The Baha'i Studies Listserv On 29 Mar 2009 at 8:55, David Friedman wrote: > I have read this booklet and didn't find myself that impressed. It > seemed lightweight and if I were a non-Baha'i it's difficult to > imagine that I'd suddenly feel reassured about the future. Can > someone tell me what's so good about it?
It was released in Feb 1999, when the y2k hype was raging in the world, and when Bahais who had long believed, with the encouragement of the UHJ to some extent, that unity of nations or the Lesser Peace would be achieved by the year 2000, needed to be prepared for the fact that it wasn't going to happen on schedule. On the one hand, the two different audiences makes for fence-sitting: it would be very reassuring for the people worried about y2k and the imminent collapse of civilization, if they could be assured that Bahai prophecy definitely said that world unity would come by the year 2000, or 2001; but that would be setting the Bahais up for a great dissapointment and exit by troops. On the other hand, the writers themselves are not standing outside: they are inside this and clearly believe themselves that the "century of light" refers to the Gregorian 20th century, so they attribute a spiritual significance to it that it cannot bear. The Bahai beliefs about the 20th century, or any 100-year period for that matter, the imminent arrival of the Lesser Peace and unity of nations, and the spiritualisation of the masses and entry by troops, have been due to misunderstandings. I've explored these in a series of 3 postings on my blog: http://tinyurl.com/bahai20thcent = century's end http://tinyurl.com/centuryoflight = century of light http://tinyurl.com/EntryByTroops = entry by troops Sen ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -- Sen McGlinn senmcglinn.wordpress.com *** In reality, the radiant, pure hearts are the Mashrak-el-Azcar and from them the voice of supplication and invocation continually reacheth the Supreme Concourse. Tablets of `Abdu'l-Baha Abbas, p. 678 ---------------------------------------------------------------------- -- __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:[email protected] Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
