Author: Firoozeh

The fanaticism of religious and political zealots from 1979 to 2020

The fanaticism of religious and political zealots from 1979 to 2020
By; Firoozeh Bowden
4/25/2020
  During 1979 I watched the beautiful country of Iran where I was born; A country advanced in science, arts and culture at that time, gradually change and slide back into the dark ages, where superstition and dogma overruled facts and proven truth. The quality of life in Iran has been going down ever since.
 
  Now it feels like I am experiencing that all over again in this Beautiful and cherished country, the USA! The fanaticism of religious and political zealots is causing the current rejection of both science and common sense. Educated people seem to have put aside reason, and blindly agree with anything a so called leader says, regardless of how outrageous or ridiculous it might sound. At a time when we have the latest technology at our fingertips, some people would rather accept any notion or claim without bothering to research it for themselves.
 
  This time I will not stand by and allow a handful of ignorant, money hungry, Powerful thieves, drag this precious country through the mud; A country that so many have sacrificed to build. Everyday we watch an unbelievable spectacle, thinking this craziness could never actually effect our lives. As someone who has been through it, let me tell you that it will, and it already has!
  We can not be complacent, and allow a few charming, greedy bullies do whatever they wish with peoples lives and our world. True power is always with the people, and justice must prevail. Please do your research, and take action.  When the time comes, go out and VOTE! Let your voice be heard!
 
​Much love and light,
​Firoozeh Bowden​​

After COVID-19

After COVID-19

By; Firoozeh Bowden 3/29/2020

The funny thing is, for several months before we knew about COVID-19, I felt anxious and out of balance. I knew something big was coming, but what….? It was driving me crazy! So I finally surrendered to the will of God!

“Wouldst thou have Me, seek none other than Me; and wouldst thou gaze upon My beauty, close thine eyes to the world and all that is therein; for My will and the will of another than Me, even as fire and water, cannot dwell together in one heart.” (Hidden Words 33)

After we got the news, I was sad for humanity, the world, and all of those poor people, and refugees across the world, who would suffer the most. However at the same time, a feeling of calm and relief came over me. Ever since I have been very clear and focused in what needs to be done, and energized to work on my life purpose. To shine the Divine light, to bring joy to the people I come in contact with through my art … and ensure the frightened ones that this too shall pass, reminding them that the secret now is to stay calm, loving and compassionate. We can support one another through the internet, mail and our smart phones. We are all in this together, and that has been demonstrated by COVID19 more clearly now than ever.

“This is not a Cause which may be made a plaything for your idle fancies, nor is it a field for the foolish and faint of heart. By God, this is the arena of insight and detachment, of vision and upliftment, where none may spur on their chargers save the valiant horsemen of the Merciful, who have severed all attachment to the world of being.” (Kitáb-i-Aqdas 84)

“We have created you all from one same substance it is incumbent on you to be even as one soul, to walk with the same feet, eat with the same mouth and dwell in the same land, that from your inmost being, by your deeds and actions, the signs of oneness and the essence of detachment may be made manifest.” Baha’i writings

COVID19 has also put an end to the discussion about our role in destroying the environment and our world. We now KNOW, without a shadow of a doubt, that we are creating the problems by our daily habits and routines, and cannot go back to business as usual after this is over. Now that factories are shut down, most plains are not flying, and very few cars are on the road, mother Earth is finally taking a breath, and healing herself!

“Humanity, the Bahá’í writings explain, is experiencing an age of transition best described as a passage from collective childhood to collective maturity. The revolutionary changes that are occurring with bewildering swiftness in every department of life assume their real meaning in this light. During this period, the barriers raised by the thoughts, attitudes, and habits of the childhood of humankind are gradually being uprooted, and the structures of a new civilization that can reflect the powers of adulthood are taking shape.”

Let’s stay mindful, safe, and calm. Let’s use this opportunity to reach out to the ones less fortunate, to help keep the suffering to the minimum. Let’s educate the ones who don’t understand, and be patient with the ones who don’t have the capacity to comprehend the purpose and magnitude of these events. Let’s use this time to be out in nature more, to play, to meditate and reconnect with our loved ones on a deeper level. Let’s do the things we always wanted to do, but didn’t have time to ….

Thank God for the internet, skype, zoom, etc. With these tools we can be more connected than ever. We can help our immediate community as well as the world to unite and come up with solutions and much better ways of doing things. This is a fantastic opportunity that we have been given to create a healthy, united, abundant, peaceful and spiritual world that is kind and compassionate, operating from our higher self, and not be a slave to our Egos.

