Intro:
Welcome! You’ve reached This Wondrous System, a short Podcast with a long view about a very positive plan for humanity as a whole and every individual as well. Each episode starts with a word that’s relevant to the Plan. The word fans out into a theme as the ideas it generates are explored in the context of three entities: The World, The Baha’i Faith, and The Individual. Listen for 9 minutes to discover what you think, feel and believe.
But first, Revelation Alert! All Baha’is, myself included, are encouraged to exercise our freedom to investigate reality. Independent thinking is cherished and prized. But we are careful to distinguish the expression of our own personal thoughts and reflections from Baha’i Revelation, that is, from authoritative Baha’i Texts. So, whenever I do recite actual Baha’i writings, you’ll be notified with a little “ding” at the beginning and at the end of each quotation. Furthermore, my sources are all listed and linked in the Episode Show Notes below as well as in Episode 9 of This Wondrous System, an Apple Podcast. #1 So now, let’s get into the word of the week - converse.
In The World:
As conversations are inescapable and common, I previously assumed I knew enough about them to get along and didn’t seek out better skills, not even when my conversations went badly. But I’ve changed and now, hungrily want to become proficient in conversations that are more satisfying, nourishing to the human spirit, and able to reveal truth. And, I’m not alone.
Look around. WOW! We have access to endless resources on improving our conversations. Entries keep pouring in. Most obvious are those from the normal places: Organizations, Academia, Government Agencies, Books, Articles, Stories, Poems, & Podcasts. Also, we’re increasingly seeking connections through multicultural and multigenerational conversations, and now even conversations with animals and AI.
In our search, we also has access to the past. We can examine weighty conversations from history, preserved in the form of imaginative dialogues. Consider Gorgias, the Socratic dialogue, written by Plato. I’ll read a snippet.
Socrates gets Gorgias to agree that the rhetorician is actually more convincing in front of an ignorant audience than an expert, because mastery of the tools of persuasion gives a man more conviction than mere facts. Gorgias accepts this criticism and asserts that it is an advantage of his profession that a man can be considered above specialists without having to learn anything of substance (459c). Socrates calls rhetoric a form of flattery, or pandering, and compares it to pastry baking and self-adorning (kommōtikōn). He says that rhetoric is to politics what pastry baking is to medicine, and what cosmetics are to gymnastics. All of these activities are aimed at surface adornment, an impersonation of what is really good. #2
Next I’ll read part of a commentary from Wikipedia, on a conversation between Arjuna and Krishna in the Bhagavad Gita.
He (Arjuna) turns to his charioteer and guide Krishna, for advice on the rationale for war, his choices and the right thing to do. The Bhagavad Gita is the compilation of Arjuna's questions and moral dilemma and Krishna's answers and insights that elaborate on a variety of philosophical concepts.
The compiled dialogue goes far beyond the "rationale for war"; it touches on many human ethical dilemmas, philosophical issues and life's choices.[105] … although the Gita is set in the context of a wartime epic, the narrative is structured to apply to all situations. #3
The arts, from cartoons to dramas, provide influential conversations. Check out websites such as 10 Best Movies About Conversations ever made. #4
Recently, I read a blog post about books on conversation which asked the reader if they had any to suggest. #5
That’s when I realized that YES, I had one. Back in 1966, my favorite art teacher gave me a copy of The Miracle of Dialogue by Reuel L. Howe, me and every other student in his Drawing Class. He was THAT enthusiastic about the book - still available on Amazon BTW. The author, a Christian pastor and professor of Pastoral Theology, Dr. Howe’s vast experience and commitment to further human progress, shines through every page. This for example, “Where we seek one another in honest exchange, we may find ourselves also in communion with God. The subject of true religion is not religion, but life.”
#6 https://www.amazon.com/Miracle-Dialogue-reuel-howe/dp/B001IZEP0M
The Baha’i Faith:
Regarding communion with God, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá states simply that …
Ding “Prayer is conversation with GOD.” Ding
#7a https://www.bahai.org/library/other-literature/publications-individual-authors/bahaullah-new-era/7#165445990
#7b Words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, cited in Star of the West, vol. 8 no. 4 (17 May 1917) p.41
#7c https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/compilations/institution-mashriqul-adhkar/12#926085242
Something special happens in …
1) our prayers, those internal conversations we have when communing with our own soul which is a mysterious creation, a mirror sensitized to respond to the influences of it’s creator - hence - conversation with God.
Something special happens in …
2) the conversations we have with each other that involve themes relevant to our spirits, the intangible part of us.
Something special happens in …
3) the actions that such prayers and conversations engender, the way they empower us to behave, contribute, and work together for the betterment of our immediate locality and the advancement of civilization at large.
Recently, a dear friend asked me how the Baha’i Faith began, and at that moment I realized, it began with a conversation.
The Individual
The examples above: Socrates and Gorgias, Krishna and Arjuna, The Miracle of Dialogue and a conversation that launched the fulfillment of a long awaited Spiritual Promise, these are all Conversations of Significance. They are meaningful, distinctive, elevated, discourses of society - that are imbued with themes our souls hunger for, and they reveal truths that release the society building powers, accessible in each of us.
