Monthly Reflection: Sharaf (Honour) – On Narratives

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A few months ago I heard the tremendously exciting news that a new volume of The Baha’i World was in the works, and even though The Baha’i World moved online in 2019 and has released new articles and curated collections since, this new volume is being printed! This thrilled the cockles of my book-loving heart to no end so I was delighted when Naisohn Arfai, who has been involved in this new volume, agreed to chat with us.

In our conversation, Naisohn tell us about the importance of The Baha’i World, since its inception under the watchful guidance of Shoghi Effendi up until the present day. (Slight side note about the Guardian: we recently shared the first of two presentations by Hand of the Cause Dr. Dhikru’llah Khadem about his recollections of serving in close collaboration with Shoghi Effendi and it is unbelievably sweet, poignant and worth listening to.)

In relation to the significance of The Baha’i World, Naisohn shared:

[…] the Baha’i community, although it’s relatively small still, has this wonderful experience of being able to help people bridge divides–traditionally oppositional groups who become part of one family. Their children marry each other. You can see in India caste systems now interacting with each other. In the United States you see different racial groups from the last century till today who are working together in harmony. And you know it’s not always easy but they’re striving because they believe that there’s some higher purpose in our existence. And that we’re called to do that. So in the experience of the Baha’i community we see hope for all humanity–we think it demonstrates one example of how humanity can actually tackle its issues if it can orient itself around the right spiritual principles. So The Baha’i World is an attempt to describe how humanity is applying spiritual principles to begin to tackle the big questions of the day, to be able to describe that in a way that resonates with the reader.

While describing what excites him personally about this new volume, Naisohn also said:

[…] something like The Baha’i World can help both the person on the ground who is in the day-to-day and only sees incremental changes. And sometimes those incremental changes are backwards, you know–like my wife, for example, has a junior youth group. There are two junior youth groups here in the Miami area that she’s working on. Sometimes only two of them show up. Sometimes they have a whole mob of them show up–and more! But week-in week-out, the quality of those relationships, the nature of their conversations, the nature of their interactions is evolving, is changing for the better. But then week to week it might vary. And you know, for someone like that, who is working with these–you may get lost in the weeds. So being able to pull up and say, actually, this is not only happening everywhere but actually it’s implications are enormous. And there’s so much potential in this. So it’s not the story of the Baha’is only, this is actually the story of humanity.

A record of the story of all humanity: wow! That took some time to sink in and for me to process. Naisohn shared many other interesting insights and you can watch the whole interview with him on Baha’i Blog’s YouTube channel.

Although much briefer and less in depth and covering a shorter span of time, the Baha’i World News Service shared its annual year in review video and this newsreel always brings me much joy–and in this year–much hope.

On a smaller level, we’ve been thinking about the narrative of Baha’i Blog’s learning, the insights we’ve gained over time, and what we are in the frontiers of figuring out now. I shared a little bit of this in last month’s newsletter when I wrote about our new sister channel, Baha’i Inspired, and how it’s on a different path of discovery than Baha’i Blog.

Creating a story, whether in writing, visually, or in film that captures a narrative of spiritual transformation is the heart of a video we shared recently that was produced by the Baha’is of Fiji. It’s an incredibly moving story that offers glimpses of the transformative power of the Training Institute. I adore this film and I also appreciate that was made by and for the people in Fiji and I can only imagine the joy this video has brought to the friends it features and their friends, neighbours and family.

Perhaps, as we approach the new Gregorian year, this is a natural time to ask ourselves about our personal narratives and stories of change and transformation. What have you learned in the last year? What do you hope to better understand in the coming months? Where have you come from and where are you headed? Whatever your spiritual destination, I wish you courage, fortitude and blessings! Happy Month of Sharaf!

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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.