I posted an introduction to the paradigmatic shift in the Baha'i community, the new culture of learning and growth that is at the heart of this paradigm, 18 to 24 months ago. I did this posting at several internet sites. It seemed like a good idea to give readers some specific steps on how to access this now revised article/essay at Baha’i Library Online(BLO).
In that two year period there have been many thousand views of my article at the few sites where it is posted. The steps to access my article are simple: (i) type Baha’i Library Online or Baha’i Academics Resource Library into your search engine; (ii) click on the small box “By author” at the top of the access page at BLO; (iii) type “Price” into the small box that then appears and click on the word “Go;” and then (iv) scroll down to article/document item #46 and (v) click on that item and read to your heart’s content. When your eyes and your mind start to glaze over, stop reading. The article can be downloaded free and you will then have access to a revised article, a 150 page, 70,000 word context for all this new paradigmatic terminology that has come into the Baha’i community in the last 13 years.
The statement is a personal one, does not assume an adversarial attitude, attempts to give birth of as fine an etiquette of expression as I can muster and, I like to think, possesses both candour and critical thought. I invite readers to what I also like to think is “a context on which relevant fundamental questions” regarding this new paradigm may be discussed within the Baha’i community. It is also my intention to update this article in the months and years ahead. One of the advantages of the BLO site is the freedom it gives to a writer to update the article at the site in an ongoing process as new insights and information comes to hand.-Ron Price, George Town, Tasmania
I scanned your piece in about an hour and a half.. and for me the most valuable part were your references to "Group Think" as a tool to understand some of the dangers of the new paradigm shift..anyway it was interesting to read some of your experiences over your Baha'i life time..
I have a different perspective. For me the seventies were a halcyon period that I fondly recall so I don't buy into the denigrating of that era at all.. To me it was the one time our community excelled and began to make some inroads into our culture and way of doing things..
but anyway let me say something that you may take as being too critical and that is much of your writing seems too self absorbed. As my old English teacher would say "You need to cut it down". But I did enjoy scanning your material.
Thanks for scanning my piece, Art and apologies for not getting back to you sooner here at the Beliefnet Community site. Yes, I thought the "Group Think" stuff was, as you say, a useful tool to understand some of the dangers of the new paradigm shift. Thanks, too, for your comment that my article was interesting to read because of "some of my experiences over my Baha'i lifetime."
That you have a different perspective on the seventies, that they were, for you, "a halcyon period that you fondly recall" and that you, therefore, "do not buy into the denigrating of that era at all," is only natural. Inevitably, we all have different views and different perspectives on particular decades and, indeed, much else in life. In the 1970s, I divorced, was in a psychiatric hospital, had employment problems and watched the world go through more of the extremities of "the tempest." For you, as you say, "it was the one time your community excelled and began to make some inroads into our culture and its way of doing things." And, yes, there was much that was good in the 1970s, even for me: a new marriage, wonderful career developments and much happened in the wide, wide world of the international Baha'i community that laid the foundation for future successes.
I appreciated, too, your comment about my article's apparent self-absorption. The article's title was: REFLECTIONS ON A CULTURE OF LEARNING AND GROWTH:Community and Individual Paradigm Shifts:: A Context and a Personal Text. Reflections and understandings regarding the culture of learning and growth and the accompanying paradigm shift in the Fourth and Fifth Epochs of the Formative Age: 1986 to 2021 and the Second Epoch(1963-2021) of 'Abdul-Baha's Divine Plan. I intended that there be, in this lengthy essay--what has become now a small book of 70,000 words and 150 pages--therefore, a focus on "a personal context and a personal text." I wanted to define what it was I was going to do in this new paradigm and not just theorize on what the community could and would do. As an old English teacher myself, I would have no trouble agreeing with your old English teacher, who might say that I needed "to cut it down". Most of my writing on the internet, Art, is in the form of prose-poetry and is, therefore, more succinct. Occasionally, though, I feel a need to spread my wings, so to speak. But I'm sure many readers would agree with your comment and, for that reason, your comment was worthwhile and a useful input for the many readers who have and will come across my article, but do not have your honesty and candour in expressing their views.
Thanks again for scanning my material and expressing what was, for me and I'm sure for many other readers, a useful comment.-Ron Price, Tasmania
This book is now more than 285 pages and 130 thousand words and contains reflections and understandings regarding the culture of learning and of growth, the paradigmatic shift, that the Baha’i community is currently going through and has been going through since the mid-1990s. Comparisons and contrasts are made to previous paradigm shifts in the Baha'i community. Hopefully this commentary will contribute to an inevitable and necessary dialogue on the issues regarding the many related processes involved in this ongoing paradigmatic shift in the international Bahai community.
This work is dedicated to the Universal House of Justice in celebration of its first half century at the apex of Bahai administration in April 2013. I have also written this book as a dedication to the many best teachers and exemplary believers--those ordinary Bahais--who have consecrated themselves to the work of the Faith. Finally, I have written this work in memory of my maternal grandfather whose life from 1872 to 1958 has always been for me a model of an engagement in a culture of learning.
This is the longest and most extensive analysis and commentary on the new paradigm currently available in the Bahai community. Skim and scan its 285 pages, read every word or click it off right now! This latest draft contains insights and understandings gleaned from an ongoing commentary on this new paradigm from many writers in the Baha'i community.
