Lovers of mankind

2014 January

With the blizzard raging outside, I am cozily setting myself inside my warm home and reading a wonderful book: “Through the Mists”. Oh, what a pleasure to read a book so intriguing and soul inspiring. Here is but one quote from the book and if I had the space I would have quoted the whole book:

“Which of all the denominations, or religions if you will, contribute the highest percentage of the redeemed?”

“We recognize but one religion here (note: here means hereafter), that is – Love; and all its disciples have but one denomination – lovers of mankind. No one of all the man-made religions holds a monopoly of this attribute. But earnest and conscientious followers of it may be found in all.
Its worship is service to humanity;
its litany, noble deed,
its prayers, tears of sympathy;
its sermons, simple lives, known and read of all men;
its songs are lullabies to soothe the broken-hearted;
its faith the immolation of self;
its hope – Heaven.
This is the only religion which can write the passports of heaven for the pilgrims of earth.”

On Faith

Excerpt from "God's World V1"

If we set aside faith, what is there left? We know that we did not create ourselves.  We have no reason to believe that we selected the date and place and manner of our birth. We know that we have nothing to say about the hour of our passing. We are unfamiliar with the forces of Nature in which we live and of which we are a part.  We are but fragments in the affairs of our own governments. Everywhere we turn, we meet conditions beyond our control, and yet we are confident that tomorrow will find us well and happy and successful.

Often this confidence, so far as reason and judgment go, is based on a few men in charge of great affairs.  The employee in an office has faith that his employer will keep the business going. The employer, who is in debt to the bankers, is confident that the bankers will see him through. The bankers, who depend upon the the depositors, are certain that no sudden demand will be made upon them for the deposits.

And yet believing in other mortals, we find contentment and faith.  And if we could gather together all the mortals on the earth and all those in the spirit-world, and added up the sum-total of their powers, the result would not be comparable with the power of God Almighty even in the ratio of an atom compared with all of the matter that comprises our world.

If we are not to have faith in the Cause that gave us life, then how can we have faith in anybody or anything? We see honest and morally good and dependable people in our own neighborhoods, in our cities, in our countries; but the greatest goodness and the greatest dependability of any man are not to be mentioned in the same breath with the goodness and greatness and dependability of the Creator.

No man, or combination of men, brought this universe into being.  Yet we find ourselves believing in men. We find many times that our trust was not belied - it was well placed. Suppose we had proportionate faith in God: Would we not be qualified to regard any hardship, any obstacle, as all right, as perfectly natural, as presaging some great good that would come at some future time, but that previously was not revealed to us?
...
Few of us store up a sufficient food supply to last us many days, and yet we are not fearful that we shall go without food.  Millions and tens of millions and hundreds of millions pass along earth's mortal trail living "from hand to mouth," from day to day. Somehow they get through. Often when they seemed to have reached the very end of their resources, something occurred that gave them a new opportunity.

No matter what our claims may be, irrespective of how much weight we may put upon our powers of reason, if we but pause to analyze ourselves and our fellow-beings, we shall make the discovery that of all the qualities in mankind, faith stands at the top.

The helpless babe has greater faith in his mother than the greatest man ever had in God. Life without faith would not be life. Reason and logic may seem to prove certain contentions and theories. But where it satisfies one person,  faith is carrying millions of others through the trials of life safely and securely.
...
Sometimes the trials of life are severe. Things go wrong.  Hardship pile upon hardship, handicap follows handicap, sickness and loss of property and the death of dear ones make life a fearful burden. And yet when one's faith is sufficient, even though one may bend under the blows and be prostrated with sorrow, there is still that loyal belief that eventually things will work out - that sometime, somewhere and in some manner things will be different.

The greater one's belief in God and His Natural Law, the greater blessings one is to receive throughout one's life.

On Mercy, Justice and Forgiveness

Excerpts from “Through the Mist” by R.J. Lees
“It is a sad mistake to say that death levels all men, and that this life (life after death) is a new one, while the record of the old one has been wiped out with the sponge of death. All life is a continuation of that which had gone before; and entering here you have but turned over the page to commence another chapter, the story and plot are the same.

“In this you will find that the mistakes of the past are rectified, overdue accounts have to be settled, and compensation awarded to those who have unjustly suffered. Men are here weighed in the balances of God, appraised by a valuer whose judgment is righteous, and against whose verdict there is no appeal but that of repentance. You will find no bribery and corruption; everything is sternly real; all men and things are just what they appear to be.
…
“Guilt must be righteously punished, while the excess of pain which the victim has endured must receive its legitimate compensation. With the punishment we have nothing to do, the natural law of this life is fully adequate to that, and every guilty soul will reap the just harvest of the seed he has sown. It is that we may take part in the compensation that we are here. Justice demands that an instant liberation shall be given from those bonds, and life must be lavished upon the sufferers until we have helped to build up and invigorate their souls, then each one shall reach the full development for which it was designed and for which it wept and struggled, but was prevented by action of oppressors.”

“But where do we find mercy and forgiveness in the administration of such inexorable justice?” I asked.

“Every attribute of God has its legitimate sphere of operation,” he replied, “and the inviolate maintenance of each in its appointed order is essential to the continuance of the almighty and all-wise perfection of our Father, but it is impossible for any one of these to usurp the jurisdiction of another. Suppose, for a moment, that mercy was allowed to withstand justice and prevail in any single instance; the immediate result would be an injustice; since to show mercy to the offender would be an injustice to the offended, unless, in turn, you show him mercy too.

Carry this to its logical sequence and you will be compelled to abolish justice in favour of mercy, in which case punishment and retribution would become an impossibility; law would be a dead letter, and sin, freed from fear or restraint, would revel in its license. But when we see the working of the attributes of God according to His Divinely appointed plan, we find how infinitely wise has been the adaptation to the necessities of the human family in its development.

“Take those to which you have referred - Mercy, Justice, and Forgiveness. Mercy operates on earth, where patience, forbearance, and long-suffering are so much needed during the early stages of the conscious existence of the soul. Imagine the catastrophe and disaster which would ensue if unerring justice was enthroned at such a crisis in life’s history - would there be any subsequent immortality to record? Unconscious, practically, of his whence and whither, an untutored experimentalist as to his powers and capabilities, failure and mistake, the law by which he shall develop and learn to understand himself, uncertain if it be right to gratify even the most ardent of his longings, filled with fear and trembling at the forces surrounding him, a volume of nature before him of nature of whose hieroglyphics he is ignorant though called upon to read, himself the most profound mystery among, the million other problems - under such circumstances, how often would earth be swept clear of man if justice was applied to every transgression of the law; that justice which is perfect as its Framer?

