Presenter: Flavio Azm Rassekh

Transcript of some of the key insights

1. How Joseph Campbell, Bill Moyers and George Lucas got me interested in this topic

I was serving in the Baha'i World Center in Haifa, Israel, and had the opportunity to talk to Mr Hooper Dunbar. He told me, “you keep talking about heroes and histories that repeat themselves. There is a person you should know more about named Joseph Campbell". Joseph Campbell wrote many books, The Hero with a Thousand faces, really struck me; another one, The Masks of God describes how we can never see God, only masks. An American journalist, Bill Moyers interviewed him in a video series called The Power of Myth. I have watched this maybe 12 times in my life, and I kept wondering how such a genius did not find out about the Baha’i Faith, or how his work on myths did not lead him there. Mr Dunbar said it was because he passed away too soon, but he passed his message to a young film maker who was looking to create the perfect story. Is it possible for there to be a perfect story that people all over the world would react to in the same way? Different cultures have similar myths, but is there one story that pervades all cultures? Such a story would help us to understand that we are one, we are human and there is something ingrained in us when we are born? George Lucas and Joseph Campbell discussed this.

I would like to share this quote from the Baha'i Writings, Hidden Words #16,

O SON OF LIGHT! Forget all save Me and commune with My spirit. This is of the essence of My command, therefore turn unto it.

This is the most important thing that a hero, no matter where he was born, has to keep in mind. The Bible and Quran also use the term essence in similar quotes.

Pretend for a moment that Baha’u’llah wrote this to Luke Skywalker. He is in super trouble, the life of a planet depends on him. They have to destroy the Death Star. Luke’s father, Darth Vader is behind him, waiting to kill him.Pay close attention to the words in this clip. I was 10 when this came out and I have watched it a million times but that specific moment still gives me goosebumps. Luke is trying really hard to shoot the Death Star. He doesn’t have the skills, he is not ready, maybe he is too young, then he hears the voice of his master. “Use the Force Luke”, “Let go!” “Luke Trust me.” So Luke switches off the targeting computer. “Remember the Force will be with you always.”

The most important teachings of 5000 years of religion have been condensed into 90 seconds of the film. The Director, the writer and Joseph Campbell have squeezed in all of these teachings – Trust in God, Let Go (i.e. Forget all save Me, detach from your self and ego, because your limitations and fears are your biggest obstacles). Does this mean that I don’t have to study and prepare myself? Shoghi Effendi says that if you focus on your limitations, the result will be paralysis and despair. Allow a force greater than yourself to flow through you, then you become a hollow reed and amazing things can happen. That is where the secret lies.

Why do you think that George Lucas set the Star Wars movies in space? So that it would not be attached to any one culture. All of humanity could not connect to it if there are barriers caused by culture and language. Instead, George Lucas took the story that repeats itself in the Pacific Islands, the Amazon Jungle, in Africa, and in the US, into space.

2. The physical qualities of Superheroes

We have built the imagery of physical strength like Superman to compensate for our lack of faith and trust in spiritual powers. Muscle strength is not what a superhero needs. Is Luke Skywalker buff? No! When you think of Yoda, the master who gives Luke wisdom and knowledge, is this the kind of face you would expect to see? A small creature with very large green ears? The writers and Director were careful not to overemphasize size, strength and good looks.

My other favorite is Frodo, from Lord of the Rings. Why is he so important? Tolkien studied the mythology of the Scandinavians. While it may have different words and characters, it is the same universal story. Frodo was chosen, given a mission, to take the ring to be destroyed, to prevent it falling into the wrong hands. What was his physical appearance? He was the size of a human child, with huge hairy feet? What does that mean? Symbolically, it means that he Is innocent but well grounded. The feet of an adult are needed for the journey, but the heart must be the heart of a child.

3. Prejudice and suffering are rooted in fear

Yoda said that "Fear is the path to the dark side. Fear leads to anger, anger leads to hate, hate leads to suffering"

From a Baha’I perspective, how would you connect this? In the Seven Valleys, we read that

“Love is a light that never dwelleth in a heart possessed by fear.” How does that apply to our daily lives? Prejudice is rooted in fear. We need to combat it with the stronger force of love. The fearmonger's strategy is to create fear, which leads to anger, and that leads to hate, and hate eventually leads to suffering and war. This essential teaching of all religions is cleverly squeezed into one minute of dialog between Yoda, a meter tall green person and Luke Skywalker. It is presented in a way that young people around the world can connect to and see in their own lives.

4. I am often asked, “Can you prove the existence of God?”

There are so many ways, but I have one way that is really interesting. God is one, and the only one that exists forever. The digital one and zero comes from Islam. Algebra and the numbers we use are Arabic. The whole concept of zero and one is the basis of creation – one being God is eternal, but everything else is fleeting so is considered to be zero. Creation is the combination of one and zero. God can prove Himself to us all the time because every single thing He creates is new and unique. You have never been repeated in the past and you will never be repeated in the future in this universe. Your specific combination is unique. God is creating all the time, there is no machine creating things. Every single thing is new. Each one of you has a special gift that will not be repeated in the future and never existed in the past, so your contribution to this world will never be repeated. It will be lost if you don’t manifest it in this life. That is the greatest sin in the world. In this society when you try to make things mechanical, when you try to convince people to buy things, to be things, it is super dangerous because you externalize the idea that you were not given by God what you need to be of importance in this world. But Bahá’u’lláh and all the Prophets say you have been given something special. When somebody kills himself, he is denying himself of greatness and humanity of hearing the song in his chest. You have a talent that only you can manifest. 99% of us do not sing our unique song. If someone in school puts you down, he is just reflecting society. If you don’t manifest what the person expects he will try to put your down. But, we are unique, and heroes are not afraid to be unique. This is what Bahá’u’lláh came for, to allow us to manifest those hidden jewels within us. How do you find jewels? You go into a mine, make a hole, break stone, you have to work hard on it, then you have to polish and design it and only then it becomes a beautiful gem. Are we all gold, silver, diamonds or pearls? No, each person has its own capacity. We are told in this culture to look and behave like the other person or else we are not worthy. However, in this revelation there is no place for envy because we understand that we each have something special to present to the world