Clubbin' Review...

My last two blogs may not have seemed 'everyday' practical for many people, so I thought I'd comment on something almost EVERYONE has experienced by this age. Clubbing...I am still under 18, and my 19+ friends (yea...I'm Cooool) go clubbing and really enjoy themselves. Sounds like it would be lots of fun...but I always asked myself...when I'm over 18, will I be a fan of clubbing? Is it right? I am a Baha'i (www.bahaiworld.org) and the Baha'i Faith upholds standards of Excellence. I do not want to tell people "Yes, I am Baha'i", but not truly believe in it, not fully trust the Faith, and ignore certain principles as I please...so if I went clubbing...would I be contradicting my beliefs? I had my first clubbing experience (over 19 experience with my bros ID...ahem) not too long ago to understand whether clubbing WOULD be against the Baha'i Faith. The Baha'i Faith does not prohibit 'dancing', but promotes chastity, and prohibits alcohol consumption. I will recount my story by occasionally adding a one word sentence; "Interesting" to try and promote analysis of the previous sentence to decipher for yourself whether the event is 'good' or 'bad'. A number of friends and myself were headed for Jacks..and just as we entered the back parkinglot...a man was thrown out the back...with a bloody face, engaged in a conflict with one of the bouncers. Interesting. After about 10 minutes of freezing our butts off outside, we made our way inside and onto the dance floor. I found out something that very moment...Damn...I REALLY like to DANCE! Even when I'm tired, I can squeeze out some good energy and dance. I started to look around...girls dancing on guys, guys dancing on girls, girls dancing on girls. Interesting. Unexpectedly, one of the very friends I was with began to search for a girl to grind with...Very interesting. My friend was dancing and someone steped on his shoe....so he gave him a nudge to get off his shoe. The guy turns around, and gives him an intimidating look...followed by the hand sign language for peace (Who DOES THAT?). Interesting...As I was looking around the club with my super tall neck, I spotted some friends I had seen before at school. One was leaning back...looking all cool, and when I made eye contact I gave him a nice smile and wave. I got a half smile, with the two finger salute...Inteerresssting. I quickly came to find that people act differently in the club, another more intimidating personality comes out. I think dancing is great!...I love to dance! Yes! Dancing! But clubs...they arent for dancing. Should I be promoting such a place that has people with bloody faces coming out that back of the building? Should I be supporting a place that turns sweet kind people into intimidating, 'cool' people? Should I support a place where I can see girls/guys yelling at other girls/guys, or girls/guys yelling at other guys/girls because they say "You took mah MAN" or "I saw you dancin' wit HER/HIM!". The only reason I would continue going clubbing in HIGH moderation is because all my friends go, and its an integral part of society. It's unfortunate that clubbing isn't just about dancing and EVERYONE having fun...but still knowing the boundaries. Maybe its possible to go clubbing with a bunch of friends, and mind our own businesses and have our own fun...but still...I am supporting the Cause of Clubbing. In Conclusion...Mostly...I think clubbing would be contradicting my beliefs...is it contradicting yours? Add comments por favor.

Denied Education?

Religious persecution...not a big problem? Maybe not soo much in North America, but in many countries, it is. Baha'is make the largest religious minority in Iran (having over 400 000 Baha'is), and are all denied a high level education in the country. Iran is fully capable and does give out higher education to all of its other major religions, but simply refuses to give the same privledges to a Baha'i. Why? Whats wrong with Baha'is? Well...lets investigate what the Baha'is believe in, maybe they believe something very contraversial and wrong...Baha'is believe in equality of man and woman, equality of all races, Independent investigation of the Truth, One God, and they believe that all religions are equal, all coming from One God teaching what we need to know for that day and age, like the teachers of a school. (For more info: www.bahaiworld.org). Unless I have missed something, there is clearly nothing wrong with the Religion. What is it then? As any other religion of the past, when they have first started, they had to face a great deal of prejudice, suffering and sacrifice. The Baha'i Faith, sitting at 162 years old, is still relatively new, and is still experiencing these prejudices. The Iranian government has executed many thousands of Bahais (they imprisoned my grandfather for 7 years), and still cause them suffering. They do not allow the Baha'is to have their meetings, get significant jobs, or get higher education. Fine...they don't want the Baha'is in their institutions of higher learning?...Baha'is have even made efforts to create their own institutions of higher learning, but such efforts were blocked by the Iranian government. Because of this, a group of us at Western and a number of other universities have been asked to send letters to the institutions of Iran, to tell them to stop, and hopefuly this international pressure can bring this prejudice to an end. For more info: http://denial.bahai.org/ , www.deniededucation.com. Please add your comments.