“No! This attribute cannot be applied to such an undeveloped condition; what man could be found wild enough to imagine that it is? Is not rather the absence of justice so manifest as to be used for an argument against the existence of a God, while it has become a proverb among the nations that ‘Villainy is the heir to Fortune, but Honesty marries Miss.’ Oppression, tyranny and persecution are rampant, that ‘Might is Right’ is the universal motto practically both of politics and religion; the affluent and wealthy are the honoured of the nations, the poor and needy, the curse and bane. Is this right you will ask me, and I reply, a thousand times no! But even the injustice of man is not strong enough to cause God to change the action of His attributes, and substitute justice for Mercy upon the earth.

“This universal custom is wrong, and man has gained enough knowledge to know that it is so; but God is long-suffering that the oppressor may be able to redeem himself before he is brought in to judgment. Mercy pleads, while hope of restitution remains; but once let the law take hold of the offender, and the issue passes from the court of Mercy to justice. The mists (The death) marking the boundary line between that state and this also form the vestibule of the hall of judgment, and every soul must pass through and receive its righteous verdict before it enters here. Mercy has no power to cross that threshold; the soul stands alone before that inscrutable tribunal its own witness, its own judge, hence its life deeds pass the sentence from which no appeal is possible.”

“But forgiveness; what of that?” I asked.

“That follows later,” he replied. “The penalties enforced by that Justice are for wrongs committed against your fellow-man; such sins must be redeemed, they are never forgiven, for no one not even God, has power to forgive a trespass against any other than Himself, such being contrary to His own law. When the penalty for sins against his fellow has been righteously discharged then the repentant soul has the power to ask forgiveness for his sin against God, which is always freely granted; but it is requisite that he be first reconciled to his brother, for only ‘he that hath clean hands and a pure heart’ can ascend to the presence of God where Christ will secure his full remission.”

 Through_the_Mists.pdf

Forces of Our Time (4)

Another major dark force Mr. Dunbar described in his book is the force of materialism. Starting with a quote of ‘Abdu’l-Baha lamenting the general eclipse of the light of God in society, ‘Abdu’l-Baha said:

“Alas! That humanity is completely submerged in imitations and unrealities, notwithstanding the truth of divine religion has ever remained the same. Superstitions have obscured the fundamental reality, the world is darkened … rites and dogmas are many and various; therefore discord has arisen among the religious systems whereas religion is for the unification of mankind. True religion is the source of love and agreement amongst men … but the people are holding to the counterfeit and imitation … Therefore the realm of the religionist has gradually narrowed and darkened and the sphere of the materialist has widened and advanced; for the religionist has held to imitation and counterfeit, neglecting and discarding holiness and the sacred reality of religion. When the sun sets it is the time for bats to fly. They come forth because they are creatures of the night. When the lights of religion become darkened the materialists appear. They are the bats of night. The decline of religion is their time of activity; they seek the shadows when the world is darkened and clouds have spread over it.”

Then Mr. Dunbar continued:

“

A great many of the widely-accepted theories and concepts of the world about us are fundamentally materialistic: they have gained popularity because their outlook is confined to man’s material existence and usually pander to selfish instincts. Often the appeal is made to one ethnic group, or racial group, or social class, to advance themselves at the expense of others. Sometimes it is just a general appeal to the egotistical tendencies of human beings… Such schemes and plans for the betterments of the human race attract people for a time but once they are tested their inadequacy becomes evident. They are dissolved, as Shoghi Effendi indicates, by the very forces that had given rise to them:

Springing from a finite mind, begotten of human fancy, and oftentimes the product of ill-conceived designs, such movements succeed, by reason of their novelty, their appeal to man's baser instincts and their dependence upon the resources of a sordid world, in dazzling for a time the eyes of men, only to plunge finally from the heights of their meteoric career into the darkness of oblivion, dissolved by the very forces that had assisted in their creation.

“

In the next paragraph, Mr. Dunbar put both communism and capitalism into one category, and said they are “twin sisters” because “their materialistic perception”. I found this a shock awakening, at least to people like me who grew up in communist country, who got tired and disappointed with that system and seeking out the capitalist country to bring hope for ourselves and our children and then realized, as Mr. Dunbar pointed out : “Neither one has created a just and prosperous society. Human beings are fundamentally spiritual and ideologies that do not acknowledge or draw on our spirituality ultimately bring out the basest dimensions of human nature. Both capitalist and communist ideologies have channeled human energy towards appeasing the appetites of the animal nature.”

Forces of Our Time (3)

Moral Downfall
The signs of moral downfall at present time can be perceived “in whichever direction we turn our gaze”. It is, as Shoghi Effendi pointed out, the direct consequence of the decline of religious influence on both man’s life individually as well as on society collectively.

“There can be no doubt that the decline of religion as a social force, of which the deterioration of religious institutions is but an external phenomenon, is chiefly responsible for so grave, so conspicuous an evil (moral decadence). "Religion," writes Bahá'u'lláh, "is the greatest of all means for the establishment of order in the world and for the peaceful contentment of all that dwell therein. The weakening of the pillars of religion hath strengthened the hands of the ignorant and made them bold and arrogant. Verily I say, whatsoever hath lowered the lofty station of religion hath increased the waywardness of the wicked, and the result cannot be but anarchy." "Religion," He, in another Tablet, has stated, "is a radiant light and an impregnable stronghold for the protection and welfare of the peoples of the world, for the fear of God impelleth man to hold fast to that which is good, and shun all evil. Should the lamp of religion be obscured, chaos and confusion will ensue, and the lights of fairness, of justice, of tranquility and peace cease to shine." …

“No wonder, therefore, that when, as a result of human perversity, the light of religion is quenched in men's hearts, and the divinely appointed Robe, designed to adorn the human temple, is deliberately discarded, a deplorable decline in the fortunes of humanity immediately sets in, bringing in its wake all the evils which a wayward soul is capable of revealing. The perversion of human nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption and dissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such circumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. Human character is debased, confidence is shaken, the nerves of discipline are relaxed, the voice of human conscience is stilled, the sense of decency and shame is obscured, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and loyalty are distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of hope is gradually extinguished. …

“The recrudescence of religious intolerance, of racial animosity, and of patriotic arrogance; the increasing evidences of selfishness, of suspicion, of fear and of fraud; the spread of terrorism, of lawlessness, of drunkenness and of crime; the unquenchable thirst for, and the feverish pursuit after, earthly vanities, riches and pleasures; the weakening of family solidarity; the laxity in parental control; the lapse into luxurious indulgence; the irresponsible attitude towards marriage and the consequent rising tide of divorce; the degeneracy of art and music, the infection of literature, and the corruption of the press; the extension of the influence and activities of those "prophets of decadence" who advocate companionate marriage, who preach the philosophy of nudism, who call modesty an intellectual fiction, who refuse to regard the procreation of children as the sacred and primary purpose of marriage, who denounce religion as an opiate of the people, who would, if given free rein, lead back the human race to barbarism, chaos, and ultimate extinction -- these appear as the outstanding characteristics of a decadent society, a society that must either be reborn or perish.”  (Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 185)

