Making sense of world events and struggling to stay hopeful!
Baha'i House of Worship, Wilmette, IL
I am frequently asked about my personal compass that keeps me motivated to go on and to stay hopeful. Many of my more sensitive patients, friends, and colleagues feel paralyzed by all the bad news in the world. The stories of wars, economic hardships, injustice towards the vulnerable, racism, child abuse, animal cruelty and the many other ills of our current world can lead to a sense of desperation and emotional numbness. The suicide rate, especially among our service men and women, is at all time high.
Some want to distract themselves from all this bad news by rationalizations or diversions of all kinds. I approach the clinical aspects of my patients in the office from a both a medical and a psychological perspective. Yet from a broader view, our world is thirsty for a fresh global perspective.
The metaphor that guides me in understanding these macro trends and applying them to my micro life comes from the writings of the 19th century Luminary, Baha’u'llah. He was a Persian prince who gave up a life of luxury and was opposed by two despots of His time, in Persia and the Ottoman empire, for His Divinely inspired teachings. He was chained in prison, then exiled for forty years, but despite these conditions his writing sheds light on our collective social evolution.
His teachings describe two processes at work: One is leading to a gradual dissolution of outdated and nonfunctional patterns of behavior, and the other is building a society founded on the recognition of the oneness of humanity, its spiritual traditions, and its Creator. Internally, each of us can also witness these two fundamental forces. We are either pulled towards our lower instinct-based nature that only seeks self gratification, or towards a higher nature attracting unity, harmony, transcendence, service to others, and peace making. These are not hopeless times but actually a very exciting step in human evolution.
For more information on Baha’u'llah and His spiritual teachings, go to www.bahai.org The following powerful quote is from the Shoghi Effendi, Guardian of the Baha’i Faith, and is inspired by the writings of Baha’u'llah: