After COVID-19
By; Firoozeh Bowden 3/29/2020
The funny thing is, for several months before we knew about COVID-19, I felt anxious and out of balance. I knew something big was coming, but what….? It was driving me crazy! So I finally surrendered to the will of God!
“Wouldst thou have Me, seek none other than Me; and wouldst thou gaze upon My beauty, close thine eyes to the world and all that is therein; for My will and the will of another than Me, even as fire and water, cannot dwell together in one heart.” (Hidden Words 33)
After we got the news, I was sad for humanity, the world, and all of those poor people, and refugees across the world, who would suffer the most. However at the same time, a feeling of calm and relief came over me. Ever since I have been very clear and focused in what needs to be done, and energized to work on my life purpose. To shine the Divine light, to bring joy to the people I come in contact with through my art … and ensure the frightened ones that this too shall pass, reminding them that the secret now is to stay calm, loving and compassionate. We can support one another through the internet, mail and our smart phones. We are all in this together, and that has been demonstrated by COVID19 more clearly now than ever.
“This is not a Cause which may be made a plaything for your idle fancies, nor is it a field for the foolish and faint of heart. By God, this is the arena of insight and detachment, of vision and upliftment, where none may spur on their chargers save the valiant horsemen of the Merciful, who have severed all attachment to the world of being.” (Kitáb-i-Aqdas 84)
“We have created you all from one same substance it is incumbent on you to be even as one soul, to walk with the same feet, eat with the same mouth and dwell in the same land, that from your inmost being, by your deeds and actions, the signs of oneness and the essence of detachment may be made manifest.” Baha’i writings
COVID19 has also put an end to the discussion about our role in destroying the environment and our world. We now KNOW, without a shadow of a doubt, that we are creating the problems by our daily habits and routines, and cannot go back to business as usual after this is over. Now that factories are shut down, most plains are not flying, and very few cars are on the road, mother Earth is finally taking a breath, and healing herself!
“Humanity, the Bahá’í writings explain, is experiencing an age of transition best described as a passage from collective childhood to collective maturity. The revolutionary changes that are occurring with bewildering swiftness in every department of life assume their real meaning in this light. During this period, the barriers raised by the thoughts, attitudes, and habits of the childhood of humankind are gradually being uprooted, and the structures of a new civilization that can reflect the powers of adulthood are taking shape.”
Let’s stay mindful, safe, and calm. Let’s use this opportunity to reach out to the ones less fortunate, to help keep the suffering to the minimum. Let’s educate the ones who don’t understand, and be patient with the ones who don’t have the capacity to comprehend the purpose and magnitude of these events. Let’s use this time to be out in nature more, to play, to meditate and reconnect with our loved ones on a deeper level. Let’s do the things we always wanted to do, but didn’t have time to ….
Thank God for the internet, skype, zoom, etc. With these tools we can be more connected than ever. We can help our immediate community as well as the world to unite and come up with solutions and much better ways of doing things. This is a fantastic opportunity that we have been given to create a healthy, united, abundant, peaceful and spiritual world that is kind and compassionate, operating from our higher self, and not be a slave to our Egos.
Let’s create a beautiful world where everyone can have enough healthy food, clean water, proper shelter, education and health care available to them. Create a place where everyone has the opportunity to prosper. We can create a world where everyone can be as ambitious as they want, or just obtain the basics, if they rather concentrate on things other than their career.
“Arts, crafts and sciences uplift the world of being, and are conducive to its exaltation. Knowledge is as wings to man’s life, and a ladder for his ascent. Its acquisition is incumbent upon everyone. The knowledge of such sciences, however, should be acquired as can profit the peoples of the earth, and not those which begin with words and end with words…
In truth, knowledge is a veritable treasure for man, and a source of glory, of bounty, of joy, of exaltation, of cheer and gladness unto him. Happy the man that cleaveth unto it, and woe betide the heedless.” Epistle to the Son of the Wolf
“O My Servants!
Ye are the trees of my garden; ye must give forth goodly and wondrous fruits, that ye yourselves and others may profit there from. Thus it is incumbent on everyone to engage in crafts and professions, for therein lies the secret of wealth, O men of understanding! For results depend upon means, and the grace of God shall be all-sufficient unto you. Trees that yield no fruit have been and will ever be for the fire.” The Hidden Words
We can balance work and play much better, so the next time we are attacked by some pathogen, our immune systems are not stressed to the limit, and we can eradicate it, before it becomes a Pandemic!
We can do this! It is possible my dear ones. It will just take an adjustment to our perspective.
When you look at the image above, do you see more weeds coming, or wishes and opportunities?
Sending out much love and light,
Firoozeh Bowden