Bahai Angst

Angstcast 4

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 29 Jan 2006 10:33:00 -0800

Yes Angsters there is a new Angstcast. Angstcast number 4 is here. This week we'll hear about Alex Jones and the importance of football and you'll get a taste of the great Bill Hicks. Bill who? Just listen, you'll love it. Plus Stephanie Stepford is back. She's completed a new Ruhi book and she really really digs the spiritual portion of the program this week, as you will hear. We also have a cameo appearance by mutton man Steve and Fred the space alien and a little nice music too.

The original link is here . Or you can go directly to the Angstcast itself here .

As I've said before, the site does overload pretty easily, so please be patient. Plus, there has been quite a surprising demand from around the world.

Angst is growing among the Baha'is.

with loving,

Bahai Angst

Angstcast 3: Doing God's Work

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sat, 14 Jan 2006 08:47:00 -0800

Yes Angters there is a new Angstcast. Angstcast number 3 is here. It's about doing God's work the Glenford Mitchell way. Plus there's a return to Baha'i Farm, a discussion of mythology, a little nice music and, of course, the regular spiritual portion of the cast.

The original link is here . Or you can go directly to the Angstcast itself here .

If you are using the RSS feed and it works, let me know.
As I've said before, the site does overload pretty easily, so please be patient.

with loving,

Bahai Angst

New Angstcast

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 8 Jan 2006 11:40:00 -0800

Hi folks,

Well Angstcast number 2 is here. I hope the RSS feed will work.
The original link is here. Or you can go directly to the Angstcast itself here.

If you are using the RSS feed and it works, let me know.
The site does overload pretty easily, so please be patient.

with loving,

Bahai Angst

Angstcasting Part II

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Tue, 3 Jan 2006 02:47:00 -0800

The first Angstcast has been a little more popular than I had expected. My free site is getting overloaded already. Therefore, thanks to Steve Marshall, I have at least a temporary home at a second site. He's also helped with the RSS feed. The original link is here. Or you can go directly to the Angstcast itself here.

If these are not working, then you can go to the mirror site, here. It is also listed in the links section of the blog.

Many thanks to Steve for his help.

with loving,

Bahai Angst

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 1 Jan 2006 08:25:00 -0800

Well it has been quite some time since we've gotten back into the blogosphere. I just want to make a couple of announcements.

First of all, I'm getting into Podcasting. On the Bahai Angst website soon there will be the first podcast. I won't have it all connected to an RSS feed at first. That will come later, I hope. But it will be there and I'll announce it here.

Second, the website is going to be updated a bit more frequently. I've beens wamped lately, but I'm trying to free up some time to play around with the site and learn some new technology. And of course, the official Baha'i Faith is just coming up with tons and tons of stuff to make fun of. I just can't keep up with them.

With loving,

Bahai Angst

Larry Rowe's Mistake

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Sun, 27 Feb 2005 05:48:00 -0800

Karen Bacquet's latest topic on her blog has caused great controversy in Bahai circles and the ripples have probably gone all the way up (or down, depends on how you look at it) to the UH$ itself. To those outside, it must be interesting to watch a religion so hell bent on self destruction. To those who consider themselves Bahais, but who may or may not be enrolled members at present and who have issues with the administrative order, the issue is seen as yet another example of the adminocentric nature of the religion - where bureaucracy has replaced God.

The issue is based on a letter sent by the National Spiritual (sic) Assembly of the Bahais of Canada (NS(s)ABC) to an enrolled Canadian Bahai named Larry Rowe. Larry is probably most famous for finding a site that translates English into Pig-Latin and sending the URL to us at Bahai Angst. However, he is also famous in Bahai circles (which means about 50 people) for expressing himself quite well on spiritual issues. About nine months ago Larry wrote to the NS(s)ABC expressing concern about the UH$'s booting out of two other Bahais - two people who are pretty well respected in the ever growing community of Bahai subversives who believe in the oneness of mankind. He recently received a reply from the NS(s)ABC which we translated into English and put on the Bahai Angst site. The reply has caused great consternation and gnashing of teeth because we just can't figure out what it is that Larry did wrong. Some of the best CBs have been putting their heads together to find out what it is that Larry did to provoke such a stupid-ass letter from the NS(s)ABC.

Well, we at Bahai Angst, after endless hours of consultation, contemplation, and listening to songs written by Jim Styan, had an experience mediated by the parrot of heaven and saw very clearly what it is that Larry has done - and we have confirmed that he has defintely done so repeatedly for years. No wonder the NS(s)ABC was in such shock and awe that it threatened to drop him off of the roles of the fitfull - er faithful.

