From the Worldwide Faith News archives www.wfn.org
May 25 - Baha'is head home after week-long celebration on Mount Carmel
From
Worldwide Faith News <wfn@wfn.org>
Date
Mon, 11 Jun 2001 17:51:36 -0700
Focusing on the future, Baha'is head home after a week of celebration and
reflection on Mount Carmel
FOR MORE INFORMATION, visit the Baha'i World News Service (BWNS) website at:
http://www.bahaiworldnews.org
or email its editors at:
editor@bahaiworldnews.org
HAIFA, Israel, 25 May 2001 (BWNS) -- Inspired and invigorated after a week
celebrating the completion of essential elements of their world center,
Baha'is gathered here from some 180 countries prepared today to head out to
the four corners of the globe.
They go with their gaze set firmly towards the future.
"Everything has been really wonderful, a source of encouragement and
inspiration," said Mandu Assam, a 25-year-old business school graduate from
Nigeria, about the program that inaugurated a kilometer-long series of 19
garden terraces and two new administrative buildings on Mount Carmel.
"It has been a driving force to move ahead," Ms. Assam added, saying she
will now throw herself ever more eagerly into her Baha'i work at home,
which has involved leading moral and spiritual education classes for
children and involvement in campaigns to spread the Baha'i teachings.
Ms. Assam's feelings were echoed by others, especially by the younger
generation gathered here, who were the focus of a message from the
Universal House of Justice on Thursday night.
Delivered to 3,000 participants, the message from the Baha'i Faith's
international governing council noted that the great majority of humanity
remains engulfed in heartbreaking "suffering and deprivation."
"Humanity's crying need will not be met by a struggle among competing
ambitions or by protest against one or another of the countless wrongs
afflicting a desperate age," said the message. "It calls, rather, for a
fundamental change of consciousness, for a wholehearted embrace of
Baha'u'llah's teaching that the time has come when each human being on
earth must learn to accept responsibility for the welfare of the entire
human family.
"Commitment to this revolutionizing principle will increasingly empower
individual believers and Baha'i institutions alike in awakening others to
the Day of God and to the latent spiritual and moral capacities that can
change this world into another world," the statement said. "We demonstrate
this commitment... by our rectitude of conduct towards others, by the
discipline of our own natures, and by our complete freedom from the
prejudices that cripple collective action in the society around us and
frustrate positive impulses towards change."
The Universal House of Justice said these standards hold "particular
implications" for youth, inasmuch as they are blessed with "the enviable
advantages of high energy, flexibility of mind and, to a great extent,
freedom of movement."
"Their challenge is to understand the real condition of humanity and to
forge among themselves enduring spiritual bonds that free them not only
from racial and national divisions but also from those created by social
and material conditions, and that will fit them to carry forward the great
trust reposed in them," said the statement.
Many youth were among the 3,000 participants. All delegates gathered Friday
morning along a semi-circular path in the gardens that link two recently
completed administrative buildings and the majestic Seat of the Universal
House of Justice. And young participants said the message -- and the entire
week of activities -- had indeed taken them to a deeper level of faith and
commitment.
"There is a great responsibility on our shoulders to change this
generation," said Jude Dogley, 23, of the Seychelles. "Going back, I will
try to live the Baha'i life and to set a good example and to explain to
others how the Baha'i principles can solve the problems of our age."
He said the gathering together of Baha'is from virtually every race and
nationality had proved to him that peace and unity among all humanity is
possible.
"There are a lot of divisions in the world out there," said Mr. Dogley, who
has been a Baha'i since 1996. "But we can show people that even if you are
from different backgrounds and different cultures, you can still live like
brothers and sisters."
Virginie Montiel, a 25-year-old medical student from Belgium, said the
week's activities had also proved to her that it was indeed possible for
everyone to treat each other -- and to be treated by each other -- equally.
"In the Baha'i Faith we always say that we are one," she said, describing
how encounters with so many people from so many different cultures had
changed her. "We saw this in practice here, with all these different people
from different backgrounds working for the same thing. We saw that it is
possible for everyone to be equal."
The gathering today outside the two new buildings, the International
Teaching Centre and the Centre for the Study of the Texts, marked another
historic moment for Baha'is here and around the world inasmuch as it
celebrated the completion of the administrative headquarters of the Baha'i
World Centre.
Along with the two other buildings set high on Mount Carmel, the Seat of
the Universal House of Justice and the International Archives Building,
these edifices house essential institutions and artifacts -- and their
completion is for Baha'is the realization of a century-long dream to create
a spiritual and administrative center that will fully and fittingly
represent the Faith's position as an independent world religion, now the
second-most widespread geographically after Christianity.
The Center for the Study of the Texts houses scholars and researchers whose
role is to study the vast body of the Baha'i sacred writings, translate
them, prepare compilations, and draft commentaries on their relationship to
current world problems.
The International Teaching Center building houses a body of appointed
individuals who assist the Universal House of Justice and provide guidance
and encouragement to the worldwide Baha'i community on its growth and
development.
Altogether, the terraces -- which were inaugurated with a world premiere
concert on Tuesday, 22 May, before 4,000 people in Haifa and a worldwide
audience by satellite and webcast -- and the two new buildings cost some
US$250 million to complete. The money was raised entirely from within the
worldwide Baha'i community through voluntary donations.
The architect who designed the new buildings, Hossein Amanat, along with
the architect who designed the garden terraces, Fariborz Sahba, were given
warm appreciation in an evening program Wednesday, 23 May, the highlight of
which was the showing of a new 38-minute video documentary on the roughly
15-year-long construction process for the new structures.
Titled "Not even a lamp," the documentary detailed the immense challenges
faced in working on the slope of Mount Carmel. The architects had to work
carefully so as not to disturb neighbors, the surrounding gardens and
buildings, or the precious golden-domed Shrine of the Bab.
"This was not an ordinary project," Mr. Amanat told the gathering. "This
was a kind of sacred task for us. We really looked on it as a prayer."
Mr. Amanat said the buildings were designed to last for 500 years: "Every
detail, when implemented, was done with a great amount of research as to
what kinds of materials we should use, what technology we should use, so
that these buildings will last as long as possible."
Throughout the week, music was a crucial element in the celebration.
Tuesday evening saw the world premiere of two orchestral works written
especially for the occasion of the inauguration of the terraces on Mount
Carmel.
On Wednesday and Thursday, a wide range of Baha'i artists from around the
world took to the stage to inspire and uplift. Among those performing were
the Congo Youth Choir from the Democratic Republic of the Congo; The
Tabarsi Group, a group of Roma musicians from Spain; Vivek Nair, a singer
from India; Kevin Locke, a Lakota flutist from the United States; and Atef
Sedkouai, a Tunisian vocalist from Paris.
Collectively, these performances showcased a tremendous depth of talent and
creative expression, giving new meaning to the term of "world music."
"We wanted the performers to represent a wide diversity," said Alex Frame,
who produced the week's program. "And we brought together people who didn't
know each other, and people who in some cases didn't even speak the same
language.
"Yet within minutes of coming together, even in their dressing rooms, they
started jamming together," said Mr. Frame. "It was natural and spontaneous
and, without impediment, they began to create new kinds of music."
On Thursday evening, the program used a dramatic narrative to explore the
growth and development of the Faith over the last century, exploring how
events and trends in the world at large converged or coincided with the
evolution of the Baha'i community.
Drawing on "Century of Light," a new book published by the Baha'i World
Centre, the narrative chronicled such events as the visit of Abdu'l-Baha to
America, the crusade to spread the Faith around the world in the 1950s, and
the persecution of the Baha'is in Iran in the 1980s. The drama brought to
life with colorful characterizations how people's lives have been
transformed by the Faith.
"Our idea was to juxtapose news events happening in the world at large with
dramatic episodes from the Faith's history, and how the Faith offers hope
to the world," said Ann Boyles of Canada, author of the drama. "For
example, in the opening section, we talked about the atrocities committed
in the Congo at the turn of the century under King Leopold, when more than
a million Congolese were killed, starved or worked to death.
"On the other hand," she added, "we had here this week this vibrant youth
choir coming from the Congo, with great hope and optimism about the future."
BWC-BP-010525-1-FUTURE-122-S
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