by Susan Gammage
“What they desperately need is to know how to live their lives - they need to know who they are, to what purpose they exist, and how they should act towards one another; and, once they know the answers to these questions they need to be helped to gradually apply these answers to everyday behaviour. It is to the solution of this basic problem of mankind that the greater part of all our energy and resources should be directed”.
When I first became a Bahá’Ă, it was because I recognized that Bahá’u'lláh had answers to questions I’d never even thought of, and it was obvious to me that His message was from God. I knew that I needed to look to His Writings to find the answer to this question: “how then do I live my life?”
Fortunately we were told to read the Writings morning and night and meditate on them, so they quickly started to come, and I realized that this was the gift we had to give to the world, which was quickly disintegrating around us.
But it wasn’t enough to understand the Writings in my head. I did this, and they just became one big “to do” list, under which I eventually collapsed. I’m only one little person and this Revelation was written for all of humanity, for the next thousand years! So it didn’t all apply to me!
So how could I sort out what was the remedy for my particular situation? I had no idea! I wrote to the House of Justice a few times; consulted with different assemblies a few times, and gradually over time, I learned to clean away the veils from my heart, so I could listen there, where God resides, to find all the wisdom I needed.
Now I read the Writings morning and night as “soul food”, not as a “to do” list, and I’m much happier and more at peace!
Click here to see more quotes like these.
by Susan Gammage
“What they desperately need is to know how to live their lives - they need to know who they are, to what purpose they exist, and how they should act towards one another; and, once they know the answers to these questions they need to be helped to gradually apply these answers to everyday behaviour. It is to the solution of this basic problem of mankind that the greater part of all our energy and resources should be directed”.
When I first became a Bahá’Ă, it was because I recognized that Bahá’u'lláh had answers to questions I’d never even thought of, and it was obvious to me that His message was from God. I knew that I needed to look to His Writings to find the answer to this question: “how then do I live my life?”
Fortunately we were told to read the Writings morning and night and meditate on them, so they quickly started to come, and I realized that this was the gift we had to give to the world, which was quickly disintegrating around us.
But it wasn’t enough to understand the Writings in my head. I did this, and they just became one big “to do” list, under which I eventually collapsed. I’m only one little person and this Revelation was written for all of humanity, for the next thousand years! So it didn’t all apply to me!
So how could I sort out what was the remedy for my particular situation? I had no idea! I wrote to the House of Justice a few times; consulted with different assemblies a few times, and gradually over time, I learned to clean away the veils from my heart, so I could listen there, where God resides, to find all the wisdom I needed.
Now I read the Writings morning and night as “soul food”, not as a “to do” list, and I’m much happier and more at peace!
Click here to see more quotes like these.
by Susan Gammage
We must not be content with simply following a certain course because we find our fathers pursued that course. It is the duty of everyone to investigate reality, and investigation of reality by another will not do for us.
In the movie “Fiddler on the Roof”, we hear clearly the longing for the security of tradition, and the prison it locks us into.
Who, day and night, must scramble for a living,
Feed a wife and children, say his daily prayers?
And who has the right, as master of the house,
To have the final word at home?
The Papa, the Papa! Tradition.
The Papa, the Papa! Tradition.
[GOLDE & MAMAS]
Who must know the way to make a proper home,
A quiet home, a kosher home?
Who must raise the family and run the home,
So Papa’s free to read the holy books?
The Mama, the Mama! Tradition!
The Mama, the Mama! Tradition!
[SONS]
At three, I started Hebrew school. At ten, I learned a trade.
I hear they’ve picked a bride for me. I hope she’s pretty.
The son, the son! Tradition!
The son, the son! Tradition!
[DAUGHTERS]
And who does Mama teach to mend and tend and fix,
Preparing me to marry whoever Papa picks?
The daughter, the daughter! Tradition!
The daughter, the daughter! Tradition!
As teens we chafe against it. If we’ve been abused, we determine to do the opposite of what we’ve been taught, but in the end, many of us sink back into what we know. It takes a lot of effort to truly break the chains of what we’ve been taught. Sometimes they’re so enmeshed we think we’re thinking for ourselves, when in reality we’re just repeating what our culture teaches.
So if it’s “our duty to investigate reality”, without following what’s familiar and without looking to see how our neighbor is living, how then can we find our way?
I think we need to look to our hearts to give us the answer. It’s the place where God resides and He certainly knows what’s best for us. But it’s not always easy to hear our hearts, especially if it’s veiled with natural impurities such as: anger, lust, worldli¬ness, pride, lying, hypocrisy, fraud, self-love, etc.
The first step is to ask God to take these impurities, and transmute them into something else – in this case, focus, direction, certainty, faith and trust.
