World Unity (ctd)

During the Security and Prosperity Partnership (SPP) Summit in Montebello, Canada in 2005, the “three amigos” (Bush, Harper and Calderon) released “North American Plan for Avian and Pandemic Influenza,” described as a “collaborative North American approach that recognizes that controlling the spread of avian influenza or a novel strain of human influenza, with minimal economic disruption, is in the best interest of all three countries.” The plan outlines how “Canada, Mexico and the United States intend to work together to prepare for and manage avian and pandemic influenza.”

It was hardly a coincidence that at the same time the U.S. Northern Command, or NORTHCOM, created a webpage dedicated to avian flu and subsequently ran exercises in preparation for the possible use of U.S. military forces in a continental domestic emergency involving avian flu or pandemic influenza.

In 2006, NORTHCOM held an international exercise with more than 40 international, federal, and state agencies “designed to provoke discussion and determine what governmental actions, including military support, would be necessary in the event of an influenza pandemic in the United States.” In addition, NORTHCOM participated in a nationwide Joint Chiefs of Staff-directed exercise code-named Exercise Ardent Sentry 06 to rehearse cooperation between Department of Defense and local, state, federal agencies, and the Canadian government.

In 2005, then president Bush shifted U.S. policy on avian flu and pandemic influenza and placed the U.S. under international guidelines. “The policy shift was formalized Sept. 14, 2005, when Bush announced a new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza to a High-Level Plenary Meeting of the U.N. General Assembly, in New York,” Jerome Corsi wrote in September, 2007. “The new International Partnership on Avian and Pandemic Influenza was designed to supersede an earlier November 2005 Homeland Security report that called for a U.S. national strategy that would be coordinated by the Departments of Homeland Security, Health and Agriculture.”

In other words, any U.S. response to an avian flu pandemic would be directed under WHO, WTO, U.N. and NAFTA directives. Congress and U.S. agencies would be cut out of the picture. “The U.N.-WHO-WTO-NAFTA plan advanced by SPP features a prominent role for the U.N. system influenza coordinator as a central international director in the case of a North American avian flu or pandemic influenza outbreak,” Corsi adds.

Dr. David Nabarro, WHO executive director of sustainable development and health environments, was appointed the first U.N. system influenza coordinator. In 2005, Nabarro said during a press conference that his number one priority was to prepare for the H5N1 virus, known as the avian flu. Nabarro played into the global fear that an epidemic was inevitable.

“I’m not, at the moment at liberty to give you a prediction on numbers, but I just want to stress, that, let’s say, the range of deaths could be anything from 5 to 150 million,” said Nabarro. On March 8, 2006, during a U.N. press conference Nabarro predicted an outbreak of the H5N1 virus would “reach the Americas within the next six to 12 months.”

On Monday, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon stoked the fear of a global flu pandemic. He said the Mexican flu outbreak is the “first test” of the “pandemic preparedness work undertaken by the international community over the past three years.” Ban Ki-moon said if “we are indeed facing a pandemic, we need to demonstrate global solidarity. In our interconnected world, no nation can deal with threats of such dimension on its own.”

For Ki-moon and the global elite, “global solidarity” in “our interconnected world” translates into yet another push for world government. Ki-moon’s dire warning falls on the heels of the G20 summit where plans were announced for implementing the creation of a new global currency to replace the U.S. dollar’s role as the world reserve currency. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown and others repeatedly called for “global governance” and a “New World Order.”

The current flu pandemic hype serves as punctuation mark between the G20 held in London and the upcoming one to be held in Italy in June. “The G20 summit has agreed to try to kick start stalled Doha trade liberalization talks at the next G8 meeting,” Reuters reported on April 2. So-called “trade liberalization” is code for the neoliberal plan to “privatize” public and private industries around the world, impose “flexibilization” of labor markets (create massive unemployment), “deregulate” consumer and financial markets, and foster foreign buyouts, layoffs, wage cuts, transient employment, higher prices, and potentially destabilizing capital flows.

