Looking for Baha'u'llah's Will in Everything

Indigenous children's rights at the centre of 'National Emergency'

If you live in Australia, you know that it's been a massive week for dialogue about race and rights. The release of a report entitled 'Every Child is Sacred,' has revealed staggering incidences of childhood sexual abuse in the majority of Indigenous communities across the Northern Territory. While some kind of drastic recourse is imperative, the official authorities' declaration of a 'National Emergency,' replete with the deployment of army troops and police officers, as well as outlining plans (thankfully now under revision) to conduct invasive medical checks on every child under 16, has struck many as overly dramatic and almost completely irrelevant.

It's difficult not to feel polarised about the issues involved. On one hand, there is evidence that children have been violated. This is abhorrent, unacceptable and requires urgent action. On the other hand, I for one can't help feeling sceptical about the magnitude of this extremely public reaction considering how long other Aboriginal rights; to health care, to land ownership, to education, have been neglected - especially when a Federal election looms just months away.

What I want to focus on however is not political machinations but the fact that, as in every situation if I look hard enough, there are signs of Baha'u'llah's Will to be discerned by my hopeful Baha'i eyes. In this case, it is the language being used to criticise the velocity with which action has been taken, specifically the lack of 'consultation' with Indigenous leaders and elders. Rex Wild QC, co-author of 'Every Child is Sacred' felt "disappointed the report's recommendation for a joint approach between the Federal and Territory Governments in consultation with Aboriginal people has not happened....'The answer is to sit down with the people, work out what they need, provide them with assistance.' he said." (Read the whole article here.)

For Baha'i's, the term consultation refers to a distinctive element of future global governance revealed by Baha'u'llah. Consultation has many features, but essentially it is a mode of decision making that is spiritual in nature. True consultation seeks to respect the beliefs and rights of everyone involved when addressing issues of injustice, rather than solely those in positions of power or authority:

"The heaven of divine wisdom is illumined with the two luminaries of consultation and compassion and the canopy of world order is upraised upon the two pillars of reward and punishment." - Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 126

Additionally, Baha'u'llah described consultation as a means of building unity across diverse opinions and, by implication, diverse cultures:

"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." - Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 168

Any attempt to address the complex problems in the Northern Territory will be ethically challenging and will no doubt raise ugly truths about the failure of the Commonwealth of Australia to protect its most vulnerable citizens. And while I wish with every cell it had not been initiated by such confronting human right abuses, I'm glad the hyperbolic response to this report has led to such open dialogue about the dark skeleton of racial inequality in this nation's closet. The events of this last week have given voice to an increasing desire for a workable dialogue of reconciliation, for interracial consultation, and my heart glows just a little whenever I hear Baha'i terminology being freely used in contemporary vernacular. If we are going to achieve real unity in Australia, as in the rest of the world, we need to start listening to one another. Though we're not yet adept at using the gifts Baha'u'llah's legacy has bestowed upon us, we are starting to be aware of our need for them. It's a start.

Switching on the Light of the World

"Oh Thou kind Lord! These lovely children are the handiwork of the fingers of Thy might and the wondrous signs of Thy greatness. O God! Protect these children, graciously assist them to be educated and enable them to render service to the world of humanity. O God! These children are pearls, cause them to be nurtured within the shell of Thy loving-kindness. Thou art the Bountiful, the All-Loving." - 'Abdul-Baha

Yesterday I had the absolute privilege of attending the first in a series of courses designed to qualify me as a BESS (Baha'i Education in State Schools) teacher. For those not familiar with the BESS Program, it's an initiative of the Australian Baha'i community whereby everyday people like me enter the public elementary school system to offer children moral and spiritual education from a Baha'i perspective.. Taking into account the Baha'i law that explicitly forbids preaching or proselytising, this will neccessarily involve a focus on teaching principles universal to all religions, rather than imposing the idea that there is a singular, 'correct' path to God.

