Baha’i Blog’s “Personal Reflections on the Baha’i Faith From Around the World” Project Wraps Up

As the bicentennial anniversary of the Bab draws to a close, the Baha’i Blog team would like to thank everyone who participated, supported and followed our “Personal Reflections on the Baha’i Faith From Around the World” project!

Baha’i Blog’s “Personal Reflections” initiative started in 2017 to honor the bicentenary of the Birth of Baha’u’llah, and we shared 200 photographs of Baha’is and their friends, each coupled with an extract taken from an interview about what the Baha’i Faith means to them personally, and how it has touched their lives.

The photographs were taken around the world by volunteers, and we intentionally chose not to use the names and locations of those being photographed so that the focus remained on the person’s face and what they said, rather than allowing any connotations to arise of where they may be from and who they are because of their name.

To date, the “Personal Reflections” initiative has been extremely well received, and it has been our hope that by sharing these photographs and quotations, we will help answer the call from the Universal House of Justice to communicate “a sense of what it means for humanity that these two Luminaries rose successively above the horizon of the world” and we hope that such “initiatives, coupled with widespread celebrations that are both uplifting and reverent, are also sure to spark the curiosity and wonder of many who may as yet be unfamiliar with the names of the Bab and Baha’u’llah.”

After sharing 200 portraits in honor of the bicentenary of the Birth of Baha’u’llah, we decided to share a second set of 200 to celebrate the bicentennial anniversary of the Bab’s Birth! We are so grateful to everyone who participated in this project, and to those who supported this initiative!

You can find all 400 ‘personal reflections’ using these links:

* Twitter: @reflectbahai

Here are a just a few examples from the Personal Reflections Instagram page:

 

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“I work creatively with a lot of natural materials and the Bab shares this idea that we have a responsibility to elevate to the utmost level of perfection any materials that we work with, and for that thing to achieve its true paradise. And so it has implications, I think, for creative work, but also for anything we have around us — that is, what other materials, what resources are we working with and how can we help it to achieve its level of perfection? For example, within our families, if we have the responsibility of caring for a child? For a community around us, what would that look like? What’s our vision of that perfection and how do we honour that responsibility?” #Bahai #BahaiFaith #Bicentenary #BicentenaryBirthoftheBab #Bahaiphoto #Bahaiphotographer

A post shared by Personal Reflections Baha’i (@personalreflectionsbahai) on Sep 20, 2019 at 4:41pm PDT

 

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“I and my wife, Debby, will soon celebrate 50 years of life as members of the Baha’i Faith and, not coincidentally, also 50 years as a married couple. It is clear [to us] that these two anniversaries are tightly bound. Together, we have seen fire which might have destroyed us, but seemed, instead, to light our way. Together, we have found that this light has led to blessings and greater knowledge. […] We have suffered losses – of jobs, of wealth, of abilities, even of young children we had hoped to nurture and raise. The path of God has at times made us wanderers of sorts, and yet confirmed us as firm believers in a kind and loving Providence.” #Bahai #BahaiFaith #Bahaiphoto #Bahaiphotographer #faith

A post shared by Personal Reflections Baha’i (@personalreflectionsbahai) on Sep 8, 2020 at 12:36pm PDT

 

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“Labelling ourselves as Asian or Japanese, I think it’s an old system, an old style, and that’s why we struggle. We label ourselves as a woman or mother, but when we come to our true identity as a Baha’i, or our spiritual identity, it’s way beyond what we are used to, and I feel rejuvenated […] to recognize that truth.” #Bahai #BahaiFaith #Bicentenary #BicentenaryoftheBirthoftheBab #Bahaipeople #Bahaiphoto #Bahaiphotographer

A post shared by Personal Reflections Baha’i (@personalreflectionsbahai) on Dec 14, 2019 at 8:34am PST

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Sonjel Vreeland

In her innermost heart, Sonjel is a stay-at-home parent and a bookworm with a maxed out library card but professionally she is a museologist with a background in English Literature. She currently lives on Prince Edward Island, an isle in the shape of a smile on the eastern Canadian coast. Sonjel is a writer who loves to listen to jazz when she's driving at night.