Halloween-themed Devotional Gathering

Devotional gatherings are one of my favorite activities!
They can be so easy to prepare for, and yet very laborious.
But it's something that anyone, anywhere can organize. Devotional gatherings are one of the core activities in the Bahá'i Faith - there are no rituals, it's simply just a gathering open for everyone (of all religious, spiritual, cultural backgrounds) to read the Sacred Texts. There is no priest or clergy to preside over the gathering (no one is above the other) so each person reads and we all listen with our own ears, and know with our own knowledge.

"...all should gather, and, harmoniously attuned one to another, should engage in prayer; with the result that out of this coming together, unity and affection shall grow and flourish in the human heart." -Abdu'l-Bahá

Since I moved to the Philippines exactly one year ago, I've been attending the regular devotional gatherings on Sundays at the Bahá'i center... sometimes there's a specific topic, sometimes one or two friends bring readings they like to share, or we study a Message from the Universal House of Justive, then other times we just have a round of prayers. Recently I decided to organize holiday-themed devotional gatherings. On the last weekend of October, in the spirit of Halloween, I organized a devotional gathering on "life after death" where I put together readings from the Bahá'i Writings about the soul, the afterlife, and other concepts. That's the night mentioned in the previous blog when my friend Mona and I prepared some halloween-inspired snacks for dinner.

typo: life *after* death

Our program started with a round of prayers - most said prayers for the dead. Quite a number of guests who came that night had lost people very close to them - two of them their mother, and one her husband. I thought about this before putting together the readings, that I wanted it to be very uplifting and positive. To be honest, sometimes I feel so unsure how to sound when I talk about death. I grew up with this notion that "death is a messenger of joy". As far as I can remember, my Dad would always talk about "what I die.." this or that, like it was nothing. Of my four grand parents, I've only lost one so far - my grand father, but two years before died,  my Dad made me visit my grand parents in Iran. I didn't want to go but my Dad said "they're already old, this might be your last time to see them", and it was the last time I saw my grandfather. Somehow, my Dad always prepares me; he has always made me realize that people can go anytime. Whenever he meets people who have lost someone, he always tells them "be happy, they are in a much better place. they are comfortable now". I grew up with this mindset, but I know it's still sad for some people... so death has always been a topic I try to avoid. And for this devotional gathering, I tried to keep the spirits up.

So we started with the question "What is the soul?" I gave a star-shaped paper to each person and told them to write one characteristic of the soul. We got answers like 'unseen', 'everlasting', 'progressive', and 'not part of the body'.

Bahá'is believe that the soul is not a part of our body. Just like a bird and a cage; our body is like the cage and the bird our spirit, our soul. When we die, our soul continues in the next worlds of God, just as the bird will continue to exist. But what is the next world like? Our next question was, is there heaven? Is there hell?

Bahá'u'lláh said "The nature of the soul after death can never be described, nor is it meet and permissible to reveal its whole character to the eyes of men." So we asked each other "Abdu'l-Bahá said that the question of what happens to us after we leave this world is one that none of the Prophets have ever answered in detail. Why do you think this is so?"

It's as simple as why none of us remember what our world inside our mother's womb was. While we are in the womb, we are separated by a very thin skin from this world. Nine months in the womb, and yet, when we step into this world, we don't remember a bit of what that world in the womb was like, and while we were developing in the womb, it was impossible for us to have any idea what this world would be like. It's a completely different dimension. Our mind, no matter how acute, will never be able to phantom this, just as the chair will never be able to know its carpenter. 

As for heaven and hell, Bahá'is believe these are not physical places. They're states of mind, states of the soul. Heaven is when we are close to God (when we love Him, obey Him, worship Him) and hell is when we are distant. There are many worlds through which the soul will constantly progress through after we die. The nature of the soul, however, was a new learning for most of us that evening. We learnt that in the next worlds:

My next activity was called "Guess whose soul". I gave each person a piece of paper and told them to describe their soul in just one word. Then I put all these answers in a bowl and went round asking each person to pick one, and guess whose soul was described! It was so much fun - some wrote descriptions such as friendly, free, strong, loving, forgiving, child-like and growing. 

Then we talked about the progress of the soul. According to the teachings of Bahá'u'lláh, the soul will continue to progress until it attains the presence of God. How? Apparently, we can help those souls progress!

I personally find this concept so so beautiful! It shows how forgiving, merciful and compassionate God is! He gives everyone a chance to progress and grow close to Him. Even if you committed so much error in this world, He still gives you the chance to get close to Him. One of the friends that night expressed her personal thought..."what if people forget to pray for me? My great-grand children would probably never hear of me, so how would they remember to pray for me? What if no one remembers to pray for me?" I said that sometimes I say the prayer for the dead in general. Sometimes I don't think about someone specific... like when you pray for people who died in a big accident. Anyways, this was a very timely reminder for all of us... that we should remember from time to time to say prayers for not only the people we know who have passed on, but even those we never knew. 

Then of course if you don't want to worry about people praying for your soul to progress when you're already dead, then we should start preparing in this world? How? By acquiring divine attributes. By unceasingly striving to attain spiritual qualities.

Love, justice, kindness, selflessness, humility, trustworthiness...

We also quickly brushed on a few other concepts like reincarnation:

Abdu'l-Bahá said "Angels are also those holy souls who has severed attachment to the earthly world, who are free from the fetters of self and passion and who have attached their hearts to the divine realm and the merciful kingdom" and "God has created all in His image and likeness. Shall we manifest hatred for His creatures and servants? This would be contrary to the will of God and according to the will of Satan, by which we mean the natural inclinations of the lower nature. This lower nature is symbolized as Satan - the evil ego within us, not an evil personality outside."

 One of the last group discussion questions for the night was:

Share with me your questions through the message box the left side of the page!

My final activity was called "Wings of the soul". I gave a piece of paper to each person and told them to make a paper plane! Then on the wings, I asked them to write qualities they want their souls to acquire. It would have been more amazing if I allowed them fly the planes out the balcony of the 25th floor! but I was worried we'd get in trouble with the building... 

Stay tuned for my next themed-devotional gathering I'm planning for in December - it will be about Christianity and the Bahá'i Faith (in the spirit of Christmas).