Google = da bomb

I came across this on the internet and thought it was pretty funny (and mostly true).

Google is the most powerfull thing ever made in the history of MANKIND, this thing called google (search engine) is like an old man who has so much wisdom and knowledge, you ask it ANY QUestion you want and it will ANSWER it for you, Google has helped me beat my Acne, it has helped me find absolutely everything that I could not have no way done it without it, its like an unbelievable source of knowldge and wisdom but its really just a search engine that brings all peoples minds together, I just cant believe how powerfull google is, 150 time more better then a public library, got a question in life, just ask google.. got a problem?.. just ask google.

I just cant believe how powerfull this creation is of mankind, it is the most incredible creation by mankind EVER! because it knows EVERYTHING. I believe google even has the answer to the meaning of life!..

Ketábkháneh-ye Wilson

OMG, I can't believe I waited so long to pay a visit to the library here! It's soooo awesome!

There are books everywhere! Rows and rows of books!

And it's open until midnight!

I checked out the following:

An Introduction to Persian, Wheeler McIntosh Thackston, Jr.

Honest to Jesus, Robert W. Funk

Descriptive Grammars: Persian, Shahrzad Mahootian

Táhirih: A Portrait in Poetry - Selected Poems of Qurratu'l-'Ayn

AND, with my Honors library privileges, I get to keep them for three months! Sick!

Thy Kingdom Come, Thy Will Be Done

From the Catechism of the Catholic Church:

1042 At the end of time, the Kingdom of God will come in its fullness. After the universal judgment, the righteous will reign for ever with Christ, glorified in body and soul. The universe itself will be renewed...

1043 Sacred Scripture calls this mysterious renewal, which will transform humanity and the world, "new heavens and a new earth."It will be the definitive realization of God's plan to bring under a single head "all things in [Christ], things in heaven and things on earth."

1045 For man, this consummation will be the final realization of the unity of the human race, which God willed from creation and of which the pilgrim Church has been "in the nature of sacrament."...The beatific vision, in which God opens himself in an inexhaustible way to the elect, will be the ever-flowing well-spring of happiness, peace, and mutual communion.

Very interesting. I'd never read that before.

From The World Order of Baha'u'llah by Shoghi Effendi:

The principle of the Oneness of Mankind - the pivot round which all the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh revolve - is no mere outburst of ignorant emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious hope....Its implications are deeper, its claims greater than any which the Prophets of old were allowed to advance...

It represents the consummation of human evolution...

[It] carries with it no more and no less than a solemn assertion that attainment to this final stage in this stupendous evolution is not only necessary but inevitable, that its realization is fast approaching, and that nothing short of a power that is born of God can succeed in establishing it.

So marvellous a conception finds its earliest manifestations in the efforts consciously exerted and the modest beginnings already achieved by the declared adherents of the Faith of Bahá’u’lláh who, conscious of the sublimity of their calling and initiated into the ennobling principles of His Administration, are forging ahead to establish His Kingdom on this earth. It has its indirect manifestations in the gradual diffusion of the spirit of world solidarity which is spontaneously arising out of the welter of a disorganized society.

Intense(ive) Ruhi

What a day. Following the anniversary of the Birth of the Báb (yesterday), I was able to facilitate/particpate/collaborate in a study of the unit of Ruhi Book 4 dedicated to the life and ministry of this amazing personage. For nine hours (not straight of course), we read stories and quotations, and shared and discussed ideas relating to the Báb, someone who declared (to a room full of fanatical Iranian clergymen and government officials):

I am, I am, I am, the promised One! I am the One whose name you have for a thousand years invoked, at whose mention you have risen, whose advent you have longed to witness, and the hour of whose Revelation you have prayed God to hasten. Verily I say, it is incumbent upon the peoples of both the East and the West to obey My word and to pledge allegiance to My person.

Wow.

To make the deal even sweeter, I was treated to much delicious food and drink, warmth, laughter, and kindness.

Afterwards we listened to an amazing talk entitled Fadil-i-Qá'iní: The Tamed Phoenix about an early believer in the Báb and Bahá'u'lláh.

I left not only with a large dish filled with Indian food, but an apple, a peach, some chutney, and a jar of pickles. When will the generosity end!?

Literalist Willy

If your hand or your foot causes you to sin, cut it off and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life maimed or crippled than to have two hands or two feet and be thrown into eternal fire. And if your eye causes you to sin, gouge it out and throw it away. It is better for you to enter life with one eye than to have two eyes and be thrown into the fire of hell. (Matt 18:8-9)

We Are Called

I was pleased to find my all-time favorite church song on the iTunes music store. The particular performance is somewhat slow and boring, unlike the energetic version our choir/congegration did, back in the day, but I purchased it anyway. I especially love the lyrics, especially the last verse:

We Are Called (David Haas)

Come! Live in the light. Shine with the joy and the love of the Lord. 
We are called to be light for the kingdom, to live in the freedom of the city of God.

Chorus:
We are called to act with justice, we are called to love tenderly,
We are called to serve one another, to walk humbly with God.

Come! Open your heart. Show your mercy to all those in fear. 
We are called to be hope for the hopeless, so all hatred and blindness will be no more.

Chorus

Sing! Sing a new song. Sing of that great day when all will be one!
God will reign, and we'll walk with each other as sisters and brothers united in love.

Chorus

Update: I found this awesome iMix, every song of which I know well. The music is definitely what I miss most about being Catholic. Closely followed by the communion bread (not the wafers) that they'd make on special occasions. Mmm, mm.

Concierto

This Saturday (October 8), Willy Porter (an amazing guitarist/musician/songwriter/performer from Wisconsin) is playing at the Cedar Cultural Center (just off the West Bank campus-walking distance!). I need someone to go with me! If anyone who reads this is interested, they should let me know.

Eruption Photos

Check out these photos taken from the Calle Principal in Izalco, where I lived:

Closed Doors

Iran's Campaign to Deny Higher Education to Baha'is

Since 1979, the government of Iran has systematically sought to deprive its largest religious minority of the right to a full education. Specifically, the Islamic Republic of Iran has for more than 25 years blocked the 300,000-member Bahá’í community from higher education, refusing young Bahá’ís entry into university and college. The government has also sought to close down Bahá’í efforts to establish their own institutions of higher learning.

Volcán de Santa Ana

El Salvador volcano spits rock, hundreds evacuated.

Comienza evacuación de pobladores por actividad en volcán Ilamatepec

I climbed that thing nine months ago! I looked down into the crater!