There are several facets to this question, and several ways of looking at it, which I thought I'd write about - more to help crystallize my own thoughts on it than for any other purpose! So please bear with my ramblings as I attempt to clarify this important question for myself :) - here then are the things I think one should take into consideration.
- Spirituality is to be attained in the real world, not on a mountaintop - Lets get the easy part over with first. The Baha'i writings clearly discourage giving up one's life as it is and going to meditate on a mountaintop in order to become spiritual. There might have been a time for it - now is not it. Baha'u'llah calls out to all the monks in their seclusion, saying,
"O concourse of monks! Seclude not yourselves in churches and cloisters. Come forth by My leave, and occupy yourselves with that which will profit your souls and the souls of men."
Therefore attaining spirituality is not something one does in isolation, or at the cost of living a normal life - one must continue living in the real world and occupy oneself in service to others. Such service allows us to hone our spiritual skills and attain further growth - after all, if there were noone around us to test our patience, could we truly become patient?
Additionally, enjoying our material life in itself is not blameworthy, as long as it does not come between us and our spiritual path. There is absolutely nothing wrong with acquiring wealth - it is when this becomes the focus of one's life, increasing one's attachment to money and the material world that it becomes harmful to our spiritual growth. As Baha'u'llah says, "All that is in heaven and earth I have ordained for thee, except the human heart, which I have made the habitation of My beauty and glory..."
David Starr Jordan, first President of Stanford, said of Abdu'l Baha when he came to talk at Stanford - Abdul Baha will surely unite the East and West, for he treads the mystic way with practical feet. This is exactly what we must all strive to do. - Using spiritual principles to guide one's actions: The previous point of course raises the next - given that one has to continue living in the material world in order to attain spiritual growth, how exactly does one go about doing that? First and foremost, I think we use spiritual principles to guide our actions/decisions. In any situation, our job is to see what spiritual principles are involved, and then see how those can practically be applied to resolve the situation. This is the first way in which gradually aligning ourselves with a spiritual life starts changing how we interact with the world. We should recognize that in all situations, our actions and decisions are influenced by our values, beliefs, attitudes and perspectives - never are we doing anything in isolation from these. The effect of integrating spirituality into our lives, then, is the understanding and then transformation of these very values, beliefs, attitudes and perspectives that guide our decisions, in such a way that they align one with that which is good for our spiritual growth. A focus on spirituality, therefore, might not change our circumstances in life - however it will certainly change how we respond to those circumstances and how we prioritize our lives. As we slowly integrate a spiritual perspective into one's life, we start examining our towards everything more carefully. We approach even seemingly mundane things as our work in a different way, viewing it through the lens of such spiritual qualities as service to others or the search for truth. It lends new meaning to all our daily endeavors, and enables us to set the right intention in all situations.
- Material service and spirituality do not occur at the cost of each other: One thing we often get caught up in is wondering if the material service we want to do in the world (say, through helping in development of underserved people, education, elimination of poverty etc) will somehow suffer if we start dedicating our time to spiritual pursuits. After all, we only have a finite amount of time in our lives, right? To get over this, we first have to understand that we are creating a false dichotomy. The intention to be of service is one of the highest spiritual attitudes one could adopt, whatever realm that might be in.
The man who makes a piece of note- paper to the best of his ability, conscientiously, concentrating all his forces on perfecting it, is giving praise to God. Briefly, all effort and exertion put forth by man from the fullness of his heart is worship, if it is prompted by the highest motives and the will to do service to humanity. This is worship: to serve mankind and to minister to the needs of the people. Service is prayer. A physician ministering to the sick, gently, tenderly, free from prejudice and believing in the solidarity of the human race, is giving praise.
-- Abdu'l Baha
Therefore material service rendered to people does not take away time/energy from spiritual pursuits (or the other way around) - this service is already the highest spiritual pursuit. What matters, of course, is one's intention of being of service - and this is where, again, understanding the underlying spiritual principle helps guide one's service. - The multi-dimensional nature of service: At the same time, while one continues serving the world in the material realm as one did before, embarking on a spiritual journey enables one to realize that true service goes much beyond the material, and has many multi-dimensional aspects to it. One sees that one is truly of service to people not just when one improves their material conditions, but when one engenders a spiritual transformation in them, which revolutionizes their lives and enables them to take charge of their own spiritual and material growth. A spiritual attitude therefore brings service to our very own doorstep - instead of having to go to materially underdeveloped communities/cities/countries to be of service, one can be of service in one's own neighborhood. Service is no longer restricted to the socio-economic realm. We do not have to wait till we get the opportunity to serve in some remote, impoverished country - instead we can start serving the people who are already a part of our lives, by effecting a spiritual transformation in the community we live in. This holistic notion of service helps us in the process of community building, of forming strong and deep bonds with our friends, coworkers and neighbors. We look for opportunities to be of service in the myriad interactions we have with people during each day. World peace and unity are not achieved by some world leaders declaring it and imposing it upon people, claims the Baha'i Faith - instead it is a truly bottom-up process that starts at the grassroots level in every neighborhood, village, city and country. The point is this - one gains perspective and sees how one can integrate spiritual service into one's daily life, without needing to create circumstances that allow one to be of service to others.