Forces of Our Time (2)

Some of the chief dark forces of our time described by Mr. Hooper Dunbar are listed below:

The force of Irreligion:

“A primary force of darkness is irreligion. It ribs us of our understanding of the very purpose of life. It gives rise to materialism. It closes the door to the sources of power and well-being for humanity. Irreligion and materialism promote other dark forces. Whenever people lose their authentic religious foundation, their spiritual fibre, there is little left but the physical shell of  their beings, their animal selves. Their whole focus becomes the outer, ephemeral benefits of life and how to acquire them: they lose sight of their innate nobility and the heights of spiritual development to which human beings can aspire. This turning away from the higher nature and towards the lower nature spurs the growth of forces of darkness.
...
“It is important to make a distinction between true religion, a living force that connects human with God while bringing light and unity into the world, and what is often taken for religion, consisting mainly of form and ceremony, with much of the original teaching having become misunderstood or lost sight of. This state of affairs has come about in the winter of each cycle of religious renewal. Fanaticism, superstition, priestcraft, orthodoxy, narrowness and sectarian tendencies of whatever denomination are all forces of darkness that have long since lost connection with the spirit of the divine Messengers whom they claim to represent.”
…
"This is not to say there are no good intentions remaining among the followers of past religions, There appears to be many sincere people in groups of all kinds, both religious and secular; however ‘Abdu'l-Bahá explains that in order to produce the desired result, sincere intention needs to be accompanied by volition and action, as well as requisite knowledge. When the aim is to change attitudes and human behavior, good intentions need to be supported by clear understanding and connected to a powerful source of dynamic energy capable of generating both volition and action. The Word of God, always divinely tailored for the needs of humankind at its current stage of development, provides that unique motive energy.”
…
“Irreligion comes in variety of forms, one of which has been termed functional atheism. We see a lot of this in the world today. A person may think that God exists but believe that human nature, economic forces or political traditions are the reason that things are, inevitably, the way they are. Generations of people have, understandably, failed to find much relevance to what passes under the name of religion, have come to consider it as a spent force and have basically adopted a secular, atheistic view of reality. Their whole tendency is not to believe, or to see God as pertinent only to the individual and not to society as a whole.”

Mr. Dunbar then concluded that “irreligion, secularism and the belief that political or economic forces alone animate humanity are spiritual illnesses. They act as veils or clouds, hindering and delaying the influence and action of the divine spirit of Bahá'u'lláh in human affairs.”

to be continued...

Posted via email from The Garden of Heart

Forces of Our Time (1)

Recently I have been reading a book by Mr. Hooper Dunbar: “Forces of Our Time—The Dynamics of Light and Darkness”. I have really enjoyed it.  It helps me to deepen my understanding about the current trend in our confused society and where each individual stands as to our responsibility in helping shaping the society towards a brighter future.

The following are some excerpts from the book.

“Anyone looking at the condition of the world today will be struck by the dramatic changes taking place. On the one hand is the visible deterioration in so many fundamental processes and institutions, from the financial world, politics and the fabric of society to climate change and energy. On the other is an enlivening upsurge in knowledge, in concern for human rights and in technologies that bring people together.

These energies are spiritual in nature and result from the coming of God’s most recent representative to humankind, Bahá'u'lláh. He has set in motion processes that are creating a new, divine civilization. In response to this, negative forces have risen to resist the divine purpose.”

Mr. Dunbar has identified many of those negative forces (dark forces). These dark forces are chiefly responsible for accelerating "the decline of humanity’s fortunes”, “whether they are expressed individually in our lives or collectively in the cultures and societies that surround us”. Some of these dark forces are (not an exhaust list):

•  Conditions when humanity turns away from God: irreligion, atheism, naturalism, secularism;
• Things that humanity worships in place of God: materialism, nationalism, racialism, and communism;
•  Perversions of religion with man made terms: fanaticism, superstitions;
•  Consequences of humanity’s losing the moral compass provided by living religion: prejudice, corruption, immorality, moral laxity and widespread lawlessness;

In vivid contrast are those forces of light:

• Forces that derive directly from authentic religion: justice, trustworthiness, compassion, faith, interdependence, universality, insight, godliness, wisdom, rectitude, holiness and peace;
• Spiritual qualities resulting from our connection to God: love, unity, harmony, purity, consideration, courage, courtesy, and humility;
• Outcome of faith and obedience to the divine teachings: happiness, detachment,  integrity, truthfulness, moderation, chastity, trust and hope;
• Conditions that will heal the world: reconciliation, pacification, integration, orderliness, fellowship, non-violence and freedom from prejudice.

to be continued...

Posted via email from The Garden of Heart

The Process of Integration

When talking about the achievement of the organic and spiritual unity of the whole world as the supreme mission of the Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh, Shoghi Effendi used the establishment of the United States of American as example to explain how the world unity will be eventually achieved:

“Such a unique and momentous crisis in the life of organized mankind may, moreover, be likened to the culminating stage in the political evolution of the great American Republic -- the stage which marked the emergence of a unified community of federated states. The stirring of a new national consciousness, and the birth of a new type of civilization, infinitely richer and nobler than any which its component parts could have severally hoped to achieve, may be said to have proclaimed the coming of age of the American people. Within the territorial limits of this nation, this consummation may be viewed as the culmination of the process of human government. The diversified and loosely related elements of a divided community were brought together, unified and incorporated into one coherent system. Though this entity may continue gaining in cohesive power, though the unity already achieved may be further consolidated, though the civilization to which that unity could alone have given birth may expand and flourish, yet the machinery essential to such an unfoldment may be said to have been, in its essential structure, erected, and the impulse required to guide and sustain it may be regarded as having been fundamentally imparted. No stage above and beyond this consummation of national unity can, within the geographical limits of that nation, be imagined, though the highest destiny of its people, as a constituent element in a still larger entity that will embrace the whole of mankind, may still remain unfulfilled. Considered as an isolated unit, however, this process of integration may be said to have reached its highest and final consummation.

Such is the stage to which an evolving humanity is collectively approaching. The Revelation entrusted by the Almighty Ordainer to Bahá'u'lláh, His followers firmly believe, has been endowed with such potentialities as are commensurate with the maturity of the human race -- the crowning and most momentous stage in its evolution from infancy to manhood.

The successive Founders of all past Religions Who, from time immemorial, have shed, with ever-increasing intensity, the splendor of one common Revelation at the various stages which have marked the advance of mankind towards maturity may thus, in a sense, be regarded as preliminary Manifestations, anticipating and paving the way for the advent of that Day of Days when the whole earth will have fructified and the tree of humanity will have yielded its destined fruit.

