Meaningful Conversations presents to City Club of Eugene

By Marcia Veach

For more than five years, the Eugene Bahá’í community has been hosting an open gathering, called Meaningful Conversations, for people who are interested in engaging in elevated conversations on topics related to advancing the spiritual nature of our communities. The Meaningful Conversations team was invited by the City Club of Eugene to participate in their June 2, 2023, forum on the theme, “Back to Basics: Engaging in Conversation in a Diverse, Polarized America.”

Dr. Vipul Lakhani, who represented the group, was one of three panelists for the noon forum, which was held in person in the meeting room of The Fifth Street Inn and was also live streamed. Others represented the Braver Angels organization and the University of Oregon’s Holden Center for Leadership and Community Engagement. Each panelist was given 10 minutes to present an overview of their organization and how it contributes to civil discourse. Following a break, the audience was invited to ask questions.

Lakhani shared a basic introduction to the Bahá’í Faith and the Bahá’í understanding of the evolution of humankind through stages of maturity, as well as a general description of consultation, as these all underpin the Meaningful Conversations discussion. During the Q&A, he described the three presenting groups as part of a process of education.

“We are all creating little learning labs,” he said, “and like all things we want to do, we must practice…The wider society creates artificial dichotomies that aren’t there, but we’re forced into those kinds of places… If we don’t practice having civil conversations and finding points of commonality, we won’t. These learning labs let us practice and then we can take that into our conversations with our families, our friends, our coworkers.”

In answer to a question about the program each organization hosts, Lakhani said: “It does help to have structure, which all of us seem to have learned. A structure that guides people, not so much to achieve uniformity of opinion, but to achieve a sort of harmony that allows civil discourse to occur. We’re more engaged with the process of how we can have a civil discourse than having a changing of opinions.”

Lakhani and other Bahá’ís who attended the meeting spoke enthusiastically about new collaborations they hope may come from their participation in this forum.

The City Club forum was broadcast on KLCC, the local public radio station, the evening of Monday, June 5. The archived recording is available through KLCC or via the City Club’s website.

Everyone in the Lane County area is invited to participate in Meaningful Conversations. To get involved, find them on Meetup at Meaningful-Conversations-Eugene or Facebook at MeaningfulConversationsEugene.