Dear Patti and Khazeh,
Thanks for the help. For a long time I've been thinking I was recalling this
phrase from one of Baha'u'llah's works, but perhaps it was just a conflation
of verses in my mind or a recollection from some other source such as
Buddhism.
Contentment is something I've been discussing lately with a friend and
upon finally looking for this phrase I was surprised to not be able to find it.
And, likewise surprised that there is little in the philosophical
encyclopedias or books of great ideas that treat the topic directly. It seems to be
implicit in so much religious thought, such as the basic idea of gratitude for the
most basic blessings of life and acceptance of the will of God, the perfection
of God's plan, and so on.
Interesting, though, I've found that religion and stoic philosophy see
the matter in much the same way and for the same reasons. A small measure of
this is seen in how Buddha, the Stoic philosopher Epictetus, and 'Abdu'l-Baha,
all correlate contentment to real wealth.
>From Buddhism: "Contentment is the highest wealth" (Dhammapada, 204)
>From Epictetus: "Asked, Who is the rich man? Epictetus replied, 'He who is
content.'" (Golden Sayings of Epictetus, CLXXXII)
>From 'Abdu'l-Baha: "Contentment is real wealth." (Words of Abdul Baha; from
the Diary of Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, October 25, 1913. )
This suggests that lack of material wealth is the basis of much human
discontent, but those who possessed wisdom wished to convey that contentment derived
from material wealth was inferior to the contentment that is free from such
wealth. Both the religious and the stoic philosophical tradition emphasize
orientation--placing things in perspective, that is, the transcendent over the
contingent, virtues, friendships and insight over material advantages.
warmest,
Michael
----------
You are subscribed to Baha'i Studies as: mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
To unsubscribe send a blank email to mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Baha'i Studies is available through the following:
mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]
http://list.jccc.net/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?enter=bahai-st
news://list.jccc.net/bahai-st
http://www.escribe.com/religion/bahaist (public)
http://www.mail-archive.com/[EMAIL PROTECTED] (public)
