The Universal House of Justice in its letter of 28 December 2010 addressed to the Continental Boards of Counsellors laid out a body of inspired guidance for the Friends. In this document there is a section that describes certain ways and habits of thinking. In the words of the House of Justice “Apart from the spiritual requisites of a sanctified Baha'i life, there are habits of thought that affect the unfoldment of the global Plan, and their development has to be encouraged at the level of culture. There are tendencies, as well, that need to be gradually overcome. Many of these tendencies are reinforced by approaches prevalent in society at large, which, not altogether unreasonably, enter into Baha'i activity.” As the Friends study this infallible guidance we should ask ourselves what are such tendencies, how do they start, what reinforces them, and how can we free ourselves from them. This subject takes up the four paragraphs numbered 36 to 39 of the current Five Year Plan. Instead of writing one post for each of these four paragraphs and suggesting a few questions for the study of each paragraph, a pattern that characterizes all the previous posts in this blog, I am thinking of doing something a little different and more integrated. Therefore please just see the more extensive paper at this link which describes in some details these salutary habits and analyzes the associated three tendencies to be overcome.
Abdu'l-Baha wrote that "The reality of man is his thought, not his material body. The thought force and the animal force are partners. Although man is part of the animal creation, he possesses a power of thought superior to all other created beings."
