baha'u'llah, baha’i writings - princeton...
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Blessed and happy is he that ariseth to promote the best
interests of the peoples and kindreds of the earth.... It is not
for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but
rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but
one country, and mankind its citizens.
Baha'u'llah, Baha’i Writings
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
O God, your holy child Jesus was a refugee in Egypt, fleeing
the violence of Herod. Protect your children today who are
forced to flee violence in its many forms. Bring them to safe
refuge. Awaken hearts and minds to the involuntary
uprooting of peoples across our globe, and help us to re-order
this world in the image of your love. Amen.
Personal Reflection, Christian Tradition
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
Moses established the six Levitical cities of refuge on both
sides of the Jordan River to serve as havens to escape
common cycles of blood vengeance. Nazarene churches in the
Middle East consider themselves to be fulfilling this role for
refugees. The accessibility, visibility, inclusivity, justice and
mediatorial nature of these cities correspond to their current
engagement. The Hebrew names of the six cities speak of the
setting apart, strengthening, fellowship, security,
encouragement and joy that is intended for refugees.
King David identified with the plight of refugees and sought
solace and strength in a compassionate God of justice and
mercy. The Son of David became a rock of refuge for all
nations, and calls His followers to be innumerable cities of
refuge to those He can identify with in their displacement,
rejection and brokenness.
Hebrew Neviʾim: Joshua 20:1-8 and Hebrew Ketuvim: Psalm
31:1-7
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
After the retirement of the Pandavas, Maharaja Parikshit began
ruling the earth guided by sages. While Maharaja Parikshit ruled
from his capital, Hastinapura, the symptoms of Kali-yuga began
infiltrating his kingdom. Conflict, addition, meat-eating, and abuse
of women began to spread. Maharaja Parikshit took his chariot and
traveled through his kingdom to establish peace.
During his travels, Maharaja Parikshit came across a bull and cow
conversing on the banks of the river. The bull's legs were broken and
the cow was weeping. The bull inquired, "Sweet lady, why are you
weeping? Are you lamenting for your relatives, torn from their
homes by war? Are you lamenting for me because I have lost my
legs? Are you afraid because the meat-eaters will kill you? Are you
lamenting because people no longer offer prayers to the gods, or
because drought and famine afflicts the earth? Are you feeling
compassion for the poor women and children that have been left
forlorn by unscrupulous men?"
Mother Earth, in the form of a cow, replied, “O Dharma, you were
also maintained on your four legs by the Supreme Lord. Yet in His
absence, all living beings suffer."
The king said: "O Dharma, O Mother Earth, cast off your fear. Who
has harmed you? Due to the rise of irreligion, you are suffering." The
king promised to drive out the forces of chaos that harmed the
people and the earth.
Hindu Tradition
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
When strangers reside with you in your land, you shall not
wrong them. The strangers who reside with you shall be to
you as your citizens; you shall love each one as yourself, for
you were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Leviticus 19:33-34, Hebrew Bible
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
THE NEW COLOSSUS
Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
“Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!” cries she
With silent lips. “Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!”
Emma Lazarus (1883)
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
Great love ends human suffering. Compassion and kindness
bring joy to the world.
Jing Shi Aphorism
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
The people who woke up in their own beds one morning, not
so long ago, brushed their teeth, walked to the toilet, woke up
their lovers and children and siblings, and went to begin the
day's work, the people who listened worriedly to the radio in
hopes of getting clarity about this or that political trouble, the
people who argued over rights to this or that fruit tree, the
people who got softly drunk together at twilight as they talked
about memories and plans, all these people will become
knowable to most of us, the global reading public, as "African
refugees," promising objects of academic specialization,
worthy objects of humanitarian attention. In becoming
objects of the philanthropic mode of power, the political,
historical, and biographical specificity of their life worlds
vanishes into a vast register labeled "unknowable, irrelevant,
unconfirmed, unusable." Here, then, is one more dimension
of the architecture of silence that has for so many years had
the effect of dehumanizing and making disappear this small,
worldly, complicated region of the world.
Liisa H Malkki, Purity and Exile (1995)
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
If we look back in our own stories or our ancestors, we all had
been immigrants once.
Personal Tradition
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
When the angels take the souls of those who have wronged
themselves, they ask them ‘What circumstances were you in?’
They reply, ‘We were oppressed in this land,’ and the angels say,
‘But was God’s earth not spacious enough for you to migrate to
some other place?’
Qu’ran 4:97
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
Whoever fulfilled the needs of his brother, God will fulfill his
needs; whoever brought his brother out of discomfort, God
will bring him out of the discomforts of the Day of
Resurrection, and whoever screened [provided sanctuary to]
a Muslim, God will screen [provide a sanctuary] to him on the
Day of Resurrection.
Islamic Hadith (Bukhari)
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
Have you seen the one who denies the Recompense? For that
is the one who drives away the orphan and does not
encourage the feeding of the poor. So woe to those who pray
[but] who are heedless of their prayer - those who make show
[of their deeds] and withhold [simple] assistance.
