In a world so
full of problems, what motivates someone to join the Baha'i
Faith? Most such stories are unique. Here are a few:
RN, Saskatchewan, Canada
Born in Brooklyn, New York, Reggie accepted the Bahá’í
Faith on September 24th, 1962 in Denver, Colorado. He currently resides
in Saskatchewan, Canada. He has served as a member of the Auxiliary
Board and as a member of the National Spiritual Assembly of the
Bahá’ís of Canada.
I was born and raised in the Bedford Stuyvesant section of Brooklyn,
New York. The head of my family, my grandmother, owned and operated a
beauty parlor. For most of my early childhood my mother, sisters and I
lived with my grandmother. I learned about hard work, dedication and
sacrifice very early in my life simply by observing the long hours both
my mother worked. My grandmother had a six-day work week in her beauty
parlor. My mother worked in both the garment industry and her
mother’s shop. In twenty-five years I cannot remember my grandmother
once taking a vacation. Love, encouragement, support and helpful advice
were a constant in my immediate and extended family. Many of my
first impressions of life, philosophy, values, religion and
relationships were gleaned from loud, impassioned and often humorous
dialogue coming from beneath hair dryers.
Yet, notwithstanding the values I was taught, during my early teenage
years I became one of the leaders of a street gang in my neighborhood.
At first the adventure, status and power filled me with a feeling of
invincibility. The turning point came suddenly during a gang fight when
a member of the opposing gang whose throat was cut, stumbled into the
subway car I was in. Seeing him profusely bleeding from his neck, I
realized that he was not an enemy, but a brother who needed my help. I
applied pressure to his neck which slowed the bleeding until emergency
personnel boarded the subway at the next stop. My efforts saved his
life and, at the same time, a white lady who vouched for me, that I was
not the perpetrator of the throat cutting, saved me from being arrested
by the police.
In 1961, I graduated from high school, with college out of my reach
financially. With the United States embroiled in the Vietnam War
I tried to find a way to escape the draft by enlisting in the Air Force
rather than the Army. I reasoned that I would not be sent to Vietnam
and I would learn a trade. My induction date was about a month away
when one night I dreamed I saw myself in jail. I felt the dream’s
message was telling me that I had to get out of Brooklyn sooner. I
returned to the recruiters and moved my induction date from August 4 to
July 23rd.
During basic training at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas,
I learned from my mother that police had come to the door of my mom’s
house looking for me because they had received a complaint that I had
been disturbing the peace at a time when I was already in Texas. With
the power of hindsight I recognize points in my life where a force much
greater and wiser than me was at work in my destiny
After basic training I was assigned to the Strategic Air Command’s Combat Defense
Force and stationed at Lowry Air Force Base in Denver, Colorado.
One day I went for a meal with a good friend, Archie Evans. He was from
Harlem. After moving through the food line, we went to a vacant table
to eat. Out of the blue Archie told me, in a loud and rather dramatic
voice, that he had made a discovery that day and if it was true it was
the most wonderful thing to ever happen to humanity! In an even louder
voice he announced, “I’ve discovered that Christ has returned!” My
first reaction was to start laughing, so hard, that I fell out of my
chair. I thought he had simply lost his mind. Then I noticed that the
Mess Hall had become extremely quiet. People looked over at us, trying
to act as if they did not hear anything. Despite me ridiculing Archie
about his newfound religious experience, Archie kept his cool. He
didn’t show the least sign of irritation at my response.
