This blog contains responses to blog prompts, & thoughts on spiritual or religious themes |
Disclaimer: Any views, about religion or sacred scriptures, expressed in this blog are my own and not the official views of the Baha'i Faith or any other religion. If you wish to know more about the Baha'i Faith, please check one of these websites: The Baha'i Faith: The Official Website of the Worldwide Baha'i Community or Baha'is of the United States . "The gift of God to this enlightened age is the knowledge of the oneness of mankind and of the fundamental oneness of religion. War shall cease between nations, and by the will of God the Most Great Peace shall come; the world will be seen as a new world, and all men will live as brothers." Abdu'l-Baha1 Other Blogs and Journals Content Rating 18+ "Writing in Snow" "The Snowflake Chronicles" "Snow Melt" "More Snow Melt" "Welcome to My Life" "Melting Snow" "Memories of Snow" "Dreams of Snow " "Poem Experiments" "Devotional Poetry" Other Journals Content Rating ASR "Bicentenary Poems and Prose" "Treasures lie hidden beneath the throne of God; the key to those treasures if the tongue of poets." The Bab "O my God! O my God! Unite the hearts of Thy servants, and reveal to them Thy great purpose. May they follow Thy commandments and abide in Thy law. Help them, O God, in their endeavor, and grant them strength to serve Thee. O God! Leave them not to themselves, but guide their steps by the light of Thy knowledge, and cheer their hearts by Thy love. Verily, Thou art their Helper and their Lord." Bahá’u’lláh2 Footnotes |
Istijlál (Majesty), 12 Sulṭán (Sovereignty) 176 B.E. - Thursday, January 30, 2020
PROMPT January 30 Congratulations on making it to the last day of the competition! What was your favorite prompt from the last month? Did you learn anything new about your fellow competitors? What was the most rewarding aspect of participating in the competition? As January and winter draw to an end I contemplate what I've written and where I've been. All the prompts were creative, and inspired my muse: my favorite was about virtue. Everyone's responses were creative, and some contained a hidden laugh. |
ʻIdál (Justice), 11 Sulṭán (Sovereignty) 176 B.E. - Wednesday, January 29, 2020
PROMPT January 29 Everyone did a great job with filling the war chest yesterday! There's so many great prompts and I'm sure Em will love every one of them. Since today *is* War Chest Wednesday, I'm going to grab one. What is your favorite virtue? Give a few examples like kindness, cleanliness, tact, truth, generosity. Is your favorite one you possess, or one you simply admire in other people? Do you have a strategy to develop it yourself? Prompt is courtesy of Kåre Enga in Montana 52 Virtues 52 virtues 52 weeks in the year 52 reasons to bring myself to account. assertiveness, caring, cleanliness, commitment, compassion, confidence, consideration, cooperation, courage, courtesy, creativity, detachment, determination, diligence, enthusiasm, excellence, flexibility, forgiveness, friendliness, generosity, gentleness, helpfulness, honesty, honor, humility, idealism, integrity, joyfulness, justice, kindness, love, loyalty, moderation, modesty, orderliness, patience, peacefulness, perseverance, purposefulness, reliability, respect, responsibility, self-discipline, service, tact, thankfulness, tolerance, trust, trustworthiness, truthfulness, understanding, unity. Today is the first day of the rest of my life. Today is the day to bring myself to account. Today is the day I must make better then yesterday. Today is the day to deliberately practice one virtue. Self-Discipline For the past three or four days I've been practicing self-discipline. This wasn't a conscious choice, in this case it has more to do with earning 500 extra points on Survey Junkie. The conscious choice was to attempt to complete three survey a day from Monday, January 27, through Sunday, February 2. In order to complete three surveys a day I have to be both tenacious and self-disciplined. |
Fiḍál (Grace), 10 Sulṭán (Sovereignty) 176 B.E. - Monday, January 28, 2020
PROMPT January 28 What's a topic you've always thought would be a great 30dbc discussion, but has never come up in the prompts? Why do you think it would stimulate discussion? If someone in the same room ask me a question similar to this my response would range any where for serious to smart ass. I could give an answer like global warming or I could say: "It doesn't matter to me. I easy but I'm not cheap." The "easy but not cheap" response usually gets a laugh or a weird stare. The response depends on how long a person has lived in Las Vegas or how many times they've visited the city, and knows "cultural implications" (if that's the right phrase) of the response. I'm willing to discuss any topic, without giving a "smart ass" remark. I'm also willing to discuss any topic, and make a "smart ass" remark. It depends on my mood, and how much strong--walk under its own power--coffee I've consumed. This week it could also depend on whether