Incontrovertible as is this truth, its challenging character should never be allowed to obscure the purpose, or distort the principle, underlying the utterances of Bahá'u'lláh -- utterances that have established for all time the absolute oneness of all the Prophets, Himself included, whether belonging to the past or to the future. Though the mission of the Prophets preceding Bahá'u'lláh may be viewed in that light, though the measure of Divine Revelation with which each has been entrusted must, as a result of this process of evolution, necessarily differ, their common origin, their essential unity, their identity of purpose, should at no time and under no circumstances be misapprehended or denied. That all the Messengers of God should be regarded as "abiding in the same Tabernacle, soaring in the same Heaven, seated upon the same Throne, uttering the same Speech, and proclaiming the same Faith" must, however much we may extol the measure of Divine Revelation vouchsafed to mankind at this crowning stage of its evolution, remain the unalterable foundation and central tenet of Bahá'í belief. Any variations in the splendor which each of these Manifestations of the Light of God has shed upon the world should be ascribed not to any inherent superiority involved in the essential character of any one of them, but rather to the progressive capacity, the ever-increasing spiritual receptiveness, which mankind, in its progress towards maturity, has invariably manifested.”

(Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha'u'llah, p. 165)

Posted via web from The Garden of Heart

Humanity’s Spiritual Education

Abdu'l-Baha: “The mission of the prophets, the revelation of the holy books, the manifestation of the heavenly teachers and the purpose of divine philosophy all center in the training of the human realities so that they may become clear and pure as mirrors and reflect the light and love of the Sun of Reality."

I was reading the section V: humanity’s spiritual education of a book: “Baha’u’llah’s Teachings on Spiritual Reality” compiled by Mr. Paul Lample. I was deeply impressed by the introduction of this section and like to share it with you here:

“Bahá’u’lláh indicates that the revelation of spiritual power comes to humanity in two ways. One is a general revelation which flows to all creation, without which the physical world would cease to exist. A second, specific revelation is accessible to human beings to provide for their spiritual awakening and transformation.

Despite the fact that the nature of spiritual reality is objective, human beings would never be able, unaided, to discovery the principles and laws which govern its operation. They would remain as an uncultivated orchard that bears no fruit. It is for this reason that God sends an intermediary – an Educator whose purpose is the cultivation of human spirit.

The series of divine intermediaries are like teachers in one school who contribute to a never-ending process of human development, each building on what came before while further releasing the potentialities latent in the human race. These Educators reveal teachings and laws suited to the current stage of human social progress. Thus true religion – which is essentially one despite its new manifestation in every age – is not humanity’s reaching for God but, rather, God’s instruction to guide humanity. Only when human interpretations have contaminated the original teachings does the perfect instruction in human reality degenerate into superstition. Then does the new Educator appear to renew the pure teachings.

Human beings are called upon to recognize the source of this spiritual education and follow its guidance. Bahá’u’lláh’s teachings are the latest restatement of the divine purpose suited to the current spiritual, social and material needs of the human race. Through His guidance the stupendous material achievements brought about by scientific mastery of physical reality will be renewed, reinforced and even overshadowed by the moral and social progress that will transform human civilization through mastery of spiritual reality.”
 

Posted via email from The Garden of Heart

Fundamental Principle of Religious Truth

(Passages from "The World Order of Baha'u'llah" by Shoghi Effendi)

… The Revelation, of which Bahá'u'lláh is the source and center, abrogates none of the religions that have preceded it, nor does it attempt, in the slightest degree, to distort their features or to belittle their value. It disclaims any intention of dwarfing any of the Prophets of the past, or of whittling down the eternal verity of their teachings. It can, in no wise, conflict with the spirit that animates their claims, nor does it seek to undermine the basis of any man's allegiance to their cause. Its declared, its primary purpose is to enable every adherent of these Faiths to obtain a fuller understanding of the religion with which he stands identified, and to acquire a clearer apprehension of its purpose. It is neither eclectic in the presentation of its truths, nor arrogant in the affirmation of its claims. Its teachings revolve around the fundamental principle that religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine Revelation is progressive, not final. Unequivocally and without the least reservation it proclaims all established religions to be divine in origin, identical in their aims, complementary in their functions, continuous in their purpose, indispensable in their value to mankind.

"All the Prophets of God," asserts Bahá'u'lláh in the Kitáb-i-Íqán, "abide in the same tabernacle, soar in the same heaven, are seated upon the same throne, utter the same speech, and proclaim the same Faith." From the "beginning that hath no beginning," these Exponents of the Unity of God and Channels of His incessant utterance have shed the light of the invisible Beauty upon mankind, and will continue, to the "end that hath no end," to vouchsafe fresh revelations of His might and additional experiences of His inconceivable glory. To contend that any particular religion is final, that "all Revelation is ended, that the portals of Divine mercy are closed, that from the daysprings of eternal holiness no sun shall rise again, that the ocean of everlasting bounty is forever stilled, and that out of the Tabernacle of ancient glory the Messengers of God have ceased to be made manifest" would indeed be nothing less than sheer blasphemy.

"They differ," explains Bahá'u'lláh in that same epistle, "only in the intensity of their revelation and the comparative potency of their light." And this, not by reason of any inherent incapacity of any one of them to reveal in a fuller measure the glory of the Message with which He has been entrusted, but rather because of the immaturity and unpreparedness of the age He lived in to apprehend and absorb the full potentialities latent in that Faith.

"Know of a certainty," explains Bahá'u'lláh, "that in every Dispensation the light of Divine Revelation has been vouchsafed to men in direct proportion to their spiritual capacity. Consider the sun. How feeble its rays the moment it appears above the horizon. How gradually its warmth and potency increase as it approaches its zenith, enabling meanwhile all created things to adapt themselves to the growing intensity of its light. How steadily it declines until it reaches its setting point. Were it, all of a sudden, to manifest the energies latent within it, it would, no doubt, cause injury to all created things.... In like manner, if the Sun of Truth were suddenly to reveal, at the earliest stages of its manifestation, the full measure of the potencies which the providence of the Almighty has bestowed upon it, the earth of human understanding would waste away and be consumed; for men's hearts would neither sustain the intensity of its revelation, nor be able to mirror forth the radiance of its light. Dismayed and overpowered, they would cease to exist."