The second step is to use the 5 Steps of Prayer:
1st Step: Pray and meditate about it. Use the prayers of the Manifesta¬tions as they have the greatest power. Then remain in the silence of contemplation for a few minutes.
Many of us fail to wait and listen for God’s answer, after we say our prayers, forgetting that prayer is a 2-way conversation. It’s like consulting with someone, where you lay out your problem before them and then go home, without waiting to hear their perspective or guidance. We’ll never know how to change our lives if we don’t wait and listen for the answer.
Shoghi Effendi tells a story about building the gardens around the shrine of the Báb. He said he didn’t have a clue what the end product would look like. He would pray, get direction, act on it and then repeat the process the next day. This is what we need to do too, if we want to forge a life different from our forefathers.
2nd Step: Arrive at a decision and hold this. This decision is usually born during the contemplation. It may seem almost impossible of ac¬complishment but if it seems to be as answer to a prayer or a way of solving the problem, then immediately take the next step.
It’s easy to make a decision but much harder to hold on to it. Our hearts give us an answer and our minds second guess it. The minute we move from our hearts to our minds, we can be sure we’re destined to continue to do things the same way we’ve always done them.  We know that God has our best interests at heart, so to let our minds disregard the answers we’re given is truly to turn away from God in pride, thinking we know better than He does.
3rd Step: Have determination to carry the decision through. Many fail here. The decision, budding into determination, is blighted and in¬stead becomes a wish or a vague longing. When determination is born, immediately take the next step.
Determination is the virtue which will help you carry your decision through. With determination comes the courage to act and the focus to take the steps necessary to move us forward. So if we’re wavering here, we can give our uncertainty to God and ask Him to transmute it to determination. We don’t have to do this alone. God wants us to succeed!
4th Step: Have faith and confidence that the power will flow through you, the right way will appear, the door will open, the right thought, the right message, the right principle, or the right book will be given to you. Have confidence and the right thing will come to your need. Then, as you rise from prayer, take at once the 5th step.
Sometimes we take a step and then feel a little foolish. Nothing seems to have changed. You can’t see how this action will lead to the result you’ve been praying for. This is where faith and confidence will help. You know you’ve done what God suggested, so you can leave it up to Him to give you what you need next. Watch for it! It feels like magic when the right things appear!
5th Step: Act as though it had all been answered. Then act with tireless, ceaseless energy. And as you act, you, yourself, will become a mag¬net, which will attract more power to your being, until you become an unobstructed channel for the Divine power to flow through you.
I read a story once of a woman who was going on pilgrimage. She had a date and the desire to go, but she didn’t have the money or the ticket. She used this process, and as the days grew closer to her deadline, she made arrangements for someone to take care of her cat. She packed her suitcase, watered her plants, arranged for the mail to be taken care of, and cancelled the newspaper delivery. People told her she was crazy! But she continued to take the steps in faith, trusting that the ticket would appear and just hours before she was to leave, it did, and she was able to go. That’s the level of faith and action we’re called to do.
Many pray but do not remain for the last half of the first step. Some who meditate arrive at a decision, but fail to hold it. Few have the determination to carry the decision through, still fewer have the confidence that the right thing will come to their need.
But how many remember to act as though it had all been answered? How true are these words “Greater than the prayer is the spirit in which it is uttered” and greater than the way it is uttered is the spirit in which it is carried out. (Shoghi Effendi, Remembrance of God, pp. 207-208).
Click here to see more quotes like these
by Susan Gammage
We must not be content with simply following a certain course because we find our fathers pursued that course. It is the duty of everyone to investigate reality, and investigation of reality by another will not do for us.
In the movie “Fiddler on the Roof”, we hear clearly the longing for the security of tradition, and the prison it locks us into.
Who, day and night, must scramble for a living,
Feed a wife and children, say his daily prayers?
And who has the right, as master of the house,
To have the final word at home?
The Papa, the Papa! Tradition.
The Papa, the Papa! Tradition.
[GOLDE & MAMAS]
Who must know the way to make a proper home,
A quiet home, a kosher home?
Who must raise the family and run the home,
So Papa’s free to read the holy books?
The Mama, the Mama! Tradition!
The Mama, the Mama! Tradition!
[SONS]
At three, I started Hebrew school. At ten, I learned a trade.
I hear they’ve picked a bride for me. I hope she’s pretty.
The son, the son! Tradition!
The son, the son! Tradition!
[DAUGHTERS]
And who does Mama teach to mend and tend and fix,
Preparing me to marry whoever Papa picks?
The daughter, the daughter! Tradition!
The daughter, the daughter! Tradition!
