What most attracts you to your chosen path? For me it is difficult to choose only one thing that attracts me the most. One of the main attractions of the Baha’i Faith for me was the teaching that science and religion not only can but must agree. Also the fact that all religions are but progressive chapters in God’s on-going book of revelation, that mankind is one and equality of the sexes were major attractors for me.


What is the goal of your spiritual practice? Do you consider this the goal of life?

To know and to love God. Although Baha’u’llah tells us God is an unknowable essence we nevertheless strive in this and all the worlds of God to attain His presence. We are to follow His commandments as revealed to us by Baha’u’llah. That is the goal of life.


What is the predominant spiritual practice you use right now in your life and how do you see it benefiting yourself and your interactions with others?
The predominant spiritual practices I engage in is both the daily obligatory prayer and the once yearly Fast.

The daily obligatory prayer keeps me grounded and spiritual.

“The daily obligatory prayers are three in number.... The believer is entirely free to choose any one of these three prayers, but is under the obligation of reciting one of them, and in accordance with any specific directions with which it may be accompanied.” —from a letter written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi

“By ‘morning’, ‘noon’, and ‘evening,’ mentioned in connection with the Obligatory Prayers, is meant respectively the intervals between sunrise and noon, between noon and sunset, and from sunset until two hours after sunset.” —Synopsis and Codification of the Kitáb-i-Aqdas, p. 36 *

*The Kitab-i-Agdas (Most Holy Book) is our "Bible". It contains our laws and obligations.

Short Obligatory Prayer
To be recited once in twenty four hours, at noon.

I bear witness, O my God, that Thou hast created me to know Thee and to worship Thee. I testify, at this moment, to my powerlessness and to Thy might, to my poverty and to Thy wealth. There is none other God but Thee, the Help in Peril, the Self-Subsisting. -Bahá’u’lláh

The yearly Fast, to which I always look forward, keeps me mindful of my steadfast devotion to God and His will and mindful of what hundreds of millions of my brothers and sisters suffer through when they are forced to go hungry and eat maybe one meal a day. It also keeps me thankful to God for the bounty of the food and water I am blessed to receive.

What is the teaching or story from your tradition that has had the greatest impact on how you live your life?
The greatest impact on how I live my life has been the life story of ‘Abdul-Baha, son of Baha’u’llah, who serves as an example for all Baha’is to follow. He taught us what it is to serve humanity, to be happy at all times and what true freedom is. Although He lived most of His life in exile and captivity He said he was always free. He taught us by words and deeds what it is to be a Baha’i.

What is the ultimate expression of the highest teaching of your tradition?

In my opinion, the ultimate expression of the highest teaching is to love all mankind.

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