Anger - Different Forms

Beware lest the desires of the flesh and of a corrupt inclination provoke divisions among you.

Beware lest ye give ear to the words of those from whom the foul smell of malice and envy can be discerned; pay no heed to them, and stand ye for righteousness.

I, likewise, recognize, O my God, that every lamp, when exposed to the fury of the winds, must cease from burning.

Nothing whatsoever can, in this Day, inflict a greater harm upon this Cause than dissension and strife, contention, estrangement and apathy, among the loved ones of God. Flee them, through the power of God and His sovereign aid, and strive ye to knit together the hearts of men, in His Name, the Unifier, the All-Knowing, the All-Wise.

Purge thy heart from malice and . . . enter the divine court of holiness.

This hostility failed to cause the fire that burned within them to subside.

Verily I say, strife and dissension, and whatsoever the mind of man abhorreth are entirely unworthy of his station.

Wherefore, O My servants, defile not your wings with the clay of waywardness and vain desires, and suffer them not to be stained with the dust of envy and hate, that ye may not be hindered from soaring in the heavens of My divine knowledge.

. . . if he does not use these qualities [anger and wrath] in a right way, they are blameworthy

. . . strife, antagonism . . . a spirit of hostility and hatred, . . . is contrary to the good pleasure of God.

And in this new and wondrous age, the Holy Writings say that we must be at one with every people; that we must see neither harshness nor injustice, neither malevolence, nor hostility, nor hate, but rather turn our eyes toward the heaven of ancient glory.

And this is clear: a power above and beyond the powers of nature must needs be brought to bear, to change this black darkness into light, and these hatreds and resentments, grudges and spites, these endless wrangles and wars, into fellowship and love amongst all the peoples of the earth. This power is none other than the breathings of the Holy Spirit and the mighty inflow of the Word of God.

Beware, beware, lest any of you seek vengeance, even against one who is thirsting for your blood.

Count annoyance and hostility as the torment of hell-fire.

Dissension and discord are most conducive to hardship, humiliation, agitation and failure.

For example, if someone oppresses, injures, and wrongs another, and the wronged man retaliates, this is vengeance, and is censurable.

God has created all in His image and likeness. Shall we manifest hatred for His creatures and servants? This would be contrary to the will of God and according to the will of Satan, by which we mean the natural inclinations of the lower nature.

God is at peace with all his children; why should they engage in strife and warfare among themselves?

How can hatred, hostility and persecution be reconciled with Christ and His teachings?

How often it happens that in a family, love and agreement are changed into enmity and antagonism.

If . . . it consists in empty, profitless debates and in a vain concatenation of imaginings that lead to no result except acrimony, why devote one's life to such useless hairsplittings and disputes.

If a person talks to you as an unpleasant duty, with no love or pleasure in his meeting with you, do you wish to converse with him?

O Lord! Draw up the people from the abyss of the ocean of hatred and enmity, and deliver them from the impenetrable darkness.

O my God, the lamps of guidance are extinguished; the fire of animosity is enkindled; wrath and antipathy are spread abroad and provocation and maliciousness are disseminated upon the face of the earth.

On the contrary, human hearts were filled with rage and hatred; darkness and gloom were manifest in human lives and conditions everywhere.

Pay ye no heed to aversion and rejection, to disdain, hostility, injustice: act ye in the opposite way.

Should the least trace of estrangement prevail the result shall be darkness upon darkness.

Sin is the state of man in the world of the baser nature, for in nature exist defects such as injustice, tyranny, hatred, hostility, strife: these are characteristics of the lower plane of nature. These are the sins of the world, the fruits of the tree from which Adam did eat.

The more antagonism they meet, the more let them show their own good faith.

The purpose of these new laws is to destroy antagonism by finding a point of agreement.

They must cleanse their hearts from even the slightest trace of hatred and spite, and they must set about being truthful and honest, conciliatory and loving to all humankind -- so that East and West will, even as two lovers, hold each other close; that hatred and hostility will perish from the earth, and universal peace be firmly rooted in their place.

Today the one overriding need is unity and harmony among the beloved of the Lord, for they should have among them but one heart and soul and should, so far as in them lieth, unitedly withstand the hostility of all the peoples of the world.

We must all . . . abolish the foundations of hostility and animosity from among mankind.

Ye must not look upon violence, force, evil intentions, persecutions or hostility, nay rather, ye must raise your eyes to the horizon of glory and see] that each one of these creatures is a sign of the Lord of Signs and has] stepped upon the arena of existence through divine favor and supreme energy. Thus they are known and not unknown, are friends and not strangers. We must deal with all according to the above criterion.

As long as the friends quarrel amongst themselves their efforts will not be blessed for they are disobeying God.

Skepticism, cynicism, disbelief, immorality and hard-heartedness are rife, and as friends are those who stand for the antithesis of all these things they should beware lest the atmosphere of the present world affects them without their being conscious of it.

The members of these Assemblies, on their part, must disregard utterly their own likes and dislikes, their personal interests and inclinations, and concentrate their minds upon those measures that will conduce to the welfare and happiness of the Bahá’í Community and promote the common weal.

Beginning with demonstrations of sullen resistance, the situation steadily deteriorated to a point where the children and grandchildren of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá felt free to disagree with His appointed successor and to disobey his instructions.

Further, it is sometimes the case that staff members at your National Center, in their eagerness to be exactly and completely obedient, carry out the instruction of your Assembly with a sharpness of manner and tone that hurts people and provokes resentment against the very body the staff are striving to serve with loyalty and devotion.

We believe that on deeper reflection it will be recognized that love and hate are emotional attachments or repulsions that can irrationally influence the seeker; they are not aspects of the truth itself.

You are urged to avoid confrontation and dissension; these would tend to increase the antagonism.

He founded the oneness of the world of humanity. He declared that all humanity is the servant of God, and that God is kind to all, that He created all and provides for all; that He nurtures all; therefore why should we be unkind? Inasmuch as God is kind and merciful to all His creatures and manifests His care and goodwill to them in every way, why should we show forth that which is contrary? Inasmuch as God loves all, why should we entertain animosity or envy? For if God did not love all, He would not have provided for all; He would not have created man; He would not have trained him. Now that He has created, provided for all and preserved man, it is therefore evident that God is kind to all. Why then should man be unkind to man?

Inasmuch as God loves all, why should we entertain animosity? . . . Why then should man be unkind to man?