Welcome gracious viewers. Today, we will be visiting the Bahá’í House of Worship for the North American Continent in Wilmette, Illinois, USA, to be introduced to the Bahá’í Faith and its great prophet founder, the enlightened Master Bahá’u’lláh.

There are millions of Bahá’ís living throughout six continents. Mr. Glen Fullmer is the director of the Office of Communications for the US Bahá’í National Center.

This building that we are in now is one of only seven Bahá’í Houses of Worship around the world. So it’s a very unique building. And these seven are considered continental houses of worship.

So this is the Bahá’í House of Worship for the North American continent. So it’s for the whole North America. Then we have a temple in Panama. There’s one under construction in Chile in South America. There’s one in Germany, one in India, one in Australia, one in Uganda. So basically, one on each continent of the world.

Mr. Fullmer kindly spoke to us about the origins of the Bahá’í Faith.

The Bahá’í Faith was born in the mid-19th century in what is now Iran. At that time it was called Persia. It was the Persian Empire. And it was established by an individual, his name was Mirza Hussein Ali, who was from a wealthy family in Iran. His father was a minister in the court of the shah at that time.

And when he was in his 20s, he turned his back on a life of wealth and privilege and devoted himself to serving the poor. And when he was in his late 20s he announced that he was a messenger of God, that he came bearing a message from God to humanity at this day. And he took the title Bahá’u’lláh, which means “The Glory of God” in Arabic.

Thank you. Will you explain the three basic Bahá’í doctrines; the unity of God, the unity of religion, and the unity of humankind? And what do these mean?

That’s a very concise way of explaining the Bahá’í Faith, just through this idea of the three onenesses; the oneness of God, the oneness of religion and the oneness of humanity. We believe in one all-powerful, all-loving Creator that has created humanity and sends Divine teachers to guide and educate us.

And so that leads to this concept of the oneness of religion, that basically there is only one religion and the various religions that we know of can be thought of chapters in the unfoldment of that one religion. And then this idea of the oneness of humanity, I mean that clearly we’re all one human race and that all our differences, of whether it’s of race or a culture or ethnicity, of class, of educational level, that those are all just things that give a wonderful diversity to the human world.

Bahá’u’lláh said that basically we’ve reached the point where the oneness of humanity can be really established. He basically said the Earth is but one country and mankind its citizens. So that was Bahá’u’lláh’s vision, that we’re ready as a human race to establish our oneness at the planetary level.

So when visiting the Bahá’í houses of worship, what is a prayer service actually like?

We don’t have any priesthood. So we don’t have any sermons, we don’t have any rituals. So what you are going to experience when you come to a Bahá’í temple is, usually, at least once a day there’s a prayer service. And the readers during the prayer service are any members of the community.

They can be children, women, men, could be anybody that volunteers to come and recite. And so the only thing you are going to hear is the recitation of the holy word of God. And so that can be from the Bible, from the Qur’an, from the Bahá’í writings, but there’s no other kind of sermonizing or lecturing of any kind. It’s only the word of God.

Unique to the Bahá’í Faith is the administrative system through which the Bahá’í world organizes itself and addresses the concerns of the community.

We do not have any clergy. And the way we organize ourselves is through what we call the administrative order, which is based on elected assemblies. So in every town and city in the world, where at least nine Bahá’ís live, they can form what we call a local spiritual assembly. And if there is more than nine, then they hold an election. And the process of Bahá’í elections is really very spiritual and very unique.

Because, if you can imagine having elections without candidates, without nominations, without any kind of electioneering, without any kind of promoting yourself. It's a very spiritual atmosphere, where the community will come together. And it happens every year, we re-elect these assemblies, in April actually, during a holy period called Ridvan. The local Bahá’í community comes together, and in a very prayerful atmosphere every individual simply writes the names of the nine individuals in the community.

So they have complete freedom of choosing anybody they want. The nine people they feel have those qualities of maturity, and attitude of service, and all of those qualities that we're looking for. Then those are tallied up and whoever got the most votes serves on the local assembly. And then that same kind of process takes place at the national level.

Instead of holding elections which are based on competition and power, the Bahá’ís have successfully employed spiritual principles in their administrative system.