or not the maintenance worker, I've been waiting for since Sunday arrives to fix the hot water that's running in the bathroom. The worker hasn't shown up yet today and it's already an hour past the time he was supposed to come today. I don't mind discussing politics or religion. What I do mind is the person I'm talking to telling me I'm going to hell because my political opinion or my religion differs from theirs. I don't know location of another individual's soul in the next world. My responsibility is the development of my own spiritual attributes and telling people about Baha'u'llah. If the person I'm talking to wants to know more and willing to discuss the subject without getting angry or being impolite, I will continue the discussion. If not, I'll wish the individual a "Bless day" and get on with my life. I have to come up with three prompts a week for "Blogging Circle of Friends " , sometimes it's difficult and sometimes it's easy. When I respond to a prompt I don't worry about the direction I'm taking it in. I write from my own life experience, which means I will take the prompt in an unexpected direction. The only suggestion I can come up with at the moment is a "Did you know..." and pick out an event in history a recent scientific discovery, such as the vampire star, and see what people have to write. |
Kamál (Perfection), 9 Sulṭán (Sovereignty) 176 B.E. - Monday, January 27, 2020
PROMPT January 27 Discuss a time in your life when someone has tried to "fix" or "solve" a problem for you - but you didn't see it as a problem in the first place. How do you generally handle unsolicited opinions/advice? I do my best to live my life on the rim of the cliff of survival. Advice is nice when I ask for it; however, unsolicited advice is a pain because most of those giving it don't know or understand the circumstances. As I have grown older, and wiser, I realize that people give advice--unsolicited or solicited--from their own experience. My past experience doesn't come anywhere close to theirs, even if it's a sibling I grew up with in the same house. I learned long ago, that we remember the same event differently because we experienced different emotions at the time. In addition, I've found (from experience) that there is a type of "amnesia"--I don't know any other term for it--that causes one sibling to forget a highly emotional experience that the other remembers clearly. People give unsolicited advice from the shoes they walk in not from your shoes. |
Jamál (Beauty), 8 Sulṭán (Sovereignty) 176 B.E. - Sunday, January 26, 2020
PROMPT January 26 Yesterday was Opposite Day! Today I want you to take an opposite point of view. Imagine a place you go to regularly - they gym, your regular coffee shop, wherever you choose. Take up the POV of the person at the counter, the bike across from you, any one person you choose. What's your first impression of yourself? Is it the real you or one you plan and project? Who Is The Opposite Of Me? "Who is the opposite of me?" I contemplate the philosophical connotations! I am a segment of humanity, and my nature is that of duality: I am a soul living in a physical body. I dwell upon the material plane, I live in a world of opposites, of light and darkness, of yen and yang. Opposites are my reality, they live within my being: I am both a spiritual creature having a physical experience, and a physical creature having a spiritual experience. At death my body will return to dust, and my soul ascend into the spiritual realm, but for now I must deal with the opposites that are my reality. "Who is the opposite of me?" I meditate on the spiritual connotations! It is difficult to get outside of me to see me through the eyes of another human being. So, who is the opposite of me? the only answer I can find is me, because the opposites dwell within me. |
Jalál (Glory), 7 Sulṭán (Sovereignty) 176 B.E. - Saturday, January 25, 2020
PROMPT January 25 CREATION SATURDAY! Put on your creative thinking caps You're headed down to Imagination Station to pick up your imaginary friend. Tell us about the friend - is it human? Humanoid? Animal? Talking banana? Three-headed monster who's afraid of heating blankets? What's their story? Likes/Dislikes? What name do they answer to? Why are they in your life? Don't forget to tell us how your friend ended up at the station in the first place! Imagination Station The Imagination Station is a space station, located somewhere along the edge of the Milky Way galaxy. It has everything that a productive space station has. There is a bar ran by a Ferengi by the name of Quirk. Quirk is a third cousin twice removed of Quark. (Quark, twice, had to drag Quirk, kicking and screaming, from the family because he was a failure as a Ferengi.) In close proximity to the bar is a huge holographic game room, which is where the name Imagination Station came from. I met Quirk the first day I arrived at Imagination Station. I came to the Station looking for one of my muse, who had decided to take a long vacation by hitchhiking the