"What is a fireside? Getting a couple of friends together and talk about the Bahai faith."
Dear Janine, When the Guardian said it was the best teaching method he gave as his reason that it allows the seeker to ask all of the questions in their hearts. "What did it turn into? official talks about peoples *opinion* what the Bahai faith is. I have heard very few quotes studied in a fireside." I'm not so sure how necessary it is to study quotes at firesides, but individual pontificating is not the best idea either. As the Guardian suggested a fireside should focus on the seeker. In most communities seekers who were ready to study the Writings in more depth were more than welcome at deepenings. "When Shoghi Effendi was alive the Bahai community was much smaller. The UHJ has given us the institute process whihc is offering study circles, childrens classes and devotionals to the community at large." So far as I know Institutes don't offer us children's classes or devotionals, just study circles. ;-} But I agree that the closer we get to entry by troops the less serviceable traditional firesides are likely to become. That is because firesides are really only effective with people we know and to have entry by troops we have to bring in those we don't know. And one thing that was learned from the media campaign is that seekers don't want to come to meetings at the homes of strangers. And the first meeting they expect to attend is a worship service. Until we began devotional meetings we didn't have any of those to offer. But those devotional meetings may not do us any good in terms of increasing our numbers unless we hold them at Baha'i Centers. Right now the emphasis is on 'multiplying' such meetings. If that means holding them more frequently and regularly, well and good. But if it means we divide our resources so that we are having lots of little meetings at individuals homes, I think it will be self-defeating. Seekers want to attend worship services at neutral venues. "If I offer the ruhi book 1 to a friend, I will ask for feedback of that friend, and if the friend is not happy with the method, I will ask what she feels about the quotes. If she is happy with the quotes, I will ask her if she wants to learn more about the Bahai writings, and then work out a system wherewith she can study the writings. I assumed everybody would do that, but it occurred just now to me that maybe some people do not do this..." It strikes me that you are using the 'fireside method' recommended by the Guardian, namely answering the questions in the seeker's own heart. But I think the Ruhi method is very different. ;-} "It is interesting that you and I have such a different experience with the books themselves." Except you apparently did have the same reaction when you read these books. Wasn't it the Study Circles themselves which changed your opinion. "Book 3 has a certain view on how to treat children, which is very much in alignment with my view, so i had not muchproblems there, but that is the only book I can remember that strongly focussed on the interpretation of the editors of the writings (in this case, on how to treat children)." My recollection is that section 2 of Book One had very little to do with anything from authoritative texts. "That is okay, and I cannot see any objection you asking your community for support in setting up something for your friends." Well, I did complain about the fact that Ruhi was taking up so much of the community's time that firesides had disappeared. Which was a problem, because I usually have plenty of seekers to bring. After I said that they did start having firesides once again more regularly. "It is there, it has been tested for 20 years." I wish the testing had been a little more scientific with some equivalent to double-blinds. "I am so happy to have the internet, because that means I can go even international now and work on different levels: mystical, intellectual and the mainstream Bahai." Yeah, it has been important to me this way as well. Most of the things I talk about here would elicit nothing but glazed-eyed stares in my local community. "the kind of deepening I would like woudl include facts from how the culture was Baha'u'llah grew up in, a closer look at the hadiths He uses, but it also would include things like: how do you keep independence of thought and at the same time have unity with the other Bahais around you? How does the process of unity in diversity work? How does a person view the world, think, etc. who is able to form bonds with many diverse people and show kindness and love to them all? What is love? How can you stay loving to one who has really hurt you?" And how do we balance truth with wisdom without compromising our integrity? "The more peopel become Bahai, the more we will find people who share the same interests and with whom we can go very indepth on certain issues." Yeah, I guess part of my fears about Ruhi is that it will produce cookie-cutter Baha'is. When people talk about it getting us all 'on the same page' I get really nervous. And then there is that passage in Book 7 which says we should stick to the literal meaning of a quotation because it will be insure 'unity of thought.' Aaargh. "Many people, far more than I first realised, feel alone in their community, feel the odd one out in their community." You can say that again! "Part of that is because we find it difficult to show what we think about certain things, because of a lack of openness on our side, because we are afraid of what another thinks." Sometimes being too open is seen as creating disunity. Once we really know each other we are bound to find out how much we disagree. So we tend to keep things superficial; never revealing who we really are, all in the name of unity. warmest, Susan __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:archive@mail-archive.com To unsubscribe, send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] To subscribe, use subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:bahai-st@list.jccc.edu Web - http://list.jccc.edu/read/?forum=bahai-st News - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Public - http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.net New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/bahai-st@list.jccc.edu
