photo credit: Ashraf Ogram

The winter is long in Saskatchewan, and in the last few days here it has also been very changeable, from -40C windchill on Thursday to +4C and melting today, along with scattered snowfall and sometimes, frost as you see above. Like the weather, I find myself a little moody; this is rare for me, but it happens.

Last night was a good one. I attended an evening of devotions, and was particularly struck by these words of 'Abdu'l-Baha, from Divine Philosophy page 103:

When we speak, let our speech be an outward evidence
of the inner light, for we must speak the truth,
otherwise we shall not act wisely.
I hope that you will all become eloquent.
The greatest gifts of man are reason and eloquence of expression.
The perfect man is both intelligent and eloquent.
He has knowledge and he knows how to express it.
Unless man expresses himself in this day
he will remain like a closed casket
and one cannot know whether it contain jewels or glass.
I desire that all of you may speak on the material and divine
sciences with clear and convincing words.

As one who has far too often put her foot in her mouth, only to pull the foot out and make room for the other one, I feel this quote. I love eloquence; I love hearing a good orator, whether or not I agree with everything s/he says (thank you, Mr. Obama, for your wonderful speeches!) I enjoy a lot of the talks at www.TED.com, most recently Dr. Brené Brown and Elizabeth Lesser. I am delighted when a friend or student offers a particularly compelling turn of phrase; recently, one of my grade eights, when pressed to identify a principle which was a part of her life, said, "Elegance." Not bad. She was referring to the love she has for the beauty of horses. Not bad at all.

One of my students has started a "no-cussing" club. Her religious background (Church of Jesus Christ of the Latter-Day Saints) teaches her that one should not defile speech by profanity; so does mine, but I can't say I've been very good at following it. Her reminder has been timely; I am going to try very hard to be a better example in this regard.

I also think of the principle of eloquence as it relates to backbiting, which the Baha'i writings assure us is "grievous error...inasmuch as backbiting quencheth the light of the heart, and extinguisheth the life of the soul." (Baha'u'llah in Gleanings, page 264) Anyone who has ever been the subject of gossip knows the truth of this; many of us who have found ourselves saying things we ought not have also known the truth of it. Another of the devotions chosen last night said,

Man's speech is the revealer of his heart.
In whatever world the heart travels,
man's conversation will revolve around that center.
From his words you can understand in what world he is travelling,
whether he is looking upward toward the realm of light
or downward to the nether world,
whether he is mindful or unaware,
whether he is awake or asleep,
whether he is alive or dead.
Man is hidden behind his tongue.
Out of the abundance of his heart does man speak.
Compilations, Lights of Guidance, page 339

A selection from the Chinese classics tells us, "One word sums up the basis of all good conduct: loving-kindness." You just can't be profane if you are speaking loving-kindness. You just can't backbite if you are speaking loving-kindness. You just can't eschew eloquence if you are speaking loving-kindness. If you think trash, talk trash, and consume trash, you can't be surprised if your life gets a little trashy!

When 'Abdu'l-Baha enjoins us to turn our thoughts around: when he says to overcome thoughts of war with more powerful thoughts of peace, or to defeat thoughts of hatred with greater thoughts of love, then he is teaching us a clear principle: our minds can change our thoughts, and our thoughts, concentrated on loving-kindness, can create more loving-kindness in action. Cause and effect.

So, I don't know about you, but I want to try to concentrate on beauty. Part of teaching school is making sure that kids know about history, but there is a tremendous emphasis on the grievousness of history: Holocausts, apocalypses, wars and battles. But Anne Frank said "Despite everything, I believe that people are really good at heart." I want to remember these words from a girl who was the same age, writing her diary, as the young people I meet each day. I want to remember possibility: I want to remind myself that she said, from the midst of the Holocaust, "How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world." She wrote that, and she wrote "Think of all the beauty still left around you and be happy." And she said, from her place stuck in that attic, looking at the sky through a sliver of window:

"The best remedy for those who are afraid, lonely or unhappy is to go outside, somewhere where they can be quite alone with the heavens, nature and God. Because only then does one feel that all is as it should be and that God wishes to see people happy, amidst the simple beauty of nature. As longs as this exists, and it certainly always will, I know that then there will always be comfort for every sorrow, whatever the circumstances may be. And I firmly believe that nature brings solace in all troubles."

Last night, after we listened to devotions, we watched a very powerful film: it's called "Oh My God," and it's a documentary which listens to people from many cultures, traditions, and experiences of the Divine. Check it out at http://www.omgmovie.com/ when you have a minute. I liked it a lot: it struck me, apart from some minor glitches, as visually powerful and eloquent of speech. It underscored, perhaps, the Zoroastrian idea that "the religious person's entire duty is: the correct thought, the truthful word, the righteous action..." The Zoroastrian believer says, "I repent, am sorry, and do penance for all that I ought to have thought, and did not think; for all that I ought to have said, and did not say; and for all that I ought to have done, and did not do." I found that very interesting because I probably would have prayed the opposite: I'd probably have said, "I repent and am sorry for all that I've thought that I ought not to have thought, for all that I've said that I ought not to have spoken, and for all that I have done that I ought not to have done." The Zoroastrian passage turns that way of thought on its head, and forces us to view the world through a different lens, as 'Abdu'l-Baha tells us to do: it's as though since the past is over, we should just acknowledge, and do better today, and tomorrow.

Anne Frank knew, young as she was, isolated as she was, writing eloquence as she was, that people are still essentially loving and kind. How did she know this and believe this? It's enough to make you believe in miracles. It's miracle enough that she was able to conceal the sins of her time, to remove herself from the Zeitgeist of hatred in which she lived, in order to believe in beauty. She was aware, she knew that there was evil in the world, but she somehow managed to be...generous, with her eloquence. Loving-kindness.

Baha'u'llah says, on page 54 of Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, "If ye become aware of a sin committed by another, conceal it, that God may conceal your own sin." This is something that I want to take to heart: that if there is a way to say something that will bring beauty and eloquence, why would I say it in another way?

It's a goal from mid-winter Saskatchewan, where I am reflecting on the power of language, and on the power of human capacity for change. It's a goal, from a place where, just for a few hours today, the power of the sun melted the snow, foreshadowing a dearly-longed for spring. It's a goal. A compilation from the Baha'i Scriptures includes these mighty words, in the voice of the One God:

"I am that light which illumines the path of insight...I bear healing in My wings, and teach the knowledge of soaring to the heaven of truth."

Miracles.