Category: Baha’i
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Stonehaven’s new edition of The Challenge of Baha’u’llah
My book The Challenge of Baha’u’llah, first published 25 years ago, is now available from Stonehaven Press in a stunning commemorative edition! The new version is revised, expanded, updated, and redesigned. It sports an exquisite fresh cover and easy-on-the-eyes typography. A thorough reformatting provides easier readability and even better ease of reference. You’ll find it at…
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My Prayer for 2018
May each one of us be happy, healthy, and fully engaged with others (especially those whose views and experience may differ from our own). May our country stand as a beacon for racial healing and harmony, for interfaith understanding, for economic justice, for gender equality, for commitment to science, and for borders open to all…
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Our 30th Ana(versary)gram!
I can’t let 2016 escape without noting that this was the year Cheri and I celebrated our 30th anniversary. Three adventure-filled decades ago, we committed ourselves to making our union “as a fortress for well-being and salvation”. That’s how Baha’u’llah describes it in the Prayer for Marriage. That, for us, has been the way it…
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One Word: Common
Looking over the list of words I’m writing about, it strikes me how high a percentage are common words – not fancy, unfamiliar words of the literary-technical variety. Not always, of course. I just wrote about “epistemology”, an uncommon word meaning “the study of how we know what we know”. That’s a word I almost…
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One Word: Epistemology
Here’s a word I almost never use: “epistemology”. And yet – I love it. That odd-sounding word represents one of the defining themes of my life. A theme that runs through all my books and writings. A theme that engages my thoughts, rivets my attention. That theme is a question: How do we know what…
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What’s More Practical Than Being Happy?
Nothing! This principle — the practicality of happiness — was first impressed upon me some years ago during a meeting of the Knoxville Baha’i assembly. We had decided to send a gift as a token of appreciation to a wonderful lady who had provided heroic service to the community. An assembly member named Betty suggested…
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The Gary Matthews Anagrams
Wordsmith.org quotes a supposed sage as saying, “All the life’s wisdom can be found in anagrams. Anagrams never lie.” Is this so? Can we really learn hidden truth by rearranging the letters of a name or phrase? I had to find out! For me, a natural place to start was with my dear departed mom. Her…
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Charmian Matthews: “influencing, rosy” mom!
Thinking of you, Mom, this Mother’s Day. And every day! Hard to believe I’m just three years younger today than you were when you died, in 1991, at 68. Too soon! But what an impact you made — on the world, on me, on everyone who knew and loved you — in those years. Your full name was “Minnie…
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Fifty Years of Fasting
I almost didn’t notice! This year (2014) is the fiftieth year I’ve participated in the annual 19-day Fast for members of the Baha’i Faith. The milestone nearly slipped past me. The Fast spans March 2-20, and it was just yesterday — the 16th — that I did the math and realized it’s now fifty years.…
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New Websites
Several long-term projects coming to fruition: Please take a look at the all-new Stonehaven Press website at stonehavenpress.com. This site, the storefront for the publishing company Cheri and I own, has been in the works for a long time. Way overdue, but we haven’t had the time needed to bring it into being. Also its…
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Where We Left Off
“What’s going on with the Tamale?” Thus inquired my friend Patricia, just last night. As a subscriber to The Astonished Tamale!, she no doubt was puzzled at not having gotten any updates for the past four-and-and-half months. Okay, fasten your seat belts: It was May 8-9 when Zabine Van Ness and I returned to Seattle…
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Seoul Pancake
May 9, 2012 (Tuesday) – Apologies to Rainn Wilson for the pun on his wacky, wonderful website. But facing a 13-hour layover in Seoul, Korea, I was ready to disclaim any further responsibility for anything. Then Zabine and I got a clue: We remembered our Vietnamese home-stay host telling us of a terrific five-hour tour of Seoul we could…