Creating Soulful Communities

We hear so much about the epidemic of loneliness in society, a need for deep level connection, 

and the importance of infusing soul into our neighborhoods and communities.  

“People are often unreasonable, illogical, and self-centered; Forgive them anyway.

If you are kind, people may accuse you of selfish, ulterior motives; Be kind anyway.

If you are successful, you will win some false friends and some true enemies; Succeed anyway.

If you are honest and frank, people may cheat you; Be honest and frank anyway.

What you spend years building, someone could destroy overnight; Build anyway.

If you find serenity and happiness, they may be jealous; Be happy anyway.

The good you do today, people will often forget tomorrow; Do good anyway.

Give the world the best you have, and it may never be enough; Give the world the best you’ve got anyway.

You see, in the final analysis, it is between you and God; It was never between you and them anyway.” -Mother Theresa

“The community which has neither poverty nor riches will always have the noblest principles.” -Plato

“A person with ubuntu is open and available to others, affirming of others, does not feel threatened that others are able and good, for he or she has a proper self-assurance that comes from knowing that he or she belongs in a greater whole and is diminished when others are humiliated or diminished, when others are tortured or oppressed.” -Desmond Tutu

“And if thine eyes be turned towards justice, choose thou for thy neighbor that which thou choosest for thyself.” -Baha’u’llah

“The purpose of life is not to be happy. It is to be useful, to be honorable, to be compassionate, to have it make some difference that you have lived and lived well.” -Ralph Waldo Emerson

"Strive that your actions day by day may be beautiful prayers.” -‘Abdu’l-Bahá

“We can do no great things - only small things with great love.” -Mother Teresa

“It's the action, not the fruit of the action, that's important. You have to do the right thing. It may not be in your power, may not be in your time, that there'll be any fruit. But that doesn't mean you stop doing the right thing. You may never know what results come from your action. But if you do nothing, there will be no result.” -Mahatma Gandhi

“A healthy social life is found only, when in the mirror of each soul the whole community finds its reflection, and when in the whole community the virtue of each one is living.” -Rudolf Steiner

“Be ye a refuge to the fearful; bring ye rest and peace to the disturbed; make ye a provision for the destitute; be a treasury of riches for the poor” -Abdu’l-Baha

“In a gentle way, you can shake the world.” -Mahatma Gandhi

“I've learned that you shouldn't go through life with a catcher's mitt on both hands; you need to be able to throw something back.” -Maya Angelou

“May all your intentions center in the welfare of humanity, and may you seek to sacrifice yourselves in the pathway of devotion to mankind.” Abdu’l-Baha

“The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others.” -Gandhi

“Thousands of candles can be lighted from a single candle, and the life of the single candle will not be shortened.” -Buddha

“You give but little when you give of your possessions. It is when you give of yourself that you truly give.” -Gibran

"When we have inner peace, we can be at peace with those around us. When our community is in a state of peace, it can share that peace with neighboring communities." -The Dalai Lama "With all my heart I believe that the world's present system of sovereign nations can only lead to barbarism, war and inhumanity, and that only world law can assure progress towards a civilized peaceful community." -Albert Einstein

“May each one become a radiant candle. May each one become a brilliant star. May each one become beautiful in color and redolent of fragrance in the Kingdom of God.” -Abdul-Baha

“Be thou loving to every afflicted one, a dispeller of sorrows to every grieved one, a refuge to every fearful one, a heavenly food to every destitute one, a balm to every wounded one, a consolation to dejected hearts, a blessing to unfortunate souls, a treasure to every begging one and a succor to every lamenting one” -Abdu’l-Baha

“Before giving, the mind of the giver is happy; while giving, the mind of the giver is made peaceful; and having given, the mind of the giver is uplifted.” -Buddha

“We have appointed a law and a practice for every one of you. Had God willed, He would have made you a single community, but He wanted to test you regarding what has come to you. So compete with each other in doing good.” -Islam

“I alone cannot change the world, but I can cast a stone across the waters to create many ripples.” -Mother Teresa

"Be anxiously concerned with the needs of the age ye live in and center your deliberations on its exigencies and requirements." -Bahá'u'lláh

“A human being is part of the whole, called by us "universe," a part limited in time and space. He experiences himself, his thoughts and feelings, as something separate from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of consciousness. This delusion is a kind of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to affection for a few persons nearest to us. Our task must be to free ourselves from this prison by widening our circle of compassion to embrace all living creatures and the whole of nature in its beauty.” -Albert Einstein

“Any decent society must generate a feeling of community. Community offsets loneliness. It gives people a vitally necessary sense of belonging. Yet today the institutions on which community depends are crumbling in all the techno-societies. The result is a spreading plague of loneliness.” -Alvin Toffler