Let’s create a beautiful world where everyone can have enough healthy food, clean water, proper shelter, education and health care available to them. Create a place where everyone has the opportunity to prosper. We can create a world where everyone can be as ambitious as they want, or just obtain the basics, if they rather concentrate on things other than their career.

“Arts, crafts and sciences uplift the world of being, and are conducive to its exaltation. Knowledge is as wings to man’s life, and a ladder for his ascent. Its acquisition is incumbent upon everyone. The knowledge of such sciences, however, should be acquired as can profit the peoples of the earth, and not those which begin with words and end with words…

In truth, knowledge is a veritable treasure for man, and a source of glory, of bounty, of joy, of exaltation, of cheer and gladness unto him. Happy the man that cleaveth unto it, and woe betide the heedless.” Epistle to the Son of the Wolf

“O My Servants!
Ye are the trees of my garden; ye must give forth goodly and wondrous fruits, that ye yourselves and others may profit there from. Thus it is incumbent on everyone to engage in crafts and professions, for therein lies the secret of wealth, O men of understanding! For results depend upon means, and the grace of God shall be all-sufficient unto you. Trees that yield no fruit have been and will ever be for the fire.” The Hidden Words

We can balance work and play much better, so the next time we are attacked by some pathogen, our immune systems are not stressed to the limit, and we can eradicate it, before it becomes a Pandemic!

We can do this! It is possible my dear ones. It will just take an adjustment to our perspective.

When you look at the image above, do you see more weeds coming, or wishes and opportunities?

Sending out much love and light,

Firoozeh Bowden

Physical and spiritual Spring Cleaning

     Physical and spiritual Spring Cleaning

By; Firoozeh Bowden  3/22/2020
 Growing up in Iran, I remember that before every first day of spring (usually March 21) my mom as well as all our neighbors, doing a thorough house cleaning called (Khone Tacoony)”, shaking the house”! I guess that is what western people call Spring cleaning. We all got new clothes and celebrated the new year, and a fresh start.

“The season of Spring can also reflect the spiritual renewal that takes place when Messengers of God appear in stages of humanity’s growth. Just as there was a renewal of spiritual energies released with the appearance of Messengers such as, Noah, Abraham, Moses, Christ, Muhammad and Bahá’u’lláh, so too was there an advance in scientific and social progress.” Ted Slavin

“… just as the solar cycle has its four seasons, the cycle of the Sun of Reality has its distinct and successive periods. Each brings its vernal season or springtime. When the Sun of Reality returns to quicken the world of mankind a divine bounty descends from the heaven of generosity. The realm of thoughts and ideals is set in motion and blessed with new life. Minds are developed, hopes brighten, aspirations become spiritual, the virtues of the human world appear with freshened power of growth and the image and likeness of God become visible in man. It is the springtime of the inner world.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

First day of spring, Vernal Equinox, is the Persian, Baha’i, Zoroastrian, and many other people’s New Year. The time that everything renews, the dried up and dead branches and leaves are cleared and turned into compost. Little buds start to emerge, showing signs of new life.


“…There is no separation between a thing and its inherent qualities.
It is the inherent nature of things on this earth to change, thus we see around us the change of the seasons. Every spring is followed by a summer and every autumn brings a winter–every day a night and every evening a morning. There is a sequence in all things.


Thus when hatred and animosity, fighting, slaughtering, and great coldness of heart were governing this world, and darkness had overcome the nations, Bahá’u’lláh, like a bright star, rose from the horizon of Persia and shone with the great Light of Guidance, giving heavenly radiance and establishing the new Teaching….” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in London, page 27

19 Days before the start of spring Baha’is around the world also fast to cleanse their body and soul for the new year. It is a sacred time. It is not an easy time, but a necessary one.

O Peerless Lord! Be Thou a shelter for this poor child and a kind and forgiving Master unto this erring and unhappy soul. O Lord! Though we are but worthless plants, yet we belong to Thy garden of roses. Though saplings without leaves and blossoms, yet we are a part of Thine orchard. Nurture this plant then through the outpourings of the clouds of Thy tender mercy and quicken and refresh this sapling through the reviving breath of Thy spiritual springtime. Suffer him to become heedful, discerning and noble, and grant that he may attain eternal life and abide in Thy Kingdom for evermore.      – ‘Abdu’l-Bahá       Bahá’í Prayers

We know, if there are not small brush fires in the forest periodically to clear the dead and dry wood, there could be catastrophic forest fires that kill and displace a lot of creatures. The universe and mother nature constantly renew and cleanse, so nothing gets stagnate and blocked. That principle also applies to us not only physically, but also emotionally and spiritually. It applies to us as individuals, as well as Humanity as a whole.

