Mahmoudi, Dr. Hoda
Presentations by Mahmoudi, Dr. Hoda
The panel discussed various aspects of the subject of marriage. These included the issue of marriage as it relates to the family as a whole. The United Nations has conducted a review various types of family around the world with a focus on the issues of integration and development. These family groups included interracial families, extended families, gay and straight families and so on. We need to know and understand what the experience of Bahá’í communities might be able to contribute to the understanding of family development.
Dr. Hoda Mahmoudi explains how cognitive therapy helps individuals to evaluate their perception of their environment. It promotes a number of Baha’i principles such as consultation, equality between man and woman, equality in marriage, and one’s responsibilities and commitments to life. This field promotes the concept that one’s history in life bears a genetic component to his/her perception. Citing a number of examples, she explains how people, in various settings, could overcome misunderstandings, including those bearing cultural differences.
Richard Gagnon begins by offering the audience a chance to ask questions. The first one (is inaudible) and directed to Dr. Will van den Hoonard. The issue is holding competing world views within the Bahá'í community. Some see the Bahá’í and non-Bahá’í world as one: the ‘Old World Order’ with the ‘New World Order’ if you will; others see the Bahá’í view as unique and in sharp contrast to the non-Bahá’í world. For example, “Many are called but few are chosen.” The point is to show that all are not equal. For each perspective there is a counterpoint.
Institutions are structures that develop to organize important activities in ways that uphold cultural values. Education, family, religion, politics, and economics are some of those institutions. “They form the structure of society.”
The Guardian, Shoghi Effendi, referred to the Bahá’í government as the Bahá’í commonwealth. Bahá’í institutions will eventually provide the structure for the future order of the world. “The powers released by Baha’u’llah meet the needs of the time.”