Guided by faith: Baha'i Faith believers seek peace in troubled
times
By
MICHELLE GLADDEN
STAFF WRITER
On April 18, a
group of almost 70 men, women and children met at Matawan Regional High School
for a devotional gathering of prayer and study circle. All are members of the
Baha'i Faith and meet twice a month on Sunday mornings to celebrate their
religion.
Massed in one
of the classrooms, the members greeted each other with hugs and kisses. After
sharing coffee and juice, fruits, bagels and cream cheese, Dee Hoban, the
principal of the Central Jersey Baha'i Institute, started the prayer circle by
welcoming its members and the Daystar Choir. The choir, comprised of members of
the organization, sang and played instruments to music from a paperback hymnal
while the remaining members clapped and occasionally sang along.
After a moment
of silence, 16-year-old Yasmin Poustchi, of Somerset, opened the devotional by
reciting a prayer in Spanish. Prayers were then offered in a sporadic manner
throughout the room with seconds of silence between each prayer, reading, chant
or song.
"I was
raised in the Baha'i family," Yasmin later explained. "At the age of
15 you decide whether you want to accept the faith or choose another. I
accepted Baha'i as the manifestation of God for this day. I believe in his
teaching that world peace is inevitable."
The members
then divided into four groups for study. The adults (15 and older) in one room,
preschool children in another, and the grammar-school-age children in a third
room and high-school-age children in another. The adults formed the desks into
a circle and quickly began to discuss the manifestations of the prophets of God
and the concepts of what defines religion.
In the
classroom of high-school age members, the desks also were arranged in a circle.
The group took turns reading excerpts from the story of Ridvan (an upcoming
Baha'i holiday) and discussed the life of Baha'u'llah, the religion's founder.
The grammar
school-age class discussed the importance of following God's rules. And after
being asked what would happen if there were no rules, Suzy Engelmann, 10, of
Lakewood answered, "It would be unorganized. There wouldn't be anyone to
help anybody."
A few doors
down the hall, Patty Whyte, 51, of Red Bank read a story from a Baha'i
children's picture book about planting flowers to the preschool-aged children.
They were then given the option to draw pictures of flowers or to glue precut
pictures of flowers onto their chosen colored-paper.
"If you
believe that Baha'u'llah is a prophet and believe in the one messenger, then
you are a Baha'i." Whyte explained. "Believers acknowledge the
existence of one God, who progressively reveals his will to humanity."
In other
words, they believe that Buddha, Jesus, Krishna, Muhammad, Moses and Zoroaster,
to name a few, were all messengers of God and represent a successive stage in
the spiritual development of civilization.
In 1972, Whyte
was a 19-year-old salesclerk at the old Steinbach in Red Bank. She went with a
friend to a "public meeting" known as a Fireside.
"My
friend worked with a woman who was a Baha'i and they invited people to come to
their apartment in Long Branch," she recalled. "It was informal, a
short talk with questions and answers. They served refreshments."
Whyte, who was
raised in the Catholic faith and who had attended Catholic schools in the area
said, "A few months later I decided that this was really what I wanted to
do."
"All you
had to do to sign up was to sign a card," she continued. "It was
really very simple."
Recently back
from a nine day pilgrimage to the Baha'i World Center in Haifa, Israel, she
explained that each member of the Baha'i Faith takes the trip at least once in
his or her lifetime. This was her second trip.
Despite the
climate of ongoing war, Whyte said she felt quite safe traveling to Haifa and
found no difference in the temperance of the city from the three-day trip she
took in 1999. "Security has always been strict," she admitted.
"I didn't encounter any problems. They asked a lot of pointed questions
and wanted to see our Baha'i identification. I think if we didn't have that, it
might have been different."
"Haifa is
considered a real safe city," she continued. "There is a heightened
awareness, not fear because you have to live your life."
Whyte said
that she spent most days in prayer and meditation with visits to the Shrine of
the Bab on Mount Carmel, Haifa and to the organizations Pilgrim Reception
Center, also in Haifai.
For
information on the local Baha'i log on to www.jerseyshorebahai.org.
Michelle
Gladden: (732) 643-4204 or mgladden@app.com