Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Badi Shams, Random Thoughts of a Mystic Economist, bahai-library.com.
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Dedicated to
All the Mystics at heart who struggle to survive in this
materialistic world without losing their soul

Random Thoughts of a

Mystic Economist

Badi Shams

Introduction

This book is a compilation of my writings at different times and in various
situations of my life, describing my thoughts and emotions. They reflect my
efforts to follow the Teachings of the Baha’i Faith. They show my love for
mysticism and being influenced by mystics like Rumi, Kahlil Gibran, Hafiz,
and others. They also highlight my formal training and degrees and informal
training from the classroom of life.
I have tried to unite the two forces of spirituality and materialism to serve
me. In these modern times, mystics with no financial resources have been
denying themselves of contemporary life's realities and unsuccessfully
trying to turn the clock back to the past when life was simple.
On the other hand, without mysticism and spirituality filtering our material
desires, our souls will suffocate in the atmosphere of materialism and greed
caused by our modern economic system.
I believe that both mysticism and economics are gifts from the Creator for
us to use wisely.
The key to happiness is balancing these two opposing energies to lead us to
a positive and fulfilling life on this earth and prepare us for the next journey
to the spiritual world.
In these writings, I hope that the readers will see God's oneness, religion,
and humanity's oneness and recognize that all religions teach the same
spiritual laws. They may also see my struggles in their struggles, taking
comfort in knowing that life is a process of facing challenges in finding the
right path to the Beloved.

Badi Shams
Baha’i Inspired Economics
badishams.com

Table of Contents
• Towards A New Spiritual Economic System 8

• The connection Between Spiritual Principles and Financial Planning 11

• How to Start Selflessly Serving Others 14

• Gross National Happiness & Other Spiritual Approaches to Wealth 17

• Making Sense of These Confusing Times 20

• Karma, the Golden Rule and Newton’s Third Law 23

• Religious Prejudice: A Personal Journey from East to West 27

• Simple Living a Solution in Times of Crisis 30

• 2 Effective Ways to Fight Your Ego, that Dangerous Enemy Within 33

• We Grow When We’re Uncomfortable 37

• Will it Take a Pandemic to Make the World Economy Humane? 40

• Practical Economic Tips for Everyday Moral Living 43

• Delayed Gratification and the Next Life 47

• Understanding Each Other in these Confusing Times 50

• We Live in an Age of Miracles 53

• Seeing Money Through Spiritual Eyes 56

• Spirituality: The Surprising Solution to Our Economic Problems 59

• God, Please Put it on My Account 62

• The Baha’i Concept of a “Good Loan” 64

• Becoming a Mystical Economist 67

• Finding the Right Home for the Seniors in Our Lives 70

• Why the World Needs Meaningful Conversation 73

• The Spiritual Meaning of Wealth 76

• A small Town’s Simple Approach To Peace 79

• What Does the “Oneness of Mankind” Really Mean? 82

• Millennials and Generation Z- Thank God They Are Not Like Me 85

• Fasting the Time of Spiritual House Cleaning 88

• We Need to Replace Money as a Measure of Success 91

• Ditching the ‘Survival of the Fittest’ Mentality 94

• Should We Fear God or Love God? 97

• Profit-Sharing: Does it Make Economic and Spiritual Sense? 100

• An Alternative Approach to Prevent Mass Shootings 103

• How to Spend Your Money—Spiritually 106

• Evolution: The Human Race, Maturing Past Materialism 109

• In Search of a Moral Economy 112

• A Way Out of Extreme Wealth 115

• Are Economic and Political Changes Leading Us Towards a Global 118
Government?

• Making Economics Serve Humanity 121

• The Spiritual Cost of a Higher Standard of Living 124

• How Much Profit Margin Do You Need, Anyway? 127

• Why the Lessons of COVID-19 Give Me Hope for Global Unity 130

• Is ‘Fighting’ a Problem the Best Way to Deal with it? 133

• 3 Spiritual Ways to Avoid Financial Regrets 135

• Why We Can’t Forget the Pandemic’s Hard-Earned Lessons 139

• Why Can’t We Combine the Best of Socialism and Capitalism? 142

• Five Ways to Optimize the Powerful Tool of Baha’i Consultation 145

• Trauma: How Can We Heal Our Wounded Souls? 148

• My Brother’s Keeper: 9 Economic Tips for Uniting Humanity 152

• Can We Have a Flag for Our Planet? 155

• Butter Chicken and Oneness of Religions 158

• The Beauty and Benefits When East and West Meet: My Experience 161

• Humanomics: Alleviating Poverty Through Virtues 164

• “Russians Love Their Children Too” 168

• The Spiritual Benefits of Navigating Through Misinformation 171

• Letting Go of Entitlement and Embracing Gratitude 174

• A Baha’i Duty: Defending the Essence of All Religions 177

• How the Rich Are Accepting the Baha’i Call to Help the Poor 180

• How Can We Distribute Wealth Fairly? 183

• My Lessons in Detachment and Reliance on a Higher Power 186

• Building Communities that Encompass Everyone 188

• The Life Lesson a Little Lost Bird Taught Me 191

• Spiritual Capital: Investing Our Energies Wisely 194

• The Only Solution to Our Economic Problems 197

• My Two Baha’i Communities 200

• How Should We Measure the Span of Our Lives? 203

• Children Need Both Kinds of Education: Material and Spiritual 206

• From Enriching the Shareholders to Serving the Stakeholders 209

• How to Seek the Truth in a Sea of Misinformation 212

• Why Divorce Should Be the Last Option 215

Towards A New Spiritual Economic System

Our present economic system is sick and dying and cannot meet the needs
of humanity.

The gap between rich and poor continues to grow wider and wider, which
has increased the suffering of the masses. The solutions that can heal that
suffering have been largely ignored.

The time has come to re-examine the fundamental assumptions that this
system was built on and replace them with humane and moral ones. There is
a great need to build an economic system that is fit to help humanity
achieve its goal of an ever-advancing civilization, a world free of economic
injustice, where people have all the necessities of life to live peaceful and
fulfilling lives.

To accomplish all this, we need a shift in thinking. The Baha’i Teachings
provide insights and suggestions to lay the foundation for a better economic
future. We have the solutions and the technology to build a new system; all
we need is the resolve and the will. Everyone has an inherent power to
contribute and participate in this wonderful process. The time for action is
upon us:

The welfare of any segment of humanity is inextricably bound up with
the welfare of the whole. Humanity’s collective life suffers when any
one group thinks of its own well-being in isolation from that of its
neighbours’ or pursues economic gain without regard for how the
natural environment, which provides sustenance for all, is affected. A
stubborn obstruction, then, stands in the way of meaningful social
progress: time and again, avarice and self-interest prevail at the
expense of the common good. Unconscionable quantities of wealth are
being amassed, and the instability this creates is made worse by how
income and opportunity are spread so unevenly both between nations
and within nations. But it need not be so. – The Universal House of
Justice, 1 March 2017.

Unfortunately, today, money is the yardstick we use to measure failure and
success. This yardstick has derailed humanity from its spiritual path.
Baha’is all around the world work towards a day when we will grow and
expand our horizons and adopt a more spiritual yardstick for human
achievements.

Money cannot and should not be the only means of measuring our lives. But
now we are far from that future and need to remember that a new economic
system will occur when humanity and society's spiritual transformation has
been accomplished and with it, man’s awareness of his spiritual station and
his destiny.

In that future state of society, we will have subordinated our lower nature
and behave less selfishly. Yes, at this time, it is almost impossible to
imagine such a society. But by introducing more spiritual qualities in our
individual lives, we are laying the foundation for such a society and an
economic system. This goal may seem idealistic—but we are all dreaming
of a better world and, with it, a new economic system. First, let us try to
understand economics from the Baha’i point of view:

The secrets of the whole economic question are Divine in nature, and
are concerned with the world of the heart and spirit. – Abdu’l-Baha, The
Baha’i World, Volume IV, p. 448.

We can empower ourselves to accelerate this fundamental change by being
aware of things we can do to reach a better economic system. If we find an
answer to the essential questions in life –“who am I,” “what is the purpose
of my life?” and “how much is enough,” we may then choose to live a
simple life and determine to resist the consumer mentality and the tendency
to buy the latest models when the old ones still function.

Suppose we approach work as a form of worship and spend as much energy
in being contented and detached from material possessions as we spend
getting them. In that case, we will transform ourselves into happier beings.
Using honesty as our yardstick, we can avoid following society’s shortcuts
regarding taxation, insurance and expense claims. As business owners, we
can practice contentment with a reasonable margin of profit and charge just
interest rates, provide medical coverage, pay fair wages and share the
profits we make with our employees. We can be honest about our products,
fill out tenders and contracts and look for opportunities to help employees,
co-workers, and even competitors. We can use excellent quality material
without waste and environmentally harmful ingredients.

As consumers, we can be knowledgeable about the lure of advertising and
be honest in job interviews. We can report when we have been
undercharged. We can replace competition with co-operation. If we truly
follow a moral path in all our dealings, we will find ways to change the
status quo by voluntarily contributing to charities and funds to bridge the
gap between the rich and the poor.

Small changes in our attitude will change our daily economic activities,
eventually leading us to a new economic system based on humanity, not

greed. We have tremendous power as individuals to transform society and
raise the standards for economic interactions. We owe it to all the poor and
underprivileged people of the world who our present economic system has
ignored. Their suffering is our failure to make a change.

The Connection Between Spiritual Principles and Financial
Planning

I have often been asked by young people or their parents how they should
plan to start their economic journey. It is a journey that has caused the ruin of
many wise and spiritual individuals as they sink into the depths of the
bottomless ocean of materialism.

There is nothing wrong with planning for a successful financial life and
becoming wealthy, provided we realize that wealth can be a beautiful and a
God-given tool to use to support our families and give service to humanity.
The emphasis must be that it is a tool and not the goal for our creation.

Abdu’l-Baha, one of the central figures of the Baha’i Faith, wrote that:
“Wealth is praiseworthy in the highest degree, if it is acquired by an
individual’s own efforts and the grace of God, in commerce, agriculture,
art and industry, and if it be expended for philanthropic purposes. Above
all, if a judicious and resourceful individual should initiate measures
which would universally enrich the masses of the people, there could be
no undertaking greater than this, and it would rank in the sight of God as
the supreme achievement, for such a benefactor would supply the needs
and insure the comfort and well-being of a great multitude. Wealth is
most commendable, provided the entire population is wealthy.”
We can teach the next generation to plan for their future and not feel guilty
about acquiring wealth, provided they include spirituality in their financial
plans. A balanced financial plan consists of both material goals and spiritual
aspirations. Such a plan has the potential of guiding young people to the full
enjoyment of the fruit of their hard work through success financially and
spiritually.

The pressure to plan for the future in our materialistic world is a great
challenge even for mature adults, so it must be more challenging for the
young. With so many crises going on today, it is difficult for many young
people to imagine themselves in the future and see their place in it. I think
about them and worry for their future — a future that seemingly does not look
as bright as it did for me. Added to the age-old sentiment of not being taken
seriously by the older generation, they face environmental challenges, fewer
job opportunities, and a lack of job security. This pandemic also is a reminder
that they may face more challenges of that kind in the future.

In many countries, parents plan for their kids to become doctors, engineers, or
follow the family business. Here in the West, the trend is to plan to earn lots
of money. In this way, parents have decided their child’s life’s plan for them,
and this support system is outdated. My heart goes out to young people who,
pressured by the old ways, are trying to chart their path to the future.

Parents may also fail to teach their children the concept of delayed
gratification. Those who practice delayed gratification demonstrate a welldefined purpose in life and the need for accomplishing worthwhile goals.
Delayed gratification means accepting the awareness of life’s journey as a
long one and planning for it. As Canadian motivational speaker, Brian Tracy
put it, “The ability to discipline yourself to delay gratification in the short
term in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long term, is the indispensable
prerequisite for success.” Speaking of children, Abdu’l-Baha, one of the
central figures of the Baha’i Faith, advised parents to lovingly “accustom
them to hardship.” He wrote:
“While the children are yet in their infancy feed them from the breast of
heavenly grace, foster them in the cradle of all excellence, rear them in
the embrace of bounty. Give them the advantage of every useful kind of
knowledge. Let them share in every new and rare and wondrous craft
and art. Bring them up to work and strive, and accustom them to
hardship. Teach them to dedicate their lives to matters of great import,
and inspire them to undertake studies that will benefit mankind.”
But to protect their children, parents may avoid creating such conditions and
seek to protect their children from any form of hardship. In addition, the
education system, which should be preparing youth for the future, seems to be
failing them. Many of my ex-students confessed that their years in school
were wasted since they did not learn the basics of economic life and how to
plan a practical economic path for their future.

Unfortunately, the education system has become a steppingstone for material
success without considering other aspects of young people’s lives — the
moral and spiritual aspects. Their schooling may lead them to material
success but at the cost of their spiritual and human duties to themselves and
humanity. They become one-sided individuals who have put all their energies
into material achievements, forgetting to nurture their souls. Why? Because
when they chart their future, they do not consider their spiritual goals.

I am reminded of this quotation from Abdu’l-Baha:
For man two wings are necessary. One wing is physical power and
material civilization; the other is spiritual power and divine civilization.
With one wing only, flight is impossible. Two wings are essential.
Therefore, no matter how much material civilization advances, it cannot
attain to perfection except through the uplift of spiritual civilization.

The most significant benefit of a balanced economic plan in life is that no
matter who charts the financial goals, whether parents or the social trends,
youth have the power to attach to it their spiritual and moral goals. In case
their financial goals fail, spiritual goals can give them peace of mind that they
did not waste God’s precious gift of life chasing only economic aims.
Spiritual goals also help them avoid the world’s material traps.

We can offer our young generation the best gift by reminding them that they
should not forget their spiritual goals, duties, and obligations and ensure that a
spiritual plan is an integral part of their future economic planning.

How to Start Selflessly Serving Others

Every concerned citizen of this world struggles to balance their time,
juggling efforts at spiritual growth, family life, work, and community
commitments.

No thanks to technological advancement, with so many gadgets that enable
us to multitask more and more, we have been transformed from human
beings to human doings.

Also, the rampant spread of materialism threatens our spiritual growth and
drains our energy. Given all this frenetic activity, how can we have time for
one more thing—one more social action, one more commitment? Though
providing a service to others may initially sound like one more chore to fit
into our already busy lives, in reality, it does not necessarily need to become
a big project. Any look, gesture, word or action that helps others can give
the gift of an act of service.

The concept of service is nothing new to most of us. We have a wealth of
spiritual teachings on this subject from many religious sources,
philosophers, poets, great thinkers and humanitarians. We know how holy
figures like Jesus, Muhammad, Mahatma Gandhi and Abdu’l-Baha
exemplified service throughout their lives:

For even the Son of Man came not to be served but to serve, and to give
his life as a ransom for many. – Mark 10:45.

And do not forget to do good to one another. – Quran 2:238.

That one indeed is a man who, today, dedicateth himself to the service
of the entire human race. – Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of
Baha’u’llah, p. 250.

The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.
– Mahatma Gandhi

Service to humanity is service to God. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation
of Universal Peace, p. 8.

How else can our world become united if its citizens don’t try to help each
other? How else can the sufferings of the world be reduced? Like you and

me, the ordinary people of the world will ultimately make a difference and
make this earth a better and more peaceful place—if we take one more extra
step to help our fellow human beings.

The Baha’i teachings encourage all people to extend themselves into the
arena of service to others:

A Baha’i who serves others is like unto a candle which burns and sheds
light upon all those who circle around it. The highest attainable station
of the candle is to burn and brighten the dark room, and the loftiest
pinnacle of our progress and perfection is to be confirmed in service…
– Abdu’l-Baha, Star of the West, Volume 8, p. 61.

Let’s revisit this concept of service in each of our lives, and with the help of
the brief list below, look at the many possibilities of service open to us. You
can get involved with some service that fulfils your commitment and
connects you to the larger community. This may also create more
opportunities to meet people and introduce the concept of service to others
in the best light possible through your actions. This list of service
opportunities may help you find a service matching your talent or your
passion:

• Doing one’s job the best way possible is not only a great service—the
Baha’i teachings considered it an act of worship
• Offering others your best self with a kind gesture, a kind word, a kind act.
Give random acts of kindness: paying for someone in front of you in line,
giving your place in line to someone in a rush, presenting a stranger with a
bouquet of flowers, mowing the neighbour’s lawn.
• Visiting and volunteering in senior facilities, group homes and hospitals
• Driving people to appointments, or shopping and cleaning for your
neighbours
• Volunteering in women’s centers, treatment facilities, homeless shelters and
organizations
• Teaching classes: dance, music, art, sports, literacy, computers and many
other subjects
• Calling or visiting those in need—offering your companionship to people
• Teaching house repair, appliance repair or car repair
• Helping refugees and newcomers, volunteering with the Welcome Wagon
• Offering counselling, medical or legal services
• Doing the sets, makeup or costumes for plays
• And simply remember, in your thoughts and prayers, those who are going
through a difficult time.

As you embark on your quest to serve humanity, here are a few words of
caution: Please make sure, while offering your services, that you respect the
boundaries of agencies, individuals, and families. Also, focus on why

you’re there serving. Some people volunteer in organizations for selfrecognition or out of boredom and don’t really capture the essence of
serving others with selfless intention. Be aware of this in any voluntary
situation, so it doesn’t discourage you or negatively influence you.

However, if you approach the opportunity to serve others with a radiant
countenance and the pure motivation of kindness and love, you’ll find that
the gifts you give will come back to you a thousand fold.

Gross National Happiness & Other Spiritual
Approaches to Wealth

We live in an age in which new ideas are born each day in every field of
learning. I find the many alternative ideas and theories that suggest new
ways of solving our economic problems quite interesting. As a member of
the Baha’i Faith, I like to examine these theories from a Baha’i point of
view. You may be wondering what needs fixing in the current economic
situation in the world. One worthy answer to that question can be found in
these words of Abdu’l-Baha:

Although the body politic is one family yet because of lack of
harmonious relations some members are comfortable and some in
direst misery, some members are satisfied, and some are hungry, some
members are clothed in most costly garments and some families are in
need of food and shelter. Why? Because this family lacks the necessary
reciprocity and symmetry. This household is not well arranged. This
household is not living under a perfect law. All the laws which are
legislated do not ensure happiness. They do not provide comfort. –
Abdu’l-Baha, Foundations of World Unity, p. 38.

Of all the new concepts out there, I am especially attracted to two: Gross
National Happiness and “barefoot economics.”

Gross National Happiness

As you probably know, the Gross National Product (GNP)—the total
production of a given country—is the yardstick typically used to measure
economic progress or growth. A higher GNP means more production and
more growth in a given country. However, other concepts such as Gross
National Happiness (GNH) have challenged the GNP's effectiveness.

A philosophy introduced by the king of Bhutan in 1972, GNH is calculated
by an index that measures the collective happiness and well-being of a
population. GNH is the goal of the government of Bhutan, as stated in its
constitution, which was enacted on 18 July 2008. The Bhutan GNH Index
was first published in 2012.

GNH values collective happiness as the goal of governance by emphasizing
harmony with nature and traditional values as expressed in nine domains of
happiness and four pillars of GNH. The four pillars are:

1. Sustainable and equitable socio-economic development
2. Environmental conservation
3. Preservation and promotion of culture
4. Good governance

The nine domains of GNH are psychological well-being, health, time use,
education, cultural diversity and resilience, good governance, community
vitality, ecological diversity, and living standards.

“Barefoot Economics”

Acclaimed Chilean economist Manfred Max-Neef introduced the concept of
“barefoot economics” in the 1980s. He explained, “The point is, you know,
that economists study and analyze poverty in their nice offices, have all the
statistics, make all the models, and are convinced that they know everything
that you can know about poverty. But they don’t understand poverty.” –
Daniel Margrain, “Stepping in the mud with the barefoot economist Max-
Neef,” Scisco Media, 24 November 2016.

Max-Neef believes we have to look at economics with a new approach and
change it fundamentally—or else humanity is bound to have a disastrous
future. He says a good economic system has to be desirable to everyone
since one is supposed to be designed and implemented for everyone. He is
disappointed that most governments and economists in the world failed to
learn from the financial crisis of 2008—even though they acknowledge the
current economic system isn’t working (and some even say it’s poisonous).

Max-Neef suggests we build a new economic system based on five
postulates and one fundamental value. The five postulates are:

1. The economy exists to serve the people, rather than the people existing to
serve the economy
2. Development is about people and not about objects
3. Growth is not the same as development, and development does not
necessarily require growth
4. No economy is possible in the absence of ecosystem services
5. The economy is a subsystem of a larger finite system, the biosphere, and so
permanent growth is impossible

The fundamental value for sustaining a new economy should be that
economic interest will never be allowed, under any circumstances, to be
valued above reverence of life.

Correlation With The Baha’i Teachings

The central themes of GNH and “barefoot economics”—humanity’s
happiness and respect for nature— are valued in the Baha’i teachings. It’s
exciting to me that so many people with great awareness are looking at the
world's economic problems and offering remedies for its ills. I believe some
of these wonderful ideas offered by so many amazing people will be
considered for and incorporated into future economic systems. At the same
time, it can be confusing to read, study, and try to synthesize all these
different concepts and ideas, so I often use the Baha’i writings as my
yardstick to place them in context and assess their value and effectiveness in
solving economic problems. In that spirit, I’ll close with two passages
sharing Baha’i perspectives on economics and how to effect fundamental
economic change:

The secrets of the whole economic question are divine in nature, and
are concerned with the world of the heart and spirit. In the Baha’i
teachings this is most completely explained, and without the
consideration of the Baha’i teachings, it is impossible to bring about a
better state. – Abdu’l-Baha, Star of the West, Volume 22, Issue 3, p. 75.

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. –
Shoghi Effendi, 26 December 1935, letter to an individual believer.

Making Sense of These Confusing Times

These days, the world's events baffle both the learned and the ignorant,
confuse the young and the old, and perplex people of all ideologies and
religions.

Because I’m a Baha’i, strangers and friends want to know what I think
about the world’s seemingly unresolvable problems. Even if they don’t
know much about the Baha’i Faith, they usually have some sense that my
Faith gives me reasons to view world events differently. So I tell them that
Baha’is believe humanity's future is bright and that humanity cannot resolve
these upheavals using ideologies of bygone days or even today’s digital
database solutions.

They wonder about the source of these problems, and I am compelled to tell
them that the Baha’i teachings cite the lack of morality and lack of
spirituality in the world:

All conditions and requisites of the past unfitted and inadequate for the
present time are undergoing radical reform. It is evident, therefore,
that counterfeit and spurious religious teaching, antiquated forms of
belief and ancestral imitations which are at variance with the
foundations of divine reality must also pass away and be reformed.
They must be abandoned and new conditions be recognized. The
morals of humanity must undergo change. New remedies and solutions
for human problems must be adopted. Human intellects themselves
must change and be subject to the universal reformation. Just as the
thoughts and hypotheses of past ages are fruitless today, likewise
dogmas and codes of human invention are obsolete and barren of
product in religion. Nay, it is true that they are the cause of enmity and
conducive to strife in the world of humanity; war and bloodshed
proceed from them, and the oneness of mankind finds no recognition in
their observance. Therefore, it is our duty in this radiant century to
investigate the essentials of divine religion, seek the realities underlying
the oneness of the world of humanity and discover the source of
fellowship and agreement which will unite mankind in the heavenly
bond of love. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p.
143.

Humanity has lost its moral compass, and even human history cannot help
us find our way out because the rate of change has accelerated so fast that

we have no historical reference point. But we do know how many times
humanity has reached the point of no return and has found a way out of
seemingly impossible situations. World War II is an excellent example of
when everything seemed very dark and hopeless, yet the forces of good
managed to prevail.

Regardless of past history, though, it’s hard to deny the gravity of our
present world situation: the plight of millions of refugees who are running
from terror and economic misery, the extreme nationalism leading to the
election of governments throughout the world that enforce strict border
controls, leaving migrant populations to endure in demeaning conditions;
climate change that threatens the existence of the world to the point that the
young generation wonders if it has a future; the religious fundamentalism
and fanaticism spreading in every corner of the world, the glut of
misinformation and propaganda that has replaced decency, respectful
discourse and facts.

The Baha’i writings have helped me clarify what is happening and how the
future will look. I believe in humanity’s resilience and also believe in the
reality of Divine guidance, which has helped humanity to reach this point
from our beginnings in the Stone Age. I see the present situation in the
world as a process that humanity has to endure because when Baha’u’llah
proclaimed his message to the rulers and the people of the world, he warned
them about the consequences of their denial:

The world is in travail and its agitation waxeth day by day. Its face is
turned toward waywardness and unbelief. Such shall be its plight that
to disclose it now would not be meet and seemly. Its perversity will long
continue. And when the appointed hour is come, there shall suddenly
appear that which shall cause the limbs of mankind to quake. Then,
and only then, will the Divine Standard be unfurled, and the
Nightingale of Paradise warble its melody. – Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from
the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 118.

That nothing short of the fire of a severe ordeal, unparalleled in its
intensity, can fuse and weld the discordant entities that constitute the
elements of present-day civilization, into the integral components of the
world commonwealth of the future, is a truth which future events will
increasingly demonstrate. – Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of
Baha’u’llah, p. 46.

Humanity today stands at a crossroads, and every individual has the
privilege to be part of the plan to lead it toward unity and harmony. So I tell
my friends that though they have an accurate picture of the problems in the
world, they are wrong to give up and accept defeat while the struggle
between the forces of construction and destruction plays out all around us.

These upheavals send us signals so that we can play our part in preparing
for a new spiritually-based system of global governance:

Through the power of Baha’u’llah all will be united. He upraised this
standard of the oneness of humanity in prison. When subjected to
banishment by two kings, while a refugee from enemies of all nations
and during the days of His long imprisonment He wrote to the kings
and rulers of the world in words of wonderful eloquence, arraigning
them severely and summoning them to the divine standard of unity and
justice. He exhorted them to peace and international agreement,
making it incumbent upon them to establish a board of international
arbitration—that from all nations and governments of the world there
should be delegates selected for a congress of nations which should
constitute a universal arbitral court of justice to settle international
disputes. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 202-
203.

As for the present time trends, it seems that in most cases, kindness and
cooperation towards our fellow humans have taken a back seat to
nationalism and self-interest. I believe that these trends are the “last
hurrahs” of the decaying old order, whose followers are making a desperate
attempt to hold on to political control. Yes, the world's changes are rapid
and confusing, and most of the people in charge of making policies and
laws cling to short-sighted goals instead of working for the betterment of
the conditions of the world in all areas of life.

But all of this upheaval provides us with the opportunity to re-examine our
values, to take hold of the vision of a united and peaceful world, and to
become a powerful part of its construction of a better future.

Karma, the Golden Rule and Newton’s Third Law

We’ve all heard about the law of karma—or, if you prefer a more scientific
approach, the law of cause and effect. Essentially, both describe the same
underlying principle.

These two laws of karma and causality—the concepts that are commonly
associated with Buddhist, Hindu, Jain, and many other religious traditions—
essentially say that every action has a consequence: good actions will
inevitably have good consequences.

Most people believe in those laws, which basically state that any
individual's intent and actions will influence their future. That’s beautiful
because any concept that makes us think about our actions' consequences
will help us become better people, making the world a better place.

The law of karma makes us aware of our responsibility for our actions and
creates the rational fear of committing an unkind act, mainly because we do
not want the same thing to happen to us.

You can compare the law of karma with Newton’s third law of motion in a
scientific sense. Simply put, this law states that for every action, there
is an equal and opposite reaction. Newton proposed it to describe physics'
laws in the material universe—but it also expresses the truth of our spiritual
reality. In fact, karma, causality and Newton’s third law all express the
same thing, and when combined, they express something even more
profound—the essential harmony of science and religion.

The Baha’i writings explicitly endorse that harmony. Without it, they say,
superstitions and dogmas ruin the purity of religion. Religious history offers
many examples of this fact, where spiritual laws gradually turned into
meaningless rituals and denial of scientific reality:

Religion and Science are inter-twined with each other and cannot be
separated. These are the two wings with which humanity must fly. One
wing is not enough. Every religion which does not concern itself with
science is mere tradition …. Therefore science, education and
civilization are most important necessities for the full religious life.
– Abdu’l-Baha, Abdu’l-Baha in London, p. 29.

God has endowed man with intelligence and reason whereby he is
required to determine the verity of questions and propositions. If
religious beliefs and opinions are found contrary to the standards of
science they are mere superstitions and imaginations; for the antithesis
of knowledge is ignorance, and the child of ignorance is superstition.
Unquestionably there must be agreement between true religion and
science. If a question be found contrary to reason, faith and belief in it
are impossible … – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p.
181.

According to the basic Sanskrit definition, karma simply means “action.” In
essence, everything we do creates corresponding energy that comes back to
us in some form or another—or, as the common phrase says, “what goes
around comes around.”

Newton’s third law says: For every action, there is an equal and opposite
reaction. When applied, we know that physical force will cause a reaction
and that no force or energy vanishes into nothing.

A word or an action by a person releases energies, too, just like the physical
forces that affect the material world. These energies could be positive or
negative, and the returning energies reflect that original intent.

The Baha’i teachings remind us about the consequences of our negative
actions and why we should be conscious of them:

O companion of my throne! Hear no evil, and see no evil, abase not
thyself, neither sigh and weep. Speak no evil, that thou mayest not hear
it spoken unto thee, and magnify not the faults of others that thine own
faults may not appear great; and wish not the abasement of anyone,
that thine own abasement be not exposed. 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. –
Baha’u’llah, The Hidden Words, p. 37.

These two laws may explain why all religions and philosophers have
universally agreed on the Golden Rule concept, which has been expressed
in different wordings in many religions. The Golden Rule looks like the byproduct of these two laws. What one puts in, whether physical or spiritual,
that same energy will eventually come back. The Golden Rule makes us
aware of our actions to ponder the outcome before we take any action or
apply any force.

Treat not others in ways that you yourself would find hurtful. –
Buddhism

In everything, do to others as you would have them do to you; for this is
the law and the prophets. – Christianity

One word which sums up the basis of all good conduct…lovingkindness. Do not do to others what you do not want done to yourself. –
Confucianism

This is the sum of duty; do naught onto others what you would not have
them do unto you. – Hinduism

Not one of you truly believes until you wish for others what you wish
for yourself. – Islam.

What is hateful to you, do not do to your neighbour. This is the entire
Law; all the rest is commentary. Go and learn it. – Judaism

Do not wrong or hate your neighbor. For it is not he who you wrong,
but yourself. – Native American Pima Proverb

Do not do unto others whatever is injurious to yourself. – Zoroastrianism

The Baha’i teachings express the Golden Rule this way:

Lay not on any soul a load that you would not wish to be laid upon you,
and desire not for anyone the things you would not desire for yourself.
– Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 129.

So, the conclusion becomes very clear whether we look at our actions
through Newton’s law, the law of karma, or the Golden Rule. All of those
immutable laws tell us that we should be very considerate and mindful of
our actions because they always have consequences. In a sense, we create
our own happiness, misery, hell and heaven.

Although we may never feel the results of our actions in this temporal
world, those karmic consequences have more significance when seen in the
light of our spiritual journey beyond this earthly life. Though these laws
encourage us to be thoughtful about our actions lest we hurt someone, that
is not the highest goal for us. Our goal is to achieve what Abdu’l-Baha has
asked us to become:

Man is he who forgets his own interests for the sake of others. His own
comfort he forfeits for the well-being of all. … Nay, rather, his own life
must he be willing to forfeit for the life of mankind. Such a man is the

honor of the world of humanity. – Abdu’l-Baha, Star of the West, Volume
6, p. 304.

Religious Prejudice: A Personal Journey from East to
West

The world at the moment faces many difficulties, and the foundations of our
civilization have been threatened. One of those challenges is religious
prejudice. However, during a recent trip to a town in India, I witnessed
something inspiring: people from different faiths coming together in unity.
This reminded me that fostering the understanding that all religions are one
and come from the same divine source is key to solving this world's
challenges.

I travelled to India to get away from the consumerism of Christmas. Once
there, one of the churches in town invited me to celebrate Christmas with
them. I really like the idea of commemorating religious occasions with
followers of any religion since it creates unity.

My dedication to eliminating racial prejudice comes, in part, from my own
experience. I was born in Iran to a family that was all Muslims — except for
my father, who was a Baha’i. My family exposed me to all the Islamic
ceremonies and events, and my father tried to connect me to the Baha’i
teachings. The sentiments of my Islamic environment influenced me. For
example, I wanted badly to participate in the anniversary of the third Imam
of Shi’a Islam's martyrdom and beat my chest to mourn his death, even
though it happened centuries ago.

But when I chose to become a member of the Baha’i Faith, I became a
target. I experienced a rude awakening at a tender age — my family
members, my cousins, and even my grandma saw me as an inferior being. I
heard many negative comments made about the followers of other religions
but never about Moses or Jesus. Jesus’ name is mentioned more than 51
times in the Qur’an. That is because Jesus and Moses have been given the
same station as Mohammad, one of God's Prophets, sent by God to guide
humanity.

Say (O Muslims): We believe in Allah and that which is revealed unto
us and that which was revealed unto Abraham, and Ishmael, and Isaac,
and Jacob, and the tribes, and that which Moses and Jesus received,
and that which the prophets received from their Lord. We make no
distinction between any of them, and unto Him we have surrendered. -
The Qur’an, Sura 2 – The Heifer

This is no different from what the Baha’i Writings teach:

It is clear and evident to thee that all the Prophets are the Temples of
the Cause of God, Who have appeared clothed in diverse attire. If thou
wilt observe with discriminating eyes, thou wilt behold Them all
abiding in the same tabernacle, soaring in the same heaven, seated
upon the same throne, uttering the same speech, and proclaiming the
same Faith. Such is the unity of those Essences of Being, those
Luminaries of infinite and immeasurable splendor! –
Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah.

Later in life, in the 1980s, I moved to Canada. I had all these ideas about
meeting people with whom I could talk and even disagree. That was my
second — and perhaps worse — a rude awakening. To my shock, I
witnessed a lack of knowledge and prejudice towards Muslims in particular
and other minorities in general. As a Baha’i, I faced some persecution by
some of the Muslims in Canada — and now people also called me
“Muslim” and told me to go back where I had come from.

I could not believe Westerners were so unaware of the truth about Islam.
Most interpreted the actions of some Muslims as Islamic laws. In a peace
walk and on other occasions, I tried to remind my fellow peace lovers about
the role religious prejudice plays in creating wars and the importance of
fighting them. After all, silence on prejudice is equal to supporting it and
enabling it.

A concept addresses the problem of religious prejudice emphasized in the
Baha’i teachings: the individual independent investigation of truth. I’ve
seen firsthand how searching for truth for oneself — rather than following
what others say — changes hearts and ends prejudice.

Abdu’l Baha wrote:

…every individual member of humankind is exhorted and commanded
to set aside superstitious beliefs, traditions and blind imitation of
ancestral forms in religion and investigate reality for himself. Inasmuch
as the fundamental reality is one, all religions and nations of the world
will become one through investigation of reality. – Abdu’l Baha, The
Promulgation of Universal Peace.

With that in mind, the Christmas observance in India turned out to be very
special.

The church also invited local dignitaries, other representatives from federal
and local governments, and all the leaders and representatives of all the

religions in town. They even requested that a religious leader who belonged
to no religion be present.

Everyone talked about the message of love that Jesus preached and
reminded us how that message is still relevant and needed.

One of the speakers who represented a mosque in town surprised me by
addressing followers of his own religion and quoting from the Quran:

“Those messengers – some of them We caused to exceed others. Among
them were those to whom Allah spoke, and He raised some of them in
degree. And We gave Jesus, the Son of Mary, clear proofs, and We
supported him with the Pure Spirit.” – Qur’an 2:253.

This speaker further addressed his fellow Muslims and said that you are not
a true Muslim if you do not believe in Jesus and give Him the reverence
befitting His station.

I was touched by this gesture of fighting prejudice from within — a Muslim
speaker reminding other Muslims in what light they have to see Jesus.

We must hold on to fundamental truths such as the oneness of God, the
oneness of the source of all religions being one, and, most importantly, the
oneness of mankind. To offset the harm of religious prejudice, let’s
investigate the truth about other faiths. There is so much common ground in
all religions — much more than any differences.

Simple Living a Solution in Times of Crisis

In recent times, the events of the world have again turned our attention to
what is essential for our existence and what things are mere distractions and
not necessary.

When we face a situation where we have to decide what is necessary, we
are surprised to see how simple our needs are. You can listen to the stories
of people who have faced death or a deadly disease and realize how wealth
and possessions lose their charms and don’t matter at all.

Throughout human history, we have examples of great people like the Sufis
and the followers of other religions who practiced simplicity and advocated
living a simple life and avoiding the complications that excess
materialism brings with it. Manifestations of God like Jesus, Mohammad,
Buddha, Moses, and Baha’u’llah, the Prophet-Founder of the Baha’i Faith,
exemplified simple living.

However, we also have the example of other people who were regular
people like you and me — such as Gandhi, who famously said, “Live
simply so that others may simply live.” They showed us how simple
living is done by practicing it.

Industrialization has brought with it the ability to have things that past
generations could not dream of. It has led to us accumulating things that
seemed necessary, and yet, in reality, we could easily do without them. This
has brought us to where we are now. When a pandemic suddenly makes us
think about what is essential and what is not. It teaches us how we can do
with so little. Abdu’l-Baha, the son of Baha’u’llah, wrote:

Observe how darkness has overspread the world. In every corner of the
earth there is strife, discord and warfare of some kind. Mankind is
submerged in the sea of materialism and occupied with the affairs of
this world. They have no thought beyond earthly possessions and
manifest no desire save the passions of this fleeting, mortal existence.
Their utmost purpose is the attainment of material livelihood, physical
comforts and worldly enjoyments such as constitute the happiness of
the animal world rather than the world of man. – Abdu’l-Baha, The
Promulgation of Universal Peace

Living a simple life brings peace of mind and removes some of the
distractions of our life’s journey. Many studies indicate that
simplicity reduces stress in life and creates a sense of freedom from the
burden of unnecessary possessions.

For those of us who prefer other ways than the religious approach of
denouncing material possessions, there is a movement called “voluntary
simplicity.” It encourages people to live a simple life by downsizing their
lives. This movement has been described as “an anti-consumerist way of
life that opposes the high consumption lifestyles prevalent in consumer
societies today and voluntarily embraces ‘a simpler life’ of reduced
consumption.”

Voluntary simplicity counters the effects of collecting possessions and
believing that they are necessary for our survival. In reality, possessions
often complicate our lives by making us feel dependent on them. This way
of thinking has led us to forget our spiritual destiny. The Baha’i Writings
tell us:

Consider to what a remarkable extent the spirituality of people has
been overcome by materialism so that spiritual susceptibility seems to
have vanished, divine civilization become decadent, and guidance and
knowledge of God no longer remain. All are submerged in the sea of
materialism. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace
It should be noted that voluntary simplicity does not mean living in poverty,
becoming an ascetic monk, or indiscriminately renouncing all the
advantages of science and technology. It does not involve regressing to a
primitive state or becoming a self-righteous puritan. And it is not some
escapist fad reserved for saints, hippies, or eccentric outsiders. Instead,
advocates of voluntary simplicity suggest that we examine our relationships
with money, material possessions, the planet, ourselves, and each other.
Voluntary simplicity is about discovering the freedom and contentment that
comes with knowing how much consumption is enough.

This theme has something to say to everyone, especially those in consumer
cultures bombarded daily with thousands of cultural and institutional
messages insisting that more is always better. Voluntary simplicity is a
philosophy of living that advocates a counter-cultural position based on
notions of sufficiency and simplicity.

Voluntary simplicity can create a sense of peace of mind and free us to
spend time on the goals that matter more in life. Some of the benefits of
living this way are:

Conscious Consumption

Living a simpler life isn’t just about spending less — it’s also about
spending consciously. That means taking a careful look at every purchase
and asking yourself whether it’s worth the money you’re spending and the
hours you’re spending to make that money.

