The Sunday Mail
Flora Teckie A Bahá’í Perspective
The energy, talents and great capacities of our youth should be channelled towards the transformation of society and the advancement of civilisation. It is within their power to contribute significantly to shaping the societies of coming decades. “The transformation which is to occur in the functioning of society,” says the Universal House of Justice, the governing council of the Bahá’í international community, “will certainly depend to a great extent on the effectiveness of the preparations the youth make for the world they will inherit.”
An adequate preparation involves moral empowerment as well as intellectual development.
It involves acquiring spiritual qualities and useful qualifications, developing a high-minded outlook and an upright character.
In a world where youth are increasingly left without moral guidance, where the distinction between right and wrong is being lost, only the power of the word of God can regenerate their spiritual senses.
It is this power that can guide them to acquire an upright character and to contribute towards the construction of a progressive and peaceful society.
Education is the most effective way to harness the power of the values, attitudes, behaviours and skills of our children towards creating a peaceful society and a better world.
However, it is important that education, whether at home or at school, guides our children and youth in their moral empowerment as well as their intellectual development.
Through effective guidance, our youth can be empowered to override the needs of their lower nature in keeping with ethical requirements, to control and channel their natural urges.
And this can transform them into human perfections.
Such guidance should prepare them to act in the long-term interests of humanity and instil in them the awareness of the fundamental oneness of mankind.
They should be taught to consider all humanity as members of one family and to be just towards all.
In our increasingly interdependent world, we need to nurture in our youth an appreciation for the richness and importance of the world’s diverse cultural, religious and social systems as they contribute to social integration, justice and unity.
In the Bahá’í view, an adequate education “will cultivate virtue as the foundation for personal and collective well-being and will nurture in individuals a deep sense of service and an active commitment to the welfare of their families, their communities, their countries, indeed, all mankind.”
Guiding our youth to express their God-given talents and capacities in service to humanity will help in bringing social transformation.
It will help change their own lives from ones that are predominately self-interested to ones of serving and caring for others.
Providing our children and youth with guidance that will lead them to combine science and religion, belief and reason is also very important as this will help free them from religious fanaticism and superstition.
Placing emphasis on learning to think rather than following adults out of fear, to reflect and reason rather than to merely imitate, will motivate them to apply moral laws and guidance with understanding and conviction.
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