Methods of studying the 12/28/2010 letter of the Universal House of Justice

1. Methods of studying the 12/28/2010 letter of the Universal House of Justice Prepared for Green Lake Baha’i Conference, August 2011 By Edward Price, Wilmette, IL Email: edprice99@yahoo.com http://edwardprice.us/bahai/greenlake.html

2. Welcome! Today we’ll strive to let the Universal House of Justice teach us about its vision for the Five Year Plan. We will strive to read the 12/28/2010 letter for accuracy and understanding.

3. Materials are available for download http://edwardprice.us/bahai/greenlake.html Contact Info: Edward Price Wilmette, IL Email: edprice99@yahoo.com

4. The task in front of us! • Assist one another to read for accuracy a letter which they have all read, and have every reason to think they already understand! • The focus is on accuracy and understanding. • Everyone may have an opinion, but opinions based on accurate understanding are useful • Fit everything into 1 hr 15 minutes • Don’t waste time merely reading the text • Let the text be the primary source document. Let it “suggest” the techniques that will be most helpful • Overcome the tendency to become discouraged when the writing gets complex. Provide encouragement when it becomes challenging • Show how the techniques may apply to the other Writings of the Faith • Keep the session interactive, not passive; interesting, not boring

5. Basic facts #1 Reading for accuracy requires significant effort The more effort invested, the easier it becomes Likewise, the less effort put in, the less one gets out of it

6. Basic facts #2 • Adopt a certain way of thinking: • Assume the writings are correct! If you sense a contradiction or a paradox, ask under what conditions it would be correct • Be reflective. Ask yourself many questions • Be connective. Explicitly connect what you’re reading with other things you’ve read, other things you know. Look at the text, ask “what else do I know?” • Be consultative. Discuss with others. Continue asking questions of one another. Look things up in the Writings. Share the results with others. • Be creative. Make diagrams, flow charts, pictures, etc. • Be slow!! Don’t read for speed. Read for accuracy and understanding. Seek enlightenment, as well as information • Be fallible. Everyone makes mistakes. Be sure to make your share of them! Why should everyone else have all the fun?

7. Basic facts #3 What is the best way to learn to “read for accuracy”? Try to teach others! Nothing is better than this!! Short of that, study and discuss with others, using your best comprehension techniques.

8. Activity #1 Refer to handout

9. Let’s begin our examination of the 12/28 letter.

10. Activity #2 Refer to handout

11. Para 4 • Paragraph 4: • Invariably, opportunities afforded by the personal circumstances of the believers initially involved--or perhaps a single homefront pioneer--to enter into meaningful and distinctive conversation with local residents dictate how the process of growth begins in a cluster. • A study circle made up of a few friends or colleagues, • a class offered for several neighbourhood children, • a group formed for junior youth during after-school hours, • a devotional gathering hosted for family and friends • -- any one of these can serve as a stimulus to growth. • What happens next follows no predetermined course. • Conditions may justify that one core activity be given precedence, multiplying at a rate faster than the others. It is equally possible that all four would advance at a comparable pace. Visiting teams may be called upon to provide impetus to the fledgling set of activities. • But irrespective of the specifics, the outcome must be the same. • Within every cluster, the level of cohesion achieved among the core activities must be such that, in their totality, a nascent programme for the sustained expansion and consolidation of the Faithcan be perceived. • That is to say, in whatever combination and however small in number, • devotional gatherings, children's classes and junior youth groups are being maintained by those progressing through the sequence of institute courses • and committed to the vision of individual and collective transformation they foster. This initial flow of human resources into the field of systematic action marks the first of several milestones in a process of sustainable growth.