Fewer Belongings

One side effect of consuming consciously is that you end up with fewer
belongings.

Smaller Homes

Housing is the biggest expense in most families’ budgets, accounting for
26% of total spending. So, it makes sense that families that want to
downshift their spending often start by downsizing their homes. Choosing
a small house can also simplify a family’s life by giving them less space to
maintain and clean and less room to accumulate more stuff.

Lower Energy Use

Another benefit of smaller homes is that they use less energy to heat and
cool. By choosing to live small and cutting back on the number of electrical
gadgets, people can reduce their electricity use to the point where they can
power their homes with solar panels or other forms of renewable energy.

Conscious Eating
For most downshifters, living simply also means eating simply: homecooked meals made with whole, unprocessed foods.

Shorter Work Hours

Voluntary simplicity isn’t just about spending less money. The main point
for most downshifters is that, by spending less, they can afford to work
less. If we reconnect with what is vital in our lives and worthy of our
attention — and what is not — we can simplify our lives. That, in turn,
could lead to living a less complicated existence based on solid personal
principles. Those principles can guide us through times of crisis without
feeling any sense of panic and help us stay firmly focused on the things that
matter to our individual and collective progress, both spiritually and
materially.

2 Effective Ways to Fight Your Ego, that Dangerous
Enemy Within

No matter how we succeed in any field, a great danger exists within us all—
the human ego. That common inner enemy has destroyed millions of
relationships, careers and lives.

Our ego—the insistent, grasping, demanding lower self inside everyone—
can make a lifetime of achievements disappear in an instant. It can manifest
itself in the form of a gesture, a look, a word or an action, but the end result
is often the same.

When the ego dominates our behaviour, it usually results in a victory for
negativity, passivity, or evil forces. Like a volcano ready to erupt, our egos
constantly require the supervision of our higher, more spiritual nature.

The Baha’i Faith has numerous spiritual teachings that prepare us to face
this lifelong test. The Baha’i writings differentiate between our two selves:
our animal, material or lower nature—that insistent self we call the ego—
and our spiritual, divine or higher nature:

In man there are two natures; his spiritual or higher nature and his
material or lower nature. In one he approaches God, in the other he
lives for the world alone. Signs of both these natures are to be found in
man. In his material aspects he expresses untruth, cruelty and injustice;
all these are the outcomes of his lower nature. The attributes of his
divine nature are shown forth in love, mercy, kindness, truth and
justice, one and all being expressions of his higher nature. Every good
habit, every noble quality belongs to man’s spiritual nature, whereas all
his imperfections and sinful actions are born of his material nature. –
Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 60.

In our human history and the history of different religions, we can find
many examples of how this hidden enemy victimized even good-hearted
and spiritual men and women, destroying the great achievements earned in a
lifetime. It has been the cause of the downfall of a great many leaders and
learners in all walks of life. They could not see it coming or recognize its
imminent danger until it was too late.

So, we must be aware of our egos' demands, recognize their signs, offer
ways of dealing with them, and find ways to combat them or keep them
under control. This awareness is essential for those who want to progress in
life both materially and spiritually, presenting us with a lifelong
conversation that we have to have with ourselves continually:

A man may converse with the ego within him saying: “May I do this?
Would it be advisable for me to do this work?” Such as this is
conversation with the higher self. – Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 179.

From this Baha’i approach, we can see that the human ego is not necessarily
always a negative force—but like a spirited animal that can injure us if not
kept under control, it requires careful vigilance.

Great religious figures, philosophers, poets and people of vision, such as
Rumi, have recognized that truth and warned us to be aware of this invisible
and elusive enemy:

Your worst enemy is hiding within yourself, and that enemy is your
“nafs” (self) or false ego. – Rumi

Though one should conquer a 1000 times a 1000 men in battle, he who
conquers his own self is the greatest of all conquerors. – Gautama
Buddha

The lowliest and most abject of all things holdeth sway over thee, and
that is none other than self and passion, which have ever been
reprehensible. – Baha’u’llah, The Summons of the Lord of Hosts, p. 170.

Though very difficult, there are ways that the insistent self can be contained
and subordinated with the help of two age-old methods used by different
spiritual disciplines:

1. Self-knowledge

Because it lets us take an inventory of our minds and souls with honesty and
the intention of discovering more about who we truly are, self-knowledge
represents a valuable tool for controlling the ego. It allows us to discover
what abilities we have to face our insistent self; it also helps us find the
areas where we will likely be tested and where possibilities of failure exist.
This ongoing self-examination process requires the courage to face
ourselves as who we are and not who we might wish to be. It requires
honest self-examination, which the Baha’i teachings advise us to implement
daily:

Bring thyself to account each day ere thou art summoned to a
reckoning; for death, unheralded, shall come upon thee and thou shalt
be called to give account for thy deeds. – Baha’u’llah, The Hidden Words,
p. 11.

An added benefit of self-knowledge is the spiritual growth and depth of
understanding that comes with that ongoing process:

O, My servants! Could ye apprehend with what wonders of My
munificence and bounty I have willed to entrust your souls, ye would, of
a truth, rid yourselves of attachment to all created things, and would
gain a true knowledge of your own selves—a knowledge which is the
same as the comprehension of Mine own Being. – Baha’u’llah, Gleanings
from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, pp. 326-327.

2. Meditation

Research has proven that meditation can strengthen the powers of your
higher nature to deal with the challenges of life—and no challenge is bigger
than the insistent self residing within:

As long as man is a captive of habit, pursuing the dictates of self and
desire, he is vanquished and defeated. This passionate personal ego
takes the reins from his hands, crowds out the qualities of the divine
ego and changes him into an animal, a creature unable to judge good
from evil, or to distinguish light from darkness. He becomes blind to
divine attributes … – Abdu’l-Baha, Divine Philosophy, p. 133.

We have to deal with our insistent self or ego; otherwise, it can undo any
success or progress. Once we recognize it as a serious threat to our good
efforts—that our lives and efforts in this world and our progress in the next
world depend on our decisions—we will recognize the necessity to be
vigilant.

The Baha’i teachings say we make our own heaven and hell here on Earth
as a result of the choices we make:

Think ye of love and good fellowship as the delights of heaven, think ye
of hostility and hatred as the torments of hell. – Abdu’l-Baha, Selections
from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 245.

If we don’t make the right decisions and give our higher nature the upper
hand, we can easily fall victim to our lower nature. So, we need to tune
ourselves spiritually to make the right choices and receive the rewards and
benefits of those choices. When we read the spiritual writings and meditate
on their meaning, our souls are uplifted, affecting our decision-making. Our

souls are tuned by reading, praying, meditating, and bringing ourselves to
account each day. This important matter has great consequences in our
lives, and we need to take the opportunity to adequately deal with it so that
our lifelong achievements are not left to our egos.

We Grow When We’re Uncomfortable

I always thought that life must be full of happiness without difficulties
because God wanted it that way. In my dealings with friends and family, I
also observed in my involvement with the education system that we have
imparted this expectation to the next generation.

In schools, we would be alarmed if we saw the signs of unhappiness and
would start making arrangements to remedy this condition and, in some
cases, use the aid of professionals and medications, which are essential in
severe and chronic cases. In most cases, it was an interruption of the
individuals' process of finding, in a hard way, their place in the universe and
figure a course of action.

I was not sure that our interference and interrupting was the right thing to
do, knowing how the difficulties, such as facing religious prejudice, racial
prejudice, health issues, poverty, and being a refugee for a long time, helped
me to be the person that I am today. Those experiences purified my soul and
toughened my ability to deal with unexpected events and happenings.

I am so grateful for those difficult times and happy that nothing interrupted
that process, even though I hoped it would end.

So the question is, should I not share it if this has been so good for me and
how it has made me more reliant on a higher power than my parents, family,
and friends? I am so thankful to have experienced them, and I wish that I
could impart that feeling to others and explain the benefits of hardships and
tests in life. That would be my gift to the next generation.

The cause of most of the problems in our life is our mistakes, but if we were
not allowed to make mistakes, why would God give us free will, knowing
full well that we will not listen to His teachings and guidance, which He has
sent through His Manifestations?

I believe that there is a pearl of wisdom and blessing in tests and
difficulties, and many writings from all religions support this. Baha’u’llah,
the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith, wrote:

. . . the Almighty hath tried, and will continue to try, his servants, so
that light may be distinguished from darkness, truth from falsehood,

right from wrong, guidance from error, happiness from misery, and
roses from thorns. Even as He hath revealed: ‘Do men think when they
say “We believe” they shall be let alone and not be put to proof?

Industrialization brought freedom from the physical world, and humanity
started to master the elements with the help of inventions. With the
invention of the steam engine, the process of conquering the forces of
nature accelerated. It led to the construction and improvement of roads,
railways, ships, airplanes, and other means of comfort.

The sciences opened up new opportunities to improve humanity’s quality of
life, which was extremely hard until then. These processes stepped up after
the second war. Humanity was intoxicated with a great desire to have more
of whatever made life more comfortable. Movies — Hollywood in
particular — newspapers, television, radio and other mass media promoted
this trend. The education system became a path to achieving money to live a
life without discomfort since money could supposedly solve all problems.

Every generation wants the best for the next and tries to make it as easy for
them as possible, believing it is the best way to raise or educate children.
And they go to great lengths and put so much energy into making things
easy for their kids. Parents use their influence and wealth to get them to
where they want them to go, living a life of ease and comfort so that they
can live happily ever after.

Abdu’l-Baha, the son of Baha’u’llah, reminded us of the important elements
of educating the children, and one of the factors is to “accustom them to
hardship.” He wrote:

While the children are yet in their infancy feed them from the breast of
heavenly grace, foster them in the cradle of all excellence, rear them in
the embrace of bounty. Give them the advantage of every useful kind of
knowledge. Let them share in every new and rare and wondrous craft
and art. Bring them up to work and strive, and accustom them to
hardship. Teach them to dedicate their lives to matters of great import,
and inspire them to undertake studies that will benefit mankind.

Going through challenges and overcoming them gives young people selfesteem and confidence, which is essential for their growth. These difficult
times are tough and rough on the outside, but have a precious gift inside
them.

Overcoming challenges is a learning process in the classroom of life. The
point that is ignored is that obstacles, setbacks, sadness, illness, losses, and
many more things are incredibly essential for understanding ourselves and

our role in this world. Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith,
wrote:

Suffering is both a reminder and a guide. It stimulates us better to
adapt ourselves to our environmental conditions, and thus leads the
way to self-improvement. In every suffering, one can find meaning and
wisdom. But it is not always easy to find the secret of that wisdom. It is
sometimes only when all our suffering has passed that we become
aware of its usefulness. What a man considers to be evil turns often to
be a cause of infinite blessings.

I have not yet heard anyone complaining or questioning why everything is
going so right for them. No one goes to a doctor or other professionals to
get rid of the extreme feeling of happiness. We have been taught that life
has to be a bed of roses, so it is natural to be happy. We have not been
taught that difficult times are also crucial and vital for our growth.

We can change our mindset. All religions and great minds have taught us
that life is a series of tests and difficulties. The creator designs them to test
our physical, emotional, intellectual, and spiritual aspects of life so that we
can find out and realize how we have done at the end of our lives. The price
of failing and the reward of overcoming them are too great.

Will it Take a Pandemic to Make the World
Economy Humane?

The coronavirus's onset has highlighted the need for economic changes for
humanitarian purposes — changes many economists and many everyday
people have been crying for. There is a need for an economic system that
can adjust to humanity's needs and eliminate the extremes in wealth
between the haves and the have-nots.

The problem is the failure to grasp the fact that each of us, from the poorest
person to the richest, are the stakeholders in all the affairs of humanity. We
all are in this together. That’s why I have spent the past 40 years advocating
through my books, talks, and articles that we address the nature of economic
problems through spiritual solutions. According to the Baha’i Writings:

The secrets of the whole economic question are Divine in nature, and
are concerned with the world of the heart and spirit. In the Baha’i
Teachings this is most completely explained, and without the
consideration of the Baha’i Teachings, it is impossible to bring about a
better state. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Baha’i World

How many religious leaders, philosophers, economic experts, and many
more have attempted to bring changes to a system that has been built on the
idea of promoting self-interest and individualism without any thought given
to creating prosperity for the whole of humanity?

Now, the coronavirus is tearing into those barriers of nationalism, racism,
and religious differences and making everyone think, “Oh my God, we all
are in this together.” This realization weakens those barriers but does not
destroy it.

Many experts have explained the need for change and tried to influence
those who make and implement the economic system's laws and
regulations. In essence, our economic system needs to serve as a means for
upholding all its citizens' welfare, not just a small number of wealthy
individuals. Yet all these efforts so far have been in vain. Our policymakers
don’t seem to realize that they have the means to lift millions of people
from the misery of poverty or to eradicate diseases that kill millions of poor
people.

The question in my mind is, do we need a disaster — like this one that has
paralyzed the whole world — to wake us up to the fact that this universe,
this earth, has been created by one creator? We are all its occupants, so why
don’t we act as neighbours or family members? Baha’u’llah, the Prophet-
Founder of the Baha’i Faith, wrote that “The earth is but one country and
mankind its citizens” -Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of
Baha’u’llah

That means we are all members of one family and are like members of one
human body:

… the human body, all the members of which are connected and linked
with one another with the greatest strength. How much the organs, the
members and the parts of the body of man are intermingled and
connected for mutual aid and help, and how much they influence one
another! – Abdu’l-Baha, Some Answered Questions

Why can’t we create an economic system so that all the citizens of the
world would live fulfilling lives in prosperity?

In this health crisis and other disasters, whether natural or otherwise, the
poor and the underprivileged are the ones who suffer the most due to not
having the material means to protect themselves. You may ask why? I say
because our economic system is set up that way. After all, the economic
system is deprived of moral values. This is because we have separated
morality and humanity from our economic system and economic activities.
This caused the economic system to almost crash in 2008, leading to a
financial crisis and a recession. And yet, this system continues to ignore the
plight of the poor.

A 2017 letter from the international administrative body of the Baha’i Faith,
The Universal House of Justice addresses this issue:

The welfare of any segment of humanity is inextricably bound up with
the welfare of the whole. Humanity’s collective life suffers when any
one group thinks of its own well-being in isolation from that of its
neighbours’ or pursues economic gain without regard for how the
natural environment, which provides sustenance for all, is affected. A
stubborn obstruction, then, stands in the way of meaningful social
progress: time and again, avarice and self-interest prevail at the
expense of the common good. Unconscionable quantities of wealth are
being amassed, and the instability this creates is made worse by how
income and opportunity are spread so unevenly both between nations
and within nations. But it need not be so. However much such
conditions are the outcome of history, they do not have to define the
future, and even if current approaches to economic life satisfied

humanity’s stage of adolescence, they are certainly inadequate for its
dawning age of maturity. There is no justification for continuing to
perpetuate structures, rules, and systems that manifestly fail to serve
the interests of all peoples. – Universal House of Justice, March 1, 2017

So many well-intended experts have tried to improve the system, but
human-made solutions have not resulted in any improvements and instead
have made it worse. As the Baha’i writings tell us:

Economic plans of reconstruction have been carefully devised, and
meticulously executed. And yet crisis has succeeded crisis, and the
rapidity with which a perilously unstable world is declining has been
correspondingly accelerated. A yawning gulf threatens to involve in
one common disaster both the satisfied and dissatisfied nations,
democracies and dictatorships, capitalists and wage-earners,
Europeans and Asiatics, Jew and Gentile, white and coloured. – Shoghi
Effendi, The World Order of Baha’u’llah

The reason for this failure is that our economic system needs fundamental
changes. It requires a moral and spiritual overhaul.

… 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. –
Shoghi Effendi, 26 December 1935, letter to an individual believer.

I believe that humanity has reached a high level of maturity, and it is my
hope that it won’t take crises and disasters to inspire us to find a better way
of organizing our affairs — including economics.

9 Practical Economic Tips for Everyday Moral
Living

The whole world faces an economic crisis, the likes of which we’ve never
dealt with before – the great disparity between enormous wealth and
grinding poverty keeps getting wider and wider.

In Paris more than a hundred years ago, Abdu’l-Baha, the son of
Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith, put it this way:

The government of the countries should conform to the Divine Law
which gives equal justice to all. This is the only way in which the
deplorable superfluity of great wealth and miserable, demoralizing,
degrading poverty can be abolished. Not until this is done will the Law
of God be obeyed. – Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 154.

Economic crisis, the widening gap between the rich and the poor, grave
economic injustice and many more problems that have baffled the experts
have forced us to re-examine the entire system and make fundamental
changes – before it collapses as it nearly did in 2008. This recent news
headline summarizes the economic problems facing humanity: “A CEO
from one of the world’s top five global fashion brands has to work for just
four days to earn what a garment worker in Bangladesh will earn in an
entire lifetime.”

The economic problems started when Adam Smith, the father of modern
economics, wrote The Wealth of Nations. That book became like holy
scripture for many economists. Smith described economics as the science of
creating wealth – but excluded morality and spirituality in his theories. He
made self-interest the engine of every economic system.

According to Adam Smith, everybody naturally tries to maximize his or her
satisfaction. That selfish philosophy became the breeding ground for greed,
which has precipitated the causes of so many world economic problems.

However, many of Adam Smith’s followers fail to consider that Smith was
the first to acknowledge the economic importance of morality in his earlier
book The Theory of Moral Sentiments, written in 1759, seven years before
he wrote The Wealth of Nations.

In his earlier book, Smith recognized the inherent danger of wealth, even as
he provided ideas for generating it:

This disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and
powerful, and to despise or, at least, neglect persons of poor and mean
conditions, though necessary both to establish and to maintain the
distinction of ranks and the order of society, is, at the same time, the
great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral
sentiments. – Adam Smith, The Theory of Moral Sentiments, p. 3.

The Baha’i teachings express a similar point of view, saying that one of the
primary principles of Baha’u’llah:

… is the readjustment and equalization of the economic standards of
mankind. This deals with the question of human livelihood. It is evident
that under present systems and conditions of government the poor are
subject to the greatest need and distress while others more fortunate
live in luxury and plenty far beyond their actual necessities. This
inequality of portion and privilege is one of the deep and vital problems
of human society. That there is need of an equalization and
apportionment by which all may possess the comforts and privileges of
life is evident. The remedy must be legislative readjustment of
conditions. The rich too must be merciful to the poor, contributing
from willing hearts to their needs without being forced or compelled to
do so. The composure of the world will be assured by the establishment
of this principle in the religious life of mankind. – Abdu’l-Baha, The
Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 107.

This concept of economics, fundamentally different from the Darwinian
idea of the survival of the fittest, is based on spiritual and moral principles.
Abdu’l-Baha explained it clearly:

The secrets of the whole economic question are Divine in
nature, and are concerned with the world of the heart and spirit. –
Abdu’l-Baha, The Baha’i World, Volume IV, p. 448.

The Baha’i Faith supports the process of the spiritualization of the
economic system by injecting moral and spiritual values. Economics is
made for humanity and reflects humanity’s true aspirations – practical,
ethical, moral, and spiritual.

To assess our progress, we have to combine both the spiritual and material
civilizations. These two aspects of human development must go hand in
hand, the Baha’i teachings say, and complement each other rather than
denying each other:

Material civilization has reached an advanced plane, but now there is a
need for spiritual civilization. Material civilization alone will not
satisfy; it cannot meet the conditions and requirements of the present
age; its benefits are limited to the world of matter. There is no
limitation to man's spirit, for spirit in itself is progressive, and if the
divine civilization be established, the spirit of man will advance. –
Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 101.

The world desperately needs change in all of its outdated systems. The
Baha’i teachings call for that change to come about through a spiritual
reformation first, a reawakening of humanity's souls.

We may think that we cannot do anything about the emergence of this new,
more spiritual economic system, but that’s not true. By introducing moral
and spiritual values in our everyday economic activities, we can each start
making changes in ourselves that will affect others. Those changes and
economic actions, guided by a deep sense of morality and service to all
humanity, will help build the foundation of a just and unified world
commonwealth for the future.

A whole host of practical economic suggestions can empower all of us to
act and realize the incredible opportunity we each have to transform society.
These nine recommendations can help spiritualize our economic lives:

1. Focus on the crucial questions of life, such as “Who am I?” “What is the
purpose of my life?” and “How much is enough?”

2. Commit to living a simple life, a life free of excess consumption and
materialism

3. Be honest in all your dealings

4. If you run a business, be content with a reasonable margin of profit

5. Spiritually justify every expenditure by asking yourself, “Is this
necessary? Is it good for me, my family, and the entire human family?

6. Make your economic decisions with the intent of protecting the Earth’s
environment

7. In the spirit of service to others, volunteer whenever possible to help
those with fewer economic resources and give to worthy charitable
organizations

8. Adopt reasonable financial goals in life by avoiding debt, habitually
saving and making your spiritual well-being independent of your material
success

9. Finally, in all your dealings with others, create a consciousness that your
welfare, well-being and happiness depend on the well-being, prosperity and
happiness of every poor, needy and disadvantaged person in the world.

When you implement these nine economic and spiritual steps in your life,
you’ll be following Abdu’l-Baha’s trenchant advice: “Content thyself with
but little of this world’s goods! Verily, economy is a great treasure.” –
Baha’i World Faith, p. 374.

Delayed Gratification and the Next Life

Life has gradually taught me the benefits and the joy of delaying my
gratification. Why put off enjoying the immediate rewards for my efforts?
Allow me to explain.

Delayed gratification didn’t come naturally to me—I had to learn it by trial
and error. Suppose you’re not familiar with the concept. In that case,
delayed gratification refers to the ability to put off something mildly fun or
pleasurable now to gain something even more fun, pleasurable, or
rewarding later. For example, you could relax and watch TV the night
before an exam or practice delayed gratification and study for the exam—
waiting to relax only after the exam is over. Some say the discipline of
delayed gratification creates true success in life:

The ability to discipline yourself to delay gratification in the short term
in order to enjoy greater rewards in the long term, is the indispensable
prerequisite for success. – Brian Tracy

Everyone wants to enjoy the rewards of their efforts, and there is nothing
wrong with that. The problem arises when we want instant gratification,
rewarding ourselves right after half of the work is done and often before the
job is finished. In extreme cases, one rewards oneself even before the work
begins!

This kind of instant gratification indicates a lack of self-discipline and selfcontrol, an absence of purpose in one’s life and the inability to set goals and
see them through. It also sets up a self-defeating pattern: if we reward
ourselves before finishing a task, we train ourselves not to finish.

Those who practice delayed gratification demonstrate a well-defined
purpose in life and the need to accomplish worthwhile goals. Delayed
gratification means accepting the awareness of life’s journey as a long one
and planning for it.

So, as I was thinking about how much I enjoy my quality time after doing
everything on my to-do list for the day, I had an “a-ha!” moment: I realized
that our lives, with all their complications, present us with a massive
exercise in delayed gratification.

Our comfort and progress in the next world depend on sacrificing many
human desires. To progress spiritually, we must value our own will less
than the will of our Creator. That way, we can enjoy our journey, fully
aware that we’ve delayed receiving the rewards of this physical world for
the next one.

This process, in my estimation, represents the greatest delayed gratification
one can imagine. The spiritual reward for preparing for the next life and not
settling for the material world's distractions serves as an excellent example
of delayed gratification. The spiritual gratification in the next world, the
Baha’i teachings tell us, goes far beyond our human comprehension:

… a religious individual must disregard his personal desires and seek in
whatever way he can wholeheartedly to serve the public interest; and it
is impossible for a human being to turn aside from his own selfish
advantages and sacrifice his own good for the good of the community
except through true religious faith. For self-love is kneaded into the
very clay of man, and it is not possible that, without any hope of a
substantial reward, he should neglect his own present material good.
That individual, however, who puts his faith in God and believes in the
words of God—because he is promised and certain of a plentiful
reward in the next life, and because worldly benefits as compared to the
abiding joy and glory of future planes of existence are nothing to him—
will for the sake of God abandon his own peace and profit and will
freely consecrate his heart and soul to the common good. – Abdu’l-
Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, pp. 96-97.

The Baha’i teachings give us a constant reminder about the transitory of this
world and focus our thoughts and actions towards preparation for the next
world:

Therefore in this world, he must prepare himself for life beyond. That
which he needs in the world of the Kingdom must be obtained here.
Just as he prepared himself in the world of the matrix by acquiring
forces necessary in this sphere of existence, so likewise the
indispensable forces of the divine existence must be potentially attained
in this world. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p.
226.

In this material world, we spend our lives doing things, hoping for the
rewards they will generate. We sacrifice mental and physical energy to earn
money so that we can acquire the things we need and want. Some of us
spend it without much thought for the future. Only a small percentage of
people save money to accumulate until the time when they can exchange it
for the things they desire the most.

Saving money means delayed gratification. If we do not spend money now
and save it to enjoy it later when we need it more, we practice delayed
gratification. In the same way, no reward or gratification is greater than
entering the next world with a clear conscience, knowing that spiritually we
have exerted spiritual energy and selfless service to humanity, which will
sustain us in the worlds to come:

Know thou that the Kingdom is the real world, and this nether place is
only its shadow stretching out. A shadow hath no life of its own; its
existence is only a fantasy, and nothing more; it is but images reflected
in water, and seeming as pictures to the eye. -Abdu’l-Baha, Selections
from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p.178.

From the moment we are born, our bodies begin the journey toward the end
of their existence. We all leave this physical world and enter the spiritual
one sooner or later, hopefully realizing that this world was merely a short
stopover in the long journey of our soul—which will eventually attain the
presence of our Creator. When we forget that ultimate goal, we need
reminders:

Just as he advances by progressive stages from the mere physical world
of being into the intellectual realm, so must he develop upward in
moral attributes and spiritual graces. In the process of this attainment
he is ever in need of the bestowals of the Holy Spirit. … As the babe is
born into the light of this physical world, so must the physical and
intellectual man be born into the light of the world of Divinity. In the
matrix of the mother the unborn child was deprived and unconscious of
the world of material existence, but after its birth it beheld the wonders
and beauties of a new realm of life and being. In the world of the matrix
it was utterly ignorant and unable to conceive of these new conditions,
but after its transformation it discovers the radiant sun, trees, flowers
and an infinite range of blessings and bounties awaiting it. In the
human plane and kingdom man is a captive of nature and ignorant of
the divine world until born of the breaths of the Holy Spirit out of
physical conditions of limitation and deprivation. Then he beholds the
reality of the spiritual realm and Kingdom, realizes the narrow
restrictions of the mere human world of existence and becomes
conscious of the unlimited and infinite glories of the world of God.
Therefore, no matter how man may advance upon the physical and
intellectual plane, he is ever in need of the boundless virtues of Divinity,
the protection of the Holy Spirit and the face of God. – Abdu’l-Baha,
The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp. 288-289.

Understanding Each Other in these Confusing Times

In our world today, an air of confusion and irritation manifests itself
differently in different people.

Baha’is believe that the world is in the process of giving birth to a
wonderful new world order that brings a great future. What we are
experiencing now is the pain before its birth. In a sense, we are the
midwives responsible for preparing and assisting with the birth:

We stand on the threshold of an age whose convulsions proclaim alike
the death-pangs of the old order and the birth-pangs of the new.
Through the generating influence of the Faith announced by
Baha’u’llah this New World Order may be said to have been conceived.
We can, at the present moment, experience its stirrings in the womb of
a travailing age—an age waiting for the appointed hour at which it can
cast its burden and yield its fairest fruit.

The whole earth,” writes Baha’u’llah, “is now in a state of pregnancy.
The day is approaching when it will have yielded its noblest fruits,
when from it will have sprung forth the loftiest trees, the most
enchanting blossoms, the most heavenly blessings. Immeasurably
exalted is the breeze that wafteth from the garment of thy Lord, the
Glorified! For lo, it hath breathed its fragrance and made all things
new! Well is it with them that comprehend. – Shoghi Effendi, The World
Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 168.

We all react to this pregnancy period in different ways. Still, I’ll let you
decide where you belong and suggest the course of action Baha’is are taking
to survive this period of changes and transformation in the history of
humanity.

One extreme is those who show no sign of being affected by these rapid
changes and confusion but quietly and with great courage do their best to
better the world. Some of them are affiliated with religious beliefs, yet some
are believers in science. They have realized their mission in life and do their
best without fighting or hating those who take opposing views. They know
how to see common ground between people, not differences. They know
what they are doing will bear fruit in the future. The Baha’i teachings
describe them like this:

Lift up your hearts above the present and look with eyes of faith into
the future! Today the seed is sown, the grain falls upon the earth, but
behold the day will come when it shall raise a glorious tree and the
branches thereof shall be laden with fruit. Rejoice and be glad that this
day has dawned, try to realise its power, for it is indeed wonderful! God
has crowned you with honour and in your hearts has He set a radiant
star; verily the light thereof shall brighten the whole world! – Abdu’l-
Baha, Paris Talks, p. 69

The other extreme? Those who thrive on confusion seek only their own selfinterest and do whatever they can to get what they want. Since people like
this think the end justifies the means, they do not consider the morality of
their actions—but they lie, destroy, hate and even kill anything opposed to
their version of the truth. Many of them are followers of different so-called
religious groups—even though no real religion supports violence—or
various radical ideologies. They function as the leading causes of the
destruction of the old order, ultimately contributing to change.

Some cannot understand what is happening around them and feel helpless in
figuring out a course of action. They often give up, and their efforts are
limited to complaining and reminding everyone how hopeless the present
time is and how they missed the good old days when everything was good
and decent. They have forgotten their most important duty as citizens of the
world: “All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing
civilization.” – Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p.
214.

That last group of people, who could be you or me, have sincere motives
and good intentions. They want to contribute to building a just society—to
defend the poor, save the planet from pollution, and bring about a better
health care system, a better system of education, a better government
system, and better economic policies. They have many other wonderful
goals, as well. But instead of changing things for the better, they end up not
knowing what to do.

We have a moral obligation to reach out to all these groups and lovingly
help them see the possibilities of creating a new world order. Those who
already expend their energy selflessly building a better world need our
encouragement and support for their sacrificial work. Those confused about
what to do also need our help to remove the dark clouds hanging over their
lives. Those good-hearted yet frustrated souls need to be reminded that their
anger and impatience are self-defeating so they do not end up frustrated and
hating others. Those on the path of destruction are the most difficult to help,
and yet we can always pray for them and make sure that their actions and
words do not create feelings of hate in our hearts:

… The world is like the body of man—it hath become sick, feeble and
infirm. Its eye is devoid of sight, its ear hath become destitute of
hearing and its faculties of sense are entirely dissolved. The friends of
God must become as wise physicians and care for and heal this sick
person, in accord with the divine teachings, in order that—God
willing—it may perchance gain health, find eternal healing and that its
lost powers may be restored; and that the person of the world may find
such health, freshness and purity that it will appear in the utmost
beauty and charm. – Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’i World Faith, p. 356.

Baha’is believe that we should be like physicians for humanity's healing—
physicians who recognize the symptoms and then prescribe the correct
medicine. That medicine, the Baha’i teachings say, is embodied in the
cause, the principles and the spiritual remedies brought by Baha’u’llah.

We Live in an Age of Miracles

We live in an age of miracles—and we don’t even know it.

I’ve often wished I lived in the times of some of my heroes who participated
in great historical events and fought beside them in their battles. How I
admired and idealized them. I would have wanted to be with them and help
them in any way I could see in their battles with ignorance and injustice,
and by doing that, I would have taken part in an important event in human
history.

We all have some heroes from the past that we admire. As a Baha’i, I’ve
wanted to live in the earliest days of my Faith’s dramatic history with those
great men and women who risked everything, including their lives, for their
deepest beliefs. They were tormented and put in the worst prisons to
persuade them to recant their Faith, but that made them more determined
and braver. Most of them suffered and died for their beliefs. Those stories
of bravery inspire me.

Recently, though, I’ve become more focused on what is happening now.
The news concentrates on the negative events, but I try to see our present
day's positive side. As I continue doing that, I realize our modern-day
world's wonders are totally overlooked because of the negative slant
prevalent in much of the news.

I found it fascinating as I searched more and observed with an investigating
eye. I am from the generation that did not grow up with the many amazing
gadgets that are so commonplace today, so I see them not with a jaded eye
but with a sense of wonderment. I don’t take them for granted, so you can
imagine why I call the present time an age of miracles.

These days—promised by religions and people of vision in the past—are
truly miraculous. When Abdu’l-Baha, the son and successor of Baha’u’llah,
the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith, came to North America to
speak about and spread the Baha’i ideals more than a century ago, he said:

From every standpoint the world of humanity is undergoing a
reformation … scientific ideas and theories are developing and
advancing to meet a new range of phenomena; invention and discovery
are penetrating hitherto unknown fields, revealing new wonders and
hidden secrets of the material universe; industries have vastly wider

scope and production; everywhere the world of mankind is in the
throes of evolutionary activity indicating the passing of the old
conditions and advent of the new age of reformation. – Abdu’l-Baha,
The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 439.

After thinking about it, I realized how my heroes would have loved to
experience the present, not just because of new inventions and discoveries,
but rather to see how much closer we are to the promised day when
humanity becomes united and establishes a new world commonwealth.

It may sound too optimistic to write about these things at a time when it
looks as if the world is falling apart when numerous wars and conflicts
rage—but Baha’is believe these events, both positive and negative, are all
part of a bigger plan:

The world’s equilibrium hath been upset through the vibrating
influence of this greatest, this new World Order. Mankind’s ordered
life hath been revolutionized through the agency of this unique, this
wondrous System—the like of which mortal eyes have never witnessed.
– Baha’u’llah, The Most Holy Book, p. 85.

Look at it this way: to build your dream house, you must dismantle the old
and start building a new, well-designed, beautiful structure. Similarly, the
Baha’i teachings say that the old order—with its failing theories, systems,
and structures in the economic, political, education, health and other
realms—cannot satisfy the needs of the present generation of humanity. All
of these upheavals are the signs of its malfunctioning and the sounds of its
destruction. This doesn’t signal the end of the world but signifies the
coming of a beautiful new world. The Baha’i teachings say we are on the
edge of these profound changes. Most people now agree that things are not
working today and don’t require convincing that we need a better system.

Now, with the Baha’i teachings pointing the way toward a more unified,
peaceful and loving future civilization, we can devote our energy to laying
the foundation:

This commonwealth must, as far as we can visualize it, consist of a
world legislature, whose members will, as the trustees of the whole of
mankind, ultimately control the entire resources of all the component
nations, and will enact such laws as shall be required to regulate the
life, satisfy the needs and adjust the relationships of all races and
peoples. A world executive, backed by an international Force, will
carry out the decisions arrived at, and apply the laws enacted by, this
world legislature, and will safeguard the organic unity of the whole
commonwealth. A world tribunal will adjudicate and deliver its
compulsory and final verdict in all and any disputes that may arise

between the various elements constituting this universal system. A
mechanism of world inter-communication will be devised, embracing
the whole planet, freed from national hindrances and restrictions, and
functioning with marvellous swiftness and perfect regularity. A world
metropolis will act as the nerve center of a world civilization, the focus
towards which the unifying forces of life will converge and from which
its energizing influences will radiate. – Shoghi Effendi, The World Order
of Baha’u’llah, p. 203.

Who from the past generations would not want to witness the advent of a
new age? We are witnessing the old structure crumbling down, and a new
tool is invented every day. We have the blueprint of the new structure in
hand and are preparing our equipment as we eagerly wait to start
construction. Thanks to Baha’u’llah’s new revelation, we now have the
design for that future structure—but first, humanity as a whole needs to join
hands to participate in this venture because this new world belongs to every
single person on Earth.

Seeing Money Through Spiritual Eyes

As a student of economics and as part of the educational system, I have
marvelled at our society's lack of financial knowledge.

As a Baha’i, my Faith puts a great deal of importance on education and
always emphasizes both spiritual and material education:

The primary, the most urgent requirement is the promotion of
education. It is inconceivable that any nation should achieve prosperity
and success unless this paramount, this fundamental concern is carried
forward. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 110.

Progress is of two kinds, material and spiritual. The former is attained
through observation of the surrounding existence and constitutes the
foundation of civilization. Spiritual progress is through the breaths of
the Holy Spirit and is the awakening of the conscious soul of man to
perceive the reality of divinity. Material progress insures the happiness
of the human world. Spiritual progress insures the happiness and
eternal continuance of the soul. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of
Universal Peace, p. 142.

Education has one primary goal: preparing young students for their adult
life. In my experience, though, our educational system usually manages to
entirely ignore one of the most critical aspects of their lives—financial
literacy. Since “material progress ensures the happiness of the human
world,” we’re failing our students if we leave them uneducated about life's
material and monetary aspects.

I am unsure why those who design educational systems do not think
managing finances is essential. Whatever the reason, the fact is that many of
my ex-students come to me and say, “I was cheated out of years of my life
because nobody taught me how to manage my finances.”

Students today often leave school with mountains of debt, which can cripple
their futures. They don’t know how to manage or save, so many spend
whatever they earn, and in most cases, spend way beyond their earnings,
which can soon lead them to bankruptcy. If they don’t leave school with
massive indebtedness from student loans, chances are they’ve run up major
credit card debt during high school and college. A recent study in The

Journal of Applied Social Psychology concluded that we need to educate
students in financial literacy:

The issue of credit card debt among college students has received increasing
attention. This study explored factors hypothesized to be causes and effects
of credit card debt in 448 students on five college campuses. Students
reported an average of $1,035 (SD=$1,849) in debt, including students
without credit cards or credit card debt. Lack of financial knowledge, age,
number of credit cards, delay of gratification, and attitudes toward credit
card use were related to debt. … Students reporting greater debt reported
greater stress and decreased financial well-being. Results highlight the need
for comprehensive financial literacy education among college students.

Our educational system aims at arming students with the tools to make them
successful materially—but they rarely teach the real meaning of that
success. Yes, business schools teach the concept of competition and
eliminating rivals as means of success—but without mentioning the virtues
of co-operation.

On a broader scale, much of our higher education follows the old,
materialistic notion that having more money is the highest goal of success,
without ever mentioning the spiritual or moral side of life. If we began to
teach students more about financial and spiritual literacy, they could learn
how to turn material wealth into spiritual success:

Wealth is praiseworthy in the highest degree, if it is acquired by an
individual’s own efforts and the grace of God, in commerce,
agriculture, art and industry, and if it be expended for philanthropic
purposes. Above all, if a judicious and resourceful individual should
initiate measures which would universally enrich the masses of the
people, there could be no undertaking greater than this, and it would
rank in the sight of God as the supreme achievement, for such a
benefactor would supply the needs and ensure the comfort and wellbeing of a great multitude. Wealth is most commendable, provided the
entire population is wealthy. If, however, a few have inordinate riches
while the rest are impoverished, and no fruit or benefit accrues from
that wealth, then it is only a liability to its possessor. – Abdu’l-Baha, The
Secret of Divine Civilization, pp. 24-25.

If we teach our students and our children about the basic value of money
and how to manage and spend it responsibly, they can learn about the
importance of planning for the long run and saving for a rainy day. If we
teach our students and children about love for humanity, they can learn
about the fact that they can use the money for good causes:

If, on the other hand, it is expended for the promotion of knowledge,
the founding of elementary and other schools, the encouragement of art
and industry, the training of orphans and the poor—in brief, if it is
dedicated to the welfare of society—its possessor will stand out before
God and man as the most excellent of all who live on earth and will be
accounted as one of the people of paradise. – Ibid., p. 25.

Whatever the reason for this shortfall in financial literacy in our education
system or our society, we need to begin making it clear that by our actions,
we can set an example for others about how our material possessions can be
used for the betterment of humanity. We can face and conquer the cancer of
materialism through education and make a lasting contribution to
humankind's welfare.

Spirituality: The Surprising Solution to Our
Economic Problems

Everyone knows we have bodies—but many aren’t so sure about the
existence of the soul.

Of course, the body has needs—food, clothing, shelter, health care—and it
has traditionally been the job of economics to satisfy those needs.

Consider this: what if the soul and the body are both equally valid realities?
Even further, what if the soul lives eternally? If that’s true, shouldn’t we
prioritize the eternal needs of the soul over the body's temporary needs or
make them equal in importance?

