How to Deal with Internet Trolls
In discussions look toward the reality without being self-opinionated. Let no one assert and insist upon his own mere opinion; nay, rather, let each investigate the reality with the greatest love and fellowship. ('Abdu'l-Bahá, Lights of Guidance, p. 177, #581) Has...
Not My Capacity, But God’s
Do you think it is the teachers who make converts and change human hearts? No, surely not. They are only pure souls who take the first step, and then let the spirit of Bahá’u’lláh move them and make use of them. If any one of them should even for a second consider his...
A Prayer for a Favorable End to One’s Life
He is God! O Lord! Grant me such grace and bounty, such protection and support, such kindness and security that the last of my days may excel their beginning, and the end of my life commence the bestowal of manifold favors. May some gift or blessing of Thine reach me...
How Do Baha’is Meditate?
I’ve been meditating one way or another as a Baha’i for nearly 40 years and recently someone told me, quite adamantly, that the things I thought of as meditation were not in fact, meditation. According to her, the only valid form of meditation was focusing on the...
The Relationship Between Sin and Physical Ailments
It is certainly the case that sins are a potent cause of physical ailments. If humankind were free from the defilements of sin and waywardness, and lived according to a natural, inborn equilibrium, without following wherever their passions led, it is undeniable that...
The More Difficulties We Have, The More Perfect We Become
You are encouraged to continue to keep in mind the spiritual dimension of your struggles. We are assured by 'Abdu'l-Bahá in the following words: “The more difficulties one sees in the world the more perfect one becomes. The more you plough and dig the ground the more...
For Every Crisis, there’s Always a Victory
Remember My days during thy days, and My distress and banishment in this remote prison. (Bahá’u’lláh, Bahá’í Prayers, p. 210) When I was in the deepest despair, remembering traumatic events of my childhood, I came across this quote, which helped to lift me out of my...
Teaching Needs Detachment
Whoso ariseth to teach Our Cause must needs detach himself from all earthly things, and regard, at all times, the triumph of Our Faith as his supreme objective. (Bahá’u’lláh, Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá’u’lláh, p. 334) I have a lot of emotional pain from...
Abuse Happens when We Come From our Lower Nature
As a devoted believer you are urged to strive to develop forgiveness in your heart toward your parents who have abused you in so disgraceful a manner, and to attain a level of insight which sees them as captives of their lower nature, whose actions can only lead them...
Praying for our Parents
O Lord! In this Most Great Dispensation Thou dost accept the intercession of children in behalf of their parents. This is one of the special infinite bestowals of this Dispensation. Therefore, O Thou kind Lord, accept the request of this Thy servant at the threshold...
Things are Getting Better
Behold the disturbances which, for many a long year, have afflicted the earth, and the perturbation that hath seized its peoples. It hath either been ravaged by war, or tormented by sudden and unforeseen calamities. (Bahá’u’lláh, Tablets of Bahá’u’lláh, p.163)...
Why Do Children Have to Suffer from Evil?
On this plane of existence, there are many injustices that the human mind cannot fathom. Among these are heart-rending trials of the innocent …. With regard to the spiritual significance of the suffering of children 'who are afflicted at the hands of the oppressor',...
How We Meditate
It is incumbent upon you to ponder in your hearts and meditate upon His words, and humbly to call upon Him, and to put away self in His heavenly Cause. These are the things that will make of you signs of guidance unto all mankind, and brilliant stars shining down from...
Inviting Others to Help with Decision Making
Now Available on Amazon! A Bahá’í who has a problem may wish to make his own decision upon it after prayer and after weighing all the aspects of it in his own mind; . . . he may prefer to seek the council of individual friends or of professional counselors such as his...