Becoming an Idealist in a Cynical World

Each of us has a set of personal ideals — our inner values, the concepts and beliefs we hold dear, and our vision of ourselves as ethical and principled beings. Have you looked inward at your own ideals lately?

The word ideal comes, obviously, from the word idea, which originated in the ancient Greek word idein, meaning “to see.” Ideals, then, relate to each person’s best vision of themselves and of human existence. 

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An idealist sees the world in light of its potential, while a realist focuses on the world we have right now.

Do you see yourself as an idealist or a realist? It’s fashionable today to declare yourself a realist, but if you have a set of internal, personal ideals you try to manifest, and a vision of the world as a better place, then you probably fit into the idealist category. 

Many of us try to be both a realist from an intellectual perspective and an idealist from a spiritual one. Here’s one way to determine how you think about your own ideals — consider your view of the future. Do you believe the future could possibly be better and more desirable than the present? Do you have inner aspirations for improvement, progress and spiritual growth? If so, you’re probably an idealist, at least in the way Abdu’l-Baha expressed it:

Look ye not upon the present, fix your gaze upon the times to come. In the beginning, how small is the seed, yet in the end it is a mighty tree. Look ye not upon the seed, look ye upon the tree, and its blossoms, and its leaves and its fruits.

The Baha’i Faith, along with every truly spiritual philosophy, teaches that the ideal realm has greater importance than the physical one. This physical world is fleeting, but the next world, the Baha’i teachings assure us, is eternal.

So focusing on the future keeps our vision far-ranging, hopeful, and optimistic. This material plane of existence, the great Faiths all tell us, only has a temporal and temporary reality, while the spiritual realm — the destination we all draw closer to every day — has an eternal, lasting reality. Abdu’l-Baha explained:

In the beginning of his life man was in the world of the womb, wherein he developed the capacity and worthiness to advance to this world. The powers necessary for this world he acquired in that world. He needed eyes in this world; he obtained them in the world of the womb. He needed ears in this world; he obtained them there. All the powers that were needed in this world he acquired in the world of the womb. In that world he became prepared for this world, and when he entered this world he saw that he possessed all the requisite powers and had acquired all the limbs and organs necessary for this life, in that world. It followeth that in this world too he must prepare for the world beyond. That which he needeth in the world of the Kingdom he must obtain and prepare here. Just as he acquired the powers necessary for this world in the world of the womb, so, likewise, he must obtain that which he will need in the world of the Kingdom — that is to say, all the heavenly powers — in this world.

The question then becomes how, in this very cynical and jaded world, can a person maintain a set of high ideals? How can we aspire to noble deeds? How can we keep our hopes for the future alive?

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Baha’is believe that the inspiration for those high ideals and lofty aspirations comes directly from the prophets and messengers of the world’s religions. In this new era, the teachings of Baha’u’llah have brought that inspiration, once again, to humanity: 

Two calls to success and prosperity are being raised from the heights of the happiness of mankind, awakening the slumbering, granting sight to the blind, causing the heedless to become mindful, bestowing hearing upon the deaf, unloosing the tongue of the mute and resuscitating the dead.

The one is the call of civilization, of the progress of the material world. This pertaineth to the world of phenomena, promoteth the principles of material achievement, and is the trainer for the physical accomplishments of mankind. It compriseth the laws, regulations, arts and sciences through which the world of humanity hath developed; laws and regulations which are the outcome of lofty ideals and the result of sound minds, and which have stepped forth into the arena of existence through the efforts of the wise and cultured in past and subsequent ages. The propagator and executive power of this call is just government.

The other is the soul-stirring call of God, Whose spiritual teachings are safeguards of the everlasting glory, the eternal happiness and illumination of the world of humanity, and cause attributes of mercy to be revealed in the human world and the life beyond.

This second call is founded upon the instructions and exhortations of the Lord and the admonitions and altruistic emotions belonging to the realm of morality which, like unto a brilliant light, brighten and illumine the lamp of the realities of mankind. Its penetrative power is the Word of God.

The Baha’i ideals, which include the unity of the human race and the oneness of all peoples and nations, present every hopeful and idealistic person with a shining set of noble goals and aspirations.