Wilmette Institute

In this Episode:

Wilmette Institute Webinar Series:

In This Episode:

We cannot forget the times we are living in. This is a special moment in the history of humankind whose consequences were impossible to predict. No one could have imagined how coronavirus could change the daily lives of people, force a rethink of business activities nor for how long we will have to cohabit with this pandemic. But this and other unforeseen events surrounding us now, also offer us an important moment for us to redefine our way of living both at the individual and at the collective level.

In this series, we examine the underlying assumptions that brought us to this current global crisis. Together, we explore potential solutions to the vital issues that have gained new urgency at this time. We also discuss our roles and the actions we can take to address these critical challenges and build better systems for the future of humankind. ABOUT EBBF: ebbf, Ethical Business Building the Future, is a Bahá’í inspired organization dedicated to building a prosperous, peaceful and sustainable global society. ebbf members are people of all faiths who are striving to apply Bahá’í principles in their businesses and workplaces.

more resources:https://wilmetteinstitute.org/series/ebbf-building-the-future/#part_9

The Bahá’í teachings provide the spiritual foundation for humans to live in harmony with each other and with the Earth, but how can we apply specific Bahá’í teachings to climate change? Among the teachings that will be discussed are justice, truthfulness, the roles of science and religion, gender equality, the elimination of the extremes of wealth and poverty, moderation, the oneness of humankind, and the importance of spiritual development.

More: https://wilmetteinstitute.org/series/climate-conversations-christine-muller/#part_4

In this 5-part webinar series, presenter Christine Muller addresses the following questions: *What are the major risks for humankind today? *What are the conclusions of the Global Risk Report 2020 by the World Economic Forum? *What do the Baha’i teachings say about potential future risks *What does this mean for us living in these critical times?

Christine Muller, Piano Teacher

I was interested in environmental issues already at a young age and became a Bahá’í when I was 17, which was the beginning of a life-long study of the Bahá’í Faith. As the environmental crisis was worsening, I began to systematically study climate change at a time when not much information was easily available. I also searched the Bahá’í teachings for a spiritual solution to the climate crisis. At that time, climate change was not known to most people and there were no educational materials available. That’s why I wrote Scientific and Spiritual Dimensions of Climate Change – an Interfaith Study Course, which the International Environment Forum posted in 2009. I joined the Wilmette Institute as support faculty for its Sustainable Development course in 2011 and created its Climate Change course the following year. I served on the board of RI Interfaith Power&Light for nine years and currently serve on the board of the Bahá’í-inspired International Environment Forum (iefworld.org). My academic background is in music and I enjoy part-time piano teaching and playing music. I would have done more in the area of music were it not for the urgency of climate action, but my musical training has helped me to better understand the complexity of the climate crisis. Christine’s articles on BahaiTeachings.org

The talk will start with a brief examination of the major sources used in researching the book "A Seed in Your Heart: The Life of Louise Mathew Gregory" by Janet Fleming . This will be followed by an overview of the life story of Louise Mathew Gregory, an English woman born in the Victorian era, whose marriage to Louis Gregory, an African American lawyer, is considered the first Bahá’í interracial marriage. Unusually for the time, she was an educated woman and worked as a teacher in Luxembourg and Paris before her marriage. Her later travels, over a 14-year period, took her to Hungary where she was the first to teach the Faith, and to Bulgaria and Yugoslavia where she acquired the distinction of being the first Bahá’í pioneer to those countries. Janet will expand and explore some features of the book including:

some aspects of Louise’s personality – was she shy? She was a modern independent woman – how did this affect her marriage?

More resources:

Special Guests for our June conversation were Drs. June and Richard Thomas, and Dave Grammer, LMFT/WI Adjunct Lecturer.

More resources: https://wilmetteinstitute.org/series/conversations-rainn-wilson/#part_5

Why Bahá’í? In this live webinar series, we invite you to have a conversation with Rainn. What are your questions about the Bahá’í Faith? What is your hope for the world in these tumultuous times? How can we help make the planet a more livable and breathable place? Bring a friend and tune in live.

The Bahá’í teachings provide the spiritual foundation for humans to live in harmony with each other and with the Earth, but how can we apply specific Bahá’í teachings to climate change? Among the teachings that will be discussed are justice, truthfulness, the roles of science and religion, gender equality, the elimination of the extremes of wealth and poverty, moderation, the oneness of humankind, and the importance of spiritual development.

More: https://wilmetteinstitute.org/series/climate-conversations-christine-muller/#part_4

In this 5-part webinar series, presenter Christine Muller addresses the following questions: *What are the major risks for humankind today? *What are the conclusions of the Global Risk Report 2020 by the World Economic Forum? *What do the Baha’i teachings say about potential future risks *What does this mean for us living in these critical times?

