A Bahá'í Perspective

Roya and Roshan have been collaborating for five years, putting the Baha'i writings to song. They have yet to publish an album, but they offered to perform live for the interview. They've selected six pieces to feature and so, sit back and enjoy the concert. You can find Roya's work href="http://royamusic.ca/" target="_blank"here.

I have had the wonderful opportunity to interview Hussein Ahdieh a number of times whenever he produces a new work. And this is no exception. Hussein, in collaboration with Hilary Chapman, created the book href="http://nayriz.org/TahirihJYBook/ChosenPathAnnouncement.html" target="_blank"The Chosen Path: Tahirih of Persia and Her Search for God, targeted for young adults. We talk extensively about the history of Tahirih in Persia in the 19th century and her impact today. In the interview Hussein refers to a number of, what are referred to as, "orientalists". Some of them were scholarly historians in the 19th century that focused their endeavors in researching the Persian culture. And others had less academic credentials, but had directly experienced the Persian culture and wrote about it. These "orientalists" discovered the eventful history of the Babi Faith and its renowned heroine, Tahirih, and wrote about her, thus introducing the Babi movement to the western world. The orientalists Hussein refers

Elizabeth is the author of 3 books: href="https://www.amazon.com/Answers-Heaven-Near-Death-Experiences-Pasarow/dp/1548297917/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1amp;keywords=Answers+from+Heavenamp;qid=1592957600amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank"Answers from Heaven: The Near-Death Experiences of Reinee E. Pasarow, href="https://www.amazon.com/Ancient-Wisdom-Interfaith-Spiritual-Journey/dp/146094934X/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1amp;keywords=Ancient+Wisdom+Common+Ground%3A+An+Interfaith+View+of+the+Spiritual+Journey+We+Call+Lifeamp;qid=1592960341amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank"Ancient Wisdom Common Ground: An Interfaith View of the Spiritual Journey We Call Life, and href="https://www.amazon.com/30-Days-Better-World-Starting/dp/1499730322/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1amp;keywords=30+Days+to+a+Better+World+Starting+with+Meamp;qid=1592960392amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank"30 Days to a Better World Starting with Me. We discuss each of these books and she shares excerpts from each in the interview.

Tania is a family physician and an assistant clinical professor in Family Medicine at the University of Alberta. For over twenty years she has been treating patients afflicted by chronic pain, using diet change as one way of ameliorating their condition. In her practice she treats addiction as well, and describes her unique ability to address it. She describes the intersection of pain and addiction in the interview.

Bijan co-authored a book with his wife Farnaz and his son Adib called href="https://www.bahaibookstore.com/Secrets-of-True-Happiness-P9896.aspx" target="_blank"The Secrets of True Happiness. Bijan explains the scientific research behind the book and the fundamental prerequisites for true happiness. I have Bijan read an excerpt from the book in the interview.

Chitra started her graduate career by conducting research at the Columbian educational foundation known as href="https://www.fundaec.org/en/" target="_blank"FUNDAEC.nbsp; Later, while pursuing her graduate degree, she co-founded the UCLA branch of the href="https://www.freire.org/" target="_blank"Paulo Freire Institute. She is now a faculty member of the href="https://humaneeducation.org/" target="_blank"Institute for Humane Education, although she is taking a leave of absence to devote her time to an associate directorship at the href="https://wilmetteinstitute.org/" target="_blank"Wilmette Institute. She explains how all these phases in her career represent a progressive, evolutionary process in her understanding of the potential for education to change humanity and the world.

