Strive ye by day and night to cultivate your unity to the fullest degree. Let your thoughts dwell on your own spiritual development, and close your eyes to the deficiencies of other souls. Act ye in such wise, showing forth pure and goodly deeds, and modesty and humility, that ye will cause others to be awakened. ~`Abdu'l-Baha
To put any limits on the freedom to which we are entitled is blasphemous in some circles. It is seen as a throw-back to the times of oppression. Yet to be degrading in our speech, hostile in our behaviour or provocative in our manner of dressing is in itself oppressive to our nobility as human beings. We feel the need to exhibit our freedom in ways today that a few years ago would be considered distressing or offensive. We have been desensitised to much of what was once abhorred. How do we obtain a standard of modesty that honours our status as human beings? As human beings with many iterations of culture, we have many differing ideas of what may be considered modest. What may be considered modest for one group of people is offensive to another. How is our understanding of modesty to be achieved in a universal context that upholds and celebrates our differences? The Baha'i Teachings call us to a standard of investigating things unfolding in the world for ourselves, carefully and independently so that we are not perpetuating norms and ways of being that do not contribute to the unity of our community and for the society we hope to build for the future. There are no prescriptions as to what to do or not to do but in considering strengthening the divine qualities within us, we may measure what we say and do and how we dress by the outward expression of these qualities. It then becomes a component of our own spiritual development which occurs in tandem to our contributions to our community. It calls us to not consider our own selves in a vacuum but alongside what would be beneficial to those around us. It is an acknowledgement of our innate nobility and letting it be our guiding light without having to exaggerate our importance. We have been made by God in His image as unique, with talents and gifts to share liberally. When we look at the person of `Abdu'l-Baha, unerring Interpreter of the Baha'i Teachings, we see how he listened to what people had to say, letting them express themselves without the need to correct or interrupt. With so many profound things to say one might think that He would be eager to offer enlightenment. `Abdu'l-Baha listened, and used silence as an inherent component of a conversation. For us silence can be threatening. We fear it and fill it with superfluous words to ease the discomfort of not saying anything. It is often in these times that things that were not intentional escape our lips.When we instead have a healthy understanding of who we are we are comfortable with the silence, as `Abdu'l-Baha was. As the world commemorates this extraordinary Personage in the early hours of tomorrow morning, the quiet confidence and self respect, humility and lowliness, that exuded from Him serve as characteristics for us to replicate wholeheartedly.
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