David Friedman wrote: > > >From Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha p. 136: "Self-love is a strange trait and the > means of the destruction of many important souls in the world. If man be > imbued with all good qualities but be selfish, all the other virtues will > fade or pass away and eventually he will grow worse." > > This is an interesting passage. Is it possible to be imbued with all good > qualities while being selfish?
I think that 'all' in this passage refers to the number of qualities, not the extent of the development. So a person could demonstrate any desireable quality at a particular time. I think that what Abdu'l-Baha is saying is that self-love/selfishness not only makes the development of these qualities difficult or even impossible, but leads to their diminution as the selfishness grows. > > 'Abdu'l-Baha wrote: > > Truthfulness is the foundation of all the virtues of the world of humanity. > Without truthfulness, progress and success in all of the worlds of God are > impossible for a soul. When this holy attribute is established in man, all > the divine qualities will also become realized. > (`Abdu'l-Baha: Baha'i World Faith*, Page: 384) > > The question then is how to tie this in with the other passage. In this case, I think He is using 'truthfullness' as a superlative which none of us completely attain. As to the relationship btwn truthfulness and selfishness, I would say that it is not that a truthful person can not be selfish, but that a selfish person can not be completely truthful. Negative 'qualities' do not exist. Rather they are a way of saying that something either doesn't exist or needs to be developed. In this case selfishness indicates a lack of altruism. Therefore the connection is not actually between truthfulness and selfishness, but truthfulness and altruism. Don C -- - - - - - He who believes himself spiritual proves he is not. ---------- 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)
