Let it bring out the best in us

In many more countries now, governments are putting restrictions on people’s movements, to try to limit the spread of the coronavirus causing the disease COVID-19. Some are telling all shops to close, other than food shops and pharmacies. Some have closed schools, clubs and meeting places. Many have restricted travel. Large numbers of people are confined to their own homes. Hundreds of millions of people across many parts of the globe now have layers of worry in their lives – uncertain income, the collapse of businesses, plans ruined, and of course health concerns for themselves and their families.

But as human beings, we need to have a set of definite, positive goals to work towards. We can do little to stop the progress of the virus, except by staying away from other people and observing strict hygiene. This is where our community spirit should come to the fore. This community spirit should also prevent people from selfishly or mindlessly stockpiling things beyond their obvious needs. Of course, vulnerable and elderly people will have more need to stock up a certain amount, because they should not be exposed to possible infection by being frequently in shops. There is clearly an opportunity for those less at risk from the effects of COVID-19 to make arrangements for others, offering to obtain and deliver supplies to the vulnerable. Indeed, in many places this is already happening – as in the picture of the young boy above. Participation in such schemes will give the more healthy parts of the population a positive role in this crisis. Perhaps those who find that they have already overstocked for their own needs could donate the surplus to food banks, which are often running short of supplies, or they could offer their surpluses to needy neighbours. In many places there are organised groups to help with shopping, but we can all check that our friends and neighbours have what they need. This means actively keeping in touch by phone or internet with those who have had to isolate themselves, either because they have the coronavirus or because they have been told to do so for their own protection.

In some countries, the gathering of congregations for worship has been temporarily suspended. Bahá’ís in many countries were disappointed not to be able to gather for Naw Ruz (New Year), at the end of the fasting period. However, in the Bahá’í Writings it says: “This is worship: to serve mankind and to minister to the needs of the people. Service is prayer.” So we have plenty to do.

Every action of every government in trying to stop the spread of this new virus is concerned with the prevention of unnecessary suffering and death. This is motivated by the underlying human emotion of love for others. The lives of all the people under their care are being largely re-ordered out of basic human concern for the elderly and the more medically vulnerable. This motive has been spelt out very specifically in the Bahá’í Writings as a conscious thing: “Order your lives in accordance with the first principle of the divine teaching, which is love. Service to humanity is service to God.”

Unfortunately, a certain proportion of people who catch this disease will suffer from severe symptoms. For others it will be relatively mild, like having a cold. The following is a Bahá’í prayer for times such as these:
“O my Lord! Thou knowest that the people are encircled with pain and calamities and are environed with hardships and trouble. Every trial doth attack man and every dire adversity doth assail him like unto the assault of a serpent. There is no shelter and asylum for him except under the wing of Thy protection, preservation, guard and custody.

O Thou the Merciful One! O my Lord! Make Thy protection my armour, Thy preservation my shield, humbleness before the door of Thy oneness my guard, and Thy custody and defence my fortress and my abode. Preserve me from the suggestions of self and desire, and guard me from every sickness, trial, difficulty and ordeal.

Verily, Thou art the Protector, the Guardian, the Preserver, the Sufficer, and verily, Thou art the Merciful of the Most Merciful.”

Service to others, love for our fellow human beings, prayers for humankind. If it is possible for anything of worth to come out of this medical emergency, let it bring out the best in us.

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This posting is the second one on the coronavirus. The first, “We are all in this together”, was published in February, 2020, and talked about the oneness of mankind, the need for a unified world approach in combatting this virus, the need for freedom of information, and the need for world authorities.

Out of harm’s way

When I first became connected to Facebook, one of my younger Facebook friends had, as her Facebook picture, a sign which read: “I hurt myself, so that you can’t”. I do not know whether she was physically harming herself or not, but it seemed to be a defence against perceived hostility from others. A well-known recent case in Britain concerns a young girl called Molly Russell, who became depressed, and then immersed herself in self-harming and suicide chatrooms, and then sadly took her own life at the age of fourteen. These chat rooms have been allowed to flourish as places where people can encourage one another to do harm to themselves. Molly’s death was certainly not the first caused (or even partly caused) by these groups, but significantly, her father is now campaigning for the social media platforms to do more to remove these negative groups.

Why should people want to cut themselves and cause themselves physical pain? I never heard of this practice when I was young, but the idea seems to have spread from somewhere, and is now unfortunately commonplace. At this time, when many young people often do not seem to see a purpose in life, they sometimes seem lost, and unsure of their place in the world.

Bahá’ís understand that the body is the dwelling-place of the soul, and as such, it must be looked after. While the soul is connected to the material world, it needs the physical body as its means of learning. It is the soul which is our true essence, and it is the soul which should be growing towards perfection, towards what we call God. In the Bahá’í understanding, life does have a purpose. It is not just a meaningless maze of random fortune and misfortune. Our purpose on this earth is to make ourselves ready for the next world, which we can barely begin to imagine. Bahá’u’lláh explained that “the world beyond is as different from this world as this world is different from that of the child while still in the womb of its mother.” Much of what we need to learn involves attributes or virtues, such as kindness, tolerance, love for others, honesty, trustworthiness and so on. These all involve looking outwards, which makes us far happier than retreating into ourselves, which often leads to a downward spiral. We each need to recognise our own worth as a person, and have a love for ourselves, as we are, whilst still realising that we need to make progress. Bahá’u’lláh said that one of the first things is “that man should know his own self and recognise that which leadeth unto loftiness or lowliness, glory or abasement.”

People often feel vulnerable when they are growing up. They need a strong sense of self-worth, of purpose, of the difference they can make to the world. (We have recently had the example of the climate campaigner, Greta Thunberg, to show us what a fifteen year old can achieve!) Bahá’ís realised this need quite some time ago. Back in 2000 the world body of the Bahá’í Faith drew this to the attention of the Bahá’ís worldwide: “Among the young ones in the community are those known as junior youth, who fall between the ages of, say, 12 and 15. They represent a special group with special needs as they are somewhat in between childhood and youth when many changes are occurring within them. Creative attention must be devoted to involving them in programmes of activity…” Therefore Bahá’í communities offer junior youth groups for those aged from about 11 to 15, specifically designed to provide a space where they can discuss the issues they are grappling with, discover their identity and develop a sense of service to the community around them.

If someone has a strong sense of their own value as a person, they won’t be brought down by negative comments or bullying. They may well realise that the people making negative comments may simply be jealous, indeed they may be struggling with their own self-image and identity. We all need to realise why we are here, to take the opportunities which life gives us, move forward with confidence in our future and become the best we can possibly be. Then we will be out of harm’s way.