Zulfiqar110

CAUTION NON-BAHAIS

Start HERE (Sourcewatch):

Baha'i Faith
//www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Baha%27i_Faith

Baha'i Internet Agency
//www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Baha%E2%80%99i_Internet_Agency

Then see,
SECTS OF BAHAIS: A Taxonomy of Baha'i Sects, //www.sectsofbahais.com/

&

Documentary film by independent Israeli film maker Naama Pyritz:
BAHA'IS IN MY BACKYARD
//video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-2877478116441126906&hl=en-AU

-
LAWSUIT (Larger Haifan Baha'i organization sues smaller Orthodox
Baha'i faith for trademark infringement on the name *Baha'i* and
loses)

US NSA vs OBF (Orthodox Baha'i Faith)

Recent court victory by the Orthodox Baha'is, and the suit brought by
the Haifan Bahai organization against them:

//trueseeker.typepad.com/true_seeker/court_case.html

Judge's decision
//www.truebahai.info/court/139-opinion.pdf

**Appellate hearing (Feb 2009)***
//www.ca7.uscourts.gov/tmp/LF1FFZY0.mp3

-
//www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/

BAHAI Tactics & Techniques

"Slanderous Vilification" = The Baha'i Technique - Ad Hominem, Libel,
Slander, Demonize, Scapegoat, Ostracize, Shun, Banish, Backbite,
Defame, Vilify, Discredit, Smear, Revile, Suppress, Attack, Bully,
Intimidate, Threaten, Malign, Blackball, Deceive, Coerce, Silence,
Harass... etc., etc....  CAUTION NON-BAHAIS

1. As far as possible they hold back from responding
2. Then they claim no knowledge of the given issue by feigning
ignorance
3. After the exposer has exposed they will try to divert to secondary
and totally peripheral and irrelevent side-issues
4. The exposer is then painted as someone with an axe to grind,
biased, deluded (while they, the bahaim, still have not responded to
the main issue exposed)
5. Next they relate mental instability and insanity to the exposer,
i.e. shoot the messenger
6. Then, the last tactic, is to wheel out several dubious personas on
the scene who claim to be neutral non-bahai observers who then begin
attacking the exposer as well as the issue exposed while supporting
the bahais and their issues as so-called non-bahais

Quote

//www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/technique.htm
Professor Juan Cole, University of Michigan, June 12, 1998:

"Let me ask you why in the world you think that I would risk my
professional reputation by publicly stating falsehoods? ...The very
technique of the more glaze-eyed among these people is to
unbearably bully a Baha'i whom they don't like, use unjustified
threats of declaring him or her a CB [Covenant Breaker (heretic)] to
silence the individual, and if the person will not be silenced, then
to depend upon the gullibility of the Baha'is in refusing to listen to
any victim's story because, of course, the Baha'i institutions are
infallible and divinely guided and could never do anything wrong. It
is a perfect racket. Of course, this technique of making liberals go
away has been enormously successful, and ex-Baha'i liberals have no
credibility with the remaining Baha'is nor do most of them have any
energy to continue to make a case, either to the Baha'is or the
outside world, for the incredible abuses that go on inside this
organization ostensibly committed to tolerance!"
//www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/Cole10.htm

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THEORY OF BAHA’I LYING & EQUIVOCATION

See Susan Stiles Maneck,
//bahai-library.com/bsr/bsr06/62_maneck_hikmat.htm
WISDOM AND DISSIMULATION IN THE BAHA’I WRITINGS: The Use and meaning
of Hikmat in the Baha’i Writings

QUOTE

"In many cases hikmat calls for the apparent suspension of a Bahá'í
principle in order to ensure the protection of the Faith."

-

BAHA'I ADMINISTRATIVE STALINISM

QUOTE

"We don't want to be like those people who want to see God with their
own eyes, or hear His melody with their own ears, because we have been
given the gift of being able to see through the eyes of the House of
Justice and listen through the ears of the House of Justice." - Bahai
Counselor Rebeque Murphy

To hear this section of her talk go to:
//media1.bahai.us/tab/Highlights/Sunday/30_Counselor_Murphy_Rema...

