Football and Faith

Does football have a purpose? what is it? How does it contribute to the development of a new civilization…?

A personal reflection on the disintegration of society

isolated in a crowd

Today, in society, the participants are, for the most part, bewildered by the dazzling lights of individualism. We have lost hold on our moral purpose. Too often see truth in the form of ‘lessons’ learned between the kingdoms of animal and man… and ignore our noble reality as a creature endowed with all the qualities of our Creator. Largely we interact on playing fields of power, politics and economic prowess. The winners champion the cause of materialistic propagation and consumption. The spiritual battles are fought in obscure places. Holy Words with Pure and Goodly deeds awaken vast numbers who have ears to hear. They are sobered-up to acknowledge their society and develop the tools to respond to its needs. Yet still, the masses, who throughout history have at best been spectators in their own civilization building, move as herds of cattle… following the latest propaganda and consumer laws which have been set in motion by them whose words often differ from their deeds. They walk in isolation while packed in un-organized croweds.

Generally unable to fulfil their desire to community with their Maker, they turn their gaze to each other to commune with one another often leading to interactions ignoble for human beings. Unaware their own happiness is latent in their existing exigencies and dormant resources their thirst increases for answers to the problems they don’t have the language to voice.

Civilization Building

Light upon light will shine upon society. The protaganisists of human civilizaiton will stand within a fortress of twin purpose. THey will be imbued with a strong sense of purpose that impels them both to transform their own selves and contribute to the transformation of society… they will recognize the coherence in this transformation. Afterall is it possible to change one without the other? Is man not organic with his environment? This is moral purpose.

My attempt to understand ‘moral purpose’

It will be as the Composer of human civilization has created a symphonic masterpiece with unique parts for all the obscure instruments in His Orchestra. Now as the musicians have reached maturity they now how to use their talents and tools to make the most divine sounds. Through their own efforts and the training in a sequence of programs they have learned to read music and to follow the direction of the Conductor. The aim and objective of the symphonic masterpiece is to build unity with a rich contrast of distinct harmonies which intoxicates the ears of everyone and invites them to contribute to the creation of a masterpiece unmatched throughout history. As the musicians come together they are united in parts with celestial harmony and fill the sounds of empty and static auditoriums. The sounds of violins, pianos and human voices awaken others to join in.

All eyes become fixed on the Conductor enabling them to reach greater capacity collectively than the most talented soloist can achieve alone. This is what I understand by moral purpose, developing all we have in accordance with structure, guidance and out of love for something more than us as individuals… this is using our instruments and tools for humanity.

How does this relate to football?

Perhaps football provides venues where were can develop qualities that belong to our higher nature… like justice, patience, forbearance, encouragement as well as many others. I think our understanding of football increases so that we view our purpose to develop these qualities and to help our teams develop these qualities we might be one step closer… but what does that look like? How do we do this?

The denial of Baha’is to higher education is the longest standing form of persecution against the Baha’is in Iran. This issue is not a political issue it is a human rights issue.

Iran

Iran, a Nation which has openly and freely signed the Universal Declaration for Human Rights (article 26, paragraph 2)

Education shall be directed to the full development of the human personality and to the strengthening of respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms. It shall promote understanding, tolerance and friendship among all nations, racial or religious groups, and shall further the activities of the United Nations for the maintenance of peace.

I am not writing this as a form of criticism of the Government of Iran, I am writing this because this is a humanitarian issue. In football if a referee or an entire football federation decided to red card a group of players based on religion, race or income the sponsors, supporters and fans would question their loyalty. Despite the way they are being treated, the Baha’is in Iran still remain loyal to their government, they do not seek revolution or violent means, they ask that they

Right University, Wrong Religion?

be able to access their human rights as stated in the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which their country openly choose to bind themselves to.

You can read more about this here. Below is an excerpt from one of the documents prepared by the Baha’i International Community;

In the public mind, the right to education does not always rise to the highest level of concern. Other basic human rights - especially those concerned with rights to life, liberty and personal security - often seem more urgent. And to be fair, instances of innocent people being executed, thrown into prison, or tortured demand our immediate attention and action.

Yet in the long view, the denial of a person’s right to education is equally a denial of his right to exist as a free and productive human being. For without education, the individual is condemned to the prison of his own ignorance, tortured over his lack of opportunities, and, more than likely, consigned to a life of poverty, underdevelopment, and oppression.

It is a terrible tragedy that so many millions of people around the world are unable to exercise their basic right to education. In most cases, however, it is not a matter of will but of resources. In the developing world, especially, many governments simply do not have the infrastructure to provide their young people with an adequate education.

But it is an entirely different matter when a government willfully seeks to deprive its people - or a group of its people - from receiving an education. Sadly, that is the case in present day Iran.