To learn what Larry has done, you must exercise the third greatest of all virtures (the first two being modeling your lives on that of Shoghi Effendi and sacrificing your pets to the UH$) - patience. Check back here soon and we will reveal to you Larry's Most Great Sin (LMGS).

with loving,

Bahai Angst

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 2 Feb 2005 17:22:00 -0800

Bahai Angst

Is This What You Signed Up For?

noreply@blogger.com (Anonymous) — Wed, 2 Feb 2005 17:00:00 -0800

Poor Baha'is. They sign up thinking they are going to change the world and all they get is boring pseudo intellectual touchy freely out of touch bureaucratic bull shit. Below is a typical Baha'i admino-centric narcissistic upchuck. Baha'i Angst really did not make this up. This is an unintentional self-parody by some poor Baha'i schmuckette from New Zealand.

The chrysalis effect: reflections on Baha'i community transformation 



By Beth Lew, Aotearoa Institute Natonal [sic] Coordinator.



Recently I was asked to try and explain to my community the purpose and

relation- ships of the new institutions that have risen up in response

to the Five Year Plan. How do these institutions, specifically Aotearoa

Institute, Cluster Institute Coordinators, Cluster Growth Committees

and

the Cluster Reflection Meeting collaborate with the Local Spiritual

Assemblies in our cluster?



Meditating on this as I prepared my presentation, I came upon a

chrysalis of a butterfly. It seems to me that this is an appropriate

symbol of where we are right now in our current state of growth and

development.



The Universal House of Justice states "...since the beginning of the

Four Year Plan, the entire Baha'i world has been undergoing a profound

change in culture required by the single focus of the global plans in

this latter part of the first century of the Faith's Formative Age—

advancing the process of entry by troops.”



So here we are in a process of transformation. It’s like the Baha’i

community is going from being a caterpillar to a butterfly. The

transformation is happening from the inside out—just as happens to the

caterpillar. All the structures that the butterfly needs for life are

present in the caterpillar. It has eyes, antennae, legs, digestive

systems, a heart etc. It’s very good at munch- ing its way around.



You could say the Baha’i community is a bit like this. We have all the

structures in place that Bahá’u’lláh envisioned, that Ahdu’l-Bahá and

Shoghi Effendi defined and encouraged. We have Local and National

Assemblies, we have consultative processes, we have the Fund, we have

summer schools, etc. We’ve been pretty good at munching our way around

the country and setting up Local Spiritual Assemblies in lots of

localities. But like the caterpillar we haven’t really been able to

multiply ourselves very successfully. And like the caterpillar we

really

don’t know what we will look like or be capable of in the future. But

it’s probably going to be pretty amazing.



So here we are right now, with all these new processes happening, and

all the old ways of doing things—our comfortable old Bahá’i

culture—changing all around us. As individuals, the Universal House of

Justice has asked us, every year as far as I can remember, to use our

initiative, to seek opportunities to teach the Faith and help bring

about entry by troops. Some of us rise to this challenge and

encouragement the best we are able. Still the growth has been slow in

many countries and unsustainable in others.



So the Universal House of Justice has decided that what we need is a

way

to build capacity, empower individual initiative and create a system

for

confirming seekers and helping them become empowered teachers of the

Faith—immediately.



The first step: the individual going through the Ruhi courses offered

by

Aotearoa Institute. If you are a visual per- son, imagine our pyramid

with seven levels and an arrow starting at the bottom and pointing to

the top.



This is where youth have an important part to play. (Imagine a

lightning

bolt hit- ting the pyramid!) Because they are younger and more

flexible,

the youth will grasp the lessons and vision of these new processes more

rapidly and with greater ability to implement these lessons in their

lives. Communities need to be encouraging the youth to participate in

the courses, and then listen to their ideas carefully. From my own

experience as a long-time Bahá’i involved with the Ruhi courses, it

seems very easy for me to think I understand a new process but when I

look back at my actions and responses in current situations I can see

that I’m often operating from my old patterns and understandings. Youth

are far freer from this handicap.



The role of the Auxiliary Board members is crucial in this development

of the Institute process as well. Think of a big shiny heart pumping

love and encouragement over the pyramid as well as the rest of the

Bahá’i Community. The International Teaching Centre tells us that those

communities where the Auxiliary Board members and the Counselors are

intimately involved in the institute process—where they are the tutor

trainers of a country, or the institute coordinators of a region, or

involved heavily in tutoring, or helping to guide cluster reflection

meetings—those communities are experiencing the greatest growth and

success. Their dedicated devotion and service to the Faith, their

ability to study the guidance, to see the global picture makes their

service in this arena vital for our growth and development.



