O Thou our Provider! Send down Thine aid, that each one gathered here may become a lighted candle, each one a centre of attraction, each one a summoner to Thy heavenly realms, till at last we make this nether world the mirror image of Thy Paradise. Abdu’l Baha The future world is very difficult for …
Remember how Adam and the others once dwelt together in Eden. No sooner, however, did a quarrel break out between Adam and Satan than they were, one and all, banished from the Garden, and this was meant as a warning to the human race, a means of telling humankind that dissension — even with the …
The Great Being saith: Regard man as a mine rich in gems of inestimable value. Education can, alone, cause it to reveal its treasures, and enable mankind to benefit therefrom…. Baha’u’llah Last night I had a very interesting dream in which I was in the next world (according to the dream). It wasn’t like I …
O SON OF MAN! If adversity befall thee not in My path, how canst thou walk in the ways of them that are content with My pleasure? If trials afflict thee not in thy longing to meet Me, how wilt thou attain the light in thy love for My beauty? Baha’u’llah The other day I …
Thus is it incumbent upon us, when we direct our gaze toward other people, to see where they excel, not where they fail. Abdu’l Baha You have just come out of a really bad meeting with your supervisor who has managed to tell you what an awful job you are doing at work. It is …
The light of a good character surpasseth the light of the sun and the radiance thereof. Whoso attaineth unto it is accounted as a jewel among men. Baha’u’llah After having done a day of maximum effort, it is often very valuable to do a day where the focus is reflection. In today’s material world especially …
Make thou an effort that thou mayest take thy place under the sun and receive an abundant share of its dazzling light. (Abdu’l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu’l-Baha, p. 56) The reality of any kind of transformation plan is that it requires a great deal of effort. You cannot become fit by sitting …
“Honesty, virtue, wisdom and a saintly character redound to the exaltation of man, while dishonesty, imposture, ignorance and hypocrisy lead to his abasement. By My life! Man’s distinction lieth not in ornaments or wealth, but rather in virtuous behaviour and true understanding.” Baha’u’llah One of the important aspects of transformation work is the ability to …
“Consider not the present condition, but rather foresee the future and the end. A seed in the beginning is very small, but in the end a great tree. One should not consider the seed, but the tree and its abundance of blossoms, leaves and fruits.” (Abdu’l-Baha, Baha’i World Faith – Abdu’l-Baha Section, p. 410) …
“Ye were created to show love one to another and not perversity and rancour. Take pride not in love for yourselves but in love for your fellow-creatures. Glory not in love for your country, but in love for all mankind.” Baha’u’llah Sometimes good ideas like having 19 consecutive days of doing this transformation plan run …
Dost thou reckon thyself only a puny form When within thee the universe is folded? Ali quoted in Seven Valleys The word identity in a transformational context means that you so experience and act on the energy of a particular virtue that you and others start referring to you as a person with that quality …
“So far as ye are able, ignite a candle of love in every meeting, and with tenderness rejoice and cheer ye every heart.” Abdu’l Baha One of the first keys to any transformation experience is the ability to have a positive experience and then remember it. Because of the way the world is often …
In my other job besides doing dream work I work in the area of physical education with young children between the ages of 5-7. The other day I was reminded of the principle in the title after meeting with the parents of one of my six year olds. The student received great evaluations in all …
Being worried is a very curious emotion. It doesn’t make very much sense and it is very non-productive. The other day, after I had been feel anxious at my work, I began wondering why it suddenly appeared. I am not normally a very anxious person, but somehow thoughts started to get into my head which …
Last week someone sent me a dream about exorcising some demonic things from inside of them. When I work with dreams, I use two qualities from within myself to help me in the process. One is the quality of self-discipline and the other is playfulness. Self-discipline forces me to treat things in a metaphoric manner …
It would be so great if the voices in our head were encouraging ones like a crowd in a stadium cheering for you or a friend reminding you of all of your positive virtues. The reality for almost everyone, however, is that that critical voices in our heads are the dominant ones. They can be …
For the most part men are still stuck in the Neolithic period acting like Neanderthals. I am really sorry to say, but it is true. Men have a code. Don’t talk about how you are feeling. Endure all pain without complaint. Go to war. Not everyman carries a machine gun, but when they leave their …
Goal setting is a relatively easily process if you know where you are in your life right now. Most people are driven by what someone else tells them is important which is material in nature such as more money, better sex, a better body, a better house, a faster car, a more beautiful garden, going …
The first key to being able to overcome fear is to have a friendly, rather than antagonistic relationship with it. Fear is a universal negative emotion that we all face. It comes in a lot of varieties. We all have fear. It is part of being human. I think that perhaps future generations will have …
What is dream work? Dream work is the process of using your dreams to make the changes in your life that you have always wanted to make, but could never quite figure out how to do it. It requires believing that dreams are a form of communication delivered to you with perfect messages, that they …
Sexual dreams are very interesting because when people have them they often wake up with the physical sensations as if they actually had sex. Probably there is no other category of dreams that require the virtue of self-discipline and mental focus to get through to the message that the dream is actually portraying than sexual …
Why do you run out of gas in a dream? Automobiles in our dreams are symbols of getting from one place to another in our lives. For example, suppose you are the type of person who plans out what you want to accomplish for a day or a week or a month. You sit down …
Not long ago I was writing a report on a 7 year old boy in his attitude toward sport. After I wrote the report I started thinking that he just might represent the sort of problems that a great many leaders in the world have. This boy is excellent on the climbing wall in that …
Last night I dreamt that I was in the house of a former colleague who had committed suicide a few years ago. There were a number of people in the living room so I started engaging them in series of sad stories about my life of the bad things that people had done to me …
For the most part our minds are geared to taking the easy way out of life and in the modern world we seem to have taken the easy way out to an extreme. The cultural learning is that a physical pleasure gives you a non-material or permanent quality. Look at this ad. This ad teaches …
About a week ago I was at the UNHCR building in Kuala Lumpur working with a group of English translators from Myanmar on the subject of dreams. My wife had invited me to the class because she teaches them higher level English a couple of times a week. As in most of my dream meetings …
Richard Hastings is an expert in change work and dream work and author of Dreams for Peace. He is a Baha'i and currently lives in Vancouver, BC. Read more...
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