Since 1979, the government of Iran has systematically sought to deprive its largest religious minority of the right to a full education. Specifically, the Islamic Republic of Iran has for more than 25 years blocked the 300,000-member Bahá’í community from higher education, refusing young Bahá’ís entry into university and college. The government has also sought to close down Bahá’í efforts to establish their own institutions of higher learning.

The efforts of the Iranian government to deny Bahá’ís the right to education can only be seen as a coordinated effort to eradicate the Bahá’í community as a viable group within Iranian society.

This action comes against a wider picture of persecution of the Iranian Bahá’í community that has included arbitrary executions, unjustified imprisonment, the confiscation of property, and severe restrictions on freedom of religious practice and worship. Since the Islamic government came to power, more than 200 Bahá’ís have been killed, hundreds have been imprisoned, and thousands have had property or businesses confiscated, been fired from jobs, and/or have had pensions terminated. Bahá’í holy sites have been destroyed, the community’s elected administrative structure has been dismantled, and Bahá’ís have been denied a host of other rights, ranging from freedom of movement to simple inheritance rights.

Against that backdrop, the efforts of the Iranian government to deny Bahá’ís the right to education can only be seen as a coordinated effort to eradicate the Bahá’í community as a viable group within Iranian society.

Indeed, a careful examination of Iran’s persecution of the Bahá’í community reveals that the Iranian government has long sought specifically to completely block the “progress and development” of the community - as outlined by the government in a “secret” memorandum that surfaced in 1993. [See "Iran's Secret Blueprint for Repression"]

In the face of an international outcry over the most blatant elements of its oppresive behavior, the Iranian government has in recent years plainly acted to moderate its violations. The killing and imprisonment of Bahá’ís has largely been halted.

Yet any fair-minded reading of the situation reveals that the government has not abandoned its ultimate objective of destroying the Bahá’í community - and that it persists towards this goal while seeking trade and other forms of favorable treatment from the West.

Nowhere is this more evident than in the government’s continuing effort to prevent Bahá’ís from obtaining higher education.

Why the Silence Clare?

The reason why i haven’t blogged in so long is because there is something that I long to write about, something which causes everything else to pale in comparison and yet my power of expression is powerless to reproduce its magnanimity and grandeur.

The Perfect Team

Do you know the feeling of standing on a perfect pitch with team you love and adore ready to do what you love most of all? Imagine that you are a member of a team distinguished by their character and efforts. Imagine you are standing in a stadium where the lights have been dimmed over the audience, so dimmed in comparison to the bright lights focused on the pitch that you can not identify a single person in the auditorium. You hear the whistles and chants of excited fans, waiting… patiently waiting for the game to start. All 22 of you are thinking about the same thing, all 22 of you have been training and now you are putting into action the skills you have so systematically been developing. All 22 of you have different roles but the objective is the same… to play a good game, to make united efforts and win.

Dear friends, i have found my most perfect pitch and have seen the distinguished team that I intend to stand in serried lines with. I have been training day and night and am eager to utilize these latent skills. In my thirst for the empowerment of the next generation, of junior youth, I am ready to cast aside my own victory and support them in theirs… perhaps our victory is the same. Perhaps the lines that I have drawn, separating the various roles and responsibilities in my life, are artificial and imaginary?

Leave of Absence

Finding Beauty and Joy

I will be taking at least a 2 year leave of absence from my studies to serve full time as the junior youth coordinator for England. During the last few months I have become increasingly aware of the demand for junior youth activities in England (and beyond!). I feel strongly that I should be doing this right now. There are very few things in this world that bring me greater joy than serving in this capacity.

To a naked eye and shallow glance I have been criticized of throwing away a future of success as an Oxford academic. I ask my friends to allow their eyes to consider the garments that have clothed my decision, before they deprive themselves from seeing the beauty of this journey and are burdened by the sadness of wasted potential. Are we not trained so that we might have the skills and knowledge to better our own lives and the lives of others? Do we not educate ourselves so that we might be contribute to an ever-advancing civilization? What greater bounty is it then to serve daily helping others to develop the skills and qualities required to accompanying junior youth between the ages of 11-15 to develop their spiritual and intellectual excellence?

Football and “Prayers for a New Age”

This post has been written by my lovely mother, Nikki Kinne, who is also a professional artist. You can check out her paintings and buisness here.

Time and again I’m gain understanding as to how everything is related to everything else. For instance, a truth discovered in the arts, on a spiritual path or in social sciences, is also a truth on the football field. A fundamental example could be to regard the neurological capacity a person is born with, there are those who are talented in physical endeavors, or an ‘easy’ nature that makes for popularity, perhaps talent in artistic expression, or early belief in spiritual things, these qualities are nothing unless the person couples it with study and a discipline within the area they are talented at.

