Dr. William S. Hatcher
Presentations by Dr. William S. Hatcher
Dr. Hatcher opens with a personal comment that he became a Baha’I in 1957, some months before the passing of Shoghi Effendi. Dr. Hatcher says his teacher was Winston Evans. Winston Evans so inculcated into William Hatcher his love for the Guardian that Hatcher was “totally devastated” by the passing of the Guardian. He was consoled by “The Dispensation” which Hand Khadem reported that Shoghi Effendi had said was “his will and testament”. William Hatcher reads ‘Amatu’l-Bahá’s comments about “The Dispensation”.
The Brain, Where Converging Realities Meet
A number of respondents, among them Drs. Pribaum, Land, Hatcher and Lazlo, comment on the conference presentations that were under the theme of "Realities and Convergence". The first responents believes all humanity is on a search to impose some order out of the chaos of the world. Further, one of the central activities of existence is "to connect". He quotes a tradition from Islam: "Knowledge is a single point which the ignorant have multiplied". Next is Dr. Karl Pribaum who discusses the three stages of development described by the Swiss psychologist Dr. Jean Piaget.
Shoghi Effendi wrote that “[T]he core of religious faith is that mystic feeling which unites Man with God.”
Both Bahá'u'lláh and 'Abdu'l-Bahá rejected the traditional mystical doctrines of the Sufis which are more or less identical with the doctrines of the Hindu and Indian schools of mysticism.
For the first 20 minutes Dr. Hatcher reviews—in English—the ways in which Baha’i Local Spiritual Assemblies are “pioneers” in laying down the pattern for future society. For the remaining 16 minutes William Hatcher—speaks in French—and examines the process of the maturation of Local Spiritual Assemblies.