The Investigative Burden of a Bahá’í

This post was originally published on the Medium publication 'Interfaith Now' on August 7.  My first forays into blog writing were a stubborn attempt to rebel against the restrictions of my over 10 years of academic study: the adherence to seemingly arbitrary convention, the rigorous over-referencing requirements, the perils of letting creative and subjective thought creep …

The Melancholy and the Music

A while back, I came across a site called The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows. On face value, such an enterprise might seem slightly morose, self-indulgent, downright emo and bordering on nihilistic — and some particular words might support this (there is, for example, a word — Lachesism — for internally egging on catastrophic events for …

In Defence of Suffering

Newsflash: I am a Bahá’í. This wouldn’t be a surprise to anyone who isn’t on this blog for the first time. As a Bahá’í, I often — read: almost always — feel compelled to write about Baha’i stuff. It’s part of the deal. The last two posts were almost pure Bahá’í, save for some pop …

The Virtue of Sacrifice

There was a series of podcasts from the ABC series ‘The Minefield’ recently about ‘Unfashionable Virtues’. In it, Waleed Aly and someone who isn’t Waleed Aly talk about different human qualities that, as the title suggests, might traditionally have been considered virtuous but that in contemporary society have gone somewhat out of fashion. The discussions, …

Pioneering and Apostasy

“So why are you moving to Esperance?” It’s a pretty harmless question. But also a fairly loaded question for a Bahá’í pioneer. There are not the standard excuses of work or love or family. One also does not want to be too vague, lest another might deduce more bleak motives, perhaps running from mistakes in …

For Ducks Sake

So I wrote previously about where my disproportionate love of parks came from. Do I think sitting down and watching the ducks can actually save people’s lives… people who experience real and debilitating mental health conditions? Maybe not. Although, if I did, I probably wouldn’t admit it. But: I’m certain it can help, in a …

Confessions of an Emo

Baha’is are forced — sorry, obliged — to say a few selected prayers daily. The longest one, on several occasions obliges you to think about your past sins. I have always found sin a bit of an icky word, and I’m guessing I’m not the only one. An ego will do that, and is very …

Meniere’s and Prayer

The second, and hopefully final, instalment of my relationship with Meniere’s. If you were wondering how to pronounce it, Meniere rhymes with despair. Conveniently, it also rhymes with prayer…   ** Of the many hurdles I faced ‘converting’, prayer was an especially difficult one. Those born and raised praying perhaps take it for granted, rather …

Meniere’s, Hope and Despair

While technically I am single, it feels like for the last year I have been in a relationship with Meniere's Disease. It has been a pretty brutal relationship — I could say an abusive relationship, if I was being glib, although I probably shouldn’t be right now on that topic. But it has also taught …

Faith

I have been trying to trace back my spiritual trajectory from atheism to something approaching religiosity. Part of it was just that atheism wasn’t working. Believing in myself and my inherent wisdom had failed miserably. When tested, when left by myself, I wasn’t as pure in motive as I thought I was; I would turn …