Further Step Towards World Unity - Water and Sanitation Recognized as Human Right

Well worth noting: The process of uniting the human family is steadily progressing, as evidenced by this latest UN resolution (not to deny the fact, though, of the intensified sufferings that humanity is being subjected to at the other end of the scale - as in the increasing crime, terrorism, famine, neglect of basic human rights etc. the world is experiencing):

U.N. Declares Water and Sanitation a Basic Human Right  Thalif Deen UNITED NATIONS, July 28 - When the United Nations General Assembly adopted the Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR) back in December 1948, 58 member states voted for a historic document covering political, economic, social and cultural rights.   On Wednesday, nearly 62 years later, a widely-expanded 192- member General Assembly adopted another memorable resolution: this time recognising water and sanitation as a basic human right. (Full story is here.)

From the UN News Center:

Safe and clean drinking water and sanitation is a human right essential to the full enjoyment of life and all other human rights, the General Assembly declared today, voicing deep concern that almost 900 million people worldwide do not have access to clean water.

The 192-member Assembly also called on United Nations Member States and international organizations to offer funding, technology and other resources to help poorer countries scale up their efforts to provide clean, accessible and affordable drinking water and sanitation for everyone.

The Assembly resolution received 122 votes in favour and zero votes against, while 41 countries abstained from voting. (From the UN Dispatch)

Dicta:

 

In such a world society [the] enormous energy dissipated and wasted on war, whether economic or political, will be consecrated to such ends as will extend the range of human inventions and technical development, to the increase of the productivity of mankind, to the extermination of disease, to the extension of scientific research, to the raising of the standard of physical health...

(Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, 203-4)

The second attribute of perfection is justice and impartiality... It means to consider the welfare of the community as one's own. It means, in brief, to regard humanity as a single individual, and one's own self as a member of that corporeal form, and to know of a certainty that if pain or injury afflicts any member of that body, it must inevitably result in suffering for all the rest.

('Abdu'l-Bahá, Civilization 39)

[I]n a world of inter-dependent peoples and nations the advantage of the part is best to be reached by the advantage of the whole, and...no abiding benefit can be conferred upon the component parts if the general interests of the entity itself are ignored or neglected.

(Shoghi Effendi, World Order of Bahá'u'lláh, 198)

 
 

True peace and tranquillity will only be realized when every soul will have become the well-wisher of all mankind. 

(Baha'u'llah, Tabernacle 7)

Further Step Towards World Unity - Water and Sanitation Recognized as Human Right

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Someone has turned towards me?!

O ye peoples of the earth! Turn yourselves towards Him Who hath turned towards you.

(Baha'u'llah, SLH 69)

 

The heart, that magic talisman - the one connection to the world, the one means of influencing souls, the one door to enlightenment, both spiritual and otherwise. Towards what should I direct my heart?

[C]leave wholly unto God, and cleanse thine heart from the world and all its vanities, and suffer not the love of any stranger to enter and dwell therein. Not until thou dost purify thine heart from every trace of such love can the brightness of the light of God shed its radiance upon it, for to none hath God given more than one heart. This, verily, hath been decreed and written down in His ancient Book. And as the human heart, as fashioned by God, is one and undivided, it behoveth thee to take heed that its affections be, also, one and undivided. Cleave thou, therefore, with the whole affection of thine heart, unto His love, and withdraw it from the love of anyone besides Him, that He may aid thee to immerse thyself in the ocean of His unity, and enable thee to become a true upholder of His oneness. God is My witness. My sole purpose in revealing to thee these words is to sanctify thee from the transitory things of the earth, and aid thee to enter the realm of everlasting glory, that thou mayest, by the leave of God, be of them that abide and rule therein.

(SLH 214-15)

Someone has turned towards me?!

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A word potent enough to teach knowledge and confer distinction

The Lord of celestial wisdom saith: A harsh word is even as a sword thrust; a gentle word as milk. The latter leadeth the children of men unto knowledge and conferreth upon them true distinction....

