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Summer of Service 2024 is coming!
“Man’s life has its springtime and is endowed with marvelous glory. The period of youth is characterized by strength and vigor and stands out as the choicest time in human life.”
The Period of Youth
Young people have a strong desire to contribute to the progress of humanity and have a significant role to play in the transformation of society. It is important, then, for each generation of youth to reflect on how to walk the path of service. How can the unique powers possessed by this generation be used for the common good? During the period of youth we have the ability to adapt to different situations, we have energy and are filled with enthusiasm. This energy and enthusiasm needs to be channeled towards sustained service to the community. How is this to be done?
The challenges before a young person are many. One has to think about education, work and family. There are so many matters that compete for one’s time and energy. There is continuous change to be dealt with. The demands and the expectations one faces are overwhelming. All of this creates a great deal of anxiety. The commitment to walk a path of service helps to resolve much of this anxiety. We should not think of service to the community as another series of activities to be added to an already demanding life, but as a way of bringing meaning to everything we do. For example, service can help us understand better the purpose of our education. It can assist us in clarifying the kind of occupation we want to choose for ourselves. It can help develop the qualities we need to contribute to the well-being of our families. When service is given its proper place in the life of a young person then the energies and powers that characterize the period of youth are not dissipated but directed towards acts that contribute to individual and social transformation.
Twofold Moral Purpose
To fully manifest the powers that characterize the period of youth, a young person must come to possess a strong twofold purpose: to take charge of his or her own intellectual and spiritual growth and to contribute to the transformation of society. There is a reciprocal relationship between the two aspects of this purpose. As we develop our own skills and abilities, we are better able to serve others, and in helping one another, we grow as individuals and strengthen the qualities we possess.
We live in a society in which people are struggling to see an overall purpose in the many activities that occupy their time. Youth are particularly affected by this condition of society. Developing an understanding of our twofold purpose gives direction to our efforts. When we act on our true purpose, we find meaning in our lives and joy in our interactions with our fellow human beings.
“All men have been created to carry forward an ever-advancing civilization.”
“The world is at present in an exceedingly dark condition spiritually; hatred and prejudice of every sort are literally tearing it to pieces. We, on the other hand, are the custodians of the opposite forces, the forces of love, of unity, of peace and integration...we must beware lest the darkness of society become reflected in our acts and attitudes, perhaps all unconsciously.”
The Constructive and Destructive Forces of Society
As we strive to fulfill our twofold purpose, we encounter many forces that influence us. These forces have a tremendous impact on the way we think and act. Some of the forces direct us towards progress and growth. The forces of knowledge, of justice, and of love are good examples. There are also forces, such as those of materialism and self-centeredness, that work in the opposite direction. These distort people’s view of the world and prevent individual and collective growth. In serving our communities, we need to align ourselves with the constructive forces. To align ourselves with the constructive forces and resist the effects of the negative ones is a challenge we have throughout our lives, but the capacity to do so should be developed during the period of youth.
To develop this capacity we need faith in the potential of people, hope for a better future, reliance on the confirmations of God, a longing to achieve excellence, and a deep understanding of the power of cooperation and solidarity. With these attributes we can focus on our purpose to tend to our intellectual and spiritual growth and to contribute to the transformation of society.
Material and Spiritual Progress
The transformation we are seeking is from a world of violence, poverty, and suffering to a world of peace, prosperity, and harmony. Such a transformation requires that we think of progress in a particular way, as both material and spiritual. To advance materially, we should improve our agriculture, take better care of our health, enhance the quality of education, and be active in business and industry. With the fruit of our labors, we should turn our homes, our neighborhood and our surroundings into places of beauty and harmony.
Material progress for all people is not attainable if we do not achieve spiritual progress.
Without cultivating spirituality, a few become wealthy while the majority live in poverty. To achieve progress in our community we should be united, act with justice, cooperate, be generous, honest and trustworthy. Justice, generosity, love and kindness, honesty and trustworthiness are spiritual qualities that are indispensable for both spiritual and material progress. Only if these two go hand in hand, then the transformation we seek is possible.
“Material civilization is like unto the lamp, while spiritual civilization is the light in that lamp. If the material and spiritual civilizations become united, then we will have the light and the lamp together, and the outcome will be perfect.”
