Space is the distribution of mass in space. A large concentration of mass and energy in a certain location creates a distortion of space-time that bends the path of light rays surrounding that place. The power of gravity at a given threshold creates a black hole, an area in space-time from which nothing can escape, not even light. The event horizon is the edge of the black hole, the boundary of the area from which it is impossible to exit. In the centre of the hole is a singularity, a place in which distortion is infinite. An object caught in the black hole where time is slowed, loses its resting energy. In order to conserve its total energy, it converts its mass into kinetic energy and radiation. The object will lengthen greatly from the event horizon to the point of singularity. According to Roger Penrose, a black hole that rotates on its axis or has an electric charge allows entry to and exit from its area without being trapped by its singularity. Roy Kerr found that a spacecraft launched along the length of the turning axis of a black hole can pass uneventfully to parallel space through the Einstein-Rosen bridge.
Figure 1. Einstein-Rosen bridge, Avi Rosen.
The bridge compresses time-space between the two worlds, and prevents collapse into the singularity. Within the inner boundary of the black hole, light is trapped in a closed circuit. The movement generates a reflection, like a mirror room at an amusement park, that distorts and multiplies the observer's approach. Time on the edge of the event horizon is very slow, to the point where it stands still. Although we cannot visually perceive a black hole in space, we can feel its power of attraction on objects in its vicinity, and the resultant changes in paths and velocity. The entropy (the number of internal states) of a black hole yields information of what fell into the black hole and is likely to be stored, like on a record, enabling it to be replayed when the black hole disappears. From this, one may suppose that information regarding all phenomena in the three-dimensional world can be stored at its two-dimensional boundary like a holographic picture, or like images seen on the event horizon.
Figure 2. Black Hole vision simulation. "Cloud Gate", Anish Kapoor, Millennium Park, Chicago.
A black hole with a mass similar to the mass of the Earth will be 18 mm in size; two-dimensional objects inside it will be observed on its event horizon. Unlike in Euclidean geometry, which characterizes linear space outside the black holes where the diffusion of mass is small, the geometry of black holes is of bent spaces and planes joined by worm holes which conform to Georg Riemann's geometry and Einstein's general theory of relativity.
Figure 3. Stereo-graphic view of the Globe, Avi Rosen.
Cyberspace is electronic space, composed of computer networks like the Internet; in them information moves at the speed of light. At that speed less than 0.1 seconds is needed for an electronic signal to join the two most distant points on Earth. The mass and energy of cyberspace compresses the Earth to a black hole with an event horizon of approximately 2 cm, located at a near-zero distance from the users connected to it.
Figure 4. Explosion of human body, implosion of the Globe, Avi Rosen.
Networks consist of connections between terminal points that create junctions. These junctions are joined to bigger junctions, which, in turn, are joined to a central hub that processes information according to the Bose-Einstein condensation law. In other words, central junctions, like Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, achieve the greatest number of connections to pages in the network. Cyberspace formation resembles that of black holes into whose singularities all information is hurled to the event horizon. The event horizon is, in this case, various assigned tools such as computer terminals, cameras, television, microphones, telephones and other sensors that convert the real world into digital information. The silicon chip generates teleportation of linear time-space into electronic information that travels at the speed of light in the bent space of cyberspace.
The energy of stored data in cyberspace influences processes in the real world. Examples of these processes include industrial production, security, air dominance, banking, medicine, and digital information. The power of gravity in cyberspace accelerates the speed of objects in motion in the real world, and sweeps them spirally over its singularity, like in the Stock Exchange crash in 1987. The human brain is a mass containing billions of neuron synapses, clustered into groups that carry out specialized actions. Every area and route to the brain is responsible for a certain function, such as sight, speech, smell, and so on. Thought and motion stem from the data flowing to the brain and are stored in cognitive modular mapping.
It is possible to compare areas of the brain to micro-black holes, or centres in cyberspace where Bose-Einstein processes take place. The wrapping of the body, including the senses, serves as an event horizon, and the singularity as the soul or consciousness. The topology of consciousness resembles a torus, allowing circular movement from place to place in consciousness, and also making jumps in space-time, similar to networks in cyberspace and black holes in space.
The role of the associative cortex is to establish new nets and the omni connection of neurons in the brain. This is similar to an internet build-up. The brain has no knowledge in it until the neuron interconnection is built. Our identity is based on how our neurons are interconnected. New technologies like the neural microcircuit, which links live neuron cells to an electronic interface, enabling the direct connection of our body to computer networks. This extends the associative cortex of each human to the expanded capacity of the human brain and its internet extension, or the super neo-cortex, which in turn is linked to all the other network participants creating a united super brain with integrated consciousness. This act is equal to a build-up of a black hole containing a Giga array of super-computers at its singularity, processing a task incoming from its event horizon. On the other end, we have the increasing amount of hardware, linked to the internet, that contributes to its black hole mass.
Within about 200 years the human body has accelerated from the speed of walking to the speed of light, propelled by electro-magnetic waves towards the cyberspace singularity. Man is in an advanced stage of evolution in the symbiotic process that unites his body with electronic and biological components. The data-suit and VR Headset — containing electronic implants that penetrate the body — enable direct teleportive contact between neuron networks within our bodies and those in cyberspace (and the real world). The human brain, composed of three layers (Reptilian Complex, Limbic System and Neocortex) has acquired another layer, the super-neocortex that augments imagination and wisdom and accelerates judgement of time and space. In other words, our central nervous system is connected through computer networks to events occurring on Earth, and reacts to these events as though they were occurring in the physical body. The world becomes integrated with our own bodies.
Evolution connects the human event horizon to that of cyberspace, and, also, to real space. We are in the accelerated process of the virtualization of real objects that acquire virtual components in cyberspace. Cyberspace, connected to the human body, swallows real distance and shrinks it to a minimum. The triangular joining of the three spaces, whose torus shape creates a large mass, bends space into a closed loop, orbitfold-shaped. The meeting point is the place of the new SELF, or the symmetry/unity point of the three torus spaces.
Figure 7. Orbifolding of 3 Torus shapes, Avi Rosen.
What are the differences between the topology of bent space at high speeds and the linear space that has dominated human consciousness until now? To find the differences, we can examine an Albrecht Durer (1525) print portraying the artist drawing a model in perspective, with the aid of various optical accessories, such as a frame, grid, and eyepiece. The resulting linear perspective, whose source is a single point, a singularity at an infinite distance behind the model, is contained in the frame between the artist and the model. The image in the frame continues and enters a second singularity point, through the eyes of the artist, to his brain and to his consciousness. After absorbing the image and its execution by the eye and hand of the artist, the data becomes a static linear perspective painting on a page, which is the event horizon of the body. The painting is a hologram that is a 2-dimensional view of the event horizon of a 3-dimensional object.
Figure 8. Perspective linear optics.
Albrech D¸rer (1471-1528) Draftsman Making a Perspective Drawing of a Woman, 1525. Metrropolitan Museum of Art, New York.
Now we will substitute a spherical (Einsteinian) lens for the optical linear installation of Riemann; it is cyberspace, and the pencil is a data glove. At low speed we do not feel the distortion because the picture is reflected through the equator of the lens. At higher speed and mass, we will approach axis poles of the three singularities of the orbifold. At this point the data received through the artist's senses will be processed by his consciousness, and subsequently translated into the data glove that is the observed object itself. An artist who paints with a data glove unites with the object. An artist's act of observation determines the subject's final state. The diffusion of mass and energy in the universe prevents the collapse of matter, or a short circuit of thought, action and result. The transition to seeing and acting at the speed of light demands delay interface to slow the speed of engagement with that which our regular senses can process. Art that exists in cyberspace is an interface used to cope with the visualization of the time-space distortion that converts distorted time-space near the singularity into the shapes of traditional, linear perception that we are used to outside of cyberspace.
Understanding this special topology allows a different approach to phenomena from the perspective of digital media and cyberspace. We will examine a concept utilized by Baudrillard, Virilio and Jameson: simulacra. For Baudrillard, it is a sign in which the relations of representation between the signifier and the signified, and between images and reality, disappear; the signifier functions independently in a closed circle. It is no longer a question of imitation, nor of reduplication, nor even of parody. It is rather a question of substituting signs of the real for the real itself.
Jameson  uses the term simulacrum in the context of photorealism, a painting from a photograph, images on a television screen by Nam Jun Paik, the polyester images of Duane Hanson, and the radical decline of nature. Virilio  relates all physical dimensions to simulacra, as an echo of the Big Bang. What was defined until now as simulacrum is only an added, higher dimension of a physical object. Electromagnetic waves transmitted from the real object move at the speed of light and enter beyond the event horizon of cyberspace. The movement of the waves and their interference inside the closed torus generate a multiplication and distortion of the image.
Figure 10. Images in Super Torus, Avi Rosen.
Figure 11. Multi screen Image (Simulacrum), from Sky News.
The waves scatter and are ejected from the cyberspace event horizon, creating feedback to the object, changing its characteristics, and oscillating endlessly. Television screens in general and those of Paik in particular, are only 2-dimensional holograms of 3-dimensional bodies on the event horizon of cyberspace. Replication cannot exist without the original object, and the feedback that returns to it. Thus, the simulacrum is an additional dimension, exactly like the volume, shadow, and weight of a physical object. The entropy of cyberspace is the sum of the data that falls into it. Therefore, it is a reflection of the objects connected to it, and not of those that are unconnected. Hyper-reality, or hyperspace, is described by Baudrillard  as a reality that has lost its appearance, locality and significance; according to Virilio  it is a loss of reality; and for Jameson  it is the space of motion that is not understood. These interpretations of reality are not valid. It is the same reality, but now reflected inside the topographic torus and observed at high speed.
