The first Baha’i book I ever read was “The Hidden Words of Baha’u’llah”. The book begins with this description of itself:
HE IS THE GLORY OF GLORIES
This is that which hath descended from the realm of glory, uttered by the tongue of power and might, and revealed unto the Prophets of old. We have taken the inner essence thereof and clothed it in the garment of brevity, as a token of grace unto the righteous, that they may stand faithful unto the Covenant of God, may fulfill in their lives His trust, and in the realm of spirit obtain the gem of Divine virtue.
Whenever this book uses the first person, I see that as being God, the Creator, Himself. While I believe that He is, essentially, addressing every person who will listen, I find it best to consider that He is addressing me, and that I need to strive to take each passage to heart. The second passage of that book says:
2. O SON OF SPIRIT!
The best beloved of all things in My sight is Justice; turn not away therefrom if thou desirest Me, and neglect it not that I may confide in thee. By its aid thou shalt see with thine own eyes and not through the eyes of others, and shalt know of thine own knowledge and not through the knowledge of thy neighbor. Ponder this in thy heart; how it behooveth thee to be. Verily justice is My gift to thee and the sign of My loving-kindness. Set it then before thine eyes.
There is much to be learned from this (and any) passage, but some of what I see from it is a statement of the principle that each of us must investigate the truth of things for ourselves, and should not accept (nor reject) other people’s interpretations of scriptures or of the world without looking at them ourselves. I also see in that sentence, “Ponder this in thy heart; how it behooveth thee to be,” that I am responsible for how I am, not for how other people are. I am not in favor of telling other people how to live their lives, or pointing out other people’s faults, sins, or errors of morality. (On the other hand, I do care about people, and want the best for them, so I have been known to mention to others when I am fairly certain that their observable actions may have palpably bad outcomes.)
‘Abdu’l Baha has told us to look only at a person’s good qualities and to overlook the bad ones. I believe that our expectations of others, and our perceptions of who they are as individuals can effect those we interact with in subtle ways. So, if one person perceives another as a liar, for example, that other person is more likely to lie to the first person. On the other hand, if one person sees another as a creative, kind, and caring person (as in a typical love story), the other is more likely to manifest those qualities. “Your love makes me a better person” is more than a compliment, it is often an exclamation of wonderment about a real, if mysterious, phenomenon. I want to have a positive influence on others, so what can I do?
Each person has many discernible qualities, some good, some bad. So, I want to overlook the bad, and see the good. But what about a stranger I pass in the street? In a two kilometer walk through town, I might pass a hundred strangers going the other way. I thinks of a person’s good qualities as manifestations of God’s light within their soul. The Hidden Words has this passage:
11. O SON OF BEING!
Thou art My lamp and My light is in thee. Get thou from it thy radiance and seek none other than Me. For I have created thee rich and have bountifully shed My favor upon thee.
So, what I can do - what I try to do and pray for assistance to do - is to see God’s Light in every stranger that I pass, and in each friend that I make, and in people who begin to annoy me, and even in those who seem to wish me harm. For me, this is what defines other people, and what, in the end, defines me. In this, I think, I am also obeying Christ’s directive to love my neighbor and my enemy. Whether you are Christian, Baha’i, Buddhist, Muslim, agnostic, or atheist, can you really say there is any harm in this?
