The whole duty of man in this Day is to
attain that share of the flood of grace which God poureth forth for him. Let none, therefore, consider the largeness
or smallness of the receptacle.
(Gleanings from the Writings of Bahá'u'lláh.
p. 8)
We have many purposes. Last post I discussed one purpose of life is to acquire virtues. Another
purpose of human life, because it is a spiritual duty, is stated by Bahá’u’lláh
above. What does the grace of God mean in the context of prosperity?
In its broadest sense the grace of God is His
Message, the revelation of the eternal and temporal truth. Baha’u’llah writes that the Word of God “is
God’s all-pervasive grace, from which all grace doth emanate.” (Tablets of Baha’u’llah:144) But this all-pervasive grace gets
particularized in each person. St. Paul
helps us understand this when he writes: “Having then gifts differing according
to the grace that is given to us…” (The
Book of Romans 12:6) Regardless of circumstances, grace as unfolding innate talents becomes active in our lives when we exert ourselves to
receive the grace of spiritual empowerment and divine confirmation. What does that mean in a concrete sense?
Baha'u'llah wrote: “Please God, the poor may
exert themselves and strive to earn the means of livelihood. This is a duty
which, in this most great Revelation, hath been prescribed unto every one, and
is accounted in the sight of God as a goodly deed. Whoso observeth this duty,
the help of the invisible One shall most certainly aid him. He can enrich,
through His grace, whomsoever He pleaseth. He, verily, hath power over all
things....” (Gleanings:202
Of course, this counsel, as He says, is not just for the poor, but for everyone. To achieve individual wealth: “(I)t is
incumbent on every one to engage in crafts and professions, for therein lies
the secret of wealth, O men of understanding!” (The Hidden Words #80 Persian) And in relation to the path to take to achieve wealth, He admonished an individual: “Concerning the means of livelihood, thou
shouldst, while placing thy whole trust in God, engage in some occupation. He
will assuredly send down upon thee from the heaven of His favour that which is
destined for thee. He is in truth the God of might and power.” (Tablets of Bahá'u'lláh: 267) Another
aspect of this purpose can be seen when we recall that “grace” is the root of
“gratitude”, so that we should be grateful for the grace given to us in the
form of innate talents and abilities, and that our gratitude is best expressed in
our livelihood and in the services we perform for others or the common good.
Let's look more closely at these statements. Although
Baha’u’llah states: "It is enjoined upon every
one of you to engage in some form of occupation, such as crafts, trades and the
like” (Tablets of Baha’u’llah: 26) it
should be clear that we are not simply being told to go find a job in order to pay the bills, though that may be necessary for a while. We are counselled to put work in a more comprehensive context of personal spiritual development, service to others, and divine confirmation and guidance. We should first strive to know ourselves and
our purpose, to work to realize these, trust that God will assist us, and be grateful for all trials and victories. This attitude is of grace/gratitude is easier to manifest when we remember Baha'u'llah's promise that: “We have graciously exalted your engagement in
such work to the rank of worship unto God, the True One. Ponder ye in your hearts the grace and the
blessings of God and render thanks unto Him at eventide and at dawn.” (Tablets of Baha’u’llah: 26) As grace and gratitude are linguistically connected, so, to, are work and worship from the same root word, thus work is worship in their proper context. But we are also being told to look for something else, and this last aspect closes the circle to make a truly unified conception and execution.
Though
all work is good and can even be a form of worship when undertaken with sincere intent to
grow and serve, there is a specific kind of work each person should try to
engage in. This work is the inner secret
of the secret of wealth, so to speak.
This purpose is explicitly stated by Bahá’u’lláh: “The best of men are
they that earn a livelihood by their calling and spend upon themselves and upon
their kindred for the love of God, the Lord of all worlds.” (Hidden Words #82 Persian) And: “True
reliance is for the servant to pursue his profession and calling in this world,
to hold fast unto the Lord, to seek naught but His grace, inasmuch as in His
Hands is the destiny of all His servants.” (Tablets of Baha’u’llah:
155) We are not just
created, but created to fulfill a destined purpose in some Great Plan. Every
individual has his or her own natural abilities, interests and inclinations in,
say, athletics, art, science, scholarship, or trade skills, which education
must bring out. These are demonstrated
in one’s instinctual aptitudes, often in what one daydreams about. Such abilities and dreams are indicators of a
life path: What do you like to do?; What are you almost instinctively good at? The poet, Rumi, said it well: “Everyone has been made for some particular
work, and the desire for that work has been put in every heart.” Knowing this desire is also part of
self-knowledge.
Any job, craft or profession can
bring renumeration, and at any time one can serve humanity from any place in the work
force. But there seems to be a special
magic in pursuing one’s calling, an affirmative response to the divine call to
occupation “put in every heart.” Fulfilling
one’s calling is a powerful way to shape an uncertain destiny into a more
certain future.
Now we clearly understand that individual purpose as what one feels one is created to do, and social purpose as what one is created to give, are two sides of the same coin. That is, the created to do and created to serve purposes should be inseparable. Each individual is created to do something, which he or she feels called to do, but that individual is, from a spiritual point of view, then required to contribute that something to the common wealth through service. In a nutshell, our first goal is to find our calling, but our goal after that is to serve via our calling. Hence the full purpose in knowing ourselves is to understand how we can serve most effectively.
The lucky among us learn that a good
way to find wealth is through using our innate gifts to pursue a calling. But the best of us know that wealth is not
for hoarding or for self-indulgence, but to help humankind. The spiritually mature person could never use
personal wealth only for himself while others were in deprivation. Rather, he would see the possession of material
wealth as a gift to use responsibly to alleviate to whatever extent possible
the distress of those in need. To him it
is inconceivable that those who have plenty would not provide for those who
have naught. That is, he would act as
the grace of God for others.
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