Whatsoever occurreth in the world of being is light for His loved ones and fire for the people of sedition and strife. Even if all the losses of the world were to be sustained by one of the friends of God, he would still profit thereby, whereas true loss would be borne by such as are wayward, ignorant and contemptuous. Although the author of the following saying had intended it otherwise, yet We find it pertinent to the operation of God’s immutable Will:
“Even or odd, thou shalt win the wager.” The friends of God shall win and profit under all conditions, and shall attain true wealth. In fire they remain cold, and from water they emerge dry. Their affairs are at variance with the affairs of men. Gain is their lot, whatever the deal. To this testifieth every wise one with a discerning eye, and every fair-minded one with a hearing ear.
– Baha’u’llah
There are many reasons this quote is my favourite. Primarily, however, it is a quote of optimism; I am an optimist. I read this quote many years ago… possibly as a child or in my early teens. It has guided my outlook on life ever since.
I love the metaphors “In fire they remain cold, and from water they emerge dry.” These are so vivid to me. I imagine them literally and they remind me of magical stories I read as a kid.
I also love the implicit reminder: to remain a “friend of God”. To me this means always believing in God, always serving God, and by direct extension, always serving humanity. I’m not perfect at it, and I definitely have my selfish, venal moments… but I always am trying to improve and serve more.
I also love this quote also because I have experienced loss. Everything from true poverty in my young adulthood to loss of love and even loss in my business dealings. “Even if all the losses of the world were to be sustained by one of the friends of God, he would still profit thereby.” To me this is about learning and building spiritual capabilities. Loss only is harmful to those who reject spiritual reality.
Unfortunately, our society is built on the idea that we must ignore spiritual reality in making political, economic, health, social, and personal decisions. Secular society has killed death as a step in our development. This “death of death” means that all we can do is argue about surface traits. Secularism means that being white, male, cis, etc. are important… not my spiritual reality. This is a tragedy for our civilization; it also means that ultimately strength, wealth, position and other material-isms are the totality by which we can measure our worth.
I grieve for the gradual de-spiritualization of our society. I am certain it will change in the future; the logical inconsistencies of Secularism will become too hard to ignore, eventually. But what suffering will happen in the meantime? What conflict must we experience before we realize how important it is to bring spiritual reality back into our discourses across society?