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Explores the application of Baha'i principles towards society building.
Society builders pave the way
to a better world, to a better day.
A united approach to building a new society.
Join the conversation, for social
transformation. Society Builders.
Society Builders with
your host, Duane Varan.
Welcome back, once again, to Society
Builders. And thanks for joining the
conversation for social transformation.
In our last episode, we started our
study of the message of the Universal
House of Justice to the Continental Board
of Counselors of December 30th, 2021.
We're gonna continue just
referring to this as 'the message'.
It's our mandate for the release of
the society building power of the Faith
over the course of the next 24 years.
Now in that episode, we managed to
work our way, however imperfectly,
through just seven paragraphs: the
introduction to the message and its
conclusion, the
'bookends' of the message.
Today we're gonna jump straight
into the middle of the message,
section 4, which explores the
theme of social transformation.
Now, it shouldn't surprise you that I'm
dedicating a whole episode to the study of
this one section of the message. I mean,
over the course of the past 14 episodes,
I've started every episode of
this series with my greeting.
'Thanks for joining the conversation
for social transformation.'
The theme song I wrote for this podcast
series has, as its chorus, 'join the
conversation for social transformation.'
I mean, I've been shouting this theme of
social transformation from the rooftops.
It was this part of the message
that stood out most for me. And it's
packed with powerful constructs.
So even though it's only five paragraphs,
we're gonna need the whole episode,
and actually we're gonna need
future episodes as well, just to try,
however imperfectly, to understand the
contents of these five paragraphs.
So today we explore the theme of
social transformation, the second
part of our trilogy, exploring
our Mandate for Society Building.
Now the title of the fourth section
of the message is 'Contributing
to Social Transformation.'
Now, immediately that tells a story.
I mean, just the title tells
a whole story by itself.
So what does that mean?
Let's explore. Now,
at the end of the day, society
building is about CHANGE.
It's not about reinforcing the status
quo. It's about remedying the diseases
which hold us back from achieving
our fullest potential as societies.
So it's about change,
it's about transformation.
So what we immediately read in this
section heading is a vision that our
mission is about contributing to change.
It's about contributing
to social transformation.
So in the title, I think we
immediately get this first principle
for this section, that we're in the
business of change, not status quo.
Now, the first paragraph in this
section immediately introduces
what I think is a massive idea.
It explores the interaction between
a person's spiritual life, or their
inner life, and the environment around
them, their social environment.
Now just drawing this
connection is a big idea.
I don't think it's an idea
you see anywhere else.
I think it's a uniquely
Baha'i perspective here.
The Universal House of Justice draws
attention to the writings of Shoghi
Effendi, who describes how the social
environment provides the atmosphere
in which souls can grow spiritually
and reflect, in full, the light of God.
Now, Shoghi Effendi explores this interaction
between a person's inner life, their,
their spirituality, and the world
around them in a number of places.
The letter that the Universal House
of Justice is quoting from here in
the message was written on behalf
of the Beloved Guardian in 1933.
Now, in another part of this same
letter, we see this reference.
He says, quote, "we cannot segregate the
human heart from the environment outside
it and say that once one of these is
reformed, everything will be improved.
Man is organic with the world.
His inner life molds the environment and
is itself also deeply affected by it.
The one acts upon the other, and every
abiding change in the life of man is
the result of these mutual reactions."
End quote.
Wow!
Again, this is so profound, this idea
that we are organic with the world,
we shape the environment around
us, and we're also affected by it.
Now, Shoghi Effendi gives us a great
example of this kind of interaction
in describing the process of the
unification of the American states.
When the American forefathers were
debating the formation of a republic,
there were stark differences between
the states, particularly between
the urban North and the agrarian
South. And there was a view that the
before unification could be attained,
a change in individual
attitudes needed to occur first.
There were differences, and these
differences had to be ironed out.
They had to be resolved.
Once they were resolved,
a union could be forged.
