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Enthused about an idea for a project, I mentioned it to an acquaintance at an out-of-town event. She liked the idea and had some suggestions for follow-up — which meant we needed…
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Have you ever experienced a sudden conviction, a determination, that there is something you must do—that it isn’t even a choice? Did you ever think that maybe this was God…
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We’ve all felt our own anger, and we’ve probably all wondered, after the rage subsides, what to do about it. How can we control it, and move past it? “Where…
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Empathy and compassion are precious human values – but they can be diminished or even disappear because of cultural, racial, political, and religious pressure or through materialistic manipulation. In such…
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If ever there was a universal language in this world, it could be that of love. Regardless of age, race, nationality, gender or social status, we all want to be…
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Sanctify your ears from the idle talk of them that are the symbols of denial and the exponents of violence and anger. – Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 72.
A permanent peace in the world of existence can be established only through the power of the spirit. – Abdu’l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 175.
Do you remember the last time you got really mad?
Consider it for a minute. Try to remember your anger, and recall what caused it. Did it happen when someone cut you off on the highway? When someone intentionally disrespected you? Or did it occur when someone hurt you, whether they realized it or not? Now consider: where did it come from?
Personally, I tend to have a pretty deep well of rage and anger. I’m working on it with prayer and meditation, but I still feel it from time to time. I don’t know why I have it. Maybe my upbringing caused it—I had a violent father, an ex-Marine war veteran who believed that sparing the rod definitely spoiled the child. Or maybe the war I had to go experience, and the things I saw there, made it happen. I’ve always felt a high level of sensitivity to injustice, though, and I’ve tried to re-direct some of my anger toward righting the injustice I see, which seems to help.
Anyway, we all have some of that stored-up pain inside us. In some people it emerges as self-destructiveness, or substance abuse, or criminal behavior. The other day I read about a man whose intense internal anger made him fear he would hurt others; so he got a gun and called the police and threatened them with it. They shot him. The newspaper called it suicide-by-cop; but I could feel his unbearable pain and suffering.
This world can deliver us bucketfuls of that kind of hurt, pain and anger. The Baha’i teachings say:
…the trials which beset our every step, all our sorrow, pain, shame and grief, are born in the world of matter; whereas the spiritual Kingdom never causes sadness. A man living with his thoughts in this Kingdom knows perpetual joy. The ills all flesh is heir to do not pass him by, but they only touch the surface of his life, the depths are calm and serene.
Today, humanity is bowed down with trouble, sorrow and grief, no one escapes; the world is wet with tears; but, thank God, the remedy is at our doors. Let us turn our hearts away from the world of matter and live in the spiritual world! It alone can give us freedom! If we are hemmed in by difficulties we have only to call upon God, and by His great Mercy we shall be helped. – Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, pp. 109-110.
This sounds simple, but of course, it’s not.
“Turn our hearts away from the world of matter,” Abdu’l-Baha advises us, “and live in the spiritual world.” What does that mean?
For Baha’is that task lies at the heart of all religion. It asks us to raise our sights beyond the daily material considerations of life and allow our hearts and souls to seek what they yearn for—a sense of calm, confident inner peace. That divine tranquility means we can move past our trials and troubles, which all come as a result of our attachment to this fleeting physical plane. Only this mystical, transcendent sense of connection to something beyond the material world can give us true peace.
The Baha’i teachings say that the growth of spirituality, in the individual soul and in the world, will bring us that sense of peace:
I want to make you understand that material progress and spiritual progress are two very different things, and that only if material progress goes hand in hand with spirituality can any real progress come about, and the Most Great Peace reign in the world. If men followed the Holy Counsels and the Teachings of the Prophets, if Divine Light shone in all hearts and men were really religious, we should soon see peace on earth and the Kingdom of God among men. The laws of God may be likened unto the soul and material progress unto the body. If the body was not animated by the soul, it would cease to exist. It is my earnest prayer that spirituality may ever grow and increase in the world, so that customs may become enlightened and peace and concord may be established. – Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, pp. 107-108.
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As a graduate student, I had a series of vivid, hyper-real dreams—so I decided to see if I could determine what they meant.
How did I do it? I read voraciously about dreams, trying to understand their mechanism and their meaning. I studied the symbols that occur in so many archetypal dreams. I learned about the Tibetan Buddhist practice called dream Yoga—becoming aware of dreams while still asleep. The ancient Hindus, I later found out, had a similar method of understanding their dreams, called Yoga nidra, which involves developing a heightened state of consciousness in that “twilight zone” between waking and sleeping.
In Yoga nidra, you completely relax your body and gradually learn to become systematically and increasingly aware of the inner dream world. You gradually turn off your outer senses, calm and still your mind, relax deeply and try to reach a state the Buddhists call samadhi, or total awareness of the moment—an inner condition known as one-pointedness. (In Buddhism, samadhi is the last of the eight elements of the Noble Eightfold Path.) Once you begin to master the skills of Yoga nidra, you do eventually fall into a deep sleep, but you increasingly retain some of your waking awareness for at least part of that time. You learn to enter your dreams, and your subconscious, in a conscious way.
I didn’t just ponder the Eastern wisdom, though—I looked at the Western scientific and psychological findings, too. Of all the Western insights I discovered, the great psychologist Carl Jung seemed to make the most sense, with his extensive study and work on dream interpretation and the personal unconscious. I tried to further deepen my understanding of dreams by reading the Baha’i writings on the subject, which fascinated me and still do to this day.
Then, after all this, I tried to learn the skill called lucid dreaming.
Aristotle wrote about lucid dreaming, saying “when one is asleep, there is something in consciousness which declares that what then presents itself is but a dream.” The great Roman philosopher and physician Galen used his own lucid dreams as a form of self-therapy. But the phrase “lucid dreaming” was first coined about a hundred years ago by the Dutch psychiatrist Frederik van Eeden, who said that human beings can experience a unique state of consciousness between waking and dreaming, just by learning to control their awareness during sleep. Sounds a lot like Yoga nidra, doesn’t it?
Here’s how lucid dreaming works: first, start by keeping a dream journal, trying to recall your dreams every morning by writing them down. This part of the process will gradually familiarize you with your own particular internal dreamscape, and will begin to make you more aware of the content of your subconscious in the bargain.
Second, practice the basic skills of Yoga nidra by lying completely still as you fall asleep, clearing your mind and attempting to extend your waking consciousness into the world of your dreams.
