An Exploration of the Ridvan 2010 Message

The following paper was written in December 2010 for a Wilmette Institute course (and in anticipation of the 28 Dec 2010 Five Year Plan message of the House). In order to obtain a better understanding of the Ridvan 2010 message, the paper explores the prevalence and purpose of six common elements of Plan letters of the Guardian and the House of Justice – praise and acknowledgement, analysis of conditions, call and directives, reminder of fundamentals, guidance, and encouragement and assurance – using word counts of each element within each paragraph. The resulting data is then analyzed and discussed to provide, hopefully, a more clear understanding of the role of each of these elements, as well as an additional mindset by which to read subsequent House messages.