So we have about 180 some national spiritual assemblies all around the world. And then those national assemblies elect our international governing body, called the Universal House of Justice, which is also a body of nine members elected in the same way, and they have their seat at the Bahá’í World Center in Haifa. And that’s where the Bahá’í World Center is located.

And so it’s an incredible system that unifies the whole world in one administrative order, and it decentralizes decision making down to the grassroots, puts the power right into the communities to make decisions but allows us to coordinate things at the global level as well. So it’s a great example of how you can have world unity, and yet complete freedom and decision making at the grassroots.

Bahá’ís also demonstrate exemplary human values in other fields of society, such as education. They also often volunteer their time to serve in the community and to provide humanitarian assistance. The Bahá’í World Center in Haifa, Israel, provides a meeting point and volunteer site for Bahá’ís from all nations.

I think probably one of the highlights of my life as a Bahá’í was the period of service that I did at the Bahá’í World Center in Haifa. And that’s something that we encourage, that everybody has the option of being able to serve at our World Center, and that’s where Bahá'u'lláh is buried. So our most sacred shrine is located there, as well as the seat of the Universal House of Justice, our international governing body.

There’s about seven or eight hundred Bahá’í that come from all over the world, and they do a period of volunteer service. You can be there for a year, or two years, or some people are there much longer. And it’s really almost like Heaven on Earth in a way, I mean it’s so beautiful – if you see the photos of the Bahá’í shrines in Haifa, and in Acca, which is across the bay, and the gardens, and… and again having that experience of… togetherness with people that come from all over the world, to serve there.

We have a strong value on education in the Bahá’í faith, the idea that the way you can contribute to humanity and to serve humanity is by acquiring a profession and being able to serve. You'll find Bahá’ís that usually either after high school or during their college years, they'll take a year off, and they'll go to Africa or South America, or right here in the United States, and just travel to some community and provide a year of service. And so that's one way that we encourage our young people to keep that orientation of service.

The Bahá’ís whom we met shared with us what makes the Bahá’í Faith so special and appealing to them.

I believe in Bahá’u’lláh. Bahá’u’lláh is the Prophet and founder of the Bahá’í Faith. And he brought a set of teachings that’ll guide people for this time. And so I think that’s what’s special, because the teachings are just a renewal of the eternal teachings of God that have been brought by various teachers in the past. But, they’re just right for today.

I think what is really special is that the writings of Bahá'u'lláh are so wide ranging that there really is something in there for everyone. People who like poetry will find inspirational work, people who are looking for answers about their own spiritual questions, will find that, and especially answers to questions, I think that is the important thing. There are 19 months in the Bahá’í calendar, and each of the months is named after a Quality. And there is actually a month called “Questions,” that questions are a good thing in the Bahá’í Faith.

To me, being a Bahá’í is such a wonderful thing, because it feels like I have a global family, it really does. And no matter where you go, you are going to find people that when you need them, you immediately feel like you’ve been friends forever, and they are part of your family. And when you can have that experience with people that are completely different from you, in terms of race, in terms of their cultural background, their economic standing, their social class, that you can meet them and have an experience of unity… You can step into a Bahá’í community in Central America, or in Africa, and feel at home. That kind of sense of world citizenship, or world unity, I think in the Bahá’í community, you really start seeing it in practice.

Bahá’ís believe that our experiences in this world prepare us for the next world. And the next world is a world of spiritual existence. So it’s our purpose in this world to develop our spiritual capacities. And the way Bahá’u’lláh explains this is he talks about a baby growing in its mother’s womb. That baby’s developing eyes and ears and taste buds, all these abilities that it doesn’t really need in that womb.

But we know if that child is born into this world without those abilities, it is going to have a hard life. In the same way, this world is the womb for us spiritually, and we have to develop love, compassion, justice, truthfulness, all of these wonderful spiritual qualities which will serve us in the next world.

Thank you, noble viewers, for joining us today on A Journey through Aesthetic Realms. Please join us again next Sunday, November 14, for the second and final part of our program featuring the Bahá’í Faith.

Up next is Our Noble Lineage, after Noteworthy News, here on Supreme Master Television. May you be graced with inner harmony and happiness.

