the purpose of life

quite a good thing to think about, right? well, read here. I really like this part, about the "true seeker":

"That seeker must, at all times, put his trust in God, must renounce the peoples of the earth, must detach himself from the world of dust, and cleave unto Him Who is the Lord of Lords. He must never seek to exalt himself above any one, must wash away from the tablet of his heart every trace of pride and vain-glory, must cling unto patience and resignation, observe silence and refrain from idle talk. For the tongue is a smoldering fire, and excess of speech a deadly poison. Material fire consumeth the body, whereas the fire of the tongue devoureth both heart and soul. The force of the former lasteth but for a time, whilst the effects of the latter endureth a century.

That seeker should, also, regard backbiting as grievous error, and keep himself aloof from its dominion, inasmuch as backbiting quencheth the light of the heart, and extinguisheth the life of the soul. He should be content with little, and be freed from all inordinate desire. He should treasure the companionship of them that have renounced the world, and regard avoidance of boastful and worldly people a precious benefit. At the dawn of every day he should commune with God, and with all his soul, persevere in the quest of his Beloved.... He should not wish for others that which he doth not wish for himself, nor promise that which he doth not fulfill.... He should forgive the sinful, and never despise his low estate, for none knoweth what his own end shall be. How often hath a sinner attained, at the hour of death, to the essence of faith, and quaffing the immortal draught, hath taken his flight unto the Concourse on high! And how often hath a devout believer, at the hour of his soul's ascension, been so changed as to fall into the nethermost fire!

Our purpose in revealing these convincing and weighty utterances is to impress upon the seeker that he should regard all else beside God as transient, and count all things save Him, Who is the Object of all adoration, as utter nothingness.

These are among the attributes of the exalted, and constitute the hallmark of the spiritually-minded.... When the detached wayfarer and sincere seeker hath fulfilled these essential conditions, then and only then can he be called a true seeker."

(from Kitáb-i-Íqán, by Bahá'u'lláh)

something to strive for...

bahistory.net

bahistory.net is a site that shouldn't be missed by anyone that's interested in Baha'i history. it's a beautifully designed site that provides information in a very readable way. you can browse by categories (persons, places, tablets, events, and misc), or just let the random pages on the right hand side take you somewhere. it's still in its infant phase, so not all info is there, but it's a good start, and if you're interested - you can always help out :)

it all started with a rabbit...

... and I brought a smurf and a ladybug...
... and then we got a kiwi...
... and then a koala...
... and then a rabbit and a tiger...

this is what the window in my office looks like:


my officemate and I just decided to gather up what we had, and then I had a few of the pilgrims coming from sweden bring whatever I had left at home. and now we have our own collection, and it's fun! who knows what's coming next? :)

the joke that never works

someone: are you really from sweden?
me: yeah, you can't tell by my blonde hair and blue eyes?
*person looks confused and gives a sympathy "heh"*

incredible coincidences

in this past week, there have been some weird coincidences happening. I can recall at least three times when I have thought about one of my friends whom I haven't heard from in a while, and suddenly the next day or even the very same day, I somehow hear from them. either msn, facebook, sms, or something... kinda funny :)

so different, yet so alike...

... and then so different again. watching everyone's behaviour around the Shrines is a really interesting experience. everyone is being reverent, but showing it in so many different ways, that it's almost an experience to just watch that. I can't explain what it is, but regardless of who you are outside the Shrines, once you enter, the submission before God is number one. makes me think of this Hidden Word: "Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other."

the butterfly effect!

here's a cool picture I took one morning walking up to work:


I really like how the shadow forms...

animator vs animation

this is a really cool flash movie, the animation comes to life and tries to get rid of its animator... it's hard to explain, but just click here and enjoy it :)

clean your keyboard

for your own sake, try to clean it regularly. both the keys themselves, as well as under and in between. otherwise it risks getting kinda nasty, trust me on this one...

