[from The Weekly Newspaper, Friday, March 5, 1999]
by Lyon Virostko
The mood is relaxed and friendly as the guests introduce themselves and find places to sit in the high-ceilinged, Victorian living room. The hostess, Sandra Munn, is in her kitchen with one of the other guests preparing tea and coffee, but soon she enters the living room and introduces everyone to the evening's event.
For the past three weeks, local members of the Baha'i Faith have met in Bangor at the home of Sandra Munn, one of the group's members, to share and discuss the central principle of their faith with the public--the oneness of humanity. From its inception in 1863 by Baha'u'llah (pronounced buh-hah'-oo-lah), the religion's prophet-founder, members of the Baha'i Faith have promoted the principle of the unity of the human race as a matter of sacred belief.
According to Munn, Baha'is believe that racism continues to be one of America's most challenging issues and one that requires the earnest attention of every individual. "Eliminating racism requires each one of us to look carefully at own own beliefs and values and try to understand how racism gets passed down from generation to generation," Munn says. "We have to realize that these things [passing on racism] often happen unintentionally. We all need to work at evaluating the effects that this spiritual disease has had on each one of us."
On the night of Feb. 4, the meeting is led by one of the guests, Wolf, a Cherokee with a long history of political and social activism, who shares a few of his traditional spiritual practices and a glimmer of the suffering he has personally endured or witnessed as a result of the continued prejudice against Native Americans in the United States. The sweet smell of sage permeates the air, as he invites the guests to learn about Native spiritual cleansing ceremonies. He passes around a collection of sacred objects, including several crystals, and asks everyone to share what they feel by holding them. Next he passes around a well-worn oyster shell holding a sprig of smoldering sage and encourages everyone to "cleanse" themselves with the smoke.
"I want to help people better understand their own brotherhood and sisterhood and to have respect for the earth, which is our mother," Wolf says. He describes himself as militant, as a warrior whose sacred duty is to project the earth and all of its creatures, and is quick to explain that the Native American "militancy" he practices does not involve violence. "I speak the truth, and the truth isn't always comfortable," he says of his efforts to share with others Native American traditional values and the history of suffering they have endured.
Although some of the guests and Baha'is appear unfamiliar and slightly uncomfortable with the ceremonial practices that Wolf shares, before the night is over, the discomfort subsides. The Baha'is and guests alike share music together, along with prayers, stories and laughter.
According to Munn, Baha'is accept this discomfort as a human response to one's unfamiliarity with foreign cultural practices. "Getting rid of racism," says Munn, " requires all of us to put the things we believe into practice on a daily basis. Racism has left a lot of people with a lot of pain and resentment and working through all of those emotions isn't always easy or comfortable."
In future meetings, the Baha'is plan to specifically address other issues and principles addressed by their religion's sacred writings. Their hope is to invite the public to investigate the ideas and principles elaborated by Baha'u'llah as a means for working on a personal level to change society for the better.
In addition to their beliefs about the oneness of humanity, Baha'is also have sacred beliefs acknowledging and promoting the equality of women and men, the oneness of God and of religion, compulsory education for all, the elimination of extremes of wealth and poverty, an international auxiliary language to be taught and learned in addition to one's native language, a system of world federalism, and the individual's responsibility to investigate spiritual truth. Munn says that these and many other spiritual and social teachings fill the hundreds of volumes written by Baha'u'llah and that, together with the equally voluminous writings of his son and successor, 'Abdu'l-Baha, comprise the majority of the Baha'i Faith's sacred scriptures.
The Baha'i community of the greater Bangor area plans to continue these discussion meetings weekly, on Thursdays, starting at 7 p.m. The public is welcome to attend, and the Baha'is plan to vary the theme of the meetings to address different principles and beliefs. For more information on these discussion meetings or about the Baha'i Faith, call Sandra Munn at 262-9369.