As noted by the Eagle Forum in October, 2007, the SPP’s North American Plan for Avian and Pandemic Influenza “is not only about combating a flu epidemic but is far-reaching in seeking control over U.S. citizens and public policy during an epidemic.” The Plan would give authority to international bureaucrats “beyond the health sector to include a coordinated approach to critical infrastructure protection,” including “border and transportation issues.”

On April 26, Infowars covered the Department of Defense’s “Implementation Plan for Pandemic Influenza” that proposes nothing less than the militarization of health care, military augmentation of civilian law enforcement, and the mass vaccination of the population as directed by the government.

Ki-moon, the United Nations, and the globalists, with the participation of the globalist-dominated corporate media and the ruling elite in Mexico, are hyping the flu outbreak as a possible pandemic in order to sell us their scheme for world government.

It is an ongoing process.

Kurt Nimmo Prison Planet.com April 27, 2009


The fatherhood of God, His loving-kindness and beneficence are apparent to all. In His mercy he provides fully and amply for His creatures and if any soul sins He does not suspend His bounty. All created things are visible manifestations of His fatherhood, mercy and heavenly bestowals. Human brotherhood is likewise as clear and evident as the sun, for all are servants of one God, belong to one humankind, inhabit the same globe, are sheltered beneath the overshadowing dome of heaven and submerged in the sea of divine mercy. Human brotherhood and dependence exist because mutual helpfulness and cooperation are the two necessary principles underlying human welfare. This is the physical relationship of mankind. There is another brotherhood, the spiritual, which is higher, holier and superior to all others. It is heavenly; it emanates from the breaths of the Holy Spirit and the effulgence of merciful attributes; it is founded upon spiritual susceptibilities. This brotherhood is established by the Manifestations of the Holy One.

~ Abdu'l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 13

Prayers and Meditations

Want to build a better brain?

Ramp up your spiritual practice, says Andrew Newberg, a neuroscientist at the University of Pennsylvania. Meditation and prayer can improve your physical, intellectual, and emotional well-being and may even slow the brain's aging process.

Newberg, who is also the director of the Center for Spirituality and the Mind, is the author of four books, including the recently released "How God Changes Your Brain," which discusses the results of brain scans that he and his team conducted on more than 100 meditating or praying people. The research shows that the physical and emotional benefits of spiritual observances dramatically accrue over years of practice, but even recent converts exhibit healthier brains -- in one study Newburg's team scanned the brains of people who had never meditated before, then taught them simple meditative methods. After eight weeks of meditating 12 minutes a day, an evaluation showed considerable improvement in memory scores and a measurable decrease in anxiety and anger.

Atheists can feel free to jump right in here as Newburg's research indicates that faith in a divine being isn't required to benefit from meditation. But pessimists may be out of luck -- faith in a positive outcome is necessary for the best results.
In your book, you write that religion is a "wonderful tool because it helps the brain perform its primary functions."


Which functions are you talking about, and how does religion help those functions?

The brain has basically two main functions, globally speaking. It helps us to survive, and it helps us to adapt and grow. Religion is extremely valuable in both respects.

A lot of the new research that we've been doing shows that when people engage in religious or spiritual activities and practices, or they have religious experiences, by and large they tend to have a positive impact on a person's mental health and wellbeing. That helps them accomplish their goals, to set a path for themselves, and therefore helps them survive. At the same time, religion and spiritual pursuits help us change and grow over time by giving us a model for transforming ourselves. Ultimately, they're our way of asking ourselves to follow the ideals of what we think a good human being should be.

You measured the effects of doing a practice like meditation or prayer on the brains of long-term practitioners in different spiritual traditions. What did you notice about the brain of a meditator that's different from someone who is not meditating?
When we compare the baseline brain scans -- meaning when the person is at rest -- of long-term practitioners to those of non-practitioners, we see substantial changes in many parts of the brain.

