Machines Devoid of Spirit
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When in Bahá'í history
San Francisco (today: San Francisco, California, USA)
At a public meeting in San Francisco on October 5, 1912, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá talked about the material progress of the world. He said that some countries had reached the apex of material progress. Physically, they were like healthy bodies, but unfortunately they were empty of spirit. He noted that a spiritless body was a dead one until it acquired spiritual capacity. Then He said: "The people of America have a great capacity for the acquisition of spiritual qualities but they are immersed in material affairs. They are like machines which move uncontrollably; they move but are devoid of spirit. They will attain perfection when the spirit of divine civilization is breathed into them and this material civilization becomes infused with spiritual refinement."
Source: Earl Redman, ‘Abdu’l-Bahá in Their Midst, p. 215. ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s words are recorded in Mahmúd’s Diary, October 5, 1912.
Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: materialism).
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