Why do we need love? If I were to say that love is the source of true economy, what would people think?

Yet this is what Baha’is believe to be true. It may sound simple, but we feel many would agree that if people would truly love each other, there would be no extreme wealth on the one hand, and poverty on the other. How could we let others suffer if we truly loved each other? In the Bible it says to love ones neighbor as ones self, and in the Quran it says to prefer ones neighbor to oneself. In a Baha’i way of thinking it says to be nothing before ones neighbor, and with our modern technology we are now connected with the whole planet so we are neighbors with everyone in the world.

About love Baha’u’llah, the Prophet-Founder of the Baha’i Faith, writes, “I loved thy creation, hence I created thee. Wherefore do thou love Me that I may name thy name and fill thy soul with the spirit of life.” And in a similar way He says, “Veiled in My immemorial being and in the ancient eternity of My essence I knew My love for thee. Therefore I created thee, have engraved on thee mine image and revealed to thee My beauty.”

This confirms what it says in the Bible that ‘God is love.’ One Baha’i declaration on love is so beautiful I’d like to quote it at length: “Know thou of a certainty that Love is the secret of God’s holy Dispensation, the manifestation of the All-Merciful, the fountain of spiritual outpourings. Love is heaven’s kindly light, the Holy Spirit’s eternal breath that vivifieth the human soul. Love is the cause of God’s revelation unto man, the vital bond inherent, in accordance with the divine creation, in the realities of things. Love is the one means that ensureth true felicity both in this world and the next. Love is the light that guideth in darkness, the living link that uniteth God with man, that assureth the progress of every illumined soul. Love is the most great law that ruleth this mighty and heavenly cycle, the unique power that bindeth together the divers elements of this material world, the supreme magnetic force that directeth the movements of the spheres in the celestial realms. Love revealeth with unfailing and limitless power the mysteries latent in the universe. Love is the spirit of life unto the adorned body of mankind, the establisher of true civilization in this mortal world, and the shedder of imperishable glory upon every high-aiming race and nation.”

So when true love is established in the heart of humanity, it follows that all the problems of the world will be easy to remedy. But how, one may ask, can this love be established? For me the answer comes through Baha’u’llah’s teachings. Baha’u’llah said “Consort with the followers of all religions in a spirit of friendliness and fellowship.”

This changed my attitude. Before becoming a Baha’i I never gave thought to loving all the religions or all the peoples of the world. Now I see all religions on the same level as the Baha’i Faith, because Baha’u’llah said no Prophet is superior to another, and no religion is superior to another.

All of a sudden I have many religions and many holy books. My family is the entire population of the planet. And when God’s love permeates ones being, the reaction one has to people who were once seen as strangers is transformed. I’ve become happier.

Tim Wilson lives in Harpswell.