The views expressed in our content reflect individual perspectives and do not represent the authoritative views of the Baha'i Faith.
And they were bringing children to him, that he might touch them; and the disciples rebuked them. But when Jesus saw it he was indignant, and said to them, “Let the children come to me, do not hinder them; for to such belongs the kingdom of God. Truly, I say to you, whoever does not receive the kingdom of God like a child shall not enter it. – Mark 10:13-15
…the true Baha’i loves the children, because Jesus says they are of the Kingdom of heaven. A simple pure heart is near to God; a child has no worldly ambitions. – Abdu’l-Baha, Abdu’l-Baha in London, p. 59.
We all start out as babies. That seems as obvious as the sun at noon—but somehow, as adults, we tend to forget it, along with the early innocence and purity, the enthusiasm and simplicity, the sweetness and delight of childhood. Try this: take a penetrating look at an old picture of yourself as a child, and see if you can cast your thoughts back to that time. Meditate on your inner self as it originally emerged. Remember the child you once were. Think hard about what you thought and how you felt. Then try to return, just for a moment, to experience the purity of your childhood heart and soul.
Remembering our pure and innocent childhood selves, the Baha’i teachings say, can give us a glimpse into the qualities of the fully-developed adult soul:
…men must become pure in heart to know God. The teachings have had great effect. Spiritual souls! Tender souls! The hearts of all children are of the utmost purity. They are mirrors upon which no dust has fallen. But this purity is on account of weakness and innocence, not on account of any strength and testing, for as this is the early period of their childhood, their hearts and minds are unsullied by the world. They cannot display any great intelligence. They have neither hypocrisy nor deceit. This is on account of the child’s weakness, whereas the man becomes pure through his strength. Through the power of intelligence he becomes simple; through the great power of reason and understanding and not through the power of weakness he becomes sincere. When he attains to the state of perfection, he will receive these qualities; his heart becomes purified, his spirit enlightened, his soul is sensitized and tender — all through his great strength. This is the difference between the perfect man and the child. Both have the underlying qualities of simplicity and sincerity — the child through the power of weakness and the man through the power of strength. – Abdu’l-Baha, The Promulgation of Universal Peace, p. 52.
Of course, all of us gradually grow out of childhood and into adolescence and adulthood, and in the process our simple pure hearts suffer. We get hurt, injured and battered by the darkness in the material world. No one escapes that reality. As we become adults, we take on the pain and the tests and the difficulties of the adult condition. In the process, our tender souls harden.
So our task now, if we want to become spiritual beings, involves transcending the effects of that suffering and finding our way back to an enthusiastic, sincere and happy state of existence as fully mature adults. That endeavor—the re-capturing of our pure inner essence, the spiritualization of the adult soul—faces every one of us. It takes enormous strength and understanding, as Abdu’l-Baha says, to regain that simplicity, purity and tender-heartedness in adulthood.
Do you know any adults like the ones Abdu’l-Baha describes: tender, pure of heart, clear, simple, sincere and strong? If you do, you’ve likely found a person who has discovered their purpose and connected themselves with the mystical source of all purity and strength.
Perhaps that’s what the Baha’i teachings mean when they say “Our responsibility to God increases with our years.” – Abdu’l-Baha, Ten Days in the Light of Acca, p. 18. As we grow and mature, we gain insight and intelligence, along with the life experience that allows us to walk a spiritual path:
Spirituality is the possession of a good, a pure heart. When the heart is pure the Spirit enters and our growth is natural and assured. Every one is better informed of the condition of his own soul than of the soul of others. – Ibid.
Because we know our own souls better than anyone else’s, our responsibility for our continuing spiritual development becomes greater and greater as we age, as we accumulate wisdom, as we mature and grow. Our tests and trials become transformative, if we allow them to give us their hidden gifts of detachment and joy:
The mind and spirit of man advance when he is tried by suffering. The more the ground is ploughed the better the seed will grow, the better the harvest will be. Just as the plough furrows the earth deeply, purifying it of weeds and thistles, so suffering and tribulation free man from the petty affairs of this worldly life until he arrives at a state of complete detachment. His attitude in this world will be that of divine happiness. Man is, so to speak, unripe: the heat of the fire of suffering will mature him. Look back to the times past and you will find that the greatest men have suffered most. – Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 178.
David Langness writes and edits for BahaiTeachings.org and is a journalist and literary critic for Paste Magazine. He and his wife Teresa live in the Sierra foothills in Northern California.