Now, had we waited for this, had we
adopted this kind of approach, the
colonial states would still not have
unified to form a republic, but the
act of uniting created the kind of
environment where individual change
could be facilitated. By forming a
union, the kind of environment could be
facilitated, where changes in individual
attitudes could also be fostered.
So here you see this interaction
between environment and individual.
In fact, it was so successful that
Yankees from the Northern states
have been known to travel to
the Southern states and survive.
People from North and
South now, even marry.
I mean, this is remarkable stuff and
it's all possible because by forging
a Union, we created the atmosphere
where individual change could occur.
Let me give you another example
here because I think this point
is so incredibly important.
Imagine your work environment.
Now.
People work in all kinds of
different work environments.
Some are incredibly supportive,
some are incredibly toxic.
So imagine that you work in an
environment that is highly toxic.
You can see how the environment will
affect your inner wellbeing, right?
It's gonna be a lot harder for you to
be the kind of person you want to be.
For example, it might be a highly
competitive environment, but you want
to be collaborative, but it's gonna
be harder for you to be collaborative
in this kind of environment.
And conversely, imagine that
you work in a highly supportive
and uplifting environment.
Naturally, it's gonna be so much
easier for you to be your best
self in that kind of environment.
Now, of course, part of the whole point
here is that even in toxic environments,
those toxic environments can change.
You can help elevate the very
atmosphere in which you move.
Now, obviously that's not easy, but
the more you change this culture,
the more you'll also be uplifted by
the very change you're cultivating.
So you see what I mean here
about this interaction between
environment and character.
So this is the focus of our change.
On both the inner life and the outer
life of people, improving both our
spiritual character and the social
conditions of the societies around us
both interact with and feed each other.
There's a symbiotic
relationship between them.
Okay, moving on.
Now.
For us, this focus is reflected
through a path of building capacity for
service 'building capacity for service'.
Again, that's another major construct.
Building capacity for service.
That construct tells a story.
In the same way that we can grow in
our intellectual knowledge as we build
capacity through various grades in school,
for example, we can also build capacity
for service, getting better at it,
having more skills that we can apply.
Again, it's a unique perspective, right?
We tend to think of service in
much less sophisticated terms, like
simply being available to serve, but
this recognizes that we can build
capacity here, like progressing
through different grades at school.
How cool.
Right now, the key element in
building such capacity is cultivating
an approach where people become
'protagonists of their own development.'
Okay.
Now that's another massive construct
that we have to grapple with here.
It's another big idea that our approach
to society building is not imposed.
That the process is one whereby
we empower people to facilitate
the change they desire.
It's self generative.
It's such a massive concept.
When you think of social and
economic development, what's the
picture that comes to your mind?
What do you visualize?
Perhaps you think of a population
of starving people, for example,
with someone or some group of people
coming to help them, giving out
food, giving out water, et cetera.
Now by the time people are facing
starvation, there's probably a
little alternative to that scenario.
But let's look at their plight.
Before they were on the brink
of starvation, how could
things have been different?
When we think of this kind of
aid, we're usually thinking about
a pastoral care kind of model.
There's a donor or an expert or maybe
a government helping the helpless.
It's like charity, and there's
a directionality to this.
There's someone from above helping
the dispossessed down below.
And at its core, one of the key
causes of the problem in the first
place is the dependency which
a population develops on others.
When we position ourselves from above,
we're reinforcing that dependency.
And so even though we're helping
on one level, we're often actually
further aggravating the problem
even with the best of intent.
But the Baha'i approach to society
building is grounded in this idea
of self generative development.
A community is the key driver
in their own advancement.
It's not something that
comes down from above.
I was incredibly fortunate in my own youth
to have experienced a Baha'i project that
I think made an effort to approach social
development with this kind of approach.
So I'm gonna digress for a second to tell
you my story here, because I think it
illustrates what we're talking about now.
When I was young.
I traveled to Alaska to take
part in a large international
Baha'i youth conference up there.