With these assumptions, the needs of the soul do become a priority. The
body’s role—to support the soul by living longer in a healthy manner so the
soul can achieve more in this lifetime—means we can’t ignore our bodies.
We need to take care of them because the body supports the soul; it is the
soul's temple. This basic assumption, from a Baha’i perspective, needs to
underpin all economic systems:

The inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute
suffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the brink
of war. Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation. The
solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and
practical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing
consultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of
economic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly
affected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that
is bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of
wealth and poverty but also with those spiritual verities the
understanding of which can produce a new universal attitude.
Fostering such an attitude is itself a major part of the solution. – The
Universal House of Justice, The Promise of World Peace, pp. 10-11.

Adam Smith, considered the father of modern economics, also made some
basic assumptions to provide more goods for man’s needs. Based on his
observations, Smith built his theoretical economic system. One of the
assumptions he made was that man always acts in his own interests and

wants to maximize his satisfaction, so he believed that unfettered selfinterest in free-market economies leads to economic prosperity.

In his famous book The Wealth of Nations, Smith mentioned the other
assumptions, including the use of the term “invisible hand,” as a metaphor
to describe the self-regulation of capitalist markets. He also advocated
“laissez-faire economics,” which meant that governments should not
interfere and economic markets should be left alone to take care of any
problems. He expounded upon how rational self-interest and competition
can lead to economic prosperity.

Other economists adopted these two fundamental principles of the
economic system introduced by Adam Smith. The focus on maximizing
satisfaction created a sense of individualism and praise and was a source of
inspiration for many. However, without any interference from governments
or other agencies, this economic thought trend created a breeding ground for
greed and exploitation. It resulted in societies that lacked empathy and
ignored the plight of the poor and needy. In those societies, the spirit of
giving and sharing waned, and gradually, the gap between the rich and poor
grew greater. Accumulating wealth became considered the highest
achievement in a person’s life. Becoming rich became the goal of every
man, and the cost of achieving this goal was not questioned.

But if the body and its needs become a barrier or hindrance to the soul's
progress, then there is a serious problem. These days, in humanity's
economic life, the body and its wants have taken over the soul's needs and
desires. The servant has become the master, and precious human lives are
being wasted in the pursuit of the body's desires. The Baha’i teachings
explain:

The soul of man is the sun by which his body is illumined, and from
which it draweth its sustenance, and should be so regarded. –
Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 155.

Because we’ve prioritized the body's needs over the needs of the soul, the
world's economic situation has spun out of control. Because of the great
economic disparities this over-emphasis on the body has caused, we have to
admit that only spirituality can deal with the worldwide spread of this
disease of greed and self-centeredness. Because of the massive suffering of
the poor, we have to find ways to bring a new sense of justice to the world.

To do all that, we need to take a few steps back and define the purpose and
the nature of economics and then try to find remedies for its problems:

The secrets of the whole economic question are Divine in nature, and
are concerned with the world of the heart and spirit. – Abdu’l-Baha, The
Baha’i World, Volume IV, p. 448.

In the past, we’ve looked in the wrong direction to solve the world’s
economic problems. However, as the economic situation gets worse and
more desperate for so many people worldwide, we can start to consider
spiritual and moral solutions to our civilization’s economic problems. The
soul knows, and it can guide us to build a new economic system that can
accommodate all aspects of human life—for all humans. The Baha’i
teachings say:

Through the power of the rational soul, man can discover the realities
of things, comprehend their properties, and penetrate the mysteries of
existence. All the sciences, branches of learning, arts, inventions,
institutions, undertakings, and discoveries have resulted from the
comprehension of the rational soul. – Abdu’l-Baha, Some Answered
Questions, newly revised edition, p. 219.

Where do we start? Maybe by accepting the fact that there is more to
humanity than our physical needs and that our spiritual needs have to be
recognized and become the focal point of our attention. By recognizing our
inner spiritual needs and combining them with physical needs, we will have
the impetus and the insight to create a balanced economic system that
covers all aspects of our lives and allows us to attain our souls' desires.

The history of economics has shown us that a system without spiritual
guidance can lose its effectiveness and eventually become oppressive and
cruel. The Baha’i teachings provide the guidance the world needs to remedy
the injustices done to society's poor and underprivileged people. We can
resolve those injustices by implementing spiritual solutions to our economic
problems.

God, Please Put it on My Account

Sometimes, we’re very hard on ourselves and can’t forgive our mistakes in
certain areas of life. Many of us lack self-esteem and consequently lose
sight of life’s big picture.

When that happens to me, I often forget that life represents a collection of
my good and bad actions—sort of a balance sheet that keeps track of my
good and bad deeds. The negative side or the bad deeds are like an open
account at a store or with a credit card company that keeps track of my
purchases and payments. The expectation? Payments must be made by the
end of the week or month at the most.

Our life’s open account is no different—because we are spiritually brought
to account by the end of our physical existence. So when we know this tab
is open and understand that we will make many mistakes till we die, why do
we suddenly pick one mistake and become obsessed with it to the extent
that we cannot forgive ourselves? Why one when many could be singled out
and made to be the stumbling block on the way of our human journey?

Forgiving others for what they have done is much easier for me than
forgiving myself. The Baha’i teachings have a wealth of insight and
knowledge to help us forgive others—and ourselves. But my problem has
always been being unable to forgive myself. For whatever reason, my selfesteem has rarely been high enough to take me to the happier side of selfforgiveness. Even after finding out some great people too felt like me, not
feeling worthy did not help me with my struggles. But when I read the holy
scripture of many different Faiths, they take away some of the pain.

Even the great apostle Paul looked at his past with great regret: “For I
am the least of the apostles, who am not worthy to be called an apostle,
because I persecuted the church of God.” – 1 Corinthians 15:9.

Maybe we need to be reminded that our account with the Creator remains
open and that we should not let one mistake stop us from moving on with
our lives. He has not given up on us, so why are we writing ourselves off?
We will eventually balance our account.

As a result of doing so many wrong things in my life, I sometimes feel
unbearable and paralyzed, filled with deep regret. This negativity reaches so
high that I have to find ways not to deal with it, postponing that intense and

difficult reckoning to some future time so that hopefully, I am better
equipped to face it and deal with it by then. So when those intense guilt
attack moments occur, I repeat this to myself: “Please God, put it on my
tab.”

That way, I buy myself some time to deal with it later—to pray, silently ask
God for forgiveness, and find the inner strength to resolve to be a better and
more spiritual soul.

By using this method, I have survived many moments of utter despair. It
also proved to me that God’s account with us is very flexible. He is kind
because he sees our weaknesses and gives us opportunities to try again.
Were it not for His flexibility, we would have had to give up trying.

The Baha’i teachings say that the coming of Baha’u’llah can wash our
consciences clean if we let it:

Now hath the Truth appeared, and falsehood fled away; now hath the
day dawned and jubilation taken over, wherefore men’s souls are
sanctified, their spirits purged, their hearts rejoiced, their minds
purified, their secret thoughts made wholesome, their consciences
washed clean, their inmost selves made holy: for the Day of
Resurrection hath come to pass, and the bestowals of thy Lord, the
Forgiving, have encompassed all things. – Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from
the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 38.

Later in life, I finally resolved this inner problem when I made a pilgrimage
trip to the Holy Land's Baha’i World Centre. There, I met a very wise
Baha’i who noticed my troubles when I could not find myself worthy
enough to go to the Baha’i Shrines. This wise person asked me if I believed
God was forgiving, and I said yes. He said do you think he has forgiven you
for the bad things you have done? I said I am sure He has. Then he looked
at me with a look of disappointment and said, “Then who the hell do you
think you are? Are you higher than God? Forgive yourself! He has!”

At that moment, my spiritual eye opened for the first time, and I could
clearly see my life.

When we obsessively occupy our minds and souls with negative thoughts,
we lose sight of the big picture and forget who runs the show. If God has
forgiven all your shortcomings, please do yourself a favour and accept it
with gratefulness. After all, our lives are God’s gift to us, and He wants us
to live wisely, cheerfully and free from guilt and regrets.

The Baha’i Concept of a “Good Loan”

As an economist, I get this question fairly often: What’s a fair rate of
interest?

The rate of interest is an essential concept in the economic field. Sadly, it
has become more of a method of exploitation than a means of help—
particularly to those who struggle to survive in a materialistic world.

Student loans are a good example. Some student loans charge outrageous
rates of interest, putting poor students in tremendous debt. For example, the
average student loan debt in the United States is $20,000 per student.
Paying those debts off can mean returning more than twice that amount to
predatory lending companies.

However, the world’s whole economic and banking system relies on interest
to operate, so the question is: what is its origin, and why has it become such
a dominant factor in the economic system?

Governments, banks, pawnshops, and money marts all charge a rate of
interest. Some of those rates are so high that they are immoral and should be
illegal. Interest has become one of the means of enslaving people. In some
rural areas of our planet, it is still being used to control others' lives and
force work out of them instead of paying wages. Even though we live in
industrialized countries, those of us who have had to deal with student loans
or personal loans often feel a sense of entrapment. Interest can be a weapon
with amazingly destructive powers in terms of control. But it can also be an
angel of mercy to help the poor.

Governments use interest in their loans to other countries—generally the
underdeveloped countries—to help them build infrastructure, support their
military and feed their people. History is full of examples of how
developing countries were exploited with these loans and how the
governments of wealthy debtor nations took advantage of the situation to
force decisions in their favour and for their own benefit. These loans were
used as extortion, and rather than freeing developing nations economically,
their high-interest loans kept them in bondage. If you think this was only
done in the past, you may be surprised to know how prevalent this practice
still is today.

In most developed countries, the interest rate is regulated by law—but in
places where there is no regulation or supervision, private banks have
charged huge, usurious interest rates.

Unregulated money lenders have had no mercy on people and often prey on
the poor. In the absence of any regulation, they have charged as high a rate
of interest as benefited them. Lenders like pawnshops and “payday lenders”
often make their money from the poorest and uneducated society segments.
They are fully aware of the vulnerability of the people who come to them in
times of great need when there is no other option for help—and some
pawnshops see their misfortune as an opportunity to make a great amount of
money from the poorest of the poor.

All of these predatory practices produce a profit at any cost without any
other consideration. The bottom line is making money, and it does not
matter who is hurt or destroyed. There is no consideration or room for
morality in these actions.

What has religion done about these practices? It should come as no surprise
that the Jewish Faith, Islam and Christianity did not encourage the practice
of charging interest. Christ famously drove the moneylenders from the
temple. Sadly, though, each of these religions' followers eventually ignored
the moral and spiritual principles and began to charge interest to their fellow
believers.

The Baha’i teachings allow the practice of charging interest, but they apply
certain conditions that must be considered. The most important condition is
that it should be a “good loan:”

One can seldom find a person who would manifest such consideration
towards his fellow-man, his countryman or towards his own brother
and would show such tender solicitude for him as to be well-disposed to
grant him a loan on benevolent terms … [Such loans as bear no interest
and are repayable whenever the borrower pleases]. – Baha’u’llah,
Tablets of Baha’u’llah, pp. 132-133.

Baha’u’llah wrote that charging interest was lawful but said:

However, this is a matter that should be practised with moderation and
fairness … We exhort the loved ones of God to observe justice and
fairness, and to do that which would prompt the friends of God to
evince tender mercy and compassion towards each other. – Ibid., p. 133.

The Baha’i teachings recognize that a high interest rate on any loan is unfair
because it puts a heavy burden on the individual or the nation's economic
life, which, in turn, diminishes the quality of life.

Baha’u’llah emphasized the concept of a good loan, meaning that the
interest rate had to be such that it did not unduly burden the borrower and
benefited everyone. With a good loan, the person or firm lending the money
gets an adequate amount of interest, and the person borrowing is happy
because he can afford to pay it.

A good loan charges a fair, moderate and reasonable rate of interest, using
the Baha’i principles of kindness and moderation to help our fellow human
beings prosper materially and enjoy the necessities of life—and to put an
end to extreme financial hardship for individuals and countries. We should
decide the rate of interest by sympathy for others and not greed.

Becoming a Mystical Economist

Have you ever heard of a mystical economist? It seems strange to see these
two words side by side since they represent two entirely different universes.

Can they be combined? Are they really the opposite? Can we have both?
The gap between the two seems so great.

Mysticism symbolizes our lives higher or spiritual aspects—detachment
from the material world and anything that would distract from attaining the
Beloved presence's goal. Mystics believe that if we want to attain
spirituality, then what we need in our lives is more of Rumi, Kahlil Gibran,
the great poets and inspiring philosophers, and less of Adam Smith, Karl
Marx and other economists. Mystics have more interest in traversing the
Seven Valleys in our spiritual journey and less computing data to navigate
our economic lives.

Life's journey is short, and every moment is very precious, so the question
becomes: why spend more time on the material side of our lives rather than
the spiritual side? After all, we cannot take our material possessions with us
to the next world.

A mystic sees death in living and living in death. He sees the beginning in
the end and the end in the beginning. He has learned through experience in
life that everything in this world is transitory, like a mirage. The compass of
his soul is directed straight towards the Beloved, and nothing can distract
him from reaching his heart’s desire. Jewels and gold are like the twinkling
of the stars and nothing more. They just sparkle and have no use for him on
his journey. His soul wants him to spend his time and energies to serve his
fellow human beings. It wants him to give praise and gratitude to his
Beloved and be lost in His love.

Economists and the field of economics represent what the world has to offer
for the sustenance, pleasure and comfort of the body and the senses.
Economics reminds us that no one has seen the next world, so why not be
happy and enjoy everything the material world has to offer to earn more
money so that we can afford to acquire all the luxuries and comforts: the
best house, the best cars, and eating the best food. We can have the latest
and the best the world can offer to us; after all, the whole world, with all its
splendours, was created for us. Why not enjoy the glitter of jewels and gold,

the comforts, the pleasures that all one’s senses can enjoy? The economist
in us wants to master the art of accumulating wealth.

The Baha’i teachings, and the teachings of every great Faith, remind us
about the danger in possessing and acquiring wealth:

It is easier for a camel to fit through the eye of a needle than for a rich
person to enter the Kingdom of Heaven. – Matthew 19:24, Mark 10:25,
and Luke 18:25

… wealth is a mighty barrier between the seeker and his desire, the
lover and his beloved. – Baha’u’llah, The Hidden Words, p. 41.

Here’s a thought: although it may be difficult, spiritual beings do not need
to avoid the world for fear of being drowned in materialism:

To view the worth of an individual chiefly in terms of how much one
can accumulate and how many goods one can consume relative to
others is wholly alien to Baha’i thought. But neither are the teachings
in sympathy with sweeping dismissals of wealth as inherently
distasteful or immoral, and asceticism is prohibited. Wealth must serve
humanity. – The Universal House of Justice, 1 March 2017.

The Baha’i teachings remind us, as individuals or as a civilization, that we
need a balance between mysticism and economics:

Material civilization is like unto the lamp, while spiritual civilization is
the light in that lamp. If the material and spiritual civilization become
united, then we will have the light and the lamp together, and the
outcome will be perfect. For material civilization is like unto a beautiful
body, and spiritual civilization is like unto the spirit of life. If that
wondrous spirit of life enters this beautiful body, the body will become
a channel for the distribution and development of the perfections of
humanity. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 12.

The history of the separation of these two throughout the ages does not
mean that the future has to follow the same way.

We have come a long way—but we have to start a new way of life that
allows us to use both of these gifts for the advancement of ourselves and our
society. As we grasp the spiritual implications of combining the two kinds
of insight and wisdom, we will build the capacity to handle both the
material and the spiritual. We will learn and educate ourselves through the
tests that money can bring and prepare ourselves to avoid unknown factors
that can hamper our goal of combining them. We will develop a vision that
gives us the ability to see the two as one.

Both of these wonderful tools can help us grow and develop spiritually and
materially. The man or woman of the future does not have to escape from
the material world. Awareness of the reality and purpose of spirituality in
the material world will allow humanity to utilize material possessions to
benefit our collective spiritual journey. There should not be a conflict
between the material side and the spiritual side of our lives—they both have
their place and their importance:

We must care for man’s two natures; for as the material man makes
certain demands for food and raiment and if not looked after suffers,
even so his spiritual reality suffers without care. This is why the divine
messengers come to the rescue—to care for the reality, that man’s
thoughts may unfold and his aims become realized, that he many
inherit a new field of progress, for the spiritual side should be cared for
as much as the corporeal; the help that comes is through the
resuscitating breath of the Holy Spirit. – Abdu’l-Baha, Divine
Philosophy, p. 96.

The new race of man will see God in everything, including money and
possessions, so that he can give freely for the betterment of the world.

Finding the Right Home for the Seniors in Our Lives

As I get older, I am more mindful of the end of my physical life. There are
so many things that I am grateful for: I do not worry about work and money,
and I live the retired life of my dreams. No matter how comfortable and
content I am, I am also aware of the eventual fading of my bodily powers
and my effectiveness and that I will be looked upon as someone who needs
to be taken care of and in need of help.

For a long time, I have thought of elders in the senior homes, who, even
though they are still capable, is just passing the time before their next
journey comes.

I believe that the integration of elders has to be each community's goal since
the treasures of the elders’ experience and wisdom will serve the young
generation who need it so desperately. That is why I want to build a home
for the elders and try to make it a place where integration and collaboration
between different age groups become commonplace rather than merely a
dream.

Growing up in the Middle East and living in Iran, India, and China, I was
exposed to different cultures and witnessed how the elders were viewed and
treated. They were looked upon with respect and reverence. As children, we
were taught how to behave in the elders' presence because that was a sign of
the proper upbringing of the children. I am surprised to see the West's
approach towards our elders. Even in North America, except Native
American culture, elders are often seen as a burden on social programs.

Our culture — especially social media — gives the impression that the
world revolves around young people. Hollywood reinforces an unspoken
reality that the world is the playground for the young. It is so hard to
imagine a productive place for the elders in modern society. It often seems
like every movie, television show, and commercial caters to the young.
Frankly, it feels like the only thing left for older people to do these days is
to take their medicine and wait for their turn to die.

This is such a contrast to my awareness as a Baha’i that our souls never age.
The body’s condition should not distract us from nurturing the soul, no
matter how old we are. Our elders have been separated from society to
efficiently take care of their physical needs, and their spiritual and human
needs have been overlooked.

Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith, wrote:

“Know thou that the soul of man is exalted above, and is independent of
all infirmities of body or mind. That a sick person showeth signs of
weakness is due to the hindrances that interpose themselves between his
soul and his body, for the soul itself remaineth unaffected by any bodily
ailments.”

We should approach older people as spiritual beings and ignore their
physical frailties. There is so much that can be accomplished through our
elders’ resources and wisdom — if only society could begin to see them in
the right light. Rather than allowing them to waste away in sanitized homes
where dreams die faster than bodies, we should provide them with the
means to achieve goals they may have set for their golden years.

In 1982, at the first United Nations World Assembly on Ageing, the Baha’i
International Community, an international non-governmental organization
representing the members of the Baha’i Faith at the UN, offered some
suggestions that I recently came across. They wrote:

“That there must be full integration of the aging in the human
community, since the community should be an extended family in
which everyone, of any age, is an essential part, and not only allowed,
but encouraged, to make the fullest possible contribution to the
wellbeing of the whole; and that in considering the needs of the aging in
the process of development we must take into account the wholeness of
the human being, the moral and spiritual dimension, besides his
emotional, intellectual, and physical nature when discussing the special
contributions of older persons to development and their sharing in the
resulting benefits.”

In recent years, the cancer of materialism has eroded some of the old
traditions of respect and care for the elders, but not entirely. My visit to
India was proof. Before I visited, I had never considered building a home
for the elders there because I thought that the rich Indian culture, with its
deep roots in tradition, would reinforce the idea of taking care of elders. I
was shocked to be informed by friends that this was not the case anymore.
Also, adding to the elders’ sad plight was that there were insufficient funds
to help from the government.

I can picture myself in a home with limited interaction with the outside
world. No matter how physically comfortable I would be, my soul would be
starving for other generations’ companionship. I have spent a lifetime of
learning, travelling to different places, and doing amazing things in my life.
I’ve gained so much experience that I would love to share, and I have many
stories to tell.

My dream, which is based on the goal of full integration, is a home where
there will be classes for children, youth activities, art classes, and visitors
coming from near and far to see the vegetable garden and flowers that the
elders have helped grow. I see each elder spiritually adopted by a family
who takes care of them and includes them as members of their families. I
see a home of creative activities where classes are taught by the young and
the elders according to their interests. Yes, it is a dream, but it is a sweet
dream that is worth our energy and resources. After all, without dreams, so
many of humanity’s achievements would not have happened.

We must consider integrating elders into day-to-day life not just for the sake
of respect and love for them but because, in no time, we each will be an
elder experiencing loneliness and isolation. We have to change our mindset
to see the elders as a source of untapped wisdom and knowledge. For the
benefit of society, we can create an environment of comfort with an
emphasis on integration so that before their final flight, none of their dreams
are unfulfilled.

Why the World Needs Meaningful Conversation

When is the last time you had a deep, meaningful conversation with
somebody? Wouldn’t you like to have more of those?

We sometimes spend hours talking to people without it amounting to
anything concrete. Those conversations can build community and
friendships, and we need to have them feel we are part of society. Small talk
helps us connect with people safely without offending or contradicting
them. That is why, in many countries, people talk about the weather, which
seems strange and irrelevant to visitors and a waste of time.

As people get used to making meaningless small talk to connect, they’re
also forced to tolerate and observe hateful, divisive, and hurtful
conversations. These harmful conversations are mostly based on the
supremacy of one political view, ideology, race, religion, and nationality
over others. These subjects and many more have been used to put one set of
people down by criticizing them so that they feel good about themselves.
Observing these conversations is so painful that I’ll take meaningless
conversations about the weather at any time.

At present, the art of meaningful conversation is being gradually forgotten
and has become a rare commodity. Humanity seems to be losing its way of
communicating with each other and is choosing confrontation instead.
Hurtful words are often used to inflict the most harm to the opposite views.
The Baha’i Writings remind us about the importance of being courteous and
sensitive in choosing our words while addressing others, especially those
whose ideas are different from ours. Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of
the Baha’i Faith, wrote:

“Every word is endowed with a spirit, therefore the speaker or
expounder should carefully deliver his words at the appropriate time
and place, for the impression which each word maketh is clearly
evident and perceptible. The Great Being saith: One word may be
likened unto fire, another unto light, and the influence which both exert
is manifest in the world.”

Social media, with all its benefits, has given a new dimension to this
problem. It provides an avenue for anyone to say whatever comes to their
mind under the pretext of “Freedom of Speech.” As a result, some people

have replaced logic and common sense with erratic emotional outbursts that
achieve nothing except create pain and hate.

This phenomenon's other side effect is when people reject any logical and
scientific idea that does not coincide with their views by labelling it “fake.”
Though misinformation and propaganda have been part of media since the
beginning of newspapers, they have only recently reached their highest
peak. It has entered areas of life that were untouched before.

Sometimes, people don’t want to spend their energy investigating the truth,
so they outright reject it since there is the danger of learning that they could
be proven wrong. So, by calling other points of view “fake,” we escape the
chance of learning something new or finding a new way of looking at the
issues, and that will lead to a war of words. These warring parties fight a
bitter battle of conversations as if they are on the battlefield having one
goal: the destruction of the other’s point of view at any cost.

We can’t continue to tread this path of inability. Instead, we need to have a
meaningful conversation so that humanity can choose a united way to build
the future. The world needs to go back to the basic principles of
communication. Learning the art of meaningful conversation and
consultation will help us solve the matters that are tearing our society apart.
We need to see each other not as enemies but rather as fellow human beings
and be forgiving in dealing with one another. Abdu’l-Baha, the son of
Baha’u’llah, wrote:

“Be in perfect unity. Never become angry with one another… Love the
creatures for the sake of God and not for themselves. You will never
become angry or impatient if you love them for the sake of God.
Humanity is not perfect. There are imperfections in every human
being, and you will always become unhappy if you look toward the
people themselves. But if you look toward God, you will love them and
be kind to them, for the world of God is the world of perfection and
complete mercy

Truth is essential to a just, equitable society. Indeed, Abdu’l-Baha wrote,
“The shining spark of truth cometh forth only after the clash of
differing opinions.”

However, the problem lies when we bring the ego into the conversation.
Then, it becomes a clash of egos rather than ideas. That, in turn, leads us to
conflict and hatred. Instead, we need to learn the basic principles of
consultation. Abdu’l-Baha gave us a few points to keep in mind. He wrote:

… must take counsel together in such wise that no occasion for illfeeling or discord may arise. This can be attained when every member

expresseth with absolute freedom his own opinion and setteth forth his
argument. Should anyone oppose, he must on no account feel hurt for
not until matters are fully discussed can the right way be revealed.

The lack of meaningful conversation and consultation is the absence of
moral and spiritual guidelines for proper interactions. Shoghi Effendi, the
Guardian of the Baha’i Faith, provides us with the fundamentals. He wrote:

They must when coming together turn their faces to the Kingdom on
High and ask aid from the Realm of Glory. They must then proceed
with the utmost devotion, courtesy, dignity, care and moderation to
express their views. They must in every matter search out the truth and
not insist upon their own opinion, for stubbornness and persistence in
one’s views will lead ultimately to discord and wrangling and the truth
will remain hidden.

Here is more advice from Baha’u’llah: He wrote that we should speak
“with words as mild as milk” and ‘with utmost leniency and
forbearance so that the sweetness of his words may induce everyone to
attain that which befitteth man’s station.”

Although meaningful conversation looks like a simple statement, its
influence and potential are immense. After all, it is the foundation for
building a communication system to resolve humanity's ever-increasing and
complicated problems.

The Spiritual Meaning of Wealth

One of the world’s greatest driving forces is the desire for wealth. So many
wars have been fought for money, and millions of lives have been lost in the
pursuit of it. Every aspect of modern life is under its spell, and yet we really
cannot define it. Wealth and money mean different things to different
people, and they serve different purposes.

Investopedia defines wealth as: “the value of all the assets of worth owned
by a person, community, company or country. Wealth is determined by
taking the total market value of all physical and intangible assets owned and
then subtracting all debts. Essentially, wealth is the accumulation of
resources. Specific people, organizations, and nations are said to be wealthy
when they can accumulate many valuable resources or goods.”

In simple language, it means all the worldly possessions a person has
accumulated. In economic terms, wealth is explained in many ways — net
worth for individuals and gross national product “GNP” for countries.

Before money was introduced, different societies had their exchange
systems to create wealth and used wheat, rice, salt, cattle, and livestock.
Silver and gold were used before currencies came to be, and since then,
money has become the most common means of measuring wealth.
Considering all that, I’ve been thinking about defining wealth from
a Baha’i point of view. Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i
Faith wrote:

The essence of wealth is love for Me; whoso loveth Me is the possessor
of all things, and he that loveth Me not is indeed of the poor and needy.
This is that which the Finger of Glory and Splendour hath revealed.

This is the spiritual definition of true wealth. I understand it to mean that we
acquire spiritual wealth when we work to develop virtues such as
trustworthiness, truthfulness, assertiveness, compassion, honesty, honour,
prayerfulness, etc.

If we spend our lives developing virtues, we will have something to show
for it when our time in this world of material existence comes to an end, as
these developed qualities will assist us in our next stage of existence.

Developing these virtues will naturally affect our financial and material
lives. For example, as it relates to trustworthiness, Baha’u’llah said:

Trustworthiness is the greatest portal leading unto the tranquility and
security of the people. In truth the stability of every affair hath
depended and doth depend upon it. All the domains of power, of
grandeur and of wealth are illumined by its light.

When it comes to a Baha’i perspective on wealth and money, several
different ways of thinking about materialism come to mind. For
one, Abdu’l-Baha, the son of Baha’u’llah and his designated successor, tells
us that is nothing wrong with being rich or wanting to be wealthy.

Wealth is praiseworthy in the highest degree, if it is acquired by an
individual’s own efforts and the grace of God, in commerce,
agriculture, art and industry, and if it be expended for philanthropic
purposes. Above all, if a judicious and resourceful individual should
initiate measures which would universally enrich the masses of the
people, there could be no undertaking greater than this, and it would
rank in the sight of God as the supreme achievement, for such a
benefactor would supply the needs and insure the comfort and wellbeing of a great multitude. Wealth is most commendable, provided the
entire population is wealthy.

Baha’u’llah reminded us of the purpose of wealth and how it should be
utilized in these words:

O CHILDREN OF DUST!
Tell the rich of the midnight sighing of the poor, lest heedlessness lead
them into the path of destruction, and deprive them of the Tree of
Wealth. To give and to be generous are attributes of Mine; well is it
with him that adorneth himself with My virtues.

Based on my understanding of these quotations, I see wealth as an amazing
tool for service to humanity, and I have not shied away from using my Godgiven abilities to strive to create wealth with this in mind.
However, in striving to earn money, I also work on detaching myself from it
and continually call to mind my purpose of seeking spiritual wealth.
Baha’u’llah cautioned us:

“O SON OF BEING!
Busy not thyself with this world, for with fire We test the gold, and with
gold, We test Our servants.” –

The materialistic and capitalistic world that we live in tries to convince us
that there is no higher goal in life than buying and consuming. In these

confusing times where “the cancer of consumerism” has taken hold of
humanity, the Baha’i teachings tell us to look at wealth and life differently.
Rather than living solely to maximize our pleasure, we can try our best to
love the Creator and seek God’s pleasure and therefore love His creation —
humanity. Instead of focusing only on personal satisfaction, we can turn
away from ourselves and focus on a higher purpose. In this sense, we will
be truly wealthy.

Abdu’l-Baha suggested how to prepare for the end of our lives. He said we
should be as passengers packed and ready for the spiritual journey by
becoming more detached from the material world. At that end of life, wealth
loses its glitter and its charm, and the only thing that will satisfy our soul
would be the fact that we understand the true meaning of wealth and use our
material wealth for the good of others.

A Small Town’s Simple Approach to Peace

Nineteen years ago, one of the churches in our little town started organizing
a Peace Walk on each year's first day. They invited everyone to join, and I
welcomed the invitation as a Baha'i.

Baha’is all over the world actively work for the oneness of humanity and
peace on Earth, so with great joy, I attended the first Peace Walk and have
participated in each one since the beginning.

The Peace Walk’s route takes us through the center of town, and the cars on
the road mostly honk in support of peace. All of my fellow peace walkers
from different groups hold their homemade signs quoting sayings from their
religions or ideologies.

I made a sign quoting Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith: “The
earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.”

After the walk, we all go to a cozy hall in a senior housing facility's
basement. There is no set program since we all know why we’re there. We
come from different religions, and some of us have no faith at all, but we
each know that peace is essential to all of us. That shared conviction creates
a feeling of togetherness for everyone. We spontaneously sing religious and
non-religious songs, recite poetry and give short talks on peace. After that,
everybody is invited to go for lunch at a Sikh temple nearby to enjoy the
delicious homemade food prepared by the Sikh community.

I like many aspects of the Peace Walk but mainly appreciate its practical,
simple approach to creating peace and oneness by sharing ideas, prayers,
music and food with people from different backgrounds. This unity in
diversity appeals to me immensely. It feels like a small family, each
member representing a different country and religion, sitting down to eat
and enjoy each other’s company.

This year, one of the participants said this Baha’i prayer about peace and
unity:

O Thou kind Lord! Thou hast created all humanity from the same
stock. Thou hast decreed that all shall belong to the same household. In
Thy Holy Presence they are all Thy servants, and all mankind are
sheltered beneath Thy Tabernacle; all have gathered together at Thy

Table of Bounty; all are illumined through the light of Thy Providence.
O God! Thou art kind to all, Thou hast provided for all, dost shelter all,
conferrest life upon all. Thou hast endowed each and all with talents
and faculties, and all are submerged in the Ocean of Thy Mercy. O
Thou kind Lord! Unite all. Let the religions agree and make the nations
one, so that they may see each other as one family and the whole earth
as one home. May they all live together in perfect harmony. O
God! Raise aloft the banner of the oneness of mankind. O
God! Establish the Most Great Peace. Cement Thou, O God, the hearts
together. O Thou kind Father, God! Gladden our hearts through the
fragrance of Thy love. Brighten our eyes through the Light of Thy
Guidance. Delight our ears with the melody of Thy Word, and shelter
us all in the Stronghold of Thy Providence. Thou art the Mighty and
Powerful, Thou art the Forgiving and Thou art the One Who
overlooketh the shortcomings of all mankind. – Abdu’l-Baha, The
Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 100.

After a few songs, we all listened to a talk about the need to take care of the
refugees coming to our country from different war-torn places. After that, a
12-year-old Muslim boy sang a very heartwarming song about peace. Then
came the turn of one of the Baha’is, a refugee himself, who talked about the
biggest hindrance to peace—prejudice. He paid particular attention to the
harm religious prejudice can inflict on society. His talk gave the audience,
who were mostly religious, a chance to take stock of their own feelings
about other religions.

He quoted the Baha’i teachings, which tell us about the importance of the
removal of all kinds of prejudices:

Prejudices of religion, race or sect destroy the foundation of humanity.
All the divisions in the world, hatred, war and bloodshed, are caused by
one or other of these prejudices. The whole world must be looked upon
as one single country, all the nations as one nation, all men as belonging
to one race. Religions, races, and nations are all divisions of man’s
making only, and are necessary only in his thought; before God there
are neither Persians, Arabs, French nor English; God is God for all,
and to Him all creation is one. We must obey God, and strive to follow
Him by leaving all our prejudices and bringing about peace on earth.
– Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 131.

Baha’is believe that one of the main hindrances preventing us from
attaining peace today has involved only talking about peace and not taking
real, substantive actions. We have many talks, books, conferences, treaties
and high-minded thoughts about this subject—but not enough actual effort
to achieve true peace:

Love ye all religions and all races with a love that is true and sincere
and show that love through deeds and not through the tongue; for the
latter hath no importance, as the majority of men are, in speech, wellwishers, while action is the best. – Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the
Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 69.

Baha’is make an effort to participate in projects and processes that ensure
peace by actions and not only words. Peace can sometimes seem like an
unattainable dream, but it should not be that way. People on our Peace Walk
have simplified it to small steps of coming out, being visible, and being
heard, which show that we can peacefully unite despite any differences we
may have. There is no reason why we all cannot do the same by reaching
out to like-minded people or organizations and facilitating similar events. In
this way, we can be the active catalysts of peace and not just passive
bystanders on the sidelines.

What Does the “Oneness of Mankind” Really Mean?

I have always thought that I understood the significance of humanity's
oneness as our ultimate goal since, to me, the world’s survival depends on
it.

Moreover, as a Baha’i, I grew up hearing about that central Baha’i principle
all the time, so the concept was imprinted on my psyche early in life.

Since I was interested and thought I had learned the meaning and
implication of humanity's oneness, I began to read more and more of the
writers, poets, philosophers, and great thinkers discussing this concept. I
slowly realized that their ideas often took the hollow form of a slogan or a
cliché. They said and wrote very inspiring things about global unity, no
doubt, but lacked any practical suggestion or plan for how to achieve it.

Recently, as I was reading about man's nature and purpose in the Baha’i
writings, I realized there is more to this concept than I had imagined. After
those spiritual readings, I began to understand that the Creator made our
Earth for human beings, thus giving us our ultimate destiny—to achieve the
unity of humankind establishing God's kingdom on Earth. We are meant to
live a life that God has desired us to live—to nurture our spiritual nature and
live as spiritual beings, united in the way He intended us to ultimately live:

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.
– Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha’u’llah, p. 166.

Can you believe that from the inception of the universe, all these billions of
years, this goal has driven our destiny?

After that realization, I tried to examine this discovery's implications with
new insight and attempted to understand what I missed all these years and
what I need to relearn. I came across this quotation from the Baha’i
teachings that enabled me to look at God’s plan's details. It clearly pinpoints
the areas that we have to work on to get to our ultimate goal:

Let there be no mistake. The principle of the Oneness of Mankind—the
pivot round which all the teachings of Baha’u’llah revolve—is no mere
outburst of ignorant emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious
hope. Its appeal is not to be merely identified with a reawakening of the
spirit of brotherhood and good-will among men, nor does it aim solely
at the fostering of harmonious cooperation among individual peoples
and nations. Its implications are deeper, its claims greater than any
which the Prophets of old were allowed to advance. Its message is
applicable not only to the individual, but concerns itself primarily with
the nature of those essential relationships that must bind all the states
and nations as members of one human family. It does not constitute
merely the enunciation of an ideal, but stands inseparably associated
with an institution adequate to embody its truth, demonstrate its
validity, and perpetuate its influence. It implies an organic change in
the structure of present-day society, a change such as the world has not
yet experienced … It calls for no less than the reconstruction and the
demilitarization of the whole civilized world—a world organically
unified in all the essential aspects of its life, its political machinery, its
spiritual aspiration, its trade and finance, its script and language, and
yet infinite in the diversity of the national characteristics of its
federated units. – Ibid., pp. 42-43.

There is no doubt in my mind that the unity of humankind is inevitable, but
the question of how and where the changes have to happen to achieve it has
yet to be answered. To create a world organically unified in all the essential
aspects of its life, there must be a fundamental transformation in all areas of
human life.

You may ask how it can be done. I have simplified the whole concept for
me. As I understand it, the practical way of doing this—or at least the first
step in its achievement—is to introduce spirituality and humanity into every
aspect of life. For me, there are two ways of working towards this goal:
first, internally, which means working on learning more, meditating more,
purifying my life and becoming more spiritual each day. Second, externally,
it means offering whatever I have learned or gained to contribute to all my
life’s activities and the advancement of civilization. In this small, individual
way, I try to play my part.

We all have a part to play.

As just one example, our present economic system is sick and dying. It
cannot meet the needs of humanity. The gap between rich and poor grows
wider, increasing the suffering of the masses. It is time to re-examine the
fundamental assumptions that this system was built on and replace them
with humane, moral and spiritual ones. A shift in thinking is needed. By
introducing spirituality into our economic activities, we can take steps to lay

the foundation for a better economic future. We have the solutions and the
technology to build a new system; all we need is the resolve and the will.
Everyone has an inherent power—and responsibility—to contribute.

Introducing more spiritual qualities into our lives lays the foundation for a
new society and economic system. Some of those goals may seem idealistic,
but Baha’is are idealists, dreaming of a better world and then actively
working to make it happen. No great achievement can take place without a
goal or dream. Without those aspirations, civilization would not have
progressed from the Stone Age to where we are now.

We are all privileged to live in a time when the oneness of humankind
grows nearer, even though we have to deal with the chaos and confusion
related to the disintegration of the old order it is destined to replace. We
have all the tools and the blueprint for the unity of humankind. As people
come closer in physical connection and the degree of the separation of
humanity shrinks, the challenge now is to bring the hearts and minds of the
people closer through spirituality.

Millennials and Generation Z- Thank God They Are
Not Like Me

In most societies, it’s common for older people not to trust the judgement of
younger people. The reason usually given is that youth lack experience.
And this is true — young people don’t have the same amount of experience.
But this reasoning never satisfies me because it ignores some of the insight
and courage of younger generations.

Working with young people most of my professional life, I’ve observed an
increase in criticism of millennials and the generation after them.
Generation Z. I see this on social media and hear it in my conversations, and
I feel this attitude has become more extreme.

As the world's confusion and problems have increased in recent years,
younger generations are getting more than their share of criticism. Many
Baby Boomers wonder if there will be enough workers to care for them
when they have to depend on the services they should see for the rest of
their lives. At the same time, millennials and Generation Z wonder if there
will be any future at all for them.

When I was young, I also had my share of older people saying I lacked
experience. But within the Baha’i community, I was so proud to hear adults
say, “Youth can move the world.”

It’s a quote that comes from the Universal House of Justice, the global
governing body of the Baha’i Faith:

Undoubtedly, it is within your power to contribute significantly to
shaping the societies of the coming century; youth can move the
world. -The Universal House of Justice, Baha’i Youth Spiritual
Empowerment Program
I think millennials are not following in the footsteps of older generations
because the world's problems have led them to believe that they alone
understand the gravity of the situation. After all, it directly affects them.
They are the ones who have to solve it. In that way, I say, thank God they
are not like my generation.

