El Ayuno

35degrees. No AC apart from in the car or at the mall. Humidity thats at a level beyond my comprehension...

It´s Day 7 of the Bahaí 19-day Fast, in one of the hottest countries, in their hottest month.

If you are asking yourself what exactly is the Baha'i fast, hopefully these writings will give you some insight...

´The fasting period, which lasts nineteen days starting as a rule from the second of March every year and ending on the twentieth of the same month, involves complete abstention from food and drink from sunrise till sunset. It is essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make the necessary readjustments in his inner life, and to refresh and reinvigorate the spiritual forces latent in his soul. Its significance and purpose are, therefore, fundamentally spiritual in character. Fasting is symbolic, and a reminder of abstinence from selfish and carnal desires. ´Shoghi Effendi


´...for this physical fast is a symbol of the spiritual fast. This Fast leadeth to the cleansing of the soul from all selfish desires, the acquisition of spiritual attributes...´

´..Besides all this, prayer and fasting [are] the cause of awakening and mindfulness..´ Abdul-Baha

`...fasting is the supreme remedy and the most great healing for the disease of self and passion.´ Baha´u´llah

´Blessed is the one who through the heat generated by the Fast increaseth his love, and who, with joy and radiance, ariseth to perform worthy deeds.´ (Baha’u’llah, Importance of Obligatory Prayer and Fasting, UHJ, May 2000)

I know the heat Baha´u´llah talks about in the last quote is spiritual, but certainly here in Chongon the physical environment serves as a daily reminder!! Locals tell me `If you can survive this month, then you can live in Ecuador'. So far so good.

Tomorrow I begin a 10day workshop with the youth of Chongon, focusing on building theatre skills with them and finding interested people to act in our next series of films. I´m excited, but nervous at the same time. It´s the first time the project has specifically worked with youth, before it was junior youth (below 14years of age)and their parents and their response was huge. So we shall see...

We have been having a lot of consulations recently as a team on the process. And one big question that keeps coming up is to do with solution based work. We dont want to come across preachy or forceful in anyway. We have the Bahaí Writings as a base so how do we encorporate the writings in our productions in a way that is an offering, that makes the audience reflect, and question...
What makes us different to another religious group doing the same thing? How are we different to say, a group of Mormon´s doing a similiar project, that is about community development, development of spiritual qualities etc? One major point of difference is that the purpose of the Media Project is not ´conversion´ of any sort, or to teach the Bahaí Faith through it. It´s more about addressing the social issues in the community through film and theatre, but using the Bahaí guidance specifically to those issues.
I have issues with solution-based drama i´ve seen in the past with different groups in New Zealand and around the world. It doesnt challenge the audience enough, it´s so black and white, the audience is treated like dummies. And generally people know that taking drugs etc is not good for them, so how do we create something that is complex, thought-provoking, engages the audience, and provides a space for the Bahaí perspective to come through? How do we go deeper into the issues, so the scripts dont skim the surface? How deep into the negative forces at work in society do we go, especially when these videos are aimed for 11,12, 13 year olds and their families? We cant have light without darkness. But its finding the balance...
so much of the films we see today focus on the darker side of society and leave the audience with a sense of hopelessness..How do we resolve the conflict, does having a feel good 'disney' type ending push the audience away or make them step closer into the world we created? Some audience members shared that they had never seen a family as unified and cohesive as the families we were potraying in the videos, and it moved them to tears after watching it. Often the family situation here is far from that, well in most of the world now. So showing a positive influence can also have big effects, even if it may feel cheesy, or is it possible to have a solution-type ending that is not disney like? Is it possible?
We are aiming to create a new culture through this work...little by little...