How Do I Become a More Spiritual Person?

What does it mean to be spiritual — and how do we each attain to spirituality? The Baha’i writings offer several practical and eminently achievable ways to become a more spiritual person.

Abdu’l-Baha offered one of those answers in a talk he gave in the United States in 1912, explaining how the atoms that make up each human being progressively traversed many degrees and conditions in our evolutionary progress through the stages of mineral, plant, and animal to finally attain the station of human. At each stage, Abdu’l-Baha explained, we similarly develop our capacity for advancement to the next higher level of development. 

In the world of existence man has traversed successive degrees until he has attained the human kingdom. In each degree of his progression he has developed capacity for advancement to the next station and condition. While in the kingdom of the mineral he was attaining the capacity for promotion into the degree of the vegetable. In the kingdom of the vegetable he underwent preparation for the world of the animal, and from thence he has come onward to the human degree, or kingdom. Throughout this journey of progression he has ever and always been potentially man. …

What is he in need of in the Kingdom which transcends the life and limitation of this mortal sphere? That world beyond is a world of sanctity and radiance; therefore, it is necessary that in this world he should acquire these divine attributes. In that world there is need of spirituality, faith, assurance, the knowledge and love of God. These he must attain in this world so that after his ascension from the earthly to the heavenly Kingdom he shall find all that is needful in that eternal life ready for him.

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If all of those inner qualities must be acquired here, how can we do that? 

The Baha’i teachings impart clear guidance for acquiring the powers and gifts we will need in the next world: the knowledge of God, the love of God, faith, philanthropic deeds, self-sacrifice, severance, sanctity, and holiness. 

In this enlightening talk, Abdu’l-Baha gave a definition of being spiritually “reborn,” along with a wonderful description of how spiritual development works:

That divine world is manifestly a world of lights; therefore, man has need of illumination here. That is a world of love; the love of God is essential. It is a world of perfections; virtues, or perfections, must be acquired. That world is vivified by the breaths of the Holy Spirit; in this world we must seek them. That is the Kingdom of everlasting life; it must be attained during this vanishing existence.

By what means can man acquire these things? How shall he obtain these merciful gifts and powers? First, through the knowledge of God. Second, through the love of God. Third, through faith. Fourth, through philanthropic deeds. Fifth, through self-sacrifice. Sixth, through severance from this world. Seventh, through sanctity and holiness. Unless he acquires these forces and attains to these requirements, he will surely be deprived of the life that is eternal. But if he possesses the knowledge of God, becomes ignited through the fire of the love of God, witnesses the great and mighty signs of the Kingdom, becomes the cause of love among mankind and lives in the utmost state of sanctity and holiness, he shall surely attain to second birth, be baptized by the Holy Spirit and enjoy everlasting existence.

Clearly, if we are not spiritually reborn while in this world, we will remain ignorant, heedless, and negligent of the spiritual realm and fail to acquire the spiritual knowledge, love, and noble qualities we will need in the next stage of our existence. 

This doesn’t mean that the physical world of bodies has no importance. In some ways our bodies are like the placenta to our souls; they’re important because our souls develop through them. Our bodies provide the worldly knowledge and needs necessary for our souls to function in this world, but like the placenta is required for our bodies to grow in the womb but has no purpose here, so too our bodies and their physical abilities will be of no use to us in the next world.  

Without a doubt, our purpose in the physical world transcends this earthly plane. We have been given spiritual capacities to develop here, just like we developed our physical beings during our nine months in the womb, so we could be born here whole, functional, and complete. 

The Baha’i writings explain how the lack of spirituality represents the chief reason for the evils we see around us — and that all the problems we face in our lives and in the wider world have spiritual solutions. Because humanity has primarily focused on our selfish interests and on our material and physical reality, we have failed to elevate ourselves to the higher spiritual levels of being for which we were created. 

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Traditionally, religion has been the vehicle for the upliftment and spiritualization of human civilization, but the varied religions found throughout the world are losing their hold on the lives, minds, and hearts of people everywhere, along with their power to inspire, transform, and connect us to a transcendent source of power.

That spirit requires renewal in this age — and that is what Baha’u’llah came to do. Not only do the Baha’i writings bring new understanding of ancient spiritual teachings suited for our next stage of evolution, but they also bring new social teachings to advance our civilization to the next level of development.