Qu’ran 107:1-7
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
Also thou shalt not oppress a stranger: for ye know the heart of
a stranger, seeing ye were strangers in the land of Egypt.
Exodus 23:9, Hebrew Bible
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
For I was hungry and you gave me something to eat, I was
thirsty and you gave me something to drink, I was a stranger
and you invited me in, I needed clothes and you clothed me, I
was sick and you looked after me, I was in prison and you came
to visit me.’
“Then the righteous will answer him, ‘Lord, when did we see
you hungry and feed you, or thirsty and give you something to
drink? When did we see you a stranger and invite you in, or
needing clothes and clothe you? When did we see you sick or in
prison and go to visit you?’
“The King will reply, ‘Truly I tell you, whatever you did for one
of the least of these brothers and sisters of mine, you did for
me.’
Matthew 25:35-40, New Testament
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
Home
No one leaves home unless home is the mouth of a shark. You only run for the border when you see the whole city running as well. Your neighbours running faster than you, the boy you went to school with who kissed you dizzy behind the old tin factory is holding a gun bigger than his body, you only leave home when home won't let you stay. No one would leave home unless home chased you, fire under feet, hot blood in your belly. It's not something you ever thought about doing, and so when you did - you carried the anthem under your breath, waiting until the airport toilet to tear up the passport and swallow, each mouthful of paper making it clear that you would not be going back. you have to understand, no one puts their children in a boat unless the water is safer than the land. Who would choose to spend days and nights in the stomach of a truck unless the miles travelled meant something more than journey. No one would choose to crawl under fences, be beaten until your shadow leaves you, raped, then drowned, forced to the bottom of the boat because you are darker, be sold, starved, shot at the border like a sick animal, be pitied, lose your name, lose your family, make a refugee camp a home for a year or two or ten, stripped and searched, find prison everywhere and if you survive and you are greeted on the other side with go home blacks, refugees dirty immigrants, asylum seekers sucking our country dry of milk, dark, with their hands out smell strange, savage - look what they've done to their own countries, what will they do to ours? The dirty looks in the street softer than a limb torn off, the indignity of everyday life more tender than fourteen men who look like your father, between your legs, insults easier to swallow than rubble, than your child's body in pieces - for now, forget about pride your survival is more important. I want to go home, but home is the mouth of a shark, home is the barrel of the gun and no one would leave home unless home chased you to the shore unless home tells you to leave what you could not behind, even if it was human. No one leaves home until home is a damp voice in your ear saying leave, run now, I don't know what i've become.
Warsan Shire
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
O children of men! Know ye not why We created you all from the same dust? That no one should exalt himself over the other. Ponder at all times in your hearts how ye were created.
Baha'u'llah, Baha’i Writings
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
May you all be united, may you be agreed, may you serve the
solidarity of mankind. May you be well-wishers of all humanity.
May you be assistants of every poor one. May you be nurses for
the sick. May you be sources of comfort to the broken in heart.
May you be a refuge for the wanderer. May you be a source of
courage to the affrighted one. Thus, through the favor and
assistance of God may the standard of the happiness of
humanity be held aloft in the center of the world and the ensign
of universal agreement be unfurled.
‘Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
Leaving that place, Jesus withdrew to the region of Tyre and
Sidon. A Canaanite woman from that vicinity came to him,
crying out, “Lord, Son of David, have mercy on me! My
daughter is demon-possessed and suffering terribly.”
Jesus did not answer a word. So his disciples came to him and
urged him, “Send her away, for she keeps crying out after us.”
He answered, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of Israel.”
The woman came and knelt before him. “Lord, help me!” she
said.
He replied, “It is not right to take the children’s bread and toss
it to the dogs.”
“Yes it is, Lord,” she said. “Even the dogs eat the crumbs that
fall from their master’s table.”
Then Jesus said to her, “Woman, you have great faith! Your
request is granted.” And her daughter was healed at that
moment.
Matthew 15:21-28
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
That is the ultimate ideal of hospitality, and perhaps the
greatest challenge for interreligious dialogue in our times, to
facilitate the discovery of the Divine presence in each and every
person, all created in the Divine Image and to receive them
accordingly.
Rabbi David Rosen
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
Share your food with the hungry, and give shelter to the
homeless. Give clothes to those who need them, and do not hide
from relatives who need your help.
Isaiah 58:7, Hebrew Bible
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
The bread in your cupboard belongs to the hungry. The coat
unused in your closet belongs to the one who needs it. The
shoes rotting in your closet belong to one who has no shoes. The
money which you put in the bank belongs to the poor.
Basil, Bishop of Caesarea (330-379)
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
The man who sees me in everything and everything within me
will not be lost to me, nor will I ever be lost to him...When he
sees all being as equal
in suffering or in joy because they are like himself, that man has
grown perfect in yoga.
Bhagavad Gita
These textual reflections were contributed by Seeking Refuge participants.
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