Transcript:Filmstrip/Birds of Diverse Feathers Consult Together
(upbeat music)
♪ Birds of our feather used to flop together ♪
♪ But in this new age do you love prevent ♪
♪ Birds of our feather used to flop together ♪
♪ But in this new age do you love prevent ♪
♪ Birds of our feather used to flop together ♪
♪ But in this new age do you love prevent ♪
♪ Birds of our feather used to flop together ♪
♪ But in this new age do you love prevent ♪
♪ Birds of diversity is now concealed together ♪
♪ Come in purpose, come and go ♪
♪ Unity, diversity make all this ♪
♪ You do what that means ♪
- You've all heard the old saying,
"Bird to the feather flop together."
The expression has an old world order flavor to it
because it implies that unity depends on uniformity.
In this day, however,
Birds of diverse feathers must flop together
to build a united world.
You might say that the Baha'i community
has a great number of Birds of diverse feathers,
each one with his unique set of qualities
and characteristics, all working together
to bring a new world order into being.
This important work requires planning and decision making.
Both of these require consultation.
Some personality characteristics
impair the consultative process.
It is important for us to know
what these characteristics are
and how, through deepening,
they can be changed into spiritual attributes
which will facilitate consultation.
Have you ever wondered why your consultation
is sometimes for the Birds?
Let's introduce a variety of Birds
that you have probably met before.
Each one typifies characteristics
which can obstruct consultation.
They, for instance, the singing mother clutch,
so-called because she clutches
every thought that she has
and never really gives it to the group.
She can't let go of any suggestion she makes,
but instead remains identified with it
throughout the consultation.
This makes it extremely difficult
for other members of the group
to be objective about her ideas
because they know any criticism they make
will hurt her feelings.
She always carries her ideas in a safe place
which is around her neck all the time.
Because of this, she feels a heavy weight
but believes that the burden comes
from unappreciative coworkers
rather than from her own possessiveness.
The busy beaked backbiter
loves to talk about people
and is delighted to be in any situation
where the troubles of people have to be discussed.
The most frequently heard phrase of this bird is,
I hope I'm not backbiting, but,
or there's something you should know,
but I hesitate to say it lest it sound
as if I'm, this bird loves to tell the whole truth
about a person under discussion,
whether the information is relevant or not.
Confidentiality is very difficult for this bird,
though she frequently introduces a conversation with,
confidentially speaking.
Did you know that?
The doubt-filled platypus has been around
for an extraordinarily long time
and one wonders why he hasn't become extinct.
Because he has been around so long,
nothing is ever new to him.
He's constantly calling our attention to the fact
that whatever has just been suggested
was tried out 50 or 60 years ago.
It didn't work then
and it is very doubtful that it will work now.
The law of wounded garbler,
so-called because he garbles his wormholes,
seems to have an infinite supply of breath
that can only be expired through words.
It doesn't matter what words, any words will do.
That's why things seem a little bit garbled.
This bird never has a point
and although he may say he does,
he usually finds it difficult to come up with one.
- The long-spealed cockatiel,
unlike the long-winded garbler, always has a point.
His trouble is that he can't just make the point,
we're not giving a long speal with it.
Every idea is expressed through a long story,
usually of a personal nature
involving close friends or relatives.
The long-spealed cockatiel always makes a motion
in the form of a long story.
When he seconds a motion,
it's in the form of a speal
and when he speaks to a motion,
that's another long tale.
Sometimes the long-spealed cockatiel stories
seem longer than they are
because repetition has made them all too familiar.
And although the stories are usually pleasant,
they consume great quantities of time
which could be spent growing out other kinds of information
and opinions from the rest of the committee or local assembly.
The long-spealed cockatiel has a second cousin
who also takes up lots of time unnecessarily.
- That's the red-headed nitpicker.
The red-headed nitpicker has an eye for every little detail.
Although a motion may be perfectly well understood by everybody,
it has to be phrased, rephrased, repunctuated,
and almost picked to death.
He can make the group so concerned over a trivial point
that it forgets the main purpose of the consultation.
Hours can be spent fussing over a mere nothing
for this bird knows how to make a mountain out of a mill hill.
The main issues never bother him.
Early the trivial nits and bits attract his attention.
- The fleet put a fidget all ways of lives late,
out of breath, fidget's with the first part of the meeting
and asks to leave early.
He's never really at the meeting.
