Photo Credit: Coral Gomez

There is a gentle rain, much needed, falling here as I write, late in the evening after my return home from very full summer holidays. The photo above was the one I used with the kind permission of my sister, Coral Gomez, for the cover of my now-available book of poetry, Hierophany: Poems of the Sacred, which traces a spiritual journey inclusive of Papua New Guinea, Belize, Honduras, and here at home in Canada, through reflections on inner and outer locations. I suppose that the purpose of this post is to reflect about some of these journeys more in prose, and most specifically, about the times I have spent with family and friends this summer, culminating in the Association for Baha'i Studies in North America conference, held last weekend in Vancouver.

During a July heatwave, my husband and I went to Ottawa and Montreal to visit our precious daughters, and I have already blogged about that journey. I then came home and weeded the garden, mowed a lot of lawn, and read fiction. On August 3, it was time to go west, instead, and I flew to Victoria, where many family members were gathering. The ensuing week was filled with laughter and good company: my parents, my cousin Ray, my sisters Coral and Laurel and many of their family members, and even a brief visit with my son. I went swimming, read some good novels, ate a peach fresh from the tree at my sister's house, visited with dear friends, including the beautiful Laura, known as Señora to the Maxwell School Crew, and had a lovely Spanish luncheon with my brother-in-law, as well as a drive along the beautiful coastline amongst the gorgeous homes of Oak Bay.

Too soon, that visit ended and Dad and I set sail with Coral and her family, as well as Rowan and Mitchell, for the ABS conference in Vancouver: the Association for Baha'i Studies. Each year, this conference takes place and includes several plenaries, a special lecture in memory of Mr. Balyuzi, breakout sessions by different scholars with a plethora of ideas and from wide venue of locales, and a great arts program (organized for beauty by Dr. Anne Gordon Perry, doing an extraordinary job). This year's conference sought to explore the assumptions that are made about human nature, with a view to finding ways that we can learn to see, and act, from a more grounded spiritual viewpoint. The memorial lecture was given by scholar Dr. Julio Savi, from Italy, and an extra blessing, on the Thursday night, was a talk delivered by a former member of the Baha'i Universal House of Justice, Mr. Hooper Dunbar.

The talks themselves will be published both in print and on CDs which can be ordered from the ABS website, so I don't intend to speak much about what they spoke about, except to say this. Most of the time, we live "in the world". At least, I do, and I imagine that most of do. I think about what I have to do in a day, my work, my goals, my communications with family and friends. I take time each day to offer prayers, and to be thankful for many blessings, which I find is supported mostly when I am able to do something that feels simple and true, like today, weeding the garden and then gathering a bouquet of portulaca, nasturtiums, a gladiolus, some sweet peas, some snapdragons, marigolds, and some burgundy leaves for a very pink and orange table bouquet. I made coleslaw from a cabbage from the garden, and gathered two zucchinis for grilling with tomorrow night's dinner. I watched yellow finches playing in the carraganas and sparrows in the lilacs, and several times, stopped to look south, over the prairie, where canola fields are ripening into gold. It was a lovely summer day and I felt like action was a form of prayer.

The value of being at the conference, for me, was that I was reminded, again, that I am not alone in feeling a sense of the presence of the Divine. I was amongst over a thousand people, gathered from all over the continent and beyond (several Australians, even!), whose sole purpose was to participate in an event designed to raise our spirits in the sense of unity provided when listening to elevating thoughts, participating in wonderful conversations, and meeting old and new friends, most of whom are adherents of the Baha'i teachings. A panel of scholars from the First Nations offered insights into breaking down barriers between cultures; a Canadian-Iranian lawyer gave a profoundly deep assessment of the gravity of the human rights situation for the Baha'is of Iran, based in his extensive work with peacekeeping and important organizations; a Chinese choir came and sang and several of the women danced in a gorgeous traditional piece; an excerpt was offered from a play by the Asplunds; various wonderful musicians, including Eric Harper, Mo Carlton, RoseMarie Peterson, and Nancy Ackerman, performed a wide-range of types of music; I was offered the opportunity to share my poems with a thousand people, along with fellow poet Jim West; we were addressed by a woman who serves to counsel and encourage the Baha'is of the world.

It was a rich opportunity to visit with friends, and to make new ones. I spent one late evening having a conversation with our dear friends Gord and Cheryl; I enjoyed seeing some of the alumni of the Maxwell International Baha'i School, most of whom are now in their late twenties and early thirties (a special shout-out to Vafa Rohani, Steve Fallows, and the beautiful Melissa, Emily, Elise, & Jelana, along with Laura Lee, Dale Robertson, Steve and Anne Waite, Rob and Pat Johnson, Brigitte Aiff...the list goes on and on). With some friends there were only moments to spare: Ed & Leanne, I would have loved to have had more time to chat but it was good to see your smiling faces, anyway! I enjoyed hearing from Gordon Kerr about his life in Macau, and stole a little time for a meal with my old friend Kim. Good times.

What resonates with me, though, is how palpable love can be. The whole place was buzzing (literally; the babble of a thousand voices in hotel lobbies). But more than the physical hubbub was the gift of being surrounded by people who believe in God. Sometimes, in this secular age, I miss that: I miss being able to speak freely of what my faith means to me, because faith seems to be pushed to a TIME and a PLACE, when it is actually meant to be a constant part of our consciousness. I have not always realized this; in fact, there have been times of rebellion, or of mistakes, or of disillusionment, or of apathy. But mostly, I have been given the gift of feeling that there is purpose for this world, this place we live for a while, and how we can serve our fellow human beings. While I missed having my husband with me, because he would have enjoyed visits with so many of our dear friends, and he would have loved hearing Mr. Hooper Dunbar and Dr. Julio Savi, whose talks completely centred on our service to God and to humanity, I nonetheless was with loved ones in a place resounding with love. There was love everywhere, and it was love grounded in unity. In fact, it was very noisy with love!

Sometimes the music transported me to the spiritual world. There was one man who chanted a prayer for the persecuted Baha'is of Iran, whose name, I was told, is Amir Haghigi. I have no idea if that is spelled right. His voice, chanting in the Persian language I think (Farsi) was heavenly. Dr. Lee Brown also offered a compelling Honour Song, making use of his drum, in opening one of the sessions. There were hiphop artists from L.A., a traditional Scottish balladeer, an innovative classical pianist (Mr. F. Samandari) and a rock 'n roll guy named Jason. There were Eric Harper and MJ Cyr, MCs and singers extraordinaire. There were so many performers, and they were all singing for the joy of the Lord.

I met the brilliant educator Dr. Michael Penn, listened to a panel of experts including Dr. Michael Karlberg, Dr. Holly Hanson (google them for some very cool learning!), Mary K. Radpour and a couple of young men whose names I forget but whose words were fascinating. I listened to a Kenyan woman who has just completed her Ph.D. in Education at UVic, a Persian woman who traced the history of the oppression of women, and an Italian man whose deep scholarship explained the synthesis of destiny and freedom.

I have been energized by being surrounded by love and spirit. It's a wonderful note to come home with, to prepare for my daughter's visit, and to get ready to go back to work when the school year begins two weeks from today. I hope that I will be able to bring some of what I have learned, and seen, to offer my own students some of the wealth that is knowledge, volition, and action. I hope I can live my life, each day, as though it were a prayer, and that I can manifest, as our Master, 'Abdu'l-Baha, tells us, that "Joy gives us wings."