The new reality creates a feeling of schizophrenia and dichotomous personality. According to Jameson, the individual cannot locate her/himself in space (Bonaventura Hotel), and experiences crises in her grasp of time and the stream of past, present, and future. Virilio describes how NASA scientists use data suits in order to activate a distant robot on Mars, this action places them simultaneously in two distant and dislocated places. According to Baudrillard  cyberspace networks also create schizophrenia. For Jameson  it is the illusion of meaning. Virilio  relates to the phenomenon as super-natural, and even religious — the data and information suits transform the person into a spectre, located in a number of places at the same time. Virilio seeks a philosophical discussion comparing presence versus tele- presence, and presence versus teleportation.
Splitting or distortion characterizes a body falling beyond the event horizon of a black hole. The body lengthens greatly to form a one-dimensional string, and continues outside the event horizon over the infinity of the singularity, while time seemingly slows down and distance shortens. This is equivalent to the feeling of a hand wearing a data glove, activating a robot on Mars from afar; moreover, this feeling is also relevant to Virilio's explanation of a person who, when equipped with a data-suit, appears to be paralysed in a wheelchair. This is not comparable to schizophrenia, paralysis, or spectres and the supernatural. It is the same linear reality as before, experienced now in extreme conditions of high velocity and mass, travelling through a worm hole.
Hi-Fi music is not the end of music, as Baudrillard contends, just as a hyper-spectral image is not the end of the image. They are augmented realities with additional dimensions of sound and image beyond those we are accustomed to experiencing at lower speeds. In order to experience the whole spectrum of these new qualities, we need technology. Digitally augmented sounds and pictures do not conceal the object with hyper-real synthetic perfection, but open up a wide variety of possibilities, over and above what we are used to hearing and seeing. The development of the super-neocortex enables absorbing, processing, aesthetic judgement in the widened field of our senses. Super-resolution, hyper-spectral images, digital watermarking, compression, and decompression of information are technologies that make this complex mission possible.
Figure 12. Hyper-spectral image, public domain image.
We are cyborgs, implanted with electronic components, wearing data suits, teleporting bodies to parallel existences, through black holes, and returning safely. Technology is the problem and the remedy for this new reality. In this subjective situation, one does not observe reality directly, but by means of the super-neocortex. The actuality of observing space with electronic aid changes its characteristics by changing the location of the observed particles, by electronic means (scanning electron microscope). Seeing changes reality and the characteristics of matter. One can say that the creative thought of the artist at the meeting of three singularities — of human cognition, the real world, and cyberspace — changes and reflects reality, and creates an inter-subjective integrated consciousness. Einstein asked how the world would look while riding on a beam of light? Perhaps this is the answer.
What are the implications of these insights for cyberspace art? New media art which utilizes digital equipment like computers is subject to physical laws. The electronic chip accelerates the artistic object, from its realm of low speed and mass outside of the cyberspace event horizon, to an immediate bent, high speed and high mass cyberspace black hole. This transformation is typical of all technologies exploiting electromagnetic waves. The huge spread of digital cameras and cell-phones produces an audio-visual data tsunami consisting of hundreds of billions of digital images and cell-calls per year, spinning through the global electronic net. This is a socio-environmental and omnipresent artistic act, which unites its global participants. In Israel, on average, there is more than one cellular phone per capita, and the numbers are growing. There are many new media artists creating a wide range of art on the internet.
Here, I will analyze some of my new media work over the last 20 years. The beginning of such an art form in Israel was very modest. In 1984 some computer images that I created on IBM PC XT using Basic software were transmitted from Jerusalem to Haifa via a fax machine. The plan was to send them across the world to Australia, New York and back to Jerusalem. Lack of financing left the plan with only its initial Jerusalem-Haifa leg. Five years later, in my computer based installation Arcadia (1990 Haifa Museum of modern art,) a wide range of images, videos and sounds, from several databases were compressed into superimposed loops running on three Amiga computers. The museum was the epicenter of the black hole and its singularity would develop later on. The viewer at the museum functioned as a convergence point of the media art database. "There was free art data flow, abolishment of the originality concept in art, and transformation of the art consumer into an art creator; the next phase is direct connection to the art consumer brain." The development of this concept was achieved with Art-Net (1992), an art database, utilizing a Novell net of hundreds of computers at the Technion Electrical Engineering Faculty, Haifa, Israel. The art was made available like other on-line features used on a daily basis at the faculty. The artistic project reduced to a minimum the distance between centre-and-periphery and that of the artist-and-art-consumer, and made free and instant art consumption possible. In fact, some of the students downloaded images and printed them on their shirts. Art-Net functioned as a black hole, attracting artistic objects outside of its effect horizon of computer terminals to its singularity, the server. This trapped the data circle within the net boundaries, and diffused it outwards by means of terminals, printers, fax machines, modems and telephone lines. An increase to the Art-Net perimeter was made in the same year, when at the opening of Frames (a computer art exhibition, at Yavne Art Workshop, some 120 kilometres south of Haifa) a computer link was established to the Technion. This act reduced the centre-to-periphery distance to zero time, or to a single mouse click. Visitors at the gallery downloaded images from the Technion server and performed manipulations on them. The rise in the number of connected computers to the net increases the mass, size and attraction force of the black hole and its impact on the real world.
Figure 13. One of the Technion data base images downloaded at FRAMES (1992) exhibition, Avi Rosen.
In November 1993, the extent and range of ART NET activities was significantly increased, in the context of the conference FISEA 93 that took place in Minneapolis, U.S.A. A link was created with a server at the Technion, through Internet and Gopher protocol. It downloaded art works from Israel and presented them in the U.S in real time. At the beginning of 1994, the first site of an Israeli artist on the net.art site in the U.S widened the art net, using the graphic browser MOZAIC. Using the Internet in this way compressed the size of the Earth to a minimum, and lengthened the reach of the artist and the art consumer to the point that they have now reached nearly every spot on Earth. This linked Minneapolis to Haifa, uniting various users at the same spot. These users viewed works of art simultaneously, as though they were in the same place at the same time, or in other words as though they simultaneously touched works of art that became singularity points and joined a common orbifold. While surfing, did the viewers see the simulacra? Did they feel schizophrenic? Was their experience of hyper-reality accompanied by physical paralysis? The answer is of course negative. The artistic object dispersed by the speed of light reaches places and distant viewers at the same time. The multiplication of images on computer screens all over the world reflects electro-magnetic waves that are trapped, that move in closed loops within the topology of the torus and are eventually emitted beyond the event horizon of cyberspace. The computer and screen provide the escape velocity required for the release from this spin.
In order to understand this, the observer of art must perform a mental correction or jump whose basis is the understanding that his/her body is not split and is not found in either the U.S. or Israel, but is transformed as a result of the movement that stretched his/her body on one hand, and reduced the physical distance on the other. Such a correction is a daily occurrence for us, when we talk on the cellular phone, look through the security camera outside of a building, or activate a machine by remote control. These actions really connect two distant places through a worm hole. The use of electronic equipment that transports us through a black hole slows and stretches time. Sitting motionless, bending forward and concentrating on what is on the computer screen, our body seems paralyzed. The computer connected to the net functions as Einstein's lens, having immense mass that bends and focuses the electronic waves of knowledge that are stored in cyberspace. We relate to the phenomenon as perfectly natural, but to people of other cultures, or to those who have not been exposed to new technology, it is not natural at all and sometimes seems miraculous.
The additional interactive capability of works of art on the net allows for reality to be changed by a look, a thought, or a click of the mouse. As an example, my creation FREE ART (1999) enables the surfer to intervene and to change the component parts of a picture at will, an action much like changing the location of the atoms of a substance during observation by means of a scanning probe microscope, or nano manipulation of matter, in which electronic rays activated by the observer change the location of atoms in a substance.
Figure 14. SEM (Scanning Electron Microscope) image, Photo: Alex Lahav, FIB Laboratory, Technion IIT.
"GaAs Columns" was taken at GaAs (compound semiconductor) surface after FIB (focused ion beam) etching. The columns were formed due to the masking effect of dirt particles on the sample surface.
Figure 15. FREE ART interactive, random net art, Avi Rosen, 1999.
For this creation, there is also a random component that arbitrarily changes the visual components that are depicted, and the sound that is heard when a surfer enters. This is similar to the experiment with Schrˆdinger's imaginary cat imprisoned in a sealed box for an allotted time, alone with volatile uranium that has a 50/50 chance of undergoing radioactive disintegration, and a Geiger counter that identifies the disintegration and releases the fatal poison. In order to settle the question of whether the cat is alive or dead, we have to open the box and actually look at the cat. So too, the observer of a work of art cannot know definitely the conditions of the work he will look at before seeing it.
The installation "Parallel Space" (1999) creates a merging of three spaces–the mental, the real, and the virtual–for singularities of time and place. Several computers connected to the net are operated by a surfer who works simultaneously at various sites. The artist who sits in a real room in front of the computers surfs and acts at the same time on various random sites with video cameras installed on them, with virtual three-dimensional interactive surroundings, a spiritual healing site, and other sites according to his/her choice. His/her activities are fed by, and feed the unifying space.
A similar unification is found in the creation "Teleporting an Unknown State" by Eduardo Kac (1996), in which he grew a plant in a dark room by illuminating it with light from cameras on the internet directed at diverse sources of light all over the world.
In this case the Internet became a life-giving organ and extension of the plant, uniting it with human bodies taking part in the project all over the world. Likewise, the "Body/Aura extension" (Avi Rosen, 2000) project utilized Bluetooth wireless technology for artistic purposes. An artist's presence causes the automatic synchronization of his desktop, mobile computer, notebook (PC-PDA and PC-HPC) and mobile phone with other users. For instance, as soon as he enters a new space the artistic content (text, audiovisual art data) in his notebook computer will automatically be updated to a consumer's desktop, or vice versa. The system extends the artist's aura and amplifies his artistic capabilities. His presence induces content to the immediate space, and then to a wider space via the Internet or cellular systems. His passages through time and space leave trails of transmissions. These trails can be considered as a continuous interactive multidisciplinary artistic act.
Figure 16. Scheme of Body/Aura extension project, Avi Rosen, 2000.
