The Baha'i Studies Listserv >The Baha'i Studies Listserv >Sincerity is the foundation-stone of faith. That >is, 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 97 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, p. 96) > >I suspect I don't understand the meaning of this >passage as it doesn't seem to square up to >facts. It's impossible to sacrifice your own >good for the good of the community except >through religious faith. Huh? Am I to believe >atheists, agnostics, and people who believe in >God but not religion never do anything selfless >for the sake of others? Or that these people >never give to charity? There was a period in my >life where I didn't have true religious faith by >any means, yet I still donated generously during >this time. I wasn't hoping for a 'substantial >reward' then and a reward isn't my first >priority now. > >Also, I didn't think you were supposed to >believe in the words of God just because of >a reward when you get to heaven. Since when >have most needed rewards in order to believe? >
In "The Covenant of Baha'u'llah", p20, Adib Taherzadeh) says that in a Tablet in Ma'idiy-i-Asamani, vol IV, p26, Baha'u'llah explains "there are three barriers between man and GodThe first barrier is attachment to the things of this world, the second is attachment to the rewards of the next world, and the third is attachment to the Kingdom of Names." I suggest you read his commentary on this tablet (pp20-27), especially the last section on attachment to the Kingdom of Names, because I think that underlies what Abdu'l-Baha is talking about. One way of understanding attachment to the Kingdom of Names is "wanting to be known as" instead of "being". That is, it is, for most people, it is more important to be known as being, say, truthful, than actually being truthful. As a result, in order to enhance his image, an individual may make very prominent displays of truthfulness while being a liar most of the time. Similarly, an individual may be seen as a leader in the Baha'i community, but the reason for this may not be solely out of a love for God, but for the approbation of the community. Further in understanding this statement, I think it should not be understood too literally. That is, the believer and non-believer are arch-types used to make a point. In reality, however, as I understand it, nobody with the exception of Abdu'l-Baha exhibits all the characteristics of a believer. Thus His point is that we need to be aware of and fight these short-comings in ourselves. As for rewards for believing - of course that is a factor for most Baha'is. They are accepted by a like-minded group, and that is a powerful inducement if not to believe in the first place, to maintain ones Faith. Don C -- - - - Understood properly, all man's problems are essentially spiritual in nature. __________________________________________________ You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[email protected] Unsubscribe: send a blank email to mailto:leave-526013-27401.54f46e81b66496c9909bcdc2f7987...@list.jccc.edu Subscribe: send subscribe bahai-st in the message body to [email protected] Or subscribe: http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/all_forums/subscribe?name=bahai-st Baha'i Studies is available through the following: Mail - mailto:[email protected] Web - http://list.jccc.edu:8080/read/?forum=bahai-st News (on-campus only) - news://list.jccc.edu/bahai-st Old Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected] New Public - http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]
