Melting Snow

Friday Contemplations: Fun Fact and Freedom of the Mind

Friday, January 26, 2018

Western Ghost Dance and Sing  (13+) Last Line Prompt: "Sixteen candles make a lovely light." #2147123 by Prosperous Snow celebrating

The "Blog City ~ Every Blogger's Paradise"  prompt for DAY 1501
Pick a fun fact you've come across this week and share it with us.

Tahirih:
Hero of Women's Rights1

In 1848, about the same time as the first Women's Rights Convention was occurring in Seneca Falls, a gathering was also happening in Persia (Iran) among the followers of the Bab. The Babi's had gathered to see if they could find away to free The Bab. Among the men gathered there was Tahirih, the only woman among the Bab's apostles. It was at this gathering that Tahirih removed her veil, and went from her garden to the compound of Baha'u'llah. She walked through the throng of men (approximately 80) who were unrelated to her, without her veil. This was unheard of at that time and in that country.

Tahirih, with her face unveiled, stepped from her garden, advancing to the pavilion of Baha’u’llah; and as she came, she shouted aloud these words: “The Trumpet is sounding! The great Trump is blown! The universal Advent is now proclaimed!”

Abdu’l-Baha2

When Tahirih removed her veil that day, it emphasized two things. First, it proclaimed a new day of freedom for women across the world. Second, it showed that the Babi Faith, and its successor the Baha'i Faith, were independent religions. It proved them separate from Islam, the religion in which both the Bab and Baha'u'llah were born.

The "Blogging Circle of Friends "  prompt for DAY 1898
“Lock up your libraries if you like; but there is no gate, no lock, no bolt that you can set upon the freedom of my mind.” ― Virginia Woolf, A Room of One's Own Write whatever you want about this quote. Write a thought, a story, poem, etc.

Freedom of the Mind

Freedom of the mind
encourages us to search for truth
independently.

It requires us
to ask the hard questions
of ourselves,
and everyone else,
especially those in power
or those we would put in power.

We cannot dispel
the dogmas superstitions
of the past
if we do not ask
hard questions
that require unbiased answers.

Footnotes
1  See the new series " The Heroine of Women's Rights — How Come I've Never Heard of Her?" http://bahaiteachings.org/series/the-heroine-of-womens-rights-how-come-ive-never....
2  From Memorials of the Faithful, p. 202, quoted in "The Legacy of Tahirih: Her Voice Lives on in Ours" by Jaine Toth http://bahaiteachings.org/legacy-tahirih-voice-lives.