"The problem with which you are faced is one which concerns and seriously
puzzles many of our present-day youth. How to attain spirituality is
indeed a question to which every young man and woman must sooner or later
try to find a satisfactory answer. It is precisely because no such
satisfactory answer has been given or found, that the modern youth finds
itself bewildered, and is being consequently carried away by the
materialistic forces that are so powerfully undermining the foundations of
man's moral and spiritual life.
"Indeed the chief reason for the evils now rampant in society is the lack
of spirituality. The materialistic civilization of our age has so much
absorbed the energy and interest of mankind that people in general do no
longer feel the necessity of raising themselves above the forces and
conditions of their daily material existence. There is not sufficient
demand for things that we call spiritual to differentiate them from the
needs and requirements of our physical existence.
"The universal crisis affecting mankind is, therefore, essentially
spiritual in its causes. The spirit of the age, taken on the whole, is
irreligious. Man's outlook on life is too crude and materialistic to
enable him to elevate himself into the higher realms of the spirit.
"It is this condition, so sadly morbid, into which society has fallen,
that religion seeks to improve and transform. For the core of religious
faith is that mystic feeling which unites Man with God. This state of
spiritual communion can be brought about and maintained by means of
meditation and prayer. And this is the reason why Baha'u'llah has so much
stressed the importance of worship. It is not sufficient for a believer
merely to accept and observe the teachings. He should, in addition,
cultivate the sense of spirituality which he can acquire chiefly by means
of prayer. The Baha'i Faith, like all other Divine Religions, is thus
fundamentally mystic in character. Its chief goal is the development of
the individual and society, through the acquisition of spiritual virtues
and powers. It is the soul of man which has first to be fed. And this
spiritual nourishment prayer can best provide.
"Laws and institutions, as viewed by Baha'u'llah, can become really
effective only when our inner spiritual life has been perfected and
transformed. Otherwise religion will degenerate into a mere organization,
and becomes a dead thing. The believers, particularly the young ones,
should therefore fully realize the necessity of praying. For prayer is
absolutely indispensable to their inner spiritual development, and this,
as already stated, is the very foundation and purpose of the religion of
God."