As I left the mall last night (after searching for the perfect earwarmers for tomorrow's sled-fest and coming up empty-handed), two people standing by the mall entrance/exit stopped me by saying, "Hi! We have a question for you if you have a moment." I wasn't in a huge rush, so I stopped and said, "Sure. What is it?"
Thus began a *fascinating* 27-minute conversation (I really did time it) which easily could have turned into a 2-3 hour conversation had I not politely excused myself.
So, this was the gist of it. They (a man and a woman) said they're doing a documentary called "What do you believe in?" - all about what people turn toward in distressing times and what belief systems people have. They said they were doing some post-production work interviewing people to flesh out some of their storyline. Really, though, I think it was all a cover to sneakily engage people in a conversation of questions to be able to teach their ministry. Sneaky.
So, they began by asking me what I believe. Despite my inclination to give a smartass comment like, “I believe in Donald Trump and the almighty dollar – why else do you think I’m at a mall immersing myself in materialism right now?!?” my initial response was, "That's rather a broad question! There are a lot of things I believe, some related to each other and some not. I believe in gravity, for example, but I imagine that's not what you're after. Perhaps you can narrow down what you are actually getting at?" I can be sneaky too.
They: "True enough! It is a broad question... We are trying to learn about different belief systems, like we have talked with Christians, Jews, Muslims - even Buddhists - and they have shared what their religious beliefs are. Is there a spiritual belief system you rely upon in hard times?" Ah, there it is.
Me: "Yes, absolutely. I am a Bahá'í, a member of the Bahá'í Faith."
They: "Oh, wow! We haven't talked with any Bahá'ís yet. We don't know much about it - can you give us a brief summary?"
Brief summary?!? Secretly, I hate this question – how can you summarize a world-changing religio-social belief system with historical, mystical and spiritual realities, divinely revealed by God through Bahá'u'lláh? How can anyone do this well for any of the world's religions, for that matter? And really, how can one engage in a conversation about religion and explain something so personal without understanding the perspective of the hearer? Communicating one's beliefs is only as valuable as one's ability to make those beliefs relevant to the hearer's own belief system, capacity and point of reference.
Nevertheless, I answered... "Well, the Bahá'í Faith is an independent global religion, and its fundamental purpose is the unification of humankind in all spheres of life through the application of clearly identified spiritual principles. It emphasizes the individual’s path of spiritual growth and worship as well as community-building principles."
They: "Interesting… does the Bahá'í Faith have a founder, like Christ established Christianity?"
Me: "Oh yes. Its founder is Bahá'u'lláh, who has an unusual name to the average American ear, but his name in Arabic means ‘the Glory of God.’ He was born in the 1800s, and is regarded by Bahá'ís as the Messenger of God for this day/era in human civilization’s development."
Well, from there things got even more interesting, culminating in the reason why I was inspired to blog about what transpired to begin with. They asked questions about the history of the Bahá'í Faith (I provided some basic dates and events), how Bahá'ís reconcile differing beliefs of other religions (I talked about the concept of progressive revelation), and how Bahá'u'lláh knew he was a prophet. Following a very short discussion of this last question, they asked me, "So, can you be a prophet? (I said I’m not a prophet.) Well, how do you know you’re not a prophet? I mean, we’ve talked with people today who believe they are prophets. How do they know?"
So here’s the stuff of it. This last bit of conversation intrigued me, despite the fact that I resented how they would "mirror back" to me what they thought I said quite incorrectly most of the time (e.g. "So Bahá'u'lláh was Arabic?") thereby giving me the impression that they weren’t really listening to what I said, rather they were interested in throwing me off base. But I was interested by the question, "How do you know you’re not a prophet?" I’m pretty darn sure I’m not, and I don’t particularly have the desire to even *think* about being one. At the same time, I really had to pause to think about the question when they first asked it. My instinctive response was, "I just know," which I imagined would not satisfy their question. In reality, there isn’t anything concrete to which I can point to confirm I am not a prophet. I just know I’m not. I recall from various religious teachings the analogy of knowing a tree by its fruit – that one can identify a prophet by his teachings and ministry. I have no fruit resembling that of a prophet. Plus, according to my own belief system, there will not be another Messenger from God for thousands of years. But that might not ring true for someone who is not a Bahá'í.
When it comes down to it, there is a mystical reality that is veiled to our everyday eyes. Every now and again, I feel like I get a nanometer of a glimpse – in someone’s kindness, in a miracle, in some inexplicable feeling that suddenly washes over me and leaves me with an indescribable serenity, in rare moments of spiritual connection when I pray. But the essence of why I *know* something spiritual is innate – based on faith, you might say. And faith is a difficult concept to explain on the fly to someone standing at a mall entrance at 8:34 pm on Thursday.
So, my question is, when is "I just know" enough of an answer?