Welcome, beloved viewers. Today, we’ll continue our visit to the Bahá’í House of Worship for the North American Continent in Wilmette, Illinois, USA where we spoke with several gracious Bahá’ís about their faith.

Bahá’u’lláh, an enlightened Master and the prophet of the Bahá’í Faith, proclaimed that the time has come for humanity’s unification into one global society. He revealed new laws and teachings for a unified civilization. Today, in order to make the world a better place, Bahá’ís take action for social causes.

We’ve been very active since the beginning of the Faith in promoting some of our core spiritual principles that really have a social impact.

Mr. Glen Fullmer is the director of communications for the US Bahá’í National Center.

The vision of the Bahá’í Faith is that we are very close to being able to establish a world order of justice and peace and unity for everyone. But in order to get there, there’s some basic things that have to be transformed in the human spirit. So we have to achieve the equality of men and women, that’s one of the core fundamental principles of the faith.

We cannot have world peace and the oneness of humanity unless we achieve the equality of men and women. So we work at the diplomatic level. We have an office in Washington, DC. We have representatives working at the United Nations.

We work with other non-governmental organizations on promoting the status of women. One example of that is that when the Bahá’í Faith was first initiated in Iran, the first thing the Bahá’ís did was establish schools for girls, because you need to educate the girls. And so we work in many places around the world promoting the education of the girl child. Another example of our work, it has to do with human rights and religious freedom.

Another one you mentioned is the environment and sustainable development. And we've been part of something called the UN Decade for Education on Sustainable Developments. So the UN has this long process right now of trying to educate people to what it means to have sustainable development. And so we've been very active in that effort as well.

Mr. Fullmer shared with us how prophets and Masters are revered in the Bahá’í Faith.

The term we use is called Manifestation of God. That's what Bahá’u’lláh said. He was a manifestation of God. And we consider that all of the founders of the major religions, so that's Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him) and Jesus Christ and Moses and Krishna and Buddha, that all of them were Manifestations of God, and had the same station, which, the way Baha'u'llah described it, he used many sort of allegories to explain to us who he was, and what his spiritual nature was.

And he said one example is a mirror, that we can't see God directly, but that he's like a perfect mirror, that through him we can understand the nature of God. And so, all of the attributes and qualities of God are perfectly reflected in his being. So that the way we can draw closer to God is by studying the lives and the teachings of these messengers. And Baha'is study the Bible, study the Qur’an, study some of the other sacred scriptures, because they're all records of the true religion of God.

Bahá’u’lláh’s spiritual successor was his son `Abdu’l-Bahá, who is known lovingly as the Master. `Abdu’l-Bahá was eulogized as the “essence of virtue and wisdom, of knowledge and generosity” and is regarded as a perfect role model for all Bahá’ís. `Abdu’l-Bahá clearly stated many times that humans are meant to be vegetarians:

“As humanity progresses, meat will be used less and less, for the teeth of man are not carnivorous. … The human teeth, the molars, are formed to grind grain. The front teeth, the incisors, are for fruits, etc. It is, therefore, quite apparent according to the implements for eating that human's food is intended to be grain and not meat. When humankind is more fully developed, the eating of meat will gradually cease.”

`Abdu’l-Bahá also stated that animals feel pain even more than humans and called for treating them with utmost kindness.

“Sensibility is the same whether you harm man or animal: there is no difference. Nay, rather, cruelty to the animal is more painful because man has a tongue and he sighs, complains and groans when he receives an injury. Educate the children in their infancy in such a way that they may become exceedingly kind and merciful to the animals. If an animal is sick they should endeavor to cure it; if it is hungry, they should feed it; if it is thirsty, they should satisfy its thirst; if it is tired, they should give it rest.”

`Abdu'l-Bahá, who was the son of the founder of the Faith Bahá'u'lláh, he explained that that vegetarianism really is the natural diet for humanity. And that little by little, gradually, as we mature and develop, that we will eventually reach a fully vegetarian diet; and that that is the healthiest for individual and for society and for the planet, for the environment, that eventually we’ll get there. There is this idea that eventually humanity will adopt the vegetarian diet.

How do the followers of the Bahá’í Faith practice spiritually? For instance, what is your daily or weekly practice?

