Asher

Friends - I had the chance to go to LouHelen (a Baha'i conference center in Michigan) this weekend for a young adult conference and, while the entire weekend was interesting an uplifting I thought that I would post a small part of a presentation that was given. The presenter's name was Hooman (I didn't get a last name) and he was evidently some sort of computer programmer/IT guy, so he was approaching the topic of how to legitimately discuss the topic of "Faith" with atheists/agnostics without falling back on, "I just believe." or something like that which I'm sure we've all done at one point or another.

The very basic premise, and I will try to keep this post short, was that Religion is based on as much logic as science. The point was that if we were all powerful, we would do things the same way God would.

The presenter showed us a program that was written in the 70's called the Game of Life. In this program there is a grid of gray squares. Some of the squares are lit yellow. This means that they are "alive" squares. There are simple rules like, if a gray square is surrounded by three alive squares it becomes alive - this is a birth. If an alive square is isolated, or surrounded by too many alive squares it becomes gray - this is a death. These are rough examples of the rules of this universe, not actual facts...I read something close to these off of one of the slides.

The presenter then said that in this universe, he was all powerful. Each square represented 1 bit of information which means that it is either a 1 or a 0. He held total controll over that. He should us how he could give life or take life away in any way he chose. So, he was all-powerful in this Universe. Anything that he wanted to do, he could.

He then posed a question, "what if I wanted to give this particular square a message. Can I completely into this universe?" The answer, of course, is no. A single bit of information cannot hold everything that a human being is. Even if you break a human being down to simply his/her DNA and compress that information (which can fit into a large data disc) You are still talking about Millions of bits. So, the creator of this universe cannot become physically part of that universe.

Obviously, then, an intermediary is needed. So you designate a square and you begin to give it messages that you want it to pass along to other squares. Perhaps you tell it that the world you live in is much vaster than they can imagine. How would it tell that to others? Perhaps something like, "the world of our Creator consists of an infinite number of squares." This does not come close to the truth, so we see how those that are created cannot understand the world of the creator.

A final point, and I am not able to do the presentation full justice but thank you for bearing with me on this, is that God (our Creator) is Omnipotent (all-powerful). But, just because He is all-powerful, does not mean that He can do anything.

Surprised? According to a the speaker (and backed up by a quote I don't have but may be able to find) God can NEVER be not-God. The instant that God would become human, He would cease to be God.

So, why does God not perform many miracles to prove His existence? The speaker thinks that this may be so that humans still have the freedom of choice. If you asked for something, and God granted it every time, sooner or later you would HAVE to acknowledge His existence. But then you would not longer be anything but a puppet. So, God gives you choices, and he gives us Manifestations that can still be doubted because if He proved beyond a doubt his existence, we would no longer be free.

So, I ask you: what do you think about this (those of you that made it the whole way through - sorry it's so long)? Does this ring of truth to you? What would you do if you were Almighty? Its an interesting subject.
~Asher

I saw a videotape of a speech by, I believe, former House of Justice member Mr. Nakjavani recently. In the speech, he tells a story he wrote, which I thought I would share. He advises that for the purposes of this story, the metal rod can speak, move and has a soul. This is my paraphrase.

There was a metal rod, rusted over laying on the ground. A Baha'i teacher came up to the Rod and said, "Would you like me to tell you about the great fire burning in the world?" And the rod answered, "Yes." So, they walked together and talked about the great fire. Presently, they could see smoke rising above the trees, and the teacher pointed and said, "Look! There is smoke. Surely, you must agree that where there is smoke, a fire is at the bottom." And the rod agreed that if there was smoke, there must be a fire.

[At this point in the speech, Mr. Nakjavani stopped and said, "Now some Baha'is would say, 'If you believe there is a fire then you must be a Baha'i-come sign your card!' But this is not the right time." He then continued with the story.]

The teacher said, "Come, let us get closer." So, the teacher and the rod traveled closer and before long they could smell the fire. And the teacher said, "Surely you must agree that since you can smell a fire, there must be a fire." And the rod agreed. The teacher said, "Come, let us get closer."

Before long, the two could hear the snapping and crackling of the fire. The teacher again drew the conclusion that the sound of the fire must mean there was, indeed a fire. Again, the rod agreed. Then, they broke the tree line and they could see the fire. And the teacher said to the rod, "Let us get closer."

As they approached the fire, they could feel the heat emanating from the fire, but still the teacher said, "Let us go closer." And, as they stood at the very edge of the fire, feeling its warmth flooding over them, the teacher said to the rod, "Now, let us throw ourselves into the fire." And so they did.

