As a Baha’i, I put energy into my community’s activities. Also, I am very involved with the community at large, and my activities there result in sacrificing my Baha’i involvement, which creates an uneasy feeling in me, especially when Baha’i friends notice that I am not in the Baha’i meetings as often.
My continued involvement in the larger community has been going on for years with no solution to my unsettled feelings and guilt that I am falling short as a Baha’i. I have been trying to simplify this dilemma to grasp it. Who is a Baha’i, Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist or atheist and what about those who do not believe in organized religion? Recently, after reading a quotation, I realized that I have two Baha’i communities and not one.
“It makes no difference whether you have ever heard of Baha’u’llah or not, the man who lives the life according to the Teachings of Baha’u’llah is already a Baha’i. On the other hand a man may call himself a Baha’i for fifty years and if he does not live the life he is not a Baha’i.” -Abdu’l-Baha
It does not matter what you call yourself; your actions should speak. This applies to people of all religions and ideologies, emphasizing the actions and not the followers’ claims.
This new realization helped free me and experience a joy I had not felt for a long time. The sense of loneliness of living in a small Baha’i community was transformed into a vision of myself as part of a huge community in which I worked and volunteered, meeting so many beautiful souls working for the betterment of the world. This realization changed my entire view of what community means to me. I feel that now I belong to a bigger community that includes thousands of members with whom I share a common cause, who are a vital part of my life and have become my extended family members.
I have been called an optimist who ignores the realities all around him, realities like the world is falling apart and misery is all around, in which poverty, wars, conflicts and the spread of misinformation take hope away from millions. My optimistic view is the result of reading the Baha’i Writings, which promise the coming of inevitable oneness of humanity that will solve our problems and ensure a bright future.
When religion is just a label or an inheritance and is taken lightly and accepted without investigation or thought, or when followers of different religions are ready to kill or be killed but ignorant of the fundamental principles of their Faith as written in their Holy Books, I have been given a vision by my Faith to see all Faiths as one and see their message as of love.
I joyfully realize that now I have two Baha’i communities. One is my life in the context of my Faith through meetings, celebrations, study and prayer. The other Baha’i community lives and exemplifies the spiritual teachings of the Baha’i Faith and of all Faiths since all religions, in essence, have the same message of love, oneness and service to others. This awareness has encouraged me to perceive like-minded friends, colleagues, and neighbours who live a Baha’i life as my fellow Baha’is. What a blessing to belong to two communities that may look different on the surface but are the same in the spirit.
Our human family awaits your involvement and building a bright future. We can learn to see all religions as one and humanity as one diverse family.
Badi Shams is a Baha’i and a mystic at heart and has an MA in economics.He has published “Economics of the Future” and “Economics of the Future Begins Today” and recently written the books “Random Thoughts of a Mystic Economist” and “Towards a New Spiritual Economic System.” You can find Badi’s website at badishams.com called “Baha’i Inspired Economics” He is retired from the education system.
You can read more on our interfaith blog, Spiritually Speaking at https://www.timescolonist.com/blogs/spiritually-speaking
* This article was published in the print edition of the Times Colonist on Saturday, August 10th 2024
