Wilmette Institute

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.

Full title of talk: “Building a ‘System the Like of Which Mortal Eyes Have Never Witnessed’: Some Reflections on the Nature and Application of Bahá’í Law”

In this web talk Professor Brian Lepard of the University of Nebraska College of Law will reflect on key elements of the system of law brought by Bahá’u’lláh, the Prophet-Founder of the Bahá’í Faith, and elaborated by Abdu’l-Baha, Shoghi Effendi, and the Universal House of Justice. He will explore how and why Bahá’í law is a “system the like of which mortal eyes have never witnessed,” in the words of Bahá’u’lláh, and cannot be equated to any existing human system of law. At the same time, Bahá’í law is very sophisticated and nuanced, with many “layers,” and certain elements of it can at least be partially understood in light of existing legal concepts developed by various cultures.

Accordingly, in his talk Professor Lepard will investigate, with the participation of viewers, such questions as: How do and should we think about Bahá’í law? In what ways is Bahá’í law a “system the like of which mortal eyes have never witnessed”? What are the many interrelated layers of Bahá’í law, ranging from laws governing the individual, to laws governing society, and from laws governing the Bahá’í community, to laws governing society at large, including nations and the global community? What are some similarities and differences between Bahá’í law and current legal traditions of the world? How can understanding the nature and layers of Bahá’í law, and these similarities and differences, be helpful to Bahá’ís from all walks of life, including but not limited to those practicing in the legal profession?

Brian Lepard

Brian D. Lepard is Harold W. Conroy Distinguished Professor of Law at the University of Nebraska College of Law, where he teaches courses on international law, international human rights law, and comparative law, among other subjects. He worked for three years as a human rights specialist at the United Nations Office of the Bahá’í International Community in New York. Professor Lepard has written numerous books and articles on international law, comparative law, human rights, comparative religious law, Bahá’í law, and ethics, among other subjects. He is the author of two books published by Bahá’í Publishing, Hope for a Global Ethic: Shared Principles in Religious Scriptures, and In the Glory of the Father: The Bahá’í Faith and Christianity. He is currently working on an edited book entitled Transforming the Global Legal Order: Bahá’í Principles and Contemporary Social Issues. In 2016 he won an award for excellence from the University of Nebraska College of Law in part for his scholarship on “Baha’i principles and the law.” Additional information about him can be found at https://law.unl.edu/brian-d-lepard/.

In this webinar we will take a lightning tour of the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh. We will briefly survey the state of knowledge of the primary manuscript sources in the original Arabic and Persian, take stock of the existing English translations, and present a high-level subject categorization. The goal will be to provide serious students with an orientating framework and to point the way to resources that invite deeper independent study.

The resources mentioned in this webinar:

http://blog.loomofreality.org

and

Steven Phelps received dual bachelors degrees in physics and philosophy from Stanford University and a Ph.D. in physics from Princeton University, specializing in cosmology. He served at the Bahá’í World Center in Haifa, Israel for 13 years in its Research Department, where he coordinated the indexing and collation of the Bahá’í Sacred Writings and their translation from Persian and Arabic into English. During that period he concurrently held a research position in the Physics Department at the Technion University in Haifa and published original research on the masses of nearby galaxies. He currently resides in the Portland area with his wife and three daughters.

Transformative Leadership is an approach to leadership that serves as a framework for personal and social transformation. It is especially useful for those concerned with social justice, involved in projects or programs of social action, or who participate in the discourse of society. More broadly, anyone who participates in a family, team, or organization and wishes to better the quality of its interactions will find it helpful.

Since its development by Nur University in Santa Cruz Bolivia, 25 years ago, Transformative Leadership has been used in approximately 60 projects or workshops in more than 30 countries, demonstrating its applicability in different cultures, professions, and age groups. Based on the fundamental premise that all can exercise leadership, without the need of having a formal position of authority, Transformative Leadership is founded on a conceptual framework with the following elements.

●Service-Oriented Leadership

With Joan Hernandez, Vahid Masrour, and Jessica Kerr of http://transformativeleadershipeducation.org/

In this panel discussion facilitated by Nicola Daniels, Wilmette Institute Registrar, we will share examples of how people apply Transformative Leadership in their lives, its impact, and some of the fundamental concepts. On February 13, the Wilmette Institute will launch a 6-week online course that will delve much more deeply into these and other fundamental aspects of Transformative Leadership.

Leadership, as well as the author of many other books related to education and leadership. She has given dozens of workshops related to Transformative Leadership and its capabilities in numerous countries in four continents of the world. She especially enjoys working with educators.

Vahid Masrour was the coordinator of a 2-year project for youth in Bolivia, focused on Transformative Leadership and nine of its capabilities. He also incorporated the concepts of Transformative Leadership in a program of vocational training. Approximately 1000 youth participated in these two programs. More recently, in the US he has facilitated an online study group of Transformative Leadership.

Jessica KerrJessica Kerr is dedicated to sharing Transformative Leadership with youth. She has integrated Transformative Leadership into the activities of her Junior Youth group and, in coordination with a Northern Colorado school, gives weekly seminars on Transformative Leadership to dozens of middle and high school students, combining the contents with photography and art.

Womanism is a worldview that emerged from African American women’s culture-based belief systems and historical experiences spanning Africa and the global African diaspora. Within the last 40 years, womanist scholars have documented the manifold dimensions of this worldview and also articulated its social / environmental / spiritual movement implications for all humanity. Understanding this worldview has the potential to illuminate dimensions of the Black experience – inside and outside the Bahá’í community – that shape the contours of community life, teaching, interpersonal relations, and even our ability to make progress on the Most Challenging Issue. In this web talk, major contours of womanism will be outlined and brought into dialogue with Bahá’í themes and issues.

Layli Maparyan

Layli Maparyan, PhD, is the Katherine Stone Kaufmann ’67 Executive Director of the Wellesley Centers for Women and Professor of Africana Studies at Wellesley College. She is best known for her scholarship in the area of womanism and is the author of two groundbreaking texts in the field of womanist studies, The Womanist Reader (Routledge, 2006) and The Womanist Idea (Routledge, 2012); a third book is forthcoming. Maparyan has also published significantly in the areas of adolescent development, social identities, (including biracial/biethnic identity and the intersections of racial/ethnic, sexual, spiritual/religious, and gender identities), Black LGBTQ studies, Hip Hop studies, and history of psychology.

Maparyan’s scholar-activist work interweaves threads from the social sciences and the critical disciplines, incorporating basic and applied platforms around a common theme of integrating identities and communities in peaceable, ecologically sound, and self-actualizing ways.