- Bahá'u'lláh, Tabernacle of Unity, pp. 8-9

 
Questions for reflection

What kind of word leads men to knowledge and honor (based on the above)?

Answer: A ................... word.

What is the effect of a harsh word?

Answer: ....................................................

What does a gentle word lead to?

Answer: ....................................................

What does it confer upon the hearer?

Answer: ....................................................

A word potent enough to teach knowledge and confer distinction

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Give a path, take a Path

 

Remember: When hope (and with it your desire) has been altogether spent,

you may well be given the world, as a surprise, in recompense!

Forward, then--exhaust that little hope of yours,

and invest thereby in a new life-script

written by Providence, for your own benefit!

Dictum:

Until a being setteth his foot in the plane of sacrifice, he is bereft of every favour and grace; and this plane of sacrifice is the realm of dying to the self, that the radiance of the living God may then shine forth.... Do all ye can to become wholly weary of self, and bind yourselves to that Countenance of Splendours; and once ye have reached such heights of servitude, ye will find, gathered within your shadow, all created things. This is boundless grace; this is the highest sovereignty; this is the life that dieth not...

- 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Selections, pp. 76-77

Give a path, take a Path

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Difficult periods offer opportunities to demonstrate love

Some helpful practices for purifying and strengthening our spirits in times of tests, such as, "to picture for [ourselves] the wonderful scenes of heroism, of devotion and of self-sacrifice so vividly expressed in [The Dawn-Breakers]."

Clearly, the difficult periods in our lives are not without purpose. Among other things, they offer us a prime opportunity to express our love for [God's Messengers] in a meaningful way. It is relatively easy to be a believer when one is not challenged, when one is happy. However, in times of adversity, we must draw upon our inner, spiritual resources.

The Writings provide some guidance as to how we might nurture our spirits during such times:

 

Remember My days during thy days, and My distress and banishment in this remote prison. . . (Baha'u'llah) 

 

In times of disappointment, stress and anxiety, which we must inevitably encounter, we should remember the sufferings of our departed Master.
(Shoghi Effendi)

 

In view of these passages, you may wish to focus some of your reading and meditations on the lives and sufferings of the Central Figures of the Faith. Similarly, we are assured by the Guardian that the Tablet of Ahmad, the Healing Prayer and the Fire Tablet each have a special potency, and you will doubtless wish to avail yourself of them, if you are not already doing so. It is interesting to note as well that Shoghi Effendi encouraged the believers to study the Dawn-Breakers, which he described as an "unfailing instrument to allay distress". In a letter dated 20 July 1933 written on his behalf, he outlined a method by which the individual might approach this task:

He wishes you to read it with deepest care and to picture for yourself the wonderful scenes of heroism, of devotion and of self-sacrifice so vividly expressed by Nabil in his immortal narrative.

As well, you may wish to reflect on the following statement from a letter written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer who was experiencing difficulties in his personal life:

We must not only be patient with others, infinitely patient, but also with our own poor selves, remembering that even the Prophets of God sometimes got tired and cried out in despair! . . .

He urges you to persevere and add up your accomplishments, rather than to dwell on the dark side of things. Everyone's life has both a dark and bright side. The Master says: turn your back to the darkness and your face to Me.

(From a letter dated 22 October 1949 written on behalf of the Guardian to an individual believer)

- The Universal House of Justice, letter to an

individual

individual, 23 October 1994 - view here.

Difficult periods offer opportunities to demonstrate love

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The "project" (and a path to "self-forgetting")

"I'm interested to know what your life is like: what goals you aspire to (for yourself and your children); what challenges/problems you (and your family) are faced with.

Then I'd like to know what spiritual principles/teachings could be relevant for improving your life conditions (or for solving a chief life problem), and to know how I could support you in your efforts to implement them (besides with prayer) -- principles such as:

* service to mankind, including preparation for service (through studies/a profession)

* promoting the well-being and contentment of family members and kindred

* moral/spiritual training of children and youth

* attracting assistance from God through prayer and reflection over relevant passages in the Holy Writings

* shared responsibility (though with complementary roles) for women and men regarding chores, work and decision-making in general

* frank and open consultation with affected parties about issues concerning you and them

* seeing only the good in, and overlooking entirely the faults of others, i.e. forbearance and tolerance; etc."

