Recently in Religion and Philosophy Category
So last week I travelled down to London to take the GRE (Graduate Record Examination). The GRE is a standardised test that many universities in the US require you to take if you want to apply to them for postgraduate programs. I think the reasoning is that, by using a standardised test, they can judge how intelligent and skilled applicants are, especially as educational standards vary across the world.
The test has three parts: a verbal component, a quantitative component, and an analytic or writing component. The verbal part is basically just an extended vocabulary test. Thanks to my study of the Baha'i Writings, I'm familiar with several unusual words, such as exorbitant, laudatory, abrogate, and belligerent, and this had me in good stead for the test. However I must confess while studying for the test I wondered on many occasions exactly why knowing the words pusillanimous, salubrious, phlegmatic, and defalcate would assist me in my graduate career.
The quantitative component is basic, high-school level maths. Unfortunately, it had been 5 years since I did that, so I really needed to cram geometry formulae and algebraic tricks. The only maths I've done at uni has been simple calculations like fn = (nc) ⁄ (2L) (the standing wave of an open tube), f = (c ⁄ 2π)√(A ⁄ VL) (Helmholtz's resonance), z = (x‾−μ) ⁄ (σ ⁄ √N) (the z-score of a given dataset). While this looks fairly complex, it's just a case of applying the formulae. No solving for x, no shifting around quadratic functions, and certainly no manipulation of geometric shapes. Pythagoras was welcomed back into my life with open arms. Finally, the writing section of the GRE asks you to write two essays - one presenting your opinion on an issue, and the other is to analyse and argument.
Anyway, this post's not meant to be about the exam. There's loads of stuff been written on that. The important thing is that I was going to London! One thing about London that is significant for Baha'is is that it is home to the gravesite of Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith from 1921 to 1957. In light of my upcoming pilgrimage, I thought it'd be a great idea to visit, especially as I've never been. It'd be a little "mini-pilgrimage" in preparation for the greater pilgrimage I'll be undertaking in January.
I checked the UK Baha'i Website for directions, and unfortunately, it turns out that the area is only open for visitors prior to 5pm, due to security issues. My GRE was at 12:30, and I anticipated it taking several hours. Add a 40 minute subway ride and then half-hour walk on top of that, and I realised I wouldn't be able to get there in time. Especially since I'd also made arrangements to meet up with people in the evening. So I discarded the idea.
I arrived in London at 7:30am (on a Megabus - not very comfortable for sleeping), and after getting a breakfast and studying a little, headed to the test centre. I got there at 10:30am, which was 2 hours early. "You're pretty early," the receptionist said. "Would you like to do the test early?" I jumped at the opportunity, and was finished by about 1:30pm. I was weighing up my options, and I figured, why not, let's go visit the gravesite. I knew what tube station it was near - Arnos Grove - but not how to get to the graveyard from the station, or even where in the graveyard it was. I knew that it was vaguely northwest of the station. And that's it. I jumped in a train and headed out.
Leaving the station, I headed west for a while, and then north. Along the way I was listening to a talk on my MP3 player by Adib Taherzadeh, about the nature of the soul. I found a lovely park and circumnavigated it. I found an old trail behind some houses, and some wild brambles (blackberries) growing. I wandered around the area for over 2 hours. (At this point, my soundtrack had changed to Universal Indicator's Innovation in the Dynamics of Acid, an unusual acid house mix album.)
I came very close to giving up. Given that it was, in essence, a spiritual search, I couldn't help but draw comparisons from the mystic writings of the Baha'i Faith. For instance, the story related in the Seven Valleys about Majnún, the celebrated Arabian and Persian lover, seeking his beloved Laylí. Majnún and Laylí are used to symbolise true love, and this story demonstrates that nothing will stop the lover in search of his beloved.
It is related that one day they came upon Majnún sifting the dust, and his tears flowing down. They said, "What doest thou?" He said, "I seek for Laylí." They cried, "Alas for thee! Laylí is of pure spirit, and thou seekest her in the dust!" He said, "I seek her everywhere; haply somewhere I shall find her."
Yea, although to the wise it be shameful to seek the Lord of Lords in the dust, yet this betokeneth intense ardor in searching. "Whoso seeketh out a thing with zeal shall find it."
