When We In/visibilize Our Nobility...
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Sahar D. Sattarzadeh, When We In/visibilize Our Nobility..., bahai-library.com.
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When We
In/visibilize                                   VAWA have provided federal grant funding
to support relevant community-based ini-

Our Nobility . . .                              tiatives; they have also resulted in a num-
ber of advancements, including, but not
limited to: stronger criminal laws, housing
SAHAR D. SATTARZADEH                            protections for victims, extending partial
accountability for domestic violence to
tribal lands, and inclusion of protections
Dost thou deem thyself a small
for the LGBTQ+ community. Reauthori-
and puny form,
zation of the bill expired in 2019, and at
When thou foldest within thyself              the time of writing this, the U.S. House
the greater world?                            of Representatives approved reauthoriza-
Hadith (qtd. in Bahá’u’lláh, The              tion, H.R.1620 - Violence Against Women
Call of the Divine Beloved)                   Act Reauthorization Act of 2021 (www.
congress.gov/bill/117th-congress/house-
U /                 V                   bill/1620/text) with enhancements, partic-
ularly for Black, Indigenous, underrepre-
In October 2011, an international faith-        sented ethnic/racial groups, two-spirit and
based women’s rights non-governmen-             LGBTQ+ communities, which is currently
tal organization (NGO) convened a               facing obstacles in the Senate. Responding
press briefing for invited members of           to the long absence, avoidance, and silence
of governmental action regarding Miss-
the United States Congress and their
ing and Murdered Indigenous Women,
staff in the U.S. Capitol Building in
Girls, Transgender, and Two-Spirit People
Washington, D.C. The briefing was an            (MMIWGT2S), the first-ever Indigenous
advocacy initiative to address the Vi-          person and woman of color to hold a U.S.
olence Against Women Act (VAWA)1                Cabinet position, Secretary of the Interior
Deb Haaland (Laguna Pueblo), has also
1      Introduced by the U.S. Congress       established a new Missing and Murdered
and signed by President Bill Clinton in         Unit (MMU) within the Bureau of Indian
1994, VAWA became the first form of U.S.        Affairs Office of Justice Services “to pro-
legislation representing a multidimensional     vide leadership and direction for cross-de-
approach to strengthening local, state, trib-   partmental and interagency work involving
al, and federal responses to gender-based       missing and murdered American Indians
violence and violence against women and         and Alaska Natives . . . [and] help put the
LGBTQ+ communities, specifically relat-         full weight of the federal government into
ing to crimes associated with dating vio-       investigating these cases and marshal law
lence, domestic violence or intimate part-      enforcement resources across federal agen-
ner violence, sexual assault, and stalking.     cies and throughout Indian country” (DOI
The dual purpose of the bill is to “ensur[e]    News). On May 4, 2021, President Joe
victim safety and offender accountabili-         Biden proclaimed May 5 as the National
ty” (Office of Violence Against Women).           Day of Missing and Murdered Indigenous
Throughout the years, reauthorizations of       Peoples Awareness Day, including his
78                  The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 30.3 2020