I just love this picture

took it one night while walking home:


amazing thing is I took it with my phone...

helping and learning

not often that these two phenomena are combined, but freerice.com is a very good exception. you learn english words, and for every correct answer donate 10 grains of rice through the united nations world food programme. cool, huh?

try it out and improve your vocabulary. their "warning" is kinda funny:
"WARNING: This game may make you smarter. It may improve your speaking, writing, thinking, grades, job performance..."

it's raining...

glad I got my... UMBRELLA!


it's the first time in four weeks it's been raining during the day. we had a small rain period at night, but other than that it's been pretty much sun all the time. seems "winter" (if you can all it that) is still waiting a bit to show up. can't say I'm complaining though...

interesting also that during these four weeks I haven't watched football or even tv. and what's funny is that I haven't missed it at all... plenty of things to do around here, and people to hang out with :)

orientation pic!

here's a pic of my orientation group - Thine Ardent Lovers:


it was quite amazing to see such a united group, 29 people from 16 different countries all over the world - jamaica, uganda, kenya, new zealand, india, germany, south africa, us, canada, belize, peru, sweden, belgium/france/kongo (he couldn't really make up his mind ;)), italy, cameroon, and malawi. this of course is the picture of the week, even though it was taken a while ago :)

yay! got "published"! (sorta)

every week there's a list of top10 sports bloopers on aftonbladet's sports pages. people submit them and they get published. here's the one from last week:


it's obviously in swedish, and I'm not going to translate it, but #5 was my submission, and you can see my name in the thank you in the bottom left... cool! :)

here is the original link...

inspiring quotations

"... make whosoever arises to serve Thy Cause as a sea moving by Thy desire, as one ablaze with the fire of Thy Sacred Thee, shining from the horizon of the heaven of Thy will."

- Bahá'u'lláh -

"The friends of God must so live and conduct themselves, and evince such excellence of character and conduct, as to make others astonished."

- 'Abdu'l-Bahá -

affordance

today we will talk about affordance, in relation to the gardens surrounding the Holy Places here. an object's affordance is basically what you perceive that you can do with it by observing it - ie sit on a chair, throw a ball, etc. (if you come into a room and see a chair/ball, you don't consider sitting on the ball and throwing the chair...)

now, in what way does this relate to being here? looking at the ground, they invite to different ways of walking, depending on the surface. we start out with the first three pictures:





easy to walk on, you can walk quickly. these kinds of pathways are usually situated rather far away from the Shrines. another look as you get closer...



these tiles and pebbles are used closer to and in the immediate surrounding of the Shrines, and they really help with the reverent attitude as you're approaching. it simply invites to walking slower and getting into a prayerful, meditative mood. it is possible to walk fast (I've done it), but there's exactly that affordance that exists, you feel that the only possible way to walk there is slowly...

picture of the week

as you may have noticed, I have put up a small section on the right that I call picture of the week. I'm going to try to put up an interesting, special, beautiful or something else kind of picture every sunday or monday, and then make a small post about it. hope you'll like it :)

israel is a good country

I mean, any place that has oreos must be good, right? ;)



been out at a few cafés here and there in the evenings with pilgrims and other people who serve here, and I have a couple of pictures from lovely designs in the chocolates and coffees that we've had. we start out with my hot chocolate:



next we have a tree and an apple:




and then there's this thing about fireworks... I don't have any pictures of them, but I think in my three weeks here, there's literally not been one single day that there haven't been fireworks shooting somewhere in the city. it is quite funny actually... there's not too much at one time, but there's still stuff.

delivery!

a family is here from sweden on pilgrimage, and as any other family coming from sweden will discover, they had stuff for me. since they were the first ones from sweden to come, this time it was a lot of stuff. here's how my bed looked this morning after unpacking it all:


I even got my keyboard now - yay! feels a lot better, I'm obviously more used to my own than the ones here. and I also brought my own mousepad and mouse, so it should be all good. I'll get a picture of my office up soon, and then I also have my room and flat to show and tell about. but that's for later...

luckily there won't be so much in the future, I might even get to send home a few stuff...

it feels weird to wake up at 6.30...

... and realize your two flatmates have already left.

prayer and meditation

someone said this a while ago: prayer is like climbing up the ladder on to the roof - meditation is enjoying the view.

prayer books on display

remember this? I sent my prayer book to new zealand for an exhibition display involving prayer books from all around the world. last weekend it was on show, and today I got a mail with some pictures of the exhibition, and a very positive note: "I have been notified in the past several days that the work I exhibited (prayer book suitcase) has been nominated as a candidate to be exhibited in the New Zealand national Art Gallery in Auckland."

so cool!

first picture is from the entire exhibition:


you can see the Shrine of the Báb, the terraces, and a display of a prayer book.

the second picture shows the actual case with the prayer books from around the world. "my" book is the one that is covered with a light brown leather thing, top left on the bottom. and my envelope is the white one in the front, a bit to the left of the middle. five huge stamps and a small blue etiquette on it:


it's an incredibly cool project that he managed to pull off, I am amazed and so happy that I was able to support and help it.

