Tahirih's Solstice Message March 2009 by Starr* Saffa
Tahirih-Starr*
Greetings! It has been awhile since I posted on some of these forums.
I have based the Spring/Autumn New Year (Naw Ruz) Message on many of
Tahirih’s core teachings which are also mentioned in the Pre-
Abrahamic, Judaic, Christian, Islamic, Babi, Baha’i, mystical,
esoteric and other Writings. These topics include ideas of the Oneness
of humankind, ‘Look within and you will find Me (God/ess) standing
there mighty, powerful, and self-subsisting, dietary advices, biblical
prophecy, advices of Abdu’l-baha to prepare for difficult times,
universal co-operation, science and religion going hand in hand,
ancient astrological knowledge, and modern thought. It is a simple,
but timely message regardless of orientation.
TAHIRIH’S SOLSTICE MESSAGE MARCH 2009 by Starr* Saffa
To all the peoples of the world:
The March Solstice is celebrated in many parts of Mother Earth as
marking the New Year when all things are made new by a re-energizing
or recreating of all atoms. At the same time, in many parts of the
world, the March Solstice signifies the autumn when the old gives way
to the new. Not only is this simultaneous birthing and dying a
fractal- pattern that occurs yearly; but it happens in cycles and
eons. In 2009 we are experiencing this dual process a few years before
we have the monumental Shift into an entirely different civilization
on earth.
Making the Shift is and will continue to entail some challenging
opportunities for personal transformation individually and
collectively. The first challenge is not to become victim of fear; but
rather to face situations empowered with renewed faith and knowledge
of the true Self which has been somewhat concealed in the old system.
You might ask: How is it that all the atoms are re-energized or re-
created and what has this got to do with my further exploration of
Self?
As you may know the Solstices are part of astrological events.
Consequently this process of increasing and revitalizing the atoms of
the people and the earth itself is directly related to the positioning
of the planet in relation to the sun.
Light energy from the sun and cosmic radiation forms one of the
smallest particles which are called photons. RNA is first seen at the
bio-photon/wave level. Photons act as a step down transformer of light
information-energy so as to enable changes in atoms and molecules to
take place. It is the catalyst for the DNA protein activity.
Therefore, the DNA of humanity as well as in all things is directly
affected by changes in the photon belt circulating earth and is
directly related to the life force which can heal, transform, and
uplift. However, remember, you the observer, is not located within the
human frame, but rather director of it from your immortal residence in
the Oneness.
There are seven major cycles destined for earth before it moves so
close to the sun that it is no longer suitable for human life. At
present, according to Aztec knowledge, planet earth is moving out of
the fifth-Sun and into the Sixth-Sun Cycle. This is a major reason
that the earth is heating up, aside from the greenhouse effect created
by humanity’s ill treatment of nature.
Global warming will and does have direct affect on all living things
including the human species. For instance, heating water (humans are
78% water) towards boiling point will cause the water to go through
phase transition towards a more gaseous state of being. Therefore, the
global warming means that the human body as well as the vegetation and
the rest of the environment is now beginning to experience a change of
state to a more crystalline structure. Also, human’s possess a thermo-
regulating survival mechanism which will assist the human species to
adjust to increased climate temperatures as this world moves forward.
As crystalline bodies are lighter and empowered by the higher Self the
food ingested needs to be lighter with low karmic value such as greens
and fruits. As a rawfoodist I can attest that such a diet compliments
the more ethereal reality, a reality which will assist human survival
in the changing global civilization.
Changing now into a raw vegan diet will not only help health issues
and spiritual empowerment but will make coping with supplies not being
so readily available during transitioning into a different
civilization a lot easier. The people that start such a diet in the
now will feel confident in knowing they can survive on less food that
can be grown locally.
This is the prophecy of “they will turn their swords into plough
shares” beginning to unfolding in the now. When Cuba had to become
self-sufficient in the 1990’s all available lands in and out of the
cities were detoxified and remineralized so that organic green manure
farming would sustain the peoples in a supporting community. Their
motto is ‘think globally and act locally’.
To this point it will be wise to keep seeds which can be sprouted and
eaten for immediate sustenance. In order to sprout seeds and survive,
thought should be given to keeping water and a purifying water system
available at all times during the transitional days ahead. This kind
of knowledge empowers people to cope and not falter into fear when
faced with changing times.
As part of the crashing of the Phoenix, as predicted for this period
of time, natural calamities exacerbated by humans have already begun
such as the fires, floods, quakes, volcanoes, tsunamis, hurricanes,
tornados and the like. As such it is wise to keep a little suitcase
with valuables, passports, and survival gear such as seeds ready if it
becomes necessary to flee. Many will also be faced with changes due to
the dying of the old system.
The important news of these days is to keep focused on the renewal of
all through the incoming Light which illumines, empowers and creates
the reality. And the MOST important news of all is to remember that
housed in the Source of Oneness you and your limitless thought are
that informational Light/Love creating a new civilization of harmony
and balance. Empowered with this awareness many predicted calamities
and tough times can easily be abated. Will it so and it is. Thus, you
are the Divine Energy causing the Phoenix to rise again in the dawning
of the Sixth Sun.
This portal of remembering and connecting with Self at Source was
opened in the 1840’s. The time has come for humanity to become fully
aware of this quantum truth and exercise its true power in unfolding a
new civilization in 2009 and in the coming years leading up to the
Shift of the Ages in this earthly realm. Always remember your immortal
Self in the Source of Oneness when sojourning throughout the multitude
of worlds.
With eternal living love, Tahirih-Starr*
http://tahirihstarr.info
The film: *Tahirih Divine Voice* on Youtube in three parts
Quote: By allowing ourselves to carry the tranquil experience of the
Inner- Self in all our actions and inter-actions, we can indeed make
this world a splendid human experience. Note that the ocean seemingly
violent outwardly, experiences its own calmness inwardly. The deeper
it goes, the calmer it becomes. All of us have this pure potential
imbedded in us. Why not consciously tap it out to blend our lives with
many free musical dancing notes of love, romance and joys? The whole
universe is open to us; its infinite resources, its infinite
information and its infinite Love. Just ALLOW yourself to access it
and Be a part of it. By not allowing, we are depriving ourselves of
what is ours. May we all allow ourselves to utilize this intrinsic
inheritance to fulfill our living with Love......Ram
NUR
Tahirih-Starr*
I have based the Spring/Autumn New Year (Naw Ruz) Message on many of
Tahirih’s core teachings which are also mentioned in the Pre-
Abrahamic, Judaic, Christian, Islamic, Babi, Baha’i, mystical,
esoteric and other Writings. These topics include ideas of the Oneness
of humankind, ‘Look within and you will find Me (God/ess) standing
there mighty, powerful, and self-subsisting, dietary advices, biblical
prophecy, advices of Abdu’l-baha to prepare for difficult times,
universal co-operation, science and religion going hand in hand,
ancient astrological knowledge, and modern thought. It is a simple,
but timely message regardless of orientation.
TAHIRIH’S SOLSTICE MESSAGE MARCH 2009 by Starr* Saffa
To all the peoples of the world:
The March Solstice is celebrated in many parts of Gaia as marking the
inheritance to fulfill our living with Love......Ram P Varma, UNITED
COMMUNITIES OF SPIRIT
Starr* Saffa
NUR
http://www.groupsrv.com/religion/post-1132006.html
http://groups.google.com.au/group/talk.religion.bahai/browse_thread/t...
"But I'll tell you, I don't have it any more, I was travelling in the
outback and needed to use a dunny that didn't have any toilet paper,
so your book found it's home and was left for others to put good use
of it."
-- Sufi Baha'i on Starr Saffa's book, 2006 Quote of the Year Winner
Broken Silence: A review of "Tahirih Thealogy: Female Cosmic Christ
Spirit of the Age Concealed No Longer"
By Starr Saffa
Zeus Publications (Gold Coast: 2005).
ISBN: 1-9210-0551-3
Everybody became my friend according to their own inclination
None searched for my secrets from within me.
- Rumi (Masnavi, Book I, prologue)
Never was a line of poetic verse more appropriately put to describe
the generally abysmal state by which one of Iran's greatest
revolutionary mystic poets, Babi leaders, feminists, not mention a
great ancestor of mine, has been continually misrepresented and
misappropriated by those with their own peculiarly idiosyncratic
interests and sectarian agendas. To the Baha'is Tahirih Qurrat'ul-'Ayn
(d. 1852) has been made the docile proto-Baha'i saint where both her
antinomian and solidly Babi and pro-Subh-i-Azal (d. 1912) credentials
have been conveniently brushed under the carpet and re-Imagined to fit
their own
calculated, ahistorical perspectives. Of course this has been part and
parcel of their project of fictional recreation of early Babi history
tout court, projecting their own sectarian fantasies on to the past
(i.e. conflation), so Tahirih is not the only victim here. The whole
early Babi pantheon remains in the same position. To the Iranian Left
she has been made the patron saint of the women's suffragette movement
and a proto-Marxist of nineteenth century Iran while her Babi and
extreme heterodox Shi'ite mystical leanings have been totally
forgotten altogether because the Left in Iran, to its continual myopic
foolishness, has always viewed such things with a great deal of
embarrassment.
It is not necessary to even broach the ahistorical propaganda within
the hagiographical pseudo-narratives of a Nabil Zarandi (d. 1893?) or
a Martha Root (d. 1939) to discover the deliberate and systematic
obfuscations made of her narrative and situs by the Baha'is. One only
needs to point out the earliest Babi histories themselves such as
Hajji Mirza Jani's (d. 1852) Book of the Point of Kashan (kitab
nuqtat'ul-kaf), her own surviving letters and treatises, the poetry,
and especially the reminiscences of people who actually knew her
intimately, such as Shah Sultan Jahan Izziyyeh Khanum Nuri (d. 1903?),
to realize the extent to which the Baha'is have deliberately obscured
her role and re-Imagined her life and career to cater to their own
shallow, whimsical and conceited sectarian notions of who she ought to
be. The Iranian Left, however, is perhaps even more guilty than the
Baha'is here, for at least unlike these religionists
they have possessed the intellectual tools, the subtlety, the
sophistication, not to mention the wherewithal, to have not allowed
the multifaceted aspects of her complex character and historical
situation to be thoroughly obscured as it has.
Everybody wishes to own and thereby attribute their own quirks
and nonsense upon Qurrat'ul-'Ayn. But none have as yet been prepared
to dispassionately investigate and portray the truth about her life
and career in detail showing who and what she really was. I have begun
the task of thorough research myself over the past several years
(reading and locating virtually everything in existence by or relating
to her), as did Denis Maceoin before he abandoned the project. But a
great deal remains to be done before anything resembling a publication
is ready to be put before a reputable publisher to thereby allow her
to be snatched back to freedom from the sullied hands of sectarian
religionists and leftwing ideologues. I do, however, wish to mention
the following aside as an example of the absolutely ridiculous
misappropriation that the memory of Tahirih has been subjected to of
late. I will never forget
how in the mid '90s the - once Saddam Hussein backed and currently
Israeli backed - MKO organization continually compared their leader
and self-styled provisional president of the Democratic Islamic
Republic of Iran, Maryam Abrishamchi Rajavi, to Tahirih
Qurrat'ul-'Ayn. To his total discredit, the LA based Iranian pop
singer Aref blatantly expressed this asinine stupidity on stage once
at the so called "unity concert" in Paris (summer 1994) and
thereafter
it was repeated parrot fashion again and again by the editors of the
now defunct Mojahed newspaper. I was even more appalled then, as I am
now, that not a single academic or learned pundit called the MKO on
this simply scandalous comparison. Where were the Juan Coles or
Farzaneh Milanis to shut these political cultists up? Silent, as
usual, comfortably napping on their armchairs in the Ivory Tower. I am
sorry but Mrs. Rajavi couldn't carry Tahirih Qurrat'ul-Ayn's
jockstraps, let alone to be compared to this great visionary Babi.
Moreover Aref wouldn't know Tahirih Qurrat'ul-`Ayn from his backside
let alone to deign compare her to a convicted, morally bankrupt leader
of a Stalinist-Iranian style-Khmer Rouge terrorist organization such
as Maryam Rajavi and her MKO.
On the other hand, among the Iranian leftwing literati of the
early twentieth century one can forgive a Forugh Farrokhzad (d. 1967)
and her intellectual salon for not going further into the persona of
Tahirih Qurrat'ul-'Ayn in their writings. But at least Forugh had the
honesty to acknowledge the debt she owed to Tahirih personally and the
influence that this Houri of Badasht exerted on her own poetry without
however deigning to Imagine a Tahirih of her own making like
the others. That said I am not here specifically to air detailed
gripes at the Baha'is or the Iranian Left. All of that will appear in
the future where I plan to thoroughly dismantle the fictions these two
groups have been guilty in foisting for over a century and a half
against the memory of this great Babi martyr and Letter of the Living.
I am here instead, by way of the responsibility I feel I owe the
legacy of this great woman and ancestor of mine, to speak about a
monster I feel I am responsible for creating. This review, therefore,
is my mea culpa to Tahirih Qurrat'ul-'Ayn and to set the record
straight for the public at large as to where I stand on Ms Saffa's
book.
I will begin by saying that TAHIRIH THEALOGY has disappointed me
tremendously because it is about anything but Tahirih Qurrat'ul-'Ayn.
It is mainly a work of very superficial New Age fluff that has as much
to do with Qurrat'ul-'Ayn as sulphurous fumes have to lightning. Let's
get this straight from the get-go:
TAHIRIH THEALOGY is about Ms Starr Saffa and her own ideas. It is not
- repeat NOT -- about Tahirih Qurrat'ul-'Ayn. It is not even a
panegyric set to prose regarding Qurrat'ul-'Ayn, which would've been
fine in and of itself. Even the most sophisticated of postmodernist
intellectual contortions cannot make this out to be a work about
Tahirih. What it is, is an assembly of hodge-podge, half digested
ideas with Tahirih as an afterthought.
TAHIRIH THEALOGY is not an academic or scholarly work. It is not
particularly well researched and many of its positions are not well
thought out by the author. It is not even a work that fits the genre
of high grade contemporary occult and esoteric literature. It is
primarily an autobiography of the author's life experiences thus far
with the name and some very surface features regarding the life and
ideas of Qurrat'ul-'Ayn thrown in there for general effect whilst
premised on some of the more goofier popular New Ageisms floating
around. I also wish to point out that none of the reviewers of TAHIRIH
THEALOGY so
far, from Canadian based fantasy writer Michael McKenney to Georgia
Efford, are remotely qualified to be discussing this book even
approaching the borders of anything resembling the informed. They
certainly are not contributing a diddle to the advancement of
knowledge with their sugar-coated reviews. Neither knows Persian or
Arabic or has ever been exposed to the corpus of Babi writings, or has
extensively reviewed the critical secondary literature in European
languages, that would've helped them better situate their overall
appraisal of what is going on in Ms Saffa's text. In short, where the
proper
contextualization of this book is concerned, neither knows a fig as to
what they are talking about.
Before launching into my thematic critique, I wish to also to
make a confession in that I was very much responsible for encouraging
Ms. Saffa to write and publish a work in the first place. I say "a"
work and not "the" work because the initial impetus of what she was
going to be writing about was to be mainly a work of free gnostic
oriented inspiration very much like some of my own creative, esoteric
inspired prose and verse. I put a challenge to her. Be that as it may,
there is not an iota of that anywhere in TAHIRIH THEALOGY so I don't
believe she met it remotely, even half way.
The question I have kept asking myself for these months privately
after TAHIRIH THEALOGY first came out was what was the point of this
exercise, then? Knowing Ms Saffa personally before parting ways I
definitively know the answer to that question but do not wish to
articulate it publicly in any extensive detail. I will say this,
though, I am simply appalled by the misguided zealotry which
everything Ms Saffa is doing in the name of Tahirih has taken of late.
This was not what we initially envisaged, or at least I envisaged. My
vision has been around the concept of a mystery school and esoteric/
occult initiation into higher truth, i.e. the alchemical Great Work.
She seems to me to have transferred and therefore sublimated wholesale
the warped attitudes of her exoteric Baha'i missionary zeal of yore
into this whatever it is she has spawned and which this first book is
intended to spearhead. To me, she has become fixated on the allure of
the shadow rather than the light, yet she knows it not. There is
almost a kind of narrow-minded fundamentalism and dogmatism involved
in her activities since this book came out that is -- no matter how
much I have pleaded with her to abandon -- responsible for pushing me
away from her, her activities and her ideas for good. Starr Saffa, I
am afraid to say, has turned into quite the Tahirih-thumping fanatic,
but with the Tahirih being portrayed here completely and categorically
a figment of her own imagination and not remotely any Tahirih of
history, or, for that matter, any Tahirih of high gnostic truth. A
pseudo-Tahirih of garbled New Ageism, most definitely, but not my
great ancestor Tahirih Qurrat'ul-'Ayn or what she represented, truly.
I will not be broaching in this review the numerous spelling and
grammatical mistakes replete throughout the book, nor that Saffa gets
the numerical value of the letter Tau in Greek (the Hebrew Tav) wrong,
or that the so called Tahirih symbol is of her own contriving and not
particularly profound, at least to me. It was the responsibility of
her copy editors and proof readers at Zeus Publications to point these
things out, and they also have failed in their task. Nor will I ask
the pertinent question as to why a full chapter of the book is
authored by someone else. Nor am I going to contend with the concept
"Thealogy," which Saffa doesn't even critically examine or elaborate
much on in any case. These are irrelevant side-issues. I am interested
in a thematic critique of the core idea behind the book. I will say
this, however, a book that contends to pontificate upon such an
important figure such as Tahirih should at least utilize source texts,
even those translated by others. One prayer translated by Juan Cole
doesn't count. It is a doxological prayer that is not representative
of her overall complete views. Failing the source texts, it should
demonstrate a thorough and analytical mastery of the secondary source
material. Saffa has failed on both counts. She doesn't know the source
languages to deal with the source texts, and her knowledge and
analysis of the secondary material isn't even on par with intermediary
standards whereby she can somewhat critically assort through the
information. Furthermore, even with those sporadic secondary material
that she does utilize her conclusions and interpretations of that
material are often below the sub-standard and
usually wrong. In other words she is in no position to be writing
intelligently about Tahirih Qurrat'ul-`Ayn. And why, for the love of
God, does she keep spelling Abbas Amanat's name "Amanet"? This is even
more irritating than Sen McGlinns "Moojen" for "Moojan."
Let me now point out the most flawed idea in the book: twin
manifestations. Briefly, there is no support for it in the Babi
doctrine, or at least not in the manner Saffa is portraying it. The
concept of "Twin Manifestations" as it is, is completely a bogus
category of Baha'i manufacturing that is predicated on the notion that
Mirza Husayn 'Ali Nuri Baha'u'llah (d. 1892) was indeed the Babi
messiah as perceived by the Babi texts and that therefore the Babi
theophany and the apparent Baha'i one are therefore contiguous.
Clearly any study of the Babi oeuvre, specifically the Persian Bayan,
will quickly disabuse any validity to that idea, demonstrating that
nothing could be further from the truth. Granted there is a sort of
Babi pretext to the idea of twin manifestations, namely the unity of
the last Letter of the Living, Mulla Muhammad `Ali Barfurushi Quddus
(d. 1849), with its founder the Báb (d. 1850). But if this notion was
going to be explored with any sufficient depth or authenticity, the
Babi lexicon of authority needed to be explored, especially the
relationship and structure of the hierarchy of the Letters of the
Living together with the hierarchy of All-Things stemming from it,
which Ms Saffa clearly has not. Mind you, this is not exactly an easy
topic that just anyone can get their head around, either. It is
heavily nuanced with the intellectual horizons of almost a dozen
centuries of
Islamicate gnosis and specifically a very sophisticated list of
Shi'ite esoteric speculations. Clearly Saffa is in no position here to
deal with these core issues, not to mention she harbours a visceral
bias against anything remotely resembling the Islamic to even deign
investigate them on any thorough level. But because that is the case,
her whole argument then begins to fall into tatters. Attention to such
detail in these things is paramount, and pre-eminently so.