Baha'u'llah, The Seven Valleys and the Four Valleys p6-7
Another passage I was reminded of after exploratory disappointment:
The steed of this Valley [the Valley of Search] is patience; without patience the wayfarer on this journey will reach nowhere and attain no goal. Nor should he ever be downhearted; if he strive for a hundred thousand years and yet fail to behold the beauty of the Friend, he should not falter.
ibid, p5
With that in mind, I pressed on, further and further. I started climbing a hill, and at the top, through a fence, I spied some graves. I've never been so happy to see graves! I found an entrance and walked around a bit. When I say "a bit", I mean I scoured through the whole place, seeking here and everywhere. Yet I couldn't find the gravesite of the Guardian. I knew from pictures that it had a large golden eagle on a pedestal (like in the picture), so it's fairly distinctive. I can't have just walked past it. Time then caught up with me, and I needed to head back to the tube station to get back into central London to meet my friend.
The rest of my day went very well, I had some delicious authentic Chinese food, I caught the bus at 11pm, and headed back to Edinburgh. When I got back, I consulted the relevant maps, and it turns out that I was actually in the wrong graveyard. Perhaps this is a lesson in being prepared? On the one hand, I was disappointed that I wasn't able to find the object of my search. On the other hand, I was happy to have had the opportunity - after all, I hadn't been planning on visiting. It was good exercise and the time spent walking allowed me to clear my head. One day I'll go to the Guardian's resting place. But that day is yet to come, it would seem.
Arriving at my doorstep, on no less auspicious a day than my birthday, I receive this letter from the Baha'i World Centre, inviting me on pilgrimage. (Click for full image)
There's a long waiting list to go on Baha'i Pilgrimage, so you need to apply well in advance. I applied roughly three years ago. I recently got an email with a list of potential dates. I selected the ones that best suited me, and now I get this letter, officially confirming my dates. My dates are the 5th to the 13th of January, 2009.
Baha'is go on pilgrimage to the Akka-Haifa area, in what is now Israel. Akka is the prison-city where Baha'u'llah was captive for much of His life, and His Shrine with His earthly remains is nearby in Bahjí. The Bab, the forerunner to Baha'u'llah, is interred in a shrine on Mount Carmel in Haifa, very close to the Baha'i World Centre, the administrative centre of the Faith. All of these places are surrounded by beautiful, tranquil gardens. The following video is an excerpt from a Canadian TV show about the gardens around the Baha'i World Centre:
Baha'i pilgrimage itself consists of nine days, in which a group of pilgrims (I'm gonna be a pilgrim! That's really cool!) are taken on guided tours the Baha'i World Centre, the Holy Shrines, and various other places in the region associated with figures from Baha'i history. The pilgrims are also given free time to visit gravesites, the gardens, and other important locations. The bounty of going on pilgrimage is one special to every Baha'i, and is regarded as a great honour.
I've got my flights booked, I've got my accommodation sorted, and I'm very excited about this! This was probably the best thing I got on my birthday :)
Barney Leith has just written a quick update on the arrested Iranian Baha'is I mentioned in my previous post. Check it out, it's full of goodies. Also new since my last post are these blog posts about the arrests: Where Being Baha'i is A Crime; As if Natural Disasters were not Enough!; and Earth, Wind and Fire: The Road to Hell.
Also, it seems that my comments have been playing up, and anonymous comments, instead of being forwarded for moderation, have just been deleted. So apologies to anyone who's tried to comment only to have their comment disappear into the ether. I'm looking into it - for now, commenting has returned to normal.
On January 16th 1979, Mohammad Reza Pahlavi, the Shah of Iran, fled his country for Egypt, in the face of increasing domestic turmoil. On February 11th, Ayatollah Khomeini seized power in the Iranian Revolution. The new Islamic Republic of Iran was made official on April 1st, ousting the Shah from power and setting in motion probably the world's largest theocratic state.
The monarchy had not been sympathetic towards the Baha'is. For instance, the Shah and his aides encouraged radical clerics to preach against the Baha'is, resulting in mob attacks on Baha'is and destruction of property. However, this new government was different. The eradication of the Baha'i Faith is one of its guiding principles.
