Dawn Breaker's Reflections

Hurricane Isabel, shown in this NOAA satellite image taken at 11:45 p.m. EDT Thursday Sept. 11, 2003, intensified Thursday into an extremely powerful Category 5 storm as it rolled westward across the Atlantic. Isabel's maximum sustained wind speed began the day at 145 mph, but by 5 p.m. the winds had grown to 160 mph with higher gusts. A hurricane becomes a Category 5, the top of the scale, if its winds reach 156 mph. At the time this image was gathered Isabel's position was 21.6 north, 56.1 west moving toward the west at 9 mph with maximum sustained winds of 160 mph. (AP Photo/NOAA) -Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press)

"...When the winds blow severely, rains fall fiercely, the lightning flashes, the thunder roars, the bolt descends and storms of trial become severe, grieve not; for after this storm, verily, the divine spring will arrive, the hills and fields will become verdant, the expanses of grain will joyfully wave, the earth will become covered with blossoms, the trees will be clothed with green garments and adorned with blossoms and fruits. Thus blessings become manifest in all countries. These favors are results of those storms and hurricanes.

The discerning man rejoiceth at the day of trials, his breast becometh dilated at the time of severe storms, his eyes become brightened when seeing the showers of rain and gusts of wind, whereby trees are uprooted; because he foreseeth the result and the end, the leaves, blossoms and fruits; while the ignorant person becometh troubled when he seeth a storm, is saddened when it raineth severely, is terrified by the thunder and trembleth at the surging of the waves which storm the shores.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha v1, p. 12))

The Tribute in Light rises near Ground Zero in New York, Friday, Sept. 12, 2003. The twin beams of light pointing skyward were switched on at sunset, evoking the image of the twin towers in a reprise of a popular monthlong memorial unveiled in March 2002. (AP Photo/John Marshall Mantel-Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press)

"Yet so it shall be; these fruitless strifes, these ruinous wars shall pass away, and the 'Most Great Peace' shall come.... Yet do We see your kings and rulers lavishing their treasures more freely on means for the destruction of the human race than on that which would conduce to the happiness of mankind.... These strifes and this bloodshed and discord must cease, and all men be as one kindred and one family.... Let not a man glory in this, that he loves his country; let him rather glory in this, that he loves his kind...."

(Baha'u'llah, The Proclamation of Baha'u'llah)

Anti-WTO demonstrator Kung Hae Lee, a Korean farmer, chants in protest only minutes before he stabbed himself in chest in protest of the World Trade Organization meeting in Cancun, Mexico Wednesday, Sept. 10, 2003. He later died of his wound. Some 4,700 delegates from the WTO's 146 member nations were meeting for five days starting Wednesday to try to break the deadlock in the current round of trade liberalization negotiations as rich and poor nations face off over agricultural subsidies.(AP Photo/Laura Rauch-Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press)


Demonstrators confront riot police officers after a fence was destroyed during the clashes with students and farmers in Cancun Sept. 10, 2003, in Mexico. Farmers and students clashed with police Wednesday as they tried to storm past barricades and march to the World Trade Organization meeting site. One protester fatally stabbed himself to show his anger over WTO policy. (AP Photo/Jose Luis Magana-Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press)

What would drive a former lawmaker to camp for over two months outside the World Trade Organization's headquarters in Geneva, and later to commit suicide on top of a chain-link fence in front of thousands of fellow anti-globalization protesters outside the WTO meeting in Cancun this week? Some people think this is an act of insanity, but others are taking this act very seriously. Friends of this protester claim his death was a ceremonial act, representing what the WTO is doing to millions of farmers around the world. Thousands of poor farmers, students and labor activists stood side by side at the chain-link fences where Kung Hae Lee took his life, joining in a battle that has become for many part of a war between the 'haves' and the 'have-nots'.

Once again, before going further into my own opinionated statements, I will refer to the writings of Baha'u'llah, in addition to some words from the Universal House of Justice's document "Century of Light", whose vision and blueprint for a future global society clearly provide an explanation for all of these confusing events taking place:


"...Soon will the present-day order be rolled up, and a new one spread out in its stead. Verily, thy Lord speaketh the truth, and is the Knower of things unseen."

(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 7)

"...By My Self! The day is approaching when We will have rolled up the world and all that is therein, and spread out a new order in its stead. He, verily, is powerful over all things."

(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 313)


"Far from inspiring optimism about the future, however, globalization is seen by large and growing numbers of people around the world as the principal threat to that future. The violence of the riots set off by the meetings of the World Trade Organization, the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund during the last two years testifies to the depth of the fear and resentment that the rise of globalization has provoked. Media coverage of these unexpected outbursts focused public attention on protests against gross disparities in the distribution of benefits and opportunities, which globalization is seen as only increasing, and on warnings that, if effective controls are not speedily imposed, the consequences will be catastrophic in social and political, as well as in economic and environmental, terms.