since its reauthorization had expired        this point. It was my turn to approach
that year, and therefore, was again up       the microphone and share my story.
for reauthorization for the 2012 fiscal      “Thank you for inviting me to speak
year. Along with three other women           about this very important issue,” I be-
from diverse faith backgrounds, repre-       gan. “I want to clarify, however, that I
senting religious or interfaith domestic     do not self-identify as a ‘victim’ . . .”
violence organizations and programs, I           The consistent frequency and weight
was invited by the NGO to partici-           of this gender-based “justice” vernac-
pate on an Interfaith Domestic Violence      ular was already too familiar. Even
Coalition panel for the press brief-         when considering the purpose of our
ing. When I was introduced to speak,         gathering and the title of the federal
however, the last words of the introduc-     law, the Violence Against Women Act,
tion caught me off-guard: “. . . and she      for example, the emphasis clearly falls
is a victim of domestic violence.”           on the victimized body of women, dis-
Despite having jotted down talking       regarding the accountability of the per-
points in advance, suddenly, I felt          petrators of that violence. Having ex-
ill-prepared and out of place. An intense    perienced all the predetermined stages
sensation of heat overpowered my be-         of “Battered Woman Syndrome,” while
ing. There was no intention to present       simultaneously self-diagnosing it on
myself as the victim on display for the      occasion, is another reminder of how
event; to be honest, I had never actu-       such branding creates new, problematic
ally shared my abusive relationship          opportunities for those of us who have
history with the conveners. The emcee        endured abusive relationships to be sys-
of the event, a white Christian clergy-      tematically beaten up and diminished
woman introduced as a “survivor” of          by ourselves and others—even if only
domestic violence, shared the obstacles      symbolically—over and over again. It
she had faced due to a deficient, broken     becomes a gendered burden to bear. In
system. It was a story she chose to tell.    attempting to identify the “disease,” we
While there was likely no malintent          still become “diseased,” pathologizing
on the part of the sponsoring NGO, I         our experiences of abuse. Despite the
still could not help but feel exploited      shared anecdotes of victimization and
and tokenized as the poster “victim”         trauma that may (or may not) have
for the briefing. I never consented to       been expected of me at the congressio-
such a representation. My nobility           nal hearing, I refused to go there. That
was instantly invisibilized, flanking in     refusal was a resistance to how I was
the shadows of my “trauma.” Never-           introduced, to how I was scripted to
theless, there was no running away at        perform. Ironically, being introduced
as a victim took me completely “off-
script” of my own pre-drafted words;
commitment to protecting Native commu-       yet, it also challenged me to create a
nities through the reauthorization of VAWA   new narrative for myself.
(The White House).
When We In/visibilize Our Nobility . . .                      79

Simultaneously, I had been volun-       intend to serve. While I shared my per-
teering as a “Court Companion and          spectives during the training sessions, I
Victim Advocate” at the “Abused            am not sure whether anyone was recep-
Persons Program” (titles that remain),     tive to them. One thing was for certain:
an initiative of the county health de-     the program and the court system only
partment where I lived at the time.        viewed us as “victims.”
Volunteering for the program was a            In such systems, we are inherently
self-prescribed attempt to heal from       victims—before we even arrive, grant-
leaving an abusive relationship (which     ing us the latitude to perform victim-
many, I recognize, are not privileged to   hood; and then, there are those unwrit-
do, due to varying circumstances) by       ten codes deciphering who deserves
hoping to support others who had also      protection, who deserves the abuse,
experienced domestic or intimate part-     who deserves or should be “rescued” or
ner violence. Among the program staff       “saved,” and who should be doing the
and our cohort of volunteers, I was the    rescuing or saving; this savior complex
only one who had openly verbalized         extends across many interesting di-
experiencing an abusive relationship,      mensions and planes (Cole). Becoming
revealing a close-up understanding         a “battered woman” not only emerges
of how “justice” falls short. While I      from a historical, patriarchal norma-
sensed a genuine collective desire to      tive script. Its imprint deepens when
help those victimized by abuse, the        it becomes economized, ethnicized,
program lacked sufficient, relevant          geographized, Indigenized, and/or ra-
educational and economic resources,        cialized, and so on, particularly when
and most importantly, it lacked any        examined through the lens of colonial
epistemic experience—or what Deer          histories—justifying, normalizing, and
refers to as “the kind of knowledge        reproducing diverse forms of violence
we gain from experiencing something;       against Indigenous, Black, ethnic/
a visceral knowledge that can invoke       racial, and gendered bodies (for ex-
the physical senses and the genius of      ample, see Deer; Hammad; Hartman;
memory” (14)—from its targeted pop-        Ritchie; Sharpe). This victimhood is
ulation, thus neglecting the insightful,   oftentimes internalized, especially for
vital contributions that could be shared   already marginalized and underrepre-
with the program. The dichotomies          sented communities. Ultimately, if the
of “victim” and “offender” used in          oppression persists “long enough and
the space are dehumanizing and di-         effectively enough, you [may] begin to
minish the possibility of any inherent     do it to yourself . . . becom[ing] a col-
nobility. Therefore, despite their good    laborator” (Baldwin and Giovanni 17).
intentions, the program staff’s efforts         For five years, I was in a relationship
seemed paternalistic and surface-level     with a man who was economically,
at most, disregarding the diverse so-      emotionally, physically, psychological-
ciocultural contexts of the people they    ly, and spiritually abusive towards me.
80                  The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 30.3 2020

