As COVID-19 sweeps the world, fear and panic are natural responses. The world was already in a mess, and now mass suffering is impacting everyone. For young people, their future already overshadowed by the climate catastrophe, hope may seem impossible. Yet this cloud does have a silver lining giving hope, which we can explore together. My recent book "In Pursuit of Hope", suggests ways to arm ourselves for the environmental, social and economic challenges we are now facing and those still to come. At the individual level, all the great spiritual traditions speak of trial and suffering as paths to spiritual growth and refinement of character as we fight our inner battles. From the perspective of systems science, in a globalized world in which human organization has to adapt to a new scale of functioning, a process of rapid and often chaotic change is necessary to sweep away old institutions no longer adapted to the new reality, allowing a new and better system to emerge bringing justice and sustainability. Join us to see if you leave this discussion with more hope in the future.

Dealing with the coronavirus pandemic is one thing, what comes next another. What do we need to be able to rebuild? Humanity is facing an incredible challenge of collaboration and coordination at all levels and among diverse populations. Consultation is an essential tool for this effort. By aiming to understand the truth of an issue, consultation enables participants to transcend their own points of view and, together, chart a wise course of action. Come join us and learn the basics of this vital approach to problem-solving.

Speaker: Sara DeHoff

Sara DeHoff

Daniel Truran

Vahid Masrour

Presented as a partnership with

Wilmette Institute

A person participating in this webinar will not only learn many of the central features of the Bahá’í Faith, but, more importantly, a person participating in the webinar will be inspired by the extraordinary things that can happen to an ordinary person, once they embrace the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh

This webinar will cover the remarkable events in the life of John David Bosch. Those events include John Bosch’s presence at the passing of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, his participation in hoisting the Master’s coffin to His temporary resting place on Mount Carmel, and his presence at the public reading of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s Will and Testament. Most striking in the story of John Bosch is the moment when the Guardian entrusted a portion of the Will and Testament into the hands of John Bosch so that he deliver it to the National Bahá’í Convention in April of 1922. The webinar will also touch on John and Louise Bosch’s establishment of a permanent Bahá’í school with race unity as its focus. In addition to these extraordinary experiences, this webinar will also tell of John and Louise’s encounters with so many Bahá’ís who later would be regarded as heroes, martyrs, and saints.

Angelina Diliberto Allen

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? Rainn responds to the audience: "What's the Bahá’í 'Bible'?" "Are there any ceremonies, like Mass?" and more. And we ask the audience: "What do you usually do when you feel annoyed by the actions of others?"

What are the major risks for humankind today?

This is the first in a series of interactive "Bahá'í Conversations on Climate Change."

Other talks in the series are to be scheduled, and will include:

How Will Climate Change Affect All of Us?

Why is the Earth Warming and What Can We Do about it?

What Do Scientists Say Needs to Be Done to Avoid a Climate Catastrophe? - The Spiritual Challenge of Climate Change

The Interconnectedness of Climate Change with other Environmental and Social Problems

Christine Muller

As a modern religion for the global age of humanity, the Bahá’í Faith is striving to achieve what Bahá’ís call the Lesser Peace or the unity of humankind and the cessation of war and conflict. The collapse of the Soviet Union that was followed by dramatic political changes in the countries of the former Soviet bloc at the turn of the 21st century, along with the development and wide proliferation of the Internet and digital technology, noticeably increased the speed and outreach of the forces of globalization.

In this program the leading Russian specialist in and spokesman for globalization and globalism from a secular perspective, Prof. Alexander Chumakov, shares his knowledge and experiences in the field of Global Studies. Chumakov’s approach centers on the conceptual triad of culture, civilization, and globalization; he argues that real and productive dialogue among different nations is possible because the universal character of civilization serves as the unifying factor for humanity, while cultural diversity is the basis of differentiation of various countries and nations.

The interview with Prof. Alexander Chumakov is conducted by Dr. Mikhail Sergeev, co-chair of the Department of Religion, Theology, and Philosophy at the Wilmette Institute.

Professor Alexander ChumakovAlexander N. Chumakov (b. 1950) is a Russian philosopher, theoretician of science, scientific community organizer, and specialist in the fields of philosophy and the theory of globalisation. Since 1990, Chumakov has been the leading research fellow and head of the group “Global Studies” at the Institute of Russian Academy of Sciences. He became a full professor in 1993, and since 2008, has worked as a professor of the Department of Global Processes at Moscow State University. He currently teaches several specialized courses at the university, including a course entitled “Global Studies.” Chumakov authored more than 600 scholarly publications and more than 20 monographs and textbooks that have been published in Russian, English, German, French, Chinese, Polish and Czech. He has also devoted a great deal of time to administrative and organizational activities in the fields of philosophy, culture, and education. Since 1991 Prof. Chumakov has served as the first vice-president of the Russian Philosophical Society. He has also been a member of the Executive Committee of the International Association of Professors of Philosophy since 2012, as well as an acting member of the Presidium of Russian Ecological Academy since 2013. In 2015, Chumakov became Doctor Emeritus of the Bashkir State University and a recipient of the International Gusi Peace Prize.

The Seven Valleys of Baha’u’llah | Reformation of Mysticism and Outline of Baha’i Theology with Sohrab Kourosh

http://www.wilmetteinstitute.org

The Seven Valleys characterized by Shoghi Effendi as Bahá’u’lláh’s greatest mystical composition is generally considered a complex mystical treatise guiding the wayfarers in treading the path of spirituality. However, in The Seven Valleys Bahá’u’lláh while employing mystical language reformed mysticism by redefining the goal and path of mystical wayfaring and describing many theological concepts and fundamental principles of the Bahá’í theology, some of which were unprecedented in the history of the religious discourse.