For example, long-term meditators have higher activity in their frontal lobes, the part of the brain that helps us focus our attention and will on whatever behaviors we need to do. Another interesting finding we have noticed occurs in the thalamus, the central structure that helps different parts of the brain communicate with each other and is very involved in processing all of our sensory information. We find there is a difference in how the thalamus is acting in long-term meditators compared to non-meditators. We think this may have something to do with, on the one hand, enabling the brain to function in a heightened way, but it also suggests that it really does alter our way of looking at reality when one engages in these practices. It changes how the brain works.


When you talk about the effects of religious beliefs or activities on the brain, that's a very broad spectrum of possibilities to consider. Does it matter what you believe or what sort of practices you're doing?

The particular beliefs and practices are very important. One major point is the difference between having a loving and compassionate view of God versus a God that is vengeful, angry, and exclusive. We know from other research that if you focus your mind on positive emotions, and if you have an optimistic outlook, then that is going to activate the areas of your brain that help you lower stress, which helps you to function better and ultimately to be healthier physically and mentally. And if you focus on a God that's angry and vengeful, that activates the anger centers of your brain, the strong emotional centers, which creates stress and anxiety. When that happens, your body releases hormones that can actually damage the way your brain functions which fosters more negative emotions and negative behaviors outwardly. That can be destructive both for the individual as well as on society as a whole.

There was a statistic cited in your book showing that Americans mostly view God as authoritarian, critical, or distant -- only 23 percent of believers see God as gentle and forgiving ...

That's one of the things that we really want to advocate for, that people have to be cautious about the beliefs they hold in terms of whether they focus on God and religion as something that's a positive influence in their lives and provides forgiveness and compassion or whether they're going to look at God and religion as exclusive and negative, because that really does have a detrimental effect.

The good news is that the brain does have the ability to continually change and adapt, and therefore, even if you have gone down a fairly long path of negative emotions, you do have an opportunity, if you start to focus anew on the other side, so to speak, to bring about changes that are more positive. I don't mean to make it sound simplistic -- it's not like you are just going to flip a switch, most likely, and change your whole way of being. It does take effort.


You're studying religion in a laboratory. Do you see a limit as to what you can learn about faith through science?

Well, I don't want it to be construed that, because we can do this kind of research, we are explaining away what religion is. You know, when we get a brain scan of somebody describing their vision of God, for example, that tells us what the brain is doing in the midst of that experience, but it doesn't prove to us whether God was really in the room with them, or that one person's religious or spiritual beliefs are right and somebody else's is wrong. What it shows is how these experiences affect us, and I think ultimately it can contribute to our knowledge, not only of the brain, but also to our perspective on spiritual and theological ideas.


How did you become interested in this field of study?

As a child I was always asking questions like, why are there different religions? Why do some people believe one thing over something else? As I got older, I had a deep desire to learn about science, which seemed to provide answers to these questions. But I began to explore other philosophical and spiritual traditions in college that made me realize that what we can know by science is just one part of the discussion, and that we need to think very hard about what religious and spiritual perspectives bring to the table in helping us understand reality. When I went into medical school, I had the good fortune of meeting a mentor who was interested in these same questions, and how it ultimately came about, in terms of my own journey, is that I wanted, somehow, to find a way of integrating these two perspectives.


Science and religion, you mean?

Yes. I don't know how much integration there needs to be, but... there are certain fundamental paradoxes that science will never help us transcend. The big one, which always creates a problem in my own mind, is how do you get outside of your own brain so that you can look at what is happening inside and figure out whether or not they match? The interesting thing is that religious and spiritual traditions are the only places in human experience that I know of where people at least describe that they have gone beyond their minds, their brains. And, if that's the case, we need to look at what those experiences are because that may be our only way of actually getting to what absolute reality is all about.


Are you a spiritual person yourself?

I would say that this whole process is my spiritual journey. I guess to some degree I'm not totally sure what we mean by spiritual or religious -- in fact, in my classes, I always start out by saying: How do you define these terms? Everybody defines them a little bit differently. I guess the reason why I'm comfortable saying that this work I do is spiritual is that it's my way of trying to connect with the universe, with all the things that are.