“Community is another such phenomenon. Like electricity, it is profoundly lawful. Yet there remains something about it that is inherently mysterious, miraculous, unfathomable. Thus there is no adequate one-sentence definition of genuine community. Community is something more than the sum of its parts, its individual members. What is this "something more?" Even to begin to answer that, we enter a realm that is not so much abstract as almost mystical. It is a realm where words are never fully suitable and language itself falls short.” -Scott Peck

“Note how all the members and component parts of the human body are connected one to another. In the same way, all the members of this endless universe are linked one to another.” -Abdu’l-Bahá

"We make a living by what we get, but we make a life by what we give." -Winston Churchill

"I have found that among its other benefits, giving liberates the soul of the giver." -Maya Angelou

"The fundamental law of human beings is interdependence. A person is a person through other persons." -Archbishop Desmond Tutu

"When we quit thinking primarily about ourselves and our own self-preservation, we undergo a truly heroic transformation of consciousness." Joseph Campbell

"The secret of change is to focus all of your energy, not on fighting the old, but on building the new." -Socrates

“In the human body, every cell, every organ, every nerve has its part to play. When all do so the body is healthy, vigorous, radiant, ready for every call made upon it.” -The Universal House of Justice

"You must be the change you wish to see in the world." -Mahatma Ghandi

"Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world; indeed, it's the only thing that ever has." -Margaret Mead "We know that to help the poor and to be merciful is good and pleases God, but knowledge alone does not feed the starving man, nor can the poor be warmed by knowledge or words in the bitter winter; we must give the practical help of loving-kindness." -Abdu'l-Baha

“Service to others is the rent you pay here for your room on earth.”
-Muhammad Ali

“Everybody can be great because everybody can serve.” -Martin Luther King, Jr

“A fundamental concern for others in our individual and community lives would go a long way in making the world the better place we so passionately dreamt of.” -Nelson Mandela

“Be the change that you wish to see in the world.” -Mahatma Gandhi

“In every community, there is work to be done… & in every heart, there is the power to do it.” -Marianne Williamson

"Forget thou entirely the ease, tranquility, composure and living of this transitory world and occupy thyself with the well-being and service of the human world and conduct thyself in accord with the exhortations of God." -Abdu'l-Baha

“My call for a spiritual revolution is not a call for a religious revolution. Nor is it a reference to a way of life that is somehow otherworldly, still less to something magical or mysterious. Rather it is a call for a radical reorientation away from our habitual preoccupation with self. It is a call to turn toward the wider community of beings with whom we are connected, and for conduct which recognizes others' interests alongside our own.” -Dalai Lama

“I am of the opinion that my life belongs to the whole community and as long as I live, it is my privilege to do for it whatever I can. I want to be thoroughly used up when I die, for the harder I work the more I live.” -George Bernard Shaw

“How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment to improve the world.” -Anne Frank

“A community is democratic only when the humblest and weakest person can enjoy the highest civil, economic, and social rights that the biggest and most powerful possess.” -Philip Randolph

“Community is and must be inclusive. The great enemy of community is exclusivity.” -Scott Peck

“All the believers were one in heart and mind. No one claimed that any of their possessions was their own, but they shared everything they had.” Acts 4:32

"Work done in the spirit of service is the highest form of worship." -Abdu'l-Baha

Friendship

“Your friend is your needs answered. He is your field which you sow with love and reap with thanksgiving. And he is your board and your fireside. For you come to him with your hunger, and you seek him for peace.

When your friend speaks his mind you fear not the "nay" in your own mind, nor do you withhold the "ay." And when he is silent your heart ceases not to listen to his heart; For without words, in friendship, all thoughts, all desires, all expectations are born and shared, with joy that is unacclaimed. When you part from your friend, you grieve not; For that which you love most in him may be clearer in his absence, as the mountain to the climber is clearer from the plain. And let there be no purpose in friendship save the deepening of the spirit. For love that seeks aught but the disclosure of its own mystery is not love but a net cast forth: and only the unprofitable is caught.

And let your best be for your friend. If he must know the ebb of your tide, let him know its flood also. For what is your friend that you should seek him with hours to kill? Seek him always with hours to live. For it is his to fill your need, but not your emptiness. And in the sweetness of friendship let there be laughter, and sharing of pleasures. For in the dew of little things the heart finds its morning and is refreshed.” ― Kahlil Gibran, The Prophet 

“When you meet those whose opinions differ from your own, do not turn away your face from them. All are seeking truth, and there are many roads leading thereto. Truth has many aspects, but it remains always and forever one. Do not allow difference of opinion, or diversity of thought to separate you from your fellow-men, or to be the cause of dispute, hatred and strife in your hearts. Rather, search diligently for the truth and make all men your friends.” -‘Abdu’l-Bahá

“Wishing to be friends is quick work, but friendship is a slow ripening fruit.” - Aristotle