Third, concentrate on your intention to consciously become aware of what you’re dreaming—not only when you wake up, but before you fall asleep and as you dream.
Fourth, try to envision yourself becoming more and more lucid—more conscious, more aware and more present—in your dreams.
During the course of all this, I never became any sort of adept or expert—which takes a diligent, consistent practice for many years—but I did learn, over time, to extend that wonderful period between sleep and waking. In that state, I realized how to teach my conscious mind to reach a little further into my subconscious and better understand my dreams.
If you practice these learned skills every night as you go to sleep, you’ll become much more conscious of your own personal dream world, and you’ll begin to sharpen your awareness of what your subconscious tries to tell you. Then, if you read a few good books on dream interpretation, you’ll discover a wealth of wisdom.
Beyond those valuable personal insights, the Baha’i teachings tell us, the world of dreams has a great deal more to convey to us about the human soul and its mysteries:
Now there are many wisdoms to ponder in the dream… First, what is this world, where without eye and ear and hand and tongue a man puts all of these to use? Second, how is it that in the outer world thou seest today the effect of a dream, when thou didst vision it in the world of sleep some ten years past? Consider the difference between these two worlds and the mysteries which they conceal, that thou mayest attain to divine confirmations and heavenly discoveries and enter the regions of holiness.
God, the Exalted, hath placed these signs in men, to the end that philosophers may not deny the mysteries of the life beyond nor belittle that which hath been promised them. – Baha’u’llah, The Seven Valleys, pp. 32-33.
Isn’t that fascinating? When Baha’u’llah wrote that dreams and their signs of our subconscious exist “to the end that philosophers may not deny the mysteries of the life beyond,” it suggests that dreams exist to tell us, and prove to us, that we have souls.
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A friend of mine who is a devout Christian once wrote to me and asked the following questions. He wanted me to answer them based on the Baha’i Writings. Below…
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On a music streaming service this morning, I happened to hear one of the many recorded versions of the song “No Man Is an Island,” which I remembered singing it at summer…
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Having grown up in the tradition of the Baha’i Faith, regular daily devotions were always part of our household practice – including my parents saying prayers with me from a…
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I was intrigued by a profound statement from Abdu’l-Baha: The reality of man is his thought, not his material body. The thought force and the animal force are partners. Although…
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The Baha’i teachings say that until the era when we achieve gender equality and universal education, we cannot even imagine the full spiritual powers an intergenerational family will reveal. In…
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Achieving our true spiritual station and practicing justice is a tall order, and will be extremely difficult to achieve without prayer. Prayer has the power not only to transform our…
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Have you ever wondered why you exist? Of course you have – that question occurs, at some point, to all of us. Science asks it, too, usually in this macro…
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These days, more and more people are identifying with the term “feminist” to show their support for women. While there is an increased popularity in being a feminist and proclaiming the equality of men and women, I have noticed that in trying to achieve equality, many people either purposefully or accidentally use oppressive standards that can turn into subtle forms of misogyny. Despite their popularity, feminism and gender equality often go misunderstood.
One of the most persistent questions I have had in my thinking about these things is: Does feminism mean holding women to the same skewed standards we’ve historically held men?
The Baha’i Writings emphasize the need for humanity to end the oppression of women so that we can address other issues in our society. In his book “The Promulgation of Universal Peace,” Abdu’l-Baha, the son of Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith, wrote: “The world of humanity consists of two parts or members: one is woman; the other is man. Until these two members are equal in strength, the oneness of humanity cannot be established, and the happiness and felicity of mankind will not be a reality.”
It can be hard to understand how different issues interconnect. The widespread oppression of women has all kinds of effects that we aren’t aware of because we’re so used to an unjust reality. For example, Abdu’l-Baha explained that warfare is tied to gender inequality. He said that “equality between men and women is conducive to the abolition of warfare for the reason that women will never be willing to sanction it… There is no doubt that when women obtain equality of rights, war will entirely cease among mankind.”
In contrast, I have seen people push for women to behave in ways men are socialized to act. Men are often socialized to act emotionlessly, over-assertively, and aggressively instead of seeing emotional vulnerability, empathy, and kindness as strengths. Likewise, emotionally available or stereotypically “feminine” women are often seen as less worthy of respect, or “less progressive.”
Regardless of how they present themselves to the world, women receive judgment based on the choices they make in their work, their personal and professional relationships, or the way they dress. Similarly, they might feel pressured to be less emotional or behave in sexually exploitative ways — just as men have historically been encouraged to do — as proof that they are “liberated” from the oppression they face.
Instead of embracing and valuing the wide diversity of personalities all people can have, people mistake equity as holding the same skewed standard for everyone This misunderstanding of feminism just creates a new box around women.
The Baha’i Writings say that as stereotypically feminine values come to the center of our society, many of the world’s issues will begin to heal: “The happiness of mankind will be realized when women and men coordinate and advance equally, for each is the complement and helpmate of the other.”
This requires ending another subtle form of misogyny: when women’s comments are pushed aside or consistently left unaddressed in conversations, simply because they disagree with men’s opinions. When it comes to communicating empathetically and compassionately about their rights, women aren’t meant to carry the brunt of the work.
The Baha’i Writings encourage folks of all different backgrounds and identities to step up to the plate. While men are often socialized to be more combative, stubborn, and argumentative than women, they can work towards more gentle and careful forms of communication, uplifting the voices of women and beginning to bridge the gap between genders.
Abdu’l-Baha explained in a speech in 1911: “In order to find truth we must give up our prejudices, our own small trivial notions; an open receptive mind is essential. If our chalice is full of self, there is no room in it for the water of life.”
When we accept that our gender isn’t tied to our true essence, it becomes easier to move past antiquated gender roles and sharp divides between masculinity and femininity. Our souls do not hold a gender. As Abdu’l-Baha said in a speech in 1912, “In the estimation of God there is no gender. The one whose deeds are more worthy, whose sayings are better, whose accomplishments are more useful is nearest and dearest in the estimation of God, be that one male or female.”
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On August 26th, the day in 1920 when the United States certified the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which granted women the right to vote, Americans observe Women’s Equality Day.
In other words, the country sets aside one day out of 365 days in each year to celebrate equality for half of humanity. Somehow it just doesn’t seem quite proportional, does it?
