Journey to Chicago, Part 4

I visited the Baha'i Temple for the first time in 2001 when we went to the Kingdom Conference at Milwaukee. Ever since then, I was in the habit of asking people who had visited but were not Baha'is, whether they "felt" any peculiar sensations within the auditorium. Usually they said no. On my first visit, I felt my whole being suffused with a profound sense of peace and love while I was inside the Temple.

When we got out of our car at Linden Avenue someone informed us that "it is about to close at 5 PM." Thinking they meant the actual auditorium of the Temple, I was suddenly in a great hurry. The gentleman who greeted us on the steps clarified that it was only the Visitors Center below which was about to close.

When we went into the Visitors Center and met the attractive Persian woman who greeted us, Enayat exploded into raptures of delight, "Bah, bah! How are you doing!" I thought, sheesh, you've seen pretty women before. It turns out this was another of his thirty or forty cousins from around the world, doing service at the House of Worship. The gentleman upstairs at the temple was her husband, who Enayat had not met before.

She kindly took charge of us, showed us around, showed us the Cornerstone and some other things. Quickly I bought some literature at the bookstore: mostly things with both Farsi and English, and a Farsi Kitab-i-Iqan, so I can identify [with help] specific authentic passages to memorize.

Upstairs in the Temple, I didn't really feel this awesome peace. Mostly I just had angina from climbing the stairs. I said as many prayers as I could, then we left in time to attend the opening session of the Friends of Persian Culture Conference back at the Renaissance Hotel.