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SACRED WRITINGS TO OVERCOME OUR LIMITATIONS
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The Sacred Writings of the Baha'i Faith can offer us inspiration and guidance to cope with our inner and outer limitations, and with our loved ones who are disabled or suffering from an illness. Our disabilities and struggles are given to us as gifts from God for our moral and spiritual development. This process will lead us to recognize that our physical self is only one small part of our being. Shoghi Effendi, in a letter dated 25 May 1936, written on his behalf, identifies man's "true self" with "his soul'. By rising above our limitations and imperfections, the real essence of the senses will become liberated and purified, our eyes to 'see', our ears to 'hear', our hearts to 'know' and our tongues to 'speak'. As Baha'u'llah states in Gleanings CXXV, "Then will the manifold favors and outpouring grace of the holy and everlasting Spirit confer such new life upon the seeker that he will find himself endowed with a new eye, a new ear, a new heart, and a new mind." The following quotes are a few examples to assist us to overcome our limitations:
"Human attitudes must not be limited; for God is unlimited, and whosoever is the servant of the threshold of God must, likewise, be free from limitations." (Abdu'l-Baha, Selections from the Writings of Abdu'l-Baha, p. 131)
Remember not your own limitations; the help of God will come to you. Forget yourself. God's help will surely come! When you call on the Mercy of God waiting to reinforce you, your strength will be tenfold. Look at me: I am so feeble, yet I have had the strength given me to come amongst you: a poor servant of God, who has been enabled to give you this message!" (Abdu'l-Baha, Paris Talks, pp. 38-9)
"The greater your handicaps the firmer your determination should wax, and the more abundant will assuredly be the blessings and confirmations of Baha'u'llah." (Shoghi Effendi, Dawn of a New Day, p. 87)
"Baha'u'llah and the Master have both urged us repeatedly to disregard our own handicaps and lay our whole reliance upon God. He will come to our help if we only arise and become an active channel for God's grace." (From letter dated 31 March 1932 written on behalf of Shoghi Effendi to an individual believer, 'The Power of Divine Assistance, pp. 47-8)
"All of us suffer from imperfections which we must struggle to overcome and we all need one another's understanding and patience." Also, "Whether deficiencies are inborn or are acquired, our purpose in this life is to overcome them and to train ourselves in accordance with the pattern that is revealed to us in the divine Teachings." (The Universal House of Justice, in a letter dated 11 September 1995 to the National Spiritual Assembly of the Baha'is of United States)