READ MOREYou May Also Like
Comments
article. Aside from the technical
causes of mental or any other afflict-
ions, what we're really discussing is
called "theodicy": that's the search
for reasons and underlying justice
in a life that seems full of injustice.
If you go to Wikipedia, or many
religious sites, you can find lots on
theodicy. The John Hatcher book
I told you about is a great place to
go, because of the history of that
search for meaning it gives, and also
because of the ...very rounded-out
Baha'i view of divine justice it suggests to us. I have to tell you, though, that none of the few theodicic formulas I have seen claim
that final justice or "closure" comes
in this earthly lifetime; that seems
to happen in the afterlife, as often
as not. I know that's really hard to
cope with, or trust. Why the heck
would God run things that way?
There are statements in the Baha'i
scriptures that imply if we knew the
future joy awaiting the "victims" of
this world, we wouldn't feel so bad.
I think the Bible and Quran imply
this, too, but it sounds really definite
and emphatic in the Baha'i Writings!
[email protected]
issue, but I guess the "why" of it isn't
any different from the other "why
bad things happen to good people"
examples. If it's true that genetics
are often involved, we could technically put that in the same category as other physical factors
like gender, race, physique, or
appearance that could put somebody
at a disadvantage in society. Experiential factors like trauma, abuse, or substance misuse could also explain the "nuts & bolts" "why?". I think there are some quotations from Baha'u'llah, Abdu'l-Baha, and Shoghi ...Effendi that touch on it, especially on the less physical
aspects like the relation between spiritual and mental health, and on the harmful effects of evil on our emotional health. I'm guessing
that "Some Answered Questions"
has a good amount on that; there are interesting chapters on healing. I
know that's still not explaining "why" God allows any of this to happen. That's an age-old question, but I guess religious scriptures give us the best clues on that, too. I really like John Hatcher's book "The Purpose of Physical Reality"; it gives some classic examples of past religious and philosophical attempts to relate a just God to seeming injustices. It ends with a possible
Baha'i explanation, in detail. If I
had to summarize better than I have,
maybe I would say "genetic chance,
social circumstance, and beyond that, only God really knows." That
doesn't mean we shouldn't try to make things better any way possible,
of course?
See earlier post: My question is, Why? How did they get that way?
Add: What does Baha'u'llah say is the CAUSE of mental illness?
Now do you understand the question?
This is not a simple subject, as
I'm sure you know. There are different kinds of true mental illness, like schizophrenia. There is retardation, if it's still called that. There are also personality disorders, like narcissism and oppositional/defiant, etc. Then
there are problems that come from
traumatic brain injury, fetal alcohol
syndrome, etc. Plus, you've got the
neurological and perceptual disorders that come from emotional
trauma, like PTSD and some of the
anxiety syndromes. If the truth be
known, I think there's a lot more
overlap and interplay between these
types, ...in some cases, than we know.
At present, there are strict definitions
and diagnostic criteria for the different categories of brain-related
maladies. I don't know enough to tell
somebody what they are without
looking them up. For example, I can't
remember if bipolar disorder (manic- depression) is considered
a true mental illness like schizophrenia, or is seen differently.
At any rate, I think the old broad
generalization is true: these problems come from predisposing factors (like inborn genetic susceptibilities, or, obviously, limited brain development), precipitating factors (like stress or trauma of any kind), or both. Regarding precipitating factors, I think that term
is often used, quite rightly, with the
assumption that a predisposing
genetic vulnerability also contributed
to a particular person's state. However, severe emotional trauma
can by itself turn a healthy person
into a casualty.....I have heard it said
it would be unreasonable to expect
a "sane" response to an insane situation! Regarding inborn brain
problems, people in that plight naturally aren't accountable for their
condition; I think the the Baha'i
scriptures say those folks will get
their just recompense in the after-
life, just like any other victims of
circumstance. I have to believe that
casualties of "precipitating factors"
in this lifetime will also eventually
get justice!
If I remember right, the Baha'i
scriptures say something to the
effect that physical infirmities, in-
cluding mental illness, don't themselves affect the soul, because
it is independent of the physical
realm. Obviously, it wouldn't be just
for God to penalize or compromise
somebody's chance for spiritual
well-being through any physical
limitation beyond the person's
control! It doesn't sound to me like
physical and brain maladies equal
impurity at all.
Why then are some people born mentally ill, underdeveloped, blind or physically ill? How can a mentally ill person not be mentally ill? Is this God's doing?