Greetings Friends, It has been some time since we had a Bahá'í Book Study so I am delighted to announce that the next one will be this upcoming Tuesday, May 14th at 7:30 at the Schlesinger home.
We had a wonderful group at our monthly Fireside Presentation last Saturday evening when Roman Orona spoke on the qualities that define a human being.Apparently, we all potentially possess wonderful human qualities, which prove our membership in that definition. But being human has not always been about intellectual or spiritual qualities.
The Romans, you remember them- dressed in togas and sandals-, actually originated a term that has evolved in modern English as “mankind.” Today we think the “man” part of the word refers to males alone, but its origin was not at all gender specific.
If you have ever used a manual transmission, done manual labor or read a manuscript you will see that “man” refers to the Latin word Manus, which means “hand.”
Thus, “mankind” refers to all those who share a common shape of their hands. Apes, monkeys, and similar beasts do not have the same shape hand as do people. Dogs, chickens, and Hippopotami have even more differently shaped hands. And forget about dolphins.
Mankind referred to the common and distinctive shape of human hands in Rome. Alas, the ancient Romans died out, the Coliseum fell into disrepair, Nero burned down key buildings, and only Catholic Priests and a few teachers now recognize Latin’s importance in understanding English. I studied Latin in High School but did not keep up since there was no place where I could use it to talk to native peoples. Besides, my homework had to be done on stone tablets and they were hard to carry to school.
But I digress.
Starting at 7:30, we will be reading together and discussing Gleanings on Tuesday. If you have a copy please bring it, if not, we have a number of extra copies. We read and discuss as we read and also look up any words whose meaning may be not clearly known. While there are dictionary apps on my phone, we still look words up manually!
Around 8:30, we stop reading and start having refreshments. They are sometimes modest and straightforward but usually highly caloric. We believe that calories eaten when one is having a good time are not important, therefore, there is usually cake, brownies, or ice cream or something else covered in chocolate. Chocolate being, as we all know, one of the major factors in good conversation.
At 9:30 P.M., we disband since some of our group must rise early to go to work, or iron their toga, or see what happened on Facebook during the night.
We hope to see you Tuesday, May 14th at 7:30 in the evening.
Contact Peggy & David 602-697-1099