And as the rod lay in the fire, it began to get hot. And it got hotter and hotter. As it reached new temperatures, the rust that had previously covered it began to fall off. And it began to take on the colors of the fire. Before long, it was nearly impossible to determine where the fire ended and the rod began.

The moral of this story is that it is not enough to simply take our seekers and show them the logic of the Baha'i Faith. A true teacher will take the seeker all the way to the Love of God, stand with them at the precipice and say "Let us throw ourselves into the Love of God." And together, they will jump.
~Asher

This is a clip from an Onion article about releasing "girls gone wild" back into civilization. It deals with how the scientists identified these girls. Enjoy: "Rescue volunteers identified the Girls Gone Wild by their torn tanktops, threadbare Daisy Duke-style cutoff shorts, hair extension plumage, and bright orange skin with patterned lower-back markings." For the entire article go to: http://www.theonion.com/content/node/46936

I believe that Americans, by and large, have gotten sloppy. I've noticed in the Baha'i community, and Christina has assured me that this is also the case in the Christian community that American believers are not viewing religion so much as a guideline or structure for life, but instead a form of varied entertainment. Let me explain. I will be using Baha'i examples, because they are the ones I know best, but I'm fairly confident that this is in many different religions. I would be interested in hearing what others think, especially Buddhism, Chris, which may be different due to its informal stucture.

As some of you may know, I have somewhat recently been elected to serve on the Local Spiritual Assembly of Indianapolis, which is a great honor. I am still fairly new to the Indianapolis community, maybe there 9 months or so, so I didn't realize the subtleties of the community. I come from a small community, 9 adults or so. With children, the community may hit 13. Its a big jump to come to a community of 180. In a community that big, some people will fall through the cracks without a structured system and others simply won't be interested in what the planning committees come up with.

The crux of the situation is this. Christina and I are two of the only youth that consistently participate. Of the 180 on roll, I know maybe, MAYBE 50. So, why is attendance so bad? I believe that it comes down to an American attitude that religion must entertain. There are some churches that have rock bands that play every week, that have multimedia presentations and production crews. There is nothing wrong with that, but the Baha'i Faith cannot match that at this point. The believers need to be more focused and more responsible for their religion. Christianity is a very established religion. The Baha'i Faith, as much as I would wish otherwise, in this country is not.

I want the believers to take more personal responsibility for their religion. Or, as I like to put it, have a mature relationship with their Faith. If someone in the Baha'i Faith says to me, Feast is boring and so I don't go, I challenge them to make it interesting for themselves. I ask them what would make it more interesting. Is it singing, dancing, more speeches about Baha'i subjects? What is it that you're looking for from Feast? Or from a Sunday devotional? Or a study circle? I believe that it is our duty as Baha'i's to answer that question for ourselves and then to DO SOMETHING about it when we find the answer.

I realized this was the only way to respond maturely when I desired more Baha'is to give talks or speeches about Baha'i subjects. To simply expect someone else to make my wishes come true would be ridiculous. It is my responsiblity, charged by Baha'u'llah to know God and to worship him, whatever it takes for me to feel connected. The wonderful thing about the Baha'i Faith is that it encourages personal investigation of truth, which empowers the Baha'is to do things for themselves. In the end, they are accountable for their own connections to the Faith. I think that people who constantly find the Baha'i activites lacking and simply stop going are not only failing themselves, but everyone around them. If everyone who didn't like what they saw quit, the Faith would never grow.

The winter that we have been so lucky to avoid this year in Indiana came crashing down on us, with an overnight snow dump. And this on the first official day of spring, too. On that note, today is the Baha'i New Year, or Naw Ruz (which I believe means New Day literally translated). So, happy Naw Ruz, here's some snow. The thing that never ceases to amaze me is that people in Indiana-and probably everywhere-FREAK when they see snow and act like they have never driven in snow before in their lives. On the radio this morning, as I was stuck in traffic of the freeway, I've never heard so many accidents listed. The newscaster couldn't even list them all there were so many on the freeway alone. People just need to relax, take a deep breath and drive responsibly.
~Asher

For those who don't already know, I am about a month into my new job in a call center for an insurance co. We have spent the last 5 weeks training and learning the insurance business, now I am sitting at my comp. waiting for calls. So, hopefully I'll be better about writing here because I'm going to have a lot more time online. I hope that everyone is doing GREAT! Talk to you soon.
~Asher

I've returned from my trip to Evansville. Wow, Evansville sucks. I've never heard of restaurants closing at 8 pm. Even fast food, chain-restaurants did. I'm talking Blimpies and Chic Fillet. How ridiculous is that?!? Anyway, the conference was really fun. Out of 9 possible awards we won 3 for Purdue, which is a really big thing. I *think* we won more than any other school there. The three are: best costuming project, best dramatic critic, and best actor/actress which has not been won by a Purdue student since 1985. Go us!

