Pearls from the Ocean

View from balcony, the Mansion of Bahjí. Copyright © Bahá’í International Community.

Read Time: ~5–10 minutes

Lots has happened since Day 14 of the Fast, nearly three weeks ago. The Baha’i New Year has come and gone, and life has taken on new dimensions.

In my previous reflection, I explored the idea that the human being possesses two natures that must be brought into right relationship: a higher spiritual nature and a lower material one. When the lower nature dominates, the “disease of self and passion” arises—a disorder of the inner life that spiritual practices such as fasting, prayer, and daily application of the teachings gradually heal by training the higher nature to govern the lower.

Since that reflection, life has presented moments where the higher nature has indeed guided the lower.

For more than three months, our nights have been repeatedly disrupted by a neighbour’s noise—from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m., night after night. This has been more than an inconvenience; it has caused sustained sleep deprivation—a strain on the nervous system, emotional balance, and daily functioning, the kind that some militaries use as a torture technique—strong words, yet accurate to the experience. One night, at the request of an institution requiring a police report, I called the police and received the response I had expected: the situation was not urgent enough to warrant a unit. Sleep once again did not return. In the midst of that night, I placed this unwell neighbour in my prayers, imagining her at the Mansion of Bahji, entrusting her and the situation to God’s care.

That same morning, our water had been turned off—for the fourth time—by an unknown hand.

Formal processes related to the neighbour have continued to move slowly, and in the coming weeks, our family will consult on complex decisions, including the possibility of a move. Taken together, these circumstances have formed a prolonged season of uncertainty, strain, and exhaustion.

And yet, as disruptive as these experiences have been, they are not the true story. All the while, the inner life has been moving in its own mysterious way.

I have long reflected on two natural emotions that, if unchecked, can wreak havoc: anger and jealousy. The Baha’i Writings offer guidance:

Jealousy consumeth the body and anger doth burn the liver: avoid these two as you would a lion. —Baha’u’llah, Tablet to a Physician, quoted in J.E. Esslemont’s Baha’u’llah and the New Era.

Today, I met a new point in the journey, specifically with anger. In the space where the lower nature rises, like a messy chrysalis stage, I noticed the spark of anger and consciously, strongly chose not to engage. This spark was not yet full anger—merely the first stirrings of the lower nature coming into awareness. In that moment, a pearl of insight glimmered, revealing how attention and conscious choice can transform even the rawest emotions into guidance for the soul.

I let it move through without entanglement. This was not suppression or denial, but commanding the ship in real time—a living application of the higher nature conquering the lower, cultivated through prayer, reflection, and discipline. By the exercise of conscious knowledge expressed in action through free will, the energy of potential anger transformed into clarity, boundaries, awareness of others’ limitations, and moral strength.

I am deeply grateful for this guidance to avoid the things that would cause us harm.

I recalled insights from neuroscience, particularly neuroanatomist Jill Bolte Taylor’s work on emotional processing. Intense emotions last only about 90 seconds in the body if left un-fed by rumination; after that, the physiological response naturally dissipates—a marvelous point of knowledge. Observing the first stirrings of anger and letting them flow through this brief window, while consciously choosing the guidance of the higher nature, was like discovering a hidden pearl: a small, brilliant insight from the ocean of experience and knowledge, leading me into real freedom, happiness, and strength.

To learn more, view Jill Bolte Taylor’s near-death experience.

Today felt like moving from processing anger to actively governing it—a subtle but significant next stage in a journey that has been unfolding over months and years of conscious practice. This is not entirely new; rather, it represents the next level of development, cultivated through persistent prayer, reflection, and disciplined attention. Anger is no longer something to merely understand or heal; it is something I can decline at the threshold. The “lion” is not the emotion itself, but the moment the left-brain mind justifies its rise. Avoiding anger does not eliminate its energy—it transforms it. In its higher form, guided by wisdom and divine knowledge, anger becomes moral clarity, calm firmness, and strength of character.

Today was a real-time moment of awareness: I am stepping into the practice of governing anger with greater strength and consciousness, even as the journey of processing continues—a new threshold on a long path. This transformation, both physiological and spiritual, is the straight path revealed in everyday life, where the soul expresses the Divine Presence through faith—not merely belief, but a living, active faith. In the Baha’i understanding, faith is conscious knowledge expressed in action, and today I lived that faith moment by moment, applying Baha’u’llah’s guidance to avoid anger and transform its energy into moral clarity, calm firmness, and strength of character.

Modern neuroscience confirms what spiritual law affirms: emotions arise and pass, and conscious choice allows their energy to be transformed, showing harmony between divine guidance and human understanding. In this harmony of divine law and human insight, a hidden treasure emerges—a pearl discovered in the ocean of Baha’u’llah’s words.

May we all notice the first stirrings of anger or jealousy within, like pearls rising from the ocean of our inner life. What might they teach us? How can we transform their energy into calm, clarity, and strength?

Wishing all of us courage and openness as we strengthen our practice of self-awareness and the gentle yet demanding art of guiding our hearts moment by moment.

Thank you for reading. Until next time.

Enjoy music from Elika, ‘‘Immerse Yourselves’’:

Immerse yourselves in the ocean of My words, that ye may unravel its secrets, and discover all the pearls of wisdom that lie hid in its depths. —Baha’u’llah, The Kitab-i-Aqdas.