Once I was able to pull myself together, I told him that while I was
not a scholar of the Bible, I had read enough of it to know that when
Christ returned to earth it would signal the end of the world. I had
been taught in Sunday school that the dead would arise from their
graves upon Christ’s return. I had seen no conspicuous signs of the
return of Christ. Yet somehow, before we finished our meal,
Archie managed to introduce me to the idea that
Bahá’u’lláh—an amazing person whose name I could not
pronounce was making amazing claim that I was unable to summarily
dismiss without investigation. I asked Archie for more information
about this new religion. A few days later, he handed me a small
introductory pamphlet, Faith for Freedom. My attraction to the
principles was immediate, along with my intention to look into this
further and find why it was a hoax. A while later, I was given a book
called Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh but
found the language too poetic for my taste and therefore too difficult
to understand. I asked for another book to read, and at the same time,
indicated to Archie that I would like to meet a member of this religion
to begin the debate. Archie told me I was not ready to meet a
Bahá’í. I did not have to ask him what he meant, I
intuitively understood that Archie knew I was not ready for socializing
with or be taught anything from someone white. He also realized
that I needed to do more reading, so he gave me two more books. One was
Thief in the Night by William Sears and the other was
Kitáb-i-Íqán (The Book of Certitude) by
Bahá’u’lláh. I read Thief in the Night once and checked
each biblical footnote twice. I struggled through the “Book of
Certitude” and got more out of it than I realized. When finished
reading those two books, finally Archie arranged for me to meet the
Bahá’ís he had been talking to!
To my disappointment, the Bahá’í that Archie introduced
me to, was not nine feet tall and worse yet, he was a white man.
Although, the Bahá’í, Lynn King, greeted me warmly and
invited me for dinner at his house and to stay over for the weekend, my
suspicions were aroused. Guardedly I accepted his invitation because
Bahá’u’lláh’s grip on me was stronger than my fears and
suspicion.
Just in case this Bahá’í was some kind of freak with
questionable intentions, before leaving for the dinner I put my knife
in my pocket, as I had always done in my gang fighting days. Lynn
picked me up at my barracks and on the ride from the Lowry air base to
his home he talked about his work, his life and his family. As well as
asked me questions about my life. I felt myself relaxing and warming up
a little towards this down to earth guy. At the door, when I was
greeted Lauretta, his wife, and their children the last of my reticence
began to melt rapidly. The evening unfolded memorably with great food,
stimulating conversation and a wonderful feeling of acceptance that I
had seldom experienced beyond my own family and neighborhood friends. I
learned that Lauretta was of American Indian heritage, Tlingit of
Alaska, and remember thinking that any white guy married to an Indian
woman can’t be all bad. I sat in their living room and asked questions
about religion in general and the Bahá’í Faith in
particular. The conversation was animated, exploratory, insightful,
wide-ranging. Although we talked until 4 o’clock in the morning, I did
not feel tired—just excited. As the weekend progressed I got more
and more answers to my questions. Saturday was another “late- nighter”,
and we continued the conversation and study of different religions all
day Sunday. After dinner I had returned to the base. I continued to
study the Faith with Lynn and other Bahá’ís, attending a
number of firesides from June through the end of September. During
those months, Lynn, Lauretta, and I became very close friends. Their
loving kindness, honest and direct approach and their sensitivity all
helped me deal with a number of my personal prejudices toward white
people and to quicken my spirit to the world-embracing nature of the
Faith.
I was then quite convinced with the teachings but yet still had one
question that remained unanswered that I put to Lynn one day. I asked
him: “How do you really know Bahá’u’lláh is who he said
he was?” Lynn told me that I should get down on my knees and pray hard,
begging God for a sign of proof. So I prayed and waited. Sometime
later, there was a talk being given at a fireside I attended with Lynn
by Julie Sater on progressive revelation. I went to hear the talk
thinking that I had heard all there was to hear about the topic. As the
talk progressed, I felt an unusual presence in the room. All of a
sudden, I felt as if all the people in the room were one and all were
drawn together with a profound feeling of love and warmth. I turned to
Lynn and asked him—for the first time—how do you become a
Bahá’í? Lynn immediately handed me a blue declaration
card and a pen. He said all you have to do is sign this card. I handed
it back to him. I just wanted to know what one had to do. I continued
to listen to Mrs. Sater. That feeling that we all were surrounded by a
loving presence grew more intense. Each one of us felt it. For me it
was like an ink blotter absorbing all hurts, worries, suspicions,
doubts and best of all my sins and my shortcomings. It gave my soul a
fresh start. This rebirth was a truly liberating feeling. In that
moment, I saw no contradiction between Christ and
Bahá’u’lláh. As she was wrapping up her presentation a
number of things Mrs. Sater said affected me as though a light bulb had
been turned on in my head. These were profound yet simple truths.
