Inspired
by the
Baha’i Faith
The views expressed in our content reflect individual perspectives and do not represent authoritative views of the Baha'i Faith. The official website of the Baha'i Faith is: Bahai.org. The official website of the Baha'is of the United States can be found here: Bahai.us.
GOT IT
The views expressed in our content reflect individual perspectives and do not represent the authoritative views of the Baha'i Faith.
How do I become Baha’i?
Life

How the Baha’i Faith Takes Us Beyond Mindfulness

Simon Ward | Jan 17, 2019

The views expressed in our content reflect individual perspectives and do not represent the authoritative views of the Baha'i Faith.

Interested in Other Topics?

We’ve got something for everyone.
Simon Ward | Jan 17, 2019

The views expressed in our content reflect individual perspectives and do not represent the authoritative views of the Baha'i Faith.

In a training course I took recently, we were told that the modern conception of mindfulness is taking the psychotherapy world “by storm.”

I checked out my local bookstores and the books there certainly seemed to confirm this view. The self-help sections revealed numerous spiritual authors, with themes often involving the human ego, mindfulness, meditation and living in the present moment.

Many studies have demonstrated that these can be effective ways of dealing with the modern diseases of depression and anxiety, and perhaps some of the more traditional forms of psychotherapy are starting to lose their appeal. People seem to be connecting with something more spiritual in the world. Indeed, the so-called “fourth wave” of psychotherapies is said to include such ideas as compassion, kindness and more spiritually-based themes. Health organizations, including the World Health Organization, are increasingly discussing the fourth dimension of health as spiritual well-being.

But the rise of mindfulness can also be seen from another perspective—as a symptom of the all-too-prevalent anxiety and dysfunction in modern society. Many people are searching for a way to counter those negative forces, and surely if ever a divine elixir was needed, it’s now.

In the following passage, Baha’u’llah tells us that those who accept his message have nothing less than the “Divine Elixir” to heal the ills of humankind:

The Book of God is wide open, and His Word is summoning mankind unto Him. No more than a mere handful, however, hath been found willing to cleave to His Cause, or to become the instruments for its promotion. These few have been endued with the Divine Elixir that can, alone, transmute into purest gold the dross of the world, and have been empowered to administer the infallible remedy for all the ills that afflict the children of men. – Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 183.

So Baha’u’llah said that if only we would listen, “the Book of God is wide open”—that the answers to the world’s problems, and our individual ones, too, lie within the Baha’i message.

As a Baha’i I have often asked myself why some people, in the “developed” nations of the West at least, don’t connect more often to the message of Baha’u’llah, and instead turn to the world of mindfulness for spiritual sustenance.    

I suspect that the primary reason most people still haven’t heard of the Baha’i Faith is because people like me haven’t told them. But from a wider perspective, why do “spiritual but not religious” ideas find such resonance with people at this time?

Clearly, self-help must work for many people on many levels. If this is true, can aspects of mindfulness be found in Baha’u’llah’s all-encompassing revelation? One key mindfulness idea is that of the egoic mind being the source of our problems, and “conscious awareness” of the ego being the route to enlightenment. In his best-selling classic The Power of Now, Eckhart Tolle wrote “The good news is that you can free yourself from your mind. This is the only true liberation.” – p. 15.  

This idea is not new, and is found in one way or another in many religious scriptures, notably those of Buddhism. Are they to be found in the Baha’i writings? The answer is yes—Abdu’l-Baha beautifully and simply explained the part that the ego plays in our lives, referring to it as the “material” or “lower nature:”

In man there are two natures; his spiritual or higher nature and his material or lower nature. In one he approaches God, in the other he lives for the world alone. Signs of both these natures are to be found in men. In his material aspect he expresses untruth, cruelty and injustice; all these are the outcome of his lower nature. The attributes of his Divine nature are shown forth in love, mercy, kindness, truth and justice, one and all being expressions of his higher nature. Every good habit, every noble quality belongs to man’s spiritual nature, whereas all his imperfections and sinful actions are born of his material nature. – Abdu’l-Baha, Paris Talks, p. 60.