After the conference, many youth
volunteered to take part in summer
teaching and service projects.
Now, the Alaskan Baha'is are
simply amazing in this department.
I was part of a team that got flown
out in planes that local Baha'is owned
to super remote villages, hundreds
of miles away from any cities.
We worked in small teams of about
four or five youth per team.
Now my team spent time among the Yupik
people in the extreme west of Alaska.
That's the bit of Alaska that's
closest to Russia. And we had
about two weeks of training for the
method I'm describing to you here.
So a pilot flew us out to a remote
village, dropped us off there,
and told us when he'd be back to
pick us up like in a few weeks.
We then set up camp with the
tents and the equipment we,
we were carrying on our backs.
Now, the soil here in this part of
Alaska was mud on top of permafrost,
so sleeping in our tents was
like sleeping over a water bed.
It was sleeping over slushy mud, and
there were a number of challenges
just with sorting out the logistics
of our living circumstances.
Trust me, I have plenty
of stories to tell here.
Maybe we'll save that
for another occasion.
But once our camp was set up, we
immediately headed out to the village
to meet with the village elders.
After all, they were expecting us.
So we arrive, presented
ourselves and offered ourselves
in service to their community.
And it was their decision to
decide how we could best serve.
And this is one of the main
points in my story here.
We didn't go in there as experts telling
them how we could solve their problems,
like just about everybody else did.
We went there to serve how they
thought we could best be of service.
Now, this village had every problem
under the sun, and I mean in spades.
Alcohol was rampant.
Life was violent.
Kids were being abused.
Spouses were being abused.
You'd hear screaming and
shouting through the night.
Rape and incest were common. And
there were serious infrastructure
problems like poor water supply.
You could look to the village and
see a million problems. But there was
one problem that dwarfed all others,
and that was the loss of self-esteem.
You see,
the Yupik were forced to stop speaking
their language, to stop sharing
their legends, to stop BEING Yupik.
Missionaries came in and saw their
religious practices as paganism,
and they worked to eradicate it.
That's the reason they were forbidden
from speaking their language,
forbidden from sharing their legends.
I mean, they were forbidden
from practicing any semblance of
their native religious practices.
And obviously that struck at the very
core of who they were. And much as they
tried, they didn't feel they could
properly become the kind of white men
they were being told they should become.
They were threatened with going
to hell, and eventually they came
to accept that as their fate.
So they eventually acquiesced.
They accepted that they
were going to hell.
You can see how this only further
reinforces their sense of helplessness
and their loss of self-esteem.
Now, life on the tundra was also hard.
So the government came in and
provided, little by little, and this
whittled away at their lifestyle.
Eventually, they no longer needed to
work to hunt or do much of anything
that was particularly productive.
So they learned to stay at
home watching TV all day long.
But obviously that doesn't
feel particularly fulfilling.
So materially, they've become
dependent on the state.
Culturally, they've become desolate.
All of this strikes at
their sense of self-esteem.
It's truly a tragic plight.
Now, I can't speak for other parts
of Alaska, but this is what life was
like in the village we were sent to.
So picture your life in the village
and see how great both the material and
spiritual needs of these people were.
So it's easy to see how an outsider
could come here and pick any of a
million problems and impose a solution
from above to help them. But how
would that help their self-esteem?
So when we came and asked the elders
about how we could best serve, that
was about recognizing the real problem.
It wasn't a solution to any of
the many issues that plagued them.
It was in helping, even if through a very
modest effor,t in, in empowering their
capacity to address their own problems.
Now, the elders asked us to help in
the construction of their town hall.
To be honest, I didn't really see this
as the biggest need up there, but my
sense of priorities didn't matter.
And let's be real.
I had no experience with construction
work. And climbing and working on top
of a tall scaffold was really scary.
So this kind of work wouldn't
have been my first preference.
There are a hundred of other ways
I would've preferred serving.
But none of that mattered.
What mattered was that THEY
saw this as their priority.