My former partner’s abuse was fueled         a silent corner, hidden from view . . .
by evident preexisting insecurities that     until dear, beloved souls gave me “per-
swiftly avalanched from the “intel” he       mission” to share it. The companionate
collected during his frequent violations     words of Saidiya Hartman on being
of my privacy, including reading my          influenced by DuBois’s use of memoir
journal entries about my interrogations      in The Souls of Black Folk and Dusk
of uninvited advances from men and the       of Dawn—inspired by Chandler and
details of a gang rape I had endured just    Spivak’s terminology—confirmed that
a year prior to meeting him. His mother      this “autobiographical example . . .
had tragically passed away from ad-          is not a personal story that folds onto
vanced ovarian cancer during the early       itself; it’s not about navel gazing, it’s
weeks of our courtship. Coincidentally,      really about trying to look at histori-
I was diagnosed with an early stage of       cal and social process and one’s own
ovarian cancer two weeks following           formation as a window onto social and
her earthly departure. Oddly enough,         historical processes, as an example of
I assumed my cancer diagnosis would          them” (Saunders 5). Lorde’s reference
serve as a form of protection or shield      to her personal story in The Cancer
from the abuse, perhaps an unyielding        Journals as “not academic,” but rather
bond between us; but instead, it swiftly     as “a piece of life-saving equipment”
became irrelevant, invisible. Our rela-      that “kept [her] alive during the time
tionship ended in 2009, and two years        that [she] wrote it” (Lorde et al. 11),
later—two months after that congres-         likewise encouraged me to reconcile
sional press briefing—I was formally         and feel at ease to open up and share
diagnosed with having post-traumatic         this story; the urge to share this now is
stress disorder (PTSD). Two years lat-       simply because it finally manifested as
er, we attempted to give the relationship    a rupture I needed to address. And in
another try, but it had already failed the   the words of Lorde, “now it’s out there,
first time. The relationship was an ac-      the umbilical cord is cut, it has a life of
celerant to a lingering disbelief in my      its own” (2). It is no longer “mine,” nor
own nobility. All of my relationships—       does it belong to me.
regardless of shape or form—were                 Silence formerly functioned as a
mirrors of a distorted reality, reflecting   protective armor—for my own guilt
the neglect of my spiritual self.            and shame and for my former partner,
To be truthful, it has taken me well     from the backbiting, verbal abuse,
over a decade to share this personal         and judgments projected from others
experience openly and publicly. Obvi-        in their attempts to slander his char-
ously, I am not the first to share such      acter. In addition to unlearning unjust
an account; nor will I be the last, un-      sociocultural norms and other forms
fortunately. Initially resistant to being    of socialization (we do not often free-
the center of attention, to be centered      ly speak about “these kinds of issues”
at all, this story was safeguarded in        in Azeri/Iranian/Persian households),
When We In/visibilize Our Nobility . . .                       81

