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223: BAHÁ’Í YOUTH IN SCHOOL |
“The problem with which you are faced is one which concerns
and seriously puzzles many of our present-day youth.
How to attain spirituality is indeed a question to which every
young man and woman must sooner or later try to find a
satisfactory answer. It is precisely because no such satisfactory
answer has been given or found, that the modern youth finds
itself bewildered, and is being consequently carried away by
the materialistic forces that are so powerfully undermining the
foundations of man’s moral and spiritual life.
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“Indeed the chief reason for the evils now rampant in
society is the lack of spirituality. The materialistic civilization
of our age has so much absorbed the energy and interest of
mankind that people in general do no longer feel the necessity
of raising themselves above the forces and conditions of their
daily material existence. There is not sufficient demand for
things that we call spiritual to differentiate them from the
needs and requirements of our physical existence.
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“It is this condition, so sadly morbid, into which society
has fallen, that religion seeks to improve and transform. For
the core of religious faith is that mystic feeling which unites
Man with God. This state of spiritual communion can be
brought about and maintained by means of meditation and
prayer. And this is the reason why Bahá’u’lláh has so much
stressed the importance of worship. It is not sufficient for a
believer merely to accept and observe the teachings. He should,
in addition, cultivate the sense of spirituality which he can
acquire chiefly by means of prayer. The Bahá’í Faith, like all
other Divine Religions, is thus fundamentally mystic in character.
Its chief goal is the development of the individual and
society, through the acquisition of spiritual virtues and powers.
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It is the soul of man which has first to be fed. And this spiritual
nourishment prayer can best provide.
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“Laws and institutions, as viewed by Bahá’u’lláh, can become
really effective only when our inner spiritual life has been perfected
and transformed. Otherwise religion will degenerate into
a mere organization, and becomes a dead thing. The believers,
particularly the young ones, should therefore fully realize the
necessity of praying. For prayer is absolutely indispensable to
their inner spiritual development, and this, as already stated, is
the very foundation and purpose of the religion of God.”
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