It was about further empowering
them and their self-development.
So I climbed up the scaffolds and
did my best at the construction work.
Now as we hammered away, the
local youth came out to meet us
mostly outta their curiosity.
And along the way they'd say,
'Hey, how much are you guys
getting paid to do that work?'
And we'd explain to them that, 'well, you
know, we're not getting paid. It's service.'
And I'd say to them, 'Hey,
what are you guys doing?'
To which they'd say 'nothing.'
So I'd say, well, 'why don't you join us?'
And in this way, some of the
local youth joined forces with us.
They climbed up the scaffold and
they started hammering away with us.
And while we're working together, we
traded stories. And somewhere along the line
I'd ask them: 'so tell me your legends.'
Well, of course they didn't know
their legends, so they had to
take us to their grandparents
and ask them about their legends.
And at this point, their
grandparents would tear up.
It was like this was the first
time these youth had shown any
interest in their own heritage.
And they'd start to tell a legend,
and you could see how mesmerized the
youth were in hearing these legends.
It was all pure magic, such
a powerful and moving moment.
Now, I don't want to
exaggerate our impact here.
Ours was a very short term effect,
a pebble in the ocean. But however
modest, it feels like it was a
step in the right direction.
And I share this story because
I think it helps illustrate this
idea that development is about
'self-generative development' and not
about aid being imposed from above.
And I want to add in one more thought
here about this idea of people being
the agents of their own advancement.
I think people are increasingly
feeling that the social systems
around them are failing, failing
on many levels. But the problem is
that they don't know an alternative.
They crave change.
They hope for change.
They yearn for change. But it only
seems to get more elusive. And so
they feel increasingly helpless.
This idea that you can make a difference
in you society, I think that's an idea
that will get incredible traction.
The idea that we can help
empower people to make the change
they want, not having them sit
dependent on the state or anyone
else to bring about that change.
I think that's an incredibly
powerful idea, and I think it's
an idea that will resonate.
Okay.
That was all a bit of a digression.
Let's get back to our main story here.
So the point here was that a community
should drive its own advancement.
That's the big idea here, and
that's what we're trying to empower.
It's the foundation upon which we build
our approach to social transformation.
As we increasingly engage with the
societies around us, we will increasingly
come in contact with the many social,
economic, or cultural barriers that impede
people, spiritual or material progress.
In many cases, these barriers will
intersect with our initiatives,
necessitating that we respond
as our circumstances permit.
And it's in this context that we see
within clusters, three dimensions that
form a single unified endeavor, 'expansion
and consolidation', 'social action', and
'contributing to prevalent discourses'.
Now these three constructs sit at the
heart and soul of society building,
and we'll have many episodes exploring
each of these constructs because
they're just so incredibly important.
So expansion and consolidation.
Well, that's the engine for our growth.
That speaks to our capacity to share the
Faith with others and accompany them in
their path of deepening their knowledge,
understanding, and capacity to serve.
And we'll talk about discourse
in a minute, but for now,
let's focus on social action.
What is social action?
Now social action is, like the story I
was telling you about our project among
the Yupik in Alaska, it's efforts at
the grassroots to improve the social
and economic development of a people.
As human resources in a cluster grow,
they develop a capacity for wider service.
And this is the case whether we're
talking about life in the village,
like among the Yupik, or whether we're
talking about urban settings, where
we often work with schools, civil
agencies, or even government bodies.
There are many different forms that
social action is taking throughout
the Baha'i world in fields including
the environment, agriculture, health,
the arts, and particularly education.
In fact, in a later portion of
the message, the universal also
justice highlights education as
the signature contribution of
Baha'is in most parts of the world.
And the best example, I think, of this
is the effort by the Baha'is in the
first half of the last century to
erect a network of over 60 schools
throughout Iran in a country, which at
the time was almost entirely illiterate.
We had Dr. Moojan Momen
as our amazing tour
guide in navigating us through
this story in episodes 9 and 10.
