Flora Teckie
All humans are created noble and have the innate capacity for harmony and cooperation, and desire the building of a just, peaceful, and prosperous world.
While there is a common desire and longing to live in a peaceful world, people often go along with the proposition that human beings are created selfish and aggressive, and therefore incapable of erecting a peaceful social system based on harmony, reciprocity, and cooperation.
We often hear people say: There have always been wars and there always will be. Such views of human nature, and related attitudes and behaviours, has contributed greatly to the problems in our societies today, including social conflicts, war, and moral and spiritual apathy.
According to the Bahá’í Writings, “God has created man lofty and noble, made him a dominant factor in creation. He has specialised man with supreme bestowals, conferred upon him mind, perception, memory, abstraction and the powers of the senses.
These gifts of God to man were intended to make him the manifestation of divine virtues, a radiant light in the world of creation, a source of life and the agency of constructiveness in the infinite fields of existence”.
Human beings, in the Bahá’í view, are not created sinful or immoral. They are not inherently aggressive – with wars and conflicts being a natural outcome of that. We are created noble, and are filled with potential for goodness. We have the capacity to develop both our intellectual abilities, and our spiritual qualities. However, there is need for education and guidance in order to develop the powers and capacities latent within us.
The Bahá’í Writings state: “Man is a child of God, most noble, lofty and beloved by God, his Creator. Therefore, he must ever strive that the divine bounties and virtues bestowed upon him may prevail and control him. Just now the soil of human hearts seems like black earth, but in the innermost substance of this dark soil there are thousands of fragrant flowers latent.
We must endeavor to cultivate and awaken these potentialities, discover the secret treasure in this very mine and depository of God, bring forth these resplendent powers long hidden in human hearts...”.
We have the innate capacity for cooperation at all levels – in our families, neighbourhoods, nations and at the global level. Only on a foundation of genuine unity, harmony, and understanding among the diverse peoples of the world, will we be empowered to erect a sustainable global society.
We will be able to develop our innate capacities through an appropriate education. Such an education would lead to the discovery and perfection of our capabilities, and instil a commitment to serve the best interests of our communities. To achieve this, we need moral empowerment, as well as intellectual development. We need to advance individually, and also to contribute to advancement of civilisation.
We are all created noble, and have innate capacity for harmony, cooperation, kindness and compassion. To develop our inherent capabilities, we need an appropriate education that cultivates tolerance, love, equality, compassion, humility, and an active commitment to justice.
Humanity has the capacity for global cooperation. To build a just and peaceful global society, the material aspects of our lives, and development of our communities, whether environmental, economic, social or legal, must be driven by spiritual principles and priorities.
The Bahá’í International Community states:“…communities that thrive and prosper today will do so because they acknowledge the spiritual dimension of human nature and make the moral, emotional and intellectual development of the individual a central priority”.