Dicta:

Concern yourselves with one another. Help along one another's projects and plans. Grieve over one another. Let none in the whole country go in need. Befriend one another until ye become as a single body, one and all...

- 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Consultation, #19

Today the confirmations of the Kingdom of Abha are with those who renounce themselves, forget their own opinions, cast aside personalities and are thinking of the welfare of others. Whosoever has lost himself has found the universe and the inhabitants thereof. Whosoever is occupied with himself is wandering in the desert of heedlessness and regret. The "master-key" to self-mastery is self-forgetting. The road to the palace of life is through the path of renunciation. 

- 'Abdu'l-Bahá, Star of the West, vol. 17, no. 2, p. 348, view here. 

The "project" (and a path to "self-forgetting")

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A question in our hearts elicits an answer from the world

Joy is knowing--deep down inside--what one really needs (or wishes for), and then recognizing God's gift when it is granted!

(Some relevant quotations:)

His holiness the Christ said:

Ask and you will receive, and your joy will be complete.   (John 16:24)

And in the Holy Qur'án we read:

And also in your own selves: will ye not, then, behold the signs of God?   (Qur'án 51:21)

Bahá'u'lláh has stated:

Every created thing in the whole universe is but a door leading into His knowledge, a sign of His sovereignty, a revelation of His names, a symbol of His majesty, a token of His power, a means of admittance into His straight Path….

(Gleanings, p. 160)

Shoghi Effendi has contextualized our efforts for personal development with our coming responsibility for improving the morals of our fellow men:

[L]et them focus their attention, for the present, on their own selves, their own individual needs, their own personal deficiencies and weaknesses, ever mindful that every intensification of effort on their part will better equip them for the time when they will be called upon to eradicate in their turn such evil tendencies from the lives and the hearts of the entire body of their fellow-citizens. Nor must they overlook the fact that the World Order, whose basis they... are now laboring to establish, can never be reared unless and until the generality of the people to which they belong has been already purged from the divers ills, whether social or political, that now so severely afflict it.

(Advent of Divine Justice, p. 20-21)

A question in our hearts elicits an answer from the world

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Tests as gifts--pure and simple

I'm finally convinced: Troubles and tests are actually GENUINE gifts bestowed on us from Providence (that is, for the purification of our characters), not just an imagined/abstract IDEA of a gift, as I might previously have thought of them.
May this change of perception help me to be truly thankful for whatever difficulties I am confronted with--in the words of Baha'u'llah, to be "thankful in adversity" (GWB 285).

A couple of more writings, by Shoghi Effendi, on the subject:

"The fact of the matter is that service in the Cause is like the plough which ploughs the physical soil when seeds are sown. It is necessary that the soil be ploughed up, so that it can be enriched, and thus cause a stronger growth of the seed....
"[I]n reality these tests and difficulties have been the gifts of God to enable [one] to grow and develop. Thus you might look upon your own difficulties in the path of service. They are the means of your spirit growing and developing. You will suddenly find that you have conquered many of the problems which upset you, and then you will wonder why they should have troubled you at all."

(Written through his sectretary, in "Living the life", #1334)
http://bahai-library.com/compilations/living.life.html

"Suffering is both a reminder and a guide. It stimulates us better to adapt ourselves to our environmental conditions, and thus leads the way to self improvement. In every suffering one can find a meaning and a wisdom. But it is not always easy to find the secret of that wisdom. It is sometimes only when all our suffering has passed that we become aware of its usefulness. What man considers to be evil turns often to be a cause of infinite blessings. And this is due to his desire to know more than he can. God's wisdom is, indeed, inscrutable to us all, and it is no use pushing too far trying to discover that which shall always remain a mystery to our mind."

http://reference.bahai.org/en/t/se/UD/ud-580.html.utf8

Tests as gifts--pure and simple

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