I'm tired because just as I was going to go to bed last night, Jamal had trouble with his car. By trouble I mean that the car door on his new/old van fell off. He called his dad and it took us almost an hour to get it back on in sub-zero temps. I got mild frostbite, because Jamal used my gloves. He needed them more because I made HIM hold the door up while I opted to hold the flashlight up.

The Raiders move on to the AFC game versus the Titans. I'm a big Raiders fan, and Jamal loves the Titans. Should make for a big game.

~Asher

I just got an email from a girl in the theatre department with whom I agreed to do a scene for a conference she's going to. She and I were going to do a scene, but nothing ever happened and I just forgot about it finally. Well, apparently she's been trying to reach me and she got ahold of me tonight, and we are due at practice tomorrow for one of the heads of theatre for Purdue. She's been lying and said that we've been practicing the whole time and now I have to go over to her house at midnight to practice for a few hours so we don't totally blow. Anyway, it looks like I'll be packing my bags and going to Evansville, IN. Hoo-ah! Oh, well. Maybe it'll be fun...I'm thinking probably so.

~Asher

Congradulations out to Ohio State, who beat Miami in double overtime tonight. I beleive that brings the Big Ten up to victories in 5 out its 7 bowl games. Go Purdue, who won the Sun Bowl, and go Big Ten!

~Asher

Resolutions for the New Year? I have two. One: Learn to play the guitar at least decently. Two: Consistently make an effort to stay in shape. And by shape I mean one that isn't roundish. I'm usually not at risk here, but winter has hit me hard. I havn't worked out in two months or something rediculous like that.

~Asher

Here a three pictures I took at the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland, OH. Camera's arn't allowed in there, but I managed to sneak these few. Shh. Don't tell anyone.



This is outside the Hall of Fame.



I beleive these are from a Pink Floyd album cover. An interesting side note, the building in the background is where the Cleveland Browns play. They won the day I was at the Hall of Fame, beating the Falcons by 10 points.



These are in the Moby/Gwen Steffani music video. For some reason I just liked them.

~Asher

Ah, its the end of a long day. I got up at 2 because Frank called me and wanted to hang out. I hadn't gone to bed until 5:30 or so in the AM. Anyway, we got ready and called our friends because over the night it had snowed 4 or 5 inches and we decided that today was the day to play some snow football.

Teams were: me, Jamal, and Shawn (a 6 foot, 120 pound white guy) vrs. Levin, Casey, and Franklin ( a 5 10" 300 pound black guy.) We killed them, but that was because if Jamal or I got the ball, we could cut and none of the others could follow as fast. Jamal scored 4 touchdowns followed by me with 3 but we called one of them back and changed the rules because it was too easy for a quarterback to scramble and score like I did.

After that I headed to work. Long day. I had to build a movie and breakdown two. For those of you who don't know what that means, movies are shipped in small increments of 5-9 reels. So when you get or lose a movie, you have to combine these reels into one big reel for showing. It took me about 7 hours to do everything. *brain dead*

I came home and called Sholeh. We are in the process of discussing our relationship, a task that to any true guy is about as preferable as getting kicked in the testes.

Multiple times.

Anyway, now its time to fool around on my guitar and just let my thoughts go. Sweet eternity, give me bliss. I've had a headache for 6 straight days.

Happy new year everyone! I didn't do anything, really. We spent the night up to new years playing games at Jamal's parents house. I left quickly after midnight and I was just going to go to sleep but I am ending up sitting here writing and talking to Frank about High School while he goes through old yearbooks. I keep hoping that Sholeh will call.

Why havn't you called?

I read Chris's post about our vacation and I have to admit I feel like I let him down. I was hoping that this time because I know him better, I would be able to help him along and merge with the family better. Maybe I was overcompensating. I dunno. Anyway, I feel bad.