As teens we chafe against it. If we’ve been abused, we determine to do the opposite of what we’ve been taught, but in the end, many of us sink back into what we know. It takes a lot of effort to truly break the chains of what we’ve been taught. Sometimes they’re so enmeshed we think we’re thinking for ourselves, when in reality we’re just repeating what our culture teaches.
So if it’s “our duty to investigate reality”, without following what’s familiar and without looking to see how our neighbor is living, how then can we find our way?
I think we need to look to our hearts to give us the answer. It’s the place where God resides and He certainly knows what’s best for us. But it’s not always easy to hear our hearts, especially if it’s veiled with natural impurities such as: anger, lust, worldli¬ness, pride, lying, hypocrisy, fraud, self-love, etc.
The first step is to ask God to take these impurities, and transmute them into something else – in this case, focus, direction, certainty, faith and trust.
The second step is to use the 5 Steps of Prayer:
1st Step: Pray and meditate about it. Use the prayers of the Manifesta¬tions as they have the greatest power. Then remain in the silence of contemplation for a few minutes.
Many of us fail to wait and listen for God’s answer, after we say our prayers, forgetting that prayer is a 2-way conversation. It’s like consulting with someone, where you lay out your problem before them and then go home, without waiting to hear their perspective or guidance. We’ll never know how to change our lives if we don’t wait and listen for the answer.
Shoghi Effendi tells a story about building the gardens around the shrine of the Báb. He said he didn’t have a clue what the end product would look like. He would pray, get direction, act on it and then repeat the process the next day. This is what we need to do too, if we want to forge a life different from our forefathers.
2nd Step: Arrive at a decision and hold this. This decision is usually born during the contemplation. It may seem almost impossible of ac¬complishment but if it seems to be as answer to a prayer or a way of solving the problem, then immediately take the next step.
It’s easy to make a decision but much harder to hold on to it. Our hearts give us an answer and our minds second guess it. The minute we move from our hearts to our minds, we can be sure we’re destined to continue to do things the same way we’ve always done them.  We know that God has our best interests at heart, so to let our minds disregard the answers we’re given is truly to turn away from God in pride, thinking we know better than He does.
3rd Step: Have determination to carry the decision through. Many fail here. The decision, budding into determination, is blighted and in¬stead becomes a wish or a vague longing. When determination is born, immediately take the next step.
Determination is the virtue which will help you carry your decision through. With determination comes the courage to act and the focus to take the steps necessary to move us forward. So if we’re wavering here, we can give our uncertainty to God and ask Him to transmute it to determination. We don’t have to do this alone. God wants us to succeed!
4th Step: Have faith and confidence that the power will flow through you, the right way will appear, the door will open, the right thought, the right message, the right principle, or the right book will be given to you. Have confidence and the right thing will come to your need. Then, as you rise from prayer, take at once the 5th step.
Sometimes we take a step and then feel a little foolish. Nothing seems to have changed. You can’t see how this action will lead to the result you’ve been praying for. This is where faith and confidence will help. You know you’ve done what God suggested, so you can leave it up to Him to give you what you need next. Watch for it! It feels like magic when the right things appear!
5th Step: Act as though it had all been answered. Then act with tireless, ceaseless energy. And as you act, you, yourself, will become a mag¬net, which will attract more power to your being, until you become an unobstructed channel for the Divine power to flow through you.
I read a story once of a woman who was going on pilgrimage. She had a date and the desire to go, but she didn’t have the money or the ticket. She used this process, and as the days grew closer to her deadline, she made arrangements for someone to take care of her cat. She packed her suitcase, watered her plants, arranged for the mail to be taken care of, and cancelled the newspaper delivery. People told her she was crazy! But she continued to take the steps in faith, trusting that the ticket would appear and just hours before she was to leave, it did, and she was able to go. That’s the level of faith and action we’re called to do.
Many pray but do not remain for the last half of the first step. Some who meditate arrive at a decision, but fail to hold it. Few have the determination to carry the decision through, still fewer have the confidence that the right thing will come to their need.
But how many remember to act as though it had all been answered? How true are these words “Greater than the prayer is the spirit in which it is uttered” and greater than the way it is uttered is the spirit in which it is carried out. (Shoghi Effendi, Remembrance of God, pp. 207-208).
Click here to see more quotes like these
by Susan Gammage
If you seek immunity from the sway of the forces of the contingent world, hang the Most Great Name in your dwelling, wear the ring of the Most Great Name on your finger, place the picture of ‘Abdul-Bahá in your home and always recite the prayers that I have written; then you will behold the marvelous effect they produce.
When I first disclosed my abuse in therapy and then to my perpetrators, I was feeling very vulnerable. Would I be killed? I’d believed that this would be the outcome of giving voice to my experience, all of my life, which is what had kept me silenced for so long, even to myself. Therefore, I was happy when I discovered this morning’s quote by ‘Abdul-Bahá. It was something practical I could immediately implement.