True, that at the Badasht conference of 1848 Tahirih made her own
theopathic claims to divinity. But so did Quddus, as apparently had
others. However I believe the fact has totally eluded Saffa that Babi
theophanocracy was at this stage based on the underlying notion of a
sort of 'ecclesia gnosticae divinitatis' with the Primal Point --
being the Bab personally and not Tahirih Qurrat'ul-'Ayn -- always
standing in for the godhead below while the Letters of the Living and
the other Babi believers below them standing in for the godhead's
names and attributes. Put another way, if the Bab was the One below
here on earth, his immediate lieutenants were the One's emanations
here below on earth. All of this by way of intellectual genealogy is
referrable to a complex Neoplatonic theophanology as found in the
metaphysics of Ibn 'Arabi (d. 1240). If one where therefore to
envision a series of concentric circles stretching into infinity, but
with a single point at its centre, the Bab would be this point, while
each of the Letters the various rungs of the circles all the way going
out. Amanat has discussed this, albeit briefly. Maceoin's article
"Hierarchy, Authority and Eschatology in Early Babi Thought" deals
with it thoroughly, albeit with some misinterpretation. If one was to
draw a further analogy, and from the Qabbalah, in order to understand
the dynamics of this theophanocratic hierarchy better -- and
specifically who is where, in what rank and why -- then the Bab would
constitute the first sephirot Kether (the crown), Quddus the second
sephirot Chokhmah (wisdom) and Tahirih only its third, Binah
(knowledge), and so on and so forth. Why this idea has been so
difficult to understand to not only Saffa, but others as well, is
because there is a lack of attention (or outright ignorance) regarding
the basic axioms of universal esotericism, especially as they have
played themselves out in Islamicate. Had she even pondered upon one of
the central maxims of the Emerald Tablet of Hermes - i.e. as above,
so below - and how in the historical manifestation of its chiliastic
dramaturgy this played out in the minds of the actors of early Babism
(all solid Shi'ite esotericists), she would have immediately grasped
what is going on and not left the matter in such an unnuanced,
confused, chaotic, haphazard, simplistic and largely ahistorical state
of disarray.
And this is precisely the problem with Saffa's visioning of
Tahirih. She has transferred the simplistic presumptions of Baha'i
theology into her re-Imagined Tahirih. I am amazed that one who raved
endlessly to me about the Jungian concept of enantiodromia should then
commit such a blatant enantiodromic faux paus as this! Therefore, the
concept of twin manifestation that Saffa posits, making Tahirih equal
to the Bab, is tout court ahistorical, undoctrinal, unsupportable by
any text, including Tahirih's own, and thus harkens precisely to those
assumptions that have no bearing on the authentic worldview of
Babism. Talk about enantiodromia, the shadow recoiling on itself!
Furthermore, even if she wished to bring out the dichotomous Shiva/
Shakti dynamic as a conceptual framework to read back the relationship
of the Bab and Tahirih into; again, she would fail because the Shiva/
Shakti dynamic is a complex principle referrable to an even more
complex doctrine of theophanies in Tantric metaphysics where Shiva
stands always as the ultimate transcendent Source while Shakti remains
the imminent divine Force. This is not an issue about equality but one
of metaphysical complementarity. Unfortunately the generally flat-land
ontologies of New Agers and the even more flat-land, politicized
epistemologies stemming from it usually fail to grasp such important
nuances. Which leads me to the point that New Age feminists or even
their male counterparts who have not worked out, or sufficiently
grasped, the principia of gnostic high metaphysics are usually not in
any position to be talking intelligently about esotericism either.
Saffa is a sore thumb example of this. She has not resolved for
herself whether she wants to be a feminist or a gnostic. Note that
this has nothing to do with sexism or feminism or whatever else,
either. This is an unfortunate fact borne out by the unresolved
ambiguities, the ambivalences which the personal temperaments of such
people often demonstrate and which are, then, carried over into
virtually all their intellectual discussions and perspectives. Gnosis
by definition is beyond the temporal. It is of the vertical dimension
and mind-bogglingly complex in its principles. It takes a certain
spiritual type to actively engage in its universe. That is why both
lock-jawed
religionists and New Age fluff bunnies stay away from it. There are no
gender politics in the domain of gnosis, which properly belongs to
the
horizontal, this-worldly sphere. I make no apologies for waxing
Guenonian on this point. But facts are facts, however hard they might
sound to some.
To explicate historically this point totally confused by Saffa,
among other things during the Karbalah period (1844-7) Tahirih had
claimed to be the Point of Knowledge (nuqtat'ul-'ilm), not the Primal
Point (nuqta ula), which is reserved for the Bab and the Bab
exclusively. That she had claimed and even been validated in this
claim of pointship in knowledge in no way, shape or manner supports
the thesis that she was then ipso facto to be considered the Bab's
co-equal. Saffa has heard "point" and concluded "equality" without
grasping or distinguishing the fundamental difference between
"primacy" and "knowledge" in the scheme of things. Clearly her
Thealogy is garbled here, and badly. Admittedly, even Tahirih did not
entertain as radical a notion such as this regarding the role Saffa
attributes to her, as a perusal of her untranslated treatise "The
Divine Effusions" (ishráq-i-rabbani) will immediately demonstrate.
Indeed she was a senior Babi leader and Letter of the Living, deemed
the return of Fatima no less, even divine. But she was not the chief
central figure of Babism, let alone its partner co-Christ. She would
be the first to flee and absolve herself from such an idea, as her
laudatory poem to Subh-i-Azal (d. 1912), not to mention her ecstatic
poems to the Bab lauding him as her absolute master, clearly shows
without any reservation or equivocation. Even the Qurratiyyah Babis
did not presume to go this far. As such Saffa has yet to comprehend
the complex notion regarding the gradations of divinity in the Babi
scheme of things that animates this discussion from first to last.
That said I believe I bear some responsibility for seeding this
misguided idea
into Saffa. Unfortunately I have concluded that Saffa never really
listens carefully to what I say nor has she really understood what she
did
listen to, nor did she grasp the complexity of what I was alluding to
when I lauded the divinity of Tahirih, as I still do and always will.
Nor, moreover, do I believe she is a careful reader of those sources
she has claimed to read which would have moved her away from the
inanities she has so far articulated.
The next point I wish to draw attention to is the subtext
animating the author personally, i.e. the unspoken yet transparent
Derridean "presences" behind her text. Starr Saffa is a feminist and a
New Ager. Note I do not begrudge her this on its own. Until her formal
withdrawal in 2001 she was officially a longstanding member of the
Baha'i faith for about thirty years. She was a Baha'i missionary (i.e.
"pioneer") to the South Pacific for a number of
those years. Clearly her formative worldviews have all been shaped by
her activist Baha'i past and the sectarian presumptions animating it.
She is also a white American woman who has had quite a turbulent,
often bitter, experience with the sub-culture of Iranian Baha'is
during most of that time. Let me first say this about that Iranian
Baha'i sub-culture. In my considered opinion, the Iranian Baha'i sub-
culture is largely unrepresentative of Iranian culture tout court,
whether in Iran itself presently or among the non-Baha'i Iranian
diaspora abroad. The Iranian Baha'i sub-culture very much inhabits a
space all to its own and it engages in a love/hate relationship with
the greater Iranian community, whether in Iran or abroad. The
privileged elite amongst this sub-culture are another rung unto
themselves and very much a species of what the late Jalal Al-e Ahmad
(d. 1969) distinguished as the "Westoxicated" (gharbzadeh). Most of
these people are frozen in the past, exhibiting in every facet the
marks and attributes of the Pahlavi era dictatorship. Therefore there
is no way that the elite of
this sub-culture can be associated or representative with the
contemporary dynamics of Iranian social and cultural mores. Twenty-six
years have elapsed since the Revolution. Much, much has changed in
that time -- and on every level. In many ways, as several others have
also repeatedly pointed out, the present Iranian Baha'i sub-culture
suffers the same cultural gaps and insularities which the European
Jews suffered before the end of the Second World War and the formation
of the state of Israel. There is no exaggeration here and an impartial
sociologist or cultural anthropologist would have a field day
studying
this group of people.
But be that was it may, in my view based on my interactions with
her over the years, Saffa has universalized her experience with the
Iranian Baha'i sub-culture - as have many others as well within the
matrix of Saffa's own specific sub-culture - and hence much of her re-
Imagining of Tahirih Qurrat'ul-'Ayn is predicated on it. While wishing
to portray Tahirih as the cultural maverick and social iconoclast that
she was, the idiosyncratic hue this portrayal takes
with Saffa is more akin to a '60s type bra-burning protest of a Gloria
Steinem or Susan Faludi type. It seems to me that in the mind of Saffa
the '60s feminist bra-burner and Tahirih unveiling is to be seen in a
one to one relationship and thus tout court analogous. They are
categorically not the same thing. Saffa's image of the paragon
feminist and spiritualist (small "s") is thus coloured by these
historical-specific paradigms of late 1960s American radicalism which
are as separated from the experiences, assumptions and historical
situation of a nineteenth century Iranian Muslim Shi'ite woman and
Babi mystic as anything can possibly get. Their ideations regarding
the universe and the very lifeworlds inhabited by the two are
fundamentally different. Any good cultural anthropologist would know
this truism instinctively. So, to then make such blanket associations,
even implicitly, is a first order fallacy of reasoning and to indulge
in it beyond the sensible, an outright atrocity to truth. Which leads
me to the point that Saffa is largely (mis)appropriating Tahirih
Qurrat'ul-'Ayn for her own ends to give voice to her own specific
political agenda of alienation, whether from society at large or from
the Iranian Baha'i sub-culture she has longstanding gripes against.
Again, like her New Age feminism, I do not begrudge her alienation in
and of itself. I also happen to share it. But that Tahirih has become
her personal vehicle - the tool -- to articulate this alienation, I
find sad and unfortunate, but also predictable. Predictable because
this has become one of many established patterns in the continual (mis)
appropriation of this figure, whether by the Baha'is or by the Iranian
Left - and now, alas, Saffa herself.
Finally, it should also be noted that there is an almost twisted
sort of fetishized representation of Tahirih Qurrat'ul-'Ayn -- a la
Edward Sa'id's argument in "Orientalism"-going on in Saffa. Tahirih is
being 'represented' and mediated through the specific cultural lens of
late twentieth century Anglo-American
historical-cultural perspectives. The use of the word "Christ" is one
glaringly obvious example of this. Her persona is being read into the
lexicon and hegemonic paradigms of Anglo-European Christianity which
are in fact as far removed from Tahirih's own situation as anything
can possibly get. Behind such assumptions is always lurking another
mistaken fallacy that she cannot in fact represent herself so thus
must be represented. Underneath this layer is the abiding
ethnocentricism that looks upon non-Anglo-European cultures and
societies with a mark of disdain and superiority. Such
representations,
fundamentally the hallmark of the mentality of cultural colonialism,
then begins to take on a whole new life of its own whereby the
originary premises are then finally forgotten altogether, or
conveniently side-stepped. This mediation/representation then ends up
becoming an end in itself and the one represented twisted or re-
Imagined to fit the conclusions of the representing mediator. In my
considered opinion, this is precisely what Starr Saffa has done to
Tahirih Qurrat'ul-`Ayn, without possibly even realizing it herself.
