Wednesday, April 1, 2009

The standard for our interactions with others

"Consort with all the peoples, kindreds and religions of the world with the utmost truthfulness, uprightness, faithfulness, kindliness, good-will and friendliness; that all the world of being may be filled with the holy ecstasy of the grace of Bahá, that ignorance, enmity, hate and rancor may vanish from the world and the darkness of estrangement amidst the peoples and kindreds of the world may give way to the Light of Unity. Should other peoples and nations be unfaithful to you show your fidelity unto them, should they be unjust toward you show justice towards them, should they keep aloof from you attract them to yourself, should they show their enmity be friendly towards them, should they poison your lives sweeten their souls, should they inflict a wound upon you be a salve to their sores. Such are the attributes of the sincere! Such are the attributes of the truthful. "

-- Abdu'l Baha

2 comments:

8&20 said...

lovely!

and this shall be my symphony...

Nikhil said...

ya i love all the words used here to describe one's ideal state - "truthfulness, uprightness, faithfulness, kindliness, good-will and friendliness". Each of them is such a loaded word, and interesting to think about how they apply practically to our lives in myriad interactions with others. And along those lines, how does one, for example, "attract those who keep aloof to ourselves"? Reminds me of how "a kindly tongue is the lodestone of the hearts of men..." :)