“Study circle” sounds sedate and mundane, but Baha'i study circles can be anything but.

These weekly gatherings of Baha'is and spiritual seekers, which systematically examine the Faith’s writings, often turn into animated, life-changing experiences.


A Baha'i study circle “People get spiritually nurtured here; they feel spiritually fed, even the facilitators,” says Sharlie Hawkins, who facilitates a study circle in Lyndeborough, N.H. “I don’t think of myself as ‘the teacher,’ but as someone who’s also on the journey. And my journey is enhanced by participating in the gathering. It brings insights into my entire life.”

Baha'i study circles, which are multiplying rapidly throughout the world, are one way for Baha’is to invite spiritual seekers to enrich their lives. Other activities that the public is encouraged to attend are prayer gatherings and classes for the spiritual education and training of children. (There is no charge for any of these activities, except the purchase of books for the study circles.)

Each study circle is based on one of seven themes in the curriculum, which is known as the Ruhi series of courses. The courses, called books, originated at the Ruhi Institute in Colombia; the content is the same no matter in what part of the world you attend a study circle.

Study circle topics include understanding the Baha'i writings, the importance of prayer and life after death (Book 1), learning about the lives of the Bab and Baha'u'llah (Book 4), and learning how to provide spiritual education to children (Books 3 and 3A).

So far, Maggie Wilkins has taken Book 1, “Reflections on the Life of the Spirit,” and Book 4. She came to her first study circle as a spiritual seeker, but by the end of it she decided to become a Baha'i.

“Everything I knew to be true in my life I found at Ruhi,” says Ms. Wilkins, who lives with her husband in Highland Park, just north of Chicago. “I never knew there was a group of people who believed what I believed. The facilitator had the same passion and energy as we did.”


Maggie Wilkins Ms. Wilkins says she discovered a significant side benefit of Baha'i activities: finding a ready-made family. It was especially profound for her, she says, because “I’ve never had family before. When I was 14, I was living on the streets in Canada. Once I started Ruhi, my husband saw a profound shift in me.”

A lifelong spiritual seeker, Ms. Wilkins says she was particularly impressed by the ethnic and socio-economic diversity of people in her class.

“Everyone felt equal,” she says.

It didn’t surprise her that the goals of study circles include preparing participants to engage in community service, encouraging others to independently investigate spiritual truths, and promoting unity, justice and equity.

Ms. Wilkins’ personal contribution to society is a CD she’s producing: “Divine Prayer: A teaching tool for the Bahai Faith.” Being dyslexic, she had trouble learning the Baha'i obligatory prayers and wants to make it easier for others.

As Ms. Hawkins says of helping others, one of the goals of study circles, “serving our fellow human beings is such a sweet reward in itself.”