Are you a member of an organized religion?

I identify culturally with being Jewish, which is my upbringing, but I don't think I've ever come across one specific viewpoint that seems to answer all of the questions. I really do struggle with where the truth is. I also think that if I want to do this kind of research, I have to keep as neutral a stance as I can. I'm sure people are going to say, "He's biased towards religion," or, "He's biased against it." But I really try to maintain, to the best of my ability, a healthy respect both for what religion and science can do.


Have you ever had a mystical experience?

I think I have had experiences that helped me realize what people are talking about when they describe their own mystical and spiritual experiences. Of course, one of the problems in trying to answer the question of "have you had a mystical experience" is that to some degree, they are by definition indescribable. So I'm not sure that I could definitively answer the question. But I think that studying other people's experience is getting me closer to an understanding. Maybe in 10 or 15 years I'll have a different answer for you.
David Ian Miller www.sfgate.com April 27, 2009


The first thing to do is to acquire a thirst for Spirituality, then Live the Life! Live the Life! Live the Life! The way to acquire this thirst is to meditate upon the future life. Study the Holy Words, read your Bible, read the Holy Books, especially study the Holy Utterances of Bahá'u'lláh; Prayer and Meditation, take much time for these two. Then will you know this Great Thirst, and then only can you begin to Live the Life!
("Star of the West" Vol. 19, No. 3, p. 69)

Knowledge is love. Study, listen to exhortations, think, try to understand the wisdom and greatness of God. The soil must be fertilized before the seed can be sown.
("Star of the West" Vol. 20, No. 10, p. 314)

~ Abdul-Baha, The Compilation of Compilations vol. I, p. 204

World Unity

In the Orient the various peoples and nations were in a state of antagonism and strife, manifesting the utmost enmity and hatred toward each other. Darkness encompassed the world of mankind. At such a time as this Bahá'u'lláh appeared. He removed all the imitations and prejudices which had caused separation and misunderstanding and laid the foundation of the one religion of God. When this was accomplished, Muslims, Christians, Jews, Zoroastrians, Buddhists all were united in actual fellowship and love. The souls who followed Bahá'u'lláh from every nation have become as one family living in agreement and accord, willing to sacrifice life for each other. The Muslim will give his life for the Christian, the Christian for the Jew and all of them for the Zoroastrian. They live together in love, fellowship and unity. They have attained to the condition of rebirth in the Spirit of God. They have become revivified and regenerated through the breaths of the Holy Spirit. Praise be to God! This light has come forth from the East, and eventually there shall be no discord or enmity in the Orient. Through the power of Bahá'u'lláh all will be united. He upraised this standard of the oneness of humanity in prison. When subjected to banishment by two kings, while a refugee from enemies of all nations and during the days of His long imprisonment He wrote to the kings and rulers of the world in words of wonderful eloquence, 203 arraigning them severely and summoning them to the divine standard of unity and justice. He exhorted them to peace and international agreement, making it incumbent upon them to establish a board of international arbitration -- that from all nations and governments of the world there should be delegates selected for a congress of nations which should constitute a universal arbitral court of justice to settle international disputes. He wrote to Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, the Czar of Russia, the Emperor of Germany, Napoleon III of France and others, inviting them to world unity and peace. Through a heavenly power He was enabled to promulgate these ideals in the Orient. Kings could not withstand Him. They endeavored to extinguish His light but served only to increase its intensity and illumination. While in prison He stood against the Shah of Persia and Sultan of Turkey and promulgated His teachings until He firmly established the banner of truth and the oneness of humankind.

~ Abdu'l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 202


Praise be to God! you have heard the call of the Kingdom. Your eyes are opened; you have turned to God. Your purpose is the good-pleasure of God, the understanding of the mysteries of the heart and investigation of the realities. Day and night you must strive that you may attain to the significances of the heavenly kingdom, perceive the signs of divinity, acquire certainty of knowledge and realize that this world has a creator, a vivifier, a provider, an architect, -- knowing this through proofs and evidences and not through susceptibilities, -- nay, rather, through decisive arguments and real vision; that is to say, visualizing it as clearly as the outer eye beholds the sun. In this way may you behold the presence of God and attain to the knowledge of the holy, divine Manifestations.