11.17
Such concerns appear well-founded. Economic statistics alone reveal a picture of current global conditions that is profoundly disturbing. The ever-widening gulf between the one fifth of the world's population living in the highest income countries and the one fifth living in the lowest income countries tells a grim story. According to the 1999 Human Development Report published by the United Nations Development Programme, this gap represented, in 1990, a ratio of sixty to one. That is to say, one segment of humankind was enjoying access to sixty percent of the world's wealth, while another, equally large, population struggled merely to survive on barely one percent of that wealth. By 1997, in the wake of globalization's rapid advance, the gulf had widened in only seven years to a ratio of seventy-four to one. Even this appalling fact does not take into account the steady impoverishment of the majority of the remaining billions of human beings trapped in the relentlessly narrowing isthmus between these two extremes. Far from being brought under control, the crisis is clearly accelerating. The implications for humanity's future, in terms of privation and despair engulfing more than two thirds of the Earth's population, helped to account for the apathy that met the Millennium Summit's celebration of achievements that were, by every reasonable criteria, truly historic.

11.18
Globalization itself is an intrinsic feature of the evolution of human society. It has brought into existence a socio-economic culture that, at the practical level, constitutes the world in which the aspirations of the human race will be pursued in the century now opening. No objective observer, if he is fair-minded in his judgment, will deny that both of the two contradictory reactions it is arousing are, in large measure, well justified. The unification of human society, forged by the fires of the twentieth century, is a reality that with every passing day opens breathtaking new possibilities. A reality also being forced on serious minds everywhere, is the claim of justice to be the one means capable of harnessing these great potentialities to the advancement of civilization. It no longer requires the gift of prophecy to realize that the fate of humanity in the century now opening will be determined by the relationship established between these two fundamental forces of the historical process, the inseparable principles of unity and justice."

(Commissioned by The Universal House of Justice, Century of Light, p. 134)



The above document (Century of Light) speaks for itself; anything I add would only take away from the value of such a clear and eloquent explanation of these twin forces that are underlying many of our international current events and are driving the nations of the world to painfully come to realize their organic interdependence, namely the "inseparable principles of unity and justice".

In a nutshell, until the WTO is bridled and placed under the control of the United Nations, and until the United Nations itself and its Security Council is restructured and democratized to fully and equally address the needs and best interests of all the nations it represents and not just those of the most powerful, wealthy nations in the world, we will continue to witness an accelerating, almost exponential increase in disparity between the wealthy and the poor of the world, and the potential destruction of our environment and cultural diversity. This is a big claim to make; I will go into further detail to justify the above statements in my next post. For now, I must go, as it is almost dawn once again...

I will remember and pray for, at this break of dawn, those souls who passed away exactly two years ago on September 11, as well as the leaders who are meeting this week in Cancun, in whose hands are the lives and livelihoods of thousands of millions of people around the world.

Nude anti-globalization protesters spell 'No A La OMC' (No To The WTO) during a protest against the upcoming WTO meeting in Cancun, Mexico, Monday, Sept. 8, 2003. (AP Photo/Jaime Puebla-Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press)

As thousands of protesters gather to protest the World Trade Organization's upcoming 5-day ministerial meeting in Cancun, security forces are beefing up in preparation for Wednesday's opening ceremony; many are predicting there will be over 10,000 protesters that will try to de-rail the meeting. Many who are not familiar with the WTO and its affairs wonder what all the fuss is about in Cancun, just like those who were perplexed over the WTO protests two years ago in Seattle.

In a nutshell, the hoopla is all about globalization, a process which is seen by the protesters as a destructive force, put into place by the rules created by the WTO, the World Bank and the IMF; they feel it is wreaking havoc and upsetting the world's local economies and causing much suffering and distress throughout the world.


Before going into my own opinionated statements on the subject, I will quote Baha'u'llah and Shoghi Effendi, who bring the "big picture" into view and provide a blueprint for a future global society without borders:


"The world's equilibrium hath been upset through the vibrating influence of this most great, this new World Order. Mankind's ordered life hath been revolutionized through the agency of this unique, this wondrous System -- the like of which mortal eyes have never witnessed." "The Hand of Omnipotence hath established His Revelation upon an unassailable, an enduring foundation. Storms of human strife are powerless to undermine its basis, nor will men's fanciful theories succeed in damaging its structure."