“We cannot segregate the human heart from the environment outside us and say that once one of these is reformed everything will be improved. Man is organic with the world. His inner life moulds the environment and is itself also deeply affected by it. The one acts upon the other and every abiding change in the life of man is the result of these mutual reactions.”
Individual and Collective Transformation
The world in which we live is not merely comprised of individuals. There are agencies and organizations that operate in society, and laws and institutions that sustain collective life. Just like individuals, institutions are also influenced by constructive and destructive forces. For example, greed affects both the life of the individual and the way society is organized. Therefore our efforts to create a better world cannot focus simply on ourselves as individuals. We also need to pay attention to the improvement of our neighborhoods, schools, businesses, and cultural life.
When we think of walking a path of service to the community, we need to work with individuals, particularly children and youth, helping them to acquire knowledge, skills, and spiritual qualities. At the same time, we need to be conscious that as the size of our endeavor grows, we will gradually be able to contribute to the improvement of the various aspects of our collective life.
A United Community
The transformation of the collective life of humanity can begin with efforts to establish united communities. The individuals, the families, and the organizations that wish to contribute to the progress of a community have to work together in harmony. They need to build a shared vision and purpose and leave behind the ways of conflict. To do so they need to learn to listen to one another, to investigate reality together and come to common decisions.
Building unity is the greatest challenge for all of us who walk a path of service in our community. To begin we have to pay a great deal of attention to our own interactions. We need to be friends: accompanying one another in the work we do, accepting each other's contributions, encouraging and supporting one another, seeing each other’s strengths, seeking and giving advice to each other, and taking joy in the accomplishments of one another.
“The supreme need of humanity is cooperation and reciprocity... The stronger the ties of fellowship and solidarity amongst men, the greater will be the power of constructiveness and accomplishment in all the planes of human activity.”
“... in the final analysis, it is not technique but unity of thought, consistent action, and dedication to learning which will bring about progress.”
Community Building
To advance towards this vision of a unified community, we must think and act in a certain way. What is required of us is to walk the path of service with clarity and continuity. If our actions are haphazard then our efforts to improve our collective life will not bring lasting results. To help us maintain continuity and build on accomplishments, we must act, reflect on our actions, consult and study together. When we do so, we are able to generate insight into how to build strong communities.
Acting, reflecting, consulting, and studying enable us to learn together. Study gives us access to scientific and spiritual knowledge. Open and sincere consultation helps us investigate reality. Reflection on experience allows us to adjust our steps as we strive to contribute to the material and spiritual transformation of our community. In following this approach we need to be humble and have an attitude of learning. We must acknowledge that we do not have all the answers, and that opens the door for others to join us on the path of service.
Service to the Community
We all have a desire to serve our communities. But what kind of service contributes to material and spiritual transformation? Obviously we need to be mindful of other people’s needs and help them, yet that will not be enough to achieve our goal. We need to build capacity in ourselves and everyone else, young and old, and in the organizations functioning in the community so that we can all together act as protagonists of change.
To be a protagonist means to have the will to act, to act thoughtfully, to persevere and to gain and apply knowledge at every step. A protagonist is not a mere passive receiver of benefits, but an active contributor to progress. To be a protagonist one must learn to exercise creative and disciplined initiative.
To build capacity in such protagonists in the community, we need a proven educational process for children, adolescents, youth and adults.
"Is there any deed in the world that would be nobler than service to the common good? Is there any greater blessing conceivable for a man, than that he should become the cause of the education, the development, the prosperity and honor of his fellow-creatures?”
What motivates us
The Peninsula Youth Institute is inspired by the message of Bahá’u’lláh, Whose teachings over 150 years ago give us unique insights into the vision of the oneness of humankind. Around the world, people inspired by Bahá’u’lláh's vision are learning how to build unity in cities and villages by working with friends and neighbors in simple community building efforts
Over the past few decades, the Bahá’í community has succeeded in establishing a very special kind of institution of learning in practically every country of the world. These "institutes" offer courses that strengthen our capabilities to serve the community. By studying these courses, we gain the spiritual insights and the practical skills needed to walk a path of service together.
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