So what about these clusters? What is this about? There are a lot of

processes happening here but the one that stands out for me is that

working in clusters is helping us develop a culture of learning: We've

got these “two essential movements” — getting people through the

sequence of courses and then growing our clusters through different

levels of capacity from C to B to A. We’ve got cluster reflection

meetings that help us capture the learning that is happening in short

amounts of time and then to effectively inspire and guide individual

initiative and action. All of this happens at the grass roots where

people can be more receptive to local needs and opportunities.



Now as we have people moving through the pyramid of courses, we are

getting more and more human resources available for service to the

community and humanity. (In your imaginary pyramid—put little lines

radiating out from all the levels and out of the top of the pyramid).

In

order to develop and utilize this new capacity we need to be systematic

and some new institutions have developed in order to assist this

growth.



First we need Cluster or Area Institute Coordinators who help encourage

people to go through the sequence and train more people to become

tutors, they promote the multiplication of study circles, they keep

track of who is doing what and when it’s happening, and they

collaborate

with the Auxiliary Board, with Assemblies, with Cluster Growth

Committees, sharing what they know and what they’re learning.



In areas experiencing significant growth, a new structure to help

manage

this growth has appeared called the cluster teaching or cluster growth

committee. The International Teaching Centre advised our National

Assembly last year that they might want to consider appointing Cluster

Growth Committees to help deploy some of the human resources that are

moving through the sequence of courses. Some countries have found that

having this committee has helped to avoid a plateau effect, where all

the available Bahá’is have gone through the courses but haven’t been

able to put into practice what they are learning perhaps because a lack

of impetus, organization or leadership.



So the Cluster Growth Committee is meant to help focus the energy of

people who have finished Book I and could be holding devotional

meetings, or have finished Book 2 and could be visiting inactive

Baha'is

or new believers and sharing deepening classes. Those who have finished

Book 3 and may need encouragement and assistance in linking up with

children’s classes where they can help. These committees are deploying

people as they’ve finished the Institute courses and they are helping

keep the cluster reflection meeting on track. I think of this as a

giant

magnifying glass or crystal that captures the light and energy of lots

of rays of light (newly trained human resources) and focuses the light

on areas of need.



The Auxiliary Board Members are involved in this systematic management

as well—collaborating with the institute coordinators and the cluster

growth committee, helping with setting the vision and encouraging their

assistants to be role models of service.



What about the Assemblies? Where do they fit in?



In Building Momentum the House of Justice is quoted: All of this opens

thrilling opportunities for Local Spiritual Assemblies. Theirs is the

chal- lenge, in collaboration with the Auxiliary Board members who

counsel and assist them, to utilize the energies and talents of the

swelling human resources available in their respective areas of

jurisdiction both to create a vibrant community life and to begin

influencing the society around them.



Intensive growth depends upon encouraging individuals to carry out a

rapidly increasing number of core activities and other endeavours and

Local Spiritual Assemblies have been instrumental in this process.

Though their inspiration and support, a host of individual and

collective actions have resulted. By recognizing and facilitating the

initiatives of the many friends proceeding through the institute

courses, as well as of other devoted servants in their communities, the

Assemblies are assuming a style of leadership urged by the Guardian:



The first quality for leadership, both among individuals and

Assemblies,

is the capacity to use the energy and competence that exists in the

rank

and file of its followers.”



Because the planning environment has now broadened to the level of the

cluster, often involving several. Local Assemblies and the active

participation of the believers in formulating short-term goals, an

Assembly’s scope of interest has begun to stretch beyond its

boundaries.

Its vision is expanded, its re- sources magnified and its opportunities

enlarged.



So there is a lot for Assemblies to do. (Think of them as big

umbrellas,

sheltering and nurturing the believers as they develop their new

capacities.) They can encourage their members to go through the

sequence

of courses so they can develop a good understanding of what capacities

are being developed. They can attend cluster reflection meetings and be

aware of what the needs are across the cluster and what initiative is

being offered and what needs to be encouraged. They can utilize the

19-day feast for discussion about the two essential movements and

encourage and support individual initiative. They can collaborate with

the Cluster Institute Coordinator, the Cluster Growth Committee the

Auxiliary Board and the other Assemblies in the Cluster, studying the

guidance from Building Momentum together, looking at what capacity has

been developed and then set- ting realistic goals and providing

direction for the community.



So changing from the inside out, we’re looking around us at new

institutions bud- ding out in all directions. We’re not sure how

they’re

supposed to work, we throw some energy into them, watch them stretch,

ponder on their significance but most of all, wonder can this really be

happening? Entry by troops is really just around the corner!



P. 10, Sept 2004 New Zealand Baha'i News