Christine Muller, Piano Teacher

I was interested in environmental issues already at a young age and became a Bahá’í when I was 17, which was the beginning of a life-long study of the Bahá’í Faith. As the environmental crisis was worsening, I began to systematically study climate change at a time when not much information was easily available. I also searched the Bahá’í teachings for a spiritual solution to the climate crisis. At that time, climate change was not known to most people and there were no educational materials available. That’s why I wrote Scientific and Spiritual Dimensions of Climate Change – an Interfaith Study Course, which the International Environment Forum posted in 2009. I joined the Wilmette Institute as support faculty for its Sustainable Development course in 2011 and created its Climate Change course the following year. I served on the board of RI Interfaith Power&Light for nine years and currently serve on the board of the Bahá’í-inspired International Environment Forum (iefworld.org). My academic background is in music and I enjoy part-time piano teaching and playing music. I would have done more in the area of music were it not for the urgency of climate action, but my musical training has helped me to better understand the complexity of the climate crisis. Christine’s articles on BahaiTeachings.org

In the late nineteenth century, Bahá’u’lláh likened people of African descent to the “pupil of the eye” through which the “light of the spirit shineth forth.” In this talk I’ll suggest that the “pupil of the eye” metaphor is a deeply consequential, distinguishing feature of the transformative social and spiritual system laid out in Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation. Discussing the nexus of capitalism, race, and intellectual history, I’ll summarize the arguments of an essay written for the Journal of Bahá’í Studies, in which I historicize Bahá’u’lláh’s elevating metaphor, and argue that it amounts to a forceful refutation of anti-blackness and thus a dismantling of one of modernity’s pivotal ideologies. I’ll finally talk about the way in which the unique integrity and coherence of Bahá’u’lláh’s system for the creation of universal unity and justice is especially manifest through analytical contemplation of the “pupil of the eye” metaphor.

More: https://wilmetteinstitute.org/centering-the-pupil-of-the-eye/

Contributor

Derik Smith is a professor in the Department of Literature at Claremont McKenna College. His work focuses on African American literary culture, with a particular interest in poetry. He also teaches and writes about representations of blackness in American filmic and musical culture. His 2018 monograph, Robert Hayden In Verse: New Histories of African American Poetry and the Black Arts Era, recently won the College Language Association’s annual book award. His current scholarship focuses on the poetics of rap, and the rise of the genre during the final decades of the twentieth century, as well as the connection between critical race studies and the Bahá’í Faith. Smith regularly teaches courses in American prisons and nurtures activist interests in prison studies and pedagog

Even before the devastating effects of the coronavirus on human daily life, the emergence of a global civilization has been characterized by the twin processes of integration and disintegration. Interwoven global threats such as ecological degradation, uneconomic growth that overshoots the Earth’s biocapacity, income and wealth inequality, consumerism, and the rapid erosion of agri-food resources contribute to the breakdown of the world’s social and ecological order. This session will explore how to reduce anxieties about the future through discourse by individuals and communities. Technical solutions that mitigate such problems exist but must be administered within a new world order animated by the spirit of unity that reflects the vision of Bahá’u’lláh. This session aims at understanding the current issues and their cultural roots so that individuals and humanity as a whole may gain greater capacity to contribute in effective ways to social discourse and social action leading to transformation on an unprecedented scale.

More resources: https://wilmetteinstitute.org/series/ebbf-building-the-future/#part_8

In this series, we examine the underlying assumptions that brought us to this current global crisis. Together, we explore potential solutions to the vital issues that have gained new urgency at this time. We also discuss our roles and the actions we can take to address these critical challenges and build better systems for the future of humankind. ABOUT EBBF: ebbf, Ethical Business Building the Future, is a Bahá’í inspired organization dedicated to building a prosperous, peaceful and sustainable global society. ebbf members are people of all faiths who are striving to apply Bahá’í principles in their businesses and workplaces.

At this time of uncertainty, humanity is experiencing both horror and opportunity. At the center of it all, are pre-existing economic disparities which are being amplified by current deficits in leadership and planning, and newly created economic inequalities that are expanding due to current questionable institutional responses. This session will highlight the ways communities are building cohesion through their response to the crisis with ingenuity, creativity, mutualism and solidarity. We will briefly discuss the economic factors that threaten community cohesion then explore significant current trends that are enabling communities to innovate and transform economic vulnerability into economic cohesion. There will be plenty of time for discussion.

In this series, we examine the underlying assumptions that brought us to this current global crisis. Together, we explore potential solutions to the vital issues that have gained new urgency at this time. We also discuss our roles and the actions we can take to address these critical challenges and build better systems for the future of humankind. ABOUT EBBF: ebbf, Ethical Business Building the Future, is a Bahá’í inspired organization dedicated to building a prosperous, peaceful and sustainable global society. ebbf members are people of all faiths who are striving to apply Bahá’í principles in their businesses and workplaces.

more resources: https://wilmetteinstitute.org/series/ebbf-building-the-future/#part_8