It is for this reason, and this reason only, that those who have recognized the Light of God in this age, claim no finality for the Revelation with which they stand identified, nor arrogate to the Faith they have embraced powers and attributes intrinsically superior to, or essentially different from, those which have characterized any of the religious systems that preceded it.
…

If the Light that is now streaming forth upon an increasingly responsive humanity with a radiance that bids fair to eclipse the splendor of such triumphs as the forces of religion have achieved in days past; if the signs and tokens which proclaimed its advent have been, in many respects, unique in the annals of past Revelations; if its votaries have evinced traits and qualities unexampled in the spiritual history of mankind; these should be attributed not to a superior merit which the Faith of Bahá'u'lláh, as a Revelation isolated and alien from any previous Dispensation, might possess, but rather should be viewed and explained as the inevitable outcome of the forces that have made of this present age an age infinitely more advanced, more receptive, and more insistent to receive an ampler measure of Divine Guidance than has hitherto been vouchsafed to mankind."

Posted via email from The Garden of Heart

Why do I choose to become a Baha’i?

Lately I was asked by three friends the same question: why do I choose to become a Baha’i? It might be coincident that they almost asked me at the same time, but it serves as a reminder to me that it probably is a good time to think about and answer to this question.

I thought to myself another related question: who am I? My parents gave me a name: Le Kang which became my identity in the society. I respond to it well, for a while at least. Then I married and came to US, and my name was changed to Le Wang. I felt strange at the beginning, but soon got used to it. I am still who I am, the name change did nothing to how I feel about myself. I also serve many roles in life: a daughter, a sister, a wife, a mother and a friend. Plus, I am defined in society by my position in a job. All of those roles are import to me in its own right. If one day I no longer play one of the roles, I am sure I will feel lost for a while and even become profoundly sorrow in some cases. But I will not lose myself, I am still who I am. And then I also consider myself a Baha’i. I realize that this is a different story all together. This is not another role I play in society or in my life. This is who I am. All other roles are external, but this identity of being a Baha’i is internal. With it, all other parts of life can be set straight and become a channel or a mean through which I may express my inner belief in a concrete way; without it, all other roles in life shall become senseless and meaningless. Honestly I don’t really know how this has become the case. I guess this is what a belief means. Or we were made to be able to become a believer when we see the truth.

As to the question why I chose to become a Baha’i, the short answer is I didn’t choose: years back when I first heard about the Baha’i faith and the principles it promotes, my innermost being recognized the truth of these teachings and that left me no choice but to become a follower of Bahá'u'lláh. Prof. John Hatcher stated this point very logically and fluently in his recent book “Understanding Death”: “If there is a God, and if God has sent a sequence of Messengers, each with specific guidance for a particular period of time, and if Bahá'u'lláh is the Manifestation for this age, then how could I do aught else but accept His station and follow His guidance. Logically, to do otherwise would be to act against my own best interest.” It is that simple: how could I not follow what is true to me? How could anyone not follow what is true to him?

Yet the answer could also be very long, as long as the story of my life, a story of longing to be part of something greater than myself that could bring hope to a distressed society and the suffered multitudes. Some twenty years ago, I hopped on a train to Moscow, traveled around the world, hoping to find a society that promotes equity and justice for all, in which my son could grow up with a happier life than I had experienced. What I ended up with finding is much better than I could ever have thought: a Kingdom on earth in making. Nowadays, talking to a follower of any believing system, you will almost always hear about the end of world story, and the expectation of the Kingdom of God being dropped from heaven one way or another. Likewise, Baha’i faith believes that only the divinely inspired/ordained remedy could heal our currently diseased society. But unlike other belief systems that are still waiting, Baha’is are actively participating in building the Kingdom on earth based on the God given blueprint brought to mankind by Baha’u’llah.

“Humanity,” as Shoghi Effendi has pointed it out more than seventy years ago, “whether viewed in the light of man's individual conduct or in the existing relationships between organized communities and nations, has, alas, strayed too far and suffered too great a decline to be redeemed through the unaided efforts of the best among its recognized rulers and statesmen…”, and what else, but “the Divine Programme enunciated…by Bahá'u'lláh…is eventually capable of withstanding the forces of internal disintegration which, if unchecked, must needs continue to eat into the vitals of a despairing society. It is towards this goal -- the goal of a new World Order, Divine in origin, all-embracing in scope, equitable in principle, challenging in its features -- that a harassed humanity must strive.”

I can’t imagine a better way to spend my life, and to play my part, however small “in this greatest drama of the world's spiritual history.” I understand it will take a while and much hard work to carry out such grandeur undertaking.  It may well take more than one generation to do the work. The groundbreaking has taken place, someone has to do it.  If it’s not me, who else? Depending on how you view it, as to me, it is both privilege and responsibility.

Posted via email from The Garden of Heart

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

Grew up as atheist

A friend sent me this link (http://www.everystudent.com/features/isthere.html) written by a once atheist talking about several reasons of believing in God. I really like the first 5 points about our marvelous world. It never stops amazing me that our universe operates not only on a lawful base, but also in an unbelievably beautiful way. The world, as the author has said, doesn’t have to be orderly and beautiful. It actually has much more chances to become chaotic. Nevertheless it is highly ordered and harmoniously gorgeous. These points may not be a direct proof of the existence of God, but very valid points to invoke one’s deep thoughts.

I grew up also as an atheist in communist country. But people who believed in God never bothered me, they were just irrelevant to my life. Till I left China in late 1980’s and went to Europe, I realized that many people and many intelligent people in the world believed in God. I remember clearly that a question popped into my head one time “How come we (Chinese) are so smart that we have figured out there is no God, but the rest of the world are so ignorant that they still believe in God even in this modern age?” But not until I was trapped in utterly desperation and completely out of option in life that my heart became softened and I started to think seriously about the issue of God. I was fortunate, very fortunate to meet a couple of highly intelligent and enormously loving people to guide me on my journey of seeking answers in a way that was most suitable to my understanding. How utterly despair I would have felt if they were not there to answer my questions when I needed them the most. Every time when I read the quote by Baha'u'llah: ‘What "oppression" is more grievous than that a soul seeking the truth, and wishing to attain unto the knowledge of God, should know not where to go for it and from whom to seek it?’
my heart sorely testifies the truth of these words.

Now I look back after twenty years of experience in the world where there is God that my life has been so enriched beyond any wild imagination. The horizon of my life and my perspective about life has changed from a few limited decades to eternity in duration, from a meaningless and hopelessly imperfect random product to a purposefully designed human reality with a potential for perfection. I lived through the two worlds for almost equal amount of years. Often I thought that growing up as an atheist has certain advantages: I have seen both sides of stories. The most striking difference which matters to me is that in the world where there is God, being good actually counts. It is a great feeling to know that there is a foundation for everything to be built upon, a standard to strive towards and a purpose in everything that exists. And above all, there is a Power in control and that Power represents goodness and perfection.

To bring about human potentials is the true purpose of creation

Seeking to understand the mysteries of universe always brings me joy and being a Baha'i is specially fun for me because within the Baha'i teachings many mysteries about our existence are explained clearly and logically. The following is one of these mysteries about human being and human progress that I learned lately*.

