Being Moved

"In an increasingly interconnected world, more light is being cast on the social conditions of every people, giving greater visibility to their circumstances. While there are developments that give hope, there is much that should weigh heavy on the conscience of the human race. Inequity, discrimination, and exploitation blight the life of humanity, seemingly immune to the treatments applied by political schemes of every hue. The economic impact of these afflictions has resulted in the prolonged suffering of so many, as well as in deep-seated, structural defects in society. No one whose heart has been attracted to the teachings of the Blessed Beauty can remain unmoved by these consequences."

You will likely recall these profound words written by the Universal House of Justice earlier this year, on 1 March, at the beginning of their letter regarding economics. I remember reading them the first time, and just how excited I was at what they were going to say in this relatively short letter. Now, you may notice that I didn't actually copy the entire first paragraph, but only part of it. There is a reason. I wanted to draw attention to that last sentence.

"No one whose heart has been attracted to the teachings of the Blessed Beauty can remain unmoved by these consequences."

You see, dear Reader, we had a presentation on the Right of God in our community the other day, and one of the things we did was study this letter. Oh, in its entirety, not just the beginning of the first paragraph.

It was a wonderful study, and I wanted to share a little bit of it here with you, since I don't think you were there.

Anyways, I could go on for many pages about the video we saw, End of an Era, and this study, but I think I'll just keep it to this one line.

"No one whose heart has been attracted to the teachings of the Blessed Beauty can remain unmoved by these consequences."

When we read this, one of the friends commented that all Baha'is are moved by these signs, those mentioned at the beginning of this paragraph: inequity, discrimination, exploitation, the prolonged suffering, the deep-seated structural defects. Every Baha'i, they said, is moved.

Now, it may just be me, and the training I have had in my life, but I didn't see it this way. I don't see where they say that this just refers to Baha'is. And I said so.

No one, they say, no one whose heart is attracted to the teachings can remain unmoved. They don't say no one who is attracted to Baha'u'llah, but to His teachings.

So what does that mean to me?

Well, to me it means that anyone who is moved by seeing these sufferings might be open to the teachings. Seeing how people react to the state of affairs in the world can be a good indication that they may be receptive.

It's not that everyone who is moved "by these consequences" will be receptive, but it is another sign that they might be. And yo uknow what? That's good enough for me.