on light
illumination brightness luminescence uminosity shining gleaming gleam brilliance radiance luster glowing glow blaze glare dazzle incandescence phosphorescence sunlight moonlight starlight lamplight firelight rareeffulgence refulgence lambency fulguration
One Report is spiritually-minded content for and by young people. This publication is borne from a reflection of the teachings of the Baha’i Faith and many of our contributors are Baha’is, but not all. The goal is for One Report to offer space for people from all faith backgrounds and beliefs to discuss issues of faith and spirituality. In a time of turmoil, One Report hopes to be a source of unity and collaboration. It is an opportunity for young people to learn from one another and share reflections that feel relevant, pressing, stirring, and elevated. Thank you.
One Report is edited by Anisa Tavangar. Photographs and illustrations in this issue are by Lindsey Lugsch-Tehle.
The Gospel According to Peter Written by Ciara Keane
“Two... three... down to two... three... okay now four... there we go, love!” My father’s thick Dublin accent guides me as I maneuver the stick, pushing and pulling and wiggling the gears into place while the warm Miami air rushes through the windows. I don’t really need instructions— I know when to change gears based off the roar of his 1992 Honda CRX’s engine as he lifts his foot off the clutch and onto the accelerator— but I don’t tell him that. I love when he speaks to me, just for me. “Okay hold on a minute... I’m going to give you a hard one now... are you ready?” He turns away from the red stoplight and looks over at me, one rough, calloused hand gripping the lined paper gingerly, one on the worn leather wheel, as he scans the sheet with a small smile playing on the corner of his mouth. “Spell: “sublime”. “S-u-b-l-i-m-e”, I respond. He glances over at me with his agave eyes and they spill
over into the space between us as he looks at me, his love, his light. I love when he looks at me, just for me. “Alright, my love!” The car creaks up to the school curb and I shake out my curls, simultaneously disturbing the small droplets of humidity that have gathered on my nose. He reaches over, gives my hair one last tousle for good measure and grabs my little blue lunch box from behind my seat. “I’ll see you tonight, okay?” It’s gospel. I grab the thin, pink scrunchie I wear every day off my wrist and hand it to him. He takes it, places it gingerly around our gear stick, and gives me a sweet peck on the lips. I love when we have goodbyes, just for us. Growing up, my school was my father’s word. My home was my father’s gaze. And my church was a 1992 Honda CRX with a now-17-yearold thin, faded pink scrunchy around our gear stick.
Making new space Written by Leila Behjat
Creating space has a twofold reality. Wherever we come together, where our minds and souls meet, space is made; it holds and is held; it offers safety and connects; it inspires, evolves, allows for privacy. Then, wherever humans are, space is created: for shelter, to gather, to live life in its various forms. Material, Light, Air and Color come together and form space. All our senses— our whole beings— participate in the experience of space and an ongoing exchange of dynamics take place between the space and those in it.
Whether it is a “home... of joy and delight,” of knowledge and love, as ‘Abdu’l-Bahá claims, or whether it contains “elements of magic, serenity, sorcery and mystery,” as defined by Luis Barragan, it is through collaboration between the material and the psychological that spaces are created.
A kitchen table is an instinctive gathering space, allowing the two space creations to come together: conversations around the table create space within space. Intense, honest, vulnerable, painful, full of laughter; hearts bound together. The materialized space hosts the emotional space.
The experience in and with physical space is a fundamental one. Different qualities of dimension, design, and materiality affect the psyche of a space’s occupants. Learning about the nuances informs how we want experience this dance of light and shadow, shaping how we be together and express culture.
Sacred space, on Pilgrimage Written by Naomi Tewodros Accompanying photos by Naomi Tewodros
In the Fall of 2017, I was inspired to apply to go on a Baha’i pilgrimage. As the first Baha’i in my family, my understanding of pilgrimage was limited to the feelings and experiences conveyed by others in brief conversation. I started to piece together the significant and deeply personal nature of pilgrimage and wanted to experience it for myself. At the time of applying, I was in a transitional point in my post-grad life filled with big unknowns. Between figuring out where I would live in a few months and if I would ever get a job that would (1) pay me enough to stay in NYC and (2) be in my desired field, I started to refocus and put my spiritual life at the center of things. Applying for pilgrimage was an act of faith. It was also a personal commitment, spiritually, materially and physically, to the nine day excursion halfway across the world. A few months after applying, my post-grad uncertainties started to come into focus. Not long after, I committed to a pilgrimage the following spring.
I gathered the books I wanted to read to get my mind in a place of reflection and learning and asked people who had gone before a million questions that were both practical and added to my excitement. Before I knew it, a year had passed. My flight landed in Tel Aviv, my train arrived in Haifa, and my time as a pilgrim began. The start of my pilgrimage coincided with the last half of the festival of Ridvan, a celebratory time for Baha’is commemorated with flowers and community gathering. With the gardens in full bloom, the close connections I immediately made with fellow pilgrims, and the opportunity to visit these holy places, there was a perfect combination of beauty and meaning.
I found myself in awe of how much love, sacrifice and intention went into the creation and maintenance of the places we visited on pilgrimage. These qualities radiated in the physical environment, shining through in the history and the careful preservation of archives, buildings, and stories. The diligent care of the gardens surrounding each place we visited captured the purposefulness and generosity of the environment. The reverence I observed through my time on pilgrimage came naturally, as if communicated by the place itself.
Walking quietly with my pilgrim group of about seventy down the path towards the Shrine of Baha’u’llah, surrounded by beautiful cacti, trees and flowers, I felt peaceful. None of us were compelled to make conversation, focused instead on the sounds of stones crunching under our feet, our eyes trained on the path below and the shrine ahead. As we filed into the shrine, the holiest spot for Bahá’ís, I sat down and took a moment to breathe deeply. Light filled up the space and illuminated friends from all over the world in deep prayer and meditation. The faint smell of roses hung in the air as I closed my own eyes in prayer. I felt so connected to this place and to these people and was overcome with gratitude. Not only was I in the holiest spot, I was home.
