Reading Groups

Abiogenesis: Concepts of Divine Creation in Light of Current Scientific Understanding of the Origin of Life

Although a great deal of Bahá'í-related discourse has addressed biological evolution, little has focused on the pre-evolutionary origin of life itself. The specific mechanisms of abiogenesis have yet to be determined, but substantial strides have been made in delineating the conditions under which life could arise de novo, based on the principles of physics, chemistry, and molecular biology. This reading group will explore the nature of these conditions as presented in a concise and highly readable book intended for the scientifically curious reader who is not a physicist, chemist, or biologist: Origin of Life: What Everyone Needs to Know, by David W. Deamer. To approach the phenomenon of abiogenesis from a metaphysical perspective, the reading group will also delve into a short (11-page) paper which explores the actions of a Divine Creator in consonance with natural phenomena: Divine Purpose and Evolutionary Processes, by Thomas F. Tracy. Although emphasizing biological evolution, the concepts presented apply to abiogenesis as well. The reading group will end with a discussion of the passages of 'Abdu'l-Bahá that are relevant to this topic.

Texts:

1. Origin of Life: What Everyone Needs to Know, by David W. Deamer
2. Divine Purpose and Evolutionary Processes, by Thomas F. Tracy
   

Expectations:

Participants should read 25 pages of the book each week prior to the online group sessions. The article, 11 pages in length, should be read before the last session. The estimated total reading time is 9.7 hours, or 2.4 hours per week.

Facilitator: Douglas Perry

Schedule: Weekly (Monday) 11 Nov – 2 Dec, 7:00 to 8:30 PM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.

The Role of Diversity in Releasing the Power of Expression

This reading group is dedicated to exploring the impact and role of diversity on various forms of expression in light of the Bahá’í writings. Forms of expression include any means by which an individual or community expresses ideas, thoughts, reflections, or communicates across individuals and groups. Types of diversity explored will include linguistic diversity, neurodiversity, disability/ability, racial diversity, forms of communication, gender, and types of artistic and cultural expression.

This reading group will also explore the power of expression from the perspective of speech-language pathology (SLP). SLP is a field focused on communication disorders, and especially the empowerment of individuals to participate as fully as possible in the life of the community irrespective of cognitive or physical disabilities. Speech-language pathologists and professionals from related fields such as physical therapy, occupational therapy, and applied behavioral analysis are encouraged to participate, but there are no requirements regarding experience or profession to join this reading group. Diversity in the backgrounds and experiences of participants will contribute to the exploration.

Texts:

• Communication – Britannica Online Encyclopedia (12 pages)
• What Is a Speech-Language Pathologist (Speech Therapist) – Cleveland Clinic (7 pages)
• Re|Shaping Policies for Creativity – Addressing culture as a global public good: Executive Summary – United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) (43 pages)
• Cultural Competence Continuum – Terry L. Cross, National Indian Child Welfare Association (3 pages)
• Serving a Multicultural Population: Different Learning Styles – Brenda Y. Terrell & Janice E. Hale (4 pages)
• Shifting the Mindset of Racism Through Cognitive Learning Styles in Communication Sciences & Disorders – Alaina S. Davis, Shameka Stanford (2 pages)
• One Idea Per Line: A Guide to Making Easy Read Resources – Autistic Self Advocacy Network (65 Pages)
• Dimensionalizing Cultures: The Hofstede Model in Context – Geert Hofstede
  (Whole document: 22 pages)
• Various writings from the Bahá’í Faith
• Possible addition: Practice Portal – Professional Issues: Cultural Responsiveness – American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (24 pages)

Participants are encouraged to participate for the full 90 minutes of discussion on Tuesdays as well as to complete the assigned readings (between 20 and 40 pages per week) for each session so they can contribute to the discussion. Adjustments may be made to the following schedule as we learn to read the accompanying materials.

An optional “open study” time will be available each week to support different learning styles. This open study time will be a chance for participants to do the readings with others and work on basic comprehension of the material (rather than discussion of ideas and implications). This study space will take place on Sundays from 12:30 PM to 2:00 PM Eastern preceding each Tuesday meeting (beginning September 22).

Facilitator: May Derry

Schedule: Weekly (Tuesday) 24 Sept – 3 Dec, 7:30 to 9:00 PM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.

