This World Distracts Us From Our Real Purpose

If we long for this worldly life and its physical pleasures, we should have pursued them while in our mother’s womb — because that was when we were preparing for and approaching them. 

The Baha’i teachings clearly point this out. Baha’u’llah wrote:

If ye be seekers after this life and the vanities thereof, ye should have sought them while ye were still enclosed in your mothers’ wombs, for at that time ye were continually approaching them, could ye but perceive it. Ye have, on the other hand, ever since ye were born and attained maturity, been all the while receding from the world and drawing closer to dust. Why, then, exhibit such greed in amassing the treasures of the earth, when your days are numbered and your chance is well-nigh lost? Will ye not, then, O heedless ones, shake off your slumber?

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Once we each reach maturity, we move closer to the next world and recede from this one. 

Our bodies and minds gradually deteriorate while we age, but hopefully, our spiritual virtues grow as we prepare to transition from this world to the next. Vainly trying to accumulate the wealth, power, and material possessions of this world will not benefit us in the next. Instead, we would be better off by trying to acquire as many virtues as possible here because that’s the treasure we will take with us to the next world. 

If we get too attached to and live just for this world and its trappings, we will be gravely disappointed when they are all taken from us, and we are left with nothing at our death. 

To become spiritual beings, our focus must shift from this world of our physical requirements to developing our spiritual powers for the next existence, where we will truly need them. The Baha’i teachings — and the most profound spiritual teachings of all Faiths — ask us to detach from this world, focus on God, and commune with the holy spirit. 

Though we have bodies, our souls constitute our true identity.

The Baha’i teachings compare this world to a mirage, which we dream to be real and seek after with all our strength, only to discover it is only a temporary illusion:

Grieve thou not over the troubles and hardships of this nether world, nor be thou glad in times of ease and comfort, for both shall pass away. This present life is even as a swelling wave, or a mirage, or drifting shadows. Could ever a distorted image on the desert serve as refreshing waters? No, by the Lord of Lords! Never can reality and the mere semblance of reality be one, and wide is the difference between fancy and fact, between truth and the phantom thereof.

Know thou that the Kingdom is the real world, and this nether place is only its shadow stretching out. A shadow hath no life of its own; its existence is only a fantasy, and nothing more; it is but images reflected in water, and seeming as pictures to the eye.

How often have we each pursued some desired object or goal, only to find that once we obtained it, it failed to bring us the happiness we imagined it would?

How sad to spend our lives pursuing something, only to find it was a mirage, not what we really needed or wanted; that it was a vain illusion all along which brought no real satisfaction and had no real value in the end — that in fact, it may have been the cause of great suffering and sadness. 

As sad as this may be, an even greater disappointment could come at our ascension from this world of dust to the heavenly realms of the spirit when the emptiness of our lives here, along with the reality of what we are missing there, becomes unavoidable and apparent.

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The soul that has focused on and developed its spiritual powers here on this plane of existence will come well-equipped to the next world, ready to reap all its benefits there, much like a healthy baby coming into this world can reap all the bounties available here. Just as a healthy body was the goal of our development in our mother’s womb, developing a healthy soul is our goal here. Physical well-being and power are what our bodies require, but our souls need spiritual well-being and power. That spiritual power is what moves the world ahead and causes its wonders to be manifest. It is the greatest gift from God to us and the greatest gift we can give the world.

We need to be guided by the knowledge, love, and will of God to develop our souls, not by worldly knowledge, love, and will. We need to be on the path of acquiring more virtues and drawing nearer to God, not on the path of seeking to satisfy our earthly desires and self-interests. God is the ultimate source of assistance, power, and peace, and developing our spirituality allows us to tap into that source.