After an almost 15-year hiatus from writing in the public domain, I was thrilled to learn of this new blog and am delighted to be one of its contributing writers.
One of the things that motivates me most to write, is the desire to inspire and uplift others. In the words of Henri-Frédéric Amiel:
Life is short and we have
not too much time for gladdening
the hearts of those
who are travelling the dark way
with us.
O, be swift to love!
Make haste to be kind.
In a world dominated by materialism and self-interest, these words speak right to the core of who we are as human beings. They are a reminder of what’s important. As ‘Abdu’l-Bahá said, “…for man can receive no greater gift than this, that he rejoice another’s heart.” He also reminded us, “Man is in reality a spiritual being and only when he lives in the spirit is he truly happy.”
So what does it mean to live in the spirit? It is said we have a dual nature – our lower nature sometimes referred to as our ego or “insistent self” and our higher nature or spirit.
I remember when my children were young, I read a book called Nurturing Spirituality in Children by Peggy Jenkins. There was an activity on making a radio out of a shoe box with two cardboard dials on the front – one called “ego station” and the other “spirit station”. Inside the box, we wrote a list of things that ego might say and a second list of what spirit might say. It was a visual reminder to be aware of our thoughts, words and actions and conscious of which “station” we were tuned into at any given moment.
Recently a colleague invited us to visit her Hindu temple. I was touched by the beauty, serenity and hospitality of the people. It was a reminder of the true purpose of religion - to bring people to together in love and unity. As we were leaving, one man said, “We must never give in to those forces that seek to separate us.” My first thought was that one of the most powerful forces that separates us is the ego. It keeps us disconnected from our true selves and from each other.
This contradicts our true reality. Bahá’u’lláh gives us the analogy of the world of humanity as a single human body. Each of us is like a cell in the body of humanity – with a specific function and “gift” to bring to the whole. The body is healthy through the processes of reciprocity, cooperation and interconnectedness. A body ruled by disconnection and competition leads only to disease. And that’s what we see in the world today - the cancer of injustice, greed, prejudice.
Although we cannot totally eliminate the ego, it can and should be ever-increasingly subordinated to the enlightened soul of man. This is what spiritual progress implies.
I look forward to continuing to explore with you the spiritual path we all tread.
Susan Mottahedeh is a writer living in Richmond and is a member of the worldwide Bahá’í community.
You can read more articles from our interfaith blog, The Spiritual View, HERE
* If you would like to write for this blog, you can contact us at [email protected]
