The beginning

September 22, 2008 at 5:13 am (Baha'i, Career, Entrepreneur, Faith, Humanity, Mystery, Religion, Ruhi, Work, spirituality)

As difficult as it is to identify a beginning in the middle of a spiderweb, I’m going to try.

A few years ago, I started taking Ruhi Book 1.  (It’s the first class in a series designed to help anyone interested – Baha’i or not – to learn about the Baha’i Faith.)  I had been wanting to for a long time, and the manifestation of that desire was everything I wanted it to be:  A weekly dip in the ocean of God’s grace, fertilizer to grow the spiritual connections among members of my community, and a spiritual fix to help me make it through days weighed down by materialsm and ego.  

I loved it so much, I looked for other ways to increase my spiritual connection to the Word.  I looked for Baha’i Audiobooks, but found none.  Then one day, a substitute tutor happened to mention some recorded lectures by Adib Tahirzadeh on CD.  That was all I needed to know.  I looked them up as soon as I arrived home and ordered a set.  They were wonderful!  I could (and did) listen to each of the 11 CD’s several times over, learning something new each time I did. 

When I finally finished them, I looked for more.  This time, I found the website that contained all the books on tape recorded many years ago by Services for the Blind, available for free download.  I thought I had found heaven!  I loaded Paris Talks onto my iPod and went for a long walk.  

It was intensely anticlimactic. 

I like to think that I’m a tolerant person, especially when it comes to individual efforts within the Baha’i Faith.  It turns out that when it comes to audiobooks, I am very intolerant.  

The problem with the tapes were that:

  1. Each track was 45 minutes long, based on the length of the side of a cassette tape
  2. The readers occasionally turned their head away from the mic making it impossible to hear
  3. When a reader stumbled on a passage, they didn’t delete and do a retake, they just kept going.
  4. Page numbers were read aloud
  5. The table of contents was read aloud
  6. The sound was muffled sounding

For me, that was too many strikes.  Every time I tried to listen, I’d find myself chanting “I could do this better.  I could do this better.  I could do this so much better.” 

Then one day, the chant of “I could really do this better” was answered with ”Well, why not try?”  Of course, that first thought was immediately followed with “Yeah right!”  But over the course of several more walks on several more days, the same sequence repeated itself.  Then one day, I stopped walking, looked at the sky and asked flat out, “Wait, are you saying you want me to try to do this?”  I was immediately filled with such an overwhelming feeling of joy that I fairly floated home. 

And that was the very beginning.  Or one of them.  So once again, Darrel was correct.  Verdanta was created for one purpose: to create professional quality recordings of the Baha’i writings and make them available to as many people throughout the world as is possible. 

It’s been an exciting journey so far, but lonely at times.   I created this blog so I wouldn’t have to walk that journey alone.   If you are, like me, always searching for more ways to incorporate the Word into your life, then perhaps you will accompany me, and together we can administer the healing prescription of Baha’u'llah throughout the world.

5 Comments

Mystery revealed

September 18, 2008 at 5:45 am (Baha'i, Career, Mystery, audiobooks, life balance)

Well folks, it’s true.  Darrell wins the prize!  He figured out that I’m going to produce audiobooks.  I’m still waiting for someone to guess what kind of audiobooks I’m going to produce, but that can wait.

Now I can FINALLY start talking about what I’m actually doing!

The question is, should I start with the beginning and walk through each step?  Or just catch everyone up on where I am today?

Choices, choices, choices. 

The beginning it is!  I’ve left a trail of breadcrumbs; now I’ll draw you a map. 

It all started… well… hmmm…  I guess you could say it was…  When did it start? It could have been this spring, it could have been last fall, or it could have been back in 1997 when I decided to get a Master’s in something other than engineering. 

It’s funny, when you stand still in the present and look out towards the future, it’s a murky, somewhat scary proposition.  What will I do? Where will I go?  Who will I go with?  Nothing but questions, leading into an enormous labyrinth of possibilities.

