The following development is a very exciting experience on the Study Circle and the media...
During the past (2004) few weeks a weekly newspaper ad began to appear on the subject of "Reflections on the Life of the Spirit".
Within the first three weeks it resulted in 10 responses from seekers who expressed interest to participate in this study circle which was planned and approved by a Spiritual Assembly prior to Ridvan. Five of the seekers have already registered for the Ruhi Book 1 study circle and four others are registered for two other study circles to begin in the coming weeks, according to their availability...Many of the friends were "caught off guard" and were much surprised by the response from the newspaper ad. According to her this newspaper ad will continue for one year and the Training Institute Board will be informed of the development.
In addition to the above, a family with 3 teenagers also registered to attend this study circle. The husband declared this past week, having studied the Faith from the internet during the past several years.
"...There was soft classical music and refreshments on a side table as the participants were arriving (almost all at the same time, quite punctual). The books were ready on the main table. As everyone was there, we shut the music and welcomed everyone, then asked permission to share a prayer from a CD and said what the words were..." O God make me a hollow reed ...". The request was greeted favourably and we all embarked on that memorable journey (one of the participants asked if he can have a copy of the CD later on). Participants ...chose the person next to them and spent 5 minutes to know something that they can present to the group about them. This was followed by everyone sharing what their expectations were from attending this course. The expectations varied from learning about the Baha'i Faith, to the interest in the prayer section, to interest in life after death, to general spiritual matters.
One of the participants said: Since we all seem to be at the same level of knowledge of the Baha'i Faith, could we spend about ten minutes learning briefly about the founder and the history. I asked if this was of interest to the entire group otherwise I would respond to the request privately during the break. It was a joy to see everyone's eagerness to know.
We then went over the general theme of the book, the 3 units, and had a taste of each of the following books (a quotation from each e.g. Bk 2 the quote: O befriended stranger, the candle of thine heart is lighted by the hand of my power quench it not .....Bk 3 on the education of children.. the quote: regard man as a mine rich in gems... and so on to Bk 7). We discussed the method of studying the Holy Word and dived into "The collaborators" of Book one.
We took a break and shared some fruits, cookies and some music in the background for 10 minutes. We then read the purpose twice and read the first paragraph of section one then divided into two groups (2+3) and went over the exercises. The quotations were being read twice We then shared our answers. They were mostly the same as the quotations ( I did not insist on memorization at this session) and went on to section two, answered the questions and shared our answers. It was quite an amusing experience since, almost every one said they did not know what to put for the True or False question on " can we as Baha'is drink alcohol" they said we don't know, is it true or false. Well we went over this and the next one about marriage and so on. This will be a different study circle, perhaps a "fire circle" to combine "fireside" and study circle.
We enjoyed the evening and ended it wishing each other a beautiful week before we meet again next Wednesday.
