Confessions of a Child of the Half-Light
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Jack McLean, Confessions of a Child of the Half-Light, bahai-library.com.
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Confessions of a Child of the Half-Light

Jack McLean

Ottawa: n.p., 2022

Summary contents (see book below)

Confessions of a Child of the Half-Light has passed Bahá'í review, but I did not submit it to any Bahá'í publisher because I don't think they would be interested in such an atypical book that is a medley of mostly unrelated chapters. Here is a summary of the book's content by chapter:

Abdu'l-Bahá: Remembering the Master. The revisited 1967 Paris interview with Laura Dreyfus Barney; the old Frenchman who met Abdu'l-Bahá; highlights reported by Curtis Kelsey of his visit with the Master.

Shoghi Effendi: Remembering the Guardian. Memories of 8 Bahá'ís of my acquaintance who made the pilgrimage during the ministry of Shoghi Effendi.

Teaching the Faith, Magic Moments, Meeting Great Souls. Autobiographical.

Essays and Reflections. 21 essays on a variety of topics, both sacred and secular.

Mysticism: Experiencing the Transcendent. To examine mystical experiences by Bahá'ís, there must be personal testimony. Here are grouped under the following headings, mystical experiences of mine that began in childhood: 1. Being in the Presence 2. Visions 3. Clairvoyance 4. Clairaudience 5. Dreams
The Book of Eighteen. Aphorisms and pensees of my own invention grouped under 18 topics.

Family Matters. Reminiscences of my English grandparents, Jessie and Will Halsted; sayings of parents and grandparents; eulogies for my parents.

Travel Teaching in the Former Soviet Union and the Ukraine (1990).

"Confessions" in the title does not refer to the confessions of sins, but to the more antiquated meaning of the word as religious and spiritual convictions and beliefs.

Detailed contents

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

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 (2018).

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-- Confessions of a Child of the Half-Light (Used by permission of the curator)