The Power of Example

Spirit is reality, and when the spirit in each of us seeks to join itself with the Great Reality, it must in turn give life.

(‘Abdu’l-Bahá in London:107)

We all know of the power of example, of the influence of any life lived by principle, conviction, and faith.  These are powerful in part because they demonstrate to our children those “wonders with which God hath willed to entrust your souls.”  Only real, living examples make moral principles real.  To grow spiritually, our children are in need of such models of spiritual excellence, as much as they need models of great statesmen, great athletes, scientists and artists if they are to excel in those fields.  Where are they to find them?

            In the history books, of course: in the dramatic lives of those great saints gone before.  Yes, but we need not go so far afield.  Bahá’u’lláh Himself states: “It is the bounden duty of parents to rear their children to be staunch in faith, the reason being that a child who removeth himself from the religion of God will not act in such a way as to win the good pleasure of his parents and his Lord.  For every praiseworthy deed is born out of the light of religion, and lacking this supreme bestowal the child will not turn away from any evil, nor will he draw nigh unto any good.” (Baha’i Education p. 3#12)    

            But not only parents are charged with this supreme task.  ‘Abdu’l-Bahá says to: “Establish schools that are well organized, and promote the fundamentals of instruction in the various branches of knowledge, through teachers who are pure and sanctified, distinguished for their high standards of conduct and general excellence, and strong in faith; educators with a thorough knowledge of sciences and arts.” (Baha’i Education p.25#65) 

            Our materialistic culture does not encourage nobility, because it does not often celebrate spiritual models for youth to follow.  It does not do this because it cannot perceive spirit.  The transcendence the human soul intrinsically longs for is conveyed by messages that are heavily freighted with sexual imagery or “losing one’s mind” by, for example, getting wasted, meaning drunk.  Youth seek the “oceanic feeling” of being carried away, or “out of oneself”, from stimulating or numbing the bodily senses, the outermost level of human consciousness, by experimenting with drugs, sex, and a host of other material pursuits, such as shopping and gambling.  But are they not just imitating their parents world?; where all that is left of those important ceremonies of growth traditionally called “passages of rites to adulthood” are empty forms denoting nothing.  It indicates the exhaustion of culture when there is no other reason to be 21 except that it is the legal age to poison one‘s body with alcohol.  Thus to be grown-up is not full adulthood but extended childhood, not a matter of maturity but mere chronology, for, truly, the so-called adult world is often one of irresponsible spiritual delinquency.  But all these destructive “adult” pursuits only block the appearance and expression of spirit.  Blocking the spiritual energies, just as they are primed to enter the individual life in full splendor, leaves the youth feeling, quite naturally, empty and confused, with no ideals, no energy, no noble ambitions; bitter, angry, and vengeful--and he doesn‘t know why.  Our education, from nursery to university, from mom to pop music, is wholly to blame.  For these do not acknowledge the sacred, spiritual energies.  Or, if they do, they trivialize them.

            All this has profound import for our children and youth, not only within schools but, perhaps more importantly, outside of it.  The effectiveness of divine education will not be demonstrated in times of ease and comfort, but in times like now of widespread dread and despair.  That real oceanic feeling just talked about comes not from escape into a private utopia, but from a feeling of belongingness to the universal.  These are or should be the goals of divine education.

            But, we say, children must deal with intense peer pressure.  True, but let us be careful with this term.  Too great an emphasis upon it gives undo power to the negative.  I mean that we speak of peer pressure as something bad that happens to good children, and rarely as something that good children can apply to positively influence their friends.  We put it in the negative because we know that the larger society is corrupt and decadent, and that a small number of good people must stand against this foul tide with light, knowledge and morality. 

            Peers always give pressure, positively or negatively.  That is the nature of group dynamics.  Adults face it, too.  But no individual child can long resist intense negative pressure by him or herself.  Nor, conversely, can they resist positive pressure.  Thus, the purpose of divine education is not to train each individual child to be a good person because he or she must stand alone against the negative.  We will lose that battle nearly every time, or at best, the child will be “good” when with good people, but another person when with others, as many adults are.  Youth is a time for experimentation.  Let them experiment with nobility.

            Divine education can create a powerful moral and spiritual identity both for individuals and for the collective culture, a way of life for children that adults’ model for them, and that will radiate its influence as a benevolent pressure spiritually trained children can in general exert to push humanity to nobler heights of conduct.  In so doing this spiritualized culture, based on faith, vision, spiritual hearing and for the purpose of personal and social transformation, will counteract, neutralize and transform the negative and create in turn a positive pressure that other youth will be attracted to.  It will arouse them to spiritual action, to be active builders of an ever-advancing civilization, and not greedy, passive consumers of a dying one; to be, in other words, a powerful catalyst for transformation.

            This cannot be accomplished simply by teaching children the names of saints.  It will not be done by giving them the dates of important events in the history of religion.  Nor will it be achieved by instructing them in the do’s and don’ts of moral life. It can only be done through faith in the energizing power of the Creative Word; faith in the example we set; faith in the revelatory power of truth to arouse true seekers whose one aim and purpose in life is to find God in themselves.  Should we ever doubt the power of spiritual action let us listen to ‘Abdu’l-Bahá: “If a small number of people gather lovingly together, with absolute purity and sanctity, with their hearts free of the world, experiencing the emotions of the Kingdom, and the powerful magnetic forces of the Divine education, and being at one in their happy fellowship, that gathering will exert its influence over all the earth.  The nature of that band of people, the words they speak, the deeds they do, will unleash bestowals of Heaven, and provide a foretaste of eternal bliss.  The hosts of the Company on high will defend them, and the angels of the ‘Abha Paradise, in continuous succession, will come to their aid.” (Selections from the Writings of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá:81)

            We need to get such perceptions and actions into the souls of our children, so that they may awaken and demonstrate their power to transform lives.  Then we shall see a new race of men come alive before our eyes.  Divine education is education that we can’t leave to chance, that we can’t just hope will happen, that we can’t give to others to do, that we can’t make a second priority, that we can’t do half-heartedly, that we can’t merely check and monitor periodically, that we can’t do two or three times a week for an hour or so, or any other statement that makes it not the single most important education--not aspect of education--every day of the week, every week of the year, every year of our lives.