Quantum theory determines that it is always impossible to know the state of a particle before a measurement is made. This principle stands at the basis of the series "BIG OPTICS" (Avi Rosen 2003-2004) that simultaneously and randomly concentrates on the computer screen of video clips, sound and text, from a number of databases. The product is a changing audio-visual composition that describes the compression of time and space (black hole). Surfers watch, and at the same time change the reality and the observed material by means of their computers, their observations, and their mouses. This action is an expression of the observer's awareness, exposed to the stimuli of his various senses and the result is the joining point of 3 singularities in the orbifold. What is seen on the screen are images trapped inside the black hole of cyberspace and emitted randomly to the event horizon, following the observer's intervention. This constitutes a joining or implanting of electronic components in the human body, as in the works of Eduardo Kac (Time Capsule), Steve Mann, and Stelarc, in which technology has been inserted inside the body, thus creating expansions of the neo-cortex and direct connection of the physical body to cyberspace and to the real world.
 Jean Baudrillard. Simulations. Trans. Foss, Patton and Beitchman. New York: Semiotext(e), 1983. p. 4.
 Rosen, Avi. 'STUDIO' Art Magazine. Jan.1993. No. 40, 1993. p. 63.
Barabasi, Albert-Laszlo. Linked the New Science of Networks. Hebrew translation: Blisha Drora. Yediot Aharonot Press, 2002.
Baudrillard, Jean. Simulations. Trans. Foss, Patton and Beitchman. New York: Semiotext(e), 1983.
Baudrillard, Jean. "The Ecstasy of Communication". In: Hal Foster (ed.), Postmodern Culture. London: Verso, 1987.
Baudrillard, Jean. Aesthetic illusion and virtual Reality. In: Zurbrugg Nicholas (ed.). Jean Baudrillard, Art and Artefact. London, Thousand Oaks, New Delhi. SEGA Publications, 1997.
Calder, Nigel. Einsteins Universe. Hebrew translation: Dr. Dvir Adam. Moshav Ben-Shemen. Modan Publishing, 1979.
Greene, Brian. The Elegant Universe. Hebrew translation: Carmel Amos. Tel-Aviv. Matar Press, 1999.
Harvey, David. The Condition of Postmodernity. Cambridge Massachusetts. Basil Blackwell, 1989.
Hawking Stephen. The Universe in a Nutshell. Hebrew translation: Emanuel Lotem. Or Yehuda. Maariv Book Guild, 2001.
Hellemans, Alexander.Teleporting what Matters. IEEE Spectrum, Sept., 2004.
Jameson, Fredric. Postmodernism, or, the Cultural Logic of Late Capitalism. Hebrew translation: Grimberg-Hirsh Adi. Tel-Aviv. Libido Resling Press, 2002.
Kaku, Michio. Hyperspace a Scientific Odyssey through Parallel Universes, Time Wraps, and the Tenth Dimension. Hebrew translation: Emanuel Lotem. Or Yehuda. Maariv Book Guild, 1994.
Kaku, Michio. Einstein's Cosmos. Hebrew translation: Levinson Nurit. Tel-Aviv, Nir Arie Publisher, 2004.
Lévy, Pierre. Collective Intelligence: Mankind's Emerging World in Cyberspace. Trans. Robert Bononno Helix Books, Cambridge, Massachusets, 1997.
McLuhan, Marshall. Understanding Media. Hebrew translation: Shorer Idit. Tel-Aviv. Bavel Press, 1964.
Restak, Richard. Mozarts Brain and the Fighter Pilot. Hebrew translation. Tamari Anita. Tel Aviv. Arie Nir Publishers, 2001.
Seife, Charles. Zero the Biography of a Dangerous Idea. Hebrew translation: Lerner Arie. Raanana, Mi-An Press, 2000.
Shlain, Leonard. "Art & Physics Parallel Visions," in Space, Time & Light. New York Morrow, 1991.
Virilio, Paul. Open sky. Trans. Rose, J. London: Verso, 1997.
Virilio, Paul and Lortinger, Sylvere. Crepuscular Dawn. Trans. Taormina. New York: Semiotext(e), 2002.
Avi Rosen is a PhD candidate, Faculty of the Arts, the Art History Department, Tel Aviv University. M.Sc. Industrial Design, Technion I.I.T. 1984 B.F.A. "Bezalel" Art Academy, Jerusalem. Electronics Practical Engineer "Junior Technical Collage", Haifa. Working at the Signal Processing Lab. Department of Electrical Engineering Haifa Technion I.I.T. Teaching "New Media Art" at Art Department, Haifa University and Art Institute of 'Oranim' the 'Kibutzim' seminary, Tivon.


1. Prepare Marinade Mix as directed on package. Mix ricotta cheese and 1 tablespoon of the marinade in small bowl. Refrigerate until ready to use. Place vegetables in large resealable plastic bag or glass dish. Add remaining marinade; toss to coat well. Refrigerate 15 minutes or longer for extra flavor. Remove vegetables from marinade, reserving marinade.
2. Grill vegetables over medium-high heat 2 to 4 minutes per side or until tender-crisp, brushing with reserved marinade halfway through grilling. Cut into bite-size pieces.
3. Stretch or roll dough on floured baking sheet to a 12- to 14-inch round, about 1/4-inch thick. Brush top of dough with oil. Place oiled-side down on the grill. Close lid. Grill over medium heat 1 to 2 minutes or until grill marks appear on the bottom of the crust. Carefully flip crust over using tongs or spatula.
4. Layer crust with ricotta cheese mixture, 1/2 of the mozzarella cheese, grilled vegetables and remaining mozzarella cheese. Close lid. Grill 3 to 4 minutes longer or until cheese is melted and crust is browned. (Check pizza often to avoid burning. Rotate pizza, if necessary.) Slide pizza onto baking sheet. Slice and serve immediately.


text:
Read: Lakshiman-Lepain - The Life of Thomas Breakwell
THE LIFE OF THOMAS BREAKWELL
by Rajwantee Lakshiman-Lepain
This etext is based on:
"The Life of Thomas Breakwell " by Rajwantee Lakshiman-Lepain
Copyright (c) 1998 The Baha'i Publishing Trust
27 Rutland Gate
London SW7 1PD
Availability of this etext in no way modifies the copyright status of the above publication.
This etext is freely available through anonymous internet file-sharing.
<p6>
With grateful thanks to those friends whose kind contributions made this publication possible.
The dramatic birth of a new world religion and its rapid spread to every corner of the earth is a phenomenon sometimes best understood through the lives of its early followers. The story of the Baha'i Faith, and how the revolutionary teachings of the majestic figure of Baha'u'llah first reached the West, is still unknown to many. It is a story of inspiration, of the faith, vision and sacrifice of apparently ordinary people, who, when faced with the challenge of spreading a new gospel, proved themselves to be saintly and holy souls. Some paid with their lives at the hands of cruel and scheming oppressors, others gave up their substance, their homes, <p8> careers and social standing, and many dedicated themselves to lives of humble service in every part of the globe, laying down their bones as pioneers of a new and noble cause.
These first followers understood that they were witnesses to the dawn of a new age of enlightenment. They left a spiritual heritage from which all of us may draw strength and insight. Only as history unfolds will we truly begin to understand the significance of their lives and the power of the faith they espoused. United by a glorious vision of the coming of age of the human race, of the fulfilment of prophecy of all the great faiths, and the realization of the oneness of God, they each lit a torch which illuminates the path to lasting unity, and to the establishment of a just and peaceful world. <p9>
One such soul was Thomas Breakwell. His brief life may appear to have left no tangible legacy, but, as we shall learn through these pages, he was endowed with a truly remarkable station. Having become a Baha'i in the summer of 1901, Thomas Breakwell passed away barely a year later, aged only 30. His life is surrounded by an aura of mystery. Described by 'Abdu'l-Baha as 'a lamp amid the angels of high Heaven'[1] and by Shoghi Effendi as one of 'three luminaries'[2] shedding brilliant lustre on the annals of the Irish, English and Scottish Baha'i communities, Thomas Breakwell's life certainly invites deep contemplation. Set afire with the love of God, his deep devotion exemplifies that profound mystical relationship which unites the lover with his Beloved.
[1 'Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of 'Abdu'l-Baha, comp. Research Department of the Universal House of Justice, trans. a committee at the Baha'i World Centre and by Marzieh Gail, 1st pocket size ed. (Wilmette, Ill: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1997), 158.12, p. 198.]
[2 Shoghi Effendi, from a cablegram to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the British Isles, 27 March 1957, Unfolding Destiny: The Messages from the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith to the Baha'i Community of the British Isles (London: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1981), p. 377.] <p10>
To those followers of Baha'u'llah who live in the West, the life of Thomas Breakwell offers an example of a true believer, an expression of loving obedience to the Will of God. Breakwell desired that his humble life would be accepted as a sacrifice for the spread of the divine teachings of love and universal brotherhood. His dedication challenges us all to burn away the veils of materialism and self which are the cause of so much human suffering, and to arise for the promotion of the well-being of humanity.
Thomas Breakwell died in relative obscurity, a victim of tuberculosis in a poor quarter of the city of Paris. His earthly remains now lie in the communal charnel house at the cemetery of Pantin. It was not until the summer of 1997 that a dignified but suitably modest monument <p11> to mark his resting place was finally unveiled to the world.
Throughout the United Kingdom, the significance of Thomas Breakwell's life is being commemorated in an increasing number of ways. In the 1980s a nation-wide system of Baha'i Sunday Schools was instituted and named in his honour. This was followed by the establishment of the Thomas Breakwell College, a distance learning programme intended to provide moral and spiritual education to a new generation of young people who are striving, as Thomas Breakwell did, to see the whole world as one country and all people as its citizens. All over the world an expanding number of institutes, programmes and activities seek, in a variety of ways, to honour his life and foster his remembrance. <p12>
Thomas Breakwell's name will never be forgotten. His true gift to us lies in the sacred vision that he realized in his brief life. The brightness and purity of his faith will continue to illuminate the hopes of many future generations.