The Equality of Men and Women - Theory and Practice

This reading group will discuss the shortcomings and strengths of the feminist movement in addressing intersecting forms of oppression that have hitherto been at the margin of feminist mobilization efforts. This will allow for an opportunity to reflect on where we stand today and the long term work that lies ahead for fully realizing the equality of men and women. 

Text: 

bell hooks, Feminist Theory: From Margin to Center 

Expectations: 

Participants are encouraged to complete select chapters prior to each session.

Facilitators: Lili Nkunzimana, Ben Davis

Schedule: Weekly (Tuesday) 2 Oct – 20 Nov, 7:00 to 8:30 PM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.

Digital Infrastructure and Shared Futures

In this reading group we will seek to understand the core thesis of The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation by Cory Doctorow: greater interoperability within Big Tech will lead to a "better" internet as judged by increased power to users, workers, and smaller negative externalities. We aim to approach this book from a Bahá’í perspective to answer, for example, whether changes to "ownership" can make material impact even without material changes to existing societal structures, or if these problems are further symptoms of those inadequate structures. 

To set the stage for this conversation, we will first review Haleh Arbab's Learning to Read Social Reality in the Light of the Revelation. This piece will provide a spiritual framework for our analysis, encouraging us to approach technological issues with a perspective informed by Bahá’í teachings.

Text:

The Internet Con: How to Seize the Means of Computation by Cory Doctorow

Expectations:

We hope to have an enlightening discussion, and will attempt to create an atmosphere of respectful discourse. Please read the relevant chapters ahead of each session, reflect on what you have to say about the text, and have questions to ask others about their understanding.

Facilitators: Amir Missaghi, Daniel Shown

Schedule: Biweekly (Tuesday) 24 Sept – 17 Dec, 10:00 to 11:30 PM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.

Agriculture, the Environment and Rural Development

Grain by Grain guides us on a journey taken by farmer, Bob Quinn, who returned to the Great Plains of Montana to manage the family farm after completing a doctorate degree in plant biochemistry. Quinn’s journey looks at value and how value should focus much more on quality than simply quantity. The authors’ focus on values means a paradigm shift toward the long-term well-being of people, communities and land instead of short-term goals that solely maximize monetary profit and efficiency. Quinn grows and develops agricultural products that are marketed outside of the huge, primary commodity markets. An example of this is Quinn’s successful development and registration of a market for Kamut wheat with only organically grown Kamut accepted, which identifies this crop for its own distinctive benefit and market. Quinn applied regenerative agronomic practices like cover cropping and crop rotation to improve poor quality cropland leading to achieving prosperous grain yields without using synthetic inputs. Through successful attempts to enhance rural well-being, Quinn creates a template, grain by grain, for others to begin revitalization initiatives in their own rural communities. Ultimately the story is about the transformation of farming and rural communities on the Great Plains of the USA.

Excerpts from the Baha’i writings that correlate with chapter themes will be selected weekly.

Text:

Grain by Grain: A Quest to Revive Ancient Wheat, Rural Jobs and Healthy Food by Bob Quinn and Liz Carlisle

Facilitators: Kim Naqvi, Neil Whatley

Schedule: Weekly (Tuesday) 1 Oct – 17 Dec, 8:00 to 9:30 PM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.

Indigenous Studies Reading Group Part 5: Indigenous Relations

This reading group builds on the past four Indigenous Studies Reading Groups by studying Indigenous Relations: Insights, Tips & Suggestions to Make Reconciliation a Reality by Bob Joseph and Cynthia F. Joseph. As well, we will discuss the article The Pursuit of Social Justice by Michael Karlberg, the speech by Chief Seattle and relevant Bahá’í writings. The reading group is enquiry-based and will attempt to make connections to Bahá’í concepts to help us implement our knowledge in service of reconciliation.  Attendance of previous reading groups is not required. 

Texts:   

1. Indigenous Relations: Insights, Tips, and Suggestions to Make Reconciliation a Reality by Bob Joseph and Cynthia F. Joseph
2. The Pursuit of Social Justice by Michael Karlberg (article)
3. Speech by Chief Seattle
   

Expectations:

Participants are encouraged to read weekly selections prior to each session.

Facilitators: Farzaneh Peterson, Sheila Hardy 

Schedule: Weekly (Monday) 23 Sept – 11 Nov, 7:00 to 8:30 PM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.

‘Adasíyyih - The Story of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Model Farming Community

This reading group is organized as a collaborative and self-directed approach to discourse related to agriculture. Members of the reading group will set their own calendar and meeting times, and manage links to online meetings.

Text:  ‘Adasíyyih - The Story of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Model Farming Community by Paul Hanley

About the text:

“In 1901, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá purchased land in what is now Jordan that would become the village of ‘Adasíyyih. The story of ‘Adasíyyih is offered within the context of the extensive agricultural activities of the Central Figures of the Bahá’í Faith and the early Bahá’í communities They nurtured. It was this farming village—along with several others in the region of the Galilee—that produced a surplus of crops, which enabled ‘Abdu’l-Bahá to keep famine at bay for so many people during World War I, a feat that would earn Him a knighthood from the British Empire and a title that He would never use. In time, ‘Adasíyyih would become a model village for Jordanians, and Jordan’s royalty would become frequent guests. 

Author Paul Hanley’s extensive research, along with his deep interest in agricultural systems, provides a fascinating glimpse of this remarkable history and the lessons that can be gleaned from it and applied to current community building and agroecological Efforts.”

Schedule:
When registration closes registered participants will receive information from the Agriculture Working Group about setting up an initial meeting to get started. For additional information contact: [email protected]

Black Earth Wisdom - Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists

This reading group is organized as a collaborative and self-directed approach to discourse related to agriculture. Members of the reading group will set their own calendar and meeting times, and manage links to online meetings.

Text: Black Earth Wisdom - Soulful Conversations with Black Environmentalists, edited by Leah Penniman

About the text:

“A soulful collection of illuminating essays and interviews that explore Black people’s spiritual and scientific connection to the land, waters, and climate, curated by the acclaimed author of Farming While Black.”

“This thought-provoking anthology brings together today’s most respected and influential Black environmentalist voices —leaders who have cultivated the skill of listening to the Earth —to share the lessons they have learned. These varied and distinguished experts include Pulitzer Prize and National Book Award-winning author Alice Walker; the first Queen Mother and official spokesperson for the Gullah/Geechee Nation, Queen Quet; marine biologist, policy expert, and founder and president of Ocean Collectiv, Dr. Ayana Elizabeth Johnson; and the Executive Director of the North Carolina Association of Black Lawyers, Land Loss Prevention Project, Savi Horne. In Black Earth Wisdom, they address the essential connection between nature and our survival and how runaway consumption and corporate insatiability are harming the earth and every facet of American society, engendering racial violence, food apartheid, and climate injustice.”

Schedule:
When registration closes registered participants will receive information from the Agriculture Working Group about setting up an initial meeting to get started. For additional information contact: [email protected]

Advancing Organizations: Cultivating High Performing Cultures by Understanding Motivation

“The state of the world reflects a distortion of the human spirit, not its essential nature,” writes the Universal House of Justice in its Riḍván 2012 message. The reading group seeks a richer understanding of motivation, using the lens of science and religion.

The main text, Primed to Perform, finds that assumptions about money and social status being motivators are erroneous, and that instead joy, purpose, and potential are more meaningful motivators. The book takes a scientific and data-driven approach to measuring drivers of high performance and explores the behavioral patterns that emerge when these drivers are present. It then goes on to discuss how this knowledge can be applied to cultivate “Total Motivation” and high performing organizations.

In addition to the text, the reading group will also explore relevant excerpts from Bahá’í writings and guidance. The goal of the reading group’s exploration and consultation is to surface golden nuggets of insight that get us closer to understanding the true nature of human motivation.

Text: 

Primed to Perform: How to Build the Highest Performing Cultures Through the Science of Total Motivation by Neel Doshi and Lindsay McGregor

Expectations:

The group will read the book and discuss over six weekly sessions. Participants are asked to complete the reading for each week in advance, and to engage as fully as possible in the discussions with the camera when able.

Facilitators: Heeten Choxi, Eric Berger

Schedule: Weekly (Friday) 18 Oct – 22 Nov, 3:30 to 5:00 PM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.

Freire’s Pedagogy of the Heart and Race in North America

Our reading group has passionately engaged with Paulo Freire's seminal work, Pedagogy of the Oppressed, which has profoundly shaped our understanding of education and power dynamics. To deepen our exploration and application of Freire’s ideas, particularly in addressing racial inequality in the United States, we propose incorporating the insights of Freire’s later work, Pedagogy of the Heart, and viewing it through the lens of Bahá’í principles. Pedagogy of the Heart expands upon Freire's earlier framework by emphasizing the emotional and ethical dimensions of education. This work challenges us to not only critically analyze and transform educational practices but also to engage with the heart and spirit of learners. In our discussions, we aim to integrate the Bahá’í emphasis on eliminating prejudice and fostering unity with Freire's call for a pedagogy that nurtures both emotional and intellectual development. By exploring how participatory and empathetic learning—as advocated by Freire—can contribute to racial justice, we align with Bahá’í principles that promote the elimination of all forms of discrimination and emphasize the interconnectedness of knowledge. 

Our goal is to create a dialogue space where Freire’s transformative pedagogical ideas and Bahá’í principles can intersect, fostering an environment of intellectual transformation for social action.

“This Wronged One hath forbidden the people of God to engage in contention or conflict and hath exhorted them to righteous deeds and praiseworthy character. In this day the hosts that can ensure the victory of the Cause are those of goodly conduct and saintly character.”

(Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh Revealed After the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, Author: Bahá’u’lláh, Source: US Bahá’í Publishing Trust, 1988 pocket-size edition, Page: 88, excerpt from LAWḤ-I-DUNYÁ [Tablet of the World])

After an initial consultation we will assign reading tasks to be carried out in advance of each session. The text is short.

Text:

Pedagogy of the Heart by Paulo Freire (please contact facilitators for 40% discount on new Bloomsbury edition, available on request)

Facilitators: Glenda Jackson, Ben Wilson

Schedule: Weekly (Saturday) starting 19 Oct, 10:30 AM to 12:00 PM Eastern time (end date TBD)

This group has reached registration capacity.

Beyond the Rabbit Hole: Internet Mindfulness in the Age of Entertainment

Media literacy is defined by the National Association for Media Literacy Education as “The ability to access, analyze, evaluate, create, and act using all forms of communication.” This reading group will use the 2022 book What the Fact!?: Finding the Truth in All the Noise to gain a deep understanding of the media technologies that pervade US society and consider ways to fulfill our obligation to follow the Universal House of Justice’s counsel: “The followers of the Blessed Beauty must be conscious and conscientious users of any technology they decide to utilize and must apply insight and spiritual discipline.”

(Universal House of Justice, Letter to all National Spiritual Assemblies, 1 December 2019)

We will seek to define the issues that encompass the ‘problem’ of media literacy with emphasis on a) the relationships of youth with the media and b) the phenomenon of the Internet ‘rabbit hole.’ This reading group will be of particular interest to educators and junior youth animators. 

Required text: 

1. What the Fact!?: Finding the Truth in All the Noise by Dr. Seema Yasmin (2022) is available from Amazon and some public libraries.

Recommended text: 

1. Amusing Ourselves to Death: Public Discourse in an Age of Show Business, by Neil Postman (20th anniversary edition, 2005)

Expectations:

Participants are asked to read the December 2019 letter of the House of Justice and “An Evolving Framework for Collective Learning” (pp. 8-13 of For the Betterment of the Word, Bahá’í International Development Organisation, 2023) before the start of the reading group and to read selected sections of the required text before each session.

Facilitators: Nicola Casserly, Ash Rahmani

Schedule: Weekly (Wednesday) 25 Sep – 4 Dec, 8:00 to 9:30 PM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.

Vibrant Communities: Justice and Equity

Because the presence, or lack, of justice is felt by the soul, it is therefore experienced and expressed by the mind (even if unconsciously): it is one of the many factors related to psychological wellbeing or suffering, both directly and indirectly. The Universal House of Justice has written multiple messages emphasizing the role of justice, as spiritual principle put into practice, in the mental and emotional development of children; this includes both the establishment of safe living conditions as well as the eradication of prejudice and other discriminatory behaviors and systems (social justice). Our goal will be to study, consult, write, and reflect on the topic of how justice and equity are prerequisites to the psychological safety required for a vibrant safety.

Text: 

TBD. For first meeting we will have read or listened to “Becoming Champions of Justice” by Paul Lample .

https://bahai.works/Transcript:Paul_Lample/

On_becoming_champions_of_justice

Facilitators: Catherine Donaldson, Christian Smith

Schedule: Biweekly (Sunday) 29 Sept – 1 Dec, 10:00 to 11:00 AM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.

