Baha’i Blogcast with Rainn Wilson – Ep 54: Sean Hinton (part 2): Fathers, Loss, and Life’s Lessons

Hello and welcome to the Baha’i Blogcast with me your host, Rainn Wilson.

In this series of podcasts I interview members of the Baha’i Faith and friends from all over the world about their hearts, and minds, and souls, their spiritual journeys, what they’re interested in, and what makes them tick.

In this episode, I catch up with Sean Hinton again (check out part 1 of our conversation), and sadly, this second conversation we have takes place after the passing of my father, Robert Wilson. Sean asks about my dad and we talk about loss, Baha’i funerals, and about our fathers and our upbringing. We discuss the importance of community building, teaching the Baha’i Faith, careers, and how what we do is not as important as how we do it. I hope you find part 2 of our conversation as interesting and insightful as I did.

To find out more about some of the things we covered in this episode, check out the following:

• You can find out more about my father, Robert Wilson, and his art from his website: www.robertwilsonart.com
• I mention the Prayer for the Dead revealed by Baha’u’llah. If you’d like, you can read the prayer here and can read about how Baha’is deal with death in this article: How Do Baha’is Deal with Death?
• You can read about Open Society Foundations, where Sean works, here: www.opensocietyfoundations.org, and about George Sorros here: www.georgesoros.com
• I mention talks by former member of the Universal House of Justice, Adib Taherzadeh, whom you can read about here, and you can also listen to a series of his talks on Baha’i Blog’s YouTube channel called Drawing Nigh to Baha’u’llah – Adib Taherzadeh
• I share this prayer:
  “He is God! O peerless Lord! Praised be Thou for having kindled that light in the glass of the Concourse on high, for having guided that bird of faithfulness to the nest of the Abhá Kingdom. Thou hast joined that precious river to the mighty sea, Thou hast returned that spreading ray of light to the Sun of Truth. Thou hast welcomed that captive of remoteness into the garden of reunion, and led him who longed to look upon Thee to Thy presence in Thy bright place of lights.
  Thou art the Lord of tender love, Thou art the last goal of the yearning heart, Thou art the dearest wish of the martyr’s soul.”
  —Abdu’l‑Baha
• I mention The Kitab-i-Iqan, which is called The Book of Certitude in English. You can read it here on the Baha’i Reference Library: The Kitab-i-Iqan
• I also mention the book called The Dawn-Breakers, which you can learn more about from this article: An Introduction to ‘The Dawn-Breakers: Nabil’s Narrative’ .
• Sean talks about Obligatory Prayer, which you can learn more about here: What Is Obligatory Prayer and Why Is It Important?
• I mention the Tablet of Ahmad, and you can find out who Ahmad was in this Baha’i Blog article: The Tablet of Ahmad – Who Was Ahmad?
• Sean mentions Baha’i pilgrimage, which you can read more about here: What Is Baha’i Pilgrimage?
• Sean mentions former member of the Universal House of Justice, Mr. Ali Nakhjavani. You can read a personal tribute to him here on Baha’i Blog: A Tribute to Mr. Ali Nakhjavani
• Sean mentions the Universal House of Justice, which you can learn more about here: universalhouseofjustice.bahai.org
• Sean shares the following quote by Abdu’l-Baha:

  “Work done in the spirit of service is the highest form of worship…”

• Sean mentions Study Circles. Use these links to find out more about Baha’i Study Circles and ‘The Training Institute‘ which use the Ruhi sequence of courses.
• Sean talks about our twofold moral purpose. You can watch a short video about this concept here: Twofold Moral Purpose
• Sean shares this quotation by Baha’u’llah:

  “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 anyone, must wash away from the tablet of his heart every trace of pride and vainglory, 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.”

• Sean talks about the Baha’i Chair for World Peace, and the work of Dr. Hoda Mahmoudi
• Sean talks about The Promise of World Peace, a document by the Universal House of Justice, which you can read here: The Promise of World Peace

   

  You can find all of our episodes here on the Baha’i Blogcast page, and be sure to ‘subscribe’ to the Baha’i Blogcast for more upcoming episodes on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify and Soundcloud.

  Thanks for listening!

  -Rainn Wilson

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Naysan Naraqi

Naysan is passionate about using the arts and media to explore the teachings of the Baha’i Faith. Back in 2011, Naysan started up the Baha’i Blog project, channeling his experiences in both media and technology companies to help create a hub for Baha’i-inspired content online.