~ "Foundations of World Unity", (Wilmette, Bahá'í Publishing Trust, 1972), p. 65


Unification of the whole of mankind is the hall mark of the stage which human society is now approaching. Unity of family, of tribe, of city-state, and nation have been successively attempted and fully established. World unity is the goal towards which a harassed humanity is striving. Nation-building has come to an end. The anarchy inherent in state sovereignty is moving towards a climax. A world, growing to maturity, must abandon this fetish, recognize the oneness and wholeness of human relationships, and establish once for all the machinery that can best incarnate this fundamental principle of its life.

~ The Guardian, The Compilation of Compilations vol II, p. 184


In connection with the World Unity Conferences, which you have organized, I desire to assure you of my heartfelt appreciation of such a splendid conception. I am profoundly impressed by the generous assistance spontaneously offered by those who, faithful to their other obligations, have risen to insure the financial success of such a noble Plan. I am grateful to those local Assemblies and individuals who have given it their whole-hearted support in their respective fields.

~ Shoghi Effendi, Baha'i Administration, p. 124


Regarding the series of World Unity meetings which some of the thoughtful, capable and devoted servants of the Cause have carefully organized and successfully conducted, and to which you have referred in your letter of March 8th, I wish to express my keen appreciation of such a splendid conception, my deep gratitude for the efforts they have exerted, and my gratification in view of the success they have achieved.

~ Shoghi Effendi, Baha'i Administration, p. 108


We are told by Shoghi Effendi that two great processes are at work in the world: the great Plan of God, tumultuous in its progress, working through mankind as a whole, tearing down barriers to world unity and forging humankind into a unified body in the fires of suffering and experience. This process will produce, in God's due time, the Lesser Peace, the political unification of the world. Mankind at that time can be likened to a body that is unified but without life. The second process, the task of breathing life into this unified body -- of creating true unity and spirituality culminating in the Most Great Peace -- is that of the Bahá'ís, who are labouring consciously, with detailed instructions and continuing Divine guidance, to erect the fabric of the Kingdom of God on earth, into which they call their fellow men, thus conferring upon them eternal life.

~ The Universal House of Justice, The Compilation of Compilations vol II, p. 196


"It is true that 'Abdu'l-Bahá made statements linking the establishment of the unity of the nations to the twentieth century. For example '...The fifth candle is the unity of nations -- a unity which, in this century, will be securely established, causing all the peoples of the world to regard themselves as citizens of one common fatherland...' And, in The Promised Day is Come, following a similar statement quoted from Some Answered Questions, Shoghi Effendi makes this comment: 'This is the stage which the world is now approaching, the stage of world unity, which, as 'Abdu'l-Bahá assures us, will, in this century, be securely established.'

~ The Universal House of Justice, Lights of Guidance, p. 434


In absorbing such advice, it is illuminating indeed to view the Nineteen Day Feast in the context in which it was conceived. It is ordained in the "Kitáb-i-Aqdas" in these words: "It hath been enjoined upon you once a month to offer hospitality, even should ye serve no more than water, for God hath willed to bind your hearts together, though it be through heavenly and earthly means combined". It is clear, then, that the Feast is rooted in hospitality, with all its implications of friendliness, courtesy, service, generosity and conviviality. The very idea of hospitality as the sustaining spirit of so significant an institution introduces a revolutionary new attitude to the conduct of human affairs at all levels, an attitude which is critical to that world unity which the Central Figures of our Faith laboured so long and suffered so much cruelty to bring into being. It is in this divine festival that the foundation is laid for the realization of so unprecedented a reality.

~ The Universal House of Justice, The Compilation of Compilations vol. I, p. 422

The Purpose of the Creation of Man

"All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization."

~ Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, CIX, p. 215

The Beauty of the Revelation of Baha'u'llah

"Consider these days in which He Who is the Ancient Beauty hath come in the Most Great Name, that He may quicken the world and unite its peoples."

~ Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 63


And further We have said: "Doth it behoove you to relate yourselves to Him Who is the God of mercy, and yet commit the things which the Evil One hath committed? Nay, by the Beauty of Him Who is the All-Glorified! could ye but know it. Purge your hearts from love of the world, and your tongues from calumny, and your limbs from whatsoever may withhold you from drawing nigh unto God, the Mighty, the All-Praised.

~ Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 54


Turning Our face to the right, We beheld what the pen is powerless to describe; nor can it set forth that which the eye of the Lord of Mankind witnessed in that most sanctified, that most sublime, that blest, and most exalted Spot. Turning, then, to the left We gazed on one of the Beauties of the Most Sublime Paradise, standing on a pillar of light, and calling aloud saying: 'O inmates of earth and heaven! Behold ye My beauty, and My radiance, and My revelation, and My effulgence. By God, the True One! I am Trustworthiness and the revelation thereof, and the beauty thereof.

~ Baha'u'llah, Epistle to the Son of the Wolf, p. 136

Influence of 'Abdu'l-Bahá

Leaders of the world's largest economies have reached an agreement to tackle the global financial crisis with measures worth $1.1 trillion (£681bn).

To help countries with troubled economies, the resources available to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) will be tripled to $750bn.

There will also be sanctions against secretive tax havens and tougher global financial regulation.

And the G20 has committed about $250bn to boost global trade.

US President Barack Obama said the summit could mark a "turning point" in the pursuit of economic recovery and made progress in reforming a "failed regulatory system".

"By any measure the London summit was historic.

"It was historic because of the size and the scope of the challenges that we face and because of the timeliness and the magnitude of our response," he said.

Prime Minister Gordon Brown said there was "no quick fix" for the world economy but there was a commitment to do whatever was necessary.

"This is the day that the world came together to fight back against the global recession, not with words, but with a plan for global recovery and for reform and with a clear timetable for its delivery," Mr Brown said.

Another G20 meeting will be held in New York in September to check on progress, the BBC has learned.

The deal was announced shortly before the European stock markets closed and gave leading indexes a significant boost.

London's FTSE 100 index of leading shares ended 4.3% higher. In Paris, the Cac 40 jumped 5.4% and in Frankfurt, the Dax rose 6%.

The deal

On behalf of the G20, Mr Brown announced the following steps:
· Bankers' pay and bonuses will be subject to stricter controls

A new Financial Stability Board will be set up to work with the IMF to ensure co-operation across borders and provide an early warning mechanism for the financial system :
· There will be greater regulation of hedge funds and credit ratings agencies
· A common approach to cleaning up banks' toxic assets has been agreed
· The world's poorest countries will receive $100bn extra aid
· G20 countries are already implementing the biggest economic stimulus "the world has ever seen" - an injection of $5tn by the end of next year.

IMF boost

The IMF has been one of the biggest beneficiaries of the G20 summit.

The resources it has to help troubled economies will be increased to $500bn.

An overdraft facility will also be increased to $250bn (in the IMF's currency, so-called Special Drawing Rights) that all members can call upon.

Mr Brown said that there would be a crackdown on tax havens to prevent the loss of sorely needed tax revenue.

Shortly after the summit finished the Organisation of Economic Co-operation and Development published a blacklist of countries deemed uncooperative.

It said Costa Rica, Malaysia, Philippines and Uruguay had not made any commitment to respecting international standards.

"We have agreed tough standards and sanctions for use against those who don't come into line in the future," Mr Brown said.

President Obama was said to have played a key role in brokering the agreement on tax havens, resolving differences between France and China.

Hopes met?

French President Nicolas Sarkozy said that the conclusions of the G20 summit were "more than we could have hoped for".

