What the friends need to remember… is that, in their efforts
to achieve personal growth and to uphold Bahá’í ideals, they are not isolated
individuals, withstanding alone the onslaught of the forces of moral decay
operating in society. They are members of a purposeful community, global in
scope, pursuing a bold spiritual mission—working to establish a pattern of
activity and administrative structures suited to a humanity entering its age of
maturity. Giving shape to the community’s efforts is a framework for action
defined by the global Plans of the Faith. This framework promotes the
transformation of the individual in conjunction with social transformation, as
two inseparable processes. Specifically, the courses of the institute are
intended to set the individual on a path in which qualities and attitudes,
skills and abilities, are gradually acquired through service—service intended
to quell the insistent self, helping to lift the individual out of its confines
and placing him or her in a dynamic process of community building.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a
letter dated 19 April 2013 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice)