galaxy. Quirk hadn't seen my muse, but he offered to make me his special nonalcoholic Lost Muse Drink. (Please note: For those writers who drink alcohol or beer, Quirk has several other versions of this drink. You just have to give him the name of your favorite alcohol, beer, or wine.) After consuming the Lost Muse Drink, Quirk directed me to the game room, where he assured me I would be able to find my muse. After my first session in the game room, I applied to the commander of the Imagination Station for a job as writer in residence. It's an interesting job, I create characters and story plots for the holographic adventures. The pay is good, and I get free room and board. In addition, I get to listen to Quirk complain about his family not understanding him. |
Istiqlál (Independence), 6 Sulṭán (Sovereignty) 176 B.E. - Friday, January 24, 2020
PROMPT January 24 Yesterday celebrated National Handwriting Day in the USA. How often do you still hand write anything substantial? Do you think the decline in children learning cursive writing will be a hindrance to their generation? Penmanship Memories are weird. I remember some classes and events from grade school clearly, while other events are foggy or forgotten. One of the classes or lessons I remember is penmanship, which is "the art of handwriting; the use of the pen in writing", or "a person's style or manner of handwriting."3 Each child in my class had a work book with picture of the proper formation of the cursive characters. In class, the teach would demonstrate how to form the characters on s green chalkboard (there were no whiteboards at that time). After her demonstration, she (I don't remember having any male teachers in grade school) would walk around the class and watch how each child formed their letters. I suspect the goal of this class was to make sure our cursive writing was legible. I don't remember any of the students in my class receiving less than an A or B in penmanship. I still use cursive for notes that I write while I'm working online. I keep a loose leaf notebook near by to writ any ideas or lines the pop into my head while I'm working on something else. My handwriting is fairly clear. Sometimes when I sign my name (which I still do in cursive) my hand tremble a bit, but my signature is legible. My biggest issue with signing my name is the machines that take debit and credit cards. I don't like signing my name on those because my signature looks weird; however, the bank has never rejected anything I purchased that way. Footnotes |
Istijlál (Majesty), 5 Sulṭán (Sovereignty) 176 B.E. - Thursday, January 23, 2020
PROMPT: January 23rd Finish this story: A girl, sitting alone on a rock at the edge of the woods, jumps when she hears… A girl, sitting alone on a rock at the edge of the woods, jumps when she hears the flutter of a thousand butterfly wings. Turning, in the direction of the rising sun, she see a flock of Monarch Butterflies approaching her. The black and orange wings of the King of the Butterflies reflect scarlet in the light of dawn. As they draw near, they begin to descend. They light upon her, the rock, and the surround forest. Feeling the butterfly crawling on her, she laughs, and begins to sing The Butterfly Song. As she sings, the Monarch's gather around her, until high noon. At noon she turns into a Monarch butterfly and flies off with them on their journey to Mexico. |
ʻIdál (Justice), 4 Sulṭán (Sovereignty) 176 B.E. - Wednesday, January 22, 2020
PROMPT January 22nd Your bags are packed. You have unlimited funds and resources to travel anywhere you want. Where do you go, who do you bring with you, and why? Bahji, where the nightingale sings, where Baha'u'llah's physical remains rest. Bahji, the Point of Adoration, draws pilgrims from across the Earth to pray, meditation, and walk through the garden adorning the resting place of Baha'u'llah. |
Fiḍál (Grace), 3 Sulṭán (Sovereignty) 176 B.E. - Tuesday, January 21, 2020
PROMPT January 21st How much of your own life or the lives of people you know do you put into your writing? Do you mine your past for inspiration, or do you create wholly new places and characters? Writing Inspiration My inspiration is The Bab, Baha'u'llah, and 'Abdu'=Baha. My inspiration is a cool spring breeze wafting across the fields of memory, and bringing back images from my childhood. My inspiration can be anything that generates a poem, story, essay, article, or character. |
Kamál (Perfection), 2 Sulṭán (Sovereignty) 176 B.E. - Monday, January 20, 2020
