“True loss is for him whose days have been spent in utter ignorance of his self.” (Baha'u'llah)
Discovery of true self
Being able to manage our behaviour is critical to our true happiness as well as developing constructive relationships and to the quality of life we lead. To do this effectively we need to have a clear understanding of what makes us tick as a person.
“True loss is for him whose days have been spent in utter ignorance of his self” (Baha'u'llah, Tablets of Baha'u'llah, p. 156)
Self-awareness is a self-conscious state where we take time in our daily schedules to focus on discovering our true self. It’s often said, “We cannot change what we will not see".
“Bring thyself to account each day” (Baha'u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)
Self-awareness entails firstly understanding our inherent reality.
“O SON OF SPIRIT!
Noble have I created thee, yet thou hast abased thyself. Rise then unto that for which thou wast created.” (Baha'u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)
While bringing ourselves to account, it’s important to notice our faults and weaknesses, but it’s equally important to acknowledge our strengths and achievements – bookkeepers who do accounting, always look at both income and expenses; profit and losses – but so many times we just look at the things we didn’t do well. When we only dwell on the negatives, we are continuing to abase ourselves, and we’re not being truthful.
Beginning by acknowledging the positive things will strengthen and encourage us to face the less favourable character traits without abandoning our new venture. The goal is to progress, step by step, little by little.
“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 said: turn your back to the darkness and your face to Me.” (Shoghi Effendi, The Unfolding Destiny of the British Baha'i Community, p. 457)
At the same time we have to strive daily to improve our character and conduct.
“Let each morn be better than its eve and each morrow richer than its yesterday. Man's merit lieth in service and virtue and not in the pageantry of wealth and riches....” (Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh Revealed after the Kitáb-i-Aqdas)
“The most necessary duty is to purify your morals, to correct your manners, and to improve your deeds.” (Abdu'l-Baha, Tablets of Abdu'l-Baha v2, p. 373)
While striving for improvement what should we do with our future challenges and failures and trials ahead?
“As we almost never attain any spiritual goal without seeing the next goal we must attain still beyond our reach, he urges you, who, have come so far already on the path of spirituality, not to fret about the distance you still have to cover! It is an indefinite journey, and, no doubt in the next world the soul is privileged to draw closer to God than is possible when bound on this physical plane.” (letter on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, Lights of Guidance, p. 209)
“We should try and make every stumbling-block a stepping-stone to progress.” (Shoghi Effendi)
A full recognition of ourselves gives us the opportunity to become the self-fulfilled person we’re destined to be.
“From the exalted source, and out of the essence of His favour and bounty He hath entrusted every created thing with a sign of His knowledge, so that none of His creatures may be deprived of its share in expressing, each according to its capacity and rank, this knowledge. This sign is the mirror of His beauty in the world of creation. The greater the effort exerted for the refinement of this sublime and noble mirror, the more faithfully will it be made to reflect the glory of the names and attributes of God, and reveal the wonders of His signs and knowledge.” (Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 261)
“Let each morn be better than its eve and each morrow richer than its yesterday. Man's merit lieth in service and virtue and not in the pageantry of wealth and riches....”