“We cannot segregate the human heart from the environment outside us and say that once one of these is reformed everything will be improved. Man is organic with the world. His inner life moulds the
environment and is itself also deeply affected by it. The one acts upon the other and every abiding change in the life of man is the result of these mutual reactions.� Shoghi Effendi
Light in Interior spaces Written by Claudia Martino
As an interior designer, I was taught that light is the single-most important element that can make or break a space. Light has the power to transform materials from dull and ordinary to magical and dramatic. My professor once said, “You could have the most beautiful furniture and finishes, but if the lighting isn’t well thought, then what’s the point?” I have found this to be true in my own experiences discovering my favorite places in New York City. One of my favorite bars has a sea of fairy lights illuminating the entire space, creating a site that inspires great, reflective conversation with friends or a date. Huge double-height windows in The Metropolitan Museum of Art’s Greek Sculpture Hall illuminate the space dramatically, drawing out light and shadow on the works of art, while offering a view to Central Park, transporting the visitor to a different time and state of mind. Even low illumination can create a mystic ambiance that demonstrates why we love our favorite restaurants so much and why we instinctually label them as “cozy.” Lighting is an element that we have learned to control, enhancing and transforming the experience of a space in ways that are intangible.
A wonderful Sight; The spirits of my Foremothers' lands Written by Nneanata Echetebu
Bound by blood, the water connects me to the motherland the soul does the rest. The spiritual enhancement you receive when u sink your foot into the soil. It’s like you’ve touched your ancestors. When the winds blow, you hear their whispers as the dust dances around you singing welcome. Then it wraps around and hugs you. The hot burning sun kisses your skin and radiates warmth and comfort— a sense of being home. You sit on the shore as the sun shines down on your embracing skin.
Immerse your legs into the warm sand. The wind plays in your hair. The palm trees’ locs flow in unison. As you look upon the ocean you sit in awe of its beauty. The body magnificent, powerful, glistening and welcoming. You reflect and wonder if the ocean thought the same as it looked back at you. Does it thank God for such a wonderful sight?
A Spiritual Place Written by Sophia Robele
Conceptualizing a spiritual place— finding something tangible, concrete, and geographically-bound to associate with something so impalpable and boundless – my mind fills with disparate spaces, moments, and feelings, all connected by one conveniently metaphorical yet literal commonality: light. That narrow gravel path just “the sunlight spilling through off the side of the tree leaves to dance with main road in a shadows on a forest floor, suburb of Harare, always bathed in creating a refuge from ego...” the most glorious and distinct patch of warm yellow sunlight. A tree-lined, verdant avenue standing in stark contrast to the pavement nearby with a mysterious sacredness in how the sun seemed to favor it above all others, reserving its most brilliant rays
“the concentrated beams of early morning sun reflected off adjacent surfaces of glass skyscrapers, transforming a rushed walk to work into a time-stretching, unbounded space of awe.”
for this single spot on earth. The ethereal glow of fairy dust that hovered beneath the green canopy— the product of sun dancing with the constellation of particles in the atmosphere. The normally invisible could be seen for just that moment. This scene would stop me dead in my tracks, without a thought, as though my body knew to observe the reverence and stillness demanded by certain forms of beauty. The unique combination of singularity and wholeness felt in moments when I found my eyes transfixed on the flicker of a candlelight in a room full of people, with all physical forms and human features obscured by shadows. The modest source of illumination felt distinct amidst the heaviness of silence interspersed with the murmur of prayer, my body immersed in the kind of soft, allembracing security that dark spaces filled with fellow souls so gently offers. The steadfastness of the tiny flame, periodically giving testimony to the invisible sources of
motion in the room that caused it to suddenly contort, bend, and stretch until regaining momentary stillness, would hold my outward gaze with such force that my inner sight somehow became keener and less restrained. The countless benign moments when the essence of a place or experience had become profoundly altered in an instant— from the sunlight spilling through tree leaves to dance with shadows on a forest floor, creating a refuge from ego, to the concentrated beams of early morning sun reflected off adjacent surfaces of glass skyscrapers, transforming a rushed walk to work into a time-stretching, unbounded space of awe. In the Bahá’í Faith, a “House of Worship” exemplifies the connection between the material and the spiritual: it is defined not by a physical edifice but by its capacity to render a space into the “Dawning-place of the Praise of God.” It is a “collective center for men’s souls,” where “the heart finds rest” in “the remembrance of God.” Perhaps light is the image that my mind first associates with spiritual place because of its generosity and pervasiveness. It is the modest, unassuming source of warmth and beauty that calls us into stillness in order to recognize what is already before or within us. It is both tangible and incomprehensible: even as it allows us to “see,” it reminds us that physical sight is only a product of interaction and that our physical faculties are inseparable from the spiritual. It allows us to remember God through forms of remembrance we may not even grasp with our conscious mind. These unique experiences manifest through the sense of peace our hearts find and the ripple effect they produce in the world.
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Curving back within myself I create again and again.
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The Baghavad Gita
Songs on Light Playlist by Victoria Martinez
Saro (The Westerlies) Daniel (Devendra Banhart) Riot (Hugh Masekela) Acid (Ray Barretto) Homesickness (Emahoy Tsegué-Maryam Guébrou) Blue Ridge Mountains (Fleet Foxes) Something On Your Mind (Karen Dalton) The Only Living Boy in New York (Simon & Garfunkel) Eagle Song (The Staves)
Listen at bit.ly/songsonLight
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