“A faithful friend is the medicine of life.” – the Bible

“Do not be content with showing friendship in words alone, let your heart burn with loving kindness for all who may cross your path.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

“Don’t walk in front of me.. I may not follow. Don’t walk behind me.. I may not lead. Walk beside me.. And be my friend.” - Albert Camus “People say true friends must always hold hands, but true friends don’t need to hold hands because they know the other hand will always be there.” - Mahatma Gandhi

“True friends are even as skilled physicians, and the Teachings of God are as healing balm, a medicine for the conscience of man. They clear the head, so that a man can breathe them in and delight in their sweet fragrance. They waken those who sleep. They bring awareness to the unheeding, and a portion to the outcast, and to the hopeless, hope.” ‘Abdu’l-Bahá

“With every true friendship, we build more firmly the foundations on which the peace of the whole world rests.” -Mahatma Gandhi

“To keep a friend, you must be a friend. To be a friend, you must be open-hearted, understanding, and forgiving.” - the Buddha

“One must see in every human being only that which is worthy of praise. When this is done, one can be a friend to the whole human race. If, however, we look at people from the standpoint of their faults, then being a friend to them is a formidable task.” - ‘Abdu’l-Bahá “An insincere and evil friend is more to be feard than a wild beast; a wild beast may wound your body, but an evil friend will wound your mind” – the Buddha

“Cleanse ye your eyes, so that ye behold no man as different from yourselves. See ye no strangers; rather see all men as friends, for love and unity come hard when ye fix your gaze on otherness.” – Abdu’l-Baha

The Light of the Soul

How do you feel when you are out of alignment with your soul’s purpose?  What is the soul after all?  Does it actually exist? And if so, does it have a purpose? How often have you considered such questions?  

“Consider the sun which hath been obscured by the clouds. Observe how its splendor appeareth to have diminished, when in reality the source of that light hath remained unchanged. The soul of man should be likened unto this sun, and all things on earth should be regarded as his body. So long as no external impediment interveneth between them, the body will, in its entirety, continue to reflect the light of the soul, and to be sustained by its power. As soon as, however, a veil interposeth itself between them, the brightness of the light seemeth to lessen.... The soul of man is the sun by which his body is illumined, and from which it draweth its sustenance, and should be so regarded.”

- Baha’u’llah

“You don’t have a Soul. You are a Soul. You have a body.
”

- C.S. Lewis

“When you do things from your soul, you feel a river moving in you, a joy.”

—Rumi 

“Your purpose in life is to find your purpose and give your whole heart and soul to it” 

– the Buddha

“The Supreme Soul (who is one), resides within all his creations (as many). Herein lies the true source of morality; the unifying principle that connects us all; that we are all children of one Supreme God, and by hurting another, we are in reality hurting not only God but ourselves.
” 

- Upanishad.

“It is the nature of the ego to take, and the nature of the spirit to share.”

-Proverb

“The rays of the sun must shine upon the earth, and the solar heat develop the earthly beings; if the rays and heat of the sun did not shine upon the earth, the earth would be uninhabited, without meaning; and its development would be retarded. In the same way, if the perfections of the spirit did not appear in this world, this world would be unenlightened and absolutely brutal. By the appearance of the spirit in the physical form, this world is enlightened. As the spirit of man is the cause of the life of the body, so the world is in the condition of the body, and man is in the condition of the spirit.”

– Abdul’baha 

“For what does it profit a man to gain the whole world and forfeit his soul?” 

– Book of Matthew

“Because the Soul is not made of matter, since it is spiritual, it cannot obey the laws of matter, it cannot be judged by the laws of matter.”

-
Swami Vivekananda

“Prayer is not asking. It is a longing of the soul. It is daily admission of one's weakness. It is better in prayer to have a heart without words than words without a heart.”

- Mahatma Gandhi

“The soul is not a combination of elements, it is not composed of many atoms, it is of one indivisible substance and therefore eternal. It is entirely out of the order of the physical creation; it is immortal!” -– Abdul’baha 

“In the attitude of silence the soul finds the path in a clearer light, and what is elusive and deceptive resolves itself into crystal clearness.”

-Gandhi

“Spirituality means respecting and honoring the spirit or life force within us.”

- Narasimhan

“Realize your true nature. That is all there is to do. Know yourself as you are — infinite Spirit. That is practical religion. Everything else is impractical, for everything else will perish.”

-Swami Vivekananda.

“May your faces, being steadfastly set towards the Divine Light, become so luminous that all your thoughts, words and actions will shine with the Spiritual Radiance dominating your souls, so that in the gatherings of the world you will show perfection in your life.”

– Abdul’baha 

“Out beyond ideas of wrongdoing and right doing, there is a field. I'll meet you there.

When the soul lies down in that grass, the world is too full to talk about.

Ideas, language, even the phrase each other doesn't make any sense.”

