Like a lot of religions, especially Eastern faiths, Baha’i believes there are two aspects to all human beings: the physical and the spiritual. Both parts can get sick, and both parts need to be treated if the person wants to get better.
As ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, son of Baha’i founder Baha’u’llah, wrote: “There are two ways of healing sickness, material means and spiritual means. The first is by the treatment of physicians; the second consisteth in prayers offered by the spiritual ones to God and in turning to Him. Both means should be used and practiced.”
Okay, that’s fine with me, although I have to say that praying to God has never been as quite effective in treating my recurring strep throat as antibiotics. But I’m willing to roll with the idea of both physical and spiritual healing.
Of course, one way to avoid worrying about how to heal illness is not to get sick in the first place. To help out on that front, Baha’i has some helpful health tips. They include:
- Keeping the body clean (Is it sad that I sniffed my armpit to check on my own cleanliness after typing that line?)
- Eating a simple diet (uh-oh)
- Sexual chastity—that is, maintaining control over the sexual impulse, not necessarily abstaining from sex altogether
- Being moderate in your lifestyle
- Abstaining from alcohol (oops!) and mind-altering drugs
- Not smoking
- Avoiding envy, jealousy, and anger (This last one may be a big problem for me—I’ve already spent a good chunk of the day so far screaming at my dogs, so clearly, anger is a bit of an issue in my life.)
All I can say is, if all these things are necessary for good health, then I must be really, really unhealthy. Funny—I feel pretty good.
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