On the 21st of August 1980, all nine members of the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of Iran - the democratically elected national governing body for Iran's Baha'is - went missing. Their bodies have never been found. The Iranian Baha'is, not to be trifled with, simply elected a new Assembly. This new assembly saw all but one of its members executed on 27th December 1981. The Iranian government was going for the nerve centre of the Baha'i community. Kill the leaders, and the masses are in disarray. Following more executions of various Baha'is around the country, the Iranian government outlawed all formal Baha'i organisations and institutions in 1983. The Baha'i community responded dutifully by disbanding its National Spritual Assembly, and around 400 local assemblies at localities throughout the country.
Since then, there has been no formal organisation of Baha'is in Iran. The persecution of Baha'is has continued, although in a more subtle manner (after international pressure in the 1980s the executions slowed). See, for example, 54 Baha'is sentenced to jail in Iran and Baha'i cemetery destroyed in Iran.
To see to the minimum needs of Iran's Baha'is, a group was formed called Friends in Iran, consisting of seven people. One of these people, Mrs Mahvash Sabet, was arrested on 5th March this year, and has been held incommunicado - forbidden from speaking to anyone. The other six members of this group were arrested just yesterday, the 14th of March. This sounds very similar to the disappearances and executions of the 80s, and the Baha'i World is very worried.
- Baha'i News World Service story
- Barney Leith's first and second reports on the story.
- Barney's post on the response to this by a human rights group.
- Baha'i Views's coverage
- Another blogger's response
The Baha'i New Year, Naw Ruz, falls on the 21st of March every year, roughly at the time of the spring equinox. (In fact, I learned a few days ago that Baha'is in the middle east and Iran don't celebrate on a fixed annual date, but rather on whatever day the Spring Equinox falls. But that's needless digression into comparative calenderology (there must be a word for that) which I don't really feel like doing today. This year I was lucky enough to be able to attend not one, but two celebrations - one in Edinburgh, and one in St Andrews. While both the celebrations differed greatly in scale, organisation, activities, and attendees, they were both characterised by an amazing spirit of joy, friendliness, and love.
Please read Wendi Momen's thoughts and observations on this time of year (via Alice's Adventures in China).
The period from March the 2nd until March the 20th (inclusive) is the Baha'i month of fasting. (Remember I mentioned that the Baha'i month is 19 days long.) During this time, Baha'is abstain from eating and drinking from sunrise until sunset.
I have to say, the fast is probably one of my favourite times of year. It usually involves getting up before dawn for breakfast and prayers, and having a large meal in the evening just after sunset with friends. The community spirit the fast brings is something I really enjoy - last year's fast I ate breakfast and prayed with other Baha'is almost every morning, which was a fantastic way to begin the day. And then getting together in the evening to break the fast is usually greatly fun too.
That's not the main reason I like the fast though. In the Baha'i writings, it says that physical fasting (abstaining from food and drink) is actually just a symbol, and isn't really that important. What is important, and what the physical fasting symbolises, is the spiritual fasting. The fast is a time of self-renewal and prayer; of reflection and contemplation; of discipline and selflessness.
This material fast is an outer token of the spiritual fast; it is a symbol of self-restraint, the withholding of oneself from all appetites of the self, taking on the characteristics of the spirit, being carried away by the breathings of heaven and catching fire from the love of God.
Abdu'l-Bahá, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Bahá, p70
As well as being an ongoing reminder of the spiritual fast and our duty to strive to improve ourselves, I also find the fast a reminder of our frailty as humans. Our physical bodies can not survive long without nourishment, and fasting reminds us of this - it also reminds us of the analagous situation, that our spiritual selves cannot survive long without spiritual nourishment.
O my Lord! Make Thy beauty to be my food, and Thy presence my drink
Bahá'u'lláh,p261
Living in the wealthy Western world, it's easy to take food and other commodities for granted. The fast leads me to appreciate my food and be thankful for it. I fast out of personal choice. Some fast as they have no other option. While we're on the subject of choice, I've always considered the fast to be the ultimate expression of free will - a complete denial of our natural instincts. Not that our natural instincts are bad or wicked, but being able to deny them is a display of who is really in charge: me, not my hormones.
