Page 14 - Prayers and Extracts from the Baha'i Writings

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And the honor and distinction of the individual consist in this, that he among all the
world’s multitudes should become a source of social good. Is any larger bounty

conceivable than this, that an individual, looking within himself, should find that by
the confirming grace of God he has become the cause of peace and well-being, of

happiness and advantage to his fellow men? No, by the one true God, there is no
greater bliss, no more complete delight.

‘Abdu’l-Bahá, The Secret of Divine Civilization

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We cannot segregate the human heart from the environment outside us and say that
once one of these is reformed everything will be improved. Man is organic with the

world. His inner life moulds the environment and is itself also deeply affected by it.
The one acts upon the other and every abiding change in the life of man is the result

of these mutual reactions.

Letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi, To an individual believer, 17 February 1933

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There are certain fundamental concepts that all should bear in mind. One is the
centrality of knowledge to social existence. The perpetuation of ignorance is a most

grievous form of oppression; it reinforces the many walls of prejudice that stand as
barriers to the realization of the oneness of humankind, at once the goal and

operating principle of Bahá’u’lláh’s Revelation. Access to knowledge is the right of
every human being, and participation in its generation, application and diffusion a

responsibility that all must shoulder in the great enterprise of building a prosperous
world civilization—each individual according to his or her talents and abilities.

Justice demands universal participation.

The Universal House of Justice, To the Bahá’ís of the World, Ridván 2010

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