- Prioritizing spiritual growth: While it is true that many circumstances in one's life might remain unchanged as one integrates a spiritual perspective, it is also true that certain others will change. And this is a natural process, as one comes to prioritize spiritual growth over other, possibly more mundane things in life. And this of course is not a discrete change, but happens slowly over time - as one starts perceiving the value that a spiritual perspective adds to one's life, one starts devoting more time and energy to developing and honing that perspective. And therefore it might be that one ends up spending less time/energy on relationships that exist primarily at the level of the superficial and banal, and instead focuses one's energies on fostering those relationships that are positive and uplifting; or that one develops a regular habit of saying prayers/reading spiritual writings/having spiritual discussions with friends that take away some time from other activities such as watching TV; or that one looks for opportunities to elevate everyday conversations to a more spiritual level; or that one prioritizes the time set aside for meditation/reflection, etc. Again, it is not that one completely gives up other aspects of one's life - it is important to do fun things, and enjoy life. As Baha'u'llah says, "In all matters moderation is desirable. If a thing is carried to excess, it will prove a source of evil." Balance and moderation, therefore, are essential. However, when push comes to shove, one prioritizes that which contributes to one's spiritual growth more often than not. If one has a deadline at work, in order to meet which one can either choose between skipping a spiritual study circle or losing an hour of sleep, one is more likely, over time, to pick the latter. This shift in priorities is natural and desirable - therefore while we should let go of the fear that we might have to surrender all that we hold dear today when we step on the spiritual path, we should at the same time accept that our priorities will indeed shift, and that that is ok.
- Little by little, day by day: Nothing on the spiritual path happens instantly - and so it is with the integration of spirituality into one's life. One might balk when we look at the standards set in the writings, for they call us to strive to attain the highest stations of spiritual servitude and detachment from the material world. But these are ultimately standards, meant to inspire us into action and do the best we can in our present circumstances. Two things are important - first, that we get started on the path in whatever way we can, investing however much time/energy our circumstances currently permit; second, that we strive to do the best we can at all times, and seek to grow. As long as one does those two things, we will see things changing over time - for there is dynamic feedback loop between our actions and our thoughts, such that as we start acting in specific ways, our thoughts and priorities get shifted over time (which then further changes how we act, etc). So let's all set out on our spiritual paths with whatever we have, to whatever measure we can - and over time, we will see what a difference it can make.
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5 comments:
Excellent post Nikhil. I really loved this one!
Thanks, Anne :)
i was having a discussion recently with another MBA student on how the common perception of those pursuing this course is one of complete hedonism and greater entrenchment in the material plane of existence. as we were both equally disturbed by that view, we talked of the fundamental issues in the way people approach for profit businesses and how the mindset in delivering value can dramatically change the same business. as the conversation inevitably ended in how to integrate that 'mindset' into every aspect of our lives, we hurriedly concluded that providing service must be the goal, no matter what the task. i like how well you have articulated that point. i'm going to share this post with him!
Thanks for the comment halfpast_AftaChrist :) That's cool that now as a budding, bouncing MBA student you are having all these conversations :) I've thought about this topic of for-profit businesses a lot as well, and its definitely a complex issue. Related to what you said here, I think how companies define their core objective can be quite critical. So one of the fundamental, but maybe unspoken, basis of our economic system is that if individual companies seek to maximize their profit, then things will all naturally fit into place, people will get what the way, at the prices they're willing to pay etc. So the theory assumes that if people compete to maximize profits, it will naturally result in what people desire. But what seems to happen in practice is that when the focus is on making profit - and this becomes the core objective of a company - then often companies make decisions that are not in the best interests of society in the long run. I'm sure you can think of 100s of examples of this, so I don't need to elaborate the point. However, what if a company defined one of its objectives as making a profit, but defined its core objective as being of service to society (or something more specific along those lines)? This can change the picture significantly, I think - because then companies/people would be willing to make choices that are maybe suboptimal (though not terrible) from the standpoint of making a profit, but are ideal in terms of their social impact. For example, a company might be willing to sell a car with technology that would improve its gas mileage by 10 mpg, but end up getting a profit of only $1000/car instead of $1500. Of course, we are not aiming for altruism here, nor are we looking to companies to do social service for free - that would certainly be unrealistic. But what such a mindset will engender is the willingness to take a slight hit in short-term profits if it leads to greater social good. And in the longer run this might even increase profits. I feel like this kind of attitude, if adopted by many companies can actually have a significant impact on how the economy runs - and not really affect profits much (and in the long run probably make it better).
agreed. on a related note, i attended a talk a couple of years ago on the practice of big pharma sharing IP and know-how with partners in developing countries to enable them to develop the industrial capabilities for producing such drugs, training local talent (therefore creating a positive economic effect) and ultimately subsidizing the cost of such drugs. gilead's presentation on what it does in this regard in the area of HIV drugs was amazing. such companies do exist. such an approach just needs to become more widespread.
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