Technology and Community

This group will consider the role of technology in empowering communities, one of the three protagonists of the Divine Plan identified by the Universal House of Justice. As the group explores Dotson’s framework for assessing a technology’s capacity to foster strong community ties, it will examine the merits of the author’s definition of community as well as the elements of his framework. As the text reveals, many technological choices that shape communities’ social environments are made by public and private institutions. Dotson’s analysis of these arrangements will allow us to further reflect on the role of all three protagonists in pursuing technological structures that foster spiritual and material prosperity from the level of the neighbourhood to society.

Expectations:

Participants are expected to read one chapter of the text per week. The facilitators hope to learn about connecting the material to the guidance of the Universal House of Justice about both technology and the three protagonists through brief readings and reflection questions that will be studied and discussed during each session. Participants are asked to participate as fully as possible with their camera on whenever possible.

Text: 

Technically Together by Taylor Dotson

Facilitators: Na’im Ru, Mark Dittmer

Schedule: Weekly (Tuesday) 24 Sept – 10 Dec, 9:00 to 10:30 PM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.

Engaging the Discourse on the Education of Young Children

The environment in which children develop has been shifting for several decades in North America. The work of nurturing young children which once took place in the context of  multi-generational families looks different today with increasing demands on parents, often in households with two working parents. At the same time, there is a lot more information and research that offers parents tools and approaches for educating young children. The Bahá’í writings also have much to say on the education of young children, such as the special role of the mother and the importance of spiritual education. How can a group collaborate to engage meaningfully with the ever-growing body of knowledge in the area of child development in a way that is coherent with the Teachings? In this reading group we will start exploring this field together by taking a look at Hand of the Cause of God Ali-Akbar Furutan's book Mothers, Fathers and Children: Practical Advice to Parents as an example of sifting a field, in this case child psychology, for useful insights and correlating the concepts in the field with ideas in the Bahá’í teachings.

Text: 

Mothers, Fathers and Children: Practical Advice to Parents by A. Furutan, and supplementary texts

Expectations: Participants are encouraged to keep their cameras on when possible, but the facilitators are flexible and want to learn about accommodating people with children.

Facilitators: Maryam Esmaeili, Quddús George

Schedule: Weekly (Monday) 23 Sept – 25 Nov, 10:00 to 11:30 AM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.

The Modern Intellectual Tradition: From Descartes to Derrida

This reading group is envisioned to be the first in a series of four groups dedicated to exploring, in the light of the Bahá’í writings, the work of major thinkers in the Western intellectual tradition since the dawn of the Scientific Revolution. The first group will focus on how the philosophies of Descartes, Locke, Spinoza, Leibniz, Rousseau, Hume, and Kant helped to transform our understanding of the world we live in, and the implications of this transformation for the advancement of civilization. This reading group will set the stage for the second group, which will consider the writings of influential Nineteenth-Century thinkers—such as Hegel, Kierkegaard, Marx, and Nietzsche—who were grappling with many of the issues also being addressed by the Revelations of the Báb and Bahá’u’lláh. The final two reading groups will examine major contributions to philosophical thought during the Twentieth Century. With a view to refining our capacity to participate in discourses concerned with contemporary intellectual trends, the group will listen to Lawrence Cahoone’s lecture series “The Modern Intellectual Tradition: From Descartes to Derrida” and read supplementary material from selected sources. We will also draw correlations with passages from the writings of the Faith to enrich our understanding of the content.

Texts:

1. Lectures: “The Modern Intellectual Tradition: From Descartes to Derrida” by Lawrence Cahoone. Lectures and Transcript provided. 
2. The Bahá’í Reference Library at https://www.bahai.org/library/

Supplementary Material:

1. The Dream of Reason: The Rise of Modern Philosophy, by Anthony Gottlieb 

Philosophy: The Classics, by Nigel Warburton. 

1. The Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy at https://plato.stanford.edu/
   

Expectations:

Participants are encouraged to participate for the full 90 minutes as well as to complete the assigned lectures and, where possible, the supplementary readings for each session so they can contribute to the discussion. Adjustments may be made to the following schedule.

Facilitators: Nadia Khalili, Maureen Flynn-Burhoe

Schedule: Weekly (Wednesday) 25 Sept – 18 Dec, 7:30 to 9:00 PM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.

Fundamental Issues of Existence: An Analysis of the History and Philosophy of Science

What is this thing called Science? How does it affect the way we see the world? Where did it come from, and what are the intellectual foundations of its development? The book Worldviews: An Introduction to the History and Philosophy of Science by Richard DeWitt is a comprehensive overview of the development of science. The text lends itself to an advancing conversation about the intellectual foundations of the fields of science and the purpose behind their respective advancements in various subfields. Participants would ideally connect the concepts and principles discussed in this space to their professional fields to engage in discourses. In our efforts to adopt an outward orientation concerning advancing discourse, participants are welcome to invite their colleagues in academia and/or industry. 

