A Scrap Of Paper

United Spiritual Gathering Councilfire Part Two:

Here is a story concerning the Baha'is currently imprisoned in Iran for their leadership role as a group; although they were obedient to the dictates of the restrictive laws against assembly by Baha'is, they have been in prison without due process for over a year. I will relate the story as I remember it:

A Scrap of Paper:

One of the women imprisoned in Evan Prison in Iran for serving the Baha'i Faith as a leader, asked her sister when she visited to write for her a certain prayer which she was having trouble remembering. The sister found a scrap of paper and wrote down the prayer from memory, but the guard would not allow it to be given to the inmate.

This is the banned prayer:

"I have wakened in Thy shelter, O My God, and it becometh him that seeketh that shelter to abide within the Sanctuary of Thy protection and the Stronghold of Thy defense. Illumine my inner being, O My Lord, with the splendors of the Dayspring of Thy Revelation, even as Thou didst illumine my outer being with the morning light of Thy favor."

~ Baha'u'llah.

What came to my mind was that Baha'u'llah has said that every spot "where mention of God hath been made, and His praise glorified," is blessed. So, with the prayers said there, even Evan Prison is blessed.

No Sense of Irony in Iran

During the events leading up to the 1979 revolution in Iran against the Shah, people would stand on the rooftops and call out, "Allah-u-Akbar, Allah-u-Akbar!" in defiance of the regime.

Currently there are many people with opinions against the current regime, gathering in numbers on the rooftops again and calling out of the windows, again shouting, "Allah-u-Akbar!" For some reason the Islamic Republic takes exception to this, arresting whoever they can catch, for imprisonment, possibly for execution.

How can these power-corrupted "Islamic" officials possibly object to the Name of God, "God is Most Great," in the mouths of anyone?

My Inner Crank

We went to a prayer service last week in northeast Tacoma for the Baha'is who have been arrested last year in Iran for supposed espionage, etc., and may be coming up for trial soon. This was held at the home of an Iranian couple and they had gone door to door in their neighborhood to invite people to come and pray. There was beautiful music and chanting, and I was touched by the fervency of the Christian prayers. As a Baha'i who has multiple prayer books full of revealed prayers available, I am always amazed at Christian prayers. They just open their mouths and make it up! In front of everyone. You'd almost have to set me on fire before I could do that. The unity was wonderful. My husband stayed for an hour after everyone else left, fitting in extra rice and tea, and chatting in Farsi with Bahereh's parents. He misses Iran very much.

I'm struggling with my character traits. Honesty is supposed to be a very good thing, but it needs to be balanced with kindness. I seem to be becoming increasingly direct as I age and become more confident. I seem to be channeling my inner crank. I also thank my father, Lewis Elwood, for my crank genes. He didn't pull too many punches. On the other hand, at his memorial service, I was impressed by the remarks from friends and neighbors who knew him well: most said that, with Lewis, what you see is what you get. Very upright, straight. I've been thinking about his mother, Bo Leta Elwood, who taught me to tat. She could also be very sharp.

But what I'm hearing come out of my mouth lately disappoints me. I seem to have little patience for people craving compassion, because it comes out as desiring confirmation for their self-pity. We aren't taught to just say, "help! I need caring and compassion!" Instead, we learn to try to wrangle it out of people with our victim stories. I need to learn to give people compassion when they need it, even when I don't appreciate their way of trying to get it without actually asking.

I've been feeling low energy, doing a lot of admissions at work, and today have a sore throat and fever. I reread Roger Reini's Pilgrimage story and kept bawling as I recognized the sites and events during Pilgrimage which I miss so much. I miss Haifa and Akka and the Shrines and the Mansion of Mazraih and the fragrant grapefruit at the Bahji Visitor's Center. And the fellowship of the pilgrims, and so many other things. I'm having Pilgrimage withdrawal.

Roger, your cat with the half-missing ear is still there, hanging around the PRC. It probably enjoys the Pilgrim vibes, as well as the attention.