The Future Is In Our Hands: Building a Better World

In the successive stages of human development and the advancement of civilization we have progressed through many evolutionary changes in the structure of our societies.

Humanity started with the smallest units of organization, such as the family, clan, and tribe, and gradually progressed to ever more complex and broader modes of unity – kingdoms, city-states, and various kinds of regional organization. Now, beginning just a few centuries ago, we reached our current stage of unity on the level of the nation state. 

RELATED: Humanity: No, We Are Not Doomed!

Today humanity stands on the threshold of achieving our highest level of organization: global unity. 

In parallel, we have collectively evolved intellectual, social, and moral capacities, similar to the developmental stages we pass through as individuals. For example, in the childhood of humanity we acted as children, where self-interest prevailed and we were completely subservient to the forces of Mother Nature. In this condition, we were largely dependent upon and governed by the laws of nature and its continual struggle for existence. We had to defend ourselves in competition with those elements that threatened our interests or survival. With our sophisticated technology, our educational attainments, and our advances in science, that relatively primitive era of humanity’s childhood ended some time ago.

Over the ages, humanity has advanced to our current stage of collective development, comparable to the time of adolescence – a period of turmoil, upheaval, and great change. But after adolescence comes adulthood – which means we are now approaching the beginning of the maturation of the human race. 

As teenagers our differences become even greater cause for concern, and our need for working together grows more important. Just as the thinking and behaving of children were not appropriate for our adolescent phase of development, so too our juvenile ideas and attitudes will not serve us well in our adulthood. 

As we began to supersede some of our egocentric views of childhood, when we entered a phase where what our peers thought of us was more important and we wanted to fit in, we must transition from our juvenile ethnocentric views and groupthink of the past centuries to the more advanced world-centric viewpoint we need to meet our present-day requirements. This transition requires the movement of our civilization from being focused on nation-states to one where the world is seen as one country and all humankind as its citizens, with equal rights, dignity, and opportunities. 

Since their beginnings in the 19^th century, the Baha’i teachings have urged all humanity toward this evolved level of world unity. Baha’u’llah, the prophet and founder of the Baha’i Faith, revealed this message to all:

Blessed and happy is he that ariseth to promote the best interests of the peoples and kindreds of the earth. … It is not for him to pride himself who loveth his own country, but rather for him who loveth the whole world. The earth is but one country, and mankind its citizens.

Baha’is believe that we all need to learn how to channel and actualize the latent forces in ourselves and our world to effectively make this imperative transition. In that process, we can refine and develop our characters to reflect a growing understanding, concern, and care for others as we work to transform ourselves and our world. With that transformation, we will leave behind our childish and juvenile ways, and begin adopting aims, patterns, and motives of more mature thinking and being. 

In our collective maturation, the crisis of identity that is a common feature in adolescence fades as we gain a better understanding of who we are and our place in the world. Our sense of purpose and relationship with others deepens as our limiting attachments and prejudices give way to a broader, more mature identity – which centers around a consciousness of our oneness and the need for justice.

Baha’u’llah appeared in the mid-nineteenth century to guide humanity in making this transition to its collective maturity. 

He introduced teachings and ideas so humanity could progress toward the next stage of our evolution, the stage of planetary unity. He brought an entire spiritual and social framework for a new world order, one that recognizes all humanity as members of one family and establishes the laws and ordinances needed to create justice and peace. His teachings move our thinking, values, and capacities to a new level of consciousness. 

In addition, Baha’u’llah’s revelation released a regenerative power in the body of humanity to bring about this monumental change, much like what happens to us when our bodies release hormones and activate our brains to actualize latent forces within us. That regenerative power moves us from one stage of development to a higher one, redefining our purpose in life along with our understanding of who we are and how we should be. 

Baha’u’llah has given us a new understanding of human nature and the purpose of human life for this coming age. He taught that our true identity is our souls, not our bodies; that we are spiritual beings, existing on this material plane in these physical bodies temporarily to develop the spiritual attributes we will need for the next stage in our journey through a life that will never end. We develop spiritually by coming to know, love, and manifest the essential powers of our true selves – our souls – which reflect the knowing, loving, and willing attributes of our Creator. 

RELATED: Is Love for All Humanity Even Possible?

As we grow and mature, our life journey and challenges move through being primarily focused on our physical bodies and their development to that of developing our mental and psychological faculties to finally include our highest identity, our spiritual reality. Our true nature and power lies in our souls. Though our bodies and minds may identify in this world as a particular gender, race, class, nationality, or ethnicity, our souls have none of those identities. Instead, our souls are identified by the spiritual attributes and powers they possess. 

Knowing, loving, and willing are our key spiritual powers that enable us to come to know, love, and obey our Creator, Who is all-knowing, all-loving, and all-powerful. The more we use these inner spiritual powers, the more they develop, similar to how exercising our muscles helps our physical powers develop. That spiritually distinguishes us from other people to the extent that we consciously strive to develop the attributes and full powers of our souls. We do that by exercising our knowing, loving, and willing capacities. The best exercises for developing those capacities are found in following the teachings and guidance from the Creator, which the prophets have brought to humanity throughout human history – and Baha’u’llah has brought for our age.