My aim is not to discredit the Baby Boomers, my generation, or the
generations that came before. We worked hard and attained some
significant achievements, but sadly, it often feels like those were mostly
material achievements, and some of them came at a great price. The mistake
that was made was an overemphasis on achieving wealth at any cost,
believing that wealth signified progress.

What previous generations missed — and we are still missing — are the
spiritual and moral goals to offset the damage created by excess material
progress.

For man two wings are necessary. One wing is physical power and
material civilization; the other is spiritual power and divine civilization.
With one wing only, flight is impossible. Two wings are essential.
Therefore, no matter how much material civilization advances, it
cannot attain to perfection except through the uplift of spiritual
civilization. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace
This lust for material progress has brought us to such a critical state that
younger generations feel there will be no future left for them to enjoy. Their
cries and protests can now be heard all over the world.

The Baha’i teachings uphold the belief that the young generation will bring
about a new order and maintain its governance. So, I am very clear about
my attitudes towards young people and have devoted my energies to
encouraging and supporting them in any way possible.

The world's present problems are overwhelming and beyond our
generation's capacity because our solutions are outdated and ineffective.
The world needs a new and fundamental change in its outlook and approach
to tackling the ever-increasing crisis of the world:

The present condition of the world — its economic instability, social
dissensions, political dissatisfaction and international distrust – should
awaken the youth from their slumber and make them inquire what the
future is going to bring. It is surely they who will suffer most if some
calamity sweep over the world. They should therefore open their eyes to
the existing conditions, study the evil forces that are at play and then
with a concerted effort arise and bring about the necessary reforms
— reforms that shall contain within their scope the spiritual as well as
social and political phases of human life. – Shoghi Effendi, March 13,
1932 to an individual believer, published in “Baha’i News” 68 (November
1932), p. 3.
I believe the recent challenges of our time have awakened the youth and
brought forward many individuals that have exemplified passion, wisdom
and devotion to such an extent that they inspire admiration. Our future
depends on the tender shoulders of the millennials and Generation Z. They
can certainly use all the help and support they can get from my generation
to undo the mistakes that we have made.

Fasting the Time of Spiritual House Cleaning

Those who know me are aware of my love for fasting. I have participated in
the Baha’i Fast, 19 days in March, of abstaining from food and drink
between sunrise and sunset, every year since the age of 15. Please don’t
misunderstand me. Even with all these years of experience, my body has
never liked it and has made it clear to me that it does not share my
enthusiasm.

Baha’i fasting is both a physical and spiritual exercise, which is why I am
so attracted to it. The Baha’i teachings explain that fasting:

…is the cause of awakening man. The heart becomes tender, and the
spirituality of man increases. This is produced by the fact that man’s
thoughts will be confined to the commemoration of God, and through
this awakening and stimulation surely ideal advancements
follow. – Abdu’l-Baha, Star of the West
I love fasting because I know as a human being during my daily life. I
unknowingly subject my soul to many impurities. With this awareness,
fasting has become my annual “House Cleaning.”

In the same way that people clean their houses in the West before Christmas
or in Iran before the New Year (Naw-Ruz), I clean with my soul.

My friends who are from different religions can’t understand why I put
myself through this hardship. They think the Baha’i Fast is not a good idea,
but their concern allows me to inform them that fasting has been a part of
most religions. When food is always available in modern life, people have
forgotten about fasting to the extent that now they find it a strange practice.
However, history gives us evidence of the existence of fasting in most
cultures and religions.

Fasting has been part of coming-of-age preparations for adulthood. Boys
from native cultures in North America would fast in the wilderness, seeking
a vision of a guardian spirit. Hindus have some form of fasting, which is an
avoidance of a particular food. Generally, the ladies fast for the sake of their
husbands. The Sadhus of India and Sufis fast and meditate for
enlightenment. Modern Jews fast for 24 hours as a penance.

Fasting is also very much part of priests' lives — holy men of various
societies would fast in preparation for particular rituals. In most mystical

and monastic traditions, fasting is practiced as a means of purification.
Roman Catholics traditionally abstain from meat on days associated with
the passion of Christ. Added to that list are the Manifestations of God, who
fasted and meditated to commune with God.

Islam is one religion that strictly tries to observe the law of fasting. In
addition to obligatory prayer, fasting is the Muslim's essential ritual
obligation; it is one of Islam's five pillars. Fasting in Islam consists of
deliberately abstaining from all food, drink, and sexual relations from the
first light before dawn until the last light. The Qur’an explicitly states that
fasting is an obligation and has been central to earlier religions.

It is important to remember that the essence of fasting is the spiritual part of
fasting. If depriving oneself of food was a sign of spirituality, then all the
food-insecure people in the world would be holy men and saints.

For this material fast is an outer token of the spiritual fast; it is a
symbol of self-restraint, the withholding of oneself from all appetites of
the self, taking on the characteristics of the spirit, being carried away
by the breathings of heaven and catching fire from the love of God. –
Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha
I believe that all the spiritual laws of God are for humanity's benefit, and the
direct gain is for the individual who obeys them and follows them.

Each year, I pretend that I do not know anything about fasting and read the
Holy Writings with an eager soul to uncover their mysteries. I also try to get
rid of the filth attached to my soul through meditation. In a way, it is a time
of self-examination, and as I get older, I find more benefits in fasting.

Science has now found that intermittent fasting is very beneficial for our
bodies. It maintains that the body gets to direct its energies towards repairs
by not eating for a length of time. This does not surprise me at all because I
am discovering the wisdom and physical benefits of it. I am waiting for the
day when humankind gets the chance to experience the sublime feeling of
detachment from the body’s need for food and focus on cleansing the
spiritual aspect of their lives to start the process of the unification of
humanity.

It may look strange to connect fasting with unity, but if we think deeply, we
realize that the lack of a spiritual approach to the issues causes most
conflicts and problems. That makes fasting and praying the most effective
tools. Souls are linked together with a string of divinity.

The Baha’i Writings tell us:

The Fast is essentially a period of meditation and prayer, of spiritual
recuperation, during which the believer must strive to make the

necessary readjustments in his inner life, and to refresh and
reinvigorate the spiritual forces latent in his soul. – Directives from the
Guardian
This year, I hope to introduce my mind and soul to fasting and experience
the sense of purification by following this instruction for my spiritual
betterment.

We Need to Replace Money as a Measure of Success

Humanity needs a new yardstick to measure achievement—today, we
quantify it with money and material gain, the worst possible way to evaluate
real success in life.

Money serves as an inadequate way to measure life’s achievements. How
can a solely materialistic tool pass judgment and render a verdict on our
life’s attainments?

We need to replace money as a measure of success with a more spiritual or
humane one. However, that would necessarily involve a revolution in our
current system of values in fighting the cancer of materialism that has eaten
into every fabric of our lives and endangered the future of humankind and
the planet.

One of the world's most significant driving forces is and has traditionally
been the desire for money. So many wars have been fought for it, and
millions of lives have been lost for it. No aspect of modern life seems
immune from its spell.

Accordingly, we have to look for a better place to invest our God-given gift
of life with all its talents and abilities. This gift of life—meant to be spent
on acquiring spiritual qualities, knowledge, and the sciences and arts—does
not focus on transitory achievements and material goods. Life serves a
higher cause than money.

So, the time has come to try to create and define a new and comprehensive
yardstick that covers all areas of our lives, reflecting our spiritual and
human achievements alongside the material ones. This new yardstick will
help us understand and work on all aspects of our lives—not just material
prosperity. Then, we can rationally decide the importance of money or lack
of money in our lives and to what extent we have to invest our energies in
it.

The Baha’i teachings say there is nothing wrong with money as a tool as
long as we’re aware of its use and its danger in relation to our lives total
goals. It can be given value for measurement, then, as long as it serves its
purpose:

Wealth is praiseworthy in the highest degree, if it is acquired by an
individual’s own efforts and the grace of God, in commerce,
agriculture, art and industry, and if it be expended for philanthropic
purposes. Above all, if a judicious and resourceful individual should
initiate measures which would universally enrich the masses of the
people, there could be no undertaking greater than this, and it would
rank in the sight of God as the supreme achievement, for such a
benefactor would supply the needs and insure the comfort and wellbeing of a great multitude. Wealth is most commendable, provided the
entire population is wealthy. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Secret of Divine
Civilization, p. 24.

If we move our measurement of achievement away from money, what
should our yardstick measure? Since the spiritual and human qualities aren’t
always tangible, we might want to change our focus to the many inner
human character virtues accepted in most religions and moral codes. Here
are just a few:

Trustworthiness, truthfulness, assertiveness, caring, cleanliness,
compassion, confidence, consideration, courage, courtesy, creativity,
detachment, determination, enthusiasm, excellence, faithfulness, flexibility,
forgiveness, friendliness, generosity, gentleness, helpfulness, honesty,
honour, humility, idealism, joyfulness, justice, kindness, love, loyalty,
mercy, moderation, modesty, obedience, orderliness, patience, peacefulness,
prayerfulness, purposefulness, reliability, respect, responsibility, reverence,
self-discipline, service, steadfastness, tact, thankfulness, tolerance, trust,
unity …

The list could go on and on, but some of these virtues have been
emphasized in the Baha’i writings and other religions—truthfulness and
trustworthiness, to name just two. These important qualities are good
starting points. But first, we have to change our way of thinking and accept
that our human and spiritual qualities are more important than our material
possessions. We have to expand our minds and souls to grasp the
importance of spiritual and moral attributes over tangible gains. That
process can start by reviewing what the Baha’i writings have to say about
these valuable qualities:

Trustworthiness is the greatest portal leading unto the tranquility and
security of the people. In truth the stability of every affair hath
depended and doth depend upon it. All the domains of power, of
grandeur and of wealth are illumined by its light. – Baha’u’llah, Tablets
of Baha’u’llah, p. 37.

Truthfulness is the foundation of all human virtues. Without
truthfulness progress and success, in all the worlds of God, are

impossible for any soul. When this holy attribute is established in man,
all the divine qualities will also be acquired. – Abdu’l-Baha, quoted by
Shoghi Effendi in The Advent of Divine Justice, p. 26.

Suppose we adopted trustworthiness and truthfulness as moral measuring
tools to reflect our spiritual progress more than money. In that case, that
new yardstick could become a source of encouragement for many people
who think they have failed in life. This would create a new way of getting
rich in a real sense and leaving the rat race of material acquisition—a step in
the right direction that leads towards transformation into a new race of more
spiritual human beings.

We cannot readily visualize such a yardstick now, but this will become
clearer to us as we progress spiritually. If humankind sets the right course to
survive, it has to shed some of the old values and criteria used to measure its
progress in the past. New measures have to be adopted—like finding a new
yardstick to replace the money. Money has played its part in the past, but it
renders us a great disservice and has become the creator of great miseries
worldwide. The sooner we start this adjustment, the sooner we’ll get on
course to prepare the world for true progress.

Ditching the ‘Survival of the Fittest’ Mentality

Most people think that human beings are fundamentally competitive, and
they may be right if we look at human history. Industrialists and economists
believed that Darwin’s theories justified an economy of vicious competition
and inequality. This has left us with a legacy that says that the corporate
economy — where wealth stays in the hands of a few — is best for
humanity. This was always a distortion of Darwin’s ideas. Darwin, in his
book “The Descent of Man,” states that the human species had succeeded
because of qualities like sharing and compassion:

Those communities, which included the greatest number of the most
sympathetic members would flourish best, and rear the greatest
number of offspring. – Charles Darwin

He was not an economist, but wealth-sharing and cooperation have always
looked more consistent with his conclusions.

Studies and research have been done on animals and humans to highlight
the benefits of cooperation. One of them was done by Michael Tomasello,
who has done years of studies and concluded that the result in the study of
animals showed that social selection had favoured cooperation. He wrote:

Individuals who attempted to hog all of the food at a scavenged carcass
would be actively repelled by others, and perhaps shunned in other
ways as well.

Humanity began its existence during the Stone Age when the survival of the
fittest was the rule of the time. It had to compete with the elements and hunt
for food for its survival. Unfortunately, as man’s intellect developed and his
economic circumstances improved, he did not have to be the fittest to
survive, but he behaved in the same manner. It is an accepted philosophy
that competition is praiseworthy at any cost and in all manners without
considering the consequences. Economic theories are constructed on this
philosophy, and it has become second nature in most capitalistic societies.
Baha’i Writings do not agree with this philosophy.

In a talk in Washington, D.C. in 1912, Abdu’l-Baha, the son of Baha’u’llah,
the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith, said:

In the world of nature we behold the living organisms in a ceaseless
struggle for existence. Everywhere we are confronted by the evidences
of the physical survival of the fittest. This is the very source of error
and misapprehension in the opinions and the theories of man who fail
to realize that the world of nature is inherently defective in cause and
outcome and that the defects therein must be removed by education.

In another talk at Stanford University that same year, Abdu’l-Baha
explained:

In nature there is the law of the survival of the fittest. Even if man be
not educated, then according to the natural institutes this natural law
will demand of man supremacy. The purpose and object of schools,
colleges and universities is to educate man and thereby rescue and
redeem him from the exigencies and defects of nature and to awaken
within him the capability of controlling and appropriating nature’s
bounties.

Although collaboration is getting more recognition these days, it still has
been entirely ignored in the economic field. The recent pandemic has
highlighted both sides. We have seen the ugly side when different countries
and states compete to buy the equipment to fight the virus, which led to
skyrocketing prices that the developing countries can never afford. We can
find countless examples of collaboration between individuals, communities,
nations, and companies. People went out of their way to cooperate and share
their resources. I read a social media statement that caught my attention:
“Collaboration is our world’s most essential value right now.”

It briefly explains the importance of collaboration instead of competing. It
looks to me and many others that humanity's survival depends on this
essential human quality instilled in our soul’s DNA by the creator.

This is how Abdu’l-Baha described cooperation:

Regarding reciprocity and cooperation: each member of the body
politic should live in the utmost comfort and welfare because each
individual member of humanity is a member of the body politic and if
one member of the members be in distress or be afflicted with some
disease all the other members must necessarily suffer. For example, a
member of the human organism is the eye. If the eye should be affected
that affliction would affect the whole nervous system. Hence, if a
member of the body politic becomes afflicted, in reality, from the
standpoint of sympathetic connection, all will share that affliction since
this (one afflicted) is a member of the group of members, a part of the
whole. Is it possible for one member or part to be in distress and the
other members to be at ease? It is impossible! Hence God has desired

that in the body politic of humanity each one shall enjoy perfect welfare
and comfort.

Time has come to do away with old habits of competition that have stayed
with us from our primitive days. Even though the scenario has now
changed, we still compete for territory instead of hunting and fighting;
firms, businesses, and corporations compete in the same spirit of
destruction. The big fish eats the small fish, which is considered a success.
But it is time for the fish to live and collaborate. We must educate ourselves
to eliminate this remnant of Stone Age behaviour, which has no place in
modern society.

There is nothing wrong with competing. We have seen even in the writings
that encourage competing in the service to humanity. If we want to
compete, it should be in the spiritual realm; we should strive to be the most
generous person and kind. That is the real competition.

That is a healthy and spiritual competition that creates no harm and just
increases the level of service to God and humanity. I am waiting for the day
when the phrase “Survival of the Nicest” becomes more popular and
appreciated.

Should We Fear God or Love God?

The phrase “fear of God” creates strong feelings in the hearts of most
people. Yet, it has been used in the writings of religions throughout history.

According to Wikipedia, fear of God “refers to fear or a specific sense of
respect, awe, and submission to a deity.” People subscribing to prevalent
monotheistic religions might fear divine judgment, hell, or God’s
omnipotence.

Growing up, my knowledge of the fear of God was very elementary. Like
most people, I had a fear of going to hell and suffering for eternity. When I
did something terrible, God the all-seeing, I used to think that He would see
my actions and think of a punishment sooner or later. And then I would pay
for my sins. Gradually, I came to understand it better.

I am sure people who do not believe in a higher power see the whole
concept of God's fear as a gimmick to control the ignorant. I do not blame
them for thinking that since sometimes, I struggle to understand it.

However, after referring to the Baha’i writings, my vision has changed.
First, I realized that God is not someone who is waiting for us to make a
mistake and punish us.

Abdu’l-Baha, the son of Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i
Faith, explained that “God is the Father of all. He educates, provides for
and loves all; for they are His servants and His creation.”

A recent personal experience also made me think differently. I have a
beautiful garden with many varieties of flowers and fruit trees. It has been
my prize material possession and a source of fantastic pleasure. I share the
fruits with everyone in the community. Flowers attract birds and insects,
and among them are a few families of hummingbirds who enjoy the flowers
that I have planted for them. I have put out a feeder specifically for them. I
was not surprised to see that they enjoyed the feeders so much that they
decided not to migrate. Instead, these hummingbirds have stayed the winter
with me for the past few years. I put out the feeders for the whole winter
since no flowers or other food sources exist.

Last year was extremely cold, and for more than a month, the temperature
went below zero. The feeder would freeze at night, which meant that I had

to defrost the feeder every morning and put it out again. They knew the
routine and were always waiting for me, chirping to tell me to hurry up.

One day, as I was putting out the feeder for them and watching their
happiness, it dawned on me that they would die if I did not feed them. Then
I realized how much I loved them and how sad I would be without them. I
had even cancelled a trip to take care of them. How I wished that they knew
how much I loved them. They didn’t realize that their life was in my hands
— or that I made sure they were provided for — because of my love for
them. Nobody asked me to do that.

At that moment, I felt how God must think about us. He loves us, and
because of that love, he created us. He did not have to do it, but he created
the whole universe, and all he wished was that we try to know him and
show our love to him.

That opened my spiritual eye, and the fear of God disappeared. I thought
about how all I had to do was follow his teachings that had been given to
humanity through his manifestations. Without divine guidance, humanity
cannot find the right path to spiritual progress. Abdu’l-Baha explains:

Some imagine that an innate sense of human dignity will prevent man
from committing evil actions and insure his spiritual and material
perfection. That is, that an individual who is characterized with natural
intelligence, high resolve, and a driving zeal, will, without any
consideration for the severe punishments consequent on evil acts, or for
the great rewards of righteousness, instinctively refrain from inflicting
harm on his fellow men and will hunger and thirst to do good. And yet,
if we ponder the lessons of history it will become evident that this very
sense of honor and dignity is itself one of the bounties deriving from the
instructions of the Prophets of God. We also observe in infants the signs
of aggression and lawlessness, and that if a child is deprived of a
teacher’s instructions his undesirable qualities increase from one
moment to the next. It is therefore clear that the emergence of this
natural sense of human dignity and honor is the result of education.

In life, we have our role models — someone we love, respect, and admire
immensely. They could be our parents, coach, teacher, or mentor. We do
everything to please them, and disobeying them is the last thing in our
minds. We do that because we know that they love us, and listening to them
is for our benefit.

Baha’u’llah tells us to “Adorn your heads with the garlands of
trustworthiness and fidelity, your hearts with the attire of the fear of
God.”

In my spiritual immaturity and limited brainpower, I see God’s love and the
fear of God as the same. So, in my mind, when I read the Baha’i writings on
this subject, I replaced the word “fear” with “love,” and then it all made
sense to me.

Baha’u’llah wrote of “the fear of God, a fear that encompasseth all
things, and reigneth over all things,” and he wrote that “We have
admonished Our loved ones to fear God, a fear which is the fountainhead of all goodly deeds and virtues.”

Again, in my mind, I replace the word “fear” with “love.” You can try
replacing the word “fear” with “love,” too.

My fear of God is the fear of me not measuring up to his expectations,
knowing that by not following his teachings, I have deprived myself of his
limitless blessing — his love — and that creates great fear in my heart. I
believe that fear of God is an essential policing tool to help keep my
conscience in check. It serves to remind me of the consequences of not
following the right path.

Profit-Sharing: Does it Make Economic and Spiritual
Sense?

Sharing the profit of any business with its employees pleases my economic
side—and my mystic side.

Profit-sharing makes perfect sense to me to share my understanding from an
economic and spiritual point of view, as an economist and a Baha’i.

First of all, profit-sharing is such a generous action. It demonstrates
sympathy, fairness, caring, unity, and the recognition of equality since
everyone in the business has a sense of ownership when management shares
profits with the workers.

The Baha’i teachings strongly support the sharing of profits with
employees. When owners and management take care of workers, it allows
them to be of service, and of course, it is an incentive and a privilege for
workers to share in their organization’s profits:

It is preferable, then, that some measure of moderation be achieved,
and by moderation is meant the enactment of such laws and regulations
as would prevent the unwarranted concentration of wealth in the hands
of the few and satisfy the essential needs of the many. For instance, the
factory owners reap a fortune every day, but the wage the poor
workers are paid cannot even meet their daily needs: This is most
unfair, and assuredly no just man can accept it. Therefore, laws and
regulations should be enacted which would grant the workers both a
daily wage and a share in a fourth or fifth of the profits of the factory in
accordance with its means, or which would have the workers equitably
share in some other way in the profits with the owners. For the capital
and the management come from the latter and the toil and labour from
the former. The workers could either be granted a wage that
adequately meets their daily needs, as well as a right to a share in the
revenues of the factory when they are injured, incapacitated, or unable
to work, or else a wage could be set that allows the workers to both
satisfy their daily needs and save a little for times of weakness and
incapacity. – Abdu’l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, pp. 316-317.

… the owners of properties, mines and factories should share their
incomes with their employees and give a fairly certain percentage of

their products to their workingmen in order that the employees may
receive, beside their wages, some of the general income of the factory so
that the employee may strive with his soul in the work. – Abdu’l-Baha,
Foundations of World Unity, p. 43.

One of the other benefits of profit-sharing is reducing or eliminating strikes.
Sharing the earnings creates a sense of togetherness and unity so that the
workers will resist the temptation of strikes in favour of friendly
negotiations. The employees will have less reason to strike, knowing that as
a result of a strike, they will lose, too.

Now, let’s examine the concept of profit-sharing from an economic
viewpoint. Many studies have been done in this field, and those studies have
found benefits in terms of loyalty, productivity and taxation. Owen E.
Richardson, in his essay “The Advantages of Profit-Sharing Plans,” breaks
these down:

• Loyalty: Loyalty significantly increases with remuneration. Employees that
are offered an opportunity to participate in a profit-sharing plan invest more
devotion to their position because of the direct reward associated with it. In
addition, it shows the company is invested in the employees and creates a
sense of parity rather than a composition of titles and ranks; employees
envision themselves as transcending associate status and tend to see
themselves as co-owners.

• Productivity: Employees invested in a profit-sharing plan begin to take
ownership of the business as their work role becomes more defined by their
contribution. “A plan that rewards employees with a share of the fruits
of their labour draw a direct connection between work and reward,”
writes Stu Watson for the Edward Lowe Foundation. Productivity maintains
higher levels when employees are given the opportunity to share in the
profit margin they are creating through their efforts rather than being merely
compensated for time on the job.

• Tax Benefits: Employees can use a 401k as a tax deduction tool on their
personal income taxes, reducing their adjusted gross income by sheltering
profit-sharing contributions in a tax-deferred plan. Contributions to a 401k
are only taxed at the time of withdrawal, allowing the employee’s
contributions to growing tax-deferred until the funds are withdrawn or
dispersed in payments.

For those who want to study this subject more, the Harvard Business
Review published an interesting article called “Huawei: A Case Study of
When Profit Sharing Works.”

But I’m convinced that the emotional, psychological and spiritual benefits
of profit-sharing—such as unity, harmony, a happy working environment, a
sense of belonging, having a common interest and a reduction of stress
levels—exceed even the economic benefits.

Baha’is believe we should recognize and study these factors and eventually
give them paramount importance in any economic system.

With its combination of spirituality and economics, this approach satisfies
my belief that science and religion must coexist in harmony, just as the
employer and employee relationship should exist in a state of harmony. If
the unity of humanity is a goal for you, then profit sharing can help bring
that goal much closer.

An Alternative Approach to Prevent Mass Shootings

“There was another shooting in a school today,” a teacher friend of mine
said. “What about writing an article relating to these terrible tragedies?”

My field is economics, so I initially felt hesitant—but I reminded myself
about the many years I worked in the school system. My first and foremost
responsibility was protecting my precious students from the usual drama
and bullying.

I told my friend that I would try, so this is my attempt to share what’s in my
heart about these horrible mass shootings.

At the outset, I admit that I don’t have all the solutions. I’m uncomfortable
even tackling the subject due to its explosive and political nature, the
polarization of emotions it evokes, and my personal experience with
violence. Also, as a Baha’i, I will not insert myself into the party politics
that have become so tied up in this issue.

But these horrific killings must stop, so we need to start somewhere.

We have to remember these mass shooters—these killers of children—did
not come from the moon or some other planet. These disturbed individuals
were and are our kids, our students, our neighbours, our cousins, and even
our friends. Many of them were almost invisible to us, but yet they existed,
and most of us missed the signs of their struggles. We failed to see how illequipped they were to deal with the realities around them, and as a
consequence, we did not help them. Instead, we shunned them,
disenfranchised them or ignored them.

As you can already see, I want to take a self-examining approach to the
problem instead of pointing the finger at the usual people and organizations.
Rather than looking elsewhere, let’s look at ourselves first. I believe we
spend very little time exploring our own roles in this crisis. Consequently,
we don’t do enough to discover how we can empower ourselves and others
to avoid these tragedies.

We can all do things that may lead to preventing more disasters. We can
pay attention to those who are ignored, bullied, or ostracized. We can show
them that we care, build alternative activities that allow them some respite
from their negative environments, and connect them to positive, welcoming

people, courses, and group activities. For example, we can connect them
with Baha’i youth activities that focus on spiritual and moral education and
serve the community. There are countless things we could do if we cared
enough and loved enough.

The Baha’i teachings ask us to love everyone because God, in His wisdom,
knows that love is the real solution. Abdu’l-Baha, who exemplified love all
his life through his actions, said:

Love gives life to the lifeless. Love lights a flame in the heart that is
cold. Love brings hope to the hopeless and gladdens the hearts of the
sorrowful. In the world of existence, there is indeed no greater power
than the power of love. – Paris Talks, p. 179.

When I worked in the educational system, I had some sleepless nights
worrying about some of the kids I knew, who were so full of anger and
frustration that I was afraid that they might do some harm to themselves or
others. Many staff members in just about every school have felt these
experiences.

You might ask: Why were those students so hurt and angry? I would say
because they were not getting enough love, care and attention. Most were
deeply lonely, believing strongly that nobody understood or cared about
them. They craved love, but they were getting anger, punishment and
disciplinary rules that aimed to set them right without addressing the root
cause of their problems.

However, I am not trying to portray mass shooters as victims. I am fully
aware that some had serious issues and needed professional help. Yet, in
some ways, they, too, are, like you and I, victims of a disease that we all are
subjected to, and that is living in societies where we don’t receive enough
love and understanding. I call the cause of this disease vitamin L
deficiency—the absence of love. In most cases, the essentially spiritual
remedy of love can work much more effectively than many other legal
prevention solutions.

Alternatively, we could arm more guards to protect our schools, shopping
malls and public places; we could install metal detectors everywhere, and
we could do more body searches to confiscate weapons—but since those
things aren’t very practical or effective, ultimately, I wish we would spend
our time and resources on how, as a society, we can reach out to those angry
and hurting individuals before they do something wrong.

How can we, as human beings, lessen the emotional burden of people
breaking down under the pressure of life’s problems, which will lead them
to an awful path and guide our children into grave danger? The Baha’i

teachings say we can take action to truly begin to address the Vitamin L
deficiency so many people suffer from: “Love manifests its reality in
deeds, not only in words—these alone are without effect.” – Ibid., p. 36.

If we cared for and loved all human beings and did so with deeds rather
than words, I believe many of those disturbed, angry shooters might choose
a different path. I know this well since I witnessed the drastic change that
love and caring made for many of my own students, who I honestly thought
might do some harm. In all my years of dealing with troubled kids, I learned
to look beyond their anger, bad behaviour and all the negative barriers they
put up in order not to get hurt—because behind all that hostility was usually
a scared little person crying out for attention, who just wanted to be
accepted and loved as we all do.

So we can take the usual route of blaming our governments for lack of
proper gun control, gun makers, violent video games and all the rest of the
players in this sad affair. Still, I strongly suggest we first look at ourselves,
accept some of the responsibility, and resolve to befriend the sad, alienated,
and potentially explosive.

By being aware of our own potential power as a preventive agent in these
mass shootings, combined with proper legal prevention measures and
reasonable safety precautions, we can dream of a day when these tragedies
will be nothing but a bizarre footnote in a very sad and dark period of
human history.

How to Spend Your Money—Spiritually

Do we have to justify our spending to anyone? Most people would answer,
“No—my money is mine, I earned it, and I can spend it any way I want!”

Some people consider themselves hedonists, a school of thought that argues
that pleasure and happiness are the primary or most important intrinsic
goods and the proper aim of human life. Hedonists strive to maximize net
pleasure, so for them, spending any amount of money in the pursuit of
pleasure would seem justifiable.

Entire life philosophies have been built around this idea, including one
called ethical hedonism—the idea that all people have the right to do
everything in their power to achieve the greatest amount of pleasure
possible. Ethical hedonism maintains that every person’s pleasure should far
surpass the amount of pain. Started by Aristippus of Cyrene, a student of
Socrates, ethical hedonists hold the idea that pleasure constitutes the highest
good.

The Baha’i teachings look at life differently. Rather than living solely to
maximize our own pleasure, Baha’is try their best to love the Creator, seek
God’s pleasure, and therefore love His creation—humanity. Instead of
focusing solely on personal pleasure, the Baha’i writings say, we should
turn away from ourselves and focus on a higher purpose:

If thou lovest Me, turn away from thyself; and if thou seekest My
pleasure, regard not thine own; that thou mayest die in Me and I may
eternally live in thee. – Baha’u’llah, The Hidden Words, p. 5.

So try this: take a look at your personal spending in that light.

In one way, our spending reflects our values. “You are what you buy,” as
one writer put it. If you spend primarily on yourself and your own pleasure,
it may indicate a lack of empathy for or awareness of other people's needs.

On the other hand, if most of your spending goes to help others, it is
obvious that you have come to recognize the extreme poverty in the world
and the fact that not much has been done to remedy it. If you’re fully aware
of the great poverty in the world today, you soon recognize that you’ll have
to answer to your conscience for any unnecessary or selfish spending. That

compassionate awareness, and the actions that accompany it, can make our
material choices into spiritual decisions:

Certainly, some being enormously rich and others lamentably poor, an
organization is necessary to control and improve this state of affairs. It
is important to limit riches, as it is also of importance to limit poverty.
Either extreme is not good. To be seated in the mean is most desirable.
If it be right for a capitalist to possess a large fortune, it is equally just
that his workman should have a sufficient means of existence.

A financier with colossal wealth should not exist whilst near him is a
poor man in dire necessity. When we see poverty allowed to reach a
condition of starvation it is a sure sign that somewhere we shall find
tyranny. Men must bestir themselves in this matter, and no longer
delay in altering conditions which bring the misery of grinding poverty
to a very large number of the people. The rich must give of their
abundance, they must soften their hearts and cultivate a compassionate
intelligence, taking thought for those sad ones who are suffering from
lack of the very necessities of life. – Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 152.

No power in the world can force people to re-examine or justify their
spending habits, except the power of our own realization and awareness of
the level of poverty of our fellow human beings who are barely surviving.
By reconsidering your spending habits, you may soon find it hard to spend
money on unnecessary pleasures and desires. Instead, you might find
yourself spending your resources on your essential needs so that you can
have enough left over to help the poor and needy.

The Baha’i teachings gently remind us that we human beings are one—that
every individual is part of the human family. In other words, we’re all
relatives. Would you want your relatives to live in abject poverty, hunger
and want while you spent your resources on luxuries and pleasures for
yourself?

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. –
Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 251.

Baha’is believe that humanity is gradually waking up to the fact that we
have a very important responsibility and duty to look after the poor and
needy, to make sure that they are cared for and live happily. This is a Godgiven duty. They have been entrusted to us, and by caring for them, we take

a step towards the unity of humanity and a future society in which there are
no poor.

Evolution: The Human Race, Maturing Past
Materialism

The popular evolutionary belief declares that we have been created like all
other animals and have evolved to become human beings.

From a Baha’i perspective, that scientific conclusion doesn’t tell the whole
human story.

In fact, that view can be understood in a way that undermines humanity's
spiritual station and destiny. It sets the bar low for working towards our
goals and creates the expectation of violence, wars and other destructive
forces as acceptable behaviour.

That view basically asks: If we’re animals, shouldn’t we act like animals?

However, the Baha’i teachings and all other religions have a very different
view—that we, in essence, are spiritual beings and have been created to
gain human experience. We come from the Creator, which means we have a
spiritual destiny—a spiritual journey to traverse to transform our souls so
that we gain the presence of God:

God in his wisdom has created all things. Nothing has been created
without a special destiny, for every creature has an innate station of
attainment. This flower has been created to mirror forth a harmonious
ensemble of color and perfume. Each kingdom of nature holds
potentialities, and each must be cultivated in order to reach its
fulfillment. The divine teachers desire man to be educated that he may
attain to the high rank of his own reality … – Abdu’l-Baha, Divine
Philosophy, p. 110.

History proves that humanity has not lived a very humane life so far and has
acted too often on its animal impulses. So, in that sense, human history has
not yet begun. The so-called human history to date records a welter of wars,
conflicts, aggression, destruction and misery. To achieve our destiny—to
fully mature into our spiritual reality—humanity must first discover its true
nature and then take steps to begin a spiritual transformation in all aspects
of its collective life.

In order to accomplish that transition, we will need to find ways to
subordinate our lower natures, then find the true purpose of our creation and
move towards it.

At this time in our history, it is almost impossible to imagine the qualities
and abilities of that new, spiritual race of human beings. Because our
understanding is limited and we do not have the spiritual insight to picture
it, all we can do at this time is to continue on our path of personal growth by
relying on the spiritual guidance given to us by Baha’u’llah, keeping in
mind what our Creator intended for our existence:

O Son of Spirit! Noble have I created thee, yet thou hast abased thyself.
Rise then unto that for which thou wast created. – Baha’u’llah, The
Hidden Words, p. 9.

Once we begin the transformation process, we have to redefine many of the
concepts from our past. The definitions of such concepts as success, wealth
and possessions need to reflect their true meanings, connecting our material
achievements and aspirations with spiritual ones:

Then it is clear that the honour and exaltation of man cannot reside
solely in material delights and earthly benefits. This material felicity is
wholly secondary, while the exaltation of man resides primarily in such
virtues and attainments as are the adornments of the human reality.
These consist in divine blessings, heavenly bounties, heartfelt emotions,
the love and knowledge of God, the education of the people, the
perceptions of the mind, and the discoveries of science. They consist in
justice and equity, truthfulness and benevolence, inner courage and
innate humanity, safeguarding the rights of others and preserving the
sanctity of covenants and agreements. They consist in rectitude of
conduct under all circumstances, love of truth under all conditions, selfabnegation for the good of all people, kindness and compassion for all
nations, obedience to the teachings of God, service to the heavenly
Kingdom, guidance for all mankind, and education for all races and
nations. This is the felicity of the human world! This is the exaltation of
man in the contingent realm! This is the eternal life and heavenly
honour! – Abdu’l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, newly revised edition,
pp. 89-90.

Past generations have spent so much energy to gain material possessions,
believing them to represent the ultimate goals in life, and, as a result, have
neglected their spiritual needs and growth. Humanity’s vision of itself and
its destiny has been misguided and, in the end, led to nothing of real value
in the eyes of God:

The All-Merciful hath conferred upon man the faculty of vision, and
endowed him with the power of hearing. Some have described him as
the “lesser world,” when, in reality, he should be regarded as the
“greater world.” The potentialities inherent in the station of man, the
full measure of his destiny on earth, the innate excellence of his reality,
must all be manifested in this promised Day of God. – Baha’u’llah,
Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 340.

As we move forward, both as individuals and as the human race, we have to
change our external tools and replace them with spiritual tools and concepts
to guide us to our true destiny. We need to shed our animalistic tendencies
and acquire virtues that will allow us to follow a spiritual path toward peace
and unity.

That means many of the criteria we have used to measure our achievements,
such as money and wealth, have to be transformed into spiritual ones. We
are on a spiritual journey, and our lives should reflect that powerful reality.

In Search of a Moral Economy

The Baha’i teachings advocate for humanity and morality in our economic
activities and incorporate them into our economic systems.

But how does humanity and morality—spirituality, really—fit into an
economic system? To most people, those subjects sound completely
separate.

I’m an economist, so it surprised me when I learned that the first book
written by 18th-century Scottish economist Adam Smith was The Theory of
Moral Sentiments. It was published seven years before his magnum opus,
The Wealth of Nations, which founded modern economic theory and
virtually invented the free market idea. Moral values and modern economy?
It never occurred to me that morality might be part of his philosophy.

But the Baha’i writings also speak of a fundamentally spiritual solution to
the world’s economic problems:

No religious books of the past prophets speak of the economic question,
while this problem has been thoroughly solved in the teachings of
Baha’u’llah. Certain regulations are revealed which insure the welfare
and well being of all humanity. Just as the rich man enjoys his rest and
his pleasures surrounded by luxuries, the poor man must likewise have
a home, be provided with sustenance, and not be in want. Until this is
effected happiness is impossible. All are equal in the estimation of God;
their rights are one and there is no distinction for any soul; all are
protected beneath the justice of God. – Abdu’l-Baha, Star of the West,
Volume 6, p. 5.

Every economist studies The Wealth of Nations, and most will tell you that
Adam Smith’s work is all about the science of making wealth. His ideas
have formed the guidelines for so many economists, and his words are still
the accepted authority on the subject. His influence is still felt, and his
assumptions are still the foundation of economics.

But Adam Smith certainly recognized the inherent danger of wealth, even as
he provided ideas for generating it:

This disposition to admire, and almost to worship, the rich and
powerful, and to despise or, at least, neglect persons of poor and mean

conditions, though necessary both to establish and to maintain the
distinction of ranks and the order of society, is, at the same time, the
great and most universal cause of the corruption of our moral
sentiments.

The Baha’i writings make a very similar point:

… the happiness and greatness, the rank and station, the pleasure and
peace, of an individual have never consisted in his personal wealth, but
rather in his excellent character, his high resolve, the breadth of his
learning, and his ability to solve difficult problems. – Abdu’l-Baha, the
Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 23.

One of the most prevalent concepts in the economy, and one of Smith’s
most significant assumptions, was the concept of the “Invisible Hand,”
which brooked no interference from the government in the economic
marketplace—because Smith’s invisible hand would magically solve the
problems, balance supply and demand and also fix prices in an unregulated
economy. Thus, Smith has been called the founder of “laissez-faire
capitalism” and denigrated for his lack of a moral component in his
economic theories.

But suppose you combine this “invisible hand” idea with Smith’s Theory of
Moral Sentiments, where he says that human beings have a natural tendency
to care about others' well-being. In that case, you get a different picture of
this conceptual framework:

The administration of the great system of the universe … the care of
the universal happiness of all rational and sensible beings, is the
business of God and not of man. To man is allotted a much humbler
department, but one much more suitable to the weakness of his powers,
and to the narrowness of his comprehension: the care of his own
happiness, of that of his family, his friends, his country …. But though
we are … endowed with a very strong desire of those ends, it has been
entrusted to the slow and uncertain determinations of our reason to
find out the proper means of bringing them about. – Adam Smith, The
Theory of Moral Sentiments, p. 3.

Smith’s quotations indicate that he strongly believed in morality. He
discussed the welfare of the individual, saying it depends on the welfare of
all: “No society can surely be flourishing and happy,” he wrote in Moral
Sentiments, “of which the far greater part of the members are poor and
miserable.”