So, we can all increase our ability to converse on a plane that transcends the superficial. In fact, it’s part of the Plan - to converse on significant topics among families and friends, at work, in our organizations and communities.
Closing down with two resources for the eager learners. The Open and Curious Substack Newsletter, dedicated to “creating better conversation to spread understanding and compassion.” #8 And a Baha’i Article, Participation in the Discourses of Society. #9 Conversations of Significance - here we come.
Episode Show Notes:
#1 - Audio recording in This Wondrous System, an Apple Podcast
https://this-wondrous-system.simplecast.com/episodes/converse
#2 - Gorgias, the Socratic dialogue, written by Plato
#3 - Dialogue between Krishna and Arjuna
https://www.shortform.com/blog/krishna-arjuna-bhagavad-gita/
#4 - 10 Best Movies about conversations ever made
https://thecinemaholic.com/the-10-greatest-conversational-movies-of-all-time/
#5 - The Open & Curious Substack by Craig Constantine. A post from March 24, 2023 titled Reading Suggestions.
#6 - The Miracle of Dialogue by Reuel L. Howe
#7a - Conversation with God
"Prayer," says Abdu'l-Baha, "is conversation with God." In order that God may make known His Mind and Will to men, He must speak to them in a language which they can understand, and this He does by the mouths of His Holy Prophets. While these Prophets are alive in the body They speak with men face to face and convey to them the Message of God, and after Their death Their message continues to reach men's minds through Their recorded sayings and writings. But this is not the only way in which God can commune with and inspire those whose hearts are seeking after truth, wherever they are, and whatever their native race or tongue. By this language the Manifestation continues to hold converse with the faithful after His departure from the material world. Christ continued to converse with and inspire His disciples after His crucifixion. In fact He influenced them more powerfully than before; and with other Prophets it has been the same. Abdu'l-Baha speaks much of this spiritual language. He says, for instance: --
We should speak in the language of heaven -- in the language of the spirit -- for there is a language of the spirit and heart. It is as different from our language as our own language is different from that of the animals, who express themselves only by cries and sounds.
It is the language of the spirit which speaks to God. When, in prayer, we are freed from all outward things and turn to God, then it is as if in our hearts we hear the voice of God. Without words we speak, we communicate, we converse with God and hear the answer. ... All of us, when we attain to a truly spiritual condition, can hear the Voice of God. (from a talk reported by Miss Ethel J. Rosenberg).
Baha'u'llah declares that the higher spiritual truths can be communicated only by means of this spiritual language. The spoken or written word is quite inadequate. In a little book called The Seven Valleys, in which He describes the journey of travelers from the earthly dwelling to the Divine Home, He says, in speaking of the more advanced stages of the journey: — The tongue is unable to give an account of these, and utterance falls exceedingly short. The pen is useless in this court, and the ink gives no result but blackness. ... Heart alone can communicate to heart the state of the knower; this is not the work of a messenger, nor can it be contained in letters.
#7b - Words of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, cited in Star of the West, vol. 8 no. 4 (17 May 1917) p.41
“There is nothing sweeter in the world of existence than prayer. Man must live in a state of prayer. The most blessed condition is the condition of prayer and supplication. Prayer is conversation with God. The greatest attainment or the sweetest state is none other than conversation with God. it creates spirituality, creates mindfulness and celestial feelings, begets new attractions of the Kingdom and engenders the susceptibilities of the higher intelligence.”
#7c - The Universal House of Justice - From a letter dated 18 December 2014 to the Bahá’ís in Iran. https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/compilations/institution-mashriqul-adhkar/12#926085242
Prayer is the essential spiritual conversation of the soul with its Maker, direct and without intermediation. It is the spiritual food that sustains the life of the spirit. Like the morning’s dew, it brings freshness to the heart and cleanses it, purifying it from attachments of the insistent self. It is a fire that burns away the veils and a light that leads to the ocean of reunion with the Almighty. On its wings does the soul soar in the heavens of God and draw closer to the divine reality. Upon its quality depend the development of the limitless capacities of the soul and the attraction of the bounties of God, but the prolongation of prayer is not desirable. The powers latent in prayer are manifested when it is motivated by the love of God, beyond any fear or favour, and free from ostentation and superstition. It is to be expressed with a sincere and pure heart conducive to contemplation and meditation so that the rational faculty can be illumined by its effects. Such prayer will transcend the limitation of words and go well beyond mere sounds. The sweetness of its melodies must gladden and uplift the heart and reinforce the penetrating power of the Word, transmuting earthly inclinations into heavenly attributes and inspiring selfless service to humankind.
#8 - The Open and Curious Substack Newsletter
https://substack.com/@openandcurious
#9 - Participation in the Discourses of Society, an article on a Baha’i Faith Website
https://www.bahai.org/action/involvement-life-society/participating-discourses-society