“We live in an age when an aggressive
materialistic culture is invading every segment of society. The exaggerated
occupation with self that is woven into the fabric of this pervasive culture
presents us with numerous challenges as we try to assist youth in developing
their capacities. Even efforts that sincerely seek to release the potential of
the youth can suffer from the negative influence of a worldview that is
individualistic at its core. The problem is complex.” Thus begins a paragraph
at the end of section 5 of unit two of Book 5 “Releasing the Powers of Junior
Youth”, in the main sequence of courses offered by the Ruhi institute. This
curriculum is now adopted as the main offering of some 250 regional or national
training institutes throughout the Bahá’í world. While this educational process
thinly covers the whole planet, like the Bahá’í Faith itself, it has not yet
penetrated the consciousness of most young people. Therein lies the opportunity
for selfless service.
Just last night we were studying this
passage in a study circle in our home. What does it mean to say that efforts
that sincerely seek to release the potential of youth suffer from negative
influences of a materialistic culture
that is individualistic at its core? We know that human nature has two
sides: a dark materialistic selfish side, and a bright spiritual selfless side.
Materialistic cultures are blind to our spiritual side and assume that all
people are essentially self-interested, and they compete to acquire greater and
greater material goods and benefits for themselves. The social order that
emerges from this is an educational system that itself is competitive, to equip
people to compete for the best jobs in ever growing corporations that produce
material goods and services for insatiable consumption in ever more attractive
shopping malls, online or offline, supported by a commercially driven advertizing
media that entertains as it corrupts every human concept of modesty,
contentment or decency. This system produces a few examples of spectacular
“success” and millions of dissatisfied failures, in the form of those who did
not get better grades, did not get better jobs, could not buy better goods, did
not achieve fame or fortune in competitive sports or arts, and finally lost
their self confidence.
So the lesson goes on to say that “The present
world system does rob vast numbers of human beings of the ability to deal with
life; therefore self-confidence is an issue to be addressed.” How does the
materialistic culture address self-confidence? It only knows one side of human
nature, so it begins to encourage and bolster the ego. For example, a
television show produced within the context of a materialistic culture may try
to boost the self-confidence of young people by dramatizing an episode where
the main actress declares that she, tired of always trying to please others,
will now focus on pleasing herself. Such a focus on our lower nature “crushes people’s
sense of true identity”. Self-realization then becomes synonymous with
self-centeredness. Likewise self-discovery is seen in terms of discovering what
talents we have so that we can better succeed and have a competitive advantage
over others. And all this because the fundamental ontological assumption of
materialistic cultures is the sovereignty of the individual, as distinct from,
and as categorically opposed to, institutions and communities.
We need self-confidence, self-discovery and
self-realization. But the solution cannot be found in materialistic cultures by
romanticizing the individual and bolstering the ego. Doing so will only further
rob vast numbers of human beings of the ability to deal with life. It crushes
people’s sense of true identity and makes multitudes oblivious of the life of
the Soul. Genuine individual development
involves the abandonment of self. And this can only be achieved if we recognize
human nature as essentially noble, innately inclined to selfless service to
others. We need to turn our face towards our higher nature and to foster in the
young true spiritual susceptibilities, so that their tender hearts are stirred
by attraction to knowledge and beauty. Service as an animator for a group of
junior youth will not only help the participants, but even more, it helps the
animators fulfill their inner desire for self-confidence, self-discovery and
self-realization through selfless service.
The point of this blog is not simply the vague and pious hope that we should be selfless, but that the society should be redesigned in such a way as to avoid those programs and constructs that promote ego and replace them with such other programs that promote selfless service.
Baha’u’llah wrote: “O Son of Spirit! I created thee rich, why dost thou bring thyself down
to poverty? Noble I made thee, wherewith dost thou abase thyself? Out of the
essence of knowledge I gave thee being, why seekest thou enlightenment from anyone
beside Me? Out of the clay of love I molded thee, how dost thou busy thyself
with another? Turn thy sight unto thyself, that thou mayest find Me standing
within thee, mighty, powerful and self-subsisting.”
