© 2023 Samuel Heine
© 2023 Urantia Association of Quebec
Samuel Heine
Reunion Island
Experience lived on Reunion Island on January 1, 2022
Bahaism, or Baha’ism, also known as the Bahá’í Faith (in Persian: بهائی (bahāʾī), pronounced [baˈ.haː.ʔ.iː] or [ba.hɑː.i]) or Behaism (old spelling), is an Abrahamic and monotheistic religion, proclaiming the spiritual unity of humanity. The members of this international religious community describe themselves as adherents of an “independent world religion”
I wanted to share with you an experience I had, my brothers and sisters. For about twenty years, we have been very close friends with a couple of Iranian origin who belong to the Bahá’í religion or faith. I talk about it quite often, because each encounter leaves a deep mark on us, in a very pleasant and indescribable way.
On January 1, 2022, we were invited to spend a few hours in the afternoon at an outdoor fraternal meeting, in a quiet corner of the heights of Reunion Island.
As we don’t have a car at the moment, our friend came to pick us up. There were about thirty people with smiles, some had masks and others didn’t, distances were respected as much as possible, everyone had brought something to eat for a snack, the children were supervised to play group games, a few teenagers were playing guitar, a group of women in a small corner were praying in a group and others were talking about this and that without any backbiting, negativity or resentment of anger in the face of life’s events.
As always, one could feel the love of God and the spirit of a living brotherhood, simplicity and enormous mutual sympathy in a rare harmony of relationships. I was able to realize “once again” that it is not primarily the spiritual teaching or religion described in a book that is important, but it is the fruits of the spirit visible in the natural way of being of believers.
I have no words to express to you the good time we had, it was as if the batteries of the soul were recharged to the brim (smile).
I said to myself (and this was not the first time regarding the Bahá’ís we know): these people live and understand the essence of the teachings of Jesus in a way that I have rarely seen among “Christians” or students of the Urantia Book. Without generalizing of course.
This kind of meeting in this spiritual atmosphere really feels good! 1000 times more than a meeting behind a computer screen, I can tell you (and I’m not saying that Zoom meetings aren’t good, far from it).
For me and my wife Adelaide, it was a lesson in the scent of a world as it could and should be. An example. 
