bringing oneself to account each day
Editorial introduction
The Báb asked that every evening a person look back over the day and see what was accomplished: give thanks for anything worthy, and for the rest repent and try to live better tomorrow. It is a small, repeatable discipline, and the Writings return to it in several keys. Bahá’u’lláh makes it urgent, since death comes unheralded and the reckoning cannot be postponed, and He makes it exact, asking for an accounting hair by hair before the unerring Balance. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá makes it hopeful, picturing the soul as a bird that stays aloft only by continuing to fly, and tells us to compare each morning with the one before to see whether faith has grown and attachment loosened. He also asks what thought fills the mind on waking, since that first thought shapes the day. The practice is not confined to private conscience: rulers are told to weigh their own being in the balance of equity before judging anyone else. Honest accounting leads naturally into deeper knowledge of self, into meditation and the discipline of thought, and into the patient work of self-improvement.
His Holiness the Bab has said, every person must review his deeds every evening, to see what he has done and accomplished. If he has done something worthy and noble, if his spiritual susceptibilities are increased he must be thankful to God; if not, repent and try to live a better life tomorrow.
The Bab states that each day man must weigh his deeds - if they accord with God's good-pleasure, render thanks; if contrary, seek forgiveness and shun them.
The guidance of God is that which will always guide people in the right way. All human beings are earthly; their hearts are connected with this world. Day and night their thoughts and occupations are earthly; all belong to this world. They think about the honors of this world, or about the riches and wealth of this world, or of name and fame in this world. Their days and nights pass in this way. The guidance of God makes it evident and plain when the way of the Kingdom, the divine path, is opened, that this is the road of the Kingdom.
It is not sufficient only to distinguish the way of the Kingdom, only to discover the heavenly way: you must travel upon it until the end is reached. For example, that a man discovers the way to America is not sufficient. He must travel in it that he may reach that country. If he remains for years discovering more about the way yet does not travel by it, he will never arrive. It is not sufficient for a child to know where the school is; he must study in it that he may gain knowledge. Faith is not merely to know which is the school and to recognize the teacher; one must acquire knowledge in this school. If one does not gain knowledge it is useless to know of the school.
This is what Christ said: "Ye shall know the tree by its fruits." If you see one who is truthful, who really believes and is just, who is attracted to the Kingdom, and whose will is annihilated in the way of God, then you will know he is a tree of the Kingdom, if he shows forth all these qualities. If you see one whose heart is attached to this world and in whom there is no truthfulness or detachment or turning to God, one who is not occupied in praising and speaking of God, or in attraction to the love of God, then you will know he is a tree of darkness. For true belief is not only to acknowledge the oneness of God: by belief we mean that the reality of a man will be characterized by divine characteristics. If his reality is dark, he will become enlightened; if he is heedless, he will become conscious; if he is sleeping, he will be awakened; if he is earthly, he will become heavenly; if he is a satanic, he will become divine. This is the meaning of true belief.
Therefore I say that man must travel in the way of God. Day by day he must endeavor to become better, his belief must increase and become firmer, his good qualities and his turning to God must be greater, the fire of his love must flame more brightly; then day by day he will make progress, for to stop advancing is the means of going back. The bird when he flies soars ever higher and higher, for as soon as he stops flying he will come down. Every day, in the morning when arising you should compare today with yesterday and see in what condition you are. If you see your belief is stronger and your heart more occupied with God and your love increased and your freedom from the world greater then thank God and ask for the increase of these qualities. You must begin to pray and repent for all that you have done which is wrong and you must implore and ask for help and assistance that you may become better than yesterday so that you may continue to make progress.
Do not let the desires of the self find a place within you; for it is certain that when you reach the highest station of spirituality one worldly desire can cause your downfall. The spirit is like a bird; when it flies in the air it is always mounting. But the self is like the hunter who is thinking all the time how to catch the bird. As when a bird is in the air the hunter aims at it and brings it down, so is it with the human desires in the soul. You will see that by one arrow, one shot, it will be brought low. This arrow is the connection with this world, the occupations of this world, the desires of this world, the honors of this world.
In many ways the hunter will stop the spirit from ascending. That is why you must ask and implore and entreat: "O God, protect me from myself!"
Everyone upon awaking in the morning awakes with a thought. The commercial man awakes with the thought of commerce; the inventor awakes with the thought of his inventions; the banker with the thought of money. But you, when you awake, must at once think of God and begin the day with an earnest desire to attain to the will of God and His good pleasure.
This is the mystery of that utterance which sayeth that man should record his deeds each day and present them at the next Manifestation. The purpose of this statement is man's awareness of his own deeds, that perchance he may become conscious and turn from evil to good, and from the remoteness of doubt to the nearness of certitude.
And take account of thyself as though thou art standing before the Balance, hair by hair and shell by shell.
"His Holiness, the blessed Bab, mentions in his book that every one must consider at the end of each day what have been his actions. If he finds something which would please God, he must thank Him and pray to be strengthened to do this good act throughout his life; but if his actions have not been approvable or honest, he must earnestly ask God for strength to do better.
Consider the kind of reflection that bears fruit in conduct toward others.
For thought and discussion