On the agenda for Day 1 was the crucial matter of attaining our certificate in Child Protection. The Australian National Spiritual Assembly has devised a stellar policy designed to raise awareness about how to protect our most precious resource. Along with my fellow trainees, I learnt about the definition and scope of child abuse, explored what kinds of attitudes can promote and justify child abuse and enjoyed some excellent, albeit confronting consultation on how to deal with specific scenarios of physical, sexual and emotional abuse. I came away from the day feeling empowered with knowledge of how to identify signs of abuse as well as the protective procedure I'm responsible for following if a child - any child, not just my future students or fellow Baha'i's - ever disclosed to me that they were being harmed.

Perhaps the most moving part of the training was gaining a deeper understanding of how unspeakably valuable children are considered within the context of Baha'u'llah's Revelation. Our responsibility for nurturing their development has massive implications for the entire planet. According to ‘Abdu’l-Baha, every single child is "potentially the light of the world and at the same time its darkness: wherefore must the question of education be accounted as of primary importance." This matter of education concerns not only the training of the intellect, but also the training of the soul. Without moral guidance, loving protection and powers of example from adults around them, children risk becoming detractors from the solution to Earth’s ills, rather than agents of its execution.

I can't wait to start engaging with these precious gems and learning more about how they see the world and their place in it. While there are often several Baha'i children in each BESS classroom, they are the vast minority. So, the really stimulating thing for me is the opportunity to discuss the Faith with kids who, just like myself back in the day, may never have been exposed to any religious teachings. It's the kind of class I would have loved to experience in my own childhood. I wish I'd been privy to the idea that there was a religion that treated other major religions as respected partners working towards shared goals, or taught that God has asserted men and women are categorically equal. Truly, these two ideas alone might have saved me from almost 20 years of painful alienation from a God I'd (mis)understood as a competitive misogynist! Offering children an alternative to that genuinely excites me. Though I'm yet to see it, apparently the BESS syllabus is profoundly inspiring. I'm so looking forward to the rest of my training over the next two months. Expect regular updates.

Solid Rock, Sacred Ground, Borrowed Time

The Australian Aboriginal Flag: red earth, gold sun, ancient black culture.

I want to take a moment to acknowledge the traditional owners of the land upon which I sit as I write these words, the Wurundjeri people and four other main tribal groups of the Kulin nation, who were systematically dispossessed, imprisoned or slaughtered throughout the mid to late 1800's. The name of the city where I live can be translated from the original language of the Wurundjeri as "a place in the shade." According to a 2001 census, people of Indigenous Australian descent comprise less than one percent of the area's population. The local council's tagline is "City of Harmony." (Click here to see Goanna's "Solid Rock,' the land rights protest song every Aussie worth their 1980's birthday knows by heart.)

Just yesterday I was reading a piece in an international current affairs magazine that rated nations according to their populations' mortality rates. Australia scored highly, which I found deeply surprising as our Indigenous population has some of the worst mortality rates in the world. (For some disturbing statistics on the comparative life expectancy of several Indigenous cultures from New Zealand, North America and here, check out this report from the Medical Journal of Australia.) I can only assume the exclusion of Aboriginal health concerns from the data on Australia in the magazine article was based on ignorance or denial. I was reminded of the following quote from Baha'u'llah:

"In this Day the secrets of the earth are laid bare before the eyes of men. The pages of swiftly-appearing newspapers are indeed the mirror of the world...This is an amazing and potent phenomenon. However, it behooveth the writers thereof to be purged from the promptings of evil passions and desires and to be attired with the raiments of justice and equity. They should enquire into situations as much as possible and ascertain the facts, then set them down in writing." - Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, pp. 34-40

Premiere Post

Welcome one and all to Pearl Bearer. Starting this blog feels like a lovely adventure and I have no idea how it will unfold, but based on my personal passions, you can expect to see posts relating to; achieving true equality between men and women, abolishing prejudice based on 'race' and religion, building healthy communities, addiction and recovery, learning to love the Divine more than money, power and prestige, nurturing the minds and souls of children everywhere and the relationship between creativity and spirituality.

This is mainly a perfunctory post to say g'day and get my fingers warmed up. As I become more adept at utilising this medium, I hope it will become prettier and prettier, as well as more user friendly. Please feel free to share any tips with me, pro-bloggers...and hey, invite your mates!