//bahai-library.com/published.uhj/counsellors.html
THE INSTITUTION OF THE COUNSELLORS
A Document Prepared by the Universal House of Justice
January 29 2001

Quote
Protection of the Cause (pp. 15-16)

         Although deepening the friends' understanding of the
Covenant and increasing their love and loyalty to it are of paramount
importance, the duties of the Auxiliary Board members for Protection
do not end here. The Board members must remain ever vigilant,
monitoring the actions of those who, driven by the promptings of ego,
seek to sow the seeds of doubt in the minds of the friends and
undermine the Faith. In general, whenever believers become aware of
such problems, they should immediately contact whatever institution
they feel moved to turn to, whether it be a Counsellor, an Auxiliary
Board member, the National Spiritual Assembly or their own Local
Assembly. It then becomes the duty of that institution to ensure that
the report is fed into the correct channels and that all the other
institutions affected are promptly informed. Not infrequently, the
responsibility will fall on an Auxiliary Board member, in coordination
with the Assembly concerned, to take some form of action in response
to the situation. This involvement will include counselling the
believer in question; warning him, if necessary, of the consequences
of his actions; and bringing to the attention of the Counsellors the
gravity of the situation, which may call for their intervention.
Naturally, the Board member has to exert every effort to counteract
the schemes and arrest the spread of the influence of those few who,
despite attempts to guide them, eventually break the Covenant.

    The need to protect the Faith from the attacks of its enemies may
not be generally appreciated by the friends, particularly in places
where attacks have been infrequent. However, it is certain that such
opposition will increase, become concerted, and eventually universal.
The writings clearly foreshadow not only an intensification of the
machinations of internal enemies, but a rise in the hostility and
opposition of its external enemies, whether religious or secular, as
the Cause pursues its onward march towards ultimate victory.
Therefore, in the light of the warnings of the Guardian, the Auxiliary
Boards for Protection should keep "constantly" a "watchful eye" on
those "who are known to be enemies, or to have been put out of the
Faith", discreetly investigate their activities, alert intelligently
the friends to the opposition inevitably to come, explain how each
crisis in God's Faith has always proved to be a blessing in disguise,
and prepare them for the "dire contest which is destined to range the
Army of Light against the forces of darkness".
 -

BAHA’I CONTROL ON THEIR ELECTORAL SYSTEM – EXPOSED (Structural
features of Bahai Stalinism)
//groups.google.com.au/group/talk.religion.bahai/browse_thread/thread/636c4cedf90dea5b
-

BAHAI NOTIONS of FREEDOM of CONSCIENCE according to EX-UHJ member
DOUGLAS MARTIN --  Monday, September 23, 2001

//www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/DMartin.htm

Quote

"We have inherited a dangerous delusion from Christianity that our
individual conscience is supreme. This is not a Baha'i belief. In the
end, in the context of both our role in the community and our role in
the  greater world, we must be prepared to sacrifice our personal
convictions or opinions. The belief that individual conscience is
supreme is equivalent to "taking partners with God" which is abhorrent
to the Teachings of the Faith."
//www.bahai-library.org/talks/martin.watson.html

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NOTE especially, S.G. Wilson,
BAHAISM AND RELIGIOUS ASSASSINATION The Muslim World vol. 4, issue 4,
1914
&
BAHAISM AND RELIGIOUS DECEPTION The Muslim World, Volume 5, Issue 2,
1914-1915.
at,
//wahidazal66.googlepages.com/babidocuments%28westernsources%29

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BAHA'I SCAM-ARTISTRY & FRAUD IN THE UNITED ARAB EMIRATES: A Multi-
Milliard Rial Scam* By A Baha’i Company in Dubai
//groups.google.com.au/group/talk.religion.bahai/browse_thread/thread/0c8df7dca08d52ce#

FBI raids office of Baha’i at Univ. Florida
//groups.google.com.au/group/talk.religion.bahai/browse_thread/thread/97aed7a172da675/1b8eb9f1758c241b?lnk=gst&q=FBI+%2B+Bahai#1b8eb9f1758c241b