The Baha’i teachings also give us some guidance as to how we may achieve a lasting victory over the ego and the self:

Today the confirmations … are with those who renounce themselves, forget their own opinions, cast aside personalities and are thinking of the welfare of others …. Whosoever is occupied with himself is wandering in the desert of heedlessness and regret. The ‘Master Key’ to self-mastery is self-forgetting. The road to the palace of life is through the path of renunciation. – Abdu’l-Baha, Star of the West, Volume 17, p. 348.

So could the Baha’i revelation be viewed as a mere bunch of rules, or another “self-help” philosophy that draws on scriptures of previous religious dispensations? Baha’u’llah gives us a clear answer:

Think not that We have revealed unto you a mere code of laws. Nay, rather, We have unsealed the choice Wine with the fingers of might and power. – Baha’u’llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha’u’llah, p. 332.

It seems that we have a huge thirst for a deeper understanding of the human condition, which explains the current contribution of mindfulness to the emotional health of society. As a Baha’i I welcome this increasing recognition of the spiritual dimension in us, but it’s also my hope that in time people may ponder where these ideas originally came from. In the meantime I must play my own small part in making this dawning realization happen. 

You May Also Like

Forget Yourself and Find Love
Life

Forget Yourself and Find Love

Traveling Far or Traveling Fast: The Case for Unity
Life

Traveling Far or Traveling Fast: The Case for Unity

The Dangers of Backbiting — For Others, and For You and Me
Life

The Dangers of Backbiting — For Others, and For You and Me


Comments

characters remaining
  • World Citizen
    Aug 10, 2020
    -
    Thanks for all the incredible articles. Please continue to share more. I’m currently studying a course for counselling at university and it’s all about positive psychology and virtues and character building and mindfulness. It’s so joyous to finally witness science begin to synchronise with religion confirming scientifically, the value of virtues. (Seligman, 2003, authentic happiness) His book, Character Strengths and Virtues is awesome and to me these are the early glimmerings of the unity of science and religion. I had to do a case study and part of the remedy was mindfulness and gratitude, to keep a gratitude diary! I ...could have used only Baha’i quotes as we are so rich in this material.
    Read more...
  • Rezal Martinez-Gillies
    Apr 29, 2020
    -
    As for your question about not seeing any Baha'is who have become "realized", as you put it, it's hard to know a person's heart. Everyone struggles. And it seems that many heroes do not want to be seen. Perhaps there are indeed "realized" Baha'is walking quietly among us, but with all the fog in the world right now, maybe they simply can't be seen?
  • Rezal Martinez-Gillies
    Apr 29, 2020
    -
    They each had new messages to bring to build upon the old messages. One of the early Baha'i believers shares that Baha'u'llah says to "rejoice with the joy of your own heart". Because it is within your heart that a special realm exists. And that we in the Western world have forgotten this. I am grateful that we seem to be remembering.
  • Rezal Martinez-Gillies
    Apr 29, 2020
    -
    This comment is to Aaron Siering, but I can't seem to find a way to reply so here goes. My understanding, as a practicing Baha'i, based on the concept of Progressive Revelation, is that because Buddha brought these insights and tools of mindfulness and each Messenger builds upon the previous Messenger's teachings, that it would have been redundant for Baha'u'llah to bring about a whole new way of meditating. The Buddha already brought humanity that gift, and so we see Christ and Baha’u’llah, among others, refresh that gift, but not bring a whole new one.
  • Lodro Pharchin Siering
    Jun 4, 2019
    -
    To renounce yourself and forget your own opinions is no mean feat. I wish the Baha'i Faith provided some organized way to do this like Buddhism. It would also be nice to meet some Baha'is like this.
    • Hugh Smiley
      Sep 30, 2022
      -
      Hey Lodro. I'm a Baha'i who studies Vajrayana Buddhism, Chironic healing and shamanism. Would love to have a conversation with you.
    • Hugh Smiley
      Sep 30, 2022
      -
      Hi Lodro,
      I like the way you write about Enlightenment, Consultation and the Baha'i community
    • Hugh Smiley
      Sep 30, 2022
      -
      Hi Lodro, I'm a Baha'i who studies Vajrayana Buddhism, Chiron and is very interested in awakening consciousness. It would be nice to meet you.
x
Connect with Baha’is in your area
Connect with Baha’is in your area
Get in touch with the Baha’is in your community.