The Baha’i teachings call on mankind to implement full equality for womankind. In fact, the Baha’i teachings say that humanity itself cannot progress until both genders have equal rights:
Now in the two lower kingdoms of nature we have seen that there is no question of the superiority of one sex over the other. In the world of humanity we find a great difference; the female sex is treated as though inferior, and is not allowed equal rights and privileges. This condition is due not to nature, but to education. In the Divine Creation there is no such distinction. Neither sex is superior to the other in the sight of God. Why then should one sex assert the inferiority of the other, withholding just rights and privileges as though God had given His authority for such a course of action? If women received the same educational advantages as those of men, the result would demonstrate the equality of capacity of both for scholarship. – Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 161.
The world of humanity is possessed of two wings: the male and the female. So long as these two wings are not equivalent in strength, the bird will not fly. Until womankind reaches the same degree as man, until she enjoys the same arena of activity, extraordinary attainment for humanity will not be realized; humanity cannot wing its way to heights of real attainment. When the two wings or parts become equivalent in strength, enjoying the same prerogatives, the flight of man will be exceedingly lofty and extraordinary. Therefore, woman must receive the same education as man and all inequality be adjusted. Thus, imbued with the same virtues as man, rising through all the degrees of human attainment, women will become the peers of men, and until this equality is established, true progress and attainment for the human race will not be facilitated. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 375.
When we celebrate Women’s Equality Day, we often don’t realize that it took the American women’s suffrage movement almost seventy-five years of committed, painful struggle to achieve voting rights for women. A half-century before women could vote, a chance meeting on a train set the 19th Amendment in motion.
At that point, the famous suffragettes Susan B. Anthony and Elizabeth Cady Stanton had just drafted the simple, 29-word text of what would become the 19th Amendment:
The right of citizens of the United States to vote shall not be denied or abridged by the United States or by any State on account of sex. Congress shall have power to enforce this article by appropriate legislation.
Then, in 1872, Susan B. Anthony—Quaker, suffragette, anti-slavery activist and internationalist—met a Congressman from Nevada City, California, Aaron Sargent, and his wife Ellen Clark Sargent. Anthony’s fervent desire for a women’s suffrage movement convinced the Sargents to become supporters of the movement, and Aaron Sargent subsequently became the first person to ever utter the word “suffrage” in the United States Congress. Since women could not vote or hold office, it took a man to advance the 19th Amendment:
God’s Bounty is for all and gives power for all progress. When men own the equality of women there will be no need for them to struggle for their rights! – Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 164.
Elected to the Senate in 1873, Sargent interceded with President Grant when Susan B. Anthony was jailed for registering to vote—his efforts secured her release. In January of 1878 Senator Sargent introduced the “Susan B. Anthony” Amendment—and for the next 40 years it would annually be introduced unsuccessfully in Congress, until it finally passed during Woodrow Wilson’s administration in 1919, forty-one years later.
From their home in Nevada City, the Sargents carried on the long battle for suffrage. A year after Aaron Sargent’s passing, in 1888, when the famed abolitionist, pacifist and suffragette Julia Ward Howe (the author of The Battle Hymn of the Republic) visited California, Ellen Clark Sargent hosted an important meeting in San Francisco that brought together some of the nation’s most powerful and influential women’s suffrage advocates—Phoebe Hearst, Sarah Dix Hamlin, Emma Sutro Merritt, M.D., and several others. Phoebe Hearst, one of the wealthiest American women and a strong supporter of women’s rights, became a Baha’i a decade later, in 1898. In that 1888 meeting the women formed the Century Club of California, often noted as the fulcrum of emerging female power in the West, and a major supporter and funder of the campaign to pass the 19th Amendment.
During that same period, when most civic, political and religious organizations opposed, fought against or even criminalized the women’s rights movement, the Baha’i Faith strongly advocated the equality of men and women.
Abdu’l-Baha, who met with many suffragist leaders and spoke encouragingly to suffragette groups in Europe and America, clearly enunciated the Baha’i teachings on the question when he addressed a women’s suffrage meeting in New York City in 1912. He questioned, in fact, the underlying premise of any attitude that opposed the equality of the sexes:
Woman must be given the same opportunities as man for perfecting herself in the attainments of learning, science and arts. God has created the man and the woman equal, why should she be deprived of exercising the fullest opportunities afforded by life? Why should we ever raise the question of superiority and inferiority? In the animal kingdom the male and female enjoy suffrage and in the vegetable kingdom the plants all enjoy equal suffrage. In the human kingdom, which claims to be the realm of brotherhood and solidarity, why should we raise this question? – The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 167.
The great global movements for freedom, the Baha’i teachings say, never take place in a spiritual vacuum. Instead, Baha’is believe that the civil rights and women’s rights movements; the various movements for justice for workers; the anti-war and anti-nuclear movements and every other mass uprising that has called for peace, justice and equality since the mid-19th Century all have their genesis in the deep spiritual principles revealed by Baha’u’llah:
Every age requires a central impetus or movement. In this age, the boundaries of terrestrial things have extended; minds have taken on a broader range of vision; realities have been unfolded and the secrets of being have been brought into the realm of visibility. What is the spirit of this age, what is its focal point? It is the establishment of Universal Peace, the establishment of the knowledge that humanity is one family. – Abdu’l-Baha, Star of the West, Volume 3, p. 4.
In the Baha’i Faith, the equality of women and men forms one of the great pillars of the oneness of humanity, the central prerequisite for peace.
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Baha’is belong to the world’s newest major Faith, founded by Baha’u’llah, a 19th Century Persian mystic, prophet and prisoner who taught the unity of all nations, races and religions.
The Baha’i Faith tends to spread its message gently and quietly, and yet, in the past 150 years, it has become one of the most widespread religions on Earth. Representing all nationalities, backgrounds, ethnicities, social classes, and every beautiful color of the human race, you probably have Baha’is living in your community or somewhere near you.
If you look carefully you might even recognize them – Baha’is generally tend toward happiness, try to have a positive, radiant, healthy outlook on life, and express their love for humanity by engaging in volunteer work for children, the elderly and the poor. Baha’is do their utmost to exemplify the spiritual teachings of Baha’u’llah, which call upon everyone to know and love God and carry forth an ever-advancing civilization:
He is a true Baha’i who strives by day and by night to progress along the path of human endeavor, whose cherished desire is so to live and act as to enrich and illumine the world; whose source of inspiration is the essence of Divine Perfection, whose aim in life is to conduct himself so as to be the cause of infinite progress. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Baha’i World, vol. 2, p. xvi.