He's only coming and going all the time.
He's ready to vote before he's heard the lotion
and is impatient with discussion.
He always leaves the meeting to make a phone call
and long-spam cocktail as the floor.
Because of his coming and going throughout the meeting
and his late arrival in early departure,
the needs of the meeting will always news to him.
If he makes you feel he's suspicious
that the local spiritual assembly has met without him
because he never recognizes the issues and votes
recorded in the minutes.
His feet are fleet and he loves running.
If he has to sit still, he fidget's.
The great crest at Hornblower is a common species
found in all localities.
He migrates regularly to those situations
where he can display his great crest
and blow his own horn.
Thus he is likely to be found on most committees
and assemblies.
At heart, he is usually a good bird.
His main trouble is that he confuses consultation
with the theater and views a committee
or local spiritual assembly meeting
as an opportunity to perform
where the other members of the committee
are simply serving as his audience.
- The tight-meant gold pinch
sees every aspect of the consultation in financial terms.
He prefers to have money saved to be spent
when the golden age arrives
rather than investing it in building the world order.
If he had to make a choice
between having money in the bank
or having an active teaching program in the community,
he would vote for putting money in the bank.
He finds it hard to comprehend
the spiritual principle of giving in faith
and being assured of replenishment.
His vote is determined by how little something costs
rather than how white it is for the community.
- His sparring partner on the assembly
is the spreading and spin-thrift
who loves to soar high no matter what the cost.
His problem is that he confuses extravagance
with significance.
Any plan or occasion, which isn't lavish and extravagant,
just doesn't seem significant to him.
He has a hard time arranging priorities
and as a consequence, everything is of equal importance
and all of it is expensive.
His planning tends to be a little unrealistic
and at times financially irresponsible.
There's always plenty of excitement
around this spread-eagle spin-thrift.
His mighty wings are always flapping
so there's plenty of breeze and commotion wherever he goes.
- The flicker mind of that hatch has a mind
that flickers around and never seems to be
on the subject or motion being discussed.
She always manages to confuse the minds of everyone else,
even on the simplest issues.
This bird seems to proceed on the assumption
that if something is simple and clear, it must be long.
You can understand all this would add hours
to every consultation.
The name of this bird, the re-enicked hammer-toed numbing bird,
reflects his style of relating to others
participating in a consultative body.
When he is interested in a point,
he won't let go of it until he is driven at home.
He puts a ring around your neck
and hammers away until your numb.
When a bird is finally taken
and a majority of participants vote differently from him,
he always thinks they voted the way they did
because they didn't fully understand the issue.
He therefore feels called upon to introduce it again
at subsequent meetings and he hammers away
until everybody is numb again.
He seems to have an unusual capacity
for keeping the whole consultation hovering
over one spot indefinitely.
His style obstructs consultation
because it destroys a spiritual atmosphere
and completely exhausts everyone.
The stiff-necked squelch usually has a clear mind
but can't understand how anyone else
can be confused about anything.
He tends to be very stubborn
and as it turns out, he's often right.
However, his style is such that he can rarely make his point
or react to other people's suggestions
without squelching them.
He was particularly sensitive
to anyone else's ego getting out of hand.
When he senses this, his neck stiffens
and in one tiny comment, he flattens out that ego.
The squelch tends to be direct, blunt,
always frank and candid and succinct,
but also tactless.
Obviously, if there's too much squelching going on,
the other birds will be reluctant to sing
and consultation will be impaired.
- The tender tales fancier can never think of his mind
and is apt to get a little sore
from always sitting on the fence.
He holds up consultation
because he's never ready for the vote.
Consensus can never be reached with the tender tale of fancier
because he's never sure
whether or not he agrees with everyone else.
He always requires emotion
and then there always feels
that the motion should be amended several times
before he's ready to vote.
If the bone is taken prematurely, he always abstains.
Because this is his approach,
whether the issue is small or great,
he tends to slow up consultation
and take up much time unnecessarily.
- The waffle feathered grouse
wears all of her feelings on her wings.
Frank and honest reactions to her ideas
are always taken personally and waffle her feathers.
The feathers don't smooth down
until after a good deal of grousing and grumbling.
This of course drains the energy of the assembly members
and makes it difficult to deal with issues objectively.
The locked bowl of sulker
is very much like the waffle feathered grouse
and that his feelings are easily hurt.