There is objective existence which we call the reality and within the framework of the overall wholeness of reality, there are four distinct levels of being (see the attached picture):

1. The first and the highest level is that of the essence of God, our Creator;
2. The second level is that of the Manifestations of God, who perfectly manifest all of the attributes of God;
3. The third level is that of the human soul, which has consciousness and endowed with capacity to reflect progressively (potentially) all of the attributes of God;
4. The lowest level is that of the material world, which is totally devoid of consciousness and will.

It is worth noticing that the third level, that of the human soul, is the only level of being that is capable of true irreversible progress. God and the Manifestations are already in perfect states of existence on Their respective levels and therefore have no need of progression. On the other side, the material world only exhibits continual movement within fixed limits. All material systems are composite and temporary. They have a finite life span and progress only to a fixed degree and then decomposition sets in and death is inevitable. Thus there is no real progress in material world, or in purely material sense.

However, the human soul, while created in an imperfect state, has or is endowed with the potential for perfection. From the picture we can see that human beings occupy an unique position among all creations. If we say the material world is the world of imperfection and spiritual world is the world of perfection, and then we may also say that human being is the end of imperfection (highest level in material world) and beginning of perfection (lowest level of spiritual world). Thus to bring about human potentials to reflect all perfections latent within him is not only the purpose of individual's life, but also the business of whole creation. It is not for human being to find his purpose in the universe, but for the creation to find its purpose in helping bringing about human potentials. God has ordained for the training of human beings "every atom in existence and the essence of all created things."

Human capacity is God's given. No one can ever change it and no circumstances of life can destroy it. But this human capacity is latent and needs to be developed. And the development is not automatic. As Baha'u'llah stated in this quote:

"Know thou that all men have been created in the nature made by God... Unto each one hath been prescribed a pre-ordained measure, as decreed in God's mighty and guarded Tablets. All that which ye potentially possess can, however, be manifested only as a result of your own volition."

Effort is needed from our part for our own development. Our soul is threaten by and only by undevelopment. Another day, a friend of mine asked "What is good?" while talking about "Do well by doing good". From Baha'i perspective we may say: that which fosters and advances the process of human spiritual development is good and that which tends to inhibit this development is bad.

How then, one may ask, do we go about to develop our soul?

From the point view of human spiritual development, the material world serves as the womb of preparation for birth into the spiritual world. Let's first take a look at the development of a fetus in a mother's womb. There are two prerequisites for a fetus to effectively progress from one-celled organism to a mature human form which if left out in the physical world could take five hundred million years of evolution. These two conditions are: the special environment of mother's womb and the encoded human DNA information within the cell. The same is true for the development of a human soul . The material world serves as that special environment, but this is not enough for a human soul to progress, just as mother's womb alone will not enable a rock to develop into a human baby. The knowledge brought by the Manifestations of God serve as the second condition for human development. Their teachings may be thought of as the spiritual counterpart of the genetic code. These teachings are recorded (encoded) in the holy writings of the great religions and when the knowledge they contain is implemented, genuine spiritual growth is the result.

Thus, striving to understand and implement the laws that govern the process of spiritual growth is the fundamental task of our earthly lives. In doing so we may generate the appropriate, growth-inducing responses to the circumstances of our lives and thereby profit from the unique opportunities for our spiritual growth with which God has endowed this life.

*Ref.: "The Law of love enshrined" by Hatchers

Our seeking mind and our yearning heart

“True loss is for him whose days have been spent in utter ignorance of his self.”

Sometime ago, I read a book titled “Portals to Freedom” by Howard Colby Ives and found this paragraph incredibly beautiful. So I’d like to share it with you here:

“Men are wandering in the wilderness of Time and Space, caught in the net of circumstances, befooled by the illusions of sense. They are not aware of this, and that ignorance constitutes the tragedy of life.

Nevertheless, they long above all else to escape that wilderness in which they wander so forlorn. Under the pressure of this instinctive yearning they experiment with every path which offers the slightest hope of freedom. To the vast majority, that escape seems easiest along the path of what they call pleasure. To others fame and power beckon, saying: “follow me and I will give you in the adulation of the world that respite from self for which you long.”

To still others the refuge lies in the realms of intellect. In extending the barriers of nature; in probing into the microscopic universe; in breaking down the atom and bombarding the electron; in sweeping inter-stellar space with powerful and ever more powerful telescopes, -- all are seeking, though they know it not, for Him who is in their very heart of hearts, “closer than their own identity.” Inherently, fundamentally, essentially, inescapably dissatisfied with all the contingent world can offer, they yet seek to find within its scope that answer to their questing soul and mind without which they can never find rest. They know instinctively that they must escape the self and so they seek, in flying from it to the world around them, the refuge from its grasp for which they yearn. Their longing is for an eternal Home, for the knowledge and love of God, but they know this not.”

What a tragedy, I often think, if we live our whole life without ever knowing who we truly are, and why we live, why we die.

Life is a fleeting moment

When contemplating the mysteries of life, the mystery of suffering seems to me the most mystic of all mysteries. Difficulties and challenges seem to be part of the make-up of our world. Few hearts are not afflicted by sorrows and few lives are spared by sufferings. Is there a meaning in this, I often wonder, is this a necessary step in a bigger process? Is there any good in bad?

This physical world is a world of opposites. Thus polarities exist universally: light and darkness, positive and negative, health and disease, yin and yang, life and death… More specifically, there are two opposite forces operating simultaneously upon the world of human being: physical and spiritual, thus creating tension between good and evil, moral and immoral, right and wrong. To make things more complicated, we, humans, are given the free will to choose between the two. No wonder suffering is generated. Suffering, in its essence, is our struggling between our desires to satisfy physical needs and our desire to be good as well as to be near to the source of all good. Thus all forms of unhappiness come from one form or another of attachment to the material world. This is the condition of this physical world and for as long as we live here, no one seems to be able to escape.

Why then do we have to suffer?

This question is closely related to the purpose of life. If life does not have purpose, of course suffering does not have any meaning (This is an awful situation, isn’t it? We have to suffer anyway, but without meaning, we suffer in vain!). But suppose that our purpose of living here on earth is to grow our soul, then this physical world might be the special environment in which our soul can make true progress. That is exactly some have suggested that this physical world is a vast “Soul School”, and everything in the world is but a tool to help human souls to learn.

And the suffering is the one condition under which our soul can be best trained:

“The mind and spirit of man advance when he is tried by suffering. The more the ground is plowed, the better the seed will grow, the better the harvest will be. Just as the plow furrows the earth deeply, purifying it of weeds and thistles, so suffering and tribulation free man from the petty affairs of this worldly life until he arrives at a state of complete detachment.”

