Thanks to Emily for sharing this quotation on her blog.  I find it so inspiring I thought I would share it on my blog also.

So without further ado, here it is:

You must manifest complete love and affection toward all mankind. Do not exalt yourselves above others, but consider all as your equals, recognizing them as the servants of one God. Know that God is compassionate toward all; therefore, love all from the depths of your hearts, prefer all religionists before yourselves, be filled with love for every race, and be kind toward the people of all nationalities. Never speak disparagingly of others, but praise without distinction. Pollute not your tongues by speaking evil of another. Recognize your enemies as friends, and consider those who wish you evil as the wishers of good. You must not see evil as evil and then compromise with your opinion, for to treat in a smooth, kindly way one whom you consider evil or an enemy is hypocrisy, and this is not worthy or allowable. You must consider your enemies as your friends, look upon your evil-wishers as your well-wishers and treat them accordingly. Act in such a way that your heart may be free from hatred. Let not your heart be offended with anyone. If some one commits an error and wrong toward you, you must instantly forgive him. Do not complain of others. Refrain from reprimanding them, and if you wish to give admonition or advice, let it be offered in such a way that it will not burden the bearer. Turn all your thoughts toward bringing joy to hearts. Beware! Beware! lest ye offend any heart. Assist the world of humanity as much as possible. Be the source of consolation to every sad one, assist every weak one, be helpful to every indigent one, care for every sick one, be the cause of glorification to every lowly one, and shelter those who are overshadowed by fear.

In brief, let each one of you be as a lamp shining forth with the light of the virtues of the world of humanity. Be trustworthy, sincere, affectionate and replete with chastity. Be illumined, be spiritual, be divine, be glorious, be quickened of God, be a Bahá’í.

(Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 452)

Quotes from Abdu’l-Baha fill me with such joy, and inspire me to try and do what little I can to live life in such a beautiful way.

Filed under: Baha'i by kiamo
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I really love my aunts art work.  I just stare into it silently, lost in the wonderful colours.  I cant really explain it.  I just connect to it.

For the last bunch of years she has been into knitting and crocheting clothes.  She also collects and dyes the wools herself.  She even makes the dye herself!  Such awesomeness!

Filed under: Art by kiamo
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Enjoying the company of old friends you haven’t seen in years is something I’d imagine brings everyone happyness, even if they arrive at a slightly inconvenient time.  I read an article about our train of thought the other day and some articles linked from it.  It got me thinking about how I can spend time with my friends at the same time as maintaining my train of thought, focus, motivation and inspiration.

First of, I’m working on an architectural piece of art.  So naturally I can draw inspiration and insight from other awesome architectural pieces of art.  Today we explored some of the more interesting parts of Leicester and I took lots of photos.  Tomorrow we are going to explore Nottingham castle.  Train of thought… check!

Music is something I listen to nearly all of the time, the last few days I’ve only been listening to the Pirates of the Caribbean and Lord of the Rings soundtracks.  I’m going for a really epic feel to my environment, epic music really helps me stay focused.  check!

Time’s a precious commodity I cant afford to waste.  Between putting in as much work as possible into my FMP, working at gokidsgo for money, taking part in various Baha’i activities and spending time with Dima and other friends, when I do take some time out to play a game or watch a film, its only time well spent if its something that inspires and motivates me.  Tonight I watched Speed Racer again, easily the best film I’ve seen in a long time.  Actually I’d like to write a review of that at some point.  Motivation, check! Inspiration, check!

Having blocked out the basic siluet of my environment, I now need to think about the details.  I dont feel that I’ve worked nearly as hard today as I did yesterday, but looking and photographing old buildings has kept me thinking and planning in my head which is valuable in itself.

Shown above is a painting I did today.  Apart from the technical observations I also learnt that theres something of a balance to be found between listening to ones gut desires, and forcing oneself to keep working something that your not feeling.  I really should’ve just stick to 3d today as my brain wasn’t working in 2d very well.  The whole time I was working on it I just wanted to be working in 3d and painting texture pages.  I’m a bit afraid of getting distracted and going completely of task, but I suppose sometimes its ok to just role with my feelings, so long as they are somehow focused on the project.

Filed under: Art, life musings by kiamo
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