PROMPT January 20th Today is a national holiday is the US: Dr Martin Luther King Jr Day. Dr King believed that fear was the ultimate cause of hatred, prejudice, and violence. Do you agree or disagree with his assessment? Give examples. America's Most Challenging Issue Racism, America's Most Challenging Issue, eats at the roots of our society. You can attribute it xenophobia, hate, fear, prejudice, or learned prejudice--it doesn't matter which--because all of those fall under the cancer of racism. Racism is injustice. It infests all levels of American society from the grass roots to the oval office. Rooting it out and healing America, requires each individual to look at their own prejudices--most of which are learned--and take action to learn about and become friends with people of "other races". Humanity is a single race, and it is the differences in complexion and thought that make it beautiful. The only way racism can be destroyed is complete acceptance of the oneness of humanity. We must put behind us, the old and unscientific definitions of race. We are all descended from humans that began their evolution in Africa. The color of people's skin is an accident of evolution and acclimatizing to different areas of the planet. It's the migration out of Africa that cause the human complexions to change. We are one family Our ancestral unity Mapped Traced Through mitochondrial DNA To a woman In Africa One womb quickened us Formed us Fed us Birthed us Gave us Soul stirring passions That carried us Through time and across continents Splintered us Into separate segments Of one race |
Jamál (Beauty), 1 Sulṭán (Sovereignty) 176 B.E. - Sunday, January 19, 2020
PROMPT January 19th Write about something ordinary that brought you unexpected joy. Ordinary Pleasures Ordinary pleasures-- like hot coffee on a cold winter's morning-- bring a smile to my face and comfort to my mind. Ordinary pleasures create happy memories that come back on lonely days to uncover the banked fires of joy. Ordinary pleasures is grape jelly covering the peanut butter spread on a slice of white bread. |
Jalál (Glory), 19 Sharaf (Honor) 176 B.E. - Saturday, January 18, 2020
PROMPT January 18th It’s Show and Tell Day here at the 30DBC! Think of an item that is special to you (it may help if you are able to see your chosen item while you write your entry). Describe it in as much detail as possible. Then, tell us its story. How did it come to be in your life and what makes it important to you? Ever since Thursday, November 29, 2012, (the day my Mother died) I've been learning to let go and downsizing my stuff. It's difficult because I came from a long line of people who keep things for one reason or another. I have a few more things to let go, which will happen in 2020 and 2021 (with most of the stuff anyway). There are a few things I can't let go of, such as the picture of 'Abdu'l-Baha that Mom kept on her night stand and her prayer beads. Prayer Beads Ninety-Five translucent rose pink prayer beads, wait for morning, wait for me to intone "Alláh-u-Abhá!" ==“God the All-Glorious!” Ninety-Five prayer beads-- that originally belonged to my Mother-- anchor my day to Baha'u'llah. I know Mama waits in the Abha Paradise to greet me when I walk through the door to eternal life. |
Istiqlál (Independence), 18 Sharaf (Honor) 176 B.E. - Friday, January 17, 2020
PROMPT January 17th Use the following words in your entry today: tumultuous, navigate, journey, and gargantuan. The city's tumultuous echoes penetrate the walls of sleep sending shock wave across mind and soul. Fearing the gargantuan terror of another sleepless night, the poet's muse takes flight. Following her muse, the poet begins her journey, and navigates bright streets or dark alleyways until she comes to a hidden garden where her muse with metaphors and similes play.. |
Istijlál (Majesty), 17 Sharaf (Honor) 176 B.E. - Thursday, January 16, 2020
PROMPT January 16th What are you waiting for? What Am I Waiting For? This afternoon, I'll be waiting for the RCT paratransit bus to take me to the appointment to see my Kidney Doctor, wait to see the doctor, and again wait for the bus to bring me back home. I'm waiting to make an appointment with my regular doctor for an issue that isn't going away and may or may not be a big problem. I can't make this appoint until after February 1 because I changed plans to a special needs plan with my health insurance company, and that kicks in on February 1. I'm also waiting until February 1 to make a dental appointment because the new (to me) plan will cover part of the cost for my dentures. Waiting Seconds Walk into view Dawdling over minutes Waddling past light curtained portals Seconds Waltz with Minutes beneath Artificial white lights Across bright floors hiding hours that waltz with Seconds Dance down the ages Forgotten by minutes Unremembered by echoing Seconds Beyond Forgotten hours Waiting outside of sight Outside of hope outside of time Beyond |
ʻIdál (Justice), 16 Sharaf (Honor) 176 B.E. - Wednesday, January 15, 2020
PROMPT January 15th Write your entry today about commitment. Committing to an activity, craft, person, way of being, etc. Consider the concepts of diligence, honesty, and responsibility. What does commitment look like to you? Commitment is steadfastness! Moving forward in the path of faith no matter what obstacles lay in your way, no matter what tests or difficulties confront you. Commitment is a spiritual attribute that is composed of four other attributes: steadfastness, diligence, honesty, and responsibility. At different times in my life, I have been confronted by obstacles and difficulties that test each of these attributes. Once I pass one test, I am confronted with another. If I do not pass a test, I am confront with the test again until I pass it. Life on the material plane is one test after another each focusing on developing spiritual attribute through commitment and stadfastness. |
