{"id":74594,"date":"2021-12-16T06:00:00","date_gmt":"2021-12-16T14:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/?p=74594"},"modified":"2021-12-13T11:27:41","modified_gmt":"2021-12-13T19:27:41","slug":"releasing-ourselves-world","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/releasing-ourselves-world\/","title":{"rendered":"Releasing Ourselves From This World \u2014 With Iko Congo"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

One Baha\u2019i<\/a> quotation, says our Moments of Meaning<\/em> guest Iko Congo, changed his life. When he truly meditated on its meaning, he resolved to move to another country solely to serve humanity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

In this episode of the Moments of Meaning <\/em>podcast<\/a>, Portuguese-born management consultant Iko Congo recounts how he meditated on and prayed about this powerful quotation<\/a> from the writings of Abdu\u2019l-Baha<\/a>, and how it generated enormous inspiration and change:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Release yourselves from this world\u2019s life, and at every stage long ye for non-existence; for when the ray returneth to the sun, it is wiped out, and when the drop cometh to the sea, it vanisheth, and when the true lover findeth his Beloved, he yieldeth up his soul.<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n\n\n\n

In the passage Iko chose, Abdu\u2019l-Baha seems to say that our physical existence in this world is limited, and therefore those who cling to it limit themselves. When he first heard the quote, Iko says, it was in the lyrics of a song \u2013 but later he realized its deeper meaning. We\u2019re all destined, sooner or later, to depart from the physical realm<\/a>, so until we submerge the self in the sea of oneness, unity, and service to others, we close off and limit our prospects for full spiritual growth and development. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Iko Congo<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n\n

This realization, especially when it comes early in life, can help anyone act in a way that prioritizes the permanent over the temporary \u2013 to focus on real change in oneself and in the world.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s fundamental,\u201d Iko says in the interview, \u201cto think about the example of Abdu\u2019l-Baha. \u2026 his title itself means servant, and that was the title he chose for himself. And that\u2019s where we really find our purpose, that\u2019s where we really find our meaning is in this quest, or in this action of serving others.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

RELATED: Ambassador to Humanity \u2014 Episode One: The Early Years<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Please listen as we interview Iko Congo about the moment of deep, transformative meaning he experienced while pondering one of the powerful insights in the Baha\u2019i writings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

One Baha\u2019i quotation, says our Moments of Meaning guest Iko Congo, changed his life. When he truly meditated on its meaning, he resolved to move to another country solely to…<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":111604,"featured_media":74604,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4018],"tags":[3104,3058,2998],"series":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74594"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/111604"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=74594"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/74594\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/74604"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=74594"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=74594"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=74594"},{"taxonomy":"series","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bahaiteachings.org\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/series?post=74594"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}