At the beginning of each Gregorian New Year there are many who religiously make New Years’ resolutions to alter or otherwise reform habits that will inevitably affect and improve our lives–and subsequently the lives of others. Although few may actually manage to keep such resolutions throughout the year they at least generate real conscientious effort to make progress previously aborted.
Some resolve to improve personal habits that promote good health and longevity. Others may vow to become more active in group-activities among adults and/or children.
Whatever the project it will most certainly prove to be most beneficial to all involved when faithfully executed.
On the other hand there are many who find themselves religiously slipping back into the same unhealthy moles. To continue to slip backward into bad habits will inevitably lock us into poorer physical, mental and physical health becoming more devastating and harder to overcome with time while promoting physical, mental and spiritual suicide for others to mimic. In order to rearrange one’s priorities before such derailment one must honestly reassess and come to grips with motivation, the “hard-drive” of these priorities. Once this knowledge is bluntly faced we can apply more deliberate and effective means of prioritizing through “the big 3¬–knowledge, volition and Action, the Big-3. without any one of which the process will be ineffective and the cycle will remain the same.
Mere knowledge of the advantages of healthy, wholesome physical and spiritual diets and exercise would be to no avail without actual voluntary participation in ACTION! In assessing motivation of misspent priorities we may find that the biggest problems often derive from the smallest word – ego (self).
In the Baha’i Holy Writings we interestingly find that the word self has two meanings. 1) The light or true identity of God’s creation in His Own Image within us.” The other, the darker, animalistic heritage within each of us–the lower nature that can develop into a monster of selfishness, brutality. lust and greed.” It is this lower self that we must diligently and persistently struggle against once obtaining knowledge of the two. In fact, the true Armageddon may be simply the perpetual war between these two identities within each of us.
“Human society at present exerts a pernicious influence upon the soul of man,” we are reminded in the Baha’i Holy Writings. Instead of encouraging him to live a life of service and sacrifice, it teaches him to pride himself on his accomplishments and personal passions.
“From early childhood man is trained to develop his ego and to seek to exalt himself above others. His ultimate aim is to achieve self-importance, success and power. The soul of man needs instead to be adorned with virtues of humility and self effacement so that it may become detached from the things of this material world and from its “Kingdom of names” to which mankind has become enslaved.”
The primary aim of the Revelation of Baha’u’llah (the Baha’i Faith) is to reverse that current trend into one of universal mutual Love and respect for the differences in others.
May we resolve this New Year to at least Investigate!