BAHAI BUSINESS PRACTICES IN THE USA
//groups.google.com.au/group/talk.religion.bahai/browse_thread/thread/de706298e9a9cd6f#

BAHAI SPY RING IN INDIA BUSTED
//groups.google.com.au/group/soc.culture.iranian/browse_thread/thread/91f9b845cd9105a3/78727004d825a589?lnk=gst&q=Bahai+Spy+Ring+with+India+Busted#78727004d825a589

-

Note
Baha'u'llah (the Baha'i founder) On the Critics of the Cause

In
Ma'idih-i-Asmani, vol. 4, page 355
//reference.bahai.org/fa/t/b/MAS4/mas4-355.html

Translation by Wahid Azal (Jan. 7, 2009)

QUOTE

Chapter 11

The Critics of the Cause of God (munkirin-i-amru'llah)

The Ancient Beauty in the Tablet of Habib from Maragha, which begins
with "H B hear the call of God from the direction of the throne by the
protective signs/verses (bi-ayati muhayyimin)..etc." they [i.e. Husayn
'Ali Nuri] enunciate the command (mi-farmayand) [i.e. state],

By God, the Truth, whomsoever criticizes it [i.e. Baha'ism], [which
is] possessed of the manifest, the brilliant, the high and the
perspicuous excellence, it behoveth him to ask his mother [yanbaghi
lahu bi-an yas'al min ummihi] about his origins [or 'state',
i.e.'hal', meaning he should inquire his mother about his legitimate
conception – trans.], for he shall return to the nethermost hell
[asfal al-jahim]"…

In Promulgation of Universal Peace p. 322 the following is quoted by
'Abbas Effendi from a prayer by his father, cf. THE BAHA'I FAITH AND
ISLAM (ed.) Heshmat Moayyad (The Association for Baha'i Studies:
Ottawa, 1990), p.23

Quote

O God! Whomsoever violates My Covenant, O God, humiliate him. Verily
whosoever violates My Covenant, erase and efface him.

-

Note Dr Sa'eed Khan on the Baha'is he knew

From Mission Problems in New Persia, 1926, p. 83, 87 & 89 quoted by
William McElwee Miller in The Baha'i Faith: It's History and
Teachings, 1973, p. 289.

Quote

 "...There is no conscience with them [ i.e. the Baha'is], they keep
to no principle, they tell you what is untrue, ignoring or denying
undoubted historical facts, and this is the character of both the
leader and the led...As to morality and honesty, the whole system has
proved disappointing...I have been in contact with many Baha'is, and
have had dealings with many and have tested many, and unfortunately I
have met not a single one who could be called honest or faithful in
the full sense of these words..."

Dr Sa'eed Khan [was] a highly-respected physician...who had as a
doctor treated the second widow of the Bab, and had for a lifetime
known intimately both Babis [i.e. Bayanis] and Baha'is in Tehran and
Hamadan.
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BAHAISM AND THE BRITISH

//bahaisandbritannia.googlepages.com/home

1. (Top Secret) British Government Foreign Countries Report (no.56)
16th November 1921

2. APPRECIATION OF THE ATTACHED EASTERN REPORT NO. LXX (May 1918)

Then see,

HOSTAGE TO KHOMEINI by Robert Dreyfuss (New Benjamin Franklin House:
New York, 1980) pp.117-118 (Pdf pages 73-74)

//www.wlym.com/pdf/iclc/hostage.pdf

&

//www.archive.org/details/HostageToKhomeini

...Today the Bahai cult is hated in Iran, and is considered correctly
to be an arm of the British Crown. During the destabilization of the
Shah in 1978, it was widely reported that in several instances the
Bahai cult secretly funded the Khomeini Shi’ite movement. In part, the
money would have flowed through the cult’s links to the same
international ‘human rights’ organizations, such as Amnesty
International, that originally sponsored the anti-Shah movement in
Iran. These movements also derive from the “one world” currents
associated with the Bahais since the early 1900s. (If any Iranians
have been misled on the question of the Bahais by the supposed
antipathy of Khomeini’s clique to the Bahais, it should be noted that
the Bahai cultists often deliberately encouraged anti-Bahai activities
as camouflage)...