We are much indebted to Rajwantee Lakshman-Lepain for preparing this valuable introduction to the life, rank and station of Thomas Breakwell. This has been ably translated from the original French by Olive McKinley. Our thanks also to Hugh McKinley and Sally Spears for their practical support in promoting its publication. Our hope is that this volume will serve to widen interest in and encourage study of this fascinating episode in the development of a world-embracing faith, which is today the source of inspiration for millions. <p13>
Thomas Breakwell was born on 31 May 1872 in the small market town of Woking in Surrey. His father, Edward, was an ironmonger and a herbalist who, at some point during the 1860s, had joined the nonconformist Christian sect known as the primitive Methodists and subsequently held evangelical meetings in the family home. Thomas, the youngest of five children, was educated at an ordinary state school before his family emigrated to the United States.[3]
[3 This paragraph is from Robert Weinberg, Ethel Jenner Rosenberg: The Life and Times of England's Outstanding Baha'i Pioneer Worker (Oxford: George Ronald, 1995), p. 42.]
There Thomas was able to take up a responsible position in a cotton mill in one of the southern states, from which he derived a considerable income. His comfortable financial position enabled <p14> him to pay regular visits to his relatives in England each summer, and to take long holidays on the Continent.
Thomas seems to have been of an open mind when it came to spiritual matters. He was very interested in religious doctrines and the Hermetic philosophies in general, and in particular that of the Theosophical Society, to which he may have belonged. This movement, founded in 1875 in the United States by Mme. Blavatsky and Colonel Olcott, was much in vogue among British and Indian seekers at the time. The interest this Society showed in the occult and the esoteric, with their particularly oriental approaches, may well have predisposed Thomas Breakwell to turn towards the mystical universe which lies at the heart of the Baha'i religion. <p15>
His sensitivity towards things of the spirit led him, while taking the steamer to France in the summer of 1901, to make the acquaintance of a certain Mrs Milner. The latter, although having no personal interest in religion, felt impelled, seeing Breakwell's passion for spiritual subjects, to speak to him of one of her friends in Paris, who had, she said, found a philosophy which had given meaning to her life. The young woman in question was none other than May Bolles, the future May Maxwell.
May Ellis Bolles had been among the first party of Western pilgrims to visit 'Abdu'l-Baha in 'Akka, in 1898-9.[4] By that time she had been living in Paris for a number of years, during which time she had attended a convent school there, and where her brother, Randolph, had taken <p16> up a course of architectural studies at the Ecole des Beaux Arts. Her mother had rented an apartment on the fashionable Quai d'Orsay; May and Randolph also lived there with her. 'Abdu'l-Baha recommended that May remain in that city, and entrusted her with the special responsibility of establishing the first Baha'i centre in Europe there.
[4 For an account of that historic visit, see May Maxwell, An Early Pilgrimage (Oxford: George Ronald Publisher, 1976 ed.)]
'Abdu'l-Baha once said of Himself, 'I have a Lamp in my hand and seas to find souls who can become heralds of the Cause.'[5] Surely May Bolles was one of those very souls whom 'Abdu'l-Baha sought -- and found.
[5 'Abdu'l-Baha, 'The Most Important Work', Star of the West, vol. IV, no 15, p. 256 (bound vol. 3). (Oxford: George Ronald, 1978).]
One of those who accepted the Baha'i Faith in Paris during this time wrote, 'In 1901 and 1902 the Paris group of Baha'is numbered between twenty-five and thirty <p17> people with May Boles as spiritual guide and teacher.[6]
[6 Charles Mason Remey, cited in Marion Holley, 'May Ellis Maxwell', The Baha'i World: A Biennial International Record, prepared under the supervision of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of the United States and Canada with the approval of Shoghi Effendi, vol. VII (95 and 96 of the Baha'i Era, 1938-1940 A.D.), (Wilmette, Ill: Baha'i Publishing Committee, 1942), p. 634.]
The Master had told May that she should 'on no account absent [herself] from Paris.' So she had remained there through the summer of 1901, despite her mother's wish that she should accompany her on holiday to Brittany. Mrs. Bolles rather resented her daughter's work for the Baha'i Cause, and had no hesitation in closing her apartment when she left the city, so May had to find accommodation with another believer, Edith Jackson. It was to this apartment that Mrs Milner brought Breakwell.[7]
[7 This paragraph is adapted from Weinberg, p. 43.]
On a pleasant day that summer, May Bolles opened the door to Thomas Breakwell and Mrs Milner. As she entered, Mrs Milner said, smiling, 'He was a stranger and she took him in.' May's <p18> attention was immediately drawn to this young man, 'of medium height, slender, erect and graceful, with intense eyes and an indescribably charm.'[8]
[8 Unless otherwise stated, all quotations in this section are taken from May Maxwell, 'A Brief Account of Thomas Breakwell', The Baha'i World, vol. VII (93 and 94 of the Baha'i Era, April 1936-1938 AD), (New York: Baha'i Publishing Committee, 1939), pp. 707-11.]
May made no actual mention of the divine Revelation during their first meeting. Nor did Mrs Milner, she having, in May's words, 'closed her ears to its message.' The conversation mainly centred on Theosophy, the details of Thomas's work, and his projected trip through Europe. As it continued, May could discern that Thomas was 'a very rare person of high standing and culture, simple, natural, intensely real in his attitude toward life and his fellowmen.' She also became aware that Thomas was studying her most attentively.
As he was leaving, Thomas asked if he might call on her again the following day. <p19>
When he returned the next day, May was surprised. Thomas came to her 'in a strangely exalted mood, no veil of materiality covered this radiant soul -- his eyes burned with a hidden fire'. He looked at her earnestly, and asked if she saw anything strange in him. May replied that he looked very happy. At once, unable to contain himself any longer, he told his new found friend what had caused this state of mind. May recalls Thomas's words as follows:
'When I was here yesterday,' he said, 'I felt a power, an
influence that I had felt once before in my life, when for a period of
three months I was continually in communion with God. I felt during
that time like one moving in a rarefied atmosphere of light and <p20>
beauty. My heart was on fire with love for the supreme Beloved. I felt
at peace, at one with all my fellow-men. Yesterday when I left you
I went alone down the Champs Elysees, the air was warm and heavy,
not a leaf was stirring, when suddenly a wind struck me and whirled
around me, and in that wind a voice said, with an indescribable
sweetness and penetration, 'Christ has come again! Christ has come again!'
Afterwards Thomas looked at May with wide, startled eyes, and asked her if she thought he was going insane. With a smile, she replied: 'No, you are just becoming sane.' She then spoke to him of the Bab, His exalted Mission, His martyrdom, and the thousands of Babis who sacrificed their lives to establish the <p21> Faith; she then told him of the coming of Baha'u'llah, the Blessed Beauty, 'Who shone upon the world as the Sun of eternity', and of His laws and teachings.
For three days, Thomas absorbed May's words. For the first, he accepted the Message without reservation, and eagerly received all the books which May had to give him. His enthusiasm grew even greater when she recounted her pilgrimage to 'Akka, where she had met the Master, 'Abdu'l-Baha. The experiences which May had in the presence of this holy Being so much impressed Breakwell that, sighing deeply, he decided there and then to break with his old life and cancel all his travel plans. From that moment on he had only one desire: to be received by 'Abdu'l-Baha, to contemplate the face of his Beloved. <p22>
On the third day, he decided to write to 'Abdu'l-Baha, to inform Him of his acceptance of the Baha'i Faith, and to seek His permission to make pilgrimage to 'Akka. It was a letter of only two lines:
'My Lord, I believe, forgive me,
Thy servant Thomas Breakwell.'
According to May's account, the simplicity of this request was typical of Thomas's concise and exalted mind. She was intrigued by his appeal for forgiveness, the significance of which, she said, only became apparent later.
Around that time, another young believer newly welcomed into the fold, Herbert Hopper, had obtained permission to go to 'Akka. Thomas promptly got in touch with him, and they <p23> planned to go together. All was set, and the only thing remaining was to secure the Master's authorization for Thomas's visit.
That day, May forwarded Thomas's message to 'Akka, along with one of her own, asking the Master to send His reply to Port Said, where the two young men planned to disembark. That very evening, when May returned to her apartment, to her great surprise she found in her letter box a blue cablegram from 'Abdu'l-Baha which said: 'You may leave Paris at any time!'
May drew her own conclusion from these most surprising events:
'Thus by implicit and unquestioning obedience in the face of all
opposition the Master's Will had been fulfilled, and I had been the link in
the chain of His mighty purpose.' <p24>
'How gratefully my heart dwells on the divine compassion of the
Master, on the joy and wonder of my mother as I told her everything, and
when she burst into tears and exclaimed, 'You have, indeed, a
wonderful Master.'
Through this series of coincidences, this deployment of celestial forces, the Divine Being expressed His Will, and made it reality by bringing to May the soul for whom she had waited.
Marion Holley described 'the confirmation of that brightest of spirits, Thomas Breakwell' as 'Perhaps the most wondrous event of that fecund time'.[9] Thomas, it is certain, was a mature soul, because of his capacity to assimilate all the teachings of the Faith in a single moment. We <p25> might well think of him as a 'chosen' soul, because of the special manner of his conversion. Rather than being rationally convinced, by argument and proof, of the reality of the Manifestation of God, his spiritual confirmation was instantaneous and complete. Having accepted this great truth, he saw his life up to that point in a completely different perspective, and understood the nature of his future mission. A 'chosen' soul, too, in terms of his tremendous spiritual capacities and love for humanity, evident at such a young age. Nevertheless, he was not to know the full extent of his destiny till he attained the presence of Him whom he humbly referred to as his Lord: 'Abdu'l-Baha.
[9 Marion Holley, op. cit., p. 635.] <p26>
Thomas Breakwell enjoys the unique distinction of being the first Englishman to make the journey to the Holy Land as a Baha'i pilgrim.