In conclusion, other than Saffa's detailing of her own life
experiences as a Baha'i and thereafter (i.e. her personal narrative),
as a serious work TAHIRIH THEALOGY: Female Cosmic Christ Spirit of the
Age - whether as a vanity publication or otherwise - has very little
redeeming qualities to it vis-à-vis either as an example of
scholarship regarding Tahirih or as esoteric meanderings on her life
and career. Although my boldly asserting my views with such frankness
will possibly seal matters, I do believe that I am responsible to the
memory and legacy of Tahirih Qurrat'ul-'Ayn as both a living
descendent as well as a longstanding devotee and practicing Babi. To
reiterate the point, I am alarmed at the misappropriation that Tahirih
Qurrat'ul-`Ayn continually suffers, and I am especially alarmed at
this misappropriation being taken by those who otherwise do not
exhibit much sensitivity to the Iranian cultural universe, its
history,
temperament and the matrix of its various religious universes. All my
preceding comments, even when incendiary, have been made in absolute
good faith by virtue of the above. I trust that Starr Saffa will also
remain adult enough to take it all in her stride.
Wahid Azal
Ecclesia Gnostica Bayani Universalis
QLD, Australia
August 9th 2005
Tahirih-Starr*
On Mar 18, 5:21 pm, NUR <wahidaza...@gmail.com> wrote:
All readers, I am sorry you have been exposed to nima's distraction
and ononistic talking-head(S), which is 95% of all people posting on
TRB. Hopefully, you will relate to the positive in my message and
ignore the gun for hire as there is no truth in any of his rantings
and slander.
Paid attack snipped (he loved the book prior to cutting a few deals
with the AO and IRI - and the true colors are not a pretty sight on
any level).
Starr* (AKA a Lady of many names - Claudia, Beth, Jeremiah, etc)
NUR
> CAUTION NON-BAHAIS
>
> http://www.groupsrv.com/religion/post-1132006.html
>
> http://groups.google.com.au/group/talk.religion.bahai/browse_thread/t...
>
mash_ghasem
How much this dirty rotten scandral janitor owes you? Someone said
about $60. Have you forgiven his debts or shall I repay you on his
behalf? That would be my another Naw Rooz gift for him.
MG
.
NUR
You pay her off and I'll publicize a certain Police report Starr Saffa
DOES NOT wish publicized! G'head...
W
NUR
> CAUTION NON-BAHAIS
>
> http://www.groupsrv.com/religion/post-1132006.html
>
> http://groups.google.com.au/group/talk.religion.bahai/browse_thread/t...
>
NUR
> (AKA a Lady of many names
As are most bona fide sluts...
W
Tahirih-Starr*
On Mar 19, 1:07 am, mash_ghasem <ghyath_ab...@yahoo.com> wrote:
> On Mar 18, 5:38 am, "Tahirih-Starr*" <st...@tahirih-starr.org> wrote:
>
> > On Mar 18, 5:21 pm, NUR <wahidaza...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
> > All readers, I am sorry you have been exposed to nima's distraction
> > TRB. Hopefully, you will relate to the positive in my message and
> > ignore the gun for hire as there is no truth in any of his rantings
> > and slander.
>
> > Paid attack snipped (he loved the book prior to cutting a few deals
> > with the AO and IRI - and the true colors are not a pretty sight on
> > any level).
>
> > Starr* (AKA a Lady of many names - Claudia, Beth, Jeremiah, etc)
>
> How much this dirty rotten scandral janitor owes you? Someone said
> about $60. Have you forgiven his debts or shall I repay you on his
> behalf? That would be my another Naw Rooz gift for him.
>
> MG
Hi MG
Truthfully, I don't want anything connected to the whacky-onanist.
The only police reports that I am aware of is nima's involvement with
himself and his family and the one I made about graffeti painted on my
fence.
The bottom line is that he and his team will most likely continue to
try and slander me, but I have little time for barking dogs when
glorious worlds are waiting for development and unfolding.
I have already taken courage in writing a book that informs that
Tahirih, with Divine authority, declared all religions delegated to
the past in that a new universal cycle for humanity was unfolding. The
Bab agreed with Her decree, and in his Will told the Babis to follow
Her. So as you can see all Babi sects, including Baha'i, created after
his demise thwarted the Bab's Will by not holding true to Tahirih and
making their own religions. They are the first covenant breakers of
the new universal dispensation. Now you know why nima and his
organization(s) are manufacturing derogatory scenarios.
Please enjoy the Solstice Message...... Starr*
mash_ghasem
Starr: FYI, since you were nice, let me tell you about me. I was born
muslim and now don't believe and trust any organized religion
compliment of IRI. The reason I came to TRB was because Nima cross
posts to SCI. I have some questions but let's waite since it is our
(Iranian) new year. Please enjoy Naw Ruz.
MG
NUR
>The only police reports that I am aware of is nima's involvement with
>himself and his family and the one I made about graffeti painted on my
>fence.
You asked for it. Your libellous Police Report will now fall into the
hands you attempted to stall and will be publicized.
> I have already taken courage in writing a book that informs that
> Tahirih,
And here is an accurate summation of your rag by someone other than I,
"But I'll tell you, I don't have it any more, I was travelling in the
outback and needed to use a dunny that didn't have any toilet paper,
so your book found it's home and was left for others to put good use
of it."
-- Sufi Baha'i on Starr Saffa's book, 2006 Quote of the Year Winner
Now why are you posting here again after so long? Is it because the
Bahai IT Committee has wheeled you out here and slapped your hand with
money specifically as a result of my mentioning your name in relation
to the sluts you told me about in Solomon Islands using sex for Bahai
conversions?
W
NUR
This no-can't-get-a-man-heiffer has a long history of hatred towards
the Iranian community, which is even expressed in her book. You want
to make common cause with her, go ahead! You make common cause with a
duplicitous British asshole like HamHead: the enemies of Iran and
Iranians. Now you want to make common cause with a yankee slut in
exile illegally skimming off the welfare systems of the United States
and Australia. Every Iranian in the Perth community despises this hag
and has a history with her, Bahai and non-Bahai alike. She is also a
gold digger, so go for your life. Maybe she'll put one over you as
well, since you deserve it....
BTW you don't have any legs to stand on to complain about crossposters
to SCI when you have NEVER said a word about the "Whacko Warriors" and
similar, fucking hypocrite!
Naw-Ruzetan Zolmani-Bad!
W
NUR
> CAUTION NON-BAHAIS
>
> http://www.groupsrv.com/religion/post-1132006.html
>
> http://groups.google.com.au/group/talk.religion.bahai/browse_thread/t...
>
NUR
This stupid bitch owes me, and to the tune of U$ 2,500.00; not I her.
W
NUR
> CAUTION NON-BAHAIS
>
> http://www.groupsrv.com/religion/post-1132006.html
>
> http://groups.google.com.au/group/talk.religion.bahai/browse_thread/t...
>
mash_ghasem
" The liar’s punishment is not in the least that he is not believed,
but that he cannot believe anyone else"
You even lied about me for being an IRI agent. Just becasue I said I
don't know "bloomberg" which by your standards makes me an IRI
agent!!!!!!! Why should I believe you? FYI, I and others have
complained to google about yakoo the wakoo. SOB keeps cahnging his ID.
You show me how to stop him or lead the way and I will follow. Also I
am not a redneck to think "all the Iranians are terrorist" or
"Americans are asshole" or "Brits are bastrads or whatever". There is
good and bad in every nationality. I am just sorry that you think and
act as an Iranian. You wished me bad luck for Nuw Ruz, as Mullahs have
done to Iranian but still I say Happy NoeRooz.
http://plateauofiran.wordpress.com/2007/07/19/a-proposal-to-ban-norooz-iranian-pre-islamic-new-year/
http://iransara.info/Iran%20Nooroz%206372.htm
.
mash_ghasem
" The liar’s punishment is not in the least that he is not believed,
but that he cannot believe anyone else"
I was going to pay her $60 but she didn't want it. That was her test
and she passed. It is called class. I doubt she owes you anything.
.
.
Yankee Go Home!
Because she gets paid far more than that by the IT committee you both
serve under and plus the whole narrative here has been about you
offering her $60 and then you reporting that she rejected it.
W
Yankee Go Home!
> " The liar’s punishment is not in the least that he is not believed,
> but that he cannot believe anyone else"
That quote is so *appropriate* where you are concerned. Good find.
Remember it the next time you accuse me of being an IRI agent,
jackass!
W
Yankee Go Home!
>Why should I believe you?
Look, as I told HamHead as well, I DO NOT GIVE A FLYING FUCK WHAT YOU
BELIEVE! The evidence stands on its own here in your regard. You
started this, and unless you back-off right now, I will end it -- and
to your guaranteed disadvantage and doom at the end of it!
> FYI, I and others have
> complained to google about yakoo the wakoo.
When? Why didn't you continue? Why did you give up?
>SOB keeps cahnging his ID.
> You show me how to stop him or lead the way and I will follow.
Attack him instead of attacking me, for starters! He is a troll! He
has never contributed a goddam thing anywhere. Better, find out who
the fucker is and where the fucker lives, and I will pay him the
visit!
>Also I
> am not a redneck to think "all the Iranians are terrorist"
But Starr Saffa does, and she's said it right here.
>or
> "Americans are asshole"
Americans are morons, not assholes!
> or "Brits are bastrads or whatever".
Believe it or not, 99% of Brits are bastards!
>There is
> good and bad in every nationality. I am just sorry that you think and
> act as an Iranian.
I think and act as Wahid Azal before anything else. And your version
of "Iranian" with your ass kissing to ajnabis and backstabbing of
other Iranians I despise!
>You wished me bad luck for Nuw Ruz, as Mullahs have
> done to Iranian but still I say Happy NoeRooz.
You have sworn at my family who have never interacted with you. You
have called my mother and sister names that befit yourself and your
own ilk when neither you nor they know each other or have EVER
interacted with each other; without any cause or reason you have
allied yourself with my sworn enemies and aided them involving
yourself in matters which do not remotely concern you; and now you are
playing a violin, singing a swan song and feigning the victim /mazlum
nama'i meekonee? You apologize to them - not me! - if you have even an
iota of decency in your Naw-Ruz best-wish pretensions. Otherwise, yes,
I wish you not only more bad luck for 1388, but I wish you DEATH
itself in 1388!
And, if you recall, a couple of years ago I specifically warned you
not to get involved here or to entangle with me, and to keep to
yourself where I am concerned. Now, last chance: Back-off or YOU WILL
GET HURT!
W
Yankee Go Home!
> You even lied about me for being an IRI agent.
You have gall/ru, and the gall/ru is _Bahai style_ gall/ru all the
way! The whole IRI agent business was started by you! Or do you
forget? Shall I refresh your memory there too?
