Befriended Stranger

Today’s Blog Action Day is focused on fighting poverty. It is a worthwhile subject and I am sure many capable people will share wonderful man-made ideas to address this cause for suffering of billions of people on Earth. Needless to say, the Baha’i perspective on poverty and its spiritual dimension, based on statements by the divinely-inspired Universal House of Justice is what’s closest to my heart. At a time when it’s become more and more obvious that being financially wealthy (even if less so lately, in a funny money economy) does not bring sustainable happiness, I feel it is time to openly share the wisdom in Baha’u'llah’s Hidden Words and address the question of spiritual poverty:

13. O SON OF SPIRIT!
I created thee rich, why dost thou bring thyself down to poverty? Noble I made thee, wherewith dost thou abase thyself? Out of the essence of knowledge I gave thee being, why seekest thou enlightenment from anyone beside Me? Out of the clay of love I molded thee, how dost thou busy thyself with another? Turn thy sight unto thyself, that thou mayest find Me standing within thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting.
(Baha’u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)

53. O SON OF BEING!
If poverty overtake thee, be not sad; for in time the Lord of wealth shall visit thee. Fear not abasement, for glory shall one day rest on thee.

(Baha’u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)

51. O SON OF MY HANDMAID!
Be not troubled in poverty nor confident in riches, for poverty is followed by riches, and riches are followed by poverty. Yet to be poor in all save God is a wondrous gift, belittle not the value thereof, for in the end it will make thee rich in God, and thus thou shalt know the meaning of the utterance, “In truth ye are the poor,” and the holy words, “God is the all-possessing,” shall even as the true morn break forth gloriously resplendent upon the horizon of the lover’s heart, and abide secure on the throne of wealth.

(Baha’u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words)

55. O SON OF PASSION!
Cleanse thyself from the defilement of riches and in perfect peace advance into the realm of poverty; that from the well-spring of detachment thou mayest quaff the wine of immortal life.

(Baha’u'llah, The Persian Hidden Words)

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