"...National rivalries, hatreds and intrigues will cease, and racial animosity and prejudice will be replaced by racial amity, understanding and co-operation. The causes of religious strife will be permanently removed, economic barriers and restrictions will be completely abolished, and the inordinate distinction between classes will be obliterated. Destitution on the one hand, and gross accumulation of ownership on the other, will disappear. The enormous energy dissipated and wasted on war, whether economic or political, will be consecrated to such ends as will extend the range of human inventions and technical development, to the increase of the productivity of mankind, to the extermination of disease, to the extension of scientific research, to the raising of the standard of physical health, to the sharpening and refinement of the human brain, to the exploitation of the unused and unsuspected resources of the planet, to the prolongation of human life, and to the furtherance of any other agency that can stimulate the intellectual, the moral, and spiritual life of the entire human race.

A world federal system, ruling the whole earth and exercising unchallengeable authority over its unimaginably vast resources, blending and embodying the ideals of both the East and the West, liberated from the curse of war and its miseries, and bent on the exploitation of all the available sources of energy on the surface of the planet, a system in which Force is made the servant of Justice, whose life is sustained by its universal recognition of one God and by its allegiance to one common Revelation -- such is the goal towards which humanity, impelled by the unifying forces of life, is moving."



In my opinion, while it is true that in its present unbridled, unregulated form, globalization is causing much pain and suffering throughout the world, when the leaders of the nations of the world (more specifically the United Nations) unite to bridle this mighty force called globalization by enforcing international regulations and standards on trade and labor and the environment so that international corporations cannot violate human rights or international treaties, it (globalization) will become a driving engine of progress and development, both social and economic, for all nations. If globalization is left unchecked and unbridled by the leaders of the world, however, it will certainly bring about crises, enormous in proportion and catastrophic in nature. How is that so?

I'd love to continue blogging about his fascinating subject, but it's dawn already and am running out of time, so will continue on this subject tomorrow, when the Cancun WTO meeting hopefully will have started and be well on its way...

To close today's entry, a few words on globalization from Millenium Forum Co-chair Techeste Ahderom addressing the leaders at the UN Millenium Summit , a historical event that took place exactly two years ago:



"On globalization, the Forum took the view that, while it offers "significant opportunities for people to connect, share and learn from each other," in its currently unregulated form it increases "inequities between and within countries, undermines local traditions and cultures, and escalates disparities between rich and poor, thereby marginalizing large numbers of people in urban and rural areas."

The Declaration urges governments to make serious "commitments to restructure the global financial architecture based on principles of equity, transparency, accountability, and democracy...," stating clearly that the United Nations should be the preeminent international organization overseeing the World Bank, the IMF and the WTO.

The Declaration also calls for a greatly strengthened and democratized United Nations, the most important global institution in the world today and the only one currently capable of providing the international framework and coordination needed to address the critical challenges ahead."

Democratic presidential hopefuls, from left, Ambassador Carol Moseley Braun, former Vermont Gov. Howard Dean (D), Sen. John Edwards, D-N.C., Rep. Dick Gephardt, D-Mo., Sen. Bob Graham, D-Fla., and Sen. John Kerry, D-Mass., participate in an AFL-CIO presidential forum on Aug. 5 in Chicago. Nine democratic presidential hopefuls participated in the forum. (AP/Stephen J. Carrera) Copyright © 2003, The Associated Press



Was watching CSPAN tonight, saw the 9 presidential candidates for one of the two major parties of our American political system each answer questions from a 2-person panel. Although it was wonderful to see that there was an African American woman running for president for the first time in history, it was a sad thing for me to have to admit the reality of what was taking place during this Q&A session. My sadness increased moment by moment as I saw these candidates (all from the same "party") not only batter their opponent from the opposite party, but discreetly attack each other within their own party. This is the essence of partisan politics: divisiveness and antagonism. As long as there is disunity and antagonism within any group of people, there will be chaos and lack of order.

When I think of the forefathers of this great country that is America, I wonder if they ever thought of how a future partisan system would eventually destroy, through divisive politics of animosity and antagonism, the very system of governance they were establishing. I'm sure they're bowing their heads in shame as they watch the endless controversial debates divided along party lines taking place on the floors of our government buildings. What we need today is UNITY, and partisan politics is only a cause of DISUNITY.

A few words from Mahatma Gandhi on partisan politics (he withdrew from partisan politics towards the end of his life):

"Our greatest defect is that, as soon as we differ from somebody ever so slightly, or a misunderstanding arises, instead of meeting the person concerned and trying to find a solution we take him to task publicly. This creates a great mental gulf between people, leading to antagonism. Parties and isms are only results of such differences."

The process that Gandhi describes of meeting the person concerned and trying to find a solution is called "consultation". This is a process that was called for a century and a half ago by Baha'u'llah, prophet-founder of the Baha'i Faith:

"The Great Being saith: The heaven of divine wisdom is illumined with the two luminaries of consultation and compassion. Take ye counsel together in all matters, inasmuch as consultation is the lamp of guidance which leadeth the way, and is the bestower of understanding."; moreover, he states, "Say: no man can attain his true station except through his justice. No power can exist except through unity. No welfare and no well-being can be attained except through consultation.", and "Consultation bestoweth greater awareness and transmuteth conjecture into certitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leadeth the way and guideth. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of perfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made manifest through consultation."

