A passage that must be shared...

Last night I was asked to do a "fireside". I think President Roosevelt had fireside chats...not totally positive. Anyhow, when one is asked to do a fireside these days, it usually means that they are of the Baha'i faith and are going to share some aspect of their beliefs with people who are interested. It is a fun exercise. In the process of trying to answer questions the person who has to do the fireside ends up reading, studying, meditating.

Anyhow, I am not going to do a fireside; however, my cat boys, Augustus and Ollie, asked me to share a passage that I was rehearsing with them. Ollie usually sits with his paws crossed when I read or rehearse a talk. If he yawns, that means trouble. Augustus does not want to hurt my feelings by making gestures during the talk. He goes into a zen-like mood right from the start. I will try to capture some pictures to show the expressions.




In this case they just headed for the salad, and I had to get them back again and ask them to listen.



...O My servants! Could ye apprehend with what wonders of My munificence and bounty I have willed to entrust your souls, ye would, of a truth, rid yourselves of attachment to all created things, and would gain a true knowledge of your own selves—a knowledge which is the same as the comprehension of Mine own Being. Ye would find yourselves independent of all else but Me, and would perceive, with your inner and outer eye, and as manifest as the revelation of My effulgent Name, the seas of My loving-kindness and bounty moving within you. Suffer not your idle fancies, your evil passions, your insincerity and blindness of heart to dim the luster, or stain the sanctity, of so lofty a station. Ye are even as the bird which soareth, with the full force of its mighty wings and with complete and joyous confidence, through the immensity of the heavens, until, impelled to satisfy its hunger, it turneth longingly to the water and clay of the earth below it, and, having been entrapped in the mesh of its desire, findeth itself impotent to resume its flight to the realms whence it came. Powerless to shake off the burden weighing on its sullied wings, that bird, hitherto an inmate of the heavens, is now forced to seek a dwelling-place upon the dust. Wherefore, O My servants, defile not your wings with the clay of waywardness and vain desires, and suffer them not to be stained with the dust of envy and hate, that ye may not be hindered from soaring in the heavens of My divine knowledge...Baha'u'llah

Well, Happy Sunday Evening to all...hope to see you tomorrow.

-m