>Just becasue I said I
> don't know "bloomberg"
You don't know, eh? Here, let me refresh your memory one more time
(note: there is more comment after these quotes):
http://groups.google.com.au/group/talk.religion.bahai/browse_thread/t...
Newsgroups: talk.religion.bahai, soc.culture.iranian,
alt.religion.bahai
From: mash_ghasem <ghyath_ab...@yahoo.com>
Date: 5 May 2007 18:07:02 -0700
Local: Sun, May 6 2007 11:07 am
Subject: Re: To Baha'is harrassed by Nima Hazini aka Wahid Azal
xar bAbAieh jAkeshteh madar ghahbie azali.
ozgal hezbullahi. hammal go find a donkey with shakh.
If you didn't find one ,get a shakh out of your jendeh nanah
and put it on a donkey ozgal. bacheh gerti zan jendeh.
Newsgroups: talk.religion.bahai, soc.culture.iranian,
alt.religion.bahai, alt.religion.islam, soc.culture.australian
From: steveblomb...@yahoo.com
Date: 5 May 2007 18:45:14 -0700
Local: Sun, May 6 2007 11:45 am
Subject: Re: To Baha'is harrassed by Nima Hazini aka Wahid Azal
Desperate?
Hezbullahi?
This drugged donkey is just gone mad moaning like a pig.
That just proves you donkey carry on your back a big load of shit all
the time and you never let it down.
Newsgroups: talk.religion.bahai, soc.culture.iranian,
alt.religion.bahai
From: steveblombe...@yahoo.com
Date: 5 May 2007 18:52:57 -0700
Local: Sun, May 6 2007 11:52 am
Subject: Re: To Baha'is harrassed by Nima Hazini aka Wahid Azal
For those who are not familiar with what this drugged donkey calls
sweet Persian poems, I provide you with some translation of what this
This horned donkey had to say about himself:
He is lamenting over aperiod of his childhood which he remembers as
being financially rewarding when his father used to bring men to
their
house and his mother would entertain them by all means.
So, when he grew up he decided that he would follow the path of his
great father. He got married and brought men into his home and got
his
wife to entertain them by all means and he made sure that he himself
was not around to cause any inconvenience.
He then tells us that his legacy continues and he is passing it on to
his future generationa.
--
You remembered Steve Blomberg when you were attacking him 2007 in the
most lowlife form. Either you are completely crazy, and there is
something wrong with you, or I don't know what?
W
Yankee Go Home!
maybe...@gmail.com
Boy, you really sound like a bit of a cry baby right now Mash. You
were the one who brought the entirely unfounded IRI claims against
Wahid in the first place. Poor you!
Why should I believe you? FYI, I and others have
> complained to google about yakoo the wakoo. SOB keeps cahnging his ID.
> You show me how to stop him or lead the way and I will follow. Also I
> am not a redneck to think "all the Iranians are terrorist" or
> "Americans are asshole" or "Brits are bastrads or whatever". There is
> good and bad in every nationality. I am just sorry that you think and
> act as an Iranian. You wished me bad luck for Nuw Ruz, as Mullahs have
> done to Iranian but still I say Happy NoeRooz.
Really claiming the moral high ground on that one then, I guess.
>
> http://plateauofiran.wordpress.com/2007/07/19/a-proposal-to-ban-noroo...
>
> http://iransara.info/Iran%20Nooroz%206372.htm
>
> .
All Bad
"NUR" <wahid...@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:26cd7d19-351c-4c01...@o2g2000prl.googlegroups.com...> CAUTION NON-WEASELS
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
From: Wahid Azal [mailto:wahidaza...@yahoo.com.au]
Sent: Sunday, 9 January 2005 5:32 PM
To: goldcoast_mag...@yahoogroups.com
Subject: [goldcoast_magick] Re: Living and Creating
Love as thou wilt!
For those who don't know, the Tahirih Path refers to Iran's 19th
century feminist patron saint, martyr, inspired mystical poet and
Bayani leader, Tahirih Qurrat'ul-'Ayn (d. 1852). She also happens to be
my great-great-great grandmother. Izzitrip has published a book
recently which pays homage to the spirituality of this great woman
while forging a path in her name. If ecstatic Sufism met Wicca, this is
what Izzitrip has truly begun laying the groundwork for in her book.
I've translated one of Tahirih's longer poems from the original
Persian. I'll upload it in the files section.
Wahid
http://groups.google.com/group/talk.religion.bahai/msg/693680e20ea342d3
http://groups.google.com/group/talk.religion.bahai/msg/dacdf1467ce72ed0
maybe...@gmail.com
Thread from Dec 31, 2005
"Cinder in the eyes wrote:
http://groups.google.com.au/group/talk.religion.bahai/browse_thread/thread/74b00f9cd918f2db/dacdf1467ce72ed0
- Show quoted text -
Starr, can you translate that, the intersection of Sufiism and Wicca?
It may sound good to you, but it is just blather, it does not mean
anything.
> LOL, his inane analysis came later after Sufi Bahai pushed his hate
Don't blame Sufi. His inane analysis about traditional pre-Christian
Indo European religion, and expressionism, was the intersection of
just
him and you.
> Westerner's -Iranian's- are-superior-and-all-knowing button while
You are the one with the xenophobic race button, Starr. Just because
you don't see it, does not mean everyone else doesn't see it; it just
means that you are in denial about your anti-Iranian racism.
> sitting on mushrooms out on the beach in byron bay - and you know it
> mr. all bad bahai.
I don't deny that the broken clock is wrong plenty of times. However
the clock can be right once or twice a day. The fact of this case,
though, is that you are touting an endorsement from Nima, which
everyone
knows he has withdrawn, regardless, for now, of the possible merits
of
your book.
> We all know you just love obfuscation and repeating what deflects from
Now turning to the possible merits of your book, you've written
_nothing_ here of much consequence. You are one of the most pro-
foundly
fat-headed no-nothings that I've had the fortune to acquaint myself
with. Not only are you a profoundly fat-headed no-nothing, but at
some
level, you are aware of that truth, and that is why you snatch at new
handles, progressively extending claims of greatness implicit in
titles
of the Bab and Tahirih. Remember, you've posted as JoBeth Claudia
Starr
Saffa Blah Blah Yadda yadda before posting as the Primal Point, the
Mystic Maid of Heaven, and God Herself. You change handles in an
effort
to get new readers because you know the old readers have pegged you as
a
drone-on nitwit.
> the truth revealing Tahirih's true messianic station. Since when did
I've been on to the true messianic station of Tahirih for some time.
I
told Nima before I realized that She was a Great Ancestor of his.
There
are two kinds of people (really one kind) who see God: the Holy and
the
Pure. Those Who truly see God, rather than seeing God in everything,
are the Friend of God, the Manifestation of God. I knew this before
I
logged on to ARB in 1998, or whenever. You, though, are not purity.
You are impurity. You are claims beyond substance, a figment of
reality.
> you start worshipping nima? Don't forget he once received the message
Oh yeah, Nima has been getting lot of messages from the Mother ship,
the
Cousin ship, and the Coo Coo Clock. Be that as it may, he has
WITHDRAWN
his endorsement of your book. Get a clue, already: Garbage Squared.
> "She is God the light of the living love in the heavens and the earth'
> - maybe you will take up the invocation too so you can become 'all
> good' for a change.
> Qurratu'l-Ayn*
You are the cinder in the eyes, not the Solace of the Eyes.
- Show quoted text -
Is this Charmain_e_ Saunders you are referring to, or another one of
your own handles, cleverly crafted to sound like anyone other than
you?
- All Bad"
maybe...@gmail.com
> http://groups.google.com.au/group/talk.religion.bahai/browse_thread/t...
>
> Thread from Dec 31, 2005
>
> >news:26cd7d19-351c-4c01...@o2g2000prl.googlegroups.com...
> > On Mar 18, 6:21 pm, NUR <wahidaza...@gmail.com> wrote:
> > > CAUTION NON-WEASELS
>
> > xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> > From: Wahid Azal [mailto:wahidaza...@yahoo.com.au]
> > Sent: Sunday, 9 January 2005 5:32 PM
> > To: goldcoast_mag...@yahoogroups.com
> > Subject: [goldcoast_magick] Re: Living and Creating
>
> > Love as thou wilt!
>
> > For those who don't know, the Tahirih Path refers to Iran's 19th
> > century feminist patron saint, martyr, inspired mystical poet and
> > Bayani leader, Tahirih Qurrat'ul-'Ayn (d. 1852). She also happens to be
> > my great-great-great grandmother. Izzitrip has published a book
> > recently which pays homage to the spirituality of this great woman
> > while forging a path in her name. If ecstatic Sufism met Wicca, this is
> > what Izzitrip has truly begun laying the groundwork for in her book.
>
> > I've translated one of Tahirih's longer poems from the original
> > Persian. I'll upload it in the files section.
>
> > Wahid
>
> >http://groups.google.com/group/talk.religion.bahai/msg/693680e20ea342d3
>
> >http://groups.google.com/group/talk.religion.bahai/msg/dacdf1467ce72ed0
On Jan 1st 2006, ALL BAD/Pat Kohli Wrote:
All Bad
View profile
(1 user) More options Jan 1 2006, 12:28 am
Mrs. Hymen wrote:
> LOL - They say hate (as your post expresses for me) is in relationship
> to 'love'.
My post? I think fear is the opposite of hate. I neither hate you,
nor
fear you. My previous post was an honest assessment of you. Had
your
read it, and understood it, you might realize that a) I do not
consider
you a threat to be hated, or feared; I thought that was explicit; b)
yo
might consider the implication, that I am giving you an opportunity
to
clean up your act, by pointing your act out to you; it looks like you
dodged that one, too.
> "If thou lovest me not, My love and wisdom can in no way reach thee,
> know this O servant!"
Not to worry. I love Baha'u'llah, such that Baha'u'llah's love
reaches
me. Consider the situation of the poser, though. The poser loves
herself, and accounts herself as not needing nor loving Baha'u'llah.
Given the verse, how does Baha'u'llah's love reach the poser?
> Honestly, if I hadn't met the broken clock in person I would have
> thought you were one and the same person - especially in view of your
> long working relationship with each other.
Nima and me? Thanks for the joke. I find this an unexpected
amusement.
> Dr Charmaine Sunders is one of Peth's best known and most respected
Perth, note that "r" in there, is the largest city of Western Oz, a
state of less than 2 million people. Dr. Saunders, note the "u" in
there, may be a big fish, but in a small pond. With this approach,
you
can be a big fish, too. You are the most important person wearing
your
clothes right now!
