Abdu'l-Baha - Walking the Chosen Highway

This video, created and produced by filmmaker Flavio Azm Rassekh, is called "Abdu'l-Baha - Walking the Chosen Highway". It features historical photographs of Abdu'l-Baha, as well as contemporary photographs of Baha'i community building activities from all over the world.

The quotations depicted are the following:

"I am walking in my chosen highway; I know the destination. Hundreds of storms and tempests may rage furiously around my head; hundreds of Titanics may sink to the bottom of the sea, the mad waves may rise to the roof of heaven; all these will not change my purpose, will not disturb me in the least; I will not look either to the right or to the left; I am looking ahead, far, far. Piercing through the impenetrable darkness of the night, the howling winds, the raging storms, I see the glorious Light beckoning me forward, forward. The balmy weather is coming, and the voyager shall land safely."
-Abdu’l-Baha, quoted in 'Star of the West', Volume IV, No. 12

"Never lose thy trust in God... be thou not hopeless under any circumstances..."
-Abdu'l-Baha, from 'Selections of the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha'

Flavio shared with us the following:

"The idea for the video came right at the beginning of the pandemic when it was hitting really hard a few countries in Europe and the eastern part of the US. I kept thinking, 'What would Abdu’l-Baha encourage us to do in a situation like this?' When I found this quote the whole edit of the film came to me as if it was ready, along with a Ludovico Eunadi song, and all the images of the friends around the world engaged in service. Once it was ready and we sent it out over Whatsapp it went viral very quickly and we got requests to post it on YouTube and other platforms. Since the soundtrack was copyrighted, we had to find someone to compose the new music -- that's when Eric Harper joined us with this fantastic track. This version of the video is a bit different from the first one but still delivers the same message.

We hope viewers share the video with friends and maybe consider consulting about the last messages of the House of Justice on what individuals and communities can do to alleviate the sufferings of their fellow citizens. Above all, my understanding of the message of the Master is that we should never lose hope, even in the most difficult times, when trials come from every direction and we might think that our lives have no purpose or meaning."

You can find recent messages from the Universal House of Justice here: https://www.bahai.org/library/authoritative-texts/the-universal-house-of-justice/messages/

Flavio also brought us the 'Hope From Iran' trilogy, which you can watch here: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLePDtgwcyKAQwCyQX7CgviKFOMFu-fyKw

He also created 'Breaking the Chains: The Story of the Girls Schools in Iran', an animation about the historical role Baha’is played in bringing education to girls in 1900s Iran: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Buow34lQiEs

Music for this video was composed by Eric Harper. You can find out more about his music here: https://www.ericharpermusic.com/

You can read more about Abdu’l-Baha, including a biography of His life, His Unique Station, a selection of His Writings, and other articles dedicated to Him here: https://www.bahai.org/abdul-baha/

You may also be interested in these Baha'i Blog resources dedicated to Abdu'l-Baha:

* Abdu'l-Baha: Unique (which you can read here https://www.bahaiblog.net/2013/11/abdul-baha-unique/ and listen to here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQCb8dDlTEo)

* The Mystery of Abdu'l-Baha (you can read it here https://www.bahaiblog.net/2011/11/the-mystery-of-abdu’l-baha/)

* This series of 6 talks by Tom Price called "Recreating Ourselves in the Image of the Master": https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S0xht4iTTJA&list=PLePDtgwcyKATM-GedAXjh2d48b-BjeEJI

* This song, called "Abdu'l-Baha", which is a musical piece inspired by the Heroes Teaching Conference: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aBZ574mQ3TU

Видео Abdu'l-Baha - Walking the Chosen Highway канала Baha'i Blog