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Our minds are like our gardens

While doing some gardening earlier, I realized our minds are like our gardens. If left unattended, various plants, greens and weeds will grow. To have a beautiful garden, we need to plant flowers, uproot unwanted weeds and look after it regularly.

Similarly, to have a healthy mind and live a happy life, we need plant positive thoughts, filter out the negative influences and take care of the company we are mixing with. In today's world we receive plenty of information daily. Some are good while others are really not good. Some are beneficial to us while others only do us harm. 

Just like the unwanted weeds which will inevitably grow in our gardens, we cannot help seeing large scale catastrophes happening around us or hearing small back biting talks among our peers. Just like the gardener's choice to uproot the weeds and water the flowers, we need to clear our heads from negativities and promote positive thinking.

 

Just like maintaining a beautiful garden, it takes effort to create a beautiful, positive and productive mind. I believe this effort is definitely worth spending on.

Another yummy, home cooked dinner. Looking at the color, one can only say I am a health conscious person.

Simple dinner

Thanks to the leftover marinated chicken and vegetables bought over the weekend, I brought myself to cook the last two nights. Have not been cooking for some time already but results were satisfactory.

Revision on The New Garden by Hushmand Fathea’zam

The purpose of our lives is to know God, our Creator and to worship God. Having established the fact that the purpose of our lives is to worship God, how do we know God? The answer is in recognizing the Manifestations of God. After knowing God is to love God with all our hearts and the love of God is the source of everlasting happiness. Then, the book talks about Oneness of Religion and Progressive Religion. This summarizes Chapter 1: God and His Religion.

Chapter 2 talks about Manifestations of God. This includes Krishna, Buddha, Moses, Zoroaster, Jesus Christ, Muhammad, The Bab and Baha’u’llah.

Chapter 3: The Covenant. 

Baha’u’llah was a Divine Architect and He drafted the magnificent Plan for the unity of mankind. When Baha’u’llah passed away, He appointed Abdu’l-Baha (Abdu’l-Baha means the servant of Baha) as the Centre of His Covenant. Abdu’l-Baha became the authorized interpreter of Baha’u’llah teachings and all Baha’is should turn to Abdu’l-Baha for guidance in matters concerning His teachings.

Abdu’l-Baha’s ministry lasted for about 30 years and appointed His grandson, Shoghi Effendi, as the Guardian of the Faith of God when He passed away. He taught the Baha’is of the world how to work together so as to establish the World Order of Baha’u’llah, and how to carry out the instructions of Abdu’l-Baha mentioned in His Tablets of Divine Plan. During Shoghi Effendi 36 years of guardianship, a Ten-Year Plan where all the Baha’is of the world were to work closely together in taking the Message of Baha’u’llah to the remaining islands and territories of the globe where the Baha’I faith had not yet been established. The end of the Ten-Year Plan in 1963 marked a full century had passed since Baha’u’llah proclaimed His Mission, and the Baha’is of the world elected the first International House of Justice – the Supreme Body which Abdu’l-Baha has assured us will be under the direct guidance of God and infallible in all its decisions.

Chapter 4 shows Some of the Teachings and Principles

• Oneness of Mankind – All human beings are children of one God
• Removal of Prejudice – All forms of prejudice must be forgotten, whether it is national, racial or religious prejudice
• Search After Truth – Baha’u’llah teaches the Truth is one and we must search after the truth for ourselves
• Universal Language
• Equality Between Men and Women – God look to the heart and character of a person and not the sex
• Universal Education – Every child must receive education and the education of children is a sacred task. Education must free us from superstitions and prejudices and also from the clutches of materialism
• Religion and Science Must Work Together – Science has provided tools for people who use them as weapons because they have no religion to teach them how to make the best use of these tools. On the other hand, religion without science will become nothing but ignorance and superstition. True religion is in agreement with true science
• Extremes of Wealth and Poverty Must End – The right of every human being to the daily bread whereby they exist, or the equalisation of the means of livelihood. Baha’is are encouraged to make every effort towards material as well as spiritual advancement but true wealth for a Baha’i is the love of God in his heart
• Happiness – We are joyful because the love of God is within us and we know the meaning and purpose of our short lives on this earth
• Immortality – Death is not the end but a beginning. It is a spiritual rebirth
• Heaven and Hell – Reward and punishment. Heaven is nearness to God while hell is being deprived of this bounty
• Moral and Ethical Teachings – Foundation of all religions is one. Baha’u’llah teaches very high standard of ethics and personal conduct.