The group will review the initial nine chapters of Worldviews by Richard DeWitt and study the Tablet of Wisdom (Lawh-i-Hikmat) by Baháʼu’lláh. Participants will be asked to review two texts, The Prosperity for Humankind and the 22 July 2020 Letter from the Universal House of Justice, for the pre-readings before our initial meetings.

The expectation is that participants will read the chapter being discussed at the weekly meeting. Participants will strive to attend every session and fully participate in the consultations. One capacity that we are trying to draw on is the ability to read attentively and share our thoughts liberally, with discipline. Another hope is that we can be more experimental with our thoughts and engage in discussions that apply to our particular social reality.

Facilitators: Robert Fathieh-Ngunjiri, Adib Shafipour

Schedule: Weekly (Thursday) 26 Sept – 21 Nov, 8:30 to 10:00 PM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.

Whiteness & Patriarchy: Weeding Out Barriers to Oneness, Cultivating Justice and Authenticity

This reading group was sparked by the themes expressed in a presentation made for the 2022 Association for Bahá'í Studies Conference: “Whiteness and Patriarchy: Weeding Out Barriers to Oneness: Cultivating Obedience to the Covenant”.

We will continue to explore in this fourth series of sessions/themes the broad issues of whiteness and patriarchy as barriers to oneness, manifested by the three protagonists (individuals, communities, and institutions). We seek to gain new understandings, weeding and cultivating simultaneously, to strengthen authentic relationships in justice and oneness.

This fall's current theme will focus on how we navigate our discomfort while reading and studying texts and films on whiteness and patriarchy such as Feminist on Cell Block Y (2018), Ain't I a Woman by bell hooks, Periodical (2023), Sister Outsider by Audre Lorde, and The Creation of the Patriarchy by Gerda Lerner; while correlating them with the Bahá'í writings. 

“... whither can we direct our affections, and what comfort can we expect? How are we to find repose, and in what hope can our hearts rejoice? O the pity! A myriad times the pity, if for a single moment we should look for ease or comfort …”  (Bahá’u’lláh) 

Texts:

Documentaries: Feminist on Cell Block Y and Periodical. 

Readings from: bell hooks, Audre Lorde, Greda Lerner and Kate Manne, correlated with Bahá’í Writings.

Expectations:

We expect curious and eager participants who are willing to live in the discomfort of transformational change. 

Facilitators: Sarah Martin, Trina Gluckman, Pamela Starks, Chuck Egerton

Schedule: Weekly (Saturday) 12 Oct – 25 Jan, 3:00 to 5:00 PM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.

Spirituality and the Brain

This book weaves the author’s personal and professional experiences starting with her work treating clinical depression in the 1990s. Through many years of brain research, showing surprising results, she obtains a growing understanding of spirituality and transformation. She uses innovative techniques with MRI and fMRI scans along with standard survey questions to map areas of the brain and the characteristics of those parts to its capacity for spiritual appreciation and resilience against depression. With this as a scientific baseline, the author infers many aspects of what constitutes a spiritually vibrant life and sees in these ideas answers to her own personal dilemmas.

Much of what she has written can be seen as a reflection of her self-discovered teachings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá and other ideas of the Faith. Given that the development of her ideas and understanding is based on solid research and inspired discovery, it can only expand our appreciation for the capabilities of the brain and the astounding reach of the mind, stimulating our ability to discover the value of all that surrounds us. 

Expectations:

Each week a defined selection of the book consisting of two to three chapters – 24 to 38 pages of relatively easy reading – are to be read and studied. During the eight weeks each participant is expected to present at least one summary of the weekly selection and to note the parallel or contrasting elements with the teachings of the Faith. These summaries will be compiled into one online document.

Text: 

The Awakened Brain, The New Science of Spirituality and our Quest for an Inspired Life by Lisa Miller PhD.

Facilitator: William Edgar

Schedule: Weekly (Saturday) 26 Oct – 14 Dec, 12:00 to 1:45 PM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.

