Flint Bahai

Let us also bear in mind that the keynote of the Cause of God is not dictatorial authority but humble fellowship, not arbitrary power, but the spirit of frank and loving consultation. Nothing short of the spirit of a true Bahá’í can hope to reconcile the principles of mercy and justice, of freedom and submission, of the sanctity of the right of the individual and of self-surrender, of vigilance, discretion and prudence on the one hand, and fellowship, candor and courage on the other.

— Bahá’í Administration

At the heart of the divisions in society today is a crisis of identity. The way people think
about who they are and how they see their place in the world determine how they relate to others
and what they regard as their individual and collective purpose. For Bahá’ís, it is the Manifestation
of God, the Voice of God to the world, who defines human nature and purpose. Bahá’u’lláh
describes the purpose of human life as essentially spiritual in nature. An individual’s true self is
to be found in the powers of the soul, which has the capacity to know God and to reflect His
attributes. The soul has no gender, no ethnicity, no race. God sees no differences among human
beings except in relation to the conscious effort of each individual to purify his or her soul and to
express its full powers. In God’s sight, all human beings are as one and have the common duty of
knowing and worshiping Him and contributing to advancing civilization. This truth is directly
related to another—that humanity is one family. A loving Lord has “created all humanity from the
same stock”. He has “decreed that all shall belong to the same household”. “Since We have created
you all from one same substance”, Bahá’u’lláh has stated, “it is incumbent on you to be even as
one soul, to walk with the same feet, eat with the same mouth and dwell in the same land, that
from your inmost being, by your deeds and actions, the signs of oneness and the essence of
detachment may be made manifest.

THE UNIVERSAL HOUSE OF JUSTICE
1 November 2022