gossip and backbiting, unfortunately,          for justice and healing they evoke.
had already emerged among a number             Even those secret well-intentioned
of those privy to this particular slice of     “intervention” plans among a few clus-
my life. Even in the deafening secrets         ters of friends deeply rooted in social
and silence, I heard people talking.           justice activism, which I learned of
Aside from the desire to avoid being           years later, backfired in unhealthy, tox-
“exposed” to and judged by the world, I        ic modes, even dissolving friendships.
had no interest in presenting the self-in-     All I desired was to avoid being (mis)
flicted image of damaged “victim” or           represented or replicating the “danger
recovering “survivor.” Both “victim”           in damage-centered [narratives] . . . [as
and “survivor” still give way/weight to        a] pathologizing approach in which the
the experience of trauma, albeit differ-        oppression singularly defines a com-
ently.2 The thought of others projecting       munity” (Tuck 413), such as women
such a negative status upon me felt            in violent relationships. Tuck suggests
disempowering. In the same instance,           considering desire-based frameworks
there was no desire on my part to triv-        instead.
ialize or delegitimize the injustice or           My desire to seek liberation from
diminish the urgency of domestic/in-           the entanglements and fetters of dam-
timate partner/gender-based violence.          age and victimhood is neither unique
Similarly, I did not wish to undermine         nor limited to my personal experiences
the genuine empathy and aspirations            with intimate partner, domestic, gen-
der-based, and sexual violence. There
2      For me, “survivor” has been asso-    are extensive systems and structures in
ciated with “surviving”: cancer, rape, and     our societies where a duality of visibi-
domestic violence. Like “victim,” there-       lized trauma and invisibilized nobility
fore, I believe “survivor,” as a construct,    is reproduced and normalized, particu-
still anchors an individual’s trauma or pain   larly in the realm of justice. Many have
and centers the damage or scars there-         created—through comedy and humor,
from, limiting it to the human body—not
writing, research, the arts, and social
the capacities of the soul—therefore, em-
action—humanizing narratives that
phasizing the scars that remain from such
experiences, not the healing, growth, and
push back against one-sided or domi-
progress. Thus, instead of transcending our    nant narratives of victimhood (for ex-
pain and suffering—accepting it happened,       ample, see @regcharging (Charging);
grieving it, and so on—we become stuck         Bida; Dougher; Madden; Noah; Rodri-
in limbo within a projected and/or internal-   guez). Like Tuck, “I invite you to join
ized, one-dimensional posture of survivor      me in re-visioning [representations] in
of our own individual and collective mak-      our communities not only to recognize
ing. There is no desire on my part to deny     the need to document the effects of op-
the name “survivor” for those who wish to      pression on our communities but also
claim it; it is solely a personal preference   to consider the long-term repercussions
not to be perceived as a survivor or surviv-   of thinking of ourselves as broken”
ing. Living is also an option.
82                   The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 30.3 2020

(409)—moving beyond satisfaction           it? What examples in the world could
with representations of desire—mov-        I learn and draw from? How can we
ing along to recognition of and belief     authentically and humbly engage in
in our inherent spiritual reality—visi-    social action and the relevant discours-
bilizing nobility for ourselves and our    es of society to “assail” the injustices
communities, especially in numerous        and inequities of this world, while
discourses about (in)justice and (in)eq-   concurrently amplifying the spiritual
uity. Most importantly, in this journey    reality—the nobility (and therefore,
of renewal and reimagination, this vis-    constructive resiliency) of the soul?
ibilizing of nobility demands that we          These questions have since evolved
look at members of our human family        into two broader questions that I am
who endure injustices and inequities—      still aiming to “perfect.” First, how can
in varying degrees—with new eyes.          we reconceptualize and participate in
They are not merely damaged bodies         a body politic where we visibilize and
or spiritually disembodied beings, as      center nobility in public discourses and
too frequently depicted, but so much       social actions on the various entangled
more. They are souls, embodiments of       dimensions of injustice and inequity,
nobility or noble-embodied beings.         including academic and activist spaces
(and their convergences)? Second, how
R            R          ,         do exemplary narratives of constructive
V           J        /N               resilience help us honor and recognize
the nobility of peoples and communi-
My soul simultaneously aches and           ties without delegitimizing and deny-
smiles whenever I ponder the Bahá’í        ing the social forces of oppression that
perspective on the relationship be-        exist and persist in the world? These
tween our inherent nobility and justice:   questions, I imagine, are only a few of
“Justice is a noble quality and injus-     those I will live with all the days of my
tice an iniquity” (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Paris     life, on this earthly plane, attempting to
Talks 79), particularly due to the hor-    humbly explore and learn from.
rific accumulation of dehumanization           It is my belief that visibilizing the
we are currently enduring. Learning        inherent nobility of human souls is
this, however, has also forced me to       a key ingredient in the possibility of
question how, for decades, I could con-    reimagining resistance as constructive
ceive of the inherent spiritual nobility   resilience. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá writes:
of others and their justice while deny-
ing my own. But if “[j]ustice is a no-       In the world of existence there
ble quality,” what is true nobility, and     is nothing so important as spirit,
what role(s) does it play in response to     nothing so essential as the spirit of
oppression, (in)justice, and (in)equity?     man. The spirit of man is the most
What does nobility look like in the face     noble of phenomena . . . the col-
of oppression, and would I recognize         lective center of all human virtues
When We In/visibilize Our Nobility . . .                      83