African History and Recovering a Coherent Historical Consciousness

The healing traditions, the manuscript traditions, and the craft traditions of West Africa have comfortably co-existed with and co-constructed one another for centuries. Yet, our dominant academic discourses often represent those traditions not just as separate from one another, but as mutually incompatible. Thus, the sources that form the basis of African history are often described in terms of opposing binaries such as oral vs. textual, aesthetic vs. ethical, material vs. discursive, etc. This reading group is aimed at investigating the origins of these artificial divides, and will consider approaches to interpreting African historical sources in ways that are coherent with the self-understandings of the peoples and communities that created them. Our study will focus particularly on situating these questions within the ANISA model of educational practice developed by Dr. Magdalene M. Carney, a Bahá’í educator who was intensely concerned with cultivating a coherent historical consciousness within children and youth.

Texts:

Adams, Adrian. “An Open Letter to a Young Researcher.” African Affairs 78, no. 313 (October 1, 1979): 451–79.

https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordjournals.

afraf.a097145.

Adams, Adrian, and Jaabe So. A Claim to Land by the River: A Household in Senegal, 1720-1994. Oxford University Press, 1996.

https://doi.org/10.1093/acprof:oso/

9780198201915.001.0001.

Brigaglia, Andrea, and Mauro Nobili, eds. The Arts and Crafts of Literacy: Islamic Manuscript Cultures in Sub-Saharan Africa. De Gruyter, 2017.

https://doi.org/10.1515/

9783110541441.

Carney, Magdalene. Teaching: Issues, Perspectives, and Definitions. New York: MSS Information Corp., 1975.

Heritage Radio Network. “Dr. Edda Fields-Black on Rice, the Legacy of African Slavery, and Symphony as History.” Fields, 2022.

https://open.spotify.com/episode/

2IZFMBEvmPKByZxlv1aXoO.

Hollins, Etta R. Interview with Dr. Etta R. Hollins. Interview by O. Malik Nash. Video, November 16, 2021. Oral History Recordings. Earl S. Richardson Library.

Ogunnaike, Oludamini. Poetry in Praise of Prophetic Perfection: A Study of West African Arabic Madih Poetry and Its Precedents. Islamic Texts Society, 2020.

Expectations:

Participants will be asked to read approximately 30 pages each week and to attend each session for the full 90 minutes if possible. They will be expected to honor and contribute to an atmosphere of thoughtful, open, and mutually respectful inquiry that makes space for full participation from each member of the group. Meeting dates and times can be adjusted to meet the needs of the group if necessary.

Facilitator: O. Malik Nash

Schedule: Weekly (Saturday) 28 Sept – 14 Dec, 6:00 to 7:30 PM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.

Sharing the Capabilities of Consultation and Unity in Diversity With Others

Even though we may be familiar with the capabilities of consultation and of unity in diversity, at times we struggle with explaining these capabilities to others who are unaccustomed to them. This reading group focuses on sharing ideas and experiences in doing this. We can learn not only to work harmoniously with people of different professions, races, cultures, or ways of thinking, but also take advantage of this diversity to make better decisions and carry out more complex projects than what we could achieve with a group of people who think alike. A key to achieving unity in diversity is the practice of making decisions using consultation with an attitude of investigating truth and considering the well-being of all. To achieve this, the book presents a number of guidelines and qualities that are necessary for productive consultation. It then proposes several practical steps that can expedite the process of coming to a decision. The study concludes with concrete suggestions of how to deal with conflicts that may arise due to diverse cultural norms.

Texts: 

1. The Benefits of Unity in Diversity: How to Use the Clash of Ideas to Make Better Decisions
2. Complementary videos

Expectations: 

Participants are encouraged to complete all the readings, (which are usually only 10 pages or so) and watch the complementary video prior to each session.

Facilitator: Joan Hernandez

Schedule: Weekly (Sunday) 29 Sept – 3 Nov, 3:30 to 5:00 PM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

The ABS Arts Group will work through The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron. This is a 12-week program intended to help participants discover, intensify and give expression to their innate creativity. The program realistically requires five or more hours per week and must be followed to completion to be effective. The meetings will serve as a conversation among trusted friends to share insights, chat about problems, and celebrate accomplishments. The book is widely available on the new and used market at a reasonable price. A PDF is also available if needed.

Text: 

The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron

Expectations: 

Commitment to complete the program. Participants should have read the introductory sections of the book prior to the first meeting. They are: ‘Introduction’, ‘Spiritual Electricity’, and ‘The Basic Tools’.

