Monthly Reflection: Mashiyyat (Will) – On Joy & Laughter

The following is our monthly newsletter. You can get a copy sent directly to your inbox! Hi friends! Last month we rejoiced to see that one of the episodes of the Baha’i Stories Podcast is reaching more viewers than any other thus far! It’s one that focuses on stories about Fujita and instances where he made Abdu’l-Baha laugh: In addition to the stories Sana shares in the podcast, I love returning to another funny anecdote about Fujita. It involves Curtis Kelsey, an American who was serving in Haifa installing electric lights in and around the Shrines of the Bab and Baha’u’llah. The story goes like this: Fujita had loved to party when he lived in California and he brought an elegant tuxedo with him to Haifa. He would often put it on and then jokingly complain about having nowhere to wear it! Abdu’l-Baha sent Curtis and Fujita to Egypt to purchase special wiring for the Shrine of the Bab and Fujita insisted on taking his tuxedo on the trip. When they arrived in Cairo, they met an American who recognized them from a recent pilgrimage. She insisted that they stay where she was staying–the Continental Hotel, one of the most expensive hotels in northern Africa in 1921. They were dazzled by its elegance, and after being used to a thin mattress and shaking out their shoes lest scorpions be hiding inside, they were particularly delighted by the opulence of their room–Fujita dove right into the thick quilts of his bed! When the bell-hop, who treated them with much deference, announced that they were invited to dine with their host, guess what Fujita wore? Somehow, Curtis felt that Abdu’l-Baha had made it possible for Fujita to fulfill his wish! Enjoying these stories spurred me to dig through our vast library of content on Baha’i Blog and see what else we have on the subject of laughter, joy and comedy. You might wish to revisit our Baha’i Blogcast episode with comedian Omid Djalil i and with Mary and Clark Donnelly (at that time they were speaking about their hit comedy sitcom, Little Mosque on the Prairie). We also shared a presentation by Jordan Raj all about conscious comedy . A few months ago, Susan Gammage shared her written thoughts on the importance of humour . I unearthed a video from Baha’i Blog’s early years that features a stop-motion animation based on the passage “joy gives us wings”: I found a sweet short film from Zambia about the joy that comes from serving others and Tatiana Zamir’s talk about cultivating a relationship with joy . You’d think that as the editor of Baha’i Blog, I wouldn’t be surprised by my findings, but there is so much content on Baha’i Blog; even I was astonished to rediscover some of these older gems! Lastly, media projects that personally brought me immense joy to watch are the films commissioned by the Universal House of Justice over the years. I have found each one deeply inspiring and joy-enkindling! You can find them all on Bahai.org . Wishing you joy and laughter this month of Mashiyyat! Love, Sonjel