The Baha’i teachings explain how crucial it is to bridge the gap between
extremes of wealth and poverty:

God is not partial and is no respecter of persons. He has made
provision for all. The harvest comes forth for everyone. The rain
showers upon everybody, and the heat of the sun is destined to warm
everyone. The verdure of the earth is for everyone. Therefore, there
should be the utmost happiness, the utmost comfort, and the utmost
well-being for all humanity.

But if conditions are such that some are happy and comfortable and
some in misery, some are accumulating exorbitant wealth and others
are in dire want — under such a system it is impossible for man to be
happy and impossible for him to win the good pleasure of God. God is
kind to all. The good pleasure of God consists in the welfare of all the
individual members of mankind. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of
Universal Peace, p. 312.

The Universal House of Justice recently reminded us of the same important
point:

The welfare of any segment of humanity is inextricably bound up with
the welfare of the whole. Humanity’s collective life suffers when any
one group thinks of its own well-being in isolation from that of its
neighbours’ or pursues economic gain without regard for how the
natural environment, which provides sustenance for all, is affected. -
March 1, 2017.

Smith said, “To feel much for others and little for ourselves; to restrain
our selfishness and exercise our benevolent affections, constitute the
perfection of human nature.”

I am so grateful that I discovered the moral side of economics—and how I
wish more economists would, too. We need to talk about this in our
universities and make it an essential part of economic studies to learn the
relationship between morality and economics.

If the economic system were to truly serve humanity, it should reflect the
human, moral and spiritual values of the people who created it.

A person through his own actions and deeds makes himself loved or
disliked by the people; or through his own unselfish conduct and
behaviour, refined morality and selfless intention, trustworthiness and
rectitude he suffers himself to become favoured and beloved at the
threshold of God. – Abdu’l-Baha, Star of the West, Volume 4, p. 168.

A Way Out of Extreme Wealth

“82% of the wealth generated in 2017 in the world went to the richest 1%.”
That headline led the news today, and it made me feel horrible.

The article went on to say: “The economic lives of 3.7 billion poor did not
improve from last year.”

The news report, seen on TV, in newspapers and all across social media,
said: “A CEO from one of the world’s top five global fashion brands has to
work for just four days to earn what a garment worker in Bangladesh will
earn in an entire lifetime.”

This is not the first time we’ve seen such numbers highlighting the world's
sad economic situation. As I stared at these statistics, my mind tried to
imagine the plight of the poor, and I couldn’t help but wonder how even a
small fraction of that 82% would change the lives of billions of poor people.

It was the only way I could interpret these tragic statistics, and that made
me extremely sad. Then the thought came to me that the hyper-rich 1% also
see this news, which they have seen before, and yet it has not sufficiently
changed their ways. That thought made me feel helpless. I felt hopeless, too,
that this widening gap between the rich and the poor will continue growing
and that no one can stop it. I even questioned our very humanity, which
allows these deep disparities to continue.

Then I decided that I would try to make this story not go away so fast. I
decided to write about it, hoping to bring it to the attention of as many
people as I can reach.

When I see these kinds of grim numbers, they bring to mind the words of
Baha’u’llah:

Why, then, exhibit such greed in amassing the treasures of the earth,
when your days are numbered and your chance is well-nigh lost? Will
ye not, then, O heedless ones, shake off your slumber? – Baha’u’llah,
Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 127.

O Ye Rich Ones on Earth! The poor in your midst are My trust; guard
ye My trust, and be not intent only on your own ease. – Baha’u’llah, The
Hidden Words, p. 41.

One of the central principles of the Baha’i teachings—the elimination of the
extremes of wealth and poverty—directly addresses this disturbing trend:

The inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute
suffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the brink
of war. Few societies have dealt efficiently with this situation. The
solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and
practical approaches. A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing
consultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, devoid of
economic and ideological polemics, and involving the people directly
affected in the decisions that must urgently be made. It is an issue that
is bound up not only with the necessity for eliminating extremes of
wealth and poverty but also with those spiritual verities the
understanding of which can produce a new universal attitude.
Fostering such an attitude is itself a major part of the solution. – The
Universal House of Justice, October 1985, The Promise of World Peace, p.
3.

There is not much that can be said about what this news and these statistics
indicate. To me, they indicate a sick economic system that favours the rich
and ignores the plight of the poor while humanity stands on the sidelines
and watches it continue.

But the Baha’i teachings recommend a solution:

The fundamentals of the whole economic condition are divine in nature
and are associated with the world of the heart and spirit. This is fully
explained in the Baha’i teaching, and without knowledge of its
principles no improvement in the economic state can be realised. The
Baha’is will bring about this improvement and betterment but not
through sedition and appeal to physical force—not through warfare,
but welfare. Hearts must be so cemented together, love must become so
dominant that the rich shall most willingly extend assistance to the poor
and take steps to establish these economic adjustments permanently. If
it is accomplished in this way, it will be most praiseworthy because then
it will be for the sake of God and in the pathway of His service. For
example, it will be as if the rich inhabitants of a city should say, “It is
neither just nor lawful that we should possess great wealth while there
is abject poverty in this community,” and then willingly give their
wealth to the poor, retaining only as much as will enable them to live
comfortably. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, pp.
238-239.

I hope we soon wake up to the reality that we could be the instruments of
the change the Baha’i teachings call for—and begin to act to make it a
reality. Even small actions can instill this change by creating empathy for

the poor in our hearts and then doing all we can to remedy this grave
injustice.

So here’s a suggestion: don’t let your social or economic class limit your
horizons, your thinking or your relationships. Whether you’re poor or rich,
find a way to cross those economic barriers to meet and get to know people
from other classes and conditions.

We all can make a difference by our actions, big or small. To stop this
trend, we have to do some soul-searching and come to a course of action.
We cannot close our eyes to these kinds of statistics and do nothing.

Are Economic and Political Changes Leading Us
Towards a Global Government?

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the world and our way of life have
changed. New attitudes and a new way of thinking have to be adopted.
What is happening has highlighted the plight of the poor and the need for
the governments and other agencies to step up and do all they can to help
— because this epidemic is killing more of the underprivileged and people
living in poverty.

Many celebrities, sports figures, and other wealthy people have gotten their
wake-up call and realized that there is more to life than accumulating
wealth. Financial institutions have relaxed their lending rates and reduced
credit card interest. There is a sense of unity even with some warring parties
across the world. They have ceased fighting because they have found a
bigger enemy in the virus. Though these attitudes have not come
organically, they are welcome changes, and they make me happy in these
stressful times.

It makes me happy because these are steps towards the right path. As
Abdu’l-Baha, the son of Baha’u’llah, the Prophet-Founder of the Baha’i
Faith, said in a speech in London in 1911:

The arrangements of the circumstances of the people must be such that
poverty shall disappear, and that every one as far as possible, according
to his position and rank, shall be comfortable. Whilst the nobles and
others in high rank are in easy circumstances, the poor also should be
able to get their daily food and not be brought to the extremities of
hunger. – Abdu’l-Baha, Abdu’l-Baha in London

It is not just the ordinary and the rich who have re-examined their priorities.
From the local to the international level, the leaders of all levels of
government have started to see the world differently. They’re changing their
ideas and, more importantly, their vision to correspond with communities'
new demands.

These changes have necessitated the need to do away with the old and
narrow view of the past. Many people are instead sensing a need for an
international body to coordinate the efforts and resources to ensure the
welfare of the whole of humanity that has been so drastically affected.

To Baha’is, the world government has been foreseen, and its need is
emphasized since it is an essential means of unifying humankind.
Baha’u’llah wrote that:

The time must come when the imperative necessity for the holding of a
vast, an all-embracing assemblage of men will be universally realized.
The rulers and kings of the earth must needs attend it, and,
participating in its deliberations, must consider such ways and means
as will lay the foundations of the world’s Great Peace amongst men.
Such a peace demandeth that the Great Powers should resolve, for the
sake of the tranquility of the peoples of the earth, to be fully reconciled
among themselves. Should any king take up arms against another, all
should unitedly arise and prevent him. If this be done, the nations of
the world will no longer require any armaments, except for the purpose
of preserving the security of their realms and of maintaining internal
order within their territories. This will ensure the peace and composure
of every people, government and nation. – Gleanings from the Writings of
Baha’u’llah

The concept of world government has been envisioned by religions,
philosophers, poets, writers and great enlightened men and women, but it
has been a hard sell to the politicians. However, recent events have made
experts and seasoned politicians raise the alarm for a need for universal
efforts to deal with what we are experiencing.

“We face a crisis unlike any other. To overcome it, we must unite,” António
Guterres, the Secretary-General of the United Nations, said in a statement.
Also, Guterres asked “for a global ceasefire to focus on our common enemy
— the virus” and called for collective action. “Together, we will defeat this
virus and rebuild a fairer world — as united global citizens and united
nations.”

Gordon Brown and Tony Blair, both ex-prime ministers of the United
Kingdom, have called for a global fund to fight the spread of coronavirus
and highlighted the need for a universal body to deal with it. Brown also
called for a temporary global government to manage the medical and
economic crises caused by the pandemic.

“We need some sort of working executive,” Brown said. Recalling efforts to
tackle the 2008 financial crisis, he added: “If I were doing it again, I would
make the G20 a broader organization because in the current circumstances,
you need to listen to the countries that are most affected, the countries that
are making a difference and countries where there is the potential for a
massive number of people to be affected — such as those in Africa.”

For me, based on the Writings of the Baha’i Faith, there is only one
solution: the unification of the world because united, we are stronger to face
the challenges that the future has stored for us. May these challenges
eventually lead us to a brighter future. As the Baha’i Writings tell us:

God grant that the people of the world may be graciously aided to
preserve the light of His loving counsels within the globe of wisdom. We
cherish the hope that everyone may be adorned with the vesture of true
wisdom, the basis of the government of the world. – Baha’u’llah, Tablets
of Baha’u’llah

Making Economics Serve Humanity

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 poor and underprivileged sufferings. I see the everwidening 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 change the
economic system to make it more sensitive to people’s needs and inject
morality and spirituality into it to serve 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 is assumed that people only think of
their interests and do not concern themselves with others' plight. 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.
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.

The Spiritual Cost of a Higher Standard of Living

Without a doubt, the standard of living has improved since the Industrial
Revolution, particularly for many in the West.

A time not long ago, phones, colour TVs, and cars were only for the rich,
and the poor could only dream of having them. But now, even poor people
in developed nations own cell phones, colour TVs and computers.

Even children from poor or rich families, as early as the age of three or four,
have cell phones and assorted sophisticated electronic toys. The adults also
have their toys: airplanes, ride-on lawnmowers, boats and motorcycles.

The sad part about all these expensive toys: you do not have to have money
to buy them because you can get a loan. With all our material possessions,
we have come to believe we are better off than before and that we have
improved the material quality of life. We think that acquiring more
possessions will make us feel happier and more comfortable—but unbridled
acquisition only starves the soul and makes us less and less happy. Our
souls feel trapped in the clutter of material goods. The Baha’i teachings tell
us:

All around us today we see how man surrounds himself with every
modern convenience and luxury, and denies nothing to the physical and
material side of his nature. But, take heed, lest in thinking too earnestly
of the things of the body you forget the things of the soul: for material
advantages do not elevate the spirit of a man. Perfection in worldly
things is a joy to the body of a man but in no wise does it glorify his
soul. – Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, pp. 62-63.

If we use happiness as a criterion, many of us have begun to realize that we
are less happy despite our higher standard of living than people were before.
Why?

Perhaps because the more we have, the harder we have to work to maintain
that standard of living—and the more we work, the less time and energy we
have to nurture our minds and our souls through meditation, reading books,
playing music, painting, spending time with family and friends, and helping
others. Those things can bring us true happiness, as Abdu’l-Baha explains:

If man is bereft of the divine bestowals and if his enjoyment and
happiness are restricted to his material inclinations, what distinction or
difference is there between the animal and himself? In fact, the
animal’s happiness is greater, for its wants are fewer and its means of
livelihood easier to acquire. Although it is necessary for man to strive
for material needs and comforts, his real need is the acquisition of the
bounties of God. If he is bereft of divine bounties, spiritual
susceptibilities and heavenly glad tidings, the life of man in this world
has not yielded any worthy fruit. While possessing physical life, he
should lay hold of the life spiritual, and together with bodily comforts
and happiness, he should enjoy divine pleasures and content. – Abdu’l-
Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 335.

Almost all agree that our current economic system provides more goods and
money—but having more may not necessarily be the best. The philosophy
of “more is better” has led to a mentality of acquiring as many material
goods as possible. That mentality has created a sickness in society that
measures achievements on the basis of having more possessions and
disregards the emotional and spiritual aspects of one’s life.

This lack of spirituality is the root cause of most of the world's problems,
and Baha’is are encouraged to introduce spirituality in any way possible
into their economic activities. This can be as simple as saying a prayer for
the poor or as grand as initiating a multi-billion dollar project to eliminate
poverty or eradicate the disease. It could be by paying fair prices, avoiding
wastage, being honest in insurance claims or giving to charitable funds.

Some mistake a higher standard of living for prosperity. To have more does
not translate into being happier. According to the Legatum Prosperity Index,
prosperity:

• Is a home to grow, to raise a family, a community where we belong, is
people who care.
• Is compassion and generosity, is health, is education, is truth and integrity,
in politics, in media, in business. Is peace and safety.
• Is in opportunity to work, earn, save, get ahead, innovate, take risks,
succeed (or fail).
• Is freedom from hunger, disease, slavery, poverty, conflict, to speak our
minds, to vote, to follow our beliefs. Is hope, space to breath and time to
recharge and re create.
• Is becoming the best I can be and helping others to be the best they can be.

Baha’is believe in true prosperity and are aware of its greatest threat:

… true prosperity, the fruit of a dynamic coherence between the material
and spiritual requirements of life, will recede further and further out of

reach as long as consumerism continues to act as opium to the human
soul. – The Universal House of Justice, 2 March 2013.

The question remains: do we want a higher standard of living at any cost, or
do we want true prosperity for ourselves and for all? The decision is ours,
and the price to pay is ours, too.

How Much Profit Margin Do You Need, Anyway?

The world of economics is based on profit. Without it, there would be no
motivation to start a business or company—the whole system would fail.

After all, why would anyone exert so much effort for no profit? Sure, a few
people work for free, but their motivation is not to earn a livelihood. In
today’s world, competition has become so stiff that most companies employ
consultants, research firms, agencies, and even psychologists to guide them
in increasing their profits.

That’s all well and good—but with the pressures in this materialistic world,
the desire for profit can easily get out of hand and devolve into greed. When
that happens, those in business want more and more and to get more, they
lose their sense of reality and forget to ask themselves this question: “How
much is enough?”

Most entrepreneurs and business owners can recall how little they expected
as a return on their investment when they started their businesses. But sadly,
as their businesses grew, their greed often grew with it, to the point that
there was no limit to their desire for more profit. Unfortunately, as greed
increases, it overshadows many of our human values and morals.

The Baha’i teachings recognize the concept of greed in a unique manner:

In the innate nature of things there is no evil—all is good. This applies
even to certain apparently blameworthy attributes and dispositions
which seem inherent in some people, but which are not in reality
reprehensible. For example, you can see in a nursing child, from the
beginning of its life, the signs of greed, of anger, and of ill temper; and
so it might be argued that good and evil are innate in the reality of man,
and that this is contrary to the pure goodness of the innate nature and
of creation. The answer is that greed, which is to demand ever more, is
a praiseworthy quality provided that it is displayed under the right
circumstances. Thus, should a person show greed in acquiring science
and knowledge, or in the exercise of compassion, high-mindedness, and
justice, this would be most praiseworthy. And should he direct his
anger and wrath against the bloodthirsty tyrants who are like ferocious
beasts, this too would be most praiseworthy. But should he display
these qualities under other conditions, this would be deserving of

blame. – Abdu’l-Baha, Some Answered Questions, newly revised edition,
pp. 248-249.

Baha’u’llah warns us not to waste our lives on those blameworthy aspects
of greed:

Why, then, exhibit such greed in amassing the treasures of the earth,
when your days are numbered and your chance is well-nigh lost? Will
ye not, then, O heedless ones, shake off your slumber? – Baha’u’llah,
Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 127.

These Baha’i teachings clearly demonstrate how dangerous greed can be
and how important it is to be aware of and resist this danger. This task
becomes more significant because where there is greed, there is also envy—
these two are closely related. To combat them, we need to increase our
awareness by drawing strength from the world’s great Faiths' spiritual
teachings.

What’s the opposite of greed? Contentment. The Oxford Dictionary
definition of contentment is “a state of happiness and satisfaction.” When
you’re content, you evince a mental or emotional state of satisfaction with
life—you’re at ease in your situation, body, mind, and soul.

A contented life is characterized by thanksgiving for what we have rather
than moaning about what we don’t have or what the advertisements or
comparisons to our neighbours tell us we ought to have. Contentment
directs our attention towards gratitude for what we have. If you have a
house, a car or a business, be happy that you have them—since millions
dream of having them. If you have a business that provides you with
sufficient profit to live a comfortable life, be happy with that, rather than
thinking you need more profit and more things. No matter how many
possessions you accumulate or how much profit you make, if you are not
satisfied with them, then your efforts will not give you peace of mind or
peace in your heart:

Contentment is real wealth. If one develops within himself the quality
of contentment, he will become independent. Contentment is the
creator of happiness. When one is contented, he does not care either for
riches or poverty. He lives above the influence of them and is
indifferent to them. – Abdu’l-Baha, quoted in the diary of Ahmad Sohrab,
Star of the West, Volume 5, p. 17.

Be content with what you have; rejoice in the way things are. When you
realize there is nothing lacking, the whole world belongs to you. – Lao
Tzu, Tao Te Ching, Ch. 44.

So if you run a business, be content with a reasonable margin of profit.
Being satisfied with earning a just enough profit will create a sense of
contentment and provide an example to others. It will also gradually
increase your business volume because those who are satisfied with a lower
profit margin can offer lower prices.

It takes great strength and inner conviction to be satisfied and content with a
set amount of profit—but doing so leads to a peaceful heart and the
heavenly feeling of contentment that greed can never offer.

Why the Lessons of COVID-19 Give Me Hope for
Global Unity

When I was a child, my parents taught me that the goal of my faith,
the Baha’i Faith, was the oneness of humanity, and my primary duty was to
serve humanity in achieving that goal. Even as a child, I understood
working was important and thought everyone would see it that way.
To motivate me, I memorized quotes about unity from Baha’u’llah, the
prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith, such as these:

‘Ye are all the leaves of one tree and the drops of one ocean.”

“Be ye as the fingers of one hand, the members of one body.”

Soon, society taught me that these ideas were just for dreamers who do not
understand people’s lives and real problems in the world. As I grew older,
though, I never questioned my goal. I became more and more aware of the
obstacles. I knew that there were serious problems, but I believed that
solutions could be found if humanity would really try.

There are many reasons humanity has chosen to ignore poverty and
eradicate diseases, just to name two. The main reason is the lack of
willingness, even though all the great religions, poets, and thinkers have
advocated the need throughout the ages. I saw this reasoning as an excuse
for not even attempting to change things.

Without getting into its politics, I’ve been focused on the will to find a cure.
The way the world has dealt with COVID-19 by finding a vaccine in a short
time has proved that when we want something badly, we will find a way to
get it no matter how hard it is.

Despite serious problems in finding a cure for COVID-19 and
manufacturing a vaccine, observing the efficiency with which different
governments communicated and shared information was amazing. How
quickly all the barriers and obstacles were removed! How the world’s
governments cooperated and, more importantly, worked willingly with
vaccine-making companies.

Governments went out of their way to be at the service and wishes of the
vaccine manufacturers. On the part of manufacturers, they cut red tape,
streamlined all their processes, and swiftly came up with an effective
vaccine. It is historical what they have achieved and how quickly they have
produced it and tested it.

As the vaccines were being developed, the most impressive deliberations
were discussions about how the world’s developing nations should not be
left behind regarding access to the vaccine and the need for its affordability.
That demonstrated a consciousness and sympathy for the nations that do not
have the technology or the financial resources. We have proven that
humankind can deal with and overcome huge problems when we tap into
our humanity and solve the issues that threaten the world.

As Abdu’l-Baha, the son of Baha’u’llah and his designated
successor, explained during a talk in 1912 in New York City:

It is self-evident that humanity is at variance. Human tastes differ;
thoughts, native lands, races and tongues are many. The need of a
collective center by which these differences may be counterbalanced
and the people of the world be unified is obvious. Consider how nothing
but a spiritual power can bring about this unification, for material
conditions and mental aspects are so widely different that agreement
and unity are not possible through outer means. It is possible, however,
for all to become unified through one spirit, just as all may receive light
from one sun. Therefore, assisted by the collective and divine center
which is the law of God and the reality of His Manifestation, we can
overcome these conditions until they pass away entirely and the races
advance.

The time has come to understand that humanity's oneness is not a dream or
empty slogan but instead an essential element for facing our problems. We
need to continue to unite using an international approach rather than a
narrow view of nationalism. This pandemic, like the issue of the
environment, made boundaries between countries irrelevant. If we widen
our horizons, it will not be at the cost of love for our country. It shows that
we love our country and want it to prosper and thrive along with the rest of
the world. As Baha’u’llah wrote nearly 150 years ago, “Glory not in love
for your country, but in love for all mankind.”

The urgent task now is to bring the world’s attention to the importance and
urgency of uniting as one human family so that we can deal with the
challenges facing us with our collective energies. It is clear that many world
problems would not have started if there had been unity and cooperation
between people and the world’s governments.

The Universal House of Justice, the democratically elected global governing
body of the Baha’i Faith, beautifully explains it:

The welfare of any segment of humanity is inextricably bound up with
the welfare of the whole. Humanity’s collective life suffers when any
one group thinks of its own well-being in isolation from that of its
neighbours’ or pursues economic gain without regard for how
the natural environment, which provides sustenance for all, is affected.
A stubborn obstruction, then, stands in the way of meaningful social
progress: time and again, avarice and self-interest prevail at the
expense of the common good.
Unconscionable quantities of wealth are being amassed, and the
instability this creates is made worse by how income and opportunity
are spread so unevenly both between nations and within nations. But it
need not be so. However much such conditions are the outcome of
history, they do not have to define the future, and even if current
approaches to economic life satisfied humanity’s stage of adolescence,
they are certainly inadequate for its dawning age of maturity. There is
no justification for continuing to perpetuate structures, rules, and
systems that manifestly fail to serve the interests of all peoples.

The Creator of the universe wishes its people to live in harmony and peace.
The time has come to accept this vital fact that the world’s survival and
prosperity depend on its people’s unity. Science and technology have
created the tools for the unification of the world, and this pandemic proved
how closely we are connected and how we are in it together. Technology
has removed the physical barriers, and now we need to remove the barriers
in our hearts and minds and see ourselves as one race, one people, and one
family.

Is ‘Fighting’ a Problem the Best Way to Deal with it?

There comes a time when, as human beings, we are powerless to solve some of
our problems. The question remains: how do we want to deal with them? Having
seen my loved ones going through cancer, the words “fighting cancer” have really
struck a chord.

When we talk about ending the world’s injustices — poverty, racism, and sexism,
we tend to use the same language. We often say we are “fighting” these things.
And we absolutely should do everything we can to end these social and spiritual
ills and ensure humanity's unity, peace, and prosperity. Indeed,
the Baha’i writings tell us, “The best beloved of all things in My sight is
Justice.”
The question in my mind is, is “fighting” the only way to face the problems given
to us??

I understand that anger can be the first reaction in grasping the reality of what has
happened, and it is natural to react with rage for a short time. But, scientific
research shows that allowing this emotion to dominate for long periods has a
negative effect on the body.

Common sense and the law of karma (for those who believe in it) encourage us to
live positively since whatever energy we put into the universe will eventually
return to us. You are what you think. Fighting needs anger, and when we are sick,
we need peace more than anger because so much needs our attention. The Baha’i
writings tell us, “Let nothing grieve thee, and be thou angered at none.” But
that, of course, does not mean being passive in the face of illness or injustice.
I wonder if there are other ways of approaching these situations rather than
dealing with them with so much anger, especially since anger and high anxiety
are the last things that the body and soul need.

When one of my most cherished friends got cancer, she was given little chance of
surviving. She deliberately used the word “dealing” rather than “fighting” when
talking about her condition.

Humanity has had to face many difficulties throughout the ages, such as fighting
big animals in the Stone Age or enemies during the great wars in our history. We
needed a fighting mentality that gave us motivation or the force to overcome
adverse situations.

We live in a different world, and our awareness has dramatically improved. We
know what our bodies and souls need to gain the strength to overcome or deal
with difficult situations in life.

We know that peace of mind through meditation and prayers is an essential tool
to solve life-threatening problems. They give us guidance and strength to
empower ourselves to follow a healthy diet of food and exercise and research
other medical treatments to help us overcome the disease. There is a wealth of
writings that guide us in approaching tests and dealing with them.

Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith tells us to see the
tragedies of life with a spiritual eye. He wrote: “My Calamity is my providence,
outwardly it is fire and vengeance, but inwardly it is light and mercy.”
I know so many cancer survivors (including my dear friend) and survivors of
accidents and other tragedies. When asked what helped them, mostly they
mentioned prayer and their family and friends’ good wishes that gave them the
strength to deal with these challenges.

This logic helps me see the situation with a better frame of mind and soul to face
the challenges that will always be part of our lives. Sometimes, our language
reflects our mentality. When we want to fight, we are angry. When we want to do
our best, it may reflect a sense of serenity and acceptance.

We can also consider the “Will of God” and whether we should learn about it. I
believe that it is a critical approach that some have found useful to help them to
do the things within their powers and be detached from the outcome. Following
this practice has created great contentment in me since I am satisfied that I have
played my part and acknowledged that my efforts are not the only deciding
factor. It can enable us to continue our efforts to serve humanity by relying on a
higher power for assistance. As Baha’u’llah wrote:
“Wert thou to consider this world, and realize how fleeting are the things
that pertain unto it, thou wouldst choose to tread no path except the path of
service to the Cause of thy Lord. None would have the power to deter thee
from celebrating His praise, though all men should arise to oppose thee.”
I hope we can become more aware of our limited powers and use them wisely
with a more mature and peaceful approach. The world is full of wars and can do
without my declaration of war on a disease or ideology. We need a new race of
men and women who will do everything to bring justice and unity and spend
those energies educating themselves and others.

3 Spiritual Ways to Avoid Financial Regrets

As I get older, I spend more time reflecting on my life—on the right choices
I’ve made and the regrets about the wrong choices I could have avoided.

This reflection often takes me back to my youth's innocence and ignorance
and what I could have done differently, knowing what I know now. How
deeply I wish someone had guided me to the ideas that would have helped
me have fewer regrets.

So, I’ll try to reach out here with a reminder and a few tips that will
hopefully help reduce the percentage of your regrets in those later years:

1. Know Yourself—then Plan for Your Economic Needs

To have a plan or a goal, one has to know for whom they are planning.
When we plan for ourselves, we should first know who we are—and ask
ourselves: What is the purpose of our lives? The Baha’i writings are very
clear about those fundamental questions:

… man should know his own self and recognize that which leadeth unto
loftiness or lowliness, glory or abasement, wealth or poverty. –
Baha’u’llah, Tablets of Baha’u’llah, p. 34.

One must remember that the purpose of this life is to prepare the soul
for the next. – The Universal House of Justice, Lights of Guidance, p. 359.

After answering those fundamental questions, you’ll need to find the answer
to a second big question: What do I want? Examining who you are will help
you answer what you want.

What we want applies not just to our spiritual needs and aspirations—it
means deciding the financial needs we require to live a fulfilling life.
Contrary to popular opinion, because our materialistic culture has convinced
them that you can never have too much money, many people accumulate
wealth thousands of times more than their needs. They spend all their
energies to get more, while the spiritual elements of life pass them by due to
their preoccupation with gathering and managing wealth. Can you imagine
a sadder tragedy when we know we do not live on this Earth forever and our
days are numbered? The wisdom of the Baha’i teachings advises us to:

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. – Baha’u’llah, The Hidden Words, p. 37.

2. Make a Sound Financial Plan—Spiritually

With the pressure of the world’s many problems weighing on us, we all
need financial and spiritual guidance. People are looking everywhere to find
solutions to problems that have baffled them and made experts confused
and helpless. Even economics can’t escape this problem because so many
economists have completely removed all moral and spiritual values from the
economic system. The Baha’i teachings clearly explain where to look for
the solutions:

The secrets of the whole economic question are Divine in nature, and
are concerned with the world of the heart and spirit. In the Baha’i
Teachings this is most completely explained, and without the
consideration of the Baha’i Teachings, it is impossible to bring about a
better state. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Baha’i World, Volume 4, p. 448.

When we recognize that economics is not simply material but “divine in
nature,” as Abdu’l-Baha said, we can then construct a sound financial plan
for our lives. To do so, we must plan for financial goals that support our
physical existence and smooth the path of spiritual growth.

3. Plan not Only for Yourself but for the Poor

Baha’u’llah’s message of the oneness of humankind implies the prosperity
of all human beings, along with the continuing prosperity and stewardship
of the Earth that supports us all. That was his wish and his command, and
he entrusted taking care of the poor and needy to all of us:

O ye rich ones on earth! The poor in your midst are My trust; guard ye
My trust, and be not intent only on your own ease. – Baha’u’llah, The
Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah, p. 41.

Reducing the sufferings of the poor whose welfare has been entrusted to us
may seem a small task, and this task should have been easily achieved by
now, yet every day, more and more people are becoming poor, destitute and
homeless. Why? Because an insufficient number of people plan beyond
their own self-interests and think of others. Some, of course, think about the
poor but do nothing about their plight:

We know that to help the poor and to be merciful is good and pleases
God, but knowledge alone does not feed the starving man, nor can the
poor be warmed by knowledge or words in the bitter winter; we must
give the practical help of loving-kindness. – Abdu’l-Baha, Abdu’l-Baha in
London, p. 60.

The end result: the global problem of the great extremes of poverty and
wealth threatens our civilization's foundation. If we do not try to take care
of the trust that has been given by God to us, how can we have peace of
mind?

The feeling of reaching out to others and considering them as members of
one’s family changes our outlook, and that process leads to a better view of
the world and our role in it. This gives the mind and soul a sense of peace.
If everyone in the world yearns for peace of mind, then helping the poor can
help you get there. You don’t have to be wealthy to help; everyone can
contribute, no matter how small.

In our next journey, none of us will need money. The material world dies
the moment we die. The only reality left at that point is the inner spiritual
qualities we have been able to gain through our hard work, meditation,
service and sacrifice.

That’s the essence of true planning for the future—ensuring you have
sufficient material resources for retirement and the spiritual resources you’ll
need for your eternal existence. How sad to reach the end of our physical
journey and realize that we have not accumulated enough for the next one
because we were distracted, overwhelmed and obsessed by the material
world and forgot to put away something for our spiritual journey:

Ye are even as the bird which soareth, with the full force of its mighty
wings and with complete and joyous confidence, through the immensity
of the heavens, until, impelled to satisfy its hunger, it turneth longingly
to the water and clay of the earth below it, and, having been entrapped
in the mesh of its desire, findeth itself impotent to resume its flight to
the realms whence it came. Powerless to shake off the burden weighing
on its sullied wings, that bird, hitherto an inmate of the heavens, is now
forced to seek a dwelling-place upon the dust. Wherefore, O My
servants, defile not your wings with the clay of waywardness and vain
desires, and suffer them not to be stained with the dust of envy and
hate, that ye may not be hindered from soaring in the heavens of My
divine knowledge. – Baha’u’llah, Gleanings From the Writings of
Baha’u’llah, pp. 327-328.

The Baha’i teachings guide us toward finding the true purpose of our lives.
They constantly remind us to stay on course, not be distracted by the

temptations of this transient world, and prepare our souls for the moment of
our birth into the next stage of our spiritual life.

Why We Can’t Forget the Pandemic’s Hard-Earned
Lessons

Some countries are gradually lifting COVID-19 restrictions, and we hope that life
will get back to normal soon, but what will that new “normal” look like?

As painful and challenging as the pandemic is, it has brought many issues to the
forefront for humanity to ponder and resolve. We obviously haven’t adequately
dealt with those issues in the past. But as people speak about going back to
“business as usual” when we can fully stop fearing COVID-19, I worry that the
lessons the pandemic brought will be soon forgotten.

Human Fragility — and Our Spiritual Resilience

The COVID crisis has shown us that we are not invincible. No matter how many
inventions and discoveries we make or how many gadgets we create to make life
more convenient, we cannot protect ourselves from future pandemics that will kill
millions of people if we do not come together and overcome our differences. A
tiny virus, we now know, could jeopardize the survival of humanity. That stark
fact has created a rude awakening for many.

However, the pandemic also proved the ingenuity and resilience of the human
spirit gifted to us by God as we rushed to heal the sick, create and distribute
vaccines, and support each other through a global economic crisis.

This resilience had helped humanity progress since the very beginning of our
species when we faced fierce animals, survived famines, and endured wars. The
human spirit can solve problems no matter how difficult and complex they
are. Abdu’l-Baha, the son and successor of the prophet and founder of the Baha’i
Faith, Baha’u’llah, wrote:

Do ye not look upon the beginning of the affairs; attach your hearts to the
ends and results. The present period is like unto the sowing time.
Undoubtedly it is impregnated with perils and difficulties, but in the future
many a harvest shall be gathered and benefits and results will become
apparent. When one considers the issue and the end, exhaustless joy and
happiness will dawn.

The Beauty and Tenderness of Humanity

We took many things for granted until the pandemic reminded us how vital they
are for our emotional and physiological well-being.

For me, the biggest loss was the smiles. I love smiling and joked about how my
smiles were wasted since nobody saw them under my mask. It was such a tragedy
not to touch or hug our loved ones, and I hope that we never forget how essential
that is for our happiness.

As we realized that there are other things in life, money became less important.
We became less concerned with physical appearances. Seeing so many singers
that I admired sing in virtual concerts without the tools to enhance the quality of
their voices was interesting. I could listen to and appreciate their natural voices
more than the professionally produced versions. Hopefully, this time has helped
us accept ourselves and others as we are.

The Importance of Nature

This lesson was interesting for two reasons: one, it affirmed the benefits of
nature’s healing powers for humans’ psyche and happiness; two, it reminded us
of the power of nature to heal itself. During the pandemic, nature made a
remarkable recovery, proving that we can solve our environmental crisis if we
take steps to reduce our carbon footprint.

I hope that seeing these changes has made us more sensitive to nature’s needs and
motivated us to try to protect our environment before it is too late. The Baha’i
writings say:

The elements and lower organisms are synchronized in the great plan of life.
Shall man, infinitely above them in degree, be antagonistic and a destroyer
of that perfection?

“We’re In This Together”

Ordinary people and politicians repeated this phrase time and again. Some used it
as a slogan without fully understanding its implications.

The pandemic exposed, to a greater degree, the disparities in opportunity,
healthcare, and financial security between communities of different races and
genders in the workforce. People of color suffered a greater infection rate and the
greatest economic devastation, on top of a new wave of racially-motivated
violence in the United States, while women were forced to abandon the
workforce at a greater rate than men. While we should have all been in this
together, many found themselves at a disadvantage. Supporters of change convey

that the time of talking has passed, and we need to take action to correct past
errors.

We also learned that we cannot depend on national boundaries to solve the
problem of the pandemic. Although we put restrictions in place for movement,
they exist because we all know that as long as the whole world isn’t vaccinated,
the problem will not be solved.

We have lost so much during this pandemic. Millions of lives were cut short.
Billions of dollars have been spent, and more will be spent on economic recovery.
There are emotional scars to heal. It would be even more tragic if all the suffering
goes for nought and the lessons are forgotten.

The Importance of Prayer and Meditation

During the toughest moments of the pandemic, many of us found solace in prayer
and reconnected with our meditation routines. Many adopted meditation into their
daily lives or strongly felt the need for prayers for their spiritual health — even
those who had not considered prayer as an option for their spiritual health before.

For me, meditation and prayer became an essential part of my daily routine.
These words by Abdu’l-Baha reassured me and helped me see the light at the end
of the tunnel as I strived to function with a positive attitude:

The darkness of this gloomy night shall pass away. Again the Sun of Reality
will dawn from the horizon of the hearts. Have patience, wait but do not sit
idle; work while you are waiting; smile when you are wearied with
monotony; be firm while everything around you is being shaken; be joyous
while the ugly face of despair grins at you; speak aloud while the malevolent
forces of the nether world try to crush your mind; be valiant and courageous
while men all around you are cringing with fear and cowardice … Continue
your journey to the end. The bright day is coming.

The suddenness of the pandemic and the speed with which it spread made us
realize how uncertain life is and how, in no time, our world can drastically
change. It has given us a hint of the problems that could develop if countries do
not work together to solve problems, leaving behind political and financial greed,
and showed us how we might prepare for such events in the future.

I hope that, even if we fully return to “normal” soon, we can carry these lessons
with us so that tragedy may be averted and we can create a more peaceful, unified
world.

Why Can’t We Combine the Best of Socialism and
Capitalism?

Lately, I’ve been surprised at our culture’s heated discussions over socialism and
capitalism. Mostly, the arguments seem politically motivated – so let’s try to get
past the political spin to the actual facts.

At the outset, I should mention that, as a Baha’i, I do not take part in or interfere
with partisan politics. From a Baha’i perspective, which emphasizes the unity of
humanity, it bothers me to see that many valid and beneficial elements of these
two economic systems have been ignored due mostly to differing political views.

As an economist, I see some good in each system. As a Baha’i, I would love to
see humanity combine the best elements of socialism and capitalism in the
interests of re-adjusting the world’s economic systems, as Abdu’l-Baha, the son
and successor of Baha’u’llah, the founder of the Baha’i Faith, suggested:

The readjustment of the economic laws for the livelihood of man must be
effected in order that all humanity may live in the greatest happiness
according to their respective degrees.

In my opinion, a combination of the two would provide a workable solution for a
healthy economic system where individual freedom is respected and at the same
time, social issues such as poverty are approached more effectively.

Socialism and Capitalism: the Conventional Wisdom

Here’s the conventional wisdom: from a capitalist point of view, socialism is evil
and against the spirit of human rights, suffocating individual initiative and
freedom. Those who support socialism, on the other hand, blame corruption,
extreme wealth, and greed as the products of capitalism and their root cause for
much of human suffering.

The truth must sit somewhere in the middle of those polarized viewpoints since
no ideology or concept is without its merits. So, let’s examine the two ideologies
in a different way: by looking at their benefits.

For those who don’t fully understand what capitalism and socialism stand for,
very briefly and in a simple way without getting technical, I’ll attempt to explain
these two systems by drawing attention to their main features. Hopefully, by

throwing a little light on these concepts, we can all be in a better position to judge
them without depending on the misinformation supplied by opposite parties.

Socialism

Simply put, socialism is a populist economic and political system based on public
ownership, like collective or shared ownership of the means of production.
Socialists believe that shared ownership of resources and central planning
provides an equitable distribution of goods and services and a more equal society.
Governments’ role and control of the system’s workings is a vital feature of the
socialistic pattern of an economic system.

The Baha’i writings support the idea and importance of socialism – if done in a
democratic way and in a voluntary spirit, without involuntary wealth
redistribution, force, or compulsion. History shows that the use of force achieved
some socialist ideals of equality, but at the cost of individual rights. Abdu’l-Baha,
in a speech he gave in the United States in 1912, explained:

The question of socialization is very important. It will not be solved by
strikes for wages …In the Bolshevistic principles equality is effected through
force. The masses who are opposed to the people of rank and to the wealthy
class desire to partake of their advantages.
But in the divine teachings equality is brought about through a ready
willingness to share. It is commanded as regards wealth that the rich among
the people, and the aristocrats should, by their own free will and for the sake
of their own happiness, concern themselves with and care for the poor. This
equality is the result of the lofty characteristics and noble attributes of
mankind.

Socialism puts great emphasis on social programs and services for society’s
poorest people. The original teachings of most religions encourage some form of
socialism.

Capitalism

In the simplest terms, capitalism is an economic system in which private
individuals own and control property according to their interests. Demand and
supply freely set prices in capitalist markets in a way presumed to serve the best
interests of society. The main feature of capitalism is self-interest, which impels
each person to make a profit. In that system, governments are expected not to
interfere with the economic system’s functioning.