Facilitator: Robert Hanevold

Schedule: Weekly (Monday) 23 Sept – 30 Dec, 8:30 to 10:00 PM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.

How to Talk About the Climate Crisis

This reading group is situated in the Climate/Environment Working Group. The overall purpose of our working group and this reading group is to learn more about the challenges of climate change, the loss of species and related environmental problems; to consider the relevance of Bahá’í teachings to these topics, and learn how to have elevated conversations that correlate Bahá’í principles with the general discourses in the wider population; and to explore ways of taking social and environmental action and influencing public discourse and policies. This session will focus on communicating with others about the climate crisis to promote learning and action, and raise the discussion to consider spiritual solutions to these deep-seated problems. The main text, Saving Us, is written by Canadian atmospheric scientist Katharine Hayhoe, who lives and teaches in Texas, and is chief scientist for the Nature Conservancy. Her ability to talk to a wide range of people focuses on engaging them with emotional intelligence and appealing to their higher principles. As well, she is a person of deep Christian faith, who believes in the principle of building unity and avoiding polarization, which is what the Universal House of Justice is asking us to do.

Texts: 

1. Saving Us: A Climate Scientist’s Case for Hope and Healing in a Divided World, 2021, by Katharine Hayhoe (available in paperback on Amazon, Indigo, any major bookstore, or in public or university libraries)
2. Selected Writings, documents, websites, videos and materials shared as needed

Expectations:
Participants are strongly encouraged to acquire the book early and are expected to complete assigned readings prior to each session, in order to participate in group discussions and contribute to learning.

Facilitators: Leslie Cole, Nancy Dinnigan-Prashad, Darren Hedley

Schedule: Weekly (Wednesday) 2 Oct – 11 Dec, 7:30 to 9:00 PM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.

Rethinking Education, for Transformation

Education, today, seems mainly concerned with the acquisition of information, skills, and abilities that allow students to accumulate material wealth, status, and power over others within the present-day structures of society, a social order that continues to disintegrate. What humanity requires here and now, globally and locally, is an elevation of its thinking about education, new ways of conceptualizing education as something more, much more, than a means for individual material gain. One systematic effort to rethink education is offered by FUNDAEC, the Foundation for the Application and Teaching of Science, in courses that identify and seek to foster in students the capabilities they will need to participate constructively in the transformation of society – heart by heart, neighborhood by neighborhood – toward the unification of humanity within one world civilization. This reading group will examine the FUNDAEC approach to basic educational concepts in the first unit of one particular text, Intellectual Preparation for Social Action. Through this course, we hope to stimulate discourse on education that will contribute to our own transformation as well as the transformation of conceptual frameworks for learning and teaching within families, communities, and the whole of society.

Text:

Intellectual Preparation for Social Action: Unit 1 (FUNDAEC)

Expectations:

Participants are encouraged to read and reflect on the assigned sections of the text before our meetings and, during each meeting, to participate by sharing quotations from the text, thoughts, and questions that may serve to elevate the quality of our conversations.

Facilitators: Bob and Nancy Blecher

Schedule: Weekly (Sunday) 29 Sept – 1 Dec, 7:30 to 9:30 PM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.

Democracy and the Public Sphere

This reading group is envisioned to be the first in a series of groups dedicated to exploring, in the light of the Bahá’í writings, the work of major thinkers examining the nature of democracy and the public sphere. The group this fall will focus on how the philosophies of Immanuel Kant, G. W. F. Hegel, J. S. Mill, Walter Lippmann, John Dewey, Joseph Schumpeter, Carl Schmidt, and Hannah Arendt have helped to transform our understanding of modern social and political thought and the implications of this thought for the advancement of civilization. This reading group will set the stage for the second group in the winter of 2025, where we will consider selections from writings of more recent thinkers such as Jurgen Habermas, Nancy Fraser, Niklas Luhmann, and Chantal Mouffe, among others. With a view to refining our capacity to participate in discourses concerned with contemporary intellectual trends, we will study essays from these thinkers compiled in The Idea of the Public Sphere: A Reader, edited by Jostein Gripsrud et al., as well as supplementary material from selected sources. We will also draw correlations with passages from the writings of the Faith to enrich our understanding of the content.

Text:

The Idea of the Public Sphere: A Reader, edited by Jostein Gripsrud et al.

Facilitator: Todd Smith

Schedule: Weekly (Thursday) 26 Sept – 28 Nov, 12:00 to 1:30 PM Eastern time

This group has reached registration capacity.