I was stumbling-upon (a.k.a. browsing) around the internet earlier today and I found something kinda cool. I reached a website that had some stock photography tagged “bahai”.

One of the pictures stood out to me because I had never seen it before. It is a picture from “Le Petit Journal” (a small magazine?) presumably from France showing ‘Abdul’l-Baha giving a talk around a crowd of people in Constantinople (now Istanbul), Turkey.

The image came from the Mary Evans Picture Library which seems to be a collection of pictures/photos/images from one or two centuries ago.

The title may imply that ‘Abdu’l-Baha is a new prophet of Islam or that ‘Abdu’l-Baha is talking about a new prophet of Islam, Baha’u'llah. The perception at the time in many places around the world and even currently in many textbooks, news articles, essays, etc. is that the Baha’i Faith is a sect of Islam and that Baha’u'llah and maybe even ‘Abdu’l-Baha are prophets of Islam. Though it is correct that Baha’u'llah was raised in the Islam tradition, it is very clear that he came to establish a new and independent world faith. This says it best:

The Bahá’í Faith is a world religion whose purpose is to unite all the races and peoples in one universal Cause and one common Faith. Bahá’ís are the followers of Bahá’u’lláh, Who they believe is the Promised One of all Ages. As you know, the traditions of almost every people include the promise of a future when peace and harmony will be established on earth and humankind will live in prosperity. We believe that the promised hour has come and that Bahá’u’lláh is the great Personage Whose Teachings will enable humanity to build a new world. In one of His Writings, Bahá’u’lláh says:

“That which the Lord hath ordained as the sovereign remedy and mightiest instrument for the healing of all the world is the union of all its peoples in one universal Cause, one common Faith.”

After the passing of Baha’u'llah, ‘Abdu’l-Baha continued to spread the faith his father revealed to humanity throughout the world. In 1911, he went to Paris, France where he gave a series of talks, many of which were recorded and compiled in this book, Paris Talks:

In 1912, he came to the United States where he continued to give talks and to meet with the Baha’i Community that had recently started to grow here.

P.S. I’m back, hopefully to be more constant. BahaiNine has been keeping me busy, be sure to check it out.

During the Tree of Life Project, earlier this month, we were asked to do something artistic during the session on Integrating the Arts. Since I’ve only recently started drumming and don’t know much yet, I decided to write my third poem. I used a whiteboard to start with one word, then selectively erase and write on that word to make new words. The word in ALL CAPS is that word and the rest what I would say:

The EARTH is one country and mankind its citizens.

Can your EAR HEAR this?

Can your HEART feel it?

Can you BEAR to understand it?

Are we BEARINGS in the axles of one wheel?

Are we RINGS on one hand?

Do we BRING joy to the hearts of the SOBBING, the SORROWFUL?

I am SORE from the walking…

I’m SORRY, I wish I could do more.

I WORRY everyday for the WORLD.

It looked better than it reads, and it didn’t look that good anyway. I’ll continue working on it.

That’s number 3. Peace.

The Prophet by Kahlil Gibran. I can tell this was one of my dad’s favorite books because he took a fragment from it and used in the words he expressed to my mom during their wedding. Homework for me is to contact my mom and find out what those words were. :)

As for me, well I like this:

And think not you can direct the course of love, for love, if it finds you worthy, directs your course.

“And what of Marriage, master?”

You were born together, and together you shall be for evermore.
…
Love one another, but make not a bond of love:
Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls.
…
Sing and dance together and be joyous, but let each one of you be alone,
Even as the strings of a lute are alone though they quiver with the same music.
…
And stand together yet not too near together:
For the pillars of the temple stand apart,
And the oak tree and the cypress grow not in each other’s shadow.

Related to work:

Work is love made visible.
And if you cannot work with love but only with your distaste, it is better that you should leave your work and sit at the gate of the temple and take alms of those who work with joy…

As my “hermanote” George would say, “What a genius.” :)

To be continued… (when I finish reading)

All day I felt like writing a poem. The first word that came to mind was “another”, so here it is:

* *** *

Titled: Hidden

Another morning I am blessed to awake.

Day will be filled with sunlight and warmth and

I must ARISE and make the most of it.

Will I go out of my “cave” and experience life? or

Tell everyone that I did but stay behind instead.

My mind tells me “truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues” but a

Secret is ok… is just for me… is my treasure… yet

To live without experiences is like having a blank sheet:

The hand can write, the pen has ink, the surface is sturdy, the

World is ready, ready for me to go out and… touch it.

* *** *

Hint: Read vertically too. :)

UPDATE: btw I’m straight. :)

My good buddy and bro Nicolas Zein* needed a free actor for one of his (silent) Film School projects. He also needed a free shooting location that would fit his script. Hence this was made:

The freezer in the movie is used by Caltech’s Student Operated Coffeehouse where I slaved away lovingly worked at for three years. It actually was pretty fun most of the time. The employee’s (and manager = me for 2 years) were allowed to blast whatever music we wanted (usually trance in my case) and the venue was really cool looking.

The freezer was located under the Undergraduate Housing, where there are many tunnels to get to many of the campus buildings from the houses.

* Be sure to check his website real soon, it’s gonna be awesome and he made it entirely in Flash, which, let me tell you, is not an easy task. I know and I spent a ton of time figuring out the basics.