What to Do Instead of Gossip and Backbiting
If some people come to thee alone complaining against each other, don't listen to them, don't let them breathe the faults of others in thy presence. Tell them: “I have not come here to engage my time with these things. I am not a judge. I have come to summon the...
The Strongest Spiritual Test We Can Meet
Yet who can doubt that all the central Figures demonstrated to the whole of mankind an assured and happy way of life? Here is where their example seems particularly precious. To rise above the disappointments, obstacles, and pain which we experience in serving the...
The Reason We Have Tests
The more difficulties one sees in the world the more perfect one becomes. The more you plough and dig the ground the more fertile it becomes. The more you cut the branches of a tree the higher and stronger it grows. The more you put the gold in the fire the purer it...
Geographic “Cure”
O Son of Man! Wert thou to speed through the immensity of space and traverse the expanse of heaven, yet thou wouldst find no rest save in submission to Our command and humbleness before Our Face. (Bahá'u'lláh, Hidden Words, Arabic 40) I love this Hidden Word, even...
Race Issues Require a Hundred Times More Consideration
It is difficult for the friends always to remember that in matter[s] where race enters, a hundred times more consideration and wisdom in handling situations is necessary than when an issue is not complicated by this factor. (Shoghi Effendi, Pupil of the Eye, p. 87)...
Why We Let Go of Petty Bickerings and Jealousies
Petty bickerings and jealousies make one lose all the traces of spirituality, excommunicate a person from the divine company of the worthy ones, submerge one in the sea of phantasms, suffer one to become cold and pessimistic and throw him headlong into the depths of...
Useless Hairsplittings
If . . . it consists in empty, profitless debates and in a vain concatenation of imaginings that lead to no result except acrimony, why devote one's life to such useless hairsplittings and disputes. (Abdu'l-Baha, The Secret of Divine Civilization, p. 106) I love this...
When Not to be Kind
Strive ye, then, with all your heart to treat compassionately all humankind - except for those who have some selfish, private motive, or some disease of the soul. Kindness cannot be shown the tyrant, the deceiver, or the thief, because, far from awakening them to...
Listening to the Faults of Others
It is obvious that if we listen to those who complain to us about the faults of others we are guilty of complicity in their backbiting. We should therefore, as tactfully as possible, but yet firmly, do our utmost to prevent others from making accusations or...
Support Needed for The Nightingale’s Song
Posted on Behalf of Andrea Torrey Balsara Dear Friends, I have launched a Kickstarter campaign at Kickstarter Canada, until October 31, to fund the reprint of my picture book, The Nightingale’s Song. It’s the story of humanity, about how we are all ONE. Children of...
Bicentenary 2019
Dear Friends, I just found this lovely presentation on the life of the Bab with solo and orchestration music of Farzad Khozein. Many communities are showing it as people arrive at their events. I offer it in the hopes that you will enjoy it privately or at your...
Reading our Reality
[I]t is only through continued action, reflection and consultation on their part that they will learn to read their own reality, see their own possibilities, make use of their own resources. (Universal House of Justice, Framework for Action, #16) I’m in a dilemma as...
5 Steps to Overcoming Setbacks
We note that, as learning accelerates, the friends grow more capable of overcoming setbacks, whether small or large—diagnosing their root causes, exploring the underlying principles, bringing to bear relevant experience, identifying remedial steps, and assessing...
Every Good Thing Hath Been Created For You
Let not the happenings of the world sadden you. I swear by God! The sea of joy yearneth to attain your presence, for every good thing hath been created for you, and will, according to the needs of the times, be revealed unto you. (Baha'u'llah, quoted in Shoghi...