10. North American Bahá'í Pilgrimage Center (NABPC)
Problem: Most of the Friends who wish to go on Pilgrimage must wait many years. As the number of the Friends grows, the problem will only get worse. It will never get better. Eventually, most of those who wish and who can afford to make a Pilgrimage will not be able to do so.
Solution: Establish a Pilgrimage Center somewhere in North America with an exact replica of Bahji and a "Virtual Shrine" in which one believes they are ascending to the Shrine of the Báb on Mount Carmel. This will be known as the "Lesser Pilgrimage".
Part of the envisioned community would include the NABPC; which would include an exact replica of Bahji. A special building would be constructed, and using escalators, film, and 3-D technology, one can "re-create" oneself walking up to the Holy Shrine of The Báb in Haifa. But instead of hundreds of steps, there would be an escalator. Instead of an actual Shrine, there would be a virtual 3-D Shrine; a building which would use large I-MAC screens, plus sense-around sound, and escalators, to give Pilgrims the sense they are ascending to the Holy Shrine of The Báb.
Those who cannot afford to go to the Holy Land, or cannot afford to wait years or decades (as will soon be the case) to go on the Greater Pilgrimage (to the actual Shrines) could take the Lesser Pilgrimage at the NABPC.
The NABPC and retired community and cemetary would be next to each other all in the same location inside Ridwan City. Recommendation that this "town" be located either in Florida or the desert areas of Southern California or Arizona; not far from a major metropolitan area and a major airport.