Also see pp. 115-116 (Pdf page 72)

Note as well,
//books.google.com/books?hl=en&id=RvttAAAAMAAJ&dq=%22The+Handboo...

Reference :
PALESTINE

EDITED BY : HARRY CHARLES LUKE, B.Lr1r., M.A.

ASSISTANT GOVERNOR OF JERUSALEM AND
EDWARD KEITH-ROACH ASSISTANT CHIEF SECRETARY TO THE GOVERNMENT OF
PALESTINE

WITH AN INTRODUCTION BY
The Right Hon. SIR HERBERT SAMUEL, P.C., G.B.E.
HIGH COMMISSIONER FOR PALESTINE

Issued under the Authority of the Government of Palestine

MACMILLAN AND CO., LIMITED
ST. MARTIN'S STREET, LONDON
1922

Quote

"...Sir 'Abbas Effendi 'Abdu'l Baha had travelled extensively in
Europe and America to expound his doctrines, and on the 4th December,
1919, ___was created by King George V. a K.B.E. ****for valuable
services rendered to the British Government**** in the early days of
the Occupation_____....."

-

NOTE

William McElwee Miller *THE BAHA'I FAITH: It's History and Teachings
//www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/archives/Baha'i%20faith%20and%20Its%20Teachings%20by%20William%20McElwee%20Miller.htm

Mirza Ahmad Sohrab, BROKEN SILENCE
//www.fglaysher.com/bahaicensorship/archives/SohrabBrokenSilence.pdf

Vance Salisbury, AN EXAMINATION OF SUPPRESSION AND DISTORTION IN 20th-
CENTURY BAHA'I LITERATURE
//bahai-library.org/unpubl.articles/suppression.html

-

See as well,
//www.bayanic.com [CLICK tab BAHAISM]

==CAUTION NON-BAHAIS==

waste of time

Wahid why are you changing your name once a month to all these different characters? don't you believe in what you say anymore?
still so bitter about your past that you have to come up with some new deceptive comments and try to get your buddies to write back for a sense of approval?...what a pathetic life!

Omid19

You say,

Nonetheless, I would humbly submit that we are somehow "hard-wired" to seek our origins

This is a good point you raise. I would phrase it differently though. Let's put the issue of causality (iliyat) on the table and let me ask you this question: Can we say that a given 'cause' on some level could be said to subsist or be present in its effect? Let's use the example of the sculptor. The sculptor acts as efficient cause producing the sculpture (effect), so we can say the sculptor can on one level be said to subsist in his/her sculpture, i.e. the cause being in the effect, since the efficient causality of the sculptor brought forth the final effect that is the sculpture. Another way to put this issue is that every action (f'il) has a patient or recepient (maf'ul) whereby these two share a symbiotic relationship such that action requires a patient/recipient in order to be action and patient/receipient action to be what it is. Now taking this up a notch to the question of God, could we say that God is present in its creation through some agency, this being the hardwiring you are pointing out? If this is so, doesn't this make the question far more complex than how it has been addressed so far?

But these are all a different sets of questions and answers to the initial question asked as to why there is anything at all, i.e. why Theos' Absolute or Perfect Being chose to bring forth anything in the first place.  Why there is being (hasti) as opposed to nothingness (nisti).

Baha'i Lady

My question has to do with the "why" of existence/creation from the point of view of God, not of man.

Theos

Baradar,

I know the syllogisms and arguments you are laying out here. But when you say to, "Why did God/the First Cause create the world?"

To answer that I should mention that you have made a great leap on an intermediary question, you missed to ask a question in between your first and last question and that question should have been:

" why is the 'something' and absolute form of existence as opposed to a relative existence?"

