Ruhi1

Titled, Reflections on the Life of the Spirit.

Read online at http://bahaistudies.net/ruhi/ruhi1.pdf (though it is recommended to participate in study with one's community)

This page can gather links in the sequence of "Reflections on the Life of the Spirit" (Ruhi Book 1) to other onsite wiki pages in order to allow the student further study in a topic covered in their books. Comments and references may also be added by question.

For specific quotations, see http://www.ruhiresources.org/news/2006/04/15/book-1-quotations/quotations/ (dead link).

To the Collaborators

(19 paragraphs followed by sequence 1-6)

• Paragraph 1: Intro to "collaborator" vs. "tutor"
• Paragraph 2: Importance of studying units carefully though lesser importance of reading intro for first timers
• Paragraphs 3-10: 3 levels of comprehension
• Paragraphs 11-20 (and 6 points at end): Overview of 3 units of the book

Unit 1: Understanding the Bahá'í Writings

Purpose

• Reciting the verses of God - individuals, meditation

Practice

• Reciting the verses of God - individuals

Section 1

Paragraph 1

• questioning in instruction
• memorization

Quote & Question 1 (quotation from the Advent of Divine Justice pp. 24-25)

• words and deeds

Quote & Question 2 (quotation from the Gleanings sec. 139, p. 305)

(see Question 1)

Quote & Question 3 (quotation from the Hidden Words from the Arabic, no. 31)

• bringing oneself to account

Quote & Question 4 (quotation from the Hidden Words from the Persian, no. 5)

(see Question 1)

Quote & Question 5 (quotation from the Hidden Words from the Persian, no. 69)

(see Question 1)

Section 2

(see Section 1)

Question 1

• a. work ethic
• b. respect
• c. studiousness
• d. truthfulness
• e. diligence
• f. helpfulness

Question 2

• bringing oneself to account

Question 3

• a. impact of individual on society
• b. consensus (negative consensus)
• c. scriptural authority (one of the modes of determining truth (or "kinds of proofs"))

Question 4

• a. Teaching the Faith - see Teaching
• b. Stealing - see theft
• c. child care, education of children
• d. intercession
• e. truthfulness
• f. helpfulness, reward, pure motives

Question 5

• a. alcohol
• b. kindness
• c. egalitarianism, justice
• d. adultery

Question 6

• It is not permissible to confess to another person. See confession of sins

Question 7

• For the alternative to confessing sins to another person, see bringing oneself to account.

Question 8

• Found in section 1, quotation 5.

Question 9

• Section 1, quotations 1 and 5?

Question 10

• Section 1, quotations 3 and 5?

Section 3

Quote & Question 1 (quotation from the Advent of Divine Justice p. 26)

• truthfulness

Quote & Question 2 (quotation from the Advent of Divine Justice p. 26)

(see Question 1)

Quote & Question 3 (quotation from the Gleanings sec. 136, p. 297)

• truthfulness, honesty

Question 4

(see Question 3)

Quote & Question 5 (quotation from the Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh p. 138)

• chastity (eye)
• faithfulness (hand)
• truthfulness (tongue)
• enlightenment (heart)

Quote & Question 6 (quotation from the Gleanings sec. 137, pp. 298-299)

• theft
• hunger

Section 4

Question 1

• truthfulness, virtue, virtues

Question 2

• truthfulness, virtue, virtues

Question 3

• a. justice, truthfulness
• b. theft, fidelity, hand
• c. fidelity, hand, trespassing (for property or chattel; as distinct from theft)
• d. pornography, chastity
• e. truthfulness
• f. honesty, soul
• g. truthfulness, spiritual progress
• h. lying
• i. theft, hunger
• j. theft
• k. theft
• l. honesty, fairness, truthfulness, heart, enlightened

Question 4

• lying, self-deception

Question 5

• lying

Question 6

• truthfulness, honesty

Section 5

Paragraph 1

• memorization, paraphrasing

Quote & Question 1 (quotation from the Gleanings sec. 132, p. 289)

• kindness, kind words

Question 2

• (See Question 1)

Quote & Question 3 (quotation from the Will and Testament of 'Abdu'l-Bahá p. 13)

• conflict, aggression, grace

Question 4

• aggression, grace

Quote & Question 5 (quotation from the Gleanings sec. 5, p. 9)

• harm to the Cause, dissension, contention, estrangement, apathy

Quote & Question 6 (quotation from Paris Talks p. 2)

• kindness, kind words, friendship

Question 7

• kindness

Quotation from Paris Talks p. 19

• war, peace, hatred, love

Question 8

• war, peace

Question 9

• hatred, love

Section 6

Question 1

• magnetism, kindness, speech

Question 2

• a. patience
• b. patience
• c. courtesy
• d. fault-finding
• e. courtesy, gratitude
• f. helpfulness

Question 3

• a. consultation, opinion
• b. estrangement
• c. fault-finding
• d. travel-teaching, consultation

Question 4

• a. apathy
• b. estrangement
• c. studiousness
• d. estrangement, travel-teaching

Question 5

• a. courtesy
• b. truthfulness, conflict avoidance
• c. love, kindness, conflict
• d. kindness, speech
• e. retaliation
• f. duress, impatience, sadness
• g. mockery
• h. fault-finding, backbiting
• i. estrangement, peace-making
• j. estrangement

Section 7

4 quotations:

• From the Gleanings sec. 125, p. 265
• From the Hidden Words from the Arabic, no. 27
• From the Hidden Words from the Persian, no. 44
• From the Hidden Words from the Arabic, no. 26

Question 1

• backbiting

Question 2

• dwelling on faults of others, sin

Question 3

• dwelling on faults of others, backbiting

Question 4

• dwelling on faults of others, backbiting

Section 8

Question 1

• Life after death/soul, fault-finding

Question 2

• backbiting, community

Question 3

• backbiting, responding to backbiting

Question 4

• a. backbiting, fault-finding, character assessment
• b. fault-finding, character assessment
• c. backbiting, changing negative aspects of culture
• d. secrets, backbiting
• e. backbiting, unity
• f. gossip, backbiting
• g. backbiting, capacity assessment
• h. backbiting, bringing oneself to account
• i. actions of harm to the Faith, concealing sins
• j. actions of harm to the Faith, Local Spiritual Assembly
• k. backbiting, marriage

Closing statement

• Enjoinder to Reciting the verses of God - individuals and recommendation of the Hidden Words for this purpose (as also self-recommended for the same purpose in its preamble)

To-dos for this page

• Split quotations from question, as did for the quote/question in sec. 5, questions 8 and 9, since their topics may differ somewhat (quotation may have more topics than question or vice versa)