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Flora Teckie A Bahá’í Perspective
DEVELOPMENT efforts are unlikely to bring prosperity to all unless they take into account our spiritual dimension and seek to foster a culture in which the moral, ethical, emotional and intellectual development are all taken into account.
In the Bahá’í view, development is an organic process in which, “the spiritual is expressed and carried out in the material”.
It is also the Bahá’í view that recognition of the fundamental spiritual principle of our age –the oneness of humanity – must be at the heart of any new approach to development.
The concept of development, based mainly on a materialistic approach, has not been able to solve the problems for which it was intended. It has neither been capable of leading humanity to the tranquillity and prosperity which it seeks.
A self-sustaining process of development, and ensuring broad-based participation, remain more an aspiration than a reality, and gross disparities in living standards and inequalities of wealth persist.
At one extreme, deprivation and despair afflict vast numbers of the world’s peoples while at the other, very few have access to abundant wealth.
While searching for alternative approaches, development practitioners are increasingly realising that new efforts will only succeed when spiritual values and their enforcement are made an essential part in the development process.
Besides, it is essential that all members of a community have input into decisions that affect the entire group.
Through dialogue at grassroots level, the experiences and aspirations of the people can be incorporated in shaping action.
According to the Universal House of Justice (the governing council of the Bahá’í international community) in a 1985 statement entitled, The Promise of World Peace, “The inordinate disparity between rich and poor, a source of acute suffering, keeps the world in a state of instability, virtually on the brink of war.
“Few societies have dealt effectively with this situation. The solution calls for the combined application of spiritual, moral and practical approaches.
A fresh look at the problem is required, entailing consultation with experts from a wide spectrum of disciplines, … and involving the people directly affected in the decisions that must urgently be made.”
The creation of a peaceful and just society, in which everyone is able to meet his or her basic human needs, the people of diverse background cooperate and live in harmony, will require a significant reorientation of collective goals and transformation in attitudes and behaviours.
“No matter how far the material world advances,” the Baha’i Writings state, “it cannot establish the happiness of mankind. Only when material and spiritual civilisation are linked and coordinated will happiness be assured”. And also that, “successful development efforts require, above all, a spirit of cooperation and collaboration among the participants in the development process…”
The required higher level of cooperation can only be motivated by a sincere appreciation for the unity of all human beings. Only on such a basis can prejudices related to nation, race, religion, sex, and other prejudices that hinder determined and equitable development activities be eradicated”.
Development efforts must be guided by a vision of the type of community we wish to create and to live in.
It should be animated by a set of universal values such as justice, trustworthiness and cooperation. It is also essential to have just institutions, at local, national and international levels.
Belief and recognition of the fundamental oneness of the human race provides both a unifying vision and the foundation for a new system of values. It has the power to inspire the transformation in attitudes and behaviour.
It can, at the same time, help chart the structural changes necessary for the emergence of a sustainable pattern of development in a peaceful and prosperous global society.
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