> counsellors, with some 21 years experience in the field. Charmaine is
In what field? Read her Bio. She already had a career in teaching.
That would make her forty or so. Then she became a doctor of
psychology; that's another four years. Then she's had 20 years
working
as a psychologist. Does the picutre on her bio look like she might
be
anywhere near 65? Someone's been telling tales, and the good people
of
Perth have been buying, but that does not mean she'd get away w/ it
in
the larger world w/o getting gutted out.
> the the author of six books, and has written for many of Australia's
> major newspapers and magazines. She also facilites seminars, teaches
> university courses, is a sought after public speaker and has produced
> her own series of self-help audio cassettes.
She is a well of activity. Does anyone other than you believe she
read
your book, that if she was not already familiar with the real Tahirih
that she paused to do the required research to sort out what she was
reading?
> She writes:
> Dr. Charmaine Saunders speaks about "Tahirih TheAlogy" by Starr*
> Saffa
You write, too. George Fleming wrote, too. That does not mean that
either of you could (or would bother to) sort out your facts.
> When I was asked to say a few words at Starr's book launch, I didn't
> feel qualified to speak in depth about the content so I chose to
Hmmmmm, a bit of honesty from Dr. Saunders, but I don't suppose you
can
read the lines here?
> discuss the writing process. Having penned 6 books myself, I feel like
> an old veteran in the publishing war.
> I had a dream beginning to my life as an author insofar as a publisher
> approached me rather than the other way round. He was from Singapore
> and after the book was a physical reality, he left me with 2000 copies
> in boxes and returned to his own country. It fell to me to promote the
> book and I knew zero about marketing. Somehow, through persistent
> door-knocking, I got myself on The Midday show and into newspapers and
> on radio. In the end, overtime, we sold 10,000 copies of that first
> book. It was incredibly hard work so I'm always happy to help out any
> new writers with tips, leads, contacts, shortcuts, whatever can make
> the journey easier.
Interesting. Note the parallels with George: boxes of books to sell
for payment?
> Writing is, by its very nature, a solitary pursuit. It requires great
> self-belief to take an idea you've birthed and make it into something
Ew, ew, ew! For folks who don't have the facts straight, they can
get
by on intuition!
- Show quoted text -
> I remember. Both you, and Nima, have tried to shut me up. AS you can
> see, I'll reply when I feel inclined to do so; I don't take orders from you.
> holds until you are prepared to clean up your hate mongering and bahai
> apolgetic machinations.
You are the hate monger. Your book ignores Tahirih. You expropriate
her name because you know that your name won't sell. You want to sell
a
book about yourself in the vain hope that people will affirm your
life,
and through that, that you will then like your life. It does not
work
that way though. You need to sort out what you like, put that in
your
life, like it, and then share yourself, honestly.
Good luck!
- All Bad
PaulHammond
some of the usual suspects have already mentioned on this thread.
Nice to have you around here to talk for yourself, though - if you
fancy staying to wade through some of the muck.
Tahirih-Starr* wrote:
> Greetings! It has been awhile since I posted on some of these forums.
> I have based the Spring/Autumn New Year (Naw Ruz) Message on many of
> Tahirih’s core teachings which are also mentioned in the Pre-
> Abrahamic, Judaic, Christian, Islamic, Babi, Baha’i, mystical,
> esoteric and other Writings. These topics include ideas of the Oneness
> of humankind, ‘Look within and you will find Me (God/ess) standing
> there mighty, powerful, and self-subsisting, dietary advices, biblical
> prophecy, advices of Abdu’l-baha to prepare for difficult times,
> universal co-operation, science and religion going hand in hand,
> ancient astrological knowledge, and modern thought. It is a simple,
> but timely message regardless of orientation.
>
Thanks for the good wishes for this Solstice time of the year, anyhow.
Paul
paha...@onetel.net.uk
>
> You pay her off and I'll publicize a certain Police report Starr Saffa
> DOES NOT wish publicized! G'head...
>
> W-
Sounds like an empty threat to me, Nima.
Your style is that if you've got dirt on someone, it all comes out at
the first opportunity.
Holding it back in order to achieve something else is a subtlety
beyond your ken - which I believe is one of the probs Dermod had about
you.
Anyone would be stupid to refrain from doing something on the basis
that YOU'D be able to restrain yourself from doing something.
Paul
paha...@onetel.net.uk
And yet, sometimes, when it suits you, you will assert that Star said
something to you, and we should attach some importance to the fact
that you say Star told you something.
paha...@onetel.net.uk
>
> And, if you recall, a couple of years ago I specifically warned you
> not to get involved here or to entangle with me, and to keep to
> yourself where I am concerned. Now, last chance: Back-off or YOU WILL
> GET HURT!
>
> W
Maybe you should stop cross-posting into soc.culture.iranian where
mash likes to live, if this is a genuine wish on your part.
NUR
"First, I do believe, based on Hammond's refusal to say why he is
interested in the Baha'i Faith and his frequent defense of the AO,
that he is probably working for them."
-- Eric Stetson, September 16, 2003
> Sounds like an empty threat to me, Nima.
The threat is already an accomplished fact, and Starr knows exactly
what I mean here.
W
NUR
"First, I do believe, based on Hammond's refusal to say why he is
interested in the Baha'i Faith and his frequent defense of the AO,
that he is probably working for them."
-- Eric Stetson, September 16, 2003
> And yet, sometimes, when it suits you, you will assert that Star said
> something to you, and we
Who is your "we," again, mr--i-am-not-a-bahai?
W
NUR
"First, I do believe, based on Hammond's refusal to say why he is
interested in the Baha'i Faith and his frequent defense of the AO,
that he is probably working for them."
-- Eric Stetson, September 16, 2003
> Maybe you should stop cross-posting into soc.culture.iranian where
> mash likes to live, if this is a genuine wish on your part.
Maybe you should whip out your purportedly long penis and let us see
your clitoris while you still have the chance, paullete.
W
Tahirih-Starr*
book Tahirih Thealogy. I was delighted to listen to Obama reaching out
to do the same during Naw Ruz 2009.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY_utC-hrjI
Starr* Saffa
On Mar 18, 12:34 pm, "Tahirih-Starr*" <st...@tahirih-starr.org> wrote:
> Greetings! It has been awhile since I posted on some of these forums.
> I have based the Spring/Autumn New Year (Naw Ruz) Message on many of
> Tahirih’s core teachings which are also mentioned in the Pre-
> Abrahamic, Judaic, Christian, Islamic, Babi, Baha’i, mystical,
> esoteric and other Writings. These topics include ideas of the Oneness
> of humankind, ‘Look within and you will find Me (God/ess) standing
> there mighty, powerful, and self-subsisting, dietary advices, biblical
> prophecy, advices of Abdu’l-baha to prepare for difficult times,
> universal co-operation, science and religion going hand in hand,
> ancient astrological knowledge, and modern thought. It is a simple,
> but timely message regardless of orientation.
>
NUR
Tahirih-Starr*
book Tahirih Thealogy. I was delighted to listen to Obama reaching out
to do the same during Naw Ruz 2009.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?vHY_utC-hrjI
Starr* Saffa
On Mar 18, 12:23 pm, "Tahirih-Starr*" <st...@tahirih-starr.org> wrote:
> Greetings! It has been awhile since I posted on some of these forums.
> I have based the Spring/Autumn New Year (Naw Ruz) Message on many of
> Tahirih’s core teachings which are also mentioned in the Pre-
> Abrahamic, Judaic, Christian, Islamic, Babi, Baha’i, mystical,
> esoteric and other Writings. These topics include ideas of the Oneness
> of humankind, ‘Look within and you will find Me (God/ess) standing
> there mighty, powerful, and self-subsisting, dietary advices, biblical
> prophecy, advices of Abdu’l-baha to prepare for difficult times,
> universal co-operation, science and religion going hand in hand,
> ancient astrological knowledge, and modern thought. It is a simple,
> but timely message regardless of orientation.
>
> TAHIRIH’S SOLSTICE MESSAGE MARCH 2009 by Starr* Saffa
> To all the peoples of the world:
>
> The March Solstice is celebrated in many parts of Gaia as marking the
> inheritance to fulfill our living with Love......Ram P Varma, UNITED
> COMMUNITIES OF SPIRIT
>
> Starr* Saffa
NUR
>
> read more »- Hide quoted text -
Tahirih-Starr*
> On Mar 22, 1:57 pm, NUR <hurak...@gmail.com> wrote:
*Note Nur is Nima Hazini
To the Overseeing Manipulator(S) of Nima-Hazini/Wahid-Azal/et al… be
ye Bahai, Bayani, Hezbollah, Anti-Westerners, IRI, MOSAD, Mercenary,
or Whoever,
You are aiding and abetting his lunacy and slander.
Let it be known that Nima’s clown-like oral and anal fixated* lies
and
spins (as he has done re my book) do you little good in the end as
the
truth will surface and you will be embarrassed to be exposed for
using
his grovelling slavish submissiveness to carry out low life attacks
due to your feeling threatened by Female input and the truth of
Tahirih’s status being revealed.
Yes, Westerners, and some Iranian Muslims like my book “Tahirih
Thealogy”, and highly respect and understand the thrust of my work as
a basis for moving forward and modernizing in a global commonwealth.
This does not have to be a threat to you as rights can be preserved
for all.
I read the following this morning and would like to share it with you
in the hope that you will terminate your association with the
obsequious, unholy Nima.
Heal toxic thinking that is damaging our global social interaction
1. Spin and truth-distortion motivated by political marketing.
2. Failure or inability to think holistically about complex
multi-
faceted situations.
3. The blame game politics --
* ‘Fixation’ - Strong conflict can fixate people at early stages.
(Oral Stage is 0 – 2 years; Anal Stage 2-4 years of age)
1. Oral fixation
The Oral aggressive personality is hostile and verbally abusive to
others, using mouth-based aggression.
2. Anal fixation
Anal fixation, which may be caused by too much punishment during
toilet training, has two possible outcomes: The Anal retentive
personality; and the Anal expulsive personality. Nima displays
elements of both and this behavior has become evident. Yes, he is a
ploy that keeps others from posting, but your involvement is culpable
at the end of the day.
Sadly, this is all housed in a person who has a type of
photographic memory and consequently misuses knowledge as it is
driven
by the oral and anal fixations. I would suggest to you that it is
certainly morally criminal to use someone so damaged as you are.