At the individual level, we as Bahá’ís have a practice of reading from the writings of the Bahá’í Faith. We consider Bahá’u’lláh’s writings as Divine scripture, as the word of God for this day. And Bahá’u’lláh revealed dozens of major works and prayers and meditations. And they’re really quite beautiful prayers and writings.

So we have a practice of reading from those writings every morning and every evening, as a way of being mindful and continually deepening our understanding of God and feeling God’s presence in our lives, in a very real way that we’re connecting with God on a daily basis. We also have a practice of obligatory prayer.

So there’s actually three prayers that we can choose from. There’s a very short one, and there’s a medium one, and there’s a long one. We have a series of what we call core activities, which is devotional gatherings.

We get together in our homes for prayer, we have study circles where we get together and study the writings of Bahá’u’lláh and try to put them into practice in our lives. We have spiritual education for children, so kind of like Sunday school where we get the kids together and talk about virtues and religious history and that sort of thing.

We asked the Bahá’ís whom we met to share about what brings them joy from being a member of the Bahá’í Faith.

There are actually two things that bring me a lot of joy, that the Faith has given me both clarity and purpose. And clarity meaning what has gone before in my life. I became a Bahá’í when I was 40 years old, so I had lived a lot before then. And I was from an interfaith family.

My mother was Jewish and my father was Catholic, and my brother and I had been educated in the Catholic church. And I had encountered people from a wide range of backgrounds, including the fact that when I lived in college my roommate was a born-again Christian. So I was always very curious about these people and their various religions, and had exposure to it as a young person.

And when I encountered the Bahá’í Faith, which validates all of these religions, I felt that it clarified all of those experiences for me. In addition, it gave me purpose for continuing in my life, for continuing my growth and continuing my education.

My husband and I are both Bahá’ís and we are raising our child up in the Bahá’í Faith. So for me personally, the greatest joy is that we, together, we are creating a life that is based on the Bahá’í teachings, which are really all about the unity of all mankind, and that we are all brothers and sisters, and the whole world, there is no difference between us.

And so, that’s what brings me joy, that I feel like I am related to everybody, that I can love everybody, even though we may be different, we may come from different backgrounds, races, even religious backgrounds, but it doesn’t matter, we are all one human family.

When I came out of university I felt sort of directionless, I really didn’t know what to do, where should I focus my life. I think becoming a Bahá’í, understanding that God has a plan for humanity, that we are in His hands, that He wants the world to become unified, that He has given us the tools, that really science is God’s gift to humanity to help us bring this about.

The technology can be used for good if you understand it. And so all of those things little by little sort of gave me hope, that it was okay, that I could get a profession, that I could start serving humanity, that I could get married, that I could have children, that I had sort of a foundation to build on. And I didn’t have to be kind of pulled in different directions, or hopeless about the world.

Would you like to share a message for our global viewers?

I think the biggest message I would share with people is one of optimism and hope, that it’s so hard to be out in the world and see what’s happening these days and to stay upbeat, to stay positive, and to see the good things. And I think that the Faith is really very optimistic, the message of Bahá’u’lláh is that we are all one, and that peace is our destiny. We may get there sooner rather than later, or vice-versa. And it’s ours to work on. But it is the promise of the Bahá’í Faith.

I think we should always know that we are all one family. And if you can love everybody who comes across your path, just like they’re your brothers, then you know you can’t go wrong.

The message is really “welcome to the oneness of humanity,” because we are all in it.

No matter what religion you are in, it doesn’t really matter. Because as a Bahá’í Faith, we realize that all of the religions come from the same God. So we really have no prejudice or disunity based on anything, whether it’s your race, your background, your culture, your religion.

And I think we can all embrace each other, and say, “Hey, we are part of one global community, and we can really make the world an Earthly paradise. We have the capacity to turn the world into something very, very beautiful.

Our heartfelt thanks to the members of the congregation at the Bahá’í House of Worship for North America in Wilmette, Illinois, USA, for speaking to us about the noble principles and practices of the Bahá’í Faith and how they have brought blessings into your lives.

Thank you, wise viewers, for joining us today on A Journey through Aesthetic Realms. Coming up next is Our Noble Lineage, right after Noteworthy News. May you be graced with Heaven’s light and inspiration.