Chapter 5 is Administration

The Baha’i Faith is a religion without priest. Baha’u’llah called upon every one of us to search after Truth for ourselves. Every Baha’i has to pray for himself. Instead of having priests, Baha’u’llah laid down foundation of a wonderful system of Administration through which we can work together for the progress of the Faith and the spiritual welfare of the community.

Baha’i administration consists of Local Spiritual Assembly which are elected by the Baha’is of villages or towns, National Spiritual Assemblies elected by the Baha’is of the countries, and the Universal House of Justice, elected by all the Baha’is of the world through their national assemblies.

Election of a Spiritual Assembly

• Every place with more than nine Baha’is adults must elect a Spiritual Assembly to serve the local community to which it belongs
• Assembly can only be elected on the 21^st of April which is the anniversary of the Declaration of Baha’u’llah
• Every voter must write down the names of the nine persons whom he or she considers more worthy for being elected on the Spiritual Assembly
• Baha’u’llah has forbidden us to nominate any individual or try to draw attention to any special person before or during the election
• The nine Baha’is who have the most votes are elected as members of the Local Spiritual Assembly for that year

The duties of a Local Spiritual Assembly include:

• Guarding the interests of the Baha’is in that locality
• Helping Baha’is teach the Cause of God
• Promoting amity and love among believers
• Having a fund to be utilized for the interests of the Cause and the community
• Educating Baha’i children and youth
• Undertaking the arrangement of the regular meetings of the friends, feasts and anniversaries

Some important points about the Baha’i administration include:

1. Obedience to all the decisions of the Assembly
2. If we feel that the Local Assembly decision is not right, we must first obey and then appeal to the National Spiritual Assembly to re-consider the decision of Local Assembly
3. The unity of the community is safeguarded only if we lend our complete support to the institutions of the Cause regardless of their members
4. No one can resign from a Spiritual Assembly unless good reasons such as continuous bad health or changed residence
5. We can take our problems to the Spiritual Assembly and consult them
6. The Local Spiritual Assembly is responsible to God and in administrative matters to the National Spiritual Assembly
7. All Baha’is are equal including those elected on to the Spiritual Assembly

Chapter 6 dictates some of the Laws and Obligations

• Cleanliness – keeping ourselves, our clothes and our homes clean is very important for the Baha’is.
• Prayer – Prayer is conversation with God. Prayer is the food of the soul and it is compulsory in Baha’i Faith. Prayers are to be recited every morning and evening. In addition, there are three compulsory prayers to be recited daily; long Obligatory Prayer, medium Obligatory Prayer and short Obligatory Prayer. Baha’is are free to choose any one of the three.
• Fasting – With the beginning of the 19^th month (Mar 2 -21), the month of Loftiness (Ala), the period of fasting begins. Throughout the 19 days of fasting,  Baha’is do not eat or drink anything from sunrise to sunset.
• Work is Worship – Everybody should work. To serve mankind and to minister the needs of the people is worship.
• Teaching the Cause of God – A Baha’i’s duty is to study the Cause, practise its Teachings and spread its Message.
• Alcoholic Drinks are Prohibited – Baha’is must strive to keep their minds and souls as healthy as possible.
• Observing the Holy Days – Nine holy days throughout the year which Baha’is should not work.

