A Baha'i Perspective

Greg grew up in West Virginia. He became a Baha'i when he was a young man in the late 60's.. He traveled throughout South and Central America early in his Baha'i career. He has since returned to his roots in West Virginia. Greg is a song writer. Some of his songs have traveled all over the world and he finds them in the most unexpected places. We talk about this and play some of his songs during the interview. You can find his songs here. You can also see Greg playing on this YouTube video.

Since the age of 4, Barbara has wanted to live in another country. Although that was her childhood wish, she wasn't able to live in another country, but she has had opportunities to travel around the world. Barbara is an Associate Professor of Special Education at the University of South Florida.

Marilyn grew up with a grand piano in her home but her mother never thought to offer piano lessons to her. When Marilyn was 9 she asked her mom for piano lessons. She ultimately became an accomplished pianist playing her first public concert when she was ten and played with an orchestra when she was 12. She has played for Arthur Fiedler and was compared to Rachmaninoff by one critic. She is now 87 years old.

Tom has a mission. His mission is to let the world know about generating power by water. The process is called electrolyzing in which you produce what is called hydroxy gas. An electrolyzer takes water and by way of a low power source and pulsing that power source, you create a hydrogen/oxygen gas mixture called hydroxy gas that stays in a gaseous form for a short period of time. This hydroxy gas has a faster flash point than gasoline which can be ignited to produce power. The interesting phenomenon is that if you pulsate the power source to the electrolyzer producing the hydroxy gas at the same natural frequency of water, you maximize the quantity of the hydroxy gas. Tom's first effort is to fit up an old oldsmobile with an electrolyzer to demonstrate the feasibility of powering a car with water. Very interesting stuff.

Greg is a Baha'i from the mid-west who has recently finished a doctoral program at Harvard in Education and is now in Atlanta with his wife Waithera.

Talibah's history includes the Black Panter movement and Stokley Carmichael's All African Peoples Revolutionary Party. Today, Talibah is an educator. Among other topics, she talks about how being an educator helped her quickly get the Baha'i principle of progressive revelation. She also describes how she integrates the Baha'i principle, independent investigation of truth, in the classroom.

A Singer/songwriter, Darrell's most recent CD is called Plain and Simple. He has a trio that includes Rick Heyman on bass and Michael Parker on drums. I had Darrell select a few songs to play and talk about in the interview. Some of which come from his new CD. You can also find Darrell on his youtube channel. He's played at the Tucson Arizona Folk Festival for a number of years now. Check out his website, DarrellSongs.com

A Baha'i now living in Croatia. Michael wrote a book called Changing Patterns: Friendship, Fellowship and Transformation. The book addresses what it means to share the teachings of the Baha'i Faith with others. We also talk about the human potential and the positive outlook the Baha'i Faith brings for the destiny of human civilization.

Mona's parents got swept up in the 1979 Iranian revolution. Mona's father was a member of the first Baha'i National Spiritual Assembly after the revolution. One day in August of 1980 all the members of the assembly just disappeared never to be heard from again. Immediately a second assembly was formed. Mona's mother was a member of this subsequent assembly. That assembly was arrested a year and a half later. The whole assembly was executed soon after the arrest. So Mona lost both her parents within three years of the revolution. A third assembly was put in place and all members of that body were subsequently executed. Since the 3rd Baha'i national assemly, there has been no Baha'i administration allowed by the authorities. During the interview we discuss the current movement Education Under Fire protesting the Iranian government's disbanding of the Baha'i Institute for Higher Education in Iran. Mona has contributed to BIHE as an instructor.

Adib is a Baha'i from Haiti who is currently an engineering student at the University of Massachusetts. Adib has the unique distinction of being born in Haiti and grew up there all his life, yet his parents are Iranian. Adib was in Haiti at the time the earthquake struck. We talk about the earthquake and other aspects of Haiti.

Glenn is a Baha'i from Canada who has been in the broadcasting business for 35 years and is now retired. He has recently used his wonderful voice to recite Baha'u'llah's work the Tablet of Carmel which you can find on YouTube. He is currently working on an audio book called The Second Coming.

Kathy is an attorney by trade. She practiced family law in Richmond and also provided assistance to the Baha'i National Center. She spent 18 years in Haifa Israel in service to the Baha'i World Center. During that time she published a book, "Lighting the Western Sky - The Hearst Pilgrimage & Establishment of the Baha'i Faith in the West". We talk about her book and she reads an excerpt in the interview.

Terry is a retired educator who has taught internationally. He's contemplating writing an introductory to the Baha'i Faith tieing current events to the teachings. In the latter part of the interview we discuss the economic situation and the associated Baha'i teachings.

A Baha'i who intentionally went to a black college in the early '60s in the segregated south because she felt the need to promote racial integration. Today she is a psychotherapist. We discuss her time in the south as well as her psychotherapy practice.

Calvin is founder and lead facilitator of Social Centric; an organization he designed to provide education and training for all ages to enhance human interactions and global progress. He is a former Assistant Director of the National Conference for Community Justice/Anytown USA Arizona Region. He has taught for Upward Bound at Arizona State University and the Arizona National Guard's Freedom Academy.