. . . the cause of the illumination      and hypervisibility of injustice and
of this world. (Promulgation             inequity on a number of intersecting
239–40)                                  levels. The global COVID-19 pandem-
ic, combined with a rampant, height-
Imagine if we all saw one another          ened response to worldly injustices of
through this lens: as spirits, as nuclei   anti-Blackness, anti-Indigeneity, an-
of human virtues, as radiant lights—       ti-Asian violence, extremes of poverty
even amidst pain and suffering. When        and wealth, vaccine apartheid, xeno-
reflecting on this imagery, I cannot       phobia, racism, and patriarchy, and the
help but reflect on the analogies de-      list goes on—despite their persistence
scribed by the Central Figures of the      for centuries—have been characterized
Bahá’í Faith regarding the entangled       by varying calls for public action. Most
relationship between the most globally     of these movements have been moti-
oppressed communities—as the “pupil        vated by the necessities of collective
of the eye,”—a metaphor distinctly in-     justice, while others have been fueled
troduced by Bahá’u’lláh for people of      by demands for individual liberties.
African descent—as portals of light,       Mass public outcry is usually synon-
and Indigenous peoples as beacons of       ymous with or derived from—but not
light who will become “so illumined as     limited to—terms and concepts such as
to enlighten the whole world” (Tablets     activism, boycott, demonstration, pro-
of the Divine Plan 32). This spiritual     test, resistance, and social movements,
reality cannot be reduced to coinci-       for example. The most prolific scholars
dence. What if narratives of injustice     of “social movement studies,” par-
and inequity faced by communities          ticularly those educated and residing
were paralleled by these noble quali-      within a factory-like white, patriarchal
ties they possess? How might a nobil-      Euro-American system of formal high-
ity framework yield new opportunities      er education, limit their definitions of
for reimagining noble souls and their      collective action to criteria character-
capacities of constructive thought and     istic of contention and oppositionality.
action in the face of injustice? While     These conditions are clearly the most
I fully advocate the necessity of un-      mediatized and popularized, but there
earthing and studying all facets of        are also more humanizing elements of
oppression, stopping at the paralysis      social change that are almost always
of damage or victimhood from such          hidden from view. While the study of
oppression seems incomplete, falling       social movements is important, these
short, and even a missed opportunity.      criteria limit the possibilities of social
Why not, rather, prepare and seek out      change and the inherent capacities and
pathways of transcendence through          contributions of humankind, especially
that oppression?                           the persistent efforts of those catego-
Today, more than ever, we are im-       rized and segmented as “marginalized”
mersed in a cumulative amplification       “oppressed,” “underserved,” and so on.
84                 The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 30.3 2020

Such criteria visibilize negative imag-     disadvantage, dysfunction, and differ-
ery of collective action, while invisibi-   ence (80).
lizing the inherent nobility of individ-        In a message to Bahá’í students
uals and communities engaged in such        denied access to higher education in
action and their pursuit of justice and     Iran, the Universal House of Justice
equity. The intensity of discourses and     addressed the historical oppression of
actions revolving around racial injus-      their Bábí and Bahá’í spiritual ances-
tice, anti-Indigeneity, and anti-Black-     tors, as well as their complementary
ness in the United States and globally      inheritance of a constructively resil-
reveals that this trend in visibilizing     ient spiritual capacity to advance be-
suffering while invisibilizing nobility      yond that same oppression: “You, too,
is nothing new. However, the case for       demonstrate such noble qualities and,
naming and centering inherent nobility      holding fast to these same principles,
is a novel, Bahá’í-inspired perspective.    you belie the slander purveyed against
In the process of spiritually excavat-   your Faith” (9 Sept. 2007).
ing my inherent nobility, I was pulled          The Universal House of Justice also
by the arts and scholarship that would      notes the centuries-long lives of Afri-
help me on this journey. In my re-          can Americans in the United States as
search, I encountered many artistic and     evidence of constructive resilience and
scholarly critiques of the hypervisibili-   calls upon the African American com-
ty of communities and peoples’ trauma       munity to continue “to see in the recent
and victimhood, as well as arguments        turmoil opportunity rather than obsta-
justifying the necessity to underscore      cle” (4 Feb. 2018). Constructive resil-
and center their suffering. There were       ience, therefore, requires utilization of
also works that visibilize the nobility     the spiritually inherent noble qualities
of communities that endure injustice        of souls to “transcend” oppression,
and how they constructively respond         perceive what is possible “beyond the
to systematic oppression. Represen-         distress of difficulties [and obstacles]
tations that piqued my attention were       assailing them,” and transform them-
those uniquely captured moments that        selves and their communities through
humanize and celebrate individual and       deeds that advance “spiritual and so-
collective joy, self-care, and preserva-    cial development.” The beauty of con-
tion in the midst of suffering just as       structive resilience is its reliance upon
much as they shed light on anger, grief,    an internal power of the spirit of peo-
and pain. They highlight the construc-      ples and their communities. It also sur-
tive resilience of communities popu-        passes the quantitative frontiers of “re-
larly portrayed on a default setting of     silience” that have been amplified by
“broken,” disrobed of our nobility and      social actions and discourses emerging
costumed in descriptors of deficiency       across social media spaces, implying
or what Walter (2016) calls the “five       that #StillHere is commonly (mis)
‘Ds’ of data”: disparity, deprivation,      interpreted and limited to a physical
When We In/visibilize Our Nobility . . .                       85