You are making a logical leap of your own and posing a tangential argument to the main one. Absolute and relative existence, whether as esto, ens or esse, is logically relative and so secondary to the question of Being-in-itself, i.e. Aristotle's Being qua being. This is the question asked. The question of being-in-itself poses its contrary as nothingness-in-itself as the starting point. Absolute and relative become predicates in the second rung of arguments when the primary axioms to the initial question have been resolved to some degree. Since neither one of these questions has been resolved yet, including by yourself, we are putting argumentative carts before horses. Scholastic philosophers and a few modern philosophers have also run into this argumentative problem when dealing with this question. But no problem since I was asking the Baha'is here to offer any involved answers they might have in their texts, if any exist, to this age old question.

The posing of the question of "why did God create the world" is merely the theological phrasing of the initial ontological question of Being and nothingness, why there is something as opposed to nothing, or the teleology of existence-as-such. These two questions are inherently linked, although the language of their posing reasons from different assumptions.

The rest of your points are fine with me, but what have you been reading?

Celestial Perfection

O SON OF MAN!
Be thou content with Me and seek no other helper. For none but Me can ever suffice thee.
- Bahá'u'lláh, The Hidden Words(Kalimat Maknuna)

"Life is a load which must be carried on while we are on earth, but the cares of the lower things of life should not be allowed to monopolize all the thoughts and aspirations of a human being.

The heart's ambitions should ascend to a more glorious goal, mental activity should rise to higher levels! Men should hold in their souls the vision of celestial perfection, and there prepare a dwelling-place for the inexhaustible bounty of the Divine Spirit."

'Abdu'l-Bahá, Paris Talks, p. 99

Being and Nothingness

"why is there something as opposed to nothing at all? Why did God/the First Cause create the world?"

Zulfiqar asks the above question and I was intrigued to attempt for a short reply even though I am NOT AT ALL Bahai nor do I follow any other religion. Mere interest in the subject matter brings me here.

"Why is there something as opposed to nothing?"

There is something because there can not 'be' nothing. the verb to be can not pertain 'in reality' to 'nothing'. 'nothing' can not 'be' because if nothing 'is' then we have rational contradiction and 'rational' contradiction is an absolute impossibility.

there must have been something just because of the simple rational reason that it could not have been 'otherwise'. Otherwise in this case is 'there must have been nothing' or to make it simple: 'there is nothing'. Since this is a rational contradiction and absolute impossibility, hence there must have been something.

Now your second question:

"Why did God/the First Cause create the world?"

To answer that I should mention that you have made a great leap on an intermediary question, you missed to ask a question in between your first and last question and that question should have been:

" why is the 'something' and absolute form of existence as opposed to a relative existence?"

Since you did not ask this question I will not provide an answer to it!

Now back to your last question:

"Why did God/the First Cause create the world?"

I assume by God or First Cause you mean what I intend by calling 'Absolute or Perfect Existence'.

Absolute Existence (as opposed to all other forms of being which are relative) created other entities and other realms of reality because it is 'necessary' for pure perfection to act as it befits pure perfection.

One action that pure perfection 'must' commit by 'rational necessity' is attempting to create the 'maximum possible degree of happiness'.

If indeed Perfect Existence does not act like the Perfect Existence then rationally it is not Perfect!

And since this is a logical contradiction hence Perfect Existence DOES act perfectly and one effect of this is creating the maximum possible extent of happiness. This concept of creating vast happiness as a necessity for Absolute Existence is manifest in His creation of relative but lofty entities being able to enjoy Existence and cherish in happiness.

And this is done through the act of Creation, whereby Perfect Existence engages in creating beings, though limited, but in likeness of Himself in terms of spiritual capacity.

Now Absolute Existence is 'ghani' or 'needless' by definition, it is by all means self-sufficient in an unlimited sense.

Hence it needs not 'other than itself' to fulfill any of its 'needs'. He does NOT have any need (need would contradict absolute existence).

But other than Him all other beings are limited and 'needy'. They are in need of 'other stuff' for their happiness. This in turn necessitates the creation of the 'material world' or 'cosmos' (pun intended!) for the realtive beings as ourselves!