As a supremely spiritual act, the fast is between an individual and God. Shoghi Effendi, the guardian of the Baha'i Faith, while calling the fast a "universal obligation", also notes that:
the observance of the nineteen day fast has been made by Bahá'u'lláh the sole responsibility of the individual believer. No Assembly has the right to enforce it on the friends, or to hold anybody responsible for not observing it. The believer is free, however, to ask the advice of his Assembly as to the circumstances that would justify him to conscientiously break such a fast. But he is by no means required to do so.
From a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, March 9, 1937
There are numerous exceptions to fasting in the Baha'i Writings. And rightly so - as mentioned above, physical fasting is but a mere symbol of a spiritual process. For example, if you are ill, pregnant, breast-feeding, menstruating, doing heavy manual labour, or travelling for a long time, you are exempted from the fast.
A man is not fit to do service for God with brain or body if he is weakened by lack of food.
Abdu'l-Bahá, quoted in J. E. Esslemont, Baha'u'llah and the New Era, p184
The physical fast being merely a symbol means that if you simply just don't eat, fasting doesn't really work - "mere abstention from food has no effect on the spirit" (ibid). I remember the first time I fasted I loved it, it was really great and I learned a lot about myself. The second time the month of fasting rolled around, I thought "great! I'll just stop eating, sit back, and let the spiritual bounties come over me." Except they didn't. I've found that what you get out of fasting is directly proportional to what you put into it.
Getting up before dawn every day, not eating lunch, and not snacking throughout the day all leave you with a bit of extra time in your schedule. I try to use this time to reflect on my behaviour and how I treat others. If I can manage, I'll meditate or pray for longer than usual. I'll go out of my way to make those around me comfortable and at ease. Other Baha'is will do similar things - although the fast is a very personal time of reflection so I can only speculate. Speaking of meditation, I heard from a nutritionist that a period of fasting is often the best time to meditate - as no blood is being directed toward the gut, more blood and oxygen are available for the mind, giving you a keener and sharper awareness of yourself and the world around you.
The fast ends on the 20th of March. The 21st of March is Naw Rúz, the Baha'i new year. This coincides with the spring equinox. As well as the spring equinox having symbolic value of renewal and rebirth, the equinox is also when there is maximal balance between the length of daytime and nighttime - a perfect time to fast from sunrise to sunset!
I'd been meaning to blog about these 5 days, the 26th of February to the 1st of March, as they're a special time for Baha'is. However, I've been rather busy and not able to. Luckily, Alice has done it for me!
Basically, the Baha'i Calendar is 19 months of 19 days each - this gives us 361 days (what, you don't know your 19 times table?). To make the year equivalent to a solar year, four more days are added (five in a leap year), and these are called intercalary days. The month following the intercalary days is the month of fasting.
It behoveth the people of Bahá, throughout these days, to provide good cheer for themselves, their kindred and, beyond them, the poor and needy, and with joy and exultation to hail and glorify their Lord, to sing His praise and magnify His Name; and when they end --these days of giving that precede the season of restraint--let them enter upon the Fast.
Baha'u'llah, Kitab-i-Aqdas p25
Go read Alice's post - she covers basically what I've said but in more detail, more emphasis on the fast, and some personal reflection. It's good.
Edinburgh University's Student Newspaper, imaginatively titled Student, came out this week with a "God Issue", with particular emphasis on religion and the like. As a well-known Baha'i on the scene, I was asked to write a short comment piece about God. Student don't seem to have updated their website with the latest issue (or indeed with any recent issues) so I can't link you to the article, but below I reproduce my pre-edit copy that I sent to them. (The actual one that was printed is shortened for space constraints and was made a little less academic.)
(Also, if anyone wants to source the three quotations: they're from Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p51-52, p46-48, and p215 respectively.)
I'm a Bahá'í student studying here at the University of Edinburgh. I'd like to share with you some of my thoughts on God, and how that fits into my belief system. The Bahá’í Faith originated in Persia, modern-day Iran, around the mid 19th-Century. Bahá’ís follow the teachings of Bahá’u’lláh (Arabic for ‘the glory of God’), a Persian nobleman who spent much of his life in exile for his radical teachings.
Bahá’u’lláh’s main teaching was that we have reached a new stage in humanity’s social evolution, where the unity of mankind must be embraced in the creation of a global and just society. Bahá’u’lláh also taught that all of the world's great religions come from the same divine source.