Fiḍál (Grace), 15 Sharaf (Honor) 176 B.E. - Tuesday, January 14, 2020
PROMPT January 14th Write about a time when you made a wrong assumption. Did you realize your mistake right away, or did someone tell you later? What did you learn from your mistake? I'm not sure, but I think I made one last night. I'll know one way or the other later today. I attempt not to make assumptions because 99 times out of 100 I'm wrong. The other 1% of the time is usually the results of misscommunication or a missunderstanding. I don't remember anyone ever verbally pointing out that I made an assumption. If someone pointed an assumption out to me, it was probably one of my siblings. I usually find out about the assumption after I make it. |
Kamál (Perfection), 14 Sharaf (Honor) 176 B.E. - Monday, January 13, 2020
PROMPT January 13th In your entry today, write about games! Board games, video games, card games, sports games, mind games, etc... Share a memorable story. The games I've played are numerous and varied. The most memorable and enjoyable were Candy Land, Monopoly, and Dungeons and Dragons. I also think I had a game of Dark Tower once, which I gave to my brother and his wife some time in the last century. The other games got lost in the numerous moves I've made since High School. When I played Dungeons and Dragons, I a reporter did a story on the game for the RJ Sunday insert. I don't know what happened to my copy; it probably got lost in the moves I've made since coming to Las Vegas. I've lost a lot of things in all the moves I've made. Somethings I regret losing and other things are just stuff that was in my life for a while, and passed on to whoever found them. Life is a game of acquisition and forfeiture, of attachment and detachment, of fulfilling desires and learning to let go. The only games I play anymore are online single player games. I play solitaire games, which I use as a reward from completing writing projects or some other goal. The games I prefer are 247 Solitaire , 247 Mahjong , and 247 Sudoku . I haven't played those in a while, but maybe I'll get back to them after January. I'm attempting to catch up on some writing project, and those games are extremely addictive. |
Jamál (Beauty), 13 Sharaf (Honor) 176 B.E. - Sunday, January 12, 2020
PROMPT January 12th Describe a time when you exhibited bravery. *Shield1* Bravery is getting out of bed on a cold winter morning when the arthritis in my knees and hips urges me to remain beneath the warm covers. Bravery is Googling my symptoms before making a doctor's appointment. When I was young, bravery was going to school everyday and facing the bullies or overcoming trypanophobia, but as I grew older I found myself redefining bravery on a personal level. In my middle years, bravery was overcoming Arachnophobia, driving to work, or cooking a twenty pound turkey in a microwave oven because the regular oven didn't work. Now-- at 73 going on 74-- bravery is dealing with the pain of everyday life. |
Jalál (Glory), 12 Sharaf (Honor) 176 B.E. - Saturday, January 11, 2020
PROMPT January 11th Do you tend to be skeptical or trusting when meeting new people? Is your first impression of someone generally accurate, or does their true character surprise you? Am I skeptical about people when I first meet them? Yes. No. Maybe. I know that is an ambiguous answer, which requires explanation. The answer depends on three things: (1) my gut (intuition) about the person, (2) who introduces me, and (3) where I meet them. There are certain things that raise red flags on my first encounter with a person. First, expressing prejudice about anyone. Second, presuming that if I look like them (same color of skin) I think the same way they do. Third, using the f-word or some other curse word in the first few sentences. Fourth, telling me I'm going to hell because I don't believe the way they do. Fifth, attempting to convince me I'm wrong without listening to why I believe the way I do. Are my first impression of people generally accurate? Sometimes yes. Sometimes no. Most of the time, I'm willing to give the person a second chance. The second change depends on my intuition, where we meet again, and who is with me or the other person. If a red flag is raised on the first encounter, the second encounter has to be in a place that I feel safe meeting them again. While there are some people who believe the three strikes you're out theory, I'm not one of them. As far as I'm concerned, three strikes only counts in a baseball game. Interacting with reals human beings is more like a Dungeons and Dragons game, especially under the present social and political condition. |