resilience. Furthermore, constructive       of Lakota women, men, and children at
resilience is by no means restricted to     Wounded Knee in 1890 (Brings Plen-
the Bahá’í community; nor is there a        ty). Sørensen maps constructive resis-
singular method or understanding in         tance, referring to “initiatives in which
which constructive resilience can be        people start to build the society they
achieved (Karlberg).                        desire independently of the dominant
Sumud (‫)دومص‬, an Arabic concept          structures already in place” (49) and re-
meaning steadfastness and “resilient        lies on Vinthagen’s definition, where-
resistance,” can be traced back to the      by constructive resistance is understood
tenth century. Palestinian women use        to “transcend the whole phenomenon
sumud as an explanation of their daily      of being-against-something, turning
existence and collective empowerment,       into the proactive form of constructing
particularly through a reaffirmation of       ‘alternative’ or ‘prefigurative’ social
their identity, a “preservation” of Pal-    institutions which facilitate resistance”
estinian culture, and a “nurturance”        (7). These are only but a few concep-
of the Palestinian community (Ryan).        tual and theoretical frameworks that,
holt explains how Rezilience (a com-        like constructive resilience, visibilize
bination of the slang term for reserva-     nobility, the highest aspirations of in-
tion, “rez,” and resilience), an Indige-    dividuals and communities facing op-
nous worldview, is an active teaching       pression in its various forms.
and learning practice for Indigenous           The Universal House of Justice, in
communities to “reclaim, relearn, and       another message, praises the Iranian
reconnect with their ancestral ways of      Bahá’í community’s establishment of
being” (72). Rezilience is an example       the Bahá’í Institute for Higher Education
of Vizenor’s reference to Indigenous        (BIHE) in response to the government’s
survivance (Vizenor, Fugitive Poses;        systematic denial of higher education to
Vizenor, Survivance; Vizenor and Lee),      all its Bahá’í citizenry as representative
a “moving beyond [Indigenous] basic         of “actions [that] are not confined to ef-
survival in the face of overwhelming        forts to seek justice” (1 Oct. 2014). Fur-
cultural genocide to create spaces of       thermore, the establishment of the BIHE
synthesis and renewal” (Vizenor, Man-       as an “unrelenting pursuit of knowledge
ifest Manners 53). Survivance echoes        is perhaps one of the most outstanding
the sacredness of the Lakota word tak-      examples of constructive resilience in
ini, which is often simply translated to    the modern age.” Alternative peaceful
survivor, but it means “to come back to     measures to sustain teaching and learn-
life.” Takini, is about restoring Indige-   ing within formal higher education have
nous communities and moving beyond          similarly been implemented through
survival, recalling stories of the ances-   “street academies” in Turkey (Aktas et
tors and the historical trauma inherited,   al.), underground universities in Kosovo
most associated with the U.S. Army’s        (Sommers and Buckland) and Poland
Seventh Calvary massacre of hundreds        (Garlinski), and educational programs
86                  The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 30.3 2020

