After Shoghi Effendi died, the Bahá'ís did not have leaders for six years, because Shoghi Effendi had not left a will. Shoghi Effendi did have helpers, who did not think they were allowed to lead the Bahá'ís, so they helped the Bahá'í Community follow the last plan that Shoghi Effendi left them, and at the end of that plan, in 1963, they organized an election to form the Universal House of Justice, which Bahá'u'lláh wrote about. The Universal House of Justice has led the Bahá'ís ever since.
Bahá'u'lláh wrote many books and letters, and `Abdu'l-Bahá (whose name means "Servant of Glory") also wrote many books and letters which Bahá'ís see as special. Finally, Bahá'u'lláh's great-grandson Shoghi Effendi wrote lots of books and letters which Bahá'ís use to better understand the writings of Bahá'u'lláh and `Abdu'l-Bahá. The most important of these books is the Aqdas.
Bahá'ís also believe that the Bible, the Qur'an, the Gita and other books from other religions are special.
Some important Bahá'í beliefs are:
There are eight or nine million Bahá'ís in the world, of all peoples and languages. The Bahá'í Faith looks different in different countries, because there are few rituals, so Bahá'ís can include their own culture in the way they celebrate Bahá'í events, say prayers, etc.
Bahá'ís meet every nineteen (19) days in a meeting called a "Feast". There does not have to be food, but there usually is. These meetings start with prayers and usually someone reads aloud some holy writings. Sometimes there is music and song, sometimes plays, sometimes just quiet time or meditation. After this time, which Bahá'ís call the "devotional" time in a feast, they have a community discussion. All sorts of topics can be discussed here that are important to the members. Bahá'ís say that this is a "consultative" time, where Bahá'ís can consult with each other. After this, there is a social time, where people can share food, drink (not alcohol), and sometimes here there is also music, or plays, or presentations, or other entertainment. This time is just so that the Bahá'ís in that city can get to know each other and become better friends.
Bahá'ís often do not have one place they get together, except in large cities. In smaller places they usually get together in each other's houses. Some larger cities have "Bahá'í Centers" which can be used for community meetings, classes, or for meetings of committees and other councils. (see Institutions below)
In a very few cities in the world, there are Bahá'í temples. These temples are on each continent.
Bahá'ís are organized in a worldwide community. They do not have priests. Everyone is responsible for their own prayers. Bahá'ís are also responsible for reading their holy books for themselves and for learning about their religion. Baha'is elect leaders for their community, to help organize their activities, and to deal with problems between members, and to decide things that are not obvious from the scriptures. These are called Spiritual Assemblies, but will one day be called Houses of Justice.
There is one House of Justice, which Bahá'ís call the Universal House of Justice, which leads the whole worldwide Bahá'í community. Bahá'ís elect this House of Justice every five years, but only once each year for National and Local Spiritual Assemblies.
Neoclassical economics
Neoclassical economics is an economic theory that argues for markets to be free. This means governments should generally not make rules about types of businesses, businesses' behaviour, who may make things, who may sell things, who may buy things, prices, quantities or types of things sold and bought. The theory argues that allowing individual actors (people or businesses) freedom creates better economic outcomes. These outcomes may be a higher average standard of living, higher wages, better average life-expectancies, and higher GDP.
Markets are an abstract idea: assumed to be all the 'actors' (businesses or people) selling one thing, service or type of thing or service, and all the 'actors' buying it.
Markets will 'reach equilibrium' if all the sellers who want to sell at or below a given price have sold to all the buyers who are willing to buy at or above a given price. the price is worked out in the market.
It may be easier to think about this in reverse: The market is not in equilibrium if people want to buy a haircut for ten (or more) dollars and someone is happy to sell the person a haircut for ten (or less) dollars, but for some reason this does not happen.
Neoclassical economists say this will not happen. Neo-Keynesians say it might, so the government could make the customer and the person selling the haircut happier by helping the customer somehow.
Neo-Keynesian economy is an alternative to Neoclassical economy. The major point of difference between neoclassical economics and neo-Keynesian economics is about whether 'markets' 'reach equilibrium'.
Nile
The Nile ( "an-nīl" ) is a river in Africa. It is the longest river on Earth (about 6,650 km or 4,132 miles), though other rivers carry more water. It flows into the Mediterranean Sea near Alexandria. It gets its name from the Greek word Νεῖλος "Neil's".
The White Nile flows from Lake Victoria in Uganda, and through Sudan to Khartoum, where it is joined by the Blue Nile to form the Nile, then through Egypt. The Blue Nile flows through Ethiopia near the Red Sea. About 300 million cubic metres of water flow down the Nile each day.
The Nile is very important to the countries where it flows. On the Nile there are lots of boats because it is one of the easiest ways to get around. Because of this, many cities in Egypt were built next to the river. Also, the pyramids are close to the Nile. The Nile has always provided most of the water used to grow crops in Egypt and for anything else, since much of the rest of the country is in a desert. The Nile was very important to Ancient Egyptians. In ancient times the Nile flooded every year and the people would starve if there was not enough water for the crops. The Ancient Egyptians got papyrus from the Nile to make hieroglyphs.
Many different types of animals live in or near the waters of the Nile, including crocodiles, birds, fish and many others. Not only do animals depend on the Nile for survival, but also people who live there need it for everyday use like washing, as a water supply, keeping crops watered and other jobs.
Pyramids were built close to the Nile because they needed the granite stones from Aswan to be transported by barges down the Nile.
The word "Nile" comes from Greek "Neilos" (). Neilos came from the word "river valley". In the ancient Egyptian language, the Nile is called "Ḥ'pī" or "iteru", meaning "great river", represented by the hieroglyphs shown above (literally "itrw", and 'waters' determinative). In Coptic, the words "piaro" (Sahidic) or "phiaro" (Bohairic) meaning "the river" (lit. p(h).iar-o "the.canal-great") come from the same ancient name.
Statue
A statue is a model of somebody or something, usually of a person or sometimes an animal. It is a sculpture. Several kinds of material can be used to make a statue, e.g. stone, bronze, clay, or wood. Statues are often at least life-size (the same size as the real person), but often they are much bigger, especially statues in the open air. Statues are often made to remember an important person (such as the statue of Alfred the Great), or to remember an event or an idea (such as the Statue of Liberty).
Usually there is some writing on a statue to say who the person is. This writing is called an epigraph. The statue may be standing on a base. This base is called a "plinth".
A bust is a statue of the head, shoulders and upper body of a person.
A colossus is an enormous statue.
A statue of someone on horseback (riding a horse) is called an equestrian statue.
Golden Retriever