Baha’is believe in the power of prayer and you’ll find Baha’is and their friends, throughout the world, getting together to pray. This is often referred to as a ‘devotional gathering’ or ‘devotional meeting’, and they happen in diverse settings, whether in cities or villages.
“The Path to Unity” is a talk by Robert C. Henderson given at the Baha’i Center in Santa Monica, California on 23 August, 2015, and the talk was given just after the United States witnessed a stream of senseless mass shootings including a church shooting in Charleston, South Carolina carried out by a white gunman who killed nine African-Americans during their bible study in church.
Henderson reflects on the tragedy, and opens the talk by saying “We are in the midst of one of the greatest transformations in human history. Profound changes are occurring in the structure of nations, in the relations among people, and in our concept of what it means to be a human being, and how we relate to others. These changes are extremely complicated, and one of the difficulties we have is keeping track of where we are in that process of transformation, and understanding what its dynamics are in helping us to learn how we transform our own cultures, our habits of thought, our habits of feelings, and our habits of behavior. When we experience such tragedies, it’s time to reflect as a nation and a community, and ask ourselves “How did we get here?”
Robert C Henderson
Dr. Robert C. Henderson is an elected member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of the United States, and the founder of the Henderson Consulting Group, which specializes in the development of high performance organizations. He also serves as a Developer and President of the Philanthropic Division of Baharicom Development Company, co-builder of the Africa Coast to Europe (ACE)/Uhurunet submarine cable system.
Special thanks again to the Local Spiritual Assembly of the Baha’is of Santa Monica, California for taking the initiative to record this talk and for giving Baha’i Blog permission to publish it.
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.
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Thank you for this.
Hooshang S. Afshar (July 7, 2017 at 5:39 AM)