Bahá’u’lláh calls us to a spiritual life – but not an ascetic one. As discussed in a previous article, Bahá’u’lláh does not teach that the material world is inherently bad.  It is the matrix within which our spiritual beings develop. And material reality speaks to us of the divine world. Yet, material existence is not the end goal of our lives. We are just passing through. The generations that have gone on before you—whither are they fled? And those round whom in life circled the fairest and the loveliest of the land, where now are they? … Others erelong will lay hands on what ye possess, and enter into your habitations.[1]…