The highlight:
Since we addressed our 30 December 2021 message to the Counsellors’ Conference, National Spiritual Assemblies and Regional Bahá’í Councils have been earnestly assessing the possibilities for intensifying the process of growth in the clusters within their jurisdiction during the Nine Year Plan. We feel it would be helpful, for the purpose of gauging the progress made over time, to view the Plan as unfolding in two phases of four and five years’ duration, and National Assemblies were invited to consider the advances they expect to see in their respective communities by Riḍván 2026 and then by Riḍván 2031. This exercise also involved a re-evaluation of cluster boundaries, and the outcome of these adjustments is that the total number of clusters in the world has risen by a quarter and now stands at over 22,000. Judging by the forecasts received, it is estimated that, by the end of the Plan, a programme of growth at some level of development will exist in around 14,000 of these clusters. From among them, the number where the programme of growth could be considered intensive is projected to climb to 11,000 over the same time period. And of these, it is anticipated that the number of clusters where the third milestone has been passed will rise above 5,000 by 2031. Without question, to make such advances will entail colossal effort over the entire duration of the Plan. Yet we find these to be worthy aspirations towards which to strive, for they represent an ambitious but serious appraisal of what lies within reach.
So the brand new cycle of plans and inauguration of a new epoch of the Divine Plan means.......
Doing core activities to tick the IPG box in X number of clusters by five years time. Just like every plan since the 90's.
Very epic, thank you UHJ.
Also I like the wishy washy wording of "the number where the programme of growth could be considered intensive". So they could also not be considered intensive? What the hell is this nonsense!
As societies experience stresses of various kinds, the followers of the Abhá Beauty must stand out more and more for their qualities of resilience and rationality, for their standard of conduct and their adherence to principle, and for the compassion, detachment, and forbearance they demonstrate in their pursuit of unity.
For all these delusions of the Baha'is "standing out" I can guarantee you much like the past 200 years 99.99% of the world does not know or care about the Baha'i Faith and an even greater percentage could not give two stuffs about the 'Institute Process'.
Time and again, the distinctive characteristics and attitudes shown by the believers in periods of acute difficulty have prompted people to turn to Bahá’ís for explanation, counsel, and support, especially when the life of a society has been upset by peril and unforeseen disruptions.
Can anyone name even ONE time anyone has turned to the Baha'is like this? I know people say stuff like "In the Solomon Islands the President asks the Baha'is to make all his decisions for him" at the Feast where nobody can really be negative without being public enemy No. 1 but is there literally a single independently verified source which suggests a government official has ever even acknowledged the Faith without being lobbied by the external affairs committee? I'm not counting Heads of State visiting the Baha'i gardens in Israel personally as that seems more like a tourist trap type thing.
The Baha'i Faiths actual record when the "life of society has been upset by peril" is doing jack shit in the USA during the civil rights era, doing jack shit in South Africa during apartheid, doing jack shit in Chile under Pinochet (other than meeting with him), doing jack shit in Nazi Germany other than begging Hitler for attention (and in the case of Adelbert Muhlschlegel literally joining the Nazi Party).
In times of social peril the Baha'is have a proven track record of sitting on their hands and dying on the hill of apolitical non-involvement and holding a bunch of committee consultative meetings to advance the process of learning about advancing the grassroots of expanding the nucleus of entry by institute troops blah blah blah.
Moreover, we are conscious that the greater the friends’ efforts to promote the Word of God, the stronger the countervailing forces they will encounter, sooner or later, from various quarters. They must fortify their minds and spirits against the tests that are sure to come, lest these impair the integrity of their endeavours. But the believers know well that whatever storms lie ahead, the ark of the Cause is equal to them all.
This makes me think of this from an article on tell-tale signs of a cult:
Unreasonable fear about the outside world, such as impending catastrophe, evil conspiracies and persecutions.
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/belief/2009/may/27/cults-definition-religion
If Pentecostal Christians can go around handling snakes and speaking in tongues without much more than people laughing at them I'm pretty sure Baha'is in the West are completely fine. Most Baha'is seem to think people not bowing to the authority of their 'Central Figures' and not using hagiographic language is being persecuted and hate speech though so maybe this is what the House is talking about and it isn't apocalyptic doom cult rhetoric. I must say "Drink the Kool-Aid" wouldn't be out of place at the end of that outburst though.
https://www.reddit.com/r/exbahai/comments/u8hs4y/ridvan_message_2022/
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