May Maxwell describes that first visit of the two young western gentlemen to the city of 'Akka, and their arrival at the house of 'Abdu'llah Pasha,
'...they were ushered into a spacious room, at one end of which
stood a group of men in oriental garb. Herbert Hopper's face became
irradiated with the joy of instant recognition, but Breakwell discerned no
one in particular among these men. Feeling <p27> suddenly ill and
weak, he seated himself near a table, with a sense of crushing defeat.
Wild and desperate thoughts rushed through his mind, his first great
test, for without such tests the soul will never be unveiled.
'Sitting thus he bitterly lamented: Why had he come here? Why
had he abandoned his projected journey and come to this remote
prison, seeking -- he knew not what?'[10]
[10 May Maxwell, 'A Brief Account of Thomas Breakwell', p. 709.]
May emphasizes this moment as one in which Thomas's soul was poised to rend asunder whatever veils still obscured the Sun of Reality. His despair tortured him, until, suddenly, a door opened and revealed the figure of the Master. Immediately, Thomas recognized his Lord. <p28>
In his interview with 'Abdu'l-Baha, Thomas explained how he enjoyed substantial remuneration from his work in the United States, but he also expressed a sudden conviction of sin when he added that these mills were run on child labour. The Master looked at him, gravely and silently, then said, 'Cable your resignation.'
May's account tells how Thomas obeyed 'Abdu'l-Baha at once. With one stroke he had cut all ties to his former life, and was relieved of his crushing burden. He now had only one desire, to please the Master. Although only moments earlier he had felt weak and full of doubt, he was now completely transformed.
Although his stay in 'Akka was short, Thomas made a lasting impression. Dr. Yunis Khan Afrukhtih, 'Abdu'l-Baha's secretary, relates the following: <p29> 'The fervour and the faith of this young man were so sublime in character that the blessed name of Breakwell shall ring throughout the centuries, and shall be remembered with deep affection in many chronicles. Verses from the Gospels which attest to the glories of the Kingdom were always on his lips. His sojourn in 'Akka was too short, but so intense was his love and so ardent his zeal that he touched the depths of the hearts of those who heard him. Whenever he was in the presence of our peerless Master, he was rapt in wonderment.[11]
[11 Yunis Khan Afrukhtih, cited in H. M. Balyuzi, 'Abdu'l-Baha: The Centre of the Covenant of Baha'u'llah (Oxford: George Ronald, 1971), p. 77.]
Thomas did not have time to meet all the Baha'i friends in 'Akka. Because of regulations imposed by the authorities, his visit was restricted to two days only. When <p30> the moment of departure finally arrived, 'Abdu'l-Baha asked him to settle permanently in Paris.
The Master then asked Yunis Khan to accompany Thomas to Haifa, from where his ship was to sail. The emotion of the occasion was intense. Breakwell left the Holy Land without knowing that he would never again see his beloved Master, but his soul had been so deeply touched by 'Abdu'l-Baha's divine love it would have lasted the longest lifetime.
Yunis Khan spent a few hours in Thomas's company at the home of one of the believers. He testifies to the young pilgrim's devotion:
'...we were in a room that looked towards 'Akka. There he would
stand, every now and then, perfectly still, facing <p31> 'Akka in a
state of communion. Whilst his eyes welled with tears, his tongue
uttered words of supplication. All those who were there were greatly
moved.'[12]
[12 Ibid.]
In this ecstatic state, Thomas asked Yunis Khan if he could correspond with him. Thomas expressed the desire that his letters would bring to him 'the fragrances of the effulgent city of 'Akka.[13]
From then on, the correspondence with Yunis Khan would be the vital link that united the young Englishman with his beloved Master.
All those who were present wept as the time came to bid farewell to this devoted young pilgrim who had made such a lasting impression. Thomas followed his Master's bidding and returned to Paris. <p32>
A STAR IN THE FIRMAMENT OF PARIS
Back in Paris, Thomas lost no time in sharing with others the wonderful spirit which the Master had released within him.
The firmness of his faith was apparent to all, as was his sincere wish to serve the Cause, and obey the Covenant. May writes of him in the following terms:
'Those days in the Prison of 'Akka, when the Master's all consuming love and perfect wisdom had produced that mystic change of heart and soul which enabled him to rapidly free himself from all earthly entanglement, and to passionately attach himself to the world of reality, brought great fruits to the Faith.'[14]
[14 Unless otherwise stated, all quotations in this section are taken from May Maxwell, 'A Brief Account of Thomas Breakwell'.] <p33>
Although he had been used to living fairly comfortably, Thomas now completely changed his way of life. He returned to his studies, and went to live in an inexpensive neighbourhood, probably at No. 14, Rue Leonie, the place of residence entered on his death certificate. The same document, discovered in 1979, tells us that he was working as a stenographer before his death. Although Thomas lived a long way from the city centre, he used always to go on foot to the Baha'i meetings, in order to save his fare and make his contribution to the teaching work in Paris. He was the first Baha'i in the West to pay Huququ'llah, the Right of God. No care for the future ever oppressed his mind. He had but one concern: to serve humanity until his last breath. <p34>
So abandoned was he to the creative forces latent in the Revelation of Baha'u'llah, that he was moved spontaneously in the smallest actions of his daily life to pour out that spirit of love and oneness to all.
May records one incident which illustrates his truly kind-hearted nature:
'Well I remember the day we were crossing a bridge over the
Seine on the top of a bus, when he spied an old woman labouriously
pushing an apple-cart up an incline; excusing himself with a smile, he
climbed down off the bus, joined the old woman, and in the most natural
way put his hands on the bar and helped her over the bridge.' <p35>
She describes Thomas's exemplary courtesy in the following manner:
'The rock foundation on which the Baha'i Revelation rests, "the
oneness of mankind", had penetrated his soul like an essence, taking on
every form of human relationship, imbuing him with an insight and
penetration into human needs, an intense sympathy and genuine love which
made him a hope and refuge to all.'
She further relates:
'Although we were fellow Baha'is and devoted friends, with
everything in common, yet when he came to our home he gave his whole loving
attention to my beautiful Mother, with but a scant word <p36> for me, yet
as he took my hand in farewell, he slipped a little folded note
into my palm with words of cheer and comfort, usually Words of
Baha'u'llah.'
Admiringly, May concludes:
'He knew the secret of imparting happiness and was the very
embodiment of the Master's words, 'The star of happiness is in every heart.
We must remove the veils so that it may shine forth radiantly.'
Thomas not only excelled in his social relations, he had become a
guiding light in the Paris community in all matters concerning the
teaching of the Cause.' <p37>
'In the meetings, he spoke with a simplicity and eloquence which
won the hearts and quickened the souls, and the secret of his potent
influence lay in his supreme recognition of the Manifestation of God in
the Bab and in Baha'u'llah, and of the sublime Centre of the
Covenant, 'Abdu'l-Baha.
The potential which, from their first meeting, May had seen in this young man, was now manifest in its full splendour.
The effects which this spiritual growth produced were then so remarkable, that May went so far as to comment:
'He had become the guiding star of our group, his calmness and
strength, his intense fervour, his immediate and all-penetrating grasp of
the vast import <p39> to mankind in this age of the Revelation of
Baha'u'llah, released among us forces which constituted a new epoch in the
Cause in France.'
These words are especially poignant when one thinks of Thomas's young age, of the influence he demonstrated both during his life and after his death. For, truly, he was unlike anyone else. The spiritual maturity he evinced was that of a much older person.
Thomas continued a fortnightly correspondence with Dr Yunis Khan, who shared all his letters with 'Abdu'l-Baha. He would inform Him of Thomas's situation and of his desire to do the Master's will. In one of his letters, Thomas asked whether the Master would permit him to leave Paris for a few <p40> days for England, should one of his parents become ill or die. Then, upon reflection, he thought it was not necessary to trouble 'Abdu'l-Baha with this question, since He would certainly reply as Christ had already replied, that he must 'Let the dead bury their dead'. Dr. Khan read the message to 'Abdu'l-Baha, Who smiled and told him to reply that, today, 'the living must bury the dead'.[15]
[15 A. Q. Faizi, 'A Precious Gift', Baha'i Journal, Nov. 1969.]
In one of Thomas's later letters to 'Akka, he said that he now understood what he must do, but was still hoping to please the Master more, to suffer more for his Beloved. No one yet knew what this suffering was of which he spoke. Matters became more complex when Thomas's parents arrived in Paris, seeking to persuade him to return at once to England, to convalesce from his <p41> increasingly poor health. But Thomas steadfastly refused to leave Paris.
He asked 'Abdu'l-Baha to pray for his parents, so that they might become Baha'is. The Master replied that Thomas should not worry over that matter, and, only a fortnight later, Thomas informed 'Abdu'l-Baha that his father, who had previously disowned him for rejecting Primitive Methodism, had embraced the Baha'i Faith. Edward Breakwell even went so far as to write his own letter of supplication to the Master. 'Abdu'l-Baha revealed a Tablet in his honour.
Thomas wrote to the Master, happily saying that, if he were Persian, he would have chosen to be a martyr. He had been admitted to hospital, and was in the tuberculosis ward. But news from the young man continued to reach <p42> 'Akka, conveying an ever-increasing joy, despite his suffering.
Sometimes, when Dr. Khan read Thomas's letters to 'Abdu'l-Baha, the Master would remain silent. Dr. Khan knew that the 'mysterious communion between the lover and the Beloved had no need of the spoken word.'[16] At other times, the Master would ask his secretary simply to convey His greetings. Although Thomas could have asked for healing, he never did, but prayed always for greater suffering. The more his illness consumed him, the greater his joy became.
[16 Yunis Khan, cited in Balyuzi, p. 78.]
