New book on kindle - Bahá’u’lláh: Manifestation of God?

This booklet seeks to present evidence for the authenticity of Bahá’u’lláh's claim to be God's Messenger for today!

Here is an extract from the booklet:

"Who was Bahá’u’lláh? He claimed to have been sent by God with teachings for mankind in this day, like Christ and Muhammad in times past. He founded a new world religion, the Bahá'í Faith, which has spread around the world, to almost every country, in about one hundred years. That He could do this based on lies and deception is not credible. Yet if His claims are true then civilisation as we know it will be transformed and greatly advanced. He has said as much.

Why does this matter so much today? Bahá’u’lláh faced severe persecution as a result of His claims. The rich and the powerful rejected this announcement. Only a few accepted Him and worked to spread these teachings. Such has always been mankind’s reaction to God’s Messengers. 

Mankind continues trying to solve its problems using outdated concepts and teachings or by dismissing God completely - with tragic results. Bahá’u’lláh warned mankind that rejecting God’s Message would lead to dire consequences. His predictions have been accurate. Man really needs these new teachings. This is why it is so important to investigate Bahá’u’lláh’s claim. This is why this booklet was written."

 The booklet is on Kindle as usual for $0.99. The link is here. 

The booklet will be free to download on September 18 and 19.

Acts of kindness

 I saw this article online at the Guardian. Can we come up with a list for here in Guyana? 

The article lists acts of kindness which can be done (in the UK) to show kindness to another.

To quote the article:

"But what all these acts have in common is that they will make you feel good: research shows that being kind make us happier. So you can help others and feel better yourself all at once."

Examples that work anywhere:

Be polite, cheerful and friendly.

Give blood.

Being kind to animals.

Baha'i book series - free download for Baha'i New Year

What is the Baha'i Faith about? You really need to know a bit about it in this troubled time. Check out one of the introductory books in the series.

Its main teaching is that mankind is one people and that religion is essentially one and progressive.

The Bahá'í Faith is established in more than 100,000 localities in virtually every country and territory around the world. 

The 9 books in the series will be available for free download from Kindle on March 21st which is New Year (Naw-Ruz) for Baha'is.

The titles are as follows:

The Bahá'í Faith - A Short Introduction

The Bahá'í Faith - A Short Introduction for Christians

The Bahá'í Faith - A Short Introduction for Muslims

The Bahá'í Faith - A Short Introduction for Hindus 

The Bahá'í Faith - A Short Introduction for the Seeker 

The Bahá'í Faith - A Short Introduction for Women

The Bahá'í Faith and the Cosmos – A Short Introduction

Bahá'í Books – A Short Introduction

The Bahá'í Faith and Life After Death

COVID19 in Guyana - update

So we have completed three weeks of (loosely enforced) lockdown.

Here on the East Coast the lockdown is not enforced as much as in the city but many businesses are closed down. Not having left the house recently it is difficult to be sure of details. I am now seeing a minority wearing masks on the road outside and the area is quieter than usual.

There is limited application of distancing especially in those local shops which are still open.

The relatively slow progress of the virus suggests that policies are having some effect. However clearly more testing is needed. This is not going to be over soon.

Declining fertility

For many decades the rising human population of our planet has been regarded as a major threat to civilisation, often featured in books and movies. It now becomes clearer that fertility is actually declining in more and more developed countries such as North America, Europe and Japan.

According to a BBC report (my emphasis):

In 1950, women were having an average of 4.7 children in their lifetime. The fertility rate all but halved to 2.4 children per woman by last year.
But that masks huge variation between nations.
The fertility rate in Niger, west Africa, is 7.1, but in the Mediterranean island of Cyprus women are having one child, on average.
In the UK, the rate is 1.7, similar to most Western European countries.

If the rate is below 2.1 then the population will start to shrink. In some countries the population may be maintained only by increasing life expectancy and immigration each of which have other issues. This finding has huge implications for the future.

The World Is Not Falling Apart

I posted an item on this topic one year ago and here another from the same source!
An article from Slate pointing out the upward trends.
"The only sound way to appraise the state of the world is to count. How many violent acts has the world seen compared with the number of opportunities? And is that number going up or down? As Bill Clinton likes to say, “Follow the trend lines, not the headlines.” We will see that the trend lines are more encouraging than a news junkie would guess."
Not that there are not downward trends but there are upward trends too!

Civilisation is advancing!

