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| Working with children in Peru |
Five years ago, I had just returned from a year in rural Peru, where I
had been working in social and economic development. During that year, I began
studying the Bahá'í Writings. What began as an intellectual query to
understand the appeal of the Bahá'í Faith quickly snowballed into an
all out investigation into the Bahá'í teachings and claims. Gradually I
found myself identifying with many of its teachings and principles while
feeling reluctant to accept the idea of organized religion and the concept of
God.
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Formally accepting the Baha'i Faith
December 27, 2008 |
With time, however, I could not deny the longing in my soul, a longing
that had been dismissed and suppressed, time and again, because of the
materialistic society in which I had been raised that praised self-serving
behavior, extreme individualism, and rigid rejection of religion.
My spiritual nature had in part been ignored because I personally
couldn't believe in a God that judged, punished and humiliated His
subjects or in religion when religious institutions consistently
failed to live by the teachings they themselves espoused and where any
"educated" or "socially-conscious" person would be socially
persecuted for associating with religion and spirituality in any more direct
way than claiming that they are "spiritual, but not religious." In an
extreme cultural climate such as this, I navigated my life, not able to feel
spiritually fulfilled nor was I religiously inclined. In this world, full of
extremes on every side, it was impossible to feel like a completely whole human
being.
After traveling and living in many different countries, I began to
recognize the obvious truth that humanity is one. We are one,
interconnected, interdependent whole body. Hurt to one part of the body affects
the whole. Violence and war in one part of the globe impacts lives in another
part of the world. We are not immune. The recognition of this truth is key to
living a meaningful life—and was a major factor in my own spiritual awakening
and transformation.
Over the course of a few years, I read a bit on different religious
traditions but it wasn't until I studied the Bahá'í teachings that I
felt I found a complete, well-rounded, no nonsense body of spiritual and
practical life guidance. Five years ago, when I formally accepted the Bahá'í Faith
it was only the tip of the iceberg, the beginning of a spiritually empowering
and transforming process that has brought me further in life than I could have
ever imagined it would.
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| With my husband at the Baha'i World Centre in Haifa, Israel |
I would have never imagined that within the last five years, I would
have spent half of that time as a volunteer in the Holy Land, serving at the
administrative and spiritual center of the Bahá'í Faith. I would have
never imagined that I would be married to an incredibly loving man from
Catalonia and that we would have a sweet son. I would have never imagined how
much capacity I had to transform—how much personal growth I would have
accomplished. There is so much beauty, harmony, grace, and love in my life. All
of these blessings are from the grace of God.*
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| The three of us |
What has transpired over these five years continually
confirms the decision I made five years ago when I accepted with my
whole heart and soul the teachings. The road has not been easy as it is the
one less traveled. As the poet Robert Frost once finely wrote:
Two roads diverged in a yellow wood,
And sorry I could not travel both
And be one traveler, long I stood
And looked down one as far as I could
To where it bent in the undergrowth;
Then took the other, as just as fair,
And having perhaps the better claim,
Because it was grassy and wanted wear;
Though as for that the passing there
Had worn them really about the same,
And both that morning equally lay
In leaves no step had trodden black.
Oh, I kept the first for another day!
Yet knowing how way leads on to way,
I doubted if I should ever come back.
I shall be telling this with a sigh
Somewhere ages and ages hence:
Two roads diverged in a wood, and I—
I took the one less traveled by,
And that has made all the difference.
*To anyone who doesn't believe in God, I know this could potentially
sound "crazy", "irrational", etc. I was just like you most
of my life. And your reasoning is most likely incredibly valid, depending on the framework from which you are
operating and how you define and understand the word "God." Even if you never end up agreeing or believing, I encourage you to seek to understand why anyone would choose this path, not for yourself so much as it will provide you with a greater worldview and perspective that will come in handy throughout your life.