When I sit and watch CSPAN covering the events taking place on the floors of the Senate and House of Representatives, I rarely see anything that resembles consultation. The great divisiveness and antagonism I see only makes me ashamed of the political system that so many Americans swear to be the most perfect system of governance on the planet.

As a Baha'i, I do not belong to any political party, and do not participate in anything that resembles partisan politics, or that requires identification with any specific party. If and when I vote (I do believe it is my duty to vote in this democratic country), I will be voting for the character and values of the person I am voting for, and not for the party they belong to. Unfortunately, it seems that our vote as a nation is divided among party lines, and the moral, ethical and spiritual character of the candidates is an issue secondary to that of the political party they belong to. Until we learn and accept as a nation that partisanship for decision-making is divisive (so many people are in denial that this is the case), and decide to try an alternative method of cooperative decision-making (such as consultation), we will continue to experience the deadlock and paralysis that this divisiveness causes in our system, and will have to face the tragic consequences of this in every aspect of our life as a nation.

Well, enough said for tonight. Some closing words from Baha'u'llah:

"In all things it is necessary to consult. This matter should be forcibly stressed by thee, so that consultation may be observed by all. The intent of what hath been revealed from the Pen of the Most High is that consultation may be fully carried out among the friends, inasmuch as it is and will always be a cause of awareness and of awakening and a source of good and well-being."

Baha'u'llah - Calligraphy by Splendid Art

"Verily, We shall render Thee victorious by Thyself and by Thy pen. Grieve Thou not for that which hath befallen Thee, neither be Thou afraid, for Thou art in safety. Ere long will God raise up the treasures of the earth--men who will aid Thee through Thyself and through Thy Name, wherewith God hath revived the hearts of such as have recognized Him."

These were the words of the Most Great Spirit revealed 150 years ago in a subterranean dungeon unto Baha'u'llah, a man who was to become the bearer of a New Revelation unto the world, the Best-Beloved of the Worlds. Some of the titles He is known by are: The Glory of the Lord, the Lord of Hosts, the Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace, the Wonderful, the Counsellor, the Rod come forth out of the stem of Jesse, He Who shall be established upon the throne of David, Who will come with strong hand, Who shall judge among the Nations, Who shall smite the earth with the rod of His mouth, and with the breath of His lips slay the wicked, Who shall assemble the outcasts of Israel, and gather together the dispersed of Judah from the four corners of the earth, the Lord of Hosts, the King of Glory, the Desire of all nations, the Branch Who shall grow up out of His place and shall build the Temple of the Lord, the Lord Who shall be king over all the earth, Maitreye, the Most Great Spirit, the Tenth Avatar, the Immaculate Manifestation of Krishna, the Prince of this world, the Comforter, The Glory of God, the Great Announcement, He Whom God Shall Make Manifest, the Blessed Beauty.

Why all these words in a blog???

I have chosen these words to open this new weblog in an effort to put my Beloved, Baha'u'llah, at the center of my life. Although weblogging is not the center of my life, it is an outward representation of my inner being. Through this blog I hope to bring some of my innermost thoughts and meditations into the outer world, not so much for others to see as for my own benefit; the process of bringing out these deep thoughts and feelings to the surface of one's being is a healing one, through which self-realization occurs. I do not expect very many people to come upon this blog and read it, so for those who do, please note this blog is personal in nature. Some thoughts may appear to be outlandish and outright self-centered, while others may be sublime; surely these posts will be a reflection of the state of my innermost being.

Baha'u'llah says, "let thy vision be world-embracing, rather than confined to your own self...". This blog will be an attempt to post world-embracing thoughts and visions that will expand one's horizons, and allow one to move away from "I, me, & my" to a more universal "we". The English language is so limited in that it is almost impossible to exclude these words when presenting a personal point of view; I wish I knew a language where I could not use the words I, me, my, etc... and present a point of view more selflessly. In English, if one uses the word "we", there may not always be another person that wishes to be included in one's statement (unless one is schizophrenic with multiple personalities like Gullam in "Lord of the Rings", heheh... and says, "we hates using I, me & my, we hates them!")

Well, it's the break of dawn, and this Dawn Breaker has to move on... much more soon to come. To close this entry, a few choice words of the Beloved of the Worlds:

"...Take heed lest anything deter Thee from extolling the greatness of this Day--the Day whereon the Finger of Majesty and Power hath opened the seal of the Wine of Reunion, and called all who are in the heavens and all who are on earth...This is the Day whereon the unseen world crieth out: 'Great is thy blessedness, O earth, for thou hast been made the footstool of thy God, and been chosen as the seat of His mighty throne'... "