Overcoming the Dark, Shadow Side of Human Nature

For Baha’is, the concept of Satan or the devil doesn’t refer to an actual being. Instead, those symbols represent the promptings of our egoic self and material desires — the dark lower side of human nature. 

How do we overcome and control our lower natures, our purely animal instincts, the so-called “devil within us?” How do we subdue the symbolic Satan of passion and self that seeks to rule our hearts and minds? 

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We do so by increasing our understanding of reality and exercising our wills and hearts to do good and love humanity. These higher powers can help us conquer our lower selves. 

We are born into this world with bodies, minds and souls. Initially, we focus on developing and mastering our physical bodies, so we can successfully navigate this material world. Gradually, however, our minds and souls develop in strength until our identity center moves beyond our simple physical needs and desires to a higher consciousness. As we mature, that spiritual consciousness develops, we acquire higher moral reasoning, and begin to search for deeper understanding and meaning in life.

Until we are spiritually awakened with a consciousness of our higher selves and gradually learn how to live as spiritual creatures with animal bodies, we have not achieved our true purpose in this world. 

Until our minds and souls become the center of our identity and reality, detached from the world and in charge of all our faculties and powers, we can potentially live a subhuman existence, failing to realize our full potential as human beings with a not only a body and mind, but a transcendent and immortal soul.  

Human beings represent the highest stage of physical evolution — and the beginning stage of spiritual development. This inner development depends on our choices and education. As we overcome and regulate our animal powers by gradually developing our spiritual powers, we achieve our real purpose in this life — to develop all the qualities our souls will need for the next stage in our eternal journey. 

The Baha’i teachings make it clear that we need both powers to function and prosper in this world, but only our inner spiritual powers live on in the next stage of our existence:

… if man did not possess a power beyond the animal powers, the animal would perforce surpass man in significant discoveries and in the comprehension of realities. It follows from this argument that man is endowed with a gift, and possesses a perfection, which is not present in the animal.

How do we develop those spiritual powers here? Through training and effort, our souls can acquire the noble inner capacities latent in every human being. 

Our worldly attachments and drives are like dust on the mirror of our souls, blocking the life-giving sun of reality from illumining our inner beings to manifest the heavenly characteristics within each of us. We cleanse the mirror of our souls when we remove the dust of our dark vices such as pride, envy, hatred, and selfishness with the cleansing, light-giving virtues such as justice, love, humility, and turning to the Sun of Truth. 

We’re all on a journey with a definitive, inevitable goal — to leave our physical bodies behind and begin our eternal existence in the afterlife. To become truly spiritual, to transcend the world of the physical, we must focus on removing the dust on our own mirrors and not look at the imperfections and shortcomings of others. This advice has been repeated by all of the prophets: Look at our own faults and not the faults of others, and do unto others as we want them to do to us. When we do so we are blessed. 

When people focus on this world and seek their own advantage, they will lie, cheat, steal, and oppress others for their own advantage — but when we center ourselves on developing the divine qualities of truth, justice, and compassion, both we and those we associate with will prosper. 

We each have the power to do good or evil. Each day, and sometimes every minute, we make that choice. Whichever nature we cultivate will predominate. We live in the world and must care for our physical, social, and psychological needs, but we cannot allow ourselves to be governed solely by our worldly natures — we each require illumination from the world of the spirit. 

That same spiritual nature exists in all of us. Each one of us has the capacity to manifest and reflect the light of truth. When we accomplish that, we can become the heroes and saints of our day. As we cleanse the mirrors of our hearts and minds, we reflect that brighter light to others and guide them on their journey to attain their own spiritual birthright. When we free ourselves from egotism, the light and love of God can shine through us. 

Unchecked ego, self-love, and selfish desires deprive us of this life-giving light, staining our mirrors and blocking our spiritual powers. Baha’u’llah’s writings promise that those who do battle with their lower natures, with the shadow side of our natures, with that symbolic Satan, can transcend it by becoming angelic, spiritual souls:

By “angels” is meant those, who, reinforced by the power of the spirit, have consumed, with the fire of the love of God, all human traits and limitations, and have clothed themselves with the attributes of the most exalted Beings …

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Angels, then, aren’t actual beings, as many people think of them — they symbolize spiritual souls. Abdu’l-Baha described such lofty, detached individuals this way: 

The meaning of “angels” is the confirmations of God and His celestial powers. Likewise angels are blessed beings who have severed all ties with this nether world, have been released from the chains of self and the desires of the flesh, and anchored their hearts to the heavenly realms of the Lord. 

As we proceed down this path seeking out our spiritual selves we will face many issues and challenges, surrounded by crisis and confusion, encountering the stumbling blocks and hazards along the way. The Baha’i writings provide the guidance that can help us navigate these treacherous obstacles, because those teachings contain a pattern of thought and living based upon the revelation of Baha’u’llah, the most recent divine messenger from a loving Creator.