But when you stand and look back toward the past, you can see how all the crazy twists and turns that your life took now appear to be laid out in a perfectly straight path leading you inevitably to the exact spot on which you stand.  It makes perfect sense.  For example, if I hadn’t joined Toastmasters, I wouldn’t have developed leadership skills, which helped me build my skills and self-confidence.  WIthout Toastmasters, I never would have met DK, MA or RK, all of whom have helped me plant and nurture this seedling called Verdanta.   Without self-confidence and a network of supportive friends, I never would have thought “Yeah, sure, I can start a business.”  Do you see what I’m getting at?  How do you jump into the middle of a life journey and call it the beginning? 

I’m going to have to give this some thought and get back to you…

Stay tuned!

Leave a Comment

Mystery Job: Clues to date

September 9, 2008 at 12:34 am (Baha'i, Bliss, Career, Entrepreneur, Faith, Humanity, Mystery, Prayer, Reading, Religion, Service, audiobooks, business, life balance, spirituality, work as worship)

I thought I would summarize the breadcrumbs (aka “clues”) I have dropped so far, so you could see the trail of where I’ve already been laid out more clearly.  There have been a few hints I’ve dropped without labeling them as such, so we’ll see if you were paying attention!

  1. I’m a Baha’i
  2. I love to learn
  3. I love to read
  4. This new career involves at least one activity that requires “mushin”
  5. It allows me total freedom to set my schedule
  6. It lets me use my unique talents (public speaking, organization, leadership and communication) 
  7. It lets me serve humanity through the Baha’i Faith
  8. Books on CD
  9. It fills a need which I have identified in the world
  10. My mission through Verdanta is to “be always occupied with the mention of Baha’u'llah.”
  11. It involves building a business that aligns with the teachings of the Baha’i Faith
  12. My success depends on persistent, consistent, constant action.
  13. I have used the five steps described in “The Power of Prayer” to get where I am today.

That’s it so far.  I’ll even toss out one more:

  14.  It requires the purchase of quite a bit of equipment that must be installed, configured, and learned.

Has anyone figured it out yet?  Drop me a comment and let me know your guess!

3 Comments

The new business model – Baha’i style

August 31, 2008 at 6:34 am (Baha'i, Career, Entrepreneur, Faith, Humanity, Mystery, Work, business, life balance, livelihood, work as worship)
Tags:

Oh, if only it were that easy!   :-)

In my last blog, I explored the idea of service to the Faith within the structure of a for-profit business.  I tentatively concluded that yes, this was an acceptable thing.  But that’s not the end of it, is it?  Obviously, many traditional ”old world” business practices would be inappropriate in an enterprise that endeavours to spread the word about Baha’u'llah. 

What would be appropriate?  Now that is an interesting puzzle indeed!

I have actually been working on a business plan for Verdanta, and in it I was asked to describe the corporate culture.  What would it be like to work there?  So this isn’t just a pie out of the clear blue sky question.  I really want to know, what makes a Baha’i business different?

Two things spring immediately to mind: the first is operating the business based on the writings of Baha’u'llah and Abdu’l-Baha.  The second is the spiritual consequences of doing it wrong.  I guess the place to start is exploring what they have to say that’s relevant to the situation. 

Well, Baha’u'llah told us that ”Truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues,” so that’s probably a good place to start.  A Baha’i business must be impeccably honest.  Dealing honestly with suppliers, customers and employees, paying bills on time, and following through on commitments all fall within that maxim.  But so do not fudging numbers, not lying by omission, and not taking questionable “gray area” tax deductions. 

Abdu’l-Baha has said that “With education [the inner reality of man] can achieve all excellence; devoid of education it will stay on, at the lowest point of imperfection,” so constant and continuous education must be built into the structure of a Baha’i business.  Everyone in the organization should be allowed – and encouraged – to learn about new things, to gain new skills, and develop latent talents.  Personally, I can say that starting a business is a completely new thing for me, and I learn so much every day that my head hurts from all the neural pathway construction!

Baha’u'llah has also stated that “Work done in the spirit of service is the highest form of worship.”  I don’t know about anyone else, but if the work I do is equivalent to worship, then I’m going to make darn sure I’m working to the absolute utmost of my ability.  Which means excellence and perfection must be the norm, not only for the members of the organization, but also for all products produced by them. 

And since unity is the central principle of the Baha’i Faith, unity must also be a primary goal within the organization.  Most companies today have no clue what that might look like, let alone harbor any realistic expectations of achieving it.  But if you can’t think it, you can’t achieve it.  Fortunately, “So powerful is the light of unity that it can illumine the whole earth.” And where unity is the expectation, it can be accomplished.   