So if you missed that story,
go back and have a listen.
It's a truly amazing and inspiring story.
It sets an example.
Okay.
Now, over the course of the current
Nine Year Plan, we're gonna see a lot of
growth in these kinds of social actions.
In many cases, stimulated by the
growing availability of special
training courses and specialized areas.
This is another theme we'll
cover in future episodes.
There are a variety of ways in which
such initiatives can best be organized.
In some cases, they'll be guided by
Local Spiritual Assemblies, and these
assemblies in turn will go through a
bit of a learning curve as they learn
how to best support such initiatives.
So some initiatives will be guided
by local assemblies, but in other
cases, they'll take the form of
a Baha'i inspired organization.
And the number of these kinds of Baha'i
inspired organizations will probably grow.
What we mean by Baha'i inspired
organization is one that isn't
structured within the administration
of the Faith, but which nonetheless
strives to apply Baha'i principles.
And we're gonna explore the contributions
of many of these Baha'i inspired
organizations in future episodes.
And of course, there'll also be
personal initiatives, and we'll talk
about that a little bit later today.
And we'll need to learn from all of
these initiatives - all the way from
the local level to the national,
to the international level.
So a key feature of the immediate
future for us is this growing capacity
to contribute to social action.
It's gonna be amazing.
Now closely connected with this
capacity for engaging in social action
is a capacity for contributing to
the social discourses of a society.
Now, what is a social discourse?
The Universal House of Justice
defines it here as a capacity for
participating in conversations about
a matter that affects people's lives
and offering a perspective grounded
by principles and by experience.
It's something we can apply in our
daily lives, in our studies, in
our occupations, and in all other
social spheres in which we move.
Now this is a skill which means, by
implication, that it's a skill we can
continuously improve upon. And one of
the ways that we can cultivate it is
through the training institutes, which
we'll talk about more in our next episode.
Now this kind of discourse is
gonna happen at all levels.
It'll happen at the international level
through the Baha'i international community.
It'll happen at the national
level through offices of external
affairs, but it'll also happen at
the local level in your clusters.
One of the best examples of this, I think,
In my lifetime at least, was the letter
from the Universal House of Justice to
the People of the World way back in 1986.
Now, 1986 was the United Nations
International Year of Peace and
Baha'is in every nook and cranny of the
world responded to take this message
to the people.
I think we did this with
unprecedented zeal and energy.
I mean, Baha'is came out of nowhere,
like a stampede, engaging at every level
from the local level, all the way to the
global stage, engaging with the peace
discourse. And it found expression in an
unprecedented flourishing of the arts.
I mean, all of this gave us a glimpse
of our capacity to engage society with
meaningful contributions to social
discourse. And the need for engaging
in such discourse grows considerably
with our expansion and consolidation.
As we grow, as we engage more with
society, we become more and more
aware of their challenges and the
aspirations of people to overcome them.
And in this context, it becomes more
and more important for the Baha'i
community, as a unified body, to offer
its, quote, 'considered perspectives
on obstacles to social progress and
on issues that weigh on the minds and
spirits of those with whom it interacts.'
End quote.
In other words, the more we
engage with society, the more
we have to respond to its needs.
And as we respond, bringing new
perspectives to age-old problems,
something else starts to happen.
Society increasingly starts to turn
to us as a source of moral insight.
Now this is a novel idea for most
Baha'is - that society will increasingly
demand us to bring our principles
and our unifying framework to the
table to help solve their problems.
That society will come
knocking at our door.
But again, I've seen what this looks like.
Remember from our first episode my story
of the Racism Anonymous initiative that
my college club at the University of
Texas embarked upon. And how once a race
crisis exploded on campus, the university
turned down the mediation services of the
FBI and instead turned to us for help.
That's what I believe
the future looks like.
Society demanding our help because
we have a unique perspective,
because we have a unifying framework,
because we have something to offer
that they can't find anywhere else.
Increasingly we'll be known for
the type of services and the
unifying framework we provide.
