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How do we treat gold and garbage? We keep one, and throw the other away. That principle applies to how we perceive ourselves. If we think we are made by God and for God, we glow and glitter like gold, and our self-appreciation ascends as high as the angels. If we think we were made by chance for the grave and grubs, our self-worth descends like an unopened parachute, crashing to the ground. As the Book of Proverbs declares, "As a man thinketh, so is he." (1:17) Once again, we need to restore to our souls the glory and honor of being human, of being made in the Creator's image. These quotations from 'Abdu'l- Baha express our true station: Man is the sum of Creation, and the Perfect Man is the expression of the complete thought of the Creator-- the Word of God.2 Of all the created beings man is the nearest to the nature of God...3 Man is the highest work of creation, the nearest to God of all creatures.4 (1:18) Baha'u'llah showers upon us every honor imaginable. He elevates us to the rank of the angels. He declares that God has put within each of us the very essence of His light,5 that we are the very purpose and fruit of all creation, the reason for which the universe came into being. (1:19) We need to be constantly reminded of our splendid destiny and the infinite riches the Creator has placed within each of us.
(1:20)
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