia.com/grant-hindin-miller

And you can also watch his two recordings on Baha'i Blog's Studio Sessions here:

1. O Son of Dust: https://bit.ly/39fEU8Z
2. Humble Thyself: https://bit.ly/39ahNMT

Check out the 'Ink of Light Baha'i Writers' Festival' website here: https://inkoflight.org/

Grant Hindin Miller Interview at Ink of Light Baha'i Writers' Festival 2019

Hello and welcome to the Baha’i Blogcast with me your host, Rainn Wilson.

In this series of podcasts I interview members of the Baha’i Faith and friends from all over the world about their hearts, and minds, and souls, their spiritual journeys, what they’re interested in, and what makes them tick.

As Baha'is and their friends around the world celebrate the 12-day Festival of Ridvan, I thought it would be nice to create a special episode about Ridvan and its significance, so I got online with my friend, Tom Price, to have a chat about this special time for Baha'is. I hope you find this little conversation about Ridvan interesting and informative.

* Find out more about Ridvan by checking out this Baha'i Blog page full of articles and resources: https://www.bahaiblog.net/bahai-calendar/about-the-festival-of-ridvan/

* Check out the 'Ridvan Is Everywhere' playlist, which brings you family-friendly programming for all 12 days of the Festival of Ridvan: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLsn_g0OpWDwIp99WjEHvuNIYIbOfz-WIr

* Learn more about Tom Price by listening to this previous Baha'i Blogcast episode: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YF2kiyY_uZ0&list=PLePDtgwcyKAQmifUJTw0Kk-hBGL2ZGMJi&index=37&t=1s

Be sure to subscribe to the Baha’i Blogcast for more episodes on: 

*YouTube: http://bit.ly/2JTNmBO 
* iTunes: http://apple.co/2leHPHL 
*Soundcloud: https://soundcloud.com/bahaiblogcast 
*Spotify: http://spoti.fi/2IXRAnb 

If you would like to find out more about the Baha'i Faith visit BAHAI.ORG, and for more great Baha'i-inspired content check out BAHAIBLOG.NET: http://bahaiblog.net/

Thanks for listening!

-Rainn Wilson

Baha'i Blogcast with Rainn Wilson - Episode 46: A Ridvan Conversation with Tom Price

Episode 46: A Ridvan Conversation with Tom Price

The Wilmette Institute was founded in 1995 to provide basic and advanced courses on the Bahá’í Faith. In 1998, the Wilmette Institute moved to a largely online study approach in order to provide educational classes to a broader student body. It now offers more than 50 unique courses on the web to an average of 30 students per course.