Confessions of a Child of the Half-Light

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