BellaOnline Forums Religion and Spirituality Baha'i Faith Welcome to the Baha'i Faith Forum

Welcome to the Baha'i Faith Forum.

I hope that you will come here and share your thoughts and questions about the Baha'i Faith.

I will admit that I am not an expert on the Baha'i Faith and if I don't have and answer I will try and find it for you.

Interested in a brief overview of the Baha'i Faith, its principles and beliefs?

Read my article 'A Brief Introduction to The Baha'i Faith', at:
http://www.bellaonline.com/articles/art26682.asp

I have questions. I am a non Bahai married to a Bahai that has in recent weeks become a house of war set to destroy 2 families in a blink of an eye. could you be open and honest with me about the Bahai practices and "way of living"?

Sorry to hear that you are having troubles, I will try and answer your questions. What would you like to know?

I have been a Baha'i for more than 45 years. Baha'is have problems just like those in other faiths and non-faiths. Life gives everyone troubles in varying degrees and "the answers" are often not simple even when you understand the problem. Here is a prose-poem I wrote on the subject of personal difficulties:
_________________________
GUIDELINES FOR PROTEUS

We must be like the mythic god Proteus who eludes tragedy, chronic frustration, remorse and despair by changing form. This form is an inner form or quality that deals with existential questions of how to live, what to do, who am I, etc. Proteus needs to be constantly replenished to achieve a constitutional optimism, a direction and redirection, a new creative impetus to a person�s life and work, love and meaning. One possible paradigm for this renewal, this contemporary guideline for dear old Proteus, can be found in Baha�u�llah�s Seven Valleys and Four Valleys. -Ron Price with thanks to Robert Milder, Reimagining Thoreau, Cambridge UP, NY, 1995, p.xii.

So, dear Proteus, let me try to summarize
a book of some special guidance for us here.
This is difficult to do, mind you, in the space
of ten lines or so, but you can go along way
on a pithy phrase or two: so I shall try.
Take leave of yourself; don�t be downhearted;
work hard; seek fellowship; expect difficulties;
turn inward, but know that this inner land
is not real; seek the assistance of the departed,
do not stray far from this jewelled wisdom
of this lucid Faith; pray; destroy your animal self,
as far as you can; seek the God within,
this book of your own self.

Ron Price
15 June 1996
_____________________
Let the moderator of this site know a little more about your problem and she will do her best to help. I wish you well. I have just joined this site today.-Ron Price, Tasmania.

Thank you for posting Ron. I enjoyed reading your postings.
As I was doing my postings I was watching a show called "Rape in a Small Town" It was about an older women who was attacked and raped in her small New Hampshire home. I was amazed with this woman, she help changed laws and is a diligent fighter for all victims. Half way through the show she was saying a prayer and it stopped me from what I was doing. This brave woman is a Baha'i, she was saying my favorite prayer in times of stress:

[color:"blue"] O God Refresh and gladden my spirit.
Purify my heart.
Illumine my powers.
I lay all my affairs in Thy hands.
Thou art my Guide and my Refuge.
I will be a happy and joyful being.

O God!
I will no longer be full of anxiety, nor will I let trouble harrass me.
I will not dwell on the unpleasent things of life.

O God!
Thou art more a friend to me than I am to myself.
I dedicate myself to Thee, oh Lord.
'Abdu'l-Baha[/color]

This prayer helped me through many tough times.

Hi!

Without more specifics, we really have no questions to answer.

I will simply point out that the primary goal of the Baha'i Faith is to foster love, unity, peace, and concord; and mention that the Baha'i scriptures state explicitly, "If religion becomes a source of disunity, lack of religion is better."

Peace,

Bruce

Sandy, greetings!

It would be really nice if someone would change the introductory blurb on the list of forums to read "principles" instead of "principals.")

Regards,

Thanks for all the postings Bruce I will see what I can do about fixing that I got back from vacation early this morning...very early (yawn).. Keep me current and correct please.
Thanks again
Sandy