Of course, backbiting would have no place within a healthy Baha’i business, because “backbiting quencheth the light of the heart, and extinguisheth the life of the soul.” The company culture should be shaped such that everyone knows backbiting is unacceptable. 

I could go on and on, but what I notice in writing this is that a Baha’i business must strive for the same spiritual perfections that individual Baha’is strive for. 

Hmmm.  One last quote comes to mind, and that is ”Bring thyself to account each day, ere thou art summoned to a reckoning.”  It seems that I must not only bring myself to account each day, I must also bring to account the dealings of my business, for they ultimately reflect back on me and my spiritual progress. 

Wow.  How different would the world be today if all our leaders felt that way?

8 Comments

Exploring for-profit service: Does profit negate the service?

August 30, 2008 at 6:00 am (Baha'i, Career, Faith, Humanity, Mystery, Prayer, Religion, Service, Work, livelihood, perception, work as worship)
Tags:

Inside my head

I’m struggling with a conundrum: does “service” necessarily imply “without compensation?”  Must all service rendered to the Baha’i Faith be for free, or can one serve the Faith and earn a living from that service?   I believe there exists in our community a perception that service to the Faith should be offered up voluntarily, without compensation.  I admit to feeling that way myself.  But then I had the idea for this venture, and suddenly I was no longer sure that the matter was so black and white.  Here is why: there are some things which are simply too big for one person (or even a group of people)  to undertake solely on a volunteer basis.  Which means that if the job that needs to be done costs too much in the way of time, money or effort, it simply won’t get done.  I’ve spoken with several people who think that what I propose to do is very important to the Baha’i community.  Many before me have felt the same way.  They tried but failed.  (I’ve spoken to five people myself.)  I’m guessing that the reason they failed is because they wanted to do it “as a service to the community,” aka “for free.”  But those people had jobs and lives which didn’t leave them with enough time/money/energy to see the project through to the end. 

I’m very fortunate because at the moment, I have all these resources and a supportive (non-Baha’i) husband who is willing to let me give it a go.  However, if things don’t work out, I will eventually have to go find a paying job, which will doom my efforts as well. 

I really want to see this venture succeed.  Not for my sake, but for the sake of all the people who could potentially hear the name of Baha’u'llah through it.  But that can only happen if Verdanta can pay for itself, with a little left over to contribute to the support of my family.  Knowing all this, I am at peace running this business as a for-profit business. 

Enter: “others” 

I recently received an email from a colleague whose comment I thought meant he felt service to the Faith should be offered up for free.  (I apologize if I’m misrepresenting his feelings on this; I may be projecting my own confliction onto him).  The issue is, should this perception prove prevalent, it could cripple Verdanta  before it even gets off the ground.

Baha’u'llah tells us to strive to ”render service to the world of humanity.”   He also tells us that earning a livelihood “is a duty which, in this most great Revelation, hath been prescribed unto every one, and is accounted in the sight of God as a goodly deed.” 

Abdu’l-Baha told us to “Trust in God and engage in your work and practice economy; the confirmations of God shall descend and you will be enabled to pay off your debts. Be ye occupied always with the mention of Bahá’u'lláh and seek ye no other hope and desire save Him.” (Baha’i World Faith, p. 375)

So earning a living is a goodly deed, and the mission of my proposed occupation is to “be always occupied with the mention of Baha’u'llah.”  Often we think of these things as separate and distinct, but why?  What would Baha’u'llah say about a job that earns money AND serves the Faith?  I’d like to think He would be happy about it. 

The other aspect of service is wanting to serve as many people as possible.  If I do this on a volunteer basis, I will be limited in the number people I will ultimately serve.  Why?  Because I will have to go out and find a paying job, thereby leaving me much less time (and even less energy) to tackle something as ambitious as what I am proposing. 

Service: free or fee?

The culture I live in – America – loves to think of everything in terms of either/or.  But the heart and soul of the Baha’i Faith is based on “both/and.”  Is science right or religion?  They both are.  Jesus or Muhammad?  Both.  So can I serve the Baha’i community and earn a living?   I believe I can, but ultimately, it is up to Baha’u'llah. I lay all my affairs in His capable hands, and I pray that He only let me succeed if He deems this venture good and worthy.