David was a successful entrepreneur who was able to retire at 50 and devote his time and resources in service to humanity. He began by initiating a video series called Angels of Iran to make aware the persecutions of the Baha'is in Iran. During this endeavor he conceived the href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WfMvzasCcXU" target="_blank"Education Under Fire Campaign. This campaign inspired universities across the globe to accept accreditation of an underground higher education institution established by the Baha#39;is of Iran, who are denied the right to attend university by the government of the country. Soon after, he was approached to be executive director of the Association of the Peasants of Fondwa (APF) - USA Foundation, which he renamed href="https://raisinghaiti.org/" target="_blank"Raising Haiti Foundation. He talks about the work of the foundation and its alliances with href="https://www.parishprogram.org/" target="_blank"Parish Twinnings and href="http://www.haitifarmers.org/" target="

href="http://augustolopezclaros.com/" target="_blank"Augusto has been an international economist for over 30 years working with international organizations such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. He and Ms. Bahiyyih Nakhjavani have collaborated on a book entitled href="https://www.bahaibookstore.com/Equality-for-Women-Prosperity-for-All-P9870.aspx" target="_blank"Equality for Women = Prosperity for All; a book about the direct relationship between a woman's rights and freedoms and the economic prosperity of her country. We talk extensively about this subject and Augusto reads a moving except from the book in the interview.

Rob is the author of the book href="https://www.bahaibookstore.com/Eagles-in-the-Dust-P9843.aspx" target="_blank"Eagles in the Dust: Alcohol and Other Pastimes. Rob explains that most of us have grown up in a culture where alcohol is commonplace. Eagle and the Dust describes how many people believe it to be harmless, and only in severe substance abuse is it considered then harmful. He disputes that moderate drinking is responsible or even beneficial. He explains this is some detail in the interview. Rob also has a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCrzN2uXZKpnl8CcB092I_FA" target="_blank"YouTube channel called Bridging Beliefs.

Jay is the author of the historical novel, "The Wise Men of the West: A Search for the Promised One in the Latter Days". This is a two volume work. The story takes place during the millennial movement when William Miller was proclaiming that the return of Christ was to occur in 1844. The two main characters in the novel realize that the event was not to take place in the West but in the East and the story chronicles their realization and pursuit, what they finally discover, and what they must do once they make their discovery. Jay reads an excerpt in the interview. You can find href="https://www.bahaibookstore.com/Wise-Men-of-the-West-P9826.aspx" target="_blank"his book here. nbsp;

Ania is an artist and a musician. With her art she provides venues for collaborative painting and she performs live painting at live public events. In the interview Ania describes these for us. With her music she composes songs, the lyrics of which, are from the Baha'i writitings. For the interview she demonstrates some of the songs she has written especially for her children to help them learn these spiritual writings. She describes how it is important to tap into the creativity in us to reach and understand spiritual reality. You can find her work at href="https://www.aniatelfer.com/" target="_blank"AniaTelfer.com.

Earl has written several books on the Baha'i Faith published through the UK publisher href="http://www.grbooks.com/content/search.php?words=Redmanamp;submit=Search" target="_blank"George Ronald. Two of his books are about Abdu'l-Baha. Abdu'l-Baha is one of the central figures of the Baha'i Faith and is the son of the prophet-founder of the Baha'i Faith, Baha'u'llah. Earl explains why Abdu'l-Baha is an important figure to Baha'is and tells a number of stories about Abdul'l-Baha in the interview. Earl's wife, Sharon O'Toole is an active participant in the interview who tells her story about her spiritual search and reads excerpts from Earl's stories about Abdu'l-Baha.

Richard grew up and became a Baha'i in the 60's. He and href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Anux1ub1M4U" target="_blank"Joann Boravicka together recorded his story in a book called href="https://www.bahaibookstore.com/Crossing-the-Line-P9841.aspx" target="_blank"Crossing the Line: A memoir of race, religion, and change . His story starts with him turning away from the church and becoming a delinquent. He tells the remarkable story of the influences that turned his life around.

Susan is a singer, song writer, and author who has now written two books for the Baha'i Change Maker Series. The Change Maker Series is a series of biographies targeted toward middle schoolers. Her first one is href="https://www.bahaibookstore.com/Robert-Sengstacke-Abbott-eBook-ePub-P9594.aspx" target="_blank"Robert Abbott who founded the Chicago Defender newspaper. Her most recent, to be published February 8th of this same year, is " href="https://www.bahaibookstore.com/John-Birks-Dizzy-Gillespie-P9872.aspx" target="_blank"John Birks "Dizzy" Gillespie: A Man, a Trumpet, and a Journey to Bebop". We talk about Dizzy Gillespie's life and I feature recordings of Dizzy Gillespie in the program.