I'm going to bed. Happy new year. I have to work in the morning. Bye. ~Asher

Sigh. Sholeh came to town today, just passing through on her way to Cincinnati's Midwinter Conference. I thought I was going to be able to see her and eat lunch with her, my mom and some few other friends. Instead, it turns out they got out late and they made it to Lafayette with 10 minutes to go before I had to be at work. I called and said I would be late but because it was the radio station I was working with I couldn't just not go. So here I sit, while Sholeh is still in my town and I cannot see her, because I have to entertain the elite thinkers of Indiana.

Last time I was on LJ I went looking for more people to talk to. I found 4 or 5, some previously friends that I didn't know were on LJ. My theory is that if I have people drawing me onto LJ, I'll be better about updating.

It turns out that one of my managers that was at the christmas party went home and slept with one of the staffers, which is a big gossip drawer at the theatre because not only does it violate the inter-company dating policy but he has a girlfriend. She came in that night and he was really sweet to her and it made me sick because I wanted to do nothing more than tell her. I felt like I shouldn't get involved though. I guess this is what happens when you party. Good thing I don't do it too often.

Merry Christmas everyone! I made it through this christmas without buying a single present except for my uncle George. So, if you didn't get anything from me, maybe if you're nice I can fit you into my Ayammi-Ha plans.
~Asher

I went to a christmas party last night with a few of the employees from the movie theatre. It was at this big house 25 minutes in the country, with nothing around. This is the second party I have attended at this house, and practically the second party I have attended since I started college. Maybe I don't give off that "invite me to your party" vibe. Anyway, while I was there and people were playing drinking games and becoming more drunk and then some factions went off into other rooms to get high, I couldn't help but wonder why people would do this to themselves. Then I wondered if I wasn't Baha'i would I also do this? I'd like to say no, no way I would willingly reduce my intelligence for no other reason than to fit in with people that I don't necessarily want to fit in with anyway, but who knows? Peer pressure is definitely a killer. It wasn't until I was hugged numerous times and all the dancing (if you can call it that) was over that I decided that this is a big problem in the world. The simple fact that all of the anti-drinking campains are against drinking and driving and not against drinking itself bothers me. I don't understand how the leaders of the world can condone drinking, and especially getting drunk. It bothers me. ~Asher

Its been awhile. I don't even know where to start...
Life is going well. I'm sick of school, but I know that I'll be there awhile longer. The problem with writing in the journal is that I never have anything deep to say. My cousin, Chris, always seems to have things on his mind, but I don't. Whenever I have a question about how the world works, I think about it until I come to an answer I like. If I can't come up with one, I tend to forget it and chalk it up to being one of the great mysteries of life. It helps to have a prophet of God who answers many of lifes big questions in thousands of tablets at my disposal. Hmm, what happens after death...let's look it up. Where's my Aqdas? It looks like my grades this semester will go in the realm of Two A's, a B, and a C or 2 A's and 2 C's. Not the best in the world but I maintain I was not motivated by my classes. My roomate might flunk out of Purdue because he's already on academic probation. This is hard for me to accept because if I EVER did that bad, I would kick it in and make sure I stepped it up a notch. I don't understand how he can nonchalantly say that he just didn't care about his classes. Anyway, he will probably go to a community college either here in town or up in Wisconsin, where his girlfriend lives. By the way, Chris, if you read this I am so happy for you and Prema. Sorry about the distance and all. That sucks. Anyway, my whole life seems really good right now compared to Jamal's (my roomate), I'm introspective tonight. I wish I could talk it out with Sholeh, but she has company. Oh well. :P. Anyway, I will close with this: why don't more people try to live their dream? I saw Friends tonight and Chandler quit his job, because he didn't like it and I thought. Yeah, if you don't like what you're doing, then its all a waste of time anyway. If you beleive in an Afterlife, then you probably don't put much emphasis on money or your job in this world, because its so transit in the scheme of things. If you don't, then you definitly shouldn't think about those things, you should be out living your life to its fullest, because that's all you think you have. Anyway, not too deep but I can't imagine doing something I didn't like everyday for the next 40 odd years. That's why I'm going into acting. I figure if I make enough friends in the world, they can single handedly support my movie career and I won't even have to be any good, they'll all go see me 40 times each. So, I'm counting on you all. Love, Asher

I moved out of my mom's house. Jamal and I moved into a very small apartment about a mile and a half from campus in Lafayette. Actually, Jamal is the one who really knows how small it is. My room is quite spacious - almost as big as our living room. We commonly refer to Jamal's room as the box, though because its so small and just a box, really. A common usage of this phrase would be when he makes me mad..."Jamal, go to your box!" Something along that line. Anyway, we are really enjoying living together and getting much more sleep because we don't have to go anywhere to hang out and we see a lot of each other anyway, so our quota is met quite easily. Come to Lafayette, and I'll give you all tours. ~Asher

