Befriended Stranger

When I was in high school, I loved mathematics and physics but not so much chemistry. I certainly had the best math teachers one could hope for, being that I was at a math magnet school. My physics teacher was great too, as well as quite a character — he was known to pasture his goat on the grass near the astronomical observatory. My chemistry teacher was good too but for some reason I never got to like chemistry. As good as these teachers were, however, the interdependence of the sciences they taught was never emphasized. As a result, I tended to view all these sciences as the separate subjects that they were and never saw the connection between them.

It was not until I got to college where I had to take a class on physical chemistry of semiconductors to realize that each one of these sciences, whose intersection I finally got to study, were simply a targeted, focused, look at the same reality; a specialized, independent, attempt to describe particular qualities of the same reality. The value of having specialized knowledge is, of course, in developing the ability to penetrate into ever deeper aspects of the truth; the problem of having specialized knowledge is that we are often unable to see the big picture.

The other day I was reflecting on one of the simplest yet most fundamental statements of the Baha’i Faith, contained in the short obligatory prayer:

I testify, at this moment, to my powerlessness and to Thy might, to my poverty and to Thy wealth.

Just admitting one’s powerlessness is not enough; accepting God’s might is as important. The importance of stepping aside by subduing the ego and letting God does His “magic” by accepting and following His laws has been an important insight. Just as a friend once commented on the bumper sticker “Jesus is my co-pilot”: “Perhaps he should sit at the back seat and let Him drive” , it is never easy to keep the ego away from meddling in God’s ways, but it sure is the way to a lasting freedom. The other important insight has been, of course, the need to do all this “ego check-in” business every single moment at a time.

Promising Baha’u'llah that I will follow His laws but not relying on His help has been an eye-opening and humbling lesson because, as I now realize it, it had put on my ego the burden of carrying on when times get tough; and ego is a poor driver under stress (or any other time anyway). Realizing that when I can’t, God can, has been a great relief. Experiencing that help is always within reach — as long as I let God help me — and turning to Baha’u'llah in supplicating His help to enable me to follow His laws and Will, has been instrumental in my personal growth.

I am sure there will still be more times of tests and difficulties ahead but it is very comforting to have known the power of God’s help. God will always help, as long as we let Him . Any other way would be like making a phone call to God asking for help and disconnecting before His help arrives.

This, to me, is the integrated beauty of God’s laws — not only you can’t pick and choose which Law to follow, but there is a mystical power and wisdom in following them all.

More than a year ago I started this blog with an entry quoting a book review of “In Defense of Food”, the book by Michael Pollan which was succinctly captured by the healthy advice mantra “Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Today I came across an interview with the author of this book which further sheds light on what is wrong with “nutritionism” and how to find the joy of eating today. Part of the answer is… gardening. The timing couldn’t have been better. The Washington Post started publishing a series on articles on the worldwide food shortage crisis. As I was planting a garden, I was reflecting on whether this is just a nice hobby, or a natural instinct to be closer to Mother Nature, or a therapeutic exercise, or honing life skills for hard days that might be coming, or teaching my daughters on where food actually comes from, or an attempt to provide local food (it does not get any more local than your own garden) as a counterpoint to the whole organic food craze. There is so much to be grateful for having a garden!

The other aspect of it is, of course, the Garden of Ridvan. It was in a garden near Baghdad, Iraq, in the spring of 1863, that Baha’u'llah revealed to His followers that He was the Promissed One of All Religions. So much to be grateful for a garden!

This morning I witnessed a wonderful discussion on the Wilmette Institute forum and with permission from the participants, I will repost Brent’s response to Ernest:

Ernest observes: “Is it that things of the spirit are not subject to strict mathematical laws?”

I think that’s a good observation. When God decided to give us water, He didn’t say, “Here’s a glass of water, 12 ounces exactly.” He said: “Mountain. Sun. Cloud. Stream.”

When He gave us orange juice, He didn’t say, “Box, sugar, reconstituted semi-palatable juice.” He said, “Tree. Ground. Sun. Leaves. Oranges.”

And likewise in the spiritual realm, when He gives us guidance, it is a growing, organic thing.

Sometimes the Tablets look like the forces of nature:

Compare:

and:

Or maybe it is that the forces of nature resemble the Tablets?

Wow! Indeed one realizes with awe that regardless of our preoccupation with the physical world, the world of the spirit does not limit itself to the laws of the physical. A mention of quantum physics would be an illustration, albeit an inadequate one, of what happens at the point of the intersection of physical and spiritual.

And as Hossein added to the discussion:

I seem to recall from the readings of Abdu’l Baha that since the world of the spirit is not of this world, there are things in that realm which are beyond our ken and understanding; they can not be adequately explained by the tools of this plane of existence, as human words.

Given this back drop, I would think that “strict mathematical laws” will certainly be very wonting in explaining spiritual phenomena, let alone be subjected to it.

What a bounty to realize on a daily basis, through the interaction with the Writings and the marvelous friends, the depth of the wisdom of our marvelous Faith!

When I came to the U.S. almost 12 years ago I was impressed by the emphasis on healthy eating but perplexed by observing that too often the idea of healthy eating was overshadowed by the focus to avoid this or that ingredient of the meals. It seems that the idea of a healthy meal as a whole, integral combination of delicious food was not there — what most people were counting were calories, nutrients, antioxidants, etc. Where was the food in all this meal chemistry analysis? I could never put my pulse on what seemed wrong, and now a fascinating article published by the New York Times helps me understand this by shedding light on the shift from nutritious meals to nutritionism that has shaped America’s grocery store shelves over the past 30 years.

The following illustration is a very clever summary of the premise of the article:

A banana is more than its ingredients. Knowing the vitamins are an essential part of a healthy diet does not mean that you should eat only vitamins. There is as much value in the interaction of the ingredients as in the ingredients themselves.

The article tells also a lot about the scientific methods used by research studies and the the shaky grounds on which our trust in science is built. This very fascinating and thought-proviking, and highly recommended article, offers a simple advise for those in search for healthy food guidance:

Eat food. Not too much. Mostly plants.