I can’t help but wonder if the Coronavirus- COVID19 crisis is like a Spring cleaning, forcing us to review our way of life, our unhealthy habits, the way we do business everyday, and how it’s effecting the Earth and all the other creatures on it.

I wonder if this is natures way of telling us there is a better way to behave. There is a way for all of us to unite and see this world and humanity through the eyes of our higher selves (Soul) and not our Egos. Maybe this will be the way we will realize we are truly one entity and not separate. Coronavirus-COVID19 has shown us, there is only one Human race, and magnified the fact that what happens to one of us will eventually affects all of us. We can no longer pretend to build a wall around ourselves and our loved ones, and forsake everyone else. The only way we will survive is through cooperation, understanding, sharing resources, and ultimately Love.


“Dost thou reckon thyself only a puny form/When within thee the universe is folded?” (Seven Valleys 34) 

Although a lot of us have learned that to stay healthy and germ free, we need to take showers and wash our hands, we still don’t understand that we also need to let go of negative emotions and energetic blockages, through meditation and prayer to stay spiritually healthy. We need to stay open to the flow of the Divine Energy, and allow it to shower us and flow through us, to keep us clear, clean and rejuvenated.

When we stay connected to the source of our lives, we don’t just barely survive, but thrive. This is when we become more joyful, motivated, energized, and inspired. We become more creative and productive. We become more loving and compassionate. When more of us are connected, the community and the society benefits from our service. This is how we can unite and through understanding, patience and love create an ever advancing civilization, making this an abundant, peaceful world for everyone.

O thou seeker of Truth! The realm of the Kingdom is a unit. The only difference lies in this: That when the season of spring dawns, a new and wonderful motion and rejuvenation is witnessed in all the existing things; the mountains and meadows are revived; the trees find freshness and delicacy and are clothed with radiant and bright leaves, blossoms and fruits. In a like manner the preceding Manifestations form an inseparable link with the subsequent dispensations; nay, rather they are identical with each other. Since the world is constantly developing itself, the rays become stronger, the outpouring becomes greater and the sun appears in the meridian orbit.Bahá’í World Faith (‘Abdu’l-Bahá), page 380

By; Firoozeh Bowden  3/22/2020

GOD is Not punishing or forsaking us! The universe is a loving place.

“New World Order” Acrylic painting by Firoozeh Bowden, on 34″ X 60″ canvas. www.FiroozehsBazaar.com

GOD is Not punishing or forsaking us! The universe is a loving place.

By; Firoozeh Bowden  3/18/2020

Will we go back to the same life after crisis of coronavirus feeling bitter — thinking of this as a “Punishment” from “GOD”— or will we be using this expensive lesson to change our daily behavior and make this a better world?

Coronavirus (Covid-19) sooner or later will Calm down. Nobody knows how much damage and suffering physically, emotionally, and financially it causes in the meanwhile, especially en masse, with little to no means to defend themselves.

The big question is, will this experience cause the masses to finally wake up and become more aware of the fact that we are ONE entity; that what happens to one, can happen to all; step up to help each other and share resources; or, will most people go back to the Ego-driven, materialistic, rat race they called “life” and “survival of the fittest” — never having Enough?!

Many good people wake up from a restless sleep, hurrying to get the kids to school, sitting in traffic and going to a job they hate; judging everyone, getting irritated by people they find annoying, leaving work exhausted and totally depleted of energy; dragging themselves back home from work and after-school pick-ups after fighting traffic, with no joy left in them to share with their family. Then they go to sleep only to repeat it all again the next day? Living week to week, looking forward to that weekend where they can clean the house, buy groceries and run other errands, then veg out mindlessly with their TV, computer or smartphone — for what? While riding this merry-go-round, people remain totally oblivious of what is truly happening in this small world, from which they are isolating themselves, while having the illusion of being protected from……

When we realize that money is just a tool, and only as valuable as what we do with it, we become more mindful of how we spend it.

