Why Are We Here: Meaning of Life: Warwick Leaflets
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Source: Bahá'í Library Online (bahai-library.com), curated by Jonah Winters. Used by permission of the curator. Original citation: Warwick Bahá'í Bookshop, Why Are We Here: Meaning of Life: Warwick Leaflets, bahai-library.com.
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Why Are We Here: Meaning of Life:

Warwick Leaflets

Warwick Bahá'í Bookshop

2003

The Spiritual Matrix
Why are we
here? What is life for? At some time in life, all human beings will ask
themselves these questions. Bahá'u'lláh, the Founder of the Bahá'í Faith,
explained that life on this earth is a training ground, a matrix in which each
soul can learn and develop.

Everything
in this life is a reflection of the real spiritual life. Many things exist in
this world so that we can understand the spiritual reality. For example, the sun
shines its light on everyone and everything, gives us warmth and makes things
grow. Without it, there would be no life at all on this earth. In this case, the
sun is a symbol for God. This helps us to understand, for instance, that God's
love shines upon everyone without exception, but we can shut ourselves away in
the spiritual darkness if we choose. This love is what gives us life.

Everything
in the world can teach us something about God.

What
is God?

God is
something we can never properly understand, because God created us. In the same
way, a painting can never understand the artist who painted it. But there are
two ways we can learn everything we possibly can about God. The first is through
His creation as already described. The second is through the things which His
Messengers, such as Christ and Buddha, have told us. We understand that God is
perfect -- perfectly good, perfectly loving, perfectly kind, and has created this
world as a place where we can learn everything we need to know.

What
is the Soul?

A soul is
that part of a human being which recognises goodness and wants to be better.
When you discuss with yourself whether or not to do something which you know is
wrong, it is the soul which knows it is wrong and the self which wants to do it
anyway.

The soul
becomes connected with the body at the beginning of life, when the embryo is
first conceived. But the soul is not part of the body. The soul is like a light
and the body is like a lamp surrounding that source of light. The light shines
through the lamp but is not part of it. When the body dies, the soul separates
from the body and continues to live in another dimension which we are not yet
able to understand.

The
Next World

Just
because we can't see the spiritual world, doesn't mean that it isn't there.
There are lots of things we can't see, but we can feel their effects. For
example, we can't see love, but we can recognise it and it makes us feel happy
to be loved.

Imagine a
baby in the womb of its mother. It has its own complete world. It has no idea
that this is enclosed within another, much bigger world, though it may feel the
effects of this outer world. When it is born into this world, it realises how
small and confining its old world was. It has much more room to grow and develop
in this world. It's the same comparison between this world and the next world.
The next world surrounds us in a way we can't even imagine, but when we reach
the next world, we will realise the freedom we have from the restrictions of
this small world. In the Bahá'í Writings it says:

"To
consider that after the death of the body the spirit perishes is like imagining
that a bird in a cage will be destroyed if the cage is broken? Our body is like
the cage, and the spirit is like the bird? if the cage becomes broken, the bird
will continue and exist. Its feelings will be even more powerful, its
perceptions greater, and its happiness increase -- for the thankful birds there
is no paradise greater than freedom from the cage."

Spiritual
Exercises

The baby,
in the womb of its mother, is growing arms and legs which don't seem to be of
much use. It can exercise them but it doesn't get anywhere. But, if the baby
doesn't develop arms and legs properly, it will be handicapped and find life is
more difficult when it is born into this world.

In the same
way, we need to grow spiritual arms and legs while we are in this world, because
we will need these when we get to the next world. These are the spiritual
qualities, such as honesty, generosity, truthfulness and kindness. It might seem
at first that these qualities are not very useful to us in this world. If,
instead, we lie and cheat, we might gain more money or power, but in reality we
will not be happy because we will always want more. If everyone thought only of
themselves, then no-one would be happy. The Bahá'í Writings say:

"Man
is, in reality, a spiritual being, and only when he lives in the spirit is he
truly happy."

Developing
the Soul

So how
do we develop these spiritual qualities? Every day, we have choices to make,
difficulties to overcome, chances to improve ourselves. If someone is unkind to
us, either we can be unkind back, or we can rise above it and show there is a
better way. If we see someone struggling with something, we can offer to help or
we can ignore it. If we find some money, we can keep it or we can try to find
out who lost it. These are the simple things. We also have more difficult
problems, like serious illness or losing someone we love. When things go wrong,
we can get angry about it, or we can accept it, learn from it and grow stronger:

"Anybody can be happy in the state of
comfort, ease, health, success, pleasure and joy; but if one will be happy and
contented in the time of trouble, hardship and prevailing disease, it is the
proof of nobility."

Life in this world only makes sense if
we see it as a training ground for the next world. Questions like, "Why do
innocent people suffer?" are answered. It is only through suffering, and the way
we handle it, that we can develop ourselves to the full. We don't all start off
with the same amount of money, good looks or other worldly things, but we do all
start off with the same chance of improving ourselves and this is really what
matters. We are all born with different strengths and weaknesses and it is up to
us how we use our strengths and overcome our weaknesses. Everyone has a soul, so
every person is of value. We are all in the same situation, so we should accept
one another's faults and concentrate instead on removing our own faults.

How
to Be Happy

In the past, God sent us His
Messengers, like Moses, Christ, Krishna, Buddha, Muhammad, and now in this age
He has sent Bahá'u'lláh. These Messengers give us guidance on how to behave, how
to be happy, how to grow towards goodness and perfection. They explain to us
what really matters in this life. Each One builds on what was said by the One
before. If we follow Their guidance, we can be happy in this world, whatever
happens to us. We will also be happy in the next world. This is why we are here:
to learn and grow as much as we can while we have the chance.

The text of all these leaflets remains the copyright of Warwick Bahá'í Bookshop. The Bookshop is happy for people to download individual copies for their own purposes. Printed copies can be purchased from the Warwick Bookshop. Individuals or communities wishing to translate or print these leaflets in other countries please contact the Bookshop for permission.

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-- Why Are We Here: Meaning of Life: Warwick Leaflets (Used by permission of the curator)