If thou wilt observe with discriminating eyes, thou wilt behold Them [religious prophets] all abiding in the same tabernacle, soaring in the same heaven, seated upon the same throne, uttering the same speech, and proclaiming the same Faith.
That all sounds very nice, but how does this work, when the various religions of the world have such diverse views on the divine reality? For example, the Islam promotes a strictly transcendent monotheism: there is but one God, exalted above all and completely unreachable to humans. Many Christians and Vaishnavite Hindus hold a belief in an imminent monotheism: that God is one, but was incarnated in flesh in the form of Christ or Krishna. Zen Buddhists adhere to a monistic vision of the absolute reality: that the absolute (Nirvana) is the only true existence, all else is illusion. Hindus who hold to the Advaita Vedanta will attest that the divine reality permeates all things – arguably a form of pantheism, or panentheism. And finally, there are concepts of polytheism and animism that we find in indigenous tribal beliefs.
The Bahá’í Faith affirms all of these teachings. Central to the Bahá’í understanding is that God (or the Divine Reality, or Yahweh, or Allah, or Brahman, or Dharma, etc...) is unknowable in His Essence. (The masculine pronoun is here used to refer to God simply as an accident of language: no masculinity or gender is being assigned to the Divine. The Bahá’í Faith, incidentally, is one of the first world religions to directly and unequivocally proclaim and uphold the fundamental equality of the sexes.)
A painting cannot comprehend its painter, and in a similar way, humanity cannot comprehend God. God both encompasses all creation, and transcends it. Any attempt on our part to come to some understanding of the divine will invariably be inadequate. In this way, we can state that each of the seemingly contradictory views outlined above are in fact complementary aspects of the unknowable essence. God is all of these things, and none of these things. The Bahá’í Writings speak of God as being the ‘all-knowing’ and ‘all-powerful’, but also that the station of God is that of ‘nothingness’. The divine reality is not constrained by human limitations, such as gender, power, space, time, or even existence. No words can suitably describe that which is beyond all understanding. As such, the Bahá’í concept of God is radically different from that of other religions, believing in an ‘Essence of essences’ that underpins all reality. As Bahá’u’lláh explains:
To every discerning and illuminated heart it is evident that God, the unknowable Essence, the Divine Being, is immensely exalted beyond every human attribute, such as corporeal existence, ascent and descent, egress and regress. Far be it from His glory that human tongue should adequately recount His praise, or that human heart comprehend His fathomless mystery. He is, and will remain in His Reality everlastingly hidden from the sight of men.
This unknowable nature of God, however, does not mean that humanity is completely bereft of divine knowledge, or that any attempt at religious certitude is futile. On the contrary – an inability to completely understand something does not preclude a partial understanding. In the Bahá’í view, God has progressively revealed Himself to humanity through a series of messengers, including (but not limited to) Abraham, the Buddha, Christ, Muhammad, and, more recently, Bahá’u’lláh. This line of messengers stretches far back into prehistory – although their names have been lost to antiquity – and will continue well into the future. The purpose of these messengers, called ‘Manifestations of God’ in Bahá’í terminology, Bahá’u’lláh outlines as follows:
The fundamental purpose animating the Faith of God and His Religion is to safeguard the interests and promote the unity of the human race, and to foster the spirit of love and fellowship among men.
In my opinion, this understanding of God resolves controversial problems about which religion is ‘correct’. It makes it easier to reconcile science and religion – a major Bahá’í principle – by abstracting God away from physical reality. It calls for all people to have respect for all faiths. I think that this kind of global perspective is sorely needed in today’s suffering world.
The other day I just finished Moojan Momen's Baha'u'llah: A Short Biography. I bought this book on the strength of a personal recommendation and a few reviews. One of the reviews I read (I cannot recall where) used the word "hagiography", a word that was new to me at the time. (It means the biography of the life of a saint, usually in gushingly praising terms.) The review was spelling out that this work is decidedly not a hagiography. I am compelled to agree. The book is undeniably Baha'i in its angle - it is written by a Baha'i, about the founder of the Baha'i Faith, and supports the Baha'i line on many aspects of the history of the early years of the religion. However, it is neither apologetic nor preachy, being decidedly academic in tone and objective in its treatment of sources.