This series of nine short essays attempts to answer two of the most common questions people who encounter the Baha’i teachings ask – what does it mean to be a Baha’i, and how do you become one?
Baha’is believe that all of the founders of the world’s major Faiths — including Moses, Abraham, Christ, Muhammad, Krishna, Buddha, and now Baha’u’llah — have appeared at intervals throughout history to write the chapters in a single great religion. Together these Manifestations and Prophets, sent by a loving Supreme Being to enable us to seek the answers to our deepest inner questions, have created a sequential, linked historical pattern of mystical and practical teachings Baha’is call progressive revelation.
In other words, Baha’is see the entire epic scope of religious revelation and belief as one single system.
Instead of competing messages from disparate and conflicting Messengers, Baha’is focus on the unity of all Faiths, the common messages of their Founders, and the essential oneness of their teachings. In the simplest terms, Baha’is believe that one God has given us one continuous Faith. Like teachers in a school, the Founders of the world’s great Faiths progressively reveal the knowledge and insight humanity needs to keep moving forward.
This simple and yet profound way to look at religion means Baha’is accept all of the major Faiths as legitimate and true. Religion is one, Baha’u’llah taught, revealed over the course of time by one loving God through a series of Divine Educators.
Baha’is come from Christian, Moslem, Jewish, Buddhist, Hindu and all other religious traditions; and Baha’is also come from agnostic and atheist and spiritual backgrounds. Becoming a Baha’i means embracing the one Faith that does not reject other Faiths.
Baha’u’llah wrote:
The fundamental purpose animating the Faith of God and His Religion is to safeguard the interests and promote the unity of the human race, and to foster the spirit of love and fellowship amongst men. – Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 215.
The essence of the Baha’i teachings — love, harmony and peace – reflect the essential message of all spiritual truths. Baha’is want to spread the love and unity Baha’u’llah describes, so the Baha’i community welcomes everyone. Please follow along in this series of articles as we discover how Baha’is lead their lives and what it means to be a Baha’i.
Read the next article in the series: Independent Investigation of Truth
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My friend is a materialist—that is to say, he accepts as reality only that which can be perceived by the senses. Are you a materialist, too?
If so, along with my friend you may be a follower of the Dutch philosopher Baruch Spinoza (1632 – 1677). He convinced much of the Western world that God and nature are the same. Spinoza wrote “God is no longer the transcendent creator of the universe but Nature itself … because we can reasonably prove the existence of Nature but not of God.“
Calling upon humans to live by the guidance of reason, Spinoza advocated finding happiness through a rational understanding of a natural system and our place within it.
RELATED: Plato, Socrates, Modern Physics and Baha’u’llah
Growing up in Odessa Texas, I used to love to stargaze during the summer months. In those days, the small city of 80,000 had dry, unpolluted air, such that the brilliance of the celestial spheres greatly affected me. The fixed billion or more stars of the Milky Way, the occasional flashes of comets, and the zigzagging of nearer stellar objects inspired me to reflect how such wonders could exist spontaneously without an intelligent Creator.
Decades later, the Hubble spacecraft would estimate the observable universe at two trillion galaxies. My own vision, like everyone’s, does not have the capacity to recognize this reality.
I saw something endless and timeless in the heavens—and a non-random order that struck me with awe. I also recognized something important about myself: that even the physical, material universe far, far exceeded what I could perceive with my limited senses.
Years later, as a Baha’i, I would discover that Abdu’l-Baha—the son of the Faith’s founder Baha’u’llah, and its head after his passing—had effectively refuted the materialist view of nature and God in the very first chapter of the book Some Answered Questions:
Nature is that condition or reality which outwardly is the source of life and death, or, in other words, of the composition and decomposition, of all things.
This nature is subject to a sound organization, to inviolable laws, to a perfect order, and to a consummate design, from which it never departs. To such an extent is this true that were you to gaze with the eye of insight and discernment, you would observe that all things – from the smallest invisible atom to the largest globes in the world of existence, such as the sun or the other great stars and luminous bodies – are most perfectly organized, be it with regard to their order, their composition, their outward form, or their motion, and that all are subject to one universal law from which they never depart.
When you consider nature itself, however, you see that it has neither awareness nor will. For instance, the nature of fire is to burn; it burns without consciousness or will. The nature of water is to flow; it flows without consciousness or will. The nature of the sun is to shed light; it shines without consciousness or will. The nature of vapor is to rise; it rises without consciousness or will. It is therefore evident that the natural movements of all created things are compelled, and that nothing moves of its own will save animals and in particular, man.
Man is able to resist and oppose nature inasmuch as he discovers the natures of things and, by virtue of this discovery, has mastery over nature itself. Indeed, all the crafts that man has devised proceed from this discovery. For example, he has invented the telegraph, which connects the East and the West. It is therefore evident that man rules over nature.
Now, can such organization, order, and laws as you observe in existence be attributed merely to the effect of nature, notwithstanding that nature itself has neither consciousness nor understanding? It is therefore evident that this nature, which has neither consciousness nor understanding, is in the grasp of the omnipotent Lord, Who is the Ruler of the world of nature and Who causes it to manifest whatsoever He desires.
Some say that human existence is among those things that have appeared in the world of being and that are due to the exigencies of nature. Were this true, man would be the branch and nature the root. But is it possible that there could exist a will, a consciousness, and certain perfections in the branch which are absent in the root?
According to Spinoza and like-minded thinkers, we should live by the guidance of reason. Why then do materialists, reasoning through rational arguments, seldom arrive at a common understanding, diverging in their opinions or changing their conclusions?
In a talk he gave on the philosophy of the materialists in 1912 at New York City’s Ansonia Hotel, Abdu’l-Baha answered this question by saying that the basis for rational understanding is inexact. He mentioned the four accepted criteria for human knowledge: sense perception, reason, tradition and inspiration, but then pointed out that our senses have significant limitations. They aren’t completely reliable, he said, and are often deceived by external movements such as a mirage or shadow. He said that reason is subjected to conflicting opinions, that traditions are based on varying historic interpretations, and that inspiration is only “the influx of the human heart.”
That which is certain, he continued, is vouchsafed by the Holy Spirit.