In this presentation several principles outlined in mystical language in The Seven Valleys and subsequently developed in The Kitáb-i-Íqán and other writings of Bahá’u’lláh are discussed and a methodology for facilitating the study of The Seven Valleys is provided.

Dr. Kourosh’s Self Study Notes for the Seven Valleys of Bahá’u’lláh is available online from the Bahá’í Distribution Service, here:

http://www.bahaibookstore.com/Self-Study-Notes-for-The-Seven-Valleys-of-Bahaullah-P8186.aspx.

https://youtu.be/HRmbyLa-GCk

Professor Hatcher’s work The Face of God Among Us (2010) is a highly structured analysis of the Manifestations of God, based entirely on passages from the authoritative Bahá’í texts. Divided in the four major parts, this work attempts to assay the purpose, the nature, the powers, and the methodology of these Divine Emissaries. This brief presentation will focus on several enigmatic questions related to the nature and powers of the Manifestations, focusing most particularly on what seems to be the epiphany They experience (ostensibly as a signal to begin Their ministry) and on the extent to which They are the authors of Their Own revelation (as opposed to being merely conduits through which God communicates with humankind).

John S. Hatcher received his B.A. and M.A. degrees from Vanderbilt University and his Ph.D. from the University of Georgia. He is Professor Emeritus in English literature at the University of South Florida in Tampa where he served as Director of Graduate Studies in English and where he specialized in teaching medieval literature and creative writing. Professor Hatcher taught English literature at the university level for forty-three years, thirty-nine of which were at the University of South Florida. He has published some thirty books, plus numerous articles, chapters, and poems. He is currently the editor of the Journal of Baha’i Studies.

The increasing instability and turbulence of our times is shaking many of us to the core. Our aim in this talk is to understand the forces of our times in light of the teachings of the Faith and thereby avoid the fear, despondency and paralysis of will that might otherwise result. We will focus in particular on the twin processes of integration and disintegration. We will examine the collective journey of humanity towards maturity and unity and contemplate the exigencies and implications of its current developmental stage. We will learn that much of what is happening is not random but part of a greater divine plan that is designed to lead us to a a glorious collective destiny. We will learn to read the signs of labor that the world is experiencing and remind ourselves of the ultimate outcome of this messy and difficult process, namely the birth of a New World Order. In doing so we will bolster our confidence and ignite hope in our collective future.

Sovaida Ma’ani Ewing is an international lawyer, independent scholar, and the founding director of CPGG — the Center for Peace and Global Governance (http://cpgg.org). CPGG is a virtual think tank and online forum that pools and proposes principled solutions to pressing global problems through publications, podcasts, lectures, workshops, webinars, and targeted consulting. CPGG has just published Sovaida’s latest book entitled Bridge to Global Governance: Tackling Climate Change, Energy Distribution and Nuclear Proliferation. The book posits that while humanity’s unprecedented interdependence has made it prone to systemic aliments like climate change and growing threats of nuclear terrorism and war, yet it lacks the institutions for collective decision-making and enforcement needed to tackle these challenges effectively. There is a huge chasm between the institutions we have and those we need. The book engenders hope by proposing a first step across this gap — a step that is inspired by a highly successful institutional model used to rebuild Europe in the aftermath of the Second World War. It recommends adapting this model to address our current challenges while also building confidence to create broader global governance institutions to solve our myriad other collective problems.

Sovaida has also written Building a World Federation: The Key to Solving Our Global Crises. The book posits that humanity has been passing through stages of collective growth towards integration and unity. Our current collective crises–including climate change, financial upheavals, proliferation of nuclear weapons, gross human rights atrocities, and mismanagement of critical natural resources–are simply manifestations of our passage through a turbulent adolescence. The only way to a peaceful world is for humanity to take the next step towards maturity by establishing collective decision-making institutions that can evolve into a world federation of nation-states.

Sovaida is also the author of Collective Security Within Reach published by George Ronald in 2008 with a foreword written by an Under-Secretary General of the United Nations. It offers concrete recommendations for action by world leaders, national and international, to solve some of the pressing global problems of our time including the proliferation of nuclear weapons, the equitable distribution of energy resources and the international use of force. Ms. Ma’ani Ewing is currently working on her next book focussing on issues of energy and nuclear proliferation.

Ms. Ma’ani Ewing is a barrister-at-law of England and Wales, an LLM graduate in International Law and European Union Law from Cambridge University and an attorney-at-law in the United States. Her eighteen year legal career has included private practice with respected law firms in Washington, DC, including her own, teaching as an adjunct professor of law and most recently service as an Attorney-Advisor in the Legal Advisor’s Office of the US State Department.

We all carry with us ways of thinking about and interacting with laws and legal orders – our constructed legal imaginations. These patterns are the accretions of many things – cultures passed down to us, discourses that surround us, observations of those around us, and social realities amongst us.

Bahá’u’lláh, in the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, in his concept of law, and throughout his Writings, presents and encourages the cultivation of a radically new and transformative legal imagination. He challenges humanity collectively, and each of us individuals, to re-shape our own relationship with law in a manner that rejects the dynamics of fear, force, guilt, power, and politics to one rooted in the emanations of love and consciousness as the foundation for conceiving of, responding to, and implementing law.

Dr. Danesh completed his doctoral degree at the Harvard Law School and works, researches, and teaches in the areas of law and religion, constitutional law, indigenous rights, and conflict resolution and peace-building. He has taught at several universities worldwide and published articles on Bahá’í law in a number of academic journals and publications including the Journal of Law and Religion, Religious Studies and Theology, Bahá’í Studies Review, Journal of Bahá’í Studies, World Order, and The Bahá’í World. His book Dimensions of Bahá’í Law was published in 2019.