Doing
so makes you directly complicit in his slander and threats. Please
consider taking responsibility and working towards a more harmonious
outcome.
oral-anal retentive invective slander snipped
Starr*
maybe...@gmail.com
> To the Overseeing Manipulator(S) of Nima-Hazini/Wahid-Azal/et al… be
> ye Bahai, Bayani, Hezbollah, Anti-Westerners, IRI, MOSAD, Mercenary,
> or Whoever,
On what exactly are you basing this?
>
> You are aiding and abetting his lunacy and slander.
Right- the old 'lunacy' and 'slander' line. A Haifan Baha'i/IT
committee favorite.
>
> Let it be known that Nima’s clown-like oral and anal fixated* lies and
> spins (as he has done re my book) do you little good in the end as the
> truth will surface and you will be embarrassed to be exposed for using
> his grovelling slavish submissiveness to carry out low life attacks
> due to your feeling threatened by Female input and the truth of
> Tahirih’s status being revealed.
Oh, PLEASE. By the way, where do Pat Kohli and poster 'Sufi Baha'i"
fit into all of this?
>
> Yes, Westerners, and some Iranian Muslims like my book “Tahirih
> Thealogy”, and highly respect and understand the thrust of my work as
> a basis for moving forward and modernizing in a global commonwealth.
So where are those people's reviews and commentary on the work? And
why are you talking about it here on TRB if you've already received
such endorsements?
> This does not have to be a threat to you as rights can be preserved
> for all.
>
> I read the following this morning and would like to share it with you
> in the hope that you will terminate your association with the
> obsequious, unholy Nima.
>
> Heal toxic thinking that is damaging our global social interaction
> 1. Spin and truth-distortion motivated by political marketing.
What about the spin and truth distortion motivation of religious
organizations?
> 2. Failure or inability to think holistically about complex multi-
> faceted situations.
> 3. The blame game politics --
>
> * ‘Fixation’ - Strong conflict can fixate people at early stages.
> (Oral Stage is 0 – 2 years; Anal Stage 2-4 years of age)
>
> 1. Oral fixation
> The Oral aggressive personality is hostile and verbally abusive to
> others, using mouth-based aggression.
>
> 2. Anal fixation
> Anal fixation, which may be caused by too much punishment during
> toilet training, has two possible outcomes: The Anal retentive
> personality; and the Anal expulsive personality. Nima displays
> elements of both and this behavior has become evident. Yes, he is a
> ploy that keeps others from posting, but your involvement is culpable
> at the end of the day.
>
> Sadly, this is all housed in a person who has a type of
> photographic memory and consequently misuses knowledge as it is driven
> by the oral and anal fixations. I would suggest to you that it is
> certainly morally criminal to use someone so damaged as you are. Doing
> so makes you directly complicit in his slander and threats. Please
> consider taking responsibility and working towards a more harmonious
> outcome.
Judging by this strange hodgepodge of accusations, garbled attempts at
Freudian psychology, and pseudo-Baha'i rhetoric about the necessary
ingredients for harmonious problem solving in some 'global
commonwealth', let me pose a few questions.
1. Why are you making a comeback to this board now? You've been away
since 2006, and it seems strange that you are making an appearance
just as a number of potentially damaging articles and news items have
emerged regarding the Baha'is. Been called back in by someone, or were
you just 'browsing your newsgroups'?
2. The nature of your rhetoric and libel constitutes a
quintessentially Baha'i sounding narrative. In tone, it also reminds
me of some of the things Viv used to say.
3. You seem utterly unable to answer any of the SERIOUS critiques
leveled at your work, and gloss over numerous utterly crucial aspects
of such critiques with vague and unsophisticated justifications, which
suggests you don't really understand the nature of the material you
are dealing with.
4. The other people with whom you apparently associate, such as Andrew
Carter and others in the 'un-enrolled liberal Baha'i' crowd appear
themselves to potentially be acting as a front group for the Haifan
Baha'i organization.
5. It appears to me that the portrayal you are making of Tahirih fits
in perfectly with the historical decontextualization of her work and
significance, and the attempted dissolution, manipulation and
concealment of certain key historical narratives associated with her-
criticisms which Ms Soraya Adam Bakan draws attention to in her German
PHD dissertation on the subject.
6. You appeared the day Paul left. It looks like there may be shifts
being taken by members on this board.
7. Have you been, or are you still working for, or associated with the
Tahirih Justice Center?
http://www.zoominfo.com/people/Saffa_Starr_1253105802.aspx
I actually find the claims you are making, and the behavior you have
demonstrated far more erratic and unstable than that which you are
imputing to others.
paha...@onetel.net.uk
> > On Mar 23, 7:20 pm, "Tahirih-Starr*" <st...@tahirih-starr.org> wrote:
> > To the Overseeing Manipulator(S) of Nima-Hazini/Wahid-Azal/et al… be
> > ye Bahai, Bayani, Hezbollah, Anti-Westerners, IRI, MOSAD, Mercenary,
> > or Whoever,
>
> On what exactly are you basing this?
>
>
>
> > You are aiding and abetting his lunacy and slander.
>
> Right- the old 'lunacy' and 'slander' line. A Haifan Baha'i/IT
> committee favorite.
>
I see Nima is starting threads calling Star a lunatic in capitals.
Since that's a Haifan Baha'i/IT committee favourite, Nima must have
been busted then.
How much do the folks at Haifa Black Ops pay you to call people
loonies, Nima?
btw - watch out for your back, May - Starr used to occupy the coveted
position you now hold as Nima's number one girl!
Paul
NUR
NUR
> How much do the folks at Haifa Black Ops pay you to call people
> loonies, Nima?
Evidently not as much as you get paid by them for doing the same.
W
paha...@onetel.net.uk
I haven't called you a loony for quite a while now- but when I do
it's just for the craic - no-one has to pay me to say it!
NUR
PaulHammond
NUR wrote:
But more recently, Eric said this:
The following is published online at http://www.bahai-faith.com/apology.html
and is intended for mass circulation. Please publicize this in any
way you think would be appropriate and to anyone you think would be
interested.
An Apology to the Baha'is of This World and the World Beyond
by Eric Stetson - November 12, 2008
Dear Baha'i Friends,
I declared my faith in the Baha'i religion on March 21, 1998; was an
observant and active Baha'i for about four years; and resigned my
membership in the Baha'i community on November 5, 2002, about six
years ago. Before leaving the faith, I wrote and published on the
internet a book calling for reform of the Baha'i Faith and claiming
prophetic authority to do so, but soon decided I no longer believed
in Baha'u'llah's claim of prophethood nor my own. I became a
Christian and a strong critic of Baha'u'llah, the Baha'i faith and
its organization. Because of the high visibility of my website,
www.Bahai-Faith.com, many thousands of people were exposed to my
critical views, which I couched as a Christian witness to the truth
of
Christ and the falsehood of Baha'u'llah and his religion. I
apparently became well enough known among Baha'is that I was
identified in an academic article by Baha'i author Moojan Momen as
one of twelve noteworthy modern "apostates" of the Baha'i Faith.
Looking back, I believe some of my criticisms were more justified
than
others. Some were based on facts that are not in dispute,
whereas other things I said were gratuitous and harsh judgments that
were not in the spirit of Christ. Between the years 2002 and 2008, I
have gradually progressed from the point of condemning Baha'u'llah to
hell (a judgment that only rebounded back upon myself while I
believed it) to a recognition that, whether or not he was inspired by
God and regardless of any specific mistakes he may have made, he was
surely a man who was trying to make a positive difference in the
world
and deserves much credit for that.
So let me join the Baha'is this year, this day, in saying "Happy
birthday Baha'u'llah!" The world is a better place and many souls
have been lifted up to greater heights because you were born and
lived
on this earth and shared your spiritual message with its
people. I love you -- not in the way Baha'is do as a follower of the
religion you founded, but as a fellow child of God who yearns to do
good for my brothers and sisters in the human family and who
appreciates the positive things you did in your life in the face of
extraordinary trials.
I apologize for excessive and sometimes unfair criticisms I have
voiced against Baha'u'llah, his successors, and the Baha'i community.
I ask forgiveness from all of you -- those who are in this world as
well as those in the world beyond. I especially ask those who have
been martyred for their Baha'i faith to forgive me. I know that you
sacrificed yourselves for something worth dying for: a vision of
humanity united in inclusive love, common purpose, and peace among
nations and religions under One God. Let me have as much courage and
strength to live for these ideals as you had to die for them.
If I am considered by any Baha'is to be an "enemy of the Faith," an
angry apostate, or other such negative appellations, I ask that you
no longer regard me in this way. Instead, consider me a friend and
colleague in the broad-based movement toward a universal spiritual
vision for humanity's future and a global civilization based on
mutual
respect and reconciliation of all.
Though I disagree with Baha'u'llah and his successors on some
important points and believe them all to have been fallible human
beings like anyone else, I recognize that they received some valuable
divine inspiration and that -- though it is almost certainly not
God's plan for the Baha'i faith ever to become the largest religion
in the world -- nevertheless the existence of the Baha'i faith has,
on balance, been a positive thing in history. Above all, I believe
Baha'u'llah will be remembered as a man who made a serious attempt to
bring spiritual and societal progress to the Islamic world -- a
civilization which was, and in some ways still is, desperately in
need of advancement beyond the beliefs and practices of the Middle
Ages. We should be grateful for his efforts in this regard, despite
whatever details of his claims and his teachings one may disagree
with. Furthermore, we should thank Abdu'l-Baha and Shoghi Effendi for
their sincere attempt to take the basic principles taught by
Baha'u'llah and use this as the basis for creating a world-embracing
faith tradition that, in their own time and considering their own
cultural background, was very progressive -- and which in some ways
remains so today.
I am writing this letter and sharing it publicly because this is a
crucial time in world history, a time when it is vitally important
for people to put aside their religious differences in order to work
together for the sake of all who are living today and for those yet
unborn. I do not wish for my disagreement with some aspects of Baha'i
theology and organizational practices to be a barrier preventing me
from uniting with Baha'is when it may be desirable for furthering our
common goals which transcend the boundaries of religion. I do not
wish for Baha'is to feel that I am someone they must regard as a
source of negative energy to be avoided.
Now is not the time for making petty arguments or holding grudges.
Now is a weighty time, a grave time, a time when the very future of
humanity is at stake. It is a time when people, nations, and the
earth itself are facing a unique confluence of challenges
unprecedented in human history. Now is the time for serious people --
spiritual people who care about all that is good and who would be
part of healing our planet -- to come together in reconciliation,
forgive each other of our faults and mistakes, and look to a new
vision beyond the limits of the past.
There is also another reason for this letter, a personal reason.