RELATED: Seeing the Unseen Reality
While the Baha’i Faith does not discount these inexact criteria of the senses, Abdu’l-Baha explained in a talk he gave in Chicago that we human beings need a divine educator to quicken our minds and harmonize divergent thoughts:
The prophets of God are the first educator. They bestow universal education upon man and cause him to rise from lowest levels of savagery to the highest pinnacles of spiritual development. … His Holiness Jesus Christ was an educator of humanity. His teachings were altruistic; His bestowal universal. He taught mankind by the power of the Holy Spirit and not through human agency, for the human power is limited whereas the divine power is illimitable and infinite. The influence and accomplishment of Christ will attest to this. … The purpose of this is to show that the holy Manifestations of God, the divine prophets, are the first teachers of the human race. They are universal educators and the fundamental principles they have laid down are the causes and factors of the advancement of nations.
Guided and quickened by the teachings of these prophets and messengers, and inspired by the energies of the Holy Spirit, we gain true knowledge.
The materialist may deny its existence, but Abdu’l-Baha, in a talk he gave in Paris, explained its power to inspire and educate humans:
An humble man without learning, but filled with the Holy Spirit, is more powerful than the most nobly-born profound scholar without that inspiration. He who is educated by the Divine Spirit can, in his time, lead others to receive the same Spirit.
The Baha’i teachings confirm that the foremost favor vouchsafed by the Almighty is this divine gift of knowledge and understanding.
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The sacred writings of Baha’u’llah, who lived from 1817 to 1892, extend from 1852, the year of the inception of the Baha’i Faith, to 1892, the year of his ascension – 40 years of revelation.
Both the Faiths of the Bab (1819-1850), the prophet who paved the way for the coming of Baha’u’llah, and of Baha’u’llah are characterized by an unprecedented ocean of revelatory outpouring.
That is why Baha’i scripture constitutes almost a library, rather than one or a few books.
In addition, there is no historical or objective doubt about the authenticity of these writings. The writings of Baha’u’llah by himself would be the equivalent of one hundred books, and the Baha’is have the originals. These writings address all kinds of issues in a variety of styles. However, despite the amazing diversity and plurality of Baha’u’llah’s writings, they all represent a grand divine order and unity:
Incline thine ear and hear! This is the voice of My pen raised before mystics, then divines, and then kings and rulers. – Ishráqát, p. 260.
This statement of Baha’u’llah unveils a unique order and unity. As he notes, he revealed his writings in three stages. The first stage of his revelation Baha’u’llah addressed to the mystics, the second to the divines and clerics, and the third to the kings and rulers of the world. This order is not accidental. The logical and dialectical structure of this order is itself another testimony to the primordial unity, originality, novelty and purity of Baha’u’llah’s consciousness.
In this reflection we will explore these three stages, the corresponding principle announced by each of them, and the logical connection and unity of all three.
The principle explained in the first stage is the mystical consciousness – that reality is ultimately spiritual. The second stage emphasizes historical consciousness and extends that dynamism to the realm of religion and the word of God. The third principle in the final stage of Baha’u’llah’s revelation emphasizes global consciousness and its twin requirements of the oneness of humankind and universal peace. Together, these three principles – mystical, historical and global – constitute an organic unity, and this unity defines the uniqueness of Baha’u’llah’s message.
The first stage of Baha’u’llah’s revelation, from 1852 to 1860, took place during much of his exile in Baghdad. Some of his principal works from this stage – The Hidden Words, The Four Valleys, The Ode of the Dove, and The Seven Valleys – emphasize the spiritual interpretation of reality.
According to the writings of Baha’u’llah, reality expresses ultimately diverse manifestations of divine names and attributes. All beings therefore are sublime mirrors in which the divine revelation is reflected and made manifest. This radical affirmation of the sacredness of all beings and the cosmic solidarity and unity of all things is based upon the idea that the ultimate truth of all beings is the very divine revelation that is enshrined within their inmost hearts. History, then, is a spiritual journey towards the realization and unfoldment of this all-encompassing inherent divine revelation in the lives of human beings. In Baha’u’llah’s The Hidden Words we read:
O Son of Man! Thou art My dominion and My dominion perisheth not, wherefore fearest thou thy perishing? Thou art My light and My light shall never be extinguished, why dost thou dread extinction? Thou art My glory and My glory fadeth not; thou art My robe and My robe shall never be outworn. Abide then in thy love for Me, that thou mayest find Me in the realm of Glory.
The principle of the spiritual nature of all beings differentiates the viewpoint of Baha’u’llah from all materialistic worldviews and all social theories that divest sociocultural order from spiritual values and moral orientation. Thus, according to Baha’u’llah, one of the most important foundations of social order is the commitment of society to moral and spiritual values.
Such a spiritual orientation means that we should observe reality as an interconnected unity, rather than a set of fragmented, independent, solid objects. The truth of everything is the divine revelation, meaning that all beings are interconnected and one. However, this same spiritual understanding of existence implies an opposite principle as well. Consciousness is always a unique and individual reality. Therefore, humans as independent spiritual beings all have the duty to think for themselves. The metaphysics compatible with this mystical consciousness – unity in diversity – calls for an ever-increasing unification of the planet and all of its peoples.
Although Baha’u’llah’s first principle sequesters his message from any materialistic worldview, the second constitutive principle of his worldview differentiates his vision from all religious forms of traditionalism.
This second principle is the principle of historical consciousness or the historicity of life. In the second stage of his revelation, from 1860 to 1867, during the last years of his stay in Baghdad and continuing during his banishment to Istanbul and Adrianople, Baha’u’llah spoke in terms of issues that relate to sacred scriptures.
Here the divines and the learned of various religious persuasions became the direct recipients of his writings. Chief among these works are the Book of Certitude and the New Wondrous Book. This dynamic conception is particularly relevant to the realm of human culture and society.
Social reality is a perpetually advancing phenomenon. Such dynamism applies not only to the realm of human cultural institutions but also to the realm of the revelation of divine word itself. Baha’is call this all-encompassing and radical affirmation of historical consciousness in the writings of Baha’u’llah the principle of progressive revelation.