Earlier, there had been suggestions of rifts between France and Germany and the US and the UK.

The US and UK emphasised the need for public spending to ease the crisis while France and Germany were keen for tougher financial regulation.

Mr Sarkozy had threatened to walk out of the meeting if it did not yield concrete results.

German Chancellor Angela Merkel also praised the outcome.

She said the new measures would give the world a "clearer financial market architecture" and the agreement was "a very, very good, almost historic compromise".

Her finance minister, Peer Steinbrueck, said he was pleased that the G20 statement did not oblige states to launch further economic stimulus packages.

Protests

Protesters gathered outside the summit, but in smaller numbers than during Wednesday's demonstrations in London's financial district.

Several hundred staged "noisy but calm" protests near the Excel centre, representing groups including the Stop the War Coalition and CND.

And about 400 more demonstrators were boxed in by police outside the Bank of England in London's financial district, during angry but peaceful protests.

More than 100 people were arrested over the two days of protests - 86 of them on Wednesday, police said.

A small group of protesters gathered earlier at the London Stock Exchange, but later dispersed.

Poor benefit

The G20 countries have pledged $100bn in aid for developing countries, more than expected.

The money will be dispensed through multilateral lenders such as the Asian Development Bank.

The measure that could make the most difference in the short term for the poorest countries is the availability of $250bn of trade credit, says BBC international development correspondent David Loyn.

It will enable goods currently rotting on the quayside in Africa to move again, he says.

BBC business editor Robert Peston said the tougher financial regulation announced by the G20 was a significant step.

He said it sounded the death knell for the freewheeling Anglo-American way of banking and conducting financial markets.

However, he said the measures would not get the world out of recession overnight.

news.bbc.co.uk 2 April 2009


After a little while we gathered around the table with him. During the meal one of the friends asked 'Abdu'l-Bahá how he enjoyed his stay in London, and what he thought of the English people. I acted as interpreter. 'Abdu'l-Bahá replied: "I have enjoyed London very much and the bright faces of the friends have delighted my heart. I was drawn here by their unity and love. In the world of existence there is no more powerful magnet than the magnet of love. These few days will pass away, but their import shall be remembered by God's friends in all ages and in all lands.

There are living nations and dead nations. Syria lost its civilization through lethargy of spirit. The English nation is a living one, and when in this spiritual springtime the divine truth come forth with renewed vitality, the English will be like fruitful trees, and the Holy Spirit will enable them to flourish in abundance. Then will they gain not only materially, but in that which is far more important, spiritual progress, which will enable them to render a greater service to the world of humanity."

~ Abdu'l-Baha, Abdu'l-Baha in London, p. 78

What is the most important thing governments can do?

Tens of thousands of people have marched through London demanding action on poverty, climate change and jobs, ahead of next week's G20 summit.

The Put People First alliance of 150 charities and unions walked from Embankment to Hyde Park for a rally.

Speakers called on G20 leaders to pursue a new kind of global justice.

Police estimate 35,000 marchers took part in the event. Its organisers say people wanted the chance to air their views peacefully.

Protesters described a "carnival-like atmosphere" with brass bands, piercing whistles and stereos blasting music as the slow-paced procession weaved through the streets.

Police said one man was arrested during the march for being drunk and disorderly.

Unite union, general secretary Derek Simpson said: "I think it's an important message but whether it will get through to the people meeting in London I don't know. Anyone who sees the numbers on this march should realise how important it is."

Families with children in pushchairs were among those marching along the 4.2-mile route under banners with slogans including 'capitalists - you are the crisis' and 'justice for the world's poor'.

As protesters passed the heavily-policed gates of Downing Street, there were chants and jeers with one person shouting "enjoy the overtime".

BBC News reporter Mario Cacciottolo said people were clearly angry, but the atmosphere was not tense.

Milton McKenzie, 73, from Essex, told him: "How the hell can we have a situation here in Britain where we have people out of work and the bankers just cream it off and are helped by the government."

