The Importance of Action!

Rain Wilson quotes part of this in the talk cited in my last post. I looked up the reference, and feel blown away by how beautifully Abdu'l-Baha has written here about the importance of action. There are so many quotable lines in the passage below. Abdu'l-Baha says that to the extent that all of us strive to do service and to be followers of the Light we are all "Baha'is", which is exactly what I believe. It is not the label, but our actions that define us. Let us all strive today and each day that our actions may be beautiful prayers.

GOOD IDEAS MUST BE CARRIED INTO ACTION
November 8th
"All over the world one hears beautiful sayings extolled and noble precepts admired. All men say they love what is good, and hate everything that is evil! Sincerity is to be admired, whilst lying is despicable. Faith is a virtue, and treachery is a disgrace to humanity. It is a blessed thing to gladden the hearts of men, and wrong to be the cause of pain. To be kind and merciful is right, while to hate is sinful. Justice is a noble quality and injustice an iniquity. That it is one’s duty to be pitiful and harm no one, and to avoid jealousy and malice at all costs. Wisdom is the glory of man, not ignorance; light, not darkness! It is a good thing to turn one’s face toward God, and 80 foolishness to ignore Him. That it is our duty to guide man upward, and not to mislead him and be the cause of his downfall. There are many more examples like unto these.
But all these sayings are but words and we see very few of them carried into the world of action. On the contrary, we perceive that men are carried away by passion and selfishness, each man thinking only of what will benefit himself even if it means the ruin of his brother. They are all anxious to make their fortune and care little or nothing for the welfare of others. They are concerned about their own peace and comfort, while the condition of their fellows troubles them not at all.
Unhappily this is the road most men tread.
But Bahá’ís must not be thus; they must rise above this condition. Actions must be more to them than words. By their actions they must be merciful and not merely by their words. They must on all occasions confirm by their actions what they proclaim in words. Their deeds must prove their fidelity, and their actions must show forth Divine light.
Let your actions cry aloud to the world that you are indeed Bahá’ís, for it is actions that speak to the world and are the cause of the progress of humanity.
If we are true Bahá’ís speech is not needed. Our actions will help on the world, will spread civilization, will help the progress of science, and cause the arts to develop. Without action nothing in the material world can be accomplished, neither can words unaided advance a man in the spiritual Kingdom. It is not through lip-service only that the elect of God have attained to holiness, but by patient lives of active service they have brought light into the world.
Therefore strive that your actions day by day may be beautiful prayers. Turn towards God, and seek always to do that which is right and noble. Enrich the poor, raise the fallen, comfort the sorrowful, bring healing to the sick, reassure the fearful, rescue the oppressed, bring hope to the hopeless, shelter the destitute!
This is the work of a true Bahá’í, and this is what is expected of him. If we strive to do all this, then are we true Bahá’ís, but if we neglect it, we are not followers of the Light, and we have no right to the name.
God, who sees all hearts, knows how far our lives are the fulfilment of our words."
-Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks

Doing as Worship

"Work done in the spirit of service is the highest form of worship…." (“‘Abdu’l-Bahá on Divine Philosophy”, p. 78)

Lately I've been reconciling doing service and my continued spiritual growth. Principally, I have not been reading as much as I would like as I have taken on more service commitments, and feel that my faith is suffering for it.

True service must not be done out of a sense of obligation to anyone but God. Doing and reflection upon doing and the words of God must go hand in hand.

Arising to Serve through Religion

I am still distilling the multitude of things that I learned at the Southwest Regional Baha'i Conference in Los Angeles last weekend, one of 41 conferences being held around the world over 3 months (you can read a report on the event here). One lesson that came across quite clearly is important role each of us plays in service to humanity. We must all arise to serve. Each of us has unique talents and skills and all of these can integrate into a larger whole to build unity and harmony across this planet.

Many people (particularly here in Santa Cruz County) consider themselves spiritual but are aversive to organized religion. I can appreciate this perspective. Indeed, in the Baha'i Holy Writings Abdu'l-Baha writes: "An essential principle of Bahá’u’lláh’s teaching is that religion must be the cause of unity and love amongst men; that it is the supreme effulgence of Divinity, the stimulus of life, the source of honor and productive of eternal existence. Religion is not intended to arouse enmity and hatred nor to become the source of tyranny and injustice. Should it prove to be the cause of hostility, discord and the alienation of mankind, assuredly the absence of religion would be preferable.… In this sense the absence of religion would be at least some progress toward unity."

While it is so important to keep this perspective of religion, of not letting it become a source of discord, I also recognize that being part of a larger spiritual/religious community helps to further this purpose of building greater harmony and unity in this world. Abdu'l-Baha writes also about religion:

"Superstitions have obscured the fundamental reality, the world is darkened, and the light of religion is not apparent. This darkness is conducive to differences and dissensions; rites and dogmas are many and various; therefore, discord has arisen among the religious systems, whereas religion is for the unification of mankind. True religion is the source of love and agreement amongst men, the cause of the development of praiseworthy qualities, but the people are holding to the counterfeit and imitation, negligent of the reality which unifies, so they are bereft and deprived of the radiance of religion. They follow superstitions inherited from their fathers and ancestors. To such an extent has this prevailed that they have taken away the heavenly light of divine truth and sit in the darkness of imitations and imaginations. That which was meant to be conducive to life has become the cause of death; that which should have been an evidence of knowledge is now a proof of ignorance; that which was a factor in the sublimity of human nature has proved to be its degradation."

This is something I am going to be thinking more about, that of how being part of a religious organization helps us in better developing "praiseworthy qualities" and translate these into action so that we can have the most positive impact possible. With all this in mind, I was quite moved to read the following quote today:

"Join those who are serving so that you are united in changing this world to a paradise established by God, a paradise where there is prosperity and beauty for all and where all are honored in who they are." - John Morton

On Service

"Service is prayer."
"Service to humanity is service to God."
both quotes by 'Abdu'l-Bahá; would love to hear your thoughts on the meaning of service.