And as society comes to grapple
with these very needs, they'll
turn to us seeking our help.
Our assemblies are not just institutions
for Baha'i communities, they're
institutions for society. And increasingly
as we engage more with society, we'll
learn to adjust to that reality.
And over time, our efforts to contribute
to societal discourse will get better.
They'll become more systematic.
We'll become more adept at engaging
constructively in such discourse and in
helping find consensus. We'll get better
at bringing our perspectives to community
leaders and to spaces where representative
of different groups and interests can
find common ground through consultation.
This is a very distinct approach and
it's an approach which we'll develop
a reputation for over time. And this
process is already well in motion.
One more thing.
So far, we've talked primarily about
community initiatives for engaging
in prevailing discourses, but we
should recognize that this also
occurs at the individual level.
Beyond your contributions to your
community's efforts to engage in
such discourse, you'll also make
personal efforts to contribute
to such discourse in ways
available uniquely to you.
So you'll want to think in
terms of searching for your own
opportunities - for the ways in which
society building speaks to you.
This happens in the choices you
make in your vocational sphere.
Your ability to elevate the atmosphere
you work in, to influence your field.
And it happens in the choices you
make to support the activities of
like-minded groups and organizations.
Such initiatives translate into projects,
both large and small, sometimes even
resulting in the formation of those
Baha'i-inspired organizations we
talked about earlier, or in specialist
entities focused on specific discourses
like that Racism Anonymous effort we
spoke about earlier. But above all,
the point here is that you should feel
empowered! You have a mandate for
personally engaging in the social
discourses of the day and for finding
your own path to contributing to
society building. And this is something
you can do in addition to supporting
your community in initiatives.
And you're not alone.
Your initiatives still benefit from
being guided by the principles of
the Faith, and you can learn and
apply the insights growing out of
all of these initiatives worldwide.
And of course, you always have
the benefit of being able to draw
on the wise counsel of your Local or
National Spiritual Assembly for guidance.
The community, both globally and locally
is there to help support such initiative.
In this way, we see a harmonious
expression of our Faith in the path
of service at both the individual and
community levels in response to what the
Universal House of Justice refers to as
"the tribulations of a perplexed
and sorely agitated world."
Wow!
Now, Today we only covered five paragraphs
of the message, just the section on social
transformation, and we've only given you
a bird's eye view in discussing these
constructs because these are constructs
we're going to explore much further
and much deeper in upcoming episodes.
Because social action and engaging
with discourse are skills. And
there are important principles
we'll explore in working to develop,
exercise, and advance these skills.
So, now, last time we focused on the
historic nature of the plans, that sense
of destiny, that pervades our new mission.
Today we explored the process
of social transformation, the
arena where our society building
initiatives will be focused.
In our next episode, we'll explore
how the machinery of the Faith
can best support these ambitions.
Exploring the role of Clusters,
Training Institute and the Baha'i
Administrative Order - there is
a lot of ground to cover there.
And for that episode, I'll have
a special guest, but you'll have
to tune in next time to find out
who that is and to hear more.
It's all part of the adventure! So you
won't want to miss our next episode.
Well, that's it for today.
Thanks again for joining.
I look forward to joining you again
next time on Society Builders.
Society builders pave the way
to a better world, to a better
day, a united approach to
building a new society.
There's a crisis facing humanity.
People suffer from a lack of
unity, it's time for a
better path to a new society.
Join the conversation,
for social transformation. Society Builders.
So engage with your local communities
and explore all the exciting possibilities
we can elevate the atmosphere in
which we move. The paradigm is shifting.
It's so very uplifting.
It's a new beat, a new song,
a brand new groove
Join the conversation, for social transformation.
Society Builders.
The Baha'i Faith has a lot to say.
Helping people discover a better
way, with discourse and social action
framed by unity.
Now the time has come to lift our game and apply
the teachings of the Greatest Name and rise to meet
the glory of our destiny.