About six months ago, I had a visionary dream which moved me
powerfully. Just as I shared my dreams that led me to question and
speak out against some practices of the Baha'i Faith several years
ago, I feel a responsibility to share this dream as well --
regardless of how anyone, either adherents or opponents of the Baha'i
Faith, may think of it or interpret it.
In the dream, I was walking (floating actually, in my astral body as
is common in dreams and visions) through a vast garden approaching a
shrine containing Baha'u'llah's tomb. There were many pathways in
this garden, coming from all directions toward the shrine at the
center. When I reached the shrine, I entered and found myself in a
large auditorium filled with crimson-colored seats which were
arranged in a semicircle around the focal point, a raised platform on
which was Baha'u'llah's sarcophagus with a tentlike canopy over it.
All of the seats were empty. The sarcophagus containing Baha'u'llah's
body was draped with a cloth on which was embroidered a large cross.
I became aware of many souls ascending the platform, one after
another, and putting papers in a slot in the sarcophagus. On these
papers were their prayers which were addressed to Baha'u'llah. I
suddenly felt moved to offer to Baha'u'llah a prayer of my own. I
approached the sarcophagus and placed in the slot a paper on which I
had written, in the ink of the spirit, the simple but powerful
words, "Forgive me." Overcome with emotion as my prayer entered
Baha'u'llah's resting place, I expressed my sorrow for hurting him
and his people and pleaded for forgiveness. I embraced and clung to
the sarcophagus for a period of time, felt my sadness and guilt turn
to a deep inner peace, then let go and turned to exit the shrine.
Walking back through the garden, I find that I am accompanied by the
person who first introduced me to the Baha'i faith in this earthly
lifetime. We talk with each other in a pleasant and amicable tone. I
explain to him that I cannot be a member of the Baha'i Faith, but
that like many people, I am "half Baha'i." I express my belief that
Baha'u'llah was a prophet, but not as great as he claimed to be. I
also share my faith in the teaching of Jesus Christ that all human
beings are the sons and daughters of God, who is our spiritual Parent
(see Matthew 6:9); that in fact we are all manifestations of God or
in a sense "gods" (see John 10:30-36). As the dream ends, I perceive
that the Baha'i walking beside me is friendly and somewhat receptive
to what I'm telling him.
To conclude this letter, I will reiterate that I apologize to the
Baha'is for criticizing their religion excessively and that I seek
their forgiveness for doing so. Anything negative I may say from now
on about the Baha'i Faith will be said in a respectful way and with
the clear understanding that there is much that is good about this
faith which must also be recognized and applauded.
Like all religions and religious organizations, the Baha'i Faith has
its flaws, to be sure. I am not going to pretend otherwise for the
sake of a superficial feel-good relationship that lacks the bracing
honesty borne out of true respect and care. I have also spoken and
written extensively about the problems with Christianity, in an
attempt to bring a more universalist and progressive spirit to the
church and body of Christ -- so I am well aware that every religion,
even my own, is imperfect and can benefit from some criticism which
ought to spark needed reflection and change. However, I often failed
to acknowledge along with my criticisms of the Baha'i Faith that it
has been and continues to be a beneficial influence in the lives of
many people and that this is to be celebrated, as the positive
effects of a flawed Christianity and other religions are likewise to
be praised. The flaws of the Baha'i Faith, though real, need not be
unduly emphasized.
I do ask the Baha'is to consider fairly and with an open mind the
concerns of people who leave the Baha'i Faith or hold dissenting
opinions within it. You should not caricature them as being angry and
hateful people, when in most cases this is not true. The majority of
people who leave the faith and speak up about why they did so, or who
believe in Baha'u'llah but openly disagree with some policies of
Baha'i religious institutions, are good people who simply are acting
according to the promptings of their conscience. They may be mistaken
or they may be correct, but in all but a small minority of cases they
are primarily motivated not by base and vile emotions but by a
sincere desire to uphold what they believe to be truth and justice.
I call upon Baha'is to focus on promoting the highest, most universal
principles of your faith and to work with anyone from any religion to
advance those principles, rather than excessively focusing on the
person of Baha'u'llah or the Baha'i administrative order. The world
doesn't need yet another religion offering salvation through rigid
doctrinal belief in one man or one church. What the world needs today
is people from all faiths and denominations to put aside their narrow
and exclusive mindset and recognize that we all are God's children
and we all have important ideas to contribute to the discussion, in
order that together we may solve or mitigate the severe problems
humanity is facing and that the human race may be uplifted to its
full divine potential. I ask you to join me in this transcendent
understanding and this great calling.
May God bless and inspire you all.
Love always,
Eric Stetson
NUR
mash_ghasem
How was your holiday? Did you have a good time with your husband or
boyfriend May? You do have a husband or boyfriend don't you?
>
>
>
> > http://plateauofiran.wordpress.com/2007/07/19/a-proposal-to-ban-noroo...
>
> > http://iransara.info/Iran%20Nooroz%206372.htm
>
>
ho...@talktalk.net
"...The March Solstice is celebrated in many parts of Gaia as marking
the
New Year when all things are made new by a re-energizing or recreating
of all atoms...."
I think you mean the "March equinox" - that is when all the days and
nights are equal throughout the earth.
The "equinoxes" are in March (20/21) and September (23/23), while the
solstices ("sun standing still") are at the end of June and the end of
December.
NUR
interested in the Baha'i Faith and his frequent defense of the AO,
that he is probably working for them."
-- Eric Stetson, September 2003
All Bad
annual taxes from my company of approximately $50,000 per year for many
years. So lets clear Nima's sick sick spin up. OTOH, Nima has never held a
job except as the janitor for his parents apartments while collecting Oz
study monies, therefore, he never paid ANY taxes because his income was too
low. His parents were always looking for the rents he was supposed to have
collected while manning the apartments (and even brought police with them to
collect it while I was there)...so maybe there is money he hasn't claimed to
the tax office. His two identity bankruptcy is another matter. At least I
was smart enough not to give him any money except $60. I once wired to his
account when he was destitude. Too bad Harry Duran and others got taken for
ten thousand dollars each by him.
http://groups.google.com/group/talk.religion.bahai/msg/7247b89a27e4d432
NUR
Pat Kohli, or Patrick Kohli, is a member of the Haifan Baha'i Faith[1]
who makes regular contributions to the USENET newsgroup
talk.religion.bahai[2]. He is a computer programmer who has worked on
software for various projects, including military systems.
Contents [hide]
1 Background
2 Articles and Resources
2.1 Related SourceWatch Articles
2.2 References
2.3 External Articles
[edit]Background
He "is a computer scientist assigned to 4.5.3.3. He works for PMA-231
as the Open Architecture (OA) IPT lead, in the OA/FORCEnet IPT of the
Network Centric Warfare IPT. Prior to this he worked at Saint Inigoes
for 4.5 and developed a prototype next generation flight data
recorder, using COTS components, to meet incident reporting,
maintenance and FOQA needs. Pat also supported the old PMA-282 which
did weapon control systems for guided missiles. Pat has an MS in
computer Information Systems from Florida Tech." [3]
"Pat Kohli, NCW Open Architecture Lead, demonstrated how the E-2/C-2
program office (PMA-231) is continuously evaluating and implementing
software modernization to facilitate transition of the existing E-2
operational flight program to an environment using commercially
available systems. Venlet said, "The Naval Aviation Enterprise has
embraced open architecture as a fundamental building block of weapon
system development from its very inception. Our government/industry
teams continue to leverage these open system strategies and concepts
in achieving reduction in overall development cycle times and
delivering increased system capabilities to the Fleet faster and
cheaper. The advantages of integrating open architecture designs and
contracting strategies are measurable and pronounced as is
substantiated by our E-2D Advanced Hawkeye and P-8 Multi-Mission
Aircraft development programs. The key to continued success will be
maintaining the close partnership with industry experts, as we provide
the right capabilities, at the right time and right cost to the joint
warfighter."The E-2 Hawkeye team has been representing and directly
supporting Venlet's executive office - the aviation domain lead for
open architecture initiatives - since June 2004, because of its role
as a battle management command and control platform and a central
network communications node in aviation. E-2 Program Manager Capt.
Randy Mahrsaid, "Today's evolving E-2 open architecture model paves
the way for a more mature system to be used by the E-2D prior to it
taking its place in the fleet."[3]
Pat Kohli has maintained a consistent web presence since the late
1990s, particularly on USENET, addressing both external critics and
dissenters within the Haifan Baha'i Faith tradition to which he
belongs [5]. In 1998, he voted against the creation of the USENET
group, talk.religion.bahai, as an un-moderated discussion forum for
issues relating to the Baha'i faith [4]. Official discussion regarding
the creation of this group may also be found at: [6]. He posts under
the handles Mr All Bad and All_Bad [5]
[edit]Articles and Resources
[edit]Related SourceWatch Articles
[edit]References
↑ Letter from Assistant Secretary, Kishan Manocha, on Behalf of
National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United Kingdom [1],
dated October 8, 2002, Accessed 17 February, 2009.
↑ Discussion Archive of USENET group Talk.Religion.Baha'i, [2],
Accessed February 17, 2009
↑ 3.0 3.1 Drema Ballengee-Grunst, "Assistant SecNav visits NAVAIR T&E
laboratory", November 10, 2005.
↑ Record of votes cast regarding the creation of the USENET group,
talk.religion.bahai,[3], Accessed February 17, 2009.
↑ Excerpt from USENET group talk.religion.bahai,[4], Accessed February
17, 2009.
[edit]External Articles
Retrieved from "http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Pat_Kohli"
Categories: United States | Religion | Military | War/peace
NUR
Thanks!
I wasn't going to tell her...
W
Tahirih-Starr*
your pointing out these differences in the observance of the seasons
in relation to the sun.
However, I think there are points to consider as we prepare for the
future in relation to Baha'i prophecy. One of them is that humanity is
approaching the time of The Great Reversal (Kitab-i-aqdas). This may
have many implications.
Also, please meditate on the following in relation to the Message:
Tablets of `Abdu'l-Bahá, p. 337:
"As to the question: "Whither shall we turn in our prayers?" There is
an appointed center toward which one must direct her/himself in
prayer , but at present this center is not unfolded because of wisdom.
In its time this shall be announced. At present, in those regions, you
should direct yourself, as formerly, to the East."
With Living/Love/Light as we all approach the changing
times.....Starr*
NUR
obvious all along that you weren't anything else. Thank you for
letting your guard down finally!
W
> > December.- Hide quoted text -
NUR
anymore regardng your former claims showing indeed that you are and
have always been a Bahaim all along. Go figure...W
On Mar 28, 10:34 pm, "Tahirih-Starr*" <st...@tahirih-starr.org> wrote: