SPECTRUM: Spiritual journey

The summer I was 16, my father sent me by myself to a big field to pick the dry black-eyed-peas on our Texas farm. I took a "cotton-pickin' " sack and went proudly because my father trusted me to get the job done without supervision.

At one point I stood up from picking the peas, and I still remember the exhilarating feeling of independence in that big field.

I determined that when I grew up I wanted a life of adventure -- like I saw on television and read in books. I wanted all kinds of adventure -- not farm work.

And the golden thread of my life and travels has been the joy and adventure of studying Western and Eastern Christianity, Buddhism, as well as the spiritual tradition of India, culminating in learning about Baha'u'llah (1817-1892) and the spiritual transformative power of His teachings.

When I learned about World Religion Day, I realized it was symbolic of my own spiritual adventures: the golden thread through all my travels and my education and media careers across the United States.

World Religion Day was initiated in 1950 by the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and is now observed worldwide on the third Sunday of January; this year, it’s on Jan. 21.

It is now an interfaith and a multi-faith observance. It has taken on a life of its own!

Paul Rourke, who serves on the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Alaska, explained that this day is based upon the Baha'i principle of the oneness of religion and specifically progressive revelation, which describes religion as evolving continuously through human history.

Rourke listed the successive Divine Manifestations of God: Moses, Krishna, Buddha, Zoroaster, Jesus Christ, Muhammad and, in more recent times, the Bab and Baha'u'llah. "Each one spoke of this eternal process of progressive revelation and renewal and return."

"Do we have any reason to believe this process has not continued?" he asked.

We all need to ponder that! And let it resonate in our souls.

"The purpose of religion," said Baha'u'llah, "is to establish unity and concord amongst the peoples of the world; make it not the cause of dissension and strife."

World Religion Day provides a social barometer, said Rourke, of the extent that various religious groups are willing to associate with one another. Rourke quoted from the Baha'i writings: "We must love the rose, no matter in what soil it may be growing!"

At the heart of Baha'u'llah's teachings is the conviction that we all belong to one human family. We are all citizens of one planet.

One of Baha'u'llah's most famous quotes: "O people! Consort with the followers of all religions in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship."

I absolutely love this quote by Baha'u'llah which is at the front of every Baha'i prayer book:

Blessed is the spot,

and the house,

and the place, ....

when mention

of God hath been

made, and His

praise glorified.

I'm so grateful for that day my father sent me to pick black-eyed-peas -- that day propelled me onto an adventure - the like of which I never would have imaged when I was 16.

A resident of Wasilla for 6 1/2 years, Rosemary Vavrin has lived in parts of Alaska for a total of 33 years.