One of the most important themes in all religion is the importance of not getting attached to “worldly” things- money, material stuff, and the various transient elements of our lives, and instead set our affections on the true reality of life, which is spiritual.  The Buddha famously taught that the source of all suffering was people’s lack of understanding that the world was ever-changing, and the only way to escape from its cycle was to find that part of us that is unchanging and truly real. 

The words of Jesus, also reflect this theme-

“Everyone then who hears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock.  And everyone who hears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

The quality of “living in the world but not being of the world” is known as detachment.  There are some amazing passages in the Writings of Baha’u’llah about the bounties that come to a person who learns to be detached.  Rather than asking us to simply pull ourselves away from the world, however, He inspires the love of God so strongly that it becomes your primary attachment, and then you see the beauty of God in everything in life.  The world becomes more vivid, reflecting the beauty of God, who has now become your Beloved. Everything you do becomes an expression of that love.

The beautiful song below, posted on Baha’i blog and sung by Shirin Esmaeili, is of a Hidden Word of Baha’u’llah that echoes the words of Jesus, to not build our lives on sand, but by attachment to the “everlasting beauty”. Enjoy!

“O Friends! Abandon not the everlasting beauty for a beauty that must die, and set not your affections on this mortal world of dust.