Friday night on our way to P.D., the radio was playing some of the usual popular but disturbing songs. I posted this question:" Do you think listening to these kind of songs is appropriate?" My friend asnwered:" Well, i only listen to the beat not the lyrics so it's fine."
The next day, while we were doing book 5 unit 3, one of the topic of discussion was spiritual perception. Uncle Dorai told us about the sense of beauty and it's effect on our spiritual perception, and disclosed that recent research did show that listening to the lyrics of the song, whether consciously or unconsciously, can effect behavior and attitudes.
Think about it this way, if one constantly emerse himself into a situation where the people always backbite, can he see the good side of other people? It is not likely. "Backbiting quencheth the light of the heart, and extinguisheth the life of the soul."(Baha'u'llah, Gleanings from the Writings of Baha'u'llah, p. 265)
Our sense of beauty is developed from the music we listen to, the movies we watch, the conversations we are involved in etc. and like it or not, these things affect the way we perceive both material and spiritual realities. Exposing ourselves to things that reflect the most of God's qualities can help us build our spiritual perception, which aid us to see God in everything of this world.
![2007-01-08[316e]-Spiritual-Qualities](http://x34.xanga.com/febc1430c0533148645916/z110503164.jpg)
Comments (5)
I don't know anything about you but I do think that detachment prayer have it's help here. A veteran Bahai might have their way in looking into things but the same time he's telling you that, he's already not looking into the good point.
Many times, adult think that what they think are correct but they never thought of that anything anyone heard one saying might consciously or unconsciously affect one's analyzing capability psychologically.
I've been in an environment where backbitings are commonly found for 6 years but I dare to say that never in my life, I said anything that would physically, mentally or spiritually hurt anyone in my life.
I love watching movies, reading books but mostly romance. Does it mean that I love to imagine? Yes I watch and read a lot of them but the more I do, the more I learned. I learned to observe people, I built my analyzing skills. That's the good point people always neglects.
Furthermore, this is the most needed quality a children class teacher, an animator, a travel teacher and a tutor need in their service- look deep into it before conclude it. Nothing in this world could be our conclusion, God will Conclude everything, not us.
Dear Tatkali, thank you for the reply. What we meant is never to equate that if you do this then this is the result. It also does not serve us to use this as a means to judge others, as that is fanatism.
You have not backbite, because you have learned about the effects of backbiting.
Anything we write here today serves for the purpose of reflection of the self, perhaps you might want to turn to the writings and see how we came up with this before you conclude that our discussions are fruits of blind faith?
Like I said, "God Will, Conclude everything, not us." I never conclude anything.
"Think about it this way, if one constantly emerse himself into a situation where the people always backbite, can he see the good side of other people? It is not likely." that's what you stated.
What I meant to say was, "it's not neccesary that people who's in this situation will constantly backbite. People who backbite are people who can't find the true person they want to be therefore, they tend to feel superior to others. It have nothing to do with me, I was just giving my example."
I just hope that everyone would be able to get something's that more connected to them. Not everyone's English's as good as what it seems to be...
I agree that in observing a culture, we benefit from learning about them. For instance, I like to read fiction about just anything as long as there's not much violence and intense words. I have read stories about womanizers, bums, psychopaths, musicians, orphans, etc... and I must say I learned much from reading them unconsciously, and they would come back to me whenever my daily encounters call for it. I think that's what Tatkali is trying to say.
I do agree, also, that if we worship an ill culture, it has the ability to change our hearts beyond our conscious control.
That's why faith, maturity, and prayer is so important.
But we must be careful not to stereotype any song containing harsh words to be absolutely bad and anyone listening to it is badly influenced. As Baha'is we need to be careful, or one word may turn people away from the Faith forever.
Maybe some day you might want to research on the cause of people being attuned to such songs?
hehe, of course we cannot be dogmatic about it...but at the same time, we must be aware of what is the standards for the future world order and if possible and applicable practise it. OF course, the purpose of Faith is not to reflect on whether or not other people are attaining " heaven" but it is to build heaven on earth itself.