Failing to Spiritually Develop — and How to Fix It

The measure of our spiritual power is what we do, not what we say. The Baha’i teachings ask everyone to manifest God’s teachings and powers in our daily conduct, not just in our words. 

Words and deeds must go hand in hand. Many people espouse noble ideals but do not live up to them. Almost everyone says they are for the good and against evil, but many fail to live up to their words, as the Baha’i teachings point out:

Let truthfulness and courtesy be your adorning. Suffer not yourselves to be deprived of the robe of forbearance and justice, that the sweet savors of holiness may be wafted from your hearts upon all created things. Say: Beware … lest ye walk in the ways of them whose words differ from their deeds. Strive that ye may be enabled to manifest to the peoples of the earth the signs of God, and to mirror forth His commandments. Let your acts be a guide unto all mankind, for the professions of most men, be they high or low, differ from their conduct. It is through your deeds that ye can distinguish yourselves from others. Through them the brightness of your light can be shed upon the whole earth. 

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Some people say what will make them look pure and noble, but are inwardly motivated by selfish interests and passions. They care only for themselves and not about the welfare of others. They say one thing but do another. Their words may be noble and uplifting, but their deeds are shameful and degrading. The world and the people in it suffer from their dishonesty and hypocrisy and many are misled by their lies, false promises, and hollow claims. 

No one is immune, Baha’is included. Everyone has an ego, a lower nature, a shadow self — and we all have spiritual battles to wage.

As we become more informed and aware, though, we will increasingly understand the confusion, harm, and distrust such hypocrisy causes, but until we remove the veils of our ignorance and prejudice, which these self-serving people often play upon, our world will continue to suffer. When our bodies die, the holy scriptures of all faiths promise, we will all be able to see clearly what may have remained veiled here in this, the “first life.” Those who acted in evil, harmful ways will taste what their hands have wrought on this plane, and those who acted in good ways will experience such joy and pleasure that no one can recount. Baha’u’llah wrote: 

The mysteries of man’s physical death and of his return have not been divulged, and still remain unread. By the righteousness of God! Were they to be revealed, they would evoke such fear and sorrow that some would perish, while others would be so filled with gladness as to wish for death, and beseech, with unceasing longing, the one true God — exalted be His glory — to hasten their end.

Death proffereth unto every confident believer the cup that is life indeed. It bestoweth joy, and is the bearer of gladness. It conferreth the gift of everlasting life.

We will not only realize the good things that we have done, but also become aware of the good things that we did not do. In the presence of the Creator, we will account for our lives and deeds here, which will be the cause of our joy or sadness there — and because life moves only forward, we will not be able to go back and change anything. Each one of us will have to live with the reality we created here in our future life. 

The physical world is but a counterpart or shadow of the greater all-encompassing spiritual worlds. The laws that operate in one also operate in the other. We can gain some insights by studying their spiritual analogs in nature. We can learn a great deal from the Baha’i writings, as well, which make a comparison between this world and the next and the world of the womb: “The world beyond is as different from this world as this world is different from that of the child while still in the womb of its mother.”

In many ways, our embryonic development in the world of the womb mirrors the development of our souls in the womb of this world. Abdu’l-Baha, in a speech he gave in New York City in 1912, explained:

In the beginning of his human life man was embryonic in the world of the matrix. There he received capacity and endowment for the reality of human existence. The forces and powers necessary for this world were bestowed upon him in that limited condition. In this world he needed eyes; he received them potentially in the other. He needed ears; he obtained them there in readiness and preparation for his new existence. The powers requisite in this world were conferred upon him in the world of the matrix so that when he entered this realm of real existence he not only possessed all necessary functions and powers but found provision for his material sustenance awaiting him.

Therefore, in this world he must prepare himself for the life beyond. That which he needs in the world of the Kingdom must be obtained here. Just as he prepared himself in the world of the matrix by acquiring forces necessary in this sphere of existence, so, likewise, the indispensable forces of the divine existence must be potentially attained in this world.

Though the world of the womb is a separate world, it is contained within and a part of this world just as this world is within a greater spiritual world. When we were in our mother’s womb, we were also in this world — although we had no way of knowing it. We were also part of this greater world, but our reality in the womb was very different from and kept us unaware of this one. 

Much like the thin wall of tissue that keeps us from experiencing this physical world while we are in our mother’s womb, our souls operating through the flesh of our bodies in this world also prevent us from seeing the reality of the spiritual world. Just a thin veil prevents us from realizing that heavenly realm — although we are already in it. Both veils are removed when we exit this limited stage of our existence and enter the next more expansive one. But by applying ourselves to our own spiritual growth, we can make that veil more and more transparent, which will allow us to see the true reality of our eternal existence.

There is a great wisdom, the Baha’i teachings proclaim, in our lack of understanding about what our next stage of existence will reveal:

If any man be told that which hath been ordained for such a soul in the worlds of God, the Lord of the throne on high and of earth below, his whole being will instantly blaze out in his great longing to attain that most exalted, that sanctified and resplendent station .… The nature of the soul after death can never be described, nor is it meet and permissible to reveal its whole character to the eyes of men. 

For example, the world of the womb was a dark and constrained world with no air or ability to live on our own. We were encased in a warm sack floating in amniotic fluid and implanted in the wall of the uterus. Our purpose there was to develop our bodies so they could function in this world of light, air, and the freedom and ability to independently use all the faculties we developed in the womb. Likewise, our embryonic souls are required to develop through the relatively dark and constrained womb of this world using our material bodies to prepare our souls to be born into a world of spiritual light, freedom, and fulfillment.

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We live in our mother’s womb for a limited time and purpose. When our bodies have developed all the capacities they need to enter the next stage of their physical development, they die from that world and enter this one. If we did not die from that world in order to be born into this one, our existence there would have had no meaning or purpose. Our sole role there involves developing the faculties we could use here, which had no value or use in that world. 

In the same way, we inhabit this world for a limited time and purpose. We can only grow so much in this world until we are ready for the next stage of our spiritual growth. Just like the embryo gets progressively more able to manifest the physical attributes that will be essential for its functioning here, our souls’ ability to manifest spiritual qualities in this world also increases as we age. All the organs and senses that we developed in the womb can only be put to their intended use in this world; likewise, our soul’s capacities can only find their full expression in the next world.