I find it really hard to live in a world where more and more programs become
a success because they have to do with denigrating behaviour in people or by
picking on people. It is as if western society likes to bring out the worst
in another human being.
Egotistical motives and other ways in which the material self takes the
spotlight blatantly are constantly displayed and this is in my view
corroding slowly the sense of honour a human being may possess.... much
love,
janine van rooij
dublin, Ireland
Dear Janine
You say it very well above. What you wrote made me think of what the
Guardian wrote about the consequences...
*** No wonder, therefore, that when, as a result of human perversity, the
light of religion is quenched in men's hearts, and the divinely appointed
Robe, designed to adorn the human temple, is deliberately discarded, a
deplorable decline in the fortunes of humanity immediately sets in, bringing
in its wake all the evils which a wayward soul is capable of revealing. The
perversion of human nature, the degradation of human conduct, the corruption
and dissolution of human institutions, reveal themselves, under such
circumstances, in their worst and most revolting aspects. HUMAN CHARACTER
IS DEBASED, CONFIDENCE IS SHAKEN, THE NERVES OF DISCIPLINE ARE RELAXED, THE
VOICE OF HUMAN CONSCIENCE IS STILLED, THE SENSE OF DECENCY AND SHAME IS
OBSCURED, conceptions of duty, of solidarity, of reciprocity and loyalty are
distorted, and the very feeling of peacefulness, of joy and of hope is
gradually extinguished.
(Shoghi Effendi: World Order of Baha'u'llah, Page: 187)
Shoghi Effendi also was concerned about our DISSIPATIONS
The gross materialism that engulfs the entire nation at the present
hour; the attachment to worldly things that enshrouds the souls of men; the
fears and anxieties that distract their minds; THE PLEASURE AND DISSIPATIONS
THAT FILL THEIR TIME, the prejudices and animosities that darken their
outlook, the apathy and lethargy that paralyze their spiritual faculties -
THESE ARE AMONG THE FORMIDABLE OBSTACLES that stand in the path of every
would-be warrior in the service of Baha'u'llah, obstacles which he must
battle against and surmount in his crusade for the redemption of his own
countrymen.
(Shoghi Effendi: Citadel of Faith, Page: 149)
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