Oh, by the way, Jamal and I located an apartment in a one story house that we want to get. Its in a nice part of Lafayette and works out location wise for both of us job-wise. Its cheap, but small. I'm pretty excited though. If we get it, we'll move in almost immediately. Shoot me I don't want to move. ~Asher

tired. I woke up 4 minutes before I was supposed to be at work today, so needless to say I was late. Oh well, that's the beauty of the job. I don't go on air until 21 after the hour, so I can be a little late. I wrote a review of Minority Report, which I will rewrite here. I like it. Its a little weird to put it in a print medium, though. Bear in mind its supposed to be me reciting it over the radio:



Seventy two. THat's how old I'll be in 2054, the year Stephen Speilberg's new sci-fi thriller Minority Report takes place. Speilberg's future contains much of the world around us today. There are drug problems, mass-transportation, and advertisements everywhere. The future also contains a few suprises. Three to be exact. I'm talking about three children known only as the precognitives. These "precogs" are born of parents who took an advanced drug, causing their offspring to suffer brain damage. The damage comes in the form of seeing the future. THese children can see murduers in their sleep before they happen. As the movie opens, we soon learn that Washington D.C. is in a six year test of the notion of precrime. Heading the fight for precrime is detective John Anderton, whose son was kidnapped at age six. Played by Tom Cruise, Anderton is a strong beleiver in precrime until the precogs predict he will murder someone he has never met. This kicks off a chain of events that can only be described as awesome. ruise gives his normal strong performance, however don't look for anything special out of him. Its a Mission Impossible-type role set years in the future. The strongest performance is that of Samantha Morton as Agatha, one of the precogs. Morton makes a hard role come to life in a cold and terrifying way and could be a strong contender for best supporting actress come Oscar-time. The best part of the movie is the realistic picture it gives the world, both optimistic and pessimistic, the good and the bad. If precrime does come about remember- Everybody runs. Except me, because I'll be seventy two.



I'm not even sure how much I liked Minority Report. It definitely didn't rate up as one of my favorites. I'm not a huge Cruise fan. I think that with very few exceptions he is the same character in every movie. I actually liked the Bourne Identity more than Minority Report. Matt Damon rocks!

Also, if its still in the theaters, go see Insomnia. That's a good one too.

Life is really on an up-swing right now. For those of you who don't regularly talk to me, (and because I don't often write here) let me fill you in. I work two jobs right now. One is at a radio station. I have two primary functions there. One is to work the board shift and give weather, news, etc. to our listeners. It's ok, but I don't absolutely love doing that. The part that I love is the other responsibility. I am also the charter member and at this point practically the entire news team for my radio station, WBAA. This means that if there is a conference or something of note, I am the one who covers it and then records a story they play on air. I love it, too. Ok, also good news at my other job, the movie theater. I've been there for about a month and a half. after my first three weeks, I was given employee of the month for this month. I also received my first evaluation the other day. I got very good marks and they said that I would be moving up to booth very soon. Booth is what they call being the projectionist. I got my first lesson yesterday. I can almost thread a film already. I'm pretty happy in general about that. I also talked to this girl named Liz who is sort of slated to be the next Manager in Training. She said that the managers are looking seriously at having me move into an MIT job very fast. That's good too. Other than that, let me think. I think that I will be visiting Sholeh very soon. Just a day or two. Also, I was invited out by some workmates after work yesterday, so I'm getting into the clique there. I don't see myself as a cliquish person, so if they accept me, perhaps I can bring more people in with me. I dunno. What else? hmm. Oh, the United States beat Mexico in the World Cup early this morning and I saw it. Great game. I beleive that Mexico controlled the ball something like 67% of the time, to the U.S.'s 33%, but we scored twice and they never scored. It was kind of rediculous, actually. This is the first time the U.S. has shut out a team in the World Cup since 1930. Towards the end, when it was obvious they weren't going to be able to come back, the Mexican players started trying to hurt ours, but I guess that's only to be expected. I'm not sure when the last time the U.S. made it past the second round was. Must have been awhile. Go us! Go U.S.! I'm finally losing a little of the weight I gained at LouHelen. Unfortunately, I'm not working out as much as I should, so a decent amount of the weight I'm losing is muscle. I need more time in the day. I'll be a counselor for Youth Eagle this summer. Can't wait to go back to LouHelen. I guess that's about it. Love, Asher