7 Comments

Overcoming Fear and Doubt on the Road to Success

August 25, 2008 at 11:58 pm (Baha'i, Bliss, Career, Faith, Mystery, Passion, Work, spirituality)
Tags: ,

Earlier this year, when the very first thought of this new career path crossed my mind, I immediately dismissed it.  Why?  Because it was way too scary: too many things I didn’t know, too many people I would need to meet, too many skills I would need to acquire.  But somehow, here I am, well on my way down that new, scary path. 

One of the hardest things to do, regardless of what path you choose, is to overcome fear and doubt, especially when contemplating a new path.  It helps to have a few tools in your tool box to handle them.  One of the tools I use to deal with fear and doubt is faith.  I have faith that the path I am on is the right path for me at this time.  Beyond that, I have faith that if I am on the wrong path, it will be made obvious to me by closed doors and failed opportunities.  It may take me a while to catch on that the door of opportunity has closed, but eventually I will, and then I can start checking for open windows. 

Let me give you an example.  It took me two tries to write a thesis for my Master’s degree.  The first time, I chose a topic that seemed perfect.  But by the end of the second semester, I hated my topic, I hadn’t even completed my lit review, and I had lost three committee members including my chair.  I was miserable, but I persevered, gutting it out to the end of the semester. 

That summer, I threw up my hands and said “That’s it! I give up.  I’m reading what I want to read for a while!”  At the end of the summer, I had found a new topic, one which energized and excited me.  But it was totally different than my original topic.  To switch would mean dumping a years worth of work, and I didn’t really think anyone but me would interested in what I wanted to write about.  Talk about fear and doubt!  Eventually, I did toss that first thesis, starting over completely from scratch.  And was it worth it!  My second thesis was amazing.  I loved writing it, and I loved the final product.  A far cry from my first effort!

What does all that mean?  When making a decision that will affect the direction of your life, choose a path and have faith that it’s the correct one.  Have faith that God, or the Universe, or the Creator, whatever you call that unknowable essence that created us, will correct your path if you’re not where you should be.   Then start looking for open windows!

1 Comment

Service to Humanity is All About Seeing a Need and Filling it

August 24, 2008 at 6:30 am (Baha'i, Career, Entrepreneur, Humanity, Mystery, Passion, Service, Work)

A few years ago, an animated movie called “Robots” came out.  The kids and I enjoyed it, and one line really stuck with me: “See a need, fill a need.”  That’s what it’s all about in life, isn’t it?  Especially if your goal is to find a way to serve humanity in some way, and thereby help to make the world a better place. 

There are many many ways to do this of course, but I wanted to find the one that met all of my other criteria as well: utilizes my talents, engages my passions, feeds my learning addiction, flexible hours, everything I’ve blogged about so far and more.

Earlier this year, I saw a need.  Ever since then, I’ve been working steadily to find a way to fill that need.  I’m approaching the point in time when my efforts will begin to bear fruit.  Small fruit at first, of course, but fruit nonetheless.

And that is clue #9: My new job will fill a need which I have identified in the world.

1 Comment

Mystery job: Clue #8

August 19, 2008 at 4:24 am (Baha'i, Career, Mystery, Reading, Work, audiobooks)

Did I mention I fell in love while I was working on my thesis?  Yeah, it was one of those freak things.  I was crushed under the reading load of researching my topic.  There weren’t enough hours in a day to read what I already had, and still I needed more!  I was searching the local public library for new books to include in my literature review, when I came across the three magic words that changed my life forever: Book on CD.  I literally heard angels singing when I saw those words, and I knew my life would never be the same again! 

And that is your next clue…

Leave a Comment

Mystery job: Clue #7

August 15, 2008 at 4:37 pm (Baha'i, Bliss, Career, Faith, Humanity, Mother, Mystery, Parenthood, Passion, Religion, Service, Wife, Work, spirituality, work as worship)

The other night, my son was complaining about his homework load.  Dad tried to say that he (Dad) had to do homework for 8 hours a day and wasn’t that much worse?  My son said, “Dad, you’re not doing homework, that’s just work.  But you’re right, it’s not fun either.  Work isn’t supposed to be fun.” 