Emily is a href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClmOj3tMSwaRIF4XYYAPWawamp;sa=Damp;usd=2amp;usg=AOvVaw2gLLrSsWoZ2YqdnlRuts-i" target="_blank"singer songwriter and speech pathologist who uses music to help kids with speech difficulties. We share a number of her compositions in the interview in which she puts the Baha'i writings to song. She also describes in the interview how she href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCbLGpp8XjHmzv3YmRatEYygamp;sa=Damp;usd=2amp;usg=AOvVaw1msd6UtZNG7X0KKNXxsZOC" target="_blank"incorporates musicnbsp; into her work as a speech pathologist and we share href="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v%3Dvqmws9jOTWEamp;sa=Damp;usd=2amp;usg=AOvVaw1e6yMEg3rkBIsleND5vxGv" target="_blank"one example in the interview.

Daniel is an award-winning drummer, Vanier Canada Graduate Scholar at the University of Alberta, and Ethnomusicologist. His PhD dissertation href="https://www.academia.edu/26968301/Hidden_Words_and_Sounds_An_Ethnography_of_the_Music_Program_at_the_Bahai_Institute_for_Higher_Education_in_Iran" target="_blank"Hidden Words and Sounds An Ethnography of the Music Program at the Bahai Institute for Higher Education in Iran is on the exploration of musical representations of the persecution of the Baha'i Community in Iran. We play musical pieces in the interview that present Daniel's performance capabilities as well as musical pieces related to his musical studies on the Baha'i persecution in Iran.

Faye is a theater and visual artist who produces original touring puppet shows for adult and family audiences. Her most recent effort is a series of puppet productions called Cozy Corner, which features a puppet by the name of Rory, that faces new life challenges in each episode. We talk about Faye's background in puppetry and Cosy Corner in particular. You can find Faye's work href="http://fayedupras.com/training/cozycorner/" target="_blank"here.

Jim is an author, phtotographer and filmmaker whose latest film release is called href="https://deathbyjoy.com/" target="_blank"Death By Joy: An Escorted Journey, a documentary of one woman#39;s choice to find joy in dying and her unforgettable discoveries along the way. We discuss the film and its societal implications, and we share an audio clip from the film. Jim also produced the film href="https://thepromiseofallages.com/" target="_blank"The Promise of All Ages: Life of Baha'u'llah. You can find links to all of Jim's work on his href="https://jmcribb.com/" target="_blank"website.

Hamed was born and raised in Zambia, and has lived there for most of his life, with the exception of a brief period in Montreal when he went to university. Hamed still lives in Zambia with his wife and and three children. Hamed has published his first novel, " href="https://www.amazon.com/Oars-Compass-Purposeful-Journey-Happiness/dp/1797713671/ref=sr_1_1?keywords=Hamed+Javaheriamp;qid=1571956599amp;sr=8-1" target="_blank"With Oars and Compass: A Purposeful Journey into Life, Love and Happiness". The story centers around the protagonist, Jane, a young and multicultural woman, living in a big city, who is determined to conquer the world. Recent events left her disenchanted and uncertain about the direction her life is taken, and disillusioned by what she sees around her. We discuss further the story of Jane and the process Hamed went through to create the novel.

href="http://bahaipodcast.com/assets/mp3/abp-270.mp3"I interviewed Lisa previously six years ago in which we talked about her novel Abbey Wize - Away. She has since re-released the novel. She talks about the work she had done on the novel since its orginal release and she reads an excerpt from Abbey Wize - Away. You can learn more about Abby Wize by going to the website href="https://wize.media/ " target="_blank"https://wize.media/ or the Facebook page href="https://www.facebook.com/AbbyWizeMedia/" target="_blank"https://www.facebook.com/AbbyWizeMedia/.