national convention

delegates, national spiritual assembly, counsellors, and trustees of the huququ'llah at the canadian national convention

so, i said that i’d be talking a lot more about the NC as it got closer, but it seemed that i was unable to get a steady internet connection – or at least one that would allow me to be discreet… and then some other stuff came up once i did get back home.  but – i’m back!  so… onto our topic at hand.

the national convention was amazing.  really.  this was my first time serving as a delegate, but i have been to past ones as an observer.  i can honestly say that the convention is evolving as an institution.  it’s remarkable.  and our counsellors really helped us to shape the consultation and to provide as many constructive suggestions as possible – despite the fact that the questions that the national spiritual assembly put to our consideration were extremely challenging to respond to!

other than that, i don’t know what else to say.  i’d like to suggest that if anyone has any questions about the convention, or the baha’i administrative order, you can feel free to post it here, and i’ll try and answer.  that… or.. just go to the convention next year!

away teaching project

so this past weekend i made a spur of the moment trip to another cluster for their expansion phase.  their cluster is larger geographically than mine, but has less baha’is, and also not many youth – or at least, active youth.  in any case, i figured that it would be wise for me to go and get some more experience with direct teaching – and my auxiliary board member actually came out and said to me “i think you should come” so i drove out with her and another baha’i from my cluster.

this cluster is just starting to get their feet wet – so the project was only two days long.  but what we learned is that, at this stage, the quality of the learning was key.  the morning finds us at home base – us three from my cluster were all in our 20’s, whereas the local baha’is participating in the project were all 50+ years old.

it was wonderful.

age is an attitude, my friends.  these souls were there to learn, and were just selfless in their approach toward this process.  and it’s funny because they think that because they’re older, they can’t contribute – or at least, there is this sense of youth = capable.  i don’t know where this idea comes from… maybe people are feelin that way because of some of the trends in our activities lately, but it’s so important to dispel this myth.  being involved in serving the Plan does not require anything but a humble posture of learning.  this has been my biggest lesson these past few months, as my own cluster has started to rise to a new level of activity in two neighborhoods.

i also learned that things have to move little by little.  and by things i mean everything.  my own progress, the progress of other individuals, the progress of the community, and that of the institutions.  little by little.  often i find myself telling myself that i’m not good at this or that, and i get frustrated when i try and these gradiose expectations that i had dreamed up don’t come to pass.  but it’s unreasonable to expect such things! it’s wonderful to have high standards, but setting yourself up for failure is not good.  one must be realistic.  i have to be realistic.

i also learned that sometimes, people just aren’t interested – and i shouldn’t be attached to whether they are or not.  you know, the first day, every door we knocked either didn’t answer or didn’t care.  and that brought me down.. but really, it’s not about me at all – and actually, it’s a bounty just to have the ability to go to someone’s door and knock on it and give them the opportunity to learn.  so i should be grateful for every step that i took this past weekend.  i know we all theoretically know about being detached from results, but it’s a whole other story when you’re outside in the cold, your partner is feeling dejected, and people are rude. then the next day we had a really beautiful experience, and my partners got super excited and such.   but you know, if we’re not attached to results – then we should neither rejoice at a positive response, nor be sorrowful with negative responses.  it’s all about the middle path.

anyway, those were some pieces of learning that i thought i’d share.

more to come in the coming days/weeks.