After a short introduction, chapter one deals with the childhood and early life (1817-1844) of Baha'u'llah, born Mírzá Ḥusayn 'Alí. Chapter two covers 1844-1853, as Baha'u'llah becomes involved in the Cause of the Bab. His exile to Baghdad, and the next 10 years (1853-163), often called the "Baghdad period" for obvious reasons, is the subject of chapter three. The next chapter covers Baha'u'llah's time in Europe, namely Istanbul and Edirne (1863-1868). As is common in historical treatments of Baha'u'llah's life, the time from 1868 to his death (1892) is split into two - "The Early 'Akká Period" (1868-1877) and "The Later 'Akká Period" (1877-1892), detailing the time Baha'u'llah spent in the prison-city of 'Akká under the control of the Ottoman Empire. These form chapters five and six respectively. The book continues with three more chapters on more general themes: chapter seven is on Baha'u'llah's writings; chapter eight on his claims as to who he was and what he represented; and chapter nine on his teachings as a religious leader.
The history of the Baha'i Faith is something I'll readily admit to an incomplete knowledge of. As such, I found this book really helpful in both contextualising and understanding many of the events of Baha'i history, and also many of the writings of Baha'u'llah. It gave me a real sense of Baha'u'llah's humanity - he was a real person, with feelings and tragedies - and also a greater appreciation of his majesty and grace with which he endured his relentless sufferings.
The book is well-researched, and, as I'm coming to expect of Momen, referenced throughout, with helpful suggestions of further reading. While towards the end it gets a little heavy on quotations, it is excellent reading throughout. I'd recommend it to both Baha'is seeking a greater understanding of the founder of their faith, and to those who aren't Baha'is who simply want to know more about the origins of the religion, and the story of the personage behind it.
Momen, Moojan. Baha'u'llah: A Short Biography. Oxford: Oneworld, 2007.
I was at an interfaith dinner this evening, a joint effort organised by a collection of different faith and belief-based societies here at Edinburgh University. At the dinner there were representatives from the Christian Union, the Catholic Students' Union, the Buddhist Society, the Islamic Society, the Vedic Society, the Baha'i Society, and the Humanist Society. It was held at the university chaplaincy, and the chaplaincy staff covered all the costs for the event, so kudos to them!
It was planned as a relatively informal get together - a chance for the various societies and their members to get to know each other on a more personal level, hopefully learn something about each other (and themselves), and to build lasting friendships.
That last point was emphasised in the opening comments of Rev Di Williams, the university chaplain, who encouraged us to go beyond the facile "speak to 3 new people tonight" or "meet someone from a different religion" ideas, and really challenge ourselves to connect with and develop friendships with those present. After her speech, there were a few icebreaker games, courtesy of the Baha'i Society, followed by lots and lots of delicious Indian food, courtesy of the Vedic Society (who had been cooking for 3 hours prior to the event!).
After eating, each society gave a short presentation of an item. The Baha'is having already given their icebreakers and a short talk, the Christian Union gave a short talk on Christianity followed by a song about Jesus. The Buddhists followed, with a Pali language chant, and then the Islamic Society with a quiz about Islam. Next the Vedic Society performed a dance and a song, the Catholic Union sang a couple of hymns, and the Humanists ended with some fun games for all. Thank yous were announced, and everyone pitched in at the end to help tidy and wash up. Afterwards, some of us went over to the Catholic Chaplaincy on George Square to have some tea, biscuits, and chat.
In all, there were about 50 people present at the dinner. It was funded by the chaplaincy, but we had a wee donation bucket for Oxfam, and we managed to raise £9.71 for the charity. That might not seem like much, but this event wasn't planned as a fundraiser - it was planned as a get-together.
I have a bit of a puzzle at events like this, that I'm involved in organising - on the one hand, I dislike organising things, and get stressed out during them, making sure that everything is running to plan and on schedule (one of the few times I will actually get stressed out, incidentally). On the other hand, I really enjoy interfaith, getting a chance to talk about my faith and listen to other people give their perspective. In spite of my inner turmoil, however, I have to say I definitely enjoyed tonight - great people, great food, great presentations.
It's really refreshing when things like this work, and work well - and to see the enthusiasm of everyone present about doing interfaith work, fostering understanding and friendships between societies. I've had a good day today.
No pictures as yet, but will be up as soon as I can get them. If you're reading an RSS feed, check the website itself.