Instead of grousing about his hurt feelings, he sulks.
He won't talk anymore
or participate in the consultation.
Sometimes he won't even say a prayer.
He casts a depressing spell over the consultation
and he produces trained intention in the atmosphere.
He takes the vitality out of consultation
and makes it less productive.
- The Atlantic pedantic and the Pacific-specific
are first cousins.
They feel that spirituality is the same
as intellectual rigor,
that sentiment is disgusting
and that research findings from the sciences
are sometimes more important than spiritual principles.
They really always speak above the heads of everyone else
and nobody can really understand what they say.
The small moon and the big heart of dodo
are just the opposite of the Atlantic pedantic
and the Pacific-specific.
They believe that having feelings
and a big heart are synonymous with spirituality.
You get the feeling from these birds
that you can't be spiritual
and have a bright mind as well.
There are a variety of other birds that we all know very well.
There is the hood-winked bobblink
who can see only the good points in someone
to the extent that he often makes
poor judgments about others and is easily taken in.
The old-busted fault-finder is quite the opposite.
He can never see one good quality in anyone
and therefore can never find anyone qualified
to serve on any committee or to vote for in the high elections.
- The contrary canary always takes the opposite point of view.
No matter what the view is.
- The clipped wing to procrastinator
can never get off the ground with any assignment.
His chief talent is apologizing for not getting the job done.
- The puffed up puffin is a more pedantic version
of the great Crested Hornblower.
- The melancholy lackluster always sings a sad song
and the timid tufted tick mouse has talents
but won't offer them to the community
because she has no confidence.
- How can all of these birds be deepened
so that their qualities and characteristics
will facilitate rather than impair consultation?
- The Universal House of Justice
stated that deepening means gaining
a clearer apprehension of God's purpose for man.
Let us examine how a consciousness of that purpose
can transform negative qualities into positive ones
and unify them in a way that spiritualizes consultation
and enables the local assembly
to carry out God's purpose for man.
The Ha'la affirmed that our purpose
is to know and to love God
and to carry forward an ever advancing civilization.
- Abdul Baha stated that our purpose is
to acquire virtues and show the offended stated
that our purpose is to promote the oneness of mankind.
Awareness of these purposes makes us have
different motivations for what we do.
It enables us to transform satanic strength
into heavenly power.
- For instance, a singing mother clutch
aware of God's purpose for man
will not only take the safe from round her neck
but will open the safe
and make its contents available as a gift
to the assembly or the committee on which she serves.
She allows them to make whatever use they can for ideas.
Instead of clutching it to naciously to her own ideas,
she cleans to God's purpose for man
and to the immediate purposes of the assembly
or committee consultation.
So you see, clutching itself isn't bad.
It depends on what you're clutching and why.
- What about the doubt-filled platypus?
When the doubt-filled platypus is tuned in
to God's purpose for man,
he can be a very useful creature on any concentrated body.
In a little way, he can draw upon his experience
and express his doubts
in a way that will help plans become more realistic.
Instead of rejecting everyone's ideas
as something that's already been tried and won't work,
he can examine the reasons why things in the past
didn't seem to work and then make recommendations
to modify a given suggestion
in the light of that experience.
- A gentle doubt-filled platypus
can, in a very beneficial way,
doubt all of those enterprises
which do not reflect God's purpose for man
and therefore direct the attention of the committee
or assembly to the certitude of all plans
which are based on God's purpose.
Thus, the doubt-filled platypus
can make a positive and lasting contribution.
And a wholeness of purpose enables the long-winded guy-burr
to recognize the difference
between shitty chat and consultation
and to recognize when each is appropriate.
Many women in garbours are excellent at social gatherings
where it is appropriate to flip about
from person to person with light heart and chat
that doesn't have to leave anywhere
but which puts everywhere it is
and makes all feel welcome.
- The red-headed nip-picker when he is aware of purpose
can be indispensable.
Have you ever had the experience
of sending out 5,000 invitations for a public meeting
with the date or the place or the time
left off the invitation?
The red-headed nip-picker is the bird
who should check the minutes for accuracy
or check over a program
before it is duplicated and distributed.
Have you ever had the experience of trying to start
a public showing of a slide program or a movie
and not having an extension cord or a take-up reel?
With his eye for detail,
a red-headed nip-picker is most useful
in checking over the final arrangements
for a public meeting or a conference.