Guy Murchie also suggested that “human soul thrives on a challenge or a problem and, once it is stretched by struggling with any sort of adversity, it can never shrink all the way back to its original dimensions. And so it grows bigger. Therefore, one should think of adversity as a kind of growth hormone at the opposite pole from, yet absolutely essential to, spiritual development.”

It might be comforting to know that this special condition of physical world does not exist in the next life. There are no opposite forces in the next world, thus test and suffering do not exist there either. Sound pretty good, but there is trade-off like everything in life: the trade-off is we don’t progress as fast in spiritual world as we do in physical world! We don’t have test, we don’t have opportunity either. So rather than to look at it as vale of tears, this life with its multitude tests and sufferings could also be seen and more correctly seen as an unique opportunity. It is an opportunity to get a jump-start to eternity. By struggling against the resistance of material world, it enables us to make enormous amount of spiritual progress in a very short period of time.

However, understanding the cause and the reason of suffering may make it easier to bear the difficulties of life, but it does not completely erase the pain of suffering (to me at least). At the end of a day, whenever sorrow threatens to overtake me, it is always the words of Baha’u’llah that provide consolation to my heart:

 “Sorrow not if, in these days and on this earthly plane, things contrary to your wishes have been ordained and manifested by God, for days of blissful joy, of heavenly delight, are assuredly in store for you…”
 “Live then the days of thy life, that are less than a fleeting moment, with thy mind stainless, thy heart unsullied, thy thoughts pure, and thy nature sanctified, so that, free and content, thou mayest put away this mortal frame, and repair unto the mystic paradise and abide in the eternal kingdom for evermore.”

Three barriers between man and God

Baha’u’llah said:

“The purpose of God in creating man hath been, and will ever be, to enable him to know his Creator and to attain His Presence.”

To this seemingly simple purpose, there are three big obstacles man needs to overcome.
[bellows are taken and edited from “The Revelation of Baha'u'llah” by Adib Taherzadeh, v 2, p. 35-39]:

1. Attachment to this material world:

Man may possess all the good things of the world, live in luxury and yet be detached from earthly things. God has created this world and all it contains for man's use and enjoyment, provided he lives in accordance with the teachings of God.

This world is filled with material bounties from God, that all good and beautiful things are manifestations of His attributes and that to possess them is not attachment. However, the things of this world are all transitory and man should not fix his affection upon them, nor allow himself to be possessed by them.

2. Attachment to the next world and all that is destined for man in the life hereafter.

To understand the significance of the second barrier let us remember that the purpose of life is to know and worship God. This, therefore, is the purpose of creation. Man's deeds are praiseworthy in the sight of God when they are performed solely for His love and for no other reason. If man's motive for his actions is that he may reap a reward for himself in the next world, then this is attachment. To be detached means to do everything for the sake of God and to seek no recompense.

What a contrast between this attitude and that prevailing in human society at the present time, where almost every action is designed to bring forth rewards for the individual. The attitude of expediency and self-interest has so conditioned the mind of man today that even in spiritual matters such as faith and belief in God, man often looks for something that will primarily satisfy his own needs. Many people today join one religion or another in the hope of receiving some spiritual help or other benefit such as peace of mind or salvation. This is not the right motive for following a religion. For the story of every religion is written with the language of love. A true lover has no ulterior motives or self-interest, but only a passionate love for his beloved.

“He who seeks reward for his deeds will be given the Garden of Paradise; and he who seeks God is in no need of paradise.”

3. Attachment to the 'Kingdom of Names'.

God in His own essence is exalted above attributes. However, in all His dominions and within each of His worlds, both spiritual and physical, He reveals the kingdom of His attributes. Every created thing manifests the names and attributes of God. In the human world, these attributes appear within the 'Kingdom of Names' and man often becomes attached to these names.

In this world every one of God's attributes is clad with a name, and every such name reveals the characteristics of its attribute. For instance, generosity is an attribute of God, and it manifests itself in human beings. However, a person who has this attribute often becomes proud of it and loves to be referred to as generous. When his generosity is acknowledged by other people, he becomes happy, and when it is ignored, unhappy. This is one form of attachment to the Kingdom of Names. Although this example concerns the name 'generosity', the same is true of all the names and attributes of God manifested within the individual. Usually, man ascribes these attributes to his own person rather than to God and employs them to exalt his own ego. For instance, a learned man uses the attribute of knowledge to become famous and feels gratified and uplifted when his name is publicized far and wide. Or there is the individual whose heart leaps with feelings of pride and satisfaction when he hears his name mentioned and finds himself admired. These are examples of attachment to the Kingdom of Names.

Human society at present exerts a pernicious influence upon the soul of man. Instead of allowing him to live a life of service and sacrifice, it teaches him to pride himself on his accomplishments. From early childhood he is trained to develop his ego and to seek to exalt himself above others. His ultimate aim is to achieve self-importance, success and power.

The Revelation of Bahá'u'lláh aims to reverse this process. The soul of man needs to be adorned with the virtues of humility and self-effacement so that it may become detached from the Kingdom of Names.

The health of human mind

Let’s look at this question first: what is human and human mind?
It is understandable that there may be many diverse definitions of human beings. After all, one of the definitions of human is that human being is the only creatures whose potentials can not be defined. One notable viewpoint nowadays in part of the world is the materialistic philosophy. That is, there is only one kind of thing in the universe -- matter. And everything else is but a byproduct of the interaction of maters. Thus, human being is equivalent to his body which in turn produced human mind. So according this point of view, if our mind is sick, it must be something wrong with our body. Popping a pill, everything will be cured.

It was in addressing the above monist point of view, ‘Abdu’l-Baha in his letter to Auguste Forel in 1921 proposed a different model of human being. ‘Abdu’l-Baha first pointed out that there are certain phenomena in the world which can only be known relationally.

In order to understand this model, let’s first look at two examples (these examples are not from ‘Abdu’l-Baha’s Tablet). The first example of the relational phenomena is the relationship between pianist and piano. If pianist does not associate himself with a piano, nothing happens. But once the pianist put his hands on a piano (association) and play, a music is produced. Moreover, the quality of the music depends on both the skill of the pianist and the quality of the piano. Another example is the light. We know that light makes physical objects visible. Without light, the world is dark. But seldom do we realize consciously that without physical objects, the world is dark as well even if there is presence of light. It is said that a physicist Arthur Dijon did an experiment on the nature of light: he wants to know how does light look like when it is entirely left to itself? He constructed a box in which there is nothing to reflect light. Then he shone a ray of light into the box. He saw nothing but the blackness of an empty space. The darkness of space exists because there are not sufficient objects against which light can be projected.

