All Bahá’ís know that 41 weekend Regional Conferences around the world are in full swing, and large numbers have attended them so far. I attended the one in Managua, Nicaragua, on Jan. 17-18. I expected the topography of neighbouring Nicaragua to be indistinguishable from Honduras’, but the volcanic mountains provided one astonishing vista after another, a gorgeous distraction from the dangers of driving on these roads

In spite of being stopped at the border for five hours
In spite of having to stay three nights in a hotel where a disco just on the other side of the wall was in full swing until 4 a.m.
In spite of examples of behaviour unbecoming to Bahá’ís
In spite of the bus breaking down twice on the way back

It was a magnificent enterprise, bringing together Bahá’ís from the region, many of whom were unaware of the face of the Faith outside their own communities, for a twofold purpose: to celebrate the accomplishments halfway through this Five-Year Plan (Bahá’ís have not only a static belief but a dynamic one, in which the Faith is ever-evolving) and to consult about achieving the goals mandated by the Universal house of Justice.

Being new to the region (since August 2008), I expected to meet no one I knew there, but in fact I met several, mostly friendships that had been struck up while I was on tour with the Voices of Bahá in the Caribbean in 2005, for example, Tommy Kavelin, tenor and longtime pioneer to Puerto Rico, brother of Linda Kavelin Popov of Virtues Project fame; Eve Fernandes, who sang with the Toronto World Unity Choir for a season; and the Jamaican lady who is vice-president of the tourist bureau and who organized the Voices of Bahá’s sojourn in Jamaica, a royal tour in more ways than one.

The Bahá’í Faith is one of not only belief, but service and action, and 100% of those assembled were actively involved in some aspect of teaching the Faith and serving humanity. Before the final speeches, all watched a power point presentation on the pledges and goals gathered for increased activity before April 2011, the end of this Five-Year Plan, which would represent a stupendous achievement even if say 70% of it was fulfilled.

For me, the highlight of the many highlights was the presence of two of the Counsellors from the International Teaching Centre, Juan Franciso Mora and Rachel Ndewa. The former is a brilliant young man of only 31 years whose speeches were not only inspiring but crystalline in the clarity with which he presented our responsibilities during the Five-year Plan. His partner was charming and inspiring in a different way, telling stories and showing her own personal struggles to understand and be obedient to the Universal House of Justice.

As everywhere in the Third World, a startlingly high percentage of the population is young people, and that fact was reflected all around. The last time there was a big conference in the region, it was attended mostly by “pioneers” – those Bahá’ís who for the sake of spreading the Faith establish themselves in locations where believers are few or none – but this time there was an overwhelming majority of local and indigenous people, the Garifonas of the Caribbean coast of Honduras being a prominent example, for their infectious music and dance. Indeed, my favourite quote of the Conference was given by an indigenous woman named Maxima, who said to all assembled (and I translate), “We live up in the mountains. There are no roads, no electricity, no telephones, no means of communication. You can’t get there from here.” (Pause) “And oh, yes, please come visit us.”
Ha ha, but somehow the Word of Bahá’u’lláh has managed to penetrate even there.

The 3 Rs -- An Upward Spiral

Much of the world is celebrating New Year’s Day, 2009. It leads me to ruminate about this rather arbitrary designation (for Bahá’ís the New Year falls on the vernal equinox). The new year is somehow a break from the old, a chance to begin anew with a clean slate. Studies in comparative religion have found that many ancient societies believed explicitly that at this time the gods destroyed the world and created it anew. To point out to them from a sophisticated 21st century perspective that the world of Januray 1st looks remarkably like December 31st past would bring, at best, puzzlement. New Year’s resolutions seem to me to be a vestige of those ancient days, for in affirming them we lock into the belief that I can recreate my life, as the past does not have to dictate the future.

So, the cycle of life, resurrection, return and reincarnation. When I hear Christians talking about resurrection, they chiefly mean Christ’s rising after three days. Jews and Muslims, on the other hand, focus on the spectre of the dead rising from the graves, a notion which in its bizarre literal form always engendered horror-film zombies in my imagination. Many a time I have heard questions about resurrection at Bahá’í meetings, and over and above doctrinal interest, my ear always hears the subtext: “But what about me – what will happen to me?” I understand it as much the same question as with reincarnation, wondering what’s going to happen to me after I die.

The pre-eminent Bahá’í scholar Mírzá Abú’l Fadl wrote in 1886, “. . . it is clear to the possessors of intellect that the original intent of the prophets and messengers when they mentioned Return and Resurrection was to deliver to God’s servants the glad-tidings of a future Advent – when all that had transpired would be played out once more, retracing each footstep. In this way, the people would be deterred from believing that the Sun of Reality would never again rise, or that the spring of divine, mystical knowledge would never return. The prepared souls would be awaiting the appearance of the Manifestations of God and watching for the appearance of a primal reality. Then when the spiritual breeze wafted and the lordly, radiant luminary arose, exalted souls would be raised from the tombs of their bodies, a wondrous life would be bestowed on the world through a new spirit, and the earth would be adorned with the flowers of knowledge and science. Thus might the fruits hidden in the trees of existence be brought into the realm of appearance, just as they were at the time of the last Advent, and all that is concealed in the recesses of souls be made apparent and manifest. This is the meaning of Return. Otherwise, in regard to relative characteristics, spirits never return to this world once they have been separated from it. The birds of the soul, once they have ascended to the Most High, never again descend to the nethermost depths.” (Letters and Essays, 1886-1913)

The Far Easterns have had for millennia a cyclical view of life, where souls not only return to earth, but in which history repeats itself, exactly down to the last detail, over and over again for eternity. In the minds of the people of the West, time has taken a very different dimension, moving inexorably forward in a measured and linear fashion toward a future most fear will be cut short abruptly at some point. The Revelation of Bahá’u’lláh synthesizes all views in an astonishingly seamless manner (which is not to say that it is a synthesis; rather they are not only rolled into one, but refashioned and reinterpreted to show that they really have been aspects of one reality all along), and in this regard we have been given a new model that is both cyclical and progressive, an upward spiral. So life in all its aspects, from the individual struggle and experience, to the Revelation of God is seen as both repeating an endless pattern while at the same time striving upward. “All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.” (Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, pg. 214)

As a Bahá’í I have been given a vision of the ultimately destiny of the individual soul, which is an eternally dynamic and progressive one, but human civilization’s destiny is not fully revealed, and we’ll either find out when we get there, or as a mercy a future Manifestation of God will tell us more completely. Either way, I won’t be reincarnated as a dog, princess, or movie star, nor will I be playing harps and drinking ambrosia in a static eternity (or be barbecuing in hell with the devil turning the spit) when the ultimate end of humanity is known, if it ever will be. In the meantime my task has been set before me: “It is incumbent upon every man of insight and understanding to strive to translate that which hath been written into reality and action.” (Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, pg. 166)