Bahá’í

 

“I believe I was reading a book, or maybe it was a magazine,

Suggestions on where to place faith, suggestions on what to believe,
But I read somewhere that you’ve got to beware
You can’t believe anything you read.”
Jack Johnson

“Consort with the followers of all religions with friendliness”Bahá’u’lláh

The world is full of holy places-but agreement on which they are is rarer.

The Bahá’í House at Tiapapata seems like a holy place…

Forgive me if I quickly try to summarise something quite complex- an unusual, almost a composite, faith.  Bahá’í believe that the word of God has been delivered by different prophets, in different ways at different times… they liken it to the moon, seen each night in a different phase, not because the light source, the sun, has changed…but because the view point and the receptacle have.

Which prophets is the interesting part- Krishna, Moses, Buddha, Christ, Mohammed and others less familiar to me. The Bahá’í result is a distinct brand of tolerance blended with a familiarity for the followers of any of those faiths…a blend of mid eastern beliefs from India to Egypt over 4000 years.

In a Bahá’í service- there is no sermon, no minister- there are simply readings directly from the books of faith belonging to religions- Christianity, Buddhism, Hinduism, Judaism, Islam, all in one place in harmony….the “words of God” delivered through prophets at varying times in varying cultures.

The readings are delivered in English, or Samoan, or as they would be in their native place. One particular prayer delivered affectingly this morning…as she sang, if you closed your eyes, it was like sunrise over a great city somewhere- and old place, stone walls and brass domes, dusty streets…like a mullahs chant- perhaps the words of God, certainly a voice that seemed less earthly bound than it’s host. (Yasmine, I met later a native “Persian”, alternately living between Samoa and Australia for a quarter of a decade.).

The building, like the belief is of remarkable design…(constructed by Fletchers from NZ)

Concrete, glass and samoan hardwood combined to form a resonance unique and beautiful-crystalline- when the choir sings, the sound bounces about the room in a subtle echo, returning to tickle the inside of your ears, around and behind the newly sung words - the birds outside, not muted, chiming in with jazz-like unpredictable precision.

It is a truly peaceful place, and experience- the service is short (1/2 an hour) and almost completely without ceremony…it’s a good way to wake up on Aso Sa ile taeao (Sunday morning)…

http://www.bahaitemplesamoa.org/