Conquer yourself

"Shoghi Effendi was a very remarkable young man, and of course he just worshipped 'Abdu'l-Baha. And when 'Abdu'l-Baha pass away, the whole world became dark for him. All light had gone out. When he returned to the Holy Land, he had in mind, from the things which 'Abdu'l-Baha had said to him and I am now telling you what he said he said, 'I had in mind that 'Abdu'l-Baha would give me the honor of calling together the great conclave which would elect the Universal House of Justice. And I thought in His Will and Testament that that was probably what He was instructing be done.'

"'But,' he said, 'instead of that I found that I was appointed the Guardian of the Cause of God I didn't want to be the Guardian of the Cause. [In the] first place, I didn't think that I was worthy. Next place, I didn't want to face these responsibilities I didn't want to be the Guardian. I knew what it meant. I knew that my life as a human being was over.' He said, 'I didn't want it and I didn't want to face it.'

"'So remember I left the Holy Land, and I went up into the mountains of Switzerland, and I fought with myself until I conquered myself. Then I came back and I turned myself over to God and I was the Guardian.' 'Now,' he said, 'every Baha'i in the world, every person in the world has to do exactly that same thing. Whether you are a Hand of the Cause, whether you are a Knight of Baha'u'llah, whether you are a member of a National Assembly, whether you are a teacher, whether you are a pioneer, whether you are an administrator, regardless of what you are, whatever you are doing in the Cause, every Baha'i must fight with himself and conquer himself. And when he has conquered himself, then he becomes a true instrument for the service of the Cause of God and not until that. And he will not achieve as great a success until he has done it. And this is what every Baha'i in the world should know.'

"And this is one of the main things I want you to get out of this talk tonight and bear out of this talk: the Guardian's instructions that every individual must fight with himself, must conquer himself, must overcome his lower nature, must overcome himself, and turn himself over to God so that the Holy Spirit can function through you. And when the Holy Spirit functions through you then you will gain victory after victory. Because the Holy Spirit is the creative aspect of God and it cannot do other than win victories and make successes for the Cause."

~ From a talk given by Hand of the Cause of God Leroy Ioas, In the Days of the Guardian