                         i.            March 21             Feast of Naw-Ruz (New Year)

                        ii.            April 21               First day of Ridvan – Declaration of Baha’u’llah (1863) at 3 pm

                       iii.            April 29               Ninth day of Ridvan

                       iv.            May 2                 Twelfth day of RIdvan

                        v.            May 23                Declaration of the Bab (1844)

                       vi.            May 29                Ascension of Baha’u’llah (1892) at 3 am

                      vii.            July 9                   Martyrdom of the Bab (1850) at about noon

                     viii.            October 20          Birthday of the Bab (1819)

                        ix.            November 12      Birthday of Baha’u’llah (1817)

• Marriage – There is no monastic life in Baha’i Faith.  The necessary requirements for a Baha’i marriage are: (1) the man and woman must consent to marry one another and (2) Parents of the bride and bridegroom, if alive, must give consent to the marriage.
• Loyalty to Government – A Baha’i cannot be faithful to his religion if he is not faithful to his government. The Baha’i Faith has nothing to do with politics and Baha’is cannot participate in any party politics whatsoever. The best way for a Baha’i to serve his country and the world is to work for the establishment of Baha’u’llah’s World Order, which will gradually unite all men and do away with divisive political systems and religious creeds.
• How One Becomes a Baha’i – It is to have conviction in the Oneness of God, oneness of religion ad oneness of mankind; to realise that religion is progressive and continuous and is for the sake of unity rather than disunity. The man who lives the life according to the teachings of Baha’u’llah is already a Baha’i.

How I decide to go for the Real Estate license

Two days ago, I was having a conversation with Ray and he told me that the Real Estate license can earn me passive income. I never know that. All along, I just thought its a passport to open an agency firm. How wrong was I.

There and then, I decided to pursue for the license which involves 2 years of written exam (assuming I pass both years in a seating) and another 2 years of logbook keeping. I never considered going for the license but if I knew about the passive income, I would have studied for the exam last year. Fortunately, I can still make it for this year's exam in July but it's going to take some effort catching up with the studies these two months.

Information is such priceless commodity. How information can affect and change our lives is unimaginable. While we set goals to go forward, sometimes it is really like what Steve Jobs said about connecting the dots. He said that we can't connect the dots looking forward; we can only connect them backwards. So, we just have to trust the dots will somehow connect in our future.

I really cannot see the path I am walking but I truly believe it leads me to a bright future, leaving a trail for others to follow. I am excited, positive and hopeful. This feeling alone is such a bliss.

Conscious Mishap

Despite trying so hard to do what that is right, today I committed the biggest sin ever in my life. Well, it was not like I could not avoid it. I know with all consciousness that what I was going to do is wrong and I still put myself in a compromising situation and did the wrong thing. It was like seeing the traffic lights turned red in front of me and yet I refuse to slow down my car. As I get nearer to the traffic light, I knew that I could still break in time but I chose not to stop.

Now, I might or might not get caught for breaking the red light and the consequences will most likely be insignificant. However, I am a firm believer that we reap what we sow. What goes around comes around. Even if I get away with the sin committed today and most likely I would, what that is wrong is still wrong. I truly regretted it the moment I did it and still regretting it.

Sigh...this entry is to remind myself that its not worth doing the wrong things...

Equality in Life

Referring to the classroom socialism article, is equality ever fair? I must say that there are several flaws in this article. Firstly, it implies every students in the class works as individuals and not in group. For socialism to work, leadership and team work are essential to achieve a common goal. Secondly, we can always remove the so-called rotten eggs in the group who just want a free ride or give extra guidance and attention to those who are less brilliant. Thirdly, with right motivations and great leaderships, the test results could have improved from B to A instead of getting worse. I can imagine people helping one another instead of letting go and pointing fingers when results are not desirable.

However, I strongly agree that if everybody is treated or rewarded equally, sooner or later, no one would work harder than what is required. I am a supporter of the Bible's saying of, "For to everyone who has, more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but from the one who does not have, even what he does have shall be taken away." My understanding of this statement is people who have skills, knowledge and virtues will attain more in life whereas those who have not, sooner or later they will lose whatever they have if there is any. Isn't it only fair that people who are better get the better things in life? If you are to buy from one of the two salesperson who are selling the same thing, would you not buy from the one who is dressed more smartly, smiles more sweetly and provides better service?

Jack Welch talks about differentiation in his book titled Winning. He would reward his best people handsomely and fire those who are at the bottom. This may seem unacceptable to many but the results speak for themselves. During his tenure at GE, the company's value rose by 4000%. I agree that this is the way forward. Just a food for thought, if Jack was to lead a country instead of a company, could he evict the citizens who are not performing?