On the Effects of Living in the Dark

The other day I was speaking with an Edmonton colleague who said that many people have lost their faith because they can’t believe in a God who would allow humanity to suffer through a pandemic.

Perhaps the pandemic is less the result of an unfeeling God than a natural consequence of our actions towards each other over a long period of time. Perhaps this consequence is actually a lesson we need to experience over and over until we finally learn to follow the spiritual teachings that have been gifted and re-gifted from Messengers of God in every culture since the beginning of time. Teachings like “treat others the way you would want to be treated”, for example. Teachings that faith, hope and love endure, or that we will all need to account for our actions when we die, so we should live accordingly. That developing spiritual qualities like helpfulness, compassion, equality and justice will bring us joy and spread happiness.

This lesson that we are spiritual beings and that the spiritual world brings joy, are concepts that can help shed light onto the real lessons we have yet to learn from the pandemics of the past and present.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote:

“Man is, in reality, a spiritual being, and only when he lives in the spirit is he truly happy.”1

“The reality of man, however, is possessed of all virtues.”2

The opposite of virtue is vice. If virtues are the divine qualities that bring us joy, vices are the negative qualities that bring us unhappiness and pain. To illustrate, here are some examples:

Joy? That would be a virtue. Hatred? It’s a vice. Inclusivity? A virtue. Racism? A vice. Spiritual world? Brings joy. Material world? Causes suffering. You get the gist.

Pandemics have occurred continuously throughout the history of humanity and viruses are everywhere. They only become dangerous when they have a fertile ground in which to grow, spread and gain resilience. Those conditions of disease are all the things we have for thousands of years continued to ignore at our peril. Let’s look more closely at what we can learn from pandemics about the conditions of health and disease.

From the lens of an overview of the many articles recently written about pandemics, I noticed these common themes:

• Viruses are more powerful than armies, wealth, government, or any human-designed device for domination.
• When we neglect any population or subset of a population, it will eventually affect everyone.
• Racism, prejudice, classism, any “ism” that leads a few to believe they are right and superior while everyone else is wrong and inferior, creates the conditions for the pandemic to thrive.
• Blaming others for “originating” a virus slows down the ability to address the issue.
• Lack of transparency about the emergence of a pandemic causes it to spread faster.

Although it may not immediately be obvious, at the root of each effort to solve past pandemics, successes emerged from unity. To solve any disease affecting multiple populations we have to:

• Collaborate across borders and disciplines, nations and cultures.
• Ensure all people receive the remedy or nobody is safe.
• Understand that there can be more than one remedy and that multiple remedies for a virus lead to further prevention of disease.
• Ensure that politics and politicians serve the common good, not selfish interests.

Some of the enduring lessons each pandemic has successively tried to teach us are:

• People and relationships matter more than material gains or benefits.
• As long as inequity and injustice continue, humanity will suffer.
• The economy is dependent upon the health and wellbeing of the entire population.
• Clean water, clean air, access to adequate housing, a fair living wage, and opportunities for education and employment are necessary to sustain a healthy society.
• The more we mistreat the environment, the stronger the backlash and the bigger the mess to clean up afterwards.

If we do not learn that we can only be happy and healthy when we practice the qualities of the spirit and the teachings of God, we will continue to suffer in increasingly painful ways. This is not a punishment from an angry Creator, rather the consequence of choosing the darkness over the light, of allowing ourselves to become enslaved to things that destroy us and that encourage addiction, self-neglect, harm to others and harm to our planet. To be truly free, and to be truly happy, we must live in the world of the spirit. The laws of the spirit are like the laws of physics. Take gravity for example. You can’t ignore it long without hurting yourself. In the same way we can’t ignore our spiritual nature and responsibilities to each other for long without hurting ourselves.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote:

“Material civilization is like a lamp-glass. Divine civilization is the lamp…Without the spirit the world of mankind is lifeless, and without this light the world of mankind is in utter darkness. ”3

“…this power of the Covenant shall heat every freezing soul, shall bestow light upon everything that is dark and shall secure for the captive in the hand of nature the true freedom of the Kingdom.”4

So, you may say, that sounds great, I’m all for being spiritual. But how exactly does one “live in the world of the spirit”? How do we actually “turn towards the light”? Especially when we are all suffering, lonely and isolated? The loneliness has been widespread and very real. And we are only now starting to see the negative effects of isolation on our mental health. Yet in the darkest times, there is always hope. In times of difficulty, the key to finding hope usually comes from the centre of the pain.

Although it may seem counter-intuitive, loneliness and isolation could, at times be portals to finding a pathway towards the light. In our loneliness we are more likely to cry out to God and to ask for help. Many prayers are anguished cries to the Creator. In loneliness and exile even the Prophets of God and the most saintly of their followers cried out for help!

Here are a couple of prayers illustrating that idea:

“O Lord! Grant me communion with Thee in my loneliness, and be my companion in these foreign lands.” – A prayer of The Bab

“Be Thou their companion in their loneliness, their helper in a strange land, the remover of their sorrows, their comforter in calamity.” – A prayer of ‘Abdu’l-Baha

So just like the pandemic is a lesson to turn us towards our spiritual nature, loneliness can be a lesson to take action. When we have finished crying out to God, the next logical step seems to be reaching out to other human beings. In the desire to lift up someone else, we suddenly find ways to develop our own spirits. The desire to help others is a natural outpouring of love for God. Service brings joy to both the giver and the receiver.

“Be not the slave of your moods, but their master. But if you are so angry, so depressed and so sore that your spirit cannot find deliverance and peace even in prayer, then quickly go and give some pleasure to someone lowly or sorrowful, or to a guilty or innocent sufferer! Sacrifice yourself, your talent, your time, your rest to another, to one who has to bear a heavier load than you—and your unhappy mood will dissolve into a blessed, contented submission to God.”5

Shoghi Effendi wrote:

“… There is nothing that brings success in the Faith like service. Service is the magnet which draws the divine confirmations. Thus, when a person is active, they are blessed by the Holy Spirit. When they are inactive, the Holy Spirit cannot find a repository in their being, and thus they are deprived of its healing and quickening rays.”6

With an attitude of service and consistent actions of service, we have multiple benefits. First we develop our own spiritual nature. Second, we encourage others. Third we feel joy, and as we serve, find we are living in a spiritual state, the state of joy. Fourth, we bring light into a world that is currently under the yoke of suffering and darkness. The Universal House of Justice wrote:

“Be confident that your dedicated services will, like a magnet, attract the promised confirmations and that your hearts will be gladdened…”7

There are many helpful passages in the Bahá’í Writings to help us get through tough times, understand the spiritual lessons in suffering and to find ways to serve. To offer a practical list of how to serve and whom to serve, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá wrote:

“If ye will trust in the Word of God and be strong; if ye will …tend the sick, raise the fallen, care for the poor and needy, give shelter to the destitute, protect the oppressed, comfort the sorrowful and love the world of humanity with all your hearts, then I say unto you that erelong this meeting-place will see a wonderful harvest. Day by day each member will advance and become more and more spiritual.”8

In conclusion, to make sure we actually learn the lessons of the current pandemic, suffice it to say that some reflection on living the life of the spirit, and of using the power of service we will surely find our way to the path of light through the darkness.

After all, if we are spiritual beings, we can’t really be happy in any other way.

I would like to leave you with an inspiring video about the work of Hooper Dunbar, a Bahá’í artist whose focus on light and dark in his painting process provides deeper insights into the lessons of the past, and how the Prophets of God throughout history have been bringers of light. Enjoy!

Hooper Dunbar, on the forces of light and darkness