“O CHILDREN OF DUST! Tell the rich of the midnight sighing of the poor, lest heedlessness lead them into the path of destruction, and deprive them of the Tree of Wealth. To give and to be generous are attributes of Mine; well is it with him that adorneth himself with My virtues.” Bahá’u’lláh

If most of us continue with the mindless consumerism, constantly wanting the latest and the newest, then while we acquire more stuff, we do nothing to address the underlying emptiness.

“O SON OF MAN! Should prosperity befall thee, rejoice not, and should abasement come upon thee, grieve not, for both shall pass away and be no more.” Bahá’u’lláh, The Hidden Words

If we choose to view people who look or act differently from us as our enemies, and give into being afraid to interact with them, we revert back to the lower consciousness that made us deviate from the Divine path to begin with.

“Love is a light that never dwelleth in a heart possessed by fear.” Bahá’u’lláh

With all the scientific advances we have made in the past century, isn’t it time for humanity to act more mature and responsibly?

“It (humanity) cannot fly with one wing alone. If it tries to fly with the wing of religion alone it will land in the quagmire of superstition, and if it tries to fly with the wing of science alone it will end in the despairing slough of materialism.” Baha’i Faith

We have spiritually entered adulthood. Isn’t it time to put aside the immature ways of adolescence and act as the Noble being God created us to be?

“O SON OF SPIRIT! Noble have I created thee, yet thou hast abased thyself. Rise then unto that for which thou wast created.” Bahá’u’lláh, The Hidden Words

Maybe we need to reconnect daily with the Divine creator — The One called by different names such as God,universe, Allah, Jehovah, Tao, light,love — through meditation and prayers to recharge our spirit and operate from our higher self, instead of the usual Ego driven, victim and self-centered mentality.

“O SON OF MAN! Many a day hath passed over thee whilst thou hast busied thyself with thy fancies and idle imaginings. How long art thou to slumber on thy bed? Lift up thy head from slumber, for the Sun hath risen to the zenith, haply it may shine upon thee with the light of beauty.” Bahá’u’lláh, The Hidden Words

Can we be grateful for everything in our lives and know that God has a bigger plan that we can’t begin to understand? Know that if someone is pushing our buttons, they are playing their roll to teach us patience. If someone acts angry, jealous or hateful, they are teaching us how not to behave.

Ponder ye in your hearts the grace and the blessings of God and render thanks unto Him at eventide and at dawn. Bahá’u’lláh

O God, guide me, protect me, make of me a shining lamp and a brilliant star. Thou art the Mighty and the Powerful. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

I am not saying anything novel, but maybe this truth will resonate with you more now than before.

“The All-Knowing Physician hath His finger on the pulse of mankind. He perceiveth the disease, and prescribeth, in His unerring wisdom, the remedy. Every age hath its own problem….The remedy the world needeth in its present-day afflictions can never be the same as that which a subsequent age may require.” Baha’i writings

I have faith and trust that this experience will help most people pause, reflect, reconnect to their Higher self and take control back from their Egos; become more self aware and mindful, more conscious of their behavior towards others and the environment. ¶

It would be so wonderful to live in a more compassionate, kind and loving society, where everyone is concerned about the well being of their neighbors, the planet, and all the creatures that live here. knowing everyone is doing the best they can from their level of consciousness, united in pursuit of Peace, Love and collective Happiness.

“So powerful is the light of unity, that it can illuminate the whole earth.” . Bahá’u’lláh

Let us all strive to find our life’s purpose (Healer, Artist, Builder, Teacher, Protector….). Let’s work towards advancing civilization and serving humanity by using our unique God given talents. Let’s bring joy to everyone and shine the Divine light on anyone and anything we come in contact with. Let’s stay safe, positive, focused and clear. Allow the Divine Energy to constantly flow through each of us, giving our existence the nourishment needed to thrive.

“O SON OF SPIRIT! My first counsel is this: Possess a pure, kindly and radiant heart, that thine may be a sovereignty ancient, imperishable and everlasting.” Bahá’u’lláh, The Hidden Words

Sending much love, light, and prayers to all of you.
Firoozeh Bowden

OGod! Refresh and gladden my spirit. Purify my heart. Illumine my powers. I lay all my affairs in Thy hand. Thou art my Guide and my Refuge. I will no longer be sorrowful and grieved; I will be a happy and joyful being. O God! I will no longer be full of anxiety, nor will I let trouble harass me. I will not dwell on the unpleasant things of life. O God! Thou art more friend to me than I am to myself. I dedicate myself to Thee, O Lord.
‘Abdu’l-Bahá