Culture and society are defined by perpetual change and transformation, which means that the revelation of the eternal Will of God becomes something historical and dynamic as well. Baha’u’llah, therefore, sees in all diverse religions one and the same eternal truth. That creative divine Will reflects itself in the form of new laws and doctrines, in different ages, in accordance with the level of the development of humanity and the specific needs of all people at that particular stage of advancement. Thus for Baha’u’llah, all prophets of God represent one and the same eternal reality, who appear in different ages as diverse and historically-specific human persons with different laws as required by the material and spiritual development of society in that stage of humankind’s development. In other words, the message of this second principle is the unity in diversity of all religions:
The All-Knowing Physician hath His finger on the pulse of mankind. He perceiveth the disease, and prescribeth, in His unerring wisdom, the remedy. Every age hath its own problem, and every soul its particular aspiration. The remedy the world needeth in its present-day afflictions can never be the same as that which the subsequent age may require. Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements. – Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah
Although historical consciousness is present in the philosophical systems of a number of philosophers like Hegel and Marx, Baha’u’llah’s principle is qualitatively different. First, this historical dynamic never ends in an ultimate historical state. Thus, for Baha’u’llah, even the truth of his own revelation is relative to the present stage of development of humanity, and therefore his revelation is not the last divine revelation. Divine revelation, on the contrary is eternal and everlasting. Secondly, Baha’u’llah applies this historical logic not only to the realm of human culture, but also to the realm of the revelation of divine word as well.
The unity of the first and second principles implies the third principle of the worldview of Baha’u’llah. The two first principles together declare the necessity of the renewal of spiritual order at this stage of the maturation of humanity in ways that accord with the fundamental challenge of historical development in this age.
The third principle of Baha’u’llah’s worldview is the principle of the oneness of humankind and the imperative of universal peace. According to this Baha’i vision of the world’s future, an effective and just solution to diverse problems of humanity at this stage of its development requires the adoption of a global consciousness that is based upon the fundamental premise of the essential unity of the entire human race.
This global approach is not simply a cult of brotherly love or a utopian fantasy. Emphasized through his letters to the rulers of the world in 1867-1868, and elaborated throughout the rest of his life, Baha’u’llah’s third principle calls for the emergence of a new culture of peace and unity, a new consultative and democratic international structure, and new consultative and just social institutions. Baha’u’llah’s teachings aim to create a social order defined by the principle of unity in diversity:
That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service of the entire human race. The Great Being saith: Blessed and happy is he that ariseth to promote the best interests of the peoples and kindreds of the earth. … It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.
Anyone can see the remarkable dialectical nature of these three stages. The first stage emphasizes the abstract and mystical unity of humanity. The second stage negates that abstraction and affirms the historical diversity and the dynamic nature of the spirit. The third stage affirms the concrete, historically-specific unity of humankind.
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The recent pandemic has highlighted the glaring disparities in the economic system between the rich and the poor. On the one hand, we have the plight of poor people living under the poverty line and trying to survive the onslaught of miseries caused by financial hardship. In contrast, a small percentage of people continue to add billions to their already colossal wealth.
It upsets me because it looks like humanity has lost its consciousness and has become numb to the sufferings of the poor and underprivileged. I see the ever-widening gap between the poor and the rich getting wider and wider, yet there seems to be no solution in sight. That makes me more determined than ever to keep this issue alive and continue to address it.
I like to use the word “humanomics” to describe the solution to the inequalities in our economic system because a lack of humanity has been with the system since its inception and has had devastating effects on millions of lives.
Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith, taught us how to treat the poor. It is no wonder that he was called “Father of the Poor.” He wrote:
Know ye that the poor are the trust of God in your midst. Watch that ye betray not His trust, that ye deal not unjustly with them and that ye walk not in the ways of the treacherous. Ye will most certainly be called upon to answer for His trust on the day when the Balance of Justice shall be set, the day when unto every one shall be rendered his due, when the doings of all men, be they rich or poor, shall be weighed.
The Baha’i Writings remind us to be aware of our role in taking care of the poor since our moral and spiritual duty is to protect and care for them. Baha’u’llah also wrote: “O Son of Man! Bestow My wealth upon My poor, that in heaven thou mayest draw from stores of unfading splendour and treasures of imperishable glory. But by My life! To offer up thy soul is a more glorious thing couldst thou but see with Mine eye.
In addition to helping on an individual level, we need to work towards changing the economic system to make it more sensitive to people’s needs and inject morality and spirituality into it so that it serves humanity rather than humanity being sacrificed to make the system work. We need Humanomics: a human system with human values and less of economics.
This can only be done by practicing truthfulness, trustworthiness, and other moral values in our actions, especially in our economic activities. These activities are not just economical but spiritual. In a talk in Boston in 1912, Abdu’l-Baha, the son of Baha’u’llah and his designated successor, explained that “The fundamentals of the whole economic condition are divine in nature and are associated with the world of the heart and spirit.”
In 1935, Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith, further explained Abdu’l-Baha’s meaning:
… By the statement ‘the economic solution is divine in nature’ is meant that religion alone can, in the last resort, bring in man’s nature such a fundamental change as to enable him to adjust the economic relationships of society. It is only in this way that man can control the economic forces that threaten to disrupt the foundations of his existence, and thus assert his mastery over the forces of nature.
The economic problems of the world will not be solved if we do not change the system. The present financial system is a by-product of the old order and was built on wrong assumptions. It assumed that people only think of their interest and do not concern themselves with the plight of others. This assumption has been the engine for driving the system, and it has become a fertile ground for greed to spread in every aspect of human life, and we can see the result is the present economic injustices in the world.
The sad part about this is that every single day that this continues, thousands of people in the world will be dragged into a life full of economic challenges without any hope of remedy.
The essential element missing in the present economic system is justice, which has to be its foundation. Economic justice these days is the scarcest commodity in the world. In a talk in Montreal in 1912, Abdu’l-Baha told the audience:
We ask God to endow human souls with justice so that they may be fair, and may strive to provide for the comfort of all, that each member of humanity may pass his life in the utmost comfort and welfare. Then this material world will become the very paradise of the Kingdom, this elemental earth will be in a heavenly state, and all the servants of God will live in the utmost joy, happiness and gladness.
I feel that every individual is responsible for trying to do his or her utmost to lessen the burden of poverty from the shoulders of our fellow humans, so that every person in the world has the economic means to live a comfortable and fulfilled life — which is a fundamental human right for everyone.
Though the possibility of the economic system becoming more humane looks like a far-fetched dream, if we desire it and strive to attain it by playing our small part, we can transform this rigid system — which is currently devoid of spirit — into a fantastic tool for the prosperity of humanity.
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I’ve tried to strengthen my faith through earnest seeking, through more or less constant reflection and prayer, and in trying to do right. Isn’t that the essence of all religious teachings?
Scripture supports this logic, proclaiming that if you seek first the kingdom of God and God’s righteousness, all things will be added unto you (Matthew 6:33).
Following a path to God, knowing that it is good, is, in itself, rewarding. It is also, as the Psalmist says (119:97), surely wondrous to revel in God’s law, to think about it all day. Many days scriptural study has buoyed me up and illuminated my path.
It is also surely better to do right than to do wrong. Though I often make mistakes, my experience fits the reality the prophet Ezekiel proclaimed: “if a wicked man turns away from the wickedness he has committed and does what is just and right, he will save his life.” – 18:27. In Romans 2:7, Paul said it more sweetly: “To those who by persistence in doing good seek glory, honor and immortality, He will give eternal life.”
Doing the right thing just feels good of its own accord, and thus brings assurance that the ancient road laid out for all to walk is the right path. In the end, both faith and deeds are necessary to find and stay in touch with God on this path.
As a final piece to consider about finding God, it may help if I share, as best I can, how I experience my connection with God in the moment. Before I share, however, a cautionary note is in order.
Religious people get in a lot of trouble when they read too much into their individual spiritual experiences or draw unjustified conclusions from them. Though God’s spirit can and does guide people, I encourage skepticism of those claiming to be moved or directed by God, as much nonsense occurs and is tolerated under this protective cultural and quasi-religious banner. The Baha’i teachings warn against the “vain imaginings” some consider divine, when really they’re only the manufactured mirages of the mind:
… they that tread the path of faith, they that thirst for the wine of certitude, must cleanse themselves of all that is earthly – their ears from idle talk, their minds from vain imaginings, their hearts from worldly affections, their eyes from that which perisheth. – Baha’u’llah, The Book of Certitude
… how can the human reality, which is limited, comprehend the eternal, unmanifest Creator? How can man comprehend the omniscient, omnipresent Lord? Undoubtedly, he cannot, for whatever comes within the grasp of the human mind is man’s limited conception, whereas the divine Kingdom is unlimited, infinite. But although the reality of Divinity is sanctified beyond the comprehension of its creatures, it has bestowed its bounties upon all kingdoms of the phenomenal world, and evidences of spiritual manifestation are witnessed throughout the realms of contingent existence. The lights of God illumine the world of man, even as the effulgences of the sun shine gloriously upon the material creation. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace
However, inspiration often makes me feel that what comes to me is not from me. Well, the mistakes are mine – part of the limitations of my particular being at each moment in time – but my animation is part of a much larger process. I, and we, experience God through being, through our tie to life and to the Creator of all that is. This connection can be very exciting – the source of all gifts.
Some of what I know of God comes quickly in almost ecstatic bestowals. Surely, this is not rare. There seems to be little pre-condition other than a place of quiet reflection and a beseeching attitude. Here’s one of my experiences of God, as I reflect on what God is:
He is the Lord of dance and life, and yet He rewards those who sit still to find Him. He’s the One who floods the minds of those who leave their selves behind, who approach His Holy Seat with wonder, who fills them with rapturous tokens of His might and with thoughts that flow too fast to capture. He’s the One who rescues the seekers if they come too near too fast, who diverts them to a pleasant garden and says “Peace be upon you. Tarry here till you’re ready to go on.”
He’s the One who lets us know there is always more to know, more to experience and be. He’s the great life-giving Spirit. He’s the One who heals the broken hearts, who sustains the wounded. He’s the One who rewards good choice and lets us experience the consequence of the bad; He’s the Caring. He’s the One who protects purity with incomprehension of wrong. He’s the Author of the continuity beyond earthly time, and the One who lets us experience part of the next world in this one. He’s the One who tells us what life is, what death brings, and who causes us to celebrate because of it. He’s the One who will one day, lift us up, free our souls, and cause us to enter a new world, and He’s the one who is refreshing and refashioning this one, right now.
Of course, these perceptions don’t represent anything other than me trying to articulate what I’m feeling in a particular moment. However, these perceptions did not feel like they came wholly from me, but rather from an interaction in which some kind of a bestowal took place. I take that as evidence of humanity’s connection to the divine, of our being through His Being, and of our closeness to the Creator.
To the trusting, abundant guidance continually flows, amazing events transpire, and a greater awareness of divine guidance is continually revealed. I’ve known people who are so responsive to these kinds of mystical signals from the heavenly realm that they often completely change what they are doing to follow some sudden call unheard by others. Such friends make lousy lunch companions – when moved by the spirit they follow, often leaving you behind to eat alone. While I know these people are not perfect, their lives are rich and they teach us of the wonders found in following a divine call, in knowing that it is here now.
Perhaps that explains why religion has lasted so long throughout human history – because it works its magic within individuals. While the periodic appearances of God’s Chosen Ones are the most dramatic examples of God’s interventions in history, God’s bestowals seem to be an ever-present force working many small miracles all the time among everyday people. Contact with this divine force through prayer, meditation and study can connect us, bring us union, and also refashion our understanding of God’s plan as more of it is revealed.
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I am a white American woman who has, for most of my life, been oblivious to my white privilege — those benefits that accrue to me simply because of my pale skin.
In the past, I dismissed this privilege, arguing, “My family never ever owned slaves. Racism? Not my fault.”
I was raised in a blue-collar family, yet my parents were homeowners, never renters. We always had more than one car, and we had excellent health care, thanks to my dad’s government job. We were solidly lower middle class, neither wealthy nor privileged. We worked hard, I said, and we didn’t take handouts.
How naïve I have been. My parents’ generation benefited from the G.I. Bill, subsidized mortgages, union membership — all keys to acquiring wealth, education, and property. These were denied to every Black man, even men who served our country. I learned this only recently.
I never worried about being stopped by the police. I have never been followed around in a store or asked what I was doing there. I have never been denied service or asked for proof that I own the car I’m driving.
RELATED: Dismantling the Ladder: Why Anti-Racism Must Go Blue Collar
In a recent podcast, the writer Hilton Als described an encounter with two elderly white women. He was wearing a face mask, as we all do now during the pandemic, and one of the women flinched when she saw him. She was making an effort not to be afraid, he said. But still, in that effort, he felt great sadness because “I wouldn’t be afraid if she came up to me.” He asked, “What is it in the white body that produces that response?”
Listening to Als, I met my own racism.
How many times have I first, if even for a split second, flinched before I caught myself. Yes, I have. A Black man walked through my neighborhood, and I cringed — for that crucial lizard-brain half-second before I relaxed and recognized him. He’s my neighbor!
I was raised to be racist. I can still hear the childish taunts I uttered, hear my long-ago laughter at a racist remark, learned at my father’s knee. Am I past this? Can I ever overcome that training?
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One day I shared a subway platform in Atlanta, a lone white woman, with a group of Black men who were arguing. Other than the men and me, the station was deserted, and it was late at night. In my mind’s eye that night, I saw a white woman clutch her purse to her chest and back away, moving far down the platform. Am I that woman? I instead shook off that flinch, relaxed my body language, and swung my shoulder bag loosely across one shoulder. I edged closer. When I could hear what they were arguing about, I heard them talking sports. They were comparing players, and they were really funny. When they realized I was eavesdropping, they began to perform for their audience of one. I laughed along with them.
We white people cannot overcome racism without first seeing that the American culture itself is infected. It’s the other pandemic in us.
When I first read the passage below from Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith, originally written in 1938, I thought that these words were addressed to an earlier America:
As to racial prejudice, the corrosion of which, for well-nigh a century, has bitten into the fiber, and attached the whole structure of American society, it should be regarded as constituting the most vital and challenging issue confronting the Baha’i community at the present stage of its evolution.
Originally, I smugly thought we are long past racism as a challenging issue. How little I knew. We are still in the early stages of our evolution, and if I am to address this most challenging issue of racism, I have to change myself. The President of the local NAACP chapter told me recently that she was tired of explaining to white people what racism is and how it affects her and her family. She told me to read! So I’m reading.
RELATED: Anti-Racism Is Not a Book List. It’s a Way of Life
So let’s all do that, let’s read, to learn what racism is and has been, how it informs American institutions and policies. Let’s read about the Reconstruction period in our history and about Jim Crow, about mass incarceration and how it disproportionally affects communities of color. Read books and essays by Michelle Alexander and Ibram X. Kendi, read James Baldwin, Toni Morrison, Angela Davis. Read Ta-Nehisi Coates and Jelani Cobb. For an antidote to prejudice and racial superiority, read the Baha’i writings, which offer us all a vision of an equitable, hate-free future and the promise of the unity of humankind.
From reading to understanding to action, we can learn to stop flinching and become true allies. Together, we can forge a path to racial justice.
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Do natural disasters mean that God is mad at humanity? This subject is too big for a text conversation, yet a friend and I began sharing some random thoughts via…
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How do we move towards a more inclusive reality beyond the trappings of adversarial partisan politics?
We might want to try these six unity-building principles from the Baha’i teachings. They aren’t answers in themselves, but rather they suggest a new way of looking at the world that can allow for diverse people to contribute to a dynamic process of community transformation.
We as a human race are increasingly coming to recognize our oneness. We are one interconnected human family in the most literal sense: genetic studies prove that every one of us is a distant cousin to every other human being on Earth. We live on one common planetary homeland and share one common biosphere, and we are now living in a moment of intensifying global interdependence. Pollution and war in one part of the world causes ripples that effect every other part of the planet, whether by contaminating a shared water source or by displacing millions of people across borders. We are so deeply connected it is as if we are the cells of one body, and if one part of the human body is sick or distressed, the rest of the body will suffer as well. We need a new model of social organization, so recognizing the fundamental truth of humanity’s oneness is paramount.
The idea that humans are essentially selfish and must fight for power over others is part of the fabric of the world’s political life. But humans aren’t intractably corrupt, selfish, and aggressive; we also have the capacity for cooperation, reciprocity, and mutual service. What we need, now more than ever, are forums for community development that revolve around consultation and mutual respect. We must seek out new models of governance that reflect the human capacity for altruism.
Unity does not mean uniformity; instead we need diversity to bring new perspectives and innovation to solving our complex problems. Through a Baha’i model, the voices of those who have been historically the most marginalized must be brought to the center. The colonial and imperial projects that have oppressed masses of people over hundreds of years have their legacy in social structures that still value the privileged few. Real social prosperity can’t be realized until we have a framework that incorporates diverse voices from all segments of society into the work of governing human affairs.
Today people all over the world are mired in a culture of expecting the “experts” to solve our problems: waiting for elected politicians or other community leaders to make things right. How can we empower each other to see ourselves as agents of change within our local communities and focus on the positive change we can each contribute to? How can we break free from the false dichotomies of “the advanced” and “the backward”, the “developed” and the “underdeveloped?” All people must have a seat at the table, because each person is the real expert of his or her life.
Just like the development of an individual through stages of infancy, childhood, and adolescence, humanity has evolved from a “childhood” of independent tribal societies through an “adolescence” of more complex and integrated national communities. We now stand at the cusp of a collective coming of age: the emergence of a truly global civilization. More and more, we can see the emergence of worldviews that emphasize humanity’s unity and oneness. Some people still cling to the old narratives that say, “it always has been and always will be this way,” but we are living through a time of advancing global interdependence that has never been seen before. Now everyone on Earth has the choice to learn to accept responsibility for the welfare of the entire human family.
Our spiritual dimension is as important our material dimension, and we desperately need social structures that provide for the development of both. This is not an assertion of a particular religious ideology. Rather, it expresses the idea that many people do feel love and connection to the Earth, to other humans, and to that unknowable essence that some people call God. Beyond having basic material necessities for survival, people need spiritual healing. People need to feel loved. The development of spiritual qualities such as love, justice, trustworthiness, patience, and gratitude, help us to connect authentically with each other and to contribute to social progress.
The solutions to the complex problems we face will not come easily, and they can’t be reduced to simple slogans. The reality of unity will only emerge organically, in relation to how well we as citizens build authentic bonds of trust, conquer our prejudices and establish new forums for true collaboration.
Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith, warned us:
How long will humanity persist in its waywardness? How long will injustice continue? How long is chaos and confusion to reign amongst men? How long will discord agitate the face of society?… The winds of despair are, alas, blowing from every direction, and the strife that divideth and afflicteth the human race is daily increasing. The signs of impending convulsions and chaos can now be discerned, inasmuch as the prevailing order appeareth to be lamentably defective. – Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 216.
We can consume our time rallying against the continual assaults of a defective model of governance, or we can devote our energies towards promoting a new set of values and a new way of relating.
More than ever, we need to replace outdated modes of thought and behavior with a worldview that recognizes the oneness of humanity.
