An exploration of the Universal House of Justice's Ridvan message for 2025.  Includes an exploration of the construct of 'hope' - a summary of key achievements over the past year - and an appeal based on the urgency of the hour.  The episode concludes with an original song, "Ridvan 2025", exploring key themes in the message.

Contents:

0:00 Introduction
1:28 A dark, dark world
3:56 A focus on hope
15:57 Achievements of the year
24:09 Urgency of the hour
26:00 Closing thoughts
27:25 Song: "Ridvan 2025"

An exploration of two key messages by the Universal House of Justice exploring Bahá’í  family life: The message of March 19th, 2025 and its Naw Ruz message (2025) to the Baha'is of Iran.

We explore the evolution of a new construct in our new Society Building aspirations: 'The Bahá’í Home' - focusing on marriage, family, community and the role of family in elevating conditions in wider society.

The episode concludes with an original song summarizing the theme: "The Bahá’í Home".

Note: The close of the episode made reference to a collection of new songs produced by Duane and his new virtual AI band "The Society Builders".  The lyrics were composed by him, but the musical composition, instruments and vocals were AI-generated.  You can find this collection of songs at: 

BahaiTunes.org

You can also find it on Spotify, Apple Music, Amazon Music and other leading music platforms.  Just search for: THE Society Builders (don't forget to include the THE).  Or here:

Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/0QEeUb5QRnyTCy0UYzenHj
Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/us/artist/the-society-builders/1800068934
Amazon Music: https://music.amazon.com/artists/B0DZ85P2BG/the-society-builders

CONTENTS:

0:00 Introduction
2:15 Overview
6:14 Urgency of the hour
17:34 New patterns
23:14 Marriage
25:37 Family
29:02 Community
31:54 The Bahá’í Home
37:26 Closing thoughts
39:52 Song: "The Bahá’í Home"  

An exploration of Bahá’í-inspired approaches to social action, one of the key pillars of 'society building'.  

In Part Four, we explore how our approaches need to facilitate learning in action across four stages: Action, reflection, consultation and study which is framed by application of the Creative Word and scientific analysis.

The episode concludes with the original song "Learning Together in Action" which summarizes the theme of the episode.

CONTENTS

0:00 Introduction
1:49 Learning in Action
11:41 Learning from Mistakes
22:26 Closing Thoughts
25:46 Song: "Learning Together in Action"

An exploration of Bahá’í-inspired approaches to social action, one of the key pillars of 'society building'.  

In Part Three we explore the power of capacity building - and how even impossible dreams can be met as we cultivate this capacity.  We explore this on three levels of capacity building: for the individual; for institutions; and for the community.  This episode sets the stage for the final episode in our sequence on social action which will explore learning in action.  The episode concludes with an original song summarizing the episode: "Capacity Building".

CONTENTS

0:00 Introduction
1:43 Building Individual Capacity
17:58 Building Institutional Capacity
24:39 Building Community Capacity
28:35 Closing Thoughts
31:07: Song - "Capacity Building"

An exploration of Bahá’í-inspired approaches to social action, one of the key pillars of 'society building'.  

In Part Two, we explore how our approaches should be participatory, giving agency to all.  We discuss how this builds on the construct of 'universal participation' and frame agency as both right and responsibility.  We conclude by focusing on the change each of us can make in our lives and in the lives of the communities around us.

CONTENTS

0:00 Introduction
2:19 What is Agency?
6:45 Universal Participation
10:17 Agency as Empowerment
17:48 Agency as Responsibility
19:47 Personal Action
22:35 Concluding thoughts
25:04 Song: "Break Free"

An exploration of Bahá’í-inspired approaches to social action, one of the key pillars of 'society building'.  

In Part One, we explore two key principles: Organic Growth (that initiatives should start small and grow over time) and coherence (finding balance between our material and spiritual needs).

CONTENTS

0:00 Introduction
5:10 Organic Growth
20:13 Coherence
29:06 Closing Thoughts

The third and final episode in a sequence exploring Bahá’í-inspired approaches to depolarization.

Part three explores how to break false binaries and how to optimize conditions for contact between antagonistic groups, including a strong positive-to-negative ratio, facilitating synchronicity, empowering participant agency, dialog over debate and the role of theories of change.

An exploration of Bahá’í-inspired approaches to depolarization building on what we've been learning over the past few episodes from the world's leading luminaries in this discourse.

Part Two explores what we can do to help 're-humanize' the other and how we can better listen to and understand others so that they truly feel 'heard'.

CONTENTS

0:00 Introduction
3:19 Re-Humanization
18:51 Active Listening
24:33 Closing Thoughts

An exploration of Bahá’í-inspired approaches to depolarization building on what we've been learning over the past few episodes from the world's leading luminaries in this discourse.

Part One explores what we can do to limit the influence of toxic polarization in our own lives and how we can best regulate our own behavior so we don't unintentionally contribute to the problem.

Show notes:
Dr. Peter Coleman's Polarization Detox Challenge: https://startswith.us/pdc/
Gary Friedman: https://understandinginconflict.org/training/

Chapters
0:00 Introduction
8:09 Five Principles for Depolarization
10:26 Polarization as Social Pollutant
21:41 An Etiquette of Expression
29:10 Training for Depolarization
31:32 Closing Thoughts

An exploration of the Ridvan Message of 2024 by the Universal House of Justice.

The message explores the interaction between the forces of disintegration and integration at work in the world today - highlighting the inescapable need for a sustained, rapid rise in the number of those committing their time, energy and concentration to the success of our peace-building initiatives.

CONTENTS:
0:00 Introduction
1:26 Dark Times
8:15 Our Role as Haven
11:24 Methods & Instruments
12:58 Our Message
16:19 Closing Thoughts