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.

We returned yesterday from our Bahá'í pilgrimage. Pilgrimage to the Bahá'í holy places is enjoined in Bahá'u'llá's Most Holy Book, if one is able to undertake the travel. I was careful to avoid having too many specific expectations, instead being open to all the experiences I would encounter. For some the pilgrimage is a transformative experience. I would not label it thusly for me, but it was certainly a meaningful and memorable experience that I hope I can use to galvanize myself to further personal development.

This post will be the first in a series of posts and photos about my experience. Many people have shared their stories on the web, and I don't expect mine to be particularly unique or illuminating. But compiling them here seems like the best way for me to digest the experience, and stretch it into the future.

For official public information on the "Bahá'í gardens" in Israel (two of the primary locations we visited), there is a very informative (and relatively new) public web site. As I compile my experiences, I plan on linking to many historical stories regarding the various places visited, which illuminate the importance of these sites to Bahá'ís.

The word "confirmation" is used by some in a spiritual sense, something akin to signs and portents: an experience that validates, proves, or explains a previous feeling, decision, or action i.e. "... ask for you all divine guidance and confirmation in the very important work you are directing" [1]. It is natural to ask, "what is the agent of this confirmation?" To the traditionally theistic, that answer is obvious: God. To the athiest, the answer is probably something along the lines of "Whoso seeketh out a thing with zeal shall find it." [2] (self-fulfilling). Truthfully, my attitude towards the concept has traditionally been dismissive.

A friend just wrote to me, asking about agile. He's been seeing software job posting with the vague request/promise of "agile" in them, wondering what the big deal is. Initial reaction: if no specific methodology or agile principle is cited, then at worst they are glomming on to pop culture, at best they want to make sure you can

1. handle changing requirements,
2. deliver prototypes and/or working code frequently,
3. take an iterative approach to documentation, coding, and testing.

"Being agile" means both that you aren't going to freak out at the lack of a locked-down, step-by-step waterfall process, and that you aren't going to go cowboy and give the client a product at the last minute, with no conversations or demonstrations between the initial requirements "gathering" and delivery.

Ms. Dudzinski’s 9th Grade English class. Grade: 94. Current observations: I was very into politics (this was shortly before the ’92 election), and somewhere I had learned some demagoguery that would later serve me well in debate class. The overall point I was trying to make was and is sound, but on rediscovering this recently, I couldn’t help laughing at my (ignorant) scare-tactic of running out of oxygen. And where did I get this "con-environmentalist" term? The assignment was clearly intended as an exercise in persuasive, opinion-based writing. The lack of citations is irksome to me.

I'm not a spontaneous guy, so for me to do two spontaneous things, out of schedule, in the same week, feels quite liberating! And it is a good reminder that letting myself become too regimented is a sure sign that I'm being pulled too far into the rat race, into the humdrum existence that I've always dreaded. Building a trail and listening to Texas folk-rock are good cures for that.

"O people! Consort with the followers of all religions in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship," Bahá'u'lláh commanded his own followers in His epistle of the Glad Tidings.

In that spirit I, and three to four-hundred others, ventured to downtown Minneapolis this evening for Minnesotans Standing Together - A multi-faith prayer service for respect. The service began and ended with bagpipes, surrounding comments, prayers, songs, chanting, and meditation from the Christian (Lutheran, Unitarian, Catholic), Jewish, Muslim, Hindu, Bahá'í, and Buddhist faith traditions (a Lakota speaker was unfortunately absent). These were words of unity, love, and respect for one another — and a call to actively show those feelings, to uphold them in society in the face of enmity, rancor, and hate.

This devotional program was presented at the Bahá'í House of Worship on September 5, 2010. Before going upstairs into the temple, I joked to my friend that I wanted to go downstairs to the bookstore, to be material before being spiritual. The architecture is inspiring enough, but the devotions and music were, well, heavenly :-).