A pure capitalist system gives freedom to all and seeks only to maximize profits.
This has led to some individuals achieving unprecedented financial success and
extreme wealth – but has also become a breeding ground for greed, with no

concern for the less fortunate people, leading to a system of “haves” and “havenots” that tends to produce great extremes of wealth and poverty.

The Baha’i teachings again support some aspects of capitalism, provided that
some of its elements are changed to make it more effectively serve society. The
Guardian of the Baha’i Faith, Shoghi Effendi, said: “There is nothing in the
[Baha’i] teachings against some kind of Capitalism; its present form, though,
would require adjustments to be made.”

Seeking Truth and Moderation in Economics

The independent investigation of the truth, one of the fundamental principles of
the Baha’i Faith, compels me to try to find the merits of these two economic
systems and see the possibility of combining these two ideologies that are so
important for the progress of humanity – all while recognizing the need for
moderation, as Abdu’l-Baha expressed:

… the best course is therefore to seek moderation, which is for the wealthy to
recognize the advantages of moderation in the acquisition of profits and to
show regard for the welfare of the poor and the needy …

It does not matter what religion or political party we belong to; most of us want to
reduce poverty, increase opportunity, and solve other economic issues. The
capitalists have their solutions, and socialists have theirs, yet the problems remain
unresolved – and have even worsened. Today, the widening gap between the rich
and the poor threatens us all.

I hope that one day, we can put the differences aside and return to the
fundamental needs of humanity by focusing on the welfare of all, regardless of
the method.

The Baha’i teachings can guide us to combine the best concepts, discard the
negatives, and use them to satisfy the world’s needs. Capitalists have the freedom
to build businesses and factories and be successful in generating wealth. The rest
of society can play its part and contribute as long as every community member
can live in comfort and share the benefit of each other’s efforts.

Maybe after the bitter experience of the pandemic, humanity has reached an
excellent time to re-examine the definitions of these two systems and remove the
misunderstanding and political prejudices that have labelled them. Perhaps we
can accept the merits of both systems and combine them into a highly efficient
system that will remedy the economic ills afflicting humanity.

Five Ways to Optimize the Powerful Tool of Baha’i
Consultation

The Baha’i writings offer a treasury of insight and meaning on the complex
subject of consultation – including this quotation from the writings
of Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith:

Consultation bestoweth greater awareness and transmuteth conjecture into
certitude. It is a shining light which, in a dark world, leadeth the way and
guideth. For everything there is and will continue to be a station of
perfection and maturity. The maturity of the gift of understanding is made
manifest through consultation.

Baha’i consultation is an acquired skill, so I try to visualize it in a way that I can
understand. I imagine a filtration system where impurities come through the
system, and the water that carries them is filtered, cleansed, and purified. The
outcome: something beautiful.

My metaphor for consultation oversimplifies the concept – entire books have
been written on it, and many will be written about consultation’s vital toolkit for
the progress of humanity. I’ll attempt to explain it briefly.

What Is Baha’i Consultation?

Baha’is use the tool of consultation to conduct discussion, discourse, and even
administrative meetings. Essentially, it’s a decision-making tool that relies on
seeking many people's views rather than just one. Rather than simply expressing
personal opinions, those who consult together attempt to build a sense of
fellowship, mutuality, love, harmony, and unity. Together, they resolve to search
for the truth by freely expressing their opinions and then weighing all their views
dispassionately. Once an idea is put forth, it becomes the property of the group,
not an individual’s. No one belittles the thoughts of anyone else.

The Baha’i teachings say that decisions made during consultation, with harmony,
purity of motive, and love, will attract divine assistance and, in
the words of Abdu’l-Baha, “causeth the living waters to flow in the meadows
of man’s reality…”

But to my simple mind, consultation represents a unique filtration system, a
spiritual filter for those “living waters” in which we bring all our strengths and
weaknesses as input. When we consult, we enter the discussion from different

backgrounds, with differing baggage, quirkiness, cultures, attitudes, and
knowledge.

Of course, the ideas come from our different approaches, which, when first
examined, rarely look like they match each other. Still, as the consultative process
continues, the impurities get left behind just like a filtration system. When that
happens, people start seeing the validity in each other’s points of view and
discarding the inadequacies not related to that topic. If spiritual Baha’i
consultation is done correctly, it becomes that unique filtration system that takes
all impurities and harmful elements and makes the outcome pure.

However, the purity of this consultation and its result depends on the purity of
motives and our approach to the task. We can do many things to not tax this
system, hinder its efficiency, and make the process efficient and easy.
Preparation, both spiritually and materially, is essential for consultation to work.

I’ll suggest a few ideas that have made the consultative process more efficient for
me – and have increased the purity of the consultation’s filtration system:

1. Dealing with the ego – the “insistent self”

No matter how we succeed spiritually, intellectually, or materially in science,
arts, sports, business or any other field, the greatest enemy within us presents a
constant danger – our own ego.

It can manifest itself in the form of a gesture, a look, a word, or an action, but the
result is often the same. Our egos are always with us, like a volcano ready to
erupt. They need to be constantly supervised by our higher nature.

The Baha’i Faith has numerous teachings and writings to prepare us to face and
handle this daily test. The writings differentiate between our two selves: our
animal, material or lower nature and our spiritual, divine or higher nature. In
consultation, nothing can pollute the process of the discussion more than the
lower nature’s ego – than its attachment to its own viewpoints, ideas, and
preconceptions. When we work on our egos and keep them in check with the
oversight of our higher spiritual natures, our attachment to our opinions and ideas
will gradually diminish. In his mystical book The Hidden Words,
Baha’u’llah wrote, “Loose thy soul from the prison of self.”

2. Prayers

Consultation requires preparing spiritually by praying and meditating before any
discussion occurs. There are so many writings and books on its powers, effects
and benefits. Abdu’l-Baha, the son and successor of Baha’u’llah, gave us the gist
of it, when he said that prayer and meditation: “… creates spirituality, creates

mindfulness and celestial feelings, begets new attractions of the Kingdom
and engenders the susceptibilities of the higher intelligence.”

3. Self-knowledge

Knowing ourselves can produce many benefits, both material and spiritual. When
we know why we do things, we understand our actions. Besides helping us
manage our ego, self-knowledge can help us be aware of our strengths and
weaknesses. Baha’u’llah wrote, “True loss is for him whose days have been
spent in utter ignorance of his self.”

4. Love

Love is the best lubricant for the practice of true consultation. Love is the link
that connects us to God, to ourselves and others. Love makes its functions
effortless. There is no end to love’s powers and usefulness. In a talk he gave in
Paris, Abdu’l-Baha said: “… in the world of existence there is indeed no
greater power than the power of love. When the heart of man is aglow with
the flame of love, he is ready to sacrifice all – even his life.”

5. Humility

We sometimes misunderstand humility, thinking of it as a lack of determination,
but really, it is the freedom from pride and arrogance. True humility – an
extension of self-awareness and self-knowledge – gives us a powerful way to
connect with others and see our own opinions in the proper perspective.
Baha’u’llah wrote, “Humility exalteth man to the heaven of glory and power,
whilst pride abaseth him to the depths of wretchedness and degradation.”

If consultation is understood and carried out effectively, then we can be confident
that we cannot find a better filtration system for conducting our discussions.
Baha’i consultation combines the best of human abilities and our spiritual values,
all gifted to us by the Creator to solve the problems challenging humanity.

Trauma: How Can We Heal Our Wounded Souls?

You’ve likely heard of PTSD – post-traumatic stress disorder – but have you
heard yet about PCSD? That acronym stands for post-Covid stress disorder, a
newly-emerging effect of the pandemic.

Increasingly, mental health professionals are recognizing that the global Covid-19
pandemic has wounded the entire world’s emotions. Our souls suffer from that
trauma. That seems logical since millions have died from the disease, and billions
are at risk, causing severe stress, anxiety, depression, and fear.

Do you feel it? Most people do, and it has led to a wider recognition of the role
trauma plays in

The Impact of Mental Trauma

Many societies around the world have begun to recognize the impact of mental
trauma, no matter the cause. Athletes who have recently withdrawn from the
Olympics and other events emphasize the importance of their emotional health
and well-being by highlighting the stress they feel. This is a healthy sign – their
withdrawal from these events sends a signal that emotional health is more
important than fame, medals, and trophies and gives more people permission to
recognize their own trauma.

Some religions claim that psychological injury or illness can only be addressed
and treated by spiritual teachings and even discourage or prohibit their followers
from seeking medical or psychological advice – but the Baha’i principles
encourage everyone to obtain and follow guidance from competent medical and
psychiatric professionals. In accordance with the core Baha’i teaching of the
agreement of science and religion, Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’u’llah’s son and
successor, wrote that everyone should “maintain your health by consulting
with a highly-skilled physician:”

According to the explicit decree of Bahá’u’lláh one must not turn aside from
the advice of a competent doctor. It is imperative to consult one even if the
patient himself be a well-known and eminent physician. In short, the point is
that you should maintain your health by consulting a highly-skilled
physician.

Medical science has made tremendous achievements in curing our physical
diseases, but sadly we have little advanced understanding of the causes of mental

and emotional ills. However, with greater knowledge of the brain’s functioning in
the future, we will hopefully have a better chance of receiving the correct
remedies for the myriad of mental illnesses and traumas people experience.

Humanity has long dealt with emotional issues at every level in every profession,
but the general advice so far has been to “toughen up.” That approach, which
means failing to recognize and then forcibly moving on through the pain and
stress, simply doesn’t work. Of course, to achieve a goal in life, one must expend
effort, go through some difficulties and stress, and make sacrifices. The question
is, to what extent do the limits of emotional endurance have to be pushed to
achieve those goals?

We have made heroes of people who ignored extreme stresses and pains to
achieve their goals, but few cared enough to find out later about the emotional
and psychological cost of that course of action. What price did those people pay
for their bodies and their emotional health?

Medicating Emotional Problems

One of the few currently available alternatives to just ignoring the inner pain of
trauma – psychoactive medications – has helped many. So far, in our fairly
limited knowledge of how to treat psychological and emotional trauma, the
remedies have generally involved pills of different varieties for every disorder. In
many instances, individuals consult professionals who prescribe medications
along with their counselling sessions. Some of these medications work well, but
others have significant side effects and may ultimately create more problems than
they solve.

During my work in the public school system, it surprised me that many students
who could not cope with the system were given medicine to calm them down.
Sadly, many of them behaved like zombies after taking those medications, which
left them without sufficient energy or drive to accomplish anything.

The reality is that emotional health is very complicated. Many experts are looking
for solutions, but we have not yet progressed to the point that we know how to
determine the root cause of emotional issues, so, in the meantime, we resort to
medicines that may be band-aid solutions. Thankfully, there is increased
awareness in this field, more books have been written, and more support groups
are created every day. Significant improvements have been made in finding new
ways to discuss and tackle these issues.

Spiritual Treatment for Trauma

Based on this Baha’i quotation, though, some people may be better served by
treating them spiritually rather than medically:

Illnesses which occur by reason of physical causes should be treated by
doctors with medical remedies; those which are due to spiritual causes
disappear through spiritual means. Thus an illness caused by affliction, fear,
nervous impressions, will be healed more effectively by spiritual rather than
by physical treatment.

So far Western medicine has mostly avoided treating these kinds of afflictions
with anything but medication. However, we need to further explore the spiritual
methods and solutions for these problems, like counselling, consultation, and
other kinds of more spiritually-based therapies. If we do not approach these
challenges with the right tools, the present solutions may end up as good attempts
but failures nevertheless.

There is no doubt that medical sciences have made significant progress, and the
result is the increase in the life span and eradication of many diseases that in the
past would lead to death or a life of great pain. There are now so many ways to
make every part of the body function better, correct difficulties, and, in some
cases, even replace afflicted body parts.

But it is time to face trauma and the emotional issues it produces with a new and
different approach – to acknowledge that the root cause of many of these issues is
spiritual and then introduce spiritual methods to permanently deal with them. For
example – we now have countless proven and effective methods of relaxation and
meditation in every corner of the world based on some ancient philosophies,
traditions and religions. New techniques are also being invented every day.
Thanks to social media, they are easily accessible in the comforts of our homes.

In many Indigenous cultures, this sort of spiritual healing is an accepted part of
any treatment plan for trauma. In Navajo culture, for example, a spiritual healing
ceremony called a sing is often held for returning war veterans to heal their spirits
from what they encountered in combat.

Prayers are essential for any healing. The Baha’i teachings offer many different
prayers for physical and psychological healing. This one, from Baha’u’llah,
comes from a tablet he wrote to a physician:

Thy name is my healing, O my God, and remembrance of Thee is my
remedy. Nearness to Thee is my hope, and love for Thee is my companion.
Thy mercy to me is my healing and my succor in both this world and the
world to come. Thou, verily, art the All-Bountiful, the All-Knowing, the All-
Wise.

Sometimes, it helps to trust our faith in a higher power, do the best we can, and
detach ourselves from the outcomes. This process can create a higher level of
contentment, which is essential to appreciating our blessings of the things that we
have rather than the things that we do not have and desire.

Physical and emotional illnesses require great efforts to overcome, and having
patience is a great asset to face these challenges. Improvements in health or life
take time, and patience helps survive the difficulties one day at a time.

Most emotional problems can be remedied temporarily with the help of medicine,
but the question remains whether they sufficiently address the origin or the causes
of these issues. The future direction of solutions to mental and emotional
challenges is essential for humanity’s happiness, well-being, and progress. We
have to widen our horizons in search of the most effective answers, and that
search deserves wholehearted and earnest striving on everyone’s part.

Are We Responsible for the Sufferings of Humanity?

This vital question has to be asked by all of us, and we should answer it to our conscience
and our Creator. The answer lies in our role and responsibility as lowly individuals in the
ocean of humanity. No matter how insignificant we feel, we still have a duty to perform for
our fellow human beings. This spiritual duty was given to us the day we were born, but
sadly the distractions of the material world made us forget it.

Humanity, confused and devoid of spirituality, is stuck in its ignorance, facing a crossroads
and has to choose a path forward. The world is hungry for solutions and desperately
searching for them in every outdated and archaic theory and philosophy while we sit on a
treasure chest of remedies. It is time for us to arm ourselves with these remedies, share
them with the high and low of our society, and fulfill our duty.

One of the solutions explained in the Baha’i Writings deals with solving our economic
problems that have reached a critical level where thousands of our brothers and sisters are
dragged into a life of poverty every day.

I have always felt that we are partly guilty for our indifference and inaction to change. My
feelings have not changed since I wrote in 2015 the dedication of my book, “The
Economics of the Future Begins Today”:

“Dedicated to all the poor and underprivileged people of the world who our economic
system has ignored. Their suffering is our failure to make a change.”

I was delighted to come across this quote that confirmed my belief:

“There is so much suffering, such a great and desperate need for a true remedy and
the Bahá’ís should realize their sacred obligation is to deliver the message to their
fellowmen at once, and on as large a scale as possible. If they fail to do so, they are
really partly responsible for prolonging the agony of humanity.” -Shoghi Effendi,
Lights of Guidance, p. 127
Since my field of interest is economics, I concentrate on the sufferings caused by the
mismanagement of the world’s economic resources, which has left billions of people in
misery, not having enough to eat – and others who have billions and find ridiculous ways
of hoarding it or wasting it.

The rest of us, who are neither rich nor poor, can feel powerless about this unjust disparity.
We may think we cannot do anything to bring about a change and must wait for the arrival

of a new system. I do not accept this excuse and believe we can gradually change the
economic system by injecting morality and humanity into it, all while participating in our
own economic activities. The global, democratically-elected administrative body of the
world’s Baha’is, the Universal House of Justice, recently wrote:

Every choice a Baha'i makes — as employee or employer, producer or consumer,
borrower or lender, benefactor or beneficiary — leaves a trace, and the moral duty to
lead a coherent life demands that one's economic decisions be in accordance with
lofty ideals, that the purity of one's aims be matched by the purity of one's actions to
fulfil those aims.

My book on spiritual solutions to the world’s economic problems has a chapter called
"Practical Economic Suggestions for Everyday Use." Here are 9 of them:

1. Changing our mindset. The first action we call all take is internal – by
changing our mindset and recognizing that the Baha'i concept of
economics is fundamentally different and is based on spiritual and moral
principles. Abdu’l-Baha explained it clearly: “The secrets of the whole
economic question are Divine in nature, and are concerned with the
world of the heart and spirit.”

2. Pay a fair price. If you feel that the price of something is too low, pay
more than the asking price. One of the most beautiful things related to
economic activities is the commitment of fair-minded people to disregard
existing prices and pay more because they believe their estimate of the
price to be just.

3. Share profits with employees. The workers need to have a share of the
profits. Besides profit-sharing, there are many ways to help. Get medical
coverage for employees. Support the emotional and physical well-being of
employees. Taking care of workers is a privilege and an opportunity to
serve people. Looking for such opportunities is a beautiful act.

4. Pay fair wages, not based on what society dictates. We do not need to
follow the minimum wage guidelines. Society's wage guidelines should
not prevent us from paying more if we think that is fair.

5. Require reasonable interest rates. If you lend money, ask for a
reasonable interest rate, not the maximum one. The interest rate has to be
fair and reasonable. Banks should not be the only ones setting interest
rates.

6. Participate in social and economic projects. We can help change the
world for the better by getting involved in these kinds of projects – they
can represent a valuable way of learning and contributing.

7. Create a consciousness of the human family. Your welfare, well-being
and happiness ultimately depend on the welfare, prosperity and happiness
of every poor, needy, and underprivileged person in the world. The real
meaning of the oneness of humankind will come into being when we see
others as members of our family. The Universal House of Justice wrote:
“The welfare of any segment of humanity is inextricably bound up
with the welfare of the whole. Humanity's collective life suffers when
any one group thinks of its own well-being in isolation from that of its
neighbours' or pursues economic gain without regard for how the
natural environment, which provides sustenance for all, is affected.”
8. Give generously to those working for minimum wage or earning very
little. We can find ways to pay more to all those working for a minimum
wage, be it in the form of a generous tip or giving more than the asking
price to street sellers who earn a pittance from their sales. How can we
otherwise reduce the gap between the rich and the poor if we do not make
selfless contributions?

9. Be considerate to those who rent from you. Be sensitive to the situation
of everyone. If they are in trouble, be flexible with their rent payments.
Let them miss a payment or part of a payment. Besides your spiritual
satisfaction, you also gain a tenant who cares for you and your property
and will use it as if it's theirs. It makes economic sense since you will
probably lessen the cost of repairs.

Each of these tips can help us apply Baha’u’llah’s spiritual counsel to prefer his brother
above himself. First, though, we all must evolve to the point where we see the oneness of
the human family and see all people as our brothers and sisters.

Can We Have a Flag for Our Planet?

Lately, I’ve been wishing that we had a flag for our planet, along with our national flags.
Wouldn’t it be great to have one universal banner that offers the Earth our commitment,
allegiance, respect, and love?

Actually, the topic of flags has been occupying my mind and soul for a long time, but I
have to start with a disclaimer to avoid misunderstanding or accusations of being
unpatriotic: I am not against any flag or country and have nothing against loving one’s
motherland or fatherland. I think that kind of patriotism shows the existence of passion,
gratefulness, and loyalty.

But I do have a problem when those feelings of patriotism come at the cost of forgetting
our love for our bigger home and the whole Earth.

This feeling is very personal. While watching the Olympics or other sports, I sometimes
feel like I have divided loyalties since I have lived in Iran, India, China, Latin America,
and Canada. Wherever I lived, I felt that it was my country and it was home to me.

As a Baha’i, I’ve taken it as my spiritual duty to obey the laws of the countries where I
live. That experience taught me to realize the true meaning of Baha’u’llah’s powerful
passage from the Baha’i writings:

It is incumbent upon every man, in this Day, to hold fast unto whatsoever will
promote the interests, and exalt the station, of all nations and just governments. …
Whatsoever hath led the children of men to shun one another, and hath caused
dissensions and divisions amongst them, hath, through the revelation of these words,
been nullified and abolished. … It is not his to boast who loveth his country, but it is
his who loveth the world …

With that Baha’i ideal of the oneness of the entire planet, how I wish we had a flag for the
whole Earth – to show our love for it, salute it and even shed tears for its sad situation. By
doing that, in reality, we show love for our individual countries, too.

How I wish we would not kill in the name of a small portion of the planet or wouldn’t hate
people who live on the other side of a borderline drawn, not by God, but by man.

How I wish some of those tears shed when the national anthems are played would be shed
for a flag that represented our entire planet. It saddens me to see so much love being
misplaced. I fear that these strong national sentiments block our love for the wider world
and humanity itself. They may stop us from expanding our minds and souls to see how we
need each other, no matter which side of a border we live on.

How I wish humanity had not divided our God-given planet into different pieces, which
have changed throughout human history due to conflict, violence, and bloodshed.

My feelings, like all Baha’is who consider humanity as one family and the whole Earth as
one country, try to expand our horizons beyond our national and religious allegiances. In a
speech he gave in the United States in 1912, Abdu’l-Baha put it like this:

A fundamental teaching of Baha’u’llah is the oneness of the world of humanity.
Addressing mankind, He says, “Ye are all leaves of one tree and the fruits of one
branch.” By this it is meant that the world of humanity is like a tree, the nations or
peoples are the different limbs or branches of that tree, and the individual human
creatures are as the fruits and blossoms thereof.

There is no shame in loving our home country, but not at the cost of making that a reason
to dislike or hate or make war against others from other parts of the planet.

Sadly, those ready to kill and die for their homeland ignore the needs of our real home, the
Earth. Due to our narrow view of nationalism, our home is in danger of being destroyed.
This statement from the Universal House of Justice, the democratically-elected
administrative body of the world’s Baha’is, points out that fact:

Unbridled nationalism, as distinguished from a sane and legitimate patriotism, must
give way to a wider loyalty, to the love of humanity as a whole. Baha’u’llah’s
statement is: “The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens”. The concept of
world citizenship is a direct result of the contraction of the world into a single
neighbourhood through scientific advances and of the indisputable interdependence
of nations. Love of all the world’s peoples does not exclude love of one’s country. The
advantage of the part in a world society is best served by promoting the advantage of
the whole. Current international activities in various fields which nurture mutual
affection and a sense of solidarity among peoples need greatly to be increased.
Baha’is everywhere heed these words of Baha’u’llah, who wrote: “… obliterate
differences, and quench the flame of hatred and enmity, so that the whole earth may
come to be viewed as one country.”

Humanity has come a long way. I hope that soon, we will reach our collective maturity and
accept that we are all citizens of Mother Earth. She is our true country. Then, we can direct

our energies and resources to the world’s unification and healing the damages our
ignorance and conflict have caused.

I hope that the next time we look at all the world’s flags proudly displayed, we notice that
our planet’s flag is flying high. After all, as Abdu’l-Baha said:

Every one can live in any spot on the terrestrial globe. Therefore all the world is
man’s birthplace … Every limited area which we call our native country we regard as
our motherland, whereas the terrestrial globe is the motherland of all …

Butter Chicken and Oneness of Religions

I am very blessed to still be in touch with my ex-students. It is mainly because our town is
small. They are from all walks of life, and most of them now have children of their own. A
few are the lifeguards at the pool I go to regularly, and a few swim with me and keep me
company in the sauna. One of them is Derek, who has the purest heart and regularly visited
me in my office during his school years, and we kept in touch after my retirement.
He has been to my house helping me with my garden work, and I have cooked food for
him. He told me that he wanted to cook for me and bring it to my home. I said that would
be wonderful.
I asked what he was planning to cook, and he said, “Butter chicken.” I was surprised since
that is an East Indian dish, and he is not an East Indian. I said that it would be good if he
did not make it too spicy and hot. On my part, I told him that I would cook rice and make
the salad.
On the appointed date, Derek called to say that his father had come to visit him from
another town and asked if he could come too. I said that he was very welcome.
It so happened that on that day, I had promised an Iranian Muslim lady that she could come
to my house to pick some fruits. She is new to town, and her work has brought her here.
When she found out that I had some Iranian fruit trees, such as persimmons and medlars,
she was eager to come and get some of them that I had put away for her. She had not eaten
them since she had left Iran, so I invited her too.
After eating the food, we started to talk about the sad situation of the world and all the
crises. Both the Muslim lady and Derek’s father are staunch in their beliefs.
The Iranian lady was furious at the situation in Iran and how the mullahs had lied to people
and misled the public. She believed that they had done things that had damaged Islam.
Derek’s father, a Catholic, was not happy about the role of the clergy in his church, which
made him leave the church. He felt the same as the Iranian lady and said that he was
disappointed with what had happened in the name of Christianity.
They agreed about the negative role of priests and mullahs (they called them God’s
middlemen) in creating hatred and divisions.
As they were talking about this subject, I was thinking of this quote:
It seems both strange and pitiful that the church and clergy should always, in every
age, be the most bitter opponents of the very truth they are continually admonishing
their followers to be prepared to receive! They have become so violently attached to

the form that the substance itself eludes them! -Shoghi Effendi, Lights of Guidance, p.

In my turn, I mentioned that there is no clergy in the Baha’i Faith, and the Baha’is believe
that all religions are fundamentally one and differ only in their social laws. I used the
metaphor that religions are like pure healing water streaming down the mountain, and
clergies use it as a political means, polluting it to the extent that it becomes hazardous to
drink. That is why Baha’is do not interfere with politics.
At the end of our two-hour discussion and sharing our feelings and ideas, we agreed that
the only solution for solving the world’s problems is for all nations to become united in
their efforts and find a religion that combines all the religions in one.
After they left and I did the dishes, I realized what an amazing thing had happened. A
Muslim, a Baha’i and Christians of different ages agreed on the need for a universal and
all-inclusive religion.
It was a miracle that three different people who did not know each other and with solid
religious beliefs expressed their views respectfully and lovingly. There was harmony and
friendliness in the air.
I tried to analyze how this happened and what caused it. I could not reach any conclusion. I
had not planned this. It all started with Derek and me trying to have a meal together.

What made all of us with different age groups and views experience this? It was as if a
mysterious force had taken over the discussion and led us to that conclusion. It is as if “The
Spirit of the Age” we live in has taken over. Maybe it is because of helplessness felt
worldwide due to overwhelming crises that highlighted the need for a solution.
With all its unsolved issues and barely recovering from the pandemic, the world
has been forced to reflect and do some soul-searching to counter the dangers
ahead.

As a Baha’i, I could not reach any other conclusion except that the spirit of unity and
oneness released by Baha’u’llah’s revelation is at work with full force. All we can do is try
to add to its strength; if not possible, do not be an obstacle in its path. The unity of
humankind is not an ideal or slogan. It is the only way out left for the survival of the
wayward humanity.
Shoghi Effendi clarifies this further:

“Let there be no mistake. The principle of the Oneness of Mankind—the pivot round
which all the teachings of Baha’u’llah revolve—is no mere outburst of ignorant
emotionalism or an expression of vague and pious hope. Its appeal is not to be merely
identified with a reawakening of the spirit of brotherhood and good-will among men,
nor does it aim solely at the fostering of harmonious cooperation among individual
peoples and nations. Its implications are deeper, its claims greater than any which the

Prophets of old were allowed to advance. Its message is applicable not only to the
individual, but concerns itself primarily with the nature of those essential
relationships that must bind all the states and nations as members of one human
family. It does not constitute merely the enunciation of an ideal, but stands
inseparably associated with an institution adequate to embody its truth, demonstrate
its validity, and perpetuate its influence. It implies an organic change in the structure
of present-day society, a change such as the world has not yet experienced … It calls
for no less than the reconstruction and the demilitarization of the whole civilized
world—a world organically unified in all the essential aspects of its life, its political
machinery, its spiritual aspiration, its trade and finance, its script and language, and
yet infinite in the diversity of the national characteristics of its federated units.”
– Shoghi Effendi, The World Order of Baha’u’llah, pp. 42-43

Maybe now is the time for humanity to reach maturity by accepting that oneness and unity
are the next logical and necessary stage for its advancement.
I am so happy that I am left with the memory of that beautiful night when both my body
and soul relished the delicious food.

The Beauty and Benefits When East and West Meet: My
Experience

I have spent precisely half of my life in the global East and the other half living in the
West. East and West functioned as schools of learning for me, educating me in unique
ways.
I feel like a lucky plant rooted in the soil of the East, watered and nurtured by the West,
and the recipient of the best of both worlds.
History is full of records of the past contributions of the East in culture, art, music,
architecture, sciences and literature. The physical evidence of some of the East’s rich
cultures can still be seen today. The East is the birthplace of Zoroastrianism, Hinduism,
Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Christianity and many more religions. However, in recent
centuries it has fallen behind the West in scientific discoveries and innovations.

On the other hand, the West has been the birthplace of many scientific discoveries that
have advanced humanity and led to a better and more prosperous standard of living.
Western science has discovered the smallest parts of atoms, mapped the DNA of the
human body, and sent spaceships to distant planets looking for signs of life.

If I could describe the relationship between East and West simplistically, I would use the
metaphor of the heart and brain in the human body. With its deep roots in spirituality, the
East functions like the heart, pumping the lifeblood of guidance and values; the West, with
its advancements in science and finance, functions like the brain.

Ultimately, they need to complement one another. The health of the body rests on them
both. The brain sends signals to the heart to pump, and the heart supplies the brain with
oxygen.

In his numerous talks and writings, Abdu’l-Baha mentioned the need for East and West to
reach out to each other, as he did in this speech he gave in Paris:
In these days the East is in need of material progress and the West is in want of a
spiritual idea. It would be well for the West to turn to the East for illumination, and
to give in exchange its scientific knowledge. There must be this interchange of gifts.

The East and the West must unite to give to each other what is lacking. This union
will bring about a true civilization, where the spiritual is expressed and carried out in

the material. Receiving thus the one from the other the greatest harmony will prevail,
all people will be united, a state of great perfection will be attained, there will be a
firm cementing, and this world will become a shining mirror for the reflection of the
attributes of God.

I don’t think I fully understood the implications of this concept until my local Baha’i
community in Canada decided to adopt the Baha’i community of Jaipur in India (where I
spent many years) as its sister community. We wanted to join forces and share experiences.
When I suggested the idea to my community and my Baha’i friends in Jaipur, they were
delighted and wholeheartedly welcomed it.

So we had an initial online meeting to get to know each other better. A few individuals
decided to communicate directly and think of ways to connect some of the youth of the two
communities.

I was so surprised to hear that some of the Indian Baha’is in Jaipur thought they would
never see a Baha’i from the West in their lifetime and how fortunate they were to have this
blessing. Our Baha’i friends here in British Columbia were in awe of seeing the friends
from the East and spending a little time together. This confirmed, for all of us, what the
Baha'i teachings say about uniting the East and the West, as in this talk from Abdu’l-Baha
encouraging the Western Baha’is to interact with their Baha'i family in the East:

Today, the Baha'is of the East are longing with deep desire to see you face to face.
Their highest hope and fondest wish is that the day may come when they will be
gathered together in an assembly with you. Consider well the power that
accomplished this wonderful transformation.

I saw the fruition of this process when our two communities started consulting to do a
project together, which resulted in being virtual guests at the beautiful and elaborate
celebration of their 100th anniversary of the Ascension of Abdu’l-Baha.

Soon, we realized that we were lucky in the West to have financial means, but we lacked
human resources in our small community. In contrast, our friends in Jaipur have ample
human resources, but they struggle with the finances to carry out their activities.

Our community decided to help with their efforts by contributing financially. We felt that
sustainable support was the best way rather than a one-time contribution, and we have
since been sending our share of responsibility for the activities.

Each member of our community feels a sense of pride and accomplishment due to this
beautiful, world-embracing involvement and experience, helping with Baha'i activities

such as children’s classes, junior youth activities, and devotional gatherings there. Friends
in Jaipur are very grateful for our financial support.

Although humanity is closely connected by physical means, the hearts of people can be
very distant from each other. Many walls, such as skin color, nationality, religion, political
views, and language, hinder the East and the West from getting closer.

But whether we come from the East or the West, we each recognize that our world is
getting smaller thanks to improvements in communication and transportation. This has
highlighted the need for unified efforts by all countries and combining resources for the
betterment of the world.

I am not sure that our community’s small attempt to reach out to a community in the East
will reduce the weight of the world’s problems. Still, it surely has given us a sense of pride
that at least we are working to cooperate with our brothers and sisters on the other side of
the planet.

Humanomics: Alleviating Poverty Through Virtues

For many years, I’ve tried to emphasize the need for humanity and morality in our
economic systems – because I believe that lack of morality is the root cause of misery in
the lives of billions of people.

Those people struggle daily to survive in the face of immoral economic injustice.

So in this brief essay, I will try to define economics as it is now practiced in most places,
point out its problems, and suggest a remedy.

The complex subject of economics is hard to define, so here’s an easy way to understand it
by going to the original root of the term: economics is derived from the Greek word
"oikonomia," which refers to managing a household or family. This means, obviously, that
an economic system is supposed to help us manage our households – not only in the
individual sense but in the collective one, as well.

Every economic system, then, should exist to help sustain the welfare of all the human
family members so they can, at a minimum, live comfortable lives and share their
resources and earnings. That way, no family member lives in poverty or privation, and
humanity as a whole can live a stable and productive existence. Historically, when great
disparities in wealth exist, it destabilizes entire societies, provoking war and revolution –
so a good economic system ensures prosperity and keeps the peace. The Baha'i teachings
repeatedly call out this basic fact, as Abdu’l-Baha did in this speech he gave in Canada in
1912:

Although the body politic is one family, yet, because of lack of harmonious relations
some members are comfortable and some in direst misery; some members are
satisfied and some are hungry; some members are clothed in most costly garments
and some families are in need of food and shelter. Why? Because this family lacks the
necessary reciprocity and symmetry. This household is not well arranged. This
household is not living under a perfect law. All the laws which are legislated do not
ensure happiness. They do not provide comfort. Therefore, a law must be given to
this family by means of which all the members of this family will enjoy equal wellbeing and happiness.

Is it possible for one member of a family to be subjected to the utmost misery and to
abject poverty and for the rest of the family to be comfortable? It is impossible unless
those members of the family be senseless, atrophied, inhospitable, unkind. Then they
would say, "Though these members do belong to our family, let them alone. Let us
look after ourselves. Let them die. So long as I am comfortable, I am honored, I am
happy – this, my brother – let him die. If he be in misery, let him remain in misery, so
long as I am comfortable. If he is hungry, let him remain so; I am satisfied. If he is
without clothes, so long as I am clothed, let him remain as he is. If he is shelterless,
homeless, so long as I have a home, let him remain in the wilderness."

Such utter indifference in the human family is due to lack of control, to lack of a
working law, to lack of kindness in its midst. If kindness had been shown to the
members of this family, surely all the members thereof would have enjoyed comfort
and happiness.

Sadly, as most of us know, this lack of reciprocal kindness means our current economic
systems do not work well – in the human family, one in ten people live on less than $2 a
day. Globally, one-third of urban dwellers live in slums. What is the problem? Where did
the system go wrong?

Perhaps the problem was exacerbated when Adam Smith, who observed economic
activities in the marketplace as they relate to people's behavior, made some assumptions
and came up with a system. He assumed that everyone wants to maximize their satisfaction
or profits, with self-interest as the major motivation. He also said the market could correct
itself, so no governmental intervention is necessary.

This made sense to many, but Mr. Smith’s system left little room for morality or human
virtues.

However, Adam Smith was a moral person, and many years before he wrote his book The
Wealth of the Nations, he wrote The Theory of Moral Sentiments. In that earlier book,
Smith warned that there is an inherent danger in wealth that can corrupt human society. His
warning was ignored.

In that sense, lack of spirituality contributes directly to the root cause of our economic
problems because we have not included a moral component that would guide our
conscience and actions.

In today’s economic reality, money has become like a religion; therefore, we follow the
practice of everyone in it for themselves, making as much money as they want by any
means. Nobody asks if someone is a good person or evinces praiseworthy actions. Many
consider someone who is poor as a failure because they believe we have been created to
make money and get rich.

It is easy to criticize the system itself, but that does not solve the problem.

Instead, we can all have a hand in reforming the system when we start injecting virtues
gradually and slowly into it, so that it revives itself to become a system that is sensitive to
the needs of humanity, sensitive to the poor people of the world, and responsive to the
spiritual aspiration of human beings.

Every day we can practice virtues like truthfulness, kindness, generosity, and honesty in
our economic activities. These spiritual virtues, common in all religions, create an
environment of generosity, caring, and cooperation – all necessary for the poor to prosper.
We can do the same by injecting human values into the political, educational, and other
systems, because all systems suffer from the same afflictions.

As Baha'u'llah advised us in relation to those without means: "O Ye Rich Ones on Earth!
The poor in your midst are My trust; guard ye My trust, and be not intent only on
your own ease."

We must take action – because our inaction is partly responsible for the suffering of the
poor. If we don't change the system, millions of people will continue to live in misery
every day, deprived of God's purpose for them because they are too busy finding a few
dollars to survive.

We need "Humanomics" – economics with human elements – because we are humans and
aspire to have those qualities and values. You may ask: how can we do this? What is my
role? It is impossible to change a system, so why should I even try? All systems are subject
to change, so, in countless small ways and some large ones, too, we all can make a
difference.

Our actions will lay a solid spiritual foundation for the emerging future global economy – a
balanced, equitable moral system with no room for the greed and extreme wealth that
inevitably accompanies poverty and economic injustice. In that regard, we all need to ask
ourselves a question, the answer to which sets the direction of the path for the rest of our
lives. The question is: How much is enough? If you answer this question, it will lead you
to the virtue of contentment.

In your answer to that question, you’ll create a yardstick that measures your material and
spiritual achievements. That yardstick, which considers spirituality as well as material
things, changes our perspective. At present, sadly, our measurements are incredibly
lopsided.

That personalized economic yardstick involves an important measurement: simple living.
Throughout history, there have been a great many people who were symbols of simplicity.
The Baha'is are blessed to follow the example of Abdu'l-Baha, who lived a simple life,
avoided materialism, and shared whatever he had with others. Simplicity also makes
financial sense, which can relieve us of so many headaches.

The pandemic highlighted the poor's plight, widening the gap even more between the rich
and the poor, and now the war in Europe has dragged millions more into poverty and
starvation. The need for action is dire and urgent. The Baha'i teachings urge every human
being not to close our eyes to the sufferings of members of our human family. Baha'u'llah
wrote this advice to a king:

Fear the sighs of the poor and of the upright in heart who, at every break of day,
bewail their plight ... They, verily, are thy treasures on earth. It behoveth thee,
therefore, to safeguard thy treasures from the assaults of them who wish to rob thee.
Inquire into their affairs, and ascertain, every year, nay every month, their condition,
and be not of them that are careless of their duty.

By introducing spiritual virtues into our economic life, we begin to revolutionize the
economic system within and change it to a humane system that meets the material needs
and spiritual aspirations that God meant for everybody.

“Russians Love Their Children Too”

The renowned musician Sting released a profound song called “Russians” during the last
years of the Cold War after the Western level of fear and hatred of Russians had reached a
peak.
Sting’s song gently reminded us about the fundamental fact that no matter what country or
political ideology we belong to, we are human beings first.

We all have the same basic human emotions, such as love for our children, the lyrics of the
song say:

In Europe and America there’s a growing feeling of hysteria
Conditioned to respond to all the threats
In the rhetorical speeches of the Soviets
Mister Krushchev said, “We will bury you”
I don’t subscribe to this point of view
It’d be such an ignorant thing to do
If the Russians love their children too
How can I save my little boy from Oppenheimer’s deadly toy?
There is no monopoly on common sense
On either side of the political fence
We share the same biology, regardless of ideology
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too
There is no historical precedent
To put the words in the mouth of the president?
There’s no such thing as a winnable war
It’s a lie we don’t believe anymore
Mister Reagan says, “We will protect you”
I don’t subscribe to this point of view
Believe me when I say to you
I hope the Russians love their children too
We share the same biology, regardless of ideology
But what might save us, me and you
Is if the Russians love their children too.