When he said that, I felt a little sad.  He’s already figured out that work is something you do because you have to, not because you enjoy it.  I interjected, “Well, it’s not fun for a lot of people, but that doesn’t mean you can’t find a job doing something you enjoy.  In fact, that’s what you should try to do!”  He answered, “Really? Pumpkin pie, Mom.”  That’s his code word for “tell the truth,” like that was too crazy to be true. 

A lot of people have talked about finding their bliss.  I, like many others, enjoy a lot of different things.  It’s more a matter of figuring out how to use some combination of those passions to support your family.  I’ve done a lot of reading, taken some seminars, and explored several possible avenues as potential “blisses.”  Unfortunately, for one reason or another, none of them have panned out.  I tried teaching at the local community college.  I’ve been offered my old engineering job back.  I’ve volunteered on several projects, including service projects.  I’ve even looked into real estate and stock market investing, right before both crashed.  While the learning was valuable, the end destination was never the magic panacea I was hoping for.   Something was always missing: time with my family, flexibility, stability, service to humanity… 

Baha’u'llah told us that “any work performed in the spirit of service is exalted to the level of worship.”  That could be anything from mopping floors to running a mega-corporation.  As long as the work is done to the utmost of one’s ability, with the attitude towards that work being one of wanting to improve the lot of humanity, then it is just as praiseworthy as going to Church, or sitting in meditation, praying.  I decided I wanted to find a job that lets me serve humanity in some fashion, preferably directly through the Baha’i Faith. 

Elsewhere, I’ve listed the requirements of “my perfect job,” including that it must “engage my passions.” As long as those passions are engaged, I will have a job that I can look forward to doing, rather than doing it because I must.  Serving humanity is one those passions.  I really want to do something that will make the world a better place, in a rather concrete, tangible way, and will hopefully outlast my little time here on earth. 

And that is Clue #7: My new career will allow me to serve humanity through the Baha’i Faith.

Leave a Comment

Mystery job: Clue #6

August 13, 2008 at 5:22 am (Baha'i, Career, Faith, Mystery, Religion, Work, spirituality)
Tags: , ,

Talents.  We all have them, and they’re different for everybody.  The tricky  part is figuring out what they are.  To do that, we need to try out a LOT of different things.  Doubtless we’ll stink at 99% of them, but so what?  That last 1% is what will change our world! 

In fact, Baha’u'llah tells us that we are all given a unique set of talents, and that it’s our duty to discover, develop and use those talents in service to humankind.  I’ve worked hard to do just that.  On an earlier post, I mentioned that I had joined Toastmasters. My primary goal was to ward off brain atrophy, but I quickly discovered that I had a talent for speaking in front of people.  That isn’t to say I didn’t have to work hard to develop that talent, just that I had more raw material to work with when I started out. 

It’s important to note that you can have a talent for something without really enjoying it.  That’s OK; you can keep searching!  But don’t dismiss it, because each new talent is another tool in your tool box.  And who knows?  Maybe someday you’ll be able to combine your talents in a new and interesting way that is enjoyable.  For example, I’m pretty organized.  Consequently, I was asked to arrange meeting times and places for my community, and call the members to let them know.  I held this post for years.  In the beginning, I didn’t mind, because I was good at it.  But after a while, I no longer enjoyed it.  I started to wish I weren’t so organized…

I mentioned above that talents need to be developed.  Practice and effort enhance a given talent.  For example, shortly after joining Toastmasters, I took over as VP of Education.  I wasn’t trying to develop leadership skills, because I didn’t have any.  I just wanted to help a friend who was feeling overwhelmed.  To my surprise, I discovered a latent talent for leadership.  I worked to hone that talent, and a year later I was president.  

Communication is another talent I have, developed through study, practice and conscious effort.  I received a Master’s in Human Communication, and I learned a lot.  I learned even more when I decided to teach it. 

And that’s your clue for today: my new career lets me utilize my unique talents in service to humanity.  Those talents include but are not limited to public speaking, organization, leadership and communication.  And yes, my world is changing as we speak!

“O God! [...] Thou hast endowed each and all with talents and faculties…”   (Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 100)

Leave a Comment

« Older entries