Hippolyte Dreyfus, who was able to visit Thomas in hospital, relates how the young Englishman spoke to the other patients enthusiastically about the Baha'i Faith. Some of his listeners were upset by his message, others criticized it. But <p43> Thomas, unperturbed, maintained his tranquillity and told them that he was not going to die, but was merely departing for the Kingdom of God, and that he would pray for them in heaven.
Writing of his pain, he said:
'Suffering is a heady wine; I am prepared to receive that bounty
which is the greatest of all; torments of the flesh have enabled me to
draw much nearer to my Lord. All agony notwithstanding, I wish life
to endure longer, so that I may taste more of pain. That which I
desire is the good-pleasure of my Lord; mention me in His presence.'[17]
[17 Thomas Breakwell, cited ibid.]
Thomas Breakwell breathed his last at seven p.m., on 13 June 1902, at No. 200, rue Faubourg Saint Denis. He was 30 <p44> years of age; he had been a Baha'i for hardly one year. But from that moment on, he possessed all eternity to live and proclaim his Faith.
The mysterious nature of the unspoken communion between the lover and the Beloved can be seen in the way in which Yunis Khan learned of Thomas's death.
'I was accompanying the Master in the evening from the house
where He received His visitors to His home by the seaside. All of a
sudden He turned to me and said: 'Have you heard?' 'No, Master,' I
replied, and He said: 'Breakwell has passed away. I am grieved, very
grieved. I have revealed a prayer of visitation for him. It is very
moving, so moving that twice I could not withhold my tears when I was
writing <p45> it. You must translate it well, so that whoever reads it
will weep.' I never knew who had given the Master the news of
Breakwell's death. If anyone had written or cabled either in English or
French, that communication would have passed through my hands. Two days
later the prayer of visitation was given to me. It wrung one's heart,
and I could not hold back my tears. I translated it into French, and
later, with the help of Lua Getsinger, into English.[18]
[18 Ibid., pp. 79-9.]
Yunis Khan recounts the following story regarding the Master's continuing attachment to Thomas, after his passing from this earthly plane:
'Abdu'l-Baha called me one day to His presence, to give me
letters to translate. There <p46> were many envelopes sent from various
places. While examining them still sealed, He, all of a sudden, picked
out one and said: "How pleasing is the fragrance that emanates from
this envelope. Make haste, open it and see where it comes from. Make
Haste."... In it there was a postcard ... the postcard was coloured a
beautiful shade, and attached to it was a solitary flower -- a violet.
Written in letters of gold were these words: "He is not dead. He lives
on in the Kingdom of God." Further, there was this sentence: 'This
flower was picked from Breakwell's grave.' When I told the Master what
the message of the postcard was, He at once rose up from His seat,
took the card, put it on His blessed brow, and tears flowed down His
cheeks.'[19]
[19 Ibid., p. 80.] <p47>
In a letter, enclosed with the card, Edward Breakwell wrote, 'Praise be to the Lord that my son left this world for the next with the recognition and love of 'Abdu'l-Baha.[20]
[20 Cited in Weinberg, p. 46.]
Thomas Breakwell's grave was leased for five years, after which time, as no surviving members of his family kept up the payments on the plot, his bones were disinterred, cleaned, bundled and numbered, and as is the custom, placed in the cemetery's charnel house. The section where Breakwell's bones are stacked has long since been sealed and other sections built against it, which in turn have been filled.[21]
Since the time when Thomas's bones were removed, two other people had been buried in this grave. When it <p48> became known to the Baha'is in Paris that the gravesite was once again vacant, the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of France applied for permission to erect a permanent monument to Thomas on the site. A competition was announced, and a number of Baha'i architects submitted a variety of designs. Cemetery officials were reluctant to give approval for an elaborate monument, and the National Assembly had to settle for a simple but dignified stone.
Now that stone is in place, and has already become a focal point of pilgrimage. The Universal House of Justice has encouraged the French Baha'i community to continue its efforts to retrieve Thomas's remains from the charnel house and have them returned to their original grave. <p50>
In a Tablet to Ethel Rosenberg, another outstanding early British believer, 'Abdu'l-Baha stated that,
'Holy places are undoubtedly centres of the outpouring of Divine
grace, because on entering the illumined sites associated with martyrs
and holy souls, and by observing reverence, both physical and
spiritual, one's heart is moved with great tenderness. ...it is pleasing
and acceptable in the sight of God if a person desires to draw nigh
unto Him by visiting them...'[22]
[22 'Abdu'l-Baha, cited in Universal House of Justice, A Synopsis and Codification of The Kitab-i-Aqdas (Haifa: Baha'i World Centre, 1973), p. 61.]
On 14 June 1997, 95 years to the day since the mortal remains of Thomas Breakwell were laid to rest, a diverse group of Baha'is, representing the inheritors of that glorious legacy of faith <p51> which Thomas left to the world, gathered at the Pantin Cemetery in Paris, to honour his memory at the dedication of the newly erected memorial, and to participate in a celebration of Thomas's life and legacy.[23]
[23 For more information, see Rob Weinberg, 'The Commemoration of Thomas Breakwell', Baha'i Journal, September 1997, pp. 12-13.] <p52>
TABLET REVEALED BY
'Abdu'l-Baha
Grieve thou not over the ascension of my beloved Breakwell, for he hath risen unto a rose garden of splendours within the Abha Paradise, sheltered by the mercy of his mighty Lord, and he is crying at the top of his voice: 'O that my people could know how graciously my Lord hath forgiven me, and made me to be of those who have attained His Presence!'
O Breakwell, O my dear one!
Where now is thy fair face? Where is thy fluent tongue? Where thy clear brow? Where thy bright comeliness? <p53>
Where is thy fire, blazing with God's love? Where is thy rapture at His holy breaths? Where are thy praises, lifted unto Him? Where is thy rising up to serve His Cause?
Where are thy beauteous eyes? Thy smiling lips? The princely cheek? The graceful form?
Thou hast quit this earthly world and risen upward to the Kingdom, thou hast reached unto the grace of the invisible realm, and offered thyself at the threshold of its Lord. <p54>
Thou hast left the lamp that was thy body here, the glass that was thy human form, thy earthy elements, thy way of life below.
Thou hast lit a flame within the lamp of the Company on high, thou hast set foot in the Abha Paradise, thou hast found a shelter in the shadow of the Blessed Tree, thou hast attained His meeting in the haven of Heaven.
Thou art now a bird of Heaven, thou hast quit thine earthly nest, and soared away to a garden of holiness <p55> in the kingdom of thy Lord. Thou hast risen to a station filled with light.
Thy song is even as birdsong now, thou pourest forth verses as to the mercy of thy Lord; of Him Who forgiveth ever, thou wert a thankful servant, wherefore hast thou entered into exceeding bliss.
Thy Lord hath verily singled thee out for His love, and hath led thee into His precincts of holiness, and made thee to enter the garden of those who are His close companions, and hath blessed thee with beholding His beauty. <p56>
Thou hast won eternal life, and the bounty that faileth never, and a life to please thee well, and plenteous grace.
Thou art become a star in the supernal sky, and a lamp amid the angels of high Heaven; a living spirit in the most exalted Kingdom, throned in eternity.
I ask of God to draw thee ever closer, hold thee ever faster; to rejoice thy heart with nearness to His presence, to fill thee with light and still more <p57> light, to grant thee still more beauty, and to bestow upon thee power and great glory.
At all times do I call thee to mind. I shall never forget thee. I pray for thee by day, by night; I see thee plain before me, as if in open day.
O Breakwell, O my dear one![24]
[24 'Abdu'l-Baha, Selections, 185.1-15, pp. 196-9.] <p58>
This sublime Tablet not only moves the reader, as 'Abdu'l-Baha wished, but also prompts one to ponder the unique character of Thomas Breakwell, that he should have attained such a station, should have become 'a star in the supernal sky, and a lamp amid the angels of high Heaven', 'like unto the birds chanting the verses of thy Lord, the Forgiving', should have been blessed with 'beholding His Beauty'.
The terms used by 'Abdu'l-Baha are moving and significant. Yet, Thomas was a believer for a very short period of his life. One may also be surprised to read Shoghi Effendi, on the occasion of the passing of George Townshend, state that he merited a place beside Thomas Breakwell and John Esslemont as one of <p59> 'three luminaries shedding brilliant lustre'[25] on the annals of the Irish, English and Scottish Baha'i communities. Shoghi Effendi paid tribute to George Townshend's 'sterling qualities his scholarship his challenging writings high ecclesiastical position unrivalled any Baha'i western world';[26] John Esslemont was the author of a book which won singular praise from the Guardian, who said that it would 'inspire generations yet unborn to tread the path of truth and service as steadfastly and as unostentatiously as was trodden by its beloved author.'[27] Both John Esslemont and George Townshend were designated Hands of the Cause of God by the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith: the former posthumously,[28] the latter during his own lifetime.[29] That honour was never <p60> bestowed upon Thomas. Neither was he included among that group of twenty-one distinguished early western believers whom Shoghi Effendi designated 'the Disciples of 'Abdu'l-Baha', and 'Heralds of the Covenant'.[30]
[25 Shoghi Effendi, Unfolding Destiny, p. 377.]
[27 Shoghi Effendi, from a message 'To the beloved of God and the handmaids of the Merciful in the East and in the West', 30 November 1925, ibid., p. 43.]
[29 See Shoghi Effendi, cablegram 24 December 1951, Messages to the Baha'i
World 1950-1957 (Wilmette, Ill: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1995 reprint), p. 20.]
[30 See The Baha'i World, vol. III, pp. 84-5. Also, The Baha'i World, vol. IV, pp. 118-19.]
Compared to the lasting achievements of Esslemont and Townshend, the significance of Thomas Breakwell's life and death seems a mystery indeed. By all accounts he left no tangible legacy for posterity. He was a Baha'i for less than a year. Until recently, even his final resting place was left unmarked. One can but wonder why it was that 'Abdu'l-Baha should have written about him in such glowing terms; and why Shoghi Effendi should have named him one of these 'three luminaries', and ranked him as co-equal in such exalted company. <p61>
Many intriguing issues arise when one ponders such questions as: Why did Thomas long for death so? Why did he wish for more suffering? How did he know that he would please God by drinking from the cup of sorrow, when, in any case he could not escape it? Were not his qualities of more benefit to humanity when he was living rather than dead?
