Wednesday, April 1, 2009

Finding God

He is to be found everywhere, and as N rightly said today, he acts through each of us, drawing us ever nearer to one another and thereby to Him.

I am usually cautious about reading prayers in public, or more specifically in the midst of groups of people whom I don't know well. While I might read material bordering on the spiritual quite comfortably, I would not read something overtly so, or expressing any fervent religious sentiment, for fear of putting my neighbor, especially such as on my Caltrain rides, in a position of awkwardness or discomfort. Perhaps this too stems from a deep-seated fear of being branded an irrational fanatic. This evening, however, I felt no qualms and was completely at peace in opening the book of Baha'i prayers that V and N had been kind enough to gift me last year. As I flipped through the pages, not quite finding the right one, my fingers stopped at the one entitled 'Nearness to God'. The seat that had been vacant next to me until that instant, was occupied by a kindly lady, who sat down just as my eyes rested upon the title. And turning to me with a wide smile she said, 'You know what? I had the exact same idea!' And with that she set down her bags and opened her evening read- a pocket Book of Pslams.

Peace.

3 comments:

Nikhil said...

wow thats quite amazing... quite a clear confirmation of your act of prayer, and a sign of the nearness of God indeed... :)

Bright Butterfly said...

very sweet that you were able to share space in this way with a complete stranger. some of the Baha'i prayers are strikingly similar to the Psalms.

Unknown said...

I have been thinking alot recently about the Prayers, and how many many many there are in the Bahai Writings. And there are interesting nuggets of references to the outside world.
For example, as I am interested in A.N. Whitehead, the British mathematician, philosopher, educator, check out the prayer for healing for a handmaid in the old reddish US prayer book #27 P39 first paragraph. Now if that doesn't give a rather abstract description of the fundamentals of Prof. Whitehead's philosophy of organism, I don't know what does.
regards from Japan,