held in private homes, religious institu-    computer screens, my therapist assigned
tions, and offices for students in Pales-      me homework: “Recite a prayer every
tine (Zelkovitz).                            morning to recognize your own nobili-
ty.” Mind. Blown. Her instructions were
V              N                       so simple, yet profoundly humbling.
M                              Pray for my own nobility?!? Is that
actually a thing? Prayers for the ances-
While understanding the constructive         tors, detachment, tests and difficulties,
capacity of the soul outside of my-          healing, steadfastness, (in)justice, love,
self, the struggle to see it within me       praise of the Creator, my mother and
was still very real. After completing        father, my brother, my profession . . .
a remote session with my psychother-         were among the primary motivations
apist, the fog gradually began to clear      for prostration and devotion. Never had
for me. Several years had passed since       praying for my own nobility (let alone
my PTSD diagnosis, while trudging            recognizing it) been on my mind up to
along an evolving journey of disen-          that point. Ever since that moment, I
tanglement from its fetters. All this        recite the following from The Hidden
time, justice and equity had served          Words of Bahá’u’lláh daily as part of
as dual interlocking aspirations driv-       my morning meditation routine:
ing my activism, teaching, research,
and writing, but my attempted efforts           O Son of Spirit!
were constantly falling short. Even my         I created thee rich, why dost thou
determination to highlight narratives          bring thyself down to poverty?
about the constructive, transformative         Noble I made thee, wherewith
capacities of “marginalized” and “op-          dost thou abase thyself? Out of the
pressed” peoples and communities               essence of knowledge I gave thee
seemed rather oxymoronic. Externally,          being, why seekest thou enlight-
I was wholeheartedly committed to              enment from anyone beside Me?
exposing (in)justice and the nobility          Out of the clay of love I molded
among the hearts, minds, and souls of          thee, how dost thou busy thyself
“the oppressed” (and the oppressors),          with another? Turn thy sight unto
but it was in competition with the inter-      thyself, that thou mayest find Me
nal invisibilization of my own nobility,       standing within thee, mighty, pow-
as well as a forgetfulness in the pursuit      erful and self-subsisting. (#13,
of justice for myself.                         From the Arabic)
Clearly, this sudden pull to visibilize
nobility was new and uncomfortable,            O Son of Spirit!
especially when related to my own              Noble have I created thee, yet thou
being. Just before our first session had       hast abased thyself. Rise then unto
concluded, and with more than thir-            that for which thou wast created.
teen thousand kilometers between our           (#22, From the Arabic)
When We In/visibilize Our Nobility . . .                       87

Reciting these sacred words and ab-         with a tradition of African American
sorbing their meaning is equivalent to      thought that was significantly advanced
looking into a new, undistorted mirror      by Du Bois and that attempted to al-
that still requires daily meditation and    chemize a history of oppression into a
application of my interpretation of         source of pride and inspiration” (13).
those words into action in every phase      If the material or physical frame of
of my life. In other words, I am still      our bodies and the damage, harm, and
working on truly seeing the nobility        trauma inflicted upon them become
and justice of my soul.                     our primary point of focus, then we
Challenging the historically situated   reproduce the same gaze that justifies
Northwestern Hemispheric concept            oppression—a perception that humans
and identity of nobility (Leonhard          are reduced to soulless bodies. We then
and Wieland), this spiritual dimension      lose sight of the core reality of the
of nobility—not unique to the Bahá’í        identity of our souls and their capac-
teachings alone, not only reveals the       ities of inherent nobility to withstand
power of our spiritual ancestral lin-       oppression and to do so constructively.
eage, but also foreshadows the future
of humankind and its inherent capac-         O     N       S           A
ities to heal, transcend oppression,                           F
and advance intergenerationally. “A
striking aspect of Bahá’í belief,” Arb-     It is my sincerest hope that calling for
ab purports, “is the extraordinary op-      the visibility of nobility (and its inher-
timism it displays about humanity’s         ent relationship to the soul) is not mis-
future. Such hopefulness would be un-       taken for a desire to avoid, dehumanize,
tenable were it not for a profound con-     erase, invisibilize, silence, minimize,
viction, which arises from the Faith’s      or disconnect the social realities of
teachings, that the human being was         bodies or trauma, injustice, and inequi-
created noble” (175–76). Constructive       ty in this world—nor to essentialize or
resilience, therefore, is a sustainable,    homogenize those social realities. Nor
futuristic, intergenerational response to   am I advocating for a partial visibility,
oppression that is associated with our      but rather, inviting you—all of us—to
spiritual afterlives.                       consider one that is whole—one that
Similarly, Smith’s argument for         captures both the corporeal and spiritu-
“centering the ‘pupil of the eye’” also     al reality of humankind. For instance,
exemplifies a noble spiritual station in    “[i]dentify[ing] the achievement and
defiance of an unceasing racial oppres-     exhilaration in [B]lack life is not to
sion endured for well over five centu-      mute or minimize racism . . . there is
ries. According to Smith, “interpreta-      a spiritual majesty of joy in suffering”
tions of the ‘pupil of the eye’ metaphor    and an invitation to not only possibly
that fix upon the spiritual perceptive-     feel Black “pain but also the beauty
ness of [B]lack people are in keeping       of being human” (Perry). In a relevant
88                  The Journal of Bahá’í Studies 30.3 2020

