Principles of Spiritual Economics by Hooshmand Badee

Badee referred to a passage in the March 1, 2017, letter from the Universal House of Justice: “Of course, the future order conceived by Bahá’u’lláh is far beyond anything that can be imagined by the present generation. As to whether it is too early to envisage a Bahá’í economic system, Dr. Badee then elaborated on the meanings of “systems” and outlined the many components of a system that can be seen in the Bahá’í community. Badee’s answer to the question “Is there a Bahá’í economic system ?” was an emphatic “No.” In this section of his talk, he discussed many quotations from the Bahá’í sacred texts, the writings of Shoghi Effendi, and the letters from the Universal House of Justice. Badee provided explanations of some words and concepts essential to understanding the field of economics: economy, system, the analogy of the human body as a system, economic systems. Thus his purpose was to discuss “some of the methods and alternatives, including ethics, needed to fix the problems of humanity.” Before moving on, Dr. “The Bahá’ís, too, are part of the mess” and need to contribute to the solution. Badee then went on to talk about the increasing gap between the rich and the poor, noting that “The world really is in a mess” and that we have a long way to go. Badee said that his purpose was not “to solve economic problems in forty-five minutes” but to make his audience “aware of some alternative methods that are suggested in the Bahá’í writings.” He mentioned the timely release by the Universal House of Justice of its March 1 letter about economics in which “the vision of Bahá’u’lláh challenges many assumptions.” Dr. Badee organized his talk into four sections: (1) an introduction (2) the question “Is there a Bahá’í economic system?” (3) distinctive Bahá’í teachings on economics and (4) a conclusion. Finally, read the text of the questions and answers (more about those later). Badee’s talk to see how he fleshes out the ideas and prepares you for meaningful conversations.

The Wilmette Institute staff suggests this approach: Scroll through the PowerPoint to become acquainted with the outline of the talk. The questions and answers that followed the Web Talk are available in written form.

The Web Talk itself is available on the Wilmette Institute’s YouTube channel. Badee’s talk is sure to provide additional information that will help you discuss economic topics with your friends and family. Coming as it did twelve days after the Universal House of Justice released its March 1, 2017, letter about the pathway to global economic well-being, Dr. Hooshmand Badee, a Scottish Bahá’í, gave a timely Web Talk on March 12, 2017, entitled “Is There a Bahá’í Economic System?” It was available live on GoToWebinar and also on Facebook, with six Bahá’ís watching it at the Bahá’í Unity Museum in Seattle.

Principles of Spiritual Economics by Hooshmand Badee