How can one explain all this deployment of mysterious forces which led him to come into contact with the Baha'i Faith, then live for such a short time after that? Is there some kind of hidden meaning to his life?
Perhaps 'Abdu'l-Baha Himself may lift the veil a little for us. In the last talk He gave in Paris, on 1 December 1911, nine years after the death of Thomas Breakwell, 'Abdu'l-Baha said: <p62>
'When I arrived in Paris some time ago for the first time, I
looked around me with much interest, and in my mind I likened this
beautiful city to a large garden.
'With loving care and much thought I examined the soil, and
found it to be very good and full of possibility for steadfast faith
and firm belief, for a seed of God's love has been cast into the
ground.'[31]
[31 'Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks: Addresses Given by 'Abdu'l-Baha in 1911, 12th rev. ed. (London: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1995), 53.1-2, pp. 178-8. Emphasis added.]
It is tempting to conclude that Thomas Breakwell was chosen to be the seed of the love of God of which 'Abdu'l-Baha speaks here. Planted by the hand of the Master Himself, it was helped to grow and flourish, and to produce fresh seedlings whose maturation would signal a decisive stage in the history of the Faith in this capital city. Such was his destiny! Is <p63> this why Thomas Breakwell was so on fire, and so urgently wished to give his life, to drink the cup of suffering, because he knew that he would serve the Cause better this way, since God had bestowed tremendous hidden powers on him?
Thomas's sacrifice recalls that of Mirza Mihdi, Baha'u'llah's youngest son, whose death released such forces as to throw open the doors of the prison which hid the Manifestation of God from the eyes of the world.
What similar forces were released by the sacrifice of Thomas Breakwell?
If May Bolles, even at that time, thought that he had liberated forces in the Parisian Baha'i community, the appearance of which launched a new epoch in the Cause, if she claimed that the spirit of Thomas Breakwell continues to <p64> live, 'not alone in the hearts and memories of the Baha'is, but is also welded into the very structure of the World Order', what can be said today, now that almost a hundred years separates us from the time of Thomas's passing? <p65>
SPIRITUAL RANK AND STATION
It is probably impossible for most of us to truly comprehend the spiritual station of the great souls of religious history. Thankfully, however, the Baha'i Writings do cast light on some aspects of the glorious rank which Thomas Breakwell appears to have attained.
The Seven Valleys by Baha'u'llah and the prayer of visitation revealed by 'Abdu'l-Baha in honour of Thomas Breakwell are two texts which offer distinct but complementary approaches to understanding spiritual reality. One revealing the process of evolution that every soul must undergo, and the other, the heights to which it may aspire. <p66>
BREAKWELL'S MYSTICAL JOURNEY
Baha'u'llah's Seven Valleys traces the mystical journey of the spiritual seeker, and the joys and sorrows to be encountered along that pathway. The life of Thomas Breakwell takes on a deeper meaning when considered in the light of that mystical work.
The spiritual odyssey of Thomas Breakwell could be described imaginatively here, and may, in turn, set an example by which to approach The Seven Valleys itself. The concordance of incidents from what we know of Thomas's inner and outer life, with Baha'u'llah's descriptions of the tests and triumphs of spiritual advancement, may be said to be striking indeed.
Thomas Breakwell's progress towards God could be said to take him through <p67> each of the Seven Valleys. This young man was first attracted to Theosophy and the fashionable spiritualist theories of this day. In this condition, he travels through the Valley of Search and seeks for the 'Beauty of the Friend'[32] with the fervour of a mystic lover. 'How many a Jacob will he see, hunting after his Joseph', and how many lovers, 'hasting to seek the Beloved', before being guided to May Bolles?
[32 Unless otherwise stated, all quotation is this section are from Baha'u'llah, The Seven Valleys, trans. Ali Kuli Khan and Marzieh Gail London: Nightingale Books, 1992).]
Did not the 'aid from the Invisible Realm' guide his steps when, walking through the streets of Paris, he heard a voice announcing the return of Christ to him, and did not the 'heat of his search' 'grow' as soon as he, in a state of exaltation, returned to see his friend May and tell her of his strange experience? 'And if, by the help of God,' as <p68> Baha'u'llah describes it, 'he findeth on this journey a trace of the traceless Friend', and 'inhaleth the fragrance of the long-lost Joseph from the heavenly messenger, he shall straightway step into the Valley of Love and be dissolved in the fire of love.'
Did he not feel, from that moment, the ultimate longing to see his Beloved -- 'Abdu'l-Baha -- as soon as he had declared his faith? Thomas was now 'unaware of himself, and of aught else besides himself.' He saw 'neither ignorance nor knowledge, neither doubt nor certitude'. He abandoned all his former plans and set sail for 'Akka. But the seeker had not yet acquired the certitude of the True Believer, for in the Valley of Love, 'if there be no pain this journey will never end.' <p69>
Having actually reached the prison city of 'Akka, Thomas was seized by fear while awaiting the arrival of the Master. Doubts assailed him. He wondered why he had come so far to that remote prison? He did not know that 'until, like Jacob, thou forsake thine outward eyes, thou shalt never open the eye of thine inward being; and until thou burn with the fire of love, thou shalt never commune with the Lover of Longing.' It appears at this stage that Thomas remained attached to the material world, and so was unable to experience the same joy as his travelling companion, Herbert Hopper. It was not until, seated by the Master's side, that the veil was suddenly lifted. 'Abdu'l-Baha's loving presence touched his soul, revealing to him at once, the real nature of life's vanities and injustices. <p70>
Thomas was not one of those many souls who choose to remain deprived of the spirit of life by wrapping themselves in veils of materialism. He possessed 'great qualities' which enabled him to know 'the fire of love'. Soon the overwhelming sense of solitude and despair which had first enveloped him became dissolved through the intense flame of his pure-hearted devotion. Instead, he was seized by transports of delight through meeting at last his beloved Master. His ego and all its attachments was forgotten. He thus entered the Valley of Knowledge, where he came 'out of doubt into certitude', and 'from the darkness of illusion to the guiding light of the fear of God'.
Thomas could now leave 'Akka satisfied, and begin to 'privily converse <p71> with his Beloved' when, as he was departing, he turned one last time to pay homage to that holy place. 'With inward and outward eyes he witnesseth', from then onwards, 'the mysteries of resurrection in the realms of creation and the souls of men.'
When Thomas made his way back from 'Akka to Paris, where, at the Master's wish, he was going to settle, the spiritual journey of his soul was continuing. 'He beholdeth justice in injustice, an din justice, grace. In ignorance he findeth many a knowledge hidden, and in knowledge a myriad of wisdoms manifest.' In Paris, Thomas devoted himself to teaching the Cause and displayed great solicitude to everyone, as May Bolles noted: 'If he meeteth with injustice he shall have <p72> patience and if he cometh upon wrath, he shall manifest love.' Is not this how Thomas reacted when he became aware that he himself was doomed in this mortal world? His illness was consuming him; he knew he could not escape it. Before the injustice of this enemy which had attacked him while still so young, did he not manifest courage and gratitude to God?
'Those who journey in the garden-land of knowledge,' explains Baha'u'llah, 'because they see the end in the beginning, see peace in war and friendliness in anger.'
'After passing through the Valley of Knowledge, which is the last plane of limitation, the wayfarer cometh to the Valley of Unity and drinketh from the cup of the Absolute, and gazeth on the Manifestations of Oneness.' <p73>
May Bolles said of Thomas Breakwell that he had so well understood the spirit of unity inherent in the religion of Baha'u'llah that his very essence was impregnated with it. Thomas entered into a mystic union with God, upon Whom he continually called in prayer. 'He burned with such a fire of love that his frail body seemed to be gradually consumed.' He seemed to be passing through the Valley of Contentment: 'From sorrow he turneth to bliss, from anguish to joy. His grief and mourning yield to delight and rapture... The wayfarer in this Valley may dwell upon the dust, yet inwardly they are throned in the heights of mystic meaning; they eat of the endless bounties of inner significance, and drink of the delicate wines of the spirit.'
Thomas Breakwell, poor, alone, weak <p74> and emaciated by his illness, nevertheless felt intensely what it was to traverse this Valley: 'and thou wilt loose thyself from all things else, and bind thyself to Him, and throw thy life down in His path, and cast thy soul away.' Was not this very sacrifice what Thomas was in fact seeking when he wrote to 'Abdu'l-Baha, expressing his wish to be a martyr? Did he not see his impending death as just such a sacrificial act? Can one imagine a more fervent lover than this young man who, by now in the grip of an incurable illness, thanked his Lord for his condition, and asked to be allowed to drink more deeply of the wine of suffering?
The Valley of Wonderment is also one of perplexity where the True Believer 'seeth the shape of wealth as poverty itself, and the essence of freedom as sheer <p75> impotence. Now he is struck dumb with the beauty of the All-Glorious; again he is wearied out with his own life. How many a mystic tree hath this whirlwind of wonderment snatched by the roots', asks Baha'u'llah, and 'how many a soul hath it exhausted?' But Thomas remained firm.
Hippolyte Dreyfus, who visited Thomas in hospital, was astonished by his indomitable spirit. 'After scaling the high summits of wonderment the wayfarer cometh to the Valley of True Poverty and Absolute Nothingness. This station is the dying from self and the living in God ... being poor in the things of the created world, rich in the things of God's world. For when the true lover and devoted friend reacheth to the presence of the Beloved, the sparkling beauty of the Loved One and the fire of the lover's heart will kindle a <p76> blaze and burn away all veils... Yea, all that he hath, from heart to skin, will be set aflame, so that nothing will remain save the Friend.'
