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I'm a Germanic, neo-Duns-Scotian glutton.
-----Original Message-----
From: Stephen Kent Gray <skg_z...@yahoo.com>
To: Baha'i Studies <bahai-st@list.jccc.edu>
Sent: Wed, Apr 17, 2013 2:16 pm
Subject: Re: Against nature...
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That reminds me that while I'm fiscally responsible, I'm socially tolerant. I'm
currently religious Humanist, Nichiren Buddhist, and Unitarian Universalist.
Also, yes. Don C, I have noticed the Left has been authoritarian and the Right
libertarian.
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On Apr 17, 2013, at 16:01, Stephen Kent Gray <skg_z...@yahoo.com> wrote:
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Interesting, I'm a member of the Libertarian Right myself. Classical
liberalism, Libertarianism, Minarchism, Anarcho-Capitalism, Laissez-faire, etc.
Sounds like the concept of Aeons in Thelema.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aeon_(Thelema)
Lots of religious groups have concepts of dispensationalism.
Examples
Hare Krishnas and the Age of Bhakti
Nichiren Buddhists and the Age of the Lotus Sutra
Discordians and the Age of Eris
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On Apr 17, 2013, at 15:25, Don Calkins <don59...@gmail.com> wrote:
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on the contrary . . . .
Like most Euro-Americans, you believe in some kind of authoritarianism in which
those in control pass laws to make people behave according to your standards
and then punish people who do not comply. i reject that as an efficient and
effective means of administration.
Further, I do believe in a form of separation of church and state such that
Baha'i law will not be forced on non-Baha'is.
What happens when Baha'is "run the world"? First off, I reject the
terminology. I don't believe Baha'is will ever "be in charge" in the sense
that governments are today. When the Baha'i Commonwealth with the House of
Justice at its head comes into being, the entire idea of someone being in
charge will be seen as anachronistic.
How do I believe the Baha'i administration will "come to power"? By default.
It will be recognized as the only effective administrative system that is
actually functioning. You think this is impossible? Look at what has happened
in parts of the world where the central government has collapsed and
fundamentalist Islam has been embraced by the populace, if only temporarily.
They were accepted because they provided stability and nobody else could. in a
similar manner, parts of northern Italy were ruled by the Communist Party for
the the same reason. You may not have liked their philosophy, but there were
relatively corruption free.
You and I Stephen have extremely different administrative philosophies. Not
only am I a Baha'i, but I also have a libertarian left administrative
philosophy. There are not very many other Baha'is in that category and even
fewer who have given any tho't as to how that philosophy informs the
functioning of the Baha'i Administration.
According to Baha'u'llah, this is not merely a new Dispensation, but a new age,
the Age of Maturity. As such, what we are going thru' is the greatest change
to the functioning of human affairs since the mythic "Time of Adam", when the
Culture Hero societies replaced the Mother Goddess societies. The Adamic Cycle
can be seen as the equivalent of going thru' puberty. We are now embarking on
our maturity and it is time for us to grow up and take responsibility for our
own affairs instead of waiting for mommy and daddy
(kings/gov'ts/administrators) to tell us what to do. Rather, the new purpose
of administrators is to remind us, repeatedly and persistently if necessary,
what the proper principles should guide us. Shoghi Effendi made reference to
this idea many years ago when he told local Assemblies to quit making up rules
to enforce on their members.
Another point - most leftist activists in the United States are authoritarian,
they seek power so they can make other people do things their way. Most
leftist activists also define equality in terms of power; that is, a group of
people are only equal to the extent they have members who exercise power. That
is the reason some people make a big deal out of there not being any women on
the House of Justice. It is seen as having for its purpose the exercise of
power and if women are not allowed to participate, then they have less power
and are, therefore, not quite equal. I reject that entire argument.
You may think I have avoided the topic or changed it. i have not. What I have
done is shown how your entire argument is irrelevant.
Don C
Susan, have you read the earlier e-mail in this thread. Don C thinks society
should have a zero tolerance policy towards non-heterosexuality. No marriage,
no civil unions, no domestic partnership, no adoption, no parental rights, etc.
He was complaining society gives them too many rights and blames it on secular
liberalism.
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It doesn't matter whether the sun shines if you never go outside.
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