It seems that, despite the impression made by the media, the world is getting to be a better place. This very interesting report in Slate says:

"The only sound way to appraise the state of the world is to count. How many violent acts has the world seen compared with the number of opportunities? And is that number going up or down? As Bill Clinton likes to say, “Follow the trend lines, not the headlines.” We will see that the trend lines are more encouraging than a news junkie would guess."

After examining the statistics the report concludes:

"The world is not falling apart. The kinds of violence to which most people are vulnerable—homicide, rape, battering, child abuse—have been in steady decline in most of the world. Autocracy is giving way to democracy. Wars between states—by far the most destructive of all conflicts—are all but obsolete. The increase in the number and deadliness of civil wars since 2010 is circumscribed, puny in comparison with the decline that preceded it, and unlikely to escalate."

Can renewable energy help?

According to reports a major project by Google to find a cheaper-than-coal, competitive renewable energy solution failed:

"even if Google and others had led the way toward a wholesale adoption of renewable energy, that switch would not have resulted in significant reductions of carbon dioxide emissions. Trying to combat climate change exclusively with today’s renewable energy technologies simply won’t work; we need a fundamentally different approach."

They did not find a solution which would "be able to deliver a technology that could compete economically with coal". In other words there is no purely economic solution. According to the report:

 "Let’s face it, businesses won’t make sacrifices and pay more for clean energy based on altruism alone. Instead, we need solutions that appeal to their profit motives."

It seems that the time to learn some altruism is at hand. There is no easy, convenient solution available. Governments, indeed nations, need to face their responsibilities. Behaviours must change.

Good news - world becoming more peaceful

An analysis of factors affecting war and present trends, reported by Wired, has led to a prediction that the world will be more peaceful by 2050:

"An upcoming paper by a political scientist will claim that in 40 years world conflict will plummet, with the greatest decrease occurring in the Middle East."

"Among other things, this will be attributed to war becoming financially pointless (or unfeasible), education increasing, infant mortality decreasing and the world's youth populations becoming smaller."

A sustainable future?

A BBC news item on a recently released UN report entitled "Resilient People, Resilient Planet: A Future Worth Choosing " from the UN High-Level Panel on Global Sustainability reviews the report in some detail. Summarising it comments:

"Growing inequality, environmental decline and "teetering" economies mean the world must change the way it does business, a UN report concludes."

There are many recommendations (56), many of which are straight forward. Here are a few that stood out to the writer and looked relevant to us:

• "Governments should accelerate the implementation of commitments to advance gender equality and women’s rights, including through the repeal of discriminatory laws and removal of formal barriers, the reform of institutions and the development and adoption of innovative measures to address informal and cultural practices that act as barriers.
• Government and non-governmental entities should promote the concept of sustainable development and sustainable consumption, and these should be integrated into curricula of primary and secondary education.
• Governments should work with appropriate stakeholders to provide citizens, especially those in remote areas, with access to technologies, including universal telecommunications and broadband networks, by 2025.
• Measures should be taken to strengthen the interface between policymaking and science in order to facilitate informed political decision-making on sustainable development issues. Representatives of the scientific community could be included as members or advisers in relevant national or local bodies dealing with sustainable development issues."

And another noteworthy report, reported in a Wired news item, is the report "Towards a Circular Economy" by the Ellen MacArthur Foundation.

According to the news item:

"As the report states: "The essence of the circular economy lies in designing goods to facilitate disassembly and re-use, and structuring business models so manufacturers can reap rewards from collecting and refurbishing, remanufacturing, or redistributing products they make.""

Makes sooo much sense.

Renewable energy - not so renewable?

An interesting article from the Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists pointing out that no energy source is entirely renewable - there is always a cost for extracting and utilising the energy, sometimes quite significant.

"Renewable energy sounds so much more natural and believable than a perpetual-motion machine, but there's one big problem: Unless you're planning to live without electricity and motorized transportation, you need more than just wind, water, sunlight, and plants for energy. You need raw materials, real estate, and other things that will run out one day. You need stuff that has to be mined, drilled, transported, and bulldozed -- not simply harvested or farmed."

As these costs change with new technologies, constant re-assessment and balancing of pro and cons needs to be standard procedure.

And, of course, reduced and more efficient energy use is always a wise option.

Global warming and the economic crisis

I wonder if historian will look back and comment that the economic crisis did have one benefit, it slowed down carbon emissions and allowed more time for solutions to be found saving and some lives as a result.

Enforced lifestyle change?

Global warming - lifestyle change 1

This is a big subject and I am still working on a post. I have not yet found the kind of online resources I had hoped for. There are comments by many about the need for lifestyle change sometimes with a few suggestions but usually not more than that.
More later.