The world is talking about AI, and a good deal of the talk is negative. Commentators warn that AI could threaten humanity itself, disrupt economic stability by replacing human labour, and diminish human creativity. These concerns have shaped a cultural atmosphere in which AI is often seen as a danger rather than a development. In…
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Learning to See Solutions in the Kaleidoscope of Reality
Everyone has problems that feel intractable, and most of us instinctively turn to other people for solutions. But Baha’u’llah says God alone solves problems. As ‘Abdu’l-Baha puts it in one of his letters, “Ask whatsoever thou wishest of Him alone… With a look He granteth a hundred thousand hopes.” Despite this assurance, we turn to…
Theosophy: Legitimizing the Inner Spiritual Life
Baha’i philosophers keep returning to one question: where does Baha’u’llah’s thought belong? Is he closer to Plato or Aristotle, or to the Islamic philosophers such as Ibn Sina (Avicenna)? Jean-Marc Lepain, in his study The Archeology of the Kingdom of God, argues that this debate is asking the wrong question because it assumes Baha’u’llah is…
Why Independent Perception is Necessary in the Day of God
In an earlier post, The Real Enemy Isn’t Doctrine — It’s Outsourcing Perception, I explored Baha’u’llah’s response to Sarraj’s question about “how it is possible for the letter of the Most Exalted to be transformed into the most debased.” The striking feature of Baha’u’llah’s answer is that he does not turn to doctrine. Instead, he…
How Imagery Opens Perception to Spiritual Meaning
A digital culture saturated with persuasion Today’s digital culture is saturated with persuasion. It is filled with targeted ads, nudges, algorithmic biases, pathos, and constant calls to action. Confronted with this pressure, people become tired and wary, and they withdraw inward to protect themselves. In this environment, any religious post, no matter how well meant,…
Extracting Baha’u’llah’s Hidden Originality from Traditional Terminology
Why Baha’u’llah cannot be interpreted through an inherited lens In the introduction to The Archeology of the Kingdom of God, Jean‑Marc Lepain argues that scholars have misunderstood Baha’u’llah’s use of classical terminology. Many assume that when Baha’u’llah employs the vocabulary of Islamic philosophy and mysticism, he is using those terms with their inherited meanings and…
How to Find Lawh‑i‑Sarraj (and Why It’s Not Straightforward)
A practical guide to navigating the Phelps Project, the Baha’i Library Online, and the AI translations Someone recently told me on Facebook that he couldn’t find the translation of Lawh‑i‑Sarraj, which I have been discussing in recent blog posts. That didn’t surprise me. Finding this tablet, or any tablet in the Phelps AI‑translation collection, is…
The Real Enemy Isn’t Doctrine — It’s Outsourcing Perception
There is a moment in Bahá’u’lláh’s Lawh‑i‑Sarráj that is easy to miss but impossible to forget once you see it. The tablet begins with Sarráj, a follower of Mírzá Yahyá, asking a doctrinal question: How can a soul move from spiritual exaltation to degradation? In the Bábí world of the 1860s, this was a theological…
Questions Are a Doorway to the One Who Answers
Questions Are a Doorway to the One Who Answers: Reflections on the Opening of Lawh‑i‑Sarráj In my previous post, The Year of the Answer in the Badíʿ Calendar (2026-2027), I explored the rhythm of questions and answers woven into the Badíʿ calendar. I looked at the monthly cycle and how it honors human questions through the…
The Year of the Answer in the Badíʿ Calendar (2026-2027)
I have often wondered why the Badíʿ calendar has a month called “Questions” (Masá’il). The other day, I discovered something about the calendar that hints at one possible answer. I am no expert on the Badíʿ calendar. It sits quietly in the background of my life, giving rhythm to my days and years. I don’t…