I will end this post with the "artist statement", a bit long, but well worth reading:


I want to develop in my own practice a language of expression that is different to the norms of what art is in this present time we live in. I want to create a body of artworks that when we look at it, we experience something symbolizing a spiritual concern and thereby tapping into one's subconscious. My practice is a tribute to a universal force, offering a glimpse to a concept greater than the artwork itself. "In every Atom he finds traces of a Sun." [1] As artists using the creative thought we have the capability within us to discover and express the reality of things, and penetrate the mysteries of existence through the arts.

The world is evolving into a world community and so are its cultures and spiritual beliefs. As mankind evolves throughout the ages, so does its art. It is certain that with the spread of the spirit and teachings of The Bahai Faith a new era will dawn in the arts, reflecting the spiritual nature of the world becoming an ever evolving global civilization. Every Religion has brought with it some form of art. Such a glorious new faith should give birth to a glorious art that resembles the spirit of its truth. When the spirit of the Bahai teachings is reflected within an artists work, it will touch the hearts of men.

No matter what work of art and of what culture, it is a living teacher forever of mankind's evolutionary development.

"In this wonderful new age art is worship. The more thou strives to perfect it, the closer thou wilt come to God. What bestowal could be greater than this, that one's art should be even as the act of worshipping the Lord? That is to say, when thy fingers grasp the paintbrush, it is as if thou wert at prayer in the temples." [2]

I embarked on a grand scale work that is based around the theme of universal unity in prayer and Bahai Pilgrimage. My work represents the diversity of the Bahai faith globally and the spiritual power this faith resembles, about 55 people participated, from 35 countries in 20 languages, it is truly a global collective collaboration of cultures around the world and sends a spiritual message of the collective unity that the Bahai's are capable of.

It is an installation styled work, containing a briefcase filled with Bahai prayer books. The postal envelopes themselves containing the prayer books sent from different continents embarked on a journey that was in itself a pilgrimage to New Zealand. Using found objects or materials that already carry significance and a history of its own before it is put into the context of a new work fascinates me - it adds more flavor and meaning. I also took into account the nature of what a prayer book is, what prayer means to people and its power. The prayer books themselves have so many personal stories within them from the individuals that sent them. These books have been held so many times and have been used for so many reasons when praying, they contain so many memories. I like the concept that the suitcase contains all these prayer books and memories from people all over the world. Each prayer book is a part of its owner and in most cases have been with them their whole lives. The participants have shown detachment departing with something that is so personal and precious to them. My placing their prayer books in the suitcase makes them part of the work on a personal level. They have shown that regardless of where they are from and regardless of how different their backgrounds and cultures are, they share one unifying force – their spiritual belief that mankind is one.

We live in a time when there are constant advances in communication technologies that open broad avenues of interaction among the planet's diverse populations. Artists should use this global communication and diversity of the world's people as a tool to express the arts. I have used the power of the Internet and e-mail to create a global network for this art collective. The communication back and forward between me and the participants is an artwork within itself, renewing old friendships and coming into contact with people I have never met. Thus new relationships were created through global communication and networking involving people all over the world. I have used modern age technologies to communicate an idea of spirituality through the arts.


Shahriar Asdollah-zadeh

--------------------------------------------------------------

[1] Writings from the Bahai Faith
[2] Ibid

call to helpdesk

a customer calls in to helpdesk:

- hey, my outlook isn't working!
*helpdesk person stands up, looks out the window for 15 seconds*
- mine looks just great.
- no no, I mean in windows!
- so do I...

;)

morning view

this is where I work:


not too bad, eh? :)

the life of Baha'u'llah - a photographic narrative

the site www.bahaullah.org was launched just earlier today. it looks really nice, and is a very beautiful narrative of the life of Baha'u'llah, the Founder of the Baha'i Faith.

do check it out!

news story here

encouragement to self

"If only the friends could realize it, the glory of our Faith is not that people with unique abilities do the work of the Cause, but that it is done by the sacrifice of loving and devoted souls who arise selflessly to undertake work they feel themselves incompetent, sometimes, to achieve. God works through them and endows them with gifts they did not dream they could ever possess."

- Shoghi Effendi -
(Guardian of the Baha'i Faith)

first day...

... and first miscalculation!

the week here starts on sunday, yesterday, so naturally I managed to do my first miscalculation of remaining days until wednesday. not just one day, but two... hmmm, I guess it'll take a while until I get used to it.

there are lots of things to share, but I have to try and get into things here first and then I'll post. patience, thank you :)