Suddenly I felt as though an invisible force was driving me from within
and I could not resist it. That force impelled me to stand up. Through
my tears I said, “I must be a Bahá’í!” Out came the blue
card and pen from Lynn. From that moment on, I have worked to spread
the good news about Bahá’u’lláh, the hope of humanity,
and His wonderful, life-giving, soul-inspiring teachings. Spiritually
speaking, that night I purchased a ticket and boarded the train I had
not reached a destination, but had just started the real journey.
CS, San Juan Capistrano, California
I was raised a non observant Jew (with an absent Christian mystic
father.) After graduation from law school in my 30's, I took a
considerable number of supposed "self improvement" courses, many of
which turned out to be about spiritual topics, although they didn't say
so. I was (I later realized) a seeker after Truth.
Then in 1991 I was with my mother when she died. She had been a very
difficult woman, but the thanks to the lessons I had been learning, I
had realized how deeply wounded she was. as a result, our relationship
had been healed during the years during which she was slowly succumbing
to emphysema (or COPD as they now call it.) i went to be with her
knowing her death was imminent, and i felt no one should have to die
alone. By the grace of what I now recognize as God, I awoke at 4:00
a.m. and was able to lie with her as she left this world.
I went through a profound change starting with the experience I had
there with her as she slowly made that transition from coma to death
... but I didn't know what it was, I just knew my life had been turned
upside down.
Some time later, I was going through some very difficult time which led
to the classic "surrender" that many books I have read since describe.
But in any case, i ended up, while in my largely non functional state,
at a Baha'i fireside in a gorgeous home on the beach in a beautiful
Sunday morning, and i could feel the peace in that place, as soon
as i walked in. sitting on the patio as people gathered, i picked
up the brochure "Nine things you will know when you've become a
Baha'i." there were all the things that had seemed self evident to me
since my "spiritual awakening" but which I thought "no one else" had
noticed!
"We are all one, science and religion are not in conflict, men and
women are inherently equal, the human race is pretty much at a teenage
stage of development, everyone must use our God given intelligence to
seek truth for themselves." I started to cry!
Long story short, I had one burning question after the speaker finished
-- but having heard the answer, I raised my hand and said "count me
in!" of course, I had no idea this was unusual-- I just knew I had come
home.
That was in early December 1997. I have so much to learn, but I am so
happy to be part of the global family I now feel AT HOME in!
LR, St. George, Utah
About a year after my Dad died, I was going through another time of
struggle in my life - not knowing what I was doing, feeling
unsatisfied, and feeling the need, again, for trying to connect to my
creator. I was frustrated and had been to this point of nagging,
general discontent before. I had tried Unity Church, Church of
Religious Science, Christian Science and spiritual quest in
general. I was suspicious of Christian churches and their
motives, so sought out alternative forms of connecting with Christ or
the Spirit in general. I have always wanted to know God, but
would often put the desire aside while I was busy with my day to day
life.
One evening, frustrated with communications with my daughter, I cried
into my pillow. I begged God for guidance. I asked for help
and to please....PLEASE....let me know what the way was. Was it
Jesus? If so, please tell me what Church path to pursue. I craved
direction. I was willing to get completely involved if God would guide
me onto the right path. I needed guidance. I needed to know
how to relate to God. "Please, God, please - show me the way!"
It was just a few hours later that I stumbled onto the Baha'i'
information packet that I had sent for a year earlier after watching a
Baha'i' TV commercial. Since the time I had found myself accidentally
in a Baha'i' bookstore eight years earlier, I had always wanted to get
additional information. I reread the Baha'i' information and was
overwhelmed with the loving and wise words. I was mentally and
emotionally engaged with the message and wanted more. I felt
truly guided to the Baha'i's due to my very sincere and urgent prayer
to God.
I called the Baha'i' number on my introductory letter. They
invited me to a "fireside" to learn more about Baha'i'
perspectives. I attended the weekly firesides for a couple of
months and started to visit the San Clemente Baha'i' Center where I
attended a study group. I found the Baha'i' Faith perfect in every way
and became a member after 3 months of investigation. The Ocean of
His Words has enveloped me and kept me wanting to be a Baha'i' ever
since.
@Copyright
Bahá’ís
of Dana Point, California, USA - all rights reserved.