Similarly, human being owes its existence to an interrelationship that produces a third phenomenon: when the soul of a human being is associated with a human body, it produces human mind (a relational phenomenon). The properties of human soul can only be known in this physical world through the instrument of human mind. Just as a mirror provides a vehicle to witness the present of light, human body provides the vehicle for the expression of the light of our soul. Whatever the mind imagines, desires, works for, or pursues is the expression of the interplay between the body and the soul. Our mind is a tightly woven fabric in which our soul and our body are inseparable from one another in this physical world.

So, according to this model of human being, the health of our mind is depending on both the health of our body and the health of our soul. Just as our body possesses certain capacities that can be and need to be developed, our soul possesses certain inherent capacities that can be and need to be developed.

It is believed that there are three fundamental capacities (powers) for a human soul, that is:

1. The power to know: the intellect or the capacity for conscious, rational thought;
2. The power to love: the capacity to experience feelings, emotions, desires and longings.
3. The power to will: the capacity to choose, to decide, to initiate and sustain an action.

These three capacities are inseparable from the human soul in the same way that heat and light are inseparable from the sun. At no time a human being is not knowing, not loving and not willing. The only difference is what we are knowing, what we are loving and what we are willing. This is a power that is the bounty of God never withdrawn from us. The refinement, cultivation and development of these three capacities are the goal of all moral striving. Just as there are bodily diseases, there are diseases of a soul as well. Each dimensions of our soul has requirements that must be satisfied. When this is done, all is well. But when it is not, the conditions of disease and disability of our soul begins to set in and will cross the body and the mind.

So when dealing with diseases, it is sometimes useful to look for the cause in the body, and sometimes useful to look for it in the pattern of emotions, thoughts and behaviors. These three powers are closely connected that change in one power will result in a change another.

Religious teachings have provided and will continue to provide means for the development of human souls. The chief goal of Baha’i Faith, as Shoghi Effendi said, “is the development of the individual and society, through the acquisition of spiritual virtues and powers. It is the soul of man that has first to be fed…”

The declining of the influence of the religious force on the individual and our society as is the case in current time, has caused imbalance in the development of our body and our soul, thus increase in the sickness of our mind and society. And when talking about the problems of our society, Shoghi Effendi stated: “Indeed, the chief reason for the evils now rampant in society is a lack of spirituality. The materialistic civilization of our age has so much absorbed the energy and interest of mankind, that people in general no longer feel the necessity of raising themselves above the forces and conditions of their daily material existence. There is not sufficient demand for things that we should call spiritual to differentiate them from the needs and requirements of our physical existence. The universal crisis affecting mankind is, therefore, essentially spiritual in its causes.”

And “How to attain spirituality is, indeed, a question to which every young man and woman must sooner or later try to find a satisfactory answer.”

Faith is conscious knowledge

Abdu’l-Baha said:

"By faith is meant, first, conscious knowledge, and second, the practice of good deeds."

The knowledge in the above quote has puzzled me for a while, I am not sure what knowledge is considered the "knowledge" in the quote, and why Abdu’l-Baha said "conscious knowledge", not simply knowledge in general.

Recently I listened to an audio tape of Dr.William Hatcher which shed some light on my understanding of the above question and I’d like to share with you here.

We talked about visible and invisible realities in a previous note. We have seen that gravity is a convincing argument for invisible reality, because what can be more common place than gravity. Surely people would have realized by now that gravity whose effects are observed by everyone is an immediate proof of invisible reality. So why don’t we observe this then? Because we take it for granted. In other word, gravity is so common place, we depend on it so unconsciously, we assume it so thoroughly that we are unaware of its implication. We are unaware that it is an immediate experience of invisible reality.

It is the same thing with God. God is hidden from us, not by His remoteness, but by His very nearness. What hide God from us is that we depend on Him so thoroughly that we take it for granted. Whatever the degree of stability or permanence we have in our life is due, not to the inherent properties of these things, but to God. There is example given by Abdu’l-Baha in this regard.

Someone once asked Abdu’l-Baha: how it is that one can become immersed in God. Abdu’l-Baha asked how can a straw basket contain water. The person said: no, the straw basket cannot contain water, you put water in straw basket, water just goes through. Abdu'l-Baha answered that suppose you immerse the straw basket in the ocean, then it is full of water.

So we can’t contain God, but we can be contained in God. In fact, we are immersed in ocean, and because we are constantly immersed in ocean, we don’t know what it will like not immersed in ocean. Therefore we succumb to the illusion that we are not immersed in the ocean. So acquiring faith means acquiring the knowledge of our dependency on God. Thus faith is conscious awareness of our dependency on God. The dependency is objective fact. Nothing changes in reality when we become a believer. The only thing that changes is our consciousness of reality. Our awareness of the dependency that is already there.

So to have faith in God doesn’t mean to become dependent on God. This is again a pure materialistic view of faith. This is why materialists often say that believers are weak people. They said you need a crutch of believing God. It’s a defense mechanism against reality. Or it’s opium. Of cause, some form of religions are crutch, some form of religions are defense mechanism against reality. But true religion, true belief in God means becoming aware of a reality that is already there, that reality is our total dependency on God.

Just as Baha'u'llah said:

“There can be no doubt whatever that if for one moment the tide of His mercy and grace were to be withheld from the world, it would completely perish.”

Why did God create human being and what is the purpose of life?

A friend asked this question a few days ago. It’s a big question, let’s discuss it together. I know I don’t have all the answers for it. I will just write out what I understand so far.

Simply put, God created human beings out His love. And we are created to know God and to love God through loving each other.

This is the short version of the answer. Let’s elaborate a little more.

To understand the purpose of life, we first have to know the definition of human reality.

There may be many versions of the definition of human being. Here is the one I learned and also the one seems making sense to me:

“Having created the world and all that liveth and moveth therein, He…chose to confer upon man the unique distinction and capacity to know Him and to love Him -- a capacity that must needs be regarded as the generating impulse and the primary purpose underlying the whole of creation.... Upon the inmost reality of each and every created thing He hath shed the light of one of His names, and made it a recipient of the glory of one of His attributes. Upon the reality of man, however, He hath focused the radiance of all of His names and attributes, and made it a mirror of His own Self. Alone of all created things man hath been singled out for so great a favor, so enduring a bounty.”

So human beings and only human beings are endowed with this unique capacity to reflect all the attributes (virtues) of God. The development of this capacity not only constitutes the purpose of our own existence, but also is the purpose of the whole universe.

Yet, this development is not automatic.

“All that which ye potentially possess can, however, be manifested only as a result of your own volition.”

Effort is required from us in our development. Yet God didn’t just create us, throw us in this wilderness and let us do our own job. In order to help us to develop, God not only has formulated this physical world in a way that is best suitable for our development, but also has periodically sent His messengers in different ages and to different places to guide us. The only thing that we are required to do is to recognize God’s messenger for our time and follow the instructions He brought to us.

Simple, isn’t it? Really, it’s not that much if only the physical world does not present to us these many temptations!