Welcome to the THIRD season of Dawn of an Era of Well-Being. This season we are dedicating our focus to the world’s religions, and discovering how religion and spirituality can help bring us together in a more harmonious condition.
Today we will turn our attention to the fascinating and perhaps not very well-understood spiritual faith of the Baha’i with Elena Mustakova.
A relative newcomer to the spiritual traditions, the Baha’i religion was founded in Iraq in the 19th century by Mīrzā Ḥosayn ʿAlī Nūrī—also known as Bahāʾ Allāh, meaning “Glory of God.” The Baha’i belief system posits that Bahāʾ Allāh was an actual manifestation of God. Baha’i tradition is very inclusive of the Abrahamic religions and suggests a continuity amongst all of these faiths, and their key figures: Jesus, Mohammed, Moses, etc. As the encyclopedia Brittanica points out: “Bahāʾīs believe in the oneness of humanity and devote themselves to the abolition of racial, class, and religious prejudices. The great bulk of Bahāʾī teachings is concerned with social ethics. The faith has no priesthood and does not observe ritual forms in its worship.”
Elena Mustakova is a spiritual philosopher, evolutionary thinker, educator, psychologist, and social scientist, and an expert on the systemic links between individual health, culture, moral development, language, and collective social health. Her work is inspired by Bahá’í ontological understanding of reality as a spiritual phenomenon of the evolution of consciousness.
Elena believes individual consciousness has the potential to evolve towards wholeness throughout the lifespan to the extent to which people grasp and take ownership of that process. Collective consciousness has evolved through many stages of broadening allegiances toward more just and comprehensive forms of governance – from clans, all the way to nation states and even geo-political allegiances. Both individual and collective evolution can be quite painful when not understood. Her commitment is to education that helps people grasp the intersection of their individual micro experience and the macro socio-historical transformation under way and develop conscious agency.
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com