Are You Happy? Be Happy!

Stanwood Cobb, the renowned educator, wrote of “the joyousness with which ‘Abdu’l-Bahá always depicted the spiritual life as He enjoined it upon us. And why not? Is man’s spiritual life not in reality more joyous than any other kind of life that he can lead?”

He went on, “This philosophy of joy was the keynote of all of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá’s teaching. ‘Are you happy?’ was His frequent greeting to His visitors. ‘Be happy!’

“Those who were unhappy (and who of us are not at times!) would weep at this. And ‘Abdu’l-Bahá would smile as if to say, ‘Yes, weep on. Beyond the tears is sunshine.’

“And sometimes He would wipe away with His own hands the tears from their wet cheeks, and they would leave His presence transfigured.”

In California it was observed that “despite the Master’s fatigue at times, and His physical ailments, He welcomed everyone with a beaming smile, and in His pleasing and vibrant voice would ask, ‘Are you happy?’”

Source: Annamarie Honnold, Vignettes from the Life of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá, “Are you happy?—Be happy!”, p. 127; Stanwood Cobb, Memories of ‘Abdu’l-Bahá (Avalon Press; reprinted from Bahá’í News, July and August 1962), p. 6.

Collected from bahaistories.com (Subject: happiness).

Various. *bahaistories.com archive*. https://bahaistories.com/subject/happiness