letter addressed to the U.S. Bahá’í          me along the way. One of my favorite
community regarding intensifying ra-         guided meditations of Audre Lorde—
cial injustices, the National Spiritual      “[T]hat visibility which makes us most
Assembly of the Bahá’ís of the United        vulnerable is that which also is the
States wrote: “The language we use           source of our greatest strength” (60)—
and the attitudes we take, while not ig-     comforts and assures me of the spiritu-
noring the harsh realities that exist in     al implications of being clothed in “no-
the world, should appeal to the nobler       bility,” even when feeling naked. We
aspirations of our fellow-citizens” (25      are, after all, spiritually destined to be
Feb. 2017). Accordingly, this is not an      “dressed in royal robes, to walk in glory
attempt to deny or delegitimize trauma,      for ever and ever” (‘Abdu’l-Bahá, Se-
injustice, and inequity and their multi-     lections 317). We all are created noble,
tudinous effects on peoples and groups,       and nobility looks divine on us, would
but to celebrate and center fellow souls     you not agree? From the point of our
that are created to endure and move          conception—before our physical birth,
through and break free of the cages of       and beyond—through our spiritual af-
such suffering.                               terlives/futures, our inherent nobility
May this be an invitation to all of       continues to insist, persist, and trans-
us—especially to all the souls whose         form into a new garment:
bodies have been and continue to
feel or be treated as branded, broken,         O Thou Provider, O Thou Forgiv-
damaged, erased, inferior, invisible,          er! A noble soul hath ascended
and/or—as non-human, as well as                unto the Kingdom of reality, and
those souls who, through their words,          hastened from the mortal world
thoughts, or deeds, choose to read, see,       of dust to the realm of everlasting
and engage with souls as damaged,              glory. Exalt the station of this re-
non-human, and ignoble—to visibi-              cently arrived guest, and attire this
lize nobility. Please join me in this          long-standing servant with a new
ever-evolving journey to consider why          and wondrous robe.
and how visibilizing nobility helps us           O Thou Peerless Lord! Grant
reimagine resistance as constructive           Thy forgiveness and tender care
resilience, to realize and celebrate           so that this soul may be admitted
our individual and collective inherent         into the retreats of Thy mysteries
nobility, and to actualize our spiritual       and may become an intimate com-
reality in our afterlives and our futures.     panion in the assemblage of splen-
It is my hope that these closing            dours. Thou art the Giver, the Be-
words and this invitation do not at all        stower, the Ever-Loving. Thou art
suggest that I have forgotten my vul-          the Pardoner, the Tender, the Most
nerability in feeling exposed. Beloved         Powerful. (#11, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá,
revolutionary spiritual ancestors have         Prayers of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá)
been holding my hand, accompanying
When We In/visibilize Our Nobility . . .                 89

Although far from completing the work of visibilizing nobility, what keeps me
going is knowing we were created noble, and our nobility never dies . . .

W       C

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