It is the challenging task of the Bahá'ís to obey the law of
God in their own lives, and gradually to win the rest of mankind to its
acceptance.
In considering the effect of obedience to the laws on
individual lives, one must remember that the purpose of this life is to prepare
the soul for the next. Here one must learn to control and direct one's animal
impulses, not to be a slave to them. Life in this world is a succession of
tests and achievements, of falling short and of making new spiritual advances.
Sometimes the course may seem very hard, but one can witness, again and again,
that the soul who steadfastly obeys the law of Bahá'u'lláh, however hard it may
seem, grows spiritually, while the one who compromises with the law for the
sake of his own apparent happiness is seen to have been following a chimera: he
does not attain the happiness he sought, he retards his spiritual advance and
often brings new problems upon himself.
(The Universal House of Justice, from a letter dated 6 February 1973 to all National Spiritual Assemblies; ‘Messages from the Universal House of Justice 1968-1973’; The
Compilation of Compilations, vol. I, A Chase and Holy Life)
