Likeness is nearness

Ever since I have come to learn about religion, this one theme is always present and debating over by different religions or different denominations, namely, who goes to heaven and who is condemned to hell. Many take it very seriously and being very sure who will go to heaven. And yet many others take it sarcastically or get tired of different opinions, then just shrug it off with a “who cares” attitude. Nevertheless, this is one topic that always interesting me, not because I pretend that I know who is going to heaven or hell, but because I believe that behind the simplicity of the concept, there are more to it. Its implication is deeper than what we currently understand, just like most of other things in this world.

One school of thoughts about this is that once a person claims to be a believer, he has got himself a ticket to heaven. It’s a once for all solution. In this understanding, heaven is like a place or palace with a gate, and faith is the ticket for admission. Based on this model, life is pretty simple and straight forward, though maybe too simple for some.

And with the teachings revealed by Baha’u’llah, the above model is modified or expanded. Surely, faith still counts (I guess it will always count for as long as there are humans on this earthly plane). Yet the definition of faith is extended. Faith is no longer only confession of our belief in the Prophets of God. Faith also consists of acquiring “conscious knowledge” about the reality, be it physical, social or spiritual. And even this is not enough. Faith must also lead to “the practice of good deeds”. After we acquire knowledge, we are obliged to “strive to translate that which hath been written into reality and action…”  Shoghi Effendi has made this most clearly in the following quote:

“Is not the object of every Revelation to effect a transformation in the whole character of mankind, a transformation that shall manifest itself, both outwardly and inwardly, that shall affect both its inner life and external conditions? For if the character of mankind be not changed, the futility of God's universal Manifestations would be apparent.”

From the Baha’i perspective, “…heaven and hell are not places but conditions. Nearness to God is a state of being in heaven, while remoteness from Him is hell-fire.” As our characters are transformed inwardly and outwardly, we become more and more God-like. That is what we called heaven: nearness is likeness.

I cannot speak for you. But for me, I do want to go to heaven, badly. I want to go to the "place" where all the good people go. The only problem is that I am not good enough to go there (my words exceed my deeds, so my death prevails over my life). What should I do? I like this phrase very much and it’s my comfort most of time: “Do the best I can, and leave the rest to God.”  After all, God is the most merciful and ever forgiving. My life or my death depends upon it solely.

Here is a heaven I would love to go to:

“…If it be Thy pleasure, make me to grow as a tender herb in the meadows of Thy grace, that the gentle winds of Thy will may stir me up and bend me into conformity with Thy pleasure, in such wise that my movement and my stillness may be wholly directed by Thee."

Posted via web from The Garden of Heart

Unity in Diversity

The following is a section from “The World Order of Baha'u'llah” by Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of Baha’i faith. It clearly defines what the “Unity in Diversity” truly means.

“Let there be no misgivings as to the animating purpose of the world-wide Law of Bahá'u'lláh. Far from aiming at the subversion of the existing foundations of society, it seeks to broaden its basis, to remold its institutions in a manner consonant with the needs of an ever-changing world. It can conflict with no legitimate allegiances, nor can it undermine essential loyalties. Its purpose is neither to stifle the flame of a sane and intelligent patriotism in men's hearts, nor to abolish the system of national autonomy so essential if the evils of excessive centralization are to be avoided. It does not ignore, nor does it attempt to suppress, the diversity of ethnical origins, of climate, of history, of language and tradition, of thought and habit, that differentiate the peoples and nations of the world. It calls for a wider loyalty, for a larger aspiration than any that has animated the human race. It insists upon the subordination of national impulses and interests to the imperative claims of a unified world. It repudiates excessive centralization on one hand, and disclaims all attempts at uniformity on the other. Its watchword is unity in diversity such as 'Abdu'l-Bahá Himself has explained:

'Consider the flowers of a garden. Though differing in kind, color, form and shape, yet, inasmuch as they are refreshed by the waters of one spring, revived by the breath of one wind, invigorated by the rays of one sun, this diversity increaseth their charm and addeth unto their beauty. How unpleasing to the eye if all the flowers and plants, the leaves and blossoms, the fruit, the branches and the trees of that garden were all of the same shape and color! Diversity of hues, form and shape enricheth and adorneth the garden, and heighteneth the effect thereof. In like manner, when divers shades of thought, temperament and character, are brought together under the power and influence of one central agency, the beauty and glory of human perfection will be revealed and made manifest. Naught but the celestial potency of the Word of God, which ruleth and transcendeth the realities of all things, is capable of harmonizing the divergent thoughts, sentiments, ideas and convictions of the children of men.'

The call of Bahá'u'lláh is primarily directed against all forms of provincialism, all insularities and prejudices. If long-cherished ideals and time-honored institutions, if certain social assumptions and religious formulae have ceased to promote the welfare of the generality of mankind, if they no longer minister to the needs of a continually evolving humanity, let them be swept away and relegated to the limbo of obsolescent and forgotten doctrines. Why should these, in a world subject to the immutable law of change and decay, be exempt from the deterioration that must needs overtake every human institution? For legal standards, political and economic theories are solely designed to safeguard the interests of humanity as a whole, and not humanity to be crucified for the preservation of the integrity of any particular law or doctrine.”

(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 41)

Posted via web from The Garden of Heart