Thomas Breakwell departed this life a poor man, with not even enough to purchase a plot of earth for the repose of his earthly remains. Though his body may be lost in a common grave in this world, his soul nevertheless shines on high, and tastes the glory and joy of those who have 'attained the Presence of God'. Such was his life, and such could be that of all true believers,[33] of whom Thomas Breakwell is surely an illustrious example.
[33 For a discussion of the attributes and station of the true believer, see Adib Taherzadeh, The Revelation of Baha'u'llah, Volume One: Baghdad 1853-63, rev. ed. (Oxford: George Ronald, 1976), pp. 238-9, 243.]
BREAKWELL'S LUMINOUS STATION
Thomas Breakwell possessed great spiritual capacity, and was courageous in the way he manifested it. These two <p77> factors determine the spiritual rank and station which each soul occupies.
Yet there is, it would seem, a very important difference. One's spiritual station is conferred by God, and is entirely dependent on His grace. One may lose it, but one cannot 'earn' it. Rank is a degree of spiritual development which the individual acquires by his or her own efforts, and which distinguishes him or her from any other believer.
Thomas Breakwell's rank is much less of a mystery to us than his station. Consider how baffling it may at first seem when we read that Shoghi Effendi describes George Townshend, John Esslemont and Thomas Breakwell as being equal in rank. On the other hand, Thomas Breakwell appears to have been endowed by God with an exceptional <p78> station, higher than that of any other Western believer.
What is the spiritual nature of this station? A close study of the prayer of visitation revealed by 'Abdu'l-Baha in honour of Thomas Breakwell perhaps allows us a glimpse of its greatness.
When we refer to the original Arabic language of this Tablet, and consider some of the precise terminology which the Master employs, we see that Thomas Breakwell was one of those rare souls who was able to attain the ultimate goal of his life (fa'izin). The greatness of this goal is clearly revealed in the Arabic version, though it is perhaps not so apparent in either the French or English translations, as neither of those languages contains words or phrases which can convey the equivalent meanings and allusions of the Arabic. 'Abdu'l-Baha <p79> writes, literally: 'Thou hast forsaken the world of Nasut and ascended to that of Malakut, and by the grace of God thou hast attained to Lahut and reached the threshold (atabat) of the Lord of Jabarut'[34]
[34 See Baha'u'llah, op cit., pp. 63-4. For a discussion of the hierarchy of the worlds of God, see Moojan Momen, 'Relativism: A Basis for Baha'i metaphysics', in Moojan Momen (ed), Studies in the Babi and Baha'i Religions, vol. 5: Studies in Honor of the Late Hasan M. Balyuzi (Los Angeles: Kalimat Press, 1988), pp. 185-217.]
The world of Lahut may be described as the realm of the Divine Will or Logos where the divine names and attributes of God are first revealed. Here the divine Manifestations exist in a condition of complete union with the Essence of god. In Baha'i terminology this is sometimes referred to as 'The Heavenly Court', or the 'All-Glorious Horizon'. The realm of Jabarut is where these manifestations of God's Will acquire their individual existence, the form in which they become known among us, revealing God's actions and decrees in each dispensation. <p80>
Then comes the realm of Malakut, which is the world of the soul. In the Baha'i scriptures this is also known as the Kingdom of Abha, where, beyond physical death, the human soul pursues spiritual development on the infinite journey toward God. The world of Malakut is arranged in a hierarchy according to the spiritual development of the souls and their station.
According to this hierarchy of the worlds of God, we may describe the spiritual journey of Thomas Breakwell as having left the world of Nasut (the plane of the human condition), to rise, first of all, to the world of Malakut, the world of the soul, and by a special grace, reach the world of Lahut, the world of Divinity where he attained the sacred Threshold of the Lord of Jabarut. <p81>
This suggests that Thomas Breakwell attained the presence of the divine Manifestation (Baha'u'llah), in that station of splendour and power, distinct from His station in the world of Malakut. For the world of Jabarut is, at the same time, the world of the Divine Will and also the World of the Manifestation.
So Thomas Breakwell, without having entered into the heart of the world of the divine Manifestation, attained that point which marks its frontier, the Tree of Tuba (as it is in the original Arabic), also called the Sadratu'l-Muntaha (the name given to the last tree of an oasis before the desert begins), beyond which he caught sight of the world of the Manifestation of God and the Face of God, as is promised in the Qur'an. This is the highest station to which a human being can attain. <p82>
In a Tablet which Baha'u'llah devotes to the qualities and station of the 'true believer', this meeting is described in the following manner: 'Such a man hath attained the knowledge of the station of Him Who is "at the distance of two bows", Who standeth beyond the Sadratu'l-Muntaha.'[35]
[35 Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, comp. and trans. Shoghi Effendi, rev. ed. (London: Baha'i Publishing Trust, 1978), XXIX, p. 70.]
In the Qur'an, the Sadratu'l-Muntaha refers to the point which marks the inaccessibility of God.
This Tablet also furnishes details of the conditions of life in the next world, the life of those souls who have attained the highest level of spiritual being. They are entrusted with a special service which plunges them into such extremes of joy that they sing the praises of God and chant verses which rain down upon the whole of creation. Their sustenance is the <p83> contemplation of the Beauty of the Manifestation.
Thus it was that Thomas Breakwell received the grace of God, Who granted him, above and beyond the spiritual rank achieved through his own efforts, the exalted station of one of 'His close companions'.[36] In final tribute, in the words of 'Abdu'l-Baha Who wrote so definitively of Thomas, 'Thy Lord hath verily singled thee out for His love.'[37]
[36 'Abdu'l-Baha, Selections, 158.10, p. 198.]

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


text:
Dropkick Murphy's, Cat Power, Matt & Kim Scheduled to Sea.Hear.Now Lineup in Asbury Park
Sea.Hear.Now 2019 lineup featuring +25 live acts in Asbury Park. Photo provided.
Dispatch, Rainbow Kitten Surprise, Joan Jett & The Blackhearts, The B-52s, and Bad Religion Also Added
The Sea.Hear.Now event has just announced additional acts with the Dave Matthew's Band and The Lumineers headlining the two-day event on September 21-22.
This festival will provide three stages of live music with 25 performances.
In addition to music, the festival will also host national surfers including: Balaram Stack, Sam Hammer, Brett Barley, Noah Beschen, Quincy Davis, Cassidy McClain and more will compete in daily North Beach Expression Sessions.
Sea.Hear.Now remains committed to raising awareness about the issues facing our ocean environment, including the global plastic waste crisis and climate change.
The festival organizers have shared the following information:
The highly celebrated inaugural festival was held in 2018. The festival hosted over 45,000 fans.
Also in 2018, fans, staff, and Surfrider Foundation volunteers contributed 11.88 tons of recycling including aluminum cans from Open Water, reused over 9,500 drinks through official Sea.Hear.Now Tin Cups or Water Bottles, and saved 35,252 bottles from Manna Hydration Stations. Musician Jack Johnson awarded Sea.Hear.Now his 'All At Once Sustainability Award' for US Festivals, as a result of showing real leadership in the movement to green the music industry.
Find out more about the festival via their main website. Preview music from the 2019 with the YouTube playlist below.
B 52s
Sea.Hear.Now
Previous articleContent Marketing Trends for 2019
Next articleBoulder International Film Festival 2019 Takes Over Colorado February 28 to March 3
https://www.linkedin.com/in/matthewgmcguire
Matthew McGuire is the founder and editor of Crescent Vale News. In 2014, he acquired a master's degree in Professional Media and Media Management from Southern Illinois University Carbondale.
Matt and Kim Headline their First Tour in Three Years with Shows in Nashville, Mexico, Chicago, Boston, Austin and NYC
The Road to Recovery with Matt and Kim
Rancid & Dropkick Murphys From Boston to Berkeley Tour
LouFest Music Festival | Tickets & Schedule
#HangoutFest | Saturday Live Coverage


West Jefferson Mayor Ray Martin reads a proclamation marking September as Prostate Cancer Awareness Month for 2018 at Monday's village council meeting.
Land continues to top the list of business in the Village of West Jefferson.
Council discussed a number of legislative actions Monday regarding development projects in the village. One, titled Project Maple, has yet to go public with details but the second, pertaining to Project Condor, deals with the upcoming Amazon facility.
With council's approval, John Mitchell, Public Service Director for the village, is entering an agreement with Choice One Engineering to provide administrative services during construction improvements to the intersection of S.R. 29 and U.S. 40. The resolution was approved at a cost not exceed $56,000.
Council also heard the first reading of a second petition to narrow Veterans Way from 33 ft. to 24.6 ft. The topic had gone before council previously in May when John Harmyer of Fisher Cast Steel Products, Inc., filed the first petition. At the time, the entire scope of the project was not detailed in the initial petition, prompting Harmyer to draft a second one.
Since the legislation was on its first reading before council, no vote was taken.
Council also voted to temporarily waive Section 549.09 of the village codified ordinances which would allow bow hunting on certain land within the village.
Seidel said the program will be done by lottery and there will be six hunters per two-week period. Hunters are welcome to enter into all nine hunts but must attend the meeting for the hunt to enter the drawing.
Ohio's regular deer archery season begins Sept. 29.
• Proclaimed September 2018 as Prostate Cancer Awareness Month in the village. Mayor Ray Martin read out a proclamation highlighting the importance of awareness.
• Authorized various supplemental appropriations in the General Fund as well as Capital Projects and the water treatment plant.
• Approved a supplemental appropriation of $15,000 to the village pool fund.
• Approved a supplemental appropriation of $15,000 for new sound and recording equipment for council chambers.


123 Why is "bicycle" pronounced differently from other obviously related words?
117 "My wife and I's seafood collaboration dinner"
106 Is "data" treated as singular or plural in formal contexts?
95 Why is it "geometric" but "theoretical"?
80 When is it necessary to use "have had"?
66 Which words in a title should be capitalized?
63 Central Pennsylvanian English speakers: what are the limitations on the "needs washed" construction?