Confessions of a Child of the Half-Light

by Jack McLean

2022

Contents

    1. ‘ABDU’L-BAHÁ: REMEMBERING THE MASTER

      The Paris Interview with Laura Dreyfus Barney (1967)
      Her “Imperishable Service”
      The Interview
      The Old Frenchman who had met ‘Abdu’l-Bahá
      Memories of the Master: Highlights Reported by Curtis Kelsey

    2. SHOGHI EFFENDI: REMEMBERING THE GUARDIAN

      The Status of Pilgrim’s Notes Revisited
      Mr. Daoud Toeg, Baghdad, Iraq and Hull, Quebec
      Ms. Winnifred Harvey, Winnipeg, Ottawa, Hull, Haifa
      Mr. Munir Bahá’í
      Mrs. Laura Rumney Davis, Toronto, Ontario
      Ms. Joyce Frances Devlin, Burritts Rapids, Ontario
      Mr. Allan Raynor, Toronto, Canada
      Allan Raynor through Robert “Bob” Leblanc
      Mr. Mozhan Khádem, Son of the Hand of the Cause Mr. Zikrulláh Khádem
      The Iranian Pilgrim (Paris, France)

    3. TEACHING THE FAITH, MAGIC MOMENTS, MEETING GREAT SOULS

      Divine Foundations in Childhood: Five Bright Memories
      Our Spiritual Mother: Ruth Halsted Kern, “Auntie Ruthie”
      Faith of Our Fathers: Our Grandparents Jessie Fallon Halsted & William Henry Halsted
      The Devoted Servant of All: Violet Fallon Halsted, “Auntie Vi”
      My Elder Sister Mary Louise McLean, Mary Lou
      Early Youth and Declaration of Faith: Hand of the Cause of God, Mr. William Sears
      Teaching the Faith to the Presbyterian Minister Reverend W.
      A Bountiful Harvest: The McLean Firesides at 6 Emery Circle, Etobicoke
      Success in Teaching: My brother Stephen Stewart McLean
      The Declaration of Faith of my Father Allan James McLean (1969)
      The Steadfast Teachers and Pioneers Who Arose
      The Paris Years (1965-1968): Hands of the Cause, Outstanding Believers and Pioneers
      Marriage, Family Life, Teaching School
      Transition Years: Salt Spring Island, British Columbia (1997-1999)
      The Return to Ottawa (1999-2013)
      The Last Hand of the Cause and One of the Last Few Remaining Knights of Bahá’u’lláh
      Three Year Stay in Carleton Place (2013-2106): Second Return to Ottawa and Co-op Living (2016-)
      Fourteen Real Life Lessons and Recommendations

    4. ESSAYS AND REFLECTIONS

      “The Philosophic Mind”: Reflections on Wordsworth’s Ode at the Dawn of the Twenty-First Century
      The Consumer Mass Market: Bridging the Gap Between the Secular and the Sacred
      Voices of Conscience
      Dichotomies are not Always False
      The Prophetic Call, the Voice of God and Divine Signs
      Actors and Acting Today: A Mixed Assessment
      The Scholars of the Second Bahá’í Century
      Mr. Roger White Poet and Dancer: What the Dream Revealed
      The Relevance of Socrates, Plato and Aristotle for Saving the Soul from Twenty-First Century Materialism
      The Soul and the Paradoxes of Human Existence in Light of Eternity
      A Modern Ballad: The Tragic Death of John Doe
      Recapitulation and Endurance in the Senior Years
      The Strange Paradox of Theology and Union with God
      The Simplicity and Complexity of Attaining Spiritual Freedom
      Correlating the Four Universal Material and Spiritual Phenomena of Nature and Spirit
      The Eternal Now, Attaining the Divine Presence, Discovering the Self and the Soul
      Why Love is Greater than Science, Why Science Needs Love, Why Love Needs Science
      The Messianic Secret Disclosed in the Garden of Riḍván:
      Contrast Between Cosmic Celebration and Historical Event
      Spiritual Capacity and What the Photographs of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá Reveal
      The Degeneration of Morals, Broadcast News, Violence in Sports and Corporate Power
      The Creative Process: A Little Bit of Heaven, a Little Bit of Hell

    5. MYSTICISM: EXPERIENCING THE TRANSCENDENT

      see also at jack-mclean.com/mystical/

      The Place of Mysticism in Religion
      Five Types of Transcendental Experiences:

        I. BEING IN THE PRESENCE
        Falling on my Face Before the Glory of God
        What Happened Then: What I Learned from this Experience
        Hand of the Cause Mr. Zikrulláh Khádem Vehicles the Love of Shoghi Effendi
        After His Passing: In my Father’s Presence with my Mother
        Mother Keeps her Promise to Show me the Bliss of Heaven
        And the Heavens Opened: An Experience of Cosmic Happiness
        Resetting the Distressed Mind Through the Power of the Word of God
        Meeting Hand of the Cause Mr. Khádem in the Rose Garden of the Spirit
        Three Dreams: The Two Bábí Shaykhs, the Ark and the Lotus
        The Blessed Night of Peace 
        II. VISIONS
        III. CLAIRVOYANCE
        IV. CLAIRAUDIENCE
        V. DREAMS

    6. THE BOOK OF EIGHTEEN

      Sayings of various lengths, aphorisms, pensées

    7. FAMILY MATTERS

      My Grandparents William and Jessie Fallon Halsted
      Sayings of My Maternal Grandparents Halsted
      My Parents
      EULOGY FOR ALLAN JAMES MCLEAN (November 29, 1913-April 7, 1995)
      Scottish Tranquility (Allan James McLean 1913-1995)
      EULOGY FOR JOYCE MARY HALSTED MCLEAN (July 14, 1920-November 28, 2001)

    8. TRAVEL TEACHING IN THE FORMER SOVIET UNION AND UKRAINE (1990)

      Departure
      Moscow (5-8 August, 1990)
      On the Train from Moscow to Kyiv
      Kyiv
      Lyviv
      Homeward Bound
      See also To Russia with Love: Journal of a Member of the Quddus Team


Download: mclean_confessions_child_half-light.pdf.


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