Italian trade unionist Nicoli Nicolosi, who had travelled from Rome, said: "We are here to try and make a better world and protest against the G20."

Glen Tarman, chairman of the Put People First co-ordination team, said: "An exciting alliance has been born today. We will keep up the pressure on world leaders and the UK government to address our demands and put people first."

TUC general secretary Brendan Barber said he wanted to see G20 leaders agree a plan of action to deal with the financial downturn.

"Where I hope we will see a consensus emerge is in the recognition that unless they act together, then the problems are only going to get worse.

"This, unlike any other recession, is a recession right across the world."

The Energy and Climate Change Secretary Ed Miliband said it was important for the G20 to make commitments on helping the environment as well as the economy.

"There are some people who will say you can either tackle the economic crisis or the climate crisis.

"But the truth is that both come together with this idea of a Green New Deal, of investing in the jobs of the future, which are going to be in the green industries of the future."

The director of the the Adam Smith Institute, Dr Eamonn Butler, said governments have caused the economic crisis.

"The world market economy is actually a very moral system that raised a billion people out of poverty in the last 10 years," he said.

A huge security operation is under way in the run-up to the G20 summit, at which world leaders will discuss the global financial crisis and other issues.

There have been fears that banks and other financial institutions could be the focus for violent protests.

Commander Simon O'Brien, one of the senior command team in charge of policing security, said: "It's fair to say that this [the march] is one of the largest, one of the most challenging and one of the most complicated operations we have delivered.

"G20 is attracting a significant amount of interest from protest groups. There is an almost unprecedented level of activity going on."

Saturday's march will be followed by a series of protests on Wednesday and Thursday by a variety of coalitions and groups campaigning on a range of subjects, from poverty, inequality and jobs to war, climate change and capitalism.

Ahead of the summit, Prime Minister Gordon Brown has been visiting a number of countries seeking support.

On Friday, during a visit to Chile, he said people should not be "cynical" about what could be achieved at next week's summit, saying he was optimistic about the likely outcome.

However, in an interview with Saturday's Financial Times, German Chancellor Angela Merkel dampened expectations of a significant breakthrough.

She said one meeting would not be enough to solve the economic crisis and finish building a new structure for global markets.

In Berlin, thousands of protesters have also taken to the streets with a message to the G20 leaders: "We won't pay for your crisis".

Another march took place in the city of Frankfurt. The demonstrations attracted as many as 20,000 people.

Banners accused the Germany government of being too willing to spend billions bailing out financial institutions and too slow to protect ordinary workers, the BBC's Steve Rosenberg said from Berlin.
news.bbc.co.uk 28 March 2009

The most important thing is to polish the mirrors of hearts in order that they may become illumined and receptive of the divine light. One heart may possess the capacity of the polished mirror; another be covered and obscured by the dust and dross of this world. Although the same Sun is shining upon both, in the mirror which is polished, pure and sanctified you may behold the Sun in all its fullness, glory and power revealing its majesty and effulgence, but in the mirror which is rusted and obscured there is no capacity for reflection although so far as the Sun itself is concerned it is shining thereon and is neither lessened nor deprived. Therefore our duty lies in seeking to polish the mirrors of our hearts in order that we shall become reflectors of that light and recipients of the divine bounties which may be fully revealed through them.

This means the oneness of the world of humanity. That is to say, when this human body-politic reaches a state of absolute unity, the effulgence of the eternal Sun will make its fullest light and heat manifest. Therefore we must not make distinctions between individual members of the human family. We must not consider any soul as barren or deprived. Our duty lies in educating souls so that the Sun of the bestowals of God shall become resplendent in them, and this is possible through the power of the oneness of humanity. The more love is expressed among mankind and the stronger the power of unity, the greater will be this reflection and revelation, for the greatest bestowal of God is love. Love is the source of all the bestowals of God. Until love takes possession of the heart no other divine bounty can be revealed in it.

~ Abdu'l-Baha, Baha'i World Faith - Abdu'l-Baha Section, p. 218