I went from looking over my shoulders and not wanting to leave home, to trusting that I would be protected from any recriminations. And I was! It was a heady experience!
Later, once my life had stabilized and I was experiencing triggers at work with abusive bosses, I would read that quote again, and realize I was again being protected. I had choices this time, where I did not as a child.
Even later, when I realized the impact of materialism on my life, and longed for a simpler lifestyle, this quote reminded me that by living on a limited income, I was being protected from the worst of it.
I love discovering deeper layers of meaning in quotes as I grow in faith!
Click here to see where you can find more quotes like these.
by Susan Gammage
If you seek immunity from the sway of the forces of the contingent world, hang the Most Great Name in your dwelling, wear the ring of the Most Great Name on your finger, place the picture of ‘Abdul-Bahá in your home and always recite the prayers that I have written; then you will behold the marvelous effect they produce.
When I first disclosed my abuse in therapy and then to my perpetrators, I was feeling very vulnerable. Would I be killed? I’d believed that this would be the outcome of giving voice to my experience, all of my life, which is what had kept me silenced for so long, even to myself. Therefore, I was happy when I discovered this morning’s quote by ‘Abdul-Bahá. It was something practical I could immediately implement.
I went from looking over my shoulders and not wanting to leave home, to trusting that I would be protected from any recriminations. And I was! It was a heady experience!
Later, once my life had stabilized and I was experiencing triggers at work with abusive bosses, I would read that quote again, and realize I was again being protected. I had choices this time, where I did not as a child.
Even later, when I realized the impact of materialism on my life, and longed for a simpler lifestyle, this quote reminded me that by living on a limited income, I was being protected from the worst of it.
I love discovering deeper layers of meaning in quotes as I grow in faith!
Click here to see where you can find more quotes like these.
by Susan Gammage
“Reliance on God is indeed the strongest and safest weapon”
Although this is a quote to inspire those who are trying to teach the Faith, it appeals to me, who often feels powerless in the face of abuse. There were so many times when I was totally powerless against my oppressors. They were bigger and stronger than I. But when I found this quote, I realized I wasn’t on my own. God was with me. All I had to do was remember to turn to him.
It’s kind of like electricity – it’s always there, but until we plug something in, or flip a switch, we can’t access it. It’s like that with God.
So now, whenever I’m feeling powerless, no matter what the reason, I turn to God, saying my favorite prayer: “O God guide me, protect me.”
by Susan Gammage
“Reliance on God is indeed the strongest and safest weapon”
Although this is a quote to inspire those who are trying to teach the Faith, it appeals to me, who often feels powerless in the face of abuse. There were so many times when I was totally powerless against my oppressors. They were bigger and stronger than I. But when I found this quote, I realized I wasn’t on my own. God was with me. All I had to do was remember to turn to him.
It’s kind of like electricity – it’s always there, but until we plug something in, or flip a switch, we can’t access it. It’s like that with God.
So now, whenever I’m feeling powerless, no matter what the reason, I turn to God, saying my favorite prayer: “O God guide me, protect me.”
by Susan Gammage
“. . . let us turn our hearts away from the world of matter and live in the spiritual world! It alone can give us freedom!”
Let us live in the spiritual realm . . . who wouldn’t want that? No bills, unconditional love, rest, relaxation . . .
Is it possible to have those things in this world? It must be, or ‘Abdul-Bahá wouldn’t be suggesting we do it. I think this quote is talking about living in the present moment. For most of us, this present moment, right now, as I’m writing this and you’re reading it, we are safe. We are free from abuse and bills, and in this moment, if we take the time to turn to the spiritual world, we can feel the love that’s there for us, and get the rest and relaxation we need.
Perhaps our lives in the past were not what we wanted them to be; and we know that our life in the future will be rife with tests, but just now, in this moment, if we turn to the spiritual realm, everything is fine.
by Susan Gammage
“. . . let us turn our hearts away from the world of matter and live in the spiritual world! It alone can give us freedom!”
Let us live in the spiritual realm . . . who wouldn’t want that? No bills, unconditional love, rest, relaxation . . .
Is it possible to have those things in this world? It must be, or ‘Abdul-Bahá wouldn’t be suggesting we do it. I think this quote is talking about living in the present moment. For most of us, this present moment, right now, as I’m writing this and you’re reading it, we are safe. We are free from abuse and bills, and in this moment, if we take the time to turn to the spiritual world, we can feel the love that’s there for us, and get the rest and relaxation we need.
Perhaps our lives in the past were not what we wanted them to be; and we know that our life in the future will be rife with tests, but just now, in this moment, if we turn to the spiritual realm, everything is fine.
