Love and Compassion, Part 2

The Bab said that people ought to love God because they love Him, not out of fear of hell or desire for paradise.

He also said, "The path of guidance is one of love and compassion, not of force and coercion." The Baha'i agenda is not to coerce people to seek God out of fear; it is to attract people's hearts which are already yearning to connect with their creator. I think the sea change I sensed this weekend in the Hilltop neighborhood is that, when we use the language of community-building, people sense the love and compassion and the lack of coercion, so there is no reason to feel threatened.

People we approached were friendly; I was fearful because at heart I am a hermit. I am always attracted in two directions: to associate with people and enjoy the fellowship, love and friendship, and to seek solitude and rest.

This weekend was very convivial, gathering in homes to pray together, team up and go out into the world to meet people, return and share out stories. Every year there is an event called the "Black Men's Gathering" where, being neither male nor black, I can only guess that they get together and enjoy being black men together. Anyhow, they came to participate in our teaching event this year. We also had visitors from Boise and from Salt Lake City.

Sunday morning there was a devotional meeting which included the people from the Black Men's Gathering, bringing drums and music and we had stories from the early days of the Baha'i Faith, more prayers and music, and it was fun and moving and enlivening. Then we ate waffles. After the devotional gathering I went back to the house where the teaching was going on, and joined the friends who were staying there and praying.

The whole weekend was social, convivial, joyful, full of friendliness, fellowship, love and unity. I was exhausted. I came home at 6 PM, crawled into bed and slept until 2 AM.