The needs of the age

Details
Category: Alison Marshall's Column
Created: Wednesday, 18 January 2006 13:33
Published: Wednesday, 18 January 2006 13:33
Hits: 3851

Many thanks to Baquia, who left the following comment at the bottom of my last message:

But Baha'u'llah says:
"Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in, and centre your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements."
Can it be that we find the "Paradise of heavenly grace" by doing this?

I think this is basically the same point as the person I referred to in my message was making. That person was saying that I shouldn't be so concerned with myself and that I should be more concerned with helping the world. And here again the quote from Baha'u'llah seems to indicate that we should be entirely focused on helping the world.

In my view, the central requirement of this age is for souls to find the heavenly kingdom. As I said in my previous message, finding the heavenly kingdom is the fruit of our existence. Baha'u'llah tells us that the goal of our soul's journey is to meet Baha'u'llah. And, in my view, all the world's afflictions are resolved if the souls walk that path and attain that goal.

In my view, the fact that this is the Day of God makes a big difference to what's important. One of the meanings of the Day of God, as I understand it, is that this is God's day for being really really selfish. It's like God is saying to us: 'forget everything but me'. And Baha'u'llah makes comments to this effect everywhere. God has sent Baha'u'llah to earth to tell us that God has sent himself in the form of Baha'u'llah to call us to him, to live in our heavenly home with him forever. In my view, this spiritual path and goal is the most important thing; and, in fact it is the Cause. It is the one Cause, the one Purpose, the one Goal. In my view, the troubles of the world are caused by the fact that humanity is distracted from this one important goal. If every human being on the planet was focused entirely on that path and on helping others walk it, this would lead to a united world.

So for me, being anxiously concerned about the needs of this age is about focusing on and helping people walk that spiritual path and attaining the presence of God. The answers to the world's problems are about getting people to turn away from the issues they find themselves submerged in and turning towards this most important goal. The conflicts that people are submerged in are the fruit of their vain imaginings and idle fancies. If they were simply to turn their heads away from them and toward Baha'u'llah, they would see a new reality. They would recognise that the contention they imagined was all-important was in fact illusion, and they would let it go. They would rush to drink Baha'u'llah's wine of life. They would completely forget what they knew before.

"Hear Me, ye mortal birds! In the Rose Garden of changeless splendor a Flower hath begun to bloom, compared to which every other flower is but a thorn, and before the brightness of Whose glory the very essence of beauty must pale and wither. Arise, therefore, and, with the whole enthusiasm of your hearts, with all the eagerness of your souls, the full fervor of your will, and the concentrated efforts of your entire being, strive to attain the paradise of His presence, and endeavor to inhale the fragrance of the incorruptible Flower, to breathe the sweet savors of holiness, and to obtain a portion of this perfume of celestial glory. Whoso followeth this counsel will break his chains asunder, will taste the abandonment of enraptured love, will attain unto his heart's desire, and will surrender his soul into the hands of his Beloved. Bursting through his cage, he will, even as the bird of the spirit, wing his flight to his holy and everlasting nest.

Night hath succeeded day, and day hath succeeded night, and the hours and moments of your lives have come and gone, and yet none of you hath, for one instant, consented to detach himself from that which perisheth. Bestir yourselves, that the brief moments that are still yours may not be dissipated and lost. Even as the swiftness of lightning your days shall pass, and your bodies shall be laid to rest beneath a canopy of dust. What can ye then achieve? How can ye atone for your past failure?"
Baha'u'llah: Gleanings CLI

Go to the original blog entry...