- Rumi

“The word Atman (Soul) means the “breath of life”. Atman is the principle of man’s life, the Soul that pervades his being, his breath, his intellect and transcends them. Atman is what remains when everything that is not the self is eliminated. It is the unborn and immortal element in man, which is not to be confused with body, mind or intellect.”

- Radhakrishnan

“What the material world values does not shine the same in the truth of the soul. You have been interested in your shadow.”

– Rumi 

“All spiritual progress is the growth of half-knowledge into clear illumination. In our inspired moments we have the feeling that there is a greater reality within us, though we cannot tell what it is.
”

- Radhakrishnan

“Let your ambition be the achievement on earth of a Heavenly civilization! I ask for you the supreme blessing, that you may be so filled with the vitality of the Heavenly Spirit that you may be the cause of life to the world.”

– Abdul’baha

“We are not a body, but a Soul. Our Soul is a spark of the Divine (God). Just as a wave is distinct from the ocean only in name and form, so too are we joined with the Infinite Divine. Our separation is merely an illusion; we falsely identify our True Self with the body. We fear death and remain miserable.”

-Unknown

“Happiness lies in understanding that we are not a mortal body, but an immortal soul – that is never born, which never dies. Therefore, do not confine your identity to the boundaries defined by the body, let your spirit soar into the infinite beyond, in union with the Creator.”

-Unknown 

“Soul receives from soul that knowledge, therefore not by book nor from tongue. If knowledge of mysteries come after emptiness of mind, that is illumination of heart.”

- Rumi

“Say not, "I have found the path of the soul." Say rather, "I have found the soul walking upon my path." For the soul walks upon all paths. The soul walks not upon a line, neither does it grow like a reed. The soul unfolds itself, like a lotus of countless petals.” 

-Gibran

“Know ye not that ye are the temple of God, and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? “ 

- Corinthians

“When a soul has in it the life of the spirit, then does it bring forth good fruit and become a Divine tree.”

– Abdul’baha

“The dream is the small hidden door in the deepest and most intimate sanctum of the soul, which opens to that primeval cosmic night that was soul long before there was conscious ego and will be soul far beyond what a conscious ego could ever reach. “

– Carl Jung

"Dost thou reckon thyself only a puny form when within thee the universe is folded?"

- Baha’u’llah

Transformation: Self & Society

Let's reflect on Spirituality and Social Change: 

How change in society and change in us are inextricably connected. 

Is there a ripple effect? 

Spirituality & the Arts

 Could the arts be a creative way to communicate with the sacred? Paintings, poetry, symbols, dances & chants often invite us to a special encounter -one that brings us into a deeper connection with the Divine.

Arts, crafts and sciences uplift the world of being and are conducive to its exaltation.” – Baha’u’llah

“It is natural for the heart and spirit to take pleasure and enjoyment in all things that show forth symmetry, harmony, and perfection. For instance: a beautiful house, a well-designed garden, a symmetrical line, a graceful motion, a well written book, pleasing garments - in fact, all things that have in themselves grace or beauty are pleasing to the heart and spirit - therefore, it is most certain that a true voice causes deep pleasure.” -‘Abdu’l-Bahá

"All Art is a gift of the Holy Spirit. When this light shines through the mind of a musician, it manifests itself in beautiful harmonies. Again, shining through the mind of a poet, it is seen in fine poetry and poetic prose. When the Light of the Sun of Truth inspires the mind of a painter, he produces marvelous pictures. These gifts are fulfilling their highest purpose, when showing forth the praise of God." -‘Abdu’l-Bahá

"I rejoice to hear that thou takest pains with thine art, for in this wonderful new age, art is worship. The more thou strivest to perfect it, the closer wilt thou come to God. What bestowal could be greater than this, that one’s art should be even as the act of worshipping the Lord? That is to say, when thy fingers grasp the paint brush, it is as if thou wert at prayer in the Temple." -‘Abdu’l-Bahá

Vision for Humanity

In light of the current state of the world, how do you imagine a better future for your children and grandchildren? Perhaps a world where we organize ourselves beyond boundaries of nationalism seeing each other as a global family? A world where we engage in higher levels of compassion? A world where companies contribute positively to the wellbeing of all? A world where individuals measure riches by attributes rather than stuff? A world where individual rights are balanced with collective responsibilities? A world where religion is a sacred space for the heart and not exclusive to a race, creed or place of worship?  etc. What’s YOUR vision for the future of humanity and what role can we each play in it? 

Awakening the Creative Spirit

Creativity is a powerful force that is greater than us.  It moves through us and takes us beyond our own limits.  It requires us to slow down, to create space for stillness and to listen. Whether we’re painting, writing a poem, creating music or finding solutions to everyday challenges, we have to surrender to a life force that exists in all of us.  Awakening the creative spirit is one of the most powerful ways to connect with the divine.