Introduction to 'Reflections on the Life of the Spirit'
The following are excerpts from the introductory chapter to the "Reflections on the Life of the Spirit" workbook, published by the Ruhi Institute.
To the Collaborators:
The Ruhi Institute uses the term "collaborator" to refer to all who study, teach, or apply its courses, wherever they may reside. These participants are indeed collaborators, because all share the Institute's purpose: to use the courses as means of serving the Cause and promoting the well-being of humanity. In every study group there is always a more experienced person who acts as a tutor. The other members of the group constitute the "students" who seek the tutor's help with their studies. However, it is clearly understood by all participants that they are engaged in a reciprocal process, one in which everyone learns. The responsibility of learning rests with each participant. It is the student who undertakes the active work of learning. The tutor facilitates this process, and also gains new insights into the material. The relationship is not that of a learned one with a group of ignorant people.
"Understanding the Bahá'í Writings", "Prayer", and "Life and Death" are often the first units that a group of collaborators chooses for its studies. We hope the tutor will carefully go over the ideas presented here. Those who are studying these units for the first time need not concern themselves with this introduction as they will have to analyze it at a later time, when they themselves will act as tutors of this book for other groups of beginners....
The purpose of the first unit of the book, "Understanding the Bahá'í Writings", is to develop in the participants the habit of reading the Writings and thinking about them, beginning at first with one-sentence statements. To read the Holy Writings every day, at least in the morning and at night, is one of the very important ordinances of our Faith. But reading the Writings is not the same as reading the thousands of pages that a literate person sees during a lifetime. To read the Sacred Word is to drink from the ocean of Divine Revelation. It leads to true spiritual understanding and generates forces that are necessary for the progress of the soul. In order to reach true understanding, however, one must think deeply about the meaning of each statement and its applications in one's own life and in the life of society.
"Prayer" is the second unit included in this book. In preparing to teach the unit, the tutor needs to reflect on its three principal objectives. The first is to clarify the concept of prayer itself and to help the participants understand its great importance as one of the laws of this Dispensation. In order to achieve this objective, it is sometimes necessary to dissipate doubts and carefully examine ideas that may have their roots in erroneous interpretations of the past. Above all, this objective implies clear understanding of the necessity to observe this law, a need that is no less essential than that of nourishing our bodies every day.
Beyond observing the law of prayer, each person must feel a profound desire to pray. Therefore, the second objective of this course is to awaken in participants the desire to "converse with God" and to feel the joy of being near to Him. Moreover, from an early age, everyone should develop spiritual habits; the habit of praying daily is among the most important of these.
The third objective of the course concerns the attitudes with which prayer should be approached. Unfortunately, humanity is steadily losing its understanding of how to pray, substituting empty and meaningless rituals for indispensable inner conditions. Therefore, the study groups should consult a great deal on the sections of the unit which refer to the attitudes of heart and mind that help one enter the state of prayer, and to the conditions that should be created in one's surroundings at the time of prayer.
The third unit of the book, "Life and Death", is a special challenge for the collaborators of the Ruhi Institute when they study it for the first time and also, later, when as tutors they help others learn its content. The theme of life and death has been included in the first book of the Institute's program because it is considered essential for the participants' understanding of the paths of service they will choose to follow. Service in this world has to be understood in the fullest context of life which extends beyond our earthly existence and continues forever as our souls progress through the worlds of God. In a process of education, in contrast to the mere acquisition of simple skills, it is essential that participants become increasingly conscious of the meaning and significance of what they are doing. As this consciousness emerges, students come to see themselves as active, responsible "owners" of their learning, and not as passive recipients of information given to them by their teachers.