Episode 24: My essay 'Me and The Prophet'

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 particular episode I wanted to do something a little different, as right now, millions across the globe are celebrating the 200th Anniversary of the Birth of Baha'u'llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith, and I wanted to honor this very special occasion. Above our front doorway is a handwritten “Greatest Name”, drawn by the son of Hand of the Cause Mr. Samandari as a gift to my grandparents. As I walk into my house I think about the fact that as a baby (albeit a giant, pale one), I met Mr. Samandari who traveled to Seattle in 1967, and he was the last living person who had spent time with Baha’u’llah. I wanted to write about this remarkable connection: I was once cradled as an infant by the guy who met THE GUY! That’s how young our Faith is. How connected we all are. As Baha'is we strive to be in discussion and dialogue on shared topics of interest with like-minded folks, so I really wanted to write a warm, funny essay that every person could connect to. It was imperative that it be published on a site where there was a good deal of interfaith dialogue and I was drawn to Patheos.com for this reason, and you can find this essay here. I've decided to record the essay for this episode, and I just wanted to add that I think it’s crucial that Baha’is seek to share our history, views, humor and stories with as many different communities as possible, in as many different ways as we can. Engage in deep dialogues with open-hearted souls with the goal being the dialogue itself, not “conversion”. I hope you enjoy “Me and the Prophet.” To find out more about some of the things I covered in this episode, check out the following links: * Here is the official Baha'i site on Baha'u'llah, the prophet-founder of the Baha'i Faith: www.bahai.org/bahaullah * Here is the official site for the bicentenary of the Birth of Baha'u'llah celebrations happening around the world: https://bicentenary.bahai.org/ * Here is the official site for the Baha'i Faith: http://www.bahai.org/ * Here's a Baha'i Blog article about what a 'Hand of the Cause' is: http://bahaiblog.net/site/2014/06/hands-cause/ * Here's a Baha'i Blog article about what 'the Greatest Name' is and its use: http://bahaiblog.net/site/2011/06/using-the-greatest-name/ Be sure to ‘subscribe’ to the Baha’i Blogcast for more weekly episodes on iTunes, Google Play, Spotify and YouTube. Thanks for listening! -Rainn Wilson