12. Para 5 • Paragraph 5: • All of the institutions and agencies promoting the aim of the current series of global Plans need to exercise the measure of agility that the birth of such a dynamic process demands--but none more so than the Auxiliary Board members. To help the friends visualizethis first important milestone, and the multiplicity of ways in which it can be reached, is central to the functioning of every Auxiliary Board member and an increasing number of his or her assistants. In this, as in all their work, they must display breadth of vision and clarity of thought, flexibility and resourcefulness. They should stand shoulder to shoulder with the friends, supporting them through their struggles and partaking in their joys. Some of these friends will quickly move to the forefront of activity, while others will step forward more tentatively; yet all require support and encouragement, offered not in the • abstract but on the basis of that intimate knowledge which is only acquired by working side by side in the field of service. Faith in the capacity of every individual who shows a desire to serve will prove essential to the efforts of those who are to elicit from the believers wholehearted participation in the Plan. Unqualified love free of paternalism will be indispensable if they are to help turn hesitation into courage born of trust in God and transform a yearning for excitement into a commitment to long-term action. Calm determination will be vital as they strive to demonstrate how stumbling blocks can be made stepping stones for progress. And a readiness to listen, with heightened spiritual perception, will be invaluable in identifying obstacles that may prevent some of the friends from appreciating the imperative of unified action.

13. Para 4 A nascent program for the expansion and consolidation of the Cause in your cluster Friends, neighbors, co-workers in your cluster are recruited to participate “…initial flow of human resources into the field of systematic action…” Movement of a population towards Baha’u’llah

14. Para 4 A nascent program for the expansion and consolidation of the Cause in your cluster Friends, neighbors, co-workers in your cluster are recruited to participate “…initial flow of human resources into the field of systematic action…” Movement of a population towards Baha’u’llah

15. Para 4 A nascent program for the expansion and consolidation of the Cause in your cluster Friends, neighbors, co-workers in your cluster are recruited to participate * Children’s Classes * Jr Youth Programs * Devotionals * All Sustained by Study Circles “…initial flow of human resources into the field of systematic action…” Movement of a population towards Baha’u’llah

16. Para 4 A nascent program for the expansion and consolidation of the Cause in your cluster Friends, neighbors, co-workers in your cluster are recruited to participate “…initial flow of human resources into the field of systematic action…” Movement of a population towards Baha’u’llah

17. Para 4 A nascent program for the expansion and consolidation of the Cause in your cluster Friends, neighbors, co-workers in your cluster are recruited to participate “…initial flow of human resources into the field of systematic action…” Movement of a population towards Baha’u’llah

18. Activity #3 Refer to handout

19. The Vision of the Universal House of Justice Strive to acquire the totality of the vision. Let’s make a graphic, and see how it turns out.

20. Para 37 The Vision of the Universal House of Justice Paragraph 37 It is heartening to note that the friends are approaching the study of the messages of the Universal House of Justice related to the Plan with such diligence. The level of discussion generated as they strive to put into practice the guidance received, and to learn from experience, is impressive. We cannot help noticing, however, that achievements tend to be more enduring in those regions where the friends strive to understand the totality of the vision conveyed in the messages, while difficulties often arise when phrases and sentences are taken out of context and viewed as isolated fragments. The institutions and agencies of the Faith should help the believers to analyse but not reduce, to ponder meaning but not dwell on words, to identify distinct areas of action but not compartmentalize. We realize that this is no small task. Society speaks more and more in slogans. We hope that the habits the friends are forming in study circles to work with full and complex thoughts and to achieve understanding will be extended to various spheres of activity.

21. Exemplary conduct Movement of populations towards Bahá’u’lláh Direct teaching re Bahá’u’lláh Spiritual distinction, nurture all Look beyond Baha’i circles Participation in capacity building, community building, with core activities “Infusing cluster after cluster with the spirit of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation” 12/28 Vision of the House Attract seekers and recruits through core activities, sustained by institute courses Organic growth Bahá'í Faith too small to be a pattern for future society; to change the course of history, to save humanity. MUST GET BIGGER! Conditions of the world today are grievous MUST GET BIGGER! Cover the earth with God’s Spirit and Revelation. God’s Kingdom on earth!

