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When people turn to God for assistance, they can transform
their lives and achieve great things in service to others. The spirit of God is
the power behind the real progress of humanity.
The Bahá'í writings use the term "Holy Spirit" to
refer to the spirit of God, meaning the Divine power that radiates from God and
sustains all of creation, including mankind. 'Abdu'l-Báhá said:
In the teaching of Bahá'u'lláh,
it is written: "By the Power of the Holy Spirit alone is man able to
progress, for the power of man is limited and the Divine Power is
boundless." The reading of history brings us to the conclusion that all
truly great men, the benefactors of the human race, those who have moved men to
love the right and hate the wrong and who have caused real progress, all these
have been inspired by the force of the Holy Spirit.
The Prophets of God have not all
graduated in the schools of learned philosophy; indeed they were often men of
humble birth, to all appearance ignorant, unknown men of no importance in the
eyes of the world; sometimes even lacking the knowledge of reading and writing.
That which raised these great
ones above men, and by which they were able to become Teachers of the truth,
was the power of the Holy Spirit. Their influence on humanity, by virtue of
this mighty inspiration, was great and penetrating."
On another occasion, 'Abdu'l-Báhá wrote that it is through
the power of the Holy Spirit that the world's present state of chaos and
conflict can be overcome:
Religion, moreover, is not a
series of beliefs, a set of customs; religion is the teachings of the Lord God,
teachings which constitute the very life of humankind, which urge high thoughts
upon the mind, refine the character, and lay the groundwork for man's
everlasting honour.
Note thou: could these fevers in
the world of the mind, these fires of war and hate, of resentment and malice
among the nations, this aggression of peoples against peoples, which have
destroyed the tranquillity of the whole world ever be made to abate, except
through the living waters of the teachings of God? No, never!
And this is clear: a power above
and beyond the powers of nature must needs be brought to bear, to change this
black darkness into light, and these hatreds and resentments, grudges and
spites, these endless wrangles and wars, into fellowship and love amongst all
the peoples of the earth. This power is none other than the breathings of the
Holy Spirit and the mighty inflow of the Word of God.
It is by aligning ourselves with the power of the Holy
Spirit that we can become effective agents of peace.
Do not take into consideration
your own aptitudes and capacities, but fix your gaze on the consummate bounty,
the divine bestowal and the power of the Holy Spirit — the power that
converteth the drop into a sea and the star into a sun.
Quotations in context
Click on links below to search for quotations from this
page, in the Bahá'í reference library.
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