Hope you liked it,

Theos

Dear Zokfiqar

Regarding your question, if one accepts the fact that God is an all-powerful, unknowable essence (all of the prophets or revealers or manifestations of the world's great religions attest to this fact - emphatically stating that the message they are bringing is not from themselves, but from One far greater), then the question itself would seem to imply that the creation can understand the Creator. How could this be? If we could understand the impetus that brought everything into existence, then instead of being sentient beings, we would be omniscient, omnipotent beings...which we clearly are not. Nonetheless, I would humbly submit that we are somehow "hard-wired" to seek our origins (read: try to understand our purpose). If we don't acknowledge this fact, nor accept there is a God, our restless seeking ends in materialism, living only for what personal gain we can find, addiction, and a reckless unconcern for those other sentient beings we share this life with.

You may not be happy with this answer but that is just my simple view.

regards

Omid

Answers given are way too simplistic and aabaki/watery

If this is the best answer Bahais can come up with to an involved and thorny question like this, no wonder no one takes Bahai seriously!

What does it even mean that God loves his creation? This makes God into a human and doesn't answer the question 'why'? Why is such a God so hard pressed to love something other than itself. What was God doing before creating the world? Did he or she love his creation before creating it?

Also if the soul originates in the physical world that makes man a completely material being not a celestial one. Every teaching I know of says the soul originates in the higher worlds not the lower material world. The Quran says the soul of the believer originates in 'elyon' which is the highest heaven. Either your theology is backwards or Bahai theology is materialist.

I see the question Zulfiqar is asking and where its going. The Bahai quotes have not even begun answering this mo'amma.

Our physical existence and creation has a purpose.

in the same way that our gestation in the womb prepares us for this life,so this life prepares us for the spiritual realm.

bahai writings  hint that , in the next life our souls will continue to learn , and generally will participate in the work of the divine world.

Therefore,physical life is important because the soul takes its beginning here, develops the initial concepts of spirituality here, and initiates the eternal process of spiritual growth here. physical reality is the first classroom for the foundational growth and development of the soul. it is here that we develop the capacity to recognize our spiritual nature and to exercise the responsibility we have for promoting our own progress.

So our creation , is to help us , and it was because God loves us:

Dear Zulfiqar110,

Love seems to be the cause.

3. O SON OF MAN!
Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence, I knew My love for thee; therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee Mine
image and revealed to thee My beauty.

4. O SON OF MAN!
I loved thy creation, hence I created thee. Wherefore, do thou love Me, that I may name thy name and fill thy soul with the spirit of life.

(Baha'u'llah, The Arabic Hidden Words)

12. Know thou of a certainty that Love is the secret of God's holy Dispensation, the manifestation of the All-Merciful, the fountain of spiritual outpourings. Love is heaven's kindly light, the Holy Spirit's eternal breath that vivifieth the human soul. Love is the cause of God's revelation unto man, the vital bond inherent, in accordance with the divine creation, in the realities of things. Love is the one means that ensureth true felicity both in this world and the next. Love is the light that guideth in darkness, the living link that uniteth God with man, that assureth the progress of every illumined soul. Love is the most great law that ruleth this mighty and heavenly cycle, the unique power that bindeth together the divers elements of this material world, the supreme magnetic force that directeth the movements of the spheres in the celestial realms. Love revealeth with unfailing and limitless power the mysteries latent in the universe. Love is the spirit of life unto the adorned body of mankind, the establisher of true civilization in this mortal world, and the shedder of imperishable glory upon every high-aiming race and nation.

(Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 27)

Thanks Omid & Faryar

Your responses are noted. But it doesn't really adequately answer the question which is a far deeper inquiry into the teleology of Being from a universal point of view. Please note the question again: why is there something as opposed to nothing at all? Why did God/the First Cause create the world? The issue of humanity and its moral agency in it is only distantly relevant to this question. I've also looked at John Hatcher and he doesn't touch on the question either.

Faryar quoted Baha'u'llah, saying,

The purpose of God in creating man hath been, and will ever be, to enable him to know his Creator and to attain His Presence. To this most excellent aim, this supreme objective, all the heavenly Books and the divinely-revealed and weighty Scriptures unequivocally bear witness.

If the end purpose of God in creating humanity is merely to know Him, or for Him to be known by His creation, what does this then say about the nature of such a God's overall universal design? And what about the rest of creation beyond humanity? Why does such an omnipotent, self-sufficient Being even require knowing or to be known by an 'other' other than itself? Doesn't such an approach impute a flaw or imperfection, let's say a need, even a lack or a privation, by (or within) such a Being in desiring something other than itself? To put it another way in more laymens terms, a God which requires knowing by an agency that is other isn't really an omnipotent, self-sufficient being. It is a lonley being requiring a validation for its own existence like a human being, almost, who is flawed. But we say this Being is not flawed; it is flawless. We attribute total perfection and self-sufficiency to it, i.e. attributes which do not require any 'other' besides itself. If this is the case such a Being then requires nothing including the need to create at all, especially this completely flawed world.

So once again I ask, why is there something as opposed to nothing? Why does the world exist and why did this God/First Cause create it? 

Also are there any untranslated or unpublished writings of Baha'u'llah which answer this question more extensively touching on all its salient aspects and ramifications beyond the quote offered?

Thanks.

The Purpose of this material Life

The Purpose of this material Life

”What does the Bahá'í Faith see as the purpose of human existence? What is the true nature of human beings and what role does religion play in our spiritual development? What is "good" and what is "evil" ? What are man's responsibilities to God and what is the spiritual meaning of life?

Many people live their lives without ever reflecting on life itself or its meaning for them. Their lives may be full of activities. They may marry, have children, run a business, or become scientists or musicians, without ever obtaining any degree of understanding of why they do these things. Their lives have no overall purpose to give meaning to separate events, and they may have no clear idea of their own nature or identity, of who they really are.

Bahá'u'lláh taught that only true religion can give purpose to human existence. If there were no Creator, if humans were simply chance products of a thermodynamic system, as many in the world today assert, there would be no purpose in life. Each individual human being would represent the temporary material existence of a conscious animal trying to move through his or her brief life with as much pleasure and as little pain and suffering as possible.

It is only in relation to the Creator, and the purpose which that Creator has fixed for His creatures, that human existence has any meaning. Bahá'u'lláh described God's purpose for man in the following way:

The purpose of God in creating man hath been, and will ever be, to enable him to know his Creator and to attain His Presence. To this most excellent aim, this supreme objective, all the heavenly Books and the divinely-revealed and weighty Scriptures unequivocally bear witness”.2

full text

//info.bahai.org/article-1-4-0-6.html#2

Dear Zolfiqar,

I recommend this book to answer some of your questions regarding Baha'i view regarding the purpose of physical reality from John S. Hatcher:

John S. Hatcher holds a B.A. and M.A. in English literature from Vanderbilt University, a Ph.D. in English literature from the University of Georgia, and is currently a professor and director of graduate studies in English literature at the University of South Florida in Tampa. A widely published poet and distinguished lecturer, he is author of numerous books on literature, philosophy, Baha'i theology and scripture, including Close Connections; From the Auroral Darkness: The Life and Poetry of Robert E. Hayden; A Sense of History: The Poetry of John Hatcher; The Ocean of His Words: A Reader's Guide to the Art of Baha'u'llah; and The Purpose of Physical Reality; The Kingdom of Names. He and his family live on a farm near Plant City, Florida.

//books.bahai.us/philosophy-and-science

According to well-known Baha'i author, scholar, and educator John Hatcher, the world is a classroom designed by God to instigate and nurture mental and spiritual growth. The Purpose of Physical Reality examines the components of this classroom to show how everyday experience leads to spiritual insight. Viewing life in this way, we can learn to appreciate the overall justice of God's plan and the subtle interplay between human free will and divine assistance in unleashing human potential. The idea of physical reality as a divine teaching device not only prepares us for further progress in the life beyond, it also provides practical advice about how to attain spiritual and intellectual understanding while we are living on earth.

Omid