When the flicker land of Redhatch is aware of purpose,
her capacities to see the connections
among the things that nobody else can see
introduce creativity and imagination
into program planning and decision-making.
Thus, awareness of God's purpose
transforms a seemingly scatter-brained person
into an imaginative and creative one.
- When the yellow-breasted fall-finder
becomes aware of purpose, he is spiritualized
and is transformed into a red-breasted fact-finder
whose talents are useful on any assembly or committee.
- When the tender tale fincider understands God's purpose,
he uses his talents for keeping the committee
or assembly from taking hasty action,
while the flicker did fidget when he becomes aware of purpose,
helps the committee or assembly to waste no time
with trivial details,
such as whether tea or coffee
should be served at the public meeting.
- It is also important to remember
that when birds of different feathers come together
and become aware of God's purpose,
they can complement one another and help each other to grow,
especially if assemblies are wise
in the way they constitute a committee
by taking care to balance it in two ways.
One, by seeing that the talents and qualities
of the different members complement each other
and round out the committee,
and two, by seeing that the characteristics
and qualifications of the birds appointed
fit the task that the committee has to undertake.
- In regard to balancing a committee,
it wouldn't work, for instance,
to appoint a stiff neck squelch to the same committee
as a ruffler feather grouse and a timid, tough to tip mouse.
Feelings would be hurt all the time
and nothing would get done.
The stiff neck squelch, however, works well
with a great crested horn blower
who needs a little spiritual squelching
in order to keep his ego manageable.
- A tight-winged gold pinch
works well with a spread eagle spin-thrift.
When these two birds get together
and share an awareness of God's purpose,
they bring a balanced economic perspective
to the committee's or assembly's operation.
- The big heart of Dodo works well
with a ruffler feather grouse and a lock-billed soccer.
- With regard to matching personal characteristics
with committee tasks, it wouldn't do, for instance,
to appoint a reviewing committee made up
of a melancholy lackluster, a sworn-in loan,
and a lock-billed soccer.
Instead, an excellent reviewing committee
would be comprised of a red-headed nitpicker,
an Atlantic pedantic, and a Pacific specific.
After this committee had reviewed your work,
you would know that every reference was checked
and every misplaced comma discovered and corrected.
- Matching talents with tasks is also important
when electing officers.
If you elect a timid, tough-to-tit mouse chairman,
everyone will talk at once.
- On the other hand, a stiff-nicked squelch,
once he is spiritualized by becoming aware
of God's purpose, makes an excellent chairman.
- If you elect the flicker-lined nut hatch as secretary,
you will have no end of problems.
When this bird is elected secretary,
things can be a bit rough.
The notion of filing is completely foreign to this bird.
The idea of deadlines are outside the realm of her style,
and she can never tell the difference
between institutional policy and personal preference.
Her minutes read like a poetic personal reminiscence.
It's difficult for her to express the intent and purpose
of the assemblies or committee's action.
Instead of being secretary,
the flicker-minded nut hatch works better on a committee
charged with the task of planning an imaginative
and festive occasion.
For such planning, she works well
with a long-spilled cocktail and with a great crested horn blower.
- A hammer told numbing bird,
paired with a big-hearted dodo,
both in tune with God's purpose,
make an effective team in dealing with birds
who have flagrantly broken by high law,
disobeyed their assemblies,
and need loving but very firm treatment.
So you see, my friends, birds of diverse feathers
can flock together and consult together,
if they can be united and spiritualized
through sharing, understanding,
and being committed to God's purpose for man.
- What kind of bird are you?
How can awareness of God's purpose for man transform you
and make you a more effective participant
in the consultative process?
- Prayer can help you to have the kind of awareness
that makes you ask yourself throughout all the high
consultation, the critical question,
is what I am about to say
and the way I am going to say it,
consistent with God's purpose for man.
♪ Word of a feather used to flock together ♪
♪ But in this new age, in new love, prevail ♪
♪ Word of a feather used to flock together ♪
♪ But in this new age, in new love, prevail ♪
♪ Word of a feather used to flock together ♪
♪ But in this new age, in new love, prevail ♪
♪ Word of a feather used to flock together ♪
♪ But in this new age, in new love, prevail ♪
♪ Word of diverse feathers now consult together ♪
♪ Common feathers, common gold, unity, diversity ♪
♪ Make all good into what flock holds ♪
♪ Do what flock holds ♪
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