(from 1/14/03)
____, I want to recognize and thank you for your authenticity and honesty, especially at the beginning of your presentation. I believe honesty, or authenticity, is one of the keys to spiritual growth. Without it, we deceive ourselves and others. You acknowledged your fears and feelings, and then you put your trust in us, and in God, enough to share it with us. This created the seed and open space for an authentic dialogue with the audience. You then recognized and acknowledged the limitation of your ego, and called on God to help, basically. If we can't be honest with where we are at, in our ego strivings, in our pain, in our fears and weakness, how can we ever recognize our utter need for God, and call on Him with all our heart? We must be honest with ourselves, and see how we have been acting in our ego strength for ego purposes, and then we must recognize the utter limitation of this striving. Then we become convicted that God is the only way. If we don't recognize and dismantle our selfish ego patterns, we can't fully embody our spiritual realization.
And if we can't acknowledge this publicly, how can we convey these truths to others? It would be mere words. If others can't see in us a heartfelt acknowledgment of our utter dependency on God, and a heartfelt awareness of the utter futility of ego and worldly strivings and attachments, we will never have a chance to show His Greatness and the Truth of His Word. And if we can't bring the Power of God into our lives and hearts, and allow His Spirit to transform and transmute us, how can we transmit His spirit to others? People are yearning for methods to truly embody spiritual realization, so the words penetrate through, and dissolve the old, useless patterns which we have acquired from this lamentably defective society. The fire and flame of the Spirit, embodied in the hearts and minds of believers will win the hearts of the people.
Although mere words can plant seeds, without spiritual people, alive with the flame of God's love and wisdom, we will never reach great numbers. And without the unity that this spiritual power can bring, we will not succeed. And authenticity is a beginning, a way to see into the truth of our selves, our lives, how we have been living. We can then see clearly our imperfections, and how we are not living according to the ideal. This way we are humble and honest, and we can humbly call on the Holy Spirit, and ask to be transformed into new creatures, dedicated to God, and on the Path of Truth! But this takes courage, discipline, faith, openness, humility, love, patience, consecrated souls, living examples, and what is very important: safe spaces and environments to do this work! Let's pray that for now, we can create this space in our hearts and minds, and that we can bring this work into the training institutes, study circles, devotional meetings and children's classes, and make these meetings safe places to explore our transformation!
It is sad that we are taught in this society that it is wrong to feel any weakness, suffering, or pain. And it is sad that we are expected to display to others an image of perfection, however false it is. This perfection is based on this society's standards of worldly success, material happiness, aggressive fearlessness, and attainment of the American dream. And in religious communities, displays of spiritual distinction and excellence, sinlessness and purity is expected of us, regardless of their falsity and the fact that they are facades generated by our ego fears and desires. Let's pray that in our Baha'i meetings we are able to convey not the perfection of a false image, a worldly image of perfection, but that we can clear away the fabricated images, and present to ourselves and to each other the true image of the perfection of the Blessed Beauty Baha'u'llah! Praise God!!
Sincerely in His service,
Bob Charnes
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