After the Islamic Revolution, the Iranian government sought to destroy the Bahá’í leadership. In August 1980, the entire membership of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Bahá’ís of Iran, shown here, “disappeared.” All are presumed to have been killed.

Religion Cause War?

We hear everyday of different conflicting religions, different religions being persecuted and being treated differently than the mass population. Suicide bombings have been going on in Israel for a very long period of time because of these wars between different religions. Would we be better off without religion? Is it religion that causes these wars? Is the fact that there are soo many different religions the cause of these wars? If you ask me, I would say no. Religions do not even contradict eachother in their essence of having all humanity to funcion as one whole, in peace. Lets take a look at it this way. If every person followed the rules and principles of their own religions, there would be no more alcohol, drugs, use of weapons, adultry, racism, or prejudice. Those are only SOME of the things that all religions agree are 'immoral' and should not be included in daily activites. Why are all of these things still present? Why do we still have conflicting religions? I DONT KNOW, it doesn't add up. If religions don't say to use guns, alcohol, adultry, etc. then...why do people still do it? Clearly its humanities DEVIATION from religion that causes conflict, and not religion itself! It's the curruption that we add to religion that causes 'religion' to become impure. True? or not true? Add to the comments, tell me what you think.

God Spoke to me...

I'm sure you have all seen those TV shows or TV ads.."God spoke to me"..."God sent down this woman", "God cured my cancer"...etc. Well...I can attest to such claims. Many people have heard the voice of God in their prayers...while on their knees begging for mercy...and in the most sacred and meditative of moments...but my experience was a bit different. God spoke to me on the Volleyball Court. A group of substantial Athletes...gathered and decided to form an exceptional volleyball team..co-ed competative...we named our team "Are you hungry?". We lost our first game today, no sweat, just win the next two. We won the next game with a condemning lead, which gave us great confidence for our third game. ( For all you volley-ballas out there...the third game goes to 15). We were exerting absolute dominance...winning by double their score! The other team spiked the ball, tipped my fingers, and went out. The Ref did not see me touch the ball, and called it as our point. I came out and said the truth, that I had touched the ball....since the quote "Truthfulness is the Foundation of All Human Virtues" was flashing out at me from Ruhi book 1. I felt like "damn...there...I did something honest...so in the end, we should win." The score became 14 to 8 for us...Time for us to win!...was what we were all thinking...We had many opportunities to finish the game...perfect sets...not being aggressive...waiting for them to make mistakes...and it was not working in our benefit. Then...came the very moment that God spoke to me...the very Glorious moment that motivated me to write this very blog...It was our time to finish the game. A perfect set to finish the game was given to me...wait...me??...or...my brother?....Hell no!!....IM TAKING THIS!!...IM GOING TO FINISH IT!...My Ego...selfishness....cause me...and my brother...to both jump and try and hit the ball at the same time...resulting in a twin tower collision (we are both tall) and a fatal collapse...The point was not taken....at that very moment...God said to me "Youuuuu Egotistical, Selfish, Son of A ...!" I had realized...maybe Truthfulness IS the foundation of all human virtues...but other virtues, like being selfless, will help build the outter structure of such a foundation. As a result...we lost the game...one of the most painful...heartbreaking events that I have experience...in a while. Lesson Learnt?: Be less Selfish and egotisical FOOL....jeez...look at the pic in my LAST BLOG FOR HEAVENS SAKE!

Peace out,
Erfan