22. The Vision of the Universal House of Justice “Infusing cluster after cluster with the spirit of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation”

23. The Vision of the Universal House of Justice “Infusing cluster after cluster with the spirit of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation”

24. I believe the vision of the Universal House of Justice is based on quotes such as this one from the Guardian. • Suffusing the world with the Light of God's Revelation • A PLANETARY SPIRITUAL CRUSADE • Let there be no mistake. The avowed, the primary aim of this Spiritual Crusade is none other than the conquest of the citadels of men's hearts. • The theater of its operations is the entire planet. • Its duration a whole decade. Its commencement synchronizes with the centenary of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh's Mission. • Its culmination will coincide with the centenary of the declaration of that same Mission. • The agencies assisting in its conduct are the nascent administrative institutions of a steadily evolving divinely appointed order. • Its driving force is the energizing influence generated by the Revelation heralded by the Báb and proclaimed by Bahá'u'lláh. • Its Marshal is none other than the Author of the Divine Plan. • Its standard-bearers are the Hands of the Cause of God appointed in every continent of the globe. • Its generals are the twelve national spiritual assemblies participating in the execution of its design. • Its vanguard is the chief executors of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's master plan, their allies and associates.

25. Suffusing the world with the Light of God's Revelation • Its legions are the rank and file of believers standing behind these same twelve national assemblies and sharing in the global task embracing the American, the European, the African, the Asiatic and Australian fronts. • The charter directing its course is the immortal Tablets that have flowed from the pen of the Center of the Covenant Himself. • The armor with which its onrushing hosts have been invested is the glad tidings of God's own message in this day, the principles underlying the order proclaimed by His Messenger, and the laws and ordinances governing His Dispensation. • The battle cry animating its heroes and heroines is the cry of Ya-Baha'u'l-Abha, YaAliyyu'l-A'la. • So vast, so momentous and challenging a crusade that will, God willing, illuminate the annals of the second epoch of the Formative Age of the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh, and immortalize the second decade of the second Bahá'í century, and the termination of which will mark the closing of the first epoch in the evolution of 'Abdu'l-Bahá's Divine Plan, will, in itself, pave the way for, and constitute the prelude to, the initiation of the laborious and tremendously long process of establishing in the course of subsequent crusades in all the newly opened sovereign states, dependencies and islands of the planet, as well as in all the remaining territories of the globe, the framework of the Administrative Order of the Faith, with all its attendant agencies, and of eventually erecting in these territories still more pillars to share in sustaining the weight and in broadening the foundation of the Universal House of Justice.

26. Suffusing the world with the Light of God's Revelation • BEGIN NINTH PART OF MAJESTIC PROCESS • Then, and only then, will the vast, the majestic process, set in motion at the dawn of the Adamic cycle, attain its consummation -- a process which commenced six thousand years ago, with the planting, in the soil of the divine will, of the tree of divine revelation, and which has already passed through certain stages and must needs pass through still others ere it attains its final consummation. • The first part of this process was the slow and steady growth of this tree of divine revelation, successively putting forth its branches, shoots and offshoots, and revealing its leaves, buds and blossoms, • as a direct consequence • of the light and warmth imparted to it by a series of progressive dispensations associated with Moses, Zoroaster, Buddha, Jesus, Muhammad and other Prophets, and • of the vernal showers of blood shed by countless martyrs in their path. • The second part of this process was the fruition of this tree, "that belongeth neither to the East nor to the West," when the Báb appeared as the perfect fruit and declared His mission in the Year Sixty in the city of Shiraz. • The third part was the grinding of this sacred seed, of infinite preciousness and potency, in the mill of adversity, causing it to yield its oil, six years later, in the city of Tabriz.