On the hand, someone with little or no talent for football, but has a great love for it, is willing to make the sacrifices, and keeps trying will surpass the most naturally talented, but undisciplined player.My artist mentor, not a Baha’i, was pushing me to ‘play’ with the paint, just explore, fall in love with what watercolor could do. 4 years of studying under her and her repeating the same instruction for 4 years, I still wasn’t getting it. I also hadn’t figured how to take the Allau’Abha’s to something more than finger counting. Through a series of accidents the idea came to paint my Allau’Abhas.

Family

The math was quickly adapted, and other problems solved over the first week. The mentor, who I was co-teaching at a university campus on the Great Lakes was so excited by my private art that she had me present the process to the Christian based university group. I was out of my comfort zone to say the least, and it was like setting off a bomb in the middle of a revival meeting. But, all turned out wonderful.

Once I got home all I wanted to do was paint these prayer paintings that had no market, let alone a place to show. I saw them as like the art an Alaskan hunter painted inside his tool box 100s of years ago. Private! I had to start limiting the time on them because I wasn’t getting the ordered paintings done for the galleries.

While on Pilgrimage I sought guidance while in the Shrines regarding my art. The message was loud and clear

Bahji

that it was time to start painting the things really close to my heart, Baha’i subjects. It knocks the breath out of a person to tempt the visual images most sacred in the world. So, when at the Heights of Heroism meeting I was moved to shift the show in March to Baha’i images, the only way I could see even trying such a thing was doing them in the Allau’Abha painting process.

Discoveries while doing these prayer paintings have been profound both in understanding prayer and painting.

Sometimes what I want for myself, isn’t what is best for me. I know this now, but I have learned this the hard way, many, many times over.

Baby Clare

As I child I wanted to be beautiful, but I was never very good at. I had a very materialistic understanding of what beauty was and what beauty was not. I fell into the category of ‘was not’ by the standards that I picked up from the magazines that my friends had. All through high school i just wanted to be beautiful. I had it stuck in my mind that if I was beautiful then I would not be lonely. If i was beautiful then I would have a contribution to make, if I was beautiful then I would be able to achieve so much more, if I was beautiful then I would belong. As I look back I realize that beauty wasn’t want I was thirsting for… but I didn’t have the vocabulary to articulate why I wanted to be beautiful. Because I didn’t have the language to describe my longing I was not able to consult on the meaning of beauty beyond a superficial level. This meant that I only new how to describe my desire for beauty in superficial terms which formed and consolidated my understanding of beauty.

Anyways through my adolescent years, for the stated reasons, I wanted to be beautiful. I remember once praying as a youth… “God, please make me beautiful… and make everyone love me.” Looking back I fully recognize that it was a complete self-centred prayer. At the time nothing changed. When I looked in the mirror I still saw the same girl looking back at me. The boys that I had crushes on still came to me to confide how they had crushes on my best friends (who are absolutely stunning!). During that time I went through an intense maturation. I started studying a book called, “Reflections on the Life of the Spirit” with a group of youth (I was almost 15). I found a new meaning of beauty… of doing beautiful things to make the world a better place and developing beautiful qualities. It was very empowering.

In Tiriki West, Kenya

Years later I moved to East Africa and suddenly over night I was deemed beautiful. My full-figured body was no longer out of place. And did I enjoy the attention? No! In fact I never did get used to being proposed to or being the recipient of vast quantities of attention. I felt like it was my physical appearance that people were drawn to and not the beautiful qualities and gems I had been working so hard to polish. Through the next five years I became used to being the centre of attention (I was normally the only white girl and being the only different anything often means that you get more attention).

When I first arrived in England in 2005, I was shocked that I didn’t stick out. In fact I got a bad case of fresher’s flu the first month and I was ill in bed for a period of time. I was so afraid that I would die and that no one would discover me for a number of weeks because I felt invisible. I wanted to feel connected to Oxford, but it was all a giant culture shock for me.

Through the years I have learned to adapt to various cultures. I have noticed that I have been physically characterized as beautiful or plain based on the definition of beautiful to a place, person or culture. However this doesn’t mean much to me anymore… Abdu’l-Baha’s quotation has brought a new desire for a different type of beauty to my life,

Mortal charm shall fade away, roses shall give way to thorns, and beauty and youth shall live their day and be no more. But that which eternally endureth is the Beauty of the True One, for its splendour perisheth not and its glory lasteth for ever; its charm is all-powerful and its attraction infinite. Well is it then with that countenance that reflecteth the splendour of the Light of the Beloved One! The Lord be praised, thou hast been illumined with this Light, hast acquired the pearl of true knowledge, and hast spoken the Word of Truth.