While it was unfortunate that we were not able to see the Shrine of the Báb in all its golden-domed grandeur (covered over during on-going rehab), we had the bounty of being only the third pilgrim group to visit the restored Ridván Garden outside of 'Akká. The Bahá'í World News Service has an excellent article, from October 2010, on the restoration work and the history of the garden: Holy place restoration sheds light on region's heritage.

It is indeed a beautiful and calming place, and one can well imagine the relief of leaving the horrid conditions of the city to spend a few hours in joyful company on the island. This entire complex is filled with trees and plants descended from those brought across the deserts by pilgrims from Persia (as mentioned somewhere in The Chosen Highway), particularly cypress, pomegranate, and various citrus fruits (the tangerines were ripe and wonderful!). The peace and tranquility in this site, which is only a few hundred yards from apartment buildings, could easily send one into a rapturous state.

A friend recently told me about this passage from the collection of Bahá'u'lláh's writings called Prayers and Meditations. In Facebook conversation I've been talking about my limited and impersonal understanding of "God". This passage might seem a bit paradoxical to that viewpoint, at first glance. The paradox is because of my inability to precisely describe the nuance of a belief that lies somewhere between the poles of atheism and personal theism, without recourse to philosophical language (the best "school of thought" to describe my own core belief has always been panentheism).

In responding to a friend about the nature of the "god concept" in the Bahá'í Faith, I began to collect a number of passages and add a few comments as to why I chose them. And then I found this hitherto unknown (to me) statement from 'Abdu'l-Bahá. It could not be more plain, and completely justifies what a fellow Bahá'í once said to an atheistically-inclined friend: "I don't believe in the same God you don't believe in."

There is more to show about the holy sites and places visited, but first I want to share some miscellaneous photos of birds, fruits, trees, and a bee.

The words "thou" and "thee" are unfamiliar to most of us, except in the context of sacred writ (particularly the King James Bible). Thus many of us think of "thou" as very formal. In some Dostoyevsky novel, I encountered something to the effect of "why did you address me with the familiar thou?". That got me thinking: is "thou" is an outdated form of familar address, like "tú" compared to "su" in Spanish? Well, more or less, though that distinction may not do it justice in the context of sacred literature.

Four members of the "Holy Family" are buried in the second major development of the Bahá'í World Centre (the prior being the mausoleum of the Báb): Ásíyih Khánum (the "Most Exalted Leaf", "Navváb"), wife of Bahá'u'lláh, their children Bahíyyih Khánum (the "Greatest Holy Leaf") and Mírzá Mihdí (the "Purest Branch"), and Munírih Khánum, wife of 'Abdu'l-Bahá. Although it is not part of the scheduled tour of holy places, we felt it was essential that we pay our respects to these departed souls, who gave everything to the Faith.

Fundamental Modeling Concepts: Effective Communication of IT Systems by Andreas Knopfel

My rating: 3 of 5 stars

I have mixed feelings about this book. I've spent several years working diligently on my flow-charting capabilities, using what scan resources I could easily and quickly sift through on the Web and in the Visio Help, studying the charts in all the comp-sci books I've read, and garnering feedback from my colleagues. This book might have sped up that process significantly, and has already had a positive impact on the communication efficacy of my charts. But, I simply didn't completely like the specific modeling "language" presented by the authors.

I took my nook on pilgrimage, with a whole slew of Bahá'í e-books. I realized after the first day that I wanted to read a first-hand account from a pilgrim who visited the Holy Land during the time of the Master, 'Abdu'l-Bahá. I had already read God Passes By just last year, The Dawnbreakers some years ago, Bahá'u'lláh and the New Era fairly recently, and several other books dealing with Babí and Bahá'í history. So I decided to try out Lady Blomfield's The Chosen Highway — and was well-rewarded for it.

Perhaps my most powerful emotion in direct reaction to the sites we visited during the pilgrimage was a feeling of peace and contentment. From 1853 to His death in 1892, Bahá'u'lláh lived a life of exile and periodic imprisonmnet. The lowest point was His imprisonment in the citadel of 'Akká in Syria — in the heart of a prison city built above the fetid ruins of the Cruisader capital of St. Jean de Acre.

In an epistle extolling the Ridván Gardens outside of 'Akká — more on which in a future post — Bahá'u'lláh wrote that "God's power and the perfection of His handiwork could enjoyably be seen in the blossoms, the fruits, the trees, the leaves and the streams." In that spirit, the time spent out in the various "Bahá'í Gardens" was an integral part of the spiritual experience of the pilgrimage — linking physical sensation with spiritual "praise" of creation †. No matter how handsome the building, I will always feel most alive and aware in natural (or semi-natural) settings.