The lyrics seem outdated now, but the message remains fresh and clear. It points us to the
universal fact that parents everywhere love their children, worry about their future, and
fear losing them.

In the bygone days of the Cold War, fear, paranoia, and mistrust reigned. Demagogues
stoked those fears. Americans suspected other Americans of being spies or Russian
sympathizers. Government hearings caused many Americans to lose their jobs in the arts
and entertainment industry; some even went to jail.

Today, once again, the same kinds of hatred and negative feelings have entered the world –
particularly because of the war and the destruction in Ukraine.

The Western mass media’s coverage of this devastating war seems comprehensive and
detailed, especially in its reporting of deaths and bombardments. Many stories of suffering
Ukrainians are reported.

Sadly, in the West, we miss seeing the faces of the suffering on the other side – such as the
dead Russian soldier’s mother and father, who do not even know where their son’s body
lies. These soldiers were forced to leave home to fight a war that they most likely did not
want and were killed, causing great heartbreak for their grieving parents. The Western
media has no access to these soldiers or their parents so that they can share their pain and
agony, and that is a tragedy because “The Russians love their children too.”

Any human death is a tragedy. It does not matter if they are Ukrainian, Russian, American,
or German – the savagery of war has to stop. In a speech he gave in the United States in
1912, Abdu’l-Baha told us why:

For thousands of years men and nations have gone forth to the battlefield to settle
their differences. The cause of this has been ignorance and degeneracy. Praise be to
God! In this radiant century minds have developed, perceptions have become keener,
eyes are illumined and ears attentive. Therefore, it will be impossible for war to
continue. Consider human ignorance and inconsistency. A man who kills another
man is punished by execution, but a military genius who kills one hundred thousand
of his fellow creatures is immortalized as a hero. One man steals a small sum of
money and is imprisoned as a thief. Another pillages a whole country and is honored
as a patriot and conqueror. A single falsehood brings reproach and censure, but the
wiles of politicians and diplomats excite the admiration and praise of a nation.
Consider the ignorance and inconsistency of mankind. How darkened and savage are
the instincts of humanity!

How much longer does humanity need to realize that there is no winning for those who
lose their lives and whose families will grieve and suffer? Sadly, it is mostly young people
who have their whole life ahead of them who must pay the ultimate price in every war.

How much longer do we glorify killings in our psyches and our cultures through songs and
movies? Instead, let’s put all these energies into educating humanity on settling disputes
through reasoning and peaceful methods. At the same time, we can work toward getting
our governments united so they can rise against aggressors and stop them.

In his writings, Baha’u’llah has suggested the path that humanity must follow:

The time must come when the imperative necessity for the holding of a vast, an allembracing assemblage of men will be universally realized. The rulers and kings of the
earth must needs attend it, and, participating in its deliberations, must consider such
ways and means as will lay the foundations of the world’s Great Peace amongst men.
Such a peace demandeth that the Great Powers should resolve, for the sake of the
tranquillity of the peoples of the earth, to be fully reconciled among themselves.
Should any king take up arms against another, all should unitedly arise and prevent
him. If this be done, the nations of the world will no longer require any armaments,
except for the purpose of preserving the security of their realms and of maintaining
internal order within their territories. This will ensure the peace and composure of
every people, government and nation.

We cannot even imagine the amount of money and resources that would be saved by the
nations not stockpiling weapons and maintaining huge armed forces. If we stopped our
warlike ways, all of those savings could be used for constructive purposes such as
eradicating diseases and eliminating poverty.

The news of the Ukraine war has attracted the world’s attention, so it is easy to forget that
some Russians in Russia are fighting for freedom, voicing their opposition to this war, and
going to jail for speaking out.

As we mourn every death in Ukraine mourn the destruction of the country and other parts
of the globe; let us also grieve with the mothers and fathers of the dead Russian soldiers
who died by following orders. Those parents loved their children, too.

Now is an excellent time not to get carried away with hate to take the path of moderation.
We can all pray for peace and remind ourselves that not every German is a Nazi, not every
person from the Middle East is a terrorist, and not every Russian is a warmonger. The unity
and peace of our entire species depends on our ability to transcend national boundaries
and, as Baha’u’llah taught, to consider ourselves world citizens.

The Spiritual Benefits of Navigating Through Misinformation

The spread of misinformation and lies has now extended into multiple aspects of our lives,
eating away at humanity’s fundamental realities. It has paralyzed so many that they have
lost hope for the future.

People feel confused about what to believe and struggle to find the truth everywhere.

Not long ago, people were used to getting their news from newspapers, radio, and
television, and for the most part, they trusted those sources – but now information comes
filtered through so many untrustworthy, commercialized, partisan outlets that convey the
exact opposite. Finding the truth requires searching through all kinds of misinformation
and even a plethora of outright lies to discover what all the contradicting views and facts
really mean.

Baha’is Must Independently Investigate Reality
Perhaps that’s one of the reasons Baha’is have a spiritual duty to investigate for themselves
and not follow others blindly. In a talk he gave in Washington, D.C., in 1912, Abdu’l-Baha
said:

The first teaching of Baha’u’llah is the duty incumbent upon all to investigate reality.
What does it mean to investigate reality? It means that man must forget all hearsay
and examine truth himself, for he does not know whether statements he hears are in
accordance with reality or not. Wherever he finds truth or reality, he must hold to it,
forsaking, discarding all else; for outside of reality there is naught but superstition
and imagination.

This principle represents a great challenge facing humanity. What we need is a higher level
of personal investigative abilities so we can each find truth.

The invention of printing and later mass media like radio and television, and now the
internet, has made it easy to spread lies and half-truths to a large number of people. With
the exponential increase in how many people mass media-driven information can now
reach, things have gotten progressively more complex and complicated – but hopefully,
our understanding and intellectual abilities will keep pace with these changes.

Now, in order to determine the truth, we must train ourselves and our intellects to do more
research and dig deeper to find the facts – and that process can sharpen our intellects and
add to our discernment. We need moral guidance to become savvier and more

knowledgeable because when we try to discern the truth, it requires us to learn the bare
facts and what those facts actually mean. Investigating more deeply will serve us well and
benefit our collective human development. A dedicated search for the truth gives us
investigative insights that can penetrate through the thickness of misinformation to get to
the reality of any statement or situation.

Our God-Given Truth-Seeking Capabilities
The Baha’i teachings say that the Creator has given us this ability to determine what is true
and what is not, and it is up to us to use it. Abdu’l-Baha said:

God has given man the eye of investigation by which he may see and recognize truth.
He has endowed man with ears that he may hear the message of reality and conferred
upon him the gift of reason by which he may discover things for himself. This is his
endowment and equipment for the investigation of reality. Man is not intended to see
through the eyes of another, hear through another’s ears nor comprehend with
another’s brain. Each human creature has individual endowment, power and
responsibility in the creative plan of God. Therefore, depend upon your own reason
and judgment and adhere to the outcome of your own investigation; otherwise, you
will be utterly submerged in the sea of ignorance and deprived of all the bounties of
God.

The truth, however, isn’t just a set of concrete circumstances – it goes far beyond mere
facts, and crosses over into the realm of values. This means we each have to adopt a set of
over-arching principles or values that allow us to measure what is right and compare it to
what is wrong.

When we make these changes in our thinking and in our approach to reality, they allow us
to evolve to a higher level of understanding.

Separating Truth from Fiction
We’re all busy, and everyone has a limited attention span and only a finite amount of time
to become informed. Since we take in literally thousands of media-borne messages each
day, we have to find reliable ways to filter the false ones out. This problem describes our
present situation, and we must live with the confusion. But we are assured of a future – the
Baha’i teachings refer to it as a “Golden Age” – when humanity has reached such spiritual
maturity that there is no room for using these corrupt methods of lying and denying the
truth.

In this environment, no one can afford the luxury of being indifferent. When we don’t try
to investigate the truth independently, we take on the easy or lazy attitude adopted by many
these days. If we want to base our lives on truth rather than fiction, we need to work hard
for it, investing physical and spiritual energy. Why? Because ignorance leads to terrible
life decisions, and knowledge points us in the right direction. That is how great goals are
achieved, and growth is essential for achieving our life’s spiritual purpose.

Then, and only then, we can start discerning the realities from falsehood and become a
lighthouse in the darkness of the ocean of confusion. So, in a way, this swimming through
an ocean of misinformation is a beautiful process that humanity is going through – painful,
no doubt, but not necessarily without its benefits. Suppose we adopt a rigorous practice of
separating fact from fiction and develop a set of spiritual principles and values to guide us
through our existence's turbulent world. In that case, we can stand firm and face all the
misinformation that comes our way.

We have the opportunity to use the misinformation that comes our way to our advantage –
we can make those lemons into a refreshing lemonade and quench our thirst for truth with
it in these trying and politically-charged times. This positive attitude has been the hallmark
of humanity down through the ages, so there is no reason we should give up now and reject
these God-given challenges that, in the end, will take us to a higher level of maturity.

Letting Go of Entitlement and Embracing Gratitude

Today, the world is experiencing great confusion that has made humanity forget some
fundamental values that could save us from great misery and one of these forgotten values
is thankfulness.

A sense of entitlement pervades many cultures and prevents them from appreciating the
gifts given to them. Sadly, for many, that sense of entitlement has replaced gratitude.

Some people spend more time pointing to the things they demand and not enough time
appreciating their blessings for the things they have. Regrettably, gratefulness and
thankfulness have become scarce commodities.

Scientific studies have repeatedly shown that gratitude creates contentment, which leads to
peace of mind and makes us appreciate the gifts given to us by the Creator. God wants
nothing from us but our love, and in return, provides us with the vast universe and
everything in it as our playground to enjoy.

In a talk he gave in New York City in 1912, Abdu’l-Baha pointed us to the crucial things
we should all be grateful for:

Do you realize how much you should thank God for His blessings? If you should
thank Him a thousand times with each breath, it would not be sufficient because God
has created and trained you. He has protected you from every affliction and prepared
every gift and bestowal. Consider what a kind Father He is. He bestows His gift
before you ask. We were not in the world of existence, but as soon as we were born,
we found everything prepared for our needs and comfort without question on our
part. He has given us a kind father and compassionate mother, provided for us two
springs of salubrious milk, pure atmosphere, refreshing water, gentle breezes and the
sun shining above our heads. In brief, He has supplied all the necessities of life
although we did not ask for any of these great gifts. …
He has bestowed both upon us – without asking and with supplication. He has created
us in this radiant century, a century longed for and expected by all the sanctified
souls in past periods. It is a blessed century; it is a blessed day. The philosophers of
history have agreed that this century is equal to one hundred past centuries. This is
true from every standpoint. This is the century of science, inventions, discoveries and
universal laws. This is the century of the revelation of the mysteries of God. This is
the century of the effulgence of the rays of the Sun of Truth. Therefore, you must
render thanks and glorification to God that you were born in this age. Furthermore,
you have listened to the call of Baha’u’llah. …

You were asleep; you are awakened. Your ears are attentive; your hearts are
informed. You have acquired the love of God. You have attained to the knowledge of
God. This is the most great bestowal of God. This is the breath of the Holy Spirit, and
this consists of faith and assurance. This eternal life is the second birth; this is the
baptism of the Holy Spirit. … You must appreciate the value of this bounty and
engage your time in mentioning and thanking the True One.

As a Baha’i, I am incredibly grateful for the gifts of the Baha’i writings that guide each
Baha’i from birth to beyond their physical existence. They include subjects such as
educating children, choosing the spiritual path of our lives, and facing the tests and
difficulties that come our way – and even include how to view the journey to the next
world and the meaning of death. In short, the Baha’i writings cover all aspects of human
life, giving us guidance, joy and hope.

All this guidance, sent for our benefit, can help us to aspire to a higher spiritual
understanding. In return, we must try to know God and show our gratitude. Understanding
God and our relation to Him is complex, and we will never get to know Him due to our
limited ability to comprehend Him. But luckily, a recent personal experience helped me
see a glimpse of what my relationship with my Creator could be.

I have a beautiful garden, my prize material possession, with a wide variety of flowers and
fruit trees. Flowers attract birds and insects, and among them are a few families of
hummingbirds who enjoy the flowers I have planted and the feeders I’ve filled specifically
for them. I felt happy to see that they enjoyed the feeders, but their fighting over them
saddened me. I wished they would stop fighting, start sharing, and live peacefully together
in this beautiful garden.

The hummingbirds liked the feeders so much that they decided not to migrate. Instead,
they have stayed the winter with me for the past few years. I kept the feeders full for the
whole winter since no flowers or other food sources existed. Last winter was extremely
cold, and the temperature went below zero. The feeders would freeze at night, so I had to
defrost them every morning and put them out again. One day, as I was putting out a feeder
for these tiny birds and watching their happiness, I realized they would die if I did not feed
them. Then I realized how much I loved them and how sad I would be without them.

How I wished that they knew how much I loved them. They didn’t realize that their life
was in my hands — or that I made sure they were provided for — because of my love for
them. Nobody asked me to do that. At that moment, it dawned on me that, really, this is
what God wishes for us: recognition and gratitude in return for His gifts.

Unlike the hummingbirds who have no idea of the gifts given to them, I hope we recognize
the Creator’s gift of life and His love for us. He has made provisions for all our needs. All
we have to do is to acknowledge them and be grateful for them.

Like humanity, my birds fought the whole summer, and I gave up finding ways to make
them stop fighting, share the feeders, and eat together. I resigned myself to their aggressive

territorial behavior, but to my surprise, they started eating together by the summer’s end. I
was so happy to see five birds sitting together and sustaining themselves on the same small
feeder. Their unity delighted me, and I took a photo of that moment so I could relish it in
the future – and as proof that we humans can do the same.

I hope that, like the birds in my garden, humanity stops fighting and realizes the need for
the oneness of humankind. We, too, can learn to unite and enjoy the world’s gifts, count
our blessings, and show our gratitude every day.

A Baha’i Duty: Defending the Essence of All Religions

Recently, I revisited this profound quote from the writings of Baha’u’llah, and this time it
penetrated my soul and made me clearly see what is happening all around us in every part
of the world:

The vitality of men’s belief in God is dying out in every land; nothing short of His
wholesome medicine can ever restore it. The corrosion of ungodliness is eating into
the vitals of human society; what else but the Elixir of His potent Revelation can
cleanse and revive it?

Here, in two sentences, Baha’u’llah diagnoses humanity’s primary problem and suggests
the remedy.

This quote stirred my soul and made me think there has to be something I can do. After all,
when the Creator, through the voice of His messenger, laments, “The vitality of men’s
belief in God is dying out in every land,” it makes me realize that humanity’s peace and
salvation are in God’s hands – and in our hands, too.

We need to retain the great spiritual laws taught by all Faiths – while, at the same time,
adjusting the social laws inspired by those religions to the needs of the time, as Abdu’l-
Baha recommended in a speech he gave in Chicago in 1912:

… the divine law has two distinct aspects or functions: one the essential or
fundamental, the other the material or accidental. The first aspect of the revealed
religion of God is that which concerns the ethical development and spiritual progress
of mankind, the awakening of potential human susceptibilities and the descent of
divine bestowals. These ordinances are changeless, essential, eternal. The second
function of the divine religion deals with material conditions, the laws of human
intercourse and social regulation. These are subject to change and transformation in
accordance with the time, place and conditions.

In recent times, I’ve found myself defending Islam from the criticisms of Muslims
themselves – those who feel fed up with the mullahs and the fanaticism of some other
Muslims and who no longer want anything to do with Islam as a result. Mounting that
defence has proven to be a difficult task since most people cannot or will not differentiate
the actions of mullahs from Islam’s inherent spirituality and its essential teachings.

By the same token, I have defended Christianity from Christians who want nothing more to
do with the priests and other Christians who have damaged the image of Christianity with
their actions.

All of this has made me more determined to counsel disheartened Muslims, Christians, and
followers of other religions, urging them not to “throw the baby out with the bathwater.”
That’s where the rejection of religion generally comes from, in my experience – people
cast doubt on the spiritual laws of their Faiths when they simply need to re-examine the
social laws inspired by their religions, which are subject to change.

So, the spread of irreligiousness today has added another role to the principal aim of
the Baha’i Faith, which is to work towards achieving the oneness of humanity. Since the
magnetism of religion is losing power and becoming more irrelevant in the eyes of the
world, Baha’is defend each religion’s essence and the sacredness of the Holy Books and
their authors – because, as Baha’u’llah wrote, all religions are one:

Know thou assuredly that the essence of all the Prophets of God is one and the same.
Their unity is absolute. God, the Creator, saith: There is no distinction whatsoever
among the Bearers of My Message. They all have but one purpose; their secret is the
same secret. To prefer one in honor to another, to exalt certain ones above the rest, is
in no wise to be permitted. Every true Prophet hath regarded His Message as
fundamentally the same as the Revelation of every other Prophet gone before Him.

Baha’is defend the spirituality of all of the great religions. If it is not protected or denied
and belittled, then discussing the progression of religions becomes impossible.

In his summary statement about the Baha’i teachings to the nascent United Nations in
1947, Shoghi Effendi, the Guardian of the Baha’i Faith, explained:

The fundamental principle enunciated by Baha’u’llah, the followers of His Faith
firmly believe, is that Religious truth is not absolute but relative, that Divine
Revelation is a continuous and progressive process, that all the great religions of the
world are divine in origin, that their basic principles are in complete harmony, that
their aims and purposes are one and the same, that their teachings are but facets of
one truth, that their functions are complementary, that they differ only in the nonessential aspects of their doctrines and that their missions represent successive stages
in the spiritual evolution of human society.

Humanity needs to face the unprecedented crises of today with all of its spiritual tools at
the ready, and its future rests on the degree of the unification of all countries and of all
religions. Sadly, the pure water of the messages of spiritual healing has been combined
with so many impurities that it no longer possesses all of its original healing qualities.

What the world needs today is not the destruction of all things sacred and moral in the
name of freedom of speech and action. That sense of the sacred is the cause of our
salvation – and it stems originally from the holy books of all religions.

Baha’is believe that to defend those spiritual values and the origin of those teachings in all
religions is our moral duty. Since all Faiths are essentially one, they’re all part of our Faith.

As I maintain friendships with people of all different Faiths, I try to make sure that they
know my respect for their prophets, messengers, and holy writings. As Abdu’l-Baha wrote:

The divine religions must be the cause of oneness among men, and the means of unity
and love; they must promulgate universal peace, free man from every prejudice,
bestow joy and gladness, exercise kindness to all men and do away with every
difference and distinction.

How the Rich Are Accepting the Baha’i Call to Help the Poor

We’ve all noticed the contrast between the constructive and destructive forces at play in
our lives. They affect all aspects of life, including the world’s great poverty and wealth
disparities, for good and bad.
Sadly, our media outlets generally cover negative news and even sensationalize it, which
means the news of so many remarkable, uplifting events and positive philanthropic works
do not get the coverage they need or deserve.

One of these positive developments, which has been largely ignored or met with a
suspicious mindset, is the emerging trend in which an increasing number of rich people
voluntarily give their wealth to the needy. The statistics show that a growing number of
billionaires, millionaires, and, yes, even regular folks are actively donating more money to
charitable causes.

In our world today, wealthier people and nations have begun to be more concerned with
playing their role in solving some of the problems of the poor and needy.
However, this news has not filtered down to most people. Many still believe that the
wealthy do not care for the poor at all and that their donations have selfish motives, such as
tax deductions. That’s certainly true of some wealthy individuals, but today, more money
is flowing to charities and relief organizations than ever before – and much of it comes
from the massive donations wealthy individuals and corporations make.

We can view this trend as the first clumsy step of a child learning to walk since the rich are
in the uncharted territory of giving rather than taking. Like a child trying to walk who
repeatedly falls, mistakes are part of learning; however, this early attempt is moving in the
right direction, no matter how imperfect it might look now.

For example, when it was reported that Bill Gates had given $6 billion to charities, the
news went generally unnoticed. Few saw his act as positive and worthy of praise. This
indifference occurred despite ample proof that some of the wealthy do care deeply for their
fellow human brothers and sisters. They should be recognized for this and praised and
encouraged. As responsible citizens, we must give credit where credit is due.

The Baha’i writings speak very clearly about the moral obligation of those who possess
great wealth and the heavenly rewards awaiting those rich people who
follow Baha’u’llah’s injunctions and help the poor through charitable acts. In several of his
tablets, including these two (below), Baha’u’llah praised the wealthy who voluntarily give
to the poor:

Charity is pleasing and praiseworthy in the sight of God and is regarded as a prince
among goodly deeds. … Blessed is he who preferreth his brother before himself.
Verily, such a man is reckoned, by virtue of the Will of God, the All-Knowing, the
All-Wise, with the people of Baha who dwell in the Crimson Ark.
They who are possessed of riches, however, must have the utmost regard for the poor,
for great is the honor destined by God for those poor who are steadfast in patience.
By My life! There is no honor, except what God may please to bestow, that can
compare to this honor. Great is the blessedness awaiting the poor that endure
patiently and conceal their sufferings, and well is it with the rich who bestow their
riches on the needy and prefer them before themselves.

So, not every wealthy person is selfish and heartless. The Baha’i teachings assure us that a
new race of people who exemplify the best human values will gradually evolve – and that
the wealthy will start changing their attitudes toward wealth, finding the most satisfaction
when they spend their wealth on their fellow human beings rather than hoarding it or
spending it on only themselves.

Statistics on Philanthropy
As an example from just one country, Americans and U.S.-based organizations gave about
$484.85 billion to national charities in 2021. That number increased 4 per cent from the
previous year’s estimated $466.23 billion, according to Giving USA, as the Lilly Family
School of Philanthropy reported. Some of the wealthiest Americans gave as much as $15
billion during the year, which represented 5 per cent of all giving by individuals.

A few of the highlights from Giving USA’s annual report include:

• Roughly $326.87 billion in donations by individuals
• An estimated $90.88 billion by foundations and other organizations
• More than $46 billion through bequests, which are made through trusts and wills
• More than $28 billion in corporate donations

The Giving Pledge
The Giving Pledge, started in 2010 in an effort by Bill Gates, Melinda French Gates, and
Warren Buffett, aims to get billionaires to donate more than half of their wealth to charity.
That Pledge has set a new standard of generosity among the ultra-wealthy – to date, 230
individual billionaires from 28 countries have signed the pledge.

Today, more than ever in history, negativity has darkened people’s minds. In the face of
that force, our moral duty is to remind ourselves and others about the daily positive actions
around us and magnify them to offset the negative forces. The rich, too, need our support
and encouragement. Who can judge and say that the rich have no heart? As many wealthy
individuals have proven recently, it is possible to become attracted to God’s mercy by
following Abdu’l-Baha’s advice:

Man reacheth perfection through good deeds, voluntarily performed, not through
good deeds the doing of which was forced upon him. And sharing is a personally
chosen righteous act: that is, the rich should extend assistance to the poor, they
should expend their substance for the poor, but of their own free will, and not
because the poor have gained this end by force. For the harvest of force is turmoil
and the ruin of the social order. On the other hand voluntary sharing, the freelychosen expending of one’s substance, leadeth to society’s comfort and peace.

How Can We Distribute Wealth Fairly?

The Baha’i concept of economics asks humanity to eliminate the extremes of wealth and
poverty. For more than 40 years, I have studied that concept and thought I had some
general ideas about it.
Recently, though, I realized how I’ve often failed to connect Abdu’l-Baha’s examples in
his daily life to the whole idea of the distribution of wealth. Since Abdu’l-Baha is the
exemplar of how to lead a Baha’i life, I’m fascinated by his legendary generosity and
service to humanity, but I missed seeing the connections he made between charity and the
distribution of wealth.
I have observed, with great amazement, how the spiritual teachings of the Faith suggest
solutions to the economic problems that have baffled economists. I’ve noticed, too, that the
Baha’i writings related to the distribution of wealth are designed to eliminate global
poverty. The more I’ve studied, the more impressed I’ve become with the wisdom of those
God-given solutions offered by Abdu’l-Baha through his examples, writings, and talks.
Let’s begin here: the distribution of wealth is one of the primary functions of any economic
system. From every indication, the present economic system in much of the world has
failed to distribute wealth justly and equitably. This fact – clearly evident from an everwidening gap between the rich and the poor – means that billions of people live below the
poverty line while multi-billionaires accumulate enormous wealth every day.
From an economic point of view, it’s clear that this system has failed to deliver and fairly
distribute wealth. The question is why. The Baha’i writings explain that one of the main
reasons is the lack of spirituality and morality in the economic system. Abdu’l-Baha said:

“The secrets of the whole economic question are Divine in nature, and are concerned
with the world of the heart and spirit.”
In this short essay, I’ll briefly share my understanding of the principles of the distribution
of wealth based on the Baha’i writings and suggest a few practical ways to follow the
examples set for us by Baha’u’llah and Abdu’l-Baha.

Guaranteed Basic Income
The writings and talks by Abdu’l-Baha support a kind of universal basic income. GBI, or
Guaranteed Basic Income, is a relatively new economic concept that many economists and
governments are now implementing or considering. It ensures that every citizen who needs
it is guaranteed a minimum income to cover the basic costs of all the essentials for their
living. This concept, supported by leaders and philosophers as diverse as Thomas Paine,
Bertrand Russell, Thomas More, and William Beveridge, bundles all social policy and

welfare measures into a single instrument designed to exemplify the idea that “a rising tide
lifts all boats.”
In a speech he gave in Paris in 1911, Abdu’l-Baha said:
The government of the countries should conform to the Divine Law which gives equal
justice to all. This is the only way in which the deplorable superfluity of great wealth
and miserable, demoralizing, degrading poverty can be abolished. Not until this is
done will the Law of God be obeyed.

Profit Sharing, Wages, and Pensions
Another method for fair distribution of wealth is sharing the profit of the business or
factory with the workers – and paying them wages that enable them to live comfortably
and have enough for their rainy days and old age. In the book Some Answered
Questions, Abdu’l-Baha said:
… laws and regulations should be enacted which would grant the workers both a
daily wage and a share in a fourth or fifth of the profits of the factory in accordance
with its means, or which would have the workers equitably share in some other way
in the profits with the owners. For the capital and the management come from the
latter and the toil and labour from the former. The workers could either be granted a
wage that adequately meets their daily needs, as well as a right to a share in the
revenues of the factory when they are injured, incapacitated, or unable to work, or
else a wage could be set that allows the workers to both satisfy their daily needs and
save a little for times of weakness and incapacity.

Storehouses
The Baha’i writings advocate the establishment of community storehouses in every village
and town. The primary function of these storehouses is to collect tax revenues and ensure
their disbursements for the welfare and the needs of the poor and the disabled. In The
Baha’i World, Abdu’l-Baha explained how they should function:
These are the seven revenues, but there are seven fixed expenditures.
The first expenditure: The store-house ought to give one-tenth to the Government, to
the public treasury for the public expenses.
The second expenditure is for the poor. The poor who are in need, those who are
exempt, not those who are idle. For instance, if a person’s crop is burned or he has a
loss in his business, and for this reason has become poor; these poor people are to be
taken care of.
Third: The infirm, who come to want and cannot work.
Fourth: The orphans. To them also help must be given.
Fifth: The schools. The schools must be organized for the education of the children.
Sixth: For the deaf and blind.
Seventh: Public health. Whatever is necessary for the public health must be
arranged. Swamps should be filled up, water should be brought in; whatever is
necessary for the public health.

Examples to Follow
Personally, I believe that Abdu’l-Baha was the essence of selfless giving. He gave love and
all his material possessions; he even gave his clothes to the poor. He generously
contributed to charitable organizations. In brief, he gave all he had. Each example of his
generous giving offers an example to follow if we want to see the voluntary distribution of
wealth on a small scale. We need these small, person-to-person steps to reduce the gap
between the poor and the rich everywhere. In this way, we can all make a difference in the
life of those who struggle materially.
We can find sacrificial ways to pay more to all those working for a minimum wage, be it in
the form of a generous tip or more than the asking price to street sellers who earn very little
from their living. If we’re financially secure ourselves, we can help pay for the medical
expenses of those who do not have the means. We can support those who are struggling to
pay their rent. We can buy groceries for the needy and provide food for hungry people. We
can provide accommodation for the sick and needy. Most sick people in rural areas must
travel to bigger cities to get treatment and naturally must stay in hotels and motels.
Opening our homes and hearts to help the sick was Abdul’-Baha’s way, and his wish was
for us to emulate him.
Additionally, we can pay for the education of poor children. The Baha’i writings
emphasize education as a means of transforming society, and, in his Most Holy
Book, Baha’u’llah advised us to raise and educate every child as if they were his own:
“He that bringeth up his son or the son of another, it is as though he hath brought up
a son of Mine; upon him rest My Glory, My loving kindness, My Mercy, that have
compassed the world.”
When this sort of kind becomes more universal, a compassionate future economic system
based on spirituality will bring solutions to remedy the unjust distribution of wealth. But
until then, we each need to play our part. We can find many ways to participate. Otherwise,
how can we reduce the gap between the rich and the poor if we do not find ways to do our
share and make small contributions? If we sincerely want to find ways to eradicate poverty
by contributing toward a more just and equitable distribution of wealth in the world, then
we can all start in our own lives by giving to others.

My Lessons in Detachment and Reliance on a Higher Power

Aging has many benefits, allowing us to reflect on events in our past and understand how
they changed the direction of our lives – which creates a good learning tool to analyze each
life and its direction.

In my life, I always thought I had tried to follow the spiritual principle of detachment – to
avoid accumulating too many material possessions or following the pathways of
acquisitiveness and greed.

In other words, I wanted to run away from the material world because it could pollute my
soul.

Originally, my approach was classical, black-and-white, which meant all or nothing. I told
myself that this is the path Sufis, monks, nuns, and Sadhus adopt, attempting to reach
higher planes of spirituality, denouncing the material world out of devotion, all in pursuit
of eternal spiritual happiness.

This passage from the Baha’i writings, along with many other similar ones from different
religions and philosophies, motivated me on my path of detachment:

Beware lest ye cling unto that which ye possess, or take pride in your fame and
renown. That which behoveth you is to wholly detach yourselves from all that is in the
heavens and on the earth.
As time passed and I got older, I began to re-evaluate my concept of detachment.

Studying the Baha’i writings made me realize a new way of approaching my goal. I
gradually recognized that I was trying to detach, escape from reality, and take the easy way
out by not facing life’s challenges. But as I came to see, detachment means living a
responsible and productive life with all of its demands – and still being
detached. Baha’u’llah gave this advice to those who attempt to practice detachment by
withdrawing from the world:

… O concourse of monks! Seclude not yourselves in your churches and cloisters.
Come ye out of them by My leave, and busy, then, yourselves with what will profit
you and others. Thus commandeth you He Who is the Lord of the Day of Reckoning.
Seclude yourselves in the stronghold of My love. This, truly, is the seclusion that
befitteth you, could ye but know it. He that secludeth himself in his house is indeed as
one dead.

So I initially tried to be detached without knowing how to do it. I tried and prayed, but I
still failed to achieve it in a practical way that could become my habit and my spiritual
practice.

After I grew a little older, while taking inventory of this part of my life, of all my successes
and failures, I discovered that my life had been steered positively and fruitfully despite my
failed attempts at detachment. I realized that the Creator’s mercy had guided my life for the
better and, most of the time, despite my own personal judgment and lack of cooperation.
All of this made me realize that my approach to detachment was lopsided. Yes, I tried to be
detached, but I didn’t know how to ensure that my spiritual journey was heading in the
right direction.

A personal experience made this matter clearer. My father was the only one in his family
who was a Baha’i – he had four Muslim brothers. The youngest, a devout Muslim, tried to
live what he thought of as a pious life and wanted his children to follow his example. So he
did not allow TV, radio, or music in his home. Going to the movies was also not allowed
since films were made by foreigners, who he saw as the enemies of Islam and the source of
all corruption. He expected his children to follow his example, but the result was quite the
opposite. One of his sons is now an actor and a comedian in Hollywood. Later, the father
regretted his actions and admitted his methods were wrong. That example provided a
simple yet important lesson for me: avoidance is not the right way to live, and detachment
does not mean non-involvement.

The Baha’i teachings suggest that true happiness is detachment from all else except God –
but that detachment does not mean having possessions or wealth is wrong. They instead
suggest that while we enjoy the world and the material benefits available to us, our
relationship with God should be uncompromised, a relationship that is based on service
and love for humanity.

This implies that our inner being must focus on the spiritual realities regardless of our
material achievements. It means we should be unaffected by gains or losses and detached
from blame or praise. It recommends detaching from selfish desires and from our own
egos.

I reflected on my life from that perspective and soon realized that an invisible force had
aided and guided me throughout my life. I realized that the Creator had been with me all
my life without my awareness, like a good Friend, a Father. He had chosen what was best
for me. So now I find practical ways to be detached, do my best, and happily leave the rest
to Him, knowing that His Will is a thousand times more beneficial for me than anything I
could dream up.

Building Communities that Encompass Everyone

To achieve the oneness of humanity, we need to build inclusive, cohesive communities
worthy of the future – communities that welcome and encompass everyone.

How can we possibly do that? It’s not easy because each community is different,
consisting of people of different ages, cultural backgrounds, religious beliefs, sexual
orientations, political views, and financial means. The diversity in our population requires
a unifying force so everyone can experience peace, harmony, love, a sense of belonging
and inclusion.

Not too many places in our world currently deal with this challenge well. Many social
issues have paralyzed progress and disunified society. In his writings, Abdu’l-Baha set the
high Baha’i standard for achieving human unity:

… each of the creatures is a sign of God, and it was by the grace of the Lord and His
power that each did step into the world; therefore they are not strangers, but in the
family; not aliens, but friends, and to be treated as such. Wherefore must the loved
ones of God associate in affectionate fellowship with stranger and friend alike,
showing forth to all the utmost loving-kindness, disregarding the degree of their
capacity, never asking whether they deserve to be loved.

Several social issues have caused rifts in our societies, contributing to disharmony and
divisions among people. In some cases, these differences have created estrangement,
misunderstanding, hatred, and violence. Let’s look at three of these issues and ponder a
few possible solutions.

Mental and Emotional Health
The pace and pressure of modern life has created an increase in the number of people with
anxiety, depression, and other mental disorders. Millions of people suffer from these
illnesses. Sadly, most societies and communities attach a stigma to people with mental and
emotional conditions, which makes their lives much more complicated and obstructs their
hope of being healed.

Fortunately, health professionals and people from all walks of life increasingly understand
the importance of mental health. Many societies worldwide have begun to recognize the
impact of these problems. The well-known athletes and celebrities who openly admit that
they struggle with their mental health provide society with a healthy sign because their
openness signals that emotional health is more important than fame, medals, and trophies –
and permits more people to recognize the importance of their mental health.

Humanity has long dealt with emotional issues at every level in every profession, but the
general advice has been to “toughen up.” That approach, which fails to address the gravity
of the problem and then forcibly tries to push people through the pain and stress, doesn’t
work.

Instead, physical and emotional illnesses require effort to overcome, and having patience is
a great asset in facing these challenges. Improvements take time, and patience helps you
survive the difficulties one day at a time. This is where communities can show their
support – with tolerance, love, and acceptance playing a tremendous role in easing the
struggles and suffering of those souls who suffer from these afflictions.

Emotional and mental problems can be remedied temporarily with the help of medicine,
but the question remains whether they sufficiently address the origin or the causes of these
issues. The future direction of solutions to mental and emotional challenges is essential for
humanity’s happiness, well-being, and progress. We must widen our horizons and
recognize that people who suffer from emotional and mental health challenges need more
than medicine and professional help – they need our love and understanding as part of our
human family. By helping them, we allow ourselves to build a caring and loving
community.

Integrating the Elderly
In many Western societies, older people are segregated in “senior” communities and
nursing homes. In doing so, we’ve lost the treasures of their experience and wisdom, which
can serve the younger generations who need it so desperately.

In other cultures, the elderly are looked upon with respect and reverence as great resources
for everyone younger. But in the global West, except in traditional Indigenous cultures,
elders are often seen as a burden on families and social programs.

Our culture — especially social media — gives the impression that the world revolves
around the young. Hollywood reinforces the idea that the world is a playground for the
young. Perhaps that’s why it’s hard to imagine a productive place for the elderly in modern
society. It often seems like every movie, television show, and commercial (except the
pharmaceutical ones) cater exclusively to the young.

This represents such a contrast to my awareness as a Baha’i that our souls never age. The
body’s condition should not distract us from nurturing the soul, no matter how old we are.
Our elders have been separated from society to take care of their physical needs efficiently,
and their spiritual and human needs have been overlooked.

We should approach older people as spiritual beings, regardless of their physical frailties.
There is so much that can be accomplished through our elders’ resources and wisdom — if
only society could begin to see them in the right light. Rather than allowing them to waste
away in sanitized homes where dreams die faster than bodies, we should provide them with
the means to achieve goals they may have set for their golden years. The Baha’i
International Community’s statement on this reality says:

… there must be full integration of the aging in the human community, since the
community should be an extended family in which everyone, of any age, is an
essential part, and not only allowed, but encouraged, to make the fullest possible
contribution to the well-being of the whole … in considering the needs of the aging in
the process of development we must take into account the wholeness of the human
being, the moral and spiritual dimension, besides his emotional, intellectual, and
physical nature when discussing the special contributions of older persons to
development and their sharing in the resulting benefits.

So let’s reverse course – rather than segregating seniors, let’s integrate elders into the
community's day-to-day life. Let’s change our mindset to see elders as a source of
untapped wisdom and knowledge.

Youth and Our Future
The younger generations increasingly pay the price for the mistakes of the older
generations. In pursuit of material gain, the previous generations sacrificed natural
resources and beauty. We damaged the environment without considering the future of the
planet. We left the harmful legacy of global warming for our children to tackle. The
younger generations – with a dimmer future, less job security, and fewer opportunities to
live comfortably and more securely – will continue to struggle with the legacy we leave
them.

In most cultures and societies, it’s all too common for older people not to trust the
judgment of younger people – but that prejudice ignores some of the insight and courage of
younger generations. The Universal House of Justice, the global governing body of
the Baha’i Faith, addressed the world’s youth by saying: “Undoubtedly, it is within your
power to contribute significantly to shaping the societies of the coming century; youth
can move the world.”

Young people today do not want to repeat past mistakes by overemphasizing the
achievement of wealth at any cost or as the main reason for living. Previous generations
missed the spiritual and moral goals to offset the damage created by excess material
progress. This lust for material progress has brought us to such a critical state that younger
generations feel there will be no future left for them to enjoyy. Their cries and protests can
now be heard all over the world.

The world’s present problems have overwhelmed us because our solutions are outdated
and ineffective. The planet needs a new and fundamental change in its outlook and
approach to tackling the ever-increasing crises we face – and that change will come from
young people.

The recent challenges of our time have awakened the youth and brought forward many
individuals who have exemplified passion, wisdom, and devotion to such an extent that
they inspire admiration. Our future depends on the insight, creativity, and active
involvement of the younger generations – so let’s encourage and support them!

The Life Lesson a Little Lost Bird Taught Me

I’m a bird lover who has had many birds as pets – and I even let them fly around the
house! But I’ll admit I’m not a fan of Starlings. They come in great numbers, like a gang of
ruffians, and attack my orchard.

In a few minutes, the ravenous starling gang destroys the results of my hard work in the
fruit orchard and leaves a devastating scene behind. They eat and throw away my black
cherries, my black and white prized mulberries, and my figs.

I spend much of my summer rushing out of the sunroom into the garden to shoo them
away. Recently, the frantic sound of their chirping urgently propelled me into the garden to
discourage them once more. Irritated, I clapped hard and threw water at the big cherry tree,
thinking they were in there decimating my cherries, even though I couldn’t see the birds.
Despite my efforts, the chirping continued, and I felt helpless in defending my fruit.

This went on for a couple of days. I could still hear their loud voices, but I couldn’t find
them. On the third day, in the early morning, I heard very close to me the sound of
movement in the wall of my bathroom. My house is 110 years old, with many places where
different creatures can enter for a visit, so I’ve accepted that I must co-exist with them. I
listened carefully, realizing the sound was behind the wall. The noise sounded like a bird
flapping its wings.