27. Suffusing the world with the Light of God's Revelation • The fourth part was the ignition of this oil by the hand of Providence in the depths and amidst the darkness of the Siyah-Chal of Tihran a hundred years ago. • The fifth, was the clothing of that flickering light, which had scarcely penetrated the adjoining territory of Iraq, in the lamp of revelation, after an eclipse lasting no less than ten years, in the city of Baghdad. • The sixth, was the spread of the radiance of that light, shining with added brilliancy in its crystal globe in Adrianople, and later on in the fortress town of 'Akká, to thirteen countries in the Asiatic and African continents. • The seventh was its projection, from the Most Great Prison, in the course of the ministry of the Center of the Covenant, across the seas and the shedding of its illumination upon twenty sovereign states and dependencies in the American, the European, and Australian continents. • The eighth part of that process was the diffusion of that same light in the course of the first, and the opening years of the second, epoch of the Formative Age of the Faith, over ninety-four sovereign states, dependencies and islands of the planet, as a result of the prosecution of a series of national plans, initiated by eleven national spiritual assemblies throughout the Bahá'í world, utilizing the agencies of a newly emerged, divinely appointed Administrative Order, and which has now culminated in the one hundredth anniversary of the birth of Bahá'u'lláh's Mission.

28. Suffusing the world with the Light of God's Revelation • The ninth part of this process -- the stage we are now entering -- is the further diffusion of that same light over one hundred and thirty-one additional territories and islands in both the Eastern and Western Hemispheres, through the operation of a decade-long world spiritual crusade whose termination will, God willing, coincide with the Most Great Jubilee commemorating the centenary of the declaration of Bahá'u'lláh in Baghdad. • And finally the tenth part of this mighty process must be the penetration of that light, in the course of numerous crusades and of successive epochs of both the Formative and Golden Ages of the Faith, into all the remaining territories of the globe through the erection of the entire machinery of Bahá'u'lláh's Administrative Order in all territories, both East and West, the stage at which the light of God's triumphant Faith shining in all its power and glory will have suffused and enveloped the entire planet. The light of God’s Revelation covering the earth. This is an inspiring image of God’s Kingdom on earth. The “totality of the vision” of the Universal House of Justice is, in my view, based on quotes such as this.

29. Suffusing the world with the Light of God's Revelation • This present Crusade, on the threshold of which we now stand, will, moreover, by virtue of the dynamic forces it will release and its wide repercussions over the entire surface of the globe, contribute effectually to the acceleration of yet another process of tremendous significance which will carry the steadily evolving Faith of Bahá'u'lláh through its present stages of obscurity, of repression, of emancipation and of recognition -- stages one or another of which Bahá'í national communities in various parts of the world now find themselves in -- to the stage of establishment, the stage at which the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh will be recognized by the civil authorities as the state religion, similar to that which Christianity entered in the years following the death of the Emperor Constantine, a stage which must later be followed by the emergence of the Bahá'í state itself, functioning, in all religious and civil matters, in strict accordance with the laws and ordinances of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, the Most Holy, the Mother-Book of the Bahá'í Revelation, a stage which, in the fullness of time, will culminate in the establishment of the World Bahá'í Commonwealth, functioning in the plenitude of its powers, and which will signalize the long-awaited advent of the Christ-promised Kingdom of God on earth -- the Kingdom of Bahá'u'lláh -- mirroring however faintly upon this humble handful of dust the glories of the Abha Kingdom.

30. Suffusing the world with the Light of God's Revelation • This final and crowning stage in the evolution of the plan wrought by God Himself for humanity will, in turn, prove to be the signal for the birth of a world civilization, incomparable in its range, its character and potency, in the history of mankind -- a civilization which posterity will, with one voice, acclaim as the fairest fruit of the Golden Age of the Dispensation of Bahá'u'lláh, and whose rich harvest will be garnered during future dispensations destined to succeed one another in the course of the five thousand century Bahá'í Cycle. • (Shoghi Effendi, Messages to the Baha'i World - 1950-1957, May 4, 1953, p. 152-156)

31. http://edwardprice.us/bahai/greenlake.html Contact Info: Edward Price Wilmette, IL Email: edprice99@yahoo.com Thank you for your participation!