It is certainly very difficult to bear an illness like the one you describe, but you can be sure that, as with all the difficulties of life, this one, too, will present an opportunity for much spiritual growth and for the garnering of many blessings both for you and for your near ones. The important thing is to bear in mind that there is really nothing to fear since, according to the Teachings, the soul is exalted above the ills of the body, however unpleasant they may be. These emotional or mental illnesses, as they are often called, seem in part to stem from a certain imbalance in the elements of the body, an imbalance which medical science is only just beginning to understand. ‘Abdu’l‑Bahá says that the soul is like the sun and the ills of the body like clouds. The latter can keep the rays of the sun from being visible to us, but they can never have an influence on the refulgence of the sun itself.
- The Universal House of Justice (From a letter dated 30 June 1993 written on behalf of the Universal House of Justice to an individual believer; compilation: ‘Light and Mercy, Mental Health and Tests and Difficulties’, prepared by the NSA of Australia)
