Economic Life  [SLOW SCROLL] / Universal House of Justice to Baha'is of the World 3/1/17 [COMMUNITY]
Channel: NATURE & COMMUNITY / Washington Secret Places
Date: 2021-01-29

"On Economic Life" scrolls the entire message from the Universal House of Justice to the Baha'is of the World from March 1, 2017, with street scenes of Tacoma's 6th Avenue and downtown and a full exploration of the Tideflats / Port of Tacoma as backdrop to the message. 

SLOW SCROLL is video, music and text -- long excerpts from the Baha'i Writings juxtaposed onto video footage of geographical places with DJ-curated music from beginning to end for when you want to familiarize  yourself with a Baha'i text. The video features out-of-way places or not-often-viewed angles, the scenes both familiar and unfamiliar, either fresh or disconcerting. The music tracks are carefully chosen to match up to the text. 

Use for study to totally immerse with the text -- or listen and watch as you cook dinner. It works both as a vehicle for intense study of text or as a music video.  

The Baha'i Writings are exceptionally rich. "Immerse yourselves in the ocean of My words, that ye may unravel its secrets, and discover all the pearls of wisdom that lie hid in its depths," Baha'u'llah writes. This is not esoteric knowledge for the few, this is intended for all. We all have capacity to draw deep meaning from this text.

THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE

1 March 2017

To the Bahá’ís of the World

Dearly loved Friends,

In an increasingly interconnected world, more light is being cast on the social conditions of every people, giving greater visibility to their circumstances. While there are developments that give hope, there is much that should weigh heavy on the conscience of the human race. Inequity, discrimination, and exploitation blight the life of humanity, seemingly immune to the treatments applied by political schemes of every hue. The economic impact of these afflictions has resulted in the prolonged suffering of so many, as well as in deep-seated, structural defects in society. No one whose heart has been attracted to the teachings of the Blessed Beauty can remain unmoved by these consequences. “The world is in great turmoil,” Bahá’u’lláh observes in the Lawh-i-Dunyá, “and the minds of its people are in a state of utter confusion. We entreat the Almighty that He may graciously illuminate them with the glory of His Justice, and enable them to discover that which will be profitable unto them at all times and under all conditions.” As the Bahá’í community strives to contribute at the level of thought and action to the betterment of the world, the adverse conditions experienced by many populations will more and more demand its attention.

The welfare of any segment of humanity is inextricably bound up with the welfare of the whole. Humanity’s collective life suffers when any one group thinks of its own well-being in isolation from that of its neighbours or pursues economic gain without regard for how the natural environment, which provides sustenance for all, is affected. A stubborn obstruction, then, stands in the way of meaningful social progress: time and again, avarice and self-interest prevail at the expense of the common good. Unconscionable quantities of wealth are being amassed, and the instability this creates is made worse by how income and opportunity are spread so unevenly both between nations and within nations. But it need not be so. However much such conditions are the outcome of history, they do not have to define the future, and even if current approaches to economic life satisfied humanity’s stage of adolescence, they are certainly inadequate for its dawning age of maturity. There is no justification for continuing to perpetuate structures, rules, and systems that manifestly fail to serve the interests of all peoples. The teachings of the Faith leave no room for doubt: there is an inherent moral dimension to the generation, distribution, and utilization of wealth and resources.

The stresses emerging out of the long-term process of transition from a divided world to a united one are being felt within international relations as much as in the deepening fractures that affect societies large and small. With prevailing modes of thought found to be badly wanting, the world is in desperate need of a shared ethic, a sure framework for addressing the crises that gather like storm clouds. The vision of Bahá’u’lláh challenges many of the assumptions that are allowed to shape contemporary discourse—for instance, that self-interest, far from needing to be restrained, drives prosperity, and that progress depends upon its expression through relentless competition. To view the worth of an individual chiefly in terms of how much one can accumulate and how many goods one can consume relative to others is wholly alien to Bahá’í thought. But neither are the teachings in sympathy with sweeping dismissals of wealth as inherently distasteful or immoral, and asceticism is prohibited. Wealth must  ... https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/the-universal-house-of-justice/messages/20170301_001/1#476802933