After some thought, I concluded that it could be a bird that had fallen through, meaning
there was probably a nest in the attic. I knew it must be the pesky starlings nesting there,
their babies torturing me with their cries and getting ready to grow up and destroy more of
my fruit. So I took a flashlight and went to the dark, narrow attic, where I could hear the
chirping.
There he was, a loud mouthpiece with eyes closed and beak open, making a scene. I lifted
the little guy, and he tried to bite me, wanting to get away. I felt angry and confused – my
enemy in my house at my mercy. I’m trying to save him, but he’s fighting me. How dare
he? Who does this little thing think he is?

With a little distaste, I put the loudmouth chick on the floor, thinking the parents would
take care of him. Later, when no parents appeared, I realized that two chicks were left
hungry and out of the nest, one in my bathroom wall where I could do nothing to reach
him. Because that one no longer made any sound, I assumed that he had died shortly after.

On my next visit to the attic, I found the nest on a platform half a meter from the floor. The
nest was not deep, and any movement of the chicks would have caused them to fall. That’s
exactly what happened, I reasoned.

Knowing all this, I felt terrible about the chick’s death and wanted to do something for his
surviving sibling. Despite my dislike for starlings, I decided to take care of him,
remembering these words of Abdu’l-Baha: “Ye must not only have kind and merciful
feelings for mankind, but ye should also exercise the utmost kindness towards every
living creature.”

So, I went up to the attic once more. I looked for him and could hear him but could not see
him.

He had apparently found his way under the attic floor insulation – which meant I couldn’t
reach him, either! Frustrated, I returned to the attic several times. I could hear him, which
made me miserable since I couldn’t help him. I felt he was calling me for help, and since
his parents had abandoned him, I was his only savior.

He was a bundle of energy during the next few days, crying loudly and continuously
without breaks. It tore my heart out. I did not know what to do except repeat, “I am so
sorry, I cannot help you,” or “It’s not my fault that your parents built a bad nest!” I talked
to him to ease my conscience. I felt there was a lesson in this for me, but I didn’t yet know
what kind of lesson.

Maybe that little fledgling starling was born to teach me a lesson about the love and
preciousness of life.

Hearing his non-stop cries for help and being unable to do anything, I was in emotional
hell, and I knew the end was coming. My misery knew no limits since now I clearly
understood the agonizing end of my unwanted guest – who I now deeply cared for and
wished for. I prayed for his survival, which was impossible because I could hear that he
had now fallen behind the wall behind the bathtub.

In my mind, I called him the “Little Fighter,” who would not give up easily. I cannot
describe the change in my feeling from indifference when I first held him in my hand to
now sincerely praying for his survival.
His cries mercifully stopped the following day, and as I pondered this sad event and tried
to find the lesson in it, I realized that the little lost bird had taught me that the gift of life is
precious and worth fighting for. He also taught me not to hate the starlings that destroy my
fruit. Like all of us, they want to live and need to eat, and since they can’t buy food from
the store, they eat it from the trees – my trees included. I learned that I can still love even
those people and creatures I wrongly perceive as enemies.

I thank my Little Fighter for showing me that I am still emotionally alive, capable of
loving and changing my attitude. In his short life span of a few days, he triggered emotions
I did not know I had, reminding me to follow this advice from the Baha’i teachings:
“Therefore one must be very considerate towards animals and show greater kindness
to them than to man.”

Spiritual Capital: Investing Our Energies Wisely

In the world of finance, investment is important – our entire economy depends on it. Let’s
look at the definition of investment to determine the similarities between our financial and
spiritual investments.
The encyclopedia of investment, Investopedia, says:
Investing, broadly, is putting money to work for a period of time in some sort of project or
undertaking in order to generate positive returns (i.e., profits that exceed the amount of the
initial investment). It is the act of allocating resources, usually capital, with the expectation
of generating income, profit, or gains. One can invest in many types of endeavours.
But beyond putting money to work, we also have the opportunity in this life to make
spiritual investments – as these two quotations by Baha’u’llah from the Baha’i
writings testify:

“All praise and glory be to God Who, through the power of His might, hath delivered
His creation from the nakedness of non-existence, and clothed it with the mantle of
life. From among all created things He hath singled out for His special favor the pure,
the gem-like reality of man, and invested it with a unique capacity of knowing Him
and of reflecting the greatness of His glory.
O servant of God! With a pure heart unloose thy tongue in the praise of thy Lord for
having made mention of thee through His gem-scattering pen. Couldst thou but
realize the greatness of this bestowal, thou wouldst find thyself invested with
everlasting life.”

The “positive return” on those spiritual investments, which the Baha’i teachings describe
so beautifully, is everlasting life.

Of course, human history is full of examples of good investments and bad investments, and
sadly, humanity still makes very profitable yet incredibly unjust investments – a prime
example being the investment in making weapons of war.

When we invest our capital in weapons, in bullets and in bombs, President Dwight
Eisenhower said in 1953, we hang humanity from “a cross of iron:”

Every gun that is made, every warship launched, every rocket fired signifies, in the
final sense, a theft from those who hunger and are not fed, those who are cold and are
not clothed.
This world in arms is not spending money alone. It is spending the sweat of its
laborers, the genius of its scientists, the hopes of its children. The cost of one modern
heavy bomber is this: a modern brick school in more than 30 cities. It is two electric

power plants, each serving a town of 60,000 population. It is two fine, fully equipped
hospitals. It is some fifty miles of concrete pavement. We pay for a single fighter with
a half-million bushels of wheat. We pay for a single destroyer with new homes that
could have housed more than 8,000 people. … This is not a way of life at all, in any
true sense. Under the cloud of threatening war, it is humanity hanging from a cross of
iron.

In the spiritual sphere, our soul and mind’s energies represent our precious capital, and our
physical life span on this Earth defines the duration of the investment. Our goal for return
on our capital is not only to have an everlasting life for the individual but also to achieve
the oneness of humanity, built by love and unity. This kind of investment asks how we can
further those goals with our character and souls and how to make those investments more
effective by purifying our intentions. We invest our limited and precious capital wisely to
bring the best return in this world and in the next, fully aware that thoughtful investment is
the key.
Sadly, when it comes to our spiritual energies, many may have no plan and haphazardly
throw them in any direction – or they make a terrible investment by abusing those energies,
which creates far more problems than it solves, harming ourselves, our families, friends,
and the community itself.

The root cause of that poor investment is a lack of self-knowledge, which opens the door
for selfish desires to replace well-intended energies. Some of these actions may be
primarily unintentional, but they hurt the individual and the community and become
counterproductive.
To avoid these dangers, knowledge of some prerequisites can help us navigate life's stormy
waters.

The mismanagement of our spiritual energies, which are gifts from the Creator, is sadly
one of the biggest tragedies of life – because well-meaning efforts due to the lack of
fundamental principles of selflessness, empathy, caring, and love can translate into
disunity, arguments, and adverse effects on the mind.

I’ve observed, in my years of working in communities in different parts of the world, that
those that exemplify their ideologies and deep spiritual principles of faith, without having
mastered the principles of administration or organization, tend to function better than
communities where the emphasis is on the administration at the cost of the spirit of the
faith. This loving spirit in which the work and efforts were rendered usually proves to be a
wise investment of their energies.

Before doing anything, we must go to the basics of any faith, understand them, and apply
them to our daily lives so that they become part of our souls. Only then can we proclaim
our beliefs, with or without words, and hope that our actions will speak louder than our
words, significantly affecting the observers.

Our fast, modern life and its formulas for success have deprived us of enough time to

meditate and plan for investing our spiritual energies, which has led to many problems in
the world. The easy way to invest materially or spiritually does not necessarily lead to
great returns; if we do not sacrifice a little, we do not deserve the returns.

Our scarce and precious human and spiritual energies deserve recognition and attention to
be wisely invested with great care since our lives are not long enough to correct our
mistakes and start again continually. In the blink of an eye, this life will be over, and we
will answer to our Creator what we have done with His gift of life and spirit.

The Only Solution to Our Economic Problems: The Oneness of
Humanity

Many economists have pointed out the importance of global unity and cooperation in
solving the ever-increasing world economic crises. But there has not been much change,
and time is running out.

Time is running out for governments, economists, and policymakers to make a change to
undo the economic miseries they have knowingly or unknowingly afflicted upon billions of
people.

Our global economy is faced today with a wide range of critical issues — natural
resources, the environment, migration and refugees, wars and disputes, climate change,
communication and transportation, dire poverty, control of future viruses and diseases, and
most importantly, the development of sustainable peace and harmony between people and
nations.

How do we successfully deal with these important issues? Based on the Baha’i writings,
the solution is for humanity to unite. In a speech he gave in Paris in 1911, Abdu’l-
Baha said:

… direct your thoughts towards the unity of mankind; that you will never harm your
neighbours nor speak ill of any one; that you will respect the rights of all men, and be
more concerned for the interests of others than for your own.

This suggestion — the unification of humanity — isn’t just a fancy slogan. It represents the
only solution for humanity’s long-term survival, for implementing remedies to rectify our
political, economic, and environmental crises.

Personally, I’ve sounded that very same message for decades, but I recently remembered
the story of a father and his sons, which illustrates the principle beautifully. Some of you
may know the story. It goes like this:

An old Man had several Sons who were constantly fighting with each other. He used every
means to persuade them to stop their contentions and unite, to no effect. Finally, he did the
following: He asked his sons to come and bring a small bundle of sticks and then told
them to try to break it with all their strength. They all tried, but without any success, for the
sticks were closely bound together, and the force of one of them couldn’t break them. After
this, the father ordered the bundle to be opened and gave each of his Sons a single stick
while asking them to try to break it. This they did with ease and soon snapped every stick.
The father then addressed them, saying: O, my Sons, behold the power of unity!

In a speech he gave in Paris, Abdu’l-Baha explained the benefits of unity for a single home
or for the whole world:

Note ye how easily, where unity existeth in a given family, the affairs of that family
are conducted; what progress the members of that family make, how they prosper in
the world. Their concerns are in order, they enjoy comfort and tranquillity, they are
secure, their position is assured, they come to be envied by all. Such a family but
addeth to its stature and its lasting honour, as day succeedeth day. And if we widen
out the sphere of unity a little to include the inhabitants of a village who seek to be
loving and united, who associate with and are kind to one another, what great
advances they will be seen to make, how secure and protected they will be. Then let us
widen out the sphere a little more, let us take the inhabitants of a city, all of them
together: if they establish the strongest bonds of unity among themselves, how far
they will progress, even in a brief period and what power they will exert. And if the
sphere of unity be still further widened out, that is, if the inhabitants of a whole
country develop peaceable hearts, and if with all their hearts and souls they yearn to
cooperate with one another and to live in unity, and if they become kind and loving to
one another, that country will achieve undying joy and lasting glory. Peace will it
have, and plenty, and vast wealth.

Despite their efforts, national governments have failed to accept that nationally based
solutions for solving the planet’s economic problems ignore the fundamental fact that no
single country can solve all its economic problems alone. We live in an interdependent
world , meaning we need a global approach to solving global problems.
Every day, nations struggle with limited success in making their economies answer the
pressing questions of poverty and inequality present in both capitalist and socialist
systems. The ingredient missing in their process — the lack of vision of seeing each other
as members of one human family — makes their limited solutions ineffective. Without this
vision and with the logic of profit at any cost being a system’s only goal, the problems
inevitably accumulate.

Let’s face it — our economic problems are due to a lack of human values and morality in
our economic systems, policies, and activities. We’ve tried to divorce economics from the
human spirit, and that approach simply doesn’t work. As a result, the world’s problems
become more prominent.

The solution must be a united front despite all the differences between countries. This will
not be simple or easy, but it will work. Abdu’l-Baha acknowledged the differences and
difficulties in achieving unity and suggested a solution to overcome them:

It is self-evident that humanity is at variance. Human tastes differ; thoughts, native
lands, races and tongues are many. The need of a collective center by which these
differences may be counterbalanced and the people of the world be unified is obvious.
Consider how nothing but a spiritual power can bring about this unification, for
material conditions and mental aspects are so widely different that agreement and
unity are not possible through outer means. It is possible, however, for all to become

unified through one spirit, just as all may receive light from one sun. Therefore,
assisted by the collective and divine center which is the law of God and the reality of
His Manifestation, we can overcome these conditions until they pass away entirely
and the races advance.

Suppose we don’t change our attitudes and unite to solve the problems. In that case, the
problems will accumulate. Without solutions, they will likely reach the stage of social
unrest, when the poor and underprivileged will find no other way of economic survival
except fighting for it. That should be a warning to governments and the rich to change their
mindsets and start seeing fellow humans as members of the same family, finding ways to
eliminate their economic miseries. This resonates with the Baha’i teachings. In The Baha’i
World, Volume 4, Abdu’l-Baha said, “The secrets of the whole economic question are
Divine in nature, and are concerned with the world of the heart and spirit.”

Clearly, we are stronger and much more effective when we combine our energies and
resources to solve humanity’s problems. The Baha’i teachings assure us that unity and the
oneness of humanity will happen, but sadly, it may only happen as our last chance of
survival in a devastated world. I hope and pray that it happens instead due to humanity’s
spiritual awakening to the Creator’s divine solutions.

My Two Baha’i Communities

As a Baha'i, I put a lot of energy into my Baha'i community’s activities. Also, I am very
involved with the community at large, which creates a conflict within me.
Have you ever had an inner dilemma like this? Do you have one group of friends you love
and another group you also love, but the two groups don’t often meet?

My continued involvement in the larger community has gone on for years – but still I
haven’t figured out a solution to my unsettled feelings that I’m falling short as a Baha'i.
Lately, I’ve been trying to simplify this dilemma in order to fully grasp it.

I suppose it all comes down to how we define each other. After all, who is a Baha'i, a
Christian, a Muslim, a Hindu, a Buddhist or an atheist? What about those who do not
believe in or belong to any organized religion?

Recently, after reading a quotation from the Baha'i teachings from a talk Abdu’l-Baha gave
in London, the light came on, and a realization hit me. I realized I have two Baha’i
communities and not just one:

It makes no difference whether you have ever heard of Baha’u’llah or not … the man
who lives the life according to the Teachings of Baha’u’llah is already a Baha'i. On
the other hand a man may call himself a Baha’i for fifty years and if he does not live
the life he is not a Baha'i.

The Baha'i teachings recognize that it does not matter what you call yourself; your actions
speak. This applies to people of all religions and ideologies, emphasizing the actions and
not the followers’ claims.

This new realization helped free me, and I experienced a joy I had not felt for a long time.
The sense of loneliness of living in a small Baha'i community was transformed into a
vision of myself as part of a huge community in which I worked and volunteered, meeting
so many beautiful souls and endeavouring for the betterment of the world.

This realization changed my entire view of what community means to me.

I now feel that I belong to a bigger community, including thousands of people with whom I
share a common cause, who are a vital part of my life and have become my extended
family members.

My newfound freedom inspired me to write this essay to remind myself of the remedy for
dealing with loneliness. Loneliness is the great killer in the world, attacking the souls of
millions. Your family, the Baha'i teachings assure us, is the entire human race. Go out,
meet them, and forget your loneliness.

Am I an optimist who ignores the realities all around him, realities like the world is falling
apart and misery is all around, in which poverty, wars, conflicts and the spread of
misinformation take hope away from millions? I don’t think so. My optimistic view comes
from reading the Baha'i writings, with Baha’u’llah’s promise of the inevitable oneness of
humanity, which will solve our problems and ensure a bright future:

The utterance of God is a lamp, whose light is these words: Ye are the fruits of one
tree, and the leaves of one branch. Deal ye one with another with the utmost love and
harmony, with friendliness and fellowship. He Who is the Daystar of Truth beareth
Me witness! So powerful is the light of unity that it can illuminate the whole earth.
The One true God, He Who knoweth all things, Himself testifieth to the truth of these
words. Exert yourselves that ye may attain this transcendent and most sublime
station, the station that can insure the protection and security of all mankind. This
goal excelleth every other goal, and this aspiration is the monarch of all aspirations.
When religion is just a label or an inheritance, it is taken lightly and accepted without
investigation or thought. When followers of different religions identify with a sense of
pride that they belong to a faith and are ready to kill or be killed, they are ignorant of the
fundamental principles of their Faith as written in their Holy Books.
I try never to fall into those categories – my Faith reminds me of the essence of being a
Baha'i. Abdu’l-Baha wrote:
… “Baha'i” is not just a name but a truth. Every child must be trained in the things
of the spirit, so that he may embody all the virtues and become a source of glory to
the Cause of God. Otherwise, the mere word “Baha'i”, if it yield no fruit, will come to
nothing.

These wise passages have joyfully helped me realize now that I have two Baha’i
communities. One is my life in the context of my Faith through meetings, celebrations,
study, and prayer. My “other” Baha'i community is one that lives and exemplifies the
spiritual teachings of the Baha'i Faith – and of all Faiths, since all religions, in essence,
have the same message of love, oneness and service to others.

This awareness has encouraged me to perceive like-minded friends, colleagues, and
neighbors who live a Baha'i life as my fellow Baha'is. What a blessing to belong to two
communities that may look different on the surface but are the same in the spirit.

When crises engulf the world, when hope for the future diminishes, the Baha'i writings
remind us of the oneness of religion – and that just naming one’s Faith without following
its teachings makes a meaningless and false claim. Humanity is one family created by the
same God of all religions, no matter what name God is called.

Our human family awaits your involvement in connecting and building a bright future. The
future of humanity rests upon us, and if we can face all the challenges with love,
cooperation, and unity, we can learn to see all religions as one and humanity as one diverse
family.

How Should We Measure the Span of Our Lives?

The sad death of my 33-year-old sweet and gentle nephew, the only son of my sister, who
had just been married and was very dear to me, challenged me to grasp the wisdom of his
death at such a young age. His death forced me to think not only about the concept of death
but also about the concept of measuring our lives with man-made measuring tools of days
and years.

The fact that some souls leave this physical world earlier than others is considered sad, and
the reason behind this is just seeing the small number of years they spend in this physical
existence rather than thinking about how they have used their time while they were alive.

Humanity invented the concept of time, based on the earth’s rotation, called it a day, and
the earth going around the sun, called it a year and used it to measure life’s span. It is a
tangible tool to count the span of our life here on earth, and it serves this purpose well.
However, inherent in this emphasis on our life span is the assumption that having more
years is life’s goal. But I do not think God sees it the same way or judges us that way.

Baha’ullah reminds us of the shortness of our lives and how to prepare before the hour of
our death:

“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.”

An emphasis on the material side of life has pushed humanity into adopting tools for
measuring the material aspect of our lives, and by that, adding to humanity’s confusion and
waywardness, where spiritual values are traded for physical values. The reality is that our
number of years or the number of times the earth goes around the sun does not guarantee a
spiritual and fulfilling life to be adequate to go to the next world awaiting us all.

Abdu’l-Baha points out that we are above the traits of our physical needs:

“The span of his existence will pass away in eating, drinking and sleeping, without
eternal fruits, heavenly traces or illumination -- without spiritual potency, everlasting
life or the lofty attainments intended for him during his pilgrimage through the
human world..”

To console my sister, I shared my theory about some souls who have left this world early. I
thought of this world as a testing ground and a school of learning with its teacher who
teaches us what is good and evil and leaves us to study and practice what we have learned,
with the knowledge that at the end of our lives, there will be an exam to determine what
grade we will go to next. I told my sister that maybe her son had excelled in his studies
since he was a gentle and innocent soul, and God must have thought that he had aced all
his courses and had graduated, so He sent him to his next grade while we stayed back,
requiring more work before we could move on. Also, I sent this prayer that Abdu’l-Baha
had written to a woman who had lost her young son:
“From the death of that beloved youth due to his separation from you the utmost
sorrow and grief has been occasioned, for he flew away in the flower of his age and
the bloom of his youth, to the heavenly nest.

But as he has been freed from this sorrow-stricken shelter and has turned his face
toward the everlasting nest of the Kingdom and has been delivered from a dark and
narrow world and has hastened to the sanctified realm of Light, therein lies the
consolation of our hearts.

The inscrutable divine wisdom underlies such heart-rending occurrences. It is as if a
kind gardener transfers a fresh and tender shrub from a narrow place to a vast
region. This transference is not the cause of the withering, the waning or the
destruction of that shrub, nay rather it makes it grow and thrive, acquire freshness
and delicacy and attain verdure and fruition. This hidden secret is well-known to the
gardener, while those souls who are unaware of this bounty suppose that the gardener
in his anger and wrath has uprooted the shrub. But to those who are aware this
concealed fact is manifest and this predestined decree considered a favor.”

And so it seems that death is not necessarily a bad thing since we all have to die, and also,
our lives are not about the number of times the earth goes around the sun; instead, they are
about what we do with God’s given gift of life.

This realization was based on a talk I had with a young man who had come to speak to a
group of offenders in a treatment centre I used to work in years ago. He was addressing the
harm caused by drugs.

This young man had AIDS and had a few months to live. After his talk, he permitted me to
ask him a personal question. I asked him how he was dealing and feeling about his
imminent death. He said that for many years, he had been a drug addict living on the street
shooting drugs, and if it had not been for getting AIDS, he would have continued doing it.
Then he said he would not trade these few months he had left helping others not to repeat
his mistakes for anything in the world. He had realized that it is not the number of years
that matters but how we use it that is important.

Abdu’l-Baha explains what we should be focusing on in our short lives:

“The fleeting hours of man’s life on earth pass swiftly by and the little that still
remaineth shall come to an end, but that which endureth and lasteth for evermore is
the fruit that man reapeth from his servitude at the Divine Threshold. “
I am unsure if my attempts to console my sister, who lives continents away from me,
succeeded. Still, it made me reflect on the remaining number of earth’s rotations left for
me to prepare for my journey to the spiritual world, where the concept of time has a
different meaning.

Children Need Both Kinds of Education: Material and Spiritual

Years of involvement with educational systems, and even starting an overseas school years
ago, have led me to this question: does our education system serve every aspect of our
children’s’ lives?

Education isn’t simply about memorizing facts – it’s about discovering the hidden talents
and potential of children and youth, teaching them to think for themselves, and giving them
what they need to choose the right path.

In other words, education means awakening students to their potential so that they can take
charge of their lives.

This quotation from Baha’u’llah has been my guiding light in navigating the tricky and
complicated educational system: “Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable
value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to
benefit therefrom.” If, as Baha’u’llah said, we can unearth those gems from within our
students’ minds and hearts, we’ve done our job as educators.

In the past and even now, in some places in the world, children were traditionally sent to a
master or guru to learn. They were taught the basic facts of being human by emphasizing
moral and spiritual values, and once that was achieved, then the master would proceed to
teach them mathematics and sciences – because human and spiritual values were
considered the foundation for building a life.

Sadly, in many educational systems, we now teach without consideration for such a
foundation and its ongoing maintenance.

In many places, education no longer satisfies both sides of our being, the material and the
human – because we’ve adopted one-sided systems that put great stress on material
success. The whole education system is geared to create skills that allow us to succeed in
the material world and little or no effort is put in place to encourage achieving the higher
goal of becoming a better human being, creating a healthy balance between the material
and the spiritual.

The whole goal of education – to develop human potential – requires a balanced outlook.
Some of that education, of course, must first take place at home, as the Baha'i teachings
point out:

Every child is potentially the light of the world — and at the same time its darkness;
wherefore must the question of education be accounted as of primary importance.
From his infancy, the child must be nursed at the breast of God’s love, and nurtured
in the embrace of His knowledge, that he may radiate light, grow in spirituality, be
filled with wisdom and learning, and take on the characteristics of the angelic host.

When children do begin to attend school, however, the development of human and moral
potential is not part of the education system’s focus, and it is not even the focus for most
parents when the goal set for their children involves succeeding materially. The concept of
planning for a prosperous and balanced economic and moral life is almost unheard of and
is ignored.

I understand the need for and importance of material success, but the question is, at what
cost? In most cases, the price is neglecting the importance of developing the potential of
our souls.

In our worldly, materially-centered way of living, our goals have shifted from developing
human and spiritual potential to creating individuals skilled in navigating the competitive
world of the job market and landing jobs with high salaries and good benefits. However,
even the education system’s success in teaching essential facts of management of the
material side is questionable. One of my ex-students told me that she was robbed of 12
years of her life spent in school because she did not learn the basics of how to manage her
finances.

There is nothing wrong with being financially successful: having a profession, degrees,
skills, and wealth, as long as we remember that our degrees, work, and wealth do not
define who we are. In our materialistic world, who you are spiritually and morally is
secondary to what you have, whether a degree, a big bank balance, or the number of cars
and houses you own, which have become superficial indicators or yardsticks for measuring
life’s success.

Our life’s priorities have become one-sided. They cover the physical aspect of our lives,
but they do not deal with our existence's human and spiritual sides. The Baha'i teachings
urge us to look at life differently – to see it not only through a material lens but also with a
spiritual vision. Abdu’l-Baha, in a speech he gave in Paris, said:

It is indeed a good and praiseworthy thing to progress materially, but in so doing, let
us not neglect the more important spiritual progress, and close our eyes to the Divine
light shining in our midst.

Only by improving spiritually as well as materially can we make any real progress,
and become perfect beings.

Various religions in the world have offered religious schools. Still, sadly, some of them
emphasize the supposed supremacy of one religion over others, presenting their religion as
the only way to God or salvation, which leads to fanaticism, alienation, and division,
destroying the potential of their students.

However, lately, educators have raised awareness of the need for change, and some
educational and religious institutions have attempted to incorporate morality and
spirituality into their curricula.

Every child is full of gifts from the Creator, and education’s role involves developing those
gifts and allowing them to shine, discovering the real meaning of a prosperous and
balanced life – of progressing materially and progressing in acquiring human and spiritual
values.

After all, many people who gain vast wealth in this physical realm are bound to realize at
the end of their lives that they must leave all possessions behind when they die. On the
other hand, the spiritual and moral growth made during a lifetime does not disappear when
our human souls transcend this realm, creating great satisfaction that life spent on
acquiring the deeper human and spiritual virtues prepared us for the next stage of our
existence.

From Enriching the Shareholders to Serving the Stakeholders

The economic systems in our world, where the gap between the extremely poor and the
super-rich grows wider by the minute, leave billions of fellow human beings struggling to
survive. This is unjust.

Many ideas and discussions have been advanced about how to solve these problems, and
different economic systems have been passionately analyzed in detail and tried by various
nations – with no solution in sight. The problem of the growing gap between the wealthy
and the poor has not subsided. Instead, it has gotten worse.

As is my habit, I try to simplify the problem to grasp it better and not get lost in the ocean
of data and details. I have realized that in almost all cases, most for-profit companies or
firms aim to please the shareholders and not the people they eventually affect.

To clarify this concept, let’s first define the two terms.

Shareholder: A person or institution that has invested money in a corporation in exchange
for a “share” of the ownership.

Stakeholder: A person or a group with a vested interest or stake in the decision-making and
activities of a business, organization, or project. Based on these criteria, stakeholders often
include customers, employees, investors, and suppliers – and ultimately, all of society.

For simplicity, let’s use the term “shareholders” to represent the self-interest that has been
the driving force or the engine of the predominant capitalist systems in the world. That
term, after all, was suggested by Adam Smith, who has been called by many the father of
capitalism.

Let’s use the term “stakeholders” to symbolize the welfare of the public — the ordinary
members of a community or country who the economic system tries to serve. An equitable
and just economic system should aim to achieve welfare, happiness, and financial security
for all rather than increase share prices or increase profits for the sole benefit of the few.

One of the primary principles of the Baha'i teachings – a spiritual solution to the world’s
economic problems – asks humanity to achieve unity and justice by eliminating the great
disparities between the wealthy and the poor:

The government of the countries should conform to the Divine Law which gives equal
justice to all. This is the only way in which the deplorable superfluity of
great wealth and miserable, demoralizing, degrading poverty can be abolished. Not
until this is done will the Law of God be obeyed.

To accomplish those lofty goals, there must be a fundamental shift in our thinking process
and vision. The different institutions of the world must change their direction to a new one
motivated by human and spiritual values.

This shift in the world’s mindset implies seeing the bigger picture and the whole of
humanity rather than a small portion of society who have accumulated a vast majority of
the financial resources. We must also revisit and revise the wasteful expenditures on war
industries and military might, redirecting them to humanitarian purposes and the
advancement of sciences that promote the well-being of all humanity.

In his book The World Order of Baha’u’llah, the Guardian of the Baha'i Faith, Shoghi
Effendi, outlined the hopeful, positive Baha'i vision of a unified, demilitarized, and
economically equitable world, saying that the Baha'i teachings will help bring it about:

The economic resources of the world will be organized, its sources of raw materials
will be tapped and fully utilized, its markets will be coordinated and developed, and
the distribution of its products will be equitably regulated.

… The enormous energy dissipated and wasted on war, whether economic or
political, will be consecrated to such ends as will extend the range of human
inventions and technical development, to the increase of the productivity of mankind,
to the extermination of disease, to the extension of scientific research, to the raising of
the standard of physical health, to the sharpening and refinement of the human
brain, to the exploitation of the unused and unsuspected resources of the planet, to
the prolongation of human life, and to the furtherance of any other agency that can
stimulate the intellectual, the moral, and spiritual life of the entire human race.

As the economic problems of the world increase and the intensity of our multiple crises
increases with it, humanity has to face the reality that the scope of the world’s problems
has reached a level beyond the ability of our current system of national sovereignty to
resolve. A new, world-unifying approach and a new way of looking for a solution is
needed – a realization that spiritual and moral values must be included in the formulation
and application of the system that can remedy the diseases of our ailing human society.

The Baha'i teachings understand that two kinds of human civilization exist – material and
spiritual – and achieving a balance between the two comprises the solution. Abdu’l-Baha
explained this concept beautifully:

… among the teachings of Baha’u’llah is that although material civilization is one of
the means for the progress of the world of mankind, yet until it becomes combined
with Divine civilization, the desired result, which is the felicity of mankind, will not be
attained. Consider! ... all these weapons of war are the malignant fruits of material
civilization. Had material civilization been combined with Divine civilization, these
fiery weapons would never have been invented. Nay, rather, human energy would
have been wholly devoted to useful inventions and would have been concentrated on
praiseworthy discoveries. Material civilization is like a lamp-glass. Divine civilization
is the lamp itself and the glass without the light is dark. Material civilization is like
the body. No matter how infinitely graceful, elegant and beautiful it may be, it is
dead. Divine civilization is like the spirit, and the body gets its life from the spirit,
otherwise it becomes a corpse. It has thus been made evident that the world of
mankind is in need of the breaths of the Holy Spirit. Without the spirit the world of
mankind is lifeless, and without this light the world of mankind is in utter darkness.
For the world of nature is an animal world. Until man is born again from the world of
nature, that is to say, becomes detached from the world of nature, he is essentially an
animal, and it is the teachings of God which convert this animal into a human soul.

The history of purely capitalist economics, with its focus on profit at any cost and with
little attention paid to the plight of the poor, has created this extreme disparity between the
“haves” and “have nots” that threatens to de-stabilize our entire world. It is time to rethink
our assumptions about our economic systems, emphasize the needs of the stakeholders
over the shareholders, and start building a more just and equitable global system by
introducing human, moral, and spiritual values.

How to Seek the Truth in a Sea of Misinformation

We live now in the midst of an outrage war – one politician or another, in different parts of
the world, lashes out with great anger, strong words, and untruths, and the backlash builds
as if on a battlefield.

Sure, we can blame the politicians for all the outrage, but no one wants to admit that these
individuals are the by-products of our time. They result from humanity’s choices and our
collective failure to seek the truth.

These outrages and grievances, and the individuals who give voice to them, are gaining
popularity and momentum due to our inability to discern reality. We have elected them; we
pay attention to them; we give them a free pass; as a result, they spread misinformation,
outrage, and even hatred with the speed of light, wrapping a blindfold around many
people’s eyes and souls.

This widespread glut of misinformation and lies has now extended into multiple aspects of
our lives, eating away at humanity’s fundamental realities. It has paralyzed so many that
they have lost hope for the future. People feel confused about what to believe and struggle
to find the truth.

The root cause, the Baha’i teachings point out, is a lack of spirituality, morality, and proper
education.

This passage from the writings of Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith,
provides a clear explanation of the problem – and the realization that an alternative course
of action has always been open to humanity:

The vitality of men’s belief in God is dying out in every land; nothing short of His
wholesome medicine can ever restore it. The corrosion of ungodliness is eating into
the vitals of human society; what else but the Elixir of His potent Revelation can
cleanse and revive it? Is it within human power … to effect in the constituent
elements of any of the minute and indivisible particles of matter so complete a
transformation as to transmute it into purest gold? Perplexing and difficult as this
may appear, the still greater task of converting satanic strength into heavenly power
is one that We have been empowered to accomplish. The force capable of such a

transformation transcendeth the potency of the Elixir itself. The Word of God, alone,
can claim the distinction of being endowed with the capacity required for so great and
far-reaching a change.

From a Baha’i perspective, there are two forces at work in the world: the disintegrative
forces eating into the foundations of the world’s outdated institutions and values, and on
the opposite side, the forces and agents of integration that are ready with a unifying vision
of the future to build a better world for humanity.

Misinformation, lies, and exploitation by politicians and others are part of the process of
disintegration, gradually tearing down society’s old, outworn institutions. They constantly
prove that the world needs a new start and a new set of values to take humanity out of our
self-afflicted miseries toward a brighter future.

The evidence of this disintegration in all aspects of our lives is transparent to seekers of the
truth. Still, it sadly remains hidden from those lost in the wilderness of misinformation and
ignorance.

The Baha’i teachings proclaim that the Creator has given us each the ability to determine
what is true and what is not, and it is up to us to use that ability. In a speech he gave in
Massachusetts in 1912, Abdu’l-Baha said:

God has given man the eye of investigation by which he may see and recognize truth.
He has endowed man with ears that he may hear the message of reality and conferred
upon him the gift of reason by which he may discover things for himself. This is his
endowment and equipment for the investigation of reality. Man is not intended to see
through the eyes of another, hear through another’s ears nor comprehend with
another’s brain. Each human creature has individual endowment, power and
responsibility in the creative plan of God. Therefore, depend upon your own reason
and judgment and adhere to the outcome of your own investigation; otherwise, you
will be utterly submerged in the sea of ignorance and deprived of all the bounties of
God.

Truth, however, isn’t just a set of concrete circumstances – it goes far beyond mere facts
and crosses into the realm of values. This means we must adopt principles or values that
allow us to measure what is right and reject what is wrong. When we make these changes
in our thinking and our approach to reality, they allow us to evolve to a higher level of
understanding.

In the present environment, no one can afford the luxury of being indifferent. When we
don’t try to investigate the truth independently, we take on the easy, lazy attitude that
allows lies to flourish.

If we want to base our lives on reality rather than fiction, we need to work hard for it,
investing physical and spiritual energy in our investigation of the truth. We make wrong
choices because of our confusion in seeing the truth. It requires real efforts to lead us in the
right direction. Then, and only then, we can start discerning reality from falsehood, and
become a lighthouse in the darkness of the ocean of confusion. So, in a way, this
swimming through a sea of misinformation is a beautiful process that humanity is going
through – painful, no doubt, but not necessarily without its benefits.

When we adopt a rigorous practice of separating fact from fiction and develop a set of
spiritual principles and values to guide us through our existence’s turbulent world, we can
stand firm and face all the misinformation that comes our way. Misinformation, whose
primary goal is to create confusion and mislead people, can be used to our advantage by
improving our truth-seeking abilities and creating a yardstick to measure the truth in all
aspects of our lives.

This positive attitude has been the hallmark of humanity down through the ages, so there is
no reason we should give it up now. We can accept the challenges instead of blaming and
cursing those who spread falsehoods, whether politicians or other public figures, so let us
take on first the responsibility of educating ourselves and then lovingly and with patience
educating and helping those lost in the sea of misinformation.

Ultimately, this hopefulness and positive attitude will save us from going down the road of
hatred and division.

Why Divorce Should Be the Last Option

Before sharing my thoughts on this subject, I need to state that my intention is not to
encourage people to stay in a bad or abusive relationship and suffer. That would be
absolutely wrong. The intention is to make sure that separation is for the right reasons and
that a couple have tried all avenues before deciding to separate.
The world is going through a very confusing time. It looks like the rug of morality and
values has been pulled from under the foot of humanity and replaced by selfishness, selfcentred attitudes and views that lead to less tolerance for others and finding the easiest way
to get out of a bad situation as soon as possible.

I believe it is time to go back to the basics and fundamental principles and values of
commitment to a relationship, reexamine our expectations and attitudes to avoid a lifetime
of regrets, and realize that divorce is not the only solution for remedying problems in a
relationship.

As morality and values lose their influence on people, the separation rate will increase
without people realizing that problems will not be solved by changing partners and
geographical locations. It requires self-reflection and openness to admit and accept one’s
part in the relationship’s failure.

Divorce has been discouraged in all religious writings. Here are
the writings of Baha’u’llah outlining when divorce is allowed and how it should be
granted:
Should resentment or antipathy arise between husband and wife, he is not to divorce
her but to bide in patience throughout the course of one whole year, that perchance
the fragrance of affection may be renewed between them. If, upon the completion of
this period, their love hath not returned, it is permissible for divorce to take place.
I am sharing a few of my ideas on why divorce should be the last resort for ending a
commitment with our life partners:

• View the relationship as a promise or serious commitment rather than a source of security
and personal interest. A couple may take the marriage vows lightly and think it is just some
pretty words and fail to realize that it is a promise, a covenant, and like every endeavour in
life, it needs sacrifice and energy to protect and nurture this precious union that could last
for eternity or at least, as the marriage vow says “until death do us part.”
Baha’i marriage is the commitment of the two parties one to the other, and their
mutual attachment of mind and heart. Each must, however, exercise the utmost care
to become thoroughly acquainted with the character of the other, that the binding
covenant between them may be a tie that will endure forever. Their purpose must be

this: to become loving companions and comrades and at one with each other for time
and eternity.
• “Life is change, and change is life,” and that conveys the idea that change is a natural part
of life. Events such as illness, death in the family, financial changes or loss of employment
can significantly impact our lives. Problems may be by-products of our environment.
Failing to consider the changes and challenges that Mother Time has in store for us can
shake the foundation of even strong relationships. Physical and emotional changes are
natural and affect people, but they are not a good reason for separation.

• Acknowledge our part in creating problems rather than blaming everything on the spouse.
This requires self-knowledge, which is essential for personal growth and relationships.

• Approach marriage from a spiritual point of view. The emphasis should be on the
spiritual part of marriage and not just the material life. Abdu’l-Baha explains this:
O ye two believers in God! The Lord, peerless is He, hath made woman and man to
abide with each other in the closest companionship, and to be even as a single soul.
They are two helpmates, two intimate friends, who should be concerned about the
welfare of each other.

• Hollywood and other movie industries and social media have distorted the concept of
marriage by highlighting only the material aspects of marriage, such as the focus on
physical attributes, with no attention to the moral and spiritual elements. It is not all
romance; it is reality and requires hard work.

• It is essential to avoid the advice of those who are not in a position to judge and are
biased and instead consult with the right people and institutions. During a crisis, one’s
sense of judgment gets clouded because of overwhelming emotions, which can lead to
wrong decisions. This is when one needs more time for meditation and self-reflection,
seeking advice from trusted sources and professional counsellors to make the right
decisions. Bad advice in this situation can be disastrous, and good advice can save the
relationship and avoid a crisis.

In conclusion, Baha’u’llah points out that God desires unity and harmony for humanity,
and divorce is contrary to His wishes but allowed in extreme circumstances.

When the question of separation arises, two extreme courses of action are open to both
parties. One is the infamous “see you in court,” where the lawyers take over the legal
matters.

The other one is what Abdu’l-Baha suggested:

If divorce taketh place, the spiritual love and affection between you should increase,
and ye should become like a brother and sister.

This quotation reminds us to rise above our lower nature’s temptations and choose the path
of love.

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