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 who wants to participate. Each episode is built around a one relevant word, examined 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 our personal thoughts from actual Baha’i Revelation and authoritative texts. So, whenever I quote those, you’ll be notified with a little “ding”. Furthermore, my sources are all listed and linked in the Episode Show Notes as well as in a Substack Newsletter which contains this entire script.
This week’s word is PLAN
The World
We may not see it readily but just a moments’s reflection reveals that our entire existence in the physical world: every aspect and detail of our days, work, recreation, habits, relationships, and aspirations; they all hang on an invisible structure of plans, formed and pursued by others, in the past, and not just decades past but centuries past. Millennia past! What those people wanted to accomplish, whether they failed or succeeded - affects us now.
Examples! The systems we live in: economic, educational, governmental. The structures we depend on: hospitals, highways, homes, the internet. The stuff we use: everything from soap to transportation to the mini computer in our pocket. They all started with a plan and each plan led to another. Also, elusive “behind the curtain” intangible things have impacted our lives as a result of someone’s planning. I’m referencing the thought worlds of religion, philosophy, science, and aesthetics: the basis for our hopes and dreams, character, and decisions.
Furthermore, on the surface of all this complexity, plans within our own personal story play out. Did our grandpa decide to relocate? Did our mother remarry? Did a natural disaster or personal crisis impact our family? Did a teacher, change the direction of our life by opening for us, a previously locked invisible door?
So here’s the question.
Since the plans of bygone people are so foundational to our current lives, isn’t it natural to wonder, what will be the consequences of our plans on generations to come?
We see evidence of this kind of reflection in organizations such as:
The United Nations #2
Think Tanks - so many think tanks #3
Futurist organizations #4
The World Economic Forum #5
But is the public in general, engaged in conversations around their work? Is it a natural subject among the masses, as comfortable as “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Or does the topic seem to be simply beyond us and therefore too weird to broach?
And if we do want to seek out those among us, engaged in exciting long term planning, where do we find them?
Hmmm, how about NASA? The National Aeronautics and Space Administration of the US has long term plans, the cohesiveness to work with international collaborators and partners, serious systems for implementation, and full agreement on the “Rule of Law” which for them is of course, SCIENCE! It’s a refreshing example of people joyfully laboring to solve challenging problems today on behalf of future generations. #6
Can the rest of us do this? Does my Country have a plan? My faith community? Does the world have a plan? A long term plan? And what does “long term” mean? When IS the future? According to the Long Now Foundation, long term - is 10,000 years both behind and ahead of - today. #7
The Baha’i Faith
The worldwide Baha’i community is actually very much united around a PLAN - a shared vision of humanity’s future and has been creating sequential global plans since 1937 to advance and promote the vision described for us by Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith. #8
Remember, just a few minutes ago, I opened this podcast episode by saying “This Wondrous System, a short Podcast with a long view about a very positive plan for humanity as a whole and every individual who wants to participate.” So you see, understanding the role of plans in the Baha’i Faith will be present in every Episode.
To explain the vision central to all Baha’i plans, I’ll draw from a document, written in 1999, and released by the Baha’i International Community as we transitioned into the 21st Century.
It’s titled “Who is Writing the Future?” #9
Following are some excerpts. “Ding “
“The central spiritual issue facing all people, Bahá’u’lláh says, whatever their nation, religion, or ethnic origin, is that of laying the foundations of a global society that can reflect the oneness of human nature. The unification of the earth’s inhabitants is neither a remote utopian vision nor, ultimately, a matter of choice. It constitutes the next, inescapable stage in the process of social evolution, a stage toward which all the experience of past and present is impelling us. Until this issue is acknowledged and addressed, none of the ills afflicting our planet will find solutions, because all the essential challenges of the age we have entered are global and universal, not particular or regional.”
“Viewed through Bahá’u’lláh’s eyes, the history of tribes, peoples, and nations has effectively reached its conclusion. What we are witnessing is the beginning of the history of humankind, the history of a human race conscious of its own oneness. To this turning point in the course of civilization, his writings bring a redefinition of the nature and processes of civilization and a reordering of its priorities. Their aim is to call us back to spiritual awareness and responsibility.” Ding
The Individual
What can you do, as an individual? If you have listened this far, and are thinking about this Episode, you are already doing it.
Episode Show Notes
1. A link to the Episode 10 - Plan Podcast
2. UN75: The Future We Want, The UN We Need
3. Top Influential Think Tanks ranked for 2023
4. Some Futurist Organizations
8. A beautiful Chart depicting the progression of Baha’i Plans