Chastity implies both before and after marriage an
unsullied, chaste sex life. Before marriage absolutely chaste, after marriage
absolutely faithful to one's chosen companion. Faithful in all sexual acts,
faithful in word and in deed.
The world today is submerged, amongst other things, in an
over-exaggeration of the importance of physical love, and a dearth of spiritual
values. In as far as possible the believers should try to realize this and rise
above the level of their fellow-men who are, typical of all decadent periods in
history, placing so much over-emphasis on the purely physical side of mating.
Outside of their normal, legitimate married life they should seek to establish
bonds of comradeship and love which are eternal and founded on the spiritual
life of man, not on his physical life. This is one of the many fields in which
it is incumbent on the Bahá'ís to set the example and lead the way to a true
human standard of life, when the soul of man is exalted and his body but the
tool for his enlightened spirit. Needless to say this does not preclude the
living of a perfectly normal sex life in its legitimate channel of marriage. (From
a letter dated 28 September 1941 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual
believer; The Compilation of Compilations, vol. I, A Chase and Holy Life)
