Celerity

Hey all.

Long story short, I've been very inefficient and lazy lately, and I do think I can attribute this to what has grown to be a lack of sense of shame (for smaller matters, at least) and also a lack of an adequate fear of God. I believe I remember reading somewhere that fear of God is basically one of the forces that can help you get stuff done. What's happening is that my lack of a good work ethic has started to not bother me, which in itself is bothersome.

So I was wondering what steps one can take to build or rebuild a better sense of shame (a resulting feeling for appropriate failures) and a fear of God (a feeling to potentially keep you from failing) so that I can hopefully become more productive and a better person overall.

cire perdue

It sounds to me like what you have always done, quit working. In one of the verses of God it says we are to fear him, but that too much fear is unseemly. The two best motivators I know are love and faith. I think it is always time to examine my personal relationship with God, for Baha'is it is a given that we are mystics, because we have been offered to be tied to our Beloved, that the Beloved is within us. Therefore it is my belief that to strengthen our faith, that we must progress our self. If one is already reading and praying twice daily and saying the obligatory prayers and 95 Allah'u'abha, then it is time to read about the early Western believers especially the accounts that portray the love the Master showered upon them. THE DIARY OF JULIET THOMPSON is online. Say the Tablet of Ahmad several times a day, memorize it. I think any prayer is easier to memorize if we have said it over and over again before we try to memorize it. Say 500 Removers of Difficulty. Make an effort and do these things in faith with openess and no expectations or free of preconceived ideas.

I love the Ruhi Courses and am saddened that there are Baha'is who do not embrace them. I believe it is because they courses are not an intellectual exercise, but a spiritual and emotional exercise that requires us to exercise other parts of our mind other than intellect. People who attempt to use the intellect exclusively for all life tasks will be very resistant to any undertaking that puts them in emotional or spritual fields. Getting Westerners out of their heads is probably the most common thing that therapist teach once someone finally goes for counseling, "You are in your head, what does your heart say?"

So I would say attend Ruhi with an open mind. Experience the beauty of being patient and having ideas and insights bloom in your mind spontaneously. Find the fellowship in that sharing.

I hope I have said anything that may apply.