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For the believer the required submission he is expected to show to the will of God, which is the essence of religion, means that he has to come to terms with his ego and with God, with his selfish, worldly desires and the divine command. Baha'is are not enjoined to flee this life as ascetics, but to turn to God, to strive for an inner detachment from everything transitory, and to subordinate their whole lives to their faith. "O Son of Spirit! There is no peace for thee save by renouncing thyself and turning unto Me." "Say: Deliver your souls, O people, from the bondage of self, and purify them from all attachment to anything besides Me." But the self-knowledge and self-conquest required from the believers is rewarded at the end by everlasting happiness: "O My servants! Sorrow not if, in these days and on this earthly plane, things contrary to your wishes have been ordained and manifested by God, for days of blissful joy, of heavenly delight, are assuredly in store for you." (Gl ClIII). (35:1) The fulfilment of God's commands demands effort and striving on the part of the believer. Observance of the divine prohibitions means the restriction of his own freedom of action. This is obvious; all forms of ethics set limits to one's freedom of action and every religion has done this. Absolute freedom of action, the unlimited exercise of one's own will, as is demanded by some today, does not lead to man's liberation but to chaos. Unrestricted freedom in which the autonomous person does not observe any limits other than those which he sets himself-- and these are not binding in the end-- must "lead to sedition, whose flames none can quench... That which beseemeth man is submission unto such restraints as will protect him from his own